Rant #1,886: Bits and Pieces

There are a few stories out there that I would like to comment on, but they don't deserve full Rant status, so I will cover them bit by bit, piece by piece.

Here goes ...

1) "Facebook Killer" Commits Suicide: In what has to go down as the end to the most bizarre story of the young year, Steve Stephens, the alleged "Facebook Killer" who murdered an elderly man while broadcasting the act on Facebook, committed suicide yesterday before he could get caught for his evil act.

Stephens was a youth worker who was going through relationship problems, had a huge gambling problem, and simply snapped. Not only did he murder his random victim and put the act on Facebook--where it incredibly was available for viewing for three hours before being taken down--but he bragged that he had killed others prior to this act, and would kill again.

Right now, the murder of the elderly man--a victim who evidently was picked randomly--is the only murder that police can be sure he committed, although I bet that they are combing the unsolved murder records in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware and other surrounding states to see if they can link Stephens to any other deaths.

First of all, I once again ask why Facebook does not police its site better. How could such a heinous video actually be up and available for people to watch for three hours? They must do a better job, because in my mind, they are culpable in this murder.

Second, where are the Black Lives Matter people in this horrid incident? Shouldn't this be what they are protesting, black on black violence, which is way more of a problem in the black community than police on black violence is, but is ignored by them, as well as the media, because it is something that is so hard to admit?

2) Yankees' Win Streak Ends At Eight: Well, it was fun while it lasted, wasn't it?

The Yankees, supposedly in a rebuilding year and playing their kids, rolled off eight straight wins after losing four of their first five games this season. They lost last night, 4-1, to the White Sox, but still have a nice 9-5 record, way better than anyone thought they would have at this point.

Sure, it is early in the season, and the season can come back and bite them, and this eight game winning streak could be just a memory by September, but it was fun while it lasted.

The funny thing is that it pretty much coincided with the coming of Passover, the eight day Jewish celebration where, among other things, no bread is eaten.

So, now that the holiday has ended--as of sunset yesterday--and Jews can eat bread, does that mean that things will also get back to "normal" with the Yankees, that being that they are not the team that the eight game winning streak suggested?

Is there some type of cosmic tie-in between the eight game winning streak and Passover?

3) New York Weather Wavers: I have been talking about the weather lately here, and for good reason. You can't go from the 50s to the 80s and back to the 50s and 60s in one fell swoop without it having some time of ripple effect, and it certainly has on me, what with my bad allergies.

Yesterday was such a day, where my allergies were bad, from my eyes to my nose to my throat.

The pollen counts lately have been in the 10 range and up, which is not good, not good at all for people like me.

Today, it is supposed to rain sometime during the day, which should push pollen counts down a little bit. It should also be cooler today, more in the 50s, so it should be a better day.

However, having been up about an hour as I type this, my nose is still running like a faucet, although my eyes and throat do feel a bit better than yesterday.

Let's see how the day plays out.

4) Job Situation Update:

So there it is, four topics covered in the bat of an eye.

Speak to you again tomorrow.