unclevlad

Thus showing that time of possession means nothing on its own..... The Gamblers offensive players probably needed another full warmup after that too...and I bet the defense was pretty gassed.

So the Cards were desperate for bullpen innings again, and they tossed out another kid making his first appearance on the mound. Not a good result...he gave up 4 hits including 2 HRs, and 4 runs. No walks, tho. In one inning. Pretty clear the kid's never gonna make it as a pitcher. What was his name? Yaddy something... EDIT: coulda been worse. Pirates used Josh VanMeter, their 2B who...probably has to be looking over his shoulder, as he's hitting .167 (and is only a .207 lifetime hitter, with over 600 ABs)...gave up *5* runs in the top of the 9th. Also, stunning fact of the week, to me...2 players completed 10 years in MLB, which means full vesting and max pensions. That elucidated the fact........the average career in MLB is only 3 1/2 years. That floored me. I would've guessed notably longer. What I think that means is, there's a LOT of players that get stuck at AAA most of the time, with spot call-ups. I'm particularly thinking pitchers. Story about the Rays...30, 31, and 33 starting pitchers in the 17-19 seasons, 41 in '21. Another story cited a report saying the major league average was 3.4 relievers used per game. So there may be a massive number of players getting VERY little major league time and that'll draw the mean down. Still interesting and unexpected....

Doesn't count as 'news' per se, but just got a shipment from Amazon. Mid-size box, roughly size of a loaf of bread. The interesting thing was the shipping box was pressed out around the product box...to size, basically. First time I've seen this. Has to afford some material reduction overall; with fast 3D scanning to get dimensions, smacking out the raw cardboard should be fast. No waste. Everything's folded and glued...so no tape either. Kinda cool. I'm all for reducing product waste whenever possible.

Ahh....I agree, the glob has no mind per se. If that demands Slavish, that makes sense. 1 charge on the attack is getting to be abusive fast. It's tending to point out that this isn't a great approach, but that's also pointing out that there's NO particularly good approach.

Coming back to this...watching a semi-random game that doesn't involve Birmingham. The stands are almost literally empty. If there's 500 people in em, I'd be surprised. Fox is CLEARLY piping crowd noise for the TV audience. TV might be the main money maker, but no attendance at all isn't viable. EDIT: side point. They're starting to get into EXTREME heat situations. On-field temps today are 120+...and there's 4 more weekends to go, where it'll only get hotter. When you have only one site, you have to schedule daytime games...this one kicked off at noon local, and Fox is pushing another game at 4. And it's affecting all games...it's not just a few cities. You can't schedule around it either by scheduling road games for teams like Phoenix.

There's no doubt in my mind that NIL is going to be exploited in ways that recruiting violations of old never dreamed of. The Saban-Fischer spat is just typical cat fighting. Lots of hissing and posturing. I think Saban may have a point, to a degree; NIL was never intended to be institutionalized, and I agree that'll be a Very Bad Thing. But the loophole's huge. NIL is going to be extremely disruptive in both football and basketball, there's no doubt in my mind about that. But FBS has been the AAA level for the NFL for decades, and the players have been the only ones left out. In basketball...not so much. Simply because only 20-30 college players move into the NBA each year. So...it's more like AA. But anyone who believes these guys are anything but pros...at least at the higher levels/bigger schools...is dreaming. I think college football in particular is going to be subject to a dramatic restructuring.

I'm not seeing how Delayed Effect comes into play. 6E1 332. It's for powers with long setup times that can then be held and used quickly. It's clearly a translation of D&D spell prep. This is Extra Time. I agree, determining the value is hard. Not sure you'd need slavishly loyal on the summon. It doesn't have to destroy itself. It simply "goes back home." This would help, because I agree that it looks like desolid and therefore affects phys world will be necessary. Those are STUPID expensive, and slavishly loyal *doubles* the summoning cost. Even just considering the attack, APW means 1d6 costs 15...CP / 5 knocks that down to 3. Slavish makes that 6 per die...just for the attack, and NOT counting anything else it might need like AoE 1 hex. And you have to pay for the SPD, and the Desolid itself, and possibly Flight. You'll probably have to pay for Amicable to some level, I'll grant, but not necessarily slavish.

That would solve some of the questions. It's not a route I'd prefer to see used; that could just be me, tho. I would definitely be leery about any limitations that might get applied to the summoned...thingie...which might make this fairly expensive. Other point might be...how does it know its target? If it's in LOS, no problem. If not? And this means I need to write up a full summoned critter sheet, for this? Maybe I'm lazy, but for what amounts to a single-use attack power, that's a lot of work.

And another quote from this moron: UNDER populated...yeah, right. And of course, that only married people should have sex. THAT is classic Moral Majority. This one's dangerous, in my book, as she'll justify absolutely anything that's in service to her beliefs.

The two are QUITE different. You're talking basic probability. Something of a grind to actually set up *accurately*...not too bad to estimate. The standard deviation for NdS, where N == number of dice, S == number of sides, is SQRT( N * (S^2 -1) / 12 ) So for 6 siders, this is basically SQRT (N * 3), or here, 6. Now you just go, how many StdDevs is it from the mean of 42? Or you just quickly write up some code that'll create the entire sample space...6^12 isn't big for a computer, only a couple billion...and reference that. That said...offhand, I'd say that there was *1* other person in my old RP group...who were college students...that could do either. I'll grant, this was some time ago, but while simple programming is likely to be much more common today, math skills to this point...probably aren't. Stats is much trickier. We had upper division prob and stats...the prob course was easy enough. The stats course kicked most math majors' backside. Stats is when you start asking, ok, are these fair dice, or are they biased? Is this process truly random or not? That's not necessarily the same point...it's not enough to examine the overall collection of trial events, but also whether there are internal patterns. When those patterns are there consistently? Not random. HTHTHTHTHTHT looks like a fair toss, right? Same number of heads as tails. BUT statistics says, that constant flipping is NOT likely...1 in 2048.

The ground will conduct, so I'm not sure the electrical SFX would be what you'd want. Plus, even passing through wood walls is breaking a metarule...walls break line of effect. How long would this last...can the attack be used indefinitely? Or is it intended to be used against purely stationary targets? Against a mobile target, 6m is really slow. What's the SPD of this attack? For me there are too many special rules that'll be needed to be worth the trouble, at least at this point. I also have the feeling that paying for the advantages is going to make the active point cost untenable.

The original plan was doubleheader today. That's been shifted to tomorrow. Even that may be delayed; there's decent chances for rain between 5 and 7 MT according to weather.com. And it's gonna be cold and damp for sure. Mid 40's up til 7, humidity nearing 50%. Temp drops a bit, which means relative humidity goes up. 11 PM forecast is 40 degrees and 64% RH. Awesome weather to sit by the fire with a glass of Islay...not so great to try to play baseball in. Or try to sit and watch the game.

And certainly no one from the current crew. It'd be like actually managing to impeach Trump the first time. His officials would still be in place. The Senate Republicans who refused to let Obama name a Supreme Court justice...then rammed 2 of Trump's through with no more than a cursory review (and in Barrett's case, actively fast-tracked it). Greg Abbott. DeSantis. So how much would've really changed? Longer term, it'll be quite a while before the Evil Empire image fades. It will...at this point it shouldn't, but it will. 1956, Hungary. 1968, Czechoslovakia. 1979, Afghanistan. Georgia. Syria. Some others that might be a mixed bag of motivations, but these are all imperialist moves. And most have been very brutal. Staying independent is too risky for Russia's neighbors.

Reading the story.... My thought is, what took them so long to try suing the book store? It's a completely natural extension of their suppressive tactics. And yeah, this is nothing but a test case; if they can win, then the landslide begins.

Speaking of windy days... D'backs vs. Cubs. D'backs starting a #5. Cubs are starting a pitch-to-contact type...1.3 WHIP. And the wind's howling out. Top 5, D'backs are up 7-3. 6 dingers already...D'backs have gone back to back twice...same players, in fact, and in consecutive at-bats. EDIT: final ended up 10-6 D'backs. 11 homers total. 16 runs on only 20 hits, total.

When the pitching falls apart... https://www.mlb.com/news/iowa-comes-back-down-13-2-to-beat-indiana-30-16

Mr. P: that's assuming they'll get the games in. The local neighborhood app had a thread going about wind and weather down here...and how it's so windy, and the weather changes so much. LE SCOFF!!!!! Denver high today: 88 High tomorrow: 43 with possible rain and snow silkmar: everyone crowds the plate. Orioles are now up to #2; they've been hit 24 times. Then there are 11 teams with 17-20. OTOH, several teams are well under 10. The Spider Tack was actually brought up on the pitch that almost hit Alonzo, with Ron Darling in particular going "this just can't happen, on a 3-0 breaking ball." But Spider Tack got banned because no one could hit the ball when it was getting used. The pitching is generally just too dominant. There are 10 teams hitting under .230 right now...without the Spider Tack. Rockies are at .263...but then it's Mets, Phils, Nats at .252-.250. 23 teams have team ERAs below 4...which is not a bad ERA. Giants are 22-15 with a team ERA of 3.9. I think we may see more of a push to move the mound back. We can't demand pitchers throw less hard or with less effort...it's not enforceable. It might be plausible to put a rule in that ALL runners advance a base, regardless of where they are/other runners. (So a runner on 3rd...no one else on...scores.) Not sure that'd help enough tho. Throwing so hard simply leads to more erratic targeting. Spider Tack creates a reciprocal problem. So what's left? Move the mound back.

At some point this season, the Mets are going to have a major bench-clearing brawl. The type that leads to multiple ejections. Pete Alonso just barely got out of the way of a 3-0 breaking ball heading straight to his head. He's already been hit in the head twice this season. And worse, they've been hit 28 times in, with today, 40 games. Multiple times in the head. 3 times yesterday. They're NOT!!! happy, and at some point, there's a strong chance, I think, that they'll blow up.

Ytterbium

Unobtainium

I don't see it that way. In part, because I think you're wrong: they DO have the potential to use UEFA. UEFA is a club championship; FIFA is principally the national teams. The major loss is the World Cup...but how much of a loss is that, in a non-WC year? I can't comment that much about the engine, as I've never been even slightly interested in playing any of these. BUT: some factors to consider: --consistency of play, year to year --keeping the broad accessibility by NOT making the hardware requirements too onerous. I don't think this will hurt EA at all. Quite the opposite, in fact, I think it'll boost sales in the US and Europe. In the US, they lose the Women's World Cup...but the overall interest is much lower, and what percentage of eSports purchases are made by women? But I'd trade MLS for the US mens' WC *any day*. In Europe, they can work with every major league. There's probably heavy overlap...if you're a fan of Chelsea, you're likely a fan of England in the Cup. But you're a fan of Chelsea every year.

Hey, it's never too early to begin the indoctrination. It is unfortunately a VERY real book...and #19 on Amazon. Not in its category...overall. Reviews are, as you might expect, almost completely split...5 stars or 1 star, for 96% of em. We know that truth has no significance; only keeping the waters churning. And not just today; the Republican strategy has never been about just today.

The problem I have when you go *that* far is... --how many 12 year olds would go hero...versus just take the powers out on a joyride? ESPECIALLY with no one who can check them, and no role models? --if they're the first, then why would the threat of burnout be recognized? And at 12? 8 years away is FOREVER, even if they do know. --even if they go hero, will they use force properly...trying to minimize collateral damage, and threats to civilians? How often will 13 and 14 year olds seriously OVER-react? That's not a stable age group. --who/how/when will they get trained to use their powers at all...or do they just have excellent control from the get-go? The burnout issue only arises if that's a part of the campaign world backstory, but the others are present in any similar campaign. They just become more acute in the "no prior art" type of setup. EDIT: another issue with the threat of burnout...step back and consider the situation from the kid who's just getting these powers. Whose power set is in no way conducive to solving the burnout question. What's the reaction gonna be...live fast, die young...or go the selfless route, of helping everyone else? Also, solving the problem doesn't readily feel like a natural fit for most PC groups. Feels like this is going to come down to a deus ex machina.

World of the Five Gods is awesome reading. The core interaction...the funeral rites showing which god received the soul...is the best I've ever seen. The gods are real, the gods DO watch and care...but they don't interfere much at all. But the people get one of the most fundamental concerns...what happens after death...answered, and the belief in the gods gets reinforced. But the magic system is...tricky. Not easy to work with.

I'd go further; for example, runner on 2nd, 2 out. Ground ball to short, the throw's air mailed and goes into the dugout. That's automatic for the runner on 2nd to score, and that run is a direct consequence of the error. The problem is getting broad agreement on all variations would be tough, but yeah...at the very least, tho, there's no substantive connection between the error to the 2nd batter, and the runs after 2 outs. But the purists have screamed bloody murder that the runner on 2nd in extras, "destroys the validity of the stats." This would fall into the same category. So it'll never be considered.