Bag of Randomness for Friday, October 2, 2020


The more I use a Mac the more frustrated I get. Recently, I wanted to check the browsing history on Safari to see what the kids have been visiting on WifeGeeding’s Mac. I could view the history, but Safari doesn’t show the time of day the site was visited, unlike every other web browser. I found the only way to do that was to find a database file in a hidden Library folder. To open it, you need a database program, like SQL Server. But even after doing that, Apple stores the timestamp as a Julian date value, which needs to be converted into a human readable value.


I had no idea there was so much money made from non-factory car and truck mats. The number of Weathertech commercials is outstanding.


This is wrong, but it goes to show that you should act in such a way that no one would have reason to record you.

Secretly recorded tapes show Melania Trump’s frustration at criticism for family separation policy and her bashing of Christmas decorations

My feelings:

Man, the release of that recording was on the first day of October. There’s no telling what other October surprises will pop up.

The war on Christmas starts early. First shots fired from the White House.


Longtime readers know I have a fascination with Howard Hughes. I’m surprised it wasn’t until yesterday I learned Christopher Nolan was to direct a biopic with Jim Carrey portraying the man. Of course, Martin Scorsese made a flick about the man with Leonardo DiCaprio. But talks of the movie with Nolan and Carrey have resurfaces, at least on social media. Here’s an old interview of Carrey speaking about it.


The title of this article from The Nation brought back a lot of memories from my time spent in a Southern Baptist church’s youth group and my college days. I specifically remember being taught that Catholics weren’t really Christians. That never settled well with me. It still comes across as judgemental and makes me ponder who has the authority to say or judge if someone is or is not a Christian.

Who Has the Power to Define Christianity in the US?Since the inception of America, conservatives have regularly—even desperately—sought to distort and exploit religious traditions.


Video of a KC-10 Extender from the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron doing in-flight refueling for F-15 Eagles. The KC-10 crew was mostly made up of Air Force Reservist, which you can hear asking the pilots about their favorite fast food coffee and hamburger preferences from ‘back home.’ Preferences relayed in this video are not an endorsement of the United States Air Force.


Walmart is redesigning its stores. This is what they’ll look like


Bob Murray, Who Fought Against Black Lung Regulations As A Coal Operator, Has Filed For Black Lung Benefits


Russian powerlifter Anna Turaeva told to ‘prove’ she’s a woman before boarding flight


The Unsuccessful WWII Plot to Fight the Japanese With Radioactive Foxes
An outlandish idea codenamed ‘Operation Fantasia’ aimed to demoralize the Axis power by mimicking legendary spirits


Your first look at Jim Carrey as Joe Biden on ‘SNL’ has arrived

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Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, September 30, 2020


Yes, I was surprised the president didn’t say “Goya” at least once.


Since a presidential debate is usually a dignified event, I thought it would be a family education experience and told the kids they could stay up late and watch the debate. As you witnessed, for the first few questions, Trump couldn’t stop interrupting and arguing with Chris Wallace. It surprised the kids at how much they were interrupting each other and said they sound just like them when they argue. As the bickering with Trump and Wallace continued, a frustrated DaughterGeeding yelled, “Someone needs to duct tape Trump’s mouth and put a mask over it!” Oh goodness, I haven’t laughed that hard in a long, long time. I remember watching my first presidential debate with my father, I wonder if DaughterGeeding will remember this and her snarly comment.


You can criticize Chris Wallace all you want, but I don’t know how the hell anyone would manage that thing.


A few seconds after Trump starting answering the first question, WifeGeeding was intrigued that he didn’t thank the moderator and opponent, and say all those pleasantries. I was intrigued to see so much purple on the debate stage set, certainly different from all others I’ve seen.


I had this mental image of former presidents Bush and Obama watching the debate together, sipping on a couple of non-alcoholic drinks.


I had to spend $600 on air conditioner repairs. At least the weather was pleasant, we didn’t “suffer”.


Lillian Brown, Makeup Artist to Nine Presidents, Dies at 106

Long before there were high-priced media consultants coaching the political elite, there was Lillian Brown, a common-sense farm girl from Ohio. She applied makeup for nine presidents, from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Bill Clinton. But she did much more than powder noses. She advised on diction, apparel and camera angles.


The Story Behind Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ Slogan

The best place to start is the Utah State Prison on the morning of Jan. 17, 1977.

“What was happening that morning was actually a very landmark event,” says Timothy Bella, Morning Mix deputy editor for the Washington Post. “A man named Gary Gilmore was actually set to be the first person to be executed in the United States in a 10-year period.”

The 36-year-old Gilmore had killed two men in Utah.

“And he is set to be executed by firing squad, so a very brutal execution,” Bella says. “And that day he’s in a plain T-shirt with a bag over his head.”

Gilmore was asked if he had anything to say.

“And his last words were, ‘Let’s do it,’ ” Bella says.


Cursing is more contagious than COVID.

Parrots removed from UK family safari park after teaching each other to swear – and laughing about it. – ‘Because they were all quarantined together it meant that one room was just full of swearing birds’


Why a Vintage ‘Aladdin’ Shirt Sold for $6,000—and Why It Won’t Be The Last
The Genie shirt is just the latest and most bonkers example from a 90s nostalgia vintage market that has been heating up for years.

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Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, September 29, 2020


I’d like to thank the Dallas Stars for those six games of the Stanley Cup Finals. It was a fun run, renewed my interesting in local sports, and allowed me to bond with my children over something new. And they did all of this after their head coach was fired for behavior relating to alcoholism.


Tonight we’ll see the first debate between President Trump and former Vice-President Biden. Trump will perform badly if history is a precedent. Most of the books I’ve read about presidential history state that the incumbent performs poorly for a combination of factors. First, running the country preoccupies them. Second, since they are in office and have been through this process, they feel debating isn’t their first rodeo and have a sense of overconfidence going in. Third, depending on their staff, no one likes telling the president no or that they disagree with him, he’s become use to everyone agreeing with him and hasn’t had to offer a rebuttal in years. And fourth, he’s always around people who try to lift his spirits and praise him even when he does poor, so the president gets this false sense that everything he does is well and dandy. I specifically remember reading this about Obama after his first debate with Romney, who won handily. Obama walked off the stage thinking he did well and was easily the victor, but his staff and the public thought differently and lived in reality and had to have a coming to Jesus talk with him. Obama, who was receptive to the feedback, worked hard on his preparation on the next two debates and considered the winner of them.


I’m surprised I haven’t thought of this before, but I recently learned that sometime a Supreme Court justice will ask a certain question only to try to persuade a fellow justice. I suppose that’s not all that different from trying to sway a potential juror, which in the case of the Supreme Court, would be a justice.


When it comes to replacing liberal icons on the Supreme Court, modern Republican presidents have appointed the most extreme polar opposite. That happened when Clearance Thomas replaced Thurgood Marshall and it will with Amy Coney Barrett replacing RBG.


Laid-off Albany teachers rehired as substitutes for same classrooms

 Some Albany city school district teachers and staff who on Friday told students they would not be returning to work Monday because their jobs had been cut learned over the weekend they had been rehired to teach as substitutes at a lesser per diem rate, according to union leaders.


Random memory – How cassettes tapes were packaged to prevent shoplifting.



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Bag of Randomness for Monday, September 28, 2020


Now would be an interesting time to do a time-capsule. You could include a mask, hand sanitizer, a thumb drive of docs and photos (who knows if the technology will be the same), and all sort of current events stuff related to Civil War monuments and BLM. I’m sure a MAGA hat would have to be included and perhaps a vape pen.


There’s a new bombshell story about President Trump’s tax records, but it doesn’t matter because all his supporters and the Republican party don’t care about anything he’s had done or will do. He said it himself. He could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in broad daylight and get away with murder. I suppose Senator Klobuchar speaks for the rest of us.


I’ll tell you this about Amy Coney Barrett, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. Every time I hear her name, I think the person who says it is going to say Amy Farrah Fowler.


I’m stoked there’s a new season of Fargo but surprised they released two episodes totally almost three hours.


I noticed in both college and NFL football broadcasts, Fox Sports used an obnoxious in-your-face graphic every time a team scores a touchdown.


I have nothing to prove it, but there’s just something sketchy about Wayfair.


In an email newsletter sent to alumni, Hardin-Simmons included an article about putting together an emergency box to grab in case of a fire or immediate evacuation. They suggested items to include such as wills, powers of attorney, deeds, financial records, birth certificates, and social security cards. I thought this information would be a good idea twenty years ago, but I’m sure most folks have a digital record of most of these items and if you are like me, I store them in the cloud using the most secure method I know. You can print all that stuff easily. And sure, I agree sometimes copies of an item, like a Social Security card, aren’t sufficient and you need the real thing, but HSU has always had a problem being up to date.


Our school gave parents a deadline of last Friday to decide if we wanted to send kids back to campus for the rest of the calendar year. To make the best informed decision we could, we looked at the most up to date numbers listed on the Texas Health and Human Services website. Student cases continue to tick up, and that may be because some districts have staggered dates on when they allowed students back on campus, and teachers/staff have been ticking up but took an interesting downturn. The site should be updated later with updated data.


Sadly, another Texas child has lost his life because of a brain-eating amoeba. But this child wasn’t at a lake, river, or pond, but a city spashpad. Now, city officials are urging residents to only use the city’s water for flushing the toilet. 2020 continues to gut us.

Three water samples out of 11 taken tested positive for genetic material related to naegleria fowleri, including a test of a water hose bib at McIntyre’s home.

The other two positive tests were in samples taken from the civic center water feature and a fire hydrant, according to Lake Jackson City Manager Modesto Mundo.


Three local stores are on this list.

125 Black-Owned Bookstores in America That Amplify the Best in Literature


Military suicides up as much as 20% in COVID era

Military suicides have increased by as much as 20% this year compared to the same period in 2019, and some incidents of violent behavior have spiked as service members struggle under COVID-19, war-zone deployments, national disasters and civil unrest.

While the data is incomplete and causes of suicide are complex, Army and Air Force officials say they believe the pandemic is adding stress to an already strained force. And senior Army leaders — who say they’ve seen about a 30% jump in active duty suicides so far this year — told The Associated Press that they are looking at shortening combat deployments


OC sheriff’s deputies who lied on reports testify that they didn’t know it was illegal

Two fired Orange County sheriff’s deputies convicted of lying on their police reports testified recently before a grand jury that they didn’t know it was illegal to falsify the documents, transcripts show.

Joseph Anthony Atkinson Jr., 39, and Bryce Richmond Simpson, 31, had neglected to book evidence but falsified their reports to say they had. The once routine practice of sheriff’s deputies booking evidence by the end of their shifts, as required by department policy and state law, was ignored for years in hundreds of cases where evidence was booked late or not at all, an internal audit found.


If these ever show up in Texas, I think they would have a bigger impact if the first line said, “I’m Southern Baptist.” Sure, there are Christians who are voting for Biden, but “Christian” is a wide brush which can incorporate Catholics and liberal denominations, it’s a whole other meaning to say a Southern Baptist is voting liberal.


If you want the story behind the picture at the top of the post, here you go.



Go ahead and talk about her mama.

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