237 Comments

Dang, my go-to structural engineers are closing up shop.

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New Toasters

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I was going to make a Battlestar joke, but that seemed too nerdy.

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I used my new Smeg toaster for the first time last night. It made me very happy to have a toasted English muffin for the first time in 15 months. All hail new toasters.

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wait, more than just scootie??

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That site with the personality test matching you to fictional characters also has a quiz for how nerdy you are. It seems both less scientific and less comprehensive than the fictional characters quiz, but still more scientific than a Buzzfeed quiz: https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/NPAS/

I got a 53.

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I got a 55

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I got a 42 which I assume is because it's STEM biased

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41

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Yeah, I don't have a great sense of what "nerdy" really encompasses (which I guess they include in the description). That being said, I judge people who say, "I used to be really nerdy." Like, please, none of us are any cooler now.

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I'm on a work call, and someone keeps pronouncing "Campanile" as "camp-oh-kneel." Someone else typed in the chat:

What % of people not associated with LBL would even know what the campokneelee is, I’ve been in east bay since 1985 and don’t know what it is.

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have they never taken BART? it's one of the two things identifiable as you go north (the other being the Claremont Hotel)

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Responses:

1. It’s the campus clock tower.


2. (me) The Campanile is officially named Sather Tower and is one of the iconic images from UC Berkeley.

3. People might not know what it is, but they will recognize it.

4. The campanile at UCB is world famous. I knew about in 1974 when I was undergrad in Berlin and applied for graduate school at UC Berkeley. It was the first thing I was looking for when arriving in the Bay Area.

5. modeled after the tower that stands in the Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy.

6. (me) After the shelter-in-place order is lifted, a Staff ID will get you to the top of the Campanile for free :)

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Ooh, I never went to the top of the Campanile. Something to do the next time I visit campus.

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someone might even be able to get you up there for free...

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Reminder: DBD Zoom at 4:30 Pacific. Let me know if you don't have the link!

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d-honey and I will be there! (Everyone, please be nice!)

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I don't, might be late and also several rounds in by the time I join.

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A Youtube video that taught you something useful

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I've learned some good cake decorating techniques and gotten pastry shaping ideas. But, beyond that, I love any and all top-down cooking videos

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I choose to keep my YouTube use gloriously irrelevant to solving any problems other than avoiding things I should be doing.

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The other day I found a video that told me how to fix my KitchenAid mixer, and their method worked perfectly. I was so happy!!!

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was it Glen and Friends?

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What was wrong with your KitchenAid? The one we had lasted 23+ years and was still going strong. It's so well built.

I did that for the Vitamix. The speed knob was jerky so I bought a new one and replaced it.

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The whole range of speeds had gotten much too fast, so "stir" was more like what 3 should be and it threw flour all over the place. I was able to adjust some screws to slow it down and now it works perfectly.

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I never realized that was changeable. Interesting.

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BTW, as I'm opening a lot more cans these days, I'm looking for a better manual can opener. I was looking at a higher end KitchenAid one, but I might as well get suggestions from you all in case you have a better idea.

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Mine is one of these. I have had it for, I dunno, 30 years? And it works easily and perfectly every time. https://www.amazon.com/Swing-Way-407BK-Portable-Opener/dp/B001CDEFK0

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I have one of these european type openers. They cut along the outside edge of the top part where the top and sides are folded together. It works really well.

https://www.amazon.com/Kuhn-Rikon-Safety-Lidlifter-Manual/dp/B06XZW61WC/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2DY68RK7MKOK9&dchild=1&keywords=kuhn+rikon+can+opener&qid=1587072876&s=home-garden&sprefix=kuhn+rikon+%2Cgarden%2C221&sr=1-4

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$8 for 30 years?? That's a pretty sound value proposition.

I was also hoping to have one that'll make nice clean edges but maybe a fancier one's not worth it...

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Look at mine below. It makes a clean edge that isn't sharp. You can get similar ones for around 10 I think.

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Lots of cooking, guitar, and motorcycle videos. Also product reviews.

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Many basic home and car repairs, everything from drip line repairs and plumbing fixes to diagnosing engine issues and replacing the full shock and strut system on my car. YouTube is the primary reason I’m keeping our 06 Scion xB. There is a how-to repair video for every problem I’ve come across in the past 5-6 years. Also I’ve picked up some good tips on beginner surfing videos.

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That the main guy in KC and the Sunshine Band wasn't black, like I had assumed.

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Junior taught himself to draw watching youtube videos. He also learned how to debug a minor virus on his old computer when he was 10. Youtube has some dumb stuff but a lot of useful too

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"debug a minor virus on his old computer when he was 10"

He's instantly more qualified that just about everyone Trump talks to other than Dr Fauci.

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I've been watching a few videos on rebuilding the shifter on my Miata. The shifting sometimes is a little notchy so I had the transmission fluid changed with a Ford manual transmission oil that is supposed to be the holy grail for Miata transmissions. The shifting has gotten better but sometimes it is still notchy. The shifter has a nylon bushing that can break down so I bought a rebuild kit with a brass bushing and other washers and shims. Also the rubber boot is ripped so the heat comes up through the leather shift boot. With only about 60K I'm thinking the nylon bushing isn't bad but who knows.

Will either try to do this with No 3 later this week or next.

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I hope you work out the problems. My miata got to 204k miles on the odometer before I needed to do significant repairs...good car. May it rest in peace,

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Mine isn't a major repair. It really doesn't have anything wrong with it. Atoms can attest to that. It's just that sometimes it's a bit notchy so I want to see if this will make it a bit smoother. The other thing I want to do is change the plugs and wires, and replace the headlights with LED headlights. The ones I'm looking at are 500+/pair. There also is a clearance pair that has the mounting tabs in the wrong place. I can get those for $150/pair and then I'd have to cut notches in the mounting ring.

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For a 23 year old car that only has 63K on it it's very clean and in great condition. I'm just kinda looking for something to do to it. It's the cleanest M edition I've seen with unripped seats so I really don't want to do anything to it like put a supercharger on it or anything like that.

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What isn't nearly as hot or attractive as [gender of your preference] think?

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Facial hair.

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I'm Asian so I don't really have that problem.

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I'm Asian so I'm not Scootie's type anyway 😛

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My quarantine beard is very disappointed to hear this.

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mine is always terrible.

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the amount of makeup that one uses for stage performance used for everyday activities.

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I agree with this, but I also grew up with a mom who does not wear makeup.

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I've always thought less makeup was better. Much less makeup.

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My brother says the same thing, but what he doesn't realize is that he just doesn't like obvious make up. Well done makeup enhances without being too noticeable

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Maybe that's also how I feel. I just know that my ex never wore a lot and it looked better.

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I think I've come around to the opinion that well done makeup looks like less makeup, but actually isn't.

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this

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my feeling is that there is a proper makeup style for every situation. sometimes less, sometimes more. one style does not fit all.

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True, sometimes you want to glam it up.

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I guess I'm thinking everyday not going somewhere fancy. In Ky I saw plenty of women that had caked on makeup just for everyday wear. Not attractive.

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"putting their face on"

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yup.

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very thin thighs.

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true story

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fake boobs

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Today in Covid-19

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Glendale is now requiring face masks anytime you are outside your home, including neighborhood walks. I’ve been consistently surprised with how well their notification system works. First you get a call, if no answer you get a text, either way a follow up email is sent with a transcription of the message. Messages are all available in English, Armenian and Spanish.

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What kinds of resources are they offering to people who don't have face masks? Handing out masks? Guides to make your own mask?

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This was the email yesterday:

"Face coverings are now required anytime you leave your home.

This includes:

Going on a walk

Picking up essential goods

Walking your pet

What is a face covering?

A face covering is not the same thing as a mask. A face covering is a material that covers the nose and mouth. It can be secured to the head with ties or straps or simply wrapped around the lower face. It can be made of cotton, silk, or linen. A cloth face covering may be factory-made or sewn by hand, or can be improvised from household items such as scarfs, T-shirts, sweatshirts, or towels"

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They do provide some info for coverings on the linked website: https://www.glendaleca.gov/government/coronavirus/face-coverings

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our county is starting to ask for them anytime you're in an enclosed public space, so to speak, and the resource is a healthy dose of "figure it out."

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Three of my wife's 5 direct reports got presumptive CV19. The one who lives in Manhattan is sick (with relatively mild symptoms), alone, and really scared because her neighbor died yesterday. As she said on a Zoom meeting - "death is literally at my door".

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jeeee-zus

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Got a message from the daughters of my two friends in an Illinois ICU. In review, the father was given almost no chance to live and the 18 and 20 year old daughters had to decide whether to remove him from life support. The mom is sedated and on a respirator. The father made a miraculous turnaround. Unfortunately, he had a stroke, but he appears like he'll live. We'll have to see how bad the stroke is once he is conscious. The mother is still on a respirator, but her oxygen levels were dialed back a bit. They look like they have about a month more in the hospital. I am relatively happy. I mean, it's still bad - but compared to before, it's really, really good news.

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crossed fingers. rooting for improvement in oxygen levels.

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Oh my gosh! Wow.

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Well it's amazing what they can do to rehab people from strokes, depending on the severity.

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Man, that's still rough.

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That's great to hear.

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Our county (Yolo) has kind of leveled off as far as new cases. we've been averaging 7 to 8 for the past week or so. Don't have enough testing to say that we've gotten ahead of the problem however. Only 1100 tests of county residdents (250,000 or so)

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Economics

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Unemployment claims: 5.2m for week ended 4/11. Total 22m, which is about 1 out of 7 US workers lost their job in the last four weeks.

https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OPA/newsreleases/ui-claims/20200632.pdf

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And it's probably even higher since many states are behind processing claims or some people just can't even contact the department to create claims.

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also doesn't count folks who have just had hours or pay rate reduced (e.g. workers at restaurants doing only takeout now)

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Finally did my taxes last night. Really just procrastinated until then because my taxes took maybe 30 minutes to complete. I paid some estimated taxes because payroll kept paying Ky taxes not Ca for a few months. They said they would try to fix it but I never checked my paystubs to confirm so I just paid estimated taxes just in case. turns out they did resolve it so I ended up getting more money back on my state taxes.

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Yay! We applied on day 2 and didnt get any!

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Did you get turned down, or it just hasn't been actioned yet? The initial $350B covers those who have applied (only a small fraction of that has been disbursed). The program being fully subscribed just means no more applications from now.

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we havent heard anything yet so its possible, I suppose. We got a note from our banking contact a couple of days ago stating "I will send updates when I have them but every time someone calls me with questions, its going to slow everyone down so STOP" lulz

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Heard from the bank... we were approved internally but the money ran out. So if more is allocated by Congress, we should get some

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I don't know why they thought $350B would be enough. There are millions of small businesses.

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Babe Ruth

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"It's no big deal"

https://giphy.com/gifs/M9wEl77UKe2Ck

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[Tribute to Troy plays]

https://twitter.com/yayroger/status/1250561404337299457

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sure, let's mock the immigrant

(I have no idea if she's an immigrant but I also have no idea when I learned about Jackie Robinson so...)

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I think she's mockable in this case (other than being a USC student) because she [spoiler alert] who that semifinal match. As I have played more trivia in recent years, I only realize now how some sections of that community just know nothing about sports at all.

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I know enough about baseball to do the NYT crossword puzzle so I am not surprised

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pqtm. No 3 showed this to me last night. It's almost as bad as the football category they had a couple of years ago.

https://twitter.com/espn/status/959242611746799622?lang=en

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What's for dinner?

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enchiladas filled with leftover roast chicken; guacamole made from fresh California avocados!

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What time should I be by? I'll bring the wine.

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Grocery alert: if you are a bacon eater, you need to stock up on bacon NOW. The largest Smithfield bacon processing plant in the country has been shut down after 300 of its employees tested positive for C-19, and according to my friend who works for them, it will impact the entire bacon supply chain for quite a while. What problems we're currently having with yeast and TP, we're about to have with bacon.

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flour, yeast, TP, hand sanitizer, bleach wipes, and now bacon. no mercy!

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I noticed this at Costco: the bacon wasn't where it usually was so I asked an employee, and she couldn't find it either. (I was looking for the turkey variety, mind you)

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(I was looking for the turkey variety, mind you)

What is the point of that?

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I imagine it's hard to find kosher bacon

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yeah, this. I've found delicious beef bacon at times, but generally turkey is the way to go. The Columbus uncured turkey bacon turns out quite well if you cook it in enough fat. (Turkey is too lean to just cook straight up like pork bacon.)

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Not sure what mix of leftovers and off the shelf stuff tonight. On the brighter side, tomorrow morning is planned for a grocery run to get restocked.

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Fish tonight. Actually COD

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whatever the missus cooks

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Schnitzel with roasted apples and I'm not sure what starch.

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sous vide steak and roasted broccoli, probably with some freshly baked bread

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If my brother remembers to grab potatoes at the store on his way home, Shepherd's pie (but with turkey). If he doesn't, then spiced ground turkey with veggies. :)

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mmm, shepherd's pie!!

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Did you know that it's shepherd's pie if it's lamb, cottage pie if it's beef, fish pie if fish. There's no term for if it's made with ground chicken or turkey, but I think we could come up with a name for the avian version.

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I defrosted a pork butt to make carnitas. Squeezed fresh limes, oranges, grapefruit. Went to cut it up and kept hitting bone. Like too much bone, and too thin, and in the wrong places. I'm like "what the hell is going on". Go grab the bag. Not pork. It's a heritage lamb roast that I essentially hacked to pieces. [Pennywhistle downslide]. So now I'm trying to adapt a Greek lamb stew recipe. I have my fingers crossed, but there is a good chance I just ruined an $80 piece of meat.

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Putting it in a stew should make it just fine. It's still meat, it's still edible.

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God, I hope you're right. I do not want to grudge-eat 5 pounds of not-so-good lamb. And I absolutely will rather than waste it.

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Slow and low is the way to go...

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After cooking all day... the answer is. It's GD delicious. Phew.

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Last night an arrabiata sauce over egg fettuccini (because that's what they had in the store!) Sadly, it didn't go well with the half bottle of Hermitage I had opened Tuesday for the carrot & ginger soup - perfect match.

Oh well, such is life.

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The other night we made this chickpea and spinach stew; it was supposed to be Caribbean-ish, but it had turmeric and ended up being like a really nice daal. I finished it off with some ground beef yesterday for lunch, and that was nice. Might just order in tonight though. I probably need to get groceries soon.

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it's been a lot of tacos (corn tortillas), grilling, and potatoes for passover. Very excited to open up the menu after tonight.

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No 2 wants to make Fettuccine Alfredo for dinner so we'll see how dinner tastes tonight. Worst case we'll have leftover Zachary's

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Apr 16, 2020Liked by SGBear

I had leftover Zachary's stuffed for breakfast - spinach and mushroom.

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so freakin jealous

we're ordering pizza tonight though: end of passover woop woop

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That's my usual Zachary's pizza but No 3 wanted the special.

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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How petty can he be: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is the only Republican senator not on a congressional task force created by the White House to study reopening parts of the country shuttered by the coronavirus.

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Gov. Cuomo pulls a business trick out of his hat. Spend a crap ton of money for business consultants to come up with obvious, but politically insulated decision

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/493094-new-york-state-hires-mckinsey-to-create-science-based-trump-proof-plan

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I'm just glad to see the consultants get their beaks wet before the lawyers vacuum up all the money

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that's a Twist bat signal if I ever saw one

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FEMA gave a $55,000,000 no-bid contract to a bankrupt company with no employees for N95 masks – which they don't make or have for $5/each.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/coronavirus-trump-masks-contracts-prices/2020/04/15/9c186276-7f20-11ea-8de7-9fdff6d5d83e_story.html

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What utter incompetence.

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Quite the contrary; it's exceedingly competent graft.

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It's harder than you would think. No CO would sign off on this by themself. That had to come from higher up. The smell of rat would strengthen if there was any payment up front rather than on delivery, because that's very unusual for a commodity contract.

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As the GF predicted there appears to be an Easter surge . For the country as a whole, and many states. Not all. Yet.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

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Holy shit, nearly 2,700 deaths already today, and it's only 10:00AM. That's essentially a 9/11 worth of deaths just this morning.

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the updates are typically only once a day. so that 2,700 is probably through yesterday.

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The Guardian site updates throughout the day

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but the published numbers from the states only update once a day.

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...and the states don't push out numbers at the same time, it happens throughout the day.

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but wouldn't the surge from Easter be more than 14 days away?

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Case surge probably started from families started to get together around Good Friday, so 2-14 days after that according to CDC. Death surge will take longer.

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yep. death rate will be bad from now until the end of the month, imo.

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Fruit

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Favorites: Mangosteen, Mangos

Least favorite: Starfruit, papaya

I don't normally like durian, but I have had some very very expensive durian that was very good in Thailand.

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I definitely prefer the sour ones over the ones that are just sweet. However, it's only in the past 5 years or so that I have developed a small allergic reaction to some fruits (mostly uncooked apples with its peel and possibly some types of peaches, that I used to love).

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Hell yes: watermelon, oranges, grapes, peaches, pears, mangoes, guavas, lychees

Nope: honeydew, cantaloupe, jackfruit, lemon, lime

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lemon and lime are great for cooking, not so much for just eating solo

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it's fine I guess. I just don't care about any given fruit enough to have strong opinions, except for bananas: I can't stand them.

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I dislike apples, bananas, and watermelon.

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You're like the opposite of my kids. Also, Strawberries. We've been known to buy a box of, like, raspberries at the store, and not make it home with any of them, having been consumed entirely by a child en route.

We live two blocks from the store.

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oh yeah I'm adding watermelon to my list

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Weird

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She also hates hugs and likes Ohio, so... 😛

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Heh, it's more that apples, bananas, and watermelon share nothing in common.

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Except TBB thinks they all suck.

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That's questionable judgement. They are all really good.

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King of fruits: Mango.

Most of them are pretty good though.

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Favorites: Peaches and bing cherries

Least favorite: ripe bananas, green melon, green apples

Overrated: kiwi

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favorite: avocado

least favorite: cantaloupe or honeydew that isn't one of the "good ones"

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Come to CA. Avocado's been declared the state fruit.

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Just curious. How much are they out west? Seems like it's usually $2 per here. And hard to get one that's just ripe. Or maybe I'm just not good at picking them.

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I buy them rock hard and put them on my window sill. Usually after about 4-5 days they are tender but not too soft. That’s when they are perfect. Then eat them straight away or put in fridge to slow further ripening. Mmm.

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Conventional, like $0.60-$1.00. Organic, like $1.25-1.50 ish?

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I always think of cantaloupe (besides the pun about an inability to run away and get married) and honeydew as "filler fruit", in that they are relatively large, cheap fruit that can be used to fill out a fruit salad in an economical way. Meanwhile, most of the good stuff (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc.) are small, and very expensive on a volume basis.

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oh that's a good point. cantaloupes or honeydew that aren't ripe SUCK. Other fruit that are slightly ripe are fine but melons that are only slightly ripe are bad.

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Favorite fruits: Soursop, Mangosteen, Mango, Persimmon, Pear, Banana

Least favorite: Durian

Most over-rated: Dragonfruit, as Wiata78 pointed out. I've had exactly 1 that was delicious, the others times it was a watery nothing that can't match it's visual splendor.

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California naval oranges. Peel and eat!

Worst fruit: Can't get my head around this right now. I do like tomatoes. There are some varieties that are real sweet too.

Overrated-Dragonfruit. OK, but doesn't really live up to the cool name.

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I'm curious what color dragronfruit you and SGBear had. The magenta ones are typically better than the white ones (and I'm talking about the flesh, not the peel).

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Favorite: Almost all of them

Worst: Yes, Tomato. @not a fruit@. I do like tomato but it isn't what I think of when I think of fruit. Sweet and juicy. it's a different kind of sweetness.

Overrated: no

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I'm hearing the tomatoes we get in America are so genetically modified they don't taste like tomatoes anymore. Haven't been to Europe in a while, but apparently they're much more flavorful there.

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The ones I get in season from a local farmer at the weekly market are good. Anything from a grocery store is worthless.

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You're patronizing the wrong stores.

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farmers' markets are 100% the best place to get local in-season tomatoes around here.

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I'm sure that's true, but I'm also sure there are stores that carry good tomatoes in your area as well, it's rather bougie that way.

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I'm open to suggestions.

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Wegman's!

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oh duh...Durian's stink and the consistency is just wrong. Like raw chicken.

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gonna ask before everyone else does, but have you had a proper, "good" tomato?

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yes. but I'm not a person that likes plain tomato that much. In food is great. No 1 used to just eat cherry tomatoes off a plant my dad planted in a planter and brought over to our apt courtyard when he was probably 3 or 4.

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Pro

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I'm going to need a ruling. Is this interference?

https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1250849296163000322

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I knew what was going to happen as soon as I saw where she was standing.

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at the risk of pandering: JT Daniels apparently looking to transfer: https://twitter.com/USC_Athletics/status/1250861932623458304?s=20

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also I feel a little bad for the guy - he was all in on SC for a long time, was put on the field too soon, kept plugging away, and then basically lost the job to the QB nobody saw coming. I'm not all that surprised he's leaving, not least because poor retention is a signature of the Helton era.

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that was ill advised

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Oh, that's gonna hurt to take that off.

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Probably better to just tattoo over it at this point.

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Cal

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Go Bears!

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Peach

Kiwi

Plum

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Pineapple.

Pear.

Kiwi.

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Apr 16, 2020Liked by SGBear

Any fruit that I can slingshot into the $C band

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I seem to recall the Cal Band getting into a lot of trouble many years back for hitting Traveller with an apple. At least, that was the reason we were only allowed cut-up fruit when we were visiting SC when I was in the band.

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I remember a rain of oranges getting chucked at the SC band from the student section in general back in the day

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someone hit Traveler with an apple? I assume they were on the field otherwise you'd need a rocket

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or a water balloon launcher and an elevated position

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you can huck a whole apple pretty far (I remember having an apple-hucking contest with my family last time we went apple picking in Massachusetts), and I recall Traveler getting pretty close to the band when it made a circuit around the field.

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I figured as much

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I thought only cut-up fruit was ever allowed into arenas in general. (I remember seeing some amusing signage to that degree at Fenway.)

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We used to huck whole oranges at visiting bands when I was in school.

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The band members I've known would mostly just eat them!

I'm glad to have observed that relations between bands has improved considerably. There are still occasionally student body members who create issues; we are talking about predominantly 18-23 year olds. But in truth, the problems I've seen in recent years are almost all due to people who don't have youth, or any thing else, as an excuse.

I will note that this doesn't extend to why flying tortillas are occasionally still a thing in certain Arizona stadiums.

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back in the day, we used to sneak into memorial the night before the game and hide the fruit somewhere. we used to sneak the catapult/slingshot in by having several students bringing it in by pieces and then reassembling once in the stadium. helped to have at least a couple engineering friends.

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yes this. good ol' surgical tubing and a pair of crutches. we didn't have to hide the fruit, we brought it in (back in the long ago days....).

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I think this was the late 90s, and the Band gets away with a lot of stuff (or they used to) because they use irregular ways of getting in the stadium, and have their own equipment people and such.

I know with a straw hat on, I've walked into Haas with an uninspected instrument case (which could have contained _anything_)

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while I don't want to encourage this behavior, if you want to go long range and ensure that the fruit hits the target, surgical tubing and oranges will get the job done.

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pumpkin?

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author

Durian is the perfect ammo for that purpose

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what's the objective? structural damage or emotional damage?

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yes.

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catapult the whole durian for maximum physical damage, then when it breaks open you get the emotional damage from the smell.

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