Guard Dog

Now reading and The former is pretty interesting. The latter a bit dry & ponderous.

I used to think Guinness made the best stout in the biz. Turns out I just needed to get out more. But, Guinness is pretty good. And more importantly not hard to get.

There is money & interest there now. The decline, fall, and utter ruin of the Expos can be laid at the feet or one man: Jeffrey Loria. He spent seven years running the Expos into the ground and out of Canada. Then, after a shady back room deal reminiscent of baseball eras long past he ends up in control of the Marlins. Once in South Florida he showed us all that we had not yet even seen the depths of his malice. For fifteen terrible, turbulent seasons he decimated our team, demoralized the players, lied to the MLB & MLBPA, ripped of the city of Miami, and actively antagonized the fans. He actually sued season ticket holders who declined to renew. Through fire sales, meddling with managers and feckless business practice he made the fish hated in their home town and mocked everywhere else. If he were on fire I wouldn't even piss on the SOB.

The dream is dead: https://www.draysbay.com/2018/12/11/18136358/tampa-bay-rays-new-stadium-project-not-happening The Rays new stadium hopes are over. There is no money to build in Tampa and no point in building in St. Petersburg so it looks like the Rays will have to just tread water until the lease at the Trop runs out in 2027 at which point Major League Baseball in Tampa Bay will die an ignoble death as the team relocates to Montreal or Portland.

Completely agree with the OP. All of the gameplay video I've seen on YT has the player pointing a pistol at everything and and everyone they talk to. Even flying the bloody ship. It's really immersion breaking.

That's disappointing but hardly a show stopper. I'm still in.

I think it's pretty well proven modding extends the life of games.

I don't think that part is accurate

OK, one more

:-D That's best summary of Bethesda RPGs I have every seen. "You could do it or not do it and not feel like you are missing something". When you realize nothing is good you don't have to worry about missing something good!

So.... who else wants one of these?

Plot twist!

I like a lot of personal interaction with NPC. Complex friendships, alliances, rivalries, even enemies is good. PoE did this right. I hear Deadfire too but despite pre-ordering & installing it I haven't gotten around to it yet. But the romance options in games are often contrived, poorly handled, and center far too much on solving the romance target's problems. The PC & NPC never come in as equal partners. I can think of very few that were done right. I liked Morrigan's in DA because she came into it with an ulterior motive which made for a good twist. Other than that, none were overly interesting. I like how Skyrim did it. No real effort was put into it, you can marry pretty much anyone and they all say the same stuff anyway. You could do it or not do it and not feel like you are missing something. Plus no one could complain about being left out. (unless you had a wood elf fetish) But Skyrim was a different kind of game than I think OW will be. You didn't just play Skyrim, you lived in it. Getting married in games that sell you houses is logical. I suspect in OW we're going to be moving around a lot I like how FONV & PoE handled interpersonal relationships & friendships with companions and wrapped them up with game play choices. I got far more enjoyment from that. So more of that from OW is good for me.

They go back well before that

Cool. Skyrim was the only game that ever did this right anyway.

Well, looks I was wrong when I said I'd never buy another RPG. Just take my money!

LOL, the French have fought in more wars than most other organized countries. Won more than they've lost. Surrendered one time and we'll never let them live it down!

That's it. I'm quitting my job and getting onto the business of sales and installation of Circles of Protection from Negative Energy. That's where the money is at! Soooo.... can i interest anyone in a Circle of Protection of Negative Energy? Guaranteed to work ​unless negative entity makes successful save versus death with a -2 penalty. All sales are final.

Katphood & LC will appreciate! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USS4nqgqIJo&has_verified=1

It was a problem in the day because there was far less information and oversight available to the public than there is today. The Senate was supposed the be the representatives of the states, and the House of the people. When the people are electing both the state governments have become marginalized. Furthermore the House has become somewhat marginalized. If the state governments elected the senators then voters would be more focused on their state legislatures (and boy should they be). Off year elections have low turnouts not because they are not important, but because they are seen to be unimportant because state legislatures have lost a lot of the power and influence they are supposed to have. The other problem is with less general voter focus on their state legislatures the zealots end up electing the people do get to serve there. That leads to offices being held by people who should not BE in office. They eventually find their way into Congress, Cabinet jobs, etc and drag the whole system down. If voters were to care about who is electing their senators that will lead to an improvement in the quality of people in state governments which may lead to an improvement to the quality of people in congress. It would not requite a Constitutional convention (something to be avoided if we want the United States to remain united), just a constitutional amendment. But it would be a really hard sell and most folks would not see the wisdom in it. So it's moot anyway.

What he would end up with is the United States of New York & Los Angeles. A union of two towers so to speak. If you want to "fix" the Senate, repeal the 17th amendment.

Never said we didn't. I'm no anarchist. The question is how much government do we need? And what should it be doing? Well, the answers to that are less clear but I can tell you for a fact what we have now is way too much on both counts.

What exactly are taxes stealing? How else is the government going to make money? There are ways to fund a government other than taxes. But not at anywhere near the levels required for current spending orgies at all levels. But just because taxes cannot be dispensed with does not mean they are not literally stealing our money.

What exactly are taxes stealing? Suppose you own a bar. One night just before closing I show up and demand all of the money you made that night at gunpoint. Then the next day I show up at your bar and use some of that money to buy a drink. Is that still theft? Now imagine this goes on one night a week... forever. And there is nothing you can do about it. Is it stealing if I force you to give it to me but you still get a little benefit from it?