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When is the string of senseless Formula 1 controversies going to stop? Now one of the biggest names in the sport, and one of the most respected engineers, are out of a job, and a fine team stand on the brink of expulsion.

I can see why Renault have decided not to contest the FIA case against them, based on what I've read so far of the evidence as published by The Mail. Symonds' evasive answers to questions also leave a bitter taste. It's all very sad, that this should all occur because a racing driver was angry about being sacked.

F1 has been great this year, and it would be bad beyond words if it was all wrecked by a grubby little piece of cheating in a different season. The main cast have gone, let that be the end of this sordid affair.

HP excessive packaging world record put to the test (thanks Blue's News).

An interesting article on the ridiculousness of Britain's libel laws:

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/31/simon-singh-science

 

I just read this wonderful article by Andrew Rawnsley in the Guardian. It's truly tragic that our national debate is dominated by grubbiness on the part of our elected representatives. As Rawnsley says, more tragic still is the repeated, hollow cries of 'it was all within the rules'.

I do not believe for a second that our MPs, many of whom are very highly educated, believe for a second that the public's issue is whether or not they acted within a set of self-imposed, poorly-enforced rules. The issue is that what they are doing is clearly wrong.

A non-MP defrauding the taxman in this way would be jailed. MPs set their own guidelines, stretch them far beyond their spirit and to the very limits of their letter, and then complain when the taxpaying public and their other representatives, the media, take the time to notice. It's absurd, and I think that most MPs know that very well.

I'm all for MPs being paid better. We'll get better MPs that way.

The laser printer gets it, apparently.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2009/apr/24/gordon-brown-angry

I'm with Broon on this. Laser printers always deserve it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8015623.stm

To steal shamelessly from Douglas Adams: I am above criticising Microsoft in the same way that the sea is not above the clouds; but it's hard not to admire a company with 23 years worth of quarterly sales growth. Quite incredible.

If Grace or good Karma allows, the space shuttle Atlantis will fly STS-125, the final servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope, on 12 May. I can't think of a better way to remember the shuttles than as the means by which Hubble showed us all the beautiful cosmos.

It's not something I know very much about, but I love the romance of the Apollo era and I have never been a big fan of the shuttles - I've always thought of them as unambitious and uninspiring. I was brought up short, though, by Gene Kranz, who said in a recent TV documentary that the shuttle was the best spacecraft America had built. If Kranz says it, I'm inclined to believe it.

The shuttles will forever be associated with the tragedies. It's easy to forget how brave these people really are; easy to forget that all the cleanrooms and careful inspection and safety procedures in the world aren't going to save you every time. These people know that the remains of two ships just like theirs have had to be reassembled piece-by-piece on a hangar floor, yet they still strap themselves to a tower of high explosives and go exploring. Brave, brave men and women.

So God speed, STS-125, and thank you.

The story itself is pretty interesting. The reason I'm linking to it is the fact that they say, without fanfare, that during the hijack, one of the hostages emailed his mother to tell her about it! I find that incredible. This guy's on a ship at sea, being held hostage, and he can send email. I couldn't send email from Dublin Airport last week, despite having a laptop + mobile broadband and a Blackberry.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/15/pirates-fail-ship-hijack

How much harder it will be to write good sea stories if people have connectivity during a hijack. Starbuck could have emailed the other shipowners and had them chill Ahab the fuck out, without unnecessary bloodshed. Denzel Washington could have emailed someone and asked if he still needed to launch the nukes, obviating an uncomfortable confrontation with Gene Hackman.

Still, I suppose it does make other stories possible. Hostages could use their iPhones to direct airstrikes. Hollywood gold!

www.videosift.com/video/British-vs-American-News-Anchors

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/12/david-mitchell-jonathan-ross-russell-brand