131 Comments

RIP to a magnificent Golden Bear, Beverly Cleary: https://twitter.com/HarperCollins/status/1375554229729918980?s=20

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me on Tuesday: "Maybe I'll order some coffee from that place in Baltimore that's employee owned and has good coffee, support a local business"

me just now: "WTF how did it take you 72 hours to get round to putting that in the mail"

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Gameshow time. Guess the ranking of these names were in the top 1000 of 2019 US baby names:

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Karen

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my puppy is named Karen

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I am in love with the idea of naming larger-sized dogs with Baby Boomer human names that are no longer popular. I look forward to eventually wearing down my wife's dislike of dogs and getting a golden retriever named Leonard, Stanley, Bernard, Alfred, or Franklin.

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I have a dog named Sweet Dave and people seem to get a kick out of how I always call him Dave. I didn't think Dave was a particularly novel name for a dog, but apparently it is. He's a goofy-looking beagle-dachsund mix, so that may also play into it.

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well, the 2 pups we kept from the last litter are named Norm and Karen. My daughter's pup is Gronk and my mother in law's pup is Starflower (named by an 8 year old and usually goes by Starsies). The other 2 were Big Debbie (now Dixie) and Bruce (now Bruno)

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I think I now understand why your puppy mill is not an ongoing financial windfall.

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well, family members claiming them was an issue, yes. But that is a lot of work, yo. And we only had 6. If she had another litter, its likely to be 8-12 and no family members sniping them. But soooo much work

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No. Less popular.

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I was just about to wonder if it was due to the Karen meme but then I realized this was 2019. I wonder if 2020 is lower.

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Karen is 660, three doors down from 666.

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Seven

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Close enough. It was 998th most popular boy's name in 2019, beating out Stone (999) and Rome (1,000).

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Also, Sevyn is the 958th most popular girl's name, beating out Ann (981), but losing to Lisa by one spot at 957.

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Baron

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Less popular.

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Less popular.

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666

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King

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More popular.

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Close enough. King was the 158th most popular boy's name, beating out Elliott (160), Alex (166), Elliot (173), and Eric (176).

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Khaleesi

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Game of Thrones series finale came out in May, 2019. I guess that's still 4-5 months of people naming their kid Khaleesi.

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I as trying to figure out where this name came from.

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Less popular.

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*bzzz* Khaleesi is the 582nd most popular girl's name. This compares to Arya (92), Yara (765), Dani (864), Margaret (127), Lena (267).

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Oakland

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Actually, "Oakland" doesn't make the top 1,000 - so it's a trick question. However, there are two homonyms/homophones in the top 1,000.

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The two homonyms are more popular than 935.

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How about Oakie?

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Oaklee is 760 and Oakleigh is 854.

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Oaklynn/Oaklinn/Ohklynne

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Oaklynn is 502. Oaklyn is 587.

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Croakland and Bjokeland?

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I guess my two relatives named Oakland are more unusual than I realized.

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Berkeley

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Less Popular

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Close enough. Berkley (sic) is the 982nd most popular girl's name, beating out Sandra (987) and Robin (996).

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Bear

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My Baylor born and bred cousin named Brazos (after the river) and his son's name is Bexar (pronounced Bear). My wife laughed for 10 mins when I told her this.

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Oh, so the "x" is silent.

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wow

wow

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Yeah, but in Alabama it's 25

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(I know someone whose grandson is named Bear & it struck me as an interesting choice)

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There is some UK reality person who also participated in a couple of the MTV Challenges named "Bear", but I think that's his last name.

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It's his first name -- Bear Grylls.

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That dude is hardcore....I saw him eat a leech, egads.

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Close enough. Bear was the 896th most popular boy's name in 2019.

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It bearly beat out Jeffery (902), Kylo (929), and Anakin (956)

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Treehouse

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I stayed in a treehouse for part of my honeymoon. They were located in an orange grove near a bunch of Roman ruins. I lost my favorite Cal hat climbing the rocky hill next to Olympos.

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/turkey/articles/rent-these-tree-houses-in-olympos-turkey-for-a-magical-experience/

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Somewhere there is someone in Turkey looking super confused everytime people keep Go Bears him.

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I used to love building treehouses, but I think I built more "forts" on the ground when I was young. Thinking back, I'm sure there was a bit of unacknowledged building sandcastle quality to these, but we took these very seriously.

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Back when I used to go to Stanford once or twice a year for work, the Treehouse is one of their campus dining place that we go have lunch (or sometimes happy hour beers at). I kind of enjoyed their Indian-style burrito (but then again any burrito in California is better than what we get on the East Coast). Of course, I almost always wear some kind of Cal gear when I am at Stanford and their students don't really care. The only time that I got some dirty look was at the Treehouse, when a couple of Stanford Football coaches was taking a recruit out for lunch.

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Suez Canal

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I found this thread very informative: https://twitter.com/Nature_Grrrl/status/1375168720495075338?s=20

But mainly, I loved this: "they don’t protecc. They don’t atacc. Mainly they sleep and snacc."

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Yes, this was good and really informative.

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I dunno. I read it, and she was blaming the local pilots but crediting the ship's crew for not causing more damage. I don't think she knew who was piloting when the accident happened - read to me a lot more like she had grievances against the local pilots than anything.

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That is interesting, and not highlighted in the main stories about this.

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pqtm

reminds me of that iswykingfiredyet.com site from 2018-19

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Yeah... you're welcome 😉

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can you make one of those for Mark Fox?

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Elsewhere in college

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Shaka Smart takes Marquette job before he can be shitcanned. Longhorn nation rejoices. Baffling move. Smart is... suboptimal

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Oscar Frayer, former Cal verbal commit and a senior at Grand Canyon U, was one of three people killed in a car accident on I-5, a week after playing in Tournament.

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USC agreed to an $852m settlement related to sexual abuse cases related to former gynecologist George Tyndall. This is on top of a $215m class-action lawsuit against USC related to Tyndall's abuse. This far eclipses the $500m MSU paid for Larry Nassar and $100m or so PSU paid related to Sandusky.

https://apnews.com/article/sexual-misconduct-lawsuits-california-larry-nassar-sexual-abuse-f9e666c037de14fbe5a034570b32b5d0

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On NPR this morning they started off saying University of California

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they're getting off lightly at a billion, IMO

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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Governor Kemp signs bill to restrict voting rights and GA state police decide to arrest an African American state rep for getting too close to the door behind which it was happening, which was perhaps a little too on the nose for symbolic gestures: https://twitter.com/AP/status/1375217702697111553?s=20

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Trump: Rioters in deadly Capitol insurrection posed ‘zero threat’

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/26/trump-rioter-insurrection-zero-threat-478147

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PRO

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what the eff. Niners trade 3 #1s for the #3 pick this year? Is there someone worth that?!?!?

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do they plan to part ways with Jimmy G?

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Better not unless they have some alternative smokeshow lined up to join the squad.

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This is why they're working hard to bring Chad Hansen on board.

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Hopefully

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Do they plan to part ways with Jimmy C as well?

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Hopefully not...as with the Golden Bears, I'm a lifelong, devoted fan...but as with Cal, I'm tough. They've given me joy and pain...so there's no sunshine pumping here.

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jesus, its worse than I thought. #12 pick this year, a 3rd rounder this year and #1s in '22 and '23 to move up 9 slots. Insanity

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I assume they feel a good QB will still be around at #3.

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yes and they are dumb. Mayyyyyybe if they think Zac Wilson is available there but even then, thats a lot for that dude. All the others are not worth (presumably) 4 future starters on your team

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This is the team tho that brought you Solomon Thomas, Reuben Foster and Dante Pettis, not to mention Mike McGlinchy and developmental project Kinlaw...they blow top picks with impunity, so there’s no sure thing those picks woulda been starters.

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I assume Trever Lawrence and Justin Fields will be 1/2.

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Must be Wilson. I'll be pissed if it's Mac Jones. He's not horrible, but I don't want to pay that much for a guy who only threw to guys who were wide open.

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021 NFL Draft: Buyer beware on Kadarius Toney, Gregory Rousseau and these other top prospects

Despite being highly touted and likely top picks, these draft prospects are risky propositions

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/news/2021-nfl-draft-buyer-beware-on-kadarius-toney-gregory-rousseau-and-these-other-top-prospects/

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Rousseau, along with Kwity Paye & Jaelen Phillips, are a forgettable top 3 for EDGE rushers in this draft. Hard pass..

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CAL

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Vaccine Status: How close are you guys if you haven't gotten it yet and how was the system in which you guys got it? California 16+ supposedly goes April 15th so maybe I'll go get one right away or wait it out to let supply catch up.

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Shanghai just let foriegners apply today - but it's completely booked out. I'm in no rush (there's not a lot of cases here right now) but if they let us travel internationally, then I'll speed up my urgency.

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Fully inoculated as of today!

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Got my first shot (in SF) the first day I was eligible. They opened up tons of appointments at the city sites the weekend before in anticipation of a new wave becoming eligible. Process was super organized and easy. Second shot coming 4/5.

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First shot Wed DT Oakland, through Kaiser. Me and my daughter to for our 2nd on the 14th, same place.

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the missus and I are both getting our second shots late next week (MD). My elderly parents are now both sorted out (OR). My brother and sister in law have risk elements (work related) and were getting nowhere with the regular OR program, so they went to an Albertsons in WA this week and got their first shots. So we're closing in on being done in the middle aged ranks.

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Good work!

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I'm starting to plan for a visit to see my folks - I had been thinking middle of next month, but I'm going to defer a bit to account for my brother & sister in law getting their second shots - that way I can actually go inside their house & have a few beers without worrying that I'm inadvertently spreading the plague (neither they nor my parents have any guest space and I'm getting a bit old for sleeping on couches as a plan)

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My dential hygienist gave me a heads up that Contra Costa opened up to 50+ on Monday so I signed up and got an appt on Sat at Contra Costa College.

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Supposed to open up to within my age group by the 15th, but California has been rather slow in vaccinations.

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MD expands access to everyone on April 27th. 1.5m of the state's 6m dose have received one dose, and about 850k are fully vaccinated. I expect I'll probably get my number called in May or June.

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Entire state (NC) goes to anyone-can-get-it in 10 days. Coincidentally, I get my second Pfizer shot that day too. We're only at 22.3% at-least-one-shot, so getting one anywhere is going to be a shitshow.

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got my 2nd dose of Pfizer on Wednesday, no side effects for me and only mild nausea for the missus. Texas goes to "Anyone can get it" on Monday I believe

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Apparently, Santa Barbara is well behind the CA guidelines schedule-wise. When 65+ hit, SB was still just doing 75+ bc of limited supply. Prob not til mid to end of May

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Sweet 16 Predictions let me know

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Beavers run ends to uber efficient Loyola/Chicago...but will they cover the 7? Over/under is 125...zoiks. Cal would struggle to break 50...

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