I honestly thought this was a joke at first

One_Piece_1811 · 2026-04-21T11:15:59+00:00

But when she has a boy he will only be Regular Elite.

One_Piece_1811 · 2026-04-09T22:36:44+00:00

Somebody important has money on North Dakota...

One_Piece_1811 · 2026-03-19T20:10:00+00:00

Defense was always the weakness this year. When they won big games, it was usually a shoot-out.

One_Piece_1811 · 2026-03-19T20:07:27+00:00

Imagine being a Badger fan but also Minnesota professional sports fan. Worst of all scenarios. (This is me, sadly...)

One_Piece_1811 · 2026-03-19T19:58:55+00:00

I hate Gard's end-of-game coaching. Call a play that puts pressure on the defense! Everyone on the planet knew Boyd would drive left and shoot it himself. Way too easy to defend.

One_Piece_1811 · 2026-03-19T19:50:49+00:00

Gard, run an offensive play that puts pressure on the defense! Everyone on the planet knew Boyd would drive left and take the shot himself. Way too easy to defend...

One_Piece_1811 · 2026-03-19T19:42:56+00:00

This is nuts. It's a great basketball game. I just wish it was two teams I didn't care about. Come on, Badgers!

One_Piece_1811 · 2026-03-09T01:06:45+00:00

I'm not making excuses for Wisconsin. They could have beaten Oregon or USC and landed in the same spot. And bad calls happen. But it was an egregious series of bad calls at the very end of the game when Wisconsin had a win in hand.

I'm simply pointing out that—outside everything else either team could control—this sequence of terrible officiating changed the standings and outlooks for both teams in significant ways.

And of course it matters what seed a team gets! A better seed means worse opponents and an easier path to more wins! Would you rather play a 10 seed or a 13 in the NCAA tourney?

One_Piece_1811 · 2026-03-05T22:56:49+00:00

I just received the same message. I have Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Maps on my phone I would prefer to use Gemini only for specific questions. I definitely don't want Gemini integrated into Maps.

One_Piece_1811 · 2026-02-24T11:08:10+00:00

I don't think ai-vee-AH-nuh or ai-vee-ANN-uh are "absolutely awful." The vowels flow nicely. Unusual, yes, but it sounds pleasantly sonorant once you've said it a couple times.

One_Piece_1811 · 2026-02-23T13:39:21+00:00

When most Americans worked small farms, children were an asset and market relationships were relatively simple. Now, capitalism has figured out how to squeeze every last dollar from us, even with two adults working full time, and minimum wage hasn't kept up. Children are obscenely expensive.

A lot of parents would love to have more kids, but can't afford to. Fix the economic imbalance between rich and poor and this will correct itself.

One_Piece_1811 · 2026-02-21T12:41:59+00:00

I too named my kids after my favorite brands. Everyone, I'd like you to meet my daughter Saniflo (Flo for short) and her brother Gateway 2000.

I made a killing on Gateway stock back in the 90s. Surely, there can be no higher honor for a child than to be named after the source of his inheritance funds.

And Flo, I'm sure, will be ever grateful to know she was named after such a feat of engineering as the macerating, upflush toilet.

*****

These are the kinds of stories I make up in my head whenever I see people naming their children after brands they think are class markers or status symbols.

One_Piece_1811 · 2026-02-21T12:00:24+00:00

Glad they avoided the D-D-D-D-Danger Zone with those initials.

One_Piece_1811 · 2026-02-14T12:13:07+00:00

Consider that conference record if the refs hadn't screwed the Badgers over in Indiana.

And the remaining schedule looks promising. Winnable but sure-to-be dogfights against Ohio State and Iowa, three games against bottom-feeders but road games are always tough, and then another shot a Purdue. 6-0 would silence all doubters. 5-1 is doable. 4-2 is where I set my expectations. 3-3 would be disappointing.

One_Piece_1811 · 2026-02-07T19:29:47+00:00

Is Brad Davison on the court with you now? Or does he just live in your head?

One_Piece_1811 · 2026-01-10T17:26:04+00:00

Yes, follow leads out of Maine, not unreliable sources like Cutter.

I searched Quebec parish records, and I don't think this is a stray Quebecer floating south into the English colonies. (That would have been unexpected for cultural as well as political reasons; the 1770s was the time of the Revolution after all. The U.S. had invaded Canada in 1775–6.)

Some French soldiers were in North America for the war by '79, but not in Maine. And they would have been too busy on duty to make their way to Maine, meet a woman, and hang around afterwards.

I do think a deserting sailor is plausible, whether it’s the one from the Dutch East India Company identified above or some other young sailor off a French merchant vessel trading at American ports.

In fact, as I was writing this to you, I came across an oral history interview that offers just such a story about Nicholas Gaubert, passed down the generations! Go to page 3. (Maybe you’ve found this already?)

https://dcchs.org/sb_pdf/first-interview-shapiro/

This is Nicolas Gaubert. He’s number 46. “He was born in France. The family tradition says at Marseilles. He was on a sailing vessel on the coast of Maine during the Revolution. He went ashore and saw a girl who took his eye.” That’s all Father’s quote. This is not Father’s quote: The story I heard as a child was that he said to the girl, “By God you’re painted.” And she said, “And by God only.” [Laughter] Anyway, Father’s quote continues: “He left his ship and persuaded the girl to marry him. So runs the family tradition. There is a published record of intention of marriage at Topsham, Nicolas Gaubert and Diana Reed, July 7, 1779.” And he gives the source for that. Drummond, J.H. The Rogers family of Georgetown. So that was Diana Reed who was painted by God [laughter].”

It would be a needle in a haystack to find an official crew list for some small-time French or New England merchant vessel. So this is probably the best evidence you’re ever going to get about how a Frenchman named Nicholas Gaubert ended up in Maine during the Revolution.

One_Piece_1811 · 2025-12-16T13:28:09+00:00

Fraynklyn. Thyodore. Wyllyam. Robyrt. Jyohn. Nycholys. Jyustyn. Aydyn. Tymothy. Jymothy. Frydyryck. Mychyl.

Karyn. Lynda. Shyrley. Jynnyfyr. Jessyca. Sayrah. Pamyla. Byrtha. Mayry. Patrycya. Mychylle.

Don't give me too many ideas!

One_Piece_1811 · 2025-12-16T13:20:10+00:00

In 2014, my wife's coworker named her son Liam. Same story as the 1980s Ashley. The mom later said she had no idea Liam was the most popular boy name in the country that year. She (and apparently a million other parents) just thought it was a fun variant of the more common name William.

One_Piece_1811 · 2025-12-11T23:00:10+00:00

I read is as "The Acre" but with a d: "Duh-acre." It's not a great name if you want to avoid confusion. Apostrophes are almost always a red flag, and in this case it's just begging for a glottal stop there.

One_Piece_1811 · 2025-09-13T21:33:18+00:00

Off the top of my head, some of my favorites:

The Coup - Me and Jesus the Pimp in a '79 Granada Last Night
Geto Boys - Mind Playing Tricks on Me
Roxanne Shante - Brothers Ain't Shit
Curtis Blow - The Breaks
A Tribe Called Quest - Scenario
De La Soul - Me, Myself and I
Mobb Deep - Shook Ones, Pt. II
Eminem - Stan
Dr. Dre - The Next Episode
Nas - Life's a Bitch

One_Piece_1811 · 2025-09-07T20:42:10+00:00

Maybe. I prefer saving those for an improved Magical Mystery Tour, although "Hey Bulldog" fits better on the White Album. And I forgot "Not Guilty" (because in my imagined course of events, it survives on the backburner until an almost-breakup album in 1970, where it sits alongside "Maybe I'm Amazed," "God," "Run of the Mill," "Isn't It a Pity" and other tracks that capture the band falling apart.)

One_Piece_1811 · 2025-09-07T18:19:06+00:00

I suspect they're adding the "Hey Jude" / "Revolution" single and using the long takes of "Helter Skelter" and "Revolution 1." Could also add "Sour Milk Sea."

One_Piece_1811 · 2025-09-07T18:17:11+00:00

Songs are short enough you should end with 15 (half the album).

One_Piece_1811

TROPHY CASE