Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, February 21, 2017

  • Every child is unique, has different maturity levels, and processes information differently. With that disclaimer, and the potential to be judged as bad parents, WifeGeeding and I talked to six-and-a-half-year-old DaughterGeeding about the bird and the bees. Well, maybe not exactly the birds and the bees, but how is a baby born. She’s been asking some well-reasoned questions as of late and we aren’t the type to hide the truth (John 8:32).  “It’s great to learn, knowledge is power.”
    • I started things off by asking her what she’s working on in math, and she stated multiplication and division. I then asked to first learn that, what did she first need to learn, and she responded with learning numbers and counting. I told her with that in mind, what we are about to talk about is just recognizing numbers and it gets a lot more complex than multiplication and division. That this is just a starting point, and she will continue to have questions and a lot of things aren’t going to make sense as of right now, and that’s okay. But she’ll need to understand there are some questions we choose not to fully answer as of yet because she’s just now in the number recognition phase.
    • We also started with a lot of disclaimers, like she’s not to talk to any of her friends or even her brother about any of this. We told her we knew she was mature enough to handle what we were about to tell her and informing her in a way that’s suitable for her, and parents have to have this talk with their own children and they know what’s best for and suitable for them. She’s been tested with other information in the past and she’s proven to use she’s capable of being informed now.
      • Sidenote: We’ve always used technical or medical terms for body parts and not the childish names. In short, for us, we think it’s important to set a precedent.
    • Nothing about what we discussed was graphic, but we used this book (PDF) as our guide. A reader emailed that book to me some time after DaughterGeeding was born and stated how well it worked for her and her children and it’s something I should stash away for later. It’s a bit dated and there are numerous misspellings, but I thought it was a great tool to help a parent guide such a discussion.
    • Overall, the talk went extremely well.
  • When I saw President Trump select Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his new national security adviser, my first thought was of H.R. Pufnstuf.
  • One annoyance I have of local televised news is when they air a story about something expensive or luxurious and the anchors act as if they aren’t wealthy.
  • I’m surprised the classic Cadbury Easter egg commercial still airs, the one with all the animals auditioning. I saw it on ‘Wheel of Fortune’ last night.
  • Reminiscent of the Generra Hypercolor shirts – FIRE Dye – The world’s first colour changing hair dye.
  • C-SPAN – Presidential Historian Survey 2017
  • ABC News – Many universities are using private planes
    • The Associated Press requested documents from dozens of public universities and found that at least 20 own or share ownership of planes for school business, often employing a few full-time pilots to fly them. Many others charter private flights through outside companies. Flight logs show that, at times, the aircraft are used for purposes unrelated to university business.
  • The Guardian – ‘The wild west of wind’: Republicans push Texas as unlikely green energy leader – The most oil-rich and fracking-friendly of states has found itself with the improbable status of being a national leader in a wind energy boom
  • Not really a surprise, but the Houston Chronicle states that every Texas representative in Congress has voted for each and every Trump position.
  • The Dallas Morning News – ‘Texans don’t care about politics’ Texas Monthly editor says, announcing plans to shift magazine’s focus
    • After telling the Columbia Journalism Review that “Texans don’t care about politics,” the editor in chief of Texas Monthly got an earful from Twitter users who say otherwise. In the story published online Monday about his vision for the magazine, which has a history of in-depth political coverage and longform journalism, Tim Taliaferro announced plans to boost the publication’s lifestyle coverage.
  • The ‘CBS Evening News’ had a disturbing story last night on how ISIS is using drones to drop bombs in Mosul. The drones actually film the bombings and have been used in propaganda videos.
  • ‘Huge misunderstanding’: Contractor guts wrong Fort Worth house
  • Trump has 3,643 websites that range from TrumpEmpire.com to TrumpFraud.org
    • The buying spree continued as he ran for president. Trump bought 93 of them after he launched his presidential campaign. One was TrumpEmpire.com. That domain had belonged to a Mexican cybersquatter. Luis Jorge O’Brien Covarrubias is a civil engineer in Guadalajara, Mexico. He bought TrumpEmpire for $10 in April 2015 hoping that someday he’d be able to cash in on the property. When no deal came around, he didn’t bother to renew it.
  • It’s been more than a century since a US president had facial hair
    • The last time facial hair graced the face of a US president was March 4, 1913. This was the day William Howard Taft and his voluminous mustache were replaced by the clean-shaven Woodrow Wilson in the nation’s highest office. The American Mustache Institute suggests March 4th be known as “Taft Day” in remembrance.
  • GIF – Hungry Hungry Humans – I’d like to play.
  • Something Andy might enjoy – A Day in North Korean Airspace
    • While looking for some North Korean flight data, I stumbled upon this visualization of the isolated country’s national airspace. It shows hundreds of flights in and around South Korea and Japan — but only a handful traveling to or through North Korea. Fascinating.
  • You gotta cry without weeping, talk without speaking
    Scream without raising your voice.
Posted in Personal | 11 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Monday, February 20, 2017

  • I hear American Airlines will take out their tablet like devices which are set on the back of each seat’s headrest because passengers usually just rely on their own devices. However, I was really impressed with them. Not only could you track all sorts of cool flight data such as your current location, altitude, and speed, but the entertainment offering was great. There were plenty of sitcoms from various networks to choose and a decent amount of movies about to leave theaters. However, I was really surprised they showed them in their original unedited versions. For instance, I watched the first two episodes of HBO’s “Westworld” and was surprised and a bit embarassed at the amount of nutidy and sex which displayed on my screen. The viewing angles of the device don’t allow for the person sitting next to you to see your screen well, but it’s easy to see what the folks in front of you are watching.
  • A lot of folks enjoy or put up with traveling for work, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it often. The airlines pack you in like sardines more so than they used to. I also don’t understand how people can sit down for more than three hours straight without getting up at least once.
  • A lot of local folks are a fan of DFW Airport’s Terminal D, but I’m not a fan. It’s not as easy to navigate and baggage claim is much further than it used to be.
  • One of the most unfavorable things about landing at DFW is the amount of time it takes after landing to arrive to the gate. I timed it on Friday, it took 23-minutes and that doesn’t include the time the plane door opened.
  • I guess all the airlines which offer first class have to appease those customers, but wouldn’t it make sense to board the passengers who sit in the back first?
  • One thing that’s a bit of a bummer is driving down a street in the surrounding D.C. area and noticing it looks almost like your place at home with all the commercial franchises. I miss the uniquness of a community.
  • BoyGeeding had a Star Wars themed birthday party on Saturday. Our neighbor who is “currently” employed by our local NFL franchise was nice enough to give him an autographed football. Where ever he may end up, we’ll always be thankful for his time in the neighborhood.
  • Too soon? – The film Saved From the Titanic was released a month after the sinking. It starred survivor Dorothy Gibson who wore the same clothes in the film that she wore on the ship.
  • “You have no idea how many objectives can be obtained by humiliating one’s fellow man. But there’s a secret to it. A person humiliated can’t realize they’ve been humiliated.” –  Pope Pius XIII from HBO’s “The Young Pope” finale.
    • I finally got a little time to watch the finale and was a bit disappointed, and you could almost see the ending coming a mile away.
  • Prestonwood Baptist will withhold Southern Baptist funds as it mulls organization’s direction
  • I’ve been thinking about Gov. Greg Abbott’s comments about the NFL (see previous Bag of Randomness). I think he’s taking a page out of the Trump campaign book and will continue to make extreme comments.
  • Troy Aikman posted a picture to Instagram yesterday with the caption “My girl” and I’m not sure if it means he’s engaged or he’s just dating.
  • Food date clarification on the horizon
    • Where manufacturers now use any of 10 separate label phrases, ranging from “expires on” to “better if used by,” they’ll now be encouraged to use only two: “Use By” and “Best if Used By.” The former is a safety designation, meant to indicate when perishable foods are no longer good. “Best if Used By” is a quality descriptor — a subjective guess of when the manufacturer thinks the product should be consumed for peak flavor.
  • This guy had one heck of a DIY project. He took a shipping container and turned it into an underground party bunker.
  • Armed man carjacks Tucson mayor’s Prius
  • Brothers Jesse James, Billy Kidd arrested after disturbance at Lubbock bar
  • GIF – Failed bowling attempt
  • U2 Will Release New Version Of “Red Hill Mining Town,” Rework Songs Of Experience With Steve Lillywhite
Posted in Personal | 2 Comments