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In case you need a distraction, I've been enjoying these videos about design for small spaces: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_zQ777U6YTyatP3P1wi3xw

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Katie Couric will also guest host some Jeopardy episodes - a kind of meh placeholder IMO https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2021-01-06/katie-couric-will-guest-host-jeopardy-after-the-final-alex-trebek-episodes-air

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I assumed Ken Jennings would get the nod. Whoever replaces him will have a tough time replicating Trebek's occasional tendency to roast contestants with gentle but lethal barbs.

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They could do a lot worse. I'm also not sure it matters much.

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How did Tiny Tim get to be so popular? He gave such a weird image to the ukulele that many people, including me, avoided it for years.

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At my grocery, one of the managers is woman name Vicki.....naturally, I call her Miss Vicky and at one time, explained vis-a-vis the Tiny Tim thing. Got a blank stare, as expected but told her to google it.....she got back to me the next week "Thanks" said sarcastically.

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drugs. it was a different time.

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Bad cartoons

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Honestly? Pretty much everything I watched in the 80s that was designed to sell me toys.

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so...Pokemon, Yu Gi Oh?

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Those are 90s cartoons. I'm thinking of Transformers, GI Joe, He-Man, etc.

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Teletubbies. Actually that was my daughter's first word. We were shopping at Babies 'R Us when she suddenly spoke.

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A weirdly bad show, but I'm not sure it qualifies as a cartoon.

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true. it was part cartoon when the giant sucking vacuum cleaner came on. but otherwise not.

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while i agree that most people think it is bad, i liked this one a lot for my kids.

our older one had the whole set and still claims that i forced her to watch (which i probably did)

apparently, the antennae on top make for the perfect place to grab them

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ftsJs5qhhNX3jt4k6

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Funny photo. thanks!

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Danish public TV has launched this series for 4 to 8 year-olds. It's uh, he.... uh...

https://www.dr.dk/drtv/se/john-%0a%0adillermand_-john-lufter-hunde_227288

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Even if I understood the language I don't think I'd be any less confused.

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...bizarre

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It took me some time to realize that that wasn't a prehensile tail. Also, his retractable pants/underwear must be made by the same people who made the Hulk's shorts.

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I vaguely remember Twist ranting about this show several years ago.

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It seems most memories involving Twist are vague, and include ranting.

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he spends most of his time tweeting about pro wrestling these days. just a weird turn of events i could not have predicted

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...or anyone.

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YAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS our long global nightmare is over

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Born on a bayou...his name is Caillou.

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Kinda reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where Jerry's mechanic steals his car and then starts throwing JFK's golf clubs at Kramer while he's pursuing him.

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Parents of the DBD, have you gotten your kids to enjoy a specific "old" musical artist?

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My son's favorite song is "Sing Sing Sing" performed by the Benny Goodman Orchestra. So proud! On the other hand, he keeps insisting that he likes country music, even though I keep telling him that he's not allowed to like it.

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Daughter: Blondie's first album (not that I was trying mind you)

Son: Tons of bands: The Replacements, Be Bop Deluxe, Big Star, The Undertones, but oddly not Led Zep or Sparks, two of my faves. His taste is fairly close to my own, and we find new bands to like for each other.

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YES. both my girls can definitively tell you that Led Zeppelin is the greatest rock band ever.

when Stairway to Heaven comes on, we all stop what we are doing and listen and sing along until the end.

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both of my children have fairly distinct musical taste from me. LMFS is closer, to the point where we've seen Slayer, Mastodon, Monistry, Napalm Death and Sepultura together. But she also really likes the Who and is a Green Day fanatic along with her mother, neither of which I have much time for. Junior is much more all over the map. He doesn't like the super heavy stuff like me but does love him some Pantera and old school Metallica. But his favorite band by a mile is Queen and he has a wide variety of taste that spans Eminem and various hiphop artists, alt music like Tame Impala, stuff like Post Malone, etc. Literally all over the map. I did turn him onto Thundercat, so I got that going for me.

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Beatles, through Beatles Rock Band

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The last widow of a US Civil War veteran dies

https://people.com/human-interest/last-known-widow-of-civil-war-veteran-helen-jackson-dies/

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I'm incredulous. But I guess it's accurate.

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Wait, what? She married a 93-year-old widower when she was 17 (because she was taking care of the old men and this was the easiest way for him to compensate her), that's a quite tenuous tie to the Civil War though.

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Used to not be that uncommon. It was a different time in many ways.

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We can ask Cugel about the widower, I heard they were childhood friends.

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Et tu, clapdoc?

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Today in Covid

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Had a fever a few days ago, body aches yesterday, but otherwise nothing. I have several smell/taste tests that I regularly use (chocolate and wife's meditation candles) and all clear on that front.

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Not everyone loses smell.

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You should get tested.

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@but clapdoc won't have it if he doesn't get tested...@

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getting the whole family tested tomorrow - one of my younger daughter's "pod" has tested positive.

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welp

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that sucks. stay safe

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I mean we were playing the odds so that she wouldn't go insane, fingers crossed etc.

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Elsewhere in college

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Villanova just resumed activities after a lengthy Covid shutdown. Lasted 1 day before they had to shut down again.

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Watched it, and was surprised at how much of a difference in overall play there was between the 2 teams.

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If you could send a free bouquet of flowers now, what would you send?

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ALL of the flowers to Stacey Abrams.

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A bouquet of carrion flowers (aka corpse flowers) to Mitch McConnell.

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you forgot the shit that the florist would personally take on the bouquet before sending

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I think that's a given. Even the roses his wife sends him get that treatment.

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OUR RECOVERING DEMOCRACY

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Thinking more on this fucking weird, frustrating, aggravating day, I think it's actually for the best, this is a stain that will forever be associated with Trump and the Republicans, no matter how they try to spin this.

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Trump tells protesters to go home...right after maintaining his claims that the election was stolen and that there was widespread fraud. He closes by telling the protesters he loves them and they're very special.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1346928882595885058

It's incredible to watch him botch the easiest, most basic tasks.

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He meant to fuck that up.

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Spoke too soon on the "recovery" part

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Welp! Looks like the Trumpys have stormed the capitol building and are currently fighting with Federal officers

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At work we just received an emergency alert email that a curfew is going into effect across DC at 6pm.

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Shortly after 6 I got a phone alert that Arlington and Alexandria also, by order of the governor.

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Take care <3

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Thanks. I'm in for the duration. Earlier, about 3 our time I went down to an observation deck atop a building near me that has a view down the Mall. It looked like a totally normal day so the bad stuff was limited to right around the Capitol. Then went for a walk around an island in the Potomac nearby and there were lots of out of town plates there and can't say I felt totally comfortable.

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JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

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I do not understand the lack of tear gas and rubber bullets. And if those don't work, real ones.

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I've been saying for a while that drumpfism is a cancer and that cancer is treated by systematically exterminating cancer cells, not by coddling cancer cells.

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Gas is reserved for use on members of the opposing political point of view, and when conducting war crimes.

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they're white

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If they were the wrong shade of brown, they'd use real bullets then reflexively invade a Middle Eastern country.

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it's the Capitol Police & maybe MPD, not whatever reactionary malcontents DOJ had running around DC this summer

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There is always a tweet:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1287877621380837378

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The side show has started inside as well.

What's disappointing is this approach does appear to be having some reach and influence, meaning it will continue and be repeated moving forward.

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As long as Trump doesn't say a word then it will go forward.

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House locked down and Pence removed due to presence of protesters.

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cnn.com has quite a few stories on republican lawmakers talking about unacceptable and despicable rioters, or telling trump to call it off. Oh so now they have a backbone?

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This is bad, very bad.

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"They" told us in advance that this is exactly what they were going to do. Nothing effective was done about it because its exactly what "he" wants to happen, because "he" believes this best serves his interests. ("He" may be correct in that assessment.)

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i think punishment now seems to be really necessary

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Merrick Garland for AG. A huge upgrade, but not the person I wanted.

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FET

The last Cal Alumni picnic I hosted last year was attended by Michael Tigar - who was the defense attorney for OKC bomber Terry Nichols. Garland and Deputy AG Jamie Gorlick were the primary prosecutors in that case. Garland was later being removed.

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Any of our DC colleagues at the Ellipse today?

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Not me. There was a steady trickle through my neighborhood of folks on their way downtown but I did my recon run down the Mall yesterday. Looks like a decent crowd but not all that big.

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"Rudolph W. Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, deployed violent imagery Wednesday in describing the president’s efforts to overturn Biden’s win, calling for the White House race to be settled by “trial by combat.”

WTF?!?!?!

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that would explain why he was working on his swordsmanship in the Borat film

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pqtm, behind my mask at work.

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pqtm

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Did the Dems in Georgia really win? What is Trump going to do to upset the apple cart?

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The margins are wider than Biden's GA win in November. Nothing's going to overturn it.

This result also demonstrates to the GOP that tying yourselves to Trump is not a winning strategy when he's not on the ballot. I suspect there will be less appetite for other Republicans to support his nonsense.

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Lincoln Project can now buzz off

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I won't be sending them any money, but if they want to keep producing attack ads against Republicans that's fine by me.

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Stacey Abrams

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hero! Am curious what her next step will be. Does she go take the Governor seat that she should have won a couple years back?

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I suspect she does, in tandem with Warnock running for re-election. It will be hard for Republicans to beat that.

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GoverMORE, for sure

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Without presuming to suggest what Ms Abrams should want, if what we call the Democratic party apparatus were at all smart, they'd BEG her to start a nationwide program dedicated to driving the work with local groups that she did in Georgia.

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She may eventually become the Chair of the DNC.

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Yep. Getting that many voters mobilized to vote Democrat in Georgia is a great accomplishment, particularly because the party has had difficulty turning our enthusiastic voters arguably since Obama's election in '08.

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Based on the losses and missed opportunities in some places, and what appears to be results that exceeded even unreasonable expectations, I'd have to more than agree. It could be the sole key to what happens the next time around.

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SENATE MINORITY LEADER MITCH McCONNELL

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For the first time in 88 years, an incumbent party has lost the presidency, senate, and house. The last was the GOP led by Herbert Hoover (Stanfurd, BS'95), who got smoked 59-472 by FDR.

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Live pic of the blue wave neutralizing Mitch. https://twitter.com/LadyDoctorSays/status/1346680328598016000

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That's wonderful.

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The greatest words ever spoken.

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Former Senator and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell would be better.

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SUCK IT, TURTLE FACED BITCH

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PRO

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Jared Goff's status for playoff game in doubt.

https://sports.yahoo.com/rapoport-jared-goffs-status-wild-170905776.html

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Bortles! [Insert a Good Place gif here]

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I LOVE the Bortles theme on the Good Place. Donkey Doug shouting it during the finally was a masterpiece.

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I was looking for a good Bortles Good Place gif but I couldn't find one I liked.

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Heh

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There's no way he's going to be healthy enough to be effective. A thumb surgery doesn't heal that fast!

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especially with tiny hands

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Maybe he can get a hand transplant to get larger hands during the offseason.

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CAL

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Go Bears.

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