Panflute

Speaking of heavily modded things, a friend sent me this video yesterday. I'm a big fan of the original games so I'll definitely try to play this.

I reinstalled FEAR. It's really incredible that a 17-year-old game can hold up so well. The AI/gunfights are still leagues above almost anything coming out today. Doesn't look half bad either. The one thing I do to make it more fun is to avoid using the bullet time mechanic as that makes the game too easy. Also been playing Ghost Recon: Wildlands. In some parts it's incredible (scope, gunfights, presentation), but in other areas you have to deal with the typical Ubisoft approach consisting of copy+paste design with little depth, pointless microtransactions and the usual array of design oversights leading to a buggy/flawed experience. In other words, I'm glad I got it but I'm also glad I only paid 8 euros for it. And beyond that I spend several evenings of the week playing PVP in Elder Scrolls Online. This patch I respecced to a healer and I seem to not suck at it.

Marlon Brando had sex with Richard Pryor.

Did you forget to toast the pumpernickels enough?

You can really tell there's a 3-week gap between GPs when all the clickbait articles written around soundbites from Toto Wolff, Christian Horner and Nico Rosberg start showing up every day.

This might be a stupid question but when you have a reverse grid, what is the point of putting in a good qualifying?

It really depends. If Mercedes get another chance, then there's also Russell. Hamilton does seem to have the upper hand when it comes to racepace, but then Russell is a smart and talented driver who'll try and nab that victory from Hamilton if he gets the slightest chance to do so. I don't think he's the type of driver to just let loose once the title's clinched. According to himself, he has no interest in breaking records, but I do think he'll go for the win regardless of the circumstance. The best chance for a Mercedes win would be a mechanical issue on RB's part.

Just because Lewis won't talk to him anymore doesn't mean that every driver will stoop to their level of pettiness.

My lazy bunnies Muffin and Bloem.

Organization of Belgian GP denies F1 exit Spa: "It's speculation" The organization of the Belgian Formula 1 race at Spa-Francorchamps denies that the legendary track is missing from next year's calendar of the top class of car racing. The FIA has assured Spa Grand Prix that there is no concept calendar in circulation. https://nl.motorsport.com/f1/news/organisatie-gp-belgie-ontkent-f1-exit-spa-speculatie/10334138/

Are they selecting the 2023 tracks based on how cringy Martin Brundle's gridwalk will be?

- Mammoths were still alive when the Great Pyramids were built, as a small enclave of dwarf mammoths on a Russian island survived into antiquity. - The idea of a personal carbon footprint as we know it was popularized by fossil fuel company BP. - The notion that the typical serial killer is a clever psychopath who effortlessly outwits authorities is a Hollywood myth. On average, serial killers have below-average IQs. - Although attempts have been made to train monkeys/apes in sign language, none of them has ever been confirmed to ask a question. The only non-human being to thus far ever ask a question was Alex the grey parrot, who saw himself in the mirror and asked "what color?" - It is widely known that Leif Eriksson reached the coast of America centuries before Columbus reached Hispaniola in 1492, but the first-ever European to have reached America might have been the Irish saint Brendan of Clonfert. The navigator's tales are recounted in Irish myth, and contain strong indications that his quest to find the 'Isle of the Blessed' made him actually reach what is now North America as early as the 6th century. Historical evidence of this is thin, but British explorer Tim Severin proved in 1978 that it would indeed have been possible to reach the Americas with 6th century naval technology, recreating and documenting the journey in what he called 'The Brendan Voyage'.

Guess F1 media are gonna enjoy talking about this one for about a month or 2.

A really interesting stat from this to me is Max's podium finishes relative to the other numbers. His consistency in finishing on the podium even if it's not his weekend or he doesn't have the fastest car of the weekend is what'll make him super tough to beat in the driver's championship.

Completely random question I just thought of: are race engineers required to speak English to their respective drivers over team radio?

I mean, where else would he go?

So far this is the most balanced analysis I've read in regard to the FIA directive. It's in Dutch, but maybe Google Translate will make the main points of the article understandable. https://nl.motorsport.com/f1/news/waarom-porpoising-ingreep-fia-niet-per-se-goed-hoeft-te-zijn-voor-mercedes/10323257/

I don't know. It was a secret.

After watching some F1 content on YouTube I immediately get recommended these awful clickbait videos like 'Horner's SECRET message to Toto Wolff'. What a dreadful little world.

There's already a male-male married couple in F1 in the form of Stroll and his engineer.

I do wonder where the sudden tidal-wave of 'D-Ric is over' content in F1 media and on Youtube is coming from. Like, he was struggling before Monaco, but now everyone seems to have collectively decided that he's done.

Maybe it's just me, but there's something absolutely hilarious about him roasting Hamilton and then trying to spin it into a sympathetic observation with 'because that's so important to Lewis'.