I was called a few times in my home town, but only once actually made it into a courtroom to go through the selection process. It was a drug case. When I was questioned in the box and asked whether I could do my duty, I honestly said that I did not feel that I could, in good conscience, send somebody to prison for using drugs. I was not called. Many of the other potential jurists thought I was just trying to get out of serving, which was not true.
Regarding weekend plans, now that I am actually a homeowner, it makes more sense to do things like "plant flowers" and "plant a fruit tree" since I am more likely to get the benefit in the future. Tomorrow, we are going to a nursery to pick out some things. We want some flowers to attract hummingbirds, my wife wants gardenias, and I am fond of azaleas. I might plant a peach tree as well, if we can figure out a good spot for it.
I switched to a single-blade safety razor a few years back, and it was a great decision. So cheap. I think I got 100 blades for about $20. It shaves as close as anything.
Now I have grown out my beard, so it's a little less useful, except for trimming the neck line.
I got a fun weekend plan, which is nice after several weekends of unpacking and putting stuff up. Not done with unpacking, but I doubt we will do much this weekend.
Tonight is the live premier of the new season of MST3K, which I backed on Kickstarter. I have been looking forward to this for a while.
Tomorrow is Will Eisner Comic Fest, which is a (probably very small) comic convention at the local Jewish Art Museum that is just a few minutes from my house. It's free, so it should be a good way to kill a few hours.
Sunday is the AEW Revolution PPV. Hangman Adam Page vs. Adam Cole, Brian Danielson (Daniel Bryan) vs. Jon Moxley (Dean Ambrose), and CM Punk vs. MJF in a Dog Collar Match. Should be a good show. I'm also curious if Tony Kahn's recently announced purchase of Ring of Honor will shake things up at all.
All that, and maybe a little bit of unpacking and putting up stuff, but not too much.
I think the problem that some see is that they view the dysfunction as a result of the racist policies of our past. Generations that did not have equal opportunity and subjected to policies that actively harmed them. Those policies are gone, but the effects remain.
So if a black guy beats up a latino because he is latino, is that not racism because the black guy lacks economic and political power? Because I saw a lot of that in high school, and I have no reason to think it no longer happens.
We are in a new house, and our stuff has been delayed until Tuesday, so there really isn't much else to do but play video games. I've mostly been playing Shin Megami Tensei V. I've probably talked about it here before, but just in case I haven't, I'll give the brief synopsis. The game play is similar to Pokemon, except instead of capturing wildlife in balls and forcing them to fight for you in battle, you recruit demons to your side. This is done by convincing them to do so and paying them substantial amounts of money, health, and/or items.
The game is alternates between "normal" Tokyo and Post-Apocalyptic Tokyo. Instead of representing Good and Evil, God and the Angels represent Order while the Lucifer and the Demon's represent Chaos. There are different endings depending on alignment. The game can be tough, and it is important to have the right party for encounters. If you hit with an element that an enemy is weak to, you get an extra action. If you hit with something they are immune to, you lose an action. The same happens when enemies attack you. If your party is weak to your enemy's element and they do not have weaknesses to any of yours, it can be a bad time, even in random encounters. There are also buffs and debuffs, and they are more essential in this game than a lot of others. You never really get a huge health pool, so things remain dangerous.
I also started Metroid Dread, but I think I will save that for next week.
I'm by no means a football expert, but it seems to me that being consistently good is what will frequently get you into a scoring position, which means you are less dependent on being great.
I'm over halfway through Jaws of the Lion. I got Gloomhaven from Amazon on Cyber Monday, and I look forward to trying it out. I'm mostly a solo player for this type of game, and I have a table where I can leave things set up.
I finished up Myst VR this weekend, and I decided to give Riven a shot. I got it back when it was released, but I did not make much progress.
Since the case in the video is high profile, I thought it made the most sense to compare it to other high profile cases. Low profile cases aren't going to have as much coverage, so less opportunity for any media manipulation to be an issue.
Anyway, after reading other comments, I realize I missed the twist in the last few seconds.
For Rittenhouse, there are a lot of pictures from the trial and a lot of video stills of him with the gun.
I wonder if it might be easier to get clearance for mug shots (no copyright?) vs. social media posts, where they might need permission to use the picture?
And going a little further, maybe savvy defense teams make sure there are more flattering pictures of their clients for news outlets to use.
I just did a quick Google search for Crumbley, followed by Ethan Crumbley. The former mostly shows the mug shot of Ethan, often with those of his parents. The latter mostly shows the mug shot. The US Sun is notable exception.
I cannot speak for social media, but the news outlets don't seem to use the more flattering picture.
I never even finished the original Neverwinter Nights campaign. I got tired of "Go to hub. Go to three areas and fight three bosses/collect three items/whatever 3X. Go to next hub. Repeat."
I started a NewGame+ playthrough of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I got about halfway through, then I decided to take a break and started playing Shin Megami Tensei V. It's a cool game. The combat is kind of weird. If you hit a monster with an element that it is weak to, or if you get a critical, you can get an extra action. If you use something that it is immune to, you can lose actions. The same happens for the monsters when they attack you. This means that if you make the right choices, it's usually easy to breeze through combat, but if you choose the wrong thing, it can spiral out of control and you can die to a trash mob. Unlike a lot of RPGs, You don't have massive hit point inflation, which keeps things dangerous.
Other than the main character, your party is made up of demon's you collect. However, unlike Pokemon, where you capture monsters in balls and force them to fight, you have to persuade the demons to join you, which often involves gifts of money, items, or even HP and MP.
I'm still pretty early into things, but it's been about what I have expected so far.
Regarding Cyberpunk, could it be they are waiting to get everything properly patched before trying to sell a lot of DLC?
My wife and I are going to be relocating, but this time, we are buying a house. Earlier this week, we were shopping for houses. The first day was crazy, without anything great (but if you want a house with a shower in the dining room, I can hook you up). The second day we found a few we loved. We thought we had an accepted offer, but the seller wanted us to take it as-is. We said "fish no, this isn't LA," and we will be putting an an offer on the other house we loved.
This weekend will probably involve a lot of drinking and resting. Riding in a car and walking around houses is much more exhausting than I ever would have guessed, and all this back and forth and waiting on responses to offers is nerve-wracking.
Epic gamestore also has Radiohead's Kid A Mnesiac exhibition available for free. Worth checking out if you are a fan of the band.
I played some Myst VR. It's neat to revisit the game I played as a kid. Don't know how appealing it would be to people who aren't nostalgic about the title, though.
I've also caught up to where I was in my previous Fire Emblem: Three Houses playthrough. I think I'll finish it this time around. My wife also decided to try it out, and ended up getting herself a copy.
After considering picking up a copy of Shin Megami Tensei V, I decided to try to go back and finish Fire Emblem: Three Houses instead. After loading a save I had not played in months, I realized I had no idea what was going on, so I decided to restart Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I feel like I have a better handle on things than I did my first time through. Will I finish this time before I get distracted? We shall see.
I finished off Scenario 5 of Jaws of the Lion. Fortunately I read this post before I got around to playing it and realized that I had been ignoring the "top of one, bottom of the other rule" until now. Considering the first four scenarios are still introductory scenarios with low difficulty, I don't feel too bad about it. Scenario 5 is the first boss fight, and it ramps of the difficulty a bit.
I have not played regular Gloomhaven, but it sounds like it really throws you into things from the start. JotL does not. It starts out with simplified action decks and adds complexity over the first few scenarios. I definitely recommend it for learning the game. Also, the maps are in the book. No tiles. This makes setup quick and easy, which I understand is also a turnoff in full Gloomhaven.
I'm not sure if I will try digital Gloomhaven or not. It seems like when I try digital versions of boardgames, they don't quite work for me. I like the tactile aspects of the real thing, and I tend to have trouble keeping up with everything going on when it's silently done by AI.
The David Lynch movie is what introduced me to Dune as a kid. I loved it, and I still do. It ain't Dune, but it's still awesome. I also wish Jodorowsky's Dune would have been made (even though it would not have been Dune either), because I think that would have been awesome too.
However, I am glad that we might finally really have Dune as a movie. Hopefully it does well enough to get at least the 2nd half. My idea world would get us through God Emperor of Dune, though I'm not sure how you make an interesting movie about a giant humanoid sandworm talking history and philosophy for hours on end. I guess I'll have to settle for 2nd best: https://grimadventures.fandom.com/wiki/Mandy_the_Merciless
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “Will Smith slaps Chris Rock at Oscar Ceremony”
And Chris seemed legitimately confused afterward. I don't think he saw it coming, and he was just trying to figure out how to keep the show going.
On “Weekend Plans Post: The only thing worse than Jury Duty”
I was called a few times in my home town, but only once actually made it into a courtroom to go through the selection process. It was a drug case. When I was questioned in the box and asked whether I could do my duty, I honestly said that I did not feel that I could, in good conscience, send somebody to prison for using drugs. I was not called. Many of the other potential jurists thought I was just trying to get out of serving, which was not true.
Regarding weekend plans, now that I am actually a homeowner, it makes more sense to do things like "plant flowers" and "plant a fruit tree" since I am more likely to get the benefit in the future. Tomorrow, we are going to a nursery to pick out some things. We want some flowers to attract hummingbirds, my wife wants gardenias, and I am fond of azaleas. I might plant a peach tree as well, if we can figure out a good spot for it.
On “You Are What You Shave With”
I switched to a single-blade safety razor a few years back, and it was a great decision. So cheap. I think I got 100 blades for about $20. It shaves as close as anything.
Now I have grown out my beard, so it's a little less useful, except for trimming the neck line.
On “Voting Via USPS”
I remember when I lived in Florida that you could get a sample ballot in advance. I have no idea how common this is.
On “Weekend Plans Post: The Candy that You Can’t Get Here”
I got a fun weekend plan, which is nice after several weekends of unpacking and putting stuff up. Not done with unpacking, but I doubt we will do much this weekend.
Tonight is the live premier of the new season of MST3K, which I backed on Kickstarter. I have been looking forward to this for a while.
Tomorrow is Will Eisner Comic Fest, which is a (probably very small) comic convention at the local Jewish Art Museum that is just a few minutes from my house. It's free, so it should be a good way to kill a few hours.
Sunday is the AEW Revolution PPV. Hangman Adam Page vs. Adam Cole, Brian Danielson (Daniel Bryan) vs. Jon Moxley (Dean Ambrose), and CM Punk vs. MJF in a Dog Collar Match. Should be a good show. I'm also curious if Tony Kahn's recently announced purchase of Ring of Honor will shake things up at all.
All that, and maybe a little bit of unpacking and putting up stuff, but not too much.
On “From NBC News: Biden Picks Jackson for Supreme Court, Putting Her on a Path to History”
They're the bad guys, keeping criminals out of jail. Why would we want them on the Supreme Court?
On “Suspicious Persons, Fed Ex drivers and White Entitlement”
I think the problem that some see is that they view the dysfunction as a result of the racist policies of our past. Generations that did not have equal opportunity and subjected to policies that actively harmed them. Those policies are gone, but the effects remain.
On “There is an AFL-NFC Championship Game today. This is its open thread.”
Who was the band?
On “Suspicious Persons, Fed Ex drivers and White Entitlement”
So if a black guy beats up a latino because he is latino, is that not racism because the black guy lacks economic and political power? Because I saw a lot of that in high school, and I have no reason to think it no longer happens.
"
57.5% of Mississippi's voters voted for Trump. That doe not mean the entirety of the state supports him.
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: The Sexy Brutale”
We are in a new house, and our stuff has been delayed until Tuesday, so there really isn't much else to do but play video games. I've mostly been playing Shin Megami Tensei V. I've probably talked about it here before, but just in case I haven't, I'll give the brief synopsis. The game play is similar to Pokemon, except instead of capturing wildlife in balls and forcing them to fight for you in battle, you recruit demons to your side. This is done by convincing them to do so and paying them substantial amounts of money, health, and/or items.
The game is alternates between "normal" Tokyo and Post-Apocalyptic Tokyo. Instead of representing Good and Evil, God and the Angels represent Order while the Lucifer and the Demon's represent Chaos. There are different endings depending on alignment. The game can be tough, and it is important to have the right party for encounters. If you hit with an element that an enemy is weak to, you get an extra action. If you hit with something they are immune to, you lose an action. The same happens when enemies attack you. If your party is weak to your enemy's element and they do not have weaknesses to any of yours, it can be a bad time, even in random encounters. There are also buffs and debuffs, and they are more essential in this game than a lot of others. You never really get a huge health pool, so things remain dangerous.
I also started Metroid Dread, but I think I will save that for next week.
On “The GOAT Retires: Tom Brady Calls It A Career”
I'm by no means a football expert, but it seems to me that being consistently good is what will frequently get you into a scoring position, which means you are less dependent on being great.
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: The Year In Review”
I'm over halfway through Jaws of the Lion. I got Gloomhaven from Amazon on Cyber Monday, and I look forward to trying it out. I'm mostly a solo player for this type of game, and I have a table where I can leave things set up.
I finished up Myst VR this weekend, and I decided to give Riven a shot. I got it back when it was released, but I did not make much progress.
On “Angels & Terrorists”
Since the case in the video is high profile, I thought it made the most sense to compare it to other high profile cases. Low profile cases aren't going to have as much coverage, so less opportunity for any media manipulation to be an issue.
Anyway, after reading other comments, I realize I missed the twist in the last few seconds.
"
For Rittenhouse, there are a lot of pictures from the trial and a lot of video stills of him with the gun.
I wonder if it might be easier to get clearance for mug shots (no copyright?) vs. social media posts, where they might need permission to use the picture?
And going a little further, maybe savvy defense teams make sure there are more flattering pictures of their clients for news outlets to use.
"
I just did a quick Google search for Crumbley, followed by Ethan Crumbley. The former mostly shows the mug shot of Ethan, often with those of his parents. The latter mostly shows the mug shot. The US Sun is notable exception.
I cannot speak for social media, but the news outlets don't seem to use the more flattering picture.
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: A year of Cyberpunk (plus some VR!)”
I never even finished the original Neverwinter Nights campaign. I got tired of "Go to hub. Go to three areas and fight three bosses/collect three items/whatever 3X. Go to next hub. Repeat."
I had some great times on an RP server, though.
"
I started a NewGame+ playthrough of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I got about halfway through, then I decided to take a break and started playing Shin Megami Tensei V. It's a cool game. The combat is kind of weird. If you hit a monster with an element that it is weak to, or if you get a critical, you can get an extra action. If you use something that it is immune to, you can lose actions. The same happens for the monsters when they attack you. This means that if you make the right choices, it's usually easy to breeze through combat, but if you choose the wrong thing, it can spiral out of control and you can die to a trash mob. Unlike a lot of RPGs, You don't have massive hit point inflation, which keeps things dangerous.
Other than the main character, your party is made up of demon's you collect. However, unlike Pokemon, where you capture monsters in balls and force them to fight, you have to persuade the demons to join you, which often involves gifts of money, items, or even HP and MP.
I'm still pretty early into things, but it's been about what I have expected so far.
Regarding Cyberpunk, could it be they are waiting to get everything properly patched before trying to sell a lot of DLC?
On “Weekend Plans Post: The Chauffeur’s Domino Mask”
My wife and I are going to be relocating, but this time, we are buying a house. Earlier this week, we were shopping for houses. The first day was crazy, without anything great (but if you want a house with a shower in the dining room, I can hook you up). The second day we found a few we loved. We thought we had an accepted offer, but the seller wanted us to take it as-is. We said "fish no, this isn't LA," and we will be putting an an offer on the other house we loved.
This weekend will probably involve a lot of drinking and resting. Riding in a car and walking around houses is much more exhausting than I ever would have guessed, and all this back and forth and waiting on responses to offers is nerve-wracking.
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: Wandering through Pierre the Maze Detective”
Epic gamestore also has Radiohead's Kid A Mnesiac exhibition available for free. Worth checking out if you are a fan of the band.
I played some Myst VR. It's neat to revisit the game I played as a kid. Don't know how appealing it would be to people who aren't nostalgic about the title, though.
I've also caught up to where I was in my previous Fire Emblem: Three Houses playthrough. I think I'll finish it this time around. My wife also decided to try it out, and ended up getting herself a copy.
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: Roll for the Galaxy”
After considering picking up a copy of Shin Megami Tensei V, I decided to try to go back and finish Fire Emblem: Three Houses instead. After loading a save I had not played in months, I realized I had no idea what was going on, so I decided to restart Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I feel like I have a better handle on things than I did my first time through. Will I finish this time before I get distracted? We shall see.
On “The Kyle Rittenhouse Trial: Em Carpenter’s Blunt Take On The Whole Thing”
Tell that to the black dot on my monitor.
On “POETS Day: The Unholy Reality That Is/Was Dylan Thomas”
The poem in question set to music by John Cale:
https://youtu.be/x-uEqJhkWl8
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: The Gloomhaven Stream”
I finished off Scenario 5 of Jaws of the Lion. Fortunately I read this post before I got around to playing it and realized that I had been ignoring the "top of one, bottom of the other rule" until now. Considering the first four scenarios are still introductory scenarios with low difficulty, I don't feel too bad about it. Scenario 5 is the first boss fight, and it ramps of the difficulty a bit.
I have not played regular Gloomhaven, but it sounds like it really throws you into things from the start. JotL does not. It starts out with simplified action decks and adds complexity over the first few scenarios. I definitely recommend it for learning the game. Also, the maps are in the book. No tiles. This makes setup quick and easy, which I understand is also a turnoff in full Gloomhaven.
I'm not sure if I will try digital Gloomhaven or not. It seems like when I try digital versions of boardgames, they don't quite work for me. I like the tactile aspects of the real thing, and I tend to have trouble keeping up with everything going on when it's silently done by AI.
On “Weekend Plans Post: The Smearing of Autumn”
The David Lynch movie is what introduced me to Dune as a kid. I loved it, and I still do. It ain't Dune, but it's still awesome. I also wish Jodorowsky's Dune would have been made (even though it would not have been Dune either), because I think that would have been awesome too.
However, I am glad that we might finally really have Dune as a movie. Hopefully it does well enough to get at least the 2nd half. My idea world would get us through God Emperor of Dune, though I'm not sure how you make an interesting movie about a giant humanoid sandworm talking history and philosophy for hours on end. I guess I'll have to settle for 2nd best: https://grimadventures.fandom.com/wiki/Mandy_the_Merciless
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.