Amy and John are delighted to announce the birth of their daughter Erin Louise Oldfield, born Sunday March 28th at 2:21pm weighing 7lbs 1oz.
Mother and baby doing well.
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
CERN sets date for first attempt at 7 TeV collisions in the LHC Geneva
CERN sets date for first attempt at 7 TeV collisions in the LHC
Geneva, 23 March 2010. With beams routinely circulating in the Large Hadron Collider at 3.5 TeV, the highest energy yet achieved in a particle accelerator, CERN has set the date for the start of the LHC research programme. The first attempt for collisions at 7 TeV (3.5 TeV per beam) is scheduled for 30 March.
“With two beams at 3.5 TeV, we’re on the verge of launching the LHC physics programme,” explained CERN’s Director for Accelerators and Technology, Steve Myers. “But we’ve still got a lot of work to do before collisions. Just lining the beams up is a challenge in itself: it’s a bit like firing needles across the Atlantic and getting them to collide half way.”
Between now and 30 March, the LHC team will be working with 3.5 TeV beams to commission the beam control systems and the systems that protect the particle detectors from stray particles. All these systems must be fully commissioned before collisions can begin.
“The LHC is not a turnkey machine,” explained Myers. “The machine is working well, but we’re still very much in a commissioning phase and we have to recognize that the first attempt to collide is precisely that. It may take hours or even days to get collisions.”
The last time CERN switched on a major new research machine, the Large Electron Positron collider, LEP, in 1989 it took three days from the first attempt to collide to the first recorded collisions.
The current LHC run began on 20 November 2009, with the first circulating beam at 0.45 TeV. Milestones were quick to follow, with twin circulating beams established by 23 November and a world record beam energy of 1.18 TeV being set on 30 November. By the time the LHC switched off for 2009 on 16 December, another record had been set with collisions recorded at 2.36 TeV and significant quantities of data recorded. Over the 2009 part of the run, each of the LHC’s four major experiments, ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb recorded over a million particle collisions, which were distributed smoothly for analysis around the world on the LHC computing grid. The first physics papers were soon to follow. After a short technical stop, beams were again circulating on 28 February 2010, and the first acceleration to 3.5 TeV was on 19 March.
Once 7 TeV collisions have been established, the plan is to run continuously for a period of 18-24 months, with a short technical stop at the end of 2010. This will bring enough data across all the potential discovery areas to firmly establish the LHC as the world’s foremost facility for high-energy particle physics.
A webcast will be available on the day of the first attempt to collide protons at 7TeV. More details will be available at: http://press.web.cern.ch/press/lhc-first-physics/
Geneva, 23 March 2010. With beams routinely circulating in the Large Hadron Collider at 3.5 TeV, the highest energy yet achieved in a particle accelerator, CERN has set the date for the start of the LHC research programme. The first attempt for collisions at 7 TeV (3.5 TeV per beam) is scheduled for 30 March.
“With two beams at 3.5 TeV, we’re on the verge of launching the LHC physics programme,” explained CERN’s Director for Accelerators and Technology, Steve Myers. “But we’ve still got a lot of work to do before collisions. Just lining the beams up is a challenge in itself: it’s a bit like firing needles across the Atlantic and getting them to collide half way.”
Between now and 30 March, the LHC team will be working with 3.5 TeV beams to commission the beam control systems and the systems that protect the particle detectors from stray particles. All these systems must be fully commissioned before collisions can begin.
“The LHC is not a turnkey machine,” explained Myers. “The machine is working well, but we’re still very much in a commissioning phase and we have to recognize that the first attempt to collide is precisely that. It may take hours or even days to get collisions.”
The last time CERN switched on a major new research machine, the Large Electron Positron collider, LEP, in 1989 it took three days from the first attempt to collide to the first recorded collisions.
The current LHC run began on 20 November 2009, with the first circulating beam at 0.45 TeV. Milestones were quick to follow, with twin circulating beams established by 23 November and a world record beam energy of 1.18 TeV being set on 30 November. By the time the LHC switched off for 2009 on 16 December, another record had been set with collisions recorded at 2.36 TeV and significant quantities of data recorded. Over the 2009 part of the run, each of the LHC’s four major experiments, ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb recorded over a million particle collisions, which were distributed smoothly for analysis around the world on the LHC computing grid. The first physics papers were soon to follow. After a short technical stop, beams were again circulating on 28 February 2010, and the first acceleration to 3.5 TeV was on 19 March.
Once 7 TeV collisions have been established, the plan is to run continuously for a period of 18-24 months, with a short technical stop at the end of 2010. This will bring enough data across all the potential discovery areas to firmly establish the LHC as the world’s foremost facility for high-energy particle physics.
A webcast will be available on the day of the first attempt to collide protons at 7TeV. More details will be available at: http://press.web.cern.ch/press/lhc-first-physics/
E92 - Akrapovic Exhaust System
found this on my travels.
An amazing review from a well respected tuner.
http://www.thorneymotorsport.co.uk/e92/akrapovic.shtml
An amazing review from a well respected tuner.
http://www.thorneymotorsport.co.uk/e92/akrapovic.shtml
Monday, 22 March 2010
IMAX 3d HUBBLE film
I can only find it in London at the moment though :-(
http://www.imax.com/hubble/
http://www.imax.com/hubble/
Saturday, 20 March 2010
LHC page 1 explained
detector ATLAS and CMS event displays 2 days ago and now the numero uno page that we all look at
on http://www.lhcportal.com/
LHC Page 1 explained
on http://www.lhcportal.com/
LHC Page 1 explained
Friday, 19 March 2010
useful 2.0 TFSI APR EGT comment
posted by Keith@APR on golfmkv.com...
http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115731&page=3
Here is what I can help with and please understand that ECU Upgrades and Calibration Philosophies are always evolving as new technology is introduced and new ecu mapping and coding is continually implemented by the OEM.
Meaning, what I am about to say may not be 100% accurate to all OEM and APR calibrations across 06 and 07 style FSI engines and TSI engines in Mk5's vs. Mk6's etc.
OEM EGT Logs = Accurate
APR Stage 1 EGT Logs = Accurate
APR Stage 2 or any higher level = Inaccurate
Here's why:
EGT's are collected by the oxygen sensor which is not pre-turbine and there are models or calculations inside the ecu that know that x temp at the 02 = y temp at pre-turbine and that there is a direct relationship between the 2 as long as all hardware that affects EGT's is the same as the model is designed to allow.
This means OEM EGT logs and Stage 1 EGT logs should be perfectly accurate.
When you move to a Stage 2 ecu you are getting a calibration that was made and tested with actual EGT's that differ from the modeled EGT's as reported by datalogging the ECU. This is so because when you change the downpipe, this greatly effects the EGT model accuracy in the ECU. So, you have to insert an EGT probe and measure the EGT's some other way than the ECU. Greatly btw, is relative to your perspective. Some tuners don't consider this a major change, however, APR does. Also, there is no longer a direct relationship to ecu logged EGT's and actual EGT's due to the hardware change. It simply doesn't work that way in such a dynamic system. Lot's of EGT model mapping and coding would have to be adjusted for the new downpipe. We know by simply looking at EGT models inside the ECU of say a GTi vs. an ED30 GTi or TT-S, or even a TSI vs. a FSI. The models are drastically different. True, other hardware is different than just a downpipe between those models but a change is a change and the EGT model is very complex.
We've talked about the maximum peak EGT spec and the maximum sustained EGT spec.
ECU datalogging reads up to 999c. This is below the actual EGT spec of the turbocharger and other components. That being said, I've seen some Stage 1 ECU's knock on the 999c door and maybe hit it for a couple of data points but then it comes back down quickly as hardware protection mapping kicks in.
What concerns us is when the 999c report from the ECU stays pegged for a period of time that is too long. This usually means that the EGT's are continuing to rise way above the 999c that the ecu is able to measure.
If they hit 999c for only a few data points, you can assume the EGT's are around 1010c at maximum. However, if they hit 999c for several data points, you can only imagine how high they are climbing before settling back below the 999c.
This is what we look for in customer datalogs. There is no exact recipe but we use our experience of what our calibrations reach via an actual pre-turbine EGT probe if Stage 2 or more compared to the amount of time it reaches and exceeds 999c in the ecu logs.
If the EGT's flatline at maximum reading and never come back down during the pull, its safe to assume you have an EGT problem and the hardware protection mapping isn't doing its job. This can happen if the tuner you use turns off hardware protection mapping and runs too lean or too much boost or if they calibrate the hardware protection mapping to the same requested AFR as their too lean primary fueling surface (some tuners claim they don't disable EGT protection mapping when they use this recalibration method but they are essentially doing the same thing as turning it off) or if your wastegate is not oem like its been tweaked or replaced with one that doesn't integrate into the OEM EMS (like those with different w/g tensions than OEM). This can also happen if so much hardware has been changed that the EGT model is completely and totally useless. We've only experienced this at Stage 3 calibrations and higher. With Stage 2, we can still look at the amount of time its at 999c and based on our previous actual EGT testing via a probe pre-turbine, can estimate if this is an issue for our clients or not.
Will we give the general public our exact EGT standards at all Staged ECU Upgrade levels for your own diagnosis? Sure, if that was all it would be used for. Unfortunately, since we've started talk of this EGT stuff, other tuners have paid attention as well and have improved their product.
That's good for the community so we share what we can but helping other companies is not good for business and I like my job.
I hope this helps.
http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115731&page=3
Here is what I can help with and please understand that ECU Upgrades and Calibration Philosophies are always evolving as new technology is introduced and new ecu mapping and coding is continually implemented by the OEM.
Meaning, what I am about to say may not be 100% accurate to all OEM and APR calibrations across 06 and 07 style FSI engines and TSI engines in Mk5's vs. Mk6's etc.
OEM EGT Logs = Accurate
APR Stage 1 EGT Logs = Accurate
APR Stage 2 or any higher level = Inaccurate
Here's why:
EGT's are collected by the oxygen sensor which is not pre-turbine and there are models or calculations inside the ecu that know that x temp at the 02 = y temp at pre-turbine and that there is a direct relationship between the 2 as long as all hardware that affects EGT's is the same as the model is designed to allow.
This means OEM EGT logs and Stage 1 EGT logs should be perfectly accurate.
When you move to a Stage 2 ecu you are getting a calibration that was made and tested with actual EGT's that differ from the modeled EGT's as reported by datalogging the ECU. This is so because when you change the downpipe, this greatly effects the EGT model accuracy in the ECU. So, you have to insert an EGT probe and measure the EGT's some other way than the ECU. Greatly btw, is relative to your perspective. Some tuners don't consider this a major change, however, APR does. Also, there is no longer a direct relationship to ecu logged EGT's and actual EGT's due to the hardware change. It simply doesn't work that way in such a dynamic system. Lot's of EGT model mapping and coding would have to be adjusted for the new downpipe. We know by simply looking at EGT models inside the ECU of say a GTi vs. an ED30 GTi or TT-S, or even a TSI vs. a FSI. The models are drastically different. True, other hardware is different than just a downpipe between those models but a change is a change and the EGT model is very complex.
We've talked about the maximum peak EGT spec and the maximum sustained EGT spec.
ECU datalogging reads up to 999c. This is below the actual EGT spec of the turbocharger and other components. That being said, I've seen some Stage 1 ECU's knock on the 999c door and maybe hit it for a couple of data points but then it comes back down quickly as hardware protection mapping kicks in.
What concerns us is when the 999c report from the ECU stays pegged for a period of time that is too long. This usually means that the EGT's are continuing to rise way above the 999c that the ecu is able to measure.
If they hit 999c for only a few data points, you can assume the EGT's are around 1010c at maximum. However, if they hit 999c for several data points, you can only imagine how high they are climbing before settling back below the 999c.
This is what we look for in customer datalogs. There is no exact recipe but we use our experience of what our calibrations reach via an actual pre-turbine EGT probe if Stage 2 or more compared to the amount of time it reaches and exceeds 999c in the ecu logs.
If the EGT's flatline at maximum reading and never come back down during the pull, its safe to assume you have an EGT problem and the hardware protection mapping isn't doing its job. This can happen if the tuner you use turns off hardware protection mapping and runs too lean or too much boost or if they calibrate the hardware protection mapping to the same requested AFR as their too lean primary fueling surface (some tuners claim they don't disable EGT protection mapping when they use this recalibration method but they are essentially doing the same thing as turning it off) or if your wastegate is not oem like its been tweaked or replaced with one that doesn't integrate into the OEM EMS (like those with different w/g tensions than OEM). This can also happen if so much hardware has been changed that the EGT model is completely and totally useless. We've only experienced this at Stage 3 calibrations and higher. With Stage 2, we can still look at the amount of time its at 999c and based on our previous actual EGT testing via a probe pre-turbine, can estimate if this is an issue for our clients or not.
Will we give the general public our exact EGT standards at all Staged ECU Upgrade levels for your own diagnosis? Sure, if that was all it would be used for. Unfortunately, since we've started talk of this EGT stuff, other tuners have paid attention as well and have improved their product.
That's good for the community so we share what we can but helping other companies is not good for business and I like my job.
I hope this helps.
ATLAS and CMS LHC detector event display FAQ
some neat explanations about some of the LHC detector event displays!
ATLAS
http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2010/03/18/atlas-event-display-decoded/
CMS
http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2010/03/16/cms-event-display-decoded/
ATLAS
http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2010/03/18/atlas-event-display-decoded/
CMS
http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2010/03/16/cms-event-display-decoded/
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Galaxy Spica gets 2.1 ...
http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/17/samsung-galaxy-spica-grows-up-to-android-2-1/
despite the name its a different handset (i5700) and has more free memory , however it still gives us hope for the i7500...
Sunday, 14 March 2010
android apps list
Exported by aTrackDog at 17:09:26 2010/03/14
Blogaway,3.0
Google Maps,3.1.2
FlyScreen,1.5.5
Facebook,1.1.2
fring,1.2.0.26
Listen,1.1.1
Google Sky Map,1.3
gTasks,0.3.47m
TTS Service Extended,2.0
Voice Search,1.3
imeem Mobile,2.1.6
KeePassDroid,1.0.4
Chess,2.1.2
Retro Clock,1.2
CoPilot,8.0.0.606
Bonsai Blast,1.4
Handcent SMS,2.9.32
Mystique. Chapter 1: Foetus,1.0.9
ASTRO,2.2.4
ShopSavvy,3.6.1
handyCalc,0.41
Movies,2.7
Aloqa,1.0
Mahjong 3D,1.0.6
The Weather Channel,2.1.9
Layar,3.0.5
AndroBlogger,1.1.0
Aldiko,1.2.7
Calorie Counter,1.12.0
Pkt Auctions eBay,2.06
Astrid,2.11.1
HotelsByMe,1.1.3
Abduction!,1.45.3
Funny Jokes,2.0
FartDroid,5.0.1
PicSay,1.3.0.2
FeedR,1.0.55
My Tracks,1.0.11
AndFTP,1.3
Handcent FontPack,1.0
Places Directory,1.0.20
Opera Mini,4.2
Battery Status,3.1
aTrackDog,3.13
Weather Widgets,3.8
Weather Widget Forecast Addon,1.2.8
Finance,2.0.3
Barcode Scanner,3.2
SharePrice,1.4
Ringo Lite,1.2.22
aDyno,0.5 Beta5
Labyrinth Lite,1.3.3
Shazam,1.3
Speed Test,1.7.0
Frozen Bubble,1.5
Deathclock,1.2
Hero,1.5
beebPlayer,0.5.9
Stocks,0.4.9
Ringdroid,2.3
Weather,5.4.2
aTrackDog(SD),3.10
Handcent Font Pack3,1.0
Compass,1.1
Handcent Font Pack4,1.1
Star Tour,1.0
Wifi Analyzer,2.2.10
MyMarket,1.0.3
OSMonitor,1.1.0
Bubble,1.8.2
Rehearsal Assistant,0.8.5
Digital Clock Widget,1.8
English Spanish Dictionary,1.3
Quote Pro,1.2.4
Wikidroid,1.5
Moon Phase,4
LOL Sites,1.2.75
ES Task Manager,1.0.7.0
HandcentFontPack2,1.0
Advanced Task Killer Free,1.7.0
OI File Manager,1.1.1
GPS Speedo,2.1
Locale SMS Plug-in,0.3 beta
Speaking Pad,1.2.2
Save MMS,1.4
Spare Parts,Ad Supported
GPS Tracker,1.9.5
Magic 8-Ball,1.7
Metal Detector,1.2-RELEASE
SlideME App Installer,1.0
SendContact,3.0.0
Glowing Pear,1.0.0
Total 92 applications.
Blogaway,3.0
Google Maps,3.1.2
FlyScreen,1.5.5
Facebook,1.1.2
fring,1.2.0.26
Listen,1.1.1
Google Sky Map,1.3
gTasks,0.3.47m
TTS Service Extended,2.0
Voice Search,1.3
imeem Mobile,2.1.6
KeePassDroid,1.0.4
Chess,2.1.2
Retro Clock,1.2
CoPilot,8.0.0.606
Bonsai Blast,1.4
Handcent SMS,2.9.32
Mystique. Chapter 1: Foetus,1.0.9
ASTRO,2.2.4
ShopSavvy,3.6.1
handyCalc,0.41
Movies,2.7
Aloqa,1.0
Mahjong 3D,1.0.6
The Weather Channel,2.1.9
Layar,3.0.5
AndroBlogger,1.1.0
Aldiko,1.2.7
Calorie Counter,1.12.0
Pkt Auctions eBay,2.06
Astrid,2.11.1
HotelsByMe,1.1.3
Abduction!,1.45.3
Funny Jokes,2.0
FartDroid,5.0.1
PicSay,1.3.0.2
FeedR,1.0.55
My Tracks,1.0.11
AndFTP,1.3
Handcent FontPack,1.0
Places Directory,1.0.20
Opera Mini,4.2
Battery Status,3.1
aTrackDog,3.13
Weather Widgets,3.8
Weather Widget Forecast Addon,1.2.8
Finance,2.0.3
Barcode Scanner,3.2
SharePrice,1.4
Ringo Lite,1.2.22
aDyno,0.5 Beta5
Labyrinth Lite,1.3.3
Shazam,1.3
Speed Test,1.7.0
Frozen Bubble,1.5
Deathclock,1.2
Hero,1.5
beebPlayer,0.5.9
Stocks,0.4.9
Ringdroid,2.3
Weather,5.4.2
aTrackDog(SD),3.10
Handcent Font Pack3,1.0
Compass,1.1
Handcent Font Pack4,1.1
Star Tour,1.0
Wifi Analyzer,2.2.10
MyMarket,1.0.3
OSMonitor,1.1.0
Bubble,1.8.2
Rehearsal Assistant,0.8.5
Digital Clock Widget,1.8
English Spanish Dictionary,1.3
Quote Pro,1.2.4
Wikidroid,1.5
Moon Phase,4
LOL Sites,1.2.75
ES Task Manager,1.0.7.0
HandcentFontPack2,1.0
Advanced Task Killer Free,1.7.0
OI File Manager,1.1.1
GPS Speedo,2.1
Locale SMS Plug-in,0.3 beta
Speaking Pad,1.2.2
Save MMS,1.4
Spare Parts,Ad Supported
GPS Tracker,1.9.5
Magic 8-Ball,1.7
Metal Detector,1.2-RELEASE
SlideME App Installer,1.0
SendContact,3.0.0
Glowing Pear,1.0.0
Total 92 applications.
Friday, 12 March 2010
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
nicola ...
1831 days (5yrs 5 days) …
'I thought of you with love today
but that is nothing new
I thought about you yesterday
and days before that too,
I think of you in silence
I often speak your name
All I have are memories
and your picture in a frame
Your memory is my keepsake
with which I’ll never part
God has you in His keeping
I have you in my heart.'
x
'I thought of you with love today
but that is nothing new
I thought about you yesterday
and days before that too,
I think of you in silence
I often speak your name
All I have are memories
and your picture in a frame
Your memory is my keepsake
with which I’ll never part
God has you in His keeping
I have you in my heart.'
x
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Golf GTI Edition 30 mpg update
29MPG, actually was nearer 350 miles as I forgot to reset the trip on time
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Adding Formula One /motoGP events into Google Calendar : www.flogs.com
lots of webpages to keep track of F1 news, but sometimes you just want a heads upthe weekends when a race is in.
Google Calendar works well for me, so I was looking to add a 'Calendar' for F1 times which I can see/get alerts for via my google profle.
voila...
http://f1calendar.com/
I chose the dynamic url option, copy url into google calendar. simples...
BUT ... I couldnt find a motoGP option that didnt include all other types of bike racing (I didnt want)
the a google search turned up
http://www.flogs.com/calendar/catalog
every single calendar you could ever want..... can import directly (and supports almost any format)
brilliant.
Google Calendar works well for me, so I was looking to add a 'Calendar' for F1 times which I can see/get alerts for via my google profle.
voila...
http://f1calendar.com/
I chose the dynamic url option, copy url into google calendar. simples...
BUT ... I couldnt find a motoGP option that didnt include all other types of bike racing (I didnt want)
the a google search turned up
http://www.flogs.com/calendar/catalog
every single calendar you could ever want..... can import directly (and supports almost any format)
brilliant.
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
replaced o2 2G SIM with 3G SIM to get 3G speeds on Samsung Galaxy i7500
finally got around to popping into the local O2 store today to swap my old 2G (10yrs old??) SIM card for a free new 3G SIM woohoo.
Phone call to customer services and its sorted (but can take 24hrs for it to fully work)
If your SIM doesnt have 3G in the number on the back then its ye olde 2G.
So no matter how hard you try you wont get the funky 3G symbol on your phone....
and cr*p transfer speeds.
Ive put up with it long enough but no now.
So heres the data using the android free version of speedtest app.
Top is my new speeds, the lower values show what I had and also the speeds when Im linked into my wireless route at home.
Date ConnType Download Upload Latency
02/03/2010 16:50 Utms 121969 118974 151
02/03/2010 13:36 Gprs 483 1814 1025
28/02/2010 10:54 Wifi 373783 55460 77
19/02/2010 21:40 Edge 6640 5590 570
speedy gonzales :-)
My old SIM had a PIN lock, I tried to re-enable this on the new SIM but asked me for code, which should be 0000 or 4321 but after 3 failed attempts it locked my SIM!
Luckily O2 allow you to get your PUK code online...
http://www.o2.co.uk/apps/getPUK/getPUKService
Phone call to customer services and its sorted (but can take 24hrs for it to fully work)
If your SIM doesnt have 3G in the number on the back then its ye olde 2G.
So no matter how hard you try you wont get the funky 3G symbol on your phone....
and cr*p transfer speeds.
Ive put up with it long enough but no now.
So heres the data using the android free version of speedtest app.
Top is my new speeds, the lower values show what I had and also the speeds when Im linked into my wireless route at home.
Date ConnType Download Upload Latency
02/03/2010 16:50 Utms 121969 118974 151
02/03/2010 13:36 Gprs 483 1814 1025
28/02/2010 10:54 Wifi 373783 55460 77
19/02/2010 21:40 Edge 6640 5590 570
speedy gonzales :-)
My old SIM had a PIN lock, I tried to re-enable this on the new SIM but asked me for code, which should be 0000 or 4321 but after 3 failed attempts it locked my SIM!
Luckily O2 allow you to get your PUK code online...
http://www.o2.co.uk/apps/getPUK/getPUKService
