Mazda cars are named that because the car company was founded by MATSUDA Jujiro (born 1875). The Japanese language has fairly straightforward pronunciation but does have some peculiarities - like mute vowels. For example, the mute vowel is often the letter “u” when it is not the first syllable of a multi-syllable Japanese word. It’s why samurai is sam’rai (not sa moo rai), Mitsubishi is Mits’bishi, desu is des’, and Matsuda is Mats’da/Maz’da.
Japanese didn’t have family names during Feudal times and only the highest up in a clan were identified by the clan name (eg, Ieyasu TOKUGAWA). When the Edo period ended in 1868, Japan started modernizing. About a decade later, Japan started the family registration program. People took last names, which is why people’s family names are often places. Hence, it probably was not a coincidence that Matsuda Jujiro lived near Matsuda, Japan.
In summary, I'm going to keep this small rather than large because a) I don't want to try to hire people to staff it locally and b) I don't want it to be a super-spreader event. Thus, tickets are going on sale tomorrow and will go until all 19 tickets are sold out. DO NOT BE LATE AS THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT I'LL GET ANOTHER TENT.
The vendor also finalized their catering vendors and I'm not happy about the catering options. They have four vendors - one that does cookies, one that does drinks, Boston Market, and a BBQ vendor. The drinks are prohibitively expensive, so it's BYOB. And I'm not doing Boston Market. That leaves the BBQ vendor, which was changed to Rudy's. Fire Starkey should know these guys. They're mostly known for breakfast burritoS. Their BBQ is meh, but it's certainly better than Boston Market and not any cheaper. That option is $65/person. The other option is to not cater food at all and just have the tent and a cooler for $40/person.
A) Indication of interest on tailgate tickets and B) Thoughts on catering?
Also, if I can get my shit together, I will have the missus make her Mexican Martini's and bring some in old milk jugs. If you do not know of the Mexican Martini, think Margarita but way better (adds in dashes of OJ, Sprite, Olive juice and a couple other things). If we have cups and ice we can get plenty smashed before kickoff
Rudy's is unhorrible BBQ... solid brisket, excellent sausage, fantastic beans and the missus loves their banana pudding. The sauce is a bit spicy and on the tomato-y side. There are definitely worse choices for BBQ, Rudy's is generally solid
This will surprise nobody but CAA has not listed a tailgate. I've checked in Eventbrite and there are no other Cal tailgates at TCU. I'm using Eventbrite to take care of ticketing and it'll be open to the public. Hence, this is why I'm warning that tickets will go very fast. In comparison, I had 260 people at Ole Miss and turned away about a hundred people. The Official Cal event also had hundreds of attendees.
Thank you SGBear....I still have such fond memories of the Oxford tailgate in the Grove...that was a great day!
Our group of 8 are listed as questionable on the report...I am certainly interested, and I know Newellbany and some of our group of 8 people would be interested as well, but not sure exactly how many of the 8 are firm for the tailgate, as one carload will be driving in from other parts of TX on day-of-game.
My issue is just when exactly I will have dog coverage that day...my deal with the AirBnB owner is that my 2 dogs will not be left unattended in the home, so I hired a sitter for the game...I may not be able to spend a couple of hours tailgating on top of the ballgame...
IF I were able to bring the pups to the tailgate, then squire them the mile back to the AirBnb before kickoff, that would improve my chances of attending...
I'm good with BBQ as well. Much better than Boston market. Do they include drinks or do we need to bring our own non-alcoholic? I think we had to BYOB didn't we?
BYOB. The vendor does not allow outside food, but they do allow outside beverages. History has shown me that everyone has wildly different beverage tastes, so there's no sense in trying to predict what everyone will want. I've ordered a 20 liter cooler and ice, which is about right for 20 people.
Ok the trailer just showed up on my Twitter feed, so I watched it. I haven't watched any of the movies, so I probably won't watch this one, but the trailer made me crave popcorn.
I don't trust the trailer's version of the events . . .but on the other hand Dr. Strange was handed this power of ultimate responsibility because he was driving and texting.
I've been to over 60 countries and Japan is in my top 3 destinations. Japan is perhaps the only place in the world where EVERYTHING is different. It is a fun and safe way to get a good type of culture shock.
My go-to for what makes Japan interesting (to me) is that there's a lot of continuity in Asia (especially food) from the north to the south (obviously differences over long stretches, but probably not a lot within each 500-mile bit). And then there's Japan.
That's what you get when you grab rice, kanji, and buddhism from China and the shut out the world for a few hundred years. Sushi? okonomiyaki? shintoism? hiragana? (altho Hangul is similar, being a syllabary, yes?)
then you have the juxtaposition of ancient and hyper-modern: 1000+ year-old temples next to buildings that make Times Square look quaint. ;-)
and the politeness and cleanliness (on the surface) with xenophobia and patriarchy (kinda) under the surface.
I'm always amazed at all the foreign tourists that are able to navigate through Japan, not only in Tokyo but in countryside too. It must be really difficult when everything is different and no one speaks English in Japan.
I can read like 1/4 of the printed stuff (kanji) and I've been to Tokyo well over 15 times and been other places in Japan another 5-8 times so experience I guess.
Showing up at the door ready to keep going if they had no vacancy? I do remember booking online earlier and having to print out vouchers for each hotel.
My favorite word in Japanese with this is "tsukemono" (that variety of pickles you get as side dishes/appetizers). It's a good example of a word that has phonetically has three consonants that are all pronounced in a row. Depending on the speaker's diction, they can be distinctly pronounced rather than slurred together.
Most of the (limited) Japanese I know is from my Taiwanese family, so it's been filtered through an extra layer of language before it gets to me. When speaking Taiwanese, my family says ringo for apple, but it sounds like lingo.
I've found that it lands somewhere in between (twisting my tongue!), but when using katakana, the Japanese tend towards the one that we don't in English. that is, they use R for our L (baseba-ru) and L for our R (can't think of an example now besides I Rike you, but that just reminds me of a horrible late-career Jerry Lewis movie where he played a Japanese character (eyeroll emoji)
maaaaaybe, but the stadiums are generally pretty crap. things like domes, artificial turf, symmetric dimensions, all-dirt infields (which just looks like some city park field). I think that Ichiro's old Kobe field was pretty good. And the new(ish) Hiroshima field is interesting (altho looking at wikipedia, it is symmetrical. but looks no worse than something mid-70s like Angels Stadium or Kaufmann...or even Oakland!).
My family is from Hiroshima so I went to their old stadium, the crappiest of all professional stadiums in Japan, so many times as a kid. Now we have the most beautiful stadium in Japan I think (Maybe Kobe is better).
I now go to Jingu Stadium and Tokyo Dome to watch Carp play when I'm visiting Tokyo.
cool...when I lived in Nagoya, the old "downtown" stadium – where Tom Selleck played in Mr. Baseball – wasn't being used. The team had moved to the Dome.
I never went to the old Carp stadium, but the few times I was in Hiroshima, I thought it looked cool (from the outside, at least) and interesting that it's across from the A-Bomb done (yes?). at least it was outdoors, and nice that the new is outdoors also.
Oh I agree that MLB stadiums are far superior for all the reasons you listed but the overall fan experience is much more fun and lively than a MLB game.
The dirt infields are strange and ugly, especially combined with the astroturf.
I went to one in Korea and it was cool. Probably similar to Japan. The fans sat on their own side and had different songs for each player. There were calls and responses between innings.
I really want to visit. Would love it if the Bluetooth SIG would have events there but I think it's too expensive for them to hold events there. A work trip to pay for food would be even better.
On one of my plane flights I watched a movie called "Ramen Heads". They went to 5-6 of the most famous ramen shops in Japan and showed the owners making the broth. Was pretty amazing. The guy that has won the last few best ramen awards is just a small shop that has like 8-10 seats on two counters. Many of the shops they showed were that way.
In Japan, people eat ramen and leave in 10-15 minutes. Sometimes you go with a friend and stay maybe 30 minutes. The turnover is really fast so the shops can do with few seatings and charge less than $10.
Here in US people spend more than an hour at a table that it requires a large store and ridiculously overpriced ramen.
They showed the place that won and there was this machine that handed out reservation tickets. People would get in line at like 5 in the morning to get tickets.
I used to go to Japan 3-4x a year before the pandemic. Now I have not visited for 17 months and I can't believe that I made it through. I wanna go but don't want the 14 day quarantine that they are still enforcing upon entry.
One of my favorite souvenirs from travelling is a small origami crane two young Japanese girls gave me. They were outside a shrine and were interviewing tourists for a class project. In return for a few minutes of your time answering their questions they gave you the crane. Always a nice reminder when I see it around the house.
They have a great design team. Their current vehicles' clean designs are a welcome contrast to the overwrought, over-styled, incoherent designs that plague many manufacturers (I'm especially looking at you, Chevy, Toyota, Lexus, and BMW).
people used to complain about the Chris Bangle era of design at BMW but this phase of "snout first" design is pretty unimpressive. And the Toyota Supra is an absolute disgrace.
A clean 240SX right now is really high due to all the drifters buying them up. There are very few clean ones left. I had a '91 about 20 years ago for about 3 years before we moved to Louisville. It was clean and no rust. I should've held onto it. I loved it and it was a lot of fun to drive. A clean one would cost more than I paid for my Miata. Even a slightly beat up one would.
He wouldn't want a 928/944. Those aren't real Porsches. He'd take a Cayman/911/Boxster.
hah! I think the 928 is definitely a real Porsche. I agree the 944 has a little shakier case, but I'm sure one of the turbocharged versions would still be fun. I'd probably rather have that than a Boxster tbh. But then I love that fastback kind of style.
A neighbor had a 1974 'Vette for a short time and was thinking of selling it to my cousin, so we took a spin, and it was fun. Though the side mirror kept getting pushed down in the wind, lol
I got mine in Feb 2019 (56K miles). I've been working from home the last 4 years and I've only added about 12K miles since then. And last year I probably only added about 2K. Most of the miles this summer was added by No 1 when he was out here for a couple of months. During the spring - fall I mostly take when I'm driving myself unless I need trunk space.
I'm thinking I'll try to put a picture of the 69,420 odometer on the miata reddit.
When I was polishing and waxing the car it a couple of months ago, one of the "M" in the M-edition emblems fell off. I had put it off to the side so I could reattach it later and I can't find it anymore. I thought I put it in the trunk but it isn't there. ebay has a used set for $100. I probably just need to spend some time looking in the garage because I probably put it in some box or drawer.
Owned an '80 626. It was a good car until the aluminum head warped. Redecking it upped the compression enough to be problematical, and had trouble with manufacturing consistency with the replacement head. Traded it when a growing family necessitated the upgrade to an SUV.
this one got pretty wrecked from my mom's short commute (10 minutes on city streets) and lots of salty Boston winters (they never went to the car wash, smh). They got it when it was a few years old, and I think it got replaced in '07 or '08 by a Honda Accord that's been an absolute champion
We had a Mazda Protege for more than 10 years and liked it a lot. So much that we bought the new (at the time) MPV. It was great when new, but the transmission failed after a couple years. And Mazda stopped making it.
I will drop my ballot in the mail when I decide on a Part 2 candidate. I'm leaning Faulconer at the moment.
I will not let the yahoos have the potential decisive votes on a replacement (ugh) without weighing in. Both Cox and Elder are sick, sick jokes. California got lucky when Gray Davis was recalled in that Schwarzenegger wasn't horrible. Cox and Elder are horribly flawed candidates.
I have come to the inescapable conclusion that the California recall system as it currently exists is fatally flawed. Simple fix: the only question before the voters should be "Shall the constitutional officeholder be recalled?" Yes or no.
If the constitutional officeholder under recall is the Governor and that person is recalled, then the successor is the Lieutenant Governor. For every other constitutional officer under recall, the replacement should be appointed by the Governor with confirmation by the state legislature.
Faulconer's probably a decent choice. I don't recall him accomplishing much one way or another as mayor of San Diego beyond losing the Chargers (big shrug). If a Democrat who wasn't some rich idiot YouTube personality was leading I'd vote for them instead.
Voted and it's been received. I wanted to try to find a replacement to vote for to be safe, but after hours of research they are all pieces of shit and/or totally unqualified so I left it blank. That makes me very uneasy but hopefully No wins.
The list is crazy long and full of crazy. Not sure how we came up with a system where someone can get 20% of the vote (of what is probably <50% of voters) and become governor...smh
I like the "recalled them? time for the lt. gov." plan below!
No 2 decided not to vote for a replacement since he didn't know anyone. His theory is if Newsom is recalled, a republican will win and if he isn't it doesn't matter. I said it was just the one with the most votes so republican votes could still be spread out so it still could be a democrat so he should just choose a name.
The music in both The White Lotus and Mare are good. White Lotus is probably better as it helps set the scenes and almost feels like it’s own character.
Saturday we watched Le Mans (1971) Steve McQueen for the first time. I quite enjoyed it, but it's a bit of an odd duck in that there's little "movie" stuff in this film, plays like a documentary of the 1970 Le Mans. Sort of. I had a couple of thoughts while watching: 1970 seems like 500 years ago, and although I'm a fairly fearless driver (in general) but watching them race at 220 mph, at night, in the rain, on ROADS had me feeling AH FUCK NO!
I actually arranged some of the financing for the film under the producer, Ted Field. (Had a brief stint in Hollywood as a distraction for a bit of time from the core business).
"The Food and Drug Administration gave full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on Monday, making it one of the most important days in the history of the pharmaceutical company.
But, since nothing can be purely good on the Internet, the company immediately became a punchline.
We regret to inform you, dear reader, that they named the vaccine Comirnaty.
LSU will require anyone attending Tiger Stadium who is 12 years of age or older to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within the last 72 hours, the school announced on Tuesday.
LSU, which became the first school in the SEC to outline such a policy, cited a rise in COVID-19 cases and the "highly transmissible" delta variant.
The policy will go into effect in time for LSU's home opener against McNeese State on Sept. 11.
Those younger than 12 will not have to show proof of a negative PCR test. However, masks will be required for children between 5 and 11 years old and encouraged for those younger than 5.
I get the feeling that the B1G, Pac 12, and ACC are looking to stabilize their revenue sports scheduling and provide a bulwark against the SEC's shenanigans, especially as it applies in football. IF (and that's a very BIG IF) it makes sense, remnants of the Big XII may get scooped up.
Best candidates in terms of academics - Iowa State and Kansas. Both schools are AAU member institutions. Given their geographic locations, they would have an obvious affinity with the B1G.
Best candidates in terms of athletics - Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, possibly West Virginia. I think that Baylor and TCU are both compromised in terms of how they might fit in with any of the three leagues.
I'm a little surprised given how strict Hawaii was when visiting. No 3 got tested within 3 days before leaving so that he didn't have to quarantine, even with being vaccinated.
I don't recall ever hearing of FTX prior to yesterday's naming announcement. Sure enough, I noticed during last night's Braves-Yankees game that the home plate umpire had an FTX logo on his shirt. FTX must be casting a wide net across sports.
MLB umpires signed a deal with FTX this spring. Those FTX patches have been on the umpire shirts all season. Not really a fan of it, but endorsements = $s, and $s pay the bills, A sign of the times we are in.
Did Jujiro Matsuda really live near Matsuda, Japan? I don't know where that is but I know he is from Hiroshima and he lost his son and many of his employees in atomic bomb in 1945.
His family has been the main owner of my favorite baseball team Hiroshima Carp. I think they hold about 35% of stock and other local companies own the remainder.
Btw Toyota Motors is headquartered in Toyota, Japan and the founder is Mr. Toyoda. But it's a very rare case where the city changed its name in 1959 after the city had grown large because of the Toyota corporation. One of two cases in Japan where the city changed its name after an organization.
Trying to figure out the second. Hitachi? [Looks it up...nope. That's in Chiyoda. At least now...Hitachi-shi isn't too far away from Tokyo, in Ibaraki-ken.]
"organization" not "corporation"...I see! there's a tenrikyo center at Fulton and Funston in San Francisco. my paternal grandparent in-laws (in northern okayama-ken) are followers.
Tailgate
So I heard back from the tailgate vendor.
In summary, I'm going to keep this small rather than large because a) I don't want to try to hire people to staff it locally and b) I don't want it to be a super-spreader event. Thus, tickets are going on sale tomorrow and will go until all 19 tickets are sold out. DO NOT BE LATE AS THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT I'LL GET ANOTHER TENT.
The vendor also finalized their catering vendors and I'm not happy about the catering options. They have four vendors - one that does cookies, one that does drinks, Boston Market, and a BBQ vendor. The drinks are prohibitively expensive, so it's BYOB. And I'm not doing Boston Market. That leaves the BBQ vendor, which was changed to Rudy's. Fire Starkey should know these guys. They're mostly known for breakfast burritoS. Their BBQ is meh, but it's certainly better than Boston Market and not any cheaper. That option is $65/person. The other option is to not cater food at all and just have the tent and a cooler for $40/person.
A) Indication of interest on tailgate tickets and B) Thoughts on catering?
Also, lunch makes sense because kick-off is 2:30pm and West Fort Worth is a wasteland in trying to get good food.
Also, if I can get my shit together, I will have the missus make her Mexican Martini's and bring some in old milk jugs. If you do not know of the Mexican Martini, think Margarita but way better (adds in dashes of OJ, Sprite, Olive juice and a couple other things). If we have cups and ice we can get plenty smashed before kickoff
I’m very intrigued by this and want to try one now.
Rudy's is unhorrible BBQ... solid brisket, excellent sausage, fantastic beans and the missus loves their banana pudding. The sauce is a bit spicy and on the tomato-y side. There are definitely worse choices for BBQ, Rudy's is generally solid
Their breakfast burritos are 🔥🔥🔥
unhorrible BBQ, sounds good to me...
we have 19 WfC goers... sounds like a plan to me?
That’s a lot for a game against a G5 team and a G5 conference opponent.
TCU is not G5, it's a Pow... oh... I get it.
Having a tent and food in 90+ degree heat is worth the coin haha
we have 19 DBDers correct? although I guess 2 are guests and not all will attend the tailgate.
This will surprise nobody but CAA has not listed a tailgate. I've checked in Eventbrite and there are no other Cal tailgates at TCU. I'm using Eventbrite to take care of ticketing and it'll be open to the public. Hence, this is why I'm warning that tickets will go very fast. In comparison, I had 260 people at Ole Miss and turned away about a hundred people. The Official Cal event also had hundreds of attendees.
Thank you SGBear....I still have such fond memories of the Oxford tailgate in the Grove...that was a great day!
Our group of 8 are listed as questionable on the report...I am certainly interested, and I know Newellbany and some of our group of 8 people would be interested as well, but not sure exactly how many of the 8 are firm for the tailgate, as one carload will be driving in from other parts of TX on day-of-game.
My issue is just when exactly I will have dog coverage that day...my deal with the AirBnB owner is that my 2 dogs will not be left unattended in the home, so I hired a sitter for the game...I may not be able to spend a couple of hours tailgating on top of the ballgame...
IF I were able to bring the pups to the tailgate, then squire them the mile back to the AirBnb before kickoff, that would improve my chances of attending...
I'm down for BBQ
I'm good with BBQ as well. Much better than Boston market. Do they include drinks or do we need to bring our own non-alcoholic? I think we had to BYOB didn't we?
BYOB. The vendor does not allow outside food, but they do allow outside beverages. History has shown me that everyone has wildly different beverage tastes, so there's no sense in trying to predict what everyone will want. I've ordered a 20 liter cooler and ice, which is about right for 20 people.
* 120 liter
If they don't provide drinks will they provide coolers or bins with ice?
Yes?
Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has died.
https://www.wral.com/rolling-stones-drummer-charlie-watts-dies-at-age-80/19840577/
Trailer: Spider-Man No Way Home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt-2cxAiPJk
Ok the trailer just showed up on my Twitter feed, so I watched it. I haven't watched any of the movies, so I probably won't watch this one, but the trailer made me crave popcorn.
That looks great. I am excited to watch that train scene.
dr strange is bad at his job
I don't trust the trailer's version of the events . . .but on the other hand Dr. Strange was handed this power of ultimate responsibility because he was driving and texting.
https://twitter.com/edsbs/status/1430149857008930824
I already liked this on twitter. Also, "the kind of girls who would double up on a guy like me. . . "
whoo
Damn, that looks cool
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY
What is your current project, but it has to be in emojis. Windows: push Windows button + .
🏡📦🚛🔜
🏢🏭🏢🏗🏭🏢🏗🏭
🥤🏂❄️◯◯◯◯◯
💧💩
Diarrhea???
https://www.epa.gov/waterreuse/water-reuse-action-plan
🏖🏄♂️🏇💵
💋⚡🔥🥞
wait, how do you copy and paste it? I just click and nothing happens
Here's an emoji site. Highlight and copy each emoji and paste in your reply...
https://getemoji.com/
oh, I meant with the windows hotkey thing: I get the menu but I can't seem to insert anything from that
🚀🛰👽
🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻...getting a gold-out hoodie
like for work? Or just generally?
Yes.
I avoid personal projects as much as possible, I can fail enough at work to keep myself occupied.
THERE IS A WEBSITE CALLED NAP.EDU THIS IS NOT A DRILL
And you went and wasted your time and money getting your PhD at tOSU
There is also https://www.pnas.org. As in, I have a big PNAS article.
Big PNAS Energy
fridge + freezer were largely salvaged, but we tossed all the leftover cooked meat and any raw meat to be safe. Back to Costco!
Japan
I've been to over 60 countries and Japan is in my top 3 destinations. Japan is perhaps the only place in the world where EVERYTHING is different. It is a fun and safe way to get a good type of culture shock.
Nice!
My go-to for what makes Japan interesting (to me) is that there's a lot of continuity in Asia (especially food) from the north to the south (obviously differences over long stretches, but probably not a lot within each 500-mile bit). And then there's Japan.
That's what you get when you grab rice, kanji, and buddhism from China and the shut out the world for a few hundred years. Sushi? okonomiyaki? shintoism? hiragana? (altho Hangul is similar, being a syllabary, yes?)
then you have the juxtaposition of ancient and hyper-modern: 1000+ year-old temples next to buildings that make Times Square look quaint. ;-)
and the politeness and cleanliness (on the surface) with xenophobia and patriarchy (kinda) under the surface.
Sushi might get traced back to the malay peninsula
I'm always amazed at all the foreign tourists that are able to navigate through Japan, not only in Tokyo but in countryside too. It must be really difficult when everything is different and no one speaks English in Japan.
They have great signage tho.
and the trains are NEVER late
I can read like 1/4 of the printed stuff (kanji) and I've been to Tokyo well over 15 times and been other places in Japan another 5-8 times so experience I guess.
My iPhone was very helpful. I couldn’t imagine getting around and navigating Tokyo pre-smart phones and internet.
it was fine w/ no phones and the Rough Guide in the 2002
I'm not sure how I made reservations at inns, etc in the 90s without the internet, but it happened! I recall faxing a place in Iwate-ken once...
But for me it was a reliance on Lonely Planet
Showing up at the door ready to keep going if they had no vacancy? I do remember booking online earlier and having to print out vouchers for each hotel.
could not have said it better
TIL mid-word Us are mute vowels
My favorite word in Japanese with this is "tsukemono" (that variety of pickles you get as side dishes/appetizers). It's a good example of a word that has phonetically has three consonants that are all pronounced in a row. Depending on the speaker's diction, they can be distinctly pronounced rather than slurred together.
that's a good one (I think I generally pronounce the U in tsukemono, but I can "hear" the silent-u version ;-)
I'm partial to the triple-consonant "shma" of shima
Most of the (limited) Japanese I know is from my Taiwanese family, so it's been filtered through an extra layer of language before it gets to me. When speaking Taiwanese, my family says ringo for apple, but it sounds like lingo.
In Japanese, there's no difference in sound between R and L
Thus Lululemon is a big racist joke by the founder.
more importantly, would you go to the bottom and answer the question that you posed?!? ;-)
I've found that it lands somewhere in between (twisting my tongue!), but when using katakana, the Japanese tend towards the one that we don't in English. that is, they use R for our L (baseba-ru) and L for our R (can't think of an example now besides I Rike you, but that just reminds me of a horrible late-career Jerry Lewis movie where he played a Japanese character (eyeroll emoji)
"filtered through an extra layer of language"...is that a euphemism for f*ing japanese ...
We're cool with the Japanese. They built a lot of infrastructure and schools in Taiwan.
the U is often silent at the end, unless being extra polite. DesU vs Des, Yoroshik vs Yoroshiku, 'Masu'-form verbs
sometimes. there are words like fukushima that don't get that. not sure if there's a formal rule, tho.
mid-word Is in Shi are usually silent. see hirosh(i)ma
Attending a Japanese baseball game>>>>>>>>>>>>>>MLB
I had so much fun. The atmosphere is a more like CFB and soccer than MLB.
I realllly want to attend a KBO game sometime
Part of a wedding in Seoul I went to 4 years ago included a Doosan (Bears!) game, but I had to catch my flight and was unable to go.
maaaaaybe, but the stadiums are generally pretty crap. things like domes, artificial turf, symmetric dimensions, all-dirt infields (which just looks like some city park field). I think that Ichiro's old Kobe field was pretty good. And the new(ish) Hiroshima field is interesting (altho looking at wikipedia, it is symmetrical. but looks no worse than something mid-70s like Angels Stadium or Kaufmann...or even Oakland!).
Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium (Huh! today's theme!) at Hiroshima is not symmetrical. The left field is shorter.
I thought about coming back and stating that LF *is* one meter shorter than right, but from the images, it's essentially symmetrical.
and yeah, thought it was interesting that we did end up at hiroshma (no I!) ;-)
But this thread is Japan, so not *too* surprising!
My family is from Hiroshima so I went to their old stadium, the crappiest of all professional stadiums in Japan, so many times as a kid. Now we have the most beautiful stadium in Japan I think (Maybe Kobe is better).
I now go to Jingu Stadium and Tokyo Dome to watch Carp play when I'm visiting Tokyo.
cool...when I lived in Nagoya, the old "downtown" stadium – where Tom Selleck played in Mr. Baseball – wasn't being used. The team had moved to the Dome.
I never went to the old Carp stadium, but the few times I was in Hiroshima, I thought it looked cool (from the outside, at least) and interesting that it's across from the A-Bomb done (yes?). at least it was outdoors, and nice that the new is outdoors also.
But being able to buy a high ball to drink from a vendor walking up and down the stands>>>>>>>cracker jacks
but no malts
Oh I agree that MLB stadiums are far superior for all the reasons you listed but the overall fan experience is much more fun and lively than a MLB game.
The dirt infields are strange and ugly, especially combined with the astroturf.
yeah, I've only been to Nagoya dome and while the atmosphere was cool, the "baseball" experience wasn't.
oh, and I hate those stupid mascots (only Hanshin still has a cool one!)
I went to one in Korea and it was cool. Probably similar to Japan. The fans sat on their own side and had different songs for each player. There were calls and responses between innings.
HEY, DOOSON SEOUL FANS! GO!!!
whoo. doosan bears!
BEARS!!!!
BEARS!
Kyoto = one of the best places to visit on planet earth.
Maki Kaji, creator of Sudoku passed away recently at age 69
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/maki-kaji-creator-of-sudoku-numbers-puzzle-dies-at-69/2021/08/17/3e46df52-ffa2-11eb-ba7e-2cf966e88e93_story.html
I did not count on that happening.
I really want to visit. Would love it if the Bluetooth SIG would have events there but I think it's too expensive for them to hold events there. A work trip to pay for food would be even better.
On one of my plane flights I watched a movie called "Ramen Heads". They went to 5-6 of the most famous ramen shops in Japan and showed the owners making the broth. Was pretty amazing. The guy that has won the last few best ramen awards is just a small shop that has like 8-10 seats on two counters. Many of the shops they showed were that way.
Only Tokyo is prohibitively expensive.
it is definitely expensive, but not prohibitively so.
also, sushi is expensive, but there is so much other good food in Japan that it doesnt have to be super expensive every night.
In Japan, people eat ramen and leave in 10-15 minutes. Sometimes you go with a friend and stay maybe 30 minutes. The turnover is really fast so the shops can do with few seatings and charge less than $10.
Here in US people spend more than an hour at a table that it requires a large store and ridiculously overpriced ramen.
They showed the place that won and there was this machine that handed out reservation tickets. People would get in line at like 5 in the morning to get tickets.
I used to go to Japan 3-4x a year before the pandemic. Now I have not visited for 17 months and I can't believe that I made it through. I wanna go but don't want the 14 day quarantine that they are still enforcing upon entry.
i have been a handful of times, but it is always amazing.
their dedication to perfection is a thing of great beauty and major source of inspiration for me on a daily basis.
i have a bunch little Japanese things around the home top give me little reminders.
One of my favorite souvenirs from travelling is a small origami crane two young Japanese girls gave me. They were outside a shrine and were interviewing tourists for a class project. In return for a few minutes of your time answering their questions they gave you the crane. Always a nice reminder when I see it around the house.
Mazdas
They have a great design team. Their current vehicles' clean designs are a welcome contrast to the overwrought, over-styled, incoherent designs that plague many manufacturers (I'm especially looking at you, Chevy, Toyota, Lexus, and BMW).
people used to complain about the Chris Bangle era of design at BMW but this phase of "snout first" design is pretty unimpressive. And the Toyota Supra is an absolute disgrace.
Even the Mazda crossovers look good.
I absolutely love my 97 Miata. It's so much fun to drive. And it has pop-up headlights!
pop up headlights are cool
Yesterday No 1 was wondering if he should sell the STi for a C5 Vette. Because they're relative cheap and has pop-up headlights.
If he wants a fun vintage car with pop-ups, why not a Porsche 928 or 944? That might be what I'd go with.
Or maybe if he wants something that's perhaps less expensive if it broke down, a 240SX?
A clean 240SX right now is really high due to all the drifters buying them up. There are very few clean ones left. I had a '91 about 20 years ago for about 3 years before we moved to Louisville. It was clean and no rust. I should've held onto it. I loved it and it was a lot of fun to drive. A clean one would cost more than I paid for my Miata. Even a slightly beat up one would.
He wouldn't want a 928/944. Those aren't real Porsches. He'd take a Cayman/911/Boxster.
hah! I think the 928 is definitely a real Porsche. I agree the 944 has a little shakier case, but I'm sure one of the turbocharged versions would still be fun. I'd probably rather have that than a Boxster tbh. But then I love that fastback kind of style.
Corvettes are an absolute steal
A neighbor had a 1974 'Vette for a short time and was thinking of selling it to my cousin, so we took a spin, and it was fun. Though the side mirror kept getting pushed down in the wind, lol
OooOooo, those look nice, but are crap.
when they've aged a bit
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1971-chevrolet-corvette-454-17/
if they still run.
My miata lasted for 15 years during which time it accumulated 240,000 miles on the original engine. Twas a great car.
Wow 240K in 15 years. The engines seem to be bulletproof when not abused.
I got mine in Feb 2019 (56K miles). I've been working from home the last 4 years and I've only added about 12K miles since then. And last year I probably only added about 2K. Most of the miles this summer was added by No 1 when he was out here for a couple of months. During the spring - fall I mostly take when I'm driving myself unless I need trunk space.
I'm thinking I'll try to put a picture of the 69,420 odometer on the miata reddit.
When I was polishing and waxing the car it a couple of months ago, one of the "M" in the M-edition emblems fell off. I had put it off to the side so I could reattach it later and I can't find it anymore. I thought I put it in the trunk but it isn't there. ebay has a used set for $100. I probably just need to spend some time looking in the garage because I probably put it in some box or drawer.
took my driving test in a '96 Mazda 626!
Owned an '80 626. It was a good car until the aluminum head warped. Redecking it upped the compression enough to be problematical, and had trouble with manufacturing consistency with the replacement head. Traded it when a growing family necessitated the upgrade to an SUV.
this one got pretty wrecked from my mom's short commute (10 minutes on city streets) and lots of salty Boston winters (they never went to the car wash, smh). They got it when it was a few years old, and I think it got replaced in '07 or '08 by a Honda Accord that's been an absolute champion
We had a Mazda Protege for more than 10 years and liked it a lot. So much that we bought the new (at the time) MPV. It was great when new, but the transmission failed after a couple years. And Mazda stopped making it.
My wife got a CX-30 a few months ago, it's what she wanted. I was impressed with the build quality and the finishes.
Nice! Is she enjoying driving it?
She is, she likes being up higher, I tried to suggest electric, but no dice (range anxiety).
First car I bought on my own was 2008 Mazda 6. I think it had Bose speakers.
Our Crumbling Democracy
Y'all vote on the recall yet? Frighteningly close.
I will drop my ballot in the mail when I decide on a Part 2 candidate. I'm leaning Faulconer at the moment.
I will not let the yahoos have the potential decisive votes on a replacement (ugh) without weighing in. Both Cox and Elder are sick, sick jokes. California got lucky when Gray Davis was recalled in that Schwarzenegger wasn't horrible. Cox and Elder are horribly flawed candidates.
I have come to the inescapable conclusion that the California recall system as it currently exists is fatally flawed. Simple fix: the only question before the voters should be "Shall the constitutional officeholder be recalled?" Yes or no.
If the constitutional officeholder under recall is the Governor and that person is recalled, then the successor is the Lieutenant Governor. For every other constitutional officer under recall, the replacement should be appointed by the Governor with confirmation by the state legislature.
Faulconer's probably a decent choice. I don't recall him accomplishing much one way or another as mayor of San Diego beyond losing the Chargers (big shrug). If a Democrat who wasn't some rich idiot YouTube personality was leading I'd vote for them instead.
Yeah, I agree with all this. I’m voting no and then Faulconer as my second choice.
I believe that's what I went with.
Voted and it's been received. I wanted to try to find a replacement to vote for to be safe, but after hours of research they are all pieces of shit and/or totally unqualified so I left it blank. That makes me very uneasy but hopefully No wins.
In the '03 recall election, I voted No on recall and wrote in Jeff Tedford
The list is crazy long and full of crazy. Not sure how we came up with a system where someone can get 20% of the vote (of what is probably <50% of voters) and become governor...smh
I like the "recalled them? time for the lt. gov." plan below!
Oh I need to send it in. Was debating whether I should mail it in or use the drop boxes. Wondering if there will be shenanigans.
Already in the drop box. The ballot was simple, yet confusing at the same time. So I am afraid people will vote yes when they really mean no.
No 2 decided not to vote for a replacement since he didn't know anyone. His theory is if Newsom is recalled, a republican will win and if he isn't it doesn't matter. I said it was just the one with the most votes so republican votes could still be spread out so it still could be a democrat so he should just choose a name.
DBD AV Club
I finished Mare of Easttown. It was great. The ending had not one but two twist.
The show was a good balance of suspense, drama, and surprisingly humor. Really well done and great writing.
I was happy for Mare and her growth.
Big shout out to Cal in the show, which was great. Go Bears!
I think we'll start this one next. We started The White Lotus this weekend and are a couple episodes in so far.
loved the music in white lotus
The music in both The White Lotus and Mare are good. White Lotus is probably better as it helps set the scenes and almost feels like it’s own character.
Interested in hearing what you think.
The character development was excellent.
It really was. Top notch show. I would love another season for selfish reasons but it is probably best as a one off mini series.
Where is Siobhan going to park her Prius?
😛 I said the same thing to my wife. Siobhan had the right car for Berkeley, it was even blue but she won’t be able to park it anywhere.
Saturday we watched Le Mans (1971) Steve McQueen for the first time. I quite enjoyed it, but it's a bit of an odd duck in that there's little "movie" stuff in this film, plays like a documentary of the 1970 Le Mans. Sort of. I had a couple of thoughts while watching: 1970 seems like 500 years ago, and although I'm a fairly fearless driver (in general) but watching them race at 220 mph, at night, in the rain, on ROADS had me feeling AH FUCK NO!
"1970 seems like 500 years ago"
that's cugel for "it seems like it just happened yesterday"
The Last Samurai
younger daughter got her phone taken away so she has a little extra time.
she said she wanted to watch a movie that was vaguely historical so we watched the Last Samurai.
i have, of course, seen it before many times but it was great to see it with her.
plus, i really like the extended scenes of living in rural Japan learning the way of life.
Watanabe is great.
He really was.
Paul Mooney had a hilarious bit about "The Last Samurai" on The Chapelle Show.
I saw that one in the theater. Really enjoyed it.
Last Samurai was a movie I would have liked more if Tom Cruise wasn't in it.
I don't even normally dislike Cruise in a movie. He just seemed awkward in this one.
The story behind that is that Field is a friend of Tom's since making the film Cocktail.
Yeah something off about him in this.
I actually arranged some of the financing for the film under the producer, Ted Field. (Had a brief stint in Hollywood as a distraction for a bit of time from the core business).
DBD Test Kitchen
Today in Covid 19
Sturgis was 2 weeks ago. Who could have foreseen this?
https://twitter.com/NBCNewsGraphics/status/1430194833465954312
I, for one, am shocked that Sturgis attendees would spurn masks and vaccines in order to preserve their freedumbs.
What's particularly discouraging is that folks from all over the country travel there, so those travelers are bringing cases home with them.
i mean those travelers brought covid with them to south dakota and you're always encouraged to pack out what you pack in
"The Food and Drug Administration gave full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on Monday, making it one of the most important days in the history of the pharmaceutical company.
But, since nothing can be purely good on the Internet, the company immediately became a punchline.
We regret to inform you, dear reader, that they named the vaccine Comirnaty.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/23/comirnaty-pfizer-vaccine-mocked-twitter/
Comirnaty?
Yes, Comirnaty."
Sounds like "community" with a bad foreign accent. On purpose, perhaps.b
https://fortune.com/2021/08/23/pfizer-covid-vaccine-comirnaty-how-it-got-its-name/
LSU: Proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 PCR test required to enter Tiger Stadium
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/32077089/proof-vaccination-negative-covid-19-pcr-test-required-enter-tiger-stadium
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LSU will require anyone attending Tiger Stadium who is 12 years of age or older to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within the last 72 hours, the school announced on Tuesday.
LSU, which became the first school in the SEC to outline such a policy, cited a rise in COVID-19 cases and the "highly transmissible" delta variant.
The policy will go into effect in time for LSU's home opener against McNeese State on Sept. 11.
Those younger than 12 will not have to show proof of a negative PCR test. However, masks will be required for children between 5 and 11 years old and encouraged for those younger than 5.
This should be interesting. Let's see how this goes. I wonder how many of the fans will have fake vaccination cards.
all of them.
Alabama games and most SEC games are about to be super spreader events.
Pro
A's blow a lead in ninth inning, lose meekly to the Mariners, 5-3.
I'm calling Newellbany every hour to talk him off the ledge....3 straight stomach-punchers...
Other College
(ESPN) Pac12/ACC/Big X Alliance imminent. George K: scheduling will happen later. First, it's about votes in NCAA to counter SEC
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/32076233/sources-acc-big-ten-pac-12-alliance-announcement-focus-common-values
I get the feeling that the B1G, Pac 12, and ACC are looking to stabilize their revenue sports scheduling and provide a bulwark against the SEC's shenanigans, especially as it applies in football. IF (and that's a very BIG IF) it makes sense, remnants of the Big XII may get scooped up.
Best candidates in terms of academics - Iowa State and Kansas. Both schools are AAU member institutions. Given their geographic locations, they would have an obvious affinity with the B1G.
Best candidates in terms of athletics - Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, possibly West Virginia. I think that Baylor and TCU are both compromised in terms of how they might fit in with any of the three leagues.
The Allied Powers will once again unite to defeat Axis Power overreach.
Hawaii football fans unable to attend season-opening game due to recent surge in COVID-19 cases
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/hawaii-football-fans-unable-to-attend-season-opening-game-due-to-recent-surge-in-covid-19-cases/
And so it begins again.
I'm a little surprised given how strict Hawaii was when visiting. No 3 got tested within 3 days before leaving so that he didn't have to quarantine, even with being vaccinated.
Cal
A legend visits the Bears
https://twitter.com/CalFootball/status/1429987498055278614?s=19
It's great to see him looking happy, healthy, and clad in Cal gear (from his era too, from the looks of it).
I picture him asking the players, "Whose Domicile?"
He looks so good in Cal gear. Ita just looks so natural. Those must be ones he kept in his closet.
Yeah, it's all his Nike stuff.
That's pretty cool. I hope his health problems are behind him.
And I hope his house at Lake Almanor didn't burn down!
FTX
I don't recall ever hearing of FTX prior to yesterday's naming announcement. Sure enough, I noticed during last night's Braves-Yankees game that the home plate umpire had an FTX logo on his shirt. FTX must be casting a wide net across sports.
Maybe we can have it be "Fuck The X (opponent of the day)"
MLB umpires signed a deal with FTX this spring. Those FTX patches have been on the umpire shirts all season. Not really a fan of it, but endorsements = $s, and $s pay the bills, A sign of the times we are in.
makes me uncomfortable to think an umpire is wearing sponsored gear
Go Bears!!!
ICYMI: [WSOC] Makena Smith's 100th minute save against the reigning national champs
https://twitter.com/CalWSoc/status/1429885529189863460
Did Jujiro Matsuda really live near Matsuda, Japan? I don't know where that is but I know he is from Hiroshima and he lost his son and many of his employees in atomic bomb in 1945.
His family has been the main owner of my favorite baseball team Hiroshima Carp. I think they hold about 35% of stock and other local companies own the remainder.
Btw Toyota Motors is headquartered in Toyota, Japan and the founder is Mr. Toyoda. But it's a very rare case where the city changed its name in 1959 after the city had grown large because of the Toyota corporation. One of two cases in Japan where the city changed its name after an organization.
Trying to figure out the second. Hitachi? [Looks it up...nope. That's in Chiyoda. At least now...Hitachi-shi isn't too far away from Tokyo, in Ibaraki-ken.]
Hint: it's named after a religion
Pastafaria, JP?
Mormon, Japan! :-)
Tenri, Japan. It's in Nara, founded in 1954.
"organization" not "corporation"...I see! there's a tenrikyo center at Fulton and Funston in San Francisco. my paternal grandparent in-laws (in northern okayama-ken) are followers.