August 21, 2010
USS Hammann
The life of a destroyer is never a glamorous one. Big enough to be a target but small enough to easily die, the destroyer's main job is to protect bigger, more important, ships from those that would attempt to harm them.
The USS Hammann (DD-412) was the fourth of the Sims-class of destroyers, commissioned in 1939. 2200 tons at full load, her twin screws could push her 348 foot length through the water at 35kts. She was armed with four 5"/38 guns and eight torpedo tubes, a common enough armament for a pre-war destroyer. She also carried a few .50cal machineguns. In comparison to what DDs would carry just a few years later, that seems a light load of weapons, but nobody really knew the threat aircraft posed at the time.
The Hammann was to be blessed (or cursed) with an active, but short, life. She was assigned to Task Force 17 and served as the plane guard destroyer for the USS Lexington at the Battle of the Coral Sea. She also collected many of her crew when the time came to evacuate the carrier.
The USS Hammann (DD-412) was the fourth of the Sims-class of destroyers, commissioned in 1939. 2200 tons at full load, her twin screws could push her 348 foot length through the water at 35kts. She was armed with four 5"/38 guns and eight torpedo tubes, a common enough armament for a pre-war destroyer. She also carried a few .50cal machineguns. In comparison to what DDs would carry just a few years later, that seems a light load of weapons, but nobody really knew the threat aircraft posed at the time.
The Hammann was to be blessed (or cursed) with an active, but short, life. She was assigned to Task Force 17 and served as the plane guard destroyer for the USS Lexington at the Battle of the Coral Sea. She also collected many of her crew when the time came to evacuate the carrier.
The Hammann backs away, decks crowded with Lexington crew.
We all know what happened there. The hastily repaired Yorktown took three bombs and two torpedoes and ended up dead in the water. Again the Hammann rescued survivors from an abandoned carrier, this time transferring them to a larger ship. On June 6th, 1942, the destroyer pulled alongside the Yorktown to provide power, hoses and pumping for firefighting efforts. While alongside, the Japanese submarine I-168, taking advantage of lousy acoustic conditions, slipped inside the destroyer screen surrounding the crippled carrier and loosed four torpedoes at her. One missed. Two went beneath the destroyer, striking the carrier. And one slammed into the side of the Hammann. Her back broken, the Hammann jackknifed and sank in four minutes.
There was nothing particularly special about the USS Hammann. Just another destroyer in a fleet that had dozens... hundreds... of them. But circumstances put her alongside the first two American carriers lost during WWII, and nothing but horrible luck made her the first American loss at the Battle of Midway. She earned two battle stars for her service, and her captain, Commander Arnold True, was awarded the Navy Cross for his work at Midway.
The Lex explodes. The Hammann's bow is to the left, the arrow points to the USS Yorktown.
After the Coral Sea, the Hammann escorted the damaged USS Yorktown in her dash back to Pearl Harbor. While the Yorktown underwent a crash repair program, Hammann replenished in preparation for the Battle of Midway.We all know what happened there. The hastily repaired Yorktown took three bombs and two torpedoes and ended up dead in the water. Again the Hammann rescued survivors from an abandoned carrier, this time transferring them to a larger ship. On June 6th, 1942, the destroyer pulled alongside the Yorktown to provide power, hoses and pumping for firefighting efforts. While alongside, the Japanese submarine I-168, taking advantage of lousy acoustic conditions, slipped inside the destroyer screen surrounding the crippled carrier and loosed four torpedoes at her. One missed. Two went beneath the destroyer, striking the carrier. And one slammed into the side of the Hammann. Her back broken, the Hammann jackknifed and sank in four minutes.
The Hammann's stern portion goes down
Most of her crew ended up in the water, surprised but alive. The destroyer, however, seemed to have other plans for her men. Shortly after she went down, a massive underwater explosion occurred when her depth charges detonated. This is somewhat odd, as the man in charge of them says that they had been safed. Some have said that her boilers exploded. Either way, the concussion from the explosion snuffed out the lives of 80 of her 192 crew.There was nothing particularly special about the USS Hammann. Just another destroyer in a fleet that had dozens... hundreds... of them. But circumstances put her alongside the first two American carriers lost during WWII, and nothing but horrible luck made her the first American loss at the Battle of Midway. She earned two battle stars for her service, and her captain, Commander Arnold True, was awarded the Navy Cross for his work at Midway.
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August 20, 2010
Name This Mystery Ship
No hints, no clues save one: she came to a tragic end.
The first person to guess correctly will win a post on a topic of their choice. Leave your guess in the comments!
UPDATE: Reader flatdarkmars wins the contest, and has requested another "name that ship/plane/waffleiron/whatever" post. Look for that to come soon!
No hints, no clues save one: she came to a tragic end.
The first person to guess correctly will win a post on a topic of their choice. Leave your guess in the comments!
UPDATE: Reader flatdarkmars wins the contest, and has requested another "name that ship/plane/waffleiron/whatever" post. Look for that to come soon!
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August 17, 2010
Staying Calm
As you, the intelligent, erudite, well-spoken and cultured reader of The Pond, are aware, I had a small portion of my skeletal system yanked out of my head yesterday. With the appointment at three in the afternoon, I had plenty of time to become jittery as is my wont.
So in an attempt to sooth my fears, I decided to take some photos of Wanderduck, the rubber duckie that goes to interesting places with me, and is, in fact, the duck that appeared in the post just previous to this one.
Alas, it turned out that my nerves ruined both my sense of composition and my muscle control, for only one picture turned out to be good AND not blurred.
I'm not sure how or when Wanderduck joined the flock; certainly he's been around for quite some time. He went with me when I had a tooth removed back in March of 2008, he made the trip to New Mexico (though I fear those pictures are lost), visited Courtesy Aircraft, so on and so forth. It's only been just recently that I've begun calling him Wanderduck, though.
Anyway, this post is about all that I have the mental energy for today. Sooner or later, there will be actual content here.
So in an attempt to sooth my fears, I decided to take some photos of Wanderduck, the rubber duckie that goes to interesting places with me, and is, in fact, the duck that appeared in the post just previous to this one.
Alas, it turned out that my nerves ruined both my sense of composition and my muscle control, for only one picture turned out to be good AND not blurred.
I'm not sure how or when Wanderduck joined the flock; certainly he's been around for quite some time. He went with me when I had a tooth removed back in March of 2008, he made the trip to New Mexico (though I fear those pictures are lost), visited Courtesy Aircraft, so on and so forth. It's only been just recently that I've begun calling him Wanderduck, though.
Anyway, this post is about all that I have the mental energy for today. Sooner or later, there will be actual content here.
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August 16, 2010
Tooth Is Out, All Is Swell(ing)
I'm currently at the Old Home Pond, totally clear-headed as they didn't put me under general anesthetic to yank the offending tooth. Instead, they used Nitrous Oxide gas. It worked, I didn't particularly care what was going on while they dug around, but whoo-doggie I do not think I like Nitrous all that much. It was unpleasantly like being drunk... and if you don't think that's an unpleasant feeling, ask a glass of water.*
So, yeah, I'm drooling and bleeding all over the place but for now, all is well. So far. I think.
*Joke blatantly stolen from one of them-there Douglas Adams novels.
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August 15, 2010
Some Housekeeping and More Music Meme
Okay, so I'm probably not going to be around for a couple of days. I'm having a tooth pulled Monday afternoon, under general anesthetic. I'm sure that Monday night I'll be either too drugged or in too much pain to blog. Hopefully sometime Tuesday I'll be functional enough to update here.
I've had too many bad experiences with dentists to be awake for this. Hell, I went into shock during a teeth-cleaning once. It's not the pain, that's nothing... it's the tugging and the pulling and the sounds. I punched a dentist in the groinacological region once, but that was because he didn't wait long enough for the Novocaine to kick in before he poked at a cavity. The stabbing pain just caused my right arm to jerk spasmodically; I really didn't mean to. Heck, until then he was a friend of mine. We played racquetball the weekend before, for heaven's sake (he won).
So, yeah, with any luck I'll be back Tuesday.
More Music Meme featuring the letter "P":
I couldn't believe I forgot these two songs, so I had to do another post to include them.
Bonus 1): Pump Up The Volume, M/A/R/R/S
I've had too many bad experiences with dentists to be awake for this. Hell, I went into shock during a teeth-cleaning once. It's not the pain, that's nothing... it's the tugging and the pulling and the sounds. I punched a dentist in the groinacological region once, but that was because he didn't wait long enough for the Novocaine to kick in before he poked at a cavity. The stabbing pain just caused my right arm to jerk spasmodically; I really didn't mean to. Heck, until then he was a friend of mine. We played racquetball the weekend before, for heaven's sake (he won).
So, yeah, with any luck I'll be back Tuesday.
More Music Meme featuring the letter "P":
I couldn't believe I forgot these two songs, so I had to do another post to include them.
Bonus 1): Pump Up The Volume, M/A/R/R/S
This may have been the first real hit to have been created out of nothing but samples. It's also not the song I remember (or have in my collection), but it turns out there's a reason for that. For example, at 2:14, the lyrics in the video above go "Automatic pushbutton remote control / synthetic genetic command your soul". The version I remember from my youth, and have on 45rpm single, is "Automatic systematic remote control...". There's also no samples from Wolfman Jack or James Brown on it. Turns out the video above is actually the original version of the tune, which was released in the UK. The version I'm remembering is the US version, which pulled the samples for legal reasons. Huh, who knew? Pump Up The Volume was nominated for a Grammy award in 1989 in the Best Pop Instrumental Performance category, and was M/A/R/R/S' only release.
Bonus 2): Politics of Dancing, Re-Flex
I often feel like I'm the only person in the world who remembers this band and their only (legitimately) released album. It's too bad, really, for Re-Flex should have been a lot bigger than they were. This 1983 album (of the same name as the single) is chock full of great beats, blistering hooks, clever lyrics, everything you'd want from an '80s New Wave group. It peaked at #53 here in the US, #23 in the UK, and the rumored second album never appeared.
Until 2002, that is, when the keyboardist for the band, Paul Fishman, unofficially released Humanication, and announced that a 6-CD boxset, called Re-Fuse, was going to be coming out sometime in 2010. I'm hoping it's true.
Bonus 2): Politics of Dancing, Re-Flex
Until 2002, that is, when the keyboardist for the band, Paul Fishman, unofficially released Humanication, and announced that a 6-CD boxset, called Re-Fuse, was going to be coming out sometime in 2010. I'm hoping it's true.
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August 14, 2010
Funi Comes Through With Ga-Rei Zero!
I haven't been this excited about a licensing announcement since Nozomi announced it was going to be releasing the ARIA franchise! Ladies and Gentlemen, in early 2011 Funimation will be releasing Ga-Rei Zero!
I'm honestly surprised it took this long for a company to get the rights to the show; it seems tailor-made for the American market. Cute girls, swordplay, supernatural beasties, good story and artwork, cute girls, Pocky... really, what more could you ask for? And when it goes over-the-top, it really goes over-the-top... it's great!
Okay, it isn't the greatest anime ever, but it IS good, and it IS fun, and it WAS well worth the time I spent on the writeups. I'll be getting it as soon as it's available, for sure.
And if you'd like, here's the links for the episodic writeups, by entry:
ep01 ep02 ep03 ep04 ep05 ep06 ep07 ep08 ep09 ep10 ep11 ep12
I've been meaning to do that for a while now...
A tip o' the chapeau to commenter Siergen for the pointer!
Yomi & Kagura seem less than thrilled.
Of course, I'm thrilled, no matter what the Monochrome Schoolgirls think. I'd like to think that my episodic writeup of the show helped Funi make up their mind in some tiny way... I doubt it, but I'd like to think so. I'm honestly surprised it took this long for a company to get the rights to the show; it seems tailor-made for the American market. Cute girls, swordplay, supernatural beasties, good story and artwork, cute girls, Pocky... really, what more could you ask for? And when it goes over-the-top, it really goes over-the-top... it's great!
Okay, it isn't the greatest anime ever, but it IS good, and it IS fun, and it WAS well worth the time I spent on the writeups. I'll be getting it as soon as it's available, for sure.
And if you'd like, here's the links for the episodic writeups, by entry:
ep01 ep02 ep03 ep04 ep05 ep06 ep07 ep08 ep09 ep10 ep11 ep12
I've been meaning to do that for a while now...
A tip o' the chapeau to commenter Siergen for the pointer!
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August 13, 2010
It's Music Meme Time Again
So over at Greyduck's place, it seems that he was tagged by another blogger with the following situation:
1. If you’d like to play along, reply to this post and I’ll assign you a letter.
2. You then list (and upload or link to the video, if you feel like it) 5 songs that start with that letter.
3. Then, as I’m doing here, you’ll post the list to your journal with the instructions.
Of course, GD came through with flying colors. Also of course, I couldn't resist a challenge of that sort so I requested a letter of my own. Grey gave me "P". Below, please find my five songs... and enjoy, won't you?
more...
1. If you’d like to play along, reply to this post and I’ll assign you a letter.
2. You then list (and upload or link to the video, if you feel like it) 5 songs that start with that letter.
3. Then, as I’m doing here, you’ll post the list to your journal with the instructions.
Of course, GD came through with flying colors. Also of course, I couldn't resist a challenge of that sort so I requested a letter of my own. Grey gave me "P". Below, please find my five songs... and enjoy, won't you?
more...
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August 11, 2010
How Wonderduck Discovered He Had No Life
So I'm watching Strike Witches 2 ep06 when this streaks across the screen:
My reaction to seeing it was "Huh. I didn't expect to see that in an anime." There just aren't that many people who have ever heard of the Macchi C.202, let alone know what one looks like or know why it was a good choice for the Regia Aeronautica Romagna airforce to be flying against the Neuroi.
My next reacton was akin to this:
...as I realized that there's a reason most people haven't heard of the C.202: most people don't have a fascination for the... shall we say obscure?... planes used in WWII. Most people wouldn't even care. Hell, most of the people watching Strike Witches 2 wouldn't care.
SW1 brought us the A5M, SW2 the C.202 and an Emily. I've geeked out with every new piece of military hardware they've brought us. I have no life.
My reaction to seeing it was "Huh. I didn't expect to see that in an anime." There just aren't that many people who have ever heard of the Macchi C.202, let alone know what one looks like or know why it was a good choice for the Regia Aeronautica Romagna airforce to be flying against the Neuroi.
My next reacton was akin to this:
...as I realized that there's a reason most people haven't heard of the C.202: most people don't have a fascination for the... shall we say obscure?... planes used in WWII. Most people wouldn't even care. Hell, most of the people watching Strike Witches 2 wouldn't care.
SW1 brought us the A5M, SW2 the C.202 and an Emily. I've geeked out with every new piece of military hardware they've brought us. I have no life.
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August 09, 2010
Two (Er... THREE!) More Texan Pics
Since I find myself at a loss for things to expound about, I figured I'd throw up another couple of pictures from my trip to Courtesy Aircraft. Like this one:
It's almost like the manufacturers knew that, one day, someone would come along and want a place to put a rubber duck on the side of their plane. Oh sure, they may say it's for entering or exiting the cockpit, but I think we know better...
Another picture of radial sculpture. I have to admit though... I'm somewhat confused about why there's a penny wired into the engine:
I'm sure it's not a coincidence that the hole in the nut is exactly the right size for a penny. It's also not just a one-off, since the engine on the other Texan had the same arrangement. I just can't, for the life of me, figure out why it's there. Not that I'm an engine mechanic or anything, because I'm not. Ah well, perhaps we'll never find out. Lends an air of mystery to the whole thing.
It's almost like the manufacturers knew that, one day, someone would come along and want a place to put a rubber duck on the side of their plane. Oh sure, they may say it's for entering or exiting the cockpit, but I think we know better...
Another picture of radial sculpture. I have to admit though... I'm somewhat confused about why there's a penny wired into the engine:
I'm sure it's not a coincidence that the hole in the nut is exactly the right size for a penny. It's also not just a one-off, since the engine on the other Texan had the same arrangement. I just can't, for the life of me, figure out why it's there. Not that I'm an engine mechanic or anything, because I'm not. Ah well, perhaps we'll never find out. Lends an air of mystery to the whole thing.
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August 08, 2010
Ducks In Anime Has Returned!
For the first time since March 31st, 2010, we have a Ducks In Anime sighting!
-Amagami SS, ep06
I knew I liked Kaoru better than Morishima...
A closer look at the duckie reveals something important...
...I HAVE THIS DUCK!
To be sure, it's not an exact match, but the biggest difference can be put down to the anime style of drawing eyes... even the duckies have big ones! For the first time, I can honestly say that I possess a Duck in Anime! It came from Wal-Mart, if you're wondering. Part of a matching set of four, each in a different color (blue, pink and green), only a dollar each. They're from Infantino.
-Amagami SS, ep06
I knew I liked Kaoru better than Morishima...
A closer look at the duckie reveals something important...
...I HAVE THIS DUCK!
To be sure, it's not an exact match, but the biggest difference can be put down to the anime style of drawing eyes... even the duckies have big ones! For the first time, I can honestly say that I possess a Duck in Anime! It came from Wal-Mart, if you're wondering. Part of a matching set of four, each in a different color (blue, pink and green), only a dollar each. They're from Infantino.
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August 07, 2010
Wonderduck Pays Courtesy A Call
You may remember back about a week or so ago, I mentioned in a comment to reader Will that the Duckford Airport was home to a warbird restoration shop. It turns out that isn't quite the case, as I got the "restoration" part incorrect. Instead, Courtesy Aircraft is a seller of classic warbirds and modern planes as well... and I was exchanging e-mails with them. After three back-and-forths, I was told I could stop in any time during business hours to look around. How cool is that?
It was a sunny afternoon as I pulled into the small parking lot next to Courtesy's hangar at the Airport. I met Darcy, Courtesy's Marketing Director, and learned what I had feared: they were actually quite busy. Turns out they had a few customers in town after their appearance at EAA AirVenture, which is good! It did mean, however, that they couldn't spare anybody to escort me around the flightline. I could stick around the hangar, I just couldn't go onto the taxiway... security, y'know. I knew, and approved, even though it meant I couldn't get any closer than this to some juicy-looking aircraft:
Two T-6 Texans, just ahead of a pair of T-28 Trojans. I gather that the high-visibility yellow-painted T-6 won a restoration award at Oshkosh sometime recently, in fact. Still, the limitation didn't mean that there wasn't anything I could get close to...
more...
It was a sunny afternoon as I pulled into the small parking lot next to Courtesy's hangar at the Airport. I met Darcy, Courtesy's Marketing Director, and learned what I had feared: they were actually quite busy. Turns out they had a few customers in town after their appearance at EAA AirVenture, which is good! It did mean, however, that they couldn't spare anybody to escort me around the flightline. I could stick around the hangar, I just couldn't go onto the taxiway... security, y'know. I knew, and approved, even though it meant I couldn't get any closer than this to some juicy-looking aircraft:
Two T-6 Texans, just ahead of a pair of T-28 Trojans. I gather that the high-visibility yellow-painted T-6 won a restoration award at Oshkosh sometime recently, in fact. Still, the limitation didn't mean that there wasn't anything I could get close to...
more...
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August 06, 2010
Teaser
Just a teaser for the post I'll be putting up on Saturday...
It's a Notazero!
UPDATE: Pete Z reminds me that a T-6 makes an appearance in Yokohama Kaidashi Kiko, too:
It's a Notazero!
UPDATE: Pete Z reminds me that a T-6 makes an appearance in Yokohama Kaidashi Kiko, too:
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August 04, 2010
Curiouser And Curiouser (Updated: YAY!)
So this morning I woke up, turned on my computer and wanted to check something on my external hard drive... and got a message saying that the link I had on my desktop was null and void because it led nowhere. Hm. Well, I rebooted and when everything came back up, there wasn't a problem: there was the external HD. That'll happen.
This evening, I got home from work, turned on my computer and had the same thing occur. Hm. Reboot, and there was the HD... until suddenly, it disappeared. Wazzuh-huh? Reboot, and this time, no external hard drive at all. Oh, carp. I plugged in a flashdrive, and Chiyo-chan recognized it, no problem.
I played with the cables, checking to make sure everything was plugged in firmly, and still nothing. I tried unplugging the power brick for the HD, then plugging it back in. Nothing... except a few minutes later, it came back... for three minutes, 34 seconds. At that point in a song, it disappeared again, with this error balloon popping up:
Oh, lovely.
So I ran over to the Olde Home Pond, taking the hard drive with me, and plugged it into Ph.Duck's laptop, just to make sure that it's not Chiyo-chan having a problem. No sign of life at all, just that stupid error balloon popping up repeatedly. At this point, I'm into damage control mode. Nothing irreplaceable on the drive, just 300GB of anime, six or seven seasons worth of Top Gear, and a lot of music. The music is what I'm most concerned about, because while I have a good chunk of it backed up, there's some anime OSTs that I've glommed recently... and my BakaBT ratio is low enough as it is.
So after a couple of hours chatting with Ph.Duck, I drove back to Pond Central. Once I got back home, I decided to try again. I put the HD in its normal place, plugged in the USB cable and...
...verrrrrrrrry innerestink. Very innerestink indeed. You'll note that I said I plugged in the USB cable. While, indeed, I had done so, it wasn't plugged into the hard drive. It appears that I'm getting an error message because of the cable!
Has anybody else ever had this happen to them?
UPDATE, NEXT DAY: My external HD is back! All it took was a new USB A-to-Mini B cable. I'm still a little nervous about it, but all in all I'm optimistic. And a big "Pbpbpbpbpbpbththhhhhhh" to the Geek Squad member who told me that it's "when things like (this) happen, it's never the cable." Much happy here.
This evening, I got home from work, turned on my computer and had the same thing occur. Hm. Reboot, and there was the HD... until suddenly, it disappeared. Wazzuh-huh? Reboot, and this time, no external hard drive at all. Oh, carp. I plugged in a flashdrive, and Chiyo-chan recognized it, no problem.
I played with the cables, checking to make sure everything was plugged in firmly, and still nothing. I tried unplugging the power brick for the HD, then plugging it back in. Nothing... except a few minutes later, it came back... for three minutes, 34 seconds. At that point in a song, it disappeared again, with this error balloon popping up:
Oh, lovely.
So I ran over to the Olde Home Pond, taking the hard drive with me, and plugged it into Ph.Duck's laptop, just to make sure that it's not Chiyo-chan having a problem. No sign of life at all, just that stupid error balloon popping up repeatedly. At this point, I'm into damage control mode. Nothing irreplaceable on the drive, just 300GB of anime, six or seven seasons worth of Top Gear, and a lot of music. The music is what I'm most concerned about, because while I have a good chunk of it backed up, there's some anime OSTs that I've glommed recently... and my BakaBT ratio is low enough as it is.
So after a couple of hours chatting with Ph.Duck, I drove back to Pond Central. Once I got back home, I decided to try again. I put the HD in its normal place, plugged in the USB cable and...
...verrrrrrrrry innerestink. Very innerestink indeed. You'll note that I said I plugged in the USB cable. While, indeed, I had done so, it wasn't plugged into the hard drive. It appears that I'm getting an error message because of the cable!
Has anybody else ever had this happen to them?
UPDATE, NEXT DAY: My external HD is back! All it took was a new USB A-to-Mini B cable. I'm still a little nervous about it, but all in all I'm optimistic. And a big "Pbpbpbpbpbpbththhhhhhh" to the Geek Squad member who told me that it's "when things like (this) happen, it's never the cable." Much happy here.
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August 02, 2010
AirFest 2010: Thunderbirds, Run 'Em Up!
(continued from the first post)
Even though I knew I was in a great position, I didn't realize until just a few minutes ago really how good it was. Here, take a look at this:
Obviously the duck isn't to scale, but that really does clear up where I was located: just over a half-mile from the end of the runway. About 100 people and myself were lined up on the east side of 251, down to about where that farm area starts. I couldn't have planned it better if I had tried... and the best part is, I DIDN'T plan it, it just worked out that way. Should have brought some sunscreen, but such is the price of spontaneity.
When I arrived, there were some acrobatic planes doing their thing. Then they finished up, and we waited for the main event to begin. And waited. And waited. I figure that the big dark cloud moving NW to SE over the airport had something to do with the delay As we were waiting, an older man and his wife pulled in. They'd driven up from Peoria, nearly four hours, to catch the show. "Your timing is great, they should be starting any minute!" No sooner had I said that when a roar came from airfield; not one of high-performance engines, but of thousands of people cheering. THEN came the loud whistling scream of six Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 engines, followed closely by a cloud of white smoke and...
...The Diamond roared by. Actually, this isn't quite The Diamond yet, as #4 is still getting into position, but it soon would be. While I, and everybody else, were agog watching The Diamond fly overhead, the two Solos, #5 and #6, took off and went dead vertical, gone from view in an instant. Meanwhile, the four planes of The Diamond changed shape...
...and went by in the "Close Follow" formation, which transitioned back to The Diamond over the airfield. As soon as they cleared, #6 whipped by over my head for a knife-edge pass of the crowd. Alas, that picture is nothing but a faintly Falcon-shaped blur as he went by too fast for my camera to adjust focus. However, the lead solo, #5, was coming right towards us in a level slow roll, followed by a rapid climb-out to his right, smoke streaming all the way.
Around here, I lost track of what maneuver is which... and I don't really care. Onwards for the really cool pictures!
more...
Even though I knew I was in a great position, I didn't realize until just a few minutes ago really how good it was. Here, take a look at this:
Obviously the duck isn't to scale, but that really does clear up where I was located: just over a half-mile from the end of the runway. About 100 people and myself were lined up on the east side of 251, down to about where that farm area starts. I couldn't have planned it better if I had tried... and the best part is, I DIDN'T plan it, it just worked out that way. Should have brought some sunscreen, but such is the price of spontaneity.
When I arrived, there were some acrobatic planes doing their thing. Then they finished up, and we waited for the main event to begin. And waited. And waited. I figure that the big dark cloud moving NW to SE over the airport had something to do with the delay As we were waiting, an older man and his wife pulled in. They'd driven up from Peoria, nearly four hours, to catch the show. "Your timing is great, they should be starting any minute!" No sooner had I said that when a roar came from airfield; not one of high-performance engines, but of thousands of people cheering. THEN came the loud whistling scream of six Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 engines, followed closely by a cloud of white smoke and...
...The Diamond roared by. Actually, this isn't quite The Diamond yet, as #4 is still getting into position, but it soon would be. While I, and everybody else, were agog watching The Diamond fly overhead, the two Solos, #5 and #6, took off and went dead vertical, gone from view in an instant. Meanwhile, the four planes of The Diamond changed shape...
...and went by in the "Close Follow" formation, which transitioned back to The Diamond over the airfield. As soon as they cleared, #6 whipped by over my head for a knife-edge pass of the crowd. Alas, that picture is nothing but a faintly Falcon-shaped blur as he went by too fast for my camera to adjust focus. However, the lead solo, #5, was coming right towards us in a level slow roll, followed by a rapid climb-out to his right, smoke streaming all the way.
Around here, I lost track of what maneuver is which... and I don't really care. Onwards for the really cool pictures!
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August 01, 2010
Rubens Is A Happy Man
No, not because Slappy got hit with a penalty for his ridiculous blocking maneuver in the Hungarian Grand Prix. No, it's because he was the fastest F1 driver around Top Gear's test track in the "F1 Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment a couple of weeks ago.
How happy is he? He went out and had a t-shirt made.
That's cool enough right there, but it gets better. He also had t-shirts made for all the other F1 drivers who have been on Top Gear. Drivers like Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Jenson Button, and I presume Michael Schumacher all got their t-shirt:
Laughter all around.
Jeremy Clarkson, one of the three hosts for Top Gear, had the line of the night. "What do you think HWMNBN's t-shirt says? 'I made Felipe Massa give me this t-shirt'?"
Bravo, that.
How happy is he? He went out and had a t-shirt made.
That's cool enough right there, but it gets better. He also had t-shirts made for all the other F1 drivers who have been on Top Gear. Drivers like Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Jenson Button, and I presume Michael Schumacher all got their t-shirt:
Laughter all around.
Jeremy Clarkson, one of the three hosts for Top Gear, had the line of the night. "What do you think HWMNBN's t-shirt says? 'I made Felipe Massa give me this t-shirt'?"
Bravo, that.
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F1 Update!: Hungary 2010
It was just as bad as we thought it'd be. But the winner wasn't who we expected. THIS is your F1U! for the 2010 Grand Prix of Hungary.
STRATEGERY: At the start, the RB6 of Seb Vettel pulled away from HWMNBN's Ferrari at a rate of one second per lap, and there was nothing anybody could do about it... until Heikki Kovaleinninninnie's Lotus lost a wing endplate. This wound up right in the center of the track, a hazard that brought out the Safety Car. Everybody dove for the pit lane except for Vettel's teammate Mark Webber, who inherited the lead. But then Vettel decided to give his teammate a gap as the Safety Car pulled in, holding up the field while Webber tagged right behind the SC... and earned himself a drive-through penalty in the process. Still, no worries for Vettel: he was substantially faster than everybody else but his teammate, and Webber would have to pit to get off his soft tires. Except when he did his drive-through, he came out behind HWMNBN's Ferrari, and Webber made his supposedly fragile soft tires last until Lap 43 while stretching his lead out to about 25 seconds. He stopped, changed tires and came out a few seconds ahead of second place. Race over, it was only a question of how far ahead Webber would be. The answer was almost 18 seconds, with Vettel third, unable to get around the Ferrari.
BORING: The Hungaroring has been on the F1 calendar for 25 years. This particular race seemed about that long on it's own. When the F1U! staff is fast-forwarding through coverage, it's bad. THIS is how we go into F1's summer break? Great. Thrilling, I'm sure.
*DRIVER OF THE RACE: Mark Webber. To go 43 laps on a set of soft tires is impressive enough. To do so while turning fast lap after fast lap while opening an insurmountable lead is nearly miraculous. Yet that's exactly what the Red Bull driver accomplished on his way to becoming the season's first four-race winner. There must be some panic amongst the other teams at the moment.
*TEAM OF THE RACE: Red Bull. First-third and they take over the lead in the Constructor's Championship and Driver's Championship? Yeah, pretty darn good. Could have... should have... been better, with only Vettel's stupid maneuver after the Safety Car prevented them from sweeping the top two steps of the podium. If ever a team needed the summer break...
*MOVE OF THE RACE: Mark Webber wasn't the only one to stretch his tires; Rubens Barrichello did as well, running his hard tires for the first 60 laps. His luck on the worn rubber wasn't as good, though, and after he pitted he came out in 11th place, behind his old teammate, Slappy Schumacher. For four laps, Rubens harried Slappy until they came onto the front straight. Rubens pulled to the inside, and Slappy in his normal style decided to make it hard for him, despite his opponent being faster and on fresh tires. He began driving Rubens hard to the wall as the Brazilian pulled alongside. Barrichello's right tires got close to the concrete... very close... and then even closer than that. How close?
Yeah, about that close. Fortunately the wall ended before the Williams ended up grinding its starboard side down to the cockpit, and Barrichello made the pass cleanly, if angrily. He was heard on the radio demanding that Slappy be black-flagged. He wasn't, but he was given a 10 grid-spot penalty for the next race. We here at F1U think he should be flogged for such a dangerous stunt. We also think that Rubens Barrichello just won himself a Move of the Race.
*MOOOOOOOOOO-OOOVE OF THE RACE: When the Safety Car came out, there was pandemonium in the pit lane, what with all the cars diving in to change tires. The first hint we got that something was wrong came when we got a camera shot of Adrian Sutil's Force India tangled up with Robert Kubica's Renault. And yes, Renault's lollypop man did release Kubica right into Sutil's path, but he had good reason to be distracted.
The Mercedes mechanics sent Nico Rosberg out without adequately tightening his right-rear tire, which came off at high velocity, rolled through the Sauber pitbox and into the Williams crew. At that point, it was "caught" by Nigel Hope, one of their mechanics. As Rosberg said later, "I was more worried about the (40-pound) tire than I was about Nige, one of my old Williams truck drivers. He's a big guy." Hope was taken to the medical station with bruised ribs. One Mooooooo-oove to the Mercedes guys!
*SELECTED QUOTES OF THE RACE:
more...
STRATEGERY: At the start, the RB6 of Seb Vettel pulled away from HWMNBN's Ferrari at a rate of one second per lap, and there was nothing anybody could do about it... until Heikki Kovaleinninninnie's Lotus lost a wing endplate. This wound up right in the center of the track, a hazard that brought out the Safety Car. Everybody dove for the pit lane except for Vettel's teammate Mark Webber, who inherited the lead. But then Vettel decided to give his teammate a gap as the Safety Car pulled in, holding up the field while Webber tagged right behind the SC... and earned himself a drive-through penalty in the process. Still, no worries for Vettel: he was substantially faster than everybody else but his teammate, and Webber would have to pit to get off his soft tires. Except when he did his drive-through, he came out behind HWMNBN's Ferrari, and Webber made his supposedly fragile soft tires last until Lap 43 while stretching his lead out to about 25 seconds. He stopped, changed tires and came out a few seconds ahead of second place. Race over, it was only a question of how far ahead Webber would be. The answer was almost 18 seconds, with Vettel third, unable to get around the Ferrari.
BORING: The Hungaroring has been on the F1 calendar for 25 years. This particular race seemed about that long on it's own. When the F1U! staff is fast-forwarding through coverage, it's bad. THIS is how we go into F1's summer break? Great. Thrilling, I'm sure.
*DRIVER OF THE RACE: Mark Webber. To go 43 laps on a set of soft tires is impressive enough. To do so while turning fast lap after fast lap while opening an insurmountable lead is nearly miraculous. Yet that's exactly what the Red Bull driver accomplished on his way to becoming the season's first four-race winner. There must be some panic amongst the other teams at the moment.
*TEAM OF THE RACE: Red Bull. First-third and they take over the lead in the Constructor's Championship and Driver's Championship? Yeah, pretty darn good. Could have... should have... been better, with only Vettel's stupid maneuver after the Safety Car prevented them from sweeping the top two steps of the podium. If ever a team needed the summer break...
*MOVE OF THE RACE: Mark Webber wasn't the only one to stretch his tires; Rubens Barrichello did as well, running his hard tires for the first 60 laps. His luck on the worn rubber wasn't as good, though, and after he pitted he came out in 11th place, behind his old teammate, Slappy Schumacher. For four laps, Rubens harried Slappy until they came onto the front straight. Rubens pulled to the inside, and Slappy in his normal style decided to make it hard for him, despite his opponent being faster and on fresh tires. He began driving Rubens hard to the wall as the Brazilian pulled alongside. Barrichello's right tires got close to the concrete... very close... and then even closer than that. How close?
Yeah, about that close. Fortunately the wall ended before the Williams ended up grinding its starboard side down to the cockpit, and Barrichello made the pass cleanly, if angrily. He was heard on the radio demanding that Slappy be black-flagged. He wasn't, but he was given a 10 grid-spot penalty for the next race. We here at F1U think he should be flogged for such a dangerous stunt. We also think that Rubens Barrichello just won himself a Move of the Race.
*MOOOOOOOOOO-OOOVE OF THE RACE: When the Safety Car came out, there was pandemonium in the pit lane, what with all the cars diving in to change tires. The first hint we got that something was wrong came when we got a camera shot of Adrian Sutil's Force India tangled up with Robert Kubica's Renault. And yes, Renault's lollypop man did release Kubica right into Sutil's path, but he had good reason to be distracted.
The Mercedes mechanics sent Nico Rosberg out without adequately tightening his right-rear tire, which came off at high velocity, rolled through the Sauber pitbox and into the Williams crew. At that point, it was "caught" by Nigel Hope, one of their mechanics. As Rosberg said later, "I was more worried about the (40-pound) tire than I was about Nige, one of my old Williams truck drivers. He's a big guy." Hope was taken to the medical station with bruised ribs. One Mooooooo-oove to the Mercedes guys!
*SELECTED QUOTES OF THE RACE:
more...
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AirFest 2010: Eagles, Spooks, Warthogs and Hornets, Oh My!
I had an ulterior motive for purchasing my new digital camera when I did. Y'see, I knew that this was the weekend for the Chicago-Duckford International Airport's annual airshow, named AirFest. And I planned, as I always have before, to stand in the field behind Pond Central and take pictures of the USAF Thunderbirds, this year's featured performers, as they went by overhead.
See, Pond Central is right at the edge of their performance cylinder, about two miles or so from the airport, so when they extend out from the runway they tend to fly right over my living room... literally. However, they're usually the only performers who get that close, so on AirFest weekend I make a small change to my routine. Instead of going to my usual grocery store, I head to a smaller, dingier place that has the advantage of being about a half-mile from the airport. I've not usually gotten good pictures of the "supporting acts" from this location, but there's always a first time, right? When I get to the store, there's no sound at all coming from the skies, so I head inside and do my shopping. $70 later (and I forgot to get batteries, darnit!) I emerge from the Hilander and push my cart back to the DuckMobile. As I unlock the Official Car of The Pond, I hear a strange, almost spooky, howling moan coming from the direction of the airport and getting louder. Just as I look up, one hand unlocking the car door and the other frantically trying to dig my camera out of my pocket, the first of the jet performers, the F-15E of the US Air Force's Strike Eagle Demo Team screamed right overhead and low, rolled hard left and dashed away for what I assume was to be a high-speed "sneak" pass of the runway. I quickly threw my comestibles into the back seat, moved my car about 100 feet west (no cars parking there), and waited for the moaning howl to come back. And then it did.
He played around for a little bit, including one absolutely brilliant zoom for the skies that I couldn't get a picture of because the sun was too bright, then disappeared. Content that I got at least one good picture, I got back into the DuckMobile... and then scrambled out again, because I heard a rumbling roar coming from behind me.
I've never seen a F-4 Phantom II in the flesh before! This one is from the Air Force's Air Combat Command "Heritage Flight". A triumph of thrust over aerodynamics, the Phantom was called a number of derogatory names over the years, such as "Double Ugly", "Flying Brick" and "Iron Sled." The Luftwaffe gave it the best nicknames, though: Luftverteidigungsdiesel ("Air Defense Diesel") and Eisenschwein ("Iron Pig"). Strangely though, I found it to be much more graceful in flight than the Strike Eagle.
And then something happened that blew my mind.
more...
See, Pond Central is right at the edge of their performance cylinder, about two miles or so from the airport, so when they extend out from the runway they tend to fly right over my living room... literally. However, they're usually the only performers who get that close, so on AirFest weekend I make a small change to my routine. Instead of going to my usual grocery store, I head to a smaller, dingier place that has the advantage of being about a half-mile from the airport. I've not usually gotten good pictures of the "supporting acts" from this location, but there's always a first time, right? When I get to the store, there's no sound at all coming from the skies, so I head inside and do my shopping. $70 later (and I forgot to get batteries, darnit!) I emerge from the Hilander and push my cart back to the DuckMobile. As I unlock the Official Car of The Pond, I hear a strange, almost spooky, howling moan coming from the direction of the airport and getting louder. Just as I look up, one hand unlocking the car door and the other frantically trying to dig my camera out of my pocket, the first of the jet performers, the F-15E of the US Air Force's Strike Eagle Demo Team screamed right overhead and low, rolled hard left and dashed away for what I assume was to be a high-speed "sneak" pass of the runway. I quickly threw my comestibles into the back seat, moved my car about 100 feet west (no cars parking there), and waited for the moaning howl to come back. And then it did.
He played around for a little bit, including one absolutely brilliant zoom for the skies that I couldn't get a picture of because the sun was too bright, then disappeared. Content that I got at least one good picture, I got back into the DuckMobile... and then scrambled out again, because I heard a rumbling roar coming from behind me.
I've never seen a F-4 Phantom II in the flesh before! This one is from the Air Force's Air Combat Command "Heritage Flight". A triumph of thrust over aerodynamics, the Phantom was called a number of derogatory names over the years, such as "Double Ugly", "Flying Brick" and "Iron Sled." The Luftwaffe gave it the best nicknames, though: Luftverteidigungsdiesel ("Air Defense Diesel") and Eisenschwein ("Iron Pig"). Strangely though, I found it to be much more graceful in flight than the Strike Eagle.
And then something happened that blew my mind.
more...
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July 31, 2010
F1 Quals: Hungary 2010
Welcome back to the Bad Old Days. Let's take a look at the provisional grid:
The Red Bull of Seb Vettel was over a second faster than the nearest non-RB6 competitor, the Ferrari of HWMNBN, and nearly half a second quicker than his teammate Mark Webber. To make matters worse, that time was set on his first flying lap in Q3; usually the second flying lap has the faster time. Certainly it was for everybody else.
It may be no coincidence that the first four slots are occupied by cars running what sure appears to be a flexible front wing. Race Director Charlie Whiting has tested the front wings of both the Red Bulls and the Ferraris and declared them race-legal. For all four cars though, video shows the endplates of the front wings nearly touching the ground on the high-speed sections of the track, instead of staying three inches clear as the regulations state. This would have the effect of increasing downforce, thereby allowing the cars to brake later into a turn. It seems telling that the fastest cars through the speed traps were the Force Indias at 186mph, while the Red Bulls were the slowest, nearly 11mph off the pace... yet they're still turning the fastest laps.
And not by a little bit either, but by a dominating amount... just like Ferrari used to during the dark days when Slappy, Rubens and Ross Brawn were making every race into one for third place. As if Hungary wasn't boring enough.
In other news, Jensen Button was the shocker elimination in Q2, just unable to kick himself into the final session. More surprising than that would have to be the Sauber of Pete Rose getting into Q3 for the first time this season. In what is also a first for the year, Vitaly Petrov outqualified his teammate Robert Kubica.
The "duh" moment of the qualifying period has to go to Gandalf. At the end of Q2, he was supposed to pull into the FIA scrutineering garage so his car could be weighed and checked. This happens randomly during quals, and is mandatory. As he pulled into the pit lane, the red light at the entry was on, a FIA marshal was waving and pointing where he was supposed to go... and he drove right on through. "I didn't see him at all," said Gandalf afterwards. "I don't care," said Whiting in reply, "here's a five grid-spot penalty." Which is lucky, because he could have been excluded from the race.
Race is tomorrow morning, F1U! will be along sometime. See you then!
The Red Bull of Seb Vettel was over a second faster than the nearest non-RB6 competitor, the Ferrari of HWMNBN, and nearly half a second quicker than his teammate Mark Webber. To make matters worse, that time was set on his first flying lap in Q3; usually the second flying lap has the faster time. Certainly it was for everybody else.
It may be no coincidence that the first four slots are occupied by cars running what sure appears to be a flexible front wing. Race Director Charlie Whiting has tested the front wings of both the Red Bulls and the Ferraris and declared them race-legal. For all four cars though, video shows the endplates of the front wings nearly touching the ground on the high-speed sections of the track, instead of staying three inches clear as the regulations state. This would have the effect of increasing downforce, thereby allowing the cars to brake later into a turn. It seems telling that the fastest cars through the speed traps were the Force Indias at 186mph, while the Red Bulls were the slowest, nearly 11mph off the pace... yet they're still turning the fastest laps.
And not by a little bit either, but by a dominating amount... just like Ferrari used to during the dark days when Slappy, Rubens and Ross Brawn were making every race into one for third place. As if Hungary wasn't boring enough.
In other news, Jensen Button was the shocker elimination in Q2, just unable to kick himself into the final session. More surprising than that would have to be the Sauber of Pete Rose getting into Q3 for the first time this season. In what is also a first for the year, Vitaly Petrov outqualified his teammate Robert Kubica.
The "duh" moment of the qualifying period has to go to Gandalf. At the end of Q2, he was supposed to pull into the FIA scrutineering garage so his car could be weighed and checked. This happens randomly during quals, and is mandatory. As he pulled into the pit lane, the red light at the entry was on, a FIA marshal was waving and pointing where he was supposed to go... and he drove right on through. "I didn't see him at all," said Gandalf afterwards. "I don't care," said Whiting in reply, "here's a five grid-spot penalty." Which is lucky, because he could have been excluded from the race.
Race is tomorrow morning, F1U! will be along sometime. See you then!
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July 30, 2010
F1 Practice: Hungary 2010
No news whatsoever from the track today. Red Bull was fast, Ferrari was too, McLaren is struggling to keep up, etc etc etc
The only bit of any interest at all is the news that Lotus brought out their new chassis today, and it's substantially faster than the car they've been running all year.
The only bit of any interest at all is the news that Lotus brought out their new chassis today, and it's substantially faster than the car they've been running all year.
Jarno Trulli testing the new Lotus
I suspect it won't pass scrutineering, and I don't want to be anywhere nearby when they take the fuel sample for testing.
God I hate the Hungaroring.
Quals in the morning.
God I hate the Hungaroring.
Quals in the morning.
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July 29, 2010
Smile For The Camera!
About a week ago, I asked y'all for recommendations about a digital camera. Well, I've made my purchase, and the winner is the Nikon Coolpix L22, in red so it matches my cellphone (note: while it does match my cellphone, that's not the reason I got it in red. They didn't have black in stock). It's not quite as hands-on as I'd prefer, but it was about $60 less than one that let me set the shutter speed manually. I can live without that feature for $60, and I suspect that once I get into the users guide, I'll find there's plenty I'll be able to fiddle with.
It's 12MP with a 3.6x zoom... here's an example of its capabilities:
If ever there was a picture that let you know that Rusty II isn't your normal yellow duckie, this is it. He's actually cast iron, weighs maybe 1.5 pounds, and you can see the little pits and dimples that occurred when he was cast.
Oh, and that's at normal zoom from about three two feet away, under overcast skies. Like all point-and-shoot cameras I've ever used, it has a problem focusing on on something that's much closer. (...but see the UPDATE below!)
Me likey!
UPDATE: Two things.
1) I've discovered something called "macro zoom." Goodbye problems focusing on things close in. Here's a macro zoom shot, 4000x3000, reduced to 640x480:
That's from about half a foot away, more or less. Now here's the 640x480 crop from the full-resolution pic:
Yes, that's his left eye. I probably won't be getting THAT close very often... kinda creepy, actually.
2) My media card reader may not be able to deal with a 4GB SD card. Whoops.
It's 12MP with a 3.6x zoom... here's an example of its capabilities:
Hi, Rusty II!
This is a 4000x3000 picture, reduced down to 640x480, or a factor of 6.25. 2.7mb in size. Pretty good quality, that. Now, here's a 640x480 crop from the original, full-sized, picture:If ever there was a picture that let you know that Rusty II isn't your normal yellow duckie, this is it. He's actually cast iron, weighs maybe 1.5 pounds, and you can see the little pits and dimples that occurred when he was cast.
Oh, and that's at normal zoom from about three two feet away, under overcast skies. Like all point-and-shoot cameras I've ever used, it has a problem focusing on on something that's much closer. (...but see the UPDATE below!)
Me likey!
UPDATE: Two things.
1) I've discovered something called "macro zoom." Goodbye problems focusing on things close in. Here's a macro zoom shot, 4000x3000, reduced to 640x480:
That's from about half a foot away, more or less. Now here's the 640x480 crop from the full-resolution pic:
Yes, that's his left eye. I probably won't be getting THAT close very often... kinda creepy, actually.
2) My media card reader may not be able to deal with a 4GB SD card. Whoops.
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