Breakdancing is now an Olympic sport, vertical drinking is now legal in Tassie and Nikita Mazepin is now officially an F1 driver. Of course, you know what this means. All 7.8 billion of us have unlocked the door and crossed over into the Twilight Zone.
But your team here at the motoring section in the business section have no fear of change. We play a critical role not only in the success of this bit of the paper and multimedia platform but with 18 readers and one friend we are a huge contributor to Australia's most read Saturday national tome.
Just to divert for a minute. While the US-born O'Malley achieved his political heights between 1896 and 1916, he would be right at home in our national capital today. Before he sailed to Australia, he founded a church and appointed himself First Bishop of the Waterlily Rock Bound Church, the Red Skin Temple of the Cayuse Nation. He actually left America to escape embezzlement charges.
Anyway, with the death of Holden our political masters couldn't wait to move up to European. So, after extensive testing and sitting in the back seats, they went with the BMW 6 Series GT sedan and some Toyota hybrids. This was super news for BMW since they couldn't move a car Wheels magazine called "an ageing dinosaur' with 'looks only a mother could love."
Friends and 18 readers, in this new world why didn't they ask the brains trust here before blowing millions of taxpayers' dollars on cruising cocoons of gold-plated comfort whose most difficult task is to protect our leaders from Australians preferred form of attack, an egging.
We would have recommended the 2013 Chevrolet Silverado "Mayhem" Monster Truck for sale right now at Bonhams for $100k or a saving of at least $600k over the Beemers. It has seating for eight (five more than the German), a Chevy 6.0-litre V8 engine; up-rated transmission; standard truck cab with working air conditioning, radio, and plush interior; 1.7m wheels; rear "crab" steering for better manoeuvrability.
Also perfect for the times is newly appointed Haas driver, 21 year old Nikita Mazepin. Nikita has got a lot of form. Well, not all in the car. He has a well-earned reputation for dangerous driving, racism and in 2016 in Hungary, he felt British driver Callum Ilott was holding him up, so after the race he punched Callum in the face, giving him a black eye, a swollen jaw and a lot of pain.
As Drivetribe's Will Pearse says: "what Mazepin lacks in humanity and speed is made up for by money. Money is key in Formula 1, and the Mazepin family is full of it."