(this post has updates below)
Hey oil cartels: phone call for you. Our collective future is on Line One for you, and we’re pissed the fuck off.
And it ain’t just oil cartels that should pay attention—it’s our government officials who are either a) in the pocket of big oil or 2) turning a blind eye to needed action. There are many stories that broke this week that fit in to the Sustainable Future category, so let’s get to them.
• Crickets to Warming Warnings. The Arctic ice sheet is at its lowest point in 38 years; each of the past three years have been hotter than the last, all of which broke records. And yet coverage of these statistics have shown barely a blip on U.S. Profit Media. (Al Jazeera)
• Royal (Dutch Shell) PITA. An oil rig named Brutus has leaked 90,000 gallons of oil in to the Gulf of Mexico, which is another eco story nobody is talking about. The company claims the spill has been contained, and is moving away from the shoreline. Impact on wildlife will not be known for some time. (Tech Insider)
• ExxonMobil Ostriches. Shareholders of the U.S. oil behemoth rejected a resolution that would’ve acknowledged Climate Change as real. Nine other resolutions were voted down, too, save for one that *might in the future allow a climate expert on its board. (Reuters)
These are just three stories that nobody is talking about that everyone should be debating—shareholders, news media, politicians. But with so many in our government denying Climate Change as even real in the first place, more stuff like this will happen.
Stop bringing fucking snowballs to the senate floor and do you damn jobs.
Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Charlie Linville is the first-ever combat amputee to successfully climb Mt. Everest; he’d made two earlier but unsuccessful attempts (YouTube)… A lifelong MacHead bought a Chromebook and isn’t looking back, and—as a lifelong MacHead myself—I might follow suit with a similar experiment of my own (Gizmodo—h/t Rob O’Connor).
The fabulous-sounding San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus had a very un-fabulous audio malfunction at a recent Padres Gay Pride event. As you can see in the above clip, the Padres organization blamed the malfunction on a “third-party contractor” whom they later fired.
@DJArtForm hey there! could I interview you for my blog tomorrow? would love to get your reaction to the chorus' call to reinstate you. 😉
— Will's Media Reform School #DoBetter ⚖️ 🌻 (@bywillpollock) May 25, 2016
That contractor’s name is DJArtForm, and it’s come to light that he’s a loud supporter of the gay community. So taking the step to fire him for an honest mistake without malicious intent makes no sense. According to World of Wonder, a hate-crimes investigation was triggered. Really? That is far outside the scope of the law’s original intent. From DJArtForm’s statement:
I have felt the consequences of my mistake as my dream job has dissolved before my eyes which does not take away that I am extremely sorry for the horrible mistake that occurred. I have family members & friends that are a part of the LGBT community & I have always been a supporter of Equal Human Rights, so it pains me greatly to see that I am being accused of acting intentionally.
I reached out to DJArtForm for a statement and will update if I hear back. I’m also going to ring up the Padres PR office to see if they have plans to hire him back. Here’s how awesome they sounded not even eight months ago, also at Petco Park:
Update: DJArtForm has been reinstated by the San Diego Padres. From his Facebook post:
To say this new tune comes “just in time for summer” is the understatement of the year so far. Justin Timberlake returns to the airwaves with “Can’t Stop The Feeling!”—a ditty so infectious that your toes will continue tapping long after the music stops.
The song is one thing, but the video is quite another. Remarkable in its ordinary-ness, director Mark Romanek did a Q&A with Entertainment Weekly and said the end result is an “unironic” slice of American life, featuring real people that they hired based on raw magnetism.
My wonderful casting director Dan Bell and his crew found them. It was easy to cast. We looked at hundreds of people and the ones that just made you smile immediately when you watched them dance were in. Then it was just a matter of having a balance of types of people.
The director goes on to say that JT gave him wide latitude to run with his idea; the end result was “just a big sugar cookie” that didn’t try too hard to match Timberlake’s star power. “It’s not trying to be cool or slick or ironic,” he added. “It’s just fun.”
The single debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s charts—JT’s first-ever to reach that milestone.
How my daughter became my son: A love story.https://t.co/0Do0MsvWo0
— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) May 23, 2016
My weekly Calming Capsules have usually been visual, but this week I submit to you something off the normal trail. John Ralston, veteran political reporter out of Nevada, recently posted an op-ed entitled “The child I love“—a first-person account of his daughter Maddy’s journey as transgender.
When I get home later this week, I will see someone officially named Jake Ralston for the first time. And one thing I know for certain: It will be love at first sight.
If you do anything this week, give yourself the treat of this father rediscovering love in the most elegant way possible.
That’s it from me this week, Cranker Darlings. See you right back here next Thursday at 2.
Will Pollock is a crabby New York City escapee living in Atlanta. He’s a freelance multimedia journalist and author of two books (Pizza for Good & Leaving Triscuit), with more on the way. Sign up for the mailing list, follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram—and check out the book links below.
Don’t forget to comment below. Cranky loves company.
