Michael Hopcroft

Mormon Church President THomas S. Monson (revered as a prophet by believers) has died at the age of 90 after nearly ten years in office.
 
A successor will be names after his funeral in two weeks. Traditionally the office goes to the longest-serving Apostle (difficult to explain), who is currently 93-year-old surgeon Russell M. Nelson.. Nelson is a pioneering cardiologist who was involved in the research that led to open-heart surgery.

"Only team in FBS to finish unbeaten" is pretty good. I still think Georgia or Clemson would have beaten them. Even one of my stat sums wouldn't answer that question, because statistics are affected by the strength of the competition -- especially in football.

True story.
 
My oldest came home one day from high school about 13 years ago and he was visibly upset.  I pestered him until he finally revealed the problem, he said "A bunch of the guys think I'm weird."  (That revelation was also accompanied by some nasty names).  I replied with some advice about not letting others bother you and do your own thing and I finished up with this - Jon, EVERYONE is weird.  There is no normal.  Weird IS normal.  Trust me, EVERYONE, even the most normal acting person there is, probably has a couple Jerry Springer episodes going on in their life at certain times.  Feel free to be weird. 

This year, we will bring in more puppies for kicking practice before passing the budget.

Is this before the Yamato was converted from a sunken hulk into a state-of-the-art starship? (Yes, I'm old enough to remember Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers.)

Is this before the Yamato was converted from a sunken hulk into a state-of-the-art starship? (Yes, I'm old enough to remember Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers.)

Only because of immedaite medical attention.
Also the deflectors were still online.
 
Also, also, once you get to 95% killing/100% incapacitation chance you stop wasting energy on doing more damage and go for better armor and shield penetration. The remaining 5% not-killing chance is for main characters only.
 
I could be hit by the main guns of the Yamato in any arm or leg. My little body resistance would certainly not trigger the charge.
It would still reliably rip off the extremity and impart a lot of force on my body. I would certainly be out of whatever fight cause someone to aim such a gun on me. But my chances to survive with medical attention are still good. That is how 5% survival chance can work out.

The current head of the Church of the Gospel According to Ayn Rand, Objectivist. Their services feature readings from Atlas Shrugged and making other people pay your Tithing with no benefit to themselves.

SPIDER-MAN: THREAT OR MENACE?
 
NT: Blog post comments that really don't need to be in all caps.

There were things I liked about it a lot. The acting overall was pretty good.
 
Adam Driver got a lot of benefit from ditching the mask. His face showcased the combination the character of Kylo Ren has -- the raw power of the most dangerous Sith Lord in history with the attitude of a petulant child who acts out murderously when he doesn't get his way. He's suddenly much more interesting.
 
mark Hamill is so good that I can't help but wonder if the new director (who was also the lead writer) sat him down before the process even began and asked him "Where do you want your character to go?". It's a world of difference between the clear-eyed idealist of A New Hope with the universe-weary hermit of TLJ. His statement on the "true" legacy of the Jedi (hubris and failure) is both ac curate and heartbreaking. We have been trained in forty years of film to admire the Jedi Order, and here is perhaps one of the greatest Jedi in history telling his new protege that the whole exercise is doomed because of the very nature of the Jedi. And, of course, human nature. Luke isn't just describing the Jedi Order -- he's describing himself.

When the trailer came out, the first thought that came into my head was "It's time for Star Wars to end". I may be right, in at least one sense: the story of the Skywalkers is over. Where is there to go from here?

Their second round pick looks to be that consistent scorer. And is at least in the discussion of ROY. Also despite a horrific first season Brandon Ingram is looking like an NBA starter this year. 
LaVar played a season at Washington State as well as a few other CC or smaller schools. He also played Football - in the European league for the London Monarchs and was on an early roster for the Carolina Panthers expansion season (but never played a game)
 
 

A large lion who thinks he's God (and is probably right).
 
NT: Subtle signs the cashier ringing up your last-minute purchases on Christmas Eve is really, really done with the Holiday Shopping Season.

Knowing that the President loves coal, Santa fills his stocking with solar panels.

Knowing that the President loves coal, Santa fills his stocking with solar panels.

Knowing that the President loves coal, Santa fills his stocking with solar panels.

I wonder what color skin the "fan" has.

From the "What the Actual %@$&?" Department:
 
New Orleans Saints fan suing team over national anthem protests

Saudi Arabia residents will soon be able to go to the movies, after cinemas have been outlawed by the conservative regime for 35 years.
 
The first multiplex licenses will be issued next year, and if all goes well the government expects more than 2,000 screens to be in operation by 2030. The new move is an attempt to modernize the economy, whose dependency on petroleum revenue once made the country rich but will likely lead to trouble as oil becomes cheaper and less desirable. Currently Saudis must go abroad to go to the movies (and many actually do) and the regime needs that money to stay home.
 
It is not known yet what movies will be screened. Presumably censorship and editing will be heavy.

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Dire Straits had no idea how to lipsync convincingly, but it's a great enough song to be forgiven.
 
Is there such a thing as Post-Industrial Disease?

Q: Name yet another argument from Rincewind nobody is ever going to believe.
 
A: And from all of us here at the Batcave to all of you, Happy Holidays!

One game is a joke, that was the dirtiest cheap shot I've seen since Albert Haynesworth stepped on a man's unprotected head.  Player safety, player safety, player safety....yeah right.

One of my friends called The Good, the Bad and the Ugly one of the best films about the American Civil War ever made. The war is largely the backdrop and the plot driver (the object of obsession for the three main characters is a stolen shipment of Confederate gold), but it is definitely messy. Angel Eyes, posing as a Union officer, is more than willing to use torture to get what he wants and convince unwitting Union troops to go along (the Confederate prisoner being forced to sing to cover up the sounds of the beating is heartbreaking), and the battle over the bridge as the film approaches its climax (while not at all essential to the main plot) is a great testament to the absurdity of war in general. Sergio Leone had lived through seeing his country as a battlefield in World War II, and that's something you don't set aside easily.
 
Americans' attitude about our Civil War is complicated, and not in good ways.
 
As an aside, Clint Eastwood learned a lot from his time making films with Sergio Leone. Whether he was actively tutored by his director or simply observed carefully everything that went on I don't know, but he certainly carried it over into his own directing career. I was blown away by his incredibly nuanced Western The Outlaw Josey Wales, which starts as a simple revenge story and goes much deeper before it's through.
 
Once on Turner Classic Movies I got to see a double-feature of American submarine movies -- one wartime propaganda (Destination: Tokyo) and one made in the mid-50s (Torpedo Run). Needless to say the latter was much more nuanced, though still clearly anti-Japanese in its outlook. The latter becomes a study of obsession, as a submarine captain finds that a Japanese supercarrier has become his own personal Moby Dick, to be destroyed at all cost no matter who he hurts in the process.

I can't agree with this. There are plenty of Westerns which do not have brownface or redface made prior to the 80s which are very good. High Noon for example,  The Magnificent Seven, The Sons of Katie Elder, True Grit (original version), Rio Lobo, Rio Bravo and El Dorado, Gunfight at the OK Corral, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More.
 
The ones that changed things were Soldier Blue with graphic portrayals of cavalrymen raping Indian women, The Wild Bunch with its graphic violence and The Long Riders with its slow motion gunfire.