Random Notes from a Crank

If I were a betting man, I'd bet that Congressional Republicans are going to reduce funding to or simply eliminate Medicaid to help try to offset their tax breaks for the rich. 

A repost on Bluesky the other day shared a great article shared by Charles Gaba shows by congressional district how many and what numbers and percentages of people are enrolled in such government programs. 

In my district, House District 15 of Illinois, 25.6% of the population depends on them. I would venture to guess that a number of those folks voted for President Adolf. 

If you're interested, it's "How Many People Have Medicaid/CHIP Coverage in YOUR Congressional District?"

I'm not much a gaming kind of guy. I had an Atari back in the day, and Mrs. Nasty and I got a Playstation as one of our wedding gifts, but other than that, there's only two games I've really played in the past five years. The first was Stars Wars Commander, which was a lot of fun and went defunct years ago. 

The past month I've gone back to the 80s. I'm playing Tetris. 

I find the game kind of calming for whatever reason. 

It seems pretty clear to me that President Adolf and his dumb-ass Secretary of Defense are going to "negotiate" in favor of Putin acquiring Ukrainian territories unless NATO gets involved, which they should. 

Read about it in the New York Times: "Warming Trend in U.S.-Russia Relations Leaves Ukraine in a Tough Spot." 

Musing of the Moment: Interesting Facts/Trivia

For the holidays I got book of factoids titled Interesting Facts for Curious Minds: 1572 Random but Mind-Blowing Facts about History, Science, Pop Culture and Everything in Between. 

As I read the book, I noted these facts/trivia I found most interesting, and I'm sharing them in this post. 

They are below, and I'm quoting the author, Jordan Moore, word for word. 

• Cuban dictator Fidel Castro was a pragmatic leader. One of his best-known quotes is, "A revolution is not a bed of roses."
• Panama may be a small country, but Manuel Noriega was able to build a personal fortune of $300 million as its dictator from August 12, 1983 to December 20, 1989. He built his fortune through drug smuggling, CIA contracts, bribes, money laundering, and fraud.
• If you really don't care about something, you "couldn't care less," not you "could care less." The latter implies you still have some caring to do. 
• The once common dog name "Fido" came from the Romans. The name is derived from the Latin word, fidelis, which means "loyal." 
• An average dog's hearing is four times better than a human, but the part of their brain devoted to their sense of smell is about 40 time larger than ours. 
• Although the ancient Egyptians didn't name most of their breeds, their texts and reliefs show they had basenjis, salukis, and greyhounds. 
• When your dog kicks his hind legs after relieving himself, it isn't a weak attempt to cover the poo. No, Spot is merely marking his territory with the scent glands in his feet. 
• Although dice games preceded the Romans, the Romans were the first people to bet on dice. The Romans called double 'ones' -- 'snake's eyes' today -- a 'dog throw.'
• Up to 20% of the American population may be allergic to the chemical nickel. This could be big considering that nickel is a major components in smartphones. 
• The 1980 arcade game, Pac-Man, originally came out in Japan as Puck Man. The name was changed when it was realized how vandals could have fun with the word "Puck." 
• The Atari 2600 console hit the stores in 1977. It was a big step up from previous game systems because it used separate cartridges for each game. 
• The lyrics of the nursery rhyme "Ring around the Rosie" are a bizarre mystery. Many believe it refers to a bout of the plague where people carried bouquets of flowers and herbs to smell while walking in public, while others think it refers to a pagan ritual. 
• The bean bag chair was invented in 1968 by Italian Piero Gatti, Cesare Poolini, and Franco Teodoro. Its popularity peaked in the late 1970s. 
• As Charles Darwin (1809-1882) developed his theory of evolution, he also invented the modern office chair by adding wheels to make a swiveling chair. 
• The Ancient Greek mathematician Pythogoras (ca. 570-495 BCE) is best know for his theorem but he was also a mystic who led a commune. 
• The opposite sides of traditional dice always add up to seven. You can throw the dice as much as you want, but it's always the case. 
• According to the "birthday problem," 23 random people can be placed in a room and there's a 50% chance two of them will have the same birthday. 
• Tamales are an ancient dish dating back at least 5,000 years in Mesoamerica. The word "tamale" is derived from the Nahuatl/Aztec word, tamali.
• The Carthaginians reportedly catapulted pots filled with venomous snakes onto the ships of the Pergamon navy during a battle in 184 BCE. 
• Greek Fire was an incendiary, napalm-like weapon used by the Byzantine Empire from 672 to 1453. The ingredients and process to make Greek Fire remain a mystery. 
• In  the 500s BCE, the Greek colony, Sybaris, in Italy, passed one of the earliest known noise ordinances. It prohibited tinsmiths and roosters form the city limits. 
• Hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms were taken by many different American Indian peoples as part of religious rituals. The Aztecs even referred to one species as the "divine mushroom." 
• In the 1980s, ethnobotanist Wade Davis claimed that Haitian Voodoo zombies were created by a combination of tetrodotoxin from a pufferfish and bufotoxin from a toad. They were then "reanimated" with a natural drug, datura.
• Englishman Thomas Crapper (1836-1910) didn't invent the toilet, but he did improve plumbing by inventing the "U-bend" trap. It prevents liquids and gasses from flowing back into the toilet. The actual invent of the flush toilet can be traced back to a British man named Sir John Harrington who, in 1596, devised a mechanism with a cord that, when pulled, flushed away waste with a rush of water. 
• A survey revealed that the average woman hasn't worn $550 worth of clothing they own or about 20% of their wardrobe. Interestingly, shoes are the number one unworn item. 
• Islam has traditionally viewed dogs as "unclean," so they aren't very common pets in the Middle East. Cats were kept by Mohammad and considered "clean." 
• Contrary to common media portrayals, most burglaries take place between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Professional crooks strike when homeowners are at work or school.
• "Molly Pitcher" is the legendary name of either Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley or Margaret Hays. The story is that "Molly" carried pitchers of water to Patriot troops to cool the canons during a battle in the American Revolution. 
• Warrior goddesses were not uncommon in the ancient world. The Greek goddess Athena, the Assyrian goddess Ishtar, and the Egyptian lioness headed goddess Sekhmet, were all martial dieties. 
• No US state uses wind as its primary source of electrical power. But it's the second source of power for Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Kansas. 
• "Forest bathing" is a form of natural mental health therapy where a person simply spends time in forests. The activity is officially sanctioned by the Japanese government, which calls shinmin-yoku.
• A single cottonwood tree can release 40 million seeds in one season. The seeds can then float through the air for days, much longer than any other type of seed. 
• In the Keynesian view of modern economics, low unemployment is more important than low inflation. Government spending is encouraged to keep employment levels high. 
• Simon Bolivar (1783-1830) was South America's George Washington. Bolivar drove the Spanish from northern South America to become the father of the nations of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Bolivia. 

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.

"Playing at Violence"

I read Pacifique Irankunda's "Playing at Violence" article in The American Scholar recently. It reminded me of one of my former professors, a Vietnam veteran, who liked to talk about how he had never hunted after being "in country." "After hunting humans," he said, he lost all interest in using a gun and hunting.  

Having survived a civil war, Irankunda has similar feelings about violent video games. It's not a diatribe masquerading as an essay. Rather, the contrasts he presents will make you think about people's fascination with and enjoyment of war-based video games. 

Football Obsessions

I don't know what exactly got into Quinn recently, but the kid's obsessed with either watching football or throwing a football around the backyard.

We've been passing the football around the yard for quite some time--in fact, all summer--but his interest probably amped up when he discovered our old Playstation circa 1999 and the two college football games we have. We've played against each other from time to time over the last two weeks, with him not really understanding what he's doing and me selecting plays for him that will work since all he likes to do is push the X button. So mostly all he does is pass on offense, and the passes usually go to the tight end.

And now he's so interested in football that he's got me watching NFL pre-season games. We watched part of a replay of the Jets-Bengals exhibition game this evening on the NFL Network. I'm not all that crazy about the NFL since college football is far superior, but I'm willing to suffer through some games for the kid.

But all this has made me think about when I was younger. I was also obsessed with football. As a result, books about the history of the NFL, its players, and the league's teams along with comic books were my gateway reading genres.

As always, I'm looking forward to the college football season, and it's only about a week and a half until Week 1. But now I'm interested how Quinn will take to football Saturdays, a tradition at the Nasty household. Hannah has always tolerated the watching of multiple games throughout the day with the Alabama game having utmost importance, but Quinn might appreciate the craziness more than she does.

There's a smattering of games to look forward to in Week 1. Alabama plays Kent State as a lead-in to their away game at Penn State in Week 2. However, here's an interesting trio of games in the first week:

• BYU at Ole Miss
• Boise State vs. Georgia in Atlanta
• Oregon vs. LSU in Dallas

As for the SEC, it'll be brutal once again within the conference. Before Knile Davis broke his ankle, I was leaning toward thinking that Arkansas wins the West with their excellent receiving corps and an improved defense, but now I don't know. They're still going to be tough as hell without Davis, so I think they win the West since I'm leery of picking the Tide and I fret about having a new quarterback (or two) commanding the offense.

I also think LSU has a solid shot of winning the West, but with possibly impending legal troubles ahead for their starting quarterback, who could get charged with second degree assault, it's hard to tell what's going to happen down there in Red Stick. Not a distraction you want before your first game versus Oregon.

And Mississippi State is going to be tough also.

As for the East, it's a three-team race: South Carolina, Georgia, or Florida. If I had to place a bet in Vegas about who wins the East, I'd go with UGA because of their navigable schedule and lucrative odds since most people think the Gamecocks will win the East.

Tabletop Ms. Pac Man

Since I'm usually looking to burn time when my daughter is at her two-hour gymnastics practice, my son and I stopped by the original Burger King in Mattoon after some grocery shopping.

It's a an old fashioned burger joint, with customers getting numbers and numbers being called for burgers, shakes, and fries. It's a Steak-n-Shake type of establishment but family owned.

With dated decor and booths--I'm guessing early 80s--I discovered something I haven't seen in years: a tabletop Ms. Pac Man. It was not as pretty and fresh as the combo Ms. Pac Man/Galaga tabletop shown above, however.

It was vintage; the screen noted 1981. It had also see its fair share of use for the past 28 years.

I remember being told that video game enthusiasts enjoyed Ms. Pac Man more than Pac Man. I never understood the reasoning why. Anyone know? Is it because of the cute pink bow?