#abu dhabi 2014 sunday

[umlewis]

niki lauda helps lewis hamilton prepare for the grid photo before the race, abu dhabi - november 23, 2014 📷 mark thompson / getty

[umseb]

sebastian vettel being a goober after the race, abu dhabi - november 23, 2014 📷 mark thompson / getty

[lewisinho]

as the anon that asked for the race list: thank you!

now this is totally up to you if you have the time to spend on this, but this is my first year watching the races, and while I've been doing some background research to get up to speed, there is still a lot i don't know. i trust your judgment so what are some races and/or f1 adjacent things i should look into? i'm going through your McLaren list and have watched the last 4 seasons of dts and the brawn documentary. are there any other books/ documentaries/ races (especially seb's) / old youtube videos that are lost in the void that i should also check out?

again no pressure and thank you!

no problem!

(and btw welcome to f1 and the world of watching some glorified hot wheels every other sunday 😁 it’s great!)

i completely get how daunting it can be as a new fan in the sport. when i was getting back into f1 it also took me some time to get back up to speed with everything, especially all the techy stuff; i honestly learned the most through just watching the races (old and new), bc you get to see all the strategies play out, the pit-stops, the overtakes etc. and the terminology just becomes much easier to understand through sheer exposure. there are also some really cool f1 data analysis blogs you might want to follow on twt/x if you want some more detailed tech analysis and graphs if you’re into that sort of thing: (x)

as for seb, oh there’s a whole arsenal of recs i have!

monza 2008, rise of torro rosso wunderkind; i presume you already know the lore with that one but ig you can never get tired of it.

abu dhabi 2010, world championship no.1 “du bist weltmeister!”

interlagos 2012, the infamous one. this one’s a rollercoaster, chaos everywhere and the manifestation of murphy’s law: anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. amidst a title battle against nando, seb was fighting the weather, bruno senna’s front wing, a damaged side-pod, no radio, and somehow managed to claim p6 to win the championship

malaysia 2013, multi-21 (iconique), he was faster, deal with it. 💅

singapore 2013, domination masterclass from quali to the race. (also just all of his singapore wins...lion of singapore and all that)

india 2013, title no.3 secured, changed tyres on lap 2 and came out p17, was third by only lap 13 and then won the race by nearly 30 seconds. it was also his sixth win in a row. he went on to win three more. speaks for itself. also this:

malaysia 2015, first win with ferrari, can't forget that one, also features sewis’ gay knee-touching on the podium.

germany 2019, CHAOS, in which merc got bewitched by the special livery curse 😅, with crashes, spins, 50-second long pit stops, and also features one of seb’s best drives from p20 -> p2

i also highly recommend watching Floz's fan-made docus on youtube about 'the silver war' (there are also docus for the 2014 and 2015 seasons) as well as the merc v ferrari (lewis vs seb) 2017 fight and 'fight for five' in 2018, they're so much better than dts and actually give a full run-down of what happened during the season, with all the action on-track, with interviews and providing all the context! it's so well-edited as well (you literally feel like you're watching a movie about all of the seasons) and they are just incredibly fun to watch.

in general, i love rewatching races from 2017/18 (literally my comfort seasons), personal favs include spain 2017 (strategy galore and lewis v seb), baku 2017 (for obv reasons), austin 2017; and basically the 2018 season in its entirety...

as for books, there are many driver autobiographies e.g. jb (he’s even got two lmao), mark webbah etc. but i think the best f1 book out there is adrian newey’s memoir ‘how to build a car’ if you want lore + great insight into cars!

i’d also recommend watching some older races (i could do a separate post on which ones are my personal favs) but it’s all up to you in the end! go digging, look around on yt for some highlights and just keep exploring! 🫶💜

[polikuro]

I don't post much, mostly because no one's following me here but I just need to get some things off my chest.

Seb has been a part of my life for the past 15 years. A very huge part to be honest. I still remember being all grumpy when we had to leave for my grandparents on race day. I said no to so many plans that were happening on sundays just because I didn't want to miss a race.

I remember his first win like it was yesterday. The biggest fucking smile on my face all day. I was talking about him all the time. My parents and friends couldn't have cared less but he brought me joy.

And then Abu Dhabi 2010 came and I cried like a baby. I don't think I've felt these emotions before him. Pure bliss and pride most of all. Then everything that followed during his red bull years. His pace was out of this world.

2014 which was hard and then the move yo Ferrari. His fucking dream team ! The hope I felt that he would be able to win a championship again. The hard times that followed. Hockenheim, then the downfall at Ferrari where I felt like he wasn't appreciated enough.

And then the past years with Aston which weren't what we hoped for but he kept fighting. And ever since he announced his retirement, 3 days after I saw him at le Castellet might I add, he's just been driving incredibly ! He's doing it for himself and for all of us. One last time.

I'm hopeful Abu Dhabi will be a great race for him because I'd be sad to see him go on a bad race after what he's done this year. But no matter what, he gave it his all.

I'll miss him. Damn, I'll miss him like crazy. I won't have to say no anymore. Won't have to wake up at 5 in the morning to watch practice or the race. Won't be so fucking damn stressed during the start. Won't have to get mad at the strategist or other drivers that ruin his race. But I also won't be able to enjoy the good times. I won't get that rush of adrenaline every time he passes a car brilliantly. I won't smile like a mad girl when he gets on a podium or wins a race.

But you know what I'll miss the most ? The man himself. The way he speaks, the way he stands up for what he believes in. The hard worker that stays with his mechanics till late in the evening. I'll miss his helmets and his damn oversized T-shirts stating the obvious. I'll miss his laugh and his goofiness. I'll miss his relationships, with Mick, with Lewis, with Charles. Even his relationship with Christian and Helmut. I'll miss his stupid jokes on the radio and his awful singing. I'll miss his eyes crinkling when he's being cheeky and his huge smile. I'll miss all of it.

Just like Michael was his hero, he is mine and I'll forever be grateful I got to see him win four titles, 53 (54!) race wins and everything he achieved.

I'm already way too emotional and the weekend hasn't even started yet. I'll probably cry a lot but I know we'll get to see him again. At the race of champions, maybe at Le Mans one day.

But for now, he gets to enjoy his family, his mountains, his chicken. I'll miss you dearly my darling Seb. Take care of yourself.

[f1]

FACTS AND STATS: Red Bull end a long wait for success in Bahrain as does Alonso

Max Verstappen blazed to victory under the Bahrain lights in the opening race of the 2023 F1 season, in which Red Bull took a one-two to begin their season in style, and Fernando Alonso turned heads with a brilliant podium finish. The 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix offered up some very interesting facts and stats, as well... The winner of the opening race has been the championship runner-up every season since 2017. Max Verstappen has never previously won the opening race of the season. He won the Bahrain Grand Prix for the first time on his ninth attempt. READ MORE: Verstappen leads 1-2 in Bahrain season opener as Leclerc retires and Alonso takes final podium place in style Red Bull have only previous won the opening race once (Australia 2011), and have never finished one-two in the first race before. Red Bull have not won in Bahrain for 10 years (Sebastian Vettel in the last daylight race here in 2013). Red Bull qualify one-two and finish one-two in a race for the first time since the 2013 Abu Dhabi GP. Max Verstappen won the Bahrain GP on his ninth attempt, and won in Bahrain on his 10th visit in Formula 1 (counting the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix) Fernando Alonso scores Aston Martin's second podium finish in the marque's 50th Grand Prix start. Alonso scores only his second podium finish in his last 122 Grands Prix, and his first since Qatar 2021. Alonso is 41 years, 219 days old today. Only one older driver has been on the podium in the last 37 years (Michael Schumacher was 43 at Valencia 2012). Yesterday was the 22nd anniversary of Alonso's F1 debut (Australia 2001). Sunday was Aston Martin's 50th Grand Prix start – and Alonso took P3 Carlos Sainz took P4, having finished in the same position at the final race of the 2022 season. Lewis Hamilton's fifth place was his worst finish in Bahrain since he was fifth in the 2013 race. Lance Stroll in P6 matches his best result from the 2022 season (sixth in Singapore). Stroll finished in the top six despite not driving the car in pre-season testing. With Russell in seventh, the two Mercedes cars finished 51 and 56 seconds respectively behind the race winner. Eighth-placed Valtteri Bottas scored points in Bahrain for the 10th consecutive time. From 2014 to now, Bottas has scored points in Bahrain Ninth-placed Pierre Gasly of Alpine scores points from last on the grid for the second time in his career (finished 10th in Mexico City, 2018). Williams scored in Bahrain for the first time since 2017, when Felipe Massa was sixth, thanks to Alex Albon's P10. Zhou Guanyu finished 16th but took fastest lap for the second time in his career, having done so in Japan 2022. Lando Norris finished 17th having made six pit stops. Sunday was his second-straight non-scoring Bahrain Grand Prix. via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

[bu1410]

Good afternoon TUMBLR - May 6h - 2024

''Mr. Plant has owed me a shoe since July 5, 1971."

UAE – ABU DHABI – Rub el Khali Desert - Jan 2012 - Jul 2014 - - Shah Gas Development Project (UAE)

Part #2

SHAH Gas Plant

Harry Melton – The Big Boss of FLUOR, Customer representative on the site – the typical obese American, always traveling in his Toyota Land Cruiser with the four indicators on, wherever he was. One day he told me that, having spent about 2 years in Milan to prepare the project, he knew Italy very well, and that he had traveled the length and breadth of the peninsula with his wife and three children. A lover of pizza, he was capable of devouring industrial quantities of it during the pizza parties that were organized every Wednesday at the campsite. ''One day - he once told me - in Italy, I went to visit Bologna: at a certain point I noticed that everyone was walking on foot even in the middle of the road, while I was in the car with my family!! A policeman approached and ordered me to roll down the window: ''I'm American… I'm American'', I said and we just want to visit Piazza Maggiore!! The cop replies: ''You may be the President of the United States, but this is a pedestrian area and you cannot drive through it''!! It ended with a fine.

Still now we are in contact and regularly exchange greetings for the Xmas New Year holidays.

Suorari Luciano - Operation Manager – The task of the Operation Manager in SAIPEM is to control and verify ongoing projects in a large geographical area. Specifically, Pretari was supposed to deal with ongoing projects in the Arabian Peninsula. In practice, Pretari used to spent 4 days a week in the SHAH Gas project site offices, from Sunday to Wednesday - acting as an effective Project Manager, and taking away the duties and initiatives of the Site Manager, the Project Manager and even the Area Corporate Manager, with whom he made no secret that he did not agree on many ways. Furthermore, he was directly responsible for the terrible working environment that existed on the project, given that not only had he artfully created it himself, but he made sure that the continuous tension remained high. An objective that he pursued with offensive behavior towards all members of the staff, and towards all those who dared to question his directives and opinions. Heavy insults (which also included the family members of the recipients….) in the middle of weekly meetings, or while passing through the corridors of the offices, were the daily bread of the aforementioned Operation Manager who, it must be said, in his honored career had incurred multiple complaints to the Italian ordinary judiciary. An episode tells about him more than thousands of words: Christmas in the Emirates is a day like any other, being a Muslim country. The Company,aware that it is an important day for Italian personnel, especially if spent away from their families, granted an half day of rest. To prevent us from going to Abu Dhabi or Dubai, Suorari announced the organization of a Christmas lunch at the SAIPEM camp with the participation of all the families of the Company's employees who lived in Abu Dhabi. Well the lunch was disarmingly squalid: they, the ''families'' all sat together in a corner of the canteen, as if to underline the clear separation with the rest of the staff. The lunch was strictly ''dry'' in the sense that not even a glass of sparkling wine was allowed for the slice of panettone. And to complete the disarming picture, not a word was uttered by the management group towards us, like, for instance, standing up and wish everyone a Merry Christmas. What's the point of organizing a Christmas lunch if you don't try to create that minimum of convivial atmosphere? The answer lies in the disgusting character of an abject individual like the Operation Manager.

Ciano Antonio – draftsman/designer at site technical office. Small in stature, incipient baldness, in love with the ''American Myth''. A assiduous organizer of weekends in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, tireless in evaluating the different offers of the cities' hotels and restaurants. A real living Trip Advisor! One summer he finally went on holiday to America, where he rented a Mustang car - another dream come true - to cross the States. He managed to get arrested for slipping his wheels when restarting from a stop sign, in front of a policeman! Mr. Campbell - a British guy with Canadian passport, but with home in Spain – Deputy Construction Manager of Fluor, the person who was most in contact with us SAIPEM. An excellent golfer, he used to spent every weekend on the courses of Emirates, even in the summer when the temperatures and humidity are unbearable. Kevin Myers – Fluor field engineer – he was my direct contact – American from Baton Rouge. I especially remember two episodes about him: An urgent meeting was called between Fluor, SAIPEM and SAMSUNG – the subject: construction of 12 overhead bridges between the different areas of the plant, where SAMSUNG would have to lay the pipes of the various services. This operation, in practice, would have prevented the movements of SAIPEM cranes from one area of the plant to another. SAIPEM's interest was that this SAMSUNG operation be carried out as late as possible. Mr Campbell, in front of an audience of about thirty people, had introduced the topic, and he said:

''Now I will leave the floor to Kevin Myers, who, as a construction engineer, is the most suitable person to explain to us what the solution is for this problem''. All the eyes of the meeting participants turned towards Kevin, who seemed quite surprised to be called into question. With an expression on his face somewhere between ''why meeeee'?? and ''I was passing by here by chance'' Kevin stood up and pronounced these precise words:

''Well Mr Campbell……to avoid any misunderstanding, I must admit that not only have I never heard of this story of the bridges construction, but I don't understand anything at all of it!!'' And he sat down again. Obviously there were those famous 7 – 10 seconds of awkward silence, in which we all didn't know whether to laugh or take Kevin's exit seriously! Then Mr. Campbell, with his usual true British aplomb, spoke again and started the discussion with those among us who knew much more than poor Kevin. (btw a ''Project Engineer'' that Fluor billed the Customer at 2,300 USD/day) The second anecdote that saw Mr. Myers as protagonist was during one of the daily inspections that the undersigned, he and Mr. Lee did at the site. You should know that we all, SAIPEM, Fluor, had the obligation to rent the necessary vehicles for site activities from the same HERTZ agent in the Emirates (owned by a local boss). Kevin and I had two virtually identical white Toyota Prados in use.

Once the inspection was completed, I stopped to talk to Mr. Lee for a moment, while Kevin drove away with Toyota Prado. Having made the final arrangements with the Korean, I prepared to get into my car (of which it was mandatory to leave the ignition key inside of it, as a safety measure). From the driving position, with the seat very close to the steering wheel, I immediately realized that the car was not mine! Kevin had left with my car! After a phone call in which I had to explain to Mr. Myers that he had taken the wrong car (it was already in his offices, and he couldn't understand that the Toyota Prado was not his….) the problem was solved by bringing the Kevin's car to the Fluor offices, where we exchanged the two SUVs.

Mauro Attuati - first of all a friend - than as already mentioned, one of the two Construction Managers present on the SHAH Gas site. Our friendship dates back to 1998, when we met in Nigeria. When I met him again in Shah I found him very ''worn''. When I then met Siorari and saw how he treated his closest collaborators, I understood why. However, Suoratri reserved even more hateful treatment for Mauro, all because ''he hadn't brought him'' and he considered Attuati ''a Stefano Grandino's man''. Mauro had lost weight to the point that, when walking, he was loosing his trousers. In any case, a truly special person: originally from Piedmont, we meet in Italy too. Mauro had a working experience in Dubai desalination plant, during which he met a Filipino girl who worked for ETHIAD, the national airline of Abu Dhabi, and suddenly married her: incredible Mauro!!! Micheli Mathia. Micheli Mathia is the brother of Giorgio, who I met at the time of the OZ2 project in Algeria. A great guy, he invites me to his house in the hamlet of Roncio, above Mandello del Lario (Como lake). He and his brother have purchased and splendidly renovated an old house, creating two apartments from which a fantastic view of the lake can be enjoyed. Mathia was called by SAIPEM for an interview in view of the hiring, and once the interview was positively concluded the examiner casually said:

Oh yes…. Micheli…. we have another Micheli in SAIPEM…. Giorgio the Central America Area Chief …

Well - said Mathia - I have known him for 35 years, he is my brother….

YOUR BROTHER??!!!

Yes…my brother, why?

But then…. we can not do anything…. don't you know SAIPEM internal regulations prohibit the hiring of an employee's family members!??

Okay, not a problem.... thank you......And Mathia left. Obviously like all things in Italy, once the law was made, the way to get around it was found. Mathia was hired by an agency, and he worked profitably on Shah's project. At the end of his employment contract, he preferred to return to Italy, because he realized that he was not fit for the ''strange'' life that is led on projects abroad. As a good climber, Mathia during his stay in Shah, he had ''conquered'' all the highest dunes around our compound. On the highest one he had planted and left the Italian flag. Mazzone Annibale Annibale represents another particular case of Shah's SAIPEM galaxy. Originally from Calabria, with an unspecified diploma in his pocket he emigrated to Milan, where he found work as a waiter in the restaurant usually frequented by SAIPEM's Top Management. And so between one course and another, I had become familiar with the then General Director of SAIPEM who he had asked to be hired by the Company. Varone had managed to get that big Calabrian boy hired, and than sent to Shah to act as ''assistant'' to Operation Manager. Annibale drove Operation Manager's car back and forth from Abu Dhabi to Shah in the weekly trips of the ''Boss'' - he prepared the presentation slides of the various phases of the project - he collaborated with the purchasing office in checking local invoicing. And little else. He lived in an apartment in Abu Dhabi, led a decent life and was annoyed practically by all the young engineers who toiled on the site. Also because Annibale did nothing to make his peers like him. However, a bad period also came for Annibale, and it was when his ''protector'' was arrested in Italy for his alleged involvement in bribes in Algeria. Annibale went through bad times, fearing he would be overwhelmed by the clean-up underway at SAIPEM following the Algerian scandal. Many heads, even at high levels, rolled, and Annibale tried to take a particularly low profile. I saw Annibale again during my stay in Iraq: he had come to visit as a possible Deputy Site Manager for the SHELL Majnoon project In any case, after two days spent in Majnoon, Mazzone announced to Director Michele Petracca that he did not intend to take on the role. He returned to Italy, and after a short time I learned that Annibale had resigned from SAIPEM.

Cost Control Dpt's girls. As part of the breath of fresh air brought to SAIPEM by the merger with SNAMPROGETTI, Shah's shipyard hosted a large number of female staff of various nationalities. The female presence was mainly concentrated in Cost Control: there were Italian, Philippine, Nigerian and Indian girls. I believe that the experience was positive, although obviously everything was possible thanks to the relative safety of the place and its good hygienic conditions.

Sayed tea boy: this guy was the clerk at the site offices - a multifaceted character of Bengali nationality. Anyone wanted a phone top-up card? Here it is! A hem on the trousers? Done! Home haircut? All you had to do was make an appointment! A businessman with infinite resources, who aimed to use his time to earn as much as possible, and then, at the end of the 2-year contract, return to Bangladesh and set up his business (he hadn't yet decided in which field). K.C. Kumar, Indian driver - the only Indian I have met with incredibly gray eyes. He was bald and very ashamed of it, so he used to wear a toupee with very black hair. In the overall 5 years of the SHAH Gas project, every single day (sometimes even Fridays) he traveled the 250 km that separated the site from Abu Dhabi – and then returned in the late afternoon. So from an approximate calculation 12,000 km per month - 132,000 km per year (he enjoyed a month's holiday, in which he returned to Kerala without fail) During the journey from Abu Dhabi to site and vice versa, he always tuned the radio to a Kerala station, and then spoke on the phone with various friends CONTINUOUSLY in Mayalam, that language which, to Western ears, seems to repeat the exact same phrase over and over again.

[brookston]

Holidays 4.29

Holidays

Cheng Cheng Kung Landing Day (Taiwan)

Day of Remembrance for All Victims of Chemical Warfare (UN)

Day of the Tree (Colombia)

Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust, Day 2 (US)

Drone Safety Day

Duke Ellington Day

End Jew Hatred Day

Feast of the Secret Masters

Fish Cleaning Night (David Letterman)

Football Day (Ukraine)

429 Day

Greenery Day (Japan)

Hesperia Asteroid Day

High Infidelity Day

International Astronomy Day

International Dance Day (UNESCO)

International Day of Immunology

International Yak Day

Leto Asteroid Day

Local Bike Shop Day (UK)

Local Yarn Store Day

Milk-Curdling Sunday (Gremlins; not always a Sunday)

National Adult Public Skipping Day

National Persian Gulf Day (Iran)

National Rugelach Day

National Supply Chain Day

Peace Rose Day

Penguin Day

Popolak Day

Praia City Day (Cape Verde)

Public Skipping Day

Queen's Night (Netherlands)

Rake Day (French Republic)

Shōwa Day (Japan)

Sinai Liberation Day (Egypt)

Solar Alignment at Teotihuacan (Mexico) [also 8.12]

Thesaurus Day

3D-TV Day

Vietnam Book Day (Gio to Hung Vuong Day; Vietnam)

Viral Video Day

Warm Weather Lunch Hour Appreciation Day

We Jump the World

Whacking Day (On “The Simpsons”)

World Day of Parkour (Mexico)

World Veterinary Day

World Wish Day

Zipper Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Gnocchi Day (Argentina)

National Rugelach Day

Shrimp Scampi Day

5th & Last Monday in April

Confederate Memorial Day (Mississippi) [Last Monday]

Motivation Monday [Every Monday]

Independence & Related Days

Bishkek Foundation Day (Kyrgyzstan)

Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Act of Self-Determination; 1984)

Balzi (Declared; 2019) [unrecognized]

Vietnam (Liberation/Reunification)

Praia City Day (Cape Verde)

Festivals Beginning April 29, 2024

Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (Abu Dhabi, UAE) [thru 5.5]

AfrikaBurn (Tankwa, South Africa) [thru 5.5]

American Pie Council National Pie Championships (Orland, Florida)

Budapest Spring Festival (Budapest, Hungary) [thru 5.12]

Machynlleth Conedy Festival (Machynlleth, Wales) [thru 5.2]

NOLA Crawfish Festival (New Orleans, Louisiana) [thru 5.1]

Feast Days

Achieve Enlightenment Day (Pastafarian)

Catherine of Siena (Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican Church)

Dance Day (Pastafarian)

David Cox (Artology)

Endelienta (Christian; Saint)

Fiachna of Ireland (Christian; Saint)

Frank Auerbach (Artology)

Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (Artology)

Hugh of Cluny (Christian; Saint)

Jean-Jacques Caffieri (Artology)

Joseph Cottolengo (Christian; Saint)

Milk-Curdling Sunday (Gremlins; Shamanism)

Nuzul Al-Quraan (Quran Revelation Day; Brunei)

Nuzul Quran (Malaysia)

Pagan Tree Day (Everyday Wicca)

Peter of Verona (Christian; Martyr)

Rafael Sabatini (Writerism)

Raja Ravi Varma (Artology)

Robert of Molesmes (Christian; Saint)

Rhydychen (Celtic Book of Days)

Taliesin Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Themistocles (Positivist; Saint)

Tito Jackson Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Torpes of Pisa (Christian; Saint)

Walpurgisnacht, Day VII (Pagan)

Wilfrid the Younger (Christian; Saint)

Zoonie (Muppetism)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [21 of 37]

Premieres

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (TV Series; 1984)

The Associate, by John Grisham (Novel; 2009)

Billy Bathgate, by E.L. Doctorow (Novel; 1987)

Blessings in Disguise, by Alec Guinness (Memoir; 1986)

The Creation, by Joseph Hayden (Oratorio; 1798)

Elmer the Great Dane (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1935)

The Eyes of the Dragon, by Stephen King (Novel; 1987)

Fair Warning, by Van Halen (Album; 1981)

Fast Five [F&F #5]

The Fishing Fool (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1929)

Forever…, by Judy Blume (Novel; 1975)

The Gift, by Vladimir Nabokov (Novel; 1937)

Hair (Broadway Musical; 1968)

Happy Valley (UK TV Series; 2014)

A Hat Full of Sky, by Terry Pratchet (Novel; 2004) [Discworld #32]

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Film; 2005)

Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil (Animated Film; 2011)

How to Cook a Wolf, by M.F.K. Fisher (Food Essays; 1942)

In the City, by The Jam (Song; 1977)

Keanu (Film; 2016)

Maid in China (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1938)

Mary Lou, recorded by Ronnie Hawkins (Song; 1959)

The Mating Game (Film; 1959)

Mr. Bad Guy, by Freddie Mercury (Album; 1985)

The Nautical Nut (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1967)

One Man’s Family (Radio Show; 1932)

Only the Strong Survive (Film; 2003)

Pluto’s Sweater (Disney Cartoon; 1949)

Porky and Teabiscuit (WB LT Cartoon; 1939)

Powaqqatsi (Documentary Film; 1988)

Quacker Tracker (WB LT Cartoon; 1967)

Respect, by Aretha Franklin (Song; 1967)

Roget’s Thesaurus (Reference Book; 1852)

72 Seasons, by Metallica (Album; 2023)

Something Wicked This Way Comes (Film; 1983)

The Thing from Another World (Film; 1951)

Valley Girl (Film; 1983)

Wings of Desire (Film; 1988)

Today’s Name Days

Katharina, Roswitha (Austria)

Hugo, Katarina, Sever (Croatia)

Robert (Czech Republic)

Peter (Denmark)

Kalmer, Kalmo (Estonia)

Teijo (Finland)

Catherine (France)

Hugo, Katharina, Katja, Robert, Roswitha (Germany)

Iason, Jason, Kerkyra, Sosipatros (Greece)

Péter (Hungary)

Antonia, Caterina, Cristino, Karen (Italy)

Laine, Raimonds, Vilnis (Latvia)

Augustinas, Indrė, Rita, Tarmantas (Lithuania)

Toralf, Torolf (Norway)

Angelina, Augustyn, Bogusław, Hugo, Hugon, Paulin, Piotr, Rita, Robert, Roberta, Sybilla (Poland)

Irina (Russia)

Lea (Slovakia)

Antonia, Catalina, Hugo (Spain)

Tyko (Sweden)

Duke, Hewett, Huey, Hugh, Hughes, Hugo, Hutch, Keegan, Kegan (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 120 of 2024; 246 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 1 of week 18 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Saille (Willow) [Day 16 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Wu-Chen), Day 21 (Gui-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 21 Nisan 5784

Islamic: 20 Shawwal 1445

J Cal: 30 Cyan; Lastday [30 of 30]

Julian: 16 April 2024

Moon: 70%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 8 Caesar (5th Month) [Pericles]

Runic Half Month: Lagu (Flowing Water) [Day 5 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 42 of 92)

Week: 4th Week of April / 1st Week of May

Zodiac: Taurus (Day 10 of 31)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 4.29

Holidays

Cheng Cheng Kung Landing Day (Taiwan)

Day of Remembrance for All Victims of Chemical Warfare (UN)

Day of the Tree (Colombia)

Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust, Day 2 (US)

Drone Safety Day

Duke Ellington Day

End Jew Hatred Day

Feast of the Secret Masters

Fish Cleaning Night (David Letterman)

Football Day (Ukraine)

429 Day

Greenery Day (Japan)

Hesperia Asteroid Day

High Infidelity Day

International Astronomy Day

International Dance Day (UNESCO)

International Day of Immunology

International Yak Day

Leto Asteroid Day

Local Bike Shop Day (UK)

Local Yarn Store Day

Milk-Curdling Sunday (Gremlins; not always a Sunday)

National Adult Public Skipping Day

National Persian Gulf Day (Iran)

National Rugelach Day

National Supply Chain Day

Peace Rose Day

Penguin Day

Popolak Day

Praia City Day (Cape Verde)

Public Skipping Day

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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (TV Series; 1984)

The Associate, by John Grisham (Novel; 2009)

Billy Bathgate, by E.L. Doctorow (Novel; 1987)

Blessings in Disguise, by Alec Guinness (Memoir; 1986)

The Creation, by Joseph Hayden (Oratorio; 1798)

Elmer the Great Dane (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1935)

The Eyes of the Dragon, by Stephen King (Novel; 1987)

Fair Warning, by Van Halen (Album; 1981)

Fast Five [F&F #5]

The Fishing Fool (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1929)

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The Gift, by Vladimir Nabokov (Novel; 1937)

Hair (Broadway Musical; 1968)

Happy Valley (UK TV Series; 2014)

A Hat Full of Sky, by Terry Pratchet (Novel; 2004) [Discworld #32]

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Film; 2005)

Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil (Animated Film; 2011)

How to Cook a Wolf, by M.F.K. Fisher (Food Essays; 1942)

In the City, by The Jam (Song; 1977)

Keanu (Film; 2016)

Maid in China (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1938)

Mary Lou, recorded by Ronnie Hawkins (Song; 1959)

The Mating Game (Film; 1959)

Mr. Bad Guy, by Freddie Mercury (Album; 1985)

The Nautical Nut (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1967)

One Man’s Family (Radio Show; 1932)

Only the Strong Survive (Film; 2003)

Pluto’s Sweater (Disney Cartoon; 1949)

Porky and Teabiscuit (WB LT Cartoon; 1939)

Powaqqatsi (Documentary Film; 1988)

Quacker Tracker (WB LT Cartoon; 1967)

Respect, by Aretha Franklin (Song; 1967)

Roget’s Thesaurus (Reference Book; 1852)

72 Seasons, by Metallica (Album; 2023)

Something Wicked This Way Comes (Film; 1983)

The Thing from Another World (Film; 1951)

Valley Girl (Film; 1983)

Wings of Desire (Film; 1988)

Today’s Name Days

Katharina, Roswitha (Austria)

Hugo, Katarina, Sever (Croatia)

Robert (Czech Republic)

Peter (Denmark)

Kalmer, Kalmo (Estonia)

Teijo (Finland)

Catherine (France)

Hugo, Katharina, Katja, Robert, Roswitha (Germany)

Iason, Jason, Kerkyra, Sosipatros (Greece)

Péter (Hungary)

Antonia, Caterina, Cristino, Karen (Italy)

Laine, Raimonds, Vilnis (Latvia)

Augustinas, Indrė, Rita, Tarmantas (Lithuania)

Toralf, Torolf (Norway)

Angelina, Augustyn, Bogusław, Hugo, Hugon, Paulin, Piotr, Rita, Robert, Roberta, Sybilla (Poland)

Irina (Russia)

Lea (Slovakia)

Antonia, Catalina, Hugo (Spain)

Tyko (Sweden)

Duke, Hewett, Huey, Hugh, Hughes, Hugo, Hutch, Keegan, Kegan (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 120 of 2024; 246 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 1 of week 18 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Saille (Willow) [Day 16 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Wu-Chen), Day 21 (Gui-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 21 Nisan 5784

Islamic: 20 Shawwal 1445

J Cal: 30 Cyan; Lastday [30 of 30]

Julian: 16 April 2024

Moon: 70%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 8 Caesar (5th Month) [Pericles]

Runic Half Month: Lagu (Flowing Water) [Day 5 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 42 of 92)

Week: 4th Week of April / 1st Week of May

Zodiac: Taurus (Day 10 of 31)

[nobrakes]

Hii! I have a question; why are Nico R and Lewis H fighting? Their beef is so funny to me as a person that is a casual f1 fan

uhhh, how to begin explaining?

i'll give you a quick and very incomplete rundown, but first, it must be said that currently, things aren't much of a two-sided "fight" per se but more of "Nico being desperate to be noticed by Lewis who is just living his life, has moved on and doesn't care" or as we call it affectionately "Nico Go To Therapy Challenge"

Obviously, there's the whole "best friends since childhood, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were inseparable on both hotel rooms and karting tracks. Rosberg is the only one to ever beat Hamilton in equal machinery for the F1 championship".

They were friends, despite all circumstances and differences, from their backgrounds, families, finances, etc etc. Lewis always brilliant carrying the weight of the world and the dream of F1, Nico also brilliant and looking to prove himself and live up to his dad's legacy.

When eventually they both joined F1, Nico in Williams (2006) and Lewis with McLaren (2007), they were still pretty good friends.

Lewis went on to have one of the most insane first seasons ever seen in F1, almost becoming champion right out of gate.

Nico also found success, getting podiums in 2008 and on their first double podium, this very famous scene of them jumping and hugging happened.

Nico moved to Merc in 2010.

Eventually after the sick and twisted move from Lewis that all the F1 """reporters""" said was a career ender, Lewis went to Mercedes, joining as Nico's teammate.

And as history tells us, as their success on-track became more and more evident, their relationship went down the drain.

With Merc's turbo-hybrid era dominance, the competition for the tittle was basically a inner team affair and that created a perfect storm for the destruction of a friendship between two very competitive people.

Their friendship officially ended publicly in 2014, after the infamous incident when Nico parked the car at the end of qualifying to be on pole position on Monaco, robbing Lewis of the chance of a slam dunk win on Sunday (he denied at the time doing this on purpose, but since then has indicated he wasn't so innocent after all) (chaotic evil) and Lewis said on an interview "We're Not Friends" (oof).

There were soooo many incidents between them since then, it's impossible for me to list all of them. Some of the ones that to me are more memorable are:

2014 SPA incident, on which Niki Lauda himself was furious at what happened;

Hungary 2014, Lewis - ICONICALY may I say - refuses to move aside to let Nico through "I'm not slowing down for Nico."

USA 2015, Lewis clinches the championship early at COTA and then proceeds to throw the P2 cap at Nico who throws it back at him

2016 Spanish GP, when they had a double DNF going into turn 1

2016 Austrian GP, they clashed on the last lap

2016 Abu Dhabi when Lewis, who was leading the race started backing up the cars in hopes of other ppl overtaking Nico and helping him win the championship, which didn't work cause Nico ended up finally winning. Lewis post-race saying: "What am I supposed to do? Just sit there and let the dude come and win the championship? [...] I had to try and help myself because no one else was going to."

Anyways, all of these were very controversial and divided Merc fans. Still, to this day there are differing opinions on each incident, who was to blame, etc etc. The main thing is that it became a VERY toxic environment between them, Nico was king of trying mind games and saying batshit insane things to the media, while also playing into r*cist microaggressions at times. Lewis was very much focused and wanted to win at all costs as well, he did shitty things too, low-key floated the conspiracy theory that his car was the only Merc engine that kept breaking (Malasya 2016 how u doing).

IMO both of them were insane and shitty at different moments, and it's a more complex situation than who's right/who's wrong, good/bad, also I AM biased towards Lewis. I love him.

lmao I'm honestly not qualified to give a full timeline of every incident as I wasn't watching f1 then (i was free from this madness, I miss being free).

However, when it comes to the current state of their relationship, Nico since his 2016 championship win and sudden retirement from F1 (that way Lewis couldn't beat him again) has tried and tried on the media to sing Lewis' praises? and he thinks that way he might recapture some sort of friendship with him?

In fact, at what would be their LAST press conference as teammates in Abu Dabhi, Lewis started reminiscing about their relationship and Nico was LEGIT nearly crying????

They are, apparently, according to gossip girl (Max), still till this day: neighbors.

But Nico has said on the media that Lewis doesn't have his number anymore after being asked if Lewis was going to call him to congratulate his Extreme E team on winning the Extreme E championship over Lewis' own team.

Last year Lewis ducked away from Nico, as Nico was presenting on SkySports before a race leaving Nico to be like "here comes Hamilton and here goes Hamilton".

OKay now a list of things that i think are funny but I don't have time to explain:

Crofty's commentary during the 2021 Hungarian GP "“this man knows lewis hamilton friend, teammate, childhood buddy, rival, everything bar lover quite frankly” and most importantly Nico's absolute dead silence afterward.

The Time Nico Used a Sponsor Event As A Therapy Session And Talked About Him And Lewis

Awkwardly Meeting

This Old Picture Of Them

Yacht Gate. Yeah.

This Meme

This Gifset

Again, this is NOT a complete timeline of events.

Anyways hope this helped even though I think it maybe didn't.

Nico if you're reading this, please...go to therapy...we support you...it's time to let go.

Lewis if you're reading this #godbless #amen

Edit: sorry I got some things wrong at first, such as the timeline of Nico going 2 Merc/forgot completely that he had been at Williams first

[luisjuanmilton]

Hello, Ana, I hope you're doing okay. I saw your latest posts and you got some pretty rude anons in your ask box. I'm just writing this to add my 2 cents to what's happening since Silverstone because, as much as I don't agree with a couple of things you say, I think people are completely missing the point about some of your statements and are sending unjustifiable hate towards you (as I recall, an anon was sending asks about you to another blog asking if they were on your side and that's just peak stupidity). So, I'm watching F1 since the 2001 season (yes, I'm above 40) and when Alonso became the WDC in 2005 it was the best season ever for me. Men are not my thing, so I've never felt particularly fond of any of them on a personal level, social media wasn't a thing, I'm also working on STEM, so the technical aspect of the sport always fascinated me. I'm saying all of this because when Alonso won he broke a streak of victories held by Michael from and from a sports perspective, that was awesome. Dominance in the sport is boring. I never had anything against Lewis, he's undoubtedly the GOAT and I actively supported him in 2014 (Vettel's dominance had to end) and even 2015. But since Nico retired and Lewis' dominance became unparalleled (because as much as he has the same 7 WDCs as Michael, Lewis is a much better driver, and Michael played dirty, so Lewis had way more to achieve), and I was wondering when someone would come to stop that (maybe Vettel again?) (+)

Guys this is the first part of a very long three part ask I received which continues in full after the read more, and I want to ask everyone to read it because it’s incredibly well put and well written and it’s so important. I really think it perfectly explains the situation at hand and that’s why I’m going as far as to use Max’s tag, but if you’re a Max fan who doesn’t want to read it this is your cue to not click on the read more - even if I would advise for you to read the whole thing.

(+) The thing is, with the events that happened off track I can no longer wish for such a fiercely fought championship, and the reason why is that I don't trust RedBull and Max's work ethics anymore.

A championship should be decided ON TRACK, not with lawsuits and discourses full of vitriolic racist-toned hatred. It's a fact: RedBull as a scuderia did an amazing job this year, that car is insanely fast, Max himself is absurdly talented, but at this point can we really separate things to the point of sweeping racism under the rug and focus on the championship as if nothing is happening?

I always listen to the mantra "you can't separate the artist from their work" so how can we do it? How can we look at RedBull objectively and still feel happy for their results at the cost of Lewis Hamilton's wellbeing?

I see lots of people messaging you saying you're equating cheering for Max with being racist and no, not everyone cheering for Max is racist, but AT THIS POINT, could you guys cheering for Max ignore how permissive he is?

He has so much power inside that team, he could make Horner and Marko stop their nonsense, he could've issued a statement condemning the racism thrown at the fan, he could, as a public person, take responsibility in his hands and stop that shit. But he's silent. His IG post? Adrenaline.

But now, 48hs later there's really an excuse for his silence? Guys, as much as he's angry, it's not like people are calling Lewis only a bad driver, they are offending his race, their posting monkey emojis to his social media.

In Max's shoes, would you see your rival going through that and remain silent as if your pain due to your crash and missing the race could somehow be equivalent to RACISM? I'm not demanding you all to stop liking Max per se or trying to say he's a bad driver, this is not the point AT ALL.

I was there during the Schumacher era and, believe me, Michael wasn't an angel on track. Formula One always sparkled heated debate, but I've never seen anything like this before. Lewis is silent since Sunday, a couple of drivers are either issuing personal statements or a standardized GPDA text, and Max is still silent.

And in my view, regardless of how I feel about him as a driver, as a human being, he's failing miserably. This championship shouldn't be more important than standing for Lewis against the racists coming for him.

So instead of complaining people are calling you racist for supporting Max, ask yourself for how long you can put his behavior off track behind in a serious matter like this. Instead of asking Ana or any other fan to be better in their statements, go to Max's page and demand him to say something.

You're all aiming at the wrong target. RedBull has black employees, could any of you imagine how they must feel as well? How do black fans feel?  As for the championship, I hope Lewis gains a huge advantage soon as Horner and Marko will clearly try everything to have him banned until Abu Dhabi.

Let's move our desire to have a competitive championship to 2022 when, hopefully, Ferrari will give Charles a decent car. Nothing, guys, nothing can be more important right now than a black man - black fans, black employees - wellbeing and mental health. We're crossing a line we shouldn't have and people need to be accountable for their actions.

[umlewis]

lewis hamilton and niki lauda on the grid before the race, abu dhabi - novemer 23, 2014 📷 hoch zwei / getty

[danielxricciardo]

Where do we go from here

Daniel Ricciardo x Reader

Chapters: 1/?

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 3,015

Playlist for the series

It was your fault when you agreed to go to Monaco. After what happened the last time, you swore you would never go back there. Because it fucked with your mind and soul. You were crushed and your best friend had to scrap you off the floor for weeks, he had to remind you to shower and to eat. Knowing he will be so pissed you chose to go back to him, you didn't tell him you were leaving for a week until you were on the plane. His reaction was everything you were expecting, he called you a bitch and he advised you not to get back to him with a broken heart to cry on his shoulder then he hung up on you. Sure, you both knew you will cry on his shoulder after this week.

The entire flight you were questioning your life choices. How did you get there? You wanted - you needed to know how you allowed yourself to become dependent on a piece of affection from Daniel. You were trying to figure out when you became a sucker for him but you couldn't, maybe because you always were.

You'd always been good friends, ever since he moved from Australia to Europe. You were his first non-Australian friend and he was always been grateful for you and your friendship. You were with him even when he didn't ask you to and even when he told you he wanted to be left alone. That was your first choice. You went with him to almost all the junior competitions, until he reached Formula 1, you cried with him when he had a bad race and you partied with him on a podium or a win. Fuck it, 9 years later, you were still with him. Red Bull Racing was the team that helped him discover himself as a driver and gave him confidence that he could get far. After only one year in the team, he finished third in the drivers' championship with 238 points and secured the first fastest lap of his Formula One career at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

But all this has consequences. The fact that he was so good and became so well known attracted many girls who wanted to meet him and be affiliated with him for increased media attention. The worst part was that he liked all the female attention. Who wouldn't like it? He could have a new girl every day and they would still not end. But Daniel was not the type to take such advantage of his name and his position in society, you thought at the time. But that was exactly what he did. At the end of the 2014 season, days would pass without hearing from him because he was too busy to enjoy the female attendance that crossed his threshold.

After a few months, you already had a pattern. For 5 days you would not hear from him and on Saturday morning he would call you with a guttural voice, asking you to come to his place. And you went there with some headache pills and for a few hours, you would listen to everything that had happened during the week with different girls. At first, it hurt a lot. To hear how your best friend and the person for whom you develop some romantic feelings, has fun, and fucks with different girls is not very ok, but over time the whole situation had become repetitive and you became immune.

But you didn't realize you became a regular girl in his bed too. The only difference between you and the tens, maybe the hundreds of girls before you, was that you warmed his bed on Saturday and Sunday. It was just you, all weekend, every weekend. You felt special. He gives you his full attention all weekend and you hope he doesn't need anyone but you, except that Monday was coming and you could see that to his right was another model looking for fame. But have you ever told him what bothers you? No. Because you'd rather share him with so many girls than not have him in your life at all.

So what happened when you ended up crying for weeks without eating or taking a shower? Daniel told you that he is done with all the girls and he wants to focus on his career. This is after in 2015 he finished the season in 9th place with only 92 points, without a victory, and only twice on the podium. Of course you were happy! Daniel was going to have only you in his life. But he told you that what was between you before, sex and everything else, must end as well. I mean, you had to go back to being just friends. But how do you go back to being just friends with the person you've shared the bed with so many times? Friends don't know the way you taste. Your luck was that you had to go for a visit to your parents for 2 weeks and you didn't have to see him. You had 2 weeks to lick your wounds and return to him without a broken heart. Troy, your best friend, was with you and he tried to put your heart back together. Just when he succeeded, you had to go back to Daniel as if nothing had happened. Broken heart? Who?

Making your own decisions makes you responsible for what comes out of that decision whether it was a positive move or not. Making your own decisions also allows you to make your own mistakes and learn from them. It was your decision to go back to Daniel, to your friend. It was hard to look at him and not want to kiss those fleshy lips but you could manage it.

"There she is!" you heard Daniel say as soon as the Nice Côte d'Azur airport gates opened. He was wearing his merch purple hoodie that you wore so many times before and a pair of black jeans. He had a pair of sunglasses on to keep him away from the press. You smiled. It's been 2 weeks since you've seen him and it's as if your heart has tightened in your chest. You really missed him. You ignored his calls because you didn't want to hear his voice and start crying on the phone and all the messages he sent you were deleted by Troy. You don't even know what he wrote to you.

"Hey, Daniel!" you said and hugged him. You were enveloped by the smell of his perfume and you smiled. He was your safe place. "Missed you."

He hugged you back and the force he put in that hug was enough to crush your bones. But it didn't hurt you. You wanted to be one with him, to be absorbed by him. Everything platonic, of course.

"Missed you too, Y/N."

The road to your house was not a long one but at that moment everyone seemed to be on the road at the same time as you so what needed to be a 45-minutes road trip was now more than an hour, and you were still in the car. The small talk already finished about your parents, your brother and your best friend, Troy, and about all the new things from your home town and at the moment in the car was an uncomfortable silence which none of you knew how to break.

"I tried to talk to you these 2 weeks, you know?" Daniel said and you swallowed loudly. You knew that at some point he would ask about why you didn't talk to him for two weeks, but you hoped it would take some time until then - you hoped you had more time to think about a pretty good reason.

"Yeah, sorry, I just wanted to focus on my people there, you know?" you bit the inside of your cheek until you felt the metallic taste of blood. You hoped it would be a pretty convincing reason but you knew after so many years of friendship that Daniel is not the type to press you if you don't want to say something.

"Yeah, I get it, I'm the same when I'm down under, y'know?" you both laughed, and for the first time in a long time you felt good around him. You felt yourself, no labels and no shoes to fill.

In front of your apartment block, after Daniel took all your luggage out of the car trunk, he leaned against the car, his hands folded, and looked at you.

"Aren't you going to help me get them up to my apartment?"

"Yes, in a minute," he says, still looking at you. "Would you like to do something tonight?"

You shrugged. You weren't tired after the flight, so you could have done something but you had so many questions. Just the two of you? Was anyone else coming? Any friends of his? Some girl? But you couldn't ask him, even if you were friends, you didn't want to give him the feeling that you were jealous. Were you jealous? You didn't have a reason just yet but you could become one.

"Sure. Do you have something in mind?"

"Remember Jay? He just opened a nightclub. Actually, tonight is the opening, he asked me to swing by for a few hours, want to go?"

"Yeah, sure, sounds like fun."

Daniel took two suitcases and passed you to enter the block, but he walked with the wheels over your toes.

"Hey, idiot, watch where you're going!" you yelled at him and immediately laughed. Daniel turned to you, laughing too. You didn't realize when you said it, but that was the exact phrase you told him when you first met.

You got out of the cab in front of the restaurant and slammed the door shut, despite the pleading of the driver to be gentle with his darling car.

You arranged your dress on your body and put your hair behind your ear. You were ready for this blind date that Ellie, your co-worker, planned for you. Of course, there were better things for you to do on a Friday night, such as drinking a bottle of red wine watching a few episodes of your favorite show. But you were there, prepared for a shitshow. You took a few steps towards the big glass door until someone hit you hard and made you unbalance and break a heel.

"Hey, idiot, watch where you're going!" you yelled at the boy that hit you. A tall, dark guy that made you lose the little balance you still had. A small amount of his curly dark-haired was peaking out under the white hoodie he was wearing and his brown big eyes were looking at you like you were a statuette that broke.

"So sorry," he said and the thick accent made your legs soft. Whatever accent that was, you knew you wanted to hear him talk non-stop. "Was looking for an address, I'm fucking lost."

"That's fine, maybe I can help you," you smiled at the boy and you took off your heels. One was already broken so there was no point in wearing them at this point.

"Oh, no, it's fine, you look so elegant, you must be dining with your boyfriend or something," he laughed and then saw the broken heel. "Bloody, I just broke your shoes, I'm so sorry!"

You laughed even harder at the panicked boy in front of you.

"No boyfriend, just a blind date I didn't even want to go in the first place so you saved me, I'm the one that should say thank you. Where do you need to go to?"

He came closer to you with a map in his hand. He showed you where he had to go and you explained to him that he was in the wrong part of the city but you were more than happy to show him the right way. But after you stopped at a boutique to buy a 5 euro pair of sandals.

"This city is not so big that you get lost in it," you told the boy, whose name is Daniel Ricciardo, he told you so. "How long have you been here?"

"Ugh, just a day, and I thought it was a good idea to go out and see the city, I even took this stupid map, but I still got lost."

"Okay, but why did you go out by yourself in the evening and not in the morning or, at least, when is sunny, y'know?" you ask him and point to his left, where you had to go.

"I woke up two hours ago. I slept for eleven hours with the whole time zone, jet lag, and shit and when I woke up I was hungry. I went to get some food and to visit the surroundings because why not," he shrugged.

"But where did you come from?"

"Perth, Australia, baby!" he smiled and leaned back, pulling his chest forward. Anyone could see how proud he was of his hometown.

"This is you!" you announced when you arrived in front of the apartment building, his final destination. He smiled so wide and hugged you.

"Thank you so much, you saved me!"

"No biggie," you smiled at him and then waved. "Bye, Daniel Ricciardo."

"Hey, hey, let's meet tomorrow for a brekky!" he casually announced.

"For a what?"

"Oh, sorry!" he laughed. "Forgot for a second you're not Australian. For breakfast."

"Sure, I'll come here at 9 so you won't get lost again. Bye, Daniel Ricciardo!"

"Bye, Y/N Y/L/N!"

"I'll come and pick you up at about 10 o'clock, ok?" Daniel announced just as he was about to leave your apartment after he got up all your luggage. "Sounds good?"

"Yep. All good."

"And wear something sexy!" he yelled as he was closing the front door. Something sexy? Why would he request a sexy outfit for a night out from you? His best friend. Sometimes Daniel made your head spin, that was one of those occasions, you didn't pay much attention to it, you just went to grab a shower.

The night had come too fast. Sure, you had enough time to put on makeup and do your hair, but you had no idea what to wear. You were sitting in front of the bed in your underwear, with three dresses lying on the bed when the clock struck 10 o'clock. You heard the front door open and close but you did not hurry to put something on yourself so that Daniel would not see you in your underwear; he saw you even worse than that.

"Hey, are you ready? Whoah!" he says and turns his back on you, with his hand covering his eyes. "You should have told me you were naked!"

You scoffed at him.

"Cut the crap and come help me pick a dress for tonight, Ricciardo."

Daniel removed his hand from the eyes and looked at you and swallowed hard. The underwear you were wearing was almost a silky one, black, that hugged your curves just right. He couldn't take his eyes off you and you loved all the attention.

"Stop drooling and come help me. Do you want to go to this club or not?"

Daniel came near you, his eyes were now on the push-up bra that lifted your breasts, making them fuller and bigger than they really were, and at that moment Daniel wanted nothing more than to touch them and play with them. But he remembered who was in front of him. He told his best friend that the sex games were now over because he was focusing on his Formula 1 career. That was not a lie at the time, but he just wanted to throw her in bed and make her forget the words he said that evening. He coughed a few times to regain his voice and then looked at the three dresses lying on the bed.

"That one," says the brunette and points to the short black dress that fits perfectly on your body. You would have chosen that one too.

"Ok, I'll be ready in a few minutes," you said and went to the bathroom to put the dress on. You adjusted your make-up and grabbed the bag and you were ready for a night out with Daniel. Or so you thought.

No one can see the dance floor, it's wall-to-wall people dancing to the club music. There's no room for any more but somehow Daniel was pulling my hand to where he knew Jay was sitting. The music vibrated in your ears and you were tempted to move to its rhythm, but you had to follow Daniel. After going through the whole room you reached your friend, the owner of the club. He told you that the drink for you was on the house and wished you a good time. Daniel announces that he is going to have a drink for both of you and leaves you alone among hundreds of strangers, driven by the same inner desire to get rid of inhibitions for a few hours that night.

The DJ moves everybody in ways no one has ever done before. Mixing the loud music on the turntables to the beat you desire to hear, the DJ watches the half-naked bodies of young men and women dancing around as if something has possessed their bodies. Men are wearing an undershirt, or no shirt at all, and pants. They eye the women who strut around in tank tops and tight dance pants or skirts, and who are smiling, and letting all their worries go away. A smile appeared on your face and look at the line at the bar for Daniel and you were pleasantly surprised to see that he was already looking at you. When you saw his smile you realized that the night will not end with you two still being just friends.

————————————————————————————

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[itracing]

Max Verstappen is the 2021 Formula 1 World Champion

Max Verstappen overtook great rival Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the final race of the breathtaking 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship season to win his maiden title as a late safety car at Yas Marina brought unbelievable drama to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday.

Verstappen started on pole position with Mercedes' Hamilton in second place and it was the British driver who got past him on the opening lap to put the Dutchman on the back foot from the outset.

Mexican teammate Sergio Pérez supported Verstappen and took the lead in a strategic move after the first round of pit stops, holding off Hamilton so Verstappen could regain the crucial seven seconds needed to resume his challenge.

Red Bull Racing Honda tried different pit-stop strategies to get the edge over Mercedes, however, it looked like it was not going to be enough heading into the final laps even with a virtual safety car following Antonio Giovinazzi's decision to pull his Alfa Romeo up by a dangerous bend.

When the Williams car of Nicholas Latifi crashed into the wall, though, the safety car came out with around five laps left and gave Verstappen the chance to attack Hamilton on fresher soft tyres with just one lap left.

Verstappen saw one final chance and overtook the seven-time champion into Turn 5 and hold off one last Hamilton lunge en route to the finish line and a dramatic maiden F1 title - the first Dutchman to win one.

Verstappen won his maiden World Championship title in his seventh F1 campaign, after a ferocious 22-race fight with reigning champion Hamilton. This head-to-head battle produced a season for the ages. By the end of it, after Verstappen took 10 victories, 10 pole positions and 18 podium finishes, the Dutchman becomes Red Bull's second world champion, after Sebastian Vettel annexed the title for four straight years from 2010-13.

Red Bull's title ends Mercedes' seven-year run that coincides with the introduction of the 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrid era from 2014, while he becomes the 34th world champion in F1 history dating back to 1950.

It is the first title for Honda since Ayrton Senna won the 1991 crown and comes in the engine manufacturers' final race with the team.

[theeurasianpost]

Qatar outperforms Gulf bourses on oil price rise, corporate earnings

Qatar outperforms Gulf bourses on oil price rise, corporate earnings

An investor monitors a screen displaying stock information at the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange June 25, 2014. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register July 31 (Reuters) – Most stock markets in the Gulf ended higher on Sunday, with the Qatari index outperforming the region as it drew support from rising oil prices and strong corporate earnings. Crude prices, a catalyst…

[f1]

Red Bull high likely the place for me in 2023 says Ricciardo after signing off McLaren career with points in Abu Dhabi

Daniel Ricciardo ended his challenging two years with McLaren with a strong run to P9 in Abu Dhabi, with the Australian now seemingly set to head back to the Red Bull team where he spent the most successful tranche of his career for 2023 in a third driver role. Starting a penalty-hit P13 at Yas Marina (having taken Kevin Magnussen out of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix on Lap 1), Ricciardo struggled to make an impact in the race’s early laps. But a decision to go for a one-stop strategy – McLaren team mate Lando Norris opting for two stops en route to P6 – allowed Ricciardo to claim P9 at the flag, as he held off the assails of F1 retiree Sebastian Vettel. MONDAY MORNING DEBRIEF: Why strategy wasn't kind to Vettel in his swansong race Reflecting on his final race for McLaren – one of only eight times the Australian has scored points this season – Ricciardo said: “I’m relieved with the race today, relieved with how it ended. When I look back to a week ago [in Sao Paulo], if that was the finale, it certainly would have left more of a sour taste in my mouth or whatever. “So to see the chequered flag, to be in the points, to hold off Vettel the last 10 or so laps, that was fun and I feel I crossed the line having put in at least a solid effort, so that makes me feel a little more fulfilled.” Ricciardo took P9 on his final McLaren outing Speaking with Sky Sports F1 presenter Jenson Button, Ricciardo later admitted that the two years with McLaren – during which time he scored 152 points to Norris’s 282 – had “beat me down a bit”, with the team having confirmed in August that they would be ending their partnership with Ricciardo a year early to allow Oscar Piastri to race for them. “I remember Barcelona last year, so early in my McLaren career, I out-qualified Lando,” Ricciardo told Button, “and you said to me it’s about time you’re starting to show us some pace. Pretty much two years later, same story. READ MORE: Verstappen cruises to victory in Abu Dhabi as Leclerc seals P2 in standings over Perez “It’s obviously beat me down a bit, the last couple of years and that’s why I need some time removed from it to just like – I don’t want to go too deep and say, like, ‘find myself’ but sure, find a part of myself again and rebuild a little bit. “There were certainly some races I felt a bit more comfortable, but that was the struggle,” added Ricciardo of his 2022 season. “I’d have some races where I’d be like ‘oh we’re back’ and then all of a sudden a week later, we’d be back where we were, so that… inconsistency and a little bit of the unknown is what made it so tricky. But I’m happy to have had at least a few nice ones since the summer break.” 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Ricciardo signs off with donuts after final race for McLaren As to his future plans, over the weekend Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner moved to confirm Dr Helmut Marko’s comments to the media that Ricciardo was poised to re-join the team he won seven races for between 2014-2018 in a third driver capacity for 2023 – with Ricciardo asked about the move on Sunday evening in Abu Dhabi. READ MORE: Horner confirms Ricciardo poised for Red Bull return “That is the, let’s say, highly likely the place for me,” said Ricciardo, who added an eighth career win with victory for McLaren at Monza last year. “I can’t say 100% till things are signed off and whatever but that’s certainly what’s closest now and yeah, I look forward to that. If it is though, I’m not going to be at 24 races, otherwise I may as well be on the grid somewhere! “So I still made it clear [to Red Bull] that I need some time off for myself, to get away a little bit – but yeah, I’ll be around to some extent and try to stay involved.” via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Partisan polarization (The Atlantic) As someone who lived in many countries—including Germany, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom—before coming to the United States, I have long had the sense that American levels of partisan animosity were exceptionally high. Although I’d seen animosity between left and right in other nations, their hatred never felt so personal or intense as in the U.S. A study just published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace confirms that impression. Drawing on the Variety of Democracies (V-Dem) data set, published by an independent research institute in Sweden that covers 202 countries and goes back more than two centuries, its authors assess to what degree each country suffers from “pernicious” levels of partisan polarization. Do their citizens have such hostile views of opponents that they’re willing to act in ways that put democracy itself at risk? The authors’ conclusion is startling: No established democracy in recent history has been as deeply polarized as the U.S.

Average US gasoline price jumps 33 cents to $4.71 per gallon (AP) The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline spiked 33 cents over the past two weeks to $4.71 per gallon. Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey said Sunday that the price jump comes amid higher crude oil costs and tight gasoline supplies. The average price at the pump is $1.61 higher than it was one year ago. Nationwide, the highest average price for regular-grade gas is in the San Francisco Bay Area, at $6.20 per gallon. The lowest average is in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at $3.92 per gallon.

Gangs strangle Haiti’s capital as deaths, kidnappings soar (AP) It was about 6 a.m. when Venique Moïse flung open the door of her house and saw dozens of people running—their children in one hand and scant belongings in the other—as gunfire intensified. Minutes later, she joined the crowd with her three kids and fled their neighborhood in Haiti’s capital as fires burned nearby, collapsing homes where hours later the bodies of nearly 200 men, women and children shot or mutilated with machetes by warring gangs were found alongside skulls and bones of victims set ablaze in late April. “That Sunday, when the war started, I felt that I was going to die,” Moïse said. Gangs are fighting each other and seizing territory in the capital of Port-au-Prince with a new intensity and brutality. The violence has horrified many who feel the country is swiftly unraveling. Experts say the scale and duration of gang clashes, the power criminals wield and the amount of territory they control has reached levels not seen before.

Juan Carlos met by cheering crowd and political embarrassment on return to Spain (Reuters) Hundreds of Spaniards on Friday cheered their former king, Juan Carlos, on his first public appearance in his country in more than two years after investigations in Spain and Switzerland over alleged fraud were dropped. Returning from exile in Abu Dhabi, a frail and visibly moved Juan Carlos, walking with a cane and leaning on an aide’s arm, approached the crowd outside the yacht club in Sanxenxo, a resort in northern Spain, to greet them and wave at them. Once revered for his role in the country’s transition to democracy, the popularity of the former king fell drastically after a series of scandals which prompted his abdication in favour of his son Felipe in 2014. The former monarch left Spain for Abu Dhabi in August 2020. He now keeps his permanent residence in the Gulf state but said in March he would visit Spain frequently after the prosecutors dropped their investigations due to insufficient evidence and the statute of limitation. The return of the former king has embarrassed the left-wing coalition government.

Davos: Corporate, government leaders schmooze (AP) The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting has kicked off Monday in Davos, Switzerland. The village in the Swiss Alps has been transformed into a glitzy venue for the four-day confab ostensibly dedicated to making the world a better place. The event is resuming in person after a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which also delayed this year’s meeting from its usual winter slot. Thousands of corporate executives, government officials and other VIPs filled the conference venue, both to schmooze and listen to panel discussions on topics like sustainability, climate change and the Russia-Ukraine war. It remains to be seen if 2022’s high-minded discussions will yield any substantial announcements that can make real headway on the world’s most pressing challenges.

After 3 months of war, life in Russia has profoundly changed (AP) When Vladimir Putin announced the invasion of Ukraine, war seemed far away from Russian territory. Yet within days the conflict came home—not with cruise missiles and mortars but in the form of unprecedented and unexpectedly extensive volleys of sanctions by Western governments and economic punishment by corporations. Three months after the Feb. 24 invasion, many ordinary Russians are reeling from those blows to their livelihoods and emotions. Moscow’s vast shopping malls have turned into eerie expanses of shuttered storefronts once occupied by Western retailers. McDonald’s pulled out of Russia entirely in response to its invasion of Ukraine. IKEA, the epitome of affordable modern comforts, suspended operations. Tens of thousands of once-secure jobs are now suddenly in question in a very short time. Major industrial players including oil giants BP and Shell and automaker Renault walked away, despite their huge investments in Russia. While the multinationals were leaving, thousands of Russians who had the economic means to do so were also fleeing, frightened by harsh new government moves connected to the war that they saw as a plunge into full totalitarianism. Some young men may have also fled in fear that the Kremlin would impose a mandatory draft to feed its war machine. But fleeing had become much harder than it once was—the European Union’s 27 nations, along with the United States and Canada banned flights to and from Russia.

Russia tries to rebound in Ukraine as prospects for victory fade (Washington Post) The Russian military, mired in a war with no end in sight, is attempting to resuscitate its sputtering offensive in Ukraine, firing commanders, splitting combat units into smaller formations, and redoubling its reliance on artillery and other long-range weapons. The shift comes nearly three months after Russian and American officials alike predicted a quick and decisive victory for Moscow. After the deaths of thousands of Russian soldiers and an avalanche of failures since the invasion began Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin has narrowed his objectives in a campaign viewed as unsustainable, unrealistic—and likely unwinnable. As the war grinds on and Russia’s battlefield gains remain “uneven” and “incremental,” according to the Pentagon’s latest assessment, several of its high-ranking commanders have been sacked. In Donbas, there is evidence that the Russian military has divided some units, dispatching smaller combat teams into villages and hamlets there. Doing so, the Pentagon assessed, makes sense as Putin pursues smaller localized goals. But Russia has struggled to hold ground, with its forces sometimes ceding control back to Ukraine within days of having seized territory.

Millions Displaced and Dozens Dead in Flooding in India and Bangladesh (NYT) Heavy pre-monsoon rains in India and Bangladesh have washed away train stations, towns and villages, leaving millions of people homeless as extreme weather events, including heat waves, intense rainfall and floods, become more common in South Asia. More than 60 people have been killed in days of flooding, landslides and thunderstorms that have left many people without food and drinking water and have isolated them by cutting off the internet, according to officials. The devastation in India’s northeast, one of the worst affected regions, has submerged railway tracks, bridges and roads. In the remote state of Assam, 31 of its 33 districts have been affected by floods, impacting the lives of more than 700,000 people, officials said on Saturday. At least 18 people have already died in the state because of floods and landslides, according to news reports. At least 33 people were killed in the neighboring state of Bihar by lightning strikes and heavy rain in its 16 districts, Nitish Kumar, the chief minister, said on Friday. Climate scientists have said that India and Bangladesh are particularly vulnerable to climate change because of their proximity to the warm tropical waters of the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal, which are increasingly experiencing heat waves. The rising sea temperatures have led to “dry conditions” in some parts of the Indian subcontinent and “a significant increase in rainfall” in other areas, according to a study published in January by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune.

Beijing extends work-from-home order as COVID-19 cases rise (AP) Beijing extended orders for workers and students to stay home and ordered additional mass testing Monday as cases of COVID-19 again rose in the Chinese capital. Numerous residential compounds in the city have restricted movement in and out, although conditions remain far less severe than in Shanghai, where millions of citizens have been under varying degrees of lockdown for two months. Beijing on Monday reported an uptick in cases to 99, rising from a previous daily average of around 50. In total, China reported 802 new cases Monday, marking a steady decline interrupted only by small-scale localized outbreaks. Despite that, the government has hewed to strict quarantine, lockdown and testing measures under its “zero-COVID” approach, even while the outside world is opening up.

Biden: US would intervene with military to defend Taiwan (AP) President Joe Biden said Monday that the U.S. would intervene militarily if China were to invade Taiwan, saying the burden to protect Taiwan is “even stronger’ after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was one of the most forceful presidential statements in support of self-governing in decades. Biden, at a news conference in Tokyo, said “yes” when asked if he was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if China invaded. “That’s the commitment we made,” he added. The U.S. traditionally has avoided making such an explicit security guarantee to Taiwan, with which it no longer has a mutual defense treaty, instead maintaining a policy of “strategic ambiguity” about how far it would be willing to go if China invaded. The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which has governed U.S. relations with the island, does not require the U.S. to step in militarily to defend Taiwan if China invades, but makes it American policy to ensure Taiwan has the resources to defend itself and to prevent any unilateral change of status in Taiwan by Beijing. Biden’s comments drew a sharp response from the mainland, which claims Taiwan is a rogue province.