114 Comments
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Oski Disciple's avatar

In the comments for Nick's post on who people want to see as Cal's next basketball coach, someone named MS called me a "fucked individual" and in a separate comment said "fuck you and your family." I reported both comments. Previously when I reported a comment I could no longer see the offensive post. Is there any chance more will happen this time? I worked in public schools for over 20 years and so am pretty thick-skinned but directing the f word at a person -- and his family -- seems beyond the pale. Should MS, be warned/banned/suspended?

Piotr Le's avatar

Sorry you had to deal with such a nuisance. I gave them a week ban and erased their comments on that thread.

Oski Disciple's avatar

Good job. I don't mind for myself, just hate that kind of crap to be on WFC.

heyalumnigo's avatar

I see that he has been banned on that thread.

GoldenSD81's avatar

Did you recommend rehiring Mark Fox? Other than that, I can’t imagine what you could have posted that would cause such a response.

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Apparently lives in Austin, TX and represents either the Al Davis "Just Win Baby" in Berkeley at any cost lobby, or isn't really a Cal fan at all and is just trolling.

If it's the former, a small part of me respects the desire to win, unrealistic as it may be (i.e. Cal would never even THINK to hire Chris Beard, etc.)...if it's the latter, hasta la vista.

Oski Disciple's avatar

It all started when he said that he didn't want wokeness to affect the hiring of a basketball coach. Nick and I and later Alpha crossed swords with him over that and he got nasty.

SGBear's avatar

"I possess a device in my pocket that is capable of accessing the entirety of information known to man. I use it to look at pictures of cats and get into arguments with strangers."

O.Overall's avatar

Wokeness! Hahahhhh. Oh man, there is a certain type that really gets their panties in a bunch over any perceived effort at that kind of political correctness, is so funny. If I was younger I’d say these guys (let’s be honest it is all dudes) just need to get some satisfaction as Mick Jagger would say…

GoldenSD81's avatar

Wokeness is the current “get off my lawn” for boomers.

Terence's avatar

Definitely not only a boomer thing

MoriBear's avatar

Prob are a lot on incels out there.

GoldenSD81's avatar

Fuckin’ incels. I am sure a large portion of them are incels.

MoriBear's avatar

what is with "woke"? the people who use it as a pejorative don't really seem to know what it means. It's just a catch-all for "things being done that I don't like."

I was reading a thread about Biden and SVB yesterday. There are valid reasons to not like the bailout/not bailout, but blaming it on SVB being "woke" because they had LGBT support month or something is just asinine.

Maybe it's because the laws put into place after 2008 were weakened under Trump (albeit with bipartisan support...apparently including Barney Frank, the namesake of Dodd-Frank), and the CEO of SVB lobbied hard for the change, and SVB had no risk manager for a year. [Note: the preceding is just from reading various articles...apologies if I have anything wrong.]

MoriBear's avatar

Just was going thru my WaPo daily email. Here's a gift article related to this:

"Why the GOP is blaming Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse on ‘woke’ capitalism"

https://wapo.st/3Tenxxi

Terence's avatar

" but blaming it on SVB being "woke" because they had LGBT support month"

The [stupid] claim is that because it has a DEI board.

MoriBear's avatar

I know...like that took up 99% of their processor cycles.

Anti-woke is like Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer: Your modern ways frighten and confuse me.

GoldenSD81's avatar

I am glad I wasn’t in that thread or I would have been crossing swords with him as well. I would argue that hiring Mark Fox is the product of not being “woke” during your search and hiring process.

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Mark Fox - as bland and reactive of hire as you will find, made by a guy who was completely unprepared for that aspect of his job.

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Yeah that's offsides - you shouldn't have to deal with that. A few weeks back, I had a testy exchange with a certain Cal grad from SoCal who only weighs in on the Cal v. UC Berkeley branding debate and by their own admission is hardly a sports fan. The basis of the poster's claim is that NOBODY in the WORLD outside of Cal grads, Pac 12 fans or Bay Area people know that Cal and California IS actually UC Berkeley, which is a silly generalization - plenty of people do...I pushed back, and after our back-n-forth, they told me to go "fuck myself." Oh well.

Justbear's avatar

I think I remember that

Oski Disciple's avatar

Go Bears!!!

SGBear's avatar

[WGYM] ICYMI: Bear continue to be absolutely amazing, beating Arizona 198.275-196.525 - the highest score in Cal history. Mya Lauzon earned the first perfect 10 on the beam in school history, which helped the Bears earn a 49.825 - the second highest beam score in NCAA history. LFG BEARS!

https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/pac12-champ-cal-women-gymnastics-mya-lauzon-beam

https://twitter.com/CalWGym/status/1635114901525123073

SGBear's avatar

[WTEN] Match vs. Hawai'i cancelled due to rain. It will not be rescheduled.

https://calbears.com/news/2023/3/12/womens-tennis-cal-hawaii-match-canceled.aspx

dcblue's avatar

I was downtown at one of the museums. When walking back to Metro I went by a pizza place that has the pi symbol as part of its name. Place was packed. Not sure if coincidence or not.

MoriBear's avatar

I came here to post that...was about to, but then saw this at the bottom of the thread!

heyalumnigo's avatar

It's too bad there wasn't a DBDPIDAYHH this year. I'm in Phoenix otherwise I would've suggested it last week.

MoriBear's avatar

where's TBB to champion this?

heyalumnigo's avatar

out hunting for the catalytic convertor thief?

SGBear's avatar

DBD Street Journal

SGBear's avatar

BuzzFeed had almost all of its cash in Silicon Valley Bank. You won't believe what happened next.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/buzzfeed-says-most-cash-cash-211840069.html

SGBear's avatar

Used car values are down 7% YoY. They're still high, but it's taken a bit of the froth off the market.

https://publish.manheim.com/en/services/consulting/used-vehicle-value-index.html

HeyStudentsBears's avatar

we keep getting offers from the Volvo dealer to buy/take back our leased Volvo early for a "good deal". i am sure it is a good deal relative to what we paid. then the problem would be that we would need a new one, which would not be cheap.

MoriBear's avatar

it's like selling your SF home. Great money, but then you need to buy a new expensive SF home (or move to Montana)

HeyStudentsBears's avatar

even MT not cheap anymore, at least not near Bozeman.

but, probably still cheaper than SF.

i have a couple HS friends who have moved their in the last couple years. but their politics is more MT aligned than not, so there is that too ...

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

I looked at property up there last May...not cheap at all. Livingston (Yellowstone NP) and Kalispell (Glacier NP) areas, and in between.

Not California elite expensive, but definitely real estate boomie...if you're making the empty nest move and leaving CA, totally doable...but if you're looking for a 2nd home, it's costly.

MoriBear's avatar

Iowa?

Not sure why I typed MT...I usually say Des Moines.

Terence's avatar

One of my friends bought her 4 year old Mazda CX-5 through like double discount (friends and family and some other discount) - the dealer last year was offering her 6k MORE than she paid for it but she ultimately didn't want to have to get back into the buyers market again.

OskiOfTarth's avatar

Your headline: "...car values are down...", actual article headline: "Wholesale Used-Vehicle Prices See Large Increase in February". Yes, they're down 7% from Feb '22 to Feb '23, but up 4.3% from Jan '23, and still up 33% (using their own index) from Feb of 2020. i.e. my takeaway is that used car prices are still crazy high.

MoriBear's avatar

Just broke down and bought a new car on Friday. To replace 19-yo Matrix, which was still going strong! Was looking at used versions of the car I wanted, but they were the same price as new ones.

heyalumnigo's avatar

Used car prices were ridiculous. They're a bit better now, but if you're looking for a lightly used car, as you found, it's almost better to just buy a brand new car.

What did you end up getting?

Terence's avatar

But even new PHEV, Hybrids and EVs are still ridiculous. I ended up paying $5k over MSRP for my hybrid and I see that it's still up there as a normal price around here.

MoriBear's avatar

the Niro PHEV was listed at like $36k. (3 years ago, the "less fancy" version was upper-20s?)

Then there was the $6,995 Market Value Adjustment off on the right of the sticker. (It was $9,995 on a VW Golf!) Apparently that's the "manufacturer can jack up the price, but not increase the MSRP" fee.

I feel that I got the price down a fair bit. I think that there's wiggle room with the MVA

Terence's avatar

From my journey around car buying last year - I got the feeling that it was a lot of Bay Area dealers (and California) putting the price increases on. I was willing to fly somewhere to save like $5k on the car but the hassle and sometimes they weren't selling to people out of state and financing through a different out of state dealer just seemed like all needless complications.

MoriBear's avatar

Kia Niro PHEV.

Matrix was a stick. Loved it! Perfect city/ski car (minus no AWD).

We have solar and don't drive often/generally not more than 15 miles at a time, so with PHEV, can use EV-only (~30-mile range) and then plug in at home.

They fancy-fied it for 2023. So more than I wanted from the car, but still the closest thing to a Matrix I could find.

Also looked at Subaru Crosstrek PHEV (AWD), but they discontinued it in 2024. (They had no 2023s available, so I went across the street to Kia, who had one PHEV Niro at the trim that I wanted.)

Got $2.5k for the Matrix on trade-in. Maybe coulda got more, but they handled all the paperwork, I didn't have to deal with people test driving it, etc.

heyalumnigo's avatar

I think when my TSX dies (hopefully not in the near future). I want to hit 300K but am only around 208K, and with the number of miles I put on it it will take 15+ years.

MoriBear's avatar

my 19-yo Matrix had just over 80k miles.

Terence's avatar

Subaru is going full electric or full gas. I had the Crosstrek as one of my top 5 last year and the dealer told me "they won't even let us order them anymore"

MoriBear's avatar

yup...that's what I heard at Serramonte, so glad it wasn't BS

SGBear's avatar

What movie is really dated but is still really good

Piotr Le's avatar

Casablanca, now it feels like a sequence of cliches but one has to remember that it was the movie that established those cliches.

O.Overall's avatar

Yes! If you watch that movie, it is amazing. Almost every line seemingly has become a cliche

goldenone's avatar

Wizard of Oz. I saw it re-mastered and in HD a month or two ago. Just as weird as I remembered as a child (flying monkeys, etc.) and from 1938.

sycasey's avatar

Honestly, there are a lot. One that really shocked me when I watched it a few years back: Modern Times, by Charlie Chaplin. It's a "silent" movie, but you can hardly tell; it feels super modern.

Tangtpt's avatar

Off topic, I know, but many of Chaplin's films were made in Fremont, California (or, to be more precise, Niles, California).

Tangtpt's avatar

Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Gene Wilder makes that movie.

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Reporter: "Augustus, how do you feel now that you've found a golden ticket?"

Augustus Gloop: "HUNGRY"

MoriBear's avatar

He was an actual German kid. They filmed in Münich and the Gloops were locals.

Just finished the book. All the kids had both parents with them, except Charlie Moore (err, Bucket). Not sure why dad didn't get to join. Other grandparents were too decrepit, I guess. And mom "couldn't leave...had to stay and take care of old people".

And at the end, the Wonkavator crashes thru the roof of Charlie's house, spraying framing, plaster, etc. all over the grands. "A" for letting the fam live in the factory, but "F" for almost killing them.

WilderThanGene's avatar

He was pretty wild in that one for sure.

MoriBear's avatar

Was just about to list this. But not sure what "really dated" means here.

OskiOfTarth's avatar

Your enjoyment of movies (& music) are largely a product of your circumstances when you saw them. During your prime movie-going years (say ages 10-30?), movies you saw with your family or friends as a kid, ones you snuck into as a teen, went on dates to in your 20's all have a real-life associations for you. I can still love a movie made today, but not in the same way movies affected me in my formative years, they won't become a part of me.

For me, an example of a movie that has aged poorly but was loved at the time is A Fish Called Wanda. I only saw it for the first time a few years ago (released in 1988), all while my friends over the years couldn't believe I hadn't ever seen it & it was the funniest thing ever. Totally did not work for me in 2020.

Terence's avatar

I watched On the Waterfront for the first time last year - having only seen the "I coulda been a contendah!" Brando scene - and it's so very good. I had previously never really understood what had made Brando such a big star - but he's a force of nature in the movie. Just physically and emotionally dominant - but Eva Marie Saint, in her movie debut holds her own against him. It's really really good.

PawlOski's avatar

Tanya Roberts in a loincloth is eternal.

PawlOski's avatar

Lots of Cassavetes and Altman. A Woman Under the Influence; 3 Women; Death of a Chinese Bookie

Oski Disciple's avatar

There's so many different kinds of films that fit into this category. Everything from Animal House of more recent vintage and older films like Philadelphia Story which many feminists (not unjustifiably) bristle at.

O.Overall's avatar

There was like a heyday of screwball comedy from like mid 70s to late 80s/early 90s. Kind of died out after Naked Gun, with a few exceptions (dumb and dumber among them)

SGBear's avatar

Airplane! is still and will always be the undisputed champion of this genre.

OskiOfTarth's avatar

So many people have not seen (or heard of) Top Secret!, by the Airplane! guys. Was just as funny, didn't get a lot of pub I guess.

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

An all time classic. Brilliant film.

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

"Bet, babe, slide a piece of the porter, drink-side run the java."

Oski Disciple's avatar

For me it's Animal House, Stripes and Trading Places (all films with SNL alums).

sycasey's avatar

I'm not sure any of these are technically "screwball," which was historically a term to describe a wacky kind of romantic comedy (It Happened One Night, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, etc.).

Oski Disciple's avatar

So many comedies from the seventies through the nineties (even into the early oughts) have not aged as well as movies from sixty and more years ago due to their sexist raunchiness.

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Shrinking on AppleTV remains a complete gem. Brett Goldstein created it with Jason Segal and another...fantastic show.

Oski Disciple's avatar

Finished Poker Face last night. Excellent show. Hoping they maintain the same level of excellence in season two.

MoriBear's avatar

Really? I gave is a not-good review a few days ago. I liked E1, but she did stuff that was so dumb (telling Adrien Brody about her progress in figuring things out). Was the same for me with S2 of Russian doll. Don't leave the bag of cash on the subway seat while you argue with someone. Couldn't get past that.

(Plus I don't pay for Peacock, so only E1 was available to view...so it worked out!)

SGBear's avatar

OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

SGBear's avatar

Texas settles lawsuit from Ken Paxton firing four whistleblowers for $3.3m. Once again, nothing happens to Paxton but Texas tax payers left holding the bill.

https://www.rawstory.com/texas-legislature-has-little-appetite-to-fund-ken-paxtons-settlement-with-whistleblowers/

DC Trojan's avatar

I am amazed at how much that guy just skates on everything

OskiOfTarth's avatar

Maybe democracy ain't so great afterall...

SGBear's avatar

Raiders add Jakobi Meyers for 3 years worth $33m. Last time the Raiders saw Meyers, he did this (bonus: Big Game reference):

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1604634494245314561

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Anyone else puzzled by how many Raider fans think Jimmy Garoppolo is an upgrade over Derek Carr?

Terence's avatar

Is that really a thing? As a Raider fan, I think he's both a clear downgrade, but also Derek and the Raiders had to leave each other. I am on the "it wasn't Derek's fault" bandwagon, but the it just was never going to work going forward.

Jimmy G is here to hold the fort down while we roll the dice on like trying to turn Anthony Richardson into Josh Allen. Or some similar moonshot

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Totally get wanting to move on from Derek Carr...his time with the Raiders had run it's course. But there's plenty of people that are looking at Jimmy G's winning % with the Niners, combined with his time in New England, and thinking it's just going to easily translate to LV and I'm just not seeing it...Davante Adams' numbers take a huge hit, at least in the YPC area...Jimmy is not a downfield passer and makes the Raiders a helluva lot easier to defend.

OskiOfTarth's avatar

when you're right, you're right

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

It’s admittedly a rare occurrence….

SGBear's avatar

RIP Dick Fosbury, the pioneer of modern high jump technique

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_7T76GcJOQ

dcblue's avatar

Not a good time for old time jumpers. I saw a couple weeks ago that Bob Richards, who won a couple golds in pole vault way back in the day, passed away.

SGBear's avatar

Pat Bev channels a bit of Tipper Gore, blames Ja Morant's behavior on bad parenting & that darn music

https://www.mediaite.com/sports/patrick-beverley-insists-that-ja-morants-gun-flashing-behavior-is-a-result-of-parenting-and-music/

HeyStudentsBears's avatar

solid Warrior's win last night. Klay goes bonkers in 1st half for 33 pts. was fun to watch.

however, 8 of last 13 games are on the road, so we all know how this movie ends . maybe they will at least play the Lakers in the play-in games and that will be the most exciting outcome we can realistically hope for ..

O.Overall's avatar

No way, have to stay above the line!

HeyStudentsBears's avatar

i would like that as well.

not sure how well W's match up w/ Kings, but 3 vs 6 matchup seems the most favorable for us. i doubt we can beat Phx esp if they get KD back.

CruzinBears's avatar

From what I gleaned last night, PHX has very very little depth and if any of their stars miss a game or two they could be an early round exit. Full strength they probably outscore most teams, but it will be a delicate tightrope walk for them.

SGBear's avatar

ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Transfer portal is open in college hoops.

Cal MBB fans should keep an eye on what Bears join Joel Brown in the portal. Hopefully Knowlton is working deliberately on the coaching search, but also rapidly. Last year, a majority of the quality jobs were filled by the end of the first weekend of the Tournament, because of the portal.

Time is of the essence.

O.Overall's avatar

I mean, no knock on anyone, but this was the worst Cal bball team ever. I am not too concerned about who is leaving, more interested in who is coming

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Well, record wise, sure…that’s beyond debate. It’s the old adage - we can go 3-29 with or without you.

But some of these players WILL be back, and I’m betting green money they’re gonna look a whole lot better in a different scheme because Mark Fox actually IS that bad.

OskiOfTarth's avatar

Other than JB who's already gone, Newell, Okafor, and Celestine (only if he can get back to 100%) can stay, wouldn't miss anyone else.

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Agreed….tho I’d maybe put Alajiki on the list too, given his combination of size and athleticism. There’s still a little upside, in the right system.