Bag of Randomness for Thursday, May 23, 2019

  • That lovely piece of ‘MURICA! was brought to you by @stevbiro.
    • “So lucky to capture a symmetrical reflection of this beautiful Bald Eagle coming straight at me!“
  • It’s the last day of school for the kids and WifeGeeding.
  • An entertaining shower thought I read recently – You are probably closer to being a millionaire than Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos.
  • The last sonic boom I recall hearing was on February 1, 2003. That’s when the Space Shuttle Columbia was destroyed during re-entry. I was in my childhood home in Mineral Wells, TX and the windows rattled so much I thought they may have cracked. WifeGeeding was roughly 200 miles east in Lindale and heard the same thing just as strong. I’m still amazed as to how far that sound carried.
  • My high school geometry teacher hung a favorite saying hers on the wall, she made it herself out of posterboard. It’s hokie, but I think about it whenever I’m struggling at learning something and it continues to be a motivator – Success is not measured by the IQ, but by the I DO.
  • Last American Slave Ship Is Discovered In Alabama
  • ‘It Cost About $65 To Have A Cold Pizza Delivered In The Middle Of The Night To Skywalker Ranch in 1994′
      • Then one day we’re all in the art department and the head of ILM comes to the art department and says, ‘Listen, George has decided to start up Star Wars again.’ Remember at the time it was only the three original movies and that infamous Christmas special, so this is what everybody wanted, it was pretty much what got them in the business.
      • And we looked around the room and all of us were playing it so cool with each other. We were like, ‘Yeah, maybe, maybe not, I don’t know, we’ll see, I got things to do.’ But that night everybody was there until 1:00 in the morning working on their portfolios. We all wanted in.
  • “Skywalker Ranch” is such a cool name.
  • Man graduates with nursing degree from same university where he started as a janitor
    • “I could barely speak English at the time when I started working at NYU,” said Baez, who moved to New York from the Dominican Republic with his mom at age 15. “Now I reflect on it and I feel very proud of how much I accomplished.”
  • I was impressed, I didn’t think he could make a viable rap out of the classic, but he proved me wrong.

Posted in Personal | 1 Comment

Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, May 22, 2019

  • WifeGeeding should totally do this with her extra eyes. A bit of background on this ring:
    • @drlindseyfitzharris – This Victorian mourning ring from the late 19th century was made from the deceased person’s glass eye. Would you wear something like this? The first in-socket artificial eyes made in the 15th century were gold with colored enamel. In the latter part of the 16th century, the Venetian glass artisans discovered a formula that could be tolerated inside the eye socket. These early glass eyes were crude, uncomfortable to wear, and very fragile. Even so, the Venetian method was considered the finest in the world. In the mid-19th century, glass artisans in Thuringia, a region in eastern Germany, developed a superior glass formula for the making of artificial eyes. Glass eye making was introduced in the United States in the mid-1800s by immigrant German ocularists. In the 1940s, glass was replaced by plastics, which were more comfortable for the wearer and lasted longer.
  • I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (it’s the perks of having your own blog). I want WifeGeeding to give her prosthetic eyes to our kids just so I can say, “They have their mother’s eyes.”
  • New Coke Comeback – I recall it being very sweet, almost Pepsi like – Coca-Cola is bringing back New Coke in honor of ‘Stranger Things’
  • I was researching the funeral of Alexander Hamilton and learned of his best friend and overlooked Founding Father, Gouverneur Morris (he wrote the Preamble of the Constitution), who was at his side when he expired. After reading this old article about him from The New York Post (founded by Hamilton, btw), I think he’s a friend we all hope to have. Here are a collection of things about Morris, Hamilton’s death and funeral, and their friendship I’d like to share with you. Please don’t let your judgment of Morris be swayed by the small yet overlooked fact he died from internal injuries and infection caused to himself by using a piece of whalebone as a catheter in an attempt to clear a blockage in his urinary tract.
    • Hamilton reportedly offered to throw a dinner party for Morris if he would go up to Washington at a public reception and slap him chummily on the back. Morris did and got his dinner party, though he supposedly said that the frown Washington gave him was the worst moment of his life.
    • As Hamilton lay dying, his wife, Eliza, asked Morris to “join her in prayers for her own death, and then to be a father for her children.” I believe seven of their children were alive at this time ranging in ages from six to sixteen.
    • Morris delivered the eulogy, but these particular acts stood out. He really took care of his best friend’s family.
      • He organized a secret subscription among Hamilton’s friends to pay off his debts and support his family. He also helped organize Hamilton’s papers, which had been left in “wretched disorder.”
    • Hamilton’s funeral was more ornate, more pomp and circumstance than I originally thought. Here’s a writeup of the funeral and the eulogy Morris gave as it was published in 1804. I like the writer’s attempt to write it sincerely and as it happened so future generations can take it in.
      • On Saturday last the remains of Alexander Hamilton were committed to the grave with every possible testimony of respect and sorrow. That distant readers may form some idea of what passed on this mournful occasion, we shall here present them with a regular and correct account of the whole scene.
      • On the stage erected in the portico of Trinity Church, Mr. Gouverneur Morris, having four of General Hamilton’s sons, the eldest about sixteen and the youngest about six years of age, with him, rose and delivered to the immense concourse in front an extemporary Oration, which, being pronounced slowly and impressively, was easily committed to memory, and being very soon afterwards placed on paper, is presumed to be correct even to the language. Being shown to several gentlemen who heard it, they all agree that it comes near enough to what was actually delivered to be presented as that oration at length.
  • Yesterday, LiberallyLean referenced the most recent passing rates for the California Bar Exam, that they are the second-worst passing rate in 30 years at 31.4%. I’m not trying to be critical of his observation (he’s a professional in the field and I just watch a few law shows on the TV); however, earlier this year I heard one of the Kardashian girls planned on taking the California Bar Exam and it was mentioned that California is only one of four states in which you can take the bar without attending law school, the others being Virginia, Vermont, and Washington. I wonder how much a factor that is regarding the passing rates. The source I provided also states from 1995-2014 California was the hardest bar exam to pass, Texas was twenty-second.
  • For my fellow fans of ‘This Old House’ (though I prefer ‘Ask This Old House’) – The Rare Home-Improvement Show That Spotlights Skilled Workers – In 40 years on air, PBS’s This Old House inspired a more flashy genre of TV while giving tradespeople the attention they deserve.
  • An acquaintance at church recently had shoulder surgery and has been walking with his arm in a sling for the last several weeks and he still travels for work. Recently he was upgraded to a business travel seat, boarded the airplane, but was having a little trouble placing his laptop bag in the overhead bin. He is also vertically challenged. After a moment or two, Jessica Nowitzki stands up and kindly placed the bag in the bin for him and let him know if he needed to get it down during the flight to simply let her know. As you might have guessed, Jessica is the wife of Dirk. Those Nowitskis are nice people. I’m impressed someone of their stature, wealth, and height (well, Dirk is at least 15-inches taller at seven feet tall) will still fly commercial. I would have liked to see how well he fits in a plane seat, even if it’s business class.
  • NachoAnalytics.com might just be a better name for a website than BagOfNothing.com – Game of Thrones Real-Time Web Analytics Dashboard [Live Data]
  • USPS self-driving mail trucks will haul mail between Phoenix and Dallas in five round trips as part of the government’s first major autonomous vehicle test
  • The Fraught Culture of Online Mourning – Nowadays, we live online, and so we grieve here too. But there are limits to the comfort digital mourning can provide.
Posted in Interesting | 3 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, May 21, 2019

  • WifeGeeding is a big user of Wal-Mart’s free grocery curbside pickup. Sometimes they don’t have a particular item she ordered and they will replace it with something else of equal to greater value. This time she ordered a carton of 18 eggs. They were out of 18 egg cartons so they gave her a package of 60 eggs.
  • It’s always a bit disturbing when I do little DIY projects around the house, I’m left wondering if the homebuilders or previous owner(s) were at fault. For instance, every time I remove the cover to an electrical socket I find drywall screws were used to hold the socket in place.
  • Longtime readers know I’m an admirer of Scott Pelley. He’ll be in town promoting his book next Wednesday (DaughterGeeding pointed out we wear the same shoes). Tickets to the event are $36 and include a copy of his new book which he’ll sign and inscribe. That’s really a great deal, I just wish I didn’t have previous obligations. He was Stephen Colbert’s guest on Friday. It was nice to see him loosen up a bit and see a softer side of the man.
  • I caught a little bit of HBO’s new documentary on Muhammad Ali and wondered whatever happened to the training facility he built in Deer Lake, Pennsylvania (And to think I thought Rocky training in the Russian wilderness was an original idea). He sold it in 1997 for only $100,000 (he built 18 buildings on it). It is now owned by John Madden’s son, Mike. Boom!
  • Arkansas news – Woman poses as sheriff, releases boyfriend from jail
  • ‘Game of Thrones’ finale blocked in China due to trade war
  • Game of Thrones worked best as a communal experience – From the Twitter live-tweet parties to a Brooklyn bar
Posted in Personal | 3 Comments