![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Robot Cabbage
Mar. 28th, 2006 04:32 amSo, Sunday was a rather depressing start to the IRL season with Paul Dana being killed at Homestead. Most of the news articles describe him as a rookie, but he really wasn't. The man was a capable, experienced race driver. He'd raced (and won) with open-wheeled cars on that track many times, and he drove part of the season last year in the big cars as a substitute. He was a rookie only technically, in that he'd never been in that particular race before.
It's one of those that they'll probably never know what happened. The yellow light had been on for at least five seconds after Carpenter's spin, and Dana just simply barreled into him at full speed. IRL said today that his yellow dashboard warner worked, which was my first thought. I'm amazed that there was enough of the circuit left to test, frankly. Hitting a stationary engine block at 200mph doesn't leave much intact.
*****
Buck Owens has bit the dust too :P Gloom, Despair and Agony on me!
*****
Schools in Argentina decide to let kids watch World Cup games. If I were in charge, I'd prolly let the kids watch the soccer game, just on the theory that you lose two hours that way, but they'll prolly skip the whole day if you don't. It's stupid and annoying to pretend that this represents some kind of cultural enrichment. Nobody can ever admit that they're bending with the wind anymore. Giving in to reality always has to be framed in terms of some seeking some improbable benefit.
*****
Now this..., THIS is tacky.
*****
I wonder why some effort isn't made to restore the Faberge eggs, along with the Tsar's other possessions, to his surviving relatives? There seems to be this general concensus that if the Nazis stole something, it has to be gotten back to the original owners, even if it's passed through generations of legitimate purchasers since them. Why doesn't that same scruple apply to things stolen by the Bolsheviks? Lenin and his gangsters murdered the Romanovs in cold blood, stole their stuff, and sold it to finance their revolution. Surely what applies in one case should apply in all?
*****
Did anyone else notice how the Russian bobsleds at the Olympics had the Romanov eagle emblazoned on the front? The world changes in such unexpected ways sometimes.
*****
Oddly enough, I've just learned from poking around on Google that Prince Youssepov, who managed (after considerable effort) to kill Rasputin, traces his descent from the first Caliph of Baghdad.
It's one of those that they'll probably never know what happened. The yellow light had been on for at least five seconds after Carpenter's spin, and Dana just simply barreled into him at full speed. IRL said today that his yellow dashboard warner worked, which was my first thought. I'm amazed that there was enough of the circuit left to test, frankly. Hitting a stationary engine block at 200mph doesn't leave much intact.
*****
Buck Owens has bit the dust too :P Gloom, Despair and Agony on me!
*****
Schools in Argentina decide to let kids watch World Cup games. If I were in charge, I'd prolly let the kids watch the soccer game, just on the theory that you lose two hours that way, but they'll prolly skip the whole day if you don't. It's stupid and annoying to pretend that this represents some kind of cultural enrichment. Nobody can ever admit that they're bending with the wind anymore. Giving in to reality always has to be framed in terms of some seeking some improbable benefit.
*****
Now this..., THIS is tacky.
*****
I wonder why some effort isn't made to restore the Faberge eggs, along with the Tsar's other possessions, to his surviving relatives? There seems to be this general concensus that if the Nazis stole something, it has to be gotten back to the original owners, even if it's passed through generations of legitimate purchasers since them. Why doesn't that same scruple apply to things stolen by the Bolsheviks? Lenin and his gangsters murdered the Romanovs in cold blood, stole their stuff, and sold it to finance their revolution. Surely what applies in one case should apply in all?
*****
Did anyone else notice how the Russian bobsleds at the Olympics had the Romanov eagle emblazoned on the front? The world changes in such unexpected ways sometimes.
*****
Oddly enough, I've just learned from poking around on Google that Prince Youssepov, who managed (after considerable effort) to kill Rasputin, traces his descent from the first Caliph of Baghdad.
