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TIL: Stalactites grow down from the cave ceiling, while stalagmites grow up from the cave floor.

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Jan 6, 2022·edited Jan 6, 2022

stalacites hold on tight. stalagmites are mighty. yes, these stupid mnemonics help.

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C for ceiling and G for ground.

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I'm a terrible speller, it wouldn't have helped me

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yes, this is what i was told too

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I remember learning that mites live on the ground and...I don't know what was supposed to cue stalactites. But it was not nearly as easy to remember as C for ceiling and G for ground.

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"mites grow up and tights fall down"

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Yup

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Jan 6, 2022·edited Jan 6, 2022Author

Salame

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I love Molinari and Son's dry salami. Costco has a 3 lb one that is something like $22. It used to be about $15 about 2 years ago and then the price skyrocketed...hmm...I wonder why.

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author

How do you feel (with the 'rona, not about salami)?

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I only had a small sore throat for half a day, body aches for maybe 1.5 days, and that's about it. Very intermittent coughing (like once or twice every 30 min to just clear my throat of phlegm). So basically I've been symptom free since Sat or Sun.

The bad news is my mom tested positive for the flu and covid through the hospital though she also has been quarantined since Monday. Neither No 1 nor No 2 have had any symptoms. No 1 is flying out today and tested negative yesterday. No 2 also tested negative and his GF are basically going to start spending time at his moms and just coming here to sleep in their bedroom. I offered to pay for an airbnb but they won't let him rent on short notice since he's under 25 with a new account and I can't use my account to rent for him. He doesn't want to stay in a hotel either.

So, we'll see how that goes.

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Jan 6, 2022·edited Jan 6, 2022Author

As the Italian etymology suggest, salame is the singular of salami. "Sal" = salt, "ame" suffix that connotes plural. So salame = "one of the salty things". Perhaps confusingly, salame is a type of salume, where the etymology means the same thing (ie, "ume" = plural noun modifier). Salumi include a broader range of cured dried meats like bresaola, capicola, prosciutto, mortadella, etc. So one salame, two salami; salami is a salume amongst the salumi.

I believe the key difference between salami and salumi is the production process. There are scores of different types of salami, but they all include a fermentation process that makes them more acidic before air-curing. Some add vingegar. Some innoculate with lactic acid and/or penicillin mold (the white stuff on the outside of a salame). Acidity denatures protein, which precipitates water. The acidity, lack of water, salinity, and lack of air make the meat hostile environment for common dangerous bacteria to grow. I would imagine that the denatured proteins are also why salami is denser than those without acids applied.

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send a salami to your boy in the army

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Sol Rosenberg abides!

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Salame is also the title of a song by David Liebe Hart, a very talented singer/actor/ventriloquist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWqimMpbTyU#t=1m7s

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Google yourself. What is/are your doppleganger(s) up to these days?

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Sometimes I turn up early, but the more prominent versions of myself are different attorneys (Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, US) and a college dean. It's changed - it used to be a STEM professor in the midwest.

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murder mystery writer

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Physical therapist

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No doppelgänger, but it is genuinely shocking to see the level of detail that is available on me. Some of it true. Some of it not. How does one “scrub” this? Or, how does one “embellish” it?

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I seem to be the only person in the world with my name. Last name is Finnish (both parents from the old country), not a lot of Finns in the world and mine's an uncommon Finnish name. I had a great great uncle who died about 100 years ago with the same name.

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years ago, one of the moms at the nursery school to which we sent our daughters said, we decided to name our [recently born son] [firstname lastname] because it was interesting and we googled and there only seems to be one other. My wife said, as it happens, that's my dad.

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hilarity ensued.

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a pediatrician. not bad

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Seems like the most famous one is a celebrity chef, most others are corporate profiles on LinkedIn

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One is a historian and author and the other is an electronic DJ. My tastes and interests are so eclectic that both of these suit me.

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She's a producer and child acting coach. Good for her.

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Professor of Clinical Pathology and Cell Biology at an Ivy League university.

Another name doppelganger is a physician at Kaiser in Tacoma, WA. Board certified in nephrology.

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Surgeon and a musician.

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@so one set of parents is happy and one set is sad?@

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If you include me, you get a law firm "partner" so its quite the eclectic bunch.

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Mine is dead. He's Lawrence Sul Ross, the former Confederate general from Waco, Texas. Guess where my family is from? And where they were enslaved? You guessed it. Can't even get away from him via Google. LOL

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nothing like a little white supremacy to brighten your day. Oy

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Eh, first page is all me

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I don't find me, not that I'm exactly click-bait worthy. The main 2 hits are a Canadian painter and an advisor that works for Edward Jones.

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That's because Google knows it's you Googling you. I had to go to Bing to get any results that weren't me.

Here's the first hit I get for you:

You were ordained a priest in Rome in 1939

You were appointed Bishop of Rockhampton in 1960 (congrats!)

You were appointed the Archibishop of Brisbane in 1973.

You retired in 1991, and died 10 years later. Nearly 1000 people came to your funeral to say farewell, but the cathedral only held 800. RIP.

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When I google Scootie, I get...ads for scooters.

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Jan 6, 2022·edited Jan 6, 2022

Cugel's got a way to go before he's at the same level as Ven. Matt Talbot.

Edit - St. to Ven.

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There is a (minor) director in LA with the same name as me. My firm’s main office is in LA. A couple of times my doppelganger has been late for flights at LAX such that they called his name out over the loudspeaker to get to the gate. Which led work colleagues of mine to email/call me telling me to get my ass to my gate. And I respond: I am in my office in SF!

Dude needs to show up his flights, is making us look bad.

FET: I have a first initial last name gmail account and get a lot of mistaken email for that reason to the same handful of ppl. I feel like I am following their lives.

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- a vp of some company with a huge bullshit sort of two line bio

- Prof emeritus at UCSC

- an attorney in LA

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Also, most of the first page is either me, or 'find your family ads'.

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Based on Instagram accounts:

-An artist/game developer in Oregon

-Some hot college girl in Cleveland

Yes, my name could go either male or female.

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Jan 6, 2022·edited Jan 6, 2022

A hot college girl in Cleveland probably wouldn't be too tough to spot.... ;-)

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She might be if she was very short.

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Brazil

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lived in Rio for 6 mo when i was 6.

my dad was on a 6 mo assignment and i think the actual engineering work were somewhere closer to Brasilia.

not sure why, but instead of an apartment, we stayed in hotels for 6 mo. it was pretty great to eat out for 6 mo in row when you are that young.

1 mo - Copacabana beach

1 mo - Ipanema beach

4 mo - private beach at the Sheraton

on the way home we did a 1 mo tour thru the rest of S America including Iguazu Falls, Buenos Aires, Peru and Mexico.

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Jan 7, 2022·edited Jan 7, 2022

I would have loved that as a kid. Hey, I probably would love it now.

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Caves

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Been to caves in New Zealand. Went underground river rafting. Surreal experience. Cold. Very cold.

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Cave exploring is something I've not done much of but have every intention to explore Lava Beds National Monument in the extreme NE part of California. Anyone ever explored there?

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Yes, really enjoyed the lava tubes, nice in summer as it was 100 outside but a cool 55 in the caves. Natural air conditioning.

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Jan 6, 2022·edited Jan 6, 2022

Been to a handful. We got a tour of one outside of Knoxville during our visit for the Tennessee game in 06. Also snorkeled in a huge cave in Martinique that was filled with bats .... and brightly colored guano. Hopefully will explore the largest sea cave in the world on Santa Cruz Island via SUP sometime this year.

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the entire cave system in Ha Long Bay Vietnam is amazing.

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the Marble Arch Caves near Enniskillen in Northern Ireland are awesome

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My two favorite cave systems that I've been to in the US are Luray Caverns in VA and Carlsbad Caverns in NM. Not necessarily a destination, but absolutely a fun addendum to a longer road trip.

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I've been to Luray in rural Virginia and the one in Oregon south of Grant's Pass.

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Jan 6, 2022·edited Jan 6, 2022

At Carlsbad they had an elevator that would take you to the bottom where there was the "world's deepest underground snack bar" serving boxed lunches of ham or roast beef sandwiches on Wonder Bread. That was back in 2002 or so. Also watched the bats circle out of the cave (an estimated 7 million) at sunset.

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We did one of the shorter Mammoth Cave system in Kentucky. Was pretty cool.

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DBD Not Official Financial Advice

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Avert your eyes. Keep buying if you buy regularly to take advantage of the lower share prices.

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SP500 up from yesterday. Good thing I maxed out my Roth yesterday, fingers crossed I managed to catch the dip.

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DBD AV Club

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With any luck, we will have internet, and therefore streaming, back online tonight. I had a friend provide a whole list of shows such as The Fall, Before We Die, Broadchurch and several other recommendations, just before our power went out. Excited to get internet back and test out some of these recs.

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The Fall is really good.

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I thought the second episode of Boba Fett was better, and sort of answered Sycasy's question of "why is this guy interesting"

Watched the first two episodes of "The Only Murders in the Building" on Hulu which was highly entertaining. A bit like "Bored to Death"

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Only Murders was very entertaining.

I'm still struggling with Boba Fett, though the train chase sequence in Ep 2 was good. It's less about why is he interesting and more about why do I care what happens to him?

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Only Murders is great.

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OMitB is great! Selena Gomez really holds her own against the other two and the show leans only gently on Boomer/Millennial tropes with a good-natured affection.

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Short and Martin are comic geniuses and you're right, Selena holds her own. with them. I love her dead pan delivery. Terrific show.

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How to With John Wilson feels like such a bizarre and narrow niche of humor. And yet I devour every second of it. It really makes me miss NYC.

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Love Joe Pera Talks With You. It's like funny ASMR.

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DBD Test Kitchen

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Does or has anyone ever primarily used a brand of ketchup that spells it "catsup"?

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What does the web say on this topic?

https://www.diffen.com/difference/Catsup_vs_Ketchup

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half of what the web says is lies

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This is true

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heh...too bad we can't find the truth since there isn't a wiki page on it.

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I remember I had a friend that had a family friend that loved McDonalds ketchup. So a friend of theirs collected them over a time and gave them a huge bagful for their bday one year.

In Portland there is a local ketchup sold in the stores and used in the local restaurants. It's pretty good. Has good flavor.

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ha, I've suspect those ketchup packets made for McDonalds have even more sugar in them than what you get from the bottle. or at least the stuff they pump on the burgers is super sweet.

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That sounds plausible.

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I've used a brand that labeled their product "catsup", but it's been years. Don't recall the brand; probably a supermarket house brand.

Never was such brand the primary brand of use or choice.

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I had a childhood friend who's family always had a catsup, I wanna say Del Monte, which would mystify me

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It's Del Monte (of the larger industrial brands)

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No but my late grandpa on my mother's side always said catsup instead of ketchup. Maybe a midwest thing?

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I bought a papaya and waited for it to ripen. The outside started to get spotty so I'm thinking that it's ripe. Nope. It's completely green inside. No problem. When life gives you green papaya, make green papaya salad. So I go look up the recipe. Who am I kidding? I'm not making that.

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Heh, like FS we are eating healthier, in fact I think we may be 50% or more meatless meals. Last night was one of my new faves - spicy udon noodles with onions, yellow bell peppers, broccoli and cashews - very tasty, paired with a Riesling to tame the heat.

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we're trying to minimize or eliminate processed foods plus reduce the sugar intake. The 3 new Xmas bottles of whiskey that got added to my current 7 bottle collection are giving me dirty looks right now

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my collections are temporary. I was just bemused to find I had 7 bottles of partial consumed whiskey on my shelf when I added the new 3

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@blend them up@

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I did that for a while and now I have a nice variety to fit whatever tickles my fancy at the moment. I'd much rather have a dozen partially full bottles than a few mostly full ones.

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Schnitzel, the Austrian dish, with a salad and mashed potatoes.

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LOVE Schnitzel. one of my all time favorites ...

do you have a good way of making one at home? maybe i should try in air fryer ...

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the Mrs and I are trying to eat healthy cause, you know, I am old and fat. 2 days in and I am seeing pink elephants flying around. This is bullshit

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pqtm

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delirium tremens

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Jan 6, 2022·edited Jan 6, 2022Author

TIL: Toy Story's Woody has a canned saying of "there's a snake in my boot" when you pulled his string. "Snakes in boots" was a popular saying in the late 19th century, which later evolved into other animals and eventually pink elephants. It implies that Woody was a raging alcoholic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_pink_elephants

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pqtm, that logo was my first thought too

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DELERIUM’S LOGO DESIGNER WAS PAID IN BEER..

An art student that was employed by the brewery designed the famous pink elephant logo in exchange for two cases of Delirium Tremens.

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yesterday's attempt at making dinner was scored a 0 by my kids.

i didnt think it was so bad but apparently the flavors did not go well together ...

- rice bowls w/ chopped up pork chops, mushrooms and peppers.

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You could easily deconstruct this dish down to rice, add soy sauce or Braggs, and score a 5/10 at least...does sound like a tough crowd you have there.

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That does not sound like a combination where the flavors will not go well together.

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Wow, they gave you a 0? Rough crowd...would these kids boo Santa Claus? Wouldn’t be Philly fans, would they?

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Anything with pork chops in it can’t be a 0.

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So what kind of pizza did you have?

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I don't mind the occasional dud, either through a bad recipe or bad execution on my part. It happens and its how I figure out what works. The part that bruises my ego is when I think it's fine, but I get food pushed around a plate and I later hear folks rummaging through the pantry and fridge at 10pm.

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I'm trying to use up all the sauces etc. in my pantry before I leave. . . and I found out how many tablespoons of fish sauce is too many with my massaman curry from a couple days ago.

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...but only if they agree to clean up afterwards.

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Today in Omicron

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the county updated the dashboard for school case rates - they've previously said that anything over 5% triggers a review regarding 2 weeks' remote school. I'd guess that 2/3 of the schools were red. My daughter's HS was at 7.46% yesterday, so they're waiting to see what happens. Some elementary schools were at over 10% cases, which is kind of impressive for the first day back.

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Man, the traffic on the bridge was hella light; stocked up on whiskey from K&L in record time.

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Yeah, my commute is 45 to the office and I have a reverse commute but I’ve noticed that traffic has been light on both sides of the freeway this week.

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What is K&L?

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Best damn wine & spirits stores in the country! SF, Redwood City & Hollywood.

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Where in SF? I typically go to Cask as it is by my office in E4

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I kinda lost respect for Cask after they wanted to sell me a bottle of bourbon that retails for $130 for $600. I declined to buy it.

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I remember calling around last year when No 1 asked me to look for a bottle of Midsummer Night's Dram. I don't know what the retail price is, but Cask asked 150. A couple of smaller liquor stores also asked somewhere north of 130. I found a small liquor store in Montclair that asked 100. So I went there. Seemed like Cask must have marked it up given the limited quantities.

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between 4th & 5th on Harrison, right by 80

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US District Court and some County Superior Courts in Southern California are starting to shut down.

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In my experience, all fed ct in CA, female judges and younger male judges have been zoom pretty much whole time. Older male judges more likely to require in person.

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Bench culture is a real thing. I've seen this too.

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Kaiser in Antioch wanted to make sure that all of its nurses were appreciated for the last two years of incredible stamina.

https://twitter.com/Imani_Barbarin/status/1478805913121300490

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So they have something to throw at management??

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making lemonade, I see

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CDC expands emergency approval for boosters for 12-15 year olds

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/05/health/cdc-acip-pfizer-covid-vaccine-boosters-adolescents/index.html

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Our Crumbling Democracy

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Stephanie Grisham, who was employed as Press Secretary for nearly 25 Scaramuchis and famously didn't hold a single white house press briefing - gave testimony to the 1/6 commission. She also told CNN today that TFG watched the Insurrection and liked it so much that he rewound it and bragged that everyone was fighting for him.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/stephanie-grisham-trump-gleefully-watched-jan-6-1280113/

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NASCAR on Tuesday decided against approving a sponsorship based on the anti-President Biden slogan “Let’s go, Brandon,” according to a NASCAR official with direct knowledge of the deliberations.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/01/04/lgbcoin-lets-go-brandon-nascar-rejected/

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Happy Insurrection Day

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Mill Valley man participated in 1/6 because he felt the election was rigged. He's on the FBI most wanted list. Ironically, he fled to Belarus.

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2022/01/05/mill-valley-man-wanted-in-jan-6th-capitol-riot-finds-refuge-in-belarus/

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Fox News: It's the libs fault because they don't want to bomb the snow.

https://twitter.com/KumarsSalehi/status/1478498835777220608

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nuking Frosty to own the libs

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My Pillow guy says he's created a lobby group to replace voting machines with his own

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1478868742641799176

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Pro

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Max Homa is ready to be known for more than just being golf's 'Twitter guy'

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/32985110/max-homa-ready-known-more-just-being-golf-twitter-guy

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Max Homa was sitting on a plane, flying back to Arizona from the RSM Classic in Sea Island, Georgia, on Nov. 19, when he started to think about how to get better. It was his 31st birthday, and earlier in the day, he missed the cut by 3 strokes. Getting into his own head and dissecting his game on the way home has become standard operating procedure for Homa after tournaments he doesn't win.

As he flew cross-country, Homa wasn't just sitting 35,000 feet over the terra firma -- he started to look at his career from above.

Below, he saw a player who has three wins on the PGA Tour and is better known by some for his hilarious tweets. Perhaps more importantly, he saw a man who is finally in a good place physically and mentally.

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Novaxx Djokovid has won a legal case against his imminent deportation. So he's staying at least through Monday.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/novak-djokovic-launches-court-bid-to-fight-deportation-20220106-p59mdp.html

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Would be funny if he was in limbo until after his first match and then DQed because he couldn't show up.

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Steph Curry honors the retirement of Dirk Nowizki's number by sinking only a single three-pointer

https://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameId=401360391

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at least he kept his streak alive of consecutive games w/ a 3.

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None of the Warriors could hit a 3. They looked like they were honoring the 2018 Rockets...

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Yeah, this was one of those games where it felt like they were playing with a lid on the basket. It happens.

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the W's caught up in the 3rd quarter but couldnt sustain it

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Other College

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Jan 6, 2022·edited Jan 6, 2022Author

To$h's $1.7m/year contract makes him one of the highest paid assistants in college football.

https://247sports.com/college/oregon/Article/DC-Tosh-Lupoi-contract-details-released-179922734/

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I'm guessing he required his salary to be paid in $100 bills placed in coffee cups.

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Only 1.7 dollars per year?

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Equity deal.

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Seems like they overpaid.

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Cal

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Go Bears!!!

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Actually the men's BB game this eve could have significant implications for the Bears if they can somehow pull out a win and get to 10-5, 3-1 in conference.

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They have no answer down low for Mobley and Goodwin....and who guards Peterson?

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better to have no expectations so you cant be disappointed

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I try to live by this motto.

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