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The music that you posted is not Dubstep, is Trap. Main Differences Between Dubstep Music and Trap Music Dubstep music ranges from 138 to 142 BPM whereas trap music ranges from 100 to 176 BPM. Dubstep music has a more electronic and bass lines approach whereas trap music is more about rhythm, bass, and also a range of tempos. Take care next time!

Valve could bring its old-school classics and new games over to consoles in some form...but the company plans to subvert all expectations. After teasing more single-player Half-Life games are on the way, Valve's Gabe Newell is once again stirring up his fan base with soft-spoken words. This time Newell hints that Steam games could eventually show up on console platforms like PlayStation and Xbox. In a recent on-stage event in what looks like a primary school, Newell was asked a particularly exciting question by a student: "Will Steam be porting any games on consoles or will it stay on PC?" Newell responds: "You will have a better idea on that by the end of this year. It won't be the answer you expect." What could this be? Will Valve make its own streaming service to beam its first-party games over to consoles? Will consoles get actual playable ports? Will the Xbox be able to natively run a hampered Steam over its Windows OS platform, allowing for classic mouse+keyboard play in certain games? Recent Epic Games court documents assert that Phil Spencer is having regular meetings with Gabe Newell, so the more likely opportunity here is Game Pass on Steam...and perhaps some sort of retroactive version of Steam on Xbox. Whatever Newell is referring to, it might be discussed at Microsoft's E3 event in June. Source

A major leak of information on the next generation PlayStation VR headset paints it as a considerable leap beyond the original PSVR. For a while there it looked like maybe Sony were going to give up on VR, and concentrate purely on the PlayStation 5, but last year they announced plans for both a next generation headset and new controllers. But until now there have been no real details about either. Sony themselves has still said nothing, but website UploadVR claims that multiple sources have confirmed to them that the new headset will have a resolution of 4000×2040 (2000×2040 per eye), making for a 4K display that is significantly higher resolution than the current 1080p model. Not only that but the headset uses gaze tracking and foveated rendering, which means that it knows where your eyes are looking and only renders the game world in detail in that direction – which saves an awful lot on processing and allows what is in front of you to be a lot more detailed. The headset also has a motor that can allow for DualSense style haptic feedback – something which has been rumoured for a long time – plus a lens separation adjustment dial and on-board cameras to track the position of the controllers. No price is mentioned by the rumours, but the resolution is higher than the Oculus Quest 2 (which costs £300) but lower than the top-of-the-range HP Reverb G2 (which costs over £800). MORE: GAMES NEWS PS5 UK restock starts today with Argos, Amazon, GAME, Very, and John Lewis Subnautica: Below Zero PS5 review - surviving the deep cold PlayStation Days of Play returns for 2021 with free multiplayer weekend Apart from confirming it’s wired, Sony itself has offered almost no details about the headset, although they have gone into more detail about the controllers, which feature resistive triggers similar to the DualSense. There’s no hint as to when the new headset will be released though, except it won’t be this year. That doesn’t mean Sony won’t offer more official details this year, but given how difficult VR is to demonstrate, unless you’re using it yourself, it probably won’t be something they’ll emphasise until it’s almost ready for launch. Source

Over the past few years, the Legislature has passed several new laws that limit the expansion of charter schools and provide additional oversight of these publicly funded school alternatives. The laws’ backers say that these laws boost accountability, but it’s increasingly obvious that they have more troubling goals in mind. Charter schools remain a bright spot in California’s educational system, especially for those poor and minority students stuck in under-performing districts. Teachers’ unions have been using their expanded political muscle to stifle the competition. They are back again this year with yet another bill that would undermine the state’s noble charter-school experiment. This session, the California Teachers’ Association is backing Assembly Bill 1316 by Assembly member Patrick O’Donnell, D-Long Beach. The legislation uses a scandal in one San Diego charter system as a pretext to regulate further every charter school – with a particular focus on limiting schools that provide non-classroom-based learning. The voluminous bill would create “parity” by forcing charters to endure the same auditing and accounting standards faced by other school districts. It would create an Office of Inspector General with subpoena power to investigate charters. It would give state officials more say in how these independent schools operate – requiring them to behave in a similar manner as traditional schools. The bill would reduce funding for distance-learning charters – providing them with only 70% of the funds that traditional districts receive for the same programs. The bill would limit independent study curricula, expand teacher-to-pupil ratios, erode the ability of small school districts to authorize non-classroom-based charters and impose over-the-top auditing rules. The bill also would dramatically increase oversight fees that all charters must pay. AB 1316 simply is the latest attempt to require charters to mirror public schools. This approach is illogical. The entire purpose of charter schools is break free from the bureaucratic constraints and union work rules that have impeded the ability of public schools to provide a quality education. If the state turns charters into de facto public schools, then what’s the point of even having charters? When traditional schools fail their students or when there’s a scandal in a particular public school, lawmakers don’t shut down or reduce the number of those schools. When there’s a problem in a charter school, however, they use it as an excuse to harass them out of existence. “It is time for a correction in state law to halt the hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud and abuse recently seen among (non-classroom-based) charter schools,” according to Assembly member O’Donnell’s legislative fact sheet. Yet in that particular scandal, the district attorney’s office filed several indictments. The current oversight system is working. Source

Blend peas and rocket for a tasty sauce to go with lamb The recipe Bring a medium-sized saucepan of water to the boil. Add 150g of peas and leave them for 3 or 4 minutes until tender. Lightly season and oil 6 large lamb cutlets. Place them on a griddle pan or cook under a hot grill until the underside is golden brown and lightly crisp. Turn and cook the other side. Thinly slice 6 radishes. Wash 2 large handfuls of pea shoots and shake them dry. When the peas are ready, drain in a colander and transfer them to a blender or food processor. Add 120ml of olive oil and 30g of rocket leaves. Process to a smooth, thick, green sauce. Stir in 1 tbsp of capers and check the seasoning. When the cutlets are ready, serve with the pea and rocket sauce, and the radishes and pea shoots. The trick The exact timing of the lamb cutlets will depend on how thick they are and how well done you like your lamb. For cutlets approximately 3cm thick, allow a good 3 minutes on each side for rose-pink flesh. It is worth resting them briefly after cooking, although I can rarely wait more than a minute or two. If you are using fresh peas cook them approximately twice as long. The twist You could use broad beans instead of peas. They will need a slightly longer time in the boiling water – depending on their size, they should be done in 5-7 minutes. They may need a little more oil. You can embellish the pea sauce with a few appropriate herbs. Mint is my first choice here, finely chopped. Source

The new e-tron GT is probably the most important car Audi currently makes. It is as much the flagbearer for the brand’s future design language as it is electric drive technology, and to say it’s got off to a tremendous start would be an understatement. To these eyes, the e-tron GT absolutely nails the muscle-to-elegance ratio (imagine if it was a two-door!), and looks like it is hammering down the autobahn even when parked up. The car shares much with the Porsche Taycan, yet it manages to look authentically Audi. And that’s important, because these are very different cars from behind the wheel. With no rear-drive, single-motor variant like the Taycan, the e-tron GT starts just over nine-grand higher at £79,900, but that does buy you a ‘quattro’ machine with a peak of 530hp and 472lb ft of overboost-rated torque. It delivers a 4.1-second claimed 0-62mph dash and, thanks to the two-ratio system at the back, a top speed of 152mph, leaving it trailing the RS model by seven tenths and 3mph. But outside the pub debate or YouTube comments section, those numbers remain strong by anyone’s real-world measure. Range is competitive, too, with a claimed 280 miles for the non-RS car - although Tesla’s ‘Long Range’ rival remains the clear leader here with 379 miles. Still, any range anxiety to come from our real-world evaluation of the 800-volt e-tron GT – where we drove a car from Inverness for 600 miles to London in two days – related entirely to the still relatively scarce charging infrastructure, not the car's calculated battery life. With so much torque available, it’s easy to drive economically and still be among the quickest cars on the road. But find yourself needing to top up with a conventional 43kW charger, and you’ll need to stop for over four hours to take the 93.4kWh battery from 5-80 per cent. Find one of the Ionity 350kW chargers to let the Audi top up at its maximum 270kW, and a 5-80 per cent top up takes just 22.5 minutes. Although to put the latter's rarity into context, we encountered only two on our journey. Handily, travelling between them in the cosseting GT is very easy going. The interior is wonderfully thought out, with less pizazz than the Porsche’s but the sort of functionality that makes it feel enormously familiar in about 30 seconds. Partly, that’s because it is, with the digital screens using software and front-end features any present-gen Audi driver would recognise. But it’s also to do with the smart layout of controls, with physical interior climate buttons, a rotating volume knob on the steering wheel and sliding gear selector that’s more satisfying to use than it looks. It helps, too, that you sit in comfortable seats with a sports car-aping angle, and not by accident. Remember, the J1 underpinnings were co-developed from day one with Porsche. If there’s a complaint about the Audi’s character, it’s that jumping into a car with such a feast for tech feels very uneventful. Then again, who are we to complain about a car this responsive, this refined and this capable of shrinking around you, especially when all-wheel steering and a plethora of visibility enhancing exterior cameras – all fitted as standard to Vorsprung models – are in place. The all-wheel steering is an especially worthwhile addition because it ensures the e-tron GT’s agility and manoeuvrability far exceed its dimensions. Same goes for the air suspension also there by default on the Vorsprung (base cars get conventional adaptive suspension), which not only broadens the car’s abilities across a range of speeds and scenarios, it also helps to ensure that maximum range by lowering the ride height in efficiency mode for better aerodynamics. This is a slippery car, with a drag co-efficient of just 0.24 - although it’s beaten by the Taycan (0.22Cd) and Model S (0.21Cd) for class honours. In its default comfort mode, the e-tron GT feels perfectly setup for everyday use. With no WLTP-forced short shifting or gearbox hesitation, you’re given the full power and torque potential (the former peaks at 476hp short of overboost) from the off, while lifting off sees the car coasting instead of decelerating with regen. Even in the most aggressive regenerative setting (achieved by clicking the upshift wheel paddle), the deceleration is weaker than rivals, so your driving style remains pretty conventional. The ride, too, is forgiving enough to ensure this near 2.3-tonne machine can deal with broken surfaces like a much lighter car. It’s noticeably firmer over potholes and speed humps in efficiency mode, yet on the motorway the lower setting proved comfortable enough while eking out a handful of additional miles. It is here that the e-tron feels like it differs from the RS model and even the Taycan; you feel like you're getting the most from the car when moseying and watching actual miles drop in tandem with the estimated range. In fact, at times, and even at motorway speeds, the quotation gently underplays what the car is capable of - lulling you out of range anxiety and into a sense of confidence that you're going to get where you're headed. If you’re on a long drive like ours, Audi’s sat nav automatically recommends chargers that are on your route - although for now, of course, this only serves to show how little of the UK’s rapid charger network is beyond the motorway network. That said, for most people, a plus-200-mile real-world range will be more than enough for 95 per cent of journeys. It goes without saying that a more rambunctious level of intent will have the predicted distance tumbling. But this will need to be sustained - quick blasts down slip roads or to beat the traffic away from lights will not have much impact. Several minutes of hard driving does. Doubtless the effort of cooling itself has something to do with this - there's plenty of power-hungry hardware dedicated to this job alone - either way, in much the same way as a B road consumes super unleaded, so it eats kilowatts. Fortunately, the commensurate reward is much the same, too: the ultra-precise accelerator is connected to such a tractable and consistently rapid powerplant that pressing it never stops being satisfying. Mated to enormous grip and poise from a chassis with 305-section rear tyres (our pre-prod test car wears RS 21-inch wheels - see spec) ensures bounteous cross-country pace. It stops short of the genuine engagement the Taycan conjures up, but you won't want for confidence, ever. Factor in effortlessness and refinement and those looks and the in-built practicality that comes with a 4,990mm-long car, and the e-tron GT makes a rock-solid case for itself. At no point did we miss the extra 116hp of RS overboost, because 530hp is plenty when its immediately available. Perhaps you’d be hard pressed to describe the experience of driving it quickly - which is another way of saying the car isn't memorable in the way its Porsche-built sibling manages to be - but you'll find it hard to care when the intervening miles between here and there are being caressed away so easily. It is among the most rounded EVs you can currently buy. And when you have to live with a car long term, and potentially spend time in it while it charges or stare at it patiently from a Starbucks, that counts for a lot. SPECIFICATION | AUDI E-TRON GT VORSPRUNG Engine: Permanently excited electric motor, one per axle, 93.4kWh battery Transmission: Single-speed (front) twin-speed (rear), all-wheel drive Power (hp): 530 (launch control overboost, otherwise 476) Torque (lb ft): 465 (launch control maximum) 0-62mph: 4.1sec Top speed: 152mph Weight: 2,276kg (EU unladen) MPG: N/A (280-mile range) CO2: 0g/km (driving) Price: £106,000 (Vorsprung starting; price as tested £112,350, including Kemora Grey metallic paint* for £950, e-tron sports sound for £500, 21-inch 10-spoke Trapezoidal aero alloys** for £1,740, extended leather pack for £1,665 and locking rear differential** for £1,495) * Not on car pictured, obviously. ** These won't be offered on final UK-spec models (this is an early right-hand drive press car) outside of the RS range. With these non-UK options removed, price as tested is £109,115 Source

There is a very real chance that nearly half of all Giulia GTA buyers will put them to regular road use. Or that’s what we’re choosing to divine from the fact that of the 500 that will be built, 50 per cent have so far been ordered in five-seat GTA format. Apparently, not everyone wants to combine 540hp with a big adjustable wing, two seats and harnesses mounted to a half roll cage. Although we can’t imagine why... In the metal, the GTAm ranks as one of the most menacing Alfas ever made. Where former sports cars like the 4C and 8C are beautiful, and even the regular QF pretty, the plus-£150k version (more on that price later), with its ducts and intakes and extended wheel arches, is nakedly aggressive. If you’re not sold on it yet, wait till you see it; it’s a traffic-stopper. Much is to do with the stance, which appears even more purposeful when you frame it against the Elan Valley in Miami-grade sunshine. Not that we penetrated deep into Wales solely for the backdrop. We went west because the roads are tremendous, and befitting of a machine primed to offer an optimal mix of road and track performance. The Giulia QF underneath the GTA gets an all-round technical makeover that includes a mechanical boost for that aluminium motor to 540hp, thanks to lighter conrods, new piston oil jets and some map tweaks which extend the turbos’ operating window. The gain is only 30hp more than standard, but this isn’t a power-focused upgrade, rather one that focuses on extracting the maximum from that Giorgio platform. Which, you might have read recently, is due to be culled (or, at least, significantly altered) as part of Stellantis’s far-reaching electrification plans. To ensure that this variant reaches its full potential, Alfa Romeo called upon its Formula 1 partner, Sauber Engineering, to comprehensively overhaul the chassis. The result is virtually a pair of welded-up rear doors away from going full Nürburgring VLN race spec, with new dampers, springs and firmer bushes alongside tracks that place the wheels 50mm (!) wider on both axles. The GTA and GTAm both use the same eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox as the regular car, retuned for the higher-spec application, and mated to a carbon fibre prop shaft and limited-slip differential which is endowed with Alfa’s clever torque vectoring tech. There is Akrapovic pipework, too, while 390mm carbon ceramic brakes are cooled by bespoke ducting directed from the new carbon openings on the nose. The GTA has been on a serious diet as well. Carbon fibre features on the bonnet, wings and boot, as well as the bumpers, bucket seats and wheel arch extensions, while the 20-inch forged wheels are lighter centre-locks. All in, the GTA is as much as 100kg lighter than the standard car, with the GTAm, complete with its fixed carbon rear wing, half roll cage in place of a rear bench and polycarbonate rear windows, weighing in at 1,580kg, according to Italy’s STDA grade - although 1,520kg is the number that’s been touted elsewhere. The less extreme GTA is no more than 25kg heavier. In both, you still get the standard car’s dashboard, which includes infotainment and air con. But there’s no questioning which Giulia feels more special to sit in. The harnesses see to that, even before you spin the crank. Press the starter, and the motorsport transformation is complete. The 90-degree V6, originally developed by a team of both Alfa and Ferrari engineers, has always been characterful, but in this stiffened, higher focus platform, its presence is even more significant. When warmed up and ticking over, its vibrations can be felt through the low-mounted fixed-back seat. But click into first, gingerly lift the brake pedal, and the QF’s inherent road friendliness remains. It feels entirely content trundling along, with the DNA drive system’s softest setting letting the eight-speed slosh through ratios and lean into the motor’s unchanged torque delivery. The ride is, no joke, supple. Thanks to the rigid, lightened structure, the workload of the higher-spec GTA suspension is so isolated that bumps and surface cracks are absorbed to an extent that would shame most road-focused premium cars. The GTA is still a Giulia at heart, so there’s little to suggest that those to have ordered the five-seat, fully glass-windowed model couldn’t extend their drives to include cross-continental trips with the family, as unlikely as that seems in such a rare and expensive model. Yet when it comes to everyday driving, this feels like an upgraded QF, rather than a totally new car – and that’s a good thing. Turn up the pace – as you inevitably will, because the temptation in an Alfa that barks and crackles under load is too strong – and the GTA’s character surges through the relaxed demeanour like a nuclear submarine punching through Arctic ice. This is a 3.8-second to 62mph rear-drive car (the slipperier GTA is a 3.6sec one), so it’s fast right out of the gate. It’s possible to separate out the suspension’s softest setting from the racier powertrain modes, but on a bumpy B-road this can prove troublesome thanks to the air vanes that hang off the car’s flat-floor as part of that transformed aero package, and which will likely scrape the surface beneath. Tighter body control is necessary on our route. With all of the car’s parameters set to race, and defying expectation, the GTAm feels made for the Elan Valley. Incredibly, it’s not brittle at all. The Pilot Sport Cup 2-shod Giulia is able to soak up the bumps without overreacting to them; it feels athletic and reactive, but not in a needlessly sensitive way. Instead, it is the utterly fabulous balance – owed partly to 54:46 weight distribution – that lends the car a positivity that eclipses even the QF. And you’re perfectly positioned now to take advantage of its inclination for pivoting round its centre; it alive to your steering and throttle input, you alive to it. It is the kind of oneness rarely evoked in a road-going saloon. Because feedback flows from all corners, the car is easy to read on the limit - and easy to manipulate, too. That much is to be expected from a powerful front-engine, rear-drive car built with the track in mind, but it hardly tells the full story. The V6’s responsiveness and scything on-song brilliance, coupled to the telepathic reactions of the gearbox, make it easy to get the rear tyres spinning just as the nose starts to push under load into a bend. The fronts are 20mm narrower than the rears, so with only a degree of extra throttle angle, the breakaway from grip to slip is easily managed. Towering confidence follows, helped along by the unflappable, immense performance of those carbon anchors. Best of all, thanks to that supremely indulgent balance, any overly optimistic corner entry can be met with rotation towards the apex, so long as you trail the brake or get chasing the throttle. Consequently, the GTAm never bites; it flatters you, and encourages the kind of immersive, vanishing point-flow that has you nearly emptying the tank without noticing (sorry again, lads). But that’s what this car is all about. Because at £152k for the GTA and £156k (see spec) for the GTAm, in any guise, it is enormously expensive. You can get a used QF on the PH classifieds for under £40k – a quarter of the price, and you wouldn’t be having a quarter of the fun. But the GTA serves to highlight where the watering down has occurred even in a very good mainstream saloon; it suffers far fewer compromises. As Alfa promised it would, the GTAm feels every bit the racing car for the road, albeit with the fully-fitted dashboard and forgiving suspension that makes such a thing liveable. It seems likely that around 100 examples could end up in Britain, which would be brilliant. Not just because it feels totally at home on the kind of B-road which is just around the corner from your house, but because Alfa has delivered one of the great sports saloons just as we begin the final chapter of the combustion engine. In the not too distant future, merely seeing and hearing one of these covering ground quickly will be an emotional spectacle. Behind the wheel, it’ll be nothing short of motoring nirvana. SPECIFICATION | ALFA ROMEO GIULIA QUADRIFOGLIO GTAm (GTA) Engine: 2,891cc, V6 twin-turbo Transmission: 8-speed auto, rear-wheel drive Power (hp): 540@6,500rpm Torque (lb ft): 443@2,500rpm 0-62mph: 3.8sec (3.6) Top speed: 186mph Weight: 1,580kg STDA (1,605kg) MPG: 26 CO2: 244g/km Price: €181,500, about £156k (GTA from €176,500, about £152k) Source

These recent stuff have been very brutal :((((((

Btw, I got a question, Does parcels (Farmer job) is the side of Rollback?, or what else, those parcels gonna expire? Or we can have them still.

CI Games has announced that the release date of the Playstation 5 version of the highly anticipated Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 has been delayed due to unforeseen issues of a technical nature. This delay has no impact on the release date for the other platforms and it will release on 4th June as planned. Despite the delayed release date, there is good news for all those who buy the game as CI Games have very kindly made the decision to provide the first major DLC release, which consists of a new extensive map and new contracts, completely free of charge. Plus, to ensure PS5 players aren’t left out on 4th June, both the digital and physical PS4 versions will launch with a free digital upgrade to the PS5 version. “We could not have foreseen these issues. However, we would like to assure our players that our highly experienced, professional and dedicated team are working hard with the platform holder and engine provider to resolve the problems as soon as feasibly possible, to ensure we can bring the PS5 community the high calibre sniping game they have been waiting for. We will offer a free digital upgrade to the PS5 version with all physical and digital purchases of the PS4 release.” – Tobias Heussner, EP, CI Games Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 arrives on 4th June on PS4, Xbox One, Series X/S and PC. Pre-orders are available for all platforms. An update on the new PS5 release date will be announced in the near future. Source

Eons ago, romance often involved dinner and a movie, a few drinks in a crowded bar or a goodnight kiss — intimate experiences the pandemic abruptly replaced with social distancing, mask-wearing and the threat of catching a deadly disease. Simply put, dating in 2020 was “really scary,” as Monica Zahl, a graduate student in Brooklyn, said recently. “There’s nothing less sexy than, like, risking your physical well-being.” About six months into the pandemic, Ms. Zahl, 23, resumed dating, starting with outdoor dates at parks and bars. Masks stayed on until both people agreed they could come off, and there had to be clear consent before moving things inside. These days, though, Ms. Zahl is fully vaccinated and less cautious about where she meets women and how carefully she vets them. “I’m certainly more frivolous,” she said. She’s not alone. Now that all American adults are eligible for vaccination and many of life’s once-mundane routines are returning, dating has come back in force. But it may never be what it once was. For some people, the coronavirus brought on physical and existential fears too distressing to shake off overnight, even after inoculation. Other single people said the long periods of isolation have inspired awakenings and shifted priorities — for better or worse. The hottest pickup line? ‘I’m vaccinated!’ Particularly for those singles who are vaccinated, the demand — or desire — to pair up is strong. In January, Three Day Rule, a matchmaking company operating in 12 cities, started to see a boom in business. “We’ve never been busier,” said Talia Goldstein, its founder and president. The company’s clients are quick to mention if they have been vaccinated, Ms. Goldstein said, a trend that has almost overtaken social media and dating apps. In April, the dating website OkCupid saw a 680 percent increase in the mention of the term “vaccinated” in users’ profiles compared to two months prior, according to a spokesman. And more than half of users on the dating app Hinge reported that they planned to go on more in-person dates after getting their shots, the company said. Duncan Giles, a union chapter president for employees who work at the Internal Revenue Service in Indianapolis, has been separated for more than a year. His first marriage ended after 23 years; he remarried shortly after and is still in the middle of his second divorce. In September, he mustered up the courage to join online dating sites like SilverSingles and eHarmony. “I haven’t really ‘dated’ for close to 30 years,” Mr. Giles, 59, said. “This is like a whole new world to me.” He has only been connecting with women virtually — he had his first video date in April — but said he feels more comfortable with in-person dates now that he is fully vaccinated. You’re immunized. She’s not. Is that a problem? Guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that it is safe for fully vaccinated people to gather indoors without masks. But the science on the risks among inoculated/uninoculated couples is evolving, said Chris Beyrer, a professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University. “The risks are vanishingly low” for the immunized, Dr. Beyrer said, and they are much less likely to transmit the virus if infected. As for the nonimmunized, a young healthy person who lives alone and is dating a vaccinated person would be at relatively low risk. But those who have an underlying health condition, are older than 65 or who live with someone older than 65 should follow safety precautions like mask-wearing and social distancing. Pandemic fears and losses may complicate things. The vaccines will stem the possibility of infection, but not necessarily the social anxieties of the past year. Ilana Diamant, a filmmaker in Brooklyn, went through a breakup in January and recently received her second shot. “Even being vaccinated now, I don’t have this insatiable lust for going out,” she said. “I still see large groups of people and my skin crawls.” Ms. Diamant, 25, also has reservations about dating someone who did not take the pandemic seriously — something she may think about years down the line. For her, the question is akin to, “Was human life worth anything to you?” But she wonders how to strike up conversations about social responsibility “without being the worst person you could talk to at a party.” Courtney Steen, 30, said it was hard to stay motivated while dating during the pandemic. For one, conversations often centered on Covid-19. “You’re not really getting to know each other,” she said. “You’re worrying about each other’s response to this.” She also found first dates awkward — a daytime rendezvous in the park made her feel like she was being courted in the 1800s. Still, Ms. Steen, who works in laboratory informatics in San Diego, ended up dating someone for about five months. She noticed a shift in their relationship, though, in January, after she got vaccinated and was feeling positive about steps she had taken to work on herself. Things were looking up for her, but her partner was “stuck in that pandemic state of mind,” struggling and in survival mode, she said. “It became difficult for us to continue to relate the way we were when we were both kind of on the same playing field,” Ms. Steen said. They called it quits, and now Ms. Steen is taking a break from dating. She isn’t sure when she’ll be ready to kiss on a first date again, but she is excited to get off the apps and meet people organically — i.e., offline. What’s not sexy? ‘Covid baggage.’ While some singles are hoping to build deep, long-lasting relationships, others are simply craving some no-strings-attached fun. Terron Moore, a media executive in Queens, came out of a relationship in March. He isn’t looking for a serious connection just yet. Instead he’s yearning to enjoy a night out on the dance floor with other gay men, and maybe even make out with a stranger. “That’s probably what Fauci would tell me not to do,” he said, referring to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert. Forging a deep connection, Mr. Moore believed, would likely mean sharing “Covid baggage.” “I personally have had a monumental shift in the way that I see the world and the person that I want to be in it,” Mr. Moore, 32, said. Amid all that soul-searching, he doesn’t feel it’s the right time to meet someone new and hear “their Covid war stories.” While he always considered himself to be selfless and pleasing of others, there were many moments during the pandemic when Mr. Moore thought, “I can’t consider this person’s needs over my own because I need to keep myself healthy, sane and alive.” “I don’t think I will lose that,” he added. After a tough year, more people are focusing on themselves. Jenny Taitz, a clinical psychologist in Los Angeles and the author of “How to Be Single and Happy,” said that newfound assertiveness and self-compassion is a positive change. “After spending a year with life on hold, I think people are increasingly clear on what matters to them and what they’re willing to put up with,” she said. In a recent report on the future of dating, the app Tinder said its users have become more truthful and transparent about personal boundaries. It also predicts that daters will continue to be more honest and authentic when the pandemic ends. Ms. Goldstein, of Three Day Rule, said many of her clients have become less superficial. In the past, their criteria often mentioned height or wealth. Now more people are prioritizing inner qualities, like humor or a “growth mind-set.” And, with the flexibility of remote work, dating is not as localized as it once was. “We’re matching people who are now hopping on planes to visit each other in person,” Ms. Goldstein said. Even as in-person interactions become safer, virtual dating may be here to stay. Tinder reported that 40 percent of its Generation Z users said they will continue using video chats even as businesses reopen. On Hinge, 65 percent of American users who have been on video dates said they will keep going on them before meeting people in the real world. While Ms. Taitz, the psychologist, still senses hesitancy among some clients, many are overjoyed about this new chapter. “It definitely seems like the mood has shifted from health anxiety to curiosity and hope,” she said. Ms. Goldstein acknowledges there is a widespread desire to let loose and date casually. But she also believes there is more interest in slower, meaningful connections. “Spring and summer dating is going to be amazing,” she said. “There are so many positive changes that have happened over the last year that will carry on post-vaccination.” Source

ZEISS, the makers of mirrorless systems and other innovative photography lenses, is now partnered with leading smartphone brand vivo. The flagship vivo X60 is the first smartphone to be released in this new partnership. The new vivo X60 will have stunning night photography, professional motion shots, and introduction of HD panoramic shots among its pioneering smartphone camera features. MANILA, May 10, 2021: There is no other feature more evolved in our must-have smartphones than cameras. From using mobile phones that need to be connected to computers so we can view their photos, to handsets capable of slow-mos, macro shots, and super zooms, mobile phone photography has definitely gone a long way with more innovations still expected. More and more photography technologies are forming part of smartphones, efficiently and magically capturing everyday moments in a single, easy-to-operate device. The latest of these partnerships involves renowned lens manufacturer ZEISS and leading global smartphone brand vivo. Starting with the anticipated flagship phone vivo X60, both companies are co-engineering imaging systems in premium smartphones. Some of today’s digital photography is enhanced by changing lenses to suit a subject, environment, or creative requirement. Imagine doing that in a single device and with features integrated and accessible in just a few taps. A superb new technology in the vivo X60, which previously could only be possible with powerful lenses, is its stellar night mode. Its Extreme Night Vision 2.0 allows stunning night shots even if it’s pitch-dark outside, made possible by its super large f/1.48 aperture and a high precision noise reduction algorithm. There is no need for a separate lens as well to do night portraits since vivo X60’s HDR Super Night Portrait can optimize clear focus even in low light. Another highlight is the integration of optimal image stabilization. A motion shoot would not be complete without a motorized device or a tripod that stabilizes images. But in vivo X60, the Pro Sports Mode makes it possible to capture fast actions in fast focus, taking impressive motion snapshots in normal and portrait modes. The new optical technologies that ZEISS is bringing to vivo flagship smartphones do not end with the systems that it already has. The partnership will continue to look for ways to innovate and enable smartphone users to capture their most memorable moments in the most creative way. The partnership also aims to expand current widely used features. Like panoramic shots which are enhanced several times better with the Super Pano in vivo X60, and wide-angle photography which becomes crisper with the X60’s 13-megapixel super-wide angle camera. The trending zoom shots to capture the moon can be created with improved resolution in the Super Moon scene mode. With smartphone photography advancing factors like white balance, focus, ISO which can only be previously manipulated in huge DSLRs, users can expect clearer social connections by exchanging crisper and creative mobile phone shots. The vivo X60 flagship phone will soon be available in vivo stores nationwide. For more details on this new smartphone, visit https://www.vivoglobal.ph/ or visit vivo Philippines on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The Y12s is also available for purchase at vivo’s official Lazada and Shopee stores. Source

Big changes could be coming to admissions at public universities in Illinois after two expansive bills cleared the state Senate Higher Education Committee in recent days. The two pieces of legislation aim to make a degree more accessible: The first would allow residents to apply to any of the state’s 12 public universities without submitting SAT or ACT scores, while the other would guarantee well-performing community college students a spot at the University of Illinois. Both bills, which already passed in the House, were elevated out of committee and could next proceed to a full Senate floor vote. The governor must also sign the bills before they become law, which is far from certain. State Sen. Christopher Belt, D-Centreville, presented the test-optional admissions bill, known as the Higher Education Fair Admissions Act, and said it was based on research showing that high school GPAs are a better predictor of college graduation than ACT or SAT scores. The bill calls for all four-year public universities to implement test-optional admissions by January. “We know children have test anxieties and they don’t do well on these standardized tests, and so to take a snapshot of a person’s high school years and reduce it down to a test ... and to put that kind of weight on that test, we just don’t think it’s fair,” Belt said. Under the bill, students would still be able to submit test scores if they want. Admissions offices also consider GPA, difficulty of high school courses, personal essays and outside activities. In response to concerns from Democrat and Republican committee members about state intervention in university decisions, Belt said that absent legislation, “you will have state schools that will never ever switch over.” While a huge number of Illinois universities, including competitive private institutions, have temporarily waived standardized test requirements because of the coronavirus pandemic, many stopped short of eliminating the exams altogether. Of all the public institutions, the University of Illinois is perhaps the most high-profile school to go test-optional but it hasn’t committed to that approach beyond 2023. Despite some questions, the bill passed out of committee by an 11-3 vote. Proponents of test-optional or test-blind admissions say such policies create more equity since tests favor well-resourced students who can afford tutors and take it multiple times. But others say it’s unfair to students who score well and the decision should be left to universities, which don’t base entry solely on scores. The second bill, which would amend the Public University Uniform Admission Pilot Program Act, would make it easier for community college students to transfer to the University of Illinois, according to sponsor Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago. Under the proposal, all three U. of I. campuses would have to guarantee admission to applicants who graduated from an Illinois high school, earned at least 36 transferable credit hours at an Illinois community college, have obtained a minimum GPA of 3.0 and satisfy the university’s English proficiency requirements. The measure passed by a unanimous committee vote. It would require U. of I. to launch the program as a four-year pilot beginning in the 2022-23 school year. Source

Key considerations Available for £12,000 2.0-litre inline four petrol turbo, all-wheel drive 2013-on 8V model benefits from lighter MQB body Variable ratio steering takes a little getting used to Great quality and reliability Four body formats on pre-2017 cars Big choice on the used market OVERVIEW When the first Audi S3 was revealed in 1999 it found itself somewhat in the shadow of the also new and far more daringly styled TT. That was a shame for UK Audi fans because in many ways the quattro all-wheel drive S3 was a perfect machine for British drivers, delivering not only grin-inducing performance and planted grip on the worst roads the authorities could create, but also offering the potential to transport four full-sized people and their luggage in comfort at the same time. The S3 never felt too big or too unwieldy from the driver's seat. You couldn't fail to find the right model either. Few performance cars came with such a wide choice of bodies and drivetrains. In this buyer's guide we're looking at the third-generation '8V' S3 built on the MQB-platform-debuting A3 launched at the 2012 Geneva show. That could be had as a two-door cabriolet, a three-door hatchback, a four-door saloon (or 'Limousine' in the US) or a five-door Sportback estate, which was 30kg heavier than the 3-door. The new S3's direct-injection TFSI 2.0 engine punched out 296hp, which was a near-50 percent increase on the first-generation 8L S3 of 1999 that was largely responsible for opening up this new premium hot hatch category. The 8Vs 35hp gain on the 261hp 8P gen-two S3 wasn't quite so shocking, but to be fair that 2006 8P was the most powerful hot hatch you could buy at the time so it was unreasonable to expect a massive jump. The important thing was that the gen-three 8V we're focusing on today had enough of a bump not just to make it Audi's fastest ever four-cylinder production car but also to allow it to compete with serious rivals in the same 300hp bracket – principally BMW's M135i and Mercedes' A45 AMG. Power alone wouldn't have been enough to keep the gen-three S3 competitive, but the engine upgrade came with full integration of the car's dynamic control systems. For the first time that allowed the dampers, quattro all-wheel drive and brake torque vectoring to work together in combatting undesirable effects like understeer. All four 8V S3 variants were available from the start in 2013 with a choice of a 6-speed manual (which was discontinued at the end of 2017) or S tronic direct shift auto gearboxes. The S tronic began as a DQ250 6-speed and graduated to an S3 standard fitment DQ381 7-speeder in a 2017 model year facelift, when the S3's output was hoisted to 306hp/295lb ft (outside the US market at any rate, where the 6-speed DSG box hung on until 2018 model year cars came on stream). The DSG option added £1,480 to the price and around 20kg to the overall weight, but that was more than covered on the road where, armed with launch control and a new Haldex all-wheel drive unit, the 8V S tronic S3 knocked nearly half a second off the equivalent manual's 0-62 time, with the additional bonus of a 20 percent cut in fuel consumption. Besides its boosted power and centralised dynamics, the 2017MY facelift S3 got its own specialised version of the new corporate grille, full LED lights at both ends and quite a few other bits and bobs to enhance its appeal. The 3-door S3 hatch was cut from the range at this time. Two years later, in 2019, all A3 Cabriolets including the S3 were axed on the grounds of slow sales. That left just two models in the S3 range, the Sportback and the saloon. Both of these continued in 2020 when the gen-four '8Y' A3 replaced the gen-three 8V. Today, on the road prices for gen-four 8Y S3s start at £38,990 for the Sportback and £39,555 for the (surprisingly?) still-available saloon. If you want a 'Vorsprung' version with 19in wheels, damper control and B&O audio, you'll need to find the best part of £8k more that that. Yep, you read that right: over £47k for an S3 saloon. Fear not though, dear readers, because a gen-three 8V S3 can be yours for just £12,000. Even in lower-powered pre-facelift guise you'll still be just 10hp shy of the gen-four's 306hp – and you won't have to waste your life fighting through Audi UK's new car website. Fancy it? Let's have a delve into what you might be letting yourself in for. SPECIFICATION | AUDI S3 (2013-2020) Engine: 1,984cc inline four 16v turbocharged Transmission: 6-speed man or S tronic auto, all-wheel drive Power (hp): 296@5,500rpm Torque (lb ft): 280@1,800-5,500rpm 0-62mph (secs): 5.2 (S tronic 4.9) Top speed: 155mph Weight (kg): 1,470 (Sportback 1,500, Sportback auto 1,520) MPG (official combined): 40.4 CO2 (g/km): 162 Wheels (in): 7.5 x 18 Tyres: 225/40 On sale: 2013 - 2020 Price new: £31,000 (2013 manual) Price now: from £12,000 Note for reference: car weight and power data is hard to pin down with absolute certainty. For consistency, we use the same source for all our guides. We hope the data we use is right more often than it’s wrong. Our advice is to treat it as relative rather than definitive. ENGINE & GEARBOX Beneath the aluminium alloy head of the gen-three S3's direct-injection EA888 2.0 TFSI engine lay new pistons, rings and connecting rods and valvegear. The turbocharger was new too. Peak power of 296hp was produced at a relatively low 5,500rpm, the same point at which the 3,700rpm-wide peak torque plateau began tailing off. The red line was set at 6,500rpm. As mentioned in the overview, 2017MY facelift S3s went up to 306hp, but from 2019 a particulate filter mandated by new WLTP regs took max power figure back down below 300hp. Although it was an inline four engine, the 2.0's bulkhead speaker and exhaust valve flap sound trickeries gave it low-end harmonics that were more reminiscent of a normally aspirated six-cylinder car than a whooshy turbo four. There were five modes in the Drive Select system: Comfort, Auto, Dynamic, Efficiency or Individual. Driving through a tunnel in Dynamic mode was a laugh. The parping on upshifts never got old either unless you weren't an S3 owner and your house was next to that tunnel. Some early 8V S3s did have issues relating to coolant and oil levels. The coolant should, as logic dictates, register somewhere between min and max. If the level on a car you're looking at is above the maximum mark when the engine is cold you should ask a few questions because overfilling was Audi's advice for those owners who had had leakage problems with the thermostat housing on the front of the engine block. Fortunately the leakage was always very gradual and total failure of either thermostat or water pump as a direct result of this issue is very rare. Water pumps can fail for a different reason though. The preceding 8P model's EA113 engine had a cambelt, but the 8V's cams were chain driven, which was good for longevity but not so good when it came to forgetting about the water pump which would of course be routinely changed with a cam belt. Forgotten water pumps have been known to register their displeasure by blowing. Rustling from the engine under light loads and/or around 3,000rpm became a known thing not just on the S3 and Golf R 2.0 TFSI turbo engines but also on the 1.8 turbos. Some turbocharger units did suffer failure early on in their lives but you'd be unlucky to be affected by this sort of thing on any of today's used S3s. Premature wear to the fuel pump cam follower could damage the camshaft on earlier model S3s and very occasional problems with mass air sensors, throttle bodies and coil packs were reported, but these were isolated incidents. In general this is a very decent engine reliability wise. One thing that might give you an insight into how much the previous owner of the S3 you're looking at loved their car is the cleanliness or otherwise of the inner two exhaust tips. They're not as easy to get to as the outers. If you're the sort who likes twiddling keyboards, VAGCOM fault code tracing and/or modifications using a VCDS plug and software kit will fill many an empty hour. On the assumption that previous owners might have been similarly inclined, it's worth asking what mods if any have been carried out. They'll usually be harmless enough, along the lines of softening the chirp noise on the alarm or tweaking the exhaust valves a bit, but once you've broached the subject of meddling you can go on from there and ask about any ECU remaps. S3s can be taken to 400hp quite easily, so it's tempting, but even good map jobs will come up on a dealer's diagnostic check and that might adversely affect the apportioning of blame for any warranty work. The DSG double-clutch automatic gearbox really did make a lot of sense for the S3. When pottering about, and depending on which mode the box was in, the 7-speeder could in some circumstances feel slightly lazier than the earlier 6-speed, but the wider view among most owners with experience of both transmissions was that the later box was a step in the right direction. As you might expect, the 7-speed's ratios were lower through the box than the 6's, its extra gear higher than the 6's top ratio to provide more relaxed motorway cruising. Neither car would hit 60mph in second. Used DSG cars are more expensive than manuals which reflects not just on their excellent functionality but also on their reliability. Shifts were well-nigh instant in manual mode and wonderfully damped in automatic mode at all speeds bar very low ones. Shifts in Dynamic mode will by definition feel a bit more aggressive. Don't be too alarmed by any lumpiness before the unit is fully warmed up. Rattling on deceleration in manual S3s can mean an impending gearbox rebuild. Clutches on standard manuals should last for up to 80,000 miles but you should be looking for paperwork showing that an uprated clutch has been fitted to a mapped car. Both the DSG and the Haldex should last for the life of the car as long as they're properly serviced. Having said that, early Haldex pumps weren't great and could fail early on. If you booted the car hard from 0mph causing the traction control light to blink like a mole caught in a searchlight and the car to feel like it was holding back, most likely that was a dodgy Haldex pump. Fluids are important on these cars. A degree of engine oil consumption is not unusual, but you should worry more if the oil is dirty, not only because that's bad for a performance engine but also because it suggests lazy maintenance. Some S3s came out of the factory on a long-life service schedule (19-20,000 miles between services), but in an ideal world the oil needs changing every year at least. Servicing costs will be the same as any all-wheel drive A3 at between £320 and £370 depending to some extent on where you live. Dirt in the various transmission-related fluids can drastically shorten component life expectancy. The manual boxes were supposed to be sealed for life but the DSG 6-speeder's oil and filter should be changed every 40,000 miles at the very outside. For facelift cars with the 7-speed DSG the official line is 75,000 miles but you may have your own thoughts on that. For the Haldex the intervals are 20,000 miles/two years if you're cautious, or 3 years irrespective of mileage if you aren't. Dealers might ask £250 for the DSG service but independents will be somewhat cheaper. The Haldex service shouldn't be more than £100. Diff oil is traditionally described as a lifetime fluid by VW/Audi, but again you may have other ideas for your own hard-earned S3. Talking of independents, don't assume that they all have brilliant reputations. Checking owners' club forums for recommendations is free and could save you an awful lot of heartache. And talking of diff oil, popping that in the Haldex (as some garages have been known to do) is definitely not a good idea as the correct Haldex oil is non-lubricative and designed to promote friction rather than slip. Use it and you will end up with a 2WD S3 which is no good to man nor beast. S3 fuel consumption figures in the 40s are easily achieved if you're not pushing hard, and even if you are motoring along nicely on a mix of big and little roads you should still get low to mid 30s. Ruthless driving will knock it back to the mid 20s. They prefer top-spec petrol but will happily run on 95. CHASSIS Although S3 handling was more safe than sexy – an RS4 will likely feel more solid in a direct comparison – the gen-three S3 was lighter on its feet than the gen-two car. That was partly down to the thinner but stronger steels used in the MQB platform which chopped 60kg out of the S3's weight. In addition to that, every gen-three A3 with more than 150PS under its bonnet had multi-link rear suspension rather than the lesser models' torsion bar setup. The S3 took things further by having an aluminium front suspension subframe and a lower ride height than humbler models. S3 springs and dampers were firmer, with Magnetic Ride as an option or as standard fitment on any cars that were sold with 19in wheels (ie the saloon and Cabriolet). Opinions on Mag Ride S3s vary. Some thought they were better than non-mags as long as you set the dynamics to Auto mode, as the Comfort setting can feel too bouncy and Dynamic too crashy. Rear end clunks were reported on some mag cars. Audi redesigned the top mounts and bump stops to address this but even with those in place you might still notice some knocking. The suspension and steering components were pretty tough though. The S3's variable ratio steering gave progressively sharper turning as you added more wheel angle, and more weight as you sported up through the modes. Though effective, the variable steering didn't feel hugely inspiring, prompting the usual Audi calls for more feel at the wheel. Still, you couldn't deny the S3's ability to dig its talons into the exit of any corner and fire you out of it like a gun with no accompanying torque steer, a neat party trick that never failed to impress and/or petrify a first-time passenger. Other clever Audi stuff included Adaptive Cruise Control and Traffic Jam Assist, which worked with ACC, Stop&Go and S tronic not only to keep your car away from the vehicle ahead of you in traffic but also to get it going again after a brief stop without any input from your good self. On smooth roads at speeds of up to 40mph TJA would even take over the steering for short spells. Cars with Parking system plus (a £700 option when it was with both front and rear parking sensors) informed the driver visually and audibly about obstacles in front of and behind the vehicle. For £875 you could have Park Assist which actually parked the car for you, a redundant kind of feature for the average S3 driver you would think. Standard S3 wheels kerbed easily and because they were diamond-cut that made them more expensive to refurb. Expect to pay at least £100 a corner. Hub rust can pop up on S3s but this is more cosmetic than worrying. Not everyone was a big fan of the Conti Sport 5 tyres that were original equipment on the S3's standard 18in twin-spoke 'Spar' wheels (three other 18in designs were offered). Michelin Pilot Sports were the usual suspects at tyre replacement time but some owners also had good experiences with Dunlop Sportmaxx and Goodyear Eagle F1s. Brake calipers were black with S3 logos but could be red at no extra cost. S3 brake consumables are reasonably priced. BODYWORK Distinguishing the S3 from other A3 models were its extended body panels (with bonnet and front wings made from aluminium), the usual S-style aluminium effect door mirrors, quad exhausts and 18-inch alloys, with 19s as an option. Xenon headlights were standard. Compared to the previous model, the 8V's MQB platform put 23mm on the wheelbase of the 3-door hatch and 12mm on the width, adding more space to the cabin generally and particularly improving leg room in the rear. Boot space in the 3-door was up by 15 litres to 365 litres or 1,100 litres with the split-folding rear bench down. The seat up/down litre counts were 380/1,220 in the Sportback, 390/845 in the saloon, and 320/678 in the Cabriolet. Not every S3 owner will have looked after their car's bodywork. You're bound to find a few heavily carwashed examples with swirly paint, but a good S3 in the right colour and spec will still make its owner proud especially if £300-£400 is spent on a quality detail to bring a scratched-up car back to showroom glory. The 'right' colours by common consent are the darker ones, black, grey or blue, with Nardo Grey and Ara Blue being particularly sought after. A slightly darker Estoril Blue was one of the two exclusive crystal effect paints that, along with a more pronounced roof spoiler, differentiated the S3 from the rest of the A3 range (the other crystal paint being Panther Black). Rear wiper motors can fail. INTERIOR The cabin differences marking out an S3 were as well judged as they were beautifully integrated. Some manufacturers might have thrown an entire bucketful of logos and engraved plates at their performance flagship but all the S3 got apart from the odd quiet badge was a turbo boost gauge inset into the tachometer (albeit a rather nifty one with progressively segmented illumination), a luscious flat-bottomed steering wheel and leather wingback sports seats, all of which were heated. Nine out of ten of them were in anthracite, or dark grey in normal language. The tilt and slide panoramic sunroof was a very desirable option as it brought light into what could otherwise be a fairly murky cabin. Silver leather was a rare choice that could look amazing but only if you took good care of it. Rota grey interiors came along with the 2017MY facelift. Quilted Super Sport seats have been widely praised by owners, and if you're trying to sell an S3 to a dealer they may refuse to engage if it doesn't have them. This seems a bit peculiar as the difference between these seats and the S3's regular sports seats appears to be purely visual, with posh stitching but no obvious differences in the seat's core construction, comfort or grip. SS seats in a B9 RS4 are a different matter, but even if you do have to pay some sort of premium for them in a used S3 you shouldn't reject a car on comfort grounds simply because it doesn't have them. If a car is described as having a 'parade' interior by the way that means it has red flashes in the seats. The UK facelift in late 2016 changed the standard equipment list to include LED lights, an improved MMI screen and smartphone interface with Apple Car Play and Android Auto capability, and, crucially, a good satellite navigation system. Before, satnav took the form of an SD-card based MMI add-on using the standard screen. Satnav plus was a quicker hard drive based system using a bigger, higher resolution screen. The highly customisable Virtual Cockpit also became available in the S3 at this time. The S3's basic sound system was OK but you could notch up to the midpoint Audi Sound System with two extra speakers and a subwoofer, or go the whole hog with a Bang & Olufsen upgrade. Not much goes wrong with any of the electronics, a refreshing change in modern motoring. A3s generically might suffer from fragile parcel shelf fixings or rattling in the glovebox or driver's side B pillar areas. PH VERDICT Backed by Audi's reputation, the S3 was almost guaranteed to be a hit. It was pivotal in opening up new choices for those who wanted hot hatch performance without the cheap and cheerful aura that previously came with that class of vehicle. Other manufacturers are still struggling to replicate the Audi's beguiling template of roaring performance, rally-car tenacity, everyday useability and, in the Sportback, pleasing versatility. Throw in excellent quality and economy and you're looking at a powerful proposition. Especially when you see the number of cars on the used market. At the time of writing there were around 250 S3s on PH Classifieds, so you really can afford to be picky. There has inevitably been some cheapening of the S3's image as dropping values bring them into the clutches of less caring owners, but don't turn your nose up at low priced cars just because they're carrying higher mileages. The 8V's robust reputation means that something like this 2014 3-door with 88,000 miles at £11,995 would be a very canny purchase. Somebody clearly thought so because that car was sold while this story was being written. All you really need with cars like this is evidence that the service requirements have been adhered to. Nothing too nasty should be lurking beneath the surface. For the family user looking for an affordable Sportback we like this 306hp, 71,000 mile facelift car at £17,500. If you prefer the stubby four-door look, here's a 59,000 mile saloon in red at £19,750. S3 Cabriolets are relatively rare but when you do find one they tend to be lightly used, like this 28,000 miler at a fiver under £20k. This full-power 2017 Black Edition Sportback in, er, white will nicely fill up the rear-view mirror of anyone daft enough to get in your way at £22,995. Source

All that time and dozens of visits, and I'd had absolutely no idea. I have been going to the Bedford Autodrome for a decade or so, driving through the barrier and along the tree-lined access road thinking only of thundering as fast as I dared around one of the venue's handful of circuits. I have roasted tyres there until they delaminated, cooked brakes until the discs glowed cherry red, set lap times, frightened myself, learned to chuck a car into a slide and hold it there, spun through the full 360 degrees even more often and laughed from my belly. I have even called this work, though I was always well aware of how inconsequential that work had been. What I was lamentably unaware of until very recently is that here, in this windswept place where I have had so much fun at the wheels of countless cars, such seismic work used to take place that Neil Armstrong once visited. Jonathan Palmer's Bedford Autodrome has always been a great big automotive playground to me, but for many decades it was something altogether more important than that. I was there only a few weeks ago to drive the new Porsche 911 GT3. A merry old time I had too, combusting somebody else's fuel at 9000rpm and slaying their tyres until chunks flew off. And it's only since that most recent visit that I learned what this old airfield, first laid down in 1940, used to be home to. Like Silverstone, Castle Combe, Thruxton, Croft, Snetterton, Pembrey and Goodwood, the Bedford Autodrome was constructed on old runways, using the perimeter roads and aprons to create a circuit (or a handful of circuits, in the case of Palmer's place). And like many of the UK's airfield-base race tracks, this one has a military past. It was constructed 81 years ago for RAF Bomber Command around the start of the Second World War. From here, heavy bombers would haul themselves into the sky, chug over the Channel and fly on towards Nazi Germany. It was known as RAF Thurleigh back then. The site was developed over the years that followed with additional runways and four enormous hangers. The RAF vacated Thurleigh in 1942, making way for the US Air Force. There is a small museum and monument dedicated to the memory of the 306th Bombardment Group adjacent to the circuit entrance to this day. But it was once the war had ended that this airfield a few miles to the north of Bedford was selected for one very particular purpose. What had been made overwhelmingly clear over the preceding few years was that conflicts would increasingly be fought in the skies and that we'd travel more and more by air as well. Britain, thought its government of the day, should be at the very forefront of all this. Speaking in parliament in 1945, the MP for Bedford, Sir Richard Wells, said, 'In view of the imperative necessity to provide adequate resources in research and development for our future civil and military aircraft construction, and of the many new problems that now have to be faced with the approaching achievement of supersonic speeds, the Government has decided that it is necessary to embark upon the construction of a new research and development centre in this country in which all the latest and best wind tunnels and other apparatus can be installed. After a very complete survey of the country, it has been decided to place the new research establishment in the vicinity of Bedford.' After that the National Aeronautical Establishment was formed. (Its name would later change to the Royal Aircraft Establishment Bedford.) The main runway was extended to 10,500ft (two miles) and at Twinwoods just a mile away, four state of the art wind tunnels were constructed. Between them, these allowed researchers to test various experimental aircraft designs at speeds ranging from 80mph to fully five times the speed of sound, or around 3300mph. One of these four tunnels, its fan mounted flat to the ground rather than perpendicular to it, was labelled the Vertical Spinning Tunnel and used to study the behaviour of aircraft in a spin, which was scarcely understood at the time. Between them, RAE Bedford and Twinwoods became the very heart of Britain's aviation research sector. Over the decades that followed, countless experimental aircraft were developed and flown from here. Eric 'Winkle' Brown, that titan among test pilots, flew all manner of prototype aeroplanes out of RAE Bedford during the post-war years, specifically helping to further mankind's understanding of supersonic flight. In June 1970, a brave American test pilot visited Bedford to sample the delta wing Handley-Page HP.115 research aircraft. Eleven months earlier, Neil Armstrong had taken his one small step. Between the late Forties and the eventual decommissioning of the airfield in 1994, countless engineering breakthroughs were made at RAE Bedford and Twinwoods. Using a catapult runway and a 'ski jump' ramp, for instance, engineers were able to demonstrate the viability of ocean-going aircraft carriers. The principles of vertical take-off and landing, those that underpinned the groundbreaking Harrier Jump Jet, were first defined here. Without the supersonic research capabilities at Twinwoods there would have been no Concorde. Blind landing, radio guidance, navigation systems, rotary aerodynamics, the effects of windshear and vortices on aircraft and all manner other things were discovered, developed or better understood at this place. And these are just the things we know about. Not for nothing is RAE Bedford sometimes described as the UK's Area 51. You can still see the shabby offices where the country's brightest engineering minds once worked, the smashed windows and rusting gutters paying unsatisfactory tribute to the pioneering work they did. Much of the airfield is used for the storage of unsold cars nowadays, the rest home to Bedford Autodrome's several miles of race track. Corporate trackdays and magazine photoshoots where once the boundaries of powered flight were pushed in all directions. The next time I drive along that tree-lined access road, it will be with a far greater sense of wonder. Source

- Nume: .DjC. - Rang: Network Anchor (4) - Data săvârşirii emisiunii/concursului: 05.05.2021 - Tipul emisiunii/concursului: Contest with the subject of Romania Number. - Numele celor care au participat la emisiune/concurs: arjun4237[VIP] | Chand. | [AIM]FacTOT.FailMachine | [uL]NO0B4EV3R - Dovada (screenshot) pentru tipul concursului/emisiunii [/l]: https://imgur.com/HL3tRWy - Dovada (screenshot) cu [/livemembers]: https://imgur.com/a/9Rb4oer - Alte precizări: p@

Pop, Trap, and most of the time Pop.

Strategie from my side, Because it can usually lead you to many challenges. But definitely other types might be good too.

Singapore announced on Tuesday tighter curbs on social gatherings and stricter border measures after recording locally acquired cases of coronavirus variants, including a more contagious strain first detected in India. After reporting very few local infections for months, numbers have increased in the Asian trade and financial hub over the last week, mainly linked to an outbreak at a hospital. On Tuesday, it confirmed five new locally acquired cases. The stricter measures, which will be effective from May 8, include extending checks on where incoming travellers have been to three weeks earlier, instead of two weeks currently. All visitors with a recent travel history in higher risk countries and who arrive from Saturday onwards will also need to be ini quarantine for 21 days, instead of 14. Social gathering will also be limited to five people, while indoor gyms and fitness studios will be shut. The new measures amount to the tightest local restrictions since Singapore started easing curbs in the middle of last year after a partial lockdown. Among infections detected in the latest COVID-19 cluster in a hospital, nine out of 40 cases had already been fully vaccinated. "Because of vaccination, these cases are either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, and none has required oxygen so far," said health minister Gan Kim Yong. "Therefore vaccination remains an important tool to help lower the risk of infection and severe disease," he said. The minister also said authorities could not rule out a return to a partial lockdown again, if the situation worsened. Though Singapore's daily cases are only a fraction of the number being reported among Singapore's Southeast Asian neighbours, a jump in infections would be a setback for the Asian business hub, which has successfully contained its earlier outbreaks. Source