Bag of Randomness
Monday, November 24, 2025

I actually had a great week last week, one of the best I’ve had in a while. Last Monday, I posted about going to my friend’s church in Mineral Wells. Well, his daughter happened to be playing in a basketball tournament just a half hour away from my little dwelling, so I attended all four of her games on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The drive, getting out of the house, and rebuilding a friendship did wonders for me. I’m so proud of the man he grew into, and made sure to thank his wife for helping to get him there. On Friday, he mentioned his favorite treat my mother used to make, peanut butter Rice Krispies treats. I surprised him with a batch on Saturday morning. It’s been two decades since he’s had them, I hope they lived up to his memory.

The Cowboys sure were lucky with that win yesterday, and are playing with a bit of momentum. These Eagles fans probably aren’t taking the loss well.

In case you were wondering how close Camden, New Jersey, is to Philly, it’s just across the Delaware River. You know the river, Washington once crossed it on a very cold Christmas.

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott set the team record for career passing yards in Sunday’s 24-21 upset of the Eagles. He refused to celebrate the moment until the comeback was complete.

Talk about buried news. The Texas Rangers Baseball Club released a statement during the Cowboys game that they had made a trade.

I did a lot of research to make sure this wasn’t fake or some sort of AI.

I’m sure many of you are unaware that the Chinese have their own space station, and you can follow it on Twitter.

For billions of years, Earth has rotated in the same direction as the sun — but what if that direction were reversed?

Deserts would cover North America, arid sand dunes would replace expanses of the Amazon rainforest in South America, and lush, green landscapes would flourish from central Africa to the Middle East.

Yup, the Sahara would no longer be a desert.

A bit of a lost art.

Caroline Kennedy lost her father on November 22, 1963.

On November 22, 2025, Tatiana Schlossberg, her 35-year-old daughter, published a candid essay in The New Yorker about her battle with acute myeloid leukemia, which was discovered last year after she gave birth to her second child. She has less than a year to live.

Man, Caroline lost her father to an assassination, her brother to a plane crash, and will lose a daughter to cancer. That woman can give you a lesson on how to deal with grief and unexpected death.

It’s Thanksgiving week. Schools are not in session; thus, thankfully, there will be no school shootings this week.

This was a tough segment to watch.

Since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, 13 years ago, more than 160 children have been killed in school shootings across the U.S. They’ve left behind devastated families, and friends, and empty bedrooms they once filled with life. For many parents, these rooms have become sanctuaries: a tangible link to a child they can still feel but no longer hold. Steve Hartman, a veteran CBS News correspondent, and Lou Bopp, a photographer, have spent the last seven years asking parents whose children have been killed for permission to take pictures of the empty rooms they’ve left behind. No easy task; they are, after all, portraits of a child who is no longer there.

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Monday, November 24, 2025

Bag of Randomness
Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Something BoyGeeding found in our refrigerator.

ESPN is being brutally honest with Dallas Mavericks fans.

Last weekend of the year for free guided nature walks at Dallas park

Did you know there’s a 15-acre park in the heart of Dallas?

The Laura W. Bush Native Texas Park is open for self-guided tours from sunrise to sunset. Master Naturalists will lead a free guided tour this Saturday at 10 am, weather permitting.

Ghost Jobs Exposed: The Companies Posting Fake Job Listings (With Proof)

  • On the flip side, Seattle has the lowest percentage of ghost jobs at 16.6%, followed by Boston at 18.7% and Dallas at the third-lowest rate.

According to a Washington Post reporter, here’s a Navy ship update for the Caribbean as of yesterday:

China will dominate the world one day.

The Juris Doctor (JD) degree was first awarded by the University of Chicago in 1903 to replace the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) degree. The change was promoted by the American Bar Association (ABA) starting in the early 1900s and gained momentum after World War II, when law schools became professional graduate-level programs, with most schools adopting the JD by the end of the 1960s to reflect its advanced, post-baccalaureate status.

Trump now wants to paint the ornate natural granite and slate Eisenhower Executive Office Building white.

 

MacKenzie Scott has donated more than $740 million to HBCUs this year. See list.

What Is MacKenzie Scott’s Net Worth? Inside Her Massive Fortune After Donating Over $19 Billion to Charities – Following her 2019 divorce from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Scott has donated billions to more than 2,000 organizations

Scott’s net worth is approximately $34 billion as of Nov. 17, 2025, per Forbes.

Man who cryogenically froze his wife faces backlash after finding new love years later

DMagazine Link

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Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Bag of Randomness
Monday, November 17, 2025

Anyone catch last night’s 112th CFL Grey Cup between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Montreal Alouettes? The score at the end of the first quarter was 7-1.

How do you score a single point in the CFL?

https://youtube.com/shorts/NbuAi7F6Lcs?si=Q_Eo1euLG1DgVRkk

Yesterday was one of the better days that I’ve had in a while. Since my church wasn’t having Sunday school, which is what I enjoy most about it, and was having a special chili-cookoff event instead, I thought I’d drive to Mineral Wells to hear a childhood friend preach at a church he’s served for about 25 years. Not to mention, the Cowboys weren’t playing. For the longest time, I told myself I would never step foot in a Baptist church again. I’m glad I’ve let go of much of that pride and bitterness and worked on my brokenness. But I still have protective boundaries.

The drive out there was great. In a way, it was a spiritual journey of sorts, especially when I started to see the “mountains” around Mineral Wells. I was able to stream and listen to CBS Sunday Morning and then found a great playlist. Interestingly, the YouTube Music playlist I set to random played a Jars of Clay song popular during my late teens, which added something as I approached his church.

I arrived four minutes before the service started and chose to sit in the far back. It’s hard to kill the backrow-Baptist in me. I like to try to support my friends in their endeavors, and I didn’t want to be a distraction. However, his wife saw me when I walked in. So during the first song, I saw him walking all around trying to find me. He gave me a big ‘ol bear hug and invited me to sit next to his family. But I told him my intent on being supportive and not a distraction, and I just wanted to sit back and be a fly on the wall.

I remember being there for his very first sermon as a college student in the tiny town of Albany, near Abilene. It’s been close to 20 years since I last heard him preach. I remember writing him a handwritten letter about how proud I was of him the last time I visited, and how far he’s progressed, and how little distractions like preteens walking past him to use the restroom fazed him. This time, it was much the same, minus any disruptions. He’s even more polished and almost a mirror of his father, who was our pastor. Again, I am incredibly proud of how he’s followed a calling and succeeded at it, with a lot of humbleness. So much nostalgia hit me that, at times, I thought I was a high school kid back at his dad’s church.

His church is doing a ministry very similar to one that my church is doing. On Tuesdays, my church will pay for the laundry and help at the local laundromat. What got my attention when I heard the ministry leader speak about it was how much it meant to her to “give people the dignity of having clean clothes.” Dignity. That really stood out, and I think overlooked.

At the end of the service and as the crowd thinned, I tried to slip out, but he playfully called me out. I’m not sure the exact words he used, but he introduced me to someone as his best friend or a childhood best friend. Dude, that touched me; it really pulled at my heartstrings. I’ve always wondered if someone considered me a best friend. It’s one of those things I was too scared to ask because I didn’t know if I could handle the truth. Also, when you get blindsided by a brutal divorce after 17 years of marriage, you find out that a lot of the things you thought you were certain of turned out not to be, and you’ve been nothing but placated or lied to. That stuff gets to you, and you start to question everyone’s sincerity because you don’t want to feel like a fool again or have the rug pulled out under you. Because you carry that hurt, and it’s hard to let go. So, to hear some unprompted validation of your worth to somebody means the world. Not to mention, he graduated and got married right around the time my father died. He was transitioning into this new phase of life, and I thought he wasn’t there for me when I was mourning the loss of my first parent at twenty-two. But let me tell you this, the way he supported me through my divorce and three spinal surgeries, he’s more than redeemed himself. Again, I’m so proud of the man he has become. I also made sure to let his wife know that I’m proud of the man she helped mold him into.

He and his wife drove me into town and paid for my lunch. We had a great time, sharing all sorts of stories. And, it was amusing to hear how one of their sons went on a date with the daughter of one of our closest friends and how he totally crashed and burned when he tried to hold her hand. Long lunches in which you can take your time and not feel rushed while talking are underrated.

The drive home was also great. There are times I miss driving. I got a chance to stop by and buy some childhood comfort food in Weatherford that my folks would always buy me as they drove back and forth to Fort Worth, shopping at Carswell AFB. I introduced it to my kids years ago and made sure to pick up some for them. So, my day ended with time with my daughter, surprising her with some of her favorite food, then picking up my son to spend the week with me.

Oh, then my son was in a talkative mood before bedtime. Teens don’t often open up to parents, so you have to take advantage of it when they are willing. One thing he shared was that he was thankful that I got him into “classic” cartoons like He-Man and Voltron.

Hopefully, I can finally land a job this week.

Jimmy Kimmel had a touching monologue eulogizing his childhood best friend and his show’s band leader. Of all the things that stood out was a reference he made to Miller’s Outpost. Man, I haven’t heard of a Miller’s Outpost reference in forever.

Whatever happened to them? The company was sold in 1980 and, in the late 1990s, changed its name to Anchor Blue to reflect its own clothing brand. Following the name change and poor sales, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2009 and closed its doors permanently in early 2011.

The Cowboys haven’t played on Sunday in NFL weeks 11, 12, or 13 (this week). As a matter of fact, of the eight games they have left, only four are on a Sunday.

It feels like I can’t escape Kristi Noem commercials on the radio or television.

Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Secretly Got Money From $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts

The company is run by the husband of Noem’s chief DHS spokesperson and has personal and business ties to Noem and her aides. DHS invoked the “emergency” at the border to skirt competitive bidding rules for the taxpayer-funded campaign.

For those looking for investment property in the UK, here you go.

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Monday, November 17, 2025

Bag of Randomness
Wednesday, November 12, 2025

BoyGeeding had a chess tournament this weekend. Since these are an all-day thing, I always bring my laptop. Most schools limit visitors’ access to their Wi-Fi, which keeps me from using some of my most visited websites, like ChatGPT, or checking my email. Part of the fun is finding ways to bypass their firewall. Sometimes it’s as easy as using my own VPN, but sometimes their networks even block it, so I have to get really creative, changing DNS or TCP settings.

Yup, still unemployed. I made it through the second round of interviews with JPMorgan Chase and left thinking I’d nailed it. But I was just told I won’t be going to the third round. I thought the same thing with Caterpillar, PNC, and Fidelity, but I just can’t convince them I’m the best person for the job.

If you are a fellow YouTube TV subscriber, you’ll have to admit this is stupid: YouTube TV customers must affirmatively claim their $20 Disney credit

It is — and I say this with full appreciation of the fact that YouTube and its parent company, Google, and its parent company, Alphabet, are a multi-trillion-dollar conglomerate — bullshit. They’re adding an obstacle knowing that some people won’t realize that the credit has to be claimed, won’t know how to do it, won’t have the time to do it, or will forget to do it.

And so we beg each of you to GO DO IT. NOW. Here’s the link. Go get your money.

It is your money. They charged you for something they didn’t deliver. It’s not a gift. They’re doing the right thing by giving you a partial refund.

Actually, the right thing to do would be to apply an automatic credit. But every customer who forgets to do it is $20 in found money for Google. That’s how they’re viewing it. Don’t let it happen.

GO GET YOUR MONEY. NOW.

I just did it. It’s easy. But they’re counting on people not doing it.

With the death of Marshawn Kneeland, I can’t help but think about how this has been affecting Dak Prescott since his platform is suicide prevention, as his brother died by suicide. Not to mention, he’s the face of the franchise (player-wise). So many people are wondering why Marshawn Kneeland didn’t reach out. Remember, I told you the story of someone close to me who reached out for help, but his wife manipulated the moment to convince a judge to keep their children away from him. The one person he confided in and trusted the most was the one who only harmed him. An unexpected and complete surprise. So yeah, people in need are scared to ask for help because they know that when they do, others sometimes see it as a sign of weakness and will take advantage to destroy you and make your life worse.

April 1948 was a heck of a month for deaths – FRD April 12, Mousilinni April 28, and Hitler April 30.

Pope Leo has revealed the films that are “most significant” to him: It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) by Frank Capra; The Sound of Music (1965) by Robert Wise; Ordinary People (1980) by Robert Redford; and Life Is Beautiful (1997) by Roberto Benigni.

Netflix has announced that a sequel to A Different World is officially in the works. The new series centers on Tony-winning “Hell’s Kitchen” star Maleah Joi Moon in the role of Deborah Wayne, the “free-spirited, well-intentioned, yet rebellious youngest child” of Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison) and Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy) from the original “A Different World.”

That show was the first time I got to see the great Marissa Tomei. And who didn’t think those flip-up glasses were the coolest?

In March 2024, a study claimed that drinking just 1 to 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar a day helped young adults with overweight and obesity lose a “significant” amount of weight, without major lifestyle changes. The headlines exploded. Influencers swore by it. Even some doctors shared it as a “simple, science-backed” fix.

But this year, the same journal officially retracted the study after finding serious errors in the weight-loss claims about apple cider vinegar and concluding that its results were unreliable.

I’m sure I’ve told you this story before. About 15 years ago, I heard about the health benefits of apple cider vinegar. Despite the taste, I’d add several teaspoons to my water bottle and make the best of it. Months later, my allergist ordered a blood test to determine which foods I’m allergic to. Welp, it turns out I was highly allergic to fermented foods.

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Wednesday, November 12, 2025