Back by popular demand is our Ten Piece Nuggets column, random style.  Who knew that your taste buds would be so approving last week?  You did, and you told us as much.  Sports, news, politics make for some good hash to hash out.

1. Bitcoin hit a high for the year and its existence of $64,895 on April 14.  Just 40 days later, Sunday, it was down 50% from that high, standing roughly at $32,000.  If anyone reading this understands virtual money give our staff a buzz at 1-800-SAY-WHAT.   Imagine if it was our standard currency.  In 40 days the price of a loaf of bread would have doubled as your purse was effectively cut in half.
2. Of course, if anyone understands how our government can print money virtually day and night in the last 12 months, please call too.  Have you noticed prices creeping north at your local grocer?  The word from your government is that these increases are only temporary as demand surges post-pandemic.  We aren’t so sure.
3. The Pope is at it again.  This time he tells us mere mortals that we’ve been abusing planet Earth.    For a long time, the earth “has suffered from the wounds that we cause due to a predatory attitude, which makes us feel like owners of the planet and its resources and authorizes us to irresponsibly use the goods that God has given us,” the pope declared in a video message for the launch of the Laudato Si platform, a seven-year ecological project.  “From the hands of God we have received a garden; we cannot leave our children a desert,” he declared.  Speaking of abuse, didn’t the church already leave a few children in the worst desert of all?  Some folks just can’t stay in their lane.
4. Everyone is a climate change expert.  Listening to the pope, live-alone bachelor Al Gore must be smiling inside of his 10,070-square-foot estate near Nashville, Tennessee. Though a report by the National Center for Public Policy Research said that according to data obtained from the Nashville Electric Service, a public electric company that powers Mr. Gore’s home and most of Nashville, the 20-room mansion used 230,889 kilowatt-hours of electricity during the 12 months ending in 2019.  That’s roughly 21 times more than the 10,812 kWh a year used up by the typical American household, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.  Lucky for him, his invention of the internet easily pays for such excess.
5. Meanwhile, another expert, this one on infectious diseases, said this one year ago in May of 2020.  “If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and what’s out there now, is very, very strongly leaning towards this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated the way the mutations had naturally evolved,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci.
6.  And now?  Fauci was asked by PolitiFact managing editor Katie Sanders late last week if he still believed the virus was developed naturally.   “No, actually,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) said. “I’m not convinced about that, and I think we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we continue to find out to the best of our ability exactly what happened.”    One mask, two masks,  Red mask, blue mask.  We borrowed those words and manipulated them a bit from another doctor who has been outed.  Dr. Suess.
7. Brooks Koepka got swept up in the mass of humanity that rolled towards the 18th green Sunday as 50-year-old Phil Mickelson won the PGA Championship. But, he’s yet to get swept up in the Bryson DeChambeau craze.  This video proves that and then some.  It’s a must-see for 45 seconds.  Even though Bryson is making big bucks on the big tour, he’s obviously living rent-free in Brooks’ cranium.
8. “They” say that there is nothing like playoff hockey.  “We” agree with “they.”  Overtimes, tied series, and nonstop end to end skating take us back to yesteryear when we didn’t have to listen to social blah blah, jerseys with causes in place of names, and incessant whining about all that’s wrong in a world that is and always has been far from perfect.  It’s only a hunch, but we’re guessing that the tv ratings are way up for the NHL playoffs right about now.  And, they accomplish all of these ridiculous athletic moves on ice skates.  Drop the puck.
9.  Aaron Rodgers’ feelings are hurt.  Brian Gutekunst, the Green Bay GM who drafted his eventual replacement, is his target.  “I think sometimes people forget what really makes an organization,” Rodgers said Monday. “History is important, the legacy of so many people who’ve come before you. But the people, that’s the most important thing.  Culture is built brick by brick, the foundation of it by the people, not by the organization, not by the building, not by the corporation. It’s built by the people.”  Well said, Aaron.  And, you’re one of the people. In fact, you’re the most important person on and perhaps off of the field in the organization.  Swallow that immense pride and huge ego and buckle up your chinstrap, please.  Vince Lombardi is looking down at you while looking down at you from above.
10. As MLB approaches the 1/3rd mark on the season, who leads the AL East?  It’s not the Boston Red Sox, nor the New York Yankees.  They are the big spenders.  It’s the Tampa Bay Rays, again. Tampa Bay won it in 2020.  They would be the ideal team for a remake of the great movie Moneyball.  The league average for entire organizational salaries is $258 million.  The Yankees are spending $402, while the Sox ( or Sawks if you hail from there) stand at $352.  Tampa?  Glad you asked.  They’re getting it done with $126.

Till then, later.