Bjork - All Is Full Of Love

Ryuichi Sakamoto - Energy Flow

Cissy Houston - The Lord Is My Shepherd

Keith Urban - Blue Ain't Your Color

Incubus - Aqueous Transmission

The Stereophonics - Maybe Tomorrow

Okay, I will admit that my chances are no longer looking very good.

We're still waiting for penalties between Colombia and Switzerland, but that won't actually affect the score for this round, which is as follows:

Points scored in Round of 32
Lüc 18
Glüc 12
Braneu 12
AD 6
þerxh 12
Danihel 15
Breneir 15

Overall score so far:
Lüc 79
Glüc 73
Braneu 71
AD 58
þerxh 73
Danihel 76
Breneir 74

This round turned out to be pretty decisive. At least for AD, who has no predicted semifinalists left, so 58 will actually be his final score. Because of the way the teams interact however it is also no longer possible for myself, Braneu or þerxh to win. It really comes down now to whether Spain makes it to the final, in which case Danihels Opta-based prediction wins. In almost every other case Lüc wins, except there is one particular scenario where the winner is a tie.'

Outlook (all rounds):
min-max
Lüc 79-128
Glüc 73-109
Braneu 71-94
AD 58
þerxh 73-104
Danihel 76-125
Breneir 74-97

Quote from: Barclamïu da Miéletz on July 07, 2026, 01:51:53 AMMGMT - The Youth

More are to follow

MGMT - Love Always Remains

MGMT - Boogie Down

1. Iron Maiden - Children of the Damned
Iron Maiden really know how to write an outro.

2. Cocteau Twins - Fifty-fifty Clown
Cocteau Twins are my new favourite thing to listen to this year. Mesmerizing.

3. Talk Talk - Such a Shame
Kinda wanted to nominate Time It's Time because that one really moves me, but I've tried nominating Talk Talk before, unsuccesfully,  and I'm not sure y'all are ready for 8 (somewhat repetitive) minutes of Talk Talk. Instead I went with a song that might have broader appeal (because it's so energetic and catchy).

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on June 02, 2026, 11:48:38 AMMy prediction is that we're going to see that change over the next month again.  We'll see: either I'll be right and we'll do a lot better, or I'm going to be eating a lot of crow as my hypothesis falls flat!  Copy this down and remember it, to hold me accountable, folks!

Like clockwork: when we resumed promotion, we saw results.  It was a little nerve-wracking to make that prediction, since a lot could have gone wrong that wasn't related to our experiment.  But it worked!

Within a few weeks, we acquired two wonderful new immigrants, and there are more in the pipeline.  My computer is broken, so my ability to make new videos is suspended, but we'll do other forms of promotion.  The efforts seem to be very amply rewarded: not too much work is required to generate substantial benefits for the country.

I know that a lot of this stuff is new.  This is the first time in our country's history that we have kept track of things like this, and this is the first time we've had a sustained promotional plan that we applied in this way.  As we proceed, I think we'll get better and better results.  Building up a multimedia library of videos means that we can generate promotional short-form video clips, so I'm going to try to record some more speeches with zippy bits that can be clipped out without a lot of effort.  His Majesty has promised me some footage, also, and maybe we can get some from other reputable Talossans.

The future is looking very bright, my friends.



For period: 1 June 2026 to 1 July 2026
----
Incomplete: 3
No Wittenberg: 10
No post: 0
In progress: 10
No petition: 0
Successful: 2
Total applications: 25

'Incomplete' refers to those applications which were not filled out correctly or completely, and which were returned with an explanation. 'No Wittenberg' refers to those applications which were complete, but in which the applicant did not go on to make an account on Wittenberg. 'No post' refers to those applications from the period in which the prospective never made a post and so the process has been terminated.  'In progress' refers to those applications from the period which were complete and in which the applicant is still being considered. 'No petition' refers to those applications which were complete and considered, but for which no petition was received. 'Successful' refers to naturalizations completed.