Bag of Randomness
Friday, November 13, 2026

Microsoft had a major outage that affected the core communications systems for most companies, including mine. It also kept us from accessing most of our documentation and other cloud-stored files. For a lot of us, it was like an adult snow day.

Senator-elect Talarico met with outgoing Senator Cornyn, who gave the incoming senator a wonderful, thoughtful gift.

Mediaite reached out to Cornyn for comment on the meeting with Talarico, and brought up how he had repeatedly described Paxton as “not worthy of Sam Houston’s Senate seat.”

“Do you think Senator-elect Talarico is worthy of Houston’s seat?” I asked.

“I am bequeathing him the Sam Houston portrait over my desk,” Cornyn replied — the implications about the worthiness of his successor clear — and sent along a photo of said portrait.

That’s what you call good damage control: Hegseth awards medal to soldier who reprimanded him and aides at Arlington Cemetery 

Let’s hope he isn’t transferred to some US Army base in Middle-of-Nowhere Alaska next week.

Random fact about the Friday the 13th movie franchise: Jason’s infamous mask isn’t actually worn until the 3rd movie, Friday the 13th Part 3.

And I’m posting this because some of the doggy head turns made me smile.

As a bald man, I get cold easily, or at least more than when I had hair. To compensate, I often wear a hat to regulate my temperature. I mentioned this to a coworker who asked why I was wearing a hat, and she questioned that it’s an effective solution.

Would Congress be dumb enough to cancel funding for some disability benefits for veterans on Veterans Day? Well, they did for veterans suffering from tinnitus and sleep apnea. The VFW wasn’t happy, per Stars and Stripes:

“On a day dedicated to honoring America’s veterans, the House of Representatives took the reprehensible step to quickly pass the so-called Take Care of America’s Veterans Act advancing legislation that the Veterans of Foreign Wars considers the largest net benefit cut since the Great Depression, setting a dangerous precedent that would allow Congress to cut veterans’ earned benefits to finance unrelated federal spending,” the VFW said following House passage.

John C. Reilly tells the story of the time Jack Nicholson invited him to see U2 in concert while they were standing next to each other at urinals. 

Sometimes walking away from something you’ve invested years in is the smartest decision you’ll make.

Monstrosity.

While telling a great Jimmy Stewart story, President Reagan does an impression of great actor and American.

In deep-red Texas, conservatives are trying to make sense of what just happened to their longtime Republican stronghold. We visited a men’s bible study as they gathered for the first time since the state flipped in the midterm election.

[image or embed]

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) November 7, 2026 at 12:18 PM

Torn, the last recorded song from Dolly Parton (with U2) will be released today.  However, yesterday, the “country” version of the song, a radio version, was released and is available for country stations to play. The country version is not a drastic departure from the album version; Bono and Dolly continue to trade vocals back and forth. The same musical elements, such as Larry’s drumming, can be heard on this new version. But there are additional instruments in the mix to make it a more country-sounding track, and the lyrics are rearranged a bit throughout the song. The album version ends on the line “Nothing hurts a mother more than a family at war,” which feels fitting given what is going on with Dolly’s relatives and her estate.

Dolly.U2.com

A rendering of the concert setup for U2’s upcoming tour. I love how since 2001 and the Elevation Tour they have created an experience in which the walk into the audience.

Dallas Talk Radio Talk: KERA 90.1’s ratings dominate News/Talk, equalling KRLD AM, WBAP, KLIF and KSKY’s *combined*.

An interesting nugget of Texas political history.

In case you are wondering why: The Republican Party endorsed the Democratic state ticket, including Shivers, in order to attract more votes for their presidential nominee, General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

If you’re interested in the history of the Alliance area in North Texas, you’ll appreciate this Ross Perot Jr. interview. In it, he also mentions how local legend Trammell Crow told him to buy nothing but warehouses, a nugget I know Barry over at LiberallyLean would appreciate. He also tells a story about picking up Elon Musk at the airport to show him a hanger that used to house seven 747s and how he it could be used to create the battery factory Musk was about to build in Nevada. To Perot’s surprise, Musk told him it was too small. In particular, I enjoyed hearing what it was like to be on the inside of his father’s political campaign. You might recall I was invited to a party at the Perot mansion and somehow found myself alone with Mr. Perot. To my knowledge, he’s the only billionaire I’ve shaken hands with.

Here are some notable timestamps:

(00:00) Intro
(00:42) Why Texas Is Winning the Data Center Boom
(06:20) The Facts Behind the Data Center Backlash
(11:49) Why California, Illinois, and New York Are Losing to Texas
(18:12) How Fort Worth Landed Elon Musk, MP Materials, and Taylor Sheridan
(23:39) Building Alliance for Flying Taxis and Drone Delivery
(27:47) Fighter Pilot Heroes and the First Helicopter Flight Around the World
(34:29) Why EDS Left Dallas and Hillwood Became a Developer
(38:31) Why the Rail Yard Matters More Than the Runway
(44:51) Tariffs and How to Deal with China
(50:35) Deterring a War over Taiwan by 2027
(55:32) The Iran War and the Coming Oil Glut
(59:10) The Case for a Post-Midterm Market Boom
(1:04:34) Smart AI Regulation and the Quantum Encryption Threat
(1:09:24) Buying Land After the S&L Crisis and Trammell Crow’s Advice
(1:12:31) Why Circle T Ranch Has Been Replanned 30 Times
(1:17:43) How George W. Bush Closed the Scotiabank Deal
(1:19:11) Inside the 1992 Perot Presidential Campaign
(1:24:34) How Hillwood Runs as a Company of Entrepreneurs
(1:32:04) Why Finding Talent Is the Hardest Part of the Business

Mainly posting this for the Leslie Nielson part that starts at the 24-second mark.

This entry was posted in Personal. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.