162 Comments

https://twitter.com/MineralDisk/status/1395196714680782849?s=20

@MineralDisk: My gf said some dude came by the library today and returned a Bob Dylan LP he checked out in the 70s that’s now 40 years overdue. He said “it wasn’t a very good album”

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That's funny.

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The food here is terrible! And the portions are too small!

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An interesting interview of a Georgetown law professor became a reserve police officer for several years to walk a mile in their shoes.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22396314/american-policing-law-enforcement-reform-rosa-brooks

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Maryland changed the EZPass website and I am about to have a fucking stroke trying to access it in order to update my account settings. Absolute overkill on identity management.

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I haven't tried the new site and don't plan to try unless something in my account breaks and they send me a letter/bill.

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My credit card for topping up my balance had expired, and it all went downhill from there.

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Worker shortage

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Perhaps we've all heard some of the key arguments why there's a worker shortage - from disincentives from stimmy checks and unemployment benefits, to dislocation of low wage workers to cheaper places to ride out Covid, to jobs growth coming primarily from low-wage areas, to workers being unvaccinated, and other reasons.

I just had an interesting conversation with a business owner, who was closing early because he had to go do his main day job because he couldn't find cafe staff. In his view, there is this giant temporary workforce of European summer vacationers who come to America to hang out in a fun place for a summer and work illegally doing front-of-house retail work to offset the cost of their stay. He implied that nobody goes after white illegal workers, so it used to be a reliable source of seasonal labor. But Europeans are banned from coming to the US. That's 14+ million Europeans no longer coming to the US. Combined with a dry-up of temporary summer housing due to Covid staycationing, you've got no mobile seasonal workers.

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interesting

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Some years back I went to a meeting at a resort in Big Sky, Montana. Seemed like all the workers were young light-skinned adults from other countries.

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On my other internet community, a friend's family owns a hot spring resort in Montana, and we were just planning today to have a big group trip in 2022!

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where is this resort. we are going to MT in Aug

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acknowledging that MT is a VERY BIG place.

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It's called Quinn's

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Went to Big Sky for a conference back in 2004 I think.

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most of the camp staff at our daughter's sleepaway camp are all young 20-something yr olds from Europe. they say they are going to open as normal, but presumably have a lot more staff from US this year

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I completely believe that nobody typically asks - one of the ways I knew the Trump admin was going wild about immigrants was that they started deporting Irish folks from Boston.

There are actually seasonal work visas as well - a lot of resorts & such get lifeguards and such from that pool, as do summer camps in the northeast.

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Interesting. This would not have occurred to me.

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Five months ago they imploded a nearby Holiday Inn to make way for a high rise residential building and a new hotel/conference center. Work has been progressing but as I ran by this morning I noticed the fence around the site has a big sign "buscando empleados."

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@I'm surprised the pure free-market crowd isn't up in arms about how easily this could be solved by raising wages@

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it's a puzzler, to be sure.

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DBD AV Club

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Watched Imposters (Netflix) on a recordation. S1 is 16/19. S2 is 11/19 (but it ends kinda well). It's Ocean's-y...comedic scams.

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Love, Death, + Robots (S2). None of them are bad. Most are really really good for different reasons. 17/19 WB. Pop Squad, Snow in the Desert, and Automated Customer Service were my favorites

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Star Trek TNG S7E2 - Liaisons

(what i was watching while waiting for the Warriors game to start at 1000p ET)

Worf is complaining to Data that the alien ambassador is "demanding, temperamental, and rude"

Data tells Worf he has "all of those qualities in abundance"

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Carrots

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Pickled carrots are how I first started liking pickles

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The Chinese version ones you get at restaurants?

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No, but those are good, too! The pickled carrots at Tartine.

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Because I am an older single man I have decided to get into pickling things the last two years. I haven't made carrots yet, but the radishes i just throw onto sandwiches and tacos. It's great.

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Just don't pickle yourself, ifyouknowwhatImean.

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... are my "not so secret" ingredient in a good homemade Italian tomato sauce

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Isn't diced carrots a traditional ingredient in a bolognese sauce?

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yes, but i put it in all sort of sauce recipes, but i guess that is why it is not-so-secret

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They are.

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My favorite hot sauce is Marie Sharp's from Belize. It has a carrot juice base, which adds a sweet element that really balances out the acids, salt, and heat.

https://www.amazon.com/Marie-Sharps-Hot-Sauce-Pack/dp/B001A39KIY/ref=asc_df_B001A39KIY/

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I tried to grow carrots in my raised garden. They were super short, thin, and tasted like pine. I told my friend at the farmers' market this and she said that carrots need lots of sand to drain away water, citing that they need an incentive to grow down and want to store water in their root. If you give them enough water, they'll focus their growth in their greens.

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They're fine raw, but I do not like them cooked. They're too sweet and mushy when cooked.

Also power rankings of carrots by color: 1) purple, 2) orange, 3) yellow

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I'm the opposite. I like cooked carrots.

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Cooked carrots in pot roast are great. Also, in beef bourguignon.

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I heartily endorse this view since I only this evening had leftover pot roast with onions, potato, and carrots.

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Yes, cooked carrots in any kind of stew are excellent.

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That is an instance when I like cooked carrots, mostly because they absorb all the wonderful flavors of everything else they've been cooked in.

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Whoa, they do not have to be mushy when cooked. The wife lightly roasts baby heirloom carrots and they are al dente.

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I chicken fat braise carrots with gochujang, garlic, ginger and a splash of both soy sauce and fish sauce. Amazing

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OOOooooOOOoooo that sounds good.

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Carrot Cake

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It's weird to shill for a large food service corporation, but Levy Restaurants (cater for Staples Center, Toyota Center, Chase Center) make the best carrot cake I've ever eaten.

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vegetables don't belong in cake...

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As long as there aren't raisins.

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I don't understand this anti-raisin bias.

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Agreed

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a sufficient amount of cream cheese frosting should mask the raisins

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but the texture...

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Cream cheese frosting is good on everything! Cinnamon rolls, carrot cake, red velvet, whatever else. . .

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Cooked raisins in desserts...yuck!

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You've never had custard with raisins, I take it.

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County

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The chart above is staggering. Obviously we need some new form of representation. Red states, with minimal populations have too much power.

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I was trying to find SF's shape, but can't. Maybe at 800k we're smaller than I think?

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5th row, 2nd from left I think. Treasure Island off the NE corner is a pretty good indicator.

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good eye! totally glossed over that.

I wasn't expecting TI, so that prob threw me off.

4D-1A looks like New Jersey (altho maybe flipped on its y-axis? As a born-and-bred SF native, I can't recognize most other states...in the same way that Americans can't recognize other countries)

But that would presume that NJ is all one county, which (1) is very unlikely and (2) if it were, would prob put it further up the page ;-)

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in Ireland it seems that a county still truly means something, but perhaps it is small enough that it is not divided into states/provinces and other meaningful subdivisions.

my favorites are Wicklow and Galway, although that mostly means that those are the ones i have spent the most time in.

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I think of counties in Europe as being equivalent to states in the US.

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I think of Japan's prefectures. Kinda like states, but because Honshu is about the size of California with the number of prefectures being similar to the number of CA counties (I think), they are more like counties. And small.

Maybe like northeast states? Having lived my whole US life in the Bay Area – where it's 3.5 hours to the nearest border – I'm unaware of what life is like in (say) Rhode Island, where you walk a few blocks and cross a few borders.

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Yips

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I could not imagine trying to learn to throw with my left hand while in high school.

I got a case of the yips while throwing to No 1's team in the case. And then once when I was warming him up in a camp. Just something in my head and the ball came out funny from my hand.

Then with No 3 I changed a little bit how I threw in the cage to the boys and it fixed it. Also they were in a coach pitch tournament 8 years old (was a fundraiser for a kid) and I had to pitch on Sunday since the head coach was gone and I was so worried. Came out OK and no bad pitches. Won the tournament and had a few HRs hit off me.

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I think Billy Wagner famously only started to throw with his left hand because he broke his right hand in HS and turned out to be a potential Hall of Fame worthy reliever (don't think he's getting enough support to get in now...but probably via the Veterans committee in the future).

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I mean if you can throw high 80s or low 90s as a lefty with a good breaking pitch you can pitch in the MLB. I should've taught No 3 to throw lefty.

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Today in Covid

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Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA) signs bill into law that prevents local governments and public schools from requiring masks.

https://www.kcci.com/article/legislators-pass-bill-banning-schools-local-governments-from-requiring-masks/36482850

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They should think even bigger and simply pass a bill outlawing the virus entirely. It would be just as effective.

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The party of small government, everyone.

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JFC. So will they offer online schooling for the families who don't want their kids exposed?

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Somehow I doubt it

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They really are a bunch of idiots.

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[Morning Consult poll]: More than half of unvaccinated Americans are fine resuming normal life without masks, vs. about one-third of vaccinated folks. This is in line with past polls and alternate polling organizations.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/05/18/unvaccinated-americans-twice-as-likely-to-feel-comfortable-ditching-masks-poll-finds-as-mandates-lift/

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Elsewhere in college

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Ranking the top 25 Power Five college football coaches entering the 2021 season

CBS Sports ranked every college football coach in the Power Five conferences from 1-65

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/2021-college-football-coach-rankings-acc-sec-leaders-undergo-shifts-among-power-five-coaches-ranked-65-26/

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They haven't released the top-25 coaching rankings, but Cristobal, Shaw, Whittingham, and Edwards are among the top-25.

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Shaw has slipped down the list considerably from his previous top ten ranking for years.

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Guess where Wilcox appears

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About right...Wilcox’s troubling penchant for taking the air out of the ball & consistently sitting on 2nd half leads put a ceiling on him for now.

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His "system" relying on defense and then running out the clock only will achieve its potential when we have dominant players, otherwise we are going to be looking at middle-of-the-road finishes for years.

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Not great, not terrible.

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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Maryland repeals Confederate era song as state's official song. State may consider others sung to the tune of traditional Christmas music. Or perhaps songs the celebrate that the state's official sport of jousting.

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/20/983057655/maryland-repeals-state-song-that-called-lincoln-a-tyrant

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The 'QAnon Shaman's' lawyer blames autism for his client's Jan. 6 actions. Here's how wrong he is.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/qanon-shaman-s-lawyer-blames-autism-his-client-s-jan-ncna1267920

For instance, Albert Watkins, the lawyer for Jacob Chansley, the self-described QAnon shaman who is facing charges for his role in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, is now saying that his client’s supposed Asperger’s syndrome should play a factor in the disposition of his case.

“A lot of these defendants — and I’m going to use this colloquial term, perhaps disrespectfully — but they’re all f------ short-bus people,” Watkins told Talking Points Memo. “These are people with brain damage, they’re f------ retarded, they’re on the goddamn spectrum."

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I know some autistic people. They have not tried to overturn an election, violently.

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District judge allows State of New York to join existing $2.75m civil case against Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman. This is on top of several criminal cases they have been charged with across several states.

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/federal-judge-lets-new-york-attorney-general-try-to-sue-jacob-wohl-and-jack-burkman-for-2-75-million/

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Trump, even in exile, is the Republican Party’s cash cow

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/20/trump-republican-party-cash-cow-489715

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Emphasis on cow

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PRO

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Kevin Gausman and Buster Posey lead Giants to 3-hit shutout win

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2021/5/19/22444953/san-francisco-giants-reds-kevin-gausman-buster-posey

I could do it. Should I do it? I think I’ll do it.

Here’s the start of the recap I posted for the San Francisco Giants 6-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, that I then copied and pasted into the start of the recap for the Giants 4-2 win over the Reds on Tuesday.

It still applies for today for the Giants 4-0 win over the Reds on Wednesday.

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Gausman doesn't have the name, but he's in the early conversation for NL Cy Young....should be 6-0 as well.

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<spoiler> Giants just scored seven in the top of the 3rd. No outs. </spoiler>

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Thanks for the tip! Final score 19-4. zowie.

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Dodgers rally off Diamondbacks gloves to win 3rd straight game

https://www.truebluela.com/2021/5/19/22445021/dodgers-rally-diamondbacks-glove-work-winning-streak

The Dodgers’ hit-it-to-the-outfield strategy worked wonders in the seventh inning, rallying for three runs in a 4-2 win over the Diamondbacks on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

The rally began with a pair of walks to start the seventh, the first off Taylor Clarke and the second off Joe Mantiply. Then the weirdness started.

Pinch-hitter Albert Pujols lofted a fly ball into short right field that clanged off first baseman Pavin Smith’s glove for a single to load the bases, the first pinch hit for Pujols since September 5, 2009, when he homered off Matt Capps in Pittsburgh.

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ICYMI: White Sox player breaks an unwritten rule of hitting HR off 3-0 pitch from a position player. Lots of different opinions.

https://twitter.com/wsxmatt/status/1394486371247607809

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I can't fathom being able to hit a ball reliably with a bat, much less controlling HOW I hit that ball with the bat. (I realize that these are professionals.)

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TLR looked at the Padres manager last year when he slammed Tatis for hitting a home run on 3-0 and said, how can I top that in stupidity?

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Hold my beer....wait a minute...

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This guy has the right response: "Lmao people crying about “unwritten rules”. Don’t be down by a million. Simple."

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That offsets breaking the unwritten rule about not throwing 47mph pitches over the plate.

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Greinke, Stros shut down A's 8-1. Rookie Luis Barrera makes first major league appearance for the A's, catching two fly balls in the ninth.

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Steph hits ridiculous 3 pointer at end of half

Lebron hits ridiculous 3 pointer to end the game

Steph's shot was more entertaining but Lebron's mattered more ...

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Other than Steph & maybe Dray on D, none of these W’s consistently make championship level plays in crunch time...Wiggins muffs a beautiful pass for an easy layup late, and Poole bricks a wide open corner 3 that woulda been a dagger...Mulder shouldnt even be on the court. They try hard, but are right about where they should be... an 8 seed, at best.

Myers hasn’t done much to strengthen this roster...

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There wasn't much room to improve beyond adding Wiggins and Oubre and hoping that Wiseman would be a star right out of the gate. Then the injury bug hit hard. They would have been much stronger had Oubre, Wiseman and D Lee been available for the game. An eight seed is probably right for the team's current state.

But yes, sloppy passes, missing open threes and getting into foul trouble early in the 3rd were major factors in the loss. They probably aren't getting past the first round if they get in at 8, since Utah will be healthy. They would have had a better chance against the Suns IMHO.

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I'm actually fine with the Jazz instead of Suns. But gotta "sweep" Memphis first. The loss gets the Dubs another home game, so some $$ there ;-)

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They lost it by getting sloppy after halftime. Too many unforced errors allowed the Lakers to get back in the game.

Also some brutal calls against them near the end, but they didn't have to be in that position.

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With only 8 guys in the rotation, the starters played a lot of minutes. Green and Curry were both over 40.

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i thought the 3rd Q sloppiness was the downfall as well. to the Lakers credit, they played better D and scored on nearly every fast break chance they got.

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With Klay taking up so much salary and being hurt all year hurt the Warriors. Harder to pick up good players I would guess.

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Well, it's tough to sign FA's, but you have to draft better than Myers does...lots of whiffs...

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I'd say that McCaw was a win (not sure what went on with him/why he left), as was Bell. They each had a good ±year. And they were late 1st, mid 2nd. So "serviceable" isn't bad. Poole is shining. Mannion has moments. Wiseman??? We'll see, but I think it was a "safe" pick and filled a need better than Edwards or Bell.

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I'm glad they went with Wiseman over LaMelo, but this injury is devastating for his development, and he lacks basketball instincts, esp. on the defensive end. He's been able to get away on talent alone his whole life and with the pandemic & now the knee, he'll probably be playing catch-up for the first 3-4 years of his career. Unfortunately, the guy that really would've helped them the most, Halliburton, they couldn't take at 2....

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I'm hopeful that Klay's return and a full offseason of developing Wiseman will provide a huge boost next season. Maybe not a 1-2 seed, but 3-4 seems reasonable.

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I think that team has done what it could with the salary limits. Mulder, while not great, does still his some nice 3s (which is more than Wanamaker or Bowman or Casspi could). Having Damion or Oubre in there would help, if for no other reason than to give others a breather. If not last night, then over the last few weeks.

My concern with Wiseman is that he (once again) will be missing Summer League (and part of training camp?). After minimal college play. So raw...and so little chance to play.

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Exactly!! This injury could have an even worse impact on his development than only playing 3 games at Memphis.

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Klay means a ton to this team. Another big scoring threat opposite Steph opens everything up. With him they aren't the favorite exactly, but should at least be a viable contender.

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The supporting cast gained a ton of experience this year. Even if they lose on Friday (they won't), the last couple of weeks have essentially be playoff games for them.

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Those Western Conference play-in games were much more interesting than the Eastern Conference ones. It's too bad the Dubs game had to start so late.

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I made it through the first half then went to bed.

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Same. I was unpleasantly surprised when I saw the final score this morning.

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They lost this game in the 3Q

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yeah...super sloppy! So frustrating!

I was watching a delayed recording (about 30~60 minutes) and noticed halfway thru the 4th that the game might go beyond the time allotted by ESPN. So I paused the game to go add SPortsCenter to the queue, but when I did, LiveTV showed me someone opining on the Lakers win.

So, the result got spoiled, but I didn't have to get tortured watching the end...

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Do you mean the first play at the plate? I think with the new rules the catcher is not allowed to block the plate unless the throw takes him there, which in this case it doesn't. Which means the catcher needs to give the runner a way to touch the plate, which I think he does, barely. The bottom left corner of the plate. So I think this is a valid play. He shifts his left knee covering the top left corner of the plate and leaves the bottom left of the plate open and puts his glove there.

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No, the play I questioned wasn't in that link. This is the play I was trying to point out.

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/video/davey-martinez-gets-ejected

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yeah that seems to be a shit call. He's on the line until the last minute so he doesn't run Rizzo over. Had he kept running on the line it would've been runner's interference due to running Rizzo over.

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I disagree.

Turner should have been in the runner's lane; he wasn't. Therefore, he's out.

Running down the line because that was part of the basepath is not a defense in this situation.

A batter/runner cannot be called out for running in the designated runner's lane unless, in doing so, he *knowingly* interferes with the fielding of a batted or thrown ball. In this case, Turner could not have knowingly interfered because the throw was from behind him.

Running down the line is not running in the designated runner's lane. The lane exists precisely because it's intended to simplify the running choices of batter/runners and provide safety for first basemen in fielding for the most common play in baseball - a play at first..

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While he wouldn't have knowingly known the ball was thrown to his right, Rizzo was standing with his foot on the base and slightly in foul territory and he would've run into him if he ran on the baseline, which is to the right side of the base, wouldn't he? He was in the runner's lane and if he stayed on the foul line he would've run Rizzo over and it would be runners interference.

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The Dodgers game had an instance of the Dbacks batter either bunting or getting a hit right down the 1st base line, and running well inside the baseline on the grass and getting hit with the throw. the manager got thrown out for arguing about it but it was pretty clear he was inside the baselines.

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And holy shit Soto crushed the ball at the 3 min mark.

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he is so fun to watch.

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DC announced Nats could go to 100% capacity starting June 10 so hope to get out to see him and the rest of the team sometime this summer.

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CAL

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Go Bears!!!

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May 20, 2021Liked by SGBear

I was running on the C&O Canal towpath this morning and a big snapping turtle had made its way out of the canal and was on the edge of the path. A couple minutes after I passed it I came upon a couple and their dog walking in the direction of the turtle. I stopped to give them a heads up and noticed the woman was wearing a Cal visor. Turns out both had gone to Cal. As I was getting ready to start running again all three of us exchanged "Go Bears."

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