Music Friday: "Losering"

One of these days this week I listened to Whiskeytown's Strangers Almanac. 

Here's a straghtforward song from that opus. 

Random Notes from a Crank

Apparently the NFL is moving the Pro Bowl to become a flag football game. It was already that way in the past because like the NBA All-Star game, defense is optional in those silly games. Now the NFL is simply being truthful, which is a rare occurrence. 

"How Kansas Kept Abortion Legal" by Amy Littlefield in The Nation is worth a read. I hope it's a bellwether for the upcoming mid-term elections. 

I'm searching for a professional way of saying "bitch, please" without having to actually say "bitch, please." Here are suggestions from my friends on FB:

• Your opinion is duly noted, but I respectfully disagree.
• Bless your heart.
• Per my previous email
• Thank you for your interest.
• Please send me these concerns in an email.
• I'm sure that makes sense to you given your level of experience. 
• I'll take it from here.
• I appreciate your input, but we will be going in a different direction.
• Thank you very much, but I'm going to pass on that idea/opportunity at this time. 
• Thank you for the information.
• Perhaps.
• I've got you covered. 
• Ok, great. 

While I cannot find it online yet, you should pick up the most recent issue of The Nation and read Stephen Berry's "Confederates Take the Capitol." Berry is the Gregory Professor of the Civil War Era at the University of Georgia. He penned a trenchant essay about the January 6th insurrection and its historical context. 

Here's one of my favorite statements in the article: "At the base of most contemporary American conspiracy theories is the white male fantasy that indulges the feeling of being aggrieved, abused, dominated, or violated, precisely to justify the legitimacy of the ensuing white male vengeance and demonstrations of power and control." 

A few ¶s before, he makes this important statement: "...they [students of history and politics] assume that a majority of people act in their material self interest. Especially in the American context, they often don't. They act in their cultural self-interest. Any government program that benefits everyone (whether Obamacare, mask mandates, or vaccines) benefits out-groups relatively more--and America's traditionally dominant class (white male Christians and their allies) like winning less than they like watching other people lose. They not actually cynical about government; they know it works, but they want it to work for them particularly, perhaps exclusively, as it usually has--or they want it to not to work at all." 

Sunday Hangover: Vanderbilt

It's been quite a while since Alabama has played Vanderbilt. So the 'Dores came to Bryant-Denny on Saturday and got roundly spanked by a tune of 55 to 3.

Vandy had one good drive that resulted in a field goal in the first quarter, but that just seemed to piss off the Tide, and they shut everything down from then on out. 

The first part of the game didn't feature much of a running game. It was like Alabama just wanted the Oline to practice pass protection and get Young some quality work with his receivers. 

That plan happened if it indeed was a plan. 

Later one when Vandy when to a three-man front, the Tide decided to run more, and with the Tide up big, the running backs got some good work. It didn't matter whether it was a three-man or a four-man front. 

Gibbs didn't feature much in the game, but when he did, he looked outstanding. If he gets a little bit of space, he can use his speed to make some defenders look flat out silly. 

It was great to see McClellan running hard. He's more along the long line of bigger, brusing backs we've had in the past. 

And while Jamarion Miller has only gotten work in garbage time, he looks really damn good too. 

Brooks had one hell of day. Young threw to him often in the first quarter, and overall he amassed 117 yards on 6 catches with 2 TDs. 

Next up is a very difficult matchup in Fayetteville against Arkansas after they had a heartbreaking loss against Texas A&M. They should have won in Jerry World. 

Music Friday: "Program" & "Wall"

While doing work this morning, I listened to a couple of albums the Living Colour, specifically Shade from 2017 and Stain from 1993. 

Below are couple of great songs that probably don't get enough attention for music lovers. 

Please come out with a new album soon, fellas. 

Sunday Hangover: Louisiana-Monroe

Well, I suspected the War Hawks of Louisiana-Monroe were going to pay for the lackluster showing the Tide had in Austin.

63 to 7. 

Alabama scored in all phases of the game - on offense, on defense through Anderson's pick six, and two special teams touchdowns from a blocked punt and a punt return by Brian Branch.  

McKinstry had to be thinking "Why didn't I get a touchdown?" after Branch ran his back. Kool-Aid five punt returns for 136 yards. 

The offense had 273 net yards from a lot of different runners, some of whom I've never seen before like Jamarian Miller and Jonathan Bennett. 

The receivers did well against inept competition. So we'll see how they do against a surprising Vandy team next game. And then there's a three-game gauntlet of very good SEC teams to deal with: at Arkansas, vs. Texas A&M, and at Tennessee. 

There's not much to learn about the team based on the competition they faced. 

I did like seeing a TE besides Latu catch a pass. True freshman Amari Niblack had a nice catch for a TD. But it was good seeing Latu back on the field and doing well. 

Music Friday: "My Hometown"

I was listening to Dead Man's Town: A Tribute to Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. this morning, and I was reminded of the original and the cover by the North Mississippi Allstars. 

Check 'em out. 

Sunday Hangover: Texas

The last time I wrote about an Alabama-Texas game it was the Tide's first national championship under Saban. 

This one was a very different game except that both kind of went down to the wire although yesterday's game went down to the final seconds, not minutes. 

I didn't get to watch much of the game because I was driving for a weekend jaunt during it, so I listened to off an on because we were down in southern Illinois where the service was spotty as hell. I heard most of the game though, and here's what I gathered from what I heard and was told by the passengers who watched the game while I listened. 

The defensive backs played poorly. 

The offensive line struggled against the Texas defense throwing everything at them coupled with a very loud crowd. 

The young receivers struggled to get open. 

Alabama probably should have focused on running the ball more. 

It was the sloppiest game of the Saban era. So many damn stupid penalties...

Bryce Young is an exceptional football player. 

So, in sum, the areas where the Tide had question marks all had issues during a feisty road game. 

My hope is that this game serves as a good-bad win, meaning that Alabama played poorly in so many ways, they won, and the good-bad win works as a reality-anchor on how the Tide needs to work the process and get much better. 

There are all kinds of coaching points that Saban and the assistant coaches will be mining for weeks. 

Music Friday: "Whose God Is This" & "Bible Vs. Gun"

I was first introduced to the music of Will Hoge by a friend who turned me on to his great song "Bible Vs. Gun." 

The album that dropped for him this year, unfortunately, is first one I've purchased, and it's a good one. So today I'm featuring the closing song of Wings on My Shoes. "Whose God Is This" should invite some thinking. 

Music Friday: "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed"

I got lazy and didn't post a Music Friday post in time. 

Regardless, here's a classic from the Allman Brothers Band. 

Sunday Hangover: Utah State

I understand that Alabama is a very good team, but I thought Utah State would give them a bigger challenge because they won 11 games last season and won their conference. 

But they didn't. 

It was a 55 to 0 drubbing.

The biggest questions for me were the play of the new corps of wide receivers and the offensive line. 

As for the wide receivers, the new crop stepped up. I like Holden a lot, and Burton played well with two touchdowns apiece. And the freshman Prentice started and looked good. 

They have even more depth there with Bond, Leary, and Brooks. It's early in the season obviously, but we seem to have some players ready to contribute.

With the offensive line, Alabama needs to run the ball more effectively. Their performance, to me, was just okay. But I'm a fan of smashmouth football. 

Next up is an away game at Texas. The pundits tongues will be wagging about Saban going up against Sark. 

Random Notes from a Crank

Here's some interesting factoids from the two most recent Harper's Indexes:

• Percentage by which women are more likely than men to be interrupted in Senate committee hearings: 10
• By which such interruptions are more likely when they are discussing women's issues: 15
• Percentage change since 2010 in the average cost of an electric vehicle battery: -89
• In the average price of an electric vehicle: +80
• Average salary U.S. college students expect to make in their first job after graduation: $103,880
• Average starting salary for a U.S. college graduate: $55,260
• Percentage by which Americans drink alcohol less often than the average person worldwide: 18
• By which they get drunk more often: 58
• Percentage of Democrat-voting college students who would not go on a date with a Trump voter: 71
• Of Trump-voting college students who would not go on a date with a Democrat: 31
• Portion of U.S. pools that will be closed at some point this summer due to a lifeguard shortages: 1/3

I know if I were single I would screen potential dates on whether they support Moscow Don or not. That issue shows one's character. And if someone supports that criminal clown, they probably have all kinds of other issues, like mental illness and STIs. 

As much as I'm happy that the recent bill that was passed will give all kinds of incentives for people to buy electric vehicles, I'm worried that it is going to make crooked car dealers jack up the prices of EVs. 

One of the survey questions for a recent YouGov survey was this one: "Would you support or oppose a ban on single-use plastic water bottles?" I'm solidly in the support category in response to that question. Plastic water bottles are a menace, and bottled water is stupid. What a monumental scam that is destroying the environment with its terrible plastic waste. 

Christian Pulisic needs the get the hell out of Chelsea. I'm sure Spurs or Leeds United would take him off Chelsea's hands.

Music Friday: "Downtown Girls"

I finally got around to the buying the new album by American Aquarium, but after I listened to it the first time, iTunes proceeded to play Dances for the Lonely because it was next in the album queue as I was doing work this morning. 

I was reminded of how much I like this song. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Shrimp and Squash Rice Bowl

The person who has the office next to me gave me some zucchini and yellow crookneck squash the other day. She offered me some tomatoes and cucumbers, but I have plenty of those this summer from my own garden. 

I usually don't have luck making squash, but I tried something yesterday that worked. 

Now I don't remember any Chinese-inspired dishes that use zucchini or yellow squash, but I used some soy sauce and leftover rice to make it Chinese-like. 

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, chopped roughly
• 1 medium size zucchini, cut into thin half moons
• 1 yellow crookneck squash, cut into thin half moons
• 2-3 TBs of rosemary-infused olive oil
• Healthy smattering of Penzey's Mural of Flavor seasoning
• 2 handfuls of thawed and already cooked shrimp
• Salt and pepper
• Soy sauce to taste
• White or brown rice

Process

Put the olive oil in cast iron skillet (or wok I guess) on medium-high heat and dump in the onions. Sweat them for approximately ten minutes and then put in the squash. Move the heat down to medium. 

Add salt and pepper and Mural of Flavor seasoning and move the squash around so the sides don't get burnt. After the squash are relatively soft, add in the shrimp, and add the soy sauce. Turn off the heat and let the residual heat warm up the shrimp but not overcook them. 

Put newly cooked or leftover rice in a bowl and ladle the shrimp-squash-onion concoction over it. 

Music Friday: "Master of Puppets"

I've noticed that Metallica has become trendy because of the latest season of Stranger Things using one of its songs. 

If I remember right, I'm still stalled in season 3 in that series, so I haven't gotten to the season that made Metallica and Kate Bush popular among the youths. 

Regardless of popularity, when I think of Metallica, here's one of a handful of songs that immediately comes to mind.

Random Notes from a Crank

I'd venture to guess that the people who say "America is the greatest country in the world" haven't been to many other countries. And if they've been to other countries, it's not been for a long while, possibly only on a vacation. 

I know of family who has had to have fundraisers to help pay off their debts because their father, who died recently, had cancer. The US has to be one of the few, if not the only, first-world industrialized countries in the world that doesn't have universal health care.  

We don't have one of the best health care systems in the world, but it's certainly one of the most expensive. 

I think there needs to be a Karen/Karin support group out there. Being a "Karen" has been a negative epithet for a few years now. I've never thought of the name Karen in a negative light. 

One of my former girlfriends in high school was named Karen. And she provided fabulous hand jobs. So when I hear something along the lines of "you're being a Karen," all I have is fond memories. I smile and have an overwhelming feeling of good. 

The past month or so when I wake up in the morning I have found one of my bird feeders and the hummingbird feeder knocked down. My bird feeders are "squirrel-proof" because they have a mechanism on them that shuts the feed holes if a rodent weighs down on the feeder. So I was nonplussed about how a squirrel cracked the code. 

I pulled into the drive the other night and discovered the perp who has been knocking down my feeders. It's a raccoon. 

When my son was young, I remember watching a PBS nature documentary on raccoons. The scientists were tracking their movements in the city of Toronto. It was amazing how active they are and how many they are. They're everywhere.