Mathieu van der Poel won op weergaloze wijze de slotrit op de Champs Élysées. Na een aanval met eindwinnaar Tadej Pogacar wist hij in de laatste meters met een ultieme jump het sprintende peloton nog net voor te blijven.

CRYBT is a solitaire roguelike with cribbage-esque rules. Watch the explainer, read the online rules, print a playing card sized mini-booklet, or just play online (recommended if your cribbage scoring is rusty.)

Tales from the CRYBT 3(1 player) CRYBT is a solitaire roguelike with cribbage-esque rules. Watch the explainer, read the online rules, print a playing card sized mini-booklet, or just play online (recommended if your cribbage scoring is rusty.) CRYBT (a portmanteau of Crib + Crypt) is based on cribbage with some additions, notably you have to keep track of 20 Life points, the Crawl (round) number, and probably some rewards. (A cribbage board would serve for the first two.) Play consists of a series of Crawls, divided up into four Encounters:

• Draw 5 cards, put one aside as an Offering, face up. This is equivalent to the crib, but isn't scored until after each Crawl.
• Draw another card (the Hero.) You may sacrifice the Hero (place face down in the Offering pile) and use a Graveyard card instead, if you have any.
• Draw another card (the Monster.) This is has a value equal to its cribbage value (e.g., face cards are 10) plus the Crawl number. Face cards have additional effects.
• Score your five card hand as in cribbage. If you're over the Monster value, you get points. If under, you lose Life.
• Your hand is put in the Discard pile. If you lost Life to the Monster it is put in the Discard, otherwise it is put in the Graveyard.

After four encounters the Crawl ends and you score your Offering. You should have four face-up cards (and possibly some face-down.)

• Draw another card (the Sacrifice) to your hand.
• Score your five card hand as in cribbage.
• If you have any face-down cards (sacrificed Heroes) subtract one point for each.
• If you have any cards in your Graveyard add one point for each.
  • Note: this is omitted from some versions of the rules, but present in the mini-book and the video explainer. (Version numbering would be useful.)

You can now use points to restore your Life (up to the 20 you start with) and/or purchase "Boons" for the next Crawl (any previous Boons expire.) Play repeats; your score is the Crawl number in which you die. This is a fun game, once you get the hang of it. It's a unique take on cribbage as a solitaire game (previously) and the only rougelike one that I'm aware of. It would really benefit from a playmat, which is even mentioned in the rules, so I'm a bit puzzled as to why there isn't one. The mini-booklet does have a useful spread that allows you to track which Boons you purchased and has the Face Card and Joker effects on the opposite page. I'd prefer if the Boons had their effects listed, instead of the cute graphics (you can flip to another page to find them.) CRYBT was created by TechDweeb. (The online version was coded by vonhoon.) TechDweeb normally covers retro games and handheld video game systems on his YouTube channel, but he has released several analog games now. His first was... SOLATRO This is a solitaire game inspired by the online can't-be-played-with-real-cards "card" game Balatro. This one can be played with real cards, ideally (but optionally) a pack with two jokers. The rules as written (mini-book) are pretty simple, but a little confusing; e.g., he uses "play" and "hand" interchangeably. There's an explainer video, but it's from an earlier version of the game and there have been some changes since. This is my understanding of the current rules: You play in increments of Rounds, each consisting of three Hands of poker. For each Hand you

• Draw eight cards
• Discard up to five, and draw back up to eight
• Make the best five card poker hand that you can from your cards

The tricky bit is that the Discard steps can be moved within the Round. On your first Hand of the Round you could use all three Discards, or defer your Discard to use later. Jokers are set aside from your hand (draw back up to eight) but otherwise behave as normal wild cards, with the twist that encountering a second Joker negates both. If you fail to make enough points to reach the target (initially 25 points) by the end of the round, you lose. Otherwise, you can spend the difference in points between the target and your total at the Shoppe for one-time-use items. The HAND SCORES/SHOPPE spread in the mini-book is useful here. Any leftover points are discarded, the target is incremented by 25 points, and play continues. I'm not sure if his love of retro games informs his death-is-inevitable game design sensibilities, or if it's the other way around. I bounced of Balatro when I tried it because of the insane numbers of wildcards, so this was interesting. However, it feels like it goes too far in the other direction to be interesting to Balatro fans, and not quite far enough for standard deckers. I do like the negating jokers rule, and I played several hands with a deck with four Jokers, which changed the game since the appearance of another Joker was much more likely. TechDweeb's latest game is... HERO-ish This is a solo adventure meets Texas Holdem dice game. As per usual, there are online rules, a printable version, and an explainer video. They're... OK, but they at once assume an understanding of Texas Holdem, and don't emphasize the differences. The game was only released a couple weeks ago, so clarifications/changes can be expected. You'll need seven six-sided dice and a bunch of tokens for coins (I think about 30, but chances are good you won't need them all.) A notepad can substitute for the coin tokens, and let you get by with just six dice in a pinch. You'll also need a map of the land. The supplied one is a nice bit of flavor, but it's really quite symmetrical. Simplified:

                        THE
        BEAR(1)---------TOWN-------BANDIT(1)
        1 pair                       1 pair 
      /        \                   /       \
 WOLVES(1)    GHOST(1)--------OGRE(1)     GOBLIN(1)
  2 pair      3 of kind      3 of kind     2 pair 
    |              |             |            |
  TROLL(2)      W.WOLF(2)     VAMP(2)       WITCH(2)
  low strt     full house    4 of kind      low strt 
                   |             |
               KRAKEN(3)       GIANT(3)
               high strt     5 of kind 
                    \            /
                    THE DRAGON(4)
                       5 sixes 

The economics of this world are brutal. You start with ten coins. Moving to each location costs one coin, on the way out and the way back. Fighting a monster requires three times its combat value (in parentheses.) So, just venturing out to attack the bear next door will cost 5 coins: 2 for travel and 3x(1) for combat. If victorious, you get double your wagers back (6 coins) but half that money isn't available to you until you get back to town (and sell your loot.) More powerful/lucrative monsters are further away and increasingly require hiring additional heros, both of which add to your expenses. If you run out of money, you starve to death. A common fate is to be stuck in town without enough money to even set out on another adventure. Then your only choice is to gamble at the Tavern until you have enough money... or none, in which case you starve to death. You're probably going to starve to death. To understand how combat works, it helps to know the basics of Texas Holdem. It is a poker game in which each player tries to make the best five-card poker hand out of seven cards. Two "hole cards" are dealt to each player and are only useable by them, and then five "community cards" are dealt face up in three additional stages (three cards, one card, and one card.) Betting and/or folding takes place after each of the four stages. In HERO-ish combat is decided in a similar fashion with the dice substituting for cards. TechDweeb mentions the dice can be regular six sided (d6) or poker dice, but the rules are written for d6. Poker dice come in packs of five, so even if you have some you likely will need to add some regular d6s and convert between them. Here's the hero table with the poker dice equivalents included.

  | d6 | Pkr | Hero   | Ability (Cost)       |
  |----|-----|--------|----------------------|
  | 1  | A   | Farmer | +1 c. on victory (0) |
  | 6  | K   | Wizard | Change a die     (1) |
  | 5  | Q   | Knight | ±1 a die         (1) |
  | 4  | J   | Barbar | Replace a die    (1) |
  | 3  | 10  | Rogue  | Reroll a die     (1) |
  | 2  | 9   | Ranger | Preview a die    (1) |

Note: I have the table ordered Ace-high, poker dice style. The key thing is Heroes = Hole Cards and you have to purchase them in Town. The first costs 2 coin to hire, the second an additional 4 coin. They don't require additional expense unless you use their ability. You roll the die after you hire them. If you roll a 5 (or a Queen on a poker die) you now have a 5 as your hole card until you return to Town or lose/flee a fight (at which points all your hired heroes leave.) Combat occurs when you enter an area with an undefeated monster. Each monster has a combat value (in parentheses) and a hand needed to defeat them. TechDweeb calls the latter a "required hand" and it's not clear if you need to make that hand exactly, or make that hand or better. I'm assuming it's the latter, given the Holdem inspiration, but there's no table of hands. Here's a ranking based on the odds in poker dice, highest first.

  | Name            | d6 example | pkr dice   | Note              |
  |-----------------|------------|------------|-------------------|
  | Five of a Kind  | 1-1-1-1-1  | A-A-A-A-A  |                   |
  | Four of a Kind  | 1-1-1-1-?  | A-A-A-A-?  | ? = Any other die |
  | Full House      | 2-2-2-4-4  | 9-9-9-J-J  |                   |
  | High Straight   | 1-6-5-4-3  | A-K-Q-J-10 | Ace High          |
  | Low Straight    | 6-5-4-3-2  | K-Q-J-10-9 | King High         |
  | Three of a Kind | 1-1-1-?-?  | A-A-A-?-?  | ? = Any other die |
  | Two Pair        | 2-2-4-4-?  | 9-9-J-J-?  | ? = Any other die |
  | One Pair        | 5-5-?-?-?  | Q-Q-?-?-?  | ? = Any other die |

Note: TechDweeb uses card terms that don't exactly translate to dice. I've been interpreting his "Small Straight" as "Low Straight," etc. Combat is done in a Holdem style pattern, but grouped into "Steps."

• Step One
  • Review your Hero dice, if any.
• Step Two
  • Player wagers the combat value of the opponent
  • Three dice are rolled
• Step Three
  • Player wagers the combat value of the opponent
  • A fourth die is rolled
  • Player wagers the combat value of the opponent
  • The fifth die is rolled
• Step Four
  • Player makes best hand and compares it to the required hand
    • A loss forfeits the wagers and your Heroes abandon you
    • A win returns your wagers to you, and puts an equal amount aside that you can access once you're back in Town.
      • Note: this is based on the video explainer; the online rules just say you 'gain rewards.'

Hero abilities can be used, by paying their cost, once per Step (when it makes sense, e.g., only a Ranger can use theirs in Step One.) You can fold/flee at any point, but your Heroes will abandon you. This is an intriguing game. I like the fight mechanics, but I kind of hate them too. I keep coming back to the hero dice; it might be possible to split their function as hole cards and bonus abilities, but I'm not sure how. At any rate, this is one worth trying out. It's theoretically winnable!

Some highlights from special collections libraries' blogs this week.
Faith in the Desert A church bulletin from Japanese internment
Lillian Gatlin: Aviation's First Influencer
Glass plate photography at The John Rylands Library
Unidentified Flying Objects in Western New York

The fastest laps chart showed that Max Verstappen had far from the quickest car around the Hungaroring - but when has that ever stopped the four-time World Champion from achieving a strong result?

Kimi Antonelli finished ahead of his two main title rivals by securing third place at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

From the site tech-news site XDA Developers:


The consumer tech economy needs more DRAM manufacturers, and it needs them more urgently than perhaps at any point in its history. Anyone keeping track of the pricing trends will know that memory prices have climbed into the stratosphere on the back of AI infrastructure's relentless demand, and every consumer device that depends on RAM has traveled from inflated to unaffordable, quarter after quarter, with almost no relief in sight. Which is exactly why a story out of Shenzhen is worth paying attention to, even in its current rumor phase. According to the details circulated by various semiconductor analysts on X, the Chinese government, DRAM maker SwaySure and Chinese tech giant Huawei have partnered to set up a 12-inch memory production plant. If the reports hold up, it could change memory economics for years to come, but not necessarily in the way you'd hope...

SwaySure itself is a known player. The company was registered in Shenzhen in March 2022, is reportedly backed by municipal government, and appears alongside Huawei on the US Commerce Department's Entity List, suggesting Washington has realized the connection between the two entities. Although, that's also where the story becomes a little less straightforward. None of these claims have been independently confirmed, and many of the technical details circulating online trace back to a single X account. Huawei has previously denied operating the wider network of state-backed fabs that analysts have reported. Even the widely quoted figure of 140,000 wafers per month isn't new, and public records indicate SwaySure's production line is already operational. What gives the report weight, then, is the fact that Huawei has spent years building this kind of domestic semiconductor ecosystem through partners that appear to operate independently.

The rationale that analysts on X keep revisiting has little to do with consumer memory. Huawei's Ascend AI accelerators require high-bandwidth memory (HBM), and US export controls have all but cut Chinese entities from procuring HBM from Samsung or SK Hynix... Owning the supply outright solves a problem that purchasing power can't, which is why the DRAM push is read as a bid to secure captive HBM for Huawei's own silicon rather than to flood the market with cheaply manufactured DDR5... The catch, however, is the fact that most of this new and rejuvenated capacity is expected to be absorbed by China's own domestic demand, rather than to relieve the global shortage... This development does not seem to be an isolated incident, given the state of DRAM economics. CXMT, China's largest manufacturer of DRAM, is already running close to 265,000 wafer starts per month as of now as per analyst estimates, and is projected to hit 350,000 by the end of the year, bringing it within the touching distance of Micron's estimated 385,000....

[T]he oligopoly seems to be facing the first credible challenge to its capacity discipline in decades, and it seems to be coming from a country building fabs much faster than the competition could hope to match. Now, whether it tangibly impacts the consumer market economics in the time to come may be a story in its own right in a few years, but for now, for what it's worth, it's a new direction, and much of it feeds optimism.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

PARIJS (ANP) - Mathieu van der Poel dacht al een jaar aan winnen in de Tour de France op de Champs-Élysées. Dat zei de Nederlander na zijn zege in de slotetappe van de Tour in het flashinterview.

"Toen ik vorig jaar ziek was en deze wedstrijd op televisie moest kijken, dacht ik al aan dit moment", zei Van der Poel. "Het is ongelofelijk. Het was superzwaar om weg te zijn met de beste renner in de wereld, alle respect naar Tadej (Pogačar)." Op de laatste beklimming van de Côte de la Butte Montmartre plaatste Van der Poel een aanval waarop alleen de gele trui een antwoord had. In de slotkilometer reed de Nederlander weg bij de Sloveen en bleef hij de achtervolgende sprinters nipt voor.

"Ik was aan het wachten tot er een wiel langs me kwam, maar dat gebeurde maar niet", zei Van der Poel. "Op het laatste moment zag ik een wiel van Pirelli naast me en dat was van Jasper (Philipsen)." Zijn ploeggenoot Philipsen won de sprint van de achtervolgers en werd tweede, voor groenetruidrager Mads Pedersen.

'Nooit opgeven'

"Het laat zien dat we nooit opgeven. Het begin van de Tour was niet goed, maar winnen op de Champs-Élysées, dat is best goed denk ik", zei de Nederlander met gevoel voor understatement.

"We hebben een gezegde in het Nederlands: het moet uit je tenen komen", ging Van der Poel verder. "Ik weet niet waar dit vandaan kwam, maar in ieder geval niet uit mijn tenen."

Cheetahs forced to cross roiling rivers, owls battered by storms … the tone of this look at how extreme weather affects animals is all a bit disaster movie. Subtle, it is not

You have a thick neck and poorly defined calf muscles and you live in South Dakota with your feckless partner and your five expressionless children. You are an owl. Your days consist of lengthy stretches of nothing, punctuated by sudden bursts of unimaginable terror. Coyotes, badgers and snakes are all bent on reducing your beak to marmalade.

But it’s the weather that poses the biggest threat. Specifically, shouts Force of Nature, it’s the “MONSTER STORMS” that rumble ominously across the prairies, each of which forces you and your family to scurry into your burrow, whereupon you will stand with your trembling backs to the wall, legs wide apart and fluffy britches a-flap, like anxious viscounts in the court of Charles II. Will you survive? Or will you be eviscerated by the “cluster bombs of tornadoes” that churn with increasing frequency through the midwest?

Continue reading...

Bij Trouw is het feest nu Sylvain Ephimenco van de flat is gekieperd en dat wordt gevierd met een redactie-uitje naar het fantasieland waar Sophie Straat woont met twee bijzondere reisleiders. In dat land heeft Sophie Straat natuurlijk helemaal gelijk met haar oproep aan witte mannen om naar achter te gaan, al vragen sommige onwetende leden van het gezelfschap zich wel af of dat niet wat beleefder had gekund. Hoe vraag je netjes of witte mannen een stapje terug willen doen?

Gelukkig zijn daar Aldith Hunkar (oh ja die) en Cemil Yilmaz om uit te leggen dat die vraag stellen eigenlijk al verkeerd is. De reacties op Sophie Straat zijn juist het probleem, dat opgelost gaat worden door nog meer mensen tegen hun witte schenen te schoppen. "Het is juist belangrijk om hen (= witte mannen, GS) aan te spreken op hun gedrag en hun verantwoordelijkheid." Cemil Yilmaz maakte vroeger lijstjes van rechtse mensen die hij stom vond en is oud-lijsttrekker van NIDA in Den Haag, u weet wel, die islamitische partij die eigenlijk zelfs voor Jesse Klaver een beetje te leip was, al kwam hij niet in de raad omdat de nummer 2 meer voorkeursstemmen kreeg. Zijn enige politieke wapenfeit was een keihard weggelachen voorstel om de termen 'Hagenees' en 'Hagenaar' af te schaffen.

In goed functionerende landen krijgt zo iemand zorg en een uitkering, in Nederland is hij mede-eigenaar van het diversiteits-verdienmodel IZI Solutions, dat (screenshots na de breek) opdook in de stukken van ons Woo-verzoek naar die bizarre taalgids op het ministerie van OCW. IZI Solutions heeft namelijk op verzoek van een ambtenaar die gids nog een keertje goed nagekeken. Dat kostte de belastingbetaler "meer dan begroot was", maar dat is voor zo'n belangrijke zaak geen enkel probleem, ook al viel kennelijk geen enkele IZI-meelezer over de bizarre demonisering van de term 'holocaust' en werd de gids een jaar later door de staatssecretaris openlijk in de prullenbak gegooid. Wat wel het probleem is, is dat een ophitser als Celim Yilmaz nu dus door Trouw en ons ministerie van Onderwijs wordt gezien als iemand met verstand van diversiteit en inclusie. En dat probleem, meneer, dat blijft.

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