Bag of Randomness
Monday, January 12, 2026


To pass a little time, I decided to see what was on Netflix. The first thing that appeared was the limited series His & Hers, and since I’ll watch almost anything with Jon Bernthal, I decided to give it a try despite knowing nothing about it. I had no idea I was going to binge-watch the entire series, all six episodes, and while the twist ending doesn’t quite land like The Sixth Sense, it does more than stick the landing, and you won’t see it coming.

In short, it’s a “who-done-it” set in a small Georgia town.


This TIME article argues for hosting data centers in space.

Data Centers are Lousy for the Planet. Should We Move Them to Space?

  • In the U.S., data centers burn through more than 4% of total annual energy consumption, says the Pew Research Center—a figure that is expected to grow by more than 130% by the end of this decade. And all that power generates a lot of heat. A large data center campus can throw off up to 100 megawatts of waste heat, sufficient to power 100,000 homes.
  • Even before the AI boom, in 2021 there were 8,000 data centers of various sizes worldwide—a number that has leapt to 12,000 in just the past five years. More than 30 countries are home to AI data centers. The U.S. leads the pack in data center count at 5,426, according to the World Economic Forum. The next closest country, Germany, has 529.
  • When it comes to energy creation and heat dissipation, space is a very sweet place. Put your data-processing satellite in just the right orbit and you will have constant exposure to sunlight—which solar panels can convert to bottomless energy. And position your radiators on the shaded side of your spacecraft and you can simply dump any amount of excess heat into the vast, -250°F environment of space.

And, you’re right. It would take a lot of them, and the trouble of getting them all up there.


Real estate developer Thrive Living is preparing to construct the first Costco with apartments in South Los Angeles.

  • The complex will have 800 apartments, 184 of which will be allocated for low-income households.
  • The Costco downstairs will have 185,000 square feet of shopping space.


As a lover of U.S. presidential history, I’m looking forward to reading this book featured in TIMEHopefully, I’ll soon be employed and can actually afford to purchase it.

What I Witnessed Working In the White House for 37 YearsGary J. Walters is a former chief usher at the White House and author of “White House Memories.”

Of all things, this tickled me, and totally doesn’t surprise me.

In 2006, I saw President George W. Bush take a bike ride around the State Floor. The bike had been a gift from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan. It was a fold-up bike of a new design. The president immediately got on it and rode it down the Cross Hall.

Oh, and here’s a random bit of presidential history trivia I learned just recently.

One assumes it was a coincidence that Lyndon Baines Johnson and his wife, Claudia, better known as Lady Bird, both ended up with the initials LBJ, but it was certainly intentional that both their daughters and one of their many dogs continued the trend. Lynda Bird Johnson was born on March 19, 1944, and Luci Baines Johnson followed on July 2, 1947. But I didn’t know that their dog also had the same initials, Little Beagle Johnson.

Granted, the Johnsons had several beagles, and not all of them had the initials. On June 15th, 1966, President Johnson‘s beagle was accidentally run over by the White House limousine in the driveway of the mansion.

The dog, according to the President’s deputy press secretary, Robert H. Fleming, was chasing a squirrel, ran between the front and rear wheels of the car and was struck.

Lynda Bird Johnson, the President’s older daughter, ran into a meeting the President was having with the chairmen of House committees to tell him of the accident. She was in tears.

In addition to House chairmen, Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara were with Mr. Johnson when he got the news from his daughter. The President was holding a briefing session with his visitors on the Vietnam and North Atlantic treaty problems.

The President was reported to have said to an aide: “We are having a sad time at the White House tonight.”

Newsmen first heard of the accident in Lincoln, Neb., where the President’s wife told reporters after being told herself by a Secret Service man. She said the news was the kind “that makes you feel like you have been hit in the stomach with a hard rock.”

Mr. Fleming said that the limousine chauffeur, believed to be an Army driver from the White House motor pool, was driving very slowly but a rear wheel crushed the dog, killing it instantly.

When the Johnsons came to the White House in 1963 they brought two beagles, Him and Her. Her died after swallowing a stone while playing on the White House lawn.

President Johnson played daily with Him, as he had with Him and Her. It was this pair that Mr. Johnson lifted to a standing position by their ears on April 27, 1964, stirring national criticism from dog fanciers who disapproved of this form of beagle handling.

And in case you were wondering, yes, it was the same limo JFK died in. I’m serious.


The D-FW metro sales accounted for 38% of the state’s luxury home sales More than 5,400 homes in Dallas-Fort Worth sold for over $1 million between November 2024 and October 2025, according to a new Texas Realtors report.


Oregon Staffer Was So Classy in Gifting Indiana’s D’Angelo Ponds Ball After Game

 

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Monday, January 12, 2026

Bag of Randomness
Thursday, January 8, 2026


Yesterday, the revamped CBS Evening News broadcast live from SMU. During the intro, which started with “Live from America!”, they teased that their final story would be an interview with Jerry Jones. The new anchor had the audacity to say, “We’ll speak with the man who built America’s Team.”

DUDE! That ticked me off.

Jerry didn’t build America’s Team. He bought it. Coach Landry, Tex Schramm, and Gil Brandt made it America’s Team. Other than hiring Jimmy Johnson, who restored the star’s shine, he’s done nothing but ruin this franchise in terms of the actual sport aspect, which should be the main one.  Sheesh!

There was also a small crowd of folks lined up as if they were a choir. It was beyond obvious, especially given how diverse those 15 or so folks were. However, I’m also certain the Tarrant County Sheriff was one of them, which really made me raise an eyebrow.


It’s not even allergy season. This is why you may have been feeling like crud over the past month.


This isn’t encouraging news for those of us who have been unemployed since June.


🤷‍♀️ Dallas is a top travel destination for 2026


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Thursday, January 8, 2026

Bag of Randomness
Tuesday, January 6, 2026


Happy New Year, folks. May 2026 be the year of gainful employment for me, and nothing but joy and growth for you. I for sure haven’t had a “good” year in over five years, so here’s hoping my luck changes.

Let’s cue Fleetwood Mac – Landslide (Live) (Official Video) since it’s the first song I can think of with the word “changes,” even though I never really have paid attention to the lyrics or the song as a whole to know what it means.


I used to hate all things manga or anime. Perhaps I should clarify, all things manga or anime other than Star Blazers and G-Force. I can only guess the number of times I used to pass the time hand-drawing the Space Battleship Yamato.

However, I’ve proudly eaten some humble pie. I’ve been watching a couple of series with BoyGeeding to bond with him, and I’m very impressed with Hunter x Hunter. I never liked the animation style and expected predictable storylines, mundane plots, and a lack of simplified character development. I could not have been more wrong, and I’m happy about that.


I haven’t worn a pair of jeans in probably five years. For some reason, I came to the conclusion that they are either out of fashion or something old geezers wear. I don’t wear dress pants or khakis, but something similar.


I’ve watched A LOT of Star Wars AI, but this one blows them all away. Huge. Quickly. I can only imagine what the future holds for entertainment. I don’t want to see anyone else play Luke other than Mark Hamill, and I can totally see him signing his likeness away for a good sum for the fans. I promise I’m not under-selling how cinematic this is, and it looked great on my big screen.


Bob Sturm, who lives in Coppell, spotted a mountain lion* in his neighborhood.

*Yes, I know it’s a bobcat, but this is an inside joke for fellow listeners of The TICKET.


The judge handling the Maduro case is 92 years old.

Politico: 92-year-old judge handling Maduro case ‘doesn’t give a s–t what anyone thinks about him’


Tony Dokoupil’s debut as the CBS Evening News lead anchor was a disaster and validates my fear that it’s a sinking ship. A mini-meltdown is not a great way to start things. And to think over the weekend he had the audacity to say on social media, “I can promise you we’ll be more accountable and more transparent than Cronkite or any one else of his era.

Tony Dokoupil’s ‘CBS Evening News’ Debut Is an Inauspicious Sign of Where CBS News Is Headed

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Tuesday, January 6, 2026

Bag of Randomness
Tuesday, December 30, 2025


I hear some folks are adjusting their phone’s color settings to grayscale to reduce their addiction to their devices.


A rare convergence of four powerful waves at one exact point & time.

 

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Here’s an article video about it if you are interested: Inside the World’s Craziest Wave: ‘Everyone Thinks It’s AI’ (Video)
“Never seen anything remotely close to that.” – behind-the-scenes of the Western Australia wave that’s been blowing minds and breaking the internet.


I wonder how our power grid is going to account for all of this.

Holiday splurge: Google, Facebook to spend $1.4B on Texas data center construction this month

The big names are going big: Meta is adding a $197M facility in Temple. Google has an $880M build in Midlothian and a $350M project in Haskell.

The most expensive of these projects all year is in Midlothian, just south of Dallas/Fort Worth, where Google has budgeted $880 million for a one-story, 288,000-square-foot data center.

And in Haskell, Google began work on a $350 million, 350,000-square-foot project this month. It’s the company’s second data center project in the area, following plans for a 280,000-square-foot building filed earlier this year.

Cloud computing company CoreWeave and Poolside, a Nvidia-backed startup, are planning a 500-acre data center named Horizon. Capitalizing on the promise of cheap power offered by the Permian Basin’s oil and natural gas reserves.



I know DeWalt makes great battery-powered tools, but I had no idea they also make wireless earbuds.

 


Yesterday, I found out that all the Knives Out movie series are named after songs that writer and director Rian Johnson and his music composer cousin Nathan Johnson find meaningful to them. This is what the latter told U2.com:

‘Ever since I was a kid in Colorado, my interest has constantly tipped back and forth between sonic and visual artistry. Add to that the fact that I grew up deeply entrenched in church culture, and it’ll be clear why U2 connected with me in such a formative and multi-layered way.’

‘I’ve just finished composing the score for the third Benoit Blanc film, which was written and directed by my cousin and lifelong collaborator Rian Johnson. Each of these movies takes its title from a song that’s been meaningful to us in one way or another. First, there was Knives Out (Radiohead), followed by Glass Onion (the Beatles), and now Wake Up Dead Man (tucked away at the end of U2’s Pop).The new film wrestles with questions of faith and doubt, much like my favorite U2 music, and so, in light of the movie’s release, I’m honored to share my very own U2 playlist.’


After Brigitte Bardot’s death earlier this week, in Billy Joel’s song We Didn’t Start The Fire, there are only three people mentioned who are still alive. Bob Dylan, Chubby Checker, and Bernard Goetz.


I’ll admit, I didn’t know much about Bardot other than her beauty, but I had no idea she was a terrible mother. She rejected her son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, due to her deep-seated resentment of motherhood, feeling she wasn’t cut out to be a parent and viewing her pregnancy as a burden, famously calling her unborn son a “cancerous tumor” and wishing for a dog instead, leading to a fractured relationship and years of estrangement.

If you’re interested, more info here.


The great unchurching of America


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Tuesday, December 30, 2025