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unclevlad

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Everything posted by unclevlad

  1. That's a given. Team made a bad move with Wilson, then it blows up more spectacularly than an explosion at a fireworks factory. They're basically trying to compete with one arm tied behind their back. Reports are, they restructured 2 more contracts, so technically they're $43M *under* the cap...but that doesn't include whatever the dead money cap charge for Wilson will be. Story in Mile High Report discusses the latest restructure, and posits that perhaps they're setting up to take the big Wilson cap hit *this* year, and a much smaller one next year. The contract restructuring involves converting salary to signing bonuses...which get prorated. But that means they become cap charges down the line, but then, the Wilson cap hit will be off the books. Actually found some early win total bets...Broncos are at 8.5, somehow. Well, we'll see how this changes.
  2. But how many really competitive distracts are there? To be sure, if they can pick up 5, that would flip the House as it stands now, and that's not a high bar, so it is plausible. The scary aspect is...we just don't know. We're all looking through this through lenses of our biases...and the voters have whamboozled us quite a bit over the last few election cycles. Is there a more nightmarish scenario than a complete MAGA sweep? But the partial wins are just as ugly. 1 of the 3 only...Trump in the WH with Dem House/Senate? It's Trump, and his executive authority to withdraw from NATO, to shift money back to the border wall, to quash the prosecutions. Congress would be a check but not a severe one. Biden in WH, but Reps get 1 chamber? Similar dysfunction as now...possibly worse. Biden in WH, but Reps get both chambers? Governmental civil war. Near-certain shutdowns, as Biden will *have* to veto so many bills. So I do take a measure of hope from the story, yeah, but................
  3. Drain lingers. Plus, it's 10 points per, so you're starting at 250 points...with many advantages still to come. Also, Drain lingers...the return rate is 5 points per turn. This is a form of attack deflection; the damage is reduced tor this attack, but not for any follow-ons. Heck, for that matter, I might argue it'd be *completely* transient...that is, if Smasher the rock troll wants to multiple attack and hits twice...BOTH strikes start at full damage. That's how I read the SFX...it's like swinging an axe against a log. If your axe goes off vertical enough? It'll slide off the side. And *possibly* into your foot or leg. That might be rolling an 18 on your attack roll, mind, but...it can happen. The whole saucer is bought as a vehicle, and the power is being bought for the vehicle; Focus would mean there's a device that's producing this field. Not impossible, but it doesn't automatically get Focus.
  4. First, felicitations on your health. Duke: How is it an activation roll? The attacker is the one making the DEX roll, so it's his skill that's being challenged. Plus, 15 points off the attack's active points doesn't translate to 15 DEF. Nor does it scale with how bad the DEX roll went. I'm thinking a very large Dispel. It's normally all or nothing, so, ok, need a pretty hefty advantage to allow partial success, like Transform. (Transform is another option but its rules are so wonky, I'd MUCH rather not. Suppress is another choice, and fits in most ways, but it'll be VERY!!!! expensive.) I'm going with 12d6...basically 4d6 per point the roll's missed, is my goal, to a max of missing by 3. Then...All or Nothing is -1/2 for Transform. I'd start with +1/2 for Suppress Power, but it might need to be higher. It's gonna need Variable Effect, another +1/2, and if this is on the hull, I'm thinking AoE Surface Damage Shield. How big's the hull? Ewww. Plus 0 END, Persistent, from the sound of things. Now we get to the Limitation. It's sizable...at least -1. This is where you can make it dependent on the attacker...it's 4d6 per point the DEX check is missed, to the maximum of 12d6. For simplicity, and if points are just not a concern, raise it to 15d6, so it's 5d6 per point missed...and Standard Effect makes that 15. Happy joy!
  5. Unfortunately, FTL has a custom implementation to get it to look that way. Bring up the FTL, and click through the levels. Note how that string changes. That requires specialized conversion logic, it's tweaking both the number of LY per, and the time increment. You'd need to download the source code (which is not free), create a new power, and get it linked in properly. It's not what I'd call hard...for this example anyway...but I did Java professionally for 10 or so years, on more complex projects than HD.
  6. Wow. BIG day on the free agent front. Barkley bails the Giants to.....the Eagles. Which might well be just what they need. In Dallas, Tony Pollard is gone, to Tennessee. He's only 26, and doesn't have that much mileage. So clearly they expect Prescott to carry the load. I'm sorry. Here, take your time to get control back and get up off the floor. Accept my apologies for making you laugh that hard, with no warning....... And I'm sure His Fuzziness is all-over tangles now. Kirk Cousins heads south to Atlanta...on another pretty darn ridiculous contract, IMO. 4 years, $180M; $50M signing bonus, $90M guaranteed for the '24 and '25 seasons. This smacks of desperation and another case of grossly overpaying...Cousins turns 36 in August, not 30. And coming off a torn ACL? Conversely, the NFC South has been a weak division for a couple years. If your intent is just to make the playoffs, well, this might work...but a deep run? Atlanta? Cousins? I don't see either part of this equation being anywhere close. Several other RBs apparently got paid pretty good too, but Barkley and Pollard were the standouts for me.
  7. Given the economics of comics, I find that entirely plausible....
  8. Been there, done that. More times than I want to count. That's why, with the staples that I use daily (if not more often), I overstock. Like...olive oil. Open up a new bottle? Go buy a spare, or at least, put it onto the mental list. Even if I forget for a trip or two, it won't matter. Or my green coffee...I've probably got 7 pounds right now, which is...mmm...roughly 70 days. Start in on the last 3 pound bag...time to order! Coffee filters...i've got Hario #1 and #2 drippers. Just got 600 of each size from Amazon...that's 18+ months. (But I got em WAY cheaper than MSRP.)
  9. From an NYT newsletter that just dropped into my inbox. The potentially lasting impact of the Roe overturn: It remains to be seen how this will play out, of course. It probably isn't enough to divert the primary process. Primaries tend to support the more polarized candidates. It might change the occasional result in competitive races, tho.
  10. On the characteristics...Template.java creates an instance of all the characteristics, then checks to see if they're in the template. 6E doesn't have Comeliness; 5E doesn't have OCV, DCV, OMCV, or DMCV as standalones, just the derived values. It does allow using Custom1, Custom2, etc. for custom characteristics. For the supersonic flight, it should work. Loading powers from Main.hdt, which is the basis, is a 2-stage process. First, all the powers in the template are loaded, using the basic implementation in the Power.java class. Then, for all the classes with a custom implementation...quite a few...they're checked, one by one. If they're in the template being loaded, then the custom implementation replaces the bare-bones implementation. But if you're good with your SS flight using a bare-bones? It should load. Two things I'd try. #1: put a SOURCE tag (5th edition) into your SSF XML...that's a trivial copy/paste. #2: check the file trace.log, to see if it's telling you there's a problem trying to build something.
  11. Gambling authorities are investigating several games involving Temple basketball, where there were significant bets quite late, that dramatically shifted betting lines that had no clear justification, like an injury. One example of several reported in The Athletic: No allegations yet, as it's too early in the process. And unfortunately, it's not surprising if it's, say, some student manager getting paid to give out insider info. Sportsbooks are huge now.
  12. I had a Roku TV...for a very short time. Didn't like it; the app was, IIRC, very poor. Then I think the power supply failed. Not worth replacing. Then this? Yeah, this is getting reported by many tech media outlets. It's all but blackmail...changing the fundamental terms after the fact, and making my device unusable unless I accept them? Feh! Forget it. Roku, you're out.
  13. How scary is the Texas legal system? VERY. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/us/supreme-court-texas-death-penalty.html?unlocked_article_code=1.b00.KEpk.Hg_D2D83vTev&smid=url-share
  14. On this night in 2020, the NBA paused its season for 30 days. This was, for me and I suspect many others, the "ohmigod, it's real" moment...the coronavirus was something Really, Really Serious. It wasn't the first indication; the WHO called it a pandemic several hours before, and the Warriors had already announced their game on the 12th would be played without fans. But the entire NBA going on hiatus? Wow. Just......wow. That blew my mind. It became the straw that broke the camel's back, in the US; on the 12th, the next day, the NCAA cancelled the conference basketball tournaments, and thus, the men's basketball tournament...arguably the single largest event on the spring calendar. MLB shut down spring training. MLS and NHL announced pauses. But it was 4 years ago tonight when reality hit.
  15. You're assuming he'll actually play. Well, OK, I guess given the alternatives in Pittsburgh.......... EDIT: headline from The Athletic... Kaboly: Russell Wilson could set the Steelers back years, so they better win now The point being, it sure sounds like it's a rejection of their existing QBs...and if so, then if Wilson doesn't work, OR if he walks in '25...it's only a 1 year deal...you've burned the bridges to Rudolph and Pickett, most likely. So...back to drafting another QB. A potential counter is, after Williams, Maye, and Daniels, many draft opinionators don't think there's another true first-round caliber option, and we know, QBs get snapped up in the desperate search for one. Steelers' first pick is 20. Signing Wilson says, we're not going QB...but a 1 year deal *might* be saying, we'll wait for next year. The (admittedly massively premature) opinion is the '25 draft will have more at QB. Still...the Steelers aren't the type to trade up. They're probably not going to get a much better draft position next year, so "the next Elway" is gonna be long gone, so I'm not sure this is viable. Tossing Pickett to the side...'24 is the 3rd year of his rookie contract, but they have to decide on the 5th year option next May. But given that Pickett was capable of playing late in the year...and the Steelers still used Rudolph and Tomlin...it's quite likely they've given up on him anyway. So, it's back to square one...and the consideration that they can't get a franchise QB in the draft makes a bridge season with a QB that costs basically nothing, not a terrible idea.
  16. Rittenhouse's appearance is an example of one of the core problems of the left. Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." That's near the center of liberal thought...and antithetical to the far right. Blocking Rittenhouse, and similar points, are anathema to this...at least blocking it in advance. If he advocates violence in his remarks, well, that would be different. This is by no means the first such incident, or the only type of incident.
  17. And the Pats jettison Mac Jones now. From Field Yates: The fifth was #1 pick Trevor Lawrence, who's doing fine...but yeah, overall that track record's pretty bad. And Jones is going to Jacksonville; reports are they're the only team to offer anything, and they're only shipping a 6th round pick in return. What does this mean? Jones is on the 4th and last base year of his rookie contract, so his salary is low...for NFL QBs. Not by any sane standards. '25 is his option year...and if picked up, it's $25M. Yes, well, barring injury to Lawrence? NO CHANCE it'll get picked up.
  18. So, you have an attack power. The power has Can Draw From END Reserve or Personal END. Say you want to use this power in a Multiple Attack...you're going to try to strike a few different people. The question is...do all the strikes have to draw from the same source, or can I split up the END between the two? The only text is in the END Reserve power itself, and it doesn't specify anything about the actual mechanics of switching the END source, and there's no errata about it.
  19. Oh my lord...talk about a game where a mercy rule would've been nice... West Coast Conference tourney. It's the 6 vs. 9 game, Pepperdine vs. Pacific. 9 team lead, tho...more on that in a bit. With 8 minutes left in the first half, Pepperdine led 39-2. No typo. First half ended 56-9. There's no pep talk possible for the team that's behind 47 at halftime. Of course, the fact that they were 0-16 during the conference regular season makes any pep talk difficult... I would not be surprised to hear Pacific is going to be looking for a new coach. 0-16 in conference, 6-25 overall before this, then a total embarassment...
  20. Shades of Joe Niekro...I love the ump, just sitting there, chin in hand, turning with a whole "...and what have we here, hmm?" vibe....
  21. Salary cap clearance, pure and simple. $13M guaranteed money this year. On the one hand...we can assume no one offered more, so the league doesn't seem to be valuing him *at his price tag* and the fact this is his option year. CBS Sports and USA Today give the Browns very high marks, but...is this really a cheap flyer? OTOH, tho...bailing on a young player who's done OK, and getting nothing in return....beyond the cap space, I'm kinda wondering if he had no support from Sean Payton, and this is about getting rid of those who don't fit in...according to Payton. On the flip side, I'm thinking this gives Jeudy a chance to live up to his draft position.
  22. I don't like that "take no actions" either. It feels unnecessarily punitive. You're at 0 OCV and 1/2 DCV throughout. The second clause is a reiteration now...just phrased incorrectly. The first clause is simple and clear. Just strike the second. And defining it in segments has an additional advantage. Right now, a full combat leap, and a leap using the base NCM, both take the same time...which feels wrong. So, the language can be "The Leap requires one extra segment per doubling used. The landing occurs at the end of the segment. Example: Grasshopper has SPD 5 and 20 meters of Leap and spent 15 points for 3 additional doublings. Grasshopper Leaps on his phase in segment 3. He lands on segment -- 3, if not using any doublings -- 4, if using 1 doubling -- 5, if using 2 doublings, etc. Grasshopper can't abort the leap while in the air. If he's still leaping on segment 4, it's a new segment, and he can abort. If the leap continues to segment 5, Grasshopper gains a new phase and can take actions." Or something like that. I'd suggest it was written as phases because movement's in phases. What's the position of a flyer or runner in those segments between phases? Especially with an erratic SPD like 5, where the # of segments between phases is not consistent? The answer's not exactly hard...determine movement per segment, which is just total non-combat movement == (combat meters used) x (non-combat factor) For running and flight, this is then meters per phase. Meters per turn is meters per phase times SPD, and meters per segment is simply meters per turn / 12. Shorthand: it's TCM * SPD / 12. For leap, start with the total non-combat movement as above. But you may not be able to repeat the move at your full SPD; the leap can take longer. So instead of TCM * SPD / 12, it's TCM * (MINIMUM of SPD and 12/Duration) / 12, where Duration is the number of segments to complete the leap. 12/Duration is the "effective SPD" to repeat the leaps. This generally won't come into play unless SPD is quite low.
  23. I'm updating my velocity calculator to use the special timing rules for Leap. From 6E1 243: These are actually inconsistent statements. A normal maximum-distance leap is a full move, and thus takes a full phase. With 1 NCM, the freebie, the first part says it takes 1 phase. But the second part says it should take 2. The example gives 4 purchased NCMs for x32, and such a leap takes 5 phases. This is consistent with the first section. The "every doubling" clause is redundant, as well.
  24. Wasn't it KFC that also did the breadless chicken sandwich? Two chicken patties with...I forget what, in between. All I can say is, I'd hate to see the ideas they reject...........................
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