unclevlad

glitter.....1 speck

Let's start the chant now... Life...Time...Ban! Life...Time...Ban! (OK, that's never gonna happen, but we can dream.) Plus...the Texans being complicit in arranging this is relatively new. I haven't heard of the league planning to address *that*. Figure they will, tho. This doesn't rise to the level of Snyder/Washington, but if they are complicit as facilitators? *SMACK!!!* There's a linked opinion piece to that story...subscribers only. But here's the head and lead: Goodell got hammered in the hearings, so...I could see this. His contract expires in March 2024. I don't think the owners would try to boot him at this point, but...I could see them deciding to make a change, to try to put these ugly scandals behind em. Not like Roger'd need to go on food stamps. Forbes estimates he'd be the 6th highest paid CEO.......among Standard & Poor's 500 companies. (That may be misleading...salary only, not stock options, for example. Still...) He's estimated to be worth a tidy $200M...NOT counting close to $130M in salary for the next 2 years.

Shapeshift wouldn't let you change the abilities, just the layout. But yeah, multiform would work. The base or vehicle buys it, not the character. The only issue with thinking vehicles only, is that size is pricey for the vehicle...dirt cheap for a base. But you don't need the Amicable, so going to 200 points for functionality (50 just for size)...you're still talking 3 floors with 2000 square feet per floor. That's quite a bit of building, when you're suggesting it's temporary. The vehicle or base simply buys the Multiform...and nothing else. The 'true form' is nothing but potential...or, to make things kinda interesting...the guy has a little gizmo he pulls out, which expands. Some cool-looking toy...like a chunk of coral reef (but the color of steel) inside a pale amber-yellow globe. The gizmo is the 'true form'. Buy 8 or 16 forms; 16 feels like more than you'll ever define. Or more. The only other thing the 'base form' needs might be 5 or so levels of Shrinking, so it's portable. (Base size for a vehicle is same as for a PC; with 5 levels, the final size would be about 2.5 x 1 x 1 inches or thereabouts. Mass is, what, about 1/3 of a gram.) For bases ONLY, another option, if you have APG 2, is to create an extradimensional space. Might have to think about exactly how to combine that with the base rules, but...should be doable....

deuteron (nucleus of hydrogen atom, but with 2 neutrons)

It isn't that he's not coachable. Kyrie is delusional. (You meant the other K, I'm sure. Kawhi got the shot, and is with the Clips.) And today, apparently, the ONLY team pursuing a sign and trade for Kyrie is the Lakers. Some of this is that trying to absorb that contract is non-trivial. Most of it is, the Lakers are desperate morons.

I generally try to avoid Fox News, but... https://www.foxnews.com/sports/liv-golf-scrutiny-officials-oregon-event Synopsis: this from the local CBS station Then the Fox News article...his bail was posted by the Saudi consulate, and his tracking devices were somehow removed. Then still somehow got out of the country..... Huh. And now the LIV Golf tour is in Oregon. This was only 5 years ago; it's not been forgotten. There could be a move to try to shut the event down with, hopefully, just a sit-in, nothing violent. I daresay that any recognized players won't get a pleasant reception.

Weren't they in the race until around game 160, just last season? Or was it more like a desperate late run that fell just short? On the flip side, they've missed the playoffs every year for the last 20... Interesting story here: https://champsorchumps.us/records/most-mlb-wins-since-2000#:~:text=What MLB Team Has The,5 times in 23 seasons. Number of times in the playoffs: 2: Mariners, Royals, Marlins 3: Blue Jays, Padres, Pirates, Orioles 4: Mets, Reds, Rockies 5: Phillies, White Sox, Rangers, Nats, D'backs, Tigers Flip side: 6 teams have 11+...or every other season. 16 teams that get to play whack-a-mole...pop their head up, get smacked back down. 6 or so that basically dominate. Course, you could be a Twins fan. Made playoffs 9 times since 2000. Won *1* series, ALDS in 2002. Lost in DS in 03 and 04, 3-1 each time. Since then, 6 appearances...0-15 in games. Yep...swept 4 times in DS, lost WC, and lost twice to the Astros in 2020, the weird season. So 2-21 in playoff games in the last 20....

Yes, Mr. P, you may thank me for my clear ability to influence the hockey games. I accept gold and silver tokens of appreciation. I love when the goalie gets pulled. There really is nothing like it; it can sometimes happen in soccer, or the goalie occasionally pushes forward...but that's so much different because the soccer field is SO much larger, close to twice the length, and there's so many extra bodies. We now return Mr. P to the Rockies' season........

On that note: https://www.al.com/news/2022/06/roe-v-wade-disney-amazon-netflix-expected-to-cover-employees-travel-benefits-for-abortions.html Some did earlier. Amazon announced they would back on May 4th...the day after the draft opinion was leaked. And related https://www.axios.com/2022/05/05/abortion-travel-benefit-uber-apple-amazon-lyft Lyft has announced they'll pay the attorney fees if a driver gets sued under the Oklahoma law. The second story is in some ways more interesting; the first lists basically a bunch of entertainment-industry companies, plus Amazon which is an Everything company. They tend to lean Democratic quite often anyway. But the Axios story lists Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and JP Morgan. As well as Apple and Microsoft...so combined, that's a LOT of workers. What I hope is, this gets reflected in their political contributions. And maybe this shows the pushback will be stronger than I anticipate, come November.

Heh....... Cue the AC/DC? But I gotta root for the Avs, so I can avoid ANY chance of hearing that awful anthem rendition. And only the Lakers can Threepeat. AFTER they dump LBJ.

IOW, it's excellent justification for a point or two of Money. I like Steve's point...the rank comes with some specific benefits, and security clearance is strongly connected. Most retired staff officers are gonna be NPCs, so heck, maybe just toss in 20 points for contacts, money, reputation, whatever else you can think of, and don't worry too much about it.

Watson's hearing is set to begin Tuesday. That *should* mean an initial decision before the Browns open training camp, which is set for the 22nd for rookies...26th for vets. There is a right of appeal...but that's to Goodell. This is a hearing, tho, held before the disciplinary officer joinitly selected by the league and the players association...so it strikes me as unlikely that any appeal will work. Reports are that the league's pushing for indefinite suspension, but at least a year. I could live with a year; I'd rather it was longer, but that's hard to pull off. And if he continues, or the remaining trials make it warranted...it can be longer.

Astros just threw a combined no-hitter...starter went 7, struck out 13, but was at a career-high pitch count on a hot day. For those who hate the Astros? Well, there's solace. They did it to the YANKEES!!!!! Nothing is ever sweeter....

Freedom House gave the US an 83 rating for 2021. It will be interesting to see how much this drops. Key points: Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, racial, religious, gender, LGBT+, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? Are individuals free to practice and express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private? Does due process prevail in civil and criminal matters? Is there an independent judiciary? The last is a big one. On one level, sure, the Supreme Court is independent, but by the same token, it's become massively politicized. (The dissent, and Alito's retort, are public evidence that they're not working well together, but I've also heard several reports that they keep separate even during meetings.) The Texas ani-abortion law is an example how due process is threatened. And not listed, because it's multiple questions, IIRC...free and fair elections issues. https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores?sort=desc&order=Total Score and Status The score is 32 for political freedoms, 51 for civil rights. As recently as 2015, they were 37 and 55. We've slipped 9 points in 6 years. Another 13, and the general classification goes from Free to Partly Free. But we're not alone: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2022/global-expansion-authoritarian-rule

You could, but to me at least, this captures the sense of the healing trance very well. If we ignore the "counts as sleep"...then the Concentration formal limitation is no more complex, and it's formal rather than ad hoc. Secondary: only while asleep, does that work when Stunned or KOd? How about kept under, using some long-term knockout gas/drug? Ad hoc limitations often create some corner cases. The Concentration limitation doesn't, so it's cleaner.

Y'know, it's generally considered Bad Form to have a sandwich that one can't really bite into... ...but this is definitely an exception.......... Of all the dishes I took off my list due to diabetic concerns...lasagna is the one I probably miss the most. High-fiber, low-carb tortillas exist, and work OK with enchilada sauce...but not so well with tomato sauce. At least for me.

And Kuemper helped the Bolts get off to a nice start by allowing a VERY soft goal. Sometimes that curmudgeonly approach works...others...? I remember Joe Gargiola...senior...doing some DIamondbacks games as a special guest analyst at that point. It was well after he'd retired from the booth. I still remember him complaining...D'backs were well ahead, late in the game. Other team was batting. Runner on 1st. Defense is playing back; this was before shifting. Runner takes 2nd; the broadcaster gives the usual "he won't get credited for a stolen base, it's defensive indifference." At that point, Garagiola goes "how can it be indifference? It does matter! It takes away the double play!" <sigh> Maybe I'm the curmudgeon, but that's stuck with me for at least 10 years; he retired before the 2013 season. Linguistically? "Indifference" says they don't care that it took away the double play. Tactically? I forget the score, but it was multiple runs; if the runner on 1st scored, it wasn't meaningful. This wasn't the only time he showed that he was notably out of touch, but it's the dramatic one. That said, if it's just cranky...that can be great fun. So many announcers aren't critical of bad plays. Team announcers are part of a team's PR operation, in a sense...but I really dislike downplaying bad play. When it's national broadcasters, it's worse. They *should* be journalists first. Ehhh...I might be able to find it, but I probably can't sync it to the TV broadcast. I've noted that live streams don't sync...the broadcast now is running 10, 15, sometimes 30 seconds behind, more often than not. (I'm thinking maybe the FCC can't fine you for Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunctions on a live stream....but they can on cable. SNF is a good demonstration; anyone can stream it.)

It's somewhat more nuanced than that. From the AP story https://apnews.com/article/sports-education-ohio-scholarships-trademarks-730b748275bddac70547062ffea0b1f8

As written, this doesn't work; it has Nonpersistent. I also agree that "counts as sleep" should be a 1 point adder. 1 point LS: doesn't need to sleep gets you to 8 hours a week, which presumably would be more useful. Unless the character's in his healing trance 48 hours in a week. But I gotta mention: where's the build cost coming from? Regen 1/hr is 8 points; limbs is 5. Even if "counts as sleep" is a +1/4, it's only 3 more. You're paying for 1 BODY per phase, which is an APG option, but is incredibly powerful. With a 1 point adder for the sleep aspect, I'm seeing 14 active. The concentration requirement actually negates Nonpersistent. Something that triggers the Nonpersistent, would break the concentration; and requiring the concentration means that it really isn't persistent, just constant. It can't work when you're asleep or knocked out. You've still got a -1 1/2, so 14 --> 5.6, or 6.

Enough. This has just gotten down to linguistics. It's pointless at this juncture because the sides have fundamentally different understandings of the concept of "rule" versus things like "guideline" or "campaign policy." All that's going on now is wheel-spinning and regurgitation.

Did you upgrade from a crank starter model yet? Heh. That acually reminds me. I've been reading Dan Willis' Arcane Casebook series, which is urban fantasy...circa mid 1930's. (Think it started in '32, it's up to around '37 now.) There's an FB group for it. LOTS of interesting shots from that period...the fancy cars more often than the common ones, buildings, street shots.... Quite amusing. The cars are impractical as ALL heck, but damn, they're gorgeous.

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road? A: Time and tide wait for no man.

Not a general AP cap, no. Max AP per attack, yes. Max AP per defense (which is almost meaningless, since defenses can be improved in so many ways)...yes. Max points in powers...yes, but that's overall, I believe. (I have it set at 1000, and to ignore it anyway.) Plus, it's max points...not max active. I assume that means max character points. These are in the Campaign Rules settings.

Nope. Many of these are begging to be worse disasters. Ditch the filibuster only works until the Reps have THEIR majority...then it backfires. Same with expanding the Court. The Reps have already shown they're far better at managing Court composition. Regulating the media will run afoul of the First Amendment very, very quickly...and we've already got the precedent that the talking heads are not offering 'news'...it's opinion. And even if that does work, it'll simply enable forces to hammer at progressive sites...which they will *gleefully* do. Citizens United might get overturned if the Court is expanded enough...but as soon as the composition flips back? It's gone again. The Founding Fathers didn't...couldn't...envision how mass media could be used by those whose goal is to seize power, rather than govern. This is, IMO, a core aspect of today's decision...the literal "if they didn't explicitly put it in, it ain't in there" works to prevent reforms by tying our hands. Heck, even non-constitutional law has problems keeping up with the social changes enabled by modern communications. As Tricksta also noted...climate change is another massive factor. The political crisis will deepen, but...ok, perhaps it could get fixed. That won't be any time soon, but it could happen. BUT, with climate change complicating food production, increasing problems like fires and damaging storms, and the ongoing, SEVERE drought...we don't have the time.

Stone Brewing owners sell to Sapporo of Japan. Kind of the end of an era; Stone was very much at the forefront of the craft revolution. More recently, tho, they've been running through some very hard times. They hired a CEO a couple years ago...who had come over from managing the sale of the last brewery where she was CEO. Remains to be seen what this is going to do to their product lineup; it's been...weird...for several years.