BagOfNothing.com

• Yup, I play Wordle every day, usually around lunch time.
• Yesterday, for the first time in over a year, I walked into my house from running an errand and yelled, “I’m home,” and someone responded. DaughterGeeding has been staying with me as she completes her COVID isolation. It’s the little things you miss when you’re divorced, like someone greeting you when you come home.
• It turns out that image I posted yesterday of a haunted Baker Hotel is now an album cover.
• I have a date tonight. That feels weird to type and to admit. It will be my fourth or fifth since we separated, each with a different woman. Tonight will be the first time I meet this woman in person after chatting for over a month. One issue when I date is that I often think of my ex-wife, which is wrong, because my date deserves my full attention. One thing I’ve learned getting back into the dating pool is to set my expectations to be low. Dating in your forties is nothing like it was in your twenties, especially when both of you have children. At a minimum, just look forward to meeting someone new and learning a little something about them.
• There are two types of women on dating apps. One prefers to message a lot to get to know one another before meeting in person, and the other would rather meet in person sooner than later and do away with all the messaging.
• I had a date two weeks ago. Even though she was a doppelgänger for my ex’s sister, she was really nice, but we just didn’t click. And, the date ended rather early. I tried to be a gentleman and walk her to her vehicle, but she declined the offer. C’est la vie.
• Seems like a lot – SpaceX planning to launch up to 52 missions in 2022
• FlowingData.com – Here’s a more detailed view of how much Americans make per year.
• Remember Octomom? Her kids are now 13.
• An Air Stewardess Fell 33,000 Feet And Lived To Tell The Tale 50 Years Ago Today – The story of Vesna Vulovic’s survival after a DC-9 airliner exploded in mid-air is a miraculous one.
• Former Nazi speaks in new BBC documentary
  • Hans Werk grew up in Nazi Germany. His primary school teacher was active in the local Nazi Party. At school, he was taught Nazi doctrine. At ten years old, he joined the Hitler Youth, and later the SS.His story features in a new documentary, filmed over 10 years, about the last living generation of Germans in Hitler’s Third Reich.
• Iceland preserves last Big Mac meal as a historical artifact – The last Icelandic locations of the chain closed in 2009.
• Google Has a New Plan to Kill Cookies. People Are Still Mad – Google has scrapped FLoC, its controversial cookie replacement. Now it’s back with Topics—but rivals and privacy experts are still nervous.
• The Texas Tribune has a feature which will let you see how your voting district was gerrymandered has changed. Here’s mine.
  

• I found that image of the Baker Hotel from this Twitter account.
• Here’s a great article for those who are fond of Texas Country Reporter.
• Meat Loaf Was My Softball Coach –  I remember seeing a movie about himself which he starred in and him coaching softball.
• I’m reminded of the movie Contact. Let’s just hope we don’t end up seeing a swastika. – Unknown space object beaming out radio signals every 18 minutes remains a mystery
• This made me laugh.

https://twitter.com/WUTangKids/status/1486356927894495232

• Since there’s Supreme Court justice news, here’s a little history of LBJ and Thurgood Marshall from Michael Beschloss’s Twitter account.
  • LBJ deliberately created a Supreme Court vacancy so he could appoint Thurgood Marshall as first Black Justice, 1967. Did so by asking Ramsey Clark to be his AG and telling Ramsey that his father, Tom, would have to thus quit SCOTUS in order to avoid conflicts of interest:
  • LBJ no doubt also enjoyed manipulating Ramsey Clark to reveal an aspect of his character by forcing his own father, Tom, to resign from SCOTUS, a job Tom loved, in order for Ramsey to achieve his ambition of becoming Attorney General.
  • Once Ramsey Clark became LBJ’s Attorney General in 1967, the President grew disenchanted with Clark and largely stopped speaking to him. He thenceforth communicated with Ramsey through Clark’s embarrassed deputy, Warren Christopher, so I was told by the latter.
  • Long after his adventures with Ramsey Clark and LBJ, Warren Christopher would become Bill Clinton’s first Secretary of State.
• Yesterday I read about racist Supreme Court Justice James Clark McReynolds. He was so disliked by the other justices that none of them attended his funeral and he died alone in the hospital in 1946. In contrast, as the clerk noted, when McReynolds’s aged African-American messenger, Harry Parker, died in 1953, his funeral was attended by five or six Justices, including the Chief Justice. He is also one of five justices who never married.
• The baseball Twitter accounts I follow seem to mention Tony Gwynn quite a bit as of late, and I don’t mind it one bit. The man was greatness. A few of the things I’ve read:
  • Tony Gwynn faced 885 different pitchers over the course of his career. Five of them struck him out more than 5 times and none of them struck him out more than 10 times.
  • Tony Gwynn averaged 21 K’s per year for his career. Last year, 152 players struck out at least 21 times before April was over. Legend among legends.
  • Tony Gwynn struck out just 19 times in 110 games in 1994, the year he hit .394 and led the league with a .454 OBP. Next year, in 135 games, he struck out 15 times.
  • 148 major league batters struck out 100+ times this year. Tony Gwynn struck out 434 times in 20 years.
  • Tony Gwynn batted .338 for his career. No other Padre has hit .338 during any one single season.
  • In a 731-game span of regular season games, Tony Gwynn had 1,002 hits and 99 strikeouts.
  • Tony Gwynn hit .302 with two strikes on him. In the 30-plus years that stat has been tracked, the next-best batting average with two strikes is .260 by Wade Boggs, more than 40 points below Gwynn’s mark.
  • Tony Gwynn hit .400 for a stretch as long as a season… from July 3, 1993 to May 9, 1995, he batted .403 over a 179-game stretch.
  • Tony Gwynn faced Hall of Famers Greg Maddux and Pedro Martinez a combined total of 143 times during his career. He batted .388 against the pair and never struck out.
    
  • Tony Gwynn was a freak athlete. This man got drafted by the Padres and the Clippers on the same day.
    

Babe Ruth demonstrates how to throw a fastball, curveball and knuckleball. You’ll want to watch this pic.twitter.com/toNYe2Th2F

— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) January 27, 2022

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• I thought this was a good point regarding the Sean Payton to Dallas rumors –If McCarthy gets ripped by some for winning just one Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers, why doesn’t Payton get knocked for winning just one Super Bowl with Drew Brees?

  McCarthy went to the playoffs nine times with the Green Bay Packers, including four NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl. Payton went to the playoffs nine times, including three NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl.)

• Brian Williams turns down CBS News’ attempt to recruit him for the ‘Evening News’ – I’m a sucker for the evening news, who sits behind the anchor desk, and what each station decides is the nation’s top news story. So, this story caught my attention. I not much of a fan of Norah O’Donnell, though I really enjoyed Scott Pelley and Bob Schieffer’s time behind the anchor desk. I’m surprised this man was able to remake his image. I doubt Laurer can do the same.
• The first college dorm I lived in is about to be torn down, to my surprise. I thought that thing would be there forever. It was the least liked of the two male dorms on campus because of community bathrooms, but it was one of those things in which because we lived in the “lesser” of the two dorms, we developed a certain pride in living there.
  
• Apple’s AirTag uncovers a secret German intelligence agency
• Michigan woman checks spam folder and learns she won the lottery –
  Laura Spears, 55, has now added the lottery to her safe senders list in case of future jackpots – A woman in Michigan checked her spam email folder – and found out she had won a $3m lottery prize.
• YouTube – I Ran EVERY DAY For Two Years | 731 days of running, what happened?
• 30 Brilliant Ways The Internet Roasted ‘Self-Made’ Millionaires – But people are getting fed up with being told lies. They claim that self-made billionaires are nothing more than another case of nepotism, a common practice of power that favors relatives by giving them exclusive opportunities. We collected some of the most eye-opening arguments about it
  
  
• I ran across this AI brand making tool called Brandmark.io. All you have to do is enter in your brand name, and few descriptors, and select a theme. In two clicks you have a plethora of logos to choose from. I toyed around with it to see what kind of logos it would make for this blog. Some of them have potential. I also took the liberty to see what kind of logo’s it would make for LiberallyLean.com.
  
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• I wonder when this knot in my stomach will go away and I’ll crave a big meal again. That knot has been there since November 2020 and has caused all my weight loss.
• I totally relate to this. When I was a full-time husband and father, all I did was look for ways to make my family happy because it brought me joy. Filling that void has been tough. – Trying to make other people happy makes us happier than trying to make ourselves happy
• A few weeks ago I bought some small potato stocks which specialize in mining cobalt in Utah. – Idaho Is Sitting On One Of The Most Important Elements On Earth – The clean-energy revolution is unleashing a rush on cobalt, reviving old mines—and old questions—in a remote forest.
• The Winter Olympics are coming. So is the China-funded sponcon – As the 2022 Winter Olympics spin up in and around Beijing, The Guardian reports that the Chinese government has, via a consulting firm, hired scores of social media influencers in an attempt to burnish its tarnished reputation. The UK firm in question is reportedly tasked with promoting the content specifically in the United States. The content in question will allegedly both highlight Beijing’s history and culture, as well as emphasize positive aspects of the relationship between China and the U.S.
• Two-thirds of anti-vax propaganda online created by just 12 influencers, research finds
• I haven’t even thought about it, but he just might be the next GOP nominee for president – Mike Pompeo shells out for media makeover 
  • Mike Pompeo’s political action committee spent $30,000 on media training from last March to June — the most on any service beyond payroll during the first six months of 2021.Why it matters: The former secretary of State hasn’t just been losing weight but working to hone his media skills amid speculation about a possible presidential run, records show.
• New Texas teachers leaving the job most after their first year, study says
  • A recent study found new teachers in Texas are leaving the job after their first year at an alarming rate. It’s an issue education leaders say is adding to staff shortages districts are already facing from the pandemic. “Unfortunately, we’re seeing a lot of burnout in teachers in their first year of teaching,” said Jackie Anderson, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers.
• San Angelo Regains Title as Top True Western City – For four years in a row, True West magazine has selected San Angelo to the Top 10 list of Top True Western Towns in the U.S. In 2019, the city was named #2; in 2020, we topped the list at #1, and in 2021, we were #2.
• Nothing Sacred: These Apps Reserve The Right To Sell Your Prayers – Prominent venture capitalists are flocking to invest in Christian worship apps. The apps say users’ prayers are a business asset.
  • For example: Pray.com collects data about its users in multiple ways. According to its privacy policy, the company records detailed information about users, including their physical location, the links they click on, and the text of the posts they make. Then, it supplements that information with data from “third-parties such as data analytics providers and data brokers,” which can include “your gender, age, religious affiliation, ethnicity, marital status, household size and income, political party affiliation and interests… geographic location, and Personal Information.” The policy also says Pray.com shares users’ personal information, including identifiers that link their activity to specific devices, with “third parties” for “commercial purposes.”
• This is the highest-paid job in every state, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics – Here’s the data for Texas.
  
• I think this will be a fun watch, and I like the idea of a different guest star for each episode (bad language warning) – In the trailer for Netflix’s Murderville, Senior Detective Terry Seattle (Will Arnett) gets to work solving homicides, each time with a different celebrity partner — who has no script and no context.

• Weird orbit of the James Webb telescope shown in NASA animation

• Dorothy “Dot” Counts-Scoggins (born March 25, 1942) is an American civil rights pioneer, and one of the first black students admitted to the Harry Harding High School. After four days of harassment that threatened her safety, her parents withdrew her from the school, but the images of Dorothy being verbally assaulted by her white classmates were seen around the world.
  • In 2006, Counts-Scoggins received an email from a man named Woody Cooper. He had admitted to being one of the boys in the famous picture and wanted to apologize. They met up for lunch where Cooper asked her to forgive him and she responded by saying, “I forgave you a long time ago, this is opportunity to do something for our children and grandchildren.”

    They agreed to share their story and from there, did many interviews and speaking engagements together. In 2008, Dorothy Counts-Scoggins along with seven other people were honored for helping integrate North Carolina’s public schools. Each honoree received the Old North State Award from Governor Mike Easley. In 2010, Harding High School renamed its library in honor of Counts-Scoggins, an honor rarely bestowed upon living persons.
    

    

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