Bag of Randomness for Friday, January 20, 2017

  • Circa 1998, I wrapping up my time in college and was a big fan of A&E’s ‘Biography’. In part because I wanted to know what all laid in front of me and if I would be brave and opportunistic enough to make my own history like all of these folks. I remember when ‘Biography’ decided to do one on Donald Trump and he called in the next day to ‘Live with Regis and Kathy Lee’ to discuss it. I recall Trump saying he was happy with the piece, but his tone and demeanor sounded like he was wondering if there would be much more left to write about him.
  • Two items of note I saw on the ‘CBS Evening News’
    • One segment showed the Secret Service training for all sorts of different scenarios that could happen at the inauguration, even role-playing with a weaponized drone. I’ve thought a lot about how a drone could be used as a weapon and if it’s been overlooked.
    • Scott Pelley introduced Bob Schieffer at the end of the telecast stating how the wise elder has reported on Washington and jokingly clarified he meant the city, not the first president.
  • When DaughterGeeding realized Donald Trump was to become our acting president tomorrow, she asked if we could go to the store to buy Oreos before Trump gets rid of them all. I totally forgot he said that, but it reminded me what can stay in a child’s mind.
  • From the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast website, and this has to be awkward for a former first lady, but Benny Hinn?! And no George W. Bush?
  • Trump: My Cabinet has ‘by far the highest IQ of any Cabinet ever assembled.”’
    • My first thought was Kip Dynamite’s famous line.
    • My second thought was, there’s no need to upstage George Washington’s cabinet, which only had four members: Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph.
  • Mapped: President Barack Obama’s 156 visits abroad – and half a million million miles flown in Air Force One
  • I’ve cooked bacon in the oven before, but yesterday was the first time I tried it by laying it on parchment paper. To my surprise, it worked great. Not so much by the cooking aspect, but the cleanup was a cinch. It was better than using aluminum foil. When I first read about this method I thought the grease would go through the paper and go all over the place, but not at all. Just make sure your paper is larger than your sheet pan.
  • 2nd ex-Baylor Title IX official alleges discrimination
  • If you are a fan of HBO’s ‘Westworld’, you might appreciate these pictures of an abandoned amusement park north of Tokyo.
  • I didn’t vote for Trump, but I’d prefer having him in the Oval Office than Ted Cruz. Go ahead, call my crazy, just refrain from any curse words or references to my mother, please.
  • I’m absolutely certain I have a better 40 time than Donald Trump.
  • At least this opportunity won’t go to his head and will simply humble the local pastor – Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress to preach at pre-inauguration service for Trump
    • I knew he’s frequently on Fox News, but had no idea he had a contract, “Jeffress declined to comment on his role in the inauguration, saying his contract with Fox News precludes him from speaking with CNN.“
  • We prayed with Donald Trump
    • We are the pastors of two New York churches with unique connections to President-elect Donald J. Trump. Patrick is the senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, Queens, where the President-elect’s mother, Mary, an immigrant from Scotland, was a member, and where her son was baptized and confirmed. When he takes the oath of office, Mr. Trump will rest his hand on the Lincoln Bible and on the Bible given to him “by the Sunday Church School of the First Presbyterian Church, Jamaica, New York, Children’s Day, June 12, 1955.” Scott is the senior pastor of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. Fifth Avenue Presbyterian stands closer to Trump Tower than any church in the city. Sitting in his office, Mr. Trump has a direct view of the Celtic cross atop the church’s spire.
  • There’s a new trailer for the movie Logan, it’s the last time Hugh Jackman will play the role. You can tell in the opening scene they are in Texas, though I have no idea where or exactly how much of the film will take place in our state.
  • Attorney Brian ‘Strong Arm’ Loncar’s death ruled accidental cocaine overdose
  • Odd story about Skittles – Hundreds of thousands of red Skittles meant to feed cows spilled on the highway
  • Dennis Hastert Wants Sex-Abuse Accuser to Return Hush Money
  • GQ – The Oral History of President Barack Obama Playing Pickup Basketball
    • Reggie Love: I would say probably the most satisfying memory was having to coach Sasha’s middle school team and seeing seventh graders execute the pick-and-roll flawlessly.
  • George W. Bush’s Inauguration Day Letter to Barack Obama – There’s a part of me that would prefer these letters would never be seen by the public. These come from the National Archives.

    And here’s Clinton’s letter to W.
  • Grace
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Comparing ‘The Running Man’ to Today’s America

I’m not saying I agree with this, but it was interesting and entertaining to watch since I referenced the film not too long ago.

But I shall state that I’m positive Richard Dawson has kissed more women that our future president. Though, Trump probably leads him in “another” category.

When Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi film The Running Man first premiered in 1987, it presented a dark vision of the US in the year 2017: economically depressed, ruled by the military, and obsessed with a reality TV show. It seemed far-fetched at the time, even to its creators. But on the eve of reality TV-star-turned President Donald Trump’s inauguration, it seems more timely and plausible than ever. Watch all the parallels between this retro sci-fi film and reality in our inaugural episode of Future Shock.

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Bag of Randomness for Thursday, January 19, 2017

  • I loved this moment from Obama’s first inauguration. Sasha was six or seven, and just as cute as can be, and gives her father a simple thumbs up with an adorable grin. While many may have been touched at the swearing of the nation’s first black president, I was simply touched seeing a young daughter knowing a man simply as nothing but a dad and giving him her approval. It was just a sweet, innocent, non-scripted moment.
  • Sometimes, the best way to make a bad day better is to do some things you’ve been dreading because at a minimum you’ll be happier those tasks are completed or you’ve made some progress.
  • For you armchair plumbers out there, I’m seeking your counsel. Our half bath is downstairs immediately across from our laundry room. Every now and then, and I think it happens sometime after we run the washing machine, we smell something as if it’s coming from the sewer. I’ve used my sniffer to try to isolate the smell, but I can’t tell where it is coming from. I don’t think it’s coming from the toilet I installed not too long ago because I”m thinking the water in the bowl and tank prevent any gasses from coming up. I doubt it’s the sink in the half bath mainly for the same reason and how a p-trap is designed. The washing machine hasn’t shown any sign of leakage and it’s been cleaned and deodorized, and I don’t think the area in the wall where the washing machine waste water is dispensed is the culprit. I’m stumped, any thoughts?
  • An Azle restaurant didn’t quite think through an MLK promotion. When I lived in Mineral Wells, there was a certain perception we had of Azle when it came to race relations. But then again, I was a kid, and things could have been blown out of proportion and I could have succumbed to rumors.
    • She quickly learned from a friend that Monday’s special of chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon wasn’t such a good idea. “I wasn’t thinking about the historical (context),” she said. “I was thinking, we have margaritas and tacos on Cinco de Mayo, so, let’s have some fun with Martin Luther King Day.”
  • KVIL is no more. I remember when they used to broadcast Cowboys games, and thought it was weird for a music station to do such a thing.
  • Pixar Pretty Much Confirms That All Of Its Films Exist In The Same Universe
  • I only knew of white noise, had no idea there was also pink, blue, gray, and brown.
  • The fastest speeding tickets issued in Texas in 2016
    • The top two were done on motorcycles – Data show the fastest ticket issued was clocked at 209 mph; the second fastest was 167 mph. Both drivers were cited on U.S. 190 in Coryell County. From Jan. 1 to Dec. 1, 2016, troopers issued 9,821 tickets with alleged speeds of 100 mph or faster. That’s up from the 6,883 tickets with alleged speeds of 100 mph or faster in 2015.
  • Presidential Inauguration Bingo Game Printable
  • I don’t care how “gross” they are, I love them, and I’ve never smoked weed.
    • The Wall Street Journal – How Badly Were We Craving Jack in the Box Tacos? Badly – After a popular article proclaimed them ‘vile and amazing,’ Journal staffers in New York cooked up a plan to import them using West Coast colleagues, ice packs, a real-life scientist, UPS and a toaster
  • Someone didn’t think through optics, a big screen shouldn’t be in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Via Matt Viser of the Boston Globe
  • I’m surprised Trump didn’t smile for his inauguration photo (PDF from www.inaugural.senate.gov).
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