unclevlad

The teachers apparently are a bit reticent to press charges, in the interest of trying to maintain reasonable relationships with the parents. I can understand that. This is probably going to get worse before it gets better. Story on CNN today about parents pulling kids out of, IIRC, Cobb County (Georgia) schools because of inadequate mask requirements, and therefore in their view, unsafe environments. Some were clear-cut...asthma cases, one of the kids was a leukemia survivor and thus immunocompromised. And the school district in Texas where the board added masks as part of the dress code. I can...somewhat...understand the assertion that not wearing a mask is a matter of personal choice...but it is reckless, in my mind, to put *kids* at risk. And shows, at least to me, callous selfishness. But the pattern's cast in carbonite now. There's no indication whatsoever that it'll change willingly. That's why we're seeing more and more governmental and corporate vaccination requirements. Carrot won't work? Fine, break out the stick. Surprise, surprise....Abbott appealed straight to the Texas Supreme Court to rule on local school districts passing their own mask mandates. The Court refused to intervene. This isn't a win for the districts; it did not affirm their right to make the mandates. Abbott is being forced to go through the normal appeals process, through lower courts. MUCH slower process. It may also push more districts to pass their own mandates.

I agree that it's mostly an infiltration/espionage edge, not a combat one...altho if power armor's a big deal, that would be an exception. But there's definitely cases where it could be huge, in the espionage context. It'd take something additional; even a moderate amount of teleport would be huge, or Desolid for tunneling purposes. So as a hero's power? Not so great. For a villain? Could be pretty darn sweet. Whether you build this as an Invis power with Always On, or as a phys complication, is gonna depend on whether the character understands how to take advantage of it, and has the means to do so. I'd actually lean to Invis to Sight Group, No Fringe, Inorganic optics only (value??), 0 END, Persistent, Always On. I wouldn't be overly pedantic on what the inorganic limitation is worth; this is 52 active points, and it's rather specialized. Even if you call it a -1 limitation, the power is costing 21 points.

The real face palm moment is that they were caught because they listed their kids as vaccinated...when they're 4 and 5. Vaccine's not being given to under 12. Makes me feel really bad for the kids.

The padding for hard armor is for shock absorption. Like I mentioned: a ballistic vest on its own stops penetration but doesn't dissipate the force very well. Chain mail would be poor at that as well, just considering the forces involved. Some forms of banded or plate would be better, but at the point of contact, especially with a heavy weapon, there's a LOT of force. The padding is there as a compression zone...and potentially to help ensure that metal bits don't get driven into your skin. Plate armor's ED would vary a LOT with the SFX. Electrical...unless you assert full grounding...terrible. Heat? The thermal mass should help some. BUT...repeated heat attacks would circumvent that, so...hmm. As has been said, real-world stuff is trickier than we generally care to deal with. Defining padded as Negation makes sense. It focuses on the stun-reduction aspect. Could even argue it's nonresistant damage negation if you wanted to.

So...remember last year, when Scott Frost and Nebraska were all up in arms about NCAA and conference restrictions? Reported today that the program's being investigated for breaking the pandemic protocols with improper practice and training sessions...and there's proof Frost was there. May be a blame game building; Frost is asserting "they were all approved by higher-ups"...but the higher-up would be the athletic director...who resigned in June. Obviously nothing's proven yet, but this is definitely quite pungent....and it's not rose attar. Then again, this is still the NCAA, so we'll be hip-deep in the 2024 presidential race before they do anything.

My first thought is, it's HARD to maintain a team as dominant as the USWNT. Whatever it was that led them to be that good, isn't easy to identify or nurture. So, yeah, as the Old Guard leaves, some slippage is not surprising. Pretty good chance they'll return to the pack. Still contend for medals, but they won't be the massive favorites they've been.

Figured this would probably happen. The governor issued a new order, reinstating indoor mask mandates save while eating/drinking, effective Friday. The order also requires vaccinations for those in medical close-contact situations, and for schools, requires vaccination or weekly testing. The governor's office's press release noted that some hospitals are already over capacity, and the numbers are expected to continue to climb. It came through on the neighborhood app...comments were completely turned off on it, leaving it as just the announcement, and a link to the story. Just as well. The anti-maskers would've been screaming, and the pro-maskers would've responded. We've had these before, and it got SERIOUSLY!!! ugly practically immediately, and stayed vicious until the thread was shut down.

There are few things in sports that are more frightening than this, IMO. The absolute worst I've ever seen...forget the pitcher, but a line shot took him square in the head. The ball flew across the third base line and, IIRC, one-hopped into the dugout or the stands. That's how fast it was moving....one hop from the mound to out of play. (Which was also good, in that the umps could call the play dead immediately.) The front of the face would act as a crumple zone, I suspect. He may need facial surgery and possible dental work, but that's better than a major concussion or direct brain injury. More info on the injury here: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/32044356/oakland-athletics-ace-chris-bassitt-suffered-cheek-fracture-line-drive-vision-unaffected Facial surgery to shift the bones back in place appears to be a given. Normal recovery is in the neighborhood of 6 weeks, typically...which is pretty much what's left of the season. <shudder> Even if you can't see anything gory per se, it's still hard to watch...

https://news.yahoo.com/texas-school-district-requiring-masks-133637712.html I likes it.... Nifty little sidestep.

Let's borrow the classic Spidey line. With great power comes great responsibility. This is near-infinite power...which means near-infinite responsibility. And therefore...burden. Consider someone with perfect healing...can't reverse aging per se, but can eliminate any disease or condition no matter how far advanced, and can fix any non-fatal damage, even brain damage from a stroke, or long term damage from blows (CTE and the like). This person will have *overwhelming* requests for services. The more he heals, the more healing gets requested. Note that I'm assuming the power's limited to a single person, or at most a few people, at a time; suddenly snapping your fingers and everyone within 100 miles is healed is far, far too much. I gotta put SOME sanity checks on things. So how long before the hero burns out under this much pressure? Is the gem powerful enough to clean up the oceans? Or reverse global warming, or the related concern of reversing the increasing acidification of the ocean? (That's what's damaging the coral reefs. The ocean is a carbon dioxide sink, but dissolved CO2 becomes carbonic acid, and that has numerous, nasty related impacts.) On the flip side...if the gem IS powerful enough to clean up the oceans, and the hero is constantly called upon to fix the messes everyone thinks they can make now, the whole resentment/burnout cycle comes back into play. How long can you spend cleaning up other peoples' messes when they refuse to stop making them? Mild spoiler if you haven't read Eddings' Sparhawk books, but at the end, Sparhawk realizes *he* has this much power. And asks that it be taken...because it can only lead to problems. Make a perfect world? By whose definition of perfect? A loved one asks you to do something...can you refuse, when that will make them unhappy...and by definition, make YOU unhappy? Can you hear the cry of the lone child amid the anguish of millions? So one tactic to attack Our Hero is to push any of these angles. You can't tempt him in the normal sense; you can try to co-opt or sideline him.

But also note one is usually equating the defense offered by padded armor...however the system defines it...and connects a cost to it. SOMETHING needs to be the lowest-cost, least-effective type of armor. And it's rare to get distinctions between blunt damage (wood sword), abrasion damage (Bushido's Asphalt Slide), edged damage, and piercing damage (point-first), or the crushing damage of a heavy mace. For a real-world example: a bullet-proof vest might mean your chest doesn't suddenly grow a huge hole...but a good-sized shotgun slug can still kill you from the concussive shock. So in many of these cases, the protective value is going to be based on an overall representation, particularly in *combat* situations. Abrasion protection doesn't help you all that much; the Hulk doesn't usually decide to skip you down the tarmac like a stone across the pond. (Altho that would be a very amusing Brick Trick.) Of course, you could also define the padded armor as normal Def, not resistant.

Nothing I said had anything to do with turning it on or off. The scenario I presented was: a) Mental Invis Man (MIM) is attempting to sneak through a yard with guards...and cameras...using his invisibility. b) The guards don't react; they don't see him. c) The cameras DO spot him; the guards monitoring those cameras call up the guards on the wall/in the yard, "hey who's that guy???" d) The guards in the yard go "what guy, there's no one there!" e) ALARMS!!!!!!!!! On the context: you actually aren't defining the context there. Is this Supers, is it spies, is it fantasy...? Is it combat-focused, social-focused? Stealthy or smashmouth? That's the questions related to context. The other player's powers...No need to sleep, doesn't work in water...I start by asking, what does this mean? If he goes underwater, suddenly he may need sleep. That makes little sense; as a GM I'm asking "why?" What is it about being underwater that makes him require sleep? That's *before* we start assessing what it's worth, if anything. Is it somehow expected that he would have to, some reasonable percentage of the time? That would also require that he *could* do so....so, it would demand he can breathe underwater. So that one's flat out. Now, no need to breathe...but must breathe underwater? First principles: why? Describe it to me why he can sit atop Everest contemplating the universe for as long as he likes, or ignore an atmosphere that has 20% carbon dioxide and 10% carbon monoxide...but it doesn't work underwater. If it can be justified...I'll admit I'm more of a stickler than many on things like this...how often will this be a factor? Is it really expected that the adventures will be underwater extensively? Last: the workaround for this is TRIVIAL. Air tanks or rebreathers. Which most likely MOST of the characters will require so they'll need to be avaialble, and more than likely won't cost the PCs anything. So, I don't readily see a path to allowing that limitation at all, either.

More or less my thought; technically they're Talents, and neither one is connected to any sense group, but by and large, they are Senses so quite possibly, several things were included by default. That said, at least Telescopic on Combat Sense is a prima facie contradiction, and the presence of Concealed creates an impression that it's an active sense. And I'd simply rather pull things if they have no place. If I can't answer "what does this mean" and can't construct an example of when it could arise in play, then it's better to remove it, IMO. I'm talking for me, or anyone else who wants to do this...it's not hard to delete something from the templates. I am NOT suggesting that Dan make the change in the HD code itself, unless he and the rules mavens agree. Their standard is clearly and properly harsher than mine.

HD allows a number of adders onto Combat Sense, and some of em....don't make a lot of sense to me. Figured I'd ask here what everyone else thinks. Concealed: applies to an active sense. The Talent doesn't indicate, but it feels like it's a passive one. Microscopic: doesn't seem to apply at all...or at least, feels like it'd almost never apply. Rapid: same Telescopic: can't be applied, at least not without GM approval. It only works at HTH combat distance, so range mods don't apply. Transmit: I'm not even sure how this would apply. Danger Sense also has Concealed, Microscopic, and Telescopic, and they don't make much sense to me either. Rapid and Telescopic do, in this context, but not the others. Thoughts?

It comes into play heavily if you take the position that...if you can be photographed, you show up on cameras generally. So it wouldn't let you sneak in; rather the opposite, in fact. In some cases you become much MORE noticeable...eyeballs say nothing, camera says something??? OHHHHhhh something's up!!! This is a pretty common interpretation of invisibility as a *mental* power, rather than a physical one. What's it worth? Depends, unfortunately, on the campaign and even the character. In a combat-heavy campaign it might not be worth much. If stealth and/or infiltration are a big part, it's significant.

Surprise, surprise, surprise.... The Diamondbacks no longer have the worst record. They're 39-81. The Orioles have mailed it in for the year, it looks like...they're currently on a 13 game losing streak. As a result, they're 38-80...3 percentage points worse. Arizona's still going to be the first team eliminated from division contention...magic number there is 4...but that's because the Giants are smoking hot. However...the Orioles are closer to being completely eliminated from the playoffs by a couple games. Of course, the greatest tragedy of the season is the Yankees....<sigh>

Hey, he did start, and for a playoff team...technically, at least. And was a mid-first round pick...even if it was one of the more ridiculous reaches ever. So, ok, it wasn't a very loud hurrah, but he had one. That this happened comes, I suspect, to no one's surprise. And the fact that it was SO early...today was the cut to 80, so he wasn't anywhere close to a roster spot...should be the sign that says, yeah, he's got no chance. If he had any sense...and I think he does, he's never seemed the type to flush his money down the toilet like others do...he's set regardless. Rookie contract had almost $9M guaranteed. And an ESPN/SEC Network broadcasting gig very likely pays at least middle 6 digits. PLUS he had quite good endorsement income. No, he shouldn't have any financial concerns.

Look up the weight limits for Pop Warner football. For Pee Wee, the ages are 9-11, but the weight limit is 135. And that's not gonna necessarily be a hefty kid these days. JV is 10-12, with a max weight of 160. And my other point of reference is Little League, as the LLWS will be starting soon. Many of those kids are amazingly athletic, agile, and FAST. And, come to think...in 8th grade we only had flag football, but we had some REALLY fast guys too. That's a period where physical development is covering a very wide range. One thing this tells me: high hits and/or leading with the helmet have been a source of serious consternation at the major college and pro levels. I get the issue that sometimes it seemingly can't be helped...at the pro levels. But drop down to high school and earlier, and these numbers insist that, at the very least, the rules have to be rigorously enforced by the refs, AND supported by the coaches. You can't stop parents from whining, but the coaches have to be 100% on board.

Watching Sox-Yanks game one of the doubleheader today. Bottom of the 5th starts with the Sox up 3-2. Ends with the Yanks up 5-3. The half inning took a half hour to play out. There were 2 balls put into play. 2. 4 walks, 3 strikeouts. One bloop single, one clean single. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

I agree this is important; the CDC data and risk assessments are a big deal. But, it's not clear to me that this will have notable impact. It feels like the momentum behind the movement to restrict is gone, and I don't see this as enough to jumpstart it on its own.

And so it begins.... https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/16/us/lake-mead-colorado-river-water-shortage/index.html

Sometimes I equate the marketing types who trot stuff like this out, with Nigerian Bank scam emails. Their success rate doesn't have to be high, and there are people foolish enough to fall for it..... But hey, there are Jelly Belly flavors out there that are as bad. That also reminds me...a couple weeks ago, pretty much 1st of August...the main Albertsons I use for a majority of my shopping, had cleared out their summer seasonals stuff. In its place...the first cases of clearly-marked Halloween candy. <sigh> Next trip is tomorrow; it'll likely be fully stocked.

It's preseason. Worse, it's week 1 preseason. It's nothing.

Is it really going to be used enough to bother adding it? The system has too many options as it is.

He's leaving the door open, but... Federer is going to need another round of surgery on his right knee. Recovery time is listed only as "many months." MAYBE he can make it back onto the court, but it feels unlikely he can return to relevance.