I seldom partake in any kind of spirits. I’m not much of a drinker of anything at all. I don’t know jack about beers or wines. I enjoy a cider now and then. But, what’s interesting is it turns out I actually like Malort. I don’t understand all the fuss about it being foul.
i am generally drawn to things on menus that i have never heard of, unless it sounds revolting. and even then sometimes i'll give it a try (these 2 sounded fine)
A whistleblower leaks the misalignment memo to the New York Times.
For the first time, the public hears about Agent-4. “Secret OpenBrain AI is Out of Control, Insider Warns,” says the headline, and the story goes on to cite evaluations showing off-the-charts bioweapons capabilities, persuasion abilities, the ability to automate most white-collar jobs, and of course the various concerning red flags.
'Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,' CEO Jack Dorsey says
Jack Dorsey thinks other companies will follow Block with dramatic workforce cuts.
Block, the parent company of Square and the Cash App, is conducting a major reorganization in the age of artificial intelligence.
The payment-technology company plans to cut almost half of its workforce, it announced Thursday. The restructuring will bring Block's (XYZ) employee count below 6,000 versus more than 10,000 today.
Keeping Sagapolutele in Berkeley was a huge win for new coach Tosh Lupoi. The Hawaii native was one of the top freshmen in college football last season, throwing for 3,454 yards and 18 touchdowns over 13 games. If the transition to new play-caller Jordan Somerville is seamless, Sagapolutele will easily push for All-ACC honors in ‘26.
17. Davis Warren, Stanford
The departure of Ben Gulbranson and Elijah Brown left an empty quarterback room for new coach Tavita Pritchard. Warren – a transfer from Michigan – is the frontrunner entering spring practice. True freshman Michael Mitchell Jr. and former UCF signal-caller Dylan Rizk are also in the mix. Warren did not play at Michigan last year after suffering an ACL injury at the end of ‘24.
The California men's golf team continues its 2026 spring season, heading to the Cabo Collegiate in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
The Golden Bears are one of 15 teams competing in the par-71, 7,156-yard course at Twin Dolphin Club. Competition begins Sunday with the teams playing 18 holes each day.
The California women's basketball team fell behind 17-9 after the first quarter but battled back to stay within striking distance the rest of the way and actually outscored the Tigers from the second through the fourth quarters but ultimately fell 70-63 at Haas Pavilion on Thursday night. It was just the Golden Bears' (17-13, 8-9 ACC) fourth home loss of the season as the Tigers improved to 20-9 and 11-6 in conference play.
FULLERTON – The California softball team dropped both contests Thursday at the 20th annual Judi Garman Classic, falling to BYU, 7-6, before an 8-0 five-inning loss to No. 6 Florida.
BOSTON – The California track & field team joined its 17 conference-mates Thursday at the TRACK at new balance for the first day of the ACC Indoor Championships, fielding 13 athletes across seven individual events and two additional multi-eventers.
After one day of competition, the Golden Bears are tied for ninth with seven points in the men's team standings and tied for 11th with three points in the women's. No. 8 Virginia holds a commanding lead on the men's side with 45 points over second-place Louisville's 23 and third-place North Carolina's 22.5; on the women's side, Notre Dame (25 points) leads Maimi (24) and Virginia (23) in a close race.
California men's gymnastics returns to action this weekend after a two-week break from competition, returning to The Farm for the Stanford International Collegiate on Saturday at 4 p.m. PT. The Golden Bears will meet Stanford for the third time this season, as well as Team USA, Team Mexico and a group of international all-stars entered as one squad.
— The Blue Devils were 19-7 winners the first time the teams played in a neutral-site game in Denver on Feb. 15, 2009.
— Duke also won 13-4 in Durham last season on March 21, 2025. Cal kept the game with a then-No. 13 Duke squad close in the first half of their 2025 meeting, trailing 5-3 at the intermission before the Blue Devils outscored the Golden Bears in the second half, 9-1.
— All four of Cal's goal scorers from the 2025 game – Annette Ciupek, Ashleigh Masterson, Emily Moes and Courtney Wong – are starters on the 2026 squad.
California women's rowing will send two varsity eight crews – "Cal Blue" and "Cal Gold" – to the California Challenge Cup hosted by UC Irvine in Newport Beach this Saturday to face several top boats from Southern California schools.
The competition format consists of a series of rotating dual races over approximately 1400 meters. Cal Blue will take the water first to face Long Beach State at 7:30 a.m. PT, before Cal Gold squares off with host UC Irvine at 7:35 a.m. as part of round one.
The California men's rowing team will open its 2026 campaign this weekend at the California Cup Challenge, hosted by UC Irvine in Newport Beach on Saturday. A pair of young Golden Bear crews will make the trip down south for the season opener, with Cal planning to send the freshmen eight and the fourth varsity eight to race against a variety of top boats from other Southern California programs.
There’s a version of the Warriors fan who woke up in February convinced the franchise was on life support. There are plenty of reasons for that.
Steph Curry hasn’t played a single minute this month. Jimmy Butler is done for the season before he barely got started. Jonathan Kuminga is in Atlanta and instantly became the greatest player in Hawks franchise history. And Kristaps Porzingis, the big they were supposed to build something with, has barely seen the floor. By every measure of conventional basketball wisdom, this team should be drifting toward mediocrity, killing time and giving the front office an excuse to tear something dow
Unless we truely have A's fans that want recaps, I'm going to stop putting A's recaps here. Once the season starts, I'll still keep putting Ballers recaps here.
For the second straight day, the San Francisco Giants engaged in a Cactus League slugfest. And for the second straight day, the power they provided was surpassed by the power they allowed. This time, it wasn’t quite as close as on Wednesday, as the Giants fell to the Colorado Rockies 11-3.
There were a lot of firsts in Thursday’s game against the Chicago White Sox, and all of them were good and promising.
Tyler Glasnow had his first outing of the season and is just another starter that looks like they are in mid-season form. He struck out the side first inning and had a ground out and two more K’s in the second inning.
No bubble games again tonight. Unless you count Miami (Oh) vs. Western Michigan. Miami is three wins away from an undefeated regular season but might have to win the MAC tournament to get a bid. Let's hope they do to avoid bid-stealing.
Lunardi's latest bracket is out. His "last four byes" (the last teams not in the play-in games) are Texas, Texas A&M, Mizzou, and Georgia.
Hmmm...what do those things all have in common? Apparently, the SEC/ESPN collusion that so nakedly impacts football extends to basketball, too. It's shameful.
Consensus in the comments is that Cal should be in. Not sure how 2 teams that are 1-10 and 2-10 in Quad 1 wins can be even considered. Especially since the committee is supposed to look at those closely. Unless it's a UNC thing like last year (and coming from a UNC fan I didn't think they should've made it).
That's fascinating. Cal needs a bit tougher OOC schedule next year. Madsen's built the program to a place where we aren't just desperate for wins, we need resume-building wins.
I continue to not understand why the metrics reward teams for losing tough games. Like, Ohio State is 1-10 vs quad 1 and Indiana is 2-10 and just suiting up seems to help their metrics. Couldn't anybody lose all those games just as easily?
If Cal had scheduled a premier nonconference tournament like Maui and loss all three games, would they be better off than having 3 easy wins at home?
A good rule would be to limit NCAA tournament participation to teams with a winning record (or at least not a losing record) in your conference. I mean, ELEVEN SEC teams?
this was the bane of my existence for a long time. everything in undergrad and grad level physics is approximated to be a "simple harmonic oscillator" and a simple spring is a perfect example.
The best part about Spring might be the reappearance of Irish soda bread. I don't usually get all excited about foods that come and go - like, I will never care that the McRib is back - but I loves me some Irish soda bread.
Wordle
Wordle 1,714 6/6*
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟨🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
It was tough today
Wordle 1,714 4/6*
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛
🟩🟩⬛⬛🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
that was a fun. finally got one letter one try 3
Wordle 1,714 5/6*
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛
🟩🟩⬛⬛🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
It was a tough one. I got a little lucky with my 3rd guess.
DBD drinking (feel free to quote parts of the Cal drinking song)
Stanfurd Sucks!
had 2 interesting things at local restaurant in Burlington last night.
1 - Spaghett, a bottle of Miller High Life partially poured out, Aperol, and lime/lemon
2 - Underberg, some cheap German bitter digestif that reminded me of the cheap things we like to drink at Cal tailgates.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/NiFraNtEiTaY19s89
1. Definitely would try the Spaghett - sounds delicious.
2. If "cheap things we like to drink at Cal tailgates" is a reference to Malort, then I'll take the hardest of passes on anything reminiscent.
I read “ Malört: The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit” over the holidays and it was very interesting.
I seldom partake in any kind of spirits. I’m not much of a drinker of anything at all. I don’t know jack about beers or wines. I enjoy a cider now and then. But, what’s interesting is it turns out I actually like Malort. I don’t understand all the fuss about it being foul.
i am generally drawn to things on menus that i have never heard of, unless it sounds revolting. and even then sometimes i'll give it a try (these 2 sounded fine)
musings about AI
AI 2027.
have people heard of this? sort of a short term doomsday scenario coming to a theatre near you in real life and very soon.
https://ai-2027.com/
Interesting! Here is a commentary.
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/the-ai-2027-scenario-how-realistic
generally agreed that it is not as dire at painted. still, this is what everyone is talking about it seems.
i dont know know why people dont watch more Star Trek. 500 yrs from now it doesnt look so bad. in fact, some parts pretty fantastic.
i mean, even the Borg were defeated by a handful of clever humans, Vulcans, and Klingons.
I just finished session 2 of Pantheon. You can watch that, or the Matrix series, and think well we’re all just a simulation anyway.
October 2027: Government Oversight
A whistleblower leaks the misalignment memo to the New York Times.
For the first time, the public hears about Agent-4. “Secret OpenBrain AI is Out of Control, Insider Warns,” says the headline, and the story goes on to cite evaluations showing off-the-charts bioweapons capabilities, persuasion abilities, the ability to automate most white-collar jobs, and of course the various concerning red flags.
its starting. the beginning of the end.
https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20260226254/block-plans-to-lay-off-nearly-half-its-staff-in-deliberate-and-bold-embrace-of-ai
'Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,' CEO Jack Dorsey says
Jack Dorsey thinks other companies will follow Block with dramatic workforce cuts.
Block, the parent company of Square and the Cash App, is conducting a major reorganization in the age of artificial intelligence.
The payment-technology company plans to cut almost half of its workforce, it announced Thursday. The restructuring will bring Block's (XYZ) employee count below 6,000 versus more than 10,000 today.
Cal
ACC Football: Way-Too-Early 2026 QB Rankings
https://athlonsports.com/college-football/acc-football-way-too-early-2026-qb-rankings
4. Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, California
Keeping Sagapolutele in Berkeley was a huge win for new coach Tosh Lupoi. The Hawaii native was one of the top freshmen in college football last season, throwing for 3,454 yards and 18 touchdowns over 13 games. If the transition to new play-caller Jordan Somerville is seamless, Sagapolutele will easily push for All-ACC honors in ‘26.
17. Davis Warren, Stanford
The departure of Ben Gulbranson and Elijah Brown left an empty quarterback room for new coach Tavita Pritchard. Warren – a transfer from Michigan – is the frontrunner entering spring practice. True freshman Michael Mitchell Jr. and former UCF signal-caller Dylan Rizk are also in the mix. Warren did not play at Michigan last year after suffering an ACL injury at the end of ‘24.
[MGOLF] Bears Head to Cabo Collegiate
https://calbears.com/news/2026/2/27/mens-golf-bears-head-to-cabo-collegiate.aspx
The California men's golf team continues its 2026 spring season, heading to the Cabo Collegiate in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
The Golden Bears are one of 15 teams competing in the par-71, 7,156-yard course at Twin Dolphin Club. Competition begins Sunday with the teams playing 18 holes each day.
[WBB] Cal Loses Tough Battle Against Clemson
https://calbears.com/news/2026/2/26/womens-basketball-cal-loses-tough-battle-against-clemson.aspx
The California women's basketball team fell behind 17-9 after the first quarter but battled back to stay within striking distance the rest of the way and actually outscored the Tigers from the second through the fourth quarters but ultimately fell 70-63 at Haas Pavilion on Thursday night. It was just the Golden Bears' (17-13, 8-9 ACC) fourth home loss of the season as the Tigers improved to 20-9 and 11-6 in conference play.
[SB] Bears Lose Opening Games At Judi Garman Classic
https://calbears.com/news/2026/2/26/softball-bears-lose-opening-games-at-judi-garman-classic.aspx
FULLERTON – The California softball team dropped both contests Thursday at the 20th annual Judi Garman Classic, falling to BYU, 7-6, before an 8-0 five-inning loss to No. 6 Florida.
[T&F] 3 Bears Named All-ACC After Day 1
https://calbears.com/news/2026/2/26/track-field-three-bears-named-all-acc-after-day-1.aspx
BOSTON – The California track & field team joined its 17 conference-mates Thursday at the TRACK at new balance for the first day of the ACC Indoor Championships, fielding 13 athletes across seven individual events and two additional multi-eventers.
After one day of competition, the Golden Bears are tied for ninth with seven points in the men's team standings and tied for 11th with three points in the women's. No. 8 Virginia holds a commanding lead on the men's side with 45 points over second-place Louisville's 23 and third-place North Carolina's 22.5; on the women's side, Notre Dame (25 points) leads Maimi (24) and Virginia (23) in a close race.
[MGYM] Cal Returns To The Farm For Stanford International Collegiate
https://calbears.com/news/2026/2/26/mens-gymnastics-cal-returns-to-the-farm-for-stanford-international-collegiate.aspx
California men's gymnastics returns to action this weekend after a two-week break from competition, returning to The Farm for the Stanford International Collegiate on Saturday at 4 p.m. PT. The Golden Bears will meet Stanford for the third time this season, as well as Team USA, Team Mexico and a group of international all-stars entered as one squad.
[LAX] Cal Plays At No. 23 Duke
https://calbears.com/news/2026/2/26/lacrosse-cal-plays-at-no-23-duke.aspx
CALIFORNIA-DUKE LACROSSE HISTORY
— Duke leads the all-time series, 2-0.
— The Blue Devils were 19-7 winners the first time the teams played in a neutral-site game in Denver on Feb. 15, 2009.
— Duke also won 13-4 in Durham last season on March 21, 2025. Cal kept the game with a then-No. 13 Duke squad close in the first half of their 2025 meeting, trailing 5-3 at the intermission before the Blue Devils outscored the Golden Bears in the second half, 9-1.
— All four of Cal's goal scorers from the 2025 game – Annette Ciupek, Ashleigh Masterson, Emily Moes and Courtney Wong – are starters on the 2026 squad.
[WROW] Women’s Rowing Commences 2026 Season
https://calbears.com/news/2026/2/26/womens-rowing-womens-rowing-commences-2026-season.aspx
California women's rowing will send two varsity eight crews – "Cal Blue" and "Cal Gold" – to the California Challenge Cup hosted by UC Irvine in Newport Beach this Saturday to face several top boats from Southern California schools.
The competition format consists of a series of rotating dual races over approximately 1400 meters. Cal Blue will take the water first to face Long Beach State at 7:30 a.m. PT, before Cal Gold squares off with host UC Irvine at 7:35 a.m. as part of round one.
[MROW] Men’s Rowing Opens 2026 Campaign
https://calbears.com/news/2026/2/26/mens-rowing-mens-rowing-opens-2026-campaign.aspx
The California men's rowing team will open its 2026 campaign this weekend at the California Cup Challenge, hosted by UC Irvine in Newport Beach on Saturday. A pair of young Golden Bear crews will make the trip down south for the season opener, with Cal planning to send the freshmen eight and the fourth varsity eight to race against a variety of top boats from other Southern California programs.
[BVB] No. 10 Bears Host Battle Of The Bay
https://calbears.com/news/2026/2/26/beach-volleyball-no-10-bears-host-battle-of-the-bay.aspx
PRO
Kerr's Warriors refuse to quit on the season, punish Grizzlies in Memphis
https://dubnationhq.com/p/kerrs-warriors-refuse-to-quit-on
There’s a version of the Warriors fan who woke up in February convinced the franchise was on life support. There are plenty of reasons for that.
Steph Curry hasn’t played a single minute this month. Jimmy Butler is done for the season before he barely got started. Jonathan Kuminga is in Atlanta and instantly became the greatest player in Hawks franchise history. And Kristaps Porzingis, the big they were supposed to build something with, has barely seen the floor. By every measure of conventional basketball wisdom, this team should be drifting toward mediocrity, killing time and giving the front office an excuse to tear something dow
Unless we truely have A's fans that want recaps, I'm going to stop putting A's recaps here. Once the season starts, I'll still keep putting Ballers recaps here.
Thank you. There's no more need for A's recaps than, say, Dbacks recaps.
Rockies crush Hayden Birdsong, Giants, 11-3 in Cactus League play
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/san-francisco-giants-scores-standings-nl-west/103737/giants-rockies-recap-hayden-birdsong-heliot-ramos-matt-chapman
For the second straight day, the San Francisco Giants engaged in a Cactus League slugfest. And for the second straight day, the power they provided was surpassed by the power they allowed. This time, it wasn’t quite as close as on Wednesday, as the Giants fell to the Colorado Rockies 11-3.
Homer happy Dodgers remain undefeated
https://www.truebluela.com/dodgers-scores-standings/110373/homer-happy-dodgers-remain-undefeated
There were a lot of firsts in Thursday’s game against the Chicago White Sox, and all of them were good and promising.
Tyler Glasnow had his first outing of the season and is just another starter that looks like they are in mid-season form. He struck out the side first inning and had a ground out and two more K’s in the second inning.
Bubble Watch
No bubble games again tonight. Unless you count Miami (Oh) vs. Western Michigan. Miami is three wins away from an undefeated regular season but might have to win the MAC tournament to get a bid. Let's hope they do to avoid bid-stealing.
Massive slate of bubble games Saturday.
CBS sports has Cal as the last team in, playing Santa Clara in a play-in game in Dayton.
Of course, they also have Cal's conference as the Pac-12. They have Stanford and SMU in the ACC, so this is just a Cal problem for them. Sigh.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/bracketology/
Lunardi's latest bracket is out. His "last four byes" (the last teams not in the play-in games) are Texas, Texas A&M, Mizzou, and Georgia.
Hmmm...what do those things all have in common? Apparently, the SEC/ESPN collusion that so nakedly impacts football extends to basketball, too. It's shameful.
Interesting reddit post Bentpawn posted on the WFC discord.
Blind bubble resume comparison - Pick 4 teams
https://www.reddit.com/r/CollegeBasketball/comments/1rgb2w1/blind_bubble_resume_comparison_pick_4_teams
Consensus in the comments is that Cal should be in. Not sure how 2 teams that are 1-10 and 2-10 in Quad 1 wins can be even considered. Especially since the committee is supposed to look at those closely. Unless it's a UNC thing like last year (and coming from a UNC fan I didn't think they should've made it).
That's fascinating. Cal needs a bit tougher OOC schedule next year. Madsen's built the program to a place where we aren't just desperate for wins, we need resume-building wins.
I continue to not understand why the metrics reward teams for losing tough games. Like, Ohio State is 1-10 vs quad 1 and Indiana is 2-10 and just suiting up seems to help their metrics. Couldn't anybody lose all those games just as easily?
If Cal had scheduled a premier nonconference tournament like Maui and loss all three games, would they be better off than having 3 easy wins at home?
A good rule would be to limit NCAA tournament participation to teams with a winning record (or at least not a losing record) in your conference. I mean, ELEVEN SEC teams?
Spring
_ constant K.
this was the bane of my existence for a long time. everything in undergrad and grad level physics is approximated to be a "simple harmonic oscillator" and a simple spring is a perfect example.
Don’t forget the dash pot! An amusing word from undergrad that I haven’t seen since.
The best part about Spring might be the reappearance of Irish soda bread. I don't usually get all excited about foods that come and go - like, I will never care that the McRib is back - but I loves me some Irish soda bread.
Irish soda bread is one of the special things in the world. now i am going to be on the lookout for some.
Well, St. Paddy's Day is only (checks calendar) 18 days away. Should see some any day now.
I'm enjoying a think slice of it right now. Lotta Irish in these parts so it's easy to come by. Even the grocery store soda bread is fire here.