D&D

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/06/playing-dungeons-dragons-together-30-years/591085/

This is awesome; hell, I wish I had something like this, for a bunch of reasons...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-07-08/how-to-be-a-professional-dungeons-dragons-master-hosting-games
This is a career?  Sign me up!!

http://captaincapitalism.blogspot.com/2019/05/how-aspergers-and-autism-ruined.html
This amused the hell out of me, mainly because back in the day, when I played, there was an emphasis, it seemed, in Dragon magazine and everywhere, that players were too concerned about getting treasure and magic items and doing stuff rather than, you know...role-playing?  From what this article says, no one actually adventures any more, which is sort of a problem...  I don't know, I always thought that the two went hand in hand, people doing cool fantasy shit and having fun while doing so....but I could see how everyone had to have the same goals at the start... 

Linx

I decided, for shits and giggles, to try and blog tonight.  And here we are, slightly tired, slightly exasperated by the events of life, but... let's roll to the links!

https://www.vox.com/2019/7/17/20697690/house-bipartisan-bill-repeal-obamacare-cadillac-tax

 This could be me, but if I was a GOPer...well, I would make them own this... remind them at every opportunity that the wanted Obamacare in ALL its faults, including this.  Hell, their unions supported it and President Obama, so...you got what you wanted, so enjoy it.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2019/07/16/got-lucky-man-dennis-eckersley-surviving-his-tough-times/q8qhQTRkfeasx3Uebbih7I/story.html

This is...interesting, to put it mildly.  But good!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidching/2019/07/18/acc-network-selling-point-no-major-conference-is-more-likely-to-feature-a-close-game/#6e96bb817b03

I don't know....maybe?  I would the main reasons for watching are to 1) See your team win and 2) See a rival lose... maybe some people of course, will cruise until they find a close game, but I can't tell you how many times I've texted a friend watching tOSU up 56-0 or something.... and the idea that they would channel flip is, well.... not much of an idea.

Busy-ness

This is an improvement over my current pace, at the very least... but again, another busy week of work, family stuff, and a Tribe game, as I am now the proud owner of a Trevor Bauer bobblehead.  The team has been on a tear, which is good... on the other hand, beating Detroit and KC is like hunting dairy cattle, so why this is an improvement of sorts...

One bad thing about this recent stretch of busy-crap is that I've been behind on reading the stuff I normally read -- blogs, sports and baseball stuff, etc.-- so now I have to do it all at once.  It's not bad per se, but some things are better enjoyed in small bunches...  The funny thing is... well, soon I will be even busier, God help me, and then I will be at a total loss...

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-07-17/how-hunger-and-obesity-coexist-in-america?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=190717&utm_campaign=sharetheview
to me, this should a relatively easy fix; you just make it so that people can't use SNAP to buy certain-- i.e., unhealthy - foods.  There is an even a conservative case to be made for it; namely, if I am paying the bill...I get to decide what is on your menu... to say nothing of the health benefits and long-term cost savings.

a new record

As always, we are...busy?  Ok, work and other things are the usual, and last nite I had the pleasure of accompanying a friend to the ER for a leg injury treatment (imagine how bad things are if I am the epitome of compassion). One NICE thing that happened was that I went to the All-Star Game; my family gifted me tix for my bday, and... it was pretty cool.  Definitely would go back, definitely would go to another one.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/evangelical-christians-face-deepening-crisis/593353/

Do they?  I don't know... I mean, maybe?  I would think that people are very good at dissonance, like it or not, and for all his personal foibles, he has delivered policy wins for the Evangelical community.  I mean, no one went around asking the LGBT community about their support of Barack Obama, who was also opposed to gay marriage...

https://www.thenation.com/article/mad-magazine-media-politics/

This may not surprise anybody, but I loved Mad as a kid, and still do... I subscribed, and always used to buy the old ones at garage sales and such.  Funny as hell, some of them -- most -- hold up today, I think.

https://www.t-nation.com/opinion/planet-fitness-nightmare

Umm...ok?  I don't know; a gym that doesn't work you too hard and has pizza a lot is going to have a lot of repeat business, if you get my drift...

Sorrows and joy

Continuing with my usual, non-blogging vein... lots of deaths -- and early ones -- in the sports world with Skaggs and Lorenzen.... sad, for lack of a better word.  Then, I heard on the radio that "Enema of the State" is 20 years old this year... and I really felt old. 

https://slate.com/culture/2019/06/flashback-wings-movie-1927.html
This was interesting, though not enough to merit subscribing to slate, of course... I appreciated the "Pearl Harbor" reference, because I told some friends I hadn't seen it, so of course they made me watch...  It was...ok?  A little long?  A little maudlin?  Of course -- doubling down on the stupid -- I told them later I had neven seen "Elf" either... it was ok?  I guess I just take or leave Wil Ferrell, more or less, and again...cute and funny but a little maudlin.

Finally, I watched "Rebecca," the Hitchcock psychological thrilled (705 down on the NFR list)...and I did like that.  Interesting film, actually, with some odd plot twists that I didn't even see...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/youngstown-vindicators-collapse-are-local-papers-beyond-saving-11562151602
On the one hand, I feel badly; on the other... well, there are 8,999 other left-wing media outlets they can find work at...  I have to admit, though, after reading this article...well, I am shocked, shocked that a top-heavy, union shop has trouble surviving in this day and age....