RobiNZ Personal Blog

Things to avoid at 70

My Dad is 70 tomorrow. I saw this today & sent him the link. I hope he thought it was funny! 

Like a bag of crisps - QI : TV Clips:
Clive Anderson and Sean Lock compare jumpers... (38 seconds; 1.8MB)

You gotta love Bernie!

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone… 

And the real F1 winner is... - 30 Sep 2007 - Motorsport news - NZ Herald

“…his ideal scenario would be for it to be settled by a last lap collision between two feuding frontrunners in the final race.”

Tags: Bernie+Ecclestone

QI : Why don't we get it here?

Funny, intelligent, thought provoking TV. Why don’t we see it in New Zealand?

http://www.qi.com/tv/

Abarth...

Via autoblog.it

Tags: abarth

Goodbye...

It started as a blog about Linux but rapidly, tragically, turned into so much more.

I never met you but it was a privilege to know you through your Dads writing.

Goodbye Corwin, rest in peace.

RobiNZ CAD Blog: The Flying Spaghetti Monster meets Freewheel

Using DWF + Freewheel to view a deity from any perspective… 

RobiNZ CAD Blog: The Flying Spaghetti Monster meets Freewheel

Tags: Flying+Spaghetti+Monster

Is this my next car?

The old battered white Uno is getting near end of days. I kind of feel obliged to get it past 1/4 million Km's but that’s only a few months of city commuting away. Then there is the question of what to replace it with. I have some requirements but finding something that meets them all is a challenge. It must be:

• Fun to drive – Fun to drive is hard quantify. Ever gone the long way home because it’s more fun? Nothing to do with power, even handling, just getting out thinking I wish could do that drive again, now, then doing it.
• Small – I hate big cars and I mean anything bigger than a supermini. Am I the only person to refuse an upgrade to a larger car at the airport rental counter?
• Relatively economical – The Uno has me used to Fifty Dollar fills, every 500km around town.
• A bit more powerful – OK, with only “45 Italian ponies”, probably more like 35 by now, that’s not going to be much of a challenge.
• Safer – State of the art late 70’s safety, again not much challenge to better
• Maybe rattle a bit less – The Mk2 Uno was slightly better than the Mk1 but I know all the interior trim by it’s audio signature…
• Probably Italian – Most would say that’s asking for trouble but my experience has proved they ain't all bad

This car meets the bill, it’s due in New Zealand next year…  Brmm, Brmm

Fiat Grande Punto Abarth Driving Video - Via carscoop.blogspot.com
The 155Hp 1.4-litre turbocharged GTi on a twisty Mediterranean mountain route. Abarth will rollout the Grande Punto in Italy during September 2007 with plans to expand to additional European markets in early 2008.

Fiat Punto Abarth breaks cover - www.fiat.co.nz

After months of eager anticipation, Fiat has released details of the Fiat Punto Abarth, the car that marks the return of one of the industry’s most respected performance badges and is on sale in Italy this month, with New Zealand arrival due in mid-2008.

The Punto Abarth is fitted with a 1.4 turbo petrol engine, delivering 116 kW. Combined with a six-speed manual gearbox, the engine gives the car a top speed of 208 kmh, accelerating from 0-100 km/h in just 8.2 seconds.

The Punto Abarth is not just a high performance small car – it is also safe, and environmentally friendly… (cont)

PS: Is white back in fashion for sporty Fiats?

Tags: Fiat+Grande+Punto+Abarth

A message to TVNZ and TV3 News

Instead of spending time and money on promotions telling me you do great news, spend the time and money doing great news.

A lesson on life

“If I don’t seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you.” 

CMU professor gives his last lesson on life - Spotback
Watch the video, read the story 

Tags: inspiring

3D, isn't always as it seems...

Sadly magician, illusionist, thinker Jerry Andrus died recently. He was a master of illusions which use perspective to fool the mind. About 1 minute into this one look for a city model that defies gravity. You can view the others on his website.

via Bad Astronomy Blog

The Italian Jobs...

A remixed Punto Ad:

And in Lego Part 1;

and Part 2 with the famous Mini chase around Turin

Woof Woof, the talking Tui

 Radio Live’s Graeme Hill featured Woof Woof – the amazing talking Tui:

Woof Woof Videos - Whangarei Native Bird Recovery
Watch our talking Tui, listen carefully for what he says

Why "Pumpkin", when we know Qian Xun Xue’s name?

Early in the investigation the unidentified toddler abandoned in a Melbourne Train station was known as “Pumpkin”, simply because she wore “Pumpkin Patch” clothing.

Even now, long after Qian Xun Xue’s real name is known, the news media still refer to her as “Pumpkin”. Not just in headlines, perhaps understandable, but also through the entire article without ever using her real name. It’s “Pumpkin”, “Pumpkin's mother Annie Liu”, “Pumpkin's father” and “Pumpkin's parents”.

Is it because she’s Asian and has a non-European name?

Would Qian Xun Xue still be “Pumpkin” if her name was, say,“Madeleine”?

Tags: Qian+Xun+Xue

On Vox: QotD: Via Snail Mail

When did you last write/receive a handwritten, snail-mail letter? Who was it to/from? Submitted by Places Unknown.

» Read more on Vox

Fiat + Microsoft EcoDrive Data log - Better than fuel receipts and Excel!

Fiat’s Blue&Me system is to allow data logging of economy and performance to it’s USB key for later analysis on your computer.

Frankfurt 2007: Fiat/Microsoft announce Ecodrive data-logging software - Autoblog
“EcoDrive collects all necessary data relating to vehicle efficiency and, through Blue&Me's USB gate, transmits it into a normal USB key. The driver plugs this into a PC. The "EcoDrive" system presents the driver with detailed environmental performance of the car including the CO2 emission level for each trip. It analyses the driver's style and then provides tips and recommendations on how to modify style to achieve CO2 reductions – and save money on fuel.”

Some years ago the need to keep a logbook, for billing, plus a desire to learn a little about Pivot Tables and Graphs in Excel led me to start this spreadsheet based system. I still use it as always fill to the brim, I hate stopping for fuel, and it only requires entering km & litres/fill. Over 170,000 km of suburban commuting the mighty Uno has averaged 6.5 l/100km (44 mpg) and required a fill about every 11 days. I won’t comment on the type of driving it took to achieve nearly 10 l/100km…

I suspect the Blue&Me system will be a little more sophisticated. I have visions of Punto owners dashing into the PC to “study the data” like Formula One drivers on a practice day…

	L/100 Km	Km/l	Mpg	Ltrs/Fill	Days/Fill	Total KM	Total Litres
BEST	5.3	18.9	53.5
AVERAGE	6.5	15.5	43.8	30.9	11.4	169705.2	5508.1
WORST	9.7	10.3	29.2

 

Tags: Blue&Me

Rally driver feared dead in crash

Colin is a legend. Thoughts are with the family and friends involved, whoever they are. 

Rally driver feared dead in crash
Former world rally champion Colin McRae is believed to have been killed along with three others in a helicopter crash…

New Bruce McLaren Trust Website Launched

The Bruce McLaren Trust website has been redesigned and re-launched with loads of new content covering the Bruce McLaren Story, Heritage and Trust activities. The site was developed by Parkside Media and Convergent Online Media.

There are sections devoted to Biography, The Cars, The Trust's M8A, The Racing Team, News, Images and Merchandise. You can register to create your own profile, blogs and, coming soon, forums and become part of the Trust community.

Bruce McLaren Trust - www.bruce-mclaren.com
It's been fourteen months of effort and we're proud to launch our new website. Please take the time to explore the amazing wealth of stories about Bruce and the McLaren team, and the new features within the site…

Tags: Bruce+McLaren+Trust

Fiat Topolino, a micro-Fiat to take on Smart?

Will Fiat do a sub-500 car, will be called Topolino?

Smart haven’t exactly made a fortune in this market but with Fiat economy of scale perhaps it’s worthwhile. I imagine fitting something like this with the new MultiAir engine would return impressive economy…

Fiat Topolino – Motor Trend The General Forum Forum
The famous Topolino name could be resurrected if Fiat brings this microcar into production…

Fiat might take on Smart with new even smaller car - AutoBlog Green
Fiat is apparently considering a production of a new mini-car to challenge the Smart ForTwo and upcoming city cars from Volkswagen and Toyota…

Frankfurt Preview: Fiat Panda Aria with MultiAir engine - AutoBlog Green
The 900cc SGE twin puts out 105 hp in turbo form using gasoline and Fiat's new Multiair electronic valve control system. A 65hp normally aspirated version is also being developed…

Tags: Topolino

Fiat Bravo, not Ritmo, set to arrive in New Zealand in September!

At first it was a Bravo but then, like Aussie, it was going to be a Ritmo. Now Fiat New Zealand have announced when Fiat’s mid-size hatch arrives in September will be badged Bravo!

“With Fiat being out of the Australian market for so long, the name of the new car was fairly academic for them,” says Lawrie Malatios, General Manager for Fiat in New Zealand. “But here we were very keen to use the Bravo name as the previous model to wear this name was one of the most successful Fiat models in New Zealand and we wanted to build on the warmth already felt for the Bravo name with the new model. We were, therefore, very pleased when we were given the clearance to use the Bravo name here!”

I wonder if it’s more to do with New Zealand’s experience of the late 70’s Ritmo and it’s less than spectacular build quality. Aussie didn’t get the Ritmo so it’s not an issue there.

You have to be careful bringing back old brands. Holden recently revived “Viva” to try and give credibility to their cheap mid-range Astra replacement. The Vauxhall Viva was a common sight on Kiwi roads in the 70’s yet all I could think of was a mate’s “first car”, a clapped out Viva. It was so knackered when the time finally came to dispose of it he took it to several wreckers, arriving back at work depressed that none wanted it! Name association can be cruel.

From what I’ve read, the new Bravo has had mixed reviews. Most love the style, like the engines but packaging and handling are class average rather than leading. It will be interesting to see how it’s received in New Zealand, whatever it’s called.

Bravo! New Fiat set to arrive in September! | Fiat Bravo News
Fiat’s newest model will arrive in New Zealand in September and, unlike Australia, it will be wearing its European name, the Fiat Bravo.

Tags: Fiat+bravo, Fiat+ritmo

Rugby World Cup - New Zealand Vs Italy

I’m not a Rugby fan, I think there are two of us in New Zealand, but you can’t avoid knowing the whole thing kicks off for us tonight with:

 vs

Go Italy!

Did I blog that?

Tags: rugby

The 50 Worst Cars of All Time - TIME

Fiat (Group) make TIME’s list with the 1998 Fiat Multipla and 1980 Ferrari Mondial 8.

They claim the Ferrari Mondial is:

• Slow – Relative thing surely.
• Ugly – Well it does prove Pininfarina don’t always get it right. Also showed what a fine job Bertone did handling the same challenges with the 70’s 308 GT4…
• Unreliable, electronics – It’s an 80’s Ferrari 

If you have a Ferrari Mondial you don’t want I’d be happy to give it a home

The Fiat Multipla is claimed to “work beautifully” but is “tragic to look at”. Frankly that’s true but I’d rather an ugly car that gets some reaction than a world full of Corollas. I smile when I see a Multipla but most point and stare in disbelief…

Complete List - The 50 Worst Cars of All Time - TIME

Tags: Ferrari+Mondial, Fiat+Multipla

Listen to a post in a click - Talkr FeedFlare!

Thanks for Mike Perry over on BLAUGI for letting me know a couple of features of this blog can merge to make every post talk!

I’ve had a feed for Talkr, which converts text to speech, available for some time. Thanks to FeedBurner Flare + Talkr you can now hear any post by clicking it’s “Listen to this” link. This relies on Talkr performing the conversion which seems to happen within a few hours of posting.

Talkr is pretty clever as tries to add appropriate expression to the sentence. It’s not just a boring monotone voice and also copes pretty well with “non English” technical terms. I think it pronounces hippopotomonstrosesquipedalianism better than I can!

It does stumble a little with my made up name “RobiNZ” but I find “Robe-in-zee” quite endearing!

If you have a Blog and use FeedBurner learn how to make your own posts talk here.

Tags: Talkr, Feedburner

Gronholm & Loeb 0.3 seconds apart after 3 days of Rally NZ!

I was going to head to the Waikato chasing WRC Rally New Zealand but spending most of yesterday sorting out some other travel meant today was the only option. At best I would only see one or two stages and the Super Special at Hamilton. It’s a long haul and the “supers” are usually a bit boring, more publicity events than real rallying, so decided to stick to the TV coverage.

Well, wasn’t that a bad decision! It’s totally amazing that after 3 days of full on competition Marcus Gronholm and Sebastien Loeb entered the Super separated by just 0.7 seconds. At the end of that Gronholm emerged the victor just 0.3 seconds ahead!

Rally New Zealand is the best, biggest, and most important international sporting event held in this country in terms of local spectator and international media interest. Yes, I’d include the America’s Cup and Rugby World Cup because Rally New Zealand is annual, soon every two years, event.

So why does it struggle for sponsorship? Does the myopic “Rugby is the only sport” mentality extend to the boardroom of New Zealand’s major companies? In the commentary they mentioned it requires about three or four million to run and relies on three thousand, yes thousand, volunteers to stage. If the America’s Cup is worth thirty million, surely four million for the rally is a bargain.

Gronholm squeeks in to sets new standard - Stuff

Gronholm's tidy negotiation of the final 3.14km super special stage – the 18th and final stage of the 353km, three-day event through the Waikato – also gave the Finn an unprecedented fifth victory on New Zealand gravel…

http://www.rallynz.org.nz/

Princess Diana and the white Fiat Uno

Yes I do have a white Uno. Yes it does have a few paint chips, dents and dings but they are the result of 245,000 km commuting, stones, errant supermarket trolleys and the like.

This isn’t me!

Owner of white Fiat Uno refuses to give evidence at Diana inquest | the Daily Mail
A key witness to the car crash that claimed the lives of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed has rejected repeated requests from British detectives to give evidence at next month's inquest into their deaths…

Tags: Fiat+Uno, Princess+Diana

Sony dumps ATRAC, Connect and SonicStage?

Have Sony have finally given up with SonicStage?

UPDATE 03–09–2007: Yep, SonicStage is history! See this press release from Sony NZ

I hope so as their music hardware is great but SonicStage, the software that connected it, was awful. Read their advice to “Connect” on-line store users on how save their content:

“Sony advises all its customers to burn purchased music to CD and re-rip them into MP3s to remove the DRM and enable long term future use.”

Yet another reason to not trust DRM controlled content.

TrustedReviews - Sony Dumps ATRAC & Connect, Adds WMA Walkmans
Sony Dumps ATRAC & Connect, Adds WMA Walkmans

Wired – Sony to Unplug Connect Music Service
Acknowledging its proprietary audio technology was a marketplace flop, Sony Corp. is shuttering its Connect digital music store and will open its portable media players to other formats

Tags: SonicStage, Sony