Short stuff

 

CRANKY OLD FART #310
leftovers & links
Wednesday, May 3, 2023 

 

"Do you know Jesus?" a man asked me at the bus stop.

I barely even glanced at him, only said, "F*ck off and die." 

"You don't have to be rude about it," he said.

"But I like to be rude about it," and I wanted a longer, ruder argument, but he shook his head and asked someone else about Jesus.

My anger isn't about religion. it's about privacy — I want people to stay on their side of my personal boundaries. I don't want to hear my mother's repeated questions about aspects of my life she's not invited to know. Don't want Dean's nosiness about the lazy way I make a salad. And sure as Christ, I don't want a stranger inquiring after my mortal soul.

Here and now is a crazy place and time, and it makes people crazy. The only way not to go crazy is to blind yourself to the craziness, pretend you don't see it, and lots of people do.

It's better, I think, to see the crazy, and maybe be the crazy. If you've never been mentally ill, how can you tell when you're mentally well?

By my thirties I started to notice that all the day-to-day drama that seems so important — • arguments at work • is my girlfriend the girl I want? • fuck, are we out of hot water again? • the car's making a funny sound • does Marv have a drinking problem? • and on and on — is forgotten in a few weeks, months, or years. Why not acknowledge that it's unimportant, even as it's happening?

Think about the big picture, more than the individual pixels, and that's all that 'today' is — a single pixel looming so close it seems like it's everything.

Caring more about what matters and less about what doesn't has helped make the last half of my life better than the first half.

News you need,
whether you know it or not

• Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket 

Public transit companies in Germany say more than 3 million people have already snapped up a new ticket being launched Monday that allows them to use all local and regional trains, buses and metros across the country for 49 euros ($53.90) a month.

Give people an option other than driving, and a lot of them choose not to drive. And jeez, that price — $54 a month? That's about half what I pay for my monthly bus and train pass, just for getting around in Seattle. 

• Officer who held back crowd during George Floyd’s murder convicted of aiding and abetting manslaughter 

A rare glimpse of accountability, made possible only because Floyd died on camera. Without the camera, it never would've made the news.

• Microsoft broke a Chrome feature to promote its Edge Browser 

• Film studios lose bid to unmask Reddit users who wrote comments on piracy 

• Pornhub says no more porn for folks in Utah (unless they know how to use a VPN) 

• Epstein met with CIA chief, ex-White House counsel, and Noam Chomsky, among others 

• "Insurance retreat – when insurers refuse to take on the risk of covering homes in risky areas – is coming and may be here already 

• Latest IPCC report predicts dismal consequences for global agriculture due to climate change 

• "As the bee population dwindles, climate change will become even worse" 

• California redwoods suffering from effects of climate change-fueled weather whiplash 

• Deadly heat waves threaten older people as summer nears 

• Current vehicle emission standards will not mitigate climate change or improve air quality 

• Rather than regulate guns, Texas seeks to teach battlefield trauma care beginning in the third grade 

• Survey: Anti-LGBTQ legislation takes alarming mental-health toll on queer youth 

• Oklahoma Republicans complain that anti-woke Superintendent is too busy being anti-woke 

• Bill would allow 14-year-olds to serve alcohol in Wisconsin 

• CNN announces "town hall" with Trump 

• Texas Governor calls mass shooting victims "illegal immigrants" 

Mystery links
There's no knowing where you're going

• Click • Click • Click •
• Click • Click •

My browser history
without the porn

• One of the last Negro League ballparks has been saved 

• "Look for the Union Label": A history of the ILGWU's iconic jingle 

• How Jeopardy screwed over a five-time winner 

• Junk food ads trigger positive emotions, healthy foods not so much 

• Local news is more and more just big-money propaganda

♫♬  It don't mean a thing  ♫
if it don't have that swing

• Baby It's You — Smith 

• Deep Purple — Nino Tempo & April Stevens 

• Don't Do Pharmaceuticals — Luther Wright & the Wrongs 

• Hold My Hand — Lady Gaga 

• Some Misunderstanding — Gene Clark 

Eventually, everyone
leaves the building

• Bruce Haigh 

• Wee Willie Harris 

• Gordon Lightfoot 

• Roy Saltman 

• "Last Call" Lance Ten Broeck 

• John Underwood 

5/3/2023   

Cranky Old Fart is annoyed and complains and very occasionally offers a kindness, along with anything off the internet that's made me smile or snarl. All opinions fresh from my ass. Top illustration by Jeff Meyer. Click any image to enlarge. Comments & conversations invited.  

Tip 'o the hat to ye olde AVA, BoingBoing, Breakfast at Ralf's, CaptCreate's Log, Dumnezero, Katameme, Looking for My Perfect Sandwich, One Finger Medical, Two Finger Magical, Miss Miriam's Mirror, Nebulously Burnished, RanPrieur.com, Voenix Rising, and anywhere else I've stolen links, illustrations, or inspiration. 

Special thanks to Linden Arden, Becky Jo, Wynn Bruce, Joey Jo Jo, John the Basket, Dave S, Name Withheld, and always extra special thanks to my lovely late Stephanie, who gave me 21 years and proved that the world isn't always shitty.

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