Your Bag of Nothing for Thursday, March 13, 2025

  • Randomly thinking about the cars left on the moon by the Apollo missions. There are three up there. The rovers were designed with a top speed of about eight mph (13 km/h), although Eugene Cernan recorded a maximum speed of 11.2 mph (18.0 km/h), giving him the (unofficial) lunar land-speed record. They ran on batteries, which have vastly improved since the early Seventies. I wonder how easy it would be to swap out the old batteries and replace them with new ones.

 

  • Every now and then I’ll start to analyze stuff I’ve always been familiar with and become astonished and upset I’ve overlooked the significance for so long. Most recently, it was World War II and the European Theater. The time between D-Day (June 6, 1944) and the fall of Berlin and Hitler’s suicide is basically 11 months. I guess I thought from D-Day to the end of that part of the war was a few years. But taking back all of Europe in less than a year is mightily impressive. Just think of all the planning and logistics it took for that to happen in a relatively short time. It makes me admire Eisenhower ever more.

 

  • I wanted to watch Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and saw it is only available to stream for free on PlutoTV. So, I downloaded the app and started the movie, and it’s all in Spanish!? All the menu options were in English, but the audio was all Spanish. There was nothing in the settings to change the language. Confused, I looked online and found it’s a common problem. Luckily I uninstalled it and the reinstall fixed the issue. And no, I wasn’t using a VPN and since there was only one option for the app, I know I didn’t accidentally download the Spanish version.
    • When I was in college, we didn’t have cable television and it was hard to get a signal over the air, so we watched a lot of movies on VHS over and over again. None more for me than The Fugitive. I say all that because I often use the name of the made-up drug in the movie around my close friends as an inside joke. So, I had a huge laugh when I saw this watching Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Interestingly, when I looked it up online, it seemed that no one had ever made the connection. Other fans have bought the URL to the fictional company in the movie and honor the made-up drug – DevlinMacgregor.com/Provasic

 

  • “Right now the economy is so bad, Elon Musk is thinking about laying off Donald Trump.” — Jimmy Fallon

 

  • President Trump, here’s a wild suggestion. When it’s time for a new press secretary, hire Matt Laurer. Here’s not doing anything. I double-dog dare you.

 

 

  • I haven’t had time to research this website for any legitimacy, but thought y’all might like to check it out. Congress Live Net Worth Tracker – We used our data on politicians’ stock portfolios to calculate live net worth estimates for members of Congress.

 

  • I can’t believe so many people are okay with the President using the White House to advertise cars.

 

  • Robert J. Moriarty, a retired U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot, who in 1984 illegally flew his Beechcraft Bonanza under the Eiffel Tower, a stunt inspired by his extensive combat experience and record-setting aviation achievements, including being the youngest naval aviator in the Vietnam War.This audacious act, performed on March 31, 1984, during a trans-Atlantic ferry flight from Paris, led French authorities to install bars at the base of the Eiffel Tower to prevent similar incidents, highlighting the structure’s history as a target for aviation challenges since the early 20th century.

    Moriarty’s motivation was simply “for fun,” as he stated, connecting his stunt to a historical precedent set during World War II, when a German Messerschmitt Bf 109 pilot flew under the Eiffel Tower to evade an American fighter, showcasing the tower’s role in aviation daring.

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Your Bag of Nothing for Tuesday, March 11, 2025

  • Jeopardy! was great last night. The only male contestant looked like he was in his forties but sounded like he was in his eighties, and he was seated, and it was apparent he was suffering from a chronic illness. It turns out to be Parkinson’s. However, he was killing it. This was his lead before the first commercial break.
    Here’s his score at the end of the first round.
    He wouldn’t lose going into Final Jeopardy unless he wagered something stupid.
    Thankfully, he kept his smarts and won despite his answer being wrong. He was trying to win an even $50,000, but his final score still showed dominance.
  • It’s reported that Gene Hackman’s wife died from Hantavirus, a strain of viruses carried by rodents, primarily transmitted to humans through inhalation of airborne particles from dried rodent droppings. Here’s my theory on how she became infected. I bet an infected roden crawled inside her car for warmth and left droppings in the cabin air filter. When I lived in an apartment, I often found rodent droppings in my cabin air filter I replaced after getting an oil change. And anytime she ran the air conditioning or heat in her car, she breathed in the droppings.

 

 

  • A friend in Canada recently told me a lot of businesses in his country are canceling travel to Las Vegas and Florida conventions to cut costs because of the rise in tariffs.

 

  • George Clooney was spotted by paparazzi sporting dyed hair. He doesn’t have any upcoming movies but he’s on Broadway.

 

 



 

Check this out, 50 screens all on one monitor executing complex tasks.

 

AI is getting out of hand

Manus, an AI agent from China, is automating approximately 50 tasks, creating a rather dystopian scenario

Reports suggest it is more accurate than DeepSeek, capable of simultaneously handling financial transactions, research, purchasing, etc

[image or embed]

— Benny Johnson (@heybennyjohnson.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 9:38 AM

 

  • I never liked how close my bullet points displayed, so this time I thought I’d experiment by adding more space between them. And, instead of copying the text from an article and pasting the text, I’m starting to do a screenshot of what I want you to read. What are your thoughts? Once I find time, I want to find another theme that is simplistic but does a great job of spacing out things.
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Your Bag of Nothing for Monday, March 10, 2025

  • It’s my first day at my new job. I really want to make the most of this opportunity. I’ve been white-nuckeling it thinking the offer would be rescinded since DOGE and the new administration have been so unpredictable. Now, I’m looking forward to that first paycheck.
  • Sometimes I miss the days before streaming when you had to physically go to a Blockbuster and commit to a movie.
  • I don’t understand why people say “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” What else am I supposed to do with cake? Just stare at it?
  • I really don’t like dating and wonder if I can ever be compatible with anyone again. But sometimes, you meet someone exceptional and they give you hope. At the same time, you have to manage your expectations, otherwise your heart will get stomped on, again.
  • Ever notice how restaurants will call something “artisan” just to charge an extra $4?
  • Waste of time and resources? – CDC to study vaccines and autism, despite several studies already finding no link
    • Even if their new study supports all the old studies that say the same thing, the people who want to believe differently are going to continue to believe that way. As I was told going through a divorce support group, rule number one is don’t try to make sense out of crazy because you’ll only go crazy trying to make sense out of crazy.
  • John Goodman and Tom Cruise are teaming up to film a movie. That’s an interesting combination. Too bad Goodman injured his hip while shooting.
  • Someone posted this on Twitter, but when I fact-checked it, I think it’s incorrect: The ‘Blazer’ we wear nowadays, got its name from a British ship HMS Blazer in 1837, when the Captain of the ship had to meet Queen Victoria, and he designed this new jacket for the crew to look impressive. The design and name took off. 
  • Reagan and Gorbachev Agreed to Pause the Cold War in Case of an Alien Invasion
    • Shultz was talking about the Lake Geneva summit and mentioned the two leaders ducked out of a meeting to take a walk to a nearby cabin.“I wasn’t there…,” Shultz said before Gorbachev cut him off.“From the fireside house, President Reagan suddenly said to me, ‘What would you do if the United States were suddenly attacked by someone from outer space? Would you help us?’“I said, ‘No doubt about it.'”“He said, ‘We too.'”

      “So that’s interesting,” Gorbachev said to much laughter.

  • Dedicated to longtime and loyal reader Ben The Lawyer.

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Your Bag of Randomness for Thursday, March 6, 2025

 

  • I really don’t have an answer, and I wonder if the answer differs from high school, NCAA, and NBA. And, I’m not sure why, but I get a kick that this is coming from Scottie Pippen, who once dined in Mineral Wells, TX.

  • Here’s the article and here’s the video.
  • Employee refused to remove pronouns from email signature. A Texas agency fired him for it.
    • As I’ve said before, I’m all for pronouns but not for the reason why it’s debated. I’ve worked with a lot of people from overseas, and a lot of times I simply can’t tell if I’m dealing with a male or female based off the person’s cultural name and my ignorance. It’s awkward referring to the person in conversation with another person if you can’t identify them as male or female, the last thing I want to do is offend anyone in a professional setting.
  • I love The Onion.

    LOS ANGELES—In the aftermath of a stunning trade that saw the point guard move from the Texas city to Los Angeles, a homesick Luka Doncic was reportedly spotted Wednesday gazing longingly at a photo of a barren Dallas office park. “Oh, to be back among those absolutely desolate and soulless business complexes,” said Doncic, explaining that he yearned to again experience the industrial sprawl of the city that prioritized uninspired concrete structures and highways over green spaces and pedestrian-friendly walkways. “Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate Los Angeles’ lack of any discernible character, and the similarly congested traffic has made the transition so much easier. But it doesn’t hold a candle to Dallas. The Pacific Ocean will just never compare to a man-made pond that’s been dyed blue.” At press time, Doncic vowed to someday return to Dallas to attend a dental conference at the downtown Hilton.
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