unclevlad

News about politics, but not political... Not a surprise, as his health has been fragile all year, George HW Bush died this evening.

Side point. If it's a full-on city, I'd just buy the Universals from APG, applied generally to the city as a whole. Universal JOAT...there's just about every kind of tradesman you want. Universal Scholar. and Universal Scientist..the university as a whole.

A full city would seem to imply a LOT more than just a base. Putting a base underground is easy, that's in the rules. The issue would tend to be cost; what are we talking about here? You say 'city' I start thinking in terms of multiple square miles...something like size 30. I'm also hearing lots and lots and lots of people, which is tricky when you're talking a base. Be that as it may....just pay for things and do the actual layout as it's needed. It's much like building any fantasy city; you don't necessarily need to place every shop, every temple, every inn. No one's gonna care. about 90% of it...just due to the sheer volume of detail. Also: in something as large and complex as a city, you'll tend to have multiple spots for *much* of the functionality...there's more than one lab for a PS: Analytical Chemist, for example. You might want to just create a broad district plan...this area's the University, this area's the major medical complex, this area's the admin center, and so forth.

Well. We knew the West was better, but... As of this evening, possibly with some late games not yet complete...112 interconference games. West is winning 60%. If you take out the terrible Suns who are 1-7, it's approaching 2 out of 3. And the West is *seriously* cutthroat in the middle rank. 20-22 games played...9 teams are within 2 games of .500. And whoa, the Clips??? Who'da thunk that!

The implications of superpowers, heroes, and villains is an unending subject. Jurisprudence and rules of evidence. Law and enforcement. Governments. Liability issues, which relates to licensing issues...what does it take to be called a Hero, and to have protection from collateral damage involved in stopping a supervillain? On the flip side, how do you hold a licensed hero accountable for excessive force/damage? (Drew Hayes' Super Powereds series draws on this quite a bit.) Trademark and copyright laws. Fakes and forgeries that are power-enhanced...even such things as taking a flawed gem and using Transform on it simply to correct the flaws. A purely mechanical transform. (Arguably this would be an extension of the principle of exposing to radiation to enhance color.) Occasionally subtle points...proving that you were at A, when a crime was committed at B a few miles away, isn't much of a defense if teleport or duplication are in play. Or shapeshift...no, it wasn't you, it was someone imitating you. At A *or* B. Mind control as a defense, is probably going to strongly depend on how the GM implements it. Details will matter. Can a witness voluntarily accede to telepathic reading, and would it be admissible?

Well, we're seeing, as best I can recall, the first serious pushback against Trump, by the Republicans. This is about the Khashoggi killing. After a briefing to the Senate that didn't include any CIA representation, and only had Trumpian spin involved, the Senate moved to continue debate on a bill to stop military aid to the Saudis, by a 63-37 vote. That means QUITE a few Republicans crossed over, including some very big names. I'm hoping that this starts the ball rolling, to at least curb Trump's worst tendencies.

Interesting article about the Jags, Bortles, and some other mistakes one can anticipate being made: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2807886-nfl-teams-can-learn-a-lot-from-the-predictable-collapse-of-the-jaguars?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_medium=referral

So will Dalton's departure be enough of a crutch to allow Marvin Lewis to keep his job for another season? On that note, how many more coaches are getting fired? I think it's gonna be quite a few, but at least a couple (Garrett and Joseph) have managed to quell the talk for the time being. Will finally recognizing reality and benching Bortles, mean the GM who approved the extension last year...with NO good reason to do so and many NOT to...get Tom Coughlin booted? BTW, SB Nation has an interesting article pointing out that Bortles will probably be on the roster for the Jags next year.

Best fairly large damage roll I ever saw...11d6. 19 Body, 58 Stun. I have seen a perfect 6-die roll. And one time, a perfect triple. 3d HKA, claws. Might've been doing a move-by. Roll to hit....3. PING! Roll damage....18. PING!! Roll KB....killing attack so 3 dice again. 3. PINGPINGPINGPING!!!!!!! GM ruled the target's head basically got taken rather cleanly off. We weren't particularly 'nice' heroes in that game, so it fit.

There are also always snippets. Instrumental intros and codas, for example: --intro from Santana's Black Magic Woman --several codas from Mark Knopfler, with or without Dire Straits. Telegraph Road, Sultans of Swing, What It Is. --guitar wizards. Van Halen's Jump (specifically), Eric Johnson, Eric Clapton in his Cream days, Jeff Beck, Pat Metheny --classical...Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, the opening phrases of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, the glorious 9th Symphony's first movement and the first several minutes of the 4th (choral) movement. When the fur really flies, the latter parts of the 1812 Overture. The all-time ultimate Nick of Time Rescue music: William Tell Overture. Copland's Hoedown from Rodeo is music evoking a barn dance; it'd be great good fun for a big BAM! SLAP! POW!!! kind of combat with lots of double knockbacks and movethroughs. --yeah, lots of movie music. My all-time, definitive Heroic Music...the theme from the Magnificent Seven...the original, 1960 version. Lots of John Williams. Queen's soundtrack from Highlander. IIRC there's some good stuff in the Lost Boys soundtrack. If you've got any streaming music, see about building channels like this and just letting them play as background music. You hear a "oh now this....." and note it. I make ringtones every now and again for my phone; MP3 is a really easy format to edit, and there's several programs for editing on your PC.

It can be argued that Trump's presidential bid was nothing but grandstanding...at first. Mind, I seriously doubt even the current Court would consider a requirement that a woman have a child is *remotely* Constitutional, but any move in this direction is something that needs to be quashed ASAP.

Rams, Saints, Bears in the NFC. Bears are at least a game and a half up on everyone behind them; with only 5 left, that's a big margin. Probably safe to put Rams and Saints in the playoffs in india ink; they're not mathematically in, but the combination of events that would knock them out has to be rather specific. IF there is one. Teams behind them will knock each other off. AFC, if you're gonna throw in the Steelers, then you have to throw in the Chargers, and if they win tonight, Houston. Chargers are 8-3 now...better record than Steelers. If Houston wins, they're also 8-3. Pats are probably the biggest lock because their division is so poor, then Chiefs just behind. Steelers, Chargers, and Texans are Should Be In, but could yet blow it. They don't get india ink, they get rollerball ink so I can wash it away if need be. The big battle is the #2 WC spot, IMO, plus positioning.

Denver's home against Cleveland, so that should be a win. Bengals are on the road next week, and Bengals should be desperate and angry after such an ugly egg today. If I bet sports...which is IMO definitively idiotic...that's not a game I'd bet on. Could see anything from Broncos by 14 (Bengals have cashed it in, given up on Marvin Lewis, and Dalton continues his fall into oblivion) to Bengals by 17 (Broncos on the road, nuff said). And Niners is on the road, so it's always possible it'll be a Donkey job. But we might be being excessively cynical about them. It's hard to say; the inconsistency from week to week in the NFL seems to be growing every year.

No dissing the Browns today. They're winning. Again. Amazingly enough. As of the moment, they're actually not picking in the first 10 in the 2019 draft, and their fans have to be a lot more positive about the team direction than quite a few teams. Including the Bengals...another horrible loss, at home against a lesser team. I don't see Marvin Lewis coaching them next year, but I've said that for a couple years now. Inconsistency is the only thing that's been consistent. I'm not gonna say they're as bad, organizationally, as the mega-losers...Browns for so long, Cowboys, Jets, probably Dolphins and Raiders...but they're not a lot better.

Definitely Pinky. Yep. STUPID Trojans can't do anything right. Gahhhh....Notre Dame drives me up the wall...............and they'll be in the BCS for sure now.

You keep saying that, but it's still there. I think you're Pinky, posting incognito....... I abhor Ohio State this year cuz I think they sold their souls...but Jimmy Harebrained isn't exactly a favorite. So, yeah, Michigan losing will be Just Fine, Thank You, as long as OSU doesn't make the playoffs. Preferably by losing in the title game, but that seems against the odds. (One never knows if they'll be flat, tho, after a win like that.) The bigger stunner could be going on right now on the Left Coast. Still early 2nd quarter, but USC's up 10 on ND.

So... How will Trump attempt to denigrate, isolate, and discredit the government's own report, fundamentally saying climate change is already causing major problems, and that it is largely man-made. Well, let's start with the fact that it was released today...when everyone is still in a tryptophan daze, or hung over, or coming down from the zoo that is Doorbuster Black Friday Sales. Or just watching football and basketball.... But real news? Nah.

Living?

Nice pot of chili all set up, about to slap on the tagine lid...it'll be ready for the 2nd game, and I'll nosh on it through the early part of the evening's debacle. At least a Brees blowout is still fun to watch, just cuz Brees is that good....

How bout when your doctor...not his office, but the doc himself...calls you at 4:30 pm and says "go get these prescriptions filled NOW" after having taken your blood (to check A1c, aka blood sugars) that morning. To offer some encouragement, Bazza...got my blood sugars down from 300ish, when I got this call, to solidly 110ish after dinner, in about 3 months. Lost 40-50 pounds over 6 months. It does help I only feed me...don't have to have temptation floating around like cookies or sweets or anything for others.

I call it SportsCenter Syndrome.

A few issues...one of which is that there's no byes at all in weeks 1-4 and 13-17, or thereabouts...I don't recall the exact weeks but they've never had byes super-early or super-late in the season. Rams and Chiefs have the last 2 byes, and that's this week. So there's about 7 weeks on the schedule where it's not possible. (Week 1, doesn't matter; week 17, there's no TNF.) But at the least, DON'T have a team playing on TNF play Sunday night or Monday...period. Pre-scheduled or flex. Pretty sure they don't do Monday-Thursday, but pretty sure this was the 2nd time they did Sunday night to Thursday. Of course if player welfare was a concern at all...if quality games was a goal...there'd be no TNF, with the exception of Turkey Day. Or outside the country. We all know, tho, they're not gonna cut back on any of those.

Ah but Trump is all about efficiency. Both at once!

Can I get an Amen from the congregation!!!

Oh, he hides his bias. He wraps it up very, very tightly in the flag and calls it patriotism. America First! He wasn't American so who cares! EDIT: Sorry, my bad!! It's Trump First, Last, and Always. America First is how he lies to himself.