Bag of Randomness for Friday, May 12, 2017

  • I’m having my steroid epidural this morning. I”m told I should be there no longer than ninety minutes but will be drugged similar to getting a wisdom tooth extracted. There’s no telling if WifeGeeding will record anything crazy I say.
  • I never needed to have my wisdom teeth removed.
  • One thing I always wanted to do but never could no matter how much I tried – whistle loudly by putting my fingers in my mouth. I can regular whistle, but I want to master the super loud finger whistle. Yesterday I decided to give it a try again, watching more YouTube videos I’d like to admit and almost passing out a few times. There’s too much to it, from the placement of the tongue, lip technique, the direction to blow the air, the right amount of moisture, yadda yadda yadda.
  • About my comments comment yesterday. I didn’t mean to sound as if I were complaining, it just seemed a bit quieter.
  • A great bit in this season of ‘Fargo’ is that a character is never recognized by any automatic device, like automatic doors, sinks, or soap dispensers. And knowing that show, you know that’s going to come into play in an unexpected but important way.
  • I’ve been too embarrassed to ever admit this to my friends or even on this blog, which serves as a nice filter or barrier between me and the real world, and I’m not even sure why, but I suffer from dyslexia. It’s something I was only tested for as an adult, and wonder how much it held me back in both education and profession (and with the ladies, my love notes were crap). And you wonder why it’s taking me freaking forever to finish that book I’m reading. But I guess I fear I’m just making excuses or using something which could be perceived as a crutch.
  • The crayon box with a sharpener on the side was a big game changer in elementary school. I think it was only available in the 64 count box, and I spent way too much time deciding on what shades of blue to use for the sky and water.
  • BIG D – The main reason Americans are ditching New York and flocking to cowboy land
  • The Girls’ Soccer Team That Joined a Boys’ League, and Won It
  • The role of the White House Press Secretary and the Deputy Press Secretary are extremely difficult jobs, but one that’s intrigued me over the years. I have no sorrow for anyone who chooses those roles, they are serving their country, at the top of the profession, and the monetary opportunities after their tenure are vast. I always felt the role was primarily to speak to the public through the media hound dogs, but so far I feel like the current folks in those roles are speaking down to the public ever since the start of the new administration.
  • U2’s tour officially starts tonight in Vancouver.
  • Here’s how the Russians might have snuck a recording device into the Oval Office
    • I was more interested in how a device might send out data and how it could be found:
      • Sending out data:
        • Knowing that the device would be found, then, Morris’s would transmit a signal out in as quick a burst as possible. This is meant to prevent White House security from detecting the burst — and then tracking down its point of origin. Morris figured that he’d send out the data after about 12 hours, although it would also be useful to send a burst after only a few hours.
        • There are two options for transmitting out: using a normal cell-tower transmission or using a low-frequency signal that would stand a better chance of passing through the walls of the White House. Nor would the Russians need to park a white van subtly labeled “VLADIMIR’S FLOWERS” on Pennsylvania Avenue to detect the emission. Such a signal could travel a mile, Morris said, allowing them to camp out in a nearby hotel, for example.
      • Finding a bug:
        • “It is an office that does get an extensive sweep by well-trained professionals” — although not necessarily after every meeting. Such a sweep, he said, would include far more than simply holding up some electronic gizmo that would ping if it detected a signal. It would mean looking in every imaginable place — behind electrical outlets, inside cushions — for anything that might be used to spy on Oval Office meetings. “They really disassemble most of the room,” Morris said.
  • One reason I use bullet points is if something isn’t of interest to you, you can easily skip over it. It’s my way of not wasting your time you decided to waste. I prefer you to waste your time in a more effective and efficient manner. For instance, the next and final bullet point for today is about presidential history and the book I’m reading.
  • More interesting nuggets from the book I’m reading about the relationships amongst presidents.
    • As LBJ flew back with the JFK’s body, staff already cleared the Oval Office of all of Kennedy’s things. However, LBJ just couldn’t bring himself to work in Oval Office as of yet and continued to work out of his then current office.
    • During his time in the Senate, LBJ and Speaker Sam Rayburn used to kid with President Eisenhower about how they were all Texans. Ike was born in Dennison, TX.  They all had a good report with each other, and the book states that despite Ike not having a legislative background, he got 83% of his program through a Democratic congress.
    • Ike viewed JFK’s body at 11:15 AM the day after the assassination and then had a two-hour lunch with LBJ. Ike told LBJ that it would be better to be a good president for a year than to try to hold on to it for six. LBJ expressed concerns over Kennedy’s staff, and Ike told him he had to be his own man, let a decent amount of time pass, and then clean house and appoint his own team.
      • LBJ asked for some specific advice for the days ahead, and Ike started to jot down things on a legal pad. He then asked if his old secretary was still around, someone he really trusted, to come in and take dictation. She was, and he asked her to burn her notes and make only two copies, one for himself and one for the new president.
      • Ike told him to call a joint session of Congress and practically dictated the outline of the speech. That he’d come to this office unexpectedly, accepts the decision of the Almighty, assure no revolution in purpose or policy will occur, his mission would be to carry out the “noble objections” by his great predecessor, and vow to work with Congress, business, and labor to do it. It was important that continuity was the underlying message.
      • LBJ emphasized the importance of convincing the country to move forward without hesitation, wavering, or self-doubt because the results could be disastrous.
      • As a token of appreciation, LBJ sent Ike a leather-bound copy of the speech as a Christmas present, complete with Ike’s initials.
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