Still blah...cough, etc. Foggy brain. Need lots of naps. Thanks for asking!
Flew home on Friday. Gave United $350 for one of their Polaris Biz Class pods, so was miles from anyone. And my flight attendant was double-masked.
Wife and daughter had symptoms while I was still in HNL, but tested negative. But daughter tested positive the morning after I got back (before seeing me, since I got home late). And wife also now is positive (home test).
And our tenant downstairs is positive also (his wife and kid came back from spring break after him and moved right into a hotel).
Everyone's getting it, but nobody is in bad shape. Which sounds like it will be life for the next xx years (of not forever).
surprise 39.5th bday party because my wife really wanted to surprise me on my 40th but still have an outdoor party (not in Dec)
HAG was the decoy who distracted me all day long while party preparations for the pig roast were happening at the house.
the best part was the fact that people came from near and far and much rejoicing took place and the loudest funniest Jewish guy in the neighborhood said a blessing for the pig!
I'm not sure I ever saw the pictures. That was a great day. Mrs HSB knew I was coming so she called me to get him out of the house. I stayed with my sister Thurs and Fri night so I told HSB that I was in town helping her out with some computer things and if he wanted to go around Manhattan on Sat before I stayed at his house Sat night.
We did so much walking. A couple of friends from HS flew out as well. Had brunch Sun morning with them.
apparently the preparations were running a bit late so HAG invented all sorts of extra and uncharacteristic things to do in NYC like go shopping and check out cute stores.
in actual fun stuff, we got some good food, got a tour of the Intrepid, and kayaked around on the Hudson River. and that was all BEFORE the party ...
It was a very long day. I think I had a 45 min subway ride and we met up in the morning. Day didn't end until probably midnight and we got up early to have brunch with our friends Sun morning and go for a walk around Manhattan.
My 60th. It was the first time I'd had a surprise party thrown for me. I was surrounded by family and friends. It was incredibly moving for me. Rode that high for a long time.
I didn't rally care for cream cheese in sushi either except at a place in New Haven that really embraces that and use a variety of cream cheese, goat cheese, charcuterie ingredients in their "sushis". But the cream cheeses in mainstream American sushi rolls are meh.
Not generally interested in fusion, but I do think back longingly to a meal at a fancy Asian-Italian place in the Fillmore I had way back in the late nineties. A gnocci with fish roe thing that was heavenly.
It's very popular in JPN. There's a place On the Bridge(?) in Japantown that has a lot of fusion foods. Like gratins, curries, pastas, etc. A lot of JPN-ITL food, especially in the pizza topping world.
Oddly, Japanese aren't big on spicy food, but they do like mentaiko.
Gotta figure this is going to lead to some sort of NIL reform, as it creates an unfair advantage. It’s not as easy as saying “all you need is a wealthy alum.” The NIL mandate came with very little guidance, so maybe some form of salary cap thing perhaps??
Addison is a stud...if he goes to SC, they’ve got 2 kids making a million bucks on O...imagine if there was no salary cap in the NFL...you’d have Dallas with Pro Bowlers on huge deals at every position, though they’d still lose 1st round of the playoffs...
Interesting that many Oregon football players weren't drafted including their top corner, QB, running back CJ Verdell, and several others that were supposed to be solid NFL prospects.
if you want to laugh at Texas, their '19 recruiting class was ranked 3rd nationally. Of the 25 players signed, 6 remain of which 1 is a leader/significant contributor and 2 are good but always injured. The other 3 are likely to medically retire or be pushed out. Tom Herman is not well liked in Austin these days haha
Former Sec. of Defense Mark Esper says that Trump asked repeatedly why they could just shoot protestors outside the White House and was pissed when he advised against invoking the Insurrection Act to use troops against protestors. This corroborates what Michael Bender (WSJ/NYT) wrote.
When the GOP engineers another president, whether it's Trump or not, between the use of Border Patrol as Interior Ministry police and this kind of thinking, things could get kind of ugly.
They have at least 5 on the Covid list (mostly starters), another 3 key players on the regular IL. Think they're just trying to keep their heads above water at the moment. They're hoping to have Late Night Lamonte and Joc back tomorrow for the Doyers. As of yesterday, none of the Covid players has yet tested negative, and they have to test negative twice to return. Not a fun weekend.
I completely forgot to mention the key win of the weekend, Everton 1 - 0 Chelsea. It was not pretty, but it was much needed to keep hope alive of avoiding relegation. It was smoke bomb central before, during, and after the game - after Richarlison scored someone threw one on the field, which he picked up and threw to an entryway, resulting in this excellent photo:
The Dodgers bounced back from a tough loss with a 6-3 win on Sunday over the Tigers. Walker Buehler, who got the win, pitched five more scoreless innings to extend that streak to 14 innings.
The Tigers did not score until Miguel Cabrera hit his first homer, a two-run shot, of the season off Phil Bickford in the eighth inning. Another solo home run from Jeimer Candelario to lead off the ninth inning, cut the lead to three runs and eventually made manager Dave Roberts call in Craig Kimbrel with one on and one out in the ninth inning.
Kimbrel pitching in his first save situation since April 18th against the Braves, retired two of the three batters he faced to get his fourth save of the season.
I feel like they just recycle the same list year to year without making any changes. Like for the Pirates, you can still get a Pierogie Hoagie but not at the spot that they said.
Warriors win a close one despite the refs and poor free throw shooting. i thought JA was going to make that final layup given that they got the exact play they wanted at the end.
I feel like that was a bad loss for Memphis. They're up at halftime, Draymond is kicked out of the game, they're at home and have a favorable whistle going . . . and they still lose. If this is going to be a competitive series with a lot of close games, seems like that's one the Grizz should have gotten.
After the final play where Klay marvelously defends Ja's layup attempt he embraces Steph, then walks to half court emphatically yelling "man, fuck those free throws"
The camera lingered on Ja Morant after the last play and he was just leaning with his back against the stanchion with a calm look on his face. Clearly, he was thinking about the last sequence and what had just happened.
And then just as suddenly as the game had ended, he mouthed, "Fuck!" It seemed to me that Morant had come to the realization of just how hard it would be for Memphis to beat Golden State in this series.
I already had it in early Jan. Speaking of which I should probably get the 2nd booster before going to Nashville for No 2's graduation next Friday. Though it's probably too late.
A's knocked off again as Kaprielian only lasts til the 3rd inning and the bullpen surrenders 6 additional runs. A's bats showed up late in a 7-3 loss and a series sweep by the Guardians in Oakland.
Come one, come all to the Taiwanese American Cultural Festival next Saturday (May 7) in Union Square. The festival is free, runs 10am–4pm, and will have food booths, children's storytime corner, performances, and more. https://www.tafestival.org/
dumb question, but is Taiwanese a different language? or is it more of an "ethnic group" as a result of history?
older daughter has been learning Mandarin in school since 4th grade and really wants to do a study abroad year there. currently at UW the program sends kids to both mainland and Taiwan where they also speak Mandarin.
my college roommate is also Taiwanese. i thought it was mostly a food/culture difference, but i am sure there is a lot more to it than that.
There is a different dialect that is commonly known as Taiwanese, but most of the people speak Mandarin. I can sort of follow most of Taiwanese from when I was growing up but I had never learned to speak it (other than some curse phrases).
When people talk about "Chinese dialects," they're using a political definition of the word "dialect." If you ask linguists, languages are mutually unintelligible, whereas dialects are mutually intelligible. This can get murky when populations interact with each other, of course. So, two different languages can have evolved from different lines, but share what's called areal features.
Taiwanese is a dialect of Hokkien/Fujianese, the language family in the Fujian area of Taiwan. My ancestors went from China to Taiwan 400–500 years ago, so while the language my family speaks is very similar to Hokkien, it's evolved (both in the populations in Fujian as well as in the various pockets of Taiwan where it's spoken). Anecdata:
-When my friend's Fujianese parents talk to each other, I can understand if I'm not listening intently because the cadence of the language is very similar. I found that when I listened more closely, it was hard for me to understand what they were saying.
-My brother visited Singapore and asked if some ladies were speaking Taiwanese. They corrected him and explained that they were speaking Hokkien haha
Other influences in Taiwanese include:
-language+culture: Japan took over Taiwan for 50 years. Both Japanese culture and Japanese language influenced the local population. One (very minor) sign that remains of this is that people in Taiwan who are speaking Taiwanese will use the Japanese word for apple, lingo. Another word with multiple layers of influence/colonialism is the word for bread, pan. The Taiwanese got this from the Japanese, who got it from...some Europeans? I don't know that part of the history. But, that's specifically when speaking Taiwanese. When people in Taiwan speak Mandarin, they still say mian bao, or wheat bun.
-language+culture: when the KMT took over Taiwan, Mandarin became the official language. I can't speak to whether the choice of Mandarin was because of Chiang-Kai Shek or if it was because of other leaders in the KMT (or maybe before that, when the KMT and the Communists together overthrew the last dynasty??? I know very little about that part), but the end result was that in 1947, Mandarin became the official language in Taiwan when the KMT came to power, so there were language and culture influences on the local population.
-culture: Taiwan's interactions with the rest of the world has allowed other influences in the languages spoken. I'll shift now to talking about Mandarin in Taiwan with two further bits of anecdata:
--In the lab: People will use certain English words mixed in with Mandarin. For instance, I have no idea how to say "pipette" in Mandarin, because everyone (in the lab) in Taiwan just says pipette. When I was working in Taiwan, some of the exchange students in China told me that in China, they would use the Mandarin word for pipette...whatever it is.
--in slang: English loanwords have made their way into Mandarin. For instance, people will say that someone is very "man" (with a more Mandarin pronunciation) to describe someone who is very manly or macho.
Ok so that covers Taiwanese and Mandarin, but there are also at least nine different indigenous languages in Taiwan, which are part of the Austronesian family of languages and not related to the Sino-Tibetan language family. Those groups of people have been in Taiwan...forever?
Your daughter would certainly get an immersive Mandarin experience whether she went to China or Taiwan (well...northern Taiwan...southern Taiwan has a lot more Taiwanese in everyday discourse)! The accents would be different. Some of my Chinese friends think my Mandarin sounds more childlike or "cute."
I have heard that Chiang-Kai Shek doesn't speak Mandarin that well, but one of the first thing after Republic of China in 1912 was formed was the adoption of a national language. Of course, that was carried over to Taiwan by the KMT.
I know in these days of modernist view on colonialism, etc., forcing people to change their language is viewed as a bad thing, but I had always thought of this moment akin to the invention of a universal translator. I also think a lot of what current China has been doing has tainted what happened when ROC was first founded, even though they took down an empire.
TBB, that is an amazing summary to a question that I've had for awhile! Thanks!
"One (very minor) sign that remains of this is that people in Taiwan who are speaking Taiwanese will use the Japanese word for apple, lingo. Another word with multiple layers of influence/colonialism is the word for bread, pan. The Taiwanese got this from the Japanese, who got it from...some Europeans? "
Funny that you wrote Lingo, rather than Ringo (which is how it's written in roman characters) since there is the whole R and L pronunciation conundrum in Japanese.
And my understanding is that "pan" came from the Portuguese (who had an island (Dojima?) off of Nagasaki xx centuries ago that they used for trade).
Oh right, I sort of knew that "ringo" is the romanization for it, but in Taiwanese, it is DEFINITELY pronounced with an L sound. And good to know about the Portuguese!
"-When my friend's Fujianese parents talk to each other, I can understand if I'm not listening intently because the cadence of the language is very similar. I found that when I listened more closely, it was hard for me to understand what they were saying."
I have two similar anecdotes -
1. When my work colleagues are having a work conversation in Shanghainese - so they're talking about a subject I know about, and maybe the Shanghainese is closer to standard Chinese in this area as well - I've been able to answer questions ONLY when I wasn't paying attention to the conversation. Whenever I've tried to eavesdrop, I can't make heads or tails of Shanghainese.
2. When I'm in Vietnam, I always think Vietnamese sounds like people speaking Cantonese one room over. I can't understand a single word, but the rhythm and sounds are quite close to Cantonese.
Taiwanese is one of the names for 闽南话 - Minnan language, which is mainly spoken by Han immigrants to Taiwan pre-1949 and by Fujian Province Chinese in Mainland Chinese. It's somewhat, but not always mutually intelligible (I went on a business trip with my Taiwanese boss - who doesn't speak Taiwanese, but can kind of understand it - and he could get some of the more basic conversations in Quanzhou and Xiamen, but even in Fujian - they said they couldn't really understand between the two cities)
There's also a population of Aboriginal Taiwanese (under 5% of the population) whose origins probably trace back to malays - and Formosa/aboriginal languages are close to bahasa instead of Chinese.
The majority of people in both Mainland China and Taiwan speak Mandarin (although the more rural you are, the worse the Mandarin becomes) - and the farther south you go in Taiwan, you hear a lot less Mandarin, but it's still the dominant language. If you're in Taipei, i didn't really hear much else besides Mandarin.
Edited to add: obviously both places right now for study abroad is a bit touchy due to current covid protocols. From what I hear from my friends in Taiwan, they may be easing zero-covid restrictions - and Taiwan is a much friendlier place in general. A non-covid'd China has a ton more tourism to see (not dismissing Taiwan at all - but an open-to-travel China has so much - Great Wall, Shanghai, Guilin, Sichuan, etc. etc.)
g.oso took us to a taco spot in Richmond after we tried to go to El Garage post-spring showcase and it was closed.
Tacos El Toucan - it was pretty delicious.
Then the next day, I went hiking with a Cal friend in Marin, and coming back to the east bay via Richmond, so we were going to El Garage . .. closed again.
So we went back to Tacos El Toucan .. and delicious once again!
CAL
[BASE] Cal avoids the sweep at #25 Oregon via an inside-the-park grand slam
https://twitter.com/CalBaseball/status/1520890141614563328
https://calbears.com/news/2022/5/1/baseball-series-ending-victory-in-eugene.aspx
Go Bears!!!
High School PG recruit: https://twitter.com/WCE_JS/status/1519822865071149058
fire on campus:
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2022/05/02/uc-berkeley-fire-2400-bowditch-anna-head-alumnae-hall/
Your favorite SNL skit, or at least a memorable one.
It's hard to do better than Meet Your Second Wife
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJEAGd1bQuc
I had missed that - hella funny.
This one is great.
I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVsQLlk-T0s
Eddie Murphy experiences NYC as a White Man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_LeJfn_qW0
One of the greats. "What a silly Negro!"
Celebrity Jeopardy!
Career Day with Abraham H. Parnassis...
There are so many, tho...Adam Driver’s been a real solid host in recent seasons...
https://youtu.be/t7HD2xG92-0
Wells for Boys: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BONhk-hbiXk
dave and john tesh's roundball rock
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-uSWAJd9GE
Sorry, can't get youtube links for these right now...
Eddie Murphy as James Brown singing "Hot Tub"
Coffee Talk with Linda Richmond with co-stars Madonna, Rosanne Barr and Barbara Streisand
Chippendale's tryout with Patrick Swayze
Billy Crystal's Fernando Lamas with Hulk Hogan and Mr. T
Colon Blow cereal commercial
what about Super Colon Blow ;-)
MoriBear, how are you feeling?
Still blah...cough, etc. Foggy brain. Need lots of naps. Thanks for asking!
Flew home on Friday. Gave United $350 for one of their Polaris Biz Class pods, so was miles from anyone. And my flight attendant was double-masked.
Wife and daughter had symptoms while I was still in HNL, but tested negative. But daughter tested positive the morning after I got back (before seeing me, since I got home late). And wife also now is positive (home test).
And our tenant downstairs is positive also (his wife and kid came back from spring break after him and moved right into a hotel).
Everyone's getting it, but nobody is in bad shape. Which sounds like it will be life for the next xx years (of not forever).
lmftfy: with Patrick Swayze AND CHRIS FARLEY
TOO HOT IN THE HOT TUB
More I've thought of. There are too many to list.
Schweddy Balls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPpcfH_HHH8
Synchronized Swimming
Can't find the clip. "I'm not a strong swimmer"
Lazy Sunday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRhTeaa_B98
I also like the new Please Don't Destroy digital shorts with the 3 new writers.
the please don't destroy shorts are v fun
Walken family reunion.
Matt Foley, Inspirational Speaker
Wake Up and Smile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc0FeUMQIA4
A Game of Game of Thrones.
Roach Brothel, but no video link to 1979.
15:42
https://www.hulu.com/watch/7b24a57a-1333-4365-9ff6-19b7714cdc09 with Hulu account
https://www.peacocktv.com/watch/playback/vod/GMO_00000000069478_01/84640708-d04b-3115-97f0-1a4fcab78797 with free Peacock account
Schimtt's Gay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCOSejS1SSY
Will Farrell as Harry Caray interviews an astrophysicist ;cracks me up every time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQDqRlMeJ4U&list=LL&index=20
Police did a low speed chase of a white Bronco last night near my house
https://twitter.com/laura_brummett/status/1520957588803928065
Think about the best birthday you ever had. What made it so special?
surprise 39.5th bday party because my wife really wanted to surprise me on my 40th but still have an outdoor party (not in Dec)
HAG was the decoy who distracted me all day long while party preparations for the pig roast were happening at the house.
the best part was the fact that people came from near and far and much rejoicing took place and the loudest funniest Jewish guy in the neighborhood said a blessing for the pig!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/9EdESFiUgEpW9QQq9
I'm not sure I ever saw the pictures. That was a great day. Mrs HSB knew I was coming so she called me to get him out of the house. I stayed with my sister Thurs and Fri night so I told HSB that I was in town helping her out with some computer things and if he wanted to go around Manhattan on Sat before I stayed at his house Sat night.
We did so much walking. A couple of friends from HS flew out as well. Had brunch Sun morning with them.
apparently the preparations were running a bit late so HAG invented all sorts of extra and uncharacteristic things to do in NYC like go shopping and check out cute stores.
in actual fun stuff, we got some good food, got a tour of the Intrepid, and kayaked around on the Hudson River. and that was all BEFORE the party ...
Kayaking on the Hudson was a lot of fun.
Wow, that sounds like a big day!
we should all have a hag in our lives
It was a very long day. I think I had a 45 min subway ride and we met up in the morning. Day didn't end until probably midnight and we got up early to have brunch with our friends Sun morning and go for a walk around Manhattan.
dang, the guy cutting up the pig is not messing around
he has some massive muscles.
My 60th. It was the first time I'd had a surprise party thrown for me. I was surrounded by family and friends. It was incredibly moving for me. Rode that high for a long time.
Fusion food
Pho and Banh Mi are fantastic
I love everything in Macau - (african, Malaysian and Southern Chinese flavors)
Pernakian Food - Chinese + Malaysian
Salmon Sushi - Japan didn't eat salmon until the 1980s when Norway had a surplus
HK Style French Toast
We were just discussing the name last night, and decided it had developed a bit of a stink about it, less appealing.
Has to have a good fusion name, like Tex-Mex, Thai-Chi.
Fusion food I dislike: cream cheese in sushi
Fusion food I like: many of the egg custard tart variations you can get at KFC in Taiwan
I didn't rally care for cream cheese in sushi either except at a place in New Haven that really embraces that and use a variety of cream cheese, goat cheese, charcuterie ingredients in their "sushis". But the cream cheeses in mainstream American sushi rolls are meh.
Diner’s, Drive-Ins and Dives favorite El Chino Bandito, next to Turf Paradise Race Track in Phoenix, is delicious.
Not generally interested in fusion, but I do think back longingly to a meal at a fancy Asian-Italian place in the Fillmore I had way back in the late nineties. A gnocci with fish roe thing that was heavenly.
Oritalia would have been the restaurant
Yes! That's the one.
A dish that's popular in Taiwan at Japanese-Italian restaurants is mentaiko spaghetti: https://norecipes.com/creamy-mentaiko-pasta/
Also popular in japan!
I'm not the DBD's No. 1 Japanese Expert, so I didn't want to make any claims I couldn't back up!
It's very popular in JPN. There's a place On the Bridge(?) in Japantown that has a lot of fusion foods. Like gratins, curries, pastas, etc. A lot of JPN-ITL food, especially in the pizza topping world.
Oddly, Japanese aren't big on spicy food, but they do like mentaiko.
There used to a really good Asian fusion restaurant in Westwood ($$$) but last time I was there was in 2012 and I think it's gone.
I really enjoyed Unicorn in Berkeley, but it is also long gone.
Was in DTSF also. I liked it also...
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
A tall dude goes to his third school, this time in Tulsa
https://twitter.com/Vanover_Connor/status/1521173180924239872
He's 3/4 on his way to the Charlie Moore college experience.
2021 Biletnikoff winner (nation's best WR) in portal, reportedly going to USC after securing $2m NIL. How that's not tampering, I don't know.
https://twitter.com/JackMacCFB/status/1520592020556898305
He's not an employee, so I don't see how that's tampering. I mean c'mon we *know* about the intricacies of bagmen.
Gotta figure this is going to lead to some sort of NIL reform, as it creates an unfair advantage. It’s not as easy as saying “all you need is a wealthy alum.” The NIL mandate came with very little guidance, so maybe some form of salary cap thing perhaps??
Addison is a stud...if he goes to SC, they’ve got 2 kids making a million bucks on O...imagine if there was no salary cap in the NFL...you’d have Dallas with Pro Bowlers on huge deals at every position, though they’d still lose 1st round of the playoffs...
CFB is basically becoming MLB in terms of small market vs big market and the disparity of payrolls.
Yes, THIS! Exactly…as many of us suspected, the NIL is a rich-get-richer situation, for the most part.
Interesting that many Oregon football players weren't drafted including their top corner, QB, running back CJ Verdell, and several others that were supposed to be solid NFL prospects.
# of Oregon players drafted in 2022: 1
# of Cal players drafted: 2
# of Yale players drafted: 1
# of Texas players drafted: 0
So Oregon’s coaching staff did more with less?
if you want to laugh at Texas, their '19 recruiting class was ranked 3rd nationally. Of the 25 players signed, 6 remain of which 1 is a leader/significant contributor and 2 are good but always injured. The other 3 are likely to medically retire or be pushed out. Tom Herman is not well liked in Austin these days haha
Wow
Verdell was likely not drafted due to injury, plus Oregon RBs do not do well in the NFL.
I thought the same. What happened last year?
lots of talent recruited but werent coached or developed for shit?
Man seems nuts given how loaded that roster (apparently wansn’t) was
TODAY IN COVID
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Former Sec. of Defense Mark Esper says that Trump asked repeatedly why they could just shoot protestors outside the White House and was pissed when he advised against invoking the Insurrection Act to use troops against protestors. This corroborates what Michael Bender (WSJ/NYT) wrote.
https://www.axios.com/mark-esper-book-trump-protesters-24e93272-2af5-423d-be3b-164daab7b43d.html
When the GOP engineers another president, whether it's Trump or not, between the use of Border Patrol as Interior Ministry police and this kind of thinking, things could get kind of ugly.
You're given to understatement, aren't you?
Mexico shifts rail link to New Mexico after Gov. Abbott's cargo inspection BS he pulled earlier. Texas loses billions in benefits. So much winning.
https://theweek.com/greg-abbott/1013145/texas-gov-abbotts-border-inspections-prompt-mexico-to-move-lucrative-trade-link
And GQP Texas residents won’t care at all about the billion in benefits being lost.
gosh imagine that Mexico might take action in response to Abbot's electioneering.
*sigh*
https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1520713806086696960
The White House Correspondent's Dinner returned this weekend. Trevor Noah killed it.
https://youtu.be/DBqcI1G9qlM?t=3179
PRO
SF Giant Alex Cobb has a terrible start, doesn't last an inning and gives up 5 runs. Giants lose 11-5 to the lowly Nats
https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401354579
I saw that 3 or 4 of the 1st inning runs were unearned. so presumably it should've been closer? Though it didn't sound like he was fooling anyone.
I didn't watch but it looks like Josiah Gray had a good day. Struggled one inning but over all a good outing.
Lost 2 of 3...Vosler error bug, but Cobb was not sharp.
Something like half the team is out with injuries or COVID right now, so it's not that surprising that they suck.
They have at least 5 on the Covid list (mostly starters), another 3 key players on the regular IL. Think they're just trying to keep their heads above water at the moment. They're hoping to have Late Night Lamonte and Joc back tomorrow for the Doyers. As of yesterday, none of the Covid players has yet tested negative, and they have to test negative twice to return. Not a fun weekend.
I think Urías is going tomorrow so maybe that will let Joc heal one more day.
[BASE] First Atlantic League player to take a free base without any balls
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33840121/staten-island-ferryhawks-kelsie-whitmore-first-woman-start-atlantic-league-game
The good news is that the Reds' 0.201 team batting average is NOT the worst in MLB. The bad news is that they fell to 3-19.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33840222/cincinnati-reds-put-jonathan-india-il-set-mark-worst-start-franchise-history
I completely forgot to mention the key win of the weekend, Everton 1 - 0 Chelsea. It was not pretty, but it was much needed to keep hope alive of avoiding relegation. It was smoke bomb central before, during, and after the game - after Richarlison scored someone threw one on the field, which he picked up and threw to an entryway, resulting in this excellent photo:
https://twitter.com/RBMersey/status/1520790659355099136?s=20&t=CLA4xTUHDdnfayfVNkK4TA
Chelsea manager refuses to start Pulisic, or give him any minutes at all, kinda weird.
Tuchel won't play Lukaku either, and imo he's a better player than Pulisic
DeAndre Hopkins suspended for six games for violation of the leagues performance enhancing drug policy.
Garbers signs with Raiders. cant tell if this was already in the news or not ..
Dodgers hold on for 6-3 win over the Tigers to take series
https://www.truebluela.com/2022/5/1/23052281/dodgers-tigers-sunday-recap-walker-buehler-mookie-betts-miguel-cabrera
The Dodgers bounced back from a tough loss with a 6-3 win on Sunday over the Tigers. Walker Buehler, who got the win, pitched five more scoreless innings to extend that streak to 14 innings.
The Tigers did not score until Miguel Cabrera hit his first homer, a two-run shot, of the season off Phil Bickford in the eighth inning. Another solo home run from Jeimer Candelario to lead off the ninth inning, cut the lead to three runs and eventually made manager Dave Roberts call in Craig Kimbrel with one on and one out in the ninth inning.
Kimbrel pitching in his first save situation since April 18th against the Braves, retired two of the three batters he faced to get his fourth save of the season.
GBBR
GBBR
[Thrillist] Every Stadium in MLB, Ranked by Its Best Food
https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/mlb-baseball-stadium-fast-food-snacks
sadly Oakland in last place. i guess we should be making a trip to Seattle.
1. Seattle Mariners: T-Mobile Park
Best item: Almost everything
I feel like they just recycle the same list year to year without making any changes. Like for the Pirates, you can still get a Pierogie Hoagie but not at the spot that they said.
I am not surprised at all that Petco made the top 5.
it's a Poole Party!!
Warriors win a close one despite the refs and poor free throw shooting. i thought JA was going to make that final layup given that they got the exact play they wanted at the end.
https://twitter.com/JaMorant/status/1520428096696078338
I feel like that was a bad loss for Memphis. They're up at halftime, Draymond is kicked out of the game, they're at home and have a favorable whistle going . . . and they still lose. If this is going to be a competitive series with a lot of close games, seems like that's one the Grizz should have gotten.
True that, and Dubs missing FT's
After the final play where Klay marvelously defends Ja's layup attempt he embraces Steph, then walks to half court emphatically yelling "man, fuck those free throws"
The camera lingered on Ja Morant after the last play and he was just leaning with his back against the stanchion with a calm look on his face. Clearly, he was thinking about the last sequence and what had just happened.
And then just as suddenly as the game had ended, he mouthed, "Fuck!" It seemed to me that Morant had come to the realization of just how hard it would be for Memphis to beat Golden State in this series.
The Warriors aren't going to give games away like the T-Wolves did.
Warriors are holding a watch party outside Oracle on the big screen. I got a ticket to attend so I'll probably watch Game 2 in a superspreader event.
Everybody is getting Covid, so join the party!
I already had it in early Jan. Speaking of which I should probably get the 2nd booster before going to Nashville for No 2's graduation next Friday. Though it's probably too late.
hopefully not too bad w/ it being outside. NYC has gone into the orange zone or something so perhaps some restrictions are coming back.
but my guess is that they will be pretty watered down since there isnt the same levels of hospitalizations (i think)
A's knocked off again as Kaprielian only lasts til the 3rd inning and the bullpen surrenders 6 additional runs. A's bats showed up late in a 7-3 loss and a series sweep by the Guardians in Oakland.
Come one, come all to the Taiwanese American Cultural Festival next Saturday (May 7) in Union Square. The festival is free, runs 10am–4pm, and will have food booths, children's storytime corner, performances, and more. https://www.tafestival.org/
KRON4 segment on the festival: https://youtu.be/rd8ByvRtQFY
:D
Maybe I'll see if my mom wants to go to this.
dumb question, but is Taiwanese a different language? or is it more of an "ethnic group" as a result of history?
older daughter has been learning Mandarin in school since 4th grade and really wants to do a study abroad year there. currently at UW the program sends kids to both mainland and Taiwan where they also speak Mandarin.
my college roommate is also Taiwanese. i thought it was mostly a food/culture difference, but i am sure there is a lot more to it than that.
There is a different dialect that is commonly known as Taiwanese, but most of the people speak Mandarin. I can sort of follow most of Taiwanese from when I was growing up but I had never learned to speak it (other than some curse phrases).
Not a dumb question!
When people talk about "Chinese dialects," they're using a political definition of the word "dialect." If you ask linguists, languages are mutually unintelligible, whereas dialects are mutually intelligible. This can get murky when populations interact with each other, of course. So, two different languages can have evolved from different lines, but share what's called areal features.
Taiwanese is a dialect of Hokkien/Fujianese, the language family in the Fujian area of Taiwan. My ancestors went from China to Taiwan 400–500 years ago, so while the language my family speaks is very similar to Hokkien, it's evolved (both in the populations in Fujian as well as in the various pockets of Taiwan where it's spoken). Anecdata:
-When my friend's Fujianese parents talk to each other, I can understand if I'm not listening intently because the cadence of the language is very similar. I found that when I listened more closely, it was hard for me to understand what they were saying.
-My brother visited Singapore and asked if some ladies were speaking Taiwanese. They corrected him and explained that they were speaking Hokkien haha
Other influences in Taiwanese include:
-language+culture: Japan took over Taiwan for 50 years. Both Japanese culture and Japanese language influenced the local population. One (very minor) sign that remains of this is that people in Taiwan who are speaking Taiwanese will use the Japanese word for apple, lingo. Another word with multiple layers of influence/colonialism is the word for bread, pan. The Taiwanese got this from the Japanese, who got it from...some Europeans? I don't know that part of the history. But, that's specifically when speaking Taiwanese. When people in Taiwan speak Mandarin, they still say mian bao, or wheat bun.
-language+culture: when the KMT took over Taiwan, Mandarin became the official language. I can't speak to whether the choice of Mandarin was because of Chiang-Kai Shek or if it was because of other leaders in the KMT (or maybe before that, when the KMT and the Communists together overthrew the last dynasty??? I know very little about that part), but the end result was that in 1947, Mandarin became the official language in Taiwan when the KMT came to power, so there were language and culture influences on the local population.
-culture: Taiwan's interactions with the rest of the world has allowed other influences in the languages spoken. I'll shift now to talking about Mandarin in Taiwan with two further bits of anecdata:
--In the lab: People will use certain English words mixed in with Mandarin. For instance, I have no idea how to say "pipette" in Mandarin, because everyone (in the lab) in Taiwan just says pipette. When I was working in Taiwan, some of the exchange students in China told me that in China, they would use the Mandarin word for pipette...whatever it is.
--in slang: English loanwords have made their way into Mandarin. For instance, people will say that someone is very "man" (with a more Mandarin pronunciation) to describe someone who is very manly or macho.
Ok so that covers Taiwanese and Mandarin, but there are also at least nine different indigenous languages in Taiwan, which are part of the Austronesian family of languages and not related to the Sino-Tibetan language family. Those groups of people have been in Taiwan...forever?
Your daughter would certainly get an immersive Mandarin experience whether she went to China or Taiwan (well...northern Taiwan...southern Taiwan has a lot more Taiwanese in everyday discourse)! The accents would be different. Some of my Chinese friends think my Mandarin sounds more childlike or "cute."
I have heard that Chiang-Kai Shek doesn't speak Mandarin that well, but one of the first thing after Republic of China in 1912 was formed was the adoption of a national language. Of course, that was carried over to Taiwan by the KMT.
I know in these days of modernist view on colonialism, etc., forcing people to change their language is viewed as a bad thing, but I had always thought of this moment akin to the invention of a universal translator. I also think a lot of what current China has been doing has tainted what happened when ROC was first founded, even though they took down an empire.
what a great post!
I visited Taiwan a few years ago. One of my top 3 vacations ever!
TBB, that is an amazing summary to a question that I've had for awhile! Thanks!
"One (very minor) sign that remains of this is that people in Taiwan who are speaking Taiwanese will use the Japanese word for apple, lingo. Another word with multiple layers of influence/colonialism is the word for bread, pan. The Taiwanese got this from the Japanese, who got it from...some Europeans? "
Funny that you wrote Lingo, rather than Ringo (which is how it's written in roman characters) since there is the whole R and L pronunciation conundrum in Japanese.
And my understanding is that "pan" came from the Portuguese (who had an island (Dojima?) off of Nagasaki xx centuries ago that they used for trade).
Oh right, I sort of knew that "ringo" is the romanization for it, but in Taiwanese, it is DEFINITELY pronounced with an L sound. And good to know about the Portuguese!
"-When my friend's Fujianese parents talk to each other, I can understand if I'm not listening intently because the cadence of the language is very similar. I found that when I listened more closely, it was hard for me to understand what they were saying."
I have two similar anecdotes -
1. When my work colleagues are having a work conversation in Shanghainese - so they're talking about a subject I know about, and maybe the Shanghainese is closer to standard Chinese in this area as well - I've been able to answer questions ONLY when I wasn't paying attention to the conversation. Whenever I've tried to eavesdrop, I can't make heads or tails of Shanghainese.
2. When I'm in Vietnam, I always think Vietnamese sounds like people speaking Cantonese one room over. I can't understand a single word, but the rhythm and sounds are quite close to Cantonese.
There's definitely a Taiwanese accent, but I don't think yours is that strong. (but then again, we mainly speak English to each other)
thx TBB and Terence
Taiwanese is one of the names for 闽南话 - Minnan language, which is mainly spoken by Han immigrants to Taiwan pre-1949 and by Fujian Province Chinese in Mainland Chinese. It's somewhat, but not always mutually intelligible (I went on a business trip with my Taiwanese boss - who doesn't speak Taiwanese, but can kind of understand it - and he could get some of the more basic conversations in Quanzhou and Xiamen, but even in Fujian - they said they couldn't really understand between the two cities)
There's also a population of Aboriginal Taiwanese (under 5% of the population) whose origins probably trace back to malays - and Formosa/aboriginal languages are close to bahasa instead of Chinese.
The majority of people in both Mainland China and Taiwan speak Mandarin (although the more rural you are, the worse the Mandarin becomes) - and the farther south you go in Taiwan, you hear a lot less Mandarin, but it's still the dominant language. If you're in Taipei, i didn't really hear much else besides Mandarin.
Edited to add: obviously both places right now for study abroad is a bit touchy due to current covid protocols. From what I hear from my friends in Taiwan, they may be easing zero-covid restrictions - and Taiwan is a much friendlier place in general. A non-covid'd China has a ton more tourism to see (not dismissing Taiwan at all - but an open-to-travel China has so much - Great Wall, Shanghai, Guilin, Sichuan, etc. etc.)
Terence was faster :)
But you had more in-depth knowledge of Taiwan!
I'm sort of surprised I knew they were separate languages (but not any of the details).
what little I know about Taiwan cf. China, I learned from TBB.
Without TBB, my knowledge set of Taiwan would be null.
DBD test kitchen
So last night, we went Spanish style in celebration of DIL's B-day
Marcona almonds, Manchego cheese & crackers and a 2002 Champagne for appetizers
Pork ribs with a Spanish rub, roasted potatoes, broccolini with paprika-garlic aioli paired with Jonata 2013 Santa Ynez Red blend.
Daughter made chocolate cake with caramel filling, found a different '73 Bas Armagnac for afters.
i am going to try to get one of my daughters to marry into this family. sounds delicious.
Sorry, no more sons to marry off - also, this was the first time my wife made Spanish style ribs, usually southwestern style.
Other strategy is to just invite oneself over, like I do.
😀
g.oso took us to a taco spot in Richmond after we tried to go to El Garage post-spring showcase and it was closed.
Tacos El Toucan - it was pretty delicious.
Then the next day, I went hiking with a Cal friend in Marin, and coming back to the east bay via Richmond, so we were going to El Garage . .. closed again.
So we went back to Tacos El Toucan .. and delicious once again!
El Garage Th-Su 12-7pm
https://www.elgarage.online/
Yesterday was Sunday. The day before was Saturday.
roasted veggie tacos
roasted a medley of veggies, mexican squash, mushrooms, red and white onions, and pineapple on the BGE.
first time we have used the BGE for an exclusively veggie meal.
paired w/ a Modelo Negra. no dessert was made by younglings.
Fireworks
No one else is hearing them?
They could have been coming from anywhere.
https://wtop.com/local/2022/05/rfk-music-festival-heard-for-miles-around-dc/
They usually don't start in LA until late June
My wife said it was the end of Ramadan.