unclevlad

The Middle East never remains calm for too long. First Palestine, now... https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/world/middleeast/us-isis-iran-general-suleimani.html?unlocked_article_code=1.LE0.qs0-.uV0-HMNxnhio&smid=url-share

<shudders as memories of the scorpion and the frog flood through....>

Not the classical interpretation...doesn't mean there's an association I don't recognize offhand, of course, so you just charge right ahead there...

Holy blindside blitz, Batman! Home insurance renewal notice just arrived. 50% (!!!!) premium increase. Several factors cited...construction costs, inflation. The big one, I suspect, $140 billion paid out by the industry due to natural disasters. Ouch. More bad news? Forecast is for a year that'll probably be *hotter* than last year, as El Nino raises sea surface temps...which'll impact everything. Which also suggests another year with more, and more severe, storms.

(Panthers fan to Jets fan) Q: How can you still root for that team??? A: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time....

600

Or, the simpler, "lies, damned lies, and statistics."

David Tepper breaks the most important rule of them all: don't get caught. Video shows him dumping the remnants of a beverage onto a fan. League fine him $300K today. Playoff situation. https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-playoff-picture-postseason-probabilities-entering-week-18-of-2023-season The craziness mostly only comes about in case of certain ties, but there are some *really* specific scenarios that allow certain losers in through the back door. A Denver Post writer looks at the situation for the Broncos next year. His response to the second letter goes into the major cap issues nicely. https://www.denverpost.com/2024/01/02/broncos-mailbag-sean-payton-russell-wilson/

And Trump has a complete hair trigger when it comes to perceiving anyone as an enemy. In this regard, he's about as stable as azidoazide azide.

WOW. Washington's up 9 late. Texas moves the ball, Sark kicks the FG with about 1:10 late. Onside kick fails, but Texas does have 2 TOs. On 3rd down, a bit of a freak play...the Washington RB gets a somewhat gimpy leg twisted kinda wrong during a tackle. He's got to be helped off, and left the field after the game on the cart, unfortunately. This means its a time out for Washington...the LAST thing they want. So, it's 4th down, they have to punt with about 50 seconds left. They have a false start. Lose 5 yards. They get the kick away fine...the Texas returner calls for a fair catch. A Washington player just isn't watching, he's simply getting WAY too close. The return guy takes a step to the left to line up the catch...and the Washington guy interferes. 15 yards. Now Texas gets a couple big plays and BIG catches...and get it all the way down to the Washington 15, with about 15 seconds left. First down, short gain in the flat, receiver scuttles OB. Second down, good pressure, Texas QB has to throw it away basically. 5 seconds left. Third down, more pressure. Texas QB has to ditch it.....and does so JUST in time. Ball hits the turf...with 1 second left. Fourth down...one more play by the Washington secondary, one last incompletion. Washington holds on, 37-31. EARLY line is Michigan -4.5, but if the Washington RB's injury is bad enough to keep him out, that'll probably shift a bit. It's their main RB. 14-0 vs. 14-0. #1 vs. #2. Not common.

That pic is a blast from the past.......all that's missing are the helicopters. (Yeah, I remember seeing this scene *live*...from one of the choppers. Totally surreal.) I'd not seen this, but Rapaport usually is a reputable source, so this story's very interesting. https://www.nfl.com/news/examining-factors-that-led-to-broncos-benching-russell-wilson-and-what-s-potenti And what Rapaport is saying, makes sense, particularly the point that asking whether Wilson would push the guarantee date back feels like...negotiation. Not a threat. That said, if the relationship between Wilson and Payton was bad, a reasonable inference...I suppose Wilson might've seen it as a threat. What I still can't see, tho, is Wilson being on Denver's roster next September. If a core issue is that Wilson doesn't read quickly enough, missing open receivers when the window's there? At this point in his career, I simply can't see any way that'll improve markedly, and I GREATLY prefer the ability to run the offense over trying to make something out of nothing on a busted play.

I'm not a big Bama fan, and yeah, I'm pretty tired of the SEC. But man, I detest this Harbaugh. Michigan's mistakes were offset, and then some since they won, by Milroe's mistakes. The fumble...ok, turf monster somewhat, but once you lose balance and you see defenders in the area? COVER UP THE BALL. And it looked like the snap timing was off; maybe the center was a half beat late snapping, maybe Milroe started back too soon, but that play had no chance. As was said tho, Michigan got the penetration, so clean snap execution probably wouldn't have helped enough. Apparently social media is pretty much calling it the worst play call since Carroll and Wilson tried that little inside slant route. They're really stuck on the time to show the FCS game. Saturday? No, ESPN has a doubleheader Saturday. Monday? No, that's the CFP title game. I suspect they don't want to do, say, FCS title game on Monday then CFP, say, Tuesday or Wednesday, for overall scheduling reasons, but 2 Eastern Sunday overlaps both groups of NFL games. The ratings won't be good, ya gotta think. But they're scheduling the championship game fairly quickly after the semis. Last year it was Dec. 31st and Jan. 9th. 2022 was Dec. 31st and Jan. 10th. 2021 was perturbed by COVID, but Jan. 1st and Jan. 12th. 2020 was probably TOO long...Dec. 28th and Jan. 13th. This was an oddball year, kinda; Dec. 28th was a Saturday. But Jan. 6th was a Monday. Eh...the ways of megacorps are mysterious and not to be understood by us mere viewers. One bare week is unusually quick, regardless. EDIT: Ohh...side thought. Just realized. Jan. 15th is NOT open now. The expanded NFL playoffs have 6 games. NBC/Peacock gets Saturday; Sunday is standard CBS, Fox, and NBC; Monday is ESPN. They're not gonna have the CFP clash with an NFL playoff game. You'd still think they could run the CFP on, say, the 10th or 11th...but the habit of the Monday game may be locked into the bureaucratic mindset of the programming coordinators...

No. That's not how I read it. Ronin is down the points, yes...but not any of his alternates. If a 250 point character pays for a 250 point Multiform...the multiform does NOT have to set aside the 50. Only the base form does. Now in 4E, you're right. Page 82, slightly abridged...max total points the second form can have is equal to the total points in the base form, minus all multiform costs. That's saying the second form, like the duplicate, has to pay for the Multiform cost. 5E 211: The cost for Multiform, which only the true form pays for, is 1 CP for every 5 CPs the most expensive alternate form is built with. 6E 266 mirrors this. 5E and 6E explicitly say they DON'T have to...because, I suspect, they recognized it was too great a power loss. This isn't entirely on point but it's pretty close: I haven't gone through all the Q&A, but Steve never says anything like "the alternate form has X points to spend, minus the cost of Multiform itself."

You can call it rPD, you can also call it Damage Reduction or Negation. Thing is, if it's just rPD, then high damage blows through it. Did you ever catch those ESPN lumberjack competitions? Strong guys with axes, and with skills. They'd go through that wood...pretty quickly, but most individual strikes didn't remove that much. That's why I lean to Reduction first, as the main factor, then maybe with some rPD. When we were taking down a LOT of trees...with chainsaws, but the principle is the same...you don't cut through, you cut a wedge out of the side, and let gravity do the rest. These were typically...gosh, probably 8 to 15 inch pines, and sometimes spruces...beetle or moth kills. But I'm probably overthinking the real-world aspects. Blue Eyed Samurai seems likely anime-inspired, so the spectacular and dramatic shouldn't be impeded by mundane reality. As such, it may be primarily *narrative* rather than quantitative. The SFX of slicing through something particularly solid, are typically that the weapon's moving MUCH too fast to see. As such, the material literally has no time to resist. So...hmm... --combine Drain rPD (or apply Reduced Negation, if you want to go with Damage Negation instead of rPD) in combination with the KA. --an odd take...use a Tunneling basis? I've seen real-world videos where katanas cut bamboo...that's somewhat different, but perhaps a good model. Similarly, in anime, the swordsman doesn't just cut the object...he cuts THROUGH it. And the hapless minions. It's HARD to do that, because at least in part, it's VERY hard to maintain blade speed through the object's resistance. I definitely prefer the Drain rPD to Drain Body, conceptually at least.

Oh, it'll be fine, it's just a question of WHEN it'll be ready. Probably before halftime...I rather forgot just HOW SLOW these games are, as the commercials are interminable.

I'm afraid this is going to go down as one of the Great Understatements of the 21st Century.

One might argue Iowa's failure to score isn't that meaningful...if it wasn't practically the storyline of their entire season. 35-0 Tennessee. And sorry, Mr. P, but Wisconsin pulled the Big Ten Fold, as expected. OSU, the conference #2...lose. Iowa and Penn State, 3 and 4...lose. The only teams that've won...the middle of the pack, where the results even in mid-season might've been pretty random. But these are also bowl games where NO ONE CARES!!! much of the time. BTW: Liberty lost only 1 player to opt-out...so, yeah, the big boy table comment has more relevance. You'd also think they'd have something to prove, and Oregon would be the team much more likely to have a letdown. That said, there's still plenty of other factors...including freezing up by suddenly being on such an immense stage. PS: argh, kind of a weird night...forgot to pre-cook the meat/veggies for the chili...that's 30-40 minutes of cook time shifted...beans aren't close to ready right now. Hopefully by halftime, that'd be fine....

Why were the multiforms weaker? As I read 5E, the multiforms get full points to spend...if the campaign's 500, then the base form pays the 100, but all the alternates have complete freedom to spend all 500. If this is Duplication? Yeah, OK, the rules say the dupes should still have to account for the Duplication cost, so the dupes don't get additional stuff the base doesn't have. I'm willing to bend that to a point...one in particular, is that the dupes might get Reincarnation Regen, where the main form wouldn't. That said...it can be harder to execute some of the cost savings. I like layered defenses...say, Armor that's Always On (tough physique), then perhaps another layer of armor that can be active/inactive. Always On is rather shaky with a Multiform. OIAID, even moreso. There's some savings here and there, tho, too.

But you'd need a lot of Drain, and that's seriously expensive. I think a tree probably has 0 rPD...but give it 50 or 75% resistant DR. Or possibly Negation. You can take a chunk out, but not a BIG chunk...that's the fibrous structure, it doesn't allow damage to carry through. Ergo...DR. Note that this apples cutting *across* the grain, not so much with the grain. It's also a lot higher when the wood's green, which obviously it is when it's growing. Even using a chainsaw to cut through a 3-4" branch takes a bit...altho admittedly mine's a rather small one. The big tank loggers' chainsaws make quick work of things.

Systems Ops: Characters with this Intellect Skill understand how to operate sensing and communication devices properly. Maybe it'd work, but it feels wrong to me. Right now...and it's not locked in stone...I've got HRRH with Discrim, Analyze, Rapid x100, Targeting, Tracking, and Telescopic x24. (MegaScale, you say? It's 43 points without the Telescopic right now.) Telescopic x24 means no range mods out to 30 km. I may include levels...the issue with Mind Scan trying to find one particular mind in a sea of minds, feels like it's a clean, sensible approach to use here too. Finding one particular cell phone or radio operating in the middle of Yellowstone, should be a HECK of a lot easier than one in Times Square on New Years Eve.

You can do that too. If everything is tied to the same stat, tho, you can maintain the modifier linkage by just selecting one of them, then just tweaking the label fields. Custom Skill has no connection to an underlying stat.

I don't think that's true. The longstanding demonization of anything and everything Democratic has the effect of making any Democrat totally anathema...that even the racism and fascism are bad choices...but the Democratic alternatives are far WORSE. The problem is that the primary process tends to favor the extremists, so by the time the general election comes around, even the moderate Republicans feel they HAVE to support the extremist, warts and all.

But many of those faces won't be looking in your direction, or will be obscured by a hat, or by something else like someone taller in front of them, etc. Searching for minds/radios, that wouldn't really matter, so the comparison doesn't seem to fit. Searching for a particular voice...that might be closer. That said...hmm. A couple levels of Rapid might be another approach. It doesn't entirely feel right; it's perfect scanning through frequencies, but cell towers operate in very specific bands. https://www.signalboosters.com/blog/cellular-frequency-bands-a-simple-breakdown/ Mmm...that might still work, as the character can certainly know all those bands, and Rapid would allow him to scan through them quickly enough. I'll think about it.

Plus, the sheer size of 6E is already an issue...look at the whole "is 6E too complicated" thread. There's no consensus, but it's also got support for at least saying "in some areas, yes." Much of the material in APG is fairly narrow/specialized/niche somehow...which means, not that useful in the core work. Finding anything in the PDFs is already a PITA without adding a lot more text. Now, if 6E can be edited, revised for cleanup on some things, and certain things reconsidered (I think Damage Reduction is notably overpriced, for example)...and reorganized in HTML...then the length issue becomes irrelevant. "Special cases" can be a link to discussions like (I've got APG I open) Damage To Subject, under the skills rules.