unclevlad

So, the Dodgers just pulled all of Trevor Bauer's merch from their team store, and cancelled a Bauer bobblehead promo set for mid August. Sounds like they don't expect to have him back, altho it could just be CYA. They caught considerable flak for doing nothing until MLB acted...and MLB was slow, to make things worse. I tend to think the Dodgers are actually less to blame, as the leagues generally have co-opted any disciplinary matters that aren't team-internal.

I agree, that should be possible. That said, it's not a particularly large group. The newest story I can find quickly said that a little over half of the 1.4 million members had received at least their first shot...and that was the latter part of May.

You're trying to hedge, and say, oh, well, I have a legit reason...when most of the time it's NOT the case. I agree with the argument generally. I'd need a very specific reason to justify allowing the DI with no STR increase, as an attack. It darn sure sounds like its intent is to kill movment, or execute an odd form of Entangle by forcing the character to sink into the ground, or or somethng along those lines. Hero's core flaw is its big asset: flexibility. Just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you SHOULD. So take Steve's comment there as another form of STOP SIGN on UAA, quite apart from the broader one exemplified by XDM UAA. Also, from a rules perspective, DI UAA that does NOT grant the normal STR...No STR Increase is absolutely NOT!!! a limitation worth anything when it's UAA. What value is there to make your opponent more powerful? None. Ergo, NOT doing so can never be conisdered a limitation. If anything, it'd be an *advantage*. It's UAA; the sense of what side benefits become advantageous or limiting, get FLIPPED.

The rub is, that's short-circuiting the full approval process a GREAT deal, and in doing so, would that compromise approvals generally? Would that open the door for the ant-vaxer crowd to expand into a "see? you can't trust FDA approval for anything!!"...or is that a straw man cuz they do that anyway. That can't be ignored. To be sure, a pretty darn common complaint is that the approval process is MUCH too slow, and...let's face it, the major Covid vaccines have effectively been undergoing clinical trials for months now; they've probably been the largest such trials in history. Nice little article here: https://www.contagionlive.com/view/emergency-use-authorization-vs-full-approval-what-are-the-implications-

Stunning. Hubert Hurkacz is a good, young Polish tennis player; 14th seeded at Wimbledon. Took out Medvedev, which endears me to him greatly (Medvedev is a little jerk, IMO). He just took out Roger Federer in the quarters. In straight sets. 6-0 in the third. First time Fed has EVER been bageled at Wimbledon. It's not just the fact that he won, but the score line is mind-boggling. Yeah, I think it's pretty much proven: Father Time remains undefeated. It's also Hurkacz' breakout year, big time; first time to reach the semis at a major, first Masters 1000 title. His ranking rose to 11, and could obviously go higher. Those 2 events also have earned him close to $1M. Pretty good for 24.... EDIT: In other tennis news, Djokovic also reached the semis. No news there. In doing so, he became the first tennis player to surpass $150M in prize money.

Nugget from MLB.com: Albert Pujols just reached 6000 career total bases. He is only the 4th ever. The other 3...Aaron, Musial, and Mays. Good company, I'd say... For reference, Miguel Cabrera is #2 among active players; he's just over 5000. His productivity now, tho, is low. Next is Robinson Cano, at a bit over 4200. Mike Trout, in his 11th season, has ~ 2700. Everyone above him except for Freddy Freeman is 33+; Trout is 29. Freeman is 31, but hasn't hit 2800 in 12 seasons. Going the other way, Ruth had about 5800. Of course, Aaron finished with over 6800...700 ahead of Musial. THAT may be an unbreakable record, given the current state of pitching and hitting.

And a HECK of a lot better. (I have a silicon bowl and lid to do it in the microwave. With seasoned olive oil...I started using the oil from my low-temp baked veggies, which retain the seasoning added on the veggies. We're only talking 275 oven; there's no oil breakdown that low. And the oil has absorbed the flavors (garilc, onion, pepper, herbs). Or alternately, throw in onion and/or garlic powder with fresh oil, and just make sure to toss it round a bit. Get the seasoning into the oil. And good popcorn. Last order was a sampler pack of 10 different bags of Amish Country popcorn; also ordered a bunch from Hoosier Hill farms. We're talking about $3/pound, and I do ~ 50-55 grams at a time. More than that doesn't work; either you'll have too many old maids, or you'll risk burning the kernels. So we're talking 35 cents for the kernels...if I'm using the flavored oil from dinner, that's effectively free.

And those women should send Christmas cards to that lawyer forever. I wouldn't say "staked their survival" so much, just their annual dividend.

Curious... I'd pointed out that this is the first time in the Finals for either time in several decades... But ESPN Bottom Line pointed out that this is the first Finals matchup where neither team has a player with a title, since IIRC 1977.

"Market forces" can frequently take a very, very long time to adjust a market, and are themselves subject to manipulation. 5 of us agree to sell a mediocre product at an inflated price. Our cost is pretty consistently $10 per unit; we sell for $30. You come by; you can make the same quality for $8, and you'll charge $16. We agree to drop the price to $15, in a rolling manner while passing subsidies back and forth between us so our overall profit doesn't get particularly hurt...until you're so financially crippled that we buy you out. Microsoft cut sweetheart deals to have Windows pre-installed; that killed OS/2, which was its only potential rival in the business market. They leveraged that to kickstart Office. Between them, they *dominated* their markets. In terms of full-function desktop machines, they still have no competition. No, neither Android nor Chrome counts, in my book, as a full-function desktop OS. (Neither does IOS.) They've made it, IMO, functionally impossible for a true competitor to arise. An alternative, yes...macOS, desktop Linux...but they put you into completely different software universes. The OS isn't critical; the apps are. And Windows' apps library is the elephant to Linux' or Mac's gerbil. IBM had a similar position into the 80's...and they got gutted. So you can say it's possible this could happen to Microsoft. But IBM didn't lose its market share; it lost its market. The PC created a paradigm shift, and thereby a complete redefinition, of the market space. Phones, tablets, and small notebooks created a *partial* shift and redefinition, but their human-interface limitations are such that they can't function as complete replacements. The redefinition allowed Android and iOS; the notion that many people don't *need* a full-function desktop, but something more like a tablet...made Chromebook practical. In other industries, utilities being a major example, the fundamental barrier is the initial infrastructure investment. If more than one company tries to work its way into an entire, larger market (say the greater El Paso area) then each is having to amortize their infrastructure costs over only a fraction of the populace...which means probably both higher prices to consumers and slower rollout. Whether it's one or several companies...as the rollout does happen, the window for another company narrows. Their chance to create an alternative...they'd have to build yet another backbone structure, and their potential customer base has been reduced...shrinks rapidly. Not quite sure what you mean by purity laws; there's a few things I think that could mean. But...labeling laws didn't exist. Why were they developed? --Societal needs were recognized...allergen information, for example. --Correct abuses. "Low sodium!!"...the regular version has 400 mg, the "low sodium" has 350. Hardly noticeable. The potential consumer is swayed by the unjustified qualifier. If there is no labeling requirement, the smart consumer can't tell anything...and it's utopian to assert that with optional labeling, that only a very small minority *won't* be swayed by just the misdescriptive label. --Eliminate ambiguity. What does it mean to label something "organic"? Organic, non-GMO...pesticides go back millenia, but the recognition of their hazards came about in the 50's and 60's. GMOs date back only to 1973; selective breeding is something completely different. So what exactly is necessary to be considered organic? More generally...new problems will always be recognized. Some of them can be managed within the existing framework; others disrupt it. Precedents get built up under a set of social and technological conditions; they fly apart at times similarly. BTW: the diamond cartel controls the market by colluding to not pay anything CLOSE to wholesale for pre-worn stones, thereby ensuring the demand for new stones. The "blood diamonds" marketing is something completely separate.

The argument you're making is the potential problem with TK, but not with STR. Once the TK is, oh, 10 higher than the character's normal STR, his "weightlessness" is overwhelmingly defined by however much TK he buys, simply because whatever he can lift with STR is 1/4 of what his TK limit is. And obviously, the larger the gap, the more this is the case. Now, to be sure, if you're not investing in STR, it's not a problem. Reducing the mass by 1/8 is the same as increasing *base* STR...not TK...by 15, because it increases your lift by a factor of 8. 3 levels of shrinking divides by 512, or for convenience, 500...so 13 tons --> 26 kilos. Lifting 13 tons means a 46 STR; 26 kilos, it depends on whether you use the basic lifting table or the expanded one, that allows STR below 0. But even on the basic STR chart, it's a 3. And trying to lift the destroyer...that's listed as STR 90, so you'd need at least 5 levels of shrinking, probably, unless you bought significant STR. There's no real difference in effect, as long as you recognize the equivalence...and recognize just how much you're getting for each level. To be sure...I was thinking it might be way too cheap, but...the +STR, only to lift, gets a fairly nice-sized limitation so it might be decently cheap.

Mmmm...I'd have to think about it. But if you're going that way, then why call it TK? Why not simply call it STR? What's gained? It's more expensive, it's a lot harder to stack.

CNN is reporting that the Arizona Republic has published an article detailing that Trump et al pressured Maricopa County election officials, a la his Georgia actions. CNN played 3 calls to election officials, 2 from the Court Jester and one from Kelli Ward, the Trump sycophant who is the chairman of the Arizona Republican Party. They're pretty bad. https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/02/politics/donald-trump-rudy-giuliani-calls-maricopa-county-election-supervisors/index.html Can't link to the original article; it's for Arizona Republic subscribers only.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

It's an ideal day to have a party to distract you from the cretins who set off those *@#$ salutes (the BOOM! fireworks with no visuals) at any hour they please. Illegally down here, but it doesn't stop them; it doesn't even slow them down.

To borrow from the X Files, the truth is out there. Fake ratings *abound*. Businesses have been destroyed by them at times. We're talking severe, deliberately false accusations. Arguably, they were SO ridiculous that anyone with an ounce of sense should question the legitimacy. But...hey, many people won't. And the Internet has an obscenely long memory; these reports promulgate for a very long time. Or, the flip side...tons of glowing reviews are equally fake. They're promotions masquerading as reviews. That's EXTREMELY common. In between, there's a separate, basic aspect: one needs to consider the reviewer, if possible. Now, ok, one can learn to read reviews and ratings, but it IS a skill, and not everyone will have it. One can also learn to read scam email, and most people, I think, can do that now. BUT, it's by no means everyone, and the penalty for falling for these scams can be brutal. AND, we *all* pay the price, because security measures have to be put in place. Objectivism would be fine in a utopia. Know of any we can travel to? PHYSICALLY, you goof, mot in our imaginations!!!

Of course it is. I read Atlas Shrugged back in high school. Tail end of it, after things totally fall apart and one of the characters is writing the new Constitution based on Rand's Objectivist notions, one of the core lines is "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of production and trade." Does this mean that my store's scales can read 10% heavy? Or I can engage in collusion and price fixing? Can I take apart a company's hot new product and duplicate the design? There are few, if any, real-world, human interactions and behaviors where a blanket "anything goes" policy can work.

Telekinesis is another option. It may well be better; it's more natural for relatively large objects like a car or small plane. No need to sweat "oh, I really should have AoE on my STR to lift this" if you're trying to be semi-realistic. It would allow lifting multiple objects implicitly, too. As for limitations, well, you can readily take Affects Whole Object; that follows the power description. Limited Range...certainly. I always view gravity control as a *relatively* short-range power, and standard range is gonna be huge. You're already at -1/2. Saying it only counters the weight...is that really -1? What is actually lost by this? It doesn't change the lift. It does say you can't use it to Strike, but depending on how much you're buying, is that justification for a -1? From what OP is saying, you *can* still use it to 'grab' and lift someone, altho...how hard is it to break out? You're being held off the ground, but there isn't really anything for you to target. (Drew Hayes did this with his telekinetic types. They could negate a strong man because there was no leverage for him. This matches what OP is after, IMO. Whether it's balanced...or can be expressed in a reasonable manner? Have to think about that some more.....

I hate Transform, I'll say that outright, for this kind of thing. You're not changing the target at all, so it makes no real sense to me. The straightforward approach is simply +X STR, only to lift; the SFX is the gravity cancellation. BTW: cancelling the gravity does NOT!!!! cancel the mass. You can lift, yes...but not throw, for example. Momentum = mass * velocity. Just because you can puck up a 10 ton object, and if you throw it, it'll continue to move forward...when it hits something it's with all the momentum you were able to impart. So, increassed KB should NOT apply, IMO. And if you have to completely re-write the conditions, then the power doesn't form a very good basis. WIth the Transform, it's wrong because its success or failure is based on something that doesn't per se apply. Mass != BODY per se. By my lights: keep it simple. STR, only to lift. Don't need to get into the complexities of UAA. Don't need to worry about the properties of the target, because you're the target. The object's mass and size matter...nice and simple. steriaca: I agree that Alter Density/alternate Desolid per APG has major issues, because its end-game is Desolid. That doesn't represent a physical density reduction to me. My basis has been to give it a bonus to Contortionist, so it's still valuable for escaping an Entangle or passing through narrow openings, and some defense bonus. The rest can be Linked...Damage Negation or Damage Reduction, for example. I don't add increased KB; my notion is plastic deformation.

Yes, IMO it's a poor design decision...but in part, it's also showing that your "can only recharge at the base" is an issue. Even if all it has is a level of secondary charging, it would help. The scenarios you're mentioning feel principally like a writer's contrivance...and in part like systemic artifacts. As has been noted, the power requirements for a force field, HTH energy weapon, or energy blast are multiple orders of magnitude higher than for the comms, most sensors, or life support. And remember: your construction only needs to retain *1* END in the Reserve. So if that force field is costing END, it isn't gonna last anyway. If comms shuts down...so presumably does tracking and location. So retrieving the soldier...and the suit...becomes much more difficult. If the life support shuts down, it can't be brought back up, so the soldier's life expectancy might be measured in minutes (if it's a sealed suit). Mmmm...there's a limitation in APG that I like for "real world" force shield-like defenses. Damage-Based END Cost, p. 62 of APG I. Costs END to activate, but not maintain...which is something you want. END is drained when damage is blocked...-1 END per 5 or 10 points of damage blocked. Great way to model the classic Star Trek "shields are down to 27%, Captain." So what you can do here is, build the END reserve to power the weapons and the defenses...where the defenses are built using damage-based END costs. Now the shielding remains intact for very long periods without issue. You get the "OMG I can take this shot but that'll take the shields down!" What you DON'T say is that this causes such a total drain on the systems that the minuscule power needs for comms etc. can't be met. Fundamentally: even priming the weapon for fire still takes 1000x the power needed to run the essential systems. The powered defenses would be similar; they need a much higher steady-state energy level or they shut down. In both cases, we're talking the difference between needing the equivalent of 110 volts and 5-30 amps, and running off a couple D cells. Sure, feel free to run the END reserve to 0...but 0 in the END reserve is NOT the same as 100% empty. If you do want to keep it, I'm beginning to lean to a physical complication on the entire armor suite, on this basis. Pretty big one, but that might be my bias showing. Infrequent, certainly; whether I'd call it Greatly or Fully might depend. Would the suit be able to move at all? If not, that'd be Fully Impairing.

I tend to lean to...not their kink, but their insecurities/guilt.

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (et al) by Spider Robinson

Unfortunately, it also gives Trump himself a venue to continue his martyrial narrative and invective. For me, I think the bigger risk is that this could lead to an even more in-depth exploration, outside New York. And that might lead to tax evasion against Trump.

In the I'm Not Surprised At All department... 3 teams (and their HCs) were fined for, as I read it, protocol violations during OTAs. Niners and Shanahan...not so expected. Meyer/Jags....McCarthy/Cowboys...yeah. For years, Meyer's come across, to me, as a "rules are for someone else" type. On the flip side...this might have been expected somewhat, but...I'd kinda forgotten. The league completed its investigation into the toxic workplace allegations with the WFT, and came down with their punishments. Team fined a cool $10M; Dan Snyder pretty much removed as the face for a while. Not sure how long.

If you have any doubts, one of the local TV stations has a story, with video showing the chief placing the tape: https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/oh-lorain/sheffield-lake-police-chief-retires-following-racial-incident-captured-on-camera-city-says Well, the idiot chief's out the door.