A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
How do we know where the moon came from? In this episode, Howtown dives into the giant impact hypothesis (the least bad theory of lunar origin) and the growing evidence that the story of Theia may be more complicated than the textbook version. We explore how scientists measure the Moon’s distance, mass, and angular momentum, why Earth’s Moon is so unusually large compared with other moons in the solar system, and how Apollo moon rocks transformed the debate over the origin of the Moon. Along the way, we unpack Robin Canup’s simulations, synestia and multiple-impact, evection resonance, and the “isotope crisis”: why Moon rocks are chemically almost identical to Earth despite models suggesting the Moon should be made mostly from an impactor. From lunar eclipses and amateur astronomy to Apollo samples, South Pole missions, Theia, Artemis, Chang’e, and the search for mantle rocks, this is a deep look at moon formation, planetary science, and how scientists reconstruct what happened more than 4 billion years ago.
The video may not be that old, but its subject matter sure is! It's also about a story I tell my students, so I consider this to be blogging as professional development.
Why does America have a toxic sea… and how did it get there?
The Salton Sea was once one of California’s most vibrant tourist hotspots, a beach teeming with visitors and wildlife. Today it’s a shrinking, toxic lake at the center of a water crisis impacting 40 million people across the Southwest. What happened?
Shane Campbell-Staton visits the Imperial Valley to examine how a desert transformed into America’s vegetable garden, but at serious environmental and social costs. He meets Alex Jack, a third-generation farmer pioneering water-saving techniques to sustain his family’s farm, and Luis Olmedo, a community advocate fighting for the health and rights of migrant workers who harvest the valley’s crops.
The story of the Salton Sea reveals the harsh realities of scarce water, toxic pollution, and a system that doesn’t protect everyone equally. As new water regulations for the Colorado River loom in 2026, this pivotal moment demands a fresh approach to who controls this precious resource, and how it can be allocated more fairly.
I'm old enough to remember when the Salton Sea was the aquatic playground shown in the video and I find it sad that it is now too polluted to still be that. It's now become a place that fits what I wrote in John Oliver examines the UK elections: "One ofmy favorite sayings that I tell my students is 'no one, or in this case, no place, is completely useless; it can always be used as a bad example.'" It also serves as an example of three of Commoner's Laws, "Everything must go somewhere (There is no away)" for agricultural runoff, "There is no free lunch" for growing winter vegetables, and "Everything is connected to everything else" for water use. "Nature knows best?" We should be so lucky.
Follow over the jump for most read posts featuring clips from Human Footprint during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
The iconic toy store has had 11 different owners since the founding family sold it over 60 years ago. This video briefly highlights how each owner impacted the brand.
New James Webb Space Telescope imagery of asteroid 2024 YR4 confirmed that it “will safely pass the Moon at a distance of more than 20,000 km. (~12,427 mlles),” according to the European Space Agency.
It also poses no danger to Earth[.]
As I wrote, good news!
That written, smaller objects have been plowing into Earth, or at least its atmosphere. Follow over the jump for those.
From blastoff, to the first lunar orbit in 53 years, to splashdown, CBC News breaks down the biggest moments of the historic Artemis II mission in three minutes.
Why are we going back to the moon with the Artemis Missions? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice explore the history of our trips to the moon during the Apollo Missions and why the US is finally going back.
Tyson and Nice were as entertaining as they were informative. They explained why we went to the Moon in the first place, why we're returningnow, and how both Apollo and Artemis worked. Good work and funny, too!
Over the last decade, malls were left for dead, casualties of e-commerce and shifting consumer habits, with the pandemic seemingly sealing their fate. Gen Z, however, is bringing malls back, reviving them as social hubs and retail meccas.
Teens Sick of Their iPhones Are ‘Mallmaxxing’...
The mall is cool again, with stores like Edikted and Princess Polly luring a new generation that is eager to shop in real life and show off hauls online.
Against all odds, the mall is winning over American teens: they’re getting their ears pierced; they’re buying jewelry; they’re trying on outfits that make their parents shudder; they’re even learning to stand in line and hang out IRL.
After all the "Millennials are killing" some institution, cultural activity, food or other product I've been reading since before the pandemic, I shouldn't be surprised that news media and popular culture would discover a contrasting feature about Gen Z to report. Gen Z reversing the trend by saving malls certainly fits.
Since the video mentioned the role of social media in getting today's youth generation to revive malls, I'm sharing the most active links to last year's posts about the Retail Apocalypse on social media. Follow over the jump.
Happy Flashback Friday! Today's retrospective covers the most read entries about the RetailApocalypse during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News. Before I recap those, I'm sharing two videos about a restaurant chain I should have covered five or six years ago, Boston Market. I begin with the more recent, The Disastrous Downfall Of Boston Market, which Weird History Food uploaded last month.
Before meal kits, DoorDash, and cheap grocery store rotisserie chickens, Boston Market was a real presence. It promised comfort food classics, like Thanksgiving dinner any day of the week, without the cooking, cleanup, or family drama! At its peak, this fast-casual chain was booming, redefining how Americans ate homestyle meals on the go. But almost as quickly as it rose, Boston Market began to collapse.
So what went wrong? On this episode of Weird History Food, we're taking a look at the strange rise and fall of one of America’s most iconic comfort food chains.
Did you ever eat there? What was your favorite dish? Let Us Know in the comments!
Of course private equity played an important role in this story, especially at the end, but it wasn't what started the chain's decline nearly 30 years ago. Too rapid expansion when the company was publicly traded did. Company Man detailed that when he asked The Decline of Boston Market...What Happened?
In 1997, Boston Market was among the fastest growing fast food chains in the country. By 1998 they filed for bankruptcy and have yet to make much of a comeback from it. This video attempts to find reasons behind what happened.
When my wife and I moved to Royal Oak, there was a recently closed Boston Market within walking distance. We would have brought home meals from there if it had been open. Instead, the nearby pizza place and Coney island got our business. Like Company Man Mike, who missed their cinnamon apples, I missed their food and wondered what had happened to the chain. Now that I've watched both Weird History Food's and Company Man's videos, I know.
Follow over the jump for the most read entries about the Retail Apocalypse last year.
Peaches are one of America’s most recognizable fruits. In the US, hundreds of thousands of tons are produced each year, and the fruit is closely tied to one place in particular: Georgia.
The Georgia peach is on license plates, road signs, and even county names. But today, the state doesn’t grow the most peaches. Not even close.
This video explores how peaches became a state symbol, how that reputation spread through active mythmaking, and why the Georgia peach identity has lasted even as the industry changed.
That was a fascinating video that taught me a lot of new things about peaches, including California being the leading peach-producing state, not Georgia. I doubt California will become the new Peach State; my former home state has better things to brag about.
We all heard the myth while growing up: Carrots are good for your eyesight. Or maybe even: Carrots can make you see in the dark. But where did this myth come from? And is there any basis in science?
It turns out that carrots are chock-full of vitamin A, which is necessary for vision. But most people today get enough vitamin A in their normal diet, and eating an excess of the orange vegetable won’t boost your eyesight or grant you night vision. In fact, consuming more vitamin A than your body can handle (via supplements instead of natural fruits and vegetables) can be detrimental to your health.
The origins of this common myth actually lie in World War II.
During the Blitz (the German Luftwaffe’s bombing campaign against London and other British cities), the British government had several important reasons to persuade both its citizens and the wider world that eating carrots improved eyesight. The Ministry of Information and Ministry of Food worked together to spread some shockingly impactful carrot-based propaganda. And the myth remains prevalent to this day.
Vox producer Nate Krieger spoke to an ophthalmologist and a World War II propaganda historian to get to the bottom of the carrot vision myth. This video explores the impetus behind this strangely targeted propaganda campaign, explains why it was so successful, and reintroduces the world to Dr. Carrot.
Something unexpected and potentially irreversible is changing Antarctica and scientists finally know why.
Over the past few decades, researchers have tracked the mysterious growth and sharp decline in sea ice in Antarctica. But a few years ago a troubling discovery was made that could upend global ocean circulation, push one species of penguin to extinction, and change our planet’s climate forever.
In this episode of Weathered, Maiya May looks into the role sea ice plays in our global climate, and the threat that its disappearance poses to our natural world.
From emperor penguins, to sea level rise, to the slowing of the AMOC, these seemingly inconsequential chunks of floating ice could hold the key to our survival. And their loss could be a sign that we’ve crossed a tipping point in an already delicate region of our planet.
Climate scientists and oceanographers have been so concerned about the AMOCweakening and collapsing because of the Greenland ice sheet melting that we've ignored the threat to the Global Conveyor Belt current from melting in Antarctica. We can't do that anymore, not once the Antarctic sea ice began to shrink the same way that Arctic sea ice had been for decades. At least Antarctic sea ice growing will no longer be a viable climate change denial talking point. Small favors.
Follow over the jump for the most read and active posts about climate change and extreme weather during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
On January 8, 2023, thousands of supporters of Brazil’s right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed federal buildings in the country’s capital. Their goal? Overthrow the results of an election they claimed was rigged, despite no credible evidence of fraud.
If that sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Brazil’s January 8 looked a lot like the January 6 attack on the US capital, just two years earlier: mob violence, an insurrection, and a defeated leader who refused to concede.
But the aftermath could not be more different. Jair Bolsonaro is now serving a 27-year prison sentence, while Donald Trump is president, again.
So how did two democracies, facing similar threats, end up with such different outcomes? This video explains how Brazil’s democratic system worked to hold “the Trump of the Tropics” accountable and what the US could learn from the aftermath.
Laws and constitutions don't enforce themselves; people have to enforce them. That happened in Brazil. It's not happening, not enough yet, here in the U.S. Time to recycle what I wrote in A meme and a song for Trump's sentencing.
Like Donald Trump's whitewashing and inversion of the attack on the Capitol, the new Big Lie, enough people bought it that Trump got re-elected and he avoided any actual punishment. That jammed "the wheels of justice," dashing my hope that I repeated most recently in Colbert and Kimmel examine Jack Smith's filing: "'The wheels of justice are grinding slowly in this case, but I expect they will indeed grind exceedingly fine.' May they also grind exceedingly fine for Trump and his seditious supporters, if not as slowly." Trump escaped before the wheels finished their work. Sigh.
Unless something extraordinary happens, like the 25th Amendment successfully being invoked, our next opportunity will be the midterm elections in November and a new Congress in January. May we and our democracy survive that long.
Happy Easter and First Contact Day! No one responded at all, let alone no, to my parting question, "Star Trek Easter eggs, anyone?" I'm taking that as a tacit yes for the topic of today's Sunday entertainment feature.
Dr. Kovich's office in Star Trek: Discovery is full of Easter eggs referencing the entire franchise of Star Trek. From a vintage bottle of Chateau Picard wine and Geordi's VISOR, Dr. Kovich's office reveals a lot about his mysterious role in Star Trek: Discovery.
Those are the serious Easter eggs in a dramatic series. Now for some funny ones in a comedy, Star Trek: Lower Decks. Watch as Rodenberry BEAM asks Can You Spot These Hidden Star Trek Jokes?
Every episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks is FULL of easter eggs, references, and inside jokes about the franchise... but did you catch them all? It's time to rank some of our favorite inside jokes from STLD, especially from season 4... from the most obvious to the most obscure.
Those are some deep cuts! The writers of Star Trek: Lower Decks were willing to go a long way for a laugh.
In this video, I dive deep into the 32nd-century Academy to find every callback to the Delta Quadrant. From the return of Robert Picardo as the EMH Doctor to the long-awaited promotion of Admiral Harry Kim, Starfleet Academy is full of Star Trek: Voyager lore. We also look at hidden references to Janeway, Neelix’s lung maggots, and the legal legacy of the 'Author, Author' court case.
That was worth watching, even though I'm not optimistic about The Sci-Fi Feminist uploading a part two. My wife and I enjoyed Starfleet Academy, but it was canceled after season two. Darn.
Follow over the jump for a retrospective of the most read entries about holidays from the back catalog during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
Fossilized poop might seem gross, but coprolites give us critical information about how animals lived millions of years ago.
Hosted by: Reid Reimers (he/him)
That was a fascinating survey of the information derived from coprolites, once I can recommend to my students, although I'm not going to show it to them. Just the same, welcome to blogging as professional development.
Since the SciShow video overlaps with a Howtown video I featured, follow over the jump for the most read entries containing content from Howtown last year.
I've only celebrated Passover once before on this blog, Shortest lunar eclipse in a century on Passover eleven years ago, so I decided to observe it again by turning it into one of my drum corps holidays by featuring one of the most famous renditions of the theme to The Ten Commandments on a football field.
Follow over the jump for the rest of the most read holiday entries posted during the 15th year of this blog in lieu of my usual drink recipe.
Is the Supreme Court considering a radical reinterpretation of the 14th amendment?
President Donald Trump has been on a crusade to end birthright citizenship for years. Challenging the long-held legal consensus that anyone born in the United States is granted citizenship, he signed an executive order stripping that right away from the children of undocumented parents and temporary visa holders.
The executive order after returning to the White House set in motion a series of lawsuits challenging Trump’s ability to make sweeping changes to birthright citizenship. And now it’s headed to the Supreme Court in a case called Trump v. Barbara.
The 14th Amendment was passed to guarantee citizenship to freed enslaved people and their children, but was later clarified to apply to anybody born on US soil with a few very specific exceptions. For well over 100 years, birthright citizenship has been enshrined in the Constitution with that understanding.
In Trump v. Barbara, the Trump administration claims that the law applies to those who are not just born in the United States but also “owe allegiance” to it — except…the words “owe allegiance” don’t appear anywhere in the 14th Amendment.
The plaintiffs are representing a group of people affected by Trump’s executive order, and their argument is simple: Leave birthright citizenship alone.
As Vox points out, this is an old debate, one that goes back to the adoption of the 14th Amendment and it always turns out the same way; people born here, other than children of diplomats, residents of American Samoa, and formerly Native Americans — I don't know if we've ever had children of enemy aliens occupying American soil other than Japanese in the Philippines, and I don't know if the Filipinos were American citizens back then — are citizens.
That's what Vox expects will happen again, at least this time.
On his first day back in office, President Trump signed an executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship, a cornerstone of immigration policy enshrined in the 14th Amendment and affirmed by the Supreme Court more than 100 years ago. But now the justices are reexamining the policy. Ali Rogin discussed the legal debate with Amy Howe and Amanda Frost.
PBS NewsHour featured five Justices who expressed skepticism of the government's argument, Gorsuch, Cavanaugh, Barrett, Roberts and Jackson, enough to overturn Donald "Hoover Harding Cleveland" Trump's executive order. Add in Kagen and Sotomayor, and that's seven votes. Alito might go along with Hoover Harding Cleveland, but I don't know about Thomas; he could go either way, not that it will matter. Hoover Harding Cleveland will lose and birthright citizenship will win.
Some Supreme Cout justices -- including key conservatives -- seem skeptical about the Trump administration's argument for ending birthright citizenship. And in a presidential first, Trump attended the beginning of the proceedings. Afterwards he posted that the U.S. was "stupid" for allowing birthright citizenship. Hayes Brown, Basil Smikle, Ron Insana and Melissa Murray.
That was worth including for the Mean Girls reference alone.
I'm looking forward to the decision later this year. In the meantime, stay tuned for another retrospective about holidays tomorrow.
You've heard of fake purses, and fake food, and fake concert tickets. But fake fossils? Turns out forging evidence of life in the ancient past isn't as uncommon as you might think. From another work by the infamous forger of the Piltdown Man to the carved footprints that fueled a conspiracy theory, here are seven of the weirdest fossil forgeries of all time.
Hosted by: Savannah Geary (they/them)
I knew about Piltdown Man, which is why I blogged about it twice, now a third time, but I had forgotten about Charles Dawson's other fossil forgery, the toad in the hole, which seems lazy in comparison. I hadn't heard about some of the others, particularly the augmented cheetah. Too bad — Acinonyx kurteni was a good name that is now invalid.
That completes the celebration of today's holiday. Follow over the jump for some of the most read holiday posts during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
Happy one-monthiversary of the Iran war! With the Strait of Hormuz still closed, Jon Stewart examines how global shortages are hitting everything from grain to helium to pickleballs. Meanwhile, Americans flood the streets for the No Kings protests while CPAC throws Trump his own Yassss Kings rally. Plus, the U.S. finally has a detailed explanation of the president's objectives and exit strategy... for the White House ballroom.
In a Yahoo News essay, Leerhsen describes the Trump he worked with from 1988 to 1990 as mostly "bored out of his mind," a "failing real estate developer who had little idea of what he was doing and less interest in doing it once he'd held the all-important press conference."
Trump was making huge, outrageously leveraged, financially ruinous deals, but day-to-day, he spent "surprisingly large" amounts of time "looking at fabric swatches," Leerhsen writes. "Indeed, flipping through fabric swatches seemed at times to be his main occupation," and "some days he would do it for hours," probably because fabric swatches "were within his comfort zone — whereas, for example, the management of hotels and airlines clearly wasn't."
Leerhsen elaborated Thursday evening on CNN. "At this time, like, things were really going to hell in his business," but "in the center of that was this quiet office where he was going through fabric swatches most of the day, and in the middle of all this Sturm und Drang, he was oblivious to it," he told Erin Burnett.
Nearly 40 years later, he hasn't changed, except to get older and more set in his ways
Over eight million people marched in the third "No Kings" protest, President Trump appears to be making up his Iran war strategy on-the-fly, and the war is causing global economic pain and shortages of resources like helium.
The contradictory announcements for the war remind me of something else I wrote early this month.
Twenty-five years ago, one of my reactions to 9-11 was to look at Bush the Younger's administration and be reassured that at least these people, particularly Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Colin Powell, knew how to fight a war, no matter what my other opinions were of them. It took me two years, after it became obvious they were botching the occupation of Iraq, to figure out that they didn't really have a plan for an occupied Iraq beyond shock doctrine. I have no such illusions about Donald "Hoover Harding Cleveland" Trump and Pete Hegseth; it's obvious from the get-go that they don't have a plan at all beyond being so intimidating that Iran just backs down. That's not happening. Once again, the voices Trump listens to, both inside and outside his head, are not reliable sources.
John Oliver discusses J.D. Vance, what he really believes, who he is without Donald Trump, and – most importantly – what he looks like without a beard.
Vance's opportunism and misogyny shine right through this satirical biography. As for Hillbilly Elegy, it's one of the rare films that earned both Oscar and Razzie nominations. While I'm not sure about Glenn Close's Razzie nomination (fortunately, she didn't win), I am sure about Worst Screenplay, which earned Vanessa Taylor, but not Vance, a nomination. I think leaving Vance off the nomination was an oversight.
John Oliver certainly had something to say about Hillbilly Elegy, including Glenn Close's Razzie nomination; maybe she did deserve it, although I'm still glad she didn't win. As for Vance's opportunism, that shines through even brighter. On the other hand, different bigotries eclipse his misogyny, especially racism and anti-immigrant sentiment, never mind that Vance's wife Usha is the daughter of Indian immigrants.
Vance would be less erratic (mercurial would be a polite way of saying it) and not driven by Hoover Cleveland's obsessions with tariffs, grifts, and revenge, but he'd be more likely to implement the parts of Project 2025 that Hoover Cleveland hasn't yet. He'd also be more under the influence of Palantir founder Peter Thiel, his pet bad philosopher Curtis Yarvin, and Palantir CEO Alex Karp. They're the sources of what I called "cyberpunk villain ideas straight out of SnowCrash..." Vance can certainly learn new tricks, but I worry about the ones Thiel, Yarvin, and Karp could teach him. They might be worse.
As for Trump AKA Hoover Cleveland repeating the fiction of Haitian immigrants eating pets, it's another example of his vulnerability toconspiracy theories. He still hasn't learned that the voices he's listening to aren't reliable sources. This includes JD Vance.
That hasn't stopped Hoover Harding Cleveland from listening to them.
As for the meme with JD Vance making love to a couch, it reminds me that there is a game called Date Everything! Everything includes a couch named Koa, and there is already a meme of it/him with Vance.
A comedy sketch about Vance wouldn't be complete without a couch joke!
FILM AWARDS
Best Action / Adventure Film: My vote, One Battle After Another. My prediction, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Winner, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. That's O.K., I voted for the Oscar winner for Best Picture.
Best Actor in a Film: My vote, Michael B. Jordan (Sinners). My prediction, none. Winner, Tom Cruise. I'm not surprised, but still I voted for the Oscar winner.
Best Actress in a Film: My vote, Emma Stone (Bugonia). My prediction, none. Winner, Elle Fanning (Predator: Badlands). That came as a surprise.
Best Animated Film: My vote, KPop Demon Hunters. My prediction, Zootopia 2. Winner, Zootopia 2.
Best Cinematic Film Adaptation: My vote, Superman. My prediction, Fantastic Four: First Steps. Winner, Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Best Fantasy Film: My vote, Wicked: For Good. My prediction, Wicked: For Good. Winner, Wicked: For Good.
Best Film Costume Design: My vote, Wicked: For Good. My prediction, Frankenstein. Winner, Frankenstein. Not surprised, as it won the Oscar.
Best Film Direction: My vote, Ryan Coogler (Sinners). My prediction, James Cameron (Avatar: Fire and Ash). Winner, James Cameron (Avatar: Fire and Ash).
Best Film Editing: My vote, Sinners. My prediction, Sinners. Winner, Sinners.
Best Film Make Up: My vote, Frankenstein. My prediction, Frankenstein. Winner, Frankenstein.
Best Film Music: My vote, Sinners. My prediction, Sinners. Winner, Tron: Ares. Surprise! In fact, it was such a surprise I didn't even bother to embed any music from it in 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' leads Best Science Fiction Film nominees at the Saturn Awards. I'll make up for it today.
Best Film Production Design: My vote, Wicked: For Good. My prediction, Frankenstein. Winner, Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Best Film Screenwriting: My vote, Ryan Coogler (Sinners). My prediction, none. Winner, James Cameron (Avatar: Fire and Ash). Not surprised, but I still voted for the Oscar winner.
Best Film Visual / Special Effects: My vote, Avatar: Fire and Ash. My prediction, Avatar: Fire and Ash. Winner, Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Best Horror Film: My vote, Frankenstein. My prediction, Frankenstein. Winner, Frankenstein.
Best Independent Film: My vote, Dust Bunny. My prediction, Dust Bunny. Winner, Dust Bunny.
Best International Animated Film: My vote, Ne Zha 2. My prediction, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle. Winner, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle.
Best International Film: My vote, Bring Her Back. My prediction, Sisu 2: Road to Revenge. Winner, Sisu 2: Road to Revenge.
Best Science Fiction Film: My vote, Avatar: Fire and Ash. My prediction, Avatar: Fire and Ash. Winner, Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Best Supporting Actor in a Film: My vote, Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein). My prediction, Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein). Winner, Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein).
Best Supporting Actress in a Film: My vote, My vote, Ariana Grande (Wicked: For Good). My prediction, Amy Madigan. Winner, Sigourney Weaver.
Best Thriller Film: My vote, Sinners. My prediction, Sinners. Winner, Sinners.
Best Younger Performer in a Film: My vote, Miles Caton (Sinners). My prediction, none, but I mentioned Jack Champion. Winner, Jack Champion.
TELEVISION AWARDS
Best Action / Adventure Television Series: My vote, Paradise. My prediction, Cobra Kai or Twisted Metal. Winner, Duster.
Best Actor in a Television Series: My vote, Adam Scott (Severance). My prediction, Diego Luna, Sam Heughan or Norman Reedus. Winner, Diego Luna.
Best Actress in a Television Series: My vote, Rhea Seehorn (Pluribus). My prediction, none. Winner, Rhea Seehorn (Pluribus).
Best Animated Television Series or Special: My vote, Harley Quinn. My prediction, Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld. Winner, Predator: Killer of Killers.
Best Fantasy Television Series: My vote, Stranger Things. My prediction, Outlander. Winner, Outlander.
Best Guest Star in a Television Series: My vote, Linda Hamilton (Stranger Things). My prediction, Paul Wesley. Winner, Dave Dastmalchian.
Best Horror Television Series: My vote, The Last of Us. My prediction, It: Welcome to Derry. Winner, It: Welcome to Derry.
Best New Genre Television Series: My vote, Pluribus. My prediction, Pluribus, Alien: Earth, or Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Winner, Pluribus.
Best Science Fiction Television Series: My vote, Severance. My prediction, Andor or Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Winner, Andor.
Best Superhero Television Series: My vote, Peacemaker. My prediction, Peacemaker. Winner, Peacemaker.
Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series: My vote, Stellan Skarsgard (Andor). My prediction, Stellan Skarsgard. Winner, Stellan Skarsgard.
Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series: My vote, Julianne Nicholson (Paradise). My prediction, Uma Thurman. Winner, Karolina Wydra.
Best Television Presentation or Limited Series: My vote, The Pitt. My prediction, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. Winner, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon.
Best Thriller Television Series: My vote, Dark Winds. My prediction, Dexter: Resurrection. Winner, Dexter: Resurrection.
Best Young Performer in a Television Series: My vote, Sadie Sink (Stranger Things). My prediction, none. Winner, Ravi Cabot-Conyers (Star Wars: Skeleton Crew).
HOME ENTERTAINMENT AWARDS
Best 4K Home Media Release: My vote, Wicked. My prediction, none. Winner, Wicked.
Best Classic Film Home Media Release: My vote, Night of the Living Dead 1990 (Sony). My prediction, none. Winner, Frailty (Lionsgate Home Video).
Best Film Home Media Collection: My vote, 007: James Bond – Sean Connery 6 Film Collection (Warner Bros.). My prediction, none. Winner, The Pink Panther Peter Sellers Comedy Collection (Kino Lorber).
Best Television Home Media Release: My vote, The Penguin Season 1 (Warner Bros.). My prediction, none. Winner, Chucky: The Complete Series (Universal).
Seth takes a closer look at oil and gas prices continuing to soar amid the war in Iran, while Donald Trump and MAGA now insist that paying higher prices is a patriotic duty.
Wall Street is reacting to the war in the Middle East after stocks tumbled Friday to close at their lowest level in over seven months. The Dow Jones, S&P and Nasdaq have all seen continued declines since the start of "Operation Epic Fury" one month ago. NewsNation’s Alicia Nieves shows “Morning in America with Hena Doba” how the market shifts are driving sticker shock at the gas pump.
Welcome to energy prices as examples of "Everything is connected to everything else" and "There is no free lunch."
That's the big picture. I begin my personal update by sharing that my wife suggested I fill up Pearl the Prius the morning after the initial attack and I did; I've seen this movie before and I knew what was coming. I was only surprised that people weren't panic buying and that prices hadn't risen - yet. I was able to drive on that tank for the past four weeks. I was not looking forward to filling up, but did so anyway after attending the nearest No Kings demonstration today and felt lucky to pay just less than 4.00/gallon. How are gas prices where you are?
Follow over the jump for the rest of my personal driving update and the three most read driving update posts during the 2025-2026 blogging year.
As of 11:59 PM EDT March 20, 2026, this blog had a lifetime total of 10,896,134 page views, 6,536 posts, and 4,274 comments. Minus the 5,222,122 page views, 6,168 total posts, and 4,180 comments as of just before March 21, 2025, that means this blog earned 5,674,012 page views and 94 published comments on 368 posts during the 365 days of the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News. My calculated page views round to the ~5,670,000 page views Blogger's counter showed during the past twelve months. I can't ask for any better given the level of precision available, so not only closer than last year, but as exact as I could measure. On the other hand, the 94 published comments are not at all close to the 125 comments Blogger showed on my dashboard. On the other hand, I can account for the 31 comment difference; all of them are spam that was never published or retroactively unpublished. The stats worked out this year!
Last year's trend of increasing page views continued. Not only did this past year's 5,674,012 page views on 368 posts during 365 days beat the year before's 758,914 page views on 370 posts during 365 days, it beat the year before that's 419,300 page views on 641,234 page views on 380 posts during 366 days. It also exceeded the page views during the entire preceding 14 years. Wow! I had written "May the trend" of "working less hard for more page views" continue, but this was beyond any of my expectations. The blog averaged 15,418.51 page views per post and 15,545.24 page views per day. That's nearly eight times as much as the 2,051.12 page views per post and 2,079.22 page views per day during the 14th year of the blog, the 1,687.46 page views per post and 1,752.01 page views per day the blog earned between March 21, 2023 and March 20, 2024 and the 1,106.33 page views per post and 1,148.77 page views per day between March 21, 2022 and March 20, 2023. I'm not expecting the trend of increasing page views per post and day to continue. I'd just be happy if the 16th year exceeds the 14th.
Both the published and total comments decreased from 123 to 94 and either 154 or 133 to 125, respectively. The published number is still above the 78 of two years ago, but the raw number has decreased from 199 through either 154 or 133 to 125. Since I don't have comment goals, I'm not concerned.
As for my commenters who aren't spammers, I'd like to thank them, beginning with continuing commenters Infidel753, Paul W., and Steve in Manhattan. I also want to welcome back K-dog and Degringolade, who didn't comment last year. Keep up the good work! I also want to thank Richard, Glen Tomkins, and fry1laurie for making their first posts here. Stick around! The exception is Riverboat Grambler, who pissed me off. Don't come back, Grumbler! Unfortunately, I seem to have lost longtime commenters Nebris, the first commenter on my blog, and Friend of the Court. In addition, last year's first-time commenters John R. Christiansen, E.A. Blair, and Steven C. Di Pietro didn't return. Come back, I miss you!
Follow over the jump for the rest of the analysis.
NASA announced plans to construct a $20 billion base on the moon’s surface over the next seven years, according to its new chief Jared Isaacman. NBC News' Brian Cheung talks to Director of Government Relations for the Planetary Society Jack Kiraly about what this plan could mean for the space industry.
The Planetary Society's Casey Dreier unpacks NASA's ambitious plans to build a permanent base on the moon and what that means for the future of space exploration.
I'm a space enthusiast, so I'm thrilled at this news. I'm also not terribly surprised. I thought space would be one of the few, if not the only, areas where Donald "Hoover Harding Cleveland" Trump would do something I agreed with and was good for the country nine years ago. He delivered, sort of, in his first administration. Just the same, I'm glad NBC and ABC had The Planetary Society comment, not NASA. I trust the civil servants there, but I'm not sure I'd trust its spokespeople, not in this administration.
All this hinges on a successful Artemis II mission, which is scheduled to happen next week. I'll be covering that. In the meantime, stay tuned for stats!
Happy Wayback Wednesday! Yesterday, I told my readers to "Stay tuned to see if I post the first retrospective of the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News..." I just don't have time to do that today. Instead, I'm looking at another kind of wayback by sharing PBS Eons asking What Killed All These Pterosaurs?
At the Solnhofen formation in Germany, over 500 fossils of 15 pterosaur species have been found. But it might be hiding a dark secret, one that’s been massively distorting our view of who was living and dying there, and why they left so much evidence behind.
I couldn't resist this video, not only because it exemplifies looking way back, but also because it mentioned Rancho La Brea and it promotes a book on topic for the original theme of this blog: The Book: The Ultimate Guide to Rebuilding Civilization: survival & rebuilding strategies revealed. Perfect!
Wait, really? A video on Bahama Breeze? While it might be forgotten among other chain restaurants, I think that this is still a loss for themed entertainment and I discovered a level of depth here that I didn't anticipate. As weird as it sounds, I'm somewhat sad about the closing of this chain, so join me today as we discuss the fall of Bahama Breeze.
Like Poseidon Entertainment, I will miss Bahama Breeze. My wife and I have dined at both of the nearby locations in Troy, which closed last year, and Livonia, which will close next month. Both were fun places with good food. In fact, I had the conch fritters and mahi-mahi at the Troy location when my wife and I dined there more than a decade ago. I'm sorry we won't be able to repeat that experience.
After nearly thirty years in business, Bahama Breeze is closing its doors.
Parent company Darden Restaurants announced it will shut down the remaining twenty-eight locations, with half closing permanently and the other half being converted into different Darden-owned brands over the next twelve to eighteen months. The final day of operations for Bahama Breeze will be April fifth.
This video breaks down why Bahama Breeze is disappearing while other Darden brands like Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse continue to grow. We look at how inflation, shrinking disposable income, and changing dining habits reshaped the casual dining landscape, and why experience-driven chains have struggled to compete in a value-focused market.
Bahama Breeze wasn’t a sudden failure. It was a brand built for a different era of dining, one that thrived on atmosphere and escape. This is the full context behind why it’s ending, and what its closure says about the future of casual dining in America.
It's not just Bahama Breeze. Ruby Tuesday, Red Lobster, TGI Fridays, and Hooters have all suffered from the changing economic environment and consumer tastes. At least Bahama Breeze's parent company, Darden Restaurants, is doing well, especially with Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse.
Since both Poseidon Entertainment and I mentioned conch fritters, I'm closing with Bahama Breeze: Conch Fritters from the chain's YouTube channel.
Bahama Breeze demonstrates how to make delicious conch fritters using the unique conch meat.
At least I know where to find the recipe should I ever want to eat conch fritters again.
That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned to see if I post the first retrospective of the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News tomorrow for Wayback Wednesday.
We are experiencing a global water crisis: 2.1 billion people still lack access to safely managed drinking water. Despite decades of progress, girls and women are still the hardest hit.
Gender-based inequalities related to the access, use, management and governance of water resources have hindered progress towards fulfilling the human right to water and most Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Titled Water for All People: Equal Rights and Opportunities, the 2026 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report offers a comprehensive, evidence-based examination of the linkages between, and progress towards, water and gender equality.
Although tangible progress in the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services has been made, significant disparities persist. The poorest and most vulnerable of the world’s population remain the most affected, where women and girls still bear most of the responsibility for securing water to households. This leads to physical and mental stress, limiting their time and opportunities for education, productive work, and social activities.
The UN World Water Development Report 2026, Water for all people: Equal rights and opportunities, emphasizes available data and actionable solutions to promote gender equality throughout the water sector.
I think it's a good idea to combine World Water Day with Women's History Month, even if that wasn't the United Nations' intention. It's a good example of one of Commoner's Laws, "Everything is connected to everything else." The opportunity cost to women and girls who have to spend time fetching water and other water-related tasks also serves as an example of another of Commoner's Laws, "There is no free lunch." This may be the last year I teach environmental science, but it's never too late to learn new facts and ideas I can pass along to students. Welcome to blogging as professional development.
That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for a brief educational entry tomorrow I can share next month.
Since 2010, the Marche du Nain Rouge has drawn thousands of people to Midtown Detroit each year in a vibrant celebration of community.
I started this blog in 2011, but it took me until 2013 to begin covering the Marche du Nain Rouge. That written, I've been blogging about it long enough that I can say I'm an early adopter.
A festival where creativity wins and the evil spirits are chased away.
I can imagine the after parties. That way, I don't have to attend!
Both of these videos assume some knowledge of the Nain Rouge. I'm sharing Halloween Cocktails 2025: The Lore of the Nain Rouge both to get my new readers up to speed and because I can't resist a good, or at least competent, cocktail recipe video that includes supernatural lore.
Happy Halloween, friends! The lore we are bringing you this wonderful Halloween weekend is based around a Detroit legend known as the Nain Rouge...
I wonder if any of today's after parties are serving one or more of these drinks. Whether or not, drink responsibly!
That's a wrap for today's post. I might observe World Water Day late, or skip it until next year. Stay tuned to find out.
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.
