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Country Time sending $100 stimulus checks to kids with lemonade stands

The lemonade and soft-drink company is mailing out $100 “bailout checks” to kids as part of its “Littlest Bailout Relief Fund.”  It’s a nod to the Payment Protection Plan, a federal loan program that helps keep small businesses afloat.

“Due to social distancing guidelines, lemonade stands aren’t what they used to be, and we want to help kids foster their entrepreneurial spirit by offering a small relief to those who can’t operate their lemonade stands this summer,” Andrew Deckert, a brand manager at Country Time, said in a statement.

WifeGeeding’s birthday was last week. My gift to her was an ice maker that makes the nugget ice you get from Sonic.

I donated blood recently at Carter Bloodcare. One benefit of donation is a free total cholesterol test, but they now also provide a free COVID-19 antibodies test. I tested negative and the cholesterol was under 200 and could be better.

The NBA is doing a great job of making the best out of an empty arena for a television audience.

Person, woman, man, camera, TV.

There’s a small spot on the bottom of my nose that has been irritating me for about three years. It seems to flare up at times, the pain isn’t always constant and some weeks can be worst than others. I really don’t like it when it flares up because my CPAP nasal mask directly hits it. I saw a dermatologist about it last year and was prescribed an antibiotic ointment. That didn’t help so she prescribed a stronger antibiotic, but for some reason, I never followed up after that visit. However, I did visit her last week and she took a biopsy. I received the results yesterday and was given a diagnosis which I can’t pronounce, but, in short, it’s pre-cancerous and I’ll be going in on Friday for her to burn/freeze it off with liquid nitrogen. I probably should have taken this more seriously a lot earlier considering my father had skin cancer and not only had a lot of the liquid nitrogen burning/freezing procedures but a snippet of his ear removed. Right now, I can almost hear my friend Brent yelling at me as his father succumbed from skin cancer.

‘Dangerous road hazard’: Texas police warn motorists of tire-flattening spikes scattered on major highway

A weapon used for centuries is endangering motorists on a major roadway in Texas.

Caltrops, sometimes called “stop spikes,” have been recovered by police in the state along Interstate 20 throughout July. The Smith County Sheriff’s Office on July 9 reported more than 30 were recovered over a week. Local news outlets reported more were found Tuesday.

The I-20 is known as the Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway within the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The spiked caltrops have been found roughly 100 miles east of Dallas.

“This device is a tire deflation device and is a prohibited weapon by the Texas Penal Code,” the sheriff’s office said on its Facebook page. “A person commits an offense if the person intentionally or knowingly possesses, manufactures, transports, repairs, or sells a tire deflation device. This offense is a state jail felony.”

Person, woman, man, camera, TV.

This will be all of us trying to talk to other people when the pandemic is over pic.twitter.com/qo5qGvzNFu

— Dave Brown (@dave_brown24) July 22, 2020

DFW’s MedStar ambulance service says it has responded to about 100% more cardiac arrests this month than it did in July of 2019.

Someone recently recommended ABC pants from Lululemon as the ultimate non-jeans pants for males. I’ll be honest, I’m not secure enough in my masculinity to buy anything from Lululemon. And to more honest, I’m not willing to spend $128 on a single pair of pants. But, I learned “ABC” stands for anti-ball crushing pants.

Man, that’s a lot of money. But then again, it probably takes a lot of money to entice a house speaker.

Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder arrested in $60 million bribery case

Federal agents arrested Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and four others Tuesday as part of a $60 million racketeering and bribery investigation that prosecutors described as one of the largest public corruption cases in Ohio history.

All the charges are tied to what federal prosecutors said was a criminal enterprise dedicated to securing a bailout for two nuclear power plants in northern Ohio owned by FirstEnergy Solutions of Akron. The bailout is expected to cost the state’s utility ratepayers $1 billion.

I think it was last year when WifeGeeding was trying to convince me that camouflage clothing was “in style”. I laughed and told her that camouflage will always be associated with red-necks and such. All that came to mind when new photos of the future king of England were released.

Person, woman, man, camera, TV.

This guy is part of the Trump campaign’s leadership team and doesn’t understand that it’s literally Trump’s America right now.

This would be @JoeBiden’s America.

It’s a very scary place.pic.twitter.com/CokumE7uPG

— Boris Epshteyn (@BorisEP) July 22, 2020

I applaud this man’s efforts and pulling it off. I’d suggest one of their future kids’ middle name be that of the comet.

Upstate New York couple goes viral with engagement under comet NEOWISE

Can I get a retweet for what I pulled off last night? We even saw the ISS pass by! @SpaceX @NASA @elonmusk @astro_g_dogg @Space_Station #NeowiseComet pic.twitter.com/b9HhpOvqto

— John Nicotera (@YohnnyNic) July 19, 2020

A fellow Perry Mason fan was nice enough to inform me that the Sister Alice character is based on Aimee McPherson, a famous evangelist in LA during the time period of the Mason-origin story. Milton Berle claimed to have had an affair with her. And it appears the latest season of Showtime’s Penny Dreadful focuses on her as well.

Aimee Elizabeth Semple McPherson (née Kennedy; October 9, 1890 – September 27, 1944), also known as Sister Aimee or Sister, was a Canadian Pentecostal evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s, famous for founding the Foursquare Church. McPherson pioneered the use of modern media in religious services, using radio to draw on the growing appeal of popular entertainment and incorporating stage techniques into her weekly sermons at Angelus Temple, an early megachurch.

In her time she was the most publicized Protestant evangelist, surpassing Billy Sunday and other predecessors. She conducted public faith healing demonstrations involving tens of thousands of participants. McPherson’s view of the United States as a nation founded and sustained by divine inspiration influenced later pastors.

National news coverage focused on events surrounding her family and church members, including accusations she fabricated her reported kidnapping

Speaking of the show – Perry Mason Renewed at HBO

Since it’s a short book, I might just give this a read as the thought itself is interesting, whether it be Trump or any future president.

What Could Happen If Donald Trump Rejects Electoral Defeat?

Lawrence Douglas, a legal scholar and a professor at Amherst College, gave himself the task of methodically thinking through the unthinkable. The result is a slim book, “Will He Go? Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020.” Douglas begins by taking the President at his word. “While his defeat is far from certain,” he writes, “what is not uncertain is how Donald Trump would react to electoral defeat, especially a narrow one. He will reject the result.”

Whatever happened to the summer job? – How seasonal gigs became a nostalgic relic of the past for many of today’s young people.

Much of the drop traces back to the Great Recession, which led to a dramatic decrease in the number of teens who work during summers, according to research from the Urban Institute. A June 2020 report on the summer job outlook for teens in light of Covid-19 from Drexel University’s Center for Labor Markets and Policy suggests the pandemic has set back any gains since: Had the pandemic not happened, the report explains, seasonally adjusted teen employment rate was expected to be about 31 percent, the highest level since before the Great Recession. Now, the teen summer employment rate is expected to be at a historic low: 23 percent.

Yet the summer job remains so embedded in American consciousness that it is treated with a kind of nostalgia. Jobs working in restaurants or behind cash registers, mowing lawns, or washing cars may not have been the stuff of dream-job glamour, but they represented a significant turning point for young people: Real life, and a sense of real responsibility.

Tesla will build Cybertruck factory in Austin, Texas

The new factory in Texas will be open to the public, Musk said, and that there will be a boardwalk and hiking and biking trails. “It’s going to basically be an ecological paradise. Birds in the trees, butterflies, fish in the stream,” he said.

In addition to the Cybertruck, Tesla will also build Model Ys and Model 3s destined for the East Coast, as well as the Tesla Semi, Musk said. The site where Tesla is building the factory consists of about 2,100 acres of land east of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, with about two miles of exposure to Texas’ Colorado river.

Person, woman, man, camera, TV.

I can’t remember what I was watching, but it reminded me about how tough the grieving process can be, especially someone close to you. I’m speaking about a burial at the cemetery. With a recent burial, you see that mound of dirt. It’s a literal mound, the space of the casket and/or vault takes up spaces so the ground is not flat. I always found looking at that mound difficult, it’s “unnatural” but really drives home the reality that somebody is actually down there. Later, the mound will settle and the dirt is spread or raked around, but you still see a rectangle of dirt. It’s at that stage you just want the grass to grow over the dirt so a sense of normalcy can start, and it can’t start until the grave looks normal and blends in with the rest of them.

All things being as equal as they can be, there’s no doubt in my mind that any past administration would have handled this pandemic better than the current. Especially the timeline and timeframe. If any other administration was handling this, schools would not be scrambling on how best to open and fall sports, in particular, football, would not be in jeopardy.

Dear Mr. President – How to Understand COVID-19 Numbers – Viewed in isolation or presented without context, coronavirus numbers don’t always give an accurate picture of how the pandemic is being handled. Here, ProPublica journalists Caroline Chen and Ash Ngu offer insight on how to navigate the figures.

Here’s one example.

Kobe’s death feels like it was three years ago. He died on January 26 this year.

As decided by BuzzFeed readers – Here Are The 30 Best Moments In “Hamilton,” Ranked

New website from the MIT Center for Advanced Virtuality rewrites an important moment in history to educate the public on the dangers of deepfakes.

Can you recognize a digitally manipulated video when you see one? It’s harder than most people realize. As the technology to produce realistic “deepfakes” becomes more easily available, distinguishing fact from fiction will only get more challenging. A new digital storytelling project from MIT’s Center for Advanced Virtuality aims to educate the public about the world of deepfakes with “In Event of Moon Disaster.”

This provocative website showcases a “complete” deepfake (manipulated audio and video) of U.S. President Richard M. Nixon delivering the real contingency speech written in 1969 for a scenario in which the Apollo 11 crew were unable to return from the moon. The team worked with a voice actor and a company called Respeecher to produce the synthetic speech using deep learning techniques. They also worked with the company Canny AI to use video dialogue replacement techniques to study and replicate the movement of Nixon’s mouth and lips. Through these sophisticated AI and machine learning technologies, the seven-minute film shows how thoroughly convincing deepfakes can be.

What to expect if Trump were to replace Justice Ginsburg.

Four years later, McConnell has made quite clear that he only cares about giving the people a voice when that voice could benefit the Republican Party. Asked in 2019 whether the Senate would confirm a Trump nominee if a vacancy opened the same year as the 2020 election, McConnell smiled and replied, “oh, we’d fill it.”

Indeed, some Senate Republicans are already talking about filling a Supreme Court vacancy even if they are repudiated at the polls. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) told an Iowa public television show on Friday that “if it comes to an appointment prior to the end of the year, I would be supportive of that,” even if it means filling the seat in a “lame-duck session.” With Republicans controlling 53 seats in the current Senate, Democrats would have to convince four Republican senators to block a Trump nominee to prevent a lame-duck confirmation.

New Material Is Strong, Light and Non-Cuttable

This new material, which could be used in the security and health and safety industries, can turn back the force of a cutting tool upon itself.

The lightweight material — named Proteus after the shape-changing mythical god — is made of ceramic spheres encased in a cellular aluminum structure that in tests could not be cut by angle grinders, drills, or high-pressure water jets.

When cut with an angle grinder or drill, the vibrations created by the ceramic spheres inside the casing blunt the cutting disc or drill bit. The interaction between the disc and ceramic sphere creates an interlocking, vibrational connection that resists the cutting tool indefinitely. The blade is gradually eroded, and eventually rendered ineffective as the force and energy of the disc or the drill is turned back on itself, and it is weakened and destroyed by its own attack.

And another, but I like the hat.

Former beauty queen and teacher, 29, jailed after sending nudes to student, 15 – Ramsey BethAnn, a former Miss Kentucky, has been sentenced to two years in prison and must register as a sex offender for life after she was found guilty of sending nude photos to a student

Fraternity suspended after denouncing Confederacy, Robert E. Lee in social media post – Kappa Alpha Order’s executive director suspended the Xi Chapter at Southwestern University saying a post denouncing the Confederacy was not reviewed properly.

Researchers accidentally breed sturddlefish

A team of researchers working at Hungary’s National Agricultural Research and Innovation Centre, Research Institute for Fisheries and Aquaculture, has accidentally bred a new kind of fish—dubbed the sturddlefish by some observers, it is a cross between an American Paddlefish and a Russian Sturgeon. In their paper published in the journal Genes, the group describes accidentally breeding the fish and what they learned by doing so.

How one couple has lived for 29 years on an island they built themselves

It’s pretty cool being able to see Comet Neowise with the naked eye. The other night, I took the family outside to watch the International Space Station pass by and then pointed out the comet. It’s so neat being able to use an app, for free, to tell me exactly when the ISS will pass over and where to point my phone so it will align and all I have to do is look up.

Here’s a shot near Meridian, Texas.

I like HBO’s Perry Mason but I don’t like the whole church revival plotline. The last episode had a great example of grace, at least to me. An elderly lawyer killed himself by leaving his gas oven open. He first prepared himself with a shave and dressing in a suit. When his secretary found him, she called Perry Mason, who was working for the lawyer as a private investigator, but he also saw the lawyer as a mentor. Both Mason and the secretary moved the lawyer’s body to the bedroom, got him out of his suit and into his pajamas, and placed him in bed to make it appear he died in his sleep. They didn’t have to do that, but they chose to and provided the man some dignity.

AP says it will capitalize Black but not white

After changing its usage rules last month to capitalize the word “Black” when used in the context of race and culture, The Associated Press on Monday said it would not do the same for “white.”

The AP said white people in general have much less shared history and culture, and don’t have the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color.

At least 3,958 people in Texas have died of coronavirus. Nearly 20% of those deaths were reported in the past week.

The church is stupid for having camp.

The mother is stupid for sending her daughter and placing blame on the church.

WFAA is stupid for not providing the age of the daughter or age range of camp attendees.

Parents frustrated when several kids test positive for coronavirus after summer church camp

Several parents reached out to WFAA saying their kids tested positive following a summer camp hosted by Keller’s Keystone Church. The camp took place in Hill County from July 6th to the 10th. Tarrant County officials confirmed they are aware of cases linked to the camp.

Stephanie Brady sent her daughter to the camp. Her daughter is among the campers who tested positive for coronavirus.

The church deleted photos from the summer camp that they had posted on their Facebook page. Those photos and videos showed dozens of students shoulder to shoulder, not social distancing.

“We found out later from my daughter that they considered their small group 40, which was how many were in her cabin,” Brady said. “So when they were with those 40 girls, they didn’t have to social distance, they didn’t have to wear masks, to me that is not a small group.”

“I went back to them and said, ‘I really think you should let the community know, I think it’s your responsibility,” Brady said. “You just released 300+ children into our community and to surrounding communities, that could potentially test positive. And [the camp director] said that ‘no further action was going to be taken.’

“When I reached out to [the camp director], he was like, ‘Well I didn’t make you send your kid to camp. I didn’t force you to send her.’ And I was like, ‘No you didn’t, but we were really hoping that you would have taken the necessary precautions to make sure she was safe.'”

There’s a lot of talk about how the workspace will forever be changed because of COVID-19, that most folks will now work from home. I disagree, there are too many micromanagers out there who won’t let this happen.

Texas GOP, do you really want Florida leadership? Do you really want to turn into Florida? – Former Florida congressman Allen West unseats James Dickey to become Texas GOP chairman

“You can’t divide the country up into sections and have one rule for one section and one rule for another, and you can’t encourage people’s prejudices. You have to appeal to people’s best instincts, not their worst ones. You may win an election or so by doing the other, but it does a lot of harm to the country.” – Harry Truman

I’m not a fan of this.

Why We Should Lower the Voting Age to 16 – They turn out at the polls, and turn into lifelong voters. City by city, young activists are working the grassroots to make their voices count.

https://twitter.com/BridgetMarie/status/1284335406000070657?s=09

‘I grew a beard to try to hide in public’: Haley Joel Osment on success after child stardom

What we lose when we can’t boo the Astros on Opening Day

The Lincoln Project is a must-follow on Twitter, they are totally crushing it. I’d love to see a story, or even a documentary, on how they went about hiring and forming their creative team. They are so quick to post and respond it’s amazing. I’m thoroughly entertained by them.

I was jovially thinking about wearing a facemask in public and how it relates to conservatives who are pro-life and liberals who are pro-choice. They have an inverse relationship. If you are pro-life, then you want people to live, so you should be in favor of wearing a mask, but in general, conservatives don’t want to wear a mask. If you are pro-choice, then you want people to be able to choose if they want to wear a mask or not, but in general, liberals want masks to be required and thus taking choice.

We all have annoyances. One of mine is people who have to list every single degree, license, and certificate they have ever earned in their email signature. Like, the more they include, the less confidence they must have in themselves, and a lot of times they do this in non-professional communications so it’s not even warranted. And yes, I understand some employers require they do this. Anyways, the folks who work at the headquarters of WifeGeeding’s place of employment all hand-signed a birthday card for her, but one dude had to include Ed.D after his name. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone sign his or her name like that before. Birthday cards are informal, keep it that way. Offhand, I think younger inexperienced would be the type to do this, but to my surprise, this dude is a senior citizen.

My thoughts may change, but as of right now, I think 90% of Trump supporters don’t care if he’s immoral, lies, praise dictators, take away their healthcare, sinks the economy, contradicts himself, or go against any conservative policy they would normally support, they just want to support him as long as he continues to upset and goes against anything a liberal would support.

Here’s an aerial shot of the USS Bonhomme Richard, the Navy ship burning in San Diego.

Jerry Jones Changes Team’s Name To Redskins Now That It’s Available https://t.co/SDZL98UyRc pic.twitter.com/CSnCHpsSEB

— The Onion (@TheOnion) July 14, 2020

Jeweler buries $1M of treasure around Michigan and is selling tickets for a quest

Airlines’ Protocol for After a Plane Crash