unclevlad

Steelers QB Dwayne Haskins has died as a result of, apparently, being hit by a car. Early report is exiting his car along the side of the road, got struck. He was in South Florida, on a training/team building session with teammates.

Technically? It's *one of* the Walton heirs, and in fact, the story's get some details wrong. It's not Robert, it's Robson. Sam, the founder, had 3 kids...there's Alice and JIm. Who are each worth *more* than their older sibling. Yeah...the trio is worth about $200B combined. Downside? Walton is 77. Setting aside the political angles...that's relatively old. How long will it be before the franchise is right back in this position? Flip side: if the offer is $4B, that in itself highlights the major bar to entry for finding minority owners.

OK, but now it's greatly cheaper than the Flash attack. Healing says to use standard effect, which means 3 pips. So 10 points knocks off 3 segments. The Flash attack nominally needs 15 points to get 3 segments, because it's counting the BODY, not the pips. I'll grant that there's a horrific imbalance: Flash says +5 points for a single targeting sense. So...sight group + normal hearing...for 1 less die of attack, 1 less segment, than sight group alone. But the Healing side? They're counted completely separately for healing purposes. So what I could see: a) Healing with Expanded Effect can counter any form of Flash effect b) You have 2 options: first, you count the pips, and it reduces the flash effect for one sense at a time, with carryover as written, OR, you count the BODY and it reduces the flash effect for ALL senses. I'd make this a house rule, not a player option at any point; it's too much, IMO, if it can be specified per application, or even when the power's defined...because, again of MP/VPP considerations. (OR...redefine Flash so that the cost to affect additional senses/sense groups *scales* with the attack strength, instead of being a flat additional cost.) c) Healing to counter Flash ignores re-use time; it can be applied in successive phases. No reason NOT to allow this. Recognize: sure, it'd be expensive to buy it as a standalone power, but Expanded Effects Healing becomes a pretty insane catchall. It counters any damage, any Drain, and now any Flash? You're paying for that exceptional versatility, but that's really powerful.

So Tiger made the cut fairly easily, but thru 36 holes it's a runaway. Scottie Scheffler...yeah, I'd never heard of him either...has a 5 stroke lead on the field, at -8. Woods is tied (19th-22nd) at +1. Who is this leader? Pretty much a kid, just 25, college golfer...who's won at Phoenix and Bay Hill (Arnie's tournament), won the WGC Match Play, 2nd at Houston, 7th at Riviera. Already pocketed over $7M. Not bad work if you can get it, eh?

Well, since he's now a Bronco quarterback, there's no way he can throw a strike....

Well, it turns out that the Academy was unamused by Will Smith's performance during its little ceremony last month. He's been barred from the Oscars awards ceremony for 10 years.

One of the amusing things about some of the secondary NCAA sports is that minor schools often do amazingly well. In hockey since 2000: North Dakota DU (3 times) Minnesota-Duluth (3 times) Yale Union Boston University Lacrosse has been another, but it's had a massive ACC component...since 2000, ACC schools have taken 14 titles. But still, there's Yale and DU again, plus Loyola (MD), and Johns Hopkins. Let me say: if you haven't seen the game? It's amazing at times. It's even harder to follow in some ways than hockey, in that the ball's SERIOUSLY hard to see. But what the players can do with the ball...since their sticks have pockets that can carry the ball, they can shoot from practically any angle. Makes a goalie's job incredibly hard. It makes for nice scoring and generally more action. The final four is held, IIRC, Memorial Day weekend, and it's worth a watch.

Still alleged, we have to remember, but none of us are all that surprised, are we? Plus more investigations into workplace misconduct. I'd say it's still unlikely, but the specter of a forced sale is taking shape. In other news today, 2 more coaches have joined the Flores case, along with more of what looks to be very strong evidence. It may not hold up, sure, but taken prima facie only, it's pretty damning.

Happy hour. Oh wait, with Cleveland teams, that's an oxymoron, isn't it? Well, OK, we all know the real function of happy hour is to drown your sorrows, so it still fits...... In golf...Tiger played...and shot 1 under to be 2 shots back and tied for 10th. And to show timing is everything......Denver University...a very small, private school in south Denver that you've never heard of unless you're a big time college hockey or lacrosse fan (they're VERY good at both) and Michigan (big bad arrogant Power 5 school) playing in the Frozen Four. ESPN shows these. Tied 2-2, end of regulation. Got shunted from ESPN 2 to ESPNU and a Spanish-language broadcast on ESPN 3...basically, streaming. So that'd been a while ago, and the game was still going. Well, OK, sudden death is always fun. Spanish...oh, missed that. Tried ESPNU...but it's not included on Xfinity. Drat. OK, fine. Switch back to ESPN3. Goalie stops a shot...but the rebound is smacked home!!!! JUST as I switch. Denver beats Michigan. QUITE delightful.

FTFY

Of course. This is the problem with thinking you can regulate, for example, Fox News' polemicists. The other side will use the same tactics. And Greene et al have no restraint whatsoever. On the Putin Party comment...I read the story. IIRC, the key points were that many Republicans have been turning away from Russia and Putin as the scope of his actions have become more clear...but there's still a faction that is embracing him. They also put a considerable amount of the blame on Fox News and Tucker Carlson especially. Some Republican leaders have been harsh; McCarthy called Putin a ruthless dictator. OTOH, Lindsey Graham merely called the pro-Putin faction "outliers"...which is just playing both sides, not supporting them but also not notably even criticizing them, much less denouncing or Heaven forbid, calling for them to be sanctioned in some manner. This is beginning to feel like the real watershed event. If we generally continue to not punish the extreme right who actively, willingly support Putin, then we have no chance, IMO, as a society. If we reject them, then maybe there's a chance at restoring some semblance of balance. Even Jan. 6th can be spun somewhat more readily than the Russian atrocities.

I couldn't get through more than a few paragraphs. Yeah I...just now realized something. Or internalized something. What my parents' generation really felt about the Nazis. It was only intellectual before.

Well, sure. Heading to nationals is going over a pole vault bar; the first one is a limbo dancing bar.

Companies will be caught between a rock and a hard place as we attempt to find a new normal. I daresay there is NO policy they could set, that would satisfy everyone.

That feels too much like placing an electron and a positron in close proximity...... Back to baseball: Brewers-Cubs on MLB Network. Scoreless through 3; deja vu. Jon Schiambi dropped a little factlet...19 teams changed hitting coaches last year. 19. That's over half the teams even if a couple fired multiple hitting coaches. That's a crazy number to me...and even more info about the pathetic state of hitting generally, if we needed anything more. EDIT: cool moment. Cubs started the bottom of the fifth down 1-0. Tied the game on a sac fly. Then another single, and a 2 run shot into the gap. The cool part was the reaction of the fan that caught the ball...totally blown away. Opening day, first dinger for your team for the year. Oh yeah, he had a Cubs jersey on. Very nice for him.

What do you mean, 1 for 1? I'm not sure what you are offering as an alternative. Also: odds are, this won't be standalone. You're probably right that almost no one would buy this as a standalone power, but let's face it: Healing isn't likely to be bought standalone, because it's not needed regularly. So in an MP or VPP? I think that if the Healing is bought with Expanded Effect (any Characteristic)...I could see allowing it to alleviate a Flash effect

And why does this have to be used in combat? Anyone in a battle situation is thinking of getting out intact and/or taking out the other side. Draining SPD also feels like a stretch, when the idea feels like emotional manipulation. Drain EGO and/or PRE? Sure. She's so dazzling that any thought other than "hubba hubba hubba!!!!" is impossible. This might be targeted pheromones as well. Especially in combination with the high PRE and Striking App...nasty! To get a little funky: something like 3-4 dice of Drain, EGO and PRE, resisted by Ego Def rather than Power Def (they're equivalent-level defenses, so this should be +0). Obviously, some of this is how fast or slow you want it to work. Doesn't have to be that way but it feels more like an Ego Def situation than a Power Def; it's not transforming the body, it's turning the mind into bubbling goo.

Who needs Mind Control? 30 PRE, 5d6 Striking Appearance, and a Charm roll from hell; the rest is disadvantages. (20 point Psych Lim Seductress, for example.)

Baseball is a very nice radio game. Note that MLB is only part of TuneIn premium, and that's $10/month. Not as bad as MLB.tv, but not free. I also wonder if local blackout rules will still apply. That's something that drives me up the wall. Even when there's no local TV...the blackout still applies. That's affected quite a few Rangers games. Not that I care per se about the Rangers, but it often leaves no game available. Note that this particularly impacts late games, as they tend to be West Coast teams, and so much of the schedule is within your division. Turns out tomorrow...MLB Network has 2 games at 10 Eastern. Astros at Angels...nope. Astros blackout. Padres at D'backs...double blackout. The other side here is that the cable marketplace is fracturing so badly. SO many channels out there, no one can carry all of em. Baseball's mostly carried on the regional nets now...Bally-branded at this point. But you're either paying through the nose for an out-of-area regional net...on DirecTV it was something like another $40 a month *on top* of digital premium...yet the owners and networks still impose a ludicrous, IMO counter-productive policy. Oh boy. Gonna be another one of those years. Phillies and Rays are playing; with the regular season starting tomorrow, not many are. There was another one: Detroit vs. Baltimore. It got cancelled because both teams felt they didn't have the pitching. And in this game...Rays' starter got hit pretty hard, didn't make it out of the 2nd. The first reliever also got hit hard...as in, 2 home runs. He came out for 1 more batter in the 3rd...then got pulled. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Granted it's preseason. Also granted...no one's ready. This preseason is FAR too short for the pitchers, and the extraordinarily cautious handling of them. DeWayne Staats was pointing out that probably much of April was going to be played like preseason, with lots and lots of pitchers used for short stints, to get the arms really in shape. Which is also something of a joke, given that the average length of a start is now about 5 innings.

Went ahead and got mine yesterday. Not having a great day today; arm soreness is more acute this time, and I think a low-grade cold generally. My feeling is that a booster is likely to be the norm...if a flu shot's advisable, then I think a Covid shot will also be advisable. Hopefully *just* annually, but we shall see.

Very little end of season drama. There is significant positional jockeying left, particularly in the East...3 teams are tied for 2-4. But the teams in the East are locked...both playoff and play-in slots. In the West, Denver's 2 up on Minnesota with 2 to play for both. That's for the 6 vs. 7 slots; that's it, tho. And the Nuggets have a game against the Lakers. Figure the Lakers are 1-2-3-Cancun!!! now. Only thing that's left to observe is how much that team gets blown up between now and October...but Westbrook, James, and Davis are unmovable, and that's $130M and about 73% of the salary cap. That trio will never succeed together. I also love the injury excuse. LeBron's 37; he can't carry a team very often without paying for it. His injuries? That's not a coincidence, it's a consequence. Davis missed 153 games over 10 seasons...BEFORE this year. He's missed another 39 this year. The man cannot stay on the court, and it is the epitome of a pipe dream to think that will change. And Westbrook is, IMO, one of the top 5 most overhyped players of the decade. Playing around on NBA.com with their metrics...among guards who have played at least 30 games, playing at least 30 minutes a game...there are 66 listed...Westbrook has the 5th worst turnover ratio, and 7th worst effective shooting percentage...he's always taken a huge number of questionable shots. It's a bad roster and a bad team, and it probably can't be fixed next year, unless the Lakers can find another front office foolish enough to take on...probably Westbrook.

As things are trending now, No Meteor Required.

Regrettably, it comes as no real surprise that Oklahoma is about to basically ban ALL abortions. From a breaking story in NYT: It passed the Senate 70-14. The governor's Republican and is completely pro-life, so there's no chance he won't sign it....and heck, even if he was foolish enough not to, an override, given that overwhelming majority, is a given.

Yeah, the mechanical derivation doesn't necessarily work out, especially with Charges. There's lots of moving parts. The baseline reference to me, to determine how often the limitation has to affect things, is under the Limited Power guidelines. A -1/4 limitation is either "loses about 1/4 of its effectiveness" or the condition affects him about 1/4 of the time. So that would be for a 4 shot clip...not an 8 shot clip per se. Yeah, the fact that swapping a clip is nominally a full phase action...that matters some, but I don't think it improves things *enough*. It's offset by the fact that you'd lose 1 phase while taking 17 shots. How long is this combat gonna go, anyway? And in that long a time frame...assuming no autofire or multiple attacks, at least...there's a good chance that there'll be a window to spend the phase to swap the clip. Granted: there are limitations that kick in even less often...for the vast majority of Blast, RKA, or Flash constructions, the base points give an enormous range...so long that the range mod is a killer. Even a 4d6 Blast has 20 base points, so 200 meter range. That's -10 range mod. No Range Mod is +1/2. OK, if this is some NND, Does Body, then since NRM is still only on the base points, it doesn't add much. Maybe you go that way. But if it's a 10d6 Blast, that +1/2 is another 25 points on the active cost. OR...you take the -1/4 limitation and shoot from 200 meters out...half range is 250...IF the situation justifies it. (Hit the hex, or hit a ginormous target with a massive DCV penalty, or the like.) Range beyond even 32 meters is getting to be a very tough shot *most* of the time...so decreasing even 200m max range to 100m results in almost no practical decrease in function. Besides, this is a magic quiver. How about we call it 8 shots per clip, then it's a *half phase* action for the quiver to conjure a new clip. No limitation value. This feels better to me anyway, because when you say magic quiver, *you* aren't completely tied up for the full phase. The quiver's doing that. You should be able to still do things. YMMV here, of course. The alternative would seem to be, ok, make the clips notional. The quiver conjures up 8 rounds, and it takes a half phase action to command it to refresh the quiver. (Which can be done at any time.) So it's not "clips" or "charges" per se, it's basically just SFX.

With each team having 4 games left, and not playing each other...San Antonio's magic number to clinch a berth is 2. Pelicans, it's 1.