Random News: February 28, 2023

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.

---

Good morning. It’s February 28, 2023, and it’s a Tuesday. Here are some observations that someone would probably make if that person scanned the news and started talking shit…

• We all knew this, and yet it’s good to get some verification and validation…
• Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox Corporation, acknowledged in a deposition taken by Dominion Voting Systems that some Fox News hosts endorsed false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
• The testimony which was made public yesterday is from Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the network.
• In his deposition, Murdoch rejected that the right-wing talk network as an entity endorsed former President Donald Trump’s election lies. But Murdoch conceded that Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo, and former host Lou Dobbs promoted the falsehood about the presidential contest being stolen.
• “I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it, in hindsight,” he claimed.
• Too little, too late, Rupert.
• While we’re talking about assholes, I’d be very remiss to not mention “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams.
• In the past, Adams has inaccurately described people who are not vaccinated against COVID as the real "winners" of the pandemic. He also questioned the accuracy of the Holocaust death toll. Another of Adams' claims is that he had lost multiple job opportunities for "being white."
• So yeah, basic Trump-voter, MAGA-type conservative. However, he pushed it way over the line in a YouTube rant last week where he called Black Americans a “hate group” and said that white people should “get the hell away” from them.
• Here comes the “find out” part.
• Hundreds of newspapers across the country immediately stopped running “Dilbert.” Side note: who the hell still reads “Dilbert”? It was last funny in 1994 or so.
• But wait, there’s more: Andrews McMeel Universal, the company that syndicates “Dilbert,” said it is cutting ties with Adams. And, the Penguin Random House imprint Portfolio said it won’t publish Adams’ upcoming book.
• I guess we’ll continue the asshole brigade with Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), one of a cavalcade of first-term GOP lawmakers who “embellished” their background.
• “I previously stated that my degree from MTSU was in International Relations. When I pulled my transcript to verify, I realized I was mistaken. My degree is in Liberal Studies. I apologize for my misstatement.”
• Hahahahah.
• The congressional rep also made claims that he is an economist and a human trafficking expert, among others. He is… not.
• Here are two consecutive headlines you might appreciate…

• Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Monday he intends to sign an anti-drag show bill into law when it reaches his desk.
• And then…
• Image appearing to show Tennessee governor in drag surfaces as state set to pass anti-drag bill
• Snort.
• And now, The Weather: “Thorns” by Yum Yuck
• This feels like a good place to note that in the past few days, California had graupel, the middle of the country had a derecho, and yesterday there was a haboob in Texas. I’m not making up any of this shit; these are all names for specific weather phenomena.
• Get used to weather phenomena; it’s going to haunt you for the rest of your life.
• Also in weather… they’re saying the biggest snowstorm of the season is heading into New York and New England. Enjoy those snow days, kids.
• Hong Kong announced today that it will end its face mask mandate nearly three years after it was enacted to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Their mandate had required facial coverings in all public spaces including outdoors, indoors and public transport.
• The one time I didn’t wear a mask in a public setting, I immediately got COVID. 
• Not making that mistake again.
• And no, of course I don’t wear a mask alone in my car, or walking around and enjoying the outdoors, or on a beach, or in a desert, and so on. Just when I’m in an enclosed space breathing the same air as other disgusting human germ bags.
• In traitor news, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to honor the American actor Steven Seagal with the state Order of Friendship.
• Seagal has been a regular visitor to Russia and became a citizen of the country in 2016, when he received a Russian passport from Vladimir Putin personally.
• Seagal looks like a bucket of fried chicken that’s been sitting in a closet for a week and then sprayed painted with black hair dye.
• Let’s do some good news.
• Ohio school bus driver April Wise is being honored and hailed as a hero for saving a student’s life. The kid was getting off her bus when a car ignored the bus’s red lights and sped by.
• Wise checked her mirrors and grabbed the kid by his backpack. Had he stepped off the bus at that moment, it would have been a tragedy.
• So many people around you every day, from bus drivers to garbage collectors to nurses to cooks and many more, have roles that are so incredibly important, and yet they get looked down upon by other people whom, if their job vanished tomorrow, it would affect no one at all. 
• From the Sports Desk… the Washington Commanders released quarterback Carson Wentz yesterday. Wentz started only seven games this season because of a finger injury.
• He’ll be a good backup somewhere else. He was a Pro Bowl QB just five years ago. Funny how fast NFL careers can turn. There’s a reason the players call the league “Not For Long”.
• Today in history… Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on the order of conquistador Hernán Cortés (1525). The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (1922). James Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place in April's Nature Magazine (1953). The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, with almost 106 million viewers (1983). The first Gulf War ends (1991). The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, TX, starting a 51-day standoff (1993). GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way (1997). The 2001 Nisqually earthquake, having a moment magnitude of 6.8, with epicenter in the southern Puget Sound, damages Seattle metropolitan area (2001). Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since Pope Gregory XII, in 1415 (2013). 
• February 28 is the birthday of screenwriter Ben Hecht (1894), chemist/activist Linus Pauling (1901), gangster Bugsy Siegel (1906), architect Frank Gehry (1929), actor Gavin MacLeod (1931), racing driver Mario Andretti (1940), graphic designer Storm Thorgerson (1944), NFL player/actor Bubba Smith (1945), actress Bernadette Peters (1948), comedian Gilbert Gottfried (1955), actor John Turturro (1957), singer-songwriter Cindy Wilson (1957), NHL player Eric Lindros (1973), MLB player Aroldis Chapman (1988), and NBA player Luka Dončić (1999).

I am feeling pretty good. Also, I appreciate feeling good, and that feels good too. I took a Mucinex last night (this is starting to sound like an ad) and drank a ton of water, and that really seemed to help clear up my post-COVID lungs. Mucinex: that shit works! Anyway, off to have a normal day of meetings and work and grocery shopping and all that. Enjoy your day.

Random News: February 27, 2023

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.

---

Good morning. It’s February 27, 2023, and it’s a Monday. I shall commence to inform you of things that might be true…

• Let’s start today’s news south of the border.
• Tens of thousands of people filled Mexico City's vast main plaza Sunday to protest President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's electoral law changes they say threaten democracy and could mark a return to the past.
• Mexico’s president denies the reforms are a threat to democracy and says criticism is elitist, arguing the institute spends too much money. He says the funds should be spent on the poor.
• I didn’t know this, but elections in Mexico are expensive by international standards, in part because almost all legal campaign financing is, by law, supplied by the government.
• López Obrador remains highly popular in Mexico, with approval ratings of around 60%.
• Back in the USA, Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) is entering the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). The announcement makes Slotkin the first Democrat to officially declare a bid in what is likely to be among the most competitive and expensive Senate contests in 2024.
• I’m not a Michigander — and we have our own upcoming Senate seat to fill in CA — but Slotkin is good and would get my endorsement.
• And now something that is far too predictable.
• Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee’s chairperson, has said that all GOP primary candidates should sign a pledge promising to support the eventual party nominee if they wish to participate in the presidential debates.
• We know who this is aimed at.
• “I think they’re all going to sign,” she said. “I really do. I think President Trump would like to be on the debate stage.”
• Of course he’ll sign. No pledge or oath means anything to him.
• Twitter owner Elon Musk is another guy who will stab those closest to him without thinking twice about it.
• He just fired Esther Crawford, a product director at Twitter who had been in charge of Twitter’s relaunched “Twitter Blue” subscription product. She was laid off along with dozens of engineers, product managers, data scientists and managers over the weekend.
• Crawford was known as being a Musk loyalist, often parroting his talking points. Twitter’s revenue is still in a steep slide — down 40% year-over-year as of early January.
• The company owes approximately $1.2 billion in annual interest payments related to Musk’s $44 billion leveraged buyout.
• And now, The Weather: “A&W” by Lana Del Rey
• The storm that gave the West Coast freakish weather continued east over the nation, creating some massive windstorms in the middle of country. 
• At least seven tornadoes impacted Oklahoma and Kansas yesterday. Storms and temperatures will continue to be more extreme every year. 
• Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, something that will impact tens of millions of Americans. Due to conservative majority of the Supreme Court, experts say the relief plan faces tough odds.
• A recent Gallup poll shows that just 25% of Americans have confidence in the highest court.
• I’m surprised it’s that high.
• From the Sports Desk… YouTuber turned pro fighter Jake Paul has a new title… loser.
• Tommy Fury handed Paul his first loss via split decision (74-75, 76-73, 76-73) Sunday in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
• Today in history… Henry IV is crowned King of France (1594). The House of Commons of Great Britain votes against further war in America (1782). The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti (1844). The British Labour Party is founded (1900). A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Leser v. Garnett (1922). Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14 (1940). In Berlin, the Gestapo arrest 1,800 Jewish men with German wives, leading to the Rosenstrasse protest (1943). The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified (1951). The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee in protest of the federal government (1973). 
• February 27 is the birthday of Roman emperor Constantine the Great (272), poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807), sociologist/philosopher George Herbert Mead (1863), SCOTUS justice Hugo Black (1886), physiologist Charles Herbert Best (1899), author John Steinbeck (1902), actress Joanne Woodward (1930), actress Elizabeth Taylor (1932), activist/politician Ralph Nader (1934), actor Howard Hesseman (1940), political strategist Lee Atwater (1951), guitarist Neal Schon (1954), politician Maggie Hassan (1958), NBA player James Worthy (1961), NFL player Tony Gonzalez (1976), singer-songwriter Josh Groban (1981), and NFL player Chandler Jones (1990).

Welp, it’s Monday. Gonna try and have a normal productive day, but I’m still recovering from the damn COVID. I’m mostly better but there’s a leftover cough and stuffy nose that is highly fucking annoying. Breathing normally is one thing you really should appreciate. I highly recommend it. Enjoy your day.

Random News: February 26, 2023

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.

---

Good morning. It’s February 26, 2023, and it’s a Sunday. I’m a guy in a bathrobe of blue, so let’s look around and find out what’s new…

• It seems like my local weather is on top of national news, so let’s get that out of the way.
• I live in Southern California. It’s usually warm and dry. These past few days, that was not the case. It was snowing in places that generally do not get snow. Even down here at low elevations — I’m not that far above sea level — it hailed.
• It wasn’t all fun and games. Tens of thousands of people lost power, and there was some pretty serious flooding and road closures. All beaches were closed due to lightning strikes. At the peak of the storm, up to 10 inches of rain fell in lower elevations and some mountain areas were blasted with more than 5 feet of snow.
• So that was kinda nuts. It’s sunny today, with another storm system coming in tomorrow (not as strong as the last one).
• Chicago has a mayoral election on Tuesday and not one of the nine candidates has a clear path to victory. 
• Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a Democrat, faces eight challengers in Tuesday’s contest. They’ve made the race almost entirely about crime.
• The only thing that’s certain is that Lightfoot won’t crack the 50 percent needed to avoid a two-person runoff on April 4.
• In really bad news for a lot of folks, roughly 14 million people who are currently covered by Medicaid will lose access to that health care coverage this year.
• Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, and West Virginia are among the states that will begin removing ineligible Medicaid recipients as early as April. Other states will start taking that step in May, June or July.
• Why? During the pandemic, the federal government prohibited states from kicking people off Medicaid, even if they were no longer eligible. Previously, people would regularly lose their Medicaid coverage if they started making too much money to qualify for the program, gained health care coverage through their employer or moved into a new state.
• Over the next year, states will be required to start checking the eligibility again of every person who is on Medicaid. Good luck, people.
• While we’re on the topic of government programs: millions of low-income Americans will confront smaller balances in the accounts they use to pay for groceries, leaving food banks bracing for a spike in demand.
• As of March 1, the emergency allotment for individuals and households enrolled in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will end in 32 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• Charles Jones, a 63-year-old U.S. military veteran based in Rockford, IL, received an enhanced monthly SNAP benefit of $281 under the temporary program. After it ends next week, his payments will plummet to $23 — the minimum monthly amount.
• I don’t understand how a wealthy nation can allow people to starve.
• And now, The Weather: “Housefly” by Cory Hanson
• As a person currently fighting a case of COVID, this next item is rather personally applicable to me…
• The pandemic most likely originated from a laboratory leak, according to a classified intelligence report from the U.S. Energy Department. The updated assessment from the Energy Department is allegedly the result of new intelligence.
• Several virology labs are located in Wuhan, China, where the pandemic began, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where bat coronaviruses were studied.
• To be clear, they feel the leak was unintentional. I think that’s obvious. The virus spreads too easily and knows no nationality, and couldn’t be used as a targeted bioweapon as such.
• As you likely know by now, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) gave exclusive access to thousands of hours of Capitol surveillance footage from the Jan. 6 riot to Fox News' Tucker Carlson.
• On Friday, a group of news organizations asked McCarthy on Friday for the same access. They’ve sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Justice and the FBI.
• However, handing over the footage to Fox News in the first place was an "egregious security breach" that exposes the Capitol complex.
• Way to go, Kevin. You’re doing a helluva job. Snicker.
• From the Sports Desk… nah.
• Today in history… Galileo Galilei is formally banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the earth orbits the sun (1616). Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from exile on the island of Elba (1815). Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London (1909). President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of Congress establishing the Grand Canyon National Park (1919). President Calvin Coolidge signs legislation establishing the 96,000 acres (390 km2) Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming (1929). Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration which leads directly to the development of radar (1935). U.N. Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day (1971). The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff (1987). In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand people (1993). Seventeen-year-old African-American student Trayvon Martin is shot to death by neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman in an altercation in Sanford, FL (2012). 
• February 26 is the birthday of playwright Christopher Marlowe (1564), author Victor Hugo (1802), fashion designer Levi Strauss (1829), soldier/hunter Buffalo Bill (1846), physician/businessman John Harvey Kellogg (1852), businessman Herbert Henry Dow (1866), animator Tex Avery (1908), actor Robert Alda (1914), actor Jackie Gleason (1916), actor Tony Randall (1920), singer-songwriter/pianist Fats Domino (1928), singer-songwriter Johnny Cash (1932), singer-songwriter Michael Bolton (1953), politician Tim Kaine (1958), bass player Tim Commerford (1968), and NFL player Marshall Faulk (1973). 

I’m going to keep drinking my delicious coffee that I can actually taste and smell, and then take a shower and get dressed and do human things. Still very much in recovery from that damned virus, but I seem to be getting better each passing day. That’s always the goal, isn’t it? Enjoy your day.

Random News: February 25, 2023

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.

---

Good afternoon. It’s February 25, 2023, and it’s a Saturday. Not sure what’s happened, but it’s likely someone will tell us…

• It’s been blustery weather around here today. At the beach, it’s been rainy with occasional thunderstorms. Up in higher elevations, there’s been snow.
• You ever meet someone who tells the same lie so much they actually believe it?
• Rep. George Santos (R-NY) falsely told a judge in 2017 that he worked for the investment banking firm Goldman Sachs. It was at a Seattle bail hearing for a “family friend” of Santos named Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha. After the judge asked Santos where he worked, he can be heard responding, “I am an aspiring politician and I work for Goldman Sachs.” 
• After the judge asked Santos where he worked, he responded, “I am an aspiring politician and I work for Goldman Sachs.” 
• Narrator’s Voice: He did not, in fact, ever work for Goldman Sachs.
• 12 Democratic-led states have sued the FDA to challenge certain federal restrictions imposed on the distribution of the abortion pill mifepristone, saying those limits are not supported by evidence.
• The lawsuit, led by Washington and Oregon, was filed on Thursday in federal court in Yakima, Washington and aims to expand access to mifepristone by allowing it to be prescribed and dispensed by any doctor or pharmacy, like most drugs. Currently, doctors who prescribe mifepristone, and pharmacies that dispense it, must obtain a special certification.
• Meanwhile, a separate lawsuit by anti-abortion activists that seeks to end access to the drug is proceeding in Texas.
• Sigh.
• A secret legal fight over the cellphone of Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) has prevented the Justice Department for more than six months from reviewing more than 2,200 documents in the criminal investigation of former president Donald Trump and supporters’ efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
• Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court in D.C. released a number of previously sealed opinions after finding that the “powerful public interest” outweighed the need for secrecy in the constitutional battle over Perry’s claims and the historic investigation.
• Fuck Scott Perry. I hope they shove that phone up his ass.
• And now, The Weather: “Clara's Mouth” by Bedridden
• In comedy news, presumed GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is hosting a big event this weekend at the Four Seasons hotel — just four miles down the road from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. That’s on purpose.
• Also on purpose: the roster of people there shows that the governor is appealing to major GOP figures who’ve previously aligned themselves with the former president.
• Orange Man is gonna be bigly mad.
• From the Sports Desk… Miami Dolphins cornerback Byron Jones had a chilling message in a social media post that sounds like he’s retiring for obvious reasons.
• “Today I can't run or jump because of my injuries sustained playing this game. DO NOT take the pills they give you. DO NOT take the injections they give you. If you absolutely must, consult an outside doctor to learn the long-term implications. It was an honor and privilege to play in the NFL but it came at a regrettable cost I did not foresee. In my opinion, no amount of professional success or financial gain is worth avoidable chronic pain and disabilities. Godspeed to the draft class of 2023.”
• Jesus.
• Today in history… George Frideric Handel's opera ‘Nero’ premiered in Hamburg (1705). Samuel Colt is granted a United States patent for his revolver firearm (1836). Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in Congress (1870). In his speech On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences, Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union, denounces Stalin (1956). 
• February 25 is the birthday of painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841), tenor Enrico Caruso (1873), diplomat/politician John Foster Dulles (1888), spiritual leader Meher Baba 1894), comedian Zeppo Marx (1901), NHL player King Clancy (1903), actor Jim Backus (1913), author Anthony Burgess (1917), singer Ralph Stanley (1927), singer-songwriter/guitarist George Harrison (1943), wrestler Ric Flair (1949), NBA player/coach Kurt Rambis (1958), comedian Carrot Top (1965), actress Téa Leoni (1966), actor Sean Astin (1971), comedian Chelsea Handler (1975), and actress Rashida Jones (1976).

I am still recovering from the ‘rona. I’m feeling alright. It’s like I need to take the time to rebuild the energy I spent fighting it off. Other members of my house who got it still feel shitty, so it’s not really a gleeful place here this weekend. I’m sure they’ll come around too, soon enough. Enjoy your day.

Random News: February 24, 2023

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.

---

Good morning. It’s February 24, 2023, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! Here’s whatever I stumbled across while stumbling…

• One year ago today, Russia invaded its neighboring country Ukraine.
• The military experts and geopolitical talking heads all claimed it would be pointless for Ukraine to fight back against their big bully to the north. They estimated the unprovoked war would last a few days and Russia would completely annex this sovereign nation through hostile force.
• 365 days later, against all odds, Ukraine stands, defiant and free.
• Today, the U.S. announced a new round of aid to Ukraine and sanctions against Russian entities. 
• The announcement comes on the heels of President Joe Biden's trip to Poland and surprise Ukraine visit, where he walked the streets of Kyiv with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
• In coordination with G7 partners and allies, the U.S. will implement sanctions against key revenue-generating sectors, including more than 200 people and entities. That includes both Russian and third-country actors across the globe who are helping Russia evade sanctions.
• The Pentagon also announced an additional security assistance package for Ukraine that includes several new unmanned aerial systems, counter-unmanned aerial systems to strengthen Ukraine's defenses and electronic warfare detection equipment. 
• Fuck you, Putin. You can suck my ethnically Ukrainian Jewish dick. How ya like that?
• In other news, that train derailment in East Palestine, OH killed more than 43,000 fish and animals. Honestly, I hate people so much from time to time.
• Also, if it’s killing animals, well… we’re animals too.
• And now, The Weather: “Canals of Our City” by koleżanka
• Not to swell on this weather stuff, but today we are supposed to get blizzard conditions in higher elevations here in Los Angeles County.
• It hailed here at the beach yesterday. That was… weird, and loud. It will not snow here.
• "I have to be totally honest with you guys," one baffled California meteorologist told viewers this week. "I've actually never seen a blizzard warning."
• Me neither, baffled meteorologist. The snow elevation may drop as low as 1,500ft — about as high as the Hollywood sign.
• We have a Democratic challenger to Biden in 2024. It’s Marianne Williamson. Yawn!
• From the Sports Desk… here are the NBA teams with the 10 best W-L records right now: Boston Celtics (43-17), Milwaukee Bucks (41-17), Denver Nuggets (42-18), Philadelphia 76ers (39-19), Cleveland Cavaliers (38-24), Memphis Grizzlies (35-23), Brooklyn Nets (34-24), Sacramento Kings (33-25), New York Knicks (33-27), and Miami Heat (32-27).
• Today in history… ‘Rinaldo’ by George Frideric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage, is premiered (1711). In Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the principle of judicial review (1803). Andrew Johnson becomes the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives (1868). The stage premiere of ‘Peer Gynt’, a play by Henrik Ibsen with incidental music by Edvard Grieg, takes place in Oslo, Norway (1876). Nancy Astor becomes the first woman to speak in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom following her election as a Member of Parliament three months earlier (1920). A false alarm led to an anti-aircraft barrage that lasted into the early hours of February 25 in The Battle of Los Angeles (1942). South Vietnamese forces led by Ngo Quang Truong recapture the citadel of Hué (1968). Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba and the Council of Ministers after 32 years (2008). Days after recognising Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Russian president Vladimir Putin orders a full scale invasion of Ukraine (2022).
• February 24 is the birthday of Japan emperor Toba (1103), anthropologist/author Wilhelm Grimm (1786), activist Lydia Becker (1827), painter Winslow Homer (1836), suffragist Zara DuPont (1869), MLB player Honus Wagner (1874), admiral Chester W. Nimitz (1885), actor Abe Vigoda (1921), actor Dominic Chianese (1931), businessman Phil Knight (1938), keyboardist Nicky Hopkins (1944), singer/guitarist George Thorogood (1950), businessman Steve Jobs (1955), actor Billy Zane (1966), comedian Mitch Hedberg (1968), boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. (1977), and rapper Earl Sweatshirt (1994).

I’m continuing to recover from COVID. In very good news, my taste/smell abilities are back enough for me to have my Friday sushi today, which I had to skip last week for obvious reasons. Actually, compared to a week ago, things are going better in every conceivable way, so I’m going to be grateful. Enjoy your day.

Random News: February 23, 2023

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.

---

Good morning. It’s February 23, 2023, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. What follows are various things I’ve seen and now share with you, person who reads…

• The weather is crazy, yo.
• I mean, we have blizzard warnings in Southern California. Last time that happened was 1989. They had to close I-40 in Arizona due to 80mph wind gusts. Snow is blanketing many states at record levels, with school closures and road closures and power outages aplenty, and at the same time Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Atlanta, and Mobile all have record highs.
• And my fence blew down.
• In case you’re interested, my landlord says it will be fixed… eventually. Meanwhile I just get to know my neighbors better.
• Human bag of infected goo Steve Bannon is getting sued… by his own lawyers.
• A law firm that represented the former Trump strategist is suing Bannon for nearly $500,000 in unpaid legal bills.
• The lawsuit states that Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP worked for Bannon from November 2020 through November 2022 and represented him on several high-profile cases, including investigations into Bannon’s fake crowdfunding border-wall effort and the subpoena from the House select committee investigating the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.
• Bannon paid $375,000 of his bill, and blew off the remaining $480,487.87.
• I wasn’t going to mention this next story because I try not to cover the insane ramblings of people with no bearing in reality, but…
• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a key ally of speaker Kevin McCarthy and a hopeful running mate of Donald Trump in 2024, has called for a “national divorce” between red states and blue states.
• Interestingly, her state has two Democrat Senators, and Georgia is kinda blue, but I digress.
• So speaking for the Republicans, Taylor Greene is calling to break up the United States. Will she introduce legislation for states to secede from the Union? Time will tell. But she’s no longer some fringe candidate. This is now the mainstream of the GOP.
• Moving on…
• In health news, researchers say they’ve found a possible link between regular laxative use and a person’s risk of dementia. True story.
• Now we’ll never know if you’re crazy or just full of shit (ba-dum-tizzzz).
• And now, The Weather: “Sore” by Rozi Plain
• Today is the 54th day of 2023, if that matters in any way.
• It’s also my 4,444th day of exercise on my Wii Fit. Yes, I have curtailed any major exertion while I’ve had COVID… but I still weigh in and do light stretching, because I’ll be worse off if I don’t.
• 4,444 days is a little over 12 years. I haven’t stuck with many things in life for that long, but I know for sure I’d be in a really bad way had I not picked up that Wii Fit on a whim back in late 2010.
• From the Sports Desk… Aaron Rodgers has emerged from his darkness retreat, according to the owner of the facility in southern Oregon where the Green Bay Packers quarterback spent the past several days and nights, and saw his shadow. That means six more years in Wisconsin.
• Today in history… Empress Wu Zetian abdicates the throne, restoring the Tang dynasty (705). Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, PA, to help to train the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1778). The Siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, TX (1836). Post-U.S. Civil War military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union (1870). Charles Martin Hall produced the first samples of aluminum from the electrolysis of aluminum oxide (1886). Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity” (1903). U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill by Congress establishing the Federal Radio Commission — later replaced by the Federal Communications Commission — which was to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States (1927). German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg writes a letter to fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli, in which he describes his uncertainty principle for the first time (1927). Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg (1941). The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh (1954). 
• February 23 is the birthday of diarist/politician Samuel Pepys (1633), composer George Frideric Handel (1685), banker/businessman Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744), businessman César Ritz (1850), sociologist/activist W. E. B. Du Bois (1868), journalist Agnes Smedley (1892), physicist Allan McLeod Cormack (1924), actress Majel Barrett (1932), actor Peter Fonda (1940), NFL player Fred Biletnikoff (1943), singer-songwriter Johnny Winter (1944), NFL player Ed "Too Tall" Jones (1951), guitarist Brad Whitford (1952), singer-songwriter Howard Jones (1955), businessman Michael Dell (1965), actress Niecy Nash (1970), actress Emily Blunt (1983), and actress Dakota Fanning (1994). 

I’m just getting things back to normal around here. I know it doesn’t seem like it; over the course of about two weeks, my mom died, my back went out, I got COVID, and my patio fence was ripped down by a storm. That doesn’t seem normal. But I’m also getting work done, helping my family in various ways, and writing these stupid bullets, which does. I’m alright. Enjoy your day.

Random News: February 22, 2023

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.

---

Good morning. It’s February 22, 2023, and it’s a Wednesday. Let’s take a look around and see…

• The Supreme Court cases from yesterday and today in regard to Big Tech’s responsibility for third-party content and giving platforms to that provide aid to terrorist organizations have been interesting thus far.
• Those entities have been mostly immune from culpability due to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
• Yesterday’s case of Gonzalez v. Google is mostly about the YouTube algorithm. Today’s case of Twitter v. Taamneh focuses on the Anti-Terrorism Act.
• It’s difficult to say what’s right and wrong here. The lines are so unclear that there was no consensus of questions contrasting the right wing and left wing of the SCOTUS so far.
• Stay tuned on these things. Much more to come.
• As projected yesterday, Democrat Jennifer McClellan has made history as the first Black woman elected to represent Virginia in Congress.
• She defeated Republican Leon Benjamin in the special election for the state’s 4th Congressional District. McClellan will fill the seat of Democratic Rep. Donald McEachin, who died from cancer shortly after he won re-election in November. 
• The good news: McClellan will join 29 other Black women in the House. The bad news: there are no Black women in the Senate.
• There was one, but we made her vice president.
• Moving on.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been fined $5 million for using shell companies to obscure the size of its $32 billion portfolio.
• Whistleblowers allege that the Mormons misrepresented how they used donations and, rather than direct them to charitable causes, invested in assets including real estate and shell corporations.
• What a fucking scam. Sounds like they got off cheap to me.
• This is interesting.
• Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of murdered Black civil rights activist Malcolm X, is suing the NYPD, FBI, and CIA over her father’s 1965 murder.
• She says US officials fraudulently concealed evidence that they "conspired to and executed their plan to assassinate" her father. Shabazz, 60, was two years old when she saw her father gunned down by three armed men who shot him 21 times as he was preparing to speak at a Harlem auditorium.
• Meet Robby Stuteville. He was the superintendent of a Texas school district until a third-grade student found his loaded gun unattended in a school bathroom.
• Stuteville submitted his resignation from the Rising Star Independent School District effective Monday. He said he was using the restroom and placed his gun in the stall.
• Probably a bad idea.
• Some 37-year-old rich idiot named Vivek Ramaswamy announced his candidacy for President. His whole platform is as an "anti-woke" capitalist.
• I hope he enjoys spending a lot of money for nothing. The GOP doesn’t like brown people.
• And now, The Weather: “Sunset” by Andy Shauf
• As I mentioned previously, there are winter weather alerts in 23 states, with six states under blizzard warnings.
• And here’s the weird part: weather stations east of the Ohio River and across the South are expected to break records for high temperatures Thursday… Washington, D.C. (80ºF), Orlando, FL (90ºF), New Orleans, LA (83ºF), and Raleigh, NC (86ºF).
• Buttttt… cities along the West Coast of the U.S. are expected to set records for the coldest high temperatures at the same time, with chilly highs in places like Burbank, CA (49ºF), San Francisco, CA (48ºF), Portland, OR (32ºF), and Billings, MT (0ºF). 
• And, in personal weather news, my patio fence blew down in last night’s wind storm. Like, a big-ass six-foot wooden fence. Ripped out by its ground posts. Gone. That will be a fun call to my landlord a little later this morning. 
• A quick note on 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley. Back in 2010, she did some interviews when running for governor of South Carolina and had some quotable gems, like…
• “I think you have one side of the Civil War that was fighting for tradition, and I think you have another side of the Civil War that was fighting for change. So, you know I think it was tradition versus change is the way I see it.”
• Anything else, Nikki?
• “And so, when you look at that, if you have Black History Month and you have Confederate History Month and all of those. As long as it’s done where it is in a positive way and not in a negative way, and it doesn’t go to harm anyone, and it goes back to where it focuses on the traditions of the people that are wanting to celebrate it, then I think it’s fine.”
• Best of luck with your candidacy.
• From the Sports Desk… I guess March Madness is coming? I don’t do college sports, but maybe I’ll be one of those people who fills out a bracket without knowing shit.
• Today in history… Robert II becomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty (1371). Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars (1819). The United States Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh, PA (1856). The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee (1872). In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores (1879). President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states (1889). Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500 (1959). In Lake Placid, NY, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4–3 in a game known as the Miracle on Ice (1980). In Roslin, Midlothian, British scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly has been successfully cloned (1997). 
• February 22 is the birthday of Hungary king Ladislaus the Posthumous (1440), US president George Washington (1732), philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788), general/Scout Association founder Robert Baden-Powell (1857), actress Marguerite Clark (1883), poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892), actor Robert Young (1907), radio/TV announcer Don Pardo (1918), tallest human Robert Wadlow (1918), actor Paul Dooley (1928), politician Ted Kennedy (1932), MLB player/manager Sparky Anderson (1934), film director Jonathan Demme (1944), drummer Harvey Mason (1947), NBA legend Julius Erving (1950), Kyle MacLachlan (1959), zoologist Steve Irwin (1962), actress Jeri Ryan (1968), actress Drew Barrymore (1975), NBA player Rajon Rondo (1986), and NFL player Khalil Mack (1991).

For those keeping track, I’m happy to report that my sense of smell is back up to 75-80% of normal. I can now tell the difference between a cup of Peet’s Aged Sumatra versus a cup of Folgers Crystals instant, so that’s a bonus. I’m still not 100% health wise in general, but that’s to be expected. I’ll get there eventually. COVID is a bitch. Enjoy your day.

Random News: February 21, 2023

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.

---

Good morning. It’s February 21, 2023, and it’s a Tuesday. I have to admit I’m getting better, so let’s see what else is happening…

• Southern Turkey and Syria can’t catch a damn break. Another 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit the area yesterday, bringing more damage and deaths to a region that’s had more than its share.
• It was apparently another aftershock to the massive series of quakes that killed tens of thousands two weeks ago.
• Best of luck to those people.
• Taking their cue from Elon Musk’s similar action on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are launching a new service so users can pay to become verified.
• I couldn’t possibly be less interested in paying any social media money for a check mark. The monthly subscription service will start at $11.99 a month on the web or $14.99 a month on iOS or Android.
• Vladimir Putin has pulled out of the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the USA.
• According to US officials, Russia had already refused on numerous occasions to allow inspections of its nuclear facilities.
• Hope we all don’t die. At once, I mean.
• Something I meant to include yesterday: RIP to Richard Belzer, who passed away Sunday at age 78.
• Most of you know him as Detective John Munch from shows like ‘Homicide’ and ‘Law & Order’, but I also remember him as a super-funny dry and acerbic standup comic back in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
• Virginians are heading to the polls today in what could be a historic special election, with state Sen. Jennifer L. McClellan (D-Richmond) vying to become Virginia’s first Black congresswoman.
• The state’s 4th Congressional District seat is vacant after the death of U.S. Rep. A. Donald McEachin in November, shortly after he secured a third term. McClellan is widely expected to win in the deep-blue, Richmond-anchored district.
• Teachers in Indiana public schools could be required to tell parents if a student changes their gender identity or preferred name under a bill House committee members approved yesterday.
• Opponents of the bill — which lawmakers voted 9-4 to send to the full House for consideration — said it would alienate LGBTQ students, particularly transgender youth, and possibly force kids to come out to their parents. Supporters argued the legislation would empower parents to choose how their children are raised.
• I’m so sick of people telling other people how to live and love.
• And now, The Weather: “Gas Pump” by EVNTYD
• Also in weather news… a huge winter storm is about to slam into the USA. In Los Angeles and southwest California, it will be "the coldest storm of the season, and possibly of the last several years," the local NWS office said.
• Oh, just for me while I’m still recovering from COVID? Thanks weather gods!
• Anyway, various parts of the country will be getting record highs and record lows and yet people still argue about global climate change being intensified by the actions of humanity.
• Ah well. Stay warm, I guess.
• Responding to Nikki Haley’s assertion that any politician over 75 should be forced to take mental acuity tests…
• “I think that’s absurd. We are fighting racism, we’re fighting sexism, we’re fighting homophobia, I think we should also be fighting ageism. Trust people, look at people and say, ‘You know, this person is competent, this person is not competent.’ There are a lot of 40-year-olds out there who ain’t particularly competent.” - Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
• Love that dude.
• From the Sports Desk… for no reason, ESPN’s current NHL Power Rankings (top ten only): 1. Boston Bruins, 2. Carolina Hurricanes, 3. Toronto Maple Leafs, 4. New Jersey Devils, 5. Tampa Bay Lightning, 6. Dallas Stars, 7. Winnipeg Jets, 8. New York Rangers, 9. Vegas Golden Knights, 10. Los Angeles Kings.
• Today in history… A force of 1,400 French soldiers invade Britain at Fishguard in support of the Society of United Irishmen and are defeated by 500 British reservists (1797). John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine (1842). Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish ‘The Communist Manifesto’ (1848). The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated (1895). The New Yorker publishes its first issue (1925). In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America (1947). The peace symbol, commissioned in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom (1958). Malcolm X is gunned down while giving a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem (1965). United States President Richard Nixon visits China to normalize Sino-American relations (1972). Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison in the Watergate scandal (1975). Russian President Vladimir Putin declares the Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic as independent from Ukraine, and moves troops into the region, an action condemned by the United Nations (2022).
• February 21 is the birthday of executed accused witch Rebecca Nurse (1621), scientist/inventor Francis Ronalds (1788), Mexico president Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794), guitarist Andrés Segovia (1893), essayist//novelist/diarist Anaïs Nin (1903), poet W. H. Auden (1907), computer scientist Thelma Estrin (1924), film director Sam Peckinpah (1925), journalist/humorist Erma Bombeck (1927), singer-songwriter Nina Simone (1933), actress Rue McClanahan (1934), businessman David Geffen (1943), actress Tyne Daly (1946), actor Alan Rickman (1946), guitarist/songwriter/producer Jerry Harrison (1949), keyboardist Vince Welnick (1951), actor Kelsey Grammer (1955), novelist Chuck Palahniuk (1962), singer-songwriter Ranking Roger (1963), NBA player Steve Francis (1977), actress Jennifer Love Hewitt (1979), actor/filmmaker Jordan Peele (1979), singer-songwriter Charlotte Church (1986), actor Elliot Page (1987), and actress Sophie Turner (1996).

Yesterday I had my first normal full work day after five days of being ill with COVID. I got through it okay. I can still tell I’m pretty sick, and no sir, I don’t like it one bit. But I’m trying to be patient and let my body do its miraculous shit. Got a typical Tuesday ahead, or at least I hope I do. Enjoy your day.

Random News: February 20, 2023

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.

---

Good morning. It’s February 20, 2023, and it’s a Monday. I’m back to like… 63% of me, so let’s ramp up the news machine…

• Surprise! President Joe Biden is in Kiev, Ukraine this morning, meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a defiant display of Western solidarity.
• It is almost exactly one year since Russia invaded the country in a war that was predicted to see no resistance and be over within a few days.
• “One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you.” - Joe Biden
• Biden also announced an additional half-billion dollars in U.S. assistance — on top of the more than $50 billion already provided — for shells for howitzers, anti-tank missiles, air surveillance radars and other aid but no new advanced weaponry.
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken said China offered “no apology” after a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, over the Chinese spy balloon incident.
• Described as tense, the Munich security conference over the weekend was the first face-to-face meeting between senior United States and Chinese officials after the military shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the South Carolina coast on February 4.
• Two big cases coming up for the Supreme Court this week, which resumes its sessions on Tuesday.
• They’ll hear Gonzalez v. Google, where relatives of people killed in attacks by Islamic State terrorists in Paris in November 2015 sued Google under federal anti-terrorism laws.
• The family accused Google of aiding and abetting terrorism by purportedly recommending pro-ISIS content to users on YouTube, but Google argues that its recommendations are protected by Section 230, a controversial provision that shields internet companies from liability for content provided by a third-party user. 
• What’s on trial, specifically, is the algorithm. You know, the one that decides what you want to see (and seems to also be focused on selling you things you’ve searched for or mentioned in casual conversation). That same algorithm can decide that you’d like to be recruited into terrorism, or be shown false information about elections, and so on.
• The Court will also hear two challenges to the Biden administration’s plan for student debt forgiveness.
• And now, The Weather: “Night of the Living Amends” by Fatso Jetson
• I’m continuing to get better. I’m not better. I’m heading in that direction, which is all I could hope for.
• I did have one notably unhappy moment during my COVID bout last week. It was Thursday evening, and I could tell my lungs weren’t doing their usual good job of circulating oxygen around my body.
• I do have a pulse oximeter here… you know, the little plastic doodad they stick on your finger after you finally get called in from the waiting room at the doctor’s office. Normal levels are from 95-100 percent. I’m pretty typically in that 97-98 range when feeling my usual good self.
• It was at 90. Anything below 92 is a sign of hypoxia; anything below 88 means “get your ass to the ER now”.
• So, I obviously didn’t want to do anything like that, so I ran around like a madman for a few minutes and breathed a lot. Went back up to 97. 
• Always remember to breathe.
• Former President Jimmy Carter remains in hospice care as tributes pour in from around the world. I remember, as a little kid in the ‘70s, hearing people calling him a dumb peanut farmer.
• He’s a nuclear physicist.
• From the Sports Desk… the NBA took their All-Star Game to the height of silliness in a game format that had the two teams — Team LeBron and Team Giannis — play an untimed fourth quarter so that the first team to 182 points won.
• The final score was Team Giannis 184, Team LeBron 175.
• Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics set an All-Star Game record of 55 points. Congrats, I guess?
• Today in history… Juan Ponce de León sets out from Spain for Florida with about 200 prospective colonists (1521). Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey (1547). The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by United States President George Washington (1792). Rossini's opera ‘The Barber of Seville’ premieres at the Teatro Argentina in Rome (1816). The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City (1872). Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake receives its premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow (1877). The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of Massachusetts's mandatory smallpox vaccination program in Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905). The U.S. Congress approves the construction of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California (1931). American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies (1943). While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes (1962). 
• February 20 is the birthday of physicist Ludwig Boltzmann (1844), race car driver/entrepreneur Enzo Ferrari (1898), photographer/environmentalist Ansel Adams (1902), actor Gale Gordon (1906), fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt (1924), film director Robert Altman (1925), actor Sidney Poitier (1927), race car driver/businessman Roger Penske (1937), singer Nancy Wilson (1937), singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie (1941), NHL legend Phil Esposito (1942), politician Mitch McConnell (1942), actress Sandy Duncan (1946), songwriter/guitarist J. Geils (1946), songwriter/guitarist Walter Becker (1950), songwriter/guitarist Randy California (1951), songwriter/guitarist Poison Ivy (1953), author Patty Hearst (1954), NBA legend Charles Barkley (1963), model/businesswoman Cindy Crawford (1966), singer-songwriter/guitarist Kurt Cobain (1967), actress Lili Taylor (1967), NBA player Stephon Marbury (1977), comedian/TV host Trevor Noah (1984), singer-songwriter Rihanna (1988), and singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo (2003). 

So, a couple of words of advice. First, COVID is still a real thing. Second, it can still kill you. Third, even a relatively mild case like mine really sucks. Fourth, even though I seemed to recover quickly, a) I’m not at all fully recovered and b) I still don’t know how long it will take for me to be at 100%. Sooner is better but it doesn’t work out that way for everyone. So fifth, I’m back to work (from home, obviously) but I’ll still be taking it easy and resting as needed. And sixth, you can bet your ass I’m continuing to isolate, and will continue masking up when in public after I fully recover. I have a renewed appreciation for my health and I’m thankful just for being up and about and being a productive member of society. Enjoy your day.

Random News: February 19, 2023

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.

---

Good, um, afternoon. It’s February 19, 2023, and it’s a Sunday.

• I am very, very, very much better from my first, and hopefully only, bout with COVID.
• It evolved from “hope I don’t die” on Thursday to “feels like the shittiest cold ever” yesterday to “maybe I can work out tomorrow, though I know I probably shouldn’t” today.
• Still taking it very easy (not that I have the energy to do otherwise) but I think by tomorrow I’ll be well enough to ease back in my usual routine for the most part.
• Only news item for the day: I wish a peaceful transition for former President Jimmy Carter, who is in home hospice and will pass away soon.
• He’s 98 and is the oldest former President in the history of the USA.
• Carter gets a bad rap due to various economic and world events during his presidency, but as far as human beings go, he may be the best that ever ran any country ever.
• And now, The Weather: “Chosen to Deserve” by Wednesday

I’ve been occupying myself in various interesting ways while in recovery over here. I’ll share that at some point down the road. Enjoy your day.

Random News: February 18, 2023

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.

---

Good morning. It’s February 18, 2023, and it’s a Saturday.

• I’m still way too sick to gather any news stuff.
• I will say that I seem to be better than I was the past couple of days. That being said, it’s morning and on a scale from 1-10, at the moment I’m about a 3. And yes, that’s the improved state. It will get somewhat better as the day progresses.
• COVID is just awful. I’m only thankful for the aspect of getting it while fully vaccinated because I otherwise wouldn’t have survived it.
• And now, The Weather: “The Party” by Portraits Of Tracy
• One more note… it is so bizarre to sip a cup of steaming hot coffee and have it taste like steaming hot water.

Enjoy your day.

My COVID Story

I have COVID. It's weird to say, after having spent three years saying the exact opposite. I’ll spare you the long historical retrospective, but a short one is helpful. COVID arrived in the USA starting in January 2020. By March, everything was shutting down and the death toll was rising rapidly. I took that shit seriously.

I’m in the enviable position of having run a small business from my home since 2003; “working from home” had been my standard mode for 17 years at that point. My day-to-day life didn’t change nearly as much as most people. However, I immediately curtailed my exposure to other people to an even more minimal level. Started masking up when going out of the house, isolating as often as possible right from the start, and washing my hands at every smart opportunity. Grocery shopping became only a once-per-week activity; if I forgot something, it stayed out of stock until the following week.

Weird Scenes

Also minimal was my absolutely necessary work activity out of the house. I remember how entirely fucking bizarre it was in November 2020, when I had a crucial video shoot up in the Valley. I hadn’t been on a freeway since January, and on my drive up the 405 from the South Bay, I was one of just a handful of cars on what is typically one of the world’s busiest freeways. 25 minutes from Redondo Beach to Van Nuys at 9am on a Friday? It’s likely I’ll never experience that again in a pre-apocalyptic world.

Other than that, I didn’t leave the house other than for crucial needs for about 14 months. By the end of 2020, they were rolling out the first vaccines. At first, they were prioritized for the most at-risk people, which is fully understandable and something I agreed with. But the moment they allowed vaccinations to people in my age group (50-65), I literally signed up for mine on the very first day. I remember it well: April 1, 2021, with a follow-up shot four weeks later.

COVID numbers dropped rapidly after folks started getting vaccinated, to the point that in June 2021, Christina and I felt good enough about the situation to take an actual vacation… to a rental cabin in the isolation of the Mojave Desert. We actually even ate at the outdoor dining area of the Joshua Tree Saloon, our first restaurant experience in a year and a half. And right after that, the COVID numbers went right back up as the first wave of Delta and the other variants started hitting.

Everyone Gets It

It seemed like everyone I knew was getting COVID by then, but the majority of them were vaccinated. Instead of a death sentence, it became something far less severe… in most cases. I still had multiple friends who died, including people who were otherwise young and healthy, challenging the perception of COVID only being dangerous for the elderly and infirm. I also had friends who ended up with severe symptoms that took months to alleviate and impacted their lives in terrible ways. Some of them ended up with “long COVID” and years later still haven’t come back to their former levels of health.

And through it all… no COVID for me. I got a booster in December 2021 and another in November 2022. That latest one was the bivalent Moderna, designed to protect against multiple variants. I continued to mask up regardless of whether local regulations required it. I even worked a large trade show in June 2022 where tons of people ended up with COVID (including my coworkers I was around the whole time), but I was fine. It got to a point that with very few exceptions, no one I knew hadn’t gotten it except me and the rest of my household. I’d begun to think that maybe I had some kind of genetic superpower of super-immune invulnerability to this crazy-ass virus.

Except that didn’t make sense. I’ve been susceptible to colds and flus my whole life. I’m particularly bad with anything that hits the respiratory system, with occasional bouts of bronchitis and two rounds of pneumonia in the books. The only logical conclusion as to why I managed to avoid infection for three full years of a global pandemic is that I did all the right things in my power to avoid it… and it fucking worked.

Until Now

While I'd made it through the pandemic relatively unscathed, recent times have been a bit more challenging. After getting a cancer diagnosis in late January, my mother passed away on February 7. My lower back, always prone to disaster, went out shortly thereafter. And then this past Tuesday morning (February 14) that I knew something else was off in some way. My throat was bothering me. Swallowing felt uncomfortable. Also, I was running into a low-energy feeling as well. Happy Valentine's Day to me. I’d been working a lot and doing a lot of running around recently handling my mom's affairs in various ways, so it was easy to chalk up any feelings of general malaise to those causes.

Still, just to be safe, that evening I took a COVID test. Nothing. Negative. All good. Except me. I wasn’t feeling good at all. By the next day, I couldn’t deny that something was still off, but I figured I must have finally picked up a little cold bug. By Wednesday evening, I knew it was more than a cold. I was getting body aches and chills. Joint pain. My breathing had constant hitches and occasional harsh coughing fits.

Since I hadn’t gotten COVID this whole time, I made the logical conclusion that this was the flu. It felt like the flu. I’d had both H1N1 and H3N2 during their respective outbreak years; they were awful, and had a similar cornucopia of respiratory and body issues. That must have been it, I thought. The flu. And, since I hadn’t had even so much as a sniffle since November 2019, I figured I wasn’t used to being sick, even slightly.

Double Lines

Thursday morning, things had continued to get worse. I dragged my ass out of bed to attend an important Zoom meeting. And yes, before you mention it, I do overwork and my priorities toward taking care of myself are indeed out of kilter. But I figured I’d do this one meeting, get back in bed, and not have to worry about having missed it. During that meeting, I mentioned I was sick as hell, and my coworkers asked if it was COVID. "Nope, tested negative," I replied in the midst of yet another coughing fit. Then a few of them mentioned that they’d tested negative for COVID, but then positive a short while later.

As soon as the meeting ended, and without even leaving my desk, I took a COVID test. We’ve had plenty around here just in case, and these were still within their expiration date. Each time I’d done the test in the past few years, it’s been negative, with just the single control line appearing in the test window. 

You know how they say to check the test in 15 minutes? Well, I did my swab and started the test, turned around for maybe two minutes, and glanced back down at the test card.

Two bright red lines.

I was in disbelief, and then, some some reason, immediately angry. I screamed “Goddammit!” and held the test up to show Christina. She looked shocked as well. I guess after all this time, there was some kind of assumption that our methods of not getting COVID would continue working forever. Obviously that was not to be the case.

It was also right about then that I realized I was feeling incredibly ill. Maybe it just took that test evidence to acknowledge it to myself. I had no energy, swallowing was difficult, everything hurt, and my cough sounded horrible. I went back to bed and stayed there.

How Did I Get It?

Unlike most of you, I’m fairly certain that I know exactly where I got COVID. The time period of exposure to noticing the first symptoms can range from 2-14 days, which is a lot. I’d spent time in late January and early February visiting my mom in the ICU of a busy Los Angeles hospital, and that ICU is literally right next to the COVID wing. Seems like the logical place, right?

Except I don’t think that was it. I stayed masked the entire time I was there, and my last visit was on February 3, a good 11 days before I felt any symptoms. Still within range, but unlikely.

I suppose I could have picked it up at the grocery store, when my son and I went on Super Bowl Sunday to get avocados for the fresh guacamole that’s a tradition in our house for the game. The store was seriously packed, way busier than it is on our weekday runs. However, we were masked up for that trip and got in and out quickly, and I still avoided close contact with people as I continue to do.

So no, probably not. However, there was one other moment that in retrospect seems like that super likely culprit. On Saturday, I met my mom’s widower at the memorial home, helping him make arrangements for my mom’s mortal remains. And guess what? Since he’s an older gent who is hard of hearing, I had to constantly leave my mask off while explaining the plans to him. It was just the two of us in a little room along with one of the memorial home counselor people.

And that lady gave me COVID. Thanks lady. Ready for this? When I called there on Monday to follow up on a couple of details, she was out sick. And with what do I presume she was out sick? WITH THE FUCKING COVID THAT SHE GAVE ME.

No, Not The Asymptomatic Kind

Calming down. Fact is, she might not have had any idea she had it. A whole bunch of people in recent times have been positive for COVID but don’t experience severe symptoms, or even any at all. And of course, those folks are no longer required to test, and they don’t.

I am jealous of those asymptomatic people, because for about 36 hours, I felt like hammered shit. Like, really bad. I have my own pulse oximeter, and for awhile on Thursday evening, things were looking grim. My O2 level went down to 90, which is kind of the demarcation point for getting emergency care. And literally everything hurt. If I had a thing, it was hurting. My tongue hurt. My knees hurt. My chest definitely hurt, a lot. Every cough burned like my lungs were on fire.

Constant chills, awful pounding headache, strange electric jolt sensations, auditory hallucinations… I’m not kidding. It was fucking bad. Both Wednesday and Thursday nights were things I’d rather forget, which is one of the reasons I’m documenting this now, while it’s still very fresh and clear in my mind. I hope it’s less so soon.

Happy Ending?

I think so, or at least I hope so. It's now Saturday, February 18. I’ve had COVID symptoms for four days now. Some of those days have been horrible, no lie. But I will say that things began to turn around on Friday afternoon. While I’m obviously still sick, a lot of the major symptoms have dissipated greatly. Yesterday I was able to be out of bed and at my desk getting some light work handled without feeling like I was going to die. My breathing is a lot more calm, and my body aches have been minimal. My blood oxygen is back up around 97-98, which is encouraging.

My throat still hurts some. I’m still tired. Still sneezing plenty. Still coughing some. I definitely don’t feel remotely great. Not even close. And yes, I still need to take the time and let my body get over this unwarranted invasion. Like my COVID preventative measures, I’m doing the right things for treatment, with plenty of rest and hydration and all that. But I have to think that because a) I’m in relatively good health, b) I’m as vaccinated as can be, and c) the current variant of COVID, as bad as it is for some folks, isn’t nearly as severe as the ones that were killing people in 2020 and 2021, I'm going to make it through this just fine.

I tell you one symptom that’s particularly weird: my sense of smell is gone. I’d forgotten about those stories from my many friends who’ve had COVID. I didn’t realize until Friday morning, when I went to sip some coffee and it smelled like nothing at all. A mentho-lyptus throat lozenge seems like a flavorless hard candy. So that’s just a super weird sensation. I know it may take awhile before that comes back.

Anyway, the point to all this: I’m obviously already much better than I was; it’s a marked difference. I am hoping I’m past the worst part, while being aware it can come roaring back. For the time being, I feel a lot better, and hopefully will continue that path. And also, I’m now in the COVID club along with most other people on the planet, so I can be like all you other bags of disease, and you’ll know I’m not some kind of superhuman. I’m definitely not.