unclevlad

Because they're the Bears. Was it quitting, or simply returning to form? That is not a good team. BTW, yeah, the dad apparently wanted the kids' names to stand out. Boy, do they. The FULL names are here: https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-spt-notre-dame-stanford-st-brown-brothers-20180926-story.html I got the Egyptian references...except Heru, which apparently is a variant of Horus. I'd just hate to have to sign checks with any of em.....

Mounting an invasion against a country at war with itself is highly likely to ensure it remains divided. It is a no-win option, IMO. I'd also point out: define the circumstances under which such an intervention would be considered "necessary" from the perspective of, say, Canada or western Europe. If anyone intervenes, it would most likely be, IMO, to establish and protect refugee safe zones. I don't see even Russia or China moving against US soil; I could see both of them supporting as many factions as possible, in order to maximize fragmentation, and while that's happening, move to grow their sphere, closer to home. The breakaway republics for Russia; for China, solidifying the hold on Taiwan and Hong Kong, and moving on the Philippines.

And it was very possible...Steelers were dead stuck there in no-man's land at the 42 with 4th and 9. Ravens could still have scored had they not converted, but that was no given. Granted: with Tucker, with the additional time that would've run off...had they needed a 55 yard FG, they probably would've tried it. And hey, while I can rip the Colts...the Jags played. And played pretty well...Lawrence had, apparently, a great start. But Logan, the #1 seed is just gonna cost you that much more money. OR...trade down. That plays best with the #1 pick, and any team in that boat has a LOT of holes to fill.

And...the Colts are now eliminated. If Raiders/Chargers doesn't end in a tie, Steelers get to go to KC. Shouldn't be a close game, but with KC, one can't be too sure. Jim Nantz has been ruled out of the broadcast of Panthers/Bucs due to health and safety protocols. It's kind of surprising this doesn't happen more often....

I'm not trying to diss the Jags...but how, how, HOW, with the playoffs on the line, can the Colts be down 13 well into the 3rd, against them? Looks like wildly erratic QB play, probably due in part to pressure...Jags have 3 sacks. But if the Colts can't turn this around, it's the worst loss of the year by anyone, when factoring in what's at stake. EDIT: and now a bad pick from Wentz, and the Jags punch it home. 20 point lead with about 3 minutes left in the 3rd. Meanwhile, I think the Ravens are watching it; they're starting to gouge the Steelers on the ground. Up 4 right now; if they can get the TD, the Steelers have done nothing on offense. It might be all but over.

While the defense was fine, the tactics were...dated. People are noting that...either way, the Broncos weren't likely to win. 10% for kicking, 8% for going for it because 4th and 9 is rather hard. But going for it, and MAKING it, gave a 1 in 4 chance of winning. So kicking is simple and gutless. Another angle, to me, was his demeanor in the postgame. Perhaps he felt his firing was inevitable, but he gave me no confidence whatsoever. He tried to fall back on "analytics" while all he did was convince me he had no clue about it. But this is pretty clear: https://www.espn.com/blog/denver-broncos/post/_/id/39982/why-the-broncos-will-keep-replacing-coaches-until-the-quarterback-questions-answered EDIT: link for the analytics... https://thespun.com/nfl/afc-west/denver-broncos/vic-fangio-is-getting-crushed-for-4th-quarter-decision

OK, but still, the manner in which they lost was truly of Jetsian proportions. That's aggravating circumstances.

I was beginning to wonder if someone needed to check on your health, just in case you'd done yourself harm.... It's so admirable of you to want Cam to complete the set.....

You mean the Eagles are really, truly a playoff team???? Yes, I loathe the expansion. And the extra game.

A problem Beau didn't mention: the major differences in the approaches to health care. How would Americans access the Canadian health care system? it's publicly funded, not privately funded. Largely by definition, any Canadian treatment would be considered "out of network" and thus, if covered at all by American insurance companies, coverage would be far more limited. Also, securing the border? The US-Canadian border is WIDE open from the Great Lakes to the Pacific, perhaps with some natural challenges from the Coast Range and the Rockies. There are no natural obstacles whatsoever, for most of it. And it's over 1000 miles long, from the eastern edge of the Rockies, to the Lakes. The resources would most likely go into the eastern part...Ontario and Quebec. The St. Lawrence can help form that line...you can build up first-stage processing facilities on Canadian soil, south of the St. Lawrence, but north of the tip of upstate New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Not sure you could handle *that* large of an influx, tho, in that small an area.

Quarterbacks have it too. It could even be viewed as an occupational hazard because the offense DOES revolve around them, particularly now. So do cornerbacks, quite often...until they find they really aren't shutdown corners.

ND State also gets more coverage and draws more scouts where they are. They stand out. If they join the MAC, they're just another team in a mid-level conference.

Stealing... The Nighthawks (Feist...they were technically assassins but so what) Manus Nigrum (the Black Hand, from VtM) the Mockers (also Feist...Krondor's thieves' guild) SPECTRE Hydra the Stainless Steel Rats (Harry Harrison) not stealing... the Phantom League the Sundown Society...their work is at night or in the shadows

BTW, to avoid the "healer is going through hospitals 16 hours a day"...require that Healing, which does cost END, is powered from an END Reserve. The size is variable; base it on the number of full-power Healings. But keep the REC *way* down...1 per minute, or even 1 per 5 minutes. So maybe the healer can apply full power 6-8 times...that should be fine for a combat situation...but he's out of juice for a couple of hours, potentially. A corollary is, he's not gonna burn all his juice on a regular basis handling routine cases...he'd always keep something in the tank for a true emergency.

It is tricky, but a superhero doesn't have to be about fighting crime per se. As Grailknight wrote...supers are the ultimate first responders. So perhaps they don't "fight crime" in the normal sense. But should regular supers be doing that routinely, as a focus? That's what cops are for. The best exploration on this, IMO, is Marion G. Harmon's Wearing the Cape books. So in the context here...a healer would clearly be immensely valuable in an accident situation, where time can be critical. Or if there's a high risk of a throwdown between some heroes and wrong-minded supers, the risk of collateral damage is high. Perhaps they don't get involved in the fight per se, unless necessary, but there's a high risk that innocent normals will get caught up in it. But these don't happen that often. So what does the healer do for the rest of that time? There are so few examples in comics that we don't think of the SFX of a healer, and thereby, the limitations. Can the healer neutralize poisons, cure infectious diseases? How about genetically-linked issues, or breakdown-related conditions like diabetes? Yeah, it was pointed out: digging TOO deep can be not-fun...but laying down some ground rules can also help define how healers and healing can work in the campaign, especially if there *are* some parameters and bounds placed on what healers generally can do. (I've got a "shifter-healer" concept. Think Shape Shift (human only, body only) that's also "usable on others" defined as healing. Set broken bones? Yes. Remove bullet fragments? Probably. Close wounds without stitches? Absolutely. Cure diseases, counter poisons? Not so much...but the first extension, that might not even need an explicit power, is a touch-based Sense that guides the Healing. Where are the bullet fragments? Where and how did the bone fracture? (Which is why it need not cost points, as it can be viewed as implied by the Healing power.) Well, maybe the healer can't cure a disease, but CAN be an awesome diagnostic tool. Here, he works with the doctors, which would also alleviate at least some of the tensions and issues with licensing over time. Also of note: "he fixed my leg but this happened!!" would resolve fairly quickly, if there's cooperation in place between the normal doctors and the healers that's developed over time. Much of the antagonistic aspects discussed early in the thread would resolve themselves. Finally...another point commonly made in urban supers lit...supers are generally rare. Healers are just a subset, so they're even more rare...the degree is at GM discretion. Maybe most can't handle the really big stuff as well; another common element is that there's a hundred people who can flip a car, for the one that can flip the tank. So maybe there's just a handful of healers in the entire US, that can do practically anything.

And with 30 seconds left in the half, ND State slammed in their 4th TD. 28-0. Oh, Mr. P failed to mention: the passing QB for Montanta that empowered their offense late this year? Out with an injury very early. I was really looking forward to this. I usually like this game a lot...and, my chiropractor went to NDSU. So that's fun. The game? Oh well. My, my, it's going to be a rough morning and afternoon for Mr. P, isn't it? Getting trampled by Bizzzzon, then ordered around like minions by Chiefs...probably.

So AB gets onto a podcast and unloads, including on Tommy Boy. Neil Everett's comment..."Et tu, Antonio?" One of his better ones... And they show a portion of it. AB comes across as a whiny, petulant, SPOILED, self-centered little <bleep.> H

In the absence of anything more interesting, flipped over to Hawks vs. Lakers, in LA. My GOSH, these Laker unis are hideous. Primarily purple, but the shade isn't one I like that much. Not as a primary color. The side trim on the shorts is a shiny, bright, light blue. Logo, then numbers underneath on the front; name and number on the back. Both sides, the numbers are flanked with 5-point stars. UGH...

There are grounds for exemptions. Djokovic asserted a dubious one...recent infection. I don't think it was in the time frame. A female tennis player was also stopped at the border...she attempted to assert the same exemption and it was denied. NYT also has a piece today: the anti-vax athletes are losing support rapidly. The point I agree most with is, the pushback is against the perception of privilege they believe they're owed. They want to have their cake, eat it, and make us pay for it. That doesn't sit very well wit a LOT of people. So...yeah, there's likely some politics at play here. But I'm never gonna side with an anti-rational position.

One might argue that was his most iconic; there's also To Sir With Love, for example. And Lilies of the Field. And others. He kinda got "lost" a bit in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.?..but that's because the parents there were...Tracy and Hepburn. But that's just saying there's an embarrassment of riches to pick from.

Something I'm noting. ESPN is ramping up its college basketball coverage as conference season goes into high gear, and obviously, college football is all but done so they need something to fill in the schedule. Whether it's more related to travel issues...one of the games last night, the analyst was stuck in the airport for multiple hours before he could eventually get a flight to the game city...or Covid issues in and of themselves, coverage is shifting back, somewhat, to off-site, with the game callers at their homes and getting a feed. The game tonight...Wazoo vs. Colorado, in Boulder...is pretty sparsely attended, but the first day of classes is next Monday. I'll have to pay more attention to games for the next few weeks, but I wouldn't be surprised that...particularly for college basketball, which has to cover so many games each week...that they'll use remote broadcasting to a large degree, like last year.

Hello, Vince Reynolds.... This might be easiest to approximate with 2 sets of Absorption...one physical, one energy. They go to separate END reserves. Then they power, let's say, a 2-slot multipower, for PD and ED based Blasts with Variable SFX (only matching what's been absorbed). I'd call that a +0 advantage myself. SO a punch, a bullet...they're PD, they're kinetic pulses. Or alternately, of course, HAs...so maybe 4 slots. All of em are powered off the END reserve. The kicker might be that Absorption has a fade rate, which makes "storing" tricky.

No bet; I'm not an idiot. If not full-on CTE, then that or something similar in earlier stages. But that won't stop the media circus; the only thing that does, is time. I'm a big proponent of developing long-term EEG histories. Starting in at least the power 5 college programs, or even the entire FBS. Don't want to be? Go FCS. Hey, if that trims FBS to 50 or so schools, that's fine with me. The problems: --from a PR perspective, if it showed, let's say, 15-20% of college players show notable shifts, and 35-40% of regularly-playing pro players do...that's so, so bad. It proves the case that football is *dangerous*. --There's a big question in my mind of how this would be used. Assume AB's EEG is off, consistent with early/mild CTE. Is he forcibly, medically retired? --For the NFL, the liability question is huge.

So the latest NFL circus has run its course. Antonio Clown's contract has been terminated. (Adam Schein of CBS used that, and it's totally appropriate so I will steal it.) He, of course, goes off on a rant trying to defend himself. Hopefully his time in the league is done; his particular circus won't be, of course, for a while. Sadly....

Yeah, the story used a great word...hubris. Canada has tight rules; that's been a major pain for the NHL. But Australia's rules are FAR tighter; but it's also meant their case and death rates have been far, far lower. The story also suggests that the Australian government and tennis organization are...let's just say, not entirely on the same page. It's not surprising that Tennis Australia oversells; that's where their interest lies. The problem is more likely to assume they have any real credence. But apparently there are state-federal issues in Australia about on par with the US and Texas. I honestly think that, even if he's allowed in and allowed to play, Djokovic's chances of winning the event are now considerably lower.