164 Comments

Why do some people have "Give Gift" under their posts while other do not?

Expand full comment

How do I get a "Give Cake" badge?

Expand full comment

i got you one the other day. did you not get it?

Expand full comment

When I click on it for you I can then gift you a subscription to WFC Premium.

Expand full comment
Feb 1, 2022·edited Feb 1, 2022

You should give me one so we can find out.

I noticed you and I and others have it, while some do not.

Expand full comment

Seems to me that the system just outed the paying subscribers.

Expand full comment

My friend just sent me this Nike Lunar New Year commercial: https://youtu.be/Fu8T-7Ct6Oc

Expand full comment

I just saw that Venmo allows you to send money using a few different "red envelopes".

Expand full comment

haha...that's great.

Expand full comment

As g.oso pointed out yesterday, Bears pick up a QB recruit that was ticketed for Yale...

Is this the next Ryan Glover...a smart kid that struggles mightily with the forward pass?

Expand full comment

he seems like a complete unknown. Almost no tape on him, good size but no one with a pulse seemed interested outside of FIU (pulse debatable). So what about him caught Cal's interest?

Expand full comment

I think the staff missed out on everyone they wanted, had an extra scholarship and decided to get a QB just to get a QB. I doubt this kid ever sees the field for Cal for any meaningful snaps.

Meanwhile, USC gets the big whale.

Expand full comment

Exactly...SC lands Caleb Williams, and we land a bright kid that turned down Lehigh and broke his promise to Yale at the last minute, likely leaving them scrambling (FWIW, tho in fairness, no scholarships at the Ivies is def an extenuating circumstance)....

There's a 98.5% chance that if this kid ever takes a meaningful snap for the Bears, things most likely have gone terribly wrong in one way, shape or form...tho, as a lifelong Cal fan, ya gotta leave room for that 1.5% chance that something great has happened!!!

Expand full comment

I hear that Ryan Fitzpatrick went to Harvard.

Expand full comment

Undefeated in his senior season.

Expand full comment

Smart kid, which in terms of the revenue sports is clearly more important to the University than actually winning games.

Expand full comment

You're being sarcastic, right?

Expand full comment

I am.....for the most part ;-).

I mean, back to back losing seasons, and 3 out of 5, with a .375 winning % in Conference play, isn't usually grounds for an extension.

Do we think a 100% graduation rate will get Fox an extension?

Expand full comment

This seems like a panic sign to me. Needed a QB so let’s go flip a kid that is committed to…Yale! Take that Harvard!!

Expand full comment

I guess you want to have a QB recruit in every class, no? Makes sense to grab one...who knows, big kid from a run-heavy HS program....maybe he takes to Musgrave's vanilla West Coast O like a duck in water...

Expand full comment

One of the clips is of him scrambling for a first down. I think he'll need to do that quite a lot next year if the OL doesn't improve.

Expand full comment

That is a hilarious picture! How did you find it?

Expand full comment

SGBear is a bot and scrapes the internet.

Expand full comment
author

Name a player who was glorious for only a single season.

Expand full comment

Nate Longshore.

Expand full comment

Jaylen Brown at Cal

Expand full comment

Heh, I don't that's what he was aiming for, even if true.

Expand full comment

Jake Peavy

Expand full comment

He had a lot of good seasons but most of those were with the Padres so I’m sure no one noticed.

Expand full comment

Trent Richardson in NFL

Expand full comment

I don’t know about that. He had one 1,000 yard season and then did nothing.

Expand full comment

Isn't that exactly what we are looking for?

Expand full comment
Feb 1, 2022·edited Feb 1, 2022

Sorry, he didn’t even have a 1,000 yard season. He rushed for 950 yards on 267 attempts for a robust average of 3.6 yards per carry.

He never had a breakout NFL season.

Expand full comment

I guess it wasn't that glorious. I just remember he was talked about a lot that year.

Expand full comment

Mark Fidrych

Expand full comment

Brady Anderson

Expand full comment

Steroids

Expand full comment

Rod Benson was a solid role player for 3 of his 4 years, but Boom Tho led the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 13.3 & 6.3 for an '04-'05 Cal team that played without Leon Powe (ACL)...

That squad finished a disappointing 13-16 for Braun, but with a healthy Powe, ya kinda wonder what-if.....add Big Lee to Benson, Kately, Dom McGuire, Midge, Ubaka, Vierniesel, and young bigs David Paris, Kevin Langford, & Devon Hardin...that would have been interesting....

Expand full comment

Roy Hobbs

Expand full comment

He could've been the best that ever played the game.

Expand full comment

Shoulda been a farmer

Expand full comment

That was Pop Fisher.

Expand full comment

The fact that he went 3/4 of a season without breaking a bat is amazing...sure, he boned it so it wouldn't chip, but still...you'd think he'd get jammed at some point.

Expand full comment

The bat was no ordinary bat.

Expand full comment

It was only going to break at the most dramatically compelling time.

Expand full comment

Max Mercy thought it was a loaded bat...

Expand full comment
Feb 1, 2022·edited Feb 1, 2022

Maybe it was one of those maple bats Bonds used!

Expand full comment
author

JJ Arrington

Expand full comment

jared goff?

Expand full comment

Nah

Expand full comment

Jeremy Lin

Expand full comment
author

Chad Hansen

Expand full comment

FOLKS.

Expand full comment

Google

Expand full comment

Pixel owners: Today is the day Google stops giving free storage for original resolution photos in Google Drive. I haven't decided whether or not to keep using original quality and just paying for more storage. A couple of articles I've read said that depending on the phone, it may only be noticeable when really looking at the highest resolution. They said new phones with cameras > 20 MB images will notice. Depending on the phone, some lower resolution when going to saver mode but the compression definitely changes.

Expand full comment
author

I switched to the "high quality" resolution when I got to the 15GB threshold for their free storage. For my Pixel 3a, it doesn't make a major difference. The only downside is that I need to pull the photos directly from the phone if I want the original resolution (which admittedly never actually happens).

Expand full comment

Since Google isn't sending any more security updates to my Pixel 3, I'm contemplating buying a new one. I saw HSB's Pixel.6 but don't like how large it is. I wish they'd make smaller phones.

Expand full comment

get one of those folding ones!

Expand full comment

*Pixel 3 owners

Expand full comment

DBD test kitchen

Expand full comment

My family had takeout last night from Wojia Hunan Cuisine https://wojiahunancuisine.com/. Highlight for me was the fried glutinous rice balls (overall a savory dish, but the insides were filled with sweet sesame paste). My mom also brought taro cakes (good), daikon cakes (good), nian gao/New Year's cakes (good), and...Korean dumplings from Costco (apparently only mediocre).

Expand full comment

That menu looks great. I may have to try it.

Expand full comment

DBD AV Club

Expand full comment

The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window- I can't remember seeing a more bipolar series in the last decade. It's played so incredibly straight except for truly bizarre details that are thrown in every now and then, like Bring Your Daughter to Work day at the FBI's BAU, or the ever-changing epitaph on a gravestone. It wouldn't work at all without Kristen Bell, and even so it still misfires pretty frequently. A very weird show that doesn't quite go broad enough to be consistently funny.

Expand full comment

So I started that GandB....I love Kristen Bell. Couldn't get into it...

I enjoyed Girl on the Train, and thought The Woman In the Window was dreadful, so was interested in seeing what this was about. It's...not funny...so what is it? Serious?

Thought it was kinda silly.

Expand full comment

For what it's worth, the first episode is particularly lifeless as it includes neither the apparent murder or enough oddball details to really register.

Expand full comment

I started The Gilded Age...had trouble getting through the first episode, which does not bode well for my chances of lasting the season...

One of my favorite shows on tv in the last few years is 1883, so the vast difference in the two programs, despite being set in the same country just 1 year apart, is fascinating.

Expand full comment

I thought the second episode was better.

Expand full comment
Feb 1, 2022·edited Feb 2, 2022

Starting it now...I'm a big Carrie Coon fan from S2 of The Sinner...so let's see where we're at.

Updated: 2nd one was better...Meryl Streep's daughter is good.

Expand full comment

Am liking After Party on Apple. My kids watch it with us, even though it is not really appropriate for them, because they are mystery junkies. The dude from Detroiters is great, love that guy, as is Ben Schwarz

Expand full comment

Agreed! It's not incredible but it's definitely fun enough. I particularly like the subtle costume changes between each witness's version.

Expand full comment

Girls5ever is quite funny; 3 episodes in; finished 3rd season of Sex Education which was very good we thought.

Expand full comment

Girls5Eva is very good! Though I had an amusing moment when I started watching it and my wife came in asking if one character was supposed to be "some kind of Sara Bareilles ripoff," and then I had to inform her that it was actually Sara Bareilles.

Expand full comment

Bots

Expand full comment

I had a Roomba and he and I could not come to an understanding of how best to vacuum a house so I gave him away. He was loud, his storage compartment was impossibly small (had to be emptied several times on a single circuit of my home, and my home is pretty tidy) and if I set him to run at night I would wake up to absolute chaos as he spit out lint in the hallway and wedged himself under furniture. Felt like I spent more time cleaning up after him than I would have just doing the vacuuming myself, so now that's what I do.

Expand full comment

First world problem. The good news is they will probably improve on these issues sooner than later. New technology rarely works well, much less at a reasonable cost; but if its a good concept, refinements can be had.

Expand full comment
Feb 1, 2022·edited Feb 1, 2022

I had a roomba way back when and agree with all of this. It's a nice idea but the execution is just terrible

Expand full comment

Our's does pretty well for mindlessly picking up dog/rug hairs in the main section of our house. As long as I pick up any stray phone/laptop charger cables and close the door to the bathroom (it does like to lock itself in there) before leaving the house, it does a decent job and takes about an hour. It is loud so I don't like to run it while I'm home. We've had the same DJ Broombot for 5 or 6 years and it's on its 3rd battery replacement, second left wheel and probably 10th set of brushes. You do need to periodically remove brushes and clean the innards to keep it in top form.

We also have the Dyson cordless pet hair vacuum and it is hands down the best and most versatile vacuum I've ever owned. It is also on it's second battery pack after the first died out after ~1.5ys.

Expand full comment

DJ Roomba did a decent enough job. We have two house cats so he helps pick up the fur from the floor and under the couch.

Expand full comment

Elon Musk Has an Idea to Make Us All Rich Someday. Meet Optimus the Robot.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/elon-musk-optimus-the-robot-51643662391?tesla=y

Expand full comment

My nephew just moved to Austin from Fremont - he is a robotics software engineer at Tesla. The new factory in Austin is preparing the launch of the cybertruck, and also is doing some unspecified AI work which is a company secret, e.g., he cannot disclose the nature of the project. He was fortunate to work alongside Musk last week. Hoping he gets a promotion.

Expand full comment

Real underachiever, huh? ;-)

Expand full comment

Used to play video games all the time. I didn't think he'd do much, actually. But then he became self-motivated.

Expand full comment
author

We had a roomba and it was terrible at its job. It regularly got stuck under the couch, stuck in the bathroom after locking itself in, and often it skipped about a third of the downstairs flooring for no apparent reason. About a month ago I finally had enough of its three-year reign of incompetence and replaced it with a Dyson cordless stick vacuum. Whereas the roomba took over an hour to clean the downstairs, I can do it in under ten minutes and do a much more thorough job. And it's a game-changer for quick, spot-cleans. Bits on the floor after cooking dinner? 30 seconds and it's clean again.

Expand full comment

This is pretty much my Roomba experience, though I haven't had it as long. Also, it's noisy, a problem if you're working at home.

Expand full comment
author
Feb 1, 2022·edited Feb 1, 2022Author

Why get an expensive, unreliable thing to do a sub-par job when I already have a teenager?

Expand full comment

you have a reliable teenager?

ours is 50-50 on taking out recycling and garbage w/o reminding.

Expand full comment

Where did SGBear say "reliable teenager"?

Read what he wrote...again.

Expand full comment

You are right.

Expand full comment

My son was so bad as a teenager, he "recycled" 8-9 full bottles of beer.

Expand full comment

Reliable teenagers are unicorns....

Expand full comment
Feb 1, 2022·edited Feb 1, 2022

What is the best "bot" that you own that makes your life easier?

Expand full comment
author

Two bots.

Google Mini Home. This last week, I started using it for a communal shopping list. No more "write on the list or it doesn't get bought". A small, but definitely a value-add feature. I also use it for weather, timers, alarms, finding my phone, recipes, playing music while I cook, and asking simple questions.

The other bots are the small automated switches that I posted in the DBD yesterday. Intermatic ST01. Knows when dusk/dawn is and automatically turn on your outdoor lights. Lutron Maestro MS-OPS2 means no more reaching for switches when your hands are full or wet going into pantries, laundry room, mud rooms, closets, or powder rooms. Cheap and can be installed in about 20 minutes. Well, the second one takes 20 minutes. The first one takes an hour because of the learning curve.

Expand full comment
author

The local power company gave us a free smart thermostat a while back. I don't interact with it very often, but when I do I can control everything from my smartphone. The smartphone functionality is less exciting to me than the fact that I am no longer using one of those typical, incredibly frustrating thermostats whose counter-intuitive user interface hasn't been updated since the 1990s. Trying to set a schedule in the old one was like trying to calculate an integral with an abacus.

Expand full comment

I put Philips Hue lights in a number of locations in the house & my wife refuses to use an app to control them, turns them off manually in the evening and gets irritated when they aren't on in the morning. 🤷‍♂️

Expand full comment

I'm not sure I understand.

Your wife turns off the lights manually and expects them to turn on in the morning automatically? Wouldn't turning the lights off manually require turning them on manually when you want them to be on?

Expand full comment
author

I did the same thing for our Xmas lights. I put them on a schedule. I even had the lights be voice activated, linked to Google Mini. . However, my wife would manually unplug them before going to bed and then then be upset when they weren't on in the morning, even when staring at the unplugged cord. Naturally, I would try to explain that she didn't need to do anything... just leave them alone and they would go off at a set time and come on in the morning. "Yeah, but...", she would say, flapping her hands toward the lights in the universal sign for "this technology confuses me". Since then, I've realized that I will never use anything that doesn't have a dead simple interface because my wife will only wave her hands at it.

Expand full comment

my wife decided some time ago - and says it exactly this way - that she was done trying to keep up with "bleeding edge" technology. Which is fine, but I can't convince her that, for example, closing the kitchen door so she can't see the light from the bedroom works just as well as manually turning off the light. So I go to the kitchen, close the door, and turn the light back on. We both get what we want without conceding anything 😂

Expand full comment

Isn't marriage great?!? o/

Expand full comment

Two different housesitting situations with this kind of lighting:

1) my friend had her bedside lamp set to slowly brighten in the morning, but somehow the system had reset and now she can't disable it

2) my other friend had her house set up with the Philips Hue lights, and it was all very organized...but in German

Expand full comment

On the tree? I just leave them on all the time until it comes down.

Expand full comment

Are your Xmas lights LEDs?

Expand full comment

we have one of those Samsung SmartThings devices that connects lights, sensors, espresso machine, Nest cameras, etc

Expand full comment

Don't have one, but I think when the carpet is replaced with hardwood, I'll look into getting one.

Expand full comment

I can't because of the pups....they would be basket cases & need years of therapy.

Expand full comment

Sweep

Expand full comment

the leg

Expand full comment

Other Colleges

Expand full comment
author

California and Texas are generally seen as the top two states for female gymnastics. The number of D1 Colleges that sponsor WGYM: California 6 - Texas 0.

Expand full comment
author

James Madison moves up from FCS to FBS, joining the Sunbelt in all sports - including football. Will probably be a middle-of-the-division team given how good JMU is and how bad some of the Sunbelt is.

https://twitter.com/ChrisVannini/status/1488587010570870792

Expand full comment

College football recruiting: Texas A&M, LSU among five teams that can close strong on National Signing Day

These are the programs poised to finish on a high note Wednesday during National Signing Day 2022

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-recruiting-texas-a-m-lsu-among-five-teams-that-can-close-strong-on-national-signing-day/

Expand full comment

Today in Covid

Expand full comment

So you can catch Omicron twice… https://mobile.twitter.com/ganyborg/status/1487073480625504263

I know a few folks who have had it twice in a month

Expand full comment

Local institution of higher learning that issues policy statements and press releases without actually employing even basic learning inadvertently updated guidance/directives that excludes a growing number of early adopters of vaccines and boosters. Published a home-grown definition of "up-to-date" that does not conform to CDC or state standards, and as written requires those eligible for a booster to have received it in the last 5 months, or 2 months in the case of J&J. Overlooks the fact that boosters have been available for more than 5 months already. Oops!

Will be interesting to see how/when the next well intentioned but (probably) incorrect guidance comes out (now that its been brought to their attention).

Expand full comment

Well, COVID has entered my house. The 6 year old tested positive last night after he showed some symptoms (not the first time someone has shown symptoms during this flu season, but I guess all previous instances were just colds). Everyone else tested negative, so we'll see what happens in a few days.

Am I worried about anyone's health? Not especially. Wife and I are vaxxed and boosted. The 6 year old has had both shots and so far just has a cough/runny nose and mild fever. He's up and about. We also have a 2 year old who can't be vaccinated, but COVID is supposed to be low risk for that age group anyway.

Honestly, the biggest stress is that everyone is going to have to stay home from school for 5-10 days now.

Expand full comment

Bummer! Good luck with everything! Do your kids have to test negative to return? My friend in NYC told me they changed the rules this week so that a kid with Covid can return as long as his symptoms are improving

Expand full comment

I believe the school district does want a negative test to return, after 5 days. We would probably do that anyway.

Expand full comment
Feb 1, 2022·edited Feb 1, 2022

My sister started with symptoms the weekend before last. Took a test early last week that came back positive last Thursday. Still has symptoms but they are milder. She took a rapid test Sunday and it was positive. But her work thinks she's good to go to come back to the office. Apparently, everyone has already had or currently has it so it's OK to come back.

Expand full comment

Jesus

Expand full comment
author

Good luck! Hope the kids stay sane during quarantine.

Expand full comment

Take care!

Expand full comment

Stay strong my friend. We had a similar experience. 4 year old daughter got Covid and then it ripped through our household as our 1 year old son, myself and wife all tested positive. Everyone was fine, health wise, the hardest part was 10 days of no school.

Expand full comment

Would also be good to avoid grandparent visits for a bit.

Expand full comment

Oh yeah, we don't plan on doing any events until all tests are negative. At most I might make quick trips to the store (mask on) as necessary, again, as long as I remain negative.

Expand full comment

OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

Expand full comment

How Trump’s political groups are spending their huge cash haul

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/01/trump-political-groups-spending-00004057

Expand full comment
author

[Pushes clicker] Ooh... 'What is grift?', Alex.

Expand full comment

Pro

Expand full comment

Say what you will about Jimmy G, but he's being a class act even as he gets shipped out of town.

https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/49ers/jimmy-garoppolo-gives-heartfelt-goodbye-49ers-fans-uncertainty-awaits

Expand full comment

Absolutely.

Though I don't love his limitations as a quarterback, even when healthy, Jimmy G has always seemed like a super good dude, and a great teammate.

Expand full comment
author

Ken Dorsey gets promoted to Buffalo Bill's OC.

https://twitter.com/BuffaloBillsPR/status/1488572915146711049

Expand full comment

He'll get an HC job in a few years....because Josh Allen, of course.

Expand full comment
author

Also, Muck the Fats.

Expand full comment

Always!!

Expand full comment
author

US Women's figure skating team chosen: Mariah Bell, Karen Chen, and Alysa Liu. Prediction: Bell will be the darling of NBC's pre-performance background film roll because she won nationals and is a photogenic blonde.

https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2022/01/08/figure-skating-women-olympic-team-usa/

Expand full comment

Isn't the national champion the person who typically get the pre-event hype?

Expand full comment

Brady, undoubtedly pissed that Schefter leaked the news, officially retires.

Expand full comment

pqtm.

Isn't Schefter doing his job?

Expand full comment

Absolutely...but sources say Brady was miffed by the news leaking last week, before his beautiful post where he thanked everyone from his parents to Santa Clause....everyone but Belichick and the Pats that is.....

Expand full comment

People were losing their minds this morning on sports radio over here in New England

Expand full comment

Sounds like Tommy Boy is a little full of himself.

Expand full comment

Diva

Expand full comment

Though honestly, anyone who's had his ass kissed as much as Brady, I'd be surprised if they WEREN'T a little full of themselves.

Expand full comment

Cal

Expand full comment
author

[BASE] Beavers (OF) and White (SP) named 2nd team pre-season All Americans by two different publications

https://calbears.com/news/2022/1/31/baseball-cal-duo-named-preseason-all-americans.aspx

Expand full comment

Go Bears!!!

Expand full comment

Don't have one.

Expand full comment

That's exactly what a bot would say

Expand full comment