The glowworms of Waitomo Caves fame are not worms. They are actually the larval stage of a species of “fungus gnats”. Fungus gnats usually feed on fungus, but this species (arachnocampa luminosa) is a predator. The “glowing spider-worm” larva is bioluminescent to attract flying bugs. It clings to something near/above water, extrudes web strings off itself, and then covers the strings with sticky droplets. In the dark, the Waitomo Cave’s roof looks like a wondrous fantasy world of will-o’-the-wisp snow. If you shine a light on the roof, it is a horror show of spider-worm snot.
So, for whatever reason, we've watched a fair number of older movies recently, that we missed when they came out:
The Warriors - 1979 - 16/19 what a totally bonkers movie, that still manages to draw you in and root for the Warriors, an epic of pseudo-gang culture and the decay that was New Your in the 70's. I think I wouldn't have liked as much if I'd seen it back in the day.
Aliens - 1986 - 17/19 - had to convince the wife to watch "Alien" again before we could watch this one, really great action movie, even though it features Sigourney Weaver in the same role, the two movies couldn't be more different. Great movie
When Harry Met Sally - 1989 - 16/19 High quality rom-com despite the most famous (and goofy) scene, Billy Crystal is quite funny, Meg Ryan is good as well, not set in her rom-com mode. Better than I thought it would be, still prefer "You Got Mail".
Hard Boiled - 1992 - 19/19 action scenes, 9/19 rest of the movie - Fans of glorious violence will thrill to John Woo's epic and super creative violence, I'm not sure I've ever seen better, BUT the non-action scenes feel more like filler than they should. (this one I watched by myself)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - 2005 - 16/19 - Really very entertaining sort of Noir buddy (not really) comedy with crime, some mystery and a lot of jokes. This might be Robert Downey Jr.'s come back movie, he is really quite funny in it. Val Kilmer is good as well. Overall fun.
There's another great dramedy type gang movie called the Wanderers about a 60s greaser gang who get into it with the black gang called the Del-Bombers and set up a rumble. But when the elder statesman of both gangs get wind of it, they set up a football game between the two gangs so they can make some money from the game. The game goes off as schedule but another gang called the Duckies come in and wreck shop on both sides. Its a fun movie my grade school friends and I loved and would emulate when we were 9-10 years old.
I watched Aliens on opening night before I ever watched Alien. I think it was during the summer because my friends and I watched Alien the next day. I think that's why I like Aliens better than Alien.
I think Alien is probably the better movie all around, but the two movies just have such different purposes that it's hard to make a real comparison. One is a great horror movie and the other is a great action movie.
Yeah, When Harry Met Sally always surprises me with how much depth it has. Most of the subsequent rom-coms that tried to copy it didn't give the lead characters the same depth or the same amount of time to allow the relationship to develop; instead they replace it with lots of plot shenanigans. The secret is that WHMS takes place over many years, so it's entirely plausible these two people could go from casual acquaintances to friends to lovers to happily married.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was the start of the Downey comeback, yeah. Then there was Tropic Thunder, Zodiac, and finally Iron Man to solidify it.
You could easily treat them like a miniseries and break them across say 4 viewings. They basically spend the last part of the Godfather 2 in "wrap that shit up" mode because they expended so much time on the setup.
OR, (if you're going to this) watch the first part of 2 that is set in the past of 1, then watch all of 1, then watch the part of 2 which occurs after the events on 1- it was shown like that on TV in the Dark Ages.
I've been hearing that for probably 20 years, just have never settled in to watch them. I don't doubt it and I'm sure some day I'll sit down and watch em both.
There was a scene that we discussed in a previous DBD. I now understand why some people didn't consider it rape. In the book, that scene happened after Simon got shatteringly drunk. In the show, Simon was sober.
Still plenty of problems with their interactions, but anyway, having now watched that episode, I better understand where people were coming from.
Going to try slow-cooker pozole this week. Tried pozole once before and it didn't turn out too good, but this one calls for canned enchilada sauce as the base. I won't use canned because my wife swears by my homemade enchilada sauce, which she says she wants to be slathered in before being buried.
for pozole, try 4 guajillo chiles, 2 dried chipotle (not in adobo), 3-4 garlic cloves, 1 T mexican oregano, 1 t cumin, 1 T powdered chicken bouillon, S&P to taste. Toast the dried chiles on a comal until fragrant. Add to blender with all ingredients plus 1-15oz can of fire roasted diced tomato. Blend until smooth, add to slow cooker with hominy, and meat of choice.
I'm going to try to Sous Vide a pork tenderloin tonight. Has anyone tried this? I found a recipe on Serious Eats which is basically add some herbs, salt, pepper during the sous vide, sear, and then add some herbs and butter.
Enjoyed the heavy rain on Thursday night, looking like this morning's light rain showers will be the last of it for the next ten days. Less snow on the LA mountains than I anticipated, but those above Ventura/Santa Barbara were covered on Saturday, which was cool to see.
I shoveled because whether on steps or the driveway, you walk down to the street from our house... I suspect it's a bit treacherous now, but I persuaded the missus to adjust her schedule today so nobody specifically needs to slide on down to the road
An inch and a half of snow here yesterday. First snow of an inch or more in almost two years. I tried to go for a run this morning but lots of ice around so barely managed to survive a couple miles.
Bioluminescence is one of the most magical things about sailing at night. My favorite memory is sailing off the central CA coast in pitch black watching huge "clouds" of bioluminescence pass under the boat. We later started seeing what looked like bright blue lightning bolts cutting through the clouds. As it got closer we realized it was pods of dolphin hunting baitfish that were stirring up (and probably feeding on) all the bioluminescent plankton.
We regularly get the light blue glows when the water is warmer and you see what looks like faint underwater lights and have recently started getting bright neon green glow worms (<1/2" long) in the harbor that come up to the surface to mate when the moon is bright, but nothing compares to what you can see offshore.
I hear that there's a type of bioluminescence called "blue tears" off the coast of some of Taiwan's islands (Kinmen and Matsu), and I hope to see them someday. Also, a friend of mine got a book deal to write and illustrate a children's book on bioluminescence, and I can't wait to see it! She was hiring a scientific consultant, but unfortunately, it isn't my area of expertise.
One of my good friends spent his Taiwan military service on Kinmen. He said every month or so they had to deal with swimmers from Fujian. It's like 1km from a Mainland island.
my wife went to Vieques Island near Puerto Rico a bunch of years back when they still allowed people to swim around in the water w/ the Bioluminescent stuff in the water.
i guess too many people in the water was ruining it so now you can only see from the boat
I've swam in it once in Cat Harbor on Catalina Island and it was pretty damn cool. It was like swimming in Fantasia. If anyone ever has the opportunity I'd highly recommend it and make sure you have goggles or a snorkel mask.
Went on the Waitomo caves tour two years ago and it really is incredible. Most of it is your standard caves tour, but the glowworm section is above a slow-moving underground river. The glowworms are apparently pretty sensitive to sound so you're asked to stay silent as you board little boats (think PotC at Disneyland). The guides then pull you along on cables strung up over the water and zigzag your way through the section before exiting into a lush pool. It's really quite amazing and absolutely worth it.
Not to mention, the land is owned by a Maori family and the large majority of tour guides are descendants of that family.
I don’t understand why some people still use Burma or I have seen some articles use Burma and Myanmar in the same article. Their official name is Myanmar, why do people refuse to use that and use Burma?
1) partly laziness, I'm old and "Burma" is what springs to mind
2) partly ignorance, I wasn't aware that "Myanmar" is how the locals have long referred to themselves as a country
3) partly a reaction to the fact that the change was made by a military regime; for me it had echoes of the BBC referring to Cambodia as Kampuchea while the Khmer Rouge were in charge, although the state of Myanmar has some distance to go if they want to catch up to the Khmer Rouge for genocide.
Speaking of "old school," when my grandmother left school in the early 30s, she worked for the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, which was still one of, if not the, largest fleets in the world, and managed out of Glasgow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrawaddy_Flotilla_Company
Thanks. Sounds about right. It seems like Burma has its issues as well since it is a name that also wasn’t adopted by the people and was forced on them by the British during the colonial period.
I've been to Myanmar three times. The first time in the 1990s, it was so isolated that the country (except for the then capital Yangon) did not have paved roads or electricity. Even then, Yangon only had enough electricity to run one-fourth of the city at a time. The rest of the country was so desperately poor and the exchange rate so favorable that you were insanely rich. The largest bill in circulation was only worth US$2 and almost nobody had enough currency to break it. You'd get offered change in beedis (hand rolled leaf cigarillos), betel nut, and other products. You thrived on less than $10/day, but it's not that way anymore.
My late uncle served in Burma in WWII driving pack mule trains for the war effort against the Japanese. The terrain was too steep and muddy for vehicles.
[WaPo] Trump's defense team quits because he wants to reiterate claims of massive election fraud, as opposed to defending whether a trial on a President who has left office is Constitutional.
"So what happened in the playoff game? Wolford got knocked out with a neck injury the first quarter, and Goff came jogging onto the field -- with zero reps, 12 days after thumb surgery -- and gutted out a game that was one of the bigger triumphs of the McVay era."
He wasn't even supposed to play. He was pretty much an emergency option. Goff takes a lot of flack, unnecessarily. I'd take him over Garappolo any day.
Yep, all of this. I feel like it became the easy and lazy thing to just dumb on Goff. Despite all that he has a bunch of regular season wins, playoff wins and a SB appearance.
As underwhelming as Goff has been for the past 2 seasons, he still has road playoff wins at New Orleans (Suck it, Drew Brees!) and Seattle (Suck it, Russell Wilson!) in his short career. That's 2 more playoff wins than Stafford, who is 6 years older. Lots of spin about how shitty Goff is and Stafford is the missing link for McVay but I think Stafford isn't going to fare much differently than Goff. That Rams oline is still a massive, steaming, stanky pile of shit. Ridiculous trade by the Rams
Giving away 2 first round draft picks is ridiculous. Now Detroit can draft a top-flight receiver in two straight drafts. (If they are smart enough to do it)
Those picks will be late 20's, so they aren't getting the best of the best at ANY position.
What it will allow them to do is parlay their own '22 & '23 1st rounders AND the late 1st rounder from the Rams into a move up to get a top 3 or 4 pick....that's why they wanted the Niners 12 pick this year....
The front page has its fair share of DOOOOOOM whenever someone has the temerity to graduate from Cal and then put their name into the transfer portal. @WilderThanGene had posted that Cal's non-graduate transfer activity was not that bad. That piqued my interest as to how many are actually transferring out (grad vs. non) and then transferring in. Here's the Pac-12 Transfer Portal data as of 2/1/2021 with the three numbers representing grad out, non-grad out, and transfers in:
UofA (7) (3) 9
ASU (1) (11) 4
Cal (6) (2) 1
CU (4) (4) 2
Or'gun (1) (7) -
OSU (1) (8) 4
'furd (2) (1) -
UCLA (7) (2) 5
USC (1) (4) 4
Utah (1) (9) 4
UW (1) (4) 1
WSU (3) (14) 3
Above figures are sourced from 274. Excludes those who went into the portal and declared that they'd stay.
Nice putting this together. Yeah when I said that I took a cursory look at 247 and randomly chose a few teams to look at.. some had fewer, some more, some a lot more. (check out Florida State tons of 4 stars leaving). The crux is the impossible task of qualitatively looking at transfers who are leaving for program or coaching related reasons, when the coaching staff is otherwise stable. Looking at Cal's list, it only looks like Polk is concerning, but on the other hand we have a 4 star safety coming in (from said FSU), so I wouldn't say the net effect of this transfer season is remarkable for Cal, in the context of the normal business of the annual transfer portal. Most players weren't getting much playing time. And most are grads as you showed. Angelino.. maybe he's going back to linebacker? etc. End of the day, these are young men making personal life decisions and I don't see evidence for any kind of doom here or glaring systemic issues with coaching or culture that is turning off players. That said, I know nothing and I try to err on the side of sunshine. But I do have a grievance with how Polk was underutilized last year, and hoping the offense becomes more productive and Wilcox less conservative (if he's the governing "problem" in game).
What do you see? Photo of Memorial stadium in this article; what does the NYT have against us?
"College football players sustained far more concussions during practices than they did in games, medical researchers reported on Monday, a finding certain to add to the yearslong debate about regulating training regimens across the sport.
Much less clear is whether the college sports industry will nationalize safety reforms like those adopted by the N.F.L., which limits the number of padded practices per season, or some college conferences. But with the N.C.A.A. and its members facing urgent decisions on other fronts, including how to navigate the coronavirus pandemic, far-reaching new rules intended to prevent head injuries are probably not imminent.
The authors of the new study, published in JAMA Neurology, a peer-reviewed journal, found that 72 percent of the concussions they reviewed over five college football seasons happened during practice. And although preseason training accounted for about one-fifth of the time the researchers studied, they found that nearly half of the concussions occurred during that period."
Of course more concussions occur in practice; there is only 1 game per week, with only 11 of your players involved at a time. In practice, which occurs multiple times per week (admittedly, not all are full or even limited contact, but you still have people running around, and into each other), and have your players against more of your players. Many practice structures at the college level (70-100 players) are also structured where you might have multiple groups in contact drills at the same time (O-starters vs scout team on 1 field, D-starters vs scout team on another field, maybe 2s vs 2s somewhere else, to get more work done in the allotted practice time. This is much different than the dynamic of a pro team with half as many players where the subs don't get many reps outside position drills.
I think the same thing happened sometime in the last couple years. They had an article about some negative outcome associated with college football and had a picture of a Cal player or Cal facilities.
When seeing that and other subsequent Cal athletics references by the NYT my first thought was there's probably a Cal alum or two on their staff that influenced the decision. People tend to stick to what's familiar.
In the 247 interview, he said that he played "club ball" at Grey Lynn Park. There really is only one club league that uses linemen (NZAFF). And if he played at Grey Lynn, that's the home of the Metro Lions, the same team that Lone Toailoa got his start. The Auckland branch of NZAFF has nine teams, but only 3-4 that field a tackle team. They play that many games and then a play-off per year, so not much football.
I thought I remembered we got 1 or 2. If we have had good divers the last 5+ years, would we have swept the swimming and diving championships? It seems like the only reason we would lose is that other teams have had divers.
MSWIM: Bears beat Trojans at the first and only scheduled & scored meet of the season. While more meets may be scheduled, the next scheduled meet is the Pac-12 Championships starting Feb 24
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/berkeley-lab-live-science-the-element-of-discovery-tickets-135409839475
Come chat with me on Friday! Meet a scientist who's on the hunt for the next element on the periodic table! Fun for the whole family!
cool. i am guessing it would be good for my 13 & 16 yr olds?
They're our target audience :)
DBD AV Club, old movie edition
So, for whatever reason, we've watched a fair number of older movies recently, that we missed when they came out:
The Warriors - 1979 - 16/19 what a totally bonkers movie, that still manages to draw you in and root for the Warriors, an epic of pseudo-gang culture and the decay that was New Your in the 70's. I think I wouldn't have liked as much if I'd seen it back in the day.
Aliens - 1986 - 17/19 - had to convince the wife to watch "Alien" again before we could watch this one, really great action movie, even though it features Sigourney Weaver in the same role, the two movies couldn't be more different. Great movie
When Harry Met Sally - 1989 - 16/19 High quality rom-com despite the most famous (and goofy) scene, Billy Crystal is quite funny, Meg Ryan is good as well, not set in her rom-com mode. Better than I thought it would be, still prefer "You Got Mail".
Hard Boiled - 1992 - 19/19 action scenes, 9/19 rest of the movie - Fans of glorious violence will thrill to John Woo's epic and super creative violence, I'm not sure I've ever seen better, BUT the non-action scenes feel more like filler than they should. (this one I watched by myself)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - 2005 - 16/19 - Really very entertaining sort of Noir buddy (not really) comedy with crime, some mystery and a lot of jokes. This might be Robert Downey Jr.'s come back movie, he is really quite funny in it. Val Kilmer is good as well. Overall fun.
How have you missed the Warriors? I watch that at least once every few years.
CAN YOU DIG IT!!! (I don't know how I did)
What do you have against the anabasis
hahahaha, love Xenophon
There's another great dramedy type gang movie called the Wanderers about a 60s greaser gang who get into it with the black gang called the Del-Bombers and set up a rumble. But when the elder statesman of both gangs get wind of it, they set up a football game between the two gangs so they can make some money from the game. The game goes off as schedule but another gang called the Duckies come in and wreck shop on both sides. Its a fun movie my grade school friends and I loved and would emulate when we were 9-10 years old.
I watched Aliens on opening night before I ever watched Alien. I think it was during the summer because my friends and I watched Alien the next day. I think that's why I like Aliens better than Alien.
Yeah, watching that way kinda ruins Alien, since it's supposed to be a surprise; and the FX are vastly better in Aliens.
I think Alien is probably the better movie all around, but the two movies just have such different purposes that it's hard to make a real comparison. One is a great horror movie and the other is a great action movie.
Yeah I agree. they are sorta different genres.
Horror vs. Action
My take as well.
Yeah, I agree that one is a great horror movie and the other is a great action movie.
Yeah, When Harry Met Sally always surprises me with how much depth it has. Most of the subsequent rom-coms that tried to copy it didn't give the lead characters the same depth or the same amount of time to allow the relationship to develop; instead they replace it with lots of plot shenanigans. The secret is that WHMS takes place over many years, so it's entirely plausible these two people could go from casual acquaintances to friends to lovers to happily married.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was the start of the Downey comeback, yeah. Then there was Tropic Thunder, Zodiac, and finally Iron Man to solidify it.
how old are we talking? i tend to think of old as "came out before i start watching movies"
i remember enjoying and watching old movies on Sat/Sun afternoons back in the day.
- Ben Hur
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Spartacus
- The Day the Earth Stood Still
- various war movies like Bridge over River Kwai
nowadays i think of old moves as ones i enjoyed as kid/teen/young adult that i think would be worth watching w/ my kids now that they are 13 and 16
- Ferris Bueller and all those fun movies
- Dead Poets Society and the more serious types
- Hunt for Red October and all the cold war stuff our kids dont quite appreciate
I meant movies I missed, but was always curious about watching.
I still have never seen The Godfather nor The Godfather 2, always curious to see them, but never want to dedicate the time
I watched the first hour or so of Godfather and didn't care to continue.
I also haven't watched The Matrix. Have no desire to.
I have never seen any of the Godfather movies. Hard to believe but true. I did like the Matrix though back when it came out in 1999.
All my CS friends ask how a programmer can not watch the Matrix. I basically said I wasn't interested in it.
You could easily treat them like a miniseries and break them across say 4 viewings. They basically spend the last part of the Godfather 2 in "wrap that shit up" mode because they expended so much time on the setup.
OR, (if you're going to this) watch the first part of 2 that is set in the past of 1, then watch all of 1, then watch the part of 2 which occurs after the events on 1- it was shown like that on TV in the Dark Ages.
Works just fine.
Ok so now you're making it even more cumbersome!
When movies are as good as the first two Godfather movies the time flies by.
They are both fantastic movies, some of the best Hollywood has ever created. You are missing out.
I've been hearing that for probably 20 years, just have never settled in to watch them. I don't doubt it and I'm sure some day I'll sit down and watch em both.
double ++ agree
Justin Diamond (aka Screech) dead at 44 from cancer.
https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/dustin-diamond-dead-saved-by-the-bell-screech-1234897484/
*Dustin
I love when the date matches the day--when 1 is Monday, 2 is Tuesday, &c.
AND Groundhog Day tomorrow!
2/1/21
I was wrong re: Bridgerton
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separation for spoilers
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There was a scene that we discussed in a previous DBD. I now understand why some people didn't consider it rape. In the book, that scene happened after Simon got shatteringly drunk. In the show, Simon was sober.
Still plenty of problems with their interactions, but anyway, having now watched that episode, I better understand where people were coming from.
it was one of the few times Simon wasnt drunk
BLM
NYTimes visual: How the Police killed Breona Taylor.
J.F.C.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDaNU7yDnsc&feature=emb_logo
DBD Cooking
A friend on my other internet community is teaching us to make bagels on Saturday and Sunday!!!
Going to try slow-cooker pozole this week. Tried pozole once before and it didn't turn out too good, but this one calls for canned enchilada sauce as the base. I won't use canned because my wife swears by my homemade enchilada sauce, which she says she wants to be slathered in before being buried.
for pozole, try 4 guajillo chiles, 2 dried chipotle (not in adobo), 3-4 garlic cloves, 1 T mexican oregano, 1 t cumin, 1 T powdered chicken bouillon, S&P to taste. Toast the dried chiles on a comal until fragrant. Add to blender with all ingredients plus 1-15oz can of fire roasted diced tomato. Blend until smooth, add to slow cooker with hominy, and meat of choice.
Enchilada sauce?
I use this recipe and it is so popular that people go back for thirds. Just adjust it for slow cooker.
https://www.feastingathome.com/pozole-recipe/#tasty-recipes-24643
oh that looks really good.
This recipe is the one that taught me that layering different chile types gives superior depth/complexity.
Wife's Mole has 8-12 different chilies, depending on what's available.
Looks like I am out of the running to be the DBD's #1 Mexican
Wife made pork ribs with a Mole finish, avocado salad & "mexican" garlic bread. So tasty, so rich.
Actually going to have New Orleans style gumbo for dinner
Nice! Do you have a good recipe?
yum. I've been looking for a good gumbo recipe. If anyone has one to share I'd appreciate it.
It's this one:
https://littlespicejar.com/new-orleans-gumbo-shrimp-sausage/
Cool. Bookmarked. Thanks.
I'm going to try to Sous Vide a pork tenderloin tonight. Has anyone tried this? I found a recipe on Serious Eats which is basically add some herbs, salt, pepper during the sous vide, sear, and then add some herbs and butter.
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/07/sous-vide-pork-tenderloin-recipe.html
Was going to try this unless someone has other suggestions.
we had a sous vide pork tenderloin for Xmas dinner a year or two ago that my sister-in-law in Philly made. i can ask her ...
it seemed surprisingly simple for how good it was
when I saw the Serious Eats recipe it was like 5 min of prep time, 5 min of searing time, and 3-4 hours of sous vide time. Seemed really simple.
Serious Easts is one of just a handful or sites i go to when I need a recipe
I usually check out kitchn and Martha Stewart if baking.
Weather
Sleet. It's a fairly new experience for me (1/19, WNB).
it is gross
Enjoyed the heavy rain on Thursday night, looking like this morning's light rain showers will be the last of it for the next ten days. Less snow on the LA mountains than I anticipated, but those above Ventura/Santa Barbara were covered on Saturday, which was cool to see.
When I went to bed last night there was 4-5 inches of snow on the ground. This morning half an inch of ice was crusted over it.
Sounds just delightful...
I shoveled because whether on steps or the driveway, you walk down to the street from our house... I suspect it's a bit treacherous now, but I persuaded the missus to adjust her schedule today so nobody specifically needs to slide on down to the road
in New Rochelle, only 3-4 inches overnigt but they say we should get 12-18.
i am guessing on the lower end of that. maybe even less
An inch and a half of snow here yesterday. First snow of an inch or more in almost two years. I tried to go for a run this morning but lots of ice around so barely managed to survive a couple miles.
maybe wearing short spikes would help? I used to do that when walking on ice, but didn't try running.
snow panda https://twitter.com/NationalZoo/status/1355986484931780609?s=20
I saw that on The Weather Channel last night. Pretty good stuff.
https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1356057859738513420
Glow
Bioluminescence is one of the most magical things about sailing at night. My favorite memory is sailing off the central CA coast in pitch black watching huge "clouds" of bioluminescence pass under the boat. We later started seeing what looked like bright blue lightning bolts cutting through the clouds. As it got closer we realized it was pods of dolphin hunting baitfish that were stirring up (and probably feeding on) all the bioluminescent plankton.
We regularly get the light blue glows when the water is warmer and you see what looks like faint underwater lights and have recently started getting bright neon green glow worms (<1/2" long) in the harbor that come up to the surface to mate when the moon is bright, but nothing compares to what you can see offshore.
I hear that there's a type of bioluminescence called "blue tears" off the coast of some of Taiwan's islands (Kinmen and Matsu), and I hope to see them someday. Also, a friend of mine got a book deal to write and illustrate a children's book on bioluminescence, and I can't wait to see it! She was hiring a scientific consultant, but unfortunately, it isn't my area of expertise.
One of my good friends spent his Taiwan military service on Kinmen. He said every month or so they had to deal with swimmers from Fujian. It's like 1km from a Mainland island.
My dad also did his military service there!
"Blue Tears" named after Cal fans
hahahaha
my wife went to Vieques Island near Puerto Rico a bunch of years back when they still allowed people to swim around in the water w/ the Bioluminescent stuff in the water.
i guess too many people in the water was ruining it so now you can only see from the boat
I've swam in it once in Cat Harbor on Catalina Island and it was pretty damn cool. It was like swimming in Fantasia. If anyone ever has the opportunity I'd highly recommend it and make sure you have goggles or a snorkel mask.
Went on the Waitomo caves tour two years ago and it really is incredible. Most of it is your standard caves tour, but the glowworm section is above a slow-moving underground river. The glowworms are apparently pretty sensitive to sound so you're asked to stay silent as you board little boats (think PotC at Disneyland). The guides then pull you along on cables strung up over the water and zigzag your way through the section before exiting into a lush pool. It's really quite amazing and absolutely worth it.
Not to mention, the land is owned by a Maori family and the large majority of tour guides are descendants of that family.
Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling.
Great show, a shame COVID cancelled it.
2nd season >>>>>>>> 1st
Al Bundy vs Big Bad Momma
$GME
down 28% right now
Ended down 30.77% market closed a few minutes ago.
Today in Covid-19
UC Berkeley Issues Advisory Warning after 44 students contract Covid-19
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/coronavirus/uc-berkeley-issues-waring-advisory-on-surge-in-covid-19-cases/2454957/
Myanmar
I don’t understand why some people still use Burma or I have seen some articles use Burma and Myanmar in the same article. Their official name is Myanmar, why do people refuse to use that and use Burma?
Speaking only for myself:
1) partly laziness, I'm old and "Burma" is what springs to mind
2) partly ignorance, I wasn't aware that "Myanmar" is how the locals have long referred to themselves as a country
3) partly a reaction to the fact that the change was made by a military regime; for me it had echoes of the BBC referring to Cambodia as Kampuchea while the Khmer Rouge were in charge, although the state of Myanmar has some distance to go if they want to catch up to the Khmer Rouge for genocide.
Speaking of "old school," when my grandmother left school in the early 30s, she worked for the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, which was still one of, if not the, largest fleets in the world, and managed out of Glasgow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrawaddy_Flotilla_Company
There's a reason:
https://www.usip.org/blog/2018/06/whats-name-burma-or-myanmar
Not sure it's a good reason, but it's not exactly stupid either.
Thanks. Sounds about right. It seems like Burma has its issues as well since it is a name that also wasn’t adopted by the people and was forced on them by the British during the colonial period.
I've been to Myanmar three times. The first time in the 1990s, it was so isolated that the country (except for the then capital Yangon) did not have paved roads or electricity. Even then, Yangon only had enough electricity to run one-fourth of the city at a time. The rest of the country was so desperately poor and the exchange rate so favorable that you were insanely rich. The largest bill in circulation was only worth US$2 and almost nobody had enough currency to break it. You'd get offered change in beedis (hand rolled leaf cigarillos), betel nut, and other products. You thrived on less than $10/day, but it's not that way anymore.
My late uncle served in Burma in WWII driving pack mule trains for the war effort against the Japanese. The terrain was too steep and muddy for vehicles.
If you are wondering how he could be my uncle (I'm not THAT old) my Dad had ten brothers and he was the eldest.
I mean my uncle, not my Dad. My Dad was the youngest of the bunch. A farm family so they needed a lot of folks to work the fields.
“Elaine, I’m in BURMA...you most likely know it as Myanmar.” - J Peterman
hahaha
Our hopefully in recovery democracy
[WaPo] Trump's defense team quits because he wants to reiterate claims of massive election fraud, as opposed to defending whether a trial on a President who has left office is Constitutional.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-legal-team-exited-after-he-insisted-impeachment-defense-focus-be-on-false-claims-of-election-fraud/2021/01/31/5af05d04-63e9-11eb-8c64-9595888caa15_story.html
Pro
Marshawn once again proves he is a national treasure via picking off Snoop Dog
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1356016156495151111
Layshia Clarendon (Cal '09-'13) has their breasts surgically removed. Layshia is non-binary, identifying with both genders. Good for Layshia.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/im-feeling-free-new-york-libertys-layshia-clarendon-has-successful-top-surgery/
Mike Silver has a rosy take on the trade (rosy from Goff's perspective)
https://www.nfl.com/news/silver-jared-goff-excited-to-be-with-lions-franchise-that-wants-appreciates-him
"So what happened in the playoff game? Wolford got knocked out with a neck injury the first quarter, and Goff came jogging onto the field -- with zero reps, 12 days after thumb surgery -- and gutted out a game that was one of the bigger triumphs of the McVay era."
Didn't know he had zero reps.
He wasn't even supposed to play. He was pretty much an emergency option. Goff takes a lot of flack, unnecessarily. I'd take him over Garappolo any day.
Yep, all of this. I feel like it became the easy and lazy thing to just dumb on Goff. Despite all that he has a bunch of regular season wins, playoff wins and a SB appearance.
Jared Goff trade - Instant Analysis (another take on the same theme)
https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2021/01/30/nfl-rams-jared-goff-matthew-stafford-trade-analysis/
Not quite sure if this is "Pro" but Marble League now has Ice Hockey. I saw this and was wondering how they did Ice Hockey. Kinda ingenious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uUM6rYUJZI&ab_channel=Jelle%27sMarbleRuns
Stafford-Goff Trade: Winners and Losers
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/matthew-stafford-trade-grades-rams-continue-unique-strategy-lions-land-multiple-premium-picks-and-jared-goff/
As underwhelming as Goff has been for the past 2 seasons, he still has road playoff wins at New Orleans (Suck it, Drew Brees!) and Seattle (Suck it, Russell Wilson!) in his short career. That's 2 more playoff wins than Stafford, who is 6 years older. Lots of spin about how shitty Goff is and Stafford is the missing link for McVay but I think Stafford isn't going to fare much differently than Goff. That Rams oline is still a massive, steaming, stanky pile of shit. Ridiculous trade by the Rams
100% agree - hella dumb move.
Giving away 2 first round draft picks is ridiculous. Now Detroit can draft a top-flight receiver in two straight drafts. (If they are smart enough to do it)
well, Matt Millen isn't in charge anymore
Those picks will be late 20's, so they aren't getting the best of the best at ANY position.
What it will allow them to do is parlay their own '22 & '23 1st rounders AND the late 1st rounder from the Rams into a move up to get a top 3 or 4 pick....that's why they wanted the Niners 12 pick this year....
Other College
Rod Benson has signed with the P12 Network to do color commentary on basketball games -- first game on Sunday (not ours)!
Boom got them dos
UCLA gets a pretty good RB via Zach Charbonnet transfer, the leading rusher for Michigan as a true freshman in 2019.
https://twitter.com/zachcharbon/status/1355617688664436737
They don't need that. We do.
Bob Gregory promoted to UW's DC. Yet another ex-Cal coach we get to face.
https://twitter.com/Softykjr/status/1356313141261426688
Cal
Record number of applications to THE University of California. +28% YoY vs. 2020
https://news.berkeley.edu/2021/01/28/record-high-number-of-high-school-students-apply-to-uc-berkeley/
Yeah, but they are dropping the SAT requirement. Seems like a big mistake (at least to me).
A friend said, how are they going to tell one white kid with a 4.0 from another white kid with a 4.0?
I think they should drop it permanently.
The front page has its fair share of DOOOOOOM whenever someone has the temerity to graduate from Cal and then put their name into the transfer portal. @WilderThanGene had posted that Cal's non-graduate transfer activity was not that bad. That piqued my interest as to how many are actually transferring out (grad vs. non) and then transferring in. Here's the Pac-12 Transfer Portal data as of 2/1/2021 with the three numbers representing grad out, non-grad out, and transfers in:
UofA (7) (3) 9
ASU (1) (11) 4
Cal (6) (2) 1
CU (4) (4) 2
Or'gun (1) (7) -
OSU (1) (8) 4
'furd (2) (1) -
UCLA (7) (2) 5
USC (1) (4) 4
Utah (1) (9) 4
UW (1) (4) 1
WSU (3) (14) 3
Above figures are sourced from 274. Excludes those who went into the portal and declared that they'd stay.
Nice putting this together. Yeah when I said that I took a cursory look at 247 and randomly chose a few teams to look at.. some had fewer, some more, some a lot more. (check out Florida State tons of 4 stars leaving). The crux is the impossible task of qualitatively looking at transfers who are leaving for program or coaching related reasons, when the coaching staff is otherwise stable. Looking at Cal's list, it only looks like Polk is concerning, but on the other hand we have a 4 star safety coming in (from said FSU), so I wouldn't say the net effect of this transfer season is remarkable for Cal, in the context of the normal business of the annual transfer portal. Most players weren't getting much playing time. And most are grads as you showed. Angelino.. maybe he's going back to linebacker? etc. End of the day, these are young men making personal life decisions and I don't see evidence for any kind of doom here or glaring systemic issues with coaching or culture that is turning off players. That said, I know nothing and I try to err on the side of sunshine. But I do have a grievance with how Polk was underutilized last year, and hoping the offense becomes more productive and Wilcox less conservative (if he's the governing "problem" in game).
What do you see? Photo of Memorial stadium in this article; what does the NYT have against us?
"College football players sustained far more concussions during practices than they did in games, medical researchers reported on Monday, a finding certain to add to the yearslong debate about regulating training regimens across the sport.
Much less clear is whether the college sports industry will nationalize safety reforms like those adopted by the N.F.L., which limits the number of padded practices per season, or some college conferences. But with the N.C.A.A. and its members facing urgent decisions on other fronts, including how to navigate the coronavirus pandemic, far-reaching new rules intended to prevent head injuries are probably not imminent.
The authors of the new study, published in JAMA Neurology, a peer-reviewed journal, found that 72 percent of the concussions they reviewed over five college football seasons happened during practice. And although preseason training accounted for about one-fifth of the time the researchers studied, they found that nearly half of the concussions occurred during that period."
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/sports/concussions-college-football-practice.html
Of course more concussions occur in practice; there is only 1 game per week, with only 11 of your players involved at a time. In practice, which occurs multiple times per week (admittedly, not all are full or even limited contact, but you still have people running around, and into each other), and have your players against more of your players. Many practice structures at the college level (70-100 players) are also structured where you might have multiple groups in contact drills at the same time (O-starters vs scout team on 1 field, D-starters vs scout team on another field, maybe 2s vs 2s somewhere else, to get more work done in the allotted practice time. This is much different than the dynamic of a pro team with half as many players where the subs don't get many reps outside position drills.
I think the same thing happened sometime in the last couple years. They had an article about some negative outcome associated with college football and had a picture of a Cal player or Cal facilities.
the NYT has been on campus since last fall. They've done a series of article concerning college athletics in the age of COVID.
When seeing that and other subsequent Cal athletics references by the NYT my first thought was there's probably a Cal alum or two on their staff that influenced the decision. People tend to stick to what's familiar.
Maybe NYT likes California. I got my picture on the front page in 2019.
Even though that's a very serious report...that is a really nice looking picture!
GO BEARS!
Ieremia Moore is a savage beast. Despite his inexperience, that kid can ball.
how much has he played? A year? More?
In the 247 interview, he said that he played "club ball" at Grey Lynn Park. There really is only one club league that uses linemen (NZAFF). And if he played at Grey Lynn, that's the home of the Metro Lions, the same team that Lone Toailoa got his start. The Auckland branch of NZAFF has nine teams, but only 3-4 that field a tackle team. They play that many games and then a play-off per year, so not much football.
Once he bulks up a bit he should be a force. Just needs some coaching up.
WSWIM: Bears swim very very very fast while annihilating USC (207 - 119) and UCLA (218-119). Bears set 11 pool records and 11 dual meet records.
https://calbears.com/news/2021/1/31/womens-swimming-diving-bears-complete-record-weekend-at-spieker.aspx
Great! I couldn't tell--do we actually have divers too now? Did they compete in this meet?
I thought I remembered we got 1 or 2. If we have had good divers the last 5+ years, would we have swept the swimming and diving championships? It seems like the only reason we would lose is that other teams have had divers.
MSWIM: Bears beat Trojans at the first and only scheduled & scored meet of the season. While more meets may be scheduled, the next scheduled meet is the Pac-12 Championships starting Feb 24
https://twitter.com/calmenswim/status/1355627728989421568