146 Comments

Today in Covid

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SAY WHAT?!?!?!

"In August, Nadzri Harif, a D.J. at Kristal FM radio station in Brunei, set foot in an airport for the first time in six months. The experience, he said, was exhilarating. Sure, moving through Brunei International Airport was different, with masks, glass dividers and social-distancing protocols in place, but nothing could beat the anticipation of getting on a plane again.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/19/travel/airlines-pandemic-flights-to-nowhere.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab

His destination: nowhere.

Mr. Harif is one of thousands of people in Brunei, Taiwan, Japan and Australia who have started booking flights that start and end in the same place. Some airlines call these “scenic flights”; others are more direct, calling them “flights to nowhere.”

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I've been reading about these. It partially allows airlines to keep their pilots certified. If a pilot hasn't been flying for 3 months (some countries), they'll have to recertify which costs the airlines a lot of money.

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Besides hitting 200,00 deaths - my son was over for Sunday dinner (spaghetti & meatballs & and an awesome 2011 Brunello) and I saying how much better our country's response would have without Comey's October surprise, since HRC would have been on it, and been consistent in messaging - but he disagreed on the reaction. His point was that the country still would have been sharply partisan, and the repubs would have treated masking distancing etc... as communist plots to rob Americans of their FREEDOMS, and still would have acted like morons.

He said it would have only really worked with a boring, technologically savvy Republican President like Mitt Romney. Sadly, I was forced to agree. HRC most likely would have saved 10,000's of lives, but we still would have been in a mess.

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You can look at how Newsom has been handling California. Rational thought out policies are just not followed.

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I thought this to be true leading into 2016. Lotsa folks thought we'd dodge a bullet if HRC would have won. I argued that we would have seen a huge spike in militia activity, anti-government activity etc. I based this on: 1) we already saw an uptick under Obama with Malheur and Bunkerville; and 2) the Clintons have a record of brining out these loons as evidenced by the major surge of militia activity under Bill Clinton. IMHO, HRC's handling of this pandemic would have been a call to arms unlike any other since the civil war.

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Rank 'em: blue cheese, coriander, black licorice, receiving a slap across your belly with a wet hand

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FET. Wet belly slap became a thing when SG Bear and his Aussie buddy Colin decided to go to an international beerfest in Singapore.

Alcohol is a highly restricted (read: taxed) commodity -- plus it is a small island -- so choices of beer tend to be pretty limited. Thus, having an international beerfest that focused on beers that you don't tend to get was a neat little attraction. Well, all the vendors show up with their obscure brands. It was hot (90 degrees and 100% humidity), plus rain/lightning. And the festival was inside these giant tents. So it is like a sauna in there, with no fans. So it was oppressively hot and the only relief was to drink beer.

Well, most of the beer was either terrible or skunked. We settled on Obolon as the only beer that was remotely drinkable. So we drank it. We drank a lot of it.

https://stevensirski.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Obolon-Beer-Ukraine.jpg

When the Journey tribute band came on, we were feeling no pain, so we decided that giving each other wet belly slaps was a good idea. My buddy is about 6'3" and 260ish. I woke up the next day with a wicked hangover and the perfect outline of his giant hand on my stomach.

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Belly slap. Death. The rest.

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Cilantro (I still have to double-check when I see it called "coriander"), blue cheese, black licorice, belly slap

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oh I forgot Cilantro is the same as coriander. I put that 2nd then.

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I thought coriander was the dried seed of cilantro...though I've also heard the leaf portion as being used interchangeably, especially by those on the other side of the Atlantic.

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I think the closer one lives to significant Latino populations, the more it's called cilantro. It's definitely coriander in Europe (the evil leaves, not just the seeds).

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Today I learned that they are the same thing! I knew coriander seeds and cilantro leaves but not that they are from the same plant, differently named.

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Blue Cheese and the rest.

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Blue cheese, coriander, belly wet slap, black licorice

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This seems like a good order.

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Your least favorite band (not singer, but a band)

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Train and the Beastie Boys immediately came to mind.

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Train is really, really bad, never had heard of them, and a friend was talking about them saying, "you must of heard of them" - but I hadn't until I want to hear what he was talking about.

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True confession: I used to be very judgemental of other people's taste (or lack thereof) in music when I was in college, and for some years after. Not that you had to have the same taste as me, but if you liked rock, it had to be good, or at least decent, or I had no use for you.

Seems silly now.

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I don't know that I have a least favorite. Mostly it is particular styles that annoy me such that I can't really listen.

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After bartending COUNTLESS weddings, I can say with absolute certainty that The B-52's suck....and I agree 100% with Scootie's likely unpopular opinion - the Beatles are sooooooo overrated. I change the channel immediately, and can't wait to document this in my Nielsen ratings Diary beginning Thurs....

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I was a Nielsen Family for two years! I felt so powerful. I wonder if HGTV ratings have declined precipitously since then - I watched a LOT of House Hunters and Fixer Upper at the time.

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Did they reach out to you? Or did you reach out to them?

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They reached out to me. I was a TV family, so they install a box on top of your cable box and it just transmits your watching back to Nielsen HQ. They wanted to also monitor my web browsing and I was like, "um, no." They have no need to know how much online shopping and realtor.com gawking I do.

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They reached out to me a few years ago, and I completed a tv diary. They then tracked me down again recently after I had moved, and I completed a more abbreviated questionnaire. I then just received $2 in crisp cash and a radio diary to complete.

Incidentally, I plan to list 7 straight days of Counting Crows radio on Pandora in the diary....gonna celebrate their entire f-ing catalog, baby!!!

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$2 must be the standard industry come on. I got something in the mail the other day soliciting me to volunteer for various polls to be done by a research institute at the Univ. of Chicago. Enclosed was a $2 bill, with Mnuchin's signature on it.

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The Doobie Brothers. Michael McDonald's voice is like nails on a blackboard. Close runner up (hot take incoming): The Beatles.

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LOL there's always someone who says the Beatles.

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Similar to Bob Dylan, I don't mind some Beatles songs when they're sung by other people. But not in their original form, hell no. Michelle My Belle must be one of the worst songs ever written/recorded.

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I quite like the Beatles and I’d agree with you about Michelle My Belle

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They all can't be winners.

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While nostalgia for the beatles is a huge factor for many...."Meet the Beatles" and "Help" are solid albums.

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I read that as Hot Take Coming and thought that’s a good name for a band.

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You are known to be crazy.

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Honestly, I generally can't bother to "hate" any band that people have actually heard of. I find that usually there's a reason people liked them and that if they're successful there's usually at least a song or two I can appreciate. If I simply don't like their style then I generally don't think about them at all.

So to that end: Steely Dan.

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I agree, on both Steely Dan and generally the idea that if I don't like 'em, I don't care, with one exception: Genesis. I hate post Peter Gabriel Genesis with a passion.

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Ya'll are crazy, Steely Dan is the bomb!

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I knew was dad rock even back then!

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The funny thing is, my friends and I discovered them through the frequent sampling of SD in rap music of the eighties and nineties and through exploration of jazz music. We also listened to the Grateful Dead, so I think in our minds, Steely Dan represented a fusion band whose music wasn't accessible or obvious to the masses and so we thought we had some special insight that few others had...I still love Steely Dan and think they are wildly talented...at the same time, I can see how some see it as "dad rock!"

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Steve Miller Band. Never really liked them and always thought they sucked compared to the music of the late 60's/70s...made worse only by folks that insist on continue to play them.

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I’ll listen to some their songs just for the sheer laziness in getting rhymes or scanning to work.

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if I can't list the Preying Mantis, bands like the Offspring and Counting Crows will make me cringe at their shitness. But for pure, unadulterated hate, there is no band like the Red Hot Chili Peppers that will cause me to scream "FUCK YOU" at the radio and frantically start mashing buttons any faster to escape them. I liked a song or two up through Blood Sugar Sex Magik but ever since, they suck beyond belief and now I hate the voice of Anthony Kiedis with the fire of a thousand suns

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I'm in agreement here. Fuck all those whiny 90s bands. Counting Crows, Gin Blossoms, Blink 182, Offspring, Weezer, Oasis, No Doubt, Bush, etc. FUCK 'EM ALL

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I liked No Doubt’s first album at the time. Pretty harmless as OC bands go.

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The popular "alternative" 90's band were pretty dire.

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Counting Crows get a major pass because of Cal connection...

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the fuck they do.

Just bc something or someone is connected to Cal does NOT make it good or great or the best ever. FUCK THE COUNTING CROWS

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Nah, they have some good tunes. They're not the best or greatest ever, but they're not awful.

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Jimmy Chitwood... NOOOOOOOO THEY DONT. Dirty hippy dread locked douchebag might have gone to Cal for a few semesters but his and his band mates music SUCKS

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It's pretty hard to become a band that makes money if you're actually awful.

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I don't find No Doubt offensive.

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I didn't originally, but I've come around to liking Blink 182. I think they had more self-awareness than I originally gave them credit for.

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Don't like Hootie and the Blowfish

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You mean Rod Tidwell, WR for the Arizona Cardinals and recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor!!

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The guy who was the kid that asked that question in Jerry Maguire went to my high school. I knew his older brother (who is in my graduating class) better but hasn't keep in touch at all since high school.

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Gee, I guess you don't like them...

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In no particular order: LSJUMB (especially in the past 10 years or so...just boring); Trojan Marching Band; Oasis; Depeche Mode

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I have to agree about the Trojan band.

Quote from CGB circa 2011:

In the stands, Cal students mocked the Trojan band.

To the tune of "Tribute to Troy," the song that is played incessantly by the USC band, they sang the following lyrics:

It's the only song you know

It's boring and it's slow

We really wish you'd go

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This was from the 1991 game. The lyrics were written up by Ken and Pawlawski. I had a friend that went to UCLA and she said it was clear as day on the broadcast. They sang it at the UCLA-U$C game later that year.

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Arthur Bartner... in the face

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Mode

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Depeche

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Personal Jesus

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Pie a la...

My hot take(?): a la mode is inferior to a scoop on the side. The contrasting texture of ice cream that melts and opens in your mouth + still hot/crisp crust is what it is all about. That only exists in the first few bites of a la mode before it melts into the pie and just makes it mushy and lukewarm.

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Depends on what the ice cream is being applied to. I agree, there are delectable combinations where having the ice cream on the side is superior, but sometimes the objective is to have the ice cream melt onto and into the dish, and others where the ice cream cools or keeps cool the other components. These can be delectable as well.

I recommend a side by side trial in many cases to make the determination.

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I've had a la mode with the scope on the side, does it have to be on top?

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I agree the ice cream needs to be served on the side.

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If you're interested in WWII, aviation, or just have some free time Friday morning you might be interested in this. It's close enough I can walk over and watch.

https://ww2flyover.org/

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Wasn’t there a flyover like this a few years ago? I seem to remember walking over to the Mall from a customer office to watch for a while.

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Yes. This year is 75th anniversary of VE Day and they had a similar flyover in the 70th anniversary year.

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I hadn’t realized It was 2015 - just looked up the photo archive and there it was. The only pictures I kept were of a B29 because how often do you see one of those?

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It didn't seem like five years to me but life goes on I guess.

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Only once.

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Okay but I don’t live in Hiroshima or Nagasaki

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The B-29 wasn't built to drop atom bombs on Japan, the bomb bay wasn't large enough, a Lancaster would have worked, but didn't have the range.

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I remember seeing one, maybe in Concord. Or maybe it was a B-17. I think I was in high school. They were offering rides for something like $75. A lot at the time.

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That's cool, but why on that date 9/25 (or on a Friday instead of the weekend)?

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The Battle of Britain

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Dang, I'd watch that.

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yeah that looks pretty cool.

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Incredible

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Hulk.

I grew up with the 1977-82 TV version starring Bill Bixby (Cal alumnus, but left a few credits short of graduation). In that show, I remember that that version of the Hulk could be shot with bullets. They didn't kill him, but they were painful/dangerous enough where he would run away, like a deer shot with a bb gun. The whole idea of a man who had an inner monster that saved him countless times, but also destroyed his life was a wonderfully heart-breaking balance. I remember that the fade to the lugubrious opening strain of Harnell's "The Lonely Man" was sometimes filled with tears.

I didn't read the comic books, so when I started watching the MCU movie version of him, he essentially a god who can't be defeated by anything. That version, while canon, seems... boring.

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I remember when they filmed Ang Lee's Hulk movie on campus (but I think only the scenes at Berkeley lab made the movie) while I was a student. A recent alum came to give a talk to the physics undergrads and said that he was a technical advisor for the movie and had to do some dangerous stuff with lasers for the movie (so the laser is not invisible)...but at least he's got to see Jennifer Connelly in person.

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I find the MCU version very entertaining, but that Bill Bixby show was deeper than generally known and was ahead of its time. Deserving of a remake.

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"Puny god"

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Lou Ferrigno’s son was a linebacker at SC if memory serves

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One of his sons is on the TV show SWAT

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I’m assuming that we’re talking about something more recent than the 70s cop show 😂

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Yup. There's a series that's been going for maybe 4 years now. In the same year I think they had SWAT, Seal Team, and Valor (army helicopter pilots). Valor only lasted 1 year but SWAT and Seal Team are still going.

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Vocab words to try to casually include in a DBD post today

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cockblock

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Needs moar content. 6 posts is not enough!

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Heh

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Irridentist

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unctuous

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lugubrious

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Equanimity

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banal

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Weezer as a cover band

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operose

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Hey!

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Edith Head

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Weather

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Hit 40 overnight and we had to put the heater on for the first time this morning. But after a few unseasonably cool days, it's back to the mid-70s for the rest of the week.

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On the radio this morning they said we may get some smoke from the fires again the the next day or two. The last couple days have been clear, blue skies with fall temps.

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Skipped autumn and went straight into winter. In the low 40s.

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Morning fog here, 57 degrees at the time of this post. Only reached 72 yesterday so I an ideal time for gardening - planted seven shrubs yesterday in the front yard.

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Elsewhere in college

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Notre Dame's game at Wake Forest scheduled for Saturday has been postponed after positive Covid tests put 13 ND players in isolation and 10 more in quarantine.

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I hope they all recover without long term ill effects

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Jackson State hires Deion Sanders (Neon) as next head coach...

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I guess the report got disputed, but it was interesting that Deion allegedly hired TO and Warren Sapp to be his wide receiver and defensive lines coaches.

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Alabama rises to #1 after its shutout was deemed to be better than Clemson hanging 49 on the Citadel in the first half with Trevor Lawrence being subbed out starting early in the 2nd quarter and Travis Etienne only having 8 carries.

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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McEnany: Trump should be praised as president because 2m Americans haven't died yet.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1308458028203675648

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Huge blow...he's the one person who could oppose without really any political fallout from the GOP or his constituents.

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Not the one person . . . Collins and Murkowski are already opposed.

But you need four and that ain't happening.

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I think they'll circle the wagons.

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@I'm shocked@

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Advertisement accuses Kelly Loeffler of being more conservative than Atilla the Hun. Except it's a Loeffler ad and she thinks comparing herself to arguably humanity's worst villain is a positive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdBQnpOXVHo&feature=emb_logo

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Trump says Covid-19 "affects virtually nobody", insinuating that elderly and other people with co-morbidities were on the way out anyways

https://twitter.com/i/status/1308200642629033984

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PRO

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Raiders convert a ridiculous number of 3rd and 4th downs to beat New Orleans

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1308249056360103936

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It was also a little weird to see the Raiders playing in September without the baseball dirt on the field.

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That was a really unexpectedly impressive performance.

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The passing game looked really good. I wasn't quite expecting that. It took well over 3 quarters before the Saints decided to not let Waller beat them.

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Yeah that was a little baffling. Doesn't everyone know that Carr likes to throw to backs and TEs?

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We'll see how it does next week. Belichick's got a whole week to work on it. Maybe the deep ball will return next week.

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Derek Carr looked much better than last year.

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I wonder if it's like the Tedford playbook where it take a year to fully grasp it.

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CAL

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GO Bears!

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Cal XC runner/activist profiled in WaPo today. TL;DR: Football is a business, the NCAA treats it as such, and there are consequences that may be unfair to student/athletes

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/09/22/andrew-cooper-dismantle-ncaa/

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Interesting read and he's working with the same prof that's the advisor to Jaylen Brown. It's a bit weird to call him a Cal XC because he basically grad transfer from Washington State for this postponed fall season.

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