Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, October 16, 2019

  • I’m sure we all have certain words we never feel comfortable spelling, that every time you write or type it out you have to double-check it. “Wednesday” is one of my words.
  • No Content Spoilers – One of my favorite parts of the new Netflix ‘Breaking Bad’ movie El Camino was seeing eighty-eight-year-old Marla Gibbs. It’s not to see her career peak back up as of late.
  • Whiling lying in bed the other day, the ceiling air register almost directly above me caught my attention so I took a closer look. To my surprise, mold has grown on it. The allergy test I took years ago showed I’m highly allergic to it, so I’m curious how bad this may have affected me and for how long. I suppose I could have simply cleaned the air register but decided to replace it, but I’m not sure if I need to replace or do anything to the vent itself (pic1, pic2). A friend who works around this sort of stuff didn’t think it was worth worrying about but I thought I’d throw it out here and get your thoughts.
    • Again, I make buying things complicated. As I searched for a replacement air register, I found there where three material options – stainless steel, aluminum, and plastic. One forum stated stainless steel has the potential to rust, unlike the other materials. So, not only did I dither longer than I wanted over those options, I then had to consider the airflow design options.
    • I decided to check the other nearby ceiling air registers. The one I mentioned above is located a few feet away from the master bath and the only one in our bedroom. To my surprise, the one in the bathroom, where much more moisture exists, didn’t have any mold on it.
    • Conspiracy theory: WifeGeeding is immune to all molds and planted it there in an effort to slowly kill me and collect on insurance.
  • For the first time in my life, I chipped a tooth. The cost of my dental visit and procedure were less than I imagined. Without insurance, it was $85, $35 with insurance. Offhand, I would have expected it to cost over a hundred. The work was pretty minimum, though, no anesthesia was needed and he basically polished the tooth.
  • Google’s Daydream VR experiment is over – Its latest phones don’t support the platform and it’s discontinuing Daydream View headsets.
  • Dutch family ‘waiting for end of time’ discovered in basement
    • A family who spent nine years in a basement “waiting for the end of time” have been discovered by police in the Netherlands after one of them turned up at a local pub, reports say.
  • I don’t feel like this is a particularly well-written article, the first half lacks a particular depth, but the stuff aboutU2 unsurprisingly stood out to me.
    • Why Christian music’s biggest stars refuse to change their tune for the Trump era
      • There is another, less ethereal reason why CCM artists stay away from politics — loss of income. White evangelicals are Trump’s most steadfast supporters. They are also some of the biggest fans of CCM, and they wield economic clout. Steady work for any musician is precarious, especially in a niche genre like Christian or gospel music. If a Christian musician wants to get a steady paycheck there’s usually only one type of megachurch that has the resources to hire them as a full-time worship leader, Keen says. “It’s going to be fundamentalist, Bible-believing churches,” he says.
      • Some CCM artists cite another example as proof that a Christian band can take on hot-button political issues and thrive: U2. It may surprise casual listeners, but some of the most stirring and thought-provoking Christian contemporary music doesn’t come from the CCM genre. It comes from four men from Dublin, Ireland. U2’s confessional music about Christian faith has long been filled with righteous anger inspired by current events.
      • But Bono isn’t a CCM fan. He has called the music risk-averse and predictable and said he prefers another collection of inspirational music: the psalms in the Bible. He says they’re filled with laughter, tears, rage and doubt.

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Bag of Randomness for Monday, October 14, 2019

    • I was asked to run the scoreboard at BoyGeeding’s game which afforded me a seat directly behind home plate. That’s him playing catcher. I think the shortstop was playing air guitar.
    • A bacon-wrapped whole gator at a LSU tailgate.
    • Nathaniel Hawthorne — “I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house.”
      • Apparently, Hawthorne wasn’t allergic to ragweed.
    • CNN had an article about a girl daying after being flung from a ride at a New Jersey festival and linked to the amusement ride company’s website which I decided to check out. I never thought about buying a used amusement ride but now I have an idea about cost and factors which will go into that decision, like the age and rider count.
    • The reflections in a pop star’s eyes told a selfie stalker exactly how to find her
      • In September, a Japanese man was arrested for reportedly stalking a pop star and attacking and groping her at her home, according to Japanese news organization NHK. Allegedly, this man found the woman’s home by studying photos she posted on social media, observing a train station reflected in her eyes, finding that train station using Google Street View, waiting for her at the train station, and following her home.
    • Skunk vs Bear

      little skunk vs big bear

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Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, October 9, 2019

  • I love how insightful and observant fourth-grader DaughterGeeding can be. She was working on a school project while I was watching the news and she asked me what’s the difference between a grand jury and other kinds of juries. Like a good day, I told her to submit her question or search the archives of LiberallyLean.com.
  • The girl is too hard on herself and I’m trying to figure out why she is feeling stressed about certain things. For instance, her assignment is to create a medieval estate. This can be done on Friday by drawing on a worksheet provided by the teacher or the student can build a 3D model. She opted for the latter. But, she was in tears on Sunday night because she didn’t finish it over the weekend so she can turn it in four days early.
  • Armchair Political Strategist Time – If I were consulting the GOP, I’d tell them to support the Trump impeachment. Republican candidates in the House and the Senate can run on the message on how courageous they were to put the country first and their integrity and respect for what the framers had in mind. Also, working with President Pence is going to be a whole hell of a lot easier. Their focus would shift from drumming up the far-right base and winning moderate voters for Pence, but you could still woo the base by stating how he would continue to stack the Supreme Court with conservative justices and he’s better and more experienced than anyone the opposition would throw out.
  • Bob Sturm claimed if Sylvester Stallone and Harrison Ford were walking through an airport, more excitement would be made for Stallone over Ford. I do not support his claim. Sure, Stallone is more approachable and it’s more fun to shout “Sly” or “Yo, Rock!” but the fandom of Star Wars and Indiana Jones is greater.
  • I love Junior Miller’s description of Mumford and Sons – Coldplay with a banjo.
  • This comes from a school district that decided to hold a vote and announce their new head coach on a Friday night to avoid any attention. Kids have to suffer because of immoral adults.  – Mount Vernon, coached by former Baylor head coach Art Briles, facing possible forfeiture after two players ruled ineligible. 
    • Briles was also publicly reprimanded by the committee for using an assistant coach who wasn’t a full-time employee of the district, also a violation of UIL rules.
      • I’m not sure what the rule is on this. Earlier this week I mentioned Troy Aikman was an assistant coach for a local high school football team and I’m sure he’s not a full-time employee.

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Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, October 8, 2019

  • My coworker who lost his son earlier this year unexpectedly lost his mother last week.
  • I haven’t seen my coworkers in over a year, I think. But we have a new CFO who is visiting and we are all having dinner tonight. I’m not complaining that I have to be with my coworkers, but I’m just not good at being social or engaging in small talk. Perhaps the best thing for me to do is look at this as an opportunity to work on a weakness.
  • As great as capitalism is, sometimes it has its drawbacks. I wasn’t too happy how the NBA catered to it over the fight for freedom and democracy playing damage control with China. They are almost as accommodating to communism as President Trump. Heck, even Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rouke expressed their disappointment with the NBA, even they agreed on something.
  • Judge Tammy Kemp of the Amber Guyer trial was recently interviewed and offered some insight into why she hugged Guyer, why she gave her her personal Bible, and why she felt she didn’t cross any boundaries.
    •  I was not proselytizing. Ms. Guyger asked me for a hug. I’m sad to say she had to ask me twice. I never asked Ms. Guyger to pray and I didn’t pray with her”, she said.
  • ‘God, Guns and America’: South Carolina car dealership offers AR-15 voucher, Bible with every sale
  • The Atlantic – Top Military Officers Unload on Trump – The commander in chief is impulsive, disdains expertise, and gets his intelligence briefings from Fox News. What does this mean for those on the front lines?
    • To get a sense of what serving Trump has been like, I interviewed officers up and down the ranks, as well as several present and former civilian Pentagon employees. Among the officers I spoke with were four of the highest ranks—three or four stars—all recently retired.
    • Military officers are sworn to serve whomever voters send to the White House. Cognizant of the special authority they hold, high-level officers epitomize respect for the chain of command, and are extremely reticent about criticizing their civilian overseers. That those I spoke with made an exception in Trump’s case is telling, and much of what they told me is deeply disturbing.
  • As I watched A Very Brady Renovation on HGTV, it occurred to me Maureen McCormick has never gone through an ugly phase in life.
  • Peter King’s column was a fun read yesterday as it had a touch of nostalgia, mainly because of how his former employer, Sports Illustrated, cut half their workforce yesterday. First, there was a recap of one of my favorite Joe Montana games and cover story.  His team down 21-10 in the fourth quarter but Montana threw four touchdown passes in 13 minutes to seal the victory. The Niners had a terrible first half, Montana got sacked four times in the last seven plays of the first quarter, eight times in all. Reggie White was unstoppable. I love that cover photo, how his helmet is placed in front of the logo and perfectly centered in his firing position. Second, Rick Reilly, the man who always had the last article in the magazine called “Life of Reilly” wrote a point after. That man is living the life, spending half the year in Italy and the other half in Southern California.
  • One heck of a workout
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