unclevlad

/semi-rant on
 
You may have heard about the hockey accident last week last weekend where Adam Johnson died after a skate slit his throat.  Horrible on many levels...but particularly because it was 100% preventable.
 
In response, today, the English Ice Hockey Association mandated the use of neck guards in its leagues, altho oddly, that doesn't include the league Johnson's team  plays in.  It's not immediate, the association said, due to supply issues...ok, I get that.  It's effective 1 Jan 2024.
 
But why, why, WHY do so many sports require a senseless TRAGEDY to move forward with *common sense* precautions???  OK, slashed throats are VERY rare;  there's 2 well known ones in the NHL, but who knows how many across the other leagues?  The only time we'd hear about them is...well...when someone dies.  AND, this was a former NHL player, making it "more newsworthy."  #GAG.  There's another case where a puck hit a throat, crushing the windpipe.  The player was forced to retire;  his breathing capacity was reduced permanently, and obviously, that's a problem.
 
It took *forever* to bring in batting helmets and require them...and a long time to require them for the 1st and 3rd base coaches.  (Until, IIRC, a first base coach took a foul ball hard in the head.)  The goalie mask in hockey goes back to the 60's...but good GOSH, the goalie faces how many slap shots a game, traveling HOW fast?  Hockey helmets were required in 1979.  We still don't have a requirement for pitchers to wear helmets...despite a few cases every season of line drives smashing off pitchers' heads.  There's issues with the catcher's mask...that got required very early, but its shape doesn't deflect the energy very well.  The hockey-style masks are generally considered better at that...but few catchers use them.
 
It's generally the macho, tough aspect...which just irritates me beyond words.  SO stupid, at least in most cases.  Some things are harder to protect;  pitchers getting hit in the face, which is a substantial fraction of these, get nothing from any proposed headgear.  But others, like neck guards, or throat guards for catchers...take forever, and something hideous, to change the obstinate, macho mentalities.
 
OK, I needed that...
 

The FDA has now approved a new COVID vaccine.  CDC meets tomorrow to discuss deployment.  Vaccines should be available later this week, according to NYT.

NYT is forecasting that Ohio Issue 1, which guarantees a woman's right to an abortion at least until the fetus is viable outside the womb, will pass.  As of this moment with 56% of the votes in, it's 56-44.
 
 

NYT is forecasting that Ohio Issue 1, which guarantees a woman's right to an abortion at least until the fetus is viable outside the womb, will pass.  As of this moment with 56% of the votes in, it's 56-44.
 
 

NYT is forecasting that Ohio Issue 1, which guarantees a woman's right to an abortion at least until the fetus is viable outside the womb, will pass.  As of this moment with 56% of the votes in, it's 56-44.
 
 

NYT is forecasting that Ohio Issue 1, which guarantees a woman's right to an abortion at least until the fetus is viable outside the womb, will pass.  As of this moment with 56% of the votes in, it's 56-44.
 
 

For those who enjoy offense, MNF tonight is an exercise in pain tolerance.

I dunno, you're pretty much the perfect picture of "THOU SHALT NOT PASS!" to me...

uisce beatha

snickerdoodle cookies

What isn't?
 
For O?  Oatmeal.  Not the instant stuff best used as a glue, the real stuff, the kind that takes 20 minutes to cook.  With yummy add-ons...fresh berries, toasted nuts, brown sugar, some half and half over the top. 

And come on, there can only be one P.
 
Pumpkin Pie.

Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty on all counts.
 
Sentencing hearing is end of March;  the max is 110 years.

Spice (from Arrakis)
 
 
 
 
(sing it with me...Don't it make my brown eyes blue..........................)

Yeah, as you could expect, mostly only the substantial breweries survived...and those that did, rapidly expanded to dominate most of American beer production until the craft beer boom started making serious inroads.  And by market share, they still do.  Combined, ABInBev (largest in the world...Busch, the Budweiser catalog, MANY others), MillerCoors, and Constellation (major Mexican brands) have about 70% of the market.  The craft beer industry in total has about 13%...but much of that is debatable.  What is a craft brewer?  
 
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/20-biggest-beer-brands-america-122851107.html
 
The 3 "craft brewers" here are Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, and New Belgium.  Sierra Nevada...maybe.  Still family owned.  Sam Adams...not really.  They were bought by Constellation, and their approach is Big Brand in most ways.  New Belgium is also questionable;  the quality of Fat Tire, for example, is generally considered to be a pale imitation of its early days.  
 
The craft beer industry is actually still recovering from the pandemic.  There were serious shortfalls in, for example, aluminum for cans and kegs.  The major distributors control a great deal of what's on retail shelves, particularly in gas stations and grocery stores, which have taken over MUCH of the market, at least here.  They've squeezed out many craft brands, particularly non-local.  

Hey, Jim Harbaugh might be available at the end of the season...

Of course, your comments amplify the futility of the BRONCOS' senior management, before the sale went through.
 
Cuz they hired McDaniel AND Hackett....

death tribble
 
 

https://variety.com/2023/film/features/marvel-jonathan-majors-problem-the-marvels-reshoots-kang-1235774940/

death tribble
 
 

Then are we renaming the other two?   How about $EC and A¢¢ ?  

Penetrating...how about high mass, low velo, blunt force?  Mace versus plate mail.  12 gauge *slug* versus typical bullet-proof vest.
 
 
In Star Fleet Battles, there's a trick the Romulan plasma weapons can use, called enveloping.  It does lesser damage, but to ALL shields, so if one's down?  Uh oh.  Some of these are that type...they're searching out weak points and breaching through them.  The attacks you've noted are similar to this.  The insect swarm, the stream of sand...those might be stopped by Impermeable, rather than Impenetrable.  
 
I don't really think this is Penetrating, but I will grant, it fits the mechanics we have better.  Slug to the chest can kill you from the shock of impact, even if the armor isn't breached.  
 
But if we

/semi-rant on
 
You may have heard about the hockey accident last week last weekend where Adam Johnson died after a skate slit his throat.  Horrible on many levels...but particularly because it was 100% preventable.
 
In response, today, the English Ice Hockey Association mandated the use of neck guards in its leagues, altho oddly, that doesn't include the league Johnson's team  plays in.  It's not immediate, the association said, due to supply issues...ok, I get that.  It's effective 1 Jan 2024.
 
But why, why, WHY do so many sports require a senseless TRAGEDY to move forward with *common sense* precautions???  OK, slashed throats are VERY rare;  there's 2 well known ones in the NHL, but who knows how many across the other leagues?  The only time we'd hear about them is...well...when someone dies.  AND, this was a former NHL player, making it "more newsworthy."  #GAG.  There's another case where a puck hit a throat, crushing the windpipe.  The player was forced to retire;  his breathing capacity was reduced permanently, and obviously, that's a problem.
 
It took *forever* to bring in batting helmets and require them...and a long time to require them for the 1st and 3rd base coaches.  (Until, IIRC, a first base coach took a foul ball hard in the head.)  The goalie mask in hockey goes back to the 60's...but good GOSH, the goalie faces how many slap shots a game, traveling HOW fast?  Hockey helmets were required in 1979.  We still don't have a requirement for pitchers to wear helmets...despite a few cases every season of line drives smashing off pitchers' heads.  There's issues with the catcher's mask...that got required very early, but its shape doesn't deflect the energy very well.  The hockey-style masks are generally considered better at that...but few catchers use them.
 
It's generally the macho, tough aspect...which just irritates me beyond words.  SO stupid, at least in most cases.  Some things are harder to protect;  pitchers getting hit in the face, which is a substantial fraction of these, get nothing from any proposed headgear.  But others, like neck guards, or throat guards for catchers...take forever, and something hideous, to change the obstinate, macho mentalities.
 
OK, I needed that...
 

Which gives an amazingly good argument for eliminating it.  You should NEVER get a benefit, however small, from something *gaining* you points or costing nothing.
 
 
Striking Appearance can be about anything you want it to be.  
 
COM, by the rules, is also an interaction stat, as they're mentioned as being used for complementary rolls for interaction skills where it matters.  So it needs another roll?  Striking Appearance doesn't, it's a roll modifier.  
 
 
 

Spice (from Arrakis)
 
 
 
 
(sing it with me...Don't it make my brown eyes blue..........................)

/semi-rant on
 
You may have heard about the hockey accident last week last weekend where Adam Johnson died after a skate slit his throat.  Horrible on many levels...but particularly because it was 100% preventable.
 
In response, today, the English Ice Hockey Association mandated the use of neck guards in its leagues, altho oddly, that doesn't include the league Johnson's team  plays in.  It's not immediate, the association said, due to supply issues...ok, I get that.  It's effective 1 Jan 2024.
 
But why, why, WHY do so many sports require a senseless TRAGEDY to move forward with *common sense* precautions???  OK, slashed throats are VERY rare;  there's 2 well known ones in the NHL, but who knows how many across the other leagues?  The only time we'd hear about them is...well...when someone dies.  AND, this was a former NHL player, making it "more newsworthy."  #GAG.  There's another case where a puck hit a throat, crushing the windpipe.  The player was forced to retire;  his breathing capacity was reduced permanently, and obviously, that's a problem.
 
It took *forever* to bring in batting helmets and require them...and a long time to require them for the 1st and 3rd base coaches.  (Until, IIRC, a first base coach took a foul ball hard in the head.)  The goalie mask in hockey goes back to the 60's...but good GOSH, the goalie faces how many slap shots a game, traveling HOW fast?  Hockey helmets were required in 1979.  We still don't have a requirement for pitchers to wear helmets...despite a few cases every season of line drives smashing off pitchers' heads.  There's issues with the catcher's mask...that got required very early, but its shape doesn't deflect the energy very well.  The hockey-style masks are generally considered better at that...but few catchers use them.
 
It's generally the macho, tough aspect...which just irritates me beyond words.  SO stupid, at least in most cases.  Some things are harder to protect;  pitchers getting hit in the face, which is a substantial fraction of these, get nothing from any proposed headgear.  But others, like neck guards, or throat guards for catchers...take forever, and something hideous, to change the obstinate, macho mentalities.
 
OK, I needed that...