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.

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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.