It seems dear old Kanye has bought into a few conspiracies. I think this one will finally be his undoing though:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-63198991

Going ‘full defcon 3 on Jewish people’ isn’t a good look. Ask Mel Gibson.

What I find disturbing though, is the fact that he has so much influence on many young people. A number of whom will take his words to feed into their own fears. I fully expect a spike in anti-Semitic abuse online globally, over the next few days, as this all unravels. I think it inevitable that his many lucrative commercial collaborations will cease quite suddenly, and this may well lead to a backlash against certain companies etc. But at least he won’t be tweeting about it.

Bonn is a bit boring. Cologne is bigger, but a lot more interesting. Koblenz, to the south of Bonn, is quite ‘pretty’, small yet still interesting, and has lots of old castles and historical stuff nearby. Good for Rhine boat trips. The Rhine gets steeper sided and more picturesque as you go further south, too. And the cakes are nicer.

Schumacher and Alonso who would happily knobble their teammates

Eh?

What about this?

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/button-hamilton-teammate-mclaren-weird-966284/3052440/

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/f1/12005491/hamilton-button-crash-what-really-happened

It’s fairly clear you dislike Lewis and Mercedes.

But it’s sport innit – it wouldn’t be sport without goodies/baddies/favourites – that’s what the narrative of any sport is built on. It wouldn’t be important to people if they didn’t form opinions and it didn’t matter to them.

Wrong. It’s about perspective. And not seeing things through a biased lens. You can ascribe all sorts of positive or negative traits to anything or anyone, depending on your own narrative. I just don’t subscribe to that. Lewis is an amazing driver, the most successful of all time, and a true sporting legend. But even he has resorted to some less than perfect antics at times, such is his desire to win. What I don’t like, is when similar traits in some other drivers, notably from other countries than the UK, are hyped up by a partizan media and following, blowing things well out of proportion. The ‘baddies’ like Vettel and Alonso are extremely popular with most in the F1 circus, Senna was a favourite amongst other drivers, etc. None are perfect, they’re all human after all. So perhaps people should drop their negative partizan mindsets, and just enjoy the spectacle.

There’s only two drivers I’ve actively taken a dislike to over the years and they’re Schumacher and Alonso.

Have you ever met either of them? Have either done anything to slight you? Why do you ‘dislike’ them?

You’re taking a single figure and assuming the difference has all gone on performance spend, but it ain’t necessarily so.

What’s it all been spent on then? Fancy gazebos? Lawyers? Goody bags for VIPs?

Mercedes were also building their own engines so allow for that in the budgeting. Red Bull have never had that expense.

Hmm. Mercedes would be gaining data from their various other motorsport endeavours as well as F1, so that could benefit them a lot. Point is though; F1 has always been about trying to find a winning edge. Teams and drivers have often gone outside the ‘rules’ to gain any advantage. That doesn’t excuse it, but for example nobody says Senna wasn’t great because he deliberately punted Prost off the track to win a WC, or that Schuey wasn’t for doing the same to Damon Hill, etc. There’s always been shenanigans. It’s what makes F1 F1 ffs! Fact is that F1 is now enjoying more viewing figures globally, and that, ultimately, is really what it’s all about.

F1’s global TV audience hits 1.55bn in 2021

We’ll keep feeding the troll as he’s new here

So anyone who has a different opinion to your own, is a ‘troll’? How intelligent.

Reason for Mercedes domination – Mercedes got such a massive jump on everyone at the start of the hybrid era everyone else was playing catch-up for years. Only ones who came close where Ferrari and they got busted for cheating.

Mercedes were spending way in excess of other teams. In that report above, Mercedes spent nearly $40 million more than RB did in 2019. If that’s the case, then that would be way more than the ‘less than 5%’ excess RB are possibly supposed to have overspent. What advantage would nearly $40 million extra give you? Quite a bit, I’d imagine. F1 has always been about money; it’s always been about the best driver in the best car. The budget caps were designed to even things up a bit, let the best drivers shine more. This is good for the sport. If RB were over the cap last year, then they should face sanction. I’ve never denied this. Let’s see what the reports say. Personally, RB exceeding the budget cap by a few million dollars pales into insignificance next to F1 happily taking money through the sportswashing employed by the various dodgy regimes that host the circus, but hey; if you’re still desperately clinging onto the hope that your own hero will somehow emerge ‘victorious’, you crack on.

Like millions of others, I got very bored during the period of Mercedes dominance (as with the Ferrari/Schumacher years), and stopped following. I want to see a proper spectacle, drivers truly competing with each other, not a procession behind one team. I, like many others, returned to following F1 last year when we had the most exciting season in many years. This season has also been very entertaining. Long may that continue.

That’s tipping the favour towards train but that takes forever door to door.

Cheshunt to Stratford is 24 minutes. You won’t do it that quick if you drive in. It might take you 24 minutes just to get into the Westfield parking.

Now that Max has a 2 legit WDCs

FTFY. No need to thank me.

Speaking of budget caps; it’s worth remembering (I know many on here have very selective memories..) that the caps were introduced to prevent teams like Mercedes buying F1 titles.

https://www.essentiallysports.com/f1-news-what-are-the-budgets-for-f1-teams-including-mercedes-red-bull-ferrari/

It’s quite telling that the team which used to spend the most, and who are suddenly nowhere near winning, are the ones whinging loudest about RB’s possible infractions….

So; Max gets his second world title. Tbh he had it won a very long time ago really, let’s face it. Brilliant driver. But what a farce of a race; having a recovery vehicle out on track in those conditions, where visibility was practically zero? Utter shambles.

I’ve had all sorts of photochromatic lenses over decades, and the modern ones are so good. Ask your optician about faster transitioning lenses. But I think some don’t go as dark as slower ones. And some end up getting slower to change over time. And some have different colour transmission, so may be better in different types of light. And if you want ones that go completely clear, they won’t go as dark as ones with a base tint. Tbh it’s a bit of a minefield, and what you get may be dependent on what brand your optician deals with. Oakley photochromatic lenses are good though, optically very good quality. All plastic lenses will scratch more easily than glass though. And any fancy mirror coating will reduce light transmission, so may not be so good at night.

I’m in the market for a new pair of ‘action’ sunnies, as I broke mine on holiday recently. 😪

I think Joseph Mawle is excellent, best thing in it so far, and a very underrated actor.

The Harfoots are just annoying, I want the Orcs to eat them all.

I’m already looking forward to 2023; if Ferrari can stop throwing race wins away, and Mercedes can get it together and build a decent car, and perhaps if other teams can up their game a bit too, then t could be even more exciting to watch. Max V LeClerc v Hamilton v whoever else, would be wonderful. A proper 3, 4 way battle for the titles would be just what the sport needs. Will it happen? Or will it just be more of one team dominating everything as usual?

But I don’t think Max is at fault for that. The race director is.

Sure. But Max cannot be punished for doing nothing wrong. Hamilton wasn’t punished for breaking the rules. So; karma, perhaps. Whatever. There’s a song in a Disney kid’s musical about a snowman and a princess or something, what’s it called now…

After Max drove him off the track?

Lol! ‘Frozen’ is the film; now what’s the name of the song?

Sure it can – his mistake gave Max a title he wouldn’t otherwise have had

What about the mistake in not penalising Hamilton for leaving the track and gaining an advantage earlier on? Selective, much? 🤣

Otherwise someone will mention that the championship would’ve been his anyway had Hamilton not nerfed him off the track at Silverstone

I wasn’t going to mention that… 😉

Anyway, moving on: Will Max get his second DWC in the race tomorrow? Would make the remaining races a bit boring tbh.

Are ‘vibrating devices’ banned?

Lock was broken and sheep put in the field without permission.

They’re your sheep now! Local sheep for local people…

Most people (apart from the Dutch!) feel aggrieved that the rules weren’t followed but made up ‘for the show’. I don’t care wether Max or Lewis won last year, it was a great battle between them, it’s the way it was managed. Those who follow F1 closely know it wasn’t done right.

For sure. It was a major **** up. But the blame can’t entirely be laid at the Race Director’s feet; massive pressure to provide a spectacle, and let’s face it; it was probably one of the most exciting ends to an F1 season ever! And do most people really feel ‘aggrieved’? I’m not so sure. Hamilton isn’t as popular outside the UK.

I feel aggreived by the direction F1 is heading

You know, you can always stop watching.

5 days isn’t enough to see Amsterdam properly, in my view. Fantastic city. So many great museums and galleries; the aforementioned ones of course, plus the Rijks is probably one of the best in the world for art. The Jewish Museum, along with the Holocaust Museum and Memorial are essential imo, as is the Museum of Resistance (Verzetsmuseum). Near the Rijks, you’ve also got the Moco and Stedelijk for more modern art, as well as the Van Gogh.

I’m into photography and architecture, so Amsterdam is a great place to wander/cycle round to find stuff. I’d say taking/hiring a bike is pretty much essential as well, as you can then travel a bit further to find some other hidden gems. Top tip; the cafe in the Centraal Library is very good, and very reasonable. You can make your own soup! It has a great view, and is open most evenings. What I would do, is stay away from the very centre, as it’s extremely touristy, and mainly just shops and crap. Hearing the chimes at the Oude Kirke is nice, but expect to queue up for a long time if you want to visit Anne Frank’s house. Don’t bother with the red light district unless you want creepy men rubbing you. What’s so fascinating about prostitution anyway?

The passenger ferries are free! And the many parks are really good places to chill out for a while. I ❤️ Amsterdam!

Lewis has qualified ahead of George, 9 vs 8 so far this season.

How is that, ‘consistently out qualifying Hamilton’?

Russel has, until this GP at least, a higher average grid position than Hamilton. And a higher race finishing position, plus has one pole position. He’s currently 33 points ahead of Hamilton.

Name calling like Lulu or Crash stappen or Karen says more about the poster than the driver etc.

The point I was making was about the very partizan nature of some F1 followers. for eg:

“Horner’s far and away the biggest crybaby on the grid.”
“Or him maturing as a driver? (Not as a person, obvs 😂)”
“Horner who, if locked in a room on his own would irritate the paint off the walls, and had Max driving and behaving like a spoilt brat at his own birthday go cart meeting”

Etc. These are just opinions; I could just as easily say Toto Wolff is a massive ‘cry baby’, or that Lewis is behaving like a ‘spoilt brat’. As for AD 2021; I have absolutely no doubt that had the fortunes been reversed, that many people on here would be backing the race director’s decision 100%, and would be telling Max and RB to get over it. Come on. Lewis cut a corner earlier in the race, when Max overtook within the limits of the track, yet wasn’t penalised. So; what goes around, comes around imo. Both drivers could only deal with what was happening on track, no good saying ‘oh but’ all the time. I can totally understand how Lewis feels aggrieved, but that’s motor racing. Suck it up and get on with the next race/season.

And let’s be honest, to anybody who follows the sport closely, the #1 on Max’s car has a big asterisk next to it

Nah. Max beat Lewis on track, driving within the situation both drivers had in front of them. Mercedes made a mistake with not pitting for new tyres. Blah blah blah. Whatever; none of the official records show any such ‘asterisk’ next to Max’s no.1. That’s just in the heads of people who feel aggrieved that ‘their’ guy didn’t win. I doubt any Dutch F1 fans doubt the validity of Max’s WC.

Anyway. Will Max win his second DWC this weekend?

it’s almost as if being robbed of a WDC by a bunch of dodgy goings on has left him feeling a bit demotivated and jaded about the sport

Lol! Then he needs to dry his eyes and get on with being a professional racing driver, instead of whinging about how unfair it all is, then. 🤣

‘Robbed’. Lol. He lost; get over it.

I’m guessing you are too young to remember a guy called Michael Schumacher, 2001 especially.

No, but I’m guessing you’re thinking of the 2004 season in which he won 13 out of 18 races. Verstappen currently has 11 wins out of 17 races, with 5 races left. Another 3 wins will take him to 14, the most any driver has ever had, albeit with a longer season than previously. If he were to win all 5, then he’d have 16 wins in a season. Which would be incredible. I’m not sure if that’s possible, but I do think he can win at least another 2 to match Schuey and Vettel. Would be god to see him break some records though.

Also, there used to be a guy called Adrian Newey

Ah, I wonder what happened to him? 🤔

I’ve been following F1 since the early 80s btw. 😉

Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. 😉

Some of these bikes look quite fancy. Not sure I’d leave some of them outside a pub round our way.

I’ll say. My fave local will let you bring your bike in, which is good of them. so being where it is, there’s often a collection of pretty exotic hardware there! Ti and carbon race bikes, custom frames, etc. My bike for locking up outside is a scruffy old Marin hybrid; looks crap, covered in dirt etc, scratched and battered. Has some good parts mind; XTR and Hope hubs, XTR cranks, decent headset, brakes, etc. Runs nicely. That’s the main thing. The philosophy is to lock it up near a much nicer looking bike; they’ll go for that instead. My attitude s that if it’s still there when I come back to it, then it’s a bonus. You cant’ be getting sentimental over a material object. Its paid for itself countless times over, so although I’d be a bit sad if it did get nicked, it’s just a bike at the end of the day.

Well, if you’re judged by results, then yes, he is. Consistently out qualifying Hamilton, and has better race results. I expect Lulu’s toys to be ejected from his pram at an increasing rate now.

If Russell made a similar comment to Hamilton’s, would you be fine with that just because he’s ahead on points?

Yes. Because he’s a better driver. 😀

No but seriously; Mercedes went whinging to the FIA earlier in the season, because they got their car design fundamentally wrong, and the rules were changed as a result. Mercedes are ALWAYS whinging.’Wah wah it’s not fair their car is faster than ours!’ RB and Max have smashed it out of the park this season. What a driver. His win in Hungary was the stuff of legends. This year, he could even win the DWC in the most dominant manner ever seen in F1. I’m just hoping RB can get Perez 2nd place, he deserves something for his team efforts.

I have an old one; sitting forlornly in my basement, as the main screw on the bottom of the leg (top open up the air chamber) is held in place with a tiny grub screw which has rounded off so needs drilling out. But in use, it was great. Stiffer than conventional type forks, and plusher. Downsides are of course the proprietary front hub (and remembering to remove the brake calliper before removing the front wheel), the needle bearing strips need resetting quite often (travel reduces if they move from their normal position), and it requires some expensive proprietary tools to service. In contrast, Rockshox for example are relatively much simpler and easier to service.

So to summarise; better in operation than a conventional fork, stiffer, and lighter. But much more difficult to service.

Hmm. As someone who owns some fairly expensive photo equipment, I’d say a ‘phone is the best camera to just have with you at all times. Any sort of rugged compact will be relatively bulky, so will require faffing about to get it out of a pocket/bag/case anyway. And you’ll probably need to take your gloves off anyway.
And then not really offer any improvement in image quality over a ‘phone; the image processing in some ‘phones now is amazing.The only real advantage I can see, is an optical zoom lens.If you’re not after waterproofness, then there are better cameras than the Olympus one mentioned, for a lot less. I’d say the best bet is to go s/h really, loads of absolute bargains to be had. Most cameras will be reasonably ‘dust proof’ anyway. Something like this would be at least as good as, oin terms of image quality, as the Olympus TG6:

I see Lewis is whinging AGAIN in a desperate attempt to stay in the limelight after being completely overshadowed by his much younger and less experienced team mate all season.

FTFY.

Perhaps he could launched a new body piercing/accessory range. Base the name on his own, and referencing his current car. Could call it something like ‘Lulu Lemon’. 🍋

configuration.
Thanks for trying to tell me what to spend my cash on though, that’s really helpful of you

Only too happy to help. 😎

I’m glad you said this, I thought it was me being cynical. I can totally understand lenses being expensive, they’re a bespoke, precision item. Frames though, it’s just a bit of off-the-shelf plastic / metal. No?

Totally. The flexible Titanium type frames are expensive, but imo worth it because they last. Some metal frames have a bit of work in their manufacture, but plastic ones are churned out of moulds by the thousand. The only reason to get Oakleys if you need prescription specs, is because the lenses are better quality than most others. Literally bullet proof, so good for active use. For reading; utter waste of money. Find a quirky frame in a charity shop, and have them glazed however you want. Save ££££s. Don’t look like someone who wasted loads of money on Oakley reading glasses…

Just chatting to RX who’ve had another look at my prescription and say it’s for varifocals.

Wait; so RX have no doubt charged you quite a bit, yet actually got them wrong? Oh my.

Sam Vimes is on the phone, he’s saying something about boots?

The thing with specs frames though, is that there really isn’t much (if any) difference in quality between the posh brands and proper cheapos. Because they tend to mostly be made in the same factories; one brand, Luxotica, own many ‘luxury’ brands including Oakley. You can buy frames that are pretty much identical to the posh brands, but don’t have the logos, for a fraction of the cost. Paying loads extra for Oakley reading glasses is daft.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/shortcuts/2022/oct/05/dictator-chic-why-did-liz-truss-wear-the-same-outfit-as-a-fictional-fascist

Considering the inexplicable choice of walk on music as well, is it possible someone in her advisory team is setting her up for public humiliation? Nobody can be that lacking in foresight and common sense, surely?

Oh.

@ configuration. It’s not the Police that decide on the offences to prosecute, its the CPS. So the officers will offer all the evidence, and the CPS will decide which offence to move forward with to prosecute.

Nah. They didn’t even bother to investigate. They had all the evidence they needed, they chose not to act. Went for the no insurance thing cos it’s nice and easy and requires minimum work. They even used the evidence I provided them, and had the bloke not admitted guilt, I would have been required to attend court to testify. However, they failed to collect any other evidence, made no effort at all to speak to witnesses, then let the 6 month limit on action lapse. Left me in a situation that even if I had taken out a private claim against the driver for damages, without the police even charging him for any offence other than the no insurance thing, I’d have most likely got nowhere. So I’m £200 down because someone else broke the law. You can guarantee that if you shoplifted £200 worth of stuff from Tescos or wherever, you’d be up before the beak.

So yeah, the Police are useless.

Unless you shout at a funeral…

Converse All-stars. Look good at any age, with any other clothing

Lol! Plimsolls. 🤣 Soz.

I just go for what fits my feet, not what is ‘fashionable’. This means brands like Brooks, Vivobarefoot, some Merrells, and for more ‘sporty’ needs, On. Which are ridiculously expensive. But also which our friends 20-something daughter, who has a little side hustle in buying and selling ‘collectible’ trainers, visibly shuddered at when she saw them. So they’re not cool. As for what is ‘cool’; if they’re favoured by middle aged white men, then they’re most definitely not cool. Use that as a basic guide, and you can’t go far wrong.

Yeezy’s seem to be popular amongst the young people. 😱

Couple of years ago, I was driven into by an idiot in a scabby truck, who went for a gap that was too narrow for both of us (I was already in it, broad daylight). Destroyed my front wheel. I took pics of him and his truck, as he was arguing with me. He then drove off. Police attended, took all details, then nothing for months. Eventually they contacted me to say the driver had been prosecuted for having no insurance. I asked them what had happened to the stuff like driving without due care, failure to stop following a collision, etc. Their response was that they had decided not to prosecute due to ‘lack of evidence’. I had a passerby and a family who lived in the house adjacent, as witnesses. They never even took statements from any of them, despite me giving all details. The upshot was that the no insurance thing was easy to prove (he’d admitted driving at that time due to my photo evidence), so they’d gone for the low hanging fruit. As I hadn’t been injured in any way, they weren’t bothered with chasing up the failure to stop etc (criminal offence, so needs more thorough and lengthy investigation). Left me out of pocket by a £200 or so front wheel. Not too bad considering, but still.

Police resources are very stretched, and officers are under pressure to get ‘results’ that bring in as much revenue as possible. I get all that. But they’re still **** useless though.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-63130241

The show’s director said the dim lighting was deliberate as it added a “sense of mystery and intrigue”.

Lol! The only sense of mystery I had, was whether or not my telly was broken. What a load of bollocks.

2 hours later, shit himself inside out in the middle of a round of golf at the furthest point from the clubhouse…

🤣 Marvellous. I do love a good tale where foolhardiness meets its comeuppance.

Sorry I’ve caused confusion. If on duty and responding to a call they can park on double yellow lines. If popping for their lunch then yes they’re still on duty, however not responding to a call. They then need to stick to the parking laws.

So, basically exactly what I said earlier. Thanks for clarifying.

Nope. It’s not that simple.

Please explain.

Regardless, the law still applies.