just found that one of my favorites from undergrad days recent passed away. most likely i'll be flying out to Cal at the end of Jan for the memorial celebration. should be in/around Berkeley from Jan 24-28 in case there are IRL DBD meetups ..
Ronald Sidney Stroud (July 8, 1933 – October 7, 2021) succumbed after a lengthy hospitalization that followed a fall in his Berkeley home. He leaves a very large gap for his admiring colleagues, a host of former students, and an extraordinary number of friends across the world who have expressed their affection and grief.
Ron Stroud received his BA at the University of Toronto, his MA and PhD at the University of California, Berkeley. He was subsequently appointed to the faculty at Berkeley where he taught for his entire career. An esteemed member of the Department of Classics (now Ancient Greek and Roman Studies) from 1965 to his retirement in 2007
A memorial is planned on the campus of UC Berkeley for January 28, 2022.
i had him for SP44a (western civilizations) and for some freshman seminar in Athenian democracy. it was after those 2 classes that i decided to do a Classics minor.
i still was not convinced i had time to do a major because of all the Greek i would have had to take. but a woman i had a crush on got us to take Greek 2 over the summer and we were able to start taking the upper div courses right away ...
and then in the final semester of senior year i still had one last Greek translation course to take so i signed up for a final course w/ him again. Demosthenes is famous for being nearly impossible to translate and my Greek was not that great and 50% of that class were grad students. Stroud came to me after about 2 weeks and said i should probably drop the class (or risk failing) and find another way to graduate. luckily the department was super flexible and arranged for someone to read Sophocles w/ me once or twice a week and they let me graduate.
When I went by Arlington Cemetery this morning I noticed wreaths on a few graves. When I went to the website to find out when the wreath laying on all graves is going to be I came across this showing Cal alum Prince Haakon of Norway at the Tomb of the Unknowns last week.
Sounds like my brother. He was in the Navy and his ship (the Coral Sea) was in drydock in Bremerton. My parents went up to visit him and when they went to a movie they charged them for two adults and one child.
Not fake, but I damaged my Cal ID card during the summer after I graduated while enjoying summer courses for one last time. I went to the card office to get it replaced, hoping to get a clean card that I will keep for the rest of my life. Instead, I received a card with big "Summer Sessions" written on the card, and that's what I end up with forever.
Mine got jacked at Henry’s when I was home in the Bay Area for Thanksgiving break SOPH year...it said I was from Great Falls, MT and it was so obviously fake, considering I weighed a buck and a quarter and shaved once a week at the time...I spent the whole long weekend home thinking the cops were gonna come after me.
I was so pissed that my two best friends (Newellbany included) both had older bros who were 21 & had their real CA IDs and could go absolutely anywhere...
In college, I was a generic 6' scrawny white guy with black hair. In dorms and other communal living arrangements, I used several different ID's of other dark haired scrawny white guys, and they always worked.
When I actually turned 21 and had my own ID, I remember getting carded at Kip's and being told "No, I know this guy, and you're not him."
My little bro is 4 years younger than me and looks just like me. I tried to give him my ID when he was a Freshman in college and I was 22 and he refused! I felt like my grandma when she used to try to shove food in my mouth and would then look bewildered when I refused, as if unable to make sense of the events unfolding before her.
My HS friend had one made in Berkeley that was really bad. He used Daddy Bush's birthday with some other year. I remember a story he told me freshman year where he tried to get into Bear's Lair. The bouncer said to the guy in front of him, this is the worst fake ID I've ever seen. Got to my friend and said, "nope...This is the worst fake ID I've ever seen". but still let him in anyways.
I never had one, but my freshman year roommate had one - and since we had a color printer, he tried to make a handful in our dorm room . Look, it was 1992, we didn't have a lot going on, and California was using those licenses that were just printed on photo paper, so people would try to just color photo copy and then modify.
We also made fake basketball season ticket stickers for Cal IDs.
I remember the athletic passes were just a sticker stuck to the corner of the Cal IDs and they were like a shiny blue or red. So people would take the Nutrigrain Bar wrappers and try to cut a small rectangle out and stick it on their ID. This was back in the days when we had to stand outside and wait in line to get into Harmon. And when hundreds or students are rushing through the door to get the best seats security couldn't get a great look at the pass. I think they mostly looked for the shiny rectangles and not what was printed on them.
starting to get into dividend season for all of the mutual funds I'm invested in. I'm really impatient when it comes to waiting for dividends to start outpacing my contributions.
That's a good card. As it is apparently not in order of importance, had I thought it through back in the day, I would have maxed my Roth 401k (if your company offers one - and with matching funds, free money!) and Roth IRA before my regular ones. The reason is RMDs, required minimum distributions. If your investments grow, and you live to age 72 and beyond, you could be hit with giant tax obligations, as you will be required to take a percentage out of your retirement investments every year thereafter. Roth distributions (currently and for the foreseeable future) are tax free! Regular 401k & IRAs are taxed as regular income. I'm not quite at Peter Thiel numbers (https://bit.ly/3dSLiXO), but with the market doing so well, it's happily become an issue my financial planner says I need to angle for.
I wish Roths had been around when I was a pup with lower income. It's a very good idea to fund them with early year earnings, when your income tax rates are lower, and then later switch to traditional ones when your rates are higher.
you can read up and down online, but talking to people you trust is probably the best thing.
my take is that is that most people have some internal long-term plan and aspirations, even if they dont have a great way to articulate it. it, of course, never goes smoothly, but the financial things you do end up aligning w/ something that gets you to your desired state ..
Confident run-away fuel/energy, insurance/health care, data, and supply chain dependent products prices will quickly absorb any new found spending power.
Just binged Foundation on AppleTV+. The Hollywood Reporter review was pretty dire (say's it's tedious, but pretty), but I generally enjoyed it. Having read the books a few decades ago, it was a great test for my memory. I didn't remember one thing. Main complaints: Lee Pace arching his back throughout, and too much sitting & talking (i.e. verbal exposition, but was probably necessary to keep it under 100 hours) to move the story along. Very high production values & gorgeous, often real-world settings that somehow Game of Thrones missed.
High production values indeed, but it did not have a good narrative. And I don't think the people who created it did a bad job per se, it is just that the story isn't suitable for filming really. Funny, the exact opposite of Dune, which lends itself to visual story telling.
I only knew lee pace from Halt and Catch Fire, but I found his Lee Pace-ness distracting as Brother Day.
The E10 exposition (Hari explaining everything that wasn't explained, in a 10-min monologue) wasn't great TV. altho as you say, maybe a necessary evil. the plan for an 8-season run is not gonna happen, imho.
I realized a few days ago that I never finished Nora From Queens S2! So got to enjoy the last four or so eps recently. I didn't really dig the last two-parter, but it was cool that Awkwafina tried something new.
Also found out that S2 of South Side happened (listening to Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me on Sunday, where the brothers who created it were guests). Really liked S1. Watched a couple of S2 last night. Not as good, but did muster a few out-loud chuckles, which is pretty good for a TV show.
Watched a silly but fun movie: The Adventures of Don Juan. Apparently trying to keep Errol Flynn sober enough to keep the production going was the basis for the movie My Favorite Year.
I watched Finch, with Tom Hanks on AppleTV. I found it an entertaining post apocalyptic movie. It was basically Castaway meets the apocalypse, so if you liked Castaway, give Finch a watch.
I've not watched either TH movie on ATV+. the trailer for Finch (Fitch?) didn't grab me. I realize that I've not watched any ATV+ movies...oh, except for The Banker, which was ok...but I'm not a fan of bio-pics. too much to cram into 112 minutes, and so tropes rule the day.
12/19 isn't that bad. but I'm not really a WWII movie guy (or dad). enough other stuff to watch...like my recording of the Dubs playing right now, which I'll start in 2 or 3 hours, and use FF a lot!
anyone looking for a great audiobook for holiday travel get Trevor Noah's Born A Crime. You can learn a lot about South Africa while laughing at TN and his awesome family and dog (I can never say Fluffy the American way anymore).
I'm usually a reader over audiobook listener too, but highly rec the TN book in audio form- he does voices for all his family members and some of the others in the book, really makes it (especially when some of the things are hard to hear about).
I got the Moderna Booster yesterday afternoon. Pfizer-Prizer-Moderna. The person doing the shot said she had the same and was knocked out for 1.5 days after the booster. So for, just a sore arm at the injection site. Also woke up a bunch of times last night. Otherwise, no other physical issues. Keeping my fingers crossed.
In the afternoon I ended up taking a nap. Cat woke me up after about 30 min. Then got lazy and watched the Warriors game. So really nothing other than maybe just being more tired than normal.
I was M-M-M...and after M3, just had a sore arm for a couple of days, and took a few extra naps. Which is a win in my book...looking forward to the Omicron booster!
So far I haven't had any ill effects on any of my shots. If going by the "healthier people have more ill effects", I guess i'm not in shape at all. Checks out.
I went with a 3rd Pfizer dose, before I read about Moderna being slightly more effective. Guess if I have to do another booster it'll be Moderna next time.
I fuck this up all the time but I feel like I am making a backhanded insult to the virus. Like when you deliberately mispronounce the name of someone you don’t like, as if you to say you cannot be bothered with figuring out their name
The virus equivalent of "Camel-uh, Kamara, however it's pronounced" (or whatever that "running for Senate" GA asshole said) probably won't bother Omnicorp.
Had me there for a second. Puig did sign up to play in the KBO for a year. That will be interesting. I think they'll love his enthusiasm and bat flips.
It's really disappointing to see the championship coming down to the race director's (rather incomprehensible) decision. Hamilton was far more gracious in his post-race interview than I would have been. He was thanking all the fans, wishing good health on everyone amid the pandemic, and wishing everyone a merry Christmas.
I read a story where Red Bull pressured the track marshall (or whatever they're called) to let the lapped cars pass the caution car before restarting the last lap. Unless this happens often, that seems like a huge FU to Mercedes and Hamilton.
as I understood it while watching, the issue was that the race director half-implemented the rule, inasmuch as Verstappen was able to get back to his position, but not everyone had - because if they'd done that, the race would have ended with the pace car on the track and Hamilton crossing the line at like 80 miles an hour.
I don't think it was a deliberate stitch-up, but given that Verstappen was on fresh tires immediately behind Hamilton, it was as close as you could come to handing Verstappen the race on a platter.
Waving around lapped cars is a big topic of controversy in most series, often depending on whether your interests lie with the relative leader or follower, and the rules are wildly inconsistent. Which is confusing and unfortunate. I don't have a full grasp of what the rule is in F1. It makes for a more exciting finish, which of course tv loves. It is frustrating to have hard earned track advantage wiped out with a wave around, but it made the decision to take tires late the right one.
I was actually enjoying the slow burn over the second half of the race as Verstappen was steadily eating away at Hamilton's 18-second lead. Had there been no safety car, I don't think Max would have caught Hamilton because he wasn't consistently gaining enough time. But it was setting up a potentially interesting finish...
If rather mild-mannered Marvin wants to get a in a screaming match, he should start with Trevor Lawrence, who has forgotten how to play the quarterback position....
Both teams tried real hard to give away this game (Bengals fumbled away two punts, Niners turtled up in the 4th quarter and allowed a big comeback, then missed the game-winning FG at the buzzer). The 49ers' skill players came through in the end.
In some cases, though I also feel like a lot of the game plan is designed to cover for Jimmy G's shortcomings. Feels like there's a cap on what this team can do as long as he's the starter (and it also feels like he's got more physical limitations after the various injuries he's had with SF).
As we discussed last week, sy, there's absolutely a ceiling on this Niner team with Jimmy G, with likely a zero % chance they win a Round 1 Playoff matchup in Green Bay or at Tampa....hell, they're all out to beat mediocre teams like Cincy bc the Garoppolo O hibernates for most of the game bc of his limitations. They needed special teams miscues and dropped INTs just to beat that Bengals team...
Chances are there are 4 regular season games left in the Garoppolo era in SF, + 1 playoff game...they'll trade him in the offseason for a day 2 pick and then it's Trey Lance time, and he'll be just fine next year.
Tell me if you've heard this one before: Raiders shit the bed in KC, lose in embarrassing fashion again in KC. Thank God Hunter Renfrow is my WR3 in fantasy.
is there a short answer as to why so many athletes use the graduate transfer portal? is it that they aren't expecting to get PT where they are and/or want to go somewhere else for their particular grad program? That is: is it academics or athletics (realizing that the answer is likely diff for each person).
Probably a little of each. If you want to play a 5th/6th year it can also be tough to get admitted to a grad program at your existing school, so you have to try for another one.
Was out for a walk over the weekend with a Cal sweatshirt on. A couple asked if I was a Cal alum. No "Go Bears" but it turned out they were both Banana Slugs.
I was fatalistic about this, telling myself who cares if he leaves since he is a 6-6 plus/minus 2 guy. But now that he is staying I am like, “He is the greatest dude ever! We are so lucky! Rose Bowl here we come!!!!” I recognize but relish the internal inconsistency
I'm still not certain he's the guy, but as it seems like he talked about wanting to keep building the program from the inside and finishing the job Tedford started, I am encouraged by his mindset and reasons for staying. That's the kind of guy you want at Cal.
Good points. He is a good dude that attracts other good dudes and with our recruiting restrictions I think we need that to succeed. I don’t think a Jimmy Johnson/ Barry Switzer type guy would work
Those kinds of coaches would undoubtedly chafe against the lack of institutional support, adversarial relationship with academic departments and the city, academic requirements, COVID restrictions (specific to this time period), etc. They are used to having the school give them everything they want.
That Wilcox knows all that and still wants to stay and try to change the culture, that's good to hear. Maybe he won't be able to, but you need someone who wants to try.
Wilcox has demonstrated a clear and unwavering commitment to Cal football. It would be nice if the university reciprocates that commitment with greater institutional support for the program. Wilcox is probably going to leverage this into some sort of contract extension and it will be interesting to see how the terms of the deal may change.
First, Wilcox is a relatively private guy for a CFB HC. He's have no privacy in Eugene, but he can probably go out to dinner in the Bay Area unnoticed most of the time. Maybe that's worth something to him.
Second, you can't go home again. Oregon folks assume everyone is desperate to return home, like we're all salmon returning to our place of birth. I think there's a lot of people who like having charted their own course in life.
My belief is that he didn't want the extra scrutiny and pressure from the Oregon fan base to win now. They would be less patient with his approach and his staff hires. Maybe he's encouraged with what he's build so far in Berkeley and wants to continue to build towards an eventual 3rd place North finish..
Cal beats Santa Clara 72-60. Cal should be 8-5 by the time conference starts again. Game was very back and forth until the final 3 minutes. Was good to see my school get ahead then get drilled as usual when they face any sort of resistance, exclaimed by the fact that LT21 had a meaningful difference and positive difference in the game against them. Herb Sendek is still the buffoon I thought he was from ASU, that 5-0 start for SCU was as big of a tease as the Raiders.
I'm really conflicted about this season, cause I think our limited progress will earn Fox another year and keep us in basketball purgatory for the foreseeable future. Not a bad guy, not a bad coach, but our ceiling will always remain low unless he can start to recruit blue chippers.
maybe doing "better than ok" with "just ok" players is the foundation needed to improve recruiting? then maybe nab a blue chip player every now and then.
altho even tho I loved watching Jason and Jaylen play, I also liked the eras of watching Roy Fisher, Brian Wethers, and Randy Duck. "Good" players who grew in a decent system and would stun teams every now and then. I was entertained.
Right. But I don't think Fox is going to pull in any blue chippers or punch through against any blue blood programs even every once in a awhile, do you? What in his resume suggests that? Besides academics, there are really far fewer obstacles preventing Cal from having a top flight MBB program than there are for football. I don't know why we need to shoot so low.
Pretty much agree with everything you said, P, tho I may be a little more optimistic about things under Fox given how the team has played somewhat competent basketball for a majority of this year. I've been operating under the belief that the Mike Williams/Wyking Jones disaster set this program back 10 years, and we're in year 5, so.....
I think Alajiki is f-ing legit and a future All-P12 player, provided he stays on campus of course...Anyanwu looks pretty solid as well, tho not so sure on Roberson yet bc of injuries. But they're good starts, and the two bigs next year also have appear to have some skills. It would be nice to grab a point guard at some point tho...
But win the next two at home, and they're 3 games above .500 in DEC, which I didn't think they'd hit at any point this year.
tbh, I don't know much about Fox, since his arrival coincided with my "less watching" of Cal hoops (only seen about 4 games over last 5 years or so). But between KJ (who wasn't blue chip, I ask) and JK, did we have any players who made a dent in the NBA? and I enjoyed watching anyway. (altho maybe that was a shorter stretch of time than I thought it was when I typed that. 5 years? 6? So prob not a great example.)
I guess I could be ok with no (few?) blue chip players if we had "quality" 3 or 4-year players. seems that unless you replenish the blue-chippers each year (like the top-5 programs do), you'll get a year of Sharif here, two years of Jason there...and then a lull. Having above-average juniors and seniors (who I "grew up" with) appeals to me.
I guess if we could get local Jabari Birds semi-consistently, that'd be ok.
Every time I see the name Roy Fisher I remember the game at UofA where we were winning, then he went to take the ball in-bounds and either walked or stepped inbounds before passing it in. Ended up losing the game.
I'll always take a team that has a high ceiling and can be frustrating (Bozeman, Cuonzo) over a team that merely beats the team's they are supposed to (Braun, Montgomery), but that's me.
reading this after my post above. I see advantages to both. but I like having players here for 3 or 4 years. with the program being good enough where 1/2 the team doesn't xfer each year.
I used to know the names of even the walk-ons, but now I don't know the names of all the starters. part of that is on me (going to fewer games due to kid and covid), but part of it is just a stretch of a shitty program. oh and directv not carrying the Pac-12 network :-/
I'll take a team with players like Justin Cobbs (U of A buzzer beater!), Jorge Gutierrez, or Jerome Randle any day! Good enough to be Pac-1x player of the year, but not good enough for the NBA.
I think there's a middle ground. We're never going to be Duke or KY, but why not Virginia or UCLA. What's the point of continuity if it's hidden in total obscurity?
Speaking of looks, I always thought Cuonzo's was top tier. I can't think of a better dressed Cal MBB coach. Unlike his offenses, his wardrobe brought it every single game.
Yeah, but... we finally look like a team, I get the feeling he knows what he's doing as a coach, and we need to get respectable to get the Wyking stink off. He's not a long term solution.
Fox is probably not a long term solution here, either, but given the incredible depths that the program had sunk to in just 2 f-ing years under Wyking, merely functional is a major, major upgrade.
Unlike football, the hoops program needed stabilizing, more than anything...Fox is very slowly doing that, even if his eventual ceiling is probably 9-9 in Conference and maybe the wrong side of the bubble....eventually. But I think there's a little more patience with the MBB program based on the inexcusably inept Wyking tenure.
My great fear though is that 9-9 is more than good enough to keep him around well beyond what getting us to such a baseline really deserves. I guess we'll never know till we get there though, and we're still maybe a year away from reasonably achieving that.
I still press "Z" from time to time.
Cal professors
just found that one of my favorites from undergrad days recent passed away. most likely i'll be flying out to Cal at the end of Jan for the memorial celebration. should be in/around Berkeley from Jan 24-28 in case there are IRL DBD meetups ..
Ronald Sidney Stroud (July 8, 1933 – October 7, 2021) succumbed after a lengthy hospitalization that followed a fall in his Berkeley home. He leaves a very large gap for his admiring colleagues, a host of former students, and an extraordinary number of friends across the world who have expressed their affection and grief.
Ron Stroud received his BA at the University of Toronto, his MA and PhD at the University of California, Berkeley. He was subsequently appointed to the faculty at Berkeley where he taught for his entire career. An esteemed member of the Department of Classics (now Ancient Greek and Roman Studies) from 1965 to his retirement in 2007
A memorial is planned on the campus of UC Berkeley for January 28, 2022.
https://ahma.berkeley.edu/news/ronald-stroud-1933-2021-memoriam
i had him for SP44a (western civilizations) and for some freshman seminar in Athenian democracy. it was after those 2 classes that i decided to do a Classics minor.
i still was not convinced i had time to do a major because of all the Greek i would have had to take. but a woman i had a crush on got us to take Greek 2 over the summer and we were able to start taking the upper div courses right away ...
and then in the final semester of senior year i still had one last Greek translation course to take so i signed up for a final course w/ him again. Demosthenes is famous for being nearly impossible to translate and my Greek was not that great and 50% of that class were grad students. Stroud came to me after about 2 weeks and said i should probably drop the class (or risk failing) and find another way to graduate. luckily the department was super flexible and arranged for someone to read Sophocles w/ me once or twice a week and they let me graduate.
yeah Stroud is a pretty good name.
And he died on my birthday, and his name is almost a good name...
Jim Finch, Hero and King
https://twitter.com/TheOrdonezTimes/status/1470140177175781376
Even in ideal circumstances, anyone who rolls up with a smoker and a truckload of meat should be considered a hero and king.
When I went by Arlington Cemetery this morning I noticed wreaths on a few graves. When I went to the website to find out when the wreath laying on all graves is going to be I came across this showing Cal alum Prince Haakon of Norway at the Tomb of the Unknowns last week.
https://twitter.com/ArlingtonNatl/status/1469035700007976964/photo/2
https://twitter.com/ArlingtonNatl/status/1469035700007976964/photo/1
Someone should check to see if the fjords have been laid to waste.
Choke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25DoE3Z2oGI
Fake IDs
Never needed one.
But I was carded until I was 32. I looked that young.
Sounds like my brother. He was in the Navy and his ship (the Coral Sea) was in drydock in Bremerton. My parents went up to visit him and when they went to a movie they charged them for two adults and one child.
Not fake, but I damaged my Cal ID card during the summer after I graduated while enjoying summer courses for one last time. I went to the card office to get it replaced, hoping to get a clean card that I will keep for the rest of my life. Instead, I received a card with big "Summer Sessions" written on the card, and that's what I end up with forever.
Never had one
Never had one. The weird thing is that I could buy as a frosh (18) without being carded but when I reached 21 I was carded all the time.
I never had one, never really needed one.
Mine got jacked at Henry’s when I was home in the Bay Area for Thanksgiving break SOPH year...it said I was from Great Falls, MT and it was so obviously fake, considering I weighed a buck and a quarter and shaved once a week at the time...I spent the whole long weekend home thinking the cops were gonna come after me.
I was so pissed that my two best friends (Newellbany included) both had older bros who were 21 & had their real CA IDs and could go absolutely anywhere...
It was so luxurious to have my brother's ID. It was goddamn bulletproof. 100% success rate, thousands of uses.
Seems like he would have needed it too.
He "lost" it and got a new one, and I got the old one. A very nice big brother, he is.
In college, I was a generic 6' scrawny white guy with black hair. In dorms and other communal living arrangements, I used several different ID's of other dark haired scrawny white guys, and they always worked.
When I actually turned 21 and had my own ID, I remember getting carded at Kip's and being told "No, I know this guy, and you're not him."
pqtm
My little bro is 4 years younger than me and looks just like me. I tried to give him my ID when he was a Freshman in college and I was 22 and he refused! I felt like my grandma when she used to try to shove food in my mouth and would then look bewildered when I refused, as if unable to make sense of the events unfolding before her.
My HS friend had one made in Berkeley that was really bad. He used Daddy Bush's birthday with some other year. I remember a story he told me freshman year where he tried to get into Bear's Lair. The bouncer said to the guy in front of him, this is the worst fake ID I've ever seen. Got to my friend and said, "nope...This is the worst fake ID I've ever seen". but still let him in anyways.
I never had one, but my freshman year roommate had one - and since we had a color printer, he tried to make a handful in our dorm room . Look, it was 1992, we didn't have a lot going on, and California was using those licenses that were just printed on photo paper, so people would try to just color photo copy and then modify.
We also made fake basketball season ticket stickers for Cal IDs.
I did that with the hoops stickers also!
I remember the athletic passes were just a sticker stuck to the corner of the Cal IDs and they were like a shiny blue or red. So people would take the Nutrigrain Bar wrappers and try to cut a small rectangle out and stick it on their ID. This was back in the days when we had to stand outside and wait in line to get into Harmon. And when hundreds or students are rushing through the door to get the best seats security couldn't get a great look at the pass. I think they mostly looked for the shiny rectangles and not what was printed on them.
Every had them taped to their IDs anyways because they would fall off.
this 2nd half sounds like it could be useful
DBD NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE
starting to get into dividend season for all of the mutual funds I'm invested in. I'm really impatient when it comes to waiting for dividends to start outpacing my contributions.
student loans are going to be paid off in a year or so...will have some extra cash to play with. where do I learn about this stuff (aside from DBD)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Index_Card
That's a good card. As it is apparently not in order of importance, had I thought it through back in the day, I would have maxed my Roth 401k (if your company offers one - and with matching funds, free money!) and Roth IRA before my regular ones. The reason is RMDs, required minimum distributions. If your investments grow, and you live to age 72 and beyond, you could be hit with giant tax obligations, as you will be required to take a percentage out of your retirement investments every year thereafter. Roth distributions (currently and for the foreseeable future) are tax free! Regular 401k & IRAs are taxed as regular income. I'm not quite at Peter Thiel numbers (https://bit.ly/3dSLiXO), but with the market doing so well, it's happily become an issue my financial planner says I need to angle for.
I wish Roths had been around when I was a pup with lower income. It's a very good idea to fund them with early year earnings, when your income tax rates are lower, and then later switch to traditional ones when your rates are higher.
you can read up and down online, but talking to people you trust is probably the best thing.
my take is that is that most people have some internal long-term plan and aspirations, even if they dont have a great way to articulate it. it, of course, never goes smoothly, but the financial things you do end up aligning w/ something that gets you to your desired state ..
Confident run-away fuel/energy, insurance/health care, data, and supply chain dependent products prices will quickly absorb any new found spending power.
DBD AV Club
Just binged Foundation on AppleTV+. The Hollywood Reporter review was pretty dire (say's it's tedious, but pretty), but I generally enjoyed it. Having read the books a few decades ago, it was a great test for my memory. I didn't remember one thing. Main complaints: Lee Pace arching his back throughout, and too much sitting & talking (i.e. verbal exposition, but was probably necessary to keep it under 100 hours) to move the story along. Very high production values & gorgeous, often real-world settings that somehow Game of Thrones missed.
High production values indeed, but it did not have a good narrative. And I don't think the people who created it did a bad job per se, it is just that the story isn't suitable for filming really. Funny, the exact opposite of Dune, which lends itself to visual story telling.
I only knew lee pace from Halt and Catch Fire, but I found his Lee Pace-ness distracting as Brother Day.
The E10 exposition (Hari explaining everything that wasn't explained, in a 10-min monologue) wasn't great TV. altho as you say, maybe a necessary evil. the plan for an 8-season run is not gonna happen, imho.
He's also the bad guy (Ronan the Accuser) from Guardians of the Galaxy
yeah, I read that awhile ago. I never saw that.
(he's buried under blue make-up - easy to miss)
Enjoyed Spielberg's remake of West Side Story. Doesn't supplant the original movie, but is good in different ways.
Oh, and anyone watch Acapulco?
I realized a few days ago that I never finished Nora From Queens S2! So got to enjoy the last four or so eps recently. I didn't really dig the last two-parter, but it was cool that Awkwafina tried something new.
Also found out that S2 of South Side happened (listening to Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me on Sunday, where the brothers who created it were guests). Really liked S1. Watched a couple of S2 last night. Not as good, but did muster a few out-loud chuckles, which is pretty good for a TV show.
I enjoyed Nora From Queens. Her grandmother is awesome.
This popped up on my youtube feed a couple of days ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgkK7kBjKdU
hope so. only watched the first two eps.
Watched a silly but fun movie: The Adventures of Don Juan. Apparently trying to keep Errol Flynn sober enough to keep the production going was the basis for the movie My Favorite Year.
MFY was one of my mom's favorite movies. I like it also.
I watched Finch, with Tom Hanks on AppleTV. I found it an entertaining post apocalyptic movie. It was basically Castaway meets the apocalypse, so if you liked Castaway, give Finch a watch.
I've not watched either TH movie on ATV+. the trailer for Finch (Fitch?) didn't grab me. I realize that I've not watched any ATV+ movies...oh, except for The Banker, which was ok...but I'm not a fan of bio-pics. too much to cram into 112 minutes, and so tropes rule the day.
The WW2 movie is absolutely fine. Good dad viewing.
eh, this dad gave it 12/19
12/19 isn't that bad. but I'm not really a WWII movie guy (or dad). enough other stuff to watch...like my recording of the Dubs playing right now, which I'll start in 2 or 3 hours, and use FF a lot!
Not that good either! Cliched.
Succession - was the twist as obvious to you guys as it was to me? I usually miss those sorts of things.
Not really, but I also don't try to figure these things out. I just let the show play.
Went to see Trevor Noah with No 3 on Sat night. He was great.
anyone looking for a great audiobook for holiday travel get Trevor Noah's Born A Crime. You can learn a lot about South Africa while laughing at TN and his awesome family and dog (I can never say Fluffy the American way anymore).
I got this for No 1's ex GF for Christmas a couple of years ago. I should go read it.
I've watched a few of his Netflix specials. They're all really good.
I'm usually a reader over audiobook listener too, but highly rec the TN book in audio form- he does voices for all his family members and some of the others in the book, really makes it (especially when some of the things are hard to hear about).
oh interesting. ok I'll check that out.
mrs paulie and I saw him a few years ago, it was a really good show I agree, he's more charismatic in person
DBD Test Kitchen
Made my rustic spicy ragu with Molinari sausage & mushrooms. Well and lots of tomatoes, onions & garlic.
sounds like heartburn galore, which means its extremely delicious :)
It wasn't all *that* spicy, paired with a 2010 Brunello - just enough heat to notice.
Green mole chicken - jalapenos, tomatillos, chicken, pepitas, garlic, white onion, cilantro, chicken, broth, S&P + 6 hours in crock pot
grilled chicken breast with couscous and corn. Light plate but a filling plate.
Big ole cut when I was sharpening my knives on my left index finger. Having difficulty typing, using my phone, etc. Good job.
I've sliced open my first knuckle when slicing things up a little too quickly. Suboptimal when trying to get dinner ready.
sharpening knives on a finger sounds non-optimal
only because you don't know my index finger is made out of 30 grit.
you just stole my joke! I gotta get on DBD earlier in the day! ;-)
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH
Well I've stopped bleeding and can bend my finger again - so it was mainly an 18 hour wound.
did you clean it with lemon juice? heard that helps
Yah, it helps send you into orbit...and not in a good way.
Today in Omnicron
I got the Moderna Booster yesterday afternoon. Pfizer-Prizer-Moderna. The person doing the shot said she had the same and was knocked out for 1.5 days after the booster. So for, just a sore arm at the injection site. Also woke up a bunch of times last night. Otherwise, no other physical issues. Keeping my fingers crossed.
My lady got her Pfizer booster today, so we are P-P-M (me) and P-P-P (her). Maybe we'll see if we can add to the anecdotal evidence on protection.
In the afternoon I ended up taking a nap. Cat woke me up after about 30 min. Then got lazy and watched the Warriors game. So really nothing other than maybe just being more tired than normal.
I did the same thing as you but had no ill effects at all other than a sore arm, even tho after my second shot I was pretty out of it the day after
I was M-M-M...and after M3, just had a sore arm for a couple of days, and took a few extra naps. Which is a win in my book...looking forward to the Omicron booster!
Yawn...I am feeling tired. Maybe I should just take the rest of the day off and nap.
+1
So far I haven't had any ill effects on any of my shots. If going by the "healthier people have more ill effects", I guess i'm not in shape at all. Checks out.
I didn't feel anything after all 3, which confirms my suspicions that I am, in fact, dead inside
I went with a 3rd Pfizer dose, before I read about Moderna being slightly more effective. Guess if I have to do another booster it'll be Moderna next time.
I'm getting my 3rd Pfizer tomorrow....
Omnicron = omni + cron = all time
omicron = o mikron = little/short letter o
keeps making me think of the big bad guy from the Transformers movie
So the Omicron variant has the voice of Orson Welles.
I fuck this up all the time but I feel like I am making a backhanded insult to the virus. Like when you deliberately mispronounce the name of someone you don’t like, as if you to say you cannot be bothered with figuring out their name
The virus equivalent of "Camel-uh, Kamara, however it's pronounced" (or whatever that "running for Senate" GA asshole said) probably won't bother Omnicorp.
Something tells me Covid won't care too much.
Are you sure? The virus seemed to go after people who disparaged it as the "China Virus" more often than it went after people who called it covid.
correlation ≠ causation ;-)
There is nothing that a well delivered insult cannot make worse
our Crumbling Democracy
Yankees pick up Manny Ramirez
https://www.milb.com/player/manny-ramirez-677669
Oops. Wrong category. Oh well. Something, something... Evil Empire.
I'll allow it
Had me there for a second. Puig did sign up to play in the KBO for a year. That will be interesting. I think they'll love his enthusiasm and bat flips.
Verstappen beats Hamilton.
It's really disappointing to see the championship coming down to the race director's (rather incomprehensible) decision. Hamilton was far more gracious in his post-race interview than I would have been. He was thanking all the fans, wishing good health on everyone amid the pandemic, and wishing everyone a merry Christmas.
I read a story where Red Bull pressured the track marshall (or whatever they're called) to let the lapped cars pass the caution car before restarting the last lap. Unless this happens often, that seems like a huge FU to Mercedes and Hamilton.
as I understood it while watching, the issue was that the race director half-implemented the rule, inasmuch as Verstappen was able to get back to his position, but not everyone had - because if they'd done that, the race would have ended with the pace car on the track and Hamilton crossing the line at like 80 miles an hour.
I don't think it was a deliberate stitch-up, but given that Verstappen was on fresh tires immediately behind Hamilton, it was as close as you could come to handing Verstappen the race on a platter.
Waving around lapped cars is a big topic of controversy in most series, often depending on whether your interests lie with the relative leader or follower, and the rules are wildly inconsistent. Which is confusing and unfortunate. I don't have a full grasp of what the rule is in F1. It makes for a more exciting finish, which of course tv loves. It is frustrating to have hard earned track advantage wiped out with a wave around, but it made the decision to take tires late the right one.
I was actually enjoying the slow burn over the second half of the race as Verstappen was steadily eating away at Hamilton's 18-second lead. Had there been no safety car, I don't think Max would have caught Hamilton because he wasn't consistently gaining enough time. But it was setting up a potentially interesting finish...
COUP
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/12/meadows-jan-6-national-guard-trump-524133
just wait until GOP takes control of Congress, then we won't have to deal with pesky "rules" or "laws" anymore
Depressing.
Today's public education...
https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1470141286502080519
To say that this is degrading to the teaching profession is a freaking understatement.
To say that this is degrading to the ideals of a functioning American republic should also be blatantly apparent.
Someone has a twisted sense of humor. Someone with too much money and too much influence.
Who on earth thought this was a good idea?
Well, at least they are getting some $s. Needing to rely on something like this is suboptimal.
Pro
CFL's leading receiver - Kenny Lawler - wins the Grey Cup with the Blue Bombers
https://www.cfl.ca/stats/?stat_category=receiving&season=2021
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/grey-cup-2021-live-score-updates-highlights-from-winnipeg-blue-bombers-vs-hamilton-tiger-cats/ar-AARKgcv?li=BB15ms5q
Did I read Jeremiah Masoli in that article?
To paraphrase Urban Meyer: "I did not have a screaming match with Marvin Jones and if I find the person who leaked that, they're fired."
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32855042/urban-meyer-denies-jacksonville-jaguars-reports-there-source-source-unemployed
If rather mild-mannered Marvin wants to get a in a screaming match, he should start with Trevor Lawrence, who has forgotten how to play the quarterback position....
Packers beat Bears 45-30. Aaron says "Butte College" again
Honestly, fuck him. Marshawn > Rodgers
Marshawn is out of the league now, but I changed my avatar to Alex Mack after Rodgers' vaccine nonsense.
Kittle smashes Bengals for over 150 yards. Bosa now has 14 sacks on the season. Deebo clutch run. Aiyuk tight-ropes in for the winner 26-23 in OT.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/recap?gameId=401326525
Both teams tried real hard to give away this game (Bengals fumbled away two punts, Niners turtled up in the 4th quarter and allowed a big comeback, then missed the game-winning FG at the buzzer). The 49ers' skill players came through in the end.
Are you not entertained?
No issues with the entertainment value!
At this point I feel like the Niners' players are bailing out the coaches a whole lot
In some cases, though I also feel like a lot of the game plan is designed to cover for Jimmy G's shortcomings. Feels like there's a cap on what this team can do as long as he's the starter (and it also feels like he's got more physical limitations after the various injuries he's had with SF).
That's in my entirely non-expert opinion.
As we discussed last week, sy, there's absolutely a ceiling on this Niner team with Jimmy G, with likely a zero % chance they win a Round 1 Playoff matchup in Green Bay or at Tampa....hell, they're all out to beat mediocre teams like Cincy bc the Garoppolo O hibernates for most of the game bc of his limitations. They needed special teams miscues and dropped INTs just to beat that Bengals team...
Chances are there are 4 regular season games left in the Garoppolo era in SF, + 1 playoff game...they'll trade him in the offseason for a day 2 pick and then it's Trey Lance time, and he'll be just fine next year.
It won't take 2-3 years, tho paulie.
it's gonna take probably another 2-3 years for Lance to be ready tho ugh
I bet they start using him next year.
Bill Burr is doing a lot of punting this year for the Texans
https://twitter.com/bykevinclark/status/1470098868436144130
But punting is winning! Rick Neuheisel says so!
No 3 showed this to me, and yes he looks exactly like Bill Burr.
um that is BIll Burr. right?? RIGHT?
maybe this is like a Andy Kaufman type performance art thing
Tell me if you've heard this one before: Raiders shit the bed in KC, lose in embarrassing fashion again in KC. Thank God Hunter Renfrow is my WR3 in fantasy.
And after their pre-game party on the mid-field logo. Always classy.
Other Universities
I guess you could say that he's Rattled.
https://twitter.com/DAWGSBEST/status/1470122938611351554
Ick.
https://twitter.com/SportsPac12/status/1470487383321858061
UW did not have a good start to yesterday's men's soccer final.
https://www.ncaa.com/video/soccer-men/2021-12-12/college-cup-scoring-gets-rapid-start-after-goalie-whiff
Hey, that was played in my hometown.
Kedon Slovis in in the transfer portal
Any chance?
Stanford beats Oregon on a buzzer beater 72-69
[Update] Pac-12 transfer portal (out '22):
UA 9, ASU 7, Cal 5, CU 10, Oregon 3, OSU 3, 'furd 6, UCLA 9, USC 8, Utah 3, UW 7, WSU 9.
100% of Cal transfers are graduates
is there a short answer as to why so many athletes use the graduate transfer portal? is it that they aren't expecting to get PT where they are and/or want to go somewhere else for their particular grad program? That is: is it academics or athletics (realizing that the answer is likely diff for each person).
Probably a little of each. If you want to play a 5th/6th year it can also be tough to get admitted to a grad program at your existing school, so you have to try for another one.
Former #1 prospect Quinn Ewers to Texas
"Mr. Auburn" Bo Nix in the portal
Cal
also on the front page, I like how Bob thinks he introduced us to ATQ.
CGB North?
Yeah, he clearly introduced us to ATQ, UWDP, CGB and of course Wikipedia.
and Troy Taylor
who? I'm not familiar
heh...I would ask if he means WFC-North, but alas we couldn't pull it out this year.
I had that same question, but was too shy to ask! ;-)
GB49
How old is he?
80
I assumed his birth year is 1949 and he seems to have graduated from Cal in the early 70’s so he is probably 82.
no wonder he thinks W4C writers have so much time to spare to write specific articles he wants to read.
new RB commit. Flips from Nebraska
https://nebraska.rivals.com/news/running-back-ashton-hayes-decommits-from-nebraska-and-will-sign-with-cal
Great news...
3-star guy
4 stars if you add the moustache (seriously though props to any HS kid able to pull that off)
in pop warner football in 6th grade I played against a guy who had a moustache. it did not go well.
for you or him?
Go Bears!!!
Was out for a walk over the weekend with a Cal sweatshirt on. A couple asked if I was a Cal alum. No "Go Bears" but it turned out they were both Banana Slugs.
Go Slugs!
Fiat Slug!
Go Bears, Go Slugs!
Justin Wilcox
I was fatalistic about this, telling myself who cares if he leaves since he is a 6-6 plus/minus 2 guy. But now that he is staying I am like, “He is the greatest dude ever! We are so lucky! Rose Bowl here we come!!!!” I recognize but relish the internal inconsistency
I'm still not certain he's the guy, but as it seems like he talked about wanting to keep building the program from the inside and finishing the job Tedford started, I am encouraged by his mindset and reasons for staying. That's the kind of guy you want at Cal.
I agree with all this. Wilcox may not field a great OL, QB or offense but he sure says and does the right things in terms of being Cals coach.
Good points. He is a good dude that attracts other good dudes and with our recruiting restrictions I think we need that to succeed. I don’t think a Jimmy Johnson/ Barry Switzer type guy would work
Those kinds of coaches would undoubtedly chafe against the lack of institutional support, adversarial relationship with academic departments and the city, academic requirements, COVID restrictions (specific to this time period), etc. They are used to having the school give them everything they want.
That Wilcox knows all that and still wants to stay and try to change the culture, that's good to hear. Maybe he won't be able to, but you need someone who wants to try.
And trying is half the battle.
this is setting up to be some real David vs Goliath stuff
Wilcox has demonstrated a clear and unwavering commitment to Cal football. It would be nice if the university reciprocates that commitment with greater institutional support for the program. Wilcox is probably going to leverage this into some sort of contract extension and it will be interesting to see how the terms of the deal may change.
14 Oregon greats wrote to AD to ask for Wilcox
https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/john_canzano/2021/12/canzano-ex-oregon-ducks-greats-wrote-letter-to-ad-rob-mullens-worried-about-programs-lost-identity.html
I AM SHOCKED he said no to Uncle Phil a second time.
Three theories on why he turned them down...
First, Wilcox is a relatively private guy for a CFB HC. He's have no privacy in Eugene, but he can probably go out to dinner in the Bay Area unnoticed most of the time. Maybe that's worth something to him.
Second, you can't go home again. Oregon folks assume everyone is desperate to return home, like we're all salmon returning to our place of birth. I think there's a lot of people who like having charted their own course in life.
Finally, have you MET Oregon fans? Ugh.
My belief is that he didn't want the extra scrutiny and pressure from the Oregon fan base to win now. They would be less patient with his approach and his staff hires. Maybe he's encouraged with what he's build so far in Berkeley and wants to continue to build towards an eventual 3rd place North finish..
Hmm...maybe someone needs to tell GB49 that...Do we know for sure if TT would even want to be HC for Cal?
Third, if you count Cal's Under Armor current
Will they try to interview him again in 3-4 years when the new coach is fired for not living up to the program's lofty expectations?
I hope so, cause that would indicate that Wilcox is doing something right. They won't be calling him again if we're still going 5-6 each year.
Yes. But this also why he turned them down I think
sounds to me like the players letter wanted someone who won't view the Oregon job as a steeping stone.
I agree completely, too bad Oregon fans are completely delusional
They are, they were booing the team when they played us this year, because they weren't ahead by enough.
By the he'll have guided Cal to a natty so he can ask for 3 times what Uncle Phil offered. Long con commence..
Yup
Hmmm...probably
Cal beats Santa Clara 72-60. Cal should be 8-5 by the time conference starts again. Game was very back and forth until the final 3 minutes. Was good to see my school get ahead then get drilled as usual when they face any sort of resistance, exclaimed by the fact that LT21 had a meaningful difference and positive difference in the game against them. Herb Sendek is still the buffoon I thought he was from ASU, that 5-0 start for SCU was as big of a tease as the Raiders.
I'm really conflicted about this season, cause I think our limited progress will earn Fox another year and keep us in basketball purgatory for the foreseeable future. Not a bad guy, not a bad coach, but our ceiling will always remain low unless he can start to recruit blue chippers.
maybe doing "better than ok" with "just ok" players is the foundation needed to improve recruiting? then maybe nab a blue chip player every now and then.
altho even tho I loved watching Jason and Jaylen play, I also liked the eras of watching Roy Fisher, Brian Wethers, and Randy Duck. "Good" players who grew in a decent system and would stun teams every now and then. I was entertained.
Right. But I don't think Fox is going to pull in any blue chippers or punch through against any blue blood programs even every once in a awhile, do you? What in his resume suggests that? Besides academics, there are really far fewer obstacles preventing Cal from having a top flight MBB program than there are for football. I don't know why we need to shoot so low.
Pretty much agree with everything you said, P, tho I may be a little more optimistic about things under Fox given how the team has played somewhat competent basketball for a majority of this year. I've been operating under the belief that the Mike Williams/Wyking Jones disaster set this program back 10 years, and we're in year 5, so.....
I think Alajiki is f-ing legit and a future All-P12 player, provided he stays on campus of course...Anyanwu looks pretty solid as well, tho not so sure on Roberson yet bc of injuries. But they're good starts, and the two bigs next year also have appear to have some skills. It would be nice to grab a point guard at some point tho...
But win the next two at home, and they're 3 games above .500 in DEC, which I didn't think they'd hit at any point this year.
"But I want a golden goose NOW"!
tbh, I don't know much about Fox, since his arrival coincided with my "less watching" of Cal hoops (only seen about 4 games over last 5 years or so). But between KJ (who wasn't blue chip, I ask) and JK, did we have any players who made a dent in the NBA? and I enjoyed watching anyway. (altho maybe that was a shorter stretch of time than I thought it was when I typed that. 5 years? 6? So prob not a great example.)
I guess I could be ok with no (few?) blue chip players if we had "quality" 3 or 4-year players. seems that unless you replenish the blue-chippers each year (like the top-5 programs do), you'll get a year of Sharif here, two years of Jason there...and then a lull. Having above-average juniors and seniors (who I "grew up" with) appeals to me.
I guess if we could get local Jabari Birds semi-consistently, that'd be ok.
To me the team that was the most fun to watch over the last 20 years was the 09-10 team. I would imagine most of those guys were 3*, maybe 4* players.
Every time I see the name Roy Fisher I remember the game at UofA where we were winning, then he went to take the ball in-bounds and either walked or stepped inbounds before passing it in. Ended up losing the game.
man, I'd repressed that so well!!! ;-)
@You're Welcome!@
And then I like at how Cuonzo's doing and I'm not that mad.
I'll always take a team that has a high ceiling and can be frustrating (Bozeman, Cuonzo) over a team that merely beats the team's they are supposed to (Braun, Montgomery), but that's me.
reading this after my post above. I see advantages to both. but I like having players here for 3 or 4 years. with the program being good enough where 1/2 the team doesn't xfer each year.
I used to know the names of even the walk-ons, but now I don't know the names of all the starters. part of that is on me (going to fewer games due to kid and covid), but part of it is just a stretch of a shitty program. oh and directv not carrying the Pac-12 network :-/
I'll take a team with players like Justin Cobbs (U of A buzzer beater!), Jorge Gutierrez, or Jerome Randle any day! Good enough to be Pac-1x player of the year, but not good enough for the NBA.
I think there's a middle ground. We're never going to be Duke or KY, but why not Virginia or UCLA. What's the point of continuity if it's hidden in total obscurity?
gah Look at how ...
as typos go, that one was rather obvious...
Speaking of looks, I always thought Cuonzo's was top tier. I can't think of a better dressed Cal MBB coach. Unlike his offenses, his wardrobe brought it every single game.
Yeah, but... we finally look like a team, I get the feeling he knows what he's doing as a coach, and we need to get respectable to get the Wyking stink off. He's not a long term solution.
He's not a long term solution anywhere else. But being merely functional goes a long way with Cal Athletics.
My two cents....
Fox is probably not a long term solution here, either, but given the incredible depths that the program had sunk to in just 2 f-ing years under Wyking, merely functional is a major, major upgrade.
Unlike football, the hoops program needed stabilizing, more than anything...Fox is very slowly doing that, even if his eventual ceiling is probably 9-9 in Conference and maybe the wrong side of the bubble....eventually. But I think there's a little more patience with the MBB program based on the inexcusably inept Wyking tenure.
My great fear though is that 9-9 is more than good enough to keep him around well beyond what getting us to such a baseline really deserves. I guess we'll never know till we get there though, and we're still maybe a year away from reasonably achieving that.
Let's go to the big dance!