Just an hour until we are livestreaming to talk about Digimon!

We have a new episode of Beatbreak to talk about, various collaboration events, & more!

Plus @arpulver.bsky.social is here!

www.youtube.com/withthewill/...

Digimon Beatbreak #27 Quick Reaction: In this episode, love means never having to… watch your partner make dolls out of your fur.

Isn’t this just Avatar?

Why do I always get polled on my feelings about Amazon when I should be getting important questions like this?

(It's Archaeopteryx)

Agreed. Tried it with a recent purchase and weren't actually told what the minimum monthly payment was to avoid interest. Took a bit of math and paranoia to set it up correctly. Definitely a trap.

We're regulars at our library's monthly board game night, with free pizza and other dads trapped in games of Sorry and Candyland looking at us longingly as we bust out Magical Athlete and Flip 7.

Four more and he'll have a full Pokemon team!

Digimon Beatbreak Episode 26 Quick Reaction: In this episode, Haruomi commits the most fundamental mistake known to man: letting the new partner meet the ex.

Zachary Roper- Unpolished and visibly out of his league, but has a good rapport with his colleagues, particularly Barnes. Lacks the fresh ideas Hong brings, but getting the mentorship, practice, and hopefully future service that will make him a strong candidate for future office.

@saraforwi.com- Unfortunately stuck on the far end of the table so didn't get to speak early as often, so struggled to stand out. Landed hits with the most concrete plans for AI guardrails, but too often focused on broadly contextualizing an issue rather than saying why she's the best one to fix it.

@theothermandela.bsky.social- Solid as always telling his story and shared some good ideas that weren't echoed elsewhere (particularly on the environment). I love the guy, but it feels like no matter what you're looking for in a candidate, there's another one that will tick that box stronger.

@francescahongwi.bsky.social- Love the thought and depth of her answers: she has good ideas that set her apart and she packs her responses full of them. Delivery is dry and fast with too much emphasis on her coalition. Someone described her as "needing seasoning" but we all love what she brings.

@keldaroys.bsky.social- Very precise in her answers, going in depth on basic issues, has progressive wins in GOP-led legislature. Shows her knowledge well and calls out Dem inadequacy. Doesn't stand out as much in a crowded field, but love her as a consensus candidate that would shine one-on-one.

@davidcrowley4wi.bsky.social- Turned a lot of heads that maybe hadn't considered him before. Great charisma, and answers balancing story with policy. Don't love his emphasis on working across the aisle (give me a bullying trifecta), but he has to in his job so it's a notable accomplishment.

Picture of the author with Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong.

Back home after attending the @columbiacowidems.bsky.social Wisconsin Governor candidate forum today and here's my impression based on hearing the six present candidates. Doing this in order of who probably performed the best today, not necessarily who my favorites are in the race:

I'll do my thoughts on each candidate later, but we've got some good choices.

First test is giving an introduction after the moderator already gave the basic bio: Hong and Crowley hitting the sweet spot between background and transitioning to credentials.

At a forum to hopefully meet the new governor of Wisconsin!

Still remarkable how many emotions this series can pull from you.

Got to participate in an official election canvass today! Basically the official tally of the votes before they're sent on to be certified. It was for one uncontested race so it was very straightforward, but it's a neat feeling tabulating official vote numbers using my phone's calculator app.

All signs pointed to me not having to sweat the results tonight. This is a hopeful sign for the future in Wisconsin.

JB Pritzker in Illinois is advocating for a Republican scam, in the name of "protecting the children". I'm glad to see that not all Democratic electeds are falling for this nonsense.

Digimon Beatbreak Episode 25 Reaction: In this episode, Makoto and Chiropmon meet their idols: a Cleaner duo pretending to be heroes pretending to be a Cleaner duo.

I had to draw this cause it makes me very weepy 💖
#sailormoon #artemisii #fanart

I ain't saying it's good. This is about the dangerous suggestion that AI could do better.

Even the hackiest reference-filled writing like you see in the Mario movies still has to come from a place of heart. They don't make the movies good, but the nods in the animation and music came from actual people paying respects to the source material they love.

Digimon Beatbreak #24 Quick Reaction: In this episode, different morals must come into play when dark energy is used to empower a Digimon, especially when the target freaking deserves it.

Is it wrong to respond to this text with "why were u so mean to Billy Madison??"

AI company Sora is dead.
Good.
Don’t besmirch a good name.

Do not watch the trailer. Don't even hate watch it. Don't go to the comments to post how much of a monster jkr is. Don't engage with it at all. Let it be a DOA