I kind of miss getting a physical paycheck, especially bonus check. It just doesn’t feel the same when it is direct deposit even tho obviously it’s way easier
Just refilled the tires to adjust for winter temperatures after not getting around to it earlier. What a difference. I was forced to do it after my car's steering responsiveness felt so squishy that I thought I might have a flat tire.
I rented an electric car for a week when I was in CA (dual motor Kia EV6). 600 miles later I came away quite impressed. It had good range (about 290 miles), was quite efficient (about 3.5 KWh/mile), and had an intuitive and well designed interface (i.e. no dumb decisions like Tesla's lack of a display behind the steering wheel). It had plenty of room to swallow all the luggage and junk that accompanies a weeklong trip for two parents and two kids under 3 (car seats, etc.). With 320 hp and 450lb-ft of torque, it was remarkably quick and responsive: if a traffic light turns yellow, there's no question about whether you'll make it, just floor it and fly through the intersection (and then tap the brakes because you'll probably be 20-over). It had impressive thrust out of corners, but it felt a little unsteady when pushed on a couple canyon roads and on drive across Mulholland Dr. That's probably a battle of physics, as its 4700 curb weight undoubtedly puts a lot of stress on the chassis/tires.
Charging was mostly straightforward. Usually about 15-20 minutes was enough to charge it from 10-20% to about 80%. Charging infrastructure could definitely use improvement, though. Most stations had at least one charger out of service and I had multiple Electrify American chargers refuse to charge the car. A tech repairing one of their chargers said they occasionally refuse to talk to Kia EVs for some unknown reason. EVGo was pretty reliable, although a little more expensive than EA's chargers. Still, it's a lot cheaper to pay ~$25 to "fill up" rather than $5+ per gallon. Although it would only cost about $6 to charge fully if I charged at home here in MD...
tl;dr 17/19, would highly recommend for those with access to a home charger. It should more than satisfy most drivers (though it might not be engaging enough for folks who are still waiting for something like a hardcore performance care like an electrified STI/Civic Type R/Golf R/M2)
I am super leery of owning an EV in my area, with power outages and poor performance in cold weather. Also, I am not on the market for a new vehicle. If I were, I'd be interested in testing out the Rivian. Stock, it outperforms in the backcountry, even when compared to models such as Tacoma and Jeep with suspension modifications and other after marekt offroad upgrades.
the Kia EV6 GT awd gets positive reviews for being genuinely fun to drive but it's also north of $60k. I get the appeal, but I'm not completely there yet as a buying decision esp because I am cheap - which has come up as I am thinking about getting rid of my Civic b/c it's clear that the girls will never drive it, even if the older moves home for a while after graduation, and my wife has a hard time seeing out of it. Part of me is thinking about an electric Fiat 500, and part of me is thinking used Mini. TBD.
I was considering the EV6 GT (and its platform mate Ioniq 6 N) until it was announced that they were ~$60k and only had about 210 miles of range. I'm pretty sure my next car will be a fun, performance-oriented ICE that I'll keep forever and I'll add an EV when battery technology and infrastructure mature a bit more. Maybe once solid state batteries are more widespread...
yeah, I didn't look seriously at an electric car before I bought the Civic in late '16 because prices were high and our electricity supply was pretty filthy, so there was an element of "I'm just shifting emissions to downwind of the coal plant" - it's somewhat better now, but still. I actually think some of these plug in hybrids have a performance mix that justifies the weight and complexity gains, but since my budget doesn't extent to a BMW 330e, I would probably just stick with a small capacity engine car... range is about to be much less of an issue after my older daughter graduates from Vassar this spring, in any case.
Look at one of the Hertz used Teslas. I was seeing 20K for cars with like 70-80K mileage. That's not bad. Not sure how badly the batteries are degraded though.
I think the EV6 is a good size. I think it's more a hatch sizewise than a CUV. Small hatch which would be very useful. I don't like CUV sizes.
The Hyundai Ioniq 6 is UGLY. It's like the Infiniti J series cars with the super sloped back.
I've rented a Tesla, a Polestar 2, and a Bolt from Hertz. I've come away impressed with all of them for various different reasons. I thought the Polestar had a really nice interior. I liked the Tesla because it was so easy to charge and didn't require a different account for different charging stations. I thought the Bolt was a nice small car but there were some things I couldn't figure out how to configure, like the level of regen braking.
I really appreciated the charging stations where I could perform the entire process without needing to use my phone. It got to the point where if I found a charging station that needed me to download an app and create yet another new account, I'd skip it and find a more convenient Electrify America or EVGo station.
i have done the same thru Hertz. too bad they are selling off most of their electric fleet.
last time in Seattle i rented a Subarbu Solterra. it was AWD and EV. i drove it up into a snowstorm to go skiing and it was great. my only complaint was that the advertised 225 mi range was only about 175 mi. even a 120 mi trip into the mountains in the cold did not seem like it had a large margin of error.
Some guy had been parking his corvette stingray in front of our place the past few weeks. A bit of an eyesore: bright yellow, custom plates, lots midlife crisis energy, etc. Thiefs broke the window and took off with it in the middle of the night last night. Problem solved.
I'm thinking of buying a brake bleeding kit so that I can replace all the brake fluids in my cars. I don't think they've ever had the brake fluid replaced before. I'm thinking of one of those bleeder/extractor kits so that I can remove all the fluid from the reservoir without needing a turkey baster and then also I can pull all the new fluid into each caliper via the bleed valve without needing another person to press on the brake.
Decided to play slots just for giggles. Put in my $, pulled the lever, and got all top-prizes across the middle except the last one - which was like one-sixth of a spot off. I would have won over a million and a Harley. Probably just as well. I probably would've gotten killed riding that hog.
I had a $100 on Christian McCaffrey to win the NFL MVP at 100:1. Would’ve paid $10,000.
Figured if he stayed healthy a full season he’d at least be in the mix. Well, he stayed healthy for the year, but alas, that Xmas night game where Baltimore won and Lamar played well while the Niners shit the bed cost me.
Yep, totally, it’s a QB award…explains the 100:1 at least, which I thought was a square price. My thought process was if he stayed healthy for a full season, he’d perhaps make a run at LDT’s TD record of 31. 25+ would have made it very interesting. He ended up with 21 though, so it really wasn’t all that close.
Peter Navarro gets four months and $9,500 fine for Contempt of Congress. He tried to use "Deep State is Out to Get Me" defense and the judge didn't want to hear it.
MAGA continues to go after Fulton County DA Fani Willis with allegations of an improper relationship with her special prosecutor. They asked for an unsealing of documents related to her divorce hoping to find find something there. It was a nothingburger.
Trump Lawyer and serial duckface maker Alina Habba had a juror get sick. The judge asked Habba if she wanted to continue the trial down one juror but Habba didn't want to as she claimed that her parents had Covid and she was experiencing symptoms. Well, Habba showed up at Trump's primary party and someone took a selfie of himself with her. That person - who used to be Trump's NH deputy state director but resigned after videos showed him at the J6 uprising yelling at cops to hang themselves. That chump claimed to have knocked on 25k doors for Trump - got kicked out of the event, apparently for taking the selfie.
Alina Habba and her client Jabba the Dirty Butt were back in court today. Her inexperience as a trial lawyer and her clients inability to never shut up were on display today and the Judge was not impressed. Habba got smoked in court today and this dude live tweet the whole thing.
It's funny (in a sad and tragic way) how all these dopes end up posting about how they are Trump's biggest fan and he should make sure that they are treated like the special boys they are.
His comments are very alarming. Our system is built upon recognition that the US Constitution, not State Constitutions, is the supreme law of the land, except for those powers reserved to the states under the 10th Amendment. In fact, I believe that upon admission into the Union, each state was required to acknowledge just this. Abbot's arguments are strikingly similar to the Constitution Sheriff's Association and Richard Mack, who believes that Sheriffs have the power to block federal law enforcement and in fact, get to interpret the US Constitution.
Also, there is a common theme here. Richard Mack provides training to LEO in Texas (apparently 20% of LEO in Texas has taken his training) that was approved by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. The common thread, taught in his trainings, and also the core belief of the Oath Keeps is the belief that the oath to "defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic," taken by LEO, gives them license to determine who the enemy is and defend the people against that enemy. This view includes the view that federal law enforcement, as tyrannical federal agencies, are domestic enemies of the people. It isn't hard to imagine how explosive this belief can become.
It's like people trying to push a big couch up some stairs that are too small to fit it. After the House couldn't launch a Border bill linked with Ukraine financing due to the right flank standing a hardline, the Senate tried to formulate a bill. I am sure if I'm interpreting this correctly, but it seems to me that the Ukraine/Border Senate bill is failing as a bill because the same disagreement on the House side. The MAGA hardliners don't want to pass it because its a cornerstone of their campaigns and they're relying on outrage to fuel their reelections and a compromise will undercut that position. The less-hardline House GOP side sees the border element as DOA no matter which way it tries to go up the stairs, so the GOP Senate is thinking of delinking the Ukraine funding from it because it too is a bit of a hot topic. Frankly, I think Ukraine funding is on death's door because the GOP House hardline will not give it up as a bargaining chip.
If you refuse to push the couch up the stairs then you can endlessly complain and campaign about how we can't get the couch up the stairs *taps temple*
OMFG, guys, guys, guys. The Ukraine thing is the big picture stuff. We need to elevate it above the normal bullshit partisan discourse. Making sure that Russia eats shit over the Ukraine invasion is just absolutely critical to long term global security and stability. Drives me nuts that it is being dragged into the red v blue mudpit - JFC
It's insanity. We are under invasion from Mexico so we are going to demand concessions on issues Biden cares about to address this invasion...except, nah, actually, we don't want to lose this as a wedge issue to rile the base...so JK!
[CNN] House Ethics Committee has reached out to woman who said she was paid to cross state lines and have sex with Matt Gaetz when she was a minor and then he covered it up. [MJ_eating_popcorn.gif]
It is incredible how much dirt this guy has gotten away with and still no ramifications of political or legal consequence. I mean, I thought we were trying to root out the pedos.
Just for context, he was only ordered to do what every debtor has to do (answer questions from the US trustee and creditors under oath at his 341 meeting of creditors). I would guess since he has potential criminal liability related to many of his activities, he pleads the 5th on basically everything and it’s something of a non event.
I am a big fan of Tim DeRuyter's usage of stunts and blitzes. What made his defenses special is that he would disguise his defenses by showing something at set-up, creep, and then rotate coverages pre-snap. He would then stunt or slant his dline, leaving his MLBs a gap to terrorize the backfield. He made a star out of Devante Downs, Jordan Kunaszyk, and Evan Weaver in successive years. And his disguised secondary looks made the original Takers so successful as QBs would make a read at the line, get fixated on a decision, and then throw into the wrong coverage.
I miss having a cerebral defense. It was a delight watching his defenses break the brains of players like Luke Falk and Tyler Shough and make coaches question their grasp on reality (like when Petersen pulled Jake Browning in 2018).
It's too bad that Cal doesn't play Louisville this year. We are missing our opportunity to break Tyler Shough again in his 7th year of football. Dude, you're going to turn 25 this season.
Jason Kelce's wife told her husband to be on his best behavior since he was meeting Taylor Swift for the first time and was going to be on national television. Naturally.
Weird thought I just had. Star Wars lore has the Jedis wielding lightsabers that are very light, can cut through basically anything it touches, but yet meets resistance when hitting another lightsaber, but very little force (force=mass x acceleration, not Force). You see the Jedis holding the sword in a traditional sword guard positions and swinging it in slashes like they're trying to cut through something with force. Sure, it makes it less entertaining, but shouldn't they hold it a neutral guard to block any blaster shots that could go high to the torso or low to the legs? And would you want to hold/strike like an epee or foil since you just want to touch your opponent, not hack through armor?
Epee requires touch with the tip of a sword, you'd have to be pretty accurate to skewer someone in the right place in a fight like that - whereas a slashing blow could do a lot more damage to a lot more parts of the body.
But you're not trying to win on first touch. Get your opponent to drop their guard - which will probably happen if they effectively are touched anywhere by a plasma cutting torch - and then run them through. Or better yet, just Force choke them and avoid the sword fight in the first place. Or are the Jedis sworn to some code to fight with rules.
I'll be honest, I haven't given this much thought, and I try and avoid subjecting any part of Star Wards to tests like "is this logical" or "does this make even a tiny bit of sense" because there's an enormous house of cards just waiting to collapse from that kind of talk
UNC and NC State - both public schools - had a new policy enacted that requires the system president + Board to approve their departure from the ACC. The Board - as a Government-linked organization - doesn't want teams to leave the ACC. The ACC headquarters and championship game are in Charlotte NC. Suck it, Mack Brown... you're trapped in here with us.
I am thinking of my cousin in law, whose daughters are at U of M and Michigan State and went all-in on Wolverine/Spartan football this year. He's had quite the roller coaster, but is actually a Notre Dame fan because he's Irish Catholic.
my bro in law went to Michigan and is mostly ok with it. here is what he texted me this morning
He's wanted to try and win a Super Bowl championship forever. He delivered national championship for Michigan and left the program in great shape. Rooting for him to do well at the next level
i had to resist the temptation to talk about Harbaugh just leaving before scandalous stuff caught up to him ...
only reporting this because one of my grad school friends teaches there. he is one of 2 physics faculty and getting little to no support from the university. so they are both resigning in a year.
let me know in case you have an opening for a physics prof ...
CAL
Leon Powe visits the Cal basketball team
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2d0EeGR88z/?igsh=ZWI2YzEzYmMxYg%3D%3D
I just googled Leon Power and saw that he is 40 years old and now I'm going to be depressed.
I had a geography class with him in the freshman year. I feel old.
Only athlete I remember having the same class was Rickie Hawthorne. You want to feel old, look him up.
I took Subject A over the summer with Bill Elleby and Brian Hendricks.
Go Bears! 🫶🏼
Is it bad for your playing time if you posterize your coach? Asking for a friend.
https://twitter.com/CalMBBall/status/1750580912541323671
Is that upstairs at the RSF?
Yep.
The new Bears Lair is reopening.
https://studentunion.berkeley.edu/bears-lair/
I didn't realize it had closed. I assume it closed during the pandemic and is just reopening now?
DBD Logistics - not that I expect anyone to remember, but I'll be out next Friday. Flying to Seattle for a boy's weekend.
Next Friday is February 2nd. How is that even possible? I feel like 2024 started a couple days ago
Bonus day at my place of work. I'll hopefully be drunk by noon.
I kind of miss getting a physical paycheck, especially bonus check. It just doesn’t feel the same when it is direct deposit even tho obviously it’s way easier
Groundhog Day!
i remembered you were going to Seattle. just not when.
DBD Auto
Just refilled the tires to adjust for winter temperatures after not getting around to it earlier. What a difference. I was forced to do it after my car's steering responsiveness felt so squishy that I thought I might have a flat tire.
I rented an electric car for a week when I was in CA (dual motor Kia EV6). 600 miles later I came away quite impressed. It had good range (about 290 miles), was quite efficient (about 3.5 KWh/mile), and had an intuitive and well designed interface (i.e. no dumb decisions like Tesla's lack of a display behind the steering wheel). It had plenty of room to swallow all the luggage and junk that accompanies a weeklong trip for two parents and two kids under 3 (car seats, etc.). With 320 hp and 450lb-ft of torque, it was remarkably quick and responsive: if a traffic light turns yellow, there's no question about whether you'll make it, just floor it and fly through the intersection (and then tap the brakes because you'll probably be 20-over). It had impressive thrust out of corners, but it felt a little unsteady when pushed on a couple canyon roads and on drive across Mulholland Dr. That's probably a battle of physics, as its 4700 curb weight undoubtedly puts a lot of stress on the chassis/tires.
Charging was mostly straightforward. Usually about 15-20 minutes was enough to charge it from 10-20% to about 80%. Charging infrastructure could definitely use improvement, though. Most stations had at least one charger out of service and I had multiple Electrify American chargers refuse to charge the car. A tech repairing one of their chargers said they occasionally refuse to talk to Kia EVs for some unknown reason. EVGo was pretty reliable, although a little more expensive than EA's chargers. Still, it's a lot cheaper to pay ~$25 to "fill up" rather than $5+ per gallon. Although it would only cost about $6 to charge fully if I charged at home here in MD...
tl;dr 17/19, would highly recommend for those with access to a home charger. It should more than satisfy most drivers (though it might not be engaging enough for folks who are still waiting for something like a hardcore performance care like an electrified STI/Civic Type R/Golf R/M2)
I am super leery of owning an EV in my area, with power outages and poor performance in cold weather. Also, I am not on the market for a new vehicle. If I were, I'd be interested in testing out the Rivian. Stock, it outperforms in the backcountry, even when compared to models such as Tacoma and Jeep with suspension modifications and other after marekt offroad upgrades.
holy moly that Kia weighs nearly 5800 lbs
It's the battery.
Or put another way, it's a battery with a car built around it.
the Kia EV6 GT awd gets positive reviews for being genuinely fun to drive but it's also north of $60k. I get the appeal, but I'm not completely there yet as a buying decision esp because I am cheap - which has come up as I am thinking about getting rid of my Civic b/c it's clear that the girls will never drive it, even if the older moves home for a while after graduation, and my wife has a hard time seeing out of it. Part of me is thinking about an electric Fiat 500, and part of me is thinking used Mini. TBD.
I was considering the EV6 GT (and its platform mate Ioniq 6 N) until it was announced that they were ~$60k and only had about 210 miles of range. I'm pretty sure my next car will be a fun, performance-oriented ICE that I'll keep forever and I'll add an EV when battery technology and infrastructure mature a bit more. Maybe once solid state batteries are more widespread...
yeah, I didn't look seriously at an electric car before I bought the Civic in late '16 because prices were high and our electricity supply was pretty filthy, so there was an element of "I'm just shifting emissions to downwind of the coal plant" - it's somewhat better now, but still. I actually think some of these plug in hybrids have a performance mix that justifies the weight and complexity gains, but since my budget doesn't extent to a BMW 330e, I would probably just stick with a small capacity engine car... range is about to be much less of an issue after my older daughter graduates from Vassar this spring, in any case.
I drove a Fiat 500 cabriolet on my trip to Lake Garda in September. It was surprisingly comfortable, fun and zippy enough.
Look at one of the Hertz used Teslas. I was seeing 20K for cars with like 70-80K mileage. That's not bad. Not sure how badly the batteries are degraded though.
I think the EV6 is a good size. I think it's more a hatch sizewise than a CUV. Small hatch which would be very useful. I don't like CUV sizes.
The Hyundai Ioniq 6 is UGLY. It's like the Infiniti J series cars with the super sloped back.
I've rented a Tesla, a Polestar 2, and a Bolt from Hertz. I've come away impressed with all of them for various different reasons. I thought the Polestar had a really nice interior. I liked the Tesla because it was so easy to charge and didn't require a different account for different charging stations. I thought the Bolt was a nice small car but there were some things I couldn't figure out how to configure, like the level of regen braking.
I really appreciated the charging stations where I could perform the entire process without needing to use my phone. It got to the point where if I found a charging station that needed me to download an app and create yet another new account, I'd skip it and find a more convenient Electrify America or EVGo station.
i have done the same thru Hertz. too bad they are selling off most of their electric fleet.
last time in Seattle i rented a Subarbu Solterra. it was AWD and EV. i drove it up into a snowstorm to go skiing and it was great. my only complaint was that the advertised 225 mi range was only about 175 mi. even a 120 mi trip into the mountains in the cold did not seem like it had a large margin of error.
Some guy had been parking his corvette stingray in front of our place the past few weeks. A bit of an eyesore: bright yellow, custom plates, lots midlife crisis energy, etc. Thiefs broke the window and took off with it in the middle of the night last night. Problem solved.
🤭
I'm thinking of buying a brake bleeding kit so that I can replace all the brake fluids in my cars. I don't think they've ever had the brake fluid replaced before. I'm thinking of one of those bleeder/extractor kits so that I can remove all the fluid from the reservoir without needing a turkey baster and then also I can pull all the new fluid into each caliper via the bleed valve without needing another person to press on the brake.
Has anyone used one of these kits?
Tell the DBD the time when something good *almost* happened to you, but didn’t
Decided to play slots just for giggles. Put in my $, pulled the lever, and got all top-prizes across the middle except the last one - which was like one-sixth of a spot off. I would have won over a million and a Harley. Probably just as well. I probably would've gotten killed riding that hog.
That sounds like a set up for telling my story of life as a Cal football fan.
"From the 12 yard line. Riley's going to run it. That's not a good play."
I remember my exact words during that play and its immediate aftermath because I said them over and over: "what are you doing? you idiot."
9 yards away from being undefeated in 2004.
I had a $100 on Christian McCaffrey to win the NFL MVP at 100:1. Would’ve paid $10,000.
Figured if he stayed healthy a full season he’d at least be in the mix. Well, he stayed healthy for the year, but alas, that Xmas night game where Baltimore won and Lamar played well while the Niners shit the bed cost me.
It's hard for a non-QB to win these days.
Yep, totally, it’s a QB award…explains the 100:1 at least, which I thought was a square price. My thought process was if he stayed healthy for a full season, he’d perhaps make a run at LDT’s TD record of 31. 25+ would have made it very interesting. He ended up with 21 though, so it really wasn’t all that close.
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Peter Navarro gets four months and $9,500 fine for Contempt of Congress. He tried to use "Deep State is Out to Get Me" defense and the judge didn't want to hear it.
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1750571855084179675
MAGA continues to go after Fulton County DA Fani Willis with allegations of an improper relationship with her special prosecutor. They asked for an unsealing of documents related to her divorce hoping to find find something there. It was a nothingburger.
https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/unsealed-divorce-documents-do-not-mention-fulton-county-da-fani-willis
Trump Lawyer and serial duckface maker Alina Habba had a juror get sick. The judge asked Habba if she wanted to continue the trial down one juror but Habba didn't want to as she claimed that her parents had Covid and she was experiencing symptoms. Well, Habba showed up at Trump's primary party and someone took a selfie of himself with her. That person - who used to be Trump's NH deputy state director but resigned after videos showed him at the J6 uprising yelling at cops to hang themselves. That chump claimed to have knocked on 25k doors for Trump - got kicked out of the event, apparently for taking the selfie.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-trump-campaign-official-dylan-quattrucci-booted-from-party-after-posting-pic-with-alina-habba
Alina Habba and her client Jabba the Dirty Butt were back in court today. Her inexperience as a trial lawyer and her clients inability to never shut up were on display today and the Judge was not impressed. Habba got smoked in court today and this dude live tweet the whole thing.
https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/1750533256989303285
It's funny (in a sad and tragic way) how all these dopes end up posting about how they are Trump's biggest fan and he should make sure that they are treated like the special boys they are.
i don't know what they're talking about, they're treated just like his sons
Texas Gov Abbott refuses to concede on SCOTUS & Federal mandates of border protection.
https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-faces-growing-calls-federalize-texas-national-guard-1863839
His comments are very alarming. Our system is built upon recognition that the US Constitution, not State Constitutions, is the supreme law of the land, except for those powers reserved to the states under the 10th Amendment. In fact, I believe that upon admission into the Union, each state was required to acknowledge just this. Abbot's arguments are strikingly similar to the Constitution Sheriff's Association and Richard Mack, who believes that Sheriffs have the power to block federal law enforcement and in fact, get to interpret the US Constitution.
Also, there is a common theme here. Richard Mack provides training to LEO in Texas (apparently 20% of LEO in Texas has taken his training) that was approved by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. The common thread, taught in his trainings, and also the core belief of the Oath Keeps is the belief that the oath to "defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic," taken by LEO, gives them license to determine who the enemy is and defend the people against that enemy. This view includes the view that federal law enforcement, as tyrannical federal agencies, are domestic enemies of the people. It isn't hard to imagine how explosive this belief can become.
Judge throws out dismissal motion by Fox News, allows election machine company to continue suing Fox News' parent company.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/24/media/fox-corporation-smartmatic/index.html
It's like people trying to push a big couch up some stairs that are too small to fit it. After the House couldn't launch a Border bill linked with Ukraine financing due to the right flank standing a hardline, the Senate tried to formulate a bill. I am sure if I'm interpreting this correctly, but it seems to me that the Ukraine/Border Senate bill is failing as a bill because the same disagreement on the House side. The MAGA hardliners don't want to pass it because its a cornerstone of their campaigns and they're relying on outrage to fuel their reelections and a compromise will undercut that position. The less-hardline House GOP side sees the border element as DOA no matter which way it tries to go up the stairs, so the GOP Senate is thinking of delinking the Ukraine funding from it because it too is a bit of a hot topic. Frankly, I think Ukraine funding is on death's door because the GOP House hardline will not give it up as a bargaining chip.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4428199-mcconnell-floats-splitting-ukraine-and-border-security-amid-gop-infighting/
If you refuse to push the couch up the stairs then you can endlessly complain and campaign about how we can't get the couch up the stairs *taps temple*
Mitt Romney calls out the people who don't want to push the couch
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4429211-romney-trump-border-bill-biden/
PI-VOT
OMFG, guys, guys, guys. The Ukraine thing is the big picture stuff. We need to elevate it above the normal bullshit partisan discourse. Making sure that Russia eats shit over the Ukraine invasion is just absolutely critical to long term global security and stability. Drives me nuts that it is being dragged into the red v blue mudpit - JFC
It's insanity. We are under invasion from Mexico so we are going to demand concessions on issues Biden cares about to address this invasion...except, nah, actually, we don't want to lose this as a wedge issue to rile the base...so JK!
I don’t think anyone that harps on a wedge issue to drive turnout actually wants the wedge issue to be solved
Arizona GOP Chair Jeff DeWit resigns after an audio tape of him offering a bribe to Kari Lake to not run for Senate for once cycle.
https://ktar.com/story/5558919/arizona-gop-chair-jeff-dewit-resigns-following-leaked-kari-lake-audio/
Can't blame the guy for such a great idea.
[CNN] House Ethics Committee has reached out to woman who said she was paid to cross state lines and have sex with Matt Gaetz when she was a minor and then he covered it up. [MJ_eating_popcorn.gif]
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/24/politics/house-ethics-matt-gaetz/index.html
I'll withhold a reaction until he's in a courtroom. We've been hearing about this behavior for years with no meaningful punishment
It is incredible how much dirt this guy has gotten away with and still no ramifications of political or legal consequence. I mean, I thought we were trying to root out the pedos.
Listening . . .
Giuliani ordered to testify at a creditors meeting related to his bankruptcy on Feb 7th
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/rudy-giuliani-ordered-to-testify-under-oath-in-bankruptcy-proceedings/
Just for context, he was only ordered to do what every debtor has to do (answer questions from the US trustee and creditors under oath at his 341 meeting of creditors). I would guess since he has potential criminal liability related to many of his activities, he pleads the 5th on basically everything and it’s something of a non event.
The FDA warns people to not use "gas station heroin". Uh...
https://news.yahoo.com/fda-warns-against-using-neptune-220221340.html
PRO
Gerald Alexander to be Raiders safeties coach. He is my favorite Cal position coach of all time
https://twitter.com/CameronWolfe/status/1750296174534312279
He's getting closer to coming back home. He can stop by Cal games or practice. Wilcox can hit him up next time GA is looking for a job.
I just realized Raiders don't play in Oakland anymore
A really interesting table of NFL defensive blitz vs. stunt vs. simulated blitz usage
https://twitter.com/The_Coach_A/status/1746200431116550616
I am a big fan of Tim DeRuyter's usage of stunts and blitzes. What made his defenses special is that he would disguise his defenses by showing something at set-up, creep, and then rotate coverages pre-snap. He would then stunt or slant his dline, leaving his MLBs a gap to terrorize the backfield. He made a star out of Devante Downs, Jordan Kunaszyk, and Evan Weaver in successive years. And his disguised secondary looks made the original Takers so successful as QBs would make a read at the line, get fixated on a decision, and then throw into the wrong coverage.
I miss having a cerebral defense. It was a delight watching his defenses break the brains of players like Luke Falk and Tyler Shough and make coaches question their grasp on reality (like when Petersen pulled Jake Browning in 2018).
It's too bad that Cal doesn't play Louisville this year. We are missing our opportunity to break Tyler Shough again in his 7th year of football. Dude, you're going to turn 25 this season.
I think Brennen Armstrong, the NC State QB, just graduated after playing 6 years. Dude’s practically got grandkids.
Jason Kelce's wife told her husband to be on his best behavior since he was meeting Taylor Swift for the first time and was going to be on national television. Naturally.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/24/sport/travis-jason-kelce-taylor-swift-spt-intl/index.html
DBD AV CLUB
Weird thought I just had. Star Wars lore has the Jedis wielding lightsabers that are very light, can cut through basically anything it touches, but yet meets resistance when hitting another lightsaber, but very little force (force=mass x acceleration, not Force). You see the Jedis holding the sword in a traditional sword guard positions and swinging it in slashes like they're trying to cut through something with force. Sure, it makes it less entertaining, but shouldn't they hold it a neutral guard to block any blaster shots that could go high to the torso or low to the legs? And would you want to hold/strike like an epee or foil since you just want to touch your opponent, not hack through armor?
Epee requires touch with the tip of a sword, you'd have to be pretty accurate to skewer someone in the right place in a fight like that - whereas a slashing blow could do a lot more damage to a lot more parts of the body.
But you're not trying to win on first touch. Get your opponent to drop their guard - which will probably happen if they effectively are touched anywhere by a plasma cutting torch - and then run them through. Or better yet, just Force choke them and avoid the sword fight in the first place. Or are the Jedis sworn to some code to fight with rules.
I'll be honest, I haven't given this much thought, and I try and avoid subjecting any part of Star Wards to tests like "is this logical" or "does this make even a tiny bit of sense" because there's an enormous house of cards just waiting to collapse from that kind of talk
No 1 did fencing for a year or two and liked to say Epee is poky-poky whereas Saber is slashy slashy.
*sabre
and the Beskar armor of the Manalorians can somehow resist lightsabers ..
John Stewart returns to the Daily Show on February 12th for an once-a-week Monday hosting
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/24/entertainment/jon-stewart-daily-show/index.html
I try not to be pedantic but in this case I must. It's Jon Stewart.
Tom Hollander tells a story how he got a 7-figure bonus for being in "The Avengers". Except he wasn't in that movie. Tom Holland was in that movie.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/25/entertainment/tom-hollander-mistaken-tom-holland-intl-scli/index.html
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
Apparently, Cal is Albanese Gummi Bears
https://twitter.com/pitt_fb/status/1750277296668238296
Makes sense...Albanese gummi bears are THE best gummi bears anywhere, especially the Ultimate ones. AMAZING!
Cf98 loves Albanese. I didn't know if it's because she's 3 and will happily ingest any candy or if they're actually good. I tried them--they're GOOD.
They are the gold standard of gummis for me. And the Ultimate ones (told trimmed packaging) are even better.
UNC and NC State - both public schools - had a new policy enacted that requires the system president + Board to approve their departure from the ACC. The Board - as a Government-linked organization - doesn't want teams to leave the ACC. The ACC headquarters and championship game are in Charlotte NC. Suck it, Mack Brown... you're trapped in here with us.
https://www.wralsportsfan.com/board-moves-ahead-with-policy-that-could-stop-unc-nc-state-from-leaving-acc/21250754/
[ESPN] Michigan focused HC coach on OC Sherrone Moore to replace Harbaugh
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/39380948/michigan-focuses-coaching-search-sherrone-moore
Harbaugh leaving Michigan to coach Chargers
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1750303420454477993
I am thinking of my cousin in law, whose daughters are at U of M and Michigan State and went all-in on Wolverine/Spartan football this year. He's had quite the roller coaster, but is actually a Notre Dame fan because he's Irish Catholic.
my bro in law went to Michigan and is mostly ok with it. here is what he texted me this morning
He's wanted to try and win a Super Bowl championship forever. He delivered national championship for Michigan and left the program in great shape. Rooting for him to do well at the next level
i had to resist the temptation to talk about Harbaugh just leaving before scandalous stuff caught up to him ...
13 Rhode Island college kids wake up to wet dreams
https://turnto10.com/news/local/sprinkler-failure-displaces-13-students-at-rhode-island-college-southern-new-england-classes-university-officials-january-24-2024
Lynchburg college closing physics dept.
only reporting this because one of my grad school friends teaches there. he is one of 2 physics faculty and getting little to no support from the university. so they are both resigning in a year.
let me know in case you have an opening for a physics prof ...
I had to look up to see if there was a school there other than Liberty Univ. Had no idea there is.
Oof. Sorry to hear that.