A personal blog transitioning into an exploration of the intersection of design, technology and ethics
Each year, Liverpool Motor Club holds three sprints at the classic Aintree circuit. It’s a relaxed, sociable and efficient event.
I always thought TVR’s finest moment was the Cerbera – a combination of classic low-rider looks, power, and noise. Still handled badly, but that can largely be sorted out.
It was great to see everyone at the event. Hopefully I’ll be driving again in the near future.
It’s a funny place, Hong Kong… it could be really depressing, crowded and scary. But it’s just stunning. In spite of all those people living so close together there are still places to find quiet contemplation away from the bustle.
The water looks dirty, but isn’t. You can see the goldfish clearly enough after all.
The Santa Catalina Convent in Arequipa is an astonishing city within a city. In spite of the noise and bustle of the city outside, it manages to maintain a quiet calm. The nuns who lived here (and a small number who still do) may have led an ascetic and simple life, but they also had a very beautiful place to live as well. Fantastic light, colours and views.
The colours here just knocked me out. They say that mid-day isn’t a good time to take photos, especially in the tropics, but you can’t really go wrong when the subject matter is so good.
I couldn’t believe how big this guy’s paintings were. Seems that as he got older his eyesight deteriorated. His solution? Paint so that at least he could see what he was doing!
I believe this painting is by Andy Warhol. But I’m culturally dumb, so can’t rely on my memory. What I do know is that you’re not supposed to take photos in the MOMA without permission. What I also know is that so long as your flash isn’t going off they let you dick around all day with a compact camera. I’ve no idea whether the guards would object to an SLR.
If you wanna see some Pollocks, it’s best to get low down.
This may be art, or it may be architecture. Anyone care to educate me?
This photo is on the main road from North Chile to Bolivia as it heads through Chile’s Lauca National Park. This is the nice and easy part – it seems that once in Bolivia the road deteriorates significantly in quality and safety. Just a few weeks after I took this picture a minibus full of tourists plunged off the side of the road and into a ravine, killing all the occupants.
The very high altitude here certainly makes the lorries work hard. Older trucks belch black fumes in this almost pristine environment, but thankfully they are still relatively few and the damage, I hope, is limited. More modern trucks are cleaner, but you can tell from the roaring engines that they work hard up here.
These people make a living at the border of Chile and Bolivia. Although Chile is relatively rich, times can still be hard for indiginous people in remote locations. In the summer season they make some money from passing tourists, many of whom have visited Lago Chungará – the worlds highest lake. Here they’ve just slaughtered a pregnant Alpaca – its unborn baby on the car’s bonnet prior to preparation.
Ok, first shot to go up on the photoblog*. I’ve decided to leave it up even though it’s a relatively poor quality re-size. However, I feel it still illustrates the beauty and scale of this location. Here we are, perhaps 1000m above the valley floor below. Priscilla, who I’d just met on this part of the trip likes sitting in dramatic locations… but I couldn’t help but notice the significant crack that ran all the way through the rock. One day it’ll fall off, I’m sure of it. It could easily take a tourist with it – half the guides cheerfully let tourists stand on it, while the other half warn how dangerous it is….
* Note, the photoblog and main blog have long since been merged into one.
Poor old Pete Doherty – drugs, partying and too many pies seem to have taken their toll. He used to look so babyfaced…
Such a shame, really…
My excuse is that I was giving myself a break from writing reports and needed to do something at least slightly creative.
And one that I don’t think worked, but heck, let’s put it up:
Pleasant break, now I think I’m going to try and do more WordPress mangling….
When my bed shakes enthusiastically I tend to assume that something’s going well… but this time I was woken by the clatter of a radio wobbling on the sideboard at 1am this morning.
When you wake up to an earthquake you don’t really understand what’s happening at first. There’s a bit of noise as things move, and it’s rather odd to feel that all has gone wobbly. It lasted for about ten seconds, but there were no alarms going off, nothing crashing to the ground… as the tremors slowed I realised all was well. I went back to sleep before waking at around 3am. Curious, I ended up whipping out the phone and checking BBC News. Sure enough, the North East of England had been hit by a substantial quake measuring 4.3 (or 4.6 depending on the report at the moment) on the Richter scale.
This morning I wandered around the house checking for damage but there’s nothing visible – not even any new cracks in the plaster.
Would have been great to have been up St John’s tower though – bet the DJ’s had something to say!
Almost worth it for the ooh-la-la.
Sorry David Coulthard, but when I saw this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7191512.stm
I saw red. I mean, apart from some of his astonishingly patronising comments directed towards younger drivers, he did nothing but confirm that his F1 career has been a long period of journeyman mistakes.
His ability to spin off during warm up laps was once something quite special in F1. Of course, with traction control and other driver aids this era finished. And now TC has gone, he’ll have to learn throttle control once more.
Good.
I’m looking forward to F1 that could actually be exciting for once. And as Nick Heidfeld put it – “For me, it doesn’t cross the line of being too dangerous. If you want you can just sit on the outside, and then it’s safe.”
