Algorithm

I don't know how the YouTube algorithm works, but I've gone from my feed being dominated last week by clips from a guy tuning pianos, to this week being dominated by clips of turtles having barnacles cleared from their shells.  AI is cray cray. 

State of the Union

It was Trump's State of the Union address this evening.  I didn't watch it and I couldn't give two hoots what he says.  Much like everything else that comes out of his mouth, it's a load of bull****.  And it's kind of tragic that all the networks have to air the address, and so give him a platform for all his lies.  All I do know is that he prattled on way too long, and so a couple of TV recordings I had scheduled for later tonight are messed up.  Yet another reason to impeach him.  I'm not even going to bother reading any of the analyses of his speech - such is the speed of the news cycle under Trump, this will quickly be forgotten about and we will have moved on to other things (like bombing Iran).  

Hertford

There are a few of these to be found on YouTube, but here is a short video of some of the "attractions" in Hertford - the town where I grew up in.

I find this interesting because (a) nothing seems familiar to me, and (b) I'm reminded why I grew up thinking Hertford was kind of boring.  And after all these years, it may have a few nice places to eat and drink but I stand by my teenage opinion.  Nevertheless, a part of me would quite like to take a day trip back there - just out of curiosity to see how much has changed.  A quick look at the street view on Google maps suggests that even the area around my childhood home has changed a lot.  It's been around 25 years since I was last there, so I guess this shouldn't come as a surprise.

Palace 1-0 Wolves

That feels like an incredibly important win for Palace.  It doesn't matter how ugly it was (against the bottom side, who missed a penalty, and only scoring in the last minute), a win is a win.  Especially a first home league win since the start of November.  Even if it is only a momentary respite from what has turned out to be a really downward spiraling season.  The prospect of relegation was unthinkable when we were in the top 4 - which doesn't seem that long ago - but here we are.  But a lot has happened since then - not least selling our best player and captain (without replacing him), our main striker being injured and wanting to leave, our manager already saying he's going to leave at the end of the season (if not forced out before, which is wild to think about considering how well regarded he was), a pitiful run of form (including an extremely embarrassing FA Cup exit), and having a new awful co-owner of the club.  What an epic collapse in such a short amount of time - I guess this is what it really feels like to be a Palace fan.         

Annual Pay Raise

This year, my annual pay raise was 2%.  Perhaps the lowest I've ever had.  Rest assured that it's not a reflection of my performance - which was "strong".  No, I think this is because I'm already one of the top earners at my particular level.  And yes, I could probably rectify this by getting a promotion - but I really am not seeking one, because I don't want the extra stress and responsibilities that come with that.  I did get a fairly decent bonus to make up for the measly increase in base pay, but still this pay raise is less than the current US inflation rate - which means that it is effectively a pay cut.  Which is disappointing to say the least.  Not surprising, but definitely disappointing.  Even more so when you consider how hard I've been working since the start of the year, and how stressful it's been.  But what can you do.  There just isn't the abundant job market out there for my kind of position any more.  

Hockey

I tried to watch the USA vs Slovakia ice hockey semi-final today.  Perhaps the only occasion I've ever wanted a US team to win, mainly because I really want to see a showdown between Canada and the USA in the final (with every chance of lots of fights, lots of hard hitting and some serious political undertones).  However, the game today was unwatchable because the US and Slovakian jerseys were the same colo(u)rs.  I couldn't tell one team from the other - they both played in red, white and blue.  Including the same color helmets and pants (excuse the Americanism).  Utterly ridiculous.     

Winter Olympics

I've been watching a little bit of the Winter Olympics recently.  Not much, because the American coverage is nauseating.  But enough to know that I hope we beat the cheating Canadians in curling.  But let's be honest, curling is not worthy of being an Olympic sport.  It is ridiculous.  If curling is good enough for the Olympics, then all other kinds of "sport" should be.  My other observation is that this isn't really the Winter Olympics, more like the White Olympics.  Because the vast majority of sports seem to consist entirely of Caucasian athletes, with perhaps a few Asians thrown in for good measure.  Apart from the Jamaican bobsleigh team, are there even any black athletes competing?  Forgive the stereotyping, but you'd think there would be more black athletes in something like speed skating.  Instead speed skating is inexplicably dominated by the Netherlands.  Didn't we used to be quite good at it?  If we're going to win more medals, that's the kind of specialized and niche sport that we should be throwing more money at.  Like skeleton.  Fun fact was finding out my alma mater - the University of Bath - is where they train in skeleton.  I don't remember those facilities being there when I was a student there.