was reading this about Bears in my new LOTR book, the Fall of Numenor
There were black and brown bears in considerable number on the island of Númenor during the Second Age. Like all the animals on the isle, they were friendly to Men. Though they did not like to be disturbed, living far from humans within mountainous or rocky areas, with the great black bears being mostly found within the Forostar. Yet they often came to visit houses and were given honey. While sometimes on rare occurrences, a Númenorean may be killed by bears or a "bad bear" would occasionally raid domesticated beehives, neither race considered these reasons to make war on the other. The strangest occurrence between the relations of Men and bears were the "bear-dances", which were curious dances put on by the bears, often black bears, for the delight and entertainment of Men, by whose instruction these bear-dances may have been improved upon. The most famous of the bear-dances was the Great Bear-dance of Tompollë, performed annually in the Forostar during autumn
Cal football trivia fun fact. Sponsored by Tammany Hall.
This is the first time since 1999 that the Bears have finished a season with exactly four wins. (Technically the Bears were winless that year due to the use of ineligible players.) If you don’t count ’99 then the the Bears’ last four-win season was 1994. The Bears last lost eight games in a season in 2000. This is the first time that the Bears have finished 4-8.
Justin Wilcox is only the second Cal football coach to coach beyond five seasons despite an overall losing record. The other is Ray Willsey who in eight seasons finished at 40-42.
I close the season with a much more fun trivia fact: The prolific offense of the 1975 Bears — led by Joe Roth, Chuck Muncie Steve Rivera and Wesley Walker — finished with exactly 2,522 yards rushing and 2,522 passing.
Thank you to everyone for your amazing support throughout this season. We have been overwhelmed by your cards, letters, telegrams, emails, smoke signals and texts. A big thank you to DBD for hosting us.
We look forward to seeing many of you at our end-of-the-season awards banquet next Saturday. (Tickets are available via Eventbrite.) It will be a star-studded gala co-emceed by SGBear and Beyonce Knowles.
This course is useless if are no lessons on loudly groaning, heckling the speakers, and eventually being forced to slam a gavel repeatedly while shouting "Ordeuuuuhhhhhh, ordeuuuuuhhhh!"
New Mexico State U - after upsetting Liberty 49-14 despite being a 24 point underdog - is applying to be bowl eligible despite being only 5-6 and the other wins being against putrid UMass, Hawaii, New Mexico, and FCS Lamar. They even lost to a terrible Nevada, UTEP, and FIU teams.
San Jose St should make up that postponed game with the Aggies this weekend. That would provide NM St with the chance for a quality win (relatively speaking) that would get them bowl eligible. It's not as if SJ St will be busy with the Mt West Championship game or anything.
Another instance in the time-honored tradition of programs cratering just in time for an OOC game against Cal. What horrors are in store in Gainesville in a few years?
This is a reminder to UConn, effing UConn, is bowl eligible because they beat Central CT, Fresno State, FIU, UMass, BC, and Liberty (ha!). They lost to Utah State, Ball State, and Army.
Fan injured after fireworks/flares thrown at a Turkish second-division football match. An ambulance is called onto the pitch. Opposing fan does the next logical thing.
In the early ‘60’s, future Cal SS Pa Chitwood hit OJ Simpson with a pitch in a little league game in the City. OJ went absolutely nuts and had to be restrained by teammates. Apparently, for a split second, the Chitwood line was almost wiped out.
This would have actually prevented years of Cal sports related pain, and literally 40+ years worth of being disappointed by Newellbany.
I remember the Chron published a list of the biggest water use offenders in the East Bay according to EBMUD. Billy Beane, having bought Jeff Tedford's house, was on it.
Arizona's Cochise County refuses to certify their county results. It may be posturing, but if they do fail to certify their election by Dec 7, it will reverse GOP victories in one US House seat race and one seat in the State Education Board race.
We only have one. I got in touch with Verizon a while ago because my cable box was fried and they wouldn't send me a new one unless I re-upped with a new package. I suspect that in practice this one is going to be a lot worse... but the relevant point here is that they're sending a multi-room DVR setup because apparently they don't cater to people with one television.
Plenty of spares in the Chitwood house, as growing up in Hickory, IN in 1951, nobody had them…
Cable box TVs in living room, office and kitchen…Roku one in bedroom…plus an iPad to stream…the house is 1100 sq ft, and you’re never far from a screen.
old 42" TV gets moved under the 55" wall mounted when No 2 and 3 both want to play PS4/XBox at the same time (like Rocket League or COD:Warzone with each other). Or the Wii since the wall mounted one doesn't have component inputs.
Not sure I have the measurements right, but I think it's a 55" mounted over the fireplace in my living room, and a 46" sitting on a stand in the den. The latter is newer and actually gives a better picture (probably because it's optimized for 4K? Even though I never use 4K?).
I have that sous vide cooker, or maybe the bluetooth one. I don't use it often but it does a great job. I Just use a large pot, but you could go for something like this to hold what you're cooking. I'm thinking about getting something like this because the pot does limit the size of the thing being cooked. I just don't use it often enough to need one.
after consulting a bit w/ HAG we got this one. on the other hand, i will say that HAG's pizzas are better than ours, but mostly due to the cooking i think ...
Really it comes down to going through the cooking process a few times. The first couple I made weren't very good. I figured out that I needed to shake the peel that held the crust while making the pizza so that it wouldn't stick when I pushed it into the oven. And it takes a few times to figure out the best way to shake the peel to make the crust slide off into the oven. Also you want to make sure the pizza stone is hot, so above 600-700 degrees.
Mine is an older one that they don't make anymore. It's the 12" dual fuel with the wood pellets and the propane. I think it depends on if you want to use Wood pellets, wood/charcoal, or gas. I like the wood pellets but I have to buy them, and the hopper is small so I need to refill between each pizza. HSB has the wood/charcoal one and it holds larger wood/charcoal chunks so it requires fewer refills to keep the heat going.
Gas starts faster and you don't need to refill the fuel so that's more convenient. I think it really comes down to which fuel you want to use.
I also recommend getting Type 00 pizza flour. I get this one. The pizza flour has more gluten (?) so it stretches better without ripping.
about Peloton. if you have never done a studio spin class before, then Peloton is probably the overall best combo of device plus technology and ecosystem.
not cheap though, since you have to pay the monthly fee. but i would still recommend.
personally, i have the Stages bike because i prefer the no-metrics style of a Soul Cycle class. and i have a power meter attached for when i want to track power and ride virtually on a platform like Zwift.
One last question. Should I buy a new one or look for a used one? I read that a lot of people bought them during the pandemic and are now trying to unload them because they aren’t really using them.
CAL
Go Bears!!!
Go Bears!
was reading this about Bears in my new LOTR book, the Fall of Numenor
There were black and brown bears in considerable number on the island of Númenor during the Second Age. Like all the animals on the isle, they were friendly to Men. Though they did not like to be disturbed, living far from humans within mountainous or rocky areas, with the great black bears being mostly found within the Forostar. Yet they often came to visit houses and were given honey. While sometimes on rare occurrences, a Númenorean may be killed by bears or a "bad bear" would occasionally raid domesticated beehives, neither race considered these reasons to make war on the other. The strangest occurrence between the relations of Men and bears were the "bear-dances", which were curious dances put on by the bears, often black bears, for the delight and entertainment of Men, by whose instruction these bear-dances may have been improved upon. The most famous of the bear-dances was the Great Bear-dance of Tompollë, performed annually in the Forostar during autumn
https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Bears
I suggest that Tolkien was not a stranger to hallucinogens.
hahaha
Cal football trivia fun fact. Sponsored by Tammany Hall.
This is the first time since 1999 that the Bears have finished a season with exactly four wins. (Technically the Bears were winless that year due to the use of ineligible players.) If you don’t count ’99 then the the Bears’ last four-win season was 1994. The Bears last lost eight games in a season in 2000. This is the first time that the Bears have finished 4-8.
Justin Wilcox is only the second Cal football coach to coach beyond five seasons despite an overall losing record. The other is Ray Willsey who in eight seasons finished at 40-42.
I close the season with a much more fun trivia fact: The prolific offense of the 1975 Bears — led by Joe Roth, Chuck Muncie Steve Rivera and Wesley Walker — finished with exactly 2,522 yards rushing and 2,522 passing.
Thank you to everyone for your amazing support throughout this season. We have been overwhelmed by your cards, letters, telegrams, emails, smoke signals and texts. A big thank you to DBD for hosting us.
We look forward to seeing many of you at our end-of-the-season awards banquet next Saturday. (Tickets are available via Eventbrite.) It will be a star-studded gala co-emceed by SGBear and Beyonce Knowles.
And oh by the way…Go Bears!!!
Jesus, I better hurry and get my velvet tux dry-cleaned for that event.
ICYMI: DeCal had the following classes this semester:
Adulting (full)
Pokemon
Kanye West
Harry Potter franchise
The Kardashian family business empire
Percy Jackson
How to play the Sather Tower bells
Cal Spirit, History, and Traditions
https://decal.berkeley.edu/courses
Kiddie Lit was a regular upper division English class when I was in school.
I wouldn't mind taking Intro to Surgery. I have no practical application for it, but I've always found it interesting.
British Parliamentary Debate
This course is useless if are no lessons on loudly groaning, heckling the speakers, and eventually being forced to slam a gavel repeatedly while shouting "Ordeuuuuhhhhhh, ordeuuuuuhhhh!"
Dario Longhetto in the portal as a grad
https://twitter.com/DarioLonghetto/status/1597753681717653504?t=NHxWll_AvICkx_623b1GYw&s=19
Ben Coleman in the portal as a grad transfer
https://twitter.com/benjiicoleman/status/1597785062568734720?t=SJbZlHXzdy9RBa0kTbLFTQ&s=19
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
New Mexico State U - after upsetting Liberty 49-14 despite being a 24 point underdog - is applying to be bowl eligible despite being only 5-6 and the other wins being against putrid UMass, Hawaii, New Mexico, and FCS Lamar. They even lost to a terrible Nevada, UTEP, and FIU teams.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35131675/new-mexico-state-5-6-seeks-waiver-play-bowl-game
San Jose St should make up that postponed game with the Aggies this weekend. That would provide NM St with the chance for a quality win (relatively speaking) that would get them bowl eligible. It's not as if SJ St will be busy with the Mt West Championship game or anything.
ICYMI: High 5 during FCS playoff
https://twitter.com/ESPNCFB/status/1596640858773725184
I remember Desean The Wizard of Returns Jackson did it vs Tennessee. Though I guess it was a low 5.
It's official. Emperor Palpatine joins Auburn
https://twitter.com/AuburnFootball/status/1597368117013151745
SI reports that Freeze had to give up social media as part of his deal.
https://www.si.com/college/2022/11/29/auburn-hires-hugh-freeze-as-new-head-coach-football-dash
But not escort services…
They will be providing weekly burner phones
Auburn's SB Nation site starts off on this foot
https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2022/11/28/23481893/do-not-hire-hugh-freeze
Another instance in the time-honored tradition of programs cratering just in time for an OOC game against Cal. What horrors are in store in Gainesville in a few years?
Texas too. I remember we beat them twice. They must have cratered beforehand.
MSU fined $100k and has seven players suspended for at least four games in 2023 due to tunnel incident vs. UM.
https://bigten.org/news/2022/11/28/general-big-ten-conference-official-statement.aspx
Shuttled rival teams through the same tunnel, at the same time, what could go wrong?
This is a reminder to UConn, effing UConn, is bowl eligible because they beat Central CT, Fresno State, FIU, UMass, BC, and Liberty (ha!). They lost to Utah State, Ball State, and Army.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/41/uconn-huskies
Upcoming Army/Navy will have Army dressed like Rockstar Energy drink and Navy dressed like a commemorative space camp t-shirt
https://www.militarytimes.com/smr/army-navy-game/2022/11/28/army-football-reveals-wwii-themed-uniform-for-navy-matchup/
https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/military-sports/army-navy-game/2022/11/23/navy-unveils-astronaut-themed-uniform-for-annual-clash-with-rival-army/
A bit weird
Now I can't unsee the rockstar energy drink uniforms
I like the Nasa ones, the Army ones are kinda meh
Stanford coaching candidates: Chris Petersen, Bronco Mendenhall among leading options to replace David Shaw
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/stanford-coaching-candidates-chris-petersen-bronco-mendenhall-among-leading-options-to-replace-david-shaw/
It's hard to visualize a coach at white-shoe Stanford named Bronco.
How about one nicknamed "Cactus Jack"? That really happened.
Here's to Cactus Jack, boys,
The dirty son of a <bleep>.
I seem to remember a song that went something like that.
LOL. Ah the memories of dark motives.
that sounds disturbingly familiar (i.e., reading it in what is likely the cadence of the tune just happens).
Petersen? I thought he retired?
[HS] "Butler squares up to bunt. He pops it up. Oh. Homerun. Open Door Christian leads St. Bartholomew Academy 32-15 in the bottom of the third."
https://cdn.myportfolio.com/e97b40c3-67e8-483a-b6fa-cf4f46181e7f/4e705fce-120b-4ced-af5a-3e24000db957_rw_3840.jpg?h=1ad0db952c0983ecb2c151b0c0f4c90a
Meanwhile, Ka'u High school has a 600 foot left field fence and a 236 foot RF corner.
https://twitter.com/davehrus/status/1597342266032500737
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kau+High+%26+Pahala+Elementary+School/@19.2023656,-155.4823037,204m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xf5c550c7a903632!8m2!3d19.2027016!4d-155.4786495
Great review of weird baseball fields.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnMac11Csow&t=31s&ab_channel=JomboyMedia
PRO
How was your Thanksgiving? Probably better than AJ Browns.
https://twitter.com/CrossingBroad/status/1597102302481219585
Cook those turkeys to 165, folks
Rory regrets trying to kill Tiger
https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/35131589/rory-mcilroy-says-gave-tiger-woods-covid-open
Cleveland's DeHappyEnding Watson activated
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35131811/browns-activate-deshaun-watson-ban-waive-joshua-dobbs
Fan injured after fireworks/flares thrown at a Turkish second-division football match. An ambulance is called onto the pitch. Opposing fan does the next logical thing.
https://twitter.com/AbartmaGizemcim/status/1596909604344332289
Turkish football is *wild*
Kind of puts the incident postgame on the field between an Oregon player and an OSU fan in a different perspective.
Seattle is famous for its 12th man
https://twitter.com/Sanjit__T/status/1597101612891537409
Collin Morikawa gets married to Katherine Zhu (Pepperdine golf). Mazel tov to them.
[Slightly NSFW bikini shots on her 'gram]
https://www.instagram.com/katherinezhuu/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=33536cec-af61-4207-ab9d-918b375377af
No more Mexico.
WORLD CUP
Canelo Alvarez might hit harder than the typical "attack" on Messi
https://www.tmz.com/2022/11/28/canelo-alvarez-threatens-lionel-messi-seemingly-disrespecting-mexico/
U.S. holds on 1-0. Netherlands up next on Saturday.
a little tense there right at the end as Iran had a couple chances to score.
The bad news is that Pulisic (who scored the lone goal) might be too injured to play in the next match. Fingers crossed.
SHE BLINDED ME WITH...
Organ donation rates rise during biker rallies, according to Harvard.
https://hms.harvard.edu/news/organ-donations-transplants-increase-days-largest-motorcycle-rallies
the old jokes about "donor-cycles" didn't come from nowhere
DBD AV CLUB
OJ
In the early ‘60’s, future Cal SS Pa Chitwood hit OJ Simpson with a pitch in a little league game in the City. OJ went absolutely nuts and had to be restrained by teammates. Apparently, for a split second, the Chitwood line was almost wiped out.
This would have actually prevented years of Cal sports related pain, and literally 40+ years worth of being disappointed by Newellbany.
Our dying planet
Hey California, more of the same next year...
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/28/us-warns-california-cities-possible-water-cuts-in-fourth-dry-year.html
The green lawn tradition of some is dying. Go for a native plant garden with drought resistant species.
My brother in Hayward did that and it looks better than a lawn. I have to say his design skills are way better that I would have thought.
I remember the Chron published a list of the biggest water use offenders in the East Bay according to EBMUD. Billy Beane, having bought Jeff Tedford's house, was on it.
It will die for the poor and middle class but the wealthy and rich will still enjoy using a ton of water for their perfectly manicured lawns.
Eh, not all of them I would guess.
interesting use of multi-media in a Washington Post article about how and why Virginia has seen and probably will see faster rates of rising coastal waters than other parts of the US https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2022/east-coast-sea-level-rise/
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Arizona's Cochise County refuses to certify their county results. It may be posturing, but if they do fail to certify their election by Dec 7, it will reverse GOP victories in one US House seat race and one seat in the State Education Board race.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/arizona-secretary-of-state-sues-gop-controlled-county-over-refusal-to-certify-election-results/ar-AA14FCVY
US Rep Donald McEachin (D, VA-4) has died.
https://us.cnn.com/2022/11/28/politics/donald-mceachin-virginia-congressman-dies/index.html
Dem dreams of a ‘real’ majority hinge on Georgia
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/29/democrat-majority-georgia-midterm-results-00071033
Erin go shaka brah
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dariosabaghi/2022/11/28/ireland-aims-to-legalize-cannabis-for-personal-use/
Spare TV
We only have one. I got in touch with Verizon a while ago because my cable box was fried and they wouldn't send me a new one unless I re-upped with a new package. I suspect that in practice this one is going to be a lot worse... but the relevant point here is that they're sending a multi-room DVR setup because apparently they don't cater to people with one television.
No spare. Only one in the living room.
Plenty of spares in the Chitwood house, as growing up in Hickory, IN in 1951, nobody had them…
Cable box TVs in living room, office and kitchen…Roku one in bedroom…plus an iPad to stream…the house is 1100 sq ft, and you’re never far from a screen.
a 65" TV in the media room that nobody watches....
old 42" TV gets moved under the 55" wall mounted when No 2 and 3 both want to play PS4/XBox at the same time (like Rocket League or COD:Warzone with each other). Or the Wii since the wall mounted one doesn't have component inputs.
Those Wii games were great! But my controllers went bad.
I have a 55 inch TV in my backyard mounted on the outside brick of my fireplace.
I have a 40 inch mounted in my bedroom.
I plan on converting a portion of my garage into a home gym and will probably mount a couple 50 inch TVs in there.
we have quite a few extras
- one in the kitchen so i can watch sports while cooking, esp Super Bowl prep.
- two in basement for working out/Zwift and watching something simultaneously
- one in attic for kids to play video games and movies for sleepover.
usually, when a newer and better one is bought, it pushes up the sizes and qualities of the others.
This is a single TV household.
Not sure I have the measurements right, but I think it's a 55" mounted over the fireplace in my living room, and a 46" sitting on a stand in the den. The latter is newer and actually gives a better picture (probably because it's optimized for 4K? Even though I never use 4K?).
4K is great!
no spare in our house. and it seems harder and harder to get one that doesn't require an internet connection to spy on you as well.
One in the "breakfast room" next to the kitchen - and we're going to get a 3rd for the dinning room soonish.
Is it a room, or more of a nook? I’m partial to nooks, myself.
Halfway between a Nook & a full room.
Tell the DBD three things you wish from Santa this year. The idea is to perhaps give ideas to other DBDers.
A Danish Dough Whisk. Mixes non-yeast doughs without overbeating them.
https://shop.kingarthurbaking.com//items/dough-whisk?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInv_rtNzT-wIV2BXUAR3EIAYzEAQYAyABEgIxVvD_BwE
Nettuno Colatura Sauce. It's fish sauce for wypipo.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CRIFGM/
A sous vide cooker
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WQ4M5TS/
I have that sous vide cooker, or maybe the bluetooth one. I don't use it often but it does a great job. I Just use a large pot, but you could go for something like this to hold what you're cooking. I'm thinking about getting something like this because the pot does limit the size of the thing being cooked. I just don't use it often enough to need one.
https://smile.amazon.com/EVERIE-Container-EVC-12-Collapsible-Hinged/dp/B07GQV5C4P
A new chancellor
A new AD
A new football HC
Then one of my 3 is:
A new basketball HC.
1. A new OC
2. A new OL coach
3. A new MBB head coach
Same. This seems like a reasonable set of demands, er, gifts.
Have OC coach pull double duty as the OL, make wish #3 a new AD, and we’re home.
Also will the new look include a special teams coach?
Nah. It worked way better not having a ST coach.
Enough money that I can make all of those things happen.
Ooni Pizza Oven
Nostalgia Popcorn Maker
Peloton (or something similar to a peloton, would anyone recommend this?)
I love my Ooni. Just made pizza the day before thanksgiving.
Which Ooni do you recommend? I’m sure they are all great.
after consulting a bit w/ HAG we got this one. on the other hand, i will say that HAG's pizzas are better than ours, but mostly due to the cooking i think ...
https://www.rei.com/product/194315/ooni-pizza-ovens-karu-12-multi-fuel-pizza-oven
Really it comes down to going through the cooking process a few times. The first couple I made weren't very good. I figured out that I needed to shake the peel that held the crust while making the pizza so that it wouldn't stick when I pushed it into the oven. And it takes a few times to figure out the best way to shake the peel to make the crust slide off into the oven. Also you want to make sure the pizza stone is hot, so above 600-700 degrees.
Mine is an older one that they don't make anymore. It's the 12" dual fuel with the wood pellets and the propane. I think it depends on if you want to use Wood pellets, wood/charcoal, or gas. I like the wood pellets but I have to buy them, and the hopper is small so I need to refill between each pizza. HSB has the wood/charcoal one and it holds larger wood/charcoal chunks so it requires fewer refills to keep the heat going.
Gas starts faster and you don't need to refill the fuel so that's more convenient. I think it really comes down to which fuel you want to use.
I also recommend getting Type 00 pizza flour. I get this one. The pizza flour has more gluten (?) so it stretches better without ripping.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FW74Z8R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I like how Amazon is like:
Big Bag o' Flour Processed to Have More Gluten
Gluten Free ✅
Thanks everyone for your help on this!! Santa appreciates it.
about Peloton. if you have never done a studio spin class before, then Peloton is probably the overall best combo of device plus technology and ecosystem.
not cheap though, since you have to pay the monthly fee. but i would still recommend.
personally, i have the Stages bike because i prefer the no-metrics style of a Soul Cycle class. and i have a power meter attached for when i want to track power and ride virtually on a platform like Zwift.
Thanks for this! This was really helpful!
One last question. Should I buy a new one or look for a used one? I read that a lot of people bought them during the pandemic and are now trying to unload them because they aren’t really using them.
this is true. i bet you can get a good deal on a barely used one.
they are pretty sturdy overall, so i think as long as the electronics is good, then you might be in good shape
Thanks again!!
getting my wife a matcha tea whisk
for myself, i like maps
https://www.smithsonianstore.com/history-of-the-world-map-by-map-10959
Some ideas for your wish list, then: https://transitmap.net/2022-transit-maps-gift-guide/