This story of the bloodsuckers who are consolidating the market for the products that keep people with diabetes alive is just infuriating:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/10/loopers/

That our political system allows this to continue no matter which party is in control of our government is doubly infuriating.

It seems we have no choice at all.

20 hours ago, rravenwood said:

Just sharing this here in case it helps somebody else:  I started feeling a scratchy throat on Sunday, and took an at-home COVID test which returned a negative result.  My symptoms erupted into what seemed to be a full-on head cold by the next day, and continued unabated Tuesday.  Someone suggested that I test again, which I did, and: strongly positive result this time.  Some follow-up Googling educated me that this is at least not uncommon with Omicron, where symptoms can start while the viral load is still low enough not to be picked up reliably by at-home tests.  Re-testing on the 3rd or 5th day after symptoms begin may be advisable.

 

(I'm not a health care professional, this is just from my own experience, etc., etc. - again, just putting it out there to help anyone else who may not have been aware of this.)

 

I'm fully vaccinated & double-boosted.  The symptoms have remained at bad-cold levels so far, thankfully - no shortness of breath or anything more serious.  I just get to play the isolation game, oh boy.

55 minutes ago, Hermit said:

Well, I've got it, and I can say I'm not enjoying it. It would be much worse if I didn't have the shots I know but I do feel like grumbling anyway

Wow, lots of careful folks seem to be getting it now. I hope you both get better soon.

(I have dental surgery scheduled for next Wednesday. It's either that or lose my two lower front teeth. But oh how I dread it...not so much for the considerable pain I'll be in afterward, but the chance I'll get COVID while I'm there with my mouth hanging open for a couple of hours.)

2 hours ago, Sketchpad said:

 

Chaosium BRP did have a supers game called Superworld, which was created by Steve Perrin. Very influenced by Champions (or so it felt), and was the rules used in the famous Wild Cards setting.

And it's still available, as a pretty reasonably priced PDF for anyone interested in this little bit of supers RPG history:

https://www.chaosium.com/superworld-roleplaying-pdf/

Also worth mentioning "Bad Medicine for Dr. Drugs" and "Trouble for HAVOC", both of which are available as inexpensive PDFs that are compatible with not only Superworld but also Champions 1e-3e!

I love how intertwined so many companies and authors were back then, especially Hero Games, Chaosium, and Steve Jackson Games.

5 hours ago, Ternaugh said:

 

The first episode was good, and the graphic stylings of her daydreams reminded me a bit of Into the Spider-Verse and Turning Red. 

Good point! It's pretty fun stuff.

I also like that the way they're handling the DMs and text messages makes them much more readable for my old eyes than many other series have lol

Ms. Marvel (Disney+): One episode in, this seems pretty good. It's an interesting variation on some of the Spider-Man tropes. It's clearly intended for younger viewers, but it's enjoyable enough for adults as well.

And are police in those other countries also given extraordinary legal immunity from prosecution along with no legal duty to protect anyone from immediate danger?

Made for Love (HBOMax) Last night we watched S2E1 and wow, it's as good as S1. Here's hoping they keep it up.

Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 3 was a bit better. I'm glad they didn't have Leia run in this episode. The little actress just doesn't seem to be able to run very well (or they're not letting her do so), resulting in really bad chase choreography. This ep was more like a road trip, and the character interactions worked pretty well. Still, they do seem to be really leaning into the movie serials, complete with lots of things happening that make no sense in context.

We finished Cake, S1-S5 (Hulu). S1 and S5 were the best of the five. The one with the shark story was the worst. Overall, the show is worth watching, but the segments are of widely varying quality so you'll end up seeing quite a lot that doesn't hit for you.

May TJack roll triple 1s in the great beyond.

Nice!

Are you in IL? I am, and heard something about the state gov sending out some cash. Or are several states doing it?

George Carlin's American Dream (HBOMax): I grew up in the generation where all the much-worshipped artists of the previous generation decided to do something completely different. The erstwhile worshippers may have been disappointed by, for example, Neil Young's Wonderin' or The Rolling Stones' Waitin' on a Friend, but I didn't have prior experience to fall back on with these artists so to me, they were just super duper lame. Embarrassing, really. Same for George Carlin, who in my time was just the dude with the lame ass segment on the lame ass Tony Orlando and Dawn .  It was only much later that I came to appreciate these classic artists, but I never became much of a fan of any of them. Still, I respect Carlin for his later, more raw comedy from the 90s when he really laid it on the line. His "It's a big club and you're not in it" era. So, for me, the first half of this two-part biography was interesting but almost not worth watching. Still I persisted and was rewarded by the second half (which I appreciated more having seen the first half). Good stuff!

In other news, as most everyone has already said, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+) is good so far. But I'm pretty tired of the Skywalker family story. Although I'm mildly interested in how Leia came to see Obi-Wan as her "only hope," please move on after this one, Disney.

Here's a good article on what the GOP midterm strategy of driving voters to the polls with the boogeymen of grooming and CRT looks like in Chattanooga TN, where concerned moms face off in an increasingly bitter battle for the future.

https://newrepublic.com/article/166373/moms-liberty-schools-nightmare-midterms

Video of a PRE attack fail in real life.

3 minutes ago, Ragitsu said:

 

They are insidious in the extreme.

So true!

And omnipresent, from Gunsmoke and Adam-12 when I was a kid to Chicago PD and Rookie today.

Not to mention all those "He had to go beyond the law, because the bad guys were just so bad!" shows and movies explicitly supporting excessive force, extrajudicial killings, and the rest.

Say what you will about DC movies, at least the rides based on them didn't make people blow chunks en masse:

Quote

Motion sickness bags now being offered to riders at Disney's Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind rollercoaster

Based on our early rider reviews, motion sickness was not expected to be a significant issue at Cosmic Rewind, but as the general public is experiencing the ride, more and more cases of motion sickness are being reported.

To combat the issue, Disney has recently installed more garbage cans at the exit with an open top to allow easier access for vomiting guests.

On today's grand opening, Disney has gone a step further and is now offering vomit bags at the exit to anyone who might need one.

https://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/guardians-of-the-galaxy/news/27may2022-motion-sickness-bags-now-being-offered-to-riders-at-the-exit-of-guardians-of-the-galaxy-cosmic-rewind.htm

2 hours ago, DShomshak said:

You will notice that the old motto of "To Serve and Protect" does not say who cops serve and protect. A cynical person might say it's the ruling class. And that though police are part of a wider "pacification project" to keep the wider populace sufficiently docile that they do not trouble their betters, a certain degree of random violence does not entirely displease some of the people in power.

 

I have no proof, of course, just a nasty, suspicious mind.

 

Dean Shomshak

No cynicism needed. The Supreme Court has held that the police have no duty to protect us.

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/politics/justices-rule-police-do-not-have-a-constitutional-duty-to-protect.html

It's taken me a long time to realize the truth. Police write up reports for insurance companies and (selectively) police our behavior.  Above all, they protect the wealthy and powerful (and their property) from the rest of us.

It's not an accident as far as I can tell; the system seems to be set up that way. Heck, when we peaceably assemble in front of a supreme court judge's home, look what happens. Or when we assemble to protest legitimate concerns such as elites shipping our jobs overseas (one-sided trade agreements) or police summarily executing citizens with impunity. But when a murderer enters a school to kill children, the police make room for him and start arresting the parents who ask them why they're not saving the children. And then they lie about it. They apparently lie constantly, seemingly reflexively, about every aspect of their jobs. And they get away with it, are given almost complete impunity for their behavior toward us.

It seems pretty clear to me what the police are there for, and unfortunately it's not what decades of copaganda TV shows had led me to believe.

We finished S2 of The Flight Attendant (HBOMax). S2 was a shadow of the first season. That's not uncommon with shows from the Greg Berlanti machine, but in this case they were able to work from an existing story for S1 but were on their own with S2. They just weren't up to making an exciting and interesting story, so instead came up with a banal story about alcoholism, family, motherhood, and related themes. The writers had nothing interesting to say and don't seem to have really understood what made S1 so compelling. Not worth watching. It would be best to watch S1 and stop there.

We also finished S2 of Mr. Mayor (Hulu). For a 1/2-hour network comedy, S1 was pretty good. As usual for its type, it had moments of dull idiocy, but it also had enough somewhat clever bits that it was worth watching. S2 started out at almost the same level but it descended from there. The penultimate episode didn't even cause me to crack a smile. The final episode was a bit better, but I think it's a good thing that this one wasn't renewed for a third season.

https://twitter.com/RubenBolling/status/1529459769303613440?s=20&t=QGeOKJBAlH7g3ySzpUWt2Ahttps://twitter.com/RubenBolling/status/1529459769303613440?s=20&t=QGeOKJBAlH7g3ySzpUWt2A

a) Give your episodes titles? Usually, but only for my own needs. I don't usually share that with the players.

b) Do you give origins to all your villains Sure, roughly proportionate to their expected importance to the game world/scenario. Again, usually not shared directly with the players. They can find out pieces of it, get glimpses, etc. during the course of play, though.

c) Are your important NPCs stated out? If I think it'll be useful. Otherwise I just jot down any important attributes.

d) Do you go above and beyond the duty with special props for any of your games? Not usually. I did a lot more back in the 80s than I've done since, outside of running convention games.

e) anything else? For the last decade or so, I've spent more time focusing on characters and their motivations, verisimilitude, coherency, and internal logic. I need to be able to convey a believable world and inhabit believable characters for my players. Sometimes statting fully does help with that, but sometimes it's irrelevant.

I received my Traveller HERO books yesterday and I'm over the moon! 😁

Watched another nostalgia flick, this time one that I don't have any nostalgia for because I didn't watch the originals: Chip 'N' Dale Rescue Rangers. I still enjoyed the bazillion cameos and references to other media properties, a la Roger Rabbit (including several to Roger Rabbit itself). The story was about what you'd expect, nothing brilliant, but it works. More importantly enough of the humor works to make it an enjoyable watch.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife: A surprisingly enjoyable decades-later sequel. Nothing will recapture the magic of the original, but this was very well done.