unclevlad

What would be even more meretricious would be Hannity, Carlson, et al. push to jump the line.

Another aspect of these retractions is it shows how seriously the lawsuit threat is taken by the networks' legal departments and boardrooms. EDIT: Old Man, I strongly disagree. You're being extremely unfair to the Justices. Mind, I'm no fan of this Court, but this doesn't have federal vs. state powers, or presidential authority, or Constitutional literalism aspects. Heck, the Court's already dismissed a few of the voting cases already.

We have proof that astrology is, in fact, legitimate. The conjunction has cursed the Steelers. More seriously, Steeler fans should be panicking. This has been in the top 5, most atrocious halfs played. Right up there with some of the Atlanta collapses, or the Bronco first half against the Fins when they had no QB. 2:40 left in the first half, Steelers are punting again. 36 total yards of offense for the half. And what's worse, the contraction of the offense is getting worse and worse. Steelers don't even try to pass downfield. Literally NO downfield threat, so the defense's box keeps everyone near the line and ready to counter the *extremely* limited play calls. I excoriated the Rams yesterday; this feels worse.

You're taking a vacation on Mars?

It served as a diversion because the kickoff was at 12:30 local. Even a poor game is better than the usual daytime dreck. And hey, NTSU was 4-5, and this was one of the pure ESPN bowls...it basically exists for ESPN to broadcast. Tennessee was scheduled to play in the Liberty Bowl...a solid 2nd-tier bowl with a long history. They were 3-7. They had to opt out due to Covid-19 issues; they fell under the minimum number of players and coaches, IIRC. But still...a 3-7 team in a bowl of that significance. Ridiculous. IIRC there were 40 or so bowl games last year. It's down to 28...possibly even 27, keeping track of these is tricky...in part because 20+ teams have said "no mas." I'd *hate* to play a post-Christmas bowl game, because you have to believe a requirement to do that will be to quarantine the entire team through Christmas. You let your kids go home, and the risk of a large number of cases is just much too high. Probably OK if we're talking CFP; the payday is too big to pass on, for a New Year's Day bowl, too. But these minor bowls...no way. That's asking too much from everyone.

Pure, unadulterated attempts at CYA. Given the extended period of time they pushed these claims...what, 5 solid weeks...I think this means squat in terms of mitigating their libel.

And the second week in the NFC is less important. Talk about Not Selling Your Own Game: MNF people picking the Steelers-Bengals mismatch...the *closest* pick was 31-10 Steelers. Steve Young went with 28-3, Randy Moss went out on a limb with 42-9, Booger just said "by a lot"...basically, Steelers can pick the score. It's seriously rare, to my admittedly imperfect memory, that picks *blow through* the line on the high side. The line's bad enough, at -14.5. But hey, the Bengals are the lowest-rated team over at FiveThirtyEight *by a lot*. And I think the Steelers need to get back to business, so something like 34-6 sounds about right. Well, I've got 2 new books to read, and a third coming out Wednesday...

Push comes to shove, I think there's a lot of truth here: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/30563882/college-football-playoff-2020-committee-remains-disappointingly-predictable

Yeah, but before the Silver Age, MOST characters were like that. Silver Age escalated everything. I remember a Superman-Spectre teamup...probably a World's Finest but this was ages ago. Superman has a line at the end that is, IIRC "The mighty Superman. I used to be able to juggle planets, now I have problems manipulating a few puny continents." The Flash-Superman race was around this time frame, with both pushing if not exceeding lightspeed. You've also got the escalation of opposition; he's not going up against clever and/or tricky enemies like Riddler or Joker, where it's a skill vs. skill kind of matchup as much as anything.

But some of that is the slow increase of damage, compared to lifting STR. If you don't give major lifting STR, your baseline damage is bad. Say the target's 12 DCs. What STR are you gonna give your martial artist? 20 would mean you need probably 6 HTH martial arts DCs. But in its own way, doesn't that feel like a system abuse? Batman has been shown at times as a lifter, IIRC, and NCM probably fits. He's probably got 18 STR just from the table...300 kg, 660 pounds. I'll buy that. The examples? Too nebulous. What does a piano weight? What type and size of piano...a cheap upright versus a well made concert grand. 1800 pound sports car? A Miata is 2300. There might be some in the supercar-hypercar class. Sailboat...far too many variables. And in the comics, the general reason you don't see them for a Batman-type is...why would you see it? Those stunts usually relate to brick tricks like throwing them. Batman's not a brick. On the general subject, I think there's 3 related but separate concepts: 1. Efficiency -- recognizing that all discrete systems will have transition points, and picking the better side of them. 2. Gaming the system -- using (or trying to use) one aspect of the system to trump another 3. Powergaming -- this is really a very specific notion. It's related to efficiency, but conceptually it's about selling back 'useless' aspects to buy more 'useful' aspects...like damage. In Hero, it might be going for the 8 INT, EGO, and PRE for a fighter-type. There's also the suggestion that you won't *play* the character as the stats suggest; he's still gonna be a tactical genius. Powergaming covers some other aspects, such as this VPP: VPP: Real cost 5; Control cost 6. No Skill Roll, Zero Phase to switch. Limited powers (HA, HKA only). Call that -1. 9 points. In principle, this VPP gives your martial artist, where the overall damage is coming elsewhere, the ability to target PD or ED, or to build any AVAD/NND. Target any known vulnerability or weakness. IOW, as others have pointed out, to break the scenario. For gaming the system, here's an example: Trigger, combined with Extra Time (1 turn, only to activate), Concentration (1/2 DCV), and take your pick of additional 1/4 limits like Nonpersistent, Costs END to activate, or possibly Time Limit. Slap this onto a Desolid, 0 END. The Trigger's adding 10...but the limitations that are commonly completely negated cut the cost back down to 35. It's incorrect to think of these as sharply delineated. They're not. Efficiency can easily drift into gaming the system when it's overused because of synergistic combinations, or by manipulating things. Compound Power and Linked can be used in some abusive ways: Compound Power, all slots will have Concentration (1/2 DCV) --Shrinking, 1 level. Costs END only to activate; Costs END only to activate --DI, 3 levels, 0 END (so also the STR doesn't cost END) --6/6 resistant protection, costs END to activate That's 43 active, 32 real, and treated as 1 power. You can technically now Link up to 43 points to this...4/4 Damage Negation, 50% resistant DR physical AND energy (they're separate listings), 24" Flight with x8 non-combat movement and 1/2 END...and you're getting a -1/2 limit, not a -1/4 OIAID. Or on the flip side, buy 4/4 Damage Negation, with Concentration and Costs END to Activate...then buy STR, DEX, SPD, OCV, and DCV all individually Linked. Again, an HFO where you're getting -1/2. Note that yes, I count most power armor builds along these lines. But, using these a little bit can be fine, particularly if the points are used to buy things that are less useful/more flavor-oriented, or that just fit...I tend to like, say, 20 STR even for blaster types, in campaigns where significant physical training is a general assumption.

Bills aren't in the race, cuz they're in the playoffs. Browns have the advantage of playing the Jets...and shouldn't take them lightly as one suspects a certain southern California embarrassment did. If they win, they're in if the Colts lose (to the Steelers) because they have the tie breaker there. They're in if the Fins or Ravens don't win, as that'd guarantee the better record. Fins play Raiders; Ravens play Giants. Raiders are actually 2 point favorites. Not sure about them tho. Giants gave it a go there for a bit, but I think injuries have killed them. A 4-way WC tie is quite possible. Ravens should take their last 2; Browns, Colts, and TN could easily split them. If the Dolphins can get past the Raiders trying to stay alive, their last game is Buffalo, which is likely to be mostly meaningless to the Bills. That puts all 5 at 11-5, and one becomes odd man out. The NFC picture has more differentiation. The cornerstone team here is probably the Rams. That was a VERY costly loss because their last 2 are Seahawks and Cards...and that latter may well be an elimination game. Arizona has the Niners; Bears have the Jags. They're both favored, as is Seattle. If all 3 favorites win, Seattle wins the division; Rams and Cards are tied at 9-6, Bears would be 8-7. Tampa Bay has Detroit in week 16; they'll probably win that and go to 10-5 and clinch at that point. So the loser of Rams-Cards could end up in a tie with the Bears for the last spot, but the Bears do have the Packers in week 17, and the #1 seed will probably be on the line for GB.

Interesting story in NYT today. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/business/media/smartmatic-lawsuit-fox-news-newsmax-oan.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20201221&instance_id=25259&nl=the-morning&regi_id=101745266&segment_id=47474&te=1&user_id=618f95a4931087ea799b0e9f4a9d3344 TL;DR -- Smartmatic and Dominion look to have a very good case for libel, and the sheer frequency and reach of the reports may make for some very, very large judgments. Smartmatic would seem to have an exceptionally good case, because they weren't even involved in the contested states. And the owner has claims for damages: he's getting calls from countries where he *does* do business, so his reputation and ability to do business has been damaged. This will take a while to play out, of course, but I shall cheer for them from the sidelines.

A scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle did some data analysis: there's a correlation between new case numbers and new deaths...with a 22 day lag. NYT gave a link to a Twitter feed outlining it: https://twitter.com/trvrb/status/1326404864843390976?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20201221&instance_id=25259&nl=the-morning&regi_id=101745266&s=20&segment_id=47474&te=1&user_id=618f95a4931087ea799b0e9f4a9d3344

Yeah, they get to play on the longest night of the year. There is symbolism there for their fans.....

Besides, if one looks at the essential concepts defining an "essential worker" and a "politician"...the latter set is the antithesis of the former.

Not when it's an 0-13 team. Ban them. Disband them. Fire the coach. Trade all the players. Relegate them to the XFL. NOT FORGIVABLE!!!

Right. The Rams MUST BE BANNED from the playoffs!!!!! And I think that should lay to rest that Greg Williams' defensive call was his, and his alone. Would someone be willing to come by and help me find the bits of my exploded brain?

That, and gathering up a couple of the ingredients where absolute freshness is crucial. The shelf life of dragon blood is just hours.

And do you think the ultra-rich elsewhere aren't trying to do it too?

Or in other words, stuck on Steeler's Wheel. Clowns to the left of me! Jokers to the right! Here I am stuck in the middle with you. Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you, And I'm wondering what it is I should do.

For the US? 7 day average is basically 2600 right now. Click on the USA data and scroll down to the graphs; they're below the state-by-state numbers. If you're looking at the world numbers, at what *time*? The reporting day may not be completed. On the World page, look at the Yesterday and 2 days ago tabs; those are complete. But the 7-day average on the US data page avoids the day-of-week fluctuations; Sunday's always lower, Thurs/Fri are usually the highest.

I'm not worried about the senior military leaders backing any call for martial law. Remember, many of the very senior brass advocated against Trump over the summer and fall. To be sure, there's still quite a few who don't think Biden's up for it, but declaring martial law, presumably on the completely discredited election fraud issue, is a step I think very few of those who don't like Biden could stomach.

Onside kick inside 2 minutes, down 3 touchdowns....yeah right........ Broncos deserved to give up a 50+ romp to the house.

Big fish in a puddle.

Huh? The current 7 day average is over 2500 deaths per day. 12 days, that's 30,000 deaths. And we're already over 320,000. So if it remains the same, we'll probably top 350K. It's been *rising* too. Death rates tend to track case rates with about a 3 week lag. So saying "will not" is a significant overstatement. One does see somewhat different counts, tho, so this can be a factor, but based on the new cases numbers, we may well see an average of closer to 3500 deaths per day. That'll spike any count I've seen over 350,000 before NYD.