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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Your Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, July 24, 2024

  • The hardest part in deciding who to vote for as President is trying to find differences between Harris and Trump. They are just too alike; there’s no real distinction between them. Voters again face the issue of having no real choice.
  • It would be in poor taste, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the attempted Trump assassination area turned into some targeting or shooting range for gun enthusiasts. I wonder what people would pay to shoot from the same spot on the roof as the shooter at a target marked the same distance away that Trump was.
  • A lot of people whiten their teeth; most are too white or bright, and it doesn’t look natural. I tried the procedure once and got what they called zingers, which are random, unpredictable, and sharp pain in my teeth. That was some of the worst pain I’ve ever been in, and I’ve had four back surgeries.
  • I haven’t given it much thought, but there must have been a lot of anti-Biden signs and merchandise that are now useless since he’s no longer in the race. Biden has gutted so many of Trump’s “arguments.” They are gone in one fell swoop: President Biden’s age, Hunter Biden, the whole “Biden crime family” corruption allegations—all out the door.
  • Agency retracts announced firing of key Baptist leader who had praised Biden’s withdrawal as a ‘selfless act’
    • In under 48 hours, the head of the staunchly conservative public-policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention rankled fellow Baptists by applauding President Joe Biden’s “selfless act” of withdrawing his candidacy for re-election. Then, his agency reported he was fired — and now they have reaffirmed his leadership.
  • Here’s the last photo and interview of Richard Simmons. He looked better than I expected, being a recluse and all. And he was going to make a comeback from retirement.
  • President Biden tweeted this photo last night. I thought it was unique since so few people will ever be able to see that perspective with their own eyes. I’m guessing it’s taken from the Truman Balcony looking straight down.
  • Child abusers should not be put in leadership positions at church.
  • Couldn’t they have given Wilt some longer shorts?

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Your Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, July 23, 2024

  • If I were into making up conspiracy theories, here’s one regarding Biden dropping out of the race. It’s a bit like House of Cards. The DNC forces that be, who forced/encouraged Biden out, arranged things so that there would be an open convention in August for their preferred candidate, which is why Biden’s first announcement didn’t include his endorsement of Harris. However, Biden was never comfortable with that because of his loyalty to Harris. So, he played along with the announcement of dropping out of the race, but on his own accord, and to the surprise of everyone, he followed up with that tweet several hours later announcing his full endorsement of Harris.
    • Again, making up conspiracy theories, I believe  California Rep. Adam Schiff’s announcement that he wanted Biden to leave the race was orchestrated by fellow Californian Rep. Speaker Pelosi. She was orchestrating the change but knew it was too strong of a message coming from herself. But, having Schiff make the announcement was a good way to test the waters and get better polling data.
  • I would be astonished if VP Harris’ running mate is not a white male. I know the party is progressive, but it’s all about balancing the ticket, and sadly, America isn’t ready for a non-white male not to appear on a ticket.
  • Nikki Haley Voters PAC Announces Support for Kamala Harris
    • Back in January of this year she said, “If Donald Trump becomes the Republican nominee, we will get a President Kamala Harris. You mark my words. He cannot win a general election…He can’t get independents. He can’t get suburban women.”
  • I don’t think I’ve ever heard exscripts from a Baseball Hall of Fame Speech, but I listened to some of Adrian Beltre’s. He made sure to drop Emily Jones’ name, and that must have been a really cool moment for her.
  • LBJ daughters call Biden ‘a patriot without peer’ for dropping out. I had to look up “without peer” because I haven’t heard it used before. AI gave me a pretty good explanation.That was nice of them considering Biden postponed his planned visit to the L.B.J. Presidential Library in Austin to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act earlier this month.
  • Matthew McConaughey is talking about running for office again
  • I’ve never been a fan of WFAA’s Cynthia Izaguirre for various reasons. On the evening news last night she said, “the meltdown in the Democratic Party.” That caused one retired local anchor to tweet several interesting things:
    • “Meltdown” is a pundit’s choice – and unless Comanche Peak just scrammed, not that of a journalist. My jaw hit the floor. Wanna pick a phrase? Try “recent developments”. That was as egregiously slanted and unprofessional as anything I’ve recently heard, and maybe ever.
    • I started in TV in 1973. We had (paper) teleprompters even then. There’s always copy or a script. Anchors have always “read” the news. What changed is that very few now seem to know how to read their copy beforehand or apply any standards editing or delivering it.
    • Unless it’s a story we enterprise ourselves, we all read what other people write. I pre-read and double-checked every piece of copy I ever had in a newscast, and usually re-wrote them to put them in my voice and eliminate mistakes. So did they.
  • There’s nothing particularly revealing in this article, but a buddy and I were talking about this recently, and it’s one reason, despite its low range, I keep my 2014 Nissan Leaf – It’s becoming harder to get — and keep — a car
  • My brother attended Kansas Wesleyan on a football scholarship for a year. I haven’t thought about the college in forever so I decided to see what Wikipedia said about it. Under notable alumni, I saw this: Dennis Rader — infamous “BTK” serial killer, attended 1965-66.
  • There’s a new dance craze in case you didn’t know – Why Is Every Celeb Doing the ‘Apple’ Dance — and Why Can’t We Stop Watching Them? (And in case you didn’t know what Brat is popular)

  • I cannot adequately express my profound disappointment in the leadership of Pastors Tony and Teter of Hackberry Creek Church. I stand by certain standards and simply will not budge.
  • I can never get this right so I’m thankful for this short video:


    And here’s some related news: One in six Tory voters likely to die before the next election

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