Bag of Randomness for Monday, October 5, 2020

Burned in my mind is an image of a makeup-less Donald Trump walking around in a hospital gown with his backside fully exposed.

I understand the White House wants to project calm, but they are doing a poor job at the propaganda. They released a photo of the president at work signing documents, but a closer look shows he’s signing nothing but blank papers.

They also released a four-minute video of him providing an update, and they noticeably edited out a cough. I have a feeling Trump just wanted to shoot it in one take and someone thought it would be best to just edit it.

Trump has always had wacky doctors taking care of him. Dr. Bornstein, his physician for 36-years, was introduced to us four years ago after writing that ridiculous letter.

Then, there was Dr Jackson, who is now running for a Texas congressional seat, who thought he could diagnose a person he hasn’t seen in years and from half a country away, without even seeing his vitals. Lest not forget, Jackson was nominated to be secretary of veterans affairs, but withdrew himself from consideration amid allegations he fostered a hostile work environment and behaved inappropriately on the job.

And now we have overly tailored Dr. Conly who can’t even answer any simple questions about what he said and supposedly misspoke which resulted in the White House issuing a statement. I have a feeling someone gave him that lab coat and he felt compelled to wear it. If not, the man must be egotistical putting the presidential seal on his lab coat. Heck, the seal on his lab coat is larger than any presidential seal any president has worn, it’s not even that large on the president’s Air Force One bomber jacket. And finally, Conley doesn’t have an M.D. degree. Instead, he has a D.O.: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. I’ve been treated by D.O.s for many years and have no issue with my care, but like most folks, we settle for a D.O. and prefer an M.D. Is he wearing that obnoxiously large presidential seal because he’s compensating that he isn’t an M.D.?

In case you were curious what his hospital room looks like:

Here’s LBJ visiting Ike and MacArthur at the presidential suite at the old Walter Reed.

Exactly four years ago yesterday, Hillary Clinton lead Donald Trump by 14 points.

There’s a new heavily armed militia we’ll be hearing more about in the future. Just some folks who want to peacfully demonstrate and express their Second Amendment rights. I’m sure nobody has a problem with this, and any fear or concern is irrational.

NFAC march: Protest in Lafayette ends as organizers proclaim ‘another successful demonstration’

About 400 members of the “Not F—ing Around Coalition,” a Black, Atlanta-based militia, marched in downtown Lafayette without incident Saturday and were joined by about 200 other demonstrators.

The heavily armed militia group marched from Lafayette’s downtown library to Parc Sans Souci and back Saturday in what NFAC leader John Fitzgerald Johnson, better known as “Grandmaster Jay,” called “another historic, successful formation.”

Johnson has described the NFAC’s three main goals protecting the Black community, promoting self-policing in the Black community and educating the Black community about their rights as responsible gun owners.

The Debate On Power Posing Continues

Power posing or postural feedback is a technique that suggests how you hold your body influences how you feel and how you behave.  Over the last decade, naysayers labeled power posing a pseudoscience, and the intense debate over the validity of power posing research culminated in death threats and bullying. Now, more research has confirmed the effects are real, and a new generation of researchers is honing in on exactly how our posture and stance impacts our thoughts and behavior.

Yesterday, former local television reporter Steve Stoler posted video on his Facebook page of a large crowd at Canton’s First Monday ignoring every social distancing guideline in existence without a single mask being worn in view. I bookmarked it to post it here, but he removed the post. East Texas is gonna East Texas, no changing that. Lady Bird Johnson was born in East Texas, and she wasn’t afraid to wear a mask..

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for Monday, October 5, 2020

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

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for Friday, October 2, 2020

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.

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, September 30, 2020

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.

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, September 29, 2020