unclevlad

Their first line of defense is fair use, but I seriously doubt they have a snowball's chance of that holding up. https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-fairuse.html#:~:text=Under the fair use doctrine,news reporting%2C and scholarly reports. They're trying to use the ambiguity WRT the amount that can be used, but my understanding is they're ingesting entire catalogs of writers, composers, and musicians. Basically, anything published conventionally, physically or electronically, that is covered by copyright...they can't do that. In music, this applies to specific recordings of public-domain material...the DG collection of all 9 Beethoven symphonies, with von Karajan conducting the Berlin Phil is from the early 60s, and is still, I believe, considered one of the seminal versions. The sheet music? Public domain. Those performances? Copyrighted. I think they're desperate, as much as anything. They view AI as the goose that lays the golden eggs, but the goose has to be fed to do so. So, I see some of this as corporate greed, some as technocratic arrogance...AI will advance the world, so what's good for AI is good for the world. And season it with "you can't do that, you can't take my toys away!" At this point, I don't see any way the AI companies win in the end, nor do I think they *should* win, generally.

The books are the focal point, but the issue is the right to think independently, rather than within ultra-narrow doctrinal-conformist boundaries.

Yeah, I think the pushback against going for those 4th downs is often due to a dislike of analytics. Analytics isn't football, it's geeky nerds who know nothing of the game! I think many of the broadcasters still don't accept it...not well, anyway. Another aspect is, I think, ingrained conservatism...points are never bad. OTOH, 4th down plays, and 2 point conversion plays, can be overdone...there's only so many good ones in the bag. Analytics is based on overall samples, but it doesn't readily capture nuances like you're down to your 4th or 5th best call...that has a lower chance to work. Or that the defense will read what you're about to try...which gives them a better chance at stopping it.

Oh, I agree with all your points. I'll toss in one more: Mahomes' experience. Hey, give Purdy ALL DUE CREDIT for his poise overall, but this is gonna be different. Thought from earlier. Lions...Texans...even to a point, the Browns. Talk about rags to riches, near-instant turnarounds. What impact is this gonna have? **** PATIENCE, FIX IT NOW!!! They did it so YOU DO IT!!! TRADE UP!! SIGN THOSE OVERPRICED FREE AGENTS!!! Fan bases have little patience anyway, right? And ALL fans wear rose-colored contact lenses...the failings of, say, Denver in the free agent market are irrelevant.

See, now, I don't agree with that. Within the context of the comics, you can do anything whatsoever, because the writers have 100% control of everything. That doesn't hold true in a gaming environment, for the PCs...it can be fine for an NPC where the GM has that control, and also, *don't* necessarily have to account for all points spent. An NPC can also be damage-capped much more easily, at a lower level, so it's not an issue. That doesn't hold for a PC. Within the general context of a game, IMO, a big issue is forcing PCs to spread around their defenses too much. It's already an issue in Hero, particularly at higher levels where specialized attacks become more and more potent, and characters can get taken out of the fight for an extended period. Granted...as written in 5E, it might not be all that expensive, depending on the build...but it can add up unless you really tailor the build. Specifically, looking at the 5E implementation? Man, can it be made more complicated??? On the AP, I always thought it was 1/4, but note the diminishing returns anyway. If 24 DEF gets halved to 12...that's -12. Quartered, it's only another -6. Comparing... --8 DCs, double AP. --10 DCs, AP. (This is slightly more DCs.) --12 DCs, no AP Dice DEF Net avg stun DEF (hard) Net avg stun 8 25 21.75 20 18 10 25 22.5 20 15 12 25 17 20 22 I went to 25 DEF because that's 20 DEF with the +1/4 advantage. So it's pretty complex; there's no clear-cut approach. That said, tho, if double AP only knocks out a layer of hardened, it's likely NOT practical at all. Plus, the meta rule is, you get what you pay for. If the 2nd level of AP only counters hardening? It's not worth the same points...you're not getting what you paid for.

The Niners are REALLY good... To me, the strongest test of a coaching staff is making the adjustments, and I'd say we can all agree Kyle Shanahan and his staff's adjustments worked rather well. Oh well, I really did want the Lions to make it. And man, got to love a QB who can make plays with their legs. I'm hoping McCaffrey's fine; that last big run of his, that landing was NOT good. Hopefully it's just a little neck tightness/soreness. This is gonna be an interesting matchup. Line's already set at Niners -3.

OK. Raise your hand if you saw *that* first half coming.........

But Lamar was also just missing too much, all game long. The PFs also strongly suggest the entire team felt the pressure, and didn't handle it. If ya wanna take it further...there's always the classic after-the-fact argument that a team that *romps* through the season, isn't necessarily used to not having things their way. OH MY!!!!!! END AROUND and a HECK of a job staying upright! Lions draw first blood in less than 2 minutes! This could be FUN!!!

Granted that this is the conference championship game, but Lamar's performance is going to start drawing comparisons that are *not* flattering, in terms of failure to perform under the brightest of lights. OTOH, Mahomes' HoF status is a lock; at this point, he's pushing for a) unanimous selection (looks like Brady is the only other) b) Mount Rushmore of QBs status. Can't say he's challenging Brady for GOAT...*yet*. Not yet. Brady and Belichick had an *impossible* run for SOO!!!! long! It isn't just the SB wins. 2001 2001 NFL AFC East 1st[i] 11 5 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Raiders) 16–13 (OT) Won AFC Championship (at Steelers) 24–17 Won Super Bowl XXXVI (1) (vs. Rams) 20–17 Tom Brady (SB MVP)[20] 2002 2002 NFL AFC East 2nd[j] 9 7 0 2003 2003 NFL AFC East 1st 14 2 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Titans) 17–14 Won AFC Championship (Colts) 24–14 Won Super Bowl XXXVIII (2) (vs. Panthers) 32–29 Tom Brady (SB MVP)[21] Bill Belichick (COY)[22] 2004 2004 NFL AFC East 1st 14 2 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Colts) 20–3 Won AFC Championship (at Steelers) 41–27 Won Super Bowl XXXIX (3) (vs. Eagles) 24–21 Deion Branch (SB MVP)[23] 2005 2005 NFL AFC East 1st 10 6 0 Won Wild Card playoffs (Jaguars) 28–3 Lost Divisional playoffs (at Broncos) 13–27 Tedy Bruschi (CBPOY)[24] 2006 2006 NFL AFC East 1st 12 4 0 Won Wild Card playoffs (Jets) 37–16 Won Divisional playoffs (at Chargers) 24–21 Lost AFC Championship (at Colts) 34–38 2007 2007 NFL AFC East 1st 16 0 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Jaguars) 31–20 Won AFC Championship (Chargers) 21–12 Lost Super Bowl XLII (vs. Giants) 14–17 Tom Brady (MVP, OPOY)[5][25] Bill Belichick (COY)[22] 2008 2008 NFL AFC East 2nd[k] 11 5 0 Jerod Mayo (DROY)[26] 2009 2009 NFL AFC East 1st 10 6 0 Lost Wild Card playoffs (Ravens) 14–33 Tom Brady (CBPOY)[27] 2010 2010 NFL AFC East 1st 14 2 0 Lost Divisional playoffs (Jets) 21–28 Tom Brady (MVP, OPOY)[6][28] Bill Belichick (COY)[22] 2011 2011 NFL AFC East 1st 13 3 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Broncos) 45–10 Won AFC Championship (Ravens) 23–20 Lost Super Bowl XLVI (vs. Giants) 17–21 2012 2012 NFL AFC East 1st 12 4 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Texans) 41–28 Lost AFC Championship (Ravens) 13–28 2013 2013 NFL AFC East 1st 12 4 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Colts) 43–22 Lost AFC Championship (at Broncos) 16–26 2014 2014 NFL AFC East 1st 12 4 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Ravens) 35–31 Won AFC Championship (Colts) 45–7 Won Super Bowl XLIX (4) (vs. Seahawks) 28–24 Rob Gronkowski (CBPOY) Tom Brady (SB MVP)[29] 2015 2015 NFL AFC East 1st 12 4 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Chiefs) 27–20 Lost AFC Championship (at Broncos) 18–20 2016 2016 NFL AFC East 1st 14 2 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Texans) 34–16 Won AFC Championship (Steelers) 36–17 Won Super Bowl LI (5) (vs. Falcons) 34–28 (OT) Tom Brady (SB MVP) 2017 2017 NFL AFC East 1st 13 3 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Titans) 35–14 Won AFC Championship (Jaguars) 24–20 Lost Super Bowl LII (vs. Eagles) 33–41 Tom Brady (MVP) 2018 2018 NFL AFC East 1st 11 5 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Chargers) 41–28 Won AFC Championship (at Chiefs) 37–31 (OT) Won Super Bowl LIII (6) (vs. Rams) 13–3 Julian Edelman (SB MVP) 2019 2019 NFL AFC East 1st 12 4 0 Lost Wild Card playoffs (Titans) 13–20 Stephon Gilmore (DPOY)

I figure they're watching the Worst Of The Gong Show...the acts that made for the most resounding gongs...

It's a family affair. The kids fill in when the original players retire.

After dropping the first 2! This is one I wish I'd been able to watch live, but...the match started at 1:30 AM local time.

"Damnation by faint praise" has a new exemplar... They're actually playing right now...and if the Pistons win? The difference between the two will be *1* game. The low point for Detroit was 2-29...epically awful. They've gone 3-10 since, which is merely top-5 draft pick awful. EDIT: yes, well...Wizards win it, so they're back to 3 games ahead in a tight race....

And it's getting worse. https://www.fox4news.com/news/texas-standoff-border-shelby-park-greg-abbott

And if Medvedev wins, he jumps over Alcaraz to be #2...and create a clear 3-person contest for #1, which has been *extremely* rare. Djokovic has 9855 ranking points, Alcaraz 9255, Medvedev 8765, Sinner 7610...with another 700 to the champ. If Sinner wins, it might be the tightest top 4 in a very, VERY long time...but if it's Med, then...the top 3 separated by only 600 points is nearly a dead heat. Tennis is also seeing its new wave...and it's an incredibly BROAD wave. Djokovic is the old guy, of course, but after that...Medvedev at 27 is older than anyone else in the top 12. Dimitrov is #13 (32 years old), then 3 more under 27. And 23 or less? There's Alcaraz (#2), Sinner (#4), Rune (#7), and Ben Shelton (#16).

Prescott is a finalist for OPOY and MVP; Lamb for OPOY. 2 other players are finalists for DPOY. Niners have Purdy and McCaffrey for MVP, and McCaffrey for OPOY. No other team has more than one player. Cowboys got 4. And got humiliated in the first round. And they kept the coach................ EDIT: Coach of the Year finalists... Ryans, Texans Stefanski, Browns Shanahan, Niners John Harbaugh, Ravens Campbell, Lions That's a pretty solid list. My preference would be Ryans. Comeback player of the year is also interesting. Hamlin is, I think, mostly sentimental; I'm fine with him as a finalist *just for making it back*. Stafford, Mayfield, Tua, Flacco. Flacco's strongest and weakest point...same thing. Limited number of games. That said, stepping in, LATE, and playing a string of solid games to make it in, is nothing to sneeze at. I'd probably say Mayfield...which is mildly painful, based on his past demeanor, but I get the sense he's grown up a bit since his mad bomber college days. EDIT 2: a fantasy football league has fired an employee for making changes to a contestant's roster, to the benefit of the contestant...when the games were in progress. One, for example, was swapping the Dolphins' running back out...and using Aaron Jones. https://www.espn.com/espn/betting/story/_/id/39386593/fantasy-football-cheating-scandal-leads-site-firing-employee I suspect criminal charges will be forthcoming against both. The first prize in this competition? $150,000.

Rather less surprising...Wizards remove Wes Unseld Jr as their head coach, assigning him an advisory position in the front office. Whatever that means. But that happens when your team's 7-36, including 1-11 in January, following back to back 35-47 seasons.

I'm leaning towards charging Abbott et al with insurrection, should they continue to defy the Supreme Court.

Same thing, most likely. There's an illegal character at that exact spot. I'd expect the log file to also tell you *which* file is the problem.

Physical publications in general are all dying...this was in NYT last week: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/18/business/media/billionaires-news-media-owners.html?unlocked_article_code=1.QU0.uL47.PBFBxkjFmYeY&smid=url-share It isn't competence issues at the companies, it's just the fundamental problems with physical publishing.

#6 beating #2 isn't a shock. Surprise, ok, but nothing more. The Swiatek loss was a major upset...Noskova was #50 at the start of the Aussie. #30 right now. One thing I love about all the majors, is the massive jumps some players make. Dayana Yastremska, from in the 90s to +29...an *enormous* result. She had to qualify...#93 generally doesn't, but there were a number of players coming in with protected rankings. #29...that's a seed in the slams, and in the 96-player 1000's (or whatever the WTA calls em). Probably a seed in some 500s, certainly an entry. So her year's set...no minor events, all big ones. On the men, Borges of Portugal went from 69 to 47...which puts him in line to get into all the Masters 1000s. Not guaranteed to be in the 56-player draws, but likely; there's usually injuries. US kid Alex Michelsen...he's not even 20 yet...went from 91 to 73, meaning he's in the rest of the Slams, and can probably make 500s and 250s. MUCH nicer than Challengers. And a French kid, Arthur Cazaux, jumped from 122 to 83...also pretty much guaranteeing entry into all the Slams, and therefore promising a successful year. (Even first round Slam losers pocket BIG checks and points.) For those who don't follow tennis that much, there's a growing movement to reform things...for one thing, to *reduce* the amount the top players have to play. The schedule's insane, and the ranking system, which determines seeding *everywhere* now, forces players to play TOO MUCH. For the lower level players, a known issue is, if you're not in the top 100, making ends meet is HARD. So they're talking about splitting things into a top-level tour...the Slams, the 1000-level events, the year-end finals...and a second-level tour, with the 500s and 250s...and perhaps more of them. The idea is to funnel...say, the top 60...ONLY into the 1000s and slams, and open up more slots for younger players to make a living, by being in the 500s and 250s. With advancement and relegation processes, if they can manage it. Obviously, the 500s and 250s are concerned about a loss of prestige, so there's a WHOLE lot of work to do, but the system has serious problems now.

Oh dear. Ugly story coming out from hockey. https://apnews.com/article/hockey-canada-sexual-assault-leave-19fd7216d95efcd2a753911bc05e0dbb If police are going to press charges...this long after the fact, it makes me think they have a good body of evidence.

Only in a sense. <oops...just realized I had the wrong link, deleted it...> I say "in a sense" because the story states...the plane itself was put into service in 1992...making it 30 years old. Typical...not absolute...lifespan's given as 20-25 years. OK, it's quite likely that planes flew much less frequently during the pandemic, but still... That opens up the question of whether it should still be in the air. And yeah...if that story that Boeing was responsible for the mis-installation...that's putting the entire thing back in Boeing's lap. The problem is, tho...those 757s are nearing their EOLs. What's gonna replace them...new Boeing planes???? But who else *can* replace them? AFAIK Airbus is totally booked up, and there is NO ONE else. Nor is this an area where someone can enter the market easily. That's quite likely a big part of Boeing's problem. They almost *can't* be held accountable.

Multiple reports...Jim Harbaugh to Chargers.

Nick Sirianni pretty much tattooed a bulls-eye on his back, saying he was solely responsible for firing the Eagles' coordinators...and he's got the power to hire the new ones. So if anything goes wrong in '24, it's 100% on him.