Nickelback was formed in the early 1990s as a cover band called "Village Idiot" by brothers Mike and Chad Kroeger with their cousin Brandon Kroeger and Ryan Peake. The band later changed its name to Nickelback, which originated from the nickel in change that band member Mike Kroeger gave customers at his job at Starbucks; he would frequently say, "Here's your nickel back.
My mom said that she has heard of it. Like the links below, it's Taiwanese. I think she said that when she grew up there it wasn't a thing so it's more recent. She left around 67 and moved the the US.
I don't like boba but based on the links, it's like Mochi or like stuff make from sticky rice. Or like Nian Gao rice cakes like in the soup. I'll ask her about it.
Was the victim in my first ever dog attack on Monday. Neighbors' dog who normally runs the fence barking when I run by with my smaller dog was able to paw open the gate to their driveway at the same time one of the owner's was backing out (usually not an issue because they have a secondary gate there. Charged at us and I was able to pick up my dog just in time. Unfortunately when I spun around it got in one good bite in on my left calf. Left a couple deep puncture wounds, but backed off when I yelled and kicked in its direction. Currently limping around as I can't put much weight on my leg and won't be able to run or surf for 3-4 weeks. Big bummer, but we have good insurance and the neighbors have offered to cover any expenses associated with the bite. Surprisingly it wasn't that scary, but more of a "damn, well this is about to happen" moment. Glad it wasn't worse, but still sucks.
Glad to hear it wasn't too bad. My brother-in-law was in a very similar situation a couple years ago but he was bit in the thigh and the medical costs were astronomical.
So far just a copay for the urgent care visit. I'm on antibiotics for ten days and the dog was up to date on shots. I learned the immediate concern is tetanus, but my last shot was 2017, so I should be ok. Now it's just watching for infection and hoping there is no long tern muscle damage. It was a muscular 70lb mutt so there was considerable bite force, but I don't think any tearing action (fingers crossed).
Important to learn the art of putting the heel of your boot/shoe squarely on the end of the nose of the pooch in the rare cases where they aren't actually just looking for a friend (a call you have to make very quickly if you don't know the dog).
its cold AF here but we havent lost power thankfully. LMFS and the mother in law have been in and out but are ok. North Austin is boiling water cause the treatment plants have failed but we're ok. Fort Worth is a disaster area... I guess deregulating the utilities wasnt such a good idea after all?
Parts of Dallas are terrible. Snow/ice. Really cold. No power for 36 hours - gas fireplaces won’t work (low gas pressure and electronic ignitions). Interior of house reached 37 degrees last night. No boil notice yet, but lost water (burst pipes) in a couple rooms. Had to fill bathtub with water just in case all water stops. I guess a Tornado or Hurricane is worse, but man this was/is pretty bad. Totally unprepared.
I reached out to friends in Austin yesterday and they still have power in their neighborhood and are hosting friends today so they can all shower and have a home cooked meal
It's the civilized thing to do - I've had friends stay over during extended summer outages. Our neighbor has a whole house generator so we have somewhere to thaw out during winter outages.
The saga of the Catholic Church in San Francisco during this pandemic has led to a high-profile tragedy this week as we learn of the death of one of the priests at Saints Peter and Paul Church in North Beach.
The church announced an outbreak of COVID-19 last week that had affected three priests, and just over a week later we learn that one of them, Father Bob Stein, died on Tuesday morning. The death was announced on the church website, and while the church had hoped to resume services on February 13, they now say that it will remain closed with only online services through at least the 23rd. Father Stein was 72 years old.
"We are deeply touched and grateful for the prayers and support so many of you have sent for those of us (clergy and staff) who tested positive for COVID,” the statement reads. “We are sorry to say that Fr. Bob Stein passed away early on the morning of February 16. Please pray for the repose of his soul. We certainly will not be able to open the Church before February 23 at the earliest."
Also infected in the outbreak were Father Al Mengon, and retired priest Father Armand Oliveri, who is 100 years old, as well as three of Father Armand's caregivers, according to a now removed post on the church's homepage. Their respective conditions are not known at this time.
Father Oliveri was profiled in a May 2019 piece by Catholic SF magazine, and he lives in a modest room at the church rectory. He performed his first mass at Saints Peter Paul in 1950.
The Archdiocese of San Francisco gave a statement to KCBS radio calling Father Stein‘s death "a very sad development," and saying that the Catholic community is praying for the well-being of the other sick priests.
Saints Peter and Paul Church was one of at least several in San Francisco that flouted public health orders in 2020 to hold in-person services and mass when these things were not permitted. And in one nationally covered case last July, the church allowed a 100-person wedding to go on until city officials physically showed up to shut it down. In that case, it was another priest, Father Gael Sullivan, the pastoral administrator of the church, who had apparently given the go-ahead to the bride and groom.
That wedding — even though it was interrupted and held outside with fewer people — and its subsequent reception were then blamed for at least 10 cases of COVID-19, including the bride and groom.
I remember when we used to go to Sts Peter and Paul when we happened to be in the city there was an older bald priest (probably mid-late 60s) that used to sing the Psalms and other stuff. I wonder if that was Fr Stein. This was almost 25 years ago so maybe. It's a beautiful church inside.
My father-in-law almost certainly has it. He started feeling symptoms on Saturday and then lost sense of taste/smell on Sunday. Tested yesterday, but results aren't in yet. After some frustrating persistence, the missus finally managed to convince her mom to do some basic things like 1) avoiding him and 2) wearing a mask in the house. She had been convinced that because she had O-positive blood, she had nothing to worry about (some research last year indicated that those with O blood types were ~15% less likely to get covid). They're both in their 60s and smokers, so not likely the types to shrug off the infection...
Even if it does go away, I hope that some of the norms we've adopted (hand sanitzer everywhere, wearing a mask if you're sick) stick around. It could certainly help put a dent in the 40k flu deaths we experience every year.
It's not the China virus, it's the North Carolina virus.
She made a Facebook post that said the coronavirus was “created in a lab at UNC — yes, in North Carolina — and sold to a lab in Wuhan, China and then planted in the marketplace 300 yards away.”
gave up my Bay Area apartment to live with the parents since I'm working remotely anyway. That's $2000 extra in my pocket! Oh and not quite a good thing yet, but whenever the Japanese border opens I'm heading over there to start my Ph.D program
We reached our funding goal in just under six days, which was a huge relief. A big thank you to those who donated and shared the project! We are continuing to push to a stretch goal to see if we can hire a couple more crew to ease the load during production, so the campaign continues until Mar 13th. If you haven't yet, feel free to check out the project and "meet" my wife in the description video: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thedropoff/the-drop-off
This one is 80K more miles than mine and sold for $800 more than I paid for mine.
Prices are skyrocketing, even more so since Covid started. It's insane. If I had it as an investment I'd sell soon but I'm keeping mine until I can't drive it anymore and then I'll give it to No 1.
Yeah used cars ticked up with covid, but I think old Miatas are going up relative to others because of it's enduring reputation as a driver's car and more people seem to be looking for that bang for your buck driving experience for kicks. More extreme is the Honda S2000, which has always been revered by car enthusiasts but is becoming more main stream knowledge and prices are starting to skyrocket as a modern classic. The 2nd gen Porsche Boxsters are prob a good investment now, relatively cheap with word spreading about it's quality and drive characteristics.. something you can have fun with for a year or two and then sell it for at least what you paid.
The NA Miatas (with the pop-up headlights) have really gone up. Even the ones with rust have gone absurdly high. NBs not as much but they still are going up.
I saw an old lady in an S2000 at the Lafayette Trader Joes. I was tempted to give her my number and tell her to call me when she's ready to sell. Like you said, clean versions of those have skyrocketed as well.
No 1 said I should pivot and become a car flipper with all the cool cars that old people here have. Nice cars that are well maintained.
The Boxster would be a good purchase, provided the previous owner has replaced the IMS bearing. Or you can get it cheap enough and get it replaced or do it yourself. Time to invest in a lift.
Ah yes I heard about that IMS bearing issue. Think it was only a range of specific years with that problem, but that might throw the good buy tag out the window when you have to go newer. A few years ago I was looking into buying a toy 2nd car (shortlisted were the Miata, S2000, Boxster, and GTI), and vaguely remember reading about this and thought it ended earlier than it did (hence my vaguely lame "2nd generation" suggestion). Might extend longer than I realized and I just gave some real crap advice!!! Unless it's been replaced or you're a mechanic, as you said.
If things don't go well with BAT you can always try Cars and Bids. BAT now seems to be for mint condition high end cars where Cars and Bids has cars that aren't mint condition. Which is weird because I think BAT was initially cars that needed a lot of work.
I've only watched a few of his videos. I think the first one I watched was the R-34 GTR. That was pretty cool. That would be a car I would love to have.
A Taycan drove behind me on 24 and then exited with me in Orinda. I thought it was a 911 until he passed me after turning right and it was silent. Looked really cool. No 1 told me to watch the Taycan video Doug did for the dash. I first watched his 911 Turbo S video.
I used to like his wildly inconsistent Doug Score from car to car, and how he'd focus on some mundane superficial detail (the same type of feature that might exist in other cars but not bother him then). The funny ongoing joke among youtube commenters "Doug is the type of guy who would [insert cheesy/quirky/bizarre behavior]" has reached meme status.
Far from it. Primarily an Oregon guy obviously, but its a popular incorrect opinion that he isn't deeply involved in other endeavors. Knight & Nike have been a significant help to several OSU programs, especially including the band.
One of his Stanfurd MBA papers was creating a sports shoe company based modern engineering/manufacturing processes - which turned into Nike... which then allowed him to massively bankroll Oregon and tilt the competitive landscape of west coast football.
on the other hand, the staff at the OSHU Knight Cancer center have been doing a decent job keeping my father breathing, so I can't get completely indignant.
My parents, who by virtue of my dad's 30 some years of being a state employee, have Kaiser care, and they've been very happy with their care - and have gone through 3 cancers in that time.
Kaiser wanted give me radiation treatment. I decided to get additional opinions, so I made appointments with UCSF and Stanford docs, out of my own pocket. One question I asked was how are the radiation facilities at Kaiser. The answer was that they are the best, same as anyone else.
They're not perfect, but my experience with Blue Cross and USC Medical has generally been the overall same or slightly worse.
Kaiser used to be where you went if you didn't really need real medical treatment. In the Fire/EMS biz, the running joke was if you took a patient to Kaiser with significant issues, there would shortly be another call to pick them up and take them to a regular hospital. I'm not sure of the extent that may have changed, or if patients just stopped specifying Kaiser as their preferred transport destination.
I noticed a big difference between care in Norcal and Socal. It was our go to hospital for my entire childhood and still is for my mom, since it was the insurance for Cal employees. I was a patient in LA for a couple years and although it was fine, it never felt like they really cared about their patients. I'm back with UCLA Health now on my wife's insurance and it is noticeably better care.
I've never had it, but I remember my childhood friends who had it. The joke was that if you ever hurt a limb, it was an automatic cast whether it was broken or not.
I broke my wrist biking at ten and was casted immediately at Kaiser Walnut Creek. They removed it after a week, but then had to wear a brace for almost a year because it always hurt to move it in one direction.
Two personal issues with Kaiser. The best friend of my former SIL who was very hippie-ish, anti-western meds, and preferred naturopathic means of healing got very sick and had to go to Kaiser. They overmedicated her and failed to check in on her and she past away. Second, a very good friend of mine was abandoned in a stairwell and left there for 3 hours.
I always thought of Kaiser as, it's great as long as you aren't sick. Although, I've never had an issue with them. Like I said, I think Ca Kaiser may be the outlier.
I can appreciate that. I once had a hairline fracture in my leg. I delayed going to the doc but finally went to Oakland Kaiser. Doc said it had started to heal but he didn't trust me to stay off it so he put a cast on it.
Yeah, I had Kaiser in California from 07-14 and was generally happy with them and never had any issues. However, I never had any major medical issues so my experience with Kasier was for basic physicals, blood work, shots, etc.
I've always liked having Kaiser insurance. I feel like since everything is in-house (hospital, doctors, pharmacy, etc.) you get much less fighting over payments than with other insurance options.
Yes there is that. I've had a shitload of problems trying to get Anthem to approve the orthopedic recommended number of visits for No 3 to get PT on his hip flexor. Dr asked for 12 and Anthem only approved 5. Then they approved another 5 after a bunch of calls with the PT and the doctor. Then rejected more even though he still had some pain.
I've had Kaiser Mid-Atlantic for almost 5 years now and it's been pretty good. I feel like I actually have a good sense of how much things will cost rather than getting surprise bills constructed by a random number generator. I think it only cost us $100 when cf-98 was born, even though Mrs. Bk97 had a c-section and was in the hospital for 5 days (in a pretty cushy private room/suite too).
Back in 94, 00, and 03, all the births cost nothing. Basically I think I only had to pay the deductible which was maybe $20? And No 1 had a cleft lip and surgery at 3 mo and 1 yr for his lip and soft palette and then in 1st grade for his hard palette. Again, just the deducible. Maybe I was paying more for the premium than usual, but I don't remember how much that was. Only for no 2 and 3 did their mom get a private room.
No 1 was born in an OR (it looked like) and then put in a room she had to share with another mom. So she didn't get any sleep because she didn't want him to cry and wake up the other mom. I think no 2 was born in a private room and she stayed there that next ay. Both were at Kaiser WC. For no 3 we couldn't make it to WC (he came quick), and we went to Alta Bates instead (from Oakland).
Crater Lake is out there far enough that it takes most of a day unless you are staying really close. Good place to eat down the hill at Trail, and during non-Covid times, the Lodge had some good choices on the restaurant menu (the last time I looked), so capping the afternoon with a meal is a good day filler.
I always liked the look of the 90's and early 00's Range Rovers, but the Defenders always looked weird to me. I've never driven one, but I've heard the maintenance costs were through the roof.
My best friend through MS through college (and the Best Man in my wedding) drove a Defender from the 70s. The gear ratio was set ridiculously high, so it had stupid-slow acceleration and poor highway speed. There was nothing power on that thing, so it was a pig to drive, hot in summer, cold in winter. We called it "Armstrong steering" because it gave you strong arms to drive it. Sometimes the passenger was needed to make a U-turn. And god help you if something broke because there were no parts.
My dad drove all over the UK and parts of Europe in a Series 2(maybe?) that he bought second hand from the Glasgow Marine Police. He ended up selling it when he and my mother were more seriously dating and she complained about water coming through a hole in the passenger footwell 😂
I understand that there are some Defenders of the same era as your friend's with overdrive combined with diesel engines, but the engines have to be in top shape for the overdrive to be worth trying.
My neighbor grew up driving them and has had many over the years (he's very British, so story checks out). He had an LR2 whose engine failed catastrophically a few years ago (I don't think it even had 100k miles yet) and he replaced it with a Discovery that was totaled last summer by a careless driver. He's taking a break from Land Rover and now drives an Audi.
My impression is that if you get an older model in good shape and are willing to put in the time - or money with an independent mechanic who knows what they're doing - they can be a decent bet, but I would think twice. I had a friend from HS who owned a Defender in the 90s that needed a completely new transmission in less than 2 years from new... but it was such a cult classic that he sold it for slightly more than he'd paid when it was new.
TBH I feel like these massively upgraded Defenders are kind of missing the point - they were supposed to be spartan & the main improvement would be putting Toyota engines and wiring in them 😂 - or just buying a Land Cruiser instead. Because I'm a snob, I'd skip the tacky Florida rebuilds and take my non-existent budget to Congleton Service in Vermont. They're about to start making electric Range Rover Classic conversions, which I imagine would be rather nice.
What I wear when I'm not wearing shorts. I wish Levis still made SilverTab jeans. All the jeans that I see now are so much thinner than they used to be.
I usually only buy relaxed or loose fit jeans. Can't figure out why anyone wants to buy skinny jeans. Although I think I did see a Levis exec say that it looks like looser jeans are coming back in style.
SI piece about Stanfurds problem of funding Olympic sports. Before y'all enjoy the schadenfreude too much, Cal's situation is just as bad - if not worse.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — It was not the biggest or the best implosion ever.
"An auction for the right to detonate the dynamite to begin the implosion of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., fizzled.
Front-row seats to view Wednesday morning’s spectacle were sold on the cheap. Onlookers in cars hoping to witness the symbolic finale of the former president’s casino empire in the seaside resort city were charged $10 and herded into a lot most recently used as a pandemic-era food distribution site.
The implosion of what was once the premier gaming destination in Atlantic City came less than a month after its best-known former owner, Donald J. Trump, left the White House after losing re-election and became the first president in history to be impeached twice."
Fernando Tatis Jr, after having played 143 regular season games, has agreed to a 14 year $340 mil extension. After 143 regular season games. That's insane.
Go Bears. Got my email about buying reserving my place at memorial for 2021 from Cal Athletics yesterday. I am in EE, but there may be an upgrade opportunity due to the Covid-19 impact. I'd like to move to the 40-50 yard line.
I used to be in FF (the skinny little section right next to the club seats). I thought they were great, but they came with a stonking huge donation requirement.
Very concerned about how these British people pronounce "churro" https://youtu.be/PfVWZySRAgY?t=529
if it's anything like the damage that some of them do to "taco," I don't want to watch.
墨西哥甜饼！
Question for my DBD friends: do you know what the "Q" texture means (often used in describing east Asian food)
I do!
So glad this has nothing to do with Q anon.
....or does it?
No, until now.
Never heard of it. Do you have an example?
Yes, like boba! Take a look at the links I shared with Cugel. I'm also curious if your mom knows it!
My mom said that she has heard of it. Like the links below, it's Taiwanese. I think she said that when she grew up there it wasn't a thing so it's more recent. She left around 67 and moved the the US.
She said when you chew it it kind of makes the sound Q Q. I guess when it sticks to your teeth.
Like the UPenn article says, ruǎn Q (軟Q)
I don't like boba but based on the links, it's like Mochi or like stuff make from sticky rice. Or like Nian Gao rice cakes like in the soup. I'll ask her about it.
Not I
Start here: https://twitter.com/Botanygeek/status/1361999944547266563?s=20
I also liked this essay that someone tweeted in response: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2252
Well ok:
(Kinda like Asian ‘al dente’, but lots more specific)
and this
https://roadsandkingdoms.com/2017/the-curious-case-of-q/
That was lovely to read! Thanks for sharing!
Hmmmm... interesting
Was the victim in my first ever dog attack on Monday. Neighbors' dog who normally runs the fence barking when I run by with my smaller dog was able to paw open the gate to their driveway at the same time one of the owner's was backing out (usually not an issue because they have a secondary gate there. Charged at us and I was able to pick up my dog just in time. Unfortunately when I spun around it got in one good bite in on my left calf. Left a couple deep puncture wounds, but backed off when I yelled and kicked in its direction. Currently limping around as I can't put much weight on my leg and won't be able to run or surf for 3-4 weeks. Big bummer, but we have good insurance and the neighbors have offered to cover any expenses associated with the bite. Surprisingly it wasn't that scary, but more of a "damn, well this is about to happen" moment. Glad it wasn't worse, but still sucks.
Man, I feel for you; and this the main reason I don't allow dogs.
Glad to hear it wasn't too bad. My brother-in-law was in a very similar situation a couple years ago but he was bit in the thigh and the medical costs were astronomical.
So far just a copay for the urgent care visit. I'm on antibiotics for ten days and the dog was up to date on shots. I learned the immediate concern is tetanus, but my last shot was 2017, so I should be ok. Now it's just watching for infection and hoping there is no long tern muscle damage. It was a muscular 70lb mutt so there was considerable bite force, but I don't think any tearing action (fingers crossed).
Important to learn the art of putting the heel of your boot/shoe squarely on the end of the nose of the pooch in the rare cases where they aren't actually just looking for a friend (a call you have to make very quickly if you don't know the dog).
yikes - glad it wasn't any worse though
Anyone hear from FS recently? Hope they're doing ok.
his senator flew out to cancun.
I miss that guy. I can still hear him as if he was still with us.
its cold AF here but we havent lost power thankfully. LMFS and the mother in law have been in and out but are ok. North Austin is boiling water cause the treatment plants have failed but we're ok. Fort Worth is a disaster area... I guess deregulating the utilities wasnt such a good idea after all?
Parts of Dallas are terrible. Snow/ice. Really cold. No power for 36 hours - gas fireplaces won’t work (low gas pressure and electronic ignitions). Interior of house reached 37 degrees last night. No boil notice yet, but lost water (burst pipes) in a couple rooms. Had to fill bathtub with water just in case all water stops. I guess a Tornado or Hurricane is worse, but man this was/is pretty bad. Totally unprepared.
that blows, hope things pick up soon
Aaaannndddddd the boil water notice just came through for our area
All of Austin?
SW, West and north for sure
eek!
He's still kicking. Talking mad shit to a Rivals board troll
I reached out to friends in Austin yesterday and they still have power in their neighborhood and are hosting friends today so they can all shower and have a home cooked meal
It's the civilized thing to do - I've had friends stay over during extended summer outages. Our neighbor has a whole house generator so we have somewhere to thaw out during winter outages.
Rush Limbaugh is dead
that's some Mandela Effect shit. I thought he already died last year
Burn in hell, motherfucker.
he certainly is
he certainly is
gosh that's news.
Well, dittoheads, you have a model to follow.
If you can't say anything nice . . .
be funny about it.
Pop that champagne 🍾 it’s time to celebrate!
May his friend Donald soon follow him.
AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!
This is the first time I've ever rooted for cancer
Covid
Reap what you sow, archdiocese of SF. https://sfist.com/2021/02/17/catholic-priest-at-sfs-saints-peter-and-paul-church-dies-from-covid-19/
The saga of the Catholic Church in San Francisco during this pandemic has led to a high-profile tragedy this week as we learn of the death of one of the priests at Saints Peter and Paul Church in North Beach.
The church announced an outbreak of COVID-19 last week that had affected three priests, and just over a week later we learn that one of them, Father Bob Stein, died on Tuesday morning. The death was announced on the church website, and while the church had hoped to resume services on February 13, they now say that it will remain closed with only online services through at least the 23rd. Father Stein was 72 years old.
"We are deeply touched and grateful for the prayers and support so many of you have sent for those of us (clergy and staff) who tested positive for COVID,” the statement reads. “We are sorry to say that Fr. Bob Stein passed away early on the morning of February 16. Please pray for the repose of his soul. We certainly will not be able to open the Church before February 23 at the earliest."
Also infected in the outbreak were Father Al Mengon, and retired priest Father Armand Oliveri, who is 100 years old, as well as three of Father Armand's caregivers, according to a now removed post on the church's homepage. Their respective conditions are not known at this time.
Father Oliveri was profiled in a May 2019 piece by Catholic SF magazine, and he lives in a modest room at the church rectory. He performed his first mass at Saints Peter Paul in 1950.
The Archdiocese of San Francisco gave a statement to KCBS radio calling Father Stein‘s death "a very sad development," and saying that the Catholic community is praying for the well-being of the other sick priests.
Saints Peter and Paul Church was one of at least several in San Francisco that flouted public health orders in 2020 to hold in-person services and mass when these things were not permitted. And in one nationally covered case last July, the church allowed a 100-person wedding to go on until city officials physically showed up to shut it down. In that case, it was another priest, Father Gael Sullivan, the pastoral administrator of the church, who had apparently given the go-ahead to the bride and groom.
That wedding — even though it was interrupted and held outside with fewer people — and its subsequent reception were then blamed for at least 10 cases of COVID-19, including the bride and groom.
I remember when we used to go to Sts Peter and Paul when we happened to be in the city there was an older bald priest (probably mid-late 60s) that used to sing the Psalms and other stuff. I wonder if that was Fr Stein. This was almost 25 years ago so maybe. It's a beautiful church inside.
My son's wife got her shot.
My father-in-law almost certainly has it. He started feeling symptoms on Saturday and then lost sense of taste/smell on Sunday. Tested yesterday, but results aren't in yet. After some frustrating persistence, the missus finally managed to convince her mom to do some basic things like 1) avoiding him and 2) wearing a mask in the house. She had been convinced that because she had O-positive blood, she had nothing to worry about (some research last year indicated that those with O blood types were ~15% less likely to get covid). They're both in their 60s and smokers, so not likely the types to shrug off the infection...
Ugh, sorry to hear.
CNBC: What happens after we get vaccinated?
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/12/doctors-warn-covid-will-become-endemic-and-people-need-to-learn-to-live-with-it.html
Even if it does go away, I hope that some of the norms we've adopted (hand sanitzer everywhere, wearing a mask if you're sick) stick around. It could certainly help put a dent in the 40k flu deaths we experience every year.
Yes, but this may not "go away" for years due to mutation
It's not the China virus, it's the North Carolina virus.
She made a Facebook post that said the coronavirus was “created in a lab at UNC — yes, in North Carolina — and sold to a lab in Wuhan, China and then planted in the marketplace 300 yards away.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/orchestra-rebukes-flutists-statements-on-virus-election/2021/02/16/d08fc424-706d-11eb-8651-6d3091eac63f_story.html
W. T. F.
Did she attend Duke?
it's more widespread than that: "Debunked COVID-19 conspiracy theory weaves a UNC medical researcher into the tale"
Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article241996426.html
Tell the DBD something good that's going on in your life
crashed while skiing ... got a ride w/ ski patrol ... trip to the ER .. partially rupture Achilles
we are skiing in Steamboat. it has been GREAT conditions with lots of snow and powder everywhere.
first time having any sort of ski injury. luckily the family is still well and able to take advantage the rest of the week
the good part was
- ski patrol ride in tobbaggan
- it has been really epic ski conditions last few days.
gave up my Bay Area apartment to live with the parents since I'm working remotely anyway. That's $2000 extra in my pocket! Oh and not quite a good thing yet, but whenever the Japanese border opens I'm heading over there to start my Ph.D program
welcome to asia!
C&P have gone back to afternoon in-person 1st grade. Auntsam has some of her life back!
They opened up in person elementary school? That's great. I didn't know that.
We reached our funding goal in just under six days, which was a huge relief. A big thank you to those who donated and shared the project! We are continuing to push to a stretch goal to see if we can hire a couple more crew to ease the load during production, so the campaign continues until Mar 13th. If you haven't yet, feel free to check out the project and "meet" my wife in the description video: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thedropoff/the-drop-off
How cool that her name is basically "camera"
Congrats!! Can't wait to see the finished product.
Thank you! It's nice to see all our prep work pay off and to know we will be able to afford making the film now.
My kids.
Bring a Trailer accepted my E-39 M5, but I need to take a hella lot more photos, have to wait until it's not sunny.
Good luck. BAT always seems to get way above what the car is worth. For example, mint Miatas in the high 10K I think.
Here is a 90 Miata with 39K miles and the current bid is 7.7 K.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1990-mazda-mx-5-miata-113/
Here is a Cars and Bids 97 Miata M-Edition with 147K miles that went for $7800.
https://carsandbids.com/auctions/rMzYYN5o/1997-mazda-mx-5-miata-m-edition
This one is 80K more miles than mine and sold for $800 more than I paid for mine.
Prices are skyrocketing, even more so since Covid started. It's insane. If I had it as an investment I'd sell soon but I'm keeping mine until I can't drive it anymore and then I'll give it to No 1.
That's pretty good retention. I paid $16.5 k for my 1990 Miata in, well, 1990.
Yeah used cars ticked up with covid, but I think old Miatas are going up relative to others because of it's enduring reputation as a driver's car and more people seem to be looking for that bang for your buck driving experience for kicks. More extreme is the Honda S2000, which has always been revered by car enthusiasts but is becoming more main stream knowledge and prices are starting to skyrocket as a modern classic. The 2nd gen Porsche Boxsters are prob a good investment now, relatively cheap with word spreading about it's quality and drive characteristics.. something you can have fun with for a year or two and then sell it for at least what you paid.
The NA Miatas (with the pop-up headlights) have really gone up. Even the ones with rust have gone absurdly high. NBs not as much but they still are going up.
I saw an old lady in an S2000 at the Lafayette Trader Joes. I was tempted to give her my number and tell her to call me when she's ready to sell. Like you said, clean versions of those have skyrocketed as well.
No 1 said I should pivot and become a car flipper with all the cool cars that old people here have. Nice cars that are well maintained.
The Boxster would be a good purchase, provided the previous owner has replaced the IMS bearing. Or you can get it cheap enough and get it replaced or do it yourself. Time to invest in a lift.
Ah yes I heard about that IMS bearing issue. Think it was only a range of specific years with that problem, but that might throw the good buy tag out the window when you have to go newer. A few years ago I was looking into buying a toy 2nd car (shortlisted were the Miata, S2000, Boxster, and GTI), and vaguely remember reading about this and thought it ended earlier than it did (hence my vaguely lame "2nd generation" suggestion). Might extend longer than I realized and I just gave some real crap advice!!! Unless it's been replaced or you're a mechanic, as you said.
If things don't go well with BAT you can always try Cars and Bids. BAT now seems to be for mint condition high end cars where Cars and Bids has cars that aren't mint condition. Which is weird because I think BAT was initially cars that needed a lot of work.
Doug, is that you?
I've only watched a few of his videos. I think the first one I watched was the R-34 GTR. That was pretty cool. That would be a car I would love to have.
A Taycan drove behind me on 24 and then exited with me in Orinda. I thought it was a 911 until he passed me after turning right and it was silent. Looked really cool. No 1 told me to watch the Taycan video Doug did for the dash. I first watched his 911 Turbo S video.
I used to like his wildly inconsistent Doug Score from car to car, and how he'd focus on some mundane superficial detail (the same type of feature that might exist in other cars but not bother him then). The funny ongoing joke among youtube commenters "Doug is the type of guy who would [insert cheesy/quirky/bizarre behavior]" has reached meme status.
pltm
Put one of my domains up for sale at a fairly high price. Trying to sell it by the time my birthday rolls around at the end of March.
I start a new job on Monday! Research attorney with the Contra Costa County court probate department. Woohoo!!
Oh God, Twist will have tried to bankrupt a lot of the old folks you're going to be researching!
probate means you'll probably have to deal with Twist at some point. Good luck with that
Congratulations!
Congratulations!
Congrats!
Who is in the Stanfurd Hall of Shame?
John Arreaga (sp?)
Oh dear, what's wrong with John Arrillaga? (I used to work with his son who was a very nice guy.)
John Vandemoer
Phil Knight
I thought he was exclusively an Oregon guy.
Far from it. Primarily an Oregon guy obviously, but its a popular incorrect opinion that he isn't deeply involved in other endeavors. Knight & Nike have been a significant help to several OSU programs, especially including the band.
The Stanford Business school building is named after Knight
One of his Stanfurd MBA papers was creating a sports shoe company based modern engineering/manufacturing processes - which turned into Nike... which then allowed him to massively bankroll Oregon and tilt the competitive landscape of west coast football.
on the other hand, the staff at the OSHU Knight Cancer center have been doing a decent job keeping my father breathing, so I can't get completely indignant.
Scott Atlas
Might be faster to ID the people who aren't.
Heh
Rebekah Mercer
Investor behind Parler. God forbid if any real VC's invest in it.
The Mercers are Bad News with a capital Bad
Herbert Hoover
Elizabeth Holmes
Complete and total fraudster.
Josh Hawley
Tiger Woods
Brock Turner
You beat me to it.
Kaiser
My parents, who by virtue of my dad's 30 some years of being a state employee, have Kaiser care, and they've been very happy with their care - and have gone through 3 cancers in that time.
Kaiser wanted give me radiation treatment. I decided to get additional opinions, so I made appointments with UCSF and Stanford docs, out of my own pocket. One question I asked was how are the radiation facilities at Kaiser. The answer was that they are the best, same as anyone else.
They're not perfect, but my experience with Blue Cross and USC Medical has generally been the overall same or slightly worse.
Kaiser used to be where you went if you didn't really need real medical treatment. In the Fire/EMS biz, the running joke was if you took a patient to Kaiser with significant issues, there would shortly be another call to pick them up and take them to a regular hospital. I'm not sure of the extent that may have changed, or if patients just stopped specifying Kaiser as their preferred transport destination.
I noticed a big difference between care in Norcal and Socal. It was our go to hospital for my entire childhood and still is for my mom, since it was the insurance for Cal employees. I was a patient in LA for a couple years and although it was fine, it never felt like they really cared about their patients. I'm back with UCLA Health now on my wife's insurance and it is noticeably better care.
We used to joke my son deserved a "frequent User" card for all the times we took him to the Kaiser ER in Oakland.
I've never had it, but I remember my childhood friends who had it. The joke was that if you ever hurt a limb, it was an automatic cast whether it was broken or not.
I broke my wrist biking at ten and was casted immediately at Kaiser Walnut Creek. They removed it after a week, but then had to wear a brace for almost a year because it always hurt to move it in one direction.
Two personal issues with Kaiser. The best friend of my former SIL who was very hippie-ish, anti-western meds, and preferred naturopathic means of healing got very sick and had to go to Kaiser. They overmedicated her and failed to check in on her and she past away. Second, a very good friend of mine was abandoned in a stairwell and left there for 3 hours.
😬😬😬😬😬
I always thought of Kaiser as, it's great as long as you aren't sick. Although, I've never had an issue with them. Like I said, I think Ca Kaiser may be the outlier.
I can appreciate that. I once had a hairline fracture in my leg. I delayed going to the doc but finally went to Oakland Kaiser. Doc said it had started to heal but he didn't trust me to stay off it so he put a cast on it.
Used to have Kaiser medical insurance. Was happy with it. I've heard California Kaiser is much better than the Kaiser in the rest of the country.
Yeah, I had Kaiser in California from 07-14 and was generally happy with them and never had any issues. However, I never had any major medical issues so my experience with Kasier was for basic physicals, blood work, shots, etc.
I've always liked having Kaiser insurance. I feel like since everything is in-house (hospital, doctors, pharmacy, etc.) you get much less fighting over payments than with other insurance options.
Yes there is that. I've had a shitload of problems trying to get Anthem to approve the orthopedic recommended number of visits for No 3 to get PT on his hip flexor. Dr asked for 12 and Anthem only approved 5. Then they approved another 5 after a bunch of calls with the PT and the doctor. Then rejected more even though he still had some pain.
I've had Kaiser Mid-Atlantic for almost 5 years now and it's been pretty good. I feel like I actually have a good sense of how much things will cost rather than getting surprise bills constructed by a random number generator. I think it only cost us $100 when cf-98 was born, even though Mrs. Bk97 had a c-section and was in the hospital for 5 days (in a pretty cushy private room/suite too).
Back in 94, 00, and 03, all the births cost nothing. Basically I think I only had to pay the deductible which was maybe $20? And No 1 had a cleft lip and surgery at 3 mo and 1 yr for his lip and soft palette and then in 1st grade for his hard palette. Again, just the deducible. Maybe I was paying more for the premium than usual, but I don't remember how much that was. Only for no 2 and 3 did their mom get a private room.
No 1 was born in an OR (it looked like) and then put in a room she had to share with another mom. So she didn't get any sleep because she didn't want him to cry and wake up the other mom. I think no 2 was born in a private room and she stayed there that next ay. Both were at Kaiser WC. For no 3 we couldn't make it to WC (he came quick), and we went to Alta Bates instead (from Oakland).
An interesting place to see on a road trip, but not worth a dedicated visit
4 Corners National Monument.
Walnut Canyon National Monument (AZ) not far from Flagstaff
Yes, good for a couple of hours.
Crater Lake. Trees of Mystery.
Oregon Caves.
Crater Lake is out there far enough that it takes most of a day unless you are staying really close. Good place to eat down the hill at Trail, and during non-Covid times, the Lodge had some good choices on the restaurant menu (the last time I looked), so capping the afternoon with a meal is a good day filler.
Meteor Crater, AZ
Agreed - more interesting than I expected, but definitely no more than "stop in while en route to the Petrified Forest National Park.
World's largest prairie dog. Oakley, KS.
LandRover
I drove a 2000 Discovery until I moved to the UK. I loved that car and had zero issues with it, but did not grow old with it, because, moved.
For anyone that wants a Defender.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1996-land-rover-defender-110-2/
I always liked the look of the 90's and early 00's Range Rovers, but the Defenders always looked weird to me. I've never driven one, but I've heard the maintenance costs were through the roof.
My best friend through MS through college (and the Best Man in my wedding) drove a Defender from the 70s. The gear ratio was set ridiculously high, so it had stupid-slow acceleration and poor highway speed. There was nothing power on that thing, so it was a pig to drive, hot in summer, cold in winter. We called it "Armstrong steering" because it gave you strong arms to drive it. Sometimes the passenger was needed to make a U-turn. And god help you if something broke because there were no parts.
As part of my lottery shopping plans, I've bookmarked one of these https://ecdautodesign.com/electric-defender/
My dad drove all over the UK and parts of Europe in a Series 2(maybe?) that he bought second hand from the Glasgow Marine Police. He ended up selling it when he and my mother were more seriously dating and she complained about water coming through a hole in the passenger footwell 😂
I understand that there are some Defenders of the same era as your friend's with overdrive combined with diesel engines, but the engines have to be in top shape for the overdrive to be worth trying.
One of my tenants has one of those from 2002 I think.
My neighbor grew up driving them and has had many over the years (he's very British, so story checks out). He had an LR2 whose engine failed catastrophically a few years ago (I don't think it even had 100k miles yet) and he replaced it with a Discovery that was totaled last summer by a careless driver. He's taking a break from Land Rover and now drives an Audi.
My impression is that if you get an older model in good shape and are willing to put in the time - or money with an independent mechanic who knows what they're doing - they can be a decent bet, but I would think twice. I had a friend from HS who owned a Defender in the 90s that needed a completely new transmission in less than 2 years from new... but it was such a cult classic that he sold it for slightly more than he'd paid when it was new.
Here's a video of a place that bullds customizable Land Rover Defenders from scratch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeETddIcXBo&ab_channel=WatchJRGo
TBH I feel like these massively upgraded Defenders are kind of missing the point - they were supposed to be spartan & the main improvement would be putting Toyota engines and wiring in them 😂 - or just buying a Land Cruiser instead. Because I'm a snob, I'd skip the tacky Florida rebuilds and take my non-existent budget to Congleton Service in Vermont. They're about to start making electric Range Rover Classic conversions, which I imagine would be rather nice.
https://congletonservice.com/congleton-ev-classic/
His is this type:
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/l-Used-2002-Land-Rover-Defender-c17024#listing=291710633
Jeans
What I wear when I'm not wearing shorts. I wish Levis still made SilverTab jeans. All the jeans that I see now are so much thinner than they used to be.
they brought silver tab back a couple of years ago.
My boys when I'm wearing looser fit jeans.
https://media.giphy.com/media/5fSHHEGjcZyqQ/giphy.gif
I usually only buy relaxed or loose fit jeans. Can't figure out why anyone wants to buy skinny jeans. Although I think I did see a Levis exec say that it looks like looser jeans are coming back in style.
Oh...nice.
Photograph
Elsewhere in college
SI piece about Stanfurds problem of funding Olympic sports. Before y'all enjoy the schadenfreude too much, Cal's situation is just as bad - if not worse.
https://www.si.com/college/2021/02/12/stanford-save-cut-sports-movement-ncaa
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Rush Limbaugh dies.
The Mrs sent me a text with a Wizard of Oz gif and 'ding dong the witch is dead'
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — It was not the biggest or the best implosion ever.
"An auction for the right to detonate the dynamite to begin the implosion of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., fizzled.
Front-row seats to view Wednesday morning’s spectacle were sold on the cheap. Onlookers in cars hoping to witness the symbolic finale of the former president’s casino empire in the seaside resort city were charged $10 and herded into a lot most recently used as a pandemic-era food distribution site.
The implosion of what was once the premier gaming destination in Atlantic City came less than a month after its best-known former owner, Donald J. Trump, left the White House after losing re-election and became the first president in history to be impeached twice."
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/nyregion/atlantic-city-trump-plaza-implosion.html
if they auctioned that right with the funds going to some sort of worthy anti-trump cause they might have gotten more action.
I had the local news on this morning and they had a live feed in the corner of the screen waiting for the deed to be done.
PRO
Fernando Tatis Jr, after having played 143 regular season games, has agreed to a 14 year $340 mil extension. After 143 regular season games. That's insane.
Mike Fiers signs a one year deal with the A's
Pitchers and Catchers reporting day today!!!
CAL
Go Bears. Got my email about buying reserving my place at memorial for 2021 from Cal Athletics yesterday. I am in EE, but there may be an upgrade opportunity due to the Covid-19 impact. I'd like to move to the 40-50 yard line.
I used to be in FF (the skinny little section right next to the club seats). I thought they were great, but they came with a stonking huge donation requirement.