Well right now it is 11:15pm AEST. The German Grand Prix started at 10pm AEST yet Channel TEN hasn't started the telecast yet. It is scheduled to start at 11:30pm, however due to the Big Brother eviction show earlier tonight, the Grand Prix telecast probably won't start until 11:45pm. By that time the race will be over and I could find the result on the internet, but I won't look at the F1 website so I'm not spoiled by the result.
Channel TEN can't get and Big Brother live shows to end on time. On friday night the "Prize Fight" game show for Big Brother ran until 10:25pm, when it was scheduled to run from 7:30pm until 9:30pm. I was waiting for Veronica Mars to begin at 9:30pm, but it didn't happen. So much delay. Most preceeding weeks Veronica Mars didn't start until about 9:45pm, which allowed me to get home before it started, but I was setting the VCR to record it, and had I not been coming home I would have had another 15 to 20 minutes of Big Brother crap. Next week Veronica Mars is scheduled to start at the new time of 10:30pm. I'm surprised they didn't just stop showing it again, like they did part way through the season, and now with just 4 episodes left of this season they are changing the timeslot. Before it this week is The Simpsons at 7:30pm followed by Everybody hates Chris, then the American Pie Wedding movie. Why couldn't they put Veronica Mars at 7:30pm?
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Formula One Grand Prix: Germany
So here we are in Germany, Michael Schumachers home event. The temperature for qualifying was around 30 degrees. This report will be based in part on the live timing archive on the Official Formula One Website.
Jarno Truili and Christijan Albers will both lose 10 places from there qualifying due to engine changes. The Super Aguri debuted their new chassis, however Yamamoto crashed in the morning practice and used the old chassis for qualifying. Scott Speed crashed out of qualifying early on which halted the session, and he recorded no time. After the first part of qualifying, Luizzi, Albers, Sato, Monterio, Yamamoto and Speed were eliminated. This means with the penalty Albers will start 22nd.
The second period of 15 minutes saw Webber elminiated again with a time 0.073 seconds slower than de la Rosa. Klien, Truili, Villeneuve, Rosberg and Heidfeld were also slower, but all improved from their 1st part times.
The final top 10 shootout started with both Ferraris and both Renaults at pit exit ready to leave. de la Rosa made contact with Ralf and gained a puncture, which forced both into the pits with Ralf being kept in the pits much longer checking suspension. Kimi was on provisional pole for much of the session, and in the last minute of the session all the cars were on track on flyers, but Kimi ran off track which ruined his lap. Alonso could only make 7th fastest, with Rubens in 6th.
Here are the qualifying times:
Jarno Truili and Christijan Albers will both lose 10 places from there qualifying due to engine changes. The Super Aguri debuted their new chassis, however Yamamoto crashed in the morning practice and used the old chassis for qualifying. Scott Speed crashed out of qualifying early on which halted the session, and he recorded no time. After the first part of qualifying, Luizzi, Albers, Sato, Monterio, Yamamoto and Speed were eliminated. This means with the penalty Albers will start 22nd.
The second period of 15 minutes saw Webber elminiated again with a time 0.073 seconds slower than de la Rosa. Klien, Truili, Villeneuve, Rosberg and Heidfeld were also slower, but all improved from their 1st part times.
The final top 10 shootout started with both Ferraris and both Renaults at pit exit ready to leave. de la Rosa made contact with Ralf and gained a puncture, which forced both into the pits with Ralf being kept in the pits much longer checking suspension. Kimi was on provisional pole for much of the session, and in the last minute of the session all the cars were on track on flyers, but Kimi ran off track which ruined his lap. Alonso could only make 7th fastest, with Rubens in 6th.
Here are the qualifying times:
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | First | Second | Third |
| 1 | 3 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren -Mercedes | 1:15.214 | 1:14.410 | 1:14.070 |
| 2 | 5 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:14.904 | 1:13.778 | 1:14.205 |
| 3 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:14.412 | 1:14.094 | 1:14.569 |
| 4 | 12 | Jenson Button | Honda | 1:15.869 | 1:14.378 | 1:14.862 |
| 5 | 2 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | 1:15.916 | 1:14.540 | 1:14.894 |
| 6 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 1:15.757 | 1:14.652 | 1:14.934 |
| 7 | 1 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:15.518 | 1:14.746 | 1:15.282 |
| 8 | 7 | Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | 1:15.789 | 1:14.743 | 1:15.923 |
| 9 | 4 | Pedro de la Rosa | McLaren -Mercedes | 1:15.655 | 1:15.021 | 1:15.936 |
| 10 | 14 | David Coulthard | RBR -Ferrari | 1:15.836 | 1:14.826 | 1:16.326 |
| 11 | 9 | Mark Webber | Williams -Cosworth | 1:15.719 | 1:15.094 | |
| 12 | 15 | Christian Klien | RBR -Ferrari | 1:15.816 | 1:15.141 | |
| 13 | 8 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:15.430 | 1:15.150 | |
| 14 | 17 | Jacques Villeneuve | Sauber -BMW | 1:16.281 | 1:15.329 | |
| 15 | 10 | Nico Rosberg | Williams -Cosworth | 1:16.183 | 1:15.380 | |
| 16 | 16 | Nick Heidfeld | Sauber -BMW | 1:16.234 | 1:15.397 | 17 | 20 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | STR -Cosworth | 1:16.399 |
| 18 | 19 | Christijan Albers | MF1 -Toyota | 1:17.093 | ||
| 19 | 22 | Takuma Sato | Super Aguri -Honda | 1:17.185 | ||
| 20 | 18 | Tiago Monteiro | MF1 -Toyota | 1:17.836 | ||
| 21 | 23 | Sakon Yamamoto | Super Aguri -Honda | 1:20.444 | ||
| 22 | 21 | Scott Speed | STR -Cosworth | No Time |
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Costs of extra pages.
Recently centrelink decided to change the layout of the fortnightly forms, as a result of this it now goes onto a third page. Even though it's printed front and back, it now takes an extra piece of paper to print out.
Now lets work out the extra costs that has resulted from this change, lets say 1 piece of paper is worth 1 cent, 1 staple is valued at about 0.1 cent. The staple is used to keep the 2 sheets together once you return the form, so for each person who recieves a form an additional cost to centrelink is approximately 1.1 cents.
Lets say the population of Australia is 20,587,223 (sourced from Austrlain Bureau of Statistics) and the unemployment rate is 5.2 percent. That makes about 1,070,535 unemployed people collecting from centrelink in any given fortnight.
With those figures the total cost increase for the extra page is $11,775.88 a fortnight to centrelink and therefore the government.
It makes you wonder why they have decided to change the layout of the forms, considering there is only one extra piece of information added to the form and that is only the dates a person has worked. I don't know how this really helps processing time of the forms.
This doesn't even take into account the amount of wood or trees used to make the paper in the first place. 128 cubic feet or of wood makes approximately 89,870 sheets of paper, this equates to needing ~1524 cubic feet of wood to make the paper used in the forms. If this was to come from a single tree that happened to have a 6 feet by 6 feet core, it would need to be 43 feet high, so in essence the government are destroying one tree of this size every fortnight unnecessarily.
On top of that Centrelink seem to like to send out a piece of paper saying how much you got paid in a single envelope by itself, so we can add to the above figure the same and then the extra postage costs need to be added and the cost of envelopes which about another cent each. Lets say an extra envelope and postage is used once a month, thats $272,986.42 per fortnight with 50 cents per postage.
Total wasted costs of $7,403,819.93 per year. I suppose this is nothing compared the amount the government waste on political campaigns.
Now lets work out the extra costs that has resulted from this change, lets say 1 piece of paper is worth 1 cent, 1 staple is valued at about 0.1 cent. The staple is used to keep the 2 sheets together once you return the form, so for each person who recieves a form an additional cost to centrelink is approximately 1.1 cents.
Lets say the population of Australia is 20,587,223 (sourced from Austrlain Bureau of Statistics) and the unemployment rate is 5.2 percent. That makes about 1,070,535 unemployed people collecting from centrelink in any given fortnight.
With those figures the total cost increase for the extra page is $11,775.88 a fortnight to centrelink and therefore the government.
It makes you wonder why they have decided to change the layout of the forms, considering there is only one extra piece of information added to the form and that is only the dates a person has worked. I don't know how this really helps processing time of the forms.
This doesn't even take into account the amount of wood or trees used to make the paper in the first place. 128 cubic feet or of wood makes approximately 89,870 sheets of paper, this equates to needing ~1524 cubic feet of wood to make the paper used in the forms. If this was to come from a single tree that happened to have a 6 feet by 6 feet core, it would need to be 43 feet high, so in essence the government are destroying one tree of this size every fortnight unnecessarily.
On top of that Centrelink seem to like to send out a piece of paper saying how much you got paid in a single envelope by itself, so we can add to the above figure the same and then the extra postage costs need to be added and the cost of envelopes which about another cent each. Lets say an extra envelope and postage is used once a month, thats $272,986.42 per fortnight with 50 cents per postage.
Total wasted costs of $7,403,819.93 per year. I suppose this is nothing compared the amount the government waste on political campaigns.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
People taking responsibilty for their actions.
Well today (19th July 2006) I parked my car in the carpark near the supermarket, opposite the chicken shop in the Eastwood St shopping complex. I went to work came back to the car at about 12ish, then went to Big W and Dick Smith's. When I got back to my car at about 1pm i noticed that the drivers side tail light was broken, and some panels been pushed in.
That is really frustrating cause I have no idea who did the damage cause they didn't leave a note or anything. Just the broken tail light. Now I have to figure out where to take it to be fixed, it might not be worth claiming on insurance due to the excess fee. It depends how costly it will be to fix.
So now this brings me to the issue at hand, what type of person would damage another person's car like this and not provide their details to the owner of the damaged car.
Sometimes if the contact is light then they may not have realised, but with the extent of the damage here, it would be pretty much impossible to not notice. I'm thinking that the possible vehicle involved was something like a 4WD that is higher, or they reversed into my car, the damage is above the rear bumper. Another possiblity is that someone did the damage without driving a vehicle. If that is the case then I have know idea why someone would. Unless it's a ripple effect from something that happened here a few nights ago. And they recognised the car.
I'm leaning towards someone failing to pull out of the park far enough. I think i'm going to take more note of cars parked around mine in the future. It sucks for sure.
My own point is that if I caused damage to someone elses car then I'd leave my details. I've never had to do this though, not since I've had my own car. Anyway there are those people out there that don't want to take responsibility. I have to wonder where their morals lie. If they were a Christian or not. Would that make a difference?? perhaps after the incident they paniced and took off. It happened sometime between 12 and 1pm. I'd like to think that they'd own up to their mistake, but I can't see it happening.
This is the third thing with my car in the last 2 months. I've had two speeding fines, for being less than 10kms over the limit, just because I wasn't paying attention to my speed. I also need to get new rear tyres at some stage.
I'll have more of a think about this and might post more later.
That is really frustrating cause I have no idea who did the damage cause they didn't leave a note or anything. Just the broken tail light. Now I have to figure out where to take it to be fixed, it might not be worth claiming on insurance due to the excess fee. It depends how costly it will be to fix.
So now this brings me to the issue at hand, what type of person would damage another person's car like this and not provide their details to the owner of the damaged car.
Sometimes if the contact is light then they may not have realised, but with the extent of the damage here, it would be pretty much impossible to not notice. I'm thinking that the possible vehicle involved was something like a 4WD that is higher, or they reversed into my car, the damage is above the rear bumper. Another possiblity is that someone did the damage without driving a vehicle. If that is the case then I have know idea why someone would. Unless it's a ripple effect from something that happened here a few nights ago. And they recognised the car.
I'm leaning towards someone failing to pull out of the park far enough. I think i'm going to take more note of cars parked around mine in the future. It sucks for sure.
My own point is that if I caused damage to someone elses car then I'd leave my details. I've never had to do this though, not since I've had my own car. Anyway there are those people out there that don't want to take responsibility. I have to wonder where their morals lie. If they were a Christian or not. Would that make a difference?? perhaps after the incident they paniced and took off. It happened sometime between 12 and 1pm. I'd like to think that they'd own up to their mistake, but I can't see it happening.
This is the third thing with my car in the last 2 months. I've had two speeding fines, for being less than 10kms over the limit, just because I wasn't paying attention to my speed. I also need to get new rear tyres at some stage.
I'll have more of a think about this and might post more later.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Schumacher's Eighth French Grand Prix Win.
Both Liuzzi (Torro Rosso) and Rosberg (Williams) changed engines and so lost 10 grid spots. Liuzzi started 22nd with Rosberg 19th. The coverage from Channel 10 started a little after 10:30pm. The race started live at 10pm, so the coverage of the race started about 45 minutes later, which isn't to bad since this race they decided to pause the tapes for each ad break which meant that we didn't lose the laps, but instead we had Diffy and Crompton talking for a couple of minutes after each ad break. That is about as much of those two that I can stand.
As the cars set off for the Warmup lap, Sato (Super Aguri) struggled to get away from the line. He did line up on the Grid with everyone else, but after the start part way around the first lap he pulled the car off track with a Transmission problem.
Most of the top few drivers got away well, and with Massa starting 2nd behind Schumacher (both Ferraris), he immediately moved across the track to block Alonso (Renault). Alonso tried going around the outside of the first corner which would give him the inside for the next turn, but had to back off after Massa squeezed him. Alonso tried the outside line into the hairpin, but couldn't make the move or even the switchback move. He almost lost the position to Truili (Toyota) as they exited the hairpin. Luckily Truili managed to slow before coliding. The top 7 remained in the same order as they were on the grid.
Webber made a good start and was able to pass de la Rosa (McLaren) and Coulthard (Red Bull). This hurt de la Rosa's race as he was being held up by Webber until the first round of pitstops. They were lapping a second to two seconds slower than the leaders.
Villenuve (BMW) also made a good start passing Speed (Torro Rosso) and Albers (Midland). The first couple of laps saw some unsuccessful passes in the lower half of the top ten. Kimi (McLaren) tried a few times to pass Ralf (Toyota), but couldn't make it stick.
After 4 laps Schuamcher had a 1.9 second lead over his teammate. Alonso was able to match the times of the Ferraris, but was being held up a little bit by Massa. Rubens Barrichello (Honda) was running 12th early on but ran wide on lap 9 allowing Speed to take the place. A queue had formed behind the Honda driver as he stuggled to lap under 1minute 20 while Scumacher was in the 1:18s.
Monterio has a mechanical problem that locked his diff and cause the car to spin into one of the chicanes. The front of his car hit the curb and got airborn as the car slid. He then coasted into the pits on the following lap. It looked quite spectacular.
Villeneuve made a pass on Rubens but then lost it again as they exited the corner. By this stage they were both more than half a minute behind the leaders.
Drivers can either do a two or three stop strategy, with the three stopper being quicker under normal circumstances. Massa was the first to pit on lap 16th, which released Alonso to chase Schumacher. Both Alonso and Kimi pitted on lap 17, with Alonsos stop being longer, he fell back from Massa when he rejoined. A lap later Schumacher, Fisi and de la Rosa made their first stops, this left both Toyotas running one-two. Truili led two laps before pitting and then Ralf led two laps.
Ruben's had an Engine failure on lap 18, which ended a dismal weekend for the him.
After the stops, de la Rosa had passed Webber, and Button kept his lead over Rosberg.
Ralf's pitstop was a long one after a problem with the left rear tyre. This dropped him behind Kimi and Fisi.
Heidfeld, Albers, Villeneuve, Speed, Coulthard, Klien and Liuzzi were still to pit and were all on two stop strategies. Liuzzi and Klien were the last to pit on lap 31.
Kimi's second stop was earlier than expected and there were thoughts by the commentators that he had a problem with a tyre. But really it wasn't much shorter than the other drivers. With Massa pitting 2 laps later and Schumacher another 4 laps later. Alonso was the surprise by not pitting until lap 42. When Michael rejoined after his second pitstop he was right behind Alonso which meant the Renault Driver led for a couple of laps. Alonso's second pitstop was 9.5 seconds stationary, which suggested that it could have been his final stop.
Realising that Alonso couldn't beat Schumacher with strategy they decided to make him only stop twice which allowed him to take 2nd place when Massa stopped for the final time.
Truili had a brake problem which put him out on lap 39. Meanwhile Webber pitted for a second time after he had a spin caused by the left rear tyre delaminating. After rejoining on the next lap the same tyre went again so hit pitted and the team spent a few minutes trying to figure out why it happened. He rejoined and did another 7 laps before finally retiring. Webber has had a shocking season with being involed in other peoples accidents and many mechanical issues throughout the year. The Williams just hasn't been fast enough this year. Monaco was the only really good showing that Webber has had.
Button retired on lap 61, which brought to an end a terrible weekend where they couldn't find enough speed to break into the top ten.
After the second round of pitstops Ralf emerged ahead of Fisi. Massa's third pitstop put him behind Alonso, and he didn't have the speed to catch 2nd place. In the closing laps Alonso reduced Schumacher's lead as Michael cruzed to another win. The margin in the Championship is now down to 17 points with 7 races remaining this season.
The Offical Results are:
As the cars set off for the Warmup lap, Sato (Super Aguri) struggled to get away from the line. He did line up on the Grid with everyone else, but after the start part way around the first lap he pulled the car off track with a Transmission problem.
Most of the top few drivers got away well, and with Massa starting 2nd behind Schumacher (both Ferraris), he immediately moved across the track to block Alonso (Renault). Alonso tried going around the outside of the first corner which would give him the inside for the next turn, but had to back off after Massa squeezed him. Alonso tried the outside line into the hairpin, but couldn't make the move or even the switchback move. He almost lost the position to Truili (Toyota) as they exited the hairpin. Luckily Truili managed to slow before coliding. The top 7 remained in the same order as they were on the grid.
Webber made a good start and was able to pass de la Rosa (McLaren) and Coulthard (Red Bull). This hurt de la Rosa's race as he was being held up by Webber until the first round of pitstops. They were lapping a second to two seconds slower than the leaders.
Villenuve (BMW) also made a good start passing Speed (Torro Rosso) and Albers (Midland). The first couple of laps saw some unsuccessful passes in the lower half of the top ten. Kimi (McLaren) tried a few times to pass Ralf (Toyota), but couldn't make it stick.
After 4 laps Schuamcher had a 1.9 second lead over his teammate. Alonso was able to match the times of the Ferraris, but was being held up a little bit by Massa. Rubens Barrichello (Honda) was running 12th early on but ran wide on lap 9 allowing Speed to take the place. A queue had formed behind the Honda driver as he stuggled to lap under 1minute 20 while Scumacher was in the 1:18s.
Monterio has a mechanical problem that locked his diff and cause the car to spin into one of the chicanes. The front of his car hit the curb and got airborn as the car slid. He then coasted into the pits on the following lap. It looked quite spectacular.
Villeneuve made a pass on Rubens but then lost it again as they exited the corner. By this stage they were both more than half a minute behind the leaders.
Drivers can either do a two or three stop strategy, with the three stopper being quicker under normal circumstances. Massa was the first to pit on lap 16th, which released Alonso to chase Schumacher. Both Alonso and Kimi pitted on lap 17, with Alonsos stop being longer, he fell back from Massa when he rejoined. A lap later Schumacher, Fisi and de la Rosa made their first stops, this left both Toyotas running one-two. Truili led two laps before pitting and then Ralf led two laps.
Ruben's had an Engine failure on lap 18, which ended a dismal weekend for the him.
After the stops, de la Rosa had passed Webber, and Button kept his lead over Rosberg.
Ralf's pitstop was a long one after a problem with the left rear tyre. This dropped him behind Kimi and Fisi.
Heidfeld, Albers, Villeneuve, Speed, Coulthard, Klien and Liuzzi were still to pit and were all on two stop strategies. Liuzzi and Klien were the last to pit on lap 31.
Kimi's second stop was earlier than expected and there were thoughts by the commentators that he had a problem with a tyre. But really it wasn't much shorter than the other drivers. With Massa pitting 2 laps later and Schumacher another 4 laps later. Alonso was the surprise by not pitting until lap 42. When Michael rejoined after his second pitstop he was right behind Alonso which meant the Renault Driver led for a couple of laps. Alonso's second pitstop was 9.5 seconds stationary, which suggested that it could have been his final stop.
Realising that Alonso couldn't beat Schumacher with strategy they decided to make him only stop twice which allowed him to take 2nd place when Massa stopped for the final time.
Truili had a brake problem which put him out on lap 39. Meanwhile Webber pitted for a second time after he had a spin caused by the left rear tyre delaminating. After rejoining on the next lap the same tyre went again so hit pitted and the team spent a few minutes trying to figure out why it happened. He rejoined and did another 7 laps before finally retiring. Webber has had a shocking season with being involed in other peoples accidents and many mechanical issues throughout the year. The Williams just hasn't been fast enough this year. Monaco was the only really good showing that Webber has had.
Button retired on lap 61, which brought to an end a terrible weekend where they couldn't find enough speed to break into the top ten.
After the second round of pitstops Ralf emerged ahead of Fisi. Massa's third pitstop put him behind Alonso, and he didn't have the speed to catch 2nd place. In the closing laps Alonso reduced Schumacher's lead as Michael cruzed to another win. The margin in the Championship is now down to 17 points with 7 races remaining this season.
The Offical Results are:
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Formula One Grand Prix: France
Qualifying for the French Grand Prix saw the implementation of the new qualifying rules. The third section of qualifying is reduced to 15 minutes, while changes in the first two sections of qualifying allows a driver to record a time if they start a lap before the chequered flag comes out.
As per usual both Super Aguris failed to make the first cut, Villeneuve also missed the cut despite having the fastest time in the Saturday Practice session. Button, Liuzzi and Monteiro also were cut. Webber was sitting in tenth towards the end of the second section, before being bumped out by Coulthard. Heidfeld, Klien, Barrichello, Speed and Albers also failed to make the final 10.
In the final section, the cars circulated burning fuel for about 8 minutes before returning to the pits to change tires. Eight of the Ten had a chance at pole. After setting a quick time they returned to the pits before heading out with about 2.5 minutes left. In the final minute the pole was held by, de la Rosa, Räikkönen, Massa, Alsono and M Schumacher. Massa's final lap was enough to bump Alsono from 2nd on the grid.
So it's another Ferrari One-Two. It's a little surprising as many people thought that Renault and Michelin would dominate since it's their home GP. Alonso is third with both Toyotas 4th & 5th followed by Kimi.
Rosberg had an engine change before qualifying and will take a 10 spot grid penalty making him 19th.
Here is the qualifying times:
As per usual both Super Aguris failed to make the first cut, Villeneuve also missed the cut despite having the fastest time in the Saturday Practice session. Button, Liuzzi and Monteiro also were cut. Webber was sitting in tenth towards the end of the second section, before being bumped out by Coulthard. Heidfeld, Klien, Barrichello, Speed and Albers also failed to make the final 10.
In the final section, the cars circulated burning fuel for about 8 minutes before returning to the pits to change tires. Eight of the Ten had a chance at pole. After setting a quick time they returned to the pits before heading out with about 2.5 minutes left. In the final minute the pole was held by, de la Rosa, Räikkönen, Massa, Alsono and M Schumacher. Massa's final lap was enough to bump Alsono from 2nd on the grid.
So it's another Ferrari One-Two. It's a little surprising as many people thought that Renault and Michelin would dominate since it's their home GP. Alonso is third with both Toyotas 4th & 5th followed by Kimi.
Rosberg had an engine change before qualifying and will take a 10 spot grid penalty making him 19th.
Here is the qualifying times:
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
My Views on Big Brother and other reality TV
Well this year I’ve tried as much as possible to avoid Big Brother. Ch 10 has made it harder by screening it so much more, having had about 7 hours on Monday nights until the uncut show was axed. Isn’t that ironic.
I was watching A Current Affair last night so I could avoid the BB 7pm show, before heading off to sports, and they had a story on the BB sex scandal. Over the weekend, early Sunday morning, two of the guys cohurst Camilla, so that she would get into the bed with them. One of the guys held her while the other guy Turkey Slapped her. They had one of the guys dads on ACA saying that he didn’t think his son had done anything wrong. Both the guys were evicted for the act of sexual harassment. They say it was done as a joke, and whether or not you agree with that is irrelevant. The fact is that they breached the guidelines set out by BB, and they were harassing her. It doesn’t matter if she appeared to allow it to happen.
ACA then went on to show that BB itself had breached it’s own guidelines by asking Camilla to kiss every other housemate on the face or lips within an hour. In reality the whole concept of Big Brother is setup to try and get the housemates to ‘sleep’ with each other. In an attempt to get ratings. They must be making a fortune from all the SMS’s and Calls to vote people in and out of the house. The more people they have up for eviction, the more possible calls and SMS will come through.
I wonder now if they will send some replacement housemates in to the zoo. It wouldn’t be the first time either. There is no way that I’d ever go onto Big Brother, even if you paid me a millions dollars. I think that the first thing that would eliminate you from the selection process is to say that you are a Christian.
When will the Australian public realise that reality TV is not reality and it is just a whole bunch of crap designed to boost the ratings and make money. After this BB is over they will then go on with Australian Idol and the American Idol. Meanwhile Ch 7 has the It Takes Two, which isn’t much different to the Dancing with the Stars. None of which are original Australian concepts.
The only good one was “Thank God You’re Here”. That was an original Australian concept which has been sold overseas. That certainly was a funny show, but I guess the level of humour on the show is determined by the comedians that they have as the guinea pigs.
There has been some dicussion on the Big Brother issues at Gush
I was watching A Current Affair last night so I could avoid the BB 7pm show, before heading off to sports, and they had a story on the BB sex scandal. Over the weekend, early Sunday morning, two of the guys cohurst Camilla, so that she would get into the bed with them. One of the guys held her while the other guy Turkey Slapped her. They had one of the guys dads on ACA saying that he didn’t think his son had done anything wrong. Both the guys were evicted for the act of sexual harassment. They say it was done as a joke, and whether or not you agree with that is irrelevant. The fact is that they breached the guidelines set out by BB, and they were harassing her. It doesn’t matter if she appeared to allow it to happen.
ACA then went on to show that BB itself had breached it’s own guidelines by asking Camilla to kiss every other housemate on the face or lips within an hour. In reality the whole concept of Big Brother is setup to try and get the housemates to ‘sleep’ with each other. In an attempt to get ratings. They must be making a fortune from all the SMS’s and Calls to vote people in and out of the house. The more people they have up for eviction, the more possible calls and SMS will come through.
I wonder now if they will send some replacement housemates in to the zoo. It wouldn’t be the first time either. There is no way that I’d ever go onto Big Brother, even if you paid me a millions dollars. I think that the first thing that would eliminate you from the selection process is to say that you are a Christian.
When will the Australian public realise that reality TV is not reality and it is just a whole bunch of crap designed to boost the ratings and make money. After this BB is over they will then go on with Australian Idol and the American Idol. Meanwhile Ch 7 has the It Takes Two, which isn’t much different to the Dancing with the Stars. None of which are original Australian concepts.
The only good one was “Thank God You’re Here”. That was an original Australian concept which has been sold overseas. That certainly was a funny show, but I guess the level of humour on the show is determined by the comedians that they have as the guinea pigs.
There has been some dicussion on the Big Brother issues at Gush
Monday, July 03, 2006
The Race of attrition: USA GP.
So last night I stayed up until 5am.. although i did sleep a little bit during the 125cc Bike race that was on just before the Formula One Grand Prix.
Channel TEN realised that the original telecast time was wrong as the race was set to start at 3am AEST instead of 4am. So they went straight from the Bike GPs into the F1 telecast at 2:45am.
A change in the grid due to penalties saw Liuzi start 2nd last (for an engine change) and Rosberg start last (due to missing a weigh-in after qualifying. Truili started from the pitlane because the team had to take the car out of parc-fermae conditions, to repair part of the car.
With the Ferraris on the front row they were set for a competitive race. Massa had a better start from 2nd on the grid and took the lead into the first corner. Alonso got past Fisi and almost past Michael into the first corner.
Around about the mid field, as they were heading through the second corner, Montoya got into the back of Kimi, which caused him to spin and bump Webber who made contact with Heidfeld. Heidfeld's car barrel rolled three times before coming to rest near the barrier. Jensen Button, Scott Speed, Christian Klien, and Franck Montagny were also collected in the mayhem. Button retired 3 laps later due to damage from the collision. The Safety Car was deployed immediately. In the old, and somewhat better days, the Race would have been stopped and restarted after the cleanup which would allow some drivers to take the spare car. But these days the rules don't allow it.
Although just a few years ago, the German GP when Schumacher went out on the first corner, they did red flag the race, even though they could have deployed the safety car.
Anyway, Channel TEN decided to go to an ad break almost immediately after the SC came out. 3 minutes later we re joined the coverage after missing 2 laps of SC. For some reason Daffy and Cromlin decided they had to say something after every ad break during the coverage. Even though the ITV guys had returned from their ad break. Sure the ITV guys love the british drivers, and moreso Button, but the ch 10 commentators talk up Webber's chances all the time. That's annoying at times.
I digress, back to the race and after the SC left the circuit, Massa got a huge lead over Michael, about 2 seconds cause the SC pulled off to the left at the last corner instead of entering the pitlane. At the first corner of the restart, Sato made a move on Tiago Monteiro, which took himself out and cause damage to Monterio's car, that later caused his retirement. After 9 laps we were down to 12 cars remaining in the race. It's times like this that I wish they would allow more teams to enter and have 26 cars on the grid. I suppose I just want it the way it used to be when I started watching the Grand Prixs.
Jacques Villeneuve's race came to an end on lap 23 when his engine expired causing the rear wheels to lock up. Albers had a transmission problem and retired on lap 37.
Fisi was being held up by Alonso for several laps, but eventually was allowed passed. Rubens was the first to pit for fuel on lap 24. Michael and Fisi both pitted on lap 29, with Massa and Ralf pitting on lap 30. The in lap of Massa was 2 seconds slower than Michael, which allowed Michael to pass him. Alonso led a lap before pitting on lap 31.
Alonso didn't have the speed in the car to catch the Ferraris or his teammate.
Truili, Liuzzi, Rosberg and Coulthard only pitted once during the race. This allowed Truili to get in between Fisi and Alonso. After the final pitstops Alonso found himself in 6th behind both Toyotas. Ralf retired on lap 62 allowing Alonso to take 5th, and the positions remained that way till the end. Luizzi got by Rosberg toward the end of the race to take 8th and the final point.
The final results are:
Channel TEN realised that the original telecast time was wrong as the race was set to start at 3am AEST instead of 4am. So they went straight from the Bike GPs into the F1 telecast at 2:45am.
A change in the grid due to penalties saw Liuzi start 2nd last (for an engine change) and Rosberg start last (due to missing a weigh-in after qualifying. Truili started from the pitlane because the team had to take the car out of parc-fermae conditions, to repair part of the car.
With the Ferraris on the front row they were set for a competitive race. Massa had a better start from 2nd on the grid and took the lead into the first corner. Alonso got past Fisi and almost past Michael into the first corner.
Around about the mid field, as they were heading through the second corner, Montoya got into the back of Kimi, which caused him to spin and bump Webber who made contact with Heidfeld. Heidfeld's car barrel rolled three times before coming to rest near the barrier. Jensen Button, Scott Speed, Christian Klien, and Franck Montagny were also collected in the mayhem. Button retired 3 laps later due to damage from the collision. The Safety Car was deployed immediately. In the old, and somewhat better days, the Race would have been stopped and restarted after the cleanup which would allow some drivers to take the spare car. But these days the rules don't allow it.
Although just a few years ago, the German GP when Schumacher went out on the first corner, they did red flag the race, even though they could have deployed the safety car.
Anyway, Channel TEN decided to go to an ad break almost immediately after the SC came out. 3 minutes later we re joined the coverage after missing 2 laps of SC. For some reason Daffy and Cromlin decided they had to say something after every ad break during the coverage. Even though the ITV guys had returned from their ad break. Sure the ITV guys love the british drivers, and moreso Button, but the ch 10 commentators talk up Webber's chances all the time. That's annoying at times.
I digress, back to the race and after the SC left the circuit, Massa got a huge lead over Michael, about 2 seconds cause the SC pulled off to the left at the last corner instead of entering the pitlane. At the first corner of the restart, Sato made a move on Tiago Monteiro, which took himself out and cause damage to Monterio's car, that later caused his retirement. After 9 laps we were down to 12 cars remaining in the race. It's times like this that I wish they would allow more teams to enter and have 26 cars on the grid. I suppose I just want it the way it used to be when I started watching the Grand Prixs.
Jacques Villeneuve's race came to an end on lap 23 when his engine expired causing the rear wheels to lock up. Albers had a transmission problem and retired on lap 37.
Fisi was being held up by Alonso for several laps, but eventually was allowed passed. Rubens was the first to pit for fuel on lap 24. Michael and Fisi both pitted on lap 29, with Massa and Ralf pitting on lap 30. The in lap of Massa was 2 seconds slower than Michael, which allowed Michael to pass him. Alonso led a lap before pitting on lap 31.
Alonso didn't have the speed in the car to catch the Ferraris or his teammate.
Truili, Liuzzi, Rosberg and Coulthard only pitted once during the race. This allowed Truili to get in between Fisi and Alonso. After the final pitstops Alonso found himself in 6th behind both Toyotas. Ralf retired on lap 62 allowing Alonso to take 5th, and the positions remained that way till the end. Luizzi got by Rosberg toward the end of the race to take 8th and the final point.
The final results are:
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid |
| 1 | 5 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 73 | 1:34:35.199 | 1 |
| 2 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 73 | +7.9 secs | 2 |
| 3 | 2 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | 73 | +16.5 secs | 3 |
| 4 | 8 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 73 | +23.6 secs | 22 |
| 5 | 1 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 73 | +28.4 secs | 5 |
| 6 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 73 | +36.5 secs | 4 |
| 7 | 14 | David Coulthard | RBR -Ferrari | 72 | +1 lap | 17 |
| 8 | 20 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | STR -Cosworth | 72 | +1 lap | 21 |
| 9 | 10 | Nico Rosberg | Williams -Cosworth | 72 | +1 lap | 19 |
| 10r | 7 | Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | 62 | ret | 8 |
| 11 | 19 | Christijan Albers | MF1 -Toyota | 37 | Transmission | 14 |
| 12 | 17 | Jacques Villeneuve | Sauber -BMW | 23 | Engine | 6 |
| 13 | 18 | Tiago Monteiro | MF1 -Toyota | 9 | Accident Damage | 15 |
| 18 | 14 | Takuma Sato | Super Aguri -Honda | 6 | Accident-Monterio | 18 |
| 7 | 15 | Jenson Button | Honda | 3 | Accident Damage | 7 |
| 16 | 3 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren -Mercedes | 0 | Accident | 9 |
| 17 | 16 | Nick Heidfeld | Sauber -BMW | 0 | Accident | 10 |
| 18 | 4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | McLaren -Mercedes | 0 | Accident | 11 |
| 19 | 9 | Mark Webber | Williams -Cosworth | 0 | Accident | 12 |
| 20 | 21 | Scott Speed | STR -Cosworth | 0 | Accident | 13 |
| 21 | 15 | Christian Klien | RBR -Ferrari | 0 | Accident | 16 |
| 22 | 23 | Franck Montagny | Super Aguri -Honda | 0 | Accident | 20 |
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Formula One Grand Prix: USA
Well tonight at 3am Victorian time the race will begin. The tv guide shows the telecast to start at 3:45am with Video Hits before it for half an hour.
Alonso has dominated this season winning the last four races for a total of six wins and three 2nd places. Can he do it again? This time from 5th on the grid. He probably will, it all depends on how much fuel they had in qualifying. Alonso should have won in San Marino too, but coming into the pits early cost him the win.
Here is the qualifying times:
Alonso has dominated this season winning the last four races for a total of six wins and three 2nd places. Can he do it again? This time from 5th on the grid. He probably will, it all depends on how much fuel they had in qualifying. Alonso should have won in San Marino too, but coming into the pits early cost him the win.
Here is the qualifying times:
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