Silent ping for hero carousel: pings in background, animates best city

- Pings all 6 servers silently with 2s timeout
- Picks the lowest-latency server
- GSAP slides the city image in from right with label
- Server banner cards stay static (city + country only, no ping UI)

script.js

@@ -428,6 +428,101 @@ var si = 0,
                 renderBlog();
             }
 
+            /* ---- Silent ping for hero carousel ---- */
+            (function() {
+              var SERVERS = [
+                { host: 'meppel.odoo4projects.com', city: 'Amsterdam' },
+                { host: 'boston.odoo4projects.com', city: 'Boston' },
+                { host: 'manchester.odoo4projects.com', city: 'Manchester' },
+                { host: 'mumbai.odoo4projects.com', city: 'Mumbai' },
+                { host: 'saopaulo.odoo4projects.com', city: 'S\u00e3o Paulo' },
+                { host: 'sydney.odoo4projects.com', city: 'Sydney' }
+              ];
+              var heroImages = {
+                'meppel.odoo4projects.com': 'images/holland.webp',
+                'boston.odoo4projects.com': 'images/city-boston.jpg',
+                'manchester.odoo4projects.com': 'images/england.webp',
+                'mumbai.odoo4projects.com': 'images/india.webp',
+                'saopaulo.odoo4projects.com': 'images/brazil.webp',
+                'sydney.odoo4projects.com': 'images/city-sydney.jpg'
+              };
+
+              function pingServer(host) {
+                return new Promise(function(resolve) {
+                  var start = performance.now();
+                  var img = new Image();
+                  var timedOut = false;
+                  var timer = setTimeout(function() {
+                    timedOut = true; img.src = '';
+                    resolve({ host: host, time: -1 });
+                  }, 2000);
+                  img.onload = function() {
+                    if (!timedOut) { clearTimeout(timer); resolve({ host: host, time: performance.now() - start }); }
+                  };
+                  img.onerror = function() {
+                    if (!timedOut) { clearTimeout(timer); resolve({ host: host, time: performance.now() - start }); }
+                  };
+                  img.src = 'https://' + host + '/favicon.ico?_=' + Date.now() + '_' + Math.random().toString(36).slice(2,6);
+                });
+              }
+
+              function animateHero(city, image) {
+                var hero = document.querySelector('.hero');
+                if (!hero) return;
+                var bg = hero.querySelector('.hero-bg');
+                if (!bg) {
+                  bg = document.createElement('div');
+                  bg.className = 'hero-bg';
+                  hero.insertBefore(bg, hero.firstChild);
+                }
+                var hasExisting = bg.children.length > 0;
+                var newEl = document.createElement('div');
+                newEl.className = 'hero-bg-slide';
+                newEl.style.backgroundImage = "url('" + image + "')";
+                bg.appendChild(newEl);
+                var label = document.createElement('div');
+                label.className = 'hero-city-label';
+                label.innerHTML = 'Our <strong>' + city + '</strong> server fits your location';
+                hero.appendChild(label);
+                gsap.set(newEl, { x: '100%' });
+                gsap.set(label, { x: '150%' });
+                var tl = gsap.timeline();
+                if (hasExisting) {
+                  var oldEl = bg.children[0];
+                  gsap.set(oldEl, { x: '0%' });
+                  tl.to(oldEl, { x: '100%', duration: 3, ease: 'power2.out' }, 0)
+                    .to(newEl, { x: '0%',   duration: 3, ease: 'power2.out' }, 0)
+                    .to(label, { x: '0%',   duration: 2.5, ease: 'power2.out' }, 0.3)
+                    .call(function() { oldEl.remove(); });
+                } else {
+                  tl.to(newEl, { x: '0%',   duration: 3, ease: 'power2.out' }, 0)
+                    .to(label, { x: '0%',   duration: 2.5, ease: 'power2.out' }, 0.3);
+                }
+              }
+
+              /* Ping all servers, pick best, animate hero */
+              var results = [];
+              var pending = SERVERS.length;
+              SERVERS.forEach(function(s) {
+                pingServer(s.host).then(function(r) {
+                  results.push(r);
+                  pending--;
+                  if (pending === 0) {
+                    var valid = results.filter(function(x) { return x.time >= 0; });
+                    if (valid.length === 0) return;
+                    valid.sort(function(a, b) { return a.time - b.time; });
+                    var best = valid[0];
+                    var bestServer = SERVERS.filter(function(s) { return s.host === best.host; })[0];
+                    if (bestServer && heroImages[best.host]) {
+                      var img = new Image();
+                      img.onload = function() { animateHero(bestServer.city, heroImages[best.host]); };
+                      img.src = heroImages[best.host];
+                    }
+                  }
+                });
+              });
+            })();
+
             fetch("blog/index.json?_=" + Date.now())
                 .then(function (r) {
                     return r.json();