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Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 391

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As a whole I think Neil Diamond surprised visitors last weekend. The next concert features the Eagles – start time is this Saturday at 1: 00 AM (Eastern US).

The concert series has turned out to be more popular than I anticipated. My need for a breather is way I didn’t post Sunday evening. On a similar note, scheduling conflicts will bump a weekend concert several times in upcoming weeks.

In my opinion, many professional athletes are wonderful people. Unfortunately, the bad apples make the police blogger and the news. For a story that will make you smile, see this one about PGA golfer Gary Woodland.

Last week our timing was perfect when we successfully returned to the theater to catching the ending to The Upside. For those who don’t remember or didn’t know, with about 30 minutes to go in the movie, an evacuation alarm sounded.

CBS had this outstanding 10-minute report about singer Linda Ronstadt, which includes an interview.

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True to my word, I didn’t watch the SOTU. Based on the clips I saw, I didn’t miss much.

I didn’t watch the Democratic response. Regardless of the president, I wish the opposing party would start a new tradition of not responding. Then again, the odds of that happening is about the same as Congress choosing dignified decorum of sitting and listening instead of popping up and down like they are attending a pep rally.

This week I saw a state-by-state approval/disapproval rating of President Trump. Whereas Democrats can be elated by the numbers, I say they should be cautious because many of who disapprove will vote for his re-election and the Democratic nominee could push others that way.

The Trump idea of unity is when opponents change their mind to agree with him.

As possible Democratic nominee Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) continues to apologize regarding her ethnicity, maybe her campaign is already out of steam – especially with a potentially large field.

To lead you into the weekly dose of satire, The Onion sets the record straight about preventing and treating colds.

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Weekly Headlines from The Onion (combos welcome)

Yosemite closed indefinitely after bear spotted in park
Small town billionaire fails to make it in big city
Responsible man sets aside small portion of every paycheck for bank to gamble with
Doctors zap brains of awake brain surgery patients to make them laugh and have fun
Study finds sedentary lifestyle puts millions of Americans at risk of becoming beautiful just the way they are

Interesting Reads

Foreign language classes in decline
The needs for living on Mars
The needs for building a Moon base
Pushing the envelope: Women bicycling in Pakistan
The bank-robbing bicyclist
A tribute to the passing of an artist
(Photos) Enjoy the Daily Dozen from National Geographic

To send you into the weekend, I thank John for inspiring me to use this song. In the words of Garrison Keillor, Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

59 thoughts on “Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 391”

  1. Love me some Ray Charles. I think it was surprising to see the enthusiasm for Neil Diamond.
    Looking forward to the Eagles, to be sure. Dunno that I’ll play the Maître d’ with as much gusto but I will participate, for sure.

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  4. Oh happy days! Fun! I like Linda Ronstadt, too. I heard an interview with her on NPR awhile back. Neil Diamond has many more songs than I thought–but I’m still not a big fan. Sorry! 🙂
    I’m glad you got to see the end of the movie!
    As you might expect, I also did not watch SOTU.

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  6. Cincy,

    The response to a SOTU is like watching a C-Span sponsored late night show. Lots of rebuts and retractions, but usually nothing that is markedly different from what you just heard. Same differences. Unfortunately.

    I see where there was some shish kebabing going on as per the response the other night. Stacy Abrams gave her response but Bernie had to chime in as well, drawing the ire of many. The best thing Bernie could do for his party is step away from the national scene and help them work on one cohesive message. By the time we get to Iowa (one year!) the field will be either be too lean or too crowded. And they’re going to be going up against an entrenched incumbent who already has more than a hundred million in his 2020 war chest.

    On that note, I’m going shopping for cabins in the Yukon. It’s a more pleasant sounding future prospect.

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  7. I, too, did not watch the SOTU. I, too, believe that the man is simply not worth my time. I, too, believe that patience is paramount.

    If available, please send me the link to the state-by-state approval/disapproval rating of President Trump that you saw this week. It must have been the reason your COTBR meter reading (Chances Of Trump Being Re-elected) didn’t skyrocket following the DEM Presidential Candidates’ layout of ways to bring about ‘Medicare For All’ solutions to the nation’s dysfunctional health care system.

    ‘Like a Duck on a June Bug’ I went after the read “Foreign language classes in decline” and the links it led me to.

    “Small town billionaire fails to make it in big city” was a splat. (PLEASE – Not another billionaire!)

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  8. The two best reads about the needs of trips to Mars and the Moon show well the difficulties and expense of such missions.

    When I was a teen, I was an ardent science-fiction fan. It was the genre’s golden age and I couldn’t get enough of it. It was a time when the real nature of Mars still held the possibility of canals and the notion of men in space captured the imagination. Now, of course, we know very well the physical realities behind that dream. Merely being weightless brings a host of challenges for astronauts including misshapen eyeballs to loss of calcium from bones and radiation damage. Sending people to the moon and Mars makes no practical sense when robots can do the job so much more cheaply and efficiently. Sending people to other star systems is even more impractical because of simple physics. The only value of sending people to space is the excitement of the public imagination and the satisfaction of tribal competitiveness.

    Ironically, I think spaceflight programs are a detriment to human progress and the acceptance of the fact that the Earth is mankind’s only home and always will be, Carl Sagan’s blue marble. What a shame.

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    • Jim,
      I found the Mars article first. Then when I stumbled across the Moon one, I knew I had to use them together. Not only thanks for reading them, but many thanks for your thoughts.

      Earth is located in our solar system’s sweet spot – so that alone makes one wonder about the planets away from that point. Meanwhile, Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot is a classic. Unfortunately, my favorite version of it has been taken down. I guess that means I should find another version that I enjoy!

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  10. Hola aFrank,
    Thank you for taking me to church this morning. Ray Charles is a preacher in disguise. He can stir the spirit in anyone. The chorus is an added bonus plus their traditional clothes is superbly noteworthy. 🎼
    Neil Diamond is over … now … onto the Eagles. Listening to their album has opened my eyes to how many songs I actually know. 👍🏻 See you el sabado 😄
    I agree with you; perhaps, the democrats can pass on the response. After listening to a state of the union address everything becomes tiresome after that even if there’s value in what is being said. Ahhhh … politics. It’s getting weirder by the day.
    I’m off to see the Linda Ronstadt interview. Sad she’s so ill. She looks like my sister-in-law. I always loved her voice. Her Spanish album dedicated to her fathers traditional Mexican music is fabulous.
    I’ll have to look up that movie. Somehow, I missed knowing about it. We’re movie goers and watchers.
    Have a super weekend … Good Luck with the concert.
    Isadora 😎

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    • Isadora,
      Glad you enjoyed Ray Charles – and yes – The Upside is a good movie to see! Hope you enjoyed the Ronstadt interview. I had heard a lot about her condition, so this straightened out my thoughts. Meanwhile, a applaud your willingness to do something that I couldn’t – sit through the State of the Union.

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  12. I also did NOT watch the S of the U. I’ve decided this year to be kind to myself and watch my blood pressure. Thus, I watch less TV and listen to more music. I can’t help like Neil Diamond songs – his first ones were my love anthems at college. And now, years (and years) later, I attend Red Sox games where everyone en masse sings Sweet Caroline with swagger and deep abiding love for each other. Can’t be anything wrong with that!

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  13. I missed the Neil Diamond one as well, but look forward to the Eagles as they have a number of hits to choose from. My dad seen them perform live a number of years back, too.

    Hopefully will have something out this weekend. Work in NYC and being under the weather has limited my time on WP lately. However, I was able to go to the Empire State Building for the first time after all my times I’ve been in NYC. And, because the weather was much more tolerable this week than the first two weeks we worked there. LOL.

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  17. I skipped out on all SOTU-related speeches and even managed to avoid most of it throughout the week. I’ve had to step aside a lot more often just to preserve my good health! I caught the Linda Ronstadt interview and was so glad to see it. It’s interesting that Neil Diamond is also suffering from Parkinson’s. Having watched my father’s long deterioration their stories are very dear to me. I would have loved to have attended the evening’s conversation with the celebrated singer.

    Thanks, too, for the Ray Charles video. 🙂

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