Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Theodore Roosevelt doesn’t have a presidential library, but he soon will, in Medora North Dakota of all places. If you want to check out the recently revealed architectural design concepts, check out this PDF. I think they all look great and fit in with the area fantastically.

I have Jennifer Garner fatigue. It seems like she’s everywhere. I have nothing against her, just that she’s overexposed at the moment.

For you fellow P1’s of The TICKET, Mike Rhyner, the Old Gray Wolf, is now hosting a podcast on The Athletic.

Speaking of podcasts, I’ve been listening to Literally! With Rob Lowe. He’s pretty light-hearted and it’s been fun listening talk to Mike Myers, David Spade, and Demi Moore. She revealed that she auditioned for the Kelly McGillis role in Top Gun, going as far as reading with Tom Cruise.

And speaking of Rob Lowe – ‘West Wing’ Reunion Special Set at HBO Max to Promote Voting in 2020 Election

“A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote” will debut on the streamer this fall. It will feature a theatrical staging of the “Hartsfield’s Landing” episode from the show’s third season and will be shot at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles in early October.

Rob Lowe, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney, Janel Moloney, Richard Schiff, Bradley Whitford, and Martin Sheen will reprise their roles from the episode, which will be shot under COVID Safe Way Forward Protocols.. Series creator Aaron Sorkin will write original material for the event.

And speaking of Aaron Sorkin, this may be the best material he’s ever written.

With all this distance learning going on, it may be a while before Barry at LiberallyLean has another “And Another.”

French minister defends ‘precious’ right to sunbathe topless

France’s interior minister has defended the “precious” right to sunbathe topless on beaches, after police asked a group of women to cover up on the southern coast.

French gendarmes patrolling a beach in Mediterranean seaside town Sainte-Marie-la-Mer last week asked a group of topless sunbathers to cover up in response to a complaint from a family, the local gendarmerie said in a statement on Facebook.

It acknowledged their actions had been “clumsy” but said the officers only wanted to calm the situation, insisting there had been no official order to ban topless sunbathing in the town.

But their actions prompted an avalanche of criticism on social media, where users wondered if the practice was now out of bounds.

Russian Army Unveils Camo Robes for Military Priests

Any fear Republicans had of Obama abusing power, Trump has done.

Bird deaths down 70 percent after painting wind turbine blades – The study ran for nine years at Norway’s Smøla wind farm.

That’s an impressive way to preserve a no-hitter.

https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1298449110706552834

Let’s not forget about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis moment back in May.

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Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, August 25, 2020

I should have guessed that Jerry Falwell Jr. would have been the one to bring cuckolding into the mainstream. Trump made golden showers popular. I can’t wait to see what Robert Jeffress beings to the table. I’m guessing docking or pegging.

What’s over-under on the number of times Lee Greenwood’s only hit will be played at the RNC? Surely much higher than the RNC revealing a healthcare plan to replace the ACA.

Don’t cry for me when I get subpoenaed.

I’m reminded of the time Bart Simpson requested an all syrup Squishee.

A Group Of Krispy Kreme Employees Glazed A Donut 25 Times Just To See What Would Happen

Almost 50 North Texans Drank Bleach This Month, Poison Center Warns ‘Stop, It Won’t Cure COVID’

AI Slays Top F-16 Pilot In DARPA Dogfight Simulation

 In a 5 to 0 sweep, an AI ‘pilot’ developed by Heron Systems beat one of the Air Force’s top F-16 fighter pilots in DARPA’s simulated aerial dogfight contest today. “It’s a giant leap,” said DARPA’s Justin (call sign “Glock”) Mock, who served as a commentator on the trials.

Heron Systems’ AI was extremely aggressive in the games, with its AI pilot consistently able to turn and score killing hits on the simulated F-16 piloted by an unnamed Air Force pilot, with the call sign “Banger,” a graduate of the Air Force’s highly selective Weapons School at Nellis AFB. The AI exhibited “superhuman aiming ability” during the simulation, Mock said.

Invalid baptism of Dearborn priest results in invalid sacraments

A priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit earlier this month learned his baptism, performed 30 years ago, was invalid and that sacraments he has performed for others such as marriage and confession are invalid. It was a seemingly small mistake: The deacon said “we baptize” instead of “I baptize” when conferring the sacrament. But that mixup means that the Rev. Matthew Hood of Dearborn should never have been ordained as a priest—and was not entitled to confer sacraments on anyone else. Now church officials are scrambling to notify Catholics who were baptized or made other sacraments with Hood that they may need to come in for a do-over. And it appears Hood is not the only victim of imprecise language: The deacon used the wrong words from 1986 to 1999.

Not for serious discussion, but if sex before marriage is a sin, and your wedding 20 years ago was performed by this man which invalidates your marriage (from a church’s perspective), have you been committing sinful acts when you made love to whom you believed was your spouse?

How Police Are Using ‘Super Recognizers’ Like Me to Track Criminals –
Kelly Hearsey’s job is to identify people from CCTV footage. She’s freakishly good at it.

The term “super recognizer” first appeared in 2009 and describes people who can remember more than 80 percent of the faces of people they meet (the average is 20 percent).

Kelly Hearsey is one such super recognizer. She works for Super Recognizers International Ltd, which is contracted by a range of police departments across the country. She took a test in 2018 and got the highest score they’d ever seen from over six million candidates. She’s since worked full-time as a super recognizer on everything from murder investigations to keeping notoriously disruptive fans out of sporting events.

A little while after I tweeted this, his Wikipedia page was updated.

New Federal Student Loan Volume Plunges 42 Percent Due To The Pandemic

New federal student loan volume in the fourth quarter of the 2019-2020 academic year dropped by a record 42 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2018-2019. The fourth quarter runs from April 2020 to June 2020, coinciding with the start of the economic downturn due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Bag of Randomness for Monday, August 24, 2020

I guarantee you this week will include Tweets from President Trump bragging how much better the RNC convention ratings are than the DNC’s. I’m sure that will be the case as he’s decided to speak in prime-time each of the four nights of the convention. Normally, the nominee keeps a low profile until the last night, but if there’s one thing America has learned under his “leadership”, there’s no such thing as normal.

In the past, conventions always ran long, but the virtual convention last week made things more manageable when it came to a time schedule. Since Trump is speaking all four nights, I expect this week’s convention to run long. However, this convention is scheduled to start a half-hour earlier. Perhaps that was done in anticipation of Trump being long-winded, he is full of hot air after all.

In looking at the schedule of speakers, it’s very Trump family-friendly. I don’t think we’ll see a lot of GOP leadership in prime time speaking spots, like the Senate Majority Leader. Perhaps, this is really more a Trump convention than the RNC conventi0n. Former President Bill Clinton once famously said, “Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line.” That’s certainly true as you look at Trump’s former opponents.  Senators Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, and Canadian Zodiac Ted Cruz, once primary campaign rivals, are now vocal defenders of Trump. But as I said once before, Trump supporters don’t care if he’s a Republican, what they care about, as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich put it, “I’m not sure he’s a conservative, but he’s the most effective anti-liberal in my lifetime.” And consider this, the list of confirmed speakers at the RNC has no former Republican Presidents, nominees, or even prior candidates for President. It’s not the RNC Convention, it’s the Trump Convention.

2020 has already proven to be an unpredictable year. This more than likely won’t happen, but wouldn’t it be crazy if somehow Trump’s nomination was contested and someone else was nominated? I bet there has been talk amongst some “party first” or “country first” Republicans thinking about what’s best for the country. Just don’t rule out a contested convention.

As for Trump accepting the nomination at the White House, it doesn’t bother me because we are living in a unique time because of the pandemic, despite the Hatch Act. Now, if he was accepting the nomination at the White House and social distancing wasn’t encouraged, I would feel uncomfortable with that. I’m actually surprised he didn’t choose his DC hotel, making it an instant historical spot, like this hotel did with Ronald Reagan and where he heard he won the election.

I think it’s great Lynda Carter is promoting the wearing of masks, but if you are familiar with her old Wonder Woman, it looks like she cut up an old pair of pants to wear on her face.

Again, cue Hamilton’s ‘It’s Quiet Uptown‘, the song about parents suffering the unimaginable. Former Cowboys QB and their current radio color man tweeted the following on the eve of the anniversary of his son’s death.

Kentucky coach John Calipari teaches his men more than just basketball.

Star and Stripes – Why is Fort Hood the Army’s most crime-ridden post?

BoyGeeding uses an iPad for distance-learning and DaughterGeeding uses my Chromebook. All of a sudden, the touchpad stopped working. I tried a wireless house and that didn’t work. I changed all the settings I could find and searched every message board and nothing worked. I ever performed a “powerwash” resetting the device as if it was brand new. I was at the point that I was going to buy a new Chromebook, but found out there’s a shortage of them everywhere. I searched online and couldn’t find one at our local Best Buy, Staples, OfficeMax, Wal-Mart, Target, or MicroCenter. I guess parents are snatching them up for their kids. But, I was able to fix my Chromebook. I found an old wired-mouse and oddly not only did it work but it somehow triggered the touchpad to become responsive again.

Luka showed up to play yesterday, 43 points, 17 rebounds, 13 assists, and he recorded his second straight triple-double of the playoffs. Oh, and hit the game-winning shot. I love how the play to set it up. Carlise set up a great pick so the man originally guarding Luka had to switch which led to a more favorable one-on-one matchup.

Here’ a cool angle of the game-winning shot.

https://twitter.com/TaylorRooks/status/1297664727288614912

Deservedly so, this skit on college football conferences was all over the place on social media.

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Bag of Randomness for Friday, August 21, 2020

Armchair Political Pundit

  • I thought it was smart of the DNC to have the candidates Biden beat come together for a virtual round-table discussion and endorsement. It shows party unity.
  • Whoever came up with the parking lot viewing party should be praised.
  • Nice idea making the most of the virtual obstacle having him exit the stage fairly early and walking outside to fireworks and the honks of car horns.

Bet money on Rush Limbaugh accusing the stuttering boy who spoke at the DNC convention last night of acting or faking his stutter.

I’d also bet money that after President Trump’s death his Twitter account will live on for at least a decade.

People like Joe Biden, Barak Obama, George W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter inspire me to just be more than just a decent human being.

When Hunter Biden spoke last night I thought he looked a lot like Ray Liotta. For a moment, I thought he was going to tell me how much Chantix helped him quit smoking.

The narrator of the Joe Biden biography video stated Joe experienced the “unimaginable” when his son lost. If you’re a fan of the musical Hamilton, you probably choked up a bit. It’s quiet uptown…

Whoever chose Joe Biden’s suit, tie, and shirt did a very poor job. The black suit looked like he was either going to a funeral or a working as a maitre d’.

If you’re a big supporter of President Trump and enjoy being on a yacht, well, you better be on your best behavior. Just as Steve Bannon and Jerry Falwell Jr. But then again, the president loves boaters.

Delta bans ex-Navy SEAL involved in bin Laden raid after maskless selfie

A former Navy SEAL involved in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden has been banned from flying Delta Air Lines after posting a selfie of himself on a flight without a mask on, the airline confirmed to The Hill on Thursday.

Robert O’Neill tweeted a photograph of himself on Wednesday morning without a mask on, with the caption, “I’m not a p—-.” The tweet has since been deleted.

A 19-year-old who admitted to blackmail, revenge porn, and bullying won his Democratic primary race for the Kansas House and is now running unopposed

Three actors that played Batman have Oscars, but four actors that played the Joker have Oscars, and two of them won Oscars for the role of the Joker.

The Western Elite from a Chinese Perspective – by Puzhong Yao

The Evangelical Christians I have met in the United States often talk about how reading the Bible changed their lives. They talk about being born again.

I am not an Evangelical Christian. I am a Chinese atheist who came to the West to study at the world’s best universities and, later, to work at one of capitalism’s greatest companies, Goldman Sachs.

But, like the Evangelical Christians, my life was changed by a book. Specifically, Robert Rubin’s autobiography In an Uncertain World (Random House, 2003). Robert Rubin was Goldman Sachs’s senior partner and subsequently secretary of the Treasury. Only later did I learn that certain people in the United States revere him as something of a god.

This made me think of the Game of Thrones intro.

Going postal?

Drew Barrymore Confirms Legend That Her Grandfather’s Body Was Snatched From The Morgue For ‘One Last Party’

While appearing on the YouTube series Hot Ones, the Never Been Kissed star said that the body of her grandfather, the actor John Barrymore, was stolen by friends and propped up against a poker table shortly after he died.

Hot Ones host Sean Evans suggested that three of the veteran actor’s friends were responsible for the kidnapping, namely Errol Flynn, the comedian WC Fields and the poet and anarchist Sadakichi Hartmann.

“They did!” Barrymore said. “And I will say this, I hope my friends do the same for me. That is the kind of spirit I can get behind. Just prop the old bag up and have a last few rounds.”

Never accept tea from Putin – Russian opposition leader Navalny is hospitalized after suspected poisoning, spokeswoman says

Today’s dose of ‘MURICA!

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