Random News: September 19, 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 September 19, 2022, and it’s a Monday. Various things…

• Ever notice that if you do anything long enough, you go through periods of hating it?
• Not necessarily the thing itself, but the actions around it. I love creating and playing music, but sometimes I get super cynical about any benefit that comes from it versus the effort — time, mental, emotional, whatever — that goes into it.
• On a more pertinent topic, some mornings I wake up and every news headline looks completely idiotic to me.
• They just continue on and on about the same things. All things that are true and pertinent to people’s lives. But every day I could assume there’s a shooting, a natural disaster, and some political horror show happened, and I’d just need to fill in the names and locations.
• Hey, by the way, did you know the Queen died? Yeah. She’s still dead. Her funeral is happening, which you probably didn’t know unless you turned on any one of EVERY FUCKING NEWS CHANNEL IN THE WORLD.
• Sorry.
• I’m not saying this stuff isn’t important, and it should be understood that the closer you are to a thing, the more important it is to you personally.
• I’m just glad I didn’t go into journalism for my career, as I had once considered. I’ve been doing this news for like four months and already I’m cynical and bitter about it.
• Not about doing it; I actually like that. No, about the fact that the world is on a giant loop of events that happen over and over, and no one seems to do anything to fix things. And the more you look closely at the news, the more you become painfully aware that humanity isn’t nearly as evolved and advanced as we like to think.
• President Joe Biden says that the pandemic is over. That’s nice. I’ve had at least five friends test positive for COVID-19 in the past week and had one old friend die of it the week before last, but if a president says something, it must be true.
• Pffft.
• The daily death toll from COVID in the USA is still in the hundreds. You know what? I may wear a fucking mask in public for the rest of my life.
• Meanwhile, at rallies for the former guy over the weekend, crowds are being encouraged to raise a right arm in the air to show their allegiance, commonly known as the Nazi salute that was well associated with Hitler. So, it’s good that the MAGA crowd is being open about their Nazi behaviors and beliefs now. It’ll make them easier to pick out so they can face repercussions for their actions.
• Note that I’m assuming any and every Republican voter is aware of and supports this.
• And now, The Weather: “In the Garden” by Real Estate.
• From the Sports Desk… congrats to the Las Vegas Aces, 2022 WNBA champions. They beat the Connecticut Sun 3-1 in the finals.
• The Sports Desk also notes that Aaron Judge hit homers #58 and #59, bringing him within two of the AL season record by Roger Maris set in 1961.
• Despite all my bitching up top of today’s bullets, I am both pleased and horrified to note that I am approaching the 100,000th word in this news bullet document I started in May. 
• Those who write will understand this is kinda insane.
• ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ is 77,325 words. ‘The Return of the King’ is 137,115. Steven King’s ‘The Shining’ is at 165,581 words. ‘1984” is only 88,942 words. The classic ‘Lord of the Flies’ is a mere 59,900. I mean, the 100,000 words I’ve done here in four months is almost halfway to Dostoyevsky’s ‘Crime and Punishment’ at 211,591 words.
• I coulda written something meaningful. I COULDA BEEN A CONTENDER!
• Ah well. Moving on.
• Not moving on. When I started college, I planned on being a psychology major. But then the realization of listening to the terrible things that happen to just about every person and affect their mental health would, ironically, be awful for my own mental health.
• I’m not good at not giving a shit.
• Today in history… Jamestown is burned to the ground by the forces of Nathaniel Bacon during Bacon's Rebellion (1676). The Continental Congress passes the first United States federal budget (1778). George Washington's Farewell Address is printed across America as an open letter to the public (1796). Union troops under William Rosecrans defeat a Confederate force commanded by Sterling Price (1862). Union troops under Philip Sheridan defeat a Confederate force commanded by Jubal Early (1864). The Electoral Act of 1893 is consented to by the governor, giving all women in New Zealand the right to vote (1893). Witold Pilecki gets captured on purpose, and is sent to Auschwitz concentration camp to gather and smuggle out information for the resistance movement (1940). Tipper Gore and other political wives form the Parents Music Resource Center as musicians testify at U.S. Congressional hearings on obscenity in rock music (1985). Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees surpasses Trevor Hoffman to become Major League Baseball's all-time saves leader with 602 (2011). 
• September 19 is the birthday of Liao emperor Mu Zong (931), explorer Thomas Cavendish (1560), lawyer Leon Jaworski (1905), car designer and businessman Ferdinand Porsche (1909), actress Frances Farmer (1913), actor and host James Lipton (1926), actor Adam West (1928), music manager Brian Epstein (1934), singer Bill Medley (1940), songwriter Paul Williams (1940), singer Cass Elliot (1941), musician Lol Creme (1947), actor Jeremy Irons (1948), model Twiggy (1949), journalist Joan Lunden (1950), producer Daniel Lanois (1951), guitarist Lita Ford (1958), chef Mario Batali (1960), actress Cheri Oteri (1962), singer Tricia Yearwood (1964), journalist Soledad O’Brien (1966), host Jimmy Fallon (1974), and actress Alison Sweeney (1976).

I guess that’s all. I know this was more of a “screaming into the void” cornucopia of complaints rather than much news, but this was never intended as being your main source of important information. I’m going to try and have a reasonably normal Monday. Enjoy your day.