Random Notes from a Crank

You know you've bought good stone fruit when you have to eat the fruit over the sink because it's so juicy. 

I bought some "Southern" peaches here in east central Illinois at a grocery store, and they actually ripened well. Sometimes that positive outcome doesn't happen at all. 

I've had peaches picked in the deep South, and none of the ones I've had here have lived up to those. 

I recently finished Michael Pollan's new book A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness. It's an interesting ride into how people are trying to figure out consciousness.  

Image courtesy of Amazon

Feelings and memories seem to be key to consciousness, and I don't think the people trying to create an artificial consciousness are going to be successful. 

Bill Bramhall's political cartoon about 60 Minutes in spot on. 

Courtesy of GoComics

The only thing worth watching from that company (Paramount) is The Daily Show. And we'll see if someone starts screwing around with that fine program. 

CBS cancels Stephen Colbert because they were bribing President Adolf, and now they are destroying one of the best news programs around. 

Music Friday: "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"

When I've been driving in my car this week, I've been listening SiriusXM's First Wave channel quite a bit. 

The channel trucks in 80s alternative music, which reminds me a lot of the early days of Mtv. 

Here's a group from that era for sure. 

 

Random Notes from a Crank

In not surprising news, a pro-Israel lobby has been schmoozing people in Congress on both sides of the aisle: "AIPAC Affiliate Has Funded Lavish Trips to Israel for Dozens of Congress Members." 

There are reasons why so many people in power don't criticize the treatment of Palestinians and the need for a Palestinian state. 

One of those reasons is that some think if they criticize Israel that they'll be labeled as anti-semitic.  

But, also, follow the money. 

So many corrupt officials. And so many more since President Adolf has been at the helm. 

At least some people in Congress and the courts upended the corrupt plan of the current administration to create a slush fund for idiots who claim the Biden administration targeted them, such as the traitors who stormed the Capitol building on January 6th. 

However, apparently the settlement will protect the Putin's Pet, President Adolf's family, and Sleepy Don's businesses from I.R.S. investigations, which is total nonsense. 

More goings on here in Dumbfuckistan. 

Lalo Alcaraz sums up our situation well. 

from GoComics 5-26-26

Musing of the Moment: The World Cup Groups

The World Cup is closing in. 

I checked out USA Today's article, "World Cup 2026 Groups: All 48 Teams in the Tournament," to see which, by my reckoning are the easiest and hardest groups. 

And I did the math based on FIFA rankings of the squads that was published by USA Today. 

I added up the rankings of each group. For purposes of this exercise, the lower the number of the combined rankings means that the group is a difficult one. The higher numbers mean it's an easier group for best squad in that group. 

Here are the combined rankings of each group:

• A: 112
• B: 119
• C: 93
• D: 93
• E: 94
• F: 87
• G: 120
• H: 108
• I: 68
• J: 107
• K: 93
• L: 88

Group I, which includes one of the favorites in France, is a difficult one with Senegal and Norway opposing the Frenchmen. 

Netherlands has its hands full in Group F.

Belgium got an easy draw in Group G just like Canada in Group B even though Switzerland might surprise. 

And England's group is difficult with Croatia and Ghana.  

I'd like to see a country win the World Cup that has never won it before. If I were a betting man, I'd put money either on the Netherlands or Portugal to do that. 

Of the squads out there to win it all, I'd like to see England or Senegal win it. 

Music Friday: "Tomorrow"

I heard this song on one of my SirisuXM radio stations, and it's been rattling around in my head this week. 

It's a quintessential grunge-influenced one-hit wonder from the 90s. 

Random Notes from a Crank

from The New York Times

It's yet another day in Dumbfuckistan, there's an octagonal cage being erected on the front lawn of the White House. 

You can read about this idiocy in "U.F.C. Fight Venue Takes Shape on the White House Lawn." 

Truly deplorable. 

I watched part of the MLS match between LAFC and the Seattle Sounders the other. Wow. Since I'm used to watching the Premier League, I found it astounding how slow the MLS match was. 

It makes sense if one takes into account how countries' football leagues are ranked. 

Like other entities' rankings, the Opta Power Rankings rank the Premier League as the number one ranked league in the world, whereas the MLS is ranked 19th behind the leagues in Belgium (ranked 7th), Portugal (8th), the English Championship (9th), and the Netherlands (18th), among others. 

In fact, I think the English Championship, the second tier of English football, is ranked too low. 

For example, this Global Football Rankings site has the Championship ahead of Liga Portugal and the Eredivisie. However, they have the MLS ranked 10th, which is absolute nonsense. 

Tottenham Hotspure survived, finally. What a terrible season. 

The club needs to spend smartly in the off season and offload players who are not part of De Zebi's plans. 

However, with so many players coming back from injuries - Kulusevski, Simons, Kudus, Odobert, Solanke, and Romero - it might be difficult to acquire a lot of players with only the league and cups to play in. 

Like Ben on WeAreTottenhamTV (YouTube channel), I want Vuskovic to "bed in" next season and play a lot because I think, like many others, that Romero is gone this summer.

I'd like to keep Papa Matar Sarr even though some people want to sell him because the club have so many midfielders right now in addition to Jamie Donley, Alfie Devine, and Yang Min-Hyeok coming back after being on loan.  

Random Notes from a Crank

It's that time of the year when the state track meet comes to town, so this week the town I live in has an influx of all kinds of people with high school students residing in some of the college's dorms. 

So the dorms' parking lots are full of high school buses that show the mascots of the high schools. 

Some of the most popular mascots are Bulldogs, Tigers, and Trojans. 

The high school my kids both graduated from had the mascot of the Trojans, which I find curious. 

They lost the Trojan War because of silly wooden horse. You would think people would use the side that won that mythical war, but they'd just have to call them the "Greeks." And that's not going to work. 

The closest moniker we got is the Spartans, but that was only a part of the Greek force in the Trojan War. 

I like entities that have interesting mascots, such as Crimson Tide, Wooden Shoes, Cornhuskers, Bunnies, Grey Ghosts, and so on. 

Here in Dumbfuckistan, The New York Times have a succinct article about about how the Iran War is MAME: Making America More Expensive: "What The Iran War Is Costing You." 

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert had its final episode on Thursday. I'm pissed off because that show was basically my form of therapy during the Trump administration and the pandemic. Check out "Stephen Colbert's Last 'Late Show': Laughing Well Is the Best Revenge." 

It looks like I'll be watching The Daily Show and Jimmy Kimmel from here on out. 

Fuck CBS. 

Music Friday: "Sunny Storms"

I watched a TikTok video a while back in which Bomani Jones was talking about how De La Soul's recent album was one of the best of 2025. 

 I took the guy's advice and downloaded Cabin In the Sky. 

There are tons of great songs on the album, but here's the third track. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Three-Bean Salad

At my son's senior night for the high school baseball team, one of the dads, who is a vegetarian, made a bean salad of sorts.

He made a huge version of it, so here's a much smaller version.

Ingredients

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed 

1 can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed 

1 can of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup of cooked corn

1/2 cup of diced tomatoes with green chiles (or use the juice of one lime)

1/4 cup of jarred jalapeños, chopped finely

Healthy smidge of Penzey's salsa seasoning

Dash of Dan-Os seasoning

Process

It's pretty dang easy. drain and rinse the beans. Put everything into a mixing bowl and add the seasonings. One can alter this in a number of ways, such as adding bell pepper, scallions, and red onion if you like. 

Musing of the Moment: The Death of Schlitz

In some sad news for beer drinkers, Schlitz is going the way of the Dodo: "Once-Famous Beer To Be Discontinued after 177 Years." 

Back when I was drinking lots of beer when I was in college in the 90s, I would frequent my local Hy-Vee grocery store in Kirksville, Missouri and be able to get a twelve pack of Schlitz for an economical $5.99.

We discovered Schlitz on a pledge skip to Ames, Iowa. One of my fraternity brothers went out to get beer for a bunch a guys and came back with twelve packs of Schlitz. 

We initially started drinking Schlitz because people would not bum beers off you at parties when you were drinking the "Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous." 

It was better tasting than the regular Beast Light or Natty Light that people drank back then. 

But eventually people came around to bumming Schlitzes off we Schlitzophrenics, even girls. 

It's a sad day in the history of beer. 

Music Friday: "Juat the Way You Are"

For whatever reason, this song is one of my favorite tunes by Billy Joel. 

I heard it yesterday as I was listening to SiriusXM's The Bridge channel when Mrs. Nasty and I were driving back from a baseball game. 

Musing of the Moment: The Iran War Creates Inflation

As The New York Times is reporting, inflation has gotten even worse because of the gas prices soaring because of the pointless war in Iran. 

Check out "Inflation Accelerates after Weeks of War in Iran." 

The Democrats need to campaign with showing how the GOP is tied to President Adolf's dumbass policies and decisions. 

It's pretty simple. 

MAME: Making America More Expensive. 

Music Friday: "Dan"

 I've been listening to Noah Kahan's new album The Great Divide a lot since it came out. 

One of my favorite tunes on the album is the final one titled "Dan." 

Random Notes from a Crank

 

I got 100 of these stickers of President Adolf the other day. Every time I get gas, I will be affixing them to gas pumps. 

Other people need to do the same. 

It's been over sixty days since the lunatic started the Iran War. Congress needs to take away his wartime power. 

The New York Times has a great article about the end of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: "When 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' Goes Away, What Do We Lose?" 

I wonder what Colbert is going to do next. 

Young Americans don't have a good opinion of the economy right now: "81 percent of Young Americans Say Economic Conditions Are Bad or Terrible."

With terrible gas prices and inflation happening on all kinds of products, the average person is getting screwed. 

Music Friday: "Spanish Castle Magic"

 I'm on time for a change this week. 

For whatever reason, I have this song rattling through my head today.