unclevlad

Ehh, this isn't a Raiders issue for once. https://riduiguy.com/10-nfl-players-charged-with-dui/ It's a young, rich, and stupid problem. Once he's formally arraigned and charged...might not take very long...he's gone from the team. With a fatality involved, he's going to be on the exempt list as fast as the paperwork can be completed. Oh, and to plie onto the Oscar Meyer bandwagon: https://ftw.usatoday.com/2021/11/jaguars-urban-meyer-new-low?itm_source=parsely-api

Hmm. I can say yes, I have. I'll count pollution reduction as climate change.

In Champions Now, IIRC, a 10d6 attack would be high. And normal def is cheap; rDef is pricey. That's where the cost for Piercing wouldn't quite carry over. In 5E, armor piercing is +1/2. That suggests make Piercing +1/4, keeping the "BODY is reduced only by rDef". it leaves the STUN untouched. After that it's campaign rules. Maximum might be 16 DCs for regular-use attacks. (I've built martial artist types with, say, Martial Strike doing 15d6, and Offensive Strike doing 17d6.) You may have to gauge how to handle autofire. If someone's Haymakering quite a bit...that becomes a regular-use attack. Move Through can be similar. On character building...set a minimum number of points for non-combat skills, talents, and perks. (Combat Luck, Defensive Maneuver, CSLs, any Power skill, Combat Sense, probably Danger Sense, autofire and multi-attack skills are all examples of combat skills, and there's others.) Set it pretty high. I like to build to Drew Hayes' Super Powereds where every Hero is *extensively* trained, and that means skills...so I do 30-50 points in those areas. In 5E, be VERY leery about the ECs, they're insanely easy to abuse. Watch the sheet generally...do the limitations really mean anything? Are they just trying to shave the points to buy more, or are they really meaningful? Trade off: no, you don't get points for most foci, it's just SFX. BUT I won't try to take it away from you either, and even your Iron Man suit can be donned quickly. IOW, make it about the character concept, not the character points.

The math of 1d6-1 as a stun multiplier is downright terrifying. If we go with 12 DCs, that's 4d killing. 1. The probability of major BODY is very high. 16 BODY on 12 dice normal is a reasonable upper estimate; you won't see even 16 all that often. 16+ will happen 1/3 of the time on 4d6. 18+ will happen almost 1 time in 6. 2. 1/3 of the time, the stun multiplier will be a 5 or 6, so x4 or x5. 12 dice normal will give 48+ STUN about 13% of the time...roughly 2 in 15 rolls. It'll be 52+, tho, less than 4% of the time. An average BODY roll of 14, with a stun mult of 5, gives 56 STUN. With a 6..it's 70 STUN. If your defenses are tuned to 12 dice normal...42 STUN average...you have, what, 30-35? So you take 35-60 about 1 time in 10. That's VERY likely to mean Stunned. That 18 BODY with a 6 stun die is unlikely...but roughly 1 time in 36 isn't THAT unlikely, and now you're talking Stunned and Knocked Out with one shot. It's 90 STUN. I've got some code hanging around somewhere that runs these probabilities, especially for the killing attacks. The probabilities for insanely high STUN are just too high to ignore. The raw potential damage of higher-DC killing attacks demands serious rDef if you don't want to be bleeding out; the STUN mult means you have to go insane with defenses, OR buy Damage Reduction...the cost of Damage Reduction was, I think, deliberately set pretty high to be the defense against this kind of roll. There's various solutions. As was pointed out, dropping the STUN multiplier to 1/2 d6 is huge. OK, heroes need good rDef...but they don't also need insane additional Def to bounce the STUN. Another option...when Ron was publishing the early editions of Champions Now, we exchanged posts about the killing dice issues. He dropped killing dice. Instead, he defined an Advantage called Piercing...+1/2 advantage. The BODY of the attack only goes against resistant defenses. You might consider that too high for Champions...that's cool, but perhaps +1/4 would work better. Or something else. The massively swingy nature of 5E's killing damage just leads to too many undesirable effects if left untouched.

Forcing the Entangle to take an advantage against a rare power is a pain. It's fine with Desolid which is intended to ignore everything physical. I'm also not enamored of building this with the graduated limitations approach. I'd rather build a power that fundamentally gets more effective, a la APG's alternate desolid. The power you've got always costs 2 END, for example, even if it's cut back in terms of real cost. Limitations combine poorly; they have serious diminishing returns issues. And things like the porosity? That's just a hassle for the GM. It's ONLY a concept for this power, as opposed to, for example, the BODY or DEF of an obstacle. This power is just complicating my life as a GM.

Because they're over-concentrated in their existing markets, and have no chance to expand in them. Not from a standpoint of more teams...from marketing and recruiting. Article points out, 9 of the 12 schools are in Ohio and Michigan. Yes, well, Michigan means UM and MSU. Ohio means OSU primarily, plus Cincy more recently. Tennessee and Kentucky (the schools) don't have that level of impact in their states/markets. And geographically, it's still fairly compact.

And one has to ask if Tennessee is still viable with Henry out. They'll still make the playoffs, it's reasonably safe to say; they've got Jacksonville, Miami, and Houston (twice) left. The only possible challenger for the division is Indy; they've beaten them twice already and are 3 games up. That makes it VERY tough for Indy to make up the ground, without a head-to-head matchup, and leaves the Colts effectively 3 1/2 back as they lose the tiebreaker. Same might be true with the Saints. They've got a nice margin over the mushy, weak middle of the NFC...but they have no QB now. Well, who knows; perhaps Siemian will show enough competence when he's got a better team and coach. No, I don't expect it either.

So.... Did that make anyone think the Chiefs are capable of deep playoff run? Anyone???? I can't hear you.........................

Plus, 9/11 was the first direct attack against the US since Pearl Harbor...and while that was horrific enough, it was 60 years earlier. Plus, it got no live coverage, of course. We got the news second hand and much later. How many of us saw one or both planes hit? One or both towers fall? Plus, while Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack, it was one against a military target. So in that sense, it fit with many other, similar attacks like the Cole. 9/11 *used* civilians, and targeted civilians. For better or worse, terrorist attacks in Britain and France have targeted civilians. They also remember much more deeply the devastation of WW II. So they may be more emotionally resilient. It's a combination of many things. Demonizing goes back to the 50's with Communism. Can also argue that this was the start of distrust of government, due to McCarthy's tactics, and the damage it did. It showed that governmental abuse of power was a Real Thing, on a scale we'd not seen. Then there were the lies of Vietnam, and the first clear schisms on ideological grounds. Watergate. Carter...a Democrat...let an embassy be sacked, and Americans held hostage (!!!) Reagan could be painted as the paragon of normalcy and a return to Good Old American Values. Then the tawdry, pathetic lies of Clinton...another Democrat, another embarrassment. 9/11 happened on Bush's watch...but he had an acceptable response. Hit the bastards back HARD. And even Iran...HECK no, we're not gonna let Saddam pull off another 9/11. On issues: Democrats support women's rights, gay rights, immigration. While "kinder, kuche, kirche" might not literally hold, I suspect it's a LOT closer to what's comfortable for too many American men. And there's much more resentment, I think, when a man loses a position to a woman, compared to losing it to another man. Immigration...the narratives here are obvious. They're cash sinks, they're job stealers, they're criminals. Gay rights...they're all sinners and fornicators and damned to hell. They're anti-family. The perceived threat to family strikes at something very basic. The lesson of McCarthy and Nixon is, you can't trust government. The lesson of the Democrats is their values are wrong. So government should do NOTHING...but protect us. The Wall. More defense spending. Strong military. Don't tell us what to do because your motives are BS to begin with. It's a total mess.

I often export as plain text, then manually edit, particularly on points like active or real points, and advantages/limitations can at least be abbreviated. I use lists quite a bit too, in part because a list can incorporate a common modifier. I'll clean up indentation stuff. Or if it's a compound power, I'll do the same, and if there is a common modifier, I'll note it up top. Anything to clean things up. Part of the problem is, what I want to see probably doesn't match what you want. And sometimes I need to see things like real cost, but other times I don't. (MP or VPP accomodating more than 1 power at a time, I need real cost.)

Oh, I have every confidence there. Not because it's the Bronco front office, just because there's more Meyers out there, and they seem to have a Svengali-like draw. And hey, if it's not Meyer, it could be another retread, or another attempt at a genius hire with a grossly underqualified coordinator. SO many ways they can screw it up.

I don't think the Rams have much choice. Stafford's doing great, and he's not that old, but he's got a LOT of mileage on him. Rams had already mostly bailed out of next year's draft. And hey, they're 7-1 now, altho one has to be a tad careful there...the wins include Bears, Giants, Lions, and Texans. But they have beaten the Bucs, and beat Seattle before they started to fall apart. Lost to Cards...in LA...tho. It's possible...not likely admittedly...that the division winner will be the 1 seed, and the other the top wild card...ergo road games throughout. I also agree that from Denver's perspective, this was a good move. They didn't fall into the trap of thinking 4-4 meant they were serious contenders. Poll here: https://www.milehighreport.com/2021/11/1/22757520/broncos-trading-von-miller-to-rams was an even split basically, as I write this. So the peasants aren't revolting. I agree with the writer, tho, that Fangio's gone at the end of the year. Bridgewater...harder to say. Free agent at the end of the season, but he's dirt cheap. IF!! there's a good looking QB prospect come the Broncos' turn to pick...what's scary is they may not have a top-10 pick, as the first 7 (Giants, WFT, Lions, Jets, Fins, Jags, Texans) aren't likely to win 4. And Lock, we already know, is Nightmare on Blake Street. So don't be surprised if the Broncos go QB and throw him into the starting lineup on opening day. They may have the draft capital to build around him, tho. So...umm...Mr. P? Hate to tell ya, but your Broncos are next season's Jags, waiting to happen.....

It might not be...it might not even rate worst play of the week. https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-colts-titans-carson-wentz-coughs-up-worst-interception-of-the-year-204716507.html The flip side holds here. The call? Not great, IMO, but....the coach calling it is relying on the QB to either shift out to something else if the defensive look is bad, or ditch the ball. Yesterday was Wentz' 76th NFL *start*. So he isn't some green rookie fresh out of the football factory. Wentz panicked. The pump was fatal brain lock; after that, there was no path to recover, not in the end zone. Granted, as pointed out at the end of the article...after that pump, there was NO chance for anything good. The best possible result at that point was an incompletion...wildly unlikely after the tuck and dodge. The safety kills you too; the game was tied. Safety gives the Titans the lead and forces an onside free kick. FAT chance of that working. But ya gotta see these things in advance if you're getting paid 9 figures for 4 years. Gotta think the Colts are stuck with buyer's remorse, cuz they're stuck with a huge chunk of guaranteed money for 3 1/2 more years. Article here says a lot: https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/lists/worst-nfl-quarterbacks-carson-wentz-sam-darnold-drew-lock/ One particular comment, about Wentz in play-action: Yeah...that's the play from yesterday. Slow to react, then panic...which is about as out of sorts as you can get.

Ahhh, yeah, that Hilton hit. First problem is, there was clear helmet-to-helmet and it's absolutely a play the league wants to eliminate. BUT...whose fault was it, Hilton's, or the back for dropping his head as the hit approached? If Hilton gets the flag, then I read it that he had put *himself* into that dangerous, somewhat out of control position, leading with his head/helmet. IIRC, Hilton's arms never came forward, so it was leading with the helment. I don't think the rules allow it, but I would welcome calling offsetting personal fouls...the back led with HIS helmet too, and it feels like he could've avoided the situation. The drawback there is, to call that, it'd have to go to replay and be parsed 18 million different times through all the camera angles and take 20 minutes.

Honestly, it's surprising that doesn't happen more often. The blame IMO goes 100% to the kicker, insofar as the execution goes. (Yes, yes, inset McKay quote here.) One hop right to the receiver, all he has to do is beat one guy and he's gone...the kicking team is totally out of position. It's not that much different from a linebacker stepping in to pick off a flat pass. I'll also blame Meyer. Look at the receiving team, they're TOTALLY expecting it. They've got 8 guys within a yard of the 45. BONEHEAD move to try it here, at least in that manner. Fine, try the pooch kick if you absolutely must try the genius move, but whatever they tried was moronic. And geeze...the score was 24-7 in the 4th...inside the 2 minute warning!!!! WTF!!!! Oh yeah, right, the game has to be played to the end???? STUPID!!!!! AND the 'hawks were utterly ready for it. Then again, it's Urban Meyer. Whether the players are tanking...maybe. I tend to doubt it at this point. Are any vets listening to Meyer? THAT is rather more doubtful. This is the kind of bonehead move you see from college coaches enshrined in their positions, who are basically tin-plated little godlings at their schools. Like keeping the starters in and running a flea flicker with 3 minutes left and a 30 point lead...and I'm pretty sure Meyer's done moves like that a few times. It's definitely not a play to endear a coach to a team; it does no real good in the best case, and invites odd, freaky hits that get players hurt. Yeah, considering those factors, I can second the nomination for boneheaded call of the year...altho probably not pick it in the end, only because it was a meaningless play involving 2 meaningless teams this year. Definitely belongs on the 101 Reasons to Fire Urban Meyer lowlight reel and list.

Yah, same with the Eagles. How can a team lose 44-6 to a team that came in 2-5??? Oh, it was the Lions. And wow...the Killer Bees got hit by a frost. Bucs, Bengals, Browns allll fall in upsets. But we still have 4 one-loss teams in the NFC, if Dallas doesn't follow suit. (Haven't heard if Dak is playing.) Browns' offense got battered; it was pointed out that the Bengals got caught in the trap game. Baltimore last week, Cleveland next week. Jets is a quasi-bye, right? OOPS. AFC's middle is very mushy now...8 teams between 5-3 and 3-5. Still several of em I don't believe it, but the illusion of depth is there....

Utah's clearly not considered as Bronco country. And, heck, I'd bet the fans in Denver would rather watch a real game than this awful matchup. It's a real problem when the bottom third or so of the league is simply not competitive; we get soooo many toilet bowl games. The fact that the alternative is Bucs-Saints isn't Fox's fault per se. The 5 other games on Fox are *all* awful.

With 16 teams and the limited number of games, it's guaranteed that you'll have scheduling inconsistencies...not only in football, but in all sports. 12 is probably the largest that's mostly manageable. But 14 is just about as bad as 16, so I think they'll Make Do. It's possible that the NCAA will fracture, but it's also possible that's too messy to pull off. It isn't just football; that's the biggest driver but it's not the sole determinant. Kentucky might be a cash sink for footballl, but how much basketball money does it bring in? And the NCAA is about all sports, so this is a much more serious issue.

Q: What REALLY happened on January 6th? A: Because you bought the generic stuff, dear....

Masa....!!!!!! God am I jealious.... In case you don't know, yeah, Masa is considered one of the best restaurants on the planet. Michelin 3 stars...one of only 14 in the US, and 135 in the world.

My, my. Michigan Wolverines may well have to root for Ohio State in a few weeks when OSU meets Michigan State...MSU over Michigan, 37-33 in the first of the triumvirate of games among the 3, who all came into this week 4-0. Since they're all in the same division, only 1 can reach the conference championship game. Got to think Michigan's best shot is if they gain the bid in a 3-way tie scenario, which means they have to beat OSU and OSU has to beat MSU. If OSU drops both games, then Michigan is a 1-loss team that did not make its conference championship. It MAY play out that they can get into the playoffs, but that would need lots of things to come out right. And Iowa basically got throttled. Defense did as much as they could, but no ball movement on offense, and red zone turnovers meant it wasn't much of a contest for most of the game. So they're out.

But if you're drafted by, say, the Cowboys, you have no leverage. A draftee can, I believe, choose not to sign and re-enter the draft the next year, but that's extremely risky and very likely expensive. This may influence some free agents; we can hope so. But that's probably not enough pressure to be all that meaningful. What might have been better is to address...not the pro athletes...but the high school athletes. Because top recruits ARE free agents until they've signed, and even after for a while. It's possible but NOT guaranteed to back out of a letter of intent. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Texas universities' women's sports programs have a MUCH!!! harder time recruiting.

Shorter paragraph captures the most important point to me:

The churn never ends. It just buries itself into the ground and waits, like 17-year locusts.

He had a will; his wife is principal heir and sole trustee. It's just that an estate this large is insanely complicated, and the goal is to donate MOST of it. Easier said than done.