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.

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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.