Drivel, and everything else..

Fantastic picture of a young chewy!

Sourced from MakingOf, drawn by illustrator Bobby Chiu of Imaginism Studios.

Home Button & Sleep Button.

Incredibly simple to do, though I realised I couldn’t remember how to do it.. Just press the home screen & sleep buttons at the time, and it’ll make a camera click noise, putting the photo in “Camera Roll” on your iPhone

A friend recently asked me what a speed trap is, in terms of F1. The speed trap is the fastest point on the racing circuit. It is generally towards the end of the longest straight, and just before the breaking point of the corner. The speed trap is used to obtain and compare the fastest speeds amongst drivers.

This snippet from formula1.com shows the speed trap of the Valencia circuit (the yellow spot) – it’s located at the end of the longest straight section of the track.

Link: formula1.com

It’s the 2010 Canadian F1 Grand Prix this weekend, whilst browsing a few F1 sites I spotted this awesome little countdown timer on the McLaren website:

(click to see it larger)

See it for yourself here whilst it’s still live on the McLaren site

The new Pendulum album “Immersion” is awesome – i’ve been listening to it all week, favourite tracks are:

• Self vs Self (ft. In Flames)
• The Vulture

In Flames are one of my favourite bands so I was crazy-excited when I originally heard they were featuring on one of the new pendulum tracks, it doesn’t disappoint .

The new album is still very much electronic/vocal similar to “In Silico” (2008), however there are some good DnB mixes/tunes in there too. It’s a bit of an “In Silico” / “Hold Your Colour” hybrid.

The sun sets so late this time of year, it’s great to come home and still have a few hours of light after work. This shot was taken from our balcony, the trees overlook the bank of the river cam, the sun peeking out behind them.

Click through for a larger size on my Flickr

It’s a couple of days after the Turkish GP, and the first win of the year for Hamilton. I’ve really been enjoying Formula One again the past few years, here’s a few reasons why.

BBC

Since the BBC took over F1 coverage again in 2009, quality of coverage has gone up by a factor of 10. Fundamentally, the lack of ad breaks leaves the coverage less dis-jointed.

The coverage seems much more personal this year – we see the driver’s after the races chatting and joking to each other informally. Martin Brundle’s pushy journalistic adventures in the pits are brilliant – we see drivers and their families, friends, colleagues and more, gaining detailed knowledge not about particular cars and teams, but also the general workings of what makes a Grand Prix.

The BBC pundits and presenters whilst being hugely knowledgeable, are also personable. Personal opinions, banter and disagreements are rife – which only makes it more exciting. It’s not overly scripted, or conforming to public opinion to placate the teams, or the masses. BBC F1.

Jake Humphrey

A brilliant presenter, he fits in well with the fiery personalities of Eddie Jordan and David Coultard (Coultard is fiery around Jordan, at least), and his embrace of social media (twitter for instance) is novel among powerhouse programs like Sport coverage – he answers viewer questions both live and off-air, and his f1 blogs are interesting and detailed. Jake’s Blog.

Rule Changes

The FIA are trying to change the pace of the sport, to make it more interesting for the viewers – which is the most important thing at the end of the day. I personally think they got it wrong with the full fuel-load change for 2010, however they’re trying – they also acknowledged that this had made some races uneventful, and were looking into improving it for next year.

The change to the points system seems to make the wins fairer – a clearer lead for race winners, which was the point from the outset.

Young Teams, Old Teams

There are a raft of new teams this year and the starting grid is absolutely packed – I love it. There’s more competition, which leads to more innovation. I also love to see the underdog making strides.

In F1 it takes new teams years to reach a prominent “winning” level of driving and car development, some reaching this quicker than others, some never. Red Bull Racing are an excellent example – The old Jaguar F1 team bought by Red Bull billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, from Ford in 2004, has come strides. Coming second in the Constructors championship in 2009, they’re currently top 3 in 2010, and their two drivers are 1st and 4th in the Driver’s Championship.

Hamilton, Button, Alonso, Vettel.

There are four extremely talented drivers on the grid this year

I’m an avid Lewis Hamilton fan, I can’t hide it even if I try – I think he’s the most talented driver on the grid. The heart of that talent is his aggressive and precise driving style, which affords it’s own downsides, especially in the 2010 season with the new full fuel-load rules. Tires are more important this year, and his aggressive style can affect by this. His passion for the sport, and ability to adapt override this however – he’s had a couple of bad races this year, but for the most part has destroyed the competition.

I was never a fan of Button, nor was I won over by his performance last year with Brawn GP – I saw it as him simply making use of the fact he had been handed the fastest car on the grid. There’s no denying however that he’s an incredibly talented driver. In stark contrast to Hamilton, his driving style is extremely smooth, and he’s excellent at preserving the condition of his car. His attitude this year with McLaren, are slowly winning me over. He didn’t storm into F1 with a presence like many other greats, but he’s sure writing his name in stone now.

I dislike Alonso. I dislike his attitude, towards the viewers and to other drivers, however it’s with a forced lack of bias that I write, he’s an incredible driver. On-par with Hamilton in aggressiveness and skill on the track, he’s proven time-over that he can deliver results.

Vettel is definitely the one to watch, he’s likable and very skilled – Everyone was awaiting the return of Schumacher, but he’s not the real German winner on the track this year.

Predictions

I’m going to check back on November 14th (Final GP, Abu Dhabi) to see how right or wrong I was.

1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Sebastian Vettel
3. Mark Webber
4. Jenson Button
5. Fernando Alonso
6. Felipe Massa
7. Robert Kubica
8. Nico Rosberg

Lewis Hamilton to win the championship, closely followed by Vettel, and Webber.

Roll on Canada.. (F1 Race Calendar – BBC)

A new patisserie opened in cambridge on bridge street, i’ve been a couple of times and their cake is heart-attack inducingly good.

Click.

Share the ad that the Financial Times wouldn’t publish and make sure as many people as possible see it.

My top two bookmarks in firefox are for cupcake blogs. I don’t think people appreciate cupcakes/muffins enough. I’m spreading the love/obesity.

Cupcake Blog
Cupcake Project