That's gonna be last call for me. Early wakeup tomorrow for USMLE at FIU. Good luck to the "Gators" and "Cougars."
Monday, April 07, 2025
HERE COME THE GATORS! 48-47 UH, 7:54 left.
This would be the purple kool aid for UH to blow a d.d. second half lead. They have never won a natty. FU has at least two.
Public Occurrences April 7, 2025
China vows to fight 'till the end' after Trump's latest tariffs threat
...Trump threatened to hit Beijing with an extra 50% tariff if it doesn't withdraw its retaliatory levy on Tuesday
Beijing's commerce ministry said it would never accept the "blackmail nature of the US" and vowed to "fight till the end"
The new tariffs could leave some US companies bringing in certain goods from China facing a 104% tax
...Trump threatened to hit Beijing with an extra 50% tariff if it doesn't withdraw its retaliatory levy on Tuesday
Beijing's commerce ministry said it would never accept the "blackmail nature of the US" and vowed to "fight till the end"
The new tariffs could leave some US companies bringing in certain goods from China facing a 104% tax
BBC
They will fight to the end, too. Everything foreign is an existential threat to the CCP and the soul of China is survival. They cannot be intimidated. Trump is not going to change China's soul. He's in for a fight that threatens his and his country's economic viability and China will never, ever give in, even if it craters their economy. Trump has got a dragon by the tail.
9:20 a.m.:
9:20 a.m.:
How ya doin' down there, Trump low-life voters?
Oh! Final aleady (honestly didn't know) Miami (36-43) 117 Phila.(23-56) 105
JB III, who played for both of these franchises, really should have played one half with them, the other with us. It could have been the Roman Numeral Classic! JBIII, L Walker IV, R Council IV, Jaime Jaquez II, A Bona I.
As it was, Kel'el had a very good stat line, 19 and 17.
The Swedish Meatball had 12 pts, 3 rebs, 2 asts, 3 steals but the team was -5 when he was on the floor.
Davion, still a benchwarmer, was team high with +XXVII.
Both teams got what they wanted out of this one, Miami riding the wave of exultation at solidifying the last, coveted 10th slot and ending a 2L; Phila. improving their odds at a shot at Cooper Flagg in the lottery.
Westward Hangover
That loss to the Timberwolves, who also wrecked Denver’s season a year ago, ripped the heart out of the Nuggets.
The hangover effect has turned them into a dead team walking.
“It was a devastating loss,” Malone said.
The hangover effect has turned them into a dead team walking.
“It was a devastating loss,” Malone said.
Playing out the string
Bam-o out. Herr-o in. Wig-o still out-o. Spo started Hi-Ho for D-ro. Taking of Pelle One (for Eight), Two, Three started.
Fool! Russell WestBRICK
On the night, April FOOLS' Day, when Nikola Jokic had the first 60-point triple-double in NBA HISTORY, playing against their arch-rivals 🧊, up one with 13.1 secs to play in DOUBLE OVERTIME, WestBRICK stole the ball, ignited a give-and-go 2-on-1 break...and MISSED THE LAYUP
BUT WAIT, WestBRICK wasn't done. The "Timberwolves" raced the other end with time ticking down to 00:00 and at two-tenths second left WASTEbrook fouled on a desperation three in the corner.
The "Timberwolf" made two freebies, deliberately missing the third, and 🧊won 140-139. MinneHAHAHAHA!
WASTEBRICK'S damage was not yet done. The loss was merely the start of a current of a 4L, the streak the hangover from an April FOOL's nightmare.
You're spotlighting DUNCAN?!
You better get rid of him in the off-season! I do not want to see Duncan Robinson in a "Heat" uniform again. And stop profiling him!
NBA scouts assess Heat, the roster, the young players and players worth keeping
This is Barry Jackson's signature piece and it is always illuminating. Some excerpts:
THE JIMMY BUTLER TRADE
Scout 1: “Their backs were up against the wall, so they got what they could. ...but they overlooked what it would look like without him. What stands out to me is this has happened in Chicago, Minnesota, Philly and now Miami. When he leaves, teams don’t get to the playoffs or don’t get nearly as far. ..."
....
ON WIGGINS
Scout 1, who has worked in an organization that had Wiggins at the same time of his employment: “Very talented player. But when he’s not motivated enough,...They probably should trade him. He’s more of a guy that blends in than a big difference-maker.”
Scout 2: “He’s a starter, a complementary piece, but you need at least two, maybe three, better guys than him on a really good team. ... The Heat needs him to be the third guy, and he’s not some nights.”
ON BAM ADEBAYO AND TYLER HERRO
Scout 1: “Sometimes people overvalue what they have. They’re both good players. Bam is very good. If you called 29 teams, most would be interested. But what they expect from his position, it’s too much to expect every night — consistent scoring with everything else he does.
“I would not trade Bam, but I would be open on everybody else. Nothing against Herro, but maybe you try to capitalize on his value.”
[Scout 1 would not trade Bam but Tyler. Scout two below would trade Bam but not Tyler.]
Scout 2: “Bam is somewhat [inconsistent] offensively; I wouldn’t actively look to move him, but I don’t think he should be untouchable. There would be a huge market for him.
“I would not look to trade Herro. He’s not the problem. They can’t score, and Herro gives you that. He’s not a No. 1 guy, but they need another two guys who can score, at least one. He’s not the problem.”
ON KEL’EL WARE
Scout 1: “I’m not sure how this is going to turn out with him. ...
It’s too soon to know. He’s still very young. Is he dominant enough to keep Bam at the four?....It’s just too soon to know with him. ..."
Scout 2: “He’s your modern day five, lob threat, can make a three, though I don’t know that you want him taking a lot [of threes]. That was a good pick. He’s a piece, unless he’s a piece for a trade. ..."
ON NIKOLA JOVIC AND JAIME JAQUEZ JR.
Scout 1: “I love Jovic’s versatility offensively, the passing. They’ve missed him. But I would have a harder time giving up Ware than Jovic because of Ware’s defensive ability.
“Jaquez, to me, can still be a good player [despite his sophomore slump]. I know he hasn’t hit threes. He reminds me of [Denver’s] Christian Braun. Obviously not as good a shooter but you get toughness and switchability.”
Scout 2: “I’m not a big Jaquez fan. He’s replaceable. I like [Pelle] Larsson better; he’s more athletic and a better shooter...there’s a little more upside with Larsson. ...Jovic is a nice piece, a rotation guy on a good team.”
ON THE OVERALL STATE OF THE FRANCHISE
Scout 1: “That roster they had in the Finals lulled them into thinking they were good enough. That roster they took to the [2023 Finals] wasn’t very good [compared to other Finals teams]. It was mostly Jimmy”.
Scout 2: “Where they were awhile ago, fiddling with .500, is more representative than what their record is [now 35-43]. They shouldn’t be 10-under [as the Heat was last month]. Come on. They’ve got an All-Star level player in Herro, a former All-Star in Adebayo. Wiggins is solid. They have veteran guys who are solid complementary players, solid role players and Hall of Fame coach. That shouldn’t equal 10 under .500. They’re mediocre. But they shouldn’t be as bad as [they were until recently].
“Herro is not a No. 1. I don’t think Abebayo is a No. 2 scorer on a real contender. [Terry] Rozier has done a 180; I don’t understand that; maybe the legal stuff is on his mind. They need luck in the draft. They have some assets so it’s not [bleak].”
Do We Believe in The Cavalry?🙂↔️
Worldchampbeans, four back, are not going to catch them, but have made up three games in the last ten. Cle. lost to Excremento in the Pawn Shop last night. Even in recent wins the Cavalry have not been running roughshod: 114-113 at Tottenham Hotspurs, 127-122 at home over La-La Clip-Clip. They're teetering a bit. Cle. will play the no. 8 seed in the Least in the 'loffs. Right now that's Atl. They will beat whomever it is in a 7-game serious. I don't think it will be the "Heat", I don't think the "Heat" will get out of the play-in, but if it were to be and if the "Heat" are healthy and whole, Cle. will have their hands full and will advance bruised and teetering further. They will not win the conference.
Sunday, April 06, 2025
Doing Duncan
If 601 Biscayne waives Duncan by the Early Termination Date, June 29, we will save about half of his $19,888,000 in addition to our tradeables and draft capital to play with to land a great player. But if we wait until estimated July 8, that full, almost $19M stays on our books. Duncan and his contract are untradeable unless needed for cap-matching in some exotic, multi-player deal.
However it happens, Duncan must go.
The "Heat" regular season is over
Any hopes of rising to 8th or 7th ended last night. We have four games left and are one game behind Wind, who hold the tiebreaker, in 9th. We'd have to make up two games in four. The offs are overwhelming that we will finish 10th and will have to win two road games in the play-in to make the last, 8th, spot in the playoffs.
Slapstick Cat
I was standing by my bed non-chalantly peeling nicotine gum. I was half paying attention to Eleven and abruptly sat down when I was done. She had been preparing to jump on my shoulders and timed her leap when I was down. She flew clean over my shoulders and landed on the floor unhurt.😂😭🤣
La-La Lake-Lake "Demolish" Oklahoma City 126-99
The "Thunder" stars played too! SGA, Holmgren, they had the full complement, and the game was played in OKC. They were -9.5 favorites. 😖 It was 23-24, 4:54 1Q. The deluge began. 122-76 later it was officially over. Opposing players don't fear OKC because they haven't won anything. Were they exposed today as too timid for the lights of Hollywood?
Artificial Happiness, Ronald W. Dworkin
I have read just a little of this book since receiving it March 17. I first started thinking about the concept after watching Sleeper by Woody Allen many years ago. The orgasmatron. The Orgasmatron Society, that's what I termed America. Later, reading The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence, I found to my satisfaction the well-spring of the Orgasmatron Society.
Dworkin is a M.D. and a Ph.D. Artificial Happiness was published in 2006. At the time, perhaps now, I don't know, physicians were engaged in a revolt against the widespread prescription of psychotropic medications in the 1950's and 1960's. The Valium housewife, and etc. Drugs had created Artificial Happiness.
The new "ideology" was "revolutionary" (page 2); in its practice the new ideology turned to "alternative medicine" and "obsessive exercise" (page 3). The mantra of the revolution was "Drugs are for people who can't handle real life". "Artificial Happiness's distinctive feature is its power to resist life." (page 4)
Alternative medicine didn't work for many patients as well as traditional medicine, and exercise, especially if it was "obsessive", led to its own sequelae. "Why do I need a knee replacement, doctor? Why is my daughter anorexic? Why did those crystals not make me happier? No pain, no gain? Are you out of your mind?" Alternative medicine was often quackery.
Came a counter-revolution. "Real life is for people who can't handle drugs." I heard that on the streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1980. When I was first prescribed Wellbutrin in the 1990's I realized that I needn't have lived with mild depression as I had for 30 years. If that well-being was "artificial", sign me up. "Better living through chemicals" became my own mantra.
We have been on this see-saw for half a century. What Doctor Professor Dworkin does not do is perform "root cause analysis", as practicing physician teams do when their methods have occasioned a catastrophe such as amputation of the wrong limb.
Dworkin is myopic for being a polymath. It's right there under his nose. But not in the index of the book. I checked. His study group is Americans: "...a new class of Artificially Happy Americans", "...these Happy Americans" (pp 4-5) One of his case studies is "Bill Mansfield", a "swinging bachelor" in New York City who "began to lose interest in his endless pursuit of women." (page 6) Stop right there, Dr. Prof. Dworkin. You nailed it! You got to the root cause if you could see the forest! Why America? Why happiness, why pursuit? Go further back than the 1970's; go to the 1770's:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.
"Bill Mansfield" was doing what our Founding Fathers wrote he had a God-given "unalienable right" to do. A God-given right becomes an obligation in the receiver. Pursuing, Merriam Webster,
1
: to follow in order to overtake, capture, kill, or defeat
That's predatory! Pursuing is pathological and "obsessive". The Pursuit of Happiness, elevated to a God-given right coequal with Life itself and Liberty, is counter-historical, counter-sensical, pathological and obsessive. So is a society so-founded. It is the Orgasmatron Society.
FULMAN BEAT LIVERPOOL 3-2
Arsenal are 11 points behind with 7 matches to play.
Fulman are 8th, 5 behind Swine Chelsea for the last traditional EPL Champions League slot.
City can leap Chelsea for 4th with a win today.
Saturday, April 05, 2025
Full Time "Heat" 115 Male Deer 121
...annoyed with Duncan for traveling with :9.1 in OT; annoyed with Spo who alled the last shot of OT for Bam (a 3 that missed); annoyed with Spo for playing Pelle 38 mins: 3 pts on 1/8 (1/6), 4, 3, and 2 t.o.s. This was preventable. I blame Spo. Now we're 2L, both games lost on last shots, or the lack of. Eleven is annoyed too, as you can see on header.
115-119, :10.8
Giannis missed, Bam 'bounded. Spo FTO :07 left
Time for a dribble and a shot. Male Deer have outscored us by 7 in the 4th.
New Miami some daylight, 102-96, 4:33, Doc ANOTHER FTO
All Doc says in the time outs is "C'mon!", but I guess he needs to make them hear it again.
HT 57-57
I'm tired of Duncan Robinson. Seventh year, 18M per, 11.3 career ppg, 2024/25 10.9. Haven't we seen enough of him? I was disappointed to see him starting tonight. Why not give Davion a try, c'mon. In mins played 1H,
Davion is tied with Pelle with 18. Davion was the eighth man in, Pelle started. Davion has 12 pts, Pelle 0.
Next is Bam, 17', 23 pts.
Duncan is 4th high in mins, 16, with 9 pts.
Rounding out the playing five is Hi-Ho, sixth man in, 14', 2 pts.
I'm just making the case for Davion to start, that's all. I understand Spoelstra's thinking: without Tyler's O gotta go with D-Ro. 'Cept that thinking didn't work in the 1H. I understand the intangibles that Pelle provides. But Pelle has 0 tangibles at the half. There ought to be, there needs to be, a place for Davion Mitchell in the starting lineup, at least on this night when Spo is missing both Herro and Wiggins. C'mon.
47-49, 3:26 2Q
Tyler got a thigh bruise on a fast break against Memphibians. He finished the game but was ruled out tonight.
nobo
@doofiebetts
Ausar Thompson has tricked me two second halves in a row. He might be another Tyler Herro..good for a half then worthless.
8:33 PM · Apr 5, 2025
·225 Views
Thompson plays for Zollner Pistons and averages 9.9 ppg. Tyler, 23.9. They have the .9 in common.🙄
32-29
Fucking Herr-o that's who! Duh. I saw he was questionable but really thought he'd play. Man, I don't know without him. Bam has 17.
I thought he was dead!
Rodman scores in return
(ESPN)
Also, he hardly ever scored when he was alive. Something's fishy...
Public Occurrences April 5, 2025
My goodness, this is impressive!
Canadian PM Carney: Old relationship with U.S. "Over"
So said Prime Minister Mark Carney in a national television address to 41 million Canadian citizens from Parliament Hill last week. And it is almost all because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
“The old relationship we had with the United States, based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation, is over,” Carney declared on March 27. “We must fundamentally reimagine our economy. We will need to ensure that Canada can succeed in a drastically different world.”
Senator from Canada predicts Political "Bloodbath"
"...here’s one thing to understand: a tariff is a tax, and it is a tax principally on American consumers. I am not a fan of tax increases on American consumers. I’m not a fan of tariffs,
“I worry there are voices within the administration that want to see these tariffs continue forever and ever and ever. They don’t want to lower them. They think they’re great.
“If we go into a recession, particularly a bad recession, 2026 in all likelihood, politically, would be a bloodbath. You would face a Democrat House and you might even face a Democrat Senate.”
The Genius of Jokic
Indeed, in recent years no one in the NBA has stopped the game more by kicking the ball than Jokic. Since the start of 2020, the superstar has been whistled for a whopping 127 kicked-ball violations, between his regular-season and postseason games. In the 2022-23 season alone, Jokic logged 56 kicked balls; more than any other team did. For perspective, the league's next-closest player, Chicago Bullscenter Nikola Vucevic, has recorded just 66 kicked-ball violations total since the start of 2020.
...the center has essentially found a cheat code on defense. In being able to time the plays perfectly, Jokic can effectively press pause and short-circuit the opposing team's offense whenever he feels like it, forcing a possession to restart.
Take, for instance, a play from Game 4 of the 2023 NBA Finals, in which Jokic quickly extended his left leg into the path of a backdoor pass from Bam Adebayo to Duncan Robinson. "It's a kick-ball violation, but it stops what probably would have been a layup," ABC play-by-play announcer Mike Breen during the telecast. The stoppage marked Jokic's fourth kicked ball of the contest. (The center has had as many five kicks in a game, and somehow managed to log three kicks in six minutes against Miami another time.)
"What all of us are trying to do in the NBA is avoid having to face a set defense," Green, a former Defensive Player of the Year, told ESPN. "So if you have them in a bad way, where you've got a clear 2-on-1, he just kicks the ball, stops the play, and it's a side out. Guess what? That allows them to reset their defense."
Ew Esse Em Elle Ee
Wednesday, my daughter-in-law said, impressed, when I got a flashcard right, "You're understanding."
😂No, actually. She understands. What I do on is memorize the syntax of the question, where the blank is and certain key terms that provide context. The blank for "decidua basalis" is always at the end of the flashcard. I recognize some preceding key words and instantly say decidua basalis. I don't understand. I can't tell you what decidua basalis is. I can't tell you what words precede decidua basalis on the flashcard, but like Justice Potter Stewart on obscene material, "I know it when I see it." Don't understand Chinese either. But know 宋彬彬 when I see it.
A retired doctor friend of Ana's who I just met said I had an eidetic memory. Told me to look it up. I did: photographic memory. No I don't have that either. It's just repeated viewing of the flashcard questions. What I am is the illiterate Krook in Bleak House who would copy from memory on a chalkboard the letters he had seen over and over in Jarndyce v Jarndyce without ever knowing the whole name, much less what the law suit was about.
I amaze D-2. "Look at you" is her stock phrase when I get a flashcard right. Wednesday she just mutely stared at me. She thinks I understand. I don't.😂
For a no-look, back to basket over the shoulder SHOT
I have thought about, and envisioned, this for years. This is exactly the set-up: relatively close range, here about 17'; ideally with a player with a significant height advantage. Since Jokic can throw this pass, he can also shoot the shot.
Friday, April 04, 2025
Bouncing Beans
Beans are bouncing back--like Mexican jumping beans!--from their horrible home loss to New Miami. They're jumping in Moons' shit is what they're doing, 46-26, 7:49 2Q.
"This city. This club. These people... gave me everything."
Kevin De Bruyne announcing that he will be leaving Manchester City at season's end. 🫶 KDB.
It's like we traded JBIII to GSW for Kyle Anderson straight up
#MILvsMIA INJURY UPDATE: Andrew Wiggins (hamstring) and Kevin Love (personal reasons) have both been ruled out of tomorrow night’s game vs the Bucks.
Tyler Herro (right thigh contusion) is listed as questionable.
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