89 Comments

Question for DCT, DCBlue, and all: Is Utz Chips a Maryland thing? I had heard of them but I don't think I've ever had them.

Someone on my other internet community is in Massachusetts and received a shipment of ice cream from a Maryland friend. The Maryland friend just started an ice cream business, and one of the flavors was "Utz Crab Chip Vanilla Ice Cream," and the Massachusetts person was very disturbed. Remembering that Utz is a potato chip company, I looked them up and saw that their crab chips are seasoned with what you'd normally season crab (so...Old Bay?), so I'm pretty sure the ice cream has potato chips, not crabmeat. (Like how pumpkin spice lattes are flavored with cinnamon/nutmeg/&c., not with pumpkin.)

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I've gotten Utz snacks at the Costco in Woodland since moving back here.

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This makes me think of an old ad for an ice cream company in New England that used to advertise that their strength was no “weird” flavors - basically it was some old guy rejecting all the wacky suggestions one of which was “lobster swirl.” It doesn’t appear to be online tho 🤷🏼‍♂️

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UTZ is a Pennsylvania company. However, it has limited distribution only on the Eastern seaboard, with initial strength in PA, MD, NOVA area. They are available here in NC as a fairly standard shelf item for BBQ chips and pretzels. BTW, they go public on Monday.

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We buy a lot of their pretzels - I think Utz might be common in Michigan because I seem to remember my wife had some affinity for their products

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Utz crab chips >>>>>

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Ah, thanks.

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They're all around Boston; I'm not sure what aspect of them was so alarming to your Massachusetts friend.

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Then, I don't know. She is a self-described picky eater and has mentioned in the past that she doesn't like tacos, soooooooooo

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In fairness it can be difficult to get a decent taco in Massachusetts so maybe she just needs a chance at something different

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Week in words M-W

honorable

boycott

strike

unsurvivable

blood plasma

Hatch Act

skulduggery

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Used to wear Hang 10 stuff back when I was a kid in SoCal (Del Mar).

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Growing up there would be the occasional kid wearing a Sex Wax shirt trying to be edgy.

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I seem to remember that stuff had two little feet (with toes!) embroidered on it.

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BLM

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I wonder if the Bureau of Land Management website has been seeing a dramatic increase in online traffic this summer?

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Elsewhere in college

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[DrEvilGivingASkepticalRiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.gif]

https://twitter.com/UMichAthletics/status/1299397306211418112

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Berkeley is sixth, SIXTH, on their list, after UM, UCLA, Georgia Tech, UVA, and West Point.

Laughable.

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Feldman: Big 10 meeting now to discuss whether to reverse course and play FB this fall

https://twitter.com/BruceFeldmanCFB/status/1299374324952920065?s=20

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The main thing is to be decisive 🙄

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I think I posted this yesterday but Vandy is starting weekly testing for all undergrads. No 2 said half his classes are in person and there is social distancing. Either they move around the way the desks are arranged or in a larger lecture hall I think they just sit apart.

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ND goes back to in-person classes next week. Over/under on days until they shut it back down again?

https://news.nd.edu/news/notre-dame-to-begin-gradual-resumption-of-in-person-classes-sept-2/

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1 week.

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Kansas' HC Les Miles: "If they opt out because of the pandemic, then they opt into the pandemic" - the idea that they are forgoing a chance to make money in the NFL.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/kansas-coach-les-miles-players-opting-out-because-of-covid-19-concerns-are-opting-into-the-pandemic/

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I mean, it's not like these kids have another way to make a living, like go to college and get a good job because of that education.

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Keep in mind Les is probably talking about his recruits specifically.

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Arizona Hall of Fame hoops coach Lute Olson passed away at age 85.

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Today in CV19

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It's old news, but I was talking to a colleague who's moved in with his parents in Canada for the time being and they take that 14 day quarantine really seriously. You are literally not allowed to leave your house for the 2 weeks. Not even for walks outside in the backyard (they track your phone). The police can pop in any time to check to make sure you're actually there.

Its up to a $1,000,000 fine and/or 3 years in jail if you willfully break the quarantine.

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Not a “today” remark, but I have been wondering — suppose Democrats had been in charge. Fewer people would have died, but we wouldn’t really know that The Trump administration would have been worse. And the republicans would be gleefully pointing out how bad the Democrats were doing. ..This will be my alternate universe Sci fi story.

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I think the absolute worst case for a Dem administration would be something like Canada under Trudeau. Their death rate is less than half ours, and in all probability it would have been far lower if the US response hadn't been so inept.

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not just fewer. probably less than 10K total in the US. And we would have had enough testing everywhere to keep the spread very low. Now, republicans would still be going nuts, and it would be a terrible amount of deaths, but much less than the likely 0.25% of the US population we are going to get to by the end of this.

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If the HRC had won, the whole Trump story would been deemed a complete fantasy, utterly impossible.

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UK Telegraph: high-level talks to allow quarantine-free travel between low risk cities - like London, New York. Wait, what?

https://nypost.com/2020/08/27/nyc-to-london-air-bridge-being-discussed-by-us-uk-report/

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This is very “micro” but thus far there have only been 12 positive tests among my older daughter’s peers since they returned to campus. The threshold for shutting down is 5% of the student body, so they’ve got some ceiling yet.

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Do they retest all positives later, and remove them from the count after they recover & test negative? I continue to see stats about total positive tests since inception, which isn't particularly useful or relevant, vs total currently testing positive.

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I don’t know, I’ll have to page through the enormous “back to campus” plan!

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Surfing

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I knew what "hang ten" meant and had thought it was common knowledge, but seeing how many people didn't know it, I feel smarter now.

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I don't know how much it played in his decision of where to go to school, but one of my nephews sure took advantage of nearby surfing when he went to San Diego State. He was just a short bus ride from the water.

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A friend of a friend grew up in Illinois and specifically picked a SoCal school for college because she had always wanted to learn how to surf.

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I read that as "a short-bus ride" and was confused for a beat or two

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I didn't know that's what Hang Ten meant.

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I grew up way inland (Davis) and I knew what it meant.

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*shocked face* i'm surprised.

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Me neither.

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*still shocked face*

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Samesies. If I had to guess, maybe I would have thought something related to time--like 10 seconds.

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What? I... how...,

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Northern California born and raised,

At the beach is where I spent none of my days,

40 years later I learned the meaning of hang-ten,

Kept scrolling on and said, "All right then".

But then Cugel started making trouble in the DBD,

"How could you all be so dense, you must be kidding me!"

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🤙🤙

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That's not what I said!!!!

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Poetic license. 🤷‍♂️

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because I don't surf I guess. And I never had any Hang Ten surfer wear. I always thought it was the hand signal.

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Neither do I, it just seemed like something everybody knew when I was growing up in El Segundo.

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I knew precisely one guy in HS who surfed, it’s not a subculture I had any contact with otherwise

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Well, that's clearly enough exposure to know the background behind every phrase in that subculture.

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I was in elementary school then, it just seemed to be common knowledge.

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Maybe it's a Southern California vs Northern California (unless you surfed) thing.

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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https://www.upworthy.com/penzeys-spices-looting-its-own-store-for-racial-justice

"Penzey, whose business headquarters reside just outside of Milwaukee, has been openly supportive of the protests against racial injustice taking place all over the nation. But after protests in Kenosha became riotous, someone wrote him a letter suggesting that if it were his store being looted, he'd be singing a different tune.

Bill Penzey pondered this idea. Then he sent out a letter to subscribers and explained that no, he actually wouldn't."

...

"But what to do? My mind went to that idea that we would feel differently if it was our store that was looted. When I asked around: "What if we looted our own store?" What if we took a snapshot of our Kenosha store's inventory tonight and simply gave away exactly that amount of inventory in the coming weeks? Unlike the Minneapolis Uptown store that was in the center of things, our Kenosha location is out by the highway and does not have much chance of looting itself. What if we just gave our spices and seasonings to food pantries and gift boxes to organizations trying to raise money to fund change?"

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I love the Penzeys folks. They've been great through all of the shit over the last year.

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Wouldn't any potential damages be covered by insurance? Isn't that the point of insurance. We don't need armed farmers protecting urban shops so insurance companies don't have to pay out.

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Melania wore solid green to last night's RNC

https://i.imgur.com/v6ssPwx.gifv

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The people I talked with were going to ignore the advice and get tested if they were exposed anyway.

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Gov Newsome also said that CA was going to ignore the guideline change and keep with the current recommendations on testing.

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I think most reasonable states will.

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PRO

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Oakland A’s postpone Thursday game to raise awareness after Jacob Blake police shooting

https://www.athleticsnation.com/2020/8/27/21404672/oakland-as-postpone-game-jacob-blake-police-shooting-black-lives-matter

The Oakland A’s have postponed their scheduled game Thursday against the Texas Rangers.

This postponement stems from the shooting of unarmed Black man Jacob Blake in the back by Wisconsin police officers on Sunday, which sparked a boycott around the sports world.

The A’s released the following statement directly from their players:

Social injustice and systemic racism have been part of the fabric of our lives for too long. We have a responsibility to use our platform, to lend our voices for those who are not being heard.

We need to continue having the uncomfortable conversations and work towards being a unified force for change.

These conversations will push the boundaries and enable us to come through on the other side with impactful results.

All too often we hear about the plight of our fellow man and fail to act. It is long past due that these communities are being heard, seen, understood and supported.

We will not take the field tonight to help raise awareness for these social issues, not just tonight, but for our collective future. This is the first step in our relentless pursuit for meaningful change.

- Oakland A’s Players

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Nice. However, they will play the Astros tonight.

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I assume either they'll make it up later. The Dodgers play the Rangers tonight. Although I'm not sure why the Dodgers didn't play the Rangers when they were in Houston a few weeks ago.

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Next and final trip to Texas next month will include the 7-inning doubleheader, so the game will be made up.

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it's weird that they don't split up games evenly, though I guess it's better to do 3-3-4 rather than 2-2-3-3. Fewer trips.

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Giants win streak comes to a screeching halt

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2020/8/27/21404673/san-francisco-giants-dodgers-final-score

In the bottom of the first inning of the first game of a doubleheader on Thursday, Mike Yastrzemski led off with a single. The next batter, Wilmer Flores, crushed a fly ball into triple’s alley.

You suddenly had visions of the last time the San Francisco Giants faced Clayton Kershaw, when they shockingly hung three home runs and a handful of other hard hits on the Los Angeles Dodgers ace. It might happen again, you hoped.

Flores’ deep fly had an expected batting average of .820, but the Dodgers employ two outfielders who have won awards for supposedly being of the most value at this silly game, and one of them, Cody Bellinger, somehow made a catch.

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Giants get shutout all day long

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2020/8/27/21404945/san-francisco-giants-final-score

Look, I’m not going to waste your time or anyone’s time writing very many words about this game. I’m going to get in and get out, so you can get in and get out, so we can both move on with our lives. I think that’s in everyone’s best interest.

The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 2-0 in Act 2 of their doubleheader. The score was close, and given the four (yes, four) comebacks the Giants made during Tuesday’s win over the same Dodgers team, it would seem that you should objectively have hope.

You did not have hope. The game felt wholly unwinnable. The two-run deficit felt like the Cliffs of Insanity, but after the rope has been cut. Against all evidence, you knew the Giants simply could not win.

Well congratulations, you smart little Giants fan. You were correct. I hope it feels good.

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Guasman once again was not bad. But it's hard to win with a bottom of the batting order this bad.

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Kershaw is going to pitch into his 70's as long as the Giants are on LA's schedule

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Clayton Kershaw dominates as Dodgers take first game of doubleheader

https://www.truebluela.com/2020/8/27/21404810/clayton-kershaw-dominates-as-dodgers-take-first-game-of-double-header-mlb-news-rumors-notes-giants

Clayton Kershaw looked like his vintage self on Thursday afternoon, as he threw six scoreless innings in LA’s 7-0 victory over the Giants.

For the game, Kershaw threw six scoreless innings, striking out four and issuing no walks. This couldn’t come as any surprise, as he’s dominated the Giants over the course of his entire career. However, today the Giants just had no chance against him.

San Francisco managed only four hits against him, and only had a runner in scoring position once. Donovan Solano led the second inning of with a double, but was stranded at third base as the Giants failed to bring him in. They put a runner on second base in the third as well, but Kershaw managed to escape the inning untouched.

Over the final four innings, the Giants were 1-for-13.

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Dodgers second shutout of Giants on Thursday was a group effort

https://www.truebluela.com/2020/8/27/21404946/dodgers-shutout-bullpen-game-giants-recap

After a Clayton Kershaw did the bulk of the work in the first game, the Dodgers got another shutout in the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader against the Giants. But this 2-0 win was a group effort.

Seven relief pitchers combined for a two-hitter, with Brandon Belt collecting both hits for San Francisco. Rookie left-hander Victor Gonzalez retired all seven batters he faced, including three strikeouts, from the second through fourth innings, earning his second win in four major league appearances.

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CAL

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Go Bears!

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Go Bears!

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