We have just returned from the Official Sidepodcast Christmas Party. Oh, alright, it was actually my work's do at a greyhound stadium. I've never been before, and didn't know what to expect, and all I can say is that the Ted Fighting Fund has been reduced ever so slightly quite a lot.
It doesn't look like we have missed much in terms of Formula 1 news, but it's all been happening in the comments. Topics seem to include:
- Cupcakes.
- Granja Vianna 500 miles - a karting event
- Cameras
- Japanese Drivers
- Who's taking their exams soon?
I'm hoping some Formula 1 news comes along today, just because we seem to have been lacking for the past few days. However, please continue to discuss any of the above and more in the comments below
Oh yeah, and how much I'm gonna get killed for insulting the following people:
Jenson button
Bibendium
Panda
Nice to see you wasted the money on Ted, you might as well buy us a cake each now.
"We have just returned from the Official Sidepodcast Christmas Party."
Will the actually be one, like the parade lap. But not before a race?
we didn't waste money on ted?
we wasted money on the dogs... one of whom was the spitting image of ralf btw.
every podcast should have an xmas party. we had one last year, but it was just the two of us. maybe this year you're all invited?
YAY!
I may even appear for that one ;)
Go Lewis!
I miss you all. Work is stealing my time. Thanks to whoever is responsible for Sundays off.
My new mentor is head of sales for the whole company so I kind of have to pull my socks up even further.
For some reason, I feel the need to spam this site with the same recipe from the other day.
Taken from www.mactalk.com.au
5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug
Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high).
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
and puppies:
http://cdn1.ustream.tv/swf/4/viewer.45.swf?cid=317016
I likes the sound of that :)
the whole company?
we are not fans of dogs right now!
Ah yes. Parties + Dogs = Not a good idea.
well, Australia anyway.
But I am only 5 levels from Steve!
Cooool. In 5 levels time, can you tell Mr Jobs how much we like iPods?
Did any of the dogs look like a Honda?
R.G, i was just thinking, how is the RSPCRF1 script coming along? :)
I am so used to everything anyone sends me being a joke I thought the pups were in a car ansd someone was going to hit the brake and send them flying.
haha if the dogs they were betting on had horns on their nose, they weren't dogs :P
good question, personally ran out of time during the season, but have no excuses now.
I couldn't see any Dumbo-Flugel... I did look.
the project, rather than the script that is.
Ah, have you secretly let slip that you are writing your own script? Are we going to have a summer blockbuster war?
RG said a few weeks ago that he was going to try writing a script
I have been moderated for a totally uncontroversial comment that doesn't even have a link in it
weird, so was christine.
Maybe we should strap a camera to the back of the Panda so that we can have "Panda-Cam".
The WTCC championship battle appears to be settled, as things stand.
Is anyone else watching?
I am? Did you see the end of Race 2? 1st, 2nd and 3rd were all wiped out on the final lap! Rob Huff (who was lagging behind in 4th) won the whole shebang right at the end! Ridiculous! :O
Alex Zanardi, BTW, got 5th after starting from the pits! Of course, he'll have to thank the race leaders who crashed out for that. :)
Anyone watching F3 in around 90 minutes time?
Move over, Takuma Sato. Japan has a new rising star: Keisuke Kunimoto has just won the 2008 F3 Macau GP, holding off Edoardo Mortara of Italy. This is Kunimoto's 1st major international win. If he keeps this up, a good seat in GP2 should come his way... perhaps with some help from his current team, Tom's. Tom's, after all, is a very close ally of Toyota. :)
Steady on... we have had plenty of hype over Japanese drivers before - and then they get to F1 and don't end up doing much!
True, but many good F1 drivers have done VERY well in Macau, like M. Schumacher, Hakkinen, and even Hamilton!
And besides, Sato has already had his time in the F1 sunshine, and he hasn't been able to do much with it. Time to give other Japanese drivers a go.
so did he finished last?
Hit a little slow spot with my exams, but still going.
We did, I don't think Nakajima was as good.
If Renault gave Piquet, of all people, a 2nd chance, surely we've got to do the same for Kazuki? :) Sato's already had 3 chances, and save for that 3rd at Indy 2004 and 6th at Canada 2007, he hasn't done much with them.
No but he had a lot of hype with people eventually saying he wasn't good and the only reason he was racing at all was because of his pedigree.
what's the script? I was thinking about building a live-timing script because there is a freely available linux version (in C) available - all it needs is some "added features", which I'm sure to all the code writers around is a horrible process of "I'll just add this feature before the release" and it just happens over and over again...I have some code for work which really ought to have been out by now, but I just keep adding thing... aargh, how did i just think about work on a day off.
Afternoon everybody
Well, this is my last day in my lifetime that I will be a minor. Tomorrow, I am a man :D Plus, I'm greatly looking forward to tonight's panel :)
i didn't realise you have exams at the moment. Good luck and I hope they go well. :)
sounds like a hectic day in the world of woodwiss.
i can't top that. today, i am mostly catching up on the comments i've missed :)
Sutil's manager says his 2009 Force India is safe
http://formula-1.updatesport.com/news/article/1226838547/formula_one/F1headlines/Sutils-2009-seat-safe-manager/view.html
you've lost me. you can script bernie's live timing?
Well add on top of that I only got a few hours sleep last night staying over at a house party, it's been a fairly relaxed day so far. :)
But I like the sound of "The World of Woodwiss" :D
Well, had maths a few days ago and they really begin to start in January
ah i see, yeah i should have a few AS mocks in January i think.
Purrrlease don't malign a poor dog....
I am sure it didn't believe (against all evidence) that it was the third best at the track...
On the subject of Macau I guess the key event was Brendon Hartley going from 20th to 3rd..... wouldn't you say?.....
it probably belives it still has a contract at the end of the season :)
i reckon we should sort a few things out for tonight like team names and who is gonna be on the show. I've seen the page on the wiki, but i think that if we make sure everything is accounted for, then we can get everyone onto skype and start without any problems (let's hope) :P
Without any problems.
AHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHA HAHA HA HA
Teams names :
Team Yuji Ide : DanBrunell, Gavin, Ollie
Team Sakon Yamamoto : doctorvee, Steven Roy, Andy
That look good to you guys?
I like it :P
r.g that's mean ;)
did i miss the memo about naming teams after rubbish japanese drivers?
other than that, all looks good to me.
Indeed, that was some gutsy driving. Mind you, he got a great amount of help thanks to others' brain fade and the subsequent SCs, but a great performance nonetheless. Just like Kunimoto, if he keeps that up, he can get a GP2 drive in the near future. :)
No, I just thought of two useless drivers (like I did with Andrea Moda and Super Aguri)
Why Ide and Yamamoto? Is this related to your doubts with Macau winner Kunimoto-san? :)
To be fair, haven't even heard of the kid ;)
Intresting, exactly a year ago today the big appeal on the spy thingies was being held
If we're talking the same definitions of the word 'script' then yes. Another Scott released the code a few years back (link is below). And I've compiled and run it on linux and run it on windows XP using cygwin. There is the odd bug, but essentially it's a console type basic text output of the live timing numbers. I don't think you get weather and that other stuff, just the lap times. The advantage to working with this is that I/you/me/we could modify it.
I started making changes, but any modifications could only be tested when cars were on track, when I was watching! Given I have ideas, I am happy to share them if someone wants to do something with it. Maybe we could set up something on the site during next season? You know you want to :)
This is one link for it, but there are other versions around on the net. I think I have a more recent release on a work computer somewhere, but this would show you what you need.
http://freshmeat.net/projects/live-f1/
One more note - the author does not maintain it anymore, but I still managed to have a couple of emails with him at the start of this year about changes I was incorporating.
Good luck to all you guys doing exams in January (and now) - at least the f1 scene will be quiet. hopefully. And hopefully Jenson won't conspire against Lou to distract her from her studies in some way. Remember: setting fire to something you are not happy with is not a nice thing to do. Aah what a finale....
Well, most of them are in May.
yeah, i had my GCSEs in May/June. Was an interesting time, having the determination after a GP to go and revise was hard. Although i used it as my revision break for that day so it wasn't that bad, and i'm pretty pleased with my results, so it can't have done much harm. At the moment i am trying to find out some provisional dates for my AS exam period, as i have a nasty feeling that the British GP maybe on an exam weekend, cause it's earlier than it usually is. But then again AS exams are normally spread over just a few weeks, instead of the usual month for GCSEs. Fingers crossed it's on a weekend that wont be just before or during my exams, cause then hopefully i will be able to go.
What time does the sidepodpanel start please?
F1 Debrief starts at 9. SPP will be after
Scheduled for 9pm after Top Gear. This is sidepodcast so assume 9pm ish or maybe if last week is a guide 9pm ish squared.
Cool, thanks :)
Is there a debrief first?
I believe so
not this week, no. we're still figuring out our options when it comes to fitting everything in. don't really want to have to time the ending so that it finishes in time for top gear.
at the moment i think the options are:
- panel friday evening, debrief after top gear on sunday.
- alternate panel and debrief on sundays after top gear.
- panel and debrief on saturday instead.
of the three, number one is the toughest for us as it means setting up the studio for a live show twice a week, rather than just the once.
any thoughts or more ideas gratefully accepted.
I miss the debrief.
so it's just the podpanel tonight?
yup :)
did i confuse people somewhere or something? how come everyone thinks there's debrief?
whatever i said, it was steven's fault.
I know you mentioned this idea on one of the daily blogs, but what's the problem with having one on the Sunday afternoon, about 3pm, before folks have dinner and the other after Top Gear?
ok.
This one sounds like the best one to me, that way it can go on late (if it needed to) with less of a chance that everyone will need to get an earlyish night due to getting up early the next day. Plus i kinda like the format of doing the debrief followed by the podpanel, and with it being on a saturday (no top gear) you could start earlier if you needed to.
that would work in the sense that it would be guaranteed to be done and dusted before TG started.
it kinda means that's most of sunday wiped out for us just because we can't do much in the studio once it's setup for live. so once debrief is wrapped, we'll pretty much have to sit and wait for 9pm to roll around before continuing.
Could get busy and difficult for you guys, and I do actually have a life ;) So doing it on two days may not work for some pople
I like this idea best, I was thinking of it a while. It won't go on for ridiculous times, and gives Debrief a chance with spp.
I'm assuming it would start 7ish. Would be good for me as I don't normally do much on a Saturday night. As long as there is no football on of course ;)
It's between 2 and 3 for me if im honest
I suggested that the other day actually, me seems to have forgot.
I think it's because it seems normal now that you do the debrief and then the podpanel. I assumed that the only reason there was no debrief last week was cause it was meant to be your week off.
i do that, sorry :(
I understand that, but isnt it possible to do it both before TG?
Plus the fact we like debrief.
Well I do anyways.
ahh, ok.
that seems reasonable too.
I was the one who said there wasn't a debrief.
Erm, yeah it was me.
I am rarely around much before 9pm on a Saturday so for purely selfish reasons I am not keen on that.
It would be the same as having a race.
Evening. I'm up for the panel tonight, I see my name is already on the list :)
sidepodspace update
The shuttle is now less than 40 miles from the ISS. It should catch the station in less than two hours. The rendezvous pitch manouevre (backflip) will start at 9pm so that the ISS crew can photograph the heat shield of the shuttle to check for damage.
My two cents (and you'll get much more for your money when you hear me on the 'panel later :-D ):
Well I don't like Option 1 if it makes things tough for you - you guys do more than enough as it is and we shouldn't ask you to increase the workload when there are other options available!
Option 3 is OK... but that would mean the debrief would be a week after the race wouldn't it?
Option 2 sounds good, except consideration for the parts of the calendar where we have races on consecutive Sundays, or where we have a 3-week gap instead of 2 weeks needs to be made.
As long as the Debrief gets a priority slot over the 'panel, as I think it would defeat the point to wait a week to debrief a race (as it's too long after the event), it would make the most sense to have alternating Sundays.
I love taking part in the panel but I (and many others) have early starts on Mondays, so it would be nice if we could finish a little earlier. Having said that, it's your show and I reckon you guys should call the shots on what schedule works best for you :-)
I believe this is just for off season right?
Is this change is schedule purely for when top gear is on, or is it gonna be a permanent thing?
Presumably for when TG is on, otherwise there is no reason to start at 9
Maybe, but there's only 130 days until the start of the 2009 Season :-D
Once Top Gear disappears there is no reason not to do both shows. Anyone know how long the current run is? I know the last series was only 6 shows.
Till Christmas time I believe, 10 eps in this season. This week is 3 I believe
interesting point. long term thinking, what do we do when the races return?
hadn't thought that through.
hadn't thought that through either.
if people are interested, there's no reason to stop it. christine just suggested a run of shows that make up a season. so 8 panel shows = 1 season, then we break for a couple of months and come back again.
Okay, y'know how sidepodcast is known to have buffering issues. But 5Demand is just ridiculous.
that's worth keeping in mind too.
really haven't thought this thrugh have i?
that's good. so it will prob go back to normal by Jan then, just in time for all the car launches etc. :)
That sounds like a nice idea. Or, give everyone the opportunity to host then end series, start again a bit later. Excellent idea Mr. Me
Then maybe specials, as in half a season in, christmas, that stuff.
oh demand five is actually useless. the picture freezes and you just get sound, then you get 2 mins of video and sound in sinc then it buffers for 4 mins then the picture freezes... it's like a very annoying cycle, hence why i always try to remember to record the gadget show on a monday.
I usually remember to watch it, but it just went over my head this week.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
That was my idea!!
Like Doctor Who.
Me said it
Aye
I said it OUT LOUD.
So what are we going to replace sidepodpanel with when it is not on?
Okay, okay.
Just do the Debrief I assume.
I think fewer panel shows is probably a good idea, it will help keep the format fresh. In the race season, alternating with the debrief shows is an excellent idea.
but what would you do between now and the start of the race season?
I don't think alternating in the season is a good idea, cause that's when (in my opinion) the debrief is needed most, as there is plenty of news each week.
During the season you need a Debrief every week
it's a toughy aint it?
the solution must be to convince bernie, we need one race next year. the season should start and end in melbourne and then we might just about be able to fit stuff in :)
How about a idea like this during the season
A debrief every week
A sidepodpanel when there has not been a race on that weekend?
that's doable, but m** is bound to get caught with his trousers down at some point, and then what do we do?
there is an obvious solution. if we broadcast 24 / 7, we'll always be on air and able to respond to any f1 news at any point.
You still got that sidepodnews haven't you.
When I suggested that you were against it. Now you are trying to nick my idea
and nasa news.
so you're admitting this is your idea?
24/7 was mine
Break out the mind bleach?
Ooh, I don't think we hav that one down on the wiki.
I'll udate the wiki :D
Perpetual sidepodcast
noted.
Blush .. sorry I asked the question now!