Random News: May 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.

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Good morning. It’s May 31, 2022, and it’s a Tuesday that feels like a Monday. Random notes from my stressed-out brain ahead…

• So, this was cool. At 3PM yesterday, as I’d mentioned, it was time for “Taps Across America”. Like most things “across America” in history, I wasn’t expecting anyone to actually do it. But I pulled out my guitar, clamped a capo on the first fret to make the Bb key sound a little sweeter and more resonant, and played a very precise and solemn version of “Taps”. My window was open, and while I played, somewhere in the distance I heard the distinct sound of a student trumpet player also doing the tune. He or she was playing it in F, which is acceptable. Made me smile.
• As anyone who’s known me for the past (check watch) 29 years is aware, there’s a thing called the NAMM Show. It’s usually in January; this year it’s in June for pandemic reasons. I have been working ridiculous amounts to make sure my clients are ready, which meant yeah, I had to work over the holiday weekend. It is what it is. The actual show starts on Friday this week. I’m sure it’ll be fine. They usually are.
• Former child actor Kirk Cameron is now a right-wing radical extremist. He says that all public schools in the USA are “enemy number one” and that kids get taught “racial confusion” there. If racial confusion means not being a Nazi piece of shit, I guess I’m onboard. Also, FYI: he’s grifting for his own home schooling network, naturally.
• Canada has announced new gun control legislation, with a national freeze on importing, buying or selling handguns. It also takes away the gun licenses of pieces of shit involved in domestic violence or criminal harassment. I love the USA, but life sure seems more logical north of the border sometimes.
• The murder of schoolchildren in Uvalde, TX was a week ago today. Since then there have been 17 mass shootings in the USA. 

• The EU has issued a partial ban of Russian oil. In retaliation, Russia is threatening to cut off natural gas to Denmark and the Netherlands. At the end of the day, natural resources (especially energy resources) are the roots of nearly all military conflict of the past 75 years.


• Strawberries are the likely culprit for a recent hepatitis A outbreak. They were bought between March 5 and April 25 so they’re off the shelves now, but if you have any frozen, get rid of those disease berries.
• From the sports desk: we have conference finals in the NHL. In the East, it’s the New York Rangers versus the defending two-time champion Tampa Bay Lightning. The West has the Colorado Avalanche versus the Edmonton Oilers.
• Today in history… 1889: 2,200 people die when a dam fails and sends a 60-foot wall of water over Johnstown, PA. 1911: RMS Titanic is launched from Belfast, Northern Ireland. 2008: Usain Bolt breaks the 100m world record with a time of 9.72 seconds.
• May 31 is the birthday of poet Walt Whitman (1819), actor Clint Eastwood (1930), quarterback Joe Namath (1943), reggae great Jimmy Cliff (1946), king of all drummers John Bonham (1948), rapper Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels (1964), model/actress Brooke Shields (1965), and baseball player/Dodgers manager Dave Roberts (1972).

I suppose that’s it for now. Try and have a reasonably good day. Do no harm.