unclevlad

Jingles for payday loan companies and personal injury law firms 

What happened at the Hugo Awards
 
 

Their first line of defense is fair use, but I seriously doubt they have a snowball's chance of that holding up.
https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-fairuse.html#:~:text=Under the fair use doctrine,news reporting%2C and scholarly reports.
 
 
They're trying to use the ambiguity WRT the amount that can be used, but my understanding is they're ingesting entire catalogs of writers, composers, and musicians.  Basically, anything published conventionally, physically or electronically, that is covered by copyright...they can't do that.  In music, this applies to specific recordings of public-domain material...the DG collection of all 9 Beethoven symphonies, with von Karajan conducting the Berlin Phil is from the early 60s, and is still, I believe, considered one of the seminal versions.  The sheet music?  Public domain.  Those performances?  Copyrighted.
 
I think they're desperate, as much as anything.  They view AI as the goose that lays the golden eggs, but the goose has to be fed to do so.  So, I see some of this as corporate greed, some as technocratic arrogance...AI will advance the world, so what's good for AI is good for the world.  And season it with "you can't do that, you can't take my toys away!"   
 
At this point, I don't see any way the AI companies win in the end, nor do I think they *should* win, generally.  

Oh lordy, the irony!  We don't need to mention Newsom per se...it's SAN FRANISCO!!!  One of the hubs of gay culture in the country.  World Population Review (and some others) rank it as the #1 most liberal city in the country.
 
THAT is what they choose to root for???
 
The mind...boggles................

Oh lordy, the irony!  We don't need to mention Newsom per se...it's SAN FRANISCO!!!  One of the hubs of gay culture in the country.  World Population Review (and some others) rank it as the #1 most liberal city in the country.
 
THAT is what they choose to root for???
 
The mind...boggles................

The rules for Persistent or inherent note that your powers stop working at death too, I believe

Uncontrolled was (and is) one way to do it.  Independent, despite being a huge limitation, was another.  The Permanent Advantage (from the 3rd edition Magic Items supplement) was another. 
 
But what does death really do to a character?  As far as I can tell, it's somewhere between "everyone knows" and "up to the GM"... and it's never explicitly stated.  In fact, the only places that the game actually says a character's powers stop working is in the sections under Independent (which doesn't exist in 6e). 
 
Do a character's Powers stop working when they're dead? 
 
We know that Powers that are Persistent and 0 END Cost continue to work when a character is unconscious.  Or those that are Persistent with an END Reserve or Charges.  Or those with Continuing Charges or a Time Limit.  Or those that are Instant with a continuing effect, like Aid, Barrier, Drain, Entangle, and so forth.  Inherent Powers can't be Dispelled or Drained.  Many of these powers require a reasonably common and obvious way to turn them off. 
 
The real answer is, as always:  Common sense, dramatic sense, and special effects... and the final decision is as always up to the GM.
 
A particular game's setting can specify one way or the other.  A common power source (i.e. magic) can specify that powers based on it stop working when the character dies.  The rules, though, don't.
 
All of that is to say, there's nothing about Trigger that makes it an exception to anything I've just written.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/us/politics/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.R00.nEdD.uJpCOBtclluJ&bgrp=a&smid=url-share

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/us/politics/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.R00.nEdD.uJpCOBtclluJ&bgrp=a&smid=url-share

1.  More duplicates?  Buy more.  +5 points to double.  Eek.  I don't like the approach, but this is a trivial workaround if you do.
 
2.  On the Resurrection...mmm, I know it is.  I may have mis-thought it a bit.  BUT...8d6 probably isn't *close* to enough, which I think CRT emphasized.  
Healing, N d6 (N will be discussed in a bit), Resurrection (+20 points), 0 END, Resurrection Only (-1/2), Trigger (when struck after being killed), plus maybe the expanded effect, and the "must be hit again" limitation
 
So, what's N?  First, the healing must be great enough to take the corpse to 1 BODY...and if this is going to happen all at once, on the trigger, we're talking taking the BODY to full.  So, even with just 10 BODY...we're talking 20 BODY, or 40 pips.  Hello there, 12d6 minimum, and that's if you don't allow damage past negative BODY.  
 
Oh, and...we need Decreased Re-use Duration...a HONKING BIG ONE, if we want it to work as OP suggested.  
 
So, we're looking at, what, 140 base points with a +3 1/4 advantage...?  +1 1/2 decreased re-use, +1/2 reduced END, + 1/4 trigger, +1 expanded effect.  595 active?
 
3.  Chris was pointing out the qualifier to my statement.  You can't recombine with a dead duplicate...so for the duplication approach to work, the duplicate has to be resurrected...at which point, he's not dead, and therefore, recombine's allowed.
 
Mmm...
 

Oh my gosh.
I'm SO sorry, I truly feel for you.

Unfortunately, my uncle received the Last Rites earlier today. His cancer had spread. It was the chemo that destroyed his heart, which had up to then been healthy.

I had a portable drive that was having issues, and did something pretty stupid...I honestly don't recall what, at this point, it was several years ago.  Lost the entire drive.  Lost some older, personal stuff, I know.
 
My critical stuff goes onto one of my Google drives now, with the major username/drive mirrored on the PC.  
 
I stopped building PCs when I either fried the memory somehow, or it was just plain bad.  And for the last several years, there's no real point, at least for me.  I don't do hardcore gaming, so integrated graphics is perfectly fine.  There's plenty of outfits that put together basic boxes, with options for what I want to include.  
 
 
Yeahhh...that's too much like how I heard the news about my mother.  It was 2011...we were caught up in a major freeze, considering how far south we are.  SERIOUS issues...the University shut down for 2 or 3 days, we had rolling power to a degree for 3 days.  So I was home...trying to finish off a new system build/OS install, that wasn't the brightest of moves during unreliable power, but I got it up eventually.  And it was my mother's birthday.  Tried to call...several times.  Finally heard back...from my *sister*.  My mother was in her home, where my sister was providing hospice care...she is a doctor...with help, IIRC, from a hospice caretaker.  Yeah...ok...I knew she was dying;  I'd made a trip up there a few months before.
 
But I hadn't known it'd gone to that.  At all.  
 
My mother died the mext weekend...but that, honestly, was mostly an anticlimax.  NOT entirely, mind, it never is, but it was clearly inevitable, and that it would be soon.
 
So, I'm glad to hear your father's going to recover.  There is no good time to get bad news, but there are bad times, and we can do no more than hope they don't happen.

Kansas Fire Crews Find Burned Remnants Of Stolen Jackie Robinson Statue

I loathe making such a conceptually complex mechanism when the rules define a straightforward one.  It also, I'm pretty sure, not work, because you can't recombine with a dead duplicate.
 
 
Multiple duplicates.  Buy 16 of em, say.  20 points.  You get x2 duplicates for 5 points.
 
 
 
To formalize a notion...a compound power.  Part 1 is the resurrection aspect, which gets the Resurrection Only limitation.  Part 2 is Healing, with a trigger (upon resurrection), LOTS of dice...and 1 charge. 

GA, I don't think you broke any laws...but ChatGPT probably is.  The rules are copyrighted.  HD is copyrighted.  I doubt ChatGPT has permission.
 
Also, in at leas the skills...it's moronic and, I think in several cases, WRONG.  There's also no consideration whatsoever for END, and some of these will *burn through* END.  Others...how does 15m Teleport with just x4 Mass come out to 75 points?  Several others look wrong...and I think the entire package is wrong.  This:
 
Illusion (Sight, Hearing, Touch) 8d6 (40 points), Area Effect (2m Radius; +1/4) (10 points), Constant (+1/2) (20 points), Selective (+1/4) (10 points), Uncontrolled (+1/2) (20 points), No Range (-1/2) (-10 points). Total: 90 points.
 
No Range is completely mis-applied;  I'm not even sure WHAT it's being applied to.
 
I think getting the ideas for powers...that's interesting.  But its use of copyrighted material is not, and its *gross* mistakes render it useless.
 
Note that there's already some major players suing the AI companies for using copyrighted material to train their AI models without permission.
 

Is this Amelia Earhart’s long-lost plane? Explorer believes he’s solved the great mystery with sonar

Granted that this is the conference championship game, but Lamar's performance is going to start drawing comparisons that are *not* flattering, in terms of failure to perform under the brightest of lights.
 
OTOH, Mahomes' HoF status is a lock;  at this point, he's pushing for
a)  unanimous selection (looks like Brady is the only other)
b)  Mount Rushmore of QBs status.
 
Can't say he's challenging Brady for GOAT...*yet*.
 
 
Not yet.  Brady and Belichick had an *impossible* run for SOO!!!! long!  It isn't just the SB wins.

 
2001 2001 NFL AFC East 1st[i] 11 5 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Raiders) 16–13 (OT)
Won AFC Championship (at Steelers) 24–17
Won Super Bowl XXXVI (1) (vs. Rams) 20–17 Tom Brady (SB MVP)[20] 2002 2002 NFL AFC East 2nd[j] 9 7 0     2003 2003 NFL AFC East 1st 14 2 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Titans) 17–14
Won AFC Championship (Colts) 24–14
Won Super Bowl XXXVIII (2) (vs. Panthers) 32–29 Tom Brady (SB MVP)[21]
Bill Belichick (COY)[22] 2004 2004 NFL AFC East 1st 14 2 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Colts) 20–3
Won AFC Championship (at Steelers) 41–27
Won Super Bowl XXXIX (3) (vs. Eagles) 24–21 Deion Branch (SB MVP)[23] 2005 2005 NFL AFC East 1st 10 6 0 Won Wild Card playoffs (Jaguars) 28–3
Lost Divisional playoffs (at Broncos) 13–27 Tedy Bruschi (CBPOY)[24] 2006 2006 NFL AFC East 1st 12 4 0 Won Wild Card playoffs (Jets) 37–16
Won Divisional playoffs (at Chargers) 24–21
Lost AFC Championship (at Colts) 34–38   2007 2007 NFL AFC East 1st 16 0 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Jaguars) 31–20
Won AFC Championship (Chargers) 21–12
Lost Super Bowl XLII (vs. Giants) 14–17 Tom Brady (MVP, OPOY)[5][25]
Bill Belichick (COY)[22] 2008 2008 NFL AFC East 2nd[k] 11 5 0   Jerod Mayo (DROY)[26] 2009 2009 NFL AFC East 1st 10 6 0 Lost Wild Card playoffs (Ravens) 14–33 Tom Brady (CBPOY)[27] 2010 2010 NFL AFC East 1st 14 2 0 Lost Divisional playoffs (Jets) 21–28 Tom Brady (MVP, OPOY)[6][28]
Bill Belichick (COY)[22] 2011 2011 NFL AFC East 1st 13 3 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Broncos) 45–10
Won AFC Championship (Ravens) 23–20
Lost Super Bowl XLVI (vs. Giants) 17–21   2012 2012 NFL AFC East 1st 12 4 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Texans) 41–28
Lost AFC Championship (Ravens) 13–28   2013 2013 NFL AFC East 1st 12 4 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Colts) 43–22
Lost AFC Championship (at Broncos) 16–26   2014 2014 NFL AFC East 1st 12 4 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Ravens) 35–31
Won AFC Championship (Colts) 45–7
Won Super Bowl XLIX (4) (vs. Seahawks) 28–24 Rob Gronkowski (CBPOY)
Tom Brady (SB MVP)[29] 2015 2015 NFL AFC East 1st 12 4 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Chiefs) 27–20
Lost AFC Championship (at Broncos) 18–20   2016 2016 NFL AFC East 1st 14 2 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Texans) 34–16
Won AFC Championship (Steelers) 36–17
Won Super Bowl LI (5) (vs. Falcons) 34–28 (OT) Tom Brady (SB MVP) 2017 2017 NFL AFC East 1st 13 3 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Titans) 35–14
Won AFC Championship (Jaguars) 24–20
Lost Super Bowl LII (vs. Eagles) 33–41 Tom Brady (MVP) 2018 2018 NFL AFC East 1st 11 5 0 Won Divisional playoffs (Chargers) 41–28
Won AFC Championship (at Chiefs) 37–31 (OT)
Won Super Bowl LIII (6) (vs. Rams) 13–3 Julian Edelman (SB MVP) 2019 2019 NFL AFC East 1st 12 4 0 Lost Wild Card playoffs (Titans) 13–20 Stephon Gilmore (DPOY)

"Damnation by faint praise" has a new exemplar...
 
They're actually playing right now...and if the Pistons win?  The difference between the two will be *1* game.  The low point for Detroit was 2-29...epically awful.  They've gone 3-10 since, which is merely top-5 draft pick awful.
 
EDIT:  yes, well...Wizards win it, so they're back to 3 games ahead in a tight race....

Pretty decent legal summary on the whole Texas border thing.
 
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/27/politics/texas-border-supreme-court-what-matters/index.html
 
It’ll likely keep going on in one way or another for a bit yet.

Favorite comment:  
"Get outta here with your sensible, measured & informed response to rampant speculation.  This is THE INTERNET, g*******! Rampant speculation is what we do!!"

I think the man's comments at around 2:13 on..."it doesn't need to be plausible, because people are so desperate to believe things about those they despise that they utterly suspend their disbelief."  That's significant here, in that part of the defense against defamation, in similar cases, has been "no reasonable person believes him."  This arguably spears that smack in the side, if it's accepted as accurate.
 
The issue first would be, WHO would you sue?  The Dominion case was easy because all of Fox News was a massive target.  Who did this?  Finding that out is exceptionally difficult, if not impossible, as it's SO easy to do this, and to slip it into channels.  If it's a foreign national, then trying to bring the case is hard, and collecting on any judgment would be even harder, assuming we're talking an unfriendly nation.  If it's a US citizen, fine, you can win the case, assuming you can identify the person responsible, and can prove it...you can conceivably argue for reasonably sizable damages.  But what can you collect?
 
I'm fairly sure the #1 problem, tho, is the needle in a haystack problem.  Look how infrequently spam email servers or the robocall centers get shut down...and they're responsible for massively more activity, which is also explicitly criminal activity, not civil.

Good question.  You beat me to it. 
 
Scuttlebutt...
a)  bottom 10 in defense...after #4 last year.
b)  rookie coach...strong vets.  ESPN SC discussion noted he never had the locker room, which with Lillard, Giannis, Middleton, and both Lopezes...that's a whole lot of years of experience.
 
 
Huh...Around the Horn's opening topic was Embiid's big night.  Cowlishaw brought up a Chamberlain stat, from the '61-62 year of insanity...the year he averaged *50* per game.  Well, Cowlishaw tossed in another NEVER EVER BE BROKEN record...Chamberlain averaged 48.5 minutes per game.
 
Yeah, an NBA game is only 48 long.
 
Chamberlain missed 7 minutes...TOTAL.  13 OTs bring it up over 48.
 
Load management...?  What's that?  
 
Almost no one averages 41 minutes a game...missing 7 minutes...much less 7 minutes for the *season*.

Eagles fire both coordinators...but retain Sirianni.  HUH?
 
Nugget from Around the Horn...Reali points out every team in the NFL except the 49ers has replaced their offensive coordinator in the last 24 months.....

Horrifying news out of Kansas City:
 
Three Chiefs Fans Found Frozen To Death After Watching Game Together