Random News: February 8, 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 8, 2023, and it’s a Wednesday. Let’s see what’s up in this great big world of ours…

• Let’s start by saying how grateful I am for the outpouring of love and support after my mom’s passing yesterday.
• I am also very, very grateful that she was kept comfortable and died quickly. The only thing I didn’t want to have happen was for her to linger in pain. My deepest thanks to the doctors and staff at Providence Little Company of Mary Hospital in San Pedro, CA.
• Moving on.
• As we’d assumed, the death toll in the massive series of quakes and aftershocks in Turkey/Syria has risen greatly. Over 11,000 are confirmed dead and some 300,000 displaced from their homes. Those numbers will both continue to rise.
• If you can help, do.
• President Biden gave his third State of the Union address last night. SotU speeches are, by nature, overly optimistic and jingoistic and sort of pointless.
• But Biden did a very good job, keeping up a high-energy vigorous flow of the speech and being — for Joe Biden — pretty eloquent.
• As was expected and hoped for, a number of Republicans showed that Biden was the adult in the room by childishly heckling him at various points.
• Of course, as became obvious in retrospect, Biden was purposefully provoking them to give the exact response he’d wanted, and then playing off their reactions. It was actually pretty impressive. People like Marjorie Taylor-Greene played right into Biden’s hands because they’re simply not smart enough to do any different.
• All in all, it was a strong night for Biden, and another in a long series of embarrassments for the current generation of GOP members like Taylor-Greene, George Santos, and Kevin McCarthy.
• They got particularly upset when Biden called them out on wanting to shut down Social Security and Medicare.
• You know who else didn’t like Biden’s speech? China. Whoo boy, they were mad.
• The country reacted furiously to the President when he made reference to the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over the Atlantic on Saturday. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Biden was trying to smear their entire nation.
• So China is on the same side as the GOP.
• And now, The Weather: “Angels Flight” by Fatso Jetson
• Tyre Nichols’ parents were in attendance at the SotU speech. Earlier that day, news came out that one of the cops involved in his murder had taken and shared pictures of his bloody victim.
• I hope all of them serve life in prison.
• Some good news out of Pennsylvania: after a trio of state House special elections last night, they hold a clear majority in the state.
• The victories give Democrats the upper hand in the state to block GOP-led initiatives, including a potential anti-abortion ballot measure.
• From the Sports Desk… it was over 38 years ago that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar set the NBA scoring record that seemed insurmountable for any other player. But last night, on a little fadeaway jumper from 14 feet at the end of the third quarter, LeBron James became the all-time NBA scoring leader, passing Kareem’s 38,387 career points.
• In other sports-related news, I bought guacamole ingredients yesterday at the grocery store with the exception of avocados. I am able to predict many things, but even my great powers of prognostication are no match for determining the ripeness timing of an avocado five days ahead of time.
• The Super Bowl is this Sunday, February 12. Kickoff is at at 3:30PM PST on Fox.
• Today in history… Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I (1587). The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, America, is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II (1693). Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate (1837). Delaware refuses to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — they would finally do so on February 12, 1901 (1865). The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce (1910). United States President Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio set in the White House (1922). The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time (1971). After 84 days in space, the crew of Skylab 4, the last crew to visit American space station Skylab, returns to Earth (1974). The U.S. Congress passes the Communications Decency Act (1996). 
• February 8 is the birthday of mathematician/Philosopher Proclus (412), poet/soldier Agrippa d’Aubigné (1552), physicist Daniel Bernoulli (1700), US general William Tecumseh Sherman (1820), author Jules Verne (1828), chemist Dmitri Mendeleev (1834), Edith Evans (1888), singer-songwriter Lonnie Johnson (1899), actress Lana Turner (1921), actor Jack Lemmon (1925), actor James Dean (1931), composer John Williams (1932), composer Joe Raposo (1937), journalist Ted Koppel (1940), actor Nick Nolte (1941), music producer Terry Melcher (1942), singer-songwriter Dan Seals (1948), actress Mary Steenburgen (1953), author John Grisham (1955), singer-songwriter Vince Neil (1961), actor Gary Coleman (1968), NBA player Alonzo Mourning (1970), actor Seth Green (1974), actress Cecily Strong (1984), NFL player Julio Jones (1989), and NBA player Klay Thompson (1990). 

When my dad passed away in 2017, it was a nightmare. I had very few resources to help handle his affairs, and it ended up being weeks of hell doing everything from making arrangements for his body to getting his apartment cleaned out and so on. With my mom, it’s a lot different. She had a great husband, and there are other family members to assist in various ways. Things are going smoothly and I’m just doing the things that I can do, and I’m feeling peaceful about the whole process thus far. Enjoy your day.