K. Dick...I'd say there's some Quantity over Quality there, but the man had a lot of interesting ideas.
And a lot (some) of his stories take place in the Bay Area, including "Bladerunner" (aka Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep), which iirc, has a scene with a replicant in a motel somewhere like Belmont? One story involves Mt. Diablo? One, an apartment on Russian Hill? It's been awhile, so the details are foggy...
He even lived in Berkeley at one point. Apparently it was 1126 Francisco street, which was two blocks from I lived for 1.5 years (near North Berkeley BART) during my undergrad days. https://berkeleyplaques.org/e-plaque/philip-k-dick/
I read the bio and he lived at 3 different addresses in Berkeley over the years. He ended up having 5 wives and 3 children. He never had much money even though he wrote 44 novels and 120+ short stories. I read somewhere that when he was in a financial rough spot Ray Bradbury generously gave him significant $$$.
I imagine the estate is doing well these days on the royalties from his books, which are more popular now than in his lifetime, and the ten films that were created from his books and stories. Sadly he died before Blade Runner was released, the first work of his that was adapted for the big screen.
Yeah, he definitely didn't have a great life. A lot of his stories also had great concepts but none were that well developed. But in a lot of ways, that's what made them better, IMHO.
I watched the pilot and thought it was horrible (poor acting, if nothing else). obviously others disagree. My wife was actually left on the cutting room floor as an extra in a funeral(?) scene in S3. So they're dead to me! Altho we did paint the town red with the ±$38 she earned... :-/
pqtm, I watched the first season (by myself, I knew the wife wouldn't be interested) - I thought it was ok, but the book is not designed to be expanded on, so I didn't watch any of the other seasons.
I bought No 1 a couple of them when he was a toddler and both No 2 and 3 wore them. One was the Air Jordan 11s with the black patent leather. The other was in the Carolina Blue colorway.
I was looking into attending the games just because it's here in Pittsburgh, but all the online ticket sellers only sell tickets in pods of 4 (I would have considered buying a pair of tickets if the price is reasonable). I might try again tomorrow for the final, which on a normal year would have had a lot of extra tickets because the favorites were knocked out. Then again, the "favorites" this year were Minnesota State and Minnesota Duluth.
"Stanford University researchers have identified five new cases of a “double mutant” Covid-19 strain that was recently discovered in the San Francisco Bay Area. Doctors suspect it could be more contagious than earlier strains and may be resistant to existing vaccines."
Why people need to keep wearing masks, even if you have been vaccinated.
I mean he was about to ring him up. So either he didn't know the rules, which I doubt, or he just had a momentary brain freeze. Although I guess the other umpires could've called him on it since it was pretty obvious he was going to ring him up but I don't expect that would ever happen.
"Diving" or turning into a pitch is sometimes harder to determine from behind the plate than other times (speaking from experience), especially with
pitchers with questionable control, and is always a judgement call. Also one that, when game determining, can be worth checking with your partner(s), especially when there are 3 of them, to find out how they saw it. Of course, making a close judgement call to decide the game is always going to cause a stir (again, speaking from some experience).
I know that they throw softer in college, but they frequently do not award a base for hit batter...just from citing how the batter did not try hard enough to move out of the way.
I remember there was one year where in the CWS UCLA, I think it was, intentionally dove into many pitches during the tournament and they never called them on it, even on balls that looked like strikes.
But obviously he thought the pitch was going to be a strike, which is why he started to ring him up. Doesn't seem like it should matter whether or not the hitter dove into the pitch if the pitch was a strike. I guess unless he thought the deflection made it a strike.
If the pitch is in the zone, it is a strike, whether it hits the batter or not. And that's true at every level, and both BB & SB. The problem is the pitch that's just outside the zone, in the slot between the plate and where the inside of the batter's box is (marked or not). Those are the ones that hitters are now being coached to get in the way of. And it happens really fast.
Bauer himself basically showed a few seasons ago how much extra spin he could get with pine tar in one game. And then started to use it full-time last year while winning the Cy Young and earn a fat contract.
Unless I missed it (didn't start until Lasorda's daughter introduced Dave Roberts though I did try to go back and watch), I'm a little surprised they didn't get Vin to say something. Unless they asked and he said he didn't want to take the attention away from the players which sounds like something he would say.
We have minor league baseball back this year. I wonder if he A's have considered playing in the AAA Pacific Coast League? It seems like the PCL might be a better fit, competitive balance wise, for the A's roster.
Ted Lasso...yes! (And Dickinson, See, and the Morning Show)
WandaVision was fun for the first few eps, when it was quirky, but then it went too SuperHero (espec the finale) and got into too much MCU stuff that I don't know, my viewing being limited to the first 20 minutes of Antman on TV before getting bored.
Also watching Detectorists (written/directed/starring MacKenzie Crook)...a dry British dramedy about metal detectors (no, detectorists!)...on Prime, but thru IMDB TV, so there are ads :-/
Roadkill (PBS Masterpiece with Hugh Laurie)
Season 2 of For All Mankind (AppleTV+)...damn, it was on last night!
For a movie: Breaker Upperers (double "er")...raunchy rom-com type film from NZ
i was driving home from VT yesterday on a 5 hour drive and i was thinking of checking in on DBD. but since i couldn't, i called up @HeyAlumniGo and we just chatted for about an hour.
Philip
God Save the Queen
https://twitter.com/RoyalFamily/status/1380475865323212800
"and her fascist regime"
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/obituaries/prince-philip-dead.html
K. Dick...I'd say there's some Quantity over Quality there, but the man had a lot of interesting ideas.
And a lot (some) of his stories take place in the Bay Area, including "Bladerunner" (aka Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep), which iirc, has a scene with a replicant in a motel somewhere like Belmont? One story involves Mt. Diablo? One, an apartment on Russian Hill? It's been awhile, so the details are foggy...
He even lived in Berkeley at one point. Apparently it was 1126 Francisco street, which was two blocks from I lived for 1.5 years (near North Berkeley BART) during my undergrad days. https://berkeleyplaques.org/e-plaque/philip-k-dick/
I read the bio and he lived at 3 different addresses in Berkeley over the years. He ended up having 5 wives and 3 children. He never had much money even though he wrote 44 novels and 120+ short stories. I read somewhere that when he was in a financial rough spot Ray Bradbury generously gave him significant $$$.
I imagine the estate is doing well these days on the royalties from his books, which are more popular now than in his lifetime, and the ten films that were created from his books and stories. Sadly he died before Blade Runner was released, the first work of his that was adapted for the big screen.
Yeah, he definitely didn't have a great life. A lot of his stories also had great concepts but none were that well developed. But in a lot of ways, that's what made them better, IMHO.
Check that, it was Robert Heinlein, not Bradbury....
The book "The Man in the High Castle" is way better than the TV series.
I've never read that actually...I should.
I watched the pilot and thought it was horrible (poor acting, if nothing else). obviously others disagree. My wife was actually left on the cutting room floor as an extra in a funeral(?) scene in S3. So they're dead to me! Altho we did paint the town red with the ±$38 she earned... :-/
Oh, I think my coworker was an extra, too! She told me that a lot of Japanese people were involved :)
yeah, I think half the Japanese community in San Francisco/inner Bay Area was part of the casting call ;-)
As characters - yes
Oops, I thought you were describing the book - 😬
pqtm, I watched the first season (by myself, I knew the wife wouldn't be interested) - I thought it was ok, but the book is not designed to be expanded on, so I didn't watch any of the other seasons.
it got progressively sillier
I made it through 2 seasons before giving up
so long you racist fuck
Jennings....I just finished The Americans. Good show.
Great show!
Yes, thanks for the rec Cugel! Very well done.
Air Jordans
I bought No 1 a couple of them when he was a toddler and both No 2 and 3 wore them. One was the Air Jordan 11s with the black patent leather. The other was in the Carolina Blue colorway.
11 is my favorite.
Four
How many times are we gonna pass the ball before we shoot....
Only four?!?
How many seconds are left on the shot clock before we start instigating a "play"...
Ask Mark Fox...
Seasons
Elsewhere in college
NCAA Volleyball tournament apparently has a poor setup (perhaps not too surprisingly). https://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa-volleyball-tournament-nebraska-wisconsin-coaches-slam-setup-omaha-mark-emmert-044537583.html
[MHockey]: Championship game set: #6 UMass vs. #7 St. Cloud State (MN)
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/31219823/umass-stuns-defending-champ-minnesota-duluth-gets-st-cloud-state-frozen-four-final
I was looking into attending the games just because it's here in Pittsburgh, but all the online ticket sellers only sell tickets in pods of 4 (I would have considered buying a pair of tickets if the price is reasonable). I might try again tomorrow for the final, which on a normal year would have had a lot of extra tickets because the favorites were knocked out. Then again, the "favorites" this year were Minnesota State and Minnesota Duluth.
Ranking the top 10 college football coaches under age 45 entering the 2021 season
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/ranking-the-top-10-college-football-coaches-under-age-45-entering-the-2021-season/
Today in Covid
Researchers identify five new cases of ‘double mutant’ Covid variant in California
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/08/researchers-identify-five-new-cases-of-double-mutant-covid-variant-in-california-.html
"Stanford University researchers have identified five new cases of a “double mutant” Covid-19 strain that was recently discovered in the San Francisco Bay Area. Doctors suspect it could be more contagious than earlier strains and may be resistant to existing vaccines."
Why people need to keep wearing masks, even if you have been vaccinated.
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Greenberg negotiating plea deal to flip on Gaetz.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/matt-gaetz-joel-greenberg-plea-deal/2021/04/08/a1da46ca-965d-11eb-b28d-bfa7bb5cb2a5_story.html
Why do I think nothing major is going to happen to Gaetz? Unless it's because he ends up flipping on other people.
Biden to sign executive order creating commission on Supreme Court...
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/biden-to-sign-executive-order-creating-commission-on-supreme-court-2021-04-09
Fox News hires Pompeo as contributor:
The hiring makes another top Trump administration official a fixture on the network.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/08/fox-news-hires-mike-pompeo-480189
PRO
The division leading Baltimore Orioles?
Mets' Conforto dives into pitch, gets bad game-winning call. Even the Mets' booth was upset
https://mobile.twitter.com/lindseyadler/status/1380259540722126853
It doesn't change anything, but the ump did admit later that he made the wrong call.
I mean he was about to ring him up. So either he didn't know the rules, which I doubt, or he just had a momentary brain freeze. Although I guess the other umpires could've called him on it since it was pretty obvious he was going to ring him up but I don't expect that would ever happen.
"Diving" or turning into a pitch is sometimes harder to determine from behind the plate than other times (speaking from experience), especially with
pitchers with questionable control, and is always a judgement call. Also one that, when game determining, can be worth checking with your partner(s), especially when there are 3 of them, to find out how they saw it. Of course, making a close judgement call to decide the game is always going to cause a stir (again, speaking from some experience).
I know that they throw softer in college, but they frequently do not award a base for hit batter...just from citing how the batter did not try hard enough to move out of the way.
I remember there was one year where in the CWS UCLA, I think it was, intentionally dove into many pitches during the tournament and they never called them on it, even on balls that looked like strikes.
But obviously he thought the pitch was going to be a strike, which is why he started to ring him up. Doesn't seem like it should matter whether or not the hitter dove into the pitch if the pitch was a strike. I guess unless he thought the deflection made it a strike.
If the pitch is in the zone, it is a strike, whether it hits the batter or not. And that's true at every level, and both BB & SB. The problem is the pitch that's just outside the zone, in the slot between the plate and where the inside of the batter's box is (marked or not). Those are the ones that hitters are now being coached to get in the way of. And it happens really fast.
MLB looking at Trevor Bauer's sticky balls
https://sports.yahoo.com/los-angeles-dodgers-trevor-bauer-suspicious-baseballs-sent-mlb-oakland-athletics-substances-014021651.html
sassy
I'm just surprised they didn't pull any of his balls in Colorado. He was more dominant there, at least until the 7th inning.
To the surprise of absolutely no one.
Bauer himself basically showed a few seasons ago how much extra spin he could get with pine tar in one game. And then started to use it full-time last year while winning the Cy Young and earn a fat contract.
Just got back from the Giants winning their home opener! Had to wait an hour for our app-ordered food to be ready, but everything else was grand.
Will Clark recorded a video congratulating Clayton Kershaw on his championship.
Those are some big ass rings.
https://www.truebluela.com/2021/4/9/22371248/dodgers-world-series-championship-rings
I will have to say my MLB The Show: Road to the Show player has Will Clark's swing. As a lefty I loved his swing even though he was a Giant.
Unless I missed it (didn't start until Lasorda's daughter introduced Dave Roberts though I did try to go back and watch), I'm a little surprised they didn't get Vin to say something. Unless they asked and he said he didn't want to take the attention away from the players which sounds like something he would say.
A's drop another one, 6-2 to the Astros, 1-7 on the season.
We have minor league baseball back this year. I wonder if he A's have considered playing in the AAA Pacific Coast League? It seems like the PCL might be a better fit, competitive balance wise, for the A's roster.
CAL
I too am a flawed human being. Stanfurd and the rest of the PAC* can suck it
https://twitter.com/MikeSilver/status/1380193359361232896?s=19
* - some personal exemption allowed on a rare case by case basis
conference solidarity is for chumps, by and large. I'd make some exceptions too but not many
I guess i am also not a good person.
Go Bears!!!
Benji Palu getting some recognition.
https://theathletic.com/2507252/2021/04/09/who-needs-in-person-recruiting-visits-when-you-have-the-michael-jordan-of-virtuals/
Hope this doesn't lead to his being poached...
https://twitter.com/Angus_McClure/status/1380596657591476225?s=19
FYI today is Gin and Tonic Day
Blegh! Worst Cocktail...Ever (and the tonic is not to blame!)
Do we still have lawyers on here? Here's a thread on Taylor Swift: https://twitter.com/ThatsMauvelous/status/1380572708879089674?s=20
Favorite recent TV shows:
Ted Lasso & Perry Mason. Enjoyed Wanda Vision, but didn't quite work 100% for me Liked a lot of On My Block.
Ted Lasso...yes! (And Dickinson, See, and the Morning Show)
WandaVision was fun for the first few eps, when it was quirky, but then it went too SuperHero (espec the finale) and got into too much MCU stuff that I don't know, my viewing being limited to the first 20 minutes of Antman on TV before getting bored.
From yesterday: Tehran (AppleTV+)
Also watching Detectorists (written/directed/starring MacKenzie Crook)...a dry British dramedy about metal detectors (no, detectorists!)...on Prime, but thru IMDB TV, so there are ads :-/
Roadkill (PBS Masterpiece with Hugh Laurie)
Season 2 of For All Mankind (AppleTV+)...damn, it was on last night!
For a movie: Breaker Upperers (double "er")...raunchy rom-com type film from NZ
what do you do if you cant be on DBD?
i was driving home from VT yesterday on a 5 hour drive and i was thinking of checking in on DBD. but since i couldn't, i called up @HeyAlumniGo and we just chatted for about an hour.
Rapper DMX dead at 50 after week on life support following heart attack: Family statement
https://abc7ny.com/dmx-dead-news-update/10500196/