Watched "78/52: Hitchcock's Shower Scene" on PlutoTV over the weekend. 13/19. I love "Psycho", and this documentary about the shower scene is very well-done (including interviews with Anthony Perkins' son and Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh's daughter). Some very interesting tidbits about the scene and the movie itself that I didn't know before. My only complaint is that it maybe got TOO analytical about the scene and the meaning of certain things that took place during that scene and in the scenes surrounding it. It's definitely worth a look.
1. Best opening 30 mins of any movie ever. Sort of like the embodiment of Shakespeare’s ideal that you should start every play with a sword fight to grab the audience’s attn.
2. I really like the ending scene where the ark is placed in a Byzantine warehouse where it will be evidently lost. A nice metaphor for so many bureaucratic nonsense you encounter in life.
Re-watched Jackie Brown yesterday, get's better with each viewing. Especially impressed this time around with Pam Grier and and Robert Forster's performances. Recently read Tarantino's book Cinema Speculation which I can recommend heartily to cinephiles.
Had kind of a wacky short history this last few days - Saturday my daughter suggested Robin Hood; 1939, Errol Flynn - a very good movie, but even she had seen some time before (maybe too young? I don't remember). I re-watched 21 Jump Street, which I quite liked - had some issues with a few parts, but generally quite enjoyed it.
Started the TV show The Righteous Gemstones - which was wild and crazy, but still had a lot of fun, will be watching more episodes.
White Lotus managed to wrap things up in its disturbing way. Not as many deaths as I expected, but much more than one anyway. Made it hard for me to continue reading...
What I'm reading now is Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. Made into a series which I might watch later. So far (about 40% into the book), it reminds me a lot of some of my own experiences.
HBO really really needs to hire a boating consultant if they are going to wrap up a series like that. The yacht drops anchor and stops letting out chain when it hits the bottom, which is not how you anchor a boat (it needs to be reversing so the anchor can lay flat on the ground and bite the sea floor). The very next scene is a shot of the front of the yacht with the exact same anchor still on the bow and no other anchor out, so the boat is now adrift. The hitman climbs up a ladder to board the yacht after tying up to the stern. In the final scenes not only is there no ladder, but the dinghy is tied up so that you would board it from the swim step at the stern. There is even a shot where you can see the steps down to the swim step/dinghy right behind Tanya with an easy step on to the boat that would take her to safety. The next outside shot shows the dinghy right next to the swim step with Tanya looking down at the boat wondering how to get down with the stairs just to her right. I get it, they needed to write her out of the series and most people won't notice these things, but it was so frustrating to watch.
She also needs to run to the bow to hang over the front to text her assistant, predictably resulting in her dropping her phone. C'mon
I agree, all those things are kinda annoying. For a show that looks like it has high production values, they should be able to get these simple things right.
This is without mentioning that she was alone on board, everyone was either dead or had jumped overboard. So she had all the time in the world to figure out a way off the boat. Or fuck it, drive the boat directly into shore, we know there was no anchor down.
As someone with enough boating experience to know that I get horrifically seasick and now have no plans to spend any amount time on boats, I thought it looked like it would have been easier to get on the dinghy if she took the long way around rather than jumping. Or, at the very least, jump in the water and then climb aboard.
"These gays, they're trying to murder me!" The whole climax aboard the boat was such a well done combination of suspense and comedy. And Tanya's death was absolutely perfect for her character (as much as I hated to see her go).
FET: Well, this just happened. My wife calls me and says she is returning with a homeless person in the car and that I'm to cook her a meal. The last thing she said was "she's Romanian and you probably shouldn't cook anything with pork". She hangs up.
"Huh?", I think. Then I put two and two together. Not pork = she has her head covered. She's not Muslim. She's Romani.
Great. I start cooking a big old omelet. She is invited in and the "dikhlo" headscarf confirms she is Romani. My wife says oh, we need to help her. We need to get her social services. The woman is illiterate, so my wife is trying to communicate via yes/no questions on Google Translate with the sound on. My wife has met Romani before, so I am surprised she doesn't recognize her attire.
My wife is chattering on and after a while, I interrupt. I point to the lady and ask her point blank: "Romani?"
She nods.
My wife pauses. I look at her. She looks at me. I say "if she needs to go to the bathroom she goes to the powder room and you don't take your eyes off her because she's..."
"I GOT it", she acknowledges.
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My wife and I have dealt with Romani in the Balkans and Italy many, many times - all were negative experiences. At best, it was begging. At worst, it was attempted scams or attempted pickpocketing. It gets to the point where if one saw Romani approaching, you crossed the road and if they crossed with you, you got into an aggressive position.
The lady is now declining all forms of social services. Doesn't want to be driven anywhere.
"What do I do?", my wife asks.
"Feed her and send her on her way"
"Do you want money?", my wife types.
She nods.
My wife smiles, but her eyes don't. "Eh. I'll still give her, like, 10 bucks, but dammit, why does this always happen to me."
I say "because you have a good heart"
"I can't believe that I might have almost fell for a scam this morning, but it is what it is".
I studied abroad in Hungary and did extensive traveling through Central Europe and never had any issues with Romani. I know most Europeans dislike them.
On of my residency directors trained in Romania. He had a ton of very interesting experiences since he lived in a Roma neighborhood at the time. He did some (largely involuntary) medical favors for them so they extended him protection (from...them).
Worst experience he had was one guy pulling a knife on him to do futile surgery on his mother but he was very gracious afterward instead of upset when it indeed proved futile. Most of the other stuff was them calling for an ambulance (apparently physicians rode along back then) and it essentially became an impromptu community clinic instead of an actual medical emergency.
We went to Romania while studying abroad as part of a cultural immersion learning lesson where we stayed in a small village with ethnically/culturally/linguistic Hungarians. They took us to a Romani flea market, it was an interesting experience.
We've got an office in Bucharest. I think the week after the event in Budapest next Sept, we're going to go visit that office. Will be interesting to see the country.
The event is the week after the Auburn game in Berkeley so I may be arriving in the middle of the first day. Depends on when the Auburn game is and when I can get a flight out.
You can call me an asshole if you wish, but if my wife did something like this (she would not have, by 100% as far as I'm concerned) - I would have been 100% pissed about this move.
My wife has this approach: for homeless people, she carries a few McDonald's gift cards. Then you know they will be used for food and not other ...stuff. Most of the time these are accepted gladly.
The local McDs is good about letting the homeless hang there now that the weather has cooled as long as they don't make trouble. There's a guy from Central America who stays just inside the front door and I see him wiping off the tables and keeping things neat. I stop and give him a buck whenever I see him and he always asks for a weather report. We manage to communicate with my broken Spanish and his broken English.
My wife and I went to Italy for our honeymoon in 97. We were on the train from Milan to Venice and got to talking to an Italian lady who was talking about Romani in terms that were like one step short of ethnic cleansing support, and I was genuinely shocked. After 10 days of being constantly hassled and also getting my pocket picked on the bus in Rome en route to the Vatican, I wasn't quite as sympathetic when I saw Romani kids being hustled away from tourist spots by the local cops.
BTW re: the pocket-picking episode: my wife knew that the woman who did it was a Romani pickpocket and moved away, assuming that I realized this as well. All I had in my wallet was my license, one credit card, and enough cash to pay for museum entry and lunch. She took the wallet out of my front pocket, removed the cash, and put the wallet back in my pocket, and I didn't notice AT ALL. Honestly, since it was about $50, I was mad, but also really kind of impressed. Gave me a story if nothing else.
Eh, I've said this before (sorry if it sounds like I'm bragging) but when we were in Italy for three weeks (friends hill place, Florence, then Rome) no one ever even got close to try to rob us.
The guy to tried to pick my pocket near the Colosseum (in Rome) was, fortunately, clumsy, and I easily felt his hand in my front pocket. I grabbed my wallet from the outside and took off. The guy kept his hand in my pocket and kept pace, even when I broke into a run. Probably it looked rather odd. He finally gave up when I got near a train. Once on the train, though, another guy did the same thing to my friend who was with me.
That's where a group of kids swarmed me and I felt one of them trying to get my wallet. Fortunately it was wedged too tight in my front pocket so he couldn't get it quickly.
It was sort of disturbing is that while the guys we encountered were clumsy, they were also quite a bit bigger than me and my friend. Fortunately there was no violence.
The X-Files fan in me says it certainly seems odd...he apparently didn't have COVID, he was on antibiotics/cough syrup and feeling better, he questions a Qatari official about another worker death (a migrant worker from the Philippines died in a forklift accident??), and boom, he's gone.
It does seem strange. Apparently they didn't have AED equipment in the stadium, so it's possible that he might actually just have been super unlucky to have a heart attack somewhere with inadequate resources.
In the shifting news landscape, Grant's brother says FIFA says they DID have AED equipment in the stadium.
Eric Wahl
@ziplamak
·
Update: We are traveling with Grant's body to the medical examination & autopsy. Per a US gov official, FIFA is saying AEDs were available at the stadium. Thank you to American Airlines for their incredible help. Thank you to the NY Port Authority & the US government. Humbled.
It is interesting how basically all of the US reporting on this game was from the English POV (heartbreaking loss! More frustration! Oh the woe!). Meanwhile the French team is a favorite to repeat and has the arguably best and most exciting player in the world on their team. Just is sort of amusing that that side of it is almost totally ignored. I guess this is from the press corps that churns out endless random stories about Harry and Meghan, so figures. 😀
Well Kane made the first, missed the second that would have tied it. Should have won seems a tad strong, they were down most of the game and so were pressing more
England pretty much bottled up Mbappe, but France is much more than just Mbappe.
They weren't really looked at as a favorite to repeat because, repeating in the World Cup is super difficult and France lost a lot of talent to injuries (Kante, Pogba, Mendy) so they weren't high pre-tournament.
Also Kane missing a penalty as England loses again on a penalty is a pretty story. France showing class and Giroud scoring a goal with his meaty French forehead isn't much of a story.
Fair point that Kane missing on his second penalty was the main point of drama, but still much of the coverage is not even about the events of the game itself, but about fan reaction, player reaction, and so on.
I think no matter what happened in this game, the press in the USA would have covered the English perspective. The preview articles were mostly from POV of England. (Could this be the year?!?!)
I don’t think French were pre tourney faves but they certainly are now and probably were the moment Brazil lost.
Just funny that we still have this pro English bias 200+ years after independence. I mean these are the dudes that burned down the White House! 😀
I genuinely think it's because for years, the English premiere league was the only one for which you could find coverage in English, and people made up their minds then.
an absolutely great watch - I wasn't able to see the whole thing, but I caught the last 20 minutes or so of regulation plus the rest, quality entertainment.
Was at the Men in Blazers live show in SF on Saturday night - Rog was making the case that JK and GGG spend too much time and energy trying to prove that the US can win by playing beautiful attacking football - he says "who cares? Just fucking win - even if that means bunkering and attacking on the counter"
.. in 2015 artificial intelligence (AI) researchers designed a game-winning strategy for Texas Hold ’em, a variation of poker with 10^164 possible game states.
That number, however, is but a fraction of the 10^535 possible states for the board game Stratego.
Surprising, just when I thought I couldn't loathe this guy more than I do. Being the wealthiest man in the world while owning the largest social media platform equals way too much unchecked power for one individual.
Other than some of the headlines making it sound like fusion is ready to power the world next year (there are still plenty of steps to go), this is first of several important milestones to reach.
My last job in PR. Took significantly less money to work with a company that was a 7min bike ride from house and appeared to have tremendous upside. Turns out the founder/CEO was manipulative and attempted to leverage my work with a client after convincing them to spend waaayyy too much money on CES. Basically saying if you want him to continue to work on your account we need more money (and it wasn't going to result in a raise for me). The client (their largest) fired our firm and they no longer had the funds to keep me on board. I got burned and left the PR world for good. Positive side, I found/created a job that I love to this day, but boy did that guy fumble the ball.
I have already gotten to the place where I realize that I am not going to have a flawless career, not see everything, taste everything experience everything. It was a moment of profound sadness, followed by my current period of happiness because FOMO no longer is a problem. I just have to convince my wife of this, who is having a pretty bad stretch of midlife crisis due to FOMO.
I had a similar realization but in stages. The first part I let go was in some regards the hardest, as it related to admitting that I've gone about as far as I'm going professionally. It fundamentally comes down to - I'm not good at sales / business development, I don't do it, and in the market segment in which I work, that means I'll be working away in project / program management for non-prestige companies until I retire - but hell, at least I can reasonably expect to retire, that's something. As for traveling etc., I'm trying to harness "at least I could see some things" into doing the kind of health management work now that means I have more than a 5 year window post retirement to see some things.
What I wonder about / worry about professionally is not so much advancing along some linear path but just doing something interesting and different from what I currently do. As in, I don’t feel stuck on a linear path necessarily, and don’t really hate my job, but just would prefer to have more of a variety of life experiences. However it seems somewhat unrealistic because of family obligations and the way hiring decisions are made to be able to make some kind hard right turn after making nothing but left turns on the same track for 16 years. Also I feel like in wanting to do something different I may be falling into the mental trap of seeking to personal fulfillment through work, which is such a shit for brains Silicon Valley type way of thinking about things. Maybe the old German saying is right - work is work and beer is beer. In other words, I should be looking for fulfillment elsewhere. Of course the counter to that is that I have no fucking free time at all, so there are flaws in that premise as well. And so here I am, bitching about this on the DBD. Happy Monday, dudes!
Trump's legal team did not appeal to SCOTUS after their defeat in the Appeals Court to have the Special Master appointed. Judge Cannon dismisses the case and the Special Master is no more. This is a victory for the DOJ, who can now review documents with the SM in the middle.
Chapelle is an undeniably talented comedian, though his recent nonsense has turned me away from watching his specials. Most people don't need to care about what a comedian says/thinks (which are also not =/=) and can argue it away with "well they were trying to be funny/controversial". Elon doesn't have that fallback, has been in a full tailspin since taking over Twitter and has alienated a large portion of the population and many of his former fans.
What the Jan. 6 select committee’s final report will look like...
[A large executive summary describes former President Donald Trump’s culpability for his extensive and baseless effort to subvert the 2020 election, according to people briefed on its contents.]
Goff has been thriving in recent weeks. That Detroit offense is humming. If they can improve their defense a bit, they have a good chance at being a playoff team next year.
They could even make it interesting this year...they're @NYJ, @CAR, v. CHI and @GB...could be tough to win 3, but if they do, 9-8 puts them in the mix considering there's likely 4 teams battling for 2 spots (seeds 6 and 7)...
Washington (7-5-1) - v. NYG, @ SF, v. CLE, v. DAL
NY Giants (7-5-1) - @ WAS, @ MIN, v IND, @ PHI
Seattle (7-6) v. SF, @ KC, v. NYJ, v. LAR
Detroit (6-7) @ NYJ, @ CAR, v. CHI, @ GB
It likely gets into tiebreakers, but Seattle and the Giants could easily lose 3 of those 4....
Brock Purdy dismantles Buccaneers 35-7 in his inaugural start. However, Deebo Samuel is injured with an apparent high ankle sprain and will be out for a month or so.
That guy hit some throws in that game that were just ridiculous. Required an anticipation and understanding of the offense that you'd never expect from a rookie making his first start. Looked like he'd been starting for years.
BREAKING: University of Texas head men's basketball coach Chris Beard was arrested and charged with assault on a family member early Monday, Austin police confirm. We are attempting to learn more.
sounds like he and the girlfriend/fiancée got into a drunken argument. She, allegedly, is trying to recant but Beard's days may be numbered. As in, like, today.
Even then Knowlton and the administration would take a couple weeks of dithering before finally deciding to fire him. That or he'd just be on indefinite paid leave like McKeever.
[MBB] Louisville lost to former 1-win Florida State 75-53. Cal is 0-11. L'ville is 0-9, but they play a terrible Florida A&M on the 17th. Cal plays a beatable UT Arlington on the 21st.
I think he pulled his name out of contention? Or maybe that was just a face saving move.
Anyway, whatever, Taylor crossed over to the enemy now and that is that. I appreciate his time as a Cal player but I hope he fails miserably going forward. Nothing more to it than that. Go Bears!!!!
That's a lot of money to commit to him, but the program has been on a steady, upward trajectory for years now. Seems like money well spent to keep potential suitors away.
Sounds really serious, whatever it is. He was reported to have had pneumonia within the last month. A person could drive themselves to distraction trying to piece together what's going on. I hope he recovers, but it doesn't sound likely.
The way it's being described is a heart attack with resulting anoxic brain injury. That is...not good. "Critical condition" could just mean he's in the ICU after such an event but unconfirmed reports sound exceptionally dire. I'm obviously hoping these reports are incorrect.
he does not - and I'm writing this as an overweight man in my early 50s who takes blood pressure meds - look like someone who has been too worried about managing the kind of underlying stuff that can fuck you up
Women's basketball beat UOP Saturday night, 83-66. Kemery Martin went off with 21 points including five treys. Bears are 7-2 with their last two non conference games this coming weekend at Haas, UC San Diego Friday night at seven and Florida A&M Sunday noon. Come see what winning hoops looks like at Cal. https://calbears.com/news/2022/12/10/womens-basketball-cal-defeats-pacific-83-66.aspx
Kemery Martin has the prettiest jump shot on Cal's campus. She doesn't always have it going - it seems like she's either going 5-7 or 1-4 - but it's textbook perfect.
Bloesch and Plough sound like made-up names. That aside, I have no insight on these hires. Plough was at Davis before Boise State but I know nothing about his time there.
Kinda fun that both coaches now-former teams will play each other in a bowl game (Miami Beach Bowl, Dec 17)
Jokes aside, it looks like both of them were offensive coordinators last season. Interesting to hire OCs as position coaches although I do understand it's a huge promotion for them.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35240443/niumatalolo-says-navy-fired-immediately-loss-army
DBD AV
Watched "78/52: Hitchcock's Shower Scene" on PlutoTV over the weekend. 13/19. I love "Psycho", and this documentary about the shower scene is very well-done (including interviews with Anthony Perkins' son and Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh's daughter). Some very interesting tidbits about the scene and the movie itself that I didn't know before. My only complaint is that it maybe got TOO analytical about the scene and the meaning of certain things that took place during that scene and in the scenes surrounding it. It's definitely worth a look.
Watched about 2/3 of Raiders of the Lost Ark on Paramount. Hard to believe the movie is 41 years old.
Two thoughts:
1. Best opening 30 mins of any movie ever. Sort of like the embodiment of Shakespeare’s ideal that you should start every play with a sword fight to grab the audience’s attn.
2. I really like the ending scene where the ark is placed in a Byzantine warehouse where it will be evidently lost. A nice metaphor for so many bureaucratic nonsense you encounter in life.
I assume 1 & 3 - correct?
2/3 of the first episode. They just realized the Germans were digging in the wrong place to find the Well of Souls. Will finish it up tonight.
Haha, two thirds of one, not "2 of 3"
Re-watched Jackie Brown yesterday, get's better with each viewing. Especially impressed this time around with Pam Grier and and Robert Forster's performances. Recently read Tarantino's book Cinema Speculation which I can recommend heartily to cinephiles.
I thought it was decent when I first saw it, but I've come to enjoy it more in subsequent viewings.
I didn't realize he had written a book. I'll pick it up as a stocking stuffer for the missus, who is a big fan of reading, film, and Tarantino.
IMO, Tarantinos best movie
It's top 3 for me, but I wouldn't know how to put them in any order
Agreed
Great movie
Had kind of a wacky short history this last few days - Saturday my daughter suggested Robin Hood; 1939, Errol Flynn - a very good movie, but even she had seen some time before (maybe too young? I don't remember). I re-watched 21 Jump Street, which I quite liked - had some issues with a few parts, but generally quite enjoyed it.
Started the TV show The Righteous Gemstones - which was wild and crazy, but still had a lot of fun, will be watching more episodes.
White Lotus managed to wrap things up in its disturbing way. Not as many deaths as I expected, but much more than one anyway. Made it hard for me to continue reading...
What I'm reading now is Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. Made into a series which I might watch later. So far (about 40% into the book), it reminds me a lot of some of my own experiences.
I enjoyed but did not love Little Fires Everywhere. I thought the white savior mom was a little OTT.
Wait, so she was a talented Freshman All American that we should have given 25 carries to at Folsom Field?
So…cool!
;-)
My wife thinks Ng is an exceptional writer. I'm sure I'd concur except that I lost any semblance of an attention span a decade ago.
What were you saying again?
;-)
SPOILER ALERT
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Armchair captain rant below:
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HBO really really needs to hire a boating consultant if they are going to wrap up a series like that. The yacht drops anchor and stops letting out chain when it hits the bottom, which is not how you anchor a boat (it needs to be reversing so the anchor can lay flat on the ground and bite the sea floor). The very next scene is a shot of the front of the yacht with the exact same anchor still on the bow and no other anchor out, so the boat is now adrift. The hitman climbs up a ladder to board the yacht after tying up to the stern. In the final scenes not only is there no ladder, but the dinghy is tied up so that you would board it from the swim step at the stern. There is even a shot where you can see the steps down to the swim step/dinghy right behind Tanya with an easy step on to the boat that would take her to safety. The next outside shot shows the dinghy right next to the swim step with Tanya looking down at the boat wondering how to get down with the stairs just to her right. I get it, they needed to write her out of the series and most people won't notice these things, but it was so frustrating to watch.
She also needs to run to the bow to hang over the front to text her assistant, predictably resulting in her dropping her phone. C'mon
I agree, all those things are kinda annoying. For a show that looks like it has high production values, they should be able to get these simple things right.
This is without mentioning that she was alone on board, everyone was either dead or had jumped overboard. So she had all the time in the world to figure out a way off the boat. Or fuck it, drive the boat directly into shore, we know there was no anchor down.
What happened to the captain? He must have still be on board the ship. He wasn’t shot and we didn’t see him jump off.
As someone with enough boating experience to know that I get horrifically seasick and now have no plans to spend any amount time on boats, I thought it looked like it would have been easier to get on the dinghy if she took the long way around rather than jumping. Or, at the very least, jump in the water and then climb aboard.
So the gays were going to kill her right? And it was all a conspiracy by Greg to get her money?
Need to announce a SPOILER ALERT before answering that question!
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Yes. Yes.
"These gays, they're trying to murder me!" The whole climax aboard the boat was such a well done combination of suspense and comedy. And Tanya's death was absolutely perfect for her character (as much as I hated to see her go).
I agree that it was great and I hated to see her go.
See my rant above, it was infuriating for anyone who has been aboard a boat
Still can’t get over the fact that the creator/writer/director for that show is the real Ned Sheebley from School of Rock!
Mike White is also a 2x contestant on the Amazing Race (with his dad) and then Survivor for those who watches CBS reality shows.
Yup!
FET: Well, this just happened. My wife calls me and says she is returning with a homeless person in the car and that I'm to cook her a meal. The last thing she said was "she's Romanian and you probably shouldn't cook anything with pork". She hangs up.
"Huh?", I think. Then I put two and two together. Not pork = she has her head covered. She's not Muslim. She's Romani.
Great. I start cooking a big old omelet. She is invited in and the "dikhlo" headscarf confirms she is Romani. My wife says oh, we need to help her. We need to get her social services. The woman is illiterate, so my wife is trying to communicate via yes/no questions on Google Translate with the sound on. My wife has met Romani before, so I am surprised she doesn't recognize her attire.
My wife is chattering on and after a while, I interrupt. I point to the lady and ask her point blank: "Romani?"
She nods.
My wife pauses. I look at her. She looks at me. I say "if she needs to go to the bathroom she goes to the powder room and you don't take your eyes off her because she's..."
"I GOT it", she acknowledges.
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My wife and I have dealt with Romani in the Balkans and Italy many, many times - all were negative experiences. At best, it was begging. At worst, it was attempted scams or attempted pickpocketing. It gets to the point where if one saw Romani approaching, you crossed the road and if they crossed with you, you got into an aggressive position.
The lady is now declining all forms of social services. Doesn't want to be driven anywhere.
"What do I do?", my wife asks.
"Feed her and send her on her way"
"Do you want money?", my wife types.
She nods.
My wife smiles, but her eyes don't. "Eh. I'll still give her, like, 10 bucks, but dammit, why does this always happen to me."
I say "because you have a good heart"
"I can't believe that I might have almost fell for a scam this morning, but it is what it is".
I studied abroad in Hungary and did extensive traveling through Central Europe and never had any issues with Romani. I know most Europeans dislike them.
I had a lot of issues when I lived in Italy, where they have a prominent community. None in London, which also has a large population.
On of my residency directors trained in Romania. He had a ton of very interesting experiences since he lived in a Roma neighborhood at the time. He did some (largely involuntary) medical favors for them so they extended him protection (from...them).
Worst experience he had was one guy pulling a knife on him to do futile surgery on his mother but he was very gracious afterward instead of upset when it indeed proved futile. Most of the other stuff was them calling for an ambulance (apparently physicians rode along back then) and it essentially became an impromptu community clinic instead of an actual medical emergency.
We went to Romania while studying abroad as part of a cultural immersion learning lesson where we stayed in a small village with ethnically/culturally/linguistic Hungarians. They took us to a Romani flea market, it was an interesting experience.
We've got an office in Bucharest. I think the week after the event in Budapest next Sept, we're going to go visit that office. Will be interesting to see the country.
The event is the week after the Auburn game in Berkeley so I may be arriving in the middle of the first day. Depends on when the Auburn game is and when I can get a flight out.
You can call me an asshole if you wish, but if my wife did something like this (she would not have, by 100% as far as I'm concerned) - I would have been 100% pissed about this move.
More insight into the fascinating life of SGB...
My wife has this approach: for homeless people, she carries a few McDonald's gift cards. Then you know they will be used for food and not other ...stuff. Most of the time these are accepted gladly.
The local McDs is good about letting the homeless hang there now that the weather has cooled as long as they don't make trouble. There's a guy from Central America who stays just inside the front door and I see him wiping off the tables and keeping things neat. I stop and give him a buck whenever I see him and he always asks for a weather report. We manage to communicate with my broken Spanish and his broken English.
Interesting.
My wife and I went to Italy for our honeymoon in 97. We were on the train from Milan to Venice and got to talking to an Italian lady who was talking about Romani in terms that were like one step short of ethnic cleansing support, and I was genuinely shocked. After 10 days of being constantly hassled and also getting my pocket picked on the bus in Rome en route to the Vatican, I wasn't quite as sympathetic when I saw Romani kids being hustled away from tourist spots by the local cops.
BTW re: the pocket-picking episode: my wife knew that the woman who did it was a Romani pickpocket and moved away, assuming that I realized this as well. All I had in my wallet was my license, one credit card, and enough cash to pay for museum entry and lunch. She took the wallet out of my front pocket, removed the cash, and put the wallet back in my pocket, and I didn't notice AT ALL. Honestly, since it was about $50, I was mad, but also really kind of impressed. Gave me a story if nothing else.
Eh, I've said this before (sorry if it sounds like I'm bragging) but when we were in Italy for three weeks (friends hill place, Florence, then Rome) no one ever even got close to try to rob us.
At all, and I know there was a reason.
What was the reason?
I was gotten in Barcelona. Not in a crowd.
The guy to tried to pick my pocket near the Colosseum (in Rome) was, fortunately, clumsy, and I easily felt his hand in my front pocket. I grabbed my wallet from the outside and took off. The guy kept his hand in my pocket and kept pace, even when I broke into a run. Probably it looked rather odd. He finally gave up when I got near a train. Once on the train, though, another guy did the same thing to my friend who was with me.
That's where a group of kids swarmed me and I felt one of them trying to get my wallet. Fortunately it was wedged too tight in my front pocket so he couldn't get it quickly.
It was sort of disturbing is that while the guys we encountered were clumsy, they were also quite a bit bigger than me and my friend. Fortunately there was no violence.
WORLD CUP
USMNT Reyna was 100% healthy and was almost sent home due to a purposeful lack of effort during training.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usa/story/4830953/usa-midfielder-giovanni-reyna-almost-sent-home-from-world-cup
Why publicize this?
was supposed to be off the record, no names were mentioned but it got published, people guessed correctly and now the shit has hit the fan
USMNT reporter Grant Wahl passes away https://twitter.com/ussoccer/status/1601401947692863489
Between "the Qataris killed him" and "the vaccine killed him," the reaction on Twitter was about as magnificent as you'd imagine.
The X-Files fan in me says it certainly seems odd...he apparently didn't have COVID, he was on antibiotics/cough syrup and feeling better, he questions a Qatari official about another worker death (a migrant worker from the Philippines died in a forklift accident??), and boom, he's gone.
Just seems strange....
It does seem strange. Apparently they didn't have AED equipment in the stadium, so it's possible that he might actually just have been super unlucky to have a heart attack somewhere with inadequate resources.
In the shifting news landscape, Grant's brother says FIFA says they DID have AED equipment in the stadium.
Eric Wahl
@ziplamak
·
Update: We are traveling with Grant's body to the medical examination & autopsy. Per a US gov official, FIFA is saying AEDs were available at the stadium. Thank you to American Airlines for their incredible help. Thank you to the NY Port Authority & the US government. Humbled.
iiiiinteresting.
FRA defeats ENG 2-1
hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
It is interesting how basically all of the US reporting on this game was from the English POV (heartbreaking loss! More frustration! Oh the woe!). Meanwhile the French team is a favorite to repeat and has the arguably best and most exciting player in the world on their team. Just is sort of amusing that that side of it is almost totally ignored. I guess this is from the press corps that churns out endless random stories about Harry and Meghan, so figures. 😀
WHOA - did you watch the game? They were like this because England missed easy PK's - they should have won.
he missed the tying penalty kick, not a winning goal
Well Kane made the first, missed the second that would have tied it. Should have won seems a tad strong, they were down most of the game and so were pressing more
England pretty much bottled up Mbappe, but France is much more than just Mbappe.
They weren't really looked at as a favorite to repeat because, repeating in the World Cup is super difficult and France lost a lot of talent to injuries (Kante, Pogba, Mendy) so they weren't high pre-tournament.
Also Kane missing a penalty as England loses again on a penalty is a pretty story. France showing class and Giroud scoring a goal with his meaty French forehead isn't much of a story.
Fair point that Kane missing on his second penalty was the main point of drama, but still much of the coverage is not even about the events of the game itself, but about fan reaction, player reaction, and so on.
I think no matter what happened in this game, the press in the USA would have covered the English perspective. The preview articles were mostly from POV of England. (Could this be the year?!?!)
I don’t think French were pre tourney faves but they certainly are now and probably were the moment Brazil lost.
Just funny that we still have this pro English bias 200+ years after independence. I mean these are the dudes that burned down the White House! 😀
I genuinely think it's because for years, the English premiere league was the only one for which you could find coverage in English, and people made up their minds then.
Vive la France!
ARG defeats NED on PKs 4-3 after a 2-2 tie
Friday has to be up there among the most exciting days in World Cup history. This match alone was an instant classic.
an absolutely great watch - I wasn't able to see the whole thing, but I caught the last 20 minutes or so of regulation plus the rest, quality entertainment.
CRO defeats BRA on PKs 4-2 after a 1-1 tie
I felt sorry for Richarlison and Richarlison only from the Brazilian team, the rest can bugger off back to look sadly at their Bolsonaro posters
MAR defeats POR 1-0
That was a great game, very technical without being at all dull, I don't know how much further Morocco will get but as a team, very impressive.
And watching Ronaldo cry…
*chefs kiss
Collect the full set! (Suarez, Neymar, Ronaldo crying)
https://twitter.com/OFalafel/status/1601622967997583363?s=20&t=sjvMnwgB13qDHjePXYD0Ag
They still haven't let a goal in.
Was at the Men in Blazers live show in SF on Saturday night - Rog was making the case that JK and GGG spend too much time and energy trying to prove that the US can win by playing beautiful attacking football - he says "who cares? Just fucking win - even if that means bunkering and attacking on the counter"
SHE BLINDED ME WITH...
AI researchers solve game theory behind Stratego
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.1.20221208a/full/
.. in 2015 artificial intelligence (AI) researchers designed a game-winning strategy for Texas Hold ’em, a variation of poker with 10^164 possible game states.
That number, however, is but a fraction of the 10^535 possible states for the board game Stratego.
Science...
After the Artemis I mission’s brilliant success, why is an encore 2 years away?
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/12/artemis-i-has-finally-launched-what-comes-next/
What a knob
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1601894132573605888
Surprising, just when I thought I couldn't loathe this guy more than I do. Being the wealthiest man in the world while owning the largest social media platform equals way too much unchecked power for one individual.
The latest story is that Dave Chappelle brought him out on stage during his comedy show in S.F. and the audience booed. Musk could not understand why.
The guy lives in a bubble.
he's blaming "unhinged San Francisco leftists" for the booing, buddy, those folks aren't at a Chappelle show these days
You be the judge before it gets deleted.
https://twitter.com/SteveGoffman/status/1602229546383728640
No, they're saying BOOO-ring Company. They're fans of tunnel construction.
Hah good one!
WaPo reports that - for the first time - Lawrence Livermore Lab fusion event has created more energy than it consumed. GO BEARS!
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/12/politics/nuclear-fusion-energy-us-scientists-climate/index.html
Other than some of the headlines making it sound like fusion is ready to power the world next year (there are still plenty of steps to go), this is first of several important milestones to reach.
Terrific
The time you settled for less
My last job in PR. Took significantly less money to work with a company that was a 7min bike ride from house and appeared to have tremendous upside. Turns out the founder/CEO was manipulative and attempted to leverage my work with a client after convincing them to spend waaayyy too much money on CES. Basically saying if you want him to continue to work on your account we need more money (and it wasn't going to result in a raise for me). The client (their largest) fired our firm and they no longer had the funds to keep me on board. I got burned and left the PR world for good. Positive side, I found/created a job that I love to this day, but boy did that guy fumble the ball.
When I became a fan of Cal football and men’s basketball.
I could have went to Cal, kept my nose in the books and decided not to watch Cal football and basketball.
2001 Financial Collapse of the Public Dotcoms. Enough said.
Eh, one Real Estate deal I'd rather not discuss.
The former Mrs. Jimmy Chitwood….
I have already gotten to the place where I realize that I am not going to have a flawless career, not see everything, taste everything experience everything. It was a moment of profound sadness, followed by my current period of happiness because FOMO no longer is a problem. I just have to convince my wife of this, who is having a pretty bad stretch of midlife crisis due to FOMO.
I had a similar realization but in stages. The first part I let go was in some regards the hardest, as it related to admitting that I've gone about as far as I'm going professionally. It fundamentally comes down to - I'm not good at sales / business development, I don't do it, and in the market segment in which I work, that means I'll be working away in project / program management for non-prestige companies until I retire - but hell, at least I can reasonably expect to retire, that's something. As for traveling etc., I'm trying to harness "at least I could see some things" into doing the kind of health management work now that means I have more than a 5 year window post retirement to see some things.
What I wonder about / worry about professionally is not so much advancing along some linear path but just doing something interesting and different from what I currently do. As in, I don’t feel stuck on a linear path necessarily, and don’t really hate my job, but just would prefer to have more of a variety of life experiences. However it seems somewhat unrealistic because of family obligations and the way hiring decisions are made to be able to make some kind hard right turn after making nothing but left turns on the same track for 16 years. Also I feel like in wanting to do something different I may be falling into the mental trap of seeking to personal fulfillment through work, which is such a shit for brains Silicon Valley type way of thinking about things. Maybe the old German saying is right - work is work and beer is beer. In other words, I should be looking for fulfillment elsewhere. Of course the counter to that is that I have no fucking free time at all, so there are flaws in that premise as well. And so here I am, bitching about this on the DBD. Happy Monday, dudes!
perhaps too philosophical so early in the day...
a little everyday it seems.
but presumably each one of is maximizing some overall utility function ...
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Trump's legal team did not appeal to SCOTUS after their defeat in the Appeals Court to have the Special Master appointed. Judge Cannon dismisses the case and the Special Master is no more. This is a victory for the DOJ, who can now review documents with the SM in the middle.
https://www.businessinsider.com/judge-trump-dismisses-special-master-lawsuit-over-fbi-raid-2022-12
Before heading out I had on the local news. Up shows Mike Lindell selling slippers. I guess that's better than him opining on politics.
Elon gets booed at a Dave Chapelle show at Chase. (Who is pro-Chapelle now and yet anti-Elon? Weird confluence of opinions)
You sure about that opinion?
Chapelle is an undeniably talented comedian, though his recent nonsense has turned me away from watching his specials. Most people don't need to care about what a comedian says/thinks (which are also not =/=) and can argue it away with "well they were trying to be funny/controversial". Elon doesn't have that fallback, has been in a full tailspin since taking over Twitter and has alienated a large portion of the population and many of his former fans.
?
What the Jan. 6 select committee’s final report will look like...
[A large executive summary describes former President Donald Trump’s culpability for his extensive and baseless effort to subvert the 2020 election, according to people briefed on its contents.]
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/12/jan-6-select-committee-final-report-00073402
Recount in MA state house seat flipped a seat from 10 down to up 1. The recount will be legally challenged. Who says your vote doesn't count?
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/massachusetts-election-recount-kassner-mirra-republican-democrat/
PRO
Austin Slater finds out the first rule of Juice/Dead Ball Fight Club
https://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/giants-austin-slater-ball-research-17643348.php
Deshaun Watson second game: Brown still lose 23-10 to Bengals
https://www.espn.com/nfl/recap/_/gameId/401437890
Goffense easily covers the spread, beats the Vikings 34-23
https://www.espn.com/nfl/boxscore/_/gameId/401437892
Goff has been thriving in recent weeks. That Detroit offense is humming. If they can improve their defense a bit, they have a good chance at being a playoff team next year.
He just needed a little more time than the Rams were willing to give him. Rams got their championship but this year has been...different.
They could even make it interesting this year...they're @NYJ, @CAR, v. CHI and @GB...could be tough to win 3, but if they do, 9-8 puts them in the mix considering there's likely 4 teams battling for 2 spots (seeds 6 and 7)...
Washington (7-5-1) - v. NYG, @ SF, v. CLE, v. DAL
NY Giants (7-5-1) - @ WAS, @ MIN, v IND, @ PHI
Seattle (7-6) v. SF, @ KC, v. NYJ, v. LAR
Detroit (6-7) @ NYJ, @ CAR, v. CHI, @ GB
It likely gets into tiebreakers, but Seattle and the Giants could easily lose 3 of those 4....
Brock Purdy dismantles Buccaneers 35-7 in his inaugural start. However, Deebo Samuel is injured with an apparent high ankle sprain and will be out for a month or so.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/recap/_/gameId/401437897
That guy hit some throws in that game that were just ridiculous. Required an anticipation and understanding of the offense that you'd never expect from a rookie making his first start. Looked like he'd been starting for years.
I am glad to have been so wrong about him, based on his SR year at Iowa State.
49ers are Purdy, Purdy, Purdy good.
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
AP All Americans:
FIRST TEAM
USC - QB Caleb Williams
USC - OG Andrew Vorhees
USC - DE Tuli Tuipulotu
Utah - DB Clark Phillips III
SECOND TEAM:
UCLA - Ath Zach Charbonnet
Clark Phillips III declares for the draft
https://twitter.com/ClarkPhillips21/status/1602363416483463169?s=20&t=eyELVXjqfybaX3_qn388Gw
Tony Plohetski
@tplohetski
BREAKING: University of Texas head men's basketball coach Chris Beard was arrested and charged with assault on a family member early Monday, Austin police confirm. We are attempting to learn more.
sounds like he and the girlfriend/fiancée got into a drunken argument. She, allegedly, is trying to recant but Beard's days may be numbered. As in, like, today.
he only chokes games
ohhhhhh
Even then Knowlton and the administration would take a couple weeks of dithering before finally deciding to fire him. That or he'd just be on indefinite paid leave like McKeever.
Oh damn!
[MBB] Louisville lost to former 1-win Florida State 75-53. Cal is 0-11. L'ville is 0-9, but they play a terrible Florida A&M on the 17th. Cal plays a beatable UT Arlington on the 21st.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game/_/gameId/401488396
Fusion Laser for Men’s Bball HC. You heard it here first!!!
Stanfurd hires HC from some FCS program. Would it matter if he didn't play for Cal?
Seemed like the other major candidate was Jason Garrett and I was really hoping they'd go with him.
I think he pulled his name out of contention? Or maybe that was just a face saving move.
Anyway, whatever, Taylor crossed over to the enemy now and that is that. I appreciate his time as a Cal player but I hope he fails miserably going forward. Nothing more to it than that. Go Bears!!!!
They are getting us back for hiring Monty! 😀
OSU's Jonathan Smith rightfully earns a big new 6-year contract. $4.85/m year that increases $100k/year
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35233400/oregon-state-rewards-smith-new-contract-9-3-season
That's a lot of money to commit to him, but the program has been on a steady, upward trajectory for years now. Seems like money well spent to keep potential suitors away.
Niumatololo out at Navy. He'll be picked up in a hot second. https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35232562/ken-niumatalolo-navy-football-coach
The Mad Pirate is in the hospital. Leach has reportedly suffered a life-threatening health event.
Sounds really serious, whatever it is. He was reported to have had pneumonia within the last month. A person could drive themselves to distraction trying to piece together what's going on. I hope he recovers, but it doesn't sound likely.
I wonder if it is Covid related. He strikes me as an anti vaxxer.
Massive heart attack, and possible seizures
The way it's being described is a heart attack with resulting anoxic brain injury. That is...not good. "Critical condition" could just mean he's in the ICU after such an event but unconfirmed reports sound exceptionally dire. I'm obviously hoping these reports are incorrect.
he does not - and I'm writing this as an overweight man in my early 50s who takes blood pressure meds - look like someone who has been too worried about managing the kind of underlying stuff that can fuck you up
CAL
Tim Plough announced as Cal's new TE coach. Cal's remaining TEs: Terry, Mojarro, Alfieri, Muller, Johnson, Endries.
https://twitter.com/calfootball/status/1602364280975740928?s=46&t=wLgYuWjXwiTAFqw3sjJgnA
So we fire OC and OL coach and acquired OC, OL coach and TE coach. We need to let another coach go. We also still don't have ST coordinator.
What happened to Geep Chryst?
he may still be involved in an off field/analyst capability
Was his contract up?
he hated recruiting among other things
Women's basketball beat UOP Saturday night, 83-66. Kemery Martin went off with 21 points including five treys. Bears are 7-2 with their last two non conference games this coming weekend at Haas, UC San Diego Friday night at seven and Florida A&M Sunday noon. Come see what winning hoops looks like at Cal. https://calbears.com/news/2022/12/10/womens-basketball-cal-defeats-pacific-83-66.aspx
Kemery Martin has the prettiest jump shot on Cal's campus. She doesn't always have it going - it seems like she's either going 5-7 or 1-4 - but it's textbook perfect.
Lovely shot and a good all-around player. Bears can pull off upsets on nights she and Jayda Curry are hot.
Unconfirmed reports that UNT's Mike Bloesch will be Cal's new O-Line coach
Bloesch and Plough sound like made-up names. That aside, I have no insight on these hires. Plough was at Davis before Boise State but I know nothing about his time there.
Kinda fun that both coaches now-former teams will play each other in a bowl game (Miami Beach Bowl, Dec 17)
Jokes aside, it looks like both of them were offensive coordinators last season. Interesting to hire OCs as position coaches although I do understand it's a huge promotion for them.
There you go
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Plough
Nice! "received a '35 under 35' award from the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) in 2019."
Sounds like they could be the names of Saruman's Fighting Uruk-Hai. I'm encouraged.
Confirmed by Cal Athletics
https://twitter.com/calfootball/status/1602363039394635776?s=46&t=wLgYuWjXwiTAFqw3sjJgnA
Cal YPC in 2022: 3.63 (#98 out of 131 FBS)
UNT: 5.29 (#18)
UCLA 6.08 (#1)
Utah 5.54 (#7)
Oregon 5.45 (#12)
OSU 4.93 (#31)
Arizona 4.89 (#33)
Cal minus the Arizona game: 2.86 (#129 out of 132)
Yup. Pretty much whipped up front.
Cal sacks allowed 2022: 31 (88th best in FBS out of 131)
UNT: 11 (#9)
Oregon: 4 (#1)
Washington: 7 (#3)
Utah: 9 (#6)
We have a new tights end coach. https://twitter.com/CalFootball/status/1602364280975740928?s=20&t=CKqODRhIDJoZ1CBhWN5rBw
Mr. Plough, that's his name. That name again is Mr. Plough.
Nohl Williams commits to Cal from transfer portal (UNLV)
https://twitter.com/NohlWilliams/status/1602076760358547456
Gimme Kyle Williams next, please!!!!
Patrick Hisitake is in the portal
https://twitter.com/farrellportal/status/1601740902657294336
Kayline Moore commits to Cal from transfer portal (CU)
Keleki Latu in the portal
Go Bears!!!