Bag of Randomness for Thursday, March 23, 2017

  • That’s my father sometime after Navy bootcamp.
  • Last night’s ‘Diff’rent Strokes’ was the one where Nancy Reagan makes an appearance for her Just Say No campaign. She did a good job, it’s like she was an actress or something.
  • Yes, I know she was an actress in Hollywood back in the day.
  • I apologize to those of you who thought I may have been taking a jab at Neil Gorsuch yesterday. My comment about him “dodging” a question about ducks and horses was made in jest.
  • I only caught the first part of WFAA’s late night broadcast, but I think I heard Pete Delkus he was going to answer viewer email during his weather segment.
  • NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” is recording in Dallas tonight and WifeGeeding and I will actually be in the audience. She was nice enough to surprise me with tickets. For those of you familiar with the show, I have no idea who the panelists will be, but I think I read somewhere Mo Rocca lived in Dallas at a time so maybe he’ll make an appearance.  And yes, there is a twist of oddness we are paying to watch someone that is only available via radio and audio podcast.
  • DaughterGeeding has met all the requirements to take her Taekwondo red belt test, except for one. One of her requirements is to be respectful to family, but she hit her brother twice in one day recently. We had an internal investigation into the matter and found BoyGeeding didn’t do anything to provoke her, she was just having a bit of an attitude problem. We may have let it slide if it was only one hit, but punching him twice in one day was pushing it and thought this would be a good lesson regarding actions and consequences.
  • Domino’s stock has outperformed Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon this decade
  • Red-light camera grace period goes from 0.1 to 0.3 seconds, Chicago to lose $17M – Official: “[This] is not an invitation to drivers to try to beat the red light.”
  • Gang rape was a ‘hoax’ by bloody teen who ran into church half-naked, Denison police say
    • An 18-year-old Texas woman’s claim that she was abducted and assaulted two weeks ago were a hoax, Denison police said Wednesday. The incident caused a whirlwind of speculation in the town near the Oklahoma border after the bloody woman ran into a church wearing only a shirt, bra and underwear and lied about two black men raping her while a third held her down, Denison Police Chief Jay Burch said.
  • Jalopnik – Consumer Reports’ Worst Cars Of 2017 List Is Brutal And Accurate
    • I’m so glad I held off purchasing a Maserati Ghibli.
  • Here’s a NY Times interative article about the size and spending of the U.S. military.
Posted in Personal | 2 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, March 22, 2017

  • For the first time in a long time, I drank an ICEE. As a child, the only times they were a possibility was when we took a road trip to Fort Worth and stopped at K-Mart where they were available in the snack bar. At the time, no ICEEs or Slurpees were available in Mineral Wells and there wasn’t even a McDonald’s. Slush Puppies were available, but they always seemed second-tier. And now I’m reminded of Dr. Evil, “You’re semi-evil. You’re quasi-evil. You’re the margarine of evil. You’re the Diet Coke of evil, just one calorie, not evil enough.“
  • Spring Training – BoyGeeding had his first tee-ball practice of the season yesterday. His team is the Thunder and he’s #2.
  • The higher number of windows opened on my computer the higher my stress is for that given day.
  • Not that anyone is happy paying taxes, but I wonder what most folks are “happy” their taxes go to – public schools, national defense, [insert polarizing item here], etc.
  • I’m not sure my friend Andy likes this idea of a circular or “endless” runway.
  • Japan’s elderly offered funeral discount to stop driving
  • It’s Buc-ee’s V. Bucky’s In Convenience Store Battle – A longtime truce between the two convenience store chains has been challenged by Bucky’s moving into Buc-ee’s territory.
  • Adam Sandler Had This to Say About Seagoville, Texas Residents – Near Dallas
    • During a radio interview this morning, Hollywood actor Adam Sandler took a moment to praise Seagoville, Texas residents – a small town just outside of Dallas – who had helped him with a mechanical issue with his rental car as he passed through the city recently
    • I’m telling you, these people in Seagoville are the real deal. I’m going to move there after I retire,” Sandler said with a laugh. Sandler added later, “You have to understand, this is something that would’ve never happened in L.A.! So yeah, that’s my story about Seagoville, Texas. It’s nice to know there are still places like this in America.”
  • It saddens me he dodged the question – A Senator Asked Neil Gorsuch If He’d Rather Fight a Horse-Sized Duck or 100 Duck-Sized Horses
  • VICE – The Contentious Relationship Between Evangelicals and Hollywood – While Christian films like ‘The Shack’ are scoring big at the box office, they also incite the ire of true believers.
Posted in Personal | 8 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, March 21, 2017

  • Last night’s ‘Diff’rent Strokes’ had Dorothy Hammill as a guest start. On Friday the two episode bicycle shop child molester aired and thankfully we missed that one.
  • Shortly before the inauguration, the president-elect said, “Sure it’s a big job, but I don’t think anybody who can do it any better than I can.” Some bravado, eh? But it wasn’t said by our current president but rather John F. Kennedy to a reporter from TIME. He followed it up with, “It isn’t going to be so bad, you’ve got time to think, and besides, the pay is pretty good.”
  • Alabama May Allow Church to Form Own Police Force
    • An Alabama megachurch is seeking to establish its own police department — and a bill that would green light the force is already moving through the state senate. The 4,100-member strong Briarwood Presbyterian Church, located in suburban Birmingham, contends it needs its own police force to counter any potential threats because it is also home to a K-12 school and a theological seminary with 2,000 students and teachers.
  • Neil deGrasse Tyson did the math –  David Rockefeller’s (1915-2017) $900M in lifetime philanthropy is equivalent to donating $24,000 for every day of his life.
  • Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to the Charles Manson murder house –
    • The caretaker who lived in the guest house moved in three weeks after the murders and resided there for 20 years.
      • During an interview on ABC’s show 20/20, he said that while living there, he felt “safe, secure, loved and beauty.” He sold the property for $1.6 million in 1989.
    • Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails started renting the house in 1992 and set up a recording studio “dubbed “Pig” (sometimes called “Le Pig”) in a reference to murderer Susan Atkins’ writing “Pig” in Tate’s blood on the front door of the house.” 
      • One day he randomly ran into Tate’s sister who confronted him about exploiting her death and moved out.
        • Reznor took the front door of the house with him when he moved out, installing it at Nothing Studios, his new recording studio/record label headquarters in New Orleans.
    • In 1994, the owner demolished the house and built a replacement home called Villa Bella, with a new street address.
  • Here’s What the Original, Far Less Tragic Ending of Rogue One Would Have Been
  • Mission: Impossible 6’ Producer Says Tom Cruise Has Been Training for ‘Mind-Blowing’ Stunt for a Year
  • Sweet 16 by shoe and apparel deals – Nike 12, 2 Addidas, 2 Under Armor
  • It’s not as cool as you’d hope, but a guy put his GoPro in a nuclear reactor.
  • Losing weight won’t make you happier—but eating a balanced diet will
    • Despite the message that the happiest you is just 10 pounds away, new research suggests that improving the quality of your diet may be the recipe to protecting and even improving your mental health, not losing weight.
Posted in Personal | 3 Comments