144 Comments

Marin Avenue

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There was a fatal accident on Marin Ave yesterday. According to Berkeleyside's account (https://www.berkeleyside.org/2021/05/11/woman-dead-after-fatal-crash-in-north-berkeley), the driver of the vehicle had lost control and was speeding down Marin Ave at a high rate of speed. So fast that the vehicle was airborne in spots. Brake failure comes to mind.

Anyways, people in the comments section and on Nextdoor are talking about closing Marin Ave to traffic, as if that's a reasonable solution.

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I've always wondered, was that really built for automobiles?

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When I went to high school at Albany, the wrestling coach used it as punishment. "You guys having a good time today? Let's go run up Marin!" Shiiiiiiiiiitttttttt

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I've heard that Marin Ave was originally intended for cable cars, but I kind of doubt that. The Circle was supposed to be the cable car turnaround.

Mason-McDuffie was the big land developer in that part of Berkeley. Mason-McDuffie built the original fountain at The Circle back in the early part of the 20th century.

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But can you imagine trying to drive up or down that in a Model-T? I'd rather try F1, it'd be safer.

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I cannot imagine trying to drive up or down Marin in a Model T. Particularly the last three blocks before Grizzly Peak Blvd. Those blocks are the steepest in the entire length of the street.

The downhill speed limit, by the way is 20 MPH. I think a case could be made that the downhill speed limit should be 15 MPH which would force drivers to put the vehicle in 1st or low gear. Drivers should NEVER ride the brakes coming downhill on Marin; it's like asking to radically shorten the useful life of your brakes.

We lived on Creston Rd for almost three years; it was the home of my maternal g'parents before we moved in. EVERY TIME that I can remember, when Mom drove down Marin, she would come to a complete stop at Grizzly Peak and Marin. She would put the car in low gear (an automatic) and then start across Grizzly Peak Blvd and then down Marin. EVERY TIME.

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Most people don't really know how to drive, you see more than 50% riding their brakes all the way down Hwy 17.

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This video is probably not a great way to learn how to make kimchi, but I found it endearing: https://youtu.be/AzN0HmQCABw

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Hilarious! I identify with the dad. Naturally.

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Is that Uncle Roger guy going to make another gatekeeping video about this?

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https://twitter.com/Cleveland_PL/status/1392525247035871237?s=20

@Cleveland_PL: Congratulations to the #RockHall2021 Inductees: Tina Turner, Carole King, Jay-Z, Foo Fighters, The Go-Go's, Todd Rundgren, LL Cool J, and more.

Stream a FREE playlist without commercials on @FreegalMusic TODAY with your Library card: https://bit.ly/2RQS1K7

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After about a year with 7 COVID deaths TOTAL, Taiwan currently has 16 local cases. Different regions are locking down, and people are worried. Meanwhile, in America, even with the numbers improving, 16 cases would be a DREAM. And then I see people talking about how wearing masks is just performative... 🙄

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It sort of is, outside, at a distance.

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May 12, 2021
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No, I'll take one away: It is, outside at a distance.

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https://twitter.com/Cassie_Raby/status/1392068932656369671

@Cassie_Raby: My favourite part from the last ASAB conference was someone 'hacked' into the final Zoom meeting

then shared a video of Gorillas having sex...

...but because the conference was about animal behaviour it got mistaken for an actual research presentation

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Triathlons .. do anyone do them?

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I can't open water swim. I had an idea to train for a tri a few years ago - and was training in a pool. Was ok to grind out 1000m, and then I took a trip to HK which has swimming beaches and swimming platforms like 100m from the beach. Swam 50m out there - something deep in my brain broke and I knew at that exact second I needed to be anywhere I could put my feet on the sand and I turned around headed right back for the beach.

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Back in the early days of the Ironman I had a friend who was going to do it. I did virtually all of the running training with him and much of the biking. But I'm worthless in the water so that was as far as it went.

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When I was a camp counselor, there was one guy on staff who played football at his college and was training for a tri. Another guy on staff who ran track at his college decided on a whim to join the first guy. Track guy came in first in the run portion...dead last in the swim.

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my only triathlon experience is when 3 of us split up the sections. i did the bike ride and others did the other 2. i would do that again

that was pretty ideal because i trained hard for a few months for just the 40k bike ride.

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disclaimer, i am NOT training for one, but as i recover from Achilles surgery and can't run or ride my bike, i decided to try swimming at the local YMCA

it was my first time swimming in many years and I thought I was going to explode after every 25m length of the pool.

I had to take a break at each end and managed 8 lengths for a whooping 200m before stopping.

any tips on how to get better? or is it just a matter of endurance?

i feel that i am very inefficient and am wasting a lot of energy just thrashing around.

to be fair, i have never been a very strong swimmer, not even mediocre.

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That brings back old Cal memories for me. I ran cross country in high school but never swam. At Cal, I had the easiest access to pools that I ever had. Worked up to about 30 lap sessions, just for fun. Harmon, Hearst, and Strawberry.

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...at first I had to mix in a lot of easier strokes like breast, side, back. After some time I was doing all crawl though. Not well, mind you, but well enough that I didn't feel embarrassed to be swimming with all the other regulars.

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I think it's just a matter of building endurance. You're probably using muscles you don't normally use. I remember when I was on a swim team I could do well over 60 laps during practice. Then maybe 4-5 years later when we did the laps for PE I struggled to really even do like 5. I think you just need to do more and more laps and it will get easier.

I had a friend that used to do mini-tris until he had hip surgery. They did sound like fun and would be something I could do. Something like 400 yd swim, 20 mi bike, and 3 mi run or something like that.

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Gas

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I've been car shopping in anticipation of a move back to the states in 2022, and I am thinking i'll end up with a hybrid medium SUV - right now the favorite is a 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime, but also considering the Lexus 200h, the Honda Pilot Hybrid, and the Subaru Crosstrek

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we got the new Volvo plug-in hybrid in Dec, so we go to the gas station a lot less these days.

it only has a 20 mile all-electric range, but it is surprisingly effective for short suburban errands. we dont have a driving commute, so aside from weekend excursions and long trips, most of our weekday driving is all-electric.

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I'm looking at the Kia Niro and Suburu Crosstrek PHEV...like in San Francisco, so 95%+ of driving is within the range of the battery. just plug it in when I get home and "never" go to a gas station again!

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I didn't fill up the car for the first time this year until April (and then did a 350-mile round trip for a camping trip in the Appalachians). I'm around a quarter-tank now but I'll ride this one out and figure that things will be normal next time I need to fill up.

MD looked to be near the top of the area served by that pipeline, so we're probably minimally affected.

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72% of the gas stations in Raleigh are out of gas. I am in MA. While gas shortages are less chronic in rural/suburban, I still need to be strategic about driving back to NC in two weeks.

https://www.wral.com/report-nearly-1-4th-of-nc-s-gas-stations-without-fuel-as-demand-continues-to-soar/19673954/

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Hopefully, the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack will be over by then. Hopefully.

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Pro sports report

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MLB-leading SF Giants only get four hits, but still beat not-so-great Rangers thanks to Logan Webb striking out 10 over 6 and a throwing error by ex-Giant Charlie Culberson. Belt suffered a minor injury and was removed in the 8th.

https://twitter.com/GoodmanHoops/status/1392160429816885258

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Mets win in bottom of the 9th. classically great baseball. reminded me why it is still my favorite to watch.

they were down 2-0 in the 8th when they scored 1 run but left a bunch of runners on base.

glad i kept watching, when they scored two more in the 9th. some rookie now has 2 game winning RBIs w/o recording an official hit ...

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Mazeika became the first player since at least 1920 with multiple game-ending RBI in his first four career games, delivering his second walkoff fielder's choice grounder in five days to help the banged-up New York Mets rally past the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 on Tuesday night for their sixth straight win.

The 27-year-old third-string catcher still doesn't have a big league hit, but he's had plenty to celebrate. Not since RBI became an official stat 101 years ago has anybody matched his feat, per Elias Sports — hits or no hits.

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A's claw their way to a 3-2 victory in boston in a tight pitching duel.

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That was a tight one.

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GBBR!

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GBBR!

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NBC will reportedly pull out of the Indycar TV deal at the end of the season according to Sports Business Journal. Indycar has had some issues with stability in recent years with Versus collapsing and ESPN pulling out. Lets see what NBC does since they lost the NHL too (maybe buy in for the full NASCAR season if Fox leaves) but reportedly CBS if the frontrunner since they picked up Tony Stewart's SRX series earlier this year.

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NBC sounds like they're cutting ties to a wide range of sports coverage. NBCSN is shutting down by the end of the year. It's too bad because they had such a wide variety of sports programming: Premiere League, rugby, various motorsports on and off-road, Olympic sports.

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For the Premiere League, is that just NBCSN, or does that include the Peacock service?

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This doesn't seem like good news for anyone.

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someone should bring back ABC's Wide World of Sports!

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Usually, "Wide World" featured two or three events per show. These included many types not previously seen on American television, such as hurling, rodeo, curling, jai-alai, firefighter's competitions, wrist wrestling, powerlifting, surfing, logger sports, demolition derby, slow pitch softball, barrel jumping, and badminton. Another memorable regular feature in the 1960s and 1970s was Mexican cliff diving.

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i wonder if they will pull NBC sports gold and cycling coverage. i pay $50/yr for live coverage of various pro cycling races including the Tour de France.

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Our crumbling Democracy :(

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Lin Wood tells the yokels in Myrtletuckey that DJT still has the nuclear codes.

https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1392484838507155457

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I wish we still had gifs

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NY Mayoral debates: "how much does the median home in Brooklyn cost?"

candidate Donovan: "I'm not sure. About $100,000?"

candidate McGuire: "around $80k to 90k, if not higher"

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/nyregion/median-home-brooklyn-mayor.html

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Even the Brooklyn borough president said $500K. [facepalm]

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LOL

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[WaPo] Why is Josh Hawley such a dick?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/05/11/senator-josh-hawley/

[Politico] Stanfurd's David M. Kennedy to Hawley. What happened to you? You were The Chosen One!

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/19/josh-hawley-senator-stanford-history-capitol-insurrection-ambition-460481

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Yeah, it's pretty obvious that he cares about holding office and little else, so he'll easily shift his positions to whatever he thinks will help him with that. Mitch McConnell was the same way.

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Snodfurd student is an asshole, snodfurd professors act like they are surprised.

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It's official Liz Cheney out. This solidifies GQP as the party norm. Welcome to at least 1.5 more years and probably 3.5 years of the worst elements of the GOP being the core and gaslighting being standard operating procedure. Stefanik likely successor.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cheney-trump-mccarthy-vote/2021/05/11/1bb8fa56-b2a9-11eb-ab43-bebddc5a0f65_story.html

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The one thing that concerns me more than the fact that the GOP believes their current strategy is their best choice of course of action is that they may be correct (based on number and degree of support that is apparent).

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there is also this, but it is oddly out of character for a party that has shown no rift in voting for things recently ...

More than 100 Republicans, including some former elected officials, are preparing to release a letter this week threatening to form a third party if the Republican Party does not make certain changes, according to an organizer of the effort.

The statement is expected to take aim at former President Donald J. Trump’s stranglehold on Republicans, which signatories to the document have deemed unconscionable.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/us/politics/republicans-third-party-trump.html

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Notably, all of these people are retired Republicans. Anyone still actively running for office still feels the need to support Trump.

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In the very near term it may well be the best course of action, though it's very much a tenuous, knifes' edge kind of balance they're trying to strike.

In the long term I think they're destroying themselves. The strategy hugely depends on the current geographic sorting holding firm (Republicans overrepresented in rural red states/counties, allowing you to win governing majorities with a minority of the vote), but of course people do move around and you can't easily predict how that will go. Their favorability numbers with Millennials and GenZ remain horrible, and I really don't think more years of Trumpism will help with that. Those generations are rapidly becoming the majority of the electorate.

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Which is exactly why they are focusing on election laws and rules, and the impending redistricting exercise, in order to protect their interests for another cycle.

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Indeed, though migration from Democrats from cities to outlying areas would blunt the effectiveness of these changes, and at some point if you're at a big enough disadvantage in the popular vote there's only so much you can do.

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I don't know how much is attributable to Democrats migrating to the further out burbs, but in northern Virginia the further out burbs have turned blue and the result has been the statewide offices have turned pretty reliably blue.

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You can always reinstate the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather rule.

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I hope you’re right.

The GQP base is older and more likely to die of Covid and opioids in the coming years.

Plus this housing boom and WFH movement is pushing people into more rural/affordable places and allowing WFH people to move to more rural and affordable areas.

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Yeah, the impacts of COVID on migration patterns will be interesting. I would not be at all shocked to see young Democrats moving out of the cities as remote work becomes more common and settling in rural and suburban areas. Only, when these people move they don't change their politics, they carry it with them. This is pretty much exactly what happened in Arizona, once a Republican bastion and now a state that voted for Biden and two Democratic Senators because of all the in-migration from California.

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Other Colleges :/

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The NCAA canceled the Baton Rouge Regional of the Women's Golf Championship (so the top 6 seeded teams and top 3 seeded individuals automatically advance) due to concerns about rain damage to the course. It's another unpopular move by the NCAA.

https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2021/05/12/ncaa-womens-golf-baton-rouge-regional-canceled-weather-controversy/

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You have to wonder why there wasn't a better contingency plan for rain in Baton Rogue, or if similar circumstances would ever occur with a men's regional.

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Tempe AZ has run out of Remy Martin. Actually, it's the other way around.

https://twitter.com/GoodmanHoops/status/1392160429816885258

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1738 . . . Remy Gang

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[MBB] Rhode Island hires Todd Bozeman as an assistant coach

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1392448227019005953

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Wow, it's been a long road back for that guy.

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It looks like he doesn't even have a connection to University of California. And the best part is that when he tried to fix it he said "Carolina. Sorry about that". Didn't even add South

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I found it hilarious that his "explanation" was that he plagiarized the speech (I guess from someone delivering the similarly generic message at a UC).

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gosh when you go pass-first and have a porous offensive line, I guess people notice.

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Report on U Michigan doctor who sexually assaulted countless students over THIRTY SEVEN YEARS. Eight students complained and the University did nothing. That doctor is already dead, but it doesn't look good for others.

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/31427345/report-michigan-missed-signs-abusive-doctor

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Cal (Go Bears!)

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去熊!

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Unfortunately I don't think CA DMV will let me put this on my plate.

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So I think you actually don't want to use "go" that way (put 去你的 in Google Translate)

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Google Translate is what gave me that phrase! But thanks for the advice, you being more authoritative than GT. What should one say instead?

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Google Translate wants to put you in sticky situations! I like the phrase of encouragement "add oil," and I'd probably say, "Bear team, add oil!" Maybe Golden Bear team?

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加油熊!

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Other way around. Subject first.

金熊加油! or 金熊队加油!

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Thanks! That phrase I've actually heard of.

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May 12, 2021
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May 12, 2021
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At least you can't out-grow towels. Can't say the same for student section shirts.

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Ire Ursae (vocative case, fyi)

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"The vocative case is used to give a direct address. This can be an order, request, announcement, or something else. This case is often used with the imperative mood, which is used to give an order/command. The word in vocative case is the person being addressed."

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damn...too many letters for a license plate. I'm still trying to figure out a good personalized plate.

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Google translate says...

English - golden bear

Hawaiian - bea gula

Esperanto - ora urso

Not sure if they're already taken.

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I would guess those are availalble.

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I’ve seen states with 8 digits (can’t think of where offhand), so perhaps a move is in order…

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I was thinking maybe I could figure out go bears or golden bear in Chinese but that doesn't really work either.

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AunBear

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I think I tried that. I think it's already taken

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yeah, not too many states allow kanji (not sure the Chinese term...hanji? [looks it up...hanZi]) on their plates! would be cool...you could have complex sentences

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pinyin would be too long as well.

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preemptive go bears i see.

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Today in the Rona

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13 days since my 2nd vaccination, looking forward to the magical 14th day.

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Why is day 14 magical?

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14 days after your 2nd shot you are "fully vaccinated" and you can run naked in the streets again

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I should add that you're not _obligated_ to run naked in the streets.

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Been doing it since shot 1 last month, so I may have jumped the gun...

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Good to know!

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Eggs

I like mine scrambled mostly and really nothing else since I'm a picky eater.

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poached

deviled

salad'd

scrambled

omelette

fried

sunnyside up

fritatta

never had 'em scotched.

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I like all kinds but might draw the line on balut...but I also never had it (I think I have heard that there is no texture difference between it and a hard-boiled egg).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(food)

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frittata

omelet

scrambled (mainly when I was a kid, with Tabasco)

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really nothing else; OTOH my wife doesn't like them AT ALL so I only end up eating them if we go out to brunch.

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Soft boiled

poached

sunny

frittata

over medium

salad'd

scotched

scrambled

deviled

strata

basted

hard boiled

omelet

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Soft boiled

poached

sunny

over medium

salad'd

basted

scotched

deviled

scrambled

stratta

omelet

hard boiled

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fritatta

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hahaha You are the perfect hater.

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I had a stretch where I Would make omelettes with italian sausage, cheese, spinach, and onions. that's about the only way I was eating eggs (in an egg dish).

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I like all of the above depending on mood and application. For instance, avocado toast: avocado must be mashed, bread can't be too thick, sliced hardboiled egg on top, no salad.

I love the soft scrambled eggs with chèvre at La Note, but I also love the quick diner-style scramble as well as two that Terence mentioned (Australia Dairy Company and tomato eggs). I don't love runny omelets, but I do like a runny sunny-side up if I have biscuits and/or potatoes to sop up the yolk. Oh and shakshuka. Poached for salmon benedicts. As a Midwesterner, I love love love deviled eggs (but I don't really like adding relish or anything that makes it tangy, I prefer an emphasis on the smoked paprika note).

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Frittata >>> omelette

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No

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I agree that an omelet is better than a fritatta. Just don't let Mrs Slug hear that.

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Yes

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I was trying to think of my favorite (likely French omelette) but I realized I get rather farty and gassy so I probably prefer no eggs.

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Deviled .. and then everything else is a tie

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Deviled eggs are great. Also like scrambled egg in Hot and Sour Soup.

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Over easy, fried, scrambled, boiled, deviled. I never cared for deviled eggs--I find them bizarre.

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Love a deviled egg, but they're mainly a mayonaise delivery device.

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Over easy, fried, deviled, scrambled, and then boiled. Truth be told, I often start with over ease and then end up with scrambled.

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I'm most likely to end up with scrambled, but over the years I have come to appreciate over easy and poached.

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Scrambled is my favorite, but fried on instant noodles is also excellent.

I think the best scrambled eggs in the world are made in HK diners with Hokkaido milk. Specifically Australia Dairy Company in Jordan. I took Fed and his GF there like 3 or 4 years ago.

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I've also started making Chinese: eggs & tomatoes AND lard cantonese layered eggs. Really fantastic.

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May 12, 2021
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that is OUTSTANDING. I particularly like their "bitch" dancing in front of the green screen. That said, its no JJ Ice Fish

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oh man, Treat Me Like a Pirate is awesome too. "Treat me like a pirate and give me that booooooooooooty"

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