Random Notes from a Crank

The American Prospect has an excellent article that pretty much describes how President Adolf has united Canadians because of his threat of a stupid trade war based on tariffs. 

As a result, as "Canada's Conservatives Crash with Onset of Tariff War," the upcoming elections for our ally to the North are set to be tightening. Trudeau is stepping down, but the new leader of the Liberal Party might do well. 

Meanwhile, the Senate has confirmed too many people to important posts, recently Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who will endanger the American people. 

While I find RFK Jr.'s anti-vax sentiments and concern about fluoride in drinking water asinine, I do like his focus on food additives and ultra-processed foods. 

The BBC has an interesting perspective on it all in "Can RFK Jr. Make America's Diet Healthy Again?" The article focuses on food, but the troubling part of his background is his anti-vaccination tendencies and propensity to support assertions with junk science. 

However, with all the hurdles in front of him and under an administration that touts junk food, I don't think he'll change squat. 

I need to find some more outlets--print, video, TV, or streaming service--that will make laugh more often. It's going to be a long four years. 

I rediscovered one, Regular Show, a series my oldest kid got me into. 

Good old Mordecai and Rigby...

That show hits the spot. Yeah!

Another one I've watched off and on recently that is not a comedy but is a sci-fi drama is Battlestar Galactica, a show I didn't watch when it was running on TV.

Of course, I could always watch one of my favorite TV series of all time, Northern Exposure. As I told my daughter, after each episode one leaves with a good feeling. Watching that show can be therapeutic. 

And I've been watching eposes of Seinfeld and The Office, but especially with the former, I've watched it so many times that I might need a break from the "show about nothing."  

Perhaps I need to revisit Parks & Recreation? 

Regardless, I am enjoying the new series St. Denis Medical. 

Random Notes from a Crank

On Valentines Day, YouGov had its three daily questions focus on love and relationships and such. 

The first question was, "Throughout your life, how many people have you been in love with?" Here's how the percentages broke down when I took the survey:

• 0, 4%
• 1, 17%
• 2, 24%
• 3, 19%
• 4, 9%
• 5, 4%
• More than 5, 10%

60% of respondents said either 1, 2, or 3 partners. One factor I think in play is the first person you love and how breaking up with them makes you more rigorous in falling in love after the first person broke your heart. That's why I checked 2. 

As for these "more than 5" people, I think they need to be more rigorous with their loving. 

This week I finished rewatching all six seasons of Northern Exposure, which is now available on Amazon Prime. It's my favorite TV show of all time. At the end of every episode, you have a good feeling at the end--except of course the final episode when I was sad the series was over. 

The show was way ahead of its time. From my knowledge, the series has to be one of the first to have an openly gay couple in it. And the show started questioning Maurice's sexuality from the second episode after he gets mad at Chris for bringing up Walt Whitman's homosexuality. 

One of my favorite episodes is the one in which Maurice has a fancy dinner party for the 25th anniversary of his radio station, the one titled "The Big Feast." Ron, one of the gay men in the series, raises a toast to Maurice by saying, "You're a bigot and a homophobe." 

Random Notes from a Crank

Watching Northern Exposure with all its Red Hook beer advertising reminds me of one of my favorite breweries. I drank my fair share of Red Hook ESBs and Long Hammer IPAs. Strangely enough, I drank lots of Red Hook, a beer made in Seattle, when I lived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I've never seen it around these parts, unfortunately. And now they have all kinds of interesting IPAs that I can't get my hands on.

I searched for it on Binny's website, and all I got was squat.

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed that show, Northern Exposure. It has to be my favorite TV series of all time. I'm so glad Amazon made it available on Prime.

Because of a possible "wintry mix," the schools around here did not have have classes. All it did was rain. The silliness of people who aren't used to snow...

I've seen a trend recently of mid-size cities or larger cities making people their area's poet laureate. When did this move of laureating poets in places like Mobile and Mufreesboro start to happen? 

I'm not against it or anything. In fact, I like it because it supports the artistic community, but I'm just wondering when this trend started. 

Who started the laureating fire? And where else will it spread to? 

NPR has an interesting article out about the "Nones," who are apparently the largest group in the US in regard to religion. I fit into that group because I'm a highly skeptical agnostic.

The article is "Religious 'Nones' Are Now the Largest Single Group in the U.S." 

The good news to me is that this group is growing and they are likely to be liberal.  In addition, apparently Evangelicals is a group that's shrinking. More good news. 

Random Notes from a Crank

"How Trump Is Ending the American Era" is a sobering article written by a guy who worked under Condoleezza Rice during Dubya's administration. He has a clear-headed analysis of the trouble we're in. 

On our drive to Philadelphia, I got to be in one state I've never been in, West Virginia. The slogan on the billboard as we entered was "Wild and Wonderful." That sounds more like an advertising phrase for some porn rather than a state's marketing slogan. 

The short amount of time we spent in West Virginia was good. The sliver of the state we passed through was quite pretty. Wheeling is an interesting city tucked in a valley alongside a river. 

Going through Wheeling made me think about the great character Chris Stevens from Northern Exposure, one of my favorite TV shows of all time. 

And that led me to a Northern Exposure wiki page about the character. Mash the link above if you're interested. 

Here are some relevant videos.





Mash HERE to watch the famous "piano fling scene."