#16 MP Just news

[bacchuschucklefuck]

soon it'll be dawn again

transcript under the cut ⏬

page 01

Fig: no way? - you're still up?

Riz: Wh– yes?

Riz: Why'd I not be.

page 02

Fig: I me~~ean - that took.

Fig: whole day.

Riz: Yeah?

Fig: 'm beat.

Riz: you should sleep.

page 03

Fig: nah. my guy's still up

Fig: I wanna hang out.

page 04

Riz: That's really nice.

Fig: Hah! - Nobody ever expects an Archdevil rockstar to be nice.

Riz: … yeah. - 's just budget work tho. (the stuff I'm working on) - I've heard it's boring.

page 05

Fig: yeah, but you do it…

Riz: It keeps things going, right? - Nothing happens if nobody sits down and - does the thing.

Fig: That's right… - though. Yeah.

page 06

Fig: sometimes it's someone else who - doesn't want the same thing to happen.

Riz: … - mm.

page 07

Riz (off screen): …It took me a long time to get that not everyone likes doing what I do. - 's probably because you guys are so nice– - or. - kind.

Riz (off screen): to anyone too, not just. - the people you /love/.

page 08

Riz: that's not how it is elsewhere. - The world's– not. hostile. - but 's not like it's kind.

Riz: So I'm doing as much as I can now… 

page 09

Fig: Hey.

Riz: ?

Fig: Go dig some dirt with me.

page 10

Riz: [blank speech bubble] - oh you meant like - actual dirt. (not incriminating information)

Fig: o yea.

Fig: there's clay in the backyard soil. - sometimes when I'm sun deficient or something I go touch dirt for a bit.

page 11

Fig: here u go

page 12

Riz: uh

Fig: now we make a thing! - 'm pretty good at freehanding a bowl.

Fig: I'll show u

page 13

Fig: just– yep, flatten that out as evenly as u can, then–! - actually ur nails'd be so good at cutting out the strip. [larger than usual space] wait. - wait. wait u can carve patterns with them! we HAVE to try

Riz: uh - What. do I carve?

Fig: anything!!!

page 14

Fig: and– yep just seal the inside uh. seam?

Fig: yep that works - okay time's up! all contestant hands up

Riz: [blank speech bubble] - okay - wh. what's next?

Fig: haha - watch this.

(sound effect text): FWOO—MP

page 15

Riz: WH– DON'T JUST DO THAT???

Fig: Now it's fired!

Riz: THAT WAS NOT SAFE

Fig: (actually it's just dry. if u add water rn it'll dissolve)

Fig: ok catch!

Riz: [blank speech bubble] - careful!!

Fig: dw no need haha

page 16

Riz (thought bubble): oh - it's warm…

Fig: now I want you to throw this.

page 17

Fig: u gotta do it - c'mon

page 18

Riz: wh– - It's like 3AM right now

Fig: oh it's not /fired/ fired it's not gonna make a loud noise

Riz: And then just? leave a pile out here?

Fig: pour water over it & it'll be gone I told u

Riz: but

page 19

Fig (off screen): RIz.

page 20

Fig: I've done all this before.

Fig: Can you trust that at least?

page 21

Riz: no, I– - I do. - I trust you.

page 23

Riz: okay what happens now

(sound effect text): glob

page 24

Fig: we do it again!

page 25

Riz: wh. [larger than usual space] What do you mean. (this clay's too wet also)

Fig: see! you're already learning

Fig: [blank speech bubble] - there are flows that are futile to fight. - The world changes.

Fig: Things change.

page 26

Fig: I've learned my lessons with "forevers". - But - as an artist

Fig: I can give you one thing: - You can always do it again.

page 27

Fig: most of everything depends on the rest of the world, - but this. - making new. - that's yours as long as you want it.

page 28

Fig: So?

page 29

Riz: Yeah. - Yeah! - let's make another one.

[rbrooksdesign]

UPPER: EVENs Divisor Matrix Table (EDMT) ------LOWER: same EDMT with the Horizontal Running Sums (∑) in small numbers.

"EDMT-28," digital, Oct. 2024, Reginald Brooks

The original DMT (Divisor Matrix Table) reveals ALL natural numbers and their divisors.

The truncated DMT -- tDMT -- is based on the original DMT, only filtered to reveal just those ODDs in Column 1 that are the Running Sums (∑) of the Row 1, i.e. 1-3-7-15-31-...

The EVEN DMT -- EDMT -- replaces the ODDs in Column 1 of the tDMT with the BF1 series -- exactly the same as Row 1-- the Butterfly Fractal 1 (BF1) -- and this sibling matrix version of the tDMT has much to offer -- especially when one takes the Running Sums (∑) along each Row!

Yes, that's a lot to swallow up front. One is simply taking the tDMT and replacing Column 1 of the ODDs 1-3-7-15-31-... with their unfiltered, original values of Row 1 (BF1) 1-2-4-8-16..

Why, again? The EDMT gives yet a simpler view of the key numbers informing the Mp-PNs (Mersenne Prime-Perfect Numbers)!

In the LOWER EDMT image, the horizontal Running Sums (∑) are shown in SMALL dark numbers. The PN candidates found in the "containers" are shown in COLOR -- with the GREEN being the actual TRUE PNs: 6-28-496-8128.

The ∑s of the 1st ROW--BF1--hold ALL the Mp candidate "containers" including the actual TRUE Mps: 3-7-31-127...

The Mp-PNs are the rarest gems of the Primes! And a brand new one -- number 52 -- has just been discovered.

Interactive DMT and tDMT for TES (Teachers, Educators and Students) ---here.

[cattimeswithjellie]

Stream Recap, Skizzleman, 6/11/24

((Skizz streams are always funny, but if you want to watch any single part of this stream, check out Skizz's digging around 2:11:00. Poor Chat. Fans of HotGuy and Cuteguy may also want to check out the shout-out around 24:00.))

05:40 Skizz opens the stream. He is dancing to the music and tells everyone he’s doing StreamBeats on Spotify. He logs into Hermitcraft, inside his base. Today’s snack is blueberries, because his energy was running a little low. He thanks subs and donos. A chatter says that Jono is mixing the Poe Poe song, Skizz thinks that is awesome. Yesterday’s stream start was one of the craziest of all times. Skizz does have a plan for today! After stream, he’s going to _chill._ Yesterday was a long day, streaming and prepping today’s new video. First on today’s agenda is recording a bit about the guide for the volcano.

9:20 Skizz talks about the podcast this week. They haven’t even filmed it yet. Impulse was sick and needed extra time, so tomorrow Skizz goes to work for some intense and specific training and a long work day, then they will record the podcast and then he has to get it turned around by Friday. It’s going to be intense. Skizz thanks a dono and massacres the username. He thanks more subs.

11:45 Skizz sets up to record, adjusting his game sounds. Chat has an argument about the pronunciation of “pthalo.” Skizz confirms he will NOT be going into Tango’s hole today. Skizz is very disappointed in whoever invented the pronunciation of “phthalo,” obviously someone who hates human lips.

14:20 Skizz begins recording his bit. He says that what just happened is cool and fun (he is not telling chat what the previous bit was) but that he’s not going to stop until he gets the Mission Possible Hat. He flies to MP HQ and gets a new MP mission. It is “Do a good deed for a Hermit without them noticing and without taking credit.” Skizz says this is right up his alley, but he needs to think about it. He jokes that because he is a Hermit, he could do a good deed for himself and get the reward, right? No, he won’t do that, he’ll do it right. He ends the recording and asks chat about who he should do a nice thing for.

16:30 Skizz lands in the eye of Gem’s base and thinks about what to do. Someone suggests restocking a shop. Skizz laughs and says maybe he should put all the glowberries back (referring to his Mission Possible deed from his last episode, where he bought out Joel’s glowberry shop). Scar signs on and says he has Skizz’s new bow. Skizz is excited and goes to find Scar. He starts at his own base, which is crawling with hostile mobs, and considers spawnproofing it for Scar’s sake. He doesn’t, instead taking off again to search. When a quick aerial search is unrevealing, he goes into his base to sleep. As he arrives back at the base, the Poe Poe song plays outside, then the “Trader Scar’s definitely not going to eat you” horn. Skizz goes outside and finds Scar.

18:20 Skizz tells Scar that Jono is remixing the Poe Poe song. Scar says he is watching Jono live on his other monitor as they speak. Scar gives Skizz an enchanted bow called “FailGuy.” Skizz tells Scar he hates him so much. Scar laughs. Skizz looks at the bow and notes that it is fully enchanted. He sighs and asks what he needs to do to earn the right to rename the bow. Scar says there can be no renaming of this bow, it will be FailGuy until it breaks. He suggests that Skizz should get out there and start shooting a lot of FailGuy arrows. Skizz agrees reluctantly. Scar reminds Skizz that all he really needs to do is believe in himself and use that space bar. Skizz insists that he used spacebar and also fired 700 rockets, it’s right there in his footage. He tells Scar to look at the bloopers from his new episode, both for proof and because they were incredibly funny.

20:00 Scar says people on Twitter are accusing him of diamond ore theft, but he is an innocent bystandard. Bystander, Skizz corrects. Scar doesn’t understand, but he is innocent. He doesn’t want any trouble with the GOAT himself, but he is having a wonderful time watching Doc rage. Skizz asks what kind of ore was taken, from where. Scar says someone is taking the ore from Doc’s fashion shop and replacing it. Doc is on Twitter, making accusations and threatening vagueposts about trains. Scar, as a train owner, is feeling very threatened. Skizz asks how much diamond ore has been taken. Scar says like two pieces. Skizz is baffled that Doc is so upset about two pieces of ore. He doesn’t know what fashion shop Scar is talking about, so Scar takes him on a field trip that may involve murder with Skizz’s new bow. They decide to get in a chat group along the way.

22:00 Scar and Skizz take a quick detour to try and kill Impulse with the new bow. They go down into Impulse’s metro system and fly around the cyberpunk city but don’t find him. Scar calls Xisuma “Dipple-dee-doppers.” They say he must be hiding. Scar says they should shoot Xisuma for hoarding the End and keeping people from harvesting XP there. ((Xisuma has been moving mobs via the End Portal and asking other Hermits to stay away.)) Skizz asks whether Scar knows about the Bop N Go. Scar says he just used it, and he likes the music.

24:00 Skizz and Scar abandon the hunt for Impulse. Scar says Impulse must be afraid of the power of the HotGuy and the FailGuy. He wishes that they could get CuteGuy onto the server so they could have the full set. Skizz protests that he is a cute guy. Scar tells him very definitively that he’s not CuteGuy, that’s Grian. Skizz points out that he used to be SpyGuy, and that was cool, and then his _buddy_ _murdered_ him and named him FailGuy. Scar leads him to the armor trim shop and points out the two missing bits of diamond ore, one on the surface and one inside the guts of the redstone. Scar noticed the second bit of missing redstone during a livestream, before Doc actually noticed it, but he did not take it. ((Scar says it was Tango’s stream, but it was Ren’s livestream.)) Scar is disgusted that Doc has a diamond boring machine and still gets so upset about two ore.

25:30 Scar is distracted from Doc’s problems by how much he still wants to kill Impulse. He insists that he sees Impulse and takes off, followed by Skizz who demands to know what kind of eyes he has. Scar insists he is HotGuy! Scar races around the shopping district, followed by Skizz, but they do not find Impulse. They do hear Joel’s honey song and are baffled by it before resuming the chase. It is unclear whether Scar actually saw Impulse at all, or if it was a mirage, or if Scar is deliberately toying with Skizz. Scar looks up Impulse’s coords but he doesn’t seem to be there. Skizz begins taking potshots at Scar, who doesn’t notice. Skizz goes home to sleep.

29:40 Skizz gives up the chase and goes to Bop ‘n Go to repair his elytra. Scar makes a difficult shot to hit Skizz while he’s bopping. Scar tells Skizz that if he does something Scar deems truly admirable, he can change the name of the FailGuy bow. Skiss promises he will do so. They shoot at each other a few more times and Scar leaves.

31:00 Skizz decides his good deed will be to replace Doc’s diamond ore. Chat doesn’t like Skizz calling Doc Doccy because that is what Doc calls his child and it is confusing everyone. Skizz does not read chat and doesn’t notice. He admits this is not really a selfless act, it’s a nice thing but it’s so he can get his token. He heads back to the armor shop. He replaces the outer block and, leery of entering the machine itself, stacks up two more ore to replace the other missing blocks. Good deed done, no credit taken! Skizz goes to collect his token.

34:10 Skizz needs two tokens to spin for the MP prize he wants (the helicopter beanie cap), so he needs another task. He turns in his task and gets one token, then collects his new task. He receives the task “create a big present at another Hermit’s base, sign it, wish them happy birthday, and put something useless inside.” He instantly recognizes this as the task Stress got and performed on him months ago now. Chat is amused. Skizz is going to think of something fantastic for this task. He unpauses his chat alerts and demands Chat tell him the most useless item in Minecraft. Chat has lots of ideas, but Skizz likes the poison potato best.

36:00 Skizz starts looking through his chest monster for useless things. He gets excited when he remembers the retextured “Diamond” stick that has been in his ender chest for a long time now. It is the perfect gift, but who to give it to? Skizz starts looking for the packaging blocks Stress used for the original present. Chat points out that it’s actually Pearl’s birthday.

38:30 Skizz reads a dono from chat and takes a contemplative sip of coffee. It is from the wrong cup and is his cold nasty coffee from the morning. He is unhappy. He tells Chat he is not going to give Pearl a fake present on her real birthday. He finds the pink concrete from Stress and gathers up some cherry leaves as well. He thinks about making a Russian nesting doll style present, unwrapped in layers. He can’t find any items frames so he steals some from his Poe Poe kit. Considering how terrible his organizational system is, Skizz knows where a surprising number of items are.

42:00 Skizz decides Grian gets the present. There’s a nice flat space right in front of his base. He builds a 9x9x9 box of cherry leaves and quizzes Chat on what memory he’s evoking here. Chat guesses the Heart Foundation. He asks Chat if they notice how slow he is moving. It is because his buddies killed him in the Void and he lost his Swift Sneak pants.

45:00 Skizz responds to a request from chat for the Skizzlefarts song, in honor of a chatter’s sister who had surgery and cannot leave the hospital before passing gas. Chat is very supportive. During the song, Skizz returns to his base and collects more cherry leaves, then starts the second inner layer. Chat begins telling him to eat.

49:00 The song ends. Chat has strong feelings about Skizz not building the inner box off the ground. Skizz does not care, but he does satisfy Chat by eating. He places the item frame and the fake diamond, then goes to sleep. In the morning, finishes the box and goes to put the sign up, only to realize he put it back in the chest when he collected the cherry leaves. He returns to base for the sign, then closes the boxes and adds the ribbon. He is just complimenting himself on his Guess-the-Build boosted skills when he runs out of concrete. Chat knows he has more concrete in his base and Skizz actually looks at chat to see it. Victorious, he finishes the ribbon, then adds a bow. The bow takes awhile.

58:30 Skizz adds the sign and calls it good. He does not sign it. Chat reminds him he must sign it to complete the mission. He says he’s not going to sign it. Chat scolds him. He reads the mission again and returns to sign his name to the present.

1:01:20 Skizz explains Mission Possible to Chat while he sleeps through the night and heads for the Shopping district. He receives his tokens and spends them on a skin. He is disappointed to receive the arrow hat. He feels better when he realizes it is a hat that makes it look like there’s an arrow through his head. He decides to head back to work, but thanks subs and donos first.

1:04:50 Skizz flies from the shopping district to the top of Magic Mountain and tells chat he wants to make a quad beacon for digging, or a “queacon.” He flies immediately back to the shopping district for more iron. As he flies, he plugs his new channel, ShorterSkizz. The channel is his daughter’s summer project because she cannot work during ACL recovery. Chat is excited and begins subbing, competing for early sub numbers.

1:07:00 Skizz arrives back at the shopping district and tries to figure out how many iron blocks he needs. Sub numbers have climbed from 15 to about 400. A chatter suggests he needs to hire Jimmy for a 700 subscribers special. Skizz likes that idea and puts a velcro bag on his head to stand in for Young Jimmy’s hair from his subscriber special. He decides he needs “ a lot” of iron, and buys three and a half stacks of iron. He decides that’s not enough and tops up to six stacks.

1:13:00 Skizz heads back for the mountain, thanking subs and donos. ShorterSkizz cracks 700 subs. Skizz stops on top of the pyramid and thanks everyone with his best teenage Jimmy impression. Chat is pleased. Skizz tells Jimmy, if he sees this, that he loves him and explains the bit. He makes sure that someone clipped that so Jimmy can see it.

1:15:40 Skizz grabs his shovel and heads for the mountain for real. Chat begins reminding him to eat. He does a shoutout to his buddy MKBean who is helping with the new channel, then scouts out a spot for the beacon, digging straight down. He sees the opening into the cave and falls in anyway, but does not die.

1:19:30 Skizz pauses to read out a dono that suggests he should buy a keyboard with a working space bar. Skizz demands affirmation from chat that they saw his episode and that he really tried to get out of the void. Chat is supportive, to a point. Skizz continues digging down and notes that he didn’t even bring a weapon on this jaunt. He arrives in the largest part of the underground caverns and realizes he went off by one while digging the beacon hole. He fixes the mistake with another hole, realizes it is nighttime and that he didn’t bring a bed. He goes home.

1:24:00 Skizz jumps back down the beacon hole and goes to fix his mistake hole, then changes his mind and decides not to. He digs down deeper instead, then goes home again to get torches and a weapon. He thanks donos and subs, and seeks more affirmation from chat about his death in the void. A chatter tells him that nice things happened last night on the channel he raided into. Skizz is happy. He talks about how funny Jimmy was in the 700 subscriber video. Skizz cannot find his sword.

1:29:00 Skizz searches his chest monster for the sword and does not find it. He says he’s tried to organize his chests onstream a million times only for Chat to tell him not to do it because it’s boring, then admits that the opposite is true and chat has basically begged him to do an organizing stream. He won’t though, because it’s bad content. It’s much better to watch him search the chest monster a million times. He realizes he might have lost it in the void. He makes a new diamond sword and heads for the Shopping district for books. He remembers suddenly that he had Looting on that sword and that somehow motivates him to turn around and search harder.

1:30:50 Skizz finds his sword outside the Pyramid and then starts searching for torches. He organizes his inventory a bit and makes torches. He collects more rockets and heads back into the mountain.

Chat reminds him he forgot his bed and the beacon, but it is too late.

1:33:00 Skizz digs a bigger hole in the mountain. He digs down to about 10 and fights a creeper, then lights a little cavern he finds. He eats and provides some birthday you-yos, then decides whether to go down further. He places more torches and argues with himself. He digs down some more and lights another cave full of mobs.

1:42:00 Skizz realizes he has lost track of the hole he dug. He finds it after a couple minutes of searching and begins placing the beacon. A chatter asks if he has forgotten the ways of the skompass. He figures out what the dimensions of the beacon need to be and starts throwing down iron. He explains how one chatter has taken responsibility to be master of dad jokes and now Skizz looks forward to them. Chat provides additional dad jokes. Skizz plays the bop song and builds.

1:51:30 Skizz is very pumped about Jono remixing the Poe Poe song. The beacon is partway built now and growing fast. He realizes that he will need to buy some beacons, and that it might have made sense to do that before jumping down this hole. He finishes the beacon base, including four extra blocks where the beacons themselves should go, and heads out to get some beacons. Chat tries to explain that he needs to remove the top four blocks.

1:56:00 Skizz flies to the shopping district and visits the beacon shop. He stares at the enormous BEACONS sign and asks chat where the beacons are. Chat mocks him. He purchases four beacons and heads back to the mountain. Skizz parks himself on top of the mountain, tells Chat not to let him die, and plays the Skizzlefarts song again while he takes a bathroom break.

2:00:20 Skizz returns, miraculously unkilled. He opens the hole wide enough for a 2x2 beacon light and breaks the netherrack pole he’d used to survey the mountain. With everything prepared, he dives back down the hole and places the beacons on the iron blocks he should have removed. The beacon does not light. He removes the beacons, removes the blocks, and places the beacons in the correct place. They light successfully. Skizz goes to find some pink glass.

2:06 Skizz heads for the shopping district and visits the glass shop. He buys a stack of pink glass and goes to get some iron. Chat reminds him he has iron. He heads for the mountain and empinkens the beacon, then activates it with Haste 2, Jump Boost, Speed, Resistance and Regen. He decides he needs to make a safe drop to let him get down without dying.

2:11:00 Skizz admires the work he has done for the mountain crew. He contemplates a top-level control room that will activate different beacons under the mountain, but that’s for another day. He tries to take advantage of the new beacon to dig some dirt on the mountain, but has little success because he is trying to dig with his axe. Frustrated, he announces that his spoon SUCKS. Chat is beside themselves. He somehow misses the hundred chatters telling him he was holding an axe to zero in on the one who assures him that grass is slower to mine than dirt. Skizz flies around a little and admires the beacon, then heads back to his base for a better shovel. He finally realizes he was using the axe. He immediately flies back to Magic Mountain to test out his actual shovel. It works very well.

2:15:20 Skizz begins reorganizing the chests on Magic Mountain to facilitate digging, setting the storage chests outside the digging perimeter. Chat suggests putting an S on the ground and calling it Skizz Mountain. He flies back home to sleep, then realizes there was a bed on top of the mountain. He thanks subs and donos again. He tries to eat a rocket. After several more birthday you-yos, it’s back to the mountain for more organizing. Skizz has great sympathy for the very confused pen of sheep on top of the mountain.

2:19:45 Skizz finds a sign that says “omg, it’s a dark oak tree!” He laughs, confused, but does not remove it. He finishes moving the chests and organizing them. Chat reminds him how nice it feels to organize and suggests maybe he could do that at his base. Skizz hopes that this will make excavation a little more enjoyable for everybody.

2:24:15 Skizz leads by example with an arrow in his head, beginning the digging himself. He digs about ten dirt blocks and declares himself exhausted. He digs some more, then realizes he just wants to use TNT again. They probably will use TNT again, but this is a good way to put a teeny little dent in the amount of work yet to be done. A group TNT day would be a very fun group recording day for Magic Mountain. TNT is unpredictable but very fast!

2:27:00 Skizz digs dirt, sleeps, and interacts with chat. A chatter tells him a joke. He gathers up a lot more dirt, then stops because he does not want to ruin the glorious TNT day. He notices a chest and bed on top of the mountain and investigates, but the chest is empty. He destroys it. All his dirt goes into the storage chests. He’s way into the TNT date idea now.

2:32:00 Skizz decides to call the stream a little early today. Yesterday he was super busy and last night he didn’t sleep well. Today was long and he needs some sun before it gets dark. Chat advises Skizz to touch grass. He returns to his base and says goodbye to chat. He raids into “Coach” Jojosolos and ends his stream.

[barely-coherent-anarchist]

TW// murder, transphobia, misgendering

so if you don't keep up with the news in Britain, I'll fill you in.

yesterday, Brianna Ghey was murdered in her hometown of Warrington. She was only 16. She was also trans, which considering what I'm going to discuss in this post, is relevant.

However, not even a single day after her death, the GC ('gender critical' for those who aren't in the know) crowd have wasted no time in disrespecting her memory, by repeatedly misgendering her and deadnaming her.

here are just a few examples from the comments of this post by Nadia Whittome MP (fair warning, these responses are pretty fucking vile to say the least):

This is what 'gender critical', or TERF, ideology inevitably leads to. Not only has a young trans person been murdered in cold blood, but hateful assholes like these lot are going out of their way to disrespect her, even in death.

and as one final insult to her memory, the british state do not allow anyone under the age of 18 to legally change their marker regarding gender on any official documents, so in addition to the disrespect on social media, the UK government is facilitating her being misgendered on official documents in death.

rest in peace, Brianna Ghey, you deserved so much better than this.

[mariacallous]

Moldova and Georgia both go to the polls at the end of October; Moldova for presidential elections on the 20th and Georgia for parliamentary elections on the 26th. The two countries share a number of similarities – beyond their justified reputation as world-class wine producers. They are both small, low- to middle-income countries that have struggled to consolidate their democracies and have experienced oligarchic political influence. Both are candidate countries for EU membership, with Moldova a step ahead having been invited to start negotiations. 

For both countries these elections represent a fork in the road: either move unambiguously into the Western world, or step back from it and become more closely tied to Russia again and its way of governance. However, the second option has caused yet-to-be-resolved territorial conflicts in both countries – Transnistria for Moldova, and Abkhazia and South Ossetia for Georgia.

Some would say it should not be such a ‘zero sum’ choice. Why must a nation choose between Russia and the West? While that may be a fair statement for countries like India or South Africa, it does not work for Russia’s former colonies, which Moscow wishes to control. 

Moldova and Georgia’s final similarity is that they face Russian interference and attempts to manipulate votes in their elections. In Moldova this has been especially brazen with the uncovering in September of a $15 million vote-buying scheme, including instructions on who to vote for distributed to over 130,000 citizens. Russian interference in Georgia’s election is less overt but at the same time more endemic considering its government has in effect been captured by pro-Russia forces.

Diverging paths

But this is where the similarities end and the contrasts become clear.

Moldova has a young, pro-Western and equality-conscious government, and 44 of the 100 MPs in its parliament are women. In this election, Maia Sandu is seeking her second and final term as president. The election is combined with a referendum asking the people if they wish to embed Moldova’s EU aspirations into the country’s constitution. The results of both the presidential election and the EU referendum will be close, reflecting a genuine split in attitudes (and debate) in the country. 

Georgia’s EU aspirations, meanwhile, are already embedded in its constitution – but that has not prevented Tbilisi from pivoting away from the West. Polls show   that around 80 per cent of Georgia’s population desires EU (and NATO) membership – rising to 90 per cent among the under 30s – but its government seems determined to deny them that future. 

Its new ‘foreign agents’ law is seemingly copy-pasted from Russia – and incompatible with EU membership. The election can be seen as a de facto referendum on the EU too. Georgia’s accession is suspended until its political crisis is resolved. 

Georgia faces other challenges to its democracy. Due to the country’s limited presidential powers, Georgia is in effect run by the unelected Bidzina Ivanishvili – founder of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party – whose relationship with Russia is murky at best. Judging by his recent speeches, Ivanishvili now blames the Western world not just for igniting the war in Ukraine, but also for the war in Georgia 16 years ago which resulted in the loss of 20 per cent of its territory at the hands of Russia. This extraordinary position is both factually incorrect and out of step with the Georgian people.

Both countries are now at a critical point. Whatever the outcome in Moldova, the election will pass off peacefully and competently. Its problems (Russia aside) are demographic and economic, and the country’s pro-Russian opposition is relatively weak.

Georgia’s election looks like it is going to be messy. Ivanishvili’s party will likely manipulate the election to a win. There is still a chance that Georgia’s pro-Western but also weak opposition will regain power and return the country to its European path. But if the manipulation by the incumbency is heavy, people will likely take to the streets in protest, as in April this year – and in the 2003 Rose Revolution.

Regime change via popular revolution shows political immaturity but the Georgian people may feel it is the only way they can have their views represented and their ambitions realised. 

Arguably what we are witnessing are the death throes of the Soviet Union, 33 years after it collapsed. Moscow’s rigor mortis grip is proving stronger than most imagined. With Ukraine still caught up in war, Moldova currently represents the region’s best chance to break free. Georgia’s future is the more uncertain of the two. This is an astonishing reversal of roles. Just four years ago, it was the darling of the EU and a frontrunner in its Eastern Partnership project, while Moldova lagged behind. 

The upcoming elections will reveal more about the future paths of Moldova and Georgia. But if these two countries tell us one thing it is that in a region pregnant with change, prospects can also change very quickly.

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

at this point my tumblr is just becoming a british politics blog but anyway, updates on the police misconduct at the coronation:

[Alt text:]

Anti-monarchy arrests at coronation to be scrutinised by MPs

Chair of home affairs select committee says decision to be made whether to hold inquiry into use of Public Order Act

Matthew Weaver, Wed 10 May 2023 10.38 BST

The arrest of anti-monarchy protesters at King Charles’s coronation and intimidatory Home Office warnings to campaigners before the event are to be scrutinised by a committee of MPs.

In a statement, the home affairs select committee said it would examine the Metropolitan police’s handling of republican protests at an evidence session next Wednesday.

It will investigate the force’s approach to public demonstrations, the practical implementation of the public order bill and the arrest of republican protesters. A full list of witnesses will be announced in the coming days.

Dame Diana Johnson, the chair of the home affairs select committee, said there were “real questions” about how the new Public Order Act was used to hold leading members of Republic for up to 16 hours during the coronation.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Johnson said she would be interested in reviewing how broad the law was and “what guidance was given to frontline police officers and whether there is an issue about training”.

Johnson added: “So there are real questions about that and we think this morning we’ll need to look at that and decide whether we want to have that short inquiry to learn some lessons and see what the implementation of that act actually means in practice to frontline police officers.”

The force also released without charge three women’s safety volunteers who were arrested on suspicion of committing a public nuisance for carrying rape alarms at the coronation.

Johnson also wants answers about the treatment of these women. She said: “There’s also an issue about the women who were giving out the rape alarms as well and the how they ended up arrested. I don’t think it was under the Public Order Act 2023, but they were arrested as well.

full article here

so, while the home affairs select committee (its basically like a bunch of mps from different parties who examine what the home office is doing. that includes policies, laws, policing, etc.) are meeting to look at what happened, they havent opened an official inquiry, and we dont know if they will.

the last inquiry the hasc opened was on the 7th february this year relating to human trafficking. there is currently an inquiry open on policing priorities (opened 21 july 2022). this seems to have been triggered by the chief inspector of policing andy cooke (truly these titles are pretentious as fuck) who has repeatedly criticised police for not focussing on preventing or solving crime.

you might think that would be the first priority, but considering on the night of the coronation, they were arresting people essentially for thought crimes, youd be wrong. most forces (including the met) often just dont record crimes, and andy cooke is apparently an outlier in believing police should attend every burgulary.

there hasnt been a report published yet for this inquiry but they stopped accepting evidence last november though the evidence transcripts are available for the public to review.

i would like to note that although the hasc is cross-party, 6 out of the 11 members are tories. the rest are made up of 3 labour, 1 independent and 1 snp. as far as i can tell theres no representation for northern island in the committee.

percentage wise, that makes the committee roughly 54% tory, 27% labour, 9% independent and 9% snp. so while diana johnson is labour and from up north, dont get your hopes up regarding an inquiry. i dont know how the ins and outs of their committee, but tories make up the majority.

we do now have official confirmation that six of the protesters were held for 16 hours on suspicion of committing a crime.

im also glad that diana johnson has brought up how the uh taking away the human right to protest act public order act 2023 was implemented. i discussed with my mom how fucking stupid it was to implement a new law thatll affect an event happening the next day.

i am interested as to what she means by the night star volunteers not being arrested under the no seriously guys the right to protest is protected as a human rights act public order act 2023 because why the fuck else were they arrested then? its been reported as "a conspiracy to disrupt public peace", and they were counted within the 64 arrested.

also just gonna mention, diana johnson has said publicly that she wants to review how broad the this law literally suppresses a human right public order act 2023, and idk, it feels like maybe we should have established that before it was enacted ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

tl/dr: the home affairs select committee are examining whether they should open an inquiry into the police action during the coronation. unfortunately its majority tory so dont get your hopes up for an actual inquiry happening.

[stevecooganfan]

Steve hosted the Q&A Panel after the London screening of Lorna Tucker's new film 'Someone's Daughter, Someone's Son'

The film is a truly thought-provoking and emotional piece of work. I definitely recommend giving it a watch if you can. Just make sure to bring the tissues.

You can learn more about the film via the link below:

If you're in the UK, please consider writing to your MP asking for them to create more affordable social housing, establish more projects for wraparound care for the homeless, and expand treatment for addition and mental health.

[eaglesnick]

“The heart Contracts As The Pocket Expands” – C.N.Bovee

Successive Tory governments have been mired in  sleaze over  the last 14 years.

From David Cameron to Rishi Sunak, accusation after accusation of sleaze and corruption have made headline news.

“David Cameron was sucked into a sleaze row last night over a decision to axe an £80million loan to an engineering firm following lobbying by a major Tory donor." (MailOnline: 23/07/2010)

“Theresa May accused of cover-up over child abuse inquiry concerns.” (Independent:19/10/2016)

“The David Cameron scandal: just how sleazy is British politics?”  (Financial Times: 16/04/21)

“Boris Johnson’s government is mired in corruption scandals, but do Britons care?”  WWW.france24.com: 07/11/21)

“Liz Truss facing first sleaze investigation over ‘murky donations’ (Independent:04/08/22)

“Rishi Sunak Is Being Investigated By Parliament's Sleaze Watchdog"  (HUFFPOST: 17/04/23)

Not a single Tory Prime Minister of this country has escaped the taint of corruption and sleaze since 2010. That is over a decade of suspicion and conjecture about Tory MPs and prime ministers either lining their own pockets   or covering up for others.

One of the main reasons the Tories lost the election so dramatically was because people had had enough of this  self-serving, double-dealing immorality.

How refreshing therefore to have Sir Kier Starmer as our new Prime Minister. He may be boring, he may be vague when it comes to policy, but at least he is honest.- or so we were led to believe.

Eight weeks into the job and it turns out Starmer is no better than the rest of them. It turns out he is just another Prime Minister embroiled in accusations of sleaze and corruption.

First, his biggest personal donor was given a a rare Downing Street security pass. Labour peer Lord Alli is said to have paid thousands of pounds for Starmer’s suits and spectacles while giving more than £5000,000 in donations to the Labour Party.

This led the MailOnline to carry the headline:

“Sir Keir Starmer locked in 'passes for glasses' sleaze row! Labour leader is accused of cronyism that is 'rotting politics to its core' after millionaire TV mogul given 'unrestricted' access to Downing Street.” (26/08/24)

As if that scandal wasn’t bad enough it now turns out that Lord Alli was also buying designer clothes and glasses for Starmer’s wife. Although such “gifts” are meant to be declared in the register of MP’s interests Starmer forgot to do so. In short he is already in breach of the very rules he accused the Tories of breaking.

David Lammy made this pathetic excuse for Starmer:

“The truth is that successive prime ministers, unless you’re a billionaire like the last one, do rely on donations, political donations, so they can look their best, both in the hope of representing the country, if you’re in the opposition, or indeed as prime minister.” (Financial Times: 15/09/24)

I thought Keir Starmer was a professional politician. Even a blind person could see that accepting tens of thousands of pounds worth of clothing for yourself and your wife is not a good look when axing the £300 winter fuel allowance to tens of thousands of pensioners.

According to a Financial Times investigation Starmer has received £76,000 worth of “freebies”  - from clothing to concert tickets- since the 2019 general election, “more than almost any other MP”.

Nothing ever changes it seems.

[doom-nerdo-666]

I think the idea of Marathon being used for a "Tarkov-like" PvP "extraction shooter" would've been less worse if:

They first released a single player/campaign based modern FPS game as a revival of the series.

Made the Tarkov copy crap into a sidemode alongside said singleplayer fun experience.

Remember that people thought Doom 16 was going to flop because the marketing focused heavily on a divisive MP mode and then people started to get hyped when they saw more of the singleplayer.

Quake Champions has some good reception partially because of that "Doom is SP, Quake is MP" bit but the game had some things people enjoyed and even got used to the new iteration of the Ranger but QC still had better days and most people want a Quake singleplayer revival.

Marathon as a series is less popular and was much more dormant, then you have the fact that the 3 first games are free and there's a modding scene.

Most hardcore old FPS fans and Bungie fans are the ones that know Marathon, so you don't just have the issue of potentially disappointing old fans but also putting up with people that never heard of Marathon.

It's also clear that multiplayer as a concept can be easily exploited in games, due to greedy tactics like MTX: Never forget that 2017 period when companies got into sorts of controversies and EA tried really hard to claim "singleplayer is dead".

After all, "online" means the game will always be on life support so it needs a "hook" but it's not an issue for a singleplayer game if the game is good enough.

Maybe someone will say that Marathon shouldn't get into singleplayer anymore because of Infinity's ending and i guess in case a new game would ruin the abstraction set by the presentation of the originals.

Still, Bungie could've easily gotten a hint from Doom Eternal and indie titles like Ultrakill.

If you're gonna chase trends, at least look at the ones that people like so much that even skeptics like.

[jessjustplay]

Eternal Radiance: A Cute Action-RPG and Visual Novel

April 20, 2024

I finished playing Eternal Radiance last night. I'm pretty sure I found this game when I used to scope the Nintendo eShop looking for cute indie games. This one immediately stood out because of cover and it's description: "inspired by classic action JRPGs."

Game: Eternal Radiance First Time/Replaying: First Time Game Time: 16 hours Console: Nintendo Switch Started: March 31, 2024 Finished: April 19, 2024

Eternal Radiance is hybrid action-RPG and visual novel. I have never played a visual novel before, so this was a new experience. It's heavily story-driven and there is so much to read, but as a reader, I enjoyed it very much.

The narrative is well-paced and immersive. I didn't feel like the Player controlling the main lead, it felt more like I was there alongside them. (As silly as that sounds.)

The story is about a squire named Celeste who is trying to prove herself worthy of becoming a knight. Along the way, she meets many different characters, two of which join your main party.

I love how the friendships that Celeste forms are at the forefront of the story. It is a heartwarming game with beautiful artwork and great music that adds to the ambiance of the setting and situation.

As you can see below, the background art of the locations are vibrant and detailed. The designs of the characters are equally appealing.

There is item/weapon customization, but I completely neglected it. I didn't buy any weapons or armor either, I just used whatever I found in treasure chests.

Speaking of treasure chests, there is a lot of loot in this game! When you defeat enemies, they drop items and green, yellow, & blue colored orbs that replenish your HP, MP, and limit break gauges.

I liked the action-RPG battles. They are fast-paced and TOUGH! I actually lowered my Difficulty level from Normal to Easy because I kept dying a little too often. I struggled with the boss fights, even on Easy, but they are doable.

Things I didn't like:

The camera is a bit awkward, but thankfully the settings are easy to change. I lowered the camera turn speed and everything was great!

When you fast-run (which is done automatically after walking for a certain amount of time), the camera adjusts in a way that you can look up Celeste's skirt. That is weird.

In boss fights, which are very fast-paced, healing seems to take forever. Hint: defend and use items!

Overall:

Eternal Radiance is a cute action-RPG and visual novel game, "inspired by classic action JRPGs." The battles are fast-paced, the characters are endearing, and the story is a wholesome adventure of a determined squire's quest to become a knight. I really enjoyed the narrative and story-focused segments combined with a variety of open areas to explore and fight.

Here are my endgame stats:

[rbrooksdesign]

"DMT-EDMT Series for December Geometry #4"

Clarification:

One can slice and dice the Number Theory surrounding the natural whole numbers a number of different ways with each giving perhaps a new perspective on the connections.

To remember though, is that the connections themselves are fixed and we are just shining a new light on them from a different vantage point. This often makes them look more complicated than they really are.

Simplification has distilled from the huge Ocean of Numbers, a subset called the Butterfly Fractal 1 (BF1) derived "containers" that is nothing more than the set of the sequential doubling of quantity one ("1"). [2ⁿ = Exponential Power of 2, e.i. 2⁰=1, 2¹=2, 2²=4, 2³=8,...)

The BF1 -- 1--2--4--8--16--32--64... is the fractal number that informs this entire subset.

A subset of this subset of "containers" -- i.e. a sub-subset -- is where the extremely rare and minimalist Mersenne Prime-Perfect Number pairings (Mp-PN) are found. However, they are not alone. In this sub-subset are other numbers that are NOT Mp-PNs, so we are left with some sorting out to distill just those rare gems!

While both the subset and sub-subset are highly connected and inter-connected, we have found that they do divide into two separate STRANDS or SETS. We have assigned SET 1 to refer to the Mp-PN sub-subset, and, SET 2 to the larger subset of "containers."

The point of this clarification is that both SETS 1 & 2 are "container" sets, but only SET 1 holds the TRUE Mp-PN pairings. Both sets look and act mathematically identical except for a few traits that will be pointed out along the way.

Finally, what is the common bond between both SETS? The BF1. It is the fundamental fractal that informs it all! As we go through some examples, please remember that this fractal is the "same wine in different bottles" of mathematical - geometrical representations.

~~~~~~

Starting with the PN 6.

[tomorrowusa]

British Prime minister Rishi Sunak is going backwards on Earth-friendly energy. His flailing Conservative Party is polling at 26% – down from 40% exactly two years ago. With elections due in 15 or 16 months at the latest, he may be trying to appeal to voters more concerned with short-term economics than those who wish to keep the climate crisis from spinning out of control.

Rishi Sunak has announced a major U-turn on the government’s climate commitments as he promised to put his party on a more radical path in an attempt to close the gap with Labour before the next general election. In one of his biggest policy changes since taking office, Sunak confirmed the UK would push back the deadline for selling new petrol and diesel cars and the phasing out of gas boilers, prompting furious condemnation from the automobile and energy industries. [ ... ] The move was also met with despair by climate scientists and environmental experts who said it would cost consumers more in the long run and threaten the UK’s global leadership on the issue, with the former US vice-president Al Gore saying Sunak was “doing the wrong thing”. At a Downing Street press conference, Sunak insisted his scaling down of climate policies was “not about the politics”, even though the Conservatives’ conference slogan adorned the lectern and party insiders said the move was about creating dividing lines with Labour. [ ... ]

Most Tory MPs were supportive, with some vocally backing the policy. Labour condemned the plan, and sought to use the speech to link the prime minister with his predecessor Liz Truss, who called on the government to row back on its green commitments just days ago. Ed Miliband, the shadow energy secretary, said: “This is an act of weakness from a desperate, directionless prime minister, dancing to the tune of a small minority of his party. Liz Truss crashed the economy and Rishi Sunak is trashing our economic future.”

Finding oneself on the same side as Liz Truss is seldom a good thing.

[lboogie1906]

Cori "Coco" Gauff (born March 13, 2004) is a tennis player. She is the youngest player ranked in the top 100 by the Women's Tennis Association and has a career-high ranking of No. 66 in the world. She won her first WTA singles title at the Linz Open, making her the youngest singles title holder on the WTA Tour since 2004. She has won two WTA doubles titles. She rose to prominence with a first-round upset of Venus Williams at Wimbledon. She experimented with a variety of sports as a child. She chose to focus on tennis, having been inspired to play by the Williams sisters, and because she preferred to compete in an individual sport. She had quick success as a junior, earning a sponsorship to train at Patrick Mouratoglou's academy in France. She began playing on the ITF Junior Circuit at 13 and finished runner-up at the junior US Open in just her fourth ITF event, making her the youngest finalist in the tournament's history. She became the No. 1 junior in the world after winning the junior Grand Slam singles title at the French Open over McNally. She won a junior Grand Slam doubles title at the 2018 US Open. She made her WTA Tour debut at the Miami Open and won her opening match. She received a wild card into the qualifying draw at Wimbledon where she became the youngest player to qualify for the main draw in the tournament's history. She reached the fourth round of the event, and each of her matches was the most-watched of the day in the US. She reached another third round at a major at the US Open. She defeated Venus Williams in straight sets in the first round, Sorana Cirstea in the second, and defending champion Naomi Osaka in the third, becoming the youngest player to defeat a top 5 player since the 1991 US Open. She uses a Head Graphene 360 Speed MP with 16 main and 19 cross strings. She wears New Balance clothing and tennis shoes. She signed her first multi-year sponsorship contract, with New Balance. At the 2021 French Open, she wore a New Balance outfit of bold mismatched color splotches. She announced a multi-year sponsorship agreement with the Italian food company Barilla. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #womenshistorymonth https://www.instagram.com/p/CpusjCFOXaa/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[eeveedel]

Harry going to a Google seminar for rich people to solve world problems. Saying staying in one place for three months during the pandemic was so hard (and the longest he's been in one place since he was 16). Taking vitamin IVs (there's a shortage). His your crew having like five women and no poc (he owns half the touring company). Investing in his friends new arena in Manchester which already has a flooded market and saying "it's not about money it's about music". Expecting collaborators to move into a studio with him for months (rip Adam who wanted to spend time with his kids). Launching covid merch before he goes on a fucking road trip for fun. Saying my policeman is a story about wasted time and never addressing the homophobia (even if you're in the closet no one is gonna shoot you if you have a good opinion on LGBT history). Choke her with a seaview lyrics. Then preforming at Coachella, owned by a raging homophobe. Saying fighting for equality isn't political.

I understand harry wants to be the biggest artist in the world. I just don't think the sacrifices he's making are ok with me.

....damn some of these things I was familiar with (the IV nonsense, his general weirdness with MP promo, his staunch apolitical-ness, his general horrid lyrics, THE COVID SHIT), some things I only vaguely knew about (the new concert venue, Coachella) and some things I had no idea about (the lack of diversity in his touring company, the stuff with Adam???) but I think in general this outlines a lot of what is so frustrating about Harry lately.

I know it is basically impossible for someone who is a very attractive, very wealthy, very famous white man to stay level headed and totally moral but..all of this combined is just. not a person I could see myself being a fan of anymore

[stop-saying-tootsie]

48, 41, 43, 44 (cap and pat) and 38 :)

oh hey eli

48. What do you think the ghosts' jobs would be in a modern living-human AU where they're all just chaotic housemates?

my favorite kind of question >:)

i will preface this with: i am projecting as an elementary education major at university, and honestly i haven’t seen the show in so long that i don’t know if these are based off true characteristics, or the version that i’ve created in my mind bc of fan theories

robin - astronomer, no question, he’s so smart and would love mapping the stars and discovering new galaxies

humphrey - everyone (including me) puts him as a principal type, which i do agree fits pretty well. i think he’d enjoy being around kids and they’d definitely find him entertaining. also part of me wants him to be a chef for some reason

mary - she’d have a stand at the farmer’s market every week with really cool baskets and tons of food to sell, and cap would help her garden bc i said so

kitty - i really think she’d be a teacher, but definitely for much younger grades, she’d be so fun for primary aged students

thomas - do y’all remember trish from austin and ally? yeah that’s thomas in a modern au

fanny - she’d have no job, she came across a large sum of money after her husband died so she just sits at home with dante all day <3

cap - get this man into local theatre !!! (pat would drag him along and before you know it cap is the star), otherwise he’d probably enjoy a quiet job at a library, without much talking

pat - he’d definitely still be a scout master, and honestly he would make a fantastic teacher. he’s got the optimism needed for it, and he’s great at motivating people, so yeah absolutely

julian - he’d be fired from his MP job so he’d try to get into local government, and would fail, so his entire life is just attempting to campaign and mooching off the others

41. Let's settle this once and for all. Who's the real leader, the Captain or Pat?

i gotta give it to Pat. as much as i adore Cap, he’s too rigid </3 obviously in the military or other instances he’d be great at leading!! but with the ghosts, Pat just fits the vibe

43. You've heard rumours of a tenth upstairs ghost who doesn't often venture out of their room to visit with the other residents of the house. Who are they? (i.e. make up a ghost OC. I know i'm putting you on the spot. I just want to see what you come up with.)

okay i’m terrible at coming up with OCs oh god

it’s a teen who snuck into the house in the early 2000s and is honestly too embarrassed to show his face. he’s probably 16 or so, and was supposed to be meeting a “friend”, but got stood up, so he figured why not drink some of the alcohol that was up in the attic,,,it was not alcohol (honestly who knows what it was, one second he was fine and the next he was looking down at himself)

the reason he doesn’t venture downstairs is because he’s got a massive crush on like. pretty much all the ghosts, and mike and alison, but surprise!! he found out after a couple years that he can turn invisible (which was a relief because he thought every time he DID go downstairs, they just ignored him)

so he definitely listens in on all their convos, which frankly solidified his crush on most of them weirdly enough

also he wears jorts and a hawaiian shirt (he’s just like me fr)

44. me a song you think [insert character name here] would like, or a song that reminds you of them!

South by Hippo Campus is SO Cap and i’ll die on that hill BUT. a possible contender is The Astronomer from Ghost Quartet, very nice song and idk!! feels a bit like Cap!!

for Pat hmmm…i really like giving him ABBA or Queen songs, they’re just so perfect, so we’re going with Radio Gaga <3 (i swear at some point i did a post listing several songs for each ghost, and i literally have the playlist, but i can’t find the post no matter how hard i look so maybe i never posted it </3)

sorry to reuse these songs bc i’ve definitely provided them as answers before, but i haven’t listened to anything but will wood in months so i have no new music options

38. It's your turn to pick a movie for film club! What are you watching?

oh this is so much pressure coming from you eli

my personal favorite movie is richard jewell, so i would obviously choose that just to make them watch it. though i do think they’d enjoy the suspense, and absolute shitshow the FBI is

i may also go for Luca, because i think they’d all like it (cap may resonate particularly well)

and then of course the barbie movie <3 everyone needs to see it once in their life (or death)

[paved-un-paved]

Shooting Sports: What's in The Bag?

(This article is re-posted from 2021. Gear update coming soon.)

(Photo by Hernan Bernal)

I've been making pictures for over two decades now, and I still work on improving my photography every day - and improving the gear I use. I have found sports to be the most demanding field I've ever worked in, it being tougher - and ultimately, more satisfying - than even chasing wildlife in the Florida Everglades.

Any good photographer will tell you that you can get great pictures with any decent camera, and when I started covering cycling races, I had just come back from a short photography hiatus with a new-to-me Nikon D80. It marked my return to DSLRs after having sold all my Canon gear some time before. The D80 got me hooked on Nikon, and I sold a bunch of good photos from it, but I kept on "trading up" until I got to the kit I use now. My biggest reasons for upgrading included faster autofocus, weather-sealing on the body and lenses, and a more usable ISO range.

So what do you see me shooting with now out at races? I am a hardcore minimalist, but I still use two camera bodies, one with a wide lens and one with a telephoto. The Nikon Z 6 has become my primary camera - a big surprise to me, considering how many people want to talk down its sports capabilities. I may think differently about it if I were shooting 150mph race cars or motorcycles, but it does extremely well when photographing cyclists whizzing past me at 30+ mph.

My Nikon 70-200/4 VR is almost always attached to the Z 6 via the clunky FTZ adapter. The 70-200 is a staple in almost every sports photographer's bag, and that's why I resisted it for so long - trying to be different, but I was going about it the wrong way. I now see why this incredibly versatile lens is so damn popular. I picked the f/4 over the f/2.8 because of weight. Endurance sports are the only sports I shoot, and they are almost always out in the open and in the daytime - so I don't really need that extra stop. And after running from one end of a criterium course to the other all day while carrying almost 30 pounds of gear, I realized I needed to lighten up the backpack. The secondary body is one that I had wanted even back when I was still shooting Canon, having been released in 2012: the Nikon (former) flagship body, the D4. Tough as hell, and it shoots 11 frames per second - rat-tat-tat-tat! Ergonomic even with its considerable heft, it looks and handles the business. Mated to a Nikon 16-35/4 and hanging from a Peak Design Slide strap, it's really not bad to carry around.

The 16-35 is the newest addition to the kit, having traded in my beloved Nikon 16mm fisheye and the utilitarian Nikon 24/2.8 lens I used for a while. I don't get the awesome distortion from the 16-35 that I did from the dedicated fisheye prime, but then the same distortion could easily become gimmicky at times. So the fisheye stayed in the bag more often than not. The 16-35 gives me that amazing wide-angle perspective I love, with a very useful zoom range.

Rounding out the lens selection, I held onto my Nikon 300/4 with a 1.4x teleconverter, for when I really need more reach. It's a cracker of a lens, but it has made less appearances at race courses since I have had the 70-200. What else is in the bag? Snacks, tons of batteries, a Think Tank Pee Wee Pixel Pocket Rocket case for all the memory cards, a Think Tank Hydrophobia rain cover for the unpredictable Sunshine State weather, a Nikon SB-900 flash, and a few other odds and ends. A rugged WD My Passport SSD hard drive serves as a backup and storage for second shooters. The pack itself is a Mindshift Gear (Think Tank again) MP-7 v2.0 backpack. It's pretty light and fits everything just right, laid out in a way that makes sense for an active outdoors photographer.

Finally, hanging defiantly from an exterior zipper is a French keychain of the lion mascot from longtime Tour de France sponsor Crédit Lyonnais, to remind me of determination and pushing past limits; just like I can always ride my bike faster, I can always make an even better picture.