Think of a pumpkin. You’re probably thinking of those orange things that people carve for Halloween. Now think of pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice latte, and other pumpkin treats. They are not made with what you would consider a pumpkin. You are thinking of the Connecticut Field Pumpkin, which is a cultivar of the parent species cucurbita pepo, which includes summer squash, winter squash, crookneck, pattypan, straightneck, and zucchini. The Connecticut Field pumpkin is great at making big, fast-growing, hollow gourds that are great for carving - but are stringy, watery, and not particularly tasty. The food ingredient “pumpkin” is made from Dickinson Pumpkin, which is a cucurbita moschata. C moschata includes butternut squash, calabaza, Korean zucchini, and Tromboncino. Dickinsons have smoother flesh and more of it - more like a canteloupe in terms of flesh/seed ratio.
Took advantage of the fact that there is an enormous middle-eastern population in Dearborn MI and went out for outstanding Yemeni food. Sheeba's roast lamb is delightful.
My worry about this stuff is that in the dictator’s playbook the way to resolve mass protests/unrest at home is to either brutally put them down (China in 89) or start a foreign war to drum up nationalism (Russia in 22). Or both. Not good options…
There's been a lot more "mass movements" in China since 1989 that haven't been 1989. Everything from anti-Japan protests, to anti real estate development protests to the Central Government trying to change Radio/TV Guangzhou from Cantonese to Mandarin broadcasting (and honestly that made these protests look like a Sproul Plaza gathering).
There's definitely a third way - and it's how China has handled most of these protests in the last 30 years. Unfortunately I think these are going to get squelched, but I don't think it will be via real tanks rolling in violence (there will be arrests and disappearances and some beatings) but they'll be small and invisible.
If you're interested, pick up Lauren Hilgers (personal friend of mine) book American Dreams in Chinatown about one of the leaders of the Wukan Protests who slipped out of China and ended up on her doorstep (since she had been one of the reporters in Wukan who had interviewed him previously). The one big difference is Wukan happened under Hu Jintao and not Xi.
A foreign war would obviously be Taiwan but a massive sea invasion takes months to properly move all the pieces in place to cross the Taiwan Strait. China isn’t ready to try to take Taiwan, especially hastily.
I suppose they could attack India since they have a disputed border with them and have had some skirmishes over recently.
I have friends who were out at Urumuqi Road in Shanghai (which was the first big protest on Saturday) I told them to take the sim cards out or use cameras instead of phones.
Lights: not as such. We do have an inflatable penguin that's lit from within, I'll put that out on the lawn a few days before Christmas.
Tree: depends on my daughters. If they're willing to decorate it, I'll get a tree, but if they can't be bothered, neither can I. (The main reason we started getting trees was because when they were young they just wanted some element of "normal" holiday decoration and I was willing to aid and abet, as my wife objects to both live and fake Christmas trees)
Outside lights and decorations go up sometime over the weekend following Thanksgiving, depending on the weather and the football schedule. Friday this year. They stay up until usually the weekend after New Years. I do sometimes take some of them in during the week, depending on pending weather.
Tree typically goes up the first weekend of December. Any earlier and it dries out too much too soon. Any later and the season gets too short, plus the tree farms in the area get picked over by the 2nd weekend. Used to almost always get a wild tree, but the change in (near total ban on) forestry management means finding accessible (if it snows at elevation) trees at the right stage of regrowth became a real problem locally. And there are so many Xmas tree farms in the area, getting a nice tree is easy.
No lights. I put up a real tree, usually about 10 days after Thanksgiving and leave it up until Epiphany. This year I might not get it until Dec 9th because I will be out of town that week and they drink so much water the first week that I am worried about getting it next weekend and then having it dry out while I am gone.
The live tree is the way to go...sadly, I gave up the real thing back in '13 when the evil-hearted former Mrs. Chitwood arrived on the scene like Casey Moore busting up the gut of a Holmoe defense...not surprisingly, she was allergic to pine, along with the various other things, such as warmth and fun.
All of the above on Thanksgiving weekend and then they get put away the first week of January. We started putting up an artificial tree in recent years because it's too much of a hassle to bring an infant/toddler to cut down a live tree.
We got our tree up this weekend. Need to do the lights, probably next weekend. I put them on a light sensor timer also, so they come on a dusk and only stay on for a couple hours rather than all the time.
When my wife was living at home, they didn't get a tree until AFTER December 14. Oddly specific, you say? Well it is. That's the birthday of Mrs Slug's brother.
Mrs Slug also said her dad would plunk the tree in a bucket of water for about a week before it got brought into the house and decorated.
I realized that I'm unemployed and also while I have savings, there's nothing that I really need right now (sorry Ping G425 3 wood) - everything can wait until gainful employment
The probability of my buying stuff on line to day is about the same as the probability of my doing old school 'cybering' today. (as close to zero as possible)
Not as surprised that SC and UW are where they are after luring NFL QBs (one the Heisman trophy winner) that knew the system…Tulane winning 10 is a shocker, and yet another reason why Wilcox needs to go…f-ing Tulane won 10.
Jonathan Smith should be Pac 12 Coach of the Year, though Riley will win it. Smith’s gonna win 10 in Corvallis with a backup quarterback amidst a stadium renovation.
I figured USC would be good, I just didn’t think they would be this good, this fast. I figured they would lose 2-3 regular season games. The fact that they are ranked 4th in the nation and 1 win away from the CFB playoffs in year 1 is surprising. Especially when you consider how good the overall conference is this season.
I agree Smith should win Pac12 COTY but it will likely go to Riley.
UW is a bit surprising as well. I figured they would be improved but I was thinking 6-7 wins. They were really good this year.
Schedule lined up for SC and they missed both the Ducks and UW…landing the Biletnikoff winner for $2M helped too. That D is still trash, and they arguably lost to the best team they played, but the O puts such pressure on opponents…Utah could beat them again tho, and UGA would house them.
I was a big fan of DeBoer and Penix at Indiana…kid’s a stud. Without him, I was less bully on Washington. But that man plays on Sundays.
I'm not sure that Oregon could have avoided the "shoot in own foot" play calling that let them down against Washington and Oregon State, tbh, and there's an element of flat track bully about Washington.
Can't argue with either point about Utah or Georgia.
USC teams in recent years always seemed plagued by letdown games and dumb, unforced errors during games (unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, late hit penalties, etc.). I'm impressed by how quickly Riley cleaned that up.
It was my understanding that Helton just let stuff go for favored players and there wasn't a whole lot of team spirit as a result. I get the impression that Riley and his staff not only hold the team to a consistent standard, but they've got the players doing that to one another - which is not what you'd expect from a team full of free agents and players adapting post Helton
Having the best offense money can buy certainly helps.
Caleb, Addison, Rice, Mario Williams, Travis Dye..plus the usual assortment of SC 4 & 5*’s…now give them a top 5 coach in the country…dii of want matter that the d is kinda boo boo
Saw Bros last week. If you relieve it of the burden of being a gay rom-com, and just have it be a rom-com (which are generally not that great), it was above average. But not a great movie overall.
Did get me (re)watching some Billy on the Street on YouTube, tho. Funny shit!
Daniel Craig, Janelle Monae, Ed Norton, Dave Bautista, Kate Hudson, a TON of fun cameos, I think it was even more fun than the first Knives Out. Benoit Blanc and his ridiculous accent comes back to solve a murder mystery on a Greek Island of a tech billionaire. The satire is a little bit broad, but again, everyone is having so much fun and Rian Johnson does such a good job of setting up the story - I highly recommend it.
19/19 (Only in the theaters for a short stint, on Netflix starting mid Dec)
I went to watch it the other day, but it seems to not be available on netflix. which is odd, since they should be whetting the appetite of folks for the sequel.
I did end up having a Daniel Craig (or adjacent) week. started watching No Time to Die. Realized that there was some backstory there with Madeleine. So started watching Spectre, which I thought I'd seen, but the only scene I remembered was when Bond was getting needles stuck in his head. Then watched NTtD.
Both pretty good, altho in the real world, the amount of civilian collateral damage during the chases, etc. would be extreme. He's trying to save 50k people in a stadium, but if that helicopter crashed in the plaza, prob 1000s would have died.
Prior to that, ended up watching the Swedish Dragon Tattoo trilogy. I remembered why I didn't like the second two books that much. Wanted to see the Daniel Craig version (Book 1 only, iirc), but not avail (besides renting, and I wasn't that interested in it).
the Swedish versions were available both as a miniseries per book, and then edited down into movies. The miniseries versions were better, but I can certainly understand why the second and third books would be less interesting
it went from the cold case murder mystery of the first one, to the Salander is integral to a massive corruption scheme in Sweden and everyone's related to her (in a Skywalker way) in the last two.
Watched The Wonder on Netflix starring Florence Pugh (sigh). Excellent film and Pugh proves again that as an actress she's much more than a pretty face. Recommended.
We finally got AppleTv last week. Binged Ted Lasso both seasons(great), and currently 3 episodes through Severance(OK, will give it a couple more episodes).
Lots of good stuff there. I could give a list if you'd like...
I realized how ATV+ is much more quality over quantity last week when I was on Netflix and Amazon looking for a movie to watch. I started like five of them (watching about 10 minutes) before finding one that wasn't complete shite...
The first couple of seasons of Mythic Quest (the third season is enjoyable. .. but hasn't yet quite hit the heights of the first two), Slow Horses, Dickinson, and Long Way Up have been other Apple TV+ things Ive really enjoyed.
Agreed, I've really enjoyed how they spent the last few episodes filling a bunch of kegs with gunpowder, rolling out the fuses, and then lighting them. Now it's a matter of figuring out when they'll start going off. The writers are quite good at creating tension within and between characters.
I expect someone(s) to die, but unlike the first season, they didn't make it clear that only one person will die for sure. Maybe the whole bunch of them?
Well from the first episode we know one person died and Rocco mentioned multiple people dying on property. I doubt any dies from premeditated murder and is more like season 1 where they die on accident.
My suspicion is Bert accidentally dies from falling and hitting his head. He has now fallen twice that we know of: once at the pool and now in his room where he hit the nightstand.
The second death and body/leg we see at the beach, I’m guessing is going to be Dom. I think Dom either commits suicide or accidentally drowns.
I suspect something unsavory is going to come about regarding Tanya's new "friends." They were suspiciously friendly and welcoming with her and I'm wondering if there are some ulterior motives (trying to get after her money, maybe?). I don't think Tanya would die, though. Maybe Portia in some sort of unintended way.
That or Harper goes nuts kills everyone. She's been on the verge of snapping for two episodes now. (Though I don't actually think she or anyone in their group will die)
HAG and I also happen to be very interested in fighter plans of this era, so it is especially interesting from that angle even though the documentary is mostly about the marketing scheme during the cola wars.
The documentary also points out (via the dude's legal team) that, leading up to the fighter jet situation, Pepsi had a history of running shamelessly deceptive and dangerously irresponsible promotions in other countries that had some violent outcomes. Side note: my GF in high school's dad was a corporate lawyer for Pepsi who worked with Michael Jackson and I was hoping to see him in the doc but didnt!
It was just a "clever" (deceptive) gag thought up by an ad agency for their commercial and wasn't in Pepsi's official catalog of prizes. Nobody on the Pepsi side thought to double check the fine print of their rules (that allows you, after the first 15 points, to purchase the balance of points for 10 cents a point) and realize the arbitrarily large number the ad agency chose (7,000,000) was actually feasible via this loophole, whereas collecting the points through cans alone was basically impossible. (The latter being the premise the ad agency used when choosing the number for the commercial).
Sheng Wang: Sweet and Juicy (Netflix, 15/19). Sheng delivers mostly-safe-for-work material in a Mitch Headberg-esque manner. He doesn't knock it out of the park, but consistently delivers jokes that are laugh-out-loud good. Not necessarily memorable, but definitely a very good time.
The main partner for Mazars, the accounting firm that did the Trump Organization's books, taxes, and personal taxes of the Trump family has taken the novel approach of "what? these forms? I didn't do them. I outsourced it to some schmuck down the road." TrumpOrg is moving toward impeaching its own witness because its trying to throw them under the bus with the "you should have stopped me before I killed again" defense.
interesting experience in Madrid talking to my right-wing cousin. not sure what/where he gets his news about the US, but my guess is that there must be some equivalent of Fox News.
among other things, he said that "a lot of dodgy things went on during the election that Trump lost"
Herschel Walker wants to strip voting rights of Georgians under 31 years of age because they haven't earned it. Meanwhile, Herschel Walker gets a vote.
I just today got an email from Stub-hub still trying to sell Cal football tickets. I'm thinking the souvenir market for unused Cal e-tickets might not be too strong.
Arroyo is a veteran offensive coordinator of the college ranks at just 42 years old, holding the coordinator title at five of those stops - Oregon, Southern Miss, Cal, Wyoming, and San Jose State
Executed with all the same cleverness and creativity I'd expect from a band whose entire concept is repeating the same joke over and over until you want to gouge your eyes out.
I spent Turkey Day at a cousin-in-law's house in Michigan, just outside Ann Arbor. Their daughters go to UM and MSU. I drove back at o-dark-thirty on Saturday morning. Despite my early departure, maps routed us off the normal route through Columbus that day because of the heavy traffic already at that hour. On the positive side, I got to see rural Ohio and their love of Trump banners.
Highly coveted Frederica Bimmell was from rural Ohio...Belvedere, to be exact. She went into Chicago on the bus to see about a job...she left the interview ok, but she never come home.
She was the first taken, but the 3rd body found...he weighed her down.
Very satisfying game. Watched it with my father in law, a Michigan fan due to his years of teaching there, mostly to try and keep him calm. He returned the favor during the SC game, not because he has any affection for SC but he certainly doesn't like Notre Dame.
It looked as if early on that OSU was going to win and were in control. Michigan played really well and hit a lot of big passing plays, stuck with the body blows in the run game and were rewarded with some knock out big play rushing TDs.
the MIchigan QB - who looks about 12 - is notorious for not being able to make far less complete long passes, so of course that was what he was nailing Ohio State with
Apropos: Jeremiah Hawkins opted out of Cal's 2020 season and entered the portal. He transferred to Texas State for one season but never played a down. He entered the transfer portal again and went to Division II Missouri Southern. Hawkins didn't break the two-deep WR depth charts at MoSo, but was the primary kick returner. He finished the season with five catches, three rushes, and 17 kick returns.
has anyone with substantial eligibility transferred from Cal and had good success? I only recall hearing about folks who don't make any further headway.
So did I but Wisconsin is a good job and less pressure. Ryan Day is 45-5 and OSU fans and alumni are talking about firing him because he lost to Michigan in back to back seasons.
But so is Cincy, and they are headed to a Power 5. He was set up there, and already winning a lot. Wisconsin is a great program too, but they had to have lined up the bank trucks. Lots of them.
OSU stuns Oregon by coming from down 21 points late in the 3rd quarter. Beavers did it the hard way via a gashing rushing attack. Gulbranson had zero pass attempts during the comeback.
Lots of handwringing by Oregon fans who think Lanning screwed up and lament their 9-3 record. A couple of folks said on the Oregon boards that they should have hired Wilcox.
Lanning also went for it on 4th down twice when chip shot FGs were available. Those would have won it, and even 1 of them would have allowed them to win it with an FG when they had to go for it down 4 (and fail) at the end.
The repeat of the mistake that cost the Washington game was in part due to concern after a blocked punt and another mis-handled punt. But it was still the wrong call with the lead 15 times out of 10.
But the real issue is Tosh's defense. He may need to get out of yet another town while the getting out is good.
Against the Huskies, he and everyone else knew the Dawgs, admittedly a very good passing team, was going to throw, throw, and throw some more, and the Ducks couldn't stop them.
Against the Beavers, he and everyone else knew OSU was going to run, run, and then run some more, and that same D couldn't stop them.
Terrible coaching largely lost the game, but Tosh couldn't keep Lanning and Dillingham safely out of range of hurting themselves.
I mentioned this last week, the decision for Lanning to go for it in Oregon Territory, when he did not do so on the prior Oregon possession when Oregon was up by four points at the UW 4th and 3 at the UW 8 yard line was a total headscratcher.
There was the win over Utah in between, so it wasn't successive weeks, but they did produce losses to the 2 teams Oregon can least afford or tolerate losing to.
They appreciate Shaw, but there is widespread concern that he isn't the one to turn things around, even if the institution (finally) makes the moves to correct at least some of the systemic problems that are going to make it almost impossible to turn it around. And, at least publicly, it was going to be really hard for the school to push the best coach they have ever had out.
Whether it was mostly his idea, or mostly a move/push to get in front of it, Shaw made a tough decision that needed to be made, but the university didn't want to make. The investors are fine with how it happened because it needed to happen.
I don't especially care for him as a coach, but I get the impression he's a good guy - like that story about him being a bone marrow donor via weeks of treatment for his brother in '18.
Completion. Right foot is inbounds when it comes down a second time, drags left toe. He appears to be in control of ball. But on that angle, we're straightlined: we can't see the ball once he pulls it into his chest. So, it's possible he doesn't have control and we can't tell that from this angle.
Looks like his toe touched before the heel came down. As long as he had the ball secured (you'd need another camera angle to confirm that), that looks like a catch to me.
I thought if the toe touches and the foot comes down, the whole foot has to be inbounds. If he taps the toe, takes it off the turf, then puts the foot down partially OOB, then I think it would be a catch.
At least I thought that's how it was. BTW I slept in a Holiday Inn Express last night...
In addition to just being cheesy, apparently the uniform mixes and matches parts from different companies and is not something he ever wore. There were about a half dozen other details people picked up on.
That's one of the points of contention. But some, including his daughter, said he did sometimes wear soccer cleats when playing. I have no idea what the truth is. I didn't go back and look but some said the pants and jersey were different companies.
Putting aside the debate about the merits of the general concept for the memorial, which some suggested looked like a display plucked out of a sporting goods store, the most disappointing aspect is its lack of personalization and attention to detail. The installation features burgundy Reebok pants and a white Nike No. 21 jersey; Taylor, who was shot and killed during a home invasion 15 years ago, never wore the latter because Nike didn’t become the NFL’s uniform provider until 2012. The soccer cleats, which Taylor was known to wear, are a nice touch, but not taping the face mask of the helmet the way Taylor used to is a huge miss. It all adds up to another unforced error by a franchise that botched the jersey retirement ceremony for Taylor a year ago. Perhaps the Commanders will try again in 2023.
[MBB] Cal is 0-7 and may be challenged to defeat any of its Pac-12 opponents or the anywhere from very bad to awful EWU, Butler, and UT Arlington. Winless is a distinct possibility.
You can make the argument that given the recent compliance issues, Louisville is no longer cheating…we know Cal doesn’t cheat. Maybe this is what you get when you don’t cheat?
What do people do with their old pumpkins? Turn them into mulch? Try to plant the seeds and grow a pumpkin patch? I have about 10 pumpkins of various sizes from the very small ones to a 55 pound pumpkin.
We have several acres of woods by our house, so I toss them in the woods and let the deer, squirrels, and whatever else eat them. This year they were completely eaten after about a week and a half.
I scoop out the seeds before composting. I have learned the hard way that pumpkin seeds are very big/robust and they will likely survive composting to sprout.
Thxgiving eating
Took advantage of the fact that there is an enormous middle-eastern population in Dearborn MI and went out for outstanding Yemeni food. Sheeba's roast lamb is delightful.
https://www.sheebarestaurant.com/
was this already discussed on Fri?
we had the best ever suckling pig at a restaurant in Segovia in the old Jewish quarter, El Fogón Sefardí >> https://goo.gl/maps/Lud7qAKKuZJke7a17
i guess the Sefardic Jews were the Spanish branch?
Let's ask Kyrie.
that's exactly who they are.
I don’t think we had a DBD on Friday. If we did, I missed it.
JFC. Protestors are sitting in Tiananmen Square. They are very brave/poor students of history.
https://twitter.com/645Pr0RoZT8CwA7/status/1597036710348455937
My worry about this stuff is that in the dictator’s playbook the way to resolve mass protests/unrest at home is to either brutally put them down (China in 89) or start a foreign war to drum up nationalism (Russia in 22). Or both. Not good options…
There's been a lot more "mass movements" in China since 1989 that haven't been 1989. Everything from anti-Japan protests, to anti real estate development protests to the Central Government trying to change Radio/TV Guangzhou from Cantonese to Mandarin broadcasting (and honestly that made these protests look like a Sproul Plaza gathering).
There's definitely a third way - and it's how China has handled most of these protests in the last 30 years. Unfortunately I think these are going to get squelched, but I don't think it will be via real tanks rolling in violence (there will be arrests and disappearances and some beatings) but they'll be small and invisible.
If you're interested, pick up Lauren Hilgers (personal friend of mine) book American Dreams in Chinatown about one of the leaders of the Wukan Protests who slipped out of China and ended up on her doorstep (since she had been one of the reporters in Wukan who had interviewed him previously). The one big difference is Wukan happened under Hu Jintao and not Xi.
This is how I think it all ends.
I think China would obviously opt for play #1.
A foreign war would obviously be Taiwan but a massive sea invasion takes months to properly move all the pieces in place to cross the Taiwan Strait. China isn’t ready to try to take Taiwan, especially hastily.
I suppose they could attack India since they have a disputed border with them and have had some skirmishes over recently.
I have friends who were out at Urumuqi Road in Shanghai (which was the first big protest on Saturday) I told them to take the sim cards out or use cameras instead of phones.
leave phone at home, disable camera wireless photo drops, if you intend to photograph the action.
Unfortunately, one aspect of modern China life is that inner city transport is often impossible without phones. But I told them to be careful.
<3
Christmas lights: do you put them up and if so when?
Christmas tree: do you put one up and if so when?
Lights: not as such. We do have an inflatable penguin that's lit from within, I'll put that out on the lawn a few days before Christmas.
Tree: depends on my daughters. If they're willing to decorate it, I'll get a tree, but if they can't be bothered, neither can I. (The main reason we started getting trees was because when they were young they just wanted some element of "normal" holiday decoration and I was willing to aid and abet, as my wife objects to both live and fake Christmas trees)
Objects to both live and fake Christmas trees?! How does she feel about the Easter Bunny?
Outside lights and decorations go up sometime over the weekend following Thanksgiving, depending on the weather and the football schedule. Friday this year. They stay up until usually the weekend after New Years. I do sometimes take some of them in during the week, depending on pending weather.
Tree typically goes up the first weekend of December. Any earlier and it dries out too much too soon. Any later and the season gets too short, plus the tree farms in the area get picked over by the 2nd weekend. Used to almost always get a wild tree, but the change in (near total ban on) forestry management means finding accessible (if it snows at elevation) trees at the right stage of regrowth became a real problem locally. And there are so many Xmas tree farms in the area, getting a nice tree is easy.
No lights. I put up a real tree, usually about 10 days after Thanksgiving and leave it up until Epiphany. This year I might not get it until Dec 9th because I will be out of town that week and they drink so much water the first week that I am worried about getting it next weekend and then having it dry out while I am gone.
My tree is decorated solely in snowman ornaments.
That would be something to see! Unique.
The live tree is the way to go...sadly, I gave up the real thing back in '13 when the evil-hearted former Mrs. Chitwood arrived on the scene like Casey Moore busting up the gut of a Holmoe defense...not surprisingly, she was allergic to pine, along with the various other things, such as warmth and fun.
;-) haha
I could read your stories about the evil-hearted former Mrs. Chitwood for days and never be bored.
The lady seriously rooted for Walmart to wipe out Main Street...
No tree because of the Jonesy pup…I actually leave my white Xmas lights up on the porch all year…ssshhhh.
All of the above on Thanksgiving weekend and then they get put away the first week of January. We started putting up an artificial tree in recent years because it's too much of a hassle to bring an infant/toddler to cut down a live tree.
When our daughter was that size, that was the best part! The look in her eyes was irreplacable.
Why not just buy a pre cut live tree?
That is an option, but I'm more than happy to let the missus handle all the decorations decision-making.
Probably will start decorating this week, we likely wont get a tree for a week or two.
We got our tree up this weekend. Need to do the lights, probably next weekend. I put them on a light sensor timer also, so they come on a dusk and only stay on for a couple hours rather than all the time.
It's all up already. My wife is a taskmaster about this stuff.
Tree: First week of December.
Lights: Bah. Humbug.
First week of December for lights, December 15 the tree goes up.
When my wife was living at home, they didn't get a tree until AFTER December 14. Oddly specific, you say? Well it is. That's the birthday of Mrs Slug's brother.
Mrs Slug also said her dad would plunk the tree in a bucket of water for about a week before it got brought into the house and decorated.
My brother is also December 14, but we always had the tree up for his birthday (as does he, now).
I have heard putting it in a bucket of water beforehand helps it keep hydrated, even if you have a stand that has water.
We do that, too. Only it doesn't sit out there for a week. We might keep it outside overnight but no longer than that.
Got our tree on Saturday from Costco, a nice 8 foot Noble Fur for I believe $80. Decorated and put the tree lights on yesterday.
I’ll do my outside lights and decorations tomorrow.
lights and tree both .. in the next few days.
my guess is that we get a tree this weekend - complicated by the fact that i am not around all weekend.
Master has given Dobby a glock
https://twitter.com/SnoopDogg/status/1596953548268654592
Cyber Monday
I put things into like 6 different carts . .. and then didn't buy any of them! Success! (Sorry e-commerce people, my fault)
So you are an angler?
I realized that I'm unemployed and also while I have savings, there's nothing that I really need right now (sorry Ping G425 3 wood) - everything can wait until gainful employment
I have found that you can either have time or money, but not both at once. Enjoy the time!
The probability of my buying stuff on line to day is about the same as the probability of my doing old school 'cybering' today. (as close to zero as possible)
i bought something online not on sale in any way.
a Swedish-made (Klattermussen) outdoor jacket
Teams that exceeded expectations
For CFB:
TCU
USC
UW
Oregon State
Tulane
Duke
Not as surprised that SC and UW are where they are after luring NFL QBs (one the Heisman trophy winner) that knew the system…Tulane winning 10 is a shocker, and yet another reason why Wilcox needs to go…f-ing Tulane won 10.
Jonathan Smith should be Pac 12 Coach of the Year, though Riley will win it. Smith’s gonna win 10 in Corvallis with a backup quarterback amidst a stadium renovation.
I figured USC would be good, I just didn’t think they would be this good, this fast. I figured they would lose 2-3 regular season games. The fact that they are ranked 4th in the nation and 1 win away from the CFB playoffs in year 1 is surprising. Especially when you consider how good the overall conference is this season.
I agree Smith should win Pac12 COTY but it will likely go to Riley.
UW is a bit surprising as well. I figured they would be improved but I was thinking 6-7 wins. They were really good this year.
Schedule lined up for SC and they missed both the Ducks and UW…landing the Biletnikoff winner for $2M helped too. That D is still trash, and they arguably lost to the best team they played, but the O puts such pressure on opponents…Utah could beat them again tho, and UGA would house them.
I was a big fan of DeBoer and Penix at Indiana…kid’s a stud. Without him, I was less bully on Washington. But that man plays on Sundays.
I'm not sure that Oregon could have avoided the "shoot in own foot" play calling that let them down against Washington and Oregon State, tbh, and there's an element of flat track bully about Washington.
Can't argue with either point about Utah or Georgia.
Maybe not...but one of the two 'Nix's may have been tough to beat on the road...still, I'm rooting for SC Friday.
USC teams in recent years always seemed plagued by letdown games and dumb, unforced errors during games (unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, late hit penalties, etc.). I'm impressed by how quickly Riley cleaned that up.
It was my understanding that Helton just let stuff go for favored players and there wasn't a whole lot of team spirit as a result. I get the impression that Riley and his staff not only hold the team to a consistent standard, but they've got the players doing that to one another - which is not what you'd expect from a team full of free agents and players adapting post Helton
Having the best offense money can buy certainly helps.
Caleb, Addison, Rice, Mario Williams, Travis Dye..plus the usual assortment of SC 4 & 5*’s…now give them a top 5 coach in the country…dii of want matter that the d is kinda boo boo
I wonder if our bagmen are feeling left out now that the money is mostly above board
DBD AV Club
S2 of Sex Lives of College Girls has been meh.
Saw Bros last week. If you relieve it of the burden of being a gay rom-com, and just have it be a rom-com (which are generally not that great), it was above average. But not a great movie overall.
Did get me (re)watching some Billy on the Street on YouTube, tho. Funny shit!
That’s unfortunate to hear about S2 of SLoCGs because my wife and I really enjoyed the first season.
it's not bad...just not as interesting. I'm still watching
Don't Worry Darling on HBOMax. 2/19, WNB in a million years.
I have to admit I kind of want to watch it in order to revel in the badness.
I give it a 12/19. Cast was solid, the sets and visuals were above average. The story was meh.
Tried the first episode of Extraordinary Attorney Wu. Intriguing.
it's good...gets somewhat repetitive, and the love story isn't believable (to my hardened heart), but worth finishing.
I watched the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special and I really enjoyed it. Had some very good songs and jokes.
IMO, Marvel is 2 for 2 with these holiday specials.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Daniel Craig, Janelle Monae, Ed Norton, Dave Bautista, Kate Hudson, a TON of fun cameos, I think it was even more fun than the first Knives Out. Benoit Blanc and his ridiculous accent comes back to solve a murder mystery on a Greek Island of a tech billionaire. The satire is a little bit broad, but again, everyone is having so much fun and Rian Johnson does such a good job of setting up the story - I highly recommend it.
19/19 (Only in the theaters for a short stint, on Netflix starting mid Dec)
I’m excited for this to drop on Netflix. I really enjoyed the first movie.
I went to watch it the other day, but it seems to not be available on netflix. which is odd, since they should be whetting the appetite of folks for the sequel.
I did end up having a Daniel Craig (or adjacent) week. started watching No Time to Die. Realized that there was some backstory there with Madeleine. So started watching Spectre, which I thought I'd seen, but the only scene I remembered was when Bond was getting needles stuck in his head. Then watched NTtD.
Both pretty good, altho in the real world, the amount of civilian collateral damage during the chases, etc. would be extreme. He's trying to save 50k people in a stadium, but if that helicopter crashed in the plaza, prob 1000s would have died.
Prior to that, ended up watching the Swedish Dragon Tattoo trilogy. I remembered why I didn't like the second two books that much. Wanted to see the Daniel Craig version (Book 1 only, iirc), but not avail (besides renting, and I wasn't that interested in it).
the Swedish versions were available both as a miniseries per book, and then edited down into movies. The miniseries versions were better, but I can certainly understand why the second and third books would be less interesting
it went from the cold case murder mystery of the first one, to the Salander is integral to a massive corruption scheme in Sweden and everyone's related to her (in a Skywalker way) in the last two.
was she Paloma? yeah, she was good. I liked the 3 weeks training, plus or minus
She's fantastic and absolutely steals the show. Her and Craig have excellent chemistry.
[Source, X/19, WB/WNB]
thanks ..
but wait, what is WB/WNB?
not sure if you're feigning ignorance, but I believe it's Would Bang, Would Not Bang
no .. serious question.
at least i didnt ask about the 19 pt scale
oh. I figured that one with your longevity with the DBD would have been there for the birth of the terms ;-)
Watched The Wonder on Netflix starring Florence Pugh (sigh). Excellent film and Pugh proves again that as an actress she's much more than a pretty face. Recommended.
Binged Wednesday on netflix when it came out. Quite enjoyable. Jenna Ortega does a very good deadpan. Hope they get into season 2 pretty quickly.
We finally got AppleTv last week. Binged Ted Lasso both seasons(great), and currently 3 episodes through Severance(OK, will give it a couple more episodes).
Lots of good stuff there. I could give a list if you'd like...
I realized how ATV+ is much more quality over quantity last week when I was on Netflix and Amazon looking for a movie to watch. I started like five of them (watching about 10 minutes) before finding one that wasn't complete shite...
Bad Sisters on Apple TV was great.
The first couple of seasons of Mythic Quest (the third season is enjoyable. .. but hasn't yet quite hit the heights of the first two), Slow Horses, Dickinson, and Long Way Up have been other Apple TV+ things Ive really enjoyed.
Slow Horses was solid…new season drops soon.
filming 2 seasons in one shot was a bold move on their part and I'm glad they did.
White Lotus S2 is getting really good. All the chess pieces are officially in place for the final two episodes of the season.
I got thru 3 or 4 eps of S1 and quit.
Agreed, I've really enjoyed how they spent the last few episodes filling a bunch of kegs with gunpowder, rolling out the fuses, and then lighting them. Now it's a matter of figuring out when they'll start going off. The writers are quite good at creating tension within and between characters.
Any predictions on who dies? How it all ends?
I expect someone(s) to die, but unlike the first season, they didn't make it clear that only one person will die for sure. Maybe the whole bunch of them?
Well from the first episode we know one person died and Rocco mentioned multiple people dying on property. I doubt any dies from premeditated murder and is more like season 1 where they die on accident.
My suspicion is Bert accidentally dies from falling and hitting his head. He has now fallen twice that we know of: once at the pool and now in his room where he hit the nightstand.
The second death and body/leg we see at the beach, I’m guessing is going to be Dom. I think Dom either commits suicide or accidentally drowns.
I suspect something unsavory is going to come about regarding Tanya's new "friends." They were suspiciously friendly and welcoming with her and I'm wondering if there are some ulterior motives (trying to get after her money, maybe?). I don't think Tanya would die, though. Maybe Portia in some sort of unintended way.
That or Harper goes nuts kills everyone. She's been on the verge of snapping for two episodes now. (Though I don't actually think she or anyone in their group will die)
Pepsi, Where's My Jet? (on Netflix)
some guy bought $700k of Pepsi points in the 80s to cash them in for a Harrier Jet.
when Pepsi didnt give him one, he sues them!
funny, strange documentary. watched one of the episodes w/ my cousin in Madrid this weekend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzS8BQBcAu4
Would you recommend?
it was 11/19. interesting premise, people, etc.
HAG and I also happen to be very interested in fighter plans of this era, so it is especially interesting from that angle even though the documentary is mostly about the marketing scheme during the cola wars.
So did Pepsi actually have a jet as a prize option or was it some Pepsi executives crazy, coked out idea?
We learned about that case in law school! I think, to be fair to Pepsi, it seemed like it was fairly obviously a joke
The documentary also points out (via the dude's legal team) that, leading up to the fighter jet situation, Pepsi had a history of running shamelessly deceptive and dangerously irresponsible promotions in other countries that had some violent outcomes. Side note: my GF in high school's dad was a corporate lawyer for Pepsi who worked with Michael Jackson and I was hoping to see him in the doc but didnt!
I’m going to watch this now.
It was just a "clever" (deceptive) gag thought up by an ad agency for their commercial and wasn't in Pepsi's official catalog of prizes. Nobody on the Pepsi side thought to double check the fine print of their rules (that allows you, after the first 15 points, to purchase the balance of points for 10 cents a point) and realize the arbitrarily large number the ad agency chose (7,000,000) was actually feasible via this loophole, whereas collecting the points through cans alone was basically impossible. (The latter being the premise the ad agency used when choosing the number for the commercial).
it seemed that they did have it as an option, but had no intention of ever delivering because they figured no one would ever buy 700k Pepsis
Sheng Wang: Sweet and Juicy (Netflix, 15/19). Sheng delivers mostly-safe-for-work material in a Mitch Headberg-esque manner. He doesn't knock it out of the park, but consistently delivers jokes that are laugh-out-loud good. Not necessarily memorable, but definitely a very good time.
Loved that special
Our Crumbling Democracy
The main partner for Mazars, the accounting firm that did the Trump Organization's books, taxes, and personal taxes of the Trump family has taken the novel approach of "what? these forms? I didn't do them. I outsourced it to some schmuck down the road." TrumpOrg is moving toward impeaching its own witness because its trying to throw them under the bus with the "you should have stopped me before I killed again" defense.
https://www.wral.com/impeachment-talk-at-trump-org-trial-did-witness-misspeak/20602548/
Democrat with poor impulse control.
https://twitter.com/chelseastrub/status/1597265703761240064
interesting experience in Madrid talking to my right-wing cousin. not sure what/where he gets his news about the US, but my guess is that there must be some equivalent of Fox News.
among other things, he said that "a lot of dodgy things went on during the election that Trump lost"
Herschel Walker wants to strip voting rights of Georgians under 31 years of age because they haven't earned it. Meanwhile, Herschel Walker gets a vote.
https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1596911722111139841
heh...I wonder if most people under 31 are voting blue.
that was part of the prompt - "why are young people voting against us so much?"
Oh I didn't listen to the video.
that was the smart approach, it would make you feel dumber.
Elsewhere in college
Hugh Freeze to Auburn just in time to complete Auburn's villain backstory
I just today got an email from Stub-hub still trying to sell Cal football tickets. I'm thinking the souvenir market for unused Cal e-tickets might not be too strong.
Coach Prime confirmed he was offered the HC role at Colorado.
https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1597296010719465478
Bruh. Wut?
https://footballscoop.com/news/marcus-arroyo-will-not-return-at-unlv
Edit: School confirmed it.
https://unlvrebels.com/news/2022/11/28/unlv-announces-football-coaching-change.aspx
Arroyo is a veteran offensive coordinator of the college ranks at just 42 years old, holding the coordinator title at five of those stops - Oregon, Southern Miss, Cal, Wyoming, and San Jose State
He wasn't an OC at Cal.
Correct: Arroyo was QB coach. Coach Michalczik was OC during his stint.
Hmm, I thought Arroyo and Coach M split the duties and Arroyo was the passing game coordinator.
Pac12 ends season pretty well in the overall rankings
Pac-12: 6 (Nos. 4, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17)
SEC: 6 (Nos. 1, 6, 7, 11, 20, 25)
ACC: 3 (Nos. 10, 14, 24)
Big Ten: 3 (Nos. 2, 5, 8)
Big 12: 3 (Nos. 3, 13, 21)
American: 2 (Nos. 18, 22)
Conference USA: 1 (No. 23)
Independent: 1 (No. 19)
It’s unfortunate and somewhat predictable that USC, UCLA and the Pac12 finally seems to have gotten its shit together right before it all falls apart.
If UCLA and USC would only stay and we could add a few teams I think we could have a great media deal.
Exactly
Stanfurd Band does a tasteless halftime "skit" in the game against BYU. Shocking, I know.
https://twitter.com/jackson5payne/status/1596748569544835073
Executed with all the same cleverness and creativity I'd expect from a band whose entire concept is repeating the same joke over and over until you want to gouge your eyes out.
I'm not even sure if that's the right way to describe it. The skit would have to make sense in order to be tasteless.
It is possible for the Stanford band to miss the mark when they are trying to miss the mark.
I will never feel bad for BYU, this time I’m with the Stanford band.
Looks like there will be two CBS announcers getting sensitivity training
https://sports.yahoo.com/wichita-state-player-isaiah-poor-bear-chandler-calls-out-cbs-broadcasters-who-made-jokes-about-his-name-174146690.html
I thought it was going to be a joke about a poor play. Pooh Bear sounds better than Poor Bear though.
Nebraska hires Matt Rhule on an 8 year contract and who is still owed $40m from the Panthers
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35113383/nebraska-announces-matt-rhule-program-new-coach
They did Jim Leonhard dirty.
Hey, Willie Taggart is available
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35117207/florida-atlantic-fires-willie-taggart-3-seasons
He wouldn't be able to resist terrorizing the good folks of Rockridge
Is there a story here I may have missed?
Sorry, not a serious comment. Obscure cultural reference
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071230/characters/nm0001620?ref_=tt_cl_c_3
https://i.gifer.com/7Hxv.gif
not that obscure. I'll store this one away for later.
Hard pass
Michigan beats Ohio State 45-23
https://www.espn.com/college-football/recap?gameId=401405153
blahhhhh
tOSU going through some issues
https://twitter.com/sheridan120/status/1597355275098673152?t=fszKw9hSzckn3RhFZedveQ&s=19
are you back to the 'Ville?
Yes, for a couple days before I go to New York.
Want to hang out at Dublin's hottest bar on Wednesday?
Spencer Hall rides roughshod over OSU fans in the Shutdown After Dark.
So much blown coverage. It was delightful.
I spent Turkey Day at a cousin-in-law's house in Michigan, just outside Ann Arbor. Their daughters go to UM and MSU. I drove back at o-dark-thirty on Saturday morning. Despite my early departure, maps routed us off the normal route through Columbus that day because of the heavy traffic already at that hour. On the positive side, I got to see rural Ohio and their love of Trump banners.
Highly coveted Frederica Bimmell was from rural Ohio...Belvedere, to be exact. She went into Chicago on the bus to see about a job...she left the interview ok, but she never come home.
She was the first taken, but the 3rd body found...he weighed her down.
Very satisfying game. Watched it with my father in law, a Michigan fan due to his years of teaching there, mostly to try and keep him calm. He returned the favor during the SC game, not because he has any affection for SC but he certainly doesn't like Notre Dame.
It looked as if early on that OSU was going to win and were in control. Michigan played really well and hit a lot of big passing plays, stuck with the body blows in the run game and were rewarded with some knock out big play rushing TDs.
the MIchigan QB - who looks about 12 - is notorious for not being able to make far less complete long passes, so of course that was what he was nailing Ohio State with
Kenny Dillingham, who was still a twinkle in his daddy's eye when I started my freshman year at Cal, is named HC at ASU
This is a great f-ing hire. Slam dunk.
Charlie Ragle parlays his nine point victory over Beau Baldwin into a coaching job at ASU
https://247sports.com/college/arizona-state/Article/Idaho-State-Charlie-Ragle-ASU-football-coach-Kenny-Dillingham-Vince-Amey-198928761/
ASU has officially cornered the market of 3* Arizona high school recruits. We're doomed!
Air Raid specialist Jake Spavital is available after getting canned by Texas State from the HC position
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35121610/sources-texas-state-fires-jake-spavital-4-seasons
Apropos: Jeremiah Hawkins opted out of Cal's 2020 season and entered the portal. He transferred to Texas State for one season but never played a down. He entered the transfer portal again and went to Division II Missouri Southern. Hawkins didn't break the two-deep WR depth charts at MoSo, but was the primary kick returner. He finished the season with five catches, three rushes, and 17 kick returns.
has anyone with substantial eligibility transferred from Cal and had good success? I only recall hearing about folks who don't make any further headway.
Makai Polk, Mettauer, Herm Edwards, Brennan Scarlett, Perry Klein
Is he entering retread territory at this point?
Already, at 37?
Luke Fickell new HC of Wiscy. Badgers must have sold their souls to lure him away from Cincy.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35121689/sources-wisconsin-makes-push-hire-luke-fickell-coach
Badgers fire Chryst to keep Leonhard in the fold after he was rumored to be high on Nebraska’s list.
Nebraska hires Rhule, Wisconsin immediately hires Luke Fickell.
Look for Leonhard to be a candidate at Stanford.
I genuinely thought he was holding out for Ohio State.
So did I but Wisconsin is a good job and less pressure. Ryan Day is 45-5 and OSU fans and alumni are talking about firing him because he lost to Michigan in back to back seasons.
But so is Cincy, and they are headed to a Power 5. He was set up there, and already winning a lot. Wisconsin is a great program too, but they had to have lined up the bank trucks. Lots of them.
Shades of Frank Solich and Bo Pelini at Nebraska.
OSU stuns Oregon by coming from down 21 points late in the 3rd quarter. Beavers did it the hard way via a gashing rushing attack. Gulbranson had zero pass attempts during the comeback.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/playbyplay/_/gameId/401404047
Lots of handwringing by Oregon fans who think Lanning screwed up and lament their 9-3 record. A couple of folks said on the Oregon boards that they should have hired Wilcox.
Twice (UW and OSU) Lanning has went for it on 4th and 1 and he hasn’t converted where it cost his team.
Lanning also went for it on 4th down twice when chip shot FGs were available. Those would have won it, and even 1 of them would have allowed them to win it with an FG when they had to go for it down 4 (and fail) at the end.
The repeat of the mistake that cost the Washington game was in part due to concern after a blocked punt and another mis-handled punt. But it was still the wrong call with the lead 15 times out of 10.
But the real issue is Tosh's defense. He may need to get out of yet another town while the getting out is good.
Against the Huskies, he and everyone else knew the Dawgs, admittedly a very good passing team, was going to throw, throw, and throw some more, and the Ducks couldn't stop them.
Against the Beavers, he and everyone else knew OSU was going to run, run, and then run some more, and that same D couldn't stop them.
Terrible coaching largely lost the game, but Tosh couldn't keep Lanning and Dillingham safely out of range of hurting themselves.
I mentioned this last week, the decision for Lanning to go for it in Oregon Territory, when he did not do so on the prior Oregon possession when Oregon was up by four points at the UW 4th and 3 at the UW 8 yard line was a total headscratcher.
Lanning’s made a few questionable calls this year in critical situations.
high-risk 4th down plays that blew up against Washington and Oregon State in successive weeks would put anyone off
There was the win over Utah in between, so it wasn't successive weeks, but they did produce losses to the 2 teams Oregon can least afford or tolerate losing to.
Yep, the UW was particularly bad since Nix was out for that play and they ran it with their backup QB.
Utah holds CU to 18 yards and one first down while going up 42-0 at halftime. Utah punches ticket to Pac-12 championship, coasting to a 63-21 win
https://www.espn.com/college-football/recap?gameId=401404048
And Wilcox lost to Colorado.
Arguably the worst P5 loss in college football, for the second consecutive season...good on ya, Justin.
BYU beats Stanfurd 35-26 behind 358 yards rushing. Wasn't that close as Card scores in garbage time. Shaw resigns.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/boxscore/_/gameId/401404049
He said in the presser "that it was time."
I'd like to think that we broke his spirit.
Given the tone of the Athletic article, it sounds like the fan base is happy he’s gone.
https://theathletic.com/3929164/2022/11/28/stanford-football-david-shaw/?source=user_shared_article
They appreciate Shaw, but there is widespread concern that he isn't the one to turn things around, even if the institution (finally) makes the moves to correct at least some of the systemic problems that are going to make it almost impossible to turn it around. And, at least publicly, it was going to be really hard for the school to push the best coach they have ever had out.
Whether it was mostly his idea, or mostly a move/push to get in front of it, Shaw made a tough decision that needed to be made, but the university didn't want to make. The investors are fine with how it happened because it needed to happen.
I don't especially care for him as a coach, but I get the impression he's a good guy - like that story about him being a bone marrow donor via weeks of treatment for his brother in '18.
So they asked Bill for a comment?
Pro
DeSean Jackson catches 62 yard pass
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1596977478588805120?t=RIg2GaxY45HTN0mMA4PqCw&s=19
Venus Williams' step-mother - who is only a year older than her - is in financial trouble apparently because she's a gold digger.
[NSFW Warning: Source is the Sun, so there's likely booty or tiddies in the adverts.]
https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/6768493/serena-william-step-mom-lakeisha-debt/
49er offense struggled, but their defense comes up with timely forced fumbles to blank the Saints 13-0
https://www.espn.com/nfl/recap?gameId=401437870
Josh Jacobs puts the Raiders on his back to victory
https://www.espn.com/nfl/recap?gameId=401437868
Davante only needs one hand
https://twitter.com/Raiders/status/1597017157811941377
He is earning himself a lot of money. The Raiders look bad not picking up his 5th year extension.
I'm more than ok not giving out contracts to running backs.
Catch or Nah?
https://twitter.com/TimeoutSPORTS3/status/1595935373410111488
Completion. Right foot is inbounds when it comes down a second time, drags left toe. He appears to be in control of ball. But on that angle, we're straightlined: we can't see the ball once he pulls it into his chest. So, it's possible he doesn't have control and we can't tell that from this angle.
Incomplete. Left heel comes down out of bounds.
Looks like his toe touched before the heel came down. As long as he had the ball secured (you'd need another camera angle to confirm that), that looks like a catch to me.
I thought if the toe touches and the foot comes down, the whole foot has to be inbounds. If he taps the toe, takes it off the turf, then puts the foot down partially OOB, then I think it would be a catch.
At least I thought that's how it was. BTW I slept in a Holiday Inn Express last night...
It does. Once the heel came down, it's out of bounds...a toe is enough, provided the heel doesn't land. That heel out of bounds made it incomplete.
Great play tho.
The Fighting Marvin Jones' defeat the Baltimore Ravens
https://twitter.com/Jaguars/status/1596981581847363584
Jacksonville's mascot wore only sunglasses and a stuffed speedo.
https://twitter.com/NFL_Memes/status/1596951436117479425
I saw a funny clip where someone called him "horny Spongebob".
Lamar Jackson, please don’t feed or respond to the Twitter trolls. Nothing good comes from that.
Dan Snyder honors Sean Taylor by not including Sean Taylor in his "statue"
https://twitter.com/Scott7news/status/1596909502661816321
In addition to just being cheesy, apparently the uniform mixes and matches parts from different companies and is not something he ever wore. There were about a half dozen other details people picked up on.
He's wearing adidas SOCCER cleats!
That's one of the points of contention. But some, including his daughter, said he did sometimes wear soccer cleats when playing. I have no idea what the truth is. I didn't go back and look but some said the pants and jersey were different companies.
Details from WaPo.
Putting aside the debate about the merits of the general concept for the memorial, which some suggested looked like a display plucked out of a sporting goods store, the most disappointing aspect is its lack of personalization and attention to detail. The installation features burgundy Reebok pants and a white Nike No. 21 jersey; Taylor, who was shot and killed during a home invasion 15 years ago, never wore the latter because Nike didn’t become the NFL’s uniform provider until 2012. The soccer cleats, which Taylor was known to wear, are a nice touch, but not taping the face mask of the helmet the way Taylor used to is a huge miss. It all adds up to another unforced error by a franchise that botched the jersey retirement ceremony for Taylor a year ago. Perhaps the Commanders will try again in 2023.
I’m not shocked at all.
Aaron Rodgers exits the Packers' 40-33 loss to the Eagles.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35128020/packers-qb-rodgers-exits-game-vs-eagles-third-quarter
I didn't watch that one. Was he (Rodgers) injured or benched in favor of Love?
Injured ribs. He said he was worried about a collapsed lung.
[NBA] Warriors finally over 0.500 after their offensive outburst vs. the Timberwolves
https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401468446
they even have won a couple road games now!
Unemployed man decides to make himself a little bit less employable
https://www.local10.com/news/local/2022/11/27/police-escort-nfl-star-odell-beckham-jr-off-airplane-at-miami-international-airport/
Cal
A new meme arises
https://twitter.com/RottenTomatoes/status/1597275890937122816
Go Bears!!!
[MBB] Cal is 0-7 and may be challenged to defeat any of its Pac-12 opponents or the anywhere from very bad to awful EWU, Butler, and UT Arlington. Winless is a distinct possibility.
https://calbears.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule/2022-23
Let's shoot the moon.
I think 5 wins is the ceiling and 2 is the floor.
I think there will be one unexpected Pac-12 win. Probably OSU since they're bad as well aren't they?
Beavers are better than Cal. Tinkle cleaned house and reloaded….well, restocked.
They took Duke to the wire over the weekend, so maybe not as bad as previously thought
oh well then I stand corrected. No wins this year.
I still think we'll have one unexpected Pac-12 win. So 1-17 (or is it 1-15). Not sure how many Pac-12 games we play now.
Women's BB won two over the weekend to raise their record to 5-1. The Bears host a tourney this coming weekend.
I'll be there
That's great! Watchable basketball
Louisville is 0-6 that includes an official loss to Bellarmine and separately an exhibition loss to Lenoir-Rhyne. We should get together with them.
How did Louisville become so bad?
Wyking Jones at both Lousiville and Cal!
Why?King hasn't been at Louisville for 7 years. Their current problems aren't his doing.
Can I introduce you to the concept of "a joke"?
Yep, the common denominator.
You can make the argument that given the recent compliance issues, Louisville is no longer cheating…we know Cal doesn’t cheat. Maybe this is what you get when you don’t cheat?
The imperative at this point is to avert thine eyes.
Pumpkin
What do people do with their old pumpkins? Turn them into mulch? Try to plant the seeds and grow a pumpkin patch? I have about 10 pumpkins of various sizes from the very small ones to a 55 pound pumpkin.
Make pumpkin pie or baked pumpkin. Keep the seeds for next spring's planting.
Launch them via a trebuchet!
https://youtu.be/qC6RJxFEMfY
We have several acres of woods by our house, so I toss them in the woods and let the deer, squirrels, and whatever else eat them. This year they were completely eaten after about a week and a half.
Good use. No waste.
Probably bury them under one of our oak trees. If they grow, great! If not, they'll be food for the roots.
This is a good idea. I think I do this with some trees that I have in my backyard.
I scoop out the seeds before composting. I have learned the hard way that pumpkin seeds are very big/robust and they will likely survive composting to sprout.
Compost them, hopefully before the squirrels eat them, they mold, or they liquify.
Pie