Bag of Randomness for Thursday, July 28, 2022

  • Most of you know DaughterGeeding has a pet bunny. He’s named “Buno” after Bono (I merely suggested the name, she was free to name it whatever she wanted). Somehow through the divorce, I got stuck caring for the damn thing. Yesterday, I decided to steam some broccoli and thought I’d give the scraps I trimmed off to the rabbit. I thought it would be harmless, afterall, I’m sure bunnies in the wild eat broccoli that’s being farmed. But, I did my due diligence and googled what you see above and laughed my arse off. I mean, not only does broccoli give rabbits gas, it specifically gives them “painful gas.” I couldn’t help but imagine what Buno’s face would look like trying to pass “painful gas”. Of course, all of this reminded me of Dumb and Dumber‘s Turbolax scene (sorry for the potato quality, it was the best I could find). No doubt, Jeff Daniels’ best work.
  • Do they allow loud laughing in Hawaii? Or just a low ha?
  • Sprite will no longer be sold in green bottles – Sprite is retiring its green plastic bottles after more than 60 years. Coca-Cola said Wednesday it’s changing the packaging from green to clear plastic beginning August 1 as part of broader efforts to become more environmentally responsible. Sprite’s current plastic contains green polyethylene terephthalate (PET), an additive that can’t be recycled into new bottles
  • Mom claims Alvin ISD said daughter with special needs consented before alleged sexual assault
  • I go to trivia night with my three of my closest friends every Tuesday night, but it really disappointed me in how I handled myself. We got third, but we should have had a better time. One friend was razzing me for how I ordered my meal, which confused our server. A lot of times, I feel this friend doesn’t know when to let things go and how his jokes may make those in the service industry feel uncomfortable at his expense. Part of my concern was that I didn’t want the server to feel she was being made fun of. But really, I should have played it cool, relaxed, and took some good-natured ribbing. As my dad said, you only tease the ones you love. I was being teased, and I took it as an insult when it wasn’t. One of my other friends, who knows me best, could tell I was becoming upset, let the other friend know, and questioned why I would be upset over this. I said it’s because everyone knows I’m the dumbest one at the table and he was exploiting it. I apologized to him on the spot, and at the end of the evening, telling him I’m sorry and I have a lot of growing to do. But in some ways, the damage was already done and it made me and I think all of us feel awkward about it. There’s a little history there. I think I take too much of his ribbing. Perhaps he doesn’t realize how I feel or how often I feel he does it. A lot of times, it’s liberal jabs, and he probably doesn’t know how tough it is having these convictions of supporting certain views in this heavily conservative dominated area. I feel like I let things go all the time. He’s also the type that if he disagrees with you, he won’t let it go. He will look it up on his phone right away to prove a point. Over time, that gets annoying. But in retrospect, it was over ordering a cheeseburger. I should have just said, “You’re right, I should have phrased it differently.” Like I said, it was over a cheeseburger and friendships are bigger than cheeseburgers. But, this is more likely a symptom of a bigger problem. Probably my insecurity, because I said I feel like everyone knows I’m the dumbest one at the table and he was exploiting that fact. To be fair, he said, and I’m paraphrasing, “Hey, just to clear the air. I don’t think you’re the dumbest one at the table and I didn’t mean to be insulting or anything like that.” That’s when I said my first apology, that I should have handled it better and I’m still growing. But I felt bad because it kinda set the mood for the rest of the night.
  • That problem made me realize the attachment issue I’ve been working on. I hold on to things I don’t want to let go, and hold on to things I want to let go but can’t, or unintentionally should, let go. These “things” aren’t always physical, but can be. Sometimes, our refusal to let go means that thing has ownership of us. It’s an interesting thing I’ve been exploring.
  • I bet some of you are screaming at me to check out mindfulness. Trust me, I’m working on it. Here are two great audio books on it you can listen to for free, The Power of Now, and 10% Happier (GoldenAudioBooks is an overlooked and undervalued site). My more religiously conservatives will tell me just focus on the Bible and not this new age stuff. But I argue this isn’t new aged, Jesus practiced it, and God is not limited to teaching us things solely through the Bible.
  • Life is meaningless, says the teacher, so says the book of Ecclesiastes. Yesterday I stumbled upon this book about it as I went down a Twitter worm hole. I may download a sample and give it a try.
  • I also know a lot of you are telling me just to act or think a certain way. Trust me, I want to, but it takes work to get there, so I have to blog about the bad so you can understand what I’m going through in order to grow and get there.
  • I find this old story amazing – Rotating the Indiana Bell building
    Between Oct. 12 and Nov. 14 1930 the eight-story 11,000-ton Indiana Bell building was shifted 52 feet south along Meridian St. and rotated 90 degrees to face New York St. Workmen used a concrete mat cushioned by Oregon fir timbers 75-ton, hydraulic jacks and rollers, as the mass moved off one roller workers placed another ahead of it. Every six strokes of the jacks would shift the building three-eights of an inch – moving it 15 inches per hour.

    Gas, electric heat, water and sewage were were maintained to the building all during the move. The 600 workers entered and left the traveling structure using a sheltered passageway that moved with the building. The employees never felt the building move and telephone service went on without interruption. And yes, the move took less than 30 days.

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Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, July 27, 2022

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Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, July 26, 2022

  • Neither my son nor I were high, I promise. But we had an insightful conversation on the way to church examining the words “there” and “their”. He put together that “there” is nothing more than “here” but with a “t” placed in front of it, and both related to location. Then, I did the same thing with “their”, but stated how “heir” and “their” both deal with possession. I’ve always had fun with etymology. Perhaps that’s one reason I enjoy the podcast A Way With Words so much. It makes me giggle anytime they greet a caller with, “You have a way with words. What’s your question, caller?”
  • I saw several news outlets and even LiberallyLean point out how the California Governor ran ads in Texas newspapers calling out Gov. Abbott on guns and abortion law. But all have failed to mention how Texas’ last two governors, Perry and Abbott, started the squabble running and starring in radio ads in California trying to get businesses to move to Texas and mocking California to the point his campaign uses phrases like “Don’t California My Texas” (while collecting big donor checks from the state). The media are making it look like Abbott is getting picked on when he and Perry actually started the fight. Heck, we had it coming. I see nothing wrong with Newsome fighting back and fighting fire with fire.
  • New York pastor and his wife robbed in $400K jewelry heist during livestreamed service – “I didn’t know if they wanted to shoot the church up or if they were just coming for a robbery.” Later in the video he defended his taste for expensive things: “A lot of people are going to say, ‘Why are you so flashy?’ It’s my prerogative to purchase what I want to purchase if I work hard for it.”
  • Pat Benatar won’t sing ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ after spate of mass shootings – The rock singer, who is touring through September, said she’s unable to sing the words with a smile on her face anymore.
  • NASA scientist explains why astronauts should not masturbate in zero gravity – A NASA scientist has explained why there are strict guidelines over “alone-time” onboard in zero gravity.
    • Scientists have warned even the slightest rogue droplet could cause chaos on board. Astronauts have been warned against masturbating in space over fears female astronauts could get impregnated by stray fluids.
    • Sex and masturbation in space is a logistical nightmare, with problems ranging from floating fluids to shrinking manhoods, according to US astronomer Dr John Millis.
  • Post-Covid, Elvis Presley’s Graceland bonds default – Covid-19 hurt Graceland so much that Tennessee state-issued bonds tied to tourist revenue have gone into default. The city of Memphis, the state and Elvis Presley Enterprises are squabbling over how this happened and how to fix a slide that brought some $20 million of Graceland Project bonds down to “junk” status.
  • More than 100 Florida churches file lawsuit to leave United Methodist Church – The lawsuit comes amid a slow-moving schism in the United Methodist Church largely over the ordination and marriage of its LGBTQ members.
    • “Florida is the first of what I would anticipate might be a number of similar lawsuits occurring” as the United Methodist Church slowly schisms, said Keith Boyette, head of the conservative Global Methodist Church.
  • There Is No Remaining Christian Case for Trump – Trump discipled the church more than the church discipled Trump.
    • One of the most amusing recurring conversations of the last six years is the omnipresent effort to explain to me “why Christians support Donald Trump”—as if I need tweet threads or pointed essays to explain to me my own friends, many members of my family, and my own church and neighborhood. I understood perfectly well then. I understand perfectly well now.But there is a key difference between then and now. Now we’ve seen who he is, we know his impact on our nation, and we’ve seen his influence on the church. This isn’t the 2016 primary, it’s not the 2016 or 2020 general elections. There is no more “binary choice,” and what was once a hypothetical presidency was all too real.

  • This rabbit pulled a Maverick move from Top Gun.
    https://twitter.com/FredSchultz35/status/1550895954177531906

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Bag of Randomness for Monday, July 25, 2022

  • The unexpected burp can be quite satisfying. After the belch, you’re like, “Man that felt good, but I had no idea I was feeling uncomfortable. Now I feel refreshed. I didn’t know I needed that. I wonder what other ailment I’m dealing with that I don’t know about that can be remedied with a quick and easy fix?”
  • I watched the NFL Network’s A Football Life on Steve Young. I was curious to hear about his formative and high school years and his connection to the Mormon church. The show didn’t touch on any of that. Well, it did with his great-great-great-grandfather who founded the religion, but only spoke of it briefly in a historical context. I was hoping the show would talk about it like Mitt Romney has, about how it helped shape him into the person he is today. The show did mention that the night before in the Super Bowl he won; he watched City Slickers to distract him from the pregame nerves.
  • City Slickers was the movie I chose for me and the kids to watch on Saturday night. I told them to give it a chance, it would start off slow, but would pick up. Thankfully, they loved it. I haven’t watched the movie since high school, but recall watching it with my father thinking that Billy Crystal’s character was somewhat old. Talk about a punch to the gut when I discovered his character is only 39, and here I am going through a mid-life crisis at 46. I’ll be 47 in a little over a month. Watching it at this age, well past the age of his character, compared to when I was a 16, is quite different. It really has me thinking about “that one thing.” I didn’t get it then, but I somewhat get it now. But re-watching some of these movies about a midlife crisis that I’ve seen in my youth and now as an adult a bit past midlife who is recovering from a crisis is pretty eye-opening.
  • Holding hands has always been a bit weird for me. On a few occasions, when we were in DC, 10-year-old BoyGeeding would grab my hand as we walked. Did I think it was weird? Did I think my son was too old or not manly for wanting to hold his dad’s hand? Heck, no. Without hesitation, I held on to my boy’s until he let go. Each time I thought it might be the last time he would ever want to reach out and hold my hand as we walked.
  • I had the kids for a whole week and it was great. It’s so great not to feel that an hourglass has been turned and the sand is quickly giving in to gravity. Well, I still feel that a bit, but not as much. I had a several very touching conversations with the kids that I think would only come about through the development of time. Those conversations don’t happen when you are crammed for time with your children and not be able to spend time with them separately. But, I’m a little upset at myself. When the kids left, I cried. I still cry when they leave. I’m upset at myself for not being tougher and thicker skinned.
  • One thing I love about the drive home after church with family in my car is talking about what everyone got out of the sermon. Our pastor talked about the life of John Wesley, the father of Methodism. Our church is Presbyterian, so I applaud him of speaking highly of the leader of “another team.” One thing which stuck with me is that waiting isn’t always a passive action, one can actively wait. I never really thought about that before.
  • DaughterGeeding woke up on the wrong side of the bed on Sunday and did not want to go to church. The old me would have talked to her sternly about having the right attitude. But Keith 1.5 who is trying to upgrade to Keith 2.0 used patience and kindness. She was a little hangry, and so was I, so I stopped and got us donuts. Usually, she goes into the donut shop and gets our order as I wait in the car, but she was sporting a little attitude. So, this time, I had BoyGeeding do it. When he came back, he said they gave us donuts right out of the oven. Oh boy, they were so good, and all I could do was talk about their greatness as I drove us to church. DaughterGeeding started laughing at my envious and gluttonous routine of two of the seven deadly sins. I carried it into church, and told her I was replacing every “amen” with “donut.” She laughed at the absurdity, and I held true. Luckily, a lot of the songs had “amen” in it, so there were plenty of donuts to go around. All of this to say, I think she got out of her rut faster with this approach than the old approach.
  • One thing I miss about being a husband is being an encourager. The school year is about to start, and I’d do would I could to help shape my spouse’s attitude as summer winds down and getting back into the groove of things, telling her how cool it is that she will be the very first teacher in most of their lives and they will always remember her as they become lawyers, doctors, food service employees, plumbers, and other contributing members of society.
  • I finally have something positive to say about our lieutenant governor – Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick tests positive for COVID
  • How two Texas megadonors have turbocharged the state’s far-right shift
    • Gun owners allowed to carry handguns without permits or training. Parents of transgender children facing investigation by state officials. Women forced to drive hours out-of-state to access abortion.This is Texas now: While the Lone Star State has long been a bastion of Republican politics, new laws and policies have taken Texas further to the right in recent years than it has been in decades.
  • “We failed”: Gay Republicans who fought for acceptance in Texas GOP see little progress
    • Gay Republicans who have fought for acceptance within the Texas GOP over the past three decades told The Texas Tribune progress has been excruciatingly slow. Many of them have left the party, even as the number of Log Cabin Republicans in Texas continues to grow.Gay Republicans who have fought for acceptance within the Texas GOP over the past three decades told The Texas Tribune progress has been excruciatingly slow. Many of them have left the party, even as the number of Log Cabin Republicans in Texas continues to grow.
  • I thought this was an insightful article and sums up a lot of reasons why I left the evangelical church, this attitude started to spread like wildfire and nothing was beeing done to put it out. Below is a Cliff Note’s version I created. – An ‘imposter Christianity’ is threatening American democracy
    • White Christian nationalist beliefs have infiltrated the religious mainstream so thoroughly that virtually any conservative Christian pastor who tries to challenge its ideology risks their career, says Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of the New York Times bestseller, “Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation.” “These ideas are so widespread that any individual pastor or Christian leader who tries to turn the tide and say, ‘Let’s look again at Jesus and scripture,’ are going to be tossed aside,” she says.
    • The ideas are also insidious because many sound like expressions of Christian piety or harmless references to US history. But White Christian nationalists interpret these ideas in ways that are potentially violent and heretical. Their movement is not only anti-democratic, it contradicts the life and teachings of Jesus, some clergy, scholars and historians say.
      • Here are three key beliefs often tied to White Christian nationalism.
        • A belief that the US was founded as a Christian nation
          • One of the most popular beliefs among White Christian nationalists is that the US was founded as a Christian nation; the Founding Fathers were all orthodox, evangelical Christians; and God has chosen the US for a special role in history.
        • A belief in a ‘Warrior Christ’
          • While warlike language like putting on “the full armor of God” has long been common in Christian sermons and hymns, it has largely been interpreted as metaphorical. But many White Christian nationalists take that language literally.
          • “They want the warrior Christ who wields a bloody sword and defeats his enemies,” says Du Mez. “They want to battle with that Jesus. That Jesus brings peace, but only after he slays his enemies.” And that Jesus sanctions the use of righteous violence if a government opposes God, she says.
        • A belief there’s such a person as a ‘real American’
          • Such language has been co-opted into a worldview held by many White Christian nationalists: The nation is divided between “real Americans” and other citizens who don’t deserve the same rights, experts on White Christian nationalism say.
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