Toucans are arboreal and typically lay 2–21 white eggs in their nests. They make their nests in tree hollows and holes excavated by other animals such as woodpeckers—the toucan bill has very limited use as an excavation tool. When the eggs hatch, the young emerge completely naked, without any down. Toucans are resident breeders and do not migrate. Toucans are usually found in pairs or small flocks. They sometimes fence with their bills and wrestle, which scientists hypothesize they do to establish dominance hierarchies. In Africa and Asia, hornbills occupy the toucans' ecological niche, an example of convergent evolution.
I use the HAG strategy of ctrl+F "n ew reply" (without the extra space) to jump to new comments. Occasionally, I'll come back to this tab after a long period of time, and there are 19 new comments, and I always think the browser is rating the comments. 1/19, 2/19, &c.
Someone from the Bay Area Miata Association posted a video of all the cars on the Miata subreddit. Also one of the original designers of the Miata participates in some of the drives, Tom Matano.
It's not like the Pac-12 was lining up and just selecting the best sponsors - they're selecting the sponsors that will pay them the most money. Alaska has an excellent reputation and is the key airline for Seattle/Portland and so probably was offering a lot less, if any at all.
I'm a fan. I enjoyed JetBlue when they were first running services to OAK but they've changed around their service from the DC area and so I've only used them to get to Boston of late. I would like to try their service to the UK though.
Allegient is good for flying to niche locations from entertainment hubs or vice versa. I flew the LAX to Bellingham route a half dozen times for $39 each way (then +$XX for ANY bags)
I just looked at their sight - if I wanted to get to Portland (most likely west coast destination), it looks like I'd need to fly via Sarasota and Grand Rapids. Which seems sub-optimal.
"37-900 N78448 was carrying ##USC #Trojans college football team when the aircraft tipped over at Lewiston Airport during the unloading process. Lewiston–Nez Perce County Airport is in Lewiston, Idaho. It arrived as flight UA 2509 from LAX. #UnitedAirlines"
Ohio State sports blog part-owner and operator fired and sued for financial and ethical shenanigans. This would never happen at Write for California, right? [nervous laughter]
Just finished the last episode of Ted Lasso. Reminded me a little bit of the movie After Hours. We get to see what Coach Beard does when he isn't coaching. I really liked this episode.
Apparently when Apple extended the season to 12 episodes, the writers wrote two additional standalone episodes. The Christmas episode and this one.
The four Mythic Quest disconnected episodes that stand outside the main narrative (Dark Quiet Death, Pandemic 1 & 2, and the history of CW Longbottom) were 4 of the best episodes.
Stephen Colbert gave Neil deGrasse Tyson his Colbert Questionnaire and asked him what is his favorite sandwich. He said Nathans Hot Dog. And he said he didn't want to hear the argument that a hot dog isn't a sandwich. Any slab of meat between two pieces of bread eaten with your hands and not a knife and fork is a sandwich.
I would agree... I lost 35 seconds of my life at Globe Life Field eating a thoroughly forgettable hot dog on a stale bun that did in fact become 2 separate slices...
Meanwhile, I am sitting at a cafe having just eaten a Taiwanese sausage panini. Funny how we don't question whether the sausage is still a sausage when it's sliced. Double standard.
Well, yesterday afternoon, I found out my ER doctor tenant is about to get fired because she refuses to get vaccinated, and worse, believes all sorts of misinformation about the vaccines.
As soon as someone says "all the media is lying, you can't trust the CDC and the FDA..." - you immediately know it's not going to be a productive conversation.
Good. We deal with enough plague from patients. Last thing we need is to deal with it in break rooms where we don't have all our PPE. Having fewer dumbasses at work is a side benefit.
A staff member at an elementary school in suburban Portland, Ore., has been suspended after reporting for work in blackface last week, in an apparent demonstration against the school district’s vaccine mandate for employees.
The woman showed up dressed as Rosa Parks with her face darkened with dye to protest a vaccination mandate for all public school employees in Oregon, the Newberg Graphic newspaper reported.
The school district confirmed the blackface incident on Monday, saying the employee was removed from Mabel Rush Elementary School and placed on administrative leave. In a statement, the district said it “condemns all expressions of racism.”
When lawyers for Mr. Coomer asked Sean Dollman, a representative of the Trump campaign, in a deposition if the campaign still believed that the election was fraudulent, he answered, “Yes, sir.”
The lawyers then asked, “What is that opinion based on?”
According to the court documents, Mr. Dollman gave a less than certain answer.
“We have no underlying definite facts that it wasn’t,” he said.
Trivia re: Tippi Hedren and The Birds; the studio tried to introduce as Hollywood's newest starlet, even though she was 34 (they lied about her age) and Suzanne Pleshette was 26, and better looking.
Chris Martin is now dating Dakota Johnson, who starred in the 50 Shades of Grey series. Her parents are Don Johnson and Melanie Griffiths. Melanie's mom is Tippi Hedren.
Some of my best Cal memories involve birding, like going to Tilden at 5 am and listening to songbirds start the dawn chorus as our professor identified each of the by sound.
We have tons more birds of prey in our new neighborhood, so I've been enjoying identifying them over the past 1.5yrs. Also we have an owl that regularly drops owl pellets in our backyard, which has been reminding of my middle school pellet dissections
my father in law is a hardcore birder - like, has seen every species in the US plus weird one offs that blow ashore in strange trade winds, so he had started going to Mexico and Ecuador a few years ago.
Even though it's only a little more than a mile around, I see lots of folks with binos when I go around Roosevelt Island in the Potomac. I've glimpsed a barred owl a few times but mostly see great blue herons and snowy egrets fishing around low tide.
I did some fantastic birding in Rock Creek Park a few Thanksgivings ago. Took one of my favorite pictures, of a golden-crowned kinglet! tinyurl.com/p33y2kam
It's amazing that 8 years after the Oregon monsoon, Goff still struggles this badly in the rain. He looked great in the first half, but I figured it wouldn't last after the announcers said that rain was coming in the second half.
Rodgers had a great bounce-back game. He looked furious that he missed that throw in the 4th that would have put them up 42-17.
One of the announcers mentioned his long one handed throwing motion is partly to blame (while other QBs keep 2 hands on the ball for longer).. I'd never thought about his throwing mechanics.
Somewhat un/related: One thing I also noticed with Goff at Cal was he almost always would have his right sleeve rolled up a little over his shoulder pad. I wondered if he needed that psychologically for his throwing motion to feel unrestricted or something, and was wondering if it would be a weird issue when they dont let you do that with your uniform in the NFL..
I heard that too and was trying to understand if that really is the case. He does seem to have a little bit longer throwing motion but that ball came out at the start of the motion, so I don't think it made much difference. Rodgers has a quicker throwing motion but he tends to hold the ball in one hand longer before he throws so there's risk there too.
This is his 5th year as starter in the NFL. I think that's very elite enough. I wonder which is better. QBs this famous tend to retire quicker than the perennial backup QBs that never play but somehow are in the league forever. Like Colt McCoy, AJ McCarron, Brian Hoyer, Chase Daniel, Blaine Gabbert, Chad Henne these guys are still in the NFL although I don't know who they play for.
I wonder if it's because they've got starter salary so owners aren't going to pay starter salary to backup. Plus hopefully they've saved their starter money so they don't need to play as long.
Jaydn Ott was a lottery scratcher. Justyn Martin was a program changer. Well, I mean, he technically can still change our program by crushing us in baby blue and gold.
https://twitter.com/moorehn/status/1440432794098823176?s=20
I use the HAG strategy of ctrl+F "n ew reply" (without the extra space) to jump to new comments. Occasionally, I'll come back to this tab after a long period of time, and there are 19 new comments, and I always think the browser is rating the comments. 1/19, 2/19, &c.
It's today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs069dndIYk
Today I learned that "eat" is the new "slay" https://twitter.com/parrainsmith/status/1440147791024513025?s=20
Someone from the Bay Area Miata Association posted a video of all the cars on the Miata subreddit. Also one of the original designers of the Miata participates in some of the drives, Tom Matano.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Miata/comments/psacql/28_expressions_of_joy/
A bunch of the cars from Max Max Fury Road are going on auction, including the giant truck with speakers on it.
https://www.lloydsauctions.com.au/madmax/
I guess I could park it next to my big head.
Other College
Utah's starting QB Charlie Brewer just rage-quit the team
https://www.ksl.com/article/50246257/cam-rising-named-starting-qb-for-utes-charlie-brewer-leaves-program
Oops.
Allegiant Air named Pac-12 official airline. Sooo... does this mean Pac-12 Networks is moving to Las Vegas?
https://pac-12.com/article/2021/09/20/allegiant-named-official-airline-pac-12
That is awful. It should have been Alaska Airlines.
I don't have any experience, but I am prejudiced and will never fly Allegient, Frontier, or Spirit. They always seem to have troubles.
It's not like the Pac-12 was lining up and just selecting the best sponsors - they're selecting the sponsors that will pay them the most money. Alaska has an excellent reputation and is the key airline for Seattle/Portland and so probably was offering a lot less, if any at all.
Alaska Airlines is the most glorious of the domestic airlines and it isnt close
I'm a fan. I enjoyed JetBlue when they were first running services to OAK but they've changed around their service from the DC area and so I've only used them to get to Boston of late. I would like to try their service to the UK though.
Allegient is good for flying to niche locations from entertainment hubs or vice versa. I flew the LAX to Bellingham route a half dozen times for $39 each way (then +$XX for ANY bags)
I just looked at their sight - if I wanted to get to Portland (most likely west coast destination), it looks like I'd need to fly via Sarasota and Grand Rapids. Which seems sub-optimal.
site not sight dammit
We knew whate you ment.
The Seawolves don't play football, though.
Who?
George is partial to Vegas
low-budget airline for low-budget conference, story checks out
The airline that flies from Vegas to...nowhere
I don't think you'll find any Pac-12 teams flying Allegiant. It would be funny if the Pac-12 forced all the teams to fly Allegiant.
SC might be looking for someone new:
"37-900 N78448 was carrying ##USC #Trojans college football team when the aircraft tipped over at Lewiston Airport during the unloading process. Lewiston–Nez Perce County Airport is in Lewiston, Idaho. It arrived as flight UA 2509 from LAX. #UnitedAirlines"
https://twitter.com/SparrowOneSix/status/1440285975217729543?s=20
Football players are heavy.
But they shed dead weight when they fired Helton. Could also have left him on the tarmac per Trojan tradition.
it's gotta be Southwest, right?
I can testify that it is Southwest.
Definitely should be Southwest, for both conference and non-conference games
Ohio State sports blog part-owner and operator fired and sued for financial and ethical shenanigans. This would never happen at Write for California, right? [nervous laughter]
https://awfulannouncing.com/ncaa/former-ohio-state-player-kirk-barton-and-infamous-message-board-poster-nevadabuck-fired-and-sued-over-role-in-osu-site.html
Recruiting, fantasy sports, and advertising reach and pricing all vary somewhat between the Ohio St. community and Cal. Somewhat.
Middle Tennessee State's starting QB quits team.
https://www.dnj.com/story/sports/college/mtsu/2021/09/20/mtsu-football-quarterback-bailey-hockman-no-longer-blue-raiders/5789676001/
Seems to be an epidemic.
ICYMI, Sonny Dykes and SMU beat Louisiana Tech on a hail mary pass.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401282199
College football odds, lines, picks, bets, predictions for Week 4, 2021: Proven computer backing LSU, UCLA
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-rankings-penn-state-into-top-five-clemson-out-of-top-10-in-cbs-sports-130/
Imma take the favorite and give the spread on the entire Pac-12 slate
@UW (+7.5) over Cal
@Oregon (+28.5) over Arizona
UCLA (+5.5) over @Stanfurd
@Utah (+14.5) over WSU
@ASU (+14.5) over CU
@USC (+12) over OSU
Stanfurd 5.5 over UCLAns
Clarification: Stanfurd (+5.5) is the underdog.
Oooops
DBD AV Club
Just finished the last episode of Ted Lasso. Reminded me a little bit of the movie After Hours. We get to see what Coach Beard does when he isn't coaching. I really liked this episode.
Apparently when Apple extended the season to 12 episodes, the writers wrote two additional standalone episodes. The Christmas episode and this one.
meh, the missus and I were unamused and found it trite and lacking in relevance to the main series. Felt very disconnected and did not like
The four Mythic Quest disconnected episodes that stand outside the main narrative (Dark Quiet Death, Pandemic 1 & 2, and the history of CW Longbottom) were 4 of the best episodes.
I was expecting to hate it and was pleasantly surprised
so, like a standalone episode? [ducks]
I liked this more than the Christmas one.
Yeah, this one was really fascinating.
Noir, with a touch of magic realism.
DBD kitchen
Stephen Colbert gave Neil deGrasse Tyson his Colbert Questionnaire and asked him what is his favorite sandwich. He said Nathans Hot Dog. And he said he didn't want to hear the argument that a hot dog isn't a sandwich. Any slab of meat between two pieces of bread eaten with your hands and not a knife and fork is a sandwich.
Is a taco a sandwich?
Is a tartaine a sandwich?
Which begs the question...does a hot dog bun qualify as two pieces of bread...hmmmm?
He said that a hot dog bun is basically hinged bread, like in a sub sandwich. A sub sandwich is still a sandwich...
But the question remains...is hinged bread “2 pieces”, or is it actually just 1 piece?
If just 1, it’s a real game changer for the “open faced” sandwich lobby...
Depends on the integrity of the bread mesentery?
I would agree... I lost 35 seconds of my life at Globe Life Field eating a thoroughly forgettable hot dog on a stale bun that did in fact become 2 separate slices...
the Rattler sausage at Globe Life wwas rather good. HAG and i split one of those.
Meanwhile, I am sitting at a cafe having just eaten a Taiwanese sausage panini. Funny how we don't question whether the sausage is still a sausage when it's sliced. Double standard.
I do not like 大肠包小肠
I plan to enjoy a Top Dog today
Today in Covid-19 (or Right-wing talking heads dying of Covid-19)
The founder of the Raiders Black Hole died of Covid complications
https://twitter.com/JTTheBrick/status/1440041132151361547?s=19
Well, yesterday afternoon, I found out my ER doctor tenant is about to get fired because she refuses to get vaccinated, and worse, believes all sorts of misinformation about the vaccines.
As soon as someone says "all the media is lying, you can't trust the CDC and the FDA..." - you immediately know it's not going to be a productive conversation.
Good. We deal with enough plague from patients. Last thing we need is to deal with it in break rooms where we don't have all our PPE. Having fewer dumbasses at work is a side benefit.
A staff member at an elementary school in suburban Portland, Ore., has been suspended after reporting for work in blackface last week, in an apparent demonstration against the school district’s vaccine mandate for employees.
The woman showed up dressed as Rosa Parks with her face darkened with dye to protest a vaccination mandate for all public school employees in Oregon, the Newberg Graphic newspaper reported.
The school district confirmed the blackface incident on Monday, saying the employee was removed from Mabel Rush Elementary School and placed on administrative leave. In a statement, the district said it “condemns all expressions of racism.”
Darkened with dye, like she won't be able to remove it easily??
iodine, IIRC
Unless this was somehow for an OutKast tribute video, she may need to take her bus ride out of town.
J&J releases study showing that y'all need more of what they sell. Efficacy goes from 75% to 95%.
https://apnews.com/article/johnson-and-johnson-covid-booster-4f86b7f00d354c289af17503eeb50824
that is not surprising, either commercially or medically
oh baby you. . .you got what i need
Crumbling Democracy
When lawyers for Mr. Coomer asked Sean Dollman, a representative of the Trump campaign, in a deposition if the campaign still believed that the election was fraudulent, he answered, “Yes, sir.”
The lawyers then asked, “What is that opinion based on?”
According to the court documents, Mr. Dollman gave a less than certain answer.
“We have no underlying definite facts that it wasn’t,” he said.
Birds
Tippi Hedren's old house boat The Enchanted Cottage is at the end of our dock in Marina del Rey and is a regular talking point on our afternoon sails.
Trivia re: Tippi Hedren and The Birds; the studio tried to introduce as Hollywood's newest starlet, even though she was 34 (they lied about her age) and Suzanne Pleshette was 26, and better looking.
I hate Cold Play.
Chris Martin is now dating Dakota Johnson, who starred in the 50 Shades of Grey series. Her parents are Don Johnson and Melanie Griffiths. Melanie's mom is Tippi Hedren.
They've been together for years and are engaged!
I know a DBD’er whose handle references an iconic Cal MBB Coach that once participated in a well-known local Bird-calling Contest...
Was Pete from Piedmont?
I got super into birding during the pandemic. Still very into birding. Great way to explore the outdoors -- it's like real-world Pokemon
Some of my best Cal memories involve birding, like going to Tilden at 5 am and listening to songbirds start the dawn chorus as our professor identified each of the by sound.
I can identify most I see but am hopeless when trying to identify by their song.
We have tons more birds of prey in our new neighborhood, so I've been enjoying identifying them over the past 1.5yrs. Also we have an owl that regularly drops owl pellets in our backyard, which has been reminding of my middle school pellet dissections
my father in law is a hardcore birder - like, has seen every species in the US plus weird one offs that blow ashore in strange trade winds, so he had started going to Mexico and Ecuador a few years ago.
Even though it's only a little more than a mile around, I see lots of folks with binos when I go around Roosevelt Island in the Potomac. I've glimpsed a barred owl a few times but mostly see great blue herons and snowy egrets fishing around low tide.
I did some fantastic birding in Rock Creek Park a few Thanksgivings ago. Took one of my favorite pictures, of a golden-crowned kinglet! tinyurl.com/p33y2kam
Froot Loops
Follow your nose, even when trademark prevents specific brand identification.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/confirmed-the-new-fruity-cereal-kit-kats-taste-exactly-like-the-milk-at-the-bottom-of-your-bowl/ar-BB1bEMS4
I had a high school English teacher who was quoted as saying, "I teach Fruit Loops."
My parents never bought that or Lucky Charms - I lusted after them, until I tasted them.
Ma Chitwood would buy Fruit Loops, but never Lucky Charms...never
I remember kids used to bring them both when teachers allowed cereal for morning parties at school. They were yucky.
All Froot Loops are the same flavor, regardless of color.
Froot Loops, while perfectly tasty, are inferior to the best fruity O's cereal, Apple Jacks.
I endorse this statement.
As a kid, I used to LOVE Fruit Loops for bkfst in the dining hall at the Lair of the Bear.
i dont recall the breakfast options, but i had the BEST time the one week that i was at the Lair, once.
i think if i lived in CA i would definitely have signed up for the family to go. instead on the east coast we sent our kids to sleepaway camp in NH
I remember their breakfast sausages being solid and the eggs being runny. Regardless it's all Sysco Foods.
Oh ya, the eggs were suspect...the food at the Lair usually left a lot to be desired. But cereal was always safe!
Unfortunately that flavor is nasty.
The milk is more vital to the experience than for other cereals. Also helps with the abrasive texture.
Mind you, I like them but I would declare a sack of raw flour edible.
I love the Milk leftover when eating the end of the box of Smart Start. Basically sugar milk.
Indeed, even "adult cereals" seem to have aced the milk.
Just waiting for the line of grown-up versions of kids' cereal. Like Froot Loops with extra fiber.
How about Colon Blow?
https://www.cascadianfarm.com/product/fruitful-os-cereal/
Follow your nose...
Wherever it goes!
It always knows...
The flavor of fruit...
Nasty
Pro
Gronk tells story about how he was traded to the Lions two years ago, but nixed the trade by retiring.
https://twitter.com/Ihartitz/status/1440118276093321218
The Aarons x2 beat the Goffs. 35-17.
Yet again, Goff was plagued by small hands in wet weather. I guess the Lions equivalent of Cal covering TEs is them covering the RB.
Aaron Jones scored three TDs and destroyed my fantasy team, boo.
I had both of them on my team and I'm glad most were catches that gave TD to Rodgers as well.
It's amazing that 8 years after the Oregon monsoon, Goff still struggles this badly in the rain. He looked great in the first half, but I figured it wouldn't last after the announcers said that rain was coming in the second half.
Rodgers had a great bounce-back game. He looked furious that he missed that throw in the 4th that would have put them up 42-17.
Yep, the second I heard rain in the forecast I thought "This is over" and I told some friends as much who don't have the backstory.
And then I was like "sucks for the guy who had a 16-game parlay going and picked the Lions"
https://www.si.com/betting/2021/09/21/bettor-loses-16-team-parlay-packers-beat-lions
TiNy hAnDs
One of the announcers mentioned his long one handed throwing motion is partly to blame (while other QBs keep 2 hands on the ball for longer).. I'd never thought about his throwing mechanics.
Somewhat un/related: One thing I also noticed with Goff at Cal was he almost always would have his right sleeve rolled up a little over his shoulder pad. I wondered if he needed that psychologically for his throwing motion to feel unrestricted or something, and was wondering if it would be a weird issue when they dont let you do that with your uniform in the NFL..
I heard that too and was trying to understand if that really is the case. He does seem to have a little bit longer throwing motion but that ball came out at the start of the motion, so I don't think it made much difference. Rodgers has a quicker throwing motion but he tends to hold the ball in one hand longer before he throws so there's risk there too.
the quicker we ALL realize Goff is not a great QB, the better we'll all be. He is serviceable to OK. He's nothing special
This is his 5th year as starter in the NFL. I think that's very elite enough. I wonder which is better. QBs this famous tend to retire quicker than the perennial backup QBs that never play but somehow are in the league forever. Like Colt McCoy, AJ McCarron, Brian Hoyer, Chase Daniel, Blaine Gabbert, Chad Henne these guys are still in the NFL although I don't know who they play for.
I wonder if it's because they've got starter salary so owners aren't going to pay starter salary to backup. Plus hopefully they've saved their starter money so they don't need to play as long.
Being Kyle Boller seems like a reasonable life goal.
Surely David Binn is the ultimate goal?
Except the no masks stuff.
And to that end: "serviceable" as an NFL starter is nothing to sneeze at. It means you're one of the 20-25 best quarterbacks in the world.
It's okay if he's not Brady or Rodgers or Mahomes. There aren't a lot of those guys around.
Got the Rams to the Superb Owl, didn't he?
They were a Brandin Cooks drop away from having a lead in the fourth quarter too.
Yeah, Goff was playing well until the rain and I knew all of us must have been thinking the same thing.
Oregon game
Cal
Has Sirmon been fired yet?
In the course of 18 months we’ve gone from a program on the rise to swirling the toilet.
Cal's top 2 recruits have now decommitted in the space of a week. Go Bears!
Jaydn Ott was a lottery scratcher. Justyn Martin was a program changer. Well, I mean, he technically can still change our program by crushing us in baby blue and gold.
meh, I'm guessing Martin is going to Ole Miss...he just visited there this past weekend
I think you're right.
nooooooooooo
Go Bears!!!