India and Nepal

 

Just back this week from a fabulous Exodus trip from Delhi to Kathmandu via Jaipur, Agra and Varanasi.

Highlights included:

Amber Fort

 

 

 

 

 

Taj Mahal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Varanasi

 

 

 

 

 

Chitwan NP

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see all the highlights here

USAF selects Boeing for KC-X contract

Flight International posts the result: [UPDATED]: USAF selects Boeing for KC-X contract

Those of you with good memories will recall that in my post Aussies Steal a March on the USAF I bemoaned the fact that the USAF couldn’t seem to make up its mind on who should get the KC-X contract.

Well now it has and, surprise surprise, its Boeing with a modified B767 to enter service as the KC-46A, mostly because it was cheaper than the EADS A330 offering and has a lower T/O weight (see the main article for details).

The contract is worth $USD 35 billion and General Norton Schwartz the USAF Chief of Staff says “I’m pleased at how this produced an outcome … that we will get about delivering a capability that’s long overdue and we’ll stop talking about it.”

Meanwhile the RAAF is expecting delivery of its first Airbus A330 MRTT very soon.

The World’s Largest Fire Truck

 

Check out the World’s biggest fire extinguisher from Evergreen

Now isn’t that quite something.  Need a couple permanently based in Melbourne during the fire season.

Can the Met Office Deliver Accurate Weather Forecasts?

On the basis of the Met Office’s performance this Winter the answer must surely be a resounding no.  Throughout the Winter the Met Office forecasts have been completely different to the BBC, Metcheck and the Weather Channel, at least for Dunblane (and to be fair the other providers are different from each other – I have blogged about this before).

Of particular difference between the providers has been the forecast temperature. Often the Met Office has been up to 10 degrees different from the BBC (which uses the same raw data feed) – on the pessimistic side usually, often changing their mind markedly every half hour.  For example below is the current forecast from the Met Office for Dunblane.  The actual conditions today (at 1800) are clear sky and a temperature of 4 degrees! This is by no means an unusual disparity.

In the current Winter it’s really important to know what sort of weather is coming. So come on Met Office get yourself a new Cray or better meteorologists.

Ferrari's fantastic four-wheel-drive FF flagship four-seat fastback

 

Wowie, Zowie a new Ferrari, replacing the 612 Scaglietti, and what an elegant four seater it is.  Totally different to Porsche's try at the the same thing which is Totally Teutonic and hence by definition pug ugly.

But not this Ferrari.  Does FF stand for Fab Ferrari?

Read all about it at Autoblog

RAF Gunners welcomed home from Helmand

The latest lot of RAF Regiment gunners have returned from Helmand and we are relieved and proud to see them back.  Read more…Ministry of Defence | Defence News | History and Honour | RAF Gunners welcomed home from Helmand

One of the accompanying photos is captioned “The Mayor of St Edmundsbury, Councillor Ian Houlder, and Officer Commanding 1 Squadron RAF Regiment, Squadron Leader Dave Crook, take the salute”

Now SQNLDR Crook must have had a good deployment because he has apparently been promoted to Group Captain as you can see from the photograph:

 

It’s a real pity (and a bit worrying) that the truth makers at the MoD don’t know their badges of rank and can’t tell a Group Captain from a Squadron Leader!

Would David Brown Roll in his Grave?

 

Probably yes is the answer if this add for Aston Martin is anything to go by: http://www.astonmartin.com/eng/rapidetruepower

Puerile, hackneyed and utterly toe curling (who on earth is it aimed at?).  Can’t wait for Part 2 to feed my masochistic tendencies.

A New Caterham

Like the appearance of Halley’s comet or the discovery of donkey horse droppings a completely new Caterham is the rarest of automotive events.  The UK manufacturer of niche sports cars has announced a brand new car at the Autosport International show at the NEC and incredibly exciting it is too.  For all the details see PistonHeads Headlines

This is just so different from the Lotus 7 inspired Caterhams that we all love and that go like stink but, if truth be known, are now just a tad old fashioned.

But the new Caterham changes the game and has so many firsts for the company.  Stunning looks, even more stunning performance and  an emphasis on track days and motorsport. 

Can’t wait to see the UK model.  Regrettably it is certain that I won’t be able to afford it.

The Life Guard and the RAF

It seems that former Life Guard and international crooner James Blunt had a bad experience trying to get to a morale boosting concert in Afghanistan.

On the face of it everything that could go wrong at the hands of the RAF did and the concert had to be cancelled.

As  former air force officer (in my case the RAAF) it really hurts to hear these tales of woe.  Being a fighter jock is great and glamorous but the real projection of strategic power in the sorts of conflicts we chose to fight these days can only be achieved by the so called “trash haulers”.  But it appears that they aren’t very good at it.  A big size 12 boot up the arse is definitely required here.

Close Air Support after Harrier

Now that the Harrier is history the question arises as to how we will provide close air support for land operations in Afghanistan.

Big fast jets, whilst being able to deliver a large precise punch are not really very good at sustained close air support (CAS) to troops on the ground.

During the Vietnam war although F-4s, F-100s and F-5s were all used successfully for air support one of the most effective CAS aircraft was the A-1 Skyraider in various guises.  It carried a big load of munitions and could loiter close to the forward edge of the battle area and so be on call at short notice.

The modern version is the A-1 is the Warthog but I can’t see us buying them for the CAS role.

But we could buy AT-6 Texans, probably quite cheaply at that and since the Mod has made the first step in buying non-Brit gear there seems no argument not to.

Rivet Joint morphs into Air Seeker

 

At last the coalition seem to have taken a sensible procurement decision to forgo “Made in Britain” kit and acquire three US RC-135 W Rivet Joint aircraft for the joint electronic intelligence role.  These will replace the ageing Nimrod R1s.

This will provide four advantages over the Nimrod:

• The RC-135 airframe is mature robust and virtually indestructible having been developed from the evergreen KC-135 tanker which is still in front line USAF service.
• The RAF will now have full interoperability with the US, unlike the Nimrod
• There will be three of them rather than only two Nimrods
• They're available now

Lets hope that the Government and its recently appointed new head of MoD procurement will will take lots more sensible defence procurement decisions rather than buying only British kit (because it keeps British jobs) like the previous and utterly incompetent government.

Same Again Please

Is it just me or are we entering a period, like the 70s, when all new cars seem to look the same irrespective of make?

Autoblog is currently covering the Los Angeles auto show so take a look at today’s blog and see for yourself.  The style isn’t exactly elegant!

Arriving at the Pub

When I was living in Surrey I used to frequent the Noah’s Ark in Lurgashall West Sussex, one of the most picturesque pubs you could imagine, situated on the perfect English village green where the gentle click of willow on leather can often be heard on the long Summer evenings.

I often wondered what car would be best to arrive in at the pub to create the maximum attention.  After much contemplation of the usual suspects: RR Silver Ghost London to Edinburgh, Jaguar XKSS, AC Cobra 427, Tipo 61 Birdcage Maserati, P4 Ferrari etc, etc. I concluded that something out of the ordinary would be better.  So I decided on a J2 Allard which seemed to me to fit the bill – masculine, loud and very hirsute.

I  have only ever seen one and that was at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu so my ambition seemed doomed.  But now a Canadian company is making replicas so good that they could be like a sort Sanction 2 a la Aston Martin DB4GT  Vantage Zagato. See: PistonHeads Headlines

Now all I need is the dosh and I can knock ‘em dead art the Noah’s Ark!

Spy Shots: Porsche 911 struts its stuff — Autoblog

From the always entertaining Autoblog:

Spy Shots: Porsche 911 struts its stuff — Autoblog

How terribly exciting  a New Porsche that looks, well er, like every other new Porsche for the last 20 years.

PistonHeads Headlines

Audi decides how cars will sound driving down electric avenue...

PistonHeads Headlines

I should have thought that the answer for Audi was fairly obvious…a loud Bavarian voice repeating endlessly Achtung, Vorsprung  Durch Technic, Dumbkopf

BBC - Earth News - New species of snub-nosed monkey discovered in Myanmar

Another new species of monkey discovered in Burma …BBC - Earth News - New species of snub-nosed monkey discovered in Myanmar

How wonderful that yet another large (-ish) mammal has been discovered, this time related to other snub-nosed monkeys found in Vietnam and China.

Whopping Antenna in Space to Provide 4G Wireless Service Soon | LiveScience

This is a genuine good news story, at least for me (Whopping Antenna in Space to Provide 4G Wireless Service Soon | LiveScience)

You see I can’t get a decent Virgin 3G signal here in Dunblane and entirely perversely can get a good one in a cave in the Maghreb Sahara!

BBC News - 'Vital' science spared deep cuts

 

Well it looks like the science budget has not been cut as much as feared (BBC News - 'Vital' science spared deep cuts).

This is good news and will enable “science” to get on with the jobs that are vital to all our futures.  Expect to see a raft of new research programmes designed to better previous endeavours such as :

• Why flies have wings;
• Why wildebeests aren’t blue;
• Why cross-eyed lions can’t see straight;
• Why the tops of mountains are cold (this will examine the counterintuitive argument that things closer to the Sun are actually colder than those further away); and (not forgetting applied science):
• How to boil an egg on an electric guitar.

How the leopard got its spots

 

 

The BBC is carrying this astonishing story BBC News - On how the leopard got its spots

It seems, following a research programme, that leopards have spots so they can hide in trees and not be seen – Doh!

Now I guess everyone probably knows this because it is intuitively obvious.

Cutting the science budget is possibly no bad thing if it is spent on this sort of ridiculous research!

BBC - Earth News - New carnivorous mammal species found in Madagascar

It feels good to be able to blog about the discovery of yet another unknown carnivore, this time from Madagascar - BBC - Earth News - New carnivorous mammal species found in Madagascar.

The importance of the discovery of new mammalian predators cannot be overestimated.  The existence of mammalian predators is indicative of a healthy ecology.  When a habitat starts to degrade the first species to go are the predators because the food chain “dries up”.

In this case the mammal is a vontsira (Salanoia durrelli), a little known animal of the family Eupleridae whose best known member is the Fossa, a type of true mongoose:

It has been given the common name Durrell’s vontsira in honour of Gerald Durrell, the founder of Jersey Zoo. It is thought that it lives in marshland and may prey on molluscs and crustaceans.

Tory Conference: Labour left 'ghastly legacy' over Armed Forces, says Liam Fox - Telegraph

And we know who’s to blame don’t we.  Macavity’s not there:he’s gone for good. Hallelujah!

Tory Conference: Labour left 'ghastly legacy' over Armed Forces, says Liam Fox - Telegraph

Aussies Steal a March on the USAF

While the USAF,Office of Procurement and vested aerospace interests continue to squabble over the specification and contract for the KC-X, the replacement tanker for the venerable KC-135, the RAAF is set to take delivery of its first A330MRTT tanker/transport, based on the Airbus A330, in the next few weeks. This aircraft is also on order for the RAF and will probably become the standard Western “full fat” tanker in the years to come.
The importance of the KC-X programme for the US’s global reach cannot be overestimated and is possibly the single most important USAF programme for a generation.  So it is perplexing that the Yanks can’t get their act together.  I am a great admirer of US kit and ways of doing things but sometimes they border on the pathetic.

More New Species Found in the Greater Mekong

I have blogged before about the discovery of new species in general and in the Greater Mekong in particular:
http://peterfarr.blogspot.com/2009/09/extinction-is-forever.html http://peterfarr.blogspot.com/2009/12/another-new-species-in-greater-mekong.html, http://peterfarr.blogspot.com/2009/10/global-warming-in-greater-mekong.html and http://peterfarr.blogspot.com/2009/09/where-have-all-birds-gone-on-mekong-at.htmlWWF is urging urgent action to ensure that new species discovered as a result of research in the Greater Mekong basin are not lost.The full WWF report can be downloaded hereBut the message is best summed up in this WWF video

New discoveries in the Greater Mekong from WWF on Vimeo.

Stuxnet Rolls On

 

Stuxnet, the malware that infiltrates Siemens plant control software and trashes it, has come to public notice since its attack on an Iranian nuclear reactor.  Indeed one could say that it has become an Important Issue having been featured on the Today Programme this morning.

I listened with fascination as the two “experts” talked with great gravitas about it.  Unfortunately the female professor, though articulate in that BBC way of speaking to the prols, couldn’t manage anything much more enlightening than it might be serious and showed new ways that bad people could attack in cyberspace.

Now call me old-fashioned but I happen to think that an ability to trash an oppressive and lunatic regime’s nuclear weapons facility remotely without a body count can hardly be called bad.

As I have previously blogged Stuxnet and its ilk may be the future of warfare and if that is the case then we need to plough significantly more resources into research and operations involving cyber war – particularly defending against cyber attacks-if we can do it to them they can do it to us.  Probably more than buying two new aircraft carriers which already are probably vulnerable to a Stuxnet –like attack. 

There is worrying evidence that the defence review is looking in the wrong place.  Instead of bickering about the numbers of fast jets and special forces soldiers we should be going flat out to build our cyberwar capability at a fraction of the cost.  What’s needed is brainpower not kit.

Building our defence doctrine on the assertion that “Whatever happens we have got the SAS [or Trident] and they have not” (with apologies to Hilaire Belloc) is hardly a way of future-proofing the nation.

Iron Man-style power suits

Is this the future of warfare or is it a last gasp of the old way of fighting as compared with cyber war (see Malware Will Change the Face of Warfare LiveScience and BBC News - Stuxnet worm hits Iran nuclear plant staff computers )
Click here for graphic demo

Malware Will Change the Face of Warfare | LiveScience

LiveScience (Malware Will Change the Face of Warfare | LiveScience) would appear to be supporting the thesis, discussed on this blog, that cyber war will significantly change the very nature of war itself.
Watch this space!

BBC News - Stuxnet worm hits Iran nuclear plant staff computers

This is an item - BBC News - Stuxnet worm hits Iran nuclear plant staff computers - about a virus that has infected Iran’s nuclear reactor that is designed to destroy it by attacking the Siemens plant operating software.   It is suggested that the attack is the work of a nation state.
Could this be the start of a new type of warfare, already much heralded but yet to be initiated?
Clausewitz reminds us that the aim of war is to disarm the enemy i.e. to defeat the enemy’s ability to wage war.
Sun Tzu tells us that the supreme act of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
What appears to have happened relates to both dictums with dramatic resonance.
But we shouldn’t ditch our conventional weapons quite yet.

Texas Pumas Rescue Florida Panthers | Big Cat Endangered Species, Wild Cats & Inbreeding | LiveScience

WHAT’s IN A NAME? 

This LiveScience article ”Texas Pumas Rescue Florida Panthers | Big Cat Endangered Species, Wild Cats & Inbreeding | LiveScience” is quite interesting but for a while I was wondering which animal was being referred to.  The talk, as shown by the title, was of panthers.  But I didn’t think there were any wild panthers outside of Asia and Africa so the bit about panthers in Florida had me a bit bemused.  So some Wiki Work was called for.

Turns out there are (at least) three wild big cats that wear the label Panther:

• Melanistic leopards (Panthera pardus), found in Africa and Asia;
• Black Panthers which are melanistic Jaguars (Panthera onca), found in the Americas; and
• Florida Panthers which are a blue-eyed subspecies of of the Puma [also known as a Cougar] (Puma concolor), also found in the Americas.

The one thing they all have in common is being big black cats.  So when you say Panther it depends on who you are as to what you mean. That’s exactly why scientific names are so important because each one is specific and unique.

In any event all big cats, with the possible exception of lions, are in trouble so the substance of the article is good news.

My top 10 most important cars in history. What are yours? - Anything goes

 
Autocar scribe Sutters has listed (below) what, to him, are the ten most important cars ever.  Needless to say I don’t entirely agree with him.  So here are mine
Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale – because it is the most beautiful car…ever
The Mini (Alec Issigonis’s one)- because it made small cars trendy and showed that a good big’un  doesn’t always beat a small good’un.
Lotus 7 and its heirs and descendents- because lightness is the soul of good engineering
Toyota Landcruiser- because it can go anywhere and is indestructible
Honda NSX – because it showed that anyone can drive a true supercar
Lancia Lambda- for showing that monocoque construction was a goer
Citroen Traction Avante- for proving front-wheel drive.
MG TC – for turning America on to sports cars
Toyota Prius – for being the first hybrid that people actually wanted to buy
My top 10 most important cars in history. What are yours? - Anything goes

BBC News - Seagulls 'may be spreading superbugs'

This item brings together two of my intellectual interests – ornithology (particularly Larids) and microbiology – both of which I studied at Monash University in the 70s.  It’s like bumping  into a couple of old friends.

But alas the contents of the item bring no comfort.  Given the numbers of gulls in urban areas in Scotland: Common Gulls, Back-Headed Gulls, Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, all of which wage merciless war on mankind, it is surely only a matter of time until they add biological warfare to their repertoire.

BBC News - Seagulls 'may be spreading superbugs'