105 Comments

SF Symphony spreading happiness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pLBXL8yXqQ

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I'm figuring out the limits of my local library.

Here's what I've discovered so far:

a. 10 physical items can be checked out each visit

b. 30 physical items can be checked out total

c. 40 physical items can be put on hold

d. 30 ebooks can be checked out through Libby/Overdrive/SimplyE

e. 15 ebooks can be put on hold through Libby/Overdrive/SimplyE

f. 15 ebooks can be borrowed each month on Hoopla

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Back to the underwear conversation: AE men's underwear 3 for $30 and Aerie women's undies 10 for $35 right now

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Unfair! discrimination!

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And also wrong. I missed that the sale ended yesterday. Sorry everyone, false alarm!

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fine. no underwear then.

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I used to go commando back when I was working my way though college (501 button fly ONLY) But OTOH; I washed the jeans everyday.

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WAY too much information.

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https://twitter.com/TJ_Knight/status/1291371460473294848?s=20

@TJ_Knight: Major love and respect to the Polish MP’s who co-ordinated their outfits to create a rainbow flag at the swearing in for their homophobic president Andrzej Duda

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oh is that what that was. I saw a separate picture, I think, of them holding up a rainbow flag but didn't read the caption (on reddit I think).

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3 of Bon Appétit's Test Kitchen stars of color are departing the video channel after failed contract negotiations

https://www.businessinsider.com/bon-appetit-test-kitchen-priya-krishna-rick-martinez-2020-8

Following contract negotiations that have lasted five weeks, three of Bon Appétit's Test Kitchen stars are departing the wildly popular video channel.

Contributing writer Priya Krishna, contributing food editor Rick Martinez, and assistant food editor Sohla El-Waylly told Business Insider that they will no longer appear in videos.

They represent three of the six people of color who are regularly featured on the Test Kitchen videos.

El-Waylly will stay in her role writing recipes and other content for Bon Appétit's magazine and website, while Krishna and Martinez will continue to freelance on the brand's editorial side.

...

The contract battles for Krishna and Martinez lasted five weeks, they said. Both received identical contracts at different times that reflected a new pay structure: a $1,000 day rate for hosted videos; $625 for videos in which other talent members made an appearance of two minutes or longer; and $0 for videos in which their appearances were shorter than two minutes. The contract was reviewed by Business Insider.

Condé Nast Entertainment management told the entire Bon Appétit video talent of the new structure in a Zoom call on June 18. These rates constituted the base pay — meaning some were eligible to earn more per appearance than what was outlined above. Martinez and Krishna said they would have received only that base pay.

In the same contract that outlined their daily rate, it also guaranteed 10 video appearances per year. This differed from the contracts reviewed by Martinez that some of their white peers receive where guaranteed appearances total up to 60, he said.

According to Martinez and Krishna, this would have meant a pay cut for Martinez and a very slight bump for Krishna. Ultimately, they said they would still be paid less than their white counterparts.

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I don’t have an opinion about their specific choices but I applaud their transparency so that Bon Appétit can’t try and spin this

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There is a 100% chance that Bon Appetit/Conde Nast will spin this anyway. But it just won't spin very far.

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Beirut aftermath

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That much fertilizer is equal to 2 kilotons bomb, about 1/7th the size of Little Boy on Hiroshima.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/35418/this-was-the-largest-conventional-explosion-america-ever-set-off

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This photo has emerged of the warehouse. The AN was stacked in an unconditioned warehouse. To keep AN as a fertilizer and not an explosive, it needs to be kept separated and in small packages to prevent pressure from pushing it together into a big mass, be kept dry so it can't cake into a hard block, and protected away from any heat/sparks. So in other words, the untrained longshoremen accidentally created a bomb because they didn't know how to handle it.

https://twitter.com/Dalatrm/status/1290780414114779137

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😬

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How are you feeling today based on this scale:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EevS8zAXgAA6lzQ?format=jpg&name=medium

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By and large a 1 today.

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Is it bad that I'm not exactly sure how to interpret the facial expressions in about a third of these.

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Mainly bafflement I'd say.

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Except for 11...whatever that is

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11 is amused incredulity

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6

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I going with 8. Still conveys a strong sense of dismay at any number of ongoing developments.

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7. Solid 7.

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now I need to go back and open the page to see which is a 7 and which is an 11.

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11

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1 through 12 at once.

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hahahaha

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I'm a 12 today.

Found out this morning that a friend's mom, one that I consider a second mom, is now in hospice as she stops treatment for cancer. She wrote me a farewell letter and it broke me in half. While people have it worse than me, 2020 can go fuck itself. I'm tired of being sad.

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Bad news and sorry to hear. My Dad recently passed away from lung cancer

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May his memory be a blessing

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well that blows.

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I’m sorry to read this. Perhaps later it may come as some solace that she was able to manage her end and to be able to say goodbye, as much as it hurts now.

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I'm so sorry!

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Damn. So sorry.

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I'm sorry <3

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Ugh...sorry to hear this.

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Not valid, doesn't go to 19. Today I'm a 12.

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on a 19 point scale i am a 13 today.

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Piggyback

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Elsewhere in college

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Penn State: no fans in the stands at any fall sports

https://twitter.com/audsnyder4/status/1291375550771101698?s=19

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I’ve been to 2 games against Penn State. I found their fans to be very unpleasant as a group, which caused a little disconnect because the Penn State alumni I’ve worked with were uniformly pleasant. Almost like herds are bad.

Point being that no fans would be a net improvement with them

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Ohio State has an apparent violation caught on video. Harbaugh snitches on them during a conference call. Ryan Day tells his players he wants to hang 100 on the Wolverines.

https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/2736975/after-jim-harbaugh-snitched-on-him-ryan-day-told-ohio-state-the-big-ten-better-have-a-mercy-rule-this-year-because-theyre-gonna-hang-100-on-michigan

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Ho ho ho.

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USC has announced that all fall classes will begin online, and all students are advised to remain home until USC Housing receives permission from LA Public Health to move fall residents in.

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I’m not sure why they left it so late to pull the plug when the Public health people weren’t moving

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hoping against hope that reality would disappear.

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There’s a lot of that going around

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yes, there is.

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UCLA hadn't acknowledged it, but the LA County Health Director blew their cover by announcing that 8 UCLA football players have tested positive for Covid-19.

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Big 10 players echo demands of Pac-12 players but don't opt out.

https://www.si.com/college/cal/news/

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Today in la 'rona

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"OAKLAND — County health officials in California say they have no idea whether their Covid-19 cases are rising or falling due to an ongoing state data glitch, making it all but impossible to determine whether they’re making headway in controlling the pandemic.

Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Sara Cody, the Silicon Valley official who coordinated the nation's first regional pandemic lockdown in March, likened the projected underreporting of case counts to the early days of the crisis, when lack of testing blinded the ability of health officers to gauge the spread of the novel virus.

“Right now, we’re back to feeling blind,” Cody said at a press briefing Wednesday. “We don't know how the epidemic is trending. It’s not just inconvenient. This lack of data doesn't allow us to know where the epidemic is heading, how fast it is growing — or not.”

The breakdown appears to have occurred between California laboratories processing coronavirus tests and the state data system, the California Reportable Disease Information Exchange, also known as CalREDIE. California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly, the state's top health official, said this week that's where data is getting stuck, but he didn't explain why that happened or when it would be resolved.

Cody indicated Wednesday the glitch may date as far back as the middle of July — right when the state began those closures in dozens of counties in an effort to turn the tide."

Well, that's not good.

https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/08/05/back-to-feeling-blind-how-californias-data-glitch-is-hampering-efforts-to-control-virus-spread-1305163

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Sturgis Rally starts tomorrow. Normally a half million go. This year, organizers expect a quarter million attendees. No masks required, but the tribal lands won't allow people to go through their lands. I'm sure things will go well with no consequences.

https://www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com/

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A quarter of a million?! Even outdoors, that can't be good.

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Outdoors and helmeted and on a constantly moving motorcycle...?

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They're not constantly on motorcycles though; there are going to be concerts and other spectator events, probably vendor booths and stuff... people will be staying in hotels/motels. It's not going to be just people riding motorcycles.

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A resumption of “Indian Wars” would certainly add an element of disaster to a year that maybe didn’t need it.

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Remember that picture from Paulson, GA of the high-school where few people were wearing masks and social distancing was impossible?

The principal suspended the student who published the source video and went on the PA to tell all students that any negative press about the school would be punished.

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/video/student-suspended-showing-fellow-students-masks-72209309?cid=clicksource_4380645_2_heads_hero_live_hero_related

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Suspended on what grounds?

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When dealing with schools, especially high schools, I've found that "because I said so" is sometimes all the justification that can be given for disciplinary actions.

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Oh, just read the manuals. Read the books.

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[Covid19] "D6"

[Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH] "Hit"

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/06/politics/mike-dewine-coronavirus/index.html

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When Connie Schultz posted about this on Fbook, some people joked, "Maybe he just didn't want to meet Trump"

Hope he's ok.

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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ICYMI: Deputy in the US diplomatic corps in the UK confirms NY Times story that Trump got the ambassador to ask that a golf tournament be moved to Trump's property in Scotland. The report got classified in May and the IG fired. Normally, this would be front-page news - but is a "but of course he fucking did" footnote.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/diplomat-trump-s-ambassador-took-steps-line-president-s-pocket-n1236002

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ICYMI: Trump nominates another troll to be next ambassador to Germany.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/27/trump-taps-retired-colonel-for-germany-ambassador-382992

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This is the same guy who thinks that the Germans are overdoing their apologies for genocide and thinks refugees should be shot at the border, isn’t it?

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Whoa:

"The chief executive of the National Rifle Association and several top lieutenants engaged in a decades-long pattern of fraud to raid the coffers of the powerful gun rights group for personal gain, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by the New York attorney general, draining $64 million from the nonprofit in just three years.

In her lawsuit, Attorney General Letitia James called for the dissolution of the NRA and the removal of CEO Wayne LaPierre from the leadership post he has held for the past 39 years, saying he and others used the group’s funds to finance a luxury lifestyle.

She also asked a New York court to force LaPierre and three key deputies to repay NRA members for the ill-gotten funds and inflated salaries that her investigation found they took.

James accused the NRA leaders of flouting state and federal laws and signing off on reports and statements they knew were fraudulent, while diverting millions of dollars away from the NRA’s charitable mission to benefit themselves and their allies.

The attorney general requested that the court bar the four men — LaPierre, general counsel John Frazer, former treasurer Woody Phillips and former chief of staff Joshua Powell — from ever serving in a leadership position for a New York charity in the future."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/nra-lapierre-ny-attorney-general/2020/08/06/8e389794-d794-11ea-930e-d88518c57dcc_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-high_nra-1133a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans

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Related survey question:

If you were to use your powers for evil, do you think you'd be able to make a lot of money? (I'm not asking if you have the stomach for it; I'm asking if you have the skill for it)

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I 100% have the skills, but in no way have the stomach.

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This, I believe.

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the swag I could get from suppliers if I was dirty? Ohhhhhh yeaaahhhhh...

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I don't know how much money, but could certainly get some seriously large potentially awful things done. (day care on toxic waste sorts of things).

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Supervillain origin story?

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Also, I saw a t-shirt that I will be needing to buy..."screw lab safety, I want superpowers"

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One of the scientists at my facility has that shirt. He has many fun shirts and is always willing to chat when I bring tour groups by his space. You can see an example of his fashion sense in this photo: https://twitter.com/advlightsource/status/1281355657937956866?s=20

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BWAHHAHAAHWWHWHAHAHWAHAAAA

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Oh, for sure

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This is a follow on from a WaPo article from last year that is pretty amazing. Lavish spending by senior management. Backdoor payments at over market rate to at least a quarter of its 76-person Board of Directors and other related parties. Leave it to Ollie North to be at the center of another US controversy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/nra-money-flowed-to-board-members-amid-allegedly-lavish-spending-by-top-officials-and-vendors/2019/06/09/3eafe160-8186-11e9-9a67-a687ca99fb3d_story.html

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at least ollie seemed to be on the 'less graft' side this time.

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I assume they would be charged and with the amounts they stole it would be a felony. Which would be ironic in that they wouldn't be able to own guns.

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Trump campaign incapable of the truth.

A newspaper based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is criticizing the Trump campaign’s doctoring of one of its photos that appears in a television ad that portrays Biden as hiding in his Delaware basement.

The photo shows Biden sitting on the floor in front of a leather chair. According to the Gazette, it was taken in December when Biden was visiting the home of the mayor of Coralville, Iowa, John Lundell.

About three dozen supporters and journalists were at the event, according to the paper’s photo editor, and Biden sat on the floor to give someone else his seat.

In the doctored version that appears in the ad, Biden is shown with no one around him.

“Deep in the heart of Delaware, Joe Biden sits in his basement, alone, hiding, diminished,” the ad’s narrator says, echoing a common line of attack against the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

The Gazette, which forbids use of its news photos in political advertising, said the Trump campaign did not seek permission to use it.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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PRO

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Oakland A’s Game #12: A’s outslug Rangers for 6-4 win

https://www.athleticsnation.com/2020/8/5/21356672/oakland-as-game-12-texas-rangers-score-result-matt-olson

The Oakland A’s have struggled to string together hits with runners in scoring position this season, so on Wednesday they found another way to drive in runs — just smash it over the wall a bunch of times.

The A’s hit four home runs against the Texas Rangers, earning a come-from-behind 6-4 victory to extend their winning streak to five games.

The Rangers set the tone for the game early when leadoff man Shin-Soo Choo hit the very first pitch of the evening for a homer off Oakland starter Sean Manaea. But that was the only long ball Texas could manage, and the A’s answered with dingers from Matt Olson in the 1st inning, Ramon Laureano in the 5th, Austin Allen in the 7th, and Olson again in the 8th. Allen’s was the first of his MLB career.

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Austin Allen with a towering drive to right -center.

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Brandon Belt does good baseball things, Giants win

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2020/8/5/21356511/san-francisco-giants-rockies-final-score-brandon-belt

It was only a matter of time before Brandon Belt had a breakout game. Even after last year’s struggles, he’s too good of a hitter to just walk and hit the occasional single, even if those things are more valuable than he generally gets credit for.

Wednesday was that breakout game.

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GBBR

Joc Pederson, Dodgers continue to thrive in San Diego

https://www.truebluela.com/2020/8/5/21356586/joc-pederson-home-runs-chris-taylor-throw-dodgers-padres-san-diego

Chris Taylor saves Kenley's ass with a great 1 hop throw from LF for the double play to end the game.

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Stripling grooved a flat fastball to Tatis and he savaged it. The bat flip was just the 🍒on top.

https://twitter.com/Cut4/status/1291384699076714499

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Yeah he did. Tried to sneak one by after his curves and change ups. I don't mind the bat flip.

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bat flips are fun and good

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CAL

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Go Bears

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Lu Magia Hearns (De La Salle, c/o 2020 Athlete) gets an offer and the 247 pundits all switch their forecasts yesterday to a Cal commit. No stars now, but will probably kick up to a 2 or 3 star based on the star system once he commits. He is an unconventional recruit. Not especially fast. Short and skinny. Not a lot of catches/yards on offense. But is way way more than the sum of his parts.

https://twitter.com/Hearns_21/status/1291122346820923392

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apparently he has grown and developed a bit and the lack of camps killed his exposure since he is a late bloomer. A bit alarming though that his only other offers are Cal Poly and Sac State

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Hearns commits. Cal recruiting throws up the bat signal AGAIN! My guess, Derek Wilkins, who will announce his commitment on Sunday.

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Jaylinn Hawkins activated by Falcons, removed from the Covid-19 list

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Conference call tonight between Pac-12 and #WeAreUnited

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