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The headmaster at our children’s school had a Dan Quayle “potatoe” moment but I think it may have been worst considering his love for the Founding Fathers and how much they seem to be at the core of everything at the school. He walked into an elementary school class and they were reviewing a lesson over U.S. currency. He briefly addressed the class and quizzed them on who was on the nickel. In all seriousness, he thought Alexander Hamilton was on the nickel. I’m flabbergastered.

When I say the Founding Fathers are at the core of everything at the school, it’s not hyperbole. For instance, here’s a collage of items you’ll find walking the halls. It’s a great school, no school is perfect, and at the risk of sounding ungrateful for my country, the school can sometimes pour on patriotism a bit thickly.

I heard Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton muse about a light-hearted political theory yesterday – Politicians with three-syllable sounding names tend to get elected over their opponents. He cited that’s why Donald Trump won over Hillary Clinton, Gregg Abbot is our governor, and that’s why Micheal Bloomberg likes to go by “Mike Bloomberg”.

My state representative’s campaign send me yet another text asking if I would consider voting for her. I replied back, “I’ve replied to a previous text that she had my vote as well as on the phone. However, I may change my mind because someone in your campaign put a yard sign in my front yard without my permission and the nonstop texts and calls.”

Texas church with sex offender pastor first to be ousted from SBC under abuse reforms

A Texas church pastored by a man who sexually abused two pre-teen girls is the first to be removed from the Southern Baptist Convention under new sex abuse reforms.

Ranchland Heights Baptist Church in Midland has for years been pastored by Phillip Rutledge, who was convicted of sexual assaulting 11 and 12-year-old girls in 2003, according to court records and the Texas Department of Public Safety.

This would be an interesting topic to have a back and forth with with some of my pastoral friends. People have to be held accountable for their actions, but Christians are taught to forgive and be like Christ. If Christ forgives our sins and tosses them as far as the east is from the west, and if all sin is weighed equal in God’s eyes, at what point can Christians forgive the most wicked of sins after corporal punishment has been served and true repentance of error and sin occurred? For instance, I can’t see how a congregation would allow a convicted sex offender to ever be a youth minister, or any leadership position in the church, no matter how genuine his or her life has been turned around. If a person can’t get a second chance at a church, what hope does hath he? I don’t expect an answer from anyone, it’s really a rhetorical question, but I doubt I’ll ever find an answer I feel comfortable with.

Per their webpage, SpeedZone Dallas Is Permanently Closed.

Dallas’s Geeky New ‘Star Wars’ Themed Pop-Up Bar – Sip a Baby Yoda cocktail in this temporarily Death Star-designed bar

A Baby Yoda themed drink is made with vodka and green melon liqueur, and garnished with limes to resemble The Child’s iconic ears.

There’s a huge six-foot Millennium Falcon model dangling above drinkers, a towering Chewbacca, Darth Vader wedged between two Stormtroopers, and a twinkling ceiling to offset its new Death Star-themed bathrooms. Of course, the cult films will also play on repeat across most of its TVs.

I was a little peeved at my state representative who is up for re-election. Her campaign workers are pretty aggressive with texts and phone calls, which doesn’t bother me because I respect the effort they are putting in. But what did bother me was them placing a yard sign in the front of my house without any expressed permission. While I confirmed by both text and phone call that she had my vote, I never was asked a thing about a sign being placed in front of my house. What did I do about it? Well, let me tell you. I sighed and then sent a strongly worded tweet. The campaign replied, but they blamed it on an intern. While that may be true, it sounded cowardly.

Colt McCoy was being interviewed by Bob and Corby of The TICKET and they asked him about his injury during the National Championship game. When he answered, “I’m a firm believer” I totally expected him to say “everything happens for a reason” but instead, he said, “that life goes on.” If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you know my annoyance with “everything happens for a reason.” Whatever respect I had for him before has increased tenfold.

Random question regarding Iowa-class battleship like the U.S.S. Missouri and their 16″/50 caliber Mark 7 guns – After firing, how hot is the outside of the gun/cannon? Would it be too hot to touch or for Cher to saddle? Seriously, how hot after firing a single round would that thing be?  Those things are pretty thick so I’m not sure a lot of heat would transfer. Here’s a factoid which may help you with your answer?

They fired projectiles weighing from 1,900 to 2,700 pounds (850 to 1,200 kg) at a maximum speed of 2,690 feet per second (820 m/s) with a range of up to 24 miles (39 km). At maximum range the projectile spent almost 1½ minutes in flight. Each turret required a crew of 79 men to operate.

Another interesting USS Missouri fact – The Brits once saved the ship.

In fact, the Mighty Mo had a fairly close call on Feb. 23, 1991, when it was firing 16″ rounds in support of an amphibious landing along the Kuwaiti shore.

The Missouri’s loud 16″ guns apparently attracted enemy attention, and the Iraqis fired an HY-2 Silkworm missile at the ship. But the British frigate HMS Gloucester came to its rescue, shooting the missile down with GWS-30 Sea Dart missiles.

Russia’s Radio Sputnik, funded by the Kremlin, airing in Kansas City

Formerly known as Radio Moscow, the Kremlin-funded Radio Sputnik is airing on three local stations and is delivered by Americans from a Washington studio.

1906 photograph of veterans of the Texas Revolution – The Texas Veterans Association was an organization of those who had served prior to, during, and immediately after the Texas Revolution.

Kentucky man awarded $150K after being denied ‘IM GOD’ license plate

Meet the Sulfur Miners Risking Their Lives Inside a Volcano – Mt. Ijen, on the island of Java, is one of the most dangerous workplaces on Earth.

Deepfake Of Tom Holland And Robert Downey Jr In ‘Back To The Future’

I was a big fan of the original Amazing Stories so I’m glad to see it will be returning, just hearing the music made me smile. I think my favorite was “The Mission” which starred Kevin Costner and Kiefer Sutherland in which a belly turret gunner is trapped in the compartment of his WWII bomber and the crew scrambles trying to figure out how to land without smearing him on the runway.

I was notified mid-morning Friday that I needed to pick up BoyGeeding from school because the nurse diagnosed him with a concussion. As soon as I arrived, the nurse, who I have a great rapport with, greeted me and had the security video of his bad fall during P.E. pulled up. She told me, “He totally ate it.” While I don’t like watching a video of my son getting hurt, it was touching to watch all his classmates run to his aid immediately. BoyGeeding was laying down in the nurse’s room with the lights turned off and seemed a little out of it. As a precaution, I took him to his pediatrician. You may recall my mother died from head trauma, so this was all out of an abundance of caution. WifeGeeding was concerned if he did have a concussion if the doctor would clear him for his birthday at the trampoline park the next day.

On the way to the doctor’s office, BoyGeeding’s grogginess seemed to slowly vanish. When I asked him to recite The Microscope, a poem he recited for a grade the previous week, and he did so without error, I knew he was fine. The doctor said as much and cleared him for his birthday party at the trampoline park and said he could play on his tablet and watch TV at home. But, BoyGeeding was bummed he was going to miss his class’ Valentine’s Day party. His teacher was nice enough to save him a slice of pizza and cupcake.

At home, BoyGeeding wanted to spend some time with me but I still had to work. I know I’m no JFK, but he pulled a bit of a modern-day John-John which made me smile.

BoyGeeding’s mother has been tossing around the idea of getting him a guinea pig for his birthday. I wasn’t sold on it, we already have a rabbit and two dogs, but it just happened the local animal shelter had a female guinea pig available. And now for the handful of you who have seen Fleabag . . . Yes, I did suggest the name “Hilary” to him and we are planning on opening up a guinea pig-themed cafe with Chatty Wednesdays.

WifeGeeding brought home a note to BoyGeeding from a girl in his class. She has an interesting sense of humor which may have won me over.

The trampoline park did a cool thing. At the start of the party, they had all the kids gather for a group photo, which they printed out, placed in a cardstock frame, and gave it to us free of charge.

That image above is from Theodore Roosevelt’s diary, he had a tough day.

On Valentine’s Day of 1884, just 36 hours after the birth of their only daughter, Alice, 25-year-old future U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt held his young wife in his arms as she passed away from undiagnosed Bright’s disease. Incredibly, just hours before, in the same house, he had already said a final goodbye to his mother, Martha. She had succumbed to Typhoid, aged just 48.

Yesterday, DaughterGeeding printed and distributed the third edition of her class newspaper. Her classmates like it so much they are now giving her random sums of money. How much? I didn’t ask. Another classmate asked if she would put something in the paper about his upcoming birthday party and would pay her to do it. The kid is an entrepreneur.

Seeing the shockwave reverberate back and forth is cool, but I bet it felt neat as it rushed through the air.

Too bad Harold Taft isn’t around, he coudl tell us stories about how he got around using that word. – Until 1950, U.S. Weathermen Were Forbidden From Talking About Tornados

• From 1887 up until 1950, American weather forecasters were forbidden from attempting to predict tornados. Mentioning them was, in the words of one historian, “career suicide.”
• Less than confident in their own predictive powers, and fearful of the responses of a panicky public, “the use of the word ‘tornado’ in forecasts was at times strongly discouraged and at other times forbidden” by the Weather Bureau, Edwards writes, replaced by euphemisms like “severe local storms.”

I think President Trump, from a political standpoint, has positioned himself well. I’m not sure it was all planned, but he’s in a good spot. If he breaks the law egregiously, the Democrats wouldn’t dare try to impeach him again. Doing so would further the Republican message that Democrats are unwilling to accept the results of the 2016 election and make them look like obstructionists. The country has already been down that road and doesn’t want another ride.

I also read that Hope Hicks will be returning to the White House. I’ve been reading the book A Very Stable Genious and she comes off well. While she’s young and extremely attractive, she’s a lot smarter and calculating than anyone would expect and she’s got the respect of all the Trump family. Don’t underestimate her. She may not be in the spotlight, but she’s really the only person capable of “handling” the president.

Armchair Political Consultant Thought – Mike Bloomberg should hire writers from The Daily Show to come up with funny and snarky tweets about current events. The current president has mastered the art of attention-getting tweets, Bloomberg should tread on that turf. 

Right after I wrote that I found the following articles

– Bloomberg campaign pays social media accounts for memes

– Michael Bloomberg’s Campaign Suddenly Drops Memes Everywhere – A campaign of sponsored content for the candidate flourished suddenly on Instagram. A new outfit, called Meme 2020, is behind it.

Since I recently mentioned something about taxes and cyber currency – IRS quietly deletes guideline that Fortnite virtual currency must be reported on tax returns

Meet the Investor Who Bet Early on Warby Parker, Glossier, and Dollar Shave Club – While most VCs were focused on software, Kirsten Green at Forerunner Ventures saw the potential of the direct-to-consumer revolution

While pushing some large and heavy furniture yesterday, I heard my bottom left rib pop really loud. It was odd, nothing was pressed against it, it just popped as I was straining. I never had anything like this happen. It was one of those pains that you know something is really wrong but you can’t yet feel the pain and the gravity of the situation hasn’t registered. I laid flat down on my back and didn’t feel a sharp pain but a really dull and deep kind of pain, similar to a pulled muscle. The rib area is still sore and my mobility is only slightly compensated. It was just weird experiencing something I never felt before physically, I thought I was passed that point in life.