The view from over my Gin&Tonic tonight is troubling. Somehow I've lost pace with my cozy little world of niche sports this spring. May flew by comfortably enough, in fact I don't think I even looked for Mt Everest News. Dare I say Everest has become 'So Last Century'?
I'm used to the dearth of Indianapolis Motor Speedway news now. The daily records and breathless headlines of speed are quaint memories from the Pre-Split IndyCar world. Which is not to say the Indy 500 is passé...au contraire the 2013 Indy 500 was very exciting, with double last year's record lead changes, leading to a very popular victory for Tony Kanaan, who's been a bridesmaid twelve times at the Speedway, but never the bride until this year.
The 'new' IndyCar Series has settled back into it's boring slate of 1-1/2 Mile Ovals, Temporary Street Circuits where the only overtaking is done on Pit Stops...too many Saturday races...IndyCar is trying double headers this year, Saturday and Sunday on the same circuit...I prefer my motorsports to be ennui-free...
June brought back the 'June Swoon' for my World Champion San Francisco Giants. The Giants starting pitchers suffered from one blow-out inning in each outing, while the Giants hitters slumped as a group spectacularly...MLB's worst team batting average for June...fewest home runs in the Majors for June...
Did I mention the injuries? Center fielder Angel Pagan pulled a hamstring, nursed it for a month, then tore it in earnest during his first 'rehab game' with the Class A Advanced, San Jose Giants farm team. Starting RHP Ryan Vogelsong broke the pinky on his throwing hand when hit by a pitch back on May 20th, he's due back sometime in August.
The Giants moved long reliever Chad Gaudin into Vogelsong's spot in the starting rotation where he made two quality starts before struggling in his third outing (attributed to 'Dead Arm Syndrome' by Giants' broadcaster and pitching guru, Mike Krukow) Gaudin was back to form on his fourth start when he was hit...twice! by batted balls.
The first hit bounced off Gaudin's butt, Gaudin picked it up and threw the batter out. The second time the line drive hit Gaudin on this pitching arm just below the elbow, on his forearm. Gaudin was unable to continue, and has in fact missed his next two scheduled starts.
The Giants acquired Gaudin to fill in for long reliever Santiago Casilla who was lost to a cyst in the bone of his lower leg. Casilla had the cyst removed and went on the 15 Day DL (Disabled List) He's been rehabbing with the San Jose Giants and should return this weekend vs the Dodgers at AT&T Park.
Another Giants' Hit Batsman, 2nd baseman Marco Scutaro suffered a dislocated pinky on his glove hand, missed six games and is back playing with his new splint protecting his 'mallet finger'
Future Gold-Glove shortstop, Brandon Crawford jammed two fingers on his throwing hand sliding into second base and missed a couple of games, until his replacement Joaquin Arias pulled up lame with his pulled hamstring...see where I'm goin' here?
Slugging All-Star MVP 3rd baseman Pablo 'Kung Fu Panda' Sandoval did a stint on the 15 Day DL for a foot sprain, and apparently left his bat behind...he's batting just .152 since returning...
The Giants fell all the way to the cellar in the NL West, displacing the hated Los Angeles Dodgers...this past week, at least all the other teams in the NL West fell of their barstools too...it's a long season, as they say...
Independence day was Opening Day on San Francisco Bay for The America's Cup Regatta. After a fatal training accident and the subsequent pause to re-evaluate the safety protocols of the scary-fast AC72 catamarans, there's some static background noise of possible litigation of the new safety rules possibly delaying the racing...stay tuned as they say...
The 2013 Formula One Season has been excellent so far. I'm having a little trouble adapting to the new US Broadcaster NBC SportsNet however...gone are the live streaming sessions of Free Practice 1 and FP3. NBCSN does air FP2 and Qualifying LIVE, except during Le Tour de France (read the month of July, plus the last weekend of June, or another way to say it, the British and German Grands Prix)
The F1 season has been a gearhead geek's delight so far, but things looked like they were falling off the rails when a series of high speed tire failures began on Lap 7 of the British GP at Silverstone, when favorite son, Mercedes' Pole Winner Lewis Hamilton's left rear Pirelli disintegrated at 100+ MPH!
Two more Pirelli tires suffered a similar fate during the race, as well as one during Saturday practice. all were fitted to the left rear. No injuries or crashes resulted from the failures, and the racers soldiered on fearlessly.
The silver lining? It looks like the FIA will again allow the teams to test during the season. Germany's GP comes Sunday July 7th at the Nürburgring...it should be exciting...to say the least!
Finally, July is the time for my favorite sporting event, Le Tour de France. I was looking forward to entering a couple of Fantasy TdF Games, but my favorite places were gone! I found a new spot, this one from Great Britain and began boning up on the Start List.
Where is everybody? American sprinter Tyler Farrar didn't make the Garmin-Sharp Tour Team...Norwegian World Champion sprinter Thor Hushovd...MIA, last year's winner Brit Bradley Wiggins is unable to defend with a knee injury...I gave up...plain and simple...
NBCSportsNet's TV coverage has been as good as ever. This is the 100th running of Le Tour, and the organizers have outdone themselves...more mountains, a team time trial, and get this, they climb L'Alpe d'Huez...twice...in the same stage! Stage 18 Gap to L'Alpe d'Huez, Thursday July 18th.
Today is Stage Six...as is customary, the first week of Le Tour has been mostly about the sprinters...with the attendant high speed crashes, and drama. One fellow is already soldiering along with a hairline pelvis fracture. American Christian Vande Velde was caught up in Stage 5's contretemps and hit the road hard enough to loosen some surgical screws in his collarbone...Vande Velde is still racing today.
One more thing is bothering me about this year's Tour. Being that this is the Centennial Tour, there's lots of Tour History, which for American TV means Lance Armstrong's history. Admitted PED user, this is uncomfortable in the main, but PEDs in competitive cycling is not a Black & White story. Performance Enhancing Drugs have been part of Le Tour since 1903 the first Tour.
I'm not excusing Armstrong's deeds. I'll have more to say in a later blog.
Thanks for reading...
Showing posts with label IndyCar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IndyCar. Show all posts
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Sunday, September 23, 2012
More Loose Ends
Embedding the Wind Tunnel Videos has been real cranky this morning, so I split today's screed in half...I'm too tired to fight it this morning (I got up at 0430 to watch the Singapore Grand Prix, where the Formula One cars raced under the lights. It's a spectacular race venue!
Alex Zanardi Newz:
Wind Tunnel has been keeping an eye on ex-IndyCar Champion Alex Zanardi who won two Paralympic Gold Medals in the 2012 London Paralympic Games, and my be headed to the Indianapolis 500 next May. Enjoy Zanardi's Wind Tunnel interview:
Alex Zanardi Newz:
Wind Tunnel has been keeping an eye on ex-IndyCar Champion Alex Zanardi who won two Paralympic Gold Medals in the 2012 London Paralympic Games, and my be headed to the Indianapolis 500 next May. Enjoy Zanardi's Wind Tunnel interview:
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Full
I'm sure everyone is weary of me referring to myself as "A Glass Half Full" guy. So sue me...
I saw an old favorite racecar driver's name in my Twitter timeline this morning. Then this photo appeared on my Tumblr:
Alex Zanardi won the Men's Road Handcycling Individual Time Trial Gold Medal Wednesday at the London2012 Paralympics
Zanardi is NOT a "A Glass Half Full" guy. Zanardi's glass has always been Full! Full of Sunshine...if you ask me...
Back during the 1996 American Open Wheel Racing Split, where Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Tony George "had a better idea" and carved the IndyRacingLeague out of CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams), Zanardi was the big deal in IndyCar racing.
Zanardi came to CART after four years of Formula One racing for second-tier teams. Racing for CART's Chip Ganassi Racing, Alex scored the Pole in his second race, won three races, and finished the season as CART Rookie of the Year, tied for Second Place in the Championship with Michael Andretti.
"The Pass" as it's now known, of race leader Bryan Herta, on the last lap at Laguna Seca, featured Zanardi taking to the off-track dirt apron entering the Corkscrew, blowing by Herta in a cloud of dust for the win...legendary stuff.
Zanardi originated the Post Win display of tight donuts at the Start-Finish Line in a cloud of tire smoke. He'd already been given his nickname, "Pineapple Head" for his ebullient, prickly style. I'm not positive, but I think the nickname was coined by Zanardi's Race Engineer, Mo Nunn.
In 2001, Zanardi was nearly killed in a ChampCar race at the former East Germany's Lausitzring circuit. Zanardi's legs were amputated when he spun onto the track exiting pit lane and was speared by Alex Tagliani who couldn't avoid Zanardi's car. Zanardi lost 3/4 of his blood at the track and was saved only by the grace of God (and CART's crack medical team)
I remember vividly watching the accident on TV. I was weirdly numb, to tell the truth...I only saw "highlights" of the accident on Mexican television while SturgeUrge and I were on a fishing trip to San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur. I wouldn't see the race on tape until we returned to the States a few days later.
My numbness was due to the race being run on September 15, 2001...just four days after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Throw in a close encounter with a hurricane that developed overnight, and kept us off the water, and I'd spent far too many hours watching unedited footage from Lower Manhattan via Mexican TV.
Zanardi rallied almost immediately after his hospital stay, embarking on an ambitious rehabilitation program, designing his own prosthetic legs with an eye to returning to the cockpit, and getting back in the racecar in 2003, completeing the 13 final laps he missed at the Lausitzring race in a ChampCar fitted with hand controls.
Zanardi went back to Professional Racing in the FIA Touring Car Championship racing for BMW. He tested a BMW-Sauber Formula One car at Valencia, Spain in 2006 saying: "Of course, I know that I won't get a contract with the Formula One team, however having the chance to drive an F1 racer again is just incredible."
Zanardi began handcycling in 2007, grabbing 4th place in his class at the New York City Marathon after only four weeks of training. He set his sights on making the Italian team for the 2012 Paralympics, winning the Venice Marathon in 2009, Rome City Marathon in 2010, and in his fourth attempt, the New York City Marathon in 2011.
Read about Zanardi's Gold Medal TT at ESPNW
Well done, Pineapple, well done...and thanks!
I saw an old favorite racecar driver's name in my Twitter timeline this morning. Then this photo appeared on my Tumblr:
Zanardi is NOT a "A Glass Half Full" guy. Zanardi's glass has always been Full! Full of Sunshine...if you ask me...
Back during the 1996 American Open Wheel Racing Split, where Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Tony George "had a better idea" and carved the IndyRacingLeague out of CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams), Zanardi was the big deal in IndyCar racing.
Zanardi came to CART after four years of Formula One racing for second-tier teams. Racing for CART's Chip Ganassi Racing, Alex scored the Pole in his second race, won three races, and finished the season as CART Rookie of the Year, tied for Second Place in the Championship with Michael Andretti.
"The Pass" as it's now known, of race leader Bryan Herta, on the last lap at Laguna Seca, featured Zanardi taking to the off-track dirt apron entering the Corkscrew, blowing by Herta in a cloud of dust for the win...legendary stuff.
Zanardi originated the Post Win display of tight donuts at the Start-Finish Line in a cloud of tire smoke. He'd already been given his nickname, "Pineapple Head" for his ebullient, prickly style. I'm not positive, but I think the nickname was coined by Zanardi's Race Engineer, Mo Nunn.
In 2001, Zanardi was nearly killed in a ChampCar race at the former East Germany's Lausitzring circuit. Zanardi's legs were amputated when he spun onto the track exiting pit lane and was speared by Alex Tagliani who couldn't avoid Zanardi's car. Zanardi lost 3/4 of his blood at the track and was saved only by the grace of God (and CART's crack medical team)
I remember vividly watching the accident on TV. I was weirdly numb, to tell the truth...I only saw "highlights" of the accident on Mexican television while SturgeUrge and I were on a fishing trip to San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur. I wouldn't see the race on tape until we returned to the States a few days later.
My numbness was due to the race being run on September 15, 2001...just four days after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Throw in a close encounter with a hurricane that developed overnight, and kept us off the water, and I'd spent far too many hours watching unedited footage from Lower Manhattan via Mexican TV.
Zanardi rallied almost immediately after his hospital stay, embarking on an ambitious rehabilitation program, designing his own prosthetic legs with an eye to returning to the cockpit, and getting back in the racecar in 2003, completeing the 13 final laps he missed at the Lausitzring race in a ChampCar fitted with hand controls.
Zanardi went back to Professional Racing in the FIA Touring Car Championship racing for BMW. He tested a BMW-Sauber Formula One car at Valencia, Spain in 2006 saying: "Of course, I know that I won't get a contract with the Formula One team, however having the chance to drive an F1 racer again is just incredible."
Zanardi began handcycling in 2007, grabbing 4th place in his class at the New York City Marathon after only four weeks of training. He set his sights on making the Italian team for the 2012 Paralympics, winning the Venice Marathon in 2009, Rome City Marathon in 2010, and in his fourth attempt, the New York City Marathon in 2011.
Read about Zanardi's Gold Medal TT at ESPNW
Well done, Pineapple, well done...and thanks!
Friday, June 15, 2012
Here Comes History
My world has been heavy with history for a month. The last week of May was wall to wall battleship. The USS Iowa's transit through San Francisco Bay made for a peak experience for SturgeUrge and I as we followed the big battlewagon from Richmond to Angel Island on an uncommonly calm afternoon.
Astronomically it was a couple of good weeks with the Annular Eclipse and the Transit of Venus.
I marked the 70th anniversary of the pivotal Battle of Midway in this space.
Last week we marked the 68th year since Allied forces landed on the Normandy beaches. D-Day the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany's reign of terror.
History was made in space when private contractor SpaceX successfully sent a cargo ship named Dragon to the International Space Station, docked, and a few days later, undocked, reentered and slashed down safely in the Pacific off the Baja California coast.
The 96th Indianapolis 500 and the 70th Monaco Grand Prix marked motorsports milestones, and this week I watched Matt Cain pitch his Perfect Game.
Looking ahead, Truckee will be hosting some history the first week of July, when two of the original Tuskegee Airmen will be feted at a dinner kicking off the Truckee Tahoe AirFair & Family Festival.
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first black aviation unit in the Army Air Corps during WWII. The heavily decorated all black 322nd Fighter Group is told in the George Lucas 2012 film "Red Tails"
All this excitement has me plumb tuckered out...perhaps this weekend's 24 Hours of Le Mans will recharge my batteries...
Astronomically it was a couple of good weeks with the Annular Eclipse and the Transit of Venus.
I marked the 70th anniversary of the pivotal Battle of Midway in this space.
Last week we marked the 68th year since Allied forces landed on the Normandy beaches. D-Day the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany's reign of terror.
History was made in space when private contractor SpaceX successfully sent a cargo ship named Dragon to the International Space Station, docked, and a few days later, undocked, reentered and slashed down safely in the Pacific off the Baja California coast.
The 96th Indianapolis 500 and the 70th Monaco Grand Prix marked motorsports milestones, and this week I watched Matt Cain pitch his Perfect Game.
Looking ahead, Truckee will be hosting some history the first week of July, when two of the original Tuskegee Airmen will be feted at a dinner kicking off the Truckee Tahoe AirFair & Family Festival.
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first black aviation unit in the Army Air Corps during WWII. The heavily decorated all black 322nd Fighter Group is told in the George Lucas 2012 film "Red Tails"
All this excitement has me plumb tuckered out...perhaps this weekend's 24 Hours of Le Mans will recharge my batteries...
Friday, June 1, 2012
Meltdown
I'm wilting...it's still almost 80°F in here at 1:23AM...
It's not like I didn't plan for this...I planned my day with the afternoon heating in mind.
In the last couple of days, I stumbled upon a great, new-to-me Food Blog, The Bitten Word. Therein I found a great looking recipe for a Beet, Rhubarb, and Orange Salad.
The new produce store downtown has these gorgeous Golden Beets, as well as the regular Detroit Improved classic red ones. Rhubarb is at the peak of the season, so hell yeah...I'm in.
So the beets are roasted in a 400°F oven for an hour...the perfect recipe to heat the kitchen and most of the rest of the house...so I was preheating the oven at 10:30AM, and the beets were cooling by noon...I even poached the rhubarb early...the first time...oops, 30 seconds too long on the rhubarb,so it turned to mush instead of the desired "crisp tender"
Anyway, I picked up another pound of rhubarb and poached it to perfection, in time for everything to cool enough to cache in the reefer until dinnertime.
The salad was a hit, though six servings must be as the entree...I've got enough for dinner for four again tomorrow. (This time I'll remember the feta, so it'll be like it's not even leftovers!) Now that I think about it, I shoulda taken some pictures...This salad is nothing if not colorful!
Thursday Night Roundup:
The Giants had the day off...their first in 20 days!
I found out that you can watch the whole Indy500 online! It's the best 500 in a long time, and runs about 2 hours 45 minutes. Turbos are back, baby!
The forecast says Friday will be hot before the pattern turns cool over the weekend...there's even a chance of rain for Reno this weekend.
Wow, the Pacific Battleship Center posted a link to my USS Iowa Tow Video Blog, and more than 600 people visited CorduroyPlanet. Thank you all!
Don't forget to Like my CorduroyPlanet Facebook Page.
Thanks again everyone!
It's not like I didn't plan for this...I planned my day with the afternoon heating in mind.
In the last couple of days, I stumbled upon a great, new-to-me Food Blog, The Bitten Word. Therein I found a great looking recipe for a Beet, Rhubarb, and Orange Salad.
The new produce store downtown has these gorgeous Golden Beets, as well as the regular Detroit Improved classic red ones. Rhubarb is at the peak of the season, so hell yeah...I'm in.
So the beets are roasted in a 400°F oven for an hour...the perfect recipe to heat the kitchen and most of the rest of the house...so I was preheating the oven at 10:30AM, and the beets were cooling by noon...I even poached the rhubarb early...the first time...oops, 30 seconds too long on the rhubarb,so it turned to mush instead of the desired "crisp tender"
Anyway, I picked up another pound of rhubarb and poached it to perfection, in time for everything to cool enough to cache in the reefer until dinnertime.
The salad was a hit, though six servings must be as the entree...I've got enough for dinner for four again tomorrow. (This time I'll remember the feta, so it'll be like it's not even leftovers!) Now that I think about it, I shoulda taken some pictures...This salad is nothing if not colorful!
Thursday Night Roundup:
The Giants had the day off...their first in 20 days!
I found out that you can watch the whole Indy500 online! It's the best 500 in a long time, and runs about 2 hours 45 minutes. Turbos are back, baby!
The forecast says Friday will be hot before the pattern turns cool over the weekend...there's even a chance of rain for Reno this weekend.
Wow, the Pacific Battleship Center posted a link to my USS Iowa Tow Video Blog, and more than 600 people visited CorduroyPlanet. Thank you all!
Don't forget to Like my CorduroyPlanet Facebook Page.
Thanks again everyone!
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Head On a Swivel
OK, I feel all rested up from the busy weekend.
My Memorial Day Weekend was all about history...looking back if you will...WWII Battleship USS Iowa...70th Monaco Grand Prix...96th Indianapolis 500.
Even baseball brought the history. On Monday, San Francisco Giants left fielder Melky Cabrera passed Willie Mays' 1958 record of 49 hits in the month of May. Wednesday night the Melk Man knocked his 51st hit, tieing the all-time-any-month Giants record that goes back to 1918.
When SturgeUrge and I were on San Francisco Bay Saturday, the boat traffic became so crazy that SturgeUrge's head looked like it was on a swivel...call it Combat Boating. Well, Skipper 'Urge brought us back to dry land in one piece to float another day.
This evening, I feel like it's my head on the proverbial swivel. My world is all on the up and up tonight...after watching the Giants lose 4-1 to the Arizona Diamondbacks, my twitter feed was suddenly full of spaceflight tweets...
As I write, I'm keeping an ear on the SpaceX Dragon and the International Space Station's LIVE ungrapple and departure stream. The Dragon Capsule will leave the ISS tonight on it's way back to Earth. As it turns out, all this spaceflight stuff is history too...SpaceX's Dragon is the first commercial spacecraft to visit and dock to the ISS. The Dragon will shuttle people back and forth from the ISS after some more test flights and NASA approval.
SpaceX aren't the only private outfit building commercial spacecraft for the ISS delivery market either...
Orbital Sciences Corp. is developing their Antares rocket/ Cygnus capsule system to serve the ISS, too.
Another company, Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic received the necessary permits from the FAA to test their SpaceShip Two with full rocket motor power. Virgin who call themselves the "First Commercial Spaceline" (as opposed to airline), is going after the Space Tourist Trade...short sub-orbital rides into space, complete with the dramatic, firey atmospheric reentry.
I'm so grateful to these companies picking up NASA's slack. NASA seems to be dithering lately, and time is running out for me to see earthmen walk on Mars. When I was a kid watching NASA blast off into the New Frontier, it was a given that men would be on Mars sooner than later...now it's been forty years since we last landed on the Moon! NASA gets it budget slashed every year while the Feds run up World Record deficits...
You know, all this internet/smartphone/Facebook/Twitter/iPad stuff is all the product of kids who were inspired by the Space Program and it's offshoots. Back in the day, we all felt like we were helping the astronauts...willing them higher, farther, longer...to the next unbelievable breakthrough, milestone after milestone, until Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface in 1969. We all carried astronaut lunch boxes to school, scores of toys and commercial tie-ins exploited our space mania. Is Tang still on grocery store shelves?
Well, in the Internet Age, pandering is as easy as click, click, click, only in the 21st Century they're giving it away. Here's some SpaceX Dragon fun that's free save the price of printing it on your home printer:
Print and build your own paper Dragon Spacecraft
Have fun kids!
My Memorial Day Weekend was all about history...looking back if you will...WWII Battleship USS Iowa...70th Monaco Grand Prix...96th Indianapolis 500.
Even baseball brought the history. On Monday, San Francisco Giants left fielder Melky Cabrera passed Willie Mays' 1958 record of 49 hits in the month of May. Wednesday night the Melk Man knocked his 51st hit, tieing the all-time-any-month Giants record that goes back to 1918.
When SturgeUrge and I were on San Francisco Bay Saturday, the boat traffic became so crazy that SturgeUrge's head looked like it was on a swivel...call it Combat Boating. Well, Skipper 'Urge brought us back to dry land in one piece to float another day.
This evening, I feel like it's my head on the proverbial swivel. My world is all on the up and up tonight...after watching the Giants lose 4-1 to the Arizona Diamondbacks, my twitter feed was suddenly full of spaceflight tweets...
As I write, I'm keeping an ear on the SpaceX Dragon and the International Space Station's LIVE ungrapple and departure stream. The Dragon Capsule will leave the ISS tonight on it's way back to Earth. As it turns out, all this spaceflight stuff is history too...SpaceX's Dragon is the first commercial spacecraft to visit and dock to the ISS. The Dragon will shuttle people back and forth from the ISS after some more test flights and NASA approval.
SpaceX aren't the only private outfit building commercial spacecraft for the ISS delivery market either...
Orbital Sciences Corp. is developing their Antares rocket/ Cygnus capsule system to serve the ISS, too.
Another company, Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic received the necessary permits from the FAA to test their SpaceShip Two with full rocket motor power. Virgin who call themselves the "First Commercial Spaceline" (as opposed to airline), is going after the Space Tourist Trade...short sub-orbital rides into space, complete with the dramatic, firey atmospheric reentry.
I'm so grateful to these companies picking up NASA's slack. NASA seems to be dithering lately, and time is running out for me to see earthmen walk on Mars. When I was a kid watching NASA blast off into the New Frontier, it was a given that men would be on Mars sooner than later...now it's been forty years since we last landed on the Moon! NASA gets it budget slashed every year while the Feds run up World Record deficits...
You know, all this internet/smartphone/Facebook/Twitter/iPad stuff is all the product of kids who were inspired by the Space Program and it's offshoots. Back in the day, we all felt like we were helping the astronauts...willing them higher, farther, longer...to the next unbelievable breakthrough, milestone after milestone, until Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface in 1969. We all carried astronaut lunch boxes to school, scores of toys and commercial tie-ins exploited our space mania. Is Tang still on grocery store shelves?
Well, in the Internet Age, pandering is as easy as click, click, click, only in the 21st Century they're giving it away. Here's some SpaceX Dragon fun that's free save the price of printing it on your home printer:
Print and build your own paper Dragon Spacecraft
Have fun kids!
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Up Early
I woke up to a stranger's voice this morning. I'd fallen asleep watching a LIVE stream from NASA's Cape Canaveral where private space launch contractor SpaceX was launching their Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station.Liftoff was scheduled for 1:55AM PDT, I didn't get close. SpaceX however got as close as they could get to liftoff when the launch was aborted...1 second. The voice that woke me up was from the post-scrub press conference. Somewhere around 0600 I woke up enough to figure the lay of the land.
Launch computers showed an overpressure in one of the Falcon 9's nine rocket motors, and aborted the launch. Next launch window is 12:44AM PDT Tuesday morning. Falcon 9/Dragon Mission Status Center
This weekend is shaping up to be hyper-busy. Too many choices!
Saturday:
Indianapolis 500 Pole DayLIVE on NBC SportsNet 8AM-11:30AM and 1:30PM-3:30PM and streaming Timing and Scoring at IndyCar.com all day.
Sunday:
The battleship USS Iowa leaves Richmond, CA on San Francisco Bay en route to Los Angeles Harbor. Under tow, the mighty dreadnaught is scheduled to pass under the Golden Gate bridge at 3:30PM PDT Sunday afternoon. The Chronicle has a great photo gallery at the link.
Annular eclipse of the Sun. 96% of the Sun will be obscured by the New Moon revealing "The Ring of Fire" for as much as 4 minutes and 30 seconds depending on where in the eclipse path the observer is. Plan your eclipse observations at Eclipse-Maps.com and be careful! DO NOT look directly at the eclipse! Use eclipse glasses, a welder's shield, or a projection method such as a pinhole projector to see the ring.
On the horns of my dilemma...
I really want to see the USS Iowa on the Bay. The timing of the tow makes it impossible to see Iowa on the open bay while still allowing for travel time to the High Sierra where the eclipse will be at the maximum displaying the full "Ring of Fire"
I'll let you know how it all turns out...
Launch computers showed an overpressure in one of the Falcon 9's nine rocket motors, and aborted the launch. Next launch window is 12:44AM PDT Tuesday morning. Falcon 9/Dragon Mission Status Center
This weekend is shaping up to be hyper-busy. Too many choices!
Saturday:
Indianapolis 500 Pole DayLIVE on NBC SportsNet 8AM-11:30AM and 1:30PM-3:30PM and streaming Timing and Scoring at IndyCar.com all day.
Sunday:
The battleship USS Iowa leaves Richmond, CA on San Francisco Bay en route to Los Angeles Harbor. Under tow, the mighty dreadnaught is scheduled to pass under the Golden Gate bridge at 3:30PM PDT Sunday afternoon. The Chronicle has a great photo gallery at the link.
Annular eclipse of the Sun. 96% of the Sun will be obscured by the New Moon revealing "The Ring of Fire" for as much as 4 minutes and 30 seconds depending on where in the eclipse path the observer is. Plan your eclipse observations at Eclipse-Maps.com and be careful! DO NOT look directly at the eclipse! Use eclipse glasses, a welder's shield, or a projection method such as a pinhole projector to see the ring.
On the horns of my dilemma...
I really want to see the USS Iowa on the Bay. The timing of the tow makes it impossible to see Iowa on the open bay while still allowing for travel time to the High Sierra where the eclipse will be at the maximum displaying the full "Ring of Fire"
I'll let you know how it all turns out...
Friday, May 18, 2012
Ballgame!
Well, my San Francisco Giants didn't disappoint Thursday. KirkVallus and I rode the BART to AT&T Park and became a part of the team's 102nd consecutive sellout crowd.
As forecast, the wind turned into a northwest flow and the deep marine layer evaporated before game time. I do love afternoon baseball games, and at AT&T Park day games are magnificent! The winds reminded us of Candlestick in that they couldn't find a single direction and stick with it. There were even swirling winds for a while, and the northwesterlies gave balls hit into right-center a lift during the 3rd inning rally by the Cardinals when they wrested the lead away from the Giants who took the lead 2-1 in the 2nd.
The wind freshened as the day wore on, and the flags that rim the upper deck were really flapping in the brisk blow, making a loud, very sharp luffing noise. It's easy to get caught up in nautical thoughts at AT&T. The park is right on San Francisco Bay with an expansive view of Yerba Buena Island and the Bay Bridge with the East Bay Hills as a panoramic backdrop.
As the wind ramped up, so did the Giants regaining the lead a second time in the 6th, and adding two "insurance runs" in the 7th. The final score was 7-5 Giants, and the wind really whipped up the whitecaps on the Bay.
From the upper deck, the view is spectacular. San Francisco Bay is a working harbor, and the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge is coming along fine. There's always dredging in Oakland's harbor, and lots of container ships are coming and going into the Port of Oakland.
We walked the mile or so up Third Street back to BART. Let me tell you, that wind was howling through those concrete and glass canyons!
Descending under Market Street to the BART Station, the wind at last became a memory. Our train was there in 12 minutes and we even got seats together during rush hour!
Lots of happy Giants fans on the train were feeling good. So were we.
The Giants play the Oakland A's for three games beginning Friday night. I'll spare you my traditionalist rant on inter-league play.
Next peak event this week would be the annular eclipse on Sunday...and oh yeah...Pole Day at Indianapolis Saturday.
I've got a week to anticipate both the Indy 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix....sweet!
As forecast, the wind turned into a northwest flow and the deep marine layer evaporated before game time. I do love afternoon baseball games, and at AT&T Park day games are magnificent! The winds reminded us of Candlestick in that they couldn't find a single direction and stick with it. There were even swirling winds for a while, and the northwesterlies gave balls hit into right-center a lift during the 3rd inning rally by the Cardinals when they wrested the lead away from the Giants who took the lead 2-1 in the 2nd.
The wind freshened as the day wore on, and the flags that rim the upper deck were really flapping in the brisk blow, making a loud, very sharp luffing noise. It's easy to get caught up in nautical thoughts at AT&T. The park is right on San Francisco Bay with an expansive view of Yerba Buena Island and the Bay Bridge with the East Bay Hills as a panoramic backdrop.
As the wind ramped up, so did the Giants regaining the lead a second time in the 6th, and adding two "insurance runs" in the 7th. The final score was 7-5 Giants, and the wind really whipped up the whitecaps on the Bay.
From the upper deck, the view is spectacular. San Francisco Bay is a working harbor, and the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge is coming along fine. There's always dredging in Oakland's harbor, and lots of container ships are coming and going into the Port of Oakland.
We walked the mile or so up Third Street back to BART. Let me tell you, that wind was howling through those concrete and glass canyons!
Descending under Market Street to the BART Station, the wind at last became a memory. Our train was there in 12 minutes and we even got seats together during rush hour!
Lots of happy Giants fans on the train were feeling good. So were we.
The Giants play the Oakland A's for three games beginning Friday night. I'll spare you my traditionalist rant on inter-league play.
Next peak event this week would be the annular eclipse on Sunday...and oh yeah...Pole Day at Indianapolis Saturday.
I've got a week to anticipate both the Indy 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix....sweet!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Month Of May
May is many things to me. Ski season is definitely over, spring is really here, and my niche sports really put it in gear.
Bicycle racing begins the Grand Tour Season with the Giro d’Italia on May 5th.
AMGEN's Tour of California kicks off May 13th, and comes through the Inland Valley May 15th.
Formula One returns to Europe in May. Teams are testing at Tuscany's Mugello this week, and the racing starts in Catalunya, Spain May 13th.
IndyCar spends the entire month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway preparing for the Indy 500 on Memorial Day Weekend.
May is Mount Everest month. Several hundred climbers will summit the World's Tallest before the monsoons come.
Major League Baseball settles into it's summertime groove this month. I'm liking what I see from my San Francisco Giants. There's a few anniversaries in Giants history this year. The Giants went to the World Series for the first time as the San Francisco Giants 50 years ago. They lost to the New York Yankees.
Time for me to duck outta here, I'm LIVE streaming Peter Windsor's "The Flying Lap" today at 11AM PDT Guests include Pirelli Tire's Director of Motorsport, Paul Hembery to talk testing from Mugello.
This season is shaping up to be a total geek-out for me. Formula One really has stepped up it's Social Media Outreach. I spent much of my morning following F1 testing on Twitter. Brilliant "spy photos" of all the teams latest developments, from pit lane. Most teams are still working on their exhaust exits and how the exhaust gasses help produce rear downforce. Teams haven't forgotten the front of the cars either, many new front wing refinements are on track at Mugello.
Did I mention May is Monaco Grand Prix month? F1 on the streets of Monte Carlo and the Indy 500 both run on May 27th.
Gentlemen, Start...Your...Engines!
Bicycle racing begins the Grand Tour Season with the Giro d’Italia on May 5th.
AMGEN's Tour of California kicks off May 13th, and comes through the Inland Valley May 15th.
Formula One returns to Europe in May. Teams are testing at Tuscany's Mugello this week, and the racing starts in Catalunya, Spain May 13th.
IndyCar spends the entire month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway preparing for the Indy 500 on Memorial Day Weekend.
May is Mount Everest month. Several hundred climbers will summit the World's Tallest before the monsoons come.
Major League Baseball settles into it's summertime groove this month. I'm liking what I see from my San Francisco Giants. There's a few anniversaries in Giants history this year. The Giants went to the World Series for the first time as the San Francisco Giants 50 years ago. They lost to the New York Yankees.
Time for me to duck outta here, I'm LIVE streaming Peter Windsor's "The Flying Lap" today at 11AM PDT Guests include Pirelli Tire's Director of Motorsport, Paul Hembery to talk testing from Mugello.
This season is shaping up to be a total geek-out for me. Formula One really has stepped up it's Social Media Outreach. I spent much of my morning following F1 testing on Twitter. Brilliant "spy photos" of all the teams latest developments, from pit lane. Most teams are still working on their exhaust exits and how the exhaust gasses help produce rear downforce. Teams haven't forgotten the front of the cars either, many new front wing refinements are on track at Mugello.
Did I mention May is Monaco Grand Prix month? F1 on the streets of Monte Carlo and the Indy 500 both run on May 27th.
Gentlemen, Start...Your...Engines!
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