Music Friday: "Left Hand Free"

Last night the Nasty family finally got around to watching Captain America Civil War. 

It was your typical Marvel Studios fare. I'm sure there are all kinds of differences between what actually happened in the comic books and how the movie presents the events, but I'll leave that to those who are reading Avengers comics. 

As is their bent, this Marvel-based movie had two bonus scenes/trailers after the main film was over. 

Before the second one featuring yet another permutation of Spiderman, this song was playing by a band I wasn't familiar with named Alt-J. 

Enjoy. 

Music Friday: "Sing a Simple Song"

It's time to get your funk on. 

And sing a simple song. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I'm tired of hearing all this crap about bathroom bills related to transgender people. Backers of the bill tout that they are to protect people, especially kids, from being sexually harassed. Where is there any proof that transgender people mess with kids? Not long ago regular gay people were associated with child molestation, so these political moves aren't much different than that anti-gay nonsense. 

To keep it real here, check out "All the Things You Can No Longer Buy If You're Really Boycotting Trans-Friendly Businesses." A portion of the second ¶ of the article is noteworthy: "The American Family Association (AFA), a fundamentalist Christian nonprofit that is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)." 

If you really want to protect children, young boys in particular, from sexual abuse, legislators might want to pass some kind of bill about priests. 

Hell, the New York Times has a whole section of its website devoted to "Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse Cases." When a topic has its own section on the New York Times, it's likely to be a significant problem. 

For a while now I've been entering The New Yorker's Cartoon Caption Contest. Recently the guy in charge of comics started partially crowd-sourcing those who submitted captions to rate others' submissions, a peer review of sorts. The other day I rated a bunch of submissions, and it was interesting to see how people's comic minds work in similar ways. It's hard to be original. 

Chris Cillizza thinks Mark Cuban will run for president sometime in the future. He may be right. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I abhor how religion mixes in with politics. One of the most annoying things I find is when some politician prattles on about God this or Jesus that or how America is a "divine" nation. I especially hate when our so-called leaders cite Scripture as some "reason" for whatever @#$%ed up policy they want to implement. Regardless of all that and my distaste for organized religion and my agnosticism, Bonnie Kristian's "The Idolatry of the Donald" on The American Conservative is worth a read. 

John Oliver had a great segment on scientific studies and how they're reported on TV morning programs and elsewhere. It's a solid take on what is real science and what are good sources. We need many more replication studies. Check it out. 

Music Friday: "Fell on Black Days"

It's been a rough spring here in east central Illinois and other parts of the state whose economies are tied to state universities. Yet the Governor and the rest of the dunces in Springfield twiddle their beans and use higher ed appropriations as a political pawn. 

So I offer you an appropriate song. 

Random Notes from a Crank

Mother Jones has a short piece online, "Here's Why Libertarians Are Mostly Men," that's worth a read. It does seem odd that most libertarians are men. 

I purchased a couple of shirts from 6 Dollar T-Shirts. One says "Somewhat Functional Introvert," and the other one is below except I got it in heather grey. 

If I want to go all the way, I could also get a certificate of achievement. 

If you're an owner of a business, you would think you wouldn't want to spout divisive and dumb political claptrap on Facebook. I'm taking my union-supporting and liberal-leaning money elsewhere.  

Music Friday: "Brace for Impact (Live a Little)" & "In Bloom"

Sturgill Simpson put out a new album recently, and it's good. 

Here's a couple of tunes from it. The second song is a Nirvana cover. Enjoy. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I was happily surprised to read Tom Philpott's article in the May/June issue of Mother Jones. In "Playing Chicken," the author informs readers about how Perdue, the chicken industry giant, has gone to not using antibiotics. Let's hope other meat producers follow their lead because Perdue has based its decision on science and the fact that antibiotics really don't significantly increase weight gain. 

The President killed it at this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner. 

I'm not surprised at all that students who have a "consumer" mindset to their coursework often get lower grades than students who see themselves as learners. Read all about it in "Students with Consumer Mindset Get Lower Grades." The final ¶ is noteworthy because students are getting that attitude from somewhere: "Government, too, should be cautious when talking about the ‘value’ of higher education purely in terms of a financial transaction as it may encourage students to feel like they are simply buying their degree. As a result, they may start to develop a ‘you teach me’ attitude rather than one that fosters effortful engagement with their chosen subject.”

I'm glad to see the Game of Thrones tv series has rediscovered the Iron Islands. I suspect they'll play catch-up with the books as new happenings unfold. I had suspected Ian McShane will play Victarion Greyjoy, one of my favorite characters in the books, but that doesn't seem to be the case.