unclevlad

One must wonder if this is going to force him to retire. If there's another procedure on the knee/quad, will it be possible for it to recover adequately? Not that it much matters. The Bruins are fairly heavy favorites, but then...when you set records for most points and most wins, that kinda goes with the territory. Avs are the #2 pick, tho. For those who wanna watch...playoffs start tomorrow (Monday) night. Games are split...mostly ESPN and ESPN 2, some on TBS or occasionally TNT. Nice thing about the NHL playoffs is, it's a clockwork schedule. Barring clinches and waiting for the next round...pretty much every team plays every other night, unlike the NBA where there are often multiple off days between games...even if there's no travel.

OK, so instead of a 55% drop in value, it's maybe only a 40% drop. So...around as successful as Boeing has been in the last 4-5 years, give or take.

Not telling anything meaningful. I said nothing meaningful. There's lots of things you can say *broadly* even if the details would be a serious violation. Saying I had a clearance is also not a problem. Everyone had badges in the building...the badges were color coded to show clearance level. Now, yeah, you were to take the badge off on exiting, but plenty of people without a clearance would know people who had them...including the occasional TS. Plus: I retired from that 10 years ago. Any specific things I saw, that would clearly be classified? LONG!!! forgotten. And most of it would be obsolete. Like...oh, around 2009 or 2010, we got a classified briefing about drones. Lot of it was fairly general. Don't remember word 1 now. And almost certainly, all of the info has LONG!!! been superseded.

Q: Hey, Dr. Moreau, my gardener hurt his back, can you help me find a fill-in? A: In the booth, in the back, in the corner, in the dark.

you took the words right out of my mouth

I think a knockdown drag-out fight among the shareholders would be quite amusing to watch.

Twitter killed their old APIs, and instituted new rules...and prices...to use the new ones. There's a VERY basic level that allows very limited access...but to get more costs $42,000 *per month.* Right now, this means National Weather Service emergency bulletins...like tornado warnings...can't be sent out automatically. https://mashable.com/article/twitter-api-removal-public-safety-twitter-accounts The story also notes that the New York and San Francisco mass transit services send similar alerts as needed. Elsewhere...Minnesota Public Radio, which is a pretty big content creator, joined NPR and PBS in boycotting Twitter. NPR and PBS had a combined 10 million followers.

Considering that there was a security marking on EVERY page of every classified document I handled, back when I was involved in that...that should be...well...kinda hard to forget.... Besides...I only had a Secret clearance, and we got *inundated* with security reminders. TS is significantly harder to get, and I suspect has a much higher burden of updates, briefings, etc. NPR is reporting, too, that he was worried that making transcriptions at work would get him in trouble. Well, DUDE...if that would, then how can discussing it on social media be OK??? <sigh> It's beginning to look like there's no malice per se, just abject stupidity or complete lack of judgment. Even if the kid gets out of prison reasonably young, it feels rather unlikely he'll get a job much better than a janitor.

It's not something you deal with directly, so it's reasonable not understanding what the file's even for...much less that you want to delete it.

Do they expect us to take those characters seriously, when they put them into such a ridiculous farce?

And the next shoe has dropped in the judipolitical farce surrounding mifepristone. Fortunately, it's the last one for a few days. After 2 separate, conflicting rulings, the appeals court probably rejecting the decertification (the period to challenge expired) but saying "oh but you can't mail it"...Alito issued a stay, restoring the status quo until the Supreme Court can look at things. The stay expires Wednesday, but arguments are required by Tuesday.

Hey, the Chiefs have nothing to do with this, and the Eagles don't need any more motivation. That said: Super Bowl losers have a really mixed bag, and the Eagles lost both coordinators. It's fan taunting, not team trash talk. Besides, it's the Eagles. Their own fans have done worse *to them*....regularly!

Mavs get fined $750K for the blatant tanking. Slap on the wrist. With a wet noodle. I'll grant that tanking's a big problem, but if you can't start with this EGREGIOUS offense, then...when? Hoping for OKC to keep their rally going...which is quite the surprise given the debacle they've been recently. And the T'wolves...man, they don't deserve to advance. Bulls vs. Heat...don't care. Don't expect much from this one. Who knows, if there's a decent baseball game on, I may watch that.

Looks like there's more to the story. The problems in women's cycling run deeper. https://www.bicycling.com/racing/a43593027/zaaf-cycling-team-folding-failing-to-pay-riders/ And funding for men's cycling has been tricky as well.

Rafa Nadal couldn't play the Monte Carlo ATP 1000, and today announced his withdrawal from Barcelona. He's won Monte Carlo 10 times, and Barcelona...which he considers his home tournament...12 times. Madrid's also in doubt. He hasn't played since losing in the Aussie Open, and very little between the US Open and the Aussie. Basically, his body is just falling apart. LONG term ankle problem, more recent hip injury, knee problems in the past. He also turns 37 in a couple of months. I think there's a very good chance he'll retire. I can't see him playing well in Paris or at Wimbledon, if he can physically play at all, due to rust. The flip side will of course be whether he can stand up to the wear and tear...and recent history says no. He's made comments suggesting retirement's possible, and with Rafa, it's not being disingenuous.

Man, I haven't seen anyone mention anything related to the Great Netbooks in years, regardless of specific system/topic.

Not my area of expertise, but when there's THIS many? I don't think it'll be just 10, but I'll buy it's unlikely to be centuries...unless the prosecution can paint him as intending to undermine US military policy with the leaks, or something along those lines. We shall see, tho; obviously, proceedings have barely started. I believe he hasn't even been arraigned yet.

A suspect has been arrested today in relation to the links of intelligence information WRT Ukraine. Info from earlier today about the kid: He's in deep, deep kimchi, because he's being charged under the Espionage Act. It's still not clear HOW he got a lot of this stuff, as it really should not have been available to him. I wouldn't be surprised if there were serious security failures so he did...but that won't be much of a defense. What would help is if there's someone higher up the chain that fed the kid the documents. If that hypothetical person is worth it, hey, the kid might get nothing more than a slap on the wrist, no prison time. BUT he's going to have a seriously ugly black mark on his record, and forget ever having a clearance again. That also is predicated on finding said person. EDIT: HOW ugly are the charges? From NYT, as was the quote above. Bold mine. He leaked hundreds.

The valuation was, IIRC, somewhat HIGHER than that. MLB, NBA, and NFL (especially) franchises are simply an excuse to print money. One would think that the media rights deals would have some limits, but as long as they keep exploding in value, so will the franchises. A factor here for me is who's buying. The Waltons bought the Broncos. Here, the ownership group includes Josh Harris, who also is in groups that own the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils. (And a minority stake in the Steelers, but he'll obviously have to sell that.) This isn't as bad as, say, Stan Kroenke, who owns the Rams, Nuggets, and Avalanche...and teams in MLS and secondary sports. Both also own teams in the English Premier League. Tidbit you might not have realized...I didn't: the Waltons buying the Broncos wasn't out of the blue. Kroenke is married to Ann Walton.

So last night it was the T'wolves; tonight it's the Raptors. T'wolves just fell apart...12 points in the 4th quarter, despite the Lakers playing pretty badly on offense themselves. And, note that 3 of the 12 tied the game with 0.1 seconds left, because of a reckless closeout by Antonio Davis, who fouled Mike Conley. (The first FT hit the front of the rim and *crawled* over, just to add another touch of drama.) And Clutch Points noted that they took no shot within 22 feet...in the last 8 minutes. No focus, no plan, no adjustments, just meltdown. That's been the criticism all year, and having 2 players go Seriously STUPID to take them out of this game, is all the support we need. Tonight? Raptors up 19 at one point. Up 12 in the 4th. AT HOME. Knock brought up against both teams was shooting...well, Raptors shoot 18-36 on FTs. Poor FT shooting would be 25-36. Instead, they lose by 4. They're toast. T'wolves have a chance to redeem; OKC is finishing off New Orleans...which means both 10 seeds have won...so they travel to Minnesota. If the T'wolves fail this test, then there I suspect there will be numerous players getting bounced. Coach, maybe, but my feeling is players. The team culture is a serious problem.

scorpions

The phone call is probably a good idea, but I'd also be mentally prepared to say "I'll miss you" if it falls apart. The only other path I can think of is if there are mutual friends you can contact, who might know more, or who can help reach out.

Nothing interesting there at all. Random sociopathic gangster type. Nothing supervillainous there. OK, this apparently matches the New 52 continuity, but I gotta ask, who cares? Then again, I'm reading Penguin's current incarnation per New 52, and my feeling about everything they're writing up is...they want me to buy this junk?

If you're surprised, raise your hands... https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/12/media/fox-news-dominion-special-master/index.html

Bizarre play Yanks-Guardians. Line drive goes off the top of the wall in deep center. CF gets it in quickly, then........... Should be the SS with the ball, top of the pic. Larry Vanover is the ump. Note they're, what, 40 feet apart or so? Yeah. SS is throwing home...and the throw nails Vanover in the head. NO chance to avoid it. Vanover walked off the field on his own, to receive attention. Oh, and remember a few weeks ago, when we were talking about reduced beer sales? At least 4 teams have started to extend sales longer. 8th inning, rather than 7th.