nudge

Karate Kid is back after 34 years!!!

Started rewatching the "new" Battlestar Galactica, starting with the miniseries from 2003.

According to Kicker, we're close to signing Köln's Leonardo Bittencourt (reported transfer fee between 6-8m €). I soooo hope it goes through, a class player, think he would suit us well too. The only disadvantage is his injury proneness, but it's definitely worth a gamble. Kruse, Bartels, Kainz, Rashica, Bittencourt, Johannsson + Johannes Eggestein and Josh Sargent as youth talents; our attacking options definitely sound good enough for me! Apparently Kevin Möhwald is also set to sign for us, so central midfield looks quite flexible too with Delaney, Maxi Eggestein, Bargfrede, Gondorf + Käuper and potentially Mbob as backup options from the youth. Defence should be OK, we have three reliable center backs in Moisander, Veljkovic and Langkamp, but there's a lack of backup (Caldirola will probably leave and there are no real options from our reserves/youth), and we only have TGS as the only option at RB (Bauer is definitely leaving), while Augustinsson and Friedl have LB well covered. If we manage to keep our current regulars and also sign a strong, robust defensive midfielder for the first team, a backup CB and a backup RB during the summer, I'd be very happy with the squad for the new season. Kruse, Augustinsson and Pavlenka probably are on the radar of quite a few clubs, but it looks like they are willing to stay, and I hope we manage to keep them all for at least one more season. We'll probably lose Delaney though, and he will surely be a tough one to replace...

There are no mandatory pit stops, so other than refueling, tyre changes and potential repairs if they're unlucky, the only thing that the teams have to take into account is the allowed minimum and maximum driving times per single driver. I know they still do mandatory pit stops in some GT3 and GT4 series though, such as Blancpain for example, where there are two mandatory pit stops, or even ADAC GT Masters, where they have a mandatory pit window each race.

Yes, Toyota is the only works team in LMP1, and the only hybrid too, so they'll have restrictions on fuel flow etc to allow the privateers who joined LMP1 to compete. We have a very nice grid of 10 cars in LMP1 for Spa, so while Toyota should technically have it easy, they'll probably still manage to fuck it up, especially at Le Mans haha. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for Rebellion Racing now that Porsche is gone... As for GTE, can you elaborate? I wouldn't say V6 is not really competitive; while Ferrari got the overall title last year with their V8 car, it was very tight until the very end, and both Ford and Porsche with their 6 cylinder engines finished above Aston Martin V8 in final standings... In this year's prologue, Ford and Porsche were well ahead of the other manufacturers, and interestingly enough, even Dempsey-Proton and Gulf Racing (both Porsche customer) in Am class outpaced the Pro class Ferraris, Astons, and BMWs, but that's of course hard to judge due to potential sandbagging... To be fair, I haven't really read this year's regs yet, but I don't think they changed much from last year in terms of Balance of Performance.

FINALLY - WEC Super Season is ON! Starting with 6h of Spa this weekend already. Best racing, best circuit, can't wait And then 24h of Le Mans next month, hnnnggggg.

Oh, I'm under no illusion that we have a chance of keeping him for much longer; we're nowhere near the level we used to be, and even back then we struggled to keep top-players in the club. It's just so annoying to lose our best ones each year for ridiculously low transfer fees, and fail to find proper replacements.

Finally, welcome back home, Thomas Schaaf I'd prefer him to stay so we can build a team around him and finally return to the upper parts of the league table and European competitions... But yeah, it will be hard to keep him, considering playing in England is his dream, too. We also have a horrible record for underselling players, so it probably wouldn't be an amazing business at all The new winger, you mean Rashica? He's got skill, but needs to work on it, as too often it just ends up in lost possession. Could develop into a good player for us, but I'm not too convinced yet. We need to keep Pavlenka, Augustinsson, Delaney, Kruse for a few more seasons, find a good replacement for Junuzovic in summer, get the best out of Kainz and Rashica, and develop youngsters like Jojo Eggestein so they can take the next step and become regulars for the first team.

Yesssssss.

Don't worry, he'll be fine:

I love Baku and street circuits in general, as it tends to reward those who have skill and take calculated risks, but punishes even the slightest mistake. Absolutely brilliant.

Did you predict him to win in GP Predictor?

Yeah I get your point, but then it would also be unfair to those who did all correctly... DRS is stupid anyway.

Told you No penalty for Perez.

Why harsh? Everyone were racing under the same conditions, some managed to do it right, some not. Probably poor communication with the garage.

Automatic DRS release was not working in the first sector (for all cars), so the drivers had to activate it manually, hence why many probably didn't time it right.

Sirotkin handed three grid places penalty in Barcelona for causing a collision with Perez on Lap 1. Stroll and Magnussen apparently investigated for improper use of DRS too.

shhhhhh don't jinx it

Yes, something still went wrong with that, he's still under investigation. Could be because he did it more than once?

By the way, Kimi is still under investigation for 1st lap crash and Perez for using DRS where it was not allowed... There might be some changes in the final grid.

What a race, unbelievable! Charles Leclerc & Sauber

Kimi throwing the pole again, unbelievable... Insane first two sectors though. That incident between both Toro Rosso cars was soooo dangerous, very lucky they didn't crash. Could have been really nasty. Happy for Leclerc and Sauber for making it into Q2! Should be an interesting race tomorrow, probably a few crashes and safety cars, really unsure what's going to happen, haha.

Talking about bees, you might find this interesting @The Rebel CRS and @Bluewolf:

Stunning cinematography and groundbreaking visuals, introducing numerous things that haven't been done in cinema before, all without computer graphics. Stunning and way beyond its time Epic soundtrack and enigmatic atmosphere Most accurate, scientific portrayal of Space Immense scale and scope of the film, exploring "big ideas" like a man's place in the Universe, technological progress, (artificial) intelligence, man vs. machine, etc; and narrating the entire history of humanity and evolution of the humankind Story being conveyed mostly through visuals, symbols and musical cues rather than dialog, intentionally leaving many of the ideas and scenes open for interpretation. It's challenging I personally love it, and I'm not even much of an arthouse film fan in general... However, I understand why many find it boring, too-long, pretentious, etc. It's very polarizing, kind of a love it or hate it kind of film... I also read Arthur Clarke before I watched the movie, both the novel of the same name which he wrote while working on the filmset with Kubrick, and his previous works that influenced the creation of the movie, so maybe I just had more reference points for the story... If you want more story and more explanations, it's worth taking a look at the "sequel" which was not directed by Kubrick, so it's a very different style and also more accessible: 2010: The Year We Make Contact