novi

That's a disturbingly common trend, I've found - the blatantly fantastical gets a free pass, while thing that are plausible, but unlikely get heavy scrutiny. Some of it may be that the power fantasy is the central tenant of the work and can't be compromised, while the Secret ID is ancillary and thus open to interpretation. But I suspect that it's more about 'realism', and I mean that in that the most condescending, snooty way possible. People who want to prove how clever and deep they are, and focus on the things that seem adjacent to their reality. Possibly the same people who like to talk about 'underwear on the outside of tights' as such a stupid and juvenile costume trope. (which is a different topic, and start a new thread if you really need to talk about it) Having said that, there are legitimate conversations to have about secret identity, and how useful/effective it actually is. But someone arguing how unrealistic and dumb they are seems unlikely to be reaching for that level.

I should be running a Champions game for my local group in the near future. And I was hoping for a little advice on the villain selection. While still nailing down specifics with the group, the general setting will be Saturday morning 80s cartoons, by way of the Champions Universe (since it lets me use all those Hero books I own). OTOH, that is a lot of books to comb through. So I wanted to pick the minds of the veterans around here as to which of the Champions villains are among the most classic/iconic, and/or suitable to that sort of cartoon aethsetic. You know, beyond VIPER and Foxbat. In more detail, the group is a Hair Metal band who also happens to be superheroes (Super-globetrotters meets Josie and the Pussycats, I guess). In particular, inspired by an old post on these forums. If anyone does recognize the source, it would be nice to check with the author that they don't mind me swiping their ideas.

Yeah, good stuff. It was quite good, and I found myself far more entertained than I thought I would be. As Mike said, the visuals are amazing AND different - it has a unique aesthetic, rather than just the standard CGI that even PIXAR is kinda settling into. And then, on top of that, Spiderman Noir, Spider-Ham, and Peni Parker each have their own unique animation style. And it works. I'm not sure how they got away with doing something this experimental in a main-stream film, but I'm glad they did. Which would be enough to deserve seeing it, but then it nails the story as well, as well as the editing and pacing. It doesn't really waste any time or pad out anything. Even the inevitable big 3rd act fight scene is kept moving and interesting. Oh, and stay through the credits. It's worth it, but to say anymore would be spoilers.

Yup, an awful lot of stupidity and pride went into getting the Hubble mirror wrong. OTOH, they got everything else right about the mirror, which is why Hubble is still going strong these days - being very precisely the wrong shape, it's (relatively) easy to design optics to compensate for the incorrect focus.

Nice seeing the pot stirred here. And a bit of vindication that complications should matter beyond just points.

I've actually had reason to build some Champions characters lately, and it's made me think about two staple complications, Secret Identity and Code vs Killing. I'll be doing separate threads to help keep the discussion focused. Secret Identity is one that I've been less sure about for a while. Even before the MCU decided that secret IDs were a relic of the past, there have obviously been characters who don't really have troubles with their identities. And I will admit, this one is depends far more on the particular character. And perhaps some on how you want to phrase the complication. Because in many ways, the complications you take let the GM know what kind of stories you want your character to have. For instance, a recent character of mine has a social complication of being a grad student; it's a job with some defined hours and responsibilities, and consequences for not meeting them. It has some similarities to the standard Secret ID, but it's not as big a problem and has a more defined scope. Though one that's been bugging me more is another game I joined, where the GM remarked on the danger of me taking a Hunted, but no Secret ID. Which is a fascinating concept now that I've noticed it, that a Secret ID complication should give you an in game benefit. It is something of a nitpick, but still strikes at fundamentals of character building and HERO, that you have to pay points for positive effects. But I suppose that I just wonder how much people expect that a character should either have a Secret ID or Public ID. Thoughts?

I've actually had reason to build some Champions characters lately, and it's made me think about two staple complications, Secret Identity and Code vs Killing. I'll be doing separate threads to help keep the discussion focused. Code vs Killing was often a no-brainer before 6th edition, what with 150 points of complications to fill. But now that 6th has brought it down to 75, a more reasonable number to fill, I'm not sure if most characters should be taking it rather than some more flavorful complications. Some of it is the fact that for many campaigns, it is a fundamental part of being a superhero, and not having it would be more unusual for a character. And in those games, somebody taking a CvK is getting 20 points for nothing. But I wonder if I'm being too picky about that. Obviously, it depends on the game and GM, but I am curious how other people feel about it.

And the Big Ten West is sinking back into mediocrity. With Nebraska looking for a new coach for next year at this rate, Wisconsin's at times ugly win over Iowa practically locks them in as the West champs. Assuming last week's game was the exception, not the rule. Also, while not as sketchy as the officiating from the last Packers-Viking game, did the Badgers need to get hit with 6 holding penalties? But in general, why is it that only the handful of teams I don't like living up to expectations for this season? Stupid 'bama, Ohio, etc...

Yeah. Didn't catch much of the game, but what I did wasn't encouraging. Wish I knew if this was an omen or a wake-up call for Wisconsin. If nothing else, it does make me wish BYU this year, so that we lost to a worthy opponent.

Oh, come on. We can do better than that Enter your PIN number into the ATM machine.

Meh. Who, exactly, are you nominating to replace them? Mountain West? Conference-USA? Fundamentally, the Power 5 grouping is more about wealth and size than performance. Though, yes, it is curious that the whole conference seems to be in slump at the same time, at least compared to the other 4 Power conferences. Might as well use that as trigger to bring up the whole expanding the football playoff subject for this year. We were going to get there eventually. And it basically comes down to the fact that college football is not structured to build parity the way European soccer teams are, or even the NFL. Honestly, its kind of built to discourage it. I mean, in what sane universe would Rutgers and Maryland be grouped with Ohio, Penn State, Michigan, and Michigan State? But with only 4 spots in the playoff, the best case scenario is always going to be one of the Power 5 being left out, and the Group of 5 without any way to get a national title. Bump it to 8, P5 winners and top G5 team get automatic spots, and 2 committee votes, is probably the way forward. It won't be perfect (no system will be), but it's probably the best compromise to patch onto the existing system. Any real fix would require deep structural changes to college conferences that I just can't see them accepting.

Speaking of which, 77-31? Was anybody playing defense that game? That's only 108 points total, not one of those absurd 130+ point games, but it still strikes me as an odd total.

Come on, now. We border Illinois. You want a circus of corrupt politicians and poor governance, look no further. They almost went bankrupt a while ago, and have a couple governors in jail. Ventura is just eccentric.

While the Week 1 Wisconsin game is unlikely to provide any surprises (the Badgers are only a 33 point favorite), having a Friday night game while parts of the city are still flooded from last week's record-breaking rains is going to make the traffic just mind-mindbogglingly stupid in town. Thankfully I don't need to get within 2 miles of the stadium for any reason tomorrow. Also, Michael raises an awful point. Especially since Wisconsin has two competitive state-wide races this year. The incumbent governor is a Koch toady, and the incumbent senator is an openly lesbian democrat. What? After Robert La Follette AND Joe McCarthy, you thought Wisconsin was going to make sense with our choice of politicians?

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/30/politics/john-mccain-mother-attending-funeral/index.html Just to make it weirder, his 106 year old mother will be at the service in Annapolis. After all those "John McCain is so old..." jokes... And yes, even if he never was quite the maverick that his PR said and voted for things I didn't like, he served his country well and seems to have been one of the last politicians who can treat the other party as merely the opposition, not the enemy.

Ugh, maybe? My life has been in a bit of turmoil the last few weeks, and I just haven''t had the brain space to think about such a thing. Maybe discuss this in a week or 2 when I actually can relax and think.

I don't like Nebraska's chances. Road games at Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin? Seems a bit unfair for someone's first season. I was going to grudgingly pick Ohio for Big Ten champs, but this scandal does put a question mark on it. Not as big as some people might suggest; what little I'm hearing suggests that only Urban Meyer is going down. With all the other pieces still in place, Ohio should still be in good shape. Have to see how his replacement works out. But now I'm not quite sure in my projections. Penn State v Wisconsin, both at 11-1, and could go either way, feels like the most likely scenario for the Big Ten championship game. With Ohio, Iowa, and Michigan waiting in the wings. Then again, if Alex Hornibrook (QB-Wisc) has figured out how to stop throwing interceptions, an Alabama-Wsconsin semifinal game seems plausible Oh, and re: Pariah? Insincere apologies in advance for the rout waiting for BYU in Madison. Since you Mormons aren't supposed to drown your sorrows in alcohol, I'll have to suggest going to Culver's for frozen custard and deep-fried cheese curds as an alternate means of coping.

The short answer being, "We don't know. Hence the problem." It could be any of those. Especially since Planck and WMAP spacecraft don't agree; they ought to, since they measured the same thing. But the fact that they seem to be converging on two different values, over multiple studies, argues against measurement error. As for non-uniform expansion, no. Or at least, not in a way that affects this measurement. While the rate of expansion is not constant, it does appear smooth and consistent with General Relativity over the history of the universe we can observe. And it appears uniform in all directions as well. You might as well start with WIkipedia, since it links to more scientific stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble's_law

That's actually part of my head-canon as to why all the super-tech in superhero universes hasn't caused more changes. Most of the economic benefits that have occurred from a higher tech level have been offset by increased insurance and security costs. And the money siphoned off to pay for supervillains and their organizations. Which isn't quite how economics works, but it's close enough to be plausible.

I'm still going with no. I'm going to guess that at least one of the thousands of climate scientist would have thought of that and tested it, and I haven't heard it suggested anywhere else. Also, I believe the best counterexample is that previous magnetic reversals do not track climate fluctuations in the fossil record, AFAIK.

No. There is no good way for it to be a major or significant contributor. Magnetic fields interact strongly with charged particles, but only very weakly with neutral particles like photons (aka sunlight). Someone else can check me on this, but by weakly, I mean not technically zero interaction, but essential zero for everyone who's not conducting quantum physics experiments. And while more charged particles will reach Earth's atmosphere and surface, they really don't add all that much energy versus sunlight. Don't forget that all those charged particles are counted in when measuring the vacuum of interplanetary space, which is still better than all but the best vacuums you can make in a lab.

This is my every-few-years check to see about finding another HERO player in Madison, WI. No particular game in mind, just looking for fellow gamers at this point.

Haven't been here in a week or so. But yeah, Alabama v Georgia was annoying enough, before Alabama managing to win it. I'm going to officially list it as part of 2017, so that I can pretend that 2018 is a better year than the previous one. :/ As to the USA TODAY grades, I find it somewhat interesting that Wisconsin made the A+ section, after so much whining from the national press that they didn't play anybody worthy, with 10 easy wins.

Big Ten is up to 7-0. So, how about that 2nd quarter of the Orange Bowl? Has Wisconsin re-earned the right to be the Badgers?

Yeah. The other argument for going to 8 is that half the FBS teams currently have no path to winning a national championship. And since we've now established the National Championship game as the ultimate goal for college football, there really ought to be a realistic path to it for all 130 FBS teams.