Educational Rankings

In August 2018, U.S. News & World Report released educational rankings among the 50 United States. Given the straight-up lies in some recent political ads, it's results may come as a surprise to some of you.

Congratulations to Massachusetts for being the most educated state in our union!

Nirvana Reunion? (Yeah right!)

I know what they were trying to do: keep Nirvana alive for us, their nostalgic fans. I think that’s awesome, but only in spirit...

The fact that John McCauley had to wear a Kurt Cobain t-shirt and Krist Novoselic had to have the crowd give it up for Kurt, should tell you that things have changed to a level us fans don’t want to see this anymore.

Kurt, who was the heart and soul of this group, is gone. Every time we see Dave and Krist (and Pat, and friends) nowadays, it almost feels like a funeral service to us. Nirvana used to be about having fun and smashing guitars in the process, but now it’s turned into remembrances of what once and still might’ve been without a single guitar being smashed. The essence of the group is gone. You want to remember Kurt, Krist? Let him rest In peace then! Stop bringing 95-year-old Joan Jett (whom I also loved way back when!) and the lead singer of... the Deer Ticks, is it?... to attempt to fill his void. They can’t. You’re singing songs written by Kurt without Kurt. That shouldn’t be the case. If he ain’t there to sing them, let ‘em be.

As Nirvana’s #1 fan back in the day, it pains me to say this — but please stop the charade. This is not Nirvana! Heck, Pat Smear isn’t even Nirvana! He was brought on as a traveling musician (a second guitarist on the final Nirvana tour), not to be a key member. Please, let's stop the pretensions!

Girl With Shredder

Robin Guggingham, a.k.a. "Banksy," recently pulled off this notorious stunt...

I just wanted to give everyone an update: yes, the purchaser -- a female European collector who placed her bid via phone call -- decided to keep the painting, and soon after the gavel went down (and the shredder turned on), Girl With Balloon was officially renamed Love Is In The Bin. It's now estimated to be worth 2-3 times what it sold for, since it is "the first work in history ever created during a live auction."

Leo Buscaglia's "The Time is Now!"

Gary Turk's "Look Up"

I dedicate this video to all the millennials out there.

Y'all really need to hear this guy's message!

How Much Truck Can A Woodchuck Chuck?

In one of the funniest bits of news coming out of Friday the 13th and speaker Paul Ryan's retirement press conference, apparently woodchucks are no friend of the former vice-presidential candidate. In marmot country, they apparently warn you to cover your car in such ways where woodchucks won't get into it because of this very behavior -- these oversized ground squirrels are known to chew through car wiring to try and get at a vehicle's radiator fluid, which I'm sure, in turn, wrecks havoc on their digestive systems. Even me, being a huge outdoorsy person, didn't know this little fun fact, but I guess that's because I live in gator country, not marmot country. Oh well... you live, you learn! For those who care, Paul Ryan will now be trading in his destroyed Chevy Suburban and getting himself a Ford F-150. Mr. Ryan, if I may be so bold, the Ram 1500's a better option, but that's just me nitpicking. What a nutty day!

A Picture Is Worth 74 Hot Dogs & Buns

What Color Is This Shoe?

It's the oddest thing and I guess it has to do with the way you process light, but some people see this shoe as pink and white, while others see it as gray and teal. I'm in the latter group. #TeamGray&Teal

Can You Handle The Truth?

Never mind all the grammatical errors and incorrect pronouns, the essence of this story is sheer fact -- most people just can't handle the truth!

"The Devil Came Up To Boston" by Adam Ezra Group

This is wicked hilarious!

King Jeremy the Wicked (Now Rules Our World)

I’m as middle of the road as one can be in today’s American politics, since frankly, I’m sick of both sides whining endlessly about their agendas and pointing fingers of blame at one another any time anything goes wrong.

I get it: The Right hates The Left because “all they talk about is giving rights to illegals, creating third bathrooms for those mentally-ill transgendered people, and global warming that won’t even affect us for another 1,000 years or so,” while The Left hates The Right because “they’re all racist, sexist Trumptards, who think with their guns rather than their brains, and preach morality while cheating on their spouses.” Boo-hoo, people, get over yourselves!

News flash: America’s not about YOU! It’s about ALL OF US coming together to form a united country through some semblance of peaceful relations. “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” Remember that whole spiel? (If not, look up John Fitzgerald Kennedy… and pick-up a history book sometime, for God’s sake!)

America has a serious problem right now tearing at its fabric, and that’s this school shooting issue. I’m not afraid to discuss any topic with anybody, so let’s go to the table and talk (like adults) rather than whining and complaining about how the other half of the country screwed life up for us (like petulant children).

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to play Devil’s advocate for both sides of the political aisle…

The Left wants stricter gun laws. Honestly, I’m not sure why. How exactly would stricter gun laws prevent a would-be criminal from shooting up his school? Heck, murder’s already illegal! I live in Florida – fairly close to Parkland, in fact – and let me tell you something: down here, it already is illegal to bring guns into a school. In fact, there’re signs outside Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School stating that it is a gun-free zone. Did that gun law stop Nikolas Cruz from bringing his AR-15 to MSD on February 16th? Did the murder illegality prevent him from shooting it around like a whackjob? The answer to both questions is no. Stricter gun laws won’t do anything to stop the criminals, they’ll only stop those already following the rules. That’s not what we need. If someone wants to shoot up a school, guess what, installing new metal detectors ain’t going to stop them either. They’ll just whip out their gun in front of those things and begin their shooting escapades there.

We also don’t need to be banning AR-15s. Banning an inanimate object isn’t a rational solution, either. On its own, the gun won’t do anything to anybody. We don’t ban all cars when one causes a 15-car pile-up, we don’t ban all knives when some dope dealer gets stabbed in an alley somewhere, and we don’t ban all books when one causes a group of people to go to war against another, so why then would we ban the inanimate object when some nut gets a hold of it and does something this stupid? Work on the population through better parenting, more accountability and stuff like that, don’t ban every little thing that can cause people pain, because then pretty much everything would be banned right out of existence. And let me tell you something, even if you do ban them, there are a bunch of AR-15s in existence without serial numbers that are 100% untraceable, so you won’t be able to get rid of them completely. Also, anyone with half a brain that wants an AR-15 after it gets banned, simply needs to order the gun parts to their door through the internet. A quick YouTube video look-up, and bam, you can put all those pieces together yourself. Holy smokes, that ban didn’t actually stop anything, did it?! Trust me, the criminals of our world – this is what they’re doing right now. You think they want their guns being traced/registered? Good luck taking it from those folks, who are presumably the ones you were hoping to take it from!

As for The Right, they want to go the complete opposite route and arm teachers, in case of future shootings. Let me ask you something: What exactly did the school’s security officer do with his gun during the Parkland shooting? He stood outside the front door with it drawn for four minutes while the shooter was inside taking 17 lives and injuring 15 others. In other words, he did squat. He never even went in… and that’s a TRAINED gun-carrying security officer! (Most likely one of your own, Conservatives.) What good then is some liberal left-wing teacher, which 99% of them are, who doesn’t even like guns, going to do? Teacher X has probably never even shot one of those things before, and sure as heck ain’t going to start when someone else who has shot a gun probably many times before is aiming and shooting right at him or her. If the security officer panicked in such a situation, what good would a civilian professor be? I don’t think the answer to school violence is more guns. From a common sense point, that’s almost as irrational as banning all AR-15s.

(But if we are going to go that route, then I don’t agree with arming the teachers, but I may agree with having conceal-carry casual-clothed ex-military security officers roaming the entrances and hallways, that way the kids don’t even need to focus on all this gun drama, but can still be protected accordingly… and it also wouldn’t put as big a target on the back of those protectors during actual shooting events, since they aren’t dressed like security officers.)

The way politics are going these days, though, I can already see that this issue is probably never going to be hashed-out to everybody’s appeasement. In the year 2018, everybody is so entrenched in their “side,” and they all only seem to care about “winning,” to actually meet in the middle of the aisle somewhere and come to a peaceful resolution. Fortunately, I got to see a few other eras in my lifetime, which weren’t as ridiculous as this one. In the ‘80s and ‘90s when I was growing up, The Right was far more left than it is now, and The Left was far more right than it is now, too. People were able to see stuff from another’s perspective. Then again, back then, The Left didn’t run ALL the media, and The Right didn’t have a majority in ALL the law-making political bodies, so I guess that’s where this divide was driven home. It’s a damn shame that we let media and politics string us along like marionettes these days, instead of thinking for ourselves. I miss seeing people out in the world who could rationalize stuff like actual human beings, rather than just seeing things from a “Conservative” or “Liberal” perspective all the time. I’m predicting that our politics and the media will be the end of us all one of these days!

But nevertheless, I digress – I don’t think either side is stating any solutions that are all that great at the moment. Everyone’s so far up their respective parties’ @$$e$ that, frankly, they should all be paying rent. The solution isn’t to arm everyone or to attempt to get rid of all the guns, the solution at this point is simply to better protect our children so that they can go to school not fearing for their lives every day. This video, for instance, shows what every school in America should become until we can get Phase Two of my plan going, and honestly, the $400K per school cost should come out of our state lottery systems that already supposedly collect for this kind of stuff, yet somehow manage to grossly underfund teachers to the point that they have to go out and buy all their own classroom textbooks and supplies, because all we’re supplying them with are barely enough tables and chairs to sit all their students. This shouldn’t involve any new taxes to the population, but rather our states should stop stealing all that money and agree to fund it. (Good luck getting that to happen, though, right?!)

Phase Two of my solution is to breed better humans for the future, ones who will take responsibility for their actions and see a human life as being something worth cherishing, not something worth killing. Better parenting is a definitive starting point. Bullying has always been around and will always be around, but pre-Columbine, nobody who got bullied ever went home and thought, “I’ll show them! Where’d I put that gun?” We didn’t think that way because, for the most part, we realized those are crazy thoughts that only crazy people have. At most – and I know I was guilty of this, too – we thought of beating-up our bullies with our fists, not our guns. When “Jeremy” came out in 1992, Pearl Jam rather amazingly painted a picture of a kid getting bullied in class and coming back to take out the entire class with a gun. I remember that being such a bizarre concept back then, since that had never really happened to that point. Who would have guessed back then that Pearl Jam would be predicting the future with that song? It wasn’t until April 20, 1999 when that song started coming to fruition and becoming a reality around us. What changed from 1992 to 1999? The internet and social media, that’s what.

The bullying went from being a part-time thing that kids had to endure weekdays from 7:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. to being a full-time, around-the-clock (weekends included!) nuisance, due entirely to social media. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Friendster and whatever other social mediums exist are completely useless tools, and serve no purpose other than narcissistic self-promotion or as a venue for kids to continue being mean to one another through cyberbullying. Honestly, and I know the kids of today will never take this advice, but I want to throw it out there anyway: stop trying to fit in with these social mediums, turn them off and shut yourself off from society for a while every day, and you’ll see yourself becoming happier fairly quickly. Not having to find all the photos where you’re doing something cool to post it online to maybe get somebody else’s approval will save you a lot of time and energy. Plus, who cares what Joe Shmoe from elementary school who ain’t done squat in his life yet thinks of how you’re living your own life? What makes him any better or cooler than you? What, because some other schmuck kids say so? Who the heck are they to be the judges of you? Stop worrying so much about what other people think about you and go enjoy your life. Not every little lunch or every bathroom break or every political ideation needs to be shared with the world. Frankly, some things are better left unsaid/unseen. All those fake tough guys on the internet talking smack to you are only doing it over the internet because they’re too afraid to do it to your face. They’re cowards. Who cares what they think? I don’t have a single social media account, and you know what? I’m happier for it. I don’t spend my life trying to appeal to everyone. I spend my life living and doing a lot of stuff that I don’t care to share with the people of this world. My life is my own, and I’m proud of that. What I do on my own time is nobody’s business, so I ain’t putting it out there for anyone to critique, praise or anything in between. You’d be wise to do the same.

I honestly think the internet has ruined our society, even though it was originally created to help it. In my opinion, the internet and hands-off parenting are the two biggest factors leading kids to act the way they do these days. When I was a kid, if you did something wrong, you’d be beaten within an inch of your life. Nowadays, you ain’t even allowed to so much breathe on a kid, or Child Protective Services will come knocking on your door to take that kid away, so they feel entitled to act stupid to the point of no return. That has bred a society of soft-skinned kids to begin with, and tack on to them that extra pressure of being bullied around the clock… it’s like a pressure cooker getting ready to burst. We need to stop putting those ingredients together. Toughen how you deal with your kids, teach them the value of hard work, to accept responsibility for their actions, that all human lives matter, and then maybe, just maybe, the next generation can come and redeem the human race. As far as this one’s concerned, they may already be too far gone, so let’s fortify our schools like the one in the video above to try and limit the damage from now to then.

Anyway, that’s my two cents, but I don’t really claim to be an expert on any of this stuff, so who knows if I’m even right? Opinions are like a-holes, and well, I have one, too, so I figured I’d share it and see if it helps any. If nothing else comes out of this, at least I got this stuff off my chest now. What I think would help the world moving forward: beef up school security for now (not by adding or taking away guns, or by creating or vetoing laws that are already in existence, but by throwing more money into making the actual venues themselves safer), and work on breeding better humans for the next generation. That’s my two-part solution that will most likely just be ignored like pretty much everyone else’s opinions… but oh well, at least I tried to contribute, and frankly, that’s all I came here to do. Either way, my conscience is now clear.

May the force be with you, kids of today, because yours is one really weird, bizarre world, and it looks like you’re going to need all the help you can get!

What's Your Favorite Part of the Cow?

I’m a huge carnivore, but I never really thought to research it more than biting into every piece of red meat I could find and seeing which I personally preferred eating. For me, the medium-rare Porterhouse has long been my favorite.

However, considering I didn’t even know what part of the cow the Porterhouse came from, I recently decided to educate myself a bit and look into it some more.

In doing so, I came across this pretty neat webpage that taught me my favorite steak came from the loins of a cow. Have you any idea what your favorite part of the cow is? If not, click here and find out.

Glad I could be of service! 😊

When The World's Tallest Man (8'3") Tours Egypt With The World's Smallest Woman (24.7")...

Sultan Kösen, meet Jyoti Amge!

Three Big Sports Stories Today

01. Hockey's living legend Jaromir Jagr is FINALLY out of the NHL!

It appears that HC Kladno in the Czech second division will now be inheriting Jaromir Jagr, my favorite hockey player to watch ever. For those of you living under a rock these last 24 seasons, Jagr has played in 1,733 NHL games, winning two back-to-back Stanley Cups (while playing alongside Mario Lemieux), donning nine different uniforms, racking up 1,921 points (No. 2 all-time behind only Wayne Gretzky) and scoring 766 goals (No. 3 all-time behind only Gretzky and Gordie Howe). Yes, he did play for my hometown team at one point, but that's not what I love about him. This guy is just an everyday folk hero with a thousand anecdotes, each one funnier than the last -- from the 19-year-old model who tried extorting him (to which he basically responded, "please, go ahead, 43 and hooking up with a 19-year-old model? You'll just be hyping me up even more!") to his rumored 1,000-squats-per-day routine to his grandmother sending him Jaromir Jagr hot sauce while in the Pittsburgh locker room to the time he lost four teeth during a game, but came right back out to continue playing, to that mullet he's still rocking in 2017. I mean, seriously, how can you not like this guy?! I have him in my short-list of All-Time Top 5, a list that also includes his former line mate Lemieux, with both of them closely trailing Gretzky, Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe. Heck of an NHL career, Jagr, now go have some fun playing for the team you own!

02. The Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez rematch has now been booked.

Although Triple G clearly won that first match and they refused to give it to him -- C'mon now, 118-110 was a completely unacceptable and implausible result! Because of how close some of the rounds were, on that third scorecard (Adelaide Byrd's card), I would've accepted anything from a 114-114 draw to a 116-112 GGG victory, but not 118-110 in favor of Canelo, there's just no way! -- something in me is still hoping Golovkin/Alvarez II can somehow be an untainted entertaining fight. I would love to see two of the best at that weight class fight fairly to see who would come out on top. And now, they will be fighting on Cinco de Mayo (or May 5th, for you gringos out there), which makes me look forward to watching the Mexican Canelo attempt this massive feat yet again. First time was officially declared a "draw," and if I'm being completely honest with myself, given the history of Canelo's paid-for judges, I believe there will be a 0% chance Golovkin takes a decision the second time around either. No matter how close the fights are, there is always at least one judge who has a pre-filled scorecard (see the Trout, Lara, Floyd, Khan, Golovkin and/or Cotto fights for proof of this), so unless GGG can get a KO here (which I don't see happening, given Canelo's chin), I think it'll be a repeat of their first fight -- Golovkin should win, but gets robbed in the end. Either way, I have no stake in this thing, and what will be more fun to watch than two grown men kicking the crap out of each other on Cinco de Mayo as I get tipsy at my local pub? Absolutely nothing, that's what. Awesome job booking this date, Golden Boy Productions!

03. Ronda Rousey, WWE Superstar?

The former Strikeforce and UFC women's bantamweight champion and female MMA pioneer, for whom all the UFC women owe their existence within the organization, given what occurred in her last two fights (back-to-back losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes), has now come to realize that her time as an MMA superstar has passed. The fight game has evolved, and her Olympic bronze medal background and great armbar offense are just no longer good enough to keep her in title contention. But since that recipe kept her as the face of women's MMA throughout 15 straight victories before then (3 amateur, 12 professional, all similarly one-sided), I don't blame the "Rowdy" one for trying to parlay her fame into dollars elsewhere. If you can no longer fight the big girls for real, let your fame win you titles fighting the big girls for fake. People will definitely eat it up that Ronda can defeat Charlotte Flair, the Bella Twins, Asuka and whomever else. I mean, really, in her prime, very few women could keep up with her (I'd basically only have picked Cris "Cyborg" Justino to come out on top), so why wouldn't Ronda be able to beat these other girls up in a WWE ring? It's not like any of them could outpoint Amanda Nunes either, that girl is just too much! So go win you some titles, Ronda, and I'll be rooting for you from the stance. As you yourself put it, and I totally agree because I also grew up a huge pro wrestling fan, "my 6-year-old self would totally kick my @$$ if I didn't take [the opportunity]." (P.S. For those of you who don't know, Ronda ain't faking this pro wrestling love either, she really is a big fan, even taking her nickname from the late great Roddy Piper.) It's nice to see someone happy doing what they truly actually love, and no longer having to fake it for the cameras. Good luck to you, Rousey!

Even the Eyelashes Freeze!

Normally, I wouldn't believe a story like this, but if it's on Snopes, courtesy of the Associated Press, then it has to be real, right? If so, I think this story deserves a bigger font than what Blogger usually offers, because these poor people!!!

Temperatures in the remote, diamond-rich Russian region of Yakutia have dropped to near-record lows, plunging to -67 degrees Centigrade (-88.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas.

196 Flags, 527 Shades -- Which Color Is The Most Common?

If you've ever wondered what the most patriotic color among international flags is, well, I guess you're not alone!

According to Time Magazine, 17.7% of all national flags contain shades of white, while 14.3% contain shades of red, making either/or your most patriotic color, depending on how you feel about white's color status (most folks seem to think it's a non-color formed from a blending of ALL the colors).

For more information on all the other colors and where they rank on the flag spectrum, click here to read the article I read.