Plovers are a widely distributed group of wading birds belonging to the subfamily Charadriinae. There are about 66 species in the subfamily, most of them called "plover" or "dotterel". Plovers are found throughout the world, with the exception of the Sahara and the polar regions, and are characterized by relatively short bills. They hunt by sight, rather than by feel as longer-billed waders like snipes do. They feed mainly on insects, worms or other invertebrates, depending on the habitat, which are obtained by a run-and-pause technique, rather than the steady probing of some other wader groups. Plovers engage in false brooding, a type of distraction display. Examples include pretending to change position or to sit on an imaginary nest site. - Source: Wikipedia
The above photo is of a golden plover chick and is yet another reason why you should not wander off trails when hiking.
This year Finland is celebrating the centenary of the birth of Tove Jansson, creator of the Moomins, and one of the most successful children's writers ever. Her life included war and lesbian relationships - both reflected by the Moomins in surprising ways.
There is Moomintroll, Moominmamma and Moominpappa - little white trolls who live in Moominvalley, with other fantastical creatures such as the Hattifatteners, Mymbles and Whompers.
Tove Jansson's Moomin books have sold in their millions, and been translated into 44 languages.
Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials, has described her as a genius. Other devotees include Michael Morpurgo, writer of War Horse and dozens of other children's books, and Frank Cottrell Boyce, who scripted the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony.
"I was completely blown away and enchanted," says Boyce, who read Finn Family Moomintroll as a 10-year-old, after discovering the book in a Liverpool library.
"I didn't realise it was set in a real place. I thought she'd made Finland up. Finland was like Narnia, with these incredible characters that were so strange but instantly recognisable because you had met lots of them - noisy Hemulens or neurotic, skinny Fillijonks."
I read the moomins growing up. Now I need to get some for our daughter...I was thinking about them recently – when reading Barbapapa books to her – nice reminder, TBB!
Major bridge in Memphis shutdown due to a shear break in one of the beams. The barge traffic on the Mississippi was also shutdown. I think this was the bridge I took before the Ole Miss game to go to Arkansas, just to say I've been to Arkansas.
He went maga. Also came out as an antimasker, and has little to no understanding how science actually works. Oh, then he up and moved to Wyoming bc his freedumbs were being limited by communist California.
Exactly. This has been my bitter kvetch with the left: you (in the collective sense) don't do enough to embrace the flag. You should not allow the love-it-or-leave-it crowd to define patriotism or the flag.
one time my kids decided to decorate me w/ moss during a break on a hiking trip.
that is now known as the "moss head" photo and i use it as my profile pic whenever i can, especially industry conferences where they don't insist on something more professional looking ...
we have a trip to Glacier NP planned in Aug. it has been a bit since i have been there.
hoping to get some good hikes in.
ideally we would do something up and near the top of the Going-to-the-Sun road. last time i was there in late Jun it wasnt fully open. would also like to be able to ride my bike up and back one day.
My friend suggested hiking from Tuolumne Meadows to Echo Pass this summer. Of course, there isn't a single trail permit out of Tuolumne Meadows for the duration of the summer. He is now suggesting Marble Mountains Wilderness, which I've never been to. No permits required but relatively low elevation which doesn't sound as fun and will be extremely hot.
I have a significant number of friends who are taking advantage of being unemployed, underemployed, freelancers or relatively free wfh who have been ALL OVER national parks since the new year.
It's part of the reason I'm looking at a hybrid SUV when I return to the States next year.
An aggregation of tweets about gas hoarding. Some are forehead slappers. In related news, one colleague said she waited four hours in a Costco gas line.
I passed by several gas stations on my way to pick up dinner last night and they all looked completely normal. Looks like the gas panic hasn't made it north of Baltimore.
that's a little disingenuous, I will be going to collect the older daughter from college next weekend, and that will require at least one refill - but that will be in the family minivan
SGB Jr scheduled for the 28th. We had a hard time finding Pfizer, but Moderna is readily available now with no wait. Guess who got volunteered to go to the 6:30am appointment?
I read the comments in the article and it looks like the negative or the I'll never go to this restaurant comments were people that either would never go in the first place or didn't live in the area. I'd guess the real negative ones were from outside of Utah.
I'm 5 days from M2 becoming street legal and allowing aforementioned running and licking...but gotta wait for Ms. MB89 to get M2 (next Friday) + 2 weeks. the last four days of which will be in PVR
Careful...it's MLB doing the dirty work by giving the A's the green light to look elsewhere for a stadium.
If I'm in Libby Schaaf's shoes, I start playing hardball with the A's because I KNOW they aren't moving to Las Vegas, Portland, Vancouver, Nashville, Charlotte, or Montreal.
Why? Because none of those markets are as lucrative as being in the Bay Area, even if your franchise is not as beloved as the Giants.
And if the A's do move because Schaaf and City Council refuses to break open the piggy bank (what piggy bank?), then the A's were too expensive and John Fisher was too cheap.
I am an A's fan, but f**k these assholes for attempting to pillage the local treasury.
I'm similarly skeptical that any of those other cities are actually viable for MLB right now. Maybe Vegas, just because there might be someone willing to pony up the money to build the stadium there. I think they'd be in a for a rude awakening when not many people are showing up for midweek games and the local TV ratings remain low (because Las Vegas is a pretty small TV market by Major League standards, smaller than Milwaukee). The business model for baseball is VERY different from hockey or football.
Fisher can't raise the money he needs, tries to put the obligation on the city/county. Sad. He bought the team for $180 million in 2005 and now it's valuation is $1.1 billion.
The calling of balls and strikes seems much worse this year than in the last few. Not '90 Braves bad but still at least a couple of balls off the plate, but not consistently. Last night, bases loaded, Betts last night took a ball 1 ball inside which was called a ball, then the next pitch (I think) was 2 balls inside and called a strike.
Kliavkoff: "The solution for elevating Pac-12 football is a combination of addressing structural changes and a more focused approach to recruiting. I’ll be pushing to expand the College Football Playoff.”
Kliavkoff's answer on the conference's greatest weakness: "The number of years it's been since the Pac-12 has won a football or men's basketball championship. We're going to do everything we can at the conference level to fix that."
Kliavkoff with a mic drop closer: "I want to be clear. We know where the bread is buttered. We’re focused on revenue sports and winning in men’s basketball and football.”
And seemingly with little experience in inter-collegiate athletics other than playing them 25 years ago, because that worked out so well with Larry Scott. The leadership of the P12 is pathetically inept.
turns out I'm wrong, after reading the article. He's just a MAGA guy who was installed by the Governor to curry favor with Trump (i.e., an ignorant lazy person, who didn't do the job, and wasn't interested in learning about doing it).
Eid Mubarak!
Tove Jansson: Love, war and the Moomins
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26529309
This year Finland is celebrating the centenary of the birth of Tove Jansson, creator of the Moomins, and one of the most successful children's writers ever. Her life included war and lesbian relationships - both reflected by the Moomins in surprising ways.
There is Moomintroll, Moominmamma and Moominpappa - little white trolls who live in Moominvalley, with other fantastical creatures such as the Hattifatteners, Mymbles and Whompers.
Tove Jansson's Moomin books have sold in their millions, and been translated into 44 languages.
Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials, has described her as a genius. Other devotees include Michael Morpurgo, writer of War Horse and dozens of other children's books, and Frank Cottrell Boyce, who scripted the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony.
"I was completely blown away and enchanted," says Boyce, who read Finn Family Moomintroll as a 10-year-old, after discovering the book in a Liverpool library.
"I didn't realise it was set in a real place. I thought she'd made Finland up. Finland was like Narnia, with these incredible characters that were so strange but instantly recognisable because you had met lots of them - noisy Hemulens or neurotic, skinny Fillijonks."
this is very intriguing. going to check it out.
we have a lot of Swedish children's books, but nothing Finnish
I read the moomins growing up. Now I need to get some for our daughter...I was thinking about them recently – when reading Barbapapa books to her – nice reminder, TBB!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbapapa
I didn't know about Barbapapa...will have to investigate!
Our crumbling infrastructure
Major bridge in Memphis shutdown due to a shear break in one of the beams. The barge traffic on the Mississippi was also shutdown. I think this was the bridge I took before the Ole Miss game to go to Arkansas, just to say I've been to Arkansas.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/13/us/memphis-crack-hernando-de-soto-bridge-thursday/index.html
I took that bridge on my drive from CA to MD. It was a very picturesque introduction to Memphis.
What do the inspirational quote signs say at the DBD Beach House?
First and 10, Do it Again, Go Bears!
Live, Laugh, Lose
fiat lux?
fuck that guy
What actually happened with him? Seems like something really shady.
He went maga. Also came out as an antimasker, and has little to no understanding how science actually works. Oh, then he up and moved to Wyoming bc his freedumbs were being limited by communist California.
Only if we can cleanse it of association with a certain person.
It is sad that things like that, the Gadsden flag, and even the American flag are becoming so associated with the alt right, MAGA and QAnon.
Exactly. This has been my bitter kvetch with the left: you (in the collective sense) don't do enough to embrace the flag. You should not allow the love-it-or-leave-it crowd to define patriotism or the flag.
sounds like I missed a lot of drama as a newcomer to the DBD!
It has a lot more to do with non-DBD drama .. . .and significantly, this person has been highly involved with Cal athletics for 30+ years.
"GBBR"
BEAT LA!
I did think about making this my license plate...
"Avoid costly turnovers."
"Find a good tight end"
"Defend the tight end"
Fly around, real physical.
Obviously PSoCY
PSoCY
Palms of Glory
That was Rome, not Paris....this is Paris, and you're drunk.
We'll win the game
Or know the reason why
ill conceived
Name the Cal Falcons: Marshawn, Aaron, and Jared.
Hiking
+ moss.
one time my kids decided to decorate me w/ moss during a break on a hiking trip.
that is now known as the "moss head" photo and i use it as my profile pic whenever i can, especially industry conferences where they don't insist on something more professional looking ...
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Mn1MF5QYCSZcqjfSA
solid work by your kids IMO
That's a good look for you.
nice!
we have a trip to Glacier NP planned in Aug. it has been a bit since i have been there.
hoping to get some good hikes in.
ideally we would do something up and near the top of the Going-to-the-Sun road. last time i was there in late Jun it wasnt fully open. would also like to be able to ride my bike up and back one day.
also happy to hear suggestions ...
we are staying outside the park this time since we have a group of 10.
i have stayed at the Many Glacier Lodge, that was probably my favorite of all the NP lodges i have been too.
I've been doing some hiking lately because we're in the nice window between cold season and humid/mosquito/tick season.
I always looked forward to the 2-5 weeks in the "spring" before mosquito/humidity season.
My friend suggested hiking from Tuolumne Meadows to Echo Pass this summer. Of course, there isn't a single trail permit out of Tuolumne Meadows for the duration of the summer. He is now suggesting Marble Mountains Wilderness, which I've never been to. No permits required but relatively low elevation which doesn't sound as fun and will be extremely hot.
I have a significant number of friends who are taking advantage of being unemployed, underemployed, freelancers or relatively free wfh who have been ALL OVER national parks since the new year.
It's part of the reason I'm looking at a hybrid SUV when I return to the States next year.
Will be doing more of that since I'm vaccinated.
I should probably do more of that
Go Boids!
Our Crumbling Democracy
EPA report that says humans caused global warning finally released after being supressed by Trump administration for three years.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57095347
Rep Greene confronts Rep Ocasio Cortez, calls her a terrorist supporter
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/greene-ocasio-cortez/2021/05/12/fd61d664-b37e-11eb-a3b5-f994536fe84a_story.html
I really dislike her and she is flying up the ranking of who in congress I would like to punch in the face.
She's number 1 for me.
You know, not for me, she's a truly sad and lonesome woman with zero direction in her life that fell into a cult. She has my pity.
She is odious, and it's even worse now that she has no work to do.
The government using Twitter to pass along useful information? Wh... what world am I living in?
https://twitter.com/SecGranholm/status/1392812249627209731
An aggregation of tweets about gas hoarding. Some are forehead slappers. In related news, one colleague said she waited four hours in a Costco gas line.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/gas-shortage-pictures
I have waited zero hours for gas. I filled up on... Saturday, and I think that should cover me for a couple of weeks.
I passed by several gas stations on my way to pick up dinner last night and they all looked completely normal. Looks like the gas panic hasn't made it north of Baltimore.
In San Diego, we haven’t and probably won’t see any impact from the pipeline shutdown.
that's a little disingenuous, I will be going to collect the older daughter from college next weekend, and that will require at least one refill - but that will be in the family minivan
I got a smog check at a station at Potrero and 17th yesterday around 9am. prob had 6 to 8 pumps with 1~2 cars at any given time while I was waiting.
Today in Covid 19
SGB Jr scheduled for the 28th. We had a hard time finding Pfizer, but Moderna is readily available now with no wait. Guess who got volunteered to go to the 6:30am appointment?
Salt Lake City restaurant, as a private business, requires ID and vaccine card. Then it pretty much goes at you'd expect...
https://www.sltrib.com/artsliving/food/2021/05/12/if-you-want-eat-this/
Didn't sound that bad.
Mormons are mostly quite polite, so unlikely to be too many bricks through the windows, etc.
I read the comments in the article and it looks like the negative or the I'll never go to this restaurant comments were people that either would never go in the first place or didn't live in the area. I'd guess the real negative ones were from outside of Utah.
More than 30% of AR's Covid workplace cases were at one employer: Tyson
https://apnews.com/article/ar-state-wire-arkansas-philanthropy-health-coronavirus-pandemic-6f54f43a7f26cb34b70986a76a972160
I'm so surprised. /sarcasm
taking younger one (14) to get her first shot.
luckily schools are closer for the end of Eid/Ramadan so i can just take her in the middle of the day.
Moderna #2 coming at 5...2 weeks until I can run naked through the streets, licking doorknobs....
I'm 5 days from M2 becoming street legal and allowing aforementioned running and licking...but gotta wait for Ms. MB89 to get M2 (next Friday) + 2 weeks. the last four days of which will be in PVR
Further loosening of mask reqts.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cdc-vaccinated-people-can-now-remove-masks-in-most-group-settings/ar-BB1gHBI1?ocid=msedgntp
Pro
Andrew Vaughn goes yard for the first time
https://twitter.com/whitesox/status/1392653621716783110
What's up with the A's threatening to leave Oakland one day after posting "rooted in Oakland"? It's just ham-fisted negotiation tactics, no?
Careful...it's MLB doing the dirty work by giving the A's the green light to look elsewhere for a stadium.
If I'm in Libby Schaaf's shoes, I start playing hardball with the A's because I KNOW they aren't moving to Las Vegas, Portland, Vancouver, Nashville, Charlotte, or Montreal.
Why? Because none of those markets are as lucrative as being in the Bay Area, even if your franchise is not as beloved as the Giants.
And if the A's do move because Schaaf and City Council refuses to break open the piggy bank (what piggy bank?), then the A's were too expensive and John Fisher was too cheap.
I am an A's fan, but f**k these assholes for attempting to pillage the local treasury.
Yep, this is how I felt about the Chargers as well and why I wasn’t sad to see them leave.
I'm similarly skeptical that any of those other cities are actually viable for MLB right now. Maybe Vegas, just because there might be someone willing to pony up the money to build the stadium there. I think they'd be in a for a rude awakening when not many people are showing up for midweek games and the local TV ratings remain low (because Las Vegas is a pretty small TV market by Major League standards, smaller than Milwaukee). The business model for baseball is VERY different from hockey or football.
Fisher can't raise the money he needs, tries to put the obligation on the city/county. Sad. He bought the team for $180 million in 2005 and now it's valuation is $1.1 billion.
I disagree. He can, he just doesn't want to do what it will take to raise the money. (mortgage/bonds/selling equity).
He should sell. He'd see a handsome profit.
A's defeat Sox 4-1 behind James Kaprielian's first big league start, solo homer by Matt Olson.
Laureano tossed after getting pissed off about a called strike three inches inside
https://twitter.com/NBCSAthletics/status/1392634525679824897?s=19
The calling of balls and strikes seems much worse this year than in the last few. Not '90 Braves bad but still at least a couple of balls off the plate, but not consistently. Last night, bases loaded, Betts last night took a ball 1 ball inside which was called a ball, then the next pitch (I think) was 2 balls inside and called a strike.
robo-umps, plz!
I've also seen pitches fully within the box called balls. As you say, I noticed the calling seems much worse this year.
Dodgers continue their run as the hottest team in baseball over the last two games.
GBBR
GBBR
The public service that is the Mariners.
https://youtu.be/MLCLMEYp9s0
Other College
Ohio State bans and distances itself from a freelancer who was giving rub-and-tugs to the football team
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/31440105/ohio-state-bans-masseuse-inappropriate-behavior-targeting-members-football-team
New Pac-12 Commish finished up his introductory press conference. He sounds focused on elevating national perceptions of the Pac-12.
https://twitter.com/slmandel/status/1392908115264163841
Kliavkoff: "The solution for elevating Pac-12 football is a combination of addressing structural changes and a more focused approach to recruiting. I’ll be pushing to expand the College Football Playoff.”
https://twitter.com/slmandel/status/1392911000773349377
Kliavkoff's answer on the conference's greatest weakness: "The number of years it's been since the Pac-12 has won a football or men's basketball championship. We're going to do everything we can at the conference level to fix that."
https://twitter.com/slmandel/status/1392913387986640897
Kliavkoff with a mic drop closer: "I want to be clear. We know where the bread is buttered. We’re focused on revenue sports and winning in men’s basketball and football.”
I read this as him going to push to do away with 9 conference game schedules.
I hope so. We are eating ourselves as a conference every year when no other conference does it, except the Big12 maybe bc they only have 10 teams …?
For the Big XII (with 10 actual teams) it makes sense: it's a round robin in the scheduling.
For the Pac-12, it's just another game that could trip up a player on the national scene.
I thought the BigXIV was doing it as well? Or at least considering it? Maybe not
[WGolf] Drama at the NCAA regionals
https://golf.com/news/heavy-rain-leads-to-canceled-ncaa-regional-baton-rouge/
[Yahoo Sports] Oliver Luck (Andrew's dad) no longer in running for Pac-12 Commissioner
https://twitter.com/petethamel/status/1392818697828458496?s=21
Multiple sources reporting the next Pac-12 Commissioner will be George Kliavkoff, a sports entertainment executive with MGM Resorts.
1. Fire up Google.
2. Send EMS to 12 AD's offices, where the occupant is in need of administration of oxygen about now.
Why? They were in on the decision.
The Presidents were; I've heard rumblings that the AD's were not looking for this.
its someone no one has ever heard of
And seemingly with little experience in inter-collegiate athletics other than playing them 25 years ago, because that worked out so well with Larry Scott. The leadership of the P12 is pathetically inept.
Remember the U of South Carolina President who misidentified the school as "the University of California"?
He resigned because of that, plus he plagiarized parts of his speech, plus the students did not like him.
https://news.yahoo.com/univ-south-carolina-president-quits-002917727.html
seriously? I'm going to surmise that some substances not approved for using heavy machinery were involved.
turns out I'm wrong, after reading the article. He's just a MAGA guy who was installed by the Governor to curry favor with Trump (i.e., an ignorant lazy person, who didn't do the job, and wasn't interested in learning about doing it).
Cal
Go Bears!!