Interesting that this is happening in Starkey's final season calling Cal football. Not saying that there is a linkage between the two events, just that it's interesting.
Yesterday (or was it the day before?) g. oso linked to an article about his neighbor being shot and killed by armed catalytic converter thieves.
Just a few minutes ago, Berkeley PD posted on Nextdoor that armed catalytic converter thieves shot at a resident yelling at the thieves to stop. This happened in the Berkeley Hills, about 3.5 blocks from Casa de Slug.
Thieves are becoming more brazen and desperate. They're going into areas that have historically been considered "safe".
Indeed, it's suspicious that the cat would fail after that few miles (unless the car is dumping a ton of unburnt fuel into the exhaust--which 1) seems extremely unlikely and 2) would probably have set off a number of other warnings/indicators/issues).
Interesting few days at the Kennedy Center. Hamilton is finishing up a run in the Opera House. Last night was the first of four for Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead and his band in the Concert Hall playing with the National Symphony Pops Orchestra. All shows of both are sold out but not with the normal KenCen demographic. Also don't usually smell weed when I'm there. Also fun to see some of the busses parked on the street in front of the Watergate and the Saudi Embassy both of which are right across from the KenCen.
The sun is out for the first time since last Wednesday. After ravaging Florida, Ian's remnants floated over the mid-Atlantic and got stuck there. It dropped 6 inches of rain over the past week and brought temperatures in the 40s and 50s for most of the last week. Today's mid-70s and sunny are a most welcome break.
OPEC+ is cutting production in order to drive up already high prices on oil, which will further drive up hideously high prices for not only gas and diesel, but also heating oil, just in time for winter, in order to assist Russia by increasing the money they get for the oil they sell.
Meanwhile ordinary Ukraine and Russian soldiers continue to become casualties.
The war continues to be the (non)gift that just keeps on taking from nearly everyone everywhere.
Disagree. We've made that mistake before when we attacked Iraq and upset the balance. While the Saudi regime may be deplorable, they anchor the Sunni counterbalance against Iran/Shia bloc. The US policy is for status quo via proxy/cold wars between two parties we don't particularly like. Without US arms, KSA is no match for Iran.
Man, would be sweet though if there was a popular uprising there that opened up that society, made it less of a belligerent and closed off country. Would create pressure for neighboring countries to do same, could be a big reduction in human misery
Last Wednesday I filled up before taking a work trip. I checked Gas Buddy. The Posted price from the day before was $5.19, when I arrived at the gas station, it was $5.69. The next evening, after arriving in town, I filled up again and prices were $6.19. Yep, prices went up one dollar in a 48 hour period. F***ing is the only explanation in my mind.
My friend in Brooklyn said it’s in the mid 3’s there. Fucking insane that Bay Area gas prices are double those of NYC. That cannot be explained in any way by taxes, that is just pure price gouging. I sincerely hope that every oil company goes out of business, and maybe gets tagged by Garland or Bonta for price fixing on their way down
I don't think it's really obscure, but when we went to Rome we took in Ostia Antica, which was the old Roman port that was abandoned when it silted up. The locals basically lost track of it until the late 19th century, so you can go and get a sense of the layout, wander around the base of houses and see mosaic floors, etc. In contrast to the greatest hits of central Rome, it was deserted - frankly my favorite thing about that part of the trip.
Falkland Palace in Fife (northwest-ish of Edinburgh) is kind of an interesting place to visit - a palace was that was built up in the 1400s and 1500s and eventually significantly restored in the 1800s, with a tennis court first built in the mid 1500s. It's not of amazing historical significance beyond royals and aristos hanging out there, but it's an interesting place to tour, including the gardens, and has various shops / cafes in the village so you can get your tea and scone on.
Damn, I really, really wanted to see that place when we where in Rome - but the kids never did. One day, same issue, we went to the Pamphilli Museum by ourselves - one of my favorite museums of all times in that city.
The World's Largest Prairie Dog in Oakley, KS. It's along I-70. You see signs for it for about 500 miles. In the fall of '92, the Straw Hat Band stopped there on our way back to Berkeley after Cal lost to Purdue. Back then, the Band required students who wanted to travel to away games to pay their own way and rent minivans to get to where we were going, including to West Lafayette. 21 of us went on that epic trip.
Yeah it's like a truck stop set inside a town. It's a block long and is basically a gift shop/restaurant/toilet break. But honestly, there's nothing there you want to buy. I remember we walked in and walked out. That was 1999.
It's about 600 km from Alexandria. To get there is a one lane asphalt highway cutting across the Sahara which is hot enough to be a bit viscous on some days. When you get there you see a lush depression with pools of water surrounded by thousands of palm trees. This is where Alexander the great visited the Temple of Amun to consult the famed oracle. When he was told he was the son of god (Zeus-Amun) and would conquer the known world he felt he had divine right to rule.
I rented a donkey when I was there to get around and see the sights. There is a mud brick castle or qasr called Shali in the center of town which is built on a hill and dates back to ancient times.
Below the qasr is the small town square with a cafe where you can drink strong coffee and smoke a shisha, and maybe join the locals in a game of backgammon. There are couple of street vendors selling fuul or chicken. I got a roast 1/2 chicken for 5 pounds or about 75 cents. Best chicken I have ever tasted.
That the Mystery Spot is just a carny type hoax is well known. You can find this on Wikipedia. Personally, this became very apparent to me one year when Knott's Berry Farm decided to set one up on site.
Wife and I give each other a small kiss before we start the car. When the kids were young, they believed the car would not start unless we kissed.
Dropping kids off at school when they were young - had a small catchphrase unique to each of them as they got out of the car. For example, with my son, it was "Hail Hydra"...a small inside joke. Now that he's 19, we still use it on occasion. It makes me happy every time he says it.
My extended family would construct a temporary dam on a creek near our cabin (which burned two years ago). It would go in on Memorial Day weekend and come out the first weekend in October. The depth of water at the dam was about 5 feet. Water would back up about 200 feet upstream. The water temp was about 65 deg. F. Cold enough.
The last year we put in the dam was 2000. We don't do it anymore because Dept of Fish & Game told us to stop.
Explore a city where Cal is playing a non-conference away game. Looking forward to exploring Auburn, AL in two years. We've decided we'll probably skip North Texas next year.
Yeah. I'm not going to DFW area again. Once is enough. I'm going to Auburn ('24), Florida ('26), Minnesota ('28), and Wyoming ('29) if I live that long.
Laramie is an underappreciated destination. It's remote, and about as distinctly different than anything to do with Berkeley as possible, but that can be the allure of road trips, seeing different things in different places.
Soup Sunday. On Sundays in the cold season (so starting last week thanks to the 40s and rain), we spend most of the afternoon making a big soup/stew. We usually have a fire going in the fireplace and some music playing, so it's a cozy environment. Last week was a beef stew and this Sunday we're doing a pulled pork chili.
When the kids were growing up we'd always order pizza on the first day of school to take the sting out of the day. Being a teacher I shared my daughters' antipathy toward the day.
We now do Tuesday friend's night. My kid's friends are invited over for dinner every Tuesday because otherwise we don't see our high school senior + nurture a safe LGBTQ space. Our kid's friend's are delightful. However, I take it for granted that some kids don't get cared for like we care for our kid. Our kid's best friend's family doesn't make dinner for them. They make a big pot of something and they eat it for the whole week and they almost never eat together, so she's grateful for a fresh, hot meal with conversation. Another is Ethiopian and so her family doesn't know/accept that she's a lesbian. It pains me to watch kids who can't act themselves, but it's good to watch them let down their guard.
That is fantastic--thank you for doing that for your kid's friends. The missus and I plan to do the same thing when cf-98 grows up. We want our house to be a warm, welcome place for any of her friends, and we hope it becomes a regular gathering place for them.
When my daughter was growing up, there were 2 other kids on the road, one 2 houses down, and one 2 houses up the same age. They knew each other and went to school together K-12. There were kids around the house and yard most of the time, unless they were up or down at one of the other houses, and it was never quiet. It was so much fun, and I miss those days every day.
My wife has always told the girls we have an open door policy and has been willing to do things like make meals for unspecified numbers of kids, but it's not taken off. Partly that's because our older daughter was like "this house is too untidy I don't want to bring people over" (it is a bit disorganized but she didn't actually say anything until it was too late), and partly because our younger daughter has mostly new friends post COVID and you may not be surprised to hear that these seniors are keenly interested in getting out of the house. I just don't think any of them need the space collectively that SGBear provides for his kid's friends, and I doubt they realize how fortunate they are in that.
Notre Dame DT who sacked Plummer twice enters transfer portal. Essentially, he's too low in a deep rotation and can't imagine ever having it as easy as going against Cal offensive tackles.
Michigan State, Michigan, tOSU, Purdue, Eastern Michigan, Bowling Green, Cleveland State, Oakland University come out against sexual abuse... [checks notes]... sorry, no they come out against sexual abuse VICTIMS.
jfc. i'm not even going to bother reading the article. While i'm sure there are some complications that make it seem ok to be on the wrong side of this, it's a bad look for all of them.
Austin TX high-school golf team's practice is canceled due to inappropriate behavior by a strip club who was having an event on the course. Fire Starkey's alibi was that he was at an offsite meeting that day. [mildly NSFW pics in link]
UNLV (4-1), since beating Charlie Ragle's Idaho State 52-21 and losing to Cal in a 20-14 rockfight, UNLV has won 3 straight. Doug Brumfield has completed 70% of his passes and has a 4:1 TD/INT ratio, which includes the 54.5% 1:1 vs. Cal. Brumfield has also rushed for 5 TDs. They too play Notre Dame this year (10/22).
UCF looks like a different team in the second half, beats a dispirited SMU 41-19. UCF is now 4-1 with former Ole Miss QB - John Rhys Plumlee, the backup who nearly brought the Rebs back vs. Cal.
11th Court (Federal Appeals) rules against Judge Cannon and in favor of the DOJ to expedite the review. If the DOJ wins, outside review is dead and the DOJ can proceed with its prosecution of Trump.
Man demands to see the Pope. We he is denied, he throws a fit and knocks over and damages two Roman statues. PleaseDontBeAmericanPleaseDontBeAmerican [reads article]. Dammit.
Biden pardons all people imprisoned via Federal laws for simple possession of marijuana. Agree. This should not be an offense worthy of jail. Suck it, Nancy Reagan.
Agree 100% from a criminal standpoint. OTOH, growing up on Central Coast, I know a fair number of people whose lives were subsumed by smoking weed. I would just be careful about the messaging, lest we leave kids with the impression that is good for you, has no downside
Yeah unlike alcohol, I think there is a semi-common misconception that marijuana is good for you, as we are now bombarded with ads touting the health benefits of CBD for example (many of which claims seem like nonsense on their own). Viewing it as equivalent to drinking is more appropriate IMO
At a trial of an Oathkeeper, it is alleged that Steward Rhodes and the Oathkeepers made themselves available for violent overthrow of the government. When J6 happened, they contacted a Secret Service agent who they knew in NC. Rhodes pleaded with the agent to put them directly in touch with Trump, a request that was denied. They also told the agent to tell Trump to unleash the Oathkeepers. The agent denied Rhodes' request, so they went violent on their own. My take is Trump kept enough buffer between the Oathkeepers and himself to avoid prosecution unless a proverbial smoking gun is found -- or the Oathkeepers never really had much connection to Trump to begin with and were going to do what they were going to do anyways.
Herschel Walker says he doesn't know the woman who says she aborted his kid. She says "uh, we have a kid together and I have all the evidence". Walker says that him threatening to kill his wife was addressed in his book. He didn't address it in his book. It is weird to say things that are demonstrably false.
I don't know what balance of his behavior is long term damage versus just deep character flaws, but either way it's a fucking joke that he's got a decent shot of being a senator.
Unintended consequences: the discrepancy between what Judge Cannon said she wanted shield and reality is significant. It exposes what we already know - she's a partisan hack.
I had never heard of her since I'm not a wrestling fan, but a friend forwarded me a story from a wrestling site earlier this week that noted she had graduated from Cal.
I agree Ohtani had a bonkers season, but Judge hit 62 home runs, led the league in RBI, and came in second in batting average. Hard to make a straight faced argument that he is not deserving of the award. Also Ohtani won last year. Why not give MVP to Judge and Cy Young to Ohtani?
Ohtani leads the team in Wins, Innings, Strikeouts, ERA as a pitcher and OPS, Hits, RBI, Runs, Doubles, Triples, Walks, At Bats as a batter. Second in Avg, Home run, Stolen Bases.
This is more impressive than Judge's 62 home runs.
Also Judge’s slash line: .311/.425/.686, with an OPS of 1.111. That is crazy. Ohtani’s is good but not close to that: .273/.356/.519, for an OPS of .875.
I agree Ohtani is a unicorn and a reasonable person can definitely vote him #1 on their MVP ballot. I just think it would be equally reasonable to vote for Judge. If you think the only reason Judge would win is because his team is better or because he is in NY, you are just talking crazy talk IMO. Judge had by a country mile the best offensive season of anyone in the league.
I have come to accept that we will never get to see the guy play a meaningful game in his prime, and will have to settle for random clips of his feats. Please Shohei do not re-up with the Halos. I don’t even care where you go, just somewhere we can see you in the playoffs …
That figures (the .500 finish being the first one). The Giants always generate tremendous competitive excitement or tremendous fail to be competitive frustration, sometimes almost simultaneously, but that usually drives outcomes away from the median one way or the other. While its arguable that Gabe managed to muck up a good thing to an incredible degree to get down to well below .500, before rallying to avoid a losing season.
I don't think this is on the manager. It's that the veterans who performed well in 2021 had retirements/injuries/declines in 2022 and they couldn't patch up those holes enough. Those are Posey, Crawford, Belt, Longoria. That's a lot of production to lose.
Crawford's injury and Longoria's several absences certainly hurt, but the unfathomable lineup shuffling and non/limited use of key players in key games and situations eliminated any hope of getting into any sort of consistency for long stretches. I realize it was an exercise in searching for the right combination, but that can be carried too far, leaving everyone uncertain about their status at bat to at bat, much less over the course of a series or a week. The result was consistent inconsistency.
I thought that the changes he made during the game were similar to the ones made last year. Early PH for right/lefty matchups and such. The only difference is they players didn't perform like they did last year.
It’s time for playoff baseball folks. In the regular season finale, the Dodgers defeated the Rockies by a score of 6-1.
In his final start of the year, Clayton Kershaw was nearly flawless. Kershaw faced seventeen hitters, retiring fifteen including the last ten he faced. The only blemish on his line was a solo home run allowed to Ezequiel Tovar in the second inning, his first career long ball. Kershaw wouldn’t allow another base runner.
Kershaw would strike out nine hitters, allow just one hit and one walk. He lowered his season ERA to 2.28, his lowest full season ERA since 2016 (1.69). His sixth strikeout of the day was the 2,804th of his career, passing none other than Cy Young on the all-time strikeouts list.
The Buffalo Bills are building a new stadium for $1.4b. Most of it is funded by taxpayers dollars. And will it have a roof considering it's Buffalo? Of course not.
Brings to mind watching Minnesota Vikings home games on the telly when they played at Metropolitan Stadium. Games played in December and January, in particular, when the thermometer often hovered in the low double digits or single digits were of interest. Vikings fans were a hardy bunch.
I'm glad when those far-north stadiums don't have a roof. I enjoy watching the December/January snow games. From the comfort of my own couch, of course.
It makes for good TV but when I lived in Chicago I went to late season games at Soldier Field and it was pretty painful. Would much prefer it to be domed!
The French league had a showdown between the presumptive top 2 picks in the NBA draft Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson. Henderson's teammate came off the bench and the interwebs went nuts because his surname is Ho You Fat. Cantonese-Americans everywhere cringe, but then they raise an eyebrow when they see him.
Please tell me that KCBS is the traffic and weather together on the 8s station and not KGO (I always have to flip between them to find it when I'm in a jam).
Cal football trivia fun fact. Sponsored by Spenger’s.
Between 1920-1923 Andy Smith’s Wonder Teams yielded a combined 88 points. They scored that much in one game alone (versus Mare Island in 1920 and 35 points more than that the same season vs. St. Mary’s).
Cal trivia fun fact appears on DBD every Tuesday and Thursday during the football season.
It was my first time watching college tennis yesterday when I watched Cal play against Wake Forest in the first round of the ITA Championships. I have only ever watched pro tennis. Good lord there is a huge disparity in talent. I watched Cal's doubles players (US #50 and #97 rankings doubles) play against the #3 pair from Wake Forest. The latter did not make mistakes and just bided their time with returning groundstrokes against a good but fallible Cal team that inevitably made mistakes. It took me only a few minutes to figure out who was going to win the match, but it took over an hour to get there. Cal had to play more aggressive to try to do something against the Wake Forest pair, but they couldn't execute on the aggressive shots and lost. I talked to Cal's players and Cal's coach afterwards and he rightfully said "well, we played against some high level tennis there". It was free. The weather was fantastic. And the tennis was pretty darn great.
Speaking of tradition -
KGO radio is ditching its talk radio format. A new format will be announced on Monday.
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SF-KGO-taken-off-air-17491656.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=briefing&utm_campaign=sfg_thedaily&stn=nf&sid=5452bdd43b35d010308ca062
Interesting that this is happening in Starkey's final season calling Cal football. Not saying that there is a linkage between the two events, just that it's interesting.
"BOOOOOGGGGER!!"
- John Caravella
High school resource officer starts the homecoming bonfire. Because it's Florida and because you're reading it here, you know it didn't go to plan...
https://twitter.com/WJHG_TV/status/1577850528381419523
Didn't this used to happen regularly before the Big Game? :)
#puresilencenews
TIL I'm Italian https://twitter.com/nickpupo/status/1577870037683240969?s=20&t=cN-Wg-Qe9Z6JEDhenfCozQ
What?
She must not actually be Italian if you didn't hear her
Verizon is having a $700 off special for Pixel 7s, which almost offsets the entire cost of the phone.
Yesterday (or was it the day before?) g. oso linked to an article about his neighbor being shot and killed by armed catalytic converter thieves.
Just a few minutes ago, Berkeley PD posted on Nextdoor that armed catalytic converter thieves shot at a resident yelling at the thieves to stop. This happened in the Berkeley Hills, about 3.5 blocks from Casa de Slug.
Thieves are becoming more brazen and desperate. They're going into areas that have historically been considered "safe".
So very shitty.
My #FirstWorldProblem is that the catalytic converter in my car seems to have failed, and it might cost $2500 to replace it.
Oof, that's a big number. What kind of car?
2010 Toyota Corolla...with 46,000 miles. I really don't drive very much.
And your cat already failed? Shouldn't after only 46K. Could it be an O2 sensor instead?
Indeed, it's suspicious that the cat would fail after that few miles (unless the car is dumping a ton of unburnt fuel into the exhaust--which 1) seems extremely unlikely and 2) would probably have set off a number of other warnings/indicators/issues).
Has it failed an emissions test recently?
Or maybe your check engine light?
SLPT - Park it by GO or Casa de Slug and you won't have to spend extra to have them remove it...
Do I laugh or do I cry?
Fat Bear Week 2022
Pick your unit https://explore.org/meet-the-bears
There's also a UCLA division
Interesting few days at the Kennedy Center. Hamilton is finishing up a run in the Opera House. Last night was the first of four for Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead and his band in the Concert Hall playing with the National Symphony Pops Orchestra. All shows of both are sold out but not with the normal KenCen demographic. Also don't usually smell weed when I'm there. Also fun to see some of the busses parked on the street in front of the Watergate and the Saudi Embassy both of which are right across from the KenCen.
DBD Weather
Gorgeous. High-70s and blue skies.
California has been awesome this area in the Bay Area.
(sorry people)
Pleasant fall weather in Oregon. Can we just stay this way until late spring?
Smokey and warm in Seattle, very unseasonal. It’s time for the rain!
Dense fog across the LA basin this morning, feels like May out here.
The sun is out for the first time since last Wednesday. After ravaging Florida, Ian's remnants floated over the mid-Atlantic and got stuck there. It dropped 6 inches of rain over the past week and brought temperatures in the 40s and 50s for most of the last week. Today's mid-70s and sunny are a most welcome break.
These occasional weeks of consistently shitty weather just remind me that I cannot repatriate to Scotland. Not a fan.
same. beautiful fall day in NYC. highs in the low 70s
It was great to go for a run in t-shirt and shorts.
A beautiful photo to start your day. https://www.instagram.com/p/CjWRKPoPD2X/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Must be from one of those motion detecting wildlife cams?
Ukraine/Russia
OPEC+ is cutting production in order to drive up already high prices on oil, which will further drive up hideously high prices for not only gas and diesel, but also heating oil, just in time for winter, in order to assist Russia by increasing the money they get for the oil they sell.
Meanwhile ordinary Ukraine and Russian soldiers continue to become casualties.
The war continues to be the (non)gift that just keeps on taking from nearly everyone everywhere.
We really need to stop dealing with the Saudis. Just stop defending that regime and providing them military aid.
Disagree. We've made that mistake before when we attacked Iraq and upset the balance. While the Saudi regime may be deplorable, they anchor the Sunni counterbalance against Iran/Shia bloc. The US policy is for status quo via proxy/cold wars between two parties we don't particularly like. Without US arms, KSA is no match for Iran.
Iran's too busy trying to not get overthrown by teenage girls, now is the perfect time
Hey oh!
Man, would be sweet though if there was a popular uprising there that opened up that society, made it less of a belligerent and closed off country. Would create pressure for neighboring countries to do same, could be a big reduction in human misery
Even though cuts aren't supposed to start until November, gas prices in MD are up 15c over the last 24 hours. Cool.
Oh that explains why the Costco app said 6.19/gallon for premium at the Richmond one but it was 6.55 when I drove up 1.5 hours later.
That's fucking insane. It's absolutely clear to me that refiners are gouging.
Last Wednesday I filled up before taking a work trip. I checked Gas Buddy. The Posted price from the day before was $5.19, when I arrived at the gas station, it was $5.69. The next evening, after arriving in town, I filled up again and prices were $6.19. Yep, prices went up one dollar in a 48 hour period. F***ing is the only explanation in my mind.
Definitely. And it's surprising Costco changed prices midday. Unless my app was using a cached version and hadn't updated the prices yet.
It's $3.39 here. The lowest is $3.09.
My friend in Brooklyn said it’s in the mid 3’s there. Fucking insane that Bay Area gas prices are double those of NYC. That cannot be explained in any way by taxes, that is just pure price gouging. I sincerely hope that every oil company goes out of business, and maybe gets tagged by Garland or Bonta for price fixing on their way down
Except if they go out of business, it will only exacerbate the supply problems.
Up a buck in the last two weeks!
Yeah, I KNOW!
Russians are fleeing to it's neighboring countries to avoid the draft. In a first, they're now going to the US. #Wolverines!
https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2022/10/05/russian-nationals-detained-st-lawrence-island-after-landing-small-boat/
Tell the DBD about an obscure tourist site
I don't think it's really obscure, but when we went to Rome we took in Ostia Antica, which was the old Roman port that was abandoned when it silted up. The locals basically lost track of it until the late 19th century, so you can go and get a sense of the layout, wander around the base of houses and see mosaic floors, etc. In contrast to the greatest hits of central Rome, it was deserted - frankly my favorite thing about that part of the trip.
Falkland Palace in Fife (northwest-ish of Edinburgh) is kind of an interesting place to visit - a palace was that was built up in the 1400s and 1500s and eventually significantly restored in the 1800s, with a tennis court first built in the mid 1500s. It's not of amazing historical significance beyond royals and aristos hanging out there, but it's an interesting place to tour, including the gardens, and has various shops / cafes in the village so you can get your tea and scone on.
Damn, I really, really wanted to see that place when we where in Rome - but the kids never did. One day, same issue, we went to the Pamphilli Museum by ourselves - one of my favorite museums of all times in that city.
The World's Largest Prairie Dog in Oakley, KS. It's along I-70. You see signs for it for about 500 miles. In the fall of '92, the Straw Hat Band stopped there on our way back to Berkeley after Cal lost to Purdue. Back then, the Band required students who wanted to travel to away games to pay their own way and rent minivans to get to where we were going, including to West Lafayette. 21 of us went on that epic trip.
WALL DRUG
Wall, SD
Signs for hundreds of miles in every direction
Have you even been? It’s just a drugstore or is it sone Casa de Fruta type deal? I have seen the signs but never stopped
Yeah it's like a truck stop set inside a town. It's a block long and is basically a gift shop/restaurant/toilet break. But honestly, there's nothing there you want to buy. I remember we walked in and walked out. That was 1999.
Went to Siwa Oasis in Egypt.
It's about 600 km from Alexandria. To get there is a one lane asphalt highway cutting across the Sahara which is hot enough to be a bit viscous on some days. When you get there you see a lush depression with pools of water surrounded by thousands of palm trees. This is where Alexander the great visited the Temple of Amun to consult the famed oracle. When he was told he was the son of god (Zeus-Amun) and would conquer the known world he felt he had divine right to rule.
I rented a donkey when I was there to get around and see the sights. There is a mud brick castle or qasr called Shali in the center of town which is built on a hill and dates back to ancient times.
Below the qasr is the small town square with a cafe where you can drink strong coffee and smoke a shisha, and maybe join the locals in a game of backgammon. There are couple of street vendors selling fuul or chicken. I got a roast 1/2 chicken for 5 pounds or about 75 cents. Best chicken I have ever tasted.
The Mystery Spot is a gravitational anomaly located in the redwoods outside of Santa Cruz,
https://www.mysteryspot.com/
it was the only bumper sticker on our family station wagon growing up
Also a complete tourist trap that is entirely BS constructed by clever builders, according to someone who worked there growing up in SC
That the Mystery Spot is just a carny type hoax is well known. You can find this on Wikipedia. Personally, this became very apparent to me one year when Knott's Berry Farm decided to set one up on site.
There's a Mystery Spot sticker floating around somewhere in my house
I love that, no matter where you go in the world, you will see Mystery Spot bumper stickers on cars... and it brings me great joy to see them.
East Long Island ("Ee Sloan Gilend") has a Big Duck
https://abc7ny.com/big-duck-road-trip-quirky-trips-long-island-travel-ideas/12291969/
FAMILY TRADITION
My family's tradition was that you could talk about anything.
(as long as it was not important)
Wife and I give each other a small kiss before we start the car. When the kids were young, they believed the car would not start unless we kissed.
Dropping kids off at school when they were young - had a small catchphrase unique to each of them as they got out of the car. For example, with my son, it was "Hail Hydra"...a small inside joke. Now that he's 19, we still use it on occasion. It makes me happy every time he says it.
Bygone family tradition -
My extended family would construct a temporary dam on a creek near our cabin (which burned two years ago). It would go in on Memorial Day weekend and come out the first weekend in October. The depth of water at the dam was about 5 feet. Water would back up about 200 feet upstream. The water temp was about 65 deg. F. Cold enough.
The last year we put in the dam was 2000. We don't do it anymore because Dept of Fish & Game told us to stop.
Explore a city where Cal is playing a non-conference away game. Looking forward to exploring Auburn, AL in two years. We've decided we'll probably skip North Texas next year.
Yeah. I'm not going to DFW area again. Once is enough. I'm going to Auburn ('24), Florida ('26), Minnesota ('28), and Wyoming ('29) if I live that long.
Some of us might be doing UW instead of North Texas next year since HSB's daughter just started there.
Definitely looking forward to Auburn and Florida. Maybe Wyoming. Have stayed in Laramie a couple of times driving cross country.
yeah, I think Seattle is the destination next year. I might go to Denton since its a 4 hour drive but I wouldnt expect too many peeps there...
Seattle is fun and I haven't seen the new stadium, however I've also never been to Eugene nor SLC
Laramie is an underappreciated destination. It's remote, and about as distinctly different than anything to do with Berkeley as possible, but that can be the allure of road trips, seeing different things in different places.
Soup Sunday. On Sundays in the cold season (so starting last week thanks to the 40s and rain), we spend most of the afternoon making a big soup/stew. We usually have a fire going in the fireplace and some music playing, so it's a cozy environment. Last week was a beef stew and this Sunday we're doing a pulled pork chili.
When the kids were growing up we'd always order pizza on the first day of school to take the sting out of the day. Being a teacher I shared my daughters' antipathy toward the day.
as we are leaving the house on a road trip we say "transform and roll out"
We now do Tuesday friend's night. My kid's friends are invited over for dinner every Tuesday because otherwise we don't see our high school senior + nurture a safe LGBTQ space. Our kid's friend's are delightful. However, I take it for granted that some kids don't get cared for like we care for our kid. Our kid's best friend's family doesn't make dinner for them. They make a big pot of something and they eat it for the whole week and they almost never eat together, so she's grateful for a fresh, hot meal with conversation. Another is Ethiopian and so her family doesn't know/accept that she's a lesbian. It pains me to watch kids who can't act themselves, but it's good to watch them let down their guard.
That is cool!
That is fantastic--thank you for doing that for your kid's friends. The missus and I plan to do the same thing when cf-98 grows up. We want our house to be a warm, welcome place for any of her friends, and we hope it becomes a regular gathering place for them.
When my daughter was growing up, there were 2 other kids on the road, one 2 houses down, and one 2 houses up the same age. They knew each other and went to school together K-12. There were kids around the house and yard most of the time, unless they were up or down at one of the other houses, and it was never quiet. It was so much fun, and I miss those days every day.
My wife has always told the girls we have an open door policy and has been willing to do things like make meals for unspecified numbers of kids, but it's not taken off. Partly that's because our older daughter was like "this house is too untidy I don't want to bring people over" (it is a bit disorganized but she didn't actually say anything until it was too late), and partly because our younger daughter has mostly new friends post COVID and you may not be surprised to hear that these seniors are keenly interested in getting out of the house. I just don't think any of them need the space collectively that SGBear provides for his kid's friends, and I doubt they realize how fortunate they are in that.
this is nice
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
This account is cold as hell, even though it is located in the desert.
https://twitter.com/ArizonaStClock
Notre Dame DT who sacked Plummer twice enters transfer portal. Essentially, he's too low in a deep rotation and can't imagine ever having it as easy as going against Cal offensive tackles.
https://twitter.com/tbhorka/status/1578066686158282764
I bet Cal will have room on the DL next year...
We have room this year
Michigan State, Michigan, tOSU, Purdue, Eastern Michigan, Bowling Green, Cleveland State, Oakland University come out against sexual abuse... [checks notes]... sorry, no they come out against sexual abuse VICTIMS.
https://jezebel.com/7-universities-have-joined-ohio-states-fight-against-su-1849618496
jfc. i'm not even going to bother reading the article. While i'm sure there are some complications that make it seem ok to be on the wrong side of this, it's a bad look for all of them.
Tulane uniform reveal is 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼
https://twitter.com/greenwavefb/status/1577709368468033543?s=46&t=04vZIF-cdAzj0EEqwfmD9g
That's Storyland in New Orleans City Park
Austin TX high-school golf team's practice is canceled due to inappropriate behavior by a strip club who was having an event on the course. Fire Starkey's alibi was that he was at an offsite meeting that day. [mildly NSFW pics in link]
https://nypost.com/2022/10/06/texas-high-school-golf-team-cancels-practice-after-adult-entertainment-clubs-tournament/
looks like the Yellow Rose's C team skipped Monday lunch service
Pole Assassin strikes again!
UNLV (4-1), since beating Charlie Ragle's Idaho State 52-21 and losing to Cal in a 20-14 rockfight, UNLV has won 3 straight. Doug Brumfield has completed 70% of his passes and has a 4:1 TD/INT ratio, which includes the 54.5% 1:1 vs. Cal. Brumfield has also rushed for 5 TDs. They too play Notre Dame this year (10/22).
https://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/2439/unlv-rebels
UCF looks like a different team in the second half, beats a dispirited SMU 41-19. UCF is now 4-1 with former Ole Miss QB - John Rhys Plumlee, the backup who nearly brought the Rebs back vs. Cal.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/recap?gameId=401415629
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
11th Court (Federal Appeals) rules against Judge Cannon and in favor of the DOJ to expedite the review. If the DOJ wins, outside review is dead and the DOJ can proceed with its prosecution of Trump.
https://www.salon.com/2022/10/06/the-circuit-rejected-trumps-opposition-experts-say-appeals-ruling-a-bad-sign-for/
Who are the election deniers in your state?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/interactive/2022/election-deniers-running-for-office-elections-2022/
Man demands to see the Pope. We he is denied, he throws a fit and knocks over and damages two Roman statues. PleaseDontBeAmericanPleaseDontBeAmerican [reads article]. Dammit.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/vatican-museum-tourist-smashes-statues/index.html
Biden pardons all people imprisoned via Federal laws for simple possession of marijuana. Agree. This should not be an offense worthy of jail. Suck it, Nancy Reagan.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/10/06/statement-from-president-biden-on-marijuana-reform/
Agree 100% from a criminal standpoint. OTOH, growing up on Central Coast, I know a fair number of people whose lives were subsumed by smoking weed. I would just be careful about the messaging, lest we leave kids with the impression that is good for you, has no downside
Yes, shouldn't be glorified too much. Much like alcohol there are some pretty strong down sides to heavy long term consumption.
Yeah unlike alcohol, I think there is a semi-common misconception that marijuana is good for you, as we are now bombarded with ads touting the health benefits of CBD for example (many of which claims seem like nonsense on their own). Viewing it as equivalent to drinking is more appropriate IMO
At a trial of an Oathkeeper, it is alleged that Steward Rhodes and the Oathkeepers made themselves available for violent overthrow of the government. When J6 happened, they contacted a Secret Service agent who they knew in NC. Rhodes pleaded with the agent to put them directly in touch with Trump, a request that was denied. They also told the agent to tell Trump to unleash the Oathkeepers. The agent denied Rhodes' request, so they went violent on their own. My take is Trump kept enough buffer between the Oathkeepers and himself to avoid prosecution unless a proverbial smoking gun is found -- or the Oathkeepers never really had much connection to Trump to begin with and were going to do what they were going to do anyways.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.242905/gov.uscourts.dcd.242905.4.0.pdf
Herschel Walker says he doesn't know the woman who says she aborted his kid. She says "uh, we have a kid together and I have all the evidence". Walker says that him threatening to kill his wife was addressed in his book. He didn't address it in his book. It is weird to say things that are demonstrably false.
https://twitter.com/SollenbergerRC/status/1577827799653666816
I don't know what balance of his behavior is long term damage versus just deep character flaws, but either way it's a fucking joke that he's got a decent shot of being a senator.
It is bonkers. A real test of how far pure name recognition can take you
And the magical R next to your name
Yep! I randomly had breakfast by myself at a diner recently and just listened to people talking. Nothing would surprise me
Dark Brandon continues to rise
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1577956831132950528
Do you want to lose some braincells? Watch this and get a little bit dumber.
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1577975966080634881
Whoopsie.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/dojs-detailed-log-of-donald-trumps-mar-a-lago-docs-seemingly-unsealed-by-accident
Unintended consequences: the discrepancy between what Judge Cannon said she wanted shield and reality is significant. It exposes what we already know - she's a partisan hack.
https://www.salon.com/2022/10/06/the-more-we-learn-the-worse-things-look-error-exposes-judges-obvious-sympathy/
Heh
PRO
Dennis Eckersley retires from the Red Sox broadcasting booth after 18 years.
https://twitter.com/RedSox/status/1577780894009643010
Guy who catches Judge's 62nd ball turns down $2m offer. I mean, he can probably gamble on the price because he's a VP at Fisher Investments.
https://www.indy100.com/sport/man-who-caught-aaron-judge-s-62nd-home-run-turns-down-2m-offer-for-ball
Thunder Rosa + LatinX month.
Hopefully, La Raza shows up like it's Mexican Independence Day in Chicago.
https://twitter.com/thunderrosa22/status/1577781481996488704
I had never heard of her since I'm not a wrestling fan, but a friend forwarded me a story from a wrestling site earlier this week that noted she had graduated from Cal.
Because MVP has more to do with being on the playoff team than being the most valuable player.
https://twitter.com/STR0/status/1577420948315467777
I agree Ohtani had a bonkers season, but Judge hit 62 home runs, led the league in RBI, and came in second in batting average. Hard to make a straight faced argument that he is not deserving of the award. Also Ohtani won last year. Why not give MVP to Judge and Cy Young to Ohtani?
Ohtani leads the team in Wins, Innings, Strikeouts, ERA as a pitcher and OPS, Hits, RBI, Runs, Doubles, Triples, Walks, At Bats as a batter. Second in Avg, Home run, Stolen Bases.
This is more impressive than Judge's 62 home runs.
No, Ohtani hit .273. Judge first in WAR
Also Judge’s slash line: .311/.425/.686, with an OPS of 1.111. That is crazy. Ohtani’s is good but not close to that: .273/.356/.519, for an OPS of .875.
I agree Ohtani is a unicorn and a reasonable person can definitely vote him #1 on their MVP ballot. I just think it would be equally reasonable to vote for Judge. If you think the only reason Judge would win is because his team is better or because he is in NY, you are just talking crazy talk IMO. Judge had by a country mile the best offensive season of anyone in the league.
A's beat the Angels 3-2
Stephen Vogt hits a HR in his last career AB. In almost the same spot as his first career HR.
https://twitter.com/Athletics/status/1577785944358277120
Mike Trout his the ball hard.
https://twitter.com/Angels/status/1577789066199764992
I have come to accept that we will never get to see the guy play a meaningful game in his prime, and will have to settle for random clips of his feats. Please Shohei do not re-up with the Halos. I don’t even care where you go, just somewhere we can see you in the playoffs …
A's?
Ok maybe not the A’s! Some team with some sort of chance to be competitive in the near term. Honestly that is like 60% of mlb, should not be too hard
The pitcher's head just drops immediately.
All that's missing is The Show's animation of the pitcher flailing his arms around in disgust.
81 - 81
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2022/10/5/23390324/mlb-final-san-francisco-giants-san-diego-padres-david-villar-mike-yastrzemski
For the first time in their 140 year history, the New York/ San Francisco Giants have finished a season with exactly a .500 win percentage.
Mike Krukow wrapped up the collective sentiment of the extended Giants community with a succinct: “I don’t think I’m that excited about it.”
Get that guy on the Ford C. Frick ballot. What are you doing, Cooperstown?
That figures (the .500 finish being the first one). The Giants always generate tremendous competitive excitement or tremendous fail to be competitive frustration, sometimes almost simultaneously, but that usually drives outcomes away from the median one way or the other. While its arguable that Gabe managed to muck up a good thing to an incredible degree to get down to well below .500, before rallying to avoid a losing season.
I don't think this is on the manager. It's that the veterans who performed well in 2021 had retirements/injuries/declines in 2022 and they couldn't patch up those holes enough. Those are Posey, Crawford, Belt, Longoria. That's a lot of production to lose.
Crawford's injury and Longoria's several absences certainly hurt, but the unfathomable lineup shuffling and non/limited use of key players in key games and situations eliminated any hope of getting into any sort of consistency for long stretches. I realize it was an exercise in searching for the right combination, but that can be carried too far, leaving everyone uncertain about their status at bat to at bat, much less over the course of a series or a week. The result was consistent inconsistency.
I thought that the changes he made during the game were similar to the ones made last year. Early PH for right/lefty matchups and such. The only difference is they players didn't perform like they did last year.
It was pretty much the same. The bullpen didn't perform like last year either, which is a thing that happens with bullpens.
The constant injuries are the reason for the lineup shuffling.
Even Steven!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prvm5ZFPIrE
Dodgers put a bow on the 2022 regular season with 6-1 win
https://www.truebluela.com/2022/10/5/23390148/dodgers-put-bow-on-2022-regular-season
It’s time for playoff baseball folks. In the regular season finale, the Dodgers defeated the Rockies by a score of 6-1.
In his final start of the year, Clayton Kershaw was nearly flawless. Kershaw faced seventeen hitters, retiring fifteen including the last ten he faced. The only blemish on his line was a solo home run allowed to Ezequiel Tovar in the second inning, his first career long ball. Kershaw wouldn’t allow another base runner.
Kershaw would strike out nine hitters, allow just one hit and one walk. He lowered his season ERA to 2.28, his lowest full season ERA since 2016 (1.69). His sixth strikeout of the day was the 2,804th of his career, passing none other than Cy Young on the all-time strikeouts list.
111 wins is pretty impressive.
aside from the coronavirus shortened year, that is at least 3 100+ win years in a row.
Third most in 162 game season. 2001 Mariners (Olerud, Boone, Bell, Guillen, Martin, Cameron, Suzuki, Edgar Martinez + Garcia, Sele, Moyer, Abbot, Halama) won 116 and the 1998 NY Yankees (Posada, Tino Martinez, Knoblauch, Brosius, Jeter, Curtis, Williams, O'Neill, Strawberry + Orlando Hernandesz, Wells, Cone, Irabu, Pettite, Rivera, Stanton, Lloyd) won 114.
1906 Cubs were 116-36, best ever.
Team featured not just the Tinkers to Evers to Chance infield and Mordecai Three Finger Brown, but also Cal Hall of Famer Orval Overall!
Unfortunately lost to White Sox in WS, but came back to win title the following two years over Ty Cobb’s Tigers.
heh...I was thinking Orval was a relative of yours but his real last name was Overall.
Their win percentage in the 2020 shortened year was better than any of the 3 100+ win years.
Still a lot of pretty good baseball, just by another measure.
Steven Vogt hits a home run on the first pitch of his last major league at bat as he heads into retirement. A's win 3-2.
The Buffalo Bills are building a new stadium for $1.4b. Most of it is funded by taxpayers dollars. And will it have a roof considering it's Buffalo? Of course not.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/oct/05/buffalo-bills-new-stadium
Brings to mind watching Minnesota Vikings home games on the telly when they played at Metropolitan Stadium. Games played in December and January, in particular, when the thermometer often hovered in the low double digits or single digits were of interest. Vikings fans were a hardy bunch.
...Back in the day.
I'm glad when those far-north stadiums don't have a roof. I enjoy watching the December/January snow games. From the comfort of my own couch, of course.
But, of course.
It makes for good TV but when I lived in Chicago I went to late season games at Soldier Field and it was pretty painful. Would much prefer it to be domed!
Yep! I love that the new Minnesota Golden Gophers stadium doesn’t have a roof.
You can prove that love on September 16, 2028.
same. home field advantage!
The French league had a showdown between the presumptive top 2 picks in the NBA draft Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson. Henderson's teammate came off the bench and the interwebs went nuts because his surname is Ho You Fat. Cantonese-Americans everywhere cringe, but then they raise an eyebrow when they see him.
https://twitter.com/DezWeNeedMoore/status/1577487038105800705
If you're wondering, his paternal grandfather is Cantonese.
https://sports.yahoo.com/the-remarkable-story-of-steeve-ho-you-fat-whos-helping-victor-wembanyama-reach-new-heights-003851784.html
Perhaps related to Ken Jeong's wife, who is also named Ho. Jeong makes a lot of Ho jokes when he talks about life at home.
Mets' Jeff McNeil wins MLB batting title 🐿
https://www.mlb.com/news/jeff-mcneil-wins-2022-national-league-batting-title
1 hit was the difference between the two.
Manager Mike Matheny gets the Royal flush
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/34736121/kansas-city-royals-fire-manager-mike-matheny
He has always been a clown but the Cards’ organization overall is so well run that it masked what a buffoon he is
Warriors' Draymond Green punches Jordan Poole in practice.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/34735898/warriors-reviewing-draymond-green-altercation-jordan-poole
Oy.
Dray is an artist. He knows a narrative needs tension/conflict 😀
CAL
Apparently, KGO Radio went off the air this morning. It is now playing canned oldie music in preparation of a new format next week.
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SF-KGO-taken-off-air-17491656.php
I wonder how this might effect Cal sports broadcasts, especially football this year.
I've heard it is going to full-time sports betting format.
Please tell me that KCBS is the traffic and weather together on the 8s station and not KGO (I always have to flip between them to find it when I'm in a jam).
well that blows. What's the probability for a 'right wing' talk format?
Jayden Ott #5 on ESPN list of impact freshmen:
https://www.espn.com/college-football/insider/story/_/id/34718597/ranking-college-football-top-25-true-freshmen-week-5-nicholas-singleton-malaki-starks-top-list
Cal football trivia fun fact. Sponsored by Spenger’s.
Between 1920-1923 Andy Smith’s Wonder Teams yielded a combined 88 points. They scored that much in one game alone (versus Mare Island in 1920 and 35 points more than that the same season vs. St. Mary’s).
Cal trivia fun fact appears on DBD every Tuesday and Thursday during the football season.
Spenger's. Ha!
is Spenger's still around? i liked that place
I thought they closed down a few years ago, perhaps during Covid?
Closed. The building is for lease I think.
Sadly they did.
[DJ Khaled voice] Anutha one!
https://twitter.com/YRueyYen/status/1576948269711708160
Go Bears!!!
You know who else likes Chewy's deliveries other than your dog?
https://twitter.com/FredSchultz35/status/1578019431644819458
FAT BEAR WEEK!
https://twitter.com/KatmaiNPS/status/1577101410193244160
Isn't every week Fat Bear Week on DBD?
Hey, I'm trying to lose some.
It was my first time watching college tennis yesterday when I watched Cal play against Wake Forest in the first round of the ITA Championships. I have only ever watched pro tennis. Good lord there is a huge disparity in talent. I watched Cal's doubles players (US #50 and #97 rankings doubles) play against the #3 pair from Wake Forest. The latter did not make mistakes and just bided their time with returning groundstrokes against a good but fallible Cal team that inevitably made mistakes. It took me only a few minutes to figure out who was going to win the match, but it took over an hour to get there. Cal had to play more aggressive to try to do something against the Wake Forest pair, but they couldn't execute on the aggressive shots and lost. I talked to Cal's players and Cal's coach afterwards and he rightfully said "well, we played against some high level tennis there". It was free. The weather was fantastic. And the tennis was pretty darn great.