Random Notes from a Crank

I've never been an avid watcher of South Park, but the show is doing some outstanding work this season taking on President Adolf and his lackeys. 

This week's episode is wonderful satire of many topics, but my favorite part of the episode is how the characters are so reliant on ChatGPT, how stupid people are about how great it's supposed to be. 

My favorite part is when the wife pitches a business idea of turning fries into a "salad," the the AI says it's a great idea. 

I'm reading about the darker side of AI via the following book. 

After reading about the exploitation and the shit jobs people are doing for the tech companies and billionaires, you better think differently about how great AI is. 

The Micah Parsons situation with the Dallas Cowboys is bizarre. Since I am watching the Netflix documentary about the Cowboys in the 90s, the situation seems reminiscent to the Emmitt Smith holdout decades ago. 

Random Notes from a Crank

Per the article in The Washington Post, unemployment is up: "U.S. Unemployment Claims Rise to Pandemic High." 

President Adolf is Making America Unemployed Again. 

On the long drive back from Fort Morgan, Alabama, the mind wanders. So I got to thinking about old-school classic rock bands and artists. 

I've sometimes thought about if I had to pick only one band/artist out of these options, which one would I choose?

• Beatles
• The Who
• Rolling Stones
• Jimi Hendrix
• Led Zeppelin
• The Doors

I grew up listening to all of these bands/artists, and they undoubtedly influenced subsequent bands I followed as I ventured headlong into alternative rock in the 80s and 90s. 

Of those six, I think I've probably listened to The Who, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix the most. 

It's a silly mental exercise, but if I had to pick one, I guess it would be Led Zeppelin. 

Speaking of which, there's a good documentary on Netflix titled Becoming Led Zeppelin. 

It's worth a viewing. 

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. 

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. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I've been an avid viewer of Saturday Night Live since I was a kid. 

The sketch about Zelensky's visit to trap in the White House was spot on. And the new agency DOUCHE is strikingly accurate. That's what they're setting out to do: Department of Unmaking Child Healthcare and Education. 

Mike Myers had to have a lot of fun imitating Musk's strange mannerisms. 

I recently watched the Netflix movies about the start of SNL, Saturday Night. If the depiction is true, I never knew Chevy Chase and John Belushi disliked each other so much. 

It's now once again what I call the dead season of sports. I neither watch the NBA nor the NHL. And March Madness hasn't started. Since I quit playing fantasy baseball, I don't watch much MLB. And because Hulu doesn't have the Marquee Network, I don't watch the Cubs. 

Democrats are inviting federal workers who were fired because of the draconian efforts of DOGE to Moscow Don's Congressional address on Tuesday. Many of them are veterans. 

I like this move because it shows how Trump, Musk, and their goons are just indiscriminately firing people. And I like how pissed-off constituents are showing up at town halls. 

Of course, craven Republicans will just stop having town halls if I had to guess. 

Random Notes from a Crank

If Twitter declines dramatically in use and influence because of Musk's negative influence, I wonder which online platform/s will fill the vacuum for quickly sharing information in a non-cesspool like setting? 

Well, Twitter has been a cesspool for quite a while, but at least they seemed to be taking steps to quash lies and misinformation during the previous organizational regime. 

Based on some cursory research done via the InterWebs, some of options look like Mastodon and Counter Social. 

I joined Mastodon to check it out. If you are on the platform, my handle is Quintilianw@masto.nu.

My daughter, who is home from college, asked me the other day if I went to Woodstock. My immediate answer was, "How old do you think I am?" 

I was confused obviously because she was asking about the one in 1999 because she watched the documentary Trainwreck: Woodstock '99. Mrs. Nasty and I got married during the summer of 1999, and that was the summer before my second year in my Ph.D. program. No concert-going was happening. 

I was at my local CVS, and they had a manner of bourbon called Jethro T. Boots for sale for $7.99. Hell, at that price, a fifth of that bourbon is cheaper than a six pack of craft beer. 

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 get annoyed about how some people complain about having to ask for straws or having to use non-plastic straws because of environmental concerns. 

When I'm at an eating establishment that provides water or whatever non-alcoholic beverage in an open container, I don't need a straw. I'm a big boy. I'm not some child who needs a straw to drink my beverage. Using a straw in an open container is like an adult drinking out of a sippy cup. 

I've been watching the only season of Alone that's on Netflix. Of the reality programs out there, this is one that intrigues me because of the ingenuity of the participants. 

The fact that so many of these contestants go days without eating is remarkable, but the show also makes me think about how early hunter-gatherers had to be fanatical meat eaters once they got their hands on some wild game. 

From a pure caloric standpoint, fish or game provides a ton more calories than a plant-based diet based on foraging. Also, from an evolutionary standpoint, the Homo sapiens eating meat helped grow their brains and made them stronger. 

While I get being a vegetarian from an environmental standpoint, I would have a hard time being one. I'm not a fervent meat eater, but I'd like to be more intentional about the meat I eat. 

In a positive political story, Kansas voters rejected changing the state's constitution to support an abortion ban: "Kansas Abortion Vote Shows Forced-Birth Zealots Should Be Very Afraid." 

My hope is that access to abortion will be a major issue in the mid-terms that will help pro-choice candidates on the ballot. 

Random Notes from a Crank

The last few days I watched the new Netflix series Young Wallander. The six-part series is well crafted, but I didn't like the ending. With that ending, there has to be a second season in the offing. If there isn't, I'm pissed. 

The second installment of All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur came out recently, and I binged it like a mofo yesterday. By the end of episode six, we're still not up to the quarantine, so I wonder how much time they'll spend on the club adjusting to the pandemic. 

As I stated previously in a recent Stay Positive post, I've taken a shine to Mourinho.  

Every day I'm checking a website that moderates the articles that speculate about what's happening with the squad during the summer transfer window. They signed Hojbjerg and Doherty, which were smart signings in lots of people's opinions. The other new face, Hart, is apparently a high character guy. 

I suspect Danny Rose will get sold or loaned somewhere with the emergence of Tanganga. We'll see what happens with Aurier.

But by Gods, they really need to sign a back-up striker who can also play other positions as a forward. That need is clearly apparent if you reflect how the squad played without Kane last season. 

It shouldn't be any surprise by the report by The Atlantic about how Moscow Don talks about veterans and military leaders. The report has been corroborated by multiple sources. 

Random Notes from a Crank

After doing some reading and some research, I'm moving to using avocado oil as my high-smoke-point and relatively flavor-neutral cooking oil. 

Mash the title if you want to know about "9 Evidence-Based Health Benefits of Avocado Oil." 

It's been a rough week for the Premier League. Manchester City got humbled by Lyon in the Champions League, which means there are no EPL teams in the quarterfinals. And on Sunday Manchester United lost to Sevilla. 

Speaking of football, I discovered a Netflix series about the eight national teams that have won the World Cup. The opening episode about Uruguay was fascinating. 

Because I planted pickling cucumbers, I've been making pickles. In addition, I pickled some hard-boiled eggs. A bar I used to frequent during my college days always had pickled eggs on hand, and I was one of those guys who acquired a taste for that odd foodstuff. 

Random Notes from a Crank

How is the saying, "clean as a whistle," even a thing? I've used a whistle as a coach. You got the thing in your mouth all the time, and it splutters out spit when you use it. 

Republicans always say that government doesn't work, and then when they get in charge of it, they prove that claim true. It doesn't work when they are in charge (President and the Senate).  

People blaming the media on Moscow Don's bungling of the coronavirus response is like blaming ESPN for reporting that Mitch Trubisky is not a great quarterback. 

If you're looking for a solid comedy special, check out Netflix's Neal Brennan: 3 Mics. 

If you want to be even more paranoid, start watching the latest season of BOSCH. 

Random Notes from a Crank

Throughout this whole Covid-19 disaster, I've unfollowed a number of fools on Facebook because of their moronic posts. 

We know of a number of people who vacationed during the start of this whole pandemic. 

Idiots. 

And some of the people who went around galavanting around the country were 60 and older. 

People can talk all they want about how the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus problem, but Moscow Don cut funding for the Pandemic Response Team in 2018, which there is a video that confirms that act, and as The Washington Post recounted in a well-researched story, "US Intelligence Reports from January and February Warned about a Likely Pandemic," Moscow Don was informed by multiple people about the like likelihood of this virus becoming the major problem it is. 

Because of the administration's lack of planning and response, the impact of Covid-19 is a catastrophe. 

Here's the lede from the article: "U.S. intelligence agencies were issuing ominous, classified warnings in January and February about the global danger posed by the coronavirus while President Trump and lawmakers played down the threat and failed to take action that might have slowed the spread of the pathogen, according to U.S. officials familiar with spy agency reporting."

And there's this: “'Donald Trump may not have been expecting this, but a lot of other people in the government were — they just couldn’t get him to do anything about it,'” this official said. “'The system was blinking red.'”

Of course, in a press conference two days ago, Moscow Don implied that he inherited a defunct system to respond to this disaster. He's blaming Obama. However, Moscow Don cut the funding for the response team for dealing with pandemics. 

And courtesy of knowledgeable friend from FB, here is a chronological list of his idiotic comments:
January 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.”
February 2: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
February 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
February 25: “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.”
February 25: “I think that's a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”
February 26: “The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”
February 26: “We're going very substantially down, not up.”
February 27: “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
February 28: “We're ordering a lot of supplies. We're ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn't be ordering unless it was something like this. But we're ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”
March 2: “You take a solid flu vaccine, you don't think that could have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?”
March 2: “A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.”
March 4: “If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better.”
March 5: “I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work.”
March 5: “The United States… has, as of now, only 129 cases… and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!”
March 6: “I think we’re doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down… a tremendous job at keeping it down.”
March 6: “Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They’re there. And the tests are beautiful…. the tests are all perfect like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good.”
March 6: “I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it… Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”
March 6: “I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault.”
March 8: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine-tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus.”
March 9: “This blindsided the world.”
March 13: Declares state of emergency and says “I do not take responsibility for anything”

The time home has let me watch season 6 and the start of the new season of Clone Wars. As Star Wars franchises go, Clone Wars has to rank in the top five best. The Empire Strikes Back is number one, but the Clone Wars series might rank as number two for me. 

After watching two documentaries on jazz artists, I purchased some albums I have on CD but not on iTunes. The Birth of the Cool is about Miles Davis, which was quite interesting. Chasing Trane is about the meteoric rise of John Coltrane and his fascinating music. I highly recommend both. 

Random Notes from a Crank

Buying a hammock is one of those purchases you make that you think you're going to use it a lot but you never do. It seems like a good idea, but you rarely follow through on it. 

There's a good opinion piece in the Washington Post that is worth anyone's read: "The Fight Against White Supremacy Could Learn Something from America's First War on Terror."  I especially think the comparison of Moscow Don to Andrew Johnson is an appropriate one. 

The article connects to the book I just purchased: Stoney the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates Jr. 

I'm exited that Netflix is going to do a live-action series reformulation of Cowboy Bebop. Variety has an article about the people cast in the show: "Cowboy Bebop..." The only actor I immediately recognize is Shakir because I saw him in Luke Cage and The Deuce.

Music Friday: "Changes"

I was first introduced to the work of Charles Bradley when he was featured as an artist on an episode of Netflix's Luke Cage. 

And then this song was used for the hilarious animated series Big Mouth. 

Enjoy.