unclevlad

Ebb and flow. Some teams have grossly underperformed, like Denver and especially Green Bay. Numerous cases of Rose-Colored Glasses Syndrome...Rams lost so much, but that Super Bowl win, man. Bucs. Packers, to a point. Some of it is scheduling. NFC East is playing the NFC North...1 good team, 3 awful ones...and AFC South, which is about the same, but worse. Philly has wins over Detroit, Jacksonville, and Houston; those teams have a combined 6 wins in 25 games. They also beat the Vikes...not pushovers. But a good team should go 6-2 against that group. AFC East is playing AFC North...Ravens started slow, so if you caught them early you got a break. Bengals are WAY down. Browns and Steelers are pretty bad, and IMO that should not be surprising. They're also playing the NFC North. There's always some years where the divisional crossovers work out to strongly favor some divisions.

Of course, the French map would have Real Food ending at their borders, and *everything* else would be Toxic.

It's said that there is no such thing as bad publicity but... https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/columbus/kia-and-hyundai-now-face-a-lawsuit-over-stolen-cars-from-columbus/?ipid=promo-link-block2 What the story doesn't mention is why the numbers shot up so astronomically this year...some of that is here: https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/hyundais-kias-are-easy-targets-amid-boom-in-vehicle-thefts In short: car theft is way up generally, and the absence of security measure that almost everyone else has, makes them the target of choice. And as for the timing? What else...social media.

Story reports why now. I can buy that. Expected jackpot was 1.9; it shot all the way to 2.04. That means the sales *since Saturday* grew the jackpot something over $400M, for quite possibly a 2-day sales record. And remember: that's how much the jackpot went up. IIRC, 50% of sales --> the jackpot. And that's NOT PowerPlay...just the base ticket. So one state's system just a bit overloaded... Oh well. I got 2 numbers! On separate entries.... Yeah, just as well. Handling that much money is more trouble than it's worth.... 🤪🤪🤐 An interesting point...there were 23 tickets that won the Match 5 prize...all 5 but not the Powerball. That is statistically significant... Used to be Power Play wasn't so bad, but now? Prettly clearly, most don't think so. Well. The fun's over. Someone in California's going bonkers. I'm going to lunch.

I do love it when the overhyped, overblown accretion of talent, brought together with no thought of chemistry or skills mix, falls apart. I'm not anti-Lakers; I'm anti THESE Lakers. I also love to see the fawning fanbois, particularly in the media, who'll ALWAYS gloss over the rampant flaws because, well, the NBA's nothing but awesomeness, overvalue that team. I'm not sure if I'm anti-Nets, or just purely anti-Kyrie...that's a given, and not just for this latest fiasco. The Nets might well pull off addition by subtraction, and play decent ball without Kyrie. The Lakers right now appear to be hopeless. Flip side? Go Jazz! Box score suggests the only thing wrong they did was fouling shooters too much...Lakers had 30 FTs. Otherwise? 30 assists, 10 steals, +8 rebounds. Superstar basketball is often boring and stagnant. Ensemble basketball is MUCH more fun to watch.

Well, you could go with Death Wish Coffee and their Valhalla Java instead. Or Biohazard Coffee. Oh, and apropos to the most notable of the winter holidays...Bones is doing coffees based on Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. (Yeah, Bones does lots of flavored coffees...some uncontaminated, but mostly not.)

But *if* that initial price is too high, that's how you can lose money. Forbes' estimate was $5.6B, so that reported price is 25% over. Part of the valuation is that Snyder owns FedEx Field...pretty consistently rated the worst stadium in the NFL. It's $700M of that valuation, but if the team were to move to a new one, how much of that goes *POOF*? Or do the new owners need to kick in a lot to get a new mega-palace? That's another, what, $1.5-2B.

Well, there goes using tonight's lottery money to leverage a loan... Sooo...who's all gung-ho about the dramatic, crucial TNF matchup....Falcons vs. Panthers???

Excellent implementation there. The one I somewhat regret missing was a hand-made one from Bones Coffee Company. Yes, as you can guess, skeletons and similar themes play a large role in their company iconography. They offer very nice hand-thrown mugs all the time. Pricey...IIRC, around $35. Couple years ago their Halloween mug was particularly good...but procrastinated, forgot about it for a bit...and then it was gone. They are small-batch products.

Hey, I'd *gladly* give the lawyer 1% if it got me anonymity otherwise. And since that's $4M...you figure he'd take it in a heartbeat too. In New Mexico, the winner's name, prize amount, and location is available on request, as part of a Freedom of Information request. I would think location == the city where the winning ticket was purchased, or possibly the city noted on the back of the winning ticket. So moving should help. Beyond that, it should be possible to set up a company of some sort, to relocate without using your name. It might not be foolproof, but my first goal would be to throw enough obstacles up to deter the casual inquiries, and to keep my name out of the spotlight.

If Indy is smart, IMO, they'll fire the GM too. For a couple reasons: 5 QBs in 5 years. You don't want to hire the HC without a (hopefully) stable GM...and the current one can't be considered stable in his job. Gut feeling? One, maybe 2 more coaches are gone by the end of the Thanksgiving weekend. Oh, and just noted...the Colts raided ESPN for their interim coach. Jeff Saturday. AFAIK...zero high-level coaching experience. It's a "glory days" hire, nothing more...and likely because they couldn't afford Peyton. 🙃 Seahawks +2? Yeah, always nice to be the underdog, even if it's by a small amount. Got to be the Brady factor; the last 4-5 weeks, the Bucs have done nothing, and Seattle's playing pretty well. The game against the Rams said more about LA's problems to me. Super Bowl wins give a coach a LOT of rope, but right now, McVay's cutting off good-sized chunks of his.

It's getting reasonable to project forward a bit...what will it take to make the playoffs? We've got half the season under our skins now. AFC: 11-6 is likely a lock. 10-7 may need tiebreakers, but may get in without. 9-8? I kinda doubt it, or maybe one team. #7 spot is the Chargers at 5-3 right now. NFC: the South has to get a berth. 9-8 will likely do it, but 8-9 may well get you into tiebreakers. 5 other teams are 6-3 or better; 10+ wins looks pretty good for them. The last one? (There's 7 playoff teams this year, remember.) Niners are 4-4, in 7th. Falcons and Washington are 4-5...but will 2 NFC South teams reach 9 wins? If it's only 1, they take the division, most likely. Rams are 3-5; Saints are 3-5 pending tomorrow; then it's Packers, Bears, and Cardinals at 3-6. 9-8 isn't impossible, but it's a long shot. None of em are better than 6% to make the playoffs on FiveThirtyEight. So I'd say 10 and you're in without worrying about tiebreakers; 9 and you might be in without tiebreakers.

From the comments in many of the negative reviews I read, I think this was their issue...and they're tired of it. It was like they felt he just went through the motions, IIRC. Their focus is on things like the acting, and the overall story coherence...not whether it's true to the source, since few of them would be. Wakanda Forever on Friday. No way I'll go first weekend, so please, no spoilers for a while. The week after...pretty likely. 3 hours again...well, one place has a 1:30 showing, and another has a 2 PM. Those both work pretty well.

It actually almost IS too much, but... --that's the annuity value. The cash value will be bad enough: roughly half, or $950M and change. --that's before taxes. Which is one argument for taking the cash; take the annuity and everything else you make from every other source, is instantly taxed at the highest rates. Plus, it will make your tax life messy *every* year, I think. Mind, just having something like $450M in cash would be bad enough. One thing that would help is out of your control. Does your state allow you to claim a lottery prize *anonymously*? If so, DO IT!!! It's incredibly foolish to have one's name tied to that ridiculous, obscene amount of money for everyone to know. That said, I believe New Mexico doesn't allow anonymous; the winners are considered a matter of public record. If that's true? I think I could work around it...but it helps I'm single. Dependents would make things harder. And I'd move; that would break the visual connection. Financial tricks don't work when people recognize the name, and that yeah, it was a local who won. As far as managing it? It would only be hard if you wanted it to be. You've got $450M. Fine, split it up. $350M into a charity foundation that disburses something like $5-10M a year. $10M to blow from the start...one place I'd consider moving to is LoDo, Lower Downtown, in Denver...and condos there run $3M. (Location, location, location.) $50M into bonds, T-bills, or what have you, that generates the money you live on. The rest? Rainy day funds. You only have to sweat the money if you care about an estate to pass down. I don't have one, for one thing, but I also like Warren Buffett's notion...his kids will get a SMALL fraction of his net worth. Cuz 1% of $10B is still $100M...and if they can't Make Do with that, they're idiots. You can do much the same.

How dare you dispel our most cherished delusions??

There are contenders? Who?

I'd heard the crab issue before, and it, IMO, is by far the more disturbing. For just me? A turkey is way too much. One local market carries roasted/shredded turkey meat. It's not always there, but when it is, the price is rather good. Dark meat last time (couple weeks ago) was $6/pound...and this is mostly boneless and very low fat. Started just chopping up low-carb tortillas, toss in a good bit of salsa and some cheese, maybe chop a tomato if I'm doing it for dinner; mix, cover, and bake. Maybe break up any large meat chunks. The salsa seasons and moistens everything nicely. Haven't decided what Thanksgiving will be. MIGHT see if I can get duck breasts locally. Whole duck price per pound has gone up a bunch. Mail order shipping has become totally ridiculous. If not? Most likely chicken roulade...sounds fancy but it's just pounded flat, gets a layer of tasty stuff, roll and bake. Maybe a roast chicken; haven't done that in a while. I'm getting lazy about cleanup, and a roast chicken has a pretty messy cleanup. And for Thanksgiving, hey, I may well do a good batch of chile, the better to watch the football with.

The longer this goes on...the more they show they may *well* be better without him than with him on the court...the more likely that Logan and quite a few others are right. I won't rule it out *yet* simply because it's pro sports, and winning is the only thing. Flip side: any decent sensitivity training class should take a while, I'd think. If this goes on 2-3 weeks, it's that much more rust on him, that much more integration of a team without him. Note that the NBA hasn't taken action. If Irving can't satisfy Adam Silver, who knows? The league could suspend him. Lakers shoot 8-29 and fall at home. Again. Pretty sure there's been a repeating pattern that hasn't been emphasized...losing late. Happened to look at the score at one point, it was 84-80 Cavs. From there on out? 30-20 Cavs to win pretty easily. I know of at least 2 others where they've blown sizable leads late. How much of this is because Davis and LeBron have to carry the team the whole game, and they just don't have the gas in the tank at the end? Also...6 of 9 at home, and they're only 2-4. Home teams are...if I added this up right...82-56 overall, or about 60%.

My, oh my, oh my. Brady miracle or Ram debacle? After a 3 and out for the Rams, the punt's solid. Brady has 53 seconds to go 60 yards. Rams play soft, soft, soft. BOOM, first play's 28 yards. Short out, short out, short out. Red zone. Pass Interference in the end zone, then a swing pass. Touchdown. All set up by Charmin-soft coverage...

Tom Brady just passed 100,000 career passing yards. NOTE: that's regular season AND playoffs. For comparison, Drew Brees is 2nd...over 14,000 yards back. It's a record that might not be broken for a couple reasons...sheer longevity combined with sustained high-level play, and the huge one: the massive number of playoff games. Brady's started 47 playoff games. Peyton had 27. Favre had 24. Big Ben and Montana had 23. And by longevity, Brady's the career leader in regular season starts. OHHH my...as I write it, we're down to 2 minutes. Bucs have been struggling, it's 13-9 Rams. Bucs have 2nd and goal, Brady puts a ball to the back of the goal line. Receiver's open; he's got to leap for it, but it's in his chest! Uhhh...you catch the ball with your hands, not your body, dude..... <DOINK> 4th and goal for the game after the 2 minute warning, when they should have the lead...and it's incomplete too as Aaron Donald forces a throw into double coverage.

Oh, but you do. As a Broncos and Rockies fan, you're an expert on the subject of teams perpetrating this kind of fraud. It's not making fun, it's recognizing truth. We have one NFC division that's already all but clinched, and another with no team above .500. The AFC has a couple good teams, a couple very bad teams, and a bunch mired in messy mediocrity. I think we're seeing the long-term impact of all the churn. Of everything...players, coaches, front office. Combine that with the outright terror of injury in the preseason, and inconsistency is almost a foregone conclusion.

Yeah, that approach sets things up pretty well and is fairly straightforward. Even SPD 2 can be accommodated, for minion-types. They don't get their 2nd action. It's a Speed Chart of a sort, but a lot simpler. I might make one simplification: Character 1st Action 2nd Action Bonus Action 3rd Action 4th Action Bonus Action Minion Yes Yes Below avg Yes Yes Yes Average Yes Yes Yes Yes Above avg Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Great Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes So there's a more time-oriented approach to it. Alternately, if you want to go with something closer to the time chart: Character 1st Action 2nd Action Bonus Action 3rd Action 4th Action Bonus Action Minion Yes Yes Below avg Yes Yes Yes Average Yes Yes Yes Yes Above avg Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Great Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes The poster's first approach lets everyone act for a bit. This downplays the advantage of speed; the slower characters are still getting lots of actions before the faster characters' edge can come into play. Putting the Great speed into the middle, is giving them that advantage noted for the 5 SPD. You could, as noted, put the first extra action between 2nd and 3rd for both 5 and 6 SPDs. This is a lot simpler *visually*, if nothing else.

It's the NFL this year. Not just the Raiders, by any means; they just tend to offer some of the more spectacular failures. EDIT: oh, a secondary note. We've noted that Joe Burrow won't last the season if he keeps getting hit the way he's been. Yes well, Sam Ehlinger won't either. Sacked 9 times today. In 38 dropbacks, the Colts netted 43 yards total. 15/29 for all of 103 when he got it off, 9 sacks for 60 yards.

Particularly when it's one of the big boys that crashes. Way more fun. Most of us have probably seen the recent Dr. Pepper Fansville ad...the intervention? "You haven't made one post raving about this debacle on the forum!" "It's just kids playing a game!" "OH HE'S LOST IT!!!" 5 minutes' worth of Finebaum's callers proves, if anything, they're being mild... LOVE that ad.

Packers get the ball late, in good field position, down 6. Oh boy, another Rodgers comeback right? They even get a 30 yard gain on 4th and 2, to get a first down at the Detroit 17. Then 4 straight incompletions. Game over. 9 points total. Against the worst defense in the game...by quite a bit. The Vikings are now 5!!!! games up in the loss column to every team in their division. How do you get that large a lead after 8 and 9 games???? Answer: the bad teams this year are TERRIBLE. And numerous. Probably just the coaches. Box says the Raiders gained about 230 yards in the first half, as they scored their 20. Second half? 80. NOTHING going on. To me, that's on the coaches.