Ranxerox

Glad to hear about the cutting back and the weight loss thing.  I think that I speak for everyone here in saying that we want you around for a good long time.
 
If you don't mind me asking, which country were you thinking of moving to?

Yeah, I was thinking that about Prigozhin.  To paraphrase Emerson, if you are going to shoot the king don't miss.  Well, having seconds thoughts after if you pull your gun probably isn't too good for your health either.

“I never wished a man dead, but I’ve read some obituaries with great pleasure.” -- Mark Twain.
 
"You shouldn’t say anything about the dead unless it’s good. He’s dead. Good." – attributed to Moms Mabley (1894–1975)

The Iron Sheik Dead, WWE Legend Dies At Age 81

Duplicating a post I made in the Star Hero forum...
 
Another space mission goes superheroic in its endurance

Daveed Diggs is Jewish.  His mom is Jewish and by tradition it passes in matrilineal fashion. 

Daveed Diggs is Jewish.  His mom is Jewish and by tradition it passes in matrilineal fashion. 

Daveed Diggs is Jewish.  His mom is Jewish and by tradition it passes in matrilineal fashion. 

Daveed Diggs is Jewish.  His mom is Jewish and by tradition it passes in matrilineal fashion. 

Daveed Diggs is Jewish.  His mom is Jewish and by tradition it passes in matrilineal fashion. 

He'll have a following in prison.  It makes things easier.  
 

Would she say that it's a... global conspiracy?

Mystery buyer purchases California ghost town for $22.5 million
 
We all know the reason: supervillain lair. 
 

De-mining fields with an RC tractor. (or do we call it a drone tractor?)
 
 
I said earlier that if I saw anymore awesome Ukrainian tractor stories (after stealing Russian equipment and pulling light rail during a power outage) I'd make Ukrainian Tractor Guy a Dark Champions character. So here you go, Victor Tractorvich drove tanks in the Red Army just before the Soviet Union collapsed. Between that and decades on his family farm there's no equipment he can't work on. Killdozer? Don't tempt him.
 
Val    Char    Cost    Roll    Notes
15    STR    5    12-    200kg, 3d6
13    DEX    9    12-    Base CV: 4
13    CON    6    12-    
11    BOD    2    11-    
18    INT    8    13-    PER Roll: 13-
8    EGO    -4    11-    Base ECV: 3
13    PRE    3    12-    
10    COM    0    11-    
                
5    PD    2        
5    ED    2        
3    SPD    7        Phases: 4, 8, 12
8    REC    4        
40    END    7        
37    STN    11        
Cost    Skills
3    Combat Driving
4    2 Penalty Skill Levels for inadquate supplies for Mechanics
3    Hoist (Tow) 13-
3    Electronics 13-
5    Mechanics 14-
3    Computer Programming 13-
2    Gambling: Chess
2    AK: Kyiv oblast
2    KS: Russian Literature (and other former Soviet countries)
2    KS: Russian Military Equipment 11-
2    KS: Diesel Engines 11-
4    PS: Farming 14- (INT)
2    SS: Drone Controls / remote robotics 11-
2    SS: Agronomy 11-
0    Ukrainian (Native)
3    Russian (Idiomatic, Native Accent)
1    English (Basic Conversation)
5    Transport Familiarity (Common Motorized Ground Vehicles ; Construction and Agricultural Vehicles ; Tracked Military Vehicles ; Wheeled Military Vehicles)
8    Weapon Familiarity (Small Arms ; General Purpose/Heavy Machine Guns ; Shoulder-Fired Weapons ; Emplaced Weapons ; Tank Weapons)
2    Weaponsmith (Firearms, Advanced) 13-
2    Survival (Temperate)
    
    Perks
2    Landowner Money ($200,000/year)
1    Problemsolver Reputation (Kyiv oblast countryside, 11-)
    
    Talents
5    Unimpressed (+10 PRE (20 Active) only to Protect Against Presence Attacks (-1).
20    Action Hero's Luck (Luck 4d6)
    
-75    Disadvantages
-5    Age (40+)
-15    Chain Smoker Addiction (Must smoke cigarette at least once per hour or suffer Incompetence) (Very Common, Addiction)
-15    Babushka DNPC 11- (Mother-in-Law) Normal
-15    Functional Alcoholic Psychological Limitation Very Common, Moderate
-10    Helpful Psychological Limitation (Compulsively Volunteers, it bugs him to see problems unsolved) Common, Moderate
-15    Bad Back Physical Limitation (Each day he works on a Mechanics project, or other physical work, for more than four hours he must make a CON roll or spend 24 hours in bed) Uncommon, Fully

Sailing boat rescued by the Götheborg

I can't heart or trophy this post, but I certainly know where you are coming from.

I can't heart or trophy this post, but I certainly know where you are coming from.

Another story I've read has Sherriff Capers attributing the slow response to having only 3 deputies to cover a very large area. Everyone was simply far away at the time. This is plausible, but... Stories also say this was not the first time neighbors complained of Mr Oropeza's gunfire, and police had talked to him before. I suppose that's one for the "Get your own gun for home defense" side. I would prefer a policy of taking guns away from people who use them irresponsibly, just like taking licenses from people who drive irresponsibly.
 
Side note: Gov. Abbott brought up the alleged immigration status of both Mr Oropeza and Mr Garcia's family. Props to Sherriff Capers for saying firmly that this does not matter. Murdering children is murdering children.
 
Dean Shomshak

Man who lost wife, son in Texas mass shooting tells story

Yes, but if he realized that it was the police on the other side of the door, he likely wouldn't have pointed a gun at them and would still be alive.  Still, I am happy to agree to disagree.

Thanks,Ranxerox. I see where our opinions diverge. I don't believe that anyone knocking on someone's door should have a gun directly pointed at them without first identifying them as an imminent threat to life or limb. The law agrees with me on that point. So, the police identifying themselves properly is a moot point. That said, let's agree to disagree on that detail.

No.  I agree that the homeowner bears some fault, but I am not willing to let the police off the hook for their role in this.  Neither resident of the house realized that the people pounding at were police officers.  I consider this prima facie evidence that the officers did not do a good enough job identifying themselves.  Yelling "this is the police" once at people who may be asleep or in a distant part of the house behind closed doors is not sufficient identification.  I work in health care, and we don't fool around with identification.  We don't say are "are you so-and-so", and when they dumbly nod yes, proceed to give them potentially dangerous medications.  No, we ask them to identify themselves with name and birthdate, then we check these against both their patient ID bands and our own records.  Going the other way with identification, we get the patient's attention, make eye contact, tell them our name and job title and what we plan to do with them, and then we give them a chance to respond.  So, these cops failed.  They didn't even make sure that they were at the right address before proceeding, and they identified themselves only once to people that for all they knew were asleep or out of the range of full hearing.  That is a procedural failure, in that either they failed to follow the department's procedure or the procedure itself was inadequate.
 
Yelling "this is the police" before pounding on the door is good, but they needed to repeat the yell several more times in case they were not heard or understood the first time.  Also, having the the flashing lights from their patrol car streaming through the windows would have really brought home that this was actually the police at the door and would convey the information to people who don't hear well.
 
 
Yes, I understand that.  However, a huge part of our problem is that we have dumbed things down way too much.  See my earlier post statement about right to bear arms and the right to be a moron.  Barring extenuating circumstances, pointing a gun at someone is assault with a deadly weapon (yes, the misdemeanor form of this charge, but still).  People should be taught that it is not alright even when they are on their own property and it is night time.  This is important information for the public to understand and if we don't talk about after a tragedy like this, when will we talk about it?