Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, November 29, 2016

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  • We let the kids choose an ornament each year for the Christmas tree. To our surprise, Hallmark has a He-Man ornament.
  • DaughterGeeding wants a robe for Christmas. I noticed a lot of children robes have a hoodie and some of them have an animal theme, like this one that will turn your little one into a tiger. She’s really into bunny themed things, so I thought I search online for bunny robes. If you ever do the same, don’t be surprised if your search results include Playboy results. I forgot they have bunny-themed things and their founder often sports a robe.
  • Now that Donald Trump won the election, traditional politics have been turned upside down – he proves no one needs political, government, or military experience to win the presidential election. That got me to thinking, who could run, regardless of political party, and generate high voter turnout? Estimates show more than 58% of eligible voters participated in the November election. Who could run that could push that number in the 75-80% range? The only person I could think of who would come close, and I’m not advocating for him, is Jon Stewart. There are plenty of conservatives who wouldn’t want to see him elected just to vote against him, he’s the only one I can think of who could get young voters motivated, and in terms of how Trump can be like P.T. Barnum, he’s the closest who could possibly match him.  Again, I’m not saying I want him to run, just trying to think of who could increase voter turnout. I looked at the Gallup Most Admired Man and Woman results to try to think of anyone else, and the only person that jumps out is Bill Gates.
  • Texas elector who criticized Trump says he’s resigning
    • “If Trump is not qualified and my role, both morally and historically, as an elected official is to vote my conscience, then I can not and will not vote for Donald Trump for President. I believe voting for Trump would bring dishonor to God. The reality is Trump will be our President, no matter what my decision is. Since I can’t in good conscience vote for Donald Trump, and yet have sinfully made a pledge that I would, the best option I see at this time is to resign my position as an Elector.”
  • NPR – The Czech Pastry That Took Texas By Storm, And Keeps Gaining Strength
  • Dallas is building America’s biggest urban nature park
  • No Texas Football Teams In AP Poll For 1st Time Since 1997
  • The lead story of the 6PM CBS11 newscast was of a motorcyclist recording himself speeding down the LBJ express lanes at 186-mph and posting it on social media. Two people interviewed stated motorcyclists like him can never be caught because police don’t have the means to travel that fast or faster. That reminded me of a DPS officer who spoke in one of my high school classes. He said no matter how fast you think you can drive and outrun law enforcement, there’s no outrunning the radio – instead of being chased law enforcement, you’ll just end driving to them.
Posted in Personal | 4 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Monday, November 28, 2016

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  • The wife and kids were gone for a few days visiting family while I stayed at home with two dogs and a bunny. I’m afraid this is going to sound bad, but I had such a great time home alone, I needed the solitude, and absence does make the heart grow fonder. I may feel differently if I didn’t work from home.
  • While thinking of things I’m thankful for, I started to realize how much I appreciate those of you who take the time to respectfully comment. A lot of times (all over the Internet), people will only comment when they are upset or disagree with something. But a lot of you will comment about my family or experiences, or just make a humorous quip about a link I posted or take the time to offer a suggestion. Those of you who do, and you know who you are, I feel a connection with you and think of you throughout the day. And sometimes when you have an opposing view and tactfully comment, you broaden my perspective on things, and I value the opportunity you give me to grow.
    • There are a few who will solely comment on things you disagree with me about, but I love you too. I just ask for a little tenderness and grace instead of bluntness. Sometimes it can be hard to interpret the emotion behind the written word.
  • I was made aware of Castro’s death by visiting CNN.com, but noticed their templated or pre-written article wasn’t adequately updated.
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  • Funniest line I read about Castro’s death – Fidel Castro dead at 90, that will teach him to mess with JFK.
  • Sign of the times, I guess – WifeGeeding’s nephew texted his Christmas wish list to his mother. The kid is in high school, I thought he would have simply informed her verbally.
  • Trump just gonna be Trump
  • Russia just gonna be Russia
  • Texas just gonna be Texas
    • It seemed weird that the Longhorns announced the firing of their head football coach and his replacement in the same day.
    • I’m not too sold on their new head coach, especially with a couple of questionable losses (especially SMU) with his Houston team and not making himself available to the press after the last game of the season, in which his team was upset by Memphis.
    • One trait I hear about great coaches is their ability to make their assistants better. Charlie Strong seemed to have trouble with his assistants improving.
    • I know nothing of Strong other than what I see on television and read in articles, and from that, I really admire the guy.
    • I’ve rooted for UT most of my life, but even though they are a financially successful program, I never viewed them as one of the big dogs. That’s probably because I really only started to understand football during the David McWilliams era and the Southwest Conference barely alive, and none of those schools really felt like a top tier program towards the end. This will sound crazy for many of you, but when the Longhorns won it all in 2005, to me, it felt like the “little one that finally could.”
  • Baylor just gonna be Baylor
  • There’s a rumor floating around that Art Briles will return to Houston as their head coach.
  • A contest in which you can have tea with Julia Roberts and Bono.
  • It doesn’t matter that I’ve watched the Cowboys play on Thanksgiving for 40-years, but it just feels weird when they don’t play on Sundays. And since they are playing this Thursdays, it’s going to be two straight weeks of feeling out of sync.
  • I felt like Dallas and Washington have a renewed their rivalry.
  • The Ravens used some very intersting strategy to end the game yesterday.
    • The Baltimore Ravens successfully ran out the game’s final 11 seconds on fourth down by committing holding against all nine Bengals who rushed their punter, giving Sam Koch the time to meander around the end zone before finally conceding a meaningless safety.
  • Interesting spy news –
    • Researchers at Israel’s Ben Gurion University have created a piece of proof-of-concept code they call “Speake(a)r,” designed to demonstrate how determined hackers could find a way to surreptitiously hijack a computer to record audio even when the device’s microphones have been entirely removed or disabled. The experimental malware instead repurposes the speakers in earbuds or headphones to use them as microphones, converting the vibrations in air into electromagnetic signals to clearly capture audio from across a room.
  • This story of a high school football coach with no arms or legs is about ten days old, but I still think it’s worth reading.
    • He has no arms or legs. He moves in a custom-made wheelchair that he operates with his shoulders. He diagrams plays on a smartphone attached to the chair, using a stylus that he maneuvers with his mouth.screenshot-2016-11-27-at-4-46-05-pm
Posted in Personal | 4 Comments