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Your Bag of Nothing for Friday, May 9, 2025

Now that the new Pope is from Chicago, I can’t stop picturing a packed St. Peter’s Square at night. The lights cut out, the crowd hushes… then suddenly — BOOM — the Chicago Bulls intro music blasts through the speakers. A spotlight hits the balcony, and the announcer booms:

“Aaaaaand now… from Villanova University (seriously)… wearing white and red… number 14… POPE LEOOOOO!”

Can somebody make this happen using AI, please? For now, I’ll have to settle for this.
I know formally he’s Pope Leo XIV, and his birth name is Robert Francis Prevost, but how cool would it be if he just went by Pope Bob? It’s hard for me to ignore that his middle name is(was) Francis. And when I come across that name, this is the first character I think about.
Pope Leo should wear a white Villanova hat at all official functions during March Madness. I can only imagine how pissed Notre Dame fans are that the first Pope from the United States graduated from Villanova. In case you were wondering, he was a math major.
Made me laugh: *Camera pans to a group of fans outside of the Vatican in Pope jerseys, going nuts even though most of them haven’t heard of the pick before last week*
It was pretty cool seeing Pope Leo’s brother being interviewed shortly after the announcement. What an amazing, unique experience that he got to experience.
I see a lot of non-Catholics complaining that this isn’t a big deal. I, for one, am just happy that my Catholic brothers and sisters have something to be happy about and feel some joy in such a chaotic world.
The world missed having a Catholic U.S. President and an American Pope by four months. I’m pretty sure most of the world is feeling a bit of USA fatigue.
“We should be grateful to the Lord to now be blessed with having an American on the world stage who embodies good and not evil.”
“America now has both the pope and the antichrist”
I bet a lot of people will start watching the Jude Law HBO series The Young Pope, which is about the first Pope from the United States. I enjoyed watching it, but know it’s not for everyone.
Tom Cruise will be in Dallas on May 22, visiting local theaters for his Mission: Impossible film. When I watched Born on the Fourth of July for the first time earlier this year, I read about the making of the movie since most of it was filmed in Dallas. Cruise seemed to have really enjoyed his time here when he was a young actor.
Dallas-Fort Worth is sinking faster than any other inland U.S. city – Study shows
Dallas and Fort Worth are sinking at a rate of 4 millimeters per year due to groundwater loss
A firing squad tried to shoot a prisoner in the heart. They missed, autopsy indicates
Trump Organization Admits President Still Controls His Business In New Filing – Donald Trump can lie to the American public, but the Trump Organization has a harder time deceiving authorities in Britain, where private companies face greater disclosure requirements.
This episode of Sesame Street back in 1988 is why Trump is targeting PBS and Sesame Street so much! The episode was Ronald Grump intends to raze Sesame Street and redevelop it! Does this sound familiar because that’s what he does everywhere! pic.twitter.com/vmeyZ0qFw6

— Suzie rizzio (@Suzierizzo1) May 7, 2025
There’s a lot going on here. I think it’s a new trend for the bridesmaid to hand the groom provocative boudoir-type polaroid photos of his bride getting ready.

In the second video, you have the Cowboys’ home stadium in the background, and the groom is assisted in putting the finishing touch on the end of the ceremony. Who cares about the height difference? I just care that they love each other.

How embarrassing is this pic.twitter.com/sAQJzYrI1E

— Calm_Dr (@Bezeley_MBChB) May 9, 2025

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Your Bag of Nothing for Thursday, May 8, 2025

Regarding the image above. That text was sent to me yesterday morning from a woman I met for the first time later that evening. We did talk a little theology. When asked about one of those gray areas, she replied, “I don’t think anyone is going to Hell for that.” I’m sure it was a flippant remark, but my immediate thought was that people shouldn’t approach things with the fear of punishment or going to Hell; you should or shouldn’t do whatever out of love and respect.
I bet a lot of folks will assume that when a fighter jet falls off an aircraft carrier, that’s the end of it. Nope, not at all. The U.S. wants to protect its technology, so it will actually retrieve those two fighter jets that fell off the USS Truman. Don’t believe me? Well, back in 2022, the Navy successfully retrieved the F-35C Lightning II aircraft that had crashed in the much deeper South China Sea.

It’s worth noting that the Titanic sits roughly 12,500 feet below the surface. That fighter jet was recovered from a depth of approximately 12,400 feet.

Here are several more articles on that recovery if you are interested.
- The Navy Extracted a Jet Fighter from 12,400 Feet below the Surface of the South China Sea – But the U.S. must probe even further to catch up with China’s access to the ocean’s deepest reaches
- Race to beat China to recover $100m US F-35 stealth fighter from bottom of South China Sea after it crash landed on aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson: Fears secret technology from America’s most advanced jet could fall into enemy hands
- Navy Recovers Crashed F-35C From Depths of South China Sea
5 Worst Dallas Suburbs Ranked, According to Readers of the Dallas Observer
I was surprised to see Irving, Plano, and Frisco on the list.
Report: Nick Saban is expected to be named co-chair of presidential college sports commission
I’ll never own a home again.

Homebuyers in Dallas-Fort Worth need to earn over $63,000 more a year than renters to afford their monthly housing payments, according to a recent Redfin report.
- The median sale price in D-FW was $395,565, accounting for homes sold between December and February.
- The median rent for the region is $1,449.
  
  From another related article:
  Stunning stat: If every large U.S. metro had similar housing policies to D-FW and other Sun Belt regions, about 5.6 million additional homes would have been built nationwide from 2010 to 2023.
When I heard India and Pakistan were fighting again, it immediately made me think of this old video.

Looks like things are getting really serious between India and Pakistan pic.twitter.com/xMnvZ8Bn5a

— captive dreamer (@siegfriedmuell) May 6, 2025

Here’s some background from Gronk:
- The image captures the Attari-Wagah border ceremony, a daily military ritual since 1959 where Indian and Pakistani soldiers perform high kicks and rapid maneuvers to lower their flags at dusk, symbolizing both rivalry and brotherhood despite tensions.
- This ceremony, often called a “dance-off,” takes place at the heavily militarized India-Pakistan border, reflecting decades of conflict, including three wars and a nuclear arms race, yet it persists as a cultural spectacle drawing crowds on both sides.

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Your Bag of Nothing for Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Second US Navy jet is lost at sea from Truman aircraft carrier –
Another F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier has been lost in the Red Sea, the second jet lost from the carrier in just over a week, five people familiar with the matter told CNN.

First thing that popped into my head. And, is anyone getting the feeling that the Trump Administration isn’t telling us everything that’s going on in that area of the Red Sea?
Saving your progress on video games was such a game-changer.
She was at my favorite BBQ spot, Hutchins. It would have been embarrassing to meet her after a case of the meat sweats.

Longtime North Texas barbecue joint visited by ‘Shameless’ star Emmy Rossum
Trump’s Education Secretary mocked after critics spot embarrassing grammatical errors in threatening letter to Harvard

Many on social media incorrectly state that Harvard replied with a marked-up letter, but that’s false.
As many long-time readers know, my father wouldn’t allow me to play with fireworks, fearing I’d lose some fingers.

This guy tests power of different fireworks
pic.twitter.com/mKrzQbb23m

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) May 6, 2025
I’m sure most locals are familiar with the section of Loop 12 named after Walton Walker. The other day, I stumbled upon his biography while going down a WWII rabbit hole. Answer me this: why didn’t anyone get John Goodman to play in a movie?

Here’s a short biography on the man.

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Your Bag of Nothing for Monday, May 5, 2025

My loyal BagOfNothing reader who writes for SNL told me to be watching Weekend Update because his tailor-made joke for me made the cut, and he told me I would know it when I saw it, without question. It’s gotta be this one since I turn half a century later this year and often reference that I’m half-Asian (Vietnamese). Touché. Well played. I’m honored, really. It should be queued up to the joke, but if not, it starts at the 9:50 spot. (Updated and fixed)
I think this Giants rookie should just be looking for another number, but good on Simms.
I got into a conversation about the Pearl Jam song Jeremy. Many local folks are surprised to learn it’s a local story that happened in January 1991 at Richardson High School. The song is about the tragic incident when a freshman student named Jeremy took his own life by firing a .357-caliber Magnum into his mouth in front of a room full of other students in his morning English class. Many were astonished to learn that the school stayed open and classes continued throughout the day instead of sending all the students home.

Many just chalked it up to 1991 being a different time, that things were handled differently back then, and mental health wasn’t a priority. Well, as someone who was a high school student in 1991, I’d like everyone to consider it’s not so much that, but that the world wasn’t as connected as it is now. In 1991, no student had a mobile phone, and only a few had a pager, of all things. There was no internet or social media. It was a lot harder to get in touch with parents, most of whom would have been at work. Each parent would have to be contacted by a landline phone. Not to mention, if you decided to just send the students home, more than likely, no one would be at home to monitor or take care of them after such a tragedy. No one took into consideration the logistics of making all that happen with safety as a priority in 1991. Really, the best option back then was to keep the students on campus and be mindful that they are in the middle of a traumatic situation. While the article says classes continued, I highly doubt lesson plans were followed for the rest of the day.
I’m sure most of you are familiar with this photo of a US Air Force officer who was a Vietnam POW reuniting with his family. It always tugged on my heartstrings.

However, do you know the sad story behind the photo?

Recently, the daughter in the photo running to hug her father was interviewed about the photo. It’s actually quite touching. She has a copy of the photo hung up on her wall and even brings out the clothing he wore as a POW. Heck, his slippers or flip-flops are made from the tires of his wrecked aircraft. The segment focuses only on the positive side. The veteran is still living, but is a dementia patient, around 92 years of age.
I hope this is true.

There is a horse named Tom who has a dramatic strategy of avoiding work, he plays dead whenever someone wants a ride

pic.twitter.com/R6lzjdVciP

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) May 2, 2025
Tommy Tuberville says his wife’s homestead exemption established his residency in Alabama, but election records show both of them voted in Florida after that. And that’s only the beginning.

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— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) May 2, 2025 at 8:58 AM