Random Notes from a Crank

I took one of those three-part YouGov polls the other day, and it was in response to scheduling marijuana to less restrictive class. 

Here were the questions with pertinent percentages:

• Do you think that marijuana has legitimate medical uses? Definitely 43%, Probably 33%, Probably not 8%, Definitely not 5%, and Not sure 11%
• Do you approve or disapprove of the government reclassifying marijuana from the most restrictive category of drugs to a less restrictive category that allows for research on its potential medical uses? Strong approve 42%, Somewhat approve 28%, Somewhat disapprove 8%, Strongly disapprove 8%, and Not sure 14%
• Do you think that the recreational use of marijuana should be made legal in the United States or not? Yes 54%, No 27%, and Not sure 19%

The bottom line is that most people think it has legitimate medical uses (and it does), people feel it should be moved to a lesser class of drug, and a slim majority want it nationally legalized. 

I'm not a pot smoker, but these poll numbers don't surprise me. 

Existential Comics is at it again with great thoughts on "Stupidity and the Progress of Human Civilization."  

The author of the comic has a point. Civilization has advanced because of intelligent thinking. However, there have to be all kinds of cases where some stupid moves or dumb thinking or just plain old chance created some good in the world. 

The author uses the examples of riding horses, domesticating wolves into dogs, and the discovery of alcohol. Another one would be coffee. How the hell did that mainstay in many people's routines originate?

There's story about a goat herder named Kaldi, but who knows if that tale is actually true. See the "History of Coffee" from the National Coffee Association.  

Happy Festivus. 

Random Notes from a Crank

 

I saw this on Bluesky and thought I'd share it. 

What the hell is wrong with people in the United States of America to think this narcissistic, incompetent, fat-ass, moronic grievance merchant is the right person to be President? 

I answered the daily questions from YouGov today. 

Here were the three questions:

• Do you generally have a favorable or an unfavorable opinion of yourself?
• Do you generally have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the people you interact with regularly?
• Do you generally have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Americans overall?

With the first question, I chose "somewhat favorable," which was the highest percentage at 46%.

With the second, I chose "somewhat unfavorable," which was only 8%. The highest percentage was 55% for "somewhat favorable." 

With the third, I chose "very unfavorable," which was only 7%. The highest percentage was "somewhat favorable" at 45%. And "somewhat unfavorable" was 24% and "very favorable" at 16%. 

A lot of people in the U.S. won't get this reference, which concurs with my "very unfavorable" choice for the third question, but Americans are Panglossian. 

They lack self awareness. 

And as George Carlin famously said, think about how dumb the average person is and then consider how many people are dumber than than the average person. 

People who back into parking spaces think they're better than everyone else. 

I was at one of my local grocery stores the other day and was reminded of how lazy people were. [In Seinfeld voice] What's the deal with people not returning their carts to a cart coral and just leaving them in at the entryways? 

Random Notes from a Crank

I take YouGov surveys on a regular basis. The most recent survey asked about the U.S. and Canada. At the time of me taking the survey, here are the responses to this question, "If you and your family lived in Canada rather than the United States, do you think your life would generally be better or worse?"

• Much better - 21%
• Somewhat better - 26%
• About the same - 21%
• Somewhat worse - 12%
• Much worse - 10%
• Not sure - 9%

In response to the second question, which asks about which country "has a better reputation around the world," here are the responses:

• The United States - 27%
• Canada - 56%
• Both equally - 10%
• Not sure - 7%

Those percentages are rather damning of the U.S. 47% of those polled think their lives would be either much better or somewhat better if they lived in Canada. 

With Moscow Don's dumbass tariffs about to hit, it's going to hurt the economy and raise prices as supported by various smart people in "U.S. Economy Shows Signs of Strain from Trump's Tariffs and Spending Cuts." 

As a supporter of President Adolf says, "At least for now, the economic signals are flashing slower growth and inflation. Not good." 

Measles, of all things, is making a comeback in certain area of Texas. Read the NBC News article "First Measles Death Reported in Texas as Kennedy Downplays the Outbreak." The anti-vaccine crowd did this. As the article relates, measles was considered gone 25 years ago, but now the number of vaccine exempt kids entering kindergarten is 3%. In that area of Texas it is 18%. 

Of course, Kennedy is going to downplay it. He's a moron. 

Random Notes from a Crank

On Valentines Day, YouGov had its three daily questions focus on love and relationships and such. 

The first question was, "Throughout your life, how many people have you been in love with?" Here's how the percentages broke down when I took the survey:

• 0, 4%
• 1, 17%
• 2, 24%
• 3, 19%
• 4, 9%
• 5, 4%
• More than 5, 10%

60% of respondents said either 1, 2, or 3 partners. One factor I think in play is the first person you love and how breaking up with them makes you more rigorous in falling in love after the first person broke your heart. That's why I checked 2. 

As for these "more than 5" people, I think they need to be more rigorous with their loving. 

This week I finished rewatching all six seasons of Northern Exposure, which is now available on Amazon Prime. It's my favorite TV show of all time. At the end of every episode, you have a good feeling at the end--except of course the final episode when I was sad the series was over. 

The show was way ahead of its time. From my knowledge, the series has to be one of the first to have an openly gay couple in it. And the show started questioning Maurice's sexuality from the second episode after he gets mad at Chris for bringing up Walt Whitman's homosexuality. 

One of my favorite episodes is the one in which Maurice has a fancy dinner party for the 25th anniversary of his radio station, the one titled "The Big Feast." Ron, one of the gay men in the series, raises a toast to Maurice by saying, "You're a bigot and a homophobe."