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Happy Chardonnay Day everyone!

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2nd shot of Moderna, currently getting my ass kicked and I slept for 11 hours on the first night because my body was just not having it.

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I had my Moderna round 2 on a Friday afternoon and slept reasonably well that night (~7 hours). But I was so tired by mid-morning on Saturday that I had to take a 2-hour nap, and I never take naps unless I'm dealing with jet lag. I didn't have much in the way of physical symptoms, but I was suddenly exhausted.

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DBD Test Kitchen

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last night's South African expt. was pretty good.

(10/19 .. but we have a tough crowd at home)

i had some traditional boerewors sausage. made some polenta and chakalaka to go with it.

chakalaka, aside from the amusing names, is a tomato, bell pepper and carrot mixup simmered w/ some vinegar and water.

in true test kitchen fashion, i didnt have carrots, so i just skipped it.

https://www.goodfood.com.au/recipes/boerewors-beef-sausage-with-chakalaka-and-polenta-20160622-gppcol

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The picture from the link looks pretty good. Never had the dish, but I’d give it a 17/19 on looks alone. Chakalaka = great name.

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DBD AV Club

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Drum n' Bass has been in heavy rotation for me for a while now. It is particularly motivating when doing house projects or ripping down mountain bike trails.

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Very much enjoying the new albums by Gruff Rhys and CHAI. I have Sour by Olivia Rodrigo and Sensational by Erika de Casier teed up, as well as old-but-new-to-me albums by Fu Manchu, Kyuss, and Nebula.

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Heh, I was chatting with my brother last weekend about bands and such, and was telling me he really likes Dua Lipa, so I gave a listen.... and I can't follow him there.

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My current heavy rotation are the new albums from Gojira (Fortitude), Mannequin P*ssy (Perfect), Cannibal Corpse (Violence Unimagined), Baest (Necro Sapiens), and Storefront Church (As We Pass)

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I listened to that new Gojira album as well, I seem to think I enjoyed it

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which Fu Manchu and Kyuss albums?

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for Kyuss, Blues for the Red Sun (I already have enjoyed Sky Valley at your recommendation), for Fu Manchu it's "Godzilla's / Eatin Dust +4"

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CHAI, really? Heard them for the first time while on my trip and it was very much a "what the **** did I just listen to?" moment. The missus, who is far less adventurous than I am when it comes to music, had a visceral reaction that may or may not have consisted of outrage, disbelief and several screams of dismay.

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Yes really. I'd make the food joke of "more for me" but that doesn't particularly work. At least you know not to play them around your wife? But it doesn't sound like that's a risk.

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haha well, now we know we can send additional Kawaii dance/punk music your way. Frankly, i didn't quite know what to think about them. The beat of the song was good (I heard END) but their lyrics were offputting for me... yet, I still feel kinda on the fence about it. Just a bit odd.

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this new album is definitely a bit more... challenging than the last one. I think they had too much time inside the house to think ;)

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Sunshine

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. . . of your looooooooove.

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Here Comes...

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You are the ... of my life

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Ain't no ...

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You are my...

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Walking on ...

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Ronnie Bass

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On my shoulder

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Whenever I hear this tune it always reminds me of the scene from the movie Splash where Tom Hanks sings, "Mr. Mango on my shoulder". Even though it has probably been 35+ years since I've seen that movie.

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Well zippadee doo dah!

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Our Crumbling Democracy

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Trump wanted a quick tax break. His appointees are now stuck with big bills.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/27/trump-payroll-tax-deferral-491017

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"“I just think it’s really hypocritical that the Biden administration, which is spending trillions to send people checks in the mail, are demanding that former government employees who went into the office every day are now being forced to give back hard-earned money for a program that I did not opt into in the first place,” another person said."

HAHAHAHAHAHA welcome to how laws work asshole

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and in fact welcome to how that particular law was supposed to work.

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Today in Covid-19

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Just came back from SGB Jr.'s first Pfizer shot.

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Filmed at a park near me.

https://youtu.be/PUIFx3ibZeY

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LONDON — Several European influencers say they have been offered money to use their social media presence to discourage their millions of followers from receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine by a suspicious agency that French officials reportedly think could be linked to Russia.

According to the influencers, they were approached online and asked to tell their large followings that the Pfizer vaccine is dangerous and has sparked more deaths than the one developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been plausibly linked to extremely rare but in some cases fatal blood clots. European and U.S. regulators have not linked the Pfizer vaccine to any such side effects.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/05/26/influencers-offered-money-pfizer-discredit-russia/

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Despite California’s overall COVID-19 vaccine progress, gaps remain

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-05-26/despite-californias-covid-19-vaccine-process-gaps-remain

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53.4% of Californians received their first dose...that's lowed than I expected.

MD is at 65.8% for the same measure. It's only been climbing about 1% per week for the last few weeks, so our coverage rate is also stalling.

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According to the NYT, both CA and Maryland are at 56% of the total (not just eligible) population has had their first dose.

Maryland:

34% of 12-17 year olds

65% of 18-64 year olds

88% of 65+

California:

29% of 12-17 year olds

64% of 18-64 year olds

90% of 65+

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-vaccine-doses.html?pageType=LegacyCollection&collectionName=Maps+and+Trackers&label=Maps+and+Trackers&module=hub_Band&region=inline&template=storyline_band_recirc

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Ah, that's clearer. I really wish my local news outlets would be more transparent about their denominators when reporting these percentages...

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The NYT covid case and vaccine data is really well done.

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Clinics are being shut down, and there hasn't been a coordinated move to pharmacies as the primary source. A lot of people just don't respond to haphazard processes.

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Pro

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Javy Baez, the magician

https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/1397965478027530246

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Apparently the Pirates forgot you just need to touch first base to get the batter out.

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Would've been even funnier had they thrown him out at first if the 2nd baseman was covering. Maybe the first time ever an umpire called safe for a run but then the force play at first negates it after the safe call.

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Rookie 1st baseman...but still

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Yeah, I mean, this is the kind of thing you learn in Little League. Or high school. Or the minor leagues. Or anywhere you would have first played baseball.

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And everyone should've been yelling for him to turn around and touch first.

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And there were 2 outs.

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NBA Playoffs

Sixers go up 2-0 on overmatched Wiz. Fan who dumped popcorn on injured Russell Westbrook has tickets revoked.

https://www.si.com/nba/2021/05/27/76ers-revoke-season-tickets-fan-russell-westbrook-popcorn-incident

Knicks even series 1-1 with Hawks, had to ban a fan for spitting on Trae Young.

https://sports.yahoo.com/knicks-latest-ban-fan-indefinitely-173107832.html

Jazz even series 1-1 with Grizz, fortunately did not have to ban anyone from the stadium.

https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-playoff-tracker-76-ers-wizards-knicks-hawks-013404366.html

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This Knicks-Hawks series has been fantastic. Although it often feels like I'm watching a Justin Wilcox-coached Knicks team because they play great defense but often go 10-minute stretches with agonizingly unproductive offense.

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there is a Mets double header today that i almost went to. it was oddly hard to get a single ticket to a game that should be otherwise sparsely attended.

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Back in '17, my buddy and I hit up a NYY/KC afternoon game and saw Judge hit HR #50 as a rookie, then took the subway to Citi for a twi-night DH b/t NYM/ATL....3 ballgames in 1 day...it was cool.

Today, you coulda conceivably hit all 4, tho not in their entirety. Gm. 1 at Citi, and first half of Gm. 2, subway to the Bronx, 2nd half Gm. 1, and then Gm. 2 in its entirety....fun little bucket list item...

Not many markets can you do this...NY, Bay Area, Chicago, LA....but only Chicago and NY have the number of rainouts that lead to the DH that are needed....

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I did UCLA/OSU then drove down to Eugene for Cal/Oregon back in 2015. Had a HS friend fly up with her family (UCLA grads) and her parents fly up to watch UCLA/OSU (her brother is one of the ADs at OSU) for an afternoon game. Then hung out at her brothers for a little before driving to Eugene to watch Cal/Oregon. I was tempted to stay and watch the game on TV but I was meeting my college roommate and his family for the game. I ended up missing both early Cal scores and then Oregon proceeded to score like 45 unanswered.

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Single tickets are hard to get in SF too. Pairs or quads because of how the stadium is set up for distancing.

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Nats have done mostly pairs and quads but they did have some singles available. After this weekends series they go on the road and will be at 100% capacity when they get back. Tickets to the public went on sale today.

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The Giants have a few singles, but now they've opened a handful of vaccinated sections which are sold at 100% capacity so you can get whatever you want in those. Having sat in the distanced sections twice, I am now addicted to having nobody next to, in front of or behind me!

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Yeah I'm kinda like the socially distance sections. Went to A's/Dodgers, Giants/Dodgers, and going to A's/Angels tomorrow to watch Ohtani. Thanks Bay Bridge traffic.

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You'll love Memorial!

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I don't understand why they won't do a single ticket and then just block out the other seat, especially last minute when it would go unsold otherwise.

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Both Cleveland and Pittsburgh have done this, the box office has the ability to break up pods two hours prior to the games.

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I asked the A's if I could just buy a single ticket to the noon game against the Dodgers. They weren't going to sell out. They said they couldn't, so I guess they didn't want my $40.

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The rich person's workaround is to buy the pair. Not that anyone here has money to throw away. Just sayin'.

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May 27, 2021Liked by SGBear

New Era, official cap supplier of Major League Baseball, released a line of “Local Market” caps Tuesday with city-specific designs for every club, including area codes and images of local landmarks and cuisine, alongside the regular team logo. The concept was sound — yay, civic pride — but the execution, which may or may not have involved a bot combing a limited inventory of ’90s era clip art until it came across something loosely associated with each team’s home, was flawed.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/05/26/new-era-local-market-mlb/

Some of the fan made parodies are hella funny

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Brutal!

I laughed most of the way through that article. I had to get warmed up.

I noticed the A's weren't featured. Probably a good thing they weren't.

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Well, it's not unexpected since they didn't want to pay the copyright nor spend money on developing the numerous images, so the choices of very generic-looking clip arts were not unexpected.

Also, the 412 area code here in Pittsburgh is copyrighted by a local company so that the Pirates hat doesn't even have any area codes.

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how can you copyright a number?

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maybe its a longstanding business name? Used before that area code kicked in/ I dunno...

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Pitt tried to use 412 on their jersey and it became a trademark issue.

https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/pitt-football-and-local-shop-spar-over-412-area-code-trademark/

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could be. That makes sense.

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people had so much fun making fun of those hast and I saw some pretty good p-shop'd hats, like the Astro's hat with a trashcan on it. New era remove the hats from their online store the same day bc they got ratio'd to hell

and also Twist crying online bc the A's hat didn't have the 925 area code on theirs, just 510

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pqtm re:Twist

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Giants win in both thrilling and tortuous fashion

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2021/5/26/22456123/san-francisco-giants-diamondbacks-recap-jason-vosler-austin-slater

For five innings on Wednesday, the San Francisco Giants looked dead in the water against the Arizona Diamondbacks. They were not only losing, but making it look boring. Johnny Cueto didn’t have it, and allowed 4 runs by the time the fifth inning concluded. The Giants had worked just two baserunners, and had only two at bats with runners in scoring position.

It looked as though they would listlessly loaf into a four-game set with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which is not exactly how you want to approach a series against a world-beating team that just kicked your ass.

And then they activated the two Ts: thrill and torture. Staples of every good Giants team since the 90s.

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Home runs doom Dodgers in streak-snapping loss to Astros

https://www.truebluela.com/2021/5/26/22455849/astros-home-runs-dodgers-offense-siesta-bad-throws-recap

Errant throws annoyed the Dodgers on Wednesday night, but home runs killed them in a 5-2 loss to the Astros on Wednesday night at Minute Maid Park in Houston, snapping an eight-game winning streak.

Trevor Bauer took the loss — his first in 10 starts against Houston — though he was mostly fine, allowing only two solo home runs in his six innings. But that Bauer didn’t last longer was partially due to walking a season-high four for the third time in five May starts. Three of those walks came in the first inning, when Bauer threw 37 pitches, helping his odometer get to 100 through six innings.

Luis García, the Astros rookie starter, also needed 100 pitches to get through six, also thanks to an inning that simply got away from him. He needed 39 pitches to get through the third inning, a rally that was aided by a two-out error by García to extend things.

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A's defeat Mariners 6-3 on the pitching acumen of Kaprielian, homer by Matt Olson, and various timely hits with men on base. I was in section 123, row 17 (third base). Nice game to attend with good weather.

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Note I also had to buy 2 tickets. You can't just buy one. Total cost $156 including the $30 parking fee.

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PARK AT BART.

It’s free

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Youza!

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Ranking 2021 NFL divisions from first to last: NFC West loaded with playoff contenders, AFC South not so much

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/ranking-2021-nfl-divisions-from-first-to-last-nfc-west-loaded-with-playoff-contenders-afc-south-not-so-much/

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Other College

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Pac-12 distributes $403 million in revenue for 2019-20 academic year, a modest uptick from previous cycle

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/31478992/pac-12-distributes-403-million-revenue-2019-20-academic-year-modest-uptick-previous-cycle

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Cal

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Four kickoff times announced

https://twitter.com/calfootball/status/1397984317930807296?s=21

9.4 vs. Nevada: 7:30pm PDT (Fox Sports 1)

9.11 at TCU: 12:30pm PDT (ESPNU)

9.18 vs. Sac St.: 1pm PDT (Pac-12 Bay Area)

(Friday) 10.15 at Oregon: 7:30pm PDT (ESPN)

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Oregon game is Pac-12 After Dark. If history is any lesson, some weird shit is going to happen.

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Yeah I would expect something crazy. Hopefully in our favor.

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TCU at a pretty good time for the tailgate. Not too early like Ole Miss.

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2:30 CDT. That means the maximum pre-game and post-game tailgate hours. I nominate Fire Starkey to bring some weird-ass Texas spirits... like Tito's-based armadillo liquor or Anejo with scorpions soaked in it.

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awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

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They need to try some Ranch Water. Good early afternoon drink.

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Are we permitted to bring our own alcohol?

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Subject to confirmation from the vendor, BYO will be the only beverage source.

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Got it. BYOB. Something fun. Something Texas.

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57 down in today's NYT crossword puzzle, as it happens

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Go Bears!!!

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