unclevlad

Is there a fresh round? I can't find anything new.

Arkansas was going to play in the Texas Bowl at 3-7. It just got cancelled today because TCU can't field enough of a team. So, hey, a pair of .500 teams isn't so bad this year. (And honestly, there's a few games that are 6-6 vs. 7-5 in a regular bowl season. Just not from the same conference usually.)

So no one claimed Haskins. Not surprising; it leaves Washington on the hook for around $9M or so in guaranteed money. Good chance someone will sign him, sure, but they'll be able to write the ticket, and it'll be with a much less severe downside. It almost certainly will be for less, and NOT guaranteed, so if he doesn't pan out? Good-bye. Reflective article here: https://theundefeated.com/features/dwayne-haskins-is-out-in-washington-but-he-isnt-the-only-one-to-blame/ Doesn't forgive Haskins, but it also points out that the organization has to be analyzed for failing *him* as well.

There is no doubt, tho, that we will surpass 20,000,000 total cases. That should happen before noon Pacific time. 18 different countries have recorded 1M+ cases.

ARGH. My brain is sparking today. Anyone got a neural soldering iron? Iago is, of course, from Othello, yes.

I think we should just instantly disqualify Beavis and Butthead, and some of the others along those lines, BTW.

Hmmm... Before season 5, Londo Mollari from Babylon 5. Oh, second choice...Bester. Not like this'd succeed either... from DS9, almost any Ferrengi. This should require no explanation whatsoever. Iago from Macbeth And for #5, let's go off the beaten track. Bud Bundy, from Married with Children. GROW A PAIR!! I'll grant he had 2 major handicaps (Al and Peg), but still, kid.....

That's if they even think that far down the line. Or perhaps it's that someone will figure out how to clean it all up; that's what minions are for, is cleanup duty. How prevalent is this attitude? No clue; not like any of us are members of the Billionaire Boys Club. Media and culture push the stereotype (e.g., Gordon Gecko); sports figures have driven this home (and massively promoted the winner-take-all mentality that is the catalyst and fuel for toxic individuality) for several decades now. (It's gotten much worse in the last 10 years, I'd say, but it was going on before.) There is a counter-current, led by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, and including Bezos, Zuckerberg, Bloomberg and others. There's the woman who was reported recently to have donated $5 billion *this year* for food banks and other local causes hit by the pandemic. So they're out there. BUT, the machine that set them up to do this is still in place, and the pandemic makes things that much worse. Those who have, have the cushion to make it through. Those who don't, lose badly.

Cam got pulled mid-3rd. Down 22 but that's not completely insurmountable mid-3rd. Have to think that, barring an injury to Stidham, he's played his last down with the Pats. Steve Levy made a point I missed. 5 teams could've clinched a playoff berth yesterday with a win. All 5 lost. Coulda made some cash on that bet. Hey, it's Bills by 22 and the Pats have shown NOTHING on offense. We're breaking out the filler material here, gimme a break.........

Not surprising. 14/28 for 154 and 2 picks. History of poor play. 2-time protocol violator. I felt the only reason he didn't get released before yesterday's game was desperation; they had no one else. Yeah, well, Haskins showed that meant they had no one. So, toss the trash out. No reason to even, say, list him as inactive, as really, it seemed obvious he was gone. This is Ron Rivera's comment: The GM position's empty; Rivera didn't draft him so he's not vested. And my read on Rivera is, he's very critical about the kind of reckless, irresponsible behavior Haskins showed. So, yeah, this doesn't surprise me at all. Playoff scenarios are out. Yes, the AFC is massively complicated. https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-playoff-clinching-scenarios-for-week-17-of-2020-season Interesting opinion/analysis article here: https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-overreactions-week-16-ravens-offense-not-built-to-win-super-bowl Goes into why the Jets should NOT take a QB (track record is quite poor overall...Wentz, Trubisky, Mariota, Leaf all #2 picks).

I don't think it's deference. I think he simply loves making all the little mice scurry...and that's all he thinks of everyone else, is little mice for him to play with. They're toys...and disposable ones at that. What matters is he's pulling the strings; the consequences for anyone else don't matter. And there's another angle: his vindictiveness. Here, he gets to pull Pelosi's string, to get her to do what he wants: embarrass the Republicans by continuing to push for the larger stimulus checks. He doesn't care about the Republican Party any more; they've failed him by refusing to back his election-fraud 'arguments.' If it costs the Republicans the Senate...why does that matter to him? Trump is very much "If you make me lose, I will make sure you lose MORE."

No. That isn't why. It involves a playoff berth, so it is important in that sense. More importantly, the outcomes of every other game DO NOT affect this one. Also, look at the schedule: Miami at Buffalo, 1 p.m. Baltimore at Cincinnati, 1 p.m. Pittsburgh at Cleveland, 1 p.m. Minnesota at Detroit, 1 p.m. Tennessee at Houston, 1 p.m. Jacksonville at Indianapolis, 1 p.m. New York Jets at New England, 1 p.m. Dallas at New York Giants, 1 p.m. Atlanta at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m. New Orleans at Carolina, 4:25 p.m. Green Bay at Chicago, 4:25 p.m. Las Vegas at Denver, 4:25 p.m. Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City, 4:25 p.m. Arizona at Los Angeles Rams, 4:25 p.m. Seattle at San Francisco, 4:25 p.m. Washington at Philadelphia, 8:20 p.m. Games at Pats, Lions, and Broncos: both teams out. Games at Bucs, Niners, Chiefs, and Panthers all have teams in the playoffs vs. teams out. Seeding might matter, but that's less important than making the playoffs. Cowboys-Giants is meaningless if WFT wins. Games at Browns, Bengals, Bills, Colts, and Texans involve the 5 teams for 4 spots in the AFC. They're split; the East and North play early, the South late. But there are 2 games at the same time, so nothing is decided in advance. That leaves 3 games: Packers-Bears, Cards-Rams, Wash-Philly. Packers were just on SNF; that's a negative. Plus, if Rams beat Cards, then Bears are in and the game's positioning only. (And it might not matter even for that, the Packers may have the #1 seed in the bag.) Cards-Rams would have been the other choice, but if the Bears lose, the Rams are in. Do they play, or not? And it matters because the Cards still have to win. THAT makes for a scenario that is exactly why the NFL structured week 17 as they have, for the last several years.

Because even a -1/4 limitation would quickly save a whole lotta points. If END reserves are going to be the norm on the mechas, you might make them cheaper. That said: why not power everything from the Core, and at that point, it's not an END reserve, it's just the usual END? Drawing from an END reserve for a LOT of powers gets to be seriously expensive, and you don't have the option to spend a phase to recover.

That actually sounds easier, unless you're going to wrangle language familiarity. What I might include is the 11- baseline, and a 3 point skill level that's +1 to all languages. Otherwise languages get fairly expensive and they're relatively low-value.

I'm GREATLY relieved. And totally, utterly, completely disgusted with and sick of Trump.

So the games aren't over but comebacks by the Eagles and Rams are wildly unlikely at this point. NFC East: Philly is out. Giants control their own destiny; win and they're in. Lose, tho, and they're out. Washington needs to win and have the Cowboys beat the Giants. Dallas needs to win and have the Eagles beat WFT. If the Giants and Cowboys TIE, the Giants are OUT. They lost earlier to the Cowboys. In that case, Washington's in if they tie; they've beaten the Cowboys twice. NFC West: similar. Cards and Rams, the winner is in. Cards are out if they lose. Bears are in if they win. If the Rams lose and Bears win, the Rams are, I believe, out. No, I'm not touching the AFC mess. Wait til Tuesday, the official scenarios should be published in all their gory details. EDIT: Fox says I'm wrong...and I am. Washington wins, they're in...period. DOH!!! Lose, and it's whoever wins between Giants and Boys.

Comment from David Newton of ESPN: Haskins won't cost much against the cap, so I suspect they'll look for a trade until roster bonuses or somesuch kick in, and if they haven't traded him...cut him. And trading him won't be easy. It may well be an NBA-style trade to cut: the other team trades for a middling draft pick AND dumps another player they're just as happy to remove from their roster...who'll be cut by WFT. Oh my...WFT marched the ball nicely enough...4rd and 8 at the 12, a TD that would've made it a 1 score game is called back. Failed to convert 4th and 18. Less than 4 minutes left, so barring a blocked punt screwup or the like by Carolina, that's probably it.

Call it half and half. Rivers didn't do anything in the second half, no, but the Colts' defense got ripped. And the Browns fumble again on a sneak. So Baltimore, Miami, Cleveland, and Indy are all 10-5...and Tennessee gets the joys of Lambeau Field in December at night. EDIT: on the Steelers, if you root for em you *can't* like 49 passes to 14 rushes, or that those 14 rushes were for a grand total of 20 yards.

Kansas City escapes; Atlanta remains incapable of closing. Missed a tying 39 yard FG in the final seconds. And the Browns probably lose as Mayfield gets sacked and fumbles, giving the Jets the ball in the red zone with 3+ minutes left, forcing the Browns to burn 2 TOs. So the Browns are now down 7, under 3 minutes, 1 timeout. Might not be impossible with starting wideouts, but....gonna be really tough. And the Steelers wake up to take the lead, then the defense does enough to stop Indy... Week 17 is looking very interesting indeed.

As long as the election result isn't contested, those briefings normally start LONG before the results are finalized. Changes don't have to be made immediately either, to most of those offices, or can the ones that are really bad (DeVos, for example) and use subordinates. Granted that Trump is a disaster, and his most positive action is doing nothing. Still: how much major policy gets executed during a normal transition? We have about 6 weeks of dead time to begin with; it can't hurt to cut that back, IMO.

Yeah, but the Browns lost their top 4 wide receivers *yesterday* due to contact tracing. One can say "next man up" forever but there are limits. Plus, ya gotta figure it's a big emotional downer for the whole team.

Wow. Steelers were being touted as a top 3 team. Now? NO running game is killing them. 2nd lowest rushing yards on the season; lowest yards per rush. And it's really showing against Indy. And Big Ben's downfield work is *poor*. If you take out 2 completions as time expired in the first half, the passing game only generated 60 yards....but the running game couldn't manage *10*. Yes, the coronavirus is taking the Browns right out of the playoffs. Ravens are methodically dismantling the Giants' defense to take over the spot...44 plays in the first half for 282 yards. Bears and Chiefs are suffering post-eggnog hangovers?

Something pointed out in an article... Trump can do absolutely nothing...not sign the funding bill, not sign the relief bill, but also not actively veto it. It dies on January 3rd because the Congress that passed it, is no longer in session. Which means the whole process has to start over again. One point I've seen that is really being played out...the process between election day and inauguration day is a farce now. Fine, it made sense when horseback was the fastest mode of travel and information exchange. It no longer does, and we're seeing the damage. Fine, leave 2-3 weeks to allow recounts, but there should be a new Congress seated the first week in December, and Inauguration Day should be the second week. The date has been changed before; prior to 1933, it was actually in early March (!). BUT, unfortunately, that date's fixed by the 20th Amendment, which set the dates at which the terms end. Changing it is thus...fat chance.

In this year of covid, the Jets ending the year on a 3 game win streak would be completely fitting. There probably is very little scheduling flexibility here. For one thing, the close contact is still several days. Then, you probably can't push it past Monday, MAYBE Tuesday, because everyone plays on Sunday in week 17. That's not something they want to change; they want every game that can count, to count. Plus you don't want a short week (if the Browns, say, play Monday night in week 17) leading into the playoffs. And I don't think Tuesday would be long enough anyway. And yeah, this shouldn't be broad enough to postpone the game beyond Sunday night, and even that doesn't appear to be happening. Still on for the early slot tomorrow. ROFLMAO!!!!!!!! Ball don't lie! Poor coverage combined with a terrible face mask to move, what, 40 yards in one play to set up the game winner. Got to love the Raiders. (As in the crass "hire the handicapped, they're fun to watch" sense.)

"Class of minds" doesn't work great as a limitation, as it applies to too much. I've got an in-progress build going; the major power is high-STR TK, the secondary is Mind Link...any willing mind, x16 minds at once. Give me a limitation and you're cutting the cost of ALL of that back, when it's not all that warranted...at least on Mind Link. Mind Control on the Machine class of mind? In a modern campaign, that's scary. Plus, the intent's to distinguish between the decker, the mentalist, or the animal speaker. Generally they're wildly separate, so the notion of a completely unlimited, works on anything mental power isn't sensible. So what would the base cost be, of doing this? And, it's a power with a TON of adders that commonly get used, so that's why trying to do this as a limitation is mechanically unwise.