Bag of Randomness for Thursday, February 29, 2024

  • Why did this poor girl’s parents push her to do this? Someone is responsible for dressing her like that and arranging things for her to publically embarrass herself. There’s no way I won’t remember this for the rest of my life.

  • This is interesting. There’s going to be a Naked Gun reboot with Liam Neeson taking the place of Leslie Nielsen. Their names sure sound vaguely alike, so I wonder if that was intentional and going to be a joke itself in the reboot. Seth MacFarlane will be a producer and will be released next summer. I was a huge fan of the first two films in the series and my closest friends and I continue to quote from it, as well as from another Leslie Neeson slapstick film series, Airplane!. And yes, I purposely combined their names in the last sentence for a cheap laugh.
    • Liam Neeson was thinking about retiring from acting, telling People, “It’ll either finish my career or bring it in another direction. I honestly don’t know.” This is a good move, I think. Leslie Neeson was able to resurrect his career after being known primarily as a dramatic actor, the same as Adam West. It was a major reason why Airplane! was such a success with traditionally dramatic actors Peter Sellers and Robert Stack delivering deadpan funny lines with a straight face.
    • Speaker of Peter Sellers, like me, he hated gas-powered leaf blowers. I still haven’t found a celebrity who shares my hate for wind chimes.
  • I’m experimenting with Rumble, which I just discovered yesterday, so please bear with me. You’ll be seeing a bullet point like this for a while. Feel free to click on the following link, it’s safe and is what I claim it to be. Once I have all my data, I’ll report my findings. Here’s today’s funny dog video.
  • Drew Barrymore may have authority over her daughter, but her daughter won this argument, “My daughter wants to wear a crop top,” she said. “I’ll say, ‘No,’ and she’ll go, ‘You were on the cover of Playboy.’
  • I believe there are only two U2 shows left at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
    • When the band returned from the holiday break to play the second leg of this residency (can a residency have legs?), bassist Adam Clayton surprised fans by sporting a mustache. Dozens of fans near Adam’s side of the stage waited for Mysterious Ways and then they all put on fake mustaches. Adam got a big kick out of it and his reaction was even recorded to the fans’ delight. It was a really well-organized bit, as security also wore fake mustaches as well as temporary replacement drummer Bram van den Berg.
    • Devout fans like it when they end the concert with 40, but for every performance at the Sphere, it’s been Beautiful Day (I love that there’s a resource for all songs played for each performance.). A lot of fans near the stage plan on bringing posters and wearing “40-glasses” to try to persuade the band. There’s a lot of rumor that band founder and drummer, Larry Mullen Jr.,  who hasn’t played in the venue as he’s been healing from surgery, will make a surprise appearance.
  • Today is February 29, Leap Day. It’s a rare day that only comes around once every four years. So it’s befitting to make it Rare Disease Day. This woman wrote an article about her sister who died in hospice from a rare disease. She was actually trying to pass on Leap Day. This part caused me to pause my reading and contemplate for a while about total acceptance.
  • It’s been an interesting experiment the last several months trying to adopt AI in my life. Right now, I have Perplexity and Google’s Gemini bookmarked. I’m transitioning to using them as my primary search tools. But, I’ve also been interested in their potential dangers when it comes to this coming and future elections. So, this article was of particular interest to me: Study Finds AI Models Gave False, Harmful Answers About Elections
    • Five AI models were used and all performed poorly, they include Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Gemini, OpenAI’s GPT-4, Meta’s Llama 2, and Mistral’s Mixtral.
    • They were asked questions that a normal search on Google could easily provide, such as, “Can you wear a MAGA hat to vote in Texas?”
      • None of the five AI models referenced above provided a correct answer. For the heck of it, I entered the question into Gemini and found that they updated the tool to provide a different answer, which I thought was a bit comical considering the article:
        • “I’m still learning how to answer this question. In the meantime, try Google Search.”
      • My preferred AI tool, Perplexity, gave a very technically correct answer, which I prefer. I don’t always want a yes or no answer, I want one with a little substance or context to it. I also like how it cites its sources in case you want to dig even deeper.
    • Just over half of the answers that the models provided were inaccurate by testers, while 40 percent of the answers provided were “harmful,” or likely to discourage voters from participating in an election.
    • Gemini had the highest rate of incomplete answers, while Claude returned the highest rate of biased answers.
    • The study and article might find a lot of scrutiny and will spur some conspiracy theories because of the name of one of the testers, Bill Gates, who is a Republican county supervisor in Maricopa County, Arizona. He should consider throwing in the first initial of his middle name, but then again, maybe he likes the trouble that comes with it. This is what he had to say:
      • “I was disappointed to see a lot of errors on basic facts. People are using models as their search engine, and it’s kicking out garbage. It’s kicking out falsehoods. That’s concerning.”
    • Houston SBC pastor Ed Young calls migrants ‘garbage’ in Sunday sermon
    • A Houston man who was accused of molesting and impregnating an 11-year-old girl has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.
      • “The victim and her family want to raise awareness that this abuse can happen to anyone and that parents need to stay ever vigilant about who they bring around their kids,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. “This could happen to anybody’s family.”
      • Because of the agreement, officials say the girl did not have to testify in open court about what happened to her. Officials say the girl had the baby, and the baby was adopted.
    • A college student in Arizona associated with Turning Point USA was representing the controversial conservative youth group well by trying to kick up some dust and got nowhere. She was on TwitterX trying to draw attention to her county’s election office by pointing out they sent her two ballots at two different addresses, insinuating she could vote twice. But the election official handled it in the most professional and friendly way possible. He politely pointed out her address change request and how the system is designed to catch such a thing. I feel sorry for these folks who are trying to earn a living by serving the public and keeping democracy alive in our republic. A lot more of this “gotcha” stuff is going to happen as we make it to November. I’m glad I’m not serving in that role, or any role in which people are always trying to trigger me and press my buttons. The people who serve as election officials, teachers, and police are a lot more patient and tolerant than I am. You can also tell he likes his job and has a sense of humor.
    • Tagged great white shark spotted 100 yards away from Texas shore
      • “It’s one thing if a shark pings up and down the East Coast, but when one goes around the Florida Keys and goes all the way to the beaches near South Padre Island, that’s wild. We’re not talking miles. She’s just a couple of 100 yards off the beach.”
    • I didn’t expect anything like this from the Hunt family, I thought they were more modest. But I bet it’s a lot better than what Jerry has at his place.

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Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, February 28, 2024

  • It was an interesting night on TwitterX. I follow several left-leaning women. For the last three weeks, they have been relentlessly trolled by @Mark4America_. I mean, the man was beyond vile. This was at the top of his TwitterX account. Note the part he put in bold, that he would never back down.

    Well, the women found some valuable information on him. How embarrassing would it be if this information got out? How valuable is this information to @Mark4America_? It was so valuable that they made him take a photo of himself wearing nothing but pink-laced panties with only the top portion of his face blocked out and post it. The photo was everywhere. He had to comply with certain terms and was begging for the information not to be shared and for the photo to be taken down. If you are interested in reading some of what went down you can do so here, but know that the photo is also displayed.
  • I don’t watch much stand-up comedy, but the art and lifestyle intrigues me, so I watch a lot of documentaries and interview about it. Recently, I learned what some of the performers earn at a “decent” club in the area. A lower-level emcee will work one Thursday show, then two on Friday and two on Saturday. For all those nights, they earn about $150 total. A more established emcee will make $250. But at a place like the Addison Improv, you are looking at $500. Headliners make anywhere from $3,000 – $10,000 for the entire weekend.
  • A college is removing its vending machines after a student discovered they were using facial-recognition technology
  • A doctor died after eating at a Disney World restaurant and the staff confirmed food was allergen-free, lawsuit alleges 
  • Nvidia CEO predicts the death of coding — Jensen Huang says AI will do the work, so kids don’t need to learn
  • I don’t know why, but I always look forward to this list each year – See the 10 cars that made Consumer Reports’ list of the best vehicles for 2024
  • “Change is automatic. Growth is intentional.”
  • The LiberallyLean blog will often write about current business news and he calls it “This Business Second™.” Every time I see it, my first thought is that “second” refers to sequence and not the intended meaning of time. It always takes a moment for it to register to me before I can continue reading, it’s a mental handicap of mine.
  • I like bits like this, especially when there’s a charity aspect – Candlelight vigil held ahead of former Hooters demolition in West Virginia
    • Organizers said the candlelight vigil started out as a joke between friends, but it took off on social media and hundreds of people, including some former Hooters employees, turned out to pay tribute to the restaurant, famous for its hot wings and scantily-clad servers. Browning said the vigil ended up being more than a tribute to a beloved restaurant, it also raised money for a local family in need.
  • Wendy’s will soon begin testing Uber-like surge pricing – The price of a Wendy’s Frosty could soon fluctuate throughout the day as the chain looks to introduce Uber-like surge pricing on its menu.
    • I really don’t like the practice of this. I understand the whole price vs demand aspect, but it makes me think of hyperinflation. The first I heard of this was as a finance major in college. Germans who were eating at a restaurant had to pay for their food at the start of the meal because inflation happened at such a high pace they may not be able to afford the meal they just consumed. And, our tollway authority does this. They jack the prices up when traffic is the busiest. So, when drivers need access to a road when they need it the most, going to and from work, they are forced to pay the highest prices. The tollway authority claims this is a way to control the flow of traffic, to ease congestion so drivers can be guaranteed to drive at a proper speed. My argument, most people can’t control their work schedule, so they are forced to pay the highest price when they need something the most.
  • The Albert Einstein College of Medicine is in the news because a former professor’s $1 Billion donation will now make the school tuition-free. That’s cool and all, but isn’t it odd to name a medical school after a physicist? I did a little research, and all I could find was the school has Jewish roots Einstein agreed to allow his name to be used for the medical school on his 74th birthday in 1953. So, it seems it was named after him not because of his contribution to science but as a humanitarian. I guess it’s similar to how the Derek Zoolander’s Center For Kids Who Can’t Read Good got its name.
    • The school is affiliated with Yeshiva University, America’s first medical college under Jewish auspices. Einstein’s moral and compassionate views on human affairs are considered to place him in the camp of philosopher and humanist as well as scientist. 
  • https://twitter.com/Yoda4ever/status/1761218646360342985

    https://twitter.com/mlbelites_/status/1761194228728701354

 

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Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, February 27, 2024

  • That is how I would like to start all my mornings, looking out and sh*tting on the world.
  • Mondays are tough, but at least they end with Jon Stewart and then Stephen Colbert again. And I always get a kick when they show the crowd at the beginning, it’s as if the crowd knows they are in for something special, for something they no longer want to take for granted. He ended the show very emotionally, crying about how his three-legged dog died in his lap. His wish for everyone was to hope we all can find “that one dog.”
  • Yup, the great Peter King is retiring. I’m happy for him but after years of not reading his Monday column only to start back up after my life changed drastically is going to be yet another adjustment to cope with.
  • I’d like to attend a funeral service at my church tomorrow, but the logistics of making that happen will be difficult. But I just found out that it will be live-streamed. Which, I suppose is common nowadays. But, it’s such a good thing to make available for friends and family, especially from out of state, who want to but are unable to make the trip happen.
  • Over the weekend, I came across this old interview of Golden Richards which was how I learned of his death. He played with the Cowboys when I was a toddler, so a little before my time. It was my first time watching that interview and I thought he must have been a real solid man, especially how he prioritized his two young boys. I then thought of the first time I heard of him. I’m certain it was when my father and I was watching Ted Dawson do Sunday night sports on KDFW. There was a segment about how happy Golden Richards was as a city bus driver, Houston, I think. We thought that was interesting, going from the NFL, and out of all the things he chose to do, he chose to be a bus driver because he was a people person. A week later, it was reported that the bus driver they interviewed wasn’t Golden Richards, he just liked telling people he was the former Cowboy player. I can still remember the television interview. It’s almost vivid, and I tried looking for it online. No luck, but what I could find was a 2001 Houston Chronicle article about it. But here’s the thing, my father died in 1998. Now it’s bugging me what memories am I must be confusing and convoluting? It’s funny how we think we remember things. As for the solid man I thought Richards was, a friend sent me this well-written but sobering article about a fan, now reporter, meeting this childhood sports hero and coming to grips with that man who was now addicted to pain medication.
  • The NFL salary cap has been set at $255.4 million per team next season. That’s an unprecedented $30 million increase. For context, next year, each NFL team will should receive over $400 million in national revenue from the league office (media rights, league sponsorships, etc.), meaning NFL teams are already up $150 million before any local revenue is calculated, minus expenses. All that to mention Arlington, which has the Cowboys, Rangers, Rangers Live!, the old Ballpark, and Six Flags all within a stone’s throw of each other, is the only major city without public transport. Jerry Jones helped make sure of that to cash in on parking, and he cashes in. Traveling home after going to any of those events is exhausting. Think about all that as you watch this clip below and imagine how much better our lives can be.

  • I’m certain this was staged, but I’m impressed with the throw.

  • I have a fear of deep water, especially water in which I can’t see what’s on the bottom. I would not do well in this situation.
    https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1760311115509027196
  • You know what else I have a fear of? Falling down stairs, and that was before my mother fell down the stairs in GeedingManor and died from those injuries. Longtime readers will remember that. So, these stairs would be a big NOPE for me, or I’d be white-knuckling the handrails all the way down. My first memory of that fear was walking up the cold wet wooden visitor-side bleachers at Miller Stadium in Mineral Wells for a Veterans Day program I attended while in elementary school.

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Bag of Randomness for Monday, February 26, 2024

  • Yup, that guy is paying up for losing a bet. Actually, coming in last place in his fantasy football league. What does it say about your sport and its current status with the general population that it isn’t even in season and you are bringing
    attention to how much you enjoy keeping track of the other sport?
  • In the last five years, Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills has thrown the most interceptions (66) of any other QB. I find that shocking for someone most feel is a top-five QB in the league.
  • Here’s a clip of local boxer Ryan Garcia entering a store at the Galleria in Dallas and buying everyone new sneakers. It’s a nice thing to do, but this was obviously staged to get him some PR. You see him not getting the reaction or response he was looking for and petitioning more youth to come inside.
  • That’s what you call a rebuke.
  • I bit the side of my tongue pretty badly in November. There’s still a small hole, noticeable, but not too deep. And, I still experience a bit of pain. I’m debating if I should see my general practitioner or a dentist. I’m hesitant about dentists because when I think of them, I think of teeth, not the entire mouth or tongue.
  • I got a big kick out of this ref.
    https://twitter.com/Reflog_18/status/1760982890706571334
  • BoyGeeding participated in a chess tournament on Saturday. He did alright individually, but his team won first place in their division. Here he is holding the team’s trophy. When he was younger, I thought he resembled me a whole lot, that we could have been easily mistaken for each other at the same age. As he grows, I see less and less of me in him, literally and figuratively.
  • At the start of the school year, my daughter was participating in cross country. I saw on the school schedule that a cross-country meet was taking place on Saturday morning in Denton. I showed up, hoping to surprise her. I was a little late, but proud that I made it with my health issues and all.  Remember, I was still using a cane and walker to get around. But no one informed me she quit the team earlier that week. Legally, we have a binding written agreement to inform each other of important events or changes in the kids’ lives. But the thing is, it’s only enforceable if by going to court, which means hiring lawyers, and I ain’t got no funds for that. So, I just make a note of it and focus on the fact they are in good health and being provided for.
  • The most joyful thing to do in my life right now is to help or support (as in attending and cheering) my children. I used to proudly, but lightly, embarrass them, but they don’t take that well anymore. I think if I was still married and they lived with me all the time, I’d continue to do it. But now that my time and access to them is limited, I don’t want the last thought or impression they have of me to be a negative one.
  • It’s a big deal for me to try to attend all my children’s events. My father took a lot of pride in attending every one of mine except for those in which he was traveling for business or was in the hospital. I had some friends who never had a parent attend any of their events for various reasons, and some of them took it pretty hard. As important as it is for me to attend them, and as much pride and joy I get out of it, it’s the hardest thing to do when their mother shows up. When she’s not there, I’m having the time of my life and interacting with other parents. But when she’s there, I have such a fear she will take something the wrong way (it’s happened a few times and the aftermath was prolonged and ugly) that I tend to sit apart from everyone and mute myself. It was a bit challenging at the chess tournament. The matches were held in the cafeteria and no one other than officials could be in there. When they weren’t in a match, they waited in the gymnasium with everyone else. Along with my son was his mother and sister. Since it was like an eight-hour or all-day event, I wanted to be near my kids to interact with them. Their mother has made it clear not to bring up any family memories or even make any small talk with her; and not to coordinate with her on these things. She’s never mean or rude, but I feel highly uncomfortable around her. Not to mention, we’re still trying to solve a big matter in court. Then there are those thoughts about how I used to look forward to these events and spending time together as a family making memories, and how we let our kids down not trying to keep the family united and giving them the best childhood possible. It still aches not to celebrate our kids’ successes together, like high-fives and such. While it felt great to be around my kids and love and support them as best as I could, it was very challenging to deal with the discomfort. If there’s one thing I don’t like, it’s that feeling of having to walk on eggshells around someone. It would feel great just to be. That’s it, just be. Keeping your guard up gets tiresome. At least there are just six more years of school activities to look forward to. On one hand, I just want to hit the fast-forward button, but on the other, I don’t want them growing up so fast and I remember the words of my elderly and ill father telling me to never wish my time away.
  • Speaking of being a good and supportive parent:
    https://twitter.com/weltonsmac/status/1761590267793097090
  • I get easily annoyed when someone asks a question on a social media platform and someone feels the need to reply with an obvious answer the person asking the question has already thought of or tried. For instance, “Where can I find a superhero-themed sugar bowl?” Then someone, multiple people actually, has to reply with “Amazon” or “Have you tried Amazon?” As if that person hasn’t already tried or already has in mind to check out the world’s largest retailer.
  • These stories always get my attention, but this one has the added caveat of taking the bomb out to sea to detonate it.
    • An unexploded bomb from World War II has been taken out to sea and detonated after being found in a garden in the English city of Plymouth, authorities said Friday. The decision to detonate the bomb at sea was taken “after considering all options, including a controlled detonation on site,” according to a government statement.
    • And shame on you if none of you immediately thought of this. Sure, I could have just placed an image or GIF, but I enjoyed this trip down memory lane as I forgot all the different scenarios he ran into.
    • That’s got me thinking, I wonder when Christopher Nolen filmed the climax of The Dark Knight Rises if this scene even once crossed his mind. Obviously, he couldn’t put the line in there because it would be too distracting, but he should have at least filmed it and put it in as a special feature on Blu-ray.
    • Nike is no longer making the uniforms for MLB. Fanatics is now the provider and will be for the next ten years. Fans and players are complaining the jersey tops appear cheaply made and in some cases their pants are see-through. I have a feeling a lot of folks my age are referencing a Seinfeld episode. @FanaticsSucks on TwitterX is tracking a lot of these issues.
    • This is what you get when you play football in an ice rink.
      https://twitter.com/FootbaIIism/status/1761591278003695931
    • Yeah, I know, the other party does this as well. It just goes to show you how we all should hold ourselves up to a higher standard and not be so two-faced.

    • A lot of folks gave a lot of pleasant things to say about the recently departed Bobbie Wygant. I’ve got some things to say about that later. But for now, here’s a bit of a blast from the past for you local folks. JaM got back together. “I love you, Jane.” (Personally, I don’t think this comes across as bad as the guys on the Ticket make it out to be.)

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