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first day of school

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First day of school for Berkeley Unified School District was *three weeks ago* (August 14). When my kids were in school, the first day of school was the Wednesday before Labor Day, which would have been August 28 this year.

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I've experienced more as a teacher than as a student. Bounce out of bed on that first day. The second day it's "wtf, I have to do this again?" Stays that way until the day before Winter Break. In reality teachers and students experience a lot of the same feelings.

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Sep 4·edited Sep 4Author

Kid started semester abroad in London, just north of Regent's Park in Camden Town. I'm a bit jealous, but I guess one always wants their children to have a better life than them.

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That's awesome!

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i am sure most people's kids have gone bacl to school by now as NY has among the latest start dates. today was first day and the last one for us w/ HS senior going off to school.

i walked over to the bus stop, said bye. i was nostalgic a bit for the days of having younger kids so i walked over to the neighborhood bus stop for the elementary kids too to send the little ones off to their first days of school as well!

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Seattle just started today also. Finally!

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North Face

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I was an external auditor on the North Face account in the 90s. The company had to make big write-offs of inventory in China as their specialty Gortex that they had made for them - would go missing once the risk-of-ownership transferred to them but didn't reach their assembly plants. Millions of dollars. And they didn't make any money in China because 100% of the sales there was either counterfeit or product that disappeared from their factories. It was bad enough where their CEO had considered exiting China altogether. I tried to negotiate the sale of TNF's China distribution area to me. $1m was the price, which was fair - but I didn't have enough capital/credit/network to pull it off. I ended up moving to Hong Kong less than a year later. Honestly, it's a good thing I didn't buy it because I would have had to end up living in China for long-term, but it does make me wonder what my life would have been if I did.

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When I was in Guangzhou in 1995, I did see a lot of cheap North Face Gortex wear. Mostly women's though. I would have bought some if they had men's.

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wow. that's quite the story

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Long time ago (like 40+ years ago), North Face put out a really cool t-shirt with a silk screened graphic of a sheer face of rock covered in ice and a climber with a coiled rope and pickaxe standing at the base and looking up.

I wore that t-shirt often until it disintegrated.

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i tend not to buy TNF gear anymore. it used to be really good stuff before they went the mass-market route.

i suppose that happens to many brands (outdoors or not). they start of with some niche thing they are really good at it. it somehow become fashionable, trendy, exclusive .. and when the company takes advantage of this popularity, invariably the high end quality suffers.

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True. TNF used to make really good gear. They would order various types of Gortex, some far better than your standard version. And they hot sealed the seams - because that's where the water proofing would fail as water wicked into the equipment via the stitching. If you look inside your gear, you could look for a plastic membrane that was applied on the back of the seams. TNF outwear used to cost an ungodly amount more than their competitors - like $800 jackets when others were $200. But I could ski for 8 hours in rain/snow and be dry as a bone. TNF has gone mass market, so I have to buy specialty gear again to stay dry.

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I do have a gortex shell my dad got me at the store on Telegraph freshman year because I would get sozked walking from Unit 3 to Northside. I still have it and wear it sometimes, though not as often here in Ca.

My Timbuk2 bag has some sort of waterproof lining. Not sure how to describe it, but it's got a little bit of tacky feel. Not so much that it sticks, but your fingers don't run over it super smoothly. They say not to throw it in the dryer.

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I've been getting Columbia because tbb sometimes gets employee store passes. Otherwise the only way I would buy TNF stuff is if I found something at the outlet in Berkeley. I don't need hardcore hiking stuff so it would be stuff like a rain jacket or small things like that.

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PRO

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A’s walk-off for second night in a row over Mariners

https://www.athleticsnation.com/2024/9/3/24235389/as-walk-off-for-second-night-in-a-row-over-mariners

The A’s went the walk-off fashion for the second evening in a row, beating the rival Mariners at the last second to send the fans home happy and give the A’s their 61st win of the season.

Facing a Seattle lineup that’s struggled all year (29th out of 30 teams in OPS) rookie righty JT Ginn got the ball for game two, making his second career start. His first one saw him locked in early before fading late but it was the exact opposite story for Ginn tonight. Seattle collected three straight hits to open this game up, with the big hit of the inning coming off the bat of Seattle backstop Cal Raleigh that brought in two runs. Ginn locked in after that hit, proceeding to strike out the next three Mariners to end the rally.

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A tale of two teams (Giants almost comeback against the Dbacks 8-7)

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2024/9/3/24235465/giants-diamondbacks-recap-randal-grichuk-mike-yastrzemski-matt-chapman-ryne-nelson

The top and bottom halves of the first inning of Tuesday night’s game were nearly identical. In the top half, Geraldo Perdomo led off for the Arizona Diamondbacks and, facing a young pitcher trying to solidify his role in the Majors (Kyle Harrison), smacked a single. In the bottom half, Mike Yastrzemski led off for the San Francisco Giants and, facing a young pitcher trying to solidify his role in the Majors (Ryne Nelson), drew a walk.

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Mookie Betts home run seals Dodgers win in 10th inning

https://www.truebluela.com/2024/9/3/24235522/mookie-betts-home-run-dodgers-angels

After elite pitching carried this game into extras, Mookie Betts hit a three-run bomb in the 10th inning to headline the Dodgers 6-2 win over the Angels on Tuesday night in Anaheim.

However, it should be noted that Miguel Rojas had the go-ahead run to set up an opportunity for the top of the order. In an eventful 10th frame, Ron Washington found out the meaning of pick your poison against the Dodgers and this loaded top of the order.

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Ben Joyce threw the second fastest pitch in history in this game to strike out Tommy Edman

https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1831179137534271879

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That was insane. 105.5. And he came off sheepishly.

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Wout Van Aert retires from La Vuelta due to high speed crash. he was leading in both the mountain climber and sprint points jersey competitions!

stage 17 today .. should be a stalemate for overall leaders. battle resumes tomorrow as Primoz Roglic will most likely win La Vuelta for 4th time (tying record). Ben O'Connor continues in leader's red jersey and continues to bleed time on each tough mountain stage.

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Oof, second bad crash for Wout this year!

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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I assume it’s mostly dudes on here so curious if you guys have a take on this.

I just read a book called Of Boys and Men by Richard Reeves that basically points out that girls are kicking boys’ asses in school, particularly relative to college admissions (a true, indisputable fact), that the reason for this is that women’s brains mature faster than boys (I am no scientist but this generally accords with my life experience) and the primary fix is to “redshirt” boys by holding them back in school a year so they are a year older than their female counterparts.

On the fix, the dude loses me. First, you have to exhaust less drastic remedies first (eg, recruiting more male teachers especially in primary grades).

But second, it’s still true that despite this so called head start, girls will suffer the burden of caregiving for children much more than boys right at the point in their lives that careers normally take off. Not true in every case of course (eg, I am the primary caregiver for my kids), but it is certainly true on average across the population. I just think you can’t take a drastic remedy to fix this schooling problem boys have, which does seem real admittedly, if you don’t also take a drastic remedy to fix the caregiving issue women have.

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I reject the notion that boys are not applying to college because of "maturity". Boys score on average 34 points higher than girls on the SAT - so it's not qualifications. But numbers of applicants are lower in males than females because they don't want to go to college. I think it is far more likely that boys don't want to go to college because they want to follow vocations that are more physical in jobs that are dominated by men and don't require a college degree. Think of any job that's physical - military, construction, landscaping, road crew, warehousing, manufacturing - and it's going to be skewed toward male employees. Every boy who doesn't die matures another year. They have the opportunity to apply to college that year later - but they don't and won't.

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Questions -

1) when does Reeves suppose this "red-shirt" year occur? After high school? Somewhere during the K-12 timeline?

2) how would changing societal expectations about caregiving help women/girls in terms of academic achievement or life goal achievement?

I think Question 2 is particularly important.

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Re point 1, he would have boys start kinder a year later than girls.

Re point 2, these cultural shifts are difficult but my own view is we have been operating off a faulty premise - the nuclear family. I think that is the main thing that makes the problem so sticky. If we emulated some other cultures a bit more and had people living in larger multigenerational households so that childcare obligations were dispersed among a larger number of people that would help a lot more than just telling dads to do more. This is America, people mostly just care about money, so I think you can probably design tax policy to incentive large multigenerational households and then you’d see them boom and women’s childcare issue in 20s/30s/40s improve.

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I would tweak what your lede in point 2 in that the nuclear family is not a one size fits all solution. I suggest that the nuclear family is a rather narrow model for the ways in which children can be raised and parents can find fulfillment in their work or professional lives and that this can be extended to vastly larger numbers of adults. This is really about having a choice and society showing acceptance of choices that allow for the healthy growth of kids and adults regardless of lifestyle choices.

Americans are remarkably rigid in their approach to how others ought to raise their kids. As if it were anyone's problem other than the parents'.

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Ok yes, that is totally fair

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My son's doctor, a guy who also had a son in my son's class, believed that girls were doing better lately than boys because the schools had gradually changed their educational style to be more girl-oriented. He didn't go into a lot of detail, but generally, for example, less emphasis on discipline now.

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DBD AV CLUB

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CAL

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[MSOC] Bears Play First ACC Game At NC State

https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/3/mens-soccer-bears-play-first-acc-game-at-nc-state.aspx

BERKELEY – In the program's first Atlantic Coast Conference matchup, the California men's soccer team (2-2-0) takes on North Carolina State on Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina. The game will mark the first competition of any Cal team to appear on the ACC Network as well as the first meeting between the two schools in men's soccer.

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[VB] Bears Hit Road Again After Succesful Opening Weekend

https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/3/volleyball-bears-hit-road-again-after-succesful-opening-weekend.aspx

The California volleyball team takes to the road again this week after a successful opening weekend in Portland, where the Golden Bears went 3-0 at the Rose City Showdown. Cal swept Nevada and host Portland State while squeezing out a five-set victory over USF. The victories were the first in the head coaching career of new Cal head coach Jen Malcom.

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[WSOC] Cal Plays Host To Nevada, San Diego

https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/3/womens-soccer-cal-plays-host-to-nevada-san-diego.aspx

BERKELEY- The California women's soccer team continues its five-match home stand this week playing host to Nevada on Thursday and San Diego on Sunday.

The Golden Bears ride a three-match win streak into the week and boast a 4-1-1 record. The Wolf Pack come to Edwards Stadium at an even 2-2 after dropping its last two matches to a pair of Big West schools that Cal has defeated this season in Cal State Fullerton and UC San Diego. The Toreros head into the week looking for their first win at 0-3-2 and will face California Baptist before making the trip north.

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Sep 4·edited Sep 4

What is the difference between hosting a team and playing host to a team? Asking for an Oski.

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The difference is that when hosting a team the likely outcome of the contest between those two teams is in doubt; when playing host, there's no pretense that there is actually a contest. That the visiting team is viewed as a "cupcake" as it were.

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And we thought (were told) the question of the day feature was done for.

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With one of them, you offer a choice of chicken or vegetarian lasagna

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[MGOLF] Homa Added To U.S. Presidents Cup Team

https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/3/mens-golf-homa-added-to-us-presidents-cup-team.aspx

BERKELEY – California men's golf alumnus Max Homa will play for the U.S. Team in the 2024 Presidents Cup, as he was one of six golfers selected by captain Jim Furyk to round out the 12-player team on Tuesday. Homa is one of three Golden Bears to earn a spot in the event – joining automatic qualifiers Collin Morikawa (U.S.) and Byeong Hun An (International) – which will be played at The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Canada, on Sept. 24-29.

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He didn’t have a great year but his world ranking is still good so I’m sure that helped.

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Go BEARS!

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Someone pointed this out on our Discord channel. We have three long snappers on the roster, but ILB Hunter Barth is #2 on the depth chart for LS -- beating out two of the three on roster. To be fair, the two beat out are pencil necks, which means that half of our slot receivers are taller and weigh more than the two beat out.

https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/cal-football-depth-chart-released

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ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE

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FIU fans who attend the home opener get a commemorative Pitbull pin

https://x.com/WillManso/status/1831161015058260228

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Memphis basketball fires 4 members of Penny Hardaway's coaching staff

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/41121041/memphis-basketball-fires-4-members-penny-hardaway-coaching-staff

Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway announced the firing of four staff members Wednesday, just two months before the start of the season.

Assistant coaches Rick Stansbury, Faragi Phillips and Jamie Rosser, as well as special adviser Demetrius Dyson, will not return to Hardaway's staff this season. Neither Hardaway nor the school provided a reason for the firings.

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Sounds like a misconduct investigation of some sort is involved here. Kinda reminds me of the unceremonious end of the Todd Bozeman era at Cal.

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What odd timing. Some bad juju must have gone down in order for this to happen now.

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