That Aud Smell

Same here. The accounts I'm seeing are that he'd had a career as an accountant, socked away some money, bought some real estate, and was living the life of an early-retired, high-stakes (compulsive?) gambler. I also saw that his father was on the FBI's most wanted list (for bank robberies and a subsequent assault on police) back in the late 60s through the mid 70s. It's somehow even more disheartening and terrifying to consider that neither mental illness nor religious radicalization played a role in this. Exactly.

Ooof. That one hits close to home.

I had not seen that reported.

I learned last night that you can convert an ordinary rifle to a fully automatic weapon by purchasing a replacement stock for about $40. I mean, what in the actual ####. Also, The Onion almost always gets things exactly right: Americans Hopeful This Will Be Last Mass Shooting Before They Stop On Their Own For No Reason WASHINGTON—Expressing a sense of guarded optimism that the latest incident of gun violence that left 58 dead and 500 injured in Las Vegas would be a turning point for the nation, Americans across the country confirmed Monday they were hopeful this would be the last mass shooting before all such occurrences stopped on their own for no reason at all. “After something as horrific as what happened in Las Vegas, we’re all just hoping that now these terrible shootings will stop once and for all without circumstances changing in any way or any of us taking even the slightest amount of action in response,” said Harrisburg, PA resident David Snyder, echoing the sentiments of tens of millions of citizens from coast to coast who told reporters they were confident that, after living through the most deadly mass shooting in modern American history and taking no material steps to change gun laws, reevaluate safety standards, increase access to mental health care, or even have a national conversation about how mass shootings could be avoided in the future, tragedies of this kind would at long last come to an end. “Having seen acts of violence like this happen over and over again for years now, I’m really holding out hope that, despite every single factor that allowed them to occur remaining exactly the same, we won’t have to live through another day like today. I know everyone’s praying this will finally be the time this issue just disappears forever entirely by itself without anyone doing anything.” At press time, Americans nationwide agreed that years of taking no measures whatsoever to prevent mass shootings may finally be paying off.

Duly noted.

Insofar as my fantasy football team goes, I hope Clay gets 15 targets against Cincinnati (I NEVER know for sure how to spell that city's name). Insofar as the Bills' ability to win 10 or 11 games this season, I hope they roster 1 or 2 additional WRs. Soon.

Of all the things I read about Petty, this one struck me as the greatest testament to what a terrific artist (and apparently person) he was - especially the bolded part at the end. This is taken from an interview Stevie Nicks did with Rolling Stone: In 1976, I'd been in Fleetwood Mac for about a year when I heard Tom Petty's debut. I became a fan right then. I loved the way Tom's Florida swamp-dog voice sounded in cahoots with Mike Campbell's guitar and Benmont Tench's keyboards. Tom had the same influences we had — the Byrds, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills and Nash — but he dropped in lots of serious old blues. And Tom is such a great singer and so charismatic onstage. I became such a fan that if I hadn't been in a band myself, I would have joined that one. When I started doing my first solo album, Bella Donna, my first thought was, "Who produces Tom Petty?" When they said Jimmy Iovine, I got Jimmy, because I wanted my solo work to be as much like Tom's as possible. I first met Tom in the studio, and he was pretty much what I expected. There's not a fake bone in his body. Jimmy and Tom decided to give me "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," which they had written with Campbell. When they showed it to me, I was like, "Is this the right thing to do? I only get 11 songs and one of them won't be mine." And both Tom and Jimmy said to me, in a brutally honest way, "You don't have a single on this record. And here's a single for you." Tom is a great and loyal friend, but he's also honest like that. In 1994, I had just gotten out of rehab, and Tom and I had dinner. I wanted to make a new record but I was scared. I said to him, "Will you help me write a song or two?" I didn't really expect the reaction I got, which was, "No, I won't. You are one of the premier songwriters in this business. Go home and turn off the radio. Don't be influenced by anything. Just write some great songs — that's what you do." He reinforced that I was still Stevie Nicks. I wrote a song about him I've never recorded, but I will someday. It goes, "Sometimes he's my best friend, even when he's not around." In 2006, I did 27 shows with him. Tom made me a little platinum sheriff's badge that had 24-karat gold and diamonds across the top and said "To Our Honorary Heartbreaker, Stevie Nicks." On the back it says "To the Only Girl in Our Band." I keep it on my black velvet top hat. It goes with me everywhere. It's probably the most beautiful piece of jewelry a man has ever given me, ever.

Normally, yeah. But under these circumstances, it’s noteworthy.

RIP to an O.G. bad-ass. (And I've never really been a big fan of his music -- but, I know enough to know that he was the man.)

Bills release Walt Powell.

Good effin' question, though. Sharp eye.

My original thought wasn't really contingent on whether it was organized or just a pick-up game. I was thinking of the distinction between something that happens within play, within the norms of the game, and something that arguably happens outside the bounds of normal play. The case that the OP linked to actually seemed have more to do with abstention, though, than assumption of the risk. (One quick aside: As a parent of post-Millenial children, I will say that, from what I can tell, pick-up games are mostly a thing of the past. It's a damn shame.)

Yes, please. Not too much more, if even that. Yep. Fair points. I'm not sure whether getting a fill-in WR is the way to go here, but I know I would be all for it if a fit were found. I am sure Beane and his staff are working that angle now. The Bills are 3-1, man!

Hear, hear.

It is a relief to me that the Sabres are sufficiently improved that D-Lo is not on the NHL roster.

I'm sorry to hear of this struggle and difficulty, Flagg. As with most things in life, I find that being attentive to an issue and identifying a solution or solution(s), and then being persistent and consistent with implementation, are the keys to addressing any issue or problem. Word. I didn't work out this morning. Now my back hurts.

Agreed. The what? He really is a bit much. A very smart guy - very smart. But he seems to lack the sort of self-awareness that would make him far less annoying about a lot of things. "Like this" was key to d4rk's take, which I also found strange. Well now we know why the take sounded so wrong.

Fair points. But there might be a guy out there who fits the bill(s), and could help us get to 10 or 11 wins. On balance, though, I think there are too many obstacles to making this a good solution. There's time involved in getting that player up to speed, establishing a rapport with Taylor. My bet is that they (the Bills) will dance with who brung 'em.

Hmmm. I'm not so sure about this. Yes - that is true about Mathews. No thank you, no thank you to Brandon Marshall. He's done. This is the sort of thinking I can get on board with. How things have played out is a perfect illustration of why that brand of arrogance is so fundamentally stupid. But, wait ... Boom! Seriously. A 2nd round pick is serious coin in the realm of NFL trades. Doooo eeeet. OTOH, by the time an acquired WR were up to speed with the playbook and on the same page as Tyrod, Mathews would be ready to come back. Dennison (sp?) is gonna hafta get creative to manufacture yards and points. You're a bad man. Word to Big Bird. He's been a great fit in McDermott's scheme. Credit to the FO for identifying a talent that they could work with, and shipping off another they believed they could not.

Absolutely. Very true. That hurts. How much can Walt Powell help? He's back from suspension. My hat is off to McDermott. Through 1/4 of the season (I know - long way to go), he's the early leading candidate for coach of the year. I was skeptical, deeply skeptical, of the guy. Through four games, it looks like I could not have been more wrong. And I'm delighted to acknowledge as much.

Tried to gloss through it - not happening. Dense! It's also not a straightforward assumption of risk type case, it appears - there's talk about abstention, maybe?

I think that fact pattern was on a bar exam of the last 20 years or so. Injured by reasonably foreseeable conduct in an unforeseeable way?

Nearest cross street was ... Allston, maybe? Or maybe it was more back toward the Brighton area.

ftfy Just spit-balling: What if the hit came 3 or 4 seconds after the whistle and was clearly an egregious personal foul?

I witnessed May Day in a packed bar on Comm Ave in Boston (Brighton?), Mass. That was amazing, of course. But there was something about 2006 that made the whole proposition seem like it was leading somewhere. The sweep of the Bruins, to me, almost immediately felt like a stand-alone accomplishment.