Has anyone seen this story? Seems less than optimal.
"The airline industry on Monday called on the Biden administration to block any 5G wireless transmission within a two mile radius of airport runways, citing the potential for thousands of flight cancellations and disruptions once the technology is switched on in just days.
Airlines for America, which represents most of the airline and cargo industry, warned that the 5G activation set to go live Wednesday will disrupt thousands of passengers and cargo shipments despite workarounds put into place by the Federal Aviation Administration to minimize interference where possible."
as I understand it, some but not all planes operated by the major airlines have older systems for calculating the altitude of the plane, which are disrupted by 5G signals. This hubbub is basically a collision of the FAA (who have already delayed implementation) & industry over equipment not being changed "fast enough." The airlines have had a long time to get ready.
Yeah. Feels like the same old “who is telling the truth thing.”
With respect to the turning off the electronics, I hate it. Give a reason. I would have more respect/sympathy if the powers-that-be would tell a “fact” about the electronics which might go like this: ‘Takeoffs and landings are the most dangerous part of the fight. We have found that people become absorbed in electronics and may not be paying attention to instructions in the event of an emergency. Therefore, in the interest of safety in the highly-unlikely event that we need people to focus, please don’t use the devices until we are clear.” Wouldn’t like it, but it ‘feels’ honest.
The ‘story” about phone electronics interfering with avionics is non-credible. If it were, then no electronics should be allowed onboard.
I believe (and this might also be talking out of my ass) very early cell phones/portable transmitting electronics had a few incidents of affect cockpit instruments - but this would have been like 25 years ago.
Just looked it up - on the Boeing website, the illustrative incidents are all from the mid 90s.
Except now for takeoffs and landings you can still have phones and tablets on in airplane mode (maybe last 3 to 4 years). So I'm not even totally sure that's a valid argument (paying attention to instructions). Do they mean paying attention to the pre-flight instructions, which almost no one does, or instructions in the event of a takeoff or landing incident? Because I'd imagine almost everyone is on their phone or tablet by then. Or reading a book/magazine.
But like you said, at that point it would be no electronics at all.
I’m new to this site, and trying to figure it out. My early impressions:
A. Great football articles and discussions
B. ok MBB articles and discussions
C. Zero WBB articles and discussions
D. I haven’t been here long enough to tell but occasional good other sports coverage (women’s gymnastics article was very good), but little discussion
E. DBD looks to me to be one big OT discussion (Off Topic) and by far the most discussions
I’m trying to figure this site out, but it seems to me to be a bunch of mostly Cal football fans who like to talk Cal football, but mostly just want to talk about random topics
WBB will have articles when they start playing games on television or Nick gets a chance to breathe. He's (for my money) the best Cal women's hoops writer working, but he's spread a little bit thin right now, since he's also doing 1/3 the coverage on men's hoops.
What wrong with point E? The off topic stuff is fun. Sometimes educational, sometimes ‘maddening’ in a fun way. I have actually learned some things and used the advice offered by the folks that participate. Happy to pay for the subscription.
If you stay on the site (I hope) for a little while, you will learn new things about food, wine, history, media, investing (or “not” investing), a smattering of politics and fascinating facts like “how to cuss in foreign languages’ (Last week I learned what vaffanculo meant”. Point is, all of this is just entertainment…kinda the same thing with sports and the sports chatter. Keep bringing up the WBB. It will get chatter. And then, someone will go off on a tangent…just for entertainment purposes.
I'm a ten-year veteran of WFC and it's previous iteration on California Golden Blogs but a relative newcomer to DBD (what took me?). You've assessed the site well. The lack of women's basketball coverage is an embarrassment (I have to go slumming on another site to get my WBB fix). There's been nothing on the team for months, other than a few excuses for the absence of stories. Given how thoroughly the men's team is covered, one can only ascribe it to sexism.
I full accounting of the disparity is an article in and of itself, but I'll say this: I've been able to write about the men more than the women because I've emotionally divorced myself from MBB but I haven't yet done so (and don't want to have to do so) for WBB.
Attributing the lack of WBB coverage to "sexism" misses the mark entirely. As SD81 points out, this is an all volunteer site, and despite the ability to buy a subscription, most articles are free and the money, as I understand, is primarily to cover overhead for running this site. The on-topic articles will largely reflect the interests of the writers and their capacity to write on those subjects, and unfortunately, CGB/WFC lost a major contributor to WBB and MBB coverage a few years back.
But not one single article. Not even on Jayda Curry who has won four PAC 12 freshmen of the week awards.
But I've decided since my initial posting to just accept it and not assume there will ever be anything on the women's bb team here. I'll continue to come to WFC for all the other outstanding content and continue to direct other Cal fans to the site. I'll also continue to go elsewhere for my women's bb content. I knew I was using a loaded word with sexism but it was borne of my frustration. I am now going zen about the whole issue.
I mean this sincerely, but I am sure they'd welcome you or someone else to write about WBB, if you are interested and capable. Reef, a contributor who has since passed away, was undoubtedly the most passionate Cal BB fan and contributor and IIRC he wrote a lot about WBB and MBB. He was also a great writer. I think it is hard to find someone who possess all these attributes who will commit to writing an article after each game and actually has the time to do so, but I am pretty confident WFC would be thrilled to find that person.
We have done similar questions in the past and--even for revenue sports--those posts get far fewer clicks and comments and are far less engaging for us to put together as writers. It becomes a chore and thus something that is not fun to do when this is our hobby.
If we were paid, then we could force someone to do that, but it's a lot tougher to tell one of our volunteers to keep writing a post they aren't interested in that isn't catching the eyes of readers--especially when most of them backed out of the "assignments" of stories they were interested in.
If you want to look at engagement of another non-revenue sport, our post on the women's gymnastic team has a whopping three comments--two of which are complaints from you two about the lack of WBB coverage.
Wow, I noticed “Reef” wasn’t around here writing or posting but I had no idea he passed away. Condolences to his family. He was a great writer that was really passionate about MBB and WBB.
I had noticed "Reef" was gone, but I didn't realize he is literally gone. Condolences to those concerned. It also serves as a reminder that things can happen, and paid or volunteer, nothing is guaranteed, much less permanent!
I wish to join the team and write for the site. What is the process?
Send an e-mail to admin(at)writeforcalifornia.com to express your interest! As a volunteer outfit, we’re always looking for new contributors. It’s a big help if you can include in your e-mail a brief description of what topics you’re interested in contributing to the site and a sample of your writing.
I’ve been here and previously at CGB since 2008 and I think ascribing it to sexism is both wrong and unfair.
This isn’t ESPN and the writers are unpaid volunteers who largely cover/write articles during their spare time while juggling actual jobs that pay their bills, families and life in general.
I have found in the past that CGB did have very good coverage of both MBB and WBB but things ebb and flow as some writers have left to pursue other things in life.
Furthermore, coverage and discussion also follow tend to follow the success or lack thereof for each sport. The more successful football, MBB or WBB is the more articles and discussion you will see.
Again excuses. There are seventeen WFC writers and none could have written a single article on the women's team in the past three months? Gimme a break. And why is that Nick is the only one who can cover the women's team? The men's bb team has hardly been successful in recent years and that hasn't effected their coverage one iota. No one is too busy with their lives to cover the men's team. Preview, recaps and analysis aplenty. They could've at least asked someone to write a guest article on the women's team.Someone could have re-worded a press release. But zero. I can't find a better explanation than sexism. It's a bad look for an otherwise exemplary website.
I can assure you that we do not have seventeen active writers. If you check for who's been actually writing anything recently, you'll see it's much, much lower than that. That has been an issue I've been raising for years and we just can't find people who stick.
It's perfectly fine to want to see different teams covered, but I would ask you to think twice before you accuse anyone of sexism. We have covered our women's teams in various sports heavily in the past and just don't have any writers to do so at this time.
I did think twice, and three times and four times. Literally. When every men's came is previewed and recapped and no women's games are, it's the only conclusion I could draw. So I stand by that accusation at the same time I'd like to move on from it and offer my services.
The other conclusion one could draw is that football and men's basketball have always drawn more interest than other college sports, pretty much across the board. Hence you will get more of an audience for them and more writers who want to write about them. You could maybe chalk that up to society-wide sexism, but it's not unique to this site.
But good on you for offering your services. That's the way to go.
That's a good question that I wish I had the answer to... It's also tough because for the past several years, we let people stay up on the masthead without enforcing any kind of output quotas (because that would be silly for volunteers). So our masthead/writers list is often bloated with people who aren't active.
B. While the articles are still great because of kick-a$$ writers, MBB talks & discussions on previous incarnations of this website were much more extensive and lively. When your dogschitt, short-time, overmatched AD commits administrative malpractice by hiring an incompetent buffoon to run the program, though, there is unfortunately going to be collateral damage...namely, a decade long period of struggles, ineptitude and the accompanying fan apathy.
That’s why the in-game hoop chats are relatively quiet compared to the football ones.
C. Nick Kranz used to cover women's basketball in much greater depth, but his weekly columns are currently wrapping up retrospectives of the football season. He'll probably turn increased attention to WBB in the coming weeks.
D. Ruey Yen sporadically covers all sorts of Olympic sports, although he doesn't have a set schedule for when he publishes his pieces.
Speaking of photogenic in the era of selfies, did you hear that Facebook and MySpace were at one time exploring a selfie app together? Yeah, it was going to be call "MyFace." Ta, dut, dut...cha!
It is weird in these zoom days to be confronted with your own image constantly. I remember before the flood you’d only see yourself briefly when you went to the can and you’d be like oh yeah that is what I look like. Now you spend hours a day looking at a screen that has a live video feed of your face.
The only upside is that the zoom feed is grainy and the color bleeds so my gray hairs are largely painted over by my brown ones
We're all still trying to figure out how your union with Dr. Miss. Newellbany came about....answers are from all over the map and include:
A) The Newellbany family payed an astronomically expensive dowry (buy out in coach speak)
B) An incredibly high stakes wager was placed and Newellbany somehow got his hands on Biff Tannen's Sports Almanac for 2000-2050. (Though given his handicapping and sports picks, this hypothesis was quickly and most summarily rejected).
C) Just an incredible, Mother Theresa-type act of charity by a better person than yourself.
Our cat is bringing in multiple small animals a day. I feel the worst about the birds he brings in, but very happy when it is a mole, rate, our mouse. We've put a bell on him and it doesn't seem to matter as he seems to be a pretty damn exceptional hunter.
Our outdoor cat is starting to match our early morning game of wits. He used to meow in the early morning and then either go out the door if I opened it for him or go eat if I went to feed him. I learned quickly that he would continue to meow after eating if I fed him first so I would go to the door first to get him to leave the house.
Now, he refuses to go out the house until I feed him.
I mean, what is this plot, anyways? A tribe of cats called the Jellicles come together at the annual Jellicle Ball to decide which one of them will ascend to the Heaviside layer and be reborn into a new life? Who greenlighted THAT idea?
I have the chance to contribute to a 401(a), which is a one-time option that cannot be altered or changed (I believe the contribution is a percentage of gross income, I have an appointment with a Nationwide rep this Friday to get details). I've already maxed out my 457 and am contemplating dialing back on the 457 so that I can contribute more to the 401(a) now, with the goal of contributing more to the 457 later as I receive pay increases. I am also trying to asses whether I am going too heavy on my pre-tax retirement contributions (I am also a PERS member), and whether I need to start investing in post tax investements instead of maximizing the pre-tax contributions. Thoughts?
I know everyone says to put as much into tax-advantaged retirement accounts as possible, but I am someone who regrets the balance of my assets in that I have way too much locked up until I'm 59 1/2 and I wish I had done some of that saving outside of the pre-tax retirement wrapper.
Curious about the 401(a) -- do you work for a non-profit?
I don't mind the amount of assets I have stewing back there - I've been a lot more aggressive with the taxable stuff - and I don't touch the IRA stuff except to fund it and funnel it into more index funds.
That's kind of what I am thinking, how much do I want to lock up in pre-tax accounts? At least with my 457 I can access without penalty at retirement so as early as 55. Also, do I want some post tax investments so I don't take a hit later in retirement? I work for local government.
If I was in my early thirties I would think so, but as someone who spent a lot of time exploring life in my early years, I am just trying to catch up so I can ride that retirement train into the sunset in 10-12 years! :)
Roth IRA - my daughter is 17 and made about $1000 this year. she doesnt really need the $$ so she put all of it into a Roth IRA.
we told her that we would 100% match her IRA contribution so she really only has to contribute $500 of her own $$ since we cant contribute more than her total earnings.
she also has a custodial account w/ about $10k from family bday and xmas gifts over the years. i guess she will be the full time owner of that in a few months.
Good on Little Miss HSB for developing the mindset of saving in tax advantaged accounts. That $1,000 will become a huge chunk of change when she's eligible to pull it out.
Summer of Soul was one of my top ten movies last year. I wish ?uestlove and team also released performance footage - really would love to watch a 30 minute Stevie Wonder or Nina Simone set.
And Marylin McCoo's reaction to watching her footage!
So, my brother used to be married to the sister of the founder of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes. I was thrilled to see the FBI finally caught up to him. I used to see him at family functions growing up (he is 10 years my senior). We all have a backstory right, so believe it or not, this dude used to do caricature portraits at the Excalibur casino back in the day, you know, the kind with the big head and small bodies? The last time I saw him was at my nieces wedding back in 2009. I had no idea of what he was up to until I read about him in an article in High Country news about 7 years ago. Crazy stuff!
Thanks for sharing. I would love to hear more about this guys backstory if you are willing to share. How did he go from caricatures at Excalibur to Oath Keepers? Was he always conservative and anti government?
So, being 10 years younger, I didn't really think to track it that way and he started the Oath Keepers long after his sister and my brother parted ways. He was in the military but to my knowledge, never really caught up with militias or other extremists until he created his own (though he always had guns). It is kind of perplexing to me as he is also a Yale Law grad, so who knows. I can say that his mom was a new-age, psychic type of lady that dated rich men and I think convinced others that she was special and kind of a healer. I see the similarity in how he's convinced others to follow him, but on the other side of the political spectrum entirely.
I went the SPLC to read up on him and didn’t realize that he graduated from UNLV undergrad in 98, graduated from Yale Law School and interned for Ron Pauls failed presidential bid.
The other crazy thing is how far apart our ideologies are. I am a huge supporter of public lands, and even took a public lands class from John Leshy, the Solicitor General of the Department of Interior under all 8 years of the Clinton Administration. He on the other hand, was part of the armed standoff in Bunkerville involving the idiot Bundy clan.
As I mentioned above. I didn't even know he founded the Oath Keepers until I was reading an article several years ago. I don't think my niece has even talked to him in several years...
New/scooplet: The day after Jan. 6, phone calls came into Nancy Pelosi's office from rioters who left items behind and were inquiring whether the speaker had a "lost and found," Rep. Raskin tells me.
Police were more than happy to jot down their info.
No - I'm going to do the full vax cycle when I get back to the Bay. Just going to act as if I haven't been vaxxed at all. It'll have been 7 months since I got SinoVac (which is de-activated virus) - I talked to my college roommate who is a doctor and he said "sure sounds good" about my plans to just re-go through the vax cycle anew.
So Shanghai update - as I can see the international news is catching bits and pieces of what's happening here.
3 cases of omicron were found recently in Shanghai (along with like 80 in Xi'an, some in Tianjin and Beijing, and some in Zhengzhou in Guangdong province)
I'll talk about Shanghai first, since I'm here - the authorities are racing around the city trying to contact trace everything - it's led to a bunch of stuff like shoppers being locked in Uniqlo for 48 hours or people being quarantined and tested in their offices. People are grumbling that it's heavy handed for 3 cases that they've found - but they really want Covid Zero until after the Olympics (at the very least) or until the October 5 year meetings (we'll see if they can hold out that long - the dyke feels like it's springing leaks all over the place)
2. Xi'an - yeah the entire city is locked down like Wuhan two years ago. One woman lost her baby because her cleared PCR test expired while she was waiting to get into a hospital and then they wouldn't let her because she wasn't covid cleared. But things seemed to have stablized in terms of people are now getting food deliveries at home from the government while locked down. Wuhan lasted for 3 months two years ago - but there's no way the populace will stand for it this time.
3. Zhengzhou - this one got a lot of buzz because some woman was on an arranged blind date - she went home from Guangzhou early for Chinese New Year and her parents had arranged for her to meet like 10 dudes in the week she was home. One of them invited her over for a dinner date - and then she got locked into her blind dates' apartment. She started live-streaming stuff . . .and was kind of blunt about him "nice guy, but he doesn't have anything interesting to say .. . and he wanted to show off his cooking skills, but he's not really that good a cook" - but then she took all the identifying stuff down because people were calling the guy. I believe they've now been out.
I, personally, have taken to carrying around a little bottle of contact lens solution and toothpaste/toothbrush. A friend got locked in her gym for 12 hours - but because the gym was in a mall with a hot pot restaurant - she just went to the restaurant and ate for a while.
You might say "this is really silly - let people quarantine at home" and you would both be right and mirror what all the Chinese people are saying. People don't super object to lockdowns, but the surprise public area lockdowns aren't being very fondly looked upon.
I think they can make it stretch through the Olympics but it's going to be fingers in dykes and periodic lockdowns in places. But the summer, with everyone out enjoying the weather? It's going to seep out somewhere.
Right, I think you could achieve it for a period of time with harsh enough lockdowns, but all you're doing there is delaying the wave. You're not going to avoid it.
somewhat related .. older daughter applied to NYU Shanghai for college next year. if she gets in, we are considering a trip to see campus and environs since it would be among her top 2 choices and the visit might actually make a difference.
is it completely insane to even think about a possible trip for a week in Apr?
Yeah - she'll be able to get in because NYU Shanghai is the only school on the mainland that has been able to get foreign students in, in any number. (there's a handful of other foreign students, but they tend to be individuals, not as a mass) - so unfortunately you won't be able to visit until borders are relaxed, and best guess is that's 2023.
If you have general questions about Shanghai - I have a ton of answers, I've lived here for 14 years. One of my best friends is the Director of Educational Initiatives at NYU Shanghai - but I don't know too much about the campus since it's quite far from central Shanghai. There's a ton of YouTube videos and TikToks made by current students though.
Yeah I am never sure if the numbers from China are real. But if they are locking down over a few cases then it seems like maybe they bear some relation to reality
This is where I am too - I think there's probably some pockets somewhere of people who are sick but haven't been tested or are just staying home instead of coming in - because as soon as someone is found to have had it, a bunch of vans drive around with workers in hazmat suits and it looks like Contiagon or ET around here. And we only had 3 cases! Nevermind the 80 or so in Xi'an and the others in Zhengzhou and Tianjin.
Only Chinese ones are offered to the general public right now. There had been rumors in the fall about Pfizer since Fosun Pharma has a deal with Pfizer to spin up production here in Shanghai PLUS there have been two local pharma companies in trials with their own mRNA vaccine.
However, the people I know at the consulate have all gotten Pfizer - so there exist some supplies in country.
Conner was back for the last couple of games and they still got smoked. I'm doubting his loss was that impactful. Hopkins, yes.
Why can't they get on the same page with other receivers? Seems like a coaching issue. I will make allowances for teams falling apart without QBs, but other positions can be accounted for.
As much as I enjoyed the near-safety-turned-pick-six toss from Murray, the wackiest moment of that game was the Murray pass that was caught, immediately fumbled into the defender's arms, and then snatched away by the receiver. I don't think I'd ever seen that happen in a game.
Kyler is undoubtedly a talented player, but his size is a major issue at the NFL level. He looked awful yesterday....overmatched physically & mentally.
As far as recent #1 picks go, he is more Baker Mayfield than Joe Burrow it seems...
Agreed...definitely not saying short guys can't be good QBs, but boy you really have to be an amazing thrower of the football (ie Drew Brees)...not sure Kyler is at that level as a passer, and considering he played rather well in his previous 2 matchups v. the Rams, the total egg he laid in the playoffs was either LA completely figuring him out and giving the entire league a blueprint to stop him, or he just thoroughly choked...neither are good.
You have to be an excellent passer or you REALLY have to make use of your mobility to create space (see Russell Wilson). Kyler Murray can certainly do the latter, but as the season grinds on he seems to do it much less. That is a problem, because just hanging in the pocket doesn't work out great for him.
Has anyone seen this story? Seems less than optimal.
"The airline industry on Monday called on the Biden administration to block any 5G wireless transmission within a two mile radius of airport runways, citing the potential for thousands of flight cancellations and disruptions once the technology is switched on in just days.
Airlines for America, which represents most of the airline and cargo industry, warned that the 5G activation set to go live Wednesday will disrupt thousands of passengers and cargo shipments despite workarounds put into place by the Federal Aviation Administration to minimize interference where possible."
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/17/airlines-5g-biden-airports-527251
Don’t other countries (Japan, Europe) have 5G? Wouldn’t they have an issue too? Wonder why they are not complaining?
as I understand it, some but not all planes operated by the major airlines have older systems for calculating the altitude of the plane, which are disrupted by 5G signals. This hubbub is basically a collision of the FAA (who have already delayed implementation) & industry over equipment not being changed "fast enough." The airlines have had a long time to get ready.
So airlines didn’t want to spend the money to upgrade equipment?
they were able to distribute tinfoil hats ahead of schedule
Ha! Seriously, I just can’t fathom how this issue ( 5G rollout) which has been known for years becomes a mess at the 23hr and 59th minute.
And why should we trust the people who made us turn off our electronics for takeoff and landing for NO REASON AT ALL?
Yeah. Feels like the same old “who is telling the truth thing.”
With respect to the turning off the electronics, I hate it. Give a reason. I would have more respect/sympathy if the powers-that-be would tell a “fact” about the electronics which might go like this: ‘Takeoffs and landings are the most dangerous part of the fight. We have found that people become absorbed in electronics and may not be paying attention to instructions in the event of an emergency. Therefore, in the interest of safety in the highly-unlikely event that we need people to focus, please don’t use the devices until we are clear.” Wouldn’t like it, but it ‘feels’ honest.
The ‘story” about phone electronics interfering with avionics is non-credible. If it were, then no electronics should be allowed onboard.
I believe (and this might also be talking out of my ass) very early cell phones/portable transmitting electronics had a few incidents of affect cockpit instruments - but this would have been like 25 years ago.
Just looked it up - on the Boeing website, the illustrative incidents are all from the mid 90s.
https://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_10/interfere_textonly.html
Except now for takeoffs and landings you can still have phones and tablets on in airplane mode (maybe last 3 to 4 years). So I'm not even totally sure that's a valid argument (paying attention to instructions). Do they mean paying attention to the pre-flight instructions, which almost no one does, or instructions in the event of a takeoff or landing incident? Because I'd imagine almost everyone is on their phone or tablet by then. Or reading a book/magazine.
But like you said, at that point it would be no electronics at all.
Ah, interesting, never thought of that before.
I'd like to see some science-y article about whether telecoms, 5G or otherwise, truly interfere with navigation and comms systems.
Saw an article on CNN...could be a real mess.
I’m new to this site, and trying to figure it out. My early impressions:
A. Great football articles and discussions
B. ok MBB articles and discussions
C. Zero WBB articles and discussions
D. I haven’t been here long enough to tell but occasional good other sports coverage (women’s gymnastics article was very good), but little discussion
E. DBD looks to me to be one big OT discussion (Off Topic) and by far the most discussions
I’m trying to figure this site out, but it seems to me to be a bunch of mostly Cal football fans who like to talk Cal football, but mostly just want to talk about random topics
I’m I getting this about right?
Signed, Confused
WBB will have articles when they start playing games on television or Nick gets a chance to breathe. He's (for my money) the best Cal women's hoops writer working, but he's spread a little bit thin right now, since he's also doing 1/3 the coverage on men's hoops.
I wasn't aware of points A-D, but yes to point E. Welcome!
But enough about us, hoopdreams, what about you?
What wrong with point E? The off topic stuff is fun. Sometimes educational, sometimes ‘maddening’ in a fun way. I have actually learned some things and used the advice offered by the folks that participate. Happy to pay for the subscription.
Hope you stay too.
Nothing wrong with E. I am just surprised, and not what I expected.
Compared to other sites, it’s 25x more.
Guess that’s what makes this site unique
If you stay on the site (I hope) for a little while, you will learn new things about food, wine, history, media, investing (or “not” investing), a smattering of politics and fascinating facts like “how to cuss in foreign languages’ (Last week I learned what vaffanculo meant”. Point is, all of this is just entertainment…kinda the same thing with sports and the sports chatter. Keep bringing up the WBB. It will get chatter. And then, someone will go off on a tangent…just for entertainment purposes.
Go Bears.
Helpful DBD dictionary.
http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2014/9/16/6282461/dbd-9-17-2014-dbd-dictionary-again
The DBD dictionary pops up every 6 months or so. Does it ever get edited like Wikipedia does? Or, does it even need to?
seems like it would be helpful to have this directly on this site or at least linked some where from this site
I think AndBears took the initiative, twice, and made it. It was just a CGB DBD post so it isn't a live document, constantly updated.
Maybe we need a new version, although I'm not sure we've had as many new items for it.
i just learned what "pqtm" was just the other day after being on CBG-WFC for a while
@It seems to me that the DBD is the only thing keeping hoopdreams here.@
I'm a ten-year veteran of WFC and it's previous iteration on California Golden Blogs but a relative newcomer to DBD (what took me?). You've assessed the site well. The lack of women's basketball coverage is an embarrassment (I have to go slumming on another site to get my WBB fix). There's been nothing on the team for months, other than a few excuses for the absence of stories. Given how thoroughly the men's team is covered, one can only ascribe it to sexism.
I full accounting of the disparity is an article in and of itself, but I'll say this: I've been able to write about the men more than the women because I've emotionally divorced myself from MBB but I haven't yet done so (and don't want to have to do so) for WBB.
Attributing the lack of WBB coverage to "sexism" misses the mark entirely. As SD81 points out, this is an all volunteer site, and despite the ability to buy a subscription, most articles are free and the money, as I understand, is primarily to cover overhead for running this site. The on-topic articles will largely reflect the interests of the writers and their capacity to write on those subjects, and unfortunately, CGB/WFC lost a major contributor to WBB and MBB coverage a few years back.
But not one single article. Not even on Jayda Curry who has won four PAC 12 freshmen of the week awards.
But I've decided since my initial posting to just accept it and not assume there will ever be anything on the women's bb team here. I'll continue to come to WFC for all the other outstanding content and continue to direct other Cal fans to the site. I'll also continue to go elsewhere for my women's bb content. I knew I was using a loaded word with sexism but it was borne of my frustration. I am now going zen about the whole issue.
I mean this sincerely, but I am sure they'd welcome you or someone else to write about WBB, if you are interested and capable. Reef, a contributor who has since passed away, was undoubtedly the most passionate Cal BB fan and contributor and IIRC he wrote a lot about WBB and MBB. He was also a great writer. I think it is hard to find someone who possess all these attributes who will commit to writing an article after each game and actually has the time to do so, but I am pretty confident WFC would be thrilled to find that person.
I understood the volunteer issue (or lack of), and I’m not suggesting an article about every game.
I suggested an occasional post about a WBB topic, like “what do you think of our new players?”
This doesn’t require a “writer or journalist” and also does not take much time to post a question like this a few times/month
We have done similar questions in the past and--even for revenue sports--those posts get far fewer clicks and comments and are far less engaging for us to put together as writers. It becomes a chore and thus something that is not fun to do when this is our hobby.
If we were paid, then we could force someone to do that, but it's a lot tougher to tell one of our volunteers to keep writing a post they aren't interested in that isn't catching the eyes of readers--especially when most of them backed out of the "assignments" of stories they were interested in.
If you want to look at engagement of another non-revenue sport, our post on the women's gymnastic team has a whopping three comments--two of which are complaints from you two about the lack of WBB coverage.
@is hoopdreams GB49's burner account?@
https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/remembering-larry-berroya
Wow, I noticed “Reef” wasn’t around here writing or posting but I had no idea he passed away. Condolences to his family. He was a great writer that was really passionate about MBB and WBB.
I had noticed "Reef" was gone, but I didn't realize he is literally gone. Condolences to those concerned. It also serves as a reminder that things can happen, and paid or volunteer, nothing is guaranteed, much less permanent!
I don't have the time to cover every game but I could certainly contribute here and there if asked.
We are always on the lookout for dedicated, talented writers. Joining the team is detailed in our FAQs.
https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/the-write-for-california-faq
I wish to join the team and write for the site. What is the process?
Send an e-mail to admin(at)writeforcalifornia.com to express your interest! As a volunteer outfit, we’re always looking for new contributors. It’s a big help if you can include in your e-mail a brief description of what topics you’re interested in contributing to the site and a sample of your writing.
I’ve been here and previously at CGB since 2008 and I think ascribing it to sexism is both wrong and unfair.
This isn’t ESPN and the writers are unpaid volunteers who largely cover/write articles during their spare time while juggling actual jobs that pay their bills, families and life in general.
I have found in the past that CGB did have very good coverage of both MBB and WBB but things ebb and flow as some writers have left to pursue other things in life.
Furthermore, coverage and discussion also follow tend to follow the success or lack thereof for each sport. The more successful football, MBB or WBB is the more articles and discussion you will see.
Again excuses. There are seventeen WFC writers and none could have written a single article on the women's team in the past three months? Gimme a break. And why is that Nick is the only one who can cover the women's team? The men's bb team has hardly been successful in recent years and that hasn't effected their coverage one iota. No one is too busy with their lives to cover the men's team. Preview, recaps and analysis aplenty. They could've at least asked someone to write a guest article on the women's team.Someone could have re-worded a press release. But zero. I can't find a better explanation than sexism. It's a bad look for an otherwise exemplary website.
Be the change you want to see in the world and start covering and writing articles about MBB and WBB.
I can assure you that we do not have seventeen active writers. If you check for who's been actually writing anything recently, you'll see it's much, much lower than that. That has been an issue I've been raising for years and we just can't find people who stick.
It's perfectly fine to want to see different teams covered, but I would ask you to think twice before you accuse anyone of sexism. We have covered our women's teams in various sports heavily in the past and just don't have any writers to do so at this time.
I did think twice, and three times and four times. Literally. When every men's came is previewed and recapped and no women's games are, it's the only conclusion I could draw. So I stand by that accusation at the same time I'd like to move on from it and offer my services.
The other conclusion one could draw is that football and men's basketball have always drawn more interest than other college sports, pretty much across the board. Hence you will get more of an audience for them and more writers who want to write about them. You could maybe chalk that up to society-wide sexism, but it's not unique to this site.
But good on you for offering your services. That's the way to go.
What is the most writers that CGB had at any given time?
That's a good question that I wish I had the answer to... It's also tough because for the past several years, we let people stay up on the masthead without enforcing any kind of output quotas (because that would be silly for volunteers). So our masthead/writers list is often bloated with people who aren't active.
B. While the articles are still great because of kick-a$$ writers, MBB talks & discussions on previous incarnations of this website were much more extensive and lively. When your dogschitt, short-time, overmatched AD commits administrative malpractice by hiring an incompetent buffoon to run the program, though, there is unfortunately going to be collateral damage...namely, a decade long period of struggles, ineptitude and the accompanying fan apathy.
That’s why the in-game hoop chats are relatively quiet compared to the football ones.
Refuse to acknowledge Cal basketball exists and happiness increases tenfold
Can't remember the last time I even watched a game on TV.
I've watched them all, even been to some games!
I saw you in the crowd.
Crowd?
Can't argue that and completely respect it!
I myself find happiness to be overrated and prefer to wallow in miserably average-at-best basketball...
to be clear, he's talking about Wyking, not Fox
It’s unfortunate that the clarification is needed and says a lot about the current state of the program...sigh.
C. Nick Kranz used to cover women's basketball in much greater depth, but his weekly columns are currently wrapping up retrospectives of the football season. He'll probably turn increased attention to WBB in the coming weeks.
D. Ruey Yen sporadically covers all sorts of Olympic sports, although he doesn't have a set schedule for when he publishes his pieces.
E. DBD looks to me to be one big OT discussion (Off Topic) and by far the most discussions
this is generally true as we are all friends, or have become friends over time.
(speaking for others) we mostly all come for the friendly banter and connection to a community
There's something else on this site other than the DBD?
Not that I'm aware
It's not a lie . .. if you believe it.
Photogenic
Speaking of photogenic in the era of selfies, did you hear that Facebook and MySpace were at one time exploring a selfie app together? Yeah, it was going to be call "MyFace." Ta, dut, dut...cha!
It is weird in these zoom days to be confronted with your own image constantly. I remember before the flood you’d only see yourself briefly when you went to the can and you’d be like oh yeah that is what I look like. Now you spend hours a day looking at a screen that has a live video feed of your face.
The only upside is that the zoom feed is grainy and the color bleeds so my gray hairs are largely painted over by my brown ones
The camera on my monitor at work makes my hair look better also.
You can turn off self view in Zoom
This is the way.
Seriously, I find it sharply reduces my Zoom fatigue.
Not so much these days, previously was I am told.
My 12-year-old son has game that I wish I had. By far the most photogenic member of my family for at least 2 generations.
I haven’t been photogenic since the Clinton administration, unfortunately...but my dogs are...
almost everyone except me. but my wife is particularly photogenic according to impartial reviews.
Oh, I'm definitely punching above my weight class (but not outkicking my coverage)
We're all still trying to figure out how your union with Dr. Miss. Newellbany came about....answers are from all over the map and include:
A) The Newellbany family payed an astronomically expensive dowry (buy out in coach speak)
B) An incredibly high stakes wager was placed and Newellbany somehow got his hands on Biff Tannen's Sports Almanac for 2000-2050. (Though given his handicapping and sports picks, this hypothesis was quickly and most summarily rejected).
C) Just an incredible, Mother Theresa-type act of charity by a better person than yourself.
C. is the leader in the clubhouse....
Well, if option D (my incredible charm and good looks) is ruled out (and it should be), then yes, option C is probably the right answer.
Outkicking the coverage is a very awkward analogy for these sorts of things.
Yeah - it also removes agency from the other party.
Wife is far more photogenic than me, that is beyond dispute.
Cats
Our cat is bringing in multiple small animals a day. I feel the worst about the birds he brings in, but very happy when it is a mole, rate, our mouse. We've put a bell on him and it doesn't seem to matter as he seems to be a pretty damn exceptional hunter.
Our outdoor cat is starting to match our early morning game of wits. He used to meow in the early morning and then either go out the door if I opened it for him or go eat if I went to feed him. I learned quickly that he would continue to meow after eating if I fed him first so I would go to the door first to get him to leave the house.
Now, he refuses to go out the house until I feed him.
I mean, what is this plot, anyways? A tribe of cats called the Jellicles come together at the annual Jellicle Ball to decide which one of them will ascend to the Heaviside layer and be reborn into a new life? Who greenlighted THAT idea?
Well, TS Eliot kinda did...
I saw Cats on Broadway at the age of 9 when it was brand spanking new and was positively mystified...it was amazing.
I saw it a 2nd time at the San Diego Civic Center Auditorium 35 years, and about 200 similar musicals later, and it was meh.
Then the movie came out in 2019 and basically killed the entire franchise...smh...
We started the movie very excited and ended it about 30 minutes later very disappointed.
i'm surprised it took that long
You gotta think Dame Judi Dench and Idris Elba both want do-overs when they commiserate with a couple-a rounds of Pimm's Cups in the West End...
No
DBD Not Official Financial Advice
I have the chance to contribute to a 401(a), which is a one-time option that cannot be altered or changed (I believe the contribution is a percentage of gross income, I have an appointment with a Nationwide rep this Friday to get details). I've already maxed out my 457 and am contemplating dialing back on the 457 so that I can contribute more to the 401(a) now, with the goal of contributing more to the 457 later as I receive pay increases. I am also trying to asses whether I am going too heavy on my pre-tax retirement contributions (I am also a PERS member), and whether I need to start investing in post tax investements instead of maximizing the pre-tax contributions. Thoughts?
I know everyone says to put as much into tax-advantaged retirement accounts as possible, but I am someone who regrets the balance of my assets in that I have way too much locked up until I'm 59 1/2 and I wish I had done some of that saving outside of the pre-tax retirement wrapper.
Curious about the 401(a) -- do you work for a non-profit?
I don't mind the amount of assets I have stewing back there - I've been a lot more aggressive with the taxable stuff - and I don't touch the IRA stuff except to fund it and funnel it into more index funds.
I guess I'm lucky in this regard that I've never had a 401(k) so I was forced to aggressively fund a taxable account.
That's kind of what I am thinking, how much do I want to lock up in pre-tax accounts? At least with my 457 I can access without penalty at retirement so as early as 55. Also, do I want some post tax investments so I don't take a hit later in retirement? I work for local government.
You must be in pretty good shape, financially.
If I was in my early thirties I would think so, but as someone who spent a lot of time exploring life in my early years, I am just trying to catch up so I can ride that retirement train into the sunset in 10-12 years! :)
Amazon sinks 2.5% - lowest in 8 months. Correction of tech stocks continues.
I love it when the total market drops in the first half of the year as that is when I put in all of my contributions for the year.
Roth IRA - my daughter is 17 and made about $1000 this year. she doesnt really need the $$ so she put all of it into a Roth IRA.
we told her that we would 100% match her IRA contribution so she really only has to contribute $500 of her own $$ since we cant contribute more than her total earnings.
she also has a custodial account w/ about $10k from family bday and xmas gifts over the years. i guess she will be the full time owner of that in a few months.
tell her to put it all in shibacoin
What about crypto?
Crypto is garbage. It has no backing.
Blockchain/Crypto ETF's
Good on Little Miss HSB for developing the mindset of saving in tax advantaged accounts. That $1,000 will become a huge chunk of change when she's eligible to pull it out.
It's a Roth -- she can pull it out whenever she wants!
The contributions, yes, but not the whole chunk of change that $1000 will become.
DBD Test Kitchen
DBD AV Club
Watched Tender Bar -- starts slow, but I really enjoyed it once the kid grew up a bit.
Watched Summer of Soul -- great storytelling about how it all came about. I love oral history-type documentaries.
Summer of Soul was one of my top ten movies last year. I wish ?uestlove and team also released performance footage - really would love to watch a 30 minute Stevie Wonder or Nina Simone set.
And Marylin McCoo's reaction to watching her footage!
Enjoying the 3rd season of Sex Education, 2nd of Witcher
Finished Only Murders in the Building - quite good
Started: We Are Lady Parts - great fun
Our Crumbling Democracy
So, my brother used to be married to the sister of the founder of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes. I was thrilled to see the FBI finally caught up to him. I used to see him at family functions growing up (he is 10 years my senior). We all have a backstory right, so believe it or not, this dude used to do caricature portraits at the Excalibur casino back in the day, you know, the kind with the big head and small bodies? The last time I saw him was at my nieces wedding back in 2009. I had no idea of what he was up to until I read about him in an article in High Country news about 7 years ago. Crazy stuff!
Thanks for sharing. I would love to hear more about this guys backstory if you are willing to share. How did he go from caricatures at Excalibur to Oath Keepers? Was he always conservative and anti government?
So, being 10 years younger, I didn't really think to track it that way and he started the Oath Keepers long after his sister and my brother parted ways. He was in the military but to my knowledge, never really caught up with militias or other extremists until he created his own (though he always had guns). It is kind of perplexing to me as he is also a Yale Law grad, so who knows. I can say that his mom was a new-age, psychic type of lady that dated rich men and I think convinced others that she was special and kind of a healer. I see the similarity in how he's convinced others to follow him, but on the other side of the political spectrum entirely.
I went the SPLC to read up on him and didn’t realize that he graduated from UNLV undergrad in 98, graduated from Yale Law School and interned for Ron Pauls failed presidential bid.
The other crazy thing is how far apart our ideologies are. I am a huge supporter of public lands, and even took a public lands class from John Leshy, the Solicitor General of the Department of Interior under all 8 years of the Clinton Administration. He on the other hand, was part of the armed standoff in Bunkerville involving the idiot Bundy clan.
Yikes.
As I mentioned above. I didn't even know he founded the Oath Keepers until I was reading an article several years ago. I don't think my niece has even talked to him in several years...
Jake Lahut @JakeLahut
New/scooplet: The day after Jan. 6, phone calls came into Nancy Pelosi's office from rioters who left items behind and were inquiring whether the speaker had a "lost and found," Rep. Raskin tells me.
Police were more than happy to jot down their info.
https://www.businessinsider.com/capitol-rioters-called-pelosis-office-for-lost-and-found-raskin-2022-1
well that's just dumb
yet completely describes their sense of entitlement.
Today in Omicron
Hey, will you get re-vaxxed while you are in HK?
No - I'm going to do the full vax cycle when I get back to the Bay. Just going to act as if I haven't been vaxxed at all. It'll have been 7 months since I got SinoVac (which is de-activated virus) - I talked to my college roommate who is a doctor and he said "sure sounds good" about my plans to just re-go through the vax cycle anew.
So Shanghai update - as I can see the international news is catching bits and pieces of what's happening here.
3 cases of omicron were found recently in Shanghai (along with like 80 in Xi'an, some in Tianjin and Beijing, and some in Zhengzhou in Guangdong province)
I'll talk about Shanghai first, since I'm here - the authorities are racing around the city trying to contact trace everything - it's led to a bunch of stuff like shoppers being locked in Uniqlo for 48 hours or people being quarantined and tested in their offices. People are grumbling that it's heavy handed for 3 cases that they've found - but they really want Covid Zero until after the Olympics (at the very least) or until the October 5 year meetings (we'll see if they can hold out that long - the dyke feels like it's springing leaks all over the place)
2. Xi'an - yeah the entire city is locked down like Wuhan two years ago. One woman lost her baby because her cleared PCR test expired while she was waiting to get into a hospital and then they wouldn't let her because she wasn't covid cleared. But things seemed to have stablized in terms of people are now getting food deliveries at home from the government while locked down. Wuhan lasted for 3 months two years ago - but there's no way the populace will stand for it this time.
3. Zhengzhou - this one got a lot of buzz because some woman was on an arranged blind date - she went home from Guangzhou early for Chinese New Year and her parents had arranged for her to meet like 10 dudes in the week she was home. One of them invited her over for a dinner date - and then she got locked into her blind dates' apartment. She started live-streaming stuff . . .and was kind of blunt about him "nice guy, but he doesn't have anything interesting to say .. . and he wanted to show off his cooking skills, but he's not really that good a cook" - but then she took all the identifying stuff down because people were calling the guy. I believe they've now been out.
I, personally, have taken to carrying around a little bottle of contact lens solution and toothpaste/toothbrush. A friend got locked in her gym for 12 hours - but because the gym was in a mall with a hot pot restaurant - she just went to the restaurant and ate for a while.
You might say "this is really silly - let people quarantine at home" and you would both be right and mirror what all the Chinese people are saying. People don't super object to lockdowns, but the surprise public area lockdowns aren't being very fondly looked upon.
"Zero Covid" seems like a pipe dream of a policy with Omicron around. Maybe it was before too, but especially now.
I think they can make it stretch through the Olympics but it's going to be fingers in dykes and periodic lockdowns in places. But the summer, with everyone out enjoying the weather? It's going to seep out somewhere.
Right, I think you could achieve it for a period of time with harsh enough lockdowns, but all you're doing there is delaying the wave. You're not going to avoid it.
But it has less calories but the same great taste!
Less filing!
Tastes great!
True, it tastes much better than Diet Covid.
I wish my gym had a hot pot restaurant
I would like to go to a Korean spa that has a buffet (but maybe not during a pandemic)
The korean spas here with food - the food isn't very good. Solution: the restaurants next door are excellent.
somewhat related .. older daughter applied to NYU Shanghai for college next year. if she gets in, we are considering a trip to see campus and environs since it would be among her top 2 choices and the visit might actually make a difference.
is it completely insane to even think about a possible trip for a week in Apr?
Yeah - she'll be able to get in because NYU Shanghai is the only school on the mainland that has been able to get foreign students in, in any number. (there's a handful of other foreign students, but they tend to be individuals, not as a mass) - so unfortunately you won't be able to visit until borders are relaxed, and best guess is that's 2023.
If you have general questions about Shanghai - I have a ton of answers, I've lived here for 14 years. One of my best friends is the Director of Educational Initiatives at NYU Shanghai - but I don't know too much about the campus since it's quite far from central Shanghai. There's a ton of YouTube videos and TikToks made by current students though.
If she's a student entering in Fall 2022, can she go, but HSB and family just won't be able to visit her?
Yeah, that's correct - as of right now. Best guess is that travel restrictions are loosened after the Party congress in Nov of 2022.
Current NYU Shanghai students are getting into the country though.
Its definitely far more than the paltry number of cases the state media is reporting.
Yeah I am never sure if the numbers from China are real. But if they are locking down over a few cases then it seems like maybe they bear some relation to reality
This is where I am too - I think there's probably some pockets somewhere of people who are sick but haven't been tested or are just staying home instead of coming in - because as soon as someone is found to have had it, a bunch of vans drive around with workers in hazmat suits and it looks like Contiagon or ET around here. And we only had 3 cases! Nevermind the 80 or so in Xi'an and the others in Zhengzhou and Tianjin.
Related question - can you get a Pfizer or Moderna shot in China if you want, or do you need to get a Chinese one?
Only Chinese ones are offered to the general public right now. There had been rumors in the fall about Pfizer since Fosun Pharma has a deal with Pfizer to spin up production here in Shanghai PLUS there have been two local pharma companies in trials with their own mRNA vaccine.
However, the people I know at the consulate have all gotten Pfizer - so there exist some supplies in country.
Only Chinese
Pro
Finally...a film to prove Tom Brady fumbled.
https://twitter.com/espn/status/1476954994863747073?lang=en
Rams thump Cardinals. Kyler Murray has too many passes batted down or intercepted cuz he is short.
Am I shocked that Kliff Kingsbury's Cardinals fell apart after a hot start to the season, yet again? No, I am not.
Amazing what losing Hopkins & Conner did to that offense.
Hopkins was a huge loss, no doubt. It's still precipitous dropoff in all phases of the game that is hard to pin on a single player.
Losing James Conner & his 18 tds for 3 games really hurt as well. Edmonds just isn't the same player.
Plus, Murray never seemed to be on the same page with Kirk, Moore or AJ Green, especially once he lost Nuk.
Conner was back for the last couple of games and they still got smoked. I'm doubting his loss was that impactful. Hopkins, yes.
Why can't they get on the same page with other receivers? Seems like a coaching issue. I will make allowances for teams falling apart without QBs, but other positions can be accounted for.
As much as I enjoyed the near-safety-turned-pick-six toss from Murray, the wackiest moment of that game was the Murray pass that was caught, immediately fumbled into the defender's arms, and then snatched away by the receiver. I don't think I'd ever seen that happen in a game.
This happened for the 49ers once. I think this was in 1992. And it went for a TD!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrtK71TuY04
Agreed - that was wild.
That first quarter/half he looked like a deer in headlights. That pick 6 he grenaded in his own endzone looked like he panicked.
Kyler is undoubtedly a talented player, but his size is a major issue at the NFL level. He looked awful yesterday....overmatched physically & mentally.
As far as recent #1 picks go, he is more Baker Mayfield than Joe Burrow it seems...
He's a likable enough dude, but I root against him because I'd much rather see him patrolling CF for the A's.
Co-signed.
Agreed...definitely not saying short guys can't be good QBs, but boy you really have to be an amazing thrower of the football (ie Drew Brees)...not sure Kyler is at that level as a passer, and considering he played rather well in his previous 2 matchups v. the Rams, the total egg he laid in the playoffs was either LA completely figuring him out and giving the entire league a blueprint to stop him, or he just thoroughly choked...neither are good.
You have to be an excellent passer or you REALLY have to make use of your mobility to create space (see Russell Wilson). Kyler Murray can certainly do the latter, but as the season grinds on he seems to do it much less. That is a problem, because just hanging in the pocket doesn't work out great for him.
that was a shockingly bad soft lob from one's own end zone.
Other College
Watching UNC get destroyed by Miami. Charlie Moore is on Miami.
Cal
Go Bears!!!