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The launch has been scrubbed for today. Next opportunity is 2 September. If the problem has been sorted out by then.

The latest update from the UK Ministry of Defence states that Shoigu is being side-lined because of the problems in Ukraine. It's actually astounding that he is still in office.

Well, the grid penalties and tyre degradation certainly shook things up a bit. Red Bull's top speed advantage was brutal. Some interesting radio conversation, like Lando Norris being told "We are still on Plan G." Well, all is going to plan, then. Leclerc lost a position in an attempt at the fastest lap. Solid performance from Alpine. Aston Martin wasn't so bad either. Disappointing result for McLaren.

That was before Liberty Media took over. The new Concorde Agreement has effectively shut the door for new teams. https://f1i.com/news/383956-formula-1-sets-200m-entry-fee-for-new-teams.html ETA: Andretti has tried to get into F1 but the teams haven't exactly rolled out a red carpet: https://the-race.com/formula-1/wolff-puts-cost-of-new-f1-team-at-1bn-amid-andretti-interest/

It would also be more teams to share the TV revenue with, which the existing teams don't like.

Porsche is expected to buy a 50 percent share in Red Bull, who are developing their own engine for 2026. Not sure that Porsche can pose as an engine supplier in that setup. Maybe Red Bull Powertrains will be renamed, but it would be a bit lame if there wasn't some genuine input by Porsche, like with Mercedes in the Ilmor days.

But Piastri still not confirmed. Meanwhile, Audi has announced that they will enter Formula 1 in 2026.

Where does it say it's from 2018? I don't think that's correct. Some charts show data more recent than that. And even with progress in technology, there won't be enough storage capacity to stabilise the entire grid any soon.

A couple of years ago Putin actually tried to bully the EU to allow visa-free travel for Russians. No matter how many alternative destinations there are, traveling to Europe definitely matters to the Russian middle class.

Stuff keeps exploding in Crimea. No info on how it is done. Could be a new long-range weapon or just partisan activity / sabotage.

On the visa ban, that's tourist visas only. Russians living abroad wouldn't be affected. Here is a recent tweet by Kamil Galeev on Russian consumerism: Sounds like taking away travel to Europe is exactly the thing to do if you want to undermine support for Putin and the war.

The Institute for the Study of War publishes extensive daily assessments: https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-august-12-0

Well, it's an indoor pool.

Right now there isn't really any prospect for bargaining. Russia has recognised Ukraine in its 1991 borders - only to revoke that recognition in 2014. After that and the violation of the Minsk agreement it just lacks the credibility needed for any kind of treaty.

They did, but that change happened in 2003, as I just found out on their web site. Same model since.

They haven't really changed. I bought mine in 2016 and they still sell that identical machine. The mechanical part has probably been the same for decades, with the only thing changing being the computer. But even that is still the same as in 2016.

Well, winning W Series three times is all good and well, but that's the equivalent to a regional / national Formula 3 series. FIA F3 cars are already quite a step up, let's not even talk of Formula 2. Giving Chadwick an F1 cockpit would do her a disservice. And plainly, if she really wants to graduate to F1, then the years after her first W Series win have been wasted. Meanwhile, she isn't really a youngster anymore, being only half a year younger than Max Verstappen. I don't know about any kind of hype about her in the UK, but if truth be told, it doesn't look like she is F1 material.

JRR Tolkien sold the movie rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, which is what the Peter Jackson movies are based on. The Hobbit movies make use of the appendix to The Lord of the Rings. The Amazon deal is a different story. It's about TV rather than movie rights and they payed a ton of money. And the deal was made after Christopher Tolkien, who opposed all adaptions, had stepped down as chairman of Tolkien estate. I'm not sure that the details of the deal with Amazon have been disclosed, but allegedly they paid 250 million dollars, which must have bought them more than the rights to some appendix.

It's not just HIMARS, it's all the modern artillery Ukraine got from Western countries, especially in combination with guided munitions like the M982 Excalibur. The Russians just don't have anything to counter that.

Once the bridges across the Dnieper and Inhulets rivers are destroyed, Kherson is effectively isolated. The Russians can try to ferry some supplies across the rivers but that's a poor replacement for the road and railway connections they had before. And let's not forget that Ukraine has more boots on the ground. The Russians had more artillery fire power until recently but their "special operation" has suffered from a lack of infantry from day one.

The contracts of the French, Belgian and Monaco GP all expire. Monaco will probably be renewed, though they might not get special treatment anymore. There's to be a third GP in the US and the Qatar GP is back. That leaves the calendar maxed out. Any new race would require F1 to drop an existing one and the French and Belgian GP would be likely candidates.

Not quite sure that Kazakhstan has been all that pro-Russian of late. After all, they have announced that they'll switch from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet by 2025. Apparently, that decision was made in 2015. At least that's what Wikipedia says.

IIRC, Toth is a school teacher. So he probably works a lot at home. If he doesn't have a dedicated office space, the ergonomics is probably poor, i.e. not the ideal posture when sitting in front of the computer, etc. That could be the reason for some of his complaints.

Looks like Russia has withdrawn from Snake Island. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/30/ukraine-forces-reportedly-recapture-snake-island-in-strategic-win

Regarding the lack of 152 mm ammo, can't NATO mass-produce them? Might help more than give Ukraine cannon they aren't really trained with. Not sure if I read this here or elsewhere but I have seen complaints about howitzers donated to Ukraine wearing down fast because of improper use and lack of maintenance and Ukrainians being wasteful with the missiles donated by the West.