unclevlad

"Followed by." The baseline, lowest level of skill is to be able to USE the computer. Programming I think you're reading far too much into the fact that it's named "programming." Because there's far more to IT than just programming, but the name goes back HOW long? To when it really DID mean "programming?" It's not the case any more. It's the only IT-related skill. So, do you really want to fracture the skill into a dozen sub-parts like Survival or Navigation? 11- in Computer Programming says you can get a job. It's the lowest level at which you can...so it gets you an entry-level position. Entry-level programmers don't get big projects, they get small pieces of them. And they're expected to have questions at times...thus, they're supervised. Been there, done that...and I started as a programmer II. Excel or OpenOffice wasn't built by 12-. Try 16- project leads with 14- team leads, and a slew of 11- and 12- grunts. I'll buy 15- for the project lead. But I hate those vague descriptions. For me, 14- is Masters, 16- is doctorate, in the scientific/technical fields. Or drop them to 13- and 15- for the degree alone, then the extra point represents experience in the field. Now, OK...if you want to argue that Programming is intended to be the contested skill...hacking, computer/network security design...and use PS's for non-competitive situations...that makes more sense. That's also respecting the fact that the skill labels may be out of date in some cases. Or that the underlying concept has changed...Cryptography is one of those. Serious cryptography is an intersection of serious math and computer science. The skill mentions this, but also brings up all the 50's spy movie tropes. Which isn't wrong...but doesn't generally fit a current setting. Last thought. I started programming in high school in the 70s. My first job was programming in Fortran IV. My last job before retiring was doing Java development. We're talking about going from slightly above assembly-language programming, to full object-oriented programming. From doing everything the hard way, to focusing on the design, where the language tools streamlined everything greatly. ANY coding in the 70s was much more painstaking, compared to a Hello, World style today. So the basic notion of "what is programming?" isn't necessarily the same today as it was 50 years ago. So what Computer Programming even means, and what the various levels mean, is absolutely open to interpretation.

An 8- means you can use an office suite...word proc, spreadsheet. Don't read too much into the 'programming' part. The description is: So an 8- can fire up Windows, run Explorer, Excel, and Word. And yeah, that means being able to use Excel at least as a fancy calculator. I'd let it cover being able to write small programs as well...even a high school programming class covers some very basic coding. You basically can't get an office job without some computer familiarity, and 8- is the lowest the system defines. Also remember that the term's catchall...as is the term 'programming.' The layman's use includes writing 20-line batch files, or 1-page Excel files. I like to reference the skill roll table on 6E1 page 56. 11- is the benchmark...that's "qualified to get a job using the Skill." Given that it's a broad skill, maybe that's a network tech. Entry-level professional jobs don't work independently; they're supervised. Programmer I slots get specific tasks to implement. So 8- skill means you're nowhere near a coder...ergo, it's basic user knowledge. So, yeah, it's everyman for 2021.

BTW: the final tally...6 FCS schools beat FBS schools over the long weekend. OK, one of the FBS schools was Vandy, and another was UConn, where the coach just got dumped..."this is my last year" became "let let the door hit you on your way out." You don't give a departure tour when the team's gone 3-21 in the 2018-19 seasons, and 0-16 in conference play...and then lose to Holy Cross.

Opening para of an opinion piece in the NYT today, written by a Christian member of the faculty at Duke Divinity School: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/06/opinion/religious-exemptions-vaccine-mandates.html

It is week 1. One has to wonder how much on-the-field drills there've been...lots of teams didn't have spring drills, for example. And practice probably still isn't completely normal. But still... Ole Miss is taking Louisville behind the woodshed, pretty much; it's 23-0 with 3 minutes left in the first half. But that's not the big story, for me. There have been 4 targeting penalties already. 4 of em, 2 on each team. And each one was solid; they weren't borderline in any way. One of em was even a hit on a sliding QB by 2 defensive players, BOTH of which could've been ejected. Only 1 was. Hopefully this will be week 1, overly hyped, and something that the coaching staffs will address, but it's not a good reflection about the staffs in my book.

Are you building a 5E character or a 6E character? In 5E, pool size and control cost are coupled. I actually don't build VPPs in 5E that often because of this rigidity. (And with ECs they're less important.) In 6E, just put in fewer points for the pool size. Recognize it IS a Real Cost, and that's AFTER every possible form of adjustment has been applied. Thus it's irreducible.

The pool points are REAL points, ergo after all limitations or multiple instances. What you get to do is to put smaller points in. Let's say the VPP is Blasts and Flashes...always one I like. Control cost: let's go with 10d6 with 1/2 END, or 62 points. The base cost for this is 31 points, but you get to apply VPP-only modifiers...some will be advantages like 1/2 phase to switch, while you can apply a Limited Powers type of limitation (I use Custom Modifier, the output is cleaner). You can also apply any limitations that will ALWAYS be applied to the power, as a Common Modifier. That's the difference between those two. The VPP-only mods describe the VPP, so generally, you want "what power types can I use" and the flexibility and ease of modification adjustments. The Common Modifiers are modifiers that will be applied to ALL the powers. Both of these affect the control cost. The pool cost...can't say just yet. Its size is totally unrelated to the control cost. Say you plan to have Beam and Limited Range...because the ranges are pretty insane. That's a 1/2 limit on a 62 point power...so the pool cost would be 41. Alternately, you can make the pool cost larger, so you can define, say, an offense, a defense, and a movement. Odds are, tho, you'll lose at least some of your Limited Powers modifier.

The US Open announced it would have quiet rooms and counselors onsite for the players. The story I saw was on Fox News. The comments I saw...the first maybe 20 of em...were universally caveman level. None were as crude or threatening...I suspect even Fox wouldn't publish those, as they could be held liable for them...but completely clueless. Yeah, this has been building. We don't hear about it that often, but...from time to time stories do come out. I suspect it's worse in the individual sports, only in that all the blame or credit is clearly focused on the one person. Hopefully FB will boot a lot of these people...certainly the one actively threatening should be banned. But it's too easy to get back on right now. And do we really want proof of identity to sign onto a social media site? I had to send pics of my license to sign onto a poker site...but that involves money transactions. That's different. Unfortunately, tho, I think ultimately some form of ID verification will have to be enforced eventually. The tiny fraction of <BLEEEEEEPPPPPP>s will force it on the rest of us.

Well, that's good to know. FSU and Notre Dame. ND's punting. FSU rusher hits the kicker firmly; flag's thrown. The question before the house is...5 yards running into, or 15 for roughing? It was 4th and 9. So ESPN bounces it to John Perry, their college rules expert. He says...if it's the kick leg, it's 5 yards. If it's the plant leg, it's 15. That makes a lot of sense. It was the kicking leg, so the punter gets spun around...but that's diffusing the impact. When it's the plant leg, that's *seriously* dangerous; severe knee or leg injuries are alllllll too possible. I can't recall ever hearing that distinction before. EDIT: cool story in this game. Remember McKensie Milton from UCF? Led UCF to a couple excellent years in 2017 and 2018...finished quite respectably in the Heisman voting both years. HORRIFIC!!!!! injury....from the Sporting News: So the starting FSU QB had to come out for a play; his helmet got knocked off. Milton enters the game...his first play is a nice 18-20 yard completion. He stays in...nothing discussed as to why, but concussion check is certainly plausible when a player loses his helmet. Anyway, Milton quite briskly marches the Seminoles right down the field, bip, bang, boom, TOUCHDOWN. To bring FSU to within 3. Dr. Levy was at the game; he said he had to see if it happened, because, as far as anyone knew...no one had ever come back from this. VERY cool.

So who managed to be so bad that they got eliminated from the playoffs altogether before Labor Day? D'backs, Orioles, and Rangers. Pirates get honorable mention...they're not technically eliminated per se. They could tie San Diego AND Cincy...both have 73 wins now, while the Pirates have 89 losses. It does appear that all 4 teams will surpass 100 losses rather readily. NL playoffs...Giants, Dodgers, and Brewers are pretty much locks, with San Diego and Cincy most likely taking the other WC. Atlanta, Philly, and the Mets will fight to be the mediocrity from the East...just like the NFC East. It'd take 2 of them to have the 2nd team have a shot at the WC. AL playoffs...Tampa Bay and the White Sox are likely both in. Tampa Bay's magic number to clinch a berth is 14, with 26 games left. White Sox are 9 up for their division. The fun part is the AL is very tightly tiered at the top...after TB, the Red Sox, White Sox, Yankees, and Astros are separated by a game and a half; then, Oakland, Seattle, and Toronto all have 62 losses. (Red Sox have 59; they've got the 2nd WC right now.) Cleveland would need to pull off a Rockies-style miracle finish; I'm not sure the Angels could get in even if they pulled their own.

An interesting point there is the production aspect. The modern bovine cycle has a few stages; for milk production, calves are weaned away early (and a high percentage then slaughtered because they're literally eating the profits); a great deal of beef production brings the cattle up to body weight that balances the amount that can be produced, versus the time and expense. I don't know how much this held, tho, back in the medieval periods. The whole cycle for cows, horses, or oxen is also pretty slow...long gestation, long growth periods. I suspect that a lot of what we think as "medieval" is rather later. Cow products could well be pretty rare, save in areas where it was a specialty. Milk and cheese might not be super-rare...but might be as much from sheep or goats, altho I know goats produce very little milk per animal. Again...very much local. (This is even before talking about transportation and preservation issues.) That all argues that leather armor should be relatively uncommon.

I don't disagree with that, but I would suggest treating it as a Caution sign. It's very easy to abuse.

Any tennis major has a few stories of players making enormous moves, and leapfrogging significantly in the rankings. This year: --on the womens' side, we've got a pair of 18 year olds. Emma Raducanu of England has made the round of 16; she'll play later. She's gone from 150 in the world to 100. That's a huge jump; top 100 means automatic entry (not having to qualify) at all the Slams. LOSING in first round in the Slams is still a major payday; if you play in all 4, you make about $175K. Leylah Fernandez took out Osaka earlier...and *just* beat Kerber to reach the quarters. Another 18 year old, and I swear, she looks 16. She moves from 73 to inside the top 50...which is also big. Top 50 generally gets you an entry into ALL the WTA events, including the equivalent of the mens' Masters 1000 events which have smaller draws. But they pay quite nicely, and between the Grand Slams and those events, there's a LOT of cash and ranking points to continue up the ladder for a while, or at least remain near that level. --on the men's side, first, there's Carlos Alcaraz...another 18 year old kid. He's been moving up all summer, so less of a move at the Open. The movers...Jenson Brooksby of the US has made it into the round of 16. He's climbed from 99 to 80, so pretty safely into all the Slams, and should be able to get into some of the 500-rated events. Alcaraz is currently playing Peter Gojowczyk in the round of 16. He's 32, but most likely a long-term journeyman...140 in the world. He's climbed to 100. And the winner either way will jump QUTE a bit more. The last one is Botic van de Zandschulp...try saying that one 3 times fast. Another journeyman...25. Made a mild move this year, but mostly still not a full Tour-level player at 117. Beat Schartzmann (the 11 seed) to make the quarters...and he's jumped up to 62 in the live rankings.

"Suggest" is a little too strong a term for what I've seen. "Observe" is closer. "Suggest" feels like "let's do this"; "observe" is "hey, something like that could be used for OUR platform." And that's the core problem. This can balloon. Lessee... --gun control --drunk driving --using your cell phone while driving --prostitution/soliciting --we've had watering restrictions...not sure if we have them right now but they'll spread, so violations of the rules here. Ours was even/odd days of the week, not between 10 am and 6 pm. --Denver had fire bans...not even in a home fireplace...when an inversion layer formed in the winter, or was likely to form. Inversion layers trap smoke big time, so wood burning is a significant problem. --How about violations of mask mandates? If this tactic gains traction and is deemed legal, ya gotta figure that any of these measures might get passed in some places. Yes, it becomes a vigilante society.

I presume you mean Potato Chip...Kelly? One must also start listening for the grumbling about Orgeron. LSU fans are not known for their patience. And Dabo lost. That said...it probably won't hurt that much. Clemson's rep is too good; if they blow through the ACC as expected, they'll still make it into the playoffs.

Drinking bleach to kill a virus?

Why you little home wrecker you!!!!!!! <GASP>

That's not a university, it's an academy. A training school.

But if Summon is a Special Power, it can't be used in a framework. This isn't an issue, IMO, for Champions, but it is for Fantasy Hero. Different genre conventions and expectations. I'm still largely of the opinion that trying to make the system applicable to ANY genre is an exercise in futility, and this may be a good example. YMMV on that. For supers...yeah, your suggestions sound plausible. It might be necessary to look at Altered Duplicates, if the cost of Amicable's remaining levels changes, but this might be tricky. IMO some things, like the resurrection regen on the duplicates only, should count. If you're doing energy construct-type duplicates, then you really want to use automaton rules IMO, and this clearly involves major restructuring. But, of course, this becomes massively subjective...and may well be better bought with Summon.

Not *that* bad. SD State is a good team; have to be, to win the FCS title. Of course, CSU is one massive embarrassment, so any more is only appropriate... Or, you could be down here in southern New Mexico. The preseason Bottom 10 has UTEP at #10...and NMSU at #2. As they usually are. Of course, when you're 43-141 since 2005, you earn that. And this is amusing.... https://www.bestcolleges.com/features/worst-college-football-programs/ CSU is #18, to be sure. As a graduate of the state's real university, this is excellent. But UTEP is #8. And NMSU is #5. So down here...we know bad football.

Which is why I'm more worried about that aspect of the law than the anti-abortion provisions. Abortion is a major but *narrow* issue. The procedure Texas is trying to enact seems to be unlimited in scope. How about drunk driving? Dash-mounted cams are pretty cheap, and with a potential $10K bounty? You bet.

Only because I was curious how often it was happening, and went to the link I posted.

It's not about you getting hit...it's the Summoned critter. Granted, Duplication has the same problem. I think, tho, we anticipate popping the dupe out pre-engagement, while Summon (by a PC) tends to be post-engagement because they won't stick around in the same way. (And popping a dupe while engaged risks permanent CP loss, unless the dupes have resurrection.)

The gap between the best of FCS and the low end of FBS is pretty small. Article points out, this is the 4th time in 10 years that EWU's done this. And it won't be the second, it'd be the third. UC Davis beat Tulsa. It turns out, this is really not newsworthy...which surprises me a bunch, too. But: https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/fcs-wins-vs-fbs-teams-all-time-victories-upsets Forget 2020; the matchups barely happened and nothing was normal. But 2019's 3 cases were the aberration; there've generally been a LOT more every year, for the last decade. I'd guess that the strong favorite would be at least one of those games will see the FCS school winning.

I think it's doable that way but not given how 6E approaches powers. Summon is Instant, Costs END; Duplication is Persistent, no END. Summon is a Standard power; Duplication is a Special power. There are implications there that need resolution, particularly the Instant vs. Persistent angle.