88% coverage. It got noticeably dimmer as the peak approached. And it was eerily chilly while the sun was mostly blocked. Cf98 is just barely the age where she can understand it (3), so the night before I used a ball and a flashlight to visualize what was going to happen. She was absolutely transfixed during the eclipse, and did a surprisingly good job of wearing her eclipse glasses
85% coverage. Got dimmer, like everything had a dark car tint on it. Everyone stayed at home during that time and I took advantage of it to go shopping. I mean, cats need litter - eclipse or not. Came back and saw a bunch of people outside pointing their phone camera at the sun, no doubt seeing that their humble cameras could not handle even an 85% covered sun.
fwiw I got a half decent picture using a 3rd party camera app that mimics larger / smaller f stop apertures, but I characterize it as "vaguely arty" rather than "suitable for show and tell."
about 3.5 min of totality in Burlington VT. it went much quicker than expected. we hiked up the top of Mt Philo just south of town.
here are some mediocre photos. i had some equipment issues and could not quite get it to focus perfectly or maybe it was the lens/filter combo. the solar filter i used was probably too many f-stops so it pretty much blocked out everything.
we also got in a nice 2 day skit rip to VT. some places (Jay Peak near the Canadian border) got 30+ inches of snow last week and it was near perfect conditions for a ski day in early Apr.
the most interesting part of the eclipse (one i never appreciated before) was that you saw a 360 deg sunset. since the sun was blocked out overhead, every part of the horizon was orange-red in a cool way.
I've been to plenty of large events, but never any super-mega-jumbo events. Biggest is probably 72k-ish from any number of sellout games at pre-renovation Memorial Stadium
Indi 500 (probably 1993) during my first year of grad school
they say about a 300-350k people if you count all the people inside the oval that dont even have seats. we have seats on the inside of the oval.
the most challenging thing is how far away you have to park, and how tired your arms are after carrying in the max sized cooler or beer that each person is allows.
the coolest thing is how loud the cars and how fast they go.
I was going to say the largest event I had been to was Day on the Green in 86(?) with U2.
Then I remembered the Cal/Tennessee and Cal/OSU games (100K+).
Then I remembered the 50th anniversary walk across the GGB in 87. This surely had more than 100K people, didn't it? That was insane and seemed to be fully packed from end to end.
East Bay and, surprisingly Louisville, have the best tap water I've had. Louisville is good I think because it is naturally filtered through the rock and sand.
I prefer a specific "brand" of tap water, supplied locally to East Bay addresses. I grew up on it and have been surprised over the course of my life just how good it has been.
I am also very proud to have spent a career in support of the people who keep water in the pipe.
The Oakland Athletics faced off today against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park in the finale of their first road series of the 2024 MLB season.
The A’s got on the board first and early in the first inning with a single by Abraham Toro followed by a triple by Zack Gelof. Keeping the hit parade going, JJ Bleday singled to score Gelof. Rooker K’d for the first out of the inning. Seth Brown popped out and J.D. Davis struck out to end the rally. But not after the A’s jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
The San Francisco Giants lost to the Washington Nationals on Monday night. That much is probably long evident — I’m not sure how one would manage to bypass both the game and the headline, only to discover in the body of the article what the outcome was.
The Giants lost, first and foremost, because they did not pitch well. But if they had pitched well, they would have lost because they did not hit well. And if they had hit well, they would have lost because it was one of those nights. Things were weird. Everything felt off. The ball bounced in funny ways, and the creative interpretation of the strike zone was probably a delight if you’re one of those people who understands art.
One day after a long rain delay in Chicago, rain came to Minneapolis on Monday too, but not enough to interrupt the series opener. James Outman and Shohei Ohtani nearly brought more rain with high fly balls that landed over the fence, powering the Dodgers to a 4-2 win over the Twins at Target Field.
Went over to Roosevelt Island for the eclipse. Between peeks at the sun I was looking around and saw a couple turkey vultures. A couple guys walked by and one noticed my Cal hat and gave me a Go Bears. Turns out he graduated only forty years after I did. Was on a run around the island this morning and saw a guy with a Cal hat on running the opposite direction. Gave him a Go Bears and got one in return after it dawned on him what I said. Two in two days is a good thing.
NAPA – The No. 25 California women's golf team teed off the opening round of the Silverado Showdown on Monday, posting a team score of 13-over-par 301 that landed the Golden Bears in 14th place.
Rolling out the same lineup that saw them finish in second place at last weekend's PING/ASU Invitational, the Bears were led by senior Cristina Ochoa who carded a 1-over 73 through 18 holes. Ochoa finished the day strong shooting 2-under on the back nine – tied for the 6th-best back nine score among the current top 25 – placing her in a tie for 25th place individually.
BERKELEY – The California baseball team begins a busy stretch of five games in six days when it plays a pair of midweek contests against Easy Bay rival Saint Mary's. The Golden Bears will host the Gaels on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. PT. Tuesday's game will be televised on Pac-12 Bay Area with Joe Castellano calling the action live. On Wednesday, Cal will travel through the Caldicott Tunnel to play the Gaels at Louis Guisto Field; that game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start and will be streamed on ESPN+.
Six athletes from California men's gymnastics have been named to the All-MPSF Team, as announced by the conference Monday.
First-time honorees include senior Aidan Li (pommel horse), freshman Jaxon Mitchell (rings), junior Jasper Smith-Gordon (vault) and senior Darren Wong (horizontal bar). Li shattered the modern program record Saturday with a score of 14.700 to take third place in the competition, anchoring a pommel-horse lineup that posted a cumulative 69.000 for another modern program best. Mitchell is the only freshman on rings to make the All-MPSF lineup and one of only three rookies to crack the overall list; he matched his PR at the MPSF Championships with a score of 13.600. Smith-Gordon, a two-time College Gymnastics Association (CGA) Regular-Season All-American, posted his fifth 14.700 of the season to take second place in the vault contest. Wong, competing for the first time in three years after three consecutive season-ending injuries, has been the Bears' top man on high bar all season long and stayed true to form with a 13.700 on Saturday.
Yesterday's eclipse experience
88% coverage. It got noticeably dimmer as the peak approached. And it was eerily chilly while the sun was mostly blocked. Cf98 is just barely the age where she can understand it (3), so the night before I used a ball and a flashlight to visualize what was going to happen. She was absolutely transfixed during the eclipse, and did a surprisingly good job of wearing her eclipse glasses
85% coverage. Got dimmer, like everything had a dark car tint on it. Everyone stayed at home during that time and I took advantage of it to go shopping. I mean, cats need litter - eclipse or not. Came back and saw a bunch of people outside pointing their phone camera at the sun, no doubt seeing that their humble cameras could not handle even an 85% covered sun.
fwiw I got a half decent picture using a 3rd party camera app that mimics larger / smaller f stop apertures, but I characterize it as "vaguely arty" rather than "suitable for show and tell."
I used the old cereal box method
I used a collander, which worked pretty well
In 2017 we poked a hole in cardboard and held it above the sidewalk. Worked much better than I thought it would. I kinda forgot to do it this year.
about 3.5 min of totality in Burlington VT. it went much quicker than expected. we hiked up the top of Mt Philo just south of town.
here are some mediocre photos. i had some equipment issues and could not quite get it to focus perfectly or maybe it was the lens/filter combo. the solar filter i used was probably too many f-stops so it pretty much blocked out everything.
we also got in a nice 2 day skit rip to VT. some places (Jay Peak near the Canadian border) got 30+ inches of snow last week and it was near perfect conditions for a ski day in early Apr.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GgViiBPkSsKZAKPy7
looks much better than my lousy attempt to see if my phone could take a picture through eclipse glasses (narrator: it could not)
the most interesting part of the eclipse (one i never appreciated before) was that you saw a 360 deg sunset. since the sun was blocked out overhead, every part of the horizon was orange-red in a cool way.
Very interesting observation about the 360 deg. sunset. That would have been amazing to see.
88% around here and I didn’t notice a big difference in light but it did get noticeably cooler.
OSKI DISCIPLE’S TRIVA FUN, A DAILY DBD FEATURE
Native American survivors of the Battle of Little Big Horn claimed that Custer’s last words were, “and I just got this jacket back from the cleaners.”
(All trivia verified by the International Trivia Foundation.)
What's wild to know is that Little Big Horn was not that long ago (1876). Some of us may have met people who remember when it happened.
The University of California had been a going concern for eight years by the time of Little Big Horn.
Hawkeye and BJ Hunnicut walk into the mess tent. A movie is playing.
HAWKEYE: I'll take the Indians, 3 to 1.
HUNNICUT: What's the name of this movie?
HAWKEYE: Custer's Last Stand.
"Well, everyone knows Custer died at Little Bighorn. What this book presupposes is... maybe he didn't?" -Eli Cash
wasnt Custer mentioned in The Last Samurai movie as being extraordinarily dumb or something?
He was not so much dumb as egotistical. His hubris cost him at Little Big Horn.
our sixth grade teacher (HAG was in this class too) read us Custer's Last Stand aloud in class. i thought it was great and very memorable
I totally forgot about that. heh...I probably fell asleep.
in class books and movies are pretty much a great chance to fall asleep
Sr year in English Lit, we did a bunch of British movies, like Tess of the Durbervilles, etc. I think I fell asleep in each one.
Crowd
I've been to plenty of large events, but never any super-mega-jumbo events. Biggest is probably 72k-ish from any number of sellout games at pre-renovation Memorial Stadium
Pre-renovation Cal Memorial is also known as Cal Memorial ver 1.2.
Version 1.0 is the original configuration.
Version 1.1 is with the press box built in the 1960s/70s with the CorTen steel exterior.
Version 1.2 is after the demolition of that press box up until December 2010 (when demolition started on the West Side).
The busiest event I went to was the Handover in Hong Kong in 1997. Millions upon millions of people. Huge trampling risk.
3 Rose Parades. Between 700,000 and 1M each along the parade route.
Indi 500 (probably 1993) during my first year of grad school
they say about a 300-350k people if you count all the people inside the oval that dont even have seats. we have seats on the inside of the oval.
the most challenging thing is how far away you have to park, and how tired your arms are after carrying in the max sized cooler or beer that each person is allows.
the coolest thing is how loud the cars and how fast they go.
the women's march in DC in 2017 - my daughters wanted to go, so I took them. That was ridiculously overcrowded.
Same event. A niece came from California for it and I went with her. I’m not big on standing around listening to hours of speeches.
I was going to say the largest event I had been to was Day on the Green in 86(?) with U2.
Then I remembered the Cal/Tennessee and Cal/OSU games (100K+).
Then I remembered the 50th anniversary walk across the GGB in 87. This surely had more than 100K people, didn't it? That was insane and seemed to be fully packed from end to end.
Per the SJ Merc, the GGB in '87 had 900k attend, 300k on the span and 600k on the grades. The bridge flattened by 7 feet.
https://www.history.com/news/golden-gate-bridge-surprising-facts
Water
East Bay and, surprisingly Louisville, have the best tap water I've had. Louisville is good I think because it is naturally filtered through the rock and sand.
The best water is Iceland. The best in the US has to be Tahoe. The worst is easily Orlando FL - nasty swamp-tasting water.
i went on a hike in northern Norway and you can drink from the streams w/o filters. was amazing, cool, and refreshing.
pairs great w/ the abundant wild blueberries that were everywhere.
generally mountain spring and stream water is pretty fantastic.
St. Louis has terrible water
I found a lot of the Icelandic water to be a bit sulfuric, which makes sense. Bend OR has amazing water, as does most of Scotland.
NYC (and suburbs where we live) is great too.
NYC water is some of the cleanest, if not the cleanest, raw water anywhere in the US. Its source is snowmelt from the Adirondacks.
Sierra Nevada sources of municipal water are similarly clean.
I prefer a specific "brand" of tap water, supplied locally to East Bay addresses. I grew up on it and have been surprised over the course of my life just how good it has been.
I am also very proud to have spent a career in support of the people who keep water in the pipe.
I agree it's the best in the world. Of all the places I've been it's the best!
still vs sparkling. Go!
whatever's free. But I prefer sparkling
I like to belch
i doint pay for it that often, but i really do enjoy a bottle of Pelligrino w/ an Italian meal.
Topo Chico is a fun thing too ...
Still. Don't like unsweet sparking water. Soda is fine but nothing like La Croix.
DBD AV Club
US Government stuff
PRO
A’s take series in Detroit with a 7-1 victory.
https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/vanderbilt-big-lee-dort-commits-to/comments
The Oakland Athletics faced off today against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park in the finale of their first road series of the 2024 MLB season.
The A’s got on the board first and early in the first inning with a single by Abraham Toro followed by a triple by Zack Gelof. Keeping the hit parade going, JJ Bleday singled to score Gelof. Rooker K’d for the first out of the inning. Seth Brown popped out and J.D. Davis struck out to end the rally. But not after the A’s jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
Giants lose in every way that you can lose
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2024/4/8/24124879/giants-nationals-recap-blake-snell-jung-hoo-lee-lamonte-wade-jr
The San Francisco Giants lost to the Washington Nationals on Monday night. That much is probably long evident — I’m not sure how one would manage to bypass both the game and the headline, only to discover in the body of the article what the outcome was.
The Giants lost, first and foremost, because they did not pitch well. But if they had pitched well, they would have lost because they did not hit well. And if they had hit well, they would have lost because it was one of those nights. Things were weird. Everything felt off. The ball bounced in funny ways, and the creative interpretation of the strike zone was probably a delight if you’re one of those people who understands art.
McCovey Chronicles has such clever writers. I enjoy their work.
I agree. Started with Grant Brisbee and Brady has done well taking over as the writer.
Blake Snell’s Giants debut: 3.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R/ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 72 Total Pitches (39 Strikes)
Very Snell-like performance.
James Outman, Shohei Ohtani home runs lift Dodgers over Twins
https://www.truebluela.com/2024/4/8/24124382/shohei-ohtani-james-outman-home-runs-dodgers-twins
One day after a long rain delay in Chicago, rain came to Minneapolis on Monday too, but not enough to interrupt the series opener. James Outman and Shohei Ohtani nearly brought more rain with high fly balls that landed over the fence, powering the Dodgers to a 4-2 win over the Twins at Target Field.
CAL
Go Bears!!!
Went over to Roosevelt Island for the eclipse. Between peeks at the sun I was looking around and saw a couple turkey vultures. A couple guys walked by and one noticed my Cal hat and gave me a Go Bears. Turns out he graduated only forty years after I did. Was on a run around the island this morning and saw a guy with a Cal hat on running the opposite direction. Gave him a Go Bears and got one in return after it dawned on him what I said. Two in two days is a good thing.
[WGOLF] Ochoa Leads Bears On Day One In Napa
https://calbears.com/news/2024/4/8/womens-golf-ochoa-leads-bears-on-day-one-in-napa.aspx
NAPA – The No. 25 California women's golf team teed off the opening round of the Silverado Showdown on Monday, posting a team score of 13-over-par 301 that landed the Golden Bears in 14th place.
Rolling out the same lineup that saw them finish in second place at last weekend's PING/ASU Invitational, the Bears were led by senior Cristina Ochoa who carded a 1-over 73 through 18 holes. Ochoa finished the day strong shooting 2-under on the back nine – tied for the 6th-best back nine score among the current top 25 – placing her in a tie for 25th place individually.
[BASE] Bears Play 2 Against Gaels
https://calbears.com/news/2024/4/8/baseball-bears-play-2-against-gaels.aspx
BERKELEY – The California baseball team begins a busy stretch of five games in six days when it plays a pair of midweek contests against Easy Bay rival Saint Mary's. The Golden Bears will host the Gaels on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. PT. Tuesday's game will be televised on Pac-12 Bay Area with Joe Castellano calling the action live. On Wednesday, Cal will travel through the Caldicott Tunnel to play the Gaels at Louis Guisto Field; that game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start and will be streamed on ESPN+.
[MGYM] 6 Bears Named All-MPSF
https://calbears.com/news/2024/4/8/mens-gymnastics-6-bears-named-all-mpsf.aspx
Six athletes from California men's gymnastics have been named to the All-MPSF Team, as announced by the conference Monday.
First-time honorees include senior Aidan Li (pommel horse), freshman Jaxon Mitchell (rings), junior Jasper Smith-Gordon (vault) and senior Darren Wong (horizontal bar). Li shattered the modern program record Saturday with a score of 14.700 to take third place in the competition, anchoring a pommel-horse lineup that posted a cumulative 69.000 for another modern program best. Mitchell is the only freshman on rings to make the All-MPSF lineup and one of only three rookies to crack the overall list; he matched his PR at the MPSF Championships with a score of 13.600. Smith-Gordon, a two-time College Gymnastics Association (CGA) Regular-Season All-American, posted his fifth 14.700 of the season to take second place in the vault contest. Wong, competing for the first time in three years after three consecutive season-ending injuries, has been the Bears' top man on high bar all season long and stayed true to form with a 13.700 on Saturday.