unclevlad

Nuggets play a horrible first half...can't throw it in the ocean, a boatload of turnovers, serious foul trouble...but the Heat can't take advantage. They've got a lead, but...not what it should've been. Nuggets still play tight, but so do the Heat in the 2nd half, so the 4th in particular is extremely tight. Around 30 seconds left, Nuggets up 1, the Heat have a ragged possession; they're forced into a poor situation with really only one pass...and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope reads it, for an easy steal that results in making 2 FTs (NOT a given, as they'd mostly shot only about 50% from the line), and a 3 point lead. Butler throws up a challenged, rushed, off-balance (read: bad) 3 pointer that doesn't go; Nuggets get the board, make 2 more FTs. Heat misses a desperation 3 with about 10 seconds left; when it misses, they let Denver run out the clock. The air was pretty much all out of their balloon.

IT'S OVER! IT'S OVER! NUGGETS 94-89 to win the title!

Even if there are those on the left who espouse hate to the degree those on the right do...they're a comparative thimbleful, compared to those on the right, who are a bucketful, AND who have far more actual power and visibility to enact change...not merely call for it. The left has their inflammatory demagogues, that's true. No argument there. But they largely argue FOR things for which they feel passionate, FOR the groups they assert they represent.

There's your incentive right there. More generally, https://www.nada.org/legislative/fight-rising-catalytic-converter-theft

Of course not. First, there's no story in talking about the Nuggets, until after they win. That's when you can start comparing them. There's no way to generate buzz, either. The first mission for these particular talking heads is to drive up ratings, and therefore, they have to try to sell the Heat. Actually...no. For the morning talking heads, on the day of the game? It's not their first mission, it's their only mission. They *have* said...the Nuggets are better, deeper, taller. The heavy expectation is the Nuggets will win the series, and they've said that...occasionally. To be sure, there's a Heat bias there, but some of it's trying to elevate the David vs. Goliath aspect, #8 seed making the NBA Finals for the first time, all that. Some of it is, I think, East Coast bias...particularly SAS, who's got a major bias towards the East generally, with the Heat being...oh, what, #3? After the Knicks and Sixers. I very rarely watch the morning shows on ESPN. And not because I'm a night owl and retired, so I often Don't Do Mornings...but because silence is preferable. CERTAINLY, it's preferable to any SAS rant. AND they've incorporated Mad Dog Russo, who ranks just behind Cowherd on the condescension scale. I can tolerate some of the others; JJ Redick does a good job sometimes of puncturing SAS' bloviations. But generally, it's simply not worth it.

Probably true. But that side has never wavered in their opposition. As Dean pointed it, it's rooted in some very core notions. They haven't changed...retreated, regrouped, accepted temporary setbacks, ok, but they have not changed. This isn't dating back just a couple decades; it's been ongoing for a very long time. The difference today is the demagogues have learned to play on fear better. They started sowing that seed broadly in the 80s; the Moral Majority was founded in 1979. What we're seeing is the result of multiple decades of divisive, hate-based rhetoric. They also know how to play the long game better...in several ways. Concentrate and isolate the liberals...in Texas, it's in the cities. Nationally, it's NY and Cali and some others. How much of this was planned, and how much was simply recognized and used...good question. Disrupt when the Democrats have power; exploit when the Republicans do. That's how we have the Supreme Court we have now, and IIRC, a heavy concentration of Republican-appointed federal judges, particularly Trump appointees. The hard-core Republicans have absolutely no reason to compromise. They're WINNING, hands down.

But think of the pregame tailgating potential...... And hey, with a few Really Big Screens, turn it into the world's largest drive-in. Could be interesting to see how they'd rig up replay cameras...

ESPN Bottom Line note: The Phoenix Mercury are making "unspecified" changes to their travel arrangements in the aftermath of the altercation Cygnia noted.

I don't follow horse racing, so I missed that the Preakness *also* saw a death during an undercard race on Preakness day. Until today. Because another horse had a catastrophic accident, injuring his foot and had to be euthanized. (My understanding is, a horse's legs are actually a vital part of their circulatory system, so injuries that leave them unable to move will be fatal.) Oh...but...yesterday, another horse...same trainer, *same track* at Belmont...ALSO had to be euthanized after an injury. So the most visible period of the year for the industry has been flooded with awful news throughout. This has to have the entire industry in a serious panic, one would think...if this isn't a massive statistical aberration, then the first assumption is, there's something SERIOUSLY wrong with how horses are being trained. If it is an aberration, that just suggests no one has identified the underlying factors...but they DARN!!!! sure need to.

Make it time consuming. Perhaps 4d6, Decreased Re-use (5 minutes)...that's long enough that it's once per combat. Now...Extra Time (1 turn); Gradual (1d6 per turn) (-1/4), Concentration throughout. Side effect: healer takes 2 points Drain STUN and END (CP...since they're both defensive, the half effect rule applies), for every d6 healed, and the points don't start returning until the healing is over. So 4d6 healing means 8 total CP, so 8 STUN and 20 END. It'll take a couple extra turns to recover. Optionally, with conditions like this, you can blow off Decreased Re-use altogether. The healer can't use this power quickly. Another...4d6 Healing, Concentration, character can take no other actions. Gradual Extra Turn...roll the effect, divide into as equal-sized chunks as possible, and the target gets that many per healer's phase, with the total healing acheved at the 1 turn mark. So it's not totally wasted if it gets interrupted. Same side effect both ways. The points here... --the healer can't just go bopping around healing everyone quickly --the person healed is NOT at 100% instantly...not even close. He can come back and help...after a turn...but hopefully he'll have to be careful about it. Remember, 4d6 is only 7 BODY. With the time and effort issues here, the healer can certainly fix people up between fights, but not twice during a fight. So, why bother with decreased re-use? Heck, if you want to keep it simple, Extra Time, (extra turn) and Concentration throughout are nasty, from the standpoint of the action economy. The currency of combat is actions...what can each side do? The root of this in Hero is, of course, SPD. If a BBEG needs to take on 5 characters with SPD 4, well, he'd better be a LOT faster. Or in D&D, where this was also recognized, the BBEG must have multiple attack options, or he pretty much get sliced and diced fairly quickly unless he's just insanely more powerful. Here, the healer and the recipient are taken out for a full turn, EACH, and will be feeling aftereffects. The underlying argument for Decreased Re-use largely vanishes. EDIT: another simple house rule: limit healing to, let's say, once per hour rather than once per day. Then Decreased Re-use starts from that. Another point...the time chart shifts are not even close to equivalent, one to the next. There's really very little difference between 5 minutes and 20 minutes, and not much between 5 minutes and 1 hour. On the flip side, there's a MASSIVE difference between 1 turn and 1 phase for combat powers...but next to none for out-of-combat powers. So perhaps the standard (house) rule for healing is re-use is, let's say, 5 minutes...that's too long for combat re-use. +1/2 to drop to 1 minute; +1 to drop to 1 Turn, +2 to drop to 1 phase, which basically eliminates it. This would let you build 1d6 Healing, usable at will, for a base 30 points. If that's too cheap for you, then adopt another house rule that to apply certain advantages, there's a minimum base point level you have to buy. This isn't just for healing, it's for any power where massive advantages might get applied to minimal base costs. For me...Teleport. 3", Megascale to 10,000 km...teleport anywhere on the planet. Add any advantages you want on top of that, it won't matter. +5 total advantage is still only 18 points.

Fortunately, the guy inside the costume was sent home with just pain meds. But, yeah, someone in the Heat's promotions department should be shown the door.

The whole notion of autopilot has been inherently dangerous from day 1. Trying to model the complexities of a real-world situation is, IMO, implicitly impossible, and even in situations where one would expect the software to cope...obviously, the code has to be absolutely ROCK SOLID, as well as highly responsive and adaptive. Responsive and adaptive means acquiring and processing data frequently, and quickly. The more processing that has to be done...the more chance something will slip. Or that the code will have a hiccup. I'm not necessarily against the idea; the issue is that the 'experts' think their code is better than it is. That's not a Musk problem per se, it's pretty much endemic among any class of 'experts.' "We've tested everything we can think of, this code is good!" Fine...but what did you NOT think of?

Well, Cygnia, look at it this way. It's another step towards everyone bailing from Twitter, leading to its ultimate demise, replacement, or fire sale to someone with a clue. As long as Musk is at the helm, it's clear that Twitter is in total freefall.

Well, that was amusing.... Vegas sprints out to a 3-0 lead in the 2nd. Florida gets one back before the period ends, then claws back to 3-2 about 5 minutes into the 3rd. This makes the last 15 minutes VERY tense...Vegas does NOT want to blow this lead. Winds down, winds down...with less than 20 seconds, with Florida going with the empty net, a Vegas player gets called for delay of game...intentionally shooting the puck out of play. So there's *just a few* seconds left for one last, desperate push. Goalie's stick gets broken. MIRACLE leg save...then another....as the clock runs out! 3-2 Vegas. And the tension bursts out as multiple fights break out before the sound of the horn even fades away. Cuz this was huge. If Florida can tie, they can still win. If they win this one, it's back to 2-2...despite being outplayed massively overall. Then it's a best of 3 and anyone's game. NOW, tho, it's 3-1, with Vegas going back home. Last 2 games in Vegas were 12-4 combined. Another game 2 seems very likely...lots of pressing by the Panthers leading to many opportunities, and therefore goals, for Vegas.

From what I read earlier, this is pretty much like paparazzi and movie stars...there are people who think they have a right to intrude, so they can profit from it. Given the rise of social media, and the potentially lucrative monetization...yeah, it's not surprising. Griner's an easy target, unfortunately. Some of this is likely related to the WNBA being cheap. The teams DON'T fly charter without specific exceptions to do so. Griner has one...but not the team. That's awkward, to say the least. Fly charter, and most of this should be avoided. But based on their treatment...women's team sports don't rate even 2nd class status. Wasn't long ago when there were comparisons between men's Final Four rooms, facilities, and swag, and the women's Final Four. Or the fact that WNBA players *frequently* feel a need to play overseas to make decent money. The USWNT's pay, versus the USMNT...despite being one of the most dominant teams in their sport, on the planet, versus a total non-entity, in the MNT.

My take would be, don't mess with LTE outside the very narrow confines in 6E2. Lowering LTE is basically Drain END with a return rate at 5 points per hour...not exactly, but close enough, and that's a clear, concise expression. The mechanism of wound transferal healing is straightforward, but that means the healer can't heal himself. It can also be offset with Regen, which'd be an essential purchase for a wound transferal healer. The healer is taking the LTE hit, right? Well, 5 points per hour is +1 3/4. 1d6+1 Drain, 5 points per hour, is 36 points...I suggest d6+1 because Standard Effect would then be 4. If you're adhering to standard adjustment powers, that gets cut in half...2 points, so 10 END. Pretty clean at the table, which is nice. You'd get -1/2, probably, since you're only applying this to the Decreased Re-use advantage, which is pretty expensive, but not that bad. But I'd have to ask, what's the goal? What is the problem you're trying to solve, and how does this accomplish the solution? What do you *want* Healing to be able to achieve? One of my favorite superhero worlds is Drew Hayes' Super Powereds. Healers are fairly common and extremely highly valued. Extensive healing generally has a side effect a lot like an LTE reduction...on the person healed. His explanation is that the body does have major physiological reactions to severe pain and broken bones, and OK, healing fixes the injuries, but not necessarily the indirect effects from those reactions. It's an approach I like, so I hear where you're coming from...it gives characters a reason to avoid *needing* a lot of healing because of those lingering effects. It promotes caution while leaving healing as a sweet, powerful adjunct. Now...what is it replacing? Probably max effect. Note that decreased re-use time is mostly of importance because we're dealing with game mechanics, and the points tracking of character sheets. Because it's a set of books, so the purpose of any power set is completely different. Points, schmoints. Balance? Get serious. Building characters for a game is itself a massively contrived exercise because of the constraints of the at-table environment, where balance is often a central consideration. That simply doesn't exist in the comics, movies, or UF or superhero fiction...unless the writers invoke a deus ex machina to give the wimps a chance. Think FF vs. Galactus and the Ultimate Nullifier. Or a ridiculous, contrived weakness like firing the missile down the vent tube to blow up the Death Star. It goes straight for 90 bleeping MILES, not encountering any obstacle, and staying on track???? YMMV but I *loathe* these.

Is that really so different from the 2020 election season, the process of finally certifying the election after the insurrectionists were removed on Jan. 6th, and the subsequent hearings? More recently, the circus getting a Speaker named?

Probably not, but corporate law is probably much more expensive, and using much more staff. The discovery process is likely much more complex. Hey, remember: lots of the cases you're talking about got tossed EARLY in the process. Don't get me wrong, it is a LOT of money. But also recognize: this was an existential threat. The PGA had to respond with everything they had. So I'm not gonna second-guess the amount involved.

Well, this puts a bit of a different spin on things... https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/37831191/report-commissioner-says-pga-tour-afford-fight

Perhaps...but stipulating that's true for argument: does it matter? They choose to ignore it. If anything, they're more strongly owned by Trump. They know what he is, and they don't care; that's a stronger link than being a gullible brainwashed cultist. They're knowing, willing accomplices.

Aaron Gordon goes for 27. Bruce Brown comes off the bench for 21. This, after game 3 where Christian Braun kicked in 15 off the bench, including a big spurt. Denver is simply more versatile and overall more talented. 13 point win to take a dominating 3-1 series lead. Not a lock; Miami could get hot again, but probably the series wraps up Monday.

They're clumsy and transparent TO YOU. They're still Gospel Truth to far too many. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/03/14/republicans-increasingly-realize-theres-no-evidence-of-election-fraud-but-most-still-think-2020-election-was-stolen-anyway-poll-finds/?sh=6f6dbf9c28ec So about 1/3 of responding Republicans still believed the election lies. I can't accept a "most gullible brainwashed cultist" label on a group THIS large. That's 10s of million of people.

What I think the rules DON'T make clear is that many Constant powers do NOT cost END every phase. Some do: Shrinking, Growth, DI to name a couple. But Flight, Running, and Stretching are examples that don't. Your 40 STR tough guy doesn't spend 4 END every phase of his life; he spends it when that STR is in use. TK is STR usable at range. It shouldn't require END every phase, and shouldn't require you to turn it on and off in most cases. There are at least 2 missing categories for Duration. This is showing one of them. We could call STR, TK, etc. as Sustainable...not Constant. Their normal uses are often intermittent, not continuous, but they do have both. Shrinking, DI, and Growth are generally continuously operating; on the flip side, things like Teleport and Leaping can be used in something *like* a continuous mode, but it's just repeated instantaneous uses. The other missing Duration...I'll nominate Lingering. Entangles and Mental Illusions/Mind Control would be the exemplars. They're "instant"...but with ongoing effects that don't have a prescribed duration, like a Drain has. 6E1 actually uses "Instant continuing-effect Mental Power" in terms of Dispel...the default being, they can't be, but APG offers up a limitation that says they can be dispelled. But it would be preferable, IMO, to define the durations more sensibly.

The value of negation relative to other defenses is a PITA. Negation works against AVADs, Drain STUN, and Drain BODY. Which opens up a massive rules question: if I have, say, 5 DCs physical and 5 DCs energy negation, with no limitations, then what's my defense against --AVAD Power Def? --AVAD Mental Def? --AVAD Flash Def? --NND LS: Cold? Is it really applying to ALL of them? If I buy it as STUN Only, does it still apply? What about BODY only? That's a poor choice, but still allowed. Or, is it AVAD vs. Resistant PD only? That seems to contradict the "apply the DN to an AVAD even if the char lacks the specified defense." DR has the same language. Its 2 principle issues are overly high cost, and horrific structure. DR applies LAST...so if you've got, say, 12 total DEF and 50% DR, against even 12d6...you're taking 15, and those 30 points of defense are only buying you 15, on average. Up the basic defenses, reduce the effectiveness of the DR. DR can be viable...but with pretty specific builds, and even then it's likely to be a somewhat profligate approach. The core issue with DR is, the cost did not change between 5E and 6E. In 5E, the point of DR was insurance against a bad KA STUN roll. There's some risk of that in 6E, but it's much less likely. 5E's DR also says it applies to an NND or AVLD even lacking the specified defense...so the only compensation 6E added was to have it apply to Drain BODY and Drain STUN. Not even close to equivalent, IMO. Me? In a game where the villains are dangerous, and MAY well kill? Being stunned means you are at EXTREME risk. It's a VERY, VERY bad idea when the guy that just knocked you out, will take advantage. I'd say even 10% chance of a single roll stunning you is too high. The point of the brick is to either occupy the enemy's brick...or, to try to force as many opponents to attack *him* as possible, drawing the brunt of the action. The brick's the damage sponge...you can hit him over and over and over, and he's not going down. With many of the other types...a point to remember is that the source material is NOT quantitative, it's narrative. There's no points...so a Magic VPP can have No Skill Roll and Zero Phase, while supporting a good attack power, defense power(s), and something for movement...all at once. Try that in Hero, and your eyes bug out at the cost. It's narrative, so either the mentalist is fairly safe and out of the way (possible) or for some reason the villains choose not to attack...or they just miss all the time. Spidey's another example. Spidey has VERY little resistant defense and generally low defense. His schtick is dodging...tipped off by Spidey Sense, too...and possibly, the ability to roll with the punch, as a form of damage reduction. You need to give Spidey a DCV about 6 above the villains' OCVs...which is viable for a grunt, but gets to be debatable for named villains. So what do they get? Narrative protection. The writer says the attacks miss. In a game? We can't do that. As a secondary point...the source material uses flowing time. We don't. We have segmented time. It's understandable, but the bad guys WILL have their opportunities. Now, to be sure: glass cannons are a pretty common problem. The D&D mage, especially prior to 3E, was probably the best exemplar. (At least in 3E, mages can try to get enough Con to help out.) So...for me, I really want to avoid getting stunned, and I don't want to get KOd by too few hits. So my blasters and mentalists and martial artists DO have decent defenses. Not as much as the tough guys, but respectable. YMMV.

I dunno, I hear he's got a big new fundraising campaign going...altho it's too early to know how well it's doing. But if it's anything like his prior ones? Looks pretty smooth to me...............