Leferd

[Tower] O[f] Joy.

He is Risen.

Not exactly live... But plenty of good zingers here and there.

Started Offworld Trading Company, which is fantastic. Designed by Soren Johnson, lead designer/programmer of Civ IV. An economic warfare RTS that's not gonna kill twitch-deficient players. Really well polished.

Captain Gillis, a leader for the ages who had ice water in his veins. His speech after the second inning must have been legendary.

#TBT to the time in 1894 when Oakland was beaten by San Francisco 2-1 in the overtime third inning. Captain Gillis with the clutch game winner, basketing the ball with just four minutes left in OT!

Mass Effect: The Ride opens in May http://www.polygon.com/2016/4/28/11530688/mass-effect-themed-park-ride-opens-in-may That's unexpected. And not too far from where I live.

There were some hints from Ser Barristan in A Dance With Dragons that the Mad King Aerys had a fancy for Tywin's wife and took certain unspecified "liberties" during the bedding ceremony. It's not much to go on but enough to fashion a theory that either Tyrion or Jaime and Cersei are actually secret Targaryen bastards. It mostly focuses on Tyrion because Tywin said to him that he "is not his son" and while "he cannot prove that he isn't his son" he sure as hell can and will stop him from rightfully inheriting Casterly Rock, plus Tyrion has unusually bright blonde hair, even for a Lannister (noted as early as A Game of Thrones). Tyrion being the bastard child of Aerys would be a lot less out of the left field than Aegon having been baby swapped and suddenly showing up. In the books, at least. The show dropped absolutely no hints at all so far other than Tyrion really liking dragons. I never even considered that or even read about this theory before. Granted, I stopped reading Westeros.org and their forums well before A Dance with Dragons came out...

I'm not entirely convinced those two capabilities can be meaningfully differentiated when one tries to assess the overall quality of a leader. Depends on the objective criteria of the discussion I guess. There is no questioning his quality as a human being (or lack thereof). He did lead his country out of ruin it's true. And after that right back into it. Can anyone think of a leader that was an evil SOB who was a good leader but in the end did more good than harm? I know I'm drawing a blank. All highly debatable but...Genghis Khan, Andrew Jackson, Stalin, Pope Julius II, Pope Alexander VI, and George Steinbrenner.

Boehner: Cruz --Lucifer in the Flesh http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/28/politics/john-boehner-ted-cruz-lucifer-stanford/

There's only one man I trust to supervise the building of a wall. http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2015/1/9/7522799/pistons-embracing-stan-van-gundys-form-a-f-ing-wall-rally-cry

Good sir, it is not legal in California to engage in gambling activities, and especially so if it relates to Presidential Elections. That is a federal offense!

The same betting markets that offered 5000:1 for Leicester winning the Premiere League Heh! Even long shots can win, right? That's exactly why some people should take that 5,000 to 1!

Don't think that's gonna happen. There's no reason for Sanders to drop out of the race before California unless his campaign runs out of money. Hillary didn't drop out in '08 until the Primaries were over, even though she had virtually no chance of winning. Sanders can still campaign on his core messages and keep Clinton "honest" by forcing her to acknowledge the base rather than veering center. She may have to more strongly consider Elizabeth Warren as her potential running mate, although the presumptive favorite --Julian Castro would be a strong choice. The question is...will she double down on a strategy to consolidate her base for the general election and go on the strength of a united Democratic front, which you are hoping for, or go center and try to take voting moderate Republicans and #NeverTrump stalwarts.

If I was quoting you, I'd have done it. I got those odds from one of the links you had previously supplied, I don't recall which one exactly. You're the only person I've come across that puts stock in such things in regards to politics. I'd not have looked at betting odds on the U.S. Presidential Election (especially this far out) had you not brought them up. The various books tend to be pretty consistent with one another --variances may account for 6-1 to 7-1, or 250-1 and 300-1...but never something as rangey as as 7-2 or 9-4 against a 10-1. I'm not being snarky, but you must have misread it. To be honest, I can live with my being the only bookie and aggregate data driven follower in WOT. It's given me a modest competitive advantage in fantasy baseball and whenever I go to Vegas.

Now...I'm trying to remember if Grey Worm is still alive and kicking. Is he? Or is it a she?

Portland is sneaky good. Lillard has a lot of heart and Terry Stotts coached the hell out of that team. I was surprised that he didn't win Coach of the Year.

Nah. Nowhere did I say anything absolute except that these are the current odds and what I would hypothetically advise were someone in Europe putting money down. These odds are dynamic and fluctuate, but this is the best data we have considering the bookmakers take everything of value into account --polling data, punditry, gut feeling, Nate Silver, and the current betting markets. Based on the best reliable data sets we have so far, Clinton and Trump are the overwhelming favorites. This is how the markets are playing out. There's an inherent efficiency to it. You know the old Vegas adage --in the long run, don't bet against the house. I just happen to take more stock in election predictions from bookmakers, data analysts, and baseball sabrmetricians than hot media takes, random crpg forumites, partisans, the general news media, and especially tarot cards. These guys (and gals) do a great job and have a very strong track record across multiple disciplines in making solid predictions against other sources. *obviously, the data becomes more reliable as we get closer...but anyone can say "lies, damned lies, and statistics." Cool, that's their prerogative. PS... Valsuelm, I don't know where you get your odds, but nowhere in any of my posts or in keeping tabs with the various books did I see Trump as a 10 to 1. Especially not from a couple weeks ago. You pulled that number out of your arse. On these boards, I had written him as a 7-2 on Feb 15, 5-2 on Feb 26, and 9-4 on March 2.

Chance of winning based on the current UK betting markets: Democratic nomination Hillary Clinton 95.2% Bernie Sanders 3.3% Republican nomination Donald Trump 74.9% Ted Cruz 16.7% John Kasich 3.3% Presidency Hillary Clinton 73.3% Donald Trump 17.7% Ted Cruz 2.6% Bernie Sanders 1.3% John Kasich 0.6% https://electionbettingodds.com/ PaddyPower bookmakers for the Presidency: Hillary Clinton: 1/3 Donald Trump: 4/1 Ted Cruz: 16/1 John Kasich: 33/1 Bernie Sanders: 33/1 Paul Ryan: 33/1 Joe Biden: 80/1 Mitt Romney: 200/1 Both British betters and Irish oddsmakers are in strong agreement. http://www.paddypower.com/bet/politics/other-politics/us-politics?ev_oc_grp_ids=791149 1 to 3 odds is a terrible return on investment if betting on Clinton...but then again so is betting 4 to 1 on a 17% chance with Trump. Still, I'd take the safe money on Clinton if I were in Great Britain or Ireland. 16 to 1 on Cruz and below is obviously dead money...as attractive as those odds are.

LAC couldn't not think they had a feasible path to the WC Finals...atleast for one day.

16th Century Italian Renaissance. All sorts of things going on: -Interplay and warfare with the various city-states - Milan, Florence, Venice, Genoa -Rivalries of the major house...Medici, Borgia, Sforza -Papal politics -The Papal States, The Holy Roman Empire -The Ninja Turtles -Galileo -Machiavelli -Science vs Church Doctrine

Grade 1 MCL sprain. Will be re-evaluated in two weeks. Not the mere bone bruise I was hoping for but as far as knee sprains go, this is the best news. Hopefully he can be back halfway through the second round....assuming Houston maintains their dysfunction.

Cruz and Kasich announced that they will work together (collude) in a divide and conquer anti-Trump strategy. http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/24/politics/ted-cruz-john-kasich-join-forces-to-stop-donald-trump/index.html

SPOILERS!!! K. Didn't expect Doran to go out like that. Especially not on the first ep. Still hoping against hope that Dolorous Edd ultimately gets out alive when the series is done. He's my Everyman survivor.