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The internal combustion engine won't stay the same. It will lose 150 kW of power. That's why they're tinkering with the aerodynamics. They need to reduce drag to avoid embarrassingly low speeds on the straits. And the ICE will run full throttle in slow corners to charge the battery because recuperation from braking won't be enough.

Ain't no such thing as the original with a building that old and construction work that took centuries to complete. They started remodeling before the building was even finished. As Ran mentioned, the pre-fire state was the result of extensive remodeling in the 19th century. The church had no spire before 1859, so a modern design would have been just as (un)original as the old one.

What options are there that are better than Audi? Apparently he could go to Mercedes, but only on a short-term contract. Audi would be a long-term commitment. The downside is that he'd be in bad car in 2025. Would be nice to see Mick racing in F1 again (he does WEC with Renault), but I don't know how realistic that is. Seb seems to miss racing but I don't think he'd commit to F1 full time again. He did a WEC test with Porsche, though. Maybe he'll race for them in 2025. Meanwhile, there's concern about the 2026 engine rules. In simulator tests, the cars were slower than F2... But 2026 is the year Alonso is powered by Honda again, so it's kind of appropriate.

Sainz could go to Sauber. They'll be Audi from 2026 on, and with the new regulations, they're as likely to be competitive as any of the big teams.

Alonso has renewed his contract at Aston Martin. Which makes it more likely that Verstappen goes to Mercedes if the situation at Red Bull escalates.

Making a big-budget movie is quite a gamble, particularly when the source material is rather nerdy. The JJ Abrams Star Trek movies weren't really a success. Dune Part 1 must have lost money, too. Part 2 is a moderate success, but no more. David Lynch's Dune lost the studio a lot of money, but it was great promotion for the books.

Our Galaxy is about 30 kpc or 100,000 light years in diameter, so distance definitely is an issue as the universe is now. On the other hand, if by some magic we could travel across the galaxy in a reasonable time, we could also reach our neighbor galaxies. They don't move away from us either, because of gravity. Of course, that's just our backyard. As for intelligent life, there's probably a lot of it but it doesn't really matter because we won't make contact. Maybe we'll find signatures of life in the atmospheres of planets orbiting nearby stars but that's about it.

That landing operation certainly wasn't a routine operation. IIRC, it would have taken the Harkonen decades to pay back the debt it left them in. That's also why the Atreides didn't expect a force of that size. It was practically unheard of. The Fremen weren't good fighters before Paul came. They couldn't take on the Harkonen, much less the Sardaukar. And they weren't just a few thousand. I think the figure of ten million is mentioned. That's the total population but it would still make a force of above one million. Space travel is the monopoly of the Spacing Guild, and that includes stuff in planetary orbit. So the emperor can't just put his own satellite there. And it was the Harkonen who ran the planet to begin with. As for the planet's ecology, that probably doesn't hold up to close scrutiny, especially based on what we know now, but I don't see much of a problem there. Particularly in a setting where there is interstellar travel (which is apparently instantaneous) or genetic memory. There's certainly nothing wrong with there being no rain on a planet without water. I don't remember if they mine the polar caps for water but I think they do.

I object to calling the KJA books fanfiction. If the authors were fans, the books shouldn't be so full of deviations from Frank Herbert's Duniverse. It has been a long time since I last touched one of those books, but they felt as if the authors hadn't even read Dune.

People calling USB C a universal standard always reminds me of this: https://xkcd.com/927/ The only thing universal about USB C is the plug. What the port or even the cable can do varies. As for your dad's ipad, I'd check if the charger provides enough power. Not sure if this is still the thing with newer chargers but the ones that came with iphones used to be too weak to charge an ipad.

Russia exports _crude_ oil. The refineries produce gasoline and diesel for domestic consumption. Would be rich if Russia had to import refined oil from India, though.

Corporate headquarters is now in Arlington, VA. Shows where their priorities lie.

I haven't heard about that. Is there a source? ETA: OK, found something to that effect, but it doesn't mean anything. Hamilton made statements like that up to the very moment the Ferrari deal was announced.

The latest rumor is that Horner might actually be promoted rather than fired. That would probably mean Max and Newey leaving. Mercedes would like to have Max, of course, but their car is rather mediocre this year. Aramco are trying to buy Aston Martin are ready to pay Verstappen and Newey a ton of money if they join the team. It's probably a better option than Mercedes and Ferrari doesn't have a free cockpit.

That's a weakness of GDP as a measure of wealth. It measures production, but not loss of assets through wear and tear. Neither does it count the depletion of natural resources.

As Werthead explained:

Press agencies refuse edited photos for good reasons. Press photos are usually meant to document certain events, and once a picture has been touched by photoshop its documentary value is zero at best. Kate can post as many photoshopped pictures on Instagram as she wants but the press shouldn't touch them with a tentpole.

Her name is already out: Fiona Hewitson. She was Horner's personal assistant.

Rumors about Marko being sacked. And Max Verstappen heading for Mercedes.

Everybody wonders why Scholz doesn't want to give Ukraine these missiles. There's some kerfuffle in Germany about a conference (not sure if it was video or audio only) that has been wiretapped and published by the Russians. Four generals of the German air force discuss Taurus and if the Ukrainians could use it without German service personnel being involved. Apparently it's possible (Sholz claims it isn't), but would take some extra effort and time. They also imply the presence of UK and US service personnel in Ukraine. The Russian propaganda makes a big fuss about their discussion of how to destroy the Kherch bridge.

Hewlett Packard was a great company. Then Carly Fiorina came and decided that you don't need expensive R&D when you can make money selling overpriced ink cartridges. Other companies that went under are Digital, Silicon Graphics, and Cray. But in those cases the demise was caused by competition from cheap PC hardware. As for Americans studying science and engineering, the country has always relied on importing brainpower from Europe and Asia. Look at who runs Microsoft and Google.

double post.

It's a bit more complicated. Dietrich Mateschitz owned 49% of the company but could run it as if he owned 100%. When he died his son Mark inherited the 49% but not the right to run the company. The other 51% are owned by Chalerm Yoovidhya, the heir of the Thai co-founder, who wants a say in the running of the company. Looks like the folks at Fuschl headquarters don't like that. As for the F1 team, Horner has Yoovidhya's backing, but not that of the Austrian faction. Meanwhile, Jos Verstappen has openly called for Horner's removal.

The Russians are obviously getting more reckless. Putin's reelection is less than four weeks away and he wants to see some success.

Actually, Russia could be ready for the next war in six years. https://dgap.org/en/research/publications/preventing-next-war-edina-iii