I'm A Wimp
As you know, I spent last week in Chicago in a manager training meeting. Forty of us, trapped in a room all day for five days... and two of the other managers were sick. It's as much an occupational hazard for us as papercuts, ulcers and murder charges, but it's been a few years since I had a long-term ick. Oh, I had that stomach flu / food poisoning thing a couple of Januarys back, but that only lasted a couple of days (thankfully). Other than that? I've been pretty good.
I came home from the meetings on Saturday. That night, I had a little tickle in the back of my throat, but I figured that was because of the square of chipotle chili dark chocolate I had just eaten. Sunday, the tickle became something more than a tickle, and I'm sure you can see where this is going. By Tuesday night, I felt pretty darn bad, coughing, sneezing, headache, sore throat... but I just felt awful. I went to work on Wednesday morning, but I immediately knew it was a mistake. I gave up at 10am, and headed right to the doctor's office. I was expecting a diagnosis of something like the Black Death, or Ebola, or porphyric hemophilia or something like that... I mean, I felt so miserable, it had to be something terrible.
Vividred Operation Ep06
Okay, right, here we are, only a week late. Not so bad, really... at
least I'm still keeping up with the show. Sure, it's not the perfect
situation, which would involve the writeup being completed using only
the mental power of my massive, pulsating brain, but it's close. Oh,
and codfish. There would be some nice beer-battered cod with a tasty
tartar sauce involved in a perfect situtation, too. On Friday, after
the business trip was officially over but while I was still in Chicago, I
had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory with three managers who had their
flights cancelled, and I can recommend their fish 'n' chips. Which is
not to be confused with fission chips, which tend to go bang when you
dip them in tartar sauce. They don't mention that in nuclear physics
class. Speaking of not mentioning things in Physics class...
...have these glasses from Gurren Lagann become an anime meme, or what? After seeing the Red Headed Freak out
the door as she heads to summer camp, lil' sister Momo and Gendo
Plushyferret chat for a second about "beginning the operation," and out
come the glasses. What's really annoying is that I hated Gurren Lagann, yet it's hailed as a masterpiece of the mecha genre, if not anime as a whole. I just don't get it. Oh well, so it goes.
But that's a discussion for another day. For now, there is Vividred Operation. Which, I hasten to point out, is not considered
a masterpiece of any genre. Unless the genre is "butt shots of
middleschoolers," in which case it's groundbreaking. And deeply, deeply
troubling. You'll note, of course, that I'm still working on it, so
maybe not so troubling as all that.
1
Himawari seems to be in charge of Gainaxing, and she's really good at it.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 26, 2013 11:57 PM (+rSRq)
2
When I got to that first shot you grabbed of Rei, I knew that would be a lead pipe cinch to be in a certain someones top rotation thing...
The sad thing about Himawari is that most of the time, especially in the opening credits, she runs like Hank Venture.
Posted by: Mauser at February 27, 2013 04:27 AM (cZPoz)
3
Yo. *raises hand* I hated Gurren Lagann, too. Except for the awesome character design of Yoko. Which brings me back to VividRed, because Yoko was fourteen.
Posted by: Ben at February 27, 2013 03:00 PM (/Mdmg)
4
This year's trend appears to be "artists drawing ill-fitting swimsuits that would cause injury to their wearers," so "mad scientists designing ill-fitting swimsuits that hurt everyone around them" is a natural anime progression.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at February 27, 2013 07:59 PM (cvXSV)
5
Ben, you're not alone. I got about 7 episodes into it and simply couldn't tolerate the idiocy any longer. I've never had any urge to go back to it.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 27, 2013 10:24 PM (+rSRq)
6
Philistines! Gurren Lagann was almost as awesome as Kimi ni Todoke!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at February 28, 2013 01:52 AM (PiXy!)
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 28, 2013 09:39 AM (+rSRq)
8KnT is great, even awesome, but it's demo focused and is ridiculously drawn out. It gave up before the end of the 1st season. However, it's one of the few franchizes that my Japanese coworkers generally know about. That means going level with Jojo, One Piece, and Gundam. Gurren-Lagann and even Naruto do not have the same mainstream recognition.
Posted by: Pete at February 28, 2013 12:42 PM (RqRa5)
9
Wow. Now it gets awkward. I adore Kimi ni Todoke. But, yeah, it could be shorter. And it has the second-season, everything-was-roses-but-now-there-is-a-dark-cloud-hanging-over-the-relationship-that-might-mean-their-love-is-doomed plot. But it's just a hangnail. Or something.
Live Action Anime Fight Scene Done Right
While we wait for me to complete the writeup for Vividred Operation Ep06 (PROTIP: business trips are not a good time to work on such things), I want to talk about a single scene from a movie that falls firmly into the "meh" category for me. The movie in question came out in 2011, and was titled Sucker Punch. On the whole, there's very little about the movie to like except for some of the visuals; much like the original Hellsing anime, it's great to look at but not so good to watch. One scene, however, makes it clear that Director Zack Snyder has watched a lot of anime.
If anybody out there is thinking about doing a live-action fighting anime, Snyder has shown you how to do the fight scenes right. Watch it in 720p; it's worth it.
Disaster At Daytona
On the final lap of today's NASCAR Nationwide series race at the Daytona Superspeedway, there was a terrible wreck. Kyle Larson, in the middle of the pack coming out of Turn 4 and heading for the tri-oval/start-finish line, got tipped sideways and as often happens at any superspeedway race, The Big One happened. There were cars going every which way, but Larson went nose-first into the wall, snapped over, and got airborne. HIGH.
The entire front of his car, back to the firewall, was torn off as he pinwheeled over the SAFER barrier and into the catch fence. The catch fence did its job: it kept the #32 out of the stands. Mostly.
You may notice the man with the orange hat. Directly above him in that picture is the engine of the #32; the fire you might notice is from fluids draining from it. Unfortunately, that's not the only thing that got through the fence, and what got through was worse than an engine.
At least one 120lb tire/wheel/brake rotor combinaton made it into the stands, working its way through the spectators until it came to a halt some 15-20 rows up. Around thirty people are known to have been injured. 15 were taken to the track's medical facility for minor cuts and bruises and were released. Conflicting reports say 14 to 16 were taken to two hospitals near the track. At least one was reported to have a serious head injury and was in emergency surgery. Having said that, NASCAR officials just had a press conference, and they said that everybody at the hospitals were in "stable" condition, so take that emergency surgery report with a grain of salt.
Racers know that what they do is dangerous. They understand that every time they climb into their car, be it NASCAR, F1, IndyCar, dragsters, LeMans or motorcycles, they could be injured or killed. But no fan expects to see a tire flying at their face, and it's troubling every time a fan is hurt.
With luck, everybody injured will be okay. Ironically, the drivers involved are all just fine. As of right now, Sunday's Daytona 500 will go on as planned, with Danica Patrick on pole.
1
The winner of the race did the right thing too. They basically skipped any sort of post race celebration/interviews/antics and just focused on getting people care.
Posted by: Tom Tjarks at February 23, 2013 08:03 PM (kEIAU)
2
Maybe it's too early to be this cynical, but somehow I DON'T expect there will be calls to Ban NASCAR racing after this. Unlike how they tried to end the Reno Air Races after their darkest hour.
Posted by: Mauser at February 23, 2013 08:08 PM (cZPoz)
3
Looks like there weren't any deaths, and that's damned lucky. This is no LeMans...
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 24, 2013 11:12 AM (+rSRq)
Too Old For This (Stuff)...
I'm amazed at how exhausting it is being lectured at for an entire day. Wednesday night, I went to sleep at 1030pm for the first time in perhaps a decade, and then slept all the way to my alarm clock. That NEVER happens. Still, I'm learning some stuff and getting some great networking results, which is the important part of this event. When the training comes to an end Friday afternoon, I'll mark it down as a success.
But I'll be doing it from my hotel room, as I'm not going home immediately afterwards. See, as I sit here in my lovely hotel room, it has not quite yet begun snowing, but the weather channel is suggesting that it will any second. Allegedly four-to-six inches of snow is tonight, with another inch tomorrow. That's not great, but in Duckford it's doable. However, I'm not in Duckford. I'm in Chicago. I hate Chicago traffic. I hate Chicago traffic during Friday rush hour (which is when I was scheduled to leave). And I'd REALLY hate Chicago traffic during Friday rush hour with snow on the ground. So I'm staying here for another day, because it's not like I've had all that many days off in the past year anyway. It's a mini-vacation! I'm not the only one, either... about a quarter of the class has had their flights cancelled and stand a good chance of spending another day here too!
So I may just have some time tomorrow to seriously blog... maybe Ep06 of Vividred Operation? We shall see... we shall see.
F1 Pr0n: Williams FW35
And thus, the last shall be... um... last? Williams F1, the legendary "final privateer", has had a bad run of it as of late. This team, one of the truly great Formula 1 names, hadn't won a race since 2004, and really didn't even seem like they were even close. In 2011, in fact, they were 9th in the Constructor's Championship with a paltry five points. Ah, but last year they came up off the mat with a win by Holy Man Maldonado in Spain, leading some to hope that the team was on their way back. Let's see what they can do with their new car, the FW35!
Well, nothing too out of the ordinary here at the nose view. It's a high nose, the highest of them all in fact, but that's probably an effect of the modesty panel. Williams claims that the FW35 is "80% new" from last year's car, to which I reply, "Sure. Why not?"
Very low cut sidepods, designed to handle a new exhaust system... in fact, pretty much the same one Caterham is using. Oh, and the one the FIA is probably going to rule illegal. Whoopsie! One clever thing the team will get away with is "blown wheel nuts." Near as I can tell, air comes in via the brake ducts, flows through a hollow axle, and out holes flush with the wheel nuts. This air fills in the vacuum around the center of the tire, which improves the aerodynamics. Red Bull tried this same trick last year, but theirs was banned because it extended past the wheel nut. Who knows? I didn't hear about it! I love the shape of the nose/front wing struts on this car; very almost art-deco-y.
All in all, it's a workmanlike car for a blue-collar team (if anything in F1 can be called "blue-collar"). Will it win? That's the question. The team is on the wrong foot by missing the first test session, but if that extra few weeks was needed badly enough for whatever reason, then it had to be done. I for one hope Williams is on the ascendance again. We shall see in just a few weeks!
1
I see a fin on the top air scoop. I don't remember seeing anything like that before.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 19, 2013 11:20 PM (+rSRq)
2
That's the official FIA-mandated camera mount, Steven. All of the cars have one.
Posted by: Wonderduck at February 20, 2013 07:28 AM (plIxv)
3
I'm surprised at how complex the forward spoiler is. That seems to be the most complex of all the cars you've shown us so far.
Posted by: Tom Tjarks at February 20, 2013 11:10 AM (T5fuR)
4
I can see which driver is which on Williams cars (this year and last, at least) from the side (which is all we ever see during the race, no?) and without trying to see the red pixels instead of the yellow pixels on a two-by-six inch patch of the car at 200 mph, or guess which helmet which guy is wearing this week.
Because they seem to be the only team that cares about the audience more than absolutely required by the regs, they're my midfield team, even if they're slower than Caterham. Pity they missed the first round of testing, though.
Tom Tjarks - I'm guessing that this is production front spoiler, where the rest were "placeholders". That being one of the sections they can modify after homologation, why give the other teams your ideas? Could be wrong, but let's see what gets shown in Melbourne.
Posted by: Mycroft W at February 20, 2013 11:24 AM (Z484j)
5
Wonderduck, I'm not talking about the T-bar on the top. I'm talking about a thin fin about 3 feet by 1 foot by real thin, extending diagonally from the top of the air scoop along its back down to the chassis. The other cars don't have anything like that.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 20, 2013 07:17 PM (+rSRq)
6
Ah, the "shark fin." A couple of years ago, they were all the rage and ran all the way to the rear wing. Now they still exist (check out the Ferrari for one similar to the Williams, and the Sauber for a vestigial version) for airflow reasons, but they're hardly the obnoxiously huge ones that we used to see.
Posted by: Wonderduck at February 20, 2013 08:41 PM (plIxv)
The Best Laid Plans Of Ducks And Maps...
...gang aft agley. The drive into the location of the hotel was uneventful for the most part, except for me having to take an unscheduled stop back at Pond Central for reasons not worth going into at this time. As a result, this set me back a good hour... which also meant that I'd be reaching my destination an hour later than planned... which meant I'd be coming into Chicago at 5pm. Rush Hour. Those of you who are familiar with Chicago's tollways and expressways at Rush Hour are quietly moaning to yourselves and nodding in sympathy. For those who are unfamilar, let me give you an idea of what it can be like:
Yeah, kinda like that. And remember, today was a holiday of sorts, too, so traffic was lighter than normal. Doesn't matter. I hate driving in Chicago. Of course, the rain didn't help matters much. Oh, did I not mention the rain? Coming down in sheets it was, blown sideways by the wind that left flags stiff and snapping. At least it wasn't snow. No, that's coming Thursday and Friday.
Despite all that, the drive in wasn't all that bad, but I do have one bit of advice. If by some chance you happen to be driving from Duckford to this particular hotel that I'm staying at, and you decide to use googlemaps to get directions here, and in the middle of those directions you see "take exit 10A towards Illinois 83S",don't do it. That particular road has nothing to do with the ACTUAL directions on how to get to the hotel, and indeed just sends you a few miles out of your way as you try and find a place to turn around and get back to I-290E/I-53S, which is what you were ON before the instructions told you to get off it for whatever fevered reason the map program came up with.
Still. I'm here, the DuckMobile performed magnificently, and tomorrow begins the New Manager Training Class, which is somewhat ironic considering that I've been a store manager for a year now. More adventures later.
Scheduling
Okay, here's how this is gonna go down. Starting tomorrow afternoon, I'll be at the home office for the next week, much like I was back in October. Different batch of training, though. Same hotel, which is nice because it's a great hotel with fantastic free cookies. If things go well, I should have no problem doing the writeup for Vividred Operation Ep06. I'll be taking Nayuki with me, of course, so I'll have intarwebz access. That's important, because Williams is rolling out their new car this week, so I can wrap up F1 Pr0n for the year. But don't be overly surprised if everything slides and nothing gets done; this is a business trip, after all, and work will be performed each day.
I've sunk $360 into the DuckMobile in preparation for the trip: two new tires, front end alignment, oil change and a full tank of gas. At least I can steer the car now. Winter in Duckford is always an ugly affair when it comes to the streets... last Monday, I hit a pothole that fell into the category of "teethrattler" and suddenly the DuckMobile didn't like to go in a straight line much. You let go of the wheel, and suddenly you've changed lanes. That's all fixed, though, and we're all set to go! As to when I'll be coming home, that's kinda up in the air. The training is over Friday afternoon, but there's a snowstorm coming towards the end of the week... and gee, staying in a nice hotel for an extra night is such a hardship.
A Thousand Words?
If you think about Formula 1 history, 1994 is pretty much considered the grimmest year ever. That's because of that horrible weekend at Imola which saw the death of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna, and the near-fatal wreck of then-rookie Rubens Barrichello. What often goes uncommented upon in that year was the incredibly fortunate escape of the Benneton team at the Grand Prix of Germany.
1994 saw the reintroduction of refueling, banned since 1983 from the sport. Even before the season began, teams were concerned about the pressurized fuel rigs to be used. The rigs could fill an empty tank in just a matter of seconds, but everybody was concerned about the consequences of a spill or malfunction. Through the first eight races, there had been no incidents, and perhaps the teams were feeling a little more comfortable now. On lap 15 of the German Grand Prix, Benneton's Jos Verstappen brought his B194 in for a regular pit stop: tires and fuel. Unbeknownst to the FIA, the team had tinkered with their refueling rig, removing a fuel filter and in the process upping the flow by an additional 10%. Everything seemed to be going fine, until the man on the hose moved it around slightly. The nozzle seemed to pop out of the fuel tank, spraying an estimated four liters of gasoline around the car in an instant. It took no time at all for the inevitable to occur.
Just as quickly as it happened, it was over. While a few of the mechanics went to the hospital, nobody was seriously injured; Verstappen, caught in the middle of the whole thing, suffered a burn to his nose when some fire got into his slightly-opened visor. Steve Matchett, one of the voices of SPEED's Legendary Announce Team, was the rear jack man for Benneton at the time. His burning firesuit was extinguished by members of the McLaren team, and he suffered no injuries. The fire did give us one of the truly outstanding photographs, not just of F1 or motorsports, but perhaps of all photography.
1994 was a terrible year for Formula 1, but it could have been so much worse.
1
It's neat (understandable but neat) how people from other teams all swarmed in to help. That's how it should be.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 17, 2013 12:04 AM (+rSRq)
2
Whenever I see a picture like that last one, I always hope the people are holding their breath. If someone inhaled in a situation like that they'd get a lung full of flames, and then they're either dead or hopelessly crippled for life because of lung damage.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 17, 2013 12:06 AM (+rSRq)
3
Just remember: nobody seriously injured. Just keep repeating that when you're looking at that picture. For the record, the man's name is Paul Seaby, and he's now the Team Manager for Lotus F1.
Posted by: Wonderduck at February 17, 2013 12:26 AM (o6/9L)
4
I seem to recall a similar incident in Indy car racing. The next generation of nozzles included improved interlocks, and the ring handle also had water jets that would hose off any spilled fuel as it was pumped.
Still, I hope the guy who modified the nozzle was... fired.
Posted by: Mauser at February 17, 2013 07:21 PM (cZPoz)
5
Nope. This is F1, and the team principal was Flavio Briatore. He undoubtedly gave him a commendation. After all, Benneton was suspected of having secret (and illegal) launch and traction control software on Michael Schumacher's car that year, too.
(Yes, I saw the pun. I ignored it.)
Posted by: Wonderduck at February 17, 2013 08:09 PM (o6/9L)
The Moment Taki Inoue Became Famous
Taki Inoue was, to put it bluntly, not a good F1 driver. In 1995, he drove for the hysterically bad Footwork team (note: they had a podium that year... in the Australian Grand Prix; only eight cars finished that race, all but the winner at least two laps down. That's a podium that only just barely counts), but only because he had very very deep pockets behind him. While that was enough to earn him a seat, it didn't mean that he could do anything with it. He drove a F1 car like you or I would: badly. Very badly. In 17 races that year, he retired from 12 of them; his best finish was 8th at Monza, when only 10 cars finished.
In short, he was kinda embarrassing to the sport, but because he wasn't out-and-out dangerous to himself or others on the track, the FIA couldn't kick him out. That should have been all, a blip in the ether, Inoue in, Inoue out, g'bye. But two weird things happened to him. First, during the first Qualifying session at Monaco, he was sitting in his dead car being towed back to the pits, when the safety car ran into him. The Footwork was pushed into the barriers and flipped over. Inoue had a concussion and a chunk taken out of his helmet, but he still raced the next day: a gearbox failure ended his Monaco GP.
While that's curious, the moment that Taki Inoue became famous came at the Hungarian Grand Prix. On Lap 14, his engine when kablammo and the Japanese driver brought his car to the side of the track, where it sat, steaming and unhappy. The track marshals were less than enthusiastic in their efforts to help him; after gesturing furiously, he ran to the armco and grabbed a fire extinguisher himself. He turned around, took a couple of strides towards his car, and...
...he was run over by the medical car. And thus, a legend was born. Here's the video.
Today, Inoue is considered something of the Clown Prince of F1, via his twitter account. He knows what he was, and has fully embraced it. Good show, Mr Inoue!
Sounds like he didn't need any help slowing down...
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 16, 2013 12:27 AM (+rSRq)
4
So he raced at Monaco with a concussion, and he raced at Spa with a broken leg--both in the same season, no less. He may have mediocre racing skills, but he's also got guts.
Posted by: Peter the Not-so-Great at February 16, 2013 12:35 PM (ElBzz)
5
"Mediocre" may be too kind, but I don't think anybody would disagree with the latter comment. Maybe not that many brains, but guts, yes.
Posted by: Wonderduck at February 16, 2013 03:57 PM (o6/9L)
Happy loving couples make it look so easy, happy loving couples always talk so kind. Until the time that I can do my dancin' with a partner, those happy couples ain't no friends of mine.
1
There is one thing that Valentine's Day is good for--stocking up on all the surplus chocolate that the stores put on clearout the day after. Of course, that's only useful if you have a sweet tooth, and if you don't mind eating heart-shaped chocolate for a disturbingly long time afterwards (like candy canes after Christmas, it can just feel wrong).
Posted by: Peter the Not-so-Great at February 15, 2013 07:02 PM (ElBzz)
2
Oooh, yes, Celebrate "Cheap Chocolate Day" on the 15th.
Posted by: Mauser at February 16, 2013 03:41 AM (cZPoz)
Vividred Operation Ep05
For a second there, I thought about doing a Nutshelling for this episode, too, but I decided against it. After all, it's the Dark Girl's introduction episode, maybe they'll tell us where to get that great scarf... and perhaps we'll learn her name, too? Oh, wacky Wonderduck, wanting so much out of your anime. Next you'll be asking for "plot" and "characterization", too. Like that'll happen in Vividred Operation! So, to quickly recap: Team Aquos has been finalized, they've defeated all the Alones that have been thrown against the Phlebotinum Engine, Akane's a redheaded freak of nature... or is she? I am of the opinion that her superhuman skills are in fact because she's not entirely human, but part Alone. No, I have nothing to base that on, other than her being stronger and faster than any normal person should be. We'll find out eventually... or not. Oh, and Gendo Plushyferret is the bad guy in all of this. Ooh, plot twist! Well, he is in my version of the show, and I think I've got a good track record of my alternate versions being much better than the originals, no? But, speaking of this show right here, Ep05 has already begun! Let's see what's going on in the City Island of Townsville Izu Oshima, shall we?
As is normal for a morning, the RHF is out delivering newspapers on her flying bicycle; as we catch up with her, she's riding along the dock of the bay, watching the tide roll away, when suddenly... birds!
Well, bird. Singular. But there will be more, oh yes, many many more. And early in the morning, they are very... very... hungry. Somewhere offscreen, Alfred Hitchcock is rubbing his hands together eagerly. *ahem* Excuse me. Bird. Flying near RHF. Of course, this delights the RHF, who's probably more chipper about life than even Akari from ARIA. But then, when you can convert to a magical girl with enough firepower to level very small countries, why shouldn't you be cheery? And speaking of cheery...
Ohmygawd, it's Dark Girl... and she's smiling. Yup, that seals it, she's my favorite character in this show, no matter what's going on. She's currently being swarmed by seagulls, but that's nothing uncommon. Anybody who's been to Seattle's waterfront and bought some french fries knows all about that. Somewhere back at the Old Home Pond, there's a picture of me, standing outside Ivar's Acres of Clams Fish Bar ("Keep Clam!") with a french fry in my hand. To my right, there's a gull swooping in to claim his nummy goodness from the side of the shot, while another gull is dive-bombing in from above and behind me. And, having browsed Ivar's website, I've just discovered that you can order their clam chowder for home delivery... I think I might just have to do that, oh my heavens to betsy yes. Many people claim that Boston clam chowder is the best, but I simply can not believe that, not after having Ivar's. When I was out visiting friends in Seattle for a week, lo these many years ago when I had friends in Seattle, I literally had at least one bowl of Ivar's every single day... and felt bad that I couldn't have more. When my departing flight was first delayed, then replaced after six hours on the ground (one of the friendly airline employees mentioned that an engine fell off the plane. I assumed they were joking.), I was quite pleased... SeaTac had an Ivar's, after all! Oh dear, I appear to have wandered off-topic once again. Let's get back to the story. The RHF disturbs Dark Girl and her... I'm sorry, I can't not do this... her flock of seagulls, and...
...poof! The flock of seagulls flies away, Dark Girl disappears from our view, leaving behind only one very confused RHF. Oh, and an annoyed Wonderduck. Really, if they wanted to rename this show Vivid Dark Girl Operations, I'd be fine with that. If they had all the music done by '80s bands, I'd be really okay with that. If some studio feels like doing this hypothetical series, I promise to do an episodic review. If there's F1 cars and rubber ducks in it, I promise that the final episode's writeup would be the last thing ever posted here on The Pond. Pinky swear.
Somewhere, a longtime reader of The Pond has just opened a kickstarter campaign to make that happen. Hell, I'd kick in a fin or a sawbuck m'self, just because I could. If you think about it, there's very little that would be cooler than to say "there was an anime made for the sole purpose of closing down my blog." And by cooler, I mean "geekier".
This Is Simple!
So you wanna be a F1 driver, bunky? You think you got the skills to take one of the 22 most technical cars in the world out onto the racetrack and go head-to-head with the likes of Seb Vettel, Mark Webber, HWMNBN, Shiv Hamilton and all the others? Okay! Here's your steering wheel.
...and here Hamilton thought he had gotten away from Button(s).
Hey, where you going? I thought you wanted to be a F1 driver! You've only got to be able to negotiate tracks like Spa, Austin, Montreal and Monaco at nearly 200mph, with other cars mere inches away, while being able to operate your steering wheel, often without looking. Here's the kicker: this is Shiv Hamilton's wheel, after he asked Mercedes to simplify it for him.
Oh, and it cost somewhere around $50000 or so. Enjoy!
1
Huh. I would not have expected carpal tunnel to be a major hazard of F-1 racing.
You learn something new everyday.
Posted by: brickmuppet at February 11, 2013 09:07 PM (vp6an)
2
Around 1997 in a Honolulu store I saw a steering wheel that Ayrton Senna had in one of his F-1 cars, there might have been six buttons and a dial on it.
If I can remember correctly the price was somewhere around 5k.
Posted by: jon spencer at February 11, 2013 10:35 PM (RtbUg)
Posted by: Mauser at February 12, 2013 06:23 AM (cZPoz)
6
These "simiplified" controls do not seem more complex than those I have in Piper Arrow, but there's a significant difference in that airplane controls have more to do with navigation and communication than with airplane's performance.
The "drink" button triggers a pump that delivers the Gatorade. You don't want to strain yourself sucking from a remote bottle through the 6-ft-long straw.
Posted by: Pete at February 12, 2013 10:00 AM (RqRa5)
Pete, I have no doubt. The question is, do you fiddle with the Piper's gizmoswitches while undergoing 5g manuevers a handful of times every 90 seconds, in close formation with other planes, at around 180mph?
Heck, can an Arrow even do 180mph? Or take a 5g load, come to think of it?
Posted by: Wonderduck at February 12, 2013 05:31 PM (OS+Cr)
8
Arrow cannot reach the numbers. Maximum sustained speed against the air is 155 mph and the maximum rated load is 4.4g. I hit 200mph against the ground once with a good tailwind, even have a picture of GPS.
The fastest and toughest airplane I have ever flown is North American T-6 "Texan". It tops well in excess of 200 mph, in fact I was going faster through Valles Caldera. It can pull 5g easily and actually it takes a certain attention not to black out accidentially.
But without doubt proximity operations are the hallmark of F1. They are made easier by the advanced safety that F1 racers enjoy these days, but back in the day Fangio was doing 75% as fast WITHOUT A SEATBELT.
Posted by: Pete at February 13, 2013 08:55 AM (RqRa5)
9
My steering wheel has three buttons on it that control the radio/cd player. I still use the ones on the dashboard because I can operate them without taking my eyes off the road. That being said, I would love for a chance to drive an F1 car into the kitty litter or a wall. (Assuming I could even get out of the pit lane.)
Posted by: Gerberette at February 16, 2013 08:35 AM (LcKP6)
Vividred Operation Ep03 and Ep04, Nutshelled
Okay, so this project is succeeding about as well as Ben-To!, except now I'm falling behind on a currently-airing series. Swell. Ep05 aired a couple of days ago, and I still haven't done Ep03 yet... not the best plan for success ever, I'll admit. Fortunately for me, if there were two episodes I could give short shrift to, it'd be these. Simply put, for all intense porpoises, they're repeats of Ep02, just with new girls being added to Gendo Plushyferret's combat team. I'm going to assume that you remember what happened in Ep01 and Ep02; if you don't, feel free to go back and re-read the writeups. I think they're pretty clever, m'self, but then I would, wouldn't I? So go ahead and catch up, why don'tcha? I can wait... here's some music for you while you read.
You back? You've got the basic idea in your head again? Okay, good. Let's get on with Nutshelling Ep03 and Ep04!
No, no, that's not what happens, proving once and for all that this really is a fantasy show.
In that sentence and the 4 previous Wonderduck has described all that is wrong with the world.
Posted by: brickmuppet at February 10, 2013 08:30 PM (vp6an)
2
While you're contemplating kendo-girl matchups, I'm thinking Himawari vs. Furugoori (Robotics;Notes) in some kind of Battle of the reclusive computer nerd girls. I have no idea how that would work.
I've been sacked with overtime and trying to squeeze in work on my novel, so while you're an episode behind on VO, Robotics;Notes just came out with episode 16. Oh god, it's a double season and I'm 10 episodes behind! At least Nekomonogatari is only four episodes.
Posted by: Mauser at February 10, 2013 10:21 PM (cZPoz)
3
That look on her face is, "Come on, come on, boot up already! Sheesh, I'm going to have to speed up this thing or we're gonna get killed!"
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at February 12, 2013 02:24 PM (cvXSV)
A Surprising Manga
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I'm not really a manga sorta duck. Pretty much everything I own/read is tied in some way to anime I've seen. However, I decided to give myself a gift for surviving Spring book rush and bought some manga. Two of them were, as mentioned, spinoffs from various anime, and were purchased more for completions' sake than any particular enjoyment of the series. I'd been seeing another title show up in my "recommended for you" list, one I'd never heard of before. I did some digging, and found that it had almost universal praise... which really doesn't mean anything, since most of the reviews I saw were written by people who had read scanalations and liked them. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any reviews from readers who had gone into the series blind... probably because most people aren't idiots like that. I supposed I could have gone to one of those manga download sites, but I really don't like to do that for two reasons. One, my monitor isn't tall enough for that; either everything is too small (fit to screen) or you have to scroll uncomfortably (full size). Reason two is a little more serious: every single darn time I've ventured to a manga aggregator site, I've gotten multiple computer icks that have usually required a full nuking of the hard-drive and reinstall of Windows. Every. Single. Time.
Which pretty much leaves me no choice but to be one of Those Guys at Barneys and Ignobles, the ones who sit in the manga section, reading the newest volume of Naruto and blocking the walkway for the real customers, oh and leaving the entire section so completely disorganized that you couldn't find what you're looking for anyway. Not that I'm bitter or anything. Or go into a series cold, cross my fingers and hope for good luck. In a medium that proves that Ted Sturgeon was an optimist, no less. Well, it wasn't going to be terribly expensive, so I went ahead and ordered 'em up.
At this point, I'm going to point out that the manga in question has some mature themes and some flat-out NSFW imagery. While most of my post is NOT going to be NSFW, the possibility exists that I may mention some stuff that won't be family friendly. For those who might be offended by this, I leave you with this picture and wish you a pleasant period of time (as opposed to a "good evening" or "nice morning", because I don't know when you're reading this).
What type of flower is this, hmmmmmm? Might there be some significance to my choice?
1
What does it say about me that as soon as I saw that first pic I was all, "Hey, Lililicious" And then I was all, "but they didn't scanlate 'Girl Friends'..."
All kidding aside: A proper translation and dead-tree publication of 'Girl Friends'? Good to know. It's one of the few genuinely good yuri titles I've ever seen.
Posted by: GreyDuck at February 09, 2013 10:39 AM (xbP2x)
2
I think I've discovered who Girl Friends is aimed at: ducks.
Posted by: Wonderduck at February 09, 2013 11:56 AM (lzVVx)
Really And Truly...
...I am still blogging. I have no intention of hanging up the mantle of pixel-stained technopeasant anytime soon. Things are still busy at work, though in a different way than hordes of customers. I haven't been feeling the greatest this week. Quite honestly, the thought of sitting down in front of a computer and typing after spending all day in front of a computer typing makes me feel all sorts of urpy these days. It'll pass... don't give up hope.
After all, it's not like the Schoolgirl In Black is out for your head or anything.
I do have something in the works for Friday, a review of a manga I was surprised I liked as much as I did. But that's tomorrow. Today, all I have for you is... well, nothing. And you scruffy little urchins will like it! Thank you for your support.
1
Those commercials were great, weren't they? And I don't even drink, let alone drink wine coolers...
In other entirely unrelated news, I picked up Beauty Stab today. Initial impressions are quite favorable so far.
Posted by: GreyDuck at February 08, 2013 12:23 AM (xbP2x)
2
I'll need a full review from you, GD. I'm curious to hear what you think.
Posted by: Wonderduck at February 08, 2013 08:25 AM (lzVVx)
3
Standouts so far: "The Power of Persuasion," "Unzip," and "By Default By Design." But the whole album holds up nicely even listening to it for the first time thirty years after it hit record stores.
Posted by: GreyDuck at February 11, 2013 11:19 AM (3m7pZ)
Buffalo or X-Wing?
I'm sure that by now most of my readers have seen this photoshop job at least once before:
When I saw it for the first time, I just laughed... then took a much closer look at it, and was amazed at the job the person behind the 'shop had done. It really looks like an Incom T-65 X-Wing wound up on an escort carrier in 1942. What never crossed my mind, however, was to try and find the original. Well, tonight while browsing ww2db.com, I accidentally stumbled across it!
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 07, 2013 06:09 PM (+rSRq)
3
It isn't until you see the two side-by-side (okay, bottom-by-top) that you start to notice the little things he missed. Like the arresting cable in the foreground that the X-Wing couldn't have caught like that. Or the wire attached to the Buffalo's right wing that just sorta... floats there above and behind the X-Wing.
But if THAT'S the worst I can come up with...
Posted by: Wonderduck at February 07, 2013 06:47 PM (lzVVx)
F1 Mega-Pr0n: Toro Rosso STR8, Caterham CT03, Marussia MR02
The last three of the new cars that we'll be seeing for a while came out today (well, Toro Rosso came out yesterday, details details), and instead of doing an individual post for each, I'm throwing them together into a F1 Mega-Pr0n!
The Toro Rosso STR8 is probably going to be very very fast, but unable to turn worth a darn. Last year's STR7 had seriously undercut sidepods; though it's hard to see here, the new chassis has done away with that. This is going to allow the weight of the radiators to be set lower down, which should balance the added drag of the larger pod, which has a new triangular front opening. As with all the other designs, the rear of the sidepods taper down quite steeply (aka "The Red Bull Style"). The team also redid the rear suspension design, allegedly allowing for more choices during setup. I find the clear plastic vanes on the top of the sidepods to be endless fascinating... I can only assume that's being done to allow the sponsor's name to be read more easily. All in all, a fairly conventional update over last year's design.
Unlike the STR8, the new Caterham CT03 DOES have majorly undercut sidepods, the Red Bull Style, and dear god in heaven they're not using the modesty panel. Bless their hearts. The big news here is that the bodywork at the back half of the car has been greatly redone, and apparently drew quite a bit of attention from the other teams in testing today... to the point where the tech regs are being hauled out to discover if it's all legal. A nice metallic green paint tops off a great paint-job... shame the rest of the car is so ugly! Put a panel over that thing, please!
When Marussia was known as Virgin Racing, their first car was designed and tested entirely in computers, no wind-tunnel testing or anything like that. The car tanked. Last year, the MR01 managed to beat HRT while also being totally designed using Computational Fluid Dynamics. Yay. Now here, the MR02 comes out and good merciful heavens, it's gorgeous. Perhaps not so coincidentally, it's spent significant time in the wind tunnel. It's also the first design this season to have a nicely curved airbox; everybody else has straight lines and sharp angles. Lotus and McLaren have a rounded-ish airbox cover, but nothing like this. It's a beautiful car... mainly because there are practically no sponsor stickers on it. That's a bad sign,but we can appreciate the look until they go broke. If they do. The main change to this car is the addition of KERS, which of course isn't going to be externally visible. See, Caterham, it's not that hard to make the car look good!
So there we go! The only car left to debut is the Williams, scheduled for February 19th at the second test session. We'll keep an eye on testing in case anything interesting happens... F1 is right around the corner, folks!
F1 Pr0n: Mercedes W04
If Force India isn't the most disappointing team in Formula 1, Mercedes is. Taking over BrawnGP after that team's one and only season, in which they won both Championships, Mercedes then brought Slappy Schumacher out of retirement to lead their team. They promptly peed the first two seasons down the leg of their firesuits. Last year, they got their first win behind Nico Rosberg, sent Slappy back to retirement, and threw their wallets at Shiv Hamilton to lure him away from McLaren. I've heard this described as a mere marketing ploy, and there certainly is some of that involved, but it will prove important in other ways. For one, Shiv is a much better driver than Slappy, which should show on-track. For another, Hamilton can actually spend time in the simulator without getting sick all over everything, unlike Schumacher. Back in his old Ferrari days, when teams had unlimited testing, Slappy was a legend, pounding out lap after lap after endless lap, and giving back immense amounts of technical feedback for the engineers to work with. Now that teams can't do that, they rely on simulators... and Slappy gets sim-sick. So now they'll get better simulator results from two good drivers. But will the car underneath Rosberg and Hamilton be any good? Here's our first look at the Mercedes F1 W04...
It's already being called the "ducknose." While it IS an improvement, cosmetically, over the W03, that's not exactly saying a whole lot as that chassis was monumentally ugly, even in a season where most of the cars were homely. There's a bunch of little changes from last year's car visible in this shot. For example, the outside edge of the sidepods are now turned up, better to shovel air towards the rear of the car. The airbox over the driver's head is now just a single piece, instead of having a main intake and then a smaller one behind it. The radiator inlets are smaller and mounted higher in the sidepod. There's even new mirrors.
As with most everybody else, Mercedes seems to be copying the Red Bull style of sidepods/exhaust on the W04. Again, if you're gonna steal, may as well be from the best. The nose has the modesty panel in place, and it still looks hideous from this angle.
However, if it wins races, it'll be beautiful in no time. I think part of the cosmetic problem is that it's a rounded nosecone joining to an essentially square fuselage. Just by definition, that's gonna be awkward. The technical websites out there are all saying that the W04 is a step back from the overly complex W03 (that ate tires like ducks eat bread) to something more aerodynamically clean. The front wing is the same one that was run at the end of 2012, so expect something new there.
Okay, it's hideous. Will the addition of Hamilton make it pretty? We'll see soon enough!
Toro Rosso rolled out today as well; I'm moving them to a F1 MegaPr0n tomorrow along with Caterham and Marussia. See ya then!
1
And there just happens to be an SLS parked behind W04. And speaking of things made possible by the visible light spectrum, can't say I'm a fan of the turquoise. I guess that's a Petronas color?
Posted by: Ben at February 05, 2013 09:57 AM (/Mdmg)
2
I"m assuming the 'modesty panels' you are referring to are the little wings outside of the pods on the side of the car? I'm not understanding their purpose. Can anyone point me to a resource that might help explain them?
Posted by: Tom Tjarks at February 05, 2013 12:04 PM (T5fuR)
Tom, the "modesty panels" that I'm referring to are the new nose coverings that hide the fugly platypus of last year's car. What you're referring to are called "barge boards", and they're aerodynamic aids, steering air to the right place on the car.
Used to be that cars would be festooned with bargeboards, fins, winglets, canards and anything else the aerodynamicist could design... look at some of the cars from 2006 or so... but now they've been mostly legislated away, and good riddance.
Posted by: Wonderduck at February 05, 2013 12:17 PM (OS+Cr)
Deep Breath...
Okay. Duck U's Spring semester textbook rush is over, more or less, so things will be slowing down there. That means I won't be coming home from the Bookstore completely worn out and exhaustipated. That means I should be able to actually blog on subjects that aren't fed to me on a platter (i.e., F1 Pr0n), subjects that require me to use my brain.
Posted by: Mikeski at February 05, 2013 12:31 AM (DU6Ja)
4
Indeed, it is a loss of directional control, and a great illustration to the thesis that you can ground-loop a tricycle gear airplane.
Posted by: Pete at February 05, 2013 06:39 PM (RqRa5)
5
The captions at Airliners.net suggest that the crash of D-CDRM was a result of wheelbarreling on a soft surface, not a groundloop, as I assumed looking at pictures.
Posted by: Pete at February 05, 2013 06:41 PM (RqRa5)
Posted by: Wonderduck at February 06, 2013 07:39 AM (cbg5Y)
7
Wooow, I must practice soft-field technique more dilligently from now on. He clearly digged it in by braking.
Posted by: Pete at February 06, 2013 12:13 PM (RqRa5)
8
Oh, that's an RV-7A. A long time ago I was on the builder's mailing list. I still want to build one of their kits someday, although the RV-6 has been superseded.
Posted by: Mauser at February 07, 2013 03:30 AM (cZPoz)