unclevlad

Warner Bros Discovery stock price cratered...CNBC's word. -16% yesterday alone. Yahoo! Finance headline: Warner Bros. Discovery results 'pretty awful' as growth plan 'looks bleak': Analyst

This is Fox News today. https://news.yahoo.com/fox-host-women-must-married-155244605.html Kari Lake might be the best shot the Democrats have to win in Arizona. She's a disaster waiting to happen.

Jury reached a number on the punitive damages in the Sandy Hook case. $45,000,000. Yes indeed. Victims asked for $146M, to make the whole thing $150M....but $50M total feels pretty good to me.

OK, fair enough. Flip side: when we know that any efforts to interfere with the pursuit of every last buck, are made as difficult as possible, why is it surprising that so much does get by for so long?

Not really. Far too often, it's all about the cost. Especially if the common culprit is that big square-box brown van we all recognize? That's sheet metal walls...painted a nice, heat-absorbing dark color? With NO windows? How many of those are on the road, and what would be the cost to retrofit each one? It is somewhat surprising this has gone on as long as it has; it's not new: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ups-drivers-heat-exhaustion-death/ But the managers' reactions are pretty typical. I remember issues with back injuries with, IIRC, the package companies and Wal-Mart, at different times. Quite similar. Managers are going to do everything possible to minimize the issue; workmen's comp claims look bad on their record, and probably tend to draw unwonted attention from OSHA. Not just one claim, but multiples. One also has to wonder...if it does come to OSHA's attention, how diligent are their people with their investigation? Especially in a situation like this. It's quite plausible to me that the legal demand for every i to be properly dotted, every t to be properly crossed, every one of the 217 blanks filled in properly, makes it exceptionally burdensome for the inspectors to actually DO anything...and that the companies KNOW this.

Interesting. Scrolling down the comments, someone asked "how many times each logo appears. The OP did the counting...he's got to have younger eyes than me. Since this doesn't cover pitchers, except for the #1 starter, it's a little off, but it does offer an indication about each team's long-term draft efficiency. Some teams will trade draft picks, so it's not completely accurate...but quite often, it's trading prospects, and here, it's legit to look at how many do make it. It's probably dead wrong to try to read too much into it, but when has that ever stopped fans?

Ah, now there's a laudable (?!?!?) pastime.... Assign the proper cartoon character to NFL teams.... Dallas: Foghorn Leghorn LV Raiders: Henery Hawk Washington: Pepe le Pew

Yeah, separate negations are nothing. I like stun-only damage negation (in a layered defense); you do the same thing. Segregate out the dice in some manner.

Well, a quintessential Modern Baseball game today. A's at Angels. Angels blast 7 homers...and lose. Because all of em were solo shots. Because they only managed 9 hits total. They scored 7...leaving only 4 runners on base. Because the starter imploded in the 3rd...single, force out, walk, walk, double, double, home run. 6 runs. Couple more the next inning, 8 runs total, and they hold on for an 8-7 win despite the bombardment. Someone on MLB Network was criticizing their pitching, after Ohtani...but it's been a bit below middle of the pack. Not terrible. But their team OPS is 26th...with Ohtani, sometimes with Trout. I believe they've been hammered with injuries, ok, and Trout's still out, but they have squat for depth, and according to MLB.com's rankings, probably not gonna get any. And not getting much in their trade moves. Which points a finger squarely at the front office...again.

And in Kentucky, 4 police officers are facing federal charges in the Breonna Taylor shooting. From NYT: It might not go as far as many want, but it's a DARN sight better than letting the officers skate, and letting the state authorities let them skate, on the false information claim.

So Goodell appointed someone else. Probably wise. But the power to appoint unilaterally is itself a biased process. Ms. Robinson was a jointly appointed individual. The person hearing the appeal is not; it's strictly Lord Roger's choice. And one can *readily* argue it's problematic. A federal prosecutor in the areas of violence and sexual assault? I concede the expertise...but how does his past as a former prosecutor influence his consideration? Prosecutors *tend* to lean to the side of More Punishment. It feels like this might well be grounds to take the whole process into court as unfair and prejudicial...which is the kind of grounds they need, to overturn a binding arbitration provision.

Yah, first verdict in: Jones loses, ordered to pay $4M. And the jury didn't take long to get there...deliberating less than a day according to NYT. That part is awesome. How much those parents will ever see...that remains to be seen, as I expect Jones to try more shenanigans to hide his assets. OR, of course, effectively getting handed money under the table. Another story in the NYT today. In light of Kansas' very convincing: 59-41 to keep the right to abortion in the state constitution. NOT terribly surprisingly, it galvanized turnout...very likely to voie against the ballot measure, which would've pulled it. NYT gave a map of other states that may well do the same thing. SOooooo...that got me thinking. The map shows, according to polling, 50-55% of Texans back the right to abortion. Well, now. It would be a SWEET, SWEET smackdown against Abbott if Texans could pass a constitutional amendment. Unfortunately, in order to get onto the ballot...it needs a 2/3 vote of the combined members of both houses of the state legislature. Yeah, that has no chance of happening....

I've certainly seen massive layoff rumors; whether these are really separate, independent suggestions or simply the Internet Echo Chamber at work, we don't know. But if he does cut 70%, then many HBO Max subscribers will flee; another big chunk will shift to a lower-cost, lower-access plan focusing on movie (especially older, movie library) access. I've been thinking that there would be some major shakeouts in the streaming marketplace, as we get major players moving heavily into the arena. I didn't expect that one of em would be due to necrotically toxic management.

Yeah, while I believe it got bad audience reviews, I do wonder if they were *as* bad as CRT reported. Because that's Warner pulling a CYA move, potentially, when really, it's about Max Hatred. https://www.ign.com/articles/warner-bros-discovery-quietly-cutting-other-movies-amid-shock-batgirl-cancellation The earnings call hasn't happened yet...it's already noon West Coast time, so even if they're California-based, they're taking their sweet time. I'm beginning to wonder if they're deliberately waiting for the market to close...which is NOT!!!! a good sign. Yahoo! Finance has a story; it expects I'd say that counts as news that will drive the stock price down substantially, personally...................... I also figure that many analysts may go to a solid SELL position on Warner generally, as I think few will expect their reliance on theatrical releases to work. And as we said over in the other thread...pushing reality shows is a massive turn-off for a LOT of people.

Is my brain turned on? That's the part you missed. The answer is...only sometimes. I do that, yes, but there are those days when my brain doesn't click as well as before. BTW, I personally always stay with DCs until the end. STR and MA DCs are straightforward DCs. The attack power is where the advantages lay, and where sometimes things get messy. HA, NND, Does BODY, versus Power Def...+ 1 1/2. If you're buying 3 dice...that's 7.5 DCs so far, and I'm the type to keep the half DC for now. Then figure, say, +60 DCs for STR and MA DC's. 13.5 / 2.5 == 27 / 5 == 5.4...I'll tend to chop to 5. I really prefer to avoid half dice with normal damage dice. BUT, with martial arts, the extra DCs commonly include 0, 2, or 4 from the maneuver. Or +3; I rather like a custom Power Strike that's +1 OCV, +0 DCV, and +3 DCs. When you're juggling 2 HAs (Does BODY or not) and perhaps 3-4 different net additional DCs, it's a little complex. But yeah, as you note...in the end, if they are that messy (and they're sometimes worse)...that's what Notes are for.

Doesn't work. On a killing attack, if I have 2 levels, what do I subtract? And you seem to be saying that 1 level negates 1d6 of normal damage...that's AP and penetrating. I don't like that. Changes I'd make would be to focus on its value as a standard defense...in part because of what you're saying. Factoring in how negation is affected by AVADs is unpleasant. I rather like doing healers and teleporters with AVAD vs. Power Def, with and without Does BODY; and sometimes teleporters with NND (defense is teleport, x-d movement, OR desolid) the same. Depending on the build, there's 4 different levels, altho each character generally has only 2. +1 and +2...that's not too bad. +1/2 and + 1 1/2 (e.g. NND vs. Power Def) is...messy. Especially as these are HTH attacks quite often, and I use MA DCs a LOT. I like a pretty simple approach. 1 level negates 1 DC of standard damage...normal OR killing. Period. It does NOT count as a resistant defense for purposes of the defenses chart. Cost? I'd lean to 4 points per level. Strip STUN Only altogether. Nonresistant might get tossed as well, but even if it's kept...drop to -1/4. The power's primarily there to reduce BODY damage a little, while particularly helping to knock the STUN down. BTW: I think damage reduction needs reconsideration too, but that needs its own thread.

I get that part, but consider the optics that Ross gets no explicit punishment for tanking, versus the bettor's suspension. And the optics of claiming to create a new system, only to throw the entire process out the window as soon as they don't get what they want. The Watson punishment didn't fit the level of violations....but the league is also trying for a massive escalation of those punishments arbitrarily as well. There are 2 sides...the ethical side says, hope you burn in hell; the legal side says, you don't have the right to escalate the violation post facto.

Another damning angle. The Dolphins got hit fairly hard for their tampering...not so much Stephen Ross, but the Dolphins. But none of that was based on the tanking...which the report says WAS expressly said by Ross. Well, what is 'repeated suggestions to prioritize our draft position' BUT tanking??? So we have another double standard. The league wants to take the facts from the Watson report and use that aspect to overturn the decision...but since it's an owner, or so it seems...TANKING...possibly the most serious charge (along with cheating) *possible* in a competitive venue...and it's blown off.

I stopped watching Food Network because they went overwhelmingly to reality shows, so...yeah, if that's their move, I hear ya. In other news: https://news.yahoo.com/jackie-walorski-indiana-congresswoman-killed-car-crash-201126441.html The story is just coming out so there's no details about the accident itself, but still...complete tragedy.

OMFG. I don't believe it. I absolutely do not believe it. Adam Schefter is reporting that the league IS going to appeal. This is no longer about Watson...hey if he gets barred forever, I'm fine with that. This is about the league, about its policies, about them playing to the PR. They wanted a process that was not draconian, but now, unsatisfied with the result, they revert. This is a terrible move, IMO. This is going to blow up, and blow up HARD, in the NFL's face; the NFLPA will only take this as a VERY hostile move. This is a key legal issue to me: At this point, much though I HATE to say this...I want the NFL to lose, and Watson's suspension remains at 6 games. Their process is a bloody freaking MESS. THAT is, I think, the basis for it only being 6 games. It's true that this is not a *legal* process; it's a personnel matter, so they can do this...but the optics on this are awful. Another point brought up briefly...if Watson deserves a season, then what should Dan Snyder get? The entire franchise? I don't see any chance of a positive outcome now. a) The appeal leads to no change in the suspension. Fan outcry will be MASSIVE, and there will be major blowback against the league as a whole. b) The appeal leads to a major suspension. Then it goes to court. b1) Because the collective bargaining agreement allows for this, the courts tend to dislike interfering. With the Robinson report saying the claims were established...the appellate decision would very likely stand. The NFLPA comes out as a major loser here. Their almost necessary response would seem to go for much more hardball negociations. b2) On the flip side, the courts may here the case, and say, hey, NFL, this is the process and YOU need to stand by it. You can change the policy for FUTURE cases but you can't do it retroactively. In which case, the NFL looks awful. I think this is the final fruit of the utterly botched handling of the Ray Rice case.

I have to question how much was the screening comments, and how much was the new management's dislike of streaming. One thing seems clear: HBO Max is likely toast. That's 100% backwards from how everyone else considers the entertainment market. The stock market's not optimistic; their stock price is down significantly. From around $30 in mid-February to around $17 today.

And the Republicans are quite good at playing the stalling game, minimizing the window. Plus, that's only one front. The Republicans will continue their efforts to suborn state-level offices.

NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Well, 94 is 94, and at that point it can happen at any time. The BEST broadcaster ever. Period.

Thanks, Simon.

Which version of the Go? Version 3 runs Win 11. By default it's the S version (only Microsoft Store apps) but it can be upgraded to Home, according to WIkipedia. If it's running 11 Home, then it should run standard Java for Windows...and therefore run HD. Mind, I very, very seriously doubt I'd want to. Not on a tablet screen, not with, I suspect, the horrendous performance from a not-very-good processor that's further hobbled by the infinite bloatware known as Windows 11. Touchscreens are *awful* when you're trying to make selections from tiny menus. Personally, you couldn't give me one. I'll go further...if at all possible, I'll never get anything more from Microsoft. I'm THAT frustrated with what they've done.