Your Bag of Randomness for Thursday, July 25, 2024
Watched a bit of a Jesse Owens biography. Offhand, I can’t think of anything more badass in sports than winning four gold medals in the heart of Nazi Germany. Seriously, how can that be topped? There may be other considerable others, but I don’t think there’s any topping that.
Germans pronounced his name as “Oh-Vens.”
Hitler referred to him as, and I quote, “The Jewish N—-R.” Whoa.
It sure is interesting how the Nazis invented the torch run from ancient Olympia to the host city, and we still carry the tradition.
I really had zero interest in watching the Olympics. I always dreamed of watching them with my family and don’t want the negative reminder. But, the opening ceremony is always worth a watch. Back in the day, we were forced to watch the Parade of Nations, which is cool but can get pretty boring. Now, we can stream it and fast-forward a recorded broadcast. But this is the first that the athletes aren’t walking, they will all be on a boat.
I watched a little bit of Trump’s golf outing with Bryson DeChambeau. I found the former president to be likable. He can be friendly when he wants to be. Yeah, he’s pretty heavy, but he does stay pretty active. The presidency really didn’t age him like it does other presidents.
I was a bit underwhelmed by President Biden’s speech last night.
I was expecting something to really stand out, like LBJ’s ” I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.” In case you are wondering, he used “shall” four times in that speech.
When I toured the LBJ library, I remember seeing the teleprompter script of that speech. Back then, a special typewriter was required to type out the oversized font, easy-to-read script on a roll of paper with sprocket holes along the side to enable automated scrolling. I distinctly remember one word being crossed out and another hand-written as if it was a last-minute edit. I’ve spent way too much time than I want to admit looking for a photo of it. Here’s something similar.
Speaking of presidents and teleprompters. I was distracted at looking at the reflection of the teleprompter scrolling over Biden’s left shoulder.
For some reason, when a president speaks from the Oval Office, I keep expecting something to happen in the window, like a bird flying smack into it. Can you imagine if that happened?
I think the White House uses the TP 800 when the president travels; and those will cost you a little over $1,300.
The teleprompter was invented in 1949 while Harry Truman was president. The first to use one was Ike. Here he is preparing his farewell address. You may notice he didn’t use the Resolute Desk.
It took a lot of work to prepare for one of Ike’s speeches.
