BagOfNothing.com

• I find it interesting the first vacation destination my ex is taking our kids just happens to be the city in which one of the men she committed emotional infidelity with lives. You can’t make this stuff up. It’s also interesting her sister and her husband are tagging along for the trip. She’s an adult, she doesn’t need help. Most likely, they’ll watch the children one evening when the ex goes out and rekindles her relationship with the man she couldn’t help but reach out to when married to me and who she had her first sexual encounter with.
• Some of the best advice I received regarding my ex is to look at her as nothing but a glorified baby sitter I pay to watch the kids because there’s no way she can love or care for the children better than me. It’s one of the best ways to justify the child support she’s receiving, though it doesn’t appear she’s spending most of it on them. Most recently, I discovered for weeks our son only had two pairs of socks and she wouldn’t even buy our daughter basic softball equipment.
• In the latest trailer for the Top Gun sequel, Maverick, we learn that Val Kilmer’s character, Iceman, has made the rank of admiral.
• Maverick comes out May 27. The Obi Wan series on Disney+ drops on May 25. That will be the most impactful two days in pop culture cinema history, at the least in terms of the continuation of two major icons.
• Texas among most stressed states in U.S., study says
• This should be a fun and interesting thing to watch, at least for me – ‘Benjamin Franklin’ by Ken Burns premieres April 4 on PBS,
  • Ken Burns’s four-hour documentary, Benjamin Franklin, explores the revolutionary life of one of the 18th century’s most consequential figures, whose work and words unlocked the mystery of electricity and helped create the United States.
• Exxon is mining bitcoin in North Dakota as part of its plan to slash emissions
• Formers Cowboys QB and current Cowboys radio analyst Babe Laufenberg lost his son to cancer, I think three or four years ago. Yesterday, he tweeted he lost his older brother (Stanford grad. Loyola Law School) to some “demons”.
• Jim Thome’s wife dominating Twitter after canceling Browns season tickets over Deshaun Watson trade – The former Cleveland news anchor and Miss Ohio has replied to both supporters and haters after dropping the family’s season tickets
  • Andrea Thome, the wife of Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Thome, has been fighting Twitter trolls ever since she announced her family was canceling their Cleveland Browns season tickets as a form of protest against the Deshaun Watson trade. She’s taking out the bad-faith actors in the best way possible: Never losing her cool, answering any questions or doubts they may have and fact-checking them at every turn.

• I just celebrated my ten-year anniversary at my place of employment. Along with a plaque, I get five extra vacation days and reimbursed up to $5,000 for a dream vacation. For years, I told my wife I was going to take her to the Disney resort in Hawaii, combining two of her favorite things, the beach and Disney. Now, I’m not sure what I’ll do. I always thought I’d celebrate this moment with my spouse. There were times I wanted to jump ship for one reason or another, but the flexible work/life balance and this dream vacation where big motivators to stay on.
• Stephen Colbert is right, the best way to offend a comedian is to not laugh.
• As Will Smith approached Chris Rock, I’m surprised how Rock kept both hands behind his back the entire time. That, in itself, is a lot to digest. He’s as unarmed and exposed as he can be. If I knew someone was walking up to me, upset or evenly playfully upset, my hands would at least be in front of me.
  
• Pressing the “period” key goes frame by frame in YouTube.
• Nearly 40% of Texas Workers Make Less Than $15 an Hour, New Research Shows
• Inside Ted Cruz’s last-ditch battle to keep Trump in power – The Texas senator’s effort alienated some allies and sparked questions about ties to John Eastman, a longtime friend and author of key legal memos in Trump’s efforts.
• Arkansas State treasurer candidate says bankruptcies make him a better candidate

On inauguration day, when most Republican leaders are concentrating on new President Nixon, Congressman George Bush graciously goes to Andrews Air Force Base to shake hands with fellow Texan, departing President Johnson, January 20, 1969: pic.twitter.com/lTJzJnz7X2

— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) March 29, 2022

https://twitter.com/overtime/status/1508469562987225089

Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith being in "G.I. Jane" because of her bald head. She's spoken openly about having a hair loss condition. Will Smith ran on stage, slapped Rock, then screamed twice at the top of his lungs "KEEP MY WIFE'S NAME OUT OF YOUR F-NG MOUTH."

— Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA) March 28, 2022

Uncensored video of what just happened between Will Smith and Chris Rock at the #Oscars pic.twitter.com/J1sHYL0uQj

— This Is What’s Trending Now (@TrendingThisIs) March 28, 2022

• Make fun of Liza Minnelli all you want, but Lady Gaga is grace under pressure when she’s in the spotlight.
• Both dates went well. There will be seconds with each. It’s all part of a process of rediscovering and not trying to get ahead or be too hard on myself. Perhaps it’s not a welcome process or one I’m embracing, but it’s one I must go through to make the most out of life instead of allowing life to make the most out of me. Easier said than done.
• One date was playfully romantic. I arrived early and waited for her arrival as she arrived late because of traffic. When she got there, she wanted me to spot her, so she kept texting me directions for areas to look at until I found her. She was in a good a spot. While I was on the ground floor of a courtyard, she was on the fourth floor of a parking garage staring at me. When we met, I told her she was my Lee Harvey, and I was her JFK.
• Sometimes you have to turn down a moment of pleasure for a lifetime of happiness.
• I just wasn’t into the Oscars this year. I wondering if it’s a sign of the product, aging, or how I used to really enjoy watching it with my ex.
• I don’t know what I enjoyed or was touched by more, the announcement of CODA‘s Troy Kotsur winning the Oscar, the crowd using sign-language to clap, or his acceptance speech.
• Yes, I have a problem using split infinitives. Why stop now?
• Yesterday’s Wordle answer was NYMPH. Considering how most user’s first guess use a combination of vowels and common letters, I bet yesterday set a record for the number of times users didn’t guess a single letter in their first guess. I’m in the camp how don’t look favorable to people who use ADIEU. Besides, letter position is more important than knowing which vowels are in the word.
• While I’m thankful Ukraine is still holding strong, I’m sure I’m not the only one who expected this thing to be over weeks ago.
• I forgot retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was born a Texan (El Paso). She turned 92 over the weekend, and I bet many of you were surprised to know she’s still alive.
• Speaking of still alive, Alan Greenspan (husband of NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell) is 96 – Is a recession coming? Alan Greenspan says the answer is in men’s underwear
  • “He once told me that … the garment that is most private is male underpants, because nobody sees it except people in the locker room, and who cares?” longtime NPR correspondent Robert Krulwich said of Greenspan years ago. Those sales are usually stable, “so on those few occasions where it dips, that means that men are so pinched that they are deciding not to replace underpants.”The men’s underwear index (yes, it exists) backs up Greenspan’s theory: US sales of men’s underwear fell significantly from 2007 to 2009, during the Great Recession, but gained steam again in 2010 as the economy recovered.
• A civil suit reveals new details in the case of a Philly woman whose death by 20 stab wounds was ruled suicide

• I thought I’ve seen every Michael Jordan photo there is, but this is the first I’ve seen of this one. It’s an amazing one, look at how high he is and he has to protect himself from hitting the backboard.
• I haven’t watched a lot of March Madness, but the basketball looked like it is a brighter orange.
• Sometimes a random thought will run across my mind and just stop me down. That happened yesterday, when, for some reason, it occurred to me it may be a normal thing for college students to write an entire paper on their mobile phone. Then, I thought about how I would utilize a smart phone in college. Like, if I got somewhere early and had 15-minutes to kill, would I take advantage of the technology on my phone and get some homework or studying done?
• I helped a fellow parent yesterday by watching her child after school, taking him to soccer practice with my son, and then to his home. When I dropped him off and visited their lovely home, I became profoundly sad, but tried to not show it on the outside. Maybe it was jealousy or envy, I’m not sure. But everything seemed perfect for them, a complete family unit in a nice house. It made me mourn what I had and what was unexpectedly taken from me. At least I tried to enjoy and cherish it while it lasted. When you lose your parents early in life, as well as your best friend, you tend to take things in more so than the average person. The mother was visiting her father in the hospital, who had a heart procedure. I shared how my father had an unexpected heart ailment three days before I graduated high school, and thanks to a pacemaker, I got four borrowed years. And, in those four years, I tried to soak in and take advantage of every moment possible. It then reminded me about last Father’s Day. Initially, my ex wasn’t going to allow me to see our children that day until I begged and she gave in and allowed me to have breakfast with them before she took them to her parent’s house. She tried to reason that I didn’t get to visit my father on every Father’s Day, so I shouldn’t be making a big deal about not being able to see my kids on that day. That really bothered me because I came home from college for every Father’s Day. She never met my father and had no idea if I spend every one of those special days with him or not.
• Paralyzed Man Speaks First Words with Brain Implant, ‘I Want a Beer’
• Microplastics found in human blood for first time
  • Microplastic pollution has been detected in human blood for the first time, with scientists finding the tiny particles in almost 80% of the people tested.The discovery shows the particles can travel around the body and may lodge in organs. The impact on health is as yet unknown. But researchers are concerned as microplastics cause damage to human cells in the laboratory and air pollution particles are already known to enter the body and cause millions of early deaths a year.
• This is some amazing footage which happened in our area, and this guy is indebted to his friend for life. It happened in 2014, first written about in April 2020, and the first I’ve seen of it was yesterday. The professional skydiver wearing the helmet camera that recorded the footage didn’t post it because the jumper involved didn’t want his family to see what kind of danger he’d been in.  You’ll see a skydiver get knocked out by a another one who collides with him at the 0:50 mark, and another friend pulls a Point Break maneuver and pulls his unconscious friend’s chute open at the 1:09 mark, saving his life. Here’s an article about it. Here’s another writeup and a video from another perspective.
  • The save: The hit obviously had knocked him unconscious. I immediately go to my back and start to drive at the jumper who who was hit. He was in a flat spin on his back. The only thought I remember having was “Get there.” I then transition to my belly, and use all the surface area I could to fly over to him. I stop his spin, and tried to roll him over to his belly to no avail. (Apparently roll overs are easier when they’re awake.) At 5,000 feet I make the decision to pull his reserve. My logic behind the decision of pulling his reserve, rather than his main, is that the reserve is designed to open and land more docile than a typical main parachute. If he fell all the way until his AAD fired —he would be under a reserve anyway, but with 4,000 less feet of altitude to regain consciousness. I then got down to the ground as fast as I could, so that I could notify someone to call 911.The aftermath:The KO’d jumper regained consciousness under his reserve, and somehow flew a text book student pattern. He landed like a sack of potatoes in the main landing area. The other jumper landed safely in the main as well. Everyone walked away that day. Some with a bruised ego, some with a bruised face.

• Florida: Mission Everglades has a unique interactive experience with their animals. Here’s an old YouTube clip about it.