Bag of Randomness for Thursday, September 23, 2015

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  • Things I learned or were reminded of while checking over DaughterGeeding’s homework:
    • The Atlantic Ocean is the saltiest of all the oceans
    • The Indian is the warmest
    • The Pacific is the largest
    • The Arctic is the smallest and of course, coldest
  • We got her first quarter report card yesterday, and I’m happy to report she’s got all A’s.  But then again, it’s kindergarten.  However, her father had to repeat that grade twice.
  • A Buzzfeed quiz for those that were part of a church youth group in the early to mid-Nineties – Were You More DC Talk Or Jars Of Clay?
  • I tire of Christians who judge other’s faith and then over-analyze this and that about a person’s life as if they are using some sort of flowchart to determine if someone is legit in their faith.  Perhaps I’m silly for thinking that all it takes is for one to accept Jesus Christ as their personal lord and savior, letting their “yes” be yes and their “no” be no.  It all comes down to a personal relationship between human and God, so no one should be able to speak for another because they aren’t in the middle of that relationship.  Those folks drove, and in a sense, continue to drive me away from organized religion.  They are more about fighting and attention seeking than they are for loving God and their neighbor – Mike Huckabee: Obama pretends to be a Christian
  • I attended a small Southern Baptist university and a professor (actually, university VP that taught Christian ethics) once told me that the Ten Commandments aren’t necessarily to be followed (bad wording on my part) anymore and are to be looked at a more historical context of how far Christianity has come. He reasoned that all one has to do is love God and love your neighbor, that Christ simplified things and all rules, laws, and the Ten Commandments are incorporated within those two things to love.  I think about that moment a lot, and come to agree with it.  I’ve have shared this with others who have made clear it’s incorrect, faulty reasoning, a poor interpretation of things, or bad theology.
  • Crucifixions are still a thing – U.N., rights groups call on Saudi Arabia to spare man from beheading, crucifixion
  • My Big XII Football Conspiracy Theory – There’s no real feud between the head coaches of TCU and Baylor, it’s all orchestrated to generate more attention to a conference that almost went under a few years ago.  I bet both were reluctant to do this, and both aren’t real fond of each other, but both are lifers at their schools, and are doing this for the good of the conference.
  • This Saturday, Baylor will have suspended a total of three assistant coaches this year.  One of the assistants is the son of Art Briles, another is the son-in-law of Art Briles.  [Biting my tongue, I shall not say something negative.]
  • An Animated and Visualized System Map of DART – This is actually pretty helpful and impressive and should be shared with others that will be using our local public transportation system.
  • War is hell – Toll of Syria’s war: Baby born with shrapnel on forehead
  • Nature provided an easy way to tell these puppies apart.
  • Texas police department driving seized Corvette Z06 named ‘Coptimus Prime’ with ties to cartel
  • I think something has been buried regarding 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed and his clock story, and it was probably because it occurred on Friday.  Mark Cuban was on ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’ and stated he talked with Ahmed on the phone.  When he asked him about science and technology stuff, he was very talkative, but when the conversation went elsewhere, Cuban said he could clearly tell Ahmed’s sister was whispering in his ear to guide him on answers.  Handcuffing the kids was definitely wrong, and I can’t blame him or his parents for milking what’s been offered to them, and I’m not giving into any conspiracy theories, but I just don’t like it when people can’t be genuine and sincere.
  • Volkswagen hires BP oil spill lawyers to defend emissions cases
  • Oscar Mayer launches dating app for bacon lovers
  • Batmobile entitled to copyright protection, judges rule
  • WifeGeeding is wanting me to purchase a security camera that has a night setting recording feature because I caught the “Peeping Tom” at 9:45 PM last night on the dark side of the house where our master bath window is located, which had the light on at the time with WifeGeeding in it.  I only caught him walking the path in our yard cutting between yards, and not trying to sneak a quick peak between the blinds like I did last time.
  • Whataburger didn’t make the cut – The Most Influential Burgers In America – Burger scholar George Motz gives the rundown on nine essential bun-and-patty combos that would change the burger landscape forever.
  • GIF – Otter skillfully juggling a rock
  • I caught part of Fox’s new show ‘Scream Queens’ on the DVR last night, which stars Emma Roberts and Jamie Lee Curtis.  It was pretty enjoyable, funny, campy, and makes fun of the whole genre.  To my surprise, the freshman dorm room looked realistically small.  There were a few times when I had to look some words up on UrbanDictionary.com to understand current slang, and it was pretty shocking how perverse they can be.  For instance, “blumpkin” was quite a shocker.
  • ‘Modern Family’ has a talented writing staff.  Man sitcoms have old recycled jokes and scenarios we’ve seen from the history of sitcoms, but I find a lot of originality in the show.
Posted in Personal | 11 Comments

Since several of you mentioned Dr Greene’s death scene

Man, I forgot how much I really like that show (especially how it was shot, the whole walk-and-talk long takes), and I’m surprised (well, not really) that I teared up watching it.  Once again, “Over The Rainbow” is one hell of a song.

I cued it up to where the song is about to begin, so just hit play, but you can always rewind to catch his sendoff in full.

https://youtu.be/l6wxXs0aQhE?t=7m13s

Posted in Pop Culture | 1 Comment

Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, September 23, 2015

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  • As I was driving DaughterGeeding to school yesterday morning we stopped at a light and she noticed the sun was about to come up.  This was going to be the first sunrise for her to witness, but then a garbage truck pulled up in the next lane blocking her view, and a little later the light changed, and she missed the whole thing.  Such is life, kid.
  • “Francis became the fourth head of the Catholic Church to visit the United States, nearly 50 years after Paul VI made the first visit by a pontiff to the country in October 1965.”  CNN – I thought a pope would have visited the U.S. much earlier.
  • Even during the regular season, my neighbor that starts as an offensive lineman for our local NFL franchise mows his lawn shirtless, as I witnessed yesterday.  As tall as he is, he has to hunch over a bit to grab the handles, and I wonder if it’s a bit more uncomfortable for him to mow than his half-Asian blogging neighbor.
  • I like the idea of the Cowboys getting Matt Cassel, and as my good friend Bone stated, it should have been done weeks ago as we both never had confidence in Weeden.
  • Dallas Observer – 10 Most Devastating Sports Injuries In Dallas History – Though not on this list, when it comes to Cowboys injuries I often think about how snakebit Mike Sherrod was with breaking bones in his leg, “In 1987 he came into training camp as the Cowboys best wide receiver, but was lost for the year when he was tripped by a defender during a scrimmage and shattered two bones (the tibia and fibula) in his right leg. He also missed the 1988 season, when he re-fractured his right leg tibia and also the shin bone, while jogging on a Santa Monica beach as part of his rehab treatment.” But his career did have a silver lining as he was part of a Super Bowl winning team with the 49’ers.
  • You know I’ve been stuck on Eva Cassidy and “Over The Rainbow” as of late.  I was planning on stretching that throughout the week and posting another version of the song each day, and then get this . . . on his first official day back, LiberallyLean posts a link to ten versions of the song.  This must be some sort of payback for me providing a few Random Thoughts girls.  What we might have here is a future Art Briles and Garry Patterson relationship appearing before your eyes.  And you know what, he’s the Garry Patterson in this relationship. Yeah, I went there.
  • Rediscovery Eva Cassidy and listening to some other music that has moved me lately got me to thinking of making a playlist of songs that meant the most to me.  At my funeral (or if we’re being trendy, my Celebration of Life) copies of the songs would be provided those in attendance as they leave, and every time they hear one of those songs, I hope they think of a good memory of me.  It would be cool if those listening to them would understand why I chose each song, and I think they would be best listened to during a long solo roadtrip.  Yes, there would be U2 songs, but not as many as you would think.  And if I outlive my friend Jimi, a Rod Stewart song would be included.  He often tells me, “Keith, if I ever just won’t die, just play some Rod Stewart.”
  • An I35 icon is no more, but now has a great home  – The neon Big Tex sign outside Centennial Liquor on I-35 in Dallas has been sold…to the State Fair of Texas. And as of yesterday he is no longer beckoning thirsty shoppers to come in and buy some hooch.
  • Gene Simmons is opening one of his chain restaurants, Rock & Brews, in The Colony.  he’s also trying to partner the restaurant with Southwest Airlines, “The restaurant company hopes to persuade Southwest chief executive Gary Kelly to adapt the Southwest app to allow fliers to order food from Rock & Brews to be picked up either before boarding or while taxiing to the gate.“
  • GIF – Why will robots rule the world? Because they don’t play by the rules.
  • I’ve been on a Jell-O kick as of late, and every time I purchase a few boxes, the cashier asks what am I making.  I feel like a smart-arse saying I’m just making Jell-O, but it’s the truth.  I’m addicted to the apricot flavor of all things, and oddly, I’ve never tried an actual apricot.
  • Allison Williams, the daughter of former NBC Nightly News host, Brian Williams, as recently married and the ceremony was officiated by Tom Hanks.
  • Count the red flags in the first sentence of this news story – “Jane said she lost her virginity to her pastor on her father’s grave when she was just 9 years old.”
  • Found this on Reddit, and it sounds like the inspriration for the movie Taken – “The policeman discovered that the child in the back of the van, tied up, gagged with tape and stuffed head-first into a sleeping bag was his daughter.” – Wikipedia
  • The Muppets have been doing a grand job of promoting their new show.  It’s a mix of ‘The Office’, ‘The Larry Sanders Show’, and Shrek.  I used Shrek because it’s aimed at kids, but there’s many adult references that’s a bit mature which goes over the kids’ heads.  I loved last night’s show, and had more literal LOL moments than I’ve had in a long time watching television.
  • I did notice a bit of cross promotion.  Tom Bergeron was on the show and ‘Dancing with the Stars’ was airing later that night.  Also, Elizabeth Banks was on the show, who was in and directed Pitch Perfect 2, which happened to be the movie where Kermit and Miss Piggie broke up, and the DVD went on sale yesterday.
  • I also caught the new CBS show ‘Life in Pieces’ which was funny and clever.  It’s a bit like ‘Modern Family’ as it’s the story of several families and no laugh track, but it’s not done in a documentary format.  What’s unique is that’s each family has a unique story, and then it’s kind of tied together at the end.
  • Colbert seemed a bit too easy going, too jovial, with Trump last night.  I was surprised that Trump didn’t wear his American flag lapel pin.
  • DallasNews.com – Garth Brooks riding the Texas Giant at Six Flags with an “I’m a Pepper” shirt.
  • BBC – Why The U.S. Hides 700 Million Barrels of Oil Underground – I’m sure most of us know why, but this provides some background and detail.
  • Just a picture of Geraldo Rivera and Charles Manson.
  • Supposedly the Minnesota Vikings unofficial mascot was seeking a contract that would pay him $20,000 per game for the next decade.
Posted in Personal | 5 Comments

Senator Ted Cruz’s Colbert Interview

Only a portion of this interview is online, but there’s a lot to take in.

Fallon, a great host in his own right, is a real buddy-buddy kind of guy, and you aren’t going to get any substantive questions or responses to answers from him.  However, Colbert is great at interviews with these non-entertainers and engages with them respectfully and earnestly.

The drawback of being a talk show host is the crowd, and I’ve seen it with all three presidential candidates he’s had on the show.  His crowd only knows him from his old show in which he was a caricatured version of a political conservative pundit, so there’s some carry-over.  The crowd is young, enthusiastic, and loud, which distracts from the interviews, especially when you only have like five to seven minutes with a guest.  But you have to hand it to Colbert when the boos started, he shut that down quickly, and did it tactfully.

In this segment, they talk about how Reagan might be perceived today, constitutional interpretation, and how it applies to state rights and gay marriage.

 

Posted in Political, Pop Culture | 1 Comment