Thursday Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations

Why hasn't Taylor Swift spoken out about the crisis in Ukraine? What is she trying to hide?... It's been reported that ratings for NBC for the Beijing Olympics were down 42% compared to the 2018 Seoul Olympics. The drop in ratings should have been much more than that... It the wake of Lia Thomas dominating the Ivy League swimming championships it occurred to me the simple solution the the issues raised by her dominance is simply to get rid of "Men's" and "Women's" sports and replace them with "Staff" and "Distaff" sports. This would be a simple corruption of those two words but people would get the picture - Staff would be sports for people with a penis and Distaff sports for people without a penis. If someone born male felt their body dysphoria to such a point that they have their penis surgically removed - that's enough for me. Problem solved... The Voyager spacecraft was in the news lately as it left our solar system and entered interstellar space. That accomplishment was made possible by Richard Nixon but you never see Nixon mentioned in any of the articles about Voyager even though without Nixon's support the funds for the project would never have materialized... Just saying but many of the "Never-Trump" Republicans were just fine with Rick Santorum. And now both are just as relevant... Bothered by the phrase "scoured the globe" and its often offhanded usage. Do you understand how impossible it would be to actually scour the globe? May be the actual worst punishment possible. Can you imagine being granted immortality but at the same time given steel wool pads that would never wear out and you’d be required to scour the globe? A fate worse than death... Think this country went off the rails when bureaucrats outlawed Lawn Darts (aka Jarts) in 1988. Instead Jarts should have been given special legal standing as the one legal way for people to have duels over differences. After 20 paces each person stands inside a hula hoop and then the Jarts would be launched one at a time. You leave the circumference of the hula hoop you lose. You get hit in the head and lose consciousness from loss of blood - you lose. This one change in the timeline would have made all the difference and made the pussification of the country so much more difficult...  I've been a sports fan my whole life but this is the first time I've actually read any articles about the Ivy League swimming championships. Life was simpler and probably better when I didn't care...  Without Richard Nixon the Space Shuttle program never would have happened either. People forget but in 1972 George McGovern promised that if he was elected the funds for the Space Shuttle would be diverted towards other goals here on earth. Nixon won the election and he kept the funding in place and the Space Shuttle on NASA's "to-do" list. But again - Nixon never gets any credit...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..