The lady friend and I will be flying out to the Netherlands tomorrow for our (now) annual pilgrimage to Tilburg for the Roadburn music fest. Excited to see some bands I know but have not seen live before like Julie Christmas, Cave In, Chat Pile, Pupil Slicer, and also excited for some bands I don’t know like Healthyliving, Bo Ningen, Spirit Possession, and Mütterlein. We actually managed to snag a hotel room in Tilburg this year which is rare bc most if not all hotel rooms book a year in advance.
travel like many other things is so interesting. you can go to a place "europe" many time and still have seen so little!
i cant of course get everywhere but one of my favorite things to read is this travel magazine called Hidden Europe. even if you never go to any of these places, it feels a little like you did just from reading
Starting to build the Murphy bed I ordered for my 160 sq. ft. ADU apartment where my old, dilapidated 1-car garage used to be. Huge contraption that combines dresser and cabinet space with a horizontal Murphy Bed to drop down/ drop back up to provide space in what amounts to a tiny Airstream trailer in the back yard.
The 36-month Chitwood ADU project is almost complete…final sign off came last week. This Gawd Dammed project has lasted longer than my marriage yet has been just as contentious and twice as expensive…the City has been an a$$hat at every turn…there’s so much NIMBY-ism here I doubt they like being told by the State of California what to do.
Yes, but don't you still need to file for an extension? And I really should just do this, since my taxes aren't too complicated and I usually get a refund.
1. Makes me start earlier (I get sent a packet in January, which reminds me)
2. Saves me from doing a task that I don't like doing
3. Makes me $$ (several years ago, I decided to have a "real" CPA do my taxes, even tho I'd already paid HR Block. got a WAY bigger refund). For $500~$800/year, I think I get multiple extra thousands in my favor.
I think if you're getting money back, especially quite a lot, you might as well do it now. Don't let the government hold your money. People that pay, especially a lot, could end up waiting and letting their money earn interest.
My main task is to collect the paperwork. Then I ship it to my accountant. Usually get that done pretty quickly...which was nice this year, since I got a healthy refund (which just means that I overpaid and the gubmint had my $$ for xx months)
Filed mine this morning, such a relief. Getting a decent return which will be used to improve our under house storage and drainage, now that we know a stream forms under the house when we have a rainy year like we had
Our 1929 engineering was to place a culvert in the foundation at the top of the hillside and a cast iron pipe through the foundation on the low end and hope water finds an efficient path down. We can't install french drains due to concrete pathways directly above where the culvert is. We learned that this drainage system only starts to flow once the soil is fully saturated. After learning about it this year I put a gutter diverting drain at the top and screwed together four gutter extensions to force the water to stay in one place on its way down the hillside. Once everything has dried out I plan on improving this system as well as pour a concrete floor with a drain where it is currently soil.
I've been struggling with it for 3 months because I've had these symptoms for 30+ years but it always went away after a week or so. Not this time. Chiropractor didnt work, Professional stretch did some finally went to pain management and got the diagnosis. 2 epidural steroid shots so far and now PY. Hoping I'm getting through this.
Wedding. I'm now old enough that kids of cousins are getting married (been to two of those so far in past year)- but this weekend is actually local friends. Bonus no travel! Their reception is in the same place we held ours back when, so will be fun to revisit.
We're attending the last of my wife's 50 or so cousin's kids weddings. From here on out, it'll be grandkids, second weddings, retirements, and funerals.
Weed whacking is on the agenda. Because of the abundant rains and the warming up over the last few days, the weeds in our yard have started to grow fast. Gotta get after 'em before they take over.
DeMar DeRozan took his daughter out of school for one day to watch him play in the playoffs. She went viral as a super-weapon to help cause the Raptors to shoot only 50% FTs (vs. 78% during the rest of the season). Bulls won by 4.
I saw the photos of everyone throwing hot dogs and thought, "it would take a lot to get me to launch my $9 hot dog at someone!" It all makes much more sense now.
Dan Snyder's punishment for his toxic leadership and coerced sale of the Washington Team is smashing the all-time record price paid for an NFL team, $6.05b vs. 4.65b for the Broncos last August
I don't care about the team. I'll be glad to not have to read so much about Snyder but it burns me that he's going to come out of this with all that money.
...and Denver police are looking for the guy. What I don't get is how that nimrod was allowed to leave the scene without consequences. No stadium security? Nobody called this guy out, at that moment, for his atrocious behavior?
Wiggins cleared to play in Game 1 and is expected to play 20-25 minutes. Their defense should be greatly improved now that they can throw GPII, Wigs and Dante at guards and Draymond can focus on the bigs.
apparently the Supreme Court has no code of ethics. Like at all. I was stunned to discover this. They, more than any other level of judiciary, should have very stringent rules on gifts, entertainment and business transactions
The funny thing is that the SCOTUS chief judge is the presiding officer of the Judicial Conference, which is a group of judges that writes and imposes (quite stringent) ethical rules on all federal judges other than SCOTUS judges. Also most SCOTUS judges used to be lower federal judges, and so had to live under these codes of conduct at some point. Why they choose to exempt themselves from all such requirements is beyond me, and is kind of bananas. The appearance of impropriety is such a disaster for the rule of law. And nobody on SCOTUS gives a shit! Unbelievable
MO state lawmaker who argued that 12 year old should get be allowed to get married, defended himself saying it was preposterous to allow a 12-year old to marry and adult, despite voting against a bill in 2018 that prevented that exact thing. He was saying it was okay for allowing 12 year olds to marry 11 year olds...
You'd think that encryption would enforce clearance, but maybe not. I wonder if the accused simply printed out, then scanned the hard copy to file. Or should have encryption prevented that workaround, too? Regardless, he's in a mess of trouble. A lengthy prison sentence seems likely.
Articles and NPR reporting says since he worked in IT he had access to various documents. I am not sure why someone in IT would need access to these individual documents but maybe someone who works in IT can help clarify.
depending on his job, that might not actually be strange - if the job role requires admin level access to servers / document repositories, it's much harder to enforce document-level restrictions and still have admins be able to do their jobs. I don't know much about department of defense document management, but unless documents were individually encrypted and there was some application that used PIV cards as authentication for a defined set of users, access to the servers might be enough? Anyway, I'm not entirely surprised that the vulnerability came via the Air National Guard, there's probably not the same degree of rigor.
Have you seen Deutschland 83? I think you’d like it. It is a very well done Cold War spy suspense/action drama about a young East German border guard that goes undercover in West Germany. Is streaming on Hulu. For me, even better than the Bureau
"After the fall of the Berlin Wall, a former East German spy resolves to find out who betrayed her and why — and use her lethal skills to exact revenge."
Simon Fraser University has left NAIA and has joined U Sports, which means that they will exclusively play under Canadian rules. The Shrum Bowl had the charm of alterntively playing under American and Canadian rules, depending on if UBC or SFU hosted. Now the only two universities in BC that field a football team will play with Canadian rules. Vive le Rouge!
our kids used to say they are "from CT" because they know that they were born in Greenwich Hospital, even though they have never lived there.
the CT is maybe 10-15 miles from where i live. sometimes you cross into CT and back into NY w/o even knowing it, especially on some of the country roads.
newly admitted students reception tonight in NY/NJ.
it is the one service oriented thing i do for Cal once a year. in the olden days the Cal Alumni Club would be given a small amount of money to meet the kids/parents.
they must have realized how lucrative it is for Cal to have these out-of-state kids sign up. so in recent years they send official Cal admission people. it is less fun, but possibly more effective.
i find that there are very few people that are looking to still make a decision. it is mostly to allay the fears of the kids/parents that Bezerek-ley is not SO crazy or far away.
After six straight years of doing this event, we stopped doing it in NC because it was redundant to Cal Week and we got tired of putting together an event and having students be stone-faced and ask no questions. It really should be for parents - that's who has all the questions.
in a rare coincidence 2 of my 5 really good friends from grad school had kidney transplants.
there was a moment where i had some abnormal kidney readings as well and we were starting to wonder if there was something strange in the Physics dept water fountains at IU!
i am a west to east coast transplant. grew up in SF suburbs (Moraga) and now live in NYC suburbs in a town that is almost exactly like Moraga.
in NYC there are generally 3 large suburban areas, Long Island, Westchester, NJ.
for whatever reason, Westchester, where we live has the most transplants. there are plenty of towns of varying wealth and generally more than 1/2 the people move from NYC when they have kids. LI is the most native population. and NJ is a strange mix.
Weekend plans
The lady friend and I will be flying out to the Netherlands tomorrow for our (now) annual pilgrimage to Tilburg for the Roadburn music fest. Excited to see some bands I know but have not seen live before like Julie Christmas, Cave In, Chat Pile, Pupil Slicer, and also excited for some bands I don’t know like Healthyliving, Bo Ningen, Spirit Possession, and Mütterlein. We actually managed to snag a hotel room in Tilburg this year which is rare bc most if not all hotel rooms book a year in advance.
sounds fun! I need to get my crap together and go to these northern european places.
travel like many other things is so interesting. you can go to a place "europe" many time and still have seen so little!
i cant of course get everywhere but one of my favorite things to read is this travel magazine called Hidden Europe. even if you never go to any of these places, it feels a little like you did just from reading
https://www.hiddeneurope.eu/
Dang, I'm jealous.
I've bought a manual lawn aerator (looks like a pogo stick) and 7 tons of cow manure. I'm top-dressing my yard. I know... you're jealous.
Haha Yard? What's that?
the gardeners must have come and done that recently because we have all those little pellets all of the lawn.
i used to think it was some sort of animal poop before i knew otherwise
Starting to build the Murphy bed I ordered for my 160 sq. ft. ADU apartment where my old, dilapidated 1-car garage used to be. Huge contraption that combines dresser and cabinet space with a horizontal Murphy Bed to drop down/ drop back up to provide space in what amounts to a tiny Airstream trailer in the back yard.
The 36-month Chitwood ADU project is almost complete…final sign off came last week. This Gawd Dammed project has lasted longer than my marriage yet has been just as contentious and twice as expensive…the City has been an a$$hat at every turn…there’s so much NIMBY-ism here I doubt they like being told by the State of California what to do.
I need to do my taxes (haven't even started gahhhh)
Y'all know you have until October 18th to file this year, right?
Yes, but don't you still need to file for an extension? And I really should just do this, since my taxes aren't too complicated and I usually get a refund.
I've found that paying someone else to do it...
1. Makes me start earlier (I get sent a packet in January, which reminds me)
2. Saves me from doing a task that I don't like doing
3. Makes me $$ (several years ago, I decided to have a "real" CPA do my taxes, even tho I'd already paid HR Block. got a WAY bigger refund). For $500~$800/year, I think I get multiple extra thousands in my favor.
Multiple thousands…
www.calegends.com
Men’s basketball fund.
;-)
I think if you're getting money back, especially quite a lot, you might as well do it now. Don't let the government hold your money. People that pay, especially a lot, could end up waiting and letting their money earn interest.
for state, correct? Federal is still the 16th.
Nope. for everyone in the 55 counties part of the various winter storm disaster areas, October 16.
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/california-irs-tax-deadline-2023/3202159/
That's 55 out of 58 counties in California. The three counties not covered by this extension are Lassen, Shasta, and Modoc counties.
So all the counties populated by humans get an extension. Grizzly bears are SOL…
18th
My main task is to collect the paperwork. Then I ship it to my accountant. Usually get that done pretty quickly...which was nice this year, since I got a healthy refund (which just means that I overpaid and the gubmint had my $$ for xx months)
I completed federal and state last week. Also completed some for other family members. I'm known as a guy who can reduce the tax bill.
Filed mine this morning, such a relief. Getting a decent return which will be used to improve our under house storage and drainage, now that we know a stream forms under the house when we have a rainy year like we had
We used to get water under my parents house. My dad had a guy install a french drain all around the house and no water issues since then.
Our 1929 engineering was to place a culvert in the foundation at the top of the hillside and a cast iron pipe through the foundation on the low end and hope water finds an efficient path down. We can't install french drains due to concrete pathways directly above where the culvert is. We learned that this drainage system only starts to flow once the soil is fully saturated. After learning about it this year I put a gutter diverting drain at the top and screwed together four gutter extensions to force the water to stay in one place on its way down the hillside. Once everything has dried out I plan on improving this system as well as pour a concrete floor with a drain where it is currently soil.
I'm probably going to do them this afternoon (or more likely Sunday). Should only take me about 10-15 min with turbo tax.
Just got back from my first PT session for a herniated disc in my lower back. So, I will be doing nothing!
You should sue your Pilates studio.
seriously. They suck
You should sue the city of Albany, California for this degenerative condition.
But getting better I assume.
I've been struggling with it for 3 months because I've had these symptoms for 30+ years but it always went away after a week or so. Not this time. Chiropractor didnt work, Professional stretch did some finally went to pain management and got the diagnosis. 2 epidural steroid shots so far and now PY. Hoping I'm getting through this.
Picnic Day in Davis. Might do some parade watching and stuff, might not.
Wedding. I'm now old enough that kids of cousins are getting married (been to two of those so far in past year)- but this weekend is actually local friends. Bonus no travel! Their reception is in the same place we held ours back when, so will be fun to revisit.
We're attending the last of my wife's 50 or so cousin's kids weddings. From here on out, it'll be grandkids, second weddings, retirements, and funerals.
Oh buddy, friends' kids' weddings is an industry nearly as large as my friends' weddings were back in my 20s. It's a whole new round.
Weed whacking is on the agenda. Because of the abundant rains and the warming up over the last few days, the weeds in our yard have started to grow fast. Gotta get after 'em before they take over.
Another yard? Such an environmental issue.
PRO
DeMar DeRozan took his daughter out of school for one day to watch him play in the playoffs. She went viral as a super-weapon to help cause the Raptors to shoot only 50% FTs (vs. 78% during the rest of the season). Bulls won by 4.
https://sports.yahoo.com/demar-derozans-daughter-diar-screams-through-raptors-free-throws-and-it-pays-off-in-bulls-win-012444086.html
First Energy decides to end naming rights to Cleveland's football stadium. So... a Brown Out?
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/04/13/browns-firstenergy-mutually-agree-to-end-stadium-naming-rights-deal/
They had dollar hot-dog night in Philly. Howdya think it was going to go, honestly?
https://6abc.com/philadelphia-phillies-dollar-dog-night-food-fight-viral-video-citizens-bank-park/13118868/
I saw the photos of everyone throwing hot dogs and thought, "it would take a lot to get me to launch my $9 hot dog at someone!" It all makes much more sense now.
Phillies pitcher Matt Strahm does not know how baseball works
https://apnews.com/article/mlb-beer-alcohol-sales-pitch-clock-b9004637de6b735cbf38c1290962be3e
Dan Snyder's punishment for his toxic leadership and coerced sale of the Washington Team is smashing the all-time record price paid for an NFL team, $6.05b vs. 4.65b for the Broncos last August
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/36180941/sources-josh-harris-non-exclusive-deal-buy-commanders
I don't care about the team. I'll be glad to not have to read so much about Snyder but it burns me that he's going to come out of this with all that money.
If there were a just Gawd, he'd lose all of that money soon after gaining it.
Rays win again, tie modern MLB record at 13-0
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/36180920/rays-rally-red-sox-improve-13-0-tie-modern-mlb-record
Drunk guy tackles Rockies' mascot with terrible tackling form.
https://www.9news.com/article/sports/mlb/colorado-rockies/colorado-rockies-mascot-dinger-tackled/73-5959c7e2-218e-4834-8867-0ff1ec7226df
...and Denver police are looking for the guy. What I don't get is how that nimrod was allowed to leave the scene without consequences. No stadium security? Nobody called this guy out, at that moment, for his atrocious behavior?
Not understanding how it got this far.
Wiggins cleared to play in Game 1 and is expected to play 20-25 minutes. Their defense should be greatly improved now that they can throw GPII, Wigs and Dante at guards and Draymond can focus on the bigs.
Trevor Bauer prepares for his new season in Japan. He goes to a local shop to buy baseball gloves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL0vSQNAQwI
I never really cared about him, but I really enjoyed the video and I wish him success even though he pitches for my rival team.
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Clarence Thomas didn't report that he sold his childhood home in 2014 to his "benefactor" Harlan Crow
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/13/politics/clarence-thomas-harlan-crow-real-estate-deal/index.html
apparently the Supreme Court has no code of ethics. Like at all. I was stunned to discover this. They, more than any other level of judiciary, should have very stringent rules on gifts, entertainment and business transactions
The funny thing is that the SCOTUS chief judge is the presiding officer of the Judicial Conference, which is a group of judges that writes and imposes (quite stringent) ethical rules on all federal judges other than SCOTUS judges. Also most SCOTUS judges used to be lower federal judges, and so had to live under these codes of conduct at some point. Why they choose to exempt themselves from all such requirements is beyond me, and is kind of bananas. The appearance of impropriety is such a disaster for the rule of law. And nobody on SCOTUS gives a shit! Unbelievable
Nebraska state senator uses KKK speaking points to argue his stance on abortion
https://twitter.com/HeartlandSignal/status/1646176955488673794
MO state lawmaker who argued that 12 year old should get be allowed to get married, defended himself saying it was preposterous to allow a 12-year old to marry and adult, despite voting against a bill in 2018 that prevented that exact thing. He was saying it was okay for allowing 12 year olds to marry 11 year olds...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mike-moon-child-marriage-just-kids_n_64384c43e4b0669505997b23
Gov. Abbot (R-TX) wants to pardon this guy?
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/local/2023/04/13/daniel-perry-trial-social-media-racist-anti-protester-comments-gov-abbott-garrett-foster/70113166007/
I would say this is the sort of thing that could get a guy impeached, but you know, Texas.
It certainly isn't California, that's for damn sure.
Dude who leaked top secret documents for Discord cred arrested. He will be charged under the Espionage Act.
https://apnews.com/article/leaked-documents-pentagon-justice-department-russia-war-d3272b34702d564fe07a480598bcd174
Racist, religious gun-nut traitor is upset that racist religious gun-nut traitor is being prosecuted.
https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1646615867285708802
What I don't understand is how someone who clearly lacks maturity and discretion had access to classified documents. Someone failed to do their job.
How are these docs not protected as a technological matter??? Like why not make them unreadable if sent to someone other than authorized user???
You'd think that encryption would enforce clearance, but maybe not. I wonder if the accused simply printed out, then scanned the hard copy to file. Or should have encryption prevented that workaround, too? Regardless, he's in a mess of trouble. A lengthy prison sentence seems likely.
I just feel like there are technological solutions here. You should be able to make such things unprintable
I believe that many of these sorts of documents can only be printed on certain printers.
Articles and NPR reporting says since he worked in IT he had access to various documents. I am not sure why someone in IT would need access to these individual documents but maybe someone who works in IT can help clarify.
depending on his job, that might not actually be strange - if the job role requires admin level access to servers / document repositories, it's much harder to enforce document-level restrictions and still have admins be able to do their jobs. I don't know much about department of defense document management, but unless documents were individually encrypted and there was some application that used PIV cards as authentication for a defined set of users, access to the servers might be enough? Anyway, I'm not entirely surprised that the vulnerability came via the Air National Guard, there's probably not the same degree of rigor.
That's just remarkably facile reportage. Makes me wonder where the editors are and why so many BS detectors are failing to function.
Well, tv shows and movies tell me that anyone in IT can hack into any govt server and retrieve top secret documents.
I like when they have a cool user interface on which to hack, with good visual and sound effect outputs for all actions and prompts.
DBD AV CLUB
Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson do not rule out that they may actually be brothers
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/13/entertainment/matthew-mcconaughey-woody-harrelson-intl-scli/index.html
Do the spit test already.
If anybody I respect would tell me of a show I haven't watched on TV, but is really good, I would be very happy. Seems like I'm sorta running out.
(and I think you guys know what I like and am watching)
If you haven’t, Counterpart. Amazon I think.
It was on Amazon, but made by Starz - not sure I can catch it.
Have you seen Deutschland 83? I think you’d like it. It is a very well done Cold War spy suspense/action drama about a young East German border guard that goes undercover in West Germany. Is streaming on Hulu. For me, even better than the Bureau
I'll check it out!
Cold War spy (albeit quirky) is Kleo on Netflix
"After the fall of the Berlin Wall, a former East German spy resolves to find out who betrayed her and why — and use her lethal skills to exact revenge."
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
RIP Schrum Bowl.
Simon Fraser University has left NAIA and has joined U Sports, which means that they will exclusively play under Canadian rules. The Shrum Bowl had the charm of alterntively playing under American and Canadian rules, depending on if UBC or SFU hosted. Now the only two universities in BC that field a football team will play with Canadian rules. Vive le Rouge!
Connecticut
our kids used to say they are "from CT" because they know that they were born in Greenwich Hospital, even though they have never lived there.
the CT is maybe 10-15 miles from where i live. sometimes you cross into CT and back into NY w/o even knowing it, especially on some of the country roads.
CAL
Go Bears!!!
newly admitted students reception tonight in NY/NJ.
it is the one service oriented thing i do for Cal once a year. in the olden days the Cal Alumni Club would be given a small amount of money to meet the kids/parents.
they must have realized how lucrative it is for Cal to have these out-of-state kids sign up. so in recent years they send official Cal admission people. it is less fun, but possibly more effective.
i find that there are very few people that are looking to still make a decision. it is mostly to allay the fears of the kids/parents that Bezerek-ley is not SO crazy or far away.
After six straight years of doing this event, we stopped doing it in NC because it was redundant to Cal Week and we got tired of putting together an event and having students be stone-faced and ask no questions. It really should be for parents - that's who has all the questions.
Instead, I just set up an event to watch Alex Morgan come to town to play against our hometown team - the Cary Courage - in October.
The Containment Area for Relocating Yankees
Transplant - medical variety
in a rare coincidence 2 of my 5 really good friends from grad school had kidney transplants.
there was a moment where i had some abnormal kidney readings as well and we were starting to wonder if there was something strange in the Physics dept water fountains at IU!
Transplant - non medical variety
i am a west to east coast transplant. grew up in SF suburbs (Moraga) and now live in NYC suburbs in a town that is almost exactly like Moraga.
in NYC there are generally 3 large suburban areas, Long Island, Westchester, NJ.
for whatever reason, Westchester, where we live has the most transplants. there are plenty of towns of varying wealth and generally more than 1/2 the people move from NYC when they have kids. LI is the most native population. and NJ is a strange mix.
Ye olde tyme sodas
Dr Browns Cel-ray goes really well w/ the pastrami sandwich i just had for lunch.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/YPX5J9sud2qseXLk7