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It wasn’t until I moved to DFW, so about 23-years old, that I first saw someone with an ashed cross on their forehead and it freaked me out. I thought it was something out of The Exorcist. Yes, I may have heard about Ash Wednesday, but didn’t really know what it was other than thinking it was some “Catholic thing.” With that in mind, I try to ensure my kids will be more cultured than I was growing up.

New Orleans Mardi Gras isn’t my sort of thing but I think it would be cool to experience it once. There’s no way I’d survive with my fears and dislike of being in loud and crowded places, but  I don’t think I’d mind observing from a Bourbon Street balcony. Just for kicks, I looked up prices on Tuesday night. Roughly, for a four-hour window of time, it will cost $250 a person, give or take fifty bucks. That’s not as bad as I thought it would be, I’d was expecting $500 at a minimum.

I’m screwed – This CDC infographic lets you know if your facial hair won’t work with a mask

In short, the CDC recommends that any facial hair that can fit entirely under a respirator should be fine. Where it looks like you might have some problems is if your facial hair is long enough or covers enough of your face that it pushes against the seal of the respirator.

The Mike Bloomberg campaign sure does send me a lot of mail.

I had dinner with my coworkers at a noisy and dark restaurant the other night and was seated furthest away from the folks who would be conversing the most. Some of them thought I was daydreaming a lot because I was staring out the window for a good amount of time, but really, I was watching a basketball game reflected on the window.

Konami Code creator has died, leaving behind a legacy spanning over three decades

Kazuhisa Hashimoto, the programmer of the famous Konami Code, died this week at the age of 61. His code, ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B, A, Start, has lived on for over three decades and continues to be a comical Easter egg in many games today.

https://twitter.com/MariettaDoran/status/1232807126810202115

Netflix’s daily-updating Top 10 lists roll out worldwide

Netflix will update the list daily, and when you click on the Movies or TV tab, you’ll see separate lists for those categories. The position of the list will vary depending on how relevant the titles are to you, and titles that make the cut will get a “Top 10” badge, so you’ll be able to spot them when you’re scrolling through other sections too.

While Netflix has featured popular and trending content in the past, this is the first time it’s ranking titles in order.

Sometimes I’m haunted by the fact that some folks have only interacted with me once but caught me at my worst, and they will forever think of me negatively.

That time oil diggers accidentally drilled into a salt mine and drained an entire lake.

If you accidentally typed in ALL CAPS in Microsoft word, select the text and give “Shift” and “F3” a try. If you hit those buttons again each word will have its first letter capitalized, hit it again and you get all lowercase. For you Mac users, it’s “Command ⌘ “and “a”.

Yesterday afternoon I accepted the role of general manager for the Rockies . . . of the Coppell Youth Sports Association. There’s a draft on Sunday afternoon which I’ll use to form my roster. But, according to Jimmy Johnson’s old draft sheet, I get a one two and two threes for a first and fifth, which I just may use. Someone break it to BoyGeeding that I’m not drafting him until the 4th. And please don’t tell him that he’s only on the team because I traded five jockstraps and a package of eye black for him. Now I’m off to find a coach who can adequately send slackers to the asthma field during conditioning drills on the first practice.

I forgot to share this BoyGeeding story earlier in the week. His actual birthday (he turned eight) was on Sunday but he had his birthday party the day before. He was fortunate enough to receive presents but I noticed right before bedtime not all of his presents were taken out of their packaging. I asked him why and he said he can’t play with those until morning because the box says “For children eight and up.” He thought it would be “illegal” for him to play with a toy for children eight years old an up on the last day he would be seven years old.

Talent show tryouts were yesterday at our children’s school. I was tole one kid decided to rap Eminem’s Lose Yourself, acapella.  You knew things were off to a slow start when he pulled out his phone to read the lyrics off of a YouTube video. He was instructed that the talent show doesn’t allow for any phone or paper to be used and that next time he should use a version with clean language.

Random nostalgia – When Gatorade used to come in glass bottles. It would be fun to open it for the first time hearing that medal lid pop and later trying to screw the lid back on so that the lid looked depressed (it never worked).

Quarter Pounder Scented Candle Pack

• Set of 6 custom scented candles in glass containers, inspired by Quarter Pounder  ingredients: Bun, Ketchup, Pickle, Cheese, Onion, 100% Fresh Beef**
• Burn together for maximum deliciousness

Medium.com – After Attending a Trump Rally, I Realized Democrats Are Not Ready For 2020 – I’ve been a Democrat for 20 years. But this experience made me realize how out-of-touch my party is with the country at large.

Report: Corpus Christi has the highest utility bills in the nation

The Great Sphinx of Giza Through the Years

How The Mandalorian and ILM invisibly reinvented film and TV production

As detailed in an extensive report in American Cinematographer Magazine (I’ve been chasing this story for some time, but suspected this venerable trade publication would get the drop on me), the production process of “The Mandalorian” is completely unlike any before, and it’s hard to imagine any major film production not using the technology going forward. Meet “the Volume.”

Formally called Stagecraft, it’s 20 feet tall, 270 degrees around, and 75 feet across — the largest and most sophisticated virtual filmmaking environment yet made. ILM just today publicly released a behind-the-scenes video of the system in use, as well as a number of new details about it.

I love the way Young Sheldon ended last night’s episode.

I appreciate those of you who commented on my questions about convicted sex offenders, their involvement and employment in the church, and forgiveness. As I mentioned, I’m not necessarily looking for the right answer, I just like to have some theological back and forth. Several of you support the idea of “forgive but don’t forget” but I think that overlooks the calling to be Christ-like. Protestants interpret God and Jesus as the same (let’s not forget the Holy Spirit), and the Bible tells us that God will not only forgive our sins but forget them as well (in a sense, all three support this). So, in the quest to be Christ-like, it appears that the church should not only forgive but also forget.

I don’t favor any answer which states certain things like this are impossible at the human level but possible at the deity level because I’ve been taught that God doesn’t give us anything we can’t handle (and that interpretation can certainly be debated) (now I’m reminded of LiberallyLean’s mention of “Baptist guilt” for some reason). Certainly, from a worldly moral and legal standpoint doing so should be a no-no, but it seems like something the church “should” do. I’ll tell you this much, I certainly don’t want to be put in such a position to have to make such a decision. But I am glad I take the time to think these sorts of things over rather than settling for an answer which sounds good. As you can tell, I’m more interested in having the discussion than having the answer, it’s sort like the journey is better than the destination kinda thing.

DaughterGeeding has been binge-watching The Simpsons (Yes, I already know I’m a bad parent) and she made the observation that only two characters have eyebrows – Smithers and Milhouse.

Anytime I hear someone use the word “stake” or “mistake” I immediately think of a scene in Duece Bigalow in which a woman asks, “Did you stay steak?” But when I hear someone use the word “steak” I only think of steak.

I think our government can come up with a better title for the role of undersecretary.

If you are running for office and happen to be extremely wealthy but won’t release your tax records, or older and won’t release your medical records, there’s something you don’t want people to know.

I don’t know how fast President Trump and his limo traveled going around the Daytona 500 race track, but I think that might have been the fastest the public has seen a presidential limo go since the JFK assassination.

I replaced the four fluorescent bulb light fixture in our kitchen yesterday. I never did like that light, the cold glow always reminded me of the opening scene in Joe vs. The Volcano. The new fixture looks much better, like something which belongs in a home and not in an office or shop. It’s LED and much brighter and allows me to change the color temperature. Upon turning it on for the first time (yes, I did the Clark Griswold “Joy to the world”) I asked myself why didn’t I do this earlier. Then it dawned upon me, oh, yeah, LEDs like this haven’t really been available or affordable until recently.

These Lyrics Do Not Exist – Lyrics generated using Artificial Intelligence

Wait for it, this woman has some amazing leg and ab strength. Also, that dude in the backpack must have been in a hurry.

Larry Tesler, the computer scientist responsible for cut, copy, and paste, has passed away.

In the spirit of being freaking proud of myself and also knowing I'm about to be fat shamed on the Internet, I present to you me, a 38 year old mom and teacher, doing a thing I was afraid to do when I was a 14 year old gymnast. Next week: add a full (and straighten my legs) pic.twitter.com/4YpFRArgtd

— Nicole Clemens (@Nicolemens) February 18, 2020

Well-known Grand Meadow bus driver dies https://t.co/x7FUIPj727

— Post Bulletin (@PB_News) February 18, 2020