Bag of Randomness

toughguyatalantdc

  • My jaw figuratively dropped at the news that Harper Lee is releasing another novel.  I’m sure sales of To Kill A Mockingbird, both the book and movie, are about to skyrocket.  As I’ve mentioned before, before I was familiar with the book, I thought my classmates were talking about a book called Tequila Mockingbird because of their Texas twang.  However, there is such a book with that name, and it contains cocktail recipes that are paired with commentaries of popular novels.
  • It wasn’t until yesterday that I learned
    • Harper Lee and Truman Capote were childhood friends, and many think that Capote actually wrote To Kill A Mockingbird, and that’s the major reason why Lee never published another book.  That in itself, would make a great story, and I almost wish for it to be true.  It will be interesting for people to compare the writing styles of the two books and see if anything stands out.
    • This is a reach about the Truman Capote connection, even more than those Kennedy/Lincoln comparisons, but she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush.  The award was established by President . . . Truman.
    • She’s been a recluse, and from what I recall, didn’t say a thing after being awarded the Medal of Freedom back in November 2007.  The most communication she’s had with the public was a letter she sent to Oprah in 2006 about her love for books.
    • Although she was at the White House in November of 2007, she had a serious stroke in that year.  I can’t find a date for when the stroke occurred but it appears to be after the White House visit.  That’s important because the stroke put her in an assisted-living facility.  In 2013, she sued her agent saying he had duped her into signing away the royalties to her book, which resulted in an undisclosed agreement in September of that year.   Her older sister handled most of her affairs, but died three months age at the age of 103.  People now fear Lee is being taking advantage of.
    • This new book, Go Set A Watchman, was written before To Kill A Mockingbird but takes place in the future when Scout is an adult.
  • Read Harper Lee’s 5 Amazing Nonfiction Pieces
  • I’m not soldier material nor am I prepared to do any journalism in the Middle East, but if I were, I’d probably carry a cyanide pill in the case ISIS captures me.  In that situation when it comes to fight or flight, I choose flight over being burned alive.
  • There’s been a frozen yogurt trend as of late with a lot of new soft serve yogurt shops opening in the area, which made me wonder what happened to all the TCBYs.  Yesterday I noticed a new TCBY is opening in Coppell.
  • Everytime I think of TCBY, I think of Texas Stadium.  When a field goal or extra point was kicked, you’d sometimes see the TCBY sign between the goal posts because it was hanging above the entrance tunnel.  I always thought that was a clever bit of advertising.  You see something similar at Gillette Stadium with a McDonalds sign, sans tunnel.
  • France is celebrating Monopoly by selling sets with real money
  • Everything under the sun doesn’t need to be regulated, but why supplements aren’t boggles my mind. (Oh, wait, lobbies and corporate dollars, I understand after all.)  It’s only something consumers digest everyday. – GNC, Target, Walmart, Walgreens selling bogus herbal supplements, NY charges – DNA tests found only 21% of tested supplements contained what the labels promised
  • Speaking of regulations, though he may have been taken out of context- Senator Says Restaurant Employees Shouldn’t Have to Wash Hands – In a question-and-answer session Monday at the Bipartisan Policy Center, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, argued that restaurants should be allowed to “opt out” of certain regulations – such as employees washing their hands. Such a rule, he says, is an example of how America is “one of the most regulated nations in the history of the planet.”
  • But you’ll actually have to scan the pages – Amazon’s Kindle Convert Can Turn Your Paper Library Into E-Books
  • It’s thicker and has an aftertaste – Here’s what Coca-Cola’s low-fat, low-sugar, high-protein milk tastes like
  • The picture at the top of the post is from this set of pics from The Tough Guy Challenge in England.  Picture 8 stands out to me because someone is climbing through a muddy tunnel with live electrical wires hanging above.
  • Lost in all the craziness in the news is the prosecutor that was found dead after he draft an arrest warrant for the Argentine president.
  • Today’s dose of ‘MURICA!
  • Today’s dose of TEXAS! – A San Antonio restaurant wants to be the Hooters of Mexican food, but taking it to the next level by having waitresses in lingerie.
  • U.S. pork production higher than beef for first time since 1952
  • In 1976 Arthur C. Clarke Predicted the Dark Side of Smartphones
  • There’s a World Strongest Viking competition? – The Mountain from ‘Game of Thrones’ Breaks 1,000-Year-Old Weightlifting Record
  • Shark humor
  • Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski stuck in Dallas, could miss Super Bowl parade – His agent is trying to name drop on Twitter to get Gronk special privileges.  It seems most agents are slimeballs, and using Twitter to try to put a company on the spot is a slimeball move.
  • Irish fans snuck into Super Bowl XLIX, ended up in fourth row
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