BagOfNothing.com

• I have my priorities, but I got stuck in a bit of a pickle last night. I met a girl at a sports eatery halfway between our homes 45 minutes before kickoff to watch the Cowboys game. We’ve been messaging each other through one of the dating apps for a little over a week. I felt we had great chemistry and were having a great time getting to know each other, eating, and laughing at the Cowboys and our stories. Then, I saw a text from one of my kids asking if I could pick him or her up in 15 minutes from a school event and take her to her mother’s house. The restaurant I was at was over 20 minutes away from the school. Thankfully, the lovely lady was very understanding and insisted on paying the bill, but I felt terrible leaving her with the check and needing to leave so abruptly. When I got home, I messaged her, thanking her for her understanding and hospitality. I apologized again, offered to Venmo or Zelle her the funds to cover both our meals, and guaranteed her that if there’s a second date, it’s all on me. And, since she’s such a fan of bar trivia, I invited her to step into the Belly of the Best and join me and my closest buddies for our usual Tuesday night trivia game in Grapevine. And, of course, I didn’t and will not tell my kids about this because I want them to know they are my priority and will literally drop whatever I’m doing to be there for them if they ever need me.
• NASCAR drivers are not required to have a state driver’s license. The rationale for not requiring a state driver’s license is to avoid the potential outcry if a driver’s license were suspended right before a major race.
• Netflix’s Karate Kid-related show Cobra Kai recently used AI to put the late actor Pat Morita in an episode to play Mr. Miyagi.”They discussed the scene with the late actor’s estate and put in plenty of work to keep things respectful and appropriate.”

  

• The Secret Service now uses robotic dogs to help protect President-Elect Trump at Mar-A-Lago. They aren’t weaponized, which is a huge concern for some people. I can understand their concern, but I bet they will soon have non-lethal options like pepper spray, tear gas, or stun gun capabilities.
• Experts at the Mayo Clinic are determining once and for all how many push-ups the average man and woman should be able to do by age bracket

  The push-up pros said the classic exercise is a good measurement of muscular strength and endurance as one ages. The standard true push-up engages most major muscle groups in the body, including legs, abs, and arms.

  
  

• I tend to take these odd episodes of nature seriously – ‘Doomsday fish’ returns to Southern California shores for the third time this year

  

• This is the greatest football improvement in history and should be implemented sport-wide ASAP.
  

  My nephew is playing for the state title today. Instead of a coin toss, they drop the game ball from a helicopter and let the captains fight for it. Bring it to the league @NFL pic.twitter.com/SxywqpRBGS

  — Porter Ellett (@porterellett) November 16, 2024

• A Canadian friend and loyal reader reminded me the Canadian Football League Grey Cup championship game was on between Toronto and Winnipeg. My snarky reply to him was, “I just tuned in and see it’s in the 4th quarter with a little over 10 (Canadian) minutes left.
  • Canadian football only has three downs. American football was originally three downs, but it changed in 1912. Here’s a good explanation of the evolution of football.
• Why aren’t video cameras installed on commercial aircraft? Anytime there is an incident on a plane, we also see footage from a passenger. It’s not like they would be hard to install, and it seems like they would pay for themselves in terms of litigation. Just call them cabin cameras.
• Towards the end of yesterday’s worship service, a husband and wife walked to the front of the church to make an announcement for one of the church ministries. The husband didn’t say a word, but his wife of many years introduced him as her better half. Normally, I’d hear the husband say that about the wife, but this is the first time I could recall the wife saying that about her husband. I thought it was touching, and it made me contemplate how I failed to earn that kind of admiration in my marriage. Even though I think I did my best, I’m just wondering if there was something more I should have done.
  • The ministry was about laundry, and she explained that it was about giving those in need the dignity of clean laundry. That stuck with me. It’s one of those things so many people take for granted. But for some reason, the word “dignity” really stood out. It resonated with me. I thought how I felt I was denied dignity during the divorce process, but it also made me think about the ugly election we went through. I’m not sure what I mean by this, but “dignity” is going to be my word of the week, some that I focus on.
  • One definition of dignity is “the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect.” That definition makes me wonder how one becomes worthy and what “worthy” means.
    • Anytime I hear the word “worthy,” I immediately think of this scene, even though it was mentioned once, and very softly at that.
      
    • Sidenote: If I were insanely rich, I think the Holy Grail chalice would be an excellent movie prop to own. Not a replica, the actual one used in the movie.
• According to the rankings, SMU is Texas’s second-best college football team. They have certainly come a long way.
• Longtime Texas country singer-songwriter (and Mineral Wells resident) Tommy Alverson dies
• Today’s dose of ‘MERICA! – Bald eagle shows air superiority, sends $950 drone into lake
• No fun in Aggieland – Brazos County election officials feel the strain of unrelenting scrutiny from right-wing skeptics – Voting went well in the presidential election, but Trudy Hancock and her staff are still fielding questions. And the answers don’t seem to matter.
• I’m not sure many have noticed, but SNL has modified the sound when the musical guest performs. You can now hear the crowd’s reaction and participation much clearer than before.
• Anytime there’s a new episode of SNL, I’m watching. It has nothing to do that a writer on the show is a friend and/or a longtime reader of this blog. Earlier this season, they had a skit about an unfaithful wife named Kelsey. This past weekend, on a new episode, they had another sketch about an unfaithful wife named Kelsey. It sure is interesting that the name Kelsey is associated with unfaithfulness. This is nothing more than a mere observation and not a prediction that there is a high likelihood of it happening again this season.
• And Dallas is one of the lucky ones:
  • New rideshare service with armed drivers to debut in 3 Texas cities
• Las Vegas police kill victim of home invasion who called 911 for help
• China’s Xi Unveils Megaport in America’s Backyard Amid US Concerns
  • Chinese President Xi Jinping and Peruvian counterpart Dina Boluarte on Thursday inaugurated a new $1.3 billion mega port in Peru’s coastal city of Chancay that was built and funded by Chinese shipping giant Cosco. 

I remember Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes interviewing this woman when I was very young. It may have been the first time someone inspired me. One thing that appalled me was grocery store customers complaining about her “handling” fruit and vegetables when all she was doing was living life as best as she could. That part occurs at the 4:32 mark. This image alone of her giving her son a haircut is remarkable.

• Here’s an investment pick for you: buy stock in private prison companies – In Trump’s mass deportation plan, the private prison industry sees a lucrative opportunity
  • Geo Group founder George Zoley, whose company is the country’s largest private prison operator, told investors last week that Trump’s deportation plans represent a “potential sea change” for the industry. “The Geo Group was built for this unique moment in our history and the opportunities that it will bring,” Zoley said. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) has for years relied on private companies to house detained migrants, making it a multimillion-dollar business.I wonder what the stock price will be in the next four years.

    

  • I asked the AI search engine Perplexity to help me find some mutual funds heavily invested in private prisons and received this interesting answer about how it would be unethical.
    
    Other AI tools I checked out would only inform me on how to find those funds. I also tested the waters by asking Perplexity the same question but about the porn, gambling, alcohol, and tobacco industries. It also thought porn on unethical, but not the others.
• Dallas steakhouse owner Al Biernat, whose charismatic presence at his namesake restaurant attracted both the famous and the famously loyal, has died at 69. Biernat had been battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly called ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
• Ban on women marrying after 25: The bizarre proposal to boost birth rate in Japan
  • Japan’s noted writer and Conservative Party leader Naoki Hyakuta has apologised after his comments on women and the falling birthrate in the country sparked criticism. He said that to boost the nation’s birth rate, women should be banned from marriage after the age of 25 and from removing their uterus post the age of 30
• I also heard “Did Biden drop out of the race?” was trending on election day. I refuse to believe so many people are this dumb or uneducated – Searches for ‘How to change my vote’ spike morning of Election Day
• 14-Year-old Teen defends 41 year old sex offender she ran away with
• Marble bust bought for $6 and used as doorstop could sell for more than $3 million
• Get ready to see Walmart employees wearing body cameras.