unclevlad

Interesting.  In the GC, Pogacar takes 3rd, Vingegaard 4 seconds behind in 4th.  That matters...because 3rd place gets a 4 second time bonus.  So Pogacar cut the deficit today from 17 seconds, down to 9.  

By comparison?  Hindley is almost 3 minutes back of Vingegaard, and Rodriguez Cano almost 5 minutes.

Sad food-related news.

Anchor Brewing has become another victim of the pandemic.  Company noted that 70% of their sales was to restaurants.  Dining was hit long and hard, and has been slow to recover.  They tried to go more into retail, but that's a HARD market these days.  They ran out of time.  They have ceased brewing, and given 60 days' notice to all employees.  They'll package and sell what they have in the pipeline already, but after that......

Serious bummer for me.  Anchor was one of the first breweries I really cut my teeth on, when I started exploring real beer. 

4 minutes ago, Old Man said:

I thought we were already flooded with reality TV.  Should I build an ark?

Yes.

On 7/12/2023 at 11:00 AM, Pariah said:

I suppose relegating Northwestern to the MAC is out of the question?

Would you do that to the MAC?  

Slap em in Division III.  They might break even there.

And indeed the other shoe has fallen.  The actors are on strike as of this afternoon.

Does that mean we're going to be flooded with reality TV?

I don't care about surviving the century, as I won't.

I'll be happy if we get through this decade without a major catastrophe.

Looks like Hollywood is at the brink of a shutdown.  The actors' unions are poised to join the screenwriters and go out on strike.

6 hours ago, Bazza said:

Yes. Threads is Twitter for Instagram & Facebook users, but Threads is not Twitter. The audience for both is different, and Twitter still is the place where things happen, news breaks, and pop trends occur, even if the audience has gotten smaller in recent months. Both platforms will co-exist. If anything, Threads (a Instagram product) will ironically be competition for Facebook itself. 

If Threads can establish itself enough, the big news outlets will abandon Twitter.  CNBC story says Threads is still building out its structure in ways that marketers want, but that the big advertisers are watching closely.

No, I don't think Twitter will necessarily continue to exist, at least as a significant player.  

I have had a Twitter handle in the past, for a short time;  forget why now.  Something useful.  Can't say I ever used it.  Won't use Threads either.

I did note in the live map from the Tour, that it was gonna be a bunch sprint, the whole peloton was right behind a small group...under 30 seconds with 20, 30 relatively easy miles to go.  

Philipsen's making this a non-competition.  He's approaching double the points of Coquard in 2nd.  Not the first time;  think Sagan blitzed the field in '19, IIRC.

Annoying!! that NBC isn't showing stage 12.  Potential breakaway-stayaway stage.  Cat 3, Cat 3, Cat 3, Cat 2, Cat 2.  Through wine country too, altho most of the route slips among the hilly part.  Probably still some wine grown on terraces until you get too high.

In the long run, I think locking up fringe events is going to basically make the vast majority *completely* lose interest in things like cycling and most Olympic sports.  Out of sight, out of mind.  It isn't like a lot of these have massive followings in the first place.

13 hours ago, Logan D. Hurricanes said:

Farmers Insurance pulls out of Florida, affecting 100,000 policies

And Florida's elected CFO is posturing about it.  No surprise.  But this is the counterpoint, from a story in USA Today:

 

Quote

This marks the latest stumble into instability for Florida’s property insurance market. Seven Florida property insurers were declared insolvent in the past 18 months, and another 15 have stopped writing new business in the same time period, Friedlander said.

An idle thought......

How much of the Arizona entrenchment on the stolen election story, is based on individuals like Lake, using it to further their own ambitions?  Versus...how much of it was sown election night, when Fox's commentators were so vehement about the (correct) call of the race?  I'm not saying the whole election stealing line is their fault;  Trump was going down that path regardless.  But specifically in Arizona, Fox's handling might've been more of a catalyst.

If we can get through the next 20 or so years, I think this period is going to be intensely studied by historians.

Nope, that's true, but people have brought up various rules points, and much of this thread's been...a bit disjointed anyway.

In RAW?  Time Stop IMO simply cannot be done;  it's in direct opposition to the combat structure.  Your only real approach, that I can see, is Multiple Attack...with the massive penalty involved.

Oh...take that back.  Want to attack in a "Time Stop"?  Buy SPD 36, Instant, going off on the segment AFTER activation.  You get 3 fresh actions.  Something like that, I might buy as something like a classic time stop.

Those divisions look fairly reasonable.  The odd man out there is Memphis.

If it's 2 divisions of 8...you might get a better grouping.  Your SE, plus Memphis...that's 5.  Indiana, Washington, and Philly.  Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, and Toronto are all Great Lakes.

One might have to look at schedule construction.  2 interconference games per team, that's 32.  Leaves 50.  Baseline...let's say 3 games against every other conference team, that's 45.  (And it's sensible if the playoff formula is, let's say, top 2 in each division get in, then the next 6 are based on conference record.)  Leaves 5 games.  3 might be divisional by division placement the season before...the top 4 teams play an additional game against each other, the bottom 4 do as well.  The other 2 could be doing that between divisions in the same conference.  1 and 2 in one division plays 1 and 2 in the other;  3 and 4 vs. 3 and 4, and so on.  

Eh, we'll see.  Another question, if they do expand...do they use the NHL's model for their last expansion?  Vegas Golden Knights shocked the sports world, developing a winning club *immediately*.  In part because the NHL didn't let teams protect a whole lot of players, IIRC.

One thing is that they're gonna adopt a no-flop ruling...get caught flopping?  Technical foul.  Might be good in principle, but...disastrously BAD in practice.  The NBA already has, IMO, the worst-regarded replay system in US pro sports.  FAR too many, they take FAR too long, and flagrant foul reviews leave fans totally confused too often.  I agree that flopping is bad for the game, so...well, I'll give it a shot, but I'm not all that hopeful.

I think one player tried to use it in the game I was in...long, long time ago.  My admittedly VERY vague memory was that it didn't work out that well.  But yeah, as Grail noted...it might've been that the player spent the points...and IIRC didn't have that many left.  With a GM that loved twisting what you did and one-upping you...while likely flat-out ignoring the rules.  

Several issues aren't limited to Warner Discovery.  Cost cutting and IMO really questionable decision-making seem pervasive.  Disney's firing a bunch of ESPN people recently.  One I just realized:  NBC Universal showed the first week of the Tour de France on cable, through USA Network...but all the rest is only on Peacock.  Really?  I don't think cycling is popular enough to draw new subscribers in any great numbers.  It's just the bean counter mentality running amok, it seems to me.  

I think the days of cable/satellite services are numbered;  cable subscriber numbers have been shrinking for a long time, and that's still happening.  But the problem with streaming is its fragmentation.

Well....

So much for watching the Tour.  None of the actual race coverage now is being shown on cable, it's all locked into their streaming service.  They showed the first week on USA Network, but...nope, no more.  Not even the final stage.    

Oh boy.  The situation at Northwestern just got worse.

https://www.nbcsportschicago.com/ncaa/big-ten/northwestern-wildcats/northwestern-baseball-coach-engaged-in-bullying-and-abusive-behavior-reports-say/494513/?partner=yahoo&cid=yahoo

This report is arguably even more disturbing.  SB Nation has an op-ed on the entire disaster:

https://www.sbnation.com/2023/7/11/23790992/northwesterns-multiple-scandals-are-an-abysmal-institutional-failure

Points in that piece...Northwestern may not be able to fire Fitzgerald for cause, IF the 2 week suspension was the agreed punishment.  Ergo?  They owe him his 10 year, $42M salary from a recent extension.  Ouch.  The situation in the baseball program is also set out in more detail.  It is VERY ugly.

It's a total disaster for the school.  I don't see any route forward short of a complete reset...both coaches, the AD, and the institutional failures (the ridiculous initial suspension, the failure to talk to players in the baseball program) will force the president out.  

36 minutes ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

DC proved the way to make a successful superhero movie, three times over the years, but each time they get it right, they seem to forget it.  Great direction, great writing, solid acting, a director and writer that love the material and characters, and remembering what made the comic book work, leaning into that in the movies.

It doesn't help that comics have forgotten what makes comic books work.

5 hours ago, Chris Goodwin said:

 

This isn't how any other power with AOE works, though.  If you have a 10d6 Blast with AOE, every target in the area takes 10d6.

Not if the AoE is bought with Selective.  Then the attacker gets to pick the targets inside the AoE, and there's a separate roll to hit each one.

15 hours ago, Hugh Neilson said:

I have not gone back to look at 6e specifically,  but I thought it was always pretty clear that Multipowers are AP driven.  That is, the pool needs enough AP for the slot(s) in use (contrast VPP where the real cost is used to 'fill' the pool but no limitation ever applies to the pool). Pre-6e, this made the VPP a bad fit for, say, the archer with an arrow for every situation.  A 60 point Multipower pool would benefit from all the limitations on the bow and arrows (say -1) so the pool cost 30 and each fixed slot cost 3.  The VPP would be 60 + control cost, so if you wanted to benefit from the pool, you needed Dual Arrow Archer to use 2 30 real point arrows every time.

 

That control cost would start at 90, since you needed Cosmic.  Assuming the same -1 limitations (and it should be higher as the powers are restricted), you were looking at 105 points - the Multipower only breaks even at 25 slots.

 

If we adopted this option, how long before we need a further variant - "well, I should have 40 points of slots for my control cost, so if I only have four 80 AP powers, with -1 in limitations, I get ripped off because I only use 12 of my 40 points."  You pay 40 for the pool so it can only use one slot at a time, but your multipower pool would only have been 40 points since it would be 80 with -1 in limitations.  The bigger question might be the "limited powers available" limitation for the VPP.  Given Attacks Only is vastly more flexible, "only these four attacks" seems like a pretty hefty limitation is warranted.  I wonder if you could extrapolate something from the doubling rule - 1,2,4,8,...unlimited slots available.

 

I agree that a fair comparison of Multipower to VPP requires Cosmic as the Multipower builds that in.

MPs are AP-driven because they generally are expected to be more narrowly defined, and the distinction between "AP with common limitations" and "Real Points" isn't considered.  

You don't need a new variant for the "a few big powers" case.  You simply need a limitation specific to the control cost alone...which is analogous to VPP's Limited Powers anyway. 

Pool size:  40

Control size:  80  Cost AND FREE SLOTS:  40.  Limitation:  all powers must take at least -1 in limitations.  -1 applies to the control cost, and therefore to the slot pool size.  20 points for slots before paying for them.  Your 4 slots would total 16...but if you want, hey, one could be an ultra slot.  Now it's 20.  Or mix and match, 2 ultra slots with 1 fixed.  20.  

You don't get free slots equal to the control size, you get free slots equal to the control COST.  And, note that in a RAW MP, the cost of the MP can only be reduced by the amount of the *common* limitations.  Say everything has -1/2 in common limitations, and another -1/2 that vary from slot to slot.  Now your 80 point MP --> 53 character points, plus 16 for the slots.  (Example?  Heals and Drains.  Let's say that for concept, the Drain also has to be touch-driven, so No Range.  The Heals might have Full Phase and 1/2 DCV.  The common mods might be Unified and OIAID.)  

In a VPP?  If you're talking a cosmic pool, forget it.  That 80 point control size is now 120, given it's a +2 on all 40 points.  To get that down to 20 points is a -5 limitation.  It's the diminishing returns aspect of limitations;  the control size in my alternate MP doesn't go OVER 40, whereas in the VPP, it's gonna be much, much larger.  A -2 limitation gets you back to 40, sure...but to get to, say, 32?  From alternate MP's 40, it's a simple -1/4.  From a VPP's 120?  You're already dividing by 3, so to knock off the points, you go from -1/4 to -3/4 needed.  That's a big jump.

Plus, doing it like that, is ad hoc;  it won't be uniform.  If I want somehow to drop the alternate MP's control cost to 20, it'd be -1.  For the VPP, gotta triple that to add it atop the -2, so it's now a -5.   And if we can live with stuff like 1/2 phase to switch slots along with the No Skill Roll, we're at +1 1/2, so the numbers change all over again.  

Many of the senior Republican Senators have a long track record of supporting the military;  strong defense has been a cornerstone policy plank for ages.  Tuberville is seriously undermining it by his insistence that his social policy is more important.

I agree that it's a headache for Mitch, but the entire Republican party is flashing intolerant, ungoverning attitudes...my way or the highway.  DeSantis has pulled numerous stunts that are clearly out of line.  Tuberville.  The entire Freedom Caucus.  Heck, the Senate's stunts in denying Obama, then rushing through Barrett.  Texas's attempts to slam its anti-abortion policies to other places.  Moderates...the few there still are...have to look at this and wonder if voting for ANY Republican is simply too dangerous.  

Tuberville is turning into one of the bigger embarrassments for the Republicans.  And that's saying something, but his stunt in blocking ALL senior military promotions to try to coerce them to change their abortion policy is wrongheaded and damaging.  I seriously doubt he's got much support in the Senate.

My, my.  These things never end cleanly, do they?  Last week, Bob Huggins claimed he never formally agreed to his termination, and is threatening to sue to get reinstated.  Well, now, Pat Fitzgerald is screaming.

Yeah, of course YOU thought it was appropriate.  Sorry, dude, but the head coach is accountable for actions as heinous as what appeared to be happening.  What MAY happen is that you drag the president out the door with you...which can pretty readily be justified because he showed egregious judgment in ever agreeing to a two week, OUT OF SEASON, suspension.  This is a feather brushed over the back of the hand...far less than a slap on the wrist.  It also GROSSLY smacks of institutionalized protectionism...the kind that gets the NCAA *storming* down the gates.  (Not like that's all that credible a threat, because the NCAA's punishment wouldn't come down till around 2026.)  If Fitzgerald is asserting he had an enforceable agreement...dubious, I suspect, but perhaps plausible...and the president reneged on it?  I think they're both gone.  If it feels likely Fitzgerald would sue for wrongful termination on the basis that he didn't know about it, well, the president has a better chance to survive.

EDIT:  beyond the hazing, the Northwestern student newspaper reported allegations of racism by Fitzgerald.  From The Hill:

 

Quote

His termination also came after the school’s newspaper, the Daily Northwestern, published a story from three players who said the football program had a “culture of enabling racism.” 

 

Fitzgerald was specifically named in the story as allegedly participating in that culture.

 

Sources told the paper that “head coach Pat Fitzgerald would ask Black players and coaches to cut off longer hairstyles — including dreadlocks — so that they were more in line with what Fitzgerald called the ‘Wildcat Way.'”

30 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

  DeSantis is following Trump's examples, including hate mongering and whining. But if he's courting the MAGA base that way, why would they vote for "Trump lite" when the real thing is also campaigning?

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-primary-r/2024/national/

And perhaps more significant, DeSantis is losing badly *in Florida*.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4088873-florida-poll-finds-trump-well-ahead-of-desantis-in-state/