i am somewhat averse to seeing blood on others even though i have donated many gallons of blood myself.
one time i took older child to urgent care after the hard and injury and needed stitches. as they were finishing up i felt a little light headed and next thing out know i had passed out on the floor.
they gave me apple juice and waited for me to feel better before letting either of us drive home.
Early last week I came down with a cold. I was out for two days. Mrs Slug got the same thing at the end of last week/very beginning of this week. We are in different stages of recovery.
Yesterday, Mrs Slug had a call-in appointment with a doctor who told her that there are many cases of RSV and it's filling up the hospital. Most of these patients didn't get vaccinated for RSV, the flu, or COVID. I feel fortunate that I was able to access vaccines for all three this fall.
I've been using a nasal spray which is supposed to trap viruses and other particulates. They haven't done human testing yet, only animal testing. As someone who did his dissertation on respiratory fluid mechanics, I think it's plausible that it could work, but it's also plausible that it might not work. Not that expensive so I'm trying it.
We asked about RSV vaccination when we got this falls flu & Covid shots (and after an excursion with RSV last year), but, at least in this area, were told RSV was not recommended unless you are considered high-risk. That was disappointing, since the criteria wasn't as high in previous years, and not surprisingly, has led to a lot of cases of RSV reported in the area among those unvaccinated. Seemingly, trying to create a health care crisis to manage.
I have had a bit of a cough and scratchy throat the last couple days. Probably hasn’t helped that I insist on going for my run even though temps have been in the teens and little humidity. Most of the time I’m fine but a couple times a day I have a brief coughing fit. At least it’s headed towards 32 today.
Exactly. I've had my cough for over 3 months, so I've got to a pulmonologist. She said, yeah, that flu went around but it lasting 3 months is not normal. She explained that there are two lumps of allergies - one as kids when you get allergic to something and then grow out of it. Apparently, there's a second one in your 50/60s where you suddenly get allergic to stuff and it is triggered by something. In my case, it was the flu. Now I have to load up on antihistamines because I am allergic to something and the symptoms aren't like hayfever. This is hives, contact dermitis, blisters out of nowhere, itchy. Getting older sucks, but it's better than the alternative - but the serious development is asthma. It's a bit wild knowing that the cough is dangerous and could kill me - so I go everywhere with an inhaler.
There is apparently another flu going around now mere months after a sore throat/cough one a few months ago. This one makes you feel like utter rubbish for 2-3 days and then you're fine. My kid had it four days ago and it's ripping through my office. I am not going into the office if I can help it and will wear masks for a bit at the grocery store since I am still suffering from the previous flu from three months ago.
I've gone full circle on presents. I used to think there were good and less good and bad presents. Now everything is good and it's all - as the kids say - lowkey based on vibes. So this doesn't have to make sense, but the vibes are impeccable.
Don't take your Zestimate too seriously. I read a book about Zillow and how they bet the farm on creating a market-value algorithm to be the basis of the company's revenue by creating a basis for insurance companies, house financing, and a house-flipping business. It didn't work well enough and nearly caused the company to implode financially.
The 14th-ranked California women's tennis team opens the dual-match season Friday when it hosts the two-day ITA Kickoff Weekend at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The Golden Bears welcome No. 17 Oklahoma, Grand Canyon and San Diego State to Berkeley, with the winner of the event advancing to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship hosted by Illinois and Northwestern in February.
The California track & field team will head to Albuquerque, New Mexico, this weekend for the first of three meets at the Albuquerque Convention Center this season, as the Golden Bears' best and brightest will attempt to post even better times and marks following their standout season-opening performances at the Spokane Sports Showcase and the Spokane Indoor Challenge.
The No. 22 California women's basketball team (17-3, 5-2 ACC) will look to sweep Stanford (10-8, 2-5 ACC) for the first time since the 1985-86 season when it faces the Cardinal at Maples Pavilion on Thursday at 7 p.m. PT. A win would also mark the Bears' first victory at Stanford since the 2014-15 season.
BERKELEY (AP) – Jeremiah Wilkinson scored 18 points in his first career start, Mady Sissoko and Rytis Petraitis had double-doubles and the California men's basketball team defeated Florida State 77-68 on Wednesday night in Haas Pavilion.
Are we a better team without Andrej? Sometimes it looks like the ball gets stuck with him and he tries to go 1 on 1 or back someone down when he shouldn't.
That long? Says here that Woody Johnson doesn't know a good coach when he's got one. Also says here that Woody Johnson has no clue what he's doing as an NFL franchise owner and wouldn't know how to assemble a front office much less hire a good head coach or even recognize when he's got a good head coach.
One wonders when it will become recognized that when upper management fails multiple times with its direct management hires, the problem is with upper management that should be replaced. But then it would destroy MLB if competent management were to ever become a requirement.
There is a problem in professional sports that it's extremely hard to get rid of a lousy owner. The other owners don't want to vote one out lest they become the new "worst" owner who will then get voted out. So they let these guys just float along doing damaging things to the league and/or their local fan base.
We're seeing it with John Fisher right now; everyone knows he stinks, but no one wants to admit that bad ownership should be tossed out. Donald Sterling was allowed to pollute the NBA for decades before he finally got caught being racist.
Moreover, how would you be able to tell the really good front office/GMs/Club presidents if everyone is competing at the same high level?
The 49ers built a dynasty under Eddie DeBartolo because Eddie D came to understand that the best thing an owner can do is find highly competent staff and then let them do their job by getting the fuck out of the way.
DeBartolo had to go through two very rough seasons (1977, 1978) with a polarizing and incompetent GM, Joe Thomas. DeBartolo fired Thomas after the end of the 1978 season and hired Bill Walsh in early 1979. Walsh drafted Joe Montana in the 3rd Round of the 1979 Draft, among other picks that helped build the roster.
Walsh also invited dozens of players to camp and try out with the team. Walsh was literally looking for players who could beat out the roster he inherited and kick-starting competition to get better players and make good players better.
DeBartolo still wasn't done with learning the proper role of an owner, though. He put Walsh through the wringer by threatening to fire him during the horrific strike-shortened 1982 season.
Remember that the 49ers won their first Super Bowl following the 1981 season. Expectations for 1982 were very high. But the strike-shortened season also brought on "scabs" or replacement players and the 49ers finished 3-6. DeBartolo was incensed by the performance. Later, Bill Walsh would admit that he nearly quit a number of times under the pressure from DeBartolo.
Fortunately, DeBartolo had brought in John McVay in 1980. McVay provided a steadying and knowledgeable presence in the front office, taking pressure off Walsh. Eventually, McVay got DeBartolo to back off and let the front office and coaching staffs to do their jobs. This approach bore fruit quickly and the 49ers then won another Super Bowl after the 1984 season followed by back-to-back Super Bowl wins following the 1988 and 1989 season. They came close to a three-peat, losing to the Giants in the NFC Championship Game at Candlestick Park following the 1990 season.
Johnson would do well to take the 49ers example to heart and keep his mitts off the operation.
NPR This American Life had an episode on Muslim voters in Michigan trying to get a voice at the DNC and failing. Then being disappointed when the guy finds out many people are voting for Trump since they couldn't get Harris to listen to them on Palestine. FAFO
Trump previews the dismantling of FEMA. "If Oklahoma gets hit by a tornado or something, let Oklahoma fix it". You know where a lot of the natural disasters hit? Red States.
This was the start of the chorus of "Dixie Land", the de-facto national anthem of the Confederacy. The song was originally sung and popularized by blackfaced minstrels from the North and became popular in both the North and South. The lyrics talk about the singer's romanticizing the South even though things aren't doing well there (ie, "Look Away"). In the North, it was almost a parody of the southerners. In the South, it struck a cord with the "Noble Lost Cause" folks.
speaking of the south, younger one and i just finished watching Glory (1989) after there was some mention of it in their African American studies class.
i remember seeing it in the theaters when it first came out
What's neat is seeing that movie and then going to Boston years later unaware that you will run into the memorial for Col. Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th smack dab in the middle of Boston's Freedom trail. The memorial was placed in 1884.
Also, I went to Beaufort SC (BYOOfurt), not to be confused with Beaufort NC (BOWfurt). I was struck as to how beautiful the SC town was, which was the filming site for the childhood era in Forest Gump. It is also the permanent resting place for Colonel Shaw and the 54th, about 74 miles drive northeast from where they died attacking Fort Wagner outside Charleston. The Beaufort cemetery is a National cemetery, so it has a pro-Union slant - unlike other civil war cemeteries in the South that struck a more "Noble Lost Cause" and "War of Northern Aggression" tone.
I hate crypto but that picture ( and his general recent douchery) made me think about going on polymarket to bet on Zuck getting divorced. There’s already a market…
That time you almost or actually did faint
i am somewhat averse to seeing blood on others even though i have donated many gallons of blood myself.
one time i took older child to urgent care after the hard and injury and needed stitches. as they were finishing up i felt a little light headed and next thing out know i had passed out on the floor.
they gave me apple juice and waited for me to feel better before letting either of us drive home.
Often lightheaded after hard workout in hot room and sudden up down from burpees or similar activities at the end of a workout.
SICKNESS
Early last week I came down with a cold. I was out for two days. Mrs Slug got the same thing at the end of last week/very beginning of this week. We are in different stages of recovery.
Yesterday, Mrs Slug had a call-in appointment with a doctor who told her that there are many cases of RSV and it's filling up the hospital. Most of these patients didn't get vaccinated for RSV, the flu, or COVID. I feel fortunate that I was able to access vaccines for all three this fall.
Stay healthy, everyone!
I've been using a nasal spray which is supposed to trap viruses and other particulates. They haven't done human testing yet, only animal testing. As someone who did his dissertation on respiratory fluid mechanics, I think it's plausible that it could work, but it's also plausible that it might not work. Not that expensive so I'm trying it.
https://hms.harvard.edu/news/drug-free-nasal-spray-may-shield-against-respiratory-infections
https://cen.acs.org/materials/biomaterials/biopolymers-behind-multimodal-nasal-spray/102/i30
We asked about RSV vaccination when we got this falls flu & Covid shots (and after an excursion with RSV last year), but, at least in this area, were told RSV was not recommended unless you are considered high-risk. That was disappointing, since the criteria wasn't as high in previous years, and not surprisingly, has led to a lot of cases of RSV reported in the area among those unvaccinated. Seemingly, trying to create a health care crisis to manage.
I have had a bit of a cough and scratchy throat the last couple days. Probably hasn’t helped that I insist on going for my run even though temps have been in the teens and little humidity. Most of the time I’m fine but a couple times a day I have a brief coughing fit. At least it’s headed towards 32 today.
Exactly. I've had my cough for over 3 months, so I've got to a pulmonologist. She said, yeah, that flu went around but it lasting 3 months is not normal. She explained that there are two lumps of allergies - one as kids when you get allergic to something and then grow out of it. Apparently, there's a second one in your 50/60s where you suddenly get allergic to stuff and it is triggered by something. In my case, it was the flu. Now I have to load up on antihistamines because I am allergic to something and the symptoms aren't like hayfever. This is hives, contact dermitis, blisters out of nowhere, itchy. Getting older sucks, but it's better than the alternative - but the serious development is asthma. It's a bit wild knowing that the cough is dangerous and could kill me - so I go everywhere with an inhaler.
Comment deleted because being a noodge is not a good look, no matter how well intentioned.
No worries.
There is apparently another flu going around now mere months after a sore throat/cough one a few months ago. This one makes you feel like utter rubbish for 2-3 days and then you're fine. My kid had it four days ago and it's ripping through my office. I am not going into the office if I can help it and will wear masks for a bit at the grocery store since I am still suffering from the previous flu from three months ago.
my therapist thought she had flu but the multi-disease test showed that it was Covid. so i had my session on Zoom instead
Sounds like a fairly accurate description of what I had/ am recovering from.
funny things your kids do
this is older child's idea of getting me a present
https://photos.app.goo.gl/dc5BimUwWG7v93fx5
I've gone full circle on presents. I used to think there were good and less good and bad presents. Now everything is good and it's all - as the kids say - lowkey based on vibes. So this doesn't have to make sense, but the vibes are impeccable.
ZILLOW GONE WILD
When weathered-barn aesthetics meets brutalist industrial meets plush Barney fetish.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4917-E-Cliff-Rd-Port-Clinton-OH-43452/51523218_zpid/
2 beds, 5 baths? Really?
i try not to look up my house on Zillow. it is always financially disappointing.
at least we like living here and dont mind the premium we are paying in price, hassle, and property taxes.
Don't take your Zestimate too seriously. I read a book about Zillow and how they bet the farm on creating a market-value algorithm to be the basis of the company's revenue by creating a basis for insurance companies, house financing, and a house-flipping business. It didn't work well enough and nearly caused the company to implode financially.
https://fortune.com/2022/06/02/zillow-6-billion-home-flipping-business-housing-market-fortune-500/
Trying to fabricate a get rich quick pyramid scheme out of thin air for basic infrastructure needs is tenuous at best.
It’s time once again for Oski Disciple’s Question of the
Day. Ever notice that when people say, you’ve got another thing coming, they never specify what that other thing is. Why not?
My experience is that one person says “I think….” And the other person replies “if that’s what you think, you got another think coming.”
Like split Amazon order? Just go to your account history to see what what you got comin'.
They want to imply that other thing is a bad thing, or at least something to make the target of their ire stop and not continue with their behavior.
if you say what the other thing is, the person who has another thing coming might actually accept. better to leave it ambiguous and ominous.
CAL
[WTEN] No. 14 Cal Hosts ITA Kickoff Weekend
https://calbears.com/news/2025/1/22/womens-tennis-no-14-cal-hosts-ita-kickoff-weekend.aspx
The 14th-ranked California women's tennis team opens the dual-match season Friday when it hosts the two-day ITA Kickoff Weekend at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The Golden Bears welcome No. 17 Oklahoma, Grand Canyon and San Diego State to Berkeley, with the winner of the event advancing to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship hosted by Illinois and Northwestern in February.
[T&F] Bears Head To Albuquerque For Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational
https://calbears.com/news/2025/1/22/track-field-bears-head-to-albuquerque-for-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-invitational.aspx
The California track & field team will head to Albuquerque, New Mexico, this weekend for the first of three meets at the Albuquerque Convention Center this season, as the Golden Bears' best and brightest will attempt to post even better times and marks following their standout season-opening performances at the Spokane Sports Showcase and the Spokane Indoor Challenge.
[WBB] No. 22 Cal Set For Showdown At Stanford
https://calbears.com/news/2025/1/22/womens-basketball-no-22-cal-set-for-showdown-at-stanford.aspx
The No. 22 California women's basketball team (17-3, 5-2 ACC) will look to sweep Stanford (10-8, 2-5 ACC) for the first time since the 1985-86 season when it faces the Cardinal at Maples Pavilion on Thursday at 7 p.m. PT. A win would also mark the Bears' first victory at Stanford since the 2014-15 season.
Cal beats FSU at home in solid team win.
i watched most of the first half. it looked like we had their number from the start when we went on a 13-0 run and were playing good defense.
[MBB] Bears Defend Haas
https://calbears.com/news/2025/1/22/mens-basketball-bears-defend-haas.aspx
BERKELEY (AP) – Jeremiah Wilkinson scored 18 points in his first career start, Mady Sissoko and Rytis Petraitis had double-doubles and the California men's basketball team defeated Florida State 77-68 on Wednesday night in Haas Pavilion.
Are we a better team without Andrej? Sometimes it looks like the ball gets stuck with him and he tries to go 1 on 1 or back someone down when he shouldn't.
Go Bears!!!
PRO
Tech oligarchs win again as the NFL bans BlueSky but not Twitter or Threads.
https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/22/24349499/nfl-patriots-bluesky-accounts-not-allowed-x-meta-threads
The Detroit Lions have lost a game, their OC, and DC in the past five days
https://www.mlive.com/lions/2025/01/lions-need-a-new-defensive-coordinator-too-here-are-6-names-to-watch.html
Spytek is not cheap plastic kid's spy toys you buy from the back of a comic book. It is also now the Raiders GM.
https://www.nfl.com/news/raiders-hire-john-spytek-general-manager
He sucked in SF. He sucked in Jacksonville. Adios Trent Baalke.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/43522721/trent-baalke-jaguars-gm-four-seasons
Aaron Glenn becomes the next HC who will get fired by the Jets in about 3 years
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10138637-nfl-news-lions-aaron-glenn-jets-reportedly-agree-to-hc-contract-amid-saints-rumors
That long? Says here that Woody Johnson doesn't know a good coach when he's got one. Also says here that Woody Johnson has no clue what he's doing as an NFL franchise owner and wouldn't know how to assemble a front office much less hire a good head coach or even recognize when he's got a good head coach.
Just sayin'.
One wonders when it will become recognized that when upper management fails multiple times with its direct management hires, the problem is with upper management that should be replaced. But then it would destroy MLB if competent management were to ever become a requirement.
There is a problem in professional sports that it's extremely hard to get rid of a lousy owner. The other owners don't want to vote one out lest they become the new "worst" owner who will then get voted out. So they let these guys just float along doing damaging things to the league and/or their local fan base.
We're seeing it with John Fisher right now; everyone knows he stinks, but no one wants to admit that bad ownership should be tossed out. Donald Sterling was allowed to pollute the NBA for decades before he finally got caught being racist.
I agree. They're afraid of setting precedence that an owner can be kicked out.
Moreover, how would you be able to tell the really good front office/GMs/Club presidents if everyone is competing at the same high level?
The 49ers built a dynasty under Eddie DeBartolo because Eddie D came to understand that the best thing an owner can do is find highly competent staff and then let them do their job by getting the fuck out of the way.
DeBartolo had to go through two very rough seasons (1977, 1978) with a polarizing and incompetent GM, Joe Thomas. DeBartolo fired Thomas after the end of the 1978 season and hired Bill Walsh in early 1979. Walsh drafted Joe Montana in the 3rd Round of the 1979 Draft, among other picks that helped build the roster.
Walsh also invited dozens of players to camp and try out with the team. Walsh was literally looking for players who could beat out the roster he inherited and kick-starting competition to get better players and make good players better.
DeBartolo still wasn't done with learning the proper role of an owner, though. He put Walsh through the wringer by threatening to fire him during the horrific strike-shortened 1982 season.
Remember that the 49ers won their first Super Bowl following the 1981 season. Expectations for 1982 were very high. But the strike-shortened season also brought on "scabs" or replacement players and the 49ers finished 3-6. DeBartolo was incensed by the performance. Later, Bill Walsh would admit that he nearly quit a number of times under the pressure from DeBartolo.
Fortunately, DeBartolo had brought in John McVay in 1980. McVay provided a steadying and knowledgeable presence in the front office, taking pressure off Walsh. Eventually, McVay got DeBartolo to back off and let the front office and coaching staffs to do their jobs. This approach bore fruit quickly and the 49ers then won another Super Bowl after the 1984 season followed by back-to-back Super Bowl wins following the 1988 and 1989 season. They came close to a three-peat, losing to the Giants in the NFC Championship Game at Candlestick Park following the 1990 season.
Johnson would do well to take the 49ers example to heart and keep his mitts off the operation.
POLITICS
We voted for this. We deserve everything we get. The Face-Eating-Leopards are going to get fat this next four years.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arab-american-voters-trump-dearborn-michigan-israel-biden-harris/
NPR This American Life had an episode on Muslim voters in Michigan trying to get a voice at the DNC and failing. Then being disappointed when the guy finds out many people are voting for Trump since they couldn't get Harris to listen to them on Palestine. FAFO
Trump previews the dismantling of FEMA. "If Oklahoma gets hit by a tornado or something, let Oklahoma fix it". You know where a lot of the natural disasters hit? Red States.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-warns-fema-faces-reckoning-after-biden-admin-not-done-job
Texas, NC, lots of red states will be disappointed when they go asking for federal funds to rebuild...
DBD AV CLUB
Oscar nominees announced
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/2025-oscars-nominees-list-1236115626/
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
LOOK AWAY
A line repeated in the opening credits of the Netflix show "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" (16/19) starring Neil Patrick Harris.
This was the start of the chorus of "Dixie Land", the de-facto national anthem of the Confederacy. The song was originally sung and popularized by blackfaced minstrels from the North and became popular in both the North and South. The lyrics talk about the singer's romanticizing the South even though things aren't doing well there (ie, "Look Away"). In the North, it was almost a parody of the southerners. In the South, it struck a cord with the "Noble Lost Cause" folks.
speaking of the south, younger one and i just finished watching Glory (1989) after there was some mention of it in their African American studies class.
i remember seeing it in the theaters when it first came out
I think I saw it at Wheeler when it came out.
I think we might have that film on DVD.
I showed it to my 8th grade history classes for nearly twenty years. Pretty much have it memorized.
What's neat is seeing that movie and then going to Boston years later unaware that you will run into the memorial for Col. Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th smack dab in the middle of Boston's Freedom trail. The memorial was placed in 1884.
Also, I went to Beaufort SC (BYOOfurt), not to be confused with Beaufort NC (BOWfurt). I was struck as to how beautiful the SC town was, which was the filming site for the childhood era in Forest Gump. It is also the permanent resting place for Colonel Shaw and the 54th, about 74 miles drive northeast from where they died attacking Fort Wagner outside Charleston. The Beaufort cemetery is a National cemetery, so it has a pro-Union slant - unlike other civil war cemeteries in the South that struck a more "Noble Lost Cause" and "War of Northern Aggression" tone.
i have been to that corner of Boston Commons and probably did not appreciate the monument. will look more carefully next time
CHEST
My buddies and I were exchanging texts about Zuck photographed looking at Lauren Sanchez's chest. We traded this reference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSgI7w8tpYk
I hate crypto but that picture ( and his general recent douchery) made me think about going on polymarket to bet on Zuck getting divorced. There’s already a market…