113 Comments

Parler

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I signed up to see what it's about. It's essentially an alt-right Reddit that doesn't ban or delete the most nut job conspiracy theories. IMO, it is a dangerous echo chamber that will radicalize its readers.

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I'm not usually given to conspiracy theories but a social media app notionally built by Americans but with an unspecified amount of input from Russian developers, partially bankrolled by the Mercers, seems like a Very Bad Idea.

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I just heard of Parler from a friend, who is a Conservative, though not of the nut-job variety. In this climate, ANYTHING that radicalizes its readers is probably dangerous, whether it is alt-right or alt-left....anything alt...eeks.

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How do you feel about alt rock?

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I used to listen to lots of alt rock back in the 90's/early 2000s. Haven't heard the term much these days, but now everyone is streaming.

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"Alternative" is such a non-descriptive word theses days, basically meaningless.

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Alt meat?

Alt milk?

Alt reality?

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Re: music

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Alt rock is dangerous....

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i prefer to live in my classic rock bubble

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Alt rock is now classic rock.

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I assume he means 1965-1977

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Before Covid, I took my showers at the nearby fitness club after spinning, weights, etc. almost every evening and often showering there, workout or not. That ended in March. I had my shower completely redone three years back and had rarely used it to avoid the tedium of wiping it down each time - which not doing contributed to the rework. I switched to quick baths and avoiding any stray water outside the tub.

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Morning shower every day, with WFH now usually after my first couple of calls, around 8:30-9AM. It's the only way I can wake up. Also, my hair takes forever to dry, and I cannot stand to go to bed with wet hair.

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Heh, this reminds me of someone in my past.

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Mona Lisa?

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Ouch.

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pqtm.

FET, I tried to explain Pringle to No 2 since he thought it was hilarious the Chiefs had a player named Pringle. I even pulled up the DBD dictionary to properly tell him about Charles "LOL" Pringle.

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My routine is kind of set now in the COVID-era -- with so much time at home, it's a mid-morning shower, and a hot, night-time epsom salt bath before a 45-min lean on the Nayoya acupressure mat. Usually watch a DVR'd JEOPARDY! & then YouTube highlights of great Cal performances before bed. If the football team had such a solid routine, perhaps they wouldn't have looked so awful in the 1st two games of this dogshit season.

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Every morning without fail, pretty much. I feel weird all day if I haven't showered.

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There are three main types of showers, blue collar - when you get home after work, I used to take this type back when I worked in construction and the like; white collar, when you wake up the morning before you go work - I did this for a long time; and late night so you're clean before you hit the sheets, which is what I do these days.

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don't forget the hooker's shower. Usually done semi clothed in a public bathroom over the wash basin, using the soap and paper towels to wash the bits and pieces. Bonus if the public bathroom has an air dryer

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Don’t forget our presidents favorite, the golden shower.

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back in the day when i use to commute, i used a shower as my way to wake up and get myself energized and out the door. if i worked out later in the day, i would just take another shower.

during coronavirus times that has changed to be planned around workouts mostly.

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Elsewhere in college

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The Utah-Arizona St. game will be played Sunday to allow the Devils more time to work their way out of Covid problems. Time and tv coverage still to be finalized.

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Apple Cup cancelled due to Covid problems in Pullman. Consecutive Couglessness 2 weeks in a row. Huskies hunting for an opponent.

It wasn't the first college game cancelled for the week though; Fresno St. beat WSU to it, cancelling their game with San Diego St. Whether the Aztecs want to head for Seattle or not is yet to be determined.

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I hope the Big Game goes off as planned. But I think it has a chance of being canceled.

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Every game has a chance of being canceled this year.

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Quite plentiful in the Berkeley Hills.

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Huh, weird. When I was there I never saw any turkeys around (plenty of deer). I guess the population has increased a lot in recent years?

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My dad used to have a rafter of turkeys that lived on his property. You could walk or drive up to them and they wouldn't run out of the way. I don't understand how they survive as a wild species.

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A turkey has taken up residence in a small woods across the street. Seems to be by itself so not a threat. It's actually become kind of a neighborhood celebrity that everyone talks about.

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DBD AV Club

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Just started the Undoing on HBO this past weekend with the lady friend. So far, it's a good show, then again, we're only 2 eps in. Murder mystery among Manhattan socialites with a obvious twists and turns. starring Hugh Grant (man has he aged) and Nicole Kidman.

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Have heard lots of good things about this, I think it might be my next thing to watch.

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do it.

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Have any of you been watching GBBO? Next week is the finals!

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GBBO? @Is that GBBR - 3?@

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Or this week, I guess. The next episode to come out.

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The Last Kingdom (Netflix) - I got really into this historical fiction about the time of England during the time of Alfred the Great (the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex tried to hold off the Vikings AKA "the Danes") and binged all 4 seasons (36 episodes) in the span of 5 days. It's based on books by Bernard Cornwell, there are already like 12 of them and each season basically covered two books, covering the life of the central imaginary character. The show is similar to Game of Thrones in that a lot of main characters die (like is hard in the 10th century) although mysticism (whether it's the Danes' paganism or Christianity) is a bit more limited (also no dragons). I never watched GoT all at once, and at times TLK was quite heavy. Nonetheless, I found the desire to see revenge (there were at least some satisfactory ones by the end of every season) pushing me through the episodes. The show is already renewed for a season 5 (but might not come out until 2022).

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I really enjoyed that series - ended up reading some of the books and then passing them on to my father. He used to read the various Sharpe books that Bernard Cornwell wrote so I figured he'd enjoy them.

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I am Uhtred son of Uhtred

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I should have said that this show was great for both realistic fight scenes and political scheming drama. The gore (Vikings are brutal) and early nudity also help with the GoT comparison.

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one thing that's different from Game of Thrones is that there's not the same degree of putting cruelty to women characters on the screen in a way that seems gratuitous.

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I'm not sure that this was only true of women characters on that show, though it did get written about more when it was.

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I think a bunch of The Last Kingdom show writers are women. I also think even the books have a more modern, more liberal take on that period of history - particularly how there are good/honorable people on both sides of the war.

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i agree, this is a good show and i have seen all of it.

my version of binging a show is to watch 1 episode a night for as long as it takes. invariably something will come up so it takes longer, but i cant really watch more than one episode of anything in one sitting.

as for the show, i particularly like how Uhtred (main character) has this internal code of honor that he sticks to regardless of how much pain and suffering it causes, both to others and himself.

i have that problem too ... just a different, more Klingon, sense of honor.

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Heh, That is my way of binging as well.

o/

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One problem with binging The Last Kingdom rather than watching episodes with breaks is that Netflix thinks that I want to skip the whole "I am Uhtred, son of Uhtred...Destiny is All" recaps experience at the beginning of every episode.

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that is the best part

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Queen's Gambit: (14/19 - Netflix) Started off really, really strong because they were about a character with challenges. Actors did great jobs wordlessly conveying emotions without being too melodramatic or too boring. Then the middle episodes became about those challenges and got a little repetitive and predictable but without much feeling of urgency. Did a great job with sets and costumes.

Shitt's Creek (9/19 - Netflix): Swept the Canadian awards, so it got me interested. Season 1 was ranked mediocre on Rotten Tomatoes, but subsequent season all were 100%. Suffered through S1, S2 was modestly better, but got bored and had no interest of S3. Started watching Community instead.

Community (19/19 - Netflix): Easy-watching sitcom. Usually, I'm roaring with laughter several times in every episode.

The Liberators (9/19) - I don't mind to Terrascope illustration and the acting is fine. Mindless drama. Acting is a bit John-Wayne-era-ish. However, the story is often boring or retread from other movies.

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I don't even understand a 19 point scale without the final WB/WNB conclusion.

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just finished watching Queen's Gambit. i agree w/ your rating and assessment. i watch very few shows and series to conclusion. so that fact that i watched the whole thing is a plus for me.

by the end, i half wanted more chess, and half wanted more drug induced self-destruction.

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I'm not quite done with Queen's Gambit (still got 2 hours left of the 7 episode series), but I am a bit surprised that for all the things that I have heard about the show, I haven't read anything about how the main character's substance abuse problem was also kind of an unfair Performance Enhancing Drug usage as tranquilizer pills were helping her manage her anxiety before certain matches and think about chess. I guess there is no drug testing in chess, especially in the 60s where the show was set.

Some of the chess portrayals also were also too dramatized (and players played way too fast for the most part and had way too few draws), but this series has all the making of a great sports drama.

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I got through the penultimate episode (before watching MNF), and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was Æthelflæd from The Last Kingdom (or rather the same actress) that was the french model that led Beth astray before her big match in Paris.

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not that i know .. but is there drug testing in chess currently?

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I thought I remember seeing a story that a chess guy got caught during a tournament or something like that.

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Yes, apparently people take ritalin. They have had some drug testing since 2001.

https://www.inverse.com/article/27054-chess-performance-enhancing-drugs-doping-vassily-ivanchuk

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Hmmmm... We're watching Shitt's Creek, S1, it is gradually getting better, well into Community S2 which really does hold up, just finished "Fistfull of Paintballs / For a Few Paintballs More" which was great.

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I liked Schitt's Creek OK enough, but I think it ran out of steam a bit. You can bang out 3 episodes in an hour tho while puttering around doing stuff, so it's good for that. I wanna give Community a go.

Queen's Gambit was solid, and though born in Mee-Ah-mee, Anya Taylor-Joy is a treasure and probably the greatest thing to come out of Argentina in centuries. But it kind of petered out after the initial boom, though the period touches were good.

Finished Lovecraft Country, which made no sense. The Undoing is done this Sunday & that's been OK. Also thinking of starting The Americans....thoughts?

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OOOOooooOOOOooo

The Americans is awesome, great show, well worth your time. The first 6 episodes of Community are a bit rough, until they find their grove, but after that, great absurdest comedy gold.

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gif of Annie running down the hallway goes here:

https://i.imgur.com/V3jAq.gif

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There are lots of other good Annie animated gifs out there...many of or bloopers are good.

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Do I need to have watched the previous seasons of Fargo before watching the current one?

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No, they're all stand alone, Season 2 is the best, followed by season one, which is most like the movie. (but expanded)

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I just finished rewatching seasons 1 and 2. No doubt, season 2 is the best of the 4 seasons. Season 4 has had its moments but has largely disappointed. Seaon 1 feels closest to the movie. Season 3 on tap to begin the rewatch this week.

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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Janet Yellen, Professor Emeritus at Haas is tabbed as the next Sec. of the Treasury

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/biden-picks-yellen-for-treasury-secretary-wsj-2020-11-23

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I hope Stephen Miller is grinding his teeth in his lair right now.

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I hope when he returns to private life he gets punched in the face every time he steps out of his house.

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Same but make it his dick.

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Same but make it both.

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he's such an amazing shitbag

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Both he and Lindsay Graham. I don't want whatever got to them.

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IMO Ted Cruz has always been a monumental asshole, Graham is still growing into the role

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Trump dumps Sidney Powell from his legal team after 8 days or about 0.73 Scaramuccis.

https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-55040756

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in a less sensitive era, I'd have said she was off her rocker. She's the one who's been trying and failing to take advantage of DOJ abandoning their case against Mike Flynn BTW, the crazy was on display there but not to the same extent.

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Morning

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Before Covid, mornings after workout

During Covid, they mostly come at night... mostly

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[Edit] removed the redundant thread and reposted here.

DCT comment placed here because OCD on organization won't allow me to do otherwise: "That sounds familiar"

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Morning on weekends or around lunchtime during the week after my calls. Also after I've gone running which would be late afternoon if it's warm enough during the winter, or around 6-8 during the summer.

Sometimes I'll also take one before bed if it's super hot during the day and I've sweated while out, unless I went on a run already.

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PRO

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Leeds couldn't win even though Arsenal was down a man at 50' - either off the woodwork, or great save by the keeper. Highly frustrating.

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Raiders v Chiefs was highly entertaining.

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i just assumed that Mahomes and the Chiefs would score on that final drive just as i assumed GB and Rodgers would too.

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CAL

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Go Bears!

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I tend not to be an optimist when it comes to the Bears. More than 4 decades of being a fan has taught me otherwise. I really thought this was going to be a special year. The past two losses have put me in a foul mood. This is what I deserve for trusting Lucy with the football again.

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I suppose you are right. Three decades for me. The Tedford years were a glorious time in the Bears' heyday, but not so much since. A few 7-5 seasons here and there but now it looks like we are back to mediocrity. Still, Covid makes this a season with an asterisk, no matter what happens.

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Between Snyder and Tedford I know that Cal can win, and maybe even compete for a National Championship. Heck, we were on the doorstep with Snyder. Obligatory Fuck Bob Bockrath!

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Still, Covid makes this a season with an asterisk, no matter what happens.

Completely true. It sucks.

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It's just hard for me to take this season seriously with all of the COVID weirdness. I would enjoy it if Cal were winning these games, of course, but the fact that they're not isn't bothering me as much as it usually would.

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I tend to agree but I’m partially annoyed because we have so many returning starters and players with experience that I thought we would be able to beat the Oregon States of the world.

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It does suck that what should be a relative high-water mark for the program is being screwed with by COVID. A very Cal thing to happen.

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Given the talent level at Cal compared to the rest of the Pac-12 it seems we are in the bottom six, and made up for the talent gap in some cases with coaching and scheming, particularly on defense. If we can't practice and have to replace the entire O-line because of covid it's hard to get any continuity, so therefore the coaching up is more difficult to accomplish. For example, there is no way in terms of talent that we should have beaten SC in 2018, but we did because of Wilcox. In this strange year the coaching has suffered and also our ability to disguise talent differential...

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I have joked in the past that the reason I fit in here is because of the Scottish men's national soccer team, but I've never actually believed they were going to be good again. That eternal optimism is admirable though.

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