The title of today's DBD reminds me of a West Wing episode, specifically, Dead Irish Writers (S3E15). The episode ends with a band playing a rendition of Oh, Canada at the First Lady's birthday party. If you're a fan of the series, you'll probably recall the episode.
Tesla board moves to reinstate Elon Musk's $56 bn pay package. This comes less than a week after Tesla announced they would lay off 10% of their workforce - 14,000 people. If each one of those people made $1m/year, it would take four years to make up for the $56 billion. Tesla is the new DeLorean.
Tap water costs about a penny a gallon. At least, that's the cost for EBMWU tap water, including the cost of wastewater service. And it supports way more than just the cost of producing drinking water and keeping it in the pipe. It also supports the management and stewardship of the watershed, the construction and maintenance of the system infrastructure, planning and design of the system and water rights.
Tap water is cheap when everyone served pays into it, but trying to live without that service would be very difficult, indeed.
We charge 5.5 cents per cubic feet of water here. That’s 5.5 cents for 7.48 gallons of water. I always ask people who complain that their water bill is to high, what can 5.5 cents buy you today?
That's a good price and it doesn't surprise me that your tap water is cheaper than EBMWU's. EBMWU water is in the top third of Bay Area water agencies in cost per gallon.
That may be so, but I'm wary of bottled water companies everywhere. Personally, I consider bottled water to be an abomination for two principal reasons - 1) it's sold in plastic bottles which is an environmental disaster of its own and 2) bottled water companies would take over the sources of municipal water utilities if they could, making the cost much higher per unit of volume than tap water, evading water quality standards, and sidestepping environmental stewardship and controls.
I can appreciate that. I only have to remember what Philadelphia water was like in 1979 to know that this is a thing, even with municipal tap water.
But bottled water is not a guarantee of clean water. Bottled water isn't regulated for water quality in the way that tap water is regulated by federal, state, and sometimes local regulations.
Bottled water doesn't have to test for things like total coliform, dissolved minerals (including manganese and arsenic), and gases. The biggest hurdles bottled water has to pass are taste, odor, and appearance, all of which are unregulated because they are secondary to the other stuff.
Put it this way - treating water to be safe and healthy produces water that is also appealing on standards of appearance, taste, and odor. But water that is treated to provide good appearance, taste, and odor isn't necessarily safe from total coliform, dissolved minerals, and gases.
I do notice that I like some bottled waters better than others. For example, I don't like Evian because, to me, it has a weird taste. Volvic, I think, didn't have any taste so that's what I bought in Europe.
And then she jumped up, gave you a hearty "GO BEARS" right back rather than just giving you a blank stare or perhaps mumbling something like "oh, yeah right" and awkwardly walking away
Grappa - the grape brandy - is a regional indication, like Champagne vs. Sparkling Wine. You'll be travelling through Grappa, so perhaps it's seems apropos to have a taster. I'm not a fan of grappa, but perhaps it tastes better over there.
Maine changes their election laws - they move from splitting their votes to the giving all their electoral college votes to whomever wins the nationwide popular vote - not the state-level vote.
Currently, the states who have enacted the Nation Popular Vote Interstate Compact comprise 209 electoral votes -
California 54, Colorado 10, Connecticut 7, Delaware 3, Hawaii 4, Illinois 19, Maine 4, Maryland 10, Massachusetts 11, Minnesota 10, New Jersey 14, New Mexico 5, New York 28, Oregon 8, Rhode Island 4, Vermont 3, Washington 12, Washington DC 3.
According to the wikipedia page, the following states (87 electoral votes) are pending action now -
Alaska 3, Arizona 11, Kansas 6, Kentucky 8, Michigan 15, Nevada 6, North Carolina 16, South Carolina 9, and Virginia 13.
Among the states with pending action, the following group (5 states, 61 electoral votes) would put the Compact at 270 electoral votes exactly -
Arizona 11, Michigan 15, Nevada 6, North Carolina 16, and Virginia 13.
It is closer to an attainable goal than I thought.
The nine (9) most populous states with no enactment or pending action -
4 electoral votes closer to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact taking effect. Not sure if it will ever take effect, though. Some of the most populous states that could make it a slam dunk vote GOP.
Seven jurors have been seated for the NY hush-money fraud case. I'm no jury expert, but it doesn't look great for Trump - two lawyers, some young people, and more educated people. Trump's best hope seems to go for a hung jury with someone digging in their heels given how poorly the Trump legal defense has been so far.
ESPN profiles the origin story behind "The Michigan" - the lacrosse-style shot where one scoops the puck into the net from behind. It's an entertaining watch.
I hope to start that either this weekend or next. I've played a few of the games and am quite encouraged by the show's praise from longtime fans and newbies alike.
I've watched the first two eps. I know nothing about the game.
Interesting so far, but I liked E1 more (the various origin stories) over E2 (seeing people walk around SoCal – SM Pier, Randy's Donuts, LAX bldg – even tho there's a place called Filly?
Yeah, the town of Filly really confused me as well. At first I assumed it was Philadelphia but that would make geographic sense as they are clearly in the LA/Santa Monica/SoCal area.
Aidan Mahaney enters the protocol. What are the chances he comes home..strike that because he is home right now...to where he should've been in the first place had Mark Fox not been in charge of the program.
I actually like Round Table, specifically the Chicken and Garlic Gourmet. Haven't had Mountain Mikes in probably 10 years. The place around the corner from Safeways was the old Round Table owner when it first opened back around 88. It was basically a Round Table pizza.
Remember Aiden Lee, the 2020 recruit who redshirted 2021 and didn't play in 2022, went to the portal ahead of the 2023 season? Well, he ended up at as a rebound recruit at Garden City City College. He then apparently went to Minot State for 2024, but once again has entered the portal. I don't know all the details, but I think people forget that there is an unsavory side to P4 college football - roster cuts and kids who see their dreams dim from NFL to graduating a top college to hopefully graduating from any college.
Caitlin Clark is a superstar out of Iowa. She was drafted first overall. Collective bargaining sets that she'll make $338,056. Over four years. Some - if not most of us - make significantly more than her.
Two Phillies players have reportedly been suspended for rape of another player. And a Board members was arrested for possession of child porn. [checks notes]. That's the New York Philharmonic.
The St. Louis Cardinals visited the Oakland Athletics tonight at the Coliseum for the second game of the interleague three-game set.
Tyler Nevin was the first A’s baserunner, after a single and E-6 on Masyn Winn. Lawrence Butler put a charge into one, but Lars Nootbaar ran it down in the left-center gap for just a loud out. But Kyle McCann found a hole and singled into centerfield to drive in Nevin from second, giving the A’s a 1-0 lead. Sears walked the first two batters in the top of the third inning. After a sacrifice bunt to move both runners up, Brendan Donovan ripped a one-hopper to third, but Toro only had a play at first, and Winn scored to tie the game at 1-1.
Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter has been banned from the NBA, the league announced Wednesday.
The NBA said that Porter provided confidential information to bettors, limited his own participation in games for gambling purposes and bet on NBA games.
It’s rarely easy, or particularly fruitful, to compare an incoming manager to the outgoing one. There are so many variables, and we’re still not entirely sure how much impact a manager has — or in what ways. And in the case of the San Francisco Giants, there’s a whole bunch of roster turnover that makes a fruitless task even sillier.
Mookie Betts tied his career high with five hits, and the Dodgers pulled away in a game they never trailed to beat the Nationals 6-2 on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.
Betts singled and scored in the first inning, doubled home a run in the second, singled again in the fourth, doubled and scored in the eighth inning, and singled home a run in the ninth.
Patrick Corbin started for the Nats. He’s 0-3 with an ERA above 8 and making 35 million. He was good his first season here but every other year he’s been at least five games under .500 and his lowest ERA above 4.5. All on a six year, 140 million deal. That during the same time they got less than ten starts from Strasberg on his seven year 235 million deal. Those contracts didn’t pan out.
Jones, Pa Chitwood and I took in his first Bark at the Park game in Phoenix…we didn’t last long at the stadium unfortunately because the music was blasting pre-game and THAT’S what freaked him TF out. Not the 300 other dogs…Wild stuff. My first ballgame since the new Rangers ballpark with hag, HSB and Newellbany during the TCU trip in ‘21.
its been a while since i have been to a game, but not that long.
there is a 100p Mon afternoon start at Yankee Stadium vs the A's that i was planning to go to. strange time for a game start at the start of a 3 game set. probably because of Passover.
Last night, Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson had a rough outing shooting 0 for 10 in a loss against the Sacramento Kings, ending the team’s chances of making the NBA playoffs. But then, almost as if to add insult to injury, X’s AI bot Grok generated a trending story claiming Thompson was vandalizing homes in the area with bricks.
I had emotionally checked out of the Warriors' season a while ago. Even if they had won the play-in, how many series wins did they seriously have in them? One at most? They're just not good enough anymore. Great players get old; it happens to everyone.
If Draymond could keep his emotions in check and not get tossed out of games then maybe they would have had a better shot. It's not hard to see them winning 3 or 4 more games without his suspensions and therefore not being stuck in the play-in tournament.
But that seems to be part of his decline . . . he can't do that anymore.
Oh
Tim Hortons (which is thoroughly mediocre and not deserving of the hype)
Sadaharu
First you say it, then you do it...-Cosby
The title of today's DBD reminds me of a West Wing episode, specifically, Dead Irish Writers (S3E15). The episode ends with a band playing a rendition of Oh, Canada at the First Lady's birthday party. If you're a fan of the series, you'll probably recall the episode.
DBD Street Journal
Tesla board moves to reinstate Elon Musk's $56 bn pay package. This comes less than a week after Tesla announced they would lay off 10% of their workforce - 14,000 people. If each one of those people made $1m/year, it would take four years to make up for the $56 billion. Tesla is the new DeLorean.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/15/tesla-shares-dip-in-premarket-trade-on-global-layoff-reports.html
How long until they remake Back to the Future with a Tesla?
No, it would have to be a car from a company that looks new and cool but doesn’t make it.
Maybe a Rivian.
Or Fisker.
Jeep
Something that costs less than $10 but has a significant positive impact vs. how much it costs.
Tap water costs about a penny a gallon. At least, that's the cost for EBMWU tap water, including the cost of wastewater service. And it supports way more than just the cost of producing drinking water and keeping it in the pipe. It also supports the management and stewardship of the watershed, the construction and maintenance of the system infrastructure, planning and design of the system and water rights.
Tap water is cheap when everyone served pays into it, but trying to live without that service would be very difficult, indeed.
We charge 5.5 cents per cubic feet of water here. That’s 5.5 cents for 7.48 gallons of water. I always ask people who complain that their water bill is to high, what can 5.5 cents buy you today?
That's a good price and it doesn't surprise me that your tap water is cheaper than EBMWU's. EBMWU water is in the top third of Bay Area water agencies in cost per gallon.
Bottled water in Europe is SO SO much cheaper than in the US. Like 50 cents for 1-2 liters vs $2-3 here.
That may be so, but I'm wary of bottled water companies everywhere. Personally, I consider bottled water to be an abomination for two principal reasons - 1) it's sold in plastic bottles which is an environmental disaster of its own and 2) bottled water companies would take over the sources of municipal water utilities if they could, making the cost much higher per unit of volume than tap water, evading water quality standards, and sidestepping environmental stewardship and controls.
Do not want.
I get it in places where I don't know what the quality of the tap water is like.
I can appreciate that. I only have to remember what Philadelphia water was like in 1979 to know that this is a thing, even with municipal tap water.
But bottled water is not a guarantee of clean water. Bottled water isn't regulated for water quality in the way that tap water is regulated by federal, state, and sometimes local regulations.
Bottled water doesn't have to test for things like total coliform, dissolved minerals (including manganese and arsenic), and gases. The biggest hurdles bottled water has to pass are taste, odor, and appearance, all of which are unregulated because they are secondary to the other stuff.
Put it this way - treating water to be safe and healthy produces water that is also appealing on standards of appearance, taste, and odor. But water that is treated to provide good appearance, taste, and odor isn't necessarily safe from total coliform, dissolved minerals, and gases.
I do notice that I like some bottled waters better than others. For example, I don't like Evian because, to me, it has a weird taste. Volvic, I think, didn't have any taste so that's what I bought in Europe.
INTERNATIONAL STUFF
I've booked my flights to have my 25th anniversary in CDMX during Dia de los Muertos. Suggestions of things to do/see are welcome.
have you been before?
- if you havent the Museo Nacional de Antropología is amazing.
- the Aztec ruins of Teotiuchan are a short excursion away
i have not been in a long time and i dont have a ton of suggestions since we went with small kids.
https://www.ablogvoyage.com/museo-nacional-de-antropologia/
A UK woman - Rebecca Black - lived next to a recycling plant. It caught fire and a Philly Eagles game broke out.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/ayrshire/fenix-battery-fire-saw-house-32590227
Dubai is in the desert, right?
https://apnews.com/article/uae-oman-rains-flooding-fatalities-7bf3881efbea998dfa4c1ed8d538217c
I saw a woman wearing T-shirt with Oski on it last week in Tokyo. I wasn't sure so I didn't give her a Go Bears.
And then she jumped up, gave you a hearty "GO BEARS" right back rather than just giving you a blank stare or perhaps mumbling something like "oh, yeah right" and awkwardly walking away
Italy - summer vacation planning.
the plan is to fly to Venice and go hiking in the Dolomites. suggestions welcome.
Grappa - the grape brandy - is a regional indication, like Champagne vs. Sparkling Wine. You'll be travelling through Grappa, so perhaps it's seems apropos to have a taster. I'm not a fan of grappa, but perhaps it tastes better over there.
i like grappa. i had not thought about its geography until now. i somehow had assumed it was produced all over Italy.
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Maine changes their election laws - they move from splitting their votes to the giving all their electoral college votes to whomever wins the nationwide popular vote - not the state-level vote.
https://apnews.com/article/maine-national-popular-vote-compact-2a345dc04d7e3937c4857577523a3a11
Currently, the states who have enacted the Nation Popular Vote Interstate Compact comprise 209 electoral votes -
California 54, Colorado 10, Connecticut 7, Delaware 3, Hawaii 4, Illinois 19, Maine 4, Maryland 10, Massachusetts 11, Minnesota 10, New Jersey 14, New Mexico 5, New York 28, Oregon 8, Rhode Island 4, Vermont 3, Washington 12, Washington DC 3.
According to the wikipedia page, the following states (87 electoral votes) are pending action now -
Alaska 3, Arizona 11, Kansas 6, Kentucky 8, Michigan 15, Nevada 6, North Carolina 16, South Carolina 9, and Virginia 13.
Among the states with pending action, the following group (5 states, 61 electoral votes) would put the Compact at 270 electoral votes exactly -
Arizona 11, Michigan 15, Nevada 6, North Carolina 16, and Virginia 13.
It is closer to an attainable goal than I thought.
The nine (9) most populous states with no enactment or pending action -
Texas 40, Florida 30, Pennsylvania 19, Ohio 17, Georgia 16, Tennessee 11, Indiana 11, Missouri 10, Wisconsin 10. This group comprises 164 electoral votes.
In the No Action group, there are fifteen (15) states with less than 10 electoral votes. This subgroup comprises 78 electoral votes.
4 electoral votes closer to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact taking effect. Not sure if it will ever take effect, though. Some of the most populous states that could make it a slam dunk vote GOP.
If the white whale of Texas ever turns blue…
Or Florida...
Florida is more our gray whale.
ISWYDT. Agreed.
Seven jurors have been seated for the NY hush-money fraud case. I'm no jury expert, but it doesn't look great for Trump - two lawyers, some young people, and more educated people. Trump's best hope seems to go for a hung jury with someone digging in their heels given how poorly the Trump legal defense has been so far.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/04/trump-trial-what-we-know-first-seven-jurors.html
DBD AV CLUB
ESPN profiles the origin story behind "The Michigan" - the lacrosse-style shot where one scoops the puck into the net from behind. It's an entertaining watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq5xwYIgtvY
Hamilton ordes pizza
something someone forwarded at work after i was complaining at standup today that i all the pizza places in NY suburbs closed at 1100p
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mf5uRMlyXA
This is really good.
I started Fallout on Amazon Prime and I’m really enjoying it. I never played the game but the show is a lot of fun.
I hope to start that either this weekend or next. I've played a few of the games and am quite encouraged by the show's praise from longtime fans and newbies alike.
I've watched the first two eps. I know nothing about the game.
Interesting so far, but I liked E1 more (the various origin stories) over E2 (seeing people walk around SoCal – SM Pier, Randy's Donuts, LAX bldg – even tho there's a place called Filly?
Yeah, the town of Filly really confused me as well. At first I assumed it was Philadelphia but that would make geographic sense as they are clearly in the LA/Santa Monica/SoCal area.
Maybe it is something from the game.
CAL
Aidan Mahaney enters the protocol. What are the chances he comes home..strike that because he is home right now...to where he should've been in the first place had Mark Fox not been in charge of the program.
Per some internet rando, Cal is his leader
https://twitter.com/ZyavierR/status/1780414787643449535
What else could he possibly want? Moraga has everything.
there is surprising good pizza in Moraga not including the outpost of Round Table.
I actually like Round Table, specifically the Chicken and Garlic Gourmet. Haven't had Mountain Mikes in probably 10 years. The place around the corner from Safeways was the old Round Table owner when it first opened back around 88. It was basically a Round Table pizza.
i almost always order a King Arthur's Supreme.
the best thing was that we used get those free book covers from RT at the start of each school year.
Yeah I remember those. i used to just use large manilla envelopes my dad would bring back from Bechtel.
Go Bears!!!
Remember Aiden Lee, the 2020 recruit who redshirted 2021 and didn't play in 2022, went to the portal ahead of the 2023 season? Well, he ended up at as a rebound recruit at Garden City City College. He then apparently went to Minot State for 2024, but once again has entered the portal. I don't know all the details, but I think people forget that there is an unsavory side to P4 college football - roster cuts and kids who see their dreams dim from NFL to graduating a top college to hopefully graduating from any college.
https://twitter.com/lee_leeaidan/status/1780611235454624097
Folsom RB Carter Jackson has decommitted from Cal. No worries, we still got the commitment of JoJo Solis - who has electric speed/quickness.
https://twitter.com/adamgorney/status/1780454702955590052
OSKI DISCIPLE’S TRIVA FUN, A DAILY DBD FEATURE
After the dissolution of the Ask Jeeves search engine a despondent Jeeves committed suicide.
(All trivia verified by the International Trivia Foundation.)
Nice one OD, thanks for continuing to bring us chuckles.
Dark OD is best OD
PRO
Caitlin Clark is a superstar out of Iowa. She was drafted first overall. Collective bargaining sets that she'll make $338,056. Over four years. Some - if not most of us - make significantly more than her.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/gap-caitlin-clarks-wnba-salary-male-counterparts-draws-outrage-rcna148024
She made an appearance on SNL Weekend Update on Sat night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cuf29fvlfb0&ab_channel=SaturdayNightLive
Caitlin Clark wore a $17,000 Prada outfit to the WNBA draft. That's about 22% of her expected first-year salary.
https://www.businessinsider.com/caitlin-clark-prada-outfit-wnba-draft-sports-luxury-sponsorships-2024-4
i like the sunglasses - although i wouldnt pay $575 for them
It certainly explains why every wnba star also plays in Europe (e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_Taurasi)
Two Phillies players have reportedly been suspended for rape of another player. And a Board members was arrested for possession of child porn. [checks notes]. That's the New York Philharmonic.
https://slippedisc.com/2024/04/latest-crisis-intensifies-at-new-york-philharmonic/
Athletics fall to the Cardinals 3-2
https://www.athleticsnation.com/2024/4/16/24132696/athletics-cardinals-lynn-goes-seven-strong
The St. Louis Cardinals visited the Oakland Athletics tonight at the Coliseum for the second game of the interleague three-game set.
Tyler Nevin was the first A’s baserunner, after a single and E-6 on Masyn Winn. Lawrence Butler put a charge into one, but Lars Nootbaar ran it down in the left-center gap for just a loud out. But Kyle McCann found a hole and singled into centerfield to drive in Nevin from second, giving the A’s a 1-0 lead. Sears walked the first two batters in the top of the third inning. After a sacrifice bunt to move both runners up, Brendan Donovan ripped a one-hopper to third, but Toro only had a play at first, and Winn scored to tie the game at 1-1.
NBA bans Raptors' Jontay Porter for gambling violations
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39962406/nba-bans-raptors-jontay-porter-gambling-violations
Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter has been banned from the NBA, the league announced Wednesday.
The NBA said that Porter provided confidential information to bettors, limited his own participation in games for gambling purposes and bet on NBA games.
Sloppiness personified
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2024/4/16/24132517/mlb-scores-giants-marlins-matt-chapman-jordan-hicks
It’s rarely easy, or particularly fruitful, to compare an incoming manager to the outgoing one. There are so many variables, and we’re still not entirely sure how much impact a manager has — or in what ways. And in the case of the San Francisco Giants, there’s a whole bunch of roster turnover that makes a fruitless task even sillier.
Mookie Betts’ career-high 5 hits lead Dodgers over Nationals
https://www.truebluela.com/2024/4/16/24131747/mookie-betts-enrique-hernandez-dodgers-nationals-andy-pages-shohei-ohtani
Mookie Betts tied his career high with five hits, and the Dodgers pulled away in a game they never trailed to beat the Nationals 6-2 on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.
Betts singled and scored in the first inning, doubled home a run in the second, singled again in the fourth, doubled and scored in the eighth inning, and singled home a run in the ninth.
Patrick Corbin started for the Nats. He’s 0-3 with an ERA above 8 and making 35 million. He was good his first season here but every other year he’s been at least five games under .500 and his lowest ERA above 4.5. All on a six year, 140 million deal. That during the same time they got less than ten starts from Strasberg on his seven year 235 million deal. Those contracts didn’t pan out.
Jones, Pa Chitwood and I took in his first Bark at the Park game in Phoenix…we didn’t last long at the stadium unfortunately because the music was blasting pre-game and THAT’S what freaked him TF out. Not the 300 other dogs…Wild stuff. My first ballgame since the new Rangers ballpark with hag, HSB and Newellbany during the TCU trip in ‘21.
its been a while since i have been to a game, but not that long.
there is a 100p Mon afternoon start at Yankee Stadium vs the A's that i was planning to go to. strange time for a game start at the start of a 3 game set. probably because of Passover.
Warriors lose badly. I told younger child to wear jersey to school yesterday since the chances the sesson would be over was high.
I watched about 20 minutes of that sloppy, lackluster performance. I'm not surprised to see they lost by 24
X’s AI bot is so dumb it can’t tell the difference between a bad game and vandalism
https://www.engadget.com/xs-ai-bot-is-so-dumb-it-cant-tell-the-difference-between-a-bad-game-and-vandalism-172707401.html
Last night, Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson had a rough outing shooting 0 for 10 in a loss against the Sacramento Kings, ending the team’s chances of making the NBA playoffs. But then, almost as if to add insult to injury, X’s AI bot Grok generated a trending story claiming Thompson was vandalizing homes in the area with bricks.
I had emotionally checked out of the Warriors' season a while ago. Even if they had won the play-in, how many series wins did they seriously have in them? One at most? They're just not good enough anymore. Great players get old; it happens to everyone.
Yeah Curry is still good, but Draymond is declining and wow Klay was horrific. Need to build around Kuminga I guess?
If Draymond could keep his emotions in check and not get tossed out of games then maybe they would have had a better shot. It's not hard to see them winning 3 or 4 more games without his suspensions and therefore not being stuck in the play-in tournament.
But that seems to be part of his decline . . . he can't do that anymore.
all true .. they will lose their secret sauce of Steph-Klay-Draymond. it is just not consistent enough anymore so who knows what the right answer is.
i told child that we should go to a Knicks playoff game. ideally vs Boston if they get that far.