Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, July 5, 2016

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  • WifeGeeding and the kids started the holiday weekend in East Texas. As a one car family, I was dependent on a friend to start my the holiday weekend at an emergency animal hospital as OtherDogGeeding took a turn for the worst with a swollen jaw. He was looking and acting fine around lunch time, but this thing came out of nowhere. We spent about three hours at the animal hospital with OtherDogGeeding getting pain meds, antibiotics, and an IV. Their first thought that it was a dental issue, but he had a teeth cleaning and several extractions about two or three months ago. Thankfully, he’s doing much better and almost back to his old self.
  • I felt really bad for my friend. He thought we were only going to have dinner, but when he arrived I asked he if could give us a ride to the animal hospital. I thought we might be there for maybe an hour or an hour-and-a-half, and felt horrible as time went by knowing he hasn’t eaten lunch. But to his credit, he never complained and extended grace the entire time. I told him I’d pay him back by a dinner of his choice the next day and price wasn’t an option, I just wanted to show him my appreciation. The next day we ate at 18th and Vine (a Kansas City BBQ joint that was very sub-par), a first for both of us. When I got the check I reached for my wallet only to realize I’ve forgotten it, I felt like a heal and the worst friend ever. Once again, he didn’t explain and extended grace.
  • At the end of the day, we will no longer be a one-car family. This has been in the works for a while, details will follow later this week.
  • China has put the final piece into position on what will be the world’s biggest radio telescope, designed to explore space and seek out extraterrestrial life. It is cut out of the side of a mountain, the size of 30 football fields, took five years to construct, and will be operational in September. China also plans to put a man on the moon by 2036 and construct a space station. In the next twenty years, I expect NASA’s budget to be increased as a new space race develops, both parties don’t want to be wear in terms of national pride or security.
  • Virginia introduces law to stop 12-year-old girls from getting married
    • Between 2004 and 2013, around 4,500 children under the age of 18 got married in the state of Virginia. Of these girls, more than 200 of them were aged 15 or under.
    • The law, which took effect last Friday, set the minimum marriage age at 18, or 16 if a child is emancipated by court order. It takes parents and pregnancy out of the equation
    • There are currently believed to be six states where girls can get married under the age of 16 with parental consent.
  • Meet the Man Who Ate at 365 Barbecue Restaurants in a Year
    • “My palate kind of changed. I had been a Kansas City barbecue fan, and now I’m a Texas fan,” Fugitt, an officer in the United States Navy Reserve and freelance writer, said.
    • He stuck to a rubric: 40 points available for meat, 20 for sauce, 20 for sides, and 20 left for an “it” factor.
    • Number one was Kerlin BBQ in Austin, Franklin Barbecue came in at seven. I think Pecan Lodge is in the list somewhere.
    • “There’s an old guard that’s been barbecuing for 25 to 50 years, and then a new wave that came in 10 to 15 years ago. Some of that new wave is taking a local, artisan approach, which can be done well, but there are so many places that are just hipster whiskey bars,” he said. “It’s easy to make passable barbecue, but it’s incredibly hard to do on an elite level.”
      • That describes my experience at 18th and Vine and Three Stacks.
    • He actually lost weight doing this.
    • Dang it, I just realized the article is a year old, but I’ve written too much to delete this.
    • SisterGeeding keeps telling me about the greatness of la Barbecue in Austin and wants to do a roadtrip.
  • I often wonder how the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes are still relevant, but after seeing the provocative outfits they were wearing on NBC’s Fourth of July special, I totally understand.
  • WFAA had an Independence Day special called “Fair Park Fourth” but they kept cutting to events at Klyde Warren Park. Pete Delkus’ daughter sang in the special, I hope she doesn’t read her father’s Twitter feed.
  • While watching our city’s fireworks show, I was but wasn’t surprised at the amount of kids playing on their smartphones. Maybe I’m more surprised at the parents for not telling their kids to put those things down for fifteen minutes. Granted, fireworks haven’t changed all that much in decades, but still.
  • Kevin Durrant deciding to play in Golden State makes me appreciate Dirk and our championship even more.
  • Something for my fellow Chromecast users –
    •  Google is rolling out an update to Chrome 51 (the current version) that will allow users to Cast without having to install the Google Cast extension. The update will add native Cast functionality to the browser and put a button in the tool menu. Users will also be able to right click on a page and click Cast, which will be faster for just about everyone.
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Today’s Dose of ‘MURICA!

John Cena takes a break between dropping body slams to drop some truth – that patriotism is more than pride of country, it’s love beyond labels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MdK8hBkR3s

Posted in Political, Pop Culture, Touching | Comments Off on Today’s Dose of ‘MURICA!