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They blew up a small part of the dam, which was enough to prevent the Ukrainians from using it to cross the river. They didn't attempt to blow up the whole dam, though people feared they might. That they eventually did it therefore isn't really a surprise. There is footage showing an explosion in the power station. It's possible that they didn't expect that to destroy the whole dam, but it looks like that is what happened.

The F-16 may have more delicate landing gear than the Soviet era fighter planes Ukraine currently operates, but filling a hole in a runway can't be particularly hard or expensive. Unlike, say, repairing the Kerch bridge.

ESA's JUICE mission is due to launch in five minutes. Underway now. Now we need to wait till it reaches Jupiter in 2031.

A preemptive strike against the US and its allies is a great way to start WWIII. Also doesn't really agree with the narrative that China is just taking back its territory. The US defending Taiwan is one thing. But China attacking US bases in Japan means all-out war. What is to keep the US from attacking the Chinese mainland?

Their main defence is the presence of troops from other NATO countries. Any attack on the Baltic states is an attack on all of NATO because the Russians would be fighting a multinational force. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_136388.htm

Putin wants the Soviet Union back and then some. (All of the former Warsaw Pact states). It's not about Russian populations, it's about being a world power. The Soviet Union was one, Russia in its current borders is not. With Ukraine, access to the Black Sea and through it to the Mediterranean is also a factor. That's why he wants Crimea so badly.

Angela Cullen is no longer Lewis Hamilton's physio. The reasons for the split are unclear.

From what I read, Charles plans to cut Andrew's "annual grant" and he won't be able to pay for the upkeep of the Royal Lodge without it. So Charles offered him Frogmore Cottage, as that's cheaper to maintain.

Berlin is is pretty much split between the center ("S-Bahn-Ring"), which votes Green, and the rest of the city, which has voted CDU this time. SPD, Linke, and FDP are losing relevance. AFD is halfway holding up but not doing particularly great either. Technically, the old senate could continue, but that may cost them at the next election. As for why, I won't pretend to fully understand it, but the performance of the incumbent senate hasn't been particularly great. And that didn't start with Giffey. The same parties were already in government during Müller's second term, and that went so well that he didn't even run again. The really big change from 2021 is the result of the CDU, which is probably thanks to Merkel not being around anymore. It certainly isn't because Wegner is so brilliant, because he isn't. ETA: Here's the map https://interaktiv.tagesspiegel.de/lab/wahl-wiederholung-abgeordnetenhaus-2023-karte-auszaehlungsstaende-historische-ergebnisse-wahlkreisergebnisse-stimmbezirke-ergebnisse/

The current engine is still developed by Honda. It's just rebadged. The engine for 2026 is Red Bull's own development. Honda isn't evolved. Honda is developing a new engine, too. They will be competitors from 2026.

John Shelby is out. That's very good news for NASA. https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/01/so-long-richard-shelby-and-thanks-for-all-the-pork/

There is also the issue of "full self driving." Tesla has been charging for this feature for years, and never delivered. https://jalopnik.com/elon-musk-promises-full-self-driving-next-year-for-th-1848432496?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=dlvrit&utm_content=jalopnik So far they have got away with it, but not much longer, apparently. California has made a law that forbids to advertise cars as fully autonomous unless they really are (Teslas aren't). https://gizmodo.com/tesla-elon-musk-full-self-driving-autopilot-1849930860 There are also criminal investigations: https://www.reuters.com/legal/exclusive-tesla-faces-us-criminal-probe-over-self-driving-claims-sources-2022-10-26/ There are also lawsuits from customers. Tesla's defence is ... interesting. https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-12-08/tesla-lawsuit-full-self-driving-technology-failure-not-fraud

Former Roscosmos boss Dmitry Rogozin has been hit in the arse by a shrapnel while celebrating his birthday in Donetsk.

Austria.

So we have a deal between FIA and Red Bull on the cost cap. Red Bull have accepted a penalty of $7 million (which doesn't count against the cap) and a 10% reduction of their wind tunnel time for 2023. And of course, the overspending was on stuff like catering and benefits for employees on sick leave, not car development.

Still no final verdict or deal over the (alleged) overspending. Meanwhile, Dietrich Mateschitz has died. There had been talk about his deteriorating health before, when the deal with Porsche was called off. One has to wonder what this means for the future of the F1 team. Marko is quite old, too, and one has to wonder how much clout he has left with Mateschitz gone.

$3 million definitely isn't Ferrari's development budget. I think the figure is from Mercedes, and it's what they spend on upgrade parts. (My understanding is it's the manufacturing cost of these parts.) And of course they could spend $5 million if they cut cost elsewhere. The budget cap doesn't cover anywhere near all of the team's expenses to begin with. https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-cost-cap-what-is-it-how-it-works/10379799/ Red Bull's "overspending" is probably the result of a dispute over what expenses fall under the cap and what don't. ETA: Mercedes spent about £300 million in 2021 according to their financial report.

What are they going to do, take away last year's championship a year after the fact? This year's? That would massively damage the sport. It would have to be a budget reduction for next year, or something like that (e.g. less testing). That always leaves the teams with the choice to sacrifice next next year for an advantage in the current season.

So FIA found that Aston Martin and Red Bull have violated the cost cap rules for 2021. Aston Martin hasn't exceeded the cost cap itself. Red Bull has, according to FIA, but denies it. Seems the amount is rather minor, though. Nothing about the consequences yet. I have always wondered how they are going to enforce the cost cap. Surely there a lot of accounting tricks the teams can play.

I don't know about Austria, but you definitely don't get Germany over the Winter on wind and photovoltaic. Both fail completely for prolonged periods (a day or longer) several times a year ("Dunkelflaute"). The Powers That Be, led by Merkel, decided that gas was to be the backup. Alternatives would have been coal and nuclear, both of which the Greens (whose votes in the Bundesrat have been necessary for any serious piece of legislation for decades now) heavily opposed.

That's one of the downsides of the safety car. It's supposed to slow down the pack. But drivers will pit, then push to catch up again. Not ideal for safety. Max Verstappen has cinched his second title as the drivers were awarded full points despite the short race distance.

Cars lose a lot of value over the first three years, so getting a new one that often would cost you a lot. Which raises the question if the tax of 12 % per year isn't a bit low. There's also the issue of social security. The employer saves a lot on that by not paying a higher salary. The whole thing is of course a big marketing machine for the carmakers. The German premium brands make more than half of their domestic sales this way.

They'd better be a bit faster. ULA relies on those rocket engines for their Vulcan.

I listened to an interview with Beat Zehnder recently, and he is convinced that BMW Sauber was on track to win a championship when BMW pulled the plug. He blames it on change of leadership. The new CEO didn't like motor racing. I heard a similar story about Toyota. Apparently the car they built for 2010 was a huge improvement over their 2009 car. I guess we'll never know how good it really was, but we do know that Honda pulled the plug just when they finally had a good car, as Brawn's success shows. (Of course it's possible that they had a good car before and the engine sucked.)

BMW actually owned Sauber, and when they pulled the plug the team would have been shut down had Peter Sauber not bought it back. Big car makers and Formula 1 generally hasn't been a good fit so far, despite the recent Mercedes success. Renault keeps entering Formula 1 only to pull out a few years later, dito Honda. Peugeot, Toyota, Ford (Jaguar), BMW - there's quite a list of unsuccessful Formula 1 entries. As for Sauber, they also have some history with Mercedes and Red Bull.