Happy Nowruz and happy 15th birthday to Crazy Eddie's Motie News

Nowruz Mubarak! Happy International Day of Nowruz AKA Persian New Year and happy 15th birthday of this blog! This year's celebration feels different because of the war with Iran. Fox 5 Morning News in San Diego anchor Shally Zomorodi felt it, too, in Happy Nowruz!

Fox 5 Morning News celebrates Nowruz, the Persian New Year.

I'm with you, Shally.

I'm moving on to the blog's 15th birthday, because lingering more on Nowruz would make me even sadder. On that note, I'm sharing a childhood memory in video form, Put Another Candle on My Birthday Cake - Sheriff John Birthday Song sung by Bruce Kaplan (Claudia and Bruce).

Claudia Russell and Bruce Kaplan perform their version of the Sheriff John Birthday Song aka the Birthday Polka. If you're from Los Angeles and grew up in the 1950s and early 60s, you very likely know this song.

Unless you grew up in Los Angeles during the 1950s and 1960s, you probably don't know who Sheriff John is, so I'll let Wikipedia explain.

Sheriff John was an American children's television host who appeared on KTTV in Los Angeles from July 18, 1952, to July 10, 1970, on two separate series, Sheriff John's Lunch Brigade and Sheriff John's Cartoon Time. He was played by John Rovick[1] who served as a radio operator-gunner in the United States Army Air Corps in World War II, surviving 50 combat missions in the European Theater of Operations. After the war he became a radio announcer, moving to television in its early days. He developed the program's concept himself.

As Sheriff John he began each program entering his office, singing "Laugh and be happy, and the world will laugh with you." He then said the Pledge of Allegiance and read a safety bulletin. He showed cartoons including Q.T. Hush, Underdog, Crusader Rabbit, and Porky Pig; he was often visited by farm animals.[2] An artist, Sketchbook Suzie, drew pictures requested by viewers; he would complete squiggles sent by the children and make a squiggle for them to complete. He also gave them lessons on safety and good health habits.

The show's highlight was the birthday celebration. Sheriff John read as many as 100 names, then brought out a cake and sang the Birthday Party Polka ("Put Another Candle on my Birthday Cake").

I used to watch this show every day after school and have fond memories of it, so when I saw YouTube recommend this video, I knew immediately that it would be today's song. I especially couldn't resist because Claudia and I dated in 1987 when we both worked at the Tar Pits.* It's good to see her again.

That's a wrap for today's double (triple if one counts today as Twitter/X's 20th birthday) celebration. Stay tuned for Marche du Nain Rouge as the Sunday entertainment feature.

*Yes, Claudia is an ex-girlfriend, but she's not the ex-girlfriend I usually mention. As I've written many times, the latter lived in Canada while we were dating, while Claudia and I were both living in Los Angeles. Coincidentally, both have since moved to the San Francisco Bay area. I would find it ironically funny if they have encountered each other while not knowing they both know me.

1993 Cadets 'In the Spring, At the Time When Kings Go Off to War,' for a drum corps Vernal Equinox

Happy Vernal Equinox! After last year's TED-Ed on 'The Rite of Spring,' 'The ballet that incited a riot,' for the Vernal Equinox, I'm returning to the Cadets to make today one of my drum corps holidays. Watch Jeff Gray's upload of 1993 Cadets Finals (High Quality).

The Cadets present their 1993 program, "In the Spring, At the Time When Kings Go Off to War". Selections include:
In the Spring, When Kings Go Off to War; Ballet Sacra & On a Hymn song of Philip Bliss
All by David Holsinger

Drum Corps International (DCI) added context in its official upload, Spotlight: 1993 Cadets.

The Cadets' Championship-winning 1993 production, "In the Spring, At the Time When Kings Go Off to War," brought a medieval battle to the football field.

Speaking of official uploads, I'm sharing Cadets History - 1993 from The Cadets account in case Jeff Gray's video gets taken down.

"In the Spring, At the Time When Kings Go Off to War" In the Spring, When Kings Go Off to War, Ballet Sacra, On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss

Finished 1st - 97.400

That's a wrap for both today's post and the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News. Stay tuned for Nowruz and this blog's birthday.

Hank Green explains why 'Coal is Extremely Dumb'

I wrote, "I really don't like coal" but didn't explain why last week. Hank Green explains for me in Coal is Extremely Dumb.

It feels kinda silly to make this video but there are still people super focused on coal and it just feels like they haven't listened to any of the people who know exactly why coal is just not going to be a part of our future power mix, and why that actually has nothing to do with the environment.

I had a feeling "people super focused on coal" referred to Donald "Hoover Harding Cleveland" Trump, who is choosing an old technology, coal and other fossil fuels, over a newer one, renewables. Hank confirmed it at 11:24 when he showed an executive order of Hoover Harding Cleveland's, then talked about how people who still support coal believe anything that is different from the way things were in 1985 is "woke," making his rant a twenty-minute subtweet. I'm more than OK with that.

Rant or not, I learned a lot from Hank, including about combined-cycle power plants, lead being in coal exhaust along with mercury and radioactive materials, and this graph, which I can show to my students.


Welcome to blogging as professional development.

That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for the Vernal Equinox, the last post of the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

SciShow asks 'Tylenol Is Made From Crude Oil. Can We Change That?'

Global Recycling Day inspired the topic of today's "educational post I can share next month," SciShow asking Tylenol Is Made From Crude Oil. Can We Change That?

A lot more depends on fossil fuels than you might expect. Like your medicine cabinet. No, not the plastic pill bottles… the pills /themselves/ might be derived from crude oil. It might be possible to change that and use plastic instead, but we'll need some unexpected help.

Hosted by: Jaida Elcock (she/her)

Jaida Elcock's reminder that Tylenol is safe is a call back to SciShow asks 'What’s the Truth about Acetaminophen and Autism?' It's not just plastic that needs to be recycled; facts that fight misinformation need to be recycled as well!

Also, this video reminds me that the Commoner's Laws lessons about pollution, "Everything must go somewhere (There is no away)" and "There is no free lunch" about the problem and "Nature knows best" for the solutions, also apply to recycling. "Everything is connected to everything else?" Hey, this video connected plastic pollution and recycling to drug chemistry and manufacturing, so it hit all four laws!

That's a wrap for today's post. I'll have more to say about recycling no later than America Recycles Day. In the meantime, stay tuned for another brief educational entry I can share next month, followed by the Vernal Equinox.

Storied tells 'The Unbelievably Tragic Story of Cú Chulainn' for St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I'm returning to PBS Storied for today, but instead of a monster, I'm sharing a video about a hero. Watch Storied tell The Unbelievably Tragic Story of Cú Chulainn | Fate & Fabled.

In Irish folklore, Cú Chulainn was one of the greatest warriors ever to live. From his first battle against a vicious hound at the age of 6 to his last against an entire army just two decades later, Cú Chulainn lived a legendary, but short life. Some might call him a tragic hero, but is it tragic to get everything you ever wanted?

No, Dr. Moiya McTier, it's not really tragic. Cursed and blessed at the same time, maybe, but not any more tragic than the story of El Cid, which the ending reminds me of.

YouTube recommended The Blood of Cu Chulainn (Official Music Video) | Jeff Danna & Mychael Danna after watching Storied's video, so I'm embedding it.

The Blood Of Cu Chulainn Official Music Video by Jeff Danna and Mychael Danna...

The Blood of Cu Chulainn has become known as the Theme to The Boondock Saints films, but was first released on Jeff Danna and Mychael Danna's 1998 album, A Celtic Romance: Legend of Liadain and Curithir.

I couldn't resist the music, animals, and landscapes, although as a biologist and geologist, I could tell that many of the latter are not Irish. No matter, they're pretty and fit the music.

I close with The Best ST. PATRICK’S Day Cocktails from Everyday Cocktails.

Get ready to celebrate ST. PATRICK’S Day with the most viral green cocktails!

These drinks are festive, fun, creamy, and refreshing — perfect for your St. Patrick’s Day party. Whether you’re hosting friends or celebrating at home, these cocktails will bring the luck of the Irish straight to your glass!

He's not Tipsy Bartender, but he said "And there you have it" to make up for it.

That's a wrap for today's holiday. Stay tuned for an educational post I can share next month.

Vox explains why 'The banana is under threat'

I begin today's educational post I can share next month, I'm recycling the opening of Vice News on the 'Bananapocalypse: Why Bananas May Go Extinct'.

I first wrote "the dessert bananas people eat are threatened by fungus because of the unintended effects of growing monocultures of clones" ten years ago, and I haven't stopped warning my students about it since. It's right up there with bees as a story I tell my students, although I write about bees a lot more here than bananas. The last time was 2021 and the time before that was 2014. The latter was an audition for a video to show my students instead of "The Top Banana" trailer, and it failed. They decided that they liked the more fun teaser for a documentary that never happened than the more informative Seeker video. I didn't even try the Business Insider video. I'm planning on trying again with Bananapocalypse: Why Bananas May Go Extinct by Vice News.

I think I showed the Vice News video once three years ago and it didn't get nearly the reaction that "The Top Banana" regularly gets, so the latter stayed in my lectures on biodiversity as natural capital. I plan on trying one more time with Vox explaining why The banana is under threat.

Bananas are one of the world’s most popular fruits. They’re a staple crop in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In the US, the average person eats more than 25 pounds of bananas per year.

The banana found in nearly every lunch bag, smoothie, and cereal is likely a Cavendish banana (a single variety that accounts for 99 percent of global exports), despite there being over 1,000 different species of bananas. This kind of uniformity is what allows the beloved banana to be cheap, durable, and ubiquitous.

It also makes them extremely vulnerable.

A variant of Panama disease, a soil fungus that once wiped out the world’s most commercial banana, the Gros Michel, in the 1950s, is back. And this time, there’s no obvious replacement for it waiting around the corner. So what will it take to save one of the world’s most beloved fruits?

This video explores how monocropping became both a blessing and a curse in the search for the most commercially viable banana, how this assumed ubiquity could lead to the end of the banana as we know it, and what scientists are doing to prevent the extinction of the Cavendish.

Between giving up the Cavendish for other varieties of bananas or accepting genetically modified Cavendish bananas, I'd bet on Americans accepting GMO Cavendish bananas first. We already eat a lot of GMOs in our corn and especially soybeans and have for years.


The rest of the world may not be so accepting and might be persuaded to expand the diversity of the bananas they eat.

This video reminds me of another Vox video I show to my students right after "The Top Banana" trailer, The race to save endangered foods.

Wild animals aren’t the only ones facing extinction.
...
We’re letting foods we’ve eaten for thousands of years disappear from farmers’ fields, and from our plates. Saving them isn’t just a matter of cultural preservation. In the next 30 years, we’re going to need to learn how to feed more people on a hotter planet, and the more genetic varieties we lose, the harder it’ll be to adapt.

To learn more about the foods facing extinction in the US and around the world, check out the Ark of Taste, a project of Slow Food USA.

Journalist Mark Shapiro’s book, Seeds of Resistance, goes into much more detail about the risk that genetic homogeneity poses to our food supply. He also profiles some of the efforts, many led by indigenous communities, to preserve older seed varieties.

For more on seed relabeling, check out the Farmers Business Network’s 2018 Seed Relabeling Report.

The chart on declining global yields for corn, wheat, and rice comes from an article in the academic journal Disasters and Climate Change Economics from agricultural economists Mekbib G. Haile, Tesfamicheal Wossen, Kindie Tesfaye, and Joachim von Braun. Their prediction model takes into account both climate change and price volatility, which is why their estimates are higher than those of some other researchers.

Special thanks to Marie Haga of Global Crop Diversity Trust, and Marleni Ramírez of Bioversity International for sharing their knowledge with me.

The students like this one, too, which I play right after "The Top Banana," but I wonder whether two Vox videos back-to-back will have the same impact.

I close with a video about the Gros Michel and Cavendish bananas that is too long to show to my students, I Ate the Extinct Banana (so you don't have to).

Just a truly devastating video to have to make...

I've spread the myth about banana flavoring being based on the taste of the Gros Michel before I watched this video. Now I say that banana flavoring is more like the smell of Gros Michel. That made watching this video worth it to learn that fact alone and correct my teaching. As I've written before and hope to write again, any day I learn something new is a good day.

That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for a celebration of St. Patrick's Day.

SciShow explains 'How the Fall of the Roman Empire Made Animals Smaller' for the Ides of March

Beware the Ides of March! Instead of the Sunday entertainment feature, I'm continuing the theme of death and destruction in the Roman world with SciShow explaining How the Fall of the Roman Empire Made Animals Smaller.

There’s a saying that, when Rome falls, the whole world will fall. Which frankly seems a little melodramatic and egotistical on the part of the Romans. Except that they kinda had a point when you realize the fall of Rome affected basically everything in Europe up to and including /the body size of wild animals/. Here's how the fall of the Roman Empire made animals smaller.

Hosted by: Jaida Elcock (she/her)

The last time I included the blog's description in an entry was PBS Terra lists '5 Warning Signs of Collapse We're Ignoring' plus presidential pets for Presidents Day.

When I created this blog, I called it "A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it." I've shifted away from that, making this more "A blog about sustainability with a science fiction slant and a Detroit perspective," as it says on the Crazy Eddie's Motie News Facebook page (if you're still on Facebook, please follow), but I've never changed the description here after 15 years. That's because, deep down, I still believe in the mission I set for myself in March 2011.

SciShow's video demonstrates that the collapse of the Western Roman Empire affected not only humans and their domesticated animals, but also the wild animals, mostly mammals, around them. Welcome to one of Commoner's Laws, "Everything is connected to everything else."

I turn to The History Guy for a lesson about the significance of the date, Beware the Ides of March.


He likes alliteration even more than I do! Speaking of alliteration, I can't escape entertainment entirely today, so I'm sharing Vehicle (Remastered) by Ides of March.



Vehicle (Remastered) · Ides Of March
That's a wrap for today's sort of holiday. Stay tuned for an educational post I can share next month followed by a celebration of St. Patrick's Day.

Pies in the face for the Razzie 'winners' on Pi Day

Happy Pi Day! It's time for the 46th Razzie® Award Winners for 2025!

In a battle for the worst, find out who will win and who will be denied the $4.97 gold-spray-painted Razzie statuette! And stick around to the end - there's a surprise!

I'm only tolerating the AI animation because it was a deliberate slap at the Seven CGI Dwarves, so it had a point. Also, Melania's hat emerging from the water is only a surprise to people those who weren't paying attention. The Razzies telegraphed this revelation in The Razzie-Buzz is deafening!.

Everyone's talking about the new movie in town!

As I wrote in Lydic, Meyers, Kimmel, and Colbert take closer looks at the 'Melania' documentary and other news, "I hope it...earns a Razzie nomination or two next year." It looks like I'm going to get my wish and then some!

By the way, this wouldn't be the First Lady's first Razzie nomination. She earned one for Worst Supporting Actress in Fahrenheit 11/9, but lost to Kellyanne Conway. Here's to writing about her "win" next year.

Enough looking ahead. Here's the press release.

Ice Cube and War of the Worlds (2025) win the battle for most Razzie take-homes! Kate Hudson redeems her previous Razzie nods with her pitch-perfect performance in Song Sung Blue.

It was a decisive battle and War of the Worlds won the 46th Razzie® Awards hands down! Becoming a cult hate-watch classic almost immediately, War of the Worlds (the 2025 version) has been cemented in Razzie history as a near sweeper of our $4.97 trophy winner. Remake, Actor, Screenplay, Director, and Picture win huge for this Amazon Prime offering. Utterly destroying H.G Wells classic novel, director Rich Lee (maybe inspired by Ed Wood) chose a goofy gimmick, hack dialogue, and a particularly hilarious performance by its lead, Ice Cube, to seize 2025’s biggest number of statues.
Another reimagined winner was the Disney 2025 version of Snow White, whose artificial dwarfs couldn’t escape the Razzie for a couple of trophies. It cost a fortune and lost a fortune, perhaps cursed by Walt himself for having ignored his dying wish for it never to be remade.
Other winners include Rebel Wilson for her not-quite-believable performance as an action hero in Bride Hard with weaponized curling irons and Scarlet Rose Stallone for her modernized performance in the odd western, Gunslingers.
This year’s recipient of the Razzie Redeemer Award is Kate Hudson for her pitch perfect performance in Song Sung Blue after a string of Razzie nods (Music, Mother’s Day and My Best Friend’s Girl) following her Oscar nomination for Almost Famous.
At least these were the pickings of our globe-spanning, opinionated Razzie Award Members.
...
Full List of 46th Razzie Award Winners

WORST PICTURE - War Of The Worlds (2025)
WORST ACTOR - Ice Cube / War Of The Worlds (2025)
WORST ACTRESS - Rebel Wilson / Bride Hard
WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Scarlet Rose Stallone / Gunslingers
WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR - All Seven Artificial Dwarfs / Snow White
RAZZIE REDEEMER AWARD - Kate Hudson for “Song Sung Blue”
WORST SCREEN COMBO - All Seven Artificial Dwarfs / Snow White
WORST PREQUEL, REMAKE, RIP-OFF or SEQUEL - War of the Worlds (2025)
WORST DIRECTOR - Rich Lee / War Of The Worlds (2025)
WORST SCREENPLAY - War Of The Worlds (2025) / Kenny Golde, Marc Hyman
RAZZIE REDEEMER AWARD – Kate Hudson / Song Sung Blue

“Wins Per Picture”
“War Of The Worlds” (2025) = 5 (Worst Picture, Actor, Remake - Rip-Off, Director, Screenplay)
Disney’s Snow White (2025) = 2 (Worst Supporting Actor, Screen Combo)
Rebel Wilson in “Bride Hard” = 1 (Worst Actress)
Scarlet Rose Stallone = 1 (Worst Supporting Actress)

Not only did WatchMojo's two worst movies of 2025 earn the most nominations, they won the most awards. Congratulations to WatchMojo! The movies are another matter.

I close with The Three Stooges wishing a Happy Pi Day!

Happy #PiDay from The Three Stooges! We're celebrating 3.14 with a pie to the face today.

Pies in the face to all the Razzie "winners!"

That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature. Should I cover the Best International Feature Film nominees at the Oscars, animation and song, or something else?

A great year for horror at the Oscars on Friday the 13th

It's Friday the 13th and I'm observing it the same way I did last month, examining horror nominees at an awards show. Then, it was the Saturn Awards. Today, it's the Academy Awards. I begin with Sinister Cinema Reviews asking What is Going On With The Oscars??!! A BIG Year for Horror!

Horror is actually getting recognition at the Oscars for the second year in a row??! What is happening?? This is great for the genre.

I agree with Jason on most of his points except for Bugonia being horror film; I consider it to be science fiction so much that it headlined Science fiction movie nominees at the Critics Choice Awards for Science Fiction Day. The Saturn Awards agreed, nominating it for Best Science Fiction Film. Still, Jason has enough company that Empire Magazine tweeted the following image.


Including Bugonia got pushback in the replies; several users questioned its inclusion or flatly stated that it's not horror. I'm agree; it's science fiction that appeals to horror fans, but it's not horror.

Speaking of Empire Magazine, it published The Oscars Have Finally Embraced Horror – And It’s Worth Screaming About. Follow over the jump for excerpts from it and my reactions.

Long COVID six years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic

I covered the 15th anniversary of Fukushima yesterday, so I'm blogging about the sixth anniversary of COVID-19 being declared a pandemic today. As the preview image shows, March 11, 2020 was an eventful date for the pandemic beyond the WHO declaration. Watch Fox 13 Tampa Bay report 6 years later: Millions living with long COVID.

Six years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Americans are still living with its long-term effects.

Seven million dead from the disease worldwide? More like 21 million. That written, the big story is long COVID, which I touched on in 'The Pandemic Made People Worse Drivers,' a driving update when I pointed out the increased strokes and worse heart health mentioned in the SciShow video. The public health emergencies declared during the pandemic may have ended three years ago, but the after effects linger on. So does the denialism, which has infected the comments to this video on YouTube. Who's hiding under the bridge of an online science article? You don't want to know.

That's a wrap for today's observance. Stay tuned for Friday the 13th.