150 Comments

Lunch

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Apr 5, 2022·edited Apr 5, 2022

Cugel, you’re the wine guy right?

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You bet'cha

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What is your opinion of Sea Smoke?

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Which one? I've had one, it was quite good, but I think it's overpriced a bit, so I don't buy it. There are better values in Pinot Noir, even from the Sta. Rita Hills, although to be honest, most of the Pinot I drink is from Anderson Vly or Oregon. Or Santa Maria Vly.

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Southing. 2017,18,19 and now 20. Seems pretty expensive…especially in restaurants - if available. Seems very hard to get. Have a buddy that really likes it (he likes Kosta Brown too). Wondered if it is really worth the hype.

Which one from Sta Rita Hills? (I think that is Jimmy Chitwood’s neighborhood, or close to it)

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I'm on the list at Sea Smoke, mostly because I love Sea Spray and through the winery's allocation is just about the only way to get it.

All of the bottles purchased directly are $80 (Southing, Ten, Chardonnay and Sea Spray).

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Kosta Brown is a little sweeter than I like

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I think it is better to stick to tequila. Understanding wines is tough to navigate. Just pour tequila in a glass and drink. The only options are with ice or with lime.

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It takes some time to navigate wine as you say, but that's the fun part!

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For the amount of time and money I have put into “research / navigation” I deserve a doctorate. As such, I have learned just about nothing.

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Gross Out has some great deals when good wines get dumped there, but they don't last long - I bought 3 cases of Rubissow there - but now they're out of business. You need to make friends with the store wine guy, that's what my son did. (Oakland)

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eh, that's different, they have a bunch of reasonable choices, but no steals. What ever you like.

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one of my favorites - pasta w/ clams at Eataly today.

tourists are starting to come back, but you can still just walk in and get a table.

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Leftover chicken souvlaki, grilled over a bed of onions, tomatoes and lemons, served with rice pilaf & a cucumber yogurt salad. So tasty.

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1950 US Census

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Apr 5, 2022·edited Apr 5, 2022

I took more than just a look at the 1950 US Census.

I tried tracking down relatives and in-laws who were alive at the time of the census. My Dad's side of the family was not quite as straightforward as I thought because the AI on handwritten pages produced plenty of spelling errors. For instance, I found that the cursive lower case "s" is often mistaken for lower case "a". In the case of my last name it practically guarantees that the misspelling will be shown almost to the exclusion of the correct spelling.

Some close relatives have a somewhat common last name, "Harrison". "Harrison" came out as "Hanison" on their AI listing. The good thing is that the Census Bureau recognizes that there are likely to be multitudes of errors in the AI transcription (is "transcription" the correct word here?). I can request the ability to edit what the AI is showing to be more accurate.

I am having a devil of a time finding my Mom's side of the gene pool, though. First off, I haven't yet had success finding Mom's adoptive parents, even though their last name is somewhat distinctive ("Wight"). What I don't know is where they lived at the time of the 1950 Census. I know that my grandfather worked in Newark, New Jersey. But that means they lived in the largest metropolis in 1950 USA. That fact makes this search difficult.

My maternal grandmother's name could be either "Wilhelmina" or "Minnie". I'm about to try the obvious misspelling "Wright", but that has it's own problems as well. "Wright" is the obvious misspelling because when my g'father gave his name for a restaurant reservation, he spelled it to the host or hostess: "Dubya, eye, gee, aych, tee." Didn't matter. "Wright, party of four. Wright, party of four."

And this doesn't even begin to find my Mom. She was born in 1941 in San Diego, but she was adopted in 1954 and came to live in Berkeley, from Texas. She was literally orphaned along with her brother, Jerry. And she told me and my siblings that her given name at birth was different from what her adoptive parents named her. I know how her birth name sounds, but there could be multiple spellings. What's worse, is I don't know if she was living in San Diego, Oklahoma, or Texas in 1950. All three places are possibilities. I can see this may be something of a mystery that could involve some heavy sleuthing.

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I played around with it while watching a game yesterday. I couldn't find my dad's family. I'm not sure if they had moved to Oakland by that time. I pretty easily found my mom's family. Her two older brothers had moved out and were farming together. My mom was still at home and at age 18 was shown as a grade school teacher at a county school. Lots of her relatives also in the same census district.

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RE: your dad's family. If they hadn't moved to Oakland by 1950, where else would they have been? Amazing mysteries await solving.

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I assumed they went from the small town in Nebraska he's from to Oakland but I didn't find him there. I never heard about any other places he lived. I found my dad's uncle and family in the small town but that's it. Need to talk to my sibs to see if they know more than me.

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Fascinating stuff.

Finally found my Mom's adoptive parents in Essex County, New Jersey. Did my bit to update the transcription so that it's more accurate.

Also found that other relatives names in the AI transcription is very wrong. "Terry D" came out as "Tiny D". His brother, "Roger L" showed up as "Raper L". Still can't get over that transcription; makes me chuckle because it's just so wrong.

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Yeah. I found my dad. I know the street he lived on in Oakland because it's only a mile from where I grew up. I went through the geographic descriptions of the enumeration districts and found the one for his address and there they were.

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Twitter

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Apr 5, 2022·edited Apr 5, 2022

Elon Musk takes 9.2% stake in twitter, may force changes. Anyway, the stock popped over 27%

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This is so funny. It’s like a drunk buying a stake in the bar he frequents

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The irony of using vast amounts of money to influence "free speech" on a platform...

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one of the "oldest tricks in the book"

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He now has been named to the twitter board of directors, stock up 3% today..

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The stipulation that comes with the board seat is that he can own no more than 14.9% of the outstanding shares.

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He'll make a terrible board member. He'll have massive cognitive bias and will think everything he's ever done was a good decision and nobody can convince him otherwise.

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Ukraine/Russia

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Russian embassy in Ireland asks for the host country to intervene because they can't get fuel and other supplies delivered to them. Boo effing hoo.

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/politics/russian-embassy-urges-irish-government-26635546

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A former-intelligence officer for Finland tries to explain why Russia does what it does. It's a long article to read, so your lips might get tired.

https://ricochet.com/1214468/finnish-intelligence-officer-explains-the-russian-mindset/

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This Ukrainian dude can mash an accordion like nobody else

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Bn4m6dQbI

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That could have been me, if I'd lasted more than six months with my lessons.

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I fear it will be hard for the U.S. not to get drawn into this war at some point, the way things are going.

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Nah. It will drag on a few more months, there will be a ceasefire that cedes some territory in the East to Russia, and then the real question will be what does the West do vis a vis sanctions if Putin gets something for his invasion like that?

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Why do you say that? To me it seems like Russia's resources are gradually dwindling and they won't be able to keep an active offensive going much longer. This is due to both Ukraine's own resistance, foreign aid for them, and heavy sanctions on Russia.

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Just because of the human tragedy. Not that it has always drawn us into conflicts, but this time it might.

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There doesn't seem to be much appetite for that. I think Russia would have to launch another attack on an ally for the US to want to enter the war themselves.

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US getting in on the oligarch super-yacht seizing business.

https://twitter.com/MikeBalsamo1/status/1510942796034846721

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Name an app on your phone that you're really digging right now.

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Shazam has always been the killer app

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People don’t use the substack app for W4C?

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I am trying it now!

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I didn't even know there was a substack app to be honest

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That would be way too Gl*&n Gr**n#ald adjacent for me. (I didn't know either)

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Scroll to the bottom of any W4C post and you can see a white banner that says get the substack app.

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I don’t read the fine print 😂

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Twitterific. It's clunky on things like embedded media, doesn't do polls, etc., but I like the iron clad chronological presentation and the fact that it holds your place so you can go to read an article and then go back to where you were without the timeline jumping.

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this is more related to my escape fantasies, but Idealista and Funda (real estate in Portugal and the Netherlands respectively).

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Thanks. I just wasted a bunch of time fantasizing about running off to Mallorca.

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Mallorca is an incredibly nice place to ride a road bike. didnt see a single pot hole the entire week i was there.

a retired friend of mine rides there 2-3 times a year. need to get on that schedule somehow

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nothing wrong with that - and I think that Idealista covers Spain and Italy as well fwiw

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Oh great you had to tell me that. Anything for France?

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I've not tried lately - I went through a phase a few years ago of looking online & it was a lot more chaotic than Dutch real estate. I just searched on the app store for "immobilier" and that provided some suggestions like A Vendre A Louer. Or there's always the christie's & Sotheby's sites.

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Ummm, gmail.

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You're a C-list musical act. What's going in your backstage rider that costs less than $50 per person?

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Pizza (Young Fresh Fellows ref)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJzAfxAtg6A

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A pound of mint malt balls and a dozen peonies.

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I was going to say a full-body massage, but I think I'd exceed the $50 budget.

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Apr 5, 2022·edited Apr 5, 2022

not if you go to chinatown

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A likely one-hit wonder from the last 10 years

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Gotye - "Somebody That I Used To Know." Recorded in '11, but charted in the US in 2012, so it makes your 10-year cutoff point.

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Big fan of Kimbra’s performance here: https://youtu.be/6YzGOq42zLk

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Love that song. Rest of the album is blah.

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CPR

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Resusci Annie, the CPR mannequin, is based on a 19th century girl who drowned

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resusci_Anne

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TIL the line "Annie, are you okay?" in "Smooth Criminal" is a reference to Resusci Annie...

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Apr 5, 2022·edited Apr 5, 2022

TIL that too. Thank you.

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Spring

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We are experiencing Sprummer in the foothills of Norcal. High this Thursday is forecast to be 85 damn degrees! Perfect sendoff for family trip to Belize, leaving that same day. Our first stop, San Ignacio, will be 94 degrees.

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96 here on Thursday!

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Gonna be 80-something in SF too! I am looking forward to it (but also going into the office because A/C).

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84 in SB

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POLLEN ****ING EVERYWHERE

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Spring is entering full bloom out here and it's gorgeous. The only downside is that after a nearly 6 month break, I'll have to start mowing the lawn again soon.

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Wait til it really grows after this week's rain. I was noticing the park down the street needed mowing and sure enough Arlington County got to it yesterday. The tulips in front of the Netherlands Carillon across the street don't have flowers so I don't count it as spring yet.

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Our tulips just bloomed a couple days ago. Though we were able to protect them during the recent freezes, so they're probably ahead of schedule.

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DBD AV Club

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Watched first episode of Slow Horses - I thought it was good, the wife less so.

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it's on my ATV+ list. after the final Severance Thu night!

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Gary Oldman is great.

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Started a rewatch of season 5 of Better Call Saul for a refresh prior to season 6 premiering on the 18th.

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That's a good idea

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The Benjamin Franklin documentary by Ken Burns started last night on PBS. Don't know why, but for some reason I was never exposed to more biographical information on him apart from the kite-and-key legend (which was, in fact, true) and his political activities in Philadelphia. This was a nice way to fill in my own intellectual gaps. It's Ken Burns, so you know its going to be good, but it seemed almost a little formulaic to me. 12/19.

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I've been watching the Pennyworth series. It's fine. I understand that apparently Batman enthusiasts don't like it because it confuses the canon, but since I'm not attached to any Batman mythology, my jimmies remain unruffled.

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yup...I watched both seasons (errr, "series") over the weekend. British, so total of 12 ±21-min eps. Agree with the above, but the premise upon which it all stands is pretty damn dicey.

What are the odds she'd be at a club that he'd go to, and if so, that he'd not be mobbed.

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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Matt Gaetz fighting a culture war. Defense Secretary fighting a real war. Gaetz can't handle the truth.

https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1511385365076189189

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Former MS Governor and Brett Favre allegedly colluded in a corrupt way.

https://mississippitoday.org/2022/04/04/phil-bryant-brett-favre-welfare-scandal-payout/

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did you know that they are apparently pro pedophile?

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I didn't know you read the Federalist

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Apr 5, 2022·edited Apr 5, 2022

Or also known as the QAnon subreddit thread.

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its all over every news source in the universe

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Elsewhere in college

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Texas Tech football coach to appear on the Bachelorette - a show I have never seen and have no intention of ever watching.

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Entirely meaningless news.

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KU/Carolina

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I am not sure I've ever seen two teams attack each other at such a fast pace in college. It was faster than an NBA game. Did the clock ever get down to the last 10 seconds in the 2nd half.

One UNC player threw up on the court out of exhaustion. I was worried about him as I thought it might have been a bigger health problem. Way to leave it all on the court!

Anyway, I thought it was an amazing game, and shocking how good both teams were ... both had monster and skilled centers, both had athletic and long players, both had clutch players making big plays (although Love had a terrible game including two misses in the last 30 seconds.

Also, with 4 seconds left, the only thing Kansas could do to lose the game was commit a turnover ... so that's what they did and UNC had a good look at the basket by their star player

Wow

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Was only halfway paying attention due to the looming UNC blowout during the first half. Watched the final few minutes and wow, what a choke job. Those were some uuuugly shots by UNC in the final few seconds.

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That's not fair to how well Kansas played in the second half - t'was a great game.

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Apr 5, 2022·edited Apr 5, 2022

Kansas came out in the 2nd half the way I thought they would in the first half. Run the break every time they can. The twisted ankles for Love and Bacot didn't help Carolina.

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It's weird, UNC was up by a lot at halftime, but it didn't really "feel" like they were dominating, you know? More like they were just making a lot of shots. Obviously that did not continue.

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Kansas went the whole tournament without having to play a single top team, at least at full strength. They got #16 Texas Southern, a #9 Creighton team missing two starters, a drastically overseeded #4 Providence team, a solid but nonetheless #10 seed in Miami , a Villanova squad missing it's 2nd best player, and then Carolina with Bacot on 1 leg.

They looked great in the 2H, though UNC's shot selection left a fair amount to be desired. Either way, that was one of the easiest paths to a National Championship you're going to find.

And they're facing something like 5 Level 1 violations.

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I find it humorous that you think the NCAA is going to level any significant sanctions or penalties against Kansas.

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I watched the CC of the halftime show and Barkley was right. Kansas shouldn't have tried to force the ball inside in the first half. Bacot and Manek are much bigger and better than the other teams Kansas played in the other rounds.

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Today in Covid

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Apr 5, 2022·edited Apr 5, 2022

Actually, yesterday.

Got my *2nd* Moderna booster. Oh, that reminds me. I need to update my vaccination status with my employer.

The usual side-effect: soreness at the injection site.

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Well, this weekend. Went out for dinner at Juanita & Maude in Albany (quite good) - and it felt like we entered the twilight zone - we walked in wearing masks - but nobody else was, not any of the servers, none of the patrons.

We felt so uncomfortable we took off ours.

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BA.2 is the dominant strain everywhere in the US.

https://twitter.com/erictopol/status/1511134150643789826

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BA11 is going to explode beginning in September...for the 49ers that is.

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PRO

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PSA, if you have TMobile, today is the first day you can sign up for free MLB At Bat for the season.

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CAL

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Fox's phones should be active.

Saint Peter's star trio of Daryl Banks, Matthew Lee and Doug Edert enter men's basketball transfer portal

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/33676088/saint-peter-star-trio-daryl-banks-matthew-lee-doug-edert-enter-transfer-portal

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Do you like basketball? Do you like watching your team play mediocre teams that are better than yours and Iowa? Do you also like watching it being played at a state college in the suburban part of the Panhandle? Boy, do I have good news for you.

https://twitter.com/jonrothstein/status/1495445294921752581

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Awesome, another cross country trip to Florida to go 0-2...

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Will Craig medically retires. Aaron Maldonado is no longer with the team per Wilcox’s spring opening presser.

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What happened to Maldonado last two years? I don't think he played

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He didn’t. I think it was mostly due to injuries.

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OL will continue to struggle. This offense has the potential to be bottom tier Pac 12 in all offensive categories with the amount of players we need to replace now.

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Turns out Cal basketball may have done a public service by preparing a bunch of the Old Blues for this eventuality.

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Yeah kind of hard to feel optimistic about this season

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Apr 5, 2022·edited Apr 5, 2022Liked by SGBear

Came into some unexpected cash so bought something I've long coveted, a first edition signed copy of California Football History by Brick Morse published in 1937. Arrived last night and it's already a treasured possession. Have two previous books on the history of Cal football, the latter Ron Fimrite's book from about twelve years ago.

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Go Bears!!!

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We win a lot of championships in the non-revenue sports, from tiddlywinks to paper airplane throwing. Not so much in football and men's BB, though. Jim needs to figure out how to pay the freight.

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What are you smoking? We haven't even been in the final four of paper airplane throwing since 1993 when we won it all. Haven't even made the elite eight since Coach Soggybutt retired six years ago. How I long for the glory days.

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Seems like you've forgotten about Joe "Booya" Ayoob

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Or did he

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