BagOfNothing.com

This is the face of a man who is:

A. Doing his best to ward off COVID-19.
B. About to carry out a Dexter inspired murder.
C. Having a section of his house painted.
D. ___________

Like the rest of the quarantined world, I’m enamored with Netflix’s The Tiger King. You’ll see him wear a University of Texas longhorn hat throughout a lot of it, but what perplexes me is why on earth isn’t he wearing an LSU tiger hat? Seriously, how can he not be an LSU fan? Maybe he’s not a fan of purple and yellow, which would also mean he wouldn’t be a Hardin-Simmons fan. Fun LSU/HSU fact. When HSU started their football program back up in the early Nineties, they wore old LSU uniforms for games. Here are a couple of pictures from that era. Hardin-Simmons even interlocked or linked the “HSU” on the helmet as LSU does. HSU isn’t very good at being original at things. I thought our “All School Sing” was an original but then found Baylor lose it. Now, they even have special ring ceremonies like aTm. And for hand gestures, it’s the same as Texas Tech’s “get your guns up”.

The world needs a reboot of the Ice Capades more than it will ever need mustard. First World Problem: Even though I’ll order a Whataburger plain and dry, sometimes they put mustard on it. Usually, I’m not petty enough to return it, but there’ no way you can scrape off mustard, the bun absorbs it and the taste is overpowering, no matter how much ketchup I add.

Another First World Problem: Television reporters reporting from home who use Skype type applications never properly mic themselves. The simply use the mic on their phone or laptop and it sounds like they are talking into a tin can. They are professionals or work with professionals who can easily instruct them on how to attach a mic and connect it.

Lately, some of my not-so-close friends have started to shave or clip their hair on the shortest setting. As soon as they see me, the first thing they do is tell me they finally took the plunge, don’t understand why they didn’t do it sooner, and say that I was an inspiration and followed my lead. Next thing you know, they will start showing up with beer bellies telling me the same thing.

I’ve been reluctant in making an appointment with a pain management doctor concerning my back pain. I suppose I’m worried it’s a way of admitting defeat in some way or confronting a fear. A few times I’ve called to make the appointment but hung up after three rings, for some reason I was couldn’t make the commitment. However, yesterday I met with a pain management specialist and was really impressed with the doctor’s understanding, bedside manner, compassion, and knowledge. It’s like he totally knew what he was doing, duh. I also guess it helped that he was really familiar with my spinal surgeon, they are in the same building. Regarding COVID-19, the visit was everything you’d expect. Nurses were wearing masks and gloves, as was the doctor. Except for an examination of my body, he stayed about six feet away. Other than a slight change in medication, I was scheduled for an MRI and we’ll go from there. I have a follow-up appointment, but it’s scheduled in which the doctor will call me at a set date and time through some sort of telemedicine app.

Driving around northern Dallas yesterday felt like a drive on Christmas morning where parking lots are empty and traffic is fairly light. It would be a good time for fixing potholes or any other type of road construction.

Smartphone data reveal which Americans are social distancing (and not) – D.C. gets an ‘A’ while Wyoming earns an ‘F’ for following coronavirus stay-at-home advice, based on the locations of tens of millions of phones

On Tuesday, a company called Unacast that collects and analyzes phone GPS location data launched a “Social Distancing Scoreboard” that grades, county by county, which residents are changing behavior at the urging of health officials. It uses the reduction in the total distance we travel as a rough index for whether we’re staying put at home.

How do they know that? Efforts to track public health during the coronavirus pandemic are a reminder of the many ways phones reveal our personal lives, both as individuals and in the aggregate. Unacast’s location data comes from games, shopping and utility apps that tens of millions of Americans have installed on their phones — information the company normally analyzes for retailers, real estate firms and marketers. It’s part of a shadowy world of location tracking that consumers often have little idea is going on.

Spain turns ice rink into a morgue as coronavirus deaths pile up

What postponing the Summer Olympics means for NBC

Former Chair of the Federal Reserve of the United States, Alan Greenspan (Mr. Andrea Mitchell), recently turned 94. I did a brief news search on him, and it appears he’s still active and working.

Whatever It Takes: How the Fed Aims to Rescue the Economy – The central bank is using tactics from the last financial crisis and deploying new ones to keep money flowing. Here are the basics.

The U.S. Navy’s Big Beautiful New Carrier Has Hilariously Messed Up Toilets

It has toilets designed so incredibly poorly that the entire system needs to be unclogged and flushed out with acid, yes acid, on a regular basis, at the cost of $400,000 a pop.

Navy sailors test positive for new coronavirus aboard a ship at sea – Three sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt tested positive for the virus.

CBS offers a free month of All Access so you can binge-watch ‘Picard’ – Patrick Stewart made the announcement ahead of the season finale.

Again, trying to accentuate the positive and look for a silver lining, at least a pandemic will decrease school or any other type of mass shootings. I guess when it comes to statistical data relating to that sort of stuff this pandemic will cause an anomaly.

And to think, I thought 2019 was a bad year and couldn’t wait for it to get over with. We aren’t even a quarter way through 2020.

Armchair Political Consultant – If I were working for Trump, I’d suggest the first lady come out with a series of YouTube videos, probably something simple like reading stories to kids and encouraging families to keep their chins up. She’s an under-used asset that can soften the president’s rough edges and combative nature and it will help come re-election time.

If a director is every looking to cast someone for Gerald Ford, I nominate the actor who plays the Mesa Verde bank president in Better Call Saul.

We visited a small Virginia town where drone deliveries have begun for real – Google’s unmanned aerial vehicles are bringing residents medicine and chocolates. Emergency supplies could be next.

Wing chose Christiansburg (population 22,500) as its first launching site for American commercial operations — it’s also testing in Australia and Finland — not only because of the relatively flat terrain and low population density, but because of nearby Virginia Tech University, a leading facility for unmanned drone research.

Oh, nuts. – Deerfield Testicle Festival On Hold

The Deerfield American Legion hosted “Testicle Festival” will not take place Saturday, March 21 as planned, as limitations upon the number of people together in one setting, have been set by the Michigan state government in a response to combatting COVID-19.

The festival has been moved to the date of Saturday, May 9. It will take place at the legion hall, 105 W. River St., during the hours of 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The festival, which is held one day of the year, is generally a sign to the start of the spring season. It draw more than 2,000 people to the Deerfield community each year and it is the legion’s biggest fundraiser.

Funds raised from the festival — whether that be through sales of sliced and deep-fried cattle testicles and chicken gizzards, to beer sales and t-shirt sales — bring in the most funds of the year at the legion. The funds raised from the festival have allowed the members of the legion to continually make building improvements to the hall and its facilities, and to be able to give back to the Deerfield community.

Hotel thieves aren’t stealing toiletries – but framed art, TVs, a fireplace – They’re putting the average shoplifter to shame by taking paintings and mattresses. How do they get away with it?

I guess you can say I had a holy weekend and I’m totally poped. I binged-watched the nine episodes of HBO’s The New Hope and watched Netflix’s The Two Popes all in a three-day span. We just started to watch Netflix’s Tiger King and it’s as wheels off and entertaining as you’d imagine.

This family did a great job recreating Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean.

I wonder if any lawmaker of the stimulus bill being negotiated explored if there is a way for people to opt-out if they haven’t been financially affected. For instance, since I’ve always worked from home for the company I work for, I’m not affected financially like a waiter or waitress or a cosmetologist. It seems unfair for someone like me to benefit when I’m (thankfully) unaffected financially.  But then again perhaps people like me are minuscule. The government would be going further in debt if it’s just giving money away to people who aren’t impacted. But then again, they do want it to stimulate the economy, so I suppose they are encouraging folks like me to simply spend it and not save it or use it to pay down any debt. I suppose I could donate the money, but, well, I’m too selfish.

Rita Wilson is either feeling better.

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See it to believe it

A post shared by Rita Wilson (@ritawilson) on Mar 21, 2020 at 11:31pm PDT

It was quite impressive and surprising to see Doug Dunbar of our local CBS11 doing the national broadcast of the CBS Evening News on Saturday and Sunday. It was a little odd seeing and hearing the national broadcasting formats, graphics, and music being used while he was broadcasting from the local station. Just to be sure this was happening, I confirmed it with Uncle Barkey on twitter. Dunbar later replied to my tweet with class remembering all those behind the camera making such an event happen. Sometimes I think he’s a bit full of himself and tries to pull off a Captain America vibe, but now I feel I’ve been too hard on him.

honor for sure, but a lot of faces you didn't see helping make it all happen while the CBS building in NYC is shut down. One rope, everybody pulls. 🙂 Thanks for watching!

— Doug Dunbar (@cbs11doug) March 21, 2020

This online toilet paper calculator will tell you just how long your supply will last

Howmuchtoiletpaper.com is a website created by student software developer Ben Sassoon and artist Sam Harris, both based in London, in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The tool calculates just how long your stash of TP will last you during a quarantine.

The layout is simple. Users enter how many rolls of toilet paper they have and how many times they visit the loo.

If you scroll to the “Advanced Options” section, you can really get detailed, customizing the average number of wipes per trip, the number of sheets per wipe, sheets on the roll, and people in the house.

Canadian Politician Defends ‘Paw Patrol’ For Encouraging Kids To ‘Embrace Capitalism’

Over the weekend, Canada’s Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer shared a video on Twitter responding to a CBC article critical of the kids show “Paw Patrol”.

“Does Paw Patrol encourage our kids to embrace capitalism?” the article questioned.

Interviewed for the article, criminology professor Liam Kennedy explained that the show consistently depicts government officials like Mayor Humdinger and Mayor Goodway as unethical, corrupt, or bumbling.

“I would argue that the Paw Patrol, as a private corporation, is used to help provide basic social services in the Adventure Bay community,” he continued. “That’s problematic in that the Paw Patrol creators are sending this message that we can’t depend on the state to provide these services.”

Kennedy added, “I just think that as time goes on, children might be less likely to critique the capitalist system that causes environmental harm in the first place and reproduces inequality.”

Baker Hotel window replacement

Here’s an earlier video of a tour of the basement, It appears the hotel was self-powered using steam, which I never knew.

It’s nice to see how this huge remodeling effort is being documented, quite nicely I’ll add, but I think HGTV could make a great show out of this, evening partnering with that couple in Waco and Fort Worth’s own Grace Mitchell. Hopefully, my tweeting will get some eyes.

This is such a huge remodeling effort with such detail, @HGTV is missing out on a great opportunity for a show. I can even picture collaboration with @AStoriedStyle and @chipgaines & @joannagaines, perhaps giving them a specialized suite to design. https://t.co/vPu0VYQ8LR

— BagOfNothing (@bagofnothing) March 22, 2020

I’ve actually been sitting on some Baker Hotel stuff for a while, trying to find a good time to post them. This seems like as good a time as any.

The backend of this video shows some great animation of what the grand old lady will look like once the restoration is complete.

At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, a more than decent fireworks show (for Mineral Wells standards) happened off the roof of the Baker Hotel.

In an effort to find accentuate the positive, this pandemic came at a time in history in which humans can handle it best.

• Medical science is at its peak, even if we can’t fix a horse’s bone (Ticket reference).
• We all have plumbing. (TMI Alert: We have a bidet, we don’t need any TP.”
• Hello, electricity.
• There’s an infrastructure to deliver everything. Roads are already built, as are railroads, airports, as well as shipping ports.
• We have broadband internet which allows for fast data communications which not only allows us to communicate across the world in less than a second, and allows for businesses to track and manage inventories with complex algorithms, but websites like Amazon exist which allows us to order anything and have it delivered to our front door. If this happened in the mid-Nineties, imagine trying to do this on a 14.4 or even a 56k modem.
  • “Modem” is actually short for “modulator-demodulator”. Thank you, Dr. Livsey. (That’s a joke intended for an audience of one.)
• Grocery stores and places like Wal-Mart and Target have had a chance to establish curbside pickup. Imagine if curbside pickup wasn’t an option at Wal-Mart and just how much more crowded it would be inside. You can place an order and have an expectation of what’s in stock and not. Then, you can pick it up at a scheduled time and you don’t even have to leave your car – and, it’s free.
• Boredom can easily be conquered, though we will still complain about it. You can read any book in the world which has ever been printed just by ordering it online to an e-reader. You don’t have to download movies or television shows, you simply can stream any show or movie ever created. If that’s not enough, we entertain ourselves with our own created content using Tik Tok and YouTube.
• Mobile phones, yo, anything you need to find out or anyone you need to contact is literally at your fingertips.
• We have mobile banking.
• Waste management.
• We learned our lesson from the Ice Capades.
• Godzilla humidifiers exist.
  

One thing I try to instill in my children is that it’s not what happens in life, it’s how you choose to react respond to it.

I bet since a lot of schools are going to some sort of online content, a lot of parents are going to find out that the teacher is not the problem.

I’m guessing it would be a good time to own a drive-in theater?

Is Australia still on fire?

Malaysia Flight 370 has been missing since March 8, 2014.

Armchair Political Consultant – President Trump has been hard on China as of late, perhaps deflecting blame. I’d caution that approach, the Chinese don’t take kindly to being insulted, but more importantly, because most drug ingredients come from China. If China wanted to, they could jack up prices and kill our economy even more, if they wanted to utilize that leverage. I’d advise the president to go hard against the Middle East counties who have ramped up oil production causing job losses in U.S. oil fields.

Hang in there, Italy.

Italian Army Transports Dozens of Coffins Out of City After Crematorium Overwhelmed With Coronavirus Deaths

• The city’s crematorium has resorted to operating 24 hours a day in order to deal with the number of deaths amid the outbreak. As reported by L’Eco di Bergamo, army vehicles have now been used to take the coffins away to neighboring areas.
• The Washington Post previously reported the dead in Bergamo are being buried with no ceremonies as family members remain under quarantine or too sick to attend themselves.
• The obituary pages in the local newspaper can also stretch up to 10 pages and feature around 150 names as it lists all of the COVID-19 victims.

Another heartbreaking image from #Italy fighting #coronavirus #covid19

Lines of military trucks deployed to transport corpses from Bergamo – one of the most plagued towns – to Modena and other regions.

They are too many to be buried, therefore they are going to be cremated. pic.twitter.com/9CxSMZw01w

— Antonello Guerrera (@antoguerrera) March 19, 2020

Here are scenes from inside an Italian hospital. The quietness is haunting.

Before Virus Outbreak, a Cascade of Warnings Went Unheeded – Government exercises, including one last year, made clear that the U.S. was not ready for a pandemic like the coronavirus. But little was done.

That scenario, code-named “Crimson Contagion” and imagining an influenza pandemic, was simulated by the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services in a series of exercises that ran from last January to August.

The simulation’s sobering results — contained in a draft report dated October 2019 that has not previously been reported — drove home just how underfunded, underprepared and uncoordinated the federal government would be for a life-or-death battle with a virus for which no treatment existed.

Many of the potentially deadly consequences of a failure to address the shortcomings are now playing out in all-too-real fashion across the country. And it was hardly the first warning for the nation’s leaders. Three times over the past four years the U.S. government, across two administrations, had grappled in depth with what a pandemic would look like, identifying likely shortcomings and in some cases recommending specific action.

In 2016, the Obama administration produced a comprehensive report on the lessons learned by the government from battling Ebola. In January 2017, outgoing Obama administration officials ran an extensive exercise on responding to a pandemic for incoming senior officials of the Trump administration.

To quote from President Trump’s inauguration speech, ” The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs.”

Senator Dumped Up to $1.6 Million of Stock After Reassuring Public About Coronavirus Preparedness – Intelligence Chair Richard Burr’s selloff came around the time he was receiving daily briefings on the health threat.

As the head of the intelligence committee, Burr, a North Carolina Republican, has access to the government’s most highly classified information about threats to America’s security. His committee was receiving daily coronavirus briefings around this time, according to a Reuters story.

A week after Burr’s sales, the stock market began a sharp decline and has lost about 30% since.

On Thursday, Burr came under fire after NPR obtained a secret recording from Feb. 27, in which the lawmaker gave a VIP group at an exclusive social club a much more dire preview of the economic impact of the coronavirus than what he had told the public.

Coronavirus Diaries: I’m a Flight Attendant. Boy, My Passengers Are Weird Now.

• A lot more passengers have been bringing their own sanitary supplies, wiping down their seats, wearing face masks, wearing gloves. I’ve also noticed people declining drinks and snacks altogether, just not wanting to interact with us at all.
• One thing that I took note of on my last trip: A lot of passengers who come on the airplane and feel sick for unrelated reasons have become defensive about it. They’ve started to give me too much information about the reason for their illnesses. So I’ve had passengers go into great detail about how they had too much to drink last night.
• Some of our service standards have changed. We’re no longer handing out blankets and pillows. We no longer serve glassware on board. Any time there’s a basket of communal snacks or something, we’re handing them out instead of having people reaching in.

Microsoft can filter out the sound of you eating potato chips on a conference call – The software giant’s trained artificial intelligence software to identify background noise that isn’t your voice. Snackers, rejoice.

Time is undefeated.