Author: patd

“But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked. "Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad." "How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice. "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Dotty about the Potty

Brace yourselves for the next few days as the country goes down the toilet literally. Sophisticated frivolity will be flushed away by bathroom humor due to an overgrown toddler’s poop problem.
For example, this from

Trump’s Weird Toilet and Paper Habits, Together at Last (nymag.com)

As my colleague Jonathan Chait wrote in January 2021, when we look back, “We may conclude that the Trump administration was the story of a group of people fixated with control over their toilets.” Trump reportedly loved showing off bathrooms to White House visitors. He hired Matthew Whitaker, who before his brief stint as acting attorney general marketed a toilet for men whose genitals could not be accommodated by standard-size commodes. And Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner erected a porta-potty in their swanky D.C. neighborhood, and eventually rented a nearby apartment, because they would not let Secret Service members relieve themselves in their home.

Most memorably, Trump once delivered a bizarre monologue on the inadequacy of today’s bathroom fixtures. “People are flushing toilets ten times, 15 times, as opposed to once,” he asserted, as absolutely no one nodded in agreement.

Could Trump’s fondness for paper-flushing be the key that unlocks all of these perplexing incidents? Was the former president so enamored with the White House bathrooms because their toilets allow for superior document disposal? Did he hire Whitaker because he needed his expertise on fitting huge literal junk in the toilet? Did Javanka bar the Secret Service from their lavatories because they didn’t want to expose an elaborate flushing operation? Was Trump hitting that toilet lever ten to 15 times because he couldn’t make his giant wad of tear-stained love letters to various dictators disappear? The mind reels!

[…]

You can tell me my fixation on this literal toilet humor is juvenile, but unlike Trump I refuse to be shamed. I intend to wring all the enjoyment I can out of this metaphorically crappy period in American history.


There’s Gold in them-thar Chills

But not for US — yet.

Winter Games – NBC Sports
Medals won by Team USA so far at the 2022 Winter Olympics
Julia Marino (Westport, CT) – Silver Medal in Women’s Snowboarding Slopestyle
Marino secured the first medal for the United States at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Her first run was a 30.61 and she earned the medal with a second run of 87.68.
Jaelin Kauf (Alta, WY) – Silver Medal in Women’s Moguls
In her second Olympic appearance, Kauf won Olympic silver behind Australia’s Jakara Anthony. Kauf scored three points off a dominant performance from Anthony and earned the second medal of the Winter Games for the United States.
Team USA – Silver Medal in Figure Skating Team Event
In the Pairs’ Free Skate, Americans Alexa Knierim (Addison, IL) and Brandon Frazier (Colorado Springs, CO) scored 128.97. Madison Chock (Redondo Beach, CA) and Evan Bates (Ann Arbor, MI) performed their Daft Punk program and won the free dance. Karen Chen (Fremont, CA) scored 131.52 in the Women’s Free Skate.

Opening Up

Trying to get a glimpse of 2022 Olympics opening ceremonies leads to Youtube messages like this. Good luck if you’re a big fan of ontime coverage.

Video unavailable This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated.

However, there was this from Korea’s Arirang News