Enoch

Democracy is DOOMED!!!

Jaguars and Chargers in the AFC. Both of these are rematches of fairly recent games. I don't expect much to be different. Although I don't expect SD to cover the 9-point spread-- Tennessee's defense will keep them in the game, and probably repay Indy for letting them into the playoffs by injuring a Chargers' starter or two. Giants and Seahawks in the NFC. NYG should be able to dominate the line of scrimmage with their bigger OL and dangerous DL enough that their weakness in the secondary won't matter much (as long as they double-cover Galloway, there's nobody else to scare them). There's probably enough game film on Todd Collins now so that defenses can prepare specifically for him. He'll start coming back to earth, and the Redskins' superior running game won't be enough to keep up as Hasselbeck and Seattle's spread offense exploits the Redskins' poor depth in the secondary.

Am I alone in that my first response to Daaave's picture was: "They must be there to prevent his pants from falling that far down again"? Or am I just getting very old?

I don't think you actually watched the right movie, because Blade Runner is great even now. It's a worthwhile film, but theslug is correct that the best part about it is the production design, art direction, and other stylistic elements. Here is a recent retrospective of the various reactions to the film since its release. Summary excerpt:

One nice thing about this period is that it pretty much ensures that the early "land grab" portion of the campaign will be eliminated. I don't think they can duplicate the MTW/RTW "rebel states" in 18th century Europe. Since a good run in the land grab pretty much ensured that you'd be able to bully your neighbors for the next couple centuries, this will probably be an improvement in balance. I probably would've preferred an ancient setting like China, but I'm cautiously optimistic that this'll be a worthy game.

Tom Waits -- Clap Hands

I think that there was a case sometime in the '10s or '20s that upheld the constitutionality of the Federal Reserve Act, but a quick search turns up nothing but tinfoil-hatter sites. In any case, the constitutional analysis isn't hard to do-- Congress has the power to coin money, regulate its value, and to regulate interstate commerce. (Prior cases had already upheld that the federal government could issue paper money, with or without backing in specie.) To insulate monetary policy from political influence, the FR Act simply delegated some of this power to the FR Board. The resulting entity, despite private ownership, must conduct its affairs within the confines of the Act, and, if the American people perceive any tyranny in it's operation, it would only take a simple act of Congress to limit or remove such power. I can't think of any other constitutional doctrine that would prevent the Congress from using a private group in such a manner. EDIT: Well, I suppose you could invoke the non-delegation doctrine. This theory, which courts haven't given any credence to for almost a century, holds that Congress' legislative power is exclusive and cannot be extended to any administrative agency or other recipient of delegated power. A wide-scale enactment of non-delegation doctrine would destroy most of what the federal government does, and the only people who want it back desire it mostly for that purpose.

I'll be avoiding my family this christmas (for the first time ever), and spending it with the in-laws-to-be. But, on the bright side, I'll be spending it with the in-laws-to-be in Hawaii. (We're meeting her parents halfway-- they live in the LA area.) It's a lot of flying for a relatively short stay (6 nights), but it's Hawaii! EDIT: Also, happy solstice/x-mas/saturnalia/etc. to all youse.

Agreed. Nostalgia: It ain't what it used to be!

The better evidence that movie executives are insane: Klaatu barada nikt-Woah!

Gah! I had a nice 2-3 hour block to devote to the game planned out, and now the damn thing won't launch. AVG seems to think it's a virus. (Here is the BioBoards thread discussing the issue.)

Sweet. "It's not a beer gut-- it's a strategic energy reserve!" Sounds like a beautiful excuse to go have some of the chocolate cake that's sitting in the break room refrigerator...

Thanks, Steve & Tale. I guess I'll have to prioritize crafting my Wiz/Rog/EK/ASoC some nice boots/cloak/bracers and such.

What equipment does carry over? (I'd ask on the spoiler sub-forum, but I don't want to accidentially read any plot spoilers.)

On the way to work this morning, I queued up Mingus' The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady on the 'ol MP3. Now, it's not quite a good on earbud while riding the subway and walking through the city as it is on good headphones in a quiet room, but it still managed to pull me in. Sadly, the album is longer than my commute.* It was very difficult to shut off. But I can't actually work with music going-- particularly not with music that captivating. * (No, I'm, not actually sad that my commute isn't 15 minutes longer.)

That's pretty good, but I prefer Charle Mingus for whacked-out song titles: (And for the music recorded under said titles) "E's Flat Ah's Flat Too" "All the Things You Could Be By Now If Sigmund Freud's Wife Was Your Mother" (which was based on the chord progression of the standard "All the Things You Are") "Don't be Afraid, the Clown's Afraid, Too" "The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive-Ass Slippers"

I started a new OC character when I got MotB, because I never got around to finishing the OC when I first played it. So, I've had MotB installed for several weeks, but haven't played it at all. The character I started (a good-aligned, human female Rogue/Wizard/Eldrich Knight) is currently towards the end of Chapter 2, preparing to go off to the Haven. I'm starting to worry that I'll be sick of NWN-style gameplay and the various idiocies of the D&D ruleset by the time I get to the new content.

I don't know about the stuff that's consumed locally, but in my experience most of the Aussie reds that are sold here in the States are massive fruit bombs. This makes them popular with the "I don't really like wine" wine-drinkers, but I need more tannins in my reds. I just ate some breakfast cereal-- the last bits of the raisin bran mixed with some Frosted Flakes.

(w/ Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams)

The cookies came out a bit too dry. Next time I make them (which might be tomorrow), I'll use slightly less flour & oatmeal, relative to the other ingredients (i.e., butter). I'm also going to be making some orange-cardamom sugar cookies tomorrow. I'm going to send them to my parents to take to the big family x-mas get-together, since I'll be with the in-laws-to-be this year.

I am currently making some oatmeal cookies, with dried cranberries and white chocolate morsels.

Dexter Gordon -- A Night in Tunisia (from his Our Man in Paris album, with fellow ex-pats Bud Powell and Kenny Clark, plus some French bass player whose name escapes me)

Neil Young -- Throw Your Hatred Down

R.E.M. -- Finest Worksong

Well, sure. I certainly wouldn't advocate that such common threads of human existence as love and sex should be eliminated from game writing. Ravel's oddly expressed love for TNO in Torment was a fascinating element of that game's story. PC-centered romance that amounts to "make the 10 or so correct choices in dialogue and be rewarded with some no-consequences off-screen implied boinking" are mostly what bothers me.