Moffitt Library is named after James Moffitt. His brother Herbert was the first to come to UC Berkeley and ended up as the Dean of Medicine (and is the reason why the medical school is in San Francisco). However, James was a long time Board of Regents - so he got the library named after him.
Colorado sent its equipment truck to the halfway point between Boulder and Los Angeles so that it's ready to either finish the drive (if needed) or come back. Word is the truck is somewhere around St. George, Utah. There are worse places to lay over for a day.
"Joshua Hawkins said the request seemed “pretty weird,” but the dark-haired man who made it was offering cash, and a lot of it.
The man said his name was Nate and he wanted Mr. Hawkins, a local artist, to paint an enormous Soviet-style mural of Cookie Monster — the voracious, pastry-loving “Sesame Street” creature — and three Russian words on a commercial building in Peoria, Ill.
When the job was done over Thanksgiving weekend, the man paid in full and Mr. Hawkins, 33, proudly displayed the mural on his Facebook page.
But Mr. Hawkins learned C can also be for Caper.
Less than a week after the mural went up, Mr. Hawkins said he received a call from the real Nate Comte, who said he had never commissioned the Cookie Monster mural.
He also made his feelings about the mural very clear: He swiftly used white paint to cover the wall."
Western Oregon and Washington are going to be rainy more of the time than not and temps in the 40s or low 50s night and day for the foreseeable future, which is until almost Xmas. Typical winter. East of the Cascades is going to get a mix of rain and snow depending on elevation and the whims of the jet stream. More typical winter. Not pleasant, but not terrible.
A mild snowstorm began here a couple hours ago and is set to dump about 5 inches of snow on the area. It was originally forecast to be as much as 16 inches, but temps will warm enough to turn the evening snow into rain before it turns back into snow again overnight.
Since I'm not commuting, I'll gladly welcome any and all snow.
Started to snow here just across the river from DC at about 10:30. We got about half an inch of accumulation before it turned to rain/sleet/whatever. Still in the low 30s but the snow is slowly going away.
Who says marching band isn't dangerous. Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O hospitalized after getting injured doing brass section stunts filming Jackass 4. Injuries are not serious. In other news, the Idiocracy 2020 prophecy continues as the "Ow My Balls" series continues.
I wonder when it'll be available for sale. No 1 made an appt at CVS for a rapid test 4 or 5 days after he flies in. He'll be quarantining at a friend's place in between.
We be been told there might be side effects like chills or fever, and muscle aches for the first 2-3 days. Although they are consider symptoms of an active Covid infection, we’ve been told that we are not to isolate but keep coming to work.
"The epidemiologist sitting before the cameras spoke with calm authority. It was late March, and as the coronavirus spread across the country, it came as no surprise that journalists were turning to John Ioannidis. The Stanford University medical professor was famous for his rigorous assessments — and frequent debunking — of disease treatments. He was a consummate physician-researcher, combining fluency in the mathematical models that predict a pathogen’s lines of attack with experience at the bedsides of patients suffering from AIDS."
In principle, I agree with his philosophy here (every scientific belief deserves rigorous testing), but the problem is that the outlets like Fox News that trumpeted his reasonable skepticism are never going to equally trumpet the fact that he was proven wrong in this case.
Not sure how to solve this problem. Quashing dissent would be a terrible thing for science. But I also understand the impulse to do that given a media environment in which, for political reasons, people are all too willing to hold up dissenters as if they represent the majority view.
I have not followed recruiting at all this year, I'll be interested to read the summary, esp in regards to new potential offensive weapons. Looks like a lot of "We are" clap clap "three star" so far (aside from a QB and WR)
Based on my cross-check at 11:30am Pacific, we are only missing Higgins & Terry. All others have either officially signed, reaffirmed via social media that they're signing with Cal, or had third parties (eg, family) reaffirm their signing. The two who have not signed yet have themselves self-declared as Cal commits with them in Cal unis on their social media profiles, so looks like we'll get everyone.
Both are of our boat, lock screen is when we were berthed in Ventura on our trip north during the summer (made it all the way to Crescent City, CA), home screen is a pic of the sails with the sunset in the background as we rounded Pt. Conception in big wind/seas on the trip back south in late October
On my Mac one of the built in Yosemite backgrounds. I think I have Half Dome and El Capitan maybe? On my phone just a black background. I had the space one but the latest version didn't have it.
on my old Mac I used a picture of the ceiling of the Musee D'Orsay, now I'm much less classy and it's either a stock picture of Catalina or a picture I took of Rough Trade record shop in Ladbroke Grove.
Plainly I need to take a vacation so I can update my pictures.
I used to work for the university library when I was a senior. One day during that spring I was working the day shift in Moffitt and saw that a lot of the pathways around the back side of the building (opposite Doe) were blocked. When I looked out the window towards the LSB, I saw film trucks and a pretty muscular guy. Turns out that they were filming the cinematic masterpiece "Junior" and the muscular guy I saw was the future Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I blame my B- in Macro on me watching Junior filming every day in the lead up to Finals.
I worked in Doe the last two years at Cal myself, but I was in the back in Rec/Doc where we received the government documents, classified them and then sent them off to the appropriate library.
Moffitt freshman year. People coughing and sneezing in the cubicles during study time for finals, lack of air circulation, eating candy from the vending machines to keep going. Yes, those were the days. Never went back after freshman year. (Doe and cafes instead). It looks much better these days...
I was walking through campus with the boys and wanted to show them moffitt. I tried to go in but they wouldn't let us in, even with my Alumni membership card. I guess I could've gone in but I couldn't bring the kids. That's a good way to get people interested in the place...
"An air-conditioning repairman was driving his truck through Houston in late October when a black SUV suddenly slammed into his tail. When he got out, the SUV’s driver leaped out and pointed a gun at his head, police said.
When police arrived, the gunman offered an incredible tale: The driver, he said, was the face of a vast election-fraud scheme and had about 750,000 fake ballots stuffed inside his truck.
That story was totally bogus, police say. The man’s truck was full of nothing but A/C parts, and the gunman — Mark Anthony Aguirre, a former Houston Police Department captain — had been paid more than $250,000 by a right-wing organization to pursue far-fetched voter-fraud conspiracy theories.
On Tuesday, Aguirre was arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon as part of a “bogus voter-fraud conspiracy,” the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release."
$250K to end your career? And probably get fines, legal fees, expenses, and a settlement bill that far exceeds that payment. If you are going to do something dumb, shouldn't you negotiate a better payment and contract? Can't imagine the book deal will be enough to make this worth it.
All the names should be printed because even when Trump pardons them, they will be publically shamed. Who am I kidding, they won't feel ashamed at all and will be celebrated.
Politico reports on emails and such released via FOIA to show just how much Trump people were pushing for letting the 'rona run riot deliberately (as opposed to via general ineptitude)
Straight up MURDER, also Michael Caputo was the asshole trying to run that Trump propaganda piece that was going to use celebrities that I linked the other day.
Supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory have unsurprisingly turned their backs on Mitch McConnell after he finally congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on his election victory.
Followers of the radical movement who believe President Donald Trump is waging a secret war against satanic pedohiles, as well as pushing baseless claims that the election was rigged, were dismayed at the Senate Majority Leader and accusing him of being a traitor.
Others said they will now leave the GOP or even form a new political party all together.
This is one of the few areas where I doubt evidence-based information. Polls, stories, whatever. I have donated to both DEM candidates but will assume that they will lose by 10 points each until the actual votes on January 5th prove me wrong.
The NCAA Division I Council voted Wednesday to grant a blanket waiver allowing all Division I transfers to play immediately this year.
The waiver covers all Division I sports, and the most immediate impact will be felt in men's college basketball, in which a number of notable players will be able to suit up immediately -- as soon as Wednesday night.
"We are thrilled at the passing of the blanket waiver, as we believe it is in line with D1 SAAC, ensuring that all of our student-athletes have the best opportunity to thrive both academically and athletically," said Caroline Lee, vice chair of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. "In a time of great uncertainty amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we feel it is in our best interest to grant immediate eligibility for those who have transferred in order to best support their mental health and well-being."
Hyder eligible
Elsewhere in college
Colorado sent its equipment truck to the halfway point between Boulder and Los Angeles so that it's ready to either finish the drive (if needed) or come back. Word is the truck is somewhere around St. George, Utah. There are worse places to lay over for a day.
"Joshua Hawkins said the request seemed “pretty weird,” but the dark-haired man who made it was offering cash, and a lot of it.
The man said his name was Nate and he wanted Mr. Hawkins, a local artist, to paint an enormous Soviet-style mural of Cookie Monster — the voracious, pastry-loving “Sesame Street” creature — and three Russian words on a commercial building in Peoria, Ill.
When the job was done over Thanksgiving weekend, the man paid in full and Mr. Hawkins, 33, proudly displayed the mural on his Facebook page.
But Mr. Hawkins learned C can also be for Caper.
Less than a week after the mural went up, Mr. Hawkins said he received a call from the real Nate Comte, who said he had never commissioned the Cookie Monster mural.
He also made his feelings about the mural very clear: He swiftly used white paint to cover the wall."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/us/communist-cookie-monster-mural.html
What a weird story.
Weather
Western Oregon and Washington are going to be rainy more of the time than not and temps in the 40s or low 50s night and day for the foreseeable future, which is until almost Xmas. Typical winter. East of the Cascades is going to get a mix of rain and snow depending on elevation and the whims of the jet stream. More typical winter. Not pleasant, but not terrible.
A mild snowstorm began here a couple hours ago and is set to dump about 5 inches of snow on the area. It was originally forecast to be as much as 16 inches, but temps will warm enough to turn the evening snow into rain before it turns back into snow again overnight.
Since I'm not commuting, I'll gladly welcome any and all snow.
we've long since made the switch to rain in SW MoCo and there's some interesting street flooding as ice blocks drains
we are hoping to get 12+ inches here just north of NYC. we'll see how it goes.
too bad kids wont get a snow day
Also known as a "John Holmes" snowfall
Started to snow here just across the river from DC at about 10:30. We got about half an inch of accumulation before it turned to rain/sleet/whatever. Still in the low 30s but the snow is slowly going away.
Who says marching band isn't dangerous. Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O hospitalized after getting injured doing brass section stunts filming Jackass 4. Injuries are not serious. In other news, the Idiocracy 2020 prophecy continues as the "Ow My Balls" series continues.
https://www.bammargerahq.com/post/jackass-4-filming-update
Who knew that physical stuff you could get away with in your 20s might have more consequences in your 40s?
I had no idea they were filming a 4th. They'll look positively geriatric in this one, I'm sure.
Covid-19
not sure if this got mentioned, but a rapid and pretty accurate home test got FDA approval, which is definitely a big deal for those of us at the back of the line for the vaccine https://twitter.com/michaelzlin/status/1338980996050427904?s=20
Yes, that is a big deal.
I wonder when it'll be available for sale. No 1 made an appt at CVS for a rapid test 4 or 5 days after he flies in. He'll be quarantining at a friend's place in between.
Getting my first vaccine dose on Saturday. Next will be 21 days after.
Nice. I wonder if you'll experience any of the side effects.
We be been told there might be side effects like chills or fever, and muscle aches for the first 2-3 days. Although they are consider symptoms of an active Covid infection, we’ve been told that we are not to isolate but keep coming to work.
Congrats!
"The epidemiologist sitting before the cameras spoke with calm authority. It was late March, and as the coronavirus spread across the country, it came as no surprise that journalists were turning to John Ioannidis. The Stanford University medical professor was famous for his rigorous assessments — and frequent debunking — of disease treatments. He was a consummate physician-researcher, combining fluency in the mathematical models that predict a pathogen’s lines of attack with experience at the bedsides of patients suffering from AIDS."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/12/16/john-ioannidis-coronavirus-lockdowns-fox-news/
Would be Stanfurd, wouldn't it?
Stanford has bathed itself in glory in this pandemic.
They made the decision to put the umbrella over the Hoover Institute, reap what you sow etc.
Me reaping/Me sowing
In principle, I agree with his philosophy here (every scientific belief deserves rigorous testing), but the problem is that the outlets like Fox News that trumpeted his reasonable skepticism are never going to equally trumpet the fact that he was proven wrong in this case.
Not sure how to solve this problem. Quashing dissent would be a terrible thing for science. But I also understand the impulse to do that given a media environment in which, for political reasons, people are all too willing to hold up dissenters as if they represent the majority view.
During a pandemic, it's not the time for this type of skepticism.
Going on TV to talk about it over and over, yeah probably not.
No football NLI signing day coverage today?
I have not followed recruiting at all this year, I'll be interested to read the summary, esp in regards to new potential offensive weapons. Looks like a lot of "We are" clap clap "three star" so far (aside from a QB and WR)
Much better signing class. This year's defensive signees and WR J-Mike are [ChefsKiss.gif]. The LB/DE crew are just straight physical savages.
Cal is supposed to have the 23rd best class, Furd 57th with only one four-star commit.
And Millner looks like the best QB signed since Goff.
[Mr. Burns exxxxxxcellent gif]
I love to feel the sunshine that you be pumping, SGB!!!! It's warm on my skin...
With Covid, it’s a great thing they still use a fax machine and fax their acceptance letters.
We'll be keeping track of updates here: https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/football-recruiting-california-golden-bears-37
Based on my cross-check at 11:30am Pacific, we are only missing Higgins & Terry. All others have either officially signed, reaffirmed via social media that they're signing with Cal, or had third parties (eg, family) reaffirm their signing. The two who have not signed yet have themselves self-declared as Cal commits with them in Cal unis on their social media profiles, so looks like we'll get everyone.
And just like that... Jermaine Terry signs.
We should have a piece going up soon that will have regular updates as NLIs come in.
Wilcox press conference at 4:30 live stream...
https://calbears.com/news/2020/12/15/football-follow-national-signing-day-wednesday.aspx
Google's Blob Opera
https://artsandculture.google.com/experiment/blob-opera/AAHWrq360NcGbw?hl=en
Blopera?
Your lock-screen and/or phone background
Santa Monica palm trees silhouettes, back lit by a setting spring sun.
Phone background - Joshua trees from Joshua Tree on a cold winter day.
Google phone geometric figures background.
Phone lock screen: multi colored dots in a Damian Hirst manner
Phone background: painted watercolor blue and white stripes
Computer background: view from Mt Tam at sunset on a foggy day
lock screen is a stock twilight scene with trees and stars and a lake.
Phone background is one of our cats, who has recently passed.
lock screen - picture I took at the Grand Canyon
background - a picture I took of "Babel" by Cildo Meireles at the Tate Modern
Both are of our boat, lock screen is when we were berthed in Ventura on our trip north during the summer (made it all the way to Crescent City, CA), home screen is a pic of the sails with the sunset in the background as we rounded Pt. Conception in big wind/seas on the trip back south in late October
Lock screen is cat. Phone background is wedding photo.
Lock screen: cute picture of the kids.
Background: a photo I took of Candlestick Park during a football game, a year or two before it was torn down.
We just took some family photos for our Christmas cards so I am using pictures from that for my lock screen and phone background.
background is usually some landscape photo i took from a recent trip.
currently it is a nice view from a rest stop off I-81 near the TN/NC border from my cycling trips this summer
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5xn7PaD6XYPps5o78
Lock screen: Windows blue screen of death (this passes as an attempt at humor since I work for an open source company and it is an android phone).
Background: A fairly plain background so I can see the icons easier. Boring.
lock screen is a solid idea.
funny .. i wish i had thought of that
The Coliseum (Oakland) at an A's game
Background: some blue ripple pattern, maybe the default? Didn't know I could change that.
lock screen and background are the same, this John Atkinson Grimshaw painting
https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/NYR/2017_NYR_14994_0042_000(john_atkinson_grimshaw_a_moonlit_lane).jpg
On my Mac one of the built in Yosemite backgrounds. I think I have Half Dome and El Capitan maybe? On my phone just a black background. I had the space one but the latest version didn't have it.
on my old Mac I used a picture of the ceiling of the Musee D'Orsay, now I'm much less classy and it's either a stock picture of Catalina or a picture I took of Rough Trade record shop in Ladbroke Grove.
Plainly I need to take a vacation so I can update my pictures.
I'm sorry, what's this vacation you speak of??
Lock Screen: Harriet in her Fair Isle sweater
Background: Harriet running down the beach at Albany Bulb
Moffitt
I was in there once when Chancellor Tien came by distributing cookies, exhorting us to "STUDY HARD"
I think that would make it more difficult to actually study.
I used to work for the university library when I was a senior. One day during that spring I was working the day shift in Moffitt and saw that a lot of the pathways around the back side of the building (opposite Doe) were blocked. When I looked out the window towards the LSB, I saw film trucks and a pretty muscular guy. Turns out that they were filming the cinematic masterpiece "Junior" and the muscular guy I saw was the future Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I blame my B- in Macro on me watching Junior filming every day in the lead up to Finals.
I worked in Doe the last two years at Cal myself, but I was in the back in Rec/Doc where we received the government documents, classified them and then sent them off to the appropriate library.
Moffitt freshman year. People coughing and sneezing in the cubicles during study time for finals, lack of air circulation, eating candy from the vending machines to keep going. Yes, those were the days. Never went back after freshman year. (Doe and cafes instead). It looks much better these days...
I was walking through campus with the boys and wanted to show them moffitt. I tried to go in but they wouldn't let us in, even with my Alumni membership card. I guess I could've gone in but I couldn't bring the kids. That's a good way to get people interested in the place...
NASA Ames is at Moffett Field which is a different Moffett, but maybe they’re related if you go back far enough.
I used to work with the daughter of a Professor Moffitt, Civil Engineering.
Madeleine?
yup
not for very long. She left soon after I started I think. Must have been 25+ years ago.
I think we graduated the same year (1989), so you knew her early in her career. She was a cool cat.
5th floor overlooking Memorial glade is where I used to study
2nd floor was where the action was.
I actually took advantage of the 24-hour schedule while studying for finals a few times
wasnt the name of the computer lookup system called MELVYN w/ randomly dispersed green monochrome terminals everywhere?
i liked that. it was only in the music library where you had to still use the card catalog to check out music.
Yeah
That is a deeeeeep pull from the memory banks.
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
"An air-conditioning repairman was driving his truck through Houston in late October when a black SUV suddenly slammed into his tail. When he got out, the SUV’s driver leaped out and pointed a gun at his head, police said.
When police arrived, the gunman offered an incredible tale: The driver, he said, was the face of a vast election-fraud scheme and had about 750,000 fake ballots stuffed inside his truck.
That story was totally bogus, police say. The man’s truck was full of nothing but A/C parts, and the gunman — Mark Anthony Aguirre, a former Houston Police Department captain — had been paid more than $250,000 by a right-wing organization to pursue far-fetched voter-fraud conspiracy theories.
On Tuesday, Aguirre was arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon as part of a “bogus voter-fraud conspiracy,” the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/16/aguirre-texas-cop-election-fraud/
I'm just waiting to see how many bodies have piled up by inauguration day and then again a month after. Hopefully not many.
$250K to end your career? And probably get fines, legal fees, expenses, and a settlement bill that far exceeds that payment. If you are going to do something dumb, shouldn't you negotiate a better payment and contract? Can't imagine the book deal will be enough to make this worth it.
All the names should be printed because even when Trump pardons them, they will be publically shamed. Who am I kidding, they won't feel ashamed at all and will be celebrated.
Pardons only work for federal crimes.
Politico reports on emails and such released via FOIA to show just how much Trump people were pushing for letting the 'rona run riot deliberately (as opposed to via general ineptitude)
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/16/trump-appointee-demanded-herd-immunity-strategy-446408
Straight up MURDER, also Michael Caputo was the asshole trying to run that Trump propaganda piece that was going to use celebrities that I linked the other day.
[Politico] Biden reported going to appoint Jennifer Granholm (Cal BS Poli Sci/French '84) as US Energy Secretary
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/15/biden-to-tap-former-michigan-gov-granholm-to-lead-energy-department-445782
QAnon Supporters Vow to Leave GOP After Mitch McConnell Accepts Election Result
https://www.newsweek.com/qanon-mitch-mcconnell-joe-biden-election-1555115
Supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory have unsurprisingly turned their backs on Mitch McConnell after he finally congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on his election victory.
Followers of the radical movement who believe President Donald Trump is waging a secret war against satanic pedohiles, as well as pushing baseless claims that the election was rigged, were dismayed at the Senate Majority Leader and accusing him of being a traitor.
Others said they will now leave the GOP or even form a new political party all together.
I might have been one of the last 10,000 people to subscribe to the print edition of Newsweek - some decades ago. Sad.
I think my parents did.
This is one of the few areas where I doubt evidence-based information. Polls, stories, whatever. I have donated to both DEM candidates but will assume that they will lose by 10 points each until the actual votes on January 5th prove me wrong.
If they want to split the Republican party I could probably live with that.
I still think Warnock has a good chance of beating Loefler.
I mean I'm not going to stop them.
<whispering>no don't do that...no..no</whispering>
<<colbert.popcorn.gif>>
PRO
for premiere league enthusiasts: Big Sam Allardyce is back (at West Brom) https://twitter.com/InigoGilmore/status/1339316686672056322?s=20
CAL
Perhaps Jarred Hyder will be available to play this year after all.
Division I transfers for all sports get blanket waiver from NCAA, can play immediately
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/30534080/division-transfers-all-sports-get-blanket-waiver-ncaa-play-immediately
The NCAA Division I Council voted Wednesday to grant a blanket waiver allowing all Division I transfers to play immediately this year.
The waiver covers all Division I sports, and the most immediate impact will be felt in men's college basketball, in which a number of notable players will be able to suit up immediately -- as soon as Wednesday night.
"We are thrilled at the passing of the blanket waiver, as we believe it is in line with D1 SAAC, ensuring that all of our student-athletes have the best opportunity to thrive both academically and athletically," said Caroline Lee, vice chair of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. "In a time of great uncertainty amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we feel it is in our best interest to grant immediate eligibility for those who have transferred in order to best support their mental health and well-being."
EECS professor Joshua Hug saved a woman's life last week.
https://www.dailycal.org/2020/12/14/life-or-death-uc-berkeley-professor-joshua-hug-saves-woman-at-beach/
Go Bears!