214 Comments

Bye bye Justice! Buckeyes go down and all is right with the world. Yes.

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He should've stayed at Cal. I think he was in the starting lineup but the few min I saw it looked like he wasn't out there in crunch time.

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Let's see. Be on the worst squad in the conference or on the #7 overall team (despite getting upended in the tourney)

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We wouldn't BE the worst squad if he was here!

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Long Distance Flying

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Heh, I have all you guys beat 116+ hours from NoVa to Berkeley via Trailways

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Awhile after I graduated I flew to DC to spend some time looking around. Then I had a 30 days bus pass to get back to Oakland. Stopped and visited relatives in Cleveland, Tenn., Tampa, Nebraska, and Denver. Good times.

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Didn't you fly on this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Flyer

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Mar 20, 2021Liked by SGBear

Trailways = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covered_wagon (my kingdom for an embedded photo!)

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Are we sure he didn't die of dysentery?

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Pretty sure

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I have done a trip from Philly to Tokyo via Taipei (so I can meet up with my family at the airport as I wasn't allowed to visit Taiwan back then). Of course, to save my money, I took a Megabus to go from Philly to NYC to take that 17+ flight. The return was worse because my flight landed at 1 AM-ish at JFK. Instead of taking a $50 train, I opt for a $5 bus at 5 or 6 AM and ended up spending 2+ hours at a 24/7 KBBQ place in NYC. Again, I intentionally picked this itinerary but didn't enjoy the subway/bus rides as much as I thought I would have.

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I can see the return being ass given the times involved. I've used the bus to get to White River Junction in VT from here, but at "normal" times. It was a little faster than the train, and slower than driving, but I had a delightful stroll through Manhattan between one bus terminus and another.

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sfo to cairo via frankfurt, 17 hours 40 minutes

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On twitter last night I was saying that I'm starting to get stir crazy enough that the idea of extreme direct flights like London - Perth (Aus) (currently suspended) or Newark - Singapore seem appealing. (Scootie was a strong "hell no" on those routes).

The most time I've spent on a plane is probably just under 11 hours from Heathrow to LAX, but I was ready to make the jump to 18 hours just to get out of the house.

What's the longest flight anyone else on here has taken?

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Between 12-17 hours HK to LAX/SFO (it's been as short as 12 and as long as 17 depending on time of year + winds)

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Same. Also LAX to Helsinki, about the same.

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I’ve done Dallas to Sydney non-stop before. 17 hours+/-. It’s a beat down, but it’s survivable. Done Dallas to Hong Kong at few times, that’s 14 hours. Not too bad.

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In Dec 2019 I had LAX > KIX > TPE. Forgot how long it was because I flew business class and slept and ate well enough to not care.

I did have a very short transfer at KIX, but Japan Airlines made it rather stress free because they had staff waiting to herd us over to our flight. It was a relief, since I gathered there was no way they would take off with me in that case.

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19h SFO to SGN.

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damn 10 key punch, 16h

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How would you rate the flight on a scale of 1-19?

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I guess it depends on airline and class.

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Speaking of class. I had hoped to surprise by wife on our honeymoon with an upgrade to first class from coach. I wanted to see how long it took at the airport before she noticed the seat numbers on our tickets, and was hoping that she would not find out until I told her we had to board with the first group of boarders.

Unfortunately, the moment we got to the airport airline staff looked at our tickets and directed us to the first class check-in line.

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I think i've mentioned this before, but 10 hours from the DC area on a direct flight would get me to Honolulu or Moscow (also a little more time for Accra and a little less for Istanbul)

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SF to Melbourne, which is around 17 hours, but involves two changes of plane. Longest segment in there is 14 from LA to Sydney.

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I use to fly the world's longest non-stop flight (Singapore to Newark) frequently. It was 18+ hours and it was a dream. It was a dream because it was non-stop and 100% business seating. Non-stop flights were a little over a day with several-hours of layovers either in Seoul, Narita, Hong Kong or San Francisco. You get used to it. You take a sleeping pill, get a full night's rest and STILL have 18 hours ahead of you. Then you watch 4 films, get a heavy buzz from the free booze, do some work, and watch another film. I just reminded myself that it was a marvel of technology that this aluminum tube could transport me anywhere in the world and all I had to do was endure mediocre booze, food, movies, and sleep.

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Only SFO to some airport in the Netherlands.

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Schipol

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16 hours from LAX to Sydney. And that was after flying BWI-ORD-CLE-LAX (stopover in Cleveland because our flight to ORD was delayed and we missed the ORD-LAX leg). Total time from door to door was around 36 hours.

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With transfers, weather, and layovers, it once took ~15 hours PDX to San Antonio. And even longer to get back, even with the 2 time zone gain, because it was necessary to first drive from San Antonio to Houston (or Dallas).

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gross

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We flew from Seoul to Atlanta once. I don't remember how long it took, only that it was 2pm for about 30 hours or something.

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16 hours between Taipei and New York

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16 hrs from ORD to HKG.

the next day we flew HKG to Kolkata. because of flight mess ups the flight went during the day instead of at night like normal, so we got to see Mt Everest about at eye level as we were flying past.

probably the best airplane scenery i have ever had.

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Related question - once I was on a SuperShuttle (RIP) ride to Dulles and was chatting with a dude who was going to fly Dulles - Houston - Sydney - Port Moresby IN ONE GO. What's the longest sustained trip you'd be willing to take like that?

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we stupidly did the 14h layover at Incheon on our way to Vietnam bc we thought we could get out on one of the transit tours to do a bit of sightseeing and eating. It did not work out that way. We got out on the early tour and the only food we encountered was a make shift bodega at a temple

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disappointing!

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It used to be an arduous journey between Cleveland and Taipei (it probably still is, but my family doesn't live in Ohio anymore), but the multiple flights seems more understandable in that situation. Once when I was flying from Columbus to New York, I booked my flights too late and ended up with THREE layovers. THREE.

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Would have been faster to take a bus, methinks.

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you could certainly have done it faster by car

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How about by train?

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March Madness

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Beavs dominate the Vols, 12 over 5 upset (not sure this is really an upset). Pac-12 was pretty good, maybe?

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Part upset, part bad, really bad, matchup for Tennessee.

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And UCLA won last night. Pac 12 overlooked.

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Every Pac-12 team advanced to the second round. Granted, one was because VCU had to forfeit to Oregon. But still, undefeated!

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Ohio State in OT against Oral Roberts and taking some of the worst shots imaginable.

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Dammit...I had Ohio State into the Elite 8.

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Yeah, that one's a bracket buster. I had them going to the FF. Oh well!

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I respected what they had done, but that doesn't equate to trusting them.

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UPSET. ORU 75, tOSU 72

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Justice Sueing had a big block late in regulation. I almost considered picking Ohio State in this game because of his past Cal connection but picking the underdog was just so enticing.

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Their offense looks so ugly down the stretch, not something I expect from this team.

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I made C&P fill out brackets by just reading them names and making them pick. They were all over the place...let's just say Grand Canyon really needs to make a run.

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hahaha

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And first game out, I lose. I had Va Tech winning, changed it at the last second. At least I have them losing to Ohio State so it won't mean too much.

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I really need Texas Tech to win since I have them going to the Sweet 16.

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Not at all shocking given how little non-Pac-12 basketball I watched this year, but I lost my perfect bracket because I somehow picked Texas Tech to be upset in the first round. My boldest opening round pick was Oral Roberts over Ohio State...which is still plausible at the half.

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I picked Utah St bc their analytics were good...USU just brutal. Boo.

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Yeah, Utah St wasn't a bad pick. Just didn't work out.

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I went to DMV to get a Real ID to beat the October 1 2021 deadline since I don't want to fly with my passport within the US. While lines were reported as being very long six months ago, I was in and out within 15 minutes. Also, my photo was horrible. The clerk offered to retake it, but I said that it was time to admit that's what I look like, even if it's hard to look at.

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I still have to do that...

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Ditto

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i got mine a few months ago as well. the DMV in NY is pretty much all by-appt only so it was pretty painless.

so a good long time you couldnt get appt for such a thing as they were prioritizing other in-person services. luckily i was able to get appt just in time to renew/upgrade my otherwise expiring license.

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I got one in AL and then we moved. I need to get mine sorted and Auntsam has done all the legwork and now just needs to go get hers at the DMV.

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one small advantage of living in a wonk-heavy state with a lot of folks who are feds or fed adjacent is that Maryland got that squared away surprisingly well.

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Yep. I've had my RealID for almost two years now.

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Vanover looks overmatched for this AR team...he’d be an impact player for Fox’s anemic squad, but he’s a starter in name only & Musselman is clearly frustrated with him. Two quick hooks already...

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go Colgate...one of my upset picks

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They certainly made it interesting for a while.

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Racial violence

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I just wrote snarky lyrics for the song "Bad Day," and my coworker is going to sing/play the guitar.

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going to post a youtube video?

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I told my drumpf-loving father in law that drumpf was the worst because of how he wanted to incite violence against us Chinese people.

I never thought I would hate having to say "I told you so." so many times in the past 4+years.

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For the people who saw the elderly Chinese woman (Xiao Zhen Xie) who fought back but was obviously still injured and traumatized, here's her GoFundMe, which I'm grateful to see is well funded: https://www.gofundme.com/f/2b8zh292uo?utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer

Her attacker also injured this grandpa (Ngoc Pham), and I see that his GoFundMe has also been getting some attention: https://www.gofundme.com/f/ngoc-pham-fundraiser?member=9456580&utm_source=twilio&utm_medium=sms&utm_campaign=contacts-v2-invite-to-donate

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I'm so frustrated that we know literally everything about the jackass that did this and NOTHING about the victims.

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Yeah :(

I should also note that two of the names I got were likely mistaken transcriptions. Soon C Park should have been Soon Chung Park (and she might have gone by Julie?) and Yong A Yue should have been Yong Ae Yue.

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People have always gotten my name wrong.

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As discussed earlier: after 9/11, people who looked even remotely Middle Eastern wore American Flag pins to keep from being attacked. There's a similar thing going on today. But I don't think the American Flag pin approach is going to work this time. Anyone have any suggestions? ....My craziest thought so far is to wear a MAGA hat.

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Like Larry David.

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Exactly

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I'll be honest, since I'm white and 50, it's not really something I worry about.

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While its legality varies by state, Pepper Spray. This combination tear gas/pepper spray (1% & 10%) has a 10-foot range and is at least 5x as powerful as bear spray. Cost only $11 and will end a fight very quickly.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08X5XVH1C/?coliid=I1ZFDI0N1N8J4M

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Backfire

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The VW Bus is starting to backfire upon turning off the motor again, usually an indicator that the exhaust valves are not closing entirely and need another adjustment, which may be the last before the top half of the motor needs to be rebuilt.

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So true, I report a couple a month, and my neighborhood isn't even the worst.

"They’re gutted and stripped, covered in graffiti, burned to pieces and exploding with trash. Oakland’s swaths of abandoned vehicles are an unsightly urban phenomenon, and just parallel to Wood Street, which is home to sprawling tent encampments, there’s an astonishing amount of them.

Just ahead, two people can be seen stripping a rusty truck that’s been reduced to a frame on wheels. The area, which feels like something out of a post-apocalyptic John Carpenter film, is cluttered with AC Transit buses, bombed-out BMWs and overturned Audis. But how did they get here? And more importantly, why is the city allowing them to accumulate?"

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/oakland-abandoned-car-epidemic-16027155.php

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Describe a movie in the most boring way possible

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A writer has affairs with beautiful women, but questions the direction of his life.

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No guesses?

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Newspaper magnate dies of old age. His associates are interviewed for his obituary.

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Heh

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Hermit finds love while trying to evict unwanted neighbors

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Downtrodden cop refuses to leave wife's office party

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Now I have a machine gun. Ho-ho-ho.

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A man gets fired on his day off and then gets into a fight with the neighborhood bully.

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Guy goes to work on day he is not even supposed to be there.

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Clerks!

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Lucky guy runs a lot.

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Never seen it, but I can guess.

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Lazy man wanders around L.A. County accomplishing nothing

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Drinking white Russians is something

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Suddenly homeless office worker starts a support group.

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Fight Club?

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Correct

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would you have accepted Trading Places?

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I will now!

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A Journalist and an attorney attend a conference in Las Vegas.

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A beautiful woman in throwback attire uses a mythical livestock tool as she wastes 151 minutes of the lives of MILLIONS of people in somewhat broken English.

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It's a compelling description but what film is this?

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Wonder Women 1984

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very accurate

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People living a miserable existence by choice in the most uninteresting way possible. (Nomadland)

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A visit to the archives for engineering specs ends badly. [Rogue One]

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Even more boring - A visit to the archives for engineering specs results in getting the specs.

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woman bangs an entire city

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Debbie Does Dallas?

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awww yeah

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Great (or sick) minds think alike!

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Youngest son joins his family's olive oil business.

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What is this one?

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Godfather

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Olive oil gave it away.

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A guy drives cross-country with his autistic brother to get some cars smog checked.

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Malibu

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Good, albeit crowded, surfing, two nice day anchorages (Paradise Cove and Malibu Cove/Pier), tons of traffic and wildly different climates depending on where you are in the city

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Stay out of Malibu! Stay out of Mailbu, deadbeat!

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Stacy

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Her mom has got it going on.

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Rum

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On the rare occasion that I get a hangover, rum was usually involved. Something about all that sugar doesn't sit well with me.

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Rolling out this evergreen piece from the Onion

https://www.theonion.com/man-blames-hangover-on-everything-but-how-much-he-drank-1819566447

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eh, I mean obviously if you drink too much = hangover, BUT that are some complications.

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Fantastic ingredient for one of my favorite mixed drinks, the Surfer on Acid. Equal parts Malibu Rum, pineapple juice and Jaegermeister. Yum!

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Sugar booze, sugar and sugar booze. No idea on the taste, but it sounds like a headache in a glass

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No thank you.

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Had to look this up, that sounds completely gross.

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gross

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Only if you get the mix really wrong.

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Malibu rum is nasty. My aversion to "proper" rum is just a long-standing tradition from a couple of disasters many moons ago.

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No experience with "Malibu" rum, whatever that is; my comments were in reference to traditional rum.

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if you were to imagine the smell of a a young woman on the beach sweating out rum and having that mix with her vanilla perfume, you'd be in the neighborhood. Not the flavor I'm looking for in an adult beverage

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What's for dinner?

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no idea about food, but whiskey will be consumed

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Which whiskey?

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We will be making cocktails tonight, so depending if the drink calls for bourbon or rye, it will be Four Roses or Bulleit.

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I don't know, but if it involves the pasta sauce my wife spent the afternoon making then it's going to be a good evening.

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Likely filet mignon at home. It's our 11th anniversary. 2nd pandemic anniversary now.

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Congrats!!

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No idea yet. Not sure if No 3 will be here tonight or not.

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Cheese pizza (no meat today for Friday Lenten observance). Last night was a clone recipe for PF Chang's Mongolian Beef with white rice. A little too sweet, but close enough.

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No idea, last night roast pork chops, red bell peppers & onions, with sage butter chestnut pasta.

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Made artichoke and spinach casserole featuring penne pasta with andouille sausage.

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Made egg+tomatoes and also fried baked chicken cantonese style.

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At the end of a tour of that house, I feel like there should either be a rollercoaster ride or a 70-year-old man telling me to take off my clothes if I want a cherry role in his next production.

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so either way you could end up heaving

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this might not be terribly original decor but at least I wouldn't feel like I'd moved into an 11 year old's house https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2001-Sunset-Plaza-Dr-Los-Angeles-CA-90069/20798103_zpid/

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This is a well maintained little house but I'm amazed at the price for the location - another sign that I've been gone from LA for decades. Old man old thinking. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/134-N-Ardmore-Ave-Los-Angeles-CA-90004/20780743_zpid/

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Good income potential there though. Plus, you get the corrupt local neighborhood cops there!

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probably more effective than an alarm system

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One of the many signs that I'm very middle class is that I can't wrap my head around the idea of spending $11m on a place that would need to immediately be redecorated in its entirety.

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Today in Covid

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Got my appointment for my second shot in 19 days. See you MFer's in Fort Worth on 9/11.

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CDC officially relaxes distance for elementary schools from 6 feet to 3 feet. Here's the science that backs up their decision.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-research/transmission_k_12_schools.html

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I'm not really sure this is a good idea inasmuch as B117 cases are spiking, and children are quite able to spread the 'rona even though they're mostly asymptomatic. At this point we're basically in a race between more infectious variants and vaccination ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Mom’s getting her second shot today

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my mother is getting her second shot on Sunday (my father got the J&J shot last weekend)

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I got my weekly reminder e-mail from Virginia that I'm pre-registered and that I'll be contacted when I can make an appointment. The top of the page is in English and the bottom of the page is the same message in Spanish. Every week I get the box up in the corner asking if I want to translate the page from Spanish to English. Weird.

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And two hours later I get an email from the county and now have an appointment for next Tuesday afternoon for shot one.

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Elsewhere in college

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NCAA blasted for providing minimal training equipment and food for women's NCAA Tournament teams in their bubble while the men have access to a very well appointed setup. (Numerous Title IX suits probably already drafted by numerous lawyers.)

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I see that and I'm even more appreciative that all of the other sports got to play at all this year. I still don't have too much info on how Cal is able to balance all the training for all 400 student-athletes right now given the social distancing and other restrictions.

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Sedona Prince blows Title IX whistle on Oregon Ducks via Instagram & Twitter. This is an obvious violation of § 106.33 ("comparable facilities") as you can get.

https://twitter.com/sedonaprince_/status/1372736231562342402

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I believe it's not on the Ducks, but on the NCAA. That's the tournament setup! Someone also posted photos last night of the different tourney swag for the men and the women.

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Oh, it’s absolutely an NCAA thing...that said, will the casual observer see this and think NCAA, or will the narrowminded boobs out there just see Oregon?

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“And in a surprise move, Sedona Prince will be playing her Junior year in Austin at the University of Texas after her scholarship was not renewed by Oregon for the 2021 school year.”

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We need to negotiate a distribution deal directly with ESPN or Fox which will cover even the lesser watched games. Getting more eyeballs is key to maintaining our position as a Power five conference, which has been weakening in the past few years. Streaming could be a key part of the distribution package, something that was fumbled by the Pac-12 network.

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Streaming is a necessary compliment to satellite/cable distribution, but because it doesn't work in a lot of locals, it isn't a substitute for it. Over-reliance on it would be so Pac-12 of a mistake to make.

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Relying too much on streaming definitely wasn't in play pre-COVID, but I can see them go for it now. I think DirectTV lost a lost of leverage with the latest NFL deal.

The frustrating thing has been that in several markets even if you do want to pay for the Pac-12 Networks, you simply could not.

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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Who did it better? Biden or Ford?

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1372935931204927491

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people seem to be really upset about White House staffers getting penalized for being recent pot smokers or something https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1372743978429386757?s=20

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Apparently it's a total of 5 people. Whatever, stoners.

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It's dumb.

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Clearances are tight by design.

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You want a federal job, follow federal law. It's not hard.

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Clear thinking and good judgement from people in or near positions of some importance? What a concept!

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But booze and any substance that can be cleared out of your system in 24-48 hours or not easily tested for is totally cool.

Now I agree that people shouldn't be fucked up at work, especially in high levels of the government, but unfortunately THC is fat soluble instead of water soluble and lingers in your system for weeks.

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But it's not a question of whether you are fucked up: security clearances are based on vulnerability questions. If you have a couple of beers every now and again, that's not going to be an issue. If you're an alcoholic, that will be an issue. The issue with smoking pot is that 1) the federal government doesn't recognize local laws as trumping federal rules, and 2) there is the possibility of vulnerability to coercion as a result of interacting with people involved in producing or distributing a prohibited controlled substance. It's the same reason that gambling or high levels of personal debt are a red flag. Hell, even having a second passport is an automatic fail standard for secret and above, because it makes it harder to track people when they travel... and there's an inherent question of divided loyalty.

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1) is true, but 2) Really? These times that's just silly, you might as well keep excluding gays based on this rationale.

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Yes really regarding vulnerability... but being gay isn't illegal or somehow enough of a problem to be a basis for extortion. I don't know why you're having a hard time accepting that for federal clearances, they have to start with federal law. In practice, marijuana possession might be treated like a speeding ticket even in jurisdictions where it's not legal, but that's not the law.

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Mary Trump has her next act — and believes her uncle's guilty of sedition

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/19/mary-trump-donald-lgbtq-477130

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PRO

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CAL

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Spencer Brasch is in the transfer portal

https://twitter.com/RivalsPortal/status/1373054108085669888?s=19

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Cal down to 2 scholarship QBs. Gonna need some walk-ons or jugs machines just to throw balls in practice so Garber's arm doesn't go dead from overuse.

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Better get to work on sucking someone out of the portal.

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Mar 19, 2021Liked by SGBear

Go bears!

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Trace Travers' dad and grandfather ensure that Cal's football coach is well endowed

https://calbears.com/news/2021/3/19/cal-football-head-coaching-position-endowed.aspx

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$7.5 million for the head coach position is a nice haul

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