Bag of Randomness for Monday, March 26, 2018

  • WifeGeeding asked if we had an atlas laying around. She needed one for a school project. I dug out my old atlas my father gave me when I was a child and was surprised to find some notes inside from 1990, probably the last time I opened the book. Desert Storm hadn’t started but things were ramping up. I asked Dad if Texas was bigger than Iraq, and he wanted me to clarify if I meant by population or area. I told him by area, and then he pointed at the atlas on the bookshelf and told me to write down my findings and report back to him. I wrote my answer on a napkin. I note that because I still use napkins as scrap paper today. He then pressed me for more and asked me to find the difference. The other piece of paper you see are findings Dad wrote down about other countries for reasons I do not know. It’s funny as I look back and remember how Dad made me research an answer, actually work for it, and today my kids can simply ask Siri, Alexa, or Google and get the answer instantaneously.
  • I had another back recovery achievement this weekend, I mowed the lawn. Granted, I didn’t mow and trim all in one day, I did have half the yard one day and the other half the next. To be honest, I might have pushed myself more than I should have, the next morning I was pretty sore and achy.
  • A lot of engaged teenagers were marching in Washington and other major cities this weekend over gun violence. The local news reported the only counter-protestors in Dallas were a small number of anti-abortion or pro-life demonstrators. I wonder if they confused their schedule with another date or showed up to the wrong address.
  • New England Patriots lend team plane to take Parkland students, families to Washington for March for Our Lives rally
    • Each seat was like “first class” and had a gift and a letter from Kraft in it, Barry said. Food and drinks were served, and a Patriots senior operations manager aboard the flight passed around the team’s Super Bowl LI championship ring for everyone to see, Barry said.
  • Student suspended for cursing at congressional staffer
    • Noah Christiansen returned to class March 20, 2018 at McQueen High School in Reno, Nevada after a suspension took him out of school for two days. The junior made a phone call to Congressman Mark Amodei’s office March 14, saying to a staffer that he wanted a ban on bump stocks and for the legal age to buy a guy be raised. During the phone call, Christiansen cursed at the staffer. “I totally understand that’s not the wording I should have used, but it’s still my right to use that word,” Christiansen said.
  • Pennsylvania Superintendent Says Students Are Armed with Rocks In Case of a School Shootiing
    • “Every classroom has been equipped with a five-gallon bucket of river stone. If an armed intruder attempts to gain entrance into any of our classrooms, they will face a classroom full students armed with rocks and they will be stoned,” said Dr. David Helsel.
  • Ten years ago, ‘Fox and Friends’ said Mr. Rogers was an evil, evil man.
  • Christians Boycott ‘Blasphemous’ Sweet Jesus Ice Cream Chain
    • Some Christians are calling for the boycott of a Canadian ice cream chain called “Sweet Jesus,” saying it mocks the Christian faith in its ads and uses upside down crosses on the labels of the ice cream cups. The chain is expanding to the U.S.
  • Proposed development of Dealey Plaza, October 1930
  • GIF – Failed front flips are better in slow motion.
  • The South Korean government will shut down employee computers so they leave on time – But over two-thirds of government workers have asked to be exempted from it
  • Why Do Christians Respond So Poorly to Tragedies Like the Parkland School Shooting?
  • In last night’s ’60 Minutes’ segment with Stormy Daniels, I’m a bit surprised they didn’t mention anything about the polygraph she took. If anything, just add a little detail to the story and her testimony.
  • “I’m seeing the terms “whore,” “slut,” etc. being thrown around a lot. Look, call him what you will, he’s still your president.” – @keatonc33
Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for Monday, March 26, 2018

Bag of Randomness for Friday, March 23, 2018

  • About a month ago I got a prescription for some pain medicine, but the pharmacist wouldn’t fill it because the doctor forgot to fill in the date. Flippantly, I wondered what would happen if I filled in the date myself and returned later, but it was something I totally didn’t want to risk. I called the doctor’s office and they checked their scanned copy of the written prescription and apologized for the mistake. The doctor’s office called the pharmacist about the error but he still wouldn’t fill the prescription without a correct written prescription. I had to return the written prescription to the doctor and they had to write a new one, and attached to it was a letter signed by the doctor about the mistake. I wasn’t annoyed by any of this, but just thought it was an interesting process considering the opioid crises and all.
  • Most of my prescriptions are sent from the doctor’s office to the pharmacist electronically. However, some of them, such as narcotics, can’t be sent electronically, a written prescription is required. Offhand, I’d think an electronic prescription would be more secure and harder to duplicate or edit. I’d like to know how and why a handwritten prescription is preferred, but I’m too lazy to look it up. I also wonder if the process is different for other states.
  • I love these, especially Jon Snow and Ghost and Arya Stark and The Hound  – Game Of Thrones characters in the style of Disney animated movies
  • Katy, Texas – A man went to a school board meeting to confront his alleged childhood bully: the superintendent
  • I think bacon only taste good when it’s crispy. Bacon is never crispy on any fast food burger or sandwich. Therefore, I don’t understand why people order bacon on their fast food burgers and sandwiches.
  • Politico – Rep. Pete Sessions has quietly used his chairmanship of the House Rules Committee to stifle popular amendments that would protect legal marijuana.
  • Cryptocurrency Backed by Habanero Peppers Is a Thing in Mexico
  • How The Sound Of Country Music Changed
Posted in Personal | 4 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Thursday, March 22, 2018

  • The Austin package bomber was able to be tracked down because he was caught on a FedEx security camera. Whenever I see video from those cameras, I’m surprised they are at an obscure angle which doesn’t capture the face and they aren’t upgraded to HD.
  • Several counterterrorism experts like to point out what the bomber did wrong in order to get caught. I like the analysis, but I don’t like telling bad guys how to do their job better.
  • Texas Monthly – Attorney General Ken Paxton Spread False Information on Austin Bombings – Paxton incorrectly whipped up fear on Sean Hannity’s national television show.
  • I feel like the U.S. public is past the porn in which they need to introduce Stormy Daniels as pornstar Stormy Daniels.
  • Pope Francis tells aspiring priests to ‘not be scared of tattoos’ and to use them to encourage dialogue – ‘With young people one should never be scared. Never. Because always, even behind the things that are not so good, there is something that will bring us to some truth’
  • It’s a slippery slope – LONDON — A man has died of a heart attack after reportedly getting his head trapped in a movie theater seat in Birmingham, England, as he tried to retrieve a dropped cellphone.
  • The day after my physical therapy session my back muscles were sore as heck.
  • I’m not sure what to think of ‘The X-Files’ series finale which aired last night. I did prefer it to the “first” series finale back in 2002. The cliffhanger didn’t seem like much of a cliffhanger and I don’t think things were wrapped up, but I expected as much. I guess my biggest gripe was that the finale was only an hour and it all felt a bit rushed.
  • Ranking the Places with the Most (and Least) Fast Food in America
    • We analyzed data from Priceonomics customer Datafiniti, a data company that maintains a database of restaurants, to see where fast food restaurants were located (and where they weren’t). Then, by sorting the data geographically and adjusting for population size, we can see what areas of the country have the highest concentration of fast food restaurants.
Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for Thursday, March 22, 2018