135 Comments

Thank goodness the Niners lost the Super Bowl:

https://twitter.com/bzcohen/status/1250053028109041666?s=20

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No, I stopped reading Andrew Sullivan.

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I think he's right about China in this one.

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Sure, he's not wrong about the role of China in this, but "conscious decoupling"? What does that even mean? How can a global economy separate itself from a billion plus people?

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It doesn't mean "no trade" with China, it means redundant supply chains.

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I don't know how economically viable or necessary it would be to do that across the board, but I definitely do think all countries need to think about and plan for which pieces of critical equipment and supplies they might need to have backup sourcing and stockpiles for.

The supply chains are not what *caused* the pandemic though, and we can't and shouldn't stop people from traveling.

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We can and *should* stop people from traveling in the short term, if it's a grave health threat.

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That's true, and Trump is a dope, but the spread of the disease came from Wuhan, and China, and stopping travel from China and quarantining anyone returning from China (plus testing) was not done.

But if in the midst of this, you're thinking:

"Still, Mr. Trump and other senior officials were wary of further upsetting Beijing. Besides the concerns about the impact on the trade deal, they knew that an escalating confrontation was risky because the United States relies heavily on China for pharmaceuticals and the kinds of protective equipment most needed to combat the coronavirus."

Is that not a national security issue?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-response.html

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/smh

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so terrible yet so good

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Not gonna watch.

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I dreamt that we all accidentally DBD'ed in the wrong place (ie, on CGB)

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hmmmm that's a nice dream

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25 as in I just bought a 25lb bag of AP flour. Who wants bread?

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So I asked this in yesterday's DBD, but late at night and no one looks at old DBDs any more, so I'm asking again here:

Can you have a nape of anything other than a neck? All the definitions I've seen say the nape is the back of the neck.

So, if you say "nape of the neck", are you being unnecessarily repetitive? Like saying ATM machine.

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Naan bread FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I've never heard of a nape of anything else, but it's not necessarily repetitive, because you are distinguishing from the throat, right?

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gif of Winger agreeing

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I do not have any favorite numbers and I undertake basic arithmetic only on an “as needed” basis.

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I prefer odd numbers to even ones

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Not that ones could ever be even, but you know what I meant

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I wonder if cruise ships (not you Cruising Bear) will ever make a comeback after CV19.

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I hope their popularity wains. Probably the single most wasteful form of travel and a seemingly a huge disease spreader. My in-laws wanted to do one for the immediate family next year to Cabo and with all the recent happenings have thankfully changed course and now want to rent a beach house in Oxnard instead.

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I agree with your sentiment. But then, the selfish part of me wants those people on cruise ships instead of clogging up other places like national parks.

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when my family first moved to the US we live in a condo for a couple of months in Port Hueneme - right on the beach but also right by the water entry to Naval CBC Port Hueneme so not wholly scenic. It was a wild change from living in suburbs of the Hague in any case.

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My FIL is already scouting out places just north of Hueneme. I’ve spent minimal time there, but the beach looks great and there are a handful of breaks available nearby

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I'm sure it's delightful. I've never really gelled with beaches that have decent weather which is what marks me as being Scottish despite having lived in the US most of my life ;)

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Hang Ten!

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My brother just got an invite for a destination Alaskan cruise wedding next Fall

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My son took $300 out of his bank account and bought Carnival Cruise Line stock. I think they will be back.

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I can see the argument that Cruise Lines are popular and that people will eventually want to return to them when it's safe. I'm not sure I'd want to own equity in any particular cruise line, however -- I'd bet a few go bust before this is over.

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especially with oil prices long-term (demand will skyrocket once this subsides)

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If they don’t, that’s a significant drop in the number of jobs available to dance majors.

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as well as magicians and starting out (or about to retire) stand-ups

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pqtm

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I kinda hope not.

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good riddance, imo

floating hotel californias, my perspective

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Jesus.

I have a friend who is crew stuck on the Ruby Princess in Australia right now. They had 18 passengers die and like 600 people infected. They haven't been allowed to leave their cabins for 27 days, and Australia will not allow them to disembark to be repatriated. She has no idea how long they will be on the ship or where they might end up.

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A high school friend's father died from corona complications and her mom tested positive, they were on one of the ships off the coast of Florida.

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That sounds appalling

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Fucking bizarre.

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I assume that people are either trying to take advantage of bargains or finding something to look forward to for when we’re more able to “go back to normal.” Good luck to them I say.

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got an email from Southwest to that extent, "$49 fares for when you can get away."

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Me too.

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Likewise

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Maybe I'm not the right person to comment, since the idea of taking a cruise on one of those Princess things fills me with revulsion, but someone like my electrician LOVES them; I guess it's a low stress vacation until everyone DIES of the disease du jour.

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Like, if you like spending your vacations at all-inclusive resorts, but wished that the resort would wander around some so that your occasional excursions ended up in different touristy areas, then a vacation cruise might be for you.

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It's all fun and games until you catch the 'rona

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I taught my 10-year-old son this yesterday: take the number 142,857 and multiply it by any single digit number up to 6. The result is that all the numbers are rearranged and in order. The result when you multiply it by 7 is also fun. 8 and above is kind of the same thing, but you have to add the one to one of the digits to get the same result.

My son loved this little number trick. Amazing how the little guy gets so easily entertained when the rest of us are ready to tear our hair out.

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Something beige

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The window curtains in my apartment. Sorry for the humblebrag there guys.

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Camry

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The Toyota Camry does feel like the most _beige_ of cars.

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My mom had a 95 beige Camry LE and my MIL and FIL each have had beige early 00s beige Camrys

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The 1.5 we've owned (the other was a Lexus ES 250 which is just a luxury Camry) were green and silver.

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Milk Tea

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Finally found it!

What's something you searched for for a long time and finally found?

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An in-house job that pays well!

This is my last week at my law firm. I only gave 2 weeks notice (and got, I think undeserved, flak from them for that) so that I could have a week off and I start on the 27th!

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Congrats!

2 weeks notice is totally reasonable.

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they gave you flak for only giving 2 weeks? That's standard isn't it? Though maybe not all industries.

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In Taiwan, I was expected to give 1 month's notice (I think). In Switerland, you're expected to give 3 months' notice, so hiring managers know not to expect their new person for 3 months.

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The real problem with the last example is that you’re in Switzerland

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I know about 10 people in Switzerland, 6 of whom are Swiss (and related to me), 1 who is Swiss and not related to me and then others. None of them have Switzerland as a good place to live - on balance. Sure the mountains and clean air and delightful costumes. But the lack of diversity, the cost of living and the cost of living, but also the cost of living - make it a net negative according to my informal survey of people I know.

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Also, it depends on how important you are to the organization; if you're a director of something, several months is the norm.

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I thought so too!

Under normal circumstances, I'd have tried/needed to give them at least 3 or 4 weeks to have enough time to wrap things up. But, all our shows are shut down, so I've got even 50% of my usual work and handing it off in 2 weeks was definitely doable.

Apparently, the last guy who left gave them a month and a half and they were expecting the same from me.

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shouldve paid you better then

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I love you guys. Thank you, as always, for helping me feel less guilty about things I shouldn't be feeling bad about

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Completely - or course I've quit jobs with zero notice, but that's a bit different.

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GBBR

ESPN is replaying Game 1 of the 1988 WS this afternoon at 5 PM PDT. I had been looking for the NBC intro to Game 2, which included a video montage where they interspersed scenes from The Natural with Gibson. I had been looking for it on the internet for a very long time, though I haven't looked for it in the last few years. I decided to search for it and found someone posted it!

https://vimeo.com/75729831

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Cal Bears Archive has been busy uploading stuff to YouTube over the last month, so there's a lot of new games that haven't been online before - for example the 1986 Big Game.

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07 Tennessee is now available, definitely adding to the watch list. I rewatched the Ole Miss game yesterday

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Weather

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It was in the low 80s yesterday and gorgeous. Aircon kicked in. Tomorrow, it's supposed to be close to freezing tomorrow morning. Then it is supposed to be close to 80s again on Friday.

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It’s more brisk than I was strictly ready for today. I went into the customer office briefly to put a laptop out for reconfiguration for a new hire. Brr.

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My thermometer said it was the low 50s but I definitely felt underdressed when I went out.

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In the 50's, headed for the upper 60s, and clear. It would be a perfect day for baseball if that was a permitted activity.

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50s and sunny here: I'm doing work outside

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update: did a journal review outside, tried and failed to meet with a student outside (the glare was too bad and I wanted to be in the sun), but successfully hung laundry and got the hammock up again post-storm

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12, as in 9-3 next season - Go Bears.

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1501. This is the cumulative point differential in the Scrum Axe over the last 20 years, including 2 years that 'furd refused to schedule Cal plus another year that they forfeited. 1561-60 over 17 matches. Often, Cal would play reserves or call-ups.

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One of the more amazing cumulative point differential I've seen is UNC/Duke basketball.

"Since the 1949-50 season, UNC has scored 13,581 points against Duke and allowed 13,559. That's a difference of just 22 points over 179 games, or 0.1 per matchup"

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Wasn't it tied a few years ago in wins and points?

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yes it was. or within a point or two. It's pretty amazing that after so many years they're so close in wins and points.

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Double digit wins, baby

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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Rep. Vernon Jones (D-GA) (actually , a DINO) endorses Trump for 2020.

https://www.ajc.com/blog/politics/georgia-democratic-lawmaker-endorses-trump-presidential-bid/dpqTbn2pBPIivHNgPdNSdN/

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Bold move to do so before the Primary. How do you ask Georgia Democrats to vote for you if you endorse Trump?

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I’m not surprised that the president doesn’t understand the 10th amendment and I’m no longer surprised that nobody at the White House can drill even the most rudimentary civic literacy into that oaf.

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He's such a duffus, he says he has "total control" but it's not his job to provide anything to the states? /smh

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My expectations for the president have been so consistently low over the past couple years that my reactions to news coming out of the White House has been "never surprised, but consistently disappointed"

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My reaction is usually an annoyed surprise that my low expectations were never low enough.

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At this point, it doesn't feel like a single democracy so much as a loose "confederation" of many democracies.

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and of many dunces

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I think that's a very astute assessment. And unfortunately, most of these confederated entities are more dependent than they think or want to be on each other, and less than fully capable of actually managing the issues that warrant their uniqueness.

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No way, they'll tough it out...guns n' god is all you need to get by.

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Right. It's not _that_ hard to imagine California as an independent nation-state. Similar with Texas or New York or other large states with diverse economies. But South Dakota as an independent nation? Or Delaware? They would face a lot of issues without a Federal Government to assist them.

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Even the large states would be faced with a huge list of challenges. Remember Texas is a state, and not the separate Republic it once was, because of the challenges they found with fielding an army when the need arose.

The FDA, the SEC (financial one, not football), interstate and international commerce oversight, and the interstate highway and rail systems are just the start of the list of things that might be beyond what California, Ohio, or New York is ready to take on.

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Shit, as the 6th or 7th largest economy in the world, we'd figure it out if need be.

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Florida's Surgeon General ejected from Governor's CV19 briefing after citing that social distancing should continue until vaccine found.

https://twitter.com/KevinCate/status/1249802856003260416

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Completely unsurprising

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Fundamentalists running amok

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In related news, Florida declares Pro Wrestling an "essential business". WWE matches start monday.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-wwe/florida-deems-wwe-essential-business-amid-coronavirus-outbreak-idUSKCN21W0AM

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In related news, America First Action SuperPAC donated $18.5m to Gov. deSantis campaign last week. The chairperson of that SuperPac? Wouldn't you know it, it's WWE's Linda McMahon, wife of Vince McMahon - 42% financial and 70% voting owner of WWE.

https://www.a1apac.org/news/america-first-action-pac-announces-26.6m-investment-in-battleground-states/

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Gambling at Rick's? This is my shocked face.

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Today in Trump Virus

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Oh No!

"After canceling the rest of its debut season last month and then suspending operations while laying off most of its employees Friday, the XFL faced further financial strife amid the novel coronavirus pandemic Monday. Its parent company, Alpha Entertainment, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the filing indicated the league is for sale.

Friday’s shutdown dampened hopes that the league could return in 2021, and Monday’s filing all but dashed them.

“Unfortunately, as a new enterprise, we were not insulated from the harsh economic impacts and uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 crisis,” the XFL said in a statement. “Accordingly, we have filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. This is a heartbreaking time for many, including our passionate fans, players and staff, and we are thankful to them, our television partners, and the many Americans who rallied to the XFL for the love of football.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/04/13/xfl-files-bankruptcy-pursues-sale-days-after-shutting-down-operations/

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Owner of XFL: Vince McMahon.

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Ha, now I don't feel badly about it.

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I got this "ad" from BK last night:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EViMXAwWkAAKoOa?format=jpg&name=large

(it's 5)

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I would think someone could use Wolfram Alpha to solve this.

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I'd forgotten about Wolfram Alpha!

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they have a super cheap and amazing mobile app that you can punch anything inexplicably complicated into and it'll figure it out

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I see what you did there.

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nah, hinge

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Are you asking for a friend?

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I think you could copy it down by hand and solve it faster

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Ahh...after seeing it on Wolfram Alpha I get it.

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