JG Ballard reports that his notorious novel Crash, was inspired by a belief in the existence of a "strong connection between sexuality and the car crash, a fusion largely driven by the cult of celebrity." Perhaps this extract does Ballard a disservice, but there is nothing here to support such a belief. The two primary human instincts are the survival instinct and the reproductive instinct, and these instincts explain why so much of our culture revolves around violence and sex, respectively. But it seems reasonable to think that car crashes are associated with violence and death, rather than sex. I'm not really sure what Ballard's argument or evidence is to support his assertion, but it seems to be that there was a bit of a fuss when he organised an exhibition of crashed automobiles, and hired a topless model to be in close attendance. Curious, but hardly convincing...
Monday, January 28, 2008
Crash
JG Ballard reports that his notorious novel Crash, was inspired by a belief in the existence of a "strong connection between sexuality and the car crash, a fusion largely driven by the cult of celebrity." Perhaps this extract does Ballard a disservice, but there is nothing here to support such a belief. The two primary human instincts are the survival instinct and the reproductive instinct, and these instincts explain why so much of our culture revolves around violence and sex, respectively. But it seems reasonable to think that car crashes are associated with violence and death, rather than sex. I'm not really sure what Ballard's argument or evidence is to support his assertion, but it seems to be that there was a bit of a fuss when he organised an exhibition of crashed automobiles, and hired a topless model to be in close attendance. Curious, but hardly convincing...
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Mmmmm,...purple!
The best Quality Streets are undoubtedly the purple ones. Shaped rather like drumlins, those obscure geomorphological landforms of dubious existential status, biting into one accesses a region of the multi-dimensional gustatory-experience space spanned by the chocolate, caramel and walnut taste vectors. If Quality Streets were musical instruments, then the purple ones would be the French Horn: rarely lauded, but quite exquisite.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Formula One's Nuclear future
Formula One stands poised on the brink of a new, environmentally-friendly era of hybrid engines and kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS). There is, however, little reason to believe that fuel cells will be able to match the power of the internal combustion engine in the near future. It seems inevitable, then, that Formula 1 cars will become nuclear powered.
Each car will be powered by a small fission reactor, rather like those in nuclear submarines, but lighter and smaller. Whilst some might argue that a nuclear pile in the rear of a 200mph projectile is a recipe for disaster, nothing could be further from the truth. The neutrons emitted by the fission reaction can be absorbed by a material such as boron, and the gamma rays can be absorbed by a shield made from a high atomic number metal, such as tantalum. The only remaining hazard then arises from the fission products in the reactor, and the danger of releasing these products into the environment in the event of a crash. To mitigate against this, nuclear fuel-cycle pit-stops will become necessary: mechanics donned in full protective clothing will remove the fuel cells from the car, insert a new batch, and send the car on its way. The pits and paddock will, of course, need to be decontaminated and decommissioned after every Grand Prix, but this is a small price to pay to infinitesimally reduce global CO2 emissions.
Formula One's Nuclear Future
Each car will be powered by a small fission reactor, rather like those in nuclear submarines, but lighter and smaller. Whilst some might argue that a nuclear pile in the rear of a 200mph projectile is a recipe for disaster, nothing could be further from the truth. The neutrons emitted by the fission reaction can be absorbed by a material such as boron, and the gamma rays can be absorbed by a shield made from a high atomic number metal, such as tantalum. The only remaining hazard then arises from the fission products in the reactor, and the danger of releasing these products into the environment in the event of a crash. To mitigate against this, nuclear fuel-cycle pit-stops will become necessary: mechanics donned in full protective clothing will remove the fuel cells from the car, insert a new batch, and send the car on its way. The pits and paddock will, of course, need to be decontaminated and decommissioned after every Grand Prix, but this is a small price to pay to infinitesimally reduce global CO2 emissions.
Formula One's Nuclear Future
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