The Hums of Ceres Wunderkind

08:16 am - Scary Toyotas, Part 2

I'm puzzled by reports of the Prius brake problem. Not by the problem itself - clearly the anti-lock system has been programmed to be too sensitive - by by the fact that there have been scores of incidents involving Prius brakes reported in Japan and the USA, but none in the UK.

Why not? Are British roads so bad that anti-lock systems (though actually it looks as if it's whole whole stability control system that's involved) have to be set up for minimum sensitivity here, or do we Brits have such low expectations of braking performance that we don't notice it when they don't work?

Puzzling.

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10:46 am - The Great Toyota Scare

I drive a Toyota - but I'm not scared. I'll continue to drive it and I'll let Toyota fit their fix to the accelerator pedal in due course. I'm not scared that the car's going to career out of control.

Here's why.

It's been notable that there have been many more cases (some very tragic) reported in America than Europe. There are a number of reasons for this. America has a huge driving population and Toyota has long been a market leader there, so there are lots of Toyotas on American roads. Again, Americans tend to drive long distances and run up high mileages on their cars, and this issue seems to be down to wear and climactic conditions. America has a lot of climate. I'm not saying either that we Europeans are better drivers than Americans. America's road safety record holds up well when compared with that of, say, France, Italy or Greece.

No - I put it down to something else. May years ago, American drivers signed a pact with the Great Satan and traded control for convenience when they adopted automatic gearboxes. Even now, to "drive stick" marks you as an eccentric - a "gearhead" - and a manual car is harder to sell on than an auto one, so you'd better buy auto, hadn't you?

But autos suck. They suck down your car's power, for a start, and they suck down its fuel efficiency too. But mostly, they take away the clutch pedal.

The UK driving test places a lot of emphasis on the use of the clutch for fine control of a car, to the extent that there is a separate test and driving licence for automatics. If you have an automatic licence you cannot legally drive a manual on public roads without the conditions attached to learner drivers. The reverse is, naturally, not true. I'm not convinced that's a good idea. As a manual driver who is used to being able to disconnect the engine from the transmission whenever I want, I find it unnerving to drive an auto car where I don't have that option. I will never buy an automatic.

And the simple test is this:- If my engine ever runs away for whatever reason - stuck pedal or faulty software - I can always stop my car by depressing the clutch and brake. No hunting for neutral. No turning the engine off and taking the vacuum assist off the brakes and / or locking the steering.

I hope I never find myself driving a car with a runaway engine, but if I do I'll know what to do. I know what I'm talking about - I had the same problem once with a bike. I'm still breathing and all my limbs are present and correct. So go on, America. Ditch those automatics!

11:47 am - To The Immortal Memory

Tonight (Jan 25th) is Burns night, so to celebrate it here's a lovely song based on one of his lyric poems:

Ye Banks and Braes

Fw sings (beautifully ), I play autoharps, various keyboards and percussion. Bring haggis, neeps and tatties.

04:58 pm - Avast Ye!

Since taking MS Security Essentials off my PC and installing the free edition of Avast! in its place, it's as if someone's taken a great burden off it. I hadn't noticed much difference between MSSE and AVG Free, but Avast! seems much, much faster than either.

Bravo!

11:27 am - Please tell me, someone

Do you have to be a a pig-ignorant, selfish, inconsiderate bastard before they'll let you drive a van? Or is it something you learn on the job?

03:52 pm - Brrrr!

02:38 pm - What is it?

I keep hearing expressions like these: "A young age" or "A cold temperature" or "A high altitude" where the adjective inappropriately duplicates the meaning of its noun. Clearly this is a misuse of language, but is there a name for it? And is it more common than it used to be?

10:33 am - Joy to the World

A Merry Christmas to all my readers!

( Joy to the World )

12:14 pm - Guardians of Glory, Part Sixteen

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10:59 am - Own Goal Again

From a description of the new Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet:

Options on the new Cabriolet include Attention Assist drowsiness detection, Pre-Safe occupant protection, the Intelligent Light System, Active Bonnet and Distronic Plus proximity control.

You need "drowsiness detection"? In a rag-top? I think this tells you exactly how much fun that car is going to be to drive

08:13 am - Lovely!

Brilliant headline in the (online) Daily Telegraph:

Gordon Brown has failed. Now it's George Osborne's turn.

What can you say?

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03:15 pm - The Phantom of the Archipelago

I had a great deal of fun writing this. I hope you have as much reading it.

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07:14 pm - Smug

I now have three stories in the cache. Hooray!

08:26 am - The (further) Decline of the West

Delighted to learn (from the pages of the Guardian) that the Motörhead group have a song called "Rock Out With Your Cock Out". I'm sure the world would be a much better place if more people rocked out with their cocks out.

Even more delighted to encounter the entries for this year's Bad Sex in Fiction Awards...

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10:04 am - Accident Prone

That's me. A week ago, more or less, I left a bag containing lots of valuable stuff in a motorway service station and was extremely fortunate to get it all back. A day or two after that, I broke my glasses - expensive! And last Sunday I found a broken tooth - no idea when it happened - which the dentist is looking at today.

They say these things go in threes. I jolly well hope so...

08:24 am - Across The Straits Of Mercy

Listen...

03:37 pm - Three Cheers!

For the people at the eastbound Leigh Delamere services on the M4 who looked after my lost bag after it was handed in by a good Samaritan. It's enough to restore your faith in humanity. The bag contained most of my life, apart from my phone and wallet.

Phew!

09:07 am - Music Meme

From dolorosa_12. Pick 20 songs you never get sick of. They don't have to be in any particular order. Pretty simple, huh?

1) The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows
2) Underworld - Thing In A Book
3) Steely Dan - Rikki Don't Lose That Number
4) The Beach Boys - God Only Knows
5) Radiohead - Kid A
6) The Prodigy - Funky Shit
7) Noel Coward - Sigh No More
8) The Beatles - And Your Bird Can Sing
9) REM - Sad Professor
10) Robert Wyatt - Sea Song
11) Cream - Born Under A Bad Sign
12) Underworld - Good Morning Cockerel / Best Mamgu Ever (Two songs, but I treat them as one)
13) Rolling Stones - 2000 Light Years From Home
14) The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever
15) Fairport Convention - A Sailor's Life
16) Nic Jones - Canadee-I-0
17) FW - She Moved Through The Fair
18) Japan - Nightporter
19) Underworld - Dark Train
20) The Beatles - Eight Days A Week

One of these has no singing, but hey...


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05:47 pm - Guardians of Glory, Part Fifteen

OK, it's been a while but I've been doing other stuff. Nevertheless, GoG remains an ongoing project and to prove it...

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05:34 pm - How Very Sad

CBeebies Waybuloo Christian Response

I mean to say! Christians objecting to "religious indoctrination". Whatever next?