Bag of Randomness for Monday, August 5, 2019a

  • I had no idea Yogi Berra spent time as a Met and an Astro as a coach.
  • While eating an apple, the wire on DaughterGeeding’s snapped apart. I told her if she stuck to eating junk food that never would have happened.
  • I caught the second half of The Shining yesterday afternoon. DaughterGeeding was in the room and I thought she’d leave since she’s not into scary stuff, but it sucked her right in and any time I attempted to change the channel she asked that I not.
  • With all the mass shootings as of late, I reflected upon the first I could remember, the Luby’s shooting in Killeen. It happened back in October 1991, the gunman killed 23 people. and wounded 27 others. At the time, I thought nothing like that would ever happen again.
  • Our new pastor knows how to capture my attention.
  • “Gravity always wins.” – Alfonso Ribeiro, America’s Funniest Videos
  • In regards to the new Top Gun: Maverick movie trailer – Why Maverick is still a captain 30 years after ‘Top Gun,’ according to the Navy
    • It comes down to one of these three reasons:
      • The most straightforward answer to have a captain with 35-plus years of service is for the captain to have previous enlisted experience. In the case of Maverick, this scenario doesn’t fit with the movie’s timeline.
      • Another possible scenario occurs if there’s a break in service. Maverick left active duty and did some time in the Navy Reserve. Then later, he returned to active duty. With more than five years in the reserves, Maverick could be pushing 37 years in uniform.
      • The final scenario for Maverick would be if he were retired but retained in service, a scenario that keeps individuals in uniform after reaching their statutory retirement. Generally speaking, cases of individuals being retired but retained are rare, but not unheard of, according to Naval Personnel Command.
  • I first watched Marlon Brando’s Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) during my teenage years with my father. It was airing on TMC on Saturday and I rewatched most of it and then got stuck researching stuff about the film, the historical event, and Brando.
    • Brando loved Tahita so much he bought one of their islands, actually a twelve-island atoll.
    • In real life, Brando married one of his costars, a woman who played the character Maimiti, a daughter of the Tahitian king. She was his third wife. Brando’s second wife actually played the same character in the 1935 version of the film with Clark Gable.
    • The story really happened, it’s a historical event, though the film isn’t historically accurate. The ship was burned and destroyed by mutineers in 1790, but remnants of the ship were found in 1957.
    • For the film, MGM had a replica of the original ship built and it was launched in Nova Scotia in 1960, sailed via the Panama Canal, and to Tahiti for filming. MGM originally planned to burn the ship and film it for part of the movie, but Brando protested. The ship then went on a promotional tour, even sailing down the River Thames in London. At one point, Ted Turner owned the ship and later it appeared in other films such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s ChestDue to Hurrican Sandy, it sunk in 2012. Two of the crew members died, the captain and a direct descendant of Fletcher Christian, the character Brando portrayed. For whatever it’s worth, she was a former USC Song Girl.
  • France’s new 5,181-ton nuclear submarine has no traditional periscope. Here’s how that works.
    • …simply that the direct-view periscope, which had to penetrate into the body of the submarine itself through the hull, has been replaced by optronic masts equipped with cameras. The new optronic masts no longer penetrate the hull. They’re stored snugly inside the sail when not in use, but can extend upwards out of it to take a look when needed. 
  • Mitch McConnell trips, fractures shoulder while at home in Kentucky
    • I saw him fall while trying to walk on stage at a campaign event earlier this year. Maybe it’s simply a part of being 77-years-old, but I can’t help but wonder if something else is going on, that this little falling trend is part of some undiscovered or undisclosed medical condition. But then again, I tend to be entertained with potential conspiracy theories.
  • Traffix is a puzzle game that gives you the complete control of traffic lights you always wanted
  • “The $300 textbook is dead,” says the CEO of textbook maker PearsonOn the latest Recode Decode, John Fallon explains why the education company is pivoting to digital textbooks.
  • I keep seeing cases of Rhode Island Municipal Judge Frank Caprio pop up in social media. I’m not sure if the online crowd loves the guy or some sort of marketing is taking place. Here’s his YouTube channel.
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5 Responses to Bag of Randomness for Monday, August 5, 2019a

  1. Bizarro Big Tex says:

    Maybe it’s the curmudgeon in me, but I do not celebrate Pearson’s pivot on college texts. They have controlled the market and driven up prices for years, creating their own issue. Now rentals siphon profits (and they hate used books), so they magically discover electronic rentals/sales. There is something about a relationship between a student and an actual printed text book that makes the learning very personal and linked to learners through the ages. With the migration of material to all-digital formats only, one day an EMP (or series of them) could clear the accumulated learning of ages from electronic libraries. And yes, I still own all my college textbooks (undergraduate and graduate) after many decades. And read them for forgotten pieces of knowledge.

  2. RPM says:

    The Bounty sinking was criminal (literally). That ship had no business being out in that storm, but the Captain thought he could manage. He was wrong.

    The Charles Whitman shooting at the UT Tower was the first I remember. Never thought I’d see another one, either. I was wrong.

  3. Kathy says:

    The wire on Daughter Geeding’s __ was eating an apple? (See second sentence)

  4. ALEC666 says:

    I had to start cutting up the apples for my kids.

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