Your Bag of Nothing for Friday, Aug 2, 1924

  • Today is my late father’s 101st birthday.
  • Gig ’em? I guess no woman or non-white person deserves the honor of being in this class. I’m not saying they should make a diverse class just to make a diverse class, it’s just interesting from a statistical standpoint that a woman or non-white person would not be included. Also, with an even number of alumni, why didn’t KBTX’s graphic department not divide the two rows equally, six-by-six?
  • Being born in 1975, I obviously wasn’t around for the JFK assassination in 1963. But I think one thing that’s hard for a lot of people, especially young people, to understand today is there was no real footage of the assassination shown until the Zapruder film was released. So many things are recorded today and available online in an instant. But the Zapruder film didn’t air on U.S. network television until 1975 when a young Geraldo Rivera debuted the footage on ABC’s Good Night America. I’m trying to imagine what it would be like to be alive during the assassination and then only be able to watch what actually happened almost 12 years later. People were rightfully shocked, and Geraldo rightfully cautioned viewers. You hear the audience or whoever off camera gasp as he warns viewers of the headshot we’ve seen thousands of times. Here is the show segment where he introduces and narrates the film.

    Personally, I remember how shocked I was the first time I saw his autopsy photos, some of which you can find on a Wikipedia page and first published in Life magazine in 1972. His open eyes haunted me. At first, people think the hole at the bottom of this throat is an exit wound, but it’s from a tracheotomy and the wound is obscured. But the color photo of the exit wound on the back of his head is grotesque. It’s a 13 centemeter wound. If you read the article, you find that Kennedy was buried without his brain, which mysteriously went missing in 1966 from the National Archives. My bet is RFK had it secretly destroyed.
  • Suri Cruise sure looks a lot like her mother, as one would expect.
  • Mercury could have an 11-mile underground layer of diamonds, researchers say
    • This reminded me of a woman I heard on the radio complain about her fiance giving her an engagement ring made of a lab-grown diamond instead of a natural one because it’s believed the latter will appreciate in value more. I’m sure one day in the future, diamonds will be mined from another planet. I can only imagine how expensive an engagement ring would be with an interplanetary diamond.
    • Of course, this talk reminded me of the engagement ring I bought. Growing up, one qualification I had in a bride was that she wouldn’t care about a ring, that what’s important is marrying me. The person I proposed to made it clear she preferred one to be at least a carrot. Smitten, I gave in. She never knew this, but I’d often look at it, even towards the unexpected end of our marriage (and especially when we were intimate), and have this immense sense of pride at how hard I worked to save and buy it and the honor of her accepting and wearing it. There was one unique feature of the diamond that stood out and made it even more sentimental. I sometimes wonder whatever happened with that ring. One day, and without my prodding or inquiry, DaughterGeeding mentioned she overheard her mother talking to her grandmother about how pleased they were with what they did with it. In a way, I wish I could get it returned, just because of what I recently wrote above. But there’s no good reason for me to have it, and I’m not sure what I’d do with other than stash it away somewhere.
  • Olympic shooting has been highlighted at this year’s games, Especially these two for their demeanor and shooting style. For instance, Turkey’s gold medalist shoots with his left hand in his pocket with no specialized lenses. The South Korean champion looks nonchalant and fashionable.
    • While his opponents took to the competition with specialized equipment – custom glasses to obscure vision in one eye, large ear protection and tinted lenses – Dikeç managed to claim Turkey’s first ever Olympic medal in shooting with teammate Sevval Ilayda Tarhan in what looked to be his everyday glasses and one hand in his pocket. 
      • “I shoot with both eyes, most shooters do it with one. So I didn’t want that all that equipment. Shooting with two eyes — I believe that it’s better. I’ve done a lot of research on it, so I didn’t need the equipment,” Dikeç told Turkish radio station Radyo Gol. “Shooting with my hand in my pocket has nothing to do with artistry. I am more motivated and feel more comfortable while shooting,” he said, adding that this stance “is actually about bringing the body to equilibrium and focusing and concentrating.”
    • Photos of the casual 51 year-old went viral – not least because of the stark comparison to pictures of Olympic shooting superstar Kim Ye-ji, whose cap, futuristic glasses and calm composure wouldn’t look out of place on a street style-inspired runway. Kim won silver at the 10-meter air pistol event on Sunday, with her 19-year-old teammate Oh Ye Jin taking the gold.

    • And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Guatemala’s Adriana Ruano won Guatelama’s first gold medal in history.
    • And like many others have mentioned, with America’s love of gun culture, it’s surprising we don’t medal at these shooting events.
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Your Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, July 31, 2024

  • My trivia team placed third last night. At the end of the evening, the wait staff gave everyone a check but me. The waiter explained that the enchiladas I ordered were a new menu item, and she didn’t like how they looked when I was served my food, so my meal was free. That was unexpected, I didn’t think anything looked off nor did I complain or make any comment. I kinda felt bad, but still made sure to leave my waiter a nice tip.
  • Hearing the rest of the country complain about how hot the summer has been is weird. For a Texas summer, it hasn’t been that bad. But, I may have just jinxed us as we are about to enter August.
  • I know the goal isn’t to sell tickets, but I bet there are regrets about not putting Caitlin Clark on the team.
  • It’s interesting how low attendance has been at the Cowboys training camp. Finally, fans have accepted reality.
  • I’m not fond of the new onside kick rules the NFL is implementing this year. I understand the goal is player safety and all, but man, this is drastic.
    • Onside kicks are illegal before 4th quarter
    • Teams must be losing to kick an onside kick
    • Teams must announce their intention to kick an onside kick ahead of time
  • The J. W. Westcott II is a boat based in Detroit, Michigan, and is the only floating ZIP Code in the United States. A moving ZIP code, that’s interesting.
  • Little things I’m grateful for: I can eat basically whatever whenever I want. There’s a California woman who has 100 different allergies and is restricted to eating just 13 foods
      • “The 13 foods I can eat are white fish, turkey, green beans, zucchini, cucumber, lime, dates, grapes, raspberries, pears, chia seeds, water lily seeds and olive oil,” she said.The art of #waterpolo from an underwater perspective
  • Speaking of allergies, my grass allergies have been getting the best of me as of late.
  • Political armchair pundit time: A great post by the Harris campaign if they aim to show which candidate is more compassionate.

  • Our national mascot, the bald eagle, has been replaced by Snoop Dogg.

  •  

  • I regret not watching a single rugby game, and I wonder if this will go down as one of the greatest last plays in Olympic team play history. Granted, it wasn’t for the gold, but it was for their first medal. And this was well said, ”

    “In rugby, we say we’re just passing through the jersey and making the jersey better,” Maher said. “And that’s always been my goal: to make this jersey better, not just for me but for the other girls who are going to come into the program.”

    And could the timing of a new league be any betterIt’s too bad there’s no Dallas team. Though a quick search found a handful of professional women’s rugby teams in the area.

    • On Wednesday, April 10th, 2024, the women’s rugby union in the U.S. took its first step towards professionalism with the announcement of the creation of Women’s Elite Rugby (WER). WER will become the first professional women’s rugby union competition in the U.S., offering women the opportunity to earn a living wage while playing one of the fastest growing global sports.

 

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Your Bag of Randomness for Monday, July 29 ,2024

  • Here’s a random thought: the Olympic cauldron should be one gigantic scented candle.
  • I really appreciate Paris taking a big risk of not having a traditional opening ceremony in a stadium. Sacrifices have to be made. I’m sure there’s nothing like a flag bearer bearing their flag and hearing their country announced as you enter the stadium is a moment like no other. So, that’s a loss, but making it accessible to the whole city and utilizing all the landmarks was neat. I love watching the opening ceremony when the Olympics are held outside of the U.S. I learn and get exposed to so much. It’s still hard to believe that a city like Atlanta and Salt Lake ever hosted the games.
  • Something else that surprised me about the opening ceremony was how much they utilized athletes and artists of other nations. You’d think it would open with a French citizen, but they chose Lady Gaga, an Italian-American. And as much as I like Snoop Dogg, I don’t understand why an American non-athlete gets to carry the torch in Paris. Speaking of which, I’m still amazed at how concerned everyone was when he first got popular about his influence on young people and society and now he’s beloved and welcomed with open arms.  That gives me hope that one day, someone might actually think positively of me.
  • One thing that was very noticeable to me was the performers’ diversity, everything from race or ethnicity to body shape.
  • When I was in high school, my church’s youth group took us to Burger’s Lake in Fort Worth. It’s a spring-fed chlorinated lake with a sandy beach and all sorts of fun stuff. Visiting it is like going back in time to the Seventies. I fulfilled a small dream and took my family there in 2015. To my surprise, I learned Janet Jackson visited it with her crew last week. I’m just trying to imagine how shocked I’d be to be visiting and then seeing a childhood icon. She was playing in Fort Worth at the new Dickeys Arena, and to my surprise, tickets were still available the day before the concert.
  • Sunday school was thought-provoking. We analyzed Psalm 1 and studied its parallelism, saying one idea in two or more ways or making a statement and then restating it in a different way. You know, a Psalm will start off with “Great blessings belong to those who…”
    – Who are not ____, Or are not _____
    – Who don’t ____, Instead, ____.
    The last part of the class was spent as if we were the psalmist and writing out our own Psalms using parallelism. It was a challenge for me, but hearing everyone else’s was very interesting. Some were very personal, but they all were creative and beautiful in their own way. I was impressed with what everyone came up with. It just really stuck with me.
  • The best pickleball you’ll see today. Impressive.

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Your Bag of Randomness for Thursday, July 25, 2024

  • Watched a bit of a Jesse Owens biography. Offhand, I can’t think of anything more badass in sports than winning four gold medals in the heart of Nazi Germany. Seriously, how can that be topped? There may be other considerable others, but I don’t think there’s any topping that.
    • Germans pronounced his name as “Oh-Vens.”
    • Hitler referred to him as, and I quote, “The Jewish N—-R.” Whoa.
    • It sure is interesting how the Nazis invented the torch run from ancient Olympia to the host city, and we still carry the tradition.
  • I really had zero interest in watching the Olympics. I always dreamed of watching them with my family and don’t want the negative reminder. But, the opening ceremony is always worth a watch. Back in the day, we were forced to watch the Parade of Nations, which is cool but can get pretty boring. Now, we can stream it and fast-forward a recorded broadcast. But this is the first that the athletes aren’t walking, they will all be on a boat.
  • I watched a little bit of Trump’s golf outing with Bryson DeChambeau. I found the former president to be likable. He can be friendly when he wants to be. Yeah, he’s pretty heavy, but he does stay pretty active. The presidency really didn’t age him like it does other presidents.
  • I was a bit underwhelmed by President Biden’s speech last night.
    • I was expecting something to really stand out, like LBJ’s ” I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.” In case you are wondering, he used “shall” four times in that speech.
      • When I toured the LBJ library, I remember seeing the teleprompter script of that speech. Back then, a special typewriter was required to type out the oversized font, easy-to-read script on a roll of paper with sprocket holes along the side to enable automated scrolling. I distinctly remember one word being crossed out and another hand-written as if it was a last-minute edit. I’ve spent way too much time than I want to admit looking for a photo of it. Here’s something similar.
      • Speaking of presidents and teleprompters. I was distracted at looking at the reflection of the teleprompter scrolling over Biden’s left shoulder.
      • For some reason, when a president speaks from the Oval Office, I keep expecting something to happen in the window, like a bird flying smack into it. Can you imagine if that happened?
      • I think the White House uses the TP 800 when the president travels; and those will cost you a little over $1,300.
      • The teleprompter was invented in 1949 while Harry Truman was president. The first to use one was Ike. Here he is preparing his farewell address. You may notice he didn’t use the Resolute Desk.
      • It took a lot of work to prepare for one of Ike’s speeches.
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