Iskaral Pust

Redemption for the LVGP organizers because that was a pretty entertaining race, especially for a street circuit. The track designer deserves some credit. Unlucky for LeClerc with the SC timing, plus no Sainz to assist him in battling the two RBs. There was a lot of good dueling throughout, and little margin for error. Ferrari and Mercedes are unpredictable from week to week. This time Ferrari had a big advantage in qualifying and then were able stay fast to the very end with only a single change of tires, although perhaps a second change under SC would have been a better chance to win.

On one hand, Everton have effectively got away with it because they narrowly avoided relegation when they overspent and now the punishment arrives when there are three convenient patsies who’ll go down regardless in their stead. On the other hand, City and Chelsea got away with it even more and in a more damaging way because they didn’t just break FFP, they deliberately and proactively conspired to break FFP in a corrupt method that was difficult enough to detect as to be plausibly deniable for authorities who didn’t want to look too closely. Illegal side payments and money-laundered revenues are much, much worse. edit: incompetence vs corruption (minor second edit to fix bizarre grammatical autocorrect)

Good for Liverpool to win today with so many players missing. The team is performing better at home.

After Dunkirk by Lee Jackson is historical fiction set in WWII. It’s one of those sprawling sagas — in the manner of Wouk or Michener —following multiple family members through their wartime experiences and exploits as they are conveniently distributed to allow inclusion of the British military, the French Resistance, the Bletchley Park code-breakers, the RAF, etc. It’s pretty well written but spends a lot of focus on the shock and uncertainty felt by the characters, which was good for the first 10-15% but then didn’t progress enough. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it felt fresh but it’s an over-mined topic. Go watch Band Of Brothers instead. Britannia’s Innocent by Antoine Vanner is another historical fiction, this time the first in a series about naval history in the era of steam-powered iron clads (1864). So rather different from the usual age-of-sail fare: no longer focused on tacking, weather gauges, or broadsides, instead the focus is on steam boilers, screws, and bringing to bear just one massive gun with flexible rotation. This is set in Denmark not long after the Crimean War and the military world is clearly in transition from Napoleon to WWI. It was well written and a pretty good read except for the Confederate characters repeatedly pleading their case that their cause is misunderstood. I’ll continue the series if they’re no longer featured. The Corfe Castle Murder by Rachel McLean is a serviceable English police procedural novel with a fish-out-of-water DI arriving from a big city to a small town just in time for their first murder in many years. It’s fine as a cosy-ish murder mystery but the author hammers the sexist angle so strongly that it dominates the entire book. All of the male characters are crassly misogynistic creeps and/or petty, pompous, useless mansplainers, while all of the female characters are brilliant, superhumanly capable and highly attractive (to the miserable, self-pitying female DI, who will obviously realize later in the series that she is gay). Ultimately the novel is just a straw man of sexism and that’s the only impression it leaves.

That’s two stinkers in a row from Liverpool after being on a very positive run. They need to set that right.

Finished Sex Education S4 which is hopefully the end of the series that feels a bit tired now, but did stay true to its mission and characters throughout. Overall the show was very enjoyable even if the slightly wacky setting of a US-UK hybrid of Gen Z/Alpha, with 30+yr olds playing confused teenagers, was a specially created microcosm universe. The proselytizing of therapy and acceptance (internal and external) for all had enough self-awareness in S3 and S4 to have antagonists co-opt and weaponize the same language of therapy. S4 feels at times like there are too many heavy personal crises in progress across the expanding ensemble, especially since they’re all internally generated. But worth watching to complete the show and see closure for the journeys of the main characters. It was slightly disturbing in a show about prioritizing mental health that one prominent actress in the ensemble seems to be exhibiting the effects of an eating disorder while her character overlooks it entirely.

Checo finally had a solid weekend and took advantage of a poor showing by Mercedes (does the sprint format leave them too little space to get the set-up right?). 4th still isn’t anything great but might be enough to solidify 2nd place in the WDC. Verstappen’s ability and consistency are so normalized now they go unmentioned. Does he even get any support for DotD any more? Lando and Nando both put in excellent drives to get on the podium. Norris has had a good string of races. LeClerc had a miserable day.

Poor by Liverpool. Nunez could have taken one of his early chances but the whole team looked below their best. Especially considering they dispatched a similar Forest side just recently. Probably it was complacency more than fatigue at this stage but regardless the sharpness was missing. Good for Diaz. I hope is dad is home safe soon.

Meantime, Liverpool’s youth CB, Quansah, who arrived unheralded in the senior squad had another good game midweek. I hope he stays healthy and keeps developing because he has a big future right now. It’s a bit outrageous how well Liverpool’s three main MF signings have settled in and adapted (sorry, Endo). It’d be even better if one of them was a natural #6 instead of played out of position, but even so it has been good to see Gravenberch find his feet in recent weeks after Szoboszlai and MacAllister were instant starters. Fixture overload will start becoming a drag soon though, even with a good amount of rotation so far.

The Gladiator by Simon Scarrow is historical fiction set in the Roman legions during the empire. Years ago I read a couple of the early volumes in this series as Vespasian’s legion started their campaign in Britannia and then shifted to Germania. My recollection was that the history and military action were better than the characterization and arc. This volume must be quite a bit later in the series but I wasn’t much impressed. Perhaps it requires the readers to be heavily invested in the characters at this stage of the series, which I just was not. Innocent Blood by PD James, who is famous as a prolific writer of murder mysteries although this one feels more like a slow-paced psychological thriller. It was too detached and ethereal to for my taste, and the characterization of the murderer felt misplaced. I’ll concede it’s pretty well written, just not a style I was in the mood for at the time. Others may enjoy it more. The Dawn Of Everything: A New History Of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow is a non-fiction anthropology that wants to elevate the perspective of indigenous peoples that were colonized in recent centuries. That lens is valid and certainly drew me to this book but it strains a little too hard to lionize the noble savage — a reductive trope in itself for serious academics to pursue so naively.

Similar for me. In search of novelty and new authors, I pick up most of my books on Kindle daily deals or else Kindle Unlimited. It has been freeing to just take a gamble, and I don’t feel bad if I DNF anywhere beyond 20% into a given book.

Yeah, I spoke too soon about the engineering catch-up. It has to be within regs.

The engineering catch-up is well underway. RB were always going to defer development for the rest of this season to preserve their post-punishment wind tunnel time for next year’s car. But it shows how much the other teams can close the gap. RB have a difficult decision to make on Perez. He has been so uncompetitive for more than half the season it seems. Next year’s WCC should be a closer competition and even the WDC needs some second driver support to deny points to competitors and help hold track position.

Although if Sexton hadn’t missed that easy penalty against NZ, Ireland could have won their match with a drop goal rather than needing to drive all the way to a try.

Lucky Liverpool to get the early Saturday fixture once again after the international break. It makes for boring, leaden games. It’s gratifying to defeat Dyche-ball but the attack was ineffectual for a long time and Konate could have seen a second yellow. Fun stat I heard (for the conspiracy-minded) but haven’t confirmed: Young today was the first PL opponent to receive a second yellow card against Liverpool since Mane during his Southampton days (2015?).

I don’t want to be too harsh but it is exactly the compulsive gamblers who are prone to being ensnared in corruption and undermine the sport. In the finance industry, addiction problems — especially substance abuse or gambling — are huge red flags that block working in positions of control over money. It’s far too prone to exploitation by bad actors or just desperate decisions. So the punishment has to be harsh as a deterrent. Gambling addicts need to be pushed to speak up early and get help, not feel safe to hide and prolong their behavior until they feel trapped.

Hard to know if the Springbok crossfield kicks were a tactic just for the French (it really worked!), but Borthwick almost has to preemptively select Steward over Smith, costing England a creative variation on their stodgy tactics. France vs SA was an enthralling game when I didn’t have the same personal tension attached. I disagreed with the French kick at goal immediately after the yellow card right before half time. With a dominant lock off the field for SA, it seems like a moment to kick for touch and maul. But it was so back-and-forth: the French looked better able to control possession and territory, and turned that into tries, but then disproportionately conceded tries from specific points of defensive frailty. With more distance from the Ireland loss, it feels like a combo of Leinster and Liverpool losing European finals. The opponent was more successful at game management and imposed their game better. Exciting, explosive attacking play is less successful in a knock-out match against an opponent that is highly capable, resolute and well prepared — defense is often decisive at that stage. Fatigue matters for a small squad late in a tournament — the figures for relative minutes per player in the group stages that went around during the week just confirmed what my eyes told me last Saturday.

Thanks, I’ll add The Spear Cuts Through Water to the list. I read the opening novel of The Craft before but the lawyers-as-wizards set-up didn’t grab me. It felt like a light, soapy legal drama — where the protagonist can find a convenient precedent or loophole to resolve every crisis, as if no-one else has been to law school or has any experience practicing law — dropped into a fantasy setting that would just allow the convenience of a legal system of his own creation. At least The Good Wife around the same time did it with better writing. In my defense for being overly reductive and dismissive, I did say that I’m jaded by repetition.

Against All Gods by Miles Cameron is a Bronze Age historical fiction, the first in a series. It felt so cheesy to me. Perhaps I was too tired to lose myself in it and suspend my disbelief. DNF’d Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie was an immediately absorbing read, despite my tiredness. I think it’s well known around here but it’s a far future interstellar SF and the sole POV is an isolated fragment of a spaceship’s AI. The otherness of the narrator and the slow reveal of the underlying crisis make this very good. I’ll finish this trilogy. Promise Of Blood by Brian McClellan is the start of the Powder Mage fantasy series. Yikes this was cheesy, tropey and centered on a very contrived magic system. I still love fantasy but I find I’m so jaded. I’ve no patience now for stuff like this that I might have enjoyed 20 years ago. These days I need fantasy to be excellent or really fresh. Anything in between won’t hold my attention — they’re all just variations of something I’ve read before. DNF’d Snow Flower And The Secret Fan by Lisa See is a literary fiction about two women friends in 19th century China with a secret correspondence via silk fans. On one hand it’s an interesting view into a different time, place and culture, and it portrays an almost Brokeback forbidden romance. But the story is pretty boring. Perhaps others will appreciate it more. (luckily Ancillary Justice redeemed this poor run of books)

Standing In Another Man’s Grave by Ian Rankin is a John Rebus police procedural set in Edinburgh. Very good series, with a pragmatic, unloved curmudgeon of a main character. I’ve enjoyed all of these so far. Mutiny by Julian Stockwin is a historical fiction from the peak of the Royal Navy, or perhaps this time the nadir. It covers the fleet mutiny at a time when a French invasion threatened. Historically and politically interesting topic but made for a dull novel here. Ridiculously contrived to allow the main character to suddenly participate in the mutiny while of course still being a loyal patriot who would never betray the service, king or country. I Choose Darkness by Jenny Lawson is a very humorous essay about the author’s memories of childhood Halloweens. Enjoyable and a fun change-up.

Ireland just weren’t at their best. Perhaps some fatigue and strain showing, especially after being worked very hard by NZ’s opening. Ireland had three almost-tries in the second half that might have gone their way another day: the maul attempt held up and two cross-field kicks to O’Mahony and Sheehan. But their general play wasn’t sharp enough. Their execution at lineouts, scrums (conceding penalties needlessly) and rucks cost them turnovers. They didn’t seem fit enough today to support the ruck and re-set their attacking shape through the phases to do their usual devastating fast ruck speed (nor to defend that second try), and I saw very little creative play-making from Sexton to balance his waning physical contribution: his basic kicking and passing was solid but I don’t remember any successful chip kicks (in fact others in green had more penetrating kicks behind) or wrap-arounds or reverse passes. The 11-15 backs showed more threat (Lowe made the skip-over pass to Aki for his try) but the forwards felt just a step slow and stodgy. I was worried before the tournament that our high tempo game and limited forward power off the bench would eventually count against us as fatigue accumulated to slow us down and strong opponents in the later stages could use greater power to slow the game and grind us down. We defeated SA’s attempt but not all that comfortably and we’d be more tired for each successive one. I love the rugby that Ireland (and Leinster) play but it just might not be suited to winning a WC with so many games tightly packed and with the toughest opponents back-loaded.

NZ deserved it. They managed the game well and had more energy and speed when needed. That held-up try decided it, although Sexton’s penalty miss didn’t help either. Really disappointing for Ireland to go home at this stage.

Exciting, tense game so far. NZ started much better and were more aggressive in rucks, plus got some attacking success with short chip kicks. Ireland are back in it now but need to shore up their lineout. There was some nervy/slippery ball handling several times, including a terrible pass early on from Keenan that stopped a try for Lowe. It was frustrating to see slow ruck speed and unsupported carriers for a bad patch but hopefully they’ve got their shape back. They’ve shown they can make yards when they switch the ball to the backs. NZ look fitter and fresher so far. I hope Ireland don’t fade.

Argentina demanding some tier 1 respect after my diss upthread. It still seems disproportionate that they’ve reached their third SF. Wales went from a very poor 6N to almost losing to Fiji, then beat Australia and now lost to Argentina. Argentina couldn’t lay a glove on 14-man England (not great themselves, even with 15) and had unimpressive victories over Japan and Samoa. It’s so hard to assess the quality either side brought to this fixture.

Ireland still missing captain James Ryan but otherwise starting a very strong team. Hopefully our wingers are actually fit to play and can let the whole match because improvised wingers cost us defensively late against Scotland. No Cian Healy called into the squad either, so front row depth still a problem. Andrew Porter has done incredibly well to anchor a scrum that has been very competitive despite being outweighed in almost every match.