Photo of the Week: Tatiana the Amazing Levitating Girl

 

Perhaps I'm just not seeing something but to me it appears that Olga is standing on flat ground while Tatiana is floating in the air. So what is the answer: a trick of light and dark, early 20th century photoshop, sitting/standing on a hidden object, perfectly timed jump, or Satanic powers?

Judo throws are legal in women's college basketball...

 ...as long as you play for the University of Texas Longhorns. They're known for two things: deep pockets and dirty play. Here we see Aliyah Matharu from Texas judo throw Lexi Donarski of Iowa State to the ground (as well as throwing an arm in Donarski's face which should have be ruled contact above the shoulder which I know is a rule since Iowa State got reviewed for it later in this same game) during a Big 12 conference tournament semifinal today. Matharu should have been tossed for that but it was not called an unsportsmanlike foul nor was it even reviewed. Fortunately Donarski was not injured from it.

Not so lucky was Kari Niblack of West Virginia. Back on February 20th West Virginia played Texas. During the game Lauren Ebo of Texas literally headbutted Niblack, knocking her out with a concussion. A video of the assault can be viewed in this article. Just like Matharu, Ebo was not tossed for her dirty play.

This is becoming a problem where Texas is allowed to maliciously and deliberately injure or attempt to injure opposing players and something needs to be done about it before someone is seriously or permanently hurt.

Photo(s) of the Week: Father & son

 And to continue with the parent-child theme, a family breakfast photo:

This is where my profile photo came from.

A return to normality

Exciting news this week. After one year and ten months my employer is dropping their mask mandate effective Tuesday, March 8th, finally catching up to the city, county, and state in doing so. Therefore this will be my last post talking (specifically) about COVID unless something dramatic happens. With that said I'll end this post with a screencap that perfectly encapsulates my thoughts and feelings on everything that has happened in the last two years.

100 blog posts

This is my 100th blog post and I've been debating what it should be about for the past week. Well, I've figured that it should be about the thing I've cared about for most of my life.

It's been a record breaking season for the Iowa State women's basketball program. They've won 7 Big 12 Conference road games, swept 7 out of 9 Big 12 opponents, won 14 conference games and 25 regular season games overall, which are all school records.

Individually it has also been a record breaker. Senior Ashley Joens now owns the school career scoring record and is staring down the career record for scoring average among other records. (Fun fact: I have the same birthday and last name as she does but I assure you that she is significantly better at basketball than I am.) Sophomore Emily Ryan continues reaching for every assist record at Iowa State while fellow sophomore Lexi Donarski seems to be the heir apparent to Ashley. Statistically Morgan Kane won't blow you away but together with Portuguese transfer Beatriz Jordão they have combined to make a serviceable duo in the post.

They wrapped up the regular season this past Saturday with a win over West Virginia University and now look forward to the Big 12 tournament this coming weekend. Hopefully they'll win a couple of games there and in the NCAA tourney the weekend after.

Photo(s) of the Week: Mother-daughter time.

 

I hate the Baylor Bears

A trash university for trash people that should be legally required to change it's name to Rape Scandal University.

Photo(s) of the Week: Little Drummer Boy

 

"So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause"

Paraphrasing here: 

    "It is with great reluctance that I have agreed to this calling. I love democracy. I love the Republic. Once this crisis has abated, I will lay down the powers you have given me!" 

- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

History doesn't repeat but it often rhymes. Welcome to the Enabling Act period of Canadian history.

An alternative to drug prohibition

It's no secret that drug prohibition isn't exactly popular. Recently, though, an alternative has popped up. I came across a news article about a referendum in Switzerland. The referendum took place on February 13th and 57 percent of voters chose to place a near-total ban on tobacco advertising within Switzerland. Predictably the tobacco companies were not happy. But I think this is a fair compromise with the civil libertarians.

As an American I think it would behoove the Prohibition Party to include a similar proposal to their 2024 platform, only expand it to all drugs: tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and prescription drugs. Currently only the United States and New Zealand allow marketing and advertising of pharmaceutical products directly to patients rather than health professionals. It's a process called direct-to-consumer advertising and it would not surprise me if it was at least partly responsible for the opioid crisis.

Alcohol advertising is rampant and lawless. This is a fake commercial from the animated TV show South Park but it is not much different from real world alcohol ads. Several countries such as Norway, Russia, Ukraine, Kenya, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka have varying bans on alcohol advertising in media and I feel that the U.S. should join them.