Reuters: Boxing great Muhammad Ali near death in Arizona hospital: source.
Hopes for a gentle end. I had the experience of seeing Ali and Frazier yelling at each other from different cars in downtown Trenton (near the Farmer’s Market) before their first fight. Ali had the verbal advantage. Both had their ‘hangers-ons’ and other managers about them, to prevent any early dustups.
BBC: Briton Leslie Binns abandons Everest peak to save fellow climber.
“Leslie Binns, 42, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, turned around to save Sunita Hazra, an Indian woman, who was scaling the summit ahead of him.” Not many do this ... good on you, sir.
SciAm: New Study Finds That Roof Racks Are a Real Drag on U.S. Fuel Consumption.
I knew this already. Yet my roof rack stays on the car ‘just in case’. I should just go ahead and take the durned thing off. I’ve been chucking my bike in the back of the van, just because of the drag on the roof. In NM’s high winds and weather, a bent frame and tons of bugs are your reward for sitting on the roof. Better the back-of-the-car strap-on dealy.
Vox: I was really bad at sports in high school. This new study helps me understand why.
MessyNessy: The Most Beautiful Car Race that Ever Was.
Bicycling: Pro Rider Finishes Tour of the Gila on Fan’s Mountain Bike.
“... Allison will probably go down in Gila history as the first pro rider to finish a stage on an old Stumpjumper ...” Oh, this rocks, in just so many ways ...
c|net: Mechanical doping - Cyclist sentenced to 6-year-ban for using bike with hidden motor.
Made me curious, so of course I delved deeper. Noone was showing diagrams. Vivax was the alleged motor. Another look at how these cheats work, and potential past uses.
CJR: For enthusiast media, ethics can be costly.
I got a snort out of this, at least: “The profile suggests a readership of fewer aspiring Olympians than what cyclists call M.A.M.I.Ls, or ‘Middle-Aged Men in Lycra.’”
BBC Sport: Bernie Ecclestone - Women drivers in F1 would not be taken seriously.
Idiot. Only until the current fossils go extinct.
SciAm: Study Finds Evidence of Brain Injury in Living NFL Veterans.
*ahem* The sheer volume of ex-high-school football players could, in one fell swoop, explain the popularity of Trump ... ?
The Atlantic: Before Katniss and Furiosa, the 1910s’ Female Action Stars Ruled the Silver Screen.
“Serials focused on women action heroes from the start, possibly thanks to the format’s tie-ins with magazines and newspapers, which aimed to draw female readers because they were attractive to advertisers.” I was just wondering yesterday what happened to female bronc riders, seemingly populous prior to WWII. Turns out Gene Autry enforced a Puritanical parochialism on rodeo that still lingers.
Autoweek: Video of Fernando Alonso’s crash in Australia.
And he flippin’ walks away, albeit with a slight knee injury. Unbelievable. Thinking back to what happened to Gilles Villeneuve. How far we’ve come.
Bicycling: First Look - Campagnolo EPS V3.
Batteries?! Like when SLRs changed from mechanical shutters to electronics.
MessyNessy: Rare Kodachromes of 1950s Hot Rods to Send your Heart Racing.
Maybe it’s my age, but these ARE exciting to look at.
Italian Ways: The Alfa Romeo Monoposto 8C 35 - absolutely legendary.
Perhaps, but the Auto-Unions were even moreso.
Autoweek: Ferrari unveils prototype halo for Formula One cars.
For those who don’t know, F1 is trying to protect driver’s heads with tripods called ‘halos’. I can’t find the accident video I was thinking of, but Sainz in Sochi, with a 42G impact, gives you an idea of the forces involved.
Italian Ways: The Mille Miglia Museum, telling the history of the most beautiful race in the world.
Oh, come on. You Italian Ways folks are killin’ it today. On my MUST SEE bucket list.
Autoweek: New Renault Alpine news and photos.
Young car fans in the US drool over the originals. There may be a bigger revolution than Sanders’ to get the new ones over here.
PS Blog: Why Walter Iooss’ Streak of 50 Super Bowls Could End.
The big grab by Time, again. You’re going to see worse and worse photography. Question is, will anyone actually notice. When I see the gallons of HDR beshat upon so many pictures these days ...
ArtDaily: Artcurial achieves record price for a car sold at auction; Ferrari sells for 35,711,359.
Told you this one would be spectacular.
Bicycling: Cycling Sees First Confirmed Case of Mechanical Doping.
Yeah, but how clever. Make it a competition on its own.
Bicycling: First Look - Michelin Power Tires.
I love Michelins on a bike, but they don’t hold up well to goatheads in the SW. I’ll have to try some of their ‘more armored’ versions mentioned here.
NBC: Honda IndyCar test at Sebring sees new aero bits revealed.
From the front, looks like a slightly-used Venetian blind.
Youtube: Rhapsodie in Blech - 1970 Nurburgring Nordschleife Adenauer Forst - Part 1.
1970’s film of amateur racing at the Nürburgring. Four parts (see the description for the other links). Painful and long to sit through all of it at once (take it in small bites). I’m fascinated to see the robustness of the VW Bug; repeated rollovers, it doesn’t collapse. Given the propensity of the rear to swap ends, I’m surprised noone came up with the simple fix ... a sandbag under the hood. To win, sometimes you have to give up top speed for stability.
Petapixel: Sports Illustrated Lays Off 3 Top Photo Heads.
As we know from freelance book editing, quality’s gonna plunge.
