A Large Regular

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Interesting - what's it like to be a dolphin?

- Wow - what a difference!

- The Republican Congress's secret weapon - the CRA. Good! Use it more often!

- I hope scientists make a huge deal out of May 29, 2019

- 51 Percent Attacks. A cryptocurrency weakness. Maybe the reason why no nation would ever use a "coin" as their national currency (too easy for other nations to gang up and devalue that country's economy).

- So sad

- Heh Heh

Today is Clint's birthday (he turns 88 today - can you believe that?) . Here are what I consider his Top 5 movies.

1. Outlaw Josey Wales 
2. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 
3. Dirty Harry 
4. Fistful of Dollars 
5. (tie) Kelly's Heros (tie) Where Eagles Dare

Wow! Just wow! Blown away by The Ringer's fascinating story of Brian Colangelo and his *cough*alleged*cough* Twitter burner accounts.

Five thoughts immediately occurred to me during and after reading the article:

1. First and foremost I thought of Charlie Munger's advice about it being much better to try not to do stupid things than it is to try and be "smart". What Colangelo looks like he did would definitely qualify as doing something stupid. Don't do stupid things! Just don't!

2. Don't trust people who like big stupid collars.

3. This situation both helps the Celtics and also highlights how lucky Boston is to have a responsible adult in Danny Ainge as GM.

4. How ironic would it be if the first place Brian Colangelo turns to to try and save his reputation is JJ Reddick's The Ringer associated podcast?

5. If things really do come in threes - who will be the next well known person to destroy their career because of Twitter misuse? First Roseanne, then Colangelo, and then...

"This is Water" by David Foster Wallace is a commencement speech given in 2005 at Kenyon College.

Farnam Street has the full audio of David Foster Wallace giving the speech plus the transcript.

This is something everyone should listen to or read at least once a year (or more frequently).

Interesting talk. And some good advice.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Do female centaurs wear bras? Now that I've put that image in your head... Waiting for Spike Lee to announce that he's signed LeBron James to play Ahab in an all-black production of Moby Dick... Ultimate Spinach would be a great name for either a new cryptocurrency or a strain of medical marijuana... This was actually a very cool thing for the President to have done. Each and every one of those newly minted officers now have a memory of a lifetime... Just saying but if sports betting was legal in Texas - what are the odds that after the officiating of last night's Rockets game the Texas State Attorney General wouldn't be launching an investigation of the refs today? If he did he'd be the most popular politician in Houston... Interesting - President Trump signs new executive order that makes it easier to fire federal employees... Quote for the day, "In the thick of battle, you will not rise to the level of your expectations, but fall to the level of your training."

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Pete Carroll says Jordan Peterson brought amazing perspective to his coaching staff.

- I really want this car

- 10 principles for living an "antifragile" life

- Awesome

- Interesting interview of Anthony Hopkins. How can you not like "Tony"?

- Awesome - this man is a hero

- Heh Heh - Las Vegas 1 - Capitals 0

“Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them.

In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.”

The above quote is from author Michael Crichton and his words really hit home with me. I've been quoted in newspaper stories a number of times and not once have my words or the story been accurate. And my subject matter isn't exactly rocket science.

For Elon Musk he is dealing with rocket science and with electric and self-driving cars. And he has had enough of the media being wrong or being overly sensational.

It's not even the "fake news" that's the real problem in journalism. It's the inaccurate and click-bait news that has eroded the trust the media once had. The "fake news" is just the label that's easily applied to why people no longer believe what they are reading or seeing in news reports. And the journalists and editors have nobody to blame but themselves.

I'd love to see an experiment where a local paper is scrutinized and the subjects of of each article is contacted to see what the paper got wrong about the story in which they were mentioned. What percentage of stories could be found to have "issues"? 50%? More?

Elon Musk is not a media critic as some would have you believe. He's just a really smart man who refuses to be a victim of Gell-Mann Amnesia. You should follow his lead.

A reminder from the US Marines.

The history of the first and last man killed in every major US conflict.

We used to know the names of our heroes. Today our media makes porn star Stormy Daniels more famous than Master Chief Britt Slabinski who was awarded the Medal of Honor this week. That's just wrong.

Here's the NFL's new National Anthem policy. It has set off a wave of criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. The funny thing is that the new NFL policy is really no different that the NBA's policy that has been in place for two decades.

Why the major difference between how the media and the public view the two policies? Simple - the NBA is led by a competent CEO and not by a clown.

Roger Goodell is the recurring painful rectal itch of sports commissioners. You wouldn't see these multiple recurring unforced errors coming from the NBA, MLB or NHL. Yet the NFL under Goodell indefensible decisions have become the norm and not the exception. No wonder average fans are turning against the NFL in droves.

There's a reason President Trump took aim at the NFL. He took the measure of Goodell and knew he could play him. Like a fiddle.

This all started because back-up QB Colin Kaepernick started kneeling during the anthem to support BLM (Black Lives Matter). Roger Goodell and the NFL took no action. Then the Cowboys wanted to honor slain police officers. Roger Goodell and the NFL said no. Goodell made everything worse not better (by a wide margin). Meanwhile at the same time in the NBA - Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks honor slain police. Once again the difference is the NBA is not led by a clown.

I think many, if not most football fans today root FOR their team (like how I root for the Patriots) and AGAINST the NFL (and that clown Roger Goodell). This explains why ratings for Monday Night Football and especially the Thursday Night games featuring crappy match-ups are down. People aren't rooting for or watching the NFL the way they did in the past in general.

The exception to this is people who have bet on the games. Yes these degenerates (me included) will watch these games because they literally have a rooting interest. Same is true to a degree for fantasy football players (who I consider a form of lesser degenerate). Gambling will "save" the NFL in the short run because simply football is the best sport to bet on. But there's no guaranty that will always be the case.

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- What did the Dalai Lama know and when did he know it? Thailand arrests senior monks in temple raids to clean up Buddhism.

- How a weakened ESPN became consumed by politics.

- Master Chief Britt Slabinski - Medal of Honor recipient. Where do we find such men?

- I see this and immediately wonder if the title of the piece is The Passion of the Willie.

- F-35 1 - Russian Defensive Systems 0 (but don't get cocky)

- Interesting - HGH as a treatment for stroke victims

- Local hero Stephen Mindich passes. WFNX was always the first station I'd turn to on my car radio.

Probably going to have more to get off my chest on this later but I agree with these thoughts and the above from PoliMath to start.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

When is Consumer Reports going to do an all tazers issue? I want to buy only the best... You do have to wonder how history could have been different if Hillary's top aide hadn't married a sexual predator. Really think we as a country dodged a bullet... I've said this for a long time but I think all candidates for Congress should first have to take and pass the citizenship test immigrants take as part of the Naturalization process.  And the results of the test should be public. That would both weed out candidates who don't know our history or how our system works (looking at you Maxine Waters) but also provide an easy metric for people on the fence to make a choice (pick the candidate with the higher score)... Speaking of Hillary...  Many Democrats would like for Hillary Clinton to just go away so they can concentrate on the 2018 elections but with people like James Clapper saying the Russians stole the election she sticks around and hampers progress like a drug resistant cough or STD... Firmly believe that history will not be kind to the Obama Administration as the truth keeps coming out... GO CELTICS! No matter what happens this season has been a huge success but I know the team will not be satisfied with just taking Cleveland to 7 games. Win tonight! GO CELTICS!...

Today is Towel Day - an annual tribute to the late author Douglas Adams.

In his honor here are 25 Douglas Adams quotes to live by.

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- This is awesome!

- I saw this article on amnesty in Ukraine but all I could think was "Why have they arrested Kevin Spacey?"

- One of the best NHL fights of the season and it came in a Game 7!

- Someone is still making CFC's and it's harming the ozone layer. Looking at you China.

- Heh heh - Hogwarts subway

- Rahm Emmanuel is a vile person

- Interesting view on US / China trade

When I saw this picture of Hillary Clinton:


All I could think of was this.

Allie Reynolds was a top MLB pitcher for 13-seasons. He was chosen for 6 All-Star games and won 6 World Series with the Yankees (going a stellar 7-2 in 9 starts with a 2.79 ERA). But it's not his prowess on the pitching mound that interests me - it was his battle against the dreaded Shart Demons!

This used to be posted on his Wikipedia page but it has since been removed:

At the age of sixteen Reynolds achieved a degree of regional notoriety when he and fellow high school teammate Odassus McCutcheon began a local tradition of burning household furniture to ward off what local Creek Indians referred to as "shart demons". Reynolds would later incorporate the ritual into his pre-game mound preparations.

The people at Wikipedia are living in denial about Shart Demons. But Hall of Famer George Brett can testify that Shart Demons are very, very real!

Beware the Shart Demons!

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- I've never watched any Soap Operas but I think I would if there was one based on Elon Musk and his companies.

- One of the Marine Corps most iconic enlisted leaders just retired.

- Interesting - how the Duke of Marlborough inspired Winston Churchill to greatness

- Cool? Not Cool? - Damon Lindelof is bringing Watchmen to TV

- Heh heh - Bad Lip Reading's Royal wedding

- I could watch Larry Bird highlights all day

- Holy cow - a ship wreck worth potentially $17 billion!

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Crossover movie idea - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Infinity Stone... Happy birthday Ethernet! Arguably the most important invention of the past 50-years... Just saying but a Blake Bortles led team has never lost to the Vegas Golden Knights... Heh heh... Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! (Those words will always be magical to me)... How Netflix will save billions by spending billions... Kids today don't know some of the simply pleasures in life - like rocking on through to Electric Avenue...

As sports betting in States becomes the rule and not the exception - I can foresee something happening probably in the not-too-distant future. That thing is an overzealous State Attorney General bringing a suit because the popular home team lost a controversial elimination game. And his evidence that a crime was committed? The game tape! I wish I could bet on this happening (because it will).

Picture this: NBA referee takes the stand, the State AG hands him the rule book and has the ref read the rule on "travelling". The State AG then shows example after example of a player taking several steps without a dribble and asks the ref why there was no call. The State AG then does the same thing for "three-seconds."

The NBA is already notorious for having certain ref crews getting certain outcomes. If a LeBron James team is 17-2 "straight-up" when a certain ref is the lead official (actual example) - how hard would it be to have a statistics and probability expert testify on the unlikelihood of this not being a case where the ref is purposely influencing the outcome? And why was this official assigned this game by the league office if that wasn't the outcome the NBA was looking for? Fun times subpoenaing all the calls, texts and emails from the NBA offices.

Here's an excellent example - the 2007 Phoenix Suns lose controversial NBA playoff series to the San Antonio Spurs.

The series would later be mired in controversy due to one of the referees involved with that series, Tim Donaghy, being involved with a betting scandal that was announced after the playoffs. He would admit that the series had very poor officiating involved from the beginning of the series to the end of it. He would also state in a book that Donaghy would release in 2009 that his group supervisor during the series, Tommy Nuñez, had a huge dislike over Suns owner Robert Sarver and a growing love for the culture San Antonio had, to the point where he wanted to make sure the Spurs continued their playoff run that year.

You didn't think I wasn't going to bring up Tim Donaghy did you? Now picture the situation if Arizona had a sports betting law and the State AG was up for election that fall. Why not charge Supervisor Tommy Nunez with a crime (like fraud maybe?). [Insert your name here Mr State AG guy running for re-election] vs the NBA on behalf of the People of Arizona who lost money on the Suns (and who are registered voters). Bound to happen.

I wish I could bet on it!

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- More reasons why reading should be a daily habit. My daily goal is 30-pages of non-fiction or 50 pages of fiction.

- Interesting comparison of the GDP of individual US States vs whole countries.

- This was the only thing from the Royal Wedding I found of interest.

- Why are gas prices so high and what happened to fracking?

- This remains one of my favorite albums of all-time

- US, China agree to abandon trade war. Looks like we got some concessions from China who also exerted pressure on North Korea. Abandoning the trade war talk is probably the price we paid in the Korean negotiations.

- Impressive was the right word to describe this

I keep waiting for President Trump to have some petty Twitter beef with Crest Toothpaste or their parent company Proctor & Gamble. Or conversely I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Crest is really behind the Steele Dossier. Why? Because of this story from 14-years ago. Both Trump and Proctor & Gamble are known to hold a grudge about this awful PR:

A spy tells Lowdown that after handing out tube after tube of the decay-preventing dentifrice to passersby, the "Apprentice" team enlisted a plump 51-year-old woman to haul the unsightly empty boxes back to a nearby truck and haul back armsful of sparkling-new boxes. 

For this, they offered her $20. 

As the woman lumbered from the table to the truck and back - "working her a- off," says our spy - she was overheard mumbling, "I have to do a good job for Crest." 

After about an hour, she had worked herself into a beet-faced, sweaty daze. At one point she tumbled over and began to roll around on the ground, chanting "Crest! Crest!" over and over. 

"It was just spooky," said our spy.

This story always makes me laugh.

Joe Jackson doesn't get played quite as much as he deserves.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

This is amazing... If I were a CSI investigator every time my wife handed me something I'd bag it and declare "Now it's evidence!" until my wife stopped handing me things or divorced... "True evil has a face you know and a voice you trust. El Mano Negra." Long read but a chilling account about a deadly hit man responsible for about 35 murders... They say that Saint Augustine did something very bad as a youth and it was his guilt that turned him to Christianity. I wonder if what he did was worse than the re-make of Murder on the Orient Express... Heh heh - David Sedaris as Billie Holiday... One of life's great mysteries is how simply placing a piece of white bread with a batch of home-made cookies can keep the cookies from going stale in the cookie jar... Brain Grenade would be a good name for a band (or a hipster poet)...

Fantastic short film on Richard Feyman and curiosity.

Filmmaker Reid Gower also has one on Feynman and beauty.

And one on Feyman and honors.

Beautiful work Mr. Gower!

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Sure call me a misogynist but I still say the push-up bra might be the best thing since sliced bread... And speaking of misogyny - free the nipple!...  For the record - I did not order the code red! You're goddamn right I didn't!... I guess you could say this was true... Who knew? Van Morrison's Brown-Eyed Girl was originally written as "Brown-Skinned Girl"...  Just saying but did anyone ever see Frank Sinatra and DB Cooper in the same room? Coincidence? You decide... How can you not love Dolly Parton?...

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Glad to see Stan Lee taking back control of his life. Elder abuse is very real.

- My feelings about Elon Musk and how he runs his companies is very conflicted.

- Sure he says its not "his thing" but I think he's protesting too much and was serious the first time.

- Excellent advice when it comes to motorcycles. And remember - May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month.

- Heh Heh

- Brad Stevens on the key to unlocking potential. Good advice for coaches at any level.

- Michael Keaton is awesome!

Tom Wolfe, one of the great American writers of the past century, has passed away.

Here is an excellent appreciation of Wolfe written a couple of years ago by Michael Lewis. The article is long but worth your time.

Currently overwhelmed with the urge for me to re-read either The Right Stuff or The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

Rest in peace Mr. Wolfe. The world is a poorer place for your passing.

The Celtics are up 2-0 against the Cavaliers and are just 2 more wins away from being the biggest surprise team to ever make the NBA Championship. And they are doing this without Kyrie Irving and Gordon Haywood who both will be back full strength next season. And they have a pile of high draft picks in 2019. So I guess you could say the State of the Celtics is GREEATTT!!!

How are they doing this? Well according to one "rival front office guy" Boston finds themselves just 2 wins away from the NBA Championship because;

"They are a team full of killers. Some are loud like [Marcus] Smart and [Marcus] Morris. Others do it quietly like [Al] Horford, [Jayson] Tatum and [Jalen] Brown. And the best, quietest killer of all is on the sidelines because you never see it coming."

That's right - Brad Stevens the quietest killer of all. His nickname should be Brad "Hypertension" Stevens because he's such a silent killer. Celtics fans appreciate that Stevens is the best coach in the NBA despite not even getting a single friggin' vote for NBA Coach of the Year. And if you hear anyone point out that Brad is just .500 in the playoffs (21-21) you can be 100% sure that the person that said or wrote that is a jackass who knows nothing about basketball.

And let's not forget the front office led by Danny Ainge. Trading what ended up being the 8th pick in this draft for Kyrie Irving was a trade Red Auerbach would have been proud of. And no disrespect but when's the last time you heard any Celtics fan mention Avery Bradley?  Ainge traded him for Morris who has been the best defender in the league on LeBron James.

You could go right down the starting line-up:

Al Horford - signed as a free agent to a max deal and worth every penny. It should be remembered that at the time Horford signed Ainge was also pursuing Kevin Durant who had narrowed his choice between signing with either Boston or Golden State. That says a lot about how players are viewing Boston as a desired destination these days.

Terry Rozier - taken with the 16th pick in the 2015 draft. A pick that was roundly criticized by "experts" who are now seeing what Danny Ainge saw back then in Scary Terry.

Jaylen Brown - taken 3rd overall in the 2016 draft. A pick that was booed in Boston!

Jayson Tatum - also taken 3rd overall but in the 2017 draft. Ainge said he would have taken Tatum first overall but instead got a potential 2019 lottery pick from Philadelphia for basically waiting a half hour.

Marcus Smart - taken 6th overall in the 2014 draft. His stats don't come close to explaining how much Smart means to this team. I hope he doesn't leave as a free agent after this magic run is done this season.

That's a lot of talent on the court right there. Talent that can hold their own against anyone in the NBA as they are showing against Cleveland. And hopefully they can show against either Houston or Golden State in the next round.

The State of the Celtics right now and for the foreseeable future is excellent!

Interesting wrinkle to President Trump cancelling the "Iran Deal" - the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry threatened to release the names of all officials who accepted bribes to help arrange the Iran Deal in the first place. He hopes this threat will spur Europeans and Americans who took money (probably out of those palates of cash Obama delivered) to save the existing previous deal but it could have the opposite effect.

Imagine once the Korea situation is resolved (one way or another) that President Trump tells Iran that a precursor to opening up any new negotiations would be the release of those names of western officials who took bribes. And imagine if Trump tells them that if it is found that the list provided was either incomplete or incorrect then negotiations would immediately end or any agreement reached would become null and void.

That would make for some fun.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Seattle City Council's tax on successful companies like Amazon to fight homelessness seems like it should be the plot-line to an Atlas Shrugged sequel... Heh Heh - NBA jokes they're FANTASTIC!... Social Darwinism? Is that like Social Drinking? I only believe in evolution when with friends and only in moderation? And never when alone... Elon Musk vs Warren Buffett when it comes to "moats" and corporate strategy.. Planned Parenthood promoting Mothers Day is like the Venezuelan government sponsoring a gourmet cooking show for the common man. Not sure if it was bad optics by Planned Parenthood or they feel so untouchable politically that they were purposely poking a finger into the eyes of their critics... This is why I love history... Heh Heh...

I love harps (I wish I knew how to play one).

"A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that." - Douglas Adams

I think living a good life can be boiled down to three simple rules.

1. First simply try to live life by the Golden Rule - treat others as you'd want them to treat you.

2. Try to make good decisions in life. For the most part you know instinctively a good choice from a bad choice. Try to make good choices.

3. You will make some bad choices - it's unavoidable. However when you do - treat your bad choice as a learning experience and take the words of Douglas Adams to heart and try not to make the same mistake twice.

Rinse, lather, repeat. A good life doesn't need to be complicated.

Just because.

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Good recap of the defensive scheme the Celtics used to dismantle the Cavs yesterday.  Look for Cleveland to try to make adjustments to their offense to counter. Also look for Brad Stevens to be ready for it.

- Frank Sinatra died 20-years ago today. That's meaningful for some but many don't even know who Sinatra was at this point. In 20 more years he'll be all but forgotten. 100-years ago Al Jolson was the most famous person in America and called "the world's greatest entertainer". How many people do you think remember Jolson today? Carpe diem!

- Got to admit Trump is winning me over.

- EU statement opposing US Embassy move to Jerusalem blocked by "New Europe" coalition. The US Embassy is opening today.

- 10 US commercial drone services given green light

- RIP coach Chuck Knox

- Heh Heh

Voice activated assistants can hear messages hidden in songs and commercials. Scary! It immediately brought to mind this scene from the movie Serenity:



If you know the movie you know exactly how these two things are connected. If you don't know the movie - what the hell's wrong with you? It's a great movie go and watch it!

Happy birthday to the one and only Rob Gronkowski.

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- An Open Letter About Female Coaches by Pau Gasol

- If you don't have time to watch the podcast (Periscope) between Scott Adams and Naval Ravikant - at least take the time to read through the notes (very interesting)

- It got pretty misty reading this thread

- I too want to be Willard Lamb when I grow up

- The Carter Center suspected of providing support to Hamas.

- Interesting - Pete Carroll and Jordan Peterson

- Another thread worth your time

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

This is cool... I think the expectations in Boston have become such that any Bruins season that ends before the anniversary of Bobby Orr flying through the air to beat St Louis in the Stanley Cup (May 5, 1970) is a disappointment. This season is no exception as the Bruins lost to Tampa Bay on May 6th... Interesting anti-aging news out of MIT... Peter King has recently revealed that he offered to resign at SI over his reporting on Deflategate. This is crap and was basically an empty gesture because King knew SI was never going to accept his resignation. If King was really angry or upset over his baseless defamation of the Patriots and Tom Brady he would have revealed the source that fed him such obvious lies. But King did not do that because he's a spineless coward... Another study confirms no impact on groundwater from fracking... Just saying but I really like the Celtics chances against the Cavs and LeBron James... Old digital copiers loaded with secrets...

The twisted tale of the founding of Mother's Day.

I find the last paragraph particularly ironic.

Happy Mother's Day!

Skyline Chili you sick bastards!

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Heh Heh

- This is indeed poor advertising for Russian made missile defense systems

- The Tampa Bay Water Pancakes? I like it!

- You might think you're cool but you'll never be Rogie Vachon in the 70's cool.

- They better be including the red hat with the outfit

- I for one welcome our robot overlords

- Excellent simple straight-forward advice

I need to make out my will and when I do one of my stipulations will be if I have a memorial service - 30 seconds of Mah Na Mah Na must be played before each speaker. I want to keep it light.

And I know I'll be dead but I'll still think its funny. (My mind works differently than most people.)

Today would have been Richard Feynman's 100th birthday. This was a nice appreciation of the man I believe should be an American icon.

His 100th birthday is being celebrated at a number of places around the globe.

We used to have "celebrity" physicists from Einstein, to Feynman to Stephen Hawking - who will be this generations celebrity physicist? It will be interesting to see who steps up.

One thing that hurts Feynman is after the death of his wife he developed into quite a "ladies man" in the full Mad Men era image that invokes.  That sort of treatment of women in today's PC culture is not acceptable and unfortunately that's what many will focus on. That's a shame because Richard Feynman should be an American icon.

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Jupiter and Venus are responsible for climate change! (At least partly.)

- Now this is climate change I approve of!

- I want this car!

- Agreed 100% - we really should change it to "liberty of thought and discussion" instead of "free speech"

- I want this house!

- Good advice on reading books. From the Farnam Street conversation with Patrick Collison

- Good news for Rick and Morty fans.

I admit that whenever I've seen a story of Michael Cohen peddling his access to Donald Trump to firms like Novartis all I can picture is this scene from Good Will Hunting:



I also agree with this 100%.

Now let's see how much money the firms like Novartis or AT&T gave to the Clinton Foundation for comparison's sake.

You're suspect. Yeah the lot of ya. I don't know what your reputations are in this town, but after the shit that's been publicly aired here, you bet we should be looking into the way "business" is done in DC.

One of the great rock songs from the 80's.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

What does Taylor Swift think about Trump cancelling the Iran Deal? Why hasn't she spoken up? What is she hiding?... "A million Marines could not take Tawara in a hundred years" Japanese admiral shortly before the Marines took the island in three days... Heh heh... In the drink V8 - is one of the 8 ingredients ass? Sure tastes like ass to me... I love Ichiro! (And I love Tom Brady).. Just saying but this New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman scandal reminds me of how karma came back to bite all the people who went after Tom Brady and the Patriots during Deflategate. Grab some popcorn because karma is a bitch... Interesting look at the impact electric cars could have on the electric grid.

Dwane Casey was just voted NBA Coach of the Year. No offense to Mr. Casey but he can't carry Brad Stevens jock when it comes to coaching. This award is a joke. But then again all these "Coach of the Year" awards seem to be.

This year's voting immediately reminded me that Red Auerbach (the best coach in NBA history) only won one NBA Coach of the Year award. And that was for the season the Celtics won their eight of nine consecutive championships.

It also reminded me Bill Belichick, despite being the consensus best coach in the league for the past 15 years, has only won 3 NFL Coach of the Year awards. His teams during those 3-years went a combined 44-4 so I guess they kind of had to give him the award those seasons.

Just to emphasize how much of a joke the NBA Coach of the Year is - not only did Brad Stevens not win - he did not receive any votes! Doc Rivers received a vote! (I agree with those who suggest that Doc voted for himself.)

Coach of the Year awards are crap!

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Now I'm disappointed that Kansas City never welcomed me like this!

- When did the Scottish turn into such nanny-state pussies?

- Funny and disgusting

- Interesting - how I lost 10 kg (22 pounds) eating at 7-Eleven (in Japan)

- April was best month in history for US budget according to CBO. Reminder Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats say they want to repeal the tax cuts.

- Cool

- Speaking of cool - the unlikely bond between Drew Bledsoe and Terry Rozier

President Trump did absolutely the right thing in killing the perverse "Iran Deal". Senator Ben Sasse had the situation 100% correct. Obama had no more ability to bind the US to a fatally bad deal than he had the ability to raise or lower the sea levels.

Saudi Arabia "supports and welcomes" the move by President Trump and the United Arab Emirates also supports the US withdrawal from the Iran Deal. And Israel? I'll bet they're ecstatic to once again not have a US President that supports Iran a country whose leaders chant "death to America" and who want to wipe Israel off the map. What's the chances do you think that Obama ever visits the US Embassy in Jerusalem?

In my opinion John Kerry should either officially register as a foreign agent or face charges under the Logan Act.

And as far as President Obama's lasting legacy? This might end up being the only thing that survives the Trump Tornado.

I've decided that I'm not going to believe in ghosts. Why? Well the reason is pretty simple.

Every kid is taught that ghosts say "boo!" Who decided this? It's become unanimous. According to our culture and accepted norms - ghosts say "boo". But why would your spirit in death be saying something you never said in life? When was the last time you said "boo"? Were you impersonating a ghost?

The only explanation is that nobody has ever spoken with a ghost. And that must be because they don't exist. Logic.

As an aside - I think it would be funny if someone re-cut the movie Ghost so that Patrick Swayze's dialog after he dies is replaced by someone just repeating "boo!" over and over.

These are pretty funny.

Steph Curry is "fucks the sky".

Giannis Antetokounmpo is "Letters bro"

Kevin Garnett is "King of the Wolves"

Tim Duncan is "The Stone Buddha"

Scottie Pippen is "Second Best under Heaven"

Awesome!

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Warren Buffett in his own words. 122 hours of recordings of Buffett from the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meetings.

- Here's a quote to ponder today.

- I for one welcome our robot overlords.

- Is there nothing Trump can't do?

- Interesting look at the strategy employed by Celtics coach Brad Stevens.

- More good advice

- So flying cars has morphed into "passenger drones" and Porche is developing one.

Sold Me Down the River is a song by the 80's band The Alarm. 

Before we had the phrase "thrown under the bus" - many people used to say "sold him down the river." What most people fail to realize is that the phrase "sold him down the river" has its roots (no pun intended) in slavery. Oftentimes a slave owner would break up a black family by selling a member "down the river" to a larger plantation. In its original form the phrase meant the awful betrayal of an innocent. I listen to that song by The Alarm and I think of this and the song just becomes all that much confusing for me. Or maybe the song fits? Sometimes I way over think things.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Obviously disappointed at the Bruins losing their series to Tampa Bay yesterday. However, the team has an excellent young core of players and gives us fans reason to be hopeful for next season and beyond... No matter how many times I watch - this always cracks me up... Who knew? The last battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Palmito Ranch was a Confederate victory... I'm a fan of Tim Tebow but my gut tells me that even a September call-up by the Mets would backfire. Yes Tebow would put fannies in the seats but the back-page backlash of the cash-grab move would negate anything positive to come from it... Very cool... Modern Americans don't know either the horror that was grisly ax murders or the horror of pay toilets. I don't know which one was worse... General Eisenhower's understated message proclaiming victory in Europe from this day in 1945...

Did you know that the Stanley Cup was the result of Arthur and Algy Stanley asking their father, Lord Stanley, for a trophy to award to the champions of the Amateur Hockey Association in Montreal? The silver cup only cost $48.67 and was first awarded in 1893.

The first “Stanley Cup” tournament was held in 1894. Lord Stanley never actually attended any of the Stanley Cup hockey games. 

A recent California Supreme Court ruling makes it more difficult to classify workers as contractors instead of as employees.

The decision could eventually require companies like Uber, many of which are based in California, to follow minimum-wage and overtime laws and to pay workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance and payroll taxes, potentially upending their business models

This ruling could have major impacts on the way the Gig economy works for companies and for how some people work their "side hustles".

For companies like Uber and Lyft I would foresee them limiting "workers" to a certain number of hours per day and per week. They want to avoid any overtime or full-time employee expenses. I would also look for the rates for these services to go up as employment taxes need to be covered. It should be noted that going to driverless cars avoid all these problems.

For "workers" the revenue possible from driving for Uber or Lyft would now be limited. Also certain "freedoms" may be curtailed. How can Uber brag about not having a drug test for drivers when they now become responsible for the actions of these "employees"? I would also suspect that Uber and Lyft would start looking more into the backgrounds of people now that they would be "employees."

Would a background check on this driver have shown him to antisemitic to the point of kicking out riders mid journey for speaking Hebrew? Would Uber be liable under such circumstances?

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Newhart cast looks back at iconic series finale

- Heh Heh

- Saunas may reduce stroke risk

- Companies reinvesting Trump Tax windfall more than doing stock buy-backs. Good news for the economy.

- The Mueller probe is a joke but the longer it goes on the less funny it is.

- Cool read - nightlife is booming in Baghdad

- Cool read from the past - the dark past of bowling hustlers

The Courier Journal gave Ralph Steadman their front page and he gave them three great prints (including the one above).

Since the race is today - thought this would be worth revisiting. Remember - when the going gets weird the weird turn pro!

And speaking of turning pro - fascinating read on the gambler who cracked the horse racing code. Beat betting on horses to the tune of about $1 billion!

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Good advice

- How Democrats view the future of the US under Trump

- Fascinating and kind of gross at the same time

- Scott Adams list of why Trump should win the Nobel Prize for his efforts with North Korea.

- Good point - Jason Witten probably won't make the Hall of Fame class of 2023. Love Jason Witten but he'll probably have to wait.

- Terry Rozier does not lack for confidence. Go Celtics!

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Just asking but do you think President Trump's recent jump in approval ratings among black males resulted more from Kanye West's words or black guys watching Stormy Daniels porn videos?... Jim Beam made its own Alexa and all it does is pour whiskey. I want one... Disappointed with the end of Infinity War - really wanted to see Rocket end up with the Winter Soldier's arm... Who knew? LeBron James is an investor in Fenway Sports. LeBron is definitely not one of those athletes who goes broke once they retire. Smart investor... According to the Bible - Noah's ark would have been about half the size of the Titanic. Thank goodness Noah didn't run into any icebergs... Harry Truman was a good man... Say what you want about North Korea but they don't have statistically significant income inequality like we do here in the US...

Just really love this song!

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- The optimistic view of the Korean Peace negotiations.

- It's time for common sense to prevail and the Mueller probe to end.

- Iran regime "humiliated" after daring Mossad raid

- Good for Matt Groening

- And the pessimistic view of the Korean Peace negotiations

- Thinking about thinking (and multitasking is bad)

- Sports Illustrated cover 14-years ago today.

Neil: Once there was a single point in the universe that was unimaginatively small and dense. So dense that all the matter in the universe was contained in that single tiny point.

Adam: Whoa, whoa whoa!  How could it be unimaginatively small if you egg-heads imagined it? Sorry but you can't sneak those things by me because of my hyper-vigilance.

Neil: OK! OK! Now suddenly this incredibly small point explodes. Trillions and trillions of atoms burst forth. Atoms of matter and anti-matter. The atoms of matter and anti-matter annihilate each other. For each 400,000 billion atoms of matter and anti-matter just a single atom survives the annihilation. And those surviving atoms are what end up making up the universe - you, me, the planets, the stars, everything.

Adam: So what you're saying is the Big Bang was like if God farted...

Neil: Dude - what?

Adam: Yeah imagine God's unimaginatively small clenched sphincter. Then suddenly boom! The universe's biggest fart. The air outside annihilates the air from the fart and all that is left over is a tiny bit of fecal matter. You, me, the planets, the stars, everything - we're God's leftover fecal matter.

Neil: Well I guess that's one way to look at it but Adam you know I'm an atheist right?

Adam: Me too - but if you can imagine that other shit why not this?

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Heh Heh (look at the photo)

- Interesting look at the effect the retired Dan Haren is having on the Diamondbacks pitching staff

- Might be in the minority but I love Rondo

- Great Larry Bird trash-talking story from Kevin McHale

- Got to remember this if I need a Halloween costume

- Love this! Sorry but I'm laughing at you Kareem not with you

- Love this even more!

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Reminder to those who think President Trump is guaranteed a Nobel Prize for potentially bringing peace to Korea - George W. Bush did more to stem the catastrophic spread of HIV in Africa than anyone but he was never even nominated for a Nobel Prize... Still one of the best time-wasters on the Internet... Sure Houston looks good at home going up 1-0 but just wait till the team gets to Utah and is taunted by Mitt Romney. Different story then I tell ya... Reminder that the Planck Scale is mind-bendingly small... If you think on it - Sam and Frodo basically hiked the entire distance of the Appalachian Trail to get the ring from the Shire to Mount Doom... Also just a reminder... Vengeful Farts would be a good name for a punk band or a fantasy football team...

Here's a "Player Comparison" out of left field.

Player A - wanted to eliminate half the life in the universe

Player B - was just one great purge away from creating a communist paradise.

If you actually treated May Day as a holiday well I guess we also know who you were rooting for during Infinity War.

Here's my picks for the Top 5 songs with the word "wish" in the title.

1. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
2. I Wish it Would Rain - The Temptations
3. (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman - The Kinks
4. Wish I Knew You (When I Was Young) - The Revivalists
5. (Tie)  Wishing (I Had a Photograph of You) - Flock of Seagulls and Wishing You Were Here - Chicago

Missing the list - When You Wish Upon a Star and We Wish You a Merry Christmas simply because the "wish" to play those songs on a juke box would not really happen in my life.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The Mets got off to a hot start this spring but come September they'll be reduced to bringing Tim Tebow up to the majors to try and put fannies in the seats... Trump does right by Ukraine... If you think about it narwhals and rainbows are much more likely than unicorns and rainbows... I'm looking for an opportunity to use the phrase that thing/guy "is more polished than the admiral's buttons". Just because... Interesting interview of Don Nelson who's living the life in Hawaii. That life includes a lot of poker and pot smoking (Willing Nelson got him smoking). Well worth the read.. Heh heh... And it's "Ukraine" not "the Ukraine". You wouldn't say "the Canada" or "the Ireland". Common mistake...

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- A most rational look at the James Comey situation. Basically Trump was right to fire Comey but it would be wrong to pursue charges against Comey for leaking.

- Heh Heh

- Research - drunk people are better at creative problem solving. Yay booze!

- Speaking of the inefficacy of Universal Basic Income. Just like with communism look for supporters to whine that "true" Universal Basic Income has yet to be tried.

- A reflection in shared humanity. Well worth the read.

- You have to be impressed by the Israeli Intelligence Services. We should repudiate the Iran Deal ASAP.

- Apple could announce repatriation of $285 BILLION to US today!

Here's a Player Comparison for your consideration - both players are starting pitchers.

Player A - 239 W / 3.69 ERA / 3343.1 IP / 2862 SO / 61.0 WAR
Player B - 216 W / 3.46 ERA / 3261.0 IP / 3116 SO / 79.6 WAR

The only real advantage Player A has over Player B is in wins but what if I told you Player B also had 22 saves while Player A had none? How about if I also told you that Player B was a monster in the playoffs  going 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA while Player B was a pedestrian 10-6 with a 4.20 ERA? Game, set and match to Player B - right?

Well Player A is CC Sabathia who has been recently touted as a  potential Hall of Fame player when he retires. Player B is Curt Schilling who is eligible for the Hall of Fame but many of the same people touting Sabathia haven't voted for him.

Schilling is 15th all-time in strikeouts and every player ahead of him (except Roger Clemens) is in the Hall of Fame. Schilling is 26th all-time for WAR and every player ahead of him (except Clemens and Mike Mussina) are also in the Hall of Fame.

The whole process has turned into a joke!