Bag of Randomness for Thursday, May 9, 2019

  • For some reason, the Eames Lounge Chair has caught my attention, I guess I’ve been seeing it in a lot of television and movies. I’d really like to sit in one to see just how comfortable it is considering it’s been around since 1956 and will set you back $5,000.
  • Kentucky middle school teacher accused of telling student she’ll cut off his penis
    • “. . . and at least one student allegedly heard Graham tell the student to get off her player “or I’ll cut your dick off and shove it down your throat,” according to court documents.”
      • I’m going to give the teacher the benefit of the doubt since I’m not familiar with Kentucky culture. There’s the possibility “dick” is Kentucky slang for “shirt tag” and “shove it down your throat” is just a Kentucky way of saying “gently place in your backpack.” Not everything in Kentucky is as it seems, for instance – Sen. Mitch McConnell Selling ‘Cocaine Mitch’ Shirts For Campaign
  • The earliest known footage of Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Johnny Cash (1955) was shot in Lubbock (supposedly).
  • I’m not a fan of coleslaw.
  • “I refuse to have a terrible death”: the rise of the death wellness movement – “Death doulas,” dinner parties, and conversation-starters all have the same goal: to help Americans emotionally embrace their own mortality.
  • This is dedicated to my friend “Adam” who is determined to get kicked off the Nextdoor network – The rise of fear-based social media like Nextdoor, Citizen, and now Amazon’s Neighbors 
  • Archie is a better name than Keith.
  • Amazon’s latest Blink security camera lasts two years on AA batteries
  • White House requires Big Pharma to list drug prices on TV ads as soon as this summer
    • Drugmakers have been resistant to advertising list prices, saying it’s simply the price that’s advertised, and not what consumers actually pay. Pharma executives have instead thrown their support behind a Trump administration proposal that would give consumers an estimated $29 billion in rebates now paid to pharmacy benefit managers.
  • The Woman Who Invented The Modern Kitchen – There are “dream kitchens,” and then there’s the Frankfurt Kitchen, designed by architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky in 1926.
  • Inside Microsoft’s Vision For The Future Of Windows, Office, And Work – It’s All About The Web And Lego Blocks
    • It is interesting to see how much technology has changed in the last 25 years when Microsoft was such a behemoth. It’s still a behemoth, but it will be interesting to see how they adapt as Windows and Office products become less and less used by the public. They have moved Office from software which needs to be installed to a version which is exclusively used on a browser. I’m not sure why anyone would personally buy the browser version when GoogleDocs exists and is free. Well, other than power-users.
  • USA Today – The average adult in the USA spends $1,497 a month on nonessential items. All told, that’s roughly $18,000 a year on things we can all do without.

  • Mathematicians talk chalk – Once upon a time, not long ago, the math world fell in love … with a chalk. But not just any chalk! This was Hagoromo: a Japanese brand so smooth, so perfect that some wondered if it was made from the tears of angels. Pencils down, please, as we tell the tale of a writing implement so irreplaceable, professors stockpiled i
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Fantastic Reimagined Vader vs Kenobi Fight

This blew me away, it was so well done.

“Scene 38 ReImagined” is about the final confrontation between Ben Kenobi & Darth Vader in “A New Hope” nearly 20 years after the events of “Revenge Of The Sith.” This is a one-off story driven scene reflecting the characters in its chronological order from the point of Revenge of the Sith through Rebels, Rogue One, and all canon material leading to A New Hope.

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Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, May 7, 2019

    • I took that picture about a month ago. I was about to go to bed but I couldn’t find OtherDogGeedingII but needed to turn the light off in DaughterGeeding’s room. I suppose he was guarding her from bad dreams.
    • I watch the last period and overtime of the Dallas Stars game last night. I don’t watch much hockey but this was a local team in a game seven. For some reason, John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” was being played. The crowd was really into it singing along with a lot of gusto. It’s a fun crowd song, I get that, but it’s about West Virginia and the game was in St. Louis. This reminds of the period when the Dallas Cowboys would play “Sweet Home Alabama” before kickoffs which annoyed the heck out of me.
    • Drywall is one of the toughest things to repair. Years ago GeedingManor had some foundation issues and I’m trying to repair some cracks in our walls. The process is pretty easy, it’s matching the texture, that orange peel pattern that’s the challenge. I can never get those aerosol cans to work right. I think in many ways, drywall is an art form which has to be mastered.
    • I have a close friend, someone I grew up and attended college with, recently turned down an opportunity to pastor a church in Hawaii. Funny thing, but not only is my friend from Mineral Wells but the representative of the prospective church also grew up there.
    • I have another close friend who is also a Baptist preacher. He mentioned his teenage son goes to a public school and it provides parents the option of whether they want their children to participate in a sex education class. He explained he and his wife chose not to have their son participate, that they would prefer to have that sort of stuff taught by them based on biblical and Christian principles. Several times he stated he was concerned about how “the world” teaches sex. None of this was surprising and it’s especially common where I grew up. I asked if he and his wife had the talk before the school’s scheduled sex education class and he seemed surprised by the question. I explained I wasn’t judging his parenting, I simply thought the students who attended the class would talk a lot about it afterward and that was an opportunity to have his son prepared to respond to a sensitive subject matter. For the most part, I don’t have an issue of parents opting to have their children not attend a sex education class. I also recognize each child is different. But I think a good approach for conservative Christian parents would be to have their children take the class, but before doing so, teach them how you would prefer it be taught and then after they take the class talk to them about what was taught and let them know what areas you support and don’t support – have a conversation about it. Eventually, they will be faced with what was taught one way or another, either by friends, personal experience, social media, or an entertainment median. As a parent, you have to make the most of the opportunities which come about. I’m now reminded of a sex education booklet I had for a “Sociology of Marriage” class I took in college. The front cover had the words of John 8:32 – Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
    • Inside Electrify America’s plan to simplify electric car charging
    • Portland man gets 4 months for trying to bribe ICE officer to deport wife, her child
    • TheRoot.com is an online African-American news magazine focused on black culture. If you are familiar with black culture, then you are well aware of how significant the barbershop is, it’s a place in the community where people hang out for hours playing games and conversing. I recently discovered TheRoot.com has a weekly tongue in cheek (Oh, stewardess! I speak jive.) ‘Game of Thrones’ recap which I found pretty funny – A Game of Thrones Recap From the Westeros Barbershop
        • I know y’all heard they killed that black girl down in King’s Landing yesterday. I’ve seen the video. She was unarmed, not bothering anybody, and they cut her head clean off in front of her boyfriend while he just stood there like he didn’t even have any balls or anything.
        • If you found that recap entertaining, then you might enjoy The Black Person’s Guide to Game of Thrones (PG-13ish)

    • I haven’t watched this so I have no idea what to expect but thought some of you might find this interesting – People Try To Guess The Religion Of Strangers In A Line-Up
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Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, May 7, 2019

  • This past weekend I heard a guy start a conversation with, “I first met my ex-wife as she was leaving her exam with her gynecologist, who was my father.”
  • Random high school and college memory – Math books provided the answers to all even-numbered problems in the back.
  • I’ve hired a carpet cleaner maybe four or five times over the years. The price is never the same as what I initially booked it for.
  • King Naresuan of Thailand killed the Crown Prince of Burma in an elephant duel in 1593.
  • Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire was the No. 1 song in the U.S. back in December of 1989. The first words of the song are, “Harry Truman”. I wonder if Mr. Truman ever imagined his name would be at the beginning of a popular rock song.
  • Norah O’Donnell has been named the 8th anchor in the history of the ‘CBS Evening News’ and will begin her tenure this summer replacing Jeff Glor who has only been in the lead anchor chair since December 2017. From what I read, it has more to do with the new CBS News president promoting her than it was of him not reaching expectations. I always felt O’Donnell came across as a little smug, a lot like Brian Williams, but I suppose that’s not a valid criticism. However, she annoys the heck out of me on Twitter whenever the State of the Union is on because all she does is copy and paste the speech from a version released early to the press as it’s happening. I’m not looking for commentary, but maybe a bit of insight and analysis. I do like the work of John Dickerson, even though he’s pretty vanilla but the guy knows his history. He’s got a great podcast on presidential history and trivia.
  • For $250, Troy Aikman will record a personalized message for you. That’s a bargain compared to Brett Favre who will charge $500. However, when I first saw Aikman tweet about this, I swear I saw his price was only $75.
  • Offices Can Be Hell for People Whose Brains Work Differently – Work spaces today come with strong smells, harsh light, lots of chatter, and constant messages on email or Slack. For neurodivergent people, this can be a big ask.
  • Diagnosing (And Dealing With) Your Low-battery Anxiety

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