Are You Thoroughly Bored?

With the exception of a trip to the grocery store and a trip to check on an elderly parent I've not been out of my house in quite some time except to go for a walk and do yard work.  And frankly I am bored.  You can't imagine how much I look forward to my daily hour long walk and to even working in the yard.  And, I detest yard work.  Outside of mowing, I hate to trim and pull weeds and all the rest of the crap that goes with yard work.

I would like to think we are on the down side of the virus but from what the local talking heads say, it will be three to four weeks before it peaks here.  And what annoys me even more is that a lot of people still aren't taking this thing seriously.  They aren't staying home.  There is a renter up the street who uses it to have a couple parties each week and God only knows where some of the lowlife guests have been.

The bottom line is until people start following the rules from the experts it's not going to go away.  So take this advice.  Stay safe and keep your butt home!

Laughable Programming during the Coronavirus

I retired from 42 years of working in the broadcast industry almost three years ago.  Over the years I heard a lot of strange things, dumb talk show hosts, announcers and bizarre programming.  But, two sister radio stations in St. Louis have played some of the strangest content you can imagine during this COVID-19 pandemic.

The station that like to call itself the "Sports Voice of America" has gotten lazy and is re-broadcasting every St. Louis Cardinal baseball game from September 2011.  The Cardinals won the World Series that year after being eleven games out of first place in August.  (For the record, all MLB games this season thus far have been cancelled and this outlet was the Cardinals' flagship station when they won the series). OK, but this radio station, KMOX, airs baseball games from September 2011 and then makes its announcers act as if they are in real time.  So, the night before last I heard the sports guy saying "the Cards are now just four back of the last wild card spot".  What the What?  Just plain dumb.  I am embarrassed for the poor sports guys that have to pretend its nine years ago.

If you think that's stupid, another St. Louis radio station decided to broadcast Christmas music for people under home quarantine.  Are you freaking kidding me?  Christmas music in March?  For example have you ever heard "The Little Drummer Boy" on St. Patrick's Day?  I have.  KEZK radio must have gotten the message from its listeners, or lack thereof, since they are back to their standard format.  Apparently, the station's attempt to make its listeners happy during a pandemic was a miserable failure.

Let's hope the remaining 45 other stations in this market don't also lose their minds.

Just Turn off the "News"

One thing I've observed since the start of this pandemic is the news media wants to cover the outbreak, but it has no clue what its doing.  I have heard conflicting reports on local TV and radio stations and reporters who apparently have no idea how a virus is transmitted.

All they are doing is stirring up a frenzy and scaring the people who are watching and listening to them.  And it's not just the local stations.  The TV broadcast networks are doing it too, and at times I wonder if their editors are all home sick with the virus.

My advice to you is change the station when the talking heads start to give you "breaking news" on the virus.  (How can this be breaking news when the first cases were reported in Wuhan, China in late December.)

Either change the station or turn off your TV or radio.  You will be much happier than if you let these fools drive you nuts with every little aspect of the virus or more accuratly speculation about it.

Find yourself a couple of solid reliable news sources you trust and listen to them once a day.  If all you want is statistics go to the Johns Hopkins University dashboard that keeps track of cases, deaths and patients who've recovered.

Finally, I saw a feature last Friday night on NBC Nightly News comparing the fight against COVID-19 to the sacrifices and fight against the Axis forces in World War II.  The reporter was trying to show there are similarities.  But, I got to tell you, there'snot much the two have in common.  The people that served in World War II were getting shot at with live ammunition by the Nazis and Japanese.  I dont think there are too many millennials who would hunker down in a foxhill and put their butt on the line today.to stop a virus, let alone take the shelling and being shot at by people wanting to kill them.

Coronavirus

Image courtesy BBC

I hope you are doing well and not impacted by the Coronavirus making its way around the world.  Actually, I should have written made its way around the world as nearly every country on earth has been impacted.

The county I live in has quarantined all one million plus of us to our homes. Well, in theory.  I went to the doctor the day the quarantine started and while traffic was much lighter than normal there were people still doing things the county said were not essential.

I am taking care of myself and trying to avoid other people, but sometimes its just not possible.  I went to the grocery store midday yesterday and was surprised how many people were in the store.

I am not happy about life being disrupted for billions of people but I have no choice.  Stay tuned I will write more soon because I pretty much have no where to go.  Until then stay safe and stay home.

Very Sad to See

While watching one of the big three network nightly news broadcasts this evening I saw something that I really don't like.  I observed the Speaker of the US House of Representatives behave like a two year old.  Nancy Pelosi took what I am told was an advance copy of President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech and tore it in half.

Have the so called "leaders" of this country really sunk to this level that they blatantly act like children?  I see the name calling and imaturity more and more frequently from both sides of the aisle.  And I don't like it one little bit.  The lack of respect for members of the other party and lack of cooperation is no longer acceptable to what I really believe is most Americans.

We have two three year old children in our family and if either one of them tore up papers or deliberately destroyed something, they would be in trouble and probably get a time out if not a good spanking.

It's time for members of Congress to start acting with respect for each other.  Most aren't near to being the leaders they profess.  And many aren't representing our interests on the federal level.  If you had employees like these they wouldn't last in their jobs very long.  So, here it is; this is a call from an old guy in the middle of the US, who doesn't care two bits about the politics inside the Beltway and could care less about what most of these wannabes think of each other.  Start acting like adults, start playing nice with each other and start representing us instead of your party and its big buck donors and lobbyists.  It's time for term limits and to get rid of those who for some reason think longevity equates to infallibility on Capitol Hill.

Someone in DC needs to inform Mrs.Pelosi she can no longer act like a spoiled Kindergartner.  Just like our three year olds she needs to be taken to the woodshed and taught a lesson.