The Friday Link for Saturday 11/26/22

Sorry I am late but it is Thanksgiving weekend and not only have I been cooking (including yesterday putting the turkey soup together) but I have all the kiddos home.  Priorities.

Short and Sweet this week.  Remember when the pandemic started and all sports stopped too?  Remember how I found Jelle's Marble Runs and their Olympic-like competition 'Marble League?'  They're still going at it and it is still one of the better sporting events around.  Not only is it incredibly well staged, but the competitions are also fun and I've actually started rooting for certain teams! Go Green Ducks (the host team this year.  Seriously this is not just some kids with marbles and legos in the backyard!), Team Galactic, and Gliding Glaciers!

I've also started to HATE certain teams.  I am looking at you O'rangers and Raspberry Racers!

Marble League 22 is here!  Enjoy the opening Ceremony, and three of this year's challenges.  Follow the channel on Youtube to get all the competition! 

A nurse friend told me there was a five-hour wait for Urgent Care on Friday.  Flu and COVID are still going around.  Be careful, get vaccinated, and stay safe.

Have a nice Thanksgiving weekend! 

The Friday Link for 11/18/22

Football.  As a Minnesota Vikings fan, it's not an easy subject. 

I've seen teams that were destined for Super Bowl glory sputter and fail.  A few years back we had the Minnesota Miracle, an insane comeback win where the Vikings beat the New Orleans Saints on the last play of the game.  Everyone remembers that but not so much the next week when the Vikings got run off the field by the Philadelphia Eagles. 

This year the Vikings are good.  Early this year they started coming from behind to win games.  Initially, a lot of nay-sayers insisted it was a fault ("why are they always scrambling to come back?"). Then as it kept happening, the mentality changed to "Wow!  These guys are never out of it!"

There are certain football games that you will remember forever.  Last week's Vikings at the Buffalo Bills matchup was one of them.  That game was crazy, and like before, the Vikings came back from 17 points down early in the 3rd quarter.  There is a common trait among Championship teams; the ball always seems to bounce their way when it matters most.  Two insane catches, a fumble in the end zone, and an overtime clinching interception lead the Vikings to the win.

I don't usually include sports highlights as the Friday Link, but come on.  This game was memorable! (FYI, due to the NFL copyright rules, I can't link it.  Click on the link and watch the highlights on YouTube)

Another view of this game, this time from the radio play-by-play voice of Paul Allen.  He's the best voice play-by-play guy out there today.  I was so impressed with him when the Vikings were trying to figure out who was going to be the new play-by-play guy that I called the Vikings and told them they would be fools if they did not hire him.

I now know my doing so was WILDLY overstepping my bounds, but only two years earlier I had worked for the Iowas State station in Ames, Iowa.  I had worked there for three years and we had gotten a pretty good relationship with some of the high-level people, including coaches and the AD.  Because of that past experience, me calling the local sports team and offering a suggestion didn't seem like an overreach at that point.  Now I know better.

I was right though.  Paul Allen is great.  The video is inverted and it was a little weird, but here you go.

 

Finally, tonight is another insane ending to a game, this one a Thanksgiving game from 1993 where an insane play at the end of the game leads to a miracle win for Miami.  As I said, great games last a long time in people's memories.  The same thing with the other video, click through to see it. 

As far as the Vikings this year, it'll be deep in the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl, and the team will be up by 20 and then I MIGHT start thinking it's our year.  Don't blame me, blame the franchise!

Get your COVID shots, get your flu shots (that's picking up a lot!), and wear a mask in crowded buildings.

Have a great weekend everyone. 

The Friday Link for 11/11/22

To all those who served, a happy Veteran's Day to you.  

Some military themed videos this week, starting off with a nice one on the USS Yorktown.  I had the privilege of visiting this ship in Charleston Harbor in South Carolina almost a month ago. 

You can tour the entire ship and find out about the heavy battle these sailors and pilots went through.  There are a few of these WWII ships anchored in various harbors across the country.  If you get the chance, visit one.  You'll be amazed at what these people were able to pull off during the Battle of the Pacific.

Next up is a look at the Battle of Nashville in 1864.  What makes me mad about the south is how they have not preserved the battle sites where they lost.  Very little of the Battle of Nashville battle site remains undeveloped.  Most of it is long destroyed to shopping centers, houses, and industrial parks.

What does remain is Shy's Hill, where the Minnesota 5th, 7th, 9th, and 10th fought and died.  Although the Minnesota 1st's sacrifice at Gettysburg is the most remembered Minnesota moment in the Civil War, more Minnesotans died at the Battle of Nashville than at any other battle in the war.  Their sacrifice was not in vain as they contributed mightily to the victory at Nashville.  This battle was the end of the Confederate Army of the West and ended up being the final major battle in the Civil War.

There is a Minnesota memorial on that hill in Nashville. 

Finally tonight, a fun one.  My grandfather was in the Navy during WWII and he loved one specific element of it, chipped beef on toast.

Of course, it has a more colorful name, a name my grandfather had no problem using around me when I was 8.  It did not endear me to the meal.

Chipped beef on toast was a pretty good military meal.  Dried beef in a cream sauce over toast.  Protein, meat, and a heavy meal to hold the troops over.  Tasting History with Max Miller has decided to tackle Chipped Beef on Toast for Veteran's Day, and in honor of my Grandfather, I will make this recipe this upcoming week.

Have a great weekend everyone.  

Stay safe and please remember to get your COVID shots and your flu shots.

The Friday Link for 11/4/22

To start this week a little carryover from Halloween.  

I've watched 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' probably 25 times (I have kids) but I never knew Catherine O'Hara (a treasure) played Sally and Paul Reubens played Lock.  I went and looked at the rest of the cast when I found out.  I also never pieced together that Glenn Shadix, the phenomenal Otho in 'Beetlejuice,' played the Mayor.

I went on this search of discovery after I saw this video, with the original cast doing a sing-along.  It's wonderful, but the undeniable scene-stealer is Ken Page whose fantastic voice makes Oogie Boogie one of the better Disney villains.  Let me add the very funny Greg Proops plays Santa in this video, but in the movie he was better known as the sax player.  

Another video for this week (completely unrelated) is a look at this very cool EcoSystem this guy built in his home.  It's clear this guy knows a lot about the right plants and animals to put into this tank, and the results are amazing.  This tank would be something I would probably spend a lot of time watching myself, a jaw-dropping centerpiece to any home.

I bet it's a real pain to clean...

Finally tonight, we return to the Hydraulic Press Channel, the creative guys from Finland who sit around and crush things.  

Here are ten of their more surprising moments.  After watching this, I am not sure we should allow these guys to have that press.

With November here, it is the beginning of the rise of COVID cases.  Be safe by getting your vaccinations up to date and being careful around loved ones.  If you are feeling a little rough, it might be COVID.  Get tested and make sure no one vulnerable gets exposed. 

Have a great weekend everyone.

The Party of Biff

In a shocking attack, a man broke into the home of the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the third most powerful person in American politics, and assaulted her husband Paul, seriously injuring him.  This deranged individual clearly had the intent to attack, kidnap and torture Speaker Pelosi herself.

And the Republicans laughed and laughed and laughed...

The attack came to light last Friday, and by Saturday morning my timelines on social media were filled with far-Right trolls, politicians, and pundits mocking the attack.  They made light of the serious injuries sustained by the husband of the Speaker, and they even started coming up with fantastical conspiracy theories, conspiracy theories not based on any reality outside of the Right's desire to never feel pity, sorrow, remorse, or compassion for a Democrat.

We have finally achieved Trump's true legacy.  The Republican Party, a party that claims to be Christian, has eagerly become a party of bully-worshipping, relishing in the horrific news that their opponents were hurt.

A few things give this massive shift in the Republican decency context. This was not celebrating the Democrats losing in a political battle, like the passage of a Republican bill or a Republican winning an election.  This was different.  This was relishing truly horrible news, a violent attack by a deranged person on an innocent victim.  This was gleeful applause and excited jubilation at the thought that the spouse of someone they politically disagreed with being physically hurt (as they continue to claim they embody Jesus' teachings).

This wasn't a celebration from the extreme lunatic fringe either.  Sure the QAnon, Proud Boy, and pro 1/6 Insurrection traitors all applauded, but so did a lot of so-called traditional politicians, celebrities, and talking heads.  The Governor of Virginia and the GOP candidate for governor in Arizona both made light of the attack and joked about it.  This is mainstream Republicans behind the high fives.

And the individual who attacked Paul Pelosi is exactly what sane people have been worried about.  Republicans have ratcheted up their rhetoric to dangerous levels, accusing the other side of trying to destroy America and take away 'hard working' Republicans' money, houses, and savings.  They constantly imply Democrats are trying to kill all Republican voters.  They CONSTANTLY accuse Democrats of trafficking children as sex slaves, trying to force a gay lifestyle on children, even going as far as outright accusing Democrats of killing babies to drink their blood in some sort of Satanic ritual.

Once again, these crazed rantings are not from the extreme fringe.  Mainstream Republicans have pushed these INSANE blabberings.  As they get more and more outrageous, people have expressed concern that individuals with compromised mental capacities would not only believe these preposterous remarks, but would act upon them.  This seems to be the case with Pelosi's attacker; a mentally compromised individual whose actions were fueled from deep within the Republican Conspiracy realm.

And yet, many Republicans think this attacker did nothing wrong, even begging for someone to bail the assailant out of jail.  Why?  Because many Republicans think nearly killing a family member of a Democrat isn't really a crime.

Republicans since the 1990s have slowly become bullies.  After Clinton was elected in 1992, they ran in 1994 with a more bully-like tone.  "We'll rein them in!  We'll make him do what we want! And they'll have to like it!"  In 2001, after terrorists attacked the country, in the hours afterwards, Republican talking heads hit every major news network as bullies personified, immediately accusing the Democrats of being behind the attack to deflect from their own negligence.  Then came Obama and the racist-fueled bullying, which started the GOP down the path to where they are today.  Trump was their ultimate manifestation, a pathetic narcissist whose entire persona was based on being the biggest bully around.  Because Trump was smart enough to target the longtime enemies of Republicans (African Americans, Latinos, women, the LGBTQ+, Native Americans), the principles which the 'Christian Right' hated (compassion, caring, welcoming, equality for all), and societal norms no one had ever dared challenge (truth, facts, and reality), his supporters loved him even more, spawning the ugliness we see today.

Republican candidates in 2022:

• Still believe the 2020 election was fraudulent (it wasn't)
• Believe millions of people vote illegally every election (they don't)
• Insist you can use gumption and screaming to beat a pandemic (you can't) 
• Claim COVID came from a lab in China (it didn't), but that the virus is a myth (it's not), that everyone actually died of ventilators and innoculations (that seems intentionally stupid), or were killed by Democratic commanded Black ops (...[stares in disbelief]...), to kill all the poor elderly people (is there a gas leak in your house?), elderly people who were too old anyway and should just die off (did you hit your head?)
• Claim to be pro-Israel but openly are anti-Semitic to American Jews (wha...?)
• Think the Founding Fathers wanted them to force THEIR version of Christianity on everyone (No.)
• Have extolled the virtues of Hitler (yes, THAT Hitler)
• Continually throw specific minority groups out as 'Them or Us' bait (particularly the African American and LGBTQ communities)
• Have embraced the idea of a police state (many from their gated communities)
• Insist that Black people had it better under slavery (Sweet Jesus NO!!!)
• Have vowed to ensure Democrats are unable to win elections ever again (promising to throw out legitimate election results)
• Insisted no woman ever needed an abortion (an insane belligerent lie)
• Have threatened their opponents and their families with hatred fueled by lies (encouraging threats)
• Have pushed conspiracy theories which have come from the most vile, extreme, disturbing, and anti-Christian dark corners of the world (trust me, do not go down that path)
• Push the idea they will force everyone to do what they say, OR ELSE (!)
• Feel the 1/6 Insurrections were doing nothing wrong when they assaulted the Capitol and those police officers, then insist the people really behind the attack were far leftist groups, then proudly give Trump credit for sending those people to the Capitol, then insist the people who tried to overthrow a legitimate election and the US Government itself were harmless pranksters (...sigh...)
• Embrace fascism, whether its full bore evil dictator ruling über alles, or some sore of 'Fascism Lite' which allows them to throw out only the elections results they don't like and then return to a normal existence (you'd never go back. They're dumb as bricks)

Now they're celebrating a violent attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband.  And the Republican voters love them for it.  Sickening.  It's politics according to Biff Tannen.

Republicans do not want Leadership.  They want a Bully.

I don't think Moderate Republicans are happy with this, but they are shockingly quiet, the kid who sees the bully tormenting the other kids in school.  They know the bully is wrong but they say nothing because they don't what the bully to make them a target.  There's another word for that; cowardice.

Bully Worshippers are what the Republican Party has become, and until they get voted out of office enmasse they'll continue to get worse and worse.  I only hope this doesn't end with a bodycount, but sadly I think many Republicans won't be satisfied until it does.