unclevlad

Thought I saw different, but it's not a big deal. Let's say 50%. Statista says an average of 17 million light vehicles were sold a year between 2015-2018. OK. A lot of these may be fleet vehicles. Let's say that 20% of them are EVs for personal/household use. That's still around 10 million of em....it won't be 3 million suddenly in 2030 alone. So the infrastructure development has to take place VERY quickly. I figure *no one* expects to reach those numbers. They're put out for motivational and political reasons; the aim is to *push* auto makers and buyers, and you don't do that with easily achievable goals. Pariah brings up 2 points. A big aspect is affordability, to be sure. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a big push for rebates and/or tax breaks. The other aspect is more subtle. The early adoptees will slant to those who can make the switch easiest. But that means they' re probably far below average annual mileage...so the emissions reductions won't be all that great. So if the goal is to replace 50% of miles driven, in new cards, by EVs...THAT seems far harder than 50% of new car sales.

WELL!!!!! The Diamondbacks get their highlight for the season, and BOY is it a good one!!! Tyler Gilbert. Who? Yeah. Pitcher, been bounced around among a few clubs. 3rd major league appearance. 1st major league *start*. NO-HITTER. First EVER by the D'backs at home, too. VERY good one; 3 walks to the same hitter, but 2 of em got erased apparently...he faced a total of 28 batters. Just over 100 pitches. 2 strikeouts looking in the 9th. That's pretty awesome. Always cool that his whole family is there too. EDIT: you'd never expect expect that a no-hitter in a pitcher's first start would be more than rare. It isn't. Twice in the 1890's...different era altogether. Once in 1953. And now tonight. Flip side...the Padres are 6-8 since the trade deadline...which doesn't sound too bad, but it's been 3 games against Miami (17 under), 3 against the Rockies, and 6 against the D'Backs. You have to beat the bad teams; they've gone 5-7 in those games, when 8-4 would be what ya figure they needed to do.

I personally think DeSantis' and Abbott's bans are unjustified, and a serious abuse of power. It will be interesting to see how these play out, from a strictly legal and political perspective. From a human one...well, the orders are disasters in the making, and I feel awful for any kids or family that suffers from it.

Yeah, the narrative presented is at least plausible. We'll never know the real motives. I don't necessarily buy that production and distribution's influence will lead to a better overall product/more freedom for creators. It's just as likely that they'll emphasize the quick buck on the merchandise tie-ins. One thing I *loathe* is...oh, we reorganized so all those back-end deals have to be renegociated. THAT strikes me as utter BS. That said, I can also entirely believe that this started out narrow, but everyone and his cousin is jumping in to take sides for *their own* agendas...which may well include ousting Chapek. Short term, we know who'll pay for all of this...us.

Anaheim is one of the long green chiles. Dunno what you have available, but down here the long greens vary from quite mild to moderate. That might raise the baseline a bit. Alternately, drop the long green and make it 4 jalapenos.

This is the refrain I'm hearing more and more. If not a requirement, then a significant fee. Students at Indiana Uiversity never even got a Supreme Court hearing on their case; Justice Barrett issued a solo "no, we're not reviewing this" when the appeal was filed. Think it was NYT where I read it...their comment was, this is basically a rebuke to the plaintiff's lawyers, that their case has no merit.

I'm sure there were. The problem is the timeline. The goal, that will never be reached, is all-electric car sales by 2030. And some of the issues, like charging at an apartment, have no analogous case with gas. The issue is simply time. Filling your gas tank takes a few minutes; a full charge on the EV takes MUCH longer. For several years, I had, IIRC, about a 30-35 mile drive each way from my apartment to work. Charging at the apartment would've been VERY problematic at best; at the work site, it wouldn't exist, and probably wouldn't be installed.

Yes, the other major issue was Disney refusing to pay royalties to authors. Worse still, IMO, was the attempted reasoning: they bought the properties, not the obligations. Blatant rip-off there, far clearer than the SJ case, and potentially with far, far greater reach. Took an author with clout to call them to task, but Alan Dean Foster wasn't the only one. Search on something like "alan dean foster disney lawsuit" for details.

Probably true, but don't limit it to them necessarily. The cable companies followed the practices laid down by Ma Bell for a long time...and, by and large, have phased out a number of them similarly. (Like requiring the customer to use only their approved equipment.) The marketing is where I have issues. Lack of transparency, mostly. With Sinclair...I think they abuse their position. I was watching the Field of Dreams game last night...interesting if borderline moralistic-preaching IMO. Sinclair owns the El Paso Fox station, so they spammed their "help! help! I'm being oppressed" message *many* times...quite often as part of the bottom-line crawl, maybe some picture-in-picture ads, and some outright ads. And that hits everyone watching...be it Dish, OTA, cable, or IPTV that's carrying the game broadcast. And don't ignore the viewing public's role in all of this. I have to believe a HUGE portion of the charges we pay to the providers, goes directly or indirectly to paying the insane broadcast fees for sports. Sure, ad charges for the Super Bowl, college football playoffs, or Final Four are huge...but a lot less for the noon game yesterday, Nats-Mets, that was a makeup game anyway. So the stations want to squeeze the providers because what they charge will never be revealed...its trade secrets. I expect it's similar to luxury box revenue for the teams. By contrast, the bills we're stuck with are...rather public. When the price goes up, we yell at the person sending us the bill...not the supplier who just tripled their price.

The Tim Drake discussion just proves to me that the old aphorism "you can't please all the people all the time" has to be re-written as You can't please all the people at ANY time. Especially when making any form of change. I get tired of major canonical shifts, but I agree...this doesn't feel like one at all.

Yah, using 'retaliation' is a bit disingenuous. Actions have consequences; this was a readily foreseeable consequence. This is Disney's leverage...or threat, depending on which side of the corporate/contractor dispute you tend to lean. The generally pro-labor, anti-corp stance would be that this shows how much courage (or perhaps anger) SJ has, because this move had to be expected. Flip side, you can impute that Disney used the threat to force their contractors to stay in line. I figure this is part of putting the entire mess onto the back burner; a settlement will get reached, and then the whole thing can be shoved into a dark corner and forgotten.

And Sinclair isn't fighting with a cable company; the dispute is with Dish Network. Satellite.

It is always more affecting when an event like that happens somewhere you know/have been. What's sick is...for me, it's happened 3 times. Yes, well...hopped on for something altogether different. Carriage rights are the rights to rebroadcast a station's product, usually TV, by another provider, usually satellite or cable providers. Carriage disputes are nothing new. They've been going on for at least a decade, off the top of my head. The public never knows whether it's greedy SOB local stations or penny-pinching, profiteering cable operators. My bias is to think it's the local stations. Or, in this case, the station owners. Sinclair Broadcasting Group owns over 180 US TV stations, with a mix of all the big networks. They and DISH are....squabbling. Sinclair asserts DISH doesn't want to pay fair market; DISH asserts Sinclair is trying to gouge. As I say, my thought is it's Sinclair, if only because of the ridiculously OBSCENE payments being made for sports broadcasting rights, and I suspect, look for every way to cover this that they can. Be that as it may. No new deal is expected in time; the current contract expires in a couple days. So 112 local stations will get dropped. I think this is one of the larger such conflicts; it feels generally that these are getting more and more severe. The entire home-media market looks to be splintering rather quickly, as these things go.

You need to raise the status of that warning at the top. I don't know how much to blame QAnon, tho. The man's lawyer will have a built-in insanity plea that feels like it'll be hard to budge...not that he's likely to get out of whatever facility he's put into. My totally non-professional take is, he had to be a garage filled with oil-soaked rags and cans of gas. But QAnon loves tossing lit matches around like confetti at a parade. Their culpability is based on the reckless disregard for consequences. The mother's got to be totally crushed, too. Her whole life has been burned to the ground, especially if the surf shop business was the financial cornerstone, because it's wrecked too.

Yeah, the Texans have had the entire situation blow up in their face. They're in limbo. Their only option is to hope his value rebounds, but I don't know if anyone will cough up three #1 picks.

Background skills are 1 point per level, tho…not 2. And Scholar itself is 3, so the 4th KS would be 2. The first 3 are still 3. And you sank 13 points into INT.

Something of a side thought. What do people think of a form of skill level that gives +1 to all background skills of a given type, defined by the associated skill enhancers? If it sounds plausible, then...cost. 2 per level? 3?

In a case like that, I'd encumber the perk. 4 point wealth perk, but all of a sudden you've got a large purchase? While you pay the loan, your wealth perk is lower...because that loan payment is how you're choosing to spend that chunk of your discretionary income. This might be a pain to do; it might be less than a point, so there might be some tracking. But it's not that hard. One thing to remember: the character has to contend with repaying the principal...and the interest. For example, say you borrow $1M, at 10% per year interest, and make $200,000 a year in payments: So you pay it off after about 7 years and 3 months or so. So even with a 5 point wealth perk...you're putting stress on it. I'd call it a 3 point perk for the entire 7 years. 6+ points, it wouldn't count as a whole point, but it'd be a footnote.

Having lines of credit totaling $100K is easier said than done unless you also have fairly significant net worth and/or income. Also, an 800 credit rating isn't that big a deal. If you suddenly slap unusual sums onto your credit card...just because you have a good credit rating at the time, doesn't mean you can pay them off. That requires income...or cash on hand. (Oh, and suddenly slapping a few thousand onto one of those lines, DOES lower your credit score.) Paying them off 'eventually'...isn't good enough to maintain an 800+. Because that says you're largely at your limit. Especially on plastic; the interest rates are bad to obscene. Hero B probably does have a small complication, yes. Hero C...a 10 point wealth perk is $5M a year...no strings attached. If there are reversals, then slam the size of the perk. If there's major debts...slam the perk first. $100K income is middle class...and not even upper middle. The income levels go back to at least 5E; that was 2002. They weren't changed. Not only are there 20 years' worth of inflation, but there've been concept shifts...the minimum wage is rarely viewed as a living wage. https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/family-finance/articles/where-do-i-fall-in-the-american-economic-class-system And note that if you've got even 1 dependent, $100K is just doing OK. You're not flush. I agree that the Money perk represents income; credit isn't a factor. Credit's what you use when you don't want to sacrifice liquidity. If you're playing in 2021, too...those levels of wealth need interpretation. They're OLD. I read the perks, not as income, but discretionary income. Your income is everything, but it has to pay for housing (mortgage or rent), taxes, utilities, daily transportation, food, insurance, and everyday expenses. What's left is your discretionary income. For someone single, paying normal taxes, and in a moderately priced area, discretionary income of $100K probably means gross income of $300-400K in most cases...remember that taxes on it will take close to half. A house tops $400K *fast*...so property taxes might be another $5k. Car and property insurance? My car insurance...with a good record and a LOW value car...is $1000 a year. House insurance isn't bad but my house is quite basic. Utilities...internet, cable, phone, cell phone? $200-400 a month, and I'm talking 1 line. Food is variable, but we're not talking ramen and mac'n'cheese. Quality food costs. Good clothing costs; we're not talking about haunting Marshall's for bargains, or Wal Mart for ANYTHING...we've got a wealth perk. Start breaking this all down, and the total is higher than you think. Plus, the cost of living in your area of residence makes a major difference...start looking at what you can get for, say, $4000 to $5000 a month in NYC or San Francisco. It's WAY less than you would think. Plus, major cities often have city taxes...on top of state and federal. Don't want to worry about stuff like this at all. While, OK, $100K discretionary doesn't go as far in NYC as elsewhere, it's still a lot closer to location-neutral. And it gives you a better handle as player or GM. "Hey, I wanna buy a new, nice truck." OK...$50K. Can do that on a 1 point wealth perk, but it'll do a number on your liquidity for a while. Can do it with a car loan for only mild impact, but for several years. Cool. It's reasonably understandable now. Might take a little research...what does a high end dinner run per person? Starts at probably $100, without any booze tab; upper level? The tasting menu at Masa is $800 a person. Before tax or tip. So there's still a lot of spitballing, but saying it represents discretionary income simplifies things and lets you get a decent handle.

Stupid Far Easterners always wanting to be ahead of their time.......

Can't agree. Big push for the streaming service? Couldn't disagree. But right now, streaming is the opportunity, not the theaters, until proven otherwise. Also as evidence, here are the box office numbers: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2122089985/ But, as has been pointed out, I really don't think Black Widow is representative, given how out of place the movie is after Infinity War. The timing was also unfortunate as the delta wave started rolling in. This had to scare some people out of theaters, and the alarm was growing significant by the second mid-week (the 20th).

The Senate passed the infrastructure bill. The vote was 69-30...including Mitch McConnell. This, despite His Orangeness' invective and dire threats of retaliation. One can hope this is a sign.

Oh my. Andrew Cuomo has announced his resignation amid the sexual harassment scandal, effective 2 weeks hence. Wouldn't stand close to him. This is a Wile E Coyote fall; the giant rock can't be far away....

Rafa Nadal just pulled out of the Canada tournament due to foot issues. His first match was to be tomorrow; the Masters 1000 events are almost all 48 or 56 player fields, with draws to the appropriate seeds. Some of it is because they're match-dense; this one is scheduled for 9 total days. The slams have 1 more round but they're 14 days, with days off between each round that don't exist in the 1000s. Djokovic and Federer have both passed on Cincinnati already. Federer's issue is his knee; that's ongoing now. Djokovic needed a break after Paris, Wimbledon, and Tokyo. Cincy is the last major event before the US Open; there's a 250 in North Carolina, but for anyone having trouble with lingering injuries, the tradeoff between getting matches in, and the wear and tear, is a real problem. It isn't likely any of them will play there, but that also means none will be particularly match-sharp...especially Fed and Nadal.

And probably East Coast before West Coast. The East Coast has much better-developed mass transit to go with the more tightly concentrated population, and that should allow a smoother transition. The West Coast has the longer trips because the cities are far more spread out. The interior parts will build out from the major cities...Dallas, Denver, Chicago, St. Louis, Phoenix...and from the smaller cities but where corridors can exist, like ABQ-Santa Fe. Slowest rollouts would likely be the central and northern Plains, and much of the mountain West. it seems rather likely that conversion patterns will look a lot like 4G and 5G coverage maps.