unclevlad

I still think many people pushing for this are more about restricting voter access as a means of disenfranchisement. Another take here: https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/12/31/sasse-gop-election-certification-objections-government-wilson-bts-nr-vpx.cnn TL;DR: they're looking to engage Trump's base and co-opt them. But, yeah, Wednesday is going to be a mess. It seems certain to fail, as there are, I think, more than enough Republican Senators who've ripped the ongoing claims. All it would take is 3; Wikipedia shows 14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_reactions_to_Donald_Trump's_claims_of_2020_election_fraud#Senators So this is all much ado about nothing, about lining their wallets (because this isn't related to a campaign per se, *are* there any limits on where it can go? I doubt it), about maintaing the siren song of Trumpism. I don't think it can possibly work. I still will be relieved when we get past this.

That's an incorrect comparison. It's 6 or 7 (MP) versus 7-9 (EC)...because that's presuming the Blast *is* being used. (I am willing to assume that when you're using Blast, your FF is up. BUT, you might not be flying.) When the blast isn't in use, it's probably 3 versus 3...the FF does not have to be used at full power when cruising around in flight mode. Heck, you can have it at 17/17 and it's 1 END. In the MP it might be 50 points in the flight and 20 in the FF...but it's gonna be 3 END. BUT, that's getting into optimization. Heck, the *sweet* EC would be 21 -- EC 21 -- FF 17/17 1/2 END 21 -- Flight 17 1/2 END 29 -- Blast 10d6 That's 92 and it's 1 END each for the FF and flight. But as noted, that's optimizing, and it's asking a fair bit for a newbie to look at that (and at *why* you want to do some of these)...and we haven't even talked about Limitations. Another advantage of the MP construction is that it's faster and cheaper to slap in, let's say, a Flash. And it tends to be simpler to explain.

That's where the notion of "newbie" comes in. Because nothing in that EC says you can't use Reduced END or even 0 END, at least in 5E. I vaguely remember that *wasn't* the rule in earlier editions, or that, at least, it had to cost END. But JmOz' EC could be rewritten as 25 -- EC 25 -- FF 20/20 (1/2 END) (END=2) 25 -- Flight 20" (1/2 END) (END=2) 25 -- Blast 10d6 And using everything together wouldn't be *too* bad. And in this construction, the MP doesn't help; the END cost when you need to blast is dropping only from 8 to 6, and that's assuming you don't have both the flight and FF active. But the key is, this is rather a lot for someone just trying to learn.

Probably because they toss the Blast and the Flash and the FF all in, and use them all together.

OK, but the only thing that'll slow it down even more is an experienced rules lawyer with one. Because he'll be trying to squeeze out everything all the time....and he's got a lot more practice in how the system can be manipulated. Especially when the pool size is greater than the control cost + limitations, required or expected. IOW: with more than 1 power up.

Note that if 2d6 --> 12, then odds are, you need Damage Over Time. More likely, you need to buy it as 3 1/2 dice of Aid. I'd let that be a flat 12; the average would be 12.25. I personally loathe the crazy-complex, convoluted, and IMO largely ridiculous paragraph of advantages and limitations that always seem to accompany any attempt to do magic in Hero. In large part because it always feels like the writers are *desperately* going out of their way to make a Fantasy Hero world into a D&D world. What Aid gets you is: --it's versatile...you can Aid anything --it's usable on anyone at no addtional cost --it's specifically constructed to fit into a framework because it continues to work. Enhancer-healer is a nice concept. If you buy "+10 STR UBO"...in most constructions, in a multipower, the minute you switch the points away, the benefit goes with it. Mind, if you're looking at only boosting yourself, I agree: buy the stats with limitations, rather than Aid.

Yeah, there's disrepect intended because it was earned. What's amusing is Dabo's getting his own payback for putting OSU #11. Tigers are getting GUTTED. Lovely, and I'm not an OSU fan at all. 5 minutes left in the 3rd...OSU already has almost 550 yards. And the game had one of the most TERRIBLE ref calls in ages. Trey Sermon takes a nice little slant for a solid gain. Refs think he bounced off the defender, didn't call him down. 77 yards later, touchdown signaled. Except that his right elbow (with the ball) was CLEARLY down before rolling over the tackler...AND his knee CLEARLY touched during the roll. Rather pathetic there, refs.

Man, that Alabama's totally overrated. Fine, yeah, they won but they couldn't cover the measly spread....

I won't argue with Bama bashing but... DeVonta Smith is scary good....

The true reason being that the NFL wasn't allowed to monetize them. Stat I just saw on NFL.com: going into Sunday, 240 games. Home team record: 120-119-1. Article was pointing out that there is probably one, and only one, real home field advantage for the playoffs this year: Green Bay, due to the weather issues. Curiously, tho, last year, it was pointed out, it was only 132-123-1.

Nice charges too...recklessly endangering safety and adultering a prescription drug. Plus the less direct-sounding charge of criminal damage to property. The most serious, it appears, is recklessly endangering safety. It's a class F felony, so 12 1/2 years. One can expect the prosecutors to ask that the sentences to be served consecutively, and the other 2 are still mutli-year felonies. I suspect the fact that he was also a pharmacist will mean even a judge who might be lenient, go harsh. And he can kiss his pharmacist license goodbye forever once he gets out...which is neither a cheap nor easy degree to earn. (Even if his license would withstand felony convictions, no board is ever going to let it stand for *these* felonies.) I suspect that whomever holds his student loans will have to completely write them off, if they haven't been paid off. Or possibly, if his parents cosigned, he may have just hosed them. Yeah, we don't know what he was thinking or what he thought he could accomplish, but he's going to get a very harsh lesson in Consequences 101.

Adding anything to a high-end champagne is a total waste. Like cooking prime-grade tenderloin or (heaven forbid) wagyu beef to well done. I do like a good bottle of quality bubbly, not necessarily Champagne. California makes very good ones too...just not the usual junk you see. J, Iron Horse, Schramsberg; Roederer's former president found an area he liked for sparkling. Finding them down here...tough. (New Mexico has a very restrictive policy on liquor licenses, with a fixed number per county. That has made standalone liquor stores all but economically infeasible...the owners are fools NOT to sell those licenses for *several* hundred thousand dollars, to the big grocery chains, Wal Marts, and gas stations. There is *1* independent liquor store left.) But what's all but impossible to find, is a decent half bottle...still or sparkling. I live alone; a half bottle is all I want any more. Half bottles are snapped up by restaurants...well, hmm, maybe I could get more this year, huh. Oh well, too late for that.

That's as opposed to a review of whine-related news, which would belong in the Political Discussion thread... One story linked from the wine news is interesting: https://www.foodandwine.com/news/paper-wine-bottle-frugal-bottle Feels like this might also be a good alternative for beer, too.

I dunno about here, but I've seen it elsewhere. NO BLOODY FREAKING WAY IN HECK!!!!! Far as I'm concerned this would count as an Abomination.

Don't dismiss property charges, as they are the easiest to prove here. What is the value of each dose of the vaccine? $10? $50? I believe the Moderna is a 2-shot vaccine too, so 500 people means 1000 doses. NOW we're into grand theft. If the overall value is in excess of $100K, which is quite possible, the max punishment is a $25K fine and 12 years. That's a Class F felony; if it's between $10K and $100K...and it'd likely be over $10K, it's a class G felony and the max term is still 10 years. Same fine. And this is open and shut. Wisconsin law defines theft as, among other things I'm not saying your other charges a bad idea. If the laws allow a clear, clean construction of charges, sure, absolutely. But if it's complex to build those charges, I'd be OK with just the theft charges. Oh, and this could be considered a federal crime. That makes the punishment more complex: https://www.federalcharges.com/grand-larceny-theft-laws-charges/#:~:text=Rev.-,Stat.,and %24500 to %245%2C000 fine. But if the value's very large, and the fact that it's medications in a pandemic, can be applied...the sentence might get to be very long indeed.

But one thing to remember is, you're only getting half effect on the CON, PD, ED, END, and STUN, too.

Stats back that up, actually. QBRs were 58, 58, 64, 57, and 67 in the SB year. Next 3 years, 48, 53, 55 before the lost 2019 season which was *abysmal* before the injury. You also see significant drop-offs in yards per attempt and net yards per attempt. Pro Football Reference shows 139 games played, 138 starts...319 sacks. So about 2.3 sacks per game. And remember Ron Rivera complaining that Cam took a greater beating because he was so big, and hard to bring down? Or it might've just been supporting Cam complaining. Well, whether it was disproportionate or not, it does clearly seem that it did take a toll.

I have no real intention of celebrating, because it's still not time for that. In about 30 hours (my TZ) we'll close the book on it. It doesn't give me feelings of elation, but those of relief. I've got dinner set up...chicken parm from scratch, prepped this afternoon and ready to go into the oven tomorrow. Butternut squash was roasted Tuesday; I'll puree it with a fair bit of almond milk...it takes quite a bit to thin it down...and just heat that with salt, pumpkin pie spice or garam masala, and a dollop of liquid stevia. Yummm.... And I got a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA to go with it. There's others I'd rather have, as this is (for me) a comfort foods dinner; 90 Minute isn't really the right beer but it's a very good one and it will go nicely, so...ok. And just try to relax and let everything bad from this year go quietly into the good night. IF I'm still up at midnight...probable, but not certain...I got a miniature of Chambord. Raspberry liqueur...not something I necessarily want regularly (in part because it's QUITE pricey nowadays) but it's more practical. My Remy XO miniature is reserved for inauguration night. And I've got the goodies for venison chili...anaheim and poblano chiles, onions, tomatoes, bacon, black beans (maybe cranberry), and a Marble Red ale. And 4-5 hours simmering. Great for National Football Day; hopefully both games go off as scheduled.

And thanks to the unyielding efforts of anti-maskers and politicians who couldn't see past their budgets, yes indeed,. 350,293 and counting. Almost 3400 today, with 2 more hours left. Yesterday was the highest single-day count at 3717. It's possible, albeit perhaps not likely, that we'll break 4000. EDIT: not 4000 unless there's a relatively unlikely surge. Shouldn't even match yesterday. Still broke 3500. Edit 2: well, ok. Late burst. 3880. Highest single-day death total to date. Yuck.

The Florida article's behind a hard paywall unfortunately. Let me just say that if so, lots of people should be out of their jobs...starting with the governor. The Russian fatality numbers are no surprise, push comes to shove. Unfortunate, tho. Take the two points together, it'd mean the world death total is very close to 2 million. Even without the unknown numbers that'll get reported from Florida, we'll still break 350K before the year ends. Already over 349,000. Probably gonna happen today.

And the farce will continue as long as possible. Josh Hawley of Missouri is apparently intending to object to the Electoral College results, which will force votes. He might be talked out of it in the meantime, but it was a public announcement so...it'd be embarrassing to pull back from it. Bad move. He's a first-term Senator, and challenging the leadership on this, putting his colleagues in awkward positions, is not how one gets ahead in the Senate. No matter who ends up in the majority.

But this is a case where Mitch is trying to rein in spending, at least. And don't innocently believe Trump is going populist. IMO he was trying to embarrass the Republicans for their lack of support on the election fraud farce. It backfired in the House; IIRC beyond the 100 or so Republican votes to override the defense spending veto, there were close to 50 Republican votes for the $2000 stimulus. So what Mitch is trying is to flip it on its ear...saying, if you want to go with what Trump wants, well, how about ALL of it? Knowing it'll never fly. Remember: there's an absolute drop-dead time deadline here. Congress is dissolved come 3 January, per the 20th Amendment. So we now have cat fighting between Trump and McConnell. Fitting closure, I would say.

Who else remembers the heyday of newsgroups and alt. ? alt.wesley.crusher.die.die.die ... it was a thing... I will say, was it the character or the producers? "Kid genius saves the day!" is a trope many loathe. Another oldie...Larry Linville's Frank Burns. Duvall's Burns, in the movie...nah, not a punch in the face. Maybe a couple weeks in Castle Anthrax. But Linville's...yeah.

Just try to avoid going all Willie Nelson about Trump...I realize it's hard...

It's been a while. They've been diluted slowly. If I'm counting right, there were 25 in 2003. That's 50 teams; at the time, I think there were around 115 FCS programs, so that's about 45% qualification rate. That's high, but not crazy. Now it's 39; the title game is separate. Out of 127...so there are slots for almost 2/3 of the teams. That by definition means many of them mean very, very little. By comparison, the Div I basketball tourney has 68 slots...10 fewer. It's less clear how many teams could legitimately claim to be eligible for them. For example, the bottom...dozen or so conferences have 1 slot each and virtually NO chance of a second. So the distribution is FAR from uniform. Still, it's reasonably competitive. There are always arguments about the last at-large picks, but it tends to be hair-splitting. Even the power conferences rarely get half their teams in.