Another attempt to liven up golf – Golfboard

GolfBoard is undeniably the most exciting and enjoyable way to experience any course. Easy to learn, safe, and exciting, Golfboard can be mastered by most anyone in just a few minutes. After just a few holes, you will quickly agree that GolfBoard is by far the most fun you have ever had on a golf course.

GolfBoard eliminates the sedentary activity of sitting in a cart, while improving speed of play, reducing turf wear, and offering golfers the chance to experience the natural terrain in way previously reserved for surfers and snowboarders. Already embraced by Golf courses and players world-wide, GolfBoard is certain to attract a whole new audience looking to discover golf, but in a whole new way..

A new one will set you back $6,500.  As for courses that already have them, you can look at this map.  Per that map, only one course in Texas has them, and it’s in Brownsville, but courses in Lufkin and Beaumont are scheduled to get some.  The closest course to DFW that has them available is in Oklahoma City.

Posted in Sports | 1 Comment

Bag of Randomness

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  • I love fried chicken.  I love waffles.  However, I don’t get the appeal of eating fried chicken and waffles as a meal.
  • I’ve returned a particular neighbor’s dog that has escaped her dwelling at least four times in the past two years.  Each and every time I return to the house, it’s the lady of the house that answers the door, but yesterday when I returned the dog (yet again), it was the man of the house that came to the door.  It turns out he was the guy that found his lost boa constrictor roaming near our community playground I posted about a few weeks ago.  Now I know why that dog keeps on escaping, he wants to get away from that boa constrictor.
  • One of my college roommates kept getting mass emails from our university and he finally decided that it was just too much and used the unsubscribe link provided in their message.  Later in the week he received an email from someone in alumni relations stating they recognized he wanted to be dropped from mass emails, so they will now forward him the mass emails individually and then proceeded to do so to notify him of an upcoming event.
  • Amazon continues to up the delivery game – Amazon & DHL Testing Delivery To Customers’ Car Trunks
  • Google’s new wireless phones service is called Project Fi, and you can request an early invite here.  Here’s the skinny on it – Fi comes with one plan at one price, Google says. For $20 a month, subscribers get the basics: talk, text, Wi-Fi tethering and international coverage. It’s $10 per gigabyte of data after that for cellular data while in the U.S. and abroad. The plan refunds any data you don’t use.  USA Today
  • I think the two biggest drawbacks of Project Fi is that is’ relying on bad network coverage from Sprint and T-Mobile and you are limited to just one phone, the Nexus 6.
  • These interactive maps will break down your county in terms of education, age, income, race and ethnicity, income and housing, as well as a few other areas.
  • I’ve mentioned that I tend to dwell in the macabre and even read a book about cadavers, so I found this short article and 18-photo slideshow from Wired.com a bit interesting – The Bizarre and Grisly World of Forensics Training
  • A great photo of the volcano erupting in Chile.
  • Gizmodo has an article with video clips about MLB’s new Statcast feature being implemented into televised games.  I think this sentence best sums it up  – It tracks data on every play, and crunches the numbers into fast analytics presented in easy to read graphics for the viewer at home. 
  • This article from Mashable is about five months old, but I thought some of you might find it interesting – Your state’s favorite word to use in online dating – People in Texas used “oil”, New Yorkers preferred “museum”, Floridians like “Disney”, and the good people in Tennessee used “porch”.
  • Here’s PolitiFact’s latest scorecard on how well CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News got their facts straight.  Or as they put it – the accuracy of claims made on the major cable networks by pundits, hosts and other non-elected officials.
  • Today’s dose of idiocracy
  • This Reddit Today I Learned caught my attention – Plot E, a hidden Cemetery,that does not officially exist is where the “the dishonorable dead” from WWII are buried,94 men who murdered or raped women,children and men during or after the war, and 1 who was a deserter.
  • I’ve written about the abundance of breastaurants in the area, like Hooters, Twin Peaks, Tilted Kilt, Bikinis, etc.  Well, a gay version will open next month in Dallas and it will be named Tallywakers.  If you ever wanted to buy that LiberallyLean.com guy the perfect gift certificate, here’s your chance.
  • A pregnant mother of three was a manager at a Texas Popeye’s and robbed at gunpoint.  She states she was fired because she refused to pay back money that was stolen during a robbery, that she broke policy by leaving too much cash in the register.
  • I was surprised ‘The Americans’ continued the Nina storyline all this season.  The way last season ended, I thought she was written off the show.  However, I think last night’s season finale would have made for a great series finale.
  • Tim Tebow’s Eagles contract has $0 guaranteed
  • Texas State University frat member paid $1,240 for drunken cab ride from New Orleans to San Marcos
  • Today’s dose of ‘MURICA!
  • I wish I had a nickel for every time I saw the commercial for the new season of ‘Orphan Black’ that’s airing on BBC America.
  • It looks like you can now turn an old smartphone into surveillance equipment.
  • Chinese scientists just admitted to tweaking the genes of human embryos for the first time in history
  • The new Muppets television series on ABC will be a mockumentary, more adult, and have a ’30 Rock’ edge to it.
  • Last night’s classic Letterman moment was a segment that happen 15 years ago when they sent Buzz Aldrin as a correspondent to the Daytime Emmy Awards dressed in an EVA astronaut suit.  Most of the interviews went something like this:
    Buzz: Hello! Who are you?
    Smugly Soap Star: I’m so-and-so, and I’m nominated for best nada-nada in nada-nada-nada.
    Buzz: That’s great. I walked on the moon. (funny awkward silence)
  • Also on last night’s ‘Late Show’, Bruce Willis wore the same shirt he wore during his first appearance on the show, along with a hair piece.
  • A dog breed chart that places them popularity, intelligence, and overall desirability.  I cracked up at the “Rightly ignored” category.
  • Could be funny, could be scary – How to download your entire Google search history
  • My grandmother died on this day back in 1987, the first death of a loved one I experienced.  This date always sticks out.  If she was still alive, she’d be 114.  Supposedly she was literally late to her own funeral as she was flown and driven to Mineral Wells from San Diego and her flight was delayed.  The only recording I have of her old smoker’s voice is from this Christmas video of me explaining who Optimus Prime was.  It cracks me up that her polite reply was a confused, “Ohhhh…”
Posted in Personal | 7 Comments

102 y/o Dancer Sees Herself on Film for the First Time

Alice Barker was a chorus line dancer during the Harlem Renaissance of the the 1930s and 40s. She danced at clubs such as The Apollo, Cotton Club, and Zanzibar Club, with legends including Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.

Although she danced in numerous movies, commercials and TV shows, she had never seen any of them, and all of her photographs and memorabilia have been lost over the years.

With the help of Mark Cantor of http://jazz-on-film.com we finally our hands on three “Soundies” Alice appeared in, and were able to show them to her for the very first time. She had never seen herself in motion in her life!

 

Posted in Touching | 1 Comment