A Woman And Her Shed

So this has been our latest project - well, Jenny's project. I'm just the forced labour. In our never-ending search for space, she wants to clear out the garage for her stuff by putting the stuff that's there into this new shed. It's about three times the size of our old shed.

If you're interested, it's a 10'x10' "Waltons Groundsman Workshop" from Garden Buildings Direct. Quality-wise, it's so-so but it was pretty cheap. The panels are flimsy. I've warned the children not to play "Three Little Pigs" inside since they might blow it down. We need to cover the floor with plywood to make sure a heavy object doesn't fall and break it.

Jenny can now join that great British institution of "Men and Sheds":

"....a shed is to a man what a handbag is to a woman."

Hmmm. Maybe I should get my own shed? His 'n' her sheds! Out of interest, I checked the building regulations. No planning permission is needed if:

• outbuildings don't cover more than half the area of the garden
  


• it contains no sleeping accommodation
  


• the floor area does not exceed 15 square metres
  


• no point is less than one metre from a boundary
  


• it is not more than 3m high for a flat roof, or 4m with a ridged roof
  


• no part projects beyond any wall of the house that faces a road
  


• it's used only by those who occupy the house
  


• it's at least 2 metres away from the main house if built from wood

Hey! I could build a log cabin at the bottom of the garden!

Goodwood Breakfast Club

I feel guilty. I worry about climate change but I like fast CO2 spewing cars too. It gives me angst attacks.

A group of us zipped down in our sporty cars last Sunday morning to the Goodwood Motor Circuit to participate in the Goodwood Breakfast Club. The theme this month was supercars. The idea is simple. If you arrive at the circuit and your car belong to the month's theme, you park in the viewing area outside the cafe. If your car doesn't fit the theme, you park with everyone else. Our friend driving a Lotus Espirit got to park in the supercar area. The two of us driving Porsche's had to go with the rest of the punters.

The event is completely free if you don't count the £12 for a full English breakfast. There's a van selling bacon rolls too.

Lots of people show up driving plenty of exotic cars. There was every kind of Ferrari from very old right up to an Enzo. Lots of Lambo's. Even a Pantera. A few Cobra's. A Viper and a Noble. In the picture, you can see a yellow Ultima. One of a few that were there. I've been doing a little research about what it takes to build one of these beauties. There were a few Aston Martins and Porsches but they were mostly excluded. However, there were two (two!) of the latest Porsche Carrera GT's. Gorgeous. There was even the DeLorean from the film "Back To The Future".

Wandering around the regular parking lot can also be fascinating. Plenty of Caterhams, Elises and Porsches. Various kit cars and classic cars too. A Radical was there. So was an Ariel Atom (0-60 in 2.91 seconds). As we left, a thunderous Harley Davidson Motorcycle Club arrived. It's just a great day to watch people arrive and leave.

If I ever start doing a lot of commuting again, I'm quite sure I'll have to give up the Porsche and go for a two car solution: something practical that gets many miles per gallon and something else that's strictly for weekend fun. That will help keep the angst down.

Personal Carbon Quota

So far, a personal carbon quota system is the best idea I've heard for managing carbon dioxide emissions. It's also refered to as Domestic Tradable Quotas (DTQs) or Tradeable Energy Quotas (TEQs) or Personal Carbon Allowance (PCA). Think of it as a personal pollution allowance/quota/ration.

The idea is you get a fixed number of units per year recorded on a plastic card. Units get debited when you buy goods or services. You can argue about the details but assume everything has a money price and a carbon price. The carbon units are a currency in their own right that can be bought, sold, earned and traded. Of course it won't be perfect and there will be a huge black market but it's the best mechanism I've heard of for creating a CO2 bound economy that leaves consumers with the greatest choice.

There are better descriptions of this on the net like Feasta Review, BBC News or TEQs.

I think it would be a more dynamic approach than carbon taxes which are a more blunt way of suppressing polluting activities. A personal quota provides a direct way of encouraging and rewarding green actions. You could even make money selling surplus carbon units. But it also allows you limited indulgence in polluting luxuries without raising the cost of them in "old" money.

Some will argue that such a scheme is too complex to run. Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on the details. I think it's worth pursuing further.

Climate chaos: Bush's climate of fear

Panorama is a superb British news show. The latest broadcast exposed how the Bush administration has systematically suppressed scientific evidence of climate change over the last several years. Worth watching and you can view it online now.

It's just tragic waiting for how much worse it's going to get before real action will take place.

Upcoming: Marvellous Festival 2006

Just bought tickets for the Marvellous Festival coming up on Saturday, July 22nd - featuring cover bands of Queen, Fleetwood Mac and Santana. This will be the third year we've gone. Wanna join us?

How To Corner A Porsche 911?

It's a question that's been on my mind ever since I got the 993 a few years ago.

Going straight is, of course, not complicated. The only thing I can tell you is that there's no point revving the engine and dropping the clutch. A factory standard non-turbo engine dies doing that. As for braking, it's worthwhile learning to toe-heel well and keep the car balanced as you slow down.

But the correct way to take a corner is open to more debate. The huge weight of the engine behind the car's centre of gravity makes this a critical question. While this offers tremendous traction in the rear, it leaves the front-end very light.

Beginner track drivers are warned to always brake in a straight line but Vic Elford in the "Porsche High Performance Driving Handbook" explains that you should gradually ease the brake off right up to the apex. This makes sense in order to keep the weight on the front wheels as long as possible. This is called "trail braking".

A friend and I went to the Trackdays event up at Rockingham (very quickly in his 996). It was a nice event but unfortunately it was poorly attended. At a near empty seminar, I was able to pose this question to Mike Wilds who is a very accomplished race car driver and instructor. It turns out he also owns a Porsche 911. Here are some of his comments.

1. Look up and through the corner. Don't watch your dials.


2. Toe-heel brake smoothly up to the turn-in point. Position is key.


3. Make a single turn of the steering wheel ("commitment") avoid steering adjustments


4. Never turn hand over hand. If you must, slip the wheel through one hand keeping the position of the other.


5. Don't bother driving fast until you can consistently drive the race line well hitting a perfect tangent at the apex.


6. "slow in, fast out" - enter the corner slower than you might think and gradually increase power all the way out. If the car is understeering, you're entering the corner too fast.

As for trail braking, he believed it wasn't really needed. This agrees with the "point and shoot" description I've heard for driving a 911. But he did say it was fine to trail brake but the technique was to apply the throttle at the turn-in point while still keeping the brake on up to the apex. Using both at the same time was a new idea for me.

This obviously calls for a trackday to try some of these things out.

Trebuchet at Warwick Castle

Another trip we did over the Easter weekend was to visit Warwick Castle and enjoy their medieval weekend.

They invite numerous different medieval re-enactment groups to camp on the grounds on the castle and demonstrate daily medieval life. The groups were highly authentic and it made for a splendid atmosphere. Warwick was a large gathering but the top re-enactment event of the year, I was told, is the Battle of Bosworth each August.

The two highlights of the day were an re-enactment of a battle and the firing of the trebuchet. The re-enactment was a little hokey but good fun. Particularly impressive was the large number of longbowmen firing at the soldiers. Longbowmen were the backbone of the  English armies and responsible for much of their success.

But what we really wanted to see was the firing of the 18m tall trebuchet. If you've ever played the computer game "Age Of Kings", you'll have a warm spot for trebuchets. They're the killer weapon of the period. At Warwick, we were treated to the launching of a real fireball too. It worked very well.

Diggerland

During the Easter break, we drove out to Rochester and visited Diggerland. As you might expect, it's a theme park but instead of typical rides, all they use is standard construction machinery. Once you pay your entrance fee you try any of the machinery as long as you're five and above. The controls are a bit confusing at first but it doesn't take long to get the hang of it.

It's brilliant for the kids. Where else can they get the chance to operate heavy machinery? The picture shows Jenny and K* having a go on some of the bigger diggers.  The entrance fee is a bit steep at £12.50 per person as the lines can get quite long so you can spend a lot of time waiting for a go. If you book ahead on the Internet, you can get discounted family ticket. Given the cost, Jenny was determined to have a go on everything!

We also dropped by Bluewater Shopping Centre which is close by. It's one of the largest shoping centres in the UK - it even has a climbing wall and boating lake. Makes for a good day out.

Explore@Bristol

Last week both kids were home for Easter break so went to a few places. Our first trip was to the Explore-At-Bristol Science Center. There's no static displays; it's all hands-on. Very, very good and well worth the trip out there. Not as crowded as the London Science Museum. We also saw a 3D movie at the IMAX about sharks but it was so-so. The picture is a thermal image of R*.

It was the first time we had driven into Bristol as we usually just scoot past it on the motorway. First impressions were of a bland stock of post-war buildings but lots of bustle and obvious movement to renovate and modernise.

See Honey...

Movie Roundup

Back to blogging. First up, some of the more interesting movies I've watched in the last few months.

One of the best was Once Were Warriors.(Lee Tamahori, 1994) ..."a family descended from Maori warriors is bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts." Engrossing film but there's some very nasty violence. Highly recommended.

We just recently watched Crash (David Cronenburg, 1996). It's definitely "out there" as films go. I'd call it fetish porn with a plot. Weird people getting off on combining car crashes, mutilation and sex. Not for everyone but intriguing none-the-less. Don't ask me whether it's a commentary on the human condition.

Another weird film in a totally different way was The Happiness of the Katakuris (Takashi Miike, 2001) - a musical, comedy, horror. Yes, that's right. A musical and a comedy and a horror film all with English subtitles. The Katakuri family open a remote guest house but their guests keep dying so they hide the bodies. It features B-grade over-the-top camp acting and segues into claymation. I almost turned it off but the script is quite good as it explores the pursuit of happiness. Goofy fun.

I was very disappointed with the ending of Meet Joe Black (1998). Hollywood had to draw it out and make it sweet. Abysmal I enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha (Rob Marshall, 2005) but it also had the wrong ending. Very entertaining though.

Sideways (2005) is an excellent "guy" film that still has me smirking at bottles of merlot. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004) was much better than I expected. Kingdom of Heaven (2005) is a good epic. All recommended.

Finally saw Once Upon A Time In America (2003 Director's Cut) and Midnight Express (1978). Classics.

We recently cancelled our subscription to Sky (UK satellite TV). We simply don't watch TV that much and Freeview is good enough. Instead, we've increased our DVD subscription service since we prefer films to the garbage on the telly.

Blog Housekeeping

I haven't been posting lately but I have been working on this blog.
I've consolidated my blog databases and migrated both blogs I write to
a new blogging platform called Subtext. Over the next couple of months, I'll be changing and tweaking the skin (UI).

If you notice any strange displays or behaviour, please let me know

Cable Chewing Cat

Our cat likes chewing on cables and it's becoming a bit of a problem. There's alot of cables around our house. So far, he's chewed through:

• one ethernet backbone disrupting the home network


• two xbox controllers


• one Nokia phone charger


• the left channel of a cheap audio interconnect


• one very expensive audiophile-grade audio interconnect

That last one was really, really annoying. I've become reaquainted with my soldering iron fixing all this stuff. Now when something doesn't work, the first suspect is the cat.

The surprising thing is that he hasn't chewed through a power cord yet. I hope he does! That will teach him a lesson. Although it would be sad to come home one day to a frizzled smoking cat ("Honey, what's that smell by the stereo?"). Meanwhile, I'm wondering whether there's something I can wipe on all the cables to stop the chewing.

Renaissance le Film

Not very often that a film breaks new ground but Renaissance le Film looks set to do that. It's almost pure black & white - minimal gray scale. It's part live action (motion capture) and part animation/modelling using Maya, SyFlex and Air. Genre is sci-fi/action. I caught a brief article on it while flipping through the April issue of 3D World magazine. Terrific graphic style. Check out the trailer (Firefox worked more easily). Read more at imdb.

It comes out March 15th in France and hits the rest of the world later this year.

Can't wait to see it.