Spam

I don't think it's just me, but I've been seeing a noticeable increase in spam recently.  E-mails telling me to click this link because I've won a prize, text messages telling me that I need to pay a speeding fine, phone calls from numbers I don't recognize that even my carrier recognizes and flags as "Spam likely", even e-mails that tell me they've hacked my webcam and have compromising videos of me that they'll send to all my contacts unless I pay up.  We can probably thank AI for all this.  It feels like a thankless task continually blocking and reporting all these e-mails - but I shall persist.     

State Visit

Why haven't they canceled the King's state visit to the US yet?  Trump continues to slag off the UK leader and the UK military.  There have to be consequences.  Trump's behavior is pathetic and embarrassing - he is throwing toys out of the pram because nobody supports his war.  And the consequential rises in gas price are making him unpopular even with his own base.  There is another "No Kings" protest planned for tomorrow - expect it to be a big one across the country.  I'm no fan of large crowds, especially large crowds with the potential for violence, but I'm even tempted to join this one.

More Sports Thoughts

It was opening day of the baseball season today.  Don't care.  March Madness is going on right now.  Don't care.  I see that the final set of World Cup qualifying games are underway.  Don't care.  No, there is only one sport I care about right now.  And that is the welcome return of Australian rules football.  I think it has now officially become my third favo(u)rite sport, behind only football and rugby union.  And unlike football, where I frequently fast-forward through games just to get to highlights, I tend to watch AFL games in their entirety.  I think it's now top of my bucket list to see a match in person.  In Australia.  One day I hope.  I still don't really support a team in Aussie rules - there are teams I like, and there are teams I dislike (mainly due to certain players I dislike).  But I think it's okay just being a fan of the game rather than of a particular team - particularly a niche sport that is only played on the other side of the world.       

Supersonics

Good news on the sports front.  We are one step closer to Seattle having a basketball team again.  The various team owners have voted to pursue expansion teams in Seattle and Las Vegas.  Nothing is set in stone yet - but the chances of the Seattle SuperSonics returning to the NBA in a few years time seem good.  Fun fact which I didn't know - Seattle is actually considered the largest metropolitan area in the US without an NBA team.  There are definitely a couple of opponents that I look forward to Seattle facing - the "local" derby with the Portland Trailblazers, and what will likely be an intense rivalry with Oklahoma City Thunder - where the SuperSonics relocated to in 2008.  

Windy

An embarrassing incident this evening.  I popped out to get a few things at the local grocery store.  It's been a windy day, so I wore a baseball cap (my SPECTRE one as well, one of my better ones).  I stepped out of the car, and a big gust of wind took the cap right off my head.  And proceeded to blow it halfway across the car park.  With me chasing it like an idiot.  Humiliating, and just glad I was able to eventually catch up to my cap and grab it before someone ran over it.  My takeaway - I clearly need to tighten up the strap.

Interior Design

I rearranged the furniture in my living room over the weekend.  Exciting stuff right.  What does that really mean?  I swapped the positions of my sofa and loveseat so that the seat with the busted recliner function is on the end and the one I'm least likely to use - so it can stay unreclined.  Although the new seating arrangement will take a bit of getting used to, it works.  And, somehow, it has made my living room feel a bit more spacious.  Though that didn't stop me looking at new sofas online today...

Last One Laughing

I've been seeing lots of clips of Last One Laughing UK on YouTube, so when I found out the full episodes were on Amazon Prime then I decided to check it out.  And it's pretty good - enough for me to binge the first season this weekend, and I've just started on the second season.  More than pretty good, it's actually really enjoyable - frequently making me laugh out loud.  It's basically a competition where a bunch of comedians try to make each other laugh.  A simple premise, but the quality of comedians is what makes it work.  It's a murderer's row - all the usual suspects that you see on every popular game show and panel show.  But that is what makes me worry about the longevity of this show.  In the first season, there was only 1 of the 10 comedians who I didn't know.  In the second season, it was 2.  By that logic, I'm not sure I want to watch by the fifth season when half of the contestants will be unknown to me.