So you click on the picture and get taken off to some website that wants you to click on another link, then another, then another. Click-bait.
The ones that used to get me were "Amazing Never Before Seen Historical Photos." Which usually are fairly common photos for anyone who studies history (like Your Humble Scribe), what's worse is that the website will give you one photo at a time. You have to click "Next" or "Previous" to cycle through the photos. Granted, some of them are interesting photos.
But the screen will bounce on you, so you don't click "Next" but something else and now you're watching an advertisement. Click-bait. We hates it.
Say how about that Iowa Caucus? The Dems really covered themselves with glory on that one didn't they? Sure, it would be a great idea to let those ass-clowns run the country, it's like giving the car keys to drunk Uncle Frank so he can run down to the gas station and buy some lottery tickets. What could possibly go wrong?
Lest you take me for a Republican, go read this.
I'm informed that the Repubs also had a caucus in Iowa, seems there are two guys who ran against the President - Bill Weld, former Massachusetts governor and former Libertarian candidate, and Joe Walsh, not the guy from The Eagles. No, this particular Joe Walsh is a former social worker and one term congresscritter from Illinois's 8th congressional district. He lost his seat to Tammy Duckworth, a lady who I have trouble forming an opinion about. (For various reasons, which I may discuss someday, or not.)
Bill and Joe got their asses handed to them. Bill Weld I don't find entertaining at all, Joe on the other hand is a hoot. Apparently in Iowa he had trouble "knowing his audience." Seems they booed in all the wrong spots as well as cheered in all the wrong spots.
Enough politics and click-bait.
I did watch the Super Bowl on Sunday last as I am a football fan, having played the game in my youth. I have seen every one of these games (save one*) since their inception when it wasn't even called the Super Bowl. I thought it was an excellent contest. I don't care how much the players are paid, nor should you, unless you're a Commie. I'm sure Bernie hates football.
You charge what the market will bear. It's called capitalism folks, and it works. The lack of capitalism is what will kill you. (Yes, Venezuela, I'm looking at you. And a bunch of countries that no longer exist. Because, d'uh, Marx was a failed academic who drew the wrong lessons from history.)
Anyhoo.
Much controversy regarding the halftime show this year. Sex still sells. FWIW, I do like Shakira's voice. No more needs to be said about that.
One last thought - Not all NFL players are "over paid thugs." The quarterback of the Chiefs, for instance, spent his Monday at Disney World supporting the work of the Make-A-Wish Foundation with, you guessed it, kids being granted a wish to be at Disney. He also does charity work the year 'round, a lot of players do that as well. Sure, some of the players are assholes, just like some of the people in all walks of life, but they're the exception, rather than the rule.
One thing billionaire owners don't like is someone giving their product a bad name.
Just my opinion.
Isn't it amazing just how fast a long weekend goes by.
While sneezing in the office just now (well, yesterday actually) one of my colleagues asked me if I was okay.
Me: I'm just kinda riffing and scatting over here. Toss in some drums, maybe a solid bass line and we'll see where this goes.
Colleague: As long as it doesn't turn into Ukrainian Speed Jazz.
Now there's a musical genre I need to start, too bad I'm not Ukrainian. If I called it "Scottish Speed Jazz," no doubt everyone would assume bagpipes were involved. But hey, a bandura, few know what that is, I need one of those!
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| Cossack playing a bandura (Source) |
Google Translate says "smells like teen spirit" translates to "пахне духом підлітка" in Ukrainian, which translates back to "smells like a teenager." Manipulate that a bit and you get "пахне підліток дух," which translates to "smells like a teenager spirit." Which is probably not exactly correct.
"Smells like a teenager," might be the name of my first album...
And yes, there will be Cossacks!
And bagpipes and Cossacks!!
* I missed the "wide right" Super Bowl. XXV by Roman reckoning. Giants versus Bills.
I played football, but quit watching it the year after they fired Tom Landry. It wasn't fun anymore. I loved to play basketball, but can't stand to watch full contact rugby on a hardwood court. Ladies collegiate basketball was the last watchable sport I saw. And I haven't cared to watch that it years...
ReplyDeleteI spend my spare time watching how to videos, or studying some of the older manuals I have. Worm gears and pressure angles. Pitch diameters and power transmission at right angles are on the plate right now. There is a 1910 manual I need to read... amazing stuff. And reading the most excellent OAFS blog. That is right important!
Heh, "full contact rugby on a hardwood court" - that's a keeper.
DeleteYou gotta have hobbies.
"Cossacks and bagpipes and bandura players...." Yep, it is set to the tune of "These are a few of my favorite things."
ReplyDeleteI have yet to see an entire football game, my dad had no interest in watching sports and whether it's nature or nurture, I haven't any interest either.
When someone rants about overpaid sports figures, I say, "They are worth their pay, because they get that amount of money." And like Sarge, I love capitalism.
We're out the door in a couple of minutes to sign our revised wills.
Good post, I'll listen to the video later today.
I don't watch much during the regular season, I'll catch the highlight reels later. Play-offs I'll watch, unless it's a blow out.
DeleteI don't begrudge them their pay, as long as they work for it. Don't dog it because the play is on the opposite side of the field, that sort of thing.
Hey Old AFSarge;
ReplyDeleteI used to be a football fan, but the shameless politics got in the way and I got tired of it as a fan, I watched football to get away from the politics, not to have it shoved in my face....again. Same with the ads, they used to be awesome and funny, now most of them are preachy, again I have this thing about being lectured to by people that have never worked a day in their lives telling me how to live. I'll pass. Interesting video's though ;)
I hear ya, I skip a lot of the ads and most of the halftime show.
DeleteI didn't have any particular stake in this year's game (I follow NFL and MLB pretty closely, but I'm a Broncos and Dodgers fan, respectively), but I agree, it was a solid game. Certainly better than last year, though we've had a pretty good run of solid games before that.
ReplyDeleteThere's a quote that I really like about sports, and I wish I could remember the source so that I could properly attribute it, but it goes "Sports is the one place where you can invest total passion without fear of consequences." And while that may not be 100% true, just ask Rams fans in St. Louis, or Raiders fans in Oakland, it's true enough for an explanation of why I cheer for "my" teams year after year.
While I live in New England, and love the Patriots, I really love the Broncos, I went to college in Colorado and had two assignments to Denver.
DeleteOf course, I grew up rooting for the Packers...
Yes, I have a number of "favorite" teams.
My kids are all Seahawks and Mariners fans from their years in Western Washington, so I tend to root for them too. I find myself rooting for the Twins now as well, given their geographic proximity. Not the Vikings though, that's a level of pain I just can't get behind.
DeleteI have friends who are Viking fans. The pain...
DeleteHey, Aaron, good to hear from you. How was the trip home?
DeleteDo tell.
DeleteIt worked out to be a pretty solid trip. The kids (and I) had a lot of fun at the convention. I think one of my favorite things about introducing my kids to PAX is when they finally understand why I keep coming back year after year. We did a bit of the tourist thing on Sunday night and celebrated the successful conclusion of the show by going to Margaritaville on the River Walk. I got some good pictures, and now that I've checked off that box, we never have to go back to that particular tourist trap.
DeleteThe drive home was good. Much better weather than last year. Is there a good way to avoid I-35 through Austin though? It never fails but that we get stuck in traffic when going through there.
Stuck in traffic in Austin?
DeleteSounds bad, very bad.
At least the Austin traffic serves as a reminder of why I hated my old commute in Washington. It's been long enough now that I start to forget how much I dislike dealing with stop and go traffic. At least In-N-Out is to the North of Austin proper, so on the trip South, we're fueled up and full of the best fast food burgers before dealing with the problem.
DeleteArgh! DC traffic, made me late for a Lexican Gathering last year!
Delete"They're not all overpaid thugs". Ok, Sarge, I'll give you the ALL part. What would you stay the percent of not thugs is? According to this site there are 1696 active players. You've listed one, can you list 16 more to get it up to 1% non-thugs? Overpaid, obnoxious, full of themselves thugs who's only "skill" is running, catching and manhandling. Yet they're paid more than most Americans. Something wrong there.
ReplyDeleteHaven't watch a pro-football game since before the Challenger blew up. Won't watch one again. A pox on all of them.
Yes...I'm in a cranky mood this morning. Sorry.
Cranky is good, gets the blood flowing. As to NFL players and charities? This is from an article from 2017 but it still applies. A lot of players give back to the community. I'd put the non-thugs at around 95%, the thugs don't last long in the league, bad press = lost revenue. Colin Kaepernick wasn't a thug but he took an unpopular stand which cost the league money. Which is the real reason he isn't playing any more.
DeleteCapitalism works.
Yep, it works and I will continue applying it vis a vis the NFL. Murica!
DeleteGood point juvat, very good point.
DeleteMurica indeed.
The Mannings, Peyton and Eli, were pretty clean and mellow for prosportmoneyball players. But the operative word there is 'were.'
DeleteAs to good old Kaeperdink, though he wasn't thuggish on the field, he's a shill for leftist organizations and uses his 'name' and 'face' as a thuggish weapon. You can be a thug without lifting your hand except to feed your face, which explains the leadership of North Korea or Iran so well.
Now, if Capitalism truly worked, that twit would be destitute. But, no, the system he rails against is still supporting his useless body.
How can you tell he's useless? Because most people have moved on from Kaeperdink, but the media still shoves him in our face like every other useless piece of pond scum whom we don't wish to listen to or look at (DeNiro, Whoopie, Ima lookin at you!)
Badura - I'll pass. Too many strings to keep in tune. I'll go as high as eight, after that, I draw the line.
DeleteBeans - Capitalism does have its flaws, otherwise how do you explain the Kardashians?
DeleteCaptain O - I hear ya, I had a 12-string at one point, decided that the bass was more my speed. Four strings and there are days I'm lucky to get two of those at the right note!
DeleteI don't consider myself a Republican. I consider myself a Liberal Constitutionalist. And here's why.
ReplyDeleteLiberal as in the classic definition of liberal, before the leftists distorted the meaning of the word (like they do with everything, distort, twist the meaning so the word doesn't mean what it used to mean.) Liberal like the founding fathers of this nation, educated, willing to discuss and argue and try to see both sides of the issue before deciding (sometimes it only takes a millisecond to do this, sometimes it takes years, like when buying a new vehicle, sensible people look at all factors.)
And... Constitutionalist. Which does not mean 'Sovereign Citizen' like... the leftists use the term. I mean 'follow the rule of law, which the Constitution is first above all other man-made law (and the correct closest to Jewish 10 commandments being above the big 'C'. What??? Thou shalt not Murder is what 'thou shalt not kill' actually translates best to. And really, the 10 Commandments or the Laws of Hammurabi or whatever you call them that are just 'How to be a good neighbor and a good person' rules. Don't steal your neighbor's stuff, keep your wee-wee away from your neighbor's stuff, shut yer yap and quit cussing, etc. Good rules, which is why upstairs had to smack us all over the head about them, because we, as humans, are kind of idiots when assembled into a mass.)
So... I want spirited, learned discourse which follows the law before a decision is made. Which, looking at Congress, is all too often missing. Both the 'learned' and the 'follows the law' portion. (Looking at you all who openly support illegal stuffs because it gets you votes, like illegal aliens and such. Just... say no!)
Am I an unabashed Trump Fan! Heck Yeah! For the most part, (as Angus McThag would say, "cough, cough, bumpstocks, cough, cough,") he has been the most patriotic and 'support the little guy' president I have ever seen. And the things he is doing (for the most part) are sensible things that the average person can understand and get behind, like securing the borders, cutting regulations (which Mr. Bloomberg really seems to hate according to his advertisements,) supporting the military in a sensible style, attacking the health care system using capitalistic methods. And most importantly, kicking every socialist right in the good old yoo-hoo or hoo-hoo.
Can't argue with any of that. Well said.
DeleteYes. I watched the State of the Union speech last night. Dang. Better sporting event I have never seen. It was like watching a full-contact tennis match using live grenades between humans and statues. I mean, most of the room was doing more ups and downs than your average Catholic holy mass. And the chanting, "4 More Years" (which I am sure the House Dems really loved hearing, from a majority of the Senators, from their House Republicans and from the Peanut Gallery, lots of "USA" and a lackluster attempt at the diverse crowd of women all wearing... white to start an anti-chant, and even booing.
ReplyDeleteGreat for giving Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom right there and then where all the dhimmocrats had to see.
Snubbing the handshake from Pelosi at the beginning? Masterful play.
Cameras focusing on Pelosi ripping up her copy at the end? Sour grapes much, SanFranNan?
If you didn't see it, I would highly recommend watching or reading a transcript. Most enjoyable. Nice having a president who mostly gets it (coughcoughbumpstockscoughcough.) (attributed to Angus McThag, that comment was.)
Didn't watch, too late for my aged self, too controversial for my aged blood pressure. I also know that it's typically a "dog and pony" show, so why bother? I will read the transcript at some point but don't care to see the histrionics that often accompany these events. If anything earth-shattering happens, I'll know soon enough.
DeleteAs to the music, what, no Mongolian Heavy Metal Throat Singers singing backup? What do you have against the HU?
ReplyDeleteLove the Hu bro', but they don't do Ukrainian Speed Jazz.
DeleteOr do they?
It is tough to not be on be on one side or the other of the political coin we have these days, if you are not Heads or Tails (Rep or Dem) you don't have a place to be other than sitting out the game while the others play 'flip a coin'. The real winners are the one's who own the coin.
ReplyDeleteThe Superbowl... I watched it, that was the first NFL game I've seen since the NFL decided that disrespecting the National Anthem was good business.
The halftime show. It took pole dancing from the strip joints to America's living rooms. It just doesn't seem right... maybe it's me and getting older (I'll be 67 this month), maybe I'd have accepted that as a good thing back when I was 25 or 30 years old. My outlook has changed as I have gotten older.
Same here Rob, same here.
Delete