Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, December 5, 2017

  • I’m looking forward to this cold front because I don’t like the idea of running the AC during in December.
  • For the last year or so I’ve been trying to identify my biases. It’s been really interesting trying not to immediately become emotional or form an opinion and trying to understand why I might initially feel a certain way. It’s been especially unique when applying this to sports and politics, but also in the workplace as well as to personal relationships and even strangers. I’ve discovered a lot more things influence me than I’d like to admit.
  • SNL was hosted by Irish actress Saoirse Ronan. During her monologue, her American accent was excellent. Sometimes I’m really amazed at how well people from other countries can speak with an American accent. I was shocked when I learned Hugh Laurie (House M.D.) was actually a Brit, same goes for Damian Lewis (Homeland). However, I wonder if there are any American actors who can nail a foreign accent so well it fools the natives of those lands. Somewhat related, I used to think there was no such thing as an American accent, that it was considered “normal” English. I didn’t think that because of American exceptionalism, but because you don’t hear accents during songs. Ozzy Osbourne and Adele certainly don’t sound like they are across the pond when they sing.
  • In other Irish related things, I read something intriguing about how Bono came up with some of the lyrics of U2’s new album. Irish poet Brendan Kennelly told him to write the songs as if he was already dead. Doing so caused Bono to view his approach totally differently, especially since a lot of these songs are directed at his wife, children, and other loved one. Think about it, writing a letter to someone you know you will encounter is totally different than writing a letter of finality. You are more willing to lay it all out there as you won’t experience any repercussions and it’s your final goodbye.
  • For a handful of Christmases, I got into the snow village craze but then I lost the desire and decided they were a waste of money. However, I just discovered a National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation snow village and any sane person could justify that purchase since the item would priceless.
  • When we finished putting up our outdoor Christmas lights and it was time to turn them on for the very first time, like Clark Griswold, I made the family gather out front and sang “Joy to the World” right before I plugged them in.
  • The Languages That Take the Most (and Least) Time to Learn
  • Quentin Tarantino might be making a Star Trek movie
  • The Joys and Sorrows of Watching My Own Birth – Shelby Vittek reflects on the bittersweet experience of watching herself be born — and her now-divorced mom and dad become parents — again and again.
Posted in Personal | 3 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Monday, December 4, 2017

  • Just a small piece of advice to our current president – end all tweets you personally make with your initials so we know it’s from you and a staffer or a lawyer.
  • There’s a new Apple holiday commercial which easily grabs your attention. It’s the one in which two strangers find each other and dance in the snow under moonlight. If you think they have great chemistry, it’s probably because in real life they are married. The New York-based couple actually met at a dance theater audition. You can also take dance lessons from them at the Broadway Dance Center.
  • Kate Winslet was on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ and they talked about Titanic. She revealed she auditioned with Matthew McConaughey.
  • Waffle House customer cooks his own meal after finding staff sleeping
  • Texas Tech Head Football Coach Kliff Kingsbury was nice enough to send a hand-written letter to a University of Texas player.
  • Christian Film Starring Kevin Sorbo Giving Away AR-15 Rifle as Christmas Promotion
  • What a fascinating piece of engineering –After 37 years, Voyager 1 has fired up its trajectory thrusters
    • This week, the scientists and engineers on the Voyager team did something very special. They commanded the spacecraft to fire a set of four trajectory thrusters for the first time in 37 years to determine their ability to orient the spacecraft using 10-millisecond pulses. After sending the commands on Tuesday, it took 19 hours and 35 minutes for the signal to reach Voyager. Then, the Earth-bound spacecraft team had to wait another 19 hours and 35 minutes to see if the spacecraft responded. It did. After nearly four decades of dormancy, the Aerojet Rocketdyne manufactured thrusters fired perfectly.
  • 2 men caught with heroin, weed after parking car in police chief’s spot
  • This story from China reminded me of the ‘Seinfeld’ episode where Kramer paints over the stripes on the highway – Man fined for painting road signs to aid his commute
    • He was captured on camera on 27 September with a can of white paint painting new arrows onto the road to redirect traffic, and told police it was the result of frustrations over the long delays on his daily bus journey to work.
  • BoyGeeding will sometimes surprise me with his observations. While listening to the new U2 album, he asked me if Adam was playing his guitar in a particular part because it sounded slow and the music was deep. About a week ago he asked what instrument each person plays and I tried to explain the sound of Adam’s bass guitar.
  • Here are the two U2 performances from SNL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efi4SCY0TA0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQceLMdrZpk

Posted in Goofy | 4 Comments