My sister traditionally ends our phone conversation by suddenly blurting out—lately the impetus has been the prospect of a Presidential contest between Biden and Trump—“Everything’s going to Hell!” and hanging up. I am constitutionally disinclined to be that pessimistic (unlike some who comment here of late), but boy, I sure could use some good news beyond the ACLU deigning to protest a judge muzzling a major political candidate that her pals disapprove of.
Here’s my latest Ethics Alarms worry: increasingly, my story sources are demanding paywall fees. Most of the formerly free bloggers have moved to substack and subscription newsletters. The New York Post, CBS, NBC and others hit me with a block asking for ad-blockers to be disabled, then don’t remove the block until I’ve disabled the ad-blocker and refreshed three times or more. CNN has joined the group that make it difficult to copy text. Now The Blaze is going full subscription. I pay for the digital versions of the Washington Post and New York Times, but as we all know by now (I hope), they can’t be trusted.
I can only be Scarlet O’Hara for so long, but I guess I’ll worry about that tomorrow…
Enough bitching from me: Over to you, Clarence…
Ethics Alarms 
Not world news by any means, but I was able to get a same-day grooming appointment for our dog this morning — something I’ve never been able to do at our dog’s previous groomer, which made the vast bulk of its income from boarding pets, and was down to 1 on-staff groomer. (Bonus: the new groomer is in a town with plenty of shops & restaurants, so I can eat lunch and do grocery shopping while I wait for the dog’s groom to get done.)
That’s good news. I’ll take what I can get.
Here is an aricle worth commenting about.
https://groups.google.com/g/uk.legal/c/R-OUnghliY4
There are easy ways around paywalls, but they may not be ethical. As for the “disable adblock” message, first, you should be using “uBlock Origin” and nothing else. The team behind it updates it constantly (for free, they refuse donations) and if you notify them that you’re getting the message on a given site they will fix it, almost immediately. They’re not in it for the money; they just want to make the absolute best adblocker. https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/
!!! Thanks, James. Never had heard a peep about this before.
Glad to help. I can’t imagine browsing the web without it – It blocks EVERYTHING. Here’s a direct link which might be less confusing than the Reddit page. You’ll have it up and running in minutes. https://ublockorigin.com/
MLB playoff ethics.
The Diamondbacks, who backed into the playoffs, are in the World Series, facing the Texas Rangers. On their way, they swept the Brewers and then the mighty Dodgers and then took two elimination games from the Phillies in Philadelphia while playing as if the two games were being played in May.
I think I’ve figured out what’s happened: they obtained a good closer and a good eighth inning reliever. Their record was terrible in July because their bullpen kept blowing save opportunities.
Is it ethical for teams to be allowed to make key trades at or around the trade deadline? Should regular season records somehow earn a team favored status in the playoffs? Or should the regular season simply allow teams entrance into the playoffs?
I thought the whole idea of a multi-game series was to allow teams to pitch all their best pitchers to get an accurate idea of which team is better. And by the way, the Diamondbacks took three of the four regular season games they played against the Rangers this year. Should that entitle the Diamondbacks to start with a 1-0 or 2-0 record in the Series?
To the people bitching about the playoffs, I have to use Al Davis’ line: “Just win, baby.” Or else return to two leagues, two pennants and a seven game Series. And let’s not forget, playoff baseball is really incredibly entertaining.
Is it ethical for teams to be allowed to make key trades at or around the trade deadline?
No. It’s an invitation to tanking, and distorts the season. The trade deadline should be moved back to mid-season, before the All-Star break. It will never happen, but that would prevent teams from exploiting the system to improve absurdly by exploiting the weaker teams’ desperation.
Interesting.
Have you ever applied to be Commissioner?
Actually yes! A long, long time ago. But as my favorite commissioner, Faye Vincent, explained in the recent documentary about the Astros, because the Commissioner works for the owners, the post doesn’t have the power it is supposed to have. Vincent was fired for being too independent, and the next one was an owner, the horrible Bud Selig.
Yes, he’s just the owners’ rep. So hilarious they let that slip show by putting Selig of all people in the job.
Classic Good News/Bad News joke for some good news:
Guy sits down with his oncologist for a consultation. Oncologist asks him, “You want the good news or the bad news first?” Guy says, “Give me the bad news first, Doc.” Oncologist, “You only have a month to live.” Stunned, the guy asks, “What’s the good news?” Oncologist, “You know that cute receptionist out in the waiting room?” The guy nods. Oncologist: “I’m fucking her.”
My dad’s favorite variation, which Mom hated, was “Guy sits down with his doctor for a consultation. Oncologist asks him, “You want the bad news or the worst news first?” Guy says, “Give me the bad news first, Doc.” He says “You have terminal cancer.” The old man asks, “What’s the worse news?” The Doctors says, “You have Alzheimers too.” The man replies, “Well, at least I don’t have cancer!”
Guy sits down with his doctor.
Doctor: You want the good news or the bad news first?
Guy: Good news first.
Doctor: You have only 7 days to live.
Guy: That’s the good news?! What’s the bad news?
Doctor: We’ve been trying to call you for the last week!
Ah. Doctors’ bedside manner. A fertile field for humor.