The Friday Link for Halloween, 10/31/25!!!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Let's scare everyone today!  Of the many accomplishments of writer/director Ryan Coogler, making an old Irish drinking song into the surprise hit of the year could be the most incredible.  Generation Z seems to LOVE this scene from the great movie Sinners.  I do too. 

Next is the scariest movie I've ever seen, Jaws.  It did not help that I was a kid in Rhode Island when this came out, and they filmed a lot of it off of Block Island, just south of the Rhode Island coast. This was like watching a documentary.  This movie played for 2 years at my local movie theater. 

The best horror isn't demonic villains and teenage slaughter fests. The best horror is the kind where it feels VERY real.  Sharks are a thing on the coasts, and the all-star cast of this movie, plus Spielberg's brilliant direction, made the scariest movie of all time (in my opinion).

Here is the scene where they realize what exactly they are dealing with, and particularly, watch the great Robert Shaw's eyes when he comes out and finally sees the shark.  His eyes actually get wider, with an undeniable shock for even this old fisherman. THAT'S acting! Then the theme kicks in.  I hid under my movie seat!

From make-believe scary to real scary, I have two more for you. 

Hurricane Melissa was a monster, and as the Caribbean nations it targeted recover, I am reminded of how scary hurricanes are. When Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey in 2012, it was MASSIVE.  Here is a video from Madison, Wisconsin, nowhere near New Jersey, and throughout the day, you see the edge of the hurricane come in from the east. Apparently, it ended up being visible from Minnesota (a weather person I know said you could see the edge from the Minnesota side of the St. Croix River). 

This is terrifying when you think about it. Ghosts and goblins don't scare me.  Nature terrifies me.  Nature ALWAYS wins! 

Finally tonight might be the scariest video yet! Jon Stewart, on his weekly podcast, talked with Professor Geoffrey Hinton from the University of Toronto about AI.  The first half of this video is a great explanation of what exactly AI is, and why it makes standard computing look like a calculator from 1975.

The second part is the scary part. Hinton talks about how, really, it is already too late to stop AI and how it is already, in some cases, exceeding human beings. The potential for good is undeniable, but the VERY REAL threat of danger is also undeniable, whether by evil people deciding to wipe a portion of the population out, or AI itself evolving past a point of any ability to control.

Happy Hallowween, everyone! 

Make sure you get vaccinated and stay safe.

The Friday Link for 10/24/25

Hi all! For all of those who have started reading these posts recently, I usually don't feature sports clips too often, but for the 2nd time in 3 weeks, the main one today has to do with baseball.

With the World Series here (Nothing against the Dodgers.  I actually like the Dodgers, but nothing would make me happier than watching Toronto win.  Trump would lose it!), let's revisit the greatest World Series ever played, 1991, Twins versus Braves.

I don't just say this because I am a recently suffering Twins fan, but because it actually was the best World Series of all time. I watched all of these games in the middle of the night in Germany.  I was stationed there in the military. My roommate Ben and I were the ONLY Twins fans there. So many of the military guys were rooting for Atlanta. 

Great pitching, great hitting, great fielding, and the greatest call of a sports play of all time ("We'll see you tomorrow night!"). This series had everything, but don't take my word for it.  The Jolly Olive has a breakdown of why exactly this is the best, and it might be a long time before we see another World Series that matches it. 

Also tonight, Mystery Science Theater 3000. I do feature them from time to time, and this video was linked to a story in the Minnesota Racket about the early days of the show. 

This video is 6 hours of PURE GOLD! Pod People, Manos: The Hands of Fate, Space Mutiny, and The Final Sacrifice could be the four best episodes of the show, period. This video is about the most quoted episodes, and they deliver.

Pick any place in this video and start watching. Enjoy! 

Have a great weekend! Make sure you get your flu shot and the latest COVID vaccine too.

I want you to be safe! 

The Friday Link for 10/17/25

Hi all! 

Alison Hammond might end up being the person to save us all.

If you're not familiar with Alison, for us here in the US, she is one of the hosts of the Great British Bake Off, a show I HIGHLY recommend.  Not only because it's a warm, happy hug in a world where everything is broken glass and razor blades, but because Alison is so damn funny as the host. A shout-out to the VERY entertaining Noel Fielding, who co-hosts with her (seriously, more shows with both of them would be so nice!), but Alison is so funny and unrestrained in her interactions. 

I mentioned how much we love Alison to a friend, and they said, "Did you ever see her interview with Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling about Blade Runner 2049?"  No, we hadn't. Alison is also a co-host on This Morning, a morning entertainment/talk/news show on ITV in England, and she was interviewing the two stars about the movie.  Harrison Ford is usually so gruff, but Alison gets both him and Ryan absolutely rolling.  This is sensational.  It's warmth for dark, cold days. 

On a more serious note, we owe John Oliver a debt of gratitude. Not only does he expose the worst of the worst on his sensational Last Week Tonight, but occasionally he does real journalism and exposes a truth that's hiding in front of our faces.

This last week, John had a full segment on Bari Weiss becoming the new head of news at CBS.  Not only does he point out she is kind of weird, extremely full of herself, and grossly unqualified for the job she now inherits, what he really does is expose the way the far-Right is hiding their agents and agendas right in front of our very eyes. 

Weiss has often presented herself as a person who should be liberal but is not afraid to disagree with the left, but at the same time, she seems to be pushing a haphazard, kinda-MAGA agenda with her news coverage. The Free Press, her "news" outlet she ran before this new gig, was purchased for an amount that seems to grossly overvalue what The Free Press was actually worth, and she is not reporting to the head of CBS broadcasting, but rather to the owner, wealthy billionaire and Trump supporter himself, Larry Ellison.

What Oliver shows us is that, as much as Weiss and her wildly incompetent crew at The Free Press scream about political agendas seeping into news coverage of outlets they no longer work for (New York Times, NPR), they themselves eagerly and proudly insert THEIR political ideology into their news coverage (the story on starving Palestinian children alone tells you a lot about who these horrible people really are).

This is where we are at today.  The Right has its unapologetic far-right media outlets (Fox, OAN, NewsMax, Sinclair), but now they're also starting to create a new kind of right-wing news outlet, one that still presents the news with a very pro-Right narrative and agenda, but packaged as "courageous" journalists, bitter and wronged because they were supposedly hurt by those big, mean liberals, when in truth they are only screaming those things to hide their true agenda.

One final funny thing for the week.  I still think Community Calendar on The Late Show is one of my favorite bits they've done. Last night, they returned to Minooka, Illinois, with Nick Offerman for their latest Community Calendar! 

Make sure to stay up to date on your vaccinations, including the latest COVID ones. 

Have a great weekend! 

The Friday Link for 10/10/25

Hi all!

A few seasonal things to get to.  With baseball's playoffs heating up, and with the Twins nowhere near them, it's time to revisit the World Series Championship.  NOT the 1991 series, one of the best series ever played, but rather the forgotten championship, 1987. That was such a ragtag team, which really underwhelmed all season long, but when it came to the playoffs, they all clicked perfectly.

This video from 3-0 Greenlight claims the 87 Twins as the Worst Team to ever win the series. I highly disagree with that, but they were insanely unlikely champions.  He also brings up the litany of allegations about the team cheating at the Metrodome. They weren't cheating.  If anything, they were playing on artificial grass on top of concrete, which was so different than most of the other fields. A grounder up the middle moved a lot faster there. That might have been an unfair advantage, but since the MLB allowed the field, that was more of a league problem. 

Staying with sports, with the Vikings on their bye week, let's go back to 1998 and the Randy Moss coming out Party that was the Week 5 Monday Night game between the unbeaten Packers and the unbeaten Vikings.

Played in Green Bay, where the Packers hadn't lost a game since 1995, what happened was absolute domination. Randy Moss was so damn good, and when Cris Carter is your second option, there is nothing the other teams could do.

98/99 was the Vikings' year, but Denny Green's mismanagement of the NFC Championship game and one missed field goal cost the Vikings their one guaranteed Championship. They were undoubtedly the best team in football that year.

The NFL blocks me from sharing this, so click on the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h18XKpIKX50

Finally, tonight, maybe because I was searching for more on the Chicago mobsters I learned about on the Chicago Crime Tour I took, I had this video pop up in my timeline.  It runs down how exactly all of the major crime bosses in New York and Chicago..."retired." 

There was not a lot of long-term career advancement in the mob. (Apparently you will have to click through and watch this one on YouTube as well). 

Have a nice weekend, everyone.

Please make sure to get your COVID and flu shots.

And try to enjoy the changing leaves!

The Friday Link for 10/3/25

Howdy all!

This week, we begin with an Honest Trailer from Screen Junkies. I really liked the Fantastic Four movie, but like every movie, Screen Junkies must rip it to shreds.  To be fair, this is the best version of the Fantastic Four, period, but the bar was pretty low.

We also have not checked in with Joe Scott lately. His channel is always a top-notch source of great and interesting videos.

A long one today, so enjoy in moderation over time. Here is a collection of strange tales from history for you to enjoy! The ones on the Victorian Era are so weird.

Finally, tonight, ICE tried to arrest a bicyclist in Chicago, and they ended up looking like fools. Every time I watch this, I see something else that makes me chuckle (Cowboy hat guy???).  I initially said it looked like a modern version of the Keystone Cops, but then I decided an even better outcome would be if someone put the Yakety Sax song from Benny Hill underneath the action.  It's damn near perfect.  Enjoy the chase on a loop. These guys are their own worst enemy.

Have a great weekend, everyone.  Make sure to get your flu shot and your COVID shots! 

Be safe! 

The Friday Link for 9/26/25

Howdy everyone.

With me featuring Colbert and Stewart last week, standing up for Jimmy Kimmel, I think it's only fair that the first video is Kimmel's monologue from his first show back from MAGA exile.  It was pretty good.  I particularly teared up with Guillermo's heartfelt support.

One of the things this Kimmel situation exposed is how disturbing it is watching these major media companies abandon Freedom of Speech for specific political ideology and profits. Corporate media is destroying this country.  There was a reason why, years ago, there were strict rules on how much a single person could control as far as news and information.  Today, a handful of people, predominantly wealthy white men, determine what news and narrative the vast majority of us receive in any given day, whether print, radio, TV, or online. 

I highly doubt we'll stop this insanity.  The corporate media will flood us with news stories about how 2 dozen people making all the media content decisions for 330,000,000 of us is a great idea, buying off the politicians they need to make sure nothing ever gets fixed.

The next clip is from the outstanding movie, Network. The movie, released in 1976, seemed to (for the most part) predict where we are in our society, with corporations and money controlling the world. Here is a stunning Ned Beatty with the best scene he ever did (a scene which ended up getting him an Oscar nod), forecasting where the world is heading. A little off on some specifics (and one unfortunate reference), but stunningly close to the mark for a shot fired 50 years ago.

Finally, tonight is the great clip from The Daily Show where a man I've talked to many times over the years, John Fugelsang, talked to Jordan Klepper about his new BESTSELLING BOOK "Separation of Church and Hate"!

John inspired me to talk much more about my frustrations at seeing my religion, a religion I believe is based on love, compassion, welcoming, and understanding, turned into a vehicle of hate and discrimination. He showed me I don't have to be afraid to fight the people destroying Christianity. 

Have a great weekend!

Please make sure you keep up to date on all of your vaccinations. And use Tylenol responsibly. Trump and his band of dolts are lying to you about that. 

The Friday Link for 9/19/25

The Trump White House has declared war on the First Amendment.  No one is safe.

Hey, Trump supporters and MAGA, wasn't protecting Freedom of Speech YOUR ENTIRE MANTRA the last 15 years?  Didn't you scream about the evils of Cancel Culture CONSTANTLY (usually as you called for boycotts of everything from the NFL to ice cream)? 

For the record, your speech was NEVER being taken away.  You clowns think Freedom of Speech means Freedom from Criticism.  You so desperately want to be taken as nuanced and intelligent, and it hurts your feelings to be called out for your bigotry, racism, and stupidity. So you guys started labeling anyone criticizing you (as they use THEIR Freedom of Speech) as trying to stymie your Freedom of Speech.  Then you went on 500 radio stations, 10 news networks, and 15 podcasts and screamed how your voice was being silenced. 

Now here you are, giddily ripping away Freedom of Speech from those you don't like, excitedly cancelling anything you deem to not be Trump-ish enough.  You're all F-ing clowns. 

In response to Jimmy Kimmel having his Freedom of Speech taken away by Trump and the FCC, let me post the rebuttals from Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. 

Also, tonight is an exceptional take-down of hack comedians by Marc Maron.  He joined Howie Mandel's podcast and was asked about the continuation of comedians attacking marginalized groups now that they had helped usher in this new era of stripping away the rights of the marginalized.  Note that Maron never says they can't say what they are saying, just that they are horrible people for continuing to kick people whom they happily victimized.

Will we even have a country by December? 

Please stay vaccinated, regardless of the "advice" of Brain Worm Magee. Vaccines keep you safe and healthy. 

Try to have a nice weekend.

The Friday Link for 9/12/25

Hi all! 

One of the best shows from the last 15 years was Brooklyn Nine-Nine.  The cast was so good and it's one of the few series where there were a few good laughs every episode.  A lot of that had to do with the insanely talented Andy Samberg, but everyone else on that cast was great, especially the late Andre Braugher, who was like a modern Leslie Neilsen (who I featured last week on the Link!). Like Neilsen, Braugher was better know as a serious dramatic actor, until someone gave him a chance to uncork some comedy.  One of the best casting decisions ever! 

There was a running gag on the series of the Halloween Heist.  Every year they would have someone trying to outsmart everyone else in the police department.  What happened ended up being great comedy, as you tried to figure out who out played who ("Like Frans Bruggen plays the flute!"). 

Here is a running tab of all the Hallowween Heists from Brooklyn Nine-Nice and whodunit! 

Another clip this week is another classic from ZeFrank, the master of real science nature videos wrapped up in some outstanding comedy!  Today, it's True Facts: Bats, The Science of the Hunt!

And finally tonight is a clip from Stephen Colbert, commemorating the 10th Anniversary of The Late Show.  It is great to see Julianne Moore ( I just rewatched The Big Lebowski!) but trust me, the pay off at the end is spectacular! 

Have a great weekend everyone.  Be safe.

Please make sure to stay vaccinated.  There are too many idiots in power trying to convince you that you shouldn't.  They are lying to you.  Get vaccinated!

The Problem with Fear

Some Democrats have been coming after me lately.  While most have been cordial, one or two have been belligerent beyond belligerent.   It's funny when people you don't work for think they are your boss and have the ability to tell you what to do.

What has led to the hubbub?  Fear.  Fear can be a crippling thing.  It chews people up on different levels and has a bad habit of creating solutions to problems which are haphazard at best, and (judging from the MAGA right) downright 'evil with a purpose' at worst. 

I'm not saying people don't have a legit reason to be afraid at times.  I AM afraid occasionally! Trust me, the litany of threats I've gotten while carrying the water for the Left has been at times terrifying, with direct threats to my wife and kids. 

But I don't stop what I do. I could! I could walk away at any point and get a career in the private sector, disappearing into anonymity. But I do love what I do, and I will not let the fear control me.  That's my personal choice.  You make your own.

(image from Psychology Today)

Let me explain what happened:

A few weeks ago, Hennepin County Commissioner Heather Edelson had a piece in the Star Tribune where she criticized protestors coming to another commissioner's residence and protesting there.  For the record, I think it's inappropriate to protest at a politician's house, but IF NO ONE IS BREAKING THE LAW, and they are respecting private property and only protesting on the public street/sidewalk, that is a Constitutional Right. If they had violated the law in regards to the commissioner's private property, I'd be for prosecuting them, but as of today, it doesn't sound like the protesters did.

If calling out the stupidity of protestors protesting at a politician's house was where this ended, I think Edelson and I would be in complete agreement, but she decided to take her argument in an unfortunate direction.  She brought up the fear she and other politicians have in the wake of the terrorist assassination of MN Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, as well as the shooting of MN Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. According to the article, she linked the terrorist strike to legal protesting, which are two VERY DIFFERENT THINGS.  Read the article for yourself:  https://www.startribune.com/commissioner-to-protesters-please-stay-away-from-our-homes/601450130?utm_source=gift

To my knowledge, she never said the Star Tribune took her comments out of context, nor did she come out and clarify that 'of course protestors protesting legally are not the same thing as Vance Boelter, the terrorist  in the Hortman/Hoffman case.' My pointing this out doesn't mean that Edelson's (or anyone else's) residual fear in the wake of Boelter isn't real or legitimate, but to invoke his heinous crime while discussing peaceful protesting, even at a politician's house, is overreach, an over-villification of the nth degree to try to make your argument more pertinent. 

Since then, the Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, had a protest scheduled for in front of his residence, and after the protest was moved, the mayor's wife, Sarah Clarke, also compared peaceful protesting to Boelter with the line "Violence against public officials and their families is no longer hypothetical - it has happened here in Minnesota." (https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-protest-jacob-frey-home-moved/601461518?utm_source=gift).

Sigh...

Peaceful protesters are not the same thing as Vance Boelter.  They aren't, and the overreach in both of these cases to try to add a false provenance to their fear-driven anti-protestor mantras is not only an insane exaggeration, but you're also actually diminishing the true horror of what happened to the Hortmans and Hoffmans to try to punch up a political issue WAY BENEATH the terrorist strike on Minnesota.

The assassination of the Hortmans and attempted murder of the Hoffmans is one of the worst things that has ever happened in this state, on par with the murder of George Floyd, the 35W bridge collapse, the Hinkley fires, the 1878 grain mill explosion in downtown Minneapolis, the abuse of the Native peoples, and the loss of lives of Minnesotans in the Civil War.  If I were to say, "I think we should revisit Minneapolis parking regulations because of what happened to George Floyd," I'd be so out of line it would be inexcusable. I get you're afraid, but peaceful protesting IS NOT a terrorist strike. 

The vilification of one group of people by invoking a far different, far more serious crime/individual IS SOMETHING REPUBLICANS DO ALL THE TIME!!!  When I made that point, Edelson and a few other Democrats took umbrage with me, insisting I was WAY out of line.  No, I wasn't.  That's exactly what Republicans do. Look at Trump's immigration roundup of all minorities ("They're all criminals!") or the passage of the Laken Riley Act ("Because one person did this, EVERY non-citizen will do this!").  

We just had the tragedy of the Annuciation school/church shooting and immediately Republicans are using that tragedy to target all transgender people.  If you don't want me to compare your analogies to the MAGA Right, then don't make analogies like the MAGA right!

Let's entertain the argument of these Democrats and talk about stopping all protestors from protesting at the residences of politicians.

Let's start by defining which politicians.  I will presume that we are talking about all statewide officials (Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and State Auditor), the two MN US Senators, the 8 MN US House Reps.,  and every member of the Minnesota House and Senate.  I presume this because the two people who are suggesting this are a County Commissioner and a City Mayor, so they must be talking about all political offices higher than theirs. And the nature of the position of the people making the suggestion means all county commissioners' residences, mayors' residences, and city council members' residences are off limits, too.  That's A LOT of public roads and sidewalks now off limits. My guess is that this protection would be retroactive to all former politicians who served in any of the aforementioned positions.  I would hope that we are also not going to loop in family members of the politician after that politician has passed away. 

And then comes the question of how much of a no-go zone are we talking about. Judging by the arguments, it clearly is not just in front of a politician's house, but the full street the politician's house is on. Does that go for one block, two blocks in each direction (just to be safe)?  What about a politician who lives in an apartment building?  Does the entire surrounding block of the building become a no-go protest zone?  Is it a full two-block radius around the entire building?  And what about politicians who have a rental place in the city where they reside while the Legislature is in session? Are we going to have no-go zones there AND at their houses back into their districts even though they are not there at the time?

And what exactly constitutes a protest?  Is it 50 people?  Is it 10 or 12?  Is it one person with a picket sign?  Is it a car that is parked on the street with a lot of bumper stickers that are against the politician who lives on the block?

The state will have to release a map EVERY WEEK of no-go protest zones in the state, which could be upwards fo 20% of pubic roads and sidewalks. Congratulations, Democrats have just annihilated the First Amendment of the Constitution, while the Republicans who HATE public protesting laugh and laugh and laugh.

And I don't want to skip past the irony of a politician watching a beloved neighbor getting rounded up by ICE agents, wondering, "Where are the people protesting to stop this?"  They're four blocks away, as you demanded. When you want protestors to show up for your cause, it will be a hoot watching you realize you've just torpedoed your own agenda because a member of the Park Board lives three houses down and hence the protest is illegal.

And even that far-right Supreme Court would laugh your attempted law out of court, wasting taxpayer dollars to defend the indefensible.

Once again, I think protesting at a politician's home is misguided, but I also understand that fear should not be used to validate violating other people's rights, no matter how many tragedies someone invokes in their argument. 

One of the more depressing elements of this whole confrontation was having two Democratic politicians, when I brought up the point that I've been threatened too, dismiss that as irrelevant.  The only fear they felt was valid was THEIR fear.  And you wonder why the Democratic Party has a hard time relating to the masses (FFS).

Fear is nasty.  It makes you irrational and untrusting.  I know.  I've gotten a lot of threats over the years defending the Left, but I don't use those threats to vilify any person who disagrees with me on a political issue.  If I do that, the people making the threats win.

If you are afraid (and after Boetler, many people do have a very valid reason to be afraid), my best suggestion is to talk with someone about it.  Get a counselor, or talk to a trusted friend.  Talking it out helps you put everything in better perspective and helps you get past the shock, anger, and fear.

I will make this offer.  If ANY politician wants to sit down and talk about their fear, I'd be happy to meet with you, buy you a coffee, and discuss it.  I will listen to your concerns and feelings, relate my experiences, and let you know you are not alone.  This is a serious offer, and it is open to anyone, Democrat or Republican, who is feeling fear control them.  If I can help, I'm more than willing to try.

I'm not going to quit doing what I do.  Most politicians like doing what they do.  I understand that desire to serve and try to make our community better.  Just don't fall into the trap of fear; proposing anti-American policies, invoking far more serious tragedies to try to add weight to your misguided reactionary agenda.  If you do that, fear wins. 

Best of Minnesota State Fair Fine Art, 2025

Every year, I post what I think are the best pieces of art from the Fine Art Exhibition at the Minnesota State Fair.  This is totally arbitrary and in no way represents what the judges thought. This is just what caught my fancy.

Please feel free to disagree.  Isn't that the point of art: to create discussion, disagreement, and open up personal feelings?

Here are the pieces I did not rank in the top 5.

(love me a moose painting!)

Here's my list.  #5

#4

#3

#2

#1

The Friday Link for 9/5/25

Good Friday evening, everyone! 

Let's start with Police Squad! I remember being a kid and watching this show when it aired for its 6-episode run in the early '80s.  This show was so freaking funny, continuing the non-stop silliness of the Airplane movies. Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin was hilarious, skewing every TV police show ever made.  It eventually led to the movie franchise, and that was good, but the TV series was something special.

Here is a video featuring some of the action.  Try to catch every sight gag in these scenes.  There is a lot you will miss the first time. 

By the way, John Ashton shows up as a bad guy.  Ashton went on to play Taggart in the Beverly Hills Cop movies. In an interview he did a few years back, he said the scene where Drebin asks them to explain the rock was the hardest scene he ever had to film because they all kept breaking out laughing.  It took them an entire day to do that one scene. 

The original Nordberg was hilarious.

Also tonight, we have two short ones. 

OK Go, the band known for their insanely great music videos, is back, with an animated video for their latest song, Impulse Purchase. 

I'm not sure if I ever featured Elle Cordova before.  She is a brilliant, witty comedian/writer who puts out exceptional videos where groups of concepts gather (sciences, fonts, planets).  Here she is having a meeting of all of the inventions! 

Because this is a short, you need to click on the link. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/NHat7IaZ488?si=HBrWNNPhRmmXP9Y1 

Have a great weekend, everyone, and make sure you stay up to date on your vaccinations. 

The Friday Link for 8/29/25

It's the end of summer, so that means only one thing...it's the Grand Finale! Of the Jelle's Marble League 2025!

You might remember how Jelle's Marble League got a lot of attention as pretty much the only sport going on for a while during the pandemic. And yes, it's just marbles, but as I wrote back then in a Friday Link, I'll be danged if I didn't start rooting for them with some intensity.  

It's been enjoyable to see some of the teams' turnover.  You wondered if certain types of marbles were able to do better in these competitions because of how they are made, but there has been a consistent turnover of teams.  I've been a big fan of the Oceanics, a perennial basement dweller in these competitions for a while, but now they are one of the better teams.

As a matter of fact, the Oceanics are currently in 2nd place going into the finale of the Marble League 2025, trailing only the Kobalts, another team resurrected from failure over the years.  Will the Kobalts win the whole thing?  Will the Oceanics stage a comeback? Will one of the other teams rise and pull off the upset?  

The only way to find out is to watch the finale.  Plus, they do have an intense closing ceremony too! 

Also tonight, with Last Week Tonight on hiatus for the Labor Day break, they did put out a web exclusive on one of my favorite topics over the last five years, Mike Lindell.

They look not at Lindell and his plethora of lawsuits against him, but rather at Mike Lindell's store, which features products that make the state fair exhibition booths seem like the World's Fair. Most of this stuff is bad, but Oliver does highlight some of the more egregious entries. 

Finally tonight, speaking of the State Fair, I just had my second day at the Minnesota State Fair, and of the new foods I ate, here is a rundown:

Somali Street Fries - one of the best things I've ever had at the State Fair

Carmel Apple Lollipop ice cream - VERY tasty, and sweet, but the perfect amount of sweet

Tater  Kegs - Basically a big tater tot.  Not bad, but they kind of fell apart with the sour-scream dipping sauce.

For more on the State Fair foods, Dāv Kaufman Eats the World paid a visit and had some positives and negatives to talk about. 

Have a great weekend, everyone! 

Make sure you stay up to date on your vaccinations! I got my flu shot at the Fair!

The Friday Link for 8/22/25

Hi all.  Still taking a break from the Worst Thing Trump Did. My kids go off to college next week, and as I said, I'm trying to spend as much time with them as I can before I become an empty nester. 

But it's not like there aren't a lot of bad things going on right now.  Trump is ordering the miltiary into US cities, he ordered the DOJ to raid the home and office of a poltical rival today (and the DOJ eagerly obliged), he's making up fake mortagage fraud crimes to go after other poltical enemies, he is still rounding up people off the street, he's trying to find a way to throw out the 2026 election, he's actively helping genocide in Palestine, prices are skyrocketing for most Americans, school and healthcare are going to be destroyed, most of the world hates us, we're all goign to be a lot sicker, the Ag sector is on the verge of collapse, they're literelly taking the money from the poor and giving it to the rich, people are starving to death, racism is a main tentpole ideology for this Adminsitration, and every good thing about this country is being ground to a pulp.  

Yep, dark days indeed.  

There are a lot of little things that add context to what exactly is going on in this country.

I have posted the Anti-Chef multiple times.  He's a quirky cook who tackles complicated recipes, and over the years, he has become a pretty good cook himself.  What's funny is even though he clearly knows what he is going, and has all the tools one needs to be a great cook (RIP Silver Fox), he still makes an absolute mess in the kitchen.  He's relatable.

He's also Canadian.  A month plus ago, he announced he was leaving New York City. He didn't explain exactly why until this video came out 12 days ago, explaining why he is moving back to Canada.  In one of the nicest ways possible, he basically points to the current political climate here as a main reason (but not the only reason) he is leaving. 

Watch for yourself.

He won't say it directly, but it seems like Trump drove him out of the USA.

He did set up shop in Toronto, and he already has his first cooking video out, where he compares chicken and waffle recipes from noted chef Thomas Keller and Snoop Dogg...YES, that Snoop Dogg! 

I think the Snoop version looks great! 

Finally tonight, another Animated bit from Make Some Noise. 

Please be safe out there.  PLEASE stay up to date on your vaccinations.  

Have a good weekend.

The Friday Link for 8/15/25

Hi all.

You may be wondering why I haven't done the Worst Thing Trump Did in a week.  First of all, I'm exhausted by this Administration.  There is SO MUCH HORRIBLE!!!  The damage done by this Administration may never get fixed; that's how bad Trump is. I needed to take some time away from a daily slap to the face.

Also, I am about to become an empty nester. My youngest daughter heads off to college in a few weeks, and I am trying to absorb every minute I am allowed to have with her.  

I eventually will start it back up, but not today.

For you tonight, one video, a Mystery Science Theater Classic, Gamera Vs. Guiron! Enjoy.

Have a wonderful weekend and make sure to stay up to date on your vaccinations! 

The Friday Link for 8/8/25

Howdy all!

Let's start off on Broadway! Well, in the movie version at least.

The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis is currently running 'Cabaret.' Their presentation (I saw it two weeks ago) is superb, and unbelievably on point for what is happening in this country today. 

'Cabaret' is not a happy musical. By the time you get to the end of it, it's quite depressing. It basically talks about life in Berlin at a cabaret nightclub as the Weimar Republic dies and the Nazis rise to power.  

What's crazy about the relevance to what is going on today is how the Guthrie must have decided 2 years ago to put on 'Cabaret', not understanding what a flashpoint it'd be for Trump's America, nearly mimicking what we are seeing going on in the US with our own eyes. 

Here is the original film version of Willkommen from 'Cabaret,' featuring Joel Gray and Liza Minnelli, both of whom won Oscars for their roles. 

Speaking of Broadway, why not enjoy a song from 'Chicago' too? Here is the Cell Block Tango, featuring the lyrics. 

Next up is a great video from Biblical scholar Dan McClellan.  There is a real concerted effort from right-wing MAGA Christians to make the Bible all Trump, all the time.  It seems being faced with MAGA policies being downright evil, the religious hacks want to make sure no one starts thinking Jesus was about love, compassion, and caring for the less needy, only HATE, HATE, HATE! 

This ends up being a pretty epic smackdown. 

And finally tonight, it has been a while since a movie trailer made me tear up.  This one did.  

I will go see The Choral. 

Have a great weekend, and please make sure to stay vaccinated! 

I want you alive!  I want you to be happy. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 8/7/25

Let's talk about 401(k)s, the employer-sponsored, defined-contribution, personal pension savings account using pre-tax money.  It is a fairly popular investment option for a lot of people, and although there's some risk, it's not nearly as dangerous as picking investments individually.  It's usually a good option for employers and employees.

But maybe not anymore.

One back story note:  The Republican Mantra, which has been folded into MAGA, is that they want to take all the money taxpayers pooled for certain programs and safety net options (NASA, public education, Social Security, the Post Office) and give it to the wealthy.  That's it.  Kill something like Medicare, give all the money to the wealthy, and then accuse the people dying of not working hard enough.  They're cold-hearted bastards.

There is a lot of money in 401(k)s, and the Trump Administration might have discovered a way to drain those accounts and get that money into the hands of the ultra wealthy. 

Trump signed an executive order to open up 401(k)s to private equity, real estate, and cryptocurrencies.

It's that last one that might be the vehicle to drain the 401(k)s.  I'm not a fan of cryptocurrency.  It's WAY too much like a Russian mob Ponzi Scheme for me to take seriously.  For God's sake, there is a story out of some cryptocurrency meme coin douches throwing sex toys onto the floors during WNBA games, promoting the meme coin named after the sex toy.  So far, this disgusting stunt has raised the currency by 300% and, eventually, the owners of the meme coin will sell all their coins and watch the coin lose all of its value, screwing over the parade of idiots who bought it after watching a sex toy hit the floor at a basketball game. It's a grift. And should not be taken seriously.

But Trump LOVES it, because he can manipulate the markets and make himself billions. He wants it in the 401(k)s so that he can eventually run the price up, cash out, and watch America's workforce wonder what happened to their retirement account.

It's basically dildos throwing dildos. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 8/6/25

Apparently, JD Vance's "team" ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to "fix a river."  

Vance, taking a family vacation, had the Little Miami River levels raised so that he and his family could have a more enjoyable time. What they did was regulate the outflow of Caesar Creek Lake, which in turn raised the river level.

Vance's team insists this was to make sure the water levels were safe for the Secret Service Detail that travels with the VP, but sources say the primary concern was to make sure the river had perfect kayaking conditions for the couch humper.

And indeed, US Geological data shows the river height rose sharply and then receded, in conjunction with Vance's trip.

He exploited public infrastructure for his own personal usage.

This is B-rate Bond villain crap. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 8/5/25

Yesterday was a freaking cavalcade of insanity!

From Trump screaming at the press corps from on top of the White House.

To the same Administration that just cut healthcare benefits for the sick and food aid for the hungry, announcing they're going to build a nuclear reactor on the moon (WTF?!?).  Considering the US no longer has any government rockets, this will apparently be a space fuel station for private billionaires.

To the Ag Secretary, tripling down on the idea that sick, disabled, and elderly people on Medicaid should be forced into the fields to pick crops, back-breaking, strenuous work, to keep their healthcare.

But let's go with Brain Worm Magee!

The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., cut 500 million in funding for the development of mRNA vaccines.  In total, he halted 22 projects, most of which were targeting respiratory viruses like influenza and COVID.  Brain Worm lied.  He said the vaccines don't "perform well against viruses that infect the upper respiratory track" (they do), and that the vaccines actually prolong pandemics (a laughable made-up piece of buffoonery). 

mRNA vaccines have FIFTY YEARS of research and development, a track record of success.  They have been proven to train your body to fight viruses and trigger immunity.  They have been so successful that they're currently being developed to potentially treat cancer...CANCER! They're working on a cancer vaccine, and Magee just pulled the plug on it...and a lot of cancer patients. 

It's such a bad decision that Trump's first Surgeon General Jerome Adams tore into RFK, Jr. "...this move is going to cost lives!" He then called out Brian Worm's false standard that unless every respiratory disease is brought under control by a vaccine, the vaccine is useless. 

It's so clear that RFK Jr. is just making this all up as he goes! My guess is there's going to be a suppliment he starts to insist it the real option for healthy living, a suppliment that he gets a cut from, and when a quarter of the population is eventually dead, we'll discover he and his whole family have EVERY vaccine, followed by him insititing he "never was against people getting vaccines."

The good news is I'm not sure where his pardon would even begin.  You can't pardon someone for being a stupid dumb ass. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 8/4/25

For the record, the Confederates were the villain.  They seceded from the Union and murdered hundreds of thousands of American citizens, so that the wealthiest white Southerners could keep black people as slaves.

And yet, Trump shows us he would have been rooting for the South during the Civil War.

The Trump Administration has ordered the statue of Confederate General Albert Pike to be reinstalled in Washington, DC.  

Pike's statue was a long point of contention, with people wanting it removed in the 1990s.  Finally, in 2020, the citizens of the city took matters into their own hands and ripped the statue down.  I do not condone violence and vandalism, but I sure as heck wouldn't be trying to get the statue put back up.

And Pike was a horrible general.  Go look for yourself, but he was bad. The Freemasons had requested the statue be built as Pike was a longtime leader of their organization (tells you about them), but the deal was that he had to be portrayed in civilian clothes, which he was.  Regardless, this would be like having a statue of Himmler installed in the middle of New York City, in civilian clothes, because he was a huge fan of Broadway.

Confederates suck, Nazis suck, Trump sucks.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 8/3/25

Remember when Republicans were up in arms at the completely falsified lie "Hunter Biden is selling access to his father, the President"? Remember how Republicans, with veins popping on the beet-red foreheads, were screaming that the mere appearance of someone buying access to the President, or being rewarded with access, is a failure to our country, and that "President Biden should resign(!)"?

Remember the entire Republican Party screaming that?

Funny, their standards seemed to have shifted slightly. 

Trump basically has a "BRIBE ME" sign up on the White House lawn. He doesn't even hide his pay-for-access or pay-for-approval schemes. He just held up the Paramount/Skydance merger for a payoff (and the firing of Colbert). There are many entities, from universities to law firms to corporations, whom he openly says, "Pay up or else!"

But I know Republicans will say "that's the cost of doing business, and that isn't necessarily screaming 'Bribe Me!"

No, for that, a story came to light yesterday.  Through MAGA Inc., the Trump Super-Pac that funds his political machine, people are outright sending him money for access and appointments to government positions.  In the first 6 months of 2025, they've raked in 177 million dollars. The Crypto industry alone gave him 45 million.  You make a donation, you get private one-on-one time with Trump.  

Multiple donors have even gotten plum administration appointments, including that knucklehead who was nominated to be the ambassador to Singapore and whom embarrassed himself greatly when he couldn't answer basic questions about Singapore at his confirmation hearing.

And those same Republicans who insisted that their going after President Biden had NOTHING to do with politics, only "maintianing an ethical standard for our government" are either scouring their friend groups to offer a bribe to Trump (hoping for a finders fee), or suddenly VERY quiet about what everyone sees going on in front of our faces. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 8/2/25

In what was easily predictable, a leaked memo from the Department of Homeland Security gave some details on the Trump Administration's plans to expand the use of the US military on American soil.

The memo talks about how the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense are coordinating with each other for the expansion of the use of the military, under the argument of immigration enforcement. One person described this expansion as the largest use of US military personnel on US soil since the Japanese internment camps of WWII.

There is another very ugly reason for this.  Right now, there is no way in hell the Republicans are going to hold the US House and Senate in 2026.  The last thing the Trump Administration wants is to give the Democrats the opportunity to openly investigate the Administration.  

If the drunk Pete Hegseth waits until August of next year to start placing armed forces across the country, everyone would know what it's for.  If they start posting military across the country today, in the biggest US cities, under the argument of immigration enforcement, then the troops are in place if the Trump Administration calls for a delay in the 2026 election ("We're going to wait until people's emotions have calmed down and then have an election.").  They might also call for state results to be thrown out, and the military will be there to deal with the masses furious over the overthrow of Democracy.

This is not good. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 8/1/25

Threatening a nuclear war in a desperate attempt to get Jeffery Epstein and bad economic news off the front page is always gold, but let's look at that economic news.

Yesterday, they announced that the July job numbers failed to meet expectations, with 73,000 jobs created versus the estimate of 109,000.  That's not great, but it's not fatal.  What was far more damning was the revised job numbers for May and June. 

Now, for the record, I had insisted that the job numbers for May and June were not right when they came out.  There seemed to be genuine shock and awe that they had come in at 144,000 for May and 147,000 for June. Considering how many Federal Government firings were happening alone, those numbers seemed exceedingly pollyanna. I doubted the numbers were legit.

They weren't.  The stunning revisions on the numbers, May down 125,000 to 19,000 total, and June down 133,000 to 14,000 total, point to Trump manipulating data to push a narrative, preventing the truth from coming out, that his economic plans are quickly souring the economy. His tariffs are weighing heavily on prices and hiring.  These are the worst months for hiring since he was in office during the pandemic in 2020. 

Trump did what all dictators do when faced with bad news: he fired the people who delivered the bad news.  Claiming with ZERO evidence that Commissioner of Labor Statistics Erika McEntarfer had falsified the job numbers to make him look bad, Trump fired her and said he wanted a new commissioner who would tell him the economic news he wanted to hear. 

It's pretty clear to me that somehow McEntarfer had posted the correct jobs data, CORRECTING THE FAKE JOBS DATA THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAD MANIPULATED TO MAKE HIM SEEM COMPETENT.  The fake numbers were the original numbers, and Trump is really angry about the truth coming out. 

But it also means no sane person would trust the job numbers that come out of this Administration from this point forward. TRUMP HAS DEMANDED THE NUMBERS BE DOCTORED! Already, many economic experts have stated that August jobs numbers will probably be worse than July's.  This means it will be easy to see the lies being presented as facts.

It also should be noted that a country falsifying jobs data to push a narrative not only creates a recession/depression free fall when the eventual truth comes out, but it also is a prime factor in what is called hyperinflation, when consumer prices skyrocket overnight, pricing the consumer out, devaluing the currency, and stifling spending. 

Fall is going to be an economic nightmare for this country. 

The Saturday Link for 8/2/25

Okay, I missed the Friday Link.  Guilty as charged. 

This year has been a freaking nightmare.  I think yesterday morning, when the truth came out about the jobs numbers in May and June, that they were falsely inflated to make Trump's economic policy look better than it was, I broke down. When the revisions for May and June came out with July's paltry numbers, someone didn't get the 'Lie for Trump' memo, and the truth came out. The whole firing of the numbers person has FAR more to do with trying to cover up the Trump Administration's initial lies when the job numbers came out, versus correcting any wrongs they insist they were never part of.

I'd had it. That was before Trump decided to start moving nuclear subs around to avoid the Epstein Files/bad job number talk.  I took the day and gladly did not look back.

This has been a really tough week for a lot of people.  I've had to become a counselor to a number of stressed-out friends over the last year and requests for me to tell people 'it's going to be all good in the future' skyrocket this week.  I had already taken a break from the WTTD threads, but I feel the need to get back to work.

Trump wants us to be depressed and submissive.  That's the only way he works. I took a day, and now here we go.

The first video is fascinating.  Hank Green's science-heavy discussions on certain topics are great, and I highly recommend following his channel. This week he talks about the evolutionary changes fish had to make to get on dry land, and it really is remarkable. Of the many evolutions that happened, he has one which he is positive was the most important. 

Another thing he does is explain how these evolutions happened, where usually some type of cell in a fish's body reinvented itself in a bizarre way to allow for a new adaptation.  See for yourself. 

Also, funny but with science, True Facts comes at us with the story of how crickets became the loud ones in the animal kingdom! 

Finally, some hope for you. In dark times, good people rise.  Texas State Rep. James Talarico came out swinging.  

As weakling Democrats cower and throw transgender people under the bus, insisting we should allow their rights to be diminished because 70% think they participate in sports is wrong, Talarico gives the response that should be the first thing out of our mouths when the HATE RIGHT attacks.  

You have to click on the link for this one. It's quick and it's worth it. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/i-FvSqPsMkA?si=VN-OrHdGYzJR3uGE

Have a great rest of the weekend!