Bag of Randomness for Thursday, February 1, 2024

  • Dallas, Texas (2001 vs. 2021). I feel old.
  • Texas AG Paxton sues cities over marijuana decriminalization
  • I’m sure most of you will take this the wrong way, but when I read this, it got me to thinking.
    • Evangelicals get upset about Christians who attend queer weddings because it publicly “affirms sin” but I have yet to see them mad about Christians who attend someone’s 2nd, 3rd or 4th wedding… Something scripture would call the sin of adultery.
  • Houston County Schools to install bathroom cameras; parents express concerns to school system
  • Las Vegas driver with 19 tickets who killed bicyclist could get probation
  • The world will have its first trillionaire within a decade, but poverty won’t be eradicated for another 229 years, report finds
  • Yesterday, LiberallyLean posted some hot sports opinions about coin flip tosses“Coin flip talk: I distinctly remember that before any NFL game that the ref would tell a player to “call it in the air” for the initial coin toss.  Now they have the player choose heads or tails before it is flipped. That seems wrong.”I believe I know the history of this, and it involves a girl in my Sunday school class and her father who was a member of the church, an NFL referee.Here’s what started it all. On Thanksgiving 1998, the Steelers and Lions were heading to overtime. Overtime rules were different then, and involved a coinflip. Referee Phil Luckett explains the coin toss rules and tells Jerome Bettis to call it in the air. He distinctly says, “Tails.” But, Luckett said “heads” was called. The Lions instead got the ball and kicked a game-winning field goal 3 minutes into overtime. The NFL quickly changed the coin-flip format to prevent similar disputes. Now, instead of calling the toss while the coin is in the air, the team captain chooses heads or tails before the coin is flipped and the referee confirms the selection before he flips the coin. Luckett took a lot of heat and was later involved with two other controversial calls. One is the Music City Miracle “lateral.” You can read about the other one on his Wikipedia page. I believe there’s another one involving him and a receiver bumping into each other on a crucial play. I felt bad for the man and his daughter. So many people in the nation were calling him an idiot and I bet the family didn’t like the attention. Twitter wasn’t a thing back then. For the longest time, I thought her father had one of the coolest jobs. If my dad had that job, I’d probably be boasting about it. But then in an instant, everyone in the nation is making fun of or hating on the man you admire and love. I imagine despite the love and respect she had for her father it was hard to go to work and social events in the short term with everyone knowing who her father was and what he was responsible for. I did a little searching on what he’s doing today and it appears he does some speaking engagements, which I’m sure are interesting to hear.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsznFZv-wBs

  • San Angelo Live – Governor Abbott’s Initial Salvo in the 2024 “Revenge Primary” was a Dud
    • “Governor Greg Abbott’s first move in the “revenge primary” campaign, aimed at replacing Texas House representatives who oppose his private school voucher initiative, resulted in defeat for Abbott’s chosen candidate.”
  • I’ve got it cued up for you (4:04 in case it doesn’t work), but literally, you cannot get closer to Bono.
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Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, January 31, 2024

  • I bet that the picture above triggers a whole lot of people.
  • I’ve only seen Dr. Strangelove once, back in college, I think. I’ve been thinking I should revisit it as an adult. Recently I read some facts about the film and was surprised to learn there is only one woman in the film (a 1962 Playboy model). I had to verify it on IMDB. It’s true.
  • Yesterday, I had an interview with an investigator for a Department of Defense background check, which is required for my job. To reach the interview location, I drove through 17 green lights and not a single red light. On my way back, I stopped at a stoplight beside an elementary school where kids were playing during recess. I noticed an armed security guard wearing a bright yellow vest standing far away from the children. I couldn’t decide whether wearing such a bright vest was a good or bad thing. On one hand, the vest serves as a deterrent and makes some people feel safe. On the other hand, it also makes the security guard a marked target. If a shooter were to attack, they would likely target the guard first, eliminating their biggest obstacle.
  • A TikTok is going viral about a man delivering Chinese food and heavily mocking the Asian accent as he speaks into the doorbell cam. When I was a kid, a lot of white kids used to bully me by talking to me in that fashion because they knew my mother was Asian. I just couldn’t escape it, and too scared to tell my parents about it. Heck, I think Dad would have just told me to pop them in the nose, but I’ve never been a violent person. I remember my then-fiance doing this once after she and her mother hired a wedding photographer and I had to explain to her why it was offensive to me. So, when I read the comments on that TikTok and Twitter posts I found it on, I was surprised at how many people thought it was hilarious and wanted to see more of it. I guess I’m just overly sensitive and should grow some thicker skin. Maybe people like me are the problem.
  • Speaking of food and TikTok and people named Keith: Keith Lee is a popular social media food reviewer on the platform. He recently visited DFW and had some very favorable things to say about my favorite BBQ joint, Hutchins. I’m not sure how he confuses a pork rib from a beef rib.  Here’s a single beef rib just so you have an idea. They are HUGE.

    Here’s a slab of pork ribs for comparison.
  • Being of Vietnamese descent, I thought I would have known about this animal. My first thought was that it was blog-worthy, and I remembered how hesitant I used to be when I had the comments turned on at posting stuff like this because I felt all I was doing was setting myself up for an insulting racist joke. I showed it to someone on my trivia team, and his/her comment was, “I wonder what kind of sauce they use?” I frowned and mentioned that when I was a kid, others would say similar shit to me. I thought this friend would have noticed I was bothered by his/her comment and would offer some apology, but nothing. Again, I guess I’m just overly sensitive and I’m the problem.
    https://twitter.com/contextdogs/status/1752440230156628327?t=sxJNLtJLn9Zs-lONdzOdUw
  • Her mom has no sense of humor, and that laugh really bothered my dogs.

  • If this is a current photo, he looks good at 94, even if he’s thinner than we remember.

  • I think this is a good idea and would be entertaining. One thing I never understood about girls’ and women’s basketball is why they use a smaller and lighter ball? Why can’t we all use the same ball? It’s not like it’s a huge difference or advantage like having different tees in golf.
    https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1752391926353965134?t=KsBcINvAJ3bJrCmlmy7Mkw
  • I heard so many great things about this promo video for Universal Epic Universe. It looks like an okay destination, but doesn’t blow me away or would make me want to visit it over Disney World or Arby’s.
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Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, January 30, 2024

  • Yesterday, Mark Cuban held an impromptu ask-me-anything on Twitter. The Merriam-Webster dictionary account (which is worth a follow) asked him what is his favorite word. He had a great answer, Dad. That reminded me of the end of The Iron Claw. Kevin Von Erich was watching his little boys play, and they asked him why he was sad.“ He told them, “I used to be a brother, and now I’m not a brother anymore.”
  • The Ticket had their 30th anniversary party last weekend. It just seemed a bit hollow without the folks who built the foundation. It would be like celebrating the Cowboy’s last Super Bowl-winning team but Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin didn’t show up.
  • Honestly, the whole Kelce family and Taylor Swift stuff doesn’t annoy me one iota. What annoys me are the vocal opinions about them. I just wish my daughter, a huge Swifty, could be with me so we could watch the game together.

  • https://twitter.com/ShouldHaveCat/status/1750887839602991203

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Bag of Randomness for Monday, January 29, 2024

  • I’ve read different variations of this, and totally love the concept – I’m not saying football is bad. I’m saying it would be even BETTER if they made the mascots kick every field goal. Imagine, the final play of the big game, one second left on the game clock… and a big googly-eyed bird struts onto the field to thunderous applause, already a hero.
  • Dang, that’s pretty epic. I’m sure he did more damage to the car than what it would have cost to get it out the lot.

  • U2 started playing at the Sphere again last week. This weekend the Fonz was there, as was Bryan Adams.
    • Bono sang a snippet of “Everything I Do I Do it For You” during “WOWY” last night as Bryan Adams was in the crowd. “The Fly” was the song that unseated “Everything I Do” after 16 weeks at the top of the UK charts.
  • Tom Brady changed the focus of his workouts to pliability and credited that to the longevity of his career.
    https://twitter.com/bobbystroupe/status/1751762128371962111
  • They made some changes. Bono, in what appears to be a first for any U2 concert, is now playing the piano. I’m glad they didn’t play that song when I was there as it has some special meaning. The band will be playing at the Grammys live from the Sphere. I continue to worry about how that place is being managed. Two weeks ago I read there was a credible rumor that Sphere Entertainment offered U2 to do as many as 35 more shows, but they turned them down. Also, U2 is rumored to be taking in over 90% per ticket, 18,000 tickets per show.
    • According to Casino.org, U2 has reportedly been paid 90% of the earnings from ticket sales, in addition to an upfront $10 million to produce their own stage show.
    • While seats are pricey for the Jan. 25-26 gigs — at the time of publication, they start at a whopping $737 before fees on Vivid Seats — other nights have seats going for a much more reasonable $354 before fees.
    • As of November 30, 2023, the Sphere in Las Vegas has reported that 17 U2 performances have brought in $30.7 million in revenue, averaging $1.8 million per concert.

  • https://twitter.com/gunsnrosesgirl3/status/1751210615589261701

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