Eideard

WRC is the closest of all world class motorsport competition to the genuine road environment, though conditions vary considerably across the 13 race, five continent series from last weekend’s first round in Sweden where blizzards and -28ºC temperatures necessitated tungsten-tipped studded Michelin tyres, through to the gravel and rocks and 40ºC temperatures the cars will encounter a fortnight from now in Mexico.

New “environmentally aware” regulations were introduced this year based around 1600cc turbocharged, 4WD cars, and Ford’s all-new Fiesta RS made a dream debut with a 1-2-3 finish…

RTTFA for all the details – and lots of photos. Most countries show at least delayed coverage of each event. VersusTV is the likely source here in the USA.

Robots that rescue failing satellites and push “dead” ones into outer space should be ready in four years, it has emerged. Experts described the development by German scientists as a crucial step in preventing a disaster in the Earth’s crowded orbit.

Last year it was reported that critical levels of debris circling the Earth were threatening astronauts’ lives and the future of the multibillion-pound satellite communications industry. But senior figures at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) told the Observer they have been given the go-ahead to tackle a crisis that will come to a head in the next five to 10 years as more orbiting objects run out of fuel.

Their robots will dock with failing satellites to carry out repairs or push them into “graveyard orbits“, freeing vital space in geostationary orbit. This is the narrow band 22,000 miles above the Earth in which orbiting objects appear fixed at the same point. More than 200 dead satellites litter this orbit. Within 10 years that number could increase fivefold, the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety has warned.

What a terrific idea!

The US and Russia should pick up the tab since we launched most of the crap that’s up there.

DPJ head Yukio Hatoyama places red rose by each winning candidate
Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

The Democratic Party of Japan won the Lower House election by a landslide Sunday and was poised to grab more than 300 seats in the 480-seat chamber.

The victory by the main opposition party would end more than half a century of almost uninterrupted rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.It would also usher in DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama, 62, as the new prime minister by mid-September…

Flush with victory, DPJ executives started full-fledged preparations for launching a new administration in the evening, party sources said, adding that talks were also planned with its two allies — the Social Democratic Party and Kokumin Shinto (People’s New Party) — on forming a coalition government.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Taro Aso said he will step down as LDP president to “take responsibility” for his party’s defeat. An election to pick his successor as LDP chief will be held soon, he said. LDP Secretary General Hiroyuki Hosoda also said on NHK the party’s top three executives have all expressed their intention to resign to Aso…

DPJ deputy chief Ichiro Ozawa declined comment before the poll results were complete but said “there is nothing (for voters) to worry” about concerning an impending change in government. “We’d like to steadily implement what we have promised to the nation,” Ozawa told NHK.

Pre-election media polls showed the DPJ leading the LDP thanks to strong populist tail winds propelled in part by frustration with years of stagnation and mismanagement under the LDP.

Owing to strong voter interest, final turnout could reach 69.52 percent, exceeding the 67.51 percent in the previous general election in 2005.

I wonder how honorable the LDP will be in defeat. They could always follow the Republican model and work to impede adoption of serious legislative changes – and rely on the cowardly lions of the media to stump up reporting of their own version of teabagging.

Corruption and deceit are difficult habits to leave behind.