Random News: September 4, 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 4, 2022, and it’s a Sunday. Here’s me relaxing in the midst of a holiday weekend and drinking coffee and writing words…

• It’s hot. And compared to everywhere else around me in California, it’s not that hot at all. But it’s hot for here.
• Up in Northern California, wildfires are growing. It’s the season for it. We live in a state that even in good years is nearly constantly in drought conditions. Add in some extra heat and even less humidity, and fires happen.
• Climate change quickens and intensifies this cycle.
• Just a quick note, being the helpful person I am. I occasionally hear from folks in various parts of the world, including our own Midwest and East Coast, and they wish me well in dealing with the fires.
• I live in the Los Angeles area. The current big and destructive wildfire in Weed, CA is well over 600 miles north of here. It’s about the same distance from here as it is from New York City to Charlotte, NC.
• I always appreciate your well wishes. I truly do. But I live in a big state.
• Do we get fires in Southern California as well? Absolutely. Do some of those fires cause our air quality to be very poor and for ashes to fall like snow flurries? Yes and yes.
• But once again, I live in an urban area surrounded by miles and miles of concrete. I am personally almost never in any danger of wildfire being the cause of my demise.
• I am mostly fine, most of the time.
• The FPOTUS had one of his rallies yesterday. One of his fun new ideas: death penalty for all drug dealers. He stole that one from another fascist, his buddy former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte.
• While I obviously disagree with this opinion, we can take something from it. Drug dealers and other criminals who get rich through ill-gotten gains are often forced to surrender their houses, properties, cars, and other items through a process called asset forfeiture.
• If it can be proven that the FPOTUS profited via the sale or trade of our country’s classified information, take everything he has before jailing him. Turn his golf courses into public parks. Turn his buildings into homeless shelters. Give back to the people what’s been taken from them.
• Just a thought.
• FPOTUS also referred to our country’s Department of Justice and FBI as “vicious monsters”. Nice.
• I really don’t give a fuck what any former President says. That guy’s words have no more bearing on my life than Bill Clinton’s or those of George W. Bush. Yawn.
• A follow-up from yesterday’s historic Taylor Hawkins Tribute concert… everyone who watched the show to the end got to see Taylor’s 16-year-old son Shane close the show, drumming with the Foos on “My Hero”. What many of you didn’t see (but those of us in bands likely did): they wrapped up the tune and then Shane launched into a short solo that the band did not expect. The smiles of surprise and delight on the faces of Dave Grohl and Pat Smear told me the whole story. Shane probably didn’t do that little set of fills as the song ended when they practiced, but he was feeling it at the show. I love that. Go back and watch the end of the show with that knowledge and see what I mean.
• There is a second show for Taylor on September 27 here in Los Angeles. No, I’m not going. I am simply not ready to be in a giant room packed full of screaming people. It’s going to be awhile. I never got COVID and I’m pretty intent on never getting it. I have lifelong health issues with my respiratory system, and while I love music, I have no intention of dying for it.
• And now, The Weather: “Harbour” by Cate Le Bon.
• A few polls.
• 2024 National General Election Poll: Biden 50% (+6), Trump 44% (Wall Street Journal).
• Wisconsin Governor: Tony Evers (D-inc) 48%, Tim Michels (R) 48% (On Message).
• Generic Congressional Ballot: Republicans 47% (+5), Democrats 42% (Rasmussen).
• Georgia Governor: Kemp (R-inc) 48% (+2), Abrams (D) 46% (Target Smart).
• Florida Senate: Marco Rubio (R-Inc) 46% (+1), Val Demings (D) 45% (Progress Florida).
• Florida Governor: DeSantis (R-inc) 48% (+3), Crist (D) 45% (Progress Florida).
• Colorado Senate: Bennet (D-inc) 48%, O'Dea (R) 47% (Tarrance Group).
• PLEASE FUCKING VOTE. And please consider encouraging others around you to vote. Thank you.
• Today in history… Romulus Augustulus is deposed when Odoacer proclaims himself "King of Italy", thus ending the Western Roman Empire (476). The worst day of the Great Fire of London (1666). 44 Spanish settlers found El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles, now known as Los Angeles (1781). After almost 30 years of fighting, Apache leader Geronimo surrenders to General Nelson Miles in Arizona (1886). George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak and receives a patent for his camera that uses roll film (1888). A German submarine makes the first attack of tWWII against a US warship, the USS Greer (1941). The first live transcontinental television broadcast takes place in San Francisco, from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference (1951). The governor of Arkansas calls out the National Guard to prevent Black students from enrolling in Little Rock Central High School (1957). Mark Spitz becomes the first competitor to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games (1972). Two students at Stanford University named Larry Page and Sergey Brin found something called Google (1998).
• September 4 is the birthday of wealthy guy Stephen Whitney (1776), Jaguar car co-founder William Lyons (1901), mob boss Mickey Cohen (1913), businessman Henry Ford II (1917), liquid crystal chemist inventor George William Gray (1926), actor Dick York (1928), golfer Raymond Floyd (1942), musician Gene Parsons (1944), guitarist Danny Gatton (1945), golfer Tom Watson (1949), drummer Martin Chambers (1951), idiot Drew Pinsky (1958), guitarist Kim Thayil (1960), actor Damon Waynans (1960), baseball player Mike Piazza (1968), actress Ione Skye (1971), music producer Mark Ronson (1975), and comedian Kyle Mooney (1984).

Alrighty. What will I do today? No one knows. I certainly don’t. I will drink more of this delicious coffee and at some point take a shower and maybe do things after that. But I don’t know. Enjoy your day, however it goes.