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If provided the choice of Cheetos Puffs or Crunchy Cheetos, I don’t know why anyone of sound mind would choose Crunchy over Puffs.

I can now picture high school graduations in Texas becoming a thing with some caveats. They will probably be delayed a few weeks. But if I were a superintendent, and I’d guess this would depend on the size of the graduating class, I’d just have the graduates attend and stream the rest online. Of course, the graduates would still be separated six feet apart. I’d think this would work for a place like my hometown, my graduating class was only 118 or 122, I think. It would be scaled down a lot and focused mainly on the speeches from the top two in class and the handing out of the diplomas. But instead of physically handing out the diplomas, it would just be the graduate having his or her name called and walking across.

George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Matthew McConaughey get together to make a movie.

Clooney says, “I’ll direct.”

DiCaprio says, “I’ll act.”

McConaughey says, “I’ll write, I’ll write, I’ll write.”

Texas restaurants and some other businesses will open at 25% capacity this Friday and I simply don’t see anything rules or regulations being enforced. I bet crowds will be relatively light this weekend but next weekend you’ll see places almost at capacity. Meanwhile, our family unit will still be at home.

But other areas of the state, like this one near Houston, will go ahead and roll the dice. You know, I think some laws are too vague but I’m not going to break ’em.

Here we go: Montgomery County Judge @mkeoughtx says that on Friday, hair salons can open and restaurants can operate at full capacity. He says he and county attorneys have reviewed @GregAbbott_TX's orders and they're too vague. Video: https://t.co/pvvafGKceZ #TxLege

— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) April 28, 2020

Ohio’s G.O.P. Governor Splits From Trump, and Rises in Popularity – Mike DeWine, a low-key career politician, has followed health experts’ guidance as Ohio confronts the coronavirus. His constituents are overwhelmingly appreciative.

Mr. DeWine’s decisiveness — closing schools before any governor in the country, postponing the state’s March 17 primary election to protect voters — sent his popularity soaring. The folksy governor, previously best known for an annual ice cream social at his rural home, became something of a cult figure on social media. Ohioans tuned into his five-day-a-week briefings to celebrate “Wine With DeWine,” a ritual whose motto is “It’s 2 o’clock somewhere.”

My place of employment has scheduled a baking class with a local business (D.C. area) via Zoom for a work/family event activity. That’s not a bad idea, my wife and daughter are looking forward to it.

If I recall correctly, one of the major reasons the Tea Party came into being is because of their concern and dislike of government bailouts and spending during the end and the start of the Bush and Obama administrations, despite being in the middle of a financial crisis. I’m surprised they aren’t being more vocal about what is going on now. Perhaps we’ll see some demonstrations once the restriction of crowd gathering lights up, but I doubt it.

For my fellow fans of Netflix’s The Crown – ‘I am forever grateful to him’: Prince Charles pays tribute after university lecturer characterised in Netflix series The Crown who taught him Welsh for his 1969 Investiture dies aged 89

Here’s some clarity on reality vs what was on the show.

Dr Millward said many of the scenes in the TV show never happened including a storyline that he invited the young royal to his home for tea.

In The Crown the teenage Charles is shown a photograph of the Welsh village where Tedi and Sylvia met along with a claim it was flooded to become a reservoir supplying water to England.

Dr Millward said: ‘That didn’t happen either, I don’t know where they got that from.

‘They didn’t consult me before making the film although I did meet the actor who plays me and he was very nice.’

Deputies Serve Warrant at Florida Home with ‘Come Back with a Warrant’ Doormat

This was a popular video floating around social media yesterday.

https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1254943961476739072?s=09

I was curious if this video was accurate and if the procedure was performed correctly. Yes and no. Newsweek states it’s performed that way citing doctors from Houston Methodist and UTHealth Houston, and UC Davis Health also shows the nasal swab is stuck that far back. However, per the Newsweek article, “Although it looks unpleasant, in actuality, when done properly, it should not be painful, and in fact a person can still breathe and even talk while the NP swab is being collected.” As you can see in this New England Journal of Medicine YouTube Video, their patient doesn’t seem to be experiencing any discomfort going through the same procedure.

This was also another popular video on social media, though shared more locally, I’m sure. Jerry Jones sure has changed a lot over the years. In this clip, he’s much heavier with a round face and perhaps less hair than he has today.

Blast for the past. Jerry Jones with KATV's Bud Campbell from the mid-'60s. This is from the KATV collection at the Pryor Center. pic.twitter.com/D45xvnxTWI

— Steve Sullivan (@sully7777) April 28, 2020

There is a fan edit of The Truman Show with all the behind the scenes production stuff eliminated so you can watch with the same ignorance as Truman himself.

I read in Peter King’s Monday column that the NFL sent 32 team hats to all the prospects before the draft. Joe Burrow, who has been the presumptive number one pick in the draft for three months was even sent all 32 hats/caps.

“Did the NFL really send you caps for all 32 teams?” I asked Burrow on Friday.

“I did have all 32 caps here,” he said from his southeast Ohio home. “Now I have to figure out what to do with all the rest of them.”

Daily, WifeGeeding has her kindergarten students read to her via Zoom or Google Classroom or whatever they use. One student seemed stuck on a relatively easy word, so WifeGeeding asked him if he needed help with the word, “No ma’am. Looking at the picture, I’m just trying to figure out a voice to use for the cat.”

One reason I enjoy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is that it’s a period piece set in the late 1950s and early 1960s. However, the end of each episode is unsettling for me as each show ends with modern music.

Governor Abbot’s approach to “reopen” our state this Friday appears to be well thought out, reasonable, and pragmatic. Personally, I still feel like it’s too soon, but I’m thankful he’s only making quarter turns with the spigot and not opening the floodgates.  Per WifeGeeding’s lead, you won’t see us migrating in public places anytime soon.

I knew Mickey Mantle was a Dallas resident, and vividly recall his funeral, but didn’t know he was a resident since 1958. All I could find is that he moved here because he wanted some privacy, but I couldn’t find anything more specific. There are plenty of private places between here and NYC. Maybe it had to do with something regarding his Oklahoma roots. I also didn’t know he operated several businesses like the Mikey Mantle Bowling Center and Mickey Mantle’s Country Cookin’.

 The bowling center opened in the mid 1950s, in a development at the corner of Harry Hines and Mockingbird Lane called Exchange Park.  In the 1950s, Exchange Park was a very modern and glamorous mixed used development that housed the headquarters of Braniff Airlines along with numerous commercial interests, including Mantle’s Bowling Center.

The Mickey Mantle Bowling Center became part of a New York Yankees contract dispute in 1959. The Yankees wanted Mantle to take a significant payout, despite hitting 42 Home Runs the previous year.  Mantle said he would not take a cut, but deserved a raise. He publicly stated he would be more than happy to stay in Dallas and run his bowling alley rather than accept the pay cut.

The Bowling Center lasted only a few years as did his chain of restaurants that Mantle tried to run  in the late 60s. Mickey Mantle’s Country Cookin’ original location at 3561 Marvin D Love Freeway is long gone, but there still exists numerous pieces of memorabilia from his failed restaurant venture.

Rumor has it that Kim Jong Un has been spotted shopping for a house in northern Frisco and that’s why you haven’t seen any public appearances lately.

If President Trump and the Republicans really had an Obamacare replacement and were able to implement it, this pandemic would be a good test and a great opportunity to show how well they’ve taken care of the American public.

The unlikely plan to save COVID-19 patients with planes – Grounded aircraft could make ad-hoc hyperbaric chambers for patients.

It’s wrong to use two spaces between sentences, Microsoft Word says

Microsoft has made its typographical decree: Two spaces between sentences is too many. The style choice will now be marked as an error in Microsoft Word — and users who press the space bar twice after a period will be met with those dreaded blue squiggly lines.

You have no idea how much entertained I’d be if President Trump showed up at a press conference wearing a tan suit. And, this is going to sound harsh, but I bet he goes days without ever seeing his youngest son. I don’t think that’s something that bothers

Interactive Chart of President Trump’s Speeches During The Pandemic

The New York Times analyzed every word Mr. Trump spoke at his White House briefings and other presidential remarks on the virus — more than 260,000 words — from March 9, when the outbreak began leading to widespread disruptions in daily life, through mid-April. The transcripts show striking patterns and repetitions in the messages he has conveyed, revealing a display of presidential hubris and self-pity unlike anything historians say they have seen before.

By far the most recurring utterances from Mr. Trump in the briefings are self-congratulations, roughly 600 of them, which are often predicated on exaggerations and falsehoods. He does credit others (more than 360 times) for their work, but he also blames others (more than 110 times) for inadequacies in the state and federal response.

Mr. Trump has mentioned his immediate predecessor, President Barack Obama, roughly 10 times, sometimes in response to a question. And he has referred to previous administrations about 30 times, often accusing them of leaving him with faulty conditions. Mr. Trump has mentioned governors, individually or as a group, about 400 times, alternating between compliments and criticism.

NY Post – White House officials say Trump works so hard, he often misses lunch

White House staffers said the president works around the clock and can make five dozen work-related calls a day during the pandemic.

“I can tell you that the biggest concern I have as a new chief of staff is making sure he gets some time to get a quick bite to eat,” White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told The Post.

I would hope every presidency would be like this, at least this is how I’ve always imagined it.

“I can tell you that he will go back in and have a lunch just off the Oval Office and more times than not it is interrupted by several phone calls,” Meadows said. “If he gets more than 10 minutes of time in a given day, I haven’t seen in the five weeks I’ve been here.”

A different White House official said Trump some days doesn’t eat lunch.

“There are times when lunch isn’t even a thought,” the official said. “A lot of time there’s either no time for lunch or there is 10 minutes for lunch.”

If You’re Looking For A Cool Way To Waste Some Time, Try This Harry Potter-Themed Escape Room Built In Google Docs

The Library of Congress wants to help you remix public domain audio clips

The Library of Congress has launched a new website that allows you to create short remixes of royalty-free audio clips.

Citizen DJ is an open-source hip-hop project created by New York-based artist and computer scientist Brian Foo. The website includes roughly 3 million sound recordings spanning centuries that are divided into six different collections, including audio clips from government films to free music, which you can edit directly from your web browser.

The website allows you to pull clips from these libraries then remix them to create your own brief track.

Anne Hodges – This unlucky fellow was the first person to have been killed by a meteorite in recorded history

Relative rotation rates of the planets cast to a single sphere (with apologies to Mercury/Neptune)

This kid knows her business, future CFO and CEO here.

https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1254238940917387270?s=09

I think the closest any child will get to feeling like they are using The Force is the first few times they are able to ride a bike without holding on to the handlebars. DaughterGeeding accomplished that this weekend. However, the big news this weekend was that BoyGeeding finally learned how to ride his bike sans training wheels. It’s a neat thing to see a child be intimidated about something and then slowly build up confidence.

WifeGeeding right before a video conference, “Hey, does my eye look crooked?”

That’s something your run of the mill spouse would say.

I’m a bit surprised that ESPN’s documentary The Last Dance doesn’t bleep out cursing. I’m not bothered by it, but it’s a bit surprising to hear Jordon drop the f-bomb. And knowing what I know now about Rodman and Pippen’s explosive relationship with the front office, I have an even higher appreciation for Phil Jackson. I am loving hearing an unfiltered Jordan, not in the terms of cursing, but in being transparent about his feelings, opinions, struggles, just everything. He was certainly that way talking about the Pistons and Isiah. But what’s up with his eyes through this documentary, they look dark or bloodshot the whole time.

While I never really liked the Detroit Pistons, I always thought it was cool that their warmups had the players’ first name on them.

I think a lot of folks enjoyed the NFL Draft because it gave you a chance to see what everybody’s house looked like. Jerry Jones managed the draft from his superyacht, the Bravo Eugenia. Really, is there a better place for him to be? If you are old and at higher risk to be infected, what better place is there to be than your own personal yacht away from others?

I’ve mentioned my neighbor who has been a widower for about two years and has been having a rough time as a single parent. This weekend he found out his sister had an aneurysm and will most likely die today.

60 Minutes had an interesting segment on how COVID-19 has made the Army adapt their basic training.

Trump Speech to Bring 1,000 West Point Cadets Back to Campus – To accommodate Trump’s sudden decision to speak at West Point, cadets will be called back, tested off-campus, then isolated for 14 days in rooms with masks. They’ll eat in segregated groups. No decision on whether family members may attend.

Texas voters overwhelmingly approve of business closures, stay-at-home orders despite blow to state’s economy, says UT/TT poll

Last week I watched all of HBO’s Catherine The Great starring Helen Mirren. It was good, but not great. She’s one of those subjects I was aware of but couldn’t really tell you anything about. WifeGeeding and I both started Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Mavel and have really enjoyed it. I’m a suck for stand up comedians’ lives behind the scenes and all the lumps they took on the way to the top. It’s one reason I really enjoy Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

I almost fell for the CraigsList cashier’s check scam.

These scams work because everybody believes that cashier’s checks are safe. If the bank lets you take cash, the check must be good, right? Unfortunately, your bank assumes that the check will be good, but the responsibility for the deposit is ultimately yours.

Parks and Recreation is returning next week for a half-hour charity special on NBC

Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Adam Scott, Rob Lowe, Jim O’Heir, and Retta are all set to appear as their original characters, and “several guest stars from the Pawnee universe may pop in,” says NBC. The special will be “all shot from our homes,” Poehler said in a promotional video.

Yes, this is the third day in a row I’m going to reference a head of state and tree planting. Here’s the footage of the president and the first lady planting a tree with the vice-president and his wife, I think. The president made it awkward asking the vice-president to shovel the dirt with him using the same shovel, then Pence awkwardly grabs the shovel not knowing exactly how to help, but I can’t blame the guy for being put on the spot. I think I heard the president call the first lady “honey”, which I thought was cute. I like finding out little things like that, stuff that humanizes those in power. I thought he’d be more of a “babe” or “sweetie” kinda guy.

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump participate in an Earth Day tree planting. pic.twitter.com/kTIdB6UdD5

— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 22, 2020

I’ve never understood LiberallyLean’s criticism of Mark Cuban for not increasing his wealth. For some billionaires, increasing wealth is important as well as creating some sort of legacy. For others, they know they are set for life and just want to try new things or stuff that amuses them.

How A Tweak To A Military Plane’s Windshield Wipers Could Save Millions Of Dollars

The Air Force has discovered a simple engineering change to the venerable KC-135 Stratotanker could save it up to $7 million a year. Using computer modeling, the Air Force realized it could increase the aerodynamic efficiency of the converted jetliner by one percent by changing the orientation of the windshield wipers. The increased efficiency translates into greater fuel savings.

Tom Brady appears to be having a hard time adjusting to life in Tampa. First the park citation and now this.

Tom Brady walks into wrong house looking for Byron Leftwich – The new Bucs quarterback doesn’t knock, mixes up his offensive coordinator’s crib with a neighbor’s.

How your body will try to save you from Covid-19 – Covid-19 immunity — antibodies, serological tests, reinfection, and immunological memory — explained.

You can tell that Christina Applegate has high regard for her television father. But then again, how can you not love the man who scored four touchdowns in a single game as a Polk High School Panther in the 1966 city championship game against Andrew Johnson High School, including the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds against nemesis “Spare Tire” Dixon.

What Brought Beyoncé, U2, and BTS to Amish Country? – You’ve never heard of Rock Lititz. But before the pandemic put the industry on hold, the biggest names in music were joining its waitlist.

For a major band planning a major tour, the companies that constitute Rock Lititz aim to be a one-stop shop: They build the stage, they design the lighting, they do the sound, and after a couple days or a week or a month of rehearsals, they send you off to tour the world.

Sneak attack.

Dedicated bird.