Congress. <he spits with derision> I can hardly imagine an institution with more dysfunction and dishonesty. Here’s another example of Congress not doing their job and leaving millions of schoolkids with uncertainty about getting lunch at school. $700B for Defense, no problem. But a billion or less to make sure that kids don’t go hungry, not so fast. And according to the article, we have KY’s own Mitch McConnell to thank.

After thinking about that situation we need a joke. Scientists say the universe is made up of protons, neutrons and electrons. They forgot to mention morons.

UKY sports should be great to watch this fall and winter. The UK hoops team has, as always, a lot of promise and a potential to go all the way. And on the gridiron, UK’s quarterback Will Levis is being discussed for the Heisman and as a solid round 1 NFL draft pick. I can’t wait. We’re in the trough right now between seasons, so golf and soccer will have to do.

The ever-entertaining Samantha Bee has a great take on the abortion debate. At least in the US, she says “…it’s scared white men projecting their fragility onto their god…”.

A little bit of trivia I heard from the guitarist down at the winery yesterday. What is the origin of the name ZZ Top? The guitarist said that the mischievous trio created their band’s name based on Zig-Zag rolling papers from the Top brand. But Wikipedia thinks differently:

The original line-up was formed in Houston and consisted of Gibbons, bassist/organist Lanier Greig,^[5] and drummer Dan Mitchell.^[5] The name of the band was Gibbons’ idea. The band had a small apartment covered with concert posters and he noticed that many performers’ names used initials. Gibbons particularly noticed B.B. King and Z. Z. Hill and thought of combining the two into “ZZ King”, but considered it too similar to the original name. He then figured that “king is going at the top” which brought him to “ZZ Top”.^[6]

I like the guitarist’s story better.

In less than two weeks we head for Napa and Reno. There will be the usual visits to stellar wineries, with a special member’s event at Quintessa. And in Reno (Gardnerville, more precisely) we’re driving over the mountains to visit Hell’s Kitchen Lake Tahoe for a meal. We’ll see if Gordon Ramsay’s reality lives up to his TV-driven reputation.

Finally, NPR discusses how employees aren’t heading back to the office full time without a fight. And they shouldn’t. With $5-6/gallon gasoline and a long commute, it makes no sense for someone like me to spend $35 and two hours driving just to sit in an office and do exactly the same thing I do in my home office. The pandemic opened everyone’s eyes to the fact that office work can be just as productive (actually, more productive) if you’re virtual, online. Factory work, not so much.