Lucious Linksies: 3rd November 2012

Veteran social entrepreneur Leila Janah of Samasource recently co-launched a new project to crowdfund medical treatment for the very poor. Think of it as Kiva for surgery: An amazing initiative – crowd sourcing surgeries for women in need, an interesting way of doing things…looking forward to finding out more.

Malala expected to make a full recovery. What an inspiration.

This is a must see, and links in with a topic I have previously broached. 

Some people liken a bad day at work to being in a war zone but for the photojournalists chronicled in HBO's upcoming documentary series "Witness," that's not an exaggeration.

The series, which premieres on November 5 and will air every Monday for the rest of the month, follows photojournalists in Mexico, Libya, South Sudan and Brazil as they navigate violence to report issues such as drug trafficking, gang violence, corruption, and ethnic warfare.

Crucial tips for communicating criticism! Hint: It’s all about you!

I love quote pictures.

The video below is a great compilation…

A really interesting piece on the past and the state of design…

What I know is that this nostalgic trend a lot of people are talking and writing about these days has something to do with that the socio-economic change driven by the analog-to-digital transformation. The main progress that we have made in the last 30 years is not aesthetic or mechanical. What we have seen since the mid-90s is a progress in simulation technologies. Cars look more or less the same, music and fashion is also moving into a state of simulation of what is supposed to be authentic. And often the simulation outperforms the original.

Aren’t these chalk illustrations a fantastic way to inject something a little different into the everyday dreariness of cement paths? Click on the image for more…

Fair call Seth Godin: we do need to get over ourselves.

V8s: Drumroll Please…Nissan and Kelly Racing reveal the 2013 car!

This was originally posted on Richard’s F1…check it out here! Ladies and Gentlemen, in announcement in Melbourne yesterday something special was revealed.

It was the car that you have all been curious about…The 2013 V8 Supercar in the form of a Nissan Altima!

In an event yesterday, Kelly Racing co-owners Rick and Todd Kelly and Nissan Australia Managing Director William F Peffer Jr unveiled the modified Nissan Altima that will make its first appearance on the track in Adelaide’s Clipsal 500 in 2013.

The car has been built to the “Car of the Future” regulations, including 18” wheels, a 100kg weight reduction, independent rear suspension and a transaxle gearbox.  The engine is a modified Nissan's VK56DE engine, a 5.6-liter V8 that is said to be slotted into the 2013 Nissan Patrol SUV.

V8 Supercars CEO David Malone remarked on the exciting time this was for fans and indicated this was the beginning of a new era for the series.

"New manufacturers joining the series will mean heightened competition and new technology racing on circuits around Australia and the world.” he said.

"2013 is a revolutionary year for V8 Supercars and the unveiling of the Nissan Altima is just the beginning. I congratulate Kelly Racing and Nissan for their hard work and look forward to seeing the cars' debut."

Todd Kelly was also, quite rightly, proud of the achievement.

"This is the proudest day in the relatively short history of our team, as well as one of the most significant days in recent times for the sport of V8 Supercars," Kelly said.

"Our team has done a tremendous job to design and build an all-new V8 Supercar, including a new engine, in roughly nine months."

What a job they have done! It will be interesting to see how the newcomers perform on track come 2013; this is the first time a non Ford/Holden vehicle will grace the series since 1995.

Come 2013, the Altima will be sporting the Jack Daniel’s Livery, so that will be something to watch out for as well.

Until then…the cards are on the table.  What will Mercedes show? Exciting times indeed!

Yassmin Abdel-Magied RichardsF1.com Journalist [Images via Nissan and Fox Sports]

The Problem with ‘Following your Passion’?

Source

I came across a curious article a little while ago that got me thinking about the tried and true adage of ‘following your passion’.

The early stages of a fantastic career might not feel fantastic at all, a reality that clashes with the fantasy world implied by the advice to "follow your passion" — an alternate universe where there's a perfect job waiting for you, one that you'll love right away once you discover it. It shouldn't be surprising that members of Generation Y demand a lot from their working life right away and are frequently disappointed about what they experience instead.

Written on the blog of the ever trusted Harvard Business Review by the author Cal Newport, the article points out that the concept of “following your passion” is essentially made synonymous with loving every second of your job and never settling for anything less.  Such a perception, it is argued, is inherently problematic due to a number of reasons, including the false promises it holds and perpetuates.

I am not going to deny that I am through and through Gen-Y and am proudly guilty of repeatedly telling people to follow their dreams, pursue their passion and find something they care about. 

I do see the point of Newport’s argument though, and he again highlights his point in this Forbes’ article.

Trying to determine your passion and follow it…can be dangerous and lead to chronic job-hopping. You’d be much better off…improving and stretching your “rare and valuable” skills to become a “craftsman.” That will make you a stronger job candidate and help you have a successful career.

It is an interesting perspective.  My father is incidentally a strong believer of the same concept: working on finding skills that are transferrable and get you employed rather than simply “for enjoyment”.  Doing your duty, fulfilling your responsibilities.  There are a couple of points I think this line of thinking poses. It should be noted that I am referring explicitly to career options and not general interests and hobbies.

I definitely think there is immeasurable value in enjoying what you do.  There is no point hating your job or role and being dissatisfied with your existence…after all, YOLO.  However I think it important that a distinction be made between blindly following a passion and forever having good and easy times. When framed like that, the important message of hard work is left out.

For example, no one can say to you engineering is an easy degree.  If they can, either they are a genius or they did it wrong. However, many engineers love engineering. 

How is that possible?

Through the realisation that perhaps loving something doesn’t instantly make it effortless (I understand that this is the same case in marriage, although I can’t speak with authority on that yet).

Whether or not everyone has a ‘calling’ is perhaps disputed, however there are definitely things people enjoy doing more than others.  Whether you find something you love first and try find the job to match it…or find something you don’t mind and learn to enjoy and appreciate it, both are equally valid ways of following a passion.  Sometimes the passion may come not from the industry itself but in mastering the challenge and becoming good at what you do.

Is the latter a “compromise”? If you had asked me a year ago, I may have said yes.  Now, having entered the working world, I am less adamant.

After all, Steve Jobs did the same thing.  The technology re-imaginer started as a barefoot liberal arts student and ended up the face of technological reinvention…through a series of serendipitous occurrences as well as becoming extremely passionate about what he was doing.

If a young Steve Jobs had taken his own advice and decided to only pursue work he loved, we would probably find him today as one of the Los Altos Zen Center's most popular teachers. But he didn't follow this simple advice. Apple Computer was decidedly not born out of passion, but instead was the result of a lucky break--a "small-time" scheme that unexpectedly took off.

Excerpted from So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport. © 2012 by Calvin C. Newport.

Not everyone is a Steve Jobs in the making, but his example is instructive.  The way in which we find a passion may vary.  Some are fortunate enough to know what they want to do their whole lives, others are less sure but that shouldn’t be derided.  I know I fell in love with motorsport and cars after watching a movie in grade 9…so sometimes inspiration strikes in the strangest of places.

At the end of the day, I am not going to stop telling people to follow their dreams and passions.  We are human beings, passion is a unique gift.  I personally think it is important to care; caring and passion often come hand in hand.  I am finding that over time, my focus of passion is shifting from particular ‘issues’ to more about values that the issues embody, such as empowerment and equality (and in the case of racing cars, pure speeeeeed). 

However, in doing so, I will suffix the message with a disclaimer that simply because it is a passion, it won’t always be sunshine and rainbows.  Hard yards are required, although isn’t that what makes an outcome worthwhile?

…and those who haven’t found a passion yet, don’t despair.  It is not always a lightening bolt that strikes overnight; sometimes passion comes in the form of stalactites and stalagmites – they never really mean to grow, but grow they do; ever so slowly, drip by drip just doing their thing, until one day someone visits and the realisation dawns that something truly beautiful has been created.

Source

War and Peace: A Case for Individual Responsibility?

This was originally posted on FutureChallenges.org...check it out here! ***

Is conflict a part of human nature?

An interesting question indeed.

The short film below illustrates what happens when you take individuals from opposite sides of the pack mentality and place them in a neutral environment.

There is no denying the human race is obsessed with conflict. Our history as a species is riddled with conflict; often great change is only ever achieved through periods of upheaval, also often characterised by conflict.

It would seem that conflict and war is one of the great catalysts for change. As humans it is so easy for us to disregard an injustice if it doesn’t affect us, however once the conflict reaches our circle of comfort we are then catapulted into action…so then perhaps it can be said that conflict is a part of ‘human nature’, or at least the human story.

Couldn’t it be argued however, that ‘anything humans do’ is a ‘part of human nature’? If so… does that mean everything should still allowed to be seen as acceptable?

Where is the line between blaming our collective actions on human nature and taking personal responsibility for our actions?

Conflict is inextricably linked to the concept of “War and Peace”; the age old battle between “good” and “evil” illustrated through decades of battle between empires, to grudges between siblings or the fight on the streets between criminals and the police.

Good versus Evil is perhaps example of an completely polarising dichotomy that is in fact, extremely subjective. Isn’t one man’s terrorist another’s freedom fighter? Who decides who is good and who is evil?  It is a concept also so all encompassing that it can be stretched to meet almost any agenda. Australia is one example where inter-communal tensions are sometimes framed within the “good versus evil’ concept. This often fails to highlight the true nature of any conflict, instead depicting groups as a single, monolithic entity rather than a number of human beings with humanised emotions.

The example of the relationship between mainstream Australia and asylum seekers perhaps, or the Cronulla riots in 2005 or even the fall out after the protests in Sydney (in response to the Youtube video made on the Prophet Muhammed PBUH) are examples of situations where the ‘pack mentality’ overshadowed individual thought processes and where those labelled as ‘different’ were now seen as the enemy.

This group think process is furthermore fueled by our environment. Shortly after the protests in Sydney last month, comments were made in the media highlighting that “ethnic tensions were set to explode” (source).

A key ethnic affairs adviser to the NSW Coalition government has warned that religious and ethnic tensions in western Sydney have the potential to “explode” the nation’s multicultural fabric in the aftermath of last Saturday’s Islamic riot.

Dai Le, a Vietnamese boat-person and former ABC documentary maker…warned that multiculturalism was threatened unless new arrivals continued to integrate into overarching national values… (source)

In the light of such rhetoric, you cannot blame individuals for perhaps thinking the worst…

So, on further reflection, there are three points that are being made.

Firstly, in situations where opinions are being shaped by a highly influential environment, it becomes very easy to see the world in a good versus evil, war versus peace dichotomy. We all know however, when looking at the facts that life is rarely ever that black and white and often it depends on the individual values and perspectives.

This then leads to the second point on dealing with “tensions” on a broader scale. There is no doubt that incidents such as the Cronulla riots require an investigation of the underlying currents in a community. But the discourse in which such a situation is dealt with must behonest. It doesn’t take a lot to find out what the issues are; often all you must do is ask.

Thirdly, on the question of conflict and human nature, in light of the above…

I believe that it is folly to say that conflict isn’t a part of human nature, given our propensity towards it in history. I don’t believe the ‘human nature’ argument however, can be used as an excuse.

It is our responsibility as humans to live up to our moral standards and take individual responsibilities for our actions, and that means choosing to not engage in conflict.

Conflict used for change is often a race to the bottom; brutality can extend its miserable tentacles and affect generations. Only when a cycle is broken by collective individual actions to act differently can ‘peace’ be found…whatever peace means.

V8s: Davison and Salo end TeamVodafone’s winning streak

This was originally posted here on Richard’s F1!

Will Davison and Mika Salo took out race 2 today at the ArmorAll Gold Coast 600, ending Team Vodafone’s 11 race winning streak and giving Ford Performance Racing its first win since May.

The duo’s off sequence strategy with an early pit stop due to a flat spot worked out in their favour and eventually won them the race.

The TeamVodafone pair in Jamie Whincup and Sebastien Bourdais came in second and Winterbottom and Power bookended the podium for FPR in third.

Davison came back from a prematurely ending run yesterday to complete an accident-free run to the top of the podium.  Things weren’t boding well for Davison initially, with the Falcon locking up on only the third lap, but the run was salvaged when the car pitted during the safety car’s appearance during lap 13.  Subsequently, Will’s co-driver Mika Salo completed a longer run than most – 56 laps – but that, and taking advantage of the safety car worked in FPR’s favour.  Davison was pleased with the result:

“It is fantastic to get another win as it feels like so long since my last one. I actually had to fight much harder than I thought as Tim (Slade) came out in front of me after the last stop which I hadn’t thought of. Once I got past him I had to press on but also try and conserve my tyres which thankfully I had the car to do it with really easily.

"We were under a lot of pressure and Mika did such an amazing job so I am really happy for him that we finally got our win here. I let us down yesterday but we made up for it today.”

Mika Salo echoed his co-driver’s comments.

“It’s great. I got a surfboard last year so now we’ve got the first place one to take home too. Yesterday was bad luck, it was good to bounce back today.

Whincup's performance was quite similar to last year where the pair also collected a win and a second place after two pole positions.  Co-driver Bourdais was awarded the Dan Wheldon memorial trophy again this year for his efforts.

In fourth place came the Lucky 7 Racing Ford of Tim Slade and David Brabham who competed solidly throughout the race.  Their early pitting saw them take the lead with a fifth of the race to go however their pace wasn’t quite enough to hold the more competitive rivals off.  A good result regardless for the pair.

"We lead for quite a few laps and really that was all to do with the strategy that Wes (McDougall, engineer) and Luke came up with and Brabs' performance that put me in that position. All I had to do was pretty much drive it to the end”

“Overall I'm really happy and I think we were third overall on points for the weekend. Fourth and fifth is great especially on a weekend like this where there are so many elements thrown at you." said Slade.

Garth Tander and Ryan Briscoe finished in 5th, in the same position as on Saturday, but coming up from 12th on the grid.

There were 5 safety car periods in this debris-ridden weekend however after the sensational starts on Saturday the internationals did well to not have any major issues getting off the line.  20 of the 25 starters finished.

Whincup now leads the Championship with an even greater margin, making it difficult for FPR rival Winterbottom in the next few rounds. Winterbottom is now over 200 points behind the leader in the Championship.

Check out a video of the whole hot weekend here!

2012 V8 Supercars ArmorAll Gold Coast 600 – Race 2 Results (102 laps):

	Driver		Entry / Team	Result
1.	Will Davison / Mika Salo		Ford Performance Racing	2:16:06.9161
2.	Jamie Whincup / Sébastien Bourdais		Triple 8 Racing	+ 0.5023
3.	Mark Winterbottom / Will Power		Ford Performance Racing	+ 2.1931
4.	Tim Slade / David Brabham		Stone Brothers Racing	+ 4.7583
5.	Garth Tander / Ryan Briscoe		Holden Racing Team	+ 6.7205
6.	Craig Lowndes / Richard Lyons		Triple 8 Racing	+ 9.9402
7.	Russell Ingall / Peter Dumbreck		Walkinshaw Racing	+ 11.4888
8.	Lee Holdsworth / Simon Pagenaud		Stone Brothers Racing	+ 11.6066
9.	Shane van Gisbergen / Jeroen Bleekemolen		Stone Brothers Racing	+ 12.6979
10.	Fabian Coulthard / Nicolas Minassian		Brad Jones Racing	+ 12.8490
11.	Rick Kelly / Graham Rahal		Kelly Racing	+ 13.8741
12.	Steven Johnson / Max Papis		Dick Johnson Racing	+ 13.9017
13.	David Reynolds / Nick Heidfeld		Ford Performance Racing	+ 14.5725
14.	Jonathon Webb / Marc Lieb		Tekno Autosports	+ 17.0130
15.	David Wall / Jamie Campbell-Walter		Brad Jones Racing	+ 18.0038
16.	Taz Douglas / Mike Conway.		Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 21.3784
17.	James Courtney / Darren Turner		Holden Racing Team	+ 1:15.4242
18.	Steve Owen / Boris Said		Dick Johnson Racing	+ 1 lap
19.	Dean Fiore / Gianni Morbidelli		Dick Johnson Racing	+ 11 laps
20.	Greg Murphy / Justin Wilson		Kelly Racing	+ 14 laps
	NOT CLASSIFIED
DNF.	Tim Blanchard / Marco Andretti		Kelly Racing	69 laps
DNF.	Michael Caruso / James Hinchcliffe		Garry Rogers Motorsport	34 laps
DNF.	Jason Bright / Stephane Sarrazin		Brad Jones Racing	18 laps
DNF.	James Moffat / Peter Kox		Dick Johnson Racing	0 laps
DNS.	Michael Patrizi / Lucas di Grassi		Tekno Autosports	Withdrew
WD.	Tony D’Alberto / Vitantonio Liuzzi		Tony D’Alberto Racing	Withdrew
WD.	Karl Reindler / Franck Montagny		Kelly Racing	Withdrew
WD.	Greg Ritter / Ricky Taylor		Garry Rogers Motorsport	Withdrew

Yassmin Abdel-Magied RichardsF1.com Journalist [Images via V8Supercars.com]

V8s: 3 Race Starts at GC600…Yet Whincup Wins Again

 

This was originally posted on Richard’s F1…check it out here!

On a hot and sticky day at the Gold Coast, the dynamic duo of Jamie Whincup and Sebastien Bourdais took the top spot on the podium today after an action filled race at the ArmorAll Gold Coast 600.  The TeamVodafone pair were joined by Jonathon Webb and the German Marc Leib for Tekno Autosports and Mark Winterbottom and Will Power for FPR in third.

The race took some time to start though, with the internationals having a little drama getting underway...requiring 2 restarts and a fair while to clean up, the concrete canyon lived up to its name!

James Hinchcliffe was a little slow off the mark for Garry Rogers Motorsport and was subsequently hit by Luizzi’s Irwin Ford which lead to Ricky Taylor’s Fujitsu Holden flip onto it’s head! Simon Pagenaud for Stone Brothers Racing also being involved meant that four cars were out before a single lap had been started. But that wasn’t all…

The restart saw Nicolas Minassian in the Holden Brad Jones Racing stall and Franck Montagny hitting the rear of the car.  Again, the red flags were given some unwanted air time.

The race finally got underway 50 minutes behind schedule, meaning the race was then timed to finish at one lap after 4.15pm, for a total of 79 laps.

The race was fought hard and fast with a number of different leaders throughout the afternoon.  FPR’s Mika Salo was the early leader however once Whincup swapped in, he lead the bright orange from the front for the last 44 laps.  Jamie talked after the race:

“What a crazy start to that race. I thought we’d never get into it and get the race going. We fought on and the Webb car was hooked up and hard to keep at bay.”

Indeed, Webb nipped at Whincup’s heels for about 20 laps, applying pressure to Jamie all the way to the end of the race.

Only 18 of the 28 starters finished, and there were three different safety car outings.  Mika Salo and Will Davison weren’t able to capitalise on Salo’s early lead after contact with a wall lost them their edge.

Mark Winterbottom, who came in third and is focusing on his bid for the Championship, praised his co-driver, local Will Power but will be looking to push for a win on Sunday.

“It was a good fight back and a tough race. Will (Power, co-driver), did a great job and I could attack at the end. We were coming but we needed a few more laps so we were just a bit short.”

Full results are below.

Let the racing continue!

2012 V8 Supercars ArmorAll Gold Coast 600 – Race 1 Results (79 laps*):

	Driver		Entry / Team	Result
1.	Jamie Whincup / Sébastien Bourdais		Triple 8 Racing	1:45:10.0919
2.	Jonathon Webb / Marc Lieb		Tekno Autosports	+ 0.4647
3.	Mark Winterbottom / Will Power		Ford Performance Racing	+ 1.0893
4.	Garth Tander / Ryan Briscoe		Holden Racing Team	+ 12.2211
5.	Tim Slade / David Brabham		Stone Brothers Racing	+ 12.9548
6.	Craig Lowndes / Richard Lyons		Triple 8 Racing	+ 14.6256
7.	James Courtney / Darren Turner		Holden Racing Team	+ 17.1494
8.	Rick Kelly / Graham Rahal		Kelly Racing	+ 21.5720
9.	Russell Ingall / Peter Dumbreck		Walkinshaw Racing	+ 22.0760
10.	Shane van Gisbergen / Jeroen Bleekemolen		Stone Brothers Racing	+ 22.5905
11.	Michael Patrizi / Lucas di Grassi		Tekno Autosports	+ 23.7514
12.	Jason Bright / Stephane Sarrazin		Brad Jones Racing	+ 23.9662
13.	Greg Murphy / Justin Wilson		Kelly Racing	+ 25.1239
14.	Taz Douglas / Mike Conway.		Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 25.4685
15.	David Wall / Jamie Campbell-Walter		Brad Jones Racing	+ 55.0786
16.	Steven Johnson / Max Papis		Dick Johnson Racing	+ 1 lap
17.	Dean Fiore / Gianni Morbidelli		Dick Johnson Racing	+ 2 laps
18.	Will Davison / Mika Salo		Ford Performance Racing	+ 16 laps
	NOT CLASSIFIED
DNF.	David Reynolds / Nick Heidfeld		Ford Performance Racing	66 laps
DNF.	Steve Owen / Boris Said		Dick Johnson Racing	40 laps
DNF.	Tim Blanchard / Marco Andretti		Kelly Racing	19 laps
DNF.	James Moffat / Peter Tox		Dick Johnson Racing	18 laps
DNS.	Lee Holdsworth / Simon Pagenaud		Stone Brothers Racing	0 laps
DNS.	Tony D’Alberto / Vitantonio Liuzzi		Tony D’Alberto Racing	0 laps
DNS.	Fabian Coulthard / Nicolas Minassian		Brad Jones Racing	0 laps
DNS.	Michael Caruso / James Hinchcliffe		Garry Rogers Motorsport	0 laps
DNS.	Karl Reindler / Franck Montagny		Kelly Racing	0 laps
DNS.	Greg Ritter / Ricky Taylor		Garry Rogers Motorsport	0 laps

* Following the two separate startline accidents, the race distance was reduced from its scheduled 102 laps and instead time-limited to a one-hour, 45-minute minute race

Yassmin Abdel-Magied RichardsF1.com Journalist [Images via V8Supercars.com]

V8s: Whincup on Pole for GC600

This was originally posted on Richard’s F1…check it out here!

Jamie Whincup kept the momentum of his Bathurst win going, qualifying on pole for Saturday’s ArmorAll Gold Coast 600 race today. 

The last endurance weekend of the series saw Whincup, who is partnering with Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais clock in a fastest lap time of one minute and 11.8730 seconds.

The pair are joined on the front row by the Will Davison / Mika Salo duo for FPR.

Mark Winterbottom found himself frustratingly qualifying in sixth place, next to Jonathon Webb and the German Marc Lieb who was quick in the practice runs earlier. 

Reynolds, Tander and Lowndes are among the names that missed the top ten shootout and find themselves starting a little lower on the list.  The full results are below.

2012 V8 Supercars ArmorAll Gold Coast 600 – Race 1 Qualifying Result:

	Driver		Entry / Team	Top-10 Result
1.	Jamie Whincup / Sébastien Bourdais		Triple 8 Racing	1:11.6478
2.	Will Davison / Mika Salo		Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.2252
3.	Rick Kelly / Graham Rahal		Kelly Racing	+ 0.2363
4.	Michael Caruso / James Hinchcliffe		Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 0.3103
5.	Jonathon Webb / Marc Lieb		Tekno Autosports	+ 0.3104
6.	Mark Winterbottom / Will Power		Ford Performance Racing	+ 0.3345
7.	Fabian Coulthard / Nicolas Minassian		Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.5422
8.	Tony D’Alberto / Vitantonio Liuzzi		Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 0.5775
9.	James Courtney / Darren Turner		Holden Racing Team	+ 0.7883
10.	Shane van Gisbergen / Jeroen Bleekemolen		Stone Brothers Racing	+ 15.4123
	Driver		Entry / Team	Q1 Result
11.	Tim Slade / David Brabham		Stone Brothers Racing	1:11.8249
12.	David Reynolds / Nick Heidfeld		Ford Performance Racing	1:11.8434
13.	Craig Lowndes / Richard Lyons		Triple 8 Racing	1:11.8748
14.	Steve Owen / Boris Said		Dick Johnson Racing	1:11.8761
15.	Russell Ingall / Peter Dumbreck		Walkinshaw Racing	1:11.9226
16.	Lee Holdsworth / Simon Pagenaud		Stone Brothers Racing	1:12.0095
17.	James Moffat / Peter Tox		Dick Johnson Racing	1:12.0436
18.	Steven Johnson / Max Papis		Dick Johnson Racing	1:12.0519
19.	Michael Patrizi / Lucas di Grassi		Tekno Autosports	1:12.0682
20.	Greg Ritter / Ricky Taylor		Garry Rogers Motorsport	1:12.1432
21.	Jason Bright / Stephane Sarrazin		Brad Jones Racing	1:12.1475
22.	Greg Murphy / Justin Wilson		Kelly Racing	1:12.2718
23.	Karl Reindler / Franck Montagny		Kelly Racing	1:12.2786
24.	Garth Tander / Ryan Briscoe		Holden Racing Team	1:12.3608
25.	Tim Blanchard / Marco Andretti		Kelly Racing	1:12.4528
26.	Taz Douglas / Mike Conway		Dumbrell Motorsport	1:12.7148
27.	Dean Fiore / Gianni Morbidelli		Dick Johnson Racing	1:12.7304
28.	David Wall / Jamie Campbell-Walter		Brad Jones Racing	1:12.8859

Yassmin Abdel-Magied RichardsF1.com Journalist [Images via News Limited]

Weeeekly Liiiiiinks

You know what it is! Here are some interesting internet tidbits I came across this week…

Above: French rapper shocks her fans by wearing the hijab!

I have found myself truly stirred and inspired by this school girl, who was brutally shot in Pakistan for simply wanting to learn…

Classic; on sexism and recent rulings for sole parents:

Making two unconnected issues part of the same debate is a classic response to "women’s issues". The government can then claim "We are taking care of one category of poor women so we can’t afford the other". The tendency to connect two separate issues, both about women, illustrates a much deeper political sexism than the legitimate anger about sexist tweets and commentaries.

What is it like to date a model?

…and then there was peace? A deal has been struck between the two Sudans, but where does that leave them, and will it all work out?

We all need leaders who challenge the tribe. We benefit even more when our leaders have peers who push them to be even better.  Wise words from Seth Godin

You can make it without being a sociopath or middling to the point of uselessness. But it's going to take some insight

Great article on the true role of the World Bank

This is why the World Bank is so valued by the US government and Wall Street: because it is instrumental to expanding the sphere of Western capitalism, a role not dissimilar to that which colonialism once played for Europe. This may be a good way to overcome flagging corporate profits and to stop stagflation at home, but it does not countas a serious strategy for global poverty reduction.

We have to face up to the fact that the World Bank will never be an effective tool in the fight against poverty without fundamental changes in its power structure.

Inside the real-world Double-O section of Her Majesty's Secret Service: How to become a ‘real’ James Bond

So far from pistols, chop-socky or irresistible sexual magnetism, a normal SIS officer's primary tools for motivating foreigners to do what he wants are bribery, bullshit and in certain circumstances blackmail. The only Bond-like quality a normal SIS officer will be required to show is the ability to drink heavily and remain functional, as any diplomat must on the embassy cocktail circuit.

This chick’s face:

I love maths used in every day sort of problems. Did you know the probability of having two people with the same birthday is 50-50…in a group of only 23 people?

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/in-depth/future-of-resources

The dawn of LI-FI…This is technology innovation being AWESOME.

 The weird square dance in lifts

An interesting piece on Facebook’s diminishing returns…

Let your career passion follow you…

Nice to see something written by a fellow hijabi on “what it is like to wear the Hijab..”

Great Speeches…but then what?

Anyone who has been paying even the slightest attention to Australian politics for the last day or so would know about Julia Gillard’s impassioned performance in parliament yesterday, labelling the opposition leader Tony Abbott as sexist and misogynist.

The reaction in the media and social spheres have been interesting indeed, and worth analysing to determine underlying agendas.  The speech has gotten international acclaim and praise from around the Western world.

Firstly, let it be said that there is no doubt that is was a fantastic and riveting monologue.  I love a well delivered speech, and the great leaders of in the past have often been lauded for their ability to rouse audiences and crowds into frenzies with addresses that stir the soul.  This was definitely one such example for Australia – especially given the performance of our parliament generally over the couple of years.

Another part of the reason that the speech was so well received was that the Prime Minister finally spoke about the issue of sexism when she hadn’t really (to my knowledge) publically broached it before, and seemed genuine in doing so. She cuttingly pointed out a number of instances where Tony Abbott made statements that were clearly sexist, highlighting  the entrenched (and quite possibly subconscious) culture of sexism that exists in the highest levels of government.  I believe we live in a relatively patriarchal society and though that is changing, sexism will continue to exist in implicit and explicit forms.  For this to truly shift, the culture must be acknowledged and brought to account; this is what the Prime Minister was doing, and this is to be applauded.

Mama Mia rightfully said:

It was an erudite, honest speech on the sexism that has repeatedly been levelled against her by her opponents, led by Tony Abbott, with language including “ditch the bitch” and “make an honest woman of her”. To miss that is to completely miss the point.

The Prime Minister’s speech had about as much to do with Peter Slipper as a superb double-twist-summersault dive does a diving board. The Slipper case was nothing but a catalyst for a more important debate. It was, frankly, long overdue.

However.

I believe the timing of the speech, the way in which the Prime Minister has conducted herself since the Question Time session and the overt way in which she framed the debate was a cunning political move indeed.

Why? Well who, in all the hullabaloo, is paying attention to the now resigned Peter Slipper? Where did that conversation go?  I don’t necessarily think it was fair of most of the mainstream media to blast the PM as they did, however I do think they were right in pointing out that this was a brilliant political pivot on behalf of the PM and Labour.

As with all things in politics, perhaps it is best to look at the facts.

Yes, a brilliant and inspiring speech was made.  This has been done often in history, often to very powerful results.

The difference in history however, is such speeches are often followed up by some form of action, or a call for action.  Without action or follow up, great speeches turn into riveting…rhetoric.

I am yet to see any “calls for action”. Perhaps I missed the memo.

“Well done” is always better than “Well said”.

***

Sidenote: Call me cynical, but I continue to be frustrated by the reactionary nature of our government.  They say bad times breed good policy…but I don’t know if we are there yet.  Interestingly enough, did you know that Indonesians (by and large) tend to think of our politics as unstable? Weird right…

…but then I guess with “banning live exports after a TV show” and “putting in a rotational US base at Darwin without consultation”…all happening within a few months of each other, one begins to understand why…

***

Sidenote 2: Does the nature of the response to her speech (“a ferocious personal attack”, “aggressive”) suggest that even the response to an impassioned speech is sexist?  If it were a man talking in a similar fashion, would those views still be held so negatively? Hmm…

V8s: Whincup and Dumbrell’s epic Bathurst Victory

This was originally posted on Richard’s F1…check it out here!

Paul Dumbrell put it perfectly:  “You would not get a better motor race. You couldn’t have written it like this”…and what a great race it was!

A gruelling 30 last laps lead to a photo finish with Jamie Whincup crossing the line a mere 0.3s in front of rival David Reynolds to win the 50th Bathurst 1000 in a magnificent finale. 

In front of a record breaking 57,939 strong crowd (bringing the cumulative crowd for the four days to 207,205), Whincup took his fourth win at Bathurst for the TeamVodafone Holden Commodore with his co-driver Paul Dumbrell taking his first win, in disbelief. 

“I honestly didn’t think we were getting home,” Dumbrell admitted after the race.

But get home they did.  Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff finished off the podium for Team Vodafone after they fought from the middle of the pack due to the claim third. 

James Courtney and Cameron McConville came in fourth, followed by Michael Caruso and Greg Ritter for Fujitsu Racing who put in a solid performance.

There was the usual Bathurst drama, with Steve Owen crashing the VIP Petfoods car on Lap 55, smashing into the barriers but coming out unhurt, and a total of six safety car interventions. 

Unfortunately for pole sitter Will Davison, his name is among those who didn’t make the 161 laps; Davison and McIntyre broke a watt’s linkage and finished their day on lap 131.  Davison’s wasn’t the only big name to crash out, with defending champions Garth Tander and Nick Percat crashing out early on lap 38 and ultimately coming 25th.

Other non finishers included Johnny Reid’s Tekno Commodore (broken gearbox), Team iSelect’s Taz Douglas and Scott Pye (due to engine problems) and Team Hiflex Racing’s Tony D’Alberto and Dale Wood (for steering arm issues). 

It was definitely a race to be remembered, with nothing certain until the cars crossed the finish line.  Whincup said as much:

“It wasn’t over until the last corner of the last lap. I was trying to juggle tyres, petrol and conserve over the top – it was crazy stuff.” said Jamie, after his win.

David Reynolds, with Dean Canto in P2 (The Bottle-O Falcon) was a little more subdued, blaming his nerves for his [still amazing] finish, although the up and coming driver definitely did display his maturity and potential. 

"This could be life changing this race. If we had won it would have been life changing. It was close but I was not brave enough on the last lap.

"It is not just me for Dean as well. I said if I was going to get on the podium it would be a good one, so second at Bathurst was not too bad."

Whincup’s teammate Craig Lowndes, praised the TeamVodafone crew:

"There's no doubt TeamVodafone have the right car and driver and team behind them. This was what Jamie said that it is all about a team effort.

Mark Winterbottom, who qualified in P3 for Ford Performance Racing, only managed P11 in a rough race for the Winterbottom/Richard’s duo.

“It’s a shocker today. You can’t do much different though. The tyres just kept letting go. You were always copping the punches. The last tyre set let go in 10 laps. It’s frustrating but that’s Bathurst.

The pole sitter Will Davison, coming in 24th, had no words for what was a nightmare on the track for the FPR Falcon.  

“I’m speechless. I can’t believe how bad today went. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. It started so well but it just wasn’t our day.

“The car was good in the first stint. To top it off, I had the wildest ride of my life.  I had zero brakes. I was nursing a damaged tyre and I came onto Conrod and I felt a big bang. The anti-roll bar broke, I ran over it and it cut the brake lines and I touched the brakes into the Chase and I aimed for the gravel and I was sure it was going to roll.”

Ah, how Bathurst bites.

Some interesting Bathurst facts about this race (Courtesy of V8Supercars)

*    The youngest-ever combination in the race – 20-year-old Jesse Dixon and 18-year-old Cameron Waters – finished a creditable 20th in the Shannons carsales.com.au Commodore, three laps down on the winners.

*    A total of 19 cars finished on the lead lap at the end of 161 laps, equaling the record set in the last two years in 2010 and 2011.

*    There were nine different cars that led laps in yesterday’s race, though none more than winners Whincup and Dumbrell. Their #1 Commodore led 102 of the 161 laps, the most by a winning car since Whincup paired with Craig Lowndes to win in 2008.

*    The fastest lap of the race was 2m09.5962s on lap 139 set by Shane van Gisbergen, who ultimately finished 12th.

Next on the calendar…the GC600! Stay tuned for all the Goldcoast V8 happenings on Richard’s F1!

Yassmin Abdel-Magied RichardsF1.com Journalist [Images via V8Supercars.com and Getty]

V8s: The Championship heads Stateside

I published this initially on Richard’s F1…check it out here!

The V8 supercars Championship has confirmed it will be holding a round across the pond in the motorsport state of Texas, joining NASCAR, Indycar and from this year, Formula 1 on the Circuit of the Americas.  The round will be held on May 17-19 in 2013, broadening the scope of the Series to the United States.

This will be the Championship’s sixth international round, with races being held in twice in New Zealand and in China, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi previously. 

It will be a great opportunity for our Pacific cousins to see a sample of Australian motorsport, and this was a sentiment reflected by David Malone, V8 Supercars CEO.

"It’s fantastic to be part of Circuit of The America’s events roster for the coming year and to bring V8 Supercars’ unique brand of action-packed racing to our growing U.S. fan base," Malone told V8supercars.com.au.

"The Austin circuit is coming together beautifully and will offer our teams and drivers fabulous facilities from which to compete - and one of the most challenging road courses ever designed.

It will definitely be an exciting time for the Austin circuit which is welcoming Formula 1 for their penultimate round in November this year.  The weekend of the V8’s in 2013 will also be busy, with the NASCAR All-Star Race on the same weekend and the Indianapolis 500 the weekend after. 

Winterbottom likened the purpose built F1 track to the Great Mountain’s track: Bathurst.

"It is probably as close to the Bathurst as any track I’ve seen, purely because of the angulation," he said.

"You’ve got blind corners, you’ve got the length, you’ve got the speed, and I think this is going to build up to be a historic track for America as well.

"The circuit’s topography, including the dramatic changes in elevation, will make for some really fun racing and a great show for fans."

It should be a cracking round at any rate, and it will be good for the American fans to get a taste of Aussie action!

Bring it on…

Yassmin Abdel-Magied RichardsF1.com Journalist [Images via Speedcafe.com via Mark Evans/News Limited]

The Weekly Grapevine: First Week of October 2012

 

Can you believe it is October? I spent the week learning about killing wells and trying to get decent phone reception… but enough about me, this is what I found on the net!

How politicians get away with dodging the question: The Pivot:  "Politicians," he says, "are exploiting our cognitive limitation without punishment."

This ought to go down well with my fellow uni students: why lectures are ineffective. 

 Top myths about the Iranian Nuclear Program

It is alleged that Iran has threatened to annihilate Israel. It has done no such thing. Iran has a ‘no first strike’ policy, repeatedly enunciated by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has expressed the hope that the ‘Zionist regime over Jerusalem” would ‘vanish from the page of time.’ But he didn’t threaten to roll tanks or missiles against Israel, and compared his hopes for the collapse of Zionism to the collapse of Communism in Russia. Iran has not launched a conventional war of aggression against another state in all of modern history. Israel aggressively invaded Egypt in 1956 and 1967 and Lebanon in 1982 and 2006. The list of aggressive wars fought by the US, including the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq, is too long to detail. So why is Iran being configured as the aggressor?

I know we have heard so much about the video and the backlash, but here is an interesting take by an American Muslim on the analysis…

…that’s not to say the film is an “excuse.” The film rather is a “last straw.” The attack on the embassy in Cairo following the one in Libya was not an attack on America but an attack on American intervention of Egyptian affairs. This is why it is so crucial for Egypt to establish its own democracy without Western influence. It restores a fundamental inseparable right of a people to determine their own government, and the morality of this principle on which America was founded means less war and less hostility. And it means more opportunity for us to focus on our own defense and build it in the event of an attack against a single nation (rather than five total wastes of military occupation).

They don’t hate our freedom; they hate that we think it’s ours.

10 favourite TED talks by a fellow blogger; these are great!

An interesting article: The Trouble with South Africa that highlights the issue of representation in the media of figures and groups not as “human beings with stories”, but more a collective that thinks and acts as a single monolithic non-relatable entity.

I’ve been puzzled and not a little disturbed by the lack of empathy on South African social media with the horrific events at Marikana, where 34 protesting miners were killed by police on August 16th. …

So what’s going on? Partly, it’s to do with people’s tendency to believe and react to images over text….

But it also has to do with the way most media have covered and continue to cover the strike. This was pointed out by academic Julie Reid, also in the Daily Maverick. Her piece also argues that the day-to-day event-based coverage has also helped obscure a very worrying much larger trend of police violence against citizens. Beyond a lack of investigation and intelligent mining of the data, I have not come across any article that has attempted to get into the lives of the miners, show them to us as individuals, and help us genuinely understand their daily struggles. Much (if not everything) of what has been written lately glosses over miners’ past, dreams, desires, frustrations, etc. Short: their lives. The failure to give attention to those details made it impossible to imagine what it would mean to live a miner’s life, which has allowed the debate to be sucked into a very ordinary South African debate — a spiral of numbers, acronyms, figures, maps and politicking that works as a cover to say: we haven’t got a clue.

This is sad: An interesting recent piece of research on farmer suicide.

The study revealed numerous male suicide clusters of high risk from across Australia, but generally not (state/federal) capital city regions. Only the capitals of Adelaide and Darwin were found to have male clusters, although these are the fifth and eighth largest of Australia’s eight capital cities, respectively. The Adelaide cluster has also been found to have a higher incidence of mental and behavioural disorders. Suicide rates tended to be highest in areas that were both of lower socioeconomic status and with a higher concentration of Indigenous inhabitants. Only one female cluster was identified and over 40% of statistical local areas (SLAs) had no female suicides at all during the study period.

“Win an Adventure to Africa”  -- Sounds exciting, but a it does frustrate me sometimes that going to Africa is seen as one single destination: Africa is a continent made up of over 50 wildly diverse countries…

This does sound amazing though: UNREASONABLE AT SEA

Aussie Racing Legend, Jack Brabham and a chat with SPEED

The Muslim Dilemma?

The West and the rest of the world will not know peace until critical thinkers in the Arab and Muslim worlds start speaking out and getting an audience from the global media. There is no alternative to native dissent to the suffocating culture of the sacred. Muslims are as intellectually capable as anyone else in the world, but their minds are almost hopelessly shackled by taboos, big and small, social and political. Instead of producing a culture of critical thinkers, Muslim societies are teeming with thin-skinned moralists.

Meanwhile, Muslim-majority nations, those whose flags display stars, crescents, and swords, can’t compete with a nation like South Korea in contributing to global scientific research, or invent anything to save their lives.

Muslims are struck in an impossible bind: They are totally dependent on the West for all the good things in life but are fanatically attached to religion as a marker of their separate identity. By being unable to be fully Western, they have forced themselves into an orthodox corner. Fanaticism is the result.

Westerners and Western-educated folk who apologize for Muslims by invoking the depredations of the West are not helping make things better. Muslims don’t need to indulge in a victim mentality; they need to develop their societies, build stronger economies, cultivate the arts and and encourage innovation and critical thinking in all fields. Neither self-pity nor piety will get them there.

A tune to finish off your reading: Skyfall from Adele, for the new James Bond film…