There is no D in New York......

Giants offense does pretty good, but defense gives up 3 fairly long TD drives in the second half.  Up 10 at halftine, socre 10 yourself, and lose.  NOT good.

Jets...wow.  Unreal.  Up 15 to open the 4th.  Give up FG, TD, TD and 2 pointer.  Green Bay botches kickoff coverage;  not sure exactly, but the kickoff only went to the 11 and they gave up 50 on the return.  So the Jets tie it.  Only to have GB take the kickoff and ram it right into the end zone.  Game over.  Last 4 possessions, not counting getting the ball back after the tying FG when there was no time, all scores.  FG and 3 TDs, and a crucial 2 pointer.

Ugh.  Not only are the stupid Cowboys in the playoffs, they'll have to be favorites, in Jerryland, to win the first one.  Well, we can hope they live down to expectation.

14 hours ago, Pariah said:

70-14?!

 

Mother of Hades. 

Only fools bet early bowl games or read anything into their outcomes.  You *never* know in advance what teams are gonna play, and what teams checked out for Christmas break ahead of time.  

I also do believe in a steamroll effect...once things go south, they keep going south...and going, and going, and going.  Just happens way too often.  And when a team's closing out a season and there's no reason to play any more?  Chances increase considerably.  I only caught a couple highlights from this one, but I gotta think that was another big factor.

15 hours ago, Iuz the Evil said:

Damn Army. I retract my earlier implied criticism and scorn following the near loss of my Sooners in overtime.

 

You scary. 11-2, best season in school history. Absolutely rolled your bowl opponent (and Navy - but that's only really important to Army). Most disciplined, ball controlling, triple option running team I've seen in years.

 

Respect.

Air Force, maybe 10 years ago, when they had some really good teams.  They've got some physical restrictions that *don't* necessarily apply to Army or Navy, cuz their cadets have to fit into flight suits and they don't make those for 6'7" and 320.  Haven't seen enough of Army to say which one was better;  just offering them up as another strong ball-control team.  IIRC Navy also had a good ground game, but in their good years, I think they were a bit more balanced.  Perhaps not;  it's not like the academies get on TV a lot and I don't go out of my way to follow them.

And yes, there is a theme there.

3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Just to reassure our American cohorts that current social trends aren't just affecting them: Denmark Passes Muslim-focused Handshake Law

There's been a general upswing, as I understand, of right-wing lunacy.  This...is just bloody PETTY.  

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

So I'm watching Texans/Eagles.  Watson darts left, makes a sweet move, and scores untouched.  Texans kicker then misses the extra point.  

Now we get to things.  OF COURSE, the announcer goes "yet another miss, it's an epidemic" or something like that.  You know the tripe.  Yes, well, fine.  Let's go find out, shall we?  Stats are easy to find.  Kicking stats...copy, paste into spreadsheet, format, isolate.  BOOM.

Even the 2 worst?  One's 26 of 30, one's 20 of 23.  3rd worst is 41 of 46, and that's a bit more troubling.  But by and large?  The percentage is over 94%.  Field goals from 30-39?  Almost identical.  And historically, a couple years I've checked...30-39 FGs run right at that 94-95%.

I dropped a handful of kickers with 15 or fewer attempts.  Of those, 4 of em would RAISE the numbers...8,, 8, 10, and 15 attempts, no misses.  There were 2 *bad* kickers...Caleb Sturgis was 9/15 (and only 9/13 on FGs) and Zane Gonzalez was only 7/9 on PATs and 5/9 on FGs.  Bad combo.  But they're both gone, and can easily be called "not NFL-quality kickers."  

Now, ok, when it was from the 2...the PAT rate ran over 99%.  Moving it back has, I'd say, done the intended job...just that little bit of uncertainty.  The perception that it's an epidemic is selective memory.

The notion of what does, or does not, constitute a lie is separate from the method, be it sense/power or skill.  IMO, they have no connection whatsoever.

4 hours ago, Pariah said:

RE: Traveling Wilburys -

 

Roy Orbison died shortly after the completion of the first album (the video for "End of the Line" shows his photograph in a rocking chair with the rest of the band) and had no part in the second album, titled Vol. 3.

 

The More You Know.

Ah, ok.  Forgot;  that was a LONG time ago.

Well, here's the deal.  1d6 killing is 3.5 BODY, and is thus quite similar (for BODY purposes) to 3d6 normal.  That's where the DC equivalence arises.

When you go +1, +1/2 die, +1 die, the average BODY goes up by 1, 1, and 1.5.

When you go +1, +die - 1, + die, the average BODY goes up by 1, 1.5, and 1.

Either way you do it, there's one particular extra DC that's slightly better than the other 2.  It can't be helped.  
 

So just pick whichever you prefer.  

Old Man:  your system basically subdivides killing damage into 4 DC equivalents, but your average damage is increasing by 1, 1, 1/2, 1.  Plus, you're making bonus DCs (usually martial arts) have a different value depending on whether they're applied to a normal or killing attack.  And what about STR?

Honestly, I'd LOVE to see killing dice simply *eliminated*.  The rolls are just too swingy for my taste.  I'd rather "Vs Resistant Defense only" become an Advantage just like AP, so you don't need a boatload of resistant defenses to avert a disastrous 3d6 or 4d6 KA roll.  Mind, if you're playing a grittier game, then killing dice are probably fine, but in normal Supers I think they're inappropriate.

10 minutes ago, Old Man said:

Shutdown in 2 hours and 54 minutes.

And it can't be stopped.  Congress adjourned.

F'ing Trump.  Whiny petulant child.

9 minutes ago, Cancer said:

Sharks versus Jets, Cretaceous Era version

Cool pic.  Love what you did with the negative.

44 minutes ago, Cygnia said:

For the First Time in More Than 20 Years, Copyrighted Works Will Enter the Public Domain

I HATE!!!! that copyright is still so obscenely long.  Yeah, copyright has its place, but even 75 years is a joke today.  I'm a big Dorothy Sayers fan...but only 2 of her Peter Wimsey books are public domain, as they come from the 20s and 30s.  

Where ya get crucified quite often is actually when the artist dies...because the estate lawyers and beneficiaries almost always go for max revenues.  Perhaps not against explicit wishes that the deceased's works go into the public domain, but barring that...they have no reason to budge.  Remember the Traveling Wilburys?  2 collaboration albums.  George Harrison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison...these should need no intro.  3 can reasonably be asserted to belong on a Mount Rushmore of rock n' roll;  I don't quite put Petty at that level, but he wasn't far from it!  And Jeff Lynne of ELO, a great performer and one of the great album producers.  Orbison died, IIRC soon after the 2nd album was released...and his estate basically forced the albums off the air by contesting the royalties, IIRC.  David Eddings' stuff has been almost impossible to find as e-books after he died;  I gotta think it's the estate again.

There's no impetus to change things, and well, given everything else, there's no real chance this'll ever come up for reconsideration.  Even if it does, who's gonna argue the consumers' side?  Google probably would, and there probably would be others, but the writers/creators?  The supporters of this will probably make their stuff public when they can, so overall...nope.  The publishers?  HA!  They'll never release control 1 second before they have to.

3 hours ago, Pariah said:

NCAA should put dent in college football superpowers by reducing scholarship limits

 

The recommendations: Cut scholarships from 85 to 70, with no more than 20 signings in any one year. Convert five of the fifteen lost scholarships into coaching scholarships, and distribute the other ten to other sports.

 

I don't think this is anything that anyone other than the author has been thinking or talking about, but it's an interesting idea.

To start with, I seriously doubt it would make that much difference.  The top programs will still be drawing from the top 1/10th of a percent of recruits.  Next, it wouldn't surprise me if this caused more underclass churn...players leaving after 2 or 3 years.  Probably 3.  More transfers.  Basically...I don't think this is a well-thought-out proposal.  And last...Bama's dominance is gonna likely end fairly soon.  It's highly unlikely they'll stay on top once Saban leaves, and every top coach that hangs on, eventually loses that touch.  

And it has zero chance of getting through.  Optimistically.

Starlord:  I saw that last night and gagged too.  My Buckeye Loathe will continue indefinitely.

4 hours ago, BoloOfEarth said:

 

Out of curiosity, was Douglas Adams descended from Nostradamus?

 

 

He borrowed Dr. Brown's DeLorean.

I saw that about the dates...but that was also when they were in high school.  Go with the stable config date.

And yes...yes, that still means OLD school.  If you use '68 as the date...I entered 5th grade that year.  Whether that counts as middle school or not depends on structure.  It was middle school for that system.

We're fossils, dude.  It's ok.

19 hours ago, L. Marcus said:

Rush is a band, right?

 

Or was.

Was.

OLD time band.  As in, goes back to 1974.  It can't be considered a surprise;  the guys are in their mid 60s now.  Physical problems accumulate;  a touring lifestyle is also not easy to do in a healthy way.  The wiki article on them mentions psoriatic arthritis for Lifeson and tendinitis for Peart.  Plus the foot trouble (which makes me think complications from diabetes) for Peart.  

But yeah...another of the bands of my youth effectively gone.  Can't say I was a huge Rush fan, but much of their repertoire wasn't exactly radio-friendly as I recall.

3 minutes ago, Pattern Ghost said:

 

Only if he doesn't have his hands in the pie. I haven't heard anything at all about him, either. He seems mostly invisible to the press.

If you'll let me switch that to "silent" rather than invisible...that's because Trump alone makes more noise than an entire fighter squadron taking off from a carrier.  

But the Mueller investigation is about campaign issues, not Trump's actions as President.  The roots go back to before the nomination.

Well, the gadgeteer can practically be the exemplar for "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."  A fairly common theme is that paratech (a term a former GM liked to use for the toys created by supers) is often not understandable or replicable even by the best non-super experts.  The tin suit has this to some degree, but I think the one-off toys of the gadgeteer frequently fall into this class.  My definition of magic is pretty much when there's effect but no understandable cause.

IIRC, Pence's policy positions (try saying that 3 times fast) were a little scary during the campaign.  No...quite scary.  I don't recall specifics but he scared me.  That said, not NEARLY like Orange Don does.

But I've never heard of a hint of charges against him.  And even assuming Trump's forced out, I think it'd take an outright smoking howitzer to remove Pence as well.   Impeaching Trump can easily be justified as protecting the Constitution;  following up by going after Pence feels like you're trying for a coup.

On the Mattis resignation, a thought just crossed my mind.  

Remember this?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html?module=inline

Yeah, I think this resignation gives considerable credence to this...and it says they're losing the battle.

1 hour ago, Pattern Ghost said:

The last adult has left the Trump administration. Just heard on the radio that Mattis has "resigned."

 

Edit: NYT article on Mattis leaving.

Wow.  Yeah, this is a massive slam.  All the more so because of its tone.  

Lord Liaden:  I've said much the same.  You said it better.  If I may add, in doing so he forces a Hobson's choice on so many around him.  Does the Republican establishment really have a choice but to follow?  Sure, but how great is *that* cost?  Classic theory of co-opting someone is, get them to do little things, then use that as leverage to force them to escalate.  That's Trump and the Republican establishment.  They *couldn't* reject him at the convention, they *couldn't* reject him early on...by the time they could it was too late.

And the hourglass is running rather low.  

Politico has a piece saying it was the hard-core right wing nutjobs raking Trump over the coals that led to this.  Well, if true, one has to wonder yet again about the long-term viability of the Republican Party.  They're willing to burn down the Party's house much too easily...because they're critics, not leaders.

Trump's pullout from Syria is also not going to be popular with many Republicans.  This feels less about factional disputes than Trump's personal tunnel vision.  Trump's moves in general, tho, cause enormous damage to our ability to conduct foreign policy moving forward.  

It would appear likely Josh Gordon's career is now over.  Back on the indefinite suspension list for violating the terms of his reinstatement from drug suspensions.  He was out for 3 years before, and the process to get reinstated is never gonna get easier with more violations.  That said, well, hopefully he can solve his problems.  

What will comics do when Donnie and Co vanish from the scene, and now they have to dig to get material?

Of course, right now I'm just hoping that Trump doesn't eviscerate us out of spite as he doesn't get his way in all things.

4 hours ago, Badger said:

 

Wait, Gruden actually did sign Peterman?

 

Now if he brings in Paxton Lynch, my predicted QB tandem will be complete.

Signed to the practice squad.  He's not even eligible to be on a gameday roster there.  That's pretty much positions 54-63.  Heck, giving him a chance to maybe learn there is reasonable.  Doesn't cost much, doesn't commit to anything.

Well, spout out enough predictions and you get lucky once in a while.  NFL.com is reporting Cam Newton's being shut down for the remainder of the season.

And yeah, I just saw that on the FS1 crawl...you know you're desperate when watching St. John's vs. St. Francis (Brooklyn) college hoops...and you're 3000 miles away from NYC and NOT Catholic.   Hey, Gruden just signed him to the practice squad.  That's a no-risk situation, and costs almost nothing.  Practice squad pay is only a couple thousand a week.

In other news....oohh, the Saturday games are QUITE important!  Redskins-Titans is huge;  loser is gonna be in desperate shape at best.  Unfortunately, of course, the Skins are still down a QB.  Chargers at Ravens...important, yes.  Competitive???  Remains to be seen.  Not convinced Lamar Jackson's the answer, and the Chargers are probably the 2nd best team in the league.  It is in Baltimore, so hopefully that will keep it competitive.  

And last, does anyone else kinda cringe at what the Ravens are trying with Jackson?  In fear that the kid's gonna get *demolished* with as much intentional running he's doing.  Like a ship sailing through iceberg-infested waters.