The Daily Bear Dump is a W4C community bulletin board where we talk about pretty much anything. Like…
Whiskey. This whiskey on the left may not be a French Whiskey as it says on its box because:
a) It’s got a vaguely Italian name, b) the bevy of typos on the box, c) it’s for sale at a roadside stall in Cambodia, and d) the fact that it cost less than US$2/bottle. No, I didn’t buy this whiskey because it probably would have given me permanent blindness. They did spell “whisky” correctly because Japan, Scotland, Canada, and France spell it without the “e”, while Ireland and the US spell it with.
Kosovo / Serb tensions rise over an enforcement of making Serbs living in Northern Kosovo have license plates that identified them as Serbs. Serbians protested by blocking the border with trucks. Serbia then started rattling sabers, including inflammatory comments from the Russians. NATO's KFOR is there as a peacekeeping force, which makes the situation dangerous.
The cafe upstairs was full of pretentious people, questionable food, and rude service. I went once with a friend and we were shooed out of our table after maybe 25 minutes at the restaurant. Plus AW pulled the rug out from under Cesar.
chac-mool ... one of my favorite sculpture-like things
A chacmool (also spelled chac-mool) is a form of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican sculpture depicting a reclining figure with its head facing 90 degrees from the front, supporting itself on its elbows and supporting a bowl or a disk upon its stomach.
Their symbolism placed them on the frontier between the physical and supernatural realms, as intermediaries with the gods.
if you look carefully, you can see daughter #1 making bunny ears for this chac-mool in Tulum
Chipotle. At least according to my brother in law who sent out an email last week regarding a family gathering at his house indicating it would be catered with "mexican food." I was a bit disappointed to find out by "mexican food" he meant Chipotle.
Some wasps were trying to build a mud nest on the inside of the garage door recently. Some others started building a paper nest near the deck. Both got blasted with wasp spray. I don't mind the honeybees and bumblebees in the yard but I can't stand the wasps. Bunch of hyper-aggressive nuisances.
Where i was growing up in LA we used to get a TON of wasps nests in our neighborhood. We delighted in dislodging them with broom and water hose and then burning the wasps nests with fire.
I had a pair of mud daubing wasps build a nest out of mud when I was living on the Peninsula. Their routine was to dig out balls of mud with their mandibles, no bigger than the size of a pea, from an area adjacent to the water spigot on the side of the house. They would then fly to the back of the living room's sliding glass door outside and place the mud under the eaves, gradually building a structure roughly the size of a baseball with an exit/entrance on the top, After awhile the young wasps emerged. Then winter came and the wasps were nowhere to be found, however by late Spring of the next year they re-appeared and repurposed the structure. This cycle went on for several summers. Should have had a webcam I guess like Annie and Grinnell.
For awhile earlier in the summer, every time I sat on a certain bench on Roosevelt Island to read a bumblebee would come and swarm around me. I'm guessing there was a nest or a blossoming flower nearby. Someone walking by said not to worry because they don't sting. I knew that was wrong because I remember my sister being stung by a bumblebee as a child and having an allergic reaction.
California pretty much only has honey bees and yellow jackets. I come out to NC and there's all types of hornets and wasps that I've never seen before, so I don't know how scared I should be of them. My wife found on the hard way that there are there are black wasps that come in like a missile and sting you without even landing if you get too close to their nest. I err on the side of caution by bravely running away.
We definitely have more species in Glendale. In addition to honey bees, we get lots of bumble bees in our front yard, as well as a couple different hornets and wasps, luckily I don't see a lot of yellow jackets around my house.
Tour de France Femmes ... 8 stages concluded this weekend w/ 2 hard mountain stages. in fact it is the first time they have had a "tour de france" stage race for women. so that was cool to see.
AVV (Annemiek van Vleuten) who has won almost everything else winnable ended up winning as she crushed everyone on the final steep climbs.
Sunday's final hill was so steep that the it was a gravel road at the end. AVV ended up gaining another 30 sec on the nearest person because no one could keep up w/ her on the high mountains.
Going to today's and tomorrow's Dodgers/Giants games. Today with a friend whose wife bought him a 2 pack of 2 tickets. We're going tonight and he's going with her to a weekend game.
Tomorrow is with No 2, his GF, and No 3. Thurs is a noon Kershaw game. Thought about going there.
Also I found out that the Dodgers will be in KC when we're driving through so we may try to go to the Sat 13th game. We're going to watch the Rockies on Friday the 12th on our way through.
The San Francisco Giants wrapped up their four game series against the Chicago Cubs with a 4-0 shutout with a big assist from ace and potential trade piece Carlos Rodón.
Aside from the first batter of the game that nearly took a slider over the Chevron cars in left if not for Luis Gonález’s well-timed catch, Rodón was nearly perfect.
He allowed only 2 hits over 7 innings while striking out 10. 9 of his 10 K’s came on swinging strikes and 8 came on four-seam fastballs. He collected 15 whiffs on his pitches while Cubs batters were only able to put 13 of them in play.
James Outman had a major league debut to remember, falling just a triple shy of the cycle as the Dodgers finished off a series win over the Rockies with a 7-3 win at Coors Field on Sunday.
Outman has been all smiles since getting the call to the majors for the first time on Saturday, and on Sunday he made his major league debut. With a large contingent of family and friends watching in the stands, Outman came out swinging, taking a pass at nine of the 15 pitches he saw.
In his first time up, with Cody Bellinger on first base in the third inning, Outman slammed a 1-1 sinker from Germán Márquez 405 feet into the seats in right center field, joining select company along the way.
Formula 1: Max Verstappen wins the Hungarian Grand Prix despite qualifying P10, Hamilton finishes 2nd despite qualifying P7, and Russell finishes 3rd. Meanwhile Ferrari's tire strategy continues to be dictated by a thousand monkeys at a thousand typewriters.
Fernando moving to Aston Martin next year with Seb retiring, which opens the Alpine seat for Piastri. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the driver carousel plays out.
and 950 of those monkeys were on a coffee break. I remain fascinated that they can do so much right about running an F1 team until it's time to decide about something in the middle of a race.
Those cherry blossom uniforms are among my favorite alternates in baseball. They have good colors, a good tie-in to DC, and are generally well executed.
As I was eating dinner I was reading an appreciation in the Post. Made me think - Oakland has produced a lot of great athletes but has there been any better?
something i drink almost every day. i dont have much of a collection because i just drink one bottle at a time rather than having lots of half-empty bottles. the only exceptions are a couple rare and expensive Japaneses ones or a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle's.
i usually make some variation on a Manhattan, but many other bourbon or rye cocktails are made on a regular basis.
the only real competition is the often-drunk negroni which is made w/ gin.
DBD Weather
HOT SOUP
What is this wet substance falling from the sky??
SHE BLINDED ME WITH...
Yesterday was George Jetson's birthday.
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/31/1114759037/happy-birthday-george-jetson
Time to start Spacely's Sprockets
I think Cugel is just the guy to get that started!
Nah, I want to build those buildings on the super high columns to ease the landing of the flying cars!
Get with it!
hahahahaha that made me laugh soooooooo much.
The father of BB-8 has been born
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEMN0wPo5iE
Webby sees a Supernova
https://www.inverse.com/science/the-webb-space-telescope-has-found-its-first-supernova
Kosovo / Serb tensions rise over an enforcement of making Serbs living in Northern Kosovo have license plates that identified them as Serbs. Serbians protested by blocking the border with trucks. Serbia then started rattling sabers, including inflammatory comments from the Russians. NATO's KFOR is there as a peacekeeping force, which makes the situation dangerous.
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-713593
oh good
Putin needs a right hand man, literally.
https://twitter.com/LXSummer1/status/1553716459565715456
Uhuru (Nichelle Nichols) passes away at age 89. She lived long and prospered.
https://twitter.com/GeorgeTakei/status/1553825543740686343
What is your local restaurant that is mediocre quality & very expensive?
Chevy Chase Country Club and Wild Oak Cafe, both are just fine, but way to expensive because they are the only restaurant for miles in any direction.
I feel like most breakfast/brunch spots are the answer to this question.
In San Diego, that honor would go to Breakfast Republic.
I think that's a chain that came to Louisville before we left. I heard it was just ok.
It is a local chain that started in San Diego and has since expanded into Orange County. I don’t think they have expanded to Louisville.
Hmm...maybe something with a similar name.
The Pit.
If you want to make a Carolinian angry, tell them that you went to The Pit for BBQ.
Chez Panisse
I have been to the cafe side twice, both being delightful experiences.
Went for my parent's 50th Anniversary on Saturday - had a wonderful meal, but I think slightly high on the price tag.
The only time I've been there it was good, but didn't have the Burgundy I wanted to order. Sure, not cheep.
i have only been once to the cafe. it was delightful.
that being said it was a strange day .. the day after Trump got elected and there was a strange sadness over the land (in Berkeley)
The cafe upstairs was full of pretentious people, questionable food, and rude service. I went once with a friend and we were shooed out of our table after maybe 25 minutes at the restaurant. Plus AW pulled the rug out from under Cesar.
Something Mexican
huitlacoche, aka corn smut
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_smut
A sailing/cruising destination that is high on my list
When I win the lottery, I'll hire the CruzinBears boat.
chac-mool ... one of my favorite sculpture-like things
A chacmool (also spelled chac-mool) is a form of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican sculpture depicting a reclining figure with its head facing 90 degrees from the front, supporting itself on its elbows and supporting a bowl or a disk upon its stomach.
Their symbolism placed them on the frontier between the physical and supernatural realms, as intermediaries with the gods.
if you look carefully, you can see daughter #1 making bunny ears for this chac-mool in Tulum
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ATg1tnk4QmKP7vni8
Chipotle. At least according to my brother in law who sent out an email last week regarding a family gathering at his house indicating it would be catered with "mexican food." I was a bit disappointed to find out by "mexican food" he meant Chipotle.
Me
What my wife made for dinner Saturday.
Me!
my favorite coffee mug.
my mid-december vacation
Bees and others that look like bees
Some wasps were trying to build a mud nest on the inside of the garage door recently. Some others started building a paper nest near the deck. Both got blasted with wasp spray. I don't mind the honeybees and bumblebees in the yard but I can't stand the wasps. Bunch of hyper-aggressive nuisances.
Where i was growing up in LA we used to get a TON of wasps nests in our neighborhood. We delighted in dislodging them with broom and water hose and then burning the wasps nests with fire.
I had a pair of mud daubing wasps build a nest out of mud when I was living on the Peninsula. Their routine was to dig out balls of mud with their mandibles, no bigger than the size of a pea, from an area adjacent to the water spigot on the side of the house. They would then fly to the back of the living room's sliding glass door outside and place the mud under the eaves, gradually building a structure roughly the size of a baseball with an exit/entrance on the top, After awhile the young wasps emerged. Then winter came and the wasps were nowhere to be found, however by late Spring of the next year they re-appeared and repurposed the structure. This cycle went on for several summers. Should have had a webcam I guess like Annie and Grinnell.
the spring arrival of bumblebees brings me great happiness, the wasps can fuck right off
For awhile earlier in the summer, every time I sat on a certain bench on Roosevelt Island to read a bumblebee would come and swarm around me. I'm guessing there was a nest or a blossoming flower nearby. Someone walking by said not to worry because they don't sting. I knew that was wrong because I remember my sister being stung by a bumblebee as a child and having an allergic reaction.
California pretty much only has honey bees and yellow jackets. I come out to NC and there's all types of hornets and wasps that I've never seen before, so I don't know how scared I should be of them. My wife found on the hard way that there are there are black wasps that come in like a missile and sting you without even landing if you get too close to their nest. I err on the side of caution by bravely running away.
We have wasps in SF. They are mean MFers and those bites hurt FOREVER.
Bites? Stings? I don't know what they do but I was super confused about there being no stinger where I'd been accosted.
Actually it's both, they can and will bite and sting. And the stinger is barbless so they can sting you repeatedly. They are such a joy of a creature.
We definitely have more species in Glendale. In addition to honey bees, we get lots of bumble bees in our front yard, as well as a couple different hornets and wasps, luckily I don't see a lot of yellow jackets around my house.
He is brave Sir SGBear....brave Sir SGBear ran away.
PRO
Mark Feinsand reporting Montas and Trivino to Yankees. Teams haven't confirmed. A's get three pitchers and a second baseman, all prospects.
Tour de France Femmes ... 8 stages concluded this weekend w/ 2 hard mountain stages. in fact it is the first time they have had a "tour de france" stage race for women. so that was cool to see.
AVV (Annemiek van Vleuten) who has won almost everything else winnable ended up winning as she crushed everyone on the final steep climbs.
Sunday's final hill was so steep that the it was a gravel road at the end. AVV ended up gaining another 30 sec on the nearest person because no one could keep up w/ her on the high mountains.
Going to today's and tomorrow's Dodgers/Giants games. Today with a friend whose wife bought him a 2 pack of 2 tickets. We're going tonight and he's going with her to a weekend game.
Tomorrow is with No 2, his GF, and No 3. Thurs is a noon Kershaw game. Thought about going there.
Also I found out that the Dodgers will be in KC when we're driving through so we may try to go to the Sat 13th game. We're going to watch the Rockies on Friday the 12th on our way through.
The most (and least) NFL valuable franchises. You'll never believe who's #28
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34325815/dallas-cowboys-named-most-valuable-sports-franchise-764-billion
The top 5 aren’t a surprise.
White Sox defeat A’s 4-1
Rodón shines in Sunday showcase
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2022/7/31/23286696/mlb-recap-san-francisco-giants-chicago-cubs-carlos-rodon-trade-deadline-rumors
The San Francisco Giants wrapped up their four game series against the Chicago Cubs with a 4-0 shutout with a big assist from ace and potential trade piece Carlos Rodón.
Aside from the first batter of the game that nearly took a slider over the Chevron cars in left if not for Luis Gonález’s well-timed catch, Rodón was nearly perfect.
He allowed only 2 hits over 7 innings while striking out 10. 9 of his 10 K’s came on swinging strikes and 8 came on four-seam fastballs. He collected 15 whiffs on his pitches while Cubs batters were only able to put 13 of them in play.
James Outman’s major league debut to remember leads Dodgers over Rockies
https://www.truebluela.com/2022/7/31/23286318/james-outman-three-hits-home-run-major-league-debut-dodgers-rockies-mike-piazza
James Outman had a major league debut to remember, falling just a triple shy of the cycle as the Dodgers finished off a series win over the Rockies with a 7-3 win at Coors Field on Sunday.
Outman has been all smiles since getting the call to the majors for the first time on Saturday, and on Sunday he made his major league debut. With a large contingent of family and friends watching in the stands, Outman came out swinging, taking a pass at nine of the 15 pitches he saw.
In his first time up, with Cody Bellinger on first base in the third inning, Outman slammed a 1-1 sinker from Germán Márquez 405 feet into the seats in right center field, joining select company along the way.
GBBR
GBBR
Dodger's No 17 prospect from Redwood City and Sac State homers in his 1st MLB AB, singles, and doubles. 3-4 with 3 RBIs. Proves game isn't that hard.
Gardner Minshew doing the full Philly experience by living in a prison bus during the offseason
https://www.espn.com/blog/philadelphia-eagles/post/_/id/33002/eagles-gardner-minshew-spent-the-offseason-in-an-old-prison-bus-focused-on-super-bowl-or-bust
I wonder what rookie Elijah Garcia's safe word is with Aaron Donald
https://twitter.com/NFL_Memes/status/1553502244334600195
RB Leipzig's Dani Olmo with the Galaxy Brain Play of the Year
https://twitter.com/FootyAccums/status/1553700873154580480
that's quite brilliant
An Everton fan got to take a PK in a friendly against Dynamo Kyiv.
https://twitter.com/ESPNFC/status/1553127170167525377
should have had him on the field against Minnesota United imo
As we approach the MLB trade deadline, here's a list of weird trades in history. Yes, the two dudes who swapped wives/lives are in it.
https://www.si.com/mlb/2022/07/31/weirdest-baseball-trades?fs=e&s=cl
Formula 1: Max Verstappen wins the Hungarian Grand Prix despite qualifying P10, Hamilton finishes 2nd despite qualifying P7, and Russell finishes 3rd. Meanwhile Ferrari's tire strategy continues to be dictated by a thousand monkeys at a thousand typewriters.
https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/max-verstappen-wins-f1-hungarian-gp-as-mistakes-plague-ferrari
Fernando moving to Aston Martin next year with Seb retiring, which opens the Alpine seat for Piastri. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the driver carousel plays out.
Yeah, the Ferrari thing is truly bizarre.
and 950 of those monkeys were on a coffee break. I remain fascinated that they can do so much right about running an F1 team until it's time to decide about something in the middle of a race.
The difference between Saturday Ferrari and Sunday Ferrari is quite something to behold.
The San Diego Padres wore some eye-bleachingly awful uniforms this weekend
https://twitter.com/Padres/status/1553208758800486401
Kind of the Miami Vice look. I also didn't like them. The Nats cherry blossom unis have grown on me and I kind of like them now.
Those cherry blossom uniforms are among my favorite alternates in baseball. They have good colors, a good tie-in to DC, and are generally well executed.
Nats & Chi Sox City Connect uniforms are my favorites.
I don't like the Dodgers blueberry uniforms. Ugly. Giants ones aren't much better.
Red sox - really bizarre.
The White Sox ones are awesome. Most others are terrible
[ESPN] Deshaun Watson suspended 6 games and asked to help push wheelbarrows of money for the NFL.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34327325/source-cleveland-browns-qb-deshaun-watson-suspended-6-games-violating-nfl-personal-conduct-policy
Ha! I said 8, pretty close.
An absolute joke. Look for the NFL to appeal, per Diane Russini.
Like when Ray Rice was initially given a 2 game suspension.
That was brutal….
Meanwhile Calvin Ridley basically got a 25 game suspension for legally betting on the internet…
[ESPN] Deebo and 49ers reportedly agree to extension
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34325556/san-francisco-49ers-deebo-samuel-agree-3-year-extension-worth-735m
RIP Bill Russell
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/34323568/boston-celtics-great-bill-russell-11-nba-champion-dies-88
As I was eating dinner I was reading an appreciation in the Post. Made me think - Oakland has produced a lot of great athletes but has there been any better?
Considering he's a top 5 NBA player I don't think so.
Baseball: Reggie Jackson, Rickey Henderson, Joe Morgan
Basketball: Gary Payton, Jason Kidd
Football: Gene Upshaw, Marshawn Lynch
I would throw in Frank Robinson and maybe Jackie Jensen at that level too.
Counterfeit
Lots of stuff on Amazon. I’ve started limiting what I buy there to things that aren’t performance critical
I bought bottled water at the shack where I took that picture. It turned out to be counterfeit distilled water because it made me sick.
Oh yeah, you gotta check the caps in the third world.
Whiskey
in the jar
something i drink almost every day. i dont have much of a collection because i just drink one bottle at a time rather than having lots of half-empty bottles. the only exceptions are a couple rare and expensive Japaneses ones or a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle's.
i usually make some variation on a Manhattan, but many other bourbon or rye cocktails are made on a regular basis.
the only real competition is the often-drunk negroni which is made w/ gin.
I generally have about 30 open bottles, and never have any cocktails.