Thursday Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

When will  the Democrats in charge decide that Joe Biden has served his purpose and try to get him removed via the 25th Amendment for diminished capacity / health / dementia related reasons? It will be interesting to watch the parade of well known politicos who wail, "I've been concerned about this for quite some time." The big question is if it happens before or after the 2022 elections... Think if you did a poll the name "Celebrity Butt Crack" would finish much, much higher than "Meta" as a new name for Facebook... Serious question - are we really "in the midst of a pandemic" as I've seen written time and time again? Or are we "near the end of a pandemic?" That small change in language has serious real-world implications. If the COVID virus is becoming more common but less deadly from variant to variant as the science suggests - doesn't that mean that the real societal danger has already passed?... The College Football Playoff Rankings came out on Tuesday and many were upset that undefeated Cincinnati was ranked 6th and outside the (current) playoff race. This just confirms that these rankings are basically beauty pageants and not much else... The COP26 climate meeting held in Glasgow was the 26th such meeting. Wonder if at the first dozen they also wailed that time was running short on saving the planet. Perhaps at COP52 someone will do something other than get together for expensive meals... You have to wonder if the timing of the Facebook "whistleblower" Francis Haugen, the Facebook outage, and the announcement of the name change to Meta were all related. Perhaps we'll never know but the timing does seem fishy... "Give us Barabbas!" - the College Football Playoff Committee (probably)....  Week late but one of my favorite bits of Halloween trivia is that it was on Halloween night that Voldemorte killed Lilly and James Potter and almost killed himself when the killing curse he used on baby Harry Potter rebounded and gave Harry his lightning bolt scar. JK Rowling loved to weave all the holidays into her books... The one phrase that comes to mind when considering the Democrats' apparent election strategy is, "Whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad."...  Pickled Animals would be a good name for a band... What came first - the Elf on a Shelf phenomenon or the NSA spying on all your data? Maybe the NSA invented the Elf on a Shelf to acclimate younger generations to being spied on all the time... Have to hand it to Danny Ainge - looks like he knew it was a good time to step away from this Boston Celtics team and play golf instead.... Prediction: because of supply-chain issues - gift cards will be the number one gift this holiday season. Jingle All the Way!... Maybe the real problem with the 4-4 Kansas City Chiefs is that Patrick Mahomes is still distracted by what he thought was his great State Farm rate being available to just anyone... As always if this column has made you smile or think - don't be afraid to hit the like button. Also please subscribe and share with your friends. Thanks in advance...