131 Comments

bTW the statue has the wrong numbers of toes on the lower feet. Should be three.

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The Peruvian word for Guinea pigs is “cuy.” There are cuy pens among the structures at Machu Picchu. Supposed to be yummy, and are on the menu at multiple places in El Peru if you want to check it out.

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I'm going to Peru in March. I see roasted cuy in my future.

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Facebook's stock price is under $100. It has lost more than 70% of its value in 2022. Losing shareholders two-thirds of a trillion dollars in mark value is quite an achievement, Zuck.

https://www.google.com/search?q=meta+stock&rlz=1C1GCEB_enUS911US911&oq=meta+stock

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I have a lot of META stock. And also NFLX.

My broker needs to buy better stocks than household names.

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Buy Berkshire Hathaway when the market dips.

That's all I need to know.

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What might we suppose it responsible for this crash?

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Unrestricted spending on the Metaverse in a pending recessionary environment. Stock analysts and institutional investors do not like increasing expenses when businesses should be thinking about cutting back.

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Which makes me wonder what Zuck's endgame is that he would play it so risky.

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I also think it is partially due to their pivot and investment into the Metaverse.

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I won't pretend to understand it, but, yeah, I have it had something to with the "Metaverse."

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I think I read that they took a big hit on advertising because of changes Apple made to impede tracking across applications and websites, plus they keep making changes that annoy their users, so at some point that has to show up in lower engagement and, I would suppose, ad revenues. Plus they're burning cash to set up some kind of fucked up legless Sims but it's you solution to some kind of problem that exists in Mark Zuckerberg's head.

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They spent something like $15B on those legless sims last year.

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@They have legs now, so the stock will come roaring back any day@

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So, buy?

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Berkeleium97 was being sarcastic.

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Good. Must have forgot the sarcasm font. ;)

Yeah, Metaverse has a PCJr vibe

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Fair enough.

Honestly, I do not trust any powerful entity.

I am forced to wonder what has become of our antitrust laws.

IMHO, we are under the thumbs of both corporate oligarchy and globalist would-be dictators.

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Ukraine/Russia

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Oct 28, 2022·edited Oct 28, 2022Author

The OG Village Person

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Have you voted yet?

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Early voting starts tomorrow here, and I'll probably vote tomorrow either on my way to Lake George for a fall hike, or on the way home in time to watch the Trap Game.

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Re-elect Mayor Quimby

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Not yet.

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Filled it in last night, mailing it in today.

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I'll go in person, it's a 10 minute walk to the local middle school, which is our local polling station.

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no. planning to go in person.

our polling place is a short walk from home and very convenient and easy.

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have my mail in ballot filled out. Just need to drop it off.

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Mailed in the ballot yesterday.

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I thought that open carry dudes with machine guns might be waiting at the drop off box.

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Yep, voted early by mail. Thankfully mail-in voting is still an option after the gerrymandered WI state legislature banned drop-boxes, which is how we used to vote given that the drop-box was a 2 minute drive away.

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Not yet. My mail-in ballot is on my desk. I have to read more about some of the local, county-level candidates and state-level propositions before I fill out my ballot.

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Oct 28, 2022·edited Oct 28, 2022Author

Yes. Also told off the candidate for the county public schoolboard who has five kids that she homeschools and attended the January 6th insurrection. She is part of the "Moms for Liberty" who wants to ban books that aren't even in the school's libraries, open the pedagogy to parent control, ban Critical Race Theory (which isn't part of the curriculum), wants LGBTQ students kicked out of school, thinks Dems stole the election, thinks Muslims are coming to replace whites, and it's all because of Satan.

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I know this isn't plausible but I feel like having school aged kids who are homeschooled - or privately educated for that matter - should be disqualifying for running for school board.

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I also had to convince my kid to get their friends to vote. None of them who are 18 want to vote. If the DEMS lose NC-13, the GOP will regain super-majority and can overturn veto - which means that abortion will become illegal here.

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I hope the friends change their minds about not voting.

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Yes. Walked up to the county courthouse and voted and paid my real estate taxes the same day shortly after early voting opened.

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2 for 1. You should get a discount.

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Iran

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Qassem Soleimani's daughter says there will be a pretty good party if her and her dad's regime falls.

https://twitter.com/kshahrooz/status/1585476726028648449

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I gotta' say, she looks to be a natural cock-blocker, so the party will last much longer if she's not there.

"Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day."

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you never know what's going on under all the clothes though.

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Like a pregnant nun, eh?

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Elon takes over Twitter. Immediately fires their CEO, CFO, General Counsel. I'm sure this will go smoothly from here on out. As of this posting, TFG hasn't had his Twitter account reactivated.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump

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Jokester posing as laid off Twitter employee tells media his last name is spelled L-I-G-M-A

https://twitter.com/wealthycfo/status/1586053744269340672?s=46&t=H2rMVdKx9AA0sG6TtTV4jQ

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The moment TFG is allowed back on that forum, I'm going to throw a hissy on the site and then leave forever.

I'll have to reorient my brain to the way it was like 10 years ago because I'm not jumping to Facebook or Insta or whatever. I might have to, I dunno, read a fucking book or some shit.

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A cousin already posted on FB that he left Twitter.

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Throwing out the kitchen sink? I guess that was the message. He's also bringing in Tesla product managers to tutor/replace/harass the engineering staff. I'm sure folks will be highly motivated to stay at Twitter (not!) As far as financial incentive one would have wait forever until Twitter goes public again or is sold. The $44 billion valuation is way over the real value of the business plus the company is saddled with enormous debt service payments. Fun.

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This article kind of nails it:

https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/28/23428132/elon-musk-twitter-acquisition-problems-speech-moderation

The only way Twitter makes any money is on advertising. Advertisers won't want to remain on a platform with no content moderation at all. Elon is going to run into this reality at some point.

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Do you work with or without music?

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If drafting something, I listen to something instrumental

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All Slayer, all the time.

(not really)

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For me, it was almost always KALX, unless it was a talking thing.

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Honestly, this has mostly been replaced by podcasts now.

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my wife is currently practicing piano. does that count?

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depends? Is she practicing chopsticks?

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it is not that much better. only started taking lessons a couple months ago.

to her credit, she has made a lot of progress in a short amount of time and practices most days.

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I used to work with music 100% of the time, back when I was an artist.

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I can't very well teach with music playing but when writing I usually listen to music, especially when --as with my current novel -- it's appropriate to the time period I'm writing about.

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Depends on what I'm doing. If I really need to concentrate to learn something new, probably not. If I'm working on something rote (like reporting) or writing, then I'll put on my headphones. It makes a huge difference in being able to focus.

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both. sometimes i like the quiet, other times music is great.

but i dont like headphones or headsets, so it is more about if i can turn on the stereo in the house or not.

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With music if I'm doing anything data-related (cleaning, analysis, writing up results)

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Guinea pigs

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I ate one in Cuzco, Peru. It’s a common dish. Not too bad… lightly tasting like chicken.

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my sister-in-law in Philly has a few. i personally dont get the appeal, but they seem to like it for their kids.

the oldest son, who has some anger/frustration issues sometimes, finds the guinea pigs to be a a perfect way to calm himself down. so that is good.

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I’ve had some very mellow Guinea pigs, but also some who were very nervous.

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Grew up the Central Valley. Neighbor raised them commercially His biggest customer was the San Francisco Zoo which, in turn, bought them for reptiles and other hungry zoo animals.

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ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE

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Bad OL technique, but at least he's courteous.

https://twitter.com/stunnanumba11/status/1585423816473604097

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"Hey, get him!"

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When coaching a high school speech.debate team, I learned that, in the upper midwest, most "day" tournaments are overnights because of the long trips between cities.

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University of Kentucky knows a good PR opportunity when they see it as a picture goes viral

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/26/us/kentucky-wildcats-coach-john-calipari-coal-miner-son-game/index.html

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University of Florida's Faculty Senate passed a no-confidence vote after Ben Sasse (R-NE) was put forward as the only candidate by the search committee.

https://news.yahoo.com/university-florida-faculty-senate-approves-220703217.html

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Hiding in academic bureaucracy looks to be a good retirement plan, I’ll have to look into it

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Michigan's RB Donovan Edwards retweet Kanye's racist tweet. Now the whole team gets a field trip to the Holocaust Museum after the season is done.

https://www.audacy.com/wwjnewsradio/news/local/michigans-donovan-edwards-explains-anti-semitic-retweet

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The old “the retweet was a glitch” excuse

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That seems appropriate considering they are notionally student athletes.

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Southern Miss sprints out to a 29-5 lead on way to eventually beating Louisiana 39-24. It was a sloppy game with six combined total turnovers and both starting QB completing less than half their passes. Southern Miss 5'8" RB Frank Gore Jr (yes, that Frank Gore) also threw a TD - which shouldn't be that surprising since he's ended last season as the starting QB. Gore started the last 3 games as QB in 2021, being inserted unannounced and not on the QB depth chart vs. #23 UTSA.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401426359

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Wildly entertaining game. A real sickos delight

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#14 Utah beats Washington State 21-17 behind their 2nd string QB. Wazzu's Cam Ward was impressive, going 27 for 31.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/recap?gameId=401404026

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Utah actually has a pretty capable back-up. At Cal, we'll never know if that is the case.

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Our backup QB is always capable. They are capable until proven otherwise.

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After 6 seasons of Wilcox, fear it’s the other way around.

You gotta assume them to be incapable until proven otherwise.

Though it could be a matter of the offense simply being incapable…

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If they can’t develop a talent like Millner, then they have to go. I mean what else are they doing???

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Oct 29, 2022·edited Oct 29, 2022

It’s a good question. One I actually began asking myself during Modster’s start v Oregon State.

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I meant it as a joke in which the backup QB is the most popular player on a struggling team

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Bring on the QB Controversy

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I was just about to turn off the TV and go to bed at the end of the half Utah was going to kick a FG with two seconds left. Then the refs decided to take a second look at the tackle on the last play and called targeting and put thirty seconds on the clock. Big difference in the game when Utes got a TD.

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I saw that, too. That was a tough call. Ultimately I think it was the right call, but close. The play was a running play, so the runner was not defenseless or otherwise protected. The defender (linebacker? Either way, he was WSUs defensive captain) lowered his head for the tackle and made initial contact on the RB's head with the crown of the helmet. At full speed, it looked like a great football tackle. In slow motion, it looked like the kind of technique that the targeting rule was meant to eliminate.

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At game speed it looked like a tough if legitimate tackle, but I understand why they said it was targeting by rule. The surprising part was that they called a similar tackled the same way against a Utah player during the second half - I'm not used to any consistency from Pac12 refs.

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Good for you making it to the second half. I'm not that dedicated to college football.

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To be honest I nodded off a couple of times, but it was an interesting (if not exciting) game, and since I probably won't bother either to borrow a pac12 login for the SC - Arizona game or to watch the Stanford - UCLA game, I figured I might as well get my refereeing chaos last night.

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Pac 12 refs!

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NC State vs. Virginia Tech was crazy. State benched their starting QB, who was QB2 after their starter was lost for the season earlier in the year. State's QB3 - a true freshman - started off slowly and VT went up 21-3 with four minute left in the 3rd. The Wolfpack scored 3 TDs in their next 3 possessions and forcing VT to a six-and-out, 3-and-out, 3-and-out. NC State's offense then burned 5 minutes to end the game.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/recap?gameId=401411146

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Va Tech is one of the few Power 5 teams that scores less points per game than Cal. Go Hokies.

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Virginia Tech converted only ONE third down.

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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Update to intruder who broke into Pelosi's house. Assailant was looking for Nancy Pelosi, yanked a hammer away from Paul who was using it to defend himself, and then used it to hit Paul in the head with the hammer.

https://apnews.com/article/paul-pelosi-assaulted-156ece77186eb11b97260af3c5122f67

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Oct 28, 2022·edited Oct 28, 2022Author

J6C subpeen of Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward's cell phone records are temporarily blocked by Clarence [checks notes]... no, sorry... it was blocked by Justice Kagan. Interesting.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/26/arizona-gop-goes-to-supreme-court-to-block-jan-6-committee-subpoena-00063646

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MI GOP candidate for Governor says that she should be elected because Democrats want to topple the US because [checks notes]... they're still angry about losing the Civil War. Dixon trails incumbent Whitmer, but she within a few percentage point of her.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/27/politics/kfile-tudor-dixon-conspiracy-democrats-topple-america/index.html

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Tudor Dixon really is thick as two short planks.

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The fact that any of these GOP nutjobs is even close to sniffing power makes me so damn depressed for this country

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PRO

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It's official. Tom Brady & Gisele Bundchen are divorced.

https://www.instagram.com/stories/gisele/2959076508186898951/

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Time for Jimmy Chitwood to slide right in there

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I don’t think he may be Tom’s type

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that was quick

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Marshawn is still a delightful person

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkPMbNkpSxV/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D

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Shaq offers Barkley $10k if he can spell "spectacular" on air. Chuck gives it a go.

https://twitter.com/TedBuddy8/status/1585107047741534210

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Best sports pre/post game show out there, by far.

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I wonder if Draymond is still under contract with them, or did the punch screw that up?

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That's a good question. Though I bet Kenny, Chuck, and Shaq have seen worse on their teams.

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Oct 28, 2022·edited Oct 28, 2022Author

Tom Brady and the Bucs falls to 3-5 after losing 27-22 @ home to the Ravens.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/boxscore/_/gameId/401437805

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CAL

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WFC meet up tomorrow under the north goal posts fifteen minutes after we rush the field following our upset win over Oregon. Looking forward to seeing y'all there.

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Before or after we rip down the goalposts and carry them down Bancroft?

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Before, we'll need all of us to participate.

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Go Bears!!!

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Kit for this weekend versus Oregon: blue on blue

https://twitter.com/CalFootball/status/1585752890836103169

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That'll fix the O-line

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It's the post-season list that matters

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I mean, are we really surprised by this…?

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Cupboard is looking pretty bare. TBH though nobody knows how the transfers will pan out.

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First 10k into Memorial get a Cam Jordan bobblehead

https://twitter.com/CalAthletics/status/1585021497793400832?t=j4lxeB3ToSONrUgGer1y-Q&s=19

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And I bet many of them will be snatched up by Oregon fans.

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