Record F1 Qualifying Mark Set In Imola, Italy

Ayrton Senna ponders what might have been after dropping out of the Canadian Grand Prix, June 2nd 1991. Photo Credit: Artemis Images - ©Steve Mohlenkamp (ht: wikipedia.org)

On Saturday afternoon, Michael Schumacher broke a near sacred pole qualifying position record held by racing legend Ayrton Senna by marking his 66th pole starting position while qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix race to be run today. Incidentally, Senna's last pole position (#65) was achieved and career ending crash came at this very same racing circuit on May 1, 1994.

This from the Official Formula 1 Website -

Michael Schumacher and Ferrari gave their fans what they wanted in qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola this afternoon, taking pole position and thus breaking the record he held jointly with the late Ayrton Senna.

However, the final 20-minute shootout was a close-run thing with Jenson Button putting his Honda on the front row close to the end of the session.

On the lap that Schumacher stopped the clocks in 1m 22.795s, Button banged in a 1m 22.988s to push aside team mate Rubens Barrichello.

The Brazilian subsequently lapped his RA106 in 1m 23.242s to take third place away from Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

The younger Brazilian had an off-course moment exiting the Variante Alta chicane, but made amends with 1m 23.702s.
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Japan Makes A Great Tune-Up For May's INDY 500

Helio Castroneves climbs fence in win at Japan’s Twin Ring Motegi racetrack – Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney, IRL

At Honda's home track, Castroneves and Penske make a strong statement of readiness for a record matching run at Indianapolis next month.

With this season’s second win in a row, Helio Castroneves showed that he is ready to be counted among the rare club of drivers that can lay claim to winning the Indianapolis 500 open-wheel automobile race three times, with a win in the 500 this May. He currently leads in the 2006 season race points and has shown the consistency by winning two of the three races run this season.

Excerpts from Indycar.com -

Saturday, April 22, 2006
Castroneves wins second consecutive race, adds to points lead
By Dave Lewandowski - indycar.com

MOTEGI, Japan – Helio Castroneves showed his powerful hand in practice sessions at Twin Ring Motegi. When the stakes were higher in the fourth Indy Japan 300, he took the pot.

Oh, there were plenty of others in the game – including runner-up Dan Wheldon and third-place finisher Tony Kanaan, who both acknowledged they didn’t have enough to catch Castroneves near the end of the 200-lap race on the 1.5-mile egg-shaped oval.

They really didn’t have any answers from the midpoint onward. How dominating was Castroneves, who climbed the fence for the second consecutive race? Well, here are a few examples:

● He led 184 laps.
● His fastest race lap was 190 (199.910 mph; 27.3723 seconds).
● His second-fastest lap was 180 (199.847 mph).
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"What a team, what a team,” said Castroneves, who was whisked with champagne bottle in hand from Victory Circle to team owner Roger Penske’s plane for the flight to Phoenix to catch the Team Penske cars in the NASCAR Nextel Cup race the same day (the International Date Line is a wonderful thing heading east).

It was Castroneves’ fourth IndyCar Series victory from the pole and ninth overall (eight on ovals).
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Global Warming Is Less Alarming, Scientists Say

Photo Credit: NASA

It is OK to feel better about the prospects about our planet on this coming observance of Earth Day 2006. It turns out that our Earth is not warming as fast as all of the alarmists, who are able to grab media attention, say it is warming.

A study released by scientists, using data, organic evidence (tree rings), and computer models, tells us that we should not buy in to the scare tactics used by opportunists who are trying to profit economically or politically from the potential of a dramatic rise in the Earth's temperature.

Excerpts from The Washington Times -

Scientists cool outlook on global warming
By Jennifer Harper - THE WASHINGTON TIMES - April 21, 2006

Global warming may not be as dramatic as some scientists have predicted.

Using temperature readings from the past 100 years, 1,000 computer simulations and the evidence left in ancient tree rings, Duke University scientists announced yesterday that "the magnitude of future global warming will likely fall well short of current highest predictions."
Supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, the Duke researchers noted that some observational studies predicted that the Earth's temperature could rise as much as 16 degrees in this century because of an increase in carbon dioxide or other so-called greenhouse gases.

The Duke estimates show the chances that the planet's temperature will rise even by 11 degrees is only 5 percent, which falls in line with previous, less-alarming predictions that meteorologists made almost three decades ago.
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The topic of global warming, meanwhile, will be framed dramatically in "An Inconvenient Truth," a 94-minute documentary featuring former Vice President Al Gore, who has deemed rising temperatures "a planetary emergency." The Hollywood production will be released to theaters in May and is billed by producer Davis Guggenheim as "the most terrifying film you will ever see."

The production also recommends that viewers take "political action." On Tuesday, Mr. Gore paid Roy Neel, a longtime Democratic adviser, $40,000 to help him create a public outreach program on global warming, the New York Daily News reported.

The American Spectator and columnist Jonah Goldberg have accused Mr. Gore of "green" scaremongering.
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MAXINE says .. It's OK to enjoy the day, on Earth Day!

#2 Responds To #1 E85 FlexFuel Ground Swell

"SWITCHGRASS" - Release Name, El Reno - Scientific Name, Bouteloua curtipendula - Common Name, sideoats grama - This is only one of many switchgrass varieties - Photo Credit: USDA

Toyota, the world's #2 automaker, has begun discussions to consider offering E85 capable cars. General Motors, the world's #1 automaker, has offered E85 FlexFuel cars since 1999 and has the most extensive line of automobile form factors that are able to make use of this fuel alternative.

Ford and Chrysler have models available and ready for the market, but Chrysler currently only offers its E85 car in its fleet sales division.

Toyota may be able to offer an E85 car in the marketplace by 2008. Toyota is currently deeply committed to its electric/gas hybrid technology powered automobiles that use electric motors to assist a petrol gas powered engine to achieve greater fuel economy.

The main problem with a hybrid technology approach, given the current geo-political problems that surround the cost and availability of oil, is that it still requires and consumes a greater amount of petrol based fuel than an E85 powered vehicle would require and consume.

The main problem with E85 is distribution. Once distribution is established, the problem will be production with the key structure being local, in-country resources. America does not need to purchase ethanol from foreign resources so that we then become dependent on other countries for our fuel needs (the problem we now have with our petrol fuel needs).

Excerpts from the Daily Breeze -

Report: Toyota plans on ethanol
U.S. sales of alternative-fuel vehicles from the Japanese company would start by 2008, financial newspaper says.
By Muhammed El-Hasan - Daily Breeze

Toyota Motor Corp. will announce in a few months its plans for vehicles powered by ethanol, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Financial Times reported Wednesday that the Japanese automaker plans to sell ethanol- powered vehicles in the United States by 2008, citing an unnamed company executive.

Cindy Knight, a spokeswoman for Toyota's North American sales and marketing arm in Torrance, said she could not confirm the Financial Times report. Knight did say that the company was studying the technology.

"Toyota is looking at a range of alternatives for cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles. And ethanol is one of many," Knight said. "It's something that we are looking at doing. But we haven't made an official decision on what vehicles we'll offer it in and when. That decision will come in the next few months."
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California has only four stations that sell E85, and not all of them are open to the public, Barthmus said. GM is pushing to make E85 available more broadly, including in California. GM ran TV ads during Super Bowl XL and the Winter Olympics to promote ethanol with the slogan "Live Green Go Yellow."

E85 may be scarce in California, but much of the gasoline the state's residents use already has ethanol, spokeswoman Carolin Keith said.

ExxonMobil's Torrance refinery bought ethanol to mix with the gasoline it sells. The ethanol is used as a substitute for MTBE, which was phased out in California in 2004 because of concerns it polluted groundwater. The Torrance refinery phased out MTBE in 2003.
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"I think things are changing with ethanol and biofuel," Knight (Toyota spokesperson) said. "So I think you'll see more of that in California because we've got the agriculture."
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The sooner we get to E85 as a standard for our automobile fuel needs, the sooner we will be on a stronger "war footing", we will get a cleaner burning fuel alternative as a bonus!

ICE Begins Crack Down

Demonstrators march through the streets of Los Angeles to protest against legislation that cracks down against illegal immigrants, April 15, 2006. Almost 1,200 illegal immigrants and seven current or former managers at a Netherlands-based firm that hired them were arrested as part of a national crackdown, authorities said on Thursday. (Photo Credit: Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

Dutch company feels frostbitten as ICE (the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement department) begins crackdown. Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security states that this is only the beginning.

The effort is aimed at those who are "exploiting illegal aliens'' and "who adopt as a business model the systematic violation of immigration laws,'' Chertoff told reporters in Washington. The government will "make sure we come down as hard as possible.''

Excerpts from Reuters via Yahoo! News -

Workers, managers arrested in immigration case
By James Vicini - Thu Apr 20, 12:58 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Almost 1,200 illegal immigrants and seven current or former managers at a Netherlands-based firm that hired them were arrested as part of a national crackdown, U.S. authorities said on Thursday.

Raids were carried out this week in 26 states at plants operated by IFCO Systems North America, which is based in Houston and makes wooden pallets and crates.
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IFCO said in a statement that it is cooperating fully with the investigation and that it hopes "to have this matter resolved as soon as possible." The North American operation is a unit IFCO Systems, based in Amsterdam.

About half of the firm's 5,800 U.S. employees in 2005 had invalid or mismatched Social Security numbers, federal officials said.
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So doing the math, ICE still has a little more work to do (about another 1,200 illegal aliens to go) at IFCO. Jobs open up in 26 states for high jobless segments of our society.

Help Wanted! ... from U.S. citizens!

DNC Chief Becomes The New Republican

Howard Dean – Photo Credit: AP

Boy, we all would really love to believe this stated change in position. I do not feel we can trust the Democrats (or the Republicans for that matter) to clamp down on illegal immigration because all politicians look at a body, any body, as a future vote. They do tend to forget that 1) we are at war, and 2) Nearly 80% of the voting citizens of this country want the borders tightened up and the illegal immigrant problem to be solved through enforcement of our laws.

Excerpts from The Washington Times -

Dean calls the border top priority
By Ralph Z. Hallow - THE WASHINGTON TIMES - April 20, 2006

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean yesterday called border security his party's top immigration priority for November.

"The first thing we want is tough border control," he said. "We have to do a much better job on our borders than George Bush has done. And then we can go to the policy disagreements about how to get it done."
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"If Dean means what he says about border enforcement, that would put the Democrats somewhere to the right of President Bush on immigration," said Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican.

A spokesman for the Republican National Committee dismissed Mr. Dean's "newfound commitment to border security" as "not believable."
--
Mr. Dean said he wants "immigrants who obey the law and pay taxes to be able to apply for citizenship. We support earned legalization vigorously. And, much to my surprise, so do the American people."
--
Speaking yesterday at a breakfast for political reporters at the St. Regis Hotel, hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, Mr. Dean told reporters that Democrats would attack Republicans on "values" in this fall's midterm elections.
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"Don't forget -- the Republicans have been in power for five years. They've had the House and Senate and the White House most of that time. And they have done nothing about immigration."

Not true, said Mr. King, who represents a district along the Missouri River in western Iowa. He said 200 Democrats voted against a bill passed by the House in December that mandates stronger border security.

"If Dean and his Democrats in the Senate are serious, they could force the president to make a decision to sign or veto an enforcement-only package," he said. Mr. Bush and several Senate Republicans have sought to tie border enforcement to a guest-worker plan -- a program that many of the Republican Party's conservative supporters sharply criticized.
--
"I have no intention of losing this battle," he said. "They started it, and we are going to win it." Republican National Committee spokesman Danny Diaz yesterday responded scornfully to Mr. Dean's immigration rhetoric.

"Someone should remind Howard Dean that it was [Senate Minority Leader] Harry Reid [Nevada Democrat] who obstructed immigration reform, underscoring the fact that Democrats would rather manipulate the issue than reform it," he said. "President Bush and Republicans in Congress have increased border-security funding by more than 65 percent, expanded the number of border agents by 30 percent and significantly upgraded technology on the border."
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This may be good news for all of us citizens out here if the politics of the situation forces the Democrat and Republican parties to fall all over themselves and appeal to the wishes of the "voting" public.

We Will See!

The Convenience Of Swords And Stars

Extreme Fang - Huge One Hand Weapon - Photo Credit: excaliburbrothers.com

The neighborhood standards council in Tacoma, Washington is all up in arms about the sales of "Arms" in convenience stores. It seems that the local convenience stores in the area have been able to identify a niche market in the area for swords, throwing stars, and crossbows. It sounds like the renaissance faire might be just around the corner.

Excerpts from Convenience Store News Daily -

Washington C-Stores Encounter 'Sword Fight'
From Associated Press

TACOMA, Wash. -- Some government officials are crusading to get cheap versions of medieval weapons off the shelves of local Washington convenience stores because the appearance of collectible swords, crossbows and throwing stars is upsetting some customers, reported the Associated Press.

The city’s lawyers are having a difficult time, however, figuring out how to revise Tacoma’s “dangerous weapons” ordinance to stop the stores from selling collectible swords without also making it illegal for grocery stores to sell bread knives or camping stores to offer hunting knives, according to the report.
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“I see no reason for a weapon to be convenient,” Fred Brookshire, chairman of the South End Neighborhood Council, told the AP.
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At MAXINE, we are willing to guess that this "Starbucks" guzzling neighborhood council chairman has never been to South Central Los Angeles, say ... after a court verdict.

FlexFuel E85 For Freedom And Life

Chevrolet Astra Multipower - Photo Credit: Women Motorist

Interestingly, there are about 6 million flex-fuel vehicles in the US, but only 600 stations where they can refuel with E85.

The biggest and best lessons about the ethyl alcohol fuel transition experience come from Brazil. This South American country has been serious about the use of cellulose derived fuels for about 30 years now and their experience is paying big benefits as petro based fuel prices skyrocket.

Excerpts from Women Motorist -

Alternative Fuels - Lessons from Brazilia
by Bill Siuru, PhD, PE

In his 2006 State of the Union address, President Bush made a commitment "to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025." He also said ethanol from not only corn, as now produced in the U.S., but also cellulosic ethanol from wood chips and stalks and switch grass would be key in achieving this goal. Brazil, which should be independent of imported oil this year, is showing it doesn’t require any advanced technology like fuel cells. Not only will Brazil be foreign oil-independent, its motorists will not be dependent on only one fuel.

When the first of the fuel crises hit, the Brazilian government reacted with Proalcool in 1975, 75-percent gasoline blended with 25-percent ethanol produced from sugar cane, a major Brazilian crop. It responded to the second crisis with vehicles running on pure alcohol. By the mid-1980s, over 90-percent of Brazilian cars and light trucks ran on alcohol that was substantially cheaper than gasoline and available everywhere in Brazil.

When oil prices dropped in the mid-1980s, coupled with the discovery of new offshore oil fields, gasoline became cheaper. This was further compounded by a drought and a poor sugar harvest disrupting the supply of alcohol. Then by 1989, sugar prices started to rise dramatically and producers exported sugar rather than turn it into fuel. By 1997, alcohol capable cars represented less than 1-percent of new vehicles sold in Brazil.

Brazil learned a lesson from these ups and downs. The result were flex-fuel vehicles (FFV) that could run on any fuel from pure gasoline to pure alcohol. All Brazilian gasoline is blended with at least 20- to 25-percent ethanol. Some 29,000 out of 31,000 fueling stations in Brazil also offer 100 percent ethanol for the older alcohol-only vehicles. Brazil currently has between 3-million and 4-million ethanol fueled vehicles.
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We could also look at fuel economy in fuel in a new way, that is 'miles-per-gallon of gasoline produced from fossil fuel' (MPGFF.) Thus, while vehicles running on E85 get less MPGs, they get significantly more MPGFFs. For example:

FUEL ECONOMY - Combined City/Highway Mileage
Vehicle MPG City MPGFF (miles-per-gallon-of-fossil-fuel)
Chevrolet Tahoe Gasoline 17
E85 13, 88 mpgff
Chevrolet Impala gasoline 24
E85 19, 126 mpgff
Ford Crown Victoria gasoline 21
E85 14, 93 mpgff
Toyota Prius gasoline 55
E85 35-45, 233-300 mpgff
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Distribution, Distribution, Distribution ... Oh, and then let's grow something!

Numbers Game Isn't Real

Photo Credit: http://www.geocities.com/rummyfan/pics.html

Our democracy, in all of its nearly 230 year history, has survived many different military challenges, but none are more important than the challenges to the founding principle of civilian control over the military we are currently faced with.

Allot is being made out of the fact that (at the time of this post) up to 12 retired generals and "Flag" officers have a different opinion and approach to the management of the military than the present Secretary Of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. This, in light of the additional fact that there are over 7,000 retired generals and Flag officers as well as 1.4 million men and women currently serving in the military, who understand, respect, and appreciate the established American tradition of the military being subordinate to civilian direction and control.

There will be disagreements but the principle remains more important than the opinion of a few, albeit well trained and informed retirees.

Excerpts from the New York Post -

RUMSFELD'S JOB SECURITY
FIRING HIM LOSES IRAQ
By John Podhorez

April 18, 2006 -- WHAT'S the dumbest thing George W. Bush could possibly do right at this moment - the action that would, more than any other, suggest his presidency was and is all but finished?

The answer: Fire Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Either a forced resignation or a dismissal would effectively bring the Bush presidency to an end.

This is something that Bush's out-and-out foes and opponents of the war in Iraq surely understand, otherwise they wouldn't be salivating over the prospect and doing everything they can to put pressure on the president to make it happen.

But some supporters of the president's efforts in Iraq also seem anxious to see Rummy replaced. These thoughtful people have had problems with the war plan from the start and have been insisting for several years that only with another Defense Secretary can the war plan's mistakes be corrected and the conflict brought to a positive conclusion.

Yet such a move would be an unmitigated disaster for the effort in Iraq.
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At the end of this destructive process, the new Secretary of Defense would take the oath of office in the midst of a general meltdown. The American people, hearing no confidence coming from the war's own leaders about the coming victory, would be throwing up their hands in even greater numbers.

And the 150,000 brave men and women of our armed forces who are in Iraq attempting to do something great, could not but realize that their countrymen and their leaders were really and truly washing their hands of the effort. At which point they would rightly lose heart, and they too would begin to lobby for a getaway.

If you are among those who now basically think we might as well declare defeat even before we go home, then by all means, shout "Fire Rummy" at the top of your lungs.

But if you are among those who believe the war in Iraq must be won and that we can win it, it is madness to join the "Fire Rummy" crew. Even if you think Rumsfeld doesn't deserve to keep the job, he must. There's no other way.
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Wine?, Beer?, Which Is Healthier?

Beer drinkers toasting. A new Canadian study found that beer drinkers are more at risk of developing lung cancer than their non-beer-drinking peers, while wine consumption has an opposite effect. (AFP/File/Carl de Souza)

We are not talking calories here. A new study from Canada looks at two previous studies and is able to factor out smoking as a component in the results. It turns out that people who normally drink beer, have a higher chance of getting some forms of cancer.

Excerpts from Agence France-Presse (AFP) via Yahoo News -

New Canadian study links lung cancer risk to beer
Wed Apr 12, 3:36 PM ET

MONTREAL (AFP) - A new Canadian study found that beer drinkers are more at risk of developing lung cancer than their non-beer-drinking peers, while wine consumption has an opposite effect, scientists told AFP.

The study, which looked at two earlier large studies in the francophone province of Quebec, tried to discount the possible effects of smoking, which often goes hand-in-hand with beer consumption, to get clearer results.
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"The type of people who drink beer are usually different from the type of people who drink wine in terms of socio-economic status, education level, lifestyle and eating habits," said lead author Andrea Benedetti. "Beer and chips versus wine and a salad."

Also, eating fruits and vegetables regularly seemed to counteract the carcinogenic effect of beer, Benedetti noted.
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So, actually, you are more of what you eat as opposed to what you drink. Here at MAXINE, I will celebrate 14 years of the non-consumption of alcohol and tobacco at months end.

Looney Left - Rant vs "One Long Sustained Scream"

Maryscott O'Connor says her liberal Web log, My Left Wing, is "one long, sustained scream." - Photo Credit: By David Finkel - The Washington Post

This from The Washington Post -

The Left, Online and Outraged
Liberal Blogger Finds an Outlet and a Community
By David Finkel, Washington Post Staff Writer - Saturday, April 15, 2006; Page A01

SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. -- In the angry life of Maryscott O'Connor, the rage begins as soon as she opens her eyes and realizes that her president is still George W. Bush. The sun has yet to rise and her family is asleep, but no matter; as soon as the realization kicks in, O'Connor, 37, is out of bed and heading toward her computer.

Out there, awaiting her building fury: the Angry Left, where O'Connor's reputation is as one of the angriest of all. "One long, sustained scream" is how she describes the writing she does for various Web logs, as she wonders what she should scream about this day.

She smokes a cigarette. Should it be about Bush, whom she considers "malevolent," a "sociopath" and "the Antichrist"? She smokes another cigarette. Should it be about Vice President Cheney, whom she thinks of as "Satan," or about Karl Rove, "the devil"? Should it be about the "evil" Republican Party, or the "weaselly, capitulating, self-aggrandizing, self-serving" Democrats, or the Catholic Church, for which she says "I have a special place in my heart . . . a burning, sizzling, putrescent place where the guilty suffer the tortures of the damned"?

Darfur, she finally decides. She will write about Darfur.
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All by herself ... It is sad, really. With no facts. With no links. With little context or perspective. Driven to write about an African country without the internally developed sense of a religious or spiritual life (evidenced by the fact she feels the only way she can express herself is through "one long sustained scream"). To have to write about the Muslim genocide of Christians out of fascistic fear and hatred.

Be afraid, very afraid, if we do not show up at the polls to vote. The people she will elect get to run the country. They will run the global war on terror. They will watch over the country during the bird flu pandemic. Pray for her better mental health, peace, and serenity.