Golden Nuggets: Artemis II, Noodle Wars, and Some Book Recommendations
I found the UC Berkeley/Artemis II angle that means I can photoshop Oski onto the moon!
Hello and welcome to Golden Nuggets, our weekly recap article where we try to highlight all the fun, funny, or interesting things you might have missed roughly over the last week across Bear Territory (the whole damn world of course). Think of it like a cheat sheet for small talk about Cal. (Sorry about missing the last two weeks and giving you no Cal-related water cooler topics!)
The Main Course: Artemis II
Last week, the whole world watched as the Artemis II mission launched into space to go take a look around the moon before returning to Earth late last week as part of NASA’s mission to return to the moon (and beyond in the years to come!) Step 1 of course is checking out the neighborhood, visiting a few open houses, calculating how far it would take you to get from your new place to California Memorial Stadium, etc. I assume that’s what the astronauts were up to up there.
As part of the mission, the UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory was selected as a participant to track the mission, assisting NASA in data capture and analysis so that we can learn as much from the mission as possible! In the years to come, we’ll probably learn a bit more about what all they find throughout the process. UC Berkeley, the Berkeley Labs are also helping in future missions, landing probes on the far side of the moon to learn more about how radios work over there. Read more about that project here.
The biggest finding out of the whole thing though?
Hot Links
Steve Kroner at the SF Chronicle took a look at Cal Football’s incoming transfer class (Always Read Steve Kroner)
UC Berkeley is in the process of repatriating cultural items taken from the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians in Southern California
Turns out, a lot of the “California Exodus” was a myth! Check out some of the findings here.
Small Bites
UC Berkeley History Professor David Henkin has a new book out focused on baseball fandom!
UC Berkeley Associate Professor Tom McEnaney also has a new book out looking at the history and origins of Punk Rock at 924 Gilman
UC Berkeley put together a handy list of talking points so you can talk about how great the campus is
Tosh Lupoi went on the Papa and Silver Podcast
URSINE UPDATE: Watch this Mother Bear try to keep control of her cubs. Maybe they should all join Oski’s Cub Club.
An Albany beer company is…solving the climate crisis with craft brews?
Lacrosse celebrated Senior Day!
The Week in e-Commerce
As we quickly descend into Spring, then Summer, then back to Spring, then Winter, and back to Spring, its probably time to get your lawn and garden back in order, and its important that you stay safe while you do that! No one needs an errant rock or gravel thrown into your face while weedwhacking, so protect your eyes!
Get a pair of these Cal Branded safety glasses here (legal disclaimer these are probably best suited for the lab rather than the yard but I’m coming up empty on e-commerce this week since I bought the other thing I was going to show off and my other find is incredibly cursed.)
Golden Bear Honors
Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski (Men’s Tennis) was named the ACC Player of the Week
Luke Buddie (Men’s Track and Field) was name ACC Men’s Field Athlete of the Week
Despoina Drakotou (Women’s Water Polo) was named MPSF Newcomer of the Year and Second Team All-Newcomer Team
Claire Weinstein (Women’s Swimming) was named ACC Freshman of the Year
Yamoto Okadome (Men’s Swimming) was named ACC Co-Men’s Swimmer of the Year
Dave Durden (Men’s Swimming) was named ACC Coach of the Year
Alek Klos (Women’s Soccer) was named the Loker Hicks Transfer Scholar-Athlete of the Week
Men’s Gymnastics had 10 bears named to the MPSF All-Academic Team
Valentina Savva (Women’s Track and Field) was named the ACC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week
Cal Pros Recap
Football
Marshawn Lynch is going to be on Euphoria!
Golf
Collin Morikawa finished -9 and T7 at the Master’s this past weekend while Max Homa finished -8 and T9, meaning they’ll both be back next year for the tournament. Collin also nailed 5 straight birdies in the final round.
Basketball
Marta Suarez was drafted by the Golden State Valkyries. Shaq has Jaylen Brown and Victor Wembanyama as his MVPs this season.
And so we find ourselves again at the end of another beautiful, perfect, Golden Nuggets. Thanks again for reading and hope to see you next week!




