Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Same As The Old Boss
The CEO of Verizon claims that good ol' U.S. of A. is number one in broadband. This comment reminded me of how, in the 1970s, the CEO's of the U.S. car manufacturers dismissed the Japanese cars that were just appearing in the U.S market. Look where the U.S. manufacturers ended up 30 years later. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
WRC Jordan 2010
Another disappointing rally for Mikko Hirvonen. A big mistake on day two cost him any chance of scoring points. He needs victories in the next few rallies if he wants to remain in contention for the driver's championship, otherwise Loeb could easily run away with it. The new points system punishes mistakes much more than the old system did.
Latvala salvaged a second place for Ford. He tried his best but just doesn't have the experience to keep up with the likes of Loeb. Petter Solberg achieved another podium finish in third place. He seems to hang on to the leaders well enough that I'm wondering if a win might be possible this year. Kimi Raikkonen scored his first points in WRC so he is definitely improving.
This rally was all about the tactics for a better road position. The slowing down tactic is easy to understand, but the shenanigans on day three was very confusing because it happened in the road sections. Almost everyone conceded that perhaps this went too far, even though it was within the rules.
Latvala salvaged a second place for Ford. He tried his best but just doesn't have the experience to keep up with the likes of Loeb. Petter Solberg achieved another podium finish in third place. He seems to hang on to the leaders well enough that I'm wondering if a win might be possible this year. Kimi Raikkonen scored his first points in WRC so he is definitely improving.
This rally was all about the tactics for a better road position. The slowing down tactic is easy to understand, but the shenanigans on day three was very confusing because it happened in the road sections. Almost everyone conceded that perhaps this went too far, even though it was within the rules.
Monday, April 5, 2010
F1 Malaysia 2010
Qualifying was an example of old school strategy versus technical strategy. In old school, the wet conditions dictated getting a qualifying lap on the books. The technical strategists looked at the weather prediction data and believed it. The weather patterns around Sepang is generally unpredictable and Ferrari and Maclaren both paid dearly for putting their faith in the data.
After the third qualifying session resumed, Webber's bold choice to use intermediate wet tires when every one else was on full wets, was another example of old school, seat of the pants racing. Webber put in an awesome qualifying lap in absolutely atrocious conditions to grab only his second career pole. Webber effort really made up for his mistakes in Australia.
The race start saw some amazing driving as Vettel made a bold move on Webber in the first corner to jump from third to first position in the first corner. But Hamilton's magnificent charge from twentieth to twelfth had me on the edge of my seat. Even more impressive was that everyone got through the first corner with no serious contact as those faster cars carved their way through the field.
The rest of the race was very enjoyable as there were plenty of fights all the way through the field. There was even some passing! Alonso was outstanding as he wrestled with a car with a down shift problem which finally overstressed the engine, causing it to expire. It always amazes me that drivers can wring so much out of a sick car. Sutil and Hamilton's fight was also worth a mention. The Force India was very quick and forced Hamilton to eventually concede there was no way past. Sutil drove perfectly even with Hamilton breathing down his neck. Redbull finally shook off the reliability monkey to finished with a well deserved one-two.
Malaysia demonstrated a couple of things. First, a dry race can be exciting. Yes, passing is definitely a problem, there's no doubt about that, but this circuit offers classic passing opportunities which a few bold drivers used to good effect. Second, there's more to racing than passing. Sometimes it's little things like the air wrench getting stuck on Webber's right front wheel which cost him two seconds in his pit stop. Other times its getting the strategy all wrong. So yes, the passing needs to be improved, but there are other reasons folks like me enjoy this sport.
After the third qualifying session resumed, Webber's bold choice to use intermediate wet tires when every one else was on full wets, was another example of old school, seat of the pants racing. Webber put in an awesome qualifying lap in absolutely atrocious conditions to grab only his second career pole. Webber effort really made up for his mistakes in Australia.
The race start saw some amazing driving as Vettel made a bold move on Webber in the first corner to jump from third to first position in the first corner. But Hamilton's magnificent charge from twentieth to twelfth had me on the edge of my seat. Even more impressive was that everyone got through the first corner with no serious contact as those faster cars carved their way through the field.
The rest of the race was very enjoyable as there were plenty of fights all the way through the field. There was even some passing! Alonso was outstanding as he wrestled with a car with a down shift problem which finally overstressed the engine, causing it to expire. It always amazes me that drivers can wring so much out of a sick car. Sutil and Hamilton's fight was also worth a mention. The Force India was very quick and forced Hamilton to eventually concede there was no way past. Sutil drove perfectly even with Hamilton breathing down his neck. Redbull finally shook off the reliability monkey to finished with a well deserved one-two.
Malaysia demonstrated a couple of things. First, a dry race can be exciting. Yes, passing is definitely a problem, there's no doubt about that, but this circuit offers classic passing opportunities which a few bold drivers used to good effect. Second, there's more to racing than passing. Sometimes it's little things like the air wrench getting stuck on Webber's right front wheel which cost him two seconds in his pit stop. Other times its getting the strategy all wrong. So yes, the passing needs to be improved, but there are other reasons folks like me enjoy this sport.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Easter Dinner
We had a family get together for Easter dinner which was load and chaotic as usual. The weather was unusually warm so we sat outside which was a little strange for Easter, but we enjoyed it. My grand nephew Ethan has started walking since I last saw him at Christmas. His personality is a stark contrast to his sister's. The next gathering will be the annual family BBQ in July, which will be extra special this year because we'll have visitors from the UK and Australia. I'm looking forward to it.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Disabling Radeon KMS
Kernel Mode Setting (KMS) for the ATI Radeon RV280 chip is not ready for primetime yet so i decided to disable KMS and revert to User Mode Setting (UMS) for now. KMS is the future but it is too immature on the Radeon hardware. Now, how do I disable KMS?
First I changed /etc/modprobe.d/radeon-kms.conf to
Next, I added the kernel parameter nomodeset in /boot/grub/menu.lst. Run update-grub and reboot. Nope. KMS is still enabled. Hmm. Figure out why or find another way? Door number two please.
Next I replaced the nomodeset kernel parameter with radeon.modeset=0, again in /boot/grub/menu.lst. Run update-grub and reboot. Ding ding ding, we have a winner! Phew! Pant, pant!
It should be abundantly clear that KMS in the Radeon driver is a work-in-progress when disabling it takes that much effort. ^_^
First I changed /etc/modprobe.d/radeon-kms.conf to
option radeon modeset=0Then I ran update-initramfs -u to copy the change into the boot RAM filesystem, and rebooted. For some reason that doesn't disable KMS. Hmm. Figure out why or find another way? Door number two please.
Next, I added the kernel parameter nomodeset in /boot/grub/menu.lst. Run update-grub and reboot. Nope. KMS is still enabled. Hmm. Figure out why or find another way? Door number two please.
Next I replaced the nomodeset kernel parameter with radeon.modeset=0, again in /boot/grub/menu.lst. Run update-grub and reboot. Ding ding ding, we have a winner! Phew! Pant, pant!
It should be abundantly clear that KMS in the Radeon driver is a work-in-progress when disabling it takes that much effort. ^_^
Friday, April 2, 2010
They Are In The Car
So a study finds that a small percentage of the population can talk on the phone and drive at the same time. I'll bet that everyone in the pro-talk-and-drive camp thinks that they fall in that category. Despite the discovery of these unusual "supertaskers," the study found nothing to disprove that driving while conversing on the phone is bloody dangerous for the majority of us.
The talk-and-drive camp usually ask but what about talking to passengers? This article mentions another study which included that very question in the research. They found that while talking to passengers is definitely distracting, it isn't anywhere near as bad as talking on the phone. Why?
It's simple. They are in the car with the driver where they can tell that he is busy, and will shut up while he deals with the situation. A person on the other end of the phone conversation won't know why the driver has gone silent, and will probably talk at a crucial moment.
Ontario's hands-free-phone-only law is really toothless. There's a fine but no demerit points, even though it is moving violation and is as dangerous as drunk driving.
The talk-and-drive camp usually ask but what about talking to passengers? This article mentions another study which included that very question in the research. They found that while talking to passengers is definitely distracting, it isn't anywhere near as bad as talking on the phone. Why?
It's simple. They are in the car with the driver where they can tell that he is busy, and will shut up while he deals with the situation. A person on the other end of the phone conversation won't know why the driver has gone silent, and will probably talk at a crucial moment.
Ontario's hands-free-phone-only law is really toothless. There's a fine but no demerit points, even though it is moving violation and is as dangerous as drunk driving.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Lame April Fools
Every April Fools, it seems like more and more people are making humorous prank postings of some sort or another. The problem is that the volume have become so much that most of it isn't very funny any more. Usually I'll see at least one good prank post that is worth mentioning, but this year it was all very lame. Has this Internet fad become dull and boring already?
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