193 Comments
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heyalumnigo's avatar

Oh wow. Gangsta's Paradise and No Diggity where, I think, the first two mp3s that I downloaded way back when. Maybe late 96 or early 97.

SGBear's avatar

Ian strengthens to a Category 3. 12-18 foot surge near Cape Coral/Fort Myers. This looks bad.

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4%2Bshtml/095758.shtml

rocksanddirt's avatar

Isn't 18 feet elevation like the highest point in the main part of Florida?

HeyStudentsBears's avatar

there might be a couple freeway overpasses that get higher.

FiatSlug's avatar

Florida's highest point is Britton Hill (345 ft.) in Walton County. Walton County is in the panhandle.

AndyPanda's avatar

Other than 1 afternoon thunderstorm, getting the first organized rainfall system in ~3 months. Fall officially commences.

AndyPanda's avatar

And within the hour, the first power hit due to wet weather events!

SGBear's avatar

Nordstream gas pipeline ruptures underwater. Sabotage via submarine suspected.

SGBear's avatar

Moscow-schill Tucker Carlson ignores the obvious suspect of sabotaging the pipeline, blames the US and Biden.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/28/tucker-carlson-nord-stream/

dcblue's avatar

He has become (already was?) a parody of himself.

SGBear's avatar

It is now widely accepted that Russia is drafting one million draftees and is not limiting it to military veterans. This contrasts to the announced 300k military veterans they said. Russia, lying? Shocking, I know.

FiatSlug's avatar

It may be a bit more nuanced than that. One of the reports I read (WaPo or NYT) indicated that regional commisariats may be deliberately trying to overperform their goals. Problem being that the resulting sweeps are getting not only people with prior military experience, but it is also sweeping up men without military experience, disabled, and older men as well.

There are also reports that villages and rural areas dominated by ethnic minorities are being heavily conscripted. The resulting charge is that Putin is practicing a form of genocide against these ethnic minorities.

Cugel's avatar

I don't think that means it's going to work.

GoldenSD81's avatar

Sending a bunch of untrained and poorly equipped draftees to fight in Ukraine in the fall and winter is not going to work out well for Russia and Putin.

DC Trojan's avatar

Human wave attacks worked before, they can work again

Terence's avatar

Quantity has a quality of its own - JS

rocksanddirt's avatar

They worked for the USSR in WWII because they were defending their country. The effectiveness was not in evidence once they pushed west.

sycasey's avatar

There's a strong motivation in defending your homeland. Much less so in conquering another one.

Something Russia is discovering about Ukraine.

FiatSlug's avatar

Which is ironic, because Russia has fought two very big defensive wars to repel invaders within the last 210 years - the French Invasion (1812; Napoleon) and Operation Barbarossa (1941-1942, Hitler). In both cases, the Russians were able to repel the invaders but at the horrific cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and destruction of towns and villages in each case.

Doubly ironic in that Russians should know that Ukrainians would fight to the death to defend their homes and country. They are very similar peoples. Kyiv is often considered to be the cradle of the Russian people, not just Ukrainians. In a very real sense, Putin is a traitor to his own people.

Cugel's avatar

The humans need to believe these attacks for them to win... and I'm not sure I see this now.

FiatSlug's avatar

Lack of training undercuts belief. Too many of the conscripts know what's up. They know they're being marched off a cliff (metaphorically).

DC Trojan's avatar

I think the humans in WW2 believed that the NKVD or whoever would shoot them if they didn't keep running towards the Germans

FiatSlug's avatar

Ugh. Certain Death behind you, marginally less than certain death in front of you.

Great motivator.

DC Trojan's avatar

I should have included the sarcasm indicators!

GoldenSD81's avatar

Worked well when being invaded by the Nazis and fighting a war of survival. I don’t see it working this time.

Plus, modern weaponry has gotten a lot more precise, lethal, and efficient in cutting down human waves.

SGBear's avatar

Your favorite pre-smartphone phone

SGBear's avatar

Blackberry - the one with the analog rollerball in the middle and the analog keyboard at the bottom. So easy to quickly respond to emails.

rocksanddirt's avatar

The first BB I had was one of those. Some limited smart phone-ness to it, but mostly huge for email/text/IM stuff.

O.Overall's avatar

Agree! As an email device it was actually better than any current phone. But of course it didn’t do much else.

CruzinBears's avatar

How dare you besmirch Brick Breaker!!!!

HeyStudentsBears's avatar

flip phone!

i dont even remember which one i had but i had Sprint at the time because they had a way to upload your entire address book from a CSV file.

made it so i was never dependent on losing my phone. instead, i had to write a Perl script to get the CSV file into the correct format.

heyalumnigo's avatar

TMobile Motorola W490. Or the Nokia 611X series.

Justbear's avatar

Motorola Razr

No it wasn't my favorite but it was the fancy phone before smartphone

SGBear's avatar

The most satisfying end to a phone call was that phone's plasticky *snap*

CruzinBears's avatar

First phone I could check Cal scores on

DC Trojan's avatar

I actually "saw" two of the biggest endings to SC games in the '04 season via the WAP browser updates on my RAZR.

heyalumnigo's avatar

That's how I "watched" Cal/Oregon 2007. There was LONG pause in updates while the refs discussed what happened. I was so confused.

Terence's avatar

I watched the end of Cal USC in 2003 via the WAP browser on my flip phone - come on damn you EDGE. . . UPDATE

sycasey's avatar

I definitely enjoyed my Razr.

rocksanddirt's avatar

probably the original Motorola flip. Huge phone with no features, but could make calls ANY WHERE. I don't ever recall being without service.

GoldenSD81's avatar

My parents land line.

CruzinBears's avatar

Nokia 3310 - Snake 2, interchangeable covers, custom ringtones and you could hang up by just chucking it against a wall. What's not to love!?

GlueAndBold's avatar

Never had one, but the Motorola Sidekick was the coolest phone around for a brief period. I heard it rapidly developed keyboard issues though.

Terence's avatar

When I worked for the Houston Rockets every single dancer had a Sidekick

Wiata78's avatar

Don't remember the brand, but if you took an egg and stretched it about twice as long, that was its shape. Came in several colors; I picked blue (of course!). There were not smart phones then, so it was just a phone. But you could enter text on the little LCD screen. It was the first phone I had that I could actually "name". Really fit nicely in the hand, unlike today's phones.

goldenone's avatar

Sprint Palm Pilot Phone with included stylus.

PawlOski's avatar

My girlfriend at the time (now wife), bought me one of those bulky Nokia phones in the mid to late-ninties. At the time, I was probably the first person I knew with a cell. I remember the feel of that clunky thing weighing down my pants, which would have already been baggy at the time.

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Same timeframe…my first cellphone was this same bulky NOKIA, but mine had a Cal Bears logo on the face plate…

GO BEARS

O.Overall's avatar

I remember in the 90s if you used your cellphone in any public place like a store or even at a baseball game, people would look at you like you were an uncouth asshole. One time my friend was quietly talking into his phone at a Giants game just briefly to set up a place to meet post game, and these middle aged guys in front of us admonished him to “get off his f—king phone”. Meanwhile there were the usual drunk guys wandering around screaming at the manager to pull the pitcher and no one said a peep to them!

Custom always lags behind technology …

SGBear's avatar

Ask the DBD a question. Wrong answers only.

SGBear's avatar

What's a great birthday gift for a wife?

heyalumnigo's avatar

1, cut a hole in the box

Oski Disciple's avatar

I'm simply dying to know what step two is.

Oski Disciple's avatar

Whatever became of Leland Wong?

rocksanddirt's avatar

changed name to Benedict, is an actor now (mostly in Marvel projects).

SGBear's avatar

Andrew, Andy, or other similar name

Oski Disciple's avatar

Andy Samberg whose name I dropped above.

FiatSlug's avatar

Andy Dufresne. You know, the main character of "The Shawshank Redemption".

Speaking of the story, the book is very much the same, only you come to learn why Red is in Shawshank, In the movie, Red only alludes to it as a "stupid" act. In the book, you know his crime.

Justbear's avatar

I misread that as Andy Defense

FiatSlug's avatar

He murdered his wife by cutting the brake line of the car she was driving. But the runaway car also killed a kid. He hadn't planned on that.

GoldenSD81's avatar

Wow, I can see why they left that out in the movie as it makes his character much less sympathetic.

FiatSlug's avatar

It also gives depth to what Red said in his last parole hearing.

Parole Board Interviewer: Please, sit down. Ellis Boyd Redding, your files say you've served 40 years of a life sentence. You feel you've been rehabilitated?

Redding: Rehabilitated? Well, now, let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means.

Parole Board Interviewer: Uh, well, it means you're ready to rejoin society --

Redding: -- I know what you think it means, sonny. To me, it's just a made up word, a politician's word, so that young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie and have a job. What do you really wanna know? Am I sorry for what I did?

Parole Board Interviewer: Well, are you?

Redding: There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then, a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime.

I wanna talk to him. I wanna try to talk some sense to him -- tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left. I gotta live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit.

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

I forget...I read the book back in High School, a decade before the movie dropped in '94. In the movie, murder was the case that they gave him....

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Man missin’ tier 2, cell 245….

dcblue's avatar

Typhoon Andy passed near Guam when I was there in 1989 First tropical storm I experienced.

SGBear's avatar

Chile or someone/something Chilean

HeyStudentsBears's avatar

one of our HS friends is a fly fishing guide in Chile. in case you ever need one ..

space_lab's avatar

Great place for telescopes. Astronomer went missing recently though :-/

Oski Disciple's avatar

The great poet Pablo Neruda.

SGBear's avatar

OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

SGBear's avatar

Per NYT Nancy Haberman, Trump asked the Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir if the latter could bomb Mexico. Giroir, who is a retired Admiral, was dressed is his formal blues. WH Staff told Giroir to stop wearing his blues to meetings as to not confuse Trump. Trump continued to like the idea of bombing Mexican drug labs and even escalated his dumb idea to Scy of Defense Mark Esper.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/28/trump-book-white-house-bomb-mexico/

SGBear's avatar

Trump applies to the DOJ to have the government pay for their eDiscovery software service because nobody will work with him

https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1574894142789890048

SGBear's avatar

J6 Insurrectionist/Influencer rejects government plea-bargain for 90 days in the pokey, citing that he "does not bend the knee to tyranny". He now faces up to 24 years in Federal jail.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/09/a-jury-just-found-the-insurrectionist-underwear-model-guilty-on-all-charges/

DC Trojan's avatar

He’ll have plenty of time to think that one over

SGBear's avatar

It's way down the list of bad things, but how about some casual racism from TFG

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/trump-saw-staffers-color-white-015905845.html

Cugel's avatar

I liked that the first time... not so much when I tried to re-watch.

HeyStudentsBears's avatar

Cirque of the ...

have not been to Patagonia yet, but this place in the Wind River Range (WY) is the most amazing mountain scenery i have ever seen.

we did a 3 day backpacking trip to Lonesome Lake and camped out under the Towers for 2 nights.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mYB8aDfJrHiNTHfj9

HeyStudentsBears's avatar

saw Pet Shop Boys and New Order in Philly at the McCann theatre - a venue very similar to the Concord Pavilion.

music was good and nostalgic. nothing overwhelming, but still fun.

g.oso's avatar

Saw Iron Maiden last night at the Concord Pavillion. Forgot how much I hate that venue, but Maiden ripped. Not the best set list, but very back loaded with all the hits.

Cugel's avatar

I completely understand both aspen parts.

MoriBear's avatar

back loaded sounds good. (altho I only had their first 4 or so albums.

Saw them at Oakland Arena back in 1983(?) opening for The Scorpions. Number of the Beast tour.

PawlOski's avatar

My first show was Maiden at the Cow Palace on the Powerslave tour when I was in 8th grade Twisted Sister opened. The TS backlash had already begun among metal fans.

Cugel's avatar

Watched the first episode of The Affair last night, thought it was truly great. (And disturbing as well)

GoldenSD81's avatar

This is the Showtime show correct? I watched the first season and enjoyed it but never kept up with the series.

rocksanddirt's avatar

Watched the first 3 eps of Andor on the D+. Good show, leans into the same grit as Rogue One.

SGBear's avatar

ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE

SGBear's avatar

Happy 9 year anniversary to this Wazzu all-time great event

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

GoldenSD81's avatar

I was hoping it would have been the 2014 Pac12 after dark classic between Cal and WSU.

SGBear's avatar

Friday game: #15 Washington @ UCLA

UW favored by 3, O/U 66

SGBear's avatar

Either Lincoln is boring or Nebraska fans are embracing the suck

https://twitter.com/Sean_Callahan/status/1574898841081585668

CruzinBears's avatar

There is nothing to do within 100mi, might as well go to the game

GoldenSD81's avatar

All the tickets were sold but I doubt all the seats will have butts in them.

SGBear's avatar

I used to have Jim Edmonds on one of my fantasy baseball teams. Let's check in to see how Jim is doing.

https://brobible.com/sports/article/jim-edmonds-marries-woman-three-meghan-king/

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Jim Edmonds personally destroyed a fantasy baseball season of mine in the early 2000’s….

HeyStudentsBears's avatar

taking a 700a train to Boston tomorrow and since i have the afternoon off i was planning on going to the Red Sox game.

will be my first game at Fenway. i sat inside once for a game that eventually got rained out.

heyalumnigo's avatar

Hockey is back. Sharks beat the Ducks 5-4 in preseason.

dcblue's avatar

Wash Caps practice facility is nearby and they have practice and a scrimmage planned for tomorrow and I'm thinking about going by.

heyalumnigo's avatar

A's lose to the Angels, 4-3

heyalumnigo's avatar

Recent reports suggest the Giants are good again

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2022/9/27/23376047/giants-rockies-recap-logan-webb-joc-pederson

Perhaps the obituaries for the San Francisco Giants season were a bit premature. With a 5-2 win over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday, the Giants have now won seven of their last eight games. And while they’re very much out of the playoff picture as currently constructed, we all know how much Rob Manfred likes to change rules and implement them immediately.

What if he decides to opt for a fourth Wild Card team in each league? Or perhaps, wanting to try and leech some of that sweet, sweet football viewership, or help Aaron Judge set some records, he’ll wake up tomorrow and add 30 games to the schedule.

Either of these things would put the Giants right back in it, since apparently they’re a good baseball team again. Here’s hoping they hit the pause button on that and restart it in March.

heyalumnigo's avatar

Dodgers walk eight times, but lose to Padres on a free pass

https://www.truebluela.com/2022/9/27/23376166/los-angeles-dodgers-san-diego-padres-game-recap

Dodgers-Padres saw plenty of action on the basepaths, but not a lot of actual hitting for both sides. The go-ahead run in the eighth inning for the Padres, and the tying run for the Dodgers in the ninth both scored on balls that weren’t caught cleanly. So it was fitting that the game ended on a base on balls, as Craig Kimbrel walked in the winning run with the bases loaded, giving San Diego a 4-3 win in 10 innings.

They say that at any given baseball game you can get to see something new and in this particular affair, it didn’t take long for this on Tuesday.

Mookie Betts led off the ballgame with a single, then stole steal second base. But he was told to go back to first base because of umpire’s interference, as home plate ump Sean Barner failed to get out of the way of catcher Austin Nola’s throw to second.

AndyPanda's avatar

Not surprised Kimbrel walked in the walk off run. The Dodgers are going to come to regret depending on that loon to close games.

heyalumnigo's avatar

Roberts already said he's not closing games in the postseason. At this point they're not chasing wins so they probably gave him the opportunity to get through the 10th. They used 4 higher leverage guys to get through the 7th, 8th, and 9th and Vesía and Graterol didn't pitch. 5 of those 6 will be the high leverage guys in the playoffs. Kahnle looked pretty good, just need to get him innings before the playoffs after missing 1 year due to TJ.

dcblue's avatar

As I fell asleep I heard some guys ranting on the radio that he shouldn't even be on the post-season roster. I guess that's why.

sycasey's avatar

I'm not sure what to make of these recent lackluster performances. They're friendly matches that don't mean anything, so how much did anyone care about winning?

SGBear's avatar

Giants WR Sterling Shephard can't catch a break. He tears his ACL while pulling up on a play, untouched. Last year, he tore his Achilles tendon.

https://twitter.com/BobbySkinner_/status/1574601354504544264

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

That Met Life turf is a complete and total hazard. The players would be better off playing games on the asteroid from the movie Armageddon.

CruzinBears's avatar

Someone give him Klay's number

AndyPanda's avatar

Saw that when it happened. You knew right away it was not as it should be.

SGBear's avatar

The MN Twins are below 0.500 this season. You know what they need? The Twins organization says new uniforms.

https://www.audacy.com/971theticket/sports/minnesota-twins-will-have-new-uniforms-in-2023

SGBear's avatar

First, Rosh Hashanah is over. Secondly, there is limit to the types of split stats we should keep.

https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/1574958268945793024

heyalumnigo's avatar

The first one was horseshit. The 2nd and 3rd were less of a pause, but I've seen much worse. If I were the pitcher I'd have held the 3rd one until the batter called time.

dcblue's avatar

I have the Reds and Pirates game on as background. It was looking like Pirates 3-0 in just over two hours, until a reliever (not their closer) came in and gave up single, homer, homer. A 12:30 weekday start, two bad teams, and it's raining so almost no one there. On to extras they go.

SGBear's avatar

ICYMI: Rob and Andy recap the infamous Bus 2 ride back from South Bend. Look for "California Golden Bearcast" on your podcast distribution channel, specifically "89 Blitz: The Gang Goes to South Bend".

PawlOski's avatar

With no Blake's (nee Pappy's) or Kip's, what are the best local bars or restaurants to watch a Cal game nowadays? The Kingfish and the Crogan's in Montclair come to mind. What are others?

GoldenSD81's avatar

In Berkeley, I suppose it would be Ralieghs.

g.oso's avatar

Triple Rock

Cornerstone

Cugel's avatar

Cornerstone owner was at the tailgate you & we were at Notre Dame! Great guy!

PawlOski's avatar

I thought Cornerstone only put on Melvins gigs. Didn't realize they had normal hours of operations. Good suggestion.

Oski Disciple's avatar

What happened to Kips? I logged a lot of hours there many decades ago.

Tangtpt's avatar

Kips is still there. Went there after the UNLV game. It's upstairs only, though. Not sure when/if they stop letting kids in, though. At some point, it turns into basically a nightclub.

PawlOski's avatar

That's great to hear. I love that shithole. I thought they had a notice on the door suggesting they were done for.

Oski Disciple's avatar

I walked by there after a night game last season and there was a huge queue to get in. Not like the old days. Place changed when they started selling the hard stuff.

Newellbany's avatar

Crogan's in Montclair used to advertise heavily on Cal game radio broadcasts, and I think they used to do a Cal postgame show or something from there.

PawlOski's avatar

Yep, long-time Old Blues bar that I've actually never watched a game at cause, well, at the end of the day it's a Crogan's in Montclair.

LABear1983's avatar

When should Cal launch the Heisman campaign for Ott? If he continues the season with a least a few more outings like we've already seen, he should be a shoo-in, right? I think he might be one of those exceptions where even if the team doesn't necessarily compete for a championship (though that's still on the table), he might be considered given his spectacular style, strength, and speed.

heyalumnigo's avatar

If JJ Arrington isn't even invited, no way Ott gets invited unless he's well over 2500 yards.

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Cal should be more concerned with keeping Jaydn Ott in Berkeley for another year, if not two...if I'm a deep pocketed Old Blue, I am doing serious legwork NOW to put an Ott NIL plan in motion before he enters the portal in December and bolts for SC or the SEC by President's Day.

PawlOski's avatar

Jimmer, we only learn lessons the hard way. You know that, right?

Tangtpt's avatar

Whoops! Yes, he did. Well, then thank you for the intent! :)

Cugel's avatar

Eh, I see what you're saying - BUT - only on true winning teams does anyone "win" the Heisman result.

Ever

SGBear's avatar

I've got an idea. How about we win all of our games?

Justbear's avatar

11-1, win Pac12 championship, goes onto the playoffs!

DC Trojan's avatar

Paul Hornung won the Heisman for a season in which Notre Dame went 2-8

Newellbany's avatar

Well, we all know that Notre Dame gets things they don't deserve

Wiata78's avatar

Chuck Muncie was Heisman runner-up.

FiatSlug's avatar

If Ott has at least 1,200 yards with 5 games to play, he has a shot at 2,000 yards in a season. Charles White did it for USC in 1979 (2,050 yards in 12 games). USC was 11-0-1 that year, their lone blemish a 21-21 tie against 'Furd. The Toejams defeated the Buckeyes in the 1980 Rose Bowl, 17-16.

DC Trojan's avatar

well that's a good end to any season