111 Comments

The worst think about U.C.L.A. moving out of the Pac 12 is that I will no longer be able to truthfully say, at least once every two years "I saw Cal play at the Rose Bowl!"

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The leader of the free world should be in a retirement home for people with Alzheimer's

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Olaf Schalz is only 66

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All elected officials and judges should have a required retirement age.

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Since vinyl records are coming back, so, too, will 8 track....................

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My turntable says that vinyl is already back! Any somehow Mrs. Paulie has managed to keep Sony Walkman alive so I buy her cassettes when I go to the record store.

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8-tracks, VHS tapes, and cassette tapes are back as novelty merch. At least in the metal community they are.

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I predict vinyl/carbon nanotube composite records, for improved durability, and audio response well beyond human capability.

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Nope

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Cassettes are already "back" in a way amongst people with more patience than me.

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My wife can’t understand why I haven’t ditched my old tape deck and I don’t have the heart to tell her it’s in case I ever succeed in buying a car old enough to still have a tape deck.

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Let's say we wanted to print an unlicensed Cal Hawaiian shirt, but can't put any trademarked items or any symbols/images owned by the University. What could we print on that shirt?

https://www.reynspooner.com/products/university-of-california-berkeley-pua-performance-polo-performance-fabric

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generic non-oski Bears. Full script California, but not in the UA or University designed script. Chemical symbols for Californium, Berkelium. Telegraph/Bancroft/Durant road signs.

Blue and Gold.

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DBD Test Kitchen

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I'm sick of Silk Road cuisine. I'm taking the train into Manhattan for some Italian food.

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You can get lamb with cumin. Or lamb with cumin.

It was like being in Costa Rica: chicken, beans and rice, or chicken rice and beans and beans and rice with chicken.

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Leftover half of a Jimmy John's Italian Night Club on Wheat with hot peppers.

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Leftovers from yesterday

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DBD AV Club

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I'm rewatching the Jack Ryan series since I think Season 3 is going to drop in the fall. After finishing The Terminal List, I figured a rewatch was in order.

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For spy stuff, have you watched Slow Horses or The Old Man?

For Jack Ryan, I just end up watching Clear and Present Danger again

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https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4063800/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3

The Bureau - really great

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I'll add this to the list. I did watch this one Israeli series on Netflix that had a guy training people to be in Mossad (I think it was). it looks like it isn't on there anymore.

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I haven't heard of either of those two movies. I'll check them out.

I was about to ask which version but then remembered the Michael B Jordan film as Without Remorse.

Rank Clancy Movies.

Hunt for Red October

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Patriot Games

Clear and Present Danger

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Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

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[Too many dots to show]

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The Sum of All Fears

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Slow Horses is an Apple TV+ show about disgraced MI5 agents who have been sidelined but still "work" for the agency - they are shuffled off to a satellite office called "Slough House" - stars Gary Oldman

The Old Man is a Hulu show - starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow about a big time CIA operator in Afghanistan who retired and came back to the US and now for some reason his past has come back to haunt him. Bridges is GREAT as an older, slower but still super deadly special forces dude and Lithgow as his former friend who is now hunting him.

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I ended up reading the various Slow Horses books, there’s a lot to go on there if Apple decides to go past season 2

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Seasons 3 + 4 have just started filming in London (this week)

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oh those sound like fun.

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Slow Horses was generally very good, but the first episode is a bit rough.

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Oh man, I was so right about what would happen in Better Call Saul.

So right.

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Yes, this all feels right, like it's all what "should" happen based on what came before.

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That’s been my biggest question all series long is how they would handle this and at the beginning of last nights episode, it became very clear what was going to happen.

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President John Tyler

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Tyler was also the first Vice-President to accede to the office of President on the death of the President.

1841 was also the first calendar year in which there were three presidents - Martin Van Buren (#8, who was Andrew Jackson's VP), William Henry Harrison (#9), and John Tyler (#10)

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A lot of forgettable to bad to terrible presidents between Jackson and Lincoln.

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Tyler assumed the office of Presidency in 1941 at the age of 51 after Harrison died. He had 7 children from his first wife, who was bedridden due to a stroke 2 years earlier. Nine months later, he was introduced to and was apparently smitten by Lisa Gardiner, the 20 year old daughter of a New York state senator David Gardiner. Nine months later, Tyler's wife died and he vowed to pursue Ms. Gardiner. He ended up proposing in marriage to her five months later, which was the first of several declinations. He continued to invite her and her father to White House events, including the ceremonial firing of guns aboard the USS Princeton two years later. One of the guns malfunction, killing David Gardiner and some cabinet members. Lisa fainted, to which President Tyler picked her up and carried her from the site. Ms. Lisa appreciated Tyler's support and married him four months later, eventually giving him eight children - bringing Tyler's total to 15 children. John Tyler looks like the Simpson's Montgomery Burns.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tyler

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Creepy old man President.

I wonder what happened to all of his 15 children.

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Harrison Ruffin Tyler (grandson) is still alive!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Ruffin_Tyler

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Wow, how did you find this?

Also very interesting in that Wikipedia article is that he is supposedly a descendant of Pocahontas via his mothers lineage.

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I knew off-hand that Tyler had 3 grandsons who were alive within the last decade years so I googled that - and apparently, it's now just the one.

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Are you a great-great grandson of Tyler?

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Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

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Fifth grade was when we did reports on Presidents...I randomly pulled Bill Hank's name out of the hat. What a total pisser....dumb ass was a helluva General in the War of 1812 but an idiot of a president for like 31 days because he walked around on a snowy Inauguration Day in DC with no coat or hat and got pneumonia.

We also did state reports that year - I drew the dogschitt state of Arizona....from an interest level, I was like the Giants with RISP...a big O-fer...

I think Newellbany drew Benjamin Harrison and....Oklahoma? Not much better. Somewhere, some bastard got Abe Lincoln and New York...

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Drunk History on Bill Hank

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDukCTcITLY

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Now that's random (I assume)

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Credit cards

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Citi Double Cash, the normcore card.

2% cash back, no other nonsense.

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Jul 19, 2022·edited Jul 19, 2022

Got a Citibank Costco card. After a hiatus of 13 years, I visited a store last week. You can only pay with Visa and not with MC or American Express. So I was foiled in buying a 65 inch TV. However, I went back yesterday and bought it - just in time for the CFB season.

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I have an Apple Card. On the surface, maybe not that great (in terms of rewards, altho I did get 6% back on Apple stuff holiday-2019), but I have a habit of forgetting to pay on-time and incurring penalties.

With Apple Card, I get a "hey, it's due in a few days" email and then I just go to the card in my Wallet app and press pay. Done and done!

I also like that my purchases pop on my screen after authorization. Espec now in Japan where I get the joy of experiencing the ¥138 exchange rate multiple times of day!

[huh ¥4400 yen for (conveyor belt) sushi lunch for four...well $44 ain't bad...wait, it was only $32?!? yahoo!)].

In my mind, it's like I'm paying 72¢ on the dollar for things.

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I got an Apple Card for the free money financing, I think it’s definitely a better user experience for tracking and payments than the apps for “regular” cards

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I read that as "I got an Apple Card for the free money laundering"

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I downgraded from Chase Sapphire "Reserve" to "Preferred". The former used to have a real person pick up service calls on the first ring, have a semi-useful concierge service, and give you a bunch of travel points to offset the price. It devolved into long wait times and the bonus travel points wasn't worth the extra cost.

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I have Preferred and I was accused of credit card bragging when I used it to buy concessions when watching Top Gun: Maverick with Twist and DarthDartengen a few weeks back. It is a nicer, thicker card than my other credit cards.

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I got the preferred one because I was expecting a lot more travel with the older daughter going to college but for obvious reasons that hasn’t been happening - my wife keeps getting pissy about paying for the cards even though we get almost all of it back in statement credits 🤷🏼‍♂️ I suppose I’ll use the points eventually

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After leaving a continent and a bunch of points behind (Cathay flight miles have been on hold for 3 years but they'll make them start expiring sometime) I just figured it was nice to start a travel credit card on this side of the pacific for the eventual end of this thing. And I have spent way more than $120 on a bunch of useless crap

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I tell a lie, I have the sapphire reserve card. Still doesn’t end up costing all that much. I got one for my older daughter so, inter alia, I can make travel arrangements when she’s in the woods in Vermont and she has the same card info should there be a problem in transit later

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Oh that's the big bucks (comparatively)

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I would like to use my Amex Platinum card for flexing, but I always use my plastic Chase Ink card for spending because of much better point accumulation rate. Amex Platinum is primarily for benefits, not spending.

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Something really obvious

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Cal is going to the Rose Bowl for the last time ever in 2023.

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Cal is going to the Rose Bowl in 2023

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Might be worth making the trip down since it will be the last time.

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Cal isn't going to the Rose Bowl this year

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too soon?

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A simple thing that can help cars/driving experience?

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My last rental had adaptive cruise control, which I found nice on a long road trip.

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(Back to Japan) My rental car has a sensor to let me know when I'm going over a lane marking. It's annoying now, since sometimes I'm taking the corner tight on purpose. But the first few days it was nice, while I re-acclimated to driving on the left.

And when my (doesn't drive, but has a license) wife was practicing driving, it was nice to have something besides my voice tell her she was drifting! (please don't drive us into the river!)

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I always turn it off, but it is handy when I have to drive for miles while sleepy on my business trips in the Midwest

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That sounds hella annoying.

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My new Hyundai has this, and it will fight you unless you make an intentional lane change. But you can also turn it off with one button.

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What if you're signaling a lane change? Doe the Hyundai still fight you?

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no, because you're changing lanes with intention. it's only when you drift does it try to re-center you

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So signaling is deemed to be intention, then.

For someone like myself who signals turns and lane changes, this could be a valuable feature on long trips.

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not just signaling, but if you actively turn the wheel to make a lane change, it won't fight you either. It's only when you just kind of drift towards the line that it re-centers. I do only use it on long trips though.

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The first time I had this was in a Ford Fusion Hybrid that I rented. Didn't realize it was on and had to figure out quickly how to turn it off.

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What are you growing in your garden?

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Several tomato plants, an egg plant, a soy bean plant and a shishito pepper plant in our "garden bed". We also recently planted a bunch of fruit trees to take advantage of a basically unusable hillside back yard: 2x avos, 2x cherries, 1x fig, 1x mandarin and have 2x established pomegranates. In between the cherries and fig we have 2x squash and 2x melons. In pots we have 2x guava, 1x goji berry, 2x olives. Will be soon replacing 3x crepe myrtles that don't flower with 2x larger olive trees. We are big "food not lawns" believers so trying to make the most out of our limited land and outdated sprinkler system (which at some point will be converted to drip lines).

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watermelon, cantaloupe, spaghetti squash, lettuce, numerous tomato varities, onions, leeks, beets, carrots, japanese eggplant, thai basil, regular basil, jalapenos, banana peppers, thai chili peppers, sweet heat peppers, anaheim peppers, random large not spicy pepper I cant remember theme off....I am probably forgetting stuff

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Not a garden, but my son is caring for a Venus Flytrap that he first got about 4 years ago. It has gotten huge (but hasn't learned how to say "Feed me!"). Currently, a couple of sprouts are about 2 feet high. The largest of the leaves that eat the bugs is maybe 2 inches long. My son named it Nigel.

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Ha! My son loves this song!

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...as do I!

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plums, yuzu (still prob a couple of years away), blueberries, various veggies (rotating based on season)

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Not a garden, but I unofficially inherited a marijuana plant. My building has three entrances and a guy from another entrance used to put his plant out in the sun during the day. His landlord died and the heirs are selling so he had to move. He left the plant on the stoop outside the entrance I use so I've started watering it to keep it alive. I'm mostly doing it just to see how long before someone takes it.

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"someone"

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I was growing giant sunflowers and they got to be about 4 feet high before deer wiped them out.

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Gallium

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Elsewhere in college

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[ESPN] Pac-10 and Big-12 call off partnership discussions

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/34264518/sources-big-12-pac-12-partner-talks-officially-end

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Looks to be dead and appears the Pac (10 or 12) will go it alone as far as negotiating media rights, at least until Notre Dame, which is demanding $75 million to stay independent, decides what to do. It's weird to think that Cal is in any way beholden to what Notre Dame does as far as the Big 10 or another conference goes, but there it is.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/notre-dame-targeting-75-million-annual-media-rights-payout-in-quest-to-remain-independent/

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The Pac10 is a zombie conference right now. It is the walking dead.

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Not really a surprise, because of fit. Honestly, not really sure what benefit merging with the Big 12 would be, other than maybe getting access to Texas. But Iowa St, KU, KSU, Ok State, WVA, etc. don't fit culturally or academically. TCU is meh, though it gets you in the Dallas/Ft. Worth market at least....but it's a small religious school - that doesn't work in P12.

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When does ND's TV deal with NBC expire? I thought it was after the PAC-Whatever, but before the ACC (which is like 15 years from now).

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2025 I believe

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POLITICAL STUFF HERE

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Two WH aides will testify in the 8th and potentially final J6 public hearing, essentially giving evidence of dereliction of duty by Trump

https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-biden-donald-trump-government-and-politics-00896eaba6df614bf46fc6beebe63fce

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Please delete above post, I put it in the wrong topic.

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You should have the ability to edit/delete your own posts Click the "..." at the bottom of your post.

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PROFESSIONAL SPORTS

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Soto, who turned down a $400 million + contract offer, defeats Rodriguez in the home run derby. Pujols doesn't win but whacks 20 homers at age 42.

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There were quite a few pitchers that couldn't get in a groove and throw fat pitches. Schwarber's and Alonzo's pitchers seemed to have problems throwing them a little up and in.

Also, I think the 5 PM start meant the infamous Dodgers Stadium shadows impacted the hitters a little bit.

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If Cal gets an unsolicited call-back reference, I'm posting it

https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/1549227112485339138

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[USWNT] Alex Morgan scores to defeat America's hat 1-0 in the CONCAF Championship, securing berth at Olympics

https://www.espn.com/soccer/report?gameId=649051

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CAL

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Go Bears, bright and early!

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My Lexus goes into the shop at 7am this morning....

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Five Bears selected in the MLB draft, including Dylan Beavers going 33rd overall

https://calbears.com/news/2022/7/18/baseball-four-day-two-golden-bears.aspx

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