Ace Midnight

re: Sad news, conservative activist david Horowitz has died

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 8:03 pm

RIP

re: India to purchase Boeing air planes that China rejected bc of Trump Tarrifs

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 4:47 pm

quote:
Replace China with India as world manufacturing base (similar population to China).

India has a larger population than China. They have similar problems associated with such large populations (sanitation, overcrowding, feeding everybody, etc.), but are not burdened with the past century of Maoism, tyranny, the "one child" policy, etc.

They do have the ongoing issue with Pakistan, but I'm optimistic we can broker a long-term deal between them as well.

re: Is Braelin Moore really losing the center battle to Chester?

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 4:07 pm

quote:
Nuss got sacked 16 times last year. 3.13% sack rate. 7 came in the Florida game where the entire offense was hot garbage.

Here is the list of P4 teams that had a lower sack %.

1. Georgia Tech - 2.53%
2. USC - 2.73%
3. Duke - 2.73%
4. Oklahoma State - 3.04%

IF they had only given up 5 sacks to Florida, they would have been tied for #2 with USC and Duke.

4? They would have effectively tied Ga Tech (2.54%)

re: Is Braelin Moore really losing the center battle to Chester?

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 4:05 pm

quote:
Sorry, bad typing....should have been LF

For...frick's....sake

re: The Revisionist History of Ryan Clark

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 4:03 pm

quote:
Marcus Spears and Booger are much better ambassadors

While Shaq is probably the greatest former player of all time, of any school, in any sport, Spears and McFarland are probably my favorite former football players in any sort of public position. Booger probably my #1.

re: Early reviews for Thunderbolts… The MCU is saved!!!

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 3:58 pm

quote:
Thor: Love and Thunder $ 760 million

The crazy thing - the way the MCU operates, this thing struggled to turn a profit. Not because it didn't sell tickets, but because (like all Marvel movies now) it was so freakin' expensive.

quote:
Spider-Man: No Way Home - $1.926 billion

Another reminder that this was co-produced with Columbia and Pascal and distributed by Sony. Disney/MCU was a pittance compared to what they take when it is all them.

quote:
This is just ticket sales. They make a ton off the licensing deals.

Another reminder that they have to split the ticket sales with the cinemas - very roughly 50% comes back to the studio. They're not moving much merch with these newer films, so that secondary source has dried up. They don't make anything in streaming (because it all goes to D+ which is a money loser, to date - just imagine if they could offer it to the highest bidder of Netflix or Amazon, right?) They do make some decent secondary money with in-movie advertising and a few crossover deals.

Too many money sinkholes, lately. All the D+ series (that's MCU and Star Wars, frankly). Most of these newer MCU films are just money pits as well. The "overspend and it will work itself out" culture at Disney productions is making even relatively decent box office performers look like losers (e.g. Thor 4). Sure, the Marvels was a stinker all the way, but it was doomed from the beginning. It would have had to do $700m to $800m to break even and that wasn't in the cards.

Thunderbolts was a little cheaper, by all reports, but how much? Will that matter?

Movie/TV Board

re: I've Never Seen Casablanca

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 3:26 pm

quote:

Whoever did the lighting on Bergman deserved an award..

Arthur Edeson was one of the very best of early Hollywood. Nominated for 3 Oscars - In Old Arizona (1929), All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Casablanca (1942).

He retired in the late 40s and lived until 1970. Outside of his nominated work, he also shot The Three Musketeers (1921), Robin Hood (1922), The Thief of Bagdad (1924), The Lost World (1925), Frankenstein (1931), The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933), The Invisible Man (1933), The Maltese Falcon (1941) and dozens of others.

Movie/TV Board

re: I've Never Seen Casablanca

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 1:39 pm

quote:
like if it's not the best movie I've ever seen I will be disappointed.

It is, almost without question, the greatest major Hollywood release you have not seen.

I envy you.

Movie/TV Board

re: Any XCOM Fans Here?

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 1:35 pm

quote:
The Bureau.

Gaming Board

re: WWYD - Female Passenger Strips and Defecates on Her Seat on Southwest Flight to Chicago

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 1:09 pm

quote:
the first class shitter

If we make that plural, that would be another great band name.

O-T Lounge

re: Best home office multifunction solution

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 11:38 am

A Brother B&W laser multifunction has been very solid for us - for years now. Obviously it could fax, but I never have. It scans and prints for a reasonably low cost/low maintenance requirement.

Tech Board

re: Bezos trying to slam Trump?

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 11:36 am

quote:

Who is the (Executive) Chairman of the Board of Amazon?

Why, Ace, that would be Jeff Bezos, who is (not coincidentally) Amazon's founder and largest individual shareholder.

re: Bezos trying to slam Trump?

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 10:06 am

quote:
To ram the point home, are you saying, as are others here, that displaying the "cost of tariffs" next to the total price of products on Amazon was Jeff Bezos's doing?

Obviously Jassey is the CEO (who does work for the board of directors).

Who is the (Executive) Chairman of the Board of Amazon?

-1

re: The Revisionist History of Ryan Clark

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 8:49 am

He started 36 straight games. He was a great tackler out of the secondary. He had a bunch of 10-tackle games. As a sophomore he led the conference in tackles by a defensive back. He was All Conference on a rebuilding team.

He turned a UFA signing into a nice career and it is true he was better as a pro than in college (late bloomer?), but to say he didn't have a solid, if unspectacular, career at LSU is disingenuous.

(ETA: I do not like him as a commentator, outside of 2019).

re: Bezos trying to slam Trump?

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 8:42 am

quote:
What makes you think he has anything to do with it? He just sold $3Bn of AMZN stock.

He sold $12 or $13B, total, last year. He still has well over 800 million shares of Amazon, though. So, to pretend a guy with a ~$160B investment in a company doesn't care what happens there is a little silly.

I mean, Gates hasn't run MSFT in years. He still has about $15B in stock, though.

re: Bezos trying to slam Trump?

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 8:38 am

He's replaced Wal-Mart as Red China's top salesperson. What do you expect him to do?

re: Ketanji Brown Jackson has a lot to say

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 8:36 am

quote:
I know this is focused on the female judges talking more than the male judges but the real story is that one judge speaks over double the amount of the next highest speaking judge.

Actually, the other 3 women combined are slightly over 12k - so, she is within striking distance of speaking as much as the next 3 (i.e. the other women).

re: Ketanji Brown Jackson has a lot to say

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/29/25 at 8:35 am

Thomas actually talks a little more now. When Scalia was alive, Thomas said almost nothing.

re: Stupid 401k company match question

Posted by Ace Midnight on 4/28/25 at 4:30 pm

quote:
The website says they match up to 6%, but to me it doesn't make sense when they say "133% of first 3 and 100% of the next 3". Doesn't that put it over 6%?

The simple breakdown is - 3 buys you 7. 6 buys you 13. They're matching 6 of yours with 7 of theirs, total, if you go all in. You get 4 matched to your first 3 and then 3 matched for your next three.

Your part that gets maxed is 6%. They kick in an extra 1 point on the first 3, which is where the 7th "match" point is.

Hope this helps.

Money Talk