unclevlad

I haven't seen anything like that since...oh, 3, 4 weeks ago. At the LLWS. Even then, it didn't happen *that* often. Bummer. Yankees are 6 up now, with only 19 left, so the division's probably sewn up. Dodgers won the division Tuesday, and are now 11 up in the loss column for best record in the NL, so that's basically a lock. The playoff teams are almost set; the Orioles are 4 back of Tampa Bay. Not impossible but time's very short. Brewers and Padres are fighting for the last NL WC spot; Padres are only up 2 games, so that's the only one likely to go down to the wire. Minnesota's 5 back of Cleveland. They've got a 5-game, 4 day weekend wraparound series starting tomorrow in Minneapolis. Twins must win that series. If it's 3-2 Cleveland, that puts them 6 back with 16 to play, and that's a very tall order.

It wasn't that long ago that the MAC had some pretty competitive teams. Memory is, for the last couple years...not so much. And CBS' bottom 25 after week 2 is out. Yeah, it's early...but. The MAC has 12 teams. Akron, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Kent State, Miami (OH), and Ohio U in the eastern division, and Ball State, NIU, Toledo, and Eastern, Central, and Western Michigan in the western. In the bottom 25: 25: Miami OH 21: Central Mich 20: Akron 19: Eastern Mich 15: Kent State 11: Buffalo 8: Bowling Green 7: Ball State It won't stay that way, and it's obviously based on an extremely limited sample size...but that's just Not Good if you're a MAC fan.

Nope. Every team has a bye week, but not every week has a bye. That said, just because it doesn't work perfectly...let's not forget the 3 Turkey Day games too, and for that matter, there's 5 international games. Fine, those are on Sunday, but 3 are in London, 1 in Germany. The German game has the Seahawks...that's a 10 hour+ flight each way. And they're very early kickoffs per body clocks. The prep time for those games isn't a whole lot longer than for a Thursday game. So, yeah, it would be nice, but they're not going to do it. Heck, I'm pretty sure they've had teams play Sunday night, on the road, then play Thursday. I don't think they've ever forced a Monday night-Thursday turnaround, so there are bridges they won't cross, but mostly, they don't care. Note that 3 of those games are NFL Network. Not surprising. ESPN has 1...well, fine, they can kick their pregame stuff to ESPN2. It'll probably get better ratings. Oh, and just to make both Mr. P and Logan jump with joy? That one's only on ESPN+. But hey, Mr. P...the last thing a Bronco fan wants to watch is them playing that close to Halloween. Good golly, have they had some disasters that week..........

Hmphhhh!!!! <does best Miss Piggy while storming off......>

Yep. No one else wanted to pay the kind of money Amazon's shelling out, particularly for a slightly limited slate. Last week was an NBC game; there's no Thursday game in week 18; and Thanksgiving night is also NBC. TNF ratings have never been very good; most of the matchups have been eminently forgettable. Amazon may be using this as a visibility enhancer for the rest of Prime Video, tho...put Prime Video front and center onto the viewing public's mind. So if they lose a bit? It might not really matter to them. This aspect doesn't exist for CBS or Fox.

There, there. You really need to let it out and let go. Denial just continues to poison your soul, man. Scream out your anger and outrage...then let it go.... You'll feel much better for it. (And if that doesn't work, may I suggest a nice weekend of continual self-medication?)

But the defense shut them down in the second half. The offense outgained the Seahawks by a huge margin. Clearly, without the red zone TOs, it's a completely different game, so I'm not gonna go for a full-on Robinson. The major take, for me: they weren't ready to play. They weren't ready for game speed, for game intensity. The coaches weren't ready either. Ohhh...so I'm saying it's Hackett is Josh McDaniel redux......................... Sorry bout that, Mr. P...............

I dunno, I'm sure there've been stupider HC hires. I mean, Jacksonville hired Urban Meyer....

It's been proposed. I wouldn't say anything close to 30, tho. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_justices_by_time_in_office 16 exceeded 30 years, so that's not a practical limitation. Roberts and Alito are actually only at 16. I'd lean to perhaps 20 years. I'm also drawn to term-limiting Congress...3 terms for Senate would be 18 years, but I'm not sure this would help. I do think it's more important for the Supreme Court. For the lower courts, boy, that might be tricky. That might cause MORE problems, in that the misconstructed Senate is where the power to confirm lies. Term limits for lower justices would clearly force more appointments, and arguably make things MORE political. Actually...no one's mentioned this, but if the electoral college is broken...the Senate's composition is basically *why*. Because it's 2 per state...whether it's New Mexico with 2 million or New Jersey with 9 million or California with 39 million. At the national level, arguably, this is where the partisan angles play out the strongest. I can't come up with a proposal offhand, but it's a problem to be addressed.

Yeah, well, we'll see how well that goes. I'm not commenting on the merits; it's just that this kind of suit doesn't, I think, have a very good success rate. In other news...if you're into the outdoors at all, and particularly if you're a little older...you've heard of Patagonia, the funky outdoor recreation/clothing company. Still privately owned, but the owner's 83. He, his wife...AND HIS KIDS...have all agreed to convert the company into a public trust in part, and a 501c charity for countering climate change. Completely. Non-revokable. And as they did it? They PAID taxes. No charitable contribution. The path he took also left the family in position to help retain its generous employee policies and rights. The guy was on the Forbes list of billionaires, so we're not exactly talking small change. I am impressed and heartened.

Couple of points from talk shows, basically on the same aspect: the suspension was inadequate because the level of outrage isn't as high. --There's no tape. When tape exists, outrage boils over. Ray Rice...nothing until the tape. Donald Sterling...we had the tape. DeShaun Watson...no tape. --It's the off-season, so basketball generally is still on the back burner. --It's old news. The allegations were brought up last year. Outrage fades...which isn't a bad thing, but it does. Insiders all knew Sterling was a weasel, but that charge SMACKED us upside the head, and we reacted. The NBA had to move quickly, and the outrage remained very high. Contrast, again, Deshaun Watson, and Dan Snyder. --Listening to a part of NBA Today...according to Ramona Shelbourne, in the Sterling case about the sale of the team by his wife against his wishes...the sponsors *bailed*. The club was gonna be bleeding money *fast*. That damaged the league, and that gave Silver more leverage. So one thing here is that last point. The players won't be happy...on either team. The team sponsors won't be happy. So this may not be over. Sarver may still have to divest, as a business move.

I believe there's already pretty extensive campaign financing reporting laws. If you want to know the corporate contributors, you can find out. But this catches the direct contributions; it does nothing for the more pernicious, IMO, PAC contributions. Since we've got a gubernatorial election, this is still a relatively loud election season here. The candidates aren't running many ads; the PACs run most of em. And in general, candidate ads are MUCH less inflammatory than PAC ads. Nice article about campaign money here: https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/02/2020-cycle-cost-14p4-billion-doubling-16/

Ehhh...I think it's intended more actively, but striking the "detectable by normal human senses" leaves things ambiguous as well. Go back to 6E1 111, and the gas trap example. An odorless, colorless gas is Invisible, with No Fringe. Normally won't trigger Danger Sense...unless it has this adder. The gist, to me, is you don't ask how at that point...with this adder, You Just Know. It's a lot like an Unusual Sense at that point, but they don't want to get into interaction issues *at all*. For example, most mental powers are invisible to anything *but* Mental Awareness...and, when appropriate, Danger Sense. So, Scrysense version 1 (you) would be 27 points...the base 15, plus Sense and the Any Danger enhancement. Your "a little more effort" angle is a minor tweak to the Targeting portion of the build, but as such, costing normal END isn't worth an extra Limitation...and note that it would likely only save a point at most anyway, since the Targeting has a -1 limitation on it anyway. The room version...the base Detect is 5 points. We have to add UBO...so others can pick up on it. The base UBO for just +1/4 is what's used with the gate style of teleport, where we don't know in advance how many are gonna use it. Kinda cheap and cheesy, but...ok, fine. I think I'd add the size of the room as an AoE advantage, so larger rooms are harder. The rest is pretty much as per version 1.

I'm not trying to be antagonistic here, but to clarify: what does "get the big money out of government" even mean? Get rid of the lobbyists? Eliminate political contributions? That's just the first level of issues. What's the target? Email from NYT this morning pointed out this opinion piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/13/opinion/democracy-crisis-speech-trump.html?campaign_id=39&emc=edit_ty_20220914&instance_id=71899&nl=opinion-today&regi_id=101745266&segment_id=106256&te=1&user_id=618f95a4931087ea799b0e9f4a9d3344 Probably paywalled for many...the short-short take A comment from the email, not in the article: Make one big change to the system...interesting thought experiment. I think most isolated ideas won't work, because the problems go much deeper. As a possible means to break the cycle of radical polarization, shift everyone to ranked-choice voting. I'd also consider making the Presidential race a true national election...ditch the electoral college, make it strictly the popular vote. Ideally, make it ranked-choice...but that would require there to be a viable 3rd party candidate.

Robert Sarver, Suns and Mercury owner, has been suspended for a year, and fined $10M, for an *extensive* history of racist and misogynistic comments. https://www.nba.com/news/nba-investigation-robert-sarver-suns-official-release From the sound of it, he makes Dan Snyder look cuddly. Broad sentiment is, this is a slap on the wrist, but what was done with Donald Sterling probably won't be repeated...because it's too threatening to the other owners. EDIT: from the executive summary: As set forth in more detail below, during the period: • Sarver said the N-word at least five times in repeating or purporting to repeat what a Black person said—four of those after being told by both Black and white subordinates that he should not use the word, even in repetition of another. • Sarver used language and engaged in conduct demeaning of female employees. Among other examples, he told a pregnant employee that she would be unable to do her job upon becoming a mother; berated a female employee in front of others and then commented that women cry too much; and arranged an all-female lunch so that female employees at Western Alliance Bank, where at the time he was CEO, could explain to female Suns employees how to handle his demands. • Sarver commented and made jokes frequently to employees in large and small settings about sex and sex-related anatomy, including by making crude or otherwise inappropriate comments about the physical appearance and bodies of female employees and other women. On four occasions, Sarver engaged in workplace-inappropriate physical conduct toward male employees. • Over 50 current and former employees reported that Sarver frequently engaged in demeaning and harsh treatment of employees—including by yelling and cursing at them—that on occasion constituted bullying under workplace standards.

The 2 dingers were when Judge was leading off the inning, and Stanton was hitting behind him. I don't have a problem choosing to pitch to him...because Stanton's no Judge but he's also dangerous. It's also why, I think, Boone had Judge leading off. Put as many of their better hitters behind him. Also, the Sox didn't even wait to put him on in the 10th. Inning starts with the runner on 2nd, of course. Walk, double play...so Judge comes up with a runner on 3rd and 2 outs. WALK!!! Signaled as the double play's still in progress. BUT, the flip side: Familia walks Stanton, then Torres doubles to drive in 2. Boom, it's a 3 run game. Yankee pitching is shaky too; Sox score 2 and have the tying run in scoring position, but that's as close as they get.

Twins pitchers take a combined no-hitter into the 9th. Guy who pitched the 8th stays in. Gets the first batter. Then nibbles...walk, walk. 1-2 on the next guy...pulled into the corner for a double. Woopsie....

You're about the last one I'd expect to hop onto that line....

You do realize that Big Money has been in politics probably since TV became the dominant medium, right? And that the partisan gulf that's replaced stewardship dates back to Limbaugh, then largely locked in with Gingrich?

Speaking of NOT pitching to Judge... Sox up 3-2, Judge leads off top 6th...with Stanton behind him. First pitch, get me over breaking ball.... Oh dear, he wasn't looking dead red. That one didn't come back. 56...and 19 more than anyone else in either league, which is even more insane in some ways. EDIT: The casual definition of insanity is repeating the same action, expecting a different result. The Sox are insane. Top 8th, up 4-3. Judge leads off. #57 sails magnificently out, over the Monster and, I believe, completely out of Fenway.

And Hackett's saying now, yes, he should have. ESPN stats also notes that McManus has the leg...but he's 1 for 5 from 60+. 4th and 5 is a lot closer to 50-50. From what they're saying...I'm hearing that Hackett was locked into the 46 yard line. Which means rigid thinking. I can believe that's the cut-off, for one play left, or it's too long to go for the first...but that became locked into "we go for it from here." And that's a major blunder...it isolates only the one aspect, when there are others that are also significant. The axe fell on a player already. The Colts cut their kicker outright. It's noted on ESPN that they *didn't* bring him back last season after a hip injury. Then, he shanked 2 kickoffs out of bounds...the first after Indy ties the game with 2+ minutes left, and the second on the kickoff to start OT. Obviously, these were HUGE opportunities...ball on the 40...but the Texans squandered them. The he misses a 42 yarder that would've won the game in OT. What's odd, to me, is that they didn't bring him back after recovering, despite 83+% FGs and 94.5% PATs...which is just about league average. Over 2 years. The kicker they used to fill in last year was Michael Badgley...he was a UFA. (Badgley's issue looks to be lack of range. He's only got 19 kickoffs, despite almost 200 made FGs and extra points; he's also just 3-10 from 50+.) So they're stuck now...they've signed 2 kickers, one who's been in a total of 16 games over 6 years with 6 different teams. The other is just out of college. So I'm thinking there's back story there with Blankenship, the kicker they just cut. The rumors get to start EARLY this year...ooooooooooohhhhhhhhh.....................

Or in the immortal words of Jack Nicholson, "You can't handle multilingualism!!!!"

Benito Mussolini.

I don't use mine very often, but that's because my major use would be for pulled pork or brisket. Problem is...what does 1 person do with that much meat? The 2 prime uses would be sandwiches and enchiladas. I do that kind of sandwich for lunch quite often, but there are numerous good options there. The enchis...lunch or dinner, but I tend to make too much as a dinner. Especially when I think I need to use it up. So, yeah, I've thought of taking it off the counter and putting it away. I actually did just do that with my vacuum water heater...holds multiple quarts, heats normally, then the water storage is a vacuum flask, so it only needs a bit of heat occasionally. It's great for green tea; the holding temp is 190, but I'm doing MUCH less tea these days. I just put that into the cabinet as I was clearing up the area before the workmen came in and reset my sink yesterday. (Yay, all done!)

This isn't DC per se, but it's Hollywood generally, and I think has more than just the immediate applicability. https://www.cracked.com/article_35058_the-unspoken-path-to-hollywood-success-betray-crush-destroy-your-peers.html