Episode 73 - He Only Knew What it Was Like with a Lawnmower
- Length: 42:55
- Size: 38.6 MB
- File: episode73.mp3
- Enhanced: episode73.m4a
- Transcript: Coming soon
- Torrent: episode73.torrent
The first ever live show of Sidepodcast turns into the usual edited version where we discuss the idea of rotating your staff, practicing pit stops, and the weather in Valencia.
Intro
We’re live on the internet, which is both scary and brilliant at the same time.
Good Week / Bad Week
Good week for staffing news, with Ron Dennis’ rotation schemes, and Ross Brawn’s technical prowess, but a bad week for Lewis Hamilton’s bags and Finland’s stamps.
News and Views
After Hungary, Kovalainen doesn’t think anything has changed, whilst Coulthard and Gascoyne want things to change. Coulthard questions the future of refuelling after the pit lane fires, and we have some thoughts on that, whilst Gascoyne wants longer life components which is putting people out of business. We also discuss updates on the Valencia track, including wind, sun and rescue attempts.
Feedback
A voicemail from Doctor Vee and Anonymous about the state of the championship and a mini series question respectively. The entry to end all entries for the You Know You’re an F1 Fan When… Game, plus we discuss TV coverage where you are.
Housekeeping
The mini series confusion may continue for a while as we sort out all the old archives and get things up to speed - apologies in advance for that. Plus, we’re now recommending Miro.
August 18th, 2008 at 12:11 amOllie said:
42 minutes and 55 seconds! What was my guess? Did I win? *excited* *checks…*
…43 minutes. So close.
August 18th, 2008 at 12:21 amme said:
closer than close in fact.
quite astonishing, especially given how much practice we’ve had. impressive.
August 18th, 2008 at 12:28 amOllie said:
I am actually a little freaked out by myself. Quite bizarre.
So far from listening, I have a much better understanding of what you guys do. The editing process you go through must be quite a lot (I always assumed there was little editing involved). You’re probably very slick at it by now, but to go from what I saw and heard earlier to the finished product, it’s all very good.
August 18th, 2008 at 12:33 amJeremy said:
Yay! You mention Macs (not to be confused with Max) and Me (not to be confused with errr… me) in the first few minutes.
August 18th, 2008 at 12:33 amme said:
audio is christine’s domain, but yeah editing has always been part of it because i have a really short attention span.
cheers
August 18th, 2008 at 12:39 amme said:
well you’re easily pleased
we’ll yell when we if / when we do and earlier / later live show in the future.
August 18th, 2008 at 12:44 amOllie said:
You better.
August 18th, 2008 at 12:47 amJeremy said:
Midnight your time is fine… but I’m already wondering when you sleep! Do you hibernate in the off season?
August 18th, 2008 at 12:54 amme said:
you’d tune in again? that makes me happy
thanks for this post btw. i have some comments to make, as soon as i’ve wrapped up the evenings chores!
August 18th, 2008 at 12:56 amme said:
would 10am our time suit you? that’d be your evening time i’m guessing.
hibernation sounds good right now. so long as it’s not like mika’s tortoise.
August 18th, 2008 at 12:59 amOllie said:
You betchya! I help with F1Fanatic’s Live Blog, so I’m unavailable during the race weekends. But a live stream from your weekly show recording? I’ll be there every time I can.
I didn’t actually say this in the post, but thank you. I had fun this afternoon. Feel free to comment when you get chance.
August 18th, 2008 at 1:10 amme said:
no worries on that score, christine won’t let me pile more work on her during a race weekend. apparently she says nine podcasts in four days is enough.
i would however, one day consider hosting some kind of pre-race sunday morning round table discussion. y’know, easy listening chat that might make good background radio before itv’s build-up begins. the kind of thing that you could leave running but tune in and out of.
i think it might have been mr. roy who suggested it, and with a bit of podsafe music thrown in and some driver quotes, it might just work.
August 18th, 2008 at 1:13 amSteven Roy said:
I meant to say live that there was no obvious background noise from all your equipment.
‘me’s last comment on the show was ‘if you feel differently we are all ears.’ Surely we are all ohren
Great quote
I would much prefer a late show to an early show. I don’t do mornings unless I have to. Given the number of people who post comments in the early hours of the morning it may be the best option albeit it means you two either have to spend all night editing or put the show up the following day. A midnight show would also work for the Canadian contigent.
Absolutely. It was great fun. It is interesting to see the way you work but most of all it was fun.
Well done to Ollie for winning the ‘guess the length of the podcast’ competition getting with 5 seconds of the actual time.
August 18th, 2008 at 1:16 amScott Woodwiss said:
what happened to under pressure?
August 18th, 2008 at 1:16 amSteven Roy said:
I know it is getting a bit ahead but you could try something like this for Canada next year since the race starts at 5pm you could do the show in early afternoon which could be a bit more relaxed for your first attempt.
August 18th, 2008 at 1:20 amme said:
ooh, hadn’t considered that.
we have x2 interviews planned (scott w. and alex), and then we can try a late show. i suspect it would have to be a saturday evening / sunday morning thing just so we have a whole day to recover.
August 18th, 2008 at 1:20 amOllie said:
I am legend. Or something equally as masculine and heroic sounding!
No way! Australia 2009, 2am. If you’re gonna do it, do it properly! [/joke]
August 18th, 2008 at 1:21 amOllie said:
Oooh, Oz race is slightly later again, isn’t it? Probably be about 4am, I’d imagine.
August 18th, 2008 at 1:22 amme said:
sorry. meant to clarify that.
the idea is the title needs to be said out loud during the show, and seeing as all the queen riffs appeared around the time we screwed up, they ended up getting dropped.
we got a bunch of (perfectly understandable) grief after the last show crossed the one hour mark, so much content was dropped this week as a result.
apologies for cutting your line, but in two weeks you’ll have ample opportunity to name the show
August 18th, 2008 at 1:23 amJordan Allen said:
Sideys:
Yes that would be perfect as it the local Canadian time could be anywhere from 10:30 pm in St. John’s to 6 pm in Vanocuver!
August 18th, 2008 at 1:27 amme said:
that is long term thinking.
i think we’re gonna need a job lot of the unspoken energy drink in order to make that happen. anyone got dietrich’s number?
August 18th, 2008 at 1:30 amSteven Roy said:
That makes more sense than keeping everyone up to 2am on a Sunday.
August 18th, 2008 at 1:32 amJordan Allen said:
i think we’re gonna need a job lot of the unspoken energy drink in order to make that happen. anyone got dietrich’s number?
1 - 800 - 733 2855. That’s 1 800 RED BULL.
August 18th, 2008 at 1:35 amme said:
i can’t promise when (in fact i can’t even promise if), but hopefully we can make that happen.
i’m guessing that’ll also tie in nicely with anyone in the states too.
i was trying to be subtle
August 18th, 2008 at 1:38 amJordan Allen said:
Sorry, so was I, but a sledgehammer is still a sledgehammer.
August 18th, 2008 at 1:41 amlou said:
Defiantly, today was brilliant. The perfect way to spend a non gp Sunday
I have often wondered what it’s like when you record the podcast, and how you do it, but as Steven and Ollie have already said it was great fun! 
August 18th, 2008 at 1:49 amlou said:
that would be perfect for me, as I go back to school in a few weeks
and staying up till 2am on a Sunday would mean i would probably fall asleep in lessons. 
August 18th, 2008 at 1:52 amme said:
good to hear lou. i had fears that your expectations of us might’ve been higher than we could hope to match, so i’m glad we didn’t let you down on that front.
did you already tell us where / what you’re studying? apologies if i’ve forgotten.
is it thursday yet?
August 18th, 2008 at 7:21 amAlex Andronov said:
I must say I really really enjoyed it. It gave me a really good feeling of being part of the show!
And as Ollie alluded to on his blog it was, not to beat about the bush, inspirational!
While I would like to tune in every time my better half might find it hard to understand. Watching the races is hard enough to wangle sometimes! We shall see.
Sorry it’s taken so much out of you. But thanks again you guys!
August 18th, 2008 at 7:48 amAlex Andronov said:
Also a radio phone in show for race mornings would be ace and easily an “on in the background kind” of thing.
Have some topics lined up. Some royalty free music. Some pre-recorded stuff (like F1 Minute or even F1 Digest could be played to give you loo break opportunities).
August 18th, 2008 at 9:37 amSteven Roy said:
Don’t be silly. We don’t have high expectations.
August 18th, 2008 at 9:46 amChristine said:
Let me get this straight. I leave you (meaning ‘me’) in the company of some wine and all of a sudden we’re doing radio shows and promising live streams at all hours of the night?
Note to self: don’t let him drunken comment again.
However, they are all brilliant ideas, so I will let you (meaning ‘me) off this once.
August 18th, 2008 at 10:00 amAlex Andronov said:
I think Me wants to be in his own version of The Truman Show.
August 18th, 2008 at 10:33 amme said:
true, dom’s comment yesterday:
“It works too! Is this really sidepodcast?”
should’ve confirmed that for me
i am suffering for my sins this morning.
August 18th, 2008 at 11:37 amAlex Andronov said:
I noticed that Christine’s favourite e-mail got cut! For Shame!
August 18th, 2008 at 1:49 pmneil said:
Just on the subject of TV coverage (mentioned in the ‘cast) we in western australia have the opposite problem to your viewer in Canada;
Our broadcaster, Ten, shows the race live on HD, and delayed until 11.30pm on standard definition
BUT
Becuase Western Australia is 2 hours nearer GMT than others in Aus, we get everything on 2 hour delay. Due to laws here, you can’t get any satelite feeds with F1 (live or otherwise)
I often end up watching live streams of Speed TV and have to listen to that guys who mispronounces ‘fernando alondo’ and the drunken Englishman…
Here’s hoping that the change to BBC shakes things up a little here.
August 18th, 2008 at 1:58 pmSteven Roy said:
Christine has no shame. If she is happy to beg for competition prizes I am sure she would have been quite happy to put out THAT e-mail.
August 18th, 2008 at 2:51 pmlou said:
No I haven’t told you before :P.
Well for GCSE I studied the compulsory subjects of English, Maths, and the sciences, and I chose to study German, History, Geography, Textiles, and Latin.
Then for A level I am planning to study, History, Textiles, English, and possibly ICT although I wanted to study psychology but it clashed with history :/ I’m staying at the same school and going onto sixth form there
August 18th, 2008 at 3:07 pmJordan Allen said:
August 18th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Alex Andronov said:
Are you kidding? Me is wondering if it is Thursday yet so that he can video live the raw footage of “Inside TracK”.
Me is not zonked out and wanting to sleep for four days, he is punch drunk on Red Bull and wants to do more video of Christine live.
August 18th, 2008 at 3:09 pmJordan Allen said:
I wonder what Christine is planning to do with all those “I am the stig” Mousepads and Keychains that are also prizes you could win?
August 18th, 2008 at 3:16 pmJordan Allen said:
Well, for a trip down memory lane, you can see the list of Speed TV’s various driver mispronounations of their names, bought to you by myself and Nikki…..
August 18th, 2008 at 3:31 pmAlex Andronov said:
I better enjoy my place at the top of the commenting tree while it lasts. I will definitely not be able to live comment on Sunday now
I will hopefully be here for Friday + Saturday though.
August 18th, 2008 at 4:04 pmKris said:
I wasn’t around over the weekend to listen (watch?) things live, which is a shame
- However, the non-live, edited version that you’ve got up for us to stream seems perfectly fine… The places where you’ve referenced live comments were obvious and not at all confusing.
I think doing them live is a great idea, and can’t wait until I happen to be at my computer whilst your doing it. If I’m not quite so lucky then the recorded version is still great too
August 18th, 2008 at 4:11 pmSteven Roy said:
Kris,
The live recording lasted about two hours so you get an idea of how much was cut. To be fair half the ‘wasted’ time was spent drinking Red Bull and waiting for ‘me’ to be able to pronounce Domenicanal, Domenen, Domenininc the guy who runs Ferrari.
August 18th, 2008 at 4:37 pmme said:
thing is, there’s no way she can win her own prizes, so begging is the only option.
there’s (hopefully) a chance she might receive another complimentary email one day, and thus it’s okay to drop that one
blimey that sounds like a lot. i was half expecting you to tell me, the government have this year introduced a degree in formula 1 something-or-other.
August 18th, 2008 at 4:39 pmSteven Roy said:
There is a university that offers a degree in motorsport management but I can’t remember which one.
August 18th, 2008 at 4:48 pmme said:
you cannot prove a thing!
have snapped the chart for posterity and dropped it in the usual place.
phew, that’s good to hear, thank you.
we’re gonna have to start gaffa-taping brand names aren’t we?
August 18th, 2008 at 5:04 pmSteven Roy said:
One thing I have noticed about drop.io aside from the fact that the Red Bull pic only gives you a little red ex when you click on it. Items open up behind the video of Kaz if they overlap. So instead of appearing on top of that vid like they do with all other items they disappear behind it so that you can’t see the bit behind the vid.
August 18th, 2008 at 5:16 pmlou said:
Lol It’s normal to do 4 A levels
The other day I was a little bored and I started looking at different jobs involved in f1 and seeing which ones I wouldn’t mind doing, so an A level involving f1 would be brilliant!
I mean they do special A Levels for McDonalds I think….
I suppose I am kinda doing my A2 photography in formula 1/motorsport this year because I am studying automotive photography….
really? wow :O
August 18th, 2008 at 5:32 pmAlex Andronov said:
It wasn’t in my day Lou… And if my Maths is correct then I’m only 10/11 years older than you!
August 18th, 2008 at 5:40 pmlou said:
ah ok then, sorry. It could just be like that in my school though, cause in others it’s typical to do 3 A levels and 1 AS
August 18th, 2008 at 5:53 pmme said:
good spot. christine’s conversing with the guys behind the site at the moment, so i’ll get her to pass on that bug. cheers.
August 18th, 2008 at 6:00 pmAlex Andronov said:
Not a problem Lou!
I am one of the rare people out there, it seems, who doesn’t think that exams are getting easier.
My view is that it’s a wonderful feedback system. People are taught better. Those people go on to become teachers. Those teachers teach better. Those students do better. Some of those students become teachers so teachers get better and so on.
No wonder old codgers don’t understand that! They didn’t get a proper education
August 18th, 2008 at 6:13 pmlou said:
yay! there is someone out there!
A Levels certainly aren’t easy! It’s extremely hard to get a grade A. I can see how looking at a sheet of paper or a graph showing the numbers of A grades achieved year by year could make it seem like they are getting easier, but it doesn’t take into effect the teachers and the amount of work you have to achieve that grade. It’s really nice to know that there are some people out there that don’t think they are getting easier.
August 18th, 2008 at 6:30 pmJordan Allen said:
And yet I would love to know the number of people who have entered University in the Social Sciences and Humanties that can tell me what is anything divided by zero?
And if the folks in the Pure Sciences and Engineering fields do not know the answer to this question, How the hell did you get through Calculus?
It all depends how you are taught or how good you are at memory skills how you do in school. I have seen far too many brillant human computers get by an University style engineering course (Advanced Calculus, Thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, avonics, etc) only to fail flight school becasue they did not have the common scence to dress warmly at altitude, or switch on the oxygen mashk at 10,000 feet and black out.
Intelligent people? Yes, they where brilliant at getting 100% on very test., smart
people, no. Soemthimes you could see athe same person pushing on a pull door. Regardless of the language, you should be able to reason what the handle is for on a door, or the lack of one. But then Einstein failed physics.
August 18th, 2008 at 6:43 pmSteven Roy said:
Someone I used to work with went back to university to do a PhD and spent some time assisting in maths classes. This was a a very prestigious technical university. She found that a lot of the students who had A level maths had never studied calculus. She had to teach them the absolute basics of calculus before they could start the course work.
August 18th, 2008 at 6:51 pmAlex Andronov said:
N/A. I am a university drop out though so what do I know?
August 18th, 2008 at 6:54 pmAlex Andronov said:
To edge it back to F1 I would say this was the difference between Adrian Newey and Ross Brawn. Adrian makes cars that are perfect but so close to the edge that they break. He sometimes seems to forget about reality in the pursuit of technical excellence whereas Ross is smart. He’s a pragmatist.
August 18th, 2008 at 8:36 pmJordan Allen said:
Wow! I remember having to prove graphically that anything divided by zero is an undefinited, limitless number in a grade 7 math class! That’s the whole starting point to Calculus as from there you can go into limits and then derivatives….
If anyone wishes to play with a calucalator, try 1/0, you should get 0 with an E for Error. Next try 1/1 and you should get 1. No suprizes there, But try getting the “divided by” part closer to zero: try 1/0.1 , 1/0.01, 1/0.001, 1/0.0001. You should get 10, 100, 1000 and 10 000 for answers. So for each factor of a tenth you divided by, and answer increases by tenfold, or in short, the closer you get to zero, the more the answer increases.
I guess I could tie this into F1 by saying that this is how the engineers figure out the angle of the front and the back wings needed to maximise the downforce on the car vs. the range of speeds that the car is travelling at. yeah well call the divsor the co-efficient of lift and bango!
August 18th, 2008 at 8:53 pmDan Brunell said:
Great show as always.
Quick idea: since you have a great variety of music, have you thought about doing a iTunes playlist of all the songs that you have featured on Sidepodcast?
August 18th, 2008 at 9:18 pmJordan Allen said:
Say guys: Hopfully you will get the chance to see the 2 hour taped show and cross refence the live comments. It would be awful if you did not get to see the fruits of your efforts (as opposed to just editing them).
But if you are going to use that black duvet again for a live “Monday Episode” show could you take a request from me and play the opening few bars to Richard Strauss’ “Also sprach Zarathustra“, at least to the end of the first timpani solo? It would make Alex and me, very happy people…..
.
August 18th, 2008 at 10:50 pmAlex Andronov said:
Agreed!
Here’s the music and the opening sequence (often considered one of the most important opening sequences of modern cinema because it didn’t use a recorded score but instead used records): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWnmCu3U09w
But as for why we were mentioning it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2XcPNSeUMQ&feature=related
August 18th, 2008 at 10:53 pmme said:
that’s a fine plan, dan. many of the artists are unsigned so won’t necessarily be available, but we’ll add any we can find. cheers.
we’ll do that no question, jordan. we’ve both individually gone through the comments in the same way that we normally would after a race, and i’m planning to watch though the whole show shortly.
for one thing it’s the best way to learn and improve, but also as you pointed out it’s worth cross referencing the comments as well.
of note, we already read that one of sweepers was too loud (and has been presumably for months), so in the edited show this week it was turned down. learning that small detail alone actually made everything worthwhile because it’s those kind of nuggets of info we’d never normally get to hear about.
August 18th, 2008 at 10:53 pmAlianora La Canta said:
is it thursday yet? {me - 34 comments ago}
No, it’s still Monday. And if Valencia’s first practise is on Thursday, perhaps someone should tell ITV. They’re not showing anything until Friday morning…
Well for GCSE I studied the compulsory subjects of English, Maths, and the sciences, and I chose to study German, History, Geography, Textiles, and Latin. {lou - 24 comments ago}
I did Geography too, lou - albeit as a second reserve subject (my original choice of History clashed with Music and the first reserve of French clashed with Graphic Products because of the tier I would have been entered for). My language was Spanish and I sneaked in Statistics and City & Guilds IT.
The secondary school I attended had no sixth form, and due to the chronic bullying problem the school had, I would not have attended it even if it had possessed one. My sixth form was on the other side of town (as were all the other sixth forms - much to the chagrin of the local council, but that’s another story…)
Good luck on your results for Thursday, lou!
Then for A level I am planning to study, History, Textiles, English, and possibly ICT although I wanted to study psychology but it clashed with history :/ I’m staying at the same school and going onto sixth form there {lou - 24 comments ago}
I did A-Level General Studies, ICT, Geography and Maths, but picked up AS Ethics and nearly passed entry-level business Japanese (giving me 4 A levels, 1 AS level and a short course). Some of my friends did 5 A levels, an AS level and a language, while one other friend negotiated the sixth form requirements such that she only had to do 3 A Levels (my sixth form required some sort of religious/philosophical study, some foreign language study and General Studies as an absolute minimum course load).
I got my first choice, but it was pretty obvious from the timetable that some clashes would be inevitable for some. Also, doing AS Ethics meant I lost one lunchtime per week to discussions about Aristotle and Mill. It got complicated at times, but not as complicated as scheduling first-year university study…
(Note: the AS Spanish I’ve just done is completely unconnected with the courses I’ve just been talking about; it was done on a part-time basis at college, as opposed to the full-time stuff above was five years ago).
for a trip down memory lane, you can see the list of Speed TV’s various driver mispronounations of their names, bought to you by myself and Nikki….. {Jordan Allen - 21 comments ago}
Could you please tell me where the list is?
i was half expecting you to tell me, the government have this year introduced a degree in formula 1 something-or-other. {me - 17 comments ago}
Sheffield University introduced Motor Sports Engineering Management as an undergraduate degree in 2004, while Coventry University offers Motorsport Engineering as a postgraduate degree course. Cranfield University has a Motor Sports Engineering and Management postgraduate degree as well. The University of Derby’s undergraduate degree is simply called Motor Sport. A top-up degree in Management of Motor Sports is offered by Central Lancashire, though it’s not clear where one would do the first two years of the course…
Though if you think that’s a lot of degrees, consider that there are more degrees in the subject of golf (Duchy College, Birmingham, Watt University, Kingston University and Belfast) than there are in motorsport.
August 18th, 2008 at 11:07 pmSteven Roy said:
Oxford Brooks University do the motorsports management course.
Out of curiosity what is ICT? The only ICT I am aware of is a football team called Inverness Caledonian Thistle and I am pretty certain no-one is doing A levels on them.
August 18th, 2008 at 11:10 pmme said:
no, no. i was just talking about lou’s and zb’s exam results.
fp1 and fp2 are friday as per usual.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid…720&topic=4908
August 18th, 2008 at 11:24 pmAlianora La Canta said:
I suppose I am kinda doing my A2 photography in formula 1/motorsport this year because I am studying automotive photography…. {lou - 16 comments ago}
Wow, I’ve never heard of that A-level module before! Hope you liked it and it was useful to you.
It wasn’t in my day Lou… And if my Maths is correct then I’m only 10/11 years older than you! {Alex Andronov - 15 comments ago}
Indeed. Until 2000, it was normal to do 3 A Levels (4 were only done if in a private sixth form and seriously considering Oxbridge). Then the government decided that sixth formers needed a broader education…
Ever since, anyone not doing at least 4 AS Levels full-time upon entering sixth form is considered to be underloaded. They are then expected to drop one (if they are an average sixth-former) and take the other three to full A Level.
I am one of the rare people out there, it seems, who doesn’t think that exams are getting easier. {Alex Andronov - 13 comments ago}
I don’t think they’re getting easier, they’re just changing round what is taught on the syllabus. Often you will find that the current syllabus emphasises completely different skills - in Maths, for instance, there’s a lot less calculus (much of which has been shifted to the higher-numbered P modules and is often reserved for Further Maths students), but a wider range of mathematical skill is expected and you are expected to be able to apply it more (and the applications themselves are different to the ones typically seen on an old A Level paper).
This is why students trained to the new syllabus often do badly in the old one. It’s a bit like being a great MotoGP racer and then being expected to become a great F1 driver immediately upon switching series. They’re both driving, but very different methods of doing so.
A Levels certainly aren’t easy! It’s extremely hard to get a grade A. {lou - 12 comments ago}
Having only got one A out of the 4 A Levels I took (and that was in General Studies, which some universities don’t even permit to be counted towards entrance criteria), I can certainly vouch for that!
The “better teaching” theory is, I think, accurate, but there’s also a better system for careers advice. Less academically-inclined students are more likely to be siphoned into vocational courses (and generally replaced by academically-orientated students who may have gone straight to work or college in another era). Also, the fact that more different subjects are attempted mean that students are exposed to more ways of solving a problem for longer.
And yet I would love to know the number of people who have entered University in the Social Sciences and Humanties that can tell me what is anything divided by zero? {Jordan Allen - }
1 over infinity. (My degree - Information Management - was awkwardly balanced between Pure Science and Social Science, with neither faculty seemingly wanting to take responsibility for it. To confuse matters, my optional modules were all in the Arts faculty because they were philosophy modules). I worked it out for myself after watching one too many reboots after DOS games gave “Divide by Zero” errors…
And if anyone cares, 1 over infinity is even.
Someone I used to work with went back to university to do a PhD and spent some time assisting in maths classes. This was a a very prestigious technical university. She found that a lot of the students who had A level maths had never studied calculus. {Steven Roy - 9 comments ago}
I can believe that. When I did A Level Maths, introductory calculus was only taught in module P3 (heavily expanded in P4-6). However, there were 21 modules students could select, with the only stipulation being that P1 had to be one of the modules. So you could have one Pure module (the P1) and any five from the second Pure module, six Statistics modules or three Decisions modules without ever doing a single calculus equation*. The first of the six Mechanical modules involved basic calculus.
Since then, the situation is even worse because P1 turned out to be too long a module to be taught in the term a module is meant to be taught in. So you can now do three modules - half an A level - without ever seeing a calculus equation, even if you only pick Pure modules.
* - You may wonder why, if there were only five module slots free after P1 was selected, some mathematical tracks had six modules in them. That is because you could do Further Maths and Enhanced Maths as additional A-Levels (Further Maths was an oversubscribed course in my sixth form). Each of these two A Levels was the same as Maths (and each was worth another A Level), but the six modules you picked for each one had to be different to the six picked for Maths.
August 18th, 2008 at 11:27 pmAlianora La Canta said:
Out of curiosity what is ICT? {Steven Roy - 3 comments ago}
Information and Communications Technology. The A Level dealing with the more people-orientated and interface-level side of IT. (The technically-orientated and base-level side of IT is a separate A Level called Computing).
August 18th, 2008 at 11:33 pmAlianora La Canta said:
me, thank you for the link to the list
August 18th, 2008 at 11:52 pmme said:
was trying to think of where i’d heard of coventry uni before… and then, umm, i remembered.
their logo was being touted around the autosport show ‘07 by a number a semi-clothed women. presumably the ladies weren’t students, but who says marketing doesn’t work eh?
conveniently i found a photo and put it on drop.io:
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/coventry-uni
i’m not sure they’re really giving out the right image there though?
August 19th, 2008 at 12:01 amme said:
i see the resemblance now. i’m sure we can do something with that.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:11 amme said:
not to get to geeky here, but microsoft could have learnt something from you alianora:
http://talkback.zdnet.com/…=-9915
“In September of 1997 the U.S.S. Yorktown was disabled, not once but twice, when the Windows NT controlling ship’s systems attempted a divide by zero operation and crashed, leaving the Yorktown dead in the water off the Virginia coast for nearly three hours.”
August 19th, 2008 at 12:16 amlou said:
Warning long comment
Thank you Alianora
wow that is alot! :O
There are degrees in golf?…..
Well I did my AS photography a year ago, and this year i am completing it. I have just started my A2. The art courses changed last year meaning that you only do one subject for you A2 course and you get to choose which subject it is. So as i’m interested in automotive photography i choose to base my sketch book on that.
yep that’s what my school does, although as it’s private they kinda expect you to complete the 4 A levels… either that or pick up another AS (so you end up with 2 AS levels and 3 Alevels).
August 19th, 2008 at 12:32 amJordan Allen said:
Alinora:
Cute way of saying “zero”. But incorrect. He’s why:
“General Rule #1) Anything divided by itself is 1.
Example 5/5 = 1, x/x = 1, ME/ME = 1.
“General Rule #2″ = 0 divded by Anything is 0.
Example 0/5 = 0, 0/x = 0, 0/ ME = 0.
Therefore by #1 0/0 = 1 (Anything divided by itself = 1). (Wrong answer).
Therefore by #2 0/0 = 0 (0 divided by anything is 0)
(Wrong answer).
Here’s why: Take an incorrect long division question. say 25 divided 5. Make a incorrect guess ( say 4) Take 5 * 4 = 20 and subtract 25 - 20 to get a remainder of 5. Since the remainder is equal to the quotinent this would imply that you can divided another 5 out of the question. And 25/5 does make 5.
Now do the long division of 0/0? 0/0 = 0, 0 * 0 = 0 so 0 - 0 = 0 and this again imples you can take another 0th term out from the equation. Actually, you can take an infinte another of oth terms from this equation thus the equation 0 / 0 is undefined.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:36 amAlianora La Canta said:
wow that is alot! :O {lou - previous comment}
Not really - like I said, at least one student figured out how to meet all those criteria doing only 3 A Levels (she did A Level Theology, German and General Studies). Since General Studies was taught in two six-hour blocks (one per year) and the other two courses were taught for four hours per week, this meant that she had only eight or nine hours of classes per week (depending on whether it was the half-term with General Studies in it or not). This meant she had about 20 hours per week for “personal study”, and therefore didn’t need to spend very long doing homework!
There are degrees in golf?….. {lou - previous comment}
Indeed there are. Quite what academic rigour is involved I can only guess.
yep that’s what my school does, although as it’s private they kinda expect you to complete the 4 A levels… either that or pick up another AS (so you end up with 2 AS levels and 3 Alevels). {lou - previous comment}
Wow, you are going to be very busy next year!
August 19th, 2008 at 12:38 amAlianora La Canta said:
Alinora:
Cute way of saying “zero”. But incorrect. {Jordan Allen - 2 commetns ago}
1 over infinity is not zero. It is an infinitely small amount larger than zero, but still larger. Computers (at least the binary kind) can’t pick up that sort of distinction, hence why they are often vulnerable to “divide by zero” errors.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:59 amJordan Allen said:
Either way you are still incorrect as my original question was “What is anything divided by zero.” The technically correct answer is “undefinited” as it should solve the two basic math rules, but it does not. However, you can see that as your number that is divided by gets closer to zero, 0.000 0001, 0.000 000 001, 0.000 000 0001 you will see that the answer greats to be bigger and bigger getting closer to infinity. Thus, infinite is answer that is used in the “real world” and a good program will either do an overrun check or a divide by zero check to see if this flag goes off.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:59 amlou said:
yeah i kinda am… i’m hoping I will be able to do just 3 Alevels and 1 AS because once i have completed my A2 this year (i am doing it outside of school) it will hopefully mean i will still have 4 A levels in total.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:53 amJordan Allen said:
So let us see:
I can claim credit for the combined “Get out of Jail Free” card and the Panic Button. {Everyone’s favourite Bowie/Queen song.}
And it looks like Alex and I can claim partial credit for a future idea that involves a black duvet and the sounds of “Also sprach Zarathustra“…..
On the other hand, I am sorry for way that Chrisitne is wanting or prizes like some Public Broadcasting Service member wanting x members to pledge money so that the movie or special will continue…. And if you do not have this TV service outside of North America, you do not know how lucky you are…..
I wonder what will be the next idea that will come forth on the interactive podcast show?
August 19th, 2008 at 1:54 amAlianora La Canta said:
First of all, apologies to anyone not interested in extended mathematical argumentation.
Secondly, I can’t find anywhere that states what “undefinited” is. Is it another way of saying infinite or something else?
Strictly speaking, the two rules Jordan Allen quoted are only ever consistently valid in completely finite equations. They don’t say anything about equations that step into the infinite.
1/inf / 1/1
= 1/inf * 1/1
= 1/inf
0 / 1/inf
= 0 * inf/1
= inf
While 1/inf meets the identity rule, it does not meet the rule of zero, as Jordan has said. Neither does any other number invoking the infinite as one of the numbers without un-invoking it (for instance by dividing infinity by infinity, which makes 1). This is because 0 can divide (and multiply) into itself infinite times.
0 / inf
= 0 * inf
= inf
0 * inf
= 0 / inf
= inf
Zero is a very strange number!
The properties of zero are essential for this question.
1/1000 / 1/inf
= 1/1000 * inf
= inf
1000 / 1/inf
= 1000 * inf
= inf
In 1/inf, we have an equation that comes out with the same answer (infinity) for big and small numbers. 0 / infinity does the same, as does 1/inf / 0 . So 1/inf solves the equation.
At school, I was taught a method of solving problems by using a triangle. We have, in this case, the following:
Peak Value - X
Base - 0 and ?
Whatever divides by X to make 0 should be the answer to the question. There is only one number that does, and that is 0.
But the two base values multiplied together should make the peak value. 0 x 0 only = X when X = 0.
That is where finite numbers cease to help.
X / 1/inf becomes X * infinity, which equals infinity. Infinity may not be zero, but infinity fits into 0 infinite times (as already established), which turns out to be vital.
Infinity / Infinity = Infinity
0 / 0 = Infinity
The only other equations that reach infinity are equations that invoke zero or infinity.
One of the fundamental rules of mathematics is that an equation is solved when both sides of the equation are balanced. 1/infinity allows the equation of X / 0 to be balanced. None of the other numbers do.
The reason why infinity was invented is because some mathematical problems cannot be solved without that concept (take 8 / 3, the answer for which is 2 followed by infinite 6s). The question “What is anything divided by zero?” cannot be answered without invoking the infinite in some way, and invoking the infinite gets round the rule of zero (since none of the transformations that can be done to infinity bring it to zero in the first place).
August 19th, 2008 at 2:01 amme said:
we’ve always done that though haven’t we? that’s what the big yellow “donate” button is for.
must be the summer break
August 19th, 2008 at 2:16 amlou said:
Wow, that is clever, all be it very confusing, stuff
August 19th, 2008 at 3:26 amJordan Allen said:
And all those who are…. too!
Ali:
Why are you given me such a headache by telling me the divisor when I want the answer or quotient?
Am I right in saying that “anything divided by zero” is an undefined number? (from the point of view of a grade 7 student using trial and error method of smaller and small divisors and graphing the results….) I sure hope that English schoolchildren are not subjected to infinite matemathics at Grade 7, as that would be cruel.
Trying to apply to University, yes I did learn that x/0 is infinity, but I believe that when talking about past events, you must restrict yourself to using what was learnt at that time. I must admit that infinite math woulds have saved me a weekend, but I would have to have had skipped about 5 grades to have learned it.
Sorry for the poor spelling, at the message where you question my spelling of “undefined”, the timer started to go off telling me that the meatloaf was ready….
So to the poor grade 7 student the answer is undefined. For the adult, infinity.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:26 ammichael de la california said:
Flukes are for Whale
Hi there,
I have been enjoying sidepodcast since almost since they began.
Enjoying your comments and fun wit….
but you do need to stop calling Heikki’s Hungary win “gifted”, “a fluke” or “deserved”.
If you have been around F1 long enough one notices that mechanical and tyre are part of the action.
In Hungary the best man in the best car at the end of the race deserves the win.
We could say:
1. Massa cut across Hamilton at the first corner, who sensibly let him by,
then drove wicked fast however thrashed his engine.
( why all the tears )
2. Hamilton ruined his tyres and puncture! ( this is idle speculation on my part )
Instead F1 is not about excuses its about who crosses the line first. Heikki drove fast and took his victory deservedly.
Don’t you think.?
How many times has Heikki lost out because of the safety car this year?
keep up the good work.
Only keep your weeping for Bourdais, not Massa
cheers
michael
August 19th, 2008 at 4:55 amJordan Allen said:
Flukes = Whale Tail fins. There’s my new word for today, and only 30 minutes to go.
Michael , well since you have read most of our pods, I guess you have figured out the por-Hamilton faction from the pro-Kimi faction and the pro-Massa faction.
While you are right that Heikki crossed the line first, I am pretty comfortable that if we look over the course of Massa’s carreer to date we will say that this was one of his better races. This is why, I think everyone is whining about how Massa should have won today.
I mean it was not that long ago Massa made how many spins in one race….everyone was calling him rubblish and wanted to get rid of him in favour of Vettel. And in the last race he was stellar ==> the only thing missing wa the win which would have been the prefect comeback!
I think I have presented myself as anti-Ferrari, so if Massa impressed even myself then he did do a great job.
But I know how you feel, Damon Hill robbed us of a historic Australian Grand Prix in 1996 by passing Jacques Villeneuve. If Jacques did not have the oil pump failure, Jacques would have been the second person in the history of F1 to win his first ever F1 race…. Like I said Hungary ‘97 only sort of makes up for it. For something like that, I think you can drop your loyality to another team or driver to root on something historic.
Jordan (Allen) F1.
August 19th, 2008 at 6:30 amAlex Andronov said:
I’m afraid for everyone it is still undefined or N/A. I’m pretty sure.
Alianora’s calculations are right so it often leads people to believe it is inf. But it could also be -inf. Two answers? Does not compute. Therefore N/A or undefined.
Sorry everyone else about all this
August 19th, 2008 at 8:34 amChristine said:
Gosh, why does all the fun stuff happen when I’m asleep?
August 19th, 2008 at 9:09 amAlex Andronov said:
Christine are you a secret Mathlete?
August 19th, 2008 at 9:13 amChristine said:
I work with numbers all day, I don’t need any more than that
August 19th, 2008 at 10:09 amme said:
we say it because it’s true. massa gave both mclaren men a driving lesson that sunday afternoon in hungary. he stumped the woking boys to a degree that despite having a clear car advantage they could do nothing to either catch or pass the man they severely underestimated going into the race.
i don’t think massa thrashed his engine. he was taking it easy at the time it exploded and it was cruel blow being so close to the end of the race.
as for hamilton destroying his own tyres, he’s probably his own worst enemy when it comes to managing his rubber, but as vee pointed out in his voicemail, at least he’s trying.
heikki scored a pole in silverstone, but who was his nearest rival? mark webber! hardly a man who normally troubles the top spot and it just shows that all the front runners were having a off day apart from heikki (massa was stuck in the pits for example).
since his pole, what’s he actually achieved in the fastest car on the grid? he spun in the wet, he pulled over and let hamilton past in germany and then plodded around in the third position for most of the race in hungary.
my argument is pretty simple. put anyone else in that car and they’ll do a better job than heikki is doing right now. he’s fine in average machinery but has yet to show he’s able to take it to the front runners when he’s given the opportunity.
in short i think hekki is another fisichella. time will tell, but i suspect that’s probably why he’s been re-signed for another year.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:12 amAlianora La Canta said:
Why are you given me such a headache by telling me the divisor when I want the answer or quotient? {Jordan Allen - 8 comments ago}
Because that’s the only unknown part of the equation. You’ve already told me in the question that the starting point is X and the quotient is 0, and it’s a three-part equation (assuming that this is a standard division without any complicating additional values).
(from the point of view of a grade 7 student using trial and error method of smaller and small divisors and graphing the results….) {Jordan Allen - 8 comments ago}
The only time I was introduced to the problem was in primary school with calculators. And the teacher didn’t care what the actual answer was - she was simply attempting to prove that calculators (or the £2.99 ones from the newsagent, at any rate!) cannot solve all mathematical problems. When we saw that X / 0 = Error, we got the point…
Trial and error only ever got used for algebraic equations where the answers involved complex numbers and calculators were forbidden. Incidentally, I got taught it in Years 8 and 11 (not sure why the teachers felt the need to re-teach it from scratch, since I for one understood it the first time, and this was supposedly the most mathematically inclined class in the school).
Infinity was used a lot in A Level Maths, but never in relation to X / 0.
I was restricting myself to what was learned at the time. But I never formally learned to solve the equation properly. I’m using stuff I taught myself (I think I previously commented that the idea was inspired by seeing one too many “divide by zero” errors on computers).
Sorry for the poor spelling, at the message where you question my spelling of “undefined” {Jordan Allen - }
Not to worry. There appears to be a separate concept of “undefinited”, but I think it only got taught to the Further Maths classes where I studied (I only took standard Maths), and the internet didn’t furnish me with an explanation.
—
OK, back to the equations. To test -infinity:
1/1000 / -inf
= 1/1000 * -inf
= -inf
1000 / -inf
= 1000 * -inf
= -inf
The difference between infinity and -infinity prevents -infinity from being the answer of “anything divided by zero”. Mind you….
-1/1000 / inf
= -1/1000 * inf
= -inf
-1000 / inf
= -1000 * inf
= -inf
So the answer to “What is anything divided by zero?” varies according to whether “anything” is positive or negative. Which means the question itself is not a question that can be settled by one answer, for a similar reason to why X-2 cannot be settled by a single number. The destination varies according to the starting point.
However, it definitely only has one answer at a time - it is either infinite or -infinite, depending on the number you start with. There is no point when the symbol is interchangeable.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:13 pmSteven Roy said:
While I am not a Massa fan I think it is a bit unfair to say he thrashed his engine. I don’t think anyone can come close to thrahing an engine now that they are all limited to 19,000rpm. The other thin is this was Hungary which aside from Monaco probably has the least time on full throttle on the calendar.
I think it was a lucky win as many race wins are. Heikki was not threatening Massa or Hamilton and I don’t buy the idea that Lewis caused his own puncture. I know this theory has been espoused by many people but to me it is simply people taking to facts and trying to find a link. People love to see cause and effect in unrelated events.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:20 pmme said:
there is a mounting body of evidence to suggest the man does more damage to his front tyres than anyone else (see: turkey ‘07 and turkey ‘08 for starters), so without any other information coming from mclaren / bridgestone, it doesn’t seem entirely unreasonable to make such assumptions does it?
but i agree the way the tyre gave up was more akin to heikki’s accident in spain than hamilton’s previous delimitation in turkey.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:23 pmSteven Roy said:
Lewis does more damage to the tread but everything I read said the puncture was in the sidewall.
August 19th, 2008 at 5:05 pmJordan Allen said:
But do not you need something else, like a banked corner, to but the applied force on the sidewall and not the tread? Are you saying that Hamilton skids and slides that much?
August 19th, 2008 at 5:14 pmme said:
i believe it most likely was a puncture in hungary.
however, given that bridgestone couldn’t actually be certain (and have suggested a flat spotted section didn’t exactly help matters), and given previous admissions from the tyre company and from mclaren about the way lewis manages his race rubber, it doesn’t take the wildest leap of imagination to lay some of the blame at his door.
August 19th, 2008 at 6:02 pmSteven Roy said:
Lewis slides the back end of the car and works his rear tyres harder than anyone else but it was a front tyre that failed. I would have thought the likes of Alonso, Kubica and Massa who are knowon to like the front end sliding around must do more damage to their fronts.
August 19th, 2008 at 6:34 pmme said:
gotta disagree with that. turkey ‘07 it was lewis’ front
leftright that delaminated, and “fronts” were specifically mentioned again at the same track in ‘08.i think he just punishes the tyres full stop. not a bad thing if if gives him a performance advantage, but something to keep an eye on nevertheless.
August 19th, 2008 at 6:43 pmJordan Allen said:
Gee, I wonder if I can become Lady Snowcat’s best friend by suggesting if Lewis were to get a puncture at Spa just after the pit-lane exit, that might teach Lewis to look after his tires more….
Maybe not, unless, at that point in the race Kimi would have to be second….
August 19th, 2008 at 7:06 pmSteven Roy said:
I am sure Lady Snowcat is pleased that you are trying so hard to be her friend.
August 21st, 2008 at 4:23 pmJordan Allen said:
Actually, me, there is quite a wonderful chance of Christine getting another decent prize provided if the average of the top 5 scorers in the Sidepodcast League are the highest league scorers:
in recognition of their success. The trophy will be awarded to the creator of the Private League
This is an exact parallel to North American Football. The front 5 players (The Top 5 players in the Sidepocast League), know as the offensive line, do all the work and the backs, namely the Quarterback and the Running Back (Christine and “Me”, get all the glory.) Life just stinks!
August 21st, 2008 at 4:28 pmme said:
not true. we’ve already agreed that should it be won, the trophy goes to mr. dank. as it was he who set up the league in the first place.
November 16th, 2008 at 3:38 pmRock Chick of the Century | Sidepodcast : Your Weekly F1 Podcast said:
[...] Nevertheless, despite already publicly showing our poor taste, we put our necks on the line, and decided to pick out some podsafe songs to play during our pre-race chats on the Parade Lap show. Whilst our DJing skills leave a lot to be desired, some of the songs we have played have been real gems. We’ve always made the track information available on the Sidepodcast Music page, but awhile back, Dan Brunell suggested we go one step further. [...]