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Gary Larson published 3 new Far Side cartoons, his first in 25 years

https://www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/115/taxidermist

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The Ivy League has canceled Fall sports due to Covid.

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A friend on my other internet community is married to someone who makes car videos. Not really being a gadget person, I haven't watched any of them, but they just got a Miata to work on, so this may be of interest to HeyAlumniGo: https://youtu.be/GBS68qBbrKQ

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Oh this looks interesting. Thanks. I'll check it out. Since it's a special edition that is clean I want to keep it as stock as possible, but I've updated to LED headlights. Other than maybe the wheels and tires, I'll probably only change other things as they break. Maybe a less restrictive muffler when that goes.

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Elsewhere in college

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Stanfurd demotes 11 of their 36 varsity sports.

[Nervous laughter]

https://twitter.com/schwartzsteins/status/1280910736714272768

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@what sports are the fake athletes going to play now to get in to Furd?@

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TIL synchronized swimming exists at a collegiate level

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LSU gets natty rings. Well, 3 rings...

https://twitter.com/CodyWorsham/status/1280639539141197825

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New DIII logos. Alert slugs, Workout Bro Slug is retired.

https://imgur.com/a/vRxdNxw

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Michigan fan here

Harbaugh makes me wish I was an Ohio State fan

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Because he can't beat them or because of what he says?

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Haha, that was just me copying somebody tweet, I'm not a Michigan fan (even though I always want them to win against tOSU)

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We welcome you. Your initiation is the burning of one couch.

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does a futon count?

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Fine, but you'll have to jump into Mirror Lake to make up the difference.

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Just being smart about coaching a sport doesn't make you smart about anything else.

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Number of 'rona cases at other Pac-12 athletics:

Colorado: 2 (football)

Arizona: 1 (no sport mentioned in any below)

Cal: 3

Oregon State: 1

Washington: 3

WSU: 0

USC: 2

Not reported: ASU, Oregon, 'furd, UCLA, Utah

Meanwhile, at New Mexico State: 27, Baylor 23, LSU (less than 30)

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UNC: 37

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Alright ima say it, I’m more confident about this season now. I’m basing this off my boy nascar driver Jimmie Johnson getting diagnosed with COVID and then subsequently beating it in 5 days by testing double negative and being cleared to return to the track. Mind you this is a great example since the type of shape he’s in would “resemble” the dedication a CFB player has in conditioning. It seems to me the players should be relatively fine (knock on wood for everyone) should they contract it, which would make my only worry for the coaches like Cutcliffe at Duke and Mack at UNC (bias aside). Of course there are examples like Freddie Freeman disproving things like this but I’m open to any and all intake on this and the current world of nascar (roller coaster of emotions for a 13 year fan like myself).

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Or his first test was a false positive. I haven't read his story so I don't know if he had the symptoms or not.

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He was asymptomatic but his wife had it so I assume it wasn’t a false positive however we never know with this mess

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Unusual museum that you have visited

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Some other kind of fun ones I've been to:

Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad.

https://www.museumofmakingmusic.org/

Pop culture museum in Baltimore:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geppi%27s_Entertainment_Museum

(Apparently now closed and the collection moved to the Library of Congress.)

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A pipe museum in Amsterdam. Three floors of all means of smoking your plant of choice.

https://www.pipemuseum.nl/index.php?hm=2&sm=1&th=5&dbm=0&fi=0&p=0

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The Maritime Museum in the Fisherman’s Garden in Hellisandur (Iceland)

I think - if I’m getting the name right - the Museum Speelklok in Utrecht on a school trip (but I’m not 100% sure of this, it would be just like the Dutch to have more than one outdoor organ museum) and also the Philips Museum in Eindhoven.

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I stayed at the Art Hotel in Eindhoven (I think that's what it was called) that is in the old Philips light factory. It was pretty cool. Most of the rooms were all concrete walls and floors with rugs I think. Stayed true to the factory look.

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There are some cool apartment buildings in Amsterdam that are former factory buildings, it’s fun to see them get repurposed that way.

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Medieval Crime and Justice Museum in Rothenberg, Germany, which includes displays of torture devices. We went on our honeymoon!

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For ideas?

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https://tenor.com/ZSSV.gif

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One of the few times I knew what the link was before clicking.

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Kit Carson museum in Taos, New Mexico. Completely random, wasn't looking for it, stumbled upon it, really a shoe-string operation in his house in Taos.

http://www.kitcarsonmuseum.org/

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I went to the Roswell UFO Museum. It was exactly what you think it is.

https://www.roswellufomuseum.com/

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In a similar vein, I've been to the museum in Los Alamos that is mostly about nuclear energy and whatnot. The museum is perfectly fine from a factual standpoint, but some of the docents seemed a LITTLE too enthusiastic to tell you how much they knew about A-bombs.

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That was a weird one. Like “here’s the office where people checked in to get driven to Los Alamos and here’s a smoldering crater!” With very little acknowledgment that the smoldering crater might be ethically challenging

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We've been there as well, I get what you're saying, but it didn't offend me.

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I wouldn't say I was offended, just occasionally weirded out.

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I watched the Netflix Unsolved Mysteries reboot and saw the Berkshires UFO episode... Kind of surprising that that incident didn't get more pub. The accounts are consistent and seemed pretty credible.

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i have been to that one too. i "lived" in Ft Sumner, NM for 3 months and there is not much to do in those parts.

i enjoyed just driving thru the town as well

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I think they moved the really cool stuff to Area 51?

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You can also stop by for a burger at this joint...

http://www.littlealeinn.com/

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Not super unusual but the Pergamon Museum in Berlin has a whole exhibit where they reconstructed the Pergamon Altar and the Ishtar Gate of Babylon. If I remember they used parts from the original and duplicated the rest. It is pretty cool.

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are you sure 9500 sq ft will be enough for you?

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oh nice. Love the kitchen. Unfortunate it's in Dooks backyard.

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That’s a lot of house and yard

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Picture of house stairwell that was not included in its property listing

https://filmdaily.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/1-stairs.jpg

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To be clear, this is the house from "The Staircase" on Netflix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvv97sCcruY

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Today in Karen'ing

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Update: Martinez couple arrested. Also, additional information that describes the simmering racial tensions in Martinez

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2020/07/07/martinez-pair-charged-with-hate-crime-in-mural-defacement/

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SF initiates bill to reduce calling 911 for prejudicial purposes

https://twitter.com/RobBontaCA/status/1280651331330387969

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open/closed ... from one of the universally favorite TNG episodes

"Temba, his arms wide/open" – signifying a gift

"Kiteo, his eyes closed" – refusal to understand

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Tamarian_language

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That one was good (After reading the wiki) - Jack Vance wrote a sci-fi book "The Languages of Pao" about changing a world's cultural outlook by teaching it a new language.

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One of my favorite TNG episodes as well.

We used to do pun team names using rostered players in my fantasy baseball league, and my favorite one ever was "Darmok and Jalad, at Tanaka".

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Tremendous!

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I remember that one. That was a long time ago.

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Today in CV19

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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This feels like a good anti-Trump ad to me, but I'm not the target audience so who knows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nytBEWbwOkw

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Not directly related to government or anything, but the little brouhaha over a Harper's Weekly letter on free speech is breaking my brain a little bit.

https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/harpers-letter/

https://www.newsweek.com/author-jennifer-finney-boylan-recants-cancel-cultureletter-jk-rowling-1516235

The letter itself really doesn't say anything particularly offensive, as far as I can tell. It's pretty anodyne. I guess you could argue it's unnecessary for precisely that reason. But it seems like it got tagged as "offensive" and transphobic because J.K. Rowling also signed her name to it. Again, the letter says absolutely nothing about trans people, so the charge seems a little too "guilt by association" for my tastes.

Then there's this from a trans author at Vox who is disappointed in Matt Yglesias for signing the letter.

https://twitter.com/emilyvdw/status/1280580388495097856

Again, not sure I get how the letter itself is transphobic aside from having Rowling as one of many signatories, but in and of itself I think airing her concerns is fine. Some others have accused her of trying to threaten Yglesias's career, which she very specifically did not do. On the other hand, she also shared this as part of her reasoning, which seems a bit nuts to me:

https://twitter.com/LLW902/status/1280547024014905346

So if you add a bunch of stuff to the letter it now becomes transphobic, I guess? This is the argument?

Yeah, I dunno, brain broken. I can't believe people are arguing so much about this. I fully support trans rights, but the online conversation about it can get way overheated, this time truly on both sides.

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Hmm I appreciate Malcolm Gladwell's perspective in the LA Mag article you linked: “I signed the Harpers letter because there were lots of people who also signed the Harpers letter whose views I disagreed with. I thought that was the point of the Harpers letter.”

I think this is a bit disingenuous: After the letter was published, Williams tweeted, “This Open Letter is a signal of support to those who have felt isolated or unable to express themselves freely without fear of reprisal."

I read that as, "Poor me, I feel unable to express myself in Harpers and the New York Times." Gosh, life is so hard when you have the reach and backing of those platforms.

Also: https://twitter.com/AlishaGrauso/status/1280632655382339590?s=20

@AlishaGrauso: Cancel culture has always existed, it's just that it's historically punched down at women & people of color who dared rise above their station. It wasn't until it started punching up at powerful white men (and some white women) that it suddenly became a problem. Weird, right?

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Re: Grauso's statement, you could say exactly the same about police brutality. Is it a problem that white people are now starting to turn their attention to that?

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Huh?

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I'm not sure I understand what you're saying.

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Seeing white protesters also attacked seems to have played a role in turning white voters' opinions against police.

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Generally, police officers aren't elected, so I think it's a bit weird to talk about "turning white voters' opinions against the police."

Are you asking if Grauso would say that it's problematic that white people didn't care about police brutality until white people were harmed by police brutality?

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A problem is still a problem, whichever direction.

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Yeah, I mean, I think you either have principles or you don't. If you believe in free speech then you also have to sometimes support it for people you don't like.

I get that hate speech that incites violence is not in the same category, but this letter isn't anywhere near that.

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I think the real objection to the letter is that the letter seems to be 'people with privilege complaining about being held accountable for their statements and positions', not possibly real problems with 'cancel culture'.

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Perhaps, though on the other hand you've got people like Salman Rushdie on there who actually do have experience with living under oppression and having their lives threatened.

That's the thing, the language in the letter is so broad that I fail to see a good reason to take offense.

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I think a lot of the letter has to do with people being way too online (myself included) - the signatories are all people who still have major platforms but who have been heavily criticized for having opinions, JKR's transphobia, Matty Ilgaisas wandering towards alt-rightness and also having been shitty to women.

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What will you be wearing so we can look for you?

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I'll be the guy wearing a bathing suit, flip flops, and a quarantine buzz-cut in front of a VRBO rental house on Bald Head Island, NC.

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"By registering for this event, you understand and expressly acknowledge that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present. In attending the event, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19, and waive, release, and discharge Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; Portsmouth International Airport at Pease; or any of their affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, or volunteers from any and all liability under any theory, whether in negligence or otherwise, for any illness or injury."

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I used a Google Voice number. And my name is Christian Meangul.

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nice.

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Today in "I don't responsibility at all"

https://twitter.com/EvanHandler/status/1280633973442371585

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Lt. Col Vindman leaving military citing retaliation & harassment. Somewhere out there, an employment lawyer is licking his chops.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/08/politics/vindman-retiring-alleged-white-house-retaliation/index.html

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The thin veil is off. Trump/DeVos demand schools open in fall

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/08/trump-schools-reopening-federal-funding-352311

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This is a shitty way to try to accomplish this ("demanding" schools reopen or else you'll withhold funding? Come on), but they do have a point in the oncoming economic disaster for working families who either can't afford to take time off to stay home or can't afford to keep paying for childcare. And of course there are the negative effects on kids being kept home from school as well.

I dunno man, I'd probably send my kid to school if it was open. He's 5 years old and mildly autistic. I think he needs in-person education and socialization to help his brain develop; staying home with his mom distracted with our 1-year-old and me having to work is not good for him at all. I understand there is a risk of spreading the disease, but it's not clear to me how much young kids can spread COVID so I'll take the risk.

Again, that's not to say I think the Trump/DeVos policy is sound. It's not. It's all stick and no carrot.

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I think a lot of younger kids would benefit from in person education - there’s certainly good arguments for it. But you’re quite right about the politics of it.

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I watched some of the press conference while I was having lunch. These people live in a fantasy land where children don't pass covid onto their parents and where school districts haven't been chronically underfunded for decades.

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If social distancing still has to be maintained, which seems likely until at least around the end of the calendar year under even the most fortunate progress with vaccines, most schools don't have the infrastructure or the staffing to do it. There isn't enough classroom space, nearly enough busses in most cases, cafeteria seating, restrooms, teachers (double shifting helps with infrastructure, but requires more staffing), janitors, locker room space, you name it. And by an order of multiple magnitudes. Even if there were unlimited funding (there isn't), there isn't time to build the facilities and train staffing (if there were enough trainable staff available; there isn't). And would it be worth it for what is still going to be a temporary situation, even if in the worst case this drags on for another year or two? All that build-up would than have to be maintained.

I saw the Secretary of Education (cabinet level) touting the company line, and it is and was so ridiculous, even if you agree with the principal of in person instruction. There are people calling for things they have no concept of the logistics of accomplishing, and shredding any credibility they might otherwise have had in the process.

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I saw just enough of the press conference to see Pence asked what the actual plan was for the schools with reference to logistics. From word one he avoided the question and I tuned away.

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It’s amazing how obvious it is that nobody in this administration- and frankly it’s rare in most groups of elected politicians- have ever actually *run* something. I don’t mean like “oh we need a business president” or whatever, just someone who appreciates the logistics of it all.

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Its definitely not just the federal administration; we have a state government that couldn't be a darker shade of blue, and one of the persisting problems even before current events exacerbated it have been people making both policy and tactical decisions without any real understanding of either the consequences of their decisions, or what will actually work.

It really points out that when voting for someone, its not just their philosophical/political views that need to be considered; their actual competencies are at least as important. Its like a management level job interview; we are hiring someone to run things where we really care about outcomes.

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In California we also have an issue with a ballot-initiative system that allows the leaders and decision-makers to easily avoid responsibility and outsource their decisions to the people. But average people can't very well weigh one priority versus another; if it sounds good in the moment, they'll vote for it (see: SF-to-LA bullet train).

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Yepppppp, a shocking number of people don't seem to get this.

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Study shows that students fare 11.8% better in standardized tests when they don't inadvertently kill their parents/grandparents via pandemic.

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Who didn't see this coming?

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I guess they thought this might revive their electoral fortunes

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MIT and Harvard suing over the removal of foreign students https://twitter.com/aslavitt/status/1280863494011867136?s=21

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The economic impact of disallowing H-1B's is very significant and will hamper innovation, and thereby capital formation.

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A tweet for every occasion:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/633695559900073984

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He’s consistently inconsistent

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Ah, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones Impression That I Get approach to COVID testing...

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What a maroon.

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"This is the greatest nation on earth founded on Judeo-Christian Principles. One of those principles is that we are all created in the image and likeness of God. That image is seen the most by our face. I will not wear a mask."

By that logic, shouldn't he be naked and resist government efforts to enforce clothes wearing?

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Adds a certain layer of pathos to Barrón likely having a learning disability that probably was the trigger for trump becoming an anti vaxxer

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So, one of my best friend's good friend (don't all good anecdotes start this way?) has a child who was at school with Barron in NYC. Said Melania was an involved and very pleasant mother, and Barron is def autistic.

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My daughter fences with a couple of kids who go to Barron’s school here and word is that he’s not his father's biggest fan. The assumption is that he’s living with Melania’s parents who are set up not so far from the school, which would also explain why you don’t see him at the White House very often.

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Also, he's got good holdup play, if the videos are to believed. He's still listed as a DC United elite youth player, I htink

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and gives M a good reason to absent the WH also.

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PRO

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What is worth more Cal's stadium retrofit debt or Patrick Mahomes new contract?

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Differentiate with what cost more; Cal;s stadium retrofit or Patriek Mahomes new contract?

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That is quite something when you express it in billions

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CAL

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Late in the day but - Go Bears!

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Cal looking at renaming three buildings:

https://chancellor.berkeley.edu/task-forces/building-name-review-committee

Not sure the logic behind the Kroeber one is very sound (as I understand it, though obviously he did some things that would not be accepted today, for his time he was very progressive in his field). LeConte seems like a much stronger case -- he used his position to argue for white genetic supremacy.

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The logic behind the Kroeber is wrong.

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UC System picks President successor to Janet Napolitano. Congrats to Michael Drake, who moves over from the Chancellorship at UCI

https://www.dailycal.org/2020/07/07/michael-drake-becomes-1st-black-person-person-of-color-appointed-uc-president/

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You skipped a step--he was at Ohio State :) :) :)

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Sounds like a good choice, but he's a Furdie at heart (undergrad).

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So was Charmin Smith, and look how great she has been so far.

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