November 12, 2018
That Was... Unpleasant
Early Saturday afternoon, I started to feel... not so swell. I think I had a low fever, but by the evening I developed... not chills, exactly, but sort of an intermediary state between chills and non-chills. My left side, from the back of my head all the way down my back, would feel shivery, while the rest of me felt fine. This is nothing out of the ordinary, I've had that exact feeling since I was a kid. Everybody is different, y'know?
Sunday I definitely had a fever, but watching first the F1 race, then the Bears game, in real-time with friend Ben from Midnite Tease who is in Illinois for some training thing, distracted me enough that I kinda didn't notice until later. Around 5pm I took a nap... if you can call a sleeping period that lasted six hours a nap... woke up feeling not terrible, then went to bed a couple of hours later (stopping to post the PSB thing below, of course).
That was a mistake. I woke up this morning with a brainsplitter of a headache, definite fever, chills, the works. I called in after trying to convince myself for a while that I was fine. Failing in that, I took a shower and realized I just felt worse. That's when I called in. Like any good patient, I decided to do very little for a few hours, then go back to sleep.
Why I wound up watching two-hour long replays of 24 hour livestream events by 
a person who appears to be the go-to guy for GTAV racing mods. There's apparently a huge community of GTAV players who don't actually play the game, but have modded it into a racing "sim". Then I wound up watching a LIVE livestream event by my favorite rac
ing sim driver... he takes it seriously, but not TOO seriously. Oh, and along the way he's been noticed by actual broadcasters and provides commentary for one simracing championship or another. He recently was in Japan for a stop on the tour there, and got to tell a great story where it turns out he was invited to Macau to do some of the coverage there. His response was "I'd love to, but I'll be in Monaco then." Just once, I'd love to be able to say that and mean it. "Gosh, I appreciate the offer to work at Bathurst, but I'll be doing the 24 Hours of LeMans that weekend."
*ahem*
Eventually I did go lie down for a nap, around 430pm or so. Nothing. For five hours I laid in bed, remarkably vivid thoughts of being a sim driver in GTAV and just sucking at it running through my head. And oh my stars and garters was I hot. I don't know if I was hot because I was running a fever, or if it was because the heater was turned up and all the windows closed, or what, but it was horrible. I've had this happen before, and I never can tell what the reason is.
Which brings us to now. I'm going to take a muscle relaxer before I go to bed, that should let me sleep... and hope in the morning I feel better. Fingers crossed.
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November 11, 2018
NEW PSB EP!!!
Ladies and gentlemen, Public Service Broadcasting has released a new EP.
White Star Liner is the story of the Titanic, from her construction to her sinking. The band got to debut the songs in June, as it turns out, during the BBC's "Big Weekend" concert in the Titanic Quarter of Belfast. The stage was placed on the graving yards that the great ship was actually built upon, and if that isn't cool, what is?
Here's the first song:
White Star Liner is available wheresoever you choose to get your music thang on. It was $4.00 on Amazon, for reference's sake. Now if only they'd come to the Chicago area...
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November 10, 2018
F1 Quals: Brazil '66 in 2018
I don't understand Formula 1 anymore. First it rained but nobody seemed to care. Then drivers forgot how to drive, but nobody was penalized. Then a driver decided to break everything in a fit of pique, and he didn't get a grid penalty. Then it didn't rain but everybody freaked out anyway. And then the announcers thought one of the lakes was rain. Brazil: if you're not confused, you're not in Brazil! Here's the provisional grid for the 2018 Grand Prix of Brazil '66:
| Pos | Driver | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:08.464 | 1:07.795 | 1:07.281 | |
| 2 | 1:08.452 | 1:07.776 | 1:07.374 | |
| 3 | 1:08.492 | 1:07.727 | 1:07.441 | |
| 4 | 1:08.452 | 1:08.028 | 1:07.456 | |
| 5 | 1:08.205 | 1:08.017 | 1:07.778 | |
| 6 | Frowny | 1:08.544 | 1:08.055 | 1:07.780 |
| 7 | Sony | 1:08.754 | 1:08.579 | 1:08.296 |
| 8 | AMX-30 | 1:08.667 | 1:08.335 | 1:08.492 |
| 9 | Lettuce | 1:08.735 | 1:08.239 | 1:08.517 |
| 10 | 1:09.046 | 1:08.616 | 1:09.029 | |
| 11 | 1:08.474 | 1:08.659 | ||
| 12 | Lawsuit | 1:09.217 | 1:08.741 | |
| 13 | 1:09.264 | 1:08.770 | ||
| 14 | 1:09.009 | 1:08.834 | ||
| 15 | 1:09.259 | 1:10.381 | ||
| 16 | 1:09.269 | |||
| 17 | 1:09.280 | |||
| 18 | V8S | 1:09.402 | ||
| 19 | 1:09.441 | |||
| 20 | 1:09.601 |
I said that I didn't understand F1 anymore, and this Quals session just made that totally clear in that I couldn't follow what was actually going on. Nothing seemed to be happening the way I'm used to and I can't quite put my finger on why. The only thing I got out of it is that Ferrari got sneaky, managed to qualify on the hardest rubber compound in Q2, while everybody else was on either the softest or the medium. So not only will Ferrari be fast, and at the top of the grid, but they'll be able to go longer than anybody else in the Top 10, too.
Fortunately for DA Vettel, he's not going to get penalized for his little contretemps in Q2. See, cars are randomly selected during Quals to be weighed during the sessions, just to make sure everybody is conforming to standards... and since it's random, you can't cheat without risking getting ejected. Vettel was selected as he was coming in for new tires, which caused a little problem. See, it was looking like rain, so you really wanted to get laps done before the moisture made the track undriveable. So Vettel hurried over to the weighbridge, which was blocked by an orange cone... don't move in until the cone is removed... and promptly kicked the cone into another city. Then he drove onto the scale pads and did NOT turn off his engine, which is required. He then started waving his hands in the air like he was trying to land a Dauntless on a carrier. Eventually he got settled, the car was weighed, and he drove off to his pits, screaming a blue streak as he went. Except those scale pads? They're NOT designed to be used as takeoff points, so his rear wheels basically kicked them in the opposite direction from the one the cone went. This destroys the weighbridge. For a while, it looked like DA Vettel was going to be kicked out of Quals. Then there was thought he'd get a grid penalty. As it turned out, he was hit with a €25000 fine and a non-driving reprimand, which means he was taken to the principals office and hit on the hands with a ruler. Oh, why "DA"? It stands for "dumb@ss," which he's proven to be this season. Wear it with pride, DA.
Race in the noonish on ESPN2, I think. See ya then and there.
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November 09, 2018
F1 on TV: Brazil '66... 2018
Yep, Brazil. Home of Interlagos, "Between The Lakes." Also one of only two places that drivers have been attacked via attempted hijacking recently... and the other one was in the middle of a revolution at the time, so take from that what you will. Here's the track map.
Apparently the start/finish line has been moved. Or more correctly, I saw video footage of the start/finish line being waterblasted off the track surface, I only assume they put down a new one. I hope they did... an infinitely long Brazillian Grand Prix would drive me to drink... poison.
In other less-than-important news, it appears that Williams may or may not have offered Robert Kubica a race seat next year. There's been so many differnet headlines, tweets, and other posts popping up that I don't think anybody is really sure what's what. As much as I liked Koobs back in the day... the only Pole in F1... I am currently of the opinion that he's a f*cking moron who doesn't deserve to be offered a drive in a taxi, let alone in F1. This is a driver who was anointed as The Golden Child. He had a win at the 2008 Canadian GP a year after having that amazing wreck there. He was actually tabbed as being the best pure driver in F1 in 2011... better than Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, all of 'em. He had Formula 1 in the palm of his hand. It was only a matter of time before he won a championship. Kinda like DH Verstappen, just with a bigger nose and lips smaller than his entire head.
And then he threw it all away in a stupid piss-ant rally race in Italy. He was there because "racers gotta race," and he wanted to go racing. And then he managed to impale his car on the end of a metal highway barrier which ripped up his leg and nearly amputated his hand and his arm. Surgery saved them, and they function.. but only a little bit. Go ahead, guess which arm was damaged. So instead of becoming the King of F1, he became the King of Arm Surgeries, having something like 17 in total. And now he might be back. Dumb*ss threw away what could have been a special career just because he wanted to go hooning a Skoda around the Italian countryside. Moron.
Race is on Sunday, Quals are tomorrow. More then!
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November 08, 2018
Space Doggity
I can't believe I forgot this. This past Saturday, 11/3, was the anniversary of the first Earth-born living creature going into space.
One must also remember that it was the anniversary of the first Earth-born living creature dying in space, too.
Good doggie... go fetch!
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November 05, 2018
F1 Update: Mexico 2018, The Eight Days After Edition
I think doing an actual writeup for the 2018 Grand Prix of Mexico would be somewhat pointless now, so instead let's take a look at the fallout from it, shall we?
*DISPARITY: For whatever reason, the Mexico track this time around just highlighted the gulf that exists between the Haves and the Have Nots. Only four cars were on the lead lap at the end: Verstappen, Vettel, Raikkonen and Hamilton, aka Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. Fifth place was Bottas in the other Mercedes, a lap down. Then came pretty much everybody else two laps down. It's been a long time since we've seen that sort of split. Because it's been such a long time, I'm inclined to not worry too much... things happen like that sometimes. If it happens again though...
*(THROWS ENERGY DRINK AGAINST WALL): You'll note that the only driver of the Big Three missing was Smiley Ricciardo. That's because he DNF'd... again, his eighth of the season, and fourth in the last seven races. When a clutch problem that began on Lap 5 finally became terminal with 10 laps to go, the Aussie was in second place and under no threat at all from Seb Vettel. Amusingly, as he walked away from the car, he flipped it off. It then burst into flames. Suprisingly, team principal Christian Horner did not burst into flames when Ricciardo later said in an interview that he doesn't "see the point of coming any more, of doing the last two races. Let Ghastly drive it, I'm done with it." Of course, he is leaving for Renault next year, and Pierre Ghastly is moving in. I feel for him, I really do... and also suggest that if Red Bull can get the young Frenchman out of Toro Rosso in time for the next race, they should. It just seems wrong to have someone that doesn't want to drive in the cockpit... particularly as it won't make any difference: Red Bull is locked into third in the constructor's championship, they cannot gain or lose places. Neither of their drivers are in any sort of driver's championship points battle, so you may as well put the new kid in the car, get him some practice with the big team. We love Smiley Ric, but it'd be for the best.
*VERGOIN': With his win, DH Verstappen became the driver with the most race victories in F1 history never to have gotten a pole position. He now has five, including Mexico back-to-back years. I find him to be a sulky brat with a tendency towards self-destruction on the track occasionally, but he's also a talented driver. And it's not like F1 hasn't seen drivers behaving like children before. Of course, DH still IS a child, so...
*FIVE: Of course, some guy named Hamilton won his fifth world title with his fourth place finish, joining some fairly exclusive company... St Fangio the Quick and Slappy. If you're curious, here's the song used in that video. I don't really have that much to say about Hamilton's championship; he's pretty clearly the best driver in F1 today, he's almost certainly got the best team behind him, and while the car may not be the best on the track anymore, it's not very far behind. Anybody believe that he couldn't end up with eight Driver's Championships if he feels motivated enough? It'd be hard to bet against him right now.
*NEXT!: So what do we have to look forward to in the next two races? A lot of battles lower down the championship tables, mostly. Haas shot their chances at being fourth in the constructor's championship in the foot with dual DNFs in Mexico. They're 30 points behind Renault, while McLaren is 22 points behind them in sixth. Even if they've only got a third as many points as third place, finishing fourth in the constructor's race in their third year of existence would be quite the thing. The American team has finished eighth the previous two years.
Brazil is the next race, coming up this weekend... and we all know how much I dearly love Interlagos. See you soon!
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November 04, 2018
You Are Young And Life Is Long And There Is Time To Kill Today...
Or, at least, it seems like there is.
Did you remember to turn your clocks back? Or do you only use your phone/computer/device anymore?
The time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say...
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November 01, 2018
Movement!
Beginning next week, I'm off overtime for a while!
Because once again I'm too slow.
The fun never ends!
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October 30, 2018
F1 Update: Mexico 2018
Okay, for all of you that have figured out how to be notified when I post something here at The Pond and came looking for what's in the title, I'm sorry. It ain't here. I did that just to bring you all here so I can do two things: explain, and apologize.
If you've read The Pond for any length of time (and if you haven't, welcome! Can I get you something to drink?), you know my job has mandatory overtime every week. 10 hours is the norm, but it occasionally occurs that we end up with more for one reason or another. Well, that didn't happen. What did happen, however, is that last week I was... unwell. Among other things, I had insomnia. Well, no, not really... if you have insomnia, you're not sleeping at all. Like many things of late, I half-arsed my insomnia: I was getting a couple of hours here and there. It actually started that weekend, but I stay up pretty late on the weekends anyway. Anyway. Monday morning, I went to work and felt like I was a dog that had just been kicked. At the end of the usual eight hour day, I just went home. No whittling away at the overtime, just went home. Tuesday, I felt like I'd been kicked by a dog that had just been kicked. Still, overtime waits for no man is an island, so I managed to eke out an hour or so before I gave up and returned to Pond Central. And then Wednesday morning came around.
My head hurt so badly I was actually surprised there wasn't blood fountaining out my nose. Despite this, I still tried to go to work. I never made it past "swinging my legs out of bed". I crawled back under the covers, called the "call-in" number for work, and immediately fell asleep. Let me repeat that: I FELL ASLEEP. Let me repeat that in Xhosa: NDIYA NDALALA. When I woke up, it was close to noon, my head didn't hurt anywhere near as badly, and I dragged myself out into the living room. So, unexpected day off. Let's recap now, shall we? No overtime hours put in on Monday, one hour on Tuesday, and the day off counts for two hours (10 hours divided by five days = 2 hours/day). That means I had three hours in. Out of 10. With two days left to go. I'd have to do 11.50 hours per day to reach the mandatory.
So there I was on Thursday, still a little bleary-eyed, pounding away at my computer, and my boss stops by and chats with me for a bit. I mention that she should give me that pot pie she has in her hands, because I'm gonna be here late. I tell her the sob story. And she quietly says "give me what you can, and make it up next week." So I did, and now I am. I have to do a total of 12 hours, give or take, of overtime this week. Except there's one little thing...
...I hadn't spent any time with my folks in over a month, and when I took that week off a little while ago, they were in Colorado. Hard to have lunch with somebody when they're on the Durango & Silverton being chased by elk, and you're in Pond Central trying to figure out where to put your new figure of Shigure wearing coveralls and red Chucks, which is the cutest thing ever. Anyway, every time we've tried to get together, I've had to cancel on them because of exhaustion, sickness, or both. The company I work for believes in a work/life balance... your life is work. See? Balanced! So I said "screw it" and met them for dinner at Imperialmandarinpalacegarden, our favorite Chinese place... the name comes from a long time ago, when I couldn't remember what the name of it was... I knew it was either Imperial Palace or Mandarin Garden. So a new name was born.
Right... uhm... where was... Oh! So I didn't do any overtime on Monday... meaning I have to do 12 hours in four days. Four 11 hour days. I did one of them today, and got home at 10pm. And then I've been typing this. It's now midnight, and I really need to sleep. So here's the dealy-o. I don't know if I'm going to get the chance to do the Mexican GP writeup until the weekend. Or maybe I'll just throw off a quick reaction post. I dunno. I'm tired and grumpy right now, not the best frame of mind to make decisions with. So let's just say "I dunno." and leave it at that.
I'm sorry. I know there's at least two or three of you who look forward to the F1U!s, and I've been falling down on them this season. It'll all work out somehow. Until then, then!
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October 27, 2018
F1 Quals: Mexico 2018
I bet you thought I'd forgotten, didn't you? I just bet you did. Nope, I didn't! And a good thing, too... we went from the best race of the season last weekend at Austin to the best Qualifying session of the season here in Mexico City! Here's the track map:
Two DRS zones, but only one detection zone. I didn't notice that last year, or the year before, but it appears to have been the case. Well, god help you if you've got a car closer than a second behind you when you hit Turn 15, because it'll be a good bit ahead of you by the time you reach Turn 04. Cars were reaching 215mph or more down that long, long, long front straight today, and the announcers even said 230mph once, which I didn't believe. So what was the result for Quals today? Here's the provisional grid for the 2018 Grand Prix of Mexico:
| Pos | Driver | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:15.866 | 1:15.845 | 1:14.759 | |
| 2 | 1:15.756 | 1:15.640 | 1:14.785 | |
| 3 | 1:15.673 | 1:15.644 | 1:14.894 | |
| 4 | 1:16.089 | 1:15.715 | 1:14.970 | |
| 5 | 1:15.580 | 1:15.923 | 1:15.160 | |
| 6 | 1:16.446 | 1:15.996 | 1:15.330 | |
| 7 | 1:16.498 | 1:16.126 | 1:15.827 | |
| 8 | 1:16.813 | 1:16.188 | 1:16.084 | |
| 9 | 1:16.862 | 1:16.320 | 1:16.189 | |
| 10 | 1:16.701 | 1:16.633 | 1:16.513 | |
| 11 | 1:16.252 | 1:16.844 | ||
| 12 | 1:16.857 | 1:16.871 | ||
| 13 | 1:16.242 | 1:17.167 | ||
| 14 | 1:16.682 | 1:17.184 | ||
| 15 | 1:16.828 | DNS | ||
| 16 | 1:16.911 | |||
| 17 | waffle | 1:16.966 | ||
| 18 | 1:17.599 | |||
| 19 | 1:17.689 | |||
| 20 | 1:17.886 |
It was all there for him. DH Verstappen was on pole after the first runs in Q3, and it wasn't even close. He was all set to break Seb Vettel's record as the youngest polesitter in F1 history. The announcers were splooging all over the place with unrestrained glee. To be fair, Verstappen had just turned in something of a Lap For The Ages, they all had reason to be excited... maybe not THAT excited, but excited.
And then something funny happened... they ran the rest of Q3. I know, what a stunning development, who woulda thought? If Verstappen's lap was one for the record books, and in fact it was the fastest lap around the Mexico City circuit ever, Smiley Ricciardo's final hot lap in Q3 was something for a new record book altogether. Somehow he managed to knock SIX TENTHS OF A SECOND off his lap time... and oh by the way, he took Verstappen's pole away in the process. You know how the FIA producer usually gets the radio call from the pit wall to the driver telling him he had pole, and the driver would respond with usually restrained happiness? Not this time. We didn't even need the producer piping the sound in, I could hear Smiley's scream of joy up here in Duckford... some sort of weird acoustic trick caused by the Grand Canyon, I gather. The tone in Verstappen's voice was chilly when David Coulthard's Chin asked him about missing out on the record when it looked so very like it would be his.
Other than all that and the Mercedes/Ferrari battle, which looked so... boring... today, qualifying was pretty much the usual sort of thing. Oh, it's certainly surprising that neither Haas made it out of Q1, and yes, it's very surprising that Red Bull locked out Row 1, but... well. The Red Bulls were something like 7 or 8 mph down vs the Mercs through the speed trap, but they made up the time lost and more on the twistybits. IF the two of them can avoid killing each other off the start, there's a chance they'll be able to keep Hamilton, et al, behind them into Turn 1. If that happens, well, who knows? But if the faster cars get by, it'll just be another ho-hum finish for the Austrian team. I can easily imagine seeing cars four abreast into the braking zone for Turn 1 after the start.
Hamilton doesn't need to take chances, of course. Sure, he'd very much like to win... but to win the driver's championship, all he has to do is finish 7th or better and it won't matter what Vettel does. In any case, Vettel needs to win out, and I just don't see that happening right now.
Race is in the afternoon sometime... I'm confused as to when, as Mexico ends Daylight Savings Time at 2am Sunday morning... check your local listing for times in your area. And we'll see you afterwards!
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October 24, 2018
Not F1Update!: United States 2018
Remember when I said that this race deserved more than a casual couple of minutes thrown together off the cuff? THIS is your F1 Thrown Together Off The Cuff Update for the 2018 United States Grand Prix!
*THE RACE: The USGP had almost everything you could possibly want. It had drama, it had redemption, it had fantastic performances, it had horrible performances at the worst possible times, it was exciting... the only thing it really lacked was a wheel-to-wheel fight for the lead.
In this particular case though, that's okay. What we did have was a bunch of teams who had no idea how their tires were going to act... it had rained during Friday Practice, Quals were run in cool and cloudy conditions, but the sun was out for the race. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen took advantage of this and took the lead from Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton at the start of the race. At the same time, Hamilton's rival for the championship Seb Vettel, starting fifth after shooting himself in the foot with an infraction on Friday, spun his Ferrari and found himself 18th... on a day where he desperately needed to beat Hamilton if he was going to have any chance, realistic or no, to win the championship.
Hamilton was never going to go wheel-to-wheel with Raikonnen, not with the championship on the line. While it would never really happen, there must have been thoughts of Ferrari instructing Kimi to 'accidentally' punch the Mercedes off the road. When Smiley Ricciardo saw his Red Bull just... stop working again... a virtual safety car period was called. Mercedes told Hamilton to do the opposite of Raikkonen: pit if he stayed out, stay out if he pit. Despite an attempt to trick Hamilton that saw Raikkonen twitch towards the pit-in, the Brit stopped for new tires.
As it turned out, this was the deciding moment in the race though nobody quite knew that yet. Emerging on fresh, faster tires, Lewis should have been had the race in his pocket... hang back, let the Finn wear his rubber out, take the lead when he pitted, and go quickly enough to negate the time gap, thus winning the race. Except that's not what happened.
Hamilton instead tried to attack Raikkonen. For 12 laps, the Ferrari driver defended the lead in a crisp and fair manner. All the while, Hamilton's efforts began killing his new tires. By the time Kimi pitted on Lap 21, it was looking evident that Merc's call had been a good one, but Raikkonen's skills on defense had gotten the better of them. One of the announcers later figured that Hamilton had lost some eight seconds during the laps he was stuck behind the Ferrari. In any case, as the Finn began to close in on the grip-impaired Mercedes, the team brought Hamilton in for a second stop.
When he returned to the track, he was not only behind Raikkonen, but the other Red Bull of DH Verstappen who had begun the race in 15th place due to a suspension failure in Quals. With Vettel seemingly stuck in fifth place, unable to get past the Mercedes of Valterri Bottas, all Hamilton had to do is get by the young Dutchman and he'd secure the driver's championship.
He couldn't. While both cars were closing in on the Ferrari, Hamilton put everything into one solid attempt to get by the Red Bull with a couple of laps remaining. This failed, though not for lack of trying, and in the squabble Raikkonen was able to return a second back to his lead. That put paid to any hopes to defeat him.
When the Finn crossed the line, it was his first win since the Australian Grand Prix in March of 2013. It was a popular result... over at Reddit, the discussion thread for the post-race became the highest up-voted thread in the Formula 1 subreddit's history, hit the top of the front page within one hour of the race ending, and the user who submitted it was given "reddit gold" some 460 times, the most ever for one post.
So now the championship fight moves to Mexico City this weekend, where unless Hamilton DNFs, he should be leaving with his fifth championship. See ya then.
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October 22, 2018
What A Time To Be Alive!
Then a new volume, #9, of "Sunshine" Sketch came out a few weeks ago, after nearly three years of waiting.
First, TokyoPop announced they'd be bringing ARIA: The Masterpiece over to our shores. If you're unfamiliar, it's essentially a collector's edition with a bigger format, better covers/binding, some new artwork, and improved paper quality. The first one comes out in February, and we've finally got a chance to actually see all of the ARIA manga released over here officially.
Now a new volume of Yotsuba!! is coming out on November 13th, after two-and-a-half years of waiting.
And they've just announced that Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka is going to be an anime, premiering in January.
...and there's a darn good chance that's gonna be a possible writeup candidate, too!
Really, this is the best of all possible worlds! what a great time to be alive!
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F1U USA MIA
So I came home right after work tonight, all set to sit down and pound out the F1U for the 2018 US Grand Prix (best race of the year!), and...
...things happened. Suddenly it's time for bed, and I didn't do nuthin' but the first sentence.
It deserves more time than a tiny bit. I'll have it up on Tuesday, I hope. What a race!
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October 20, 2018
F1 Quals: United States 2018
The skies above Austin were leaden and grey, and a gusty wind blew cold across the Texas landscape. It wasn't raining, but it had been doing so off-and-on all day. The track still had some pavement that was the darker shade such things get when it had been wet but wasn't really anymore. Any glance at the heavens, though, would be enough to convince a racegoer that it was only a matter of time.... Here's the provisional grid for the 2018 United States Grand Prix:
| Pos | Driver | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:34.130 | 1:33.480 | 1:32.237 | |
| 2 | 1:34.569 | 1:33.079 | 1:32.298 | |
| 3 | 1:34.703 | 1:32.884 | 1:32.307 | |
| 4 | 1:34.518 | 1:33.702 | 1:32.616 | |
| 5 | 1:34.755 | 1:34.185 | 1:33.494 | |
| 6 | 1:34.876 | 1:34.522 | 1:34.145 | |
| 7 | 1:34.932 | 1:34.564 | 1:34.215 | |
| 8 | 1:34.892 | 1:34.419 | 1:34.250 | |
| 9 | AMX-30 | 1:35.069 | 1:34.255 | 1:34.420 |
| 10 | 1:35.193 | 1:34.525 | 1:34.594 | |
| 11 | 1:34.891 | 1:34.566 | ||
| 12 | 1:34.972 | 1:34.732 | ||
| 13 | 1:34.850 | DNS | ||
| 14 | 1:35.206 | DNS | ||
| 15 | 1:34.766 | No Time |
||
| 16 | 1:35.294 | |||
| 17 | 1:35.362 | |||
| 18 | 1:35.480 | |||
| 19 | 1:35.536 | |||
| 20 | waffle | 1:35.735 |
A reminder that Vettel has received a three-grid-place penalty and will be starting fifth... which is just about as good as he could have hoped, really. At least his teammate will be taking his place on the grid; for a while there, one could have been forgiven for thinking that Kimi Raikkonen was an actual threat for pole today. He wasn't though... nobody was, because the Circuit of the Americas may as well be Silverstone West to Lewis Hamilton. It's his third consecutive pole position in Austin, and at least in my eyes there was really never any doubt that he'd get it. Oh sure, he was third in Q2, but only by a half-second or so... for a driver of his ability that's nothing. And so it proved. No real drama in Q3, either.
The only surprise on the day wasn't even a surprise, not in the way you think of one. DH Verstappen broke his right-rear suspension going over a sleeping policeman in Q1... while he was fast enough to carry on into Q2, the team was unable to repair the damage in time for him to continue... which leads one to think that the damage is more than just the suspension. A suspension change is hardly an easy task, but Red Bull had about 20 minutes to work with... an eternity in F1 terms. No, you've got to believe that there's more damage involved, like to the gearbox or driveshaft. I'm not going to cry any great amount of tears... particularly since, in a way, the curbs he hit were put there because of his abuse of track limits in 2017.
So, there you have it. The race is on ABC tomorrow, keep watching the skies!
Oh, and just FYI? It did begin to rain just after Qualifying ended. Not heavily, not that the TV audience saw, but there were spots showing up on various cameras around the circuit as Hamilton et al. took their victory laps. There's no rain forecast for tomorrow, but...
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October 19, 2018
F1 on TV: UNITED STATES RED WHITE AND BLUE HOT DOGS APPLE PIE AND HAAS F1!!!
*ahem*
Sorry, my patriotism is showing. Heh. So the Circus is in Austin Texas this week, Lewis Hamilton has a chance to clinch the driver's championship, and it's raining. That might prove an interesting combination come Sunday. Here's the track map:
Hasn't changed since the first time they raced here, though they did add a new DRS detection zone since then. The unofficially-named-but-it-should-totally-be-called Phil Hill up to Turn 01 is still the dominant feature of the circuit, but what I'm considering nicknaming The Wobbles (Turns 03 - 09) is a signature as well. No, literally, that's how Hermann Tilke signs his name.
Since this is the United States Grand Prix, we'll be getting coverage on The Big Network this time around... the race will be on ABC! P3 and Quals are on ESPNews, though. Check your locals for time in your place of abode. Here at Pond Central, the race is at 1pm.
It's starting to look a lot more like Vettel's done for this weekend. He's been handed a three-spot grid penalty for not slowing down enough during a red flag in practice today. This is consistent with other such penalties, it's just awful timing for the German who's been making quite a few mistakes of late.. Throw in expected rain during Quals, Lewis Hamilton's all-encompassing superiority in the rain, and his utter domination of the Circuit of the Americas, and... well.
Quals is in the late afternoon, report afters, see ya then! Byeeeeeeeee!
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October 16, 2018
One Day More...
As I was writing my diatribe against multiplayer video games below, I received a text message from my Boss, asking if I was okay? Well, sure... is there some reason I wouldn't be? "Well, you're not here and you didn't call in." Oh?
I didn't know I had to call in when I'm taking an approved vacation day, boss. "You're not on my schedule for having the day off, Wonderduck." You okayed it on Friday morning, I've got the e-mails. I even double-checked the request program. "...oh dear, my fault. So you're off supposed to be off Monday through Wednesday, right?
You have no idea how badly I wanted to say why yes, yes I am. Instead, I was a good little employee: "No, only through Tuesday, though if you said I could take another day off I certainly wouldn't say no." "Okay, considering all the stress I just put you through, I can approve that. See you Thursday."
Being on good terms with the boss is never a bad thing.
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Boston Dynamics Mean To Another Bot
If you read The Pond, you're probably familiar with those cruel people over at Boston Dynamics. Y'know, the people who appear to make robots just so they can be mean to them:
(edit: if the playback isn't working, try going here)
Well, they've done it again... except this time, they're not just being mean to one, they're torturing the poor thing!
Making it dance to a knockoff version of Uptown Funk for our entertainment... if that isn't a human rights violation, I don't know what is. Synth rights (Fallout 4, salute!) maybe? Wait, I'm confused now.
Oh, Fallout 4... how I want to love you! But relationships require work from both sides, and you're not putting in the effort. As much as I love wandering around the scorched earth that is the Commonwealth, I'd like there to be a compelling story and Preston Gravy ain't doin' it for me. I mean, I can see how crafting a settlement or two would be fun for some players. I can, really! But y'know the term "social gamer"? Well, I'm nothing if not an ASOCIAL gamer. I'll play multiplayer games like World of Warships or War Thunder because of the tie to my MilHist background, but the fact is that there are a LOT of unappealing jackweasels out there. I mean, the last time I played WoW, some naval geenyus started berating me for firing HE shells from my battleship.
At practically unarmored light cruisers.
At Tier III.
And I was sailing an Orion, the first RN battleship in the game... which with flags has something like a 50% chance of setting fires with its HE rounds.
Yeah. I love being yelled at for doing the right thing.
So, "asocial gamer." On the whole, I like a good single-player game... Skyrim and Fallout 3 both have something like 400-500 hours on them. But having to build settlements and cater to the whims of Preston Gravy and settlers that are the least grateful NPCs I've ever made bedding for? Yeah, that's waaaaay too much like being screamed at by some wanna-be Panzer Oberst-Gruppenfuhrer because he didn't like the "68" I had on the side of my StuG III.
So love me, Fallout 4, love me!
Okay, enough of that. I'm going to write a sternly-worded letter to Boston Dynamics now.
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October 15, 2018
Four Days Off! A Clarification
This was not supposed to happen. I wasn't scheduled to have Monday and Tuesday off. In fact, I couldn't have had those days off, as October was closed for vacation requests back in August. But then, a funny thing happened...
...almost everybody in my office called in sick a couple Fridays ago. I was one of the few who showed up, and there was only one other person in my aisle, when normally there'd be 11 of us. Why that happened I leave open as an exercise for the observer... I'm sure I have no idea. The reaction from The Powers That Be was... confusing. Instead of grumbling about all the outages, they decided to reopen October for vacation requests.
No, I don't claim to understand it. I will, however, claim that I took advantage of it. About an hour after the announcement was made, I had my request in... and it was approved late last week. I don't have to be back in-office until Wednesday! I really need it, too... I took a nap this afternoon/evening, around 530pm. Jokingly, I set my alarm for 10pm, thinking there's no way I'd sleep for that long.
If you've ever read The Pond before, you know what this means... I slept until 11pm. There was a chance everything was going to go as planned, as at about 9pm I woke briefly. Then I reset my alarm for midnight and went back to sleep. Instead of cursing myself when I have to get up for work the next day, I just grinned when I finally did rise from my slumber. Two more days! It's like I've been set free. I'm trying to ignore the whole "going back to work" thing.
I don't have to worry about that for a couple of days yet.
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October 13, 2018
Four Days Off!
Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off!Four Days Off!
Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off!Four Days Off!
Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off!Four Days Off!
Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off!Four Days Off!
Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off!Four Days Off!
Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off! Four Days Off!Four Days Off!
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October 10, 2018
F1 Update: Japan 2018, The "I've Got To Put Something Up" Edition
Okay, we're sorry to be both late and short with this F1U!. Recent bouts of unhealthiness and long hours at work have conspired against Japan getting the coverage it deserves. But we'll give it a try anyway: THIS is your F1Update! for the 2018 Grand Prix of Japan!
*SUMMARY: Once again, a race is heavily influenced by DH Verstappen getting into predicaments with Ferraris. Very early in the race, he got into a tete-a-tete for Kimi Raikkonen, earning himself a five-second time penalty and letting Seb Vettel past his teammate without needing team orders... see how it's done, Mercedes? Now Vettel could have waited for Verstappen to serve his penalty and get into third free-and-clear, But with Lewis Hamilton leading the race and his teammate Valterri Bottas beginning to pull away, Vettel really couldn't wait. So he tried to get by the young Dutchman, and after a coming together that was declared a "racing incident", Vettel was suddenly last. And just like that, Ferrari threw in the towel on Vettel ever catching Hamilton for the World Championship. At the end of the race, Vettel had managed to claw his way back up to sixth and was nearing his teammate, who was having problems with grip on worn tires. Ferrari could have commanded Raikkonen to let him by and give him two extra championship points... and didn't.
In any case, Hamilton now has a nigh-on insurmountable lead, and can actually win the championship at the next race, the US Grand Prix. And thus a season that started with such promise ends just like last year.
As we said, sorry this is short... hope to do better come Austin time!
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