#nothing but respect for MY president michael

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Horsey

* * * *

Biden goes on offense.

March 11, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

If the campaigning over the weekend is a portent of things to come, Democrats should be feeling good. As Joe Biden continued the momentum gained from a commanding State of the Union address, Trump partied with the anti-democratic strongman of Hungary, Viktor Orbán. Biden and Trump gave dueling speeches in Georgia: Joe Biden delivered a fiery but traditional campaign speech. Trump rambled in a stream-of-consciousness manner that would have made James Joyce scratch his head in puzzlement.  

The difference in tone and comprehensibility of their respective campaign speeches in Georgia was palpable. In this clip, President Biden thanks his Black supporters for their key role in his 2020 victory and asks for their support in 2024. He also praises the bravery of the civil rights marchers—including the late John Lewis—who were beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge fifty-nine years ago on Bloody Sunday.

President Biden said:

Thursday marked fifty-nine years since hundreds of foot soldiers for justice marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge named after the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan to claim the fundamental right to vote. They were beaten, they were bloody, they were left for dead—but they were unbowed. Our late friend, son of Georgia, John Lewis, was there. Five months later, what happened? We passed the Voting Rights Act [and it was] signed into law. But in the nearly six decades after that, the same forces are back, led by Donald Trump, taking us back in time, suppressing the vote, subvert[ing] elections. That’s why we have to stand up again. We know what to do. And my message to Georgia voters—and the voters all across the country—is to send me a Congress that will pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

The new toughness in Biden’s speech is welcome. He is making a direct connection between the brutal voter suppression of the Jim Crow era and the reactionary tactics of MAGA extremists. And he is calling out Trump's submissive courting of foreign dictators. See The Guardian, Biden hits out at Trump in Georgia rally: ‘He’s been sucking up to dictators all over the world’.

Trump, on the other hand, attacked supporters of Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley—because nothing invites party unity like rubbing salt in the wound! He spewed venom and ugliness about immigrants, the media, judges, rigged elections, and Joe Biden’s State of the Union address—but heaped copious praise on the enemy of democracy in Hungary, Viktor Orbán.

Trump flitted from grievance to grievance, speaking in an opaque code that was comprehensible to few members of the audience. In the snippet below, Trump complains that people are saying Joe Biden appears to be more fit than Trump:

Somebody said he [Biden] looks great in a bathing suit, right? And you know, when he was in the sand, having a hard time lifting his foot through the sand, because, you know, sand is heavy, three solid ounces per foot, but sand is a little heavy, and he is sitting in a bathing suit. At 81, do you remember Cary Grant? How good was he, right? I don't know what happened to movie stars today. We used to have Cary Grant, Glark Gable, and today – I will not say names because we don't need enemies. I get enough enemies. Cary Grant was like Michael Jackson once told me, the most handsome man in the world, Cary Grant, and we don't have that anymore. The Cary Grant at 81 or 82, going on 100, this guy, he is 81 going on 100, Cary Grant would not look too good in a bathing suit either, and he was pretty good-looking, right?

Huh??

Of course, Trump's most reprehensible conduct was imitating President Biden’s stutter. In this post, you can see Trump mocking Biden’s stutter and a moving video of Joe Biden comforting and inspiring a young boy with a stutter. Watch the video of Joe Biden until the end. It will remind you (again) why he is admired and liked by all who have worked with him.

One man is a monster and a criminal, and the other is a decent, kind person who can empathize with the challenges faced by others.

This pattern will continue for the next eight months. Trump's hate-filled, rambling rallies will continue to alienate persuadable voters, while Joe Biden’s humanity will shine through. Of course, there is no guarantee of success in anything in life. But as between the two candidates, we should be encouraged and proud to have Joe Biden as our standard bearer.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[ussjellyfish]

Hi! Rain and Psionics for the elemental writer ask? Or any of them. I'd love to get inside your process a little since your writing is awesome!!

thanks for asking!

Rain: Have you ever made yourself cry with your own writing?  If so, what was it?

Oh I do all the time. Crying usually sneaks up and then, boom. It's cathartic though. I enjoy it when I can make myself cry, it means I did a good job. Writing is such an emotional dredging process sometimes. It feels likeI have to be aware of the feelings to write it.

Some scenes that got me where Chapter 35 of Quantum Variations on a Love Theme, when Laira gives birth because that one has so much support, I love that one.

Also chapter 26 of Firefly (Philippa gives birth and so much of that is letting go for her, and I had a good time writing it).

I like to tie myself into knots emotionally while I'm writing my characters doing the same because it's almost relaxing? I liked acting in high school, and part of the fun was getting to put myself through this situations consequence free, there's nothing to worry about.

Writing is similar, I can just dive into all the feelings and then move on. Have the experience and the catharsis and then I write another chapter.

---

Psionics: How do you get into the heads of your characters?

Watch the source material and analyze the little things they do. I'm in a Laira mood, so I'll talk about her.

I make a character bio for myself, so I can try to make organic choices. I take what we know, I try to extrapolate for other parts of it. I borrow things from other writers, and try to make as detailed of a person as possible so they can live in my head.

Things we know about Laira Rillak: She's a former cargo pilot, basically a space truck driver, and then she got into politics and made it up to the leader of the Federation. Both of her parents seem to be dead, if she has siblings, they're not mentioned.

Pilots have certain traits we get from other characters we know.

Keyla Detmer, Erica Ortegas, Christopher Pike, Jean-Luc Picard, Tom Paris, Travis Merriweather, Dal R'El, Wesley Crusher...

There's bravado there. There's that sense of invincibility and how they can totally do the incredible dangerous thing. We see that in her when Discovery jumps, and she's totally fine with it. Most characters are disconcerted by their first jump (Michael, Pike, Rayner...) jumping is weird.

Laira is fine with it. She has that pilot bravado. Which explains part of why she wanted to be president now, when things are so wild. Michael and Discovery have solved the Burn, and defeated the Emerald Chain so being president right now will be hard, really hard, and promising, in a way it hasn't been in her entire life time.

She's the kind of person who looks at "someone needs to lead the Federation through this unprecedented time of rebuilding and reaching out and that someone is me." She knows what she can do. She wants to make things better. She believes in connection.

She's also really lonely. her mother is dead, it sounds like perhaps when she was young, and it doesn't sound like her father's still alive either. She has a partner she doesn't see very often and for all the effort she spends on helping other people connect, she's bad at that.

We see that later, when she's thrown by what's happening and when Michael starts looking out for her. She's great at leading, not great at looking after herself. She doesn't think her own feelings are important until Michael calls her on it.

She also fidgets with her bracelet, chews her lip when she's nervous, wears her hair in very ornate knots on the back of her head that must take some work, but also stay up all day.

She's good at thinking on her feet and can come up with an inspiring speech in a moment, and she's well respected. Michael is often at odds with her, but has faith in her abilities. Laira also isn't very good at science. She has the more complicated things explained to her often, and she's nice about it, so is the crew.

If she were a D&D character, her stats are high wisdom, high charisma, high constitution and intelligence is kind of her dump stat and that's okay.

I take that and think about what's her motivation. What do I want to accomplish. Am I leaning into her strengths and her weaknesses? What would she think in this moment? What are the emotional beats, what parts of her am I using? I lean into acting things about getting into character and think about how her voice sounds. Often I try to imagine the actors saying the lines in my head. Would it sound right? What feelings do I want them to have behind it? What do I want the audience to feel?

Sometimes it's just...this is cute banter because I love them, but that's after I've built a character and I can call on them.

[bdzonthareel]

Barbie

When I first heard about a Barbie movie, I like many people rolled their eyes at the very thought of it. Barbie media has often (at times unfairly) lambasted for being a cash grab and that was my initial reaction, however we I heard that Margot Robbie was involved and her production company was fitting the bill, my interest was piqued. So without further ado, (and I never thought I would ever say these words) let’s talk about Barbie!

We’re introduced to the fictional world of Barbieland, where every concept of Barbie exists and lives in perfect harmony with a respective Ken, and Allan (there’s only one of him.) But the harmony is disrupted when Robbie’s Stereotypical Barbie begins to suffer from an existential crisis and in order for her to fix what’s wrong she must go to the real world and meet the girl who is playing with her and figure out what’s wrong.

In all genres of entertainment, comedy is one of those that I am insanely harsh on, as comedian myself I feel like there should be a flow to long form story, especially in comedy. But I can say that Director and co-screenwriter Greta Gerwig created a work that was heartfelt and hilarious in this film.

The cinematography is nothing short of brilliant, lots and lots of pink paint was used to bring Barbieland to life and it felt like one massive play set. And the various Real World shots were not to be out done giving off a stark contrast to each other.

The soundtrack was a delightful mix of classic top 40s, newer hits and self-aware comedic songs. The score was equally light poppy and fun, composers (pop music legend) Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt brought an amazing upbeat energy to this film.

Co-writer Noah Baumbach, helped with some very well-timed jokes, and you know they worked because they triggered a metric ton of incels, and that alone was worth the price of admission. Together with Gerwig, I was throughly impressed with the amount of meta commentary on display, and despite what some might lead you to believe, the film doesn’t demonize men; the film’s message is far more complex than that. I also appreciate the fact that they made the movie about the titular character, with seems to be something that franchises like Transformers can’t seem to get right.

And the performances were hilariously well done, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gossling have great chemistry as they lampoon the ideas of these characters’ roles. Simu Liu, is amazing versatile and brings the same amazing timing that he brought to Kim’s Convenience and it was delightful. Although my favorite Barbies were Issa Rei as President Barbie and Sharon Rooney as Lawyer Barbie. And I would be remised to ignore Hari Nef whose Doctor Barbie was whimsical and charming, Also since I’m madly in love with Alexandra Shipp I can say that she another of my favorite parts. America Ferreira and Ariana Greenblat served as great moral support for the various inhabitants of Barbieland and then there Will Ferrell I was almost convinced was Ken at one point given his goofball behavior. I also enjoyed seeing Rhea Pearlman as one (spoilers), she just gets better with age. Kate McKinnon really went all in as Weird Barbie as did Michael Cera as Allan (easily my favorite character in the film.) And last but certainly NOT least, Dame Hellen Mirren as the narrator brought a nice touch of her

Barbie was more than what I and many others initially expected, it was packaged as a goofball fish-out-of-water comedy which is a tired cliché in its own right, I sat down on this for a good while before writing this and I feel like its one of the best comedies I have seen in a very long time. It was very funny, but it also had a lot to say about growing up, holding on to thing that we love, and letting go of them. The biggest message that we all have to find our own way, because we are all more than just an idea and life doesn’t exist in just a straight line and at the end of the day isn’t that what it means to be human?

I give Barbie a well-deserved, 5 out of 5.

[theweirdowithcoffee]

Modern Warfare (2007-2011 Era) AU Chapter 1 Rough Draft (Continuation of Prologue Rough Draft):

"In The East, Nothing New."

Day 4 - 16:58:49, 2016

PFC Michael Carver

1st Bn., 7th Marines Regiment

No Man's Wasteland, [REDACTED]

"Carver, sitrep, over." Lieutenant Phillps broke through the static comm in his usual dull tone accentuated by his higher than average volume when giving out commands. He needed to so as to ensure Private First Class James Ramirez and I could hear him over the interference. I got on the line and reported back what the pair of us had been reporting for the past hour.

"Not a thing, sir, over." The loud noise punctuating the activating and releasing the button on the radio punctuated my nothing report. It was as boring as it was true. The U.S. Army Rangers usually saw more action, especially this deep into enemy territory. As a marine myself, however, I learnt to fear the quiet more than any firefight. Silence is the last thing you want to hear in a hot combat zone. Probably why I felt somewhat tense around the mute Ranger paired with me these past couple recon assessments.

Ramirez and I were scouting out ahead in "No Man's Wasteland". I adjusted my seating, the extra gear was more than what I was used to carrying, and the masks were causing more issues than I'd like. Ramirez on the other hand was as stone faced as ever. It was like nothing could ever phase the guy. It made going out on ops easy with him, but a little unnerving. He never talked back, never questioned a direct order, and somehow had always been ontop of things. But he was an anomaly. Sometimes he'd quietly take the initiative without warning and eas hust as capable at turning overwhelming odds into our favour. If he at least said something once in a while it'd put me more at ease, but I can always respect a man of action.

The radio roared to life before the Lt's voice filled in the temporary white noise. "Roger that. Come back home you two, regroup with the rest of us and we'll move deeper into the Wasteland, how copy?"

"Solid copy." The reply was simple but to the point, just as Uncle Sam had drilled into all of us grunts. I tilt my head over to Ramirez, who was crouched against a wall with a massive burned hole where once a window must've stood between. "We're Oscar Mike, bud," I quietly call out.

Ramirez gave a slight pause before glancing out the broken window space once more. A bit of dirt and debris fell gently down the floor above us when he did. After a moment he turned back to face me, staring through the gasmask that was obfuscating his and my facial features and made a quiet hand gesture. He put up three fingers and tilted his hand downwards a couple times.

I held my breath. Three tangos that we hadn't noticed? Trepidation crept in as I wondered if they heard the radio call between the Lt. and I. A quick gesture returned back to my fellow Private from I for him to stay on my back as we quietly were to descend and rendezvous with the team. A brief nod acknowledged my order. I took point, stepping away from the corner I was observing the location from and crouch walking out the burnt down doorway we passed through about four hours ago.

This was a dangerous place for anyone to be in. It was the site of the nuke that went off five years ago during Al Ahsad's coup. A middle eastern military rising practically overnight for the world to watch in terror after executing their former President, Yasir Al-Fulani, on live television was enough to shake up the western governments into immediate action back in the day. It would be nothing compared to what came next. Unbeknownst to the U.S. at the time, they were being supported by the Ultranationalist party in Russia during its Civil War, and they supplied a nuclear weapon. When the Americans sent our boys and girls in to bring down Al Ahsad, we were working on bad intel. We knew nothing about the Ultranationalist, the bomb, and where exactly Ahsad even was. The perfect recipe for a tragedy.

We came in half cocked and confident to end this conflict in less than a week. What we got instead- was 30,000 dead and the No Man's Wasteland. The deceased can't hear our sympathies, our anguish for their loss. They can only make room for us when we find our way back to them at the end of all things.

We've been steadily infiltrating this site for a while. Ahsad in the end was a glorified red harring, a face in the middle east for the Ultranationalist to wear. Orders came from above, the General leading the forces out here five years ago. Having risen up quietly in the past couple years, we have reason to believe the Ultranationalist party has taken an interest in the area for some ungodly reason. Walking in the shadows of ghosts isn't something I want to make into a regular hobby, but I'm a marine, we typically chart out the path those shadows eventually pass through. Having to do a joint op with the Army Rangers had me racking my mind for a while, made things a bit uncomfortable. We fight for the same government, but our training often conflicts with our priorities when fate ties our hands together.

Ramirez is an anomaly in that regards. There's never any conflict with the man, probably why the Lt. sent me with him for the past couple days. I'd say I like him, but it's hard to say someone is disagreeable or not when they never pipe up. What he lacks in vocabulary, he doesn't in action. I think just as much when he in no wasted efforts shifted into position right on my six, an M4, standard issue; at the ready. Not what I'd come to expect from those army boys, even less from a Private. The only person with as much potential and talent in his division was another Private, Allen I believe his name was. Hadn't met the man myself, but apparently General Shepherd had his eye on the both of them for his "special" task force. As for me, I've been moved around enough as it was.

The Ranger and I made our way down, tight in formation. The harsh winds were starting to pick up. We were located not too far from the initial site of the blast, any closer and the radiation couldn't be ignored. In theory, no one else should be here. Unless you were looking to not to be found or had a death wish. Intuition told me our friends three flights below weren't here to keel over. The pair of us made it down the long decaying hall which sharply directed us right at a harsh ninety degree angle until the the floor began to sink into an empty hole. A staircase might have been standing there at one point, but only a skeleton of a frame remained. Ramirez had to boost me up the first time, getting down was gonna be louder than either of us would have liked. Combined with the weight we're carrying, it's a genuine risk we could fall straight through this floor and the next.

I turned to meet with Ramirez, but as usual he was already picking up what I was going to say, flashing up his hand to gesture "okay" with his fingers as I've grown accustomed too on our outings. I reached out my arm and we gripped it by the forearm firmly as I readied to let him down. Not exactly standard procedure, but it was quick and mitigated the sound we'd make on our descent and exfil. He stood crouched at the edge of the drop off facing I and myself him as I began to lower him. The strain on my right arm wasn't great, but once he was halfway, he detached his grip as I released my own and his boots hit the ground. Fortunately, it suppressed his movements good enough. Now it was turn to get down.

I gripped deep into the edge of the flooring and flipped myself over until I was hanging off the edge. The space between myself and the ground was enough for me and a half of me. Luckily, Ramirez would make up some of that space. He slid over his M4 and waited in a trust-fall like catching position. Without much other options, I released hold and let the Ranger and Gravity sort the rest out.

The impact was a little rough, I was certain my shoulders were going to be sore, but the sound we would have otherwise made and damage to ourselves we might have done was reduced considerably. If Lady Fate was kind, it would be enough to keep us concealed. Wasting no further time, we readied up into our formation once more and carefully resumed our trek out of this dilapidated place. On our way to the next stairway, something caught my attention. I gestured for the Private to hold his position as I too came to a stop. Movement. It was faint, but it was there. Not by sight, but sound. The winds had picked up even further. Cancerous airs inflicted by the hate of man onto this Earth were now masking our enemies- yet us as well. It holds no loyalty for its fathers. A quick motion of fingers and wrists informed Ramirez that we were resuming our withdrawal.

We hit the next staircase. More sounds echoed in tandem with the violent weather. Anxiety of a radiation storm flared up in my mind, no matter how unlikely, but I wouldn't let that show through the mask. I could make out what might have been chatter. Hard to say what they were speaking, but it was a safe bet to say I wouldn't be able to understand even under better circumstances.

Then came the clanking of metal. A tone of aggression, but not pointed at our approach. Not at first. Turning my attention back to my partner in the field, I signaled for him to hold the position at the top of the stairs; I was to scout ahead. He reciprocated the silent command with slight nod and taking cover against the wall that followed the steps back down. This needed to be quick.

-------------------------------------------------------

If you wish to support me and what I do, you can do so on my KoFi here!

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

My coffee is nice and hot and I’ve collected a lot of material to share this week. There’s no way I can share it all. A lot of it centers around American Politics and the rift between WordPress and WP Engine.

I hope you enjoy the links I’ve selected for you. 😁

The Carter Center

ATLANTA — Today, The Carter Center and the world celebrate the 100th birthday of former President Jimmy Carter. As the longest-living U.S. president in history, he stands as a beacon of leadership and compassion, inspiring people around the globe.

I remember as a kid folks being very critical of Jimmy Carter, especially around the Iran hostage crisis. But, there’s no denying he is a wonderful man whose real legacy started after he was President. He’s an American Hero and a great example of human kindness and compassion. He walks the walk.

Happy 100th Birthday Mr. President! 🎂

Hafsa Khalil • BBC

Kris Kristofferson, the award-winning country singer and actor who worked with Johnny Cash and Martin Scorsese, has died aged 88.

Kris Kristofferson was a Renaissance Man. He earned a Masters degree at Oxford University, served in the US Army, was an actor, and he’s probably best know as a musician. He was also a badass. I tend to look up to folks like that.

A part me me hopes the dust-up between Toby Keith and Kris Kristofferson, as penned by Ethan Hawke for Rolling Stone, actually happened. 😄

RIP 🪦

The Cincinnati Enquirer • Mark Wert and Jason Hoffman

Pete Rose, MLB all-time hits leader, dies at 83

As a boy I was a Reds fan and vividly remember the 1976 World Series. I was a Johnny Bench fan as a boy and became a catcher because of him. The fact that they hammered the Yankees by sweeping them in the series was icing on the cake. My MLB team allegiance changed over the years but I’ll always be a fan of The Big Red Machine and The Great Eight, Rose among them.

It’s high time Major League Baseball allows Rose to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

RIP Charlie Hustle. 🪦

Jeffrey Zeldman

My insight into corporate legal disputes is as meaningful as my opinion on Quantum Mechanics. What I do know is that, when given the chance this week to leave my job with half a year’s salary paid in advance, I chose to stay at Automattic.

The WordPress community is in complete turmoil at the moment. I would not be shocked to see this completely fracture the community into competing factions, forking WordPress, and building how they see fit.

I’m a big fan of WordPress, even though I complain about it not being able to make static sites. It is a very nice plug-n-play system for everything from a simple one person blog, to a small business, to a huge corporation managing a very large, heavily trafficked site.

I’ve tried to get a job there I like it so much. I’d still love the opportunity to work on their iOS client or Tumblr iOS client apps.

They’ve done a lot for the open source community and Matt has always come across as one of the good guys.

I really hope this gets resolved without blowing up the community.

John Stoehr • Raw Story

Former GOP official Michael Steele unfurled an epic rant bashing voters who would consider sending “incompetent” Donald Trump back to the White House.

Michael Steele is the former Chair of the RNC and lieutenant governor of Maryland. The man is a politician and life long Republican. He’s the type of person I usually disagree with politically but I respect him. He’s nothing like the modern GOP turned MAGA cult.

Anywho. So many real Republicans have come out against the Orange Man, yet the polls are still tight? I don’t get it and I’m still terrified we might get Orangey for a second term.

Bradley Brownell • Jalopnik

NASCAR is running an unlawful monopoly on the sport of stock car racing, alleges a suit filed on Wednesday by stock car teams 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against the sanctioning body and its CEO Jim France. 23XI is, of course, the team co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan and racer Denny Hamlin.

My popcorn is ready! I hope 23XI — pronounced 23 11 — and Front Row Motorsports make some headway for NASCAR teams. I know I’m new to NASCAR but if you read what the two teams claim it’s shocking what NASCAR gets away with. How teams manage to exist is beyond me. It’s a terrible business, if that’s what you’re after. It seems you need deep pockets or sponsors with deep pockets just to keep a team afloat, much less be competitive.

Christian Selig

Juno for YouTube has been removed from the App Store

This can’t be a surprise to anyone given how fiercely YouTube protects its product. Of course I wish they’d left Christian alone because he makes beautiful software.

I know nobody from YouTube will see this but I wish they’d offer to give Christian some cash for it and hire him to continue working on it.

Jamie Zawinski

Mozilla’s CEO doubles down on them being an advertising company now

With all the kerfuffle between WordPress and WP Engine it’s hard to watch Mozilla head down this road. They’re one of those organizations we could look up to as an open source advocate and maintainer of one of the most used pieces of software in the world.

Hopefully they’re able to find their way back to their roots and continue to maintain Firefox.

Michael Moore

Right now, if you know how to really read the polls, or if you have access to the various private and internal polling being conducted by and shared only amongst the elites, Wall Street, and Members of Congress, then you already know that this election was over weeks ago. Trump simply refused to believe that “Sleepy Joe” was no longer his opponent and that there was instead “some woman” claiming she was “Black” who was now going to pummel him on Election Day. He soon became unhinged, ranted for hours about Hannibal Lecter, Haitians cannibalizing your pets, and a nonstop drone of oral diarrhea spewing misogyny, racism and essentially claiming that if he loses “it will be the Jews’ fault.”

I’m steeling myself for the possibility of a Trump Presidency. Seeing articles like this give me some hope for a Harris Waltz win. If they do win I expect a lot more violence this time around. I hope that can all be suppressed before it can happen but it won’t surprise me if it does.

All news outlets and social media sites need to agree to not give the Orange Man any airtime for speeches after the election or at least be ready to cut away at an instant.

JOSEPH SHAVIT • The Brighter Side

In a groundbreaking development poised to reshape the energy landscape of Saskatchewan, Canada, a compact nuclear reactor with the capacity to operate for eight years without water is set to come online by 2029.

I hope this works out. It could provide us with clean energy for years and years to come.

Sylvain Kerkour

Rust developers are stuck in an endless hamster wheel where every month / week there is a new best way to do something, and the previous way is now deprecated, kind of like in the fronntend development world with the weekly hottest JavaScript framework.

I know Rust and other languages rely on the community to make the language better but I am surprised the actual framework support for the platform often comes from outside sources.

Rust should have runtime library support just like the C and C++. Basic stuff plus heavily used things like networking and other frameworks layered on top of those. All using common framework patterns and maintained by the main Rust development team.

Something that makes developing in Apple platforms are the shared frameworks that work the same on Mac, iPhone, iPad, etc. Sure, the UI bits are different, but a lot of other code is the same. I’d say 80% of Stream code is shared between Mac and iOS and it’s maintained by Apple and ready for each new release of their OSes.

Blair Vanderhoof, , Jesse Watts-Russell, Fernando Gorodscy, Matt Galloway, and Eli White • engineering.fb.com

At Meta, React and React Native are more than just tools; they are integral to our product development and innovation. With over five thousand people at Meta building products and experiences with React every month, these technologies are fundamental to our engineering culture and our ability to quickly build and ship high quality products.

I’ve been working in React Native off and on since June of this year. It’s a fine framework and definitely allows developers to move quickly. Especially web devs with React experience. They can come to a project and be instantly productive.

This Facebook Engineering piece reads like marketing material at times but giving developers the means to develop for everything from iOS to Android to Windows to XBox to PlayStation is real and that’s powerful.

It doesn’t mean all the UI looks exactly the same just like Mac and iOS apps can share a bunch of code and have a different UI, but that ability to share a large portion of code is extremely powerful to a development team.

I still love writing native apps in their native frameworks and expect to keep Stream 100% native. I still love using C++ for cross platform work even though I haven’t had the need for it in years. Then you have Rust gaining ground. We have good choices for cross platform work, including Swift.

Something I really dislike about using React Native and TypeScript is the lack of real tooling for debugging in a full IDE. I’d love to be able to debug between Swift and TypeScript right inside Xcode but TypeScript/JavaScript tooling is arcane. Hopefully someone way smarter than me will make that happen.

Anyone know if Rust fully integrates into Xcode and Microsoft’s Visual Studio?

[talkingpointsusa]

Michael Knowles comes out in defense of killing puppies

South Dakota’s governor and potential Trump running mate Kristi Noem admitted to shooting her own dog as well as a goat in her autobiography - one of our favorite imbeciles Michael Knowles is scarily OK with this. Considering that animal abuse is a bridge too far for really any rational human being, this really speaks to the character of these guys. Lets get into it.

04:51, Michael Knowles: "Three observations here. First one is, this probably was bad politics."

As usual, Michael Knowles is kind of getting thrown under the bus by the Daily Wire with this story. Michael Knowles tends to do the stories that Ben Shapiro doesn't seem to want to cover, which makes sense because he's basically a warmed over Ben Shapiro clone with less intelligent takes.

As for this being "bad politics", no kidding! When you admit to shooting a dog and a goat in your autobiography that's a really bad look. Anyway, Michael's position on this is that Kristi Noem did nothing wrong and that it's actually A-OK to shoot your dog.

06:34, Michael Knowles: "Now, I only somewhat jokingly tweeted. I said unpopular take here, I know everyone's raking Kristi Noem over the coals but this actually makes me like and respect her more."

Yeah, liking someone MORE for bragging about killing an animal in cold blood is....certainly a take from Michael here.

06:43, Michael Knowles: "And I'm a little bit joking here obviously because this totally politically backfired for her but what I'm getting at there is I want my politicians to be just tough as nails cold blooded killers."

You're a huge fan of the guy who throws shit-fits about people making fun of him, calm down. Seriously, Trump basically wants to ban people from making fun of him.

But man, Michael really thought this one through. “I like this politician better because she killed her dog. Really I just like sociopaths in general - they remind me of my coworker Matt you see.”

06:59, Michael Knowles: "We are going up against a political establishment right now that is throwing us in jail for disagreeing with them."

Wow Michael, I didn't know that you were broadcasting out of prison now. That sucks man.

Statements like that really show the absolute contempt that guys like Michael Knowles have for their audiences. How on earth can you as a listener of this show square the statement that the left is throwing conservatives in jail for disagreeing with them with the fact that the Daily Wire exists?!

07:02, Michael Knowles: "We're going up against a political establishment that is prosecuting, for the first time ever, former presidents, leaders of the opposition. That's throwing midwestern grannies into isolation and solitary confinement because they had the audacity to show up and take selfies in the Capitol rotunda on January 6th."

I already talked about the J6 "praying grandma" in a previous post and my opinion remains the same - her age is completely unimportant here. What is important is that she was illegally inside of a government building and was part of a mob that wanted to overturn a presidential election.

07:20, Michael Knowles: "The worst insurrection ever in America even though it was only months after an eight month insurrection that the Democrats led called BLM."

What?! It's official, Michael has absolutely zero idea what the word insurrection means. The BLM protestors weren't trying to overthrow the government which is the literal definition of an insurrection.

Anyway, time for more stuff about how killings animals is morally A-OK.

08:33, Michael Knowles: "My third point here is, yes it was politically dumb for Noem to admit this. Yes, her political calculation misfired. mixing metaphors. You get the point. But the third point is, Noem didn't do anything wrong. You might say it wasn't advisable. You might say there were better things she could have done. She could have given the dog up for adoption. She could have tried to train the dog. She could -- there is nothing wrong with a human being humanely killing an animal."

She absolutely did something wrong here because shooting a dog in the head because you feel that it's "untrainable" is completely sociopathic behavior. Also, did Michael miss the part about how she had to go back to her truck and get another shell to finish the goat that she shot off because the first shot didn't kill it?

Anyway, nobody is arguing that the method in which she put her dog down isn't "humane". It's the fact that Noem essentially killed a dog because it wasn't properly trained which was her responsibility as the owner. He's arguing a strawman - most likely because he realizes that shooting a perfectly healthy dog in the head for not being well trained is a pretty indefensible thing to do. Michael is really on an island of his own here too because I watched a Tim Pool video on this and his whole take was basically "This is kinda fucked up". When Tim Pool is ahead of you, you've got an issue.

Michael is anti animal abuse though - but not because of any of that pesky "animals are living beings" stuff.

09:55, Michael Knowles: "It would be one thing if Kristi Noem were torturing this dog like a serial killer or something. That would be wrong. And it would be wrong — it's wrong to mistreat animals, not because the animals have any rights -- animals don't have a rational soul."

Yeah, that's the kind of thing that you say when YOU don't have a rational soul. I guess we're ignoring the fact that animals can feel pain and the other fact that failed actor turned professional Ben Shapiro impressionist Michael Knowles is not the grand arbiter of what has a soul and what doesn't.

10:07, Michael Knowles: "The reason it's wrong, nevertheless, to mistreat animals is because it deadens our own humanity. CS Lewis writes about this extensively. If you are needlessly inflicting pain and suffering on some — suffering to the degree that an animal can suffer — on some poor creature, that's deadening your humanity."

"Suffering to the degree that an animal can suffer". God, I am honestly wondering if Michael Knowles should be placed on a watchlist now. At the very least he should be banned from your local pet store. On the bright side, he seems to directionally understand that hurting animals = bad so that's kind of a plus....I guess.

Not content with making freakish arguments about animals, Michael also complains about people calling him out on his freakish arguments about animals.

13:10, Michael Knowles: "The most histrionic, hysterical, reaction that I got to my joke about Kristi Noem's poor little pooch comes from Glenn Greenwald - the liberal left-wing journalist."

Brief aside but man I have such conflicting feelings about Glenn Greenwald these days. He kind of lost his leftist card when he started appearing on debate panels with Alex Jones to condescendingly argue that January 6th wasn't all that big a deal as well as him becoming besties with Tucker Carlson. Which by the way, as a journalism student, is absolutely tragic as Glenn's work on Snowden was one of the journalistic pieces that inspired me to take an interest in the subject in the first place. The reason that Glenn left the Intercept was literally because he threw a shit-fit about being asked to present evidence about unsubstantiated claims he was making about Joe Biden. I respect Glenn for the journalism that he's done, as a matter of fact I think a lot of that journalism was heroic - but what he has become now is really sad.

Reflections on Glenn Greenwald aside, I don't think Michael gets to claim that the tweet he made was a joke after spending ten minutes trying to lay out a logical case for why what he said was entirely correct. He's doing that thing that Matt Walsh does where he wraps his argument up in faux "sarcasm" so that when people call him on his shit he can retreat and go "It was just a joke, chill".

The Urban Dictionary has a great term for this called Schrodinger's Dipshit. They define this term as: "Someone who says something questionable, yet incredibly stupid, but defensively declares that they are joking if anyone calls them out for it." Sound familiar?

This move is kind of the Daily Wire house special and it's a cowardly move that you use when you're a grifter who refuses to stand by your words. Anyway, Michael takes Glenn's tweet to a hilariously dumb and somewhat homophobic place.

13:54, Michael Knowles: "This actually shows you a problem with our politics. Our culture, we don't have children anymore. Our culture, we don't make families anymore. Our culture, we don't pass down our cultural inheritance anymore."

This is why the Daily Wire is both hilarious and so so horrifyingly stupid.

What exactly is the point that Michael is trying to make here - leaving aside the buzzwords and the kind of subtle homophobia towards Glenn for being gay. Glenn Greenwald didn't fall out of the sky one day, his parents birthed him and presumably taught him their cultural values. Now, I know that Michael Knowles is a bit of a simp for the middle ages but I don't think he realizes that societies change and evolve.

14:22, Michael Knowles: "I mean, we're choosing not to propagate our civilization."

"Which is why Glenn Greenwald was mean to me in a tweet" - this is so fucking stupid, even by Michael Knowles standards.

I'm sure that Michael is fine with Glenn having kids via surrogacy with his unfortunately late partner.....right? Otherwise this wouldn't really make sense unless you just don't like gay people right Mikey?!

14:38, Michael Knowles: "We are a sterile culture increasingly and sterile people and sterile cultures confuse dogs for children."

WHAT?!

Putting aside the fact that I'm pretty sure that this comment was a homophobic potshot at Glenn Greenwald, Michael's point here is that since apparently our culture isn't entirely devoted to pumping out babies we are laboring under the delusion that dogs are children. I guess that's a conclusion you'd make if you can't comprehend having empathy for animals. Michael plays a clip of a CNN reporter saying that there's a special circle of Hell reserved for people who mistreat animals and apparently the Daily Wire has sunken low enough that saying that is a controversial statement there.

Anyway, lets see the other dumb crap that Michael is on about. The last story was kind of infuriating and the in-between is kind of boring. There's stuff about the protests at Columbia but that deserves its own post. Then, at the end, the show takes a turn for the weird, dumb, and unintentionally hilarious.

43:25, Michael Knowles: "How will you die?"

I'll be driven to insanity by Michael Knowles clips and die via slamming my head into a desk repeatedly while yelling expletives in Latin.

43:45, Michael Knowles: "There is a new app that can apparently predict that. This new app, I'm not even going to name it because it's bad for you and there are some warnings about it."

This app is called Life2vec and it is apparently freakishly accurate. Allegedly it has an almost 79% accuracy rate. It uses data from Statistics Denmark and samples information from around 6 million people who were between 35 and 65. I find this creepy as all hell but at the end of the day it's just a computer program going off numbers and data. The actual Life2Vec AI model is not available to the public and there are a surge of fraudulent websites claiming to be that AI, a fact which Michael doesn't seem to grasp throughout this segment. Instead, Michael takes this story in the most bizarre direction possible.

45:11, Michael Knowles: "People are warning now 'Don't try this app out' because there are a lot of copycat apps and they might hack your information and it's just not a good road to go down but even if there weren't copycat apps that were trying to steal your financial information you still shouldn't use this app."

That's easy enough since the app isn't actually available to the public.

45:22, Michael Knowles: "And the reason you shouldn't use this app is the same reason that the Bible tells you not to consult astrologers, OK? It's not -- a lot of people misunderstand why the Bible says don't consult astrologers. They think, in our modern scientific age, that it's because astrology's silly and not real. That's not why -- that's not why there's a commandment, 'Hey don't do this thing that's really silly and pointless'. The reason behind not consulting astrologers is because we don't want to compromise our free will."

Uh...I'm pretty sure it's because in Biblical times astrologers were viewed as false prophets but go off I guess. This you by the way? Michael posted this literally a couple days ago.

But maybe I'm wrong, maybe he went off against this AI that can predict political orientation too. Lets see what Michael had to say in that video.

02:05, Michael Knowles: "AI has it's algorithms, human beings have our guts. They are both wrong sometimes, they can both be used in unjust ways, but they are also both necessary tools for fulfilling our purposes and they're often pretty accurate whether we want to admit it or not."

So between a period of five days Michael went from "Well, AI has it's algorithms and it can be useful for fulfilling our purposes" to "PREDICTIVE AI IS EVIL AND CAN COMPROMISE OUR SOULS."

I guess that's kind of what happens when you lie on the internet for a living.

Conclusion:

Just....wow. Just when I thought that these guys couldn't get any lower here's Michael Knowles to prove me wrong. Here's Michael Knowles proving that morals and empathy aren't in the modern conservative lexicon. Here's Michael Knowles grabbing the shovel and digging the hole for himself down into the depths of the Earth.

Also, predictive AI is super useful...and evil...but also useful. Cheers and I'll see you in the next one.

Sources:

Original video:

“Ep. 1478 - Wars Rage, and One Dead Dog Dominates the News.” The Daily Wire.

Kristi Noem the dog killer:

Pengelly, Martin. “Trump VP Contender Kristi Noem Writes of Killing Dog – and Goat – in New Book.” The Guardian, 26 Apr. 2024.

AI death calculator:

“Life2vec “Death Calculator” Is Nearly 79 per Cent Accurate | Indy100.” Www.indy100.com

Perry, Alex. “AI Death Calculator? People Are Searching for Their “Death Date” with This Creepy (Fake) Bot.” Mashable, 30 Apr. 2024.

[ghtrrgwe]

Epstein list: Who is named in unsealed documents so far?

Celebrities and former politicians are mentioned in evidence that formed part of Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre's civil lawsuit against his former lover Ghislaine Maxwell in 2015. Many have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Some 60 of 250 previously sealed documents relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been released by a US court.

After Judge Loretta Preska ruled they could be unsealed in December and no objections were made, the first set of court papers were published on 3 January.

They largely consist of legal arguments and interviews carried out for Virginia Giuffre's 2015 civil lawsuit against Epstein's former lover Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for recruiting and grooming girls for him.

Epstein offered reward to disprove orgy claim

Ms Giuffre has been the most vocal of Epstein's accusers and settled a sexual assault lawsuit against Prince Andrew for a reported $12m (£9.5m) in 2022.

The Duke of York, who stepped back from public life and was stripped of his titles over his association with Epstein, vehemently denies Ms Giuffre's claims.

One of the files released this week is evidence from a woman called Johanna Sjoberg, another of Epstein's alleged victims.

In it are references to celebrities, politicians, and philanthropists, many of whom are not accused of wrongdoing but are believed to have known or associated with the late paedophile.

Epstein was first arrested in 2005 and later found dead in his New York prison cell while awaiting trial on further sex trafficking charges.

Here we look at some of the most well-known names in the newly released documents.

Ms Sjoberg's evidence says Prince Andrew touched her breast while on a sofa at Epstein's New York mansion in 2001 while he, Maxwell, and Ms Giuffre were there. The Duke of York and Buckingham Palace strongly deny this.

She says Maxwell took out a puppet - believed to be the one of the duke used for the BBC satire Spitting Image.

The evidence reads: "It looked like him. And she [Maxwell] brought it down and presented it to him; and that was a great joke, because apparently it was a production from a show on BBC.

"And they decided to take a picture with it, in which Virginia and Andrew sat on a couch.

"They put the puppet on Virginia's lap, and I sat on Andrew's lap, and they put the puppet's hand on Virginia's breast, and Andrew put his hand on my breast, and they took a photo."

Ms Giuffre's evidence claims she was "sex-trafficked to PA [Prince Andrew] and other men, including two of the world's most respected politicians" with those names redacted. The duke has always denied this.

A transcript of a video interview with Epstein's Palm Beach housekeeper Juan Alessi also sees him claim the duke "spent weeks there" and would have "daily massages".

Ms Sjoberg is asked in evidence: "Did you ever meet anybody famous when you were with Jeffrey?"

She replies: "I met Michael Jackson", adding that it was "at Jeffrey's house in Palm Beach".

Asked if she "massaged him", as she alleges she was forced to do with Epstein and others, she responds: "I did not."

The former US president was pictured socialising with Epstein and Maxwell and the pair are thought to have been friends.

Asked in her evidence if she ever massaged him on Epstein or Maxwell's request, she said no.

She later says that on one occasion she was on a plane with the pair and Ms Giuffre, which was told it could not land as expected in New York. Instead, it was diverted to Atlantic City, where Mr Trump had a casino.

Ms Sjoberg says: "Jeffrey said 'Great, we'll call up Trump and we'll go to - I don't recall the name of the casino, but - we'll go to the casino'."

A spokesperson for Clinton said in 2019 that he "knows nothing of Epstein's terrible crimes" and cut off all contact with him after he was first arrested in 2005.

Ms Sjoberg is asked: "Do you know if Bill Clinton was a friend of Jeffrey Epstein?"

She replies: "I did not know they were friends until I read the Vanity Fair article about them going to Africa together."

Epstein flew many well-known philanthropists and politicians around the world in his private jet to visit various international development project sites.

Quizzed if Epstein "ever talked to her about Clinton", she replies: "He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls."

An email from Ms Giuffre to Vanity Fair journalist Sharon Churcher in May 2011 also sees the former claim Mr Clinton threatened the publication "not to write sex-trafficking articles" about Epstein.

Separate evidence from Epstein accuser Sarah Ransome sees her tell a journalist in 2016 that sex tapes were filmed of Mr Clinton, Prince Andrew and others, by Epstein. A 2019 article in the New Yorker reports she invented the tapes to draw attention to Epstein's behaviour".

As well as Ms Sjoberg's evidence, an email from Epstein to Maxwell is included in the unsealed files from soon after Ms Giuffre filed her 2015 lawsuit.

In it, Epstein says Maxwell should "issue a reward" to any one of Ms Giuffre's associates who can prove any of the allegations in the lawsuit to be false.

"You can issue a reward to any of Virginia's friends, acquaints, family that come forward and help prove her allegations are false," it says.

"The strongest is the Clinton dinner, and the new version in the Virgin Islands that Stephen Hawking participated in an underage orgy."

The late physicist Stephen Hawking was photographed on Epstein's Caribbean island in March 2006, as part of a trip to a science conference on neighbouring island St Thomas.

The conference was paid for by Epstein and saw 20 other scientists attend. There is no accusation of any wrongdoing by Mr Hawking.

Emails from Ms Ransome to a reporter in 2016 claim Sir Richard Branson, Mr Clinton and Prince Andrew were filmed having sex with people by Epstein.

They read: "When my friend had sexual intercourse with Clinton, Prince Andrew and Richard Branson, sex tapes were in fact filmed on each separate occasion by Jeffrey.

"Thank God she managed to get a hold of some footage of the filmed sex tapes, which clearly identify the faces of Clinton, Prince Andrew and Branson having sexual intercourse with her.

"Frustratingly enough Epstein was not seen in any of the footage but he was clever like that!

"When my friend eventually had the courage to speak out and went to the police in 2008 to report what had happened, nothing was done and she was utterly humiliated by the police department where she went to report what had happened with Epstein, Clinton, Branson and Prince Andrew."

A New Yorker article, released in 2019, reported Ms Ransome admitted "she had invented the tapes to draw attention to Epstein's behaviour, and to make him believe that she had 'evidence that would come out if he harmed me'".

On behalf of Sir Richard Branson, a Virgin Group spokeswoman said: "In a New Yorker report published in 2019, Ransome admitted that she had 'invented' the tapes. We can confirm that Sarah Ransome's claims are baseless and unfounded."

In the documents released, photocopies of Epstein's assistant's notepad details calls to Epstein from Harvey Weinstein and Abigail Wexner "to talk about something private" in 2005.

Abigail Wexner is married to the former Victoria's Secret billionaire Les Wexner.

Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood producer, is currently in jail for rape and sexual assault.

In the documents released, photocopies of Epstein's assistant's notepad details calls to Epstein from Harvey Weinstein and Abigail Wexner "to talk about something private" in 2005.

Abigail Wexner is married to the former Victoria's Secret billionaire Les Wexner.

Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood producer, is currently in jail for rape and sexual assault.

Ms Sjoberg was asked if she had ever met the former prime minister of Israel, Ehud Barak.

She said she hadn't, adding that she had never met "any foreign president" or "Nobel Prize winner".

She was also asked about the then Democratic governor of the US state of New Mexico.

She says: "I want to say he was supposed to come to dinner when we were in New Mexico. I don't know if I met him."

"I believe that he and Ghislaine had dinner separate from myself," she adds.

Ms Sjoberg is asked about a "press report that said you had met Cate Blanchett or Leonardo DiCaprio" in her evidence.

She says she didn't meet either of them, but "when I was massaging him [Epstein], he would be on the phone a lot of the time, and one time he said 'Oh that was Leonardo, or 'That was Cate Blanchett, or Bruce Willis. That kind of thing".

The interviewer clarifies: "So name-dropping?", to which she responds: "Yes."

Among the other Hollywood stars she is asked about is actor Cameron Diaz.

But like the others, when asked if she ever met her via Epstein, she says: "No."

[nothingunrealistic]

Throughout the course of Billions, characters have conspired to take down their enemies with comically elaborate schemes. It’s only natural, then, that the series finale, “Admirals Fund,” hinges on one last con. With self-made billionaire Mike Prince (Corey Stoll) shaping up to be the next POTUS, longtime adversaries Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) and Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) work together to take away the one thing that legitimizes Prince’s candidacy: his wealth. As Prince goes to meet with the current (albeit unnamed) president at Camp David—a tacit acknowledgement that he’s the front-runner in the upcoming election—Chuck and Axe set about orchestrating his downfall. At the Southern District of New York’s offices, Chuck tells his staff that they’re now investigating six of the United States’ largest national gas companies for potential collusion with China, Russia, and Iran. Meanwhile, Philip Charyn (Toney Goins), who has the final say on all trades at Michael Prince Capital and has secretly soured on his boss, goes about putting all of the company’s funds into the natural gas sector. Once the SDNY’s investigation is leaked to the press as Chuck intended, the stocks crater and MPC’s risk-management algorithm sells all of the natural gas positions once they become worthless. (Since Prince doesn’t have access to his phone at Camp David, he’s oblivious to all of this going down.) By the time Chuck holds a press conference announcing that the investigation amounted to nothing but hearsay—thereby allowing the natural gas stocks to rebound—Prince’s entire portfolio has been wiped out. As for Axe, he ensures that his former Axe Capital employees are spared from the carnage by siphoning their money into a secret internal fund. In one fell swoop, Prince loses his throne. With that, Billions arrives at its own version of a happy ending: Chuck reclaims his dream job at SDNY, Axe revives his hedge fund, Wendy Rhoades (Maggie Siff) embraces a new challenge as the CEO of a telehealth company, and Taylor Mason (Asia Kate Dillon) leaves the world of finance for philanthropy. (While Prince’s company is destroyed and his presidential aspirations are extinguished, his consolation prize is the $100 million he tucked away at Black-owned banks to secure Killer Mike’s endorsement.) Still, even as Billions ends, it’s hard to imagine these characters ever winding down—in the spirit of the show’s innumerable pop culture references, the action is the juice. Of course, the world of Billions isn’t going anywhere: as Showtime announced earlier this year, as many as four spinoffs are in development. (The working titles for two of these projects: Millions and Trillions; I’m not kidding.) With the Writers Guild of America strike only just ending—and the Screen Actors Guild still negotiating with studios—there haven’t been any meaningful updates on these spinoffs. But for the time being, series cocreators Brian Koppelman and David Levien are more than happy to break down all things Billions. Below, we discuss the challenge of ending a show with such a deep ensemble, what goes into executing a long con, and the celebrity cameos that could have been.

Good to see you guys again. Brian, I haven’t seen you since you kicked my ass in tennis, but I’ve been trying to work on my game since. Brian Koppelman: Yeah, how’s that been going, man? Actually, it’s been going well. I won a tournament in Brooklyn last month, but it felt very fluky. It didn’t have any heavy hitters in the draw. Koppelman: All deep respect to you, but I’m not optimistic about your chances against me.

[Laughs] Fair enough. First of all, congrats on the finale. When you guys started Billions, did you already have an idea of how long the series would go on for, or were you taking it season by season and assessing after that? Brian Koppelman: I think the only way one can think about this is: Do you think at the beginning of something like this, it sets up to be the kind of story you could tell over a long period of time? Do the characters have enough of a charge in them, and does the world suggest the possibility for enough conflict and story and resonance to the society that you’re living in? For us, the answers to those questions were yes, and so it was like, well, let’s try. Each season, you empty the clip. Each season, you try to tell the absolute best story you can—you don’t save ideas. That’s what David Chase said, and that’s what Matt Weiner said, and that was our approach. But we did it weirdly, we had the first three seasons and we knew, if we can do it— David Levien: The broad strokes were mapped out. Koppelman: So then as you’re doing that, you start to think, OK, two more seasons out, and two more seasons out. In a way, yes, we certainly never felt like more than seven seasons was the right answer. At a certain point, Billions watchers were not casual fans. They were people who watched the show more than once and really invested in the canted world that these characters live in. Getting that kind of response, knowing that if we had a character have an odd enthusiasm or interesting reverence, that there were a lot of people out there to catch what we were throwing, that really does act as fuel.

With a show like this, what’s the biggest challenge in landing the plane? My mind goes straight to just how loaded and talented the ensemble is, and trying to give every character a worthy sendoff. Levien: Yeah, that was a big part of it. We wanted to have a good resolution for so many different characters. Over the course of the final season, we wanted to revisit tons of guest stars, and then for the core group, we had a good amount of people that needed a moment. Also, a lot of different pairings of people that needed to have resolution. It was a question of balancing that valedictory stuff with wrapping up the plot in an exciting way, so that you weren’t sitting there, having stopped moving, basically for the goodbyes. That’s what we spent the most time on: balancing in the final episode how to unfurl the big plot moves, and filtering in all of the more emotional stuff.

The public perception of billionaires has evolved quite a bit since the start of the series—there’s more scrutiny, and even animosity. Did that affect not just your approach to the series, but how you introduced a new foil like Mike Prince? Levien: Yeah, I mean that totally informed it. When we started, we were very focused on these hedge fund billionaires who really didn’t like to be in the spotlight, and they didn’t really advertise that they were building anything for the good of humanity. They all generally did some philanthropy, but even that wasn’t super public. But then after a couple of years as we were into it, we started to realize that there was this new kind of a billionaire who maybe came from venture capital, or was an inventor, or in private equity or something, and they were bringing these ideas to benefit mankind and help everybody. Koppleman: But putting air quotes around [benefiting mankind], we didn’t find that credible. Levien: Maybe they tried, but the idea that by virtue of all the success, they had all the answers in every field, and that politics was a natural extension of that. So yeah, Mike Prince got introduced as this wonderful guy who had all the answers and didn’t even show you that he was competitive. Because he was so warm and cuddly, like a cuddly monster as he calls himself. But then as you spend more time with him, you start to see the darker hues that everybody gets alarmed by. Koppelman: But also, Miles, your question is interesting because it comes from a very particular point of view—of geography, age, profession. In fact, it’s not true, right? It’s true in the microcosm, it’s completely not true in the macro. I mean, look at Shark Tank and Mark Cuban in the world, and yes, one may decry Elon [Musk], but just go online today and say something bad about him. It’s interesting that you asked the question. I would ask you to actually probe that because you stated it like it’s a fact, but it’s a fact for a group of people who feel a certain way. Perhaps we’re in that group of people with you, who have a jaundiced eye toward that kind of power. But one of the things we learned in making the show was that in our minds, Axe was never the hero of the show. From Episode 6 of the first season on, we slowly reveal that Axe is essentially the kind of utilitarian who would let a guy die for a little more money and security. And we were shocked that the audience loved him even more. Levien: They thought he was a badass for that. Koppelman: We were revealing that, yes, this guy’s charming and powerful and charismatic and has great verbal skills and is a winner. But you—us—should regard him with huge amounts of suspicion, and a huge amount of awareness for the destructive power that’s on the flip side of all the gifts. At the same time, that’s when the country elects Trump—at the end of the first season, that’s when that happened. We were watching the culture in a wrestling match about this question. Perhaps for you it’s settled, but I don’t think it’s settled for most of America.

I guess I would counter that with the guild strikes. Obviously, it’s more specific to our industry, but the last time the writers were on strike, there wasn’t as much public support for it. When you lay out the facts for people, fewer will side with the studios and these wealthy executives. We don’t have to get into all that, and maybe it’s not a true consensus, but I feel like— Koppelman: That’s the media. I mean, fans of the show couldn’t help getting some kind of wish fulfillment thing going with Axe. It’s like Tony Soprano or Walter White. People might not get the right message from it. They might just idolize these people. Koppelman: I’m really interested in what we’re going to discover about these kinds of people. I understand why we all would decry them. I’m really interested in why they’re effective so we can learn from it as a society. It’s fascinating to explore it, for me, with curiosity.

Diving into the finale—hopefully it goes without saying that this is a compliment—but seeing all the characters and the way they orchestrated Prince’s downfall, it almost felt like something out of an Ocean’s movie. These long cons—and seeing how all the pieces fall into place—have been one of the show’s biggest calling cards. As the creative architects behind these moments, what goes into making a long con and executing it well? Koppelman: Imperfect information. Levien: To the audience. Koppelman: Right. The thing that makes someone good at poker is understanding how to look at imperfect information, and if you’re telling a story, it’s how to distribute information with holes in it that might lead somebody a certain way. You know, it’s this old [Quentin] Tarantino thing, where he talked about the challenge of audiences being so sophisticated. They’ve ridden the roller coaster so many times that they start leaning left before the roller coaster banks left. Quentin’s point is that, as a creator, you have to find a way to get them leaning left and then whip right.

One thing that struck me this season was the emphasis on self-improvement from the characters. For instance, Chuck chose to help Ira with the cellphone sex tape scandal instead of throwing him under the bus. Characters didn’t necessarily change who they were as much as becoming better versions of themselves. What inspired that shift? Levien: There has to be some kind of evolution. For some characters, they can change more. Taylor can take a stride and finally deploy money in a way that’s going to be philanthropic. For someone like Chuck, he’s not going to change completely elementally, but he can still take steps—small steps. That reflected a reality to us and yet it stayed true to his character. It’s an interesting contrast to Prince. The other characters are willing to acknowledge their flaws and work on them, whereas Prince can only choose to believe that he’s a righteous person. Levien: That’s something that we were working with, which is that the main characters ultimately looked at who they were and knew who they were. He was the one guy who was in denial, and that was his fatal flaw.

The characters on Billions have been driven by constant schemes to acquire more power or money—or both—and it’s hard to imagine that stopping just because the show is ending. Have you put any thought into where you see characters like Axe, Chuck, Taylor, and Wendy in five or 10 years? Koppelman: It’s real intentional what Axe’s last lines are. We don’t really talk in terms of statements we’re trying to make. But he’s someone with all those options in life, all those tools, all that money, all that ability to buy freedom, to have freedom. Yet the only place that he feels really alive is talking to this group of mostly men and saying, “Let’s make some fucking money.” There is something about that that we wanted to leave you with, and have you think about. We hope you’ll consider why that made you feel the way it made you feel. We watched [the finale] in a theater recently and [the audience] was cheering [for Axe], and it’s like, well, why? What are you cheering for, exactly? We’re really interested in that question.

One of the joys of Billions is seeing all the celebrity cameos, and this season you got the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Triple H, and Killer Mike. Are there any celebrities at the top of the wishlist who didn’t appear on the show? Koppelman: Tiger Woods was the only clean turndown. With Tiger, there was nothing we could do. [Woods’s longtime agent Mark Steinberg] just wrote back, “No.” We know from someone that Tiger watches the show and he likes the show. But the answer was no. There is one heartbreak, and we haven’t said this to anyone, but we were really close to getting the great Steve Harvey on our show. Really? Levien: He was extremely difficult to get to. Even considering all the people that we got, he was the toughest. Koppelman: We had a really special thing we’d written for Steve Harvey and we could never quite make it. Sadly, there was a scheduling snafu and he was on a Zoom that we didn’t know about, waiting for us. And you do not make a man like Steve Harvey wait. It’s crushing to us—we hope that whatever we do next, we can find a way to get Mr. Harvey to show up just one day. One day with Mr. Harvey and my entire life would be better.

Showtime already told me that you don’t have any updates on the Billions spinoffs. Instead, I’ve got a pitch for you guys: I’m thinking Maestro Scooter at the New York Philharmonic going full Lydia Tar. Levien: When Scooter gets the baton in his hand, he starts to become a driven maniac. Koppelman: I think you’ll understand, Miles, that under normal circumstances, of course we would welcome you into the writers room. But we can’t poach from Bill Simmons, and that’s the only reason. Otherwise, we would tell you to create that for us under our umbrella. But we have to close that umbrella because we’re under Bill’s umbrella. (Editor’s note: Koppelman and Levien hosted a Billions podcast with The Ringer during Season 5.) Of course, the separation of church and state. I understand. I just wanted to throw it out there, and obviously you’ll be hearing from my lawyers if Maestro Scooter does happen. Koppelman: I feel if you write this without acknowledging the tennis loss, you’re not including your bias in the piece. Levien: It’s going to be one of those profile-y things where it’s like, “Koppelman likes to bully about his tennis.” Wow, you had to bring up the loss again. Koppelman: I think of it as a win.

[f1]

Michael Schumacher's close friend Jean Todt gives a rare insight into his state

'The accident had consequences... I go and see him, nobody knows anything': Michael Schumacher's close friend Jean Todt, who visits once a month, gives a rare insight into his state - and calls for privacy for his wife Corinna Jean Todt has given a rare comment about Michael Schumacher's condition  Schumacher has not been seen publicly since his skiing accident back in 2013 Former FIA President Todt has called for Schumacher's family to given privacy  By Michael Pavitt For Mailonline Published: 08:32 EDT, 3 April 2023 | Updated: 08:32 EDT, 3 April 2023 Former FIA President Jean Todt has acknowledged Michael Schumacher's accident has had consequences, but has called for the Formula One legend's family to be left alone. Schumacher suffered a skiing accident in December 2013 and was placed into a medically induced coma.  He was later moved to the family's Lake Geneva home in September 2014 where a team of medical staff now support his wife Corinna in looking after him. Schumacher's condition has been closely guarded by his family, with the German not seen in the public eye since his accident. Todt, who reportedly sees the seven-time F1 champion once a month, has called for privacy for Schumacher's wife Corinna. Michael Schumacher (pictured in 2005) hasn't been in public since a skiing accident in 2013 Jean Todt, right, became close friends with Michael Schumacher during their time at Ferrari Todt, the former FIA President, has called for Schumacher and his family to be left alone 'Let's leave him alone,' Todt told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. 'We respect the privacy wishes of Corinna and her children, although we know of course that the accident had consequences. 'But anyone who says he knows something, knows nothing.  'I always go to see him. He and his family are my family.' Todt, 77, enjoyed a successful relationship with Schumacher when he served as Ferrari CEO. Schumacher won an five consecutive world titles between 2000 and 2004 during Todt's time in charge. Todt has reportedly watched Formula One races with Schumacher during his visits. Last month, Eddie Jordan claimed Schumacher's wife Corinna has lived 'like a prisoner' to keep his condition secret. Jordan revealed last year that his plans to visit Schumacher had been vetoed by the family. Corinna has shunned speaking publicly about her husband but did shed some light on her struggles in a documentary on his life which aired in 2022. 'Michael is here. Different, but he's here, and that gives us strength, I find,' Corinna said. Schumacher won five straight F1 world titles at Ferrari under Todt from 2000 and 2004 Schumacher's wife Corinna (pictured together skiing in 2005) has kept his condition private 'We're together. We live together at home. We do therapy. We do everything we can to make Michael better and to make sure he's comfortable. And to simply make him feel our family, our bond. 'And no matter what, I will do everything I can. We all will. We're trying to carry on as a family, the way Michael liked it and still does. And we are getting on with our lives. '"Private is private", as he always said. It's very important to me that he can continue to enjoy his private life as much as possible. 'Michael always protected us, and now we are protecting Michael.' Schumacher's son Mick is now a reserve driver for Mercedes, having been let go from Haas F1 last summer. Share or comment on this article: Michael Schumacher's close friend Jean Todt gives a rare insight into his state via Formula One | Mail Online https://www.dailymail.co.uk?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

[alltomevibes]

I posted 804 times in 2022

That's 485 more posts than 2021!

55 posts created (7%)

749 posts reblogged (93%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@themoonisasticker

@letmetellyouaboutmyfeels

@amorcitoeddie

@heretherebedork

@connorswhisk

I tagged 100 of my posts in 2022

#alltomevibes - 36 posts

#arithoughts - 14 posts

#ao3 - 14 posts

#ao3fic - 11 posts

#fanfic - 11 posts

#ao3 link - 8 posts

#not beta read - 7 posts

#go ahead - 7 posts

#bl series - 6 posts

#my school president - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#hyungshik came out of the army like im xclusively only doing roles where my character is quietly but obviously in love with his best friend

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

hands down kinn wears the best suits I've ever seen in a drama. close runner up is fang leng (my girlfriend is an alien) and it's only because he's so "charismatic" that he could wear a trash bag and still have me in a chokehold.

28 notes - Posted July 27, 2022

#4

So. where is the SCOY fanfic?? asking for a friend.

42 notes - Posted April 17, 2022

#3

the way I'm obsessed with cha sunghoon,,,, like, mans had my heart since the FIRST episode. really about to write fanfiction for him & young-seo

42 notes - Posted May 27, 2022

#2

attuma/okeye + shuri/namor + namora/riri demons & angels au!

okeye - as one of Heaven's top generals - is sent on a mission to capture one of hell's most calculating and vicious demon (who also happens to be a general) named attuma.

something is happening in the underworld, with more and more demons popping up in random places and shuri (the top angel/ (Michael ig since this is slightly supernatural based ngl)) is TIRED of it. she sends okeye to earth where attuma is rumoured to be.

and.....

okeye finds attuma with a bunch of kids hanging off of him LAUGHING.

okeye has no clue what's going on, but she instantly is on guard. she doesn't attack first - no that's dumb and a way to get yourself killed.

no, she waits until attuma spots her (who saw her the moment she appeared) and throws down a challenge.

"come with me peacefully or come with me unconscious"

attuma - who is one of the most vicious demons for a reason - is annoyed at this uppity angel who's interrupting his peaceful time. he thinks it's going to be nothing to kill her.

he is wrong and they both come out of that battle bruised with no clear winner. and that's when attuma falls in love.

Yada yada, more things happen, attuma keeps flirting with okeye and being respectful and good with kids (of all ages) yet never loses his intensity, he rocks her world, she rocks his, and shuri comes down from heaven because at this point she's going to have to kill attuma herself because something is scarily different with okeye and she's heard stories about attuma, and namor (Lucifer ig) comes up because shuri! is! here! and the whole demons popping up was him trying to court her because she hasn't been off of his mind since three thousand years ago when she could've killed him in a battle but gave him mercy.

and namora? namora hates angels, would kill anyone who tried to ruin her people, but that girl - the smart girl who hangs around attuma and laughs with - at - him like he couldn't kill her with a twitch of his finger - riri Williams who's all human but has amazing weapons because she was raised in the life but she's always been a little twisted. Oh, namora wants to kill her, wants riri's blood underneath her fingernails and then they fight and namora is being blasted with holy water and now she wants riri underneath her for other reasons.

..... Okay I'm done, who wants to write something like this?👀

(main MAIN couple is okeye/attuma tho)

51 notes - Posted December 31, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I was so nervous when I saw keanu trending on Tumblr, my whole world view almost crumbled😭😭

388 notes - Posted December 22, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[aiiizawa]

Let's spice it up! 5, 13, & 16 for Mic?

OOH YES LOVE A PRESIDENT MICHAEL.  he’s my friend.

5.  Guilty pleasures

Present Mic is a man of little shame so his “guilty” pleasures are few and far between but he is a tiny bit embarrassed of the fact that he unironically likes really bad nightcore remixes and listens to them a lot.  He also likes Nickelback and you can’t change my mind.

13.  What gets them flustered

Genuine flattery and affection gets Mic flustered no matter what.  Because he’s lowkey famous, he’s often being called cool and stuff, and make no mistake, he drinks that shit up like nothing else-- but it’s the soft, earnest and heartfelt compliments that make him clam up and go red all the way to his ears.  Anything that might not be noticed right away and stuff like that makes his heart skip a beat.  Also he will die if you gently brush his arm that’s his weak spot.

16.  Dark secrets/’skeletons in the closet’

Despite what BNHA conspiracy theorists might say, I reaaaaally doubt that he has anything like that.  Mic is highly intelligent and definitely has the potential to be sneaky and devious, but he’s a very transparent guy and I think he values honesty and integrity a lot-- It’s part of the reason he and Aizawa are able to be friends:  Aizawa can’t stand fakeness or anything put on, and even though Mic can grate on his nerves, he knows that he’s sincere.  If he had any kind of “dark secret” it would be something silly like that his hair isn’t a natural blonde and that he dyes it to keep up the illusion, but he that he still feels guilty for hiding.

[unfunnystandup]

The President and First Lady (1961, colorized)

[forcesensitivebantha]

-chanting- let Errol fall in love with the scary death angel

Click for better quality y'all

[lummophoenix]

jumping on the bandwagon....

[erelavent]

Toto’s webinar

Hey y’all! I just got back home (It’s literally 12am) and I have linked the audio of the Toto webinar here. However, I cut out the intro because it contains semi-private info about one of Toto’s family members that is revealed by the interviewer and I feel like Toto wouldn’t want that info reaching a wide audience given how private he is about that specific area of his life and I want to respect that. There are also some breaks in the recording for when my connection died (nothing major but it’s a thing). I’ve also done a break down of the Webinar by subject if you don’t feel like listening to the entire hour and just want highlights on specific things.

On Drive to Survive

1. He didn’t initially want to join DTS because it reminds him of a circus but he changed his mind when a friend of his asked for tickets to a race because they had watched DTS. That changed his stance.

On the 2022 Car performance

3. Toto explains that they underestimated the porpoising because it doesn’t appear on tests conducted in the wind tunnel (they can’t get the car up to speeds of 350km/h) so it doesn’t show up on the data. They could strengthen the floor of the car but then they lose downforce so they would prefer an alternate solution. 

4. If the car doesn’t perform how it should in Barcelona (10 days), they may have to revert to a more conventional car design (i.e. a car with actual sidepods). Fuckkkkkkk. Good news is that he didn’t say they’d scrap the entire season and focus on next year so that gives me hope.

On The Team’s Culture

5. Toto’s core belief for running Merc is “I don’t run racing cars, I run people that run racing cars.” He believes that if you create a company culture that allows people to communicate freely and empowers them, you lift the standards everyday and that translates directly into performance. So he’s created a system where a mechanic can come up to him directly and let him know that the car design doesn’t work or could be improved etc. 

6. He said that he believes the culture and honesty has to start with him so when they’re debriefing he comes clean. He said he admit a anything from not handling his emotions as he should have to being too controlling and distracting the strategists when they have to decide when to pit the car (Idk if he was speaking about Miami but that came to mind for me).

On Abu Dhabi 2021

7. About Abu Dhabi 2021, he said he would have been happy to lose the WDC if M*x and Redbull were the stronger team but he doesn’t believe that’s what happened. He gave a breakdown of the team’s strategy (they expected the safety car to allow all cars to unlap) and said the race director “freestyled” by putting Lewis in a position he couldn’t defend. He said he felt helpless, like he was a kid and that his destiny was in the hands of someone who had “lost the plot”. A 6’5”, at the time, 49 year old man said Michael Masi made him feel like a kid. Y’all, I was on stage surrounded by the president of my university and I nearly burst into tears on stage. I can’t imagine how awful that felt.

8. He thought there was a way to get Lewis the championship legally but realized that people move on and don’t want to win the championship 2 months down the line in court. The images still hurt him and he still can’t watch DTS because of it. He copes with it by saying it’s an F1 race and it’s entertainment. It’s not politics, it doesn’t change people’s lives, it’s a sporting event, so you just have to move on.

On Managing 2 Drivers

9. On dealing with team rivalries and how he intends to handle George and Lewis competing on the same team, he said you could deal with it in 1 of 2 ways. 1) Establish a clear pecking order of who is the priority driver or 2) the more interesting and challenging option is to manage 2 alphas and get the best performance out of both.

10. He described racing drivers as “traumatized kids who were put in a go-kart by their parents at the age of 8 and told to race out there in the rain with each other… and then suddenly you put these traumatized kids in a formula 1 car and you say, ‘now you’re driving for Mercedes’ and you need to perform for the team” SIR PLEASE.

11. He spoke to Alain Prost about managing 2 drivers and Alain explained that the most frustrating thing to deal with as a driver is a lack of transparency (not knowing if the team prioritizes you or the other driver) and so he has tried to be as transparent about his motivations as possible which can be uncomfortable. That means being straight with the drivers, giving team orders when he thinks one driver is leading the championship and while they may agree to disagree at least everything is out in the open.

12. He praises George and Lewis and said they work great together. He said the fact that George and Lewis aren’t competing for wins/championships sucks generally but it actually helps George’s integration to the team and currently works well for team dynamics.

On Managing Drivers on a Psychological Level

13. Toto says that his prior experience as a driver informs him on the psychological pressure drivers have to endure and thinks that anyone in F1 is mentally resilient in the racing car (suck a dick Helmut Marko and associated RBR fans) but doesn’t mean the same applies outside the car. 

14. He thinks that drivers being realistic with their own capabilities and benchmarks for success is integral to their performance.

15. He says his family doesn’t care if he wins or loses at the end of the day. The important thing is that he gives them love and support. He asks himself at the end of the day, “where have I been a fool today and where can I improve” to be a better person and entrepreneur.

On the Changes to the Regulations

16. The interviewer said something interesting. He said that ironically U.S. sporting institutions appear to be more socialist compared to European sporting institutions. They’ve historically had salary caps, they have drafts to produce a form of parity which is a thing that is lacking in European sporting institutions. Lmk if y’all agree.

17. Toto said “The U.S. has socialized sport in order to capitalize on it.” Toto said that f1 is doing the same thing, stopping teams from spending millions of dollars in order to extract 1/10th of a second from the car. He said Merc makes about $550 million in revenue (Jesus wtf) and the cost cap has fundamentally reduced engineering costs from $300 million (also wtaf) to $40 million (still a ridiculous amount) which allows them to make a profit (for the investors) and not just break even. 

18. This means that teams have an easier gap to bridge to the front of the pack and makes for more entertainment and variability (he mentioned Valtteri racing against Lewis and George).

On Investing in F1

19. Toto said that F1 could add 2 more teams but no one has an appetite for it (not the FIA, not F1, not the teams) because it would dilute the prize gains. The only way they would accept the addition of 2 new teams is if they had a really creative way to bring in more revenue and balance out the dilution of the prize fund which no one has done.

20. He said F1 is a very lucrative investment because it has entertainment, live media and tech which are resilient industries and are great for profit. He said there is more demand to join F1 than there is supply. He said no teams or shares are for sale today (which confused me…what is all this talk about Audi and Porsche joining then?) 

21. Toto said that he didn’t have a choice in choosing to be both CEO and team principal when deciding to buy shares in the team. He originally refused to be the CEO because he saw himself strictly as an entrepreneur but Daimler Benz (Mercedes parent company) told him it was a package deal. He says he’s honored and lucky the unconventional (CEO/Team Principal) structure works so well because many other teams have folded due to too much involvement by the parent company. He also says it’s a lot of pressure because the Merc F1 team has a lot of visibility and drives a lot of the sales for the parent Mercedes company.

On Sustainability

22. He says that switching to electric cars is common sense but the infrastructure for it doesn’t exist yet. He said that unlike LA which is urban and has strict environmental rules, other countries aren’t there yet.

23. He said that by 2025, the fuel that will be powering F1 cars will be 100% sustainable fuel that can be found anywhere and carbon neutral (fuel by definition cannot be sustainable, it’s made from dead compacted organisms so he kinda lost me here).

24. Toto said that the lack of sound (think revving engines) in more sustainable cars will be interesting because F1 is inherently an audiovisual sport. People automatically think louder cars are faster but he thinks that is changing. He said his kids, Benedict and Rosie, thought he was nuts for enjoying the sound of his car in a tunnel, so opinions are changing.

On getting a job in F1

25. They’re always looking for good people. Rigor and grades are important but who you are also fundamentally matters (that’s such a dad answer lmao). Your passion for the sport and outside interests matter. He said he gets emails from enthusiastic kids all the time.

26. He said that the Social Media Marketing position they advertised a couple of months ago got over 4,000 applications (sorry to all the people that applied and didn’t get it).

On Women and Diversity in f1

27. He talked about Susie being the last woman to race an F1 car on a race weekend and that she has influenced him. He believes starting at the grassroots level in karting will improve diversity. He said that Susie’s FE team is more than 50% female (yay!) and so he encourages women and girls to try it out especially because as he said, F1 is a robust business.

28. He said “women are much more stable in terms of mental resilience”. 

29. He says the sport has historically been male and white dominated and diversifying the sport (in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, religion etc) is very close to his heart because it translates to diverse perspectives and better performance.

On Niki Lauda

30. He called Niki a strong figure who he used to butt heads with a lot because he was a non-executive chairman and Toto ran the team. It came to a head when Niki extended an olive branch and Toto decided to trust him. He said from there they became like twin brothers. No one could interfere with them (except maybe Toto’s son Benedict). He missed Niki as a friend, an advisor, a mascot, someone who could suggest crazy ideas and not be seen as irrational.

31. Niki was always very unemotional, always rational and pragmatic and claimed he had no friends because of it. He said that after a race, he and Niki went out to eat and Toto immediately started talking about the race but Niki told him to shut up. Niki said “I need to tell you something, you know I have no friends”, and Toto is like yeah, you tell me all the time. Niki started getting emotional and said if he laid in a dungeon at night, he wouldn’t be able to reach Toto, then said if there was something like a half-friend, Toto would be his half-friend, then Niki got teary-eyed. I don’t quite get the dungeon analogy but the point is he misses Niki a lot.

On What’s Next

32. Toto said no one is interested in what he’s done in the past. He doesn’t care what’s on his Wikipedia page. Championships are in the past. What matters is he is trying to have an impact on the environment around him, as a father with his family and as an employer with the team.

33. He said that at the beginning of each new season, they revert back to zero and that “currently, we are losing. Fact.” He said what happened 4 months ago is irrelevant and that he’s just trying to look at the future.

34. He said he oscillates between the dance floor and the balcony. The dance floor is (where he is now, trying to run the team and fix the car) and the balcony (is looking at the financial and political future of the team)

Boo! He didn’t answer my question about balancing the ethics of his sponsors with the responsibility of keeping the team afloat financially. Anywho, he looked tired and I don't believe the time difference between LA and Europe helped so it makes sense. Anyways, that’s it folks!

[dobbiamo-capire]

Monza in half: new referees, same mistakes

The italian press is back! Most of it is against the shit show FIA did and how that ruined Monza because like one of our comm said, “they ruined the race but then they use the shot from Monza podium to promote the sport”. And isn’t he 100% right.

As always, translation under the cut, every mistake is on me, pls share to support my effort in sharing italian press with you all✨

Unanimous booing, by those who were dressed in red and those in orange. The final of the Italian Grand Prix under the Safety Car regime has displeased everyone, winners and losers, and that is what the FIA should think about. Does the F1 of the show and sold out at every Grand Prix have to take a step towards the public even at the cost of not fully complying with the verdict that has emerged on the track in terms of performance? It is a question that Stefano Domenicali (CEO of Liberty Media) and Mohammed Bin Sulayem (president of the FIA) will surely ask themselves. ‘Change the referee, not the mistakes,’ is the title of Leo Turrini’s editorial on Il Resto del Carlino “The logic of the sport would have imposed to grant Leclerc the extreme chance. I don't think there are conspiracies. Instead, there is a worrying incompetence, already seen in the past. This Formula 1, so loved by an increasingly young audience, has a moral obligation to respect those who follow it.”

‘Hashes and steps back, inadequate Federation’ is instead the title of Giorgio Terruzzi's comment on Il Corriere della Sera. “They are slow, always a little arrogant. They are the men of the International Federation. A company to change after a few too many messes, like the one that handed over the title to Verstappen, Abu Dhabi 2021. Some are fired, others are appointed, rarely based on authority. In Monza on Saturday it took them almost 4 hours to dial the starting grid, losing the path dealing with the drivers penalties. Not satisfied, they put on a (slow as hell, can’t be a literal translation) finish yesterday, complete with tractors on the track under safety car – entered at the wrong time – offering the same scene that in 2014 in Japan cost Bianchi his life”, the attack that starts from the columns of the Milan-based newspaper.

‘Monza in half’ is instead the opening of Repubblica: “One hundred years of solitude. Without a race-worthy ending, without battle and without joy. Not even for those who win, Max Verstappen, even if that success would have been deserved anyway. And instead he is unfairly booed. Monza celebrates a century disatisfiing everyone – the bitter observation underlined by the newspaper based in Rome – on the grandstands there are 150 thousand fans who paid to see a show, not a train of immobilized cars passing under the finish line. The booing is mainly for the race management, which does apply a regulation, but in a clumsy and slow way. Perhaps overwhelmed by the still alive ghosts of the deconclusional epilogue of the last championship in Abu Dhabi, after which, apart from the threats to Michael Masi and his exit from the Fia, the rules were changed precisely for situations similar to those of yesterday.”

‘Fifth Power’ headlines La Stampa, focusing on Max Verstappen’s fifth consecutive victory: “Max Verstappen’s Italian mission ends with the fifth consecutive victory, the eleventh of the season, the 31st of his career. One of the ugliest, though deserved: the race was neutralized by the safety car with eight laps to go and ended like this, with the cars being columned and the ban on overtaking. At the checkered flag, the fans pour themselves as traditionally along the entire straight line and whistle the Red Bull champion because he doesn't drive a Ferrari. Nothing else they can reproach him: he is the best. He had never climbed the podium in Monza, he had never experienced the emotion of seeing that red multitude that now disputes him. He will come up for the championship perhaps already in the next Grand Prix in Singapore, where a series of results could guarantee him the second consecutive title.” Booing or not, Safety Car or not, with 11 wins out of 16 races played in this 2022 Max Verstappen already has the first match point on the championship in the sixth final race of the season.