Music Friday: "Subterranean Homesick Blues"

I've been driving a lot this week for a host of reasons. 

This song was featured during the recent episode of David Fricke's show on SiriusXM when he had the lead singer of Little Feat on his program. 

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

If you want to watch a solid documentary about the somewhat recent past, you need to check American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden. 

The film starkly contrasts the Bush and Obama administrations. They had bin Laden trapped in the mountains, but for whatever reason, the Bush administration did not use troops to scoop up the leader. 

Whereas when Obama had a chance to get him, and it was a risky call that his Vice President advised against him doing, Obama went forward on the special operation to take down what they found out to be bin Laden. 

This contrast goes against the common thinking that the GOP is tough on crime and terrorism, whereas the leader of Democratic Party is one who ordered the takedown of the mastermind of 9/11. 

Tottenham Hotspur won the Europa League, so there's been quite a party going on in N17. 

I'm an "Ange In" guy, so the club needs to get it together and acquire some players that will make us competitive in the Champions League. 

It's pretty simple. He won silverware for a club that hasn't won a competition in 17 years. 

Get it done. 

Music Friday: "Funny Vibe"

I woke up this morning and had my coffee while watching a video on YouTube. 

I thought about what song to feature today, and for whatever reason "Funny Vibe" came to mind. 

Here you go. 

Living Colour is such a great band. 

Random Notes from a Crank

As was expected, Moscow Don's foolish economic policies have made the economy worse because of his stupid tariffs and the amount of debt the U.S. owes to all kinds of countries: "Markets Rattled on Concerns about U.S. Debt." 

This is what the U.S. gets when the country votes in a moron who bankrupted a casino.

The GOP says they care about budget deficits, but when they get the White House, the deficit increases. 

They only seem to care about the deficit when a Democrat is in office. 

I recently purchased some chia seeds because I've been reading about the health benefits of eating them. People suggest using them with yogurt. 

I've moved from the high-sugar yogurts to something much healthier. I'm going with Greek yogurt with fruit intermixed, and I add some honey for a bit of sweetness. Then I will sprinkle in some chia seeds. 

Here's what Healthline says about chia seeds: "Chia Seeds 101: Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits." 

Tottenham Hotspur won the Europa League yesterday. #COYS

I'm intrigued with which new players will join the club to bolster its squad because of the Champions League competition. 

Music Friday: "Gild the Lily"

I had heard this song quite often listening to the SiriusXM Spectrum channel. 

Come to find out that the new album by Billy Strings is a double album - twenty songs in total. 

Here's "Gild the Lily." 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Dumbed-Down Pasta alla Zozzona

I subscribe to Sip and Feast on YouTube, and this is a variation of his recipe. I don't think I've ever seen guanciale around these parts of east-central Illinois. Hell, I rarely see pancetta around here. 

And since I only see pecorino romano at Aldi on occasion, I just had to use parmesan. 

And before I watched the video, I had no idea what the heck pasatta was. I was able to acquire that via the InterWebs. 

If you want a truly Roman version of this dish, check out "Pasta alla Zozzona - The Secret Roman Pasta I Can't Stop Making." 

After we ate this today, the comment I made to Mrs. Nasty was that if I had to add anything to this dish, it would be mushrooms. I don't know if that would be a sacrilege or not. 

Ingredients

4 slices of good bacon, cut into small pieces

1 lb. of Italian sausage

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 egg yolks

1 egg

1/2 cup of Parmesan-Romano cheese

A healthy amount of cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

1/2 cup of dry white wine

1 bottle of pasatta (I used the Rutti brand)

1 lb. of penne pasta (use the tubular pasta of your choice)

Process

I used a Dutch oven for this dish, but if you have a very large saute pan, that will work too. 

Place the bacon into the oven and render it. Pull it out and drain on a plate lined with paper towels. 

I cooked the pasta and then drained it while doing this. Reserve some pasta water in case you need to thin out the sauce a bit. 

Set to medium heat and add in the sausage. Cook halfway through and add in the onion. I broke up the sausage with potato masher and mixed the sausage and onion together. 

Add the pepper flakes and distribute them for a minute or two. 

Add the wine, set to high to burn off the alcohol, then move the heat to just under medium heat, and add the Passata. 

Combine the egg yolks, egg, cheese, and a ton of freshly cracked black pepper. Mix thoroughly. 

Set the sauce to a low-key simmer for approximately 15 minutes and add the pasta. Thoroughly mix it in and cook for approximately 10 minutes. 

Taste to see if you need to add salt (I added a little). 

Take the Dutch oven off the heat and mix in the egg-cheese mixture. Serve. 

One of the aspects of this dish that surprised me is that it does not call for any garlic at all.  

Random Notes from a Crank

As I can attest to, gardening is good for people from a physical and mental standpoint. The New York Times has a nice little article about the subject: "Why Gardening Is So Good for You." 

As much as I hate weeding, especially flower beds, I enjoy seeding and planting new crops. 

However, there are benefits of digging in the dirt. 

I'm in the midst of watching the Netflix documentary Turning Point: The Vietnam War. It's a good documentary. It's not as good as the PBS documentary by Ken Burn and Lynn Novick, but it's solid. 

As I was watching the third episode "Life Is Cheap," I had the idea or rather the question of whether anyone has ever written speculative novel that narrates what would have happened if Bobby Kennedy would not have been assassinated and would have become President in 1968. 

I guess what I'm looking for is perhaps some positive speculative fiction. 

At an antique bazaar we went to on Saturday, I bought a movie poster for Ferris Bueller's Day Off, easily one of the best comedies of the 80s. 

The poster inspired me to watch the movie yesterday, and it was excellent. 

The one scene in which the teacher talks about the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act that launched the Great Depression and George W. Bush's description of "voodoo economics" is relevant. 

Music Friday: "Buggin' Out" & "Check the Rhime"

One of the albums I listened to this week was The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest. 

Here are two standout tunes from this opus. 

Musing of the Moment: Tottenham to a European Final

Tottenham beat Bodo Glimt 2 to 0 in the second leg of the semifinal with goals from Solanke and Porro. 

Spurs are in the Europa League Final and will face Manchester United. It's a Premier-League Final. 

The last time Tottenham was in a European final they faced another red-clad, Premier-Leage team: Liverpool. 

My hope is the outcome is different in 2025. 

Come On You Spurs. 

Music Friday: "Bad State of Mind"

I've heard this song played on the SiriusXM station The Spectrum. 

I immediately enjoyed the sound of this band and will probably be checking out their first two albums. 

Treaty Oak Revival is a new band to me. 

Random Notes from a Crank

Lots of things are going to get more expensive. 

A bunch of idiots are counting on Moscow Don to make some deals that help the U.S. and bring business and industry back to the United States. The New York Times has a good article on this nonsense: "A Flashing Economic Warning and a Sharp Political Jolt." 

The Canadian Prime Minister, who has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Oxford, has a more realistic view of what's happening: "Our old relationship with the United States, a relationship based on steadily increasing integration, is over. The system of open global trade anchored but the United States, a system that Canada has relied on since the Second World War, a system that, while not perfect, has helped deliver prosperity for a country for decades, is over."

What's more menacing is how President Adolf tariff nonsense has strengthened China's position in the world economy. China is now importing soybeans from South American and getting its beef and pork from other countries. 

I woke up in a pissed-off mood this morning because I was thinking about how the head coach of high school basketball team basically wasted my son's junior year. And to a certain extent, the head coach of the high school baseball team is doing something similar. 

As I was driving to a baseball game yesterday, I caught the broadcast of the Barcelona-Inter Milan Champions League match, the first tie of two matches. It sounded like it was bananas. 

Based on the highlights, it was. 

I don't have a team I'm rooting for in that competition, but I certainly want PSG to beat Arsenal.