unclevlad

Yeah, I agree; Bridgewater's at least as good an option as ANY QB draft pick. They've got a reasonable QB competition going now, and that #9 pick can be used to address other needs...including, now, trading down to get, let's say, a later #1 and a #3. Granted that Denver's QB situation was miserable, but as archer said, middle of the pack is a good upgrade there. Being poor enough to get the ninth pick says, you had many other problems. Not saying they won't mess up if they trade down, mind, but that would be the screw-up...making stupid picks...not trading down, or passing on a QB at 9 for something else. And hey, Elway's not running this draft. And Paton scored this trade, which was good for both teams, so maybe he'll prove competent. We know Elway was seriously lacking....

MLB Network did a showcase game, clubhouse style, Sunday. Smoltz and Carlos Pena joined by CC Sabathia, talking about the game and the state of the game. A lot of what they said is, the game is what it is, because it *has* to be. Pitchers have to pitch to miss bats...pitch to the strikeout...because batting averages on balls in play is too high. The metrics do routinely show that VERY few pitchers do well third time through the lineup. EVERYONE throws hard. The bottom line: pitching is far, far ahead of hitting right now. You can't bring a player up without putting him into the system is a horrible idea. If that's a requirement imposed by the system, redefine the system. This also misses that batting stances are not constant, so the pre-registration notion simply does not work. And the notion of saying, oh, you can't change your stance? NO WAY. That's ridiculous. And unenforceable. The runner on 2nd is there to address the point that extra inning games too often descended into a home run hunt. 5 innings with, say, 2 base runners for both teams COMBINED...that was too common. It also stressed bullpens greatly. That's why. No, it doesn't per se address the batting average issue...but in a way it also does, because small ball DOES come back into play. I've seen a fair number of extra inning games already this year, and There's Stuff Going ON!!!! when that runner's put on base.

Fixed that for you. And...by WorldOMeters, the total number of identified cases in the world just passed the 150M mark....

I never played on PLATO much at all; we simply didn't have enough terminals to play. What I DID do for a couple years...punched cards. OMG, I hated those. Typos were unfixable; the card's wrecked. We had a self-serve card reader, but you still had to wait for the code to run, then the results print out, and be laid out by the system operator. Readers *mangled* decks from time to time. Second worst format I ever had to deal with; the worst was in HS, where we had paper tape ONLY. One tear and the entire tape's got to be re-punched...and the paper was flimsy, especially with holes punched. I never loaded from magnetic (cassette-style) tapes; we did load from the bigger, 10" or whatever reel tapes, but that at least had a decent storage capacity (for the day anyway). And as the pilot of Apollo 11 passed away today... sitting around the TV with the entire family, as Neil Armstrong takes one small step.... We may make it back to the moon; I doubt it, but it's possible, I suppose. That won't be the same. If we put a man on MARS...that would be major. But I don't see that...ever. The problems here will mean the resources to do this, will never be allocated. (And I don't think we'll avoid catastrophe, either.)

So Ed Aldrin is the last survivor of one of the greatest moments in history. Time passes us all by.

I wouldn't say easily; it's got interpretation issues, too, but it can compel the deeper dive into the numbers. That's the value for me. Are India's new cases numbers dropping in fact, or is it simple data variance? From what I see...too early to tell. We can hope, tho.

Batters can tweak stances from AB to AB. What do you do with a player called up from the minors, who hasn't been pre-registered into the system? I'm fine with the lesser, vertical errors that'd exist, as they're still almost certainly less variable than human umpires. Baseball has to move past the purists. They're too small...and there are going to have to be changes they'll scream about anyway, or the audience will vanish. Too many potential fans get BORED OUT OF THEIR SKULLS because too many games have nothing going on. 20% more strikeouts than hits. MLB composite batting average has been dropping *steadily* and is down again this year. I forget the number but the percentage of balls put into play (anything but a walk, the rare-ish HBP, strikeout, or dinger) is also the lowest it's been. The percentage of runs that score NOT as a result of a home run, is declining. And this has forced the, IMO, both sensible AND more interesting, rule of starting extra innings with a runner on 2nd. I think there's a very good chance this will become permanent. No, it's not "pure"...but you can't hold the sport hostage to an idealized and romanticized notion of purity. A runner on 2nd doesn't distort the game that much; it should, over time, lead to some occasional tactical issues (0-2 on the #3 hitter with 2 outs and a fast runner on first...send him! If he's thrown out, he'll be put on 2nd, and your good hitter will have a fresh count, next inning. But it's still playing the full game. Hockey's 4 on 4 in overtime for 5 minutes is a similar rule...open up the ice with the goal of more good scoring opportunities. College football's system of the ball on the 25 is a moderate distortion, as field position is no longer a factor. Every possession becomes independent. Obviously, penalty shots/kicks, or a Home Run Derby style swing-off, is of course NOT playing the complete game any more, it's exercising narrow skills only. I think the universal DH is inevitable; that's another one, but IMO NOT doing the unversal DH cause far more distortion once they choose to have extensive interleague play.

Better than what they have, but that's damnation by faint praise. His QBR last year was dead middle...17th of the 33 shown on ESPN's stats page. (Miami had 2 QBs listed, Fitz and Tua.) And, as you say, for only a 6th round pick. From the Panthers' perspective: looking at his contract, this trade voided the 3rd and last year of his contract with them. His 2021 salary's $3M...his 2022 salary was gonna be *$20M*. Carolina converted a lot of it into bonuses, but Bridgewater's UFA after THIS season. And of course, the Panthers are betting that Sam Darnold has talent that the Jets were squandering. That means you don't want Bridgewater's $20M a year contract to be a backup, nor do you want a QB competition. So Bridgewater can walk, easily, and only has a year to show he really does belong. On that basis, the 6th round pick makes a lot more sense. Denver had a lot more leverage here.

CRIPES...speaking of TERRIBLE umpiring... Go back a couple weeks; you might've seen this. Dodgers-Padres. Kershaw strikes out Jurickson Profar...or so it seems. Profar, however, swings WAY LATE...and tips the catcher's glove, but not until *after the pitch is already in the glove." But it's called catcher interference. Ridiculous. Just now...Miami-Milwaukee. Miami batter hits a dribbler up the 1st base line. Pitcher fields it, tosses to first. Batter wasn't running hard...he's easily out. Except the ump at first rules that the pitcher, still on the grass, interferes with the batter running to first. NOTWITHSTANDING that the ball was out of the pitcher's hand and on to first...before the batter reached the pitcher. The runner was out by 15 feet. NOOOOoooo...fielder's interference. And even asserting the pitcher blocked the runner was massively debatable. Sure, mistakes will happen, but these were seriously bad.

Yeah, I've seen that statement too. I rather like the comparative "deaths above expected" measures. A large country has a large enough population to generally eliminate sampling errors; over 2.8 million people died in the US in 2019. And there's plenty of historical data to account for seasonal factors. So when deaths are wildly higher than the norm, there's *something* going on. Sure, some will be readily attributable...storms, violence, etc...there are still a LOT left over. It's not proof of any specific cause, but the data doesn't lie. SOMETHING caused these deaths, and if the known reasons don't cover it...look to others.

So one half of Baseball Umpiring As Usual. The other side was last night...Dodgers/Reds was on. Angel Hernandez behind the plate. Pitches 3" outside were called strikes, several times. Others that should've been strikes were called balls. OK, this is Angel Hernandez...frequently listed as the worst umpire in MLB. I even found out: Hernandez sued MLB for discrimination, and lost. Decision came down, end of March. And why? Oetken was the judge in the case: Hernandez was arguing discrimination in being passed over for crew chief and for WS assignments. Yeah, right. Not like this is anything new, of course. I'm not even sure I think Hernandez is the worst behind the plate; CB Bucknor's erratic as heck. I *know* purists will loathe it, but if MLB can't sit terrible umps...take ball/strike calls out of their hands. It's not perfect either; the strike zone varies (vertically) from batter to batter, so precise registration's a lot trickier than in, say, tennis, which makes the best and most extensive use of replay. The lines on the court are fixed, tho. It's clay court season for tennis right now...which means that system's generally NOT in use, so it's the "the umpire gets down from his chair to check the mark." ARGH!! LOTS!! of arguments. Last season, and somewhat still this season, there were no linesmen, and lots of tournaments used the Hawkeye system for ALL in/out calls. Virtually no arguments. The frequent comment was, players preferred it. So purists be damned. Many plays in baseball can't be called purely with an automated system...or can't be called very well. But balls and strikes can be called a HECK of a lot better by a well-built system.

True but it's focusing only on the negatives. And mind: I actually had a similar discussion with the receptionists at my chiropractor's office yesterday. The difference there was lifting masking mandates *at stores*. For example: a store could be allowed to check a vaccination card then let people in without masks. BUT, from a store's perspective, that's a PITA. It's also got the exact same issue...someone might wear a mask to get in, but then take it off. And now it's in a somewhat mobile but *indoor* space...higher risk. So I don't see something like that. When is this going to end? When are we going to be able to return to mostly-normal? Do we really have to wait until herd immunity to start relaxing restrictions? No. Will some jerks abuse this? Yes...but those of us who've been vaccinated, have a lot less to worry about. Another issue is central leadership. If local authorities are relaxing their restrictions across the country...and I don't mean Texas or Florida that never wanted them in the first place, but places like San Francisco where, I believe, the Giants have been given the green light to sell more tickets...then reasonable, prudent steps by the Feds *makes sense*.

A rose is a rose is a rose

Peony

Lily

Hibiscus

I have these in my back yard...but they're not coming up so far this year. May need to water some more; we've been SERIOUSLY bone dry... flax flower

for Pariah: Columbine. State flower of Colorado

He's trying to reverse the script, but of course, his basis is completely false.

I'm hoping that Carlson can be arrested for inciting criminal activity. Probably not, but free speech does have its limits, and this is, at least, getting close to the line. Equating having your child wear a mask, to child abuse???? There's a series of tweets; the first one includes this: If Carlson can't be challenged legally, then...probably not. But it's definitely worthwhile to see what might be possible. The only reason I can't put him as my Public Enemy #1 is, I'm not sure if some other Fox jackass might not be worse. But from what I've seen...I used to consider Palin as the Republicans' attack dog. Carlson is an alt-right rabid dog. But this is more support for why I *don't* consider Trump to be the biggest problem. CLOSE, but the reckless talking heads have more reach overall.

Positive news for the US: new cases have started to decline again.

Kalashnikovs (the AK in AK-47 literally translates to Kalashikov's automatic riftle)

and LOUD!!!! But I could do the math and clear out all but the worst clusters pretty easily...the suspense tended to be pretty rare. 3 Klingons? Bring em on! Unless my resources were running super low, anyway. No one wanted to play Battle against me either...cuz I figured out the trajectory equation, or really close...

You could do it with a Transform, but Transform targets a characteristic...typically BODY, sometimes EGO...for purposes of defining when the Transform is achieved. What, in fact, are you Transforming? The ground? Not really; at most, a tiny fraction of it. A high grade uranium mine has about 0.2% uranium. Radioactive fallout is, I suspect, even lower; it's just nastier stuff. If anything, Drain fits better, as Drain targets powers, and that's what you want to target here. The transformational aspect is part of the SFX; mechanically, the radiation is a power running independently. And note: Transform is *not* implicitly permanent either. It's one of the bugaboos in the rules...basically GM call. If some Transforms can be permanent, then similar Drains should be permanent too. And again, Drain gives you a scaling mechanic based on the intensity of the problem...the points involved in the Nasty Stuff. Transform relates to something that's completely disconnected from the threat level. EDIT: also note that decontaminating an area is really just a plot device. A decontamination chamber may well be a plot device. A mutant power that a PC wants to have...that's something that needs a concrete definition.

An unprotected person without the proper life support would take damage very quickly on the Antarctic ice shelf, due to the extreme cold. One defense is Change Environment. What is the difference between this, and what Fed is suggesting? NOTE: I'm talking here about cleaning up a radioactive AREA. So Derek's interpretation that the CE is applying a benefit isn't correct, IMO, and Fed's is: it's not granting a positive, it's protecting from a negative. I also agree with the others that the LS constructions are tortured at best, and more than likely incorrect. For example: LS Usable on Others. How many others? That has to be specified. OK, you can define a Limitation saying it's only applying within the area, but that right there says the approach is backwards. LS is a creature power, not an area power. Some of the push to use LS, I think, is also because it's cheap. LS: Rad starts at 2 points...so +9 advantages means it's only 20. Another option would be Dispel. OP specifically notes, it doesn't heal the existing damage, so what it's doing is stopping a Damage Over Time NND or a continuous Transform, however you define the radiation damage. So the decontamination chamber works great as a Dispel. The environmental cleanup does too...better than a Transform. The radiation damage is a power, not an object. The effort required to end it is based on the strength of the radiation...which goes into the active points of the attack power. Hey....that's Dispel.