Robert Franklin Stroud (January 28, 1890 – November 21, 1963), aka the "Birdman of Alcatraz".
He ran away from home at 13, became a pimp at age 18 in Alaska, shot to death a John who didn’t pay and got violent with one of his girls at 19. Convicted of manslaughter, but then got known for being a violent predatory psychopath in the joint. Ended up stabbing a guard to death at age 26, for which he received the death penalty. His death sentence was commuted to life in solitary confinement by President Wilson. Stroud then went completely nuts - getting into ornithology at Leavenworth. He married an ornithology groupie by proxy. He got transferred to Alcatraz before getting transferred out to Missouri due to ailing health. He died of old age in that Missouri prison at the age of 73, having spent 42 of his 53 jail years in solitary.
Has anybody you known gone to jail for more than a week?
You know, last week the oldest member of the Chinese household that lives next door to me asked if I had any kind of camera system in front of the house, because he'd been mugged out front the previous night (otherwise he seemed unharmed). I told him we didn't.
Now I'm thinking maybe that was part of this crime wave? Strange, because though we live in Oakland we're nowhere near Chinatown and up on a hill away from the main road, so it's not a place with much foot traffic.
it was pretty fantastic i must admit. but i mostly went because a college friend of mine was on the band as the drummer for many years and it was one of the few ways to catch up w/ a traveling musician.
I've seen Taylor Swift twice, but she's journeyed into my musical wheelhouse. I saw Peter Paul and Mary as a very young person. I've seen bands like the Boredoms but that was at a festival.
I remember seeing him at the Kennedy Center. I was sitting next to two older women who were all dressed up as many would be at the Kennedy Center. They gasped when he walked out in jeans, a flannel shirt, and wearing socks. I was dressed closer to him than the women. Once when I was in Tokyo he was preforming and I thought about going but he had sold out a number of concerts.
I know it's not cool, but I find his music to be incredibly relaxing (and lovely). I forget about him, should put it on when I'm raging about something just to chill me out.
personally, i love the symphony and classical music more. but the opera can be quite fun at times for the story and entertainment factor.
it is of course increasingly hard to teach your kids about such things. we used to take then to the "young peoples concerts" at the NY Philharmonic.
the most enjoyable family moments have been some of the more modern tricks that the symphony has been trying. they showed all the Star Wars movies on the screen while the orchestra played the score/soundtrack.
the Imperial March never sounded better or more ominous.
I once went to see John Williams conduct at the San Francisco Symphony, with Steven Spielberg also in attendance to talk about Williams' contributions to his films. It was great. Those classic scores sound 10x better with a live orchestra, especially with the man himself conducting.
Imo, Opera is a performance art form. works best with the whole thing. Same with musicals (the American opera form). a recording is meh, but a full show (live or movie) is good entertainment.
My wheelhouse is pretty broad, so I'm not sure how to answer this question.
I guess if you were to judge me on stereotype (a straight dude) you wouldn't expect that I paid to see Scissor Sisters twice (at Bimbo's in S.F. and at the Fox in Oakland).
Heh, two comments: 1) I think their version of "Comfortably Numb" is better than Pink Floyd's (an opinion that outraged AERose) 2) heard them first on SNL and told my wife that I can hear the influence of Elton John, she disagreed, but he was their producer!
George Fereira. He is a Portuguese singer that my wife and mother-in-law have listened to for many years. He is quite popular among the Portuguese community for his use of traditional music. I barely speak any Portuguese, but it was still a lot of fun, especially since it was at a small local venue with an audience of approximately 200.
Cal football is undefeated over the past 39 years against Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Clemson, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Arkansas, Michigan, Florida, Missouri, Kentucky, MS State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Florida State, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Iowa State, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Tulsa
How about the Play? Not exactly trivia but it will forever be inscribed in the memories of Old Blues as the penultimate play in the history of college football. (At least according to Joe Starkey).
Pre google/mapquest/baidu maps, maps were a state secret in China and every map was off by like 5 meters. Through legacy, a lot of digital and online maps are still off - so like your running or bike maps on Nike+ or Stavra don't exactly line up with satellite photos.
My SIL worked for mapquest in the early-mid 90s. She did some driving around and confirming things from the questionable quality sat and aerial photos they started with.
I have a few pounds of it in my fridge, which I am going to render and make some Southern recipes. I bought Sean Brock's Heritage and found it unapproachable because it was so uber-high cuisine that is difficult to reproduce. I got his companion book "South", which is the opposite. It's very approachable Southern recipes, of which a lot of them call for pork lard.
My cousin the Dr Pepper Bandit spent 18 years in various prisons around California after robbing 10 or so liquor stores. He got out a couple of years ago and I am happy to report he's doing really well.
The guy I backed up on my high school basketball team got a couple of years for stealing a truckload of playstations (PS2s?) like when we were 22 or 25 or somewhere around there. He was back in the news this summer, since one of his cousins was killed right in the middle of the Black Lives Matter protests in Compton or Bellflower or somewhere around there.
Despite the arrest, Darrell is one of my favorite people.
A fraternity brother of mine had to do 30 days in Santa Cruz County Jail after his third DUI, he was offered (I think) 60 days of community service, but didn't want to drag it out so he opted for county.
nope. there was sorta generational gap between my dad and his older brothers who were all 15-20 years older than him and by the time I was older he was already persona non grata.
Years ago I hired an ex-con as a worker on a seismic retrofit, he was a decent worker, but I ended up having to evict from a house I let him rent at well below market - and he stole some tools as well. When I upbraided him for his actions he replied "You knew what I was when you hired me" - as if that was an excuse.
One of my sisters-in-law has a brother with a long time drug problem. At times he's done some things to get money for his habit. Spent some time at Santa Rita and I think San Quentin. He can be a nice guy and can be real charming but definitely has some demons.
"If you're a married millennial and considering leaving your husband because this pandemic proved to you the disutility of heterosexual marriage during a crisis, I would love for you to rant (anonymously) in my DMs so I can show my female friends they're not alone in this."
I glanced through it. Seems like the pandemic could end a number of already bad marriages. Someone said that the divorce rate in China jumped up for that reason; I haven't verified it. One person out of maybe 50 said marriage is still doing great.
I think the divorce rate in China jumping is apohcryphal or from the very beginning of Covid-19 because aside from Wuhan and a few sections of some cities, we never really went into hard lockdown here.
Yes a fraudster who defrauded investors to the tune of $48 million spent on private jets, a luxury lifestyle, and hollywood production deals while his company was still private. He did this by selling shell company stock to individual investors which reputedly held equity in the underlying company, however that was untrue. The SEC punished him with a 6-month sentence in Federal prison for tax evasion and improper campaign contributions. However, he is out of prison now and trying to defend himself in the larger fraud case which has yet to go to trial.
19 year old WSU QB has been suspended after being charged with DUII after driving the wrong way down a 1 way street in Pullman late Friday night (as in shortly after closing time Saturday AM).
If Coach Rolovich thought fielding a full team during Covid times was challenging, wait until after a few more winter term weekends in Pullman.
Never got to the Super Bowl, so that hurt his legacy as a great coach, but he sure won a lot of games. And there's probably some bad luck involved there: maybe if Earnest Byner doesn't fumble or Lin Elliott doesn't miss 3 field goals then everything is different.
Have you ever touched an electric fence?
yes, when it was turned off.
Don't wiz on the electric fence. My favorite Ren & Stimpy episode
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSYEtrBjt1U
Mythbusters proved you can't get shocked by peeing on a 3rd rail.
No but I have been shocked.
same
Law & Order: AZN. Frankly, the reason to have it is messed up.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/08/us/asian-american-attacks-bay-area/index.html
You know, last week the oldest member of the Chinese household that lives next door to me asked if I had any kind of camera system in front of the house, because he'd been mugged out front the previous night (otherwise he seemed unharmed). I told him we didn't.
Now I'm thinking maybe that was part of this crime wave? Strange, because though we live in Oakland we're nowhere near Chinatown and up on a hill away from the main road, so it's not a place with much foot traffic.
:(
What concert did you attend that was most outside your normal musical wheelhouse?
Tan and Sober Gentlemen
Celtic punk-bluegrass band just before Covid. I enjoyed the crap out of that concert.
http://tanandsober.com/video.html
Marco Benevento
it was pretty fantastic i must admit. but i mostly went because a college friend of mine was on the band as the drummer for many years and it was one of the few ways to catch up w/ a traveling musician.
I've seen Taylor Swift twice, but she's journeyed into my musical wheelhouse. I saw Peter Paul and Mary as a very young person. I've seen bands like the Boredoms but that was at a festival.
Be honest, you went to Taylor Swift for the hot moms
Not really a concert, but I did go to Plough and Stars to hear friends of friend perform. Haven't heard that genre of music before or since.
George Winston at Zellerbach a long time ago. Quite a pianist and a creative one at that.
I remember seeing him at the Kennedy Center. I was sitting next to two older women who were all dressed up as many would be at the Kennedy Center. They gasped when he walked out in jeans, a flannel shirt, and wearing socks. I was dressed closer to him than the women. Once when I was in Tokyo he was preforming and I thought about going but he had sold out a number of concerts.
I know it's not cool, but I find his music to be incredibly relaxing (and lovely). I forget about him, should put it on when I'm raging about something just to chill me out.
Linda Ronstadt on her Canciones de mi Padre tour.
I saw Iron Maiden and the Scorpions at a Day on the Green.
"Run to the Hills..."
Does the opera count? If so, then I've been to LA Opera twice and I enjoyed both times even though I never listen to opera music in my regular life
i think it counts.
personally, i love the symphony and classical music more. but the opera can be quite fun at times for the story and entertainment factor.
it is of course increasingly hard to teach your kids about such things. we used to take then to the "young peoples concerts" at the NY Philharmonic.
the most enjoyable family moments have been some of the more modern tricks that the symphony has been trying. they showed all the Star Wars movies on the screen while the orchestra played the score/soundtrack.
the Imperial March never sounded better or more ominous.
I once went to see John Williams conduct at the San Francisco Symphony, with Steven Spielberg also in attendance to talk about Williams' contributions to his films. It was great. Those classic scores sound 10x better with a live orchestra, especially with the man himself conducting.
Imo, Opera is a performance art form. works best with the whole thing. Same with musicals (the American opera form). a recording is meh, but a full show (live or movie) is good entertainment.
Hmmmm... I really can't think of anything that fits here.
My wheelhouse is pretty broad, so I'm not sure how to answer this question.
I guess if you were to judge me on stereotype (a straight dude) you wouldn't expect that I paid to see Scissor Sisters twice (at Bimbo's in S.F. and at the Fox in Oakland).
Heh, two comments: 1) I think their version of "Comfortably Numb" is better than Pink Floyd's (an opinion that outraged AERose) 2) heard them first on SNL and told my wife that I can hear the influence of Elton John, she disagreed, but he was their producer!
I don't think Elton John produced their albums, but he did play on the second one.
"Take Your Mama" sounds exactly like something Elton would have played in the 70s.
Yes, it does.
Lady Gaga, at the new Golden One Center in Sacto.
George Fereira. He is a Portuguese singer that my wife and mother-in-law have listened to for many years. He is quite popular among the Portuguese community for his use of traditional music. I barely speak any Portuguese, but it was still a lot of fun, especially since it was at a small local venue with an audience of approximately 200.
Give a piece of sports trivia that makes a not-so-great team seem amazing
Cal football is undefeated over the past 39 years against Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Clemson, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Arkansas, Michigan, Florida, Missouri, Kentucky, MS State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Florida State, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Iowa State, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Tulsa
That's amazing. Should have won some national titles with that resume. But I'll settle for the Rose Bowl. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 F--- Mack Brown.
You can do better than that!
Jaylinn Hawkins was tied for second-most receptions in a game.
We've only lost to one of the last 15 National Champions over the last 39 years?
How about the Play? Not exactly trivia but it will forever be inscribed in the memories of Old Blues as the penultimate play in the history of college football. (At least according to Joe Starkey).
So which team are you saying is "not-so-great" but seems amazing?
Well, Cal was 7-4 that season, but that was kind of a blip. Kapp bottomed out at 2-9 and then was shown the exit.
TIL: The Soviets sent out a huge number of spies during the late Cold War to map the world.
https://www.wired.com/2015/07/secret-cold-war-maps/
You can buy them here:
https://redatlasbook.com/maps
Pre google/mapquest/baidu maps, maps were a state secret in China and every map was off by like 5 meters. Through legacy, a lot of digital and online maps are still off - so like your running or bike maps on Nike+ or Stavra don't exactly line up with satellite photos.
Google Earth & mapquest hadn't come out yet.
My SIL worked for mapquest in the early-mid 90s. She did some driving around and confirming things from the questionable quality sat and aerial photos they started with.
Google Earth was originally Keyhole, run by a Haas MBA alum and friends who sold their company to Google.
Korean acapella group Maytree nails Windows (first link) and Apple (second link)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AZB64VBJfA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1cMdXs6wG0
What's cooking?
Making egg rolls for Chinese New Years this weekend.
i may have to make zongzi this weekend
Pictures from you too, please!
my last attempt is on my IG
how do i find you?
Section R, row 25ish. Saturday afternoons at Memorial Stadium.
TBB should ask for actual deliveries
I hope you'll share pictures!
i'll try to remember to take some.
Sounds good. I'm not Chinese but will be eating Chinese food in honor of the year of the Ox
Pork lard.
I have a few pounds of it in my fridge, which I am going to render and make some Southern recipes. I bought Sean Brock's Heritage and found it unapproachable because it was so uber-high cuisine that is difficult to reproduce. I got his companion book "South", which is the opposite. It's very approachable Southern recipes, of which a lot of them call for pork lard.
Making Molly Baz's cauliflower ragu and I have some dumpling filling in the fridge for wrapping new year's dumplings
Ornithology
Jailbird
I actually know Rajat Gupta, ex-McKinsey CEO. he is good friends w/ my uncle.
after jail, he is physically a shell of his former self. super thin and gaunt. it certainly took it's toll on him.
My cousin the Dr Pepper Bandit spent 18 years in various prisons around California after robbing 10 or so liquor stores. He got out a couple of years ago and I am happy to report he's doing really well.
The guy I backed up on my high school basketball team got a couple of years for stealing a truckload of playstations (PS2s?) like when we were 22 or 25 or somewhere around there. He was back in the news this summer, since one of his cousins was killed right in the middle of the Black Lives Matter protests in Compton or Bellflower or somewhere around there.
Despite the arrest, Darrell is one of my favorite people.
A fraternity brother of mine had to do 30 days in Santa Cruz County Jail after his third DUI, he was offered (I think) 60 days of community service, but didn't want to drag it out so he opted for county.
My first cousin is Rene "Boxer" Enriquez.
Wow. Did you know him as a kid? Did he come to Christmas??
nope. there was sorta generational gap between my dad and his older brothers who were all 15-20 years older than him and by the time I was older he was already persona non grata.
Years ago I hired an ex-con as a worker on a seismic retrofit, he was a decent worker, but I ended up having to evict from a house I let him rent at well below market - and he stole some tools as well. When I upbraided him for his actions he replied "You knew what I was when you hired me" - as if that was an excuse.
One of my sisters-in-law has a brother with a long time drug problem. At times he's done some things to get money for his habit. Spent some time at Santa Rita and I think San Quentin. He can be a nice guy and can be real charming but definitely has some demons.
Birdman of Alcatraz was a good movie, though perhaps historically a little inaccurate.
My dad, 6 months in county I believe.
https://twitter.com/lawrencehurley/status/1359207169091108864?s=20
“I’m here live, I’m not a cat,” says lawyer after Zoom filter mishap
“I can see that,” responds judge
Great! I wish I could see one like that, but with the Potato.
ask and ye shall receive https://twitter.com/PettyClegg/status/1244649528285855746?s=20
I think we've already found the funniest video of the year.
I haven't gone through this thread yet, but sharing it here in case it's of interest to you all: https://twitter.com/girlziplocked/status/1358069175684628487
"If you're a married millennial and considering leaving your husband because this pandemic proved to you the disutility of heterosexual marriage during a crisis, I would love for you to rant (anonymously) in my DMs so I can show my female friends they're not alone in this."
I glanced through it. Seems like the pandemic could end a number of already bad marriages. Someone said that the divorce rate in China jumped up for that reason; I haven't verified it. One person out of maybe 50 said marriage is still doing great.
I think the divorce rate in China jumping is apohcryphal or from the very beginning of Covid-19 because aside from Wuhan and a few sections of some cities, we never really went into hard lockdown here.
I skimmed as well, her sexist take that the men are always the problem in any relationship is rather off-putting.
Yes a fraudster who defrauded investors to the tune of $48 million spent on private jets, a luxury lifestyle, and hollywood production deals while his company was still private. He did this by selling shell company stock to individual investors which reputedly held equity in the underlying company, however that was untrue. The SEC punished him with a 6-month sentence in Federal prison for tax evasion and improper campaign contributions. However, he is out of prison now and trying to defend himself in the larger fraud case which has yet to go to trial.
Here's the reference...
https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2018/lr24092.htm
Donny pardoned him!
https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/crime/former-portland-developer-indicted-for-investor-fraud-pardoned-by-president-trump/97-cb5b4d8e-1e85-4a39-ac12-75b0464b7169
Holy cow I hadn't heard that yet. Literally the worst dude I ever had to work with...
Our wavering democracy
One of the Capitol Insurgents worked for the FBI
https://time.com/5937535/us-capitol-riot-fbi-oath-keepers/
only one? or only one so far?
Today in Covid-19
Other College
19 year old WSU QB has been suspended after being charged with DUII after driving the wrong way down a 1 way street in Pullman late Friday night (as in shortly after closing time Saturday AM).
If Coach Rolovich thought fielding a full team during Covid times was challenging, wait until after a few more winter term weekends in Pullman.
Go Bears!
Pro
RIP Marty Schottenheimer
https://twitter.com/mortreport/status/1359144277993996290
Never got to the Super Bowl, so that hurt his legacy as a great coach, but he sure won a lot of games. And there's probably some bad luck involved there: maybe if Earnest Byner doesn't fumble or Lin Elliott doesn't miss 3 field goals then everything is different.
Cal
GO BEARS!
Joan Parker donates $3.5m to benefit the women's volleyball, tennis, basketball, and softball programs. Well done, Joan!
https://calbears.com/news/2021/2/9/athletics-news-joan-parker-continues-to-impact-cal-athletics.aspx
Yeah.