"Audi A4 at the Ranch", (June 2002, Sonoma County, CA): This is another photo taken with Kodak B&W IR film which reacts to light in the near infrared light spectrum. The blue sky (which is the lightest value in the actual scene but has no red spectrum light) is rendered as black while the green foliage (which does reflect the IR spectrum in the sunlight) has a glowing, overexposed value.

A.N. Other has submitted this alternative photo of the same A4 pictured in which he received his "Audi Aerobatic Rating". In a pathetic attempt at self-justification, he claims that, "All the best people crash at Turn 8..." His wholly unsympathetic friends, with a delicious sense of schadenfreude (a subtle German term that loosely translates to mean "the keen pleasure taken at the misfortune of a rival"), continue to taunt him with cries of, "Shiny side up, dirty side down!".

Eco Warrior Chic (Part 2): 'Follow the money, not the numbers...' the IPCC Climagate scandal reveals a "a complete load of porkies".

Eco Warrior Chic (Part 1): In James Cameron's "eco-terrorist" fantasy, "Avatar", the US Marines are depicted as Darth Vaderish Storm Troopers. Meanwhile, when a real ecological disaster strikes anywhere in the world (e.g., Haiti, Asian tsunami, etc.), the US Marines inevitably among the first to arrive to dispense humanitarian aid.

A Rumor of War (Part 3): "When you draw the sword, you roll the dice." Bismark. "War is a series of catastrophes that ends in victory." Georges Clemenceau

A Rumor of War (Part 2): 'Throughour history, the preservation of all our liberties have rested on the bravery and self-scrifice of a handful of young men barely out of their teens". Anon.

A Rumor of War (Part 1): "When old men barter the lives of young men for pride and profit, the process is called 'war'." Len Deighton

Postcards from London (Part 3): The Victoria and Albert Museum has a delightful exhibition on theatrical stage design.

Postcards from London (Part 2): Surrealist sculptor Anish Kapoor has a new exhibition at the Royal Academy which is often whimsical and occasionally a bit disturbing.

Postcards from London (Part 1): The great(est) British painter, J.M.W. Turner "... never tired of matching his talents against those forerunners he most admired..." Indeed, he had a bit of a grudge match with Constanble as shown in this Tate Britain exhibition.

I beg your pardon? (part 3):The British Empire did more to eradicate world proverty than all the international aid programs put together? Ask Monty Python's Michael Palin.

I beg your pardon? (part 2): The BBC wonders, "What happened to Global Warming?".

I beg your pardon? (part 1): "Failure in Iraq loomed... against all reasonable predictions, President Bush chose to increase... our military commitment. The 'surge'...worked. Victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat..." Democratic Senator Bob Kerry..

Books I wish I had written (part 3): "Rocket Men" ; the remarkable 'behind the scenes' story of the engineers, test pilots, and political leaders behind the Apollo 11 moon landing. The book has quite a few technical flaws but the sheer audacity and the scale of the Apollo project still amazes.

Books I wish I had written (part 2): "Heaven and Earth, Global Warming and the Missing Science"; Australian geology professor pours cold water (awful pun!) on Al Gore's doomsday claims.

Books I wish I had written (part 1): "Go Like Hell", the story of Ford, Ferrari, and their battle to win the world's greatest race, the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. Larger than life characters, the internationalization of the automobile industry, and 'alpha male aggression' that borders on bloodlust in the world's "cruelest sport".

Say, so what? (part 3): No one is foolish enough to choose war instead of peace--in peace sons bury fathers, but in war fathers bury sons. Herodotus (history's first war correspondent).

Say, so what? (part 2): 'The (political) Right is looking for converts, the Left is looking for heretics.'

Say, so what? (part 1): 'You only meet the world once, in childhood. All else is memories.'

The Future (part 3): "All the kids will be happy learning things/The wind will smell of wildflowers/No one will wack each other about with nasty things..." Ian Drury

The Future (part 2):"Welcome to Obamaland: I've Seen Your Future..." British journalist compares career of British PM Tony Blair to the current U.S. President. Blair was a young, charismatic lawyer who rose to power on his talent for silky, smooth "spin" but eventually came to be derided as "Tony Blur".

The Future (part 1): "The future is always here; it's just unequally distributed." William Gibson

A gentleman (part 3): one "...who could change gear in an Austin 7 [sports car] without getting his face slapped." Rear Admiral J ML Myres.

A gentleman (part 2): "...lanquid and graceful, like a well fed boa constrictor... a perfect gentleman, which means he would never strike a woman without first removing his hat." Len Deighton

A gentleman (part 1): Someone who uses a butter knife even when eating alone. The Daily Telegraph

Design Matters (Part 3): Yale professor Edward Tufte ("Visual Explanations") thinks "PowerPoint is Evil".

Design Matters (Part 2): Original works by he "father of the modern movie poster", illustrator Bob Peak is now on sale at the Nucleus Gallery. L'Angelo Misterioso notes that Peak created the poster for his favorite movie, Peter Weir's "The Year of Living Dangerously".

Design Matters (Part 1): Logic and Design in Art, Science, and Mathematics by English professor Krome Barratt shows that the human perception is "holographic" and thus design is fundamental to our lives.

I told you so... (part 3): Trains produce higher emissions than commercial aircraft.

I told you so... (part 2): Vancouver, Canada has been listed as the easiest city in the world to live in. Vienna, Austria comes second.

I told you so... (part 1): while the sales of luxury automobiles worldwide have cratered, Audi sales in China have soared by 28%.

Social Psychology 101 (part 3): "The Munchausen Syndrome" is a mental disorder in which the afflicted feign or actually induce disease, illness, or phychological trauma to gain attention.

Social Psychology 101 (part 2): "The Stockhom Syndrome" is a phenomena where hostages come to identify with their captors. All totalitarian regimes operate on this principle: the victim comes to love the abuser.

Social Psychology 101 (part 1): "The Baader-Meinhof Complex" (Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Film) tells the story of the Germany's violent RAF (Red Army Faction) terrorist group. A.N. Other--with his perculiar talent for (mis)adventure--vividly remembers inadvertently stumbling into a "student" demonstration that turned into a violent anti-American riot in Frankfurt circa 1971.

Making the world safe for hypocrisy (part 3): Michael Lewis ("Liars Poker", "Panic!") observes in "The Temptation of St. Warren" that Berkshire Hathaway has many of the conflicts of interest and dodgy investment interests of those wicked Wall Steet bankers that Buffet has been quick to criticise. Has the "gamekeeper turned poacher"?

Making the world safe for hypocrisy (part 2): Mark Steyn notes that “To a penniless immigrant called Arnold Schwarzenegger, California was a land of plenty. Now Arnold is an immigrant of plenty in a penniless land: That’s not an improvement.” With thanks to Dave Buckley.

Making the world safe for hypocrisy (part 1): What's the difference between rooster and a hedge fund manager ("Mr. Two and Twenty")? A rooster "clucks defiance".

Green Meanies (part 3): Patrick Moore, one of the founders of Greenpeace, has now become an "eco-Judas".

Green Meanies (part 2): a RSS (Remote Sensing Site) in Santa Rosa, CA reports that arctic temperatures have abruptly dropped by 2 to 3 degrees since 2005.

Green Meanies (part 1): a "Carbon Neutral Expeditions" yacht on the way to Greenland's icecap ran into a 'spot of bother' with Mother Nature. Fortunately a 113,000 ton supertanker carrying 680,000 barrels of crude oil diverted and saved the crew.

Automainia (part 3): A study by German environmentalists has concluded that the"carbon footprint" of electric cars is not substantially better than gas cars. Perhaps if they had bottered to study Thermodynamics 101 they would have known this decades ago...?

Automainia (part 2): "Top Gear" Jeremy Clarkson has purchased the new (retro) Ford GT 40.

Automania (part 1): When in Sonoma, CA, you might visit Inifineon Raceway for the Audi Driving Experience. Then get your Porshe, BMW, or Audi serviced or tuned at Tillman's German Auto in Santa Rosa.

Engineers just wanna have fun (part 3): Legendary F1/Le Mans driver, Jack Ickx demos the Audi RS. Ickx was the winner of the amazing 1969 Le Mans. Starting dead last in his "outdated" Ford GT40, he first outlasted and then outraced the faster Porshe factory team, taking the lead on the final lap and winning the race by 100 meters.

Engineers just wanna have fun (part 2): if you suffer from vertigo, you probably don't want to watch this Honda skydiving video.

Engineers just wanna have fun (part 1): "An Engineer's Guide to Cats."

Archives