unclevlad

In Ohio tonight...
 
After disparaging these mid-August elections as too expensive, for too little...Ohio Republicans forced a single-issue election today.  On the ballot was a change to Ohio law that would change how voters could force an amendment to the Ohio constitution.  Currently, all it takes is a majority.  The proposed change would make it 60%.
 
The overwhelming belief is, this was being tried now to make it harder to pass an amendment protecting abortion rights in November.  
 
It crashed and burned.  WIth over 60% of the ballots in, it's 57-43 to reject the change, according to a live count from a local TV station.  
 
https://apnews.com/article/ohio-abortion-rights-constitutional-amendment-special-election-227cde039f8d51723612878525164f1a
 
 

In Ohio tonight...
 
After disparaging these mid-August elections as too expensive, for too little...Ohio Republicans forced a single-issue election today.  On the ballot was a change to Ohio law that would change how voters could force an amendment to the Ohio constitution.  Currently, all it takes is a majority.  The proposed change would make it 60%.
 
The overwhelming belief is, this was being tried now to make it harder to pass an amendment protecting abortion rights in November.  
 
It crashed and burned.  WIth over 60% of the ballots in, it's 57-43 to reject the change, according to a live count from a local TV station.  
 
https://apnews.com/article/ohio-abortion-rights-constitutional-amendment-special-election-227cde039f8d51723612878525164f1a
 
 

In Ohio tonight...
 
After disparaging these mid-August elections as too expensive, for too little...Ohio Republicans forced a single-issue election today.  On the ballot was a change to Ohio law that would change how voters could force an amendment to the Ohio constitution.  Currently, all it takes is a majority.  The proposed change would make it 60%.
 
The overwhelming belief is, this was being tried now to make it harder to pass an amendment protecting abortion rights in November.  
 
It crashed and burned.  WIth over 60% of the ballots in, it's 57-43 to reject the change, according to a live count from a local TV station.  
 
https://apnews.com/article/ohio-abortion-rights-constitutional-amendment-special-election-227cde039f8d51723612878525164f1a
 
 

Yeah, forecast was to set a record high...and boy, did we.
 
108.7.  
 
Previous high for that station, for this date...101.9.
 
So we destroyed the old mark, for this station (only up since 2007, but still)....by 7 degrees.  
 
Accuweather had daily record at 103...and today, 107.  
 
So...'just' 4 degrees.
 
It's still 100 at 8:30 local.
 
106 forecast for tomorrow.

Yeah, forecast was to set a record high...and boy, did we.
 
108.7.  
 
Previous high for that station, for this date...101.9.
 
So we destroyed the old mark, for this station (only up since 2007, but still)....by 7 degrees.  
 
Accuweather had daily record at 103...and today, 107.  
 
So...'just' 4 degrees.
 
It's still 100 at 8:30 local.
 
106 forecast for tomorrow.

Alfajor Cake

And let the backlash begin.  If we discount the match against a Vietnam team that lost all 3 of theirs, by a combined 12-0, the USWNT scored 1 goal in 3 matches.  

That'd be a great name for an XFL team.  Too much honesty for the NFL.

Count yourself lucky.  Or if you're paranoid, wait for the other shoe to fall this winter.
 
Forecast is we'll be setting new highs for the date, today, tomorrow, and Monday.  Potentially by 2-3 degrees.  And NO appreciable rain...which is bad, as summer thunderstorms are the main source here.  

There's plenty of blame to go around, of course, but the direct cause of death is largely self-inflicted. The PAC-12 couldn't adapt to changing conditions, and now it's gone the way of the dinosaur.
 
The Pac-12 is dead as we know it, just don't expect the Big Ten, Big 12 or anyone else to take the blame
 
The article does bring up one possibility I hadn't considered: the leftovers might be targets for the American, not just the Mountain West. Interesting thought.

To be fair, tho, Hugh, some of that disconnect you mention reflects a fundamental problem with teaching the system.  I agree that figured characteristics likely does make things harder by somewhat obscuring things, but working up what an overall balance should be, is still hard.  The character ability guidelines on 6E1 35, for example, are useless;  they're far, far too broad for the most part.

Stretching.  6E1 284, right column...the 5 point adder.  Double 1 dimension by halving another.
 
As Grail notes, what's the intent?  You need some form of UOO to affect an object, but you shouldn't need UAA unless you want to affect an unwilling person.
 
 

Even if only Oregon and Washington leave, and reports are, they've already told the rest of the conference that they will...
 
The conference is down to 7.  Who's left to poach, and what status do they have?  That's not entirely rhetorical, as I don't pay enough attention to know.
 
And it's 7 only if we assume no one else bails.  If Arizona balks because they don't want to split from ASU...what about Utah?  They have no connection to any other team in the Pac.  Would they want to be in the Big 12 with BYU?  Sometimes the bad blood is...pretty bad.  I don't know.  But if that's not an issue, it's still a more comfortable geographic fit.  The Big 12 might not be gung-ho to take *them*...but it's still a legit Power 5, and UConn isn't.  UConn also looks to be more of a pain for travel;  that's an issue brought up for Oregon and Washington going to the Big 10, their travel costs jump up considerably.  That offsets a fair bit of the increased revenue.
 
Also...we don't know the details of the Apple+ deal, but if 2 more big schools bolt, then what?  The deal, as I understand it, is linked to bringing in new subscribers.  No one attractive is left.  Bye-bye revenue.  And anyone who doesn't get out NOW, is likely gonna have a harder time doing it in the next few years.
 
EDIT:  Pete Thamel is reporting Arizona has already been accepted by the Big 12...and that talks are ramping up with Utah and ASU.
 
He also brought up that poaching the Mountain West basically has no chance for the '24 season.  The exit tab to head to the Pac x (they no longer rate a big X) is apparently $32M.  For a bad rights deal, for a conference with other economic woes from the prior admin?  Doesn't look smart, does it?  Also, with all these departures, what'll happen with all the bowl tie-ins?  The Power 5 status?  The remaining teams don't rate an automatic bid into the 12-team playoff...which locks the conference out of most of the serious bowl money.  The conference might fight to retain the name, somehow, but ya gotta figure...if the bowls can execute an escape clause, or potentially argue in court that the conference splintering to such a degree, constitutes something like a breach of contract and the deals are void...ya gotta think they'll try.  

Why Your Christian Friends And Family Members Are So Easily Fooled By Conspiracy Theories

The most amusing thing is the backlash against Carli Lloyd for calling out that they shouldn't be celebrating on the field.  They escaped, nothing more.  This has been a seriously underwhelming performance.  

Also...
https://stanleesgenesis.com/nft/
 
This raises red flags allll over the place for me.  

Mmmm...I find it odd this is coming out as the Marvel Multiverse RPG...which has a very similar premise...got released *yesterday.*  

Tidbit from tonight's Rays-Yankees broadcast...
 
As you may have heard, the Mets are paying large chunks of the salaries for both Scherzer and Verlander.  Noted just now...with these, with some other similar...the Mets are paying $210M in salary and luxury taxes for players playing with other teams.  That alone would be the 14th largest payroll in MLB.

Diamond energy defense...it's an electrical insulator, so good there. It transfers heat efficiently, tho, so not so good there.
 
As Duke noted...yeah, avoid reality, at least unqualified.  "Seems like" or some other hedge is a useful escape clause.  One thing that SERIOUSLY annoys me as a reader is when a writer...let's say, says a weapon's made of gold...but then says it's feather light.  The material properties of diamonds...the meaning of things like hardness vs. toughness...those are a tad esoteric.  Forgivable to not get them right.  But the fact that gold is HEAVY, is pretty darn central.
 
Similarly...the biggest common mistake in sci fi is trying to explain too much.  

Lots...and I do mean lots...of pop musicians prove CRT's point.
 
By the 90's/00's, I was giving up altogether on the medium.  Mostly because the artwork was kindergarten grade too often.

Why, thank you for that segue, LL…
 
https://www.npr.org/2023/07/31/1191055173/twitter-x-sign-san-francisco-investigation-musk
 
The man thinks he can ignore any law whatsoever…

Oh yeah.  If you cook?  You will, at times, cut yourself or burn yourself.  It's simply gonna happen.
 
My only point was how EASY it can happen, and we don't have to be talking serious heat.  Heck, 150-160 degree water...  From CPSC PDF:

 
 

It was really, really STUPID and careless but...
 
I was cooking something on the stove, I don't recall what it was.  I almost never cook above medium heat, it's plenty hot enough.  OTOH, I use steel or cast iron.
 
So there I was...and leaned over, preparing to turn or maybe pull whatever it was.  Bare gut made firm contact with the tip of the handle...furthest away from the heat, right?  OWWWW!!! No, it didn't last more than a second.
 
2nd degree burn.
 
And vociferous expletives.
 
Heck, if you cook much at all?  I don't even wanna count the number of times I've totally brain farted and started to grab a handle I BLOODY WELL KNOW!!! is hot.  USUALLY my hand's halfway coming off as it touches, as my lizard brain kicks in...but anywhere the fingers just BRUSH?  Minor burns.  But still painful.  
 
 

DC knocking one out of the park would show Marvel how it's done...like a broken clock shows the right time.