unclevlad

Also found this from NYT: Still got that Amontillado? Never mind, I've got a decent amount of Maker's left......

OK, I was looking for it, but couldn't find it. Blew my search roll. My bad. (I was looking in 6E1. DOH! It's in the index, but under "5-point doubling rule"...not "Doubling Rule.") But...yeah. I think the rules issue for this aspect is more along the lines of your point..."only with an object" is simply terrible writing. It creates meaningless special cases for no good reason. It's trivial to adapt a concept while it's under development to account for incorporating non-focus objects, and done right, no one's gonna even be able to say it's NOT in concept. Heck, I've developed mage-type concepts where part of it is "none of the spells are persistent." Fine...the persistent ones that are spells-based, have some physical, sustaining framework...an object or tattoo. They may not be defined as foci. They might require END to activate for 24 hours...but I'm not taking any kind of limitation, even if it was allowed. Those are SFX.

Since pre-draft bloviation bores me beyond measure, we need to find other goodies. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/busting-4-major-myths-about-referees-in-the-nba-playoffs/ Not that this'll move the needle among the diehard conspiracy-mongers.

Yeah, Trump's always had one of the worst cases of hoof and mouth disease in human history. Yet too many still support, or at least excuse, him. Yeah, fine, given the polarization, they won't bail to a Democrat, but they're still not moving away from Trump. FiveThirtyEight suggests, this may be reflective of DeSantis' weakness; his numbers have fallen significantly. Graph from them:

Well, it puts it into the Stewart scenario, but...no, it doesn't help. I have too easy of a time imagining it the other way. Is that a raven on your porch?

I hope, hope, HOPE they're found. The air supply is the problem; it'll only last a few days. This really sends chills down my spine...because it's my personal nightmare way to die. Long, slow, lingering, and inevitable with not a bloody darn thing you can do to stop it. It's also bringing back memories of Payne Stewart's death; the cabin failed to pressurize, everyone passed out from hypoxia...and the plane just continued on its way on autopilot. STILL makes me shiver.

I don't believe that's correct. There's nothing that says the innate powers guy can't do it. Take a Doc Ock notion...but now each limb has a transformable appendage. Normal hand, ionic blaster, venom injector with 2-3 different types (various Drains). Give him 6 limbs; each has them all. Each can be controlled separately. That sure sounds like 8x MPs to me. And they're not foci. Another example: Quasar, from Marvel. The quantum bands are not removable, and thus are not foci. Any cyborg build would follow the same notion. Power stones...perhaps at the chakra points, for an Eastern-mystic interpretation. D&D 3E Psionics had a Crystal Master class, embedded stones. There's a tattooed monk; tattoos would be another method. All of these can justify the 2x rule cleanly enough. Foci make it generally *easier* to visualize/conceptualize. But they aren't implicit. With this many exceptions, well, it's pretty pointless to try to limit things.

In other news...it may be mostly that soccer's the most played sport on the planet, but stories like this are just becoming almost endemic.... https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-20/new-zealand-abandons-friendly-with-qatar-after-racism-allegation/102498654 Key points:

Another example of Republicans using the tactics of a repressive autocracy.... https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/19/business/gop-disinformation-researchers-2024-election.html?unlocked_article_code=A3A_8p2eyV7VvNetdGuZwQjpw9Goc0jQlnITy9imAD9gbrX9danglLMzsRA6MbYI6EX9ztiLhGWi4NF7Ovo-sdBQob8_JnLPSzRvqA7iwADBAq6z9jn6c3dA5z_NV_CyOtY_AgPPCKo1lUrnLCF_v_iiw7uJWhyWMuHEd3_sARKSwNIvvDjwTNwygfi4-ejPeyKVdQgKlSom9O_B-98Rksy57pvpqlSzNUa7BgqC8fvetk7D42-0_MHYHD7TG0YMuZwmMZ5J6U8ZaIhDTTPcNmTHcD6nkKOW5XhYyv48q2r95AXa0SY3pGXUu1-Z9slm4ZDBhhfCTj0huHwe0ITk8_yfXLizcH42iZCTAfTKEgIxL4Z_21p5sw&smid=url-share

Yes, it's built in, but in many cases, it's for convenience. Try buying Mach 1 flight speed without non-coms, and without MegaScale. Let's assume a 6 SPD, as it's convenient. Then 1m per phase == 6m per turn, 30m per minute, 1.8 kph, or about 1.1 mph. Mach 1 is basically 770 mph...so you need 700m per phase. Combat movement is tactical, but non-combat movement is a plot device for the most part. It shouldn't cost an arm and a leg. MegaScale's excessive for any continuous movement power...note that from the above, with 1m = 1 km MegaScale, 1m per phase is 1100 mph, or Mach 1.5. There *needs* to be something in between. Similar argument applies to Mind Link. How much more utility is there, going from 1 to 2 links at once, from 2 to 4? Also, how else do you want to define it? This is basically how Mind Link scales. In both cases, for the most part, most doublings like this have no combat impact. They're for a richer, more interesting character...I doubt I'm alone in saying I love high-speed fliers or cross-country teleporters. In RAW, it's a bit less complex to do this with NCMs; adders are optional, advantages aren't. You don't have to jerk the rules around with a multipower...one slot for the combat move, another for the NC...and it doesn't help that the rules only have the ridiculously over-the-top MegaScale, nothing lesser that could actually be *used* with Flight or Running without getting ludicrous. Combat impact...there, you want to be a lot more restrictive and a lot more specific. You *don't* want to give something for (almost) nothing...like the bigger defensive powers we've mentioned. Doubling 50, 60 points of defense for 5 points is clearly abusive, if they can both be used together. Sure, no argument: the rules are not merely abusable, they *invite* abuse. The entire premise of a points-based system SCREAMS "find ways to cut costs to Get More Power." But that doesn't mean we need to make things TOO easy. Recognize that the rules have a goal: to be as flexible as possible. This is also why they're so easy to abuse, in part. 5E actually shows the mess you get with overly individual rules...I'm particularly thinking of HAs, HKAs, and the mess related to how adding damage works. ECs is another example...what can you do, what can't you do, what should be allowed, what should not be allowed. The rules are too long as is, tho. FAR too long, particularly for a print or PDF version. Even then, trying to do that creates its own problems...you'll never consistently get things right, and hey, with all the ways to tweak, some will be broken. The doubling rule is fine for lots of things...with caveats. As we've explored at length. EDIT: <whaps self> The point that so many places have a "5 points for x2" core rule *greatly* weakens Hugh's point that it's considered an optional rule. It's there in so many places, as a basic part of a power, that it's easy to forget that it isn't. Also: HD has x2 for +5 points on every power, and on VPPs and MPs, in 6E. It's not there one characteristics, skills, perks, or talents. That creates a *clear* presumption that it's an OK thing to consider.

Looks like the band's breaking up after a rather long run... Reports are that Draymond Green will decline his option for next season, making him an unrestricted free agent. It isn't a done deal that he's gone, but presumably he's thinking he can get more than the $27.6M signing the option would give him. That's gonna be problematic. For 23-24, Steph's at $52M, Klay's at $43M, Ender's at $24M, and Poole goes from $4M to $27M as his new contract kicks in.

More controversy from the Open. https://www.sbnation.com/golf/2023/6/18/23764994/us-open-wyndham-clark-lashes-out-usga-twilight-golf-rickie-fowler The USGA did have the final group teeing off over an hour earlier today. NOT surprising; the article says the round ended around 8 last night. Local sunset for LA tonight is...8:07. It would've been almost identical last night.

Well yeah, of course. How do you want to be remembered...a stupid chunk of stone hardly anyone ever notices...or a cookie recipe? No brainer...

OK, the paperwork won't be needed. I presume they're discussing terms, but report is that Huggins has already agreed to resign, and he's already told the team that. EDIT: it's official.

This appears to be a policy dating back well before Musk took over, but ... https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/twitter-lawsuit-music-publishers-1235515865/

table tennis

Basically the chicken thigh video reprised, which isn't a bad thing, per se. It reiterates the approach elements...drying out the meat surface, the balanced marinade, playing with your food to get the marinade to work in, why you use alcohol, etc. I might try tweaking that...the big swap would be almond flour or almond meal (I forget which is supposed to be finer, and finer is better here), and fake sugar of some sort.

Yeah, the union would probably whine at a 5 game suspension. I put no weight to that. In college basketball, I suspect that Bob Huggins' career as a college coach is toast. Apparently, 6 weeks ago, he used an anti-gay slur twice, and made a number of seriously tasteless comments. https://apnews.com/article/bob-huggins-homophobic-slur-west-virginia-daee2346b59daf853400bcc21ced59eb WVU didn't fire him, but cut his salary greatly, and he's only on a 1 year contract...so, clean up and put up or else. So now he gets arrested for DUI...and not some mild technical violation like .05 in a .04 state. No...0.21% BAC. Incoherent in the roadside sobriety test. The slurs SHOULD have had him tossed into the nearest mud puddle earlier. This is worse. And like Ja, it's a 2nd apallingly STUPID incident within a very short time frame. But Huggy Bear isn't some 20-something kid, he'll turn 70 before the season starts. I get the whole "waiting to gather more information" but overall, this should not take long at all. This will be termination for cause, presumably, so they'll make sure everything's done properly...but I suspect the paperwork will start Monday.

Wellll... YMMV and that's all good, but..... Not a snowball's chance in a Canadian forest fire. Dimension hopping is an AWFUL premise, far as I'm concerned. It means nothing is real, nothing matters...the whole universe can implode, but as long as the hopper moves on, who cares? There's ZERO tension...and therefore, zero interest to me. Doesn't help that it looks like very cheap animation, but I suppose that could be assumed.

<<<<CRINGE!!!>>>>> Tanner Houck of the Red Sox just took a line shot squarely off his face. Stayed down for a bit til the trainers came out and helped him off the field, straight to the clubhouse. Puts a bit of a damper on what's been an absolute ROMP for the Red Sox...they're up 13-1 with the Yankees up in the top of the 5th.

Plus, at least the first time, if you say 185 with 10 must be in background skills, they'll put exactly 10 in the background skills. If you say 175, hey, who knows, some of em might put some points into them during the build. Second time around, of course, the players might expect it, so you might not be able to surprise them...but hey, then maybe you change the deal a bit....

Ohhh....nice catch there. Yeah, the NBA's put in another weird contract term, basically for those on a rookie contract or rookie contract extension. All-NBA would elevate him from 25% of the cap to 30%. But I'm not sure if the clause continues to count. He didn't make All NBA, so it doesn't apply this year. He can't make it this year, as per your observation, so he won't get it for 24-25. But there's still 3 more years after that. So it's not right to say he lost 39 mill. He didn't qualify for it this year regardless. If he only lost out on next year's bonus, that's $7.2M...but that wasn't a lock, either. If he's frozen out of the bonus for the rest of the contract, yeah, that's a potential $30-odd mill.... https://www.spotrac.com/news/all-nba-contract-implications-1884/ Ya wanna see *gross* numbers, look at the potential contracts for Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Cripes... EDIT: or look here... https://www.espn.com/nba/salaries 39 players making $30M or more last year...and Brown, Tatum, and Morant *aren't*. Brown and Tatum were just under; Morant was on his rookie deal last year.

How much gas will he have left in the tank, should the Angels make the playoffs? It's looking to be a very interesting race with probably 4 teams for 2 slots. Whoever climbs out of the AL Central swamp; the Rays, Rangers, and Orioles have some separation. After that, it's Astros, Angels, Yankees, and Blue Jays, all within 2 in the loss column right now. IOW...7 teams in 2 divisions fighting for 5 total slots. The less-unbalanced scheduling means less cannibalization. And all 4 teams in that pack are decent teams...probably going to take 90 wins to get a WC there. NL...eh, not so much. Miami's got the 4th best record in the NL, and they're only on pace for 89 wins. Giants were 32-32 until winning their last 4, which still only puts them at around an 85, 86 win pace. Interleague stats show the AL is stronger. KC and Oakland are disastrously bad; taking them out of the picture, the AL has gone 141-120 against the NL. That's a .540 win percentage. There are no comparable teams in the NL; the Cards have the worst record, and they're still over .400. Huh....it's also curious to see the scheduling discrepancies. Milwaukee's played 32 interleague. Pittsburgh and KC, 29 each. OTOH...Dodgers, 12; Orioles and D'backs, 14; Rockies and Angels, 15.

I just hope Morant can start getting his act together. This is a long suspension, 1/3 of the season, and it'll cost him a LOT of money. As in, about $7.5M forfeited. One can hope that's enough to be a wakeup call. It's also a big warning...this is absolutely NOT!!! acceptable, and if it happens again...... And MJ just shows he's a really smart businessman. 1000% ROI is pretty decent.....

Watchdog, what I'd suggest is to double check which export template files you've got, and where...in Finder, first, NOT in HD. Finder has a search bar; I presume the options exist to search that start folder and all subfolders, so navigate to the root itself, and search for *.hde.*...or whatever the Mac uses as a wild card. As Simon pointed out, there are times when both Windows and Mac have renamed files on us, tacking on a second extension, so you might have MyTemplate.hde.xml, or MyTemplate.hde.txt...and HD will ONLY find files that have the .hde extension. It could also be that the files aren't where you expect them to be. Done that too. In Windows, it's also plausible it'd be the file permissions, which can be a serious PITA. The file might be there but the program doesn't have permission to read it. In that case, it won't show up at all. This is another reason to use Finder to see if/where your templates are located.