I went through the Smithsonian National Zoo on my run this morning. Watched the six-month-old Andean bears climbing and cavorting. Equally cute to make my day.
Elizabeth Holmes (Stanfurd 2002-04) was ordered to pay $452m restitution. It was proposed that she pay that back at $250 a month. That's $250 dollars. Not million. At that rate, she will still have an outstanding balance in 150,000 years. Holmes protests the payments as unaffordable - I mean, being married to an hotel heir and all.
I’m sure the PE did fine! Probably bought it with a loan against target’s assets, sucked everything they could put in the form of distributions, and let it die. They care zero about impact on employees, vendors
The preliminary estimate of time to repair the collapsed section of I-95 is "months", which I find infuriating. A similar accident took out a short section of The Maze. A contractor replaced the firebombed section within something like 4 or 5 days. It was the same contractor who did a particularly difficult job in the Bay Bridge East Span project, I think. The Bay Bridge job was the transition from the old roadway to the new roadway on the east end of the Yerba Buena Tunnel, I believe.
I'm drawing a blank on the contractor's name. Anyone else remember who did that work?
Fun fact - 80E and 580W are concurrent from The Maze to the Albany split.
But yes, the accident in The maze was a tanker that exploded and burned. I'm not sure, at the moment, which roadways and directions were involved, but I seem to recall it was an early morning accident. About CalTrans LA - they did some very quick work in getting damaged freeways back in shape after the Northridge quake. It kind of rankled some folks in the Bay Area as the replacement for the Cypress Structure freeway and the Bay Bridge nonsense was still ongoing and had been going on for at least 5 years before.
I was in Long Beach for the Northridge quake. First night after getting back from our honeymoon. We left for the Bay Area the next day, I think. Had to take 101 the whole way. Sucked. Probably the longest drive back from LA I've had to do. Everyone had to take 101 so there was traffic as well.
It's always weird explaining to people that one stretch of highway has E and W designations.
Are you saying the I-95 repair is longer? The picture I saw yesterday seems to indicate the span straddles 2 or 3 lanes at most. 50 to 60 feet tops. Heck, it's wider than it is long. But, to be fair, they might have to rebuild the abutments on either side.
I had been going to help the missus drive to Vermont on Thursday and then take the bus to Boston - Acela to DC on Friday, but things changed and that’s off.... going to help with the drive home in August but for schedule reasons I’m going to fly to BOS and then Cape Air to Lebanon.
2 things i recall while they still had a presence in NYC
- ING cafe, which had decent coffee and some of the best handmade pastries about a block from the office.
- Planet Orange - a finance learning website for kids. my older one learned all about investing and compound interest at a young age in a fun gamified way.
the Alpe is a famous climb usually included every 2-3 years at the Tour de France. it is famous for 21 hairpin bends up a long and steep road. it is sometime decisive in determining who wins the race.
corner 7 is called Dutch corner because that is where all the crazed, drunk, orange clad fans all hang out. it is among the most icon moments of the cycling race season when it happens.
...My wife kinda hates the Dutch, she went there long ago, by herself on a professional visit and found the Dutch to be extremely racist - I wasn't on this trip (not enough $$$ then) - don't see any reason to doubt her reaction.
All Euros are pretty racist though, at least as compared to here. When I first got to my host family’s house in France in high school, we turned on France 3 to see a comic do a stand up act. His entire act was mocking the way West Africans spoke French, hopping around like a monkey. This was on one of the main govt channels!
Stunning. Couldn't disagree more. I have found Europeans to be no more racist than Americans and in many countries less so. Especially when compared to certain parts of this country.
i think there are different kinds of racism between Europe and US.
the US one is mostly white vs black and about superiority. no doubt it came from some Euro influences.
Euro racism is more tribal, French vs Germany, Germany vs Italian, etc etc. they clearly have a white-better-than-others mentality too, but i find it slightly less distasteful.
As a devotee of European football I can attest to the fact that these incidents take place, but these days they are fewer and further between than in days of yore. They are also being cracked down on much more severely. Much greater awareness these days and it's something talked about a lot. British footballers have no hesitation in taking a knee to protest racism and this is mostly supporter by fans.
Uh, I might have left out an important fact - as you can tell from photo (that's me) I'm white, but my wife is Black and I'm 100% certain that fact effects how your are treated by actual racists - a little different when we are together - but she was out there by herself.
I have found Europeans in general to be incredibly racist, much more than in the US. I cannot comment on all nationalities, but at least the Brits, the Spanish, the Italians and the Germans would make even American southerners look positively tolerant.
Modern day Britain was the most racist society I have ever encountered. Really, really uncomfortable.
When I was a kid living in the Netherlands it was still common to find people who didn’t really view the Italians, Spanish, and Portuguese as white, and the Dutch told Belgian jokes like the British told Irish jokes (which were basically variants of Polish jokes as told in the US in the time). The jokes the Dutch told about Maluccans and black Surinamers would have been instantly recognizable to US bigots. It’s better now for sure but a long way from being gone.
I dunno, my best friend is an Indian guy and we traveled around post college in Western Europe. My buddy seemed to get stares and “where are you froms” at a clip that is at least 10x of what we’d get in Monterey as kids/teens. No like cross burning I guess, but you could really feel that you were in mono-racial state
I should caveat that this was like 20 years ago, sort of coincided with a bunch of race riots in the banlieus, so maybe they were trying to see if he was Arabic? Could have been specific to that I suppose
Nick Taylor wins RBC Canadian Open. Fellow competitor Adam Hadwin tries to join in the celebration. Roaming Free Safety sees the play as it develops, slips the C gap, puts his helmet on the inside, drives his shoulder, wraps up, and ends the play with a tackle for loss.
Red's reliever gets called up from AAA despite having 9.27 ERA and 2.55 WHIP. In his MLB debut, he continues to kinda suck but does just enough to have the game end well for him
Ohtani puts the Angels on his back, smashing his 19th HR to tie it in the 7th and the go-ahead HR in the 12th. He didn't seem to swing that hard on the first homer, but the distance, exit velocity, and his bat flip says otherwise.
Giants beat Cardinals in St. Louis as Crawford drives in a pair, the day after he closes a win on the mound . SF remains very much in the playoff hunt. https://www.espn.com/mlb/recap?gameId=401472012
Some claim that the Feds should be looking at the criminal syndicate of a First Family that used its position to grift money from the public, use the office to leverage millions of dollars from foreign entities, and give their wholly unqualified offspring jobs/positions to also perpetuate cons. Of course, I am talking about the most corrupt Biden family /s
The New Yorker has alleged further audio of the smoking-gun Trump audio tapes. It supports previous reports that Trump wanted to a Wag-the-Dog first strike on Iran, General Milley trying to persuade him to do it, then Trump asking for confidential information about contingency plans on how the US would attack Iran if it ever needed to, and then trying to blame Milley as the instigator of the plan.
Watched the third episode of Never Have I Ever... last night - love that show & we watched The Other Two... (the embarrassing "gay" one): this season is so much funnier than the others, just crazy & fun.
One of my very favorites. I finished The Passenger a couple of weeks ago -- it was excellent and I am looking forward to tackling Stella Maris soon. It seems remarkable that he still wrote so beautifully at 89. I am sad there will be no more. Seems a shame he never won the Nobel.
Are you having a bad day? Here. Watch this.
https://twitter.com/sandiegozoo/status/1668395537748594689
I went through the Smithsonian National Zoo on my run this morning. Watched the six-month-old Andean bears climbing and cavorting. Equally cute to make my day.
DBD Street Journal
Elizabeth Holmes (Stanfurd 2002-04) was ordered to pay $452m restitution. It was proposed that she pay that back at $250 a month. That's $250 dollars. Not million. At that rate, she will still have an outstanding balance in 150,000 years. Holmes protests the payments as unaffordable - I mean, being married to an hotel heir and all.
https://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-holmes-says-she-cant-afford-restitution-2023-6
Instant Pot files for Ch 11 Bankruptcy. Don't feel bad - the brand was bought in 2019 by a private equity firm
https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/12/23758602/instant-pot-bankruptcy-new-products-2023-decline
I’m sure the PE did fine! Probably bought it with a loan against target’s assets, sucked everything they could put in the form of distributions, and let it die. They care zero about impact on employees, vendors
Amtrak
taking train from New Rochelle to New Carrolton to get to work for the week.
the nice thing is that home is 10 min from train station and so is work on the other side.
it is mostly nice and quiet and you can work. the cost of driving or flying is about the same time and hassle.
looking forward to taking train around Japan this summer though
It beats driving this time of year, especially with that collapsed section of I-95 outside Philly
true. we are driving home thru Philly on Fri/Sat though ..
The preliminary estimate of time to repair the collapsed section of I-95 is "months", which I find infuriating. A similar accident took out a short section of The Maze. A contractor replaced the firebombed section within something like 4 or 5 days. It was the same contractor who did a particularly difficult job in the Bay Bridge East Span project, I think. The Bay Bridge job was the transition from the old roadway to the new roadway on the east end of the Yerba Buena Tunnel, I believe.
I'm drawing a blank on the contractor's name. Anyone else remember who did that work?
I remember the maze one. wasn't that the accident going from 80E to 580W? I think there was a tanker that caught fire right under the flyover?
Cal Trans LA would have I95 fixed within a few days I think. They seem to fix things super fast.
Fun fact - 80E and 580W are concurrent from The Maze to the Albany split.
But yes, the accident in The maze was a tanker that exploded and burned. I'm not sure, at the moment, which roadways and directions were involved, but I seem to recall it was an early morning accident. About CalTrans LA - they did some very quick work in getting damaged freeways back in shape after the Northridge quake. It kind of rankled some folks in the Bay Area as the replacement for the Cypress Structure freeway and the Bay Bridge nonsense was still ongoing and had been going on for at least 5 years before.
I was in Long Beach for the Northridge quake. First night after getting back from our honeymoon. We left for the Bay Area the next day, I think. Had to take 101 the whole way. Sucked. Probably the longest drive back from LA I've had to do. Everyone had to take 101 so there was traffic as well.
It's always weird explaining to people that one stretch of highway has E and W designations.
It was very short compared to this repair - split to 880 from 80.
Are you saying the I-95 repair is longer? The picture I saw yesterday seems to indicate the span straddles 2 or 3 lanes at most. 50 to 60 feet tops. Heck, it's wider than it is long. But, to be fair, they might have to rebuild the abutments on either side.
I love riding trains in Japan!
Where you headed? How long?
PS summer in Japan is the shits
I had been going to help the missus drive to Vermont on Thursday and then take the bus to Boston - Acela to DC on Friday, but things changed and that’s off.... going to help with the drive home in August but for schedule reasons I’m going to fly to BOS and then Cape Air to Lebanon.
Love the East Coast Amtrak rides.
Bank
ING Bank was very orange in its branding.
2 things i recall while they still had a presence in NYC
- ING cafe, which had decent coffee and some of the best handmade pastries about a block from the office.
- Planet Orange - a finance learning website for kids. my older one learned all about investing and compound interest at a young age in a fun gamified way.
DUTCH
Corner at the Alpe d'Huez
the Alpe is a famous climb usually included every 2-3 years at the Tour de France. it is famous for 21 hairpin bends up a long and steep road. it is sometime decisive in determining who wins the race.
corner 7 is called Dutch corner because that is where all the crazed, drunk, orange clad fans all hang out. it is among the most icon moments of the cycling race season when it happens.
https://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/alpe-dhuez-dutch-corner
why are there so many Dutch references in the Cal drinking song?
Where's CalBear81 when we need her?
crunch. An excellent but unfortunately uncommon bread
that was my go-to bread with a coffee source salad back in 1996.
I get it all the time. Had it for a sandwich on Sunday. But maybe that's more a Bay Area thing?
We had it at the deli I worked at in Moraga (Gourmet Glazed Hams) in the early 00's, it was rarely ordered but was very good
No 3 always gets it at Genova's in WC.
Not Italian sourdough?!?!!?
That's what I get, but not him.
Gouda cheese in a southern Dutch town. In Dutch, the cheese and the town are pronounced "howda" with a guttural h.
some of the best things to pick up at AMS on a layover are some blocks of gouda and stroopwafels.
the chocolate sprinkles that all Dutch kids put on their morning toast is pretty good too.
They have the best snacks and small bites in the Netherlands
...My wife kinda hates the Dutch, she went there long ago, by herself on a professional visit and found the Dutch to be extremely racist - I wasn't on this trip (not enough $$$ then) - don't see any reason to doubt her reaction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khUporxh9IU
hahahaha
All Euros are pretty racist though, at least as compared to here. When I first got to my host family’s house in France in high school, we turned on France 3 to see a comic do a stand up act. His entire act was mocking the way West Africans spoke French, hopping around like a monkey. This was on one of the main govt channels!
Stunning. Couldn't disagree more. I have found Europeans to be no more racist than Americans and in many countries less so. Especially when compared to certain parts of this country.
i think there are different kinds of racism between Europe and US.
the US one is mostly white vs black and about superiority. no doubt it came from some Euro influences.
Euro racism is more tribal, French vs Germany, Germany vs Italian, etc etc. they clearly have a white-better-than-others mentality too, but i find it slightly less distasteful.
Look at all the monkey imagery and verbal abuse happening at football matches across the continent. That doesn't magically just appear in stadia.
As a devotee of European football I can attest to the fact that these incidents take place, but these days they are fewer and further between than in days of yore. They are also being cracked down on much more severely. Much greater awareness these days and it's something talked about a lot. British footballers have no hesitation in taking a knee to protest racism and this is mostly supporter by fans.
Uh, I might have left out an important fact - as you can tell from photo (that's me) I'm white, but my wife is Black and I'm 100% certain that fact effects how your are treated by actual racists - a little different when we are together - but she was out there by herself.
I have found Europeans in general to be incredibly racist, much more than in the US. I cannot comment on all nationalities, but at least the Brits, the Spanish, the Italians and the Germans would make even American southerners look positively tolerant.
Modern day Britain was the most racist society I have ever encountered. Really, really uncomfortable.
When I was a kid living in the Netherlands it was still common to find people who didn’t really view the Italians, Spanish, and Portuguese as white, and the Dutch told Belgian jokes like the British told Irish jokes (which were basically variants of Polish jokes as told in the US in the time). The jokes the Dutch told about Maluccans and black Surinamers would have been instantly recognizable to US bigots. It’s better now for sure but a long way from being gone.
I dunno, my best friend is an Indian guy and we traveled around post college in Western Europe. My buddy seemed to get stares and “where are you froms” at a clip that is at least 10x of what we’d get in Monterey as kids/teens. No like cross burning I guess, but you could really feel that you were in mono-racial state
I should caveat that this was like 20 years ago, sort of coincided with a bunch of race riots in the banlieus, so maybe they were trying to see if he was Arabic? Could have been specific to that I suppose
Or maybe I am overreacting or misremembering. All of those things have happened before!
“He didn’t disappear…he was skinned alive….so you cooked up a story, and dropped the six of us in a meat grinder.”
Auction. Made popular by W.R. Hambrecht & Co. As a novel way of going public.
LION
Barry Sanders ..
in all my years of watching football i have never seen someone run as much w/ less team help.
How close did Jayden Ott come last year? Didn't get much OL help, or WR blocking.
...in Winter. Starring Katherine Hepburn, Peter O'Toole, Anthony Hopkins, Timothy Dalton, and others. Good flick.
Master class in acting.
Marvin Jones is back
PRO
Nick Taylor wins RBC Canadian Open. Fellow competitor Adam Hadwin tries to join in the celebration. Roaming Free Safety sees the play as it develops, slips the C gap, puts his helmet on the inside, drives his shoulder, wraps up, and ends the play with a tackle for loss.
https://twitter.com/PaigeSpiranac/status/1668229200187105280
Reminds me somewhat of the Mychael Kendricks tackle where he almost lifted the RB and drove him back.
This one? (This was a masterpiece, btw)
https://s.hdnux.com/photos/10/63/00/2306071/7/1200x0.jpg
Yes. this one. Such a great photo.
This 99 is worth 715120
https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/37841505/last-wayne-gretzky-worn-nhl-jersey-sells-715120-auction
$7,151.20?
Red's reliever gets called up from AAA despite having 9.27 ERA and 2.55 WHIP. In his MLB debut, he continues to kinda suck but does just enough to have the game end well for him
https://www.mlb.com/news/ricky-karcher-earns-save-in-mlb-debut
Last place team photobombs a celebration
https://twitter.com/Rockies/status/1668456102478979072
Cleveland Browns unveils the symbolism hidden in their new logo to help explain their team's history/pervasive sadness
https://fox8.com/sports/new-cleveland-browns-logo-spot-the-8-hidden-symbols/?
Ohtani puts the Angels on his back, smashing his 19th HR to tie it in the 7th and the go-ahead HR in the 12th. He didn't seem to swing that hard on the first homer, but the distance, exit velocity, and his bat flip says otherwise.
https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1668439428425981956
https://twitter.com/BenVerlander/status/1668462705743921152
I saw the first one. I'm glad they're showing lots of Angels games on TV this year. Love watching Ohtani.
Same. I must have missed the other while watching the NBA Finals. I appreciate that MLB Network often airs the games when Ohtani pitches
3-time Olympic sprinter Tori Bowie died while in childbirth
https://www.espn.com/olympics/trackandfield/story/_/id/37843270/us-olympic-sprinter-tori-bowie-died-complications-childbirth-autopsy-finds
I bet if someone had been with her she'd still be alive.
:(
Nuggets win their first NBA Championship
https://www.espn.com/nba/game/_/gameId/401544850
That was a wild 4th quarter. And fast, too. It went from ~3 min to go to 20-ish seconds remaining without a single break (timeout, foul, etc.)
Because it's America
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/37846096/nine-wounded-denver-shooting-nuggets-win-nba-title
this was fun to watch.
for a hot second in the 4th quarter it seemed that Jimmy Butler was going to win the game for them.
but too much Jokic in the end.
Giants beat Cardinals in St. Louis as Crawford drives in a pair, the day after he closes a win on the mound . SF remains very much in the playoff hunt. https://www.espn.com/mlb/recap?gameId=401472012
A's down Rays 4-3 for 6th win in a row. Shea Langeliers delivers based loaded double to plate 3 runs. Kaprielian goes 7 strong innings.
https://www.athleticsnation.com/2023/6/12/23758874/win-streak-reaches-six-as-aathletics-beat-rays-4-3
OH YEAH 😃 tough win as well!!!
the road to 100 wins continues
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Some claim that the Feds should be looking at the criminal syndicate of a First Family that used its position to grift money from the public, use the office to leverage millions of dollars from foreign entities, and give their wholly unqualified offspring jobs/positions to also perpetuate cons. Of course, I am talking about the most corrupt Biden family /s
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/09/politics/hunter-biden-republicans-what-matters/index.html
Georgia GOP has elected a new Vice Chairman
✅Election Denier who thinks Trump won in 2020 due to DEM election fraud
✅Under investigation for voting 9 times in 2020 election
https://www.ajc.com/politics/georgia-gop-elects-election-deniers-to-key-posts/7QJTDJUCLZDLTNOTAF7GH6JFQA/
Trump blames the FBI for crapping in his pants
https://www.mediaite.com/trump/trump-makes-insane-allegation-that-the-fbi-planted-classified-documents-on-him-just-hours-before-hes-due-in-court/
The New Yorker has alleged further audio of the smoking-gun Trump audio tapes. It supports previous reports that Trump wanted to a Wag-the-Dog first strike on Iran, General Milley trying to persuade him to do it, then Trump asking for confidential information about contingency plans on how the US would attack Iran if it ever needed to, and then trying to blame Milley as the instigator of the plan.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4046504-trump-milley-feud-played-key-role-in-classified-documents-case/
Indicted "billionaire" wants your money. E-coupons cost more than general entry.
https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1668397742027096064
Trump arrives in Florida. What kind of circus will follow? Time to pop some popcorn 🍿...
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/12/trump-miami-court-protest-00101593
The circus will not be televised
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1668427884547932161
Trump called for protestors in front of the court house. He almost got dozens to attend
https://twitter.com/joncoopertweets/status/1668631614480580608
LOL
https://twitter.com/joncoopertweets/status/1668661577787097088
DBD AV CLUB
Watched the third episode of Never Have I Ever... last night - love that show & we watched The Other Two... (the embarrassing "gay" one): this season is so much funnier than the others, just crazy & fun.
NHIE E3 of S1? or of the new season? I plowed thru the final season over the weekend. they did an admirable job of wrapping things up.
TOT: is there a new season? the last one (S3) was ok.
Tying the two shows together: Ken Marino (the agent/love interest on TOT) is the prom limo driver in NHIE this season
New season of course - 3rd
Same with TOT- we only watch a max of 2 hours of TV per night - and a movie on Saturday. And I thought the TOT 3rd was hella funny, best season.
Cormac McCarthy hits the Road
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2023/06/13/cormac-mccarthy-dies-author-of-the-road-pulitzer-winner/5663448002/
One of my very favorites. I finished The Passenger a couple of weeks ago -- it was excellent and I am looking forward to tackling Stella Maris soon. It seems remarkable that he still wrote so beautifully at 89. I am sad there will be no more. Seems a shame he never won the Nobel.
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
UConn students in the FO stage after they FA'd
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaabk/uconn-students-expelled-for-smashing-windows-and-flipping-van-after-title-win/ar-AA1cpUT9
Stanford beats Texas on a bizarre play, heads to the College World Series
https://twitter.com/SInow/status/1668465331646394368
I guess one of those teams had to win.
CAL
Go Bears!!!