Bag of Randomness for Valentine’s Day 2020

That image above is from Theodore Roosevelt’s diary, he had a tough day.

On Valentine’s Day of 1884, just 36 hours after the birth of their only daughter, Alice, 25-year-old future U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt held his young wife in his arms as she passed away from undiagnosed Bright’s disease. Incredibly, just hours before, in the same house, he had already said a final goodbye to his mother, Martha. She had succumbed to Typhoid, aged just 48.


Yesterday, DaughterGeeding printed and distributed the third edition of her class newspaper. Her classmates like it so much they are now giving her random sums of money. How much? I didn’t ask. Another classmate asked if she would put something in the paper about his upcoming birthday party and would pay her to do it. The kid is an entrepreneur.


Seeing the shockwave reverberate back and forth is cool, but I bet it felt neat as it rushed through the air.


Too bad Harold Taft isn’t around, he coudl tell us stories about how he got around using that word. – Until 1950, U.S. Weathermen Were Forbidden From Talking About Tornados

  • From 1887 up until 1950, American weather forecasters were forbidden from attempting to predict tornados. Mentioning them was, in the words of one historian, “career suicide.”
  • Less than confident in their own predictive powers, and fearful of the responses of a panicky public, “the use of the word ‘tornado’ in forecasts was at times strongly discouraged and at other times forbidden” by the Weather Bureau, Edwards writes, replaced by euphemisms like “severe local storms.”

I think President Trump, from a political standpoint, has positioned himself well. I’m not sure it was all planned, but he’s in a good spot. If he breaks the law egregiously, the Democrats wouldn’t dare try to impeach him again. Doing so would further the Republican message that Democrats are unwilling to accept the results of the 2016 election and make them look like obstructionists. The country has already been down that road and doesn’t want another ride.

I also read that Hope Hicks will be returning to the White House. I’ve been reading the book A Very Stable Genious and she comes off well. While she’s young and extremely attractive, she’s a lot smarter and calculating than anyone would expect and she’s got the respect of all the Trump family. Don’t underestimate her. She may not be in the spotlight, but she’s really the only person capable of “handling” the president.


Armchair Political Consultant Thought – Mike Bloomberg should hire writers from The Daily Show to come up with funny and snarky tweets about current events. The current president has mastered the art of attention-getting tweets, Bloomberg should tread on that turf. 

Right after I wrote that I found the following articles

Bloomberg campaign pays social media accounts for memes

Michael Bloomberg’s Campaign Suddenly Drops Memes Everywhere – A campaign of sponsored content for the candidate flourished suddenly on Instagram. A new outfit, called Meme 2020, is behind it.


Since I recently mentioned something about taxes and cyber currency – IRS quietly deletes guideline that Fortnite virtual currency must be reported on tax returns


Meet the Investor Who Bet Early on Warby Parker, Glossier, and Dollar Shave ClubWhile most VCs were focused on software, Kirsten Green at Forerunner Ventures saw the potential of the direct-to-consumer revolution


While pushing some large and heavy furniture yesterday, I heard my bottom left rib pop really loud. It was odd, nothing was pressed against it, it just popped as I was straining. I never had anything like this happen. It was one of those pains that you know something is really wrong but you can’t yet feel the pain and the gravity of the situation hasn’t registered. I laid flat down on my back and didn’t feel a sharp pain but a really dull and deep kind of pain, similar to a pulled muscle. The rib area is still sore and my mobility is only slightly compensated. It was just weird experiencing something I never felt before physically, I thought I was passed that point in life.

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6 Responses to Bag of Randomness for Valentine’s Day 2020

  1. Dude says:

    Ahh, the GREAT Harold Taft. This is worth watching if not just for seeing him and Chip Moody again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kliexfdMqw

  2. Dude says:

    So basically, Trump should be allowed to do whatever he wants to subvert the next election?!? “Let the voters decide” is defenseless position for (R)’s to take when he’s doing everything in his power to tamper with the next election.

    I am disgusted with my former party and the hypocritical evangelicals who support him at all costs. Every moral argument in the last 30 years about Clinton and Obama was, apparently, an elaborate religious joke. Petty, angry, scared and delusional “Christians” LOVE the God of the Old Testament, the one who smote the wicked and used Cyrus as a vessel (and allegedly is using Trump?!?!?) because the God of the NEW testament, Jesus, was pretty clear about how we should behave and treat others. And there’s not a whole lot of red text in the bible that supports Trump’s stated views on anything. In most cases, it’s the complete opposite.

    But hey, I get it, Mitt Romney’s the devil because he dared speak out against Trump and besides he’s not a REAL Christian anyway. Hypocrites.

  3. Alec666 says:

    The dude is really angry today. Let me send you some Valentine’s chocolate.

  4. Kathy says:

    Dude is spot on! We should all be so angry.

    • Alec666 says:

      Maybe you’re right Kathy. All I think is about is my wife who survided cancer. My two semi normal kids and the fact that my home country (Colombia) is way in my rear view mirror.
      This is the best country in the world. And I’m thankful and greatful everyday that I wake up in the morning.

  5. AndreaJN says:

    I recently listened to the book “Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History”. It’s about the 1900 Galveston hurricane and talks about how the National Weather Service wouldn’t say the word “hurricane” either. If you enjoy reading about weather-related Texas history, you will enjoy this book for sure!

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