Random News: October 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.

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Good morning. It’s October 23, 2022, and it’s a Sunday. Sipping my coffee, wearing my robe, here’s a few things from around the globe…

• I recorded a little demo yesterday. Just a basic song idea. Guitar, bass, and drums. No lyrics or melody or anything else just yet.
• If I don’t do some more work on it today, despite my best intentions, it will end up in a folder with 173,000 other partially-finished songs.
• I’ve spoken to enough musicians to know my creative process is pretty typical. Most of my original music compositions result from me having a guitar in my hands (or, more rarely, a keyboard in front of me) and letting my hands do what they want.
• My worst songs are the ones where I think too much.
• This is all in regard to writing music, by the way, which is never difficult for me. Lyrics, conversely, are a huge effort and are often the big roadblock. I write words for a living but 90% of my lyrics end up as crumpled balls of paper or a deleted and trash-emptied file.
• Xi Jinping has taken a third consecutive five-year term as the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, making him the most powerful Chinese leader since party founder Mao Zedong.
• Leaders with no constraints to their power have ben, in every single instance, bad for their country and bad for the world.
• Send your thoughts and prayers to the aging emo fans who flocked to Las Vegas for the “When We Were Young” festival that was scheduled to start yesterday, with throwback bands from the ‘00s like My Chemical Romance, Avril Lavigne and many more.
• High winds forced the cancelation of the event, leaving tens of thousands of black-haired tattooed people in too much eyeliner to mope sadly down the strip. The festival should go on today and next weekend as planned, weather permitting.
• And now, The Weather: “El Invento” by José González
• Adidas has a major PR problem going on as a result of their deep connection to avowed antisemite Kanye West.
• Ye has publicly dared them to drop him as an endorser, but losing their business relationship with him via their “Yeezy” branded shoes would be a big loss for them.
• Until they do, though, as far as I’m concerned, those three stripes might as well stand for three Ks, as in KKK.
• As you know, the national election in the USA is in just over two weeks.
• In addition to making abortion illegal nationwide, one thing the Republicans have stated is that they will halt every penny of support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
• Something I want to mention… you’ll never get everything you want out of an election. Terrible people will win; politicians that have no place being in office will be re-elected.
• What you need to do is do the things YOU can do, which is to vote and encourage others to do so, even if you think your candidate or ballot measure is too far down in the polls for it to matter.
• In the 1990 midterms, just two weeks before the election, all polls showed Democrat Ann Richards being thoroughly behind GOP candidate Clayton Williams in the Texas governor’s race.
• Richards won by less than three percentage points. If you show up and vote, you will win. It’s as simple as that. Vote in person, or by mail, or by ballot drop-off. No matter what you have to do, make your voice count.
• Perhaps most important, never, EVER assume your candidate is going to win and that they don’t need your vote to do so. Place like New York, Oregon, Nevada, and many others have incumbent candidates in very tight races. Get out and VOTE.
• Thank you.
• Today in history… James Ussher's proposed creation date of the world according to the Bible (4004 BC). The first National Women's Rights Convention begins in Worcester, MA (1850). Alberto Santos-Dumont flies an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe (1906). Nazi Germany prohibits Jews from emigrating, including in its occupied territories (1941). Signing of the Paris Peace Accords which ends the Cambodian–Vietnamese War (1991). Yolanda Saldívar is found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of popular Latin singer Selena (1995). Apple Computer releases the iPod (2001). 
• October 23 is the birthday of vice-resident Adlai Stevenson I (1835), Football player/coach John Heisman (1869), physicist Felix Bloch (1905), host Johnny Carson (1925), golfer Chi-Chi Rodriguez (1935), soccer legend Pelé (1940), author Michael Crichton (1942), director Ang Lee (1954), singer Dwight Yoakam (1956), director Sam Rainmi (1959), musician Weird Al Yankovic (1959), NFL player Doug Flutie (1962), bass player Robert Trujillo (1964), and actor Ryan Reynolds (1976). 

Okay, gonna try to keep writing my song and check out football games and do necessary shit. Enjoy your day.