Bag of Randomness for Friday, February 9, 2024

  • Presidents and VPs (and their staff) should be more careful with classified docs.
  • Biden sure did get beat up yesterday. I’ve expressed concern about his age before. I thought it was interesting that the special counsel thought he would present himself as a sympathetic elderly man. To me, that’s not his personality, he’s too much a smart-ass and prideful. As for not remembering the dates of when he was VP and his son’s death, I’d just like to know how the question was asked. It’s one thing if the question was asked in years versus DD/MM/YYYY. For instance, I can’t automatically recall the death of my parents either in years or a specific date, it’s one of those things I don’t want to think about.
  • It’s well known that the Super Bowl halftime performer isn’t paid. The exposure they get is much more. But I never thought about it broken down like this and in these terms.
    • The NFL signs a $50M sponsorship deal. This year, it’s Apple. Artists get a ~$15 million production budget which covers 2,000 to 3,000 part-time workers, including set design, security, dancers, and marketing.
    • The Super Bowl is watched by 115 million people. Brands will spend $7 million for 30-second commercials during this year’s game, yet Usher will receive an uninterrupted 13-minute commercial for free, a $182 million value.
  • Medical billing is such a racket. I received a bill several weeks ago for $650. I held off on it because I already met my deductible and out-of-pocket maximum and figured insurance just hasn’t yet paid. Yesterday, I received a phone call asking for payment of the full amount. I told them I’d check into it. Today, I called the insurance company to verify things on their end. Then I called the company I received the bill from and they told me not to worry about it because they received a check from the insurance company ten days ago.
  • I’m telling you, it’s nothing more than guerilla marketing.

  • It wasn’t said word for word, and I disagree with it, but I had a person tell me I was responsible for other people’s ignorance.
  • A fault of mine I’ve recently identified is that I feel the need to provide context to whatever I’m talking about. I need to work on understanding that I don’t always need to paint the whole picture and recognize the moments when there’s no need to paint or even bring out a picture. I guess what I’m saying, less is more.
  • My gosh, this is impressive. Aliens maybe? Seriously, if I were a judge, I’d let the thieves (if they can find them) go immediately, high-five them on the way out, give them a pat on the bottom like a coach, and slow cap as they exit the door. My guess is it was some bubba in a Ford Ranger.Brazen Thieves Steal 200-Foot Tall Radio Tower in Alabama

    “When he arrived, he called me Friday and said, ‘The tower is gone.’ I said, ‘What do you mean the tower is gone? Are you sure you are at the right place?’ you know. He said, ‘The tower is gone. There is wires everywhere, and it is gone.’”

  • Humble in defeat.

  • This photo of Brock Purdy looks like he’s a kid modeling for the Sears catalog.
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Bag of Randomness for Thursday, February 7, 2024

  • I heard that meteorologists in San Diego issued a tornado warning earlier this week. This reminded me of a memory I had when I was an RA in college. We had just hired a new dorm director from San Diego, and I was helping him move in. A big storm hit us, and he was concerned about the gusts of wind and surprised at how violent the rain was. The meteorologists took over the television airwaves and issued a tornado warning, which made him very worried. He was transfixed on the television. The other guys and I just brushed it off, telling him not to worry because this kind of stuff happens all the time and it’s common for the rain to come down even harder. But that seemed to make him more anxious, and he went on to explain that all of this was a new experience for him, and he never thought he’d hear terminology like “vortex” being used so commonly.
  • I can’t imagine how devastating it must be to have your baby decapitated during birth. Unfortunately, the way the medical staff tried to play it off reminded me of a few scenes from Dumber and Dumber. You know it must be beyond tragic when the funeral home says it has never seen anything like it before. I almost can’t believe what I read below.
    • The newborn’s mother, Jessica Ross, 20, went into labor at Southern Regional Medical Center on July 9, 2023, and reported experiencing complications during the birthing process. According to a lawsuit filed on behalf of the newborn’s parents in August, the baby’s shoulders got stuck in the vaginal canal, at which point a doctor allegedly performed a cesarean section too late and applied “excessive tension” on the baby’s head, causing it to detach from the body.The lawsuit claims the doctor did not tell the mother and father what had happened. Instead, hospital staff allegedly refused to let them hold the baby after death, the lawsuit claims. They showed the parents Treveon wrapped tightly in a blanket with his head propped on top, a statement said. It also says staff pressured the couple to cremate the remains and told them an autopsy wasn’t warranted.

      The family alleges they were not made aware of the decapitation until they received a concerning phone call from the Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home.

  • I feel sorry for this dude, though not as much as the parents mentioned in the previous bullet. He spent eight years assembling 700,000 matchsticks into a 23-foot Eiffel Tower but had Guinness reject it because he didn’t use a common brand of matches. To make it hurt even more, Guinness never came to look at it.
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Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, February 7, 2024

  • I spotted these stickers in the red light district, um, I mean, at a red light the other day. I couldn’t make out the writing on the bottom, so I searched for them on The Google. The first result amused me, considering the message of the above stick and what I entered in the search field.
  • Christians: if your favorite political party causes you to not love your neighbor or enemy, your party is standing between you and Jesus. – @PrestonSprinkle
  • Sometimes I eat white powdered donuts for breakfast. Specifically, Hostess donnettes. When I do, it brings back a warm memory of a very young DaughterGeeding dropping her jaw in awe as I put a whole donnette into my mouth. She then called to her mother and said, “Mom! Dad just put a whole donut into his mouth and swallowed it.”
  • @ItsSamG – It’s kinda cool and not at all superstitiously terrifying that the last time the Chiefs played the 49ers in the Super Bowl it was also a leap year and then a month later we had a pandemic that messed up our lives for years and years
  • Sticking with the macabre Super Bowl thoughts, here’s Joe Buck: “I do not have any desire to be there. There’s going to be some story, there’s gonna be something that happens because it’s Vegas and it won’t stay in Vegas. There’s gonna be a big something that happens. I don’t know what it is. I have no idea. That is going to be a mess, in my mind.”
  • I’ve been concerned about President Biden as of late. When he speaks, he sounds softer and his words aren’t as sharp as they use to. I’m not saying he’s in mental decline (like most of my readership), but audibly his words are not as crisp and clear as they use to be. I haven’t seen anyone else point that out, but I’m sure I would if I peaked in conservative circles.
  • This person with a Ph.D. in English griped about what she believes to be a misuse of an apostrophe, only to misuse an apostrophe when she referenced the music awards show in her next tweet.
  • When I first saw this statistic the Cowboys won their second Super Bowl and I thought no team would catch up in my lifetime.
  • Not a job I would want to have. Talk about hazard pay.

  • I can’t decide if the inside of the Raiders’ facility looks like something out of 2001: A Space Oddesy or Space Balls.

  • I’ve written my concerns about how the Sphere isn’t managing itself well when it comes to booking future artists and events, but whoever is managing the stuff on the outside is doing a great job.
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Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, February 6, 2024

  • One thing that stood out to me when I was in Las Vegas was the USB charge ports on some of the slot machines. That’s some smart thinking. I’m sure a lot of gamblers talk themself into staying longer just to get a fuller charge. Or, for anyone about to leave for a flight, what better way to pass the time than to get your phone fully charged so you can watch something on your phone during your flight.
  • You typically don’t see bodyguards carrying a shotgun. Also, I couldn’t help but notice how big Miley’s hair is. I’ve seen it somewhere else recently. I have a feeling big hair is going to make a comeback, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.

  • Hear me out on this. Jerry Jones should sweet-talk and hire Bill Belichick as the new defensive coordinator and then sweet-talk Mike McCarthy into being okay with it. Then, if the team underperforms during the season, fire McCarthy midseason and promote Belichick. Or, if they don’t advance to the Super Bowl, then McCarthy leaves because he would have just finished his contract and Jerry could simply promote Belichick. Could Jerry talk Bill into this? Sure. What else does Belichick have to do without a team to prepare for and get ready to coach for next season? Belichick won’t know what to do with all this upcoming free time.
  • I didn’t particularly like his speech, but I’ve been thinking a lot about what Jay-Z said at the Grammys. How I’ve heard it said many times but when he said it, it registered, “I was once told the loudest person in the room never gets heard.“
  • A few more thoughts on the Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs performances at the Grammys.
    • I poke fun at modern country music a lot and consider it the Special Olympics of music. I don’t know Combs well at all, but I don’t mind his kind of country music. He covered the song because his father had Chapman’s cassette in his Ford truck and he heard it all the time as a kid. So, when you see him look back at Chapman with such respect and admiration, you can tell it’s authentic and must be a surreal experience for him.
    • I love how her face lights up as soon as the audience reacts when they realize it’s her.
    • When I was a kid and the song first came out, I made fun of Chapman’s look. To be blunt, I thought she was ugly. But three words crossed my mind when I saw her Sunday night, “Wow, she’s beautiful”
    • It’s not the same magnitude as Whitney Houston covering Dolly Parton’s I’ll Always Love You but that thought crossed my mind.
      https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1754318040890757205
  • A month before David Letterman stepped down from late night, he invited Tracy Chapman to sing Ben E. King’s classic Stand By Me. It’s very much worth a listen four minutes of your day, especially if things are a bit hectic.
  • Confession, regarding that last bullet. Instead of typing “Ben E. King” I first typed “Ben E. Keith.”
  • The NFL is going to have a game in Brazil next year? Well, I guess if the world’s version of football is going to invade the U.S. we are going to invade the world with our version of football. Think of it as modern-day colonialism.
  • I can’t recall if I mentioned this or not, but I was curious where U2 was staying during their Vegas residency. The Venetian would make the most sense as it is the closest and associated with the Sphere. But, I learned they actually fly back and forth from LA to stay in the homes they have there. I’m not sure if the band are environmentalists, but that wouldn’t help the image.
  • Maybe it shouldn’t have surprised me that an ancient ivory dildo was found in the stuffed seat of Louis XV’s armchair which was in storage at a local convent on a science museum’s webpage. Maybe the unique detail found on the tip shouldn’t have surprised me, or that it can simulate ejaculation. But, the cloth bag was a nice touch.
  • Out of all the things I felt most uncomfortable with regarding the previous bullet was my use of “webpage.” After typing it, it just felt like a very outdated term and made me question whether I should have used another word or phrased the sentence differently. But, I didn’t want to spend any mental anguish over it and preferred writing several sentences about my turmoil because it felt simpler.
  • I can’t get over the defender’s head. He totally fell for a fake shot that looked as slow as molasses. Then, Jokic did what he always does, drive the paint liking like he plays in flip-flops. Someone pointed that out to me about his play once and I can’t unsee it.
  • The first thought that went through my mind was the Branch Davidian Compound and how modern-day equivalents probably have these up and running. But I will admit, I’m impressed with the engineering. It kinda makes me think of what Walter White rigged up in the series finale of Breaking Bad
    https://twitter.com/KrumelsBunker/status/1754264827315269766
  • I was such a huge Joe Montana fan when I was a kid. You also know I’m a hopeless romantic. This made my heart swoon. Oh, how I miss trying to do things to show another how much I love and think of them, and I wonder what it feels like to be the unquestioned recipient of such love.

  • Along that same line:

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