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Yesterday, DaugterGeeding turned 10-years old. So, I decided to print out and gift a certificate to WifeGeeding honoring her for one full decade of parenting.

WifeGeeding did a great job of making the day special for DaughterGeeding. She threw her a surprise Zoom birthday party. Earlier this week, she delivered a basket of items to DaughterGeeding’s friends, and they used those items for a handful of “minute to win it” games. One of the items was a cake mix you could heat up in a mug in a microwave, so everyone got to eat some cake.

You may recall us starting some renovation work a while back, I think we started back in November of last year.

Were very close to finishing but still have some small work to do, which I’m sure you’ll be able to find in these before and after photos, such as some painting. While we did most of the demolition, we didn’t really do any of the handy work. If you are wondering about the top of our island, it’s made out of spalted maple and was created by a small but fantastic woodshop named Rustic + Modern located in Aubrey, TX.  We thought we’d do something different than the common marble or granite tabletop and leaned toward butcher block until we saw some live edge tabletops. It may be hard to see, but there’s an overhang at one corner, as opposed to either one or both of the sides of the width. Eventually, we’ll get some high chairs or stools to stick underneath them.

I’ll be honest, the first 20 times I saw this photo, I kept wondering why the cop had his hands in his pockets. It wasn’t until the 21st time that I was able to tell he was wearing black gloves and they were blending in with his dark pants. Of course, that doesn’t excuse his behavior, I’m just stating how my eyes deceived me.

As I reflect on Elon Musk’s accomplishment of sending American astronauts to the International Space Station from American soil, I can’t help but think of one of the opening lines from the Hamilton song Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down), “Immigrants, we get the job done.”

I’ve seen reports of the U.S. paying Russian anywhere from $80-86 million per astronaut to send to space, SpaceX $55 million per astronaut, and Boeing $90 million. Those figures are based on per seat estimates regarding their respective contracts.

WifeGeeding’s nephew had his high school graduation ceremony on Friday. It was held outdoors at the football stadium. Graduates were seated six feet apart on the field and I don’t think anyone but immediate family could attend. It was streamed online, and WifeGeeding pointed out that all the special needs students were the first to receive their diploma. She couldn’t tell me if this is done every year or was don’t this particular year because of the accommodations made for COVID-19.

I asked her what his class rank was and she didn’t have any idea. That was a big deal to me, it was a personal goal to graduate within the top ten percent of my class. A few months ago I mentioned my graduating class was under a hundred and someone pointed out I was probably wrong about that, and I have to agree. I think my class size was 183 or 187. My father had a heart attack three days before the graduation ceremony so he couldn’t attend since he was hospitalized. My closest friends were nice enough, upon my request, to visit him in the hospital in their graduation attire before the ceremony.

I’m easily annoyed by people who fall for an urban legend, I guess I think people should just be smarter than falling for something like that. For example, there’s one that deals with statues of soldiers riding horses. If both front legs of the horse are in the air, the rider died from battle; one front leg up means the rider was wounded in battle; and if all four hooves are on the ground, the rider died outside battle. Yet, right outside the White House is the Andrew Jackson statue has both hoofs in the air. Jackson died of tuberculosis and heart failure, not in battle.

While there are plenty of statues that follow the “rule” of the hoof positions, particularly with statues commemorating Gettysburg soldiers, there are at least nine instances where the rule does not hold for Gettysburg statues.

Here are a few interesting tidbits about that statue.

• This equestrian statue is the oldest statue in Washington D.C. [WarHistoryOnline.com]
• Erected in 1853, it was the first bronze statue cast in the country and the first equestrian statue in the world to be balanced solely on the horse’s hind legs. [WhiteHouseHistory.org]
• The original sculpture was erected in 1853. Thereafter the sculptor, Clark Mills, made replicas for New Orleans in 1856 and for Nashville in 1880. A fourth copy was cast as recently as 1987 for outdoor display in Jacksonville, Florida. [WhiteHouseHistory.org]
• For accuracy, Mills borrowed General Jackson’s uniform, saddle, and bridle from the Patent Office, where they were kept as relics.
• The government then gave Mills a number of old weapons to melt down to obtain bronze for the Jackson sculpture. The four cannons Jackson had captured from the Spanish in his Pensacola Campaign in 1818 were considered historic trophies and reserved for placement around the base of the statue

Google and Microsoft worked together to improve spellcheck in Chrome and Edge

The latest versions of Chrome and Edge are now powered by the built-in Windows Spellcheck feature rather than the previous Hunspell open source implementation. The switch means spellcheck within Chrome and Edge will now have better support for URLs, acronyms, email addresses, and an improved shared custom dictionary.

To Lure Back Tourists, Cyprus Says It Will Cover Costs If They Contract Coronavirus

‘If You Say You Can’t Breathe, You’re Breathing’: Mississippi Mayor Defends Officers Involved in George Floyd’s Arrest

A Notorious DC Prison Is Now a Classy Suburban Development. Here’s What It Looks Like. – Exploring the former Lorton Reformatory with an ex-inmate.

The penitentiary closed in 2001, turned back over to Fairfax County. The maximum-security wing, home to a lockdown unit nicknamed the “House of Pain,” is in the process of becoming that shopping center. Those apartments occupy the old medium-security “Central” facility, where the onetime chow hall is now a gym. Then there’s the name. The site of the notorious lockup is today a development called . . . Liberty.

Recently, I visited some of Lorton’s old buildings with Karim Mowatt, who spent a good part of the ’90s incarcerated there on drug charges.

Since getting out of prison in 2011, Mowatt has become a filmmaker and is working on a documentary called Lorton: The House of Hell. He comes down frequently from his home in Washington to film and to marvel at the changes at the site. We arrived on a quiet Sunday in late January when the plastic construction sheeting in the old maximum-security facility rippled quietly in the breeze. “It’s creative. It’s artistic,” Mowatt said as we peered through a chain-link fence at the future home of Liberty Market. “Because it’s easy to just knock it down and bulldoze it. But to actually leave it up like this, it’s a good history lesson.”

There’s Life-Sized Fake Town Complete With Real Cars In This Mansion’s Basement

I’m only posting this because I got a kick out of the double feature.

If you want to buy a decommissioned nuclear reactor control panel, I’ve found one for you

Some of the worst tasting medicine in the world is accepting the reality of how some folks you loved and respected are not as great as you built them up in your mind. Then, you start to wonder how much was your vision of them clouded by how the image you created for them and expected of them.

Today I realized that someone I've known, admired and loved for decades is undeniably racist. From "surely they didn't mean…" to "surely I didn't hear…" to "there's no way that's anything else" in the space of 10 minutes. One of the most devastating days of my life.

— Jody Dean (@DFWJodyDean) May 29, 2020

I’ve only caught bits and pieces of History’s Grant, but I really like it. It did a great job of explaining the significance of Vicksburg as well as explaining strategy in regards to elevation, terrain, an all sorts of clues a commander can pick up from observing the enemy. In one scene, Grant was examining the possessions of a POW. Enough food was packed for three days, so he was able to determine how long the enemy’s campaign was planned.

It wasn’t until last night I learned that Baylor Scott & White is a not-for-profit health care system.

Taco Cabana Is Offering Free Lunch For Kids All Summer Without Any Purchase Requirements

I received a text from who I believe is my very first friend. He sent me the following picture. He’s always has been into shoes and remembers I wore these when we played seventh-grade football. I distinctly remember the box, my mother kept it to store photos in. I also recall not being fond of the lengthy tongue which folded over the top and covered the laces, but I was a fan of all the small rubber cleats. We all did a “scientific” test and concluded my smaller rubber cleats provided more traction than larger but fewer cleats, at least on the practice field behind Miller Stadium.

Jonathan Steingard, frontman for the Christian rock band Hawk Nelson, reveals he no longer believes in God

Wedding photography company refuses to refund money after bride-to-be dies

A young Colorado bride was killed in a car accident three months before she was set to walk down the aisle and now, her fiancé has been left to grieve her loss and cancel their wedding plans.

A wedding photography company refuses to issue a refund after the bride-to-be died in an accident. (Source: CNN)
Alexis Wyatt and Justin Montney would have been married May 23.

Wyatt signed a contract with a photography company to take their wedding video and gave them $1,800. The company, Copper Stallion, is now refusing to refund the money.

“They said they’d extend my service to my next wedding, which was a very insensitive thing to tell me,” Montney said.

Tracing the trajectory of a 66 million-year-old asteroid impact

Unsurprisingly, 66 million years have taken their toll on the crater, so researchers have offered several very different answers. Did the asteroid hit from the southeast at a very low angle? Did it come from the southwest at a moderate angle? Many studies that needed to model the impact have simply defaulted to a 90-degree strike and avoided the whole argument. The details actually matter, though, and precisely which rocks get vaporized—and which climate-changing gases they release—depends on that impact angle.

Disney World Wants To Reopen In July, But Its New Safety Measures Mean It Will Be Very Different – Face masks and temperature checks will be required, and there won’t be events with crowds like parades and fireworks.

“We will temporarily suspend parades, fireworks, and other events that create crowds,” MacPhee added. In an effort to reduce contact between guests and employees, Disney World will ramp up mobile food ordering options, and character meet and greets and play areas will be temporarily on pause.

Park capacities will also be significantly reduced so that people can practice physical distancing more easily on attractions, at restaurants, and in stores. Guests will be required to place a reservation for park entry before their visit.