Opening Day

When the news of the day gets you down, there's always baseball.

Photo by Ben Hershey on Unsplash

There are days I wish I didn’t follow the news so much, especially when it comes to Oklahoma politics. When following this kind of news, you’ll experience all sorts of emotions: anger, rage, sadness, grief, false hope, real hope, occasional joy, brief happiness, and schadenfreude. And all that was just from this morning’s headlines.

At least in just a few days, I can experience all those emotions for something good. Opening day is a few days away—the official start of the Major League Baseball season. For a few hours, I can forget about all the political drama and get all worked up over a team’s batting order. I’ve already marked the season by moving the MLB and MiLB apps to my phone’s home screen. I’m ready. “Play Ball!”

• MLB.com | The Official Site of Major League Baseball

• Oklahoma City Dodgers | MiLB.com

• Tulsa Drillers | MiLB.com

This Week

Besides getting ready for baseball, it's finally time to go outside and do some much-needed yard work. I also need to figure out what the next podcast will be. I have a few topics in my idea bin to research. Remember, you can always see what I'm working on at the Blog Oklahoma Project Board on Trello.

More Later. Time to dust off my Cubs hat.

In The News

• A proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors would affect Oklahoma adults too | KGOU

• In Their Own Words: Oklahomans On Gender Identity Proposal in Schools | Oklahoma Watch

• Oklahoma’s education board targets library content, sex education with Walters’ new rules | KGOU

• Department of Education seeks to revoke teaching license of former Norman teacher no longer working in Oklahoma | KFOR

• Board approves controversial new accreditation standards, Walters airs grievances | Nondoc

• Ada University students volunteer to clean graffiti from Turner Falls | KTEN

• Oklahoma school districts swamped with hundreds of employee resignations | KFOR

• Sulphur school teaches sign language to the world | KTEN

• FCC orders phone companies to block scam text messages | Ars Technica

• 50 Years Later, Creator of Ethernet Wins Computing's Top Prize | CNET

• Federal Trade Commission Proposes Rule Provision Making it Easier for Consumers to “Click to Cancel” Recurring Subscriptions and Memberships | Federal Trade Commission

• Twitter to Revoke Legacy Verification Blue Check-Mark Badges in April - Variety

• Texas Observer, the legendary liberal magazine, is shutting down | The Texas Tribune

Sidenote

A side note to what I normally would present here in the Newsletter. I felt I needed to point this out to you this morning.

As you read in the news I shared above, Oklahoma’s governing bodies are determined to make life miserable for the LGBTQ+ community. There is legislation to remove gender-affirming medical care for children; deny insurance coverage to adults for gender-affirming medical care; remove sexual, gender, and racial education; ban books that even hint at LGBTQ+ or racial issues; prevent teachers from mentioning LGBTQ+, gender, or racial issues; and force schools to out LGBTQ+ children. I wish this were all hyperbole, but it’s not.

Unfortunately, this isn’t happening just here in Oklahoma. It’s happening in all the GOP-controlled states. Please be aware of what your State is doing. If you can, contact your elected representatives and let them know what you think of all this.

If you want updates on all this anti-transgender legislation nationwide, I can recommend the newsletter Erin In The Morning here on Substack.

Okay, enough seriousness for now. Let’s move on to something lighter. Once you see the first video, you’ll never hear that song the same way again. - K.

Something To Watch

Ed Sings Your Love Full Version | Elijah Throckmorton

Exploring The Cannonball Run - I Can't Drive 55 - How the Race Led to the Hit Movie | GoodBadFlicks

How anyone (including YOU) can read German | RobWords

10 Mistakes Buying Wood at Home Depot | Fix This Build That

Crumpets, you'll never buy another crumpet from the store. | John Kirkwood

There are Hundreds of Arcade Machines Under the Sea | Nostalgia Nerd

Listening In

This past week I tried out YouTube Music instead of Spotify for office background listening. Good to listen to new things even if I do fall back to the old standbys, Lofi Loft, Office Jazz, and Essential Hard Rock. I also enjoyed listening to Man of La Mancha (2003). I know kind of dramatic for someone who's sitting at a desk typing. Ha!

I still haven't selected a new book to listen to on Audible. So here are a couple I can recommend from my library: Killer of the Flower Moon by David Grann and The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson.

Feedback Welcome

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to email me at blogoklahoma@blogoklahoma.net or connect with me at Mastodon at@blogoklahoma@social.tulsa.ok.us. Have a great week. – K.