Bitchin Dave's Newsletter - January 28


One of the challenges we're faced with is finding some sort of reasonable, independent journalism.  

Billionaires and corporate giants own most of the newspapers, tv news stations, and services that allow for consuming content on the internet that is timely and "news worthy" .... 

That leaves us in a position where we're (mostly) unable to find truth in reporting, or at least finding unbiased information.

Of the major news outlets, the NY Times still tends toward balance, but I believe they could do more more, and they are at risk of tipping farther.  NPR still has integrity and does a little thing called "journalism," but they will probably get defunded under the new administration and have to evolve in order to stay solvent.  What that means at this point is unknown.

The alternative is to find some independent journalism and support it.  At the top of my list is the Contrarian, which is run by journalists who left the big media (including Jen Rubin, who until recently was at the Washington Post).  They are now reporting as a "pro-democracy news outlet."  You can find them here: https://contrarian.substack.com/

But there are plenty of others. I found these two recently, and as far as I can tell they're somewhat independent, and may be worth some time to evaluate further. 

And, I've seen this site appear in YouTube ads. I haven't spent much time looking into them, but they are attempting to aggregate stories from multiple sources and assess their "leaning" and may help us understand the whole story, rather than just hearing small snippets - which is something that is needed.  https://ground.news/ 


There is also a site which may help you find info on local media outlets: https://www.trustworthymedia.org/list-of-independent-media/

And while I'm at it, Meadowlark Media, formed by former people at ESPN, delves into sports, culture, and politics, too.  Its about informative entertainment and fairly independent.  https://www.meadowlark-media.com/

I also rather enjoy reading about good in the world, from The Good News Network https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/

As always, use your own best judgment to find outlets that work for you. My aim is simply to help direct you toward something more informative, and hope that we can all continue to see the world as a better place!

If any of you know about any others, please feel free to let me know.

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Reporting events appears to be hard


Speaking of news, the Amazon worker strike late last year was poorly reported upon. There was a developing situation where a driver parked his delivery van apparently near a distribution center, in a way that left vehicles unable to exit the facility. And police were called. 

That much is pretty much agreed upon. 

But I saw a few reports on it, and they had differing accounts. One showed a picture of the police locking arms around the van and the headline and story were about how they were siding with the union in protecting the driver or some such. 

Another article talked about the driver being a nuisance and getting arrested after putting up a fight, with no mention of the picture of the officers locking arms. 

And on and on.  But with no regard to why or what was actually going on. 

After reading through several articles, I was able to (myself) piece together something resembling a story: the driver wanted to make a point and blocked the exit. Police were called and they arrested the driver. Without incident. Some people (unclear where they stood on the issue) swarmed the van, and the police locked arms to protect the vehicle, the entrance, and any workers from harm. 

Its tough when reporting is that bad. 



There will be no yeti in Utah


The Utah hockey club held a naming contest and "The Yetis" won, so the club applied for patent protection for the name. 

If you're keeping score at home, all major sports teams get trademarks so that no one else can produce merchandise using that name. Sure, it protects them from another club using the name and causing some confusion, but if we're being honest it's about money. 

The trademark office said no, because it might be confused with the yeti cooler products which already have the yeti brand trademarked. 

Sure the hockey club would be yetis with an S, but because they will sell merchandise including mugs and coolers, there likely will be confusion by the consumer. 

That leaves the hockey club these likely options:
1. Respond to the trademark office, and try and convince them that it's different. - this would probably end up being expensive, time consuming, and lead to litigation 
2. Find a way to work with the Yeti brand (thus eliminating the confusion) - this would probably be infeasible 
3. Select another name - while this makes the most sense, will a billionaire accept defeat?


Watch "This Private Equity Firm Owns EVERY Chain" on YouTube

This is a well done piece of reporting that's worth 11 minutes to watch. 

It underscores what is wrong with our capitalist system and why further deregulation is dangerous to most people. 

And you may ask yourself, what can I do? Well for one thing, you should not subsidize any of the brands Roark owns. 


If you're curious about what they own, they list them here. 


Walt Disney was cropped out of this photo

Here's a bit of a fun story about how a photo of Stravinsky appeared in The NY Times with a greyed out part on the side. 

It turns out that someone painted over Walt Disney in the photo when it was used in publication several times over the years. 

And recently someone used a mild solvent to clear the grey and see what was underneath. 





Vivek Murthy suggests we rethink how we're living our lives


This is an uplifting letter from the outgoing surgeon general as he reflected on how we as humans live.

One part reminds of us what fulfillment is:

I have come to see there are three essential elements that fuel our fulfillment and well-being: relationships, service, and purpose. 

Relationships keep us grounded and bonded to each other. Service, from formal volunteering to informal small acts of kindness, is about helping each other. And purpose gives our life a sense of direction and meaning. Together, these elements form the triad of fulfillment. 


This is worth a read. 


Curiosity rover finds sulfur on Mars


On the surface (oh, pun intended), this seems like not a big deal. The curiosity rover rolled over a yellowish rock and it cracked open, revealing pure sulfur. 

And as the scientists studied a string of rocks in the area, they believe they may have stumbled onto an interesting geological find: what amounts to a sulfur quarry. 

It was an unexpected find that may help us unlock more clues about mars and its history. 


Bitchin' Dave's newsletter is published weekly.  Please feel free to forward it around. If you want to subscribe or unsubscribe, send an email to geezergamer92@gmail.com

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