My upstairs neighbor, who is a history professor, has a McGovern-Shriver bumper sticker on his car. Maybe he’d like to go back even further in time. Wrong party though.
personal higher ed moment. i am starting a new job next week at a quantum computing software co and one of the conditions of employment is that i give up all my other side gig employments, including teaching at Cal.
while it was an little unexpected at first, i am generally ok with. after 10 yrs, i probably need a change of scenery or a different routine to spice things up a bit. also, in the current age of AI the data science masters program needs to adjust and adapt to the new reality of tools and techniques as well as a drastically different job market for people w/ these degrees.
as a former Classics major, i am sad to see this ... although it does seem strange that they had 55 programs where no one was majoring in it. my impression is that at Cal and other top schools, there are actually more Classics majors than ever.
Why? He's traded one sycophant (Bondi) for another (Blanche).
Some speculation has it that Trump will ask Lee Zeldin, EPA Administrator to be the next AG.
Zeldin formerly represented NY Congressional District 1 from 2015-2023. He gave up his seat to run for Governor of NY and lost to Kathy Hochul. Trump nominated Zeldin after being re-elected in November 2024. His confirmation hearing was held on January 16, 2025. Zeldin's nomination was advanced to the full Senate on January 23. He was confirmed by the full Senate on January 29, 2025.
I think that's especially true given DJT's cognitive decline and that his internal guardrails are failing. By comparison, Jeff Sessions lasted 637 days and Bill Barr lasted 679 days. Barr was rarer still: he left of his own accord.
interestingly (not surprisingly) WB knows the full extent of the vocab and makes choices based on what would eliminate the most number of outstanding/unguessed words. whereas, we as human might know all the words in the vocab (3000-5000 words) but we are not doing that type of probabilistic approach.
in a sense is reminds me a little of how quantum computers are different than classical ones that solve with brute force. something interesting and analogous about how our minds and quantum computers solve things. there is a whole field of quantum cognition, which does not necessarily use QC's, just quantum inspired ideas.
Wordlebot is also willing to use, often on the second try, a guess that has no chance of being the correct word, in order to eliminate as many words as possible.
The 23rd-ranked California women's tennis team (9-4, 6-2 ACC) returns to the cozy confines of the Hellman Tennis Complex for its last homestand of the regular season, starting with Friday's match against No. 9 Virginia. Prior to facing the Cavaliers, Cal will honor Berta Passola Folch in its Senior Day ceremony. The Golden Bears close the weekend Sunday when they host Virginia Tech.
The California track & field team will appear at two Bay Area meets over the next three days, hosting the Brutus Hamilton Invitational at Edwards Stadium on Thursday-Saturday and sending a small contingent to Stanford's Cobb Track & Angell Field on Friday for the Stanford Invitational. Live results for both meets will be available on RecordTiming.
California wraps the regular season this weekend with a visit to Stanford, with the No. 4 Golden Bears (13-4, 3-2 MPSF) taking on the No. 2 Cardinal (10-1, 4-1) at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Avery Aquatic Center.
The Lead: After going 1-1 last weekend, the California men's tennis team will begin its three-match homestand to wrap up the regular season. This weekend, the Bears will welcome two top-25 opponents to Berkeley.
California women's gymnastics (20-7, 7-4 ACC) will make its 13th consecutive NCAA postseason appearance, and first under head coach Geralen Stack-Eaton, at the Tempe Regional hosted at the Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Ariz. this weekend. The Golden Bears, who are seeded 14th in the nation, will participate in Session 2 of the regional semifinals in a quad meet with No. 3 Florida, No. 20 Penn State and the winner of the Round 1 play-in, featuring Arizona State and Arizona. The quad meet is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT and will be shown live on ESPN+. The top two teams of the quad meet will advance to Saturday's regional final, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT.
I can’t tell you how thrilled I was with this past season and all of our collective success. Whether you were in Haas Pavilion cheering our team on or following from afar, please know how much we appreciate your engagement with our program during our first postseason appearance since 2017.
A pitcher with such a glaringly high walk rate as Gavin Williams had last season and in his first start is someone who’s playing with fire—while that may eventually prove costly, one only gets to that point if they have the quality stuff to back it up, and that showed as the Guardians beat the Dodgers 4-1. The Guardians’ starting pitcher landed his four-seamer in the zone routinely enough to take full advantage of two outstanding breaking balls; his sweeper and curveball combined to induce 12 whiffs on 20 swings, and for seven innings, he imposed his will against this star-studded attack. Apart from Andy Pages, who seemed to have his number, Dodger hitters went 0 for 18 against Williams.
Meltdowns of varying scale and on competing fronts for the San Francisco Giants, led to a rather ugly 7-1 loss to the Padres this afternoon.
Hours after the offense blossomed into a 16-hit, 9-run evening, manager Tony Vitello tried to run the good-vibes back, and…the batting order withered in the harsh light of the noon sun.
Hmm...interesting. This MAY change my thought on drafting him. Except with the state of the OL, Cousins will get knocked out by game 4 and Nando will get thrust into a situation he won't win.
I woke up but only felt a small shake in the East Bay. I heard there was one large jolt then a small rumble a few seconds later. I woke up and felt the small rumble so maybe the large jolt woke me up but I didn't feel it.
Amazingly, it woke me up in North Berkeley. I say amazingly because it was only a gentle jiggle of the bed when I awoke. I often sleep through anything as gentle.
I was awake when I felt it in San Lorenzo. About 3 minutes after it happened, USGS had it at a 5.0, then downgraded it to a 4.6. Apparently it was felt as far away as Walnut Creek and some locations in the North Bay. Refreshing to experience an earthquake that wasn't centered in San Ramon.
Gold
as in Golden Bears!
I have an unused 64 election bumper sticker, thee or so, but the gold one is:
AuH2o.
My upstairs neighbor, who is a history professor, has a McGovern-Shriver bumper sticker on his car. Maybe he’d like to go back even further in time. Wrong party though.
Annals of higher ed
personal higher ed moment. i am starting a new job next week at a quantum computing software co and one of the conditions of employment is that i give up all my other side gig employments, including teaching at Cal.
while it was an little unexpected at first, i am generally ok with. after 10 yrs, i probably need a change of scenery or a different routine to spice things up a bit. also, in the current age of AI the data science masters program needs to adjust and adapt to the new reality of tools and techniques as well as a drastically different job market for people w/ these degrees.
Syracuse Drops 84 Programs Including Classics, Ceramics and Italian
In all, 93 of the 460 academic programs at the university will be closed or paused. No students were majoring in 55 of the programs that are ending.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/nyregion/syracuse-university-degrees-eliminated.html?unlocked_article_code=1.X1A.KfX9.sVWBYx8iwPZI&smid=url-share
258 students in the 93 majors being phase out? Yeah, that's the shallow end of the pool.
as a former Classics major, i am sad to see this ... although it does seem strange that they had 55 programs where no one was majoring in it. my impression is that at Cal and other top schools, there are actually more Classics majors than ever.
Political stuff goes here
Bondi Out
Trump fires Pam Bondi as attorney general
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/02/politics/pam-bondi-role-trump
President Donald Trump has fired Pam Bondi as attorney general.
She will be replaced for now by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who will serve as acting attorney general, Trump said.
that's good. i guess?
Why? He's traded one sycophant (Bondi) for another (Blanche).
Some speculation has it that Trump will ask Lee Zeldin, EPA Administrator to be the next AG.
Zeldin formerly represented NY Congressional District 1 from 2015-2023. He gave up his seat to run for Governor of NY and lost to Kathy Hochul. Trump nominated Zeldin after being re-elected in November 2024. His confirmation hearing was held on January 16, 2025. Zeldin's nomination was advanced to the full Senate on January 23. He was confirmed by the full Senate on January 29, 2025.
Bondi's stint as Attorney General was 422 days or 38.36 Scaramuccis.
Better longevity than I expected in the Trump mass-chaos management model.
I think that's especially true given DJT's cognitive decline and that his internal guardrails are failing. By comparison, Jeff Sessions lasted 637 days and Bill Barr lasted 679 days. Barr was rarer still: he left of his own accord.
Word(le) Games
Wordle 1,748 6/6*
🟩⬛⬛🟨🟨
🟩⬛⬛🟩🟩
🟩⬛⬛🟩🟩
🟩⬛⬛🟩🟩
🟩⬛⬛🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Sometimes you can fall into a deep rabbit hole.
In its own way that’s impressive.
I was getting worried.
Wordle 1,748 3/6
🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨
⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
WordleBot
Skill 83/99
Luck 75/99
A bit less skill, more luck
Quordle
No2 used to play wordle, quordle, octordle, sedecordle, and nerdle
🙂 Daily Quordle 1529
5️⃣8️⃣
3️⃣6️⃣
m-w.com/games/quordle/
not sure i like Quorlde
🙂 Daily Quordle 1529
4️⃣8️⃣
5️⃣7️⃣
m-w.com/games/quordle/
4 today. nothing to see here
Wordle bot also got it in 4.
interestingly (not surprisingly) WB knows the full extent of the vocab and makes choices based on what would eliminate the most number of outstanding/unguessed words. whereas, we as human might know all the words in the vocab (3000-5000 words) but we are not doing that type of probabilistic approach.
in a sense is reminds me a little of how quantum computers are different than classical ones that solve with brute force. something interesting and analogous about how our minds and quantum computers solve things. there is a whole field of quantum cognition, which does not necessarily use QC's, just quantum inspired ideas.
Wordlebot is also willing to use, often on the second try, a guess that has no chance of being the correct word, in order to eliminate as many words as possible.
Does Wordlebot play in expert mode?
I think so, though I never play in hard mode myself, so I don’t have any direct experience.
it analyzes hard and easy mode depending on what you play (i think). i didnt look it up but i thought i remember seeing that
I often take that approach myself, just to eliminate likely consonants and vowels..
Wordle 1,748 5/6
🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨
🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟩⬜🟨🟩⬜
🟩⬜⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Disappointing performance.
Cal
[WTEN] No. 23 Cal Opens Final Homestand
https://calbears.com/news/2026/4/1/womens-tennis-no-23-cal-opens-final-homestand.aspx
The 23rd-ranked California women's tennis team (9-4, 6-2 ACC) returns to the cozy confines of the Hellman Tennis Complex for its last homestand of the regular season, starting with Friday's match against No. 9 Virginia. Prior to facing the Cavaliers, Cal will honor Berta Passola Folch in its Senior Day ceremony. The Golden Bears close the weekend Sunday when they host Virginia Tech.
[T&F] Bears Return To The Bay For Brutus Hamilton, Stanford Invitationals
https://calbears.com/news/2026/4/1/track-field-bears-return-to-the-bay-for-brutus-hamilton-stanford-invitationals.aspx
The California track & field team will appear at two Bay Area meets over the next three days, hosting the Brutus Hamilton Invitational at Edwards Stadium on Thursday-Saturday and sending a small contingent to Stanford's Cobb Track & Angell Field on Friday for the Stanford Invitational. Live results for both meets will be available on RecordTiming.
Whenever I see the Brutus Hamilton, I think of Bruce Hamilton, a guy I knew at Cal. I think he was a walk on to the track team. 5k guy.
[WPOLO] No. 4 Cal Sets Up For Big Splash At No. 2 Stanford
https://calbears.com/news/2026/4/1/womens-water-polo-no-4-cal-sets-up-for-big-splash-at-no-2-stanford.aspx
BEAR BITES
California wraps the regular season this weekend with a visit to Stanford, with the No. 4 Golden Bears (13-4, 3-2 MPSF) taking on the No. 2 Cardinal (10-1, 4-1) at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Avery Aquatic Center.
[MTEN] Bears Welcome 2 Top-25 Opponents To Berkeley
https://calbears.com/news/2026/4/1/mens-tennis-bears-welcome-two-top-25-opponents-to-berkeley.aspx
The Lead: After going 1-1 last weekend, the California men's tennis team will begin its three-match homestand to wrap up the regular season. This weekend, the Bears will welcome two top-25 opponents to Berkeley.
[WGYM] Bears Bound For NCAA Regionals
https://calbears.com/news/2026/4/1/womens-gymnastics-bears-bound-for-ncaa-regionals.aspx
California women's gymnastics (20-7, 7-4 ACC) will make its 13th consecutive NCAA postseason appearance, and first under head coach Geralen Stack-Eaton, at the Tempe Regional hosted at the Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Ariz. this weekend. The Golden Bears, who are seeded 14th in the nation, will participate in Session 2 of the regional semifinals in a quad meet with No. 3 Florida, No. 20 Penn State and the winner of the Round 1 play-in, featuring Arizona State and Arizona. The quad meet is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT and will be shown live on ESPN+. The top two teams of the quad meet will advance to Saturday's regional final, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT.
[MBB] Fight for California - Cal Men's Basketball Challenge
https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/49671
Cal Family,
I can’t tell you how thrilled I was with this past season and all of our collective success. Whether you were in Haas Pavilion cheering our team on or following from afar, please know how much we appreciate your engagement with our program during our first postseason appearance since 2017.
PRO
Dodgers offense is dominated by Gavin Williams (Dodgers lose to the Guardians 4-1)
https://www.truebluela.com/los-angeles-dodgers-news-notes/112642/offense-shohei-ohtani-held-silent-loss
A pitcher with such a glaringly high walk rate as Gavin Williams had last season and in his first start is someone who’s playing with fire—while that may eventually prove costly, one only gets to that point if they have the quality stuff to back it up, and that showed as the Guardians beat the Dodgers 4-1. The Guardians’ starting pitcher landed his four-seamer in the zone routinely enough to take full advantage of two outstanding breaking balls; his sweeper and curveball combined to induce 12 whiffs on 20 swings, and for seven innings, he imposed his will against this star-studded attack. Apart from Andy Pages, who seemed to have his number, Dodger hitters went 0 for 18 against Williams.
One to forget (Giants lose to the Pads 7-1)
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/san-francisco-giants-scores-standings/104560/sf-giants-mlb-recap-padres-one-to-forget
Meltdowns of varying scale and on competing fronts for the San Francisco Giants, led to a rather ugly 7-1 loss to the Padres this afternoon.
Hours after the offense blossomed into a 16-hit, 9-run evening, manager Tony Vitello tried to run the good-vibes back, and…the batting order withered in the harsh light of the noon sun.
Assuming the Silver and Black draft him, Mendoza can maybe watch and learn for a while, rather than get immediately thrust into a starting role: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/48376719/kirk-cousins-agrees-sign-contract-raiders-agent-says
Hmm...interesting. This MAY change my thought on drafting him. Except with the state of the OL, Cousins will get knocked out by game 4 and Nando will get thrust into a situation he won't win.
I'd like to say that this could be Cosuins' Jim Plunkett moment. Except that Al Davis isn't running the front office and this isn't 1978.
EARTHQUAKE - 4.6 magnitude centered in Boulder Creek (Santa Cruz Mountains). I felt it in Oakland.
I woke up but only felt a small shake in the East Bay. I heard there was one large jolt then a small rumble a few seconds later. I woke up and felt the small rumble so maybe the large jolt woke me up but I didn't feel it.
Amazingly, it woke me up in North Berkeley. I say amazingly because it was only a gentle jiggle of the bed when I awoke. I often sleep through anything as gentle.
Slept right through it!
I was awake when I felt it in San Lorenzo. About 3 minutes after it happened, USGS had it at a 5.0, then downgraded it to a 4.6. Apparently it was felt as far away as Walnut Creek and some locations in the North Bay. Refreshing to experience an earthquake that wasn't centered in San Ramon.
My watch told me 5.1 in Brookdale, next to Boulder Creek. 1:41 am. Woke me up in SF.