Random Notes from a Crank

Here are some factoids from the most recent editions of "Harper's Index":

• Percentage of Afghans who are expected to be living in poverty in August: 97
• Percentage of Americans who approve of labor unions: 68
• Percentage change since 2019 in U.S. labor union membership: -4
• Portion of Americans who think Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech is no longer relevant: 1/4
• Percentage by which Republicans are more likely than Democrats to think so: 94
• Percentage of U.S. educators who plan to retire earlier than they had expected: 55
• Percentage of U.S. workers who received raises in the past year that kept pace with inflation: 17
• Percentage by which men with a dog in their dating-app profiles are more likely to want a long-term relationship: 90
• Increase, in years, of the average age of marriage for U.S. adults since 1970: 7

The Guardian has an interesting article that relates recent research by archeologists that goes against the traditional narratives about prehistoric men and women. The depictions follow gender-based cliches. Check out "Prehistoric Women Were Hunters and Artists as Well as Mothers, Book Reveals." 

Some of these organizers for travel baseball tournaments are sketchy as hell. My son's team had a tournament in Peoria this weekend. We were originally set to have our first pool-play game at 5pm on a Friday, which is a shitty draw. 

With all the rain, our pool-play games got switched to Sat morning, so my son and I drove in a steady drizzle and checked into the hotel and ordered pizza. Then a couple of hours later, our coach was notified that the tournament is cancelled because of rain. 

So by not telling us ahead of time that it's likely to be cancelled, they made many people pay for hotel rooms and also made money hand over fist for the sponsoring team. With a $75 admin fee multiplied by 19 teams, the sponsoring team made $1,425 with no games being played.

Thievery. 

A waste of my time. A waste of gas. A waste of my preparation. A waste of my money. 

A lot of frustration and anger. 

Random Notes from a Crank

 If you have a subscription to the New York Times, take time to read "This Is America" by Roxane Gay. 

Over a year ago, the Nasty family booked a vacation in Cancun for over the week of Thanksgiving. I feel a bit shameful about this, but we're still going. If we don't, we would just flush thousands of dollars down the toilet. And from what I gather, Cancun was one of the best places to take precautions for Covid-19 when the pandemic started. 

We've consulted all kinds of info about this trip, and from the sound of it, we're probably safer in Mexico than the United States, which is a sad commentary on how poorly America has dealt with the pandemic. 

Still though, I harbor a good bit of nervousness about the trip. 

Sometime this summer I need to take my family to Cahokia Mounds. 

Back when I was in graduate school, Mrs. Nasty and I visited the Moundville Archeological Park, which was really interesting. It's a smaller, more closely bunched set of mounds. 

Those Mississippians...

Which reminds me of this great song.