For the past few days every time I comment and click "Reply," the page refreshes and takes me to a generic login Substack page. Is this happening to anyone else?
President Biden is expected to recognize the mass killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I as a genocide, according to two people familiar with the decision, breaking a decades-long tradition of U.S. presidents refraining from using the term for fear of jeopardizing U.S.-Turkish relations.
The anticipated move would fulfill a campaign promise Biden made in October and reflect his willingness to anger Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid a growing list of disagreements over Turkey’s arms deals with Russia, democratic backsliding, and interventions in Syria and Libya.
It would also be the second time the Biden administration has formally declared a genocide at the risk of infuriating a major power, following its determination that China is carrying out a genocide against Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region.
Had a group chat where a friend indicated they were making dinner for a sick friend; "Nothing fancy - salmon and risotto". We've been arguing for a week over what constitutes a fancy dinner. To me, "salmon and a veggie" is casual....the inclusion of risotto it what makes this a fancy dinner.
Anything that involves actually turning on the oven and watching it to make sure it cooks right is a fancy dinner. If you can put it on the stove and just wait until a timer goes off, that doesn't count.
Isn't it more about what's in the risotto (or any food) that would make it fancy? Like if you add saffron to the risotto, then that's definitely fancy.
That was the protagonist;s perspective, that "simple butter and parmesan risotto" is not that fancy. I implied that the very concept of risotto in a meal elevates the meal to fancy or near-fancy status. It's actually an interesting discussion from a sociological and cultural perspective.
i don't mind making risotto for a weeknight dinner, but i agree that is a "little fancy"
on the other hand, it is a simple and easy to make while you are otherwise cooking and drinking a glass of wine from the bottle that you had to open for the risotto anyways.
but probably fancy is mostly in relation to whatever is normal, and i am sure there is a pretty wide range of normal.
That's where we're settling. For my family with two high-schoolers, "fancy meal" is a different bar to clear than the empty nester protagonist in the original scenario.
it's behind a paywall (subscriber exclusive) but there's a story in the LA Times about abusive behavior towards the Song Girls at SC from a previous coach and without reading any details, I can honestly say I'm not surprised.
Tl:DR: It is decades of abuse and Title IX complaints centered on former coach Lori Nelson. For 30 years Nelson reportedly ran it like a Mean Girls club in order to keep the girls as skinny, sweater-puppy icons.
Back in the day, they treated basketball season as the JV season for Song Girls - they had a larger squad, and it was where they started "downselecting" for football season. (I would occasionally go to games with friends and there would be almost as many players / song girls in the joint as student fans). One time a couple of my buddies were sitting in front of coaches for the Song Girls and they said of one candidate "she can dance, and I love her attitude, but her tits are just too big." So I'm not at all surprised.
On a lighter note, one time we were sitting near some young ladies whose friend was trying out for the squad and they were kind cheering her on - we got to chatting, assessed the situation, offered to help, and they said yes - so this poor young woman had a 10 person cheering squad for her efforts. That probably wasn't helpful.
I mean, it is possible. A catalog came yesterday that said "uplifting & supporting women up to an L cup" and thought good god, what would that be like.
On lots of topics, certainly many campus extra curriculars, the evolved social norms have changed considerably over time, and often been slow to evolve in their respective bubbles, relative to the general populace.
My journey down the Cal MBB YouTube rabbit hole continued again last night with our '94 tilt against the Bruins at Pauley. After watching the '89 Bears and Beavers pass the ball around the top of the key like a group of senior citizens sharing an exercise ball the previous night, watching this Bears team was like dropping acid. Did the game of basketball and the human potential to play basketball really evolve this much in 5 years? I totally had forgot the details of this game, but we absolutely pantsed UCLA for 36 mins to build a sixteen point lead and I thought to myself how Bozeman--improprieties not withstanding--got a tremendously bad rap. Then we forgot we had Jason "F'ing" Kidd on our team and proceeded to hand UCLA the ball over possession after possession until UCLA rattled off 15 straight points. Then I thought to myself that maybe Bozeman wasn't a great coach after all. Kidd saves the day with a couple of free throws and we beat the Bruins at Pauley in consecutive years. This is essentially the same Bruins teams that would win the whole enchilada the subsequent year, sans Toby Bailey. Observations: We had just seven scholarship players on the roster, with KJ Roberts and Grigsby hurt, Stevie Johnson kicked off the team and Jerod Hasse having transferred. Add those guys back on this team and it's scary how good we might have been. Still we should never had lost to Wisc-Green Bay. Harick's tie is something. Bozeman's turtleneck is something. Kidd was much better 3-pt shooter than he was given credit for. Lamond Murray remains my favorite Bear to watch of all time. There was always a Lamond is lazy narrative that never made sense to me. I could see Anwar McQueen on any Cal roster ever. He kind of typifies the type of player we always have. So much more motion in our offense than with Campinelli, and not just because of Kidd. Ryan Jamison was a little underrated--not athletic, but always knows where to be on he court and he made at least one sick pass.
I really think Jamo was negatively affected by Cal fans. The one time he gets away from us, he dominates Cincy in the Orlando 7-up shoot-out.
I agree Bozeman gets kind of a bad rap, but the offenses we ran with a top 3 point guard of all time weren't great - but he got effort and high energy defense out of his teams. The killer part though is that Jamison was playing really well against UW-GB (he had something like 6 quick points off 4 early shots and then never really got the ball back. Normally, "running the offense through Jamo" is a recipe for a loss, but he really was 6'10" and UW-GB really was 6'6" in the middle.
I loved Anwar McQueen. He was the one player I always rooted for. I remember his story of coming from the projects in DC and getting into Haas (I think). I thought at the time they were going to make a Hoop Dreams type of documentary on his life.
I always forget when he played here, cause he feels like he could be on any Cal roster from the past forty years. Just a few years after I graduated from Cal, I was playing on adult rec in Walnut Creek and he was on one of the other teams. This was like the C-division of adult rec too.
the late Apr snow seems to have caught many by surprise. VT and western mountains all got a bunch of good snow, extending the ski season later than average.
Who had lacrosse during PE class in middle school or high school? I enjoyed playing lacrosse during PE in middle school, but most people I talked to later in life said they didn't have it.
I played 3 years on varsity in high school and played for the first couple months of the college pre-season on the club team, but quit because I was pledging a fraternity and prioritized that. It was a new school sport in the Diablo Valley League in 2002 and basically if you had played at all previously you could make it on varsity. I was introduced to it at Cal summer youth sports camps where they played with squishy orange balls and plastic sticks with plastic "nets" that looked like muzzles.
Going to middle school and HS in the 80s we definitely didn't have Lacrosse. Louisville had it when we moved there in 2004 and I think that No 1 would've loved it growing up. He's fast and quick and has good hand eye coordination.
OTOH, we did have square dancing for PE in middle school.
It's funny because when I played it was a contact sport that you could play that didn't have the time commitments of football (~8mo per year). We had lots of stoners on the team and it definitely had a way more laid back vibe. Totally different on the east coast. There were only really two areas that had it back then on the west coast at the high school level: the Bay Area and the San Diego area. The three power house teams in the Bay were St. Ignatius, Berkeley High and De La Salle. Down south Torrey Pines dominated.
I should mention I was on the football team freshman year, but only played outside of the "fifth quarter" a handful of times. It was terribly cliquey with lots of bullying at every level. Not my cup of tea. So when they announced lacrosse was being added my sophomore year I jumped at the opportunity.
Cal Lacrosse is 2-13, and 0-9 in Pac-12 but got very very close in their last few games when they lost 8-9 to Oregon, 10-12 to Colorado, 11-12 to USC in OT, and 7-11 to ASU (ASU is the newest and arguably worst team in the Pac outside Cal before this season). Two more matches (UC Davis today, hosting Stanford at Memorial on Saturday) before the Pac-12 Championships.
For all the tremendous improvements (Women's Gymnastics), maintained greatness (Rugby), steady solidness (Men's Gymnastics), and the occasional flirt with greatness (Baseball), Lacrosse has steadily been bad since it was announced to be on the chopping block in 2010 with those other sports.
As the second newest sport (Beach Volleyball is technically newer but obviously has ties to the deep history of Indoor Volleyball), I don't think Cal Lacrosse has a strong alumni base to help it financially to become a better program when it's not really being helped that much by Cal Athletics (thus it being surpassed by a newer program like ASU with resources). It's really only still around because Title IX says that Cal would need to cut multiple men's programs before a women's one.
It also does not help that most people confuse it with Field Hockey (whose future is cloudy because Stanford is cutting their program, leaving only Cal and UC Davis on the west coast).
living as I do in the mid-Atlantic, I find the idea that people would confuse field hockey and lacrosse to be wild. Mind you, 1) I'm not sure I knew what lacrosse was when I lived in CA, and 2) field hockey is a big sport in the Netherlands so at least I was aware of it.
I wonder to what extent Cal is affected by the distribution of high school players - I took a look at SC's roster a couple of years ago, and the vast majority were from VA, MD, NY, and CT, which is about what I'd expect.
a kid of a friend of mine is going to Cal in the fall and was asking my opinion on housing options. my "info" is woefully out of date. i lived in Clark Kerr, but before they renovated Units 1,2,3.
any more "up to date" recommendations or opinions?
this kid is going to be an applied math major. and while i am sure he will find a way to have a good time, he is especially academic, already planning to go to grad school in math, esoteric things like number theory and things that make my brain hurt ...
My information, while more recent than yours, is still probably out of date. I lived in Clark Kerr and loved it--more chill than the units, not as nerdy as Foothill :) The units were definitely more social, but their facilities weren't as nice unless you lived in one of the mini-suites, which were brand new when I was in college. Those were setups of two rooms (with two people each) that had a bathroom, but no lounge/living room, so you still had to go to the end of the hall for the lounge.
From what I've seen when I've driven through campus there have been a lot of new dorms since us lolds went. I would assume in the last 33 years they've renovated Units 1, 2, and 3 again. My freshman year (88) was when Unit 3 just got renovated and before they did 1 and 2.
For math, for convenience, Foothill would be the most convenient. But I did like having to walk through campus to the engineering/science corner freshman year.
I was part of the first class of Foothill inhabitants. Seemed a little more reserved that life in the Units. I was in the liberal arts, so it was fairly removed from wherever I needed to go on campus, which could be a drag. Still it is pretty spot and hearing the bands playing at the Greek from your dorm was pretty cool too.
I liked Foothill. Close access to the parking lot for "free" concerts at the Greek Theater, great views, and an ever-present smell of eucalyptus trees.
I get called pretty regularly, and I don't mind it. My company pays you no matter how long the trial, so I just see it as doing my civic duty without really any inconvenience to me. And if I were ever on trial, I would certainly not want my jury to be just postal workers and retired folk.
I have been on the jury once. In SF, you almost make it into the courtroom for jury selection -- they seem to be pretty accurate at calling the number of people they need for the pool. I have only once been sent home straight from the jury room (and never not had to report).
I get the summons pretty regularly, almost never have to show. When I do show, usually get excused about an hour after they take roll, before we go to a court room. One time I got pulled up as far as the getting to the individual questions from the judge/attorneys. Once the defense looked at where I worked on the written questionnaire, i got the preemptory boot. The case was one where being stupid isn't a crime, but maybe should be.
I've been summoned twice. The first time (in Maryland when I was a grad student at College Park), I had to drive 45 minutes to the middle of nowhere to be dismissed within about an hour. The second time in Philly was much more convenient to get to. But after the first case in the middle ended up being settled in the morning, I had to sit through the afternoon and be a semifinalist on another case -- and see how the jury pool somehow got reduced from a normal-ish population to one that was ALL women and/or persons of color. That was kind of eye-opening as to how jury selection works in real life. I was dismissed that afternoon though.
For the past several years, I've been called every year, almost like clockwork. I know that if I keep my originally-assigned date to report, the likelihood is high that I will get excused without having to show up. On the other hand, if I postpone, I will almost certainly have to report, usually to Oakland. Earlier this year (on my birthday) I got to report to Dublin instead.
I've only been summoned once, in CA on the day before the 4th of July holiday. Naturally, they sent us all home after lunch.
I've never received a summons in MD. I'm only about 1.5 miles from the county court house, so it would be of little inconvenience. And I'd kinda like to be on a jury someday, but I'll almost certainly never be selected because no one wants a behavioral scientist on a jury.
I've been summoned 4 times and served all 4 times. 3 before we moved and end of 2019. One time they only needed to pick 1 extra juror and it was me. This last time I was the first one picked and the only one that wasn't replaced.
I guess it's been fine because they were all 2 day trials. I don't think I'd want to do a multi-week trial.
i think the only benefit was that in NY they call you back more often if you just get dismissed. if you actually serve on a jury, like i did, then it is something like a 7-10 yr exemption. otherwise 2 yrs ..
perhaps i should not be, but i am always surprised by the split in the jury duty pool.
- 90% of the people want to get out of it with any excuse they can find
- 10% badly want to be selected
personally i am ambivalent. sort of there to "do my duty" and be picked if appropriate and rejected if not.
in ancient Greek times, old men who had nothing better to do would show up for court cases hoping to get picked. some of the best Greek comedies by Aristophanes make fun of this behavior.
You just made me revisit CGB for the first time in ages. I also realized how I still have writer's/editor's privilege there and can see how it only has 400+ page views today with my random men's water polo post from 2019 been the 2nd most viewed (with 8 clicks today behind 18 clicks for Brady White decision post). So in some ways, it's not even worth it to post there to redirect to here (although it's easier to be listed on the news reader apps on CGB).
Remember when the US Consulate in Havana was attacked by a mysterious low-intensity weapon? DoD just briefed a select Congressional committee with the least surprising conclusion: it was probably Russia.
Think of the dumbest excuse you can think of why DC should not be a state. Then read Richard Grinnel, former cabinet member of the Trump administration (DNI) thinks:
Not an argument against it, but rather a problem that I think has a rather easy solution:
What to do with the constitutional amendment that gives the federal district (which has now been reduced to government buildings including the White House) 3 votes? Doesn't that give the President and his/her family 3 electoral votes on their own?
You can't repeal that amendment (because there is no way in our current climate that you can pass or repeal an amendment).
Solution - pass a law that requires the President and his/her family to establish residence in an actual state.
I can see that as a potential issue. But has any President actually considered himself as a DC resident? I'm pretty sure Trump voted in Florida and Obama in Illinois. That said, it is probably something that needs to be addressed.
Turley seemed to have lost his damn mind in the last administration. I think the compelling point he makes here is that the "federal city" part of DC wasn't intended to be part of any state, but that can be carved out, is probably the compelling part of the article. His assessment of the rest of DC and the dynamics of Maryland politics is frankly well off base - "Baltimore Democrats" is another way of saying "Black Democrats" and you'd think that they're the only reason Republicans struggle to hold state-wide office here [clarifying note: I live in Maryland]. The main reason that the GOP is "willing" to retrocede DC to Maryland is they know the state is a write-off for them most years. Anyway, Turley is hardly the only person who works locally but doesn't seem to know much about the area, it's a bipartisan thing. (And I'm hardly one to talk, I rarely take much interest in local policies, but apparently I know more than him)
the magical thing is that there are actually a lot of federal jobs already outside of the immediate District of Columbia, and indeed even beyond Virginia and Maryland, with Texas and California having the most.
If I'm not mistaken the core area where most of the government HQ buildings are is carved out and would not be part of the new state. This guy is off in many ways.
Japan plans to ban restaurants and bars from serving alcohol in major cities for a while. The government had been enforcing 8pm closure of all restaurants and bars and it resulted in people gathering and drinking on streets and in parks. smh
I mean I don't know what they expected to happen its like prohibition (even though completely diff scenarios), people are just going to get their booze however they want (and I don't blame them) just like how colleges can't stop kids from partying at this time.
They do it in Thailand ALL THE TIME (around every major holiday and elections) what it does cut down on is drunk driving. Thailand still has a super high car death rate.
my daughter and her peers are holding on more or less, although they're now allowed off campus to get carryout food. It's going to be an absolute shitshow next fall when they're all vaccinated. (They've earned it)
they could get food delivered, but they were asked to stay on campus - Vassar has a defined perimeter, so it's a little different from an open urban campus in those terms. The admin was basically relying on people behaving themselves and / or snitches out the people who didn't. The word on the street is that the limited number of student cases tended to originate with seniors who moseyed off campus to bars and then had folks over for parties.
I forgot about the game until the last few minutes. Warriors were ahead when I tuned in but they were pretty bad the rest of the way. Curry threw up a couple pretty wild threes and Westbrook and Beal drove without much resistance.
They went up by about 11 points with 5 minutes left (even with Curry having a bad game) and then a lid went on the basket and their shots started rimming out. Then Draymond fouled out. Total disaster.
Most of their shots were short so I wonder if they were just getting worn out, especially with all the injuries. I think they just had 8 playing yesterday.
A's rally in the 9th, give up a two-run homer in the top of the 10th, and score three unearned runs in the bottom of the 10th to push the winning streak to 11
https://twitter.com/sapna/status/1385258677888634884?s=20
You'll have to click through to see the image (of text), because it links to a New York Times article
For the past few days every time I comment and click "Reply," the page refreshes and takes me to a generic login Substack page. Is this happening to anyone else?
No, but I am not having to unclick the subscribe box every time I post, which is nice.
At least a few times I've entered a comment and then the page froze. Had to refresh which meant I lost all the new replies.
In break with predecessors, Biden expected to recognize Armenian genocide
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/armenia-genocide-turkey-biden/2021/04/22/0e8a3d32-a2f9-11eb-8a6d-f1b55f463112_story.html
President Biden is expected to recognize the mass killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I as a genocide, according to two people familiar with the decision, breaking a decades-long tradition of U.S. presidents refraining from using the term for fear of jeopardizing U.S.-Turkish relations.
The anticipated move would fulfill a campaign promise Biden made in October and reflect his willingness to anger Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid a growing list of disagreements over Turkey’s arms deals with Russia, democratic backsliding, and interventions in Syria and Libya.
It would also be the second time the Biden administration has formally declared a genocide at the risk of infuriating a major power, following its determination that China is carrying out a genocide against Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region.
At the risk of being a dick, Turkey isn't really a major power, but that's neither here nor there
No it's not, but that's not why they are geopolitically important.
and yet we appear to have learned nothing from our interactions with Pakistan
As a Glendale resident, I'd say it's about time. Also it's been a big topic on Nextdoor lately.
Years ago, this move would have been the equivalent to a geopolitical third rail.
Had a group chat where a friend indicated they were making dinner for a sick friend; "Nothing fancy - salmon and risotto". We've been arguing for a week over what constitutes a fancy dinner. To me, "salmon and a veggie" is casual....the inclusion of risotto it what makes this a fancy dinner.
What if you called it "cheesy rice"?
Anything that involves actually turning on the oven and watching it to make sure it cooks right is a fancy dinner. If you can put it on the stove and just wait until a timer goes off, that doesn't count.
Isn't it more about what's in the risotto (or any food) that would make it fancy? Like if you add saffron to the risotto, then that's definitely fancy.
That was the protagonist;s perspective, that "simple butter and parmesan risotto" is not that fancy. I implied that the very concept of risotto in a meal elevates the meal to fancy or near-fancy status. It's actually an interesting discussion from a sociological and cultural perspective.
i don't mind making risotto for a weeknight dinner, but i agree that is a "little fancy"
on the other hand, it is a simple and easy to make while you are otherwise cooking and drinking a glass of wine from the bottle that you had to open for the risotto anyways.
but probably fancy is mostly in relation to whatever is normal, and i am sure there is a pretty wide range of normal.
That's where we're settling. For my family with two high-schoolers, "fancy meal" is a different bar to clear than the empty nester protagonist in the original scenario.
I agree, risotto takes real skill to do right.
I just don't consider it a side dish, and usually have it as a base for whatever protein is central to the meal. I may be in the minority on that.
No, that's how we have, it makes an incredibly rich meal topped with bolognese.
Elsewhere in college
it's behind a paywall (subscriber exclusive) but there's a story in the LA Times about abusive behavior towards the Song Girls at SC from a previous coach and without reading any details, I can honestly say I'm not surprised.
Tl:DR: It is decades of abuse and Title IX complaints centered on former coach Lori Nelson. For 30 years Nelson reportedly ran it like a Mean Girls club in order to keep the girls as skinny, sweater-puppy icons.
Back in the day, they treated basketball season as the JV season for Song Girls - they had a larger squad, and it was where they started "downselecting" for football season. (I would occasionally go to games with friends and there would be almost as many players / song girls in the joint as student fans). One time a couple of my buddies were sitting in front of coaches for the Song Girls and they said of one candidate "she can dance, and I love her attitude, but her tits are just too big." So I'm not at all surprised.
On a lighter note, one time we were sitting near some young ladies whose friend was trying out for the squad and they were kind cheering her on - we got to chatting, assessed the situation, offered to help, and they said yes - so this poor young woman had a 10 person cheering squad for her efforts. That probably wasn't helpful.
"but her tits are just too big" my head just exploded
I mean, it is possible. A catalog came yesterday that said "uplifting & supporting women up to an L cup" and thought good god, what would that be like.
yeah my friends were similarly baffled
guess the problem was they were bigger than the coaches
* ladies
I'd be surprised if there wasn't quite a bit of that going back through time.
On lots of topics, certainly many campus extra curriculars, the evolved social norms have changed considerably over time, and often been slow to evolve in their respective bubbles, relative to the general populace.
Heard a rumor about who that might be...
College football transfer quarterback tiers: From playoff hopefuls to breakout candidates in 2021 season
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-transfer-quarterback-tiers-from-playoff-hopefuls-to-breakout-candidates-in-2021-season/
UW's sack machine Zion Tupuola-Fetui tears Achilles, possibly out for season
https://www.uwdawgpound.com/2021/4/21/22396125/breaking-ztf-out-6-10-months-with-achilles-injury-uw-washington-huskies-football-zion-tupuola-fetui
Sorry to hear that. He's their equivalent of Brett Johnson.
U Texas creates a second student Marching Band that doesn't have to play Eyes of Texas. The original one is required to play it.
https://www.kxan.com/news/local/ut-to-require-longhorn-band-to-play-the-eyes-of-texas-but-will-create-new-band-for-those-who-oppose-song/
so what happens if the entire bands opts to join the non-choo choo song band?
They are really going out of their way to make it unappealing to people aren't they.
lulz talk about failing to address the issue. Jesus
so separate but equal?
My journey down the Cal MBB YouTube rabbit hole continued again last night with our '94 tilt against the Bruins at Pauley. After watching the '89 Bears and Beavers pass the ball around the top of the key like a group of senior citizens sharing an exercise ball the previous night, watching this Bears team was like dropping acid. Did the game of basketball and the human potential to play basketball really evolve this much in 5 years? I totally had forgot the details of this game, but we absolutely pantsed UCLA for 36 mins to build a sixteen point lead and I thought to myself how Bozeman--improprieties not withstanding--got a tremendously bad rap. Then we forgot we had Jason "F'ing" Kidd on our team and proceeded to hand UCLA the ball over possession after possession until UCLA rattled off 15 straight points. Then I thought to myself that maybe Bozeman wasn't a great coach after all. Kidd saves the day with a couple of free throws and we beat the Bruins at Pauley in consecutive years. This is essentially the same Bruins teams that would win the whole enchilada the subsequent year, sans Toby Bailey. Observations: We had just seven scholarship players on the roster, with KJ Roberts and Grigsby hurt, Stevie Johnson kicked off the team and Jerod Hasse having transferred. Add those guys back on this team and it's scary how good we might have been. Still we should never had lost to Wisc-Green Bay. Harick's tie is something. Bozeman's turtleneck is something. Kidd was much better 3-pt shooter than he was given credit for. Lamond Murray remains my favorite Bear to watch of all time. There was always a Lamond is lazy narrative that never made sense to me. I could see Anwar McQueen on any Cal roster ever. He kind of typifies the type of player we always have. So much more motion in our offense than with Campinelli, and not just because of Kidd. Ryan Jamison was a little underrated--not athletic, but always knows where to be on he court and he made at least one sick pass.
I really think Jamo was negatively affected by Cal fans. The one time he gets away from us, he dominates Cincy in the Orlando 7-up shoot-out.
I agree Bozeman gets kind of a bad rap, but the offenses we ran with a top 3 point guard of all time weren't great - but he got effort and high energy defense out of his teams. The killer part though is that Jamison was playing really well against UW-GB (he had something like 6 quick points off 4 early shots and then never really got the ball back. Normally, "running the offense through Jamo" is a recipe for a loss, but he really was 6'10" and UW-GB really was 6'6" in the middle.
I loved Anwar McQueen. He was the one player I always rooted for. I remember his story of coming from the projects in DC and getting into Haas (I think). I thought at the time they were going to make a Hoop Dreams type of documentary on his life.
Anwar McQueen and Prentice McGruder were my two favorite players when I was a ball boy for Cal.
Loved the way Prentice would get down so low on defense. He was practically down on all fours.
I remember a few times he did the fake pass over the defender's head and go in for a layup when they had their head turned.
Low, arms wide and mean mug stare down on his face. I modeled my LMYA 4th grade defense after him haha
I always forget when he played here, cause he feels like he could be on any Cal roster from the past forty years. Just a few years after I graduated from Cal, I was playing on adult rec in Walnut Creek and he was on one of the other teams. This was like the C-division of adult rec too.
Earth Day
Weather
From windy and hot to overcast, "cold" and damp and then back to hot and windy early next week.
The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men" - great song and video
Mid 60s today with some rain coming on Sunday/Monday.
I take it back. high of 59. going to be around 60 until Sun when the high will be 53 with some rain. Then back up to high 60s/low 70s next week.
thx for the update.
It's snowing... pollen.
Currently 47 degrees and foggy
It was in the mid-70s two days ago and now it's been snowing lightly for about an hour (nothing sticking, though). WTF.
no snow here in the people's republic of MoCo
Moco is booger in Spanish
I mean it's not that far off
No snow in NoVa either but it was cold and windy when I was out earlier. Had to dress like it was winter again.
Oh, and mid-80s forecast for next week.
the late Apr snow seems to have caught many by surprise. VT and western mountains all got a bunch of good snow, extending the ski season later than average.
too bad i cant take advantage ..
Lake Ontario and the streets of Toronto are a little bit safer today. Aaarrrr!
https://twitter.com/TPSGunsSeized/status/1384927692932460547
Lacrosse
Who had lacrosse during PE class in middle school or high school? I enjoyed playing lacrosse during PE in middle school, but most people I talked to later in life said they didn't have it.
I played 3 years on varsity in high school and played for the first couple months of the college pre-season on the club team, but quit because I was pledging a fraternity and prioritized that. It was a new school sport in the Diablo Valley League in 2002 and basically if you had played at all previously you could make it on varsity. I was introduced to it at Cal summer youth sports camps where they played with squishy orange balls and plastic sticks with plastic "nets" that looked like muzzles.
Going to middle school and HS in the 80s we definitely didn't have Lacrosse. Louisville had it when we moved there in 2004 and I think that No 1 would've loved it growing up. He's fast and quick and has good hand eye coordination.
OTOH, we did have square dancing for PE in middle school.
We did in the East Bay
Cool. As long as you are in the east of something, maybe they offer it.
pqtm
I don't think I had heard of lacrosse until I attended Cal.
Hmm, could have been an east coast thing. We also had hockey too. I grew up in NY suburbs.
To me growing up Lacrosse definitely was an east coast prep school thing.
It's funny because when I played it was a contact sport that you could play that didn't have the time commitments of football (~8mo per year). We had lots of stoners on the team and it definitely had a way more laid back vibe. Totally different on the east coast. There were only really two areas that had it back then on the west coast at the high school level: the Bay Area and the San Diego area. The three power house teams in the Bay were St. Ignatius, Berkeley High and De La Salle. Down south Torrey Pines dominated.
Interesting. So I guess some west coast too.
I should mention I was on the football team freshman year, but only played outside of the "fifth quarter" a handful of times. It was terribly cliquey with lots of bullying at every level. Not my cup of tea. So when they announced lacrosse was being added my sophomore year I jumped at the opportunity.
we had some good variety in east bay PE but not lacrosse.
Lacrosse? You must be joking.
to my point about the mid-Atlantic above, my daughter's HS has men's and women's lacrosse teams, as well as women's field hockey
they also have squash and bocce, we're bougie that way
Cal Lacrosse is 2-13, and 0-9 in Pac-12 but got very very close in their last few games when they lost 8-9 to Oregon, 10-12 to Colorado, 11-12 to USC in OT, and 7-11 to ASU (ASU is the newest and arguably worst team in the Pac outside Cal before this season). Two more matches (UC Davis today, hosting Stanford at Memorial on Saturday) before the Pac-12 Championships.
fire everyone
Then cut the sport
For all the tremendous improvements (Women's Gymnastics), maintained greatness (Rugby), steady solidness (Men's Gymnastics), and the occasional flirt with greatness (Baseball), Lacrosse has steadily been bad since it was announced to be on the chopping block in 2010 with those other sports.
As the second newest sport (Beach Volleyball is technically newer but obviously has ties to the deep history of Indoor Volleyball), I don't think Cal Lacrosse has a strong alumni base to help it financially to become a better program when it's not really being helped that much by Cal Athletics (thus it being surpassed by a newer program like ASU with resources). It's really only still around because Title IX says that Cal would need to cut multiple men's programs before a women's one.
It also does not help that most people confuse it with Field Hockey (whose future is cloudy because Stanford is cutting their program, leaving only Cal and UC Davis on the west coast).
living as I do in the mid-Atlantic, I find the idea that people would confuse field hockey and lacrosse to be wild. Mind you, 1) I'm not sure I knew what lacrosse was when I lived in CA, and 2) field hockey is a big sport in the Netherlands so at least I was aware of it.
I wonder to what extent Cal is affected by the distribution of high school players - I took a look at SC's roster a couple of years ago, and the vast majority were from VA, MD, NY, and CT, which is about what I'd expect.
with new leadership, we could win 4 games a season! You dont cut 4 wins a season!
hey might have more wins than cal bb next year
@ We should cut all East Coast sports like lacrosse, field hockey, and basketball @
Student housing at Cal
a kid of a friend of mine is going to Cal in the fall and was asking my opinion on housing options. my "info" is woefully out of date. i lived in Clark Kerr, but before they renovated Units 1,2,3.
any more "up to date" recommendations or opinions?
this kid is going to be an applied math major. and while i am sure he will find a way to have a good time, he is especially academic, already planning to go to grad school in math, esoteric things like number theory and things that make my brain hurt ...
My information, while more recent than yours, is still probably out of date. I lived in Clark Kerr and loved it--more chill than the units, not as nerdy as Foothill :) The units were definitely more social, but their facilities weren't as nice unless you lived in one of the mini-suites, which were brand new when I was in college. Those were setups of two rooms (with two people each) that had a bathroom, but no lounge/living room, so you still had to go to the end of the hall for the lounge.
I was in Clark Kerr freshman year. Southside condo sophomore year, got an apartment on Northside Euclid/Hearst for junior and senior year.
From what I've seen when I've driven through campus there have been a lot of new dorms since us lolds went. I would assume in the last 33 years they've renovated Units 1, 2, and 3 again. My freshman year (88) was when Unit 3 just got renovated and before they did 1 and 2.
For math, for convenience, Foothill would be the most convenient. But I did like having to walk through campus to the engineering/science corner freshman year.
I was part of the first class of Foothill inhabitants. Seemed a little more reserved that life in the Units. I was in the liberal arts, so it was fairly removed from wherever I needed to go on campus, which could be a drag. Still it is pretty spot and hearing the bands playing at the Greek from your dorm was pretty cool too.
I liked Foothill. Close access to the parking lot for "free" concerts at the Greek Theater, great views, and an ever-present smell of eucalyptus trees.
After freshman year I ended up living at MLK and Francisco so I almost never visited southside after that. I guess mostly just to go to the RSF.
Jury duty
I get called pretty regularly, and I don't mind it. My company pays you no matter how long the trial, so I just see it as doing my civic duty without really any inconvenience to me. And if I were ever on trial, I would certainly not want my jury to be just postal workers and retired folk.
I have been on the jury once. In SF, you almost make it into the courtroom for jury selection -- they seem to be pretty accurate at calling the number of people they need for the pool. I have only once been sent home straight from the jury room (and never not had to report).
I get the summons pretty regularly, almost never have to show. When I do show, usually get excused about an hour after they take roll, before we go to a court room. One time I got pulled up as far as the getting to the individual questions from the judge/attorneys. Once the defense looked at where I worked on the written questionnaire, i got the preemptory boot. The case was one where being stupid isn't a crime, but maybe should be.
I've been summoned twice. The first time (in Maryland when I was a grad student at College Park), I had to drive 45 minutes to the middle of nowhere to be dismissed within about an hour. The second time in Philly was much more convenient to get to. But after the first case in the middle ended up being settled in the morning, I had to sit through the afternoon and be a semifinalist on another case -- and see how the jury pool somehow got reduced from a normal-ish population to one that was ALL women and/or persons of color. That was kind of eye-opening as to how jury selection works in real life. I was dismissed that afternoon though.
For the past several years, I've been called every year, almost like clockwork. I know that if I keep my originally-assigned date to report, the likelihood is high that I will get excused without having to show up. On the other hand, if I postpone, I will almost certainly have to report, usually to Oakland. Earlier this year (on my birthday) I got to report to Dublin instead.
I've only been summoned once, in CA on the day before the 4th of July holiday. Naturally, they sent us all home after lunch.
I've never received a summons in MD. I'm only about 1.5 miles from the county court house, so it would be of little inconvenience. And I'd kinda like to be on a jury someday, but I'll almost certainly never be selected because no one wants a behavioral scientist on a jury.
I've been summoned 4 times and served all 4 times. 3 before we moved and end of 2019. One time they only needed to pick 1 extra juror and it was me. This last time I was the first one picked and the only one that wasn't replaced.
I guess it's been fine because they were all 2 day trials. I don't think I'd want to do a multi-week trial.
last time i was picked i was the alternate. so i had to listen to everything, but i didnt get to say anything or vote in the outcome.
To me that's worse than actually being on the jury.
i think the only benefit was that in NY they call you back more often if you just get dismissed. if you actually serve on a jury, like i did, then it is something like a 7-10 yr exemption. otherwise 2 yrs ..
I've been summoned three times over the years but my number has never come up...
Ha! My jury duty got canceled. I've been summoned four times, twice in the past two years. My wife has never been summoned in her entire life.
now you can waste your day on DBD
perhaps i should not be, but i am always surprised by the split in the jury duty pool.
- 90% of the people want to get out of it with any excuse they can find
- 10% badly want to be selected
personally i am ambivalent. sort of there to "do my duty" and be picked if appropriate and rejected if not.
in ancient Greek times, old men who had nothing better to do would show up for court cases hoping to get picked. some of the best Greek comedies by Aristophanes make fun of this behavior.
I'm quite willing to serve, but not going out of my way to do it.
where have you gone giantfan5?
You just made me revisit CGB for the first time in ages. I also realized how I still have writer's/editor's privilege there and can see how it only has 400+ page views today with my random men's water polo post from 2019 been the 2nd most viewed (with 8 clicks today behind 18 clicks for Brady White decision post). So in some ways, it's not even worth it to post there to redirect to here (although it's easier to be listed on the news reader apps on CGB).
Today in our crumbling democracy
Remember when the US Consulate in Havana was attacked by a mysterious low-intensity weapon? DoD just briefed a select Congressional committee with the least surprising conclusion: it was probably Russia.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/22/pentagon-russia-attacks-us-troops-484150
Think of the dumbest excuse you can think of why DC should not be a state. Then read Richard Grinnel, former cabinet member of the Trump administration (DNI) thinks:
https://twitter.com/RichardGrenell/status/1384885020188311555
Not an argument against it, but rather a problem that I think has a rather easy solution:
What to do with the constitutional amendment that gives the federal district (which has now been reduced to government buildings including the White House) 3 votes? Doesn't that give the President and his/her family 3 electoral votes on their own?
You can't repeal that amendment (because there is no way in our current climate that you can pass or repeal an amendment).
Solution - pass a law that requires the President and his/her family to establish residence in an actual state.
I can see that as a potential issue. But has any President actually considered himself as a DC resident? I'm pretty sure Trump voted in Florida and Obama in Illinois. That said, it is probably something that needs to be addressed.
Many constitutional scholars believe DC statehood is unconstitutional. Jonathan Turley is advocating for retrocession back to Maryland of all but the mall and federal buildings. I think he makes a good argument here: https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/548803-how-to-solve-the-statehood-issue
Turley seemed to have lost his damn mind in the last administration. I think the compelling point he makes here is that the "federal city" part of DC wasn't intended to be part of any state, but that can be carved out, is probably the compelling part of the article. His assessment of the rest of DC and the dynamics of Maryland politics is frankly well off base - "Baltimore Democrats" is another way of saying "Black Democrats" and you'd think that they're the only reason Republicans struggle to hold state-wide office here [clarifying note: I live in Maryland]. The main reason that the GOP is "willing" to retrocede DC to Maryland is they know the state is a write-off for them most years. Anyway, Turley is hardly the only person who works locally but doesn't seem to know much about the area, it's a bipartisan thing. (And I'm hardly one to talk, I rarely take much interest in local policies, but apparently I know more than him)
the magical thing is that there are actually a lot of federal jobs already outside of the immediate District of Columbia, and indeed even beyond Virginia and Maryland, with Texas and California having the most.
If I'm not mistaken the core area where most of the government HQ buildings are is carved out and would not be part of the new state. This guy is off in many ways.
it's also pretty easy to isolate since they leveled housing to build most of them that weren't right by the Mall.
Today in the 'rona
Japan plans to ban restaurants and bars from serving alcohol in major cities for a while. The government had been enforcing 8pm closure of all restaurants and bars and it resulted in people gathering and drinking on streets and in parks. smh
South Africa did this, and also banned the sale of alcohol in stores. They ended the prohibition just a few weeks ago.
Hey, at least they're outside!
I mean I don't know what they expected to happen its like prohibition (even though completely diff scenarios), people are just going to get their booze however they want (and I don't blame them) just like how colleges can't stop kids from partying at this time.
They do it in Thailand ALL THE TIME (around every major holiday and elections) what it does cut down on is drunk driving. Thailand still has a super high car death rate.
my daughter and her peers are holding on more or less, although they're now allowed off campus to get carryout food. It's going to be an absolute shitshow next fall when they're all vaccinated. (They've earned it)
wait they were restricted to on campus food, how is that even enforceable and yes it will be a shitshow for everyone and I'm so ready for it.
they could get food delivered, but they were asked to stay on campus - Vassar has a defined perimeter, so it's a little different from an open urban campus in those terms. The admin was basically relying on people behaving themselves and / or snitches out the people who didn't. The word on the street is that the limited number of student cases tended to originate with seniors who moseyed off campus to bars and then had folks over for parties.
Pros
Happy 35th birthday, Marshawn Lynch!
It's insane how quickly the "Super" league collapsed.
Seems like all those owners decided to form the Super League without running it by anyone else. Whoops!
Warriors were in decent shape to win last night but fizzled down the stretch.
Curry did not score 30+ pts but Oubre and the rest of the W's played pretty well until they didnt.
Weird final play where the Twins' third baseman completely air mailed the throw...
you probably meant to put this reply in the baseball section ...
possibly another bad throw?
That throw was so off it practically landed in Capital One Arena in DC.
I forgot about the game until the last few minutes. Warriors were ahead when I tuned in but they were pretty bad the rest of the way. Curry threw up a couple pretty wild threes and Westbrook and Beal drove without much resistance.
They went up by about 11 points with 5 minutes left (even with Curry having a bad game) and then a lid went on the basket and their shots started rimming out. Then Draymond fouled out. Total disaster.
Most of their shots were short so I wonder if they were just getting worn out, especially with all the injuries. I think they just had 8 playing yesterday.
And the last game of an east-coast road trip. Very possible.
Draymond fouled out so that resistance went away
A's rally in the 9th, give up a two-run homer in the top of the 10th, and score three unearned runs in the bottom of the 10th to push the winning streak to 11
https://twitter.com/Athletics/status/1385019913899708416
Insane game. Feels like the gods have their back.
Cal
Cal swim coach legend Nort Thornton has passed away.
https://calbears.com/news/2021/4/22/mens-swimming-diving-former-cal-head-coach-nort-thornton-passes-away.aspx
RIP, he was a family friend
That's sad. The era of Nort and Pete Cutino coaching the water sports was fantastic.
Don't forget that Karen Moe character for the women's teams!
go bears!
i dont intend to pay for substack or side channel, but i like her writing.