unclevlad

Huh. Not earthshaking news but what looks to be a long-term trend. Neil Everett has left ESPN; his last SC was last night. Speculation is it's cost-cutting, which has been a major ESPN theme for a very long time now. Everett was likely one of their most senior anchors at this point, as he'd started in 2000. And senior translates to expensive...and Disney's trying to cut costs *extensively*. Personally, I think ESPN generally is in a downward spiral, and this is only a minor continuation. They're going cheap, cheaper, cheapest, as far as I can see.

<whispering> psst...no one mention what the Angels did to Mr. P's Rockies tonight......it's much, much, much too painful....

I approve. Too many athletes get overly coddled. Hopefully the team spanks him too.

Also can't be considered a win for Putin. If nothing else, he lost a LOT of face. I wouldn't be remotely surprised if there's a vial of polonium with Prigozhin's name on it already.

Well, of course. Who does Manfred work for? And what ownership group of any size DOESN'T try to squeeze every last concession possible...and a few that shouldn't be? I'm not limiting that to sports, BTW.

Then, may I suggest we pause posting on this for the time being? No matter what actually happens, it's probably better to let the facts emerge, and many of us are probably following things to some degree anyway.

Russian forces are likely totally out of position to even slow Wagner down...especially considering they were a significant component. Russia's military incompetence is playing a role as well, or multiple roles even. What *can* they call up to move into position, how bad is *their* state of readiness, given the terrible state we've seen from the troops in Ukraine? Another question is, what will the republics like Chechnya and Dagestan do? Is it possible that unrest could spread to Belarus? This is going to be a nervous summer.

Make that the entire baseball NATION. Atlanta jumps to a 5 run first inning lead. Then it's Elly time. 6th inning right now. He just finished a CYCLE. It's his 15th!!!!! game and he's got a cycle now! His slash line now is .367/.424/.667. Reds are up 11-7 with 1 out and runners on 1st and 3rd (de la Cruz). Oops, he just tried to steal home after the pitcher threw to first...but.............. Oh well. He tried to catch the 1st baseman napping but didn't have the lead, and the 1st baseman wasn't napping.

And realize that indoctrinating the next generation has been part of the conservative agenda for some considerable time now.

I suspect that this incident is going to find its way into any number of classroom exercises and case studies in several fields.

<sigh> The Navy's now saying that a secret sound detection/analysis system used to track subs, detected a sound consistent with an implosion, at the time when contact with the Titan was lost. They informed the Coast Guard, but it wasn't spread out because of the obvious chilling effect it would've had. So it is likely it went down as feared...one second fine, the next.......... I will say, PURELY from a personal perspective, I'd rather have it happen like that, than a days-long linger...... but still. FAR better to never happen at all.

No disrespect to SDSU but the Pac-12's days still appear to be numbered, at least as a power 5 conference. Which further suggests that the Realignment Carousel will be back at full speed...sooner, rather than later.

Interesting. Wizards trade Chris Paul to the Warriors, for Jordan Poole. Is this trying to appease Draymond, or reflective of other issues with Poole? Warriors actually save a good deal of cash. Poole got signed to something of a risky extension...4 more years, over $120M, because he'd shown flashes, but didn't really have a real track record. And this year was definitely not up to that deal. Paul's contract only has 1 more year, and he may well retire. I don't think the changes make the Warriors contenders, whether Green returns or not; I tend to see it as a stopgap, and maybe I'm reading things into it...but getting rid of a problem player and contract. And to absolutely no one's surprise, Wembanyama to San Antonio. 7-4, 240...but really smooth. HUGE!!!!!!!!! hands. Really nice form on his shot. This isn't a Manute Bol.

Huh. No accounting for taste, I suppose....

Might as well start this now, it's not far off...scary as that sounds. So, Deion Sanders isn't exactly on my Christmas card list, but still.... You might've seen him last year, where he was getting around on the sidelines, his left leg on a rolling cart...couldn't walk on it. Kinda weird. Never did hear...or maybe didn't remember...why. Yes, well... Turns out he had surgery to repair a dislocated toe. That...had issues. It led to blood clots. And more surgery. And the removal of 2 toes. (Ick.) It's been getting worse. More surgery scheduled Friday to relieve clots...and here's the kicker. Or non-kicker, perhaps...because amputating his left foot was a possibility. They're not gonna do that right now, but apparently it's still a possibility. Kinda repeats the aphorism....there's no such thing as minor surgery.

What's wrong with the others?

I fully expect the company to declare bankruptcy soon too. But, there should be assets...if nothing else, there's some IP that should have value. And the wrongful death lawsuits are *guaranteed.* One of the passengers was a *billionaire*...and his 19 year old son was another. Oh my lordy, yes, that family is going to sue, and they may well not care if they actually get anything as a settlement. They're not gonna settle for a mere pound of flesh. Also, there is a serious question of criminal liability. Yeah, the CEO is dead, but anyone who signed off on the engineering is probably even more directly guilty of criminal/gross negligence resulting in death. I actually would not be surprised if significant legal action starts VERY quickly. Specifically: freeze all the assets of the company, to ensure no one can try to cut and run with whatever they can get.

USCG is now holding a press conference, and saying debris analysis reflects a catastrophic failure of the pressure chamber. Everyone is now officially presumed dead. More detail, from NYT reporters at the scene:

Yeah, even if the ship's intact, which was debatable from the get-go, getting them to the surface would presumably take several hours. It seemed unlikely at best that there'd be some form of external hookup. Without that.....

Today, I am sad...and angry beyond belief. Sad, because it seems a foregone conclusion that the innocent people aboard the Titan will not be found alive. Even the best case was running out of air...early this morning, Eastern time. It's a good 6 hours later, and it hasn't been located. And so, so, so angry that the passengers paid for the gross, criminal, greedy incompetence of the people who run the company. From NYT, echoed several other places: CBS also is reporting this: So there's issues of fact when the lawsuits start flying...the passengers waived liability, including death, in case of an accident, but I'm pretty sure those clauses aren't enforceable in the event of gross negligence. OceanGate as a company is done, no matter what; the only question is how thoroughly they'll be incinerated. If the Titan is found, and if any of the allegations asserted in the past hold? That seems prima facie reckless disregard/gross negligence; goodbye waiver, and the fire's a nuclear furnace. And several people are going to jail for a long time.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/21/politics/michael-fanone-daniel-rodriguez-january-6-sentenced/index.html

It's extremely annoying that every time I check notifications, I'm getting this "enable push notifications" popup that I have to close. NO. I will NEVER enable push notifications. I don't want to have notifications come across when I'm not on this site. I get people do, so fine, sensible capability to include. But please stop interfering with me, and accept that I don't want them.

The rule says object. It doesn't say focus. As Duke noted, it's absurd to say you can do this with a focus but not with an object NOT defined as a focus, and then by extension, saying you can't do it on innate powers is absurd. The point isn't to push DOING it. The point is to advocate for re-writing those rules. Whether it's a focus or not is completely irrelevant to the issue of how extra copies purchased using the 5-point doubling rule can be used, which is the real bone of contention.

A federal judge in Arkansas has blocked the state's ban on transgender care for minors. From NYT: Related...New York passed a shield law for those who prescribe and send abortion medications to patients in states where it's banned. Again from NYT: IF!! the abortion restrictions are upheld, which isn't a given, the shield laws would appear to set up a clear Supreme Court clash between the states.

When does a word change to its opposite, when changing from an adjective to a verb.... "rational" to "rationalize".........