Image from F1Fanatic.co.uk

The F1 championships have begun again.  This is the Grand Prix of Bahrain for the 2010 season.  There are now 18 races after this one.  Many rules have changed, the main being that there is now no refueling during race.  Imagine how much fuel you need to get you through a race.  The truth of the matter is that the addition of nearly 400 pounds to a 1500 pound car is extremely significant to handling.  Is the FIA (rule making body) has probably imagined.  This  change will make the end of the race faster and more exciting than the beginning of the race (in theory).  Its actually not a new idea as this is the way it was back in the early 1990’s.  This Grand Prix race Starts with the starting grid:

1 Sebastian Vettel – Red Bull Renault

2 Felipe Massa – Scuderia Ferrari

3 Fernando Alonso – Scuderia Ferrari

As the lights drop and the race starts, nearly all cars made it through the first lap despite some of the newer teams barely making it through. Karun Chandhok is the first driver out.  He’s had no testing, no practice (due to stringent rules by FIA) and his team’s day is done barely into the race.  Mark Webber has a scare when his car burns off an intense cloud of white smoke.  Looks like nothing as he continues.

There are 49 laps on this track.  And newly added section to this track is about a half of a mile of new area that is extremely bumpy and with a heavy, fuel laden car, the drivers will take a beating in that section if they don’t pay extreme attention.

Around lap 17, many of the cars are coming in for tires and these car are coming out with better tires and less weight since they are not allowed to refuel.  The teams are doing sub-4 second pit stops..  Its is crazy!

By lap 19, there are 4 cars out:  Chandhok, Di Grassi, Kobayashi, Petrov, Glock, and Senna.  By Lap 31, second place Alonso is starting to close the time of 1st place Vettel but its not clear if this is due to car performance/degradation or just Vettel slowing down a bit to save his car.

Congrats and welcome back Michael Schumacher.  He’s used this race to get some practice in and he will get stronger over the next few races.  He is likely the best sports car driver of the last decade.  He’s a 7 time world champion and after taking retirement for 3 years he’s making a come back.  Great run for a retiree.  Schumacher is one of 4 Champions on the track, including Alonso, Hamilton, and Button.

On lap 34, Sebastian Vettel, who has led the race from the pole, is losing power.  Both Ferrari’s pass him.  Holy Crap! The season has begun and my favorite team, Ferrari (I lived in Italy for a few years) should take this… we hope!  The announcers suggest it could be a header.  Sounds right.  By Lap 38, Hamilton passes Vettel also.  Vettel will have to limp his car to the finish.  On Lap 40 though, Hamilton calls in that he’s got a vibration from the front of his car but he seems to be maintaining position and speed.

With 2 more laps left of the 49, the stage is set.  There should be no more surprises (famous last words).  And on lap 48, Sebastian Buemi is out with his Red Bull. Race ends with:

1 Fernando Alonso – Scuderia Ferrari

2 Felipe Massa – Scuderia Ferrari

3 Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes

Church Bells are ringing in Italy.  When Ferrari wins a race, some churches ring thier bells in Italy.  How cool is that?  That is a culture that is supportive of its institutions.  And Ferrari IS an institution.  This victory for Fernando Alonso is his first race and his first win in his Ferrari debut. He is in an elite group of Ferrari racers.  Massa is a champion and this is his first race back since last season when he took a spring to the helmet at 130 miles an hour, fracturing his skull.  Welcome back Massa!  The new car is the one to be.

This first race has gone as expected.  The 49 laps on this race went extremely fast.  You might think it was boring for an F-1 race (if you watch every race as I do), but that’s because this is really a big test session for most team and I’m sure many teams were more focused on finishing the taking many risks  But this is only temporary.

One of the notable items missing from the grid is the USF1 team.  There were not able to get thier car to the grid and have asked to return in 2011, it is unclear why they did not make it but… That’s Formula One for you.  I’ll See you in 2 weeks at the Grand Prix of Australia where everyone will step up thier games and be more competitive.

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..

The first race of the season is Bahrain.  Its a dedicated race track and has been modified a tiny bit for this year.  Here’s Mark Webber discussing the track on Red Bull’s new Formula 1 Simulator. I think they’re going to do this for every race.  Damn, they are an innovative company.

Here’s Mark Webber:

The Race is on the Speed Channel in most places in America on Sunday the 14th.  It will be a good race.  Watch it!

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..

I’ve found some early footage of him on Youtube; below.  He looks pretty much the same, however, he’s since turn those locks into clean, loose, dreads (as opposed to tight Rastaboy dreads).  He’s also gained a few more years from the below video.  Age brings out the soul in song writers and singers and now he’s pretty ripe.  Its an honor to hear him sing and with the exception of being in Hawaii, he’s definitely got the talent to make it far.   He plays at a couple of places regularly.  One is a resort bar Hale Koa’s, two at Irish pubs (Kelly O’neils & O’tools) , and another laid back bar (Cheeseburger Bar).

Currently, it looks as though He’s also added a Drummer.  I hate to do this but, I don’t remember his name but I “think” its Constantine, or some other cool sounding “C” Name.  No; You know what??  Its “Konrad”. I’ve gotta say, adding a bit of percussion does add something to the performance.  It also gives him a person to Interact with.  I happened to catch thier first gig together and it was worth it.

— Their webpage is The Art Of  Whimsy.com. You can buy the new CD (Live At Higher Ground) , also.. Damn Good for live music.

www.theartofwhimsy.com

— I found thier Myspace Page.  It has some older stuff from thier first CD (An Acoustic Prologue)

http://www.myspace.com/theartofwhimsy

Go Check him out..  He pretty much rocks..  Someday he’ll get the opportunity and off he’ll go.  The best thing about an artist is when you get to go on a ride with the music and;  I feel good when I listen to him play. Maybe you’ll find a piece of peace (TM) through his music..

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..

There is no doubt that the Pakistanis had their hands full getting to the complex, but they seem to have captured them.  It is believed… by the Pakistani military and intelligence forces that these are the same caves that Bin Laden once stayed in.  This should be interesting this next month as they exploit the intelligence they find.  Hopefully this means we’re closing in on the man himself — Obama.  These Caves may not outnumber the Vietcong, but they do have more volume.  They are larger.  and they are quite a feat of engineering.

Elsewhere In Pakistan — The United States Government  is toying with the idea of offering Drones to the Pakistani Government.  I’m not exactly sure with why they want to do this other than the suggestion that this will aid Pakistan in thier fight against terrorism and insurgents.  But If the US does this.. There will be exact replicas being sold to countries all around the world.. The Pakistani’s will take them apart and reverse engineer them immediately.  This is not really a good idea but we’ll see how the government handles this.

]]> http://kalipinckney.com/2010/03/two-middle-east-happenings-pakistan/feed/ 0 http://kalipinckney.com/2010/02/cybershot-t90/ http://kalipinckney.com/2010/02/cybershot-t90/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:38:45 +0000 Kali http://kalipinckney.com/?p=775 I’ve gotten my hands on the new Sony Cybershot T-90 model (DSC-T90).  It is the most amazing point-and-shoot I have ever used.  Some of the best qualities you can imagine are packed into one of the thinnest camera bodies I’ve ever seen.  It is about the same dimension as a credit card (obviously its thicker than one).  The camera looks great all around and you should be able to find a color that fits your freaky, perverted personality.  The 5 colors are Silver, Grey, Brown, Black, and Blue. You can even buy more than one if you are compelled to match you outfits.

It still has all the functions one would expect, however, the T-90 ensures that you can get to the information much easier than any other camera.  IT HAS A TOUCH SCREEN!  Crazy huh?  The touch screen makes things so easy to navigate through and to review all of your pictures.  You can even “flick” through the pics you took as though you were using an IPhone.   This equates to the camera only having about 4 buttons on the outside of the camera.  Power, Play, Zoom, and shutter/trigger.  And you never really need to use the Power button because you can just open or close the front slide to turn it on or off.

One of its best features are its Low-Light capability.  You can literally take a no-flash picture it night and the camera will make all of the adjustments and take the best shot it can.  Its Anti shake capability is pretty amazing also. The camera figures out the optimal time to take the picture and it seems seemless.   With the Carl Zeiss Lens’, you can focus on items about an inch away from the camera itself.. It is truly amazing.  The 12.1 Megapixel capability doesn’t hurt either.  I actually love the fact that they got rid of ridiculous “digital zoom”.  Everyone should follow suit with this. I’ve always hated that crappy feature.

Another spectacular feature of this camera is the Panorama Mode.  You just point in the area you want to shoot, push the button, an arrow pops up on the screen and you just move the camera in the direction.  Sony calls it a sweep, and after you sweep the area you want the panorama of, the computer takes over process the image and lays it out for your review.  I’ve gotten into the habit of creating Panoramas of rooms and they come out very interesting I think.

The other great factor is that the camera gives you a great compact platform to take digital video in High Definition.  When transferred to computer the footage comes out better than other cameras.  It is gonna be a bit grainy but just accept it.  It still looks great. The downside of this camera, if there is one, is that it requires a dedicated battery and a specific charger for that battery.  You can no longer go out and buy some AA’s if you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere and your battery’s dead; you’re not taking pictures. What you can do, I guess, is go out and buy a second battery and have that charged and ready to go.

It is without a doubt more powerful than my 5 year old Canon Eos Digital Rebel.  Obviously it doesn’t have the optics to be better than a full Digital SLR but it is more utilitarian and less fragile.  The T-90 can be “safely” dropped from 4 feet (though I wouldn’t risk it), and it has a measure of waterproofing.  I’m told down to 33 feet, even though I can’t find/cite, where I’ve seen that information.  I think it was listed as a feature in the at-store advertising:  No matters though; I wouldn’t risk it!

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..

Now, I may (although I won’t admit it) listen to Straight up by accident every year or so when it pops up randomly on my Ipod, but I think that rendition may almost be better than the original, in a contemporary way.  The original will always be the original but in a day with so many singers like Jack Johnson and bands like Coldplay, Andrew Garcia’s version is modern dope! I would listen to that a couple of times if it came on the radio.  What do you think?

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..