Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, November 17, 2015

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  • During Troy Aikman’s playing days, I remember an interview in which he complained how each game used new footballs.  The league used new footballs becaused they looked nice and shiny, but because they were new, they were hard to grip and Aikman wished the league allowed the use of footballs that have been broken in.  This was a big deal to Aikman because he’s one of those that threw the ball without his fingers on the laces. Yesterday in Peter King’s MMQB, he wrote about how Aaron Rodgers used the exact same practice ball in the fifth and eighth game of the season and that was obvious because of the numbers written on the ball from crew officials due to new league rules because of Inflategate.  I’m curious as to when the league started to allow the use of older broken in footballs.
  • Speaking of throwing a football, I was a huge Joe Montana fan back in the day, but it wasn’t until a few years ago I learned he throws the ball much differently than I.  When I release the ball, my index finger is pointed at the target and my thumb stays up, not towards the ground.  But Montana states to get more power behind the ball, the release should end with the thumb towards the ground.
  • ‘Better Call Saul’ returns on February 15, 2016.
  • For the first time in a long time, I watched both ‘The Daily Show’ and ‘The Late Show’.  Trevor Noah had and poignant and commentary, with just a small dash of humor, about the Paris tragedy.  Colbert showed opened with the house band playing the French national anthem, the show open, and then the start of the show with him behind the desk.  He also provided a poignant commentary,  but one that was more upbeat and with more humor and then became a bit of a journalist with his first guest in the show open, a retired colonel and Medal of Honor recipient that’s a current military analyst from NBC.  But I’ll be honest, I would have preferred to hear what Stewart and Letterman would have said, they spoke so well from the heart when the world seemed like it was spinning out of control.  Colbert then brought out his first guest, Bill Maher, and there was some witty, combative, and sometimes terse banter between the two.  As one would expect, Maher has no filter and is verbally harsh about religion, but Cobert being a devout Catholic, wasn’t taking any of Maher’s jabs and held firm in his faith and stood his ground with grace and humor.  No blood was shed, but that exchange was quite interesting, and it all seemed to start when Colbert brought up Pascal’s Wager.
  • If the rumors of Charlie Sheen having HIV are true, no one can really be surprised by that, can they?  The man has a history of womanizing and addiction and no one has ever thought of him as being safe and responsible.
  • Bangkok half-marathon becomes world’s longest after wrong U-turn – Runners express anger and organiser remorse after 13-mile event extended to almost 17 miles because of race officials’ course error
  • Dixie Chicks announce first American headlining tour in a decade
  • Waffle House wows food critic Anthony Bourdain
  • I finally got to watch ‘Fargo’ on the night that it actually airs, which was last night, and I’m just amazed at how great of a show it is.  It absolutely solid, holds my interest more that ‘Better Call Saul’ and ‘Game of Thrones’, and I had no idea Jean Smart was capable of that great of acting.
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Bag of Randomness for Monday, November 16, 2015

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  • I tend to get disappointed in my pastor when a tragedy hits, either local, state, or national, and he doesn’t reference it in his sermon.  However, even though the order of worship referenced the title of a sermon that corresponded with his current theme or subjects of sermons, he pulled an audible and solely focused on the attacks in Paris and how we as Christians cope and understand this changing world.  I applaud him for this, and the one thing he said that really stuck with me was, “Angry and scared people are prone to mistakes.”  That made me think of a time in college when a business professor asked if Michael Douglas’ character, Gordon Gekko in Wall Street, was correct in his iconic speech “greed is good”.  After a good bit of student discussion, he told us that Gekko was wrong in this particular sense, because greed clouds judgment.
  • The attacks on Paris caused U2 to cancel their concert from Paris that was to be broadcast live on HBO Saturday night, something I’ve been gearing up for since none of their concerts were remotely close to Dallas.  Since there was no concert, WifeGeeding commandeered the remote and put on the Oklahoma/Baylor game.  Well, at least the outcome was pleasant.
  • U2 were rehearsing in a hotel three miles away from the Eagles of Death Metal concert attack.  Their security locked this down pretty quickly and the watched the drama unfold on television.  No word on when the concert will be rescheduled.  All four band members did lay wreaths and place a handwritten tribute at the Bataclan concert site.
  • I think SNL had their most poignant opening ever, even more than the first episode after 9/11.  There was just something about the shortness and simplicity of it that struck me.
  • Dallas Morning News – The Top 100 Places to Work‏ – I’m surprised Southwest doesn’t make the list anymore, but the Container Store continues to hold strong.  I’m also surprised to see a couple of school districts on the list.  Other than the list, I thought the By The Numbers section was quite interesting.  For instance, one company has been around since 1783 (not all in Dallas, of course) and out of the 100, 49 are private companies, 23 are public, and six are nonprofits.
  • Even though don’t agree with his political philosophy, I’ve always respected Paul Ryan and admired him to a certain extent.  When he was his party’s VP nominee, I didn’t like the way he came across in speeches and interviews.  However, he came off exceptionally well in last night’s ’60 Minutes’ interview.  He doesn’t have a split personality or anything, but people tend to be one way while vying for a job and another while they get that.  Heck, to a certain degree, I think I’m the same way during a job interview and a few months after I worked my first day.  Ryan also seems best when he can be himself and not trying to conform to a campaign or image.  I wish Ryan the best in his time as speaker and truly hope he can bring a spirit of maturity and compromise to the House.
  • I do get a kick out of how Craig Miller of The TICKET thinks Ryan’s marathon time mistake is unforgivable. And while looking up his marathon time, I ran across this old website that calculates your run time to a Paul Ryan run time.
  • This picture of Obama and Putin at the G20 fascinates me.  Here’s a GIF of the moment.  Other than that unavoidable awkward guy, it looks like a regular busy hotel lobby, but in there in the corner are two of the most powerful men in the world sitting and chatting, through translators I’m sure.
  • Former Texas A&M, Kentucky, and Texas Tech head basketball coach (who was once arrested in Kentucky for a DWI) is now head coach and athletic director at Ranger College and seems pretty happy.  He may not be making $2.7 million annually, but $108,000 is still pretty nice.
  • A FiveThirtyEight news writer has a new book “about her experience learning to pray as an atheist-turned-Catholic.”  Here’s an interview.
  • A Burleson mother wrote a book about the time her daughter with two rare life-threatening digestive disorders fell 30-feet from a tree back in December 2011 and spoke to Jesus when she was unconscious and later became cured of her ailments.  The book has now been made into a movie, brought to you from the same folks that made another similar movie about a child talking to God called “Heaven is For Real”, and this one stars Jennifer Garner.  You can watch the trailer here.
  • Army football team takes the field with French and American flags after Paris attacks – And here is the GIF of the moment.
  • France’s New Defense Building, Inspired by the Pentagon, Is … a Hexagon – The title is a bit misleading, only the center has a hexagon.
  • It’s not a verified Twitter account, but I’m amused that the mayor of Carrollton uses a Mayor Quimby avatar.
  • GIF – That cat came out of nowhere
  • GIF – Crew members sleeping on the space shuttle (a bit creepy)‏
  • Imgur‏ – Evolution of Barbie’s face throughout the years
  • Imgur – This barber cape has a window so that you can still use your phone while getting a haircut
  • A cobra of all things – Texas Teen’s Death Ruled As Suicide By Snake
  • How a second, as in the time unit, got its name – Wikipedia – It is qualitatively defined as the second division of the hour by sixty, the first division by sixty being the minute
  • It’s like they are the tree rings of the human body – Cancer clues can be found in toenail clippings – Because your toenails grow at different speeds, each one represents a different period in time. A clipping from your little toe captures substances that have been in your body for roughly a month. A clipping from your big toe gives a snapshot of a year’s worth of exposure
  • I ate at the Rodeo Goat in Dallas on Friday.  That’s a damn fine burger they serve, and there’s a Fort Worth location as well.
  • Today’s dose of ‘MURICA!
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Bag of Randomness for Friday, The 13th, November 2015

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  • While driving DaughterGeeding to school, a Beastie Boys came on the radio and I started to bop my head along to the beat.  In the rear view mirror, I noticed DaughterGeeding was doing the same thing with a huge smile on her face.  It made me smile but reminded me of how impressionable kids are by the slightest of things.
  • I think WifeGeeding is becoming on of “those parents”.  On her spelling test, DaughterGeeding incorrectly spelled “want” despite WifeGeeding and her working very hard on it.  WifeGeeding things DaughterGeeding’s teacher’s southern drawl made “want” sound like “what” since DaughterGeeding spelled out “wut”.
  • Since the start of school year, I’ve taken over laundry duty.  Mom mother had this rule that once you take off your clothes and put them in the dirty place, make sure they are not inside out because it makes folding and putting away the laundry easier.  Despite a few lectures, my family is still having a hard time with this concept.  Mom also had the rule of emptying your pockets, and they’ve been pretty good with that.
  • If there’s a zipper on a pillow, I always make sure the side with the zipper goes into the pillow case first.  There’s been a few times that small metallic object has gotten the best of me (in bed).
  • Vanderbilt basketball player Djery Baptiste already spoke three languages when he arrived in the United States from Haiti, but George Strait taught him English.
  • This Man Made a Movie by Interviewing Himself 38 Years in the Future – Back in 1977, when Peter “Stoney” Emshwiller was 18 years old, he sat in front of a camera and began lobbing questions to an invisible future self, recording what could be called one side of a time-travel talk show. Now, 38 years later, Emshwiller has decided to finally sit down and answer those questions, and the result is an intense, uncanny, and surprisingly moving interview.
  • I’m amazed that one of my readers was able to climb Guadalupe Peak in under three hours, and he was able to confirm it with me as he used a tracking app.  I used one but while checking my stats 36-minutes into the climb, I accidentally stopped the tracking.  That’s what I get for not taking the time to learn how to properly use it.  If this link works, you can open it in GoogleMaps and see my starting and ending points, change the view from map to satellite, and if you click the red end point, it will provide you with a list of stats.  Here are those stats all clumped together:   Total distance: 1.25 km (0.8 mi) Total time: 36:29 Moving time: 27:22 Average speed: 2.06 km/h (1.3 mi/h) Average moving speed: 2.74 km/h (1.7 mi/h) Max speed: 7.62 km/h (4.7 mi/h) Average pace: 29:08 min/km (46:54 min/mi) Average moving pace: 21:52 min/km (35:11 min/mi) Fastest pace: 7:52 min/km (12:40 min/mi) Max elevation: 1967 m (6453 ft) Min elevation: 1757 m (5764 ft) Elevation gain: 188 m (617 ft) Max grade: 32 % Min grade: -1 % 
  • The Atlantic – Why Humans Care for the Bodies of the Dead
  • OXCART vs Blackbird: Do You Know the Difference? –  Often confused with one another, CIA’s A-12 OXCART and the US Air Force’s SR-71 Blackbird are actually two different aircraft.
  • A classic Ford Mustang with a . . . . supercharged Chevy engine.
  • The grand opening will be for 40 days and 40 nights – ‘Young earth’ creationists making $90m full-scale ark to ‘bring the Bible to life’ – July 2016 set as opening date for ark replica which Answers in Genesis group says could be one of the ‘wonders of the modern world’ – but it won’t hold livestock
  • This Disney smartwatch can identify anything you touch
  • GIF – Mouse ain’t scared of no cat
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