82 Comments

National Parks. weren't we talking about this a day or two ago.

here is a nice "check off list"

>> each park was lovingly drawn on the back of a tortoise

https://lordofmaps.com/products/national-parks-poster-check-off-pre-order

while i dont have any yet, i have gifted a few maps from this person in the past. i love the LOTR style of depicting mountain ranges on maps.

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My NP checklist is on my person…

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permanently?

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Jun 10, 2023·edited Jun 10, 2023

Yup. Tastefully well done, actually…

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Which begs a different question.

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Other College

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Interesting inasmuch as Tuberville is, as a senator, somewhat of a disaster.

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Tuberville cannot be trusted on this. He has signaled that he represents universities, not athletes. He will propose federal legislation that will effectively roll back NIL. His legislation will be the camel's nose under the tent flap/

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Is it possible he stumbled across something he may actually know a little about?

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I see this as bad news for the SEC as NIL is a double edged sword. The portal giveth and it taketh away. Schools like CAL which is in the top 15 of such inbound transferee reports might be able to enjoy a metamorphosis into juggernauts if indeed enough $$$ can be raised. I am not sayin' it's super likely but it is possible.

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I'm starting to think that Cal is getting advantage of NIL. Our school is poor but the Bay Area is rich in resources. That said I still think there should be more control and a cap.

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Bobbleheads

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Jun 9, 2023·edited Jun 9, 2023

Bought a custom pair of bobbleheads of me and the missus. Final product was good, but the process had a lot of miscommunication and frustration, and I didn't really think it was going to come out OK, but eventually it did.

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The Marshawn cart one is the coolest one I have, but I still have the most sentimental attachment to the Tedford one from early 2000s. Both sit right above my tv!

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I've got a few. I've got a Justin Turner that the Dodgers let you buy since it was released during Covid and there weren't any games. I've got a few Cal ones, Cam Jordan, Jared Goff, and the Band is out on the field Big Game one, all in boxes. I missed out on the replica Axe they handed out at the big game this year.

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The Axe thing is very, very nice.

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I have two on my desk at home, Oski and Tim Lincecum. Mostly not interested in them. Have sold or given away others.

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i think they are absurd with a CAPITAL A

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Of course, that is the point of them!

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I have a bunch from the Washington Nationals gathering dust. I never went to get a bobblehead, but some games I attended happened to be bobblehead days.

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DBD AV Club

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Never Have I Ever - Season 4 - 19/19

Devi loses her virginity as senior year of HS starts.

we were sitting down to watch something else, when we realized that a new season started. so we had a fun time watching as a family.

i would have thought it would have been more awkward watching things like this w/ your teenage daughters, but it was fine. in fact, funny and a good moment.

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S4 is out...whoo-hoo!

(Man, don't spoil it...altho she did go into Ben's hotel room at the end of S3, or something like that)

Next you need to watch Sex Lives of College Girls with them...NHIE, but the next gen

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title of episode 1 is "...lost my virginity"

so hopefully not spoiling too much.

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I was mostly joking...but good to know about the title :-)

it's HBO Max...er, "Max"...now, right? Not sure I've been there since the change.

Weekly eps? So I can wait a bit and then binge

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Netflix

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oh, yeah...I know that I wasn't going week-to-week last season. I shoulda known. maybe SLoCG is Max

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I thought it was hella funny, but sort of sad as well. I wonder if that's normal for most people.

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i think there is so much hype about sex that it has to be disappointing for a good fraction of people. not to mention all the individual emotions that each person brings to the situation that is 100% unique.

and that is in the 100% consensual cases ..

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DBD Lunch

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I had a smallish breakfast burrito so went lunchless. I did however just have three TH's ice cream bonbons for a mid-afternoon snack, so it's certainly not out of virtue!

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Bread and cheese from Cheeseboard, plus a couple spoonfuls of tabbouleh that I have leftover from last week. My non-lunch consumption today seems to be mostly sugar:

-cake for breakfast

-I was just dogsitting, so my coworker's wife made me cookies

-another coworker is bringing in donuts

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In town for the weekend…maybe Top Dog, tho Monday’s more likely.

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If you go to Top Dog today or Sat, let me know. I leave for Seattle for work on Sunday.

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Tomorrow lunch sounds good.

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this sounds amazing. the BEST lunch

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meeting a friend in NYC at one of my favorite Italian spots, il Buco Alimentari & Vineria. a couple negronis might get consumed.

https://ilbuco.com/pages/alimentari

SGBear and i had lunch there a while back. it is both a casual Italian restaurant and a place to get interesting Italian provisions, meats, cheeses, breads ...

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Oh that was the place we got toppings for the homemade pizza. That place looked great.

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yup. my favorite things to get are focaccia and tinned seafood from Europe. but it is all good.

also, two doors down was that legit place to get premium Japanese wagyu beef.

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Democracy

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Saw the Jack Smith talk - very focused on the meat of the case and the severity of the charges.

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The twice-impeached Trump now faces his second criminal indictment as he looks to recapture White House

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/09/politics/analysis-donald-trump-indictment/index.html

Donald Trump, who has often lied, unquestionably told the truth when he said Thursday was a “dark day” for America.

The ex-president’s social media post correctly described the magnitude of his indictment over the alleged mishandling of classified documents – though completely ignored any personal culpability in the case.

But the first-ever indictment of a former president by a federal grand jury thrust the country into an unprecedented and perilous moment in its history at a time when it is already internally estranged over politics.

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I think there is a current of thought amongst MAGA types that yes Trump breaks the rules, but he breaks them for the USA’s benefit.

This whole thing reveals that to be so untrue. He carelessly hoarded and left laying around at his resort a bunch of sensitive national security docs, which I’m sure enemy spies at least tried to get their hands on. For what reason???? Just for vanity basically. Unbelievable

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Eh... I think this will actually hurt him with Repubs in general, not all to be sure, but not a small amount either.

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I think you overestimate the willingness and the power of sane Republicans to go to the mat against the extremist wing. No Republican, sane or extreme, trusts Democrats to uphold standards to preserve a democratic republic.

Such is the state of polarization in America's politics.

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There's a couple... it's not none.

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I argue that Cheney and Kinzinger (sp?) are exceptional Republicans. They are exceptional because they are courageous enough to stand for democratic norms and against extremism. Who else among the remaining GOP electeds in Congress will display such courage? Cheney and Kinzinger are now not members of Congress.

It's difficult if not possible to discern any GOP electeds with a free conscience even with the recent debt ceiling vote.

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It might, but the GOP seems all in lockstep in saying that Biden is weaponizing DOJ for political gain, which is sort of funny bc I think politically this is all downside for Biden. If I were him, just from a political strategy POV I would want to stay far away from all this stuff, especially since Trump has committed a sufficient number of crimes that state prosecutors in NY, GA, etc can all sufficiently pick at his carcass

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Pro

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Comeback kids

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2023/6/8/23754384/giants-rockies-recap-alex-cobb-thairo-estrada-michael-conforto-brandon-crawford

Through two games at Coors Field, the the San Francisco Giants had beaten the Colorado Rockies in two very different ways. And neither way felt like a fitting tribute to the Banquet Beer’s park.

During Tuesday’s 10-4 win, the Giants tied a SF-era franchise record with eight doubles, and threw a triple in there for good measure. Yet despite the nine extra-base hits, the Giants didn’t hit a single ball over the fence ... neither did the Rockies, though the teams combined for five balls that would have been out in Oracle Park.

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I caught the end of yesterday's game while making dinner. Colorado had a 3-run lead and blew it in the 9th. The announcers said Tues/Weds were an utterly demoralizing pair of losses for the Rockies

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As demoralizing as the Mets? Braves win on a late Morten Andersen field goal to sweep…ATL battled back from 3+ run deficits in each game…

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Clayton Kershaw plays stopper, Dodgers salvage a game in Cincinnati

https://www.truebluela.com/2023/6/8/23753764/clayton-kershaw-stopper-dodgers-offense-reds

The Dodgers needed some stability after blowing big leads in the first two games in Cincinnati. The offense did its job for the third time in a row, and Clayton Kershaw played the familiar role of stopper in a 6-0 win over the Reds.

The win snapped the Dodgers’ season-high four-game losing streak. They are 6-1 after a loss in games started by Kershaw.

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Cal

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I saw on the local news this morning that a black bear was hanging out in a tree in Northeast DC. Lots of bear sightings in the DC/MD area in recent weeks.

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someone at work claims to have seen it. work HQ for me is in College Park MD but not sure exactly where everyone lives.

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Go Bears. Make DC Bear Territory

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We need to take Maryland back after 2008.

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Too soon?

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Soon we will when we visit them for a conference game

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Go Bears!!!

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[T&F] Cal Throwers Earn Two All-American Nods On Day One

https://calbears.com/news/2023/6/7/track-field-cal-throwers-earn-two-all-american-nods-on-day-one.aspx

AUSTIN, TEXAS – California track & field fielded five athletes on a thrilling first day at the NCAA Outdoor Championships as the Golden Bears battled warm and muggy conditions at Mike A. Myers Stadium. Just as it was last year for Cal, two throwers were the first to earn All-American honors; however, the accolades came earlier in the competition this time around as juniors Jeff Duensing and Ivar Moisander cracked the top-16 to earn their first career All-American honors.

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[T&F] Four More Bears Named All-Americans On Day Two

https://calbears.com/news/2023/6/8/track-field-four-more-bears-named-all-americans-on-day-two.aspx

AUSTIN, TEXAS – California track & field added another quartet of All-Americans on Thursday at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, with three throwers and a pole vaulter overcoming an hour-long weather delay at Mike A. Myers Stadium to record performances that ranked among the best in the nation. The Golden Bears now have six All-Americans through two days of competition, matching last year's four-day total.

Senior Anna Purchase closed out her Golden Bear career with her highest-ever NCAA finish while also posting her second-farthest throw to date. The Nottingham, England native launched the hammer 71.47m (237-4) on her first throw to take an early lead, eventually finishing third to earn her second straight First Team All-American nod and score the first six points for the Bears' women. Cal hammer throwers have now received First Team All-American honors in four straight Outdoor Championships.

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hey Students, BEARS!!

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AQI

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Originally forecast to be around 120 today, it's only 79 right now. I can actually see blue in the sky!

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My youngest sister said the AQI in her area (New Jersey in the metro NYC area) was reported at 402. Car exhaust was trapped in the air.

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We're down to the yellow category. Actually saw a little blue sky for a while on my run. AQI in the low 70s. Could see all the way down to the Capitol again.

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working in NYC today. decent views over Central Park, not too smoky anymore.

AQI < 60

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Promotions

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I liked the trend of garden gnome giveaways in the 2010s. I have Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Jered Weaver, Manny Machado, and a few others

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I'm in my office, where I have Timmy and Romo (in the boxes). along with a few bobbleheads (Randy Winn, JT Snow, Woody)

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That photo…I often think about how insane the bat days I went to as a kid were. Loved the bats – Bobby Bonds, Chris Speier – but how were multiple peoples’ domes not cracked open like watermelons?

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Ahh…back as MoriBear. OskiDubs is my DubNation HQ alter ego.

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Burner account!

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Jun 9, 2023·edited Jun 9, 2023

Worse promotion ever was live hand grenade day at a Moosejaw Gliders Z league game. Numerous interruptions in the game and as I recall a dozen or so fatalities and many more injuries.

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