June 9th, 2020

Hiya,

Said I was gonna try to find some funny this week and well, 2020 offered up even more hilarity.  

My go to podcasts have almost all become maudlin.  The sports ones have tried to put up a brave face during the virus and without any action to discuss for months now, theyalmost all have descended into sad commentaries on this weeks protesting.  While the sentiments are important, they're hard to take in an endless stream.  Found a new one recently that provides a decent diversion...it is called The Dollop.  Two comedians, sometimes adding a guest into the mix, take a person or event from history and tell the tale while doing improvisational riffs on the topic.  The subject matter is usually about obscure events or fringe characters involved in major ones, but if you like to learn some history and to have your lesson be weird and funny, give it a shot.  Have listened to about a dozen of them and have learned and laughed each time.  A good intro is a two parter on Ronald Reagan with Patton Oswalt as the guest...you can find the Dollop here.

I saw a Saturday Night Live sketch years ago that busted me up but never saw again on YouTube or in reruns, like Stefan, Sprockets or Matt Foley ( the guy that lives in a van down by the river).  I have quoted it forever and have never found another person that remembered it at all.  In the Ringer this week, a writer did a deep dive oral history on that sketch and it was affirmation that not only was it in the top 5 all time sketches, but there are weirdos out there just like me.  From a 90's episode with Lucy Lawless as the host, it is called Stevie Nicks Fajita Roundup and the premise is that Ms Nicks lives in Sedona, Arizona and runs a Mexican restaurant.  Brilliant, stupid and brilliantly stupid.  I implore you to read the article and watch the link.  You will never eat Mexican food the same way again.  And there you go again, you want burritos...

One more to share...not necessarily funny but still.  I have listened to some episodes of a podcast called Eat Your Words where the host has on a guest to talk about different cuisines.  Not recipes, but more of the culture surrounding different places food.  Quite a good time waster for foodie types.  Forget how I came to it but the first one I listened to was about Taiwanese cuisine.  Am not a fan of what they eat here and hoped to get some nuggets that would help me appreciate it more cause I want to like it.  While that didn't happen, I did learn an interesting fact about their most prized local dish, the one that they have competitions to determine the best version, and that is beef noodle soup.  This soup came about in Taiwan during the 50's when the US was its main benefactor and kept the place alive by sending foodstuffs.  The soup is made from all American products, from the soy in the sauce, to the wheat in the noodles, and even the beef which gives it its name.  Since the US wasn't sending its prime cuts, that is why they use the tendons in the soup and have come to adore the chewy ligaments.  The only local thing in the soup is the water.  This is some great ammunition when I get into my regular "discussions" over the merits of the food choices here.  This is a link to that episode.

As for Taiwan this week...effin' hot.  We hit at least 106 degrees every day and will do so constantly until at least September.  That is 4 months of literal hell that we cannot escape.  I developed a bad case of crotch rot last August and have vowed to not let that happen again.  My current plan of attack is to powder the nether region obsessively and it has been working so far (fingers crossed).  Going through a large container weekly.  Corn dogs anyone?  Read that Johnson & Johnson has stopped selling baby powder in the States causes women were getting ovarian cancer after prolonged application in their hoochie-coos.  We can still buy it here but wonder if I should start hoarding it and/or start looking into alternatives.  I recieve spam emails a couple times a week asking me to join the class-action lawsuit against them.

The heat is the suffering we are gonna have to endure to live in a place that has eradicated the virus.  Today marks the 56th day in a row with no local infections, which is four complete incubation cycles.  They are removing mask wearing and crowd gathering restrictions across the country, so we can go to crowded shows and baseball games, not that I have any desire to do so cause it is so effin' hot.  Think they call that a conundrum.  This place wiped it out by means that would be impossible for the States to adopt.  There was a Business Insider article this week that takes on the Taiwanese measures to combat the virus and it was critical of them as being part of an ever growing surveillance state.  I thought the piece was very thought provoking and if that is the kind of provocation you may enjoy, here 'tis.  

Lastly, and very briefly, this weeks shitstorm of murders and more murders has been hard to bare.  There are so many takes that any one I have has been said a hundred times.  I have been thinking back to when Kaepernick took the knee and having many "exchanges" with certain people that equated that action with disrespect for the military.  Total BS then but I tried to change some minds and to do so by explaining it in rationnal and non-confrontational ways. What always bothered me about the kneeling thing then was that none of the white players knelt with those guys.  Some linked arms and the like, but they never had the stones to get down on their knees in solidarity.  I hope to see that change this time around.  It isn't gonna be easy cause ol' Bunker Boy is whipping up the pearl clutching machine about it already.  Some of the same people I tried to reason with in the past about it are whipping out their megaphone equating protest to looting so know that minds are hard to impossible to change.  I do not expect to be rational nor non-confrontational this go around with them and suspect my dwindling list of aquiantences will acclerate.