Pikes Peak hill climb is still one of the most challenging events in motor racing. No one has ever done it in under 10 minutes until now. The legendary Monster Tajima finally did it after trying for many many years; in a 900hp beast bearing the most passing of resemblances to a Suzuki SX4. Here’s the preamble video:
The Ningaloo Coast in NW Australia, one of the longest near-shore reefs on Earth has acquired World Heritage Listing
Amongst the wonders of Ningaloo is the best Whale Shark viewing area in the World.
The bi-annual Paris Air show is one of the premiere aerospace events ……in the World (as Jezzer would say). Here are its highlights in a minute courtesy of Defense News.
And here’s an F-16 beat up:
This is a headline being trumpeted by the Telegraph. Judging by some of the quotes in the article it’s a fairly mild clash. Military rebellion isn’t just around the corner. The PM can sleep comfortably in his bed without fear of a visit by the SAS or whoever is currently tasked with what the KGB used to refer to as “wet work”.
The substance of the “military chiefs” concerns is entirely reasonable but the public airing of them is not. These disagreements should be resolved in private. Making them public suggests that the service chiefs are entering the political arena, one they should and must keep clear of.
Once serving generals become political our trust in their neutrality and objective reasoning withers. Unlike places like Libya we live in a democracy where war is an extension of policy by other means, not a way of life. The government makes the decisions and where necessary the military acts. My country right or wrong – that is one of the facets of the Faustian Bargain entered into by all warriors. And besides generals, admirals and air marshals make great military leaders but usually lousy politicians (The Duke of Wellington notwithstanding).
Now before you dismiss me as a bleeding heart liberal I would remind you that I am one of the greatest supporters of the military having been a soldier and an airman too. In fact my friends ridicule me for it. But I am an even fiercer democrat by instinct.
Sir Stirling Moss has finally retired
What can I say about the Greatest Living Motor Sportsman that hasn’t already been said?
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
Trying a new look called “Awesome” which seems a bit of a hyperbole. But it fits my present mood exactly.
The only permanence is change.
AS you know I have been a great fan of IE9 which seemed to have the right balance of speed, functionality and looks.
But alas it always seems to turn to tears in the long run with MS IE. Of late I have found, for absolutely no apparent reason, that there is a most vexing situation where IE9 won’t render videos correctly, throwing them off axis to the left and unable to be controlled and filling up the left hand side of the screen with rapidly flashing ads that appear when the mouse is scrolled. After much deep thought and empirical analysis I discovered that there is a fundamental incompatibility between IE9 and the Flash Player v10.3 but only on my laptop. The other computers in the house (three) are all fine.
Totally unable to rectify the problem with the usual system restores, uninstalls and reinstalls I have given IE9 away and gone to Firefox 4.0.1 which seems to have done the trick. Chrome lacks the functionality I want although it is quick and Opera is utterly incomprehensible!
I had used the Beta version of FF 4 but that had all sorts of problems (as one would expect with a beta build – doh!). The release version seems [so far] to work fine, is compatible with Adobe Flash 10.3 and solves all the problems.
You can download it here
What is it with Microsoft? Why can’t they have stable products resistant to the vagaries of ghosts in the machine?
Why does the BBC persist in honouring Ratko Mladic by continuing to call him General.
BBC News - Ratko Mladic declared fit to face Hague tribunal
Mladic is simply a thug and does not deserve the title.
Its been a good month for tracking down the evil people of the world. First Osama bin Laden and now Ratko Mladic who is currently being extradited to the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
The killing of Bin Laden, in circumstances which only those who were present know, denied the full course of justice but did have the effect of removing a dreadful terrorist, responsible for thousands of innocent deaths.
The capture of Mladic, the Bosnian Serb architect of the massacre of 7,500 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica will enable justice to be done and be seen to be done.
Unfortunately there are many others in many countries still at large and perpetrating their own brands of evil
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
How’s this? Like having your own mini MV-22 Osprey without having to tilt the wings. Is that cool or is that cool?
For all the gory details see:
PistonHeads Headlines - Chrysler Engines For Maserati Saloons?
A Maserati with a Chrysler engine…surely not! (calling it a cinquestella doesn’t fool anyone Mr Mopar). But wait it’s worse…a Maserati with a diesel ? Could this really be the end of civilisation as we know it? Not so much Stealing Beauty but rather Flushing Beauty Down the Toilet.
Owen Barder, the development economist and Director for Europe at the Center for Global Development in DC (whom I had the pleasure of working with in DFID), has just produced a witty and surgically precise piece about the scions of the the “ruling class” trying to actually do things.
Read the piece at Owen’s interesting and informative blog. It’s worth the read. Summons up the world of Nancy Mitford.
Are you a gadget freak? Have you got them all? If so this one’s for you.
Pioneer's Discussion Table . Soon you won’t be able to live without it or the $37,000 USD you paid for it (plus the shipping charges). But hey think of all the fun you’ll have figuring out what to do with it.
This is a Western affliction for which the evidence is strong:
(and there are probably lots of others)
Why is this so? Do we really believe we are better than the opposition or do our intelligence people simply not know what’s going on? And why, in the face of this sort of evidence, do we fail to learn?
As Sun Tzu said 2,500 years ago Know yourself and your enemy and you need not fear the results of a thousand battles.
Clearly we ain’t got a clue. And they teach military history at Sandhurst! Maybe the cadets can’t be bothered listening.
You will recall me castigating the Porsche 918 Spyder because I thought it looked like a can opener.
Well Volvo has gone one better and built a car that looks like a blow heater!
I think I’ll do a regular It looks like a …..spot.
Come back Bertone, all is forgiven.
Measles has the capacity to be apocalyptic and this item is about Measles in Europe, rather than somewhere else unimportant.
We may well be reaping the whirlwind of not vaccinating children. It used to be said that no junior doctor had ever seen a case of measles. Well they will soon. Why is it that we never learn the lessons of the past provided at terrible cost?
Ken Block never does things by halves so when he crashes it’s going to be something special. The finale is worth waiting for!
Just as we have got used to Windows 7 Microsoft are teasing Windows 8 with screen clips like this one:
Will it look different to W7…perhaps not too much. But form follows function and MS are promising lots of new things with much emphasis on the fat server thin client paradigm. So if you haven’t got a Hotmail account you should think seriously of getting one.
This why you need to keep your seatbelt fastened on the ground in a passenger aircraft. How often have you undone your seatbelt before the captain “switches off the fasten seatbelt sign” Well don’t!
Watch the video.
BBC News - Air France jet clips small plane at New York airport
I have previously blogged about the need to replace the now withdrawn Harrier in the close air support role in Afghanistan and suggested that the AT-6 Texan would fit the bill.
Now Aviation Week has an extended video telling more about the idea.
Recently I blogged about the Aston Martin Rapide video Would David Brown Roll in his Grave?
Well here it is in its full awfulness
It’s been a very bad week in sport for me. Australia got dumped out of the Cricket World Cup (Ponting and the team must die), Mark Webber didn’t win the Aussie Grand Prix at Albert Park and today Wasps were unceremoniously beaten 39-3 by Northampton Saints.
The only ray of sunshine was Australia topping the medal table in the World Track Cycling Championship and particularly Anna Meares showing Victoria Pendleton how it’s done by winning three Golds.
Final score Australia 8 Golds, UK 1 Gold. A harbinger of London 2012? Let’s hope so.
Festo, a leader in robotics, has created a robotic bird inspired by the Herring Gull which flies in a pretty realistic way. A bit of a gimmick at present but with obvious military potential.
Whatever next? Engadget has the full story Festo's SmartBird robot takes off with elegance, doesn't poop on you (video) -- Engadget
The Russian SU-30 is famous for its “Cobra” manoeuvre but can it do a Flip?
Raptors rule OK.
