Slug

My kids are too old to worry about not having days off. They take care of themselves. :P FWIW they both go back to school next week.

Conveniently enough it's their play that takes my mind off of their play.

Damn y'all for tempting me. I just bought Fire Emblem.

Someone tell that to New Jersey, please. :P

This weekend I taught my wife and son how to play Castles of Mad King Ludwig. I'm in love with this one. If you aren't familiar, each player is a builder trying to build a castle for the king based on his specific, peculiar and ever changing tastes. You score points for rooms you build, how well you lay the castle out, and how well your castle satisfies the king's needs. Easy one to learn and a decent amount of strategy. This one is going to come back to the table often and we'll probably play it again tonight.

Soon they'll work together. I don't get what's taking them so damn long. This is a surprisingly common issue between my friends and I.

I somehow dodged all of these. o_0

Here's the thing about open world games...they're only as open as you want them to be. There's no need to pass on an otherwise awesome game because it's "open world". Just stay on the main story line and don't deviate. There's nothing requiring you to do all the collectibles, hunts, side quests, exploration, etc. You don't have to 100% the game. Just focus on the main plot and suddenly you're enjoying just a really good adventure game.

No no, you're all good. I understood what you meant. Just reminded me that a warning might be appropriate for some folk.

I'll add a warning.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/08/16/devon-bailey-colorado-springs-police-shooting-body-cam-footage/ tl;dr - Police stop 2 black teens because they fit a description of someone who they are looking for; an assault suspect who was reported to have a gun. When police say they're going to search the teens one of them runs. He's shot 3 times in the back and killed. Police, "He was reaching for a gun". Police say they did find a gun on the scene. Bodycam video (warning - unedited footage of shooting): Parents requesting an independent investigation because they do not trust the police to investigate themselves and claiming the video proves their son was not a threat as he was fleeing.

1. "...This vile rhetoric puts our police in danger.." - It's almost like publicly demonizing groups of people can make others fearful of or aggressive towards them! Now where have we seen this before....? 2. Maybe the police should, you know, stop being deserving of all the criticism.

I'll be shocked if anything about this guy's ownership or acquisition of the firearms he used isn't already illegal. Edit: Officially not shocked.

FWIW there's also a world of difference between a shooter walking around in the open versus one that has self-barricaded inside a house.

I agree with you on Perrin. I'm hopeful though; I didn't know the actor so I looked up some pictures of him. He looks like he can probably bulk up a bit for the role.

Not yet. I'd wager it's a handgun, but who knows? It was a criminal that they were serving a warrant on. Started as a drug activity call. He's barricaded himself inside the building. They've called him and he's answered but won't say anything. My guess is he's scared and panicking because he knows he's fucked. Hopefully he finds some sense and gives himself up.

Who said that?

Yup. And that sucks. I agree completely. I'm in an irrelevant state. It blows because I know that my vote has zero chance of affecting the outcome for either my state, or nationally. You're right; a lot of people aren't necessarily represented in the current system. I've said it several times and quoted myself above; I don't think the current electoral system is good for how our country works in this day and age. I just also believe a new system that merely changes who isn't represented is not the answer to it. I live where my vote doesn't matter and it's one of the more populous states. National popular vote would make my vote "count" and we'd probably get candidates campaigning on our issues. Cool. I still think it's a bad idea even though it would benefit me. Maybe it's following the lead of the New England states and everyone taking a look at doling out their electoral votes by ranked choice. Maybe it's a redistribution of the number of electoral votes. Probably something else entirely. I just don't know.

Because in my examples those cities carry the state. California is a big state with rural areas. But LA and its surrounding county and SF and the bay area together account for nearly half the population of it. NYC is 40% of that state's population alone. NJ is another one that is mostly rural and farmland, and I'd wager would be solidly red if not for a few counties outside New York and Philly out voting the rest of the state. The cities are singled out to make the point because in those states the cities are the only things that matter. Look, I don't have an answer. I'm not going to pretend to. The electoral system has its problems that need to be addressed. All I know is that a straight national popular vote doesn't fix under-representation, it merely moves it.

So long as the President can make policy decisions that affect all the states and states depend on federal money... *shrug*

You are, in so far as issues that affect your day to day. New York and LA voters aren't voting for people based on their farm subsidy positions, or game and wildlife records, or energy industry or factory job support or whatever other concern a small state person might have. A straight popularity votes means candidates only have to consider and cater to issues that, while affecting a great many people, leave swathes of the country's interests underrepresented or outright ignored. Campaigns could otherwise safely ignore all but 10 or so states. Voter turnout nationwide would plummet because why bother? You are right in that every vote should somehow count the same, but whatever system is in place has to also ensure that the interests of those who aren't metropolitan area citizens don't fall by the wayside because who cares about votes from Iowa anyway? I'm not a big fan of the electoral college and I don't have any good answers. But a straight national popular vote isn't it.

This just makes me want a new Bust-a-Move.