Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, January 9, 2017

  • I think it’s cool anytime a sitting president visits a championship event and is front and center for the national anthem. However, could you imagine President Trump doing this at the Super Bowl when players are on the field? For certain there would be some players taking a knee directly in front of him.
  • I enjoy the Nissan commercials with the former Heisman winners. I hope they keep up the bit. There are a few Heisman winners I’m surprised who haven’t made an appearance.
  • One of WifeGeeding’s coworkers is married to a high school football referee. He was the head official for an Allen High School football game and earned $500.
  • Jeff Pearlman is the author of many sports books. Last night he tweeted an interesting factoid. He spent $4,000 on a pair of fact checkers to comb through his book. I had no idea what the market rate was.
  • I’m surprised at how fax machines are still utilized. There’s been a handful of times in the past year in which I had to fax something and didn’t have the option of email.
  • Obviously, no one at Pizza Hut or Toyota watched the new season of ‘Black Mirror’ – Pizza Hut working with Toyota to test driverless pizza delivery
  • While working on an issue a coworker sent me the following instant message, “touch wood”. I asked her what that meant and she told me it was another way of saying “to knock on wood.” I think this was just a translation hiccup from her native language.
  • Why Does Exercise Start Hurting Two Days After a Workout?
  • The wife of my college pastor was a regular reader of my blog but I have no idea if she is anymore. If you are still a reader, I just want you to know I think of you often and have very warm memories.
  • I think it’s a no-brainer that President Trump’s library will be the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Dick Van Dyke’s brother, Jerry Van Dyke died recently. Dick recently changed his Twitter name to JerryVanDykesbrother.
  • I don’t know –  The One Phrase Disney Theme Park Characters Aren’t Allowed to Say
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Bag of Randomness for Monday, January 8, 2017

  • I plan on binge-watching ‘The Punisher’ when I recover from back surgery so I was a bit interested in this Jon Bernthal article. I learned the actor rescues pit bulls and if one were to ever attack another dog, the best way to get it to back off is to stick your hand up its rectum.
  • When you search YouTube for “spinal fusion surgery”, one of the first results will be one which starts off with ominous music. If you are a doctor and are trying to inform a patient about a major surgery, the last thing you want to do is make he or she think of a medieval battle.
  • After I watched Hell or High Water, several of you suggested I watch Sicario and Wind River, the other two movies of the Taylor Sheridan trilogy. Thank you, thank you very much for taking the time comment and recommend them because they were glorious. Granted, they weren’t upbeat films and you aren’t going to leave with a warm-fuzzy feeling, but the films were exceptional.
  • Laura Dern has had quite the career resurgence.
  • This year for instant replay, the NFL makes some guy walk out on the field with a Microsoft tablet strapped around his neck to meet the official. The NFL has also been promoting the use of robotic tackling dummies during practice to protect players from wear and tear. I think the NFL should strap those Microsoft tablets to those robotic tackling dummies for instant replays. Sure it would trick things up a bit, but it looks better than some dude walking around with a tablet strapped to his chest.
  • One place that has fascinated me is the world’s largest airplane graveyard in Arizona. I mention it because it made the news recently when the last Boeing 747 flight landed there. I finally took the time to look up what the white protected covering is made of:
    • The aircraft is sealed from dust, sunlight, and high temperatures. This is done using a variety of materials, ranging from “spraylat” (a white, opaque, high-tech vinyl plastic compound sprayed on the aircraft) to simple garbage bags. With the white coating, interior temperatures will usually remain within 15 degrees of the outside ambient air temperature.
      • With the area’s low humidity in the 10%-20% range, meager rainfall of 11″ annually, hard alkaline soil, and high altitude of 2,550 feet allowing the aircraft to be naturally preserved for cannibalization or possible reuse, Davis-Monthan is the logical choice for a major storage facility.
    • I always thought the airplane graveyard, specifically the one in the Arizona desert, would make a great setting for a movie or should be included in some movie plot. Perhaps a former test pilot or spy left a clue or some mechanical device in his old plane, or maybe in a post-apocalyptic world survivors have to build a working plane out of all the used parts.
    • To tour the place, you’ll need a security clearance.
      • As of November 1, 2017 all guests interested in taking this tour must have made a reservation and received a security clearance in advance. The security clearance will be given by Davis-Monthan Air Force Base from information collected at the time of reservation. Reservations must be made 10 business days in advance of the desired tour date, and can be made up to 90 days in advance.
  • Some of Disney’s hotels are getting rid of “Do Not Disturb” signs so that staffers can check up on the rooms
  • Traveling stats Google provided me for December:
    • 8 cities visited
    • 34 places visited (4 new)
    • 31 hours spent in a vehicle
  • Texas’ iconic Alamo is now a political battlefield 
    • The new battle’s roots trace to early 2015 when then-new Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush severed the state’s ties with the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, which for more than a century acted as the Alamo’s steward.
  • Children’s bedtimes across countries
    • The researchers found that the latest bedtimes were reported among parents in Hong Kong, who on average reported bedtimes about 10:17 p.m., whereas the earliest bedtimes were reported among parents in New Zealand: around 7:28 p.m., on average.
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