ScottishFox

On 8/25/2020 at 6:15 PM, archer said:

CDC updates guidelines.

 

Employees at stores should no longer tell customers they have to wear a mask if the person appears to be upset, makes threats, or displays violence (including using a swear word, an insult, or physical violence of any sort).

 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/513643-cdc-warns-employees-not-to-argue-with-anti-mask-customers

I have this Beautiful Mind style reading problem where my mind grabs bits of adjacent words and adds a word that's not actually in the sentence.  Then I read something that makes no sense - go back to read it again and realize I've made up something that is just not there.

My first read of "(including using a swear word..." I initially saw as "(including using a sword...".  WHAT?!?

30 minutes ago, TrickstaPriest said:

Civil asset forfeiture is at a higher rate than literal theft.

This is one of the best complaints against law enforcement and, imo, blatantly unconstitutional.

New video footage has come up that shows rioters chasing the 17 year old shooter into a parking lot and firing the first shot (though it looked like the guy fired into the air).

Not sure firing your handgun into the air to intimidate the rifle-wielding militia guy your chasing is a smart play.  Especially as you and several of your associates are chasing him.

The video is caught by Christiaan Triebert who I believe works at the NY Times.

20 hours ago, csyphrett said:

Apparently he was there from Illinois with an armed militia, and the police didn't disperse the idiots, but instead drove the protestors toward them. He's getting charged with intentional homicide, but may claim self defense because he might have been afraid for his life.

CES 

The video of the incident clearly shows the kid getting knocked down and multiple people moving towards him (one of them armed with a handgun supposedly) with bad intentions.

At least a couple of the people he shot - he did so while prone as they tried to take his rifle.

It's clearly self-defense and not in the sense he might have been afraid.  He was actively being attacked by a number of people.

Also, is there a way for me to make these linked video images smaller?

13 hours ago, Old Man said:

Could someone remind me what ghastly crime Jacob Blake was arrested and tased for, prior to being shot and paralyzed?  Trespassing?  Domestic dispute?

He had a felony arrest warrant out for 3rd degree sexual assault.  There were a couple of misdemeanors on that arrest warrant as well (trespass and domestic violence).

Forbes has an article that very nicely summarizes key points. ( LINK )

Saw a second angle of the shooting scenario where the police DO get Blake to the ground, but he fights back to his feet and - while guns are pointed at him - proceeds to move to the car to get what I can only assume is a weapon.

It seems like a safe bet that the police assumed he was going for a weapon as well.  Even his own family members are screaming at him to stop.

This is not to say someone with a history doesn't deserve every chance to get out of that scenario alive, but he's known to be dangerous and reaching into a car while fighting the police is going to get just about anyone shot.

Abysmal CQB skills on the part of the police officers contributed to the problem - they should have been able to pin him to the ground which would have prevented the shooting.

A small crowd of family members moving in on the police officers which causes a couple of them to turn their attention to the family members instead of Blake - People staying away from the police might have prevented the shooting as well.

Blake had many opportunities to stop the shooting:

Don't commit felonies.

If you have a felony warrant out for your arrest - turn yourself in.

If you have a felony warrant for your arrest don't trespass + get into a domestic + take someone's car keys and get the cops called on you.

If the police take you down - don't fight them.

When you get hit by a taser and it fails to stun you - that's a great time to stop.

Don't reach into your car while guns are pointed at you.

The last couple of riot inducing scenarios are mind boggling, imo. 

They are not George Floyd and no-knock warrant getting people killed levels of injustice.

One of the recent ones the guy fired a gun at the cops head at close range.  How is that guy a victim?

How is Jacob Blake a victim of anything but horrific decision making on his own part?

This whole situation is starting to boil over.  In the Kenosha riots they're starting to have armed vigilantes shooting rioters since the police response has been completely inadequate and businesses, some family owned, are burning to the ground.  One elderly gent was seriously injured by rioters while trying to put out the fire at his own business.

We're just a couple of bad police encounters and riots away from straight up crowd vs. crowd gun fights.  And in a country of 330 million people - we are going to have some bad police encounters where the police are incompetent or too aggressive or straight up evil.  Perfection is a great goal, but it cannot be the requirement.  Because if it is we'll lose our police and then it will be each community locked and loaded trying to protect their own territory.

Getting a weird page loading up on the news page.

2 hours ago, DShomshak said:

add cheering crowds, a "yuge" golden throne with Nancy Pelosi chained to it like Leia to Jabba the Hutt, an honor guard of warrior angels with flaming swords, and Jesus Christ Himself appearing to proclaim him the New Messiah!

Man, I'd pay to see that even without an election.  Sounds like it would generate meme's for years.

I'm not going to vote for the guy, but that sounded pretty epic.

Someone get Jim Caviezel signed up!

1 hour ago, zslane said:

DC still doesn't know what it wants to do. They are rudderless in terms of overall creative direction. Their repeated attempt(s) to get people excited for their piecemeal approach towards cobbling together some semblance of a shared cinematic universe is downright embarrassing at this point.

In fairness to DC what the MCU accomplished over a 10 year arc was something so amazing I can't believe they pulled it off.  I'm watching the movies from the beginning again and there are significant bits that get incorporated all the way to the end.

MCU has set a stupidly high bar.  One I don't expect to get surpassed in my lifetime.

Looks like Texas is turning the corner on this mess.  Though I worry it won't stick once in-person school starts on Sept. 8th.

True, but if you take the Halfling cultural package you have the 3pt base Stealth skill and the bonus would apply.

14 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

According to whom? Hollywood? (If it works for you group more the better btw 😁). Let’s remember the Knight has been wearing armor since what 10 years of age? Heavy armor was designed to be moved and fought in.  And for dramatic purposes well that’s a subjective thing. I think you should have Element Use Art in Armor even if you aren’t using Martial Arts then I’d say a Shepard is asked you wear a King’s Armor he may judge the penalties and say nah. But a trained warrior still getting dinged? Well each there own.

Even just the TMA and MMA training I've done and the limited armor those arts come with were enough to cause a penalty, imo.  We're talking just a few pounds of material, but it restricts movement and contributes immediately to over-heating and fatigue.  I don't see someone in 40kg of gear (gambeson + layers of armor) not suffering movement, DCV and END penalties.

We could probably quibble at length over how severe those penalties should be, but I'm confident the best answer isn't none. 

I mean, what was the point of lightly armored skirmishing units if guys in field plate could run just as fast and just as far while being much safer doing so?

The second issue I have with the penalty being effectively zero is game balance.  If plate armor has no draw backs then other options become a failed IQ test.  I like the lightly armored players to feel like they've made a valid choice that involves sacrificing some safety for increased mobility (which can be a great defense of its own) and the ability to fight longer before fatiguing.

The problem with 6e encumbrance and the STR table is that a reasonably strong character - exactly the kind that will use heavy armor - suffers virtually no penalties at all.

Take a STR 20 Knight of the Realm in full plate armor.  40kg.

Encumbrance Level:  0 to 1 (40kg is 10% - probably has some other gear to nudge it up to the 11-20% range).

Optional double-for-armor rule leaves the character still at Encumbrance Level 1.

Full plate armor = 1 DCV and NO additional endurance cost and NO movement penalty.  That does not simulate the effect of 40 kg of armor at all.  It neither makes dramatic nor common sense.

I liked the 4th edition rules better (fixed weights for the ranges regardless of strength) and eventually settled on a hybrid system where if you were strong enough (STR 13 for light, STR 15 for medium, STR 18 for heavy) then the penalty would be reduced by one level.  We then set the movement penalty to 2*(DCV penalty - 1) in meters.

So that basically works out to:

     Light Armor (DEF 1 - Cloth) = No penalties for anyone.

     Light Armor (DEF 2 - Leather) = No penalties for anyone STR 13+ / -1 DCV for the weak.

     Light Armor (DEF 3 - Boiled Leather) = -1 DCV for anyone STR 13+ / -2 DCV and -2m movement for the weak.

     Medium Armor (DEF 4 - Ring Mail) = -1 DCV for anyone STR 15+ / -2 DCV and -2m movement for the weak.

     Medium Armor (DEF 5 - Scale Mail) = -2 DCV and -2m movement for anyone STR 15+ / -3 DCV and -4m movement for the weak.

     Medium Armor (DEF 6 - Chain Mail) = --2 DCV and -2m movement for anyone STR 15+ / -3 DCV and -4m movement for the weak.

     Heavy Armor (DEF 7 - Plate & Chain) = -3 DCV and -4m movement for anyone STR 18+ / -4 DCV and -6m movement for the weak.

     Heavy Armor (DEF 8 - Plate Armor) = -3 DCV and -4m movement for anyone STR 18+ / -4 DCV and -6m movement for the weak.

This hits the right feel for the campaign and makes the decision to forego heavy armor a reasonable one if you value movement speed and avoiding hits to soaking them.

I'd say pay for it ala old school racial package templates (4th edition, for example) so that character balance is maintained.  It's an important concept for HERO that you pay for what you get.

They didn't specifically have the always on persistent shrinking, but you can add that in easily enough.

They didn't get the stealth bonus either, but they started with 3 points in it as a cultural package option.

3 hours ago, archer said:

If they expect you to have to be on Gabapentin for a while, it's worth your time to try to build those kinds of habits. And it came in handy for me several times when, as a dinosaur's chew toy (long story), I experienced head injuries so bad that I couldn't build my own sandwiches. Literally. But I could still find my keys.

Is it a long story involving your attempt to wrestle a crocodile?

2 hours ago, BoneDaddy said:

I assume most of you identify as men, and most of you are in my approximate age cohort.

Firstly, sorry to hear that you caught this crud.  Best of luck in the battle you're in.  I'm seriously wishing some natural 3s into your dice rolls.

With absolute respect to people who identify differently than their biology would suggest - don't let that influence your medical decisions.  Mother nature is an absolute uncaring brute and your biological gender/race absolutely make a big difference in prevalence of certain ailments and treatment options.  I sadly know from first hand experience nearly getting my guts opened up by my young Japanese surgeon in Hawaii because he hadn't had enough haole (white - in this case Scottish) patients to realize my apparent appendicitis would, in fact, be more likely Crohn's or IBS and easily handled with a short course of anti-inflammatory's.  25 years later I still have my perfectly well-behaved appendix.

Also, thanks for posting in attempt to help others while you're critically ill - that's real heroism.  We need more people like that.  Like you.

I'm starting to believe social distancing and hand washing are the most useful elements of prevention as improper mask usage is about 60-70% of the people I run into in retail environments.

Like, if we're relying on masks being used by regular people, then we're doomed.

On 8/16/2020 at 11:59 AM, Pattern Ghost said:

but it shows how fast things go from a shout about a weapon, to action.

It also shows a realistic drop in cognitive ability that goes with an adrenaline dump in a perceived life and death situation.

So many of the follow-up analysis of police encounters are through the lens of someone sitting back at their keyboard in complete safety while enjoying a beer.  The standards we hold police to and sometimes suspects to are impossible in such incredibly stressful situations.  The ability to think clearly, fine motor skills, memory and other abilities evaporate under such pressure.  They're just gone.

And I agree with one of your points.  That guy shouldn't have died, but he came out the door aggressively with a gun in hand.  If he had cautiously popped the door he could have put the gun down before the police even knew he had a weapon.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda won't bring you back to life or give your kids their father back. 

21 hours ago, Pariah said:

He is, of course, aided by the fact that a large number of Americans are willing to put up with it simply because he has an (R) after his name.

In no world is Hillary Clinton a worse candidate than Joe Biden.  And Trump has already won once.

Incumbent presidents almost always win and while a creative new twist - I don't think the basement strategy is going to do the trick.

Also, Texas update - Getting better, but still bad.

Our R0 is also bad - it's climbed over 1.0 again (1.08) so we're in a growth phase. 

On 8/15/2020 at 12:01 PM, Michael Hopcroft said:

I resolved the [problem by buying a box of ten reusable cloth masks made by a company famous for its underwear. It's worked out quite well so far -- if I remember, I use a different mask every day and wash masks on a weekly basis.

 

The masks come out wrinkled but still cover what they need to cover.

 

My big problem is forgetting to mask up before going to places, and I almost always remember that I'd forgotten it almost immediately. If possible I go back in and get mine, but my local transit service is willing to offer you a one-use mask if you get on without one. Which is no guarantee that people will use these masks correctly, but then there never is.

 

But I can only control what I do myself. Even if it means getting places later than intended when I decline to get on a bus while unmasked.

After a few trips we had to take twice for forgetting masks we've decided to keep a set for the whole family in the car.  They have to be washed more often because of the heat, but it has eliminated the "I forgot my mask" problems.

3 hours ago, Ragitsu said:

Roofers and open-ocean fishermen are in higher risk jobs.

 

Edit: Loggers too, apparently.

Surprising number of jobs are more dangerous and yet those people don't get hyped up like super heroes even though we all need roofs, plumbing, electricity, food and the like.

On 8/7/2020 at 7:14 PM, greypaladin_01 said:

Hello everyone.  I was hoping that all the people that post here might be able to help me make sense of the Reduced Penetration limitation.  

 

I understand mechanically that if you hit, your divide the damage dice in half and roll them, then apply the BODY damage separately against defenses, but combine the STUN before applying.  This is to simulate something that is stopped more easily by armor or tougher defenses.

 

I see that it is used for shotguns as well as claws on monsters in the bestiary.   But at least at the HEROIC levels of game, it seems like these weakens the attacks to be almost useless.   Anyone with 3 or 4 PD of Resistant defense would be virtually immune.  This doesnt seem to make sense to me, especially with shotguns or large creature claws.

 

Am I missing something important?   Any insights would be appreciated.  

 

 

Your first impression is correct.  Even moderate armor is going to turn reduced penetration attacks into something that is easily survived.

It simulates animal attacks pretty well, imo, but I wouldn't use it for weapons much in a high-lethality setting (Old West, grittier Fantasy HERO, etc.) unless you want a scenario where the heroes can be safely defeated without lethal wounds.

Still, if one of your heroes falls unconscious with a pack of wolves pulling at his limbs - it's unlikely that the armor will keep him alive forever.

45 minutes ago, Pattern Ghost said:

 

IIRC, I believe the Gabbard attack was addressed in the article linked by Cygnia here. The upshot: It wasn't so much as win for Gabbard as it was a strategic error in refusing to discuss the topics by Harris, because Gabbard was distorting the facts:

 

 

I found an article I liked better (seemed more objective by my estimate) though.  Basically the attacks by Biden and Gabbard during that debate were a mixed bag of hits, misses and incorrect details (some substantially so), but there were fair criticisms in the mix.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/08/01/democratic-debate-kamala-harris-tulsi-gabbard-joe-biden-fact-check/

She's changed her views on several issues and admitted to being wrong (which I actually like in people) a couple of times.

I was surprised by this pick given how badly Harris performed after debating Tulsi Gabbard.  Which, full disclosure, would have been my preferred choice for Biden's VP Pick.