Random Notes from a Crank

The New York Times has a helpful article about simple moves one can make to remain healthy and live longer: "5 Science-Backed Longevity Hacks That Don't Cost a Fortune." 

The article validates my daily practice of walking the dog. I could get back to doing dumbbell work on my upper body though. 

And I'm a big fan of fresh fruits and vegetables. 

"Training my brain to be more optimistic" isn't realistic though. I've been a grouchy 80-year-old man trapped in a younger body since I was a kid. 

Regardless, one has to be concerned because I am currently in the drop-dead years for men that the comedian Bill Burr talked about in his most recent stand-up special on Hulu. 

Burr has an appropriate take on Musk, his DOGE goons, and the cronies of President Adolf.

I especially like the rant on his podcast. 

In bizarre news, the person nominated to be oversee the Bureau of Land Management under the Department of Interior withdrew because people found that she wrote a letter that was highly critical of Moscow Don's lies about the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol. 

She stepped down because they found that she was critical of the lying autocrat, by being disgusted at what happened on Jan. 6th. 

Random Notes from a Crank

The word on my Word-of-the-Day calendar on Monday was "claque," which is a noun meaning "1. a group hired to applaud at a performance 2. A group of servile flatterers." 

The second definition is a good word to describe the GOP and its complicity in what Moscow Don is doing. 

The Athletic had an article about the use of "torpedo bats" in MLB. It'll be interesting to how pitchers adjust to these bats. Here's an article by the AP: "Torpedo-Shaped Bats Draw Eyes after Yankees Hit Team-Record 9 Homers in Rout of Brewers." 

I wonder whether metal bat manufacturers are going to experiment with similar designs. 

At work I noticed a packet of Domino's red pepper flakes lying on the stairs I climb every time I come into work. It's been there for at least two weeks. I'm waiting to see how long it takes for someone, the custodian or someone else, to pick it up and throw it away. It's like an ad hoc sociological experiment. 

The folks at Existential Comics are doing some great work. Check out "The Frog and the Scorpion from a Rational Point of View." 

Hit the link and follow them. I look forward to their new comic every Monday. 

I watched an old documentary about Thomas Jefferson on my local PBS station last night. It's the second episode. He takes office as President, so it covers his two terms. 

It also brings up the speculation about Sally Hemings, and a number of historians in the documentary say that Jefferson probably didn't have sexual relations with her. 

Time has proven them wrong. Monticello does history right with the site's "The Life of Sally Hemings." 

Two summers ago the Nasty family visited Monticello and Charlottesville after spending a great deal of time taking in the sights of Washington D.C. We visited Mount Vernon on our way there, which was a lot of fun also. 

If you're into American history, I highly recommend visiting Monticello. In retrospect, I should have bought some of the site's seeds that come from the mountaintop mansion and grounds. Jefferson was obsessed with gardening. 

Random Notes from a Crank

The strip from today for Rabbits Against Magic has it right. 

The MAGA hat should be referred to as a "Ku Klux Kap." 

Moscow Don and his minions are calling what's happening to Tesla dealerships "domestic terrorism." No, it's vandalism. 

Domestic terrorism is what happened on January 6th. 

Or what one of Moscow Don's supporters did to protesters in Palm Beach County. That move, albeit at a slow speed, is reminiscent of what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

What a jackass. 

In related news, Tesla sales are dropping like a lead balloon in Europe as reported by The Guardian: "Tesla's Europe Sales Drop Nearly 45% amid Row over Musk's Trump Links." 

I follow the US Men's National Team. They had a terrible week by losing to both Panama and Canada. I thought Pochettino would take them to another level, but I hope these are just growing pains.  

Poch's comments after the game basically related that it's better for them to find out what they need to work on now rather than later. At least this summer the coaching staff should have a full month or so to work with the players they select for the Gold Cup. 

Random Notes from a Crank

Kristian Ramos has an excellent article in Salon: "The High Opportunity Cost of Trump's Economy." 

The dark irony is that, as he says, "Latinos, as much as any group, are poised to bear the brunt of Trump's corrosive MAGA policies. This is particularly ironic given that Democrats lost ground this cycle with Latino voters because some believed Trump would improve their economic well-being." 

With labor shortages set to happen in the agriculture and construction industries because of mass deportations happening and President Adolf also wanting to impose tariffs on imports, the price of everything is going to go up. 

All of these changes aren't going to affect the rich. They are going to fuck the poor, working class, and middle class (what's left of it). 

Yesterday I was in the men's restroom at work filling up my watering can to water my jade plants. A colleague was at the urinal as I came in. He finished taking a leak and just walked out.

Without washing his hands...

Disgusting. He's spreading dick cells around. 

Also, why the hell do we can call it a "restroom"? I remember back in grad school, one of my comrades, an Englishman, made fun of this term for the place you go to pee and poop. His statement, with a wry smile, was "Yeah, I'm going there to rest." 

I prefer the term "crapper" or "the John." 

At least with "John," it's accurate in that Sir John Harrington invented the flushing toilet. Thomas Crapper, on the other hand, was just an English plumber but a very successful one.  

What's the deal with people backing their vehicles into parking spaces, so they can drive out with the front of their vehicle going first? Most cars nowadays, if it's a more recent one, have back-up cameras. 

Do these people seem to think they're better than the rest of us backing up their vehicles into parking spots. 

In addition, when I came to work today, all the vehicles that were parked that way were pick-up trucks. Is there something going on here with male fragility? 

I've had a hypothesis for decades about pick-up trucks. Unless you're actually a farmer who uses the truck to do chores, the size of the pick-up truck is inversely proportional to one's penis or brain size. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I'm trying this concoction called oxymel. It's apparently a health that dates back to Ancient Greece, back to Hippocrates. 

At base, it is equals parts honey and equal parts apple cider vinegar. I got the recipe from this blog post I found on the InterWebs: "Herbal Oxymel Recipes & Benefits." I'm doing the one for cold and flu, so I some used dried thyme, rosemary, oregano, and ginger. 

We'll see whether if it's worth my time. At the very least it has polyphenols that create antioxidants. I wonder about the taste though. 

I'm leaving Facebook. I've already deleted my Instagram account, and I'm abandoning FB on Feb. 1. 

I'm not sure if I'm going to delete my account or just not interact with people on FB with a dim hope that the platform will reform its ways. I may just delete it, and if I rejoin FB at some time, I'll befriend the good people who are my "friends" and not befriend the President Adolf supporters I have accumulated over the years. 

Regardless, I just cannot be on a platform that has given up fact-checking/moderation because Zuckerberg is genuflecting and licking President Adolf's asshole while that autocrat, the GOP, and his oligarchic cronies further game the system for the rich and the 1%, destroy the social safety net, foment lies and disinformation, deport hard-working people, deregulate all kinds of things that should be strictly regulated, stack agencies with pro-business  lackeys, pardon the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, and spread anti-science and anti-intellectual hokum while the poor, working class, and middle class lose out. 

Yet poor, working class, and middle class dipshits voted for President Adolf. 

I just have to remind myself that 54% of Americans read below a sixth-grade level. 

I can see why my daughter is looking at graduate schools in Europe. 

One of the books I'm reading right now is biography of Napoleon, Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts. I have some gaps in knowledge of European history, so it's an interesting read for me. The author's premise is that Napoleon is misunderstood for a number of reasons, one of which is because of British propaganda and Hitler being compared to Napoleon by Churchill during WWII. 

Napoleon was a brilliant military mind, and as I have found out, he was an intellectual. Here's a quotation from him that struck me as quite wonderful: "The true conquests, the only ones that cause no regret, are those made over ignorance." 

The world would be a much better place if people followed that statement. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I recently resubscribed to Mother Jones after not having a subscription for a couple of years. In the first issue I received this year, there's an excellent recount about how the GOP, from a historical perspective, has aided and abetted extremism and white supremacy for decades. 

It didn't start with Moscow Don. The Republican Party has been pandering to racists and nativists and angry white people for decades in order to get votes. 

The article is by David Corn and is titled "The Elephant in the Room" in the physical magazine but has a much longer title on the website: "It Didn't Start with Trump: The Decades-Long Saga of How the GOP Went Crazy." 

The article appears to be a précis of Corn's book American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy. I'm thinking of buying it, but I'm concerned it will just make me more angry than I already am. 

Regardless, as Corn relates in the next to last ¶ of his article, "But since at least the 1950s, the party has consistently boosted extremism, prejudice, paranoia, and rage. Sometimes this has led to the GOP prevailing in political battles. In other instances, voters have beaten back the cynical gambit." 

As someone who has strong opinions about football uniforms since I watch a lot of American football, I have to say that the orange helmets and uniforms that the Chicago Bears wore last week were terrible. 

Those helmets made me call the Bears team the "Great Pumpkins." And like the Great Pumpkin of Peanuts fame, they didn't show up at the end of the game in that snooze-fest that saw the Commanders beat the Pumpkins 12 to 7. 

I am rewatching the HBO series Deadwood, and I got to episode 7 of season 2 and was reminded of this great scene, which has Swearengen giving advice to Merrick about stopping moping around and feeling bad for himself.

I deal with so many people who make excuses when times get rough. They need to listen to Al. 

Here are some interesting factoids and stats from this month's "Harper's Index""

• Percentage change since 2019 in the portion of Americans who believe environmental laws are worth the cost: -23
• Percentage of U.S. voters who view climate change as the most important problem facing the country: 1
• Of U.S. voters under thirty who do: 3
• Portion of American young adults who have considered enlisting in the military: 1/10
• Portion of those who are ineligible to enlist: 3/4
• Percentage increase since 2019 in the number of independent bookstores in the United States: 34
• Percentage of undergraduates who say they encounter at least moderate difficulty with online learning: 94
• Percentage of Democrats that Republicans believe are atheist or agnostic: 36
• Percentage that are: 9

I guess I'm part of that 9 percent. 

Musing of the Moment: A Flag Pole & Bankruptcy

There's a home down the road from where I live here in east central Illinois that has a huge yard and a large flag pole. Atop the flap pole is an American flag, and below that flag is a Trump 2020 flag. I noticed the other day that at the bottom of the flag pole, the owner of the home has strewn razor wire about the base of the flag pole. 

What kind of maniac does such stuff, especially considering that Moscow Don lost the election? What kind of weirdo still keeps up a campaign flag? 

This stupidity is even more acute that Moscow Don regularly floats conspiracy theory and lies about how he won the election. 

The Washington Post profiled his despicable call with the Attorney General of Georgia in "Trump Pressures Georgia's Raffensperger to Overturn His Defeat in Extraordinary Call." He pleaded with him to "find" votes for him. 

The 45th President is the most corrupt Executive in our nation's history. And the GOP clowns who plan to contest the electoral college votes are aiding and abetting a con artist/criminal who is morally and financially bankrupt. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I am in support of the global movement of the "Fridays for Future" movement. As detailed in this Washington Post article, "School Climate Strikes Draw Thousands to the Streets in Cities Around the Globe," the movement entails this: "students forgo classes each week in favor of something they have said is more important: pleading for action on an issue that will affect every person on the planet, but young people most of all." I find it heartening that people are protesting when many of them can't even vote yet. 

Meanwhile a majority of the GOP and Moscow Don either don't want to do anything about climate change or stupidly describe it as a "hoax." 

Clowns. 

Stupid, stupid clowns. 

Their nonsense reminds me of a great quotation from a fine book by Catherine Nixey: The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World:

• "One can achieve a great deal by the blunt weapons of indifference and sheer stupidity." 

Here in Illinois, the state legislature has passed a law that is going to the new Governor that is making the legal age of buying tobacco products at age 21. I don't know about this bill. If there is any legal age that needs to be changed, the legal age to buy alcohol should move back down to 18. I do see teenagers vaping as a major issue, however. 

Random Notes from a Crank

Since tomorrow is Halloween, I thought I'd share some topical cartoons. 

This comic explains why he never showed up. 

This appears to be a fair assessment of the clowns in the GOP primary. 

I'm really enjoying the second seasons of Fargo and Manhattan. The latter TV series inspired me to purchase The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. It's a monstrous book, but it's supposed to be one of the best books about that topic. 

My friend recommended The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery. I'm reading that one before the Atomic Bomb book. 

Random Notes from a Crank

With all the talk about the Indiana law about "religious freedom" dying down because the 24-7 news media outlets are focused on something new, I've been thinking about how there should be such a thing as freedom from religion. Stop shoving your Jesuses and other saviors down my throat, people. 

I've never been a big fan of the Clintons, but "8 Nightmare Scenarios That Would Come to Pass If GOP Presidential Speech Became Reality" scares the hell out of me. 

Interestingly, Grist provides its own eight-item article: "8 Things You Need to Know about Hillary Clinton and Climate Change." 

I'm not a fan of Angry Birds, but I might be now. 

Speaking of video games, I'm hopelessly addicted to Star Wars Commander. I haven't felt this way since Dig Dug.

Random Notes from a Crank

Maybe it's just me, but often when I sit and watch my son do taekwondo, I want to yell out, "Sweep the leg." 

The other week I got a new book: Zen Pencils. If you like comics and inspirational quotations, you should check it out. 

I think we all should try to dance like the kids in A Charlie Brown Christmas. 



Of all of the fictional characters out there, Snoopy has to be in the top twenty. 

As college newspaper editorials go, this is one I enjoyed reading even though Inhofe and a like-minded cohort of idiots make me angry and frustrated: "It's Time We Call the Science Deniers What They Are."