unclevlad

That would certainly describe their offense fairly well.

Mmm...quills disappeared by probably the 1850s or thereabouts; possibly sooner. Dip pens disappeared (outside of calligraphers) by...call it 1920. I remember those old...I never thought of em as coffee warmers, they were water boilers. DANGEROUS suckers, cuz they stayed HOT! for a while. Ohh...reminds me of a hot pot I had. Our IT guy at the time and I were both exploring the world of good tea. I think it was his pot...coulda been mine...lots of plastic. Then one day we smelled the very distinct odor of smoking rubber/plastic. Suffice to say, neither of us used a mostly-rubber hot pot again. I don't think we ever had bubble lights, but I do vaguely remember seasonal ads that included them. Something else gone, or mostly: incandescent light strings. I remember my dad was really irritated cuz I liked running the outside lights a lot...but he saw the electric bills. And...oh, now here's an oldie of a sort...the stories of people whose houses caught fire due to an overly dry Christmas tree and problems with those lights. Cuz they did draw a substantial amount of power.... Anyone remember halogen floor lamps? They may well still be around...but one thing that isn't, is the 500 watt bulb. Kid you not. 500 watt bulb. Yeah it filled a room *big time* and the color spectrum was very nice. But it was also a heater. They got pulled from the market because far too many lamps used just a basic lamp cord that was borderline unsafe. Mm...similarly, one of the early superstar CRT monitors, the Zenith. Really nice screens, they got a lot of praise for that at the time...but they were space heaters too.

If it were to be done, then rather than just barring so many "non-elite" schools...because as the Nebraska example points out, that list changes over time...go with European soccer's tiered model, with 2 or 3 tiers, with relegation and promotion. A major logistical problem, tho, is how do you run things even in a tier of 20 teams when you have about 10 games available? I just looked at the EPL; 38 games played, 20 teams...presumably a full double round robin. That argues for smaller tiers...12 would be workable, for an 11 game base schedule with 1 or 2 slots for rivalry games. But you'd need quite a few tiers, and you'd have severe problems with the year-to-year vagaries. Consider Chip Kelly's last couple Oregon teams...versus where they've been since, particularly 2015-2017. Texas. Florida State. Ohio State has had a number of excellent seasons recently, but one need go back only to the late 90s and early 2000s. Calling Michigan an 'elite' program now is a total joke, IMO; how many good teams have they actually beaten under Harbaugh? They're among the most overrated teams in the country. (Notre Dame is the other that comes to mind instantly.) And it's a certainty that the conferences will do everything they can to stop any such effort...and that's likely a *lot*. Because TV and bowl game revenues get shared, which probably wouldn't happen in this structure. And this might be the key: the championship itself has little to do with anything. It's getting the money to the non-competitive schools.

How bad is the state of offense this year? Currently, 10 teams are hitting a collective .222 (2 for 9) or lower. Just 4 teams are hitting .250 or better. 3800 total hits...4600 total strikeouts. Only 4 teams have more hits than strikeouts. Across all of MLB, strikeouts per 9 innings is over 9...so a bit better than 1 strikeout per inning pitched. That used to be...not that long ago...*elite* level. 8 teams are over 10; 2 more are just under 10. And also across MLB, hitters are striking out in almost 28% of ABs. And this is still in the period where, historically, hitters have been ahead of pitchers.

A stack of catalogs a couple feet tall at Christmas time.

Not from what I've read. Sentencing guidelines would be 12.5 years for the 2 larger counts and 4 more years from the murder 3. Plus, the reckless disregard would've needed separate proof. NYT morning brief notes that this is only the 7th conviction of a police officer for murder since 2005. Interesting article here: https://www.vox.com/21497089/derek-chauvin-george-floyd-trial-police-prosecutions-black-lives-matter

Oh, you're actually a peanut?

What may be interesting to observe is what, if any, reprisals come down, especially on Barcelona and Real Madrid, I'm thinking for now. Perhaps especially Barcelona cuz they are in a WORLD!!!! of financial hurt. Bankruptcy is reportedly very much possible. Late Edit: good line from a CBS Sports review of this mess:

The Super League just shriveled up and died like a sealed can of hot air slapped into a blast freezer.

It's also plausible the appeals court will nullify at least one charge, because the charges completely overlap each other. The charges from NYT: So the first two feel like they address different aspects and could both stand. #3 seems subsumed by #2 to me, so if that gets overturned on appeal, I'd be fine with that . Also somewhat interesting that the verdicts came down fairly quickly, or so it seems.

There was a story late last week in the NYT, praising New Mexico's vaccination efforts...believe the highest rate of vaccination in the country. This, of course, brought a raft of replies...a subset being "well so many people went out of state, that shouldn't count" from those who hate our governor. There was some misinformation about how the vaccine rollout was staged. The big thing, I fully believe, is that those who went out of state, did so primarily in the initial stages. Or that it was focused on ABQ/Santa Fe, and not southern NM. Because my first shot, 3 weeks ago...one of the two big hospitals ran a vaccination drive. 300 vaccinations a day for 4 days. Sign up was super easy. Paperwork was easy. 2nd shots are this week...they're shooting for 500 a day. (So, yeah, the line was longer, but we're still talking 10, 15 minutes tops. Eek.) Atop that...got some prescription refills Sunday from Walgreens. They're offering vaccines. Went from there to Albertsons, to ensure I had food through any BLLEECHHHH days should they arise. (Not really, I feel fairly good overall.) Both of those are very recent developments. So yeah...by and large, it really shouldn't be hard to find a place to get yourself shot up. <ZAP> AAARRGHH!!!!!! NEXT TIME REMIND ME TO TAKE OUT MY CONTACTS FIRST!!!!!!

What one side perceives as justice, the other side will very likely perceive as injustice. We're that far out of balance. This has to be addressed before any consistent perception of justice can exist. And, yes, it's a catch-22.

I do electormagnetic fields as a basis for it as well. An energy generator, whose powers always trace a line of effect from his body to the point of delivery. Classic example: Green Lantern. Flight is one example; Leap is another. Particularly in 6E where STR doesn't add to Leap any more. Can also make a philosophical argument that TK should imply Clinging.

Well, over and above that, closed ranks is not unique to police or to Boston. And it isn't remotely new. Do we even need to go over the history? So, look, it's heinous, but it doesn't to me say anything about the police per se, or about Boston. It shows primarily that institutions cannot be relied upon to discipline themselves. In other news...while we love to hate Marjorie Taylor Greene, can we also muzzle Maxine Waters? Cripes, that asinine comment of hers could *readily* result in a retrial. Judge denied a motion for a mistrial, but conceded they could be grounds for overturn on appeal. NOT what *anyone* needs here. Someone said it earlier...I'd hate being on this jury.

OK, the word of the day round here is definitely Ugh. I suspect the word tomorrow will be Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......................

I'd be fine with it. Great story on what catalyzed the decision here: https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/football-team/how-snowboarding-trip-helped-alex-smith-realize-it-was-time-retire I'm glad for him. Glad he made it back, glad that he's made the decision that he's comfortable with. He had a very good career; we're so easily jaded by the numbers, but 35,000 yards, 199 TDs, and 99-67-1 in games started is exceptional. No, I don't think Smith was ever going to be at the level to be a team's strong point, but he was a heckuva lot better than average. One can argue, of course, that put him in the same boat as several others: too good to bail on, but not good enough to make deep playoff runs.

Oh dear. What's more frightening is their case numbers are skyrocketing. Down to around 15,000 per day in early March...over 200,000 per day now. Only 6 weeks later for about a 13-fold increase...altho that was starting from a relatively low bar. The last 2 weeks have been particularly bad: 69 --> 115 --> 219 (thousands, each), April 2nd --> 9th --> 16th.

Good read about the state of American politics here: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/us/democracy-gop-democrats-sectarianism.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage One short paragraph summarizes things nicely: The right wing talking heads have pushed this with regard to the left for many years. Whether one feels the left felt this way about the right before...it's clear that the Trump and Covid eras have crystallized this feeling that has deeper roots in gun violence generally, and police violence more specifically.

A very interesting piece in this morning's NYT Briefing. It's Calabresi's Fable: We're used to the car risk; the risk presented here is new. I think there are some other significant factors so that we downplay the risk of driving, but one of the big points is, this is new. The article points out: Covid is now an Old Risk, it's been subsumed for most of us. (The major exception would be, those who've had a very bad case close to us, but that's a fraction of a percent.) Vaccination is a New Risk. And it feels like an avoidable risk...so...we should avoid it!!! The fact that it reduces your risk of catching Covid greatly...and of developing major problems, almost completely...doesn't register. I doubt that's the entire story, but it feels like a sensible contributing factor for the fairly widespread reticence reported. Me, I just got shot again. Of course, this could also be considered irrational behavior; go to this weird place, meet people I don't know at all, get shot...then REPEAT THE EXACT SAME BEHAVIOR 3 WEEKS LATER!!! Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice..............

That's the Rolodex. Crucial investigatve tool of TV PIs of the day. The one thing I dislike about paying through my phone is unlocking it *every* time I want to use it. Worse: I have a common ID in use on my iPhone and iPads, so the iPads have to be unlocked each time as well. Totally understandable security, but annoying.

latecomer, huh? 1993. Mailing lists and bulletin boards. Happened to get a freakin MOTHER LODE of Magic 1st edition boosters...7 of em...2 moxes, black lotus, time walk, time twister. Used em for one event at Origins...any deck you could build. Had to kill your opponent before he could play a card...as many times in a row as possible. Then sold em through a message board. Also remember the VERY old gg-l M:tG rules mailing list. Individual emails...no board structure or anything. Actually, I was on AOL long before that. I remember vividly, I first learned about OKC...oh, a day or two afterward, I think it was. Then going online catching up on the details. Neverwinter Nights Online...NOT a good idea when you'd picked metered local service on your phone, cuz, well, you didn't think you needed much minutes. (I changed that after one *hefty* tab.)

The Chauvin trial is winding down. Minneapolis schools will close in-person classes Wednesday through Friday, IIRC, as a precaution. The NBA has sent a memo to teams telling them to prepare for possible game postponements. Some read this as "oh see, everyone expects acquittal." I think it's simply prudent, should the verdict be something readable as a slap on the wrist (or less). I would expect MLB to be advising clubs similarly, but haven't seen anything. With the Toledo video and Daunte Wright so fresh, tensions have to be very high anyway.

Oh my... Clash of the Titans in the sports world. 12 of the mega-teams in European soccer (including Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Manchester United, 6th, 8th, and 10th on Forbes' list of most valuable sports franchises in the world) are tyring to form a soccer Super League...where they'll keep alllllllll the money rather than share it around,including to a degree, as I understand, with the lower-level leagues. (In England, there are 4 national-level leagues below the Premier League...and more localized leagues below *that*.) The leagues are screaming. FIFA is rumbling. Everyone's threatening bans for players. On the flip side, the clubs are all huge. "Sources tell ESPN" that pulling this off is remote, but hey, we'll see. I'm mostly neutral WRT soccer generally, so I can just sit back and watch each side gore the other. Cuz if it's gone this far that those teams were publicly announcing the launch of the new league, well, they had to be aware there'd be an ugly, ugly fight.

Vincenzo Nibali. Won the Tour in between Armstrong's (stripped) wins and the onset of Sky.

Ahh...well. I can see that. Last time I bought a soft drink from a vending machine...gee, 8 years ago or so, more or less. And for several years before that, it would've only been from the machines in the break room, which were $1. And $2...that's crazy. Which shows my age, I'll admit.... The flip side of this thread is the things that us older farts just can't wrap our heads around because they're SO out of whack compared to our (even younger adult) memories. Was it REALLY that long ago that you could still find 50 cent soft drink vending machines? Yes....yes, it was... Oh. Another example...fast food. Had to stop doing the Full Monty of burger, fries, drink back in 2014 due to diabetes, but the combos were pushing $10. A Whataburger green chile double (yum...still treat myself to one every now and again) is now over $7 alone, with taxes. Delivery pizza...specials could net ya a large one-topping for $7 net. Reasonably often, too. Or later, maybe that'd just be a medium. I thought about doing that for grins, during the first week of the NCAA tournament. IIRC, for a medium 3 topping...was gonna be $19. (In part because the delivery fee was, IIRC, $4.) GAH!!! Couldn't pull the trigger, because it just felt so extremely high. Welcome to future shock.