Bag of Randomness for Friday, August 31, 2018

  • Tomorrow is September, so I guess that makes today the unofficial last day of summer. It also happens to be payday, as well as a Friday of a three-day weekend which includes the start of football.
  • With BoyGeeding’s front tooth missing, it sounds like his speech-therapy had stepped back two years.
  • BoyGeeding has a friend who lives a few houses away, always coming over to GeedingManor to play. Yesterday, I noticed the boy went home earlier than normal. About a half-hour later, BoyGeeding asked if he could go over to his friend’s house to apologize for something and come right back home.
  • Some days you simply feel as if you’re just a day over forty-three.
  • For my birthday, a friend gifted me a memoir from President Reagan’s former special advisor and press secretary. It’s about all the movies Ron and Nancy watch together whiled while in office. He knows my taste, presidential history and stuff that’s quirky.
  • I started a new lawn-mowing routine in which I only mow shaded areas. Basically, throughout the day I’ll take a break from work and mow for no more than five minutes at a time, only in a shaded area. It’s been great. I get nice short periodic breaks from sitting behind a computer monitor, take in some fresh air (yea allergies), and at the end of the day, it doesn’t feel like I did a big chore. Divide and conquer, yo.
  • I only saw a few seconds of former Vice President Joe Biden speaking at the John McCain memorial service in Arizona. Biden sounded as sharp as ever, but I guess it’s been a while since I’ve last seen him. The man is old, but he looked like he aged an extra ten years since I last saw him.
  • Well, at least we don’t hear about Westboro Baptist Church being in the news anymore.
  • Hey, Alex, enjoy the nurturing biosphere of the mothership (and being woken up in that most special of ways).
  • Now you can help search for missing Seattle hiker Samantha SayersA growing army of online volunteers is poring over photos to find any trace of the young woman.
  • I think e-ink is easier on the eyes but never thought about it in this capacity – Lenovo’s new Yoga Book replaces the keyboard with an e-ink screen
  • The Most Popular Personality Test In The World Is A Joke‘The Personality Brokers’ goes into the flawed, fraught history behind the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which is about as psychologically credible as a BuzzFeed quiz.
Posted in Personal | 4 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Thursday, August 30, 2018

  • At school yesterday, BoyGeeding fell and knocked his front tooth out on a classmate’s desk. He said he didn’t cry. I would have cried. However, the front tooth next to it is really loose and he cried over that before bedtime because he doesn’t want to lose that one yet.
  • GIF – Removing the innards of spent tires – So that’s how you get all those wires out.
  • Nothing groundbreaking and I’m sure it’s stuff you’ve read before – Try This Military Meditation Routine to Fall Asleep Fast
  • A 44-year-old Austin teacher was rushed to an out-of-network hospital on his school district health plan for a cardiac issue. He asked the hospital about and they told him not to worry and that they would accept his insurance.
    • Total Bill: $164,941 for a four-day hospital stay, including $42,944 for four stents and $10,920 for room charges. Calver’s insurer paid $55,840. The hospital billed Calver for the unpaid balance of $108,951.31.
  • If you are a fan of running and have an obsession with Lee Harvey Oswald, this is only $15 – Lee Harvey Oswald Running Tour
  • WFAA – Texas hero helps save 94-year-old wrong-way driver, and it’s all on video
    • I’m not sure if WFAA is responsible, but the video ends with the following.

      That kind of stuff bugs me, it implies helping or saving people is an exclusive trait of Texans. I hear the same thing when something happens in Boston or New York, how they have a certain determination or grit unique to just them. I like to think that as humans, despite geography, we do what we can to help one another. Maybe I’m a bit too naive or inspired by a Ronald Reagan quote which is engraved on his final resting place, “I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there’s purpose and worth to each and every life.”
  • Tag, kickball, Red Rover, musical chairs: Games deemed ‘inappropriate’ by Alabama school board
  • Netflix releases mesmerizing trailer for Orson Welles’ final film
    • Cinema’s storied history is littered with projects that remain unfinished in various states. One such movie is (or at least, was) The Other Side of the Wind from the legendary Citizen Kane director Orson Welles. Netflix picked up the rights last year, and with the movie set to be released almost 50 years after production started on it, the captivating first trailer has arrived.
  • ‘Michael Jackson’s Thriller 3D’ is coming to IMAX theaters
    • On what would have been Michael Jackson’s 60th birthday, IMAX announced that it’s remastering Michael Jackson’s Thriller 3D for a limited run in its theaters. IMAX will show the iconic 1983 music video in 3D for one week starting September 21st, before screenings of the new movie The House with a Clock in Its Walls.
  • Utah wildlife departments drop fish into lakes from airplanes
    • Many of the lakes in Utah are excellent places to fish, but you can’t get to them with a truck or a car. The Uinta Mountains alone have more than 650 fishable lakes. The best way to stock many of these valuable fisheries—and sometimes the only way to stock them—is from the air…
  • The Atlantic Trump Has Changed How Teens View the News–  – Young people can see the president’s tweets as jokes, but they still often share his negative feelings about the press.
  • I think I may change the unofficial motto of this blog (it’s displayed in the upper right above the header) from “Because this is all I have to offer…………a whole bag of nothing” to “I never proofread and like Tommy Lee Jones’ character in The Fugitive, ‘I don’t care!'”
Posted in Personal | 7 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Posted in Personal | 4 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, August 28, 2018

  • If you’ve been watching this season of HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks’ you’ve no doubt been entertained by Bob Wylie, the Browns offensive line coach. His Wikipedia page states, “he has 7 toes on his left foot.”
  •  Taken from Peter King’s new version of MMQB
    • “High schools are already playing in some states. The college football season starts next weekend, before the calendar flips to September; Alabama is ranked No. 1 again. The NFL kicks off a week later; Brady and Belichick are still in Foxboro but watch out for the Rams. We will play. We will watch. We will bet. Because football is big. And flawed. And dangerous. And most of all: Just a sport. Nothing more.” — Sports Illustrated’s Tim Layden, in his excellent essay on America’s over-valuing of football.
  • Hot Sports Opinion – Sporting events involving anyone under the age of 18 should not be televised with the exception of championship games, and maybe playoff games. Youth sports are becoming even more corrupt and all the cash made from it benefits adults more than the kids.
  • “If your attack is going too well, you’re probably walking into an ambush.”
  • Anytime I ask DaughterGeeding if she wants an ice cream cone, she always clarifies that she does as long as there is ice cream in it. I’m not sure why she does this as we never pulled that sort of joke on her.
  • Yesterday, Bob or Dan seemed to wonder why a lot of people needed to clarify themselves on Senator John McCain, “I didn’t always agree with him but I sure did respect and love the man.” That’s easy. In today’s world, everyone is quick to label you a hypocrite unless you provide some context, and even then they’ll focus on the part they want if it reinforces their point.
  • Who’s the greatest orator in Congress today? Love him or loathe him, I think Ted Kennedy was the last great orator in Congress.
  • I recently read an email which was signed “V/r”. I had no idea what it meant, but it looks like it means “Very Respectfully”. Upon learning this, my first thought was, that shorthand doesn’t seem very respectful.
  • For the first time in 50 years, a NASA astronaut candidate has resignedRobb Kulin is leaving the agency for “personal reasons.”
    • To pass up the opportunity to travel to space is huge, that’s got to be a pretty big reason to turn it down.
  • Deadspin – Report: Baylor Secretly Infiltrated Sexual Assault Survivor Groups
  • It’s hard to concentrate – A neuroscientist explains what tech does to the reading brain
  • What’s in This?: Ranch DressingAll 20 ingredients in the sauce that tastes good on almost everything, explained (yep, even Calcium Disodium EDTA)
  • The old lady eating pizza with chopsticks caught my attention – American Pie –
    How sharing a Hawaiian pizza from Pizza Hut became a Beijing family tradition
  • There’s just something about watching ‘Better Call Saul’ on Monday nights which calms and relaxes me. It’s not a show for everyone, but it transports me out of this world and is an escape from any distress. What it does is reminds me of the beginning of the ‘Cheers’ song:
    • Making your way in the world today
      Takes everything you got
      Taking a break from all your worries
      It sure would help a lot
      Wouldn’t you like to get away?
Posted in Personal | 3 Comments