Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, March 13, 2019

  • Whoever at the Justice Department came up with the name “Operation Varsity Blues” deserves a raise.
  • Yesterday, LiberallyLean mentioned the town of Wizard Wells. Never hearing of it before, I thought he was poking fun of my hometown of Mineral Wells, but he wasn’t.
  • I’ve watched both Creed movies. No disrespect to Micheal B. Jordan, but I think Carl Weathers looked bigger, was more cut, and much quicker. I also think Ivan Drago’s son would have gone into MMA instead of boxing.
    • Per IMDB – “Rocky, who is now training Apollo Creed’s son, is two years older than Mickey was when he trained Rocky in the original movie.”
  • Alphabet’s AI-powered Chrome extension hides toxic comments
    • Using “filter mix” controls, users can either turn toxic comments off altogether (what’s known as “zen mode”) or show selective types of posts containing attacks, insults, or profanity. Tune also works with Reddit, YouTube and Disqus.
  • The Songs That Saved Them From Suicide – The Science Around Music Therapy Is Nascent, But There’s No Doubt That It’s Already Saving Lives
  • Los Angeles Times – The official breakfast cereal power rankings: Part I
  • Senator Mitch Romney’s staff presented him with a birthday cake made of Twinkies, but the way he blew out the candles was a bit unique.

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Man nearly being swallowed by a whale

I love the guy’s pun-heavy humor at the end. I’m guessing any Jonah reference would be prosaic and predictable.

A DRAMATIC set of pictures show a man nearly being swallowed by a Bryde’s Whale off Port Elizabeth Harbour. Rainer Schimpf, 51, has worked as a dive tour operator in South Africa for over 15 years. But in February, he experienced something very rare – the inside of a whale’s mouth. In perfect sea conditions, Rainer and his team set off to document a sardine run – a natural event where gannets, penguins, seals, dolphins, whales and sharks work together to gather the fish into bait balls. Rainer and his colleagues film the expedition for educational and environmental purposes.Split into two groups, Rainer led his team into the ocean, about 25 nautical miles from shore.But it was when the sea suddenly churned up that the team knew something strange was happening.

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Bag of Randomness for Monday, March 11, 2019

  • WifeGeeding’s friend created that college of me as a child (middle), DaughterGeeding (left), and BoyGeeding (right). I love it. I never took the time to compare what I looked like as a child to my children. I mean, I have mentally, but never with the pictures next to one another.
  • The wife and kids are in East Texas visiting family during spring break.  you can only imagine the parties will be throwing at GeedingManor the next few days.
  • It turns out I correctly diagnosed the problem with the refrigerator water dispenser, the water valve was defective after all. We bought that refrigerator at a Sears outlet back in January of 2005 and only had to have it repaired once, maybe twice. The average life expectancy for a properly maintained refrigerator is between 14 and 17 years, so we are in that window.
  • We watched Captain Marvel this weekend and really enjoyed it. It was set in 1995, but I was a little disappointed it didn’t have more subtle 90’s references. Sure, there were obvious ones like dialup internet and a Blockbuster. But I wanted to see a Ford Probe or a Chevy Beretta in the background. Marvel does a great job of storytelling and using commercials and trailers to make you think things will develop one way only to take you another.
  • While I was excited to see Captain Marvel, I have to admit I was probably just as giddy to see the end credits scenes to piece together things for the next Avengers movie. Here are a few non-spoiler theories:
    • Many fans have questioned why Nick Fury hasn’t used the pager before. I bet we find out he has and he either couldn’t answer or has appeared before and no one knew it.
    • I bet we’ll see Captain Marvel at the moment the pager goes off.
  • Superhero movies are such a great escape for me. I escape this reality and get lost in another one for a few hours and leave feeling like a kid again.
  • GIF – Star Trek fans should enjoy this underwater Enterprise.
  • Thirty years from now, I bet the number of fighter pilots actually flying in cockpits will drop by more than 50%. Most fighter jets will be operated remotely or AI.
  • Nature is a patient sculpture.
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