Saturday Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Eric Weinstein recently wrote, "Many of those in media believe that focusing us obsessively on mass shootings perversely incentives more shootings. What would then be the expected effect of media focusing us constantly on racism?" He makes a good point. Anecdotally the number of race-based "hate crime" hoaxes since President Obama took office seems to have skyrocketed... How far off in the future will it be before we see highways shut down because of a broadband outage making autonomous vehicles unsafe necessitating lane or highway closures? Will power outages cause the same sort of closures in the future (where cell towers lose power)? Or will these autonomous cars just pull over to the side of the road until network service is restored?... Wicked Fenians would be a good name for an Irish bar... QB Ryan Fitzpatrick has retired after 17 seasons in the NFL. When Fitzpatrick was at Harvard I predicted he'd start in the NFL and today I'm predicting if given a shot he'll show to be a better broadcaster than Tony Romo (who I think very highly of)... Elon Musk has been criticized for Tweeting that Tesla's about to have a 10% reduction in salaried employees as the company has become "overstaffed in many areas." The layoff does not include "anyone actually building cars, battery packs, or installing solar." I wonder if he's allowing some employees to self-identify as non-essential by giving them a heads up to start seeking new employment? Guessing many who aren't sure if they're net contributors to the company will cash in on being a Tesla employee to seek a job elsewhere... As a joke someone should introduce a bill in Congress calling for giving the right to vote to cats just to see how many Democrats would vote for it... If Disney were to do a re-make of Casey at the Bat they'd first make Casey a woman of color then have her hit a game-winner home run instead of striking out. And nobody would watch it... Who knew? Winston Churchill's first public speech was in defense of prostitution... The Quest for Good Explanations would be a good name for a blog or a Substack account... Danny Ainge doesn't get enough credit for assembling this Boston Celtics team. When he drafted Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and even Jason Tatum his picks were widely criticized but they were the right picks. That said - he had to move on for this team to reach its full potential under Brad Stevens and Ime Udoka. If the Celtics win it all - I hope they give Danny a ring... As always if this column has made you smile or think - don't be afraid to hit the like button. Also please subscribe (it's FREE) and share with your friends. Thanks in advance...