A Large Regular

1. Politics - whether it be the NBA putting Black Lives Matter on the court in the Orlando bubble or Mavericks owner Mark Cuban announcing he'd no longer play the National Anthem before Dallas homes games. The "in your face" manner that the NBA handles politics is very off-putting (to say it mildly) for a large segment of the the US (many of whom used to be fans but no longer).

2. Player movement - LeBron James, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Kyrie Irving and others have all now played for multiple teams and treating fan loyalty like something that is disposable is harming fans willingness to consume the NBA's product. Plus the way that many of these relocations happen is also distasteful to many fans (looking at you James Harden).

3. Too much ISO and 3's - there's way too much isolation play and too many three point attempts. Watching someone try one-on-one moves or kick out for a 3-point shot is boring basketball. Sure simple math says 3-points are better than 2-points but for the viewer 3-passes before a shot makes for more exciting play. In a way the point above was about too much player movement (from city to city) and this one is about too little player movement (on the court).

4. China - this is separate from politics because even many who support BLM are upset with the NBA's kowtowing to China. It was naked crass greed and very repellant. LeBron James wants to lecture me on human rights but defends China? Go fuck yourself.

5 Costs - there are no fans at games right now but even when there were the cost to attend games was getting out of reach for the average fan. It is not a stretch to say to be a season ticket holder these days you'd have to be earning at least six-figures a year. Taking away access to attending games in person hurts a person's desire to watch that same product on TV. Covid precludes people from attending today but the very costs (tickets, parking, concessions, etc.) having been putting the experience of attending a game out of reach for years.

I could also include the awful way replay is being handled, especially in the last minutes of the games and the refereeing of games in general but that's a post for another day.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Is it messed up that most of our politicians have higher negative polling ratings than positive ratings? Or is even more messed up that we even have those polls to begin with? Don't think Thanos ever paid attention to polls... As an aside the political leadership on both sides of the aisle really don't have a lot of sex appeal. Nancy Pelosi? Mitch McConnell? Please. Tulsi Gabbard 2024...  As a reminder March 1st is officially recognized in New England as the date many men of all ages put away their long pants for the winter (seriously - go into any bar in New England and see the variety of guys showing off their pasty white calves)... I have decided that I can use the phrase "back when I was growing up" to refer to any event that happened before yesterday... Did you know the scientific term "quarks" (a type of subatomic particle) was taken from James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake... 

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat." - Teddy Roosevelt (Paris Sorbonne,1910)

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

- Cool - the day Private Willie Mays threw out my dad. (HT Daddy Pundit)

- Interesting partnership between Apple and Target.

- Very true

- The 10 biggest archaeology finds of 2020 

- Cool cover of Roxy Music's Avalon. Peter Frampton doesn't get enough credit as a world class guitarist. (HT Meanderthal)

Donald Trump famously stopped going to the event once he became President. He felt that the event hurt the dignity of the office. I have long held that this event shouldn't exist.

But if it were to be held you know Joe from Scranton would be looking forward to it. But would those participating really poke fun at the elderly Biden? Guessing a Michele Wolf-type MC wouldn't dare make any dementia jokes. It would be all Trump insults and abortion knee-slappers. But then Joe would have to speak...

You know THAT would make news. The gaffes. The forgotten punchlines. What is obvious to most put on display for the world to see simply because the "journalists" wanted their "Nerd Prom." (As an aside what kind of nerd gets offended if someone jokes that they should learn to code?) 

Too bad it doesn't like like they'll be holding one this year. I'd tune in to watch that train wreck.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Always thought it was ironic that Teddy Roosevelt is next to Thomas Jefferson on Mount Rushmore. Roosevelt hated Jefferson and thought he was the worst President in US history... No amount of cooling will freeze helium into a solid. And no amount of money or PR will turn Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg into likable human beings... Dan Jenkins' rules for sports writing... The old robber barons at least used to fund institutions of higher learning - think Stanford, Vanderbuilt and CalTech. What are the modern day tech robber barons leaving for future generations?... (Supposedly) the top 25 beaches in the US. Haven't been to Hawaii but have been to 7 of these beaches and I can say for sure #7 isn't even the best beach in New England... Think matching Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Chia Pets would make great Christmas gifts for almost anyone on your naughty and nice list. They already have a Donald Trump version... 

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

- A hypothesis of why Japan bombed Pearl Harbor illustrated for a modern audience

- 5 misconceptions about colonial America

- 3 exercises you should do every day

- Interesting look at Tim Cook, Apple and how they got to be the 500 pound gorilla of the tech world.

- What impossible meant to Richard Feynman

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

- Sex Tapes, Hush Money, and Hollywood's Economy of Secrets. Not interested in Hollywood gossip or sleaze but Hollywood "fixers" do hold a certain fascination for me.

- Interesting perspective on Bitcoin. (HT Newmark's Door)

- 12 hidden gems to visit (west of the Mississippi). (HT Newmark's Door)

- Cuban propaganda during the Communist revolution.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

How long before some people start equating limiting data (data caps) by broadband providers to limiting free speech? Don't think we're far off from that... Cool story of a wedding that took place in Lake Tahoe at the same time the Bruins were playing the Flyers... If before the season I told you the that going into March the two finalists in the Eastern Conference (Boston Celtics and Miami Heat) would be tied with the New York Knicks in the standings - you'd probably think the Knicks must be having a great season. Not so much... Think much of what passes for news but is actually misinformation, rumor or speculation could be greatly reduced if all social media platforms had the policy of simply labeling any story that uses anonymous sources as "potentially fake news." Think of how many stories from the past few years that turned out to be complete bunk that were based on anonymous sources... Speaking of fake news - remember two years ago when outlets such as CNN were touting fraudster Michael Avenatti as a hero? I haven't forgotten (which in part is why I never watch CNN)... 

The Democratic Party has made a hard lurch leftward into a warm embrace of Socialism. This, in my opinion, is plain stupidity.

Here's one way to think about large numbers:

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The passing of Rush Limbaugh leaves a large vacuum on the Right for information and entertainment programming. Wonder if Donald Trump could somehow fill that gap with a syndicated radio show? Many had been speculating about Trump launching his own TV network but this seems to be an opportunity too glaring to ignore... Government Cheese Vaccines would be a good name for a band...Could Dark Matter simply be the leftover quantum entanglements from matter and anti-matter that were annihilated just after the Big Bang?... Bill Belichick considering bringing back Cam Newton as his starting QB is a macroagression against Patriots fans. I'll need a safe space if that comes to pass... Cult of Inhibitions - band name or all-inclusive singles resort?...  Actually wouldn't mind if the Patriots gave Gardner Minshew a shot as their QB in 2021... 

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

- Elon Musk says Starlink Internet speeds to double to 300 Mbps this year. Doesn't say if Starlink is going to a tiered service or what the upload speeds will be. 

- The Power and the Silence. Interesting read. (HT Execupundit) 

- Morgan Housel: When Everyone's a Genius (A Few Thoughts on Speculation)

- Comcast pushes back broadband data caps until 2022

- Rudyard Kipling: How to Be a Man

- Hanlon's Razor: Relax, Not Everything is Out to Get You

- The Feynman Learning Technique

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

- Dan Crenshaw's list of 22 core conservative principles (HT Newmark's Door)

- Earth's Magnetic Field flipped 42,000 years ago creating a climate disaster. Been mentioning this for years. The science is not settled - in fact in this case we have no idea why or when it happens.

- Kapil Gupta - The Successful Man's Path to Lasting Satisfaction 

- Matt Taibbi: Even By Democratic Party Standards, Censoring Fox News is an Insanely Stupid Idea

- Related - The Government Censors are Here

- Cool Underwater Photography

 Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"We are often more frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality." - Seneca

"'No' is often a decision, frequently temporary, to maintain the status quo." - Chris Voss

"He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks does not know." - Lao Tzu

 "It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness." - Seneca

"I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes." - Edward Gibbon

"It is not things that disturb us, but our interpretation of their significance." - Epictetus

"Nothing is miserable unless you think it so; and on the other hand, nothing brings happiness unless you are content with it." - Boethius 

The Way of the Monastic Warrior: Lessons from Major Dick Winters.

The case of New York Rangers Artemi Panarin is worth watching. The timing is fishy. Last month Panarin publicly supports Alexi Navalny and now suddenly he's accused of something that supposedly happened 10-years ago? Panarin still has family in Russia and my guess his absence from the team has more to do with that than the accusations.

As far as I know there's no major TV contract  money flooding into the NHL from Russia (unlike the NBA and China) so potentially the league could take a stand here. No more Russian players in the NHL until Panarin's family are safe would be something I would support.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The phrase "parts unknown" has fallen off a cliff in usage in this country. It was in vogue in the Old West describing the origins of good and bad guys alike. Then later to describer where masked wrestlers were often from. Perhaps in the modern day the phrase can be reborn as a gender designation... We are coming up on the one year anniversary of Lamar Jackson suing Amazon for selling unlicensed merchandise using his likeness and registered trademarks. I wonder how that lawsuit is going... I'm giving up betting on the Boston Celtics for the rest of Lent. Wish I could have made this retroactive before Sunday's awful loss where they blew a 24-point lead...  I need to read more Robert Heinein... I wish I could bet that Kamala Harris won't be the Democratic nominee in 2024. Getting about 3 to 1 odds sounds about right. Just don't see it happening...

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

-Tim Ferriss: An urgent plea to users of psychedelics - let's consider a more ethical menu of plants and compounds.  

- Cool - Jethro Tull's guide to Indian food

- Heh Heh (Never noticed this before)

- Matt Taibbi on SPAC's (Special Purpose Acquisition Companies) 

- VDH: Is the Biden Administration stumbling into war? 

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

- Tyler Cowen's 12 rules for life 

- Visualizing the history of pandemics (updated)

- Richard Pryor teaches the ABC's

- Makes sense

- Bari Weiss: Whistleblower at Smith College Resigns Overs Racism

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Something terribly wrong with the fact that most Americans know who Dr. Fauci is but almost none could name who the US Surgeon General is. I know I can't name the person who currently hold the position. Shouldn't that person have been the face of a medical emergency?.. Still say that Memento Mori would be a great name for a life insurance company... The population of the US in units of Canada... Disappointed the nickname "Fat Thor" never stuck for Ben Roethisberger. Maybe "Rapey Thor" would be better?... "Never play by the rules. Never pay in cash. And never tell the truth." Ross Johnson former CEO of RJR Nabisco on what he called the three rules of Wall Street. These easily could be the three rules of Washington DC as well...  

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Liberals measure compassion by how many people are given welfare. Conservatives measure compassion by how many people no longer need it." - Rush Limbaugh

"The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands, but in seeing with new eyes." - Marcel Proust

"It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent." - Charlie Munger

"Tell me what you know. Tell me what you don't know. Only then can you tell me what you think. Always keep these three things separate." - Colin Powell

"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." - Victor Frankl

"It is easy to grin when your ship comes in and you'e got the stock market beat. But the man worthwhile is the man who can smile when his shorts are too tight in the seat." - Judge Smails

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Interesting site - China Never. I agree with the idea of avoiding products made in China but one thing about the site bothered me. It lists goods made in the US, Canada and the EU but not Mexico. Why include Canada and not Mexico?... If you replace the words "My Sharona" with "Ray Liotta" - the song by The Knack becomes so much more fun... Polyamory is Wrong... It would be cool with me if California broke into two States - Northern California and Southern California... 

Mandelbrot Fractal Set Trip To e214 HD from teamfresh on Vimeo.

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

- Exposed: The Media has been lying about the Capitol Protests.

- Count on the Aussies to call it like it is.

- How a World War II vet cheated death 4-times to find love.

- Heh Heh (HT Borepatch)

- Pretty much sums up the MSM these days

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"The secret of change is to focus all your energy. Not on fighting the old, but on building the new." - Socrates

"There is only one god, and his His name is Death. And there is only one thing we say to Death: 'not today.'" - Syrio Forel

"Why, then, do we continue to pursue joys without substance! Because the pursuit itself has become our only substitute for joy." - Thomas Merton

"The problem is the English can't remember history, while the Irish can't forget it." - Oscar Wilde

"He serves the State best who opposed the State the most." - Thoreau

"My soul would be an outlaw. I can do nothing with it." - Harlan Ellison

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

In the Marvel Universe Tony Stark's wife Pepper Potts first name is actually Virginia because what parent would name their child "Pepper"...  Donald Trump did not enter this country into any new wars while he was President and de-escalated many hot spot situations around the globe (most notably the Middle East). Yet many in the media feel free to opine that the country is now safe from having some like like Trump in charge of the nuclear football. Complete projection not journalism... A pro Facebook look at the Australian situation.  Agree on the second point about the algorisms but disagree on the first. A "free and open" Internet is a myth. Many news sites require you to pay for subscriptions or be a registered user. Others require you to turn off your ad blockers before gaining access. How is that free? The link tax is just another way for the news organizations to get paid for their work. Facebook is declining to pay and thus has no right to the links. They want all their content for free so that they don't have to share their revenue. Anyway that's my off-the-cuff view of the situation...   The Acrobatic Grace of Cary Grant. One of my favorite actors...

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

- How Socialism wiped out Venezuela's spectacular oil wealth. Hollywood celebrities like Sean Penn and Danny Glover who enthusiastically supported Hugo Chavez were not reached for comment for this article. 

- The Tom Tom traffic index. (HT Newmark's Door)   

- Ian Harris on Surgery, the Ultimate Placebo. As an aside I'm amused by the name of the website - Science Based Medicine. As opposed to what based medicine? Magic? Ice Cream? (HT Newmark's Door)

- Media's censorious gatekeepers are mad - because they're losing power 

-  12 Life Lessons from Mathematician and Philosopher Gian-Carlo Rota 

- Solve Problems Before They Happen by Developing an "Inner Sense of Captaincy"

-  Eisenhower Matrix: Master Productivity and Eliminate Noise

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Facebook just banned news in Australia - all news. Pure hubris. Related. I seriously don't understand why people are still on Facebook.

- What it was like to eat with Anthony Bourdain

-  Covid-19 deaths in the US - who has died.

- Trust but verify the science. "It is not expert opinion that matters most in science; it is evidence." Amused that many who espouse "follow the science" as a mantra also somehow also believe in Socialism. (HT Execupundit). 

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

- Dilbert's Unified Theory of Everything Financial. Good to revisit this advice from time to time.

-  VDH: The Wages of Trump Hatred

- The case for opsimaths. Maybe late bloomers aren't so late.

- Matt Taibbi on how Covid is effecting the very bedrock of our judicial system - the right to a trial by jury

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Prediction - at Trump rallies the phrase "Joe's weak on China" will become the new "lock her up!" (Perhaps this is just wishful thinking by me as such chanting would make the Biden Administration and vulnerable Democrats more likely to stand up to the Chinese)... Rush Limbaugh has passed. I wrote down my thoughts on Rush 10-years ago back when I read his biography Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One. I stand by my thoughts. Rest in peace Rush... Really glad I'm taking a break from Twitter today. Can't imagine what a cesspool it must have been when Rush's death was announced... If you've been paying attention to the show WandaVision it's been rumored to have a big cameo coming up. A Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian level cameo. My dark-horse candidate is old man Steve Rodgers. What if he spent those years "having a life" living in Westview and he's returning now to help out his friend Wanda get a grip on reality... 

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

- The Backlash to Biden's Transgender Agenda is Already Brewing

- Matt Taibbi on Marcuse Anon and the Cult of the Pseudo-Intellectual. "Reading Marcuse is like eating a bowl of thumbtacks." Taibbi can turn a phrase. 

- Why Russia is terrified of SpaceX and Starlink

- The Long Hack: How China Exploited a US Tech Supplier. You cannot read this an think China is our friend. China doesn't have friends - only enemies and supplicants. 

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Disappointed its taking so long for season two of The Witcher to come out on Netflix...  I'm fascinated by the coming storm between Apple and Facebook. The plot of this tale has all the makings of a story told by Machiavelli... A very underrated movie is 1973's The Three Musketeers. Great cast and excellent dialogue and comedic hijinks. I was surprised to learn the screenplay was by George McDonald Fraser who is probably best known as the author of the Flashman series of books... This year for Lent I'll be giving up Stigmata. I hope to be Stigmata free for the next 40-days (starting Friday)... The Gina Carano firing remains in the news. Still don't know who pulled the trigger. "Lucasfilm executives" is pretty vague. If this was a 100% defensible move shouldn't someone be proud to take credit?  Am I the only one curious to know who's in the Disney Social Media Star Chamber?... Gamestop stock was at $49.51 this morning. Wonder if the short-sellers are still feeling the squeeze?... 

Joe Biden was a lame-duck the day he entered office. He has pledged not to run again in 2024 but even if he breaks that promise he'd wouldn't be viable (let's be real - many feel mentally he's not viable now never mind 4-years from now).

VP Kamala Harris is very unpopular. Her only hope is that her stature as VP combined with no other candidate emerging as the clear consensus will clear her path to the nomination in 2024. The Democratic machine will back her as the nominee under those circumstances.

Any tall poppy on the Democratic side will thus have to be brought down by leaks, rumors, innuendo, and smears. Which is why after months of silence I believe the media is now having open season on Andrew Cuomo and his handling of the Corona virus nursing home deaths. Governor Cuomo is a well-known name and therefor a threat to the VP. The sniping the next few years will be very entertaining.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Our descent away from representational government may have started with the appointment by a President of a Czar for this and a Czar of that. Who elected a Climate Czar for example? No more Czars... Not sure if there's any truth to the rumor that FaceBook, Amazon and Apple next have their sights set on the Farmers Only dating app because of the role farmers played in the Whiskey Rebellion insurrection... Boston College fired men's basketball coach Jim Christian on Monday. Even though he was the coach for seven years if you gave me a hundred chances I could not have told you who the BC coach was on Sunday. The job seems to be cursed since the Eagles fired Al Skinner all those years ago... Good baseball debate: who was the better player - Dustin Pedroia or Chase Utley? Offensively Utley has the edge but Pedroia has 4 Gold Gloves to his name... One fallacy of Social Media is that your voice is actually being heard. People like Joe Rogan, Matthew Ridley, Bill Simmons, and many, many others NEVER look at the comments or mentions. And regular users like you and me are more and more likely to mute others we find disagreeable. There's a very good chance your response is never even seen...  

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

- Navalny proves too hot for "poisoner Putin."  A Nobel Prize for Navalny would certainly be a poke in the eye for Putin.

- Matt Ridley and Jordan Peterson? Yes please! (HT Execupundit)

- Nice statistical appreciation of Dustin Pedroia

- America's New Corporate Tyranny. Well worth the read. (HT Execupundit) 

First it should be noted that I use Twitter as a tool to get information and ideas. I never used it for documenting the minutia of my life or to argue politics (or anything for that matter). I don't understand people who would waste their lives doing that.

I'm also not on Twitter to gain followers or for the retweets (although there's no denying that there is serotonin rush that accompanies a thought being acknowledged by respected others). My Dunbar's Number for following people on Twitter is 300. I find anything higher than that and my time-line gets unweildly. Honestly don't get people who follows thousands of accounts. How do they keep up with the posts? Or is it just a ploy to get "follow-backs?"

My primary focus on being on Twitter is to stay informed and to learn. It's that simple. For the past 15-days I've probably been much less informed. But is that so bad? Everything on social media is polluted by politics. Everything.

I will probably return to Twitter when the month's up but I may be much quicker with the mute button than ever before. I may also cut the number of accounts I follow to correspondingly cut down on my time on Twitter.  Halfway through the month and I'm not missing Twitter. There's no denying that Twitter has in many ways become a sewer (some of it by design - like why do they keep pushing WHO Director Tedros  Adhanom as someone I should follow?).  

But why I'll return comes back to the Shane Parrish quote, "I've learned more on Twitter than in any classroom." As long as teachers like Parrish, Naval Ravikant and others are on Twitter I'll probably persevere. If they abandon Twitter - I'll probably not be far behind.

Bari Weiss: Gina Carano and Crowd-Sourced McCarthyism. Weiss writes "my baseline assumption is that 99 percent of cancellations are unwarranted." I think she's probably right. 

I've followed the firing of Gina Carano but have yet to learn who at Disney authorized her termination. Something that has the capability of effecting subscriptions and quarterly revenues like this should warrant someone being held responsible. Right? Or if the move was morally defensible - shouldn't someone be taking credit for her departure? 

The silence on that front is deafening. Isn't that something "journalists" should be inquiring about?

The book is about whiskey, family and the first family of American whiskey  - the Van Winkles. Fairly short book, excellently written and enjoyable even if you're not a whiskey drinker.  

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but, 'That's funny.'" - Isaac Asimov

"Maybe it's the beer talking but I really like beer." - Chris Lynch

"Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest." - Maya Angelou

"Who's that trip, tropping over my bridge?" - Jennifer Rubin

"Do one thing today that makes tomorrow easier. Repeat." - Shane Parrish

"The less scheduled you are, the more creative you're going to be." - Naval Ravikant

"Vision without execution is hallucination." - Walter Isaacson

This year I wondered how Roosevelt would react to today's "woke culture." I don't think he'd like it.Teddy was not keen on those who worked to convert others to their religion. He didn't like it because he recognized that first the proselytizer would have to destroy the person's existing beliefs to get them to accept the new beliefs. That's exactly what's happening with woke culture and why there is an all-out attempt to destroy Donald Trump, the Republican Party and any conservative family values. . 

Teddy's own personal religious convictions boiled down to doing justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God. An admirable creed but not compatible with the Borg-like hive mind of the Woke Left. 

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

- Matt Taibbi: The Bombhole Era 

- Cool song mashup

- Heh Heh (must watch with sound up)

- Pretty cool tiny house. The conversion from Australian dollars to US means the house cost about $117,000. 

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

- Seems about right.

- VDH: The world goes on while America sleeps.

- Steven Pressfield: The girl in the moon.

- Three WallStreetBets / GameStop investors explain why they did it, what went wrong, and how much they made.

First many a truth is said in jest. College coaches are mainly judged on their win-lost records. What's to stop a coach feeling the pressure to "win now" from actively recruiting biological males who identify as women for their teams? Can you imagine what a couple of biological males who can play could do for the record of a women's basketball coach? They say that Serena Williams would have trouble beating the 200th ranked men's tennis player so why wouldn't a college tennis coach get a 200th ranked men's player to identify as female to win a bunch of matches for Whatsamater U?  

Biological females would be the losers since it would be unfair competition and suddenly there would be fewer scholarships available for women who were born with a vagina. But that's a small price to pay for being woke - right? 

But what about that Athletic Director who is feeling the budget crunch? This past July Stanford University, a school with a $27 BILLION endowment, cut 11 of its 36 varsity sports mainly due COVID related budget issues. Don't you think that most other schools aren't also feeling the budget pinch?

A simple solution that could cut the athletic budget in almost half would be to eliminate the distinction between men and women's sports completely. Instead of having a men's basketball team and a women's basketball team - just have a basketball team. All students no matter what gender they were born as or how they self-identify now are open to play. But there's only so many roster spots so...

In an instant budget crisis averted and that Athletic Director can claim to be the "wokest of the woke" since they eliminated any chance of mis-gendering a student athlete. All it would take would be for one desperate AD to take this path and if they were allowed to get away with it others would follow suit. Then you'd see high school athletic directors following the same blueprint. Once again biological female student-athletes would be the big losers.

Seem far-fetched?  If I told you a year ago that one of Joe Biden's first acts as President would be to sign an Executive Order allowing biological males to compete against females in high school and college sports and that he'd feel the issue was so compelling that he'd make sure to do it his first day in office - would you called that far-fetched too?

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

- Morgan Housel - Best Story Wins

- Christopher Walken in a  live-action version of Puss in Boots. This was a real thing! 

- Spacehey a "reincarnation" of MySpace and a "competitor" to Facebook. Wouldn't be surprised if things like Spacehey become more numerous and popular. Like upgraded message board communities without the exploitative big-brotherism of  Facebook.

-There should be a movie about Dick Tuck. It could end (or begin) with the Watergate break-in.

- "Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Cat to Live." The Catholic Church's forgotten war on cats. (But what about Christopher Walken as a cat?)

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I think in the next few years professional sports leagues and teams will go to subscription services where subscribers get live feeds of the games without commercials - like being at the games. There will be discounted subscription packages that include commercials. Subscribers could also have the option of choosing their own announcing teams with the announcers and teams splitting the proceeds. This could be the future of sports on TV... Goats yelling like humans... The Canadian Odyssey could be a cool story of a hockey player who goes overseas to play for Canada in the Olympics but then gets in a series of adventures that complicates his return home...  If I could learn to play one "instrument" - it would be this one... Reminder on the show Silicon Valley the douchebag billionaire character Russ Hanneman was modeled after real-life billionaire douchebag Mark Cuban... If the NFL MVP voting took place after the Super Bowl instead of at the end of the regular season - is there any doubt that Tom Brady not Aaron Rodgers would be the winner?... 

Today is Peter Gabriel's birthday. Here are what I consider his top 5 solo songs.

1. Solsbury Hill
2. Red Rain
3. Here Comes the Flood
4. In Your Eyes
5. (tie) Big Time (tie) I Have the Touch

Just missing the list San Jacinto, D.I.Y. and Don't Give Up.

Did you know that Phil Collins is his cousin?

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

- Hollywood sold its soul to China. Wait - Hollywood had a soul?  Meanwhile Hollywood's appeal is becoming more selective.

- While the world was dealing with Covid-19 - China destroyed democracy in Hong Kong.

- Coelacanths aren't the "living fossils" we were led to believe as kids. They are still endangered and very rare.

- Mark Cuban is a giant douchebag and the White House supports his decision to nix the National Anthem before Mavericks games.

- The NBA then says WTF Cuban are you that stupid and would purposefully try to kill our TV ratings? Mark Cuban, the giant douchebag, then turns into Brave Sir Robin and reverses his decision.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

So the Super Bowl had the fewest total viewers in the past 15-years and the lowest ratings since Super Bowl III but that's nothing for TV executives to be worried about - right? My guess is next year's 30-second commercials will be sold for 30% less than this years commercials. But nothing to see here... Speaking of Super Bowl commercials - Bruce Springsteen arrested for DWI. What I want to know is what kind of car he was driving. I'd bet anything it wasn't a Jeep and better than even money that it was foreign made vehicle or brand... Wonder how enrollment in Krav Maga self-defense classes have been effected by the political atmosphere of the past few years? Have people shied away from it because they just see MAGA in the name? Or have some people signed up because they mistakenly think it is self-defense against "MAGA people?" Genius Jussie Smollett may have signed up for classes for that reason... One underrated aspect of viewership and ratings on live sporting events going down over the years is the commercials themselves. People hate commercials and most of their other TV watching experiences are now pretty much commercial free. Except live sporting events. So the casual view no longer tunes in because of the commercials...  

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

In the old days when SNL was funny it would almost be guaranteed that there would be a spoof of the Springsteen / Jeep commercial. I'd be surprised if they went there today...  Heh heh - NFL 2021 Bad Lip Reading... Not sure about you but I'm not paying any attention to the "Second Impeachment Trial." Not worthy of my time nor attention. The exception is any Republican Congressman or Senator who goes along with this sham. That I will pay attention to and remember... I've avoided reading this book for some time. Probably for the same reason I've never seen Schindler's List. I don't want to put myself through that emotional trauma. To understand where I'm coming from - I choked up in tears just walking through the Holocaust Memorial in Boston. But time to get over that. Ordering the book today... In the old days (meaning just 2 or 3 years ago) after the Super Bowl I would be counting the days until Spring Training. Not this year. Kind of could care less.... 

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

- How R&R became I&I. (Or as I like to call I&I - the weekend)

- Instead of lifting Trump's tariffs, Biden is imposing more of them. If, as Reason says, 97% of the aluminum jobs in the US are "downstream" wouldn't many of those jobs be union-related? Just asking.

- Tanks fer nutting?

- Did the COVID-19 virus really escape from a Wuhan lab? Yes it did! Excellent detail on why this is true. Infuriating that China is not being held accountable for this.

Dan Wetzel has a good article about Ariel Miller who was critically injured in a suspected DUI last Thursday night. The driver that injured Ariel was Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid, son of head coach Andy Reid.  

The paragraph that most upset me was:

By now, either the Reid family, who have made tens of millions coaching in the NFL, or the Hunt family, billionaires who own the Chiefs, should have stepped up and said they would cover all costs. As of midday Monday, the Miller family said they haven't heard from either party.

Shame! Shame on the Kansas City Chiefs and the Reid family. Shame!

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

- Cool - Rick & Morty creator Dan Harmon is making an animated series set in ancient mythological Greece.

-  The [Macro] Economics of Living to 100. Not mentioned - raising the retirement age from 65. Also most pensions are municipally related (teachers, police, firemen, etc.) so people living to 100 has big-time costs and risks in that arena too. (HT Steve Layman)

- Where are the feminists?

- The 3 worst things about that terrible Jeep Super Bowl ad. Don Draper would not approve. As I've said - it will be interesting to track how Jeep sales pre and post Super Bowl ad. 

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Hard to believe but next year will mark the 50-year anniversary since man last set foot on the moon. 50-years! It's been way too long... OK I'll say it! By picking Amy Schumer as their spokesperson is Hellman's trying to tell us that their mayonnaise will make you fat and unfunny? Not that it matters to me - I prefer Miracle Whip...  There is something so satisfying about watching dominoes cascade... Not an Alex Jones fan but it looks like the people who were saying the successful efforts to "de-platform" him a couple years ago would quickly lead to wide-spread censorship were right... Recently re-watched the original Thomas Crown Affair with Steve McQueen. The lead was supposedly originally offered to Sean Connery but he couldn't take the role. Connery later said he regretted turning down the movie. That would have been a completely different flick...  

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

- VDH: Our Animal Farm - The Left's 1960's dream is America's 2021 nightmare

- SpaceX's Starship vs NASA's Space Launch System

- Matt Taibbi: The War on Privacy

- Parking at the Grand Canyon in 1914. My how things have changed.

More miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Would be interesting to track Jeep sales pre and post Springsteen Super Bowl ad. My instincts say Jeep's sales will be down because personally I know a good number of people who will now never buy a Jeep because of the ad. Go Woke Go Broke is a real thing... Imagine that football fans in Buffalo and other AFC East cities were especially thankful watching the Super Bowl that Tom Brady is now in Tampa Bay instead of on their schedules twice a season... I'm an awful person - if I'm playing cards in a bar with some of my friends who now hate Bruce Springsteen because he's become so preachy and left-wing and I'm losing - I will purposefully throw a few Bruce songs on the jukebox to throw them off their game... If I'm Pat Mahomes I would immediately become a devoted disciple of the TB12 Method. And if I'm the Kansas City Chiefs - I'd pay all expenses for him to do so... I'm also known for putting Richard Harris' MacArthur Park on the jukebox when playing pool to throw my opponent off their game. I'll even yell/sing the lines "Left the cake out in the rain and I'll never have that recipe AGAIIINNN!!" (Seriously not kidding about this)...  

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Congrats to the Buccaneers. Let the debate between Michael Jordan, Lebron, Gretzky and Tom Brady begin... With Trump out of office cable news ratings are cratering. This makes my idea of having Strong Bad read the news a viable ratings bonanza... The Dodgers have signed reigning NL Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer. This make the team very hard to beat and also very hard to root for (except for Mookie Betts)...  Have to think that every single offensive player prop for the Chiefs came in under last night. Wonder if you bet the under on all player props if you'd make money every year...  February 14th really could easily be renamed National Shave Your Legs and Pubes Day sponsored by Lady Gillette instead of Valentine's Day... In 1,000 years if archaeologists find Ted Williams severed head - will they think that's what we worshiped?...