A Friendly Game of Pick'em: Exploring the Inconsistency of "Harmless Jokes" on Social Media

This has not been an ideal Olympic run for Team USA's Gabby Douglas, the darling gymnast extraordinaire of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.  Douglas was arguably robbed of defending her title in the individual all-around since each country can only send through two representatives in the final.  A costly mistake on a handstand along with other deductions not only kept her from getting a medal in the final on the uneven bars, disappointingly coming in seventh place.  Her only part in any medal was when the team notched gold in the team all-around, but during the medal ceremony, she was excoriated for not putting her hand over her heart during "The Star Spangled Banner" despite Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump doing the exact same thing and receiving little to no flack about it.  However, among Black women in particular, the constant ridicule since 2012 has been about her hair--which has been called "crunchy" and having dandruff while her edges have been criticized for being "straight disrespectful".  Of course, there have been a lot of folks running to her defense, saying things along the lines of "she's competing at the Olympics, while you're at home".

RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!! (Vol. 1, No. 8)

One of my favorite shows to watch with Baby Boy Scribbler is PBS Kids' Peg + Cat.  However, there are days when the show can be called Everybody Loves Ramone because the young brother is so helpful to everyone and always returns a thank you with "I do what I can".  So as I'm watching the "I Do What I Can: The Musical!" episode, the parent in me watching an innocent celebration for an awesome kid with his son gives way to the 21-year-old "adult" in me beginning his "blunder years" (I explain that theory here in case you care to read a throwback) and loving really ignorant gangsta music.  My twisted brain immediately goes to the "Out There Part 2" skit on Project Pat's Mista Don't Play - Everythangs Workin album where one of the dudes says, "F--k that, boys do what they can, men do what they want!"  Instantly I thought, "Well, Ramone is a boy and not a man yet, so....I'm just sayin'."  Hence, I have managed to ruin the reputation of the coolest character from one of my son's favorite TV program.  Good job, Poppa Scribb...good job.  Considering what social media has been doing to the cast of Arthur lately, I better get to the rest of my "RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!!" before another fine PBS Kids cartoon get slaughtered...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: Ninetysomething Days of Summer, #4 Summer of '93

Considering how meh the first half of the year was, 1993 improved exponentially in the second half.  However, even with the ninth grade signaling a sea change in the social aspect of my academic career, no season was more enjoyable than the summer.  Although it resembled the summer of '87 with good weather and great music--despite nothing holding a candle to The System's "Don't Disturb This Groove"--the 94 days of the summer of '93 involved more advancement of my strongest academic talents in fun and engaging ways, great field trips, pretty girls and exploration of my wacky teenage hormones.  So to all of y'all who absolutely love the 90s, get ready to take a trip down memory lane as we get into my No. 4 favorite summer of all time and the five things that made the summer of '93 so dope...

RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!! (Vol. 1, No. 7)

I know...this series should be renamed "The WMATA Chronicles" instead of "RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!!" as often as I refer to D.C. Metro, but bear with me for a moment as I elevate my geekdom a smidge.  Although I have been fascinated with Metro since 1985, I have never really been as obsessed over Metrorail as I have been with Metrobus...until now.  Between the AM General buses of the 1970s and the New Flyer XDE40 (aka the "sexy boosas"), Metrorail's shiny new rolling stock manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries is proof that you must have swagger to be part of any WMATA 7000 series.  One day when taking a drive, I saw an eight-car configuration leaving Takoma in the direction of Silver Spring and was actually mad that I was in my car.  (As abysmal as Metrorail has been as of late, that shouldn't ever be the case.)  Lo and behold, my wish was granted a few days later when I was on my way to work and this thing of beauty came rolling into Silver Spring.  So what does the resident H.M.G.I.C. (Head Metro Geek In Charge) like me do when this happens?  Why, snap a 15-second video and convert it into a GIF, of course!  What else would you expect from your ninth favorite blogger?!?!  Come on, the trains just sound like an intergalactic spaceship of epic proportions, slim...and the rest of y'all D.C. folks know y'all feel the same way, too; I'm just dorky enough to admit it.  Now that I've cemented my nerdiness and perhaps put some of you to sleep, I have four more pinches...

Why I Don't Care About Any Other Sport When the Summer Olympics Are On

Ever since the NBA Playoffs were nearing their end and people realized that they would have to suffer through a summer with just baseball, my timeline has been flooded with "wake me up when it's football season" posts.  Now that NFL training camps are open and preseason is here, everybody's posting all of this news about how this receiver is torching that high-profile cornerback or how some former No. 2 overall draft pick is back in impressive form...in practice.  Although football has been my favorite sport since taking the reins from basketball in the late 90s and hasn't been unseated by any other sport since, I won't be as interested in football as I am with the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio until the Olympics are over.  Are you looking at your computer screen or smart phone with heat in your eyes and bewilderment in your brain?  Good...now allow me to explain...