Bag of Randomness for Friday, July 8, 2016

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Screenshot 2016-07-08 at 12.17.28 AM Cm0BQqSUMAANS3V

  • What a horrible day for our community nation last night.
  • KTVT’s Ken Molestina had a heck of an exclusive during the chaos. When DPD released the suspected shooter’s photo (which was plastered all over the national news and social media), Molestina was able to interview his brother who eloquently stated his brother’s innocence. The brother went on to state that once the shooting occurred, he made his brother hand his AR15 to an officer to avoid being mistaken as the shooter. He further stated the AR15 was unloaded and his brother was just exercising his Second Amendment right. He went on to say his brother’s cell phone was dead (talk about bad timing) and that right after the shooting, his brother was standing next to him when Molestina earlier interviewed him – so Molestina was standing right next to the suspect shortly after DPD released a photo of him. It’s my understanding that the suspect matched the description of the suspected shooter, specifically, the camo shirt.
  • Molestina, a few times, refused to show police on camera because he didn’t want to sacrifice any strategic planning they might be doing.
  • It was interesting watching KTVT last night as anchor Doug Dunbar kept asking for the bottom banner to be removed to get a better picture of what was going on or to showcase something important.
  • The moment Megan Kelly realized the police they were showing on live television might be dead. I’m actually uncomfortable posting a link to that video, and have seen a lot of video on social media last night of Dallas cops actually being shot and killed, but absolutely don’t feel comfortable posting links to those. But if you are a viewer of Fox News, they did air a lot of them.
  • Many on social media were wondering why the crowds remained in Dallas. The best explanation I heard was that so many places were blocked off by the police and public transportation was halted, people had nowhere to go.
  • Another complaint about LeafGeeding, there are no dials, only buttons. Sometimes I just want to crank the volume or air down with a quick turn of a knob, not having to hold or repeatedly pressing a button.
  • I’ve lost my jigsaw, which I haven’t used in years, but yesterday I needed it.
  • BunnyGeeding peed on me yesterday. We ain’t on good terms.
  • I need to find a Google Chrome plugin that strips any website of Taylor Swift. I’m tired of seeing her love life plastered everywhere.
  • Speaking of Taylor Swift, but nothing really related to her love life, I ran across this odd article about a Christian mother who is definitely not a fan, and stop reading from this point on if you are easily offended – World’s worst mom compares her daughter’s vagina to Taylor Swift’s using a sloppy ham sandwich.
    • I came *this* close to posting the sandwich Twitter photo as a single post yesterday (it’s just a ham sandwich after all) but had a feeling some of my more sensitive readers would have been offended. Instead, I just put it in Bag Of Randomness to give anyone the option of clicking it.
  • Buzzfeed – Teens Are Competitively Eating Whole Heads Of Lettuce
  • Bat houses surge in popularity in hopes of preventing Zika
  • How Much You Must Earn to Buy a Home in 27 Major U.S. Metros
  • One of the survivors from The Miracle on the Hudson (US Airways Flight 15490) did a Reddit AMA yesterday, here are a few things that stood out – the context of the question is in the answers.
    • The plane hit hard in the back, the water rushed up the sides making it dark and a terrible sound of metal groaning as it bent.
      • I think that’s one thing I never took into consideration, was the noise that one would actually hear.
    • At first I had lost everything but what I was wearing. I eventually got my luggage back it had been cleaned, packed back meticulously. Every bobby pin was itemized. I was compensated for my lost luggage before I even got back to Seattle. My purse was the only thing not recovered.
    • a big plus was people didn’t really push or shove. There was lots of yelling.
    • After the crash I waited a week to fly home to Washington. I have flown 27 times since. It’s still terrifying but I want to go place and see things so it’s a must.
    • I do have some PTSD. A big trigger for me is the smell of something burning that is out of place. Electrical burning is the worst.
    • The only free flight I got was that one and the one home.
    • There were children on the flight. A family got on with a little girl about 3 and a baby less then a year. The mother had to sit in the front with the baby and the dad sat in the back near me. I remember when we were stuck in the back I was yelling “Move hurry up, there’s a kid back here.” adding in the F bombs when I thought she wasn’t listening of course. I couldn’t imagine the fear they must have felt. I was by myself and didn’t have any loved ones to worry about.
Posted in Personal | 2 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Thursday, July 7, 2016

08 13 2015 12 32 PM Office Lens

  • That’s a picture of my friend Jimi during our high school years. I’ve known him since kindergarten. We roomed together in college, and then worked for the same company out of college, and our cubes were literally across from each other at work and yet we still cohabitated together. Heck, we even roomed together another time before I got married. Today he starts a new chapter in his life and is moving to Chicago. I’m remarkably happy for him, and a tiny bit jealous I never took the opportunity to live out of state and experience something different. And in an effort to be transparent, I’m actually a bit sad. We’ve always been near each other since kindergarten, college, and in our adult lives. During football practice, he was a defensive end and I was a tight end, so we always competed against each other. We’ve played more Madden games than there are hairs on a rabbit. No other friend knew and appreciated my parents like he has, and no one knows me better than him. We’ve had our ups and downs, and more fights than you can count, but all of that built up substance which can’t be replicated or exchanged and made something beautifully unique. As he leaves Texas today, I’m going to feel like a part of me and a major part of my life will forever be gone. He has plans to return in three years, but we know how life can throw any plans in a thousand unpredictable locations.
  • Other notable things about Jimi
    • No one loves The Breakfast Club more than him, and he loved that movie before it was cool. He can literally quote it from beginning to end.
    • No person has accomplished more with less effort than Jimi, he’s got a photographic memory and able to comprehend things as if he’s John Nash.
    • He spent the night at my house the night Baby Jessica was rescued from the well. He also was the banker in a game of Monopoly with me and my mother and he ran that think like it was Enron.
    • His mom is hot. Her name is Cindy, and I always say it like Sin-dy when I talk about her to him.
    • When I speak at his funeral, because we all know he’s gonna die in a freakish but comedic way before all of us, I’m going to say that anyone that knows Jimi knows he likes to make people laugh, and if there is ever a lull in a conversation, all you have to do is bring him up and you have stories galore.
    • He loves to do impersonations and he’s horrible at them, but nobody will tell him, but you can tell he knows he’s bad.
    • His mom once beat him with a bicycle chain for doing something bad to his sister.
    • His super power is the ability to name a spare but hot actress in any movie.
    • He won’t touch a wooden spoon because he can’t stand how it feels.
    • He’s most responsible for getting me involved in the church.
  • A few more items about buying my 2014 Nissan Leaf
    • Big complaint – small cupholders, I feel like Homer Simpson.
    • My concern about battery life lessened when I found Nissan’s warranty against a capacity loss of nine bars (approximately 70% of the battery pack’s original capacity of twelve bars) for a period of 60 months or 60,000 miles. Even at nine bars, you’re still looking at a 46-mile range.
      • Because of this, I’ve discovered a lot of folks are looking for used pre-owned Leafs that barely fit the criteria. VINs are easy to obtain, they are available on every used pre-owned vehicle website I’ve looked at, and those websites also display how many capacity bars display on the dash. They then call Nissan to confirm the battery is still within warranty, buy the car, then arrange the battery swap. What really works in their favor, especially if the Leaf is a 2011 or 2012 model, is they get an updated battery with better capacity and range.
      • My latest search on AutoTrader.com for a 2012 Leaf shows them in the $8,000 range with miles ranging from 30,300 to 34,600. I believe all those are at 10 bars, and that’s with first generation battery.
    • I chose a 2014 model because it has the most up to date battery in terms of technology, range, and capacity, other than the newest model. It looks like a full charge will realistically get you 80-75 miles, not the advertised 100.
    • Nissan offers free towing if you ever run out of juice. There are warning galore as you start to get low, and it will provide directions to the nearest charging station.
  • For you local folks that are aware of how our local media operates and a fan of The TICKET – Mike Doocy is filling in for BaD Radio and told Norm during the mix and mingle that when Norm dies, his death will be the lead story on Fox4….unless there’s bad weather.
  • Interesting real estate data from D Magazine, unless you live in Lewisville and didn’t make the list. Maybe one day I can afford to move my family to a legit ZIP code.
    • The chart shows North Texas home sales from January through April 2016, and compares them to figures from the same time period last year. Also, we compared the prices to those from the same period in 2013.
  • The kids of Jesus Camp, 10 years later
    • The controversial 2006 documentary about an evangelical church camp outraged secular audiences, but its subjects have mixed memories
  • Jim Douglass of WFAA is retiring. I always thought he and SNL alum Kevin Nealon looked alike.
  • Buzzfeed – People Are Melting After Watching This Dog With Headphones Watch A Dog Video
  • Buzzfeed – Nickelodeon’s “Double Dare” Is Coming Back For One Week 
    • In honor of the show’s 30th anniversary, Nickelodeon’s The Splat is having Marc Summers host a special live edition of the game show on Friday, July 22, during San Diego Comic-Con.
  • A NASCAR Team Is Building The First Internal Combustion Engine To Go Into Outer Space
Posted in Personal | 3 Comments

Juno Approach Movie of Jupiter and the Galilean Moons

I’ve cued the video to start at the 30-second mark, which I think is the most impressive and was taken over a time period of 17 day, per NASA’s Reddit AMA yesterday. NASA amazes me. That’s a five-year journey that takes into account the rotation of planets, orbits, gravitation pull, and a lot more – which means that’s five years worth of math working out just about perfectly.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured a unique time-lapse movie of the Galilean satellites in motion about Jupiter. The movie begins on June 12th with Juno 10 million miles from Jupiter, and ends on June 29th, 3 million miles distant. The innermost moon is volcanic Io; next in line is the ice-crusted ocean world Europa, followed by massive Ganymede, and finally, heavily cratered Callisto. Galileo observed these moons to change position with respect to Jupiter over the course of a few nights. From this observation he realized that the moons were orbiting mighty Jupiter, a truth that forever changed humanity’s understanding of our place in the cosmos. Earth was not the center of the Universe. For the first time in history, we look upon these moons as they orbit Jupiter and share in Galileo’s revelation. This is the motion of nature’s harmony.

Speaking of Galileo –

  • Juno carries a plaque to Jupiter dedicated to Galileo Galilei. The plaque was provided by the Italian Space Agency and measures 7.1 by 5.1 centimeters (2.8 by 2.0 in). It is made of flight-grade aluminum and weighs 6 grams (0.21 oz).[67] The plaque depicts a portrait of Galileo and a text in Galileo’s own hand, penned in January 1610, while observing what would later be known to be the Galilean moons. 
  • Oh, and LEGOs are included – The spacecraft also carries three Lego minifigures representing Galileo, the Roman god Jupiter and his wife Juno.

I love how NASA name things. Why Juno?

  • The spacecraft’s name comes from Greco-Roman mythology. The god Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief, but his wife, the goddess Juno, was able to peer through the clouds and see Jupiter’s true nature.
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