unclevlad

Then use Stretching instead of Blast. (OK, so I love Extra Limbs, STR only with Extra Limbs, and Stretching only with the extra limbs.....)

Mmmm....no, not really. Being successful in politics, OTOH.....

That's what was set up in the aftermath scenes in Endgame. And remember the first half of Endgame. 5 years pass from Thanos' snap, IIRC, and the world is still *reeling* from it. Clint went through those years, knowing that, ok, the failure wasn't his alone, but it's still his in part. Hopelessness, despair, futility...rampant nihilism. I'd HATE to see the suicide rates in those 5 years. So as part of the second chance, he sees the one person he cares about the most, sacrifice herself in his place. OH JOY!!!! ANOTHER round of devastating loss, combined with a mountain-sized pile of survivor's guilt. Makes far more sense to say he can't muster the passion needed to return to the hero life. His rock bottom is somewhat different from Thor's rock bottom; Thor's is rooted in failure. Clint's is rooted in loss.

This is an interesting speculative article about how the power conferences might change in the next few years.... https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/09/03/coronavirus-is-reshaping-the-future-of-college-football-yep-were-talking-conference-realignment/

Ohhh....spit... It's only 1 day, but midnight GMT is about an hour away...and WorldOMeters shows ~ 53,000 new cases today. Highest since mid-August. One day is not a trend, as I said, but it's still worrisome. Oh gee, and it's Labor Day weekend. Oh, and now we've passed Sweden for per capita death rate.

And we have heard of a few cases where frats and sororities completely disregarded the rules. Not saying it's not possible; I just like a deeper dive when I see something that doesn't look quite right. It might not take that much, because certainly, the major rise was after classes kicked in. If even 1 party became a seeder event, then the ongoing mingling as more people returned does provide a totally plausible hypothesis.

On your top point: sadly, no. There is still a component that doesn't believe. On your bottom point...you have absolutely no basis for this statement, because the situations are totally different. OF COURSE an epidemic with almost no mediation techniques applied, with almost no therapy available, and which lasted MUCH, MUCH longer (18 months compared to 6) is going to yield a higher per capita death count. SO WHAT??? AND as has been pointed out: death rates are not the be-all and end-all. Even most serious (but not fatal) flu infections resolve to no long-term damage. With the coronavirus, the litany of organs damaged (long term or *permanently*) is extensive. On EVERY measure of epidemic severity, the Spanish flu rates out as about a bobcat...whereas the coronavirus rates out as a tiger.

BUT, that also means the case rise started before classes. OK, you'll have quite a few students coming back a few days early, but that feels like it's too soon for this bump. I'm not saying you're wrong; https://247sports.com/college/washington-state/Article/WSU-Pullman-suddenly-a-covid-hot-spot-No-6-in-nation-for-new-cases-150959080/ reports students getting fined for violating the gathering rules. I'd like a deeper dive into the numbers, tho. Still: there will be a sizable minority of morons. It's college, for one thing; then there's that hard-core group of (insert extensive NSFW diatribe here) that feel an obligation to NOT wear masks or do any distancing. I suspect the former group is actually larger than the latter; remember spring break.

Ohhh....I'm not liking the numbers at Worldometers today. Slight uptick yesterday, at least from the last few days; but almost 33,000 cases today, mid-afternoon here, is threatening a fairly significant uptick. NOT a trend yet, but in this case, any indication of the expectation (of a rise in cases) is Not Good.

Plus, they positioned Hawkeye to retire in Endgame, adn apparently that's still the plan. Clint Barton will show up...but passing the mantle. I'm actually better with that, purely from a story perspective.

I can see the objection to the runner on 2nd in extras, but.... Baseball's #1 problem is lack of action. No base runners. Home run, strikeout, or walk. In extras especially it's blast or bust...far too many hitters are swinging for the fences and nothing else. One thing the runner on 2nd does, is break that up, big time. FanGraphs has a story from July about it: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/so-just-how-much-less-baseball-will-the-new-extra-innings-rule-give-us/#:~:text=To start%2C some basic numbers,extra innings roughly every day. 13 innings...they didn't go that deep. But 22 went 12+...and a story in the Athletic notes the Giants were 3-0 in games 15+ innings long. It isn't common. An analytic analysis here: https://baseballwithr.wordpress.com/2020/07/13/mlbs-new-extra-inning-rule/ I would definitely favor this rule for college baseball, and probably for minor league baseball...with the proviso it applied to ALL games, including playoffs like the CWS.

I'd be more inclined to tell the player to stop jerking me, and my game, around. You're building straw men. Make it a sensible situation and action.

"Higher priority items" == the wall. It'll be interesting to see how much this drives Republicans away from Trump. Not just active duty, but vets, and family members. This is a terrible political move, IMO. It is noteworthy that 4 Republican Senators signed the letter to reverse the action and retain Stars and Stripes.

All we need remember is his contemptuous post with regard to John McCain's being a prisoner. Makes any denial of the comments attributed in these stories ring even more false than usual. (Is that possible?) Worth a quick read: polling inside the military. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2020/08/31/as-trumps-popularity-slips-in-latest-military-times-poll-more-troops-say-theyll-vote-for-biden/ My general feeling is that the military generally votes more Republican than Democratic, so while it might not be that many votes, it's a significant swing.

Yet another new low. Admitted to faking it, absolutely unrepentant, asserting he's trying to show Biden's true nature. Oh, and did we mention he's the #2 Republican in the House? What kind of slime are we electing? Don't bother answering, it's rhetorical. It's gone to the Ethics Committee, but the Republican Caucus should start by stripping him of his position and any serious committee chairs. We all expect the odds of that are approximately as good as me learning to teleport. And if he's risen to that position, odds that his district will oust him are not a whole lot better.

Ahhh, yes, I can understand that. But the Rockies pitchers stranded 25, that has to count for something...... Looks like the Rockies pitchers were poor throughout, but the train wreck can largely be blamed on Diaz and Hoffman. They combine to get only 3 outs but give up 3 walks and 8 hits, all of whom score. They've got 3 relievers with decent numbers (Bard, Almonte, Estevez) but they're all just averaging about an inning per outing. The rest are a complete sewage pit. When your starters are averaging around 5 1/2 innings per start...well, nights like this will happen. Still only one game, and they're still actually in the playoffs. Besides, this season is a joke anyway.

18-19 for the season; 5-5 in their last 10. What are you complaining about now?

If the Republicans control the Senate, there is no degree of proof, and no crime, that will be sufficient for McConnell to allow it to be considered. I'm not sure there's a plausible scenario where the Republicans lose the Senate AND Trump wins the Electoral College; states where the Republicans lose a Senate seat seem unlikely to favor Trump in the presidential vote. And a loss of that many Senate seats would seem to imply an electoral college loss. Going a step further, the worst possible move would be to try another impeachment. It'd be a clear waste of time and let Trump's supporters have a field day, denouncing the sleazy, impotent Democratic attempt. Always remember: TRUMP is the Master of Distraction. He thrives in it, and another impeachment would only be a distraction...to them.

France and Spain are seeing a serious second wave. Spain has been seeing a steady growth that started in mid-July. There is a funky, major drop for 10 days but the last 2 days have new case numbers consistent with the growth that started in July. France's case numbers started climbing in August; they're increasing at a scary pace. The 7-day average...France's daily numbers always seem shaky, making me wonder about their data collection process...on Aug. 2nd was under 1000; it's now over 5000 per day. That works out to about 1 case per 12,000 people. Spain's is much worse there...the last 3 days, it's been a 1 new case per 5000 people.

Yeah, that article is consistent with a number of others I've seen. The bradykinin connection is new, but from Wikipedia: Inflammation issues have been noted before; remember some time ago when steroids were being considered. It's also being posed as a hypothesis, not offered as an answer. It's testable in straightforward, open ways. More articles: https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/is-a-bradykinin-storm-brewing-in-covid-19--67876 https://www.biospace.com/article/-oak-ridge-researchers-use-supercomputer-on-covid-19/ Also of note...I might've missed this in the Elemental article, but the Biospace article points out, the supercomputer research was done at Oak Ridge.

Storm is an interesting option. I'm just thinking of her comic persona; I actually didn't see Dark Phoenix. (I'll claim mental stress...we know how it ends, and that is painful...and the fact that I consider that to be one of the great comics stories, so I fear letdown. Yeah...yeah. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) But she should have the stature, and you should have pretty much free rein in casting...I don't think people will worry too much about it due to the studio switch. We'll see. Sooner or later anyway.

As far as the next leader...perhaps they will wait and see over the next few movies. As was pointed out they may not need one for a while. Still doesn't help resolve what the heck they're gonna do to fill the Black Panther role; it is absolutely not something they want to set aside for long, OR screw up. Rhodey has no link to Wakanda, and he's War Machine anyway. There's your Iron Man replacement. Hm. Is Chris Hemsworth willing to play Thor for a bunch of movies? Because Thor could take the leadership role, after some time working through his anger and grief. You might end up with a very different Thor than we've seen so far, but you'd expect he'd change after all that happened. But as I said, I don't know if Hemsworth wants to commit that much.

Or 2-3 best suited to be DHs. Yeah, good analogy. Who says NBA players know the game??? Jamal Murray BOTCHED the end of the Denver game, trying to score; he gave Utah much too good a chance. Heat vs. Bucks, the Heat are trying to give away the game too...pass to the sideline, straight into a trap. Butler doesn't call time out, he throws it mostly blindly towards the Bucks' basket. Lopez gets a lay-up to cut a 4 point lead to 2. Then on the in-bound, the pass was really looped, and could EASILY have gone to the Bucks. THEN!!!!! To top it off, a Heat defender *just* slides into the space of a 3 point shooter. Borderline call...but come ON, boy! 27+ footer, STAY AWAY and don't GIVE the refs a chance to make the call. OMG. To top it off...Giannis barely runs into Jimmy Butler shooting a contested step-back at the 3 point line. Another borderline call...but the foul is called. Contact after the shot with NO TIME ON THE CLOCK. Jimmy Butler has 2 FTs to win the game. Pathetic decision making. Largely the norm in pro sports these days, tho. Let the chant of OVERRATED!!! ring from the rafters.

So we basically mentioned the 2 most viable options. Is there *time* to find a replacement, if T'challa was going to be in play as soon as next March? (Granted, there's a strong case that the old schedules are null and void.) Would Letitia Wright *want* to step into the role of Black Panther? She wouldn't face the direct comparisons, but still, that is going to be a role carrying a very heavy burden. She would have the advantage that no one would expect Shuri to have the gravitas T'challa had, not at first. Still, the fans and critics will make comparisons. Beginning to think that having T'challa die during a quest for more heart-shaped herb, and then making Shuri the next Panther, might be the cleanest route, IF Wright is OK with it.

Yeah, they made the mistake of applying a 2nd naked advantage based on the active cost of the power with the first naked advantage, which is incorrect. Naked advantages can be very nice; for example, tacking Double Knockback on your STR only when you want it. Or MegaScale on your teleport. A normal advantage is always engaged; that clearly might not be desired. (Megascale teleport is non-combat, ergo takes an extra phase. Not good for a combat teleport type.) But they are a bit tricky. You have to do a bit of work with em...because the cost of the naked advantage includes the cost of Adders but not other Advantages. It's also not necessary to buy things as naked advantages in most cases. In fact, to Simon's point, I wouldn't be surprised if the writers were rooted in earlier editions where Resistant Protection was not a power. Force Field was...but cost END. In 5E, it would be bought through Characteristics for the PD and ED, then a naked advantage for the resistant...but you can slap the hardened there too. In 6E, just buy it as Resistant Protection, with Hardened as a normal advantage. 25 resistant and hardened is a serious amount of defense, and most of the time is wasting points BTW.