Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, March 6, 2018

  • When reading a book, it described editing a paper as “blue penciling”, which caused me to raise an eyebrow. I’m used to only seeing a red pen used to edit a paper, and trust me, my papers bled (yeah, I know, no surprise). Upon further research, this is what I found:
    • The color is used specifically because it will not show in some lithographic or photographic reproduction processes; these are known as non-photo blue pencils. For similar reasons, sometimes red pencils are used since their pigment will not reproduce by xerography.
  • U2 added two cites to their upcoming tour, Omaha, NE and Uncasville, CT. I haven’t a clue nor have I ever heard about Uncasville, but as for Omaha, I’m guessing Bono has a meeting with Warren Buffet. Hey, Bono’s going to be in Dallas to be awarded a medal by former President George W. Bush in April, which is a month before the tour starts.
  • When referencing the Statue of Liberty, DaughterGeeding will only call it “Lady Liberty”.
  • A lot of folks have been criticizing and poking fun at Barbara Streisand for cloning her dog. There’s a bit of Texas news attached to this story, the cloning was done by a company named ViaGen Pets located in Cedar Park, which is north of Austin.
  • I thought the Amazon NFL series “All or Nothing” with the Dallas Cowboys was going to be for the upcoming year, but it’s about the previous season.
  • I thought this was a pretty cool article and it caused me to immediately look at the bottoms of my shoes and compare it to the pictures in the article –  What Wear Patterns Mean for Walking Shoes
  • I took one for the team and checked the article to see if the photo was attached, it’s not – The Utah State Bar emailed a photo of a topless woman to lawyers — and now it is investigating how it happened
  • Millennials more likely than seniors to fall for online scams, research shows
  • Hey JB, remember our communications class with Dr. Collins and Mr. Armstrong? Whenever she would say “regulators” we’d all respond in unison with, “Mount up!”  Good times.
  • This mural was recently removed from a Tennessee elementary school.
Posted in Personal | 3 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Monday, March 5, 2018

  • As a fan of barbecue, I really got a kick out of the tweet referenced above which was tweeted yesterday. The internet had a field day with it, especially folks from Texas, Kansas City, Tennesee, and the Carolinas.
  • To carry on a family tradition, WifeGeeding places an orange in our kids’ Christmas stockings, which I thought it was a bit of an odd thing to do. However, while watching an episode of ‘Victoria and Albert’ with her I saw it was something Queen Victoria and Prince Albert used to do with their children. Silly me, it’s something a lot of families do and the tradition may have started for several reasons. Another Christmas stocking family tradition WifeGeeding does is add a dime to each stocking. I like it. As many of my longtime readers know, my father never spent a dime, he saved them. Back when cash was used often, the dimes would add up quickly. I also never spend a dime and save them.
  • Also, while watching ‘Victoria and Robert’, I discovered what the united kingdoms in the United Kingdoms are – the united kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain. I’m sure many of you are laughing at my ignorance, but it’s one of those things I always heard and wondered about but never looked it up, and it’s not something we studied in any of my history classes. To be honest, I always felt the history of the UK was complex and confusing with their long history and kings and queens sharing names. It seems like Ireland and Great Britain was ruled by one ruler, but in 1800, the parliaments of Ireland and Great Britain decided to unite. Feel free to correct me, I’d rather be educated than ignorant.
  • This picture of an overly crowded room of Asian art students stresses me out. When I look at it, all I can think of is me being that one kid in the middle of all of it who has to be excused to use the restroom and trying to make my way through to the exit.
  • I got a kick out of Jimmy Kimmel’s bit of taking a group of celebrities into a movie theater to hand out food. But one thing surprised me, I didn’t notice any of the audience members pull out their phone to snap any pics, they just appreciate the moment. Maybe because it was a sneak preview they were watching, they couldn’t take phones inside.
  • That Allison Janey is one talented actress. I thought she was making a career mistake by joining a CBS sitcom and limiting herself. But in addition to the sitcom, she was able to make a movie and win an Oscar.
  • My favorite Sam Rockwell movie is Moon. He is basically the only actor in the film. It’s when I first noticed him.
  • Man, it looked awkward when Oscar winners set their trophy on the floor to give a speech. But man, that jet ski bit was great. Jimmy Kimmel did a solid job.
  • The first trailer for Mary Poppins Returns but you only get to see the titled charted for a few brief seconds.
  • Donations of deer semen make up majority of contributions in Texas candidate’s race: report
    • The Dallas News reported Thursday that Ana Lisa Garza, a district court judge running a primary challenge against eight-term Democrat Ryan Guillen, has received $51,000 in in-kind donations to her campaign, listed as individual donations of frozen deer semen straws. The containers are reportedly a common way for deer breeders in the state to donate to political campaigns. Garza’s campaign has valued the straws at $1,000 each.
  • Two bills passed by mistake:
  • Impressive Mulan tribute.

https://twitter.com/senseileskee/status/969843699977891840?s=09

Posted in Personal | 9 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Friday, March 2, 2018

  • Yup, that’s my back. I had my six-week followup with my neurologist yesterday. So far, so good. I got the clear to return to work on a part-time basis next week as well as to start rehab.
  • WifeGeeding and I are getting texts from people running in local campaigns asking us for their vote and to participate in early voting. I’m not happy that they somehow have our mobile phone numbers, but at least they are sending texts instead of calling us.
  • Florida news – Judge to lawyer: ‘I am very concerned that you have conducted this trial high’
  • South Carolina news – Man reportedly kicked out of McDonald’s after buying homeless man food
  • What the world’s largest family tree tells us about marriage and death in the West
    • The largest family tree to date — which includes 13 million people going back 11 generations and 500 years — provides new insights about marriage and death, and it all comes from public data.
    • By measuring the birth location between husbands and wives and tracking that over time, they found that, unsurprisingly, before the Industrial Revolution most Americans married someone within six miles of where they were born. This person was also likely to be a relative — a fourth cousin on average, says Erlich. After the Industrial Revolution, when transportation became more common, people started to marry those who were born farther away and were more distantly related. (By 1950, people were finding their spouses within 60 miles of where they were born.)
    • Man, I really wanted to work on genealogy stuff during my time away from work but couldn’t get to it for various factors I’ve stated recently.
  • Texas Monthly – Talk Like a Texan: The Pronunciation of Bowie Knife, Jim Bowie, and David Bowie
    • I’d think most North Texans are going to refer to the version that rhymes with “Louie” since there’s a city pronounced that way in the area.
      • How do you, as a Texan, say the name Bowie? Does it rhyme with Louie, or snowy? Or do you say it differently depending on if you are talking about the Alamo hero, or the British rock star? According to a dialect survey from Joshua Katz’s North Carolina State University, Texans are among the only Americans to still rhyme Bowie with gooey, though the portion of us who do appears to be shrinking as Ziggy Stardust’s fame eclipses that of Texas’s own James.
  • Putin unveiled a new array of nuclear-capable weapons (including an intercontinental ballistic missile that renders defense systems “useless”) and some sort of silent drone submarine. As I read and watched news reports of these weapons, I was expecting to some expert to chime in if Russia was actually capable of having such weapons. I didn’t read or see one that doubted Putin. I’m left to wonder what the U.S. has but hasn’t unveiled or if anyone in the government or military feels panicked.
  • Trump’s Nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize Was Apparently Forged. Twice.
Posted in Goofy | 4 Comments