User Comments - pretzellogic

Posted on: F1 in China

billm, how long is that strip between Lynn and Nahant anyway?  It only looks about a half mile or so when you're on approach into Logan Airport.  I didn't think something not really street legal could go 185 in a half mile without the police looking out for that kind of thing. But I guess you didn't do this a couple of years ago either.  Or did you?

Posted on: F1 in China

I never understood why people that liked one form of racing would not like other forms of racing. But now that I think about it, i'm not a fan of horse racing, greyhound racing, or any kind of animal racing either.  What was that saying? "It's always the other guy's vice".

Posted on: F1 in China

auntie68, enjoy the Singapore Grand Prix! I have yet to see F1 up close and personal.  I would love to someday.   You should post a picture of you at the race as Hamilton drives past.

Posted on: F1 in China

auntie68,

given that every F1 track (unlike American-style oval racing, which is arguably about going round and round in circles) has sections which flatter different combinations of aero/ engine power (ie fast sections, vs slow, high-downforce sections)

I assume you're aware that your statement above is as true for the Talladega and Richmond tracks as it is for the Interlagos and Hungaroring tracks. The need for soft compound tires versus hard compound tires.  Fast tracks versus slow tracks. Fast corners versus slower corners.  High speeds generate a need for lots of downforce, and slower speeds require less downforce to keep cars on tracks.  All cars generate lift and drag; what matters is how much lift and drag, where they are applied, and what is done with any resulting accelerations. Thanks to Newton (it has been decades since my physics classes, so please do correct me if i'm wrong), F=ma is true in most earthbound circumstances.

But you might not be aware that NASCAR races on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Sonoma in California and Watkins Glen in New York, 3 reasonably well known road courses in North America.  Same thing with Indy Racing Series as well, except they don't run on the Montreal Circuit.

Posted on: Street Food Buffet

I closed Firefox, and restarted it again, and it seems to work for me now.  So I guess the problem was on my side...

good video.  I think it works because

• it's all nouns, and all food. I think if the video had the title, "Street scene", and we had been queued to look for anything, then it would have been unclear what was being pointed at.
• It also helped that the foods in question were big enough in size so that when they were pointed to, it was clear that it was food.
• it also helped that you guys slowed things down. 

Not that cpod wasn't taking these actions before, but it seemed to work better this time. At least its clearer what the video's intent is without verbs, as there were in the hair salon video. BTW, it might bear repeating that I enjoyed that, and the other videos. 

I forget who suggested it earlier, but cpod should definitely go through the cpod offices and point at desks, chairs, lamps, the building itself. Potentially unclear, but I know we'd love to see cpod's offices.

Posted on: F1 in China

cool, thanks.

Posted on: F1 in China

One last thing: where is the F1 Track in Shanghai?  Is it northwest of the city or southwest or what?  I keep looking for it on Google Earth, but can't find it.

Posted on: F1 in China

I think cpod was taking the right angle on this lesson, in that one person was uninterested in the sport, and the other person was a sports fanatic. This gives the scriptwriter the opportunity to use the non-fan as the person that uses existing terms/dialogue that cpod has already given us, and the fanatic can be the person that introduces new terms specific to the sport. 

I do get the impression that the guy in the dialogue is a budding racing fan.  As a F1/NASCAR/Funny Car/A1/Top Fuel/Moto GP/Indianapolis 500 fan, I will say that I never went to races to see crashes.  I went to see my guy win, to see skilled passing, see how racing luck would play out. Plus, Formula 1 is especially known for racing in rain (or "in the wet", as even American announcers say), being hideously expensive, non-competitive (except for the top 2-3 teams) and standing starts. Standing starts are spectacular, and spectacularly disastrous.  Most of the people i've talked to that didn't like racing seemed to say the same thing;"it's just guys going around in circles, and everyone looks forward to the crashes".

Posted on: F1 in China

This was a good lesson, because it included some details about Formula 1, like the names of the current drivers.  This lesson again confirms that I' reasonably well placed at the elementary level.  I love hearing upper intermediate and advanced though; i get the impression those listeners feel almost like they understand the language!

The only thing that would have made the lesson better would have been to through in some names of the other tracks where Formula 1 is raced. Maybe nothing as complex as Spa-Francorchamps, but Monza or Silverstone might translate pretty well.

Posted on: Come on up!

Jenny, isn't it like 1:40am in Shanghai now (as I write this?) Aren't you working very very late, or are you in a different time zone? Or is someone using your account, and you're not the real Jenny?