Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, January 20, 2015

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  • A few folks emailed me with questions about DaughterGeeding’s school, such as what’s she being taught in kindergarten. Each week parents get an email with the week’s lesson plan, here’s this week’s.
  • Yesterday I wrote about Trump’s gaffe at Liberty University and how I thought it might hurt him with the ultra-conservative religious voter. However, yesterday Sarah Palin announced her endorsement of him, so that should make up for it. And that leads me to Today’s dose of ‘MURICA!.
  • When Sarah Palin news rains, it pours – Sarah Palin’s son Track charged with domestic violence
  • Get Up Early, See Five Planets at Once – Over the next two weeks, for the first time in more than a decade, you can see all of the naked-eye planets — from Mercury to Saturn — together in the predawn sky.
  • I recently mentioned that our church is allowing an Indian Christian church to use our building since they don’t have one of their own. On Sunday, I was at a church leadership meeting and some demographic data of the area (Las Colinas, Valley Ranch, Coppell) was shared. Five years ago, South and East Asians were 15% of the population, now they are a little over 40% of the population. It was also stated that DFW overall isn’t seeing a lot of Christian growth. While there may be more mega-churches and new churches, some of which have increasing numbers, it’s because Christians are moving from church to church, not that there are many converts to Christianity who join a church.
  • First Baptist Church of Memphis Votes To Allow Same-Sex Weddings – The title isn’t quite as shocking once you know that the church left the Southern Baptist Convention in 1991 and is now part of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
  • Coppell Deli that ’90s Cowboys, John Madden made famous gets chewed up by bulldozers – But don’t worry, a new one was built next to it and a second location has existed for years. Personally, I never thought it was that great of a place.
  • ‘Star Wars’: Rey’s Instant Bread Wasn’t CGI — It Was Totally Real – the bread might have been a real practical effect, but it also tasted terrible and probably had next to no real nutritional value.
  • Star Wars 7 Beat in China by Low-Budget Cartoon Bears
  • Taser’s newest ‘less-lethal’ weapon is meant for concealed carry
  • Buzzfeed – 15 Photos Of What Actors See When They’re On Stage
  • The New York Times – Seeking Ranchland in Texas, Where Wealth Is Measured in Acres – In Texas, where wealth is measured not in dollars but in acres, land prices have for decades followed the price of oil. “There is this ongoing love for the land among Texans, to the point that if you are a Texan who gets wealthy, one of the first things you start to look at is a ranch,” said Charles Gilliland, a research economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.
  • Thanks to all of you that commented on my mention of Asimov and his short story, and thanks for all the suggested reading from him and others.
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Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, January 19, 2016

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  • Donald Trump saying “Two Corinthians” instead of “Second Corinthians” is one thing, but doing it at Liberty University is on another level, especially when you consider that’s where Sen. Ted Cruz announced his candidacy. I don’t know the number of Evangelicals Trump has supporting him, but I have a feeling such a gaffe is gonna take him down at least a few points.
  • Some of you might be surprised, but I’m not a supporter of Hillary Clinton. However, I did get a good laugh at the shirt this guy was wearing when he took a picture with her husband, the former president. Heck, I like his reaction.
  • DaughterGeeding isn’t perfect, but sometimes she’s too good to be true and I feel that I don’t deserve to have such a special thing as my child. School let out early on Friday and I picked her up. While driving home, she was pretty quiet and then said, “Hey Dad, I just finished all my homework.” Without being told, she pulled out her homework and did it in the car on the way home. She said she didn’t want to forget to do it and wanted to get it out of the way so she could enjoy the long weekend.
  • I drive by Iris Park when I take DaugherGeeding to school. “Iris” is just one letter away from “ISIS” and “IRS”.
  • Speaking of DaughterGeeding and her school, her headmaster emailed all the parents about Valentine’s Day. This is the first year of existence of the school, so I’m guessing the headmaster wants to set precedence with a few things. The letter is long, and you can read it here (I redacted a few things), but it doesn’t look like there will be any Valentine’s Day parties and students won’t do that thing I did as a kid, decorate a shoe box and everyone in the class places a Valentine’s Day card in everyone’s box. Somewhat related, I remember when WifeGeeding was teaching in a Coppell elementary school and there being an issue with numerous parents having flowers delivered to their daughters at a school.
  • I watched The Martian (no spoilers) . . .
    • It was good, but I expected something more from director Ridley Scott.
    • The movie won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, which I thought was absurd. But after watching the movie, I can somewhat see why it fit in that category, and it had a handful of actors in it known for their comedy, though they weren’t comedy in the film).
    • I’m a big fan of AMC’s ‘Halt and Catch Fire’, so it was cool to see Mackenzie Davis get an important role in the film.
    • When the movie came out there was a lot of talk about the author, but I should have paid attention to how cool the story was of how it became a film, per IMBD – The writer of the novel, Andy Weir, first published his book for free on his own blog for fun. Then people asked him to put it in a downloadable form, then to put it on Amazon for Kindle download which he did at the then minimum price of $0.99.
    • How much does NASA get paid to consult on movies? Zero – NASA is federally funded, yet charges no one, including private for-profit organizations, any fees for use of and access to its archives and consultancy.
    • The author admitted his biggest inaccuracy in the story was the fiece storms on Mars because of its atmospheric pressure – The Martian surface averages 600 Pa (0.087 psi), about 0.6% of Earth’s mean sea level pressure of 100 kPa (14.69 psi). It is so low that a “fierce storm”, as they put it, would be something akin to a very light breeze messing up your hair.
    • One of my biggest concerns watching the movie was mission planning and planet alignment. Earth and Mars travel at different speeds in different orbits, so it’s conceivable Earth could be on one side of the sun or solar system and Mars at the other.  Mars’ oribt lasts for 687 days. However, the author was well aware of this –  Author Andy Weir wrote his own computer programs using real Earth and Mars alignment data to determine the best theoretical date for the Ares 3 mission to launch.
  • I recently heard of the science fiction short story “The Last Question” by Isaac Asimov, and gave it a read this weekend, which was pretty good and a bit deep, especially if you are a bit fascinated with the singularity, when computers or machines are smarter or outrun human capabilities.
    • First line in the story: “The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light. The question came about as a result of a five dollar bet over highballs, and it happened this way:“
    • Briefly, this is what the story is about, per Wikipedia: The story deals with the development of universe-scale computers called Multivacs and their relationships with humanity through the courses of seven historic settings, beginning in 2061. In each of the first six scenes a different character presents the computer with the same question; namely, how the threat to human existence posed by the heat death of the universe can be averted. 
  • Dallas Morning News – Long before Frisco plans, Cowboys’ dream for Valley Ranch included Disney designs
  • The Rams are moving back to Los Angeles. Peter King’s MMQB had a few interesting tidbits:
    • Archie Manning was the last QB to win a game for the Rams in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where they’ll play their games until a new stadium is complete.
    • The Rams will be celebrating their 50th season next year. They started in Cleveland, moved to LA, St Louis, and now back to LA.
    • Jeff Fisher is the head coach of the Rams, and his only other head coaching stint was with the Titans/Oilers when they moved from Texas to Tennessee. So even though he’s coached for only two organizations, he will now be coaching in his sixth home stadium – The Astrodome (Houston), Liberty Bowl (Memphis), Vanderbilt Stadium (Nashville), the Tennessee Titans multi-named stadium (Nashville), Edward Jones Dome (St. Louis), L.A. Coliseum (Los Angeles).  Coaching seasons: 21. Venues: 6. Record: 174-162-1.
  • Buzzfeed – 12 Scientists On Their Religion
  • I caught some of the ‘Angie Tribeca‘ marathon on TBS yesterday. If you are a fan of Leslie Neilson in either the ‘Police Squad’ television series or The Naked Gun movies, you’ll love this eight or ten episode half-hour comedy show, which was created by Steve Carrell and his wife. It even has some great guest stars like Bill Murray.
  • San Antonio Express-News – Texas is prepping to license people to grow, sell marijuana. Here are 10 things you need to know – The state will soon license dispensaries to sell low-THC cannabis products such as CBD oil for people diagnosed with intractable epilepsy, who suffer from seizures not controlled by traditional drugs.
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