Welcome to the Daily Bear Dump, a W4C community board where we can talk pretty much about anything, including which non-relative was an influence on you when you were a child.
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My mentor in business. I've had a few but one stood out head and shoulders above the others for giving me my big break. He passed in 2018, unfortunately.
Had a camp counselor in my early high school years who I looked up to quite a bit. Very funny, talented dude who introduced me to a lot of cool music. Had really great values that I picked up.
Russia wants peace talks but demands Ukraine give up and cede the territories that they unilaterally annexed or else they threaten that the issue will be settled by the Russian army. Like, how is that even a negotiation "offer"?
They canceled my flight yesterday and I received no notification, either email or text message. I had gone to SoCal this weekend to see my mom for Xmas (delayed flight getting there too). My niece and her husband had flown down from Sac on the 23rd and had rented a car. Yesterday at lunch, he checked his flight status and saw it was canceled, which prompted me to check my flight later that day and it was also canceled. After 5-10 minutes of trying to call and book other flights, including on other airlines and departing from different airports, we decided to keep the rental car and drive home yesterday. He extended the rental and changed the drop off to Sac. 10 hrs through the rain and holiday traffic, we made it home.
this tweet has an image of an email to the DEN ground crews last week, accusing everyone of slacking and threatening to immediately fire anyone who refuses mandatory overtime is about as old school as apparently the whole airline's flight crew booking system is proving to be.
Not space heater but generator. I was talking to a guy panhandling outside Safeway last night. He said he's saving up to buy a generator. He'd priced them out and said he had $600 saved so far. I don't know where he stays at night, but good luck to him.
been getting some use at my house over the last several days - there are some rooms / areas that need more help than the forced air central heating can provide. I use the little oil-filled radiators, they seemed the least risky of the various options.
I didn't see recruit better linemen and an elite QB on the list. Seems to be something worth trying, given how well they have established that not doing so doesn't work.
No need to reinvent the wheel, look at what the University of Michigan has done. An elite public university with elite athletics. It should not be as hard as we make it on ourselves. Get Knowlton out of here and let's get us a young AD with experience in a thriving athletic department.
Good idea but executing the plan needs some thought and attention. Starting out with successful alumni as opposed to low-level employees of the athletic department cold calling or whatever would help. Part of the problem is Cal bureaucracy losing touch of their alumni and not knowing who influencers are, especially those working broadly in the tech industry and associated professions. Also, a challenge is apathy towards sports, a problem for both Cal and Stanford.
CREATE AGENCY PROGRAM AS SUPPLEMENTAL INCOME. Develop a medical program, including a hospital and clinical system to generate income eventually. Carve out a more aggressive private equity branch within Cal Endowments to enable higher returns. Create a private equity branch to apply and co-invest in UCB-developed intellectual property. Create at least one overseas school to extend to Asia to generate full-tuition priced education.
This is a huge one. A branded hospital would be a huge energy and revenue generator for Cal. Stanford (hate to bring it up) has locations all over the Bay Area including their flagship medical center in Palo Alto.
Yes. I remember like 10+ years ago when I was in the DC area, there was a meet and greet with Chancellor Dirks at the Capitol. One particular alum asked like 3-4 times about Cal getting a hospital/medical school (IIRC as the financial solution to losing California state funding) and Dirks said repeatedly that it won't happen due to UCSF.
DEVELOP AN ELITE UNIVERSITY, NOT ELITISM. The floor at UC Berkeley is exceptionally high and there's a sink-or-swim approach to education. Education should not be a limited commodity at UCB - impacted/limited enrollment majors should see expansion of classes. Forced curves should not be a thing. Late drops should be allowed. There should be less stringent majors, classes, and programs via UCB-Extension to act as a safety net for those who are at risk of failing out of UCB and act as an entry point for those who perhaps are less qualified - but perhaps can show that they can thrive at the main campus.
Okay so obviously the qualifier here is that SC ain't elite, but there are programs to ease the transition to college for veterans, older students coming in from community colleges, first generation students, etc. and so on. There's the neighborhood academic initiative program that catches kids in middle school and offers additional instruction and programs where if you complete it, you can get a full ride to SC (probably much harder for an elite public to have something like that, but those kids go to other schools also, Cal could be building a pipeline to the UC system overall).
I agree. To me it is like being a music major - someone very good at a specific skill as opposed to someone who is more of a generalist. Create a separate college for athletes and build the school year around their sport. Teach marketing, contract negotiation, and other things appealing to an athkete
DEEPEN CAL FANDOM COMMUNITY. Sign license with a normal apparel partner(s), loosen licensing for other Cal items (eg, flags, jackets, sweaters, shorts, belts, etc.), develop media production internship program to produce more Cal videos/pictures, experiment with new songs/traditions.
CONNECT TO THE COMMUNITY. Give away stickers to local middle school and high school football programs, give a block of tickets to local middle/high school teams, offer low-cost football development camps (eg, local combine, one-day camps)
IMPROVE THE GAME DAY EXPERIENCE. Coordinate more park-and-ride, close selective streets to offer more retail experience on way to stadium, offer more tailgating options, coordinate walk-and-booze open container areas, coordinate garbage cans, develop People's Park, sell beer you cowards.
Glass Onion - without going too much into spoiler territory, it went from very enjoyable to WTF for me for everything that happened after the reveal. A character proceed to drink a beverage that could have easily been poisoned (especially given what we know by that point of the movie) and us audience were supposed to cheer when a priceless art was needlessly destroyed?
I basically did this like 2-3 weeks ago. It was very an enjoyable show. I also retroactively regret that I didn't get to join on the guessing fun of whodunit back when the episodes were released weekly.
also I watched the new Jack Ryan series on Amazon, I suppose it was about what you'd expect - very slick production, decent cast, not exactly the greatest scripts
In 2002, Rich Hill was picked 112 - which was after Cal's RHP Trevor Hutchison (#83, never reached MLB) and before the Marlin's C John Baker (#128) and CLE/PHI OF Ben Francisco (#154), 2B Carson White (#681), OF Adam Seuss (#1091), and OF Matt Payne (#1472)
Chargers defy all odds and make the playoffs. Chargers still need to fire their OC Lombardi but unfortunately making the playoffs means he is likely here to stay.
English premier league started back up yesterday, in the "oh gee that's too bad" category: we were driving over to the Eastern shore to visit with my mother in law and her husband so I missed Everton resuming normal service with a loss.
I could see him being a good head coach who advocates well for the program and knows how to pick assistants to do the player development and X’s and O’s, kind of like a successful Herm Edwards
New Mexico State, yes NMSU, hung on to beat Bowling Green 24-19 to win the Quick Lane Bowl. NMSU became bowl eligible by beating terrible Hawaii, New Mexico, and Umass teams, beating two FCS teams that were bad even for FCS, and inexplicably upsetting Liberty 49-14. The second FCS victory was a make-up game after the SJSU game was cancelled due to Covid issues. Only one FCS victory counts to become bowl eligible, so they were 5-6 in the eyes of the Bowl selection committees. NMSU became bowl eligible by a mathematic fluke. Only 80 of 82 had six wins going into bowl season. By rescheduling an FCS opponent, NMSU qualified for a bowl because they were the only 5-6 team while all other teams were 5-7. This was NMSU second bowl game in 61 years, but they improved to 4-0-1 all-time in Bowls. The one tie was the 1936 Sun Bowl - a game with 15 turnovers and 29 punts.
Hawaii, NMU, and Umass went a combined 6-31 on the season. Lamar went 1-10, including 1-8 against FCS opponents, including one of the worst FCS teams Northern Colorado.
Friend's relatives visiting. They brought over some Esther Price chocolates.
Who can guess which state the relatives are from? ;-)
OH, I don't knOw.
don't feel bad...the question was actually for a specific DBDer to answer, but haven't seen them there today.
As a (major) hint, the piece I just had is a truffle-shaped chocolate+PB thing. Called a...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Buckeye
hi hi sorry I've been Netflixing all day hahahaha
What?!? Abandoning your DBD duties???
(Hope it's not illness that caused the Netflix binging, but rather just general laziness ;-)
Look at all the capital letters in my first post. (I've had them whilst traveling through the midwest).
sorry...I see that now. you were too clever for me!
(I was wondering about the caps ;-)
Non-relative who was an influence on your life
My mentor in business. I've had a few but one stood out head and shoulders above the others for giving me my big break. He passed in 2018, unfortunately.
Had a camp counselor in my early high school years who I looked up to quite a bit. Very funny, talented dude who introduced me to a lot of cool music. Had really great values that I picked up.
There were quite a few.
UKRAINE/RUSSIA
Russia wants peace talks but demands Ukraine give up and cede the territories that they unilaterally annexed or else they threaten that the issue will be settled by the Russian army. Like, how is that even a negotiation "offer"?
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2022/12/27/russia-ukraine-live-moscow-gives-kyiv-ultimatum
"settled by the Russian army"- like by covering the ground with more dead bodies and burned out trucks and tanks?
Also by deserting and surrendering, seeing as they have already looted all the washing machines in the areas they occupied.
Russian Tycoon who was earlier critical of Russia's invasion has died due to defenestration. Russia rules it a suicide, naturally.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64101437
Aviation News...
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/u-s-dot-to-probe-southwest-cancellations-that-stranded-flyers-01672145123
The word is that Southwest Airlines' software cratered.
They canceled my flight yesterday and I received no notification, either email or text message. I had gone to SoCal this weekend to see my mom for Xmas (delayed flight getting there too). My niece and her husband had flown down from Sac on the 23rd and had rented a car. Yesterday at lunch, he checked his flight status and saw it was canceled, which prompted me to check my flight later that day and it was also canceled. After 5-10 minutes of trying to call and book other flights, including on other airlines and departing from different airports, we decided to keep the rental car and drive home yesterday. He extended the rental and changed the drop off to Sac. 10 hrs through the rain and holiday traffic, we made it home.
Wow, that sucks so bad; I would be so annoyed.
The lady friend finally received a text from southwest 15 minutes before our flight was scheduled to depart.
this tweet has an image of an email to the DEN ground crews last week, accusing everyone of slacking and threatening to immediately fire anyone who refuses mandatory overtime is about as old school as apparently the whole airline's flight crew booking system is proving to be.
https://twitter.com/JudithFlanders/status/1607769847303217154?s=20&t=TB4Uc4wm1vlxGrlODQ2zUg
Look at all these chickens
Take care of y'all bodies, take care of y'all chicken, and. take care of y'all mentals because we ain't lasting that long.
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the breakroom fridge
.
and which
you were probably
going
to eat for lunch
.
Forgive me
I am anti-social
so cheap
and wasn't caught
William Carlos Williams?
pqtm
https://twitter.com/Ruth_A_Buzzi/status/1607457924879880192
In related news, Ruth Buzzi is still alive
Moses
The History of the World snippet where he has 15.....oops.....10 commandments.
Cracks me up every time.
Hall.
Space heaters
Some spacecraft use small amounts of radioactive material to provide heat in deep space.
Not space heater but generator. I was talking to a guy panhandling outside Safeway last night. He said he's saving up to buy a generator. He'd priced them out and said he had $600 saved so far. I don't know where he stays at night, but good luck to him.
been getting some use at my house over the last several days - there are some rooms / areas that need more help than the forced air central heating can provide. I use the little oil-filled radiators, they seemed the least risky of the various options.
Electric, blowing air.
What are some of the things that Cal can do to get better at football?
I didn't see recruit better linemen and an elite QB on the list. Seems to be something worth trying, given how well they have established that not doing so doesn't work.
BE MICHIGAN.
No need to reinvent the wheel, look at what the University of Michigan has done. An elite public university with elite athletics. It should not be as hard as we make it on ourselves. Get Knowlton out of here and let's get us a young AD with experience in a thriving athletic department.
We got the uniform part checked off.
Find Silicon Valley companies to fund NILs for Cal athletes.
Good idea but executing the plan needs some thought and attention. Starting out with successful alumni as opposed to low-level employees of the athletic department cold calling or whatever would help. Part of the problem is Cal bureaucracy losing touch of their alumni and not knowing who influencers are, especially those working broadly in the tech industry and associated professions. Also, a challenge is apathy towards sports, a problem for both Cal and Stanford.
Realize the NCAA isn’t an over site organization and that the rules no longer apply to football so cheating no longer exist.
1a) Fire Knowlton
1b) Fire Christ
1c) Mozilla.
Try harder
CREATE AGENCY PROGRAM AS SUPPLEMENTAL INCOME. Develop a medical program, including a hospital and clinical system to generate income eventually. Carve out a more aggressive private equity branch within Cal Endowments to enable higher returns. Create a private equity branch to apply and co-invest in UCB-developed intellectual property. Create at least one overseas school to extend to Asia to generate full-tuition priced education.
This is a huge one. A branded hospital would be a huge energy and revenue generator for Cal. Stanford (hate to bring it up) has locations all over the Bay Area including their flagship medical center in Palo Alto.
Do university hospitals actually generate income?
Big time
For their fiscal year 2021, UCLA Medical had $3,128m in revenues and $2,711m in opex, meaning a $417m in operating profits.
https://ucla.app.box.com/v/acct-pdf-AFR-20-21
Ah ok! Are we constrained by UCSF?
Yes. I remember like 10+ years ago when I was in the DC area, there was a meet and greet with Chancellor Dirks at the Capitol. One particular alum asked like 3-4 times about Cal getting a hospital/medical school (IIRC as the financial solution to losing California state funding) and Dirks said repeatedly that it won't happen due to UCSF.
Absorb UCSF into UCB system.
Re-absorb—it was there before
I assume so, since USC runs two.
Develop West-side opportunities for housing, dining, and entertainment that would be self-funding.
DEVELOP AN ELITE UNIVERSITY, NOT ELITISM. The floor at UC Berkeley is exceptionally high and there's a sink-or-swim approach to education. Education should not be a limited commodity at UCB - impacted/limited enrollment majors should see expansion of classes. Forced curves should not be a thing. Late drops should be allowed. There should be less stringent majors, classes, and programs via UCB-Extension to act as a safety net for those who are at risk of failing out of UCB and act as an entry point for those who perhaps are less qualified - but perhaps can show that they can thrive at the main campus.
In other words, serve those who actually need education they can afford and apply.
Okay so obviously the qualifier here is that SC ain't elite, but there are programs to ease the transition to college for veterans, older students coming in from community colleges, first generation students, etc. and so on. There's the neighborhood academic initiative program that catches kids in middle school and offers additional instruction and programs where if you complete it, you can get a full ride to SC (probably much harder for an elite public to have something like that, but those kids go to other schools also, Cal could be building a pipeline to the UC system overall).
I agree. To me it is like being a music major - someone very good at a specific skill as opposed to someone who is more of a generalist. Create a separate college for athletes and build the school year around their sport. Teach marketing, contract negotiation, and other things appealing to an athkete
DEEPEN CAL FANDOM COMMUNITY. Sign license with a normal apparel partner(s), loosen licensing for other Cal items (eg, flags, jackets, sweaters, shorts, belts, etc.), develop media production internship program to produce more Cal videos/pictures, experiment with new songs/traditions.
CONNECT TO THE COMMUNITY. Give away stickers to local middle school and high school football programs, give a block of tickets to local middle/high school teams, offer low-cost football development camps (eg, local combine, one-day camps)
IMPROVE THE GAME DAY EXPERIENCE. Coordinate more park-and-ride, close selective streets to offer more retail experience on way to stadium, offer more tailgating options, coordinate walk-and-booze open container areas, coordinate garbage cans, develop People's Park, sell beer you cowards.
Lower ticket prices for games that are in lesser demand.
Allow the band to play! Advertise over Cal songs if needed, but the canned music and endless commercials kill the game-day vibe.
Hear hear. I told Knowlton that and he said the younger generation prefers the canned music. I disagree.
On tap and throughout the stadium.
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Missed this one...
Trump Christmas message: 'The USA is dying from within!!!'
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/25/trump-christmas-message-dying-from-within-00075593
given his diet, he'd be an expert
Someone filed a FEC filing on behalf of Mike Pence to run for President. Pence denies filing it.
https://www.newsweek.com/mike-pence-spokesperson-denies-presidential-candidate-filing-2024-election-1769676
Representative-elect George Santos admitted to lying about his education, employment history, religion, wealth, and campaign financial resources. My favorite lie was about his religion where he claimed to be Jewish because his mother was Jewish, but it turned out he was Catholic on both sides. He clarified to say that he thought his mother had some Jewish blood way way back so he said he was "Jew-ish" and never claimed to be Jewish. Dipshit defends himself by saying "my sins here are embellishing my résumé."
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/26/nyregion/george-santos-interview.html
It is believed that he lied about his sexuality. He also may have violated campaign finance rules.
Update: Funding for George Santos campaign came from a Russian oligarch as part of a Ruskie disinformation/PR campaign
.
https://twitter.com/muellershewrote/status/1607801444673155072
And yet, crickets from the House Republicans. How many got funding from Russian Oligarchs?
DBD AV CLUB
Glass Onion - without going too much into spoiler territory, it went from very enjoyable to WTF for me for everything that happened after the reveal. A character proceed to drink a beverage that could have easily been poisoned (especially given what we know by that point of the movie) and us audience were supposed to cheer when a priceless art was needlessly destroyed?
We bingewatched all 10 hours of Bad Sisters on AppleTV. Very good show, perfect for 2-4 hours a day over a long weekend with the adults.
Sharon Horgan dramedy about a group of sisters who may-or-may-not have killed their despicable brother-in-law. 15/19.
I basically did this like 2-3 weeks ago. It was very an enjoyable show. I also retroactively regret that I didn't get to join on the guessing fun of whodunit back when the episodes were released weekly.
if you haven't, start Slow Horses. I just watched the latest ep of S2. One more to go!
I'm 2 in. Looking forward to ep 3.
3 seconds of every Star Trek: The Next Generation episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_fjhi4Tu5M
Great for fans and newbies alike. Hilarious!
Family movie nights over the extended weekend included Glass Onion (very funny) and Matilda (the musical, much better than I was expecting).
also I watched the new Jack Ryan series on Amazon, I suppose it was about what you'd expect - very slick production, decent cast, not exactly the greatest scripts
PRO
Rich Hill signs an $8m one-year contract with the Pirates. His catcher may be Endy Rodriguez, who had just turned two years old when Hill was drafted.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35328991/sources-pirates-agree-1-year-deal-43-year-old-left-hander-rich-hill
In 2002, Rich Hill was picked 112 - which was after Cal's RHP Trevor Hutchison (#83, never reached MLB) and before the Marlin's C John Baker (#128) and CLE/PHI OF Ben Francisco (#154), 2B Carson White (#681), OF Adam Seuss (#1091), and OF Matt Payne (#1472)
John Baker has been the Pirates' head of players development for 2-3 years now.
JJ Watt announces his retirement after this season
https://twitter.com/JJWatt/status/1607765508476252160
Chargers defy all odds and make the playoffs. Chargers still need to fire their OC Lombardi but unfortunately making the playoffs means he is likely here to stay.
Out of 147 games, the Clippers have never come from behind when down by 14 or more points to win with 3 minutes or less. Make that 1 out of 148.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35326250/clippers-stage-improbable-late-comeback-beat-pistons-ot
Perhaps as an explanation to why he threw 3 consecutive INTs, Tua has entered concussion protocol. Again.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35324355/miami-dolphins-qb-tua-tagovailoa-concussion-protocol-again
Seriously should at least consider hanging them up…3 concussions in 8 weeks??
Totally. You only have one brain….
English premier league started back up yesterday, in the "oh gee that's too bad" category: we were driving over to the Eastern shore to visit with my mother in law and her husband so I missed Everton resuming normal service with a loss.
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
Is this a new trend?
Ed Reed became college football HC.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35330809/hall-famer-ed-reed-head-coach-bethune-cookman
Sonny Dykes' brother-in-law gave a ride to a bunch of Pitt football players so that they can play UCLA on Friday.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35325707/stranded-pitt-players-hitch-ride-sun-bowl-utep-basketball-coach
Fun fact: There are four bowl games today. They feature five teams that finished 6-6, two 7-5 teams and a 9-3 Coastal Carolina squad.
Colorado Recruiting in the Stratosphere because of Prime Time...
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/travis-hunter-transfers-to-colorado-former-no-1-recruit-follows-deion-sanders-from-jackson-state
I firmly believe that this will either be a smashing success or a terrible failure and nothing in between.
I could see him being a good head coach who advocates well for the program and knows how to pick assistants to do the player development and X’s and O’s, kind of like a successful Herm Edwards
Is 6-6 with a bowl bid a smashing success? I think so.
New Mexico State, yes NMSU, hung on to beat Bowling Green 24-19 to win the Quick Lane Bowl. NMSU became bowl eligible by beating terrible Hawaii, New Mexico, and Umass teams, beating two FCS teams that were bad even for FCS, and inexplicably upsetting Liberty 49-14. The second FCS victory was a make-up game after the SJSU game was cancelled due to Covid issues. Only one FCS victory counts to become bowl eligible, so they were 5-6 in the eyes of the Bowl selection committees. NMSU became bowl eligible by a mathematic fluke. Only 80 of 82 had six wins going into bowl season. By rescheduling an FCS opponent, NMSU qualified for a bowl because they were the only 5-6 team while all other teams were 5-7. This was NMSU second bowl game in 61 years, but they improved to 4-0-1 all-time in Bowls. The one tie was the 1936 Sun Bowl - a game with 15 turnovers and 29 punts.
Jerry Kill dialed his New Mexico up to 11
https://twitter.com/SickosCommittee/status/1607434340270481410
Even New Mexico F-ing State has been to the Sun Bowl????
My morning is ruined.
Hawaii, NMU, and Umass went a combined 6-31 on the season. Lamar went 1-10, including 1-8 against FCS opponents, including one of the worst FCS teams Northern Colorado.
CAL
NIMBYs win in appellate court via property development in Berkeley
https://twitter.com/CSElmendorf/status/1606827857078292480
Spencer Lovell in the transfer portal
He was terrible
Addition by subtraction
From ASU and back to ASU
When is Cal's next men's basketball game?
Thurs v Utes.
Gotcha
Go Bears!!!