Saturday, December 31, 2022

Random News: December 31, 2022



DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.



Good morning. It’s December 31, 2022, and it’s a Saturday. It’s the last day of 2022 and I’m in my blue bathrobe, so let’s discuss whatever seems appropriate at the moment…


  • It’s the end of another year.
  • What is a year?
  • Well, it’s a time frame that measures the orbital period of a planetary body, like our little planet Earth, around a star like the Sun. We say it’s 365 days, with 86,400 seconds in each day to be precise.
  • Is a “year” an exact quantity of time? No. Does it exactly align with our number of days? Not at all. The average length of the calendar year is 365.2425 days.
  • That’s why we have leap years every four years. Otherwise, shit starts getting off track pretty quickly.
  • I should note here, as I do when we discuss time, that this is all completely bullshit. There’s no calendar in space. Time runs at different speeds depending on your frame of reference to various gravitational influences. Obviously a year on a different planet like Mars or Venus is not at all the same as it is on Earth. And there’s no arbitrary point in the orbit of any planet the denotes the change to a new year.
  • The exact orbit of Earth around the Sun changes over the longterm as well, as does the length of a day. So, we can create calendars and schedules that work pretty well for the short term of, say, a human lifespan.
  • We humans invent these things to help make the repetitive aspects of seasons and such more predictable. That’s a good reason.
  • Anyway, the concept of a year allows us to denote somewhat of a bigger picture passage of time. You don’t get that many years.
  • It’s a good reason to make the most of them.
  • Another aspect of time in the human experience: years em longer when you’re younger and shorter when you’re older. I know why. It’s pretty simple really.
  • When you’re ten, a year is 1/10th of your entire life. When you’re 50, that subdivision would equal five years. It feels about the same, perception-wise.
  • And then there’s the aspect of nostalgia. “Life was so good in (insert year).”
  • That’s bullshit too. First, nearly everyone equates better times to when they didn’t have nearly the level of responsibility as they do in their adult years.
  • Second, life has always been challenging, and frankly the further you go back, the more challenging it was. You think life was easier in 1066? In 1347? In 1863? In 1942?
  • Nope.
  • Third and finally, the fact that information is now way more widespread than at any time in human history, you’re likely more aware of the world, with its myriad problems and injustices that have gone on for millennia.
  • So you think things are worse now than they used to be. They’re not. You’re just a more informed person than any generation before yours, and you don’t get the benefit of blissful ignorance.
  • That brings us to 2022. This past year. Was it a good year?
  • I think it was. I made a living, I made some music. Neither me nor anyone in my immediate family suffered any serious illness or injury. I lived up to the majority of my responsibilities, for myself and for others.
  • And I had some fun… good new music I discovered, good conversations with friends around the world, good foods I ate, good shows I watched, good games I played. I spent a decent portion of 2022 enjoying my day, as I advise each of you to do at the end of these news blatherings.
  • And sure, there were downsides too, like every year brings, but if you go through life expecting only positivity, you’re going to end up pretty disappointed.
  • So, hats off to 2022, and here’s hoping 2023 has good stuff in store. I’m pretty sure it will.
  • And now, The Weather: “Speeding ‘72” by Momma
  • A bit of actual news.
  • An arrest has been made in the November murders of four University of Idaho students.
  • Bryan Kohberger, 28, was arrested Friday morning in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains. A SWAT team entered the location where he was staying in order to take him into custody.
  • Another couple of notable deaths yesterday.
  • Pioneering TV newswoman Barbara Walters died at age 93. It’s hard to imagine that there was a time where only men could be trusted to read the news on television, but there was, and it wasn’t all that long ago.
  • Walters began her national broadcast career in 1961 as a reporter, writer and panel member for NBC’s “Today” show before being promoted to co-host in 1974. In 1976, she joined ABC News as the first female anchor on an evening news program.
  • Second, the former Pope Benedict XVI died at 95. He’ll be remembered primarily for two things: being the first pontiff in 600 years to resign from the job, and the sex abuse scandals of the Catholic church during his oversight.
  • Rest in peace to both.
  • I’m still not going to spend much time on FPOTUS’s tax returns that were released publicly yesterday. The main takeaways that should surprise no one…
  • He claimed a large number of questionable items on his tax returns, like huge amounts of interest he claims to have received from loans to his children that seems to indicate he was disguising gifts.
  • He had foreign bank accounts between 2015 and 2020 while he was in office, including a bank account in China between 2015 and 2017, something he denied during his candidacy. He paid more in foreign taxes than in US federal income taxes in 2017, the first year of his presidency.
  • He pledged he would donate the entirety of his $400,000 salary to charity each year. His taxes don’t reflect that claim.
  • He benefitted personally from his own 2017 tax law.
  • Again, none of this is surprising news at all. He’s a sleazebag and every aspect of his life should be judged accordingly.
  • In news that might give you some tiny measure of hope for humanity, super gross Congressional rep Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) sent sell-wishes to rep Jamie Raskin (D-MD) regarding his fight against cancer.
  • “We disagree often, but I’ll be praying for Jamie Raskin. Cancer is a terrible disease. I watched my father die from it, and it broke my heart,” Greene said. “It’s good Rep Raskin has hope and his form of cancer is curable with the treatment he will be starting.”
  • Raskin responded, “Thank you, Marjorie, for this touching message, which my youngest daughter showed me. I’m grateful for your concern and very sorry to learn that you lost your father to cancer. Wishing you happy holidays with loved ones.”
  • So that’s nice.
  • In environmental news, yesterday, President Biden’s administration finalized regulations that protect hundreds of thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways, repealing a Trump-era rule that federal courts had thrown out and that environmentalists said left waterways vulnerable to pollution.
  • It’s another Biden win.
  • Today in history… Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gaul (406). The British East India Company is chartered (1600). Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000-year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness (1759). The incorporation of Baltimore, MD (1796). Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, then a small logging town, as the capital of the Province of Canada (1857). Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two (1862). Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, files for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine (1878). Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, NJ (1879). The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square in Manhattan (1907). President Harry S. Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II (1946). General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year (1955). The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government (1983). Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic (1992). The first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, resigns from office, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President and successor (1999). Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur (2009). The World Health Organization is informed of cases of pneumonia with an unknown cause, detected in Wuhan (2019).
  • December 31 is the birthday of explorer Jacques Cartier (1491), English general Charles Cornwallis (1738), painter Giovanni Boldini (1842), painter Henri Matisse (1869), businesswoman Elizabeth Arden (1878), American general/politician George Marshall, Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal (1908), singer-songwriter/activist Odetta (1930), actor Anthony Hopkins (1937), guitarist Andy Summers (1942), singer-songwriter John Denver (1943), actor Ben Kingsley (1943), fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg (1946), singer-songwriter Burton Cummings (1947), singer-songwriter Donna Summer (1948), bass player Tom Hamilton (1951), actress Bebe Neuwirth (1958), actor Val Kilmer (1959), singer-songwriter Scott Ian (1963), musician Psy (1977), and whatever Donald Trump Jr. (1977) is.


Back when I was a gigging musician in a cover band, New Year’s Eve was always a busy night. The gigs were often really fun and paid well. But the whole aspect of playing until 1 or 2am and then tearing down and packing up while exhausted, and then driving home with all the crazy drunks on the road… I don’t miss that part. I also don’t miss the “going out to parties and getting hammered and starting the year feeling like I’m going to die” time frame of my life. But I will stay up until midnight and watch the silly ball drop and see in the new year for tradition’s sake. Enjoy your day.

Friday, December 30, 2022

Random News: December 30, 2022



DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.



Good morning. It’s December 30, 2022, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! I’m sure there are things we can talk about, so let’s find out what they are together…


  • A couple of notable people died yesterday.
  • Brazilian soccer legend Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pelé, died at age 82. Pelé was a global ambassador for soccer and nearly single-handedly responsible for the growth of its popularity in the United States in the ‘70s. He is still considered one of, if not the very best to have ever played.
  • Iconic English fashion designer Vivienne Westwood died yesterday at age 81. She was the first to take styles from punk rock and new wave and bring them into the mainstream. 
  • Rest in peace.
  • I really wasn’t going to bother mentioning this moronic social media influencer and infamous misogynist Andrew Tate except for two things.
  • Thing one: Greta Thunberg’s perfect response to Tate’s “huge emissions” taunt on Twitter (“yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com”) is now one of the ten most-liked Tweets in history.
  • Thing two is much tastier. When Tate made a video to try and regain some of his manliness after Greta neutered him in front of hundreds of millions of people, the video was noticed by law enforcement in Romania. Why does that matter? Well…
  • In the video to Greta, he had a pizza box from a Romanian chain restaurant. That’s how they knew where to find him. Tate and his brother have now been detained along with two Romanians, with prosecutors claiming they "appear to have created an organized crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women".
  • So literally, in a purposeless effort to be a dick to a 19-year-old woman, he’s now a global laughingstock and is facing international sex trafficking and rape charges. Small Dick Energy indeed!
  • As long as we’re reveling in the world of schadenfreude, another horrible person I’ve avoided mentioning is named Chaya Raichik, but she’s better known as the far-right wing social media influencer “libsoftiktok”.
  • She’d hidden her identity while spewing horrible rhetoric about the LGBTQIA community, specifically trans people that has resulted in violence including attacks on hospitals providing gender-affirming care.
  • Raichik finally unveiled her face on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program this week… and was immediately identified as a participant in the January 6 failed coup attempt.
  • You love to see it.
  • The FPOTUS’s tax records have been released publicly. Honestly, as excited as you might think I’d be… I’m not. I always just assumed this guy used every cheat in the book to avoid paying his fair share. I didn’t need the paperwork to prove it.
  • I’m just happy they finally got released after all these years. It should be a prerequisite for any candidate at a national level.
  • And now, The Weather: “Hips” by Warpaint
  • A Chinese fighter jet flew dangerously close to a U.S. Air Force aircraft that was conducting routine operations over the contested South China Sea last week.
  • Some reports had the Chinese jet flying within ten feet of the US plane. The American plane had to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision.
  • The problem is that China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, where it has territorial disputes with Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and others.
  • We consider it international air space. Therein lies the rub. Similar aggressive acts have happened in recent weeks between China and aircraft from Australia and Canada. The minute it results in the loss of a plane or a life, this will escalate very quickly.
  • I know some of you folks in various states are having legal recreational cannabis stores opening, and might visit one for the first time right now. New York is one of them.
  • You’re probably used to getting weed from some guy with dreads named TJ who you meet in a McDonald’s parking lot.
  • There is no one type of weed dispensary, just like there’s not one kind of liquor store. Some of them are sorta sleazy and weird, and others are super trendy and upscale, like you’re buying a quarter ounce of indica inside of an Apple Store.
  • From the Sports Desk… a very worthy shoutout to NBA star Luka Dončić, who did something amazing this week.
  • The 23-year-old Slovenian Dallas Mavericks 6’7” point guard had a triple-double unlike anything the NBA has ever seen with 60 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists, including the tying basket off his intentionally missed free throw to force overtime.
  • Holy shit. And he has a long career still ahead of him.
  • Today in history… British soldiers burn Buffalo, NY in the War of 1812 (1813). The Treaty of St. Louis between the United States and the united Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi Indian tribes is proclaimed (1816). The Treaty of St. Louis between the United States and the Shawnee Nation is proclaimed (1825). The United States buys land from Mexico to facilitate railroad building in the Southwest in the Gadsden Purchase (1853). The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - USSR - is formed (1922). Former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein is executed (2006).
  • December 30 is the birthday of author Rudyard Kipling (1865), Japan prime minister Hideki Tōjō (1884), singer-songwriter Bo Diddley (1928), astrophysicist John N. Bahcall (1934), singer-songwriter Del Shannon (1934), actor Russ Tamblyn (1934), MLB player Sandy Koufax (1935), director James Burrows (1940), actor/singer-songwriter Michael Nesmith (1942), actor/singer-songwriter Davy Jones (1945), singer-songwriter Patti Smith (1946), singer-songwriter/producer Jeff Lynne (1947), journalist Matt Lauer (1957), actress/singer Tracey Ullman (1959), bag of dicks Sean Hannity (1961), secretary of state Mike Pompeo (1963), pimp Heidi Fleiss (1965), singer Jay Kay (1969), golfer Tiger Woods (1975), NBA player LeBron James (1984), and NFL player Carson Wentz (1992). 


Alrighty. It’s Friday, and for many of us in the USA and elsewhere, it’s a three-day weekend. I’m just going to do things and occasionally not do things, and basically be a person and appreciate just being here and alive and mostly well. I’ll talk about New Year’s stuff tomorrow, on the appropriate day as such. Enjoy your day.

Thursday, December 29, 2022

Random News: December 29, 2022



DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.



Good morning. It’s December 29, 2022, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. I suppose we should put up the periscope and take a look around in case anything is happening… 


  • A shocking announcement from Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who just got elected as ranking member of the powerful Oversight Committee next term…
  • “After several days of tests, I have been diagnosed with Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma, which is a serious but curable form of cancer.”
  • He is starting a course of chemo-immunotherapy and hopefully will make a full recovery. We need people like him.
  • Quick note on the horrifying outcome of the recent blizzard that’s taken dozens of lives in the Buffalo, NY area.
  • These folks have dealt with harsh winter weather their whole lives. So when they hear that a blizzard is coming, they naturally assume it’s something they’ve been through before and handled.
  • But climate change is making all manner of weather more harsh and intense, with stronger winds, higher heat, and lower cold temps than any of us ever had in our lifetimes. Please take these storm warnings seriously.
  • Speaking of serious things, I hope you don’t own any Tesla stock.
  • Shares of the electric-vehicle maker have lost 68% in 2022 through Wednesday, making it the worst performer among major companies in the S&P 500.
  • Tesla's slump is unprecedented. It was the largest-ever addition to the S&P 500 when it joined the index in late 2020.
  • In related news of weird dudes who run poorly-performing tech companies, Facebook parent Meta isn't very far behind Tesla in the race to the bottom, down 66% over the same period.
  • In a follow-up to yesterday’s bullets, Barry Croft Jr., 47, was sentenced yesterday to more than 19 years in prison for his role in the plot to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer.
  • Good. Fuck him too.
  • I’d previously mentioned TikTok, the popular short video app. It’s now been banned from electronic devices managed by the US House of Representatives.
  • They’ve identified TikTok as a “high risk to users due to a number of security risks.”
  • Separately, the US government is soon expected to ban TikTok from all federal devices as part of legislation included in the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill.
  • More than a dozen states in recent weeks have implemented their own prohibitions against TikTok on government devices.
  • Probably might want to determine if you want to keep using the app, if you are, or (more likely) your kids are.
  • Per another batch of transcriptions from the January 6 Committee, former White House top-level aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified that she saw former chief of staff Mark Meadows burn documents in his office fireplace around a dozen times – about once or twice a week – between December 2020 and mid-January 2021.
  • Note: almost all documents from the White House are required by law to be preserved.
  • Hmm.
  • Hutchinson also described a discussion about QAnon during a December 2020 meeting with Meadows, then-President Trump and Republican members of Congress, including Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
  • “Ms. Greene came up and began talking to us about QAnon and QAnon going to the rally, and she had a lot of constituents that are QAnon, and they’ll all be there. And she was showing him pictures of them traveling up to Washington, D.C., for the rally on the 6th.”
  • Sweet Lordy Moses.
  • And now, The Weather: “Cool Guy” by Girlhouse
  • George Santos, the incoming congressman who apparently lies about every aspect of his life, is being investigated by a New York prosecutor.
  • As mentioned here previously, one big question is about how he was able to lend his campaign $700,000 after having claimed on a campaign finance form in 2020 that he was making $55,000 per year.
  • From the Sports Desk… I guess this was bound to happen. The Raiders have benched Derek Carr, who holds franchise records in nearly every category, for the remainder of the season. Backup Jarrett Stidham will start for the two final games of the regular season. 
  • Carr has left the team rather than being on the sidelines for two weeks. I doubt we’ll ever see him in a Raiders uniform again.
  • Carr had started started 91 consecutive games for the Raiders, the longest active streak by any QB in the NFL. He’s thrown for 3,522 yards and 24 touchdowns this year… and also 14 interceptions, the most in the NFL.
  • Teams most likely to be looking at Carr: Bucs, Commanders, Jets, Texans, and Titans.
  • Here are the most popular baby names for kids born in New York, NY this year, in order of popularity.
  • Boys: Liam, Noah, Ethan, Lucas, Jacob, Joseph, David, Daniel, Aiden, and Benjamin. Girls: Emma, Olivia, Mia, Sophia, Leah, Ava, Isabella, Amelia, Luna, and Sofia.
  • Houston, TX put out their own somewhat similar list…
  • Boys: Liam, Noah, Mateo, Sebastian, Dylan, Daniel, Ethan, Santiago, Elijah, and Oliver. Girls: Emma, Olivia, Camila, Mia, Isabella, Sophia, Sofia, Ava, Amelia, and Charlotte.
  • Shrug. My actual name isn’t Zak, you know. I don’t mind the name Zak. It’s served me well for various purposes. But my actual name is Jeff. I love being a Jeff. It’s fun sounding.
  • I’m a fun guy. Mostly.
  • Today in history… Three thousand British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, GA (1778). The United States annexes the Republic of Texas (1845). Cecil B. DeMille starts filming Hollywood's first feature film, The Squaw Man (1913). The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution (1937). Czech writer, philosopher and dissident Václav Havel is elected the first post-communist President of Czechoslovakia (1989). 
  • December 29 is the birthday of inventor Charles Macintosh (1766), chemist Charles Goodyear (1800), US president Andrew Johnson (1808), UK prime minister William Ewart Gladstone (1809), cellist Pablo Casals (1876), politician Tom Bradley (1917), golfer/architect Pete Dye (1925), actress/producer Mary Tyler Moore (1936), actor Jon Voight (1938), musician Rick Danko (1943), singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull (1946), actor Ted Danson (1947), drummer Cozy Powell (1947), director/screenwriter Lilly Wachowski (1967), actor Jude Law (1972), and NFL player Myles Garrett (1995).


I have no idea what’s going on today. I’ve got a few ongoing work projects, as always. Some stuff to write, draw, format, post, code, whatever. My prediction for this week in regard to not knowing what each day will bring has been accurate. Of course, heh heh, we kid ourselves every single day that we know what’s going to happen. We’re usually right; life on a short scale is relatively predictable. But every day also contains some level of uncertainty. I aim for a steady existence, but there are always factors both within and outside of my control that can make things interesting in both good and bad definitions of that word. Hopefully more good then bad. Enjoy your day.

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Random News: December 28, 2022



DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.



Good morning. It’s December 28, 2022, and it’s a Wednesday. Here are some things that I’ve heard and/or thought…


  • Yesterday, a Michigan federal judge sentenced Adam Fox, the leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, to 16 years in prison.
  • A jury convicted Fox and an accomplice in August on charges of kidnapping conspiracy and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.
  • Good. Fuck that guy.
  • In far less good news, yesterday the Supreme Court voted to keep the Title 42 border policy in effect for now. This immigration rule was put in by executive order under Trump.
  • If you like the idea that the Supreme Court can pick and choose which executive orders to support and which to deny, you might want to take some remedial American history lessons.
  • The court says it will hear arguments in February over whether red states can intervene in the litigation over the policy. The vote was 5-4, with Neil Gorsuch joining the three liberals.
  • This situation with George Santos has to be urgently addressed. He didn’t “fib on his resume”; he lied about every aspect that could have qualified him for his new job as a Congressman. He didn’t go to college at all and never worked for the companies he’d claimed to have.
  • If any other federal worker was found to have lied on their job application about anything, let alone their work experience and education, that would be grounds for immediate termination. 
  • Despite that, Santos is about to be seated in Congress and possibly given committee assignments. Kevin McCarthy has the power to expel him from Congress, but we all know Kevin doesn’t have the balls to do the right thing regardless of circumstance.
  • And now, The Weather: “Wheel” by Cate Le Bon
  • I want to mention something that’s neither quite news and not quite personal but falls between those areas.
  • You need to have a plan together in case something awful happens where you live, be it a flood, an earthquake, a tornado, or in the case of a dear friend of many in the Second Life community who passed away last Friday, a fire.
  • Veritas McMaster had already made it out of her home that had caught fire on December 23, but then ran back in to try and save her beloved pet bird. I understand that. I do. My cats are part of my family.
  • But the rule in a fire is “Get Out, Stay Out”. What ends up happening way more often than not is that by running back in, not only do you not save the people or animals inside, but you end up dying too.
  • Veri was always a positive force, and I’m not surprised she had the courage to rush into a burning building. She will be missed by many people.
  • Sigh.
  • To cheer us up a bit, here’s a tidbit of info about the orange-hued guy who pretended to be the president for awhile.
  • He’d been POTUS for three years and 11 months before finding out that his daily public schedule actually went out to the public.
  • This revelation was shared by former White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere in his testimony to the House Jan. 6 committee that was made public yesterday.
  • “Every evening we prepared and released the daily guidance for the following day of the president’s public schedule. Beginning sometime around mid- to late December, the president discovered that, for the first time, my understanding, that we released a public schedule of his to the public.”
  • Jesus fucking Christ.
  • Today in history… John C. Calhoun is becomes the first Vice President of the United States to resign, after being elected Senator from South Carolina (1832). Osceola leads his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the United States Army (1835). Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state (1846). Wilhelm Röntgen publishes a paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation, which later will be known as x-rays (1895). The Syracuse Athletic Club defeat the New York Philadelphians, 5–0, in the first indoor professional football game, which was held at Madison Square Garden (1902). The first municipally owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco (1912). Baltimore Colts defeat the New York Giants in the first ever National Football League sudden death overtime game at New York's Yankee Stadium (1958). American businesswoman Muriel Siebert becomes the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange (1967). The last scheduled day for induction into the military by the Selective Service System (1972). 
  • December 28 is the birthday of brewer John Molson (1763), astronomer Thomas Henderson (1798), US president Woodrow Wilson (1856), singer-songwriter Pops Staples (1914), writer/publisher Stan Lee (1922), NHL player Terry Sawchuk (1929), actress Maggie Smith (1934), musician Edgar Winter (1946), singer-songwriter Alex Chilton (1950), actor Denzel Washington (1954), NHL player Ray Bourque (1960), computer programmer Linus Torvalds (1969), and actor/TV host Seth Meyers (1973). 


I thought this week was going to be somewhat mellow, with many folks still on vacation or otherwise enjoying the nebulous week between Christmas and New Year’s. I was wrong. I was busy as fuck yesterday, so I’m not going to make any more assumptions about this week. I already have a good-sized list of things to do today, so things are just sort of normal. I’m okay with normal. Enjoy your day.

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Random News: December 27, 2022



DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.



Good morning. It’s December 27, 2022, and it’s a Tuesday. Back to work for this weird week before the new year where no one knows anything…


  • I can’t even imagine what kind of hell people were going through trying to get back from wherever they spent the holidays. Southwest Airlines alone left thousands of people stranded across the country due to weather. They canceled 54,000 flights in 48 hours.
  • What can you do? If planes start crashing in foreseeable bad weather, you want the airlines to be accountable (and they should be). But the flip side of being stuck in airports and away from home is shitty, though still the preferable option to plane crashes.
  • A related note: this doesn’t just affect people in blizzard destinations. Southwest has canceled all flights out of Los Angeles through New Year’s.
  • Representative-elect George Santos (R-NY) admitted lying about his entire employment and educational history, as well as his religious background and other statements about his entire life.
  • He claims he is not a criminal, but isn’t this the textbook definition of fraud? He was elected under 100% false pretenses. I don’t care what party he represents; this guy can’t be allowed to compulsively lie his way through a Congressional career… or can he?
  • Another big question about Santos: his actual job before running for Congress was as a call center employee, and he’d been falling behind on his rent. Then, out of the blue, he lent his campaign $705,000. Where did all that money come from? The congressional Ethics Committee needs to find out pronto.
  • An Arizona court has been asked to sanction defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and her lawyers over her failed effort to overturn the state's election results with no tangible evidence for widespread voting irregularities.
  • Maricopa county's deputy attorney Thomas P. Liddy wrote that Lake filed a "groundless" lawsuit for a "frivolous pursuit".
  • The sanction will hopefully dissuade the next unscrupulous lawyer for bringing legal cases that waste the court’s time and energy.
  • In a separate court filing, Governor-elect Katie Hobbs also asked the Superior Court to have Lake compensate her attorneys for fees and expenses accrued in defending against the ridiculous lawsuit to the tune of about $550,000.
  • And now, The Weather: “Big Time” by Angel Olsen
  • I love this story. On Friday, a group of 10 tourists from South Korea were going from Washington D.C. to Niagara Falls, and ran into the blizzard from hell. Their van got stuck in a ditch in the snowbank. Desperate and freezing, they knocked on a door to ask to borrow a shovel.
  • They happen to find the house of Alex Campagna, a dentist, who knew letting the group back out in that storm would be a death sentence, so he and his wife welcomed all of them in, and ended up hosting all ten of them through Sunday when they could be picked up.
  • They put the tourists up on couches and in spare bedrooms, then made Korean food and watched football for two days. That’s how America is supposed to be. Choi Yoseob, a member of the tour group that Campagna hosted, said it was "kind of like fate" that they'd ended up at the home of a hospitable family with a full pantry.
  • ”We have enjoyed this so much," Choi said, describing the experience as unforgettable and a "unique blessing."
  • Awesome.
  • I saw that certain people this past week, both residents and visitors, were bragging about California’s warm weather and blue skies, which is kind of an asshole move.
  • Well because you tempted fate, this week we’re getting a category 4 atmospheric river bringing floods and up to 60mph winds to the Bay Area, which then makes its way down to SoCal with three back-to-back storms that will absolutely result in flooding, dangerously high surf, and mudslides.
  • Buckle up, fellow CA friends. The first of the storms should be arriving here this afternoon and continuing through New Year’s.
  • “But you need rain in drought areas!” Yes, of course we do, but we don’t have any infrastructure that prevents flooding or saves the rain from merely draining into the ocean. The good news is that it does add to the snow pack in the Sierras, which is more important to fight drought long term.
  • In music news… as I’d hoped, I was able to spend a chunk of yesterday putting together a private playlist of my band’s collection of demos that will eventually be a collection of songs on a new album.
  • I’m really stoked! It’s going to be great once we finesse some of the original raw tracks and tweak various things. But overall, it’s a really impressive bunch of music.
  • Today in history… Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate his theory of evolution (1831). Journalist John L. O'Sullivan argues in his newspaper New York Morning News that the United States had the right to claim the entire Oregon Country under “manifest destiny” (1845). Kern and Hammerstein's musical play Show Boat, considered to be the first true American musical play, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway (1927). Radio City Music Hall opens in New York City (1932). The International Monetary Fund is created with the signing of an agreement by 29 nations (1945). Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital crewed mission to the Moon (1968).  Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship (1978). Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet (2004). 
  • December 27 is the birthday of astronomer/mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571), microbiologist Louis Pasteur (1822), actress/singer Marlene Dietrich (1901), gynecologist William Masters (1915), guitarist Scotty Moore (1931), actor John Amos (1939), journalist Cokie Roberts (1943), guitarist Mick Jones (1944), guitarist Lenny Kaye (1946), actor Gérard Depardieu (1948), drummer Terry Bozzio (1950), journalist Savannah Guthrie (1971), NFL player Deuce McAllister (1978), and NFL player Carson Palmer (1979).


Alrighty. I’ve got a sorta-normal Tuesday ahead. Plenty of work to do, grocery shopping in the afternoon for normal non-holiday food, and various meetings. That’s fine; getting back on track after the holidays is kind of a relief. However, since the world doesn’t all operate at the same pace, like most people I’ll be dealing with not knowing who’s in, who’s out, who’s on vacation all week, and so on. That’s fine; I’m flexible. Gotta bend like the stem and not snap like the twig, or however the fuck that goes. Enjoy your day.

Monday, December 26, 2022

Random News: December 26, 2022



DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.



Good morning. It’s December 26, 2022, and it’s a Monday. Since Christmas fell on Sunday, it’s also the observed holiday from work, so I’ll share some things while in a bathrobe and figuring out how to spend the day…


  • I had a good Christmas. Lots of gifts given and received. A ridiculous amount of food cooked and consumed.
  • I have to say that my two favorite presents, both from Kat, were a) a 19-string lyre harp that I spent a good chunk of the day yesterday tuning and teaching myself to play (pretty easy to learn, really hard to master like most instruments), and b) a t-shirt from the Four Seasons Landscaping Company, which is a gift that keeps giving.
  • My thoughts are with the people in western New York. No strangers to cold and shitty weather, they are tough people, but humans weren’t designed to handle that kind of onslaught.
  • 27 deaths in the Buffalo area alone, and 55 (so far) nationwide attributed to the nationwide blizzard.
  • My outlook is simple: seeing your friends/family for a holiday or any event simply isn’t worth dying for. Cancel your plans and stay home when you know this shit is a possibility.
  • In other news, it looks like there was another coordinated attack on power substations, leaving thousands without power in the cold. This time, it was four locations in the Tacoma area of Washington State. It is known that these attacks were purposeful; it is not yet known who did it or what their motives were.
  • It is domestic terrorism, and it’s something that’s been discussed on right-wing internet zones for years. I’ll reserve judgement for sometime after someone has been apprehended. But it will keep happening.
  • Speaking of deplorable behavior, three busloads of recent migrant families were dropped off in Washington, D.C. in record-setting cold late on Christmas Eve. 
  • They were sent by authorities in Texas, allegedly Governor Greg Abbott himself. The people on board included young children with no warm clothing.
  • These folks who forced migrants onto buses in deadly weather to get stranded in the cold call themselves Christians. See how I could never get on board with that religion? I would never associate myself with that kind of cruelty.
  • And now, The Weather: “This is Why” by Paramore
  • As I think I mentioned last weekend, my band They Stole My Crayon has determined that we’ve accumulated enough solidly good (or at least interesting) songs over the past few years of writing and recording that we can start the process of putting together a new album.
  • I’m going to spend a little time today doing some critical listening and making notes on what I think might need to be done — parts to rearrange, vocals and instruments to re-record, lyrics that need tweaks and so on — to actually wrap it up.
  • That will also take time, as will mixing, mastering, creating art and promo materials, and more. I’d say sometime in late spring/early summer might be possible for release. We’ll see how it goes.
  • From the Sports Desk… the NFL playoff picture still isn’t super clear, though it’s solidifying somewhat. Here are the eight teams who have locked in a playoff spot so far: Bills, Bengals, Ravens, Chiefs, Eagles, Cowboys, Vikings, and Niners.
  • Here are the eight teams who are eliminated from the playoffs: Browns, Colts, Texans, Broncos, Bears, Falcons, Rams, and Cardinals.
  • That leaves the following 16 teams who still have varying degrees of chances to make one of the remaining six playoff slots: Dolphins, Patriots, Jets, Steelers, Jaguars, Titans, Chargers, Raiders, Giants, Commanders, Lions, Packers, Bucs, Panthers, Saints, and Seahawks.
  • So the remaining games over the two remaining weeks do matter.
  • Today in history… The opera Agrippina by George Frideric Handel premiered in Venice (1709). Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium (1898). Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee (1919). Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States (1941). The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States (1963). The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach (1966). The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union, ending the Cold War (1991). 
  • December 26 is the birthday of astronomer/mathematician Mary Somerville (1780), politician Mao Zedong (1893), actor Richard Widmark (1914), radio/TV host Steve Allen (1921), producer Phil Spector (1939), MLB player Carlton Fisk (1947), MLB player Ozzie Smith (1954), drummer Lars Ulrich (1963), singer-songwriter Jay Farrar (1966), and actor Jared Leto (1971).


Okay… time for more coffee and a shower and stuff. Later on I’ll be cleaning up this post-holiday trash pit that I call home, but it feels nice to be taking it slow on a quiet Monday. Enjoy your day.

Sunday, December 25, 2022

Random News: December 25, 2022



DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.



Good morning. It’s December 25, 2022, and it’s a Sunday. It’s Christmas Day. I haven’t missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can.


  • Merry Christmas.
  • What is Christmas?
  • Well, it’s a day commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. He was a first century Jewish preacher and religious leader. His actual name was probably Yeshua.
  • He probably wasn’t born on December 25, but that day works as well as any.
  • I find it very likely that Jesus existed. There is a lot of historical evidence that mostly confirms this. He seems like he was a good dude and had some good ideas, so the authorities killed him, which also seems very believable.
  • As to whether or not you consider yourself a Christian — the world’s largest religion, I should mention — Christmas is both a religious and cultural celebration. Elements of what we consider traditional Christmas celebrations draw from a wide mix of pre-Christian, Christian, and completely secular themes and origins.
  • Many of the elements that are nearly universal about Christmas in America and elsewhere, such as gift giving and Santa Claus and putting a tree inside your home, have little or nothing at all to do with the religious observance of the holiday.
  • But that’s fine.
  • Perhaps the best aspect of Christmas, or so I believe, does come straight from Christianity, which is a phrase from the Bible (Luke 2:14)… 
  • “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
  • I am all about peace and goodwill. Definitely yes.
  • One reason that Christmas never seems to lose popularity is that it’s one of the huge driving forces of the economy in many countries.
  • Not to be cynical or anything, but a lot of holidays come and go. This one has major corporate support and the bash registers are ringing over most of the planet. It’s not going anywhere!
  • So, you certainly don’t have to be a Christian to enjoy Christmas. I like almost everything about it, from the gift giving to the food to the music to the decorations to the overall vibe of peace.
  • And now, The Weather: “Amberlit Morning” by Joan Shelley feat. Bill Callahan
  • Today in history… First documentary sign of Christmas celebration in Rome (336). The coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome (800). William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy is crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London (1066). The Santa María, commanded by Christopher Columbus, runs onto a reef off Haiti due to an improper watch (1492). Halley's Comet is sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch, confirming Edmund Halley's prediction of its passage (1758). George Washington and the Continental Army cross the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day (1776). The Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continually performing arts organization in the United States, gives its first performance (1815). United States President Andrew Johnson grants an unconditional pardon to all Confederate veterans (1868). A series of unofficial truces occur across the Western Front of WWI to celebrate Christmas (1914). Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat (1977). Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union and the union itself is dissolved the next day (1991). The Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005 (2004). An explosion in Nashville, Tennessee occurs, leaving three civilians in the hospital (2020). The James Webb Space Telescope is launched (2021).
  • December 25 is the birthday of physicist/mathematician Isaac Newton (1642), diarist/poet Dorothy Wordsworth (1771), nurse/humanitarian Clara Barton (1821), busiensswoman/philanthropist Helena Rubinstein (1872), race car driver/businessman Louis Chevrolet (1878), businessman Conrad Hilton (1887), actor Humphrey Bogart (1899), singer/bandleader Cab Calloway (1907), screenwriter/producer Rod Serling (1924), anthropologist/author Carlos Castaneda (1925), singer-songwriter O'Kelly Isley Jr. (1937), keyboardist Bob James (1939), NFL player Ken Stabler (1945), singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett (1946), NFL player Larry Csonka (1946), singer Merry Clayton (1948), actress Sissy Spacek (1949), singer-songwriter Annie Lennox (1954), singer Alannah Myles (1958), singer-songwriter Dido (1971), and Canada prime minister Justin Trudeau (1971).


Merry Christmas. Enjoy your day.


Saturday, December 24, 2022

Random News: December 24, 2022



DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.



Good morning. It’s December 24, 2022, and it’s a Saturday. It’s the morning of Christmas Eve, which is weird because we don’t say tonight that’s it’s the evening of Christmas morn, so let’s just go about our business before I have to start wrapping things…


  • The House passed the omnibus spending bill, it was signed by President Biden, and so our federal government is funded to do things through September. That’s good.
  • Over a million people were without power last night as the bomb cyclone fucked up their shit. I wish them well and hope the heat and lights are on for everyone ASAP, and certainly before Christmas morning tomorrow.
  • Thousands and thousands of flights were canceled yesterday and today. Many roads were closed or became otherwise unnavigable. I know people make plans and want to be with families and loved ones over the holidays. Frankly, it might have been a better idea to phone this one in. 
  • There was a shooting last night at Mall of America in Minnesota. One dead, another grazed. It would be nice to live somewhere that doesn’t have people killing each other at our supposed most peaceful time of year. I know that’s not realistic. You may say I’m a dreamer. 
  • But I’m not the only one.
  • And now, The Weather: “Shotgun” by Soccer Mommy
  • I’m checking out NORAD’s Santa Tracker. I’m sure you know the story.
  • It actually goes back to December 24, 1948. The United States Air Force issued a communique claiming that an "early warning radar net to the north" had detected "one unidentified sleigh, powered by eight reindeer, at 14,000 feet, heading 180 degrees."
  • In 1955, as the story goes, a Sears department store in Colorado Springs ran an ad which told children they could place a call to Santa Claus and included the number ME 2-6681. That number was off by one digit, and instead went to the Continental Air Defense Command Center.
  • It’s more likely that some kid just misdialed. Anyway, it got answered by the crew commander on duty, Colonel Harry Shoup.
  • Shoup recognized it as a good PR opportunity, and told public affairs officer Colonel Barney Oldfield to inform the press that CONAD was tracking Santa's sleigh.
  • In his release to the press, Oldfield added that "CONAD, Army, Navy, and Marine Air Forces will continue to track and guard Santa and his sleigh.”
  • The following year in 1956, Oldfield informed him that the Associated Press and United Press International were awaiting reports that CONAD again was claiming to be tracking Santa Claus. Shoup agreed that Oldfield should announce it again, and the annual tradition was born.
  • In 1981, CONAD was renamed NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), and published a hotline number for the general public to call to get updates on Santa Claus’ progress.
  • And obviously, the tradition continued in the online age. Starting in 1997, people could track Santa using a website set up for this purpose.
  • If you want a less military-based Santa and a more corporate-based Santa, Google has its own Santa Tracker.
  • In case you’re wondering, NORAD has Santa over the southern Indian Ocean at this moment, heading toward Madagascar.
  • From the Sports Desk… the Tennessee Titans have delayed their scheduled noon CT game by an hour due to rolling blackouts in the region, stemming from the winter storm and brutal cold.
  • All the NFL games being played right now — most of them crucial to various teams’ playoff hopes — are close. 3-0. 7-6. 0-7, 0-0, 7-7 and so on after the first quarter.
  • Today in history… Du Fu departs for Chengdu, where he is hosted by fellow poet Pei Di (759). Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook (1777). The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria (1818). The opera Aida premieres in Cairo, Egypt (1871). Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast, consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech (1906). U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower is named Supreme Allied Commander for the Operation Overlord (1943). The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so (1968).
  • December 24 is the birthday of astronomer Jean-Louis Pons (1761), frontiersman/general Kit Carson (1809), brewer/physicist James Prescott Joule (1818), engineer/pilot/businessman Howard Hughes (1905), actress Ava Gardner (1922), general George Patton IV (1923), producer/businessman/politician Mike Curb (1944), trumpeter Woody Shaw (1944), singer-songwriter Lemmy (1945), guitarist Jan Akkerman (1946), actor Diedrich Bader (1966), author Stephenie Meyer (1973), radio/TV host Ryan Seacrest (1974), and NFL player Davante Adams (1992). 


Well, I’ll be doing mellow holiday stuff today, and then wrapping presents soon. I could wrap them earlier, but we have four cats and there’s no way they’d resist opening the presents early. Cats have no sense of tradition or ceremony. Anyway, doing that and eating and stuff is all I have on my list. Enjoy your day.

Friday, December 23, 2022

Random News: December 23, 2022



DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.



Good morning. It’s December 23, 2022, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! Here’s are some things I’ve seen or thought on Christmas Eve Eve…


  • Well, the Senate finally passed a $1.7 trillion government funding bill yesterday in a 68-29 vote, sending the package to the House for approval today.
  • Nancy Pelosi got the voting started in the House last night. It should pass before the midnight deadline. They all want to get out of there before Christmas.
  • The bill provides $858 billion for defense, $787 billion for non-defense domestic programs, and nearly $45 billion for military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
  • Sounds good. Get it done, House.
  • The House Select Committee on the January 6 failed coup attempt is now public. It’s 845 pages long. I’ll put a link in the comments.
  • If you don’t want to read it, I’ll give you the TLDR version: Trump should be barred from ever holding office again and should be prosecuted for multiple crimes in regard to the insurrection.
  • Now over to Jack Smith to do the prosecution work.
  • In other House news, at least for the moment, it seems as if Kevin McCarthy does not have the requisite 218 votes to become Speaker of the House.
  • I think he’ll get there eventually, but right now he’s got about 20 Republicans who’ve sworn not to support him. This could get fun.
  • Basically every other news story is about it being cold.
  • Our winters will be colder, our summers hotter, and our storms more severe every year for the rest of our lives. And this is being greatly accelerated due to mankind’s impact on the climate.
  • We can slow it down, but we cannot stop it at this point. We could have 40, 50, 60 years ago. But nope. All we can do is try and minimize our impact for future generations.
  • Anyway, it’s cold, and I hope you are doing okay in staying safe and warm under the circumstances.
  • As long as I’m on the topic, though… airlines canceled more than 2,400 US flights by late yesterday and had proactively canceled more than 2,200 flights for today.
  • Point being, if you were going anywhere, I hope you’re already there.
  • And now, The Weather: “Atopos” by Björk
  • Here’s something cool: yesterday, House Democrats voted to make Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) the top Democrat on the powerful Oversight and Reform Committee in the next Congress.
  • The Oversight panel, with subpoena authority and a broad mandate to probe federal affairs, is among the most powerful panels in Congress. And with Republicans set to take control of the House next year, the position of ranking member will assume even greater importance. 
  • Republicans have promised that the Oversight panel will be focused on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
  • Shrug.
  • As long as we’ve been talking about voting, the Senate passed a bill that guarantees workers reasonable break time to pump breast milk by a vote of 92-5. The five anti-women, anti-baby Senators are John Cornyn (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Rand Paul (R-KY).
  • Average American life expectancy fell from 77 to 76.4 years last year, bringing U.S. figures back 25 years to where they were in 1996.
  • Causes of death remained largely the same between 2020 and 2021, led by heart disease, cancer and COVID-19.
  • What factors increase longevity in other wealthy countries that we don’t seem to prioritize in the USA?
  • Quality education, affordable housing, access to healthy food, reduced income inequality and greater regulation of industries that pollute or provide potentially dangerous products such as cars or guns.
  • Welp.
  • In food news, rest in peace to Ali Ahmed Aslam, who died at age 77. This Pakistani-Scottish chef was credited (at least by himself) with inventing Chicken Tikka Masala.
  • From the Sports Desk… it’s the time of year when the NFL becomes like a calculus equation. Making the playoffs for about a third of the teams is some factor of their winning and multiple other teams losing, and so on. After this weekend, the playoff picture should be a lot more clear, although frankly it will likely be another two weeks when the regular season ends that we really who who’s in and who’s out.
  • Good luck to your team, unless their success impacts my team.
  • Today in history… King James II of England flees to Paris after being deposed in favor of his son-in-law and nephew, William of Orange and his daughter Mary (1688). George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, MD (1783). The novel Emma by Jane Austen is first published (1815). The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve System (1913). Sex Disqualification Act 1919 becomes law in the United Kingdom (1919). The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories (1947). First successful kidney transplant is performed by J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray (1954). The North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York, NY is topped out at 1,368 feet, making it the tallest building in the world (1970). The Immaculate Reception is caught by Franco Harris to win the Pittsburgh Steelers their first ever playoff victory (1972). 
  • December 23 is the birthday of painter/sculptor/architect Giovanni Battista Crespi (1573), businesswoman Madam C. J. Walker (1867), trumpeter/singer Chet Baker (1929), NFL player Paul Hornung (1935), computer scientist Bob Kahn (1938), singer-songwriter Jorma Kaukonen (1940), singer-songwriter Tim Hardin (1941), actor Harry Shearer (1943), guitarist Adrian Belew (1949), journalist William Kristol (1952), NFL player Jim Harbaugh (1963), singer-songwriter Eddie Vedder (1964), and actor Corey Haim (1971).


As you may note, I’m up at my usual early hour to bring you this news and then to get my ass to work, but frankly, I’m not expecting to get a lot done today. Ideally, I’ll spend more of the day listening to Handel’s Messiah, watching the 1970 Scrooge musical with Albert Finney, and just chilling. Now that I’ve said that, some emergency will come up and I’ll be working all day, but no matter. I’ll take it as it comes. Enjoy your day.

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Random News: December 22, 2022



DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.



Good morning. It’s December 22, 2022, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. We shall now delve into small chunks of information, arranged in easily-digestible tidbits…


  • It’s that lovely time of year when our government is at its own nadir of effectiveness… the passing of a budget to keep itself running.
  • The Senate would like to close shop and go celebrate the holidays and do whatever wealthy people do on their time off, but they’ve got this little $1.7 trillion government funding package to try and push through before the break.
  • Also, like many others, they’re looking to get the fuck out of Dodge before this apocalyptic snowy hellscape shuts everything down.
  • However, as of yesterday afternoon, they still weren’t close to an agreement that can be sent to the House before federal cash expires on Friday at midnight.
  • Specifically, there is major GOP infighting over the spending bill, with Mitch McConnell supporting it and Kevin McCarthy opposing.
  • They had to take a break from arguing and voting late yesterday, though.
  • Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a rousing and historic 32-minute address to U.S. lawmakers at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. last night.
  • He got a number of standing ovations, one after the following quote: “Against all odds and doom and gloom scenarios, Ukraine didn’t fall. Ukraine is alive and kicking.”
  • Another one…
  • “We’ll celebrate Christmas, and even if there is no electricity, the light of our faith in ourselves will not be put out. If Russian missiles attack us, we’ll do our best to protect ourselves. If they attack us with Iranian drones and our people have to go to bomb shelters on Christmas Eve, Ukrainians will still sit down at the holiday table and cheer up each other.”
  • Now that’s a great leader. Slava Ukraini!
  • And now, The Weather: “happy accident” by Tomberlin
  • While we’re at the weather, I will state, as I have for many days in a row… 
  • This quickly-approaching winter storm and cold blast will impact nearly every state. The National Weather Service is calling it a “once in a generation type event” that will cripple travel on some of the busiest travel days of the year.
  • Even for those not traveling, the cold temps and wind chills will absolutely be life-threatening for millions of people. More than 100 million people across 37 states are under winter weather alerts, primarily throughout the MIdwest and as far south as the Texas/Mexico border.
  • So… do anything you can right now so that you’re prepared for the worst (i.e., loss of power/heat, high risk of serious road accidents, cancelled flights/layovers, pipes freezing, etc.). Thank you.
  • Here? No. I live at the beach. It will be lovely though somewhat cloudy and slightly brisk with temps in the mid-60s. But you be careful.
  • Moving on.
  • A follow-up from a previous item… Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey agreed in court documents yesterday to dismantle a barrier made of double-high shipping containers and razor wire he had ordered constructed along parts of his state's border with Mexico.
  • I’d personally like to force him to do it by himself.
  • Ducey was sued because the barrier was illegally built on federal land and was causing damage to vegetation and seasonal streams in the Coronado National Forest.
  • What a prick. And speaking of Arizona…
  • Kari Lake, the person Donald Trump would be minus his small penis and about 300 pounds, took her loss in the Arizona governor’s race last month to court yesterday.
  • She has claimed the election was stolen and promised bombshells showing she was the rightful winner as soon as she had her day in court.
  • The trial started yesterday. Zero bombshells. The only things her lawyers brought up were small-bore problems that didn’t appear to show the widespread, intentional misconduct she would need to prove.
  • Yawn.
  • Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson, who is hearing the case, had previously dismissed eight of the 10 claims Lake raised in her lawsuit.
  • Governor-Elect Katie Hobbs takes office on January 2.
  • Here’s a weird one.
  • Kelly Conlon is a lawyer, and her firm is suing a restaurant owned by MSG Entertainment. MSG is also the parent of New York’s famous Radio City Music Hall.
  • She was going to see the Rockettes there with her daughter and their Girl Scout troop.
  • However, she was identified by facial recognition software while entering with thousands of others, was pulled aside by security, and told to leave. The daughter and the rest of the Scouts were able to see the performance.
  • Point being: there is no such thing as pubic anonymity anymore. Frankly, there’s really not online anonymity either. Basically, no matter where you go or what you do, physically or virtually, someone knows a lot more about you than you realize.
  • Just saying.
  • Jennifer McClellan is on track to become the first Black woman to represent Virginia in Congress.
  • She won the Democratic primary to fill the seat of Democratic Rep. Donald McEachin, who died last month from cancer.
  • McClellan still has to beat her Republican challenger but the district is heavily Democratic and she’s highly favored to win. Good stuff.
  • Remember the other day when I told you about George Santos, the GOP representative-elect who lied about his education and employment?
  • Turns out he also said his grandparents fled the Holocaust (they didn’t) and also said that he’s been openly gay for a decade… except he divorced a woman in 2019.
  • Seriously, this guy is amazing. He may have lied about every single aspect of his life. Well, welcome to Congress, I guess.
  • Today in history… Three weeks after the death of King Henry I of England, Stephen of Blois claims the throne and is privately crowned King of England, beginning the English Anarchy (1135). The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson (1807). Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto and Choral Fantasy (1808). Savannah, GA, falls to the Union's Army of the Tennessee (1864). Asteroid 323 Brucia becomes the first asteroid discovered using photography (1891). The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City (1937). German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe: “Nuts!" (1944). The first test flight of the SR-71 Blackbird takes place at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, CA (1964). Gerald Ford creates the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in response to the 1970s energy crisis (1975). Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany (1989). Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63 (2001). The repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell policy, the 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals serving openly in the United States military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama (2010). The 2018–2019 United States federal government shutdown, the longest shutdown of the U.S. federal government in history, begins (2018).
  • December 22 is the birthday of playwright Jean Racine (1639), composer Carl Friedrich Abel (1723), politician Frank B. Kellogg (1856), composer Giacomo Puccini (1858), composer Edgard Varèse (1883), chemist St. Elmo Brady (1894), first lady Lady Bird Johnson (1912), actress Barbara Billingsley (1915), actor Héctor Elizondo (1936), journalist Diane Sawyer (1945), MLB player Steve Garvey (1948), guitarist Rick Nielsen (1948), singer Maurice Gibb (1949), singer Robin Gibb (1949), NFL player Ray Guy (1949), guitarist Frank Gambale (1958), actor Ralph Fiennes (1962), rapper DaBaby (1991), and singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor (1993).


I have a kinda normal day planned. It’s hard to tell what’s going to happen around this time, when people are taking off for travel and vacations and all that. I do know I have to pick up a couple of final gifts at some point, but it’s minor stuff and won’t be a big effort. I’m hoping to slow down a bit (this week has been packed with deadlines), and maybe have a chance to do some holiday stuff and try and get into the spirit of the season. Enjoy your day.

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Random News: December 21, 2022



DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.



Good morning. It’s December 21, 2022, and it’s a Wednesday. Not sure what’s next, so let’s find out together…


  • Today is the first day of winter, and the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. The solstice occurs at 9:48PM UTC, which is 1:48PM here in PST and 4:48 in EST.
  • Happy solstice, you pagans. Go dance naked… somewhere in your warm house, preferably. It’s fucking chilly out.
  • The House Ways and Means Committee voted 24 to 16 yesterday to release former president Donald Trump’s tax returns.
  • Remember going back to 2016 during his run for president, Trump claimed he couldn’t do what every presidential candidate before him had, which was to make his taxes public?
  • He said it was because his taxes were under audit.
  • They were never under audit. In fact, the first entity who’s going to face trouble is the IRS, who did not perform the mandatory audits during the first two years of his presidency.
  • I’m not sure how much you pay in federal income taxes, but Trump paid $750 in 2017 and $0 in 2020.
  • Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) of the Ways and Means Committee, said that the returns showed there were “tens of millions of dollars in these returns that were claimed without adequate substantiation.”
  • FPOTUS’s full tax returns may be released as soon as Thursday, pending the committee’s work to remove personal information, such as Social Security numbers. 
  • Moving on.
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Washington today. It’s his first trip outside his homeland since it was invaded 300 days ago.
  • He’ll meet with President Biden in the Oval Office and then address Congress tonight.
  • A day after the House sent criminal referrals to the DOJ in regard to the FPOTUS’s role in the January 6 insurrection, the Senate unveiled a $1.7 trillion omnibus government funding package that includes the Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA).
  • It’s an update to the Electoral Count Act of 1887, and it’s a big deal.
  • It raises the threshold for objections to Electoral College votes from one member in each chamber to one-fifth of members in both chambers. It will prevent future Trump-like leaders from trying to subvert elections like Trump did on January 6, 2021.
  • In short, it protects the popular vote from being negated by any legal loopholes.
  • Good.
  • And now, The Weather: “Bull Believer” by Wednesday
  • Once again, speaking of the weather… travel is going to be very dangerous over the next few days and a lot of you are planning to pile in the car and head to Grandma’s for the holiday.
  • Travel conditions due to snow and cold are indeed life-threatening. This is the case from the West Coast to the Mountain states to the Midwest to the Northeast. Be careful and be prepared.
  • From the Sports Desk… rest in peace to Franco Harris. The Hall of Fame running back for the Steelers has died at age 72.
  • Ironically, this weekend is the 50th anniversary of perhaps the most iconic play in NFL history: the "Immaculate Reception”, where Harris caught (?) a deflected ball on 4th down and scored a game-winning touchdown over the Raiders with 22 seconds left in the game.
  • And Saturday is the 50th anniversary of that game, and… the Steelers are playing the Raiders.
  • RIP Franco. He was indeed great in every sense of the word.
  • Today in history… The city of Ryazan is sacked by the Mongol army of Batu Khan (1237). William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, MA (1620). Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln (1861). The Chilean Army commits a massacre of at least 2,000 striking saltpeter miners in Iquique, Chile (1907). American anarchist Emma Goldman is deported to Russia (1919). ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’, the world's first full-length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre (1937). Apollo 8 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans (1968). First flight of F-14 multi-role combat aircraft (1970). A bomb explodes on board Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270 (1988). The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control (1995). A great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurs, with the two planets separated in the sky by 0.1 degrees, the closest conjunction between the two planets since 1623 (2020).
  • December 21 is the birthday of painter Masaccio (1401), hunter/dog breeder Jack Russell (1795), UK prime minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804), chemist/engineer George W. Fuller (1868), baseball player Josh Gibson (1911), singer Werner von Trapp (1915), talk show host Phil Donahue (1935), actress/activist Jane Fonda (1937), singer-songwriter Frank Zappa (1940), guitarist Albert Lee (1943), guitarist Paco de Lucía )1947), actor Samuel L. Jackson (1948), producer Jeffrey Katzenberg (1950), actress Jane Kaczmarek (1955), sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner (1959), actor Andy Dick (1965), actor Kiefer Sutherland (1066), and French president Emmanuel Macron (1977).


So, I don’t keep heat on here overnight, because I’m cheap and our electric heat sucks anyway. So now I have to change into sweats and go downstairs and workout, and it’s like 45 degrees both outside and inside my home. This… sucks. Enjoy your day.