Monday July 31, 2006

The German GP

The silly season has now moved over to Schumi with stories of him moving the BMW for a final year in F1. All sorts of merchandising could result in him getting a billion US for his one year efforts. Also in the silly season Alonso is getting cold feet on his move to Team Macca - which he denies of course. Willaims as expected will use Toyota engines in 2007. Trulli has signed a multi year deal with Toyota. The ugly twin towers on the Sauber have been banned on the basis of reducing driver visibility. Super Aguri had their first GP weekend with their new car, but it still uses the old tub from the defunct Arrows team. Finally Renault and a few other teams had the so called mass damper system banned from this race too.

Qualifying.

Trulli and Albers will both be demoted down the grid as both needed their Toyota engines changing - worryingly. Qual 1 - Early in the session Speed runs wide and ends up banging into a wall - his qualifying over. The session is red flagged for the mess to be cleared up. On the resumption of the session Red Bull are fast. Renault come out late and are clearly not as fast as Mclaren or Ferrari, with those guys on P1 and P2. The usual suspects ( not Honda) are then elimated for Qual 2. When this session starts it is clear the track is a lot faster or people have turned up the wick. Again Red Bull are doing well and Button is well up with the fastest times. But Ferrari come out and blitz their way to the front. At the end Williams, BMW, Klein and Trulli are eliminated. Final qualifying. Pedro De La Rosa turns in on a corner and his rear tyre is clobbered by Ralph's car. Pedro De La Rosa comes in for a tyre change but Ralphs stop is longer to change the suspension. Schumi is seen having a moment and decides to pit at the same time as Massa he cheekily exits the pits in front of Alonso causing consternation from the him - " did you see what Michael did to me " he screams over the pit radio. Five minutes to go and the real qualifying starts. Kimi does a blinder which is not beaten. Alonso is down in P7 not a good birthday present. Ferrari get P2, P3 and Button a respectable fourth. "What has changed " he is asked? " Well I have not shaved for several weeks" he says sporting a new beard.

 1.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   1'14"070  222.309 Km/h  
 2.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1'14"205  221.904 Km/h  
 3.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   1'14"569  220.821 Km/h  
 4. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   1'14"862  219.957 Km/h  
 5.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1'14"894  219.863 Km/h  
 6. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   1'14"934  219.745 Km/h  
 7.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1'15"282  218.730 Km/h  
 8.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   1'15"923  216.883 Km/h  
 9.  4  DE LA ROSA   McLaren Mercedes  M   1'15"936  216.846 Km/h  
10. 14  COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M   1'16"326  215.738 Km/h

The race, a fairly clean start with both Honda's starting badly Button overtaken by the Renaults but within a lap he got past both of them to regain fourth. Rosberg overcooks it and ends up in the gravel. DC is launched into the air by Ralph and both come into the pits for repairs. 65 to go and De La rosa stops on the track some kind of car failure. 60 to go and EM>Kimi leads Schumi by three seconds but expected to pit much earlier. He does so with 58 to go on a three stopper and has problems with his rear tyre which holds him up. Heidfeld retires after his team decide his car is too dangerous to continue.

53 to go Alonso is lapping a second slower than Fisi who is ahead of him on the track. Kimi rejoins in eighth behind Rubens who overtakes Webber. 51 to go and Button pits comes out behind Kimi. Rubens is closing in on Alonso. 49 to go and Ferrari ready for a stop first Massa and we see Rubens retire his car on fire. Button has passed Kimi unseen by us. 47 to go Schumi pits, Alonso then does returns in ninth. Webber is on a long first stint in an excellent third. 35 to go and JV has a major off on a corner that is clearly some kind of car failure. The car is all but destroyed but he gets out without a scratch.

At this stage it looks like Ferrari are slowing their pace a second between the teammates. 31 to go Ralph's terrible weekend continues with a drive through penalty for speeding in the pits. 28 to go and Webber overtakes Fisi for fourth place, Kimi is three seconds beind the Renaults. 26 to go Button pits he is battling Kimi, Webber for the final podium. Montero has a drive through for holding Button up under blue flags. Both the Super Aguri cars have now retired - first outing for the new car.

23 to go Alonso pits and comes out ahead of his teammate and Massa also pits. 22 to go Klein is overtaken by Trulli for sixth. Speed is seen going wide and rattles through the kitty litter on his way back to the track. ( its the black stuff you want to stay on Scott). 20 to go Webber is ten seconds ahead of Button but he has to stop as does Kimi. 19 to go Webber stops returns back on the track in sixth. 13 to go Ferrari protecting their cars and several back markers are unlapping themselves. Kimi makes a splash and dash stop comes out side by side with Webber and claims P4 - great driving by both drivers. Button is only a few seconds ahead of Kimi and it is not long before he is overtaken for the final podium by the Finish driver. Webber is then overtaken by Alonso his car sounds very sick and he retires. Six to go Alonso falls of the track but recovers ahead of his teammate who is acting as rear gunner for him to keep Trulli at bay. The result:

 1.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1h27'51"693  209.278 Km/h  
 2.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   +  0'00"720  209.249 Km/h  
 3.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   +  0'13"206  208.755 Km/h  
 4. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   +  0'18"898  208.530 Km/h  
 5.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   +  0'23"707  208.341 Km/h  
 6.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   +  0'24"814  208.297 Km/h  
 7.  8  TRULLI       Toyota            B   +  0'26"544  208.229 Km/h  
 8. 15  KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M   +  0'48"131  207.384 Km/h 

The gap between Schumi and Alonso is now eleven points with sixty available. Renault have been told they can use the mass damper device in Hungary next week - was the temporary baning deliberate to close the gap between the two championship contenders ? Ferrari have given Bridgestone their 100th the victory in F1.

Friday July 28, 2006

Hello / Goodbye

Just like the Beatles song we are saying Hello Goodbye . At the beginning of this month our new batch of students started work with us and today three of the old timers leave us. The remaining two leave end of August. As with every year each new batch are different, but a trend seems to be that they always seem more confident and as we get older they stay the same age. Earlier in the week we all went out for a meal and had a curry - what else would you do with blazing temperatures of thirty degrees plus ? The good news is that out of last years bunch three have now got jobs in Sun a testament to them and the training we gave them I like to think. What will happen to this years bunch ? Only time will tell. Meanwhile thanks guys for all your hard work and dedication. Good luck in your final year at University.

Energy saving bulbs

There was an article on the news about these bulbs the other week. In the UK if we all switched to using these I think they said the total energy requirement for the nation would drop by at least 10%; it might have been as much as 20%. Someone in the US said if every household in the US installed one of these bulbs in their house/apartment it would prevent enough pollution, equal removing one million cars from the road. These bulbs are becoming cheaper but I wonder if further inducements need to be done to get us to use more of these in our homes. We found a further benefit. The shades in our lounge only allowed a 60W standard bulbs to remove the danger of the shade catching fire. Using one of these bulbs we can put the equivalent of a 100W bulb but still be safe. It would be really good if the packaging had a guide on how much electricy you would save by using one of these bulbs. Another good thing is they last longer and I think the light they give off is less harsh and natural.

Thursday July 27, 2006

Restoration is back

The excellent Restoration program is back on Friday BBC2 9PM. Griff Rhys Jones leads the team travelling the UK showing us buildings and other historical sites that are nominated for possible funding to be restored. I joke with my wife that Griff Rhys Jones himself looks like he could do with some restoration with his unkept appearance. It is sad to see so many of the historical sites that unless they get attention will soon be lost forever as there is only one winner at the end of the series. Some sites after being highlighted on TV do get other funding from kind benefactors etc.

The cheek of it

Even cheekier than the Cheeky girls is this. These were being handed out at our local railway station last week. I wish Thames Water would spend money on improving their water systems instead of getting giving out teabags to us all - a worthless excercise. It is telling us to only fill the kettle for one cup so we do not waste water. I do not know anyone who fills a kettle to the brim, boils it, fills a teacup and pours the rest down the sink. Now from the point of view of saving electricity part filling it makes sense of course.

Wednesday July 26, 2006

Plant of the week Clematis Jackmanii

The plant is on a trellis in our front garden. Most years it puts up a great show of flowers at this time of the year. For what ever reason this year the flower coverage is wonderful, its green leaves are hidden completely this year under the canopy of flowers. Another bonus has been the lack of blackfly that usually troubles the flower buds before they open. This is a very good variety of Clematis and it is one that you cut back hard in the autumn to ground level.

Tuesday July 25, 2006

The Death Of Ayrton Senna

Another excellent book by Richard Williams like his Racers book I wrote about before. Before I write about this book; what where you doing when you heard about Senna' death? We were on holiday in Yorkshire we had been out for a walk and turned the TV news on. The news of his death shocked me as I had never seen an F1 driver loose his life before and two drivers lost their lives that weekend in Imola in 1994.

The book starts with the funeral how his coffin was carried on a fire engine through the streets of Sao Paulo and who was there to pay their repsects who was not (Ecclestone and Mosley). Back to the accident Richard Williams quite rightly says that Fangio who watched that accident and remarked as he turned his TV off after the accident that Senna was dead before it was officially prounounced was the only driver you could compare Senna with. A brief history of Fangio is offered in the book and afterwards a comparison of Fangio's best race with Senna's which was at the rainswept Donnington track. The way he overtook the cars in front of him in those treacherous conditions still beggars belief.

The main dfference between those two spectacular drivers was Senna's do or die attitude as regards getting past other people. They either let him through or they would leave the track in an accident that would surely follow them not surrendering to the man with the yellow helmet on. He changed Formula one forever in that it was he who made the sport move from its Chivalry face to one that included the possibility of the systematic application of controlled violence to quote Williams directly. That is no longer is acceptable in Formula one. Remember the incidents with the more recent world champion Schumi who has either been crititised or punished for his actions on the track.

Back to Senna. His rise through the various Formulas on his way to F1 is well known but many do not know that at the age of three he had seen a specialist as he did not seem able to cordinate well enough to walk. He had a pedal car but his dad built a real small go-kart which used an engine from a lawnmower. At seven he was driving a full sized jeep. He won loads of things in karting competitions in Brazil but the next stage was always going to take him to the UK - Formula 1's finishing school. Getting to the last leg onto Formula 1's run was always going to be hard and in fact Frank Williams's was the first person to give him a test. However he was not in a position to offer him a drive and he ended up in the Toleman but showing his clever business acumen at this stage in his career having a get out clause allowing him to move on which he did to Lotus.

A move to Mclaren was next and Ron Dennis tells a tale where Senna and himself could not agree on a salary. So the Ronster said lets toss a coin on it. Senna had to have this explained to him and he lost. Trouble was the difference between then was 1/2 million. Senna thought it was 1/2 million in total but it was for each season. For now the Ronster was smarter than his new driver. The story continues with Prost at Mclaren and the rivalry or all out war between them. At one point Prost said "if he (Senna) wants the championship that badly he can have it". Senna's controlled violence had become to much for the Frenchman.

His final year of his life he finally got to the team that tested him first. Ironically the Williams car of 1994 was dreadful - stripped of all its technical gizmo's that had made it the class of the field in 1993. Ratzenbergers death the day before had rattled Senna and has was scared for the first time in his life. After the accident there was a prolonged investigation and in the end charges were dropped against Williams and his team after many years. There have been all sorts of stories on steering column failure, Senna running over a piece of debris, him having held his breath too long ( as he did we were told at every race to heighten his senses) and many more suspicions. But the simple fact is a fluke penetration of his crash helmet by a suspension arm killed him. Ninety nine times out of a hundred he would have walked away from that accident.

The Tamburello corner is now reprofiled and the place where Senna died no longer exists as it was. There is a bronze statue near there to mark the event though. This is an excellent book and worth a read by any F1 fan.

Monday July 24, 2006

Finchamstead walk

Last weekend we did two long walks and as we were to do none this weekend I document Sundays now. It started in Finchamstead just off the Nine mile ride road from Bracknell. We took a track up to the top of Wick Hill and into pretty and shaded woodland. All along this part of the walk are some pretty large houses with swimming pools and the like. We also were to see a lot of wildlife on this walk; a fox, deer and rabbit. Along this path was an odd stone marked 1913 marking the start of the National Trust held land Finchamstead Ridges. It was one of the Trusts earliest acqisitions the first sixty acres having cost 3,000 pounds all raised by public subscription. It had been part of the Bearwood estate owned by the Walter family once owners of the Times newspaper. Back to the walk we continued along Wick Hill lane, in more woodland and trees. We came out of the area by the Lower Sandhurst road crossing it to walk beside Moor Green Lakes. On the right were current gravel workings hopefully when these are finished with more lakes will be made from the holes from the workings for wildlife. We met the Blackwater river and followed its path for some time. On our right lots of broom had seed pods which were opening up with a loud crack in the summer sun.

Shortly after leaving the river, we passed along Longwater lane and missed a plaque that gave details of an incident with Henry VII back in 1501. We then crossed a large recreation ground split into two by a hedge - the second half having a cricket game played on it. Another shaded path covered by trees gave us a break from the Sun and out past pretty St James church.

This is a Saxon church and by it our refreshment stop the Queens Oak pub - renamed at the time of Queen Victoria's death having been called the White Horse before. It claims to be the only pub in the country with that name. We had a stop and carried on past a farm and then along a field edge before returning to part of the Wick Hill track back to Finchamstead. Nice walk.

Friday July 21, 2006

A joke for the girls

A joke for the girls instead of one about them.

Three men were hiking through a forest when they came upon 
a large, raging violent river.

Needing to get to the other side, the first man prayed, 
"God give me the strength to cross the river."

Poof! God gave him big arms and strong legs and he was 
able to swim across in about two hours, having almost 
drowned twice.

After witnessing that, the second man prayed "God, please 
give me the strength and the tools to cross the river."

Poof! God gave him a rowboat and strong arms and strong 
legs and he was able to row across in about an hour after 
almost capsizing once.

Seeing what had happened to the first two men, the third man 
prayed, "God, please give me the strength, the tools and the 
intelligence to cross the river."

Poof! He was turned in to a woman. She checked the map, 
hiked one hundred yards upstream and walked across the bridge. 

Thursday July 20, 2006

Jars of preserves...

When you visit a hotel or pub I get really annoyed when they have those minature jars of preserves that are for one serving. These are made of glass and have a metal lid. Their shape makes it almost impossible to get any more than 50% of the contents out of them. These containers are a real waste of resources. In fact the best jam jars are French and a lot of supermarkets now sell them. These jars have gently sloping sides and no awkward ring of glass at the top preventing the removal of the last of the jam. I hate to say it but the French have got one thing right..

Wednesday July 19, 2006

Sun needs your help ! Improving email

I am part of a project that is out to improve the use of email in Sun. It is fair to say that there are people who send good emails and there are those who send emails that are impossible to decipher. Sun has a long history of using email and it never used the traditional memos that perhaps older companies used before they moved to email. It is strange as you would never send out a memo to a thousand people but with one email you can easily do so. So the technology has its strengths and weaknesses most of which result from human activities.

So I have setup a collaboration space on Sun's network where people can add their own bugbears ideas on good email practice etc. But I would like to hear from others on what they think/do. Anything from signature formats, subject lines, use of vacation, using reply/all , forwarding other emails, use of spell checkers and so on. By providing this information you will be helping us, which will make communication with Sun a hopefully even more pleasurable experience than it is now. Thank you in advance.

Tuesday July 18, 2006

Pangbourne walk

A nice long six mile walk in very pleasant conditions, sunny and a stiff breeze to keep us cool. We started the walk at Tidmarsh by the Greyhound pub. This has a thatched roof that has caught fire twice in recent years. The landlady told us this time the roof has been replaced properley with a guard between a potentially hot chimney and very combustible thatch roof. Expensive mistake. We set off down a lane by the pub and were soon in open countryside. Wheat and barley fields and gently rolling countryside. We had a nice respite from the sun under a enclosed path and after following a track and road went past Pangbourne College and through its grounds to a road. Across more fields and we went into what is called Berry's Copse. The path was overgrown and nettles and brambles that took their toll on my legs. At the end of this we went under the railway arch that carries the main line to Oxford from Reading. Afterwards we crossed the A329 and followed it into Pangbourne. On our left was the River Thames and some very nice houses on the other side of the road looking over it. As we followed the road an old canal boat overtook us and was named Muddy Water great name for a boat.

In Pangbourne we passed the Swan pub where the Three men in a boat are said to have completed their journey. We carried on and had a very nice lunch in the Cross keys. From here we entered Pangbourne meadow and followed the river for a while. Behind us we could see one of the few toll bridges over the Thames that is Whitchurch bridge. We struck away from the river and headed up to recross the A329 again. Soon we met the River Pang and crossed it and had this nice view before continuing our walk.

Following the path by the river for a while we saw a few Fledglings who were try to fly ahead of us dropping down on the ground for a rest as they clearly were not strong enough for sustained flight yet. Before we turned out onto the road by the Greyhound in the field by us hidden by a hedge a few Highland cattle were in the shade getting out of the midday afternoon sun. Excellent walk.

Monday July 17, 2006

The French GP

After two races in North America the F1 circus returns to Europe to the French Magny Cours circuit. Two changes for the rest of the 2006 season Montoya has left Team Mac now and the final qualifying session has been reduced to fifteen minutes from twenty.

During qualifying Sauber ran their ugly vertical wings on the front of their cars. Honda were having another torrid time and Button ended up in P18, Rubens got dumped on the second session in P14. In the last session Alonso was following Schumi on the track and overtook him. They both then pitted at the same time for new tyres for their flying laps. Schumi was fastest and Alonso had to pit for new tyres to try again. He failed to do so and with Massa on P2 Ferrari have locked out the front row. Renault will want one of their fast starts on race day. At the end Toyota looked good and both cars delivered good lap times. Kimi was nearly out run by Pedro but got ahead of him at the end. Fisi was a dissapointing seventh. Mercedes have in this qualifying been the first team to break the 20K barrier ( evs).

1.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1'15"493  210.345 Km/h  
2.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   1'15"510  210.298 Km/h  
3.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1'15"785  209.535 Km/h  
4.  8  TRULLI       Toyota            B   1'16"036  208.843 Km/h  
5.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   1'16"091  208.692 Km/h  
6.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   1'16"281  208.172 Km/h  
7.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1'16"345  207.998 Km/h  
8.  4  DE LA ROSA   McLaren Mercedes  M   1'16"632  207.219 Km/h  

At the start the front runners hold their places despite Alonso's best efforts. Webber gets up to P8 and DC drops to P11. Sato also drops out of the race soon after it starts. 63 to go and Alonso is getting closer to Massa but not enough to make a move. Schumi is four seconds ahead of his teammate who is clearly slowing Alonso up by slowing his own pace. Rubens has a train of cars behind him goes wide and lets Speed past him.

56 to go and Schumi is posting fastest laps; Monteiro has a big off and bounces down into the gravel. De Rosa is having plenty of goes at Webber but cannot make any of them stick. JV gets past Rubens. 54 to go Massa pits and rejoins in clear air with new tyres on. Alonso is looking very ragged on track. 53 to go Alonso pits as does Kimi early for him. Schumi pits with 52 to go as does Fisi. 51 to go Rubens pulls out of the race and Trulli pits. De Rosa has got past Webber in the pit stops.

49 to go Button stops as does Rosberg, Ralph also stops and has a bad stop - trouble with a tyre change. Schumi is now back in P1 ahead of his teammate and Alonso. 44 to go Kimi gets past Trulli in what looks like a quick snooze moment for the Italian. 37 to go Schumi eight seconds ahead of Massa and Alonso is five seconds behind him. 34 to go Alonso is held up badly in traffic and looses more time to those in front of him. Heidfeld is overtaken by De Rosa. 32 to go Schumi pits again and comes out just behind Alonso he now is a pit stop ahead of his rival. He wisely keeps clear of the Renault

Webber's rear tyre delaminates and has him off the track but he recovers to the pits for a change. 30 to go Trulli pulls out of the race. Webber has another tyre change but a long stop to try and understand what is going on. 29 to go Alonso and not well reported has a longer fill than expected. 25 to go Webber rejoins the race and Rosberg comes in for similar treatment. 21 to go Kimi is catching Alonso by 1/2 second a lap.

18 th go Kimi less than four seconds behind Alonso and the three stoppers now pit but Alonso does not need to. When all the stops are complete Pat Symonds has got his driver into P2 minimising the damage to his championship lead. 8 to go Webber is retired, and soon after that Button does so from P11. In the end Schumi wins and is the first driver to win a race eight times in total. Another record for him.

 1.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1h32'07"803  200.968 Km/h  
 2.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   +  0'10"131  200.600 Km/h  
 3.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   +  0'22"546  200.151 Km/h  
 4.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   +  0'27"212  199.983 Km/h  
 5.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   +  0'33"006  199.775 Km/h  
 6.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   +  0'45"265  199.335 Km/h  
 7.  4  DE LA ROSA   McLaren Mercedes  M   +  0'49"407  199.187 Km/h  
 8. 16  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M      1 lap(s)  

Next race Hockenheim seventeen points seperates Schumi from Alonso

Friday July 14, 2006

Instant messaging

I must admit the idea of chat rooms as a viable communication medium was not something I considered before. We all know about the horror stories of kids meeting nasty types in such public rooms. It was however suggested we setup a lab room for us to all be in and for customers of the labs to pop in with questions. Chris is also in this room and if we are all out and someone asks a question he will let them know we unavailable etc. He also answers a lot of questions for us too. The really cool thing is that over the last few months the room has really taken off. There used to be a core of lab folks in the room but we now have a lot more who regularly join in. It starts in APAC with the Singapore and Australian folks. Then the folks in France, Germany, Sweden and Spain pop in and the Brits as usual one hour later. Some of the folks in the West coast of the USA join us mid afternoon who are on an early shift. The problem was as Chris said the room was not really used for many questions but more general communication between lab folks around the world. Believe me they talk about some very unusual and funny stuff. The danger was any question from a customer would get lost in the volume of traffic especially when you get the overlap in timezones. So we have another room just for such chatter and use this original one for lab questions from our customers. So I consider myself an Instant messaging proponent as long as you sign off when you are unavailable.

Thursday July 13, 2006

The butterfly flies on...

Well the butterfly puzzle is coming on well. I started with the edge, then the red and pink bits. I then progressed onto the black borders of the butterflies wings and I have just sorted the green bits out and started to fit them in place. This is one the best mosaic puzzles I have found so far and is very enjoyable.