Random Thoughts from 08-11-16
1. Why Trevor Noah Makes Me Sad
Just watched a Trevor Noah clip from The Daily Show. He’s a talented, funny, likable guy, but in the wrong job. He’s been cornered into doing a Jon Stewart impression, talking about issues he’s neither expert in or passionate about – and it shows. He needs to build a show around his actual interests. Samantha Bee is a more natural successor to Stewart. This applies to everyone: Can’t outrun mediocrity wearing someone else’s shoes.
2. Politics of Irrelevance
Ever since I retired from posting about Candidate Orange (two whole days), I started thinking about how politics is just a sport for spazzes. (Myself included.) There’s nothing less relevant to our daily lives than national politics. We get sucked in for the sport, break into teams, argue left-right pointlessly. In reality, it’s a distraction from the one thing that actually has a direct impact on our lives: Pokémon. No, community and local politics.
We are entering a dangerous era of unaccountable, local corruption. No one is watching. How do I know? Can you name your state senators, congressmen, city council members? Or the commissioners of any agencies that regulate our shitty schools, water supply, utilities, housing, parks, sanitation? I can’t. We’ve taken our eye off the ball and it’s smacking us in the face every single day. And we barely notice. Presidents are worthless and irrelevant on a day to day basis.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver did a great piece on the death of local journalism on Sunday. Look it up on YouTube. The problem with John Oliver‘s argument is local journalism only mattered AFTER the corruption occurred, not before. Maybe on some existential level it acted as a deterrent, but that’s like the death penalty argument. Bottom line: crooks gonna steal, killers gonna kill.
We now have unprecedented tools and technologies to make government transparent and accountable – before the problems occur. We’re demanding and implementing virtually none of them. (I’ll go into details in upcoming episodes of The McFuture podcast.)
3. Twitter is a Ghetto
I know some of you might like Twitter, but it’s turned into a ghetto for misinformed, underemployed, reactionary trolls. They really are the idiot villagers of the modern era. And hashtags are their pitchforks. Twitter is on a death march. I give it a year, max, before it’s acquired by some sucker. Seems like Verizon is buying lots of e-trash lately…
4. Drone Alone
Why is every random flying toy suddenly called a “drone”? Is that so grown men can justify playing with them? Unless you’re getting checks from the Central Intelligence Agency to fly one, you might as well name yours “Birth Control” or “Gwendolyn” because it’s not helping you get laid…or there’s a super sad reason why one of the propellers stopped working.
5. Dumplings for Dummies
Discovered a great way to fry frozen dumplings. In a reasonably deep nonstick skillet, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. On medium to high heat, add frozen dumplings. Sear them for a few min on both sides mixing a couple of times. Then add four or five tablespoons of water, close the lid and let them steam in the pan on low heat. I jostled the pan a few times to move them around. In 5-6 min they’ll be done and delicious. Works for Asian and eastern European varieties. Not tested on the giant ones.