198 Comments

I'm videochatting with three people who don't drink. Where's everyone else?

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TFTI

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getting in trouble around the house probably

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I don't have a camera in this computer

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Puig to the gints?!?! is the rumor.

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It's too bad Madbum isn't there anymore. Would love to be in the locker room.

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fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu San Antonio just shut my studios down. Let the stress begin

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On the Plus Side, Maybe George R.R. Martin Will Finish Winds of Winter Now

https://io9.gizmodo.com/on-the-plus-side-maybe-george-r-r-martin-will-finish-1842385087

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W4C Virtual Meetup 6-8pm Pacific tonight:

Join Hangouts Meet meet.google.com/obo-zfug-nqg

Join by phone ‪+1 319-343-7766‬ PIN: ‪907 747 903‬#

I've joined one of these, but not set one up myself, so this will be an adventure.

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Be there in a sec

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I just started the room. Hope you guys can join!

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We've used this for work. It's fine but we've only used it for a few people at the most. Will be interesting to see how it handles more than 4-5.

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I'm excited for the "captions" it provides

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My ballet classes are canceled for the time being, and I'm worried that my ballet teacher is out a lot of money. Should I email a gift card? Target? Visa gift cards? I've seen physical ones, but am not sure how to send an electronic one. Any other suggestions?

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You can probably do Amazon electronically.

Also, when is your first show and where are our seats?

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I missed Carmen, but watched La Boheme last night!

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I wonder if my first exposure to Carmen was Hey Arnold or Beyonce in the Hip-Hopera.

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My wife's favorite Opera

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I haven't seen enough to have a favorite, but I do like The Magic Flute

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The Magic Flute and The Barber of Seville are probably the best operas that I've seen. I also enjoyed The Marriage of Figaro (but my seat was terrible). I have yet to really enjoy a tragic opera (Don Giovanni, Manon Lescaut, Carmen, I've also seen Cold Mountain turned into an opera and a really weird modern one, where people around me all left early even though it was only 65 minute long, when I visited La Scala last fall). Turnadot is the other one that I've seen and was kind of meh.

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We've had season tickets for a long time to the SF Opera.

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Generations of Handwritten Mexican Cookbooks Are Now Online

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/mexican-cookbook

THE STORY OF MEXICAN FOOD is usually told as a happy merging of indigenous ingredients and techniques with those brought by the Spanish in the 1500s, as if the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was just a means to a better burrito. In fact, what we now know as Mexican cuisine is the result of centuries of shifting borders and tastes.

“When it came to culinary cultural exchange in the colonial period, the conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo referred to corn dishes as the ‘misery of maize cakes,’” says Stephanie Noell, Special Collections Librarian at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). “On the other side, the Nahuas were not impressed by the Spaniards’ wheat bread, describing it as ‘famine food.’”* The eventual confluence of native and European ingredients and traditions is, of course, what defines North American cuisine to this day.

A rough timeline of this transformation exists in the UTSA’s Mexican cookbook collection, the largest-known trove of Mexican and Mexican-American cookbooks in North America. It started with a donation of nearly 550 books from San Antonio resident Laurie Gruenbeck in 2001, amassed during her decades of travel throughout Mexico. It now has more than 2,000 books, including some of renowned chef and scholar Diana Kennedy’s rarest books, as well as her personal papers. It has the oldest cookbooks published in Mexico (from 1831), elaborate vegetarian cookbooks from 1915 and 1920, corporate and community cookbooks, and much more.

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"as if the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was just a means to a better burrito."

It wasn't?!?!?!?!?

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Seriously, everyone ought to read "The Discovery And Conquest Of Mexico" by Bernal Díaz del Castillo. It's an unforgettable book, a true history and amazing story.

"Bernal Díaz del Castillo(1495–1584) served under Cortés through the entire Mexican campaign, and his narrative, one of only four extant firsthand accounts, is both an invaluable historical document and a spectacular epic. He was with Cortés when the latter sank the ships, thus committing the small band of conquistadors irrevocably to the Conquest; he was privy to the counsels of the leaders and was at hand when Montezuma was made a prisoner in his own palace. Bernal Díaz fought in over a hundred battles and skirmishes against an enemy who made living sacrifices of their prisoners. These things he saw and recorded in a bold blunt voice whose immediacy, in Maudslay's classic translation, reaches across the centuries to invite readers to witness for themselves the horrors and wonders of the initial, apocalyptic clash between two great civilizations."

https://www.amazon.com/Conquest-New-Spain-Penguin-Classics/

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Why does everyone seem to know some or many of the other posters IRL? I've never (knowingly) met any of you.

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I joined because I found out this is how two of my IRL otherwise unconnected Berkeley friends knew each other. And then I started to friend everyone else on FB and GoodReads and occasionally in person, when I'm up in the Bay. :)

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Mar 18, 2020
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I still refuse to accept that downgrade

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You can meet us too, we don't bite.

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oh sure, I've been in this community since the tree sitter days. SGBear has hosted tailgates out east, I had a big party at the UT game in Austin and some of us travel to away games together. Some Bay Area happy hours and taco crawls have occurred over the years as well... I probably know 20+ people IRL on here at this point.

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Also, a bunch of them were in the band.

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I was in the band. But it was around the time paper towels were invented...

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so maybe around the same time as me?

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'73-'78ish

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a hair before my time....83 to 88-ish

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The Bay Area ones occasionally gather for football/basketball games or cocktails. Others living around the country pop in from time to time.

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where in the Bay Area? (=>)

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Wherever the booze is. (Said the non-drinker.)

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We just had the W4CPiDayHH. I guess after this is all over it'll be time for another W4CHH.

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We can do a virtual HH. Happy to set something up on Zoom, Google Meet, &c.

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Yes, please

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And virtual game night if you ever get all your games back.

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then we could meet virtually IRL

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End of a SoCal era: remnant of KROQ's Kevin & Bean disbanded, entire team fired this morning.

https://twitter.com/thekevinryder/status/1240280553942740992

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I remember when Live 105 started airing that show. It was awful.

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kevin & bean...they haven't been good for like 20 years

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Didn’t they broadcast from separate rooms? Or was that another morning show?

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So Cal morning shows are universally awful, except during awards season.

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I am more likely to listen to BBC Radio Six over the internet than I am to listen to any local station. I don't really even like Sirius Xm that much, I should really just let that subscription lapse.

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morning shows are universally awful.

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There has only been one morning show that I've ever enjoyed. The rest are trash.

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https://twitter.com/sineatrix/status/1240175471142113280?s=20

BELOW IS QUOTED TEXT, NOT MY TEXT:

Now that ‘St. Patty’s Day’ is over & I’m feeling particularly salty... here is a list of things that aren’t Irish that I have been told are Irish today:

- Corned beef &cabbage

- Pinching someone for not wearing green

- Dropkick Murphys

- A love of Conor McGregor

- Racism

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Corned beef & cabbage is Irish-American, as are Dropkick Murphys, and no doubt Racism as well.

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There are more Irish people in America than in Ireland.

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especially if you count the millions that just think they're Irish :)

(I'm 3/8th)

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I can actually trace ancestry back to Ireland, so I know I've got it (1/4, but because it's my paternal grandfather's line I got the Irish surname).

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As it were, I listened to a live Dropkick Murphys concert on Facebook last night.

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I'm more of a Flogging Molly fan.

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I have enjoyed both bands.

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Hmm, I have a guy I manage who lives in Ireland and they were definitely big on McGregor, around the time he was about to fight Mayweather. Maybe not so much anymore?

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Also not Irish:

- Shamrock Shakes

- Michael Flatley

- bars that stay open after 12:30 am on Friday and Saturday

- Black and Tans

- Lucky Charms

- St. Patrick

- the song "Danny Boy"

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there is some small irony in St Patrick being Scottish and St Andrew being Greek

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I am never going to get over how McDonald's (also not Irish) has ruined Shamrock Shakes. [shakes fist at sky]

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I've still never had one, which is strange considering mint and chocolate is one of my favorite flavor combos.

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I tried a Shamrock Shake a few years ago, since I also enjoy minty foods. You are not missing much. It had a slightly "off" mint taste and was generally not good. Better off making you own version.

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I got an email advertising "Shamrock Sangria"

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Day 3 of WFH: What have you unexpectedly run out of?

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Patience. I find myself on the internet trying to explain economies of scale to a dunce.

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Bandwidth, on the company end. we've received guidance to reduce remote access (sign-off and work offline); limit screen sharing in skype meetings; share docs via e-copies (and blow up my mailbox) or link to document archives. And we're getting busy signals on the conf call lines.

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our incentive is to never log off VPN because it's not clear we'd get back on :D

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dril tweet:

who the fuck is scraeming "LOG OFF" at my house. show yourself, coward. i will never log off

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Nothing because I went to Berkeley Bowl yesterday.

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havent run out of anything. but normally i would just go to get more bread or marsala wine for a recipe. my wife says she will do w/ whatever we have at home.

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I'm not out of anything yet, but it is increasingly looking like the first casualty is going to be tea bags, which is not what I would have predicted.

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Toothpaste.

Thought I had a second tube in the cabinet, but can't find it, so I'll be braving a store this afternoon.

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At least around here CVS has not been crowded. If all you need it toothpaste you may get off easy if you go to a drug store.

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Good suggestion!

The other thing I'm going to need to get is dish soap. I am finally using all my coffee cups...

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Bandwidth, which is why I went into the office for half the day before coming home to finish up the workday remotely.

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we're now at the point of having to get COR approval to be in the building, which is nice

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We are discovering interesting "features" in some of our software. Who knew that with a contact phones db update running, and audio stream running (when its not buffering), Outlook updating the inbox (and issuing delivery notices), a java based web based linux box job monitor running, and 3 file transfers running, the Amazon "Submit Order" (for additional hardware and cabling needed to support so much off-site work) would auto-magically map to "Disconnect sds.oregonstate.edu"? That caused a brief period of increased anxiety.

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Patience

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Shed a tear 'cause I'm missin' you

I'm still alright to smile

Girl, I think about you every day now

Was a time when I wasn't sure

But you set my mind at ease

There is no doubt you're in my heart now

Said "woman take it slow, and it'll work itself out fine"

All we need is just a little patience

Said "sugar make it slow and we'll come together fine"

All we need is just a little patience (Patience)

Mm, yeah

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HEY IS THIS THING ON

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Aussie university law lecture goes a bit off topic to talk about ethics (kinda NSFW):

https://www.facebook.com/100005203562653/videos/1342651629251610/

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Noteworthy event attended: for shear suspense, hard to beat Oregon at Cal, 5OT.

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Guess I didn't scroll all of the way down before posting. Amazing game.

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My friend said the angel fell

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I scrolled past the context of this and thought it was the start of some pick-up line.

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Umm, no.

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Cal vs. Texas in 2016 at Memorial...

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How business casual: what are you wearing right now?

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jeans and an old short sleeve shirt. I don't own any sweats, and I rarely wear t-shirts for purposes other than sleeping / exercising / yard work.

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t-shirt; hoodie; skort; ugg knock-offs (costco!)

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I'm wearing work trousers and a button down shirt.

I'm at work. That's what happens when you work for an "essential" service.

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Working from home. Long sleeve t-shirt, jeans, walking shoes.

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Pajama bottoms and a free shirt

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green jean cut pants. flannel shirt. red wing boots.

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i like to get out of my pj's before making coffee in the morning. all part of the morning routine.

the girls and i and big sister's boyfriend went to play some hoops at our local park. so just wearing sweats.

it is a gorgeous but chilly day here. there was NO ONE at the park

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I am physically ensconced by my bed (too cold sitting at the dining room table)

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I was seriously considering physically going to the office earlier today, when there was a Comcast outage of both internet and TV. Then, I opted for a 1.5-hour nap instead...since I was already in my Cal pajama pants.

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that was the better decision.

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+1 for naps

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work boots, dockers style slacks, flannel shirt, ziphoodie, wool hat. No working from home.

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yeah, i'm in the office..we have a small office...one of our employees was sick before this whole corona in the us scare started but we already sent her to wfh until she got better, which she says she is,but we're giving her another 2 weeks...we're all prepped to work from home should la like the bay area issue a shelter in place order.

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I think we're so spread out down here that it'll take longer for that to be put into place

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I was wearing a button down and jeans at work. Now that I'm home I'm in a sweatshirt and shorts.

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Now: black jeans, Nikes, grey henley

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Jeans and a T-shirt.

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Still at work, so slacks and polo.

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my usual "non-teaching" duds: jeans, button-down shirt (untucked), my "nice" New Balance

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If I lounge in pajamas, I wouldn't get anything done all day.

But it's not worth all the hassle of ironing a button shirt just to WFH, so I'm compromising by just wearing a long-sleeved shirt and pants.

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I haven't worn anything with a non-elastic waistband since Saturday.

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In the last 50 days I've only worn shoes like 10 times (running and on a flight to and from Singapore)

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PRO

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Giants --> Dodgers: Connor Joe, who I dubbed the Korean God of Walks (0.426 OBP), started for the Giants last year. He was DFA'd and then resigned with the Dodgers. He announced he has testicular cancer and underwent surgery yesterday.

https://twitter.com/PavlovicNBCS/status/1240315157156265989

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Technically it's Dodgers --> Giants --> Dodgers I'm pretty sure. Ugh...that's bad to hear though.

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did anyone discuss the departure of my beloved?

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you mean the fumbler?

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Thoughts and prayers D$. You're gonna have to become a snowbird now.

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already went to the Tampa area in January, I *absolutely* see the appeal

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yesterday, sure

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I presume the discussion was fair and balanced????

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No talk of the cheating cheaters that always cheat, if that's what you mean.

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Noteworthy events that you attended

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4 OT Cal/UA

03 Cal/$C

Cal MBB wins PAC-10

Tupac’s Ghost at Coachella

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1982 Big Game. Nope, I didn't leave early

1984 Olympics - Mary Lou Retton's perfect 10 on her vault to win gold in the All-Around 

1986 Cal v UCLA, Men's Basketball. Cal wins 75-67 to end a 52 game losing streak. O.M.G. 

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@The LA Riots of 1992@

SC beating Penn State as time expired in the Rose Bowl

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Rose? Bowl?

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Hmmm....

If you're going there, I guess dealing with the aftermath of the Loma Prieta was a big deal for me, the night I decided I needed to have some strong drink on hand at all times. Back then it was just Korbel brandy, but it did the trick.

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Paul McCartney concert at Memorial Stadium, 1990.

i used to usher for concerts at Zellerbach, so they asked a bunch of us to be ushers for this.

i ended up w/ one free ticket to give away.

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I was at the Suns/Warriors game at Harmon - where they retired KJ's jersey and Hanging With Mr. Cooper filmed an episode where he had a tryout for the team

Also the Michael Chang exhibition match at Harmon against Brad Gilbert

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5OT Oregon @ Cal Best memory was Gene Ransom tossing up a one-handed shot from lying on his back in the key to send it to another OT.

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A major chapter in the Giants-Dodgers rivalry: the Brian Johnson Game.

https://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/Brian-Johnson-Game-provided-unmatched-drama-at-5089518.php

I was a senior in high school. Three friends and I cut school to head out to the Stick and sit in the left field bleachers for it. Possibly the best decision I ever made.

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Yes...this!! Good call. As Derek’s friend Billy Zane said, “It’s a Walk-Off....”

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Revenge of The Play, 1990.

UW at Cal, 1991, and Cal at USC, 2004. The two best sporting events I've ever seen live, even though Cal lost both. I seem to remember that, after the 1991 game, pretty much everyone stayed in the stadium until the end and applauded as the Bears left the field.

Glenn Seaborg's 80th birthday, 1992, at Lawrence Hall of Science. Very cool to meet someone who has an element named after him.

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That first stupid game you mentioned was my last home game as a student. I remember turning to the group I was with and saying, "This game isn't over. Stanford's going to attempt an onside kick and..."

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Pat Fucking Flood! That UW 1991 game was probably the loudest I've heard Memorial. I'm not sure I ever sat down, even at halftime.

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you couldnt sit down even if you wanted. the student section probably had 150% more people than seats. we were all body-to-body and even standing sideways at times.

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yeah it was jammed pack in there. And if I remember it was super hot.

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It was the day the East Bay Hills fire started, IIRC. I was a senior in HS and went to the game...had to evacuate the house the next day when it broke containment, so to speak, and dropped ash at Candlestick. I remember school being cancelled a day for the earthquake in ‘89 & the fire in ‘91. East Bay “snow days.”

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yeah I was at that one too. Fantastic game

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Clinton's first inauguration; Obama's first (damn that was hella COLD); Talking Heads lower Sproul Plaza x2; Bicentennial fireworks (DC) Numerous Big Games - best Bowl game: Holiday Bowl 2006

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Cal 42 Oregon 41 coming back from 30-0 down mid 2nd quarter

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Oh I forgot I was at the Cal at $C game where the Bears came back from 28-3(?) to win and my mom declared to us that Trojans always pop under pressure.

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I left that game at halftime down 30 to go back to my fraternity. I heard a lot of cannonfire. One of my great regrets.

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If I remember I had to leave early for a ride home as well.

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We were only down 30-7 at the half! Lindsay Chapman ran in a touchdown late in the second quarter after a PI on a pass to Na'il Benjamin put the Bears on the 3 yard line.

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Didn't your dad want to leave?

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yup, mid 2nd quarter. I refused and ended up seeing the greatest game of my lifetime. Sat in the South endzone where the winning 2 pointer was converted in the last minute too. Was so glorious

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I was working in that end zone that game - pulling the kicking nets up and down. I'm almost visible in some of the highlights.

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Green Day Dookie Record Release Party (Lower Sproul Plaza)

TMac 13 points in 35 seconds

Hong Kong Umbrella Revolution (2015)

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Section HH: The Play 1982.

Senate gallery: Confirmation of Sandra Day O'Connor.

And then two performances: Sam Kinison in Zellerbach Hall and Bill Hicks in Walnut Creek. Kinison's act was much cleaner than what he was famous for. And joked about his new marriage/honeymoon with a Vegas showgirl. A few days later, as he toured south in California, he was killed by a drunk driver. Meanwhile, Bill Hicks performance was horrible and he admitted to bombing the worst in his career. A few months later, he would be dead from cancer. In retrospect, he must have newly found out he had terminal cancer before that performance.

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1986 Big Game: Cal beat #16 Gator-Bowl-bound Stanfurd (7-2) by a score of 17-11. Cal (1-9) previously lost to woeful San Jose State and Oregon State, plus a 0-49 pasting by ASU. Joe Kapp's last game as coach. Offense was missing starting QB Troy Taylorto injury, going back to Kevin Brown. Cal didn't have a good defense until that game despite having a linebacking crew that included Hardy Nickerson, Ken Harvey, and David Ortega. Swarmed the field and put Kapp on shoulders. Hardy Nickerson famously got on the band ladder and lead the Cal band after that game.

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Who is Troy Taylor? Do you have wikipedia link I might peruse?

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pqtm

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Obama first inauguration, A's 72-74 World Series, Library of Congress first Gershwin Prize concert.

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Should add the Women's March in DC with my niece.

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I took my daughters to that, it was like a mosh pit of liberals (in a good way)

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Citrus Bowl '91!!

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too bad we cant attach photos. i think i have one from that trip

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I found a few while moving, including us holding up the signs we made for the car drive from Pensacola to Orlando after seeing Florida fan's cars going the other way to go to the Suger Bowl with flags.

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2009 Big Game. 2019 Big Game. Anything else matter?

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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White House pauses testimony of virus experts to Congress because [squints at screen] they need to focus on the emergency; they are certainly not gagging Dr. Fauci to prevent him from throwing Trump under the bus again

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/18/white-house-coronavirus-officials-testimony-135806

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Trump gaslights America and remains racist is a single Tweet:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1240243188708839424

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the white house was openly calling cbs's weijia jiang kung flu the other day as well...

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Social distancing may have to continue for a year or more.

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2020/3/17/21181694/coronavirus-covid-19-lockdowns-end-how-long-months-years

I found the argument in this series of articles pretty persuasive as to what we're likely to see coming out of this: a return of the government as protective state.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-03-16/coronavirus-foreshadow-s-bigger-disruptions-in-future

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-03-17/coronavirus-will-revive-an-all-powerful-state

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FL/IL/AZ DEM Primaries

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IL results were interesting initially and really flattened out: Cook County was initially going for Bernie but I think now every county (except maybe Champaign?) went for Biden

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Before yesterday, moneyline on Biden was -1000. After, -1600. You'd make 10% if Biden won yesterday. Today, you'd only make 6.5%. Hillary Clinton has better betting odds than Bernie Sanders. Michelle Obama is not far behind Bernie.

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