Month: June 2012

  • FernandoAlonso turns his poor qualifying into P 1 in Valencia


    Alonso puts in stunning performance for victory in Valencia

    Everything went perfectly for Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso, allowing him to win the 2012 Grand Prix of Europe, while all his closest rivals hit trouble. The win meant Alonso was the first driver to win two races this season, and also pushed him to the top of the FIA Formula One Drivers’ standings after eight races. The win at the Valencia Street Circuit in Spain was Alonso’s twenty-ninth career win and the two-hundred and eighteenth victory for Ferrari.

    Kimi Raikkonen finished second in the Lotus-Renault 6.4 seconds behind Alonso, while the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher finished third, a further 6.2 seconds behind.

    Today, we had an amazing race.

    Fernando Alonso

     

    “It’s difficult to express in words,” said Alonso about his surprise win on home soil. “Today, we had an amazing race, amazing start, some good fights, I think I remember six or seven overtakings where it was very close, and we touched each other. I touched Grosjean in the restart. All of those little moments can go on the wrong side and you finish the race in the wall, or you can be the winner at the end. And today, we had all the good factors with us and the luck and we have to enjoy this.”

    Pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel had looked to dominate the race. He had a great start, lead immediately and had built a gap at one point by as much as nineteen seconds. But problems hit his Red Bull-Renault, and he slowed to stop and retire on lap thirty-three.

    “We’re not sure what happened,” said Vettel once he returned to the pits. “We lost drive and the engine just quit.”

    A similar problem hit Raikkonen’s teammate Romain Grosjean. Grosjean had passed the McLaren-Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton early and was sitting in second behind Alonso after Vettel’s retirement. Then he too had the engine suddenly stop. The fact both these retirements were similar and both were Renault engines made most wonder if it was a problem inherent to the Renault, and potentially other cars could be affected. None were, however.

    Lewis Hamilton, McLaren Mercedes leads Romain Grosjean, Lotus F1
    Lewis Hamilton, McLaren Mercedes leads Romain Grosjean, Lotus F1

    Photo by: motorsport.com 2012

     

    After Grosjean’s retirement, Lewis Hamilton was back running in second, but like all Alonso’s rivals, hit troubles. With his tires degrading in the last few laps, he was passed by Kimi Raikkonen, and then was challenged by the Williams-Renault of Pastor Maldonado. Hamilton, though, pushed Maldonado wide, and then did not give room for Maldonado at the next corner. The two collided; Hamilton hit the wall, and retired on the spot. Maldonado, somewhat strangely, was given a twenty-second penalty for the altercation after the race.

    Hamilton, though, did not seem too upset about his retirement after the race.

    “We lost some points today — fortunately, however, a couple of other drivers fighting at the front also missed out, so it’s not the end of the world,” he said. “It just makes things a little bit tougher. Today was just a bad day in the office — but that’s motor racing, and I’m already looking forward to the next Grand Prix, my home race at Silverstone.”

    Kimi Raikkonen, however, did not have a bad day, and was generally competitive all race in his second-place finish.

    “I had enough tires to get past Hamilton on, I think it was the second-last or third-last lap,” said Raikkonen. “We didn’t really have the speed to challenge for the win,” he added.

    Michael Schumacher, Mercedes AMG F1 celebrates his third position in parc ferme
    Michael Schumacher, Mercedes AMG F1 celebrates his third position in parc ferme

    Photo by: motorsport.com All Rights Reserved

     

    Third-place finisher Michael Schumacher was surprised to get to the podium, only learning he had finished third when he crossed the line.

    “It was crossing the line that I asked my guys ‘where did we finish?’,” said Schumacher. “I saw Webber’s pit board and close to the end it showed him eighth and seventh and I knew I was one place ahead of that one. And then boys told me ‘that’s third, that’s podium’. I can’t believe that! It’s something I didn’t really expect.”

    Schumacher, and fourth-placed Mark Webber had pitted later than most for their last set of tires, and had fresher rubber at the end, allowing them to gain some positions. Webber, incredibly, had started nineteenth on the grid, and drove well to climb up to fourth.

    Webber said, “I’m very happy with that, obviously it’s been a tough weekend up until today, but you never know what’s going to happen. In the middle of the race I wasn’t too happy and I didn’t really know what was going on. Then there was a bit of attrition at the front and the strategy worked out.”

    The finish moved Webber up to second in the championship, with 91 points, twenty behind Alonso’s tally of 111.

    Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India Formula One Team
    Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India Formula One Team

    Photo by: Motorsport 2012 .com All Rights Reserved

     

    Behind Webber was the first of the Force India cars, with Nico Hulkenberg followed by the other Nico — Nico Rosberg, who finished sixth in the other Mercedes.

    The second Force India of Paul di Resta was seventh, and he was unique in doing a one-stop race, but felt his race was hurt by the safety car period.

    “We went very aggressive by only stopping once and in fact we were the only car to pull off this strategy,” he said. “Of course, when you’re stopping once you really don’t want a safety car period and it certainly hurt my race and cost me some track position.”

    Behind di Resta, in eighth was the McLaren of Jenson Button who has had his struggles recently.

    “This was a really difficult race to read,” said Button. “I got a poor start, was boxed in at Turn One, and had to lift to prevent Fernando [Alonso] and myself hitting the wall at Turn Two. I don’t think we did a bad job in terms of strategy — the car felt good and kept improving during the race — but, when the Safety Car was deployed, I think a few others lucked in to a better strategy. And, today, also, we just didn’t get lucky.”

    Ninth-place finisher was Sauber driver Sergio Perez, and the final point position went to the Williams-Renault of Bruno Senna, who benefited from his teammate Maldonado’s twenty second penalty. Maldonado thus finished twelfth, behind the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo.

    The rest of classified finishers were Vitaly Petrov and Heikki Kovalainen in the two Caterhams, Charles Pic in the Marussia, Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari, then the two HRT cars of Pedro de La Rosa.

    Alonso now takes his championship lead, as mentioned, to Lewis Hamilton’s home track, at Silverstone in England for the British Grand Prix. “We will do all we can to win this championship. But we still don’t have the quickest car and we must push to reach this objective as quickly as possible.”

    The race takes place on July 8th.

    Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari
    Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari

    Photo by: motorsport.com 2012 All Rights Reserved

  • Secrets of a super-social spaceman

    Secrets of a super-social spaceman

    NASA via Twitpic

    NASA astronaut Ron Garan looks into the camera from outside the International Space Station in July 2011. “Knocking on the door to come back in #FromSpace after yesterday’s spacewalk,” Garan wrote on Twitpic.

    By Alan Boyle

     

    You might think it’s cool enough that NASA astronaut Ron Garan has spent months aboard the International Space Station, but he’s become even better-known as a social-media maven. This month he passed the 2 million mark for Google+ circles, putting him at No. 21 on the Google+ Top 100. His Fragile Oasis postings are a highlight on the WebFacebook and Twitter. His “Ask Me Anything” exchange with Reddit users went so well he’s thinking of doing it again.

     

    So what’s the secret to his success? It’s really not a secret at all: He’s got a good story to share, about the beauty and fragility of planet Earth.

    The 50-year-old New York native is a former Air Force fighter pilot who has degrees in business economics and aerospace engineering. He joined the astronaut corps in 2000, and his training for spaceflight included a turn as an “aquanaut” for NASA’s NEEMO underwater research mission in 2006. Garan has been up in space twice — in 2008, on the shuttle Discovery to help deliver Japan’s Kibo lab to the International Space Station; and just last year for a nearly six-month tour of duty on the station.

    Garan says another stint on the space station is “always a possibility, down the road.” But right now, he’s focusing on NASA’s Open Government Initiative, which aims to build stronger collaborative ties between government, industry and the general public. That means social engagement isn’t just something he does in his spare time. It’s part of his job.

    During a recent interview, Garan talked about how he became a super-social spaceman, and what he’s learned from the adventure. Here are some edited excerpts of the Q&A:

    Cosmic Log: When you come into contact with the public, what do you find they’re most curious about?

    Garan: ”Well, what they’re most curious about is the basic question of what life is like, living in space. It really is a marvelous experience. It’s very interesting in a lot of respects — and probably the greatest part about it is that it gave me an incredible sense of appreciation for what we have here on our planet. Everything from just simple things that define the beauty of life on our planet — the breeze in your face, and the smell of flowers, watching a flock of birds and a million other things. After you’re up there for a while, those are things that you really start to miss.

    “I had the opportunity to have a short-duration flight on the space shuttle Discovery back in 2008, during which I was up there for two weeks, and then a long-term one where I was up for five and a half months. And it’s a very different experience. You have the same views, you have the same environment that you live in. But being able to see the earth, day in and day out, and watch the earth change … and to really start to miss some of the things that I took for granted, that really gives you that appreciation.”

    Ron Garan / NASA

    A fish-eye view of the International Space Station, captured by Ron Garan last July, features the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer in the foreground. A Russian Progress cargo ship and a Soyuz crew capsule are docked on the left end of the station. The structure extending to the left of the AMS is a thermal radiator. One of the station’s gold-colored solar arrays is visible in the background. And off to the right, the shuttle Atlantis is docked to the station’s Tranquility module.

    Q: So how did the Fragile Oasis website enter into the mix?

    A: ”That came out of my shuttle mission in 2008. I had a little bit of frustration. I imagine it’s like when you go to the Grand Canyon, and you’re there by yourself, and you sit there at the rim of the Grand Canyon and you’re looking out over this amazing thing. And imagine that very, very few people have been able to have that experience. For me, at least, that would be frustrating, and the experience would not be as rich as it would be if I had the opportunity to share that with people. So I was frustrated during my shuttle mission that I couldn’t share the experience.

    “When I got assigned to my long-duration mission, there’s two and a half years of training, and during that two and a half years, I really brainstormed how I could do that. We came up with Fragile Oasis, not just to have it as a website where we could tell stories about space, but the goal was always to provide a platform for people to follow along on the mission, not as spectators but as fellow crew members. To have an interactive way to do it.

     

    “We had some significant technical challenges in getting that thing off the ground, and it’s still a work in progress. It doesn’t have a lot of the interactive features that we wanted it to have, but we’re working on it. When I launched to the International Space Station, and I had the five and a half months up there, I really was very thankful that I had this tool, this platform, to be able to communicate. And in the meantime, we had the exponential increase in the popularity of social media tools.

    “First I did Facebook, but I didn’t see that as a public outreach tool. I saw that as a way to connect with old friends, and I was just using it on a personal basis. On the other hand, I started Twitter for one reason: I saw it as a way to do education outreach. I could say, I’m learning about this experiment we’re going to be doing in space, and I’d put a link on there to the experiment’s website and the science behind it. I saw that as a very powerful way to do outreach. I now see the benefits of outreach in other platforms as well, including Facebook and obviously Google+. In the case of Google+, I see a very robust mechanism to share the space program and the experience of living in space with a lot of interactive features on that platform.”

    Q: With all your experience in social media, do you find that you favor one tool over the other? From your comments, it sounds as if you’re seeing some differentiation in how those different tools can be used. Particularly with Google+, you just recently passed the 2-million-follower mark. That must be one of the big successes for your efforts.

    A: ”Well, I think all the platforms offer slightly different tools to tell the story. I think they all fit together really well, actually. So it’s not a ‘one-platform’ type of message. We want to reach the broadest audience we can, because the excitement of spaceflight is global. It’s for all humanity. So the more tools we can use to tell that story, and the more people we can get involved with the story, the better off the whole message will be.”

    Q: Did you have to do a selling job with NASA to do the sorts of things you’re doing?

    A: ”It took a while to catch on, but it’s catching on now across the board. We realize the benefit of social media. I’m on some social-media committees now, on some working groups to help not only crew members and astronauts, but also thousands of other people who work in the space program. They have a very compelling story as well. We’re trying to find the best way to get that story out. And what we’re finding is that just letting people tell their story in the way they want to tell it is the best way to do it.

    “Obviously, there have to be guidelines. But the more leeway we can give people in the space program to tell their story, the richer the experience will be, both for the people who are reading it and for the people who are doing it. That’s one of the cardinal rules here, to give people as much leeway as we possibly can.”

    Q: Are there any guidelines or favorites that you want to pass along to people who want to be closer in touch with the space adventure?

    A: ”Oh, yeah. There are tons and tons of people. Most of the astronauts who fly in space right now have Twitter accounts. They’re all on there. There’s also @NASA_Astronauts, where we try to retweet, as best we can, everything from all the astronauts. There’s @NASA, the official Twitter account. There’s the Facebook version, and soon the Google+ version of all these as well. There’s commercial spaceflight: @SpaceX has a social media presence. There are people outside the space agency who are involved in telling the story as well, such as @YurisNight and #spacetweeps.

     

     

    “What we’re finding through this is that it’s not just the official word from NASA, the European Space Agency and the Japanese space agency. There are citizen scientists and all these other groups that have formed around the idea of space exploration, and they really do a great job of telling the story as well. It’s obvious that there’s a lot of passion and heart and soul that’s put into this.”

    Q: Is there something about the space story that particularly resonates with social media?

    A: ”I think it’s because it’s a human endeavor, and throughout the 50 years of human spaceflight, it’s always been a select few people who have gotten to fly in space, and we’ve relied on them to come back and tell us what it was like. Now, through technology and through these new platforms, we can bring people along with us on the missions and have them experience this is real time. You can see example after example of this.

    “An easy example is, if one of us sends out a tweet with a picture, let’s say, and we misidentify the geographic location, we’re going to find out about that pretty fast. That happened to me on my mission, and I thanked the person who brought that to my attention. I started sending pictures to that person first, to make sure I got it right. We don’t have a lot of time up there, and all the pictures and all the social media that we do is in our free time. So to have people on the ground, crowdsourcing or open-sourcing or however you want to put it, that really empowers us to do more. It makes communication much more effective.”

    Q: Have you ever thought if it would be possible to boil down the glory of space down into one tweet? Is there any elevator talk you’ve thought about giving in 140 characters, about what it’s like to fly in space?

    A: ”You’d need at least 147 characters to do that … no. I know I couldn’t do it. That would be a pretty remarkable feat.”

    Q: What’s the one thing that you’d like people to know about spaceflight.

    A: ”In 140 characters?”

    Q: Not 140 characters, but what’s the one biggest message that you think the space experience provides for people on Earth?

    A: ”Well,  to go back to the reason we started Fragile Oasis: The really compelling reason is that we wanted to use this perspective we have on the planet to inspire people to go out and make a difference, and make the world a better planet. The one gift that I think we get when we fly in space is this perspective.

    “You don’t necessarily have to be in space to get this perspective, but being in space really reinforces it: You see how fragile the planet is. You see how beautiful it is, how peaceful it looks. Then you realize that life is not as beautiful for everybody on the planet as it looks from space. That’s a very compelling thing to experience, and hopefully it serves as a call to action, to not accept the status quo and make life on the planet as beautiful as it looks. That’s the No. 1 thing that I want to get across.”

    NASA

    The International Space Station looks like little more than a speck with solar panels in this picture, which was taken from the shuttle Atlantis during its approach on July 10. A first-quarter moon shines on the right side of the frame.

    Where in the Cosmos
    Garan and his colleagues at Fragile Oasis offer a cornucopia of outer-space imagery and blog postings, including this picture of the International Space Station and the moon, as seen from the shuttle Atlantis during its approach for docking last July. The photo served as today’s quiz picture in the “Where in the Cosmos” contest, presented weekly on the Cosmic Log Facebook page.

     

     

    Len Whitney’s comment was my favorite: “I believe it’s a TIE fighter … but those are short-range fighters, we’re too far out in space … Must have taken off from that moon … Wait a second … that’s no moon!!!! It’s a space station!”

    For figuring out so quickly that the picture showed a moon anda space station, I’m sending 3-D glasses to Facebook followers Matt Jaworski and Lawrence Johnson. I’m also reserving a pair for Whitney. To make sure you’re in on next week’s contest, click the “like” button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page and join the alliance. It’s not a trap!

    More about NASA and social media:


    Although Ron Garan is the highest-rated astronaut on the Google+ list, props also deserve to go out to Mike Massimino, the first NASA astronaut to tweet from space and NASA’s top astronaut when it comes to Twitter rankings.

    Alan Boyle is msnbc.com’s science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by “liking” the log’s Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out “The Case for Pluto,” my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds

  • A Brief History Of The Crazy Drug Tied To Cannibalism

    A Brief History Of The Crazy Drug Tied To Cannibalism

    Erin Fuchs | Jun. 17, 2012, 7:13 PM | 53,021 | 15

     

    Zombies

    Flickr / rodolpho.reis

    Zombies

    The use of a hallucinogen tied to a recent cannibal attack has skyrocketed in recent years.

     

    That drug, known as bath salts, has reportedly been linked to some pretty crazy behavior – including the face-eating attack in Miami.

    But how did this drug get so popular?

    Is it even on the DEA’s radar, and who takes it?

    We have the low-down on the apparently crazy-making drug.

    The key ingredient in bath salts was totally legal until recently.

    The main ingredient in the designer drug marketed as bath salts – methylenedioxypyrovalerone – was first synthesized in 1969 and was totally legal in most states until recently.

     

    That drug, known as MDVP, has been used as an appetite suppressant and to treat chronic fatigue syndrome, according to a March 2010 background paper prepared by officials at the Drug Enforcement Administration.

    MDVP can boost users’ sex drives but can also make them anxious, the DEA said. A white or tan powder, the substance begins to stink if it’s left in open air.

    But the chemical didn’t emerge as a designer drug in the U.S. until 2009.

    But the chemical didn't emerge as a designer drug in the U.S. until 2009.

    Bath Salts

    DEA

    In 2009, MDVP began showing up in the U.S. by way of China and India as part of a designer party drug called “bath salts,” according to the DEA.

     

    While users typically snort it or take it in pill form, bath salts can be smoked or injected. The drug, which the DEA likened to LSD, can also cause chest pains, nose bleeds, sweating, and nausea.

    The DEA had also linked the drug to suicide, homicide and self-inflicted wounds.

    Two years later, the DEA started cracking down on bath salts in the Big Apple.

    Two years later, the DEA started cracking down on bath salts in the Big Apple.

    A DEA agent outside a store that allegedly sold bath salts.

    DEA

    In February 2011, the DEA’s New York division launched a special task force to crack down on on the drug.

     

    The task force eventually arrested 10 people who allegedly sold the bath salts at retailers in Manhattan and Brooklyn, one of which was apparently a tattoo parlor.

    “Let this be a message to not only those who sell this poison but to those who abuse ‘bath salts’ that this road leads to a dead end,” DEA agent John Gilbride said after the arrests.

    A month after that, New Jersey moved to ban bath salts after a Rutgers student’s murder.

    New Jersey introduced a bill to ban the sale of the MVDP in March 2011 after Rutgers University student Pamela Schmidt was allegedly beaten and killed by a boyfriend high on “bath salts.”

     

    The now-controversial drug had previously been freely available in convenience stores, the Star-Ledger reported after the bill was introduced.

    “Bath salts” were linked to self-mutilation, violence, hallucinations and extreme paranoia back in March 2011, the Star-Ledger reported.

    Pamela Schmidt’s long-time boyfriend, William Parisio, had been high on bath salts and “paranoid like you wouldn’t believe” before her death, his mother told 1010 WINS back in March 2011.

    By September 2011, at least 32 other states had taken steps to ban or control the substance, according to the DEA.

    ‘Bath salt’ users began filling emergency rooms last year, too.

    'Bath salt' users began filling emergency rooms last year, too.

    Bath Salts

    DEA

    In July 2011, The New York Times reported that hospitals had noticed an alarming number of patients high on bath salts, which was legal in many states at the time.

     

    The most disturbing incidents included a man who broke into a Pennsylvania monastery and stabbed a priest and a West Virginia woman who tore off her own skin, the Times reported.

    “She looked like she had been dragged through a briar bush for several miles,” one doctor told the paper.

    Yet another doctor said some people who did bath salts “aren’t right for a long time.”

    The DEA finally moved to ban bath salts a couple of months later.

    The DEA finally moved to ban bath salts a couple of months later.

    Bath Salts

    DEA

    The DEA said in September 2011 that it was using its authority to temporarily control MDVP and related stimulants amid increasing fears over the dangers of bath salts.

     

    That action made it illegal for one year to possess MDVP while the agency decided whether it should be permanently controlled.

    MDVP-containing drugs, sold as “plant food” or “bath salts,” could cause violent episodes, the DEA said.

    Bath salts reportedly led to violence against goats, too.

    Bath salts reportedly led to violence against goats, too.

    Not the dead goat.

    Wikimedia Commons

    In May 2011, a West Virginia man claiming to be high on bath salts reportedly stabbed a neighbor’s goat to death while wearing women’s underwear.

     

    A pornographic magazine was lying near the pygmy goat, which belonged to a 4-year-old child, The Daily News reported at the time.

    ‘Bath salts’ is apparently the drug of choice of one notorious flesh eater.

    'Bath salts' is apparently the drug of choice of one notorious flesh eater.

    Ronald Poppo, whose face was chewed off.

    Getty Images

    In late May 2012, Rudy Eugene, 31, was reportedly high on bath salts when he chewed off the face of a 65-year-old homeless man.

     

    The homeless man, Ronald Poppo, survived the attack on a Miami highway even though police said Eugene gnawed his face off down to his goatee.

    Needless to say, the so-called “Miami Cannibal” drew more attention to the drug, and the apparently bizarre behavior it causes.

    Congress starts paying attention, too.

    Congress starts paying attention, too.

    Bath Salts

    DEA

    Later in May 2012, the U.S. Senate voted to officially ban bath salts along with synthetic marijuana, sending the measure to the U.S. House of Representatives.

     

    The legislation would ban MDVP, sold under the street names Tranquility, Zoom, Ivory Wave, Red Dove and Vanilla Sky, the Associated Press reported on May 31.

    “Let this be a warning to those who make a profit manufacturing and selling killer chemical components to our teens and children: the jig is up,” Sen. Chuck Schumer said at the time.

    Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/10-facts-about-the-crazy-drug-linked-to-cannibal-attacks-2012-6?op=1#ixzz1yaBCh4QR

     

    * Copyright © 2012 Business Insider, Inc. All rights reserved.

    Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/10-facts-about-the-crazy-drug-linked-to-cannibal-attacks-2012-6?op=1#ixzz1yaEV3tVC

  • The Brants. New Princes of the City. New York Scene.

    Emily Berl for The New York Times

    Peter Brant II, left, 18, and Harry Brant, 15, omnipresent on the New York social scene, were in SoHo recently hosting an Interview party for the Jitrois clothing label.

     

    Clint Spaulding/PatrickMcMullan.com

    The Brants are staples of Patrick McMullan party photos. Harry with his mother, Stephanie Seymour, at a fashion show.

     

     

    By WILLIAM VAN METER

     

    ON a Thursday evening last month, Harry Brant and Peter Brant II sat on the stoop outside the Jitrois boutique in SoHo. In a cross-platform coup, they were hosting an Interview magazine fete for the clothing label, a new advertiser.

    It was the brothers’ first promotional gig for Interview and a savvy foray in utilizing their increasing fame. They were decked out in Jitrois jeans (leather for Peter, denim for Harry). Peter’s outfit was rounded out with an Armani shirt. His slicked-back pomaded hair accentuated his strong-jawed model looks. Harry was working a designer armed forces look in a Louis Vuitton military jacket and Saint Laurent combat boots. Harry’s style has evolved.

    “I used to only wear overalls, Alaïa T-shirts and my mom’s Manolo Blahnik loafers,” he said. “That was my uniform.”

    Harry, 15, and his 18-year-old brother are the well-spoken product of cross-pollination of the Übermenschen. Their father, Peter M. Brant, is the industrialist, art collector, polo enthusiast and publisher of Interview. Their mother is the supermodel Stephanie Seymour.

    Both are wisp thin. Peter’s deadpan, detached demeanor contrasts with Harry’s livelier, impish quality, a witty rejoinder ever ready. The Brant brood is rounded out by a younger sister and an older brother in college, plus five half-siblings from Mr. Brant’s previous marriage to Sandra Brant, but Peter and Harry are the nearest in age and have always been close.

    Despite their youth, the boys are omnipresent on the social scene and staples of Patrick McMullan party photographs. Their every move is tracked on assorted fashion blogs. Earlier this year, Refinery29 touted, “Meet NYC’s Most Beautiful Teenage Brothers.” Their comings and goings are chronicled on the New York magazine blog The Cut.

    “Everybody loves celebrity children,” said Stephanie Trong, the editorial director of The Cut. “But perhaps the biggest appeal is that these guys live in the lap of luxury and they’re extremely open about their exploits. How many teens go to couture shows or fashion parties, much less document them on their joint Twitter feed, in such a hilarious, uncensored way?”

    The Brants have almost 70,000 Twitter followers, a fraction of whom appear to be their age.

    “Most of my tweets happen between 1 and 5 in the morning,” Harry said. “I’m a night owl, and random thoughts pop into my head. I’ll be watching ‘Mommie Dearest,’ and I’ll be like, ‘Oh, my God, Joan Crawford is amazing.’ ”

    This sets off a film tangent.

    “ ‘Cocktail’ is the best movie of all time,” Peter said.

    “You hate ‘Troop Beverly Hills,’ but you love ‘Cocktail?’ ” Harry countered. “You are a tacky European man!”

    But this was a brief low-culture aside. For a teenager, Peter Brant can sound like a been-there-done-that dowager countess, not that his Old World pretensions aren’t refreshing in the Internet age.

    “I’m interested in 18th-century furniture, late-19th-century art, the Arts and Crafts movement and history of the mid- to late-19th century,” he said. “I bounce around a lot, but I usually stick with the same three centuries.”

    Harry has similarly lofty passions. “I become obsessed with things like DNA or old Valentino shows or the Qing dynasty,” he said. “I have a love of opulence.”

    Peter interjected, “He gets that from me.”

    Harry admitted, “I definitely learned that from you.”

    The brothers, who live with their family in Greenwich, Conn., seem well on their way to transitioning from Internet to general fame — all for just being … well, fabulous. They are the perfect harbingers of the “It boy,” young enough that it isn’t emasculating that they don’t yet have jobs, and fashion-forward enough that they don’t water down their straight-from-the-runway looks.

    It could be said that the Brants have taken the torch from the Hilton sisters, that they are the next generation of to-the-manner-born siblings in the public eye.

    But Paris Hilton’s catchphrase (if you can remember) was “That’s hot.” Peter Brant name-checks Edith Wharton and Henry James. In a pop-culture landscape that has been populated by heir heads (any entertainment produced by the Hilton sisters or the Tinsley Mortimer reality show, “High Society,” which was about as classy as the skin magazine that shared its title), the Brants could certainly elevate the medium. But don’t expect the boys to be reality fodder in the near future.

    “That’s where I draw the line,” said their father, Peter M. Brant. “That’s not going down on my nickel. It’s not their cup of tea, either, but they have been approached.”

    Mr. Brant is baffled by the public’s growing obsession with his sons. “I have no idea,” he said. “I try to discourage their making their private lives public. They’re both good kids, and I’m proud of them.”

    He thinks they are handling their increasing public stature with poise. “We’ve given them reasonable freedom,” he said, “and expect them to get to school on time. We expect them to be good human beings and to care about other things besides clothes.”

    The writer-about-town Derek Blasberg, who has taken the brothers under his wing, can often be spotted with them. “For all their evening proclivities, they go home at a reasonable hour,” Mr. Blasberg said. “I’ve never seen them — How shall I put this? — drunk and disorderly. I’ve been out when Stephanie has dropped them off and Petey’s father has picked them up.”

    The Brants attended Mr. Blasberg’s recent birthday hoedown in a barn in St. Louis. “Those boys were the first ones on the dance floor in their chaps and cowboy hats,” he said. “They’re not snobby. They can have fun anywhere from the Venice Biennial to a hayride.” And, no, it was not as if two zany teenagers had infiltrated the party.

    “They were raised surrounded by adults,” Mr. Blasberg went on. “They are fully aware of who their father is, and what art they have on their walls, and who their mother is, and what she represents in terms of fashion and glamour. Naïve teenagers these boys are not.”

    The Brant brothers’ ability to stay even-keeled and roll with 40-year-olds is a byproduct of a childhood spent at gallery openings and art dinners with their parents. “It trained us how to make conversation and how to behave,” Harry said.

    Peter added: “Art people like to talk about little else than art, so you have to be able to keep up. A conversation about art always turns into a conversation about fashion, and a conversation about fashion always leads to art.”

    Those events were a gateway to socializing at adult events solo. “I first started going out with a friend of mine, Nick Hissom, who is a model,” Peter said. “We always went out in threes, me and him and a girlfriend to adult parties. But I was still with a bunch of kids when I went. A lot of times we weren’t invited, but we snuck in or found a way onto the guest list. We just started doing it more often, and Harry would go out with me. The people I hang out with at parties I have known since I was growing up. It’s like hanging out with your uncle or aunt at a party.”

    The brothers insist that their filled-to-the-brim social calendars don’t interfere with their studies. Peter finished high school in January and is majoring in art history at Hunter. Harry, who will be a sophomore, said, “Come rain or shine, I will be going to school at 6 a.m. whether I’ve gotten one hour of sleep or 10.”

    And, yes, Peter did go to the prom, and they squeeze in normal activities one would find more age appropriate. Besides getting an early start at philanthropy by serving on the committee of Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation, a blood-cancer research charity, he is spending the summer interning at Sotheby’s. “Besides delivering mail, I help with appraisals and circa dating,” he said. Harry is interning in Interview’s advertising department.

    “I’ve had a summer job since I was 9,” Harry said. “At our house we have stables, so I’d work in the barn. We had to clean the stalls.” Harry doesn’t share his father’s passion for polo. “I think horses are beautiful, and I respect them aesthetically,” he said, “but I can’t play polo like he does. It’s a demanding sport.”

    Plans for their careers are up in the air. Harry knows that he wants to work in some sort of creative field, and Peter is leaning toward luxury goods, but isn’t sure.

    “I’m young and have a lot of time and can sit on that question,” Harry said, before casting a comical sneer at his older brother. “But Peter, you have to hurry. You’re old candy. You’re withering away.”

    Ever blasé, Peter tilted his head, looked at him blankly, then turned away, showing off his strong profile.

    This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

    Correction: June 21, 2012

     

    An earlier version of this article incorrectly refereed to the Brant brothers’ siblings from their father’s earlier marriage to Sandra Brandt as stepsiblings. They are half-siblings.

     

    Copyright. 2012. The New York Times Company. All Rights Reserved

  • Beneath the chaos lies a complex power struggle between generals and Islamists. The West should back

    The Arab spring

    Egypt in peril

    Beneath the chaos lies a complex power struggle between generals and Islamists. The West should back the latter

    Jun 23rd 2012 | from the print edition

     

     

    A YEAR and a half after the optimism of the Arab spring, the Middle East is in frightening turmoil. Syria is close to sliding into a full-scale civil war whose outcome is unknowable, though its bloodstained president, Bashar Assad, looks likely sooner or later to fall. Libya, mercifully shorn of its crazy tyrant, is being periodically rocked by the still-untamed militias that ousted him; its general election, scheduled for this month, has been pushed back until next. Yemen, having shed its ruling bully of 33 years, has become al-Qaeda’s favourite haunt. Tunisia, which had been gliding most smoothly from despotism to democracy, has seen riots by religious extremists (see article). Sudan’s vile government and Oman’s more amiable one have also both been rattled by protests. And in Saudi Arabia a long-lingering succession crisis is back starkly in the spotlight with the death of its crown prince (see article).

    However, the most troubling developments are in Egypt (see article), the Arab world’s most populous country. After 18 months of messy progress towards democracy, the army seems determined to reverse the march to freedom, or at least to put a heavy brake on it. If Egypt goes wrong, then democracy’s progress elsewhere in the Arab world will be far slower.

    Egypt is not, however, doomed to return to dictatorship. Turkey, where the army has reached an accommodation with moderate Islamists, points to a peaceful way out. And the West can help by making it clear that democratically elected politicians, even Islamist ones, rank above generals.

    Who’s actually in charge?

    As The Economist went to press, the power struggle between the army and the Islamists was intensifying. News that Hosni Mubarak, ousted last year after 30 years as despot, was near to death after a stroke in prison may be irrelevant to the outcome of the current power struggle. But it is a ghostly reminder of how politically moribund Egypt used to be.

    On the more hopeful side, it looks as if Muhammad Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, will still probably be declared the winner of the run-off for president, beating Ahmed Shafiq, a general and Mr Mubarak’s last prime minister; if so, President Morsi should take office by July 1st. This in itself would be a momentous event, marking the first time in Egypt that a reasonably free presidential election had been held, producing a head of state legitimised by the popular will, albeit in a polarised society. It would also be the first time in the Arab world that an Islamist president had come to power by democratic means. Mr Morsi would—it is still assumed—be empowered to appoint a government and take his place as Egypt’s democratically chosen leader on the global stage.

    But too little of this is certain. At its worst, the army could declare that Mr Shafiq has somehow won. Even if Mr Morsi’s victory is accepted, it is not clear what powers he will have. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), a cabal of a score or so of generals who became the caretaker rulers after Mr Mubarak’s fall, has never been keen to let Egypt become a fully fledged democracy. But the SCAF now seems to have gone back on its earlier promise to withdraw to its barracks. A week ago the generals told the pliable Mubarak-era judges on the constitutional court to dissolve the new parliament, which had produced a strong Islamist majority, on ridiculously technical grounds that could have been aired months ago. Now the SCAF claims the power to lay down the laws that the parliament was expected to pass and even to draw up the budget. It will also have the right to choose and direct a constituent assembly or a constitution-drafting body to produce a document spelling out the president’s powers and, presumably, new rules for fresh elections to parliament.

    These are threatening moves, but so far at least this does not seem to be a counter-revolution. Rather than a hard coup intended to snuff out the country’s evolving democracy, it is an attempt to slow and control it. The army’s priority is keeping its “special role”, its economic privileges and some of the ministries of power, such as defence and internal security, much as Turkey’s generals did in the 1990s, when they blocked a democratically elected Islamist government and continued forcibly to parade themselves as guardians of a secular order.

    If the Turkish analogy is pursued, the outcome may yet hold out hope. Turkey has suffered more than its share of coups and political violence. But those dangers have receded as the Islamists have proved moderate and popular, winning three fair elections in a row and whittling away the generals’ power. Although the “deep state”, sinister and pervasive in Turkey as it plainly still is in Egypt, lingers in the apparatus of security and repression, Turkey’s Islamists have won the moral authority to send the soldiers back to barracks, and have exercised it. If Egypt follows this path, nothing the generals have done this week will stop the march to democracy for long.

    Wield the stick, Mr Obama

    There are two canards that politicians in the West use as an excuse for ignoring the Arab spring. The first is that there is little to choose between the generals and the Islamists. This is just Mubarakism revisited. This newspaper did not want the Islamists to trounce the secular reformers, but they did. The best way to tame the Islamists, as Turkey’s experience shows, is to deny them the moral high ground to which repression elevates them, and condemn them instead to the responsibilities and compromises of day-to-day government.

    The second argument is that Egypt is too complex for the West to influence. The situation is certainly messy; but messages from the outside can be clear and strong. Frequent insistence that the army sticks to its democratic promises could make a difference. The generals thrive on American aid and are plainly nervous about seizing untrammelled power. By pressing them to negotiate with Mr Morsi over a constitution to provide for a new parliament, the United States and Europe could tip the balance in democracy’s favour.

    In Egypt’s confusion, one thing stands out: Egyptians, and Arabs elsewhere, want to run their own affairs. Kings or generals may slow progress to that end, but they cannot stop it.

    Correction: Turkey’s generals blocked a democratically elected government in the 1990s, not the 1980s as originally stated above. This was corrected on June 22nd 2012.

    from the print edition | Leaders

     

    Copyright. 2012. The Economist. All Rights Reserved

  • Europe preview quotes – Ferrari, Force India, Caterham & more21 Jun 2012

    Europe preview quotes – Ferrari, Force India, Caterham & more21 Jun 2012

    Fernando Alonso (ESP) Ferrari. Formula One World Championship, Rd8, European Grand Prix, Preparations, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, 21 June 2012Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari. Formula One World Championship, Rd7, Canadian Grand Prix, Qualifying Day, Montreal, Canada, Saturday, 9 June 2012Paul di Resta (GBR) Force India F1. Formula One World Championship, Rd7, Canadian Grand Prix, Qualifying Day, Montreal, Canada, Saturday, 9 June 2012Nico Hulkenberg (GER) Force India F1 VJM05. Formula One World Championship, Rd5, Spanish Grand Prix, Preparations, Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, 10 May 2012Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) Caterham CT01 Formula One World Championship, Rd5, Spanish Grand Prix, Preparations, Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, 10 May 2012Vitaly Petrov (RUS) Caterham. Formula One World Championship, Rd6, Monaco Grand Prix, Preparations, Monte-Carlo, Monaco, Wednesday, 23 May 2012Timo Glock (GER) Marussia F1 Team on the drivers parade.1 Formula One World Championship, Rd7, Canadian Grand Prix, Race, Montreal, Canada, Sunday, 10 June 2012Charles Pic (FRA) Marussia F1 Team. Formula One World Championship, Rd7, Canadian Grand Prix, Race, Montreal, Canada, Sunday, 10 June 2012John Booth (GBR) Marussia Racing Team Principal. Formula One Testing, Day 2, Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, 22 February 2012Pastor Maldonado (VEN) Williams. Formula One World Championship, Rd6, Monaco Grand Prix, Preparations, Monte-Carlo, Monaco, Wednesday, 23 May 2012Bruno Senna (BRA) Williams. Formula One World Championship, Rd6, Monaco Grand Prix, Race Day, Monte-Carlo, Monaco, Sunday, 27 May 2012Mark Gillan (GBR) Williams F1. Formula One World Championship, Rd 15, Japanese Grand Prix, Practice Day, Suzuka, Japan, Friday, 7 October 2011Paul Hembery (GBR) Pirelli Motorsport Director with FanVision. Formula One World Championship, Rd2, Malaysian Grand Prix, Qualifying, Sepang, Malaysia, Saturday, 24 March 2012Jenson Button (GBR) McLaren on the grid. Formula One World Championship, Rd7, Canadian Grand Prix, Race, Montreal, Canada, Sunday, 10 June 2012Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren. Formula One World Championship, Rd6, Monaco Grand Prix, Race Day, Monte-Carlo, Monaco, Sunday, 27 May 2012Martin Whitmarsh (GBR) McLaren Chief Executive Officer. Formula One World Championship, Rd6, Monaco Grand Prix, Qualifying Day, Monte-Carlo, Monaco, Saturday, 26 May 2012Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Lotus F1. Formula One World Championship, Rd7, Canadian Grand Prix, Preparations, Montreal, Canada, Thursday, 7 June 2012Romain Grosjean (FRA) Lotus F1. Formula One World Championship, Rd7, Canadian Grand Prix, Preparations, Montreal, Canada, Thursday, 7 June 2012(L to R): Eric Boullier (FRA) Lotus F1 Team Principal. Formula One World Championship, Rd1, Australian Grand Prix, Race, Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, 18 March 2012James Allison (GBR) Lotus F1 Technical Director. Formula One World Championship, Rd1, Australian Grand Prix, Practice, Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, Friday, 16 March 2012Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull Racing. Formula One World Championship, Rd7, Canadian Grand Prix, Preparations, Montreal, Canada, Thursday, 7 June 2012Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull Racing. Formula One World Championship, Rd7, Canadian Grand Prix, Qualifying Day, Montreal, Canada, Saturday, 9 June 2012Kamui Kobayashi (JPN) Sauber. Formula One World Championship, Rd5, Spanish Grand Prix, Preparations, Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, 10 May 2012Sergio Perez (MEX) Sauber on a cycle. Formula One World Championship, Rd5, Spanish Grand Prix, Preparations, Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, 10 May 2012Michael Schumacher (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 on a bike. Formula One World Championship, Rd7, Canadian Grand Prix, Preparations, Montreal, Canada, Thursday, 7 June 2012Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1. Formula One World Championship, Rd7, Canadian Grand Prix, Qualifying Day, Montreal, Canada, Saturday, 9 June 2012Ross Brawn (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 Team Principal. Formula One Testing, Day 4, Barcelona, Spain, Friday, 24 February 2012Norbert Haug (GER) Mercedes Sporting Director. Formula One World Championship, Rd 15, Japanese Grand Prix, Practice Day, Suzuka, Japan, Friday, 7 October 2011Pedro De La Rosa (ESP) HRT Formula One Team. Formula One World Championship, Rd7, Canadian Grand Prix, Qualifying Day, Montreal, Canada, Saturday, 9 June 2012Narain Karthikeyan (IND) HRT Formula One Team. Formula One World Championship, Rd3, Chinese Grand Prix Preparations, Shanghai, China, Thursday, 12 April 2012

    After crossing the Atlantic from Canada, the Formula One calendar returns to the teams’ home continent – and HRT’s home country – for the 2012 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe this weekend. The Valencia Street Circuit is made up of long straights and slow corners; overtaking is a difficult challenge; and there isn’t much grip, especially towards the beginning of the weekend. The high temperatures are another key factor. Those involved discuss their prospects…

    Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
    2011 Qualifying – 4th, 2011 Race – 2nd

    “It would be nice to win here in Spain, but in a championship as tight as this, second place would also be good. On the track, I particularly like the final sector while off the circuit, I would say the atmosphere is one of the best with plenty of activities for the public, with concerts and so on and of course the beach is only 100 metres from the paddock!”

    Felipe Massa, Ferrari
    2011 Qualifying – 5th, 2011 Race – 5th

    “I like the track and even if people say it’s a street circuit, it’s not, because the major part of it is more like a permanent circuit, quite wide and not too tight. It always puts you in a positive frame of mind coming to a place where you have won before. So, I hope we can have another good weekend this time, especially given the fact our car is now more competitive in the races and also in qualifying, because we know how important your Saturday afternoon performance can be for the Sunday. You can overtake at Valencia, especially with the DRS, but starting from the front, being able to run at your own pace immediately right from the beginning, changes everything. It means you don’t get stuck behind cars that are quick in qualifying but slower in the race, which can carry a high price.”

    Paul di Resta, Force India
    2011 Qualifying – 12th, 2011 Race – 14th

    “It’s a mix between a street circuit and a normal track and it’s got a lot of corners to go with it – maybe the most corners of any circuit on the calendar. The track is very smooth but it’s tricky to get on top of the set-up and if you don’t find the sweet spot it can make quite a big difference to your lap time across such a long lap. The main challenge is to be strong in the low-speed chicanes and also through the high-speed end of the lap. There are some big braking zones too followed by big traction zones, so the degradation rate is quite high, which is why it’s hard to manage the rear tyres through the race. It’s a fun place to visit. The city has nice architecture, some great restaurants and we stay next to the beach so I sometimes go for a jog in the morning. City races usually provide a good atmosphere on race day and there are always lots of British fans who come along and show their support.”

    Nico Hulkenberg, Force India
    2011 Qualifying – n/a, 2011 Race – n/a

    “My race there in 2010 was not a particularly happy one. There was some bodywork burning away and I eventually had to retire. I’m looking forward to going back to Valencia because I like the track, even though we’ve seen how difficult it is to overtake there. The track has are a few special corners in the final sector of the lap and it’s enjoyable to drive. It’s also quite a long lap with 25 corners so it can be quite difficult to get a perfect lap together.”

    Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal
    “The teams that we have been comparable with in the past few years like Sauber and Williams have been on the podium, and I’m sure our time will come, as long as we get things right. It’s something we need to do sooner rather than later because we are quickly approaching the midway point of the season. I hope we can recapture our form in Valencia, return to the points and demonstrate our potential.”

    Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham
    2011 Qualifying – 19th, 2011 Race – 19th

    “Next up it’s the European Grand Prix in Valencia. The track isn’t my favourite one of the season but it’s another great city to go to and another venue that makes the most of having F1 in town for the whole week so the atmosphere is around the whole event is great.The track itself is another temporary circuit, a sort of semi-street circuit. The track surface is very smooth and the kerbs aren’t really an issue but it is pretty stop / start, so you need to quickly find a good rhythm to manage the series of long straights that end in tight turns, and pay attention to brake wear rates and cooling. The brake cooling options we have for Valencia are similar to Canada but the track in Spain evolves much more over the race weekend than in Montreal so we’ll be looking closely at setup options that mean we can manage tyre degradation levels right through the whole weekend.” 

    Vitaly Petrov, Caterham
    2011 Qualifying – 11th, 2011 Race – 15th

    “It’s always good to get back to Valencia. It’s a city I know well as I lived there for a couple of years while I was racing in GP2 and I have good memories of racing there as I took my first GP2 win in Valencia in 2007. My F1 results so far have not been quite that good, but it’s always a good challenge and one I’m looking forward to getting back to with Caterham F1 Team. I think the Valencia race and the next one at Silverstone could be pretty positive for our team. We have a few updates coming onto the cars at the next two races, and we keep seeing how the gap to the teams ahead is closing, little by little. That is the aim this year – work as hard as we can to get to the point where we’re racing a couple of cars ahead and then see where we go from there. We were closer than ever to Q2 on merit in qualifying in Canada, so let’s see what the upgrades we’re bringing to Valencia and Silverstone help us do.”

    Mark Smith, Caterham technical director
    “The Valencia circuit presents us with a few technical challenges that are similar to a couple of the other tracks we race on. As a temporary street circuit it obviously has big grip evolution over the weekend but the track surface is pretty abrasive, so deg levels are reasonably high throughout every session on track, particularly in FP1 when the surface is very dirty and what we call ‘green’. This means we not only need to manage tyre usage, so we have enough sets of new tyres for race day, it also means we have to work very closely with Renault Sport F1 on maximising traction and giving the drivers setup options that mean they can attack the traction zones after each braking point with confidence. With DRS engaged I suspect we will see similar levels of overtaking to 2011. The difference this year for us is that we expect to be much closer to the cars ahead than we were last year, giving us a chance perhaps to put one of our cars into Q2 and giving the drivers a real chance to race on Sunday. We have a couple of quite significant updates coming in Valencia and Silverstone – we will take a look at a number of new aerodynamic elements in Valencia as well as some minor modifications to the floor, and even though we will not know exactly what they will give us until we get out on track, we are cautiously optimistic they will help us keep edging ever closer to the midfield.” 

    Tony Fernandes, Caterham team principal
    “These are very exciting times for everyone associated with Caterham F1 Team and the wider Caterham Group. At the next two F1 races, in Valencia and Silverstone, we will see the fruits of the hard work being done by everyone at the factory with a number of important upgrades on the cars. While we are honest enough with ourselves to know that these upgrades alone will not be enough to force our way into the midfield pack, we do know it is a statement of our intent to join the group just ahead that we are updating the car at the same rate or even more quickly than our rivals. We have the people and resources in place to achieve our goal of scoring a point this year, and we are edging ever closer to a group of cars that is now tantalisingly close. The F1 team can take inspiration from our GP2 team who had a slightly slow start to the season, but have forced their way into fifth in the teams’ championship and have helped to put Giedo van der Garde into third in the drivers’ standings after he became the first GP2 driver to record a podium in both races in Monaco. They are working incredibly hard in a similar fight to their F1 colleagues, taking on established teams in a series that reqards experience, precision and risk-taking, and their recent run of success is just reward for the efforts the whole team is putting in.”

    Timo Glock, Marussia
    2011 Qualifying – 21st, 2011 Race – 21st

    “Valencia is another street circuit, one that is different to Monaco but which is still very special in its own way in my view. It’s been a great track for me; I think I’m still the lap record holder and it would be nice if it could stay that way a bit longer. Canada was not the best weekend for us and we have to start to get on top of things and have a better weekend. This is normally a very hot race so it’s a tough one for the drivers, but we should all have the fitness level to cope with that aspect of the challenge. I’m looking forward to the weekend ahead and hopeful of a better outcome.”

    Charles Pic, Marussia
    2011 Qualifying – n/a, 2011 Race – n/a

    “The Valencia Street Circuit is a track I have performed well at in GP2 and last year I achieved pole position there. I am optimistic that this will give me a good headstart this weekend, despite this being my first time round in an F1 car, so I should be able to spend less time learning the track and more time focusing on fine-tuning the car balance. I like the track; it’s very interesting and challenging, and although it’s another street circuit, they have all been very different in terms of the characteristics, which has been quite fun. I feel that we’ve had a bit of bad luck in recent races, but I am hoping that Canada marked a turning point and we can look forward to some improved results from here.”

    John Booth, Marussia team principal
    “It’s good to be back in Europe and to be embarking on the next batch of important races. Two of these are ‘home’ Grands Prix – Silverstone for the team and Hockenheim for Timo – and generally we are working hard to improve our performance level before the official summer break creates a natural hiatus for all of the teams. We took a step back in Canada, where our low downforce package was not working well for us. Having spent a great deal of time poring over the data from Montreal, we are hopeful that we can regain some of that ground in Valencia this weekend, starting with an improvement in our qualifying performance in respect to our race pace, in order to improve our prospects on race day. This is by no means a straightforward race. The combination of the requirement for good braking stability and traction, coupled with the higher temperatures we typically experience and the significant level of track evolution over the course of the weekend all present an interesting but tough challenge. Both drivers have performed well in Valencia in the past and seem to have the measure of the track, so we hope they will be able to reap some of the benefits of that experience this weekend.”

    Pastor Maldonado, Williams
    2011 Qualifying – 15th, 2011 Race – 18th

    “Valencia is a challenge for the drivers because it combines a street circuit that’s used by regular road cars throughout the year with sections of regular race track so it can be tricky to achieve the ideal set up. The layout is quite quick with some long straights but there are also some slow corners so finding the right balance will be crucial to doing well. We’re constantly developing the car and it is showing good long run consistency at the moment and hopefully we can improve on the last couple races and pick up some good points.”

    Bruno Senna, Williams
    2011 Qualifying – n/a, 2011 Race – n/a

    “Street circuits are always challenging for a driver and Valencia is certainly no different, requiring decent straight line speed combined with an efficient braking system to cope with the heavy braking areas. Our pace in Canada was not really reflective of the cars potential, but we’ve been working hard to understand the reasons why and hopefully we can put that behind us and gain a stronger result here.”

    Mark Gillan, Williams chief operations engineer
    “Following the last two sets of race results we are keen to continue to demonstrate our team’s improvement and ensure both cars come home in the points. Valencia proves a difficult track for both driver and car and with the expected large track evolution throughout the weekend tyre management will once more be crucial. Pirelli bring the medium and soft compounds to this race, a pairing that was last used in Bahrain. The track layout places a lot of stress on the braking system and the high ambient temperatures, coupled with a lower than average mean speed, forces one to open up the cooling package.”

    Remi Taffin, head of Renault Sport F1 track operations
    “It’s actually a big challenge to get the engine mapping right for Valencia as the corners are so similar. Ten corners are taken in first, second or third gear, and if you get one corner wrong then you will be at a disadvantage for the rest of the lap. Typically delivering this driveability at low torque and mid revs is one of the strengths of the Renault engine as our engineers are adept at tuning drive maps to deliver torque smoothly to help the driver control slip ratio and tyre wear.”

    Pirelli
    Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director

    “Valencia could not present a bigger contrast to the street circuits that have come before it: the track is faster and the temperatures higher, with plenty of energy going through the tyres. What it has in common with the others is the difficulty of overtaking, which will put the emphasis on qualifying. So we are expecting a fairly straightforward race, with either two or three stops depending on which tactics the teams use – although one team tried a one-stopper last year as well. The weather should be consistently warm throughout the weekend, which should lead to fewer variables in terms of temperature, so there probably won’t be many big surprises to emerge. We’ve used the combination of soft and medium tyres more than any other line-up so far this year, as it has shown itself to be a perfect compromise between performance and durability, allowing drivers to show their speed when they need to but also benefit from longer stints in the race.”

    Jenson Button, McLaren
    2011 Qualifying – 6th, 2011 Race – 6th

    “Canada was just one of those weekends where things didn’t come together – after some difficult races, I really needed the track time on Friday to find a clearer direction with the set-up, and, unfortunately, that didn’t happen due to a number of technical issues. And I think that set the tone for the rest of the weekend: we lacked the data we needed to tackle the race and we struggled. Still, there were important lessons to be learned from those issues, and we addressed everything back at MTC once we’d returned from Canada in a bid to get a clearer direction for Valencia next weekend. A day like that is enormously productive and I think we covered a lot of ground. The last few races haven’t delivered the results I’d like, but there are still 13 races to go. We’ve had seven different winners and no clear championship leader has emerged, so I’ll be looking to get a decent result under my belt next weekend in order to get my title bid back on track. I know just how strong Vodafone McLaren Mercedes can be. Valencia is a track I really enjoy; I’ve already won on a street circuit this year so I’m definitely optimistic about having a great weekend and picking up the momentum again in the title fight.”

    Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
    2011 Qualifying – 3rd, 2011 Race – 4th

    “My win in Montreal was obviously an extremely satisfying moment for me – but, actually, it does very little to alter things in the world championship. Firstly, while it’s always pleasing to be leading the championship, I’m only two points ahead of Fernando [Alonso] – which is nothing, particularly when there are a handful of really strong drivers all separated by a couple of points, so there’s still everything to play for. Secondly, the intensity of this year’s championship means there’s so little breathing space – we may have won in Canada, but there’s an enormous amount of pressure to keep racking up good results at every Grand Prix. I think that consistency, rather than individual strong results, will be the key to winning this world championship, so we need to back it up in Valencia with another strong result. The circuit is quite tough – it’s a very technical track, with lots of slow- to medium-speed corners that require good traction and set-up as well as lots of precision. Towards the end of the lap, the track gathers speed and opens up, the sweepers leading to the pits are actually incredibly fast, and they’re all about correct placement of the car to ensure you’re well placed for the following corner. That’s probably the most satisfying part of the lap. People are always asking me to predict what will happen at the next race and I always tell them it’s really difficult to make an accurate prediction – but I’ll be heading to Valencia feeling super-motivated to get another strong result and maintain my momentum before we head into Silverstone and the Santander British Grand Prix.”

    Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren team principal
    “Victory in Montreal last weekend was extremely satisfying, and, while you’re only as good as your last result in F1, it’s done nothing to quell our determination ahead of next weekend’s European Grand Prix – which has traditionally been an extremely tough event. The city itself is an exciting edgy blend of the classical and the ultra-contemporary, and, as such, a perfect locale for one of Formula One’s newest races. Given that the delta between ourselves, Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG and Red Bull Racing is so narrow, we’ll once again be pushing hard on both our operational and technical fronts to ensure we stay at the front. As always, we aim to bring at least an additional one-tenth [of a second] lap time benefit to each race, and we’re pushing hard to ensure we can over-deliver on that on as regular a basis as possible. It may sound like a negligible increment, but it could prove to be the difference between winning and losing the world championship. It’s certainly feasible that this year’s title could be won by a driver who scores only two or three Grand Prix wins, but who reinforces those victories with the most consistently solid approach. So, whereas in previous years, there was an emphasis on the ‘big’ results, this year it seems that minor points placings could provide a decisive edge in the title battle.”

    Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus
    2011 Qualifying – n/a, 2011 Race – n/a

    “Valencia is a street circuit, but the layout is not like Albert Park, Monaco or Montreal. It’s definitely the fastest track of these four. It’s likely to be hot and we seem to go well in warm conditions so that’s what we’ll be hoping for. Qualifying is going to be very, very important again here. Obviously, there will be an advantage to starting on the clean side of the track as the streets are only used as a circuit once each year. It’s not an easy place to overtake and we’ll have to see how much help the DRS will be. Valencia is all about being very consistent. It’s so easy to lose time with small mistakes. I love winning and that’s what I’m always trying for. I’ve never won in Valencia, so it’s a good target. Last time I raced in Valencia I finished in third after starting from sixth on the grid which was not too bad.”

    Romain Grosjean, Lotus
    2011 Qualifying – n/a, 2011 Race – n/a

    “I made my Formula One debut here in 2009, so it brings back good memories and it’s a circuit I like anyway. There’s always a great atmosphere too; the city centre is obviously very close, and the America’s Cup harbour is a really nice place to go. The track itself it quite interesting; there are a few second / third gear corners, some high speed sectors, heavy braking zones and usually good weather too so on paper it’s a circuit that could suit us quite well. Hopefully this will be the case!

    “Strategy will be quite different here I think; it won’t be one stop like in Montreal that’s for sure! It’s usually been very hot here in the past so combined with the rough track that’s often led to a three-stop strategy. Hopefully we’ll have consistent conditions throughout the weekend so we can get as much experience as possible before the race.

    “I had a podium in the first GP2 race here in 2008 and was leading the second race until somebody took me out! Then I managed to win in 2011, so it’s a circuit I’m comfortable with for sure. It definitely helps to know the track already as it usually takes less time to get up to speed and you have a rough idea of where the braking points, turn ins and so on will be. Of course, Formula One is always a bit different but at least I have some guidelines going into the weekend.

    “We have to go into every weekend aiming for a win; approaching a race in any other way is like putting yourself on the back foot from the start. I’m mainly hoping for an improvement in qualifying, a good start and then we’ll see what happens from there. It’s great to be fighting at the front and that’s always what we want to do, but we’re in a tight battle this season so of course the most important thing is to score some good points again for the team. If we have a strong weekend from the start then I think we are capable of fighting for a podium or even a win. We’ll see after qualifying where we are; hopefully we can get another good result!”

    Eric Boullier, Lotus team principal
    “The tyres will be different, with the soft and medium compounds available. We’ll have to get used to these again. This said the track temperature should be high, the surface is more abrasive than Montreal, and there are also more corners per lap. All this could suit the E20 quite well. This said, we need to improve our qualifying pace and also the way the car performs when the temperature drops. We’ve got some ideas already. Some of them will be implemented in Valencia and we’ll see how it goes.”

    James Allison, Lotus technical director
    “Valencia is not exactly famous for challenging corners, but it definitely has a few more than Canada. The tarmac on the streets of Valencia is a little big rougher and it tends to be roasting hot at this time of year; these are all factors which tend to suit us. Montreal was one of the circuits I had concerns about in terms of playing to the strengths of the E20, but we ran pretty well there. Hopefully with Valencia being more in our direction we can produce another good result. We’re generally looking forward to the summer, but having said that it’s not as if we need the temperature to be scorching. Forty degrees track temperature, as we’d expect to see in Valencia, is not a roasting hot track by any means; it can get a lot warmer than that. I honestly don’t believe there’s been a race this year where we’ve been incapable of getting a podium on merit. Let’s hope Valencia proves to be the same.”

    Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
    2011 Qualifying – 1st, 2011 Race – 1st

    “In Valencia, we drive an average of more than 200kph, which means it’s one of the fastest street circuits in Formula One. Overtaking is possible, but only with some risk. The reason is that the air turbulence created by cars driving closely behind each other doesn’t disappear as it normally would due to the high walls around the track; you lose grip and, in some extreme cases, you have to lift the throttle. The start-finish straight in Valencia is special because it‘s not very long, it turns into a fast right corner which we take at 290kph.”

    Mark Webber, Red Bull
    2011 Qualifying – 2nd, 2011 Race – 3rd

    “Obviously it’s very difficult to predict how we might go in Valencia, as we’ve clearly seen with seven winners and plenty of different podiums. Our main goal is to improve our positions in both championships, so personally for me in the Drivers’ Championship and of course the team is looking to keep a good margin in the Constructors’. I know everyone in Milton Keynes has been working incredibly hard in between the two races.”

    Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber
    2011 Qualifying – 14th, 2011 Race – 16th

    “In Valencia it is usually very hot. I personally like that, but it is difficult to say what it means for the car and the tyres. It will be tough, that much is certain. Tyre management will be the key, together with a good race strategy. The street circuit also requires a decent amount of downforce for the car. You are always quite close to the walls, but after our last two races in Monaco and Montreal this is nothing new. Overtaking is not easy but not impossible either. In 2010 it was actually good fun. Valencia as a city is a nice destination by many measure, I would happily choose it for my holidays. By the way, you can also get the best fresh squeezed orange juice there. However, my target is a strong qualifying as well as a strong race.”

    Sergio Perez, Sauber
    2011 Qualifying – 16th, 2011 Race – 11th

    “I enjoyed the Montreal result very much and I want more of that. I like the track in Valencia a lot and also the atmosphere during the race weekend, as we are quite close to the fans. I don’t have the best memories of my Formula One debut race in Valencia, as it was last year and a very difficult one for me. I was returning to racing after my heavy shunt in Monaco and, in hindsight, I have to admit I don’t think I was fit enough. I didn’t feel well at all. The Valencia street circuit has quite long straights with hard braking into the corners, and what we have learnt from Montreal will be important for that.”

    Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Sauber head of track engineering
    “Valencia is a street circuit, but not a typical one, because the surface is very smooth, and the kerbs are not very high. In addition, the aerodynamic efficiency is significantly more important than, for example, in Monaco or Singapore, and there are proper run-off areas. Most of the corners are slow, but you cannot ignore the level of top speed. As a result of this layout, braking stability and traction are very important. In Valencia we have to expect high temperatures at this time of the year, so the tarmac can get very hot. Pirelli is supplying us with the medium and the soft compound tyres, which have changed a bit since last year and may need us to look at a slightly different strategy for them. Rear degradation could be an issue. Overtaking is not easy on this track, therefore qualifying is of particular importance. The car is basically unchanged since Montreal, however, we might run a higher level of downforce.”

    Michael Schumacher, Mercedes
    2011 Qualifying – 8th, 2011 Race – 17th

    “Our entire focus is now on the race in Valencia, and I am sure that everybody’s motivation is even stronger because the weekend in Canada didn’t go as well as we had hoped. Our motto in the last few days has been to roll our sleeves up and focus on the job in hand; everybody in the team has taken that approach to heart, so we can travel to Valencia in an optimistic mood. The harbour area is particularly nice and, given its location, the circuit is also really interesting, so let’s see how we can perform there. You can still feel some of the atmosphere from the America’s Cup in Valencia, which makes this race a special event that we always enjoy taking part in.”

    Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
    2011 Qualifying – 7th, 2011 Race – 7th

    “Valencia is a pretty cool city and it’s always nice to visit there. The track is another street circuit but it’s quite a unique one as it is quicker and has a more open feel than somewhere like Monaco or Singapore. The layout is also kind of like Montreal so it should be a circuit which suits our car. I was at the factory this week and I know how hard everyone is working to improve the car, so we will hope for a strong weekend in Valencia to repay all of their efforts.”

    Ross Brawn, Mercedes team principal
    “The calendar returns to Europe next weekend with our visit to the Valencia Street Circuit in Spain. The performance of our car and our tyre management were generally good in Canada, however our competitiveness was compromised by reliability problems and mistakes.
    This is a disappointment that is deeply felt by everyone in our team, and we have been working hard to ensure we understand the reasons and deal with them. Achieving zero-defect reliability is our highest priority. The opportunities available if we can give both drivers a reliable car and a clean weekend are clear.”

    Norbert Haug, Vice-President, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
    “The European Grand Prix will be the third consecutive race on a temporary circuit after Monaco and Canada. Seven corners are taken below 100 km/h but straight line speeds are similar to Canada, and the cars brake from over 285 km/h to under 100 km/h on five different occasions around the lap. The weather is usually hot and sunny, which is naturally reflected in high track temperatures. Nico’s race and his lap times in Canada, where track temperatures exceeded 40 degrees, showed that our car can cope well with such extreme conditions when running the appropriate set-up. Our priority for the next race is to achieve the same standard of reliability for Michael’s car that we have seen so far this year with Nico’s, who has completed all racing laps so far this season. Since his win at the Chinese Grand Prix on 15 April, no other driver has scored more points than Nico. The target is to continue that trend.”

    Pedro de la Rosa, HRT
    2011 Qualifying – n/a, 2011 Race – n/a

    “Just like in Barcelona, I’m really looking forward to racing in front of our home fans in Valencia. At the Valencia Street Circuit we will encounter high air and track temperatures so the brakes will be put through their paces once again, but we’re confident we can make the necessary modifications to overcome the problems we experienced in Canada. Valencia has long straights but overtaking isn’t easy and it is a high-downforce track. I think we can do quite well here, although it’s not as favourable to our car as Canada, because there are a lot of braking areas and slow corners which are good for us. We’re looking forward to putting in a good performance in front of our fans and we want to continue with our progress from the last few races, where we’ve been at a good standard, but here we want to confirm this improvement in the race.”

    Narain Karthikeyan, HRT
    2011 Qualifying – 24th, 2011 Race – 24th

    “Valencia will be our third street circuit in a row, and our team’s second home race. It is our second visit to Spain in just about five weeks but the circuit is as different as it could be compared to Barcelona. It shares some characteristics with Montreal and Monte Carlo, like emphasis on low-speed traction so I expect our car to do well here. Apart from that, it is a beautiful place and weather is pretty hot, just like India, but the track itself isn’t a huge challenge. Yes the walls are close but the adrenaline factor isn’t close to Monaco or even Montreal. But on the back of the promise we showed in Canada, I’m looking forward to the race and hopefully we’ll have a chance to build on it this time.”

    Luis Perez-Sala, HRT team principal
    “We’re looking forward to racing in Valencia, as it will be the second time we do so at home this season. In Canada we were quick and performed well but were unable to finish the race. In Valencia we want to confirm this progress and achieve a good result, plus doing so in front of the Spanish public is even more special. I think that the characteristics of this circuit adapt well to our car and I hope we have good reliability and finish the race with a positive result.”

    More to follow.

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  • DROPPED NAMES Frank Langella and the Affairs He Experienced in His Life.

    National General Pictures/Getty Images

    Frank Langella in a scene from the 1971 film “The Deadly Trap.”                           

     

    DROPPED NAMES

    Famous Men and Women as I Knew Them

    By Frank Langella

    356 pp. Harper/HarperCollins Publishers. $25.99.

     

    April 20, 2012
     

     

     

    By ADA CALHOUN

    DROPPED NAMES

    Famous Men and Women as I Knew Them

    By Frank Langella

    356 pp. Harper/HarperCollins Publishers. $25.99.

    Judging by this satisfyingly scandalous new memoir, Frank Langella has slept with, been propositioned by, or at least swapped dirty jokes with a breathtaking swath of stars over his illustrious half-century career. Each of the 65 chapters in “Dropped Names” offers a no-holds-barred eulogy somewhere between mash note and carpet-bombing. The collection paints Hollywood and Broadway as teeming with vulgar, neurotic and irresistible company, and Langella as relentlessly affable in the face of nonstop groping by famous people in far-flung locations. He ambles into history and falls into notable beds like some kind of sexy Forrest Gump or beefcake Zelig.       

    On Cape Cod, Noël Coward hits on him in the presence of President and Mrs. Kennedy. In Arizona, filming a TV remake of “The Mark of Zorro,” Yvonne De Carlo (better known as Lily Munster) plays Langella’s mother by day, and by night treats him “like a pretty girl in the back seat of a convertible on a hot summer night.” In the south of England, on location for “Dracula,” Langella flashes Laurence Olivier through the doorway of their adjoining suites, calling, “Oh professor, see anything you like?” He and Jill Clayburgh come “dangerously close to a tumble,” and backstage they and Raul Julia become “a pulsating Oreo cookie with nothing remotely chaste about where our hands and mouths wandered.” The book’s subtitle should be “Bad Girls Go Everywhere,” although Langella is no girl — as Anthony Perkins rather bluntly attempts to verify one night in a dressing room.       

    Aside from a little coyness about his intimate relationship with Jackie Onassis, Langella pulls very few punches. Richard Burton is “a crashing bore”; Yul Brynner is paranoid and imperious; Rex Harrison, a “son of a bitch”; Lee Strasberg, “arrogant and insufferable.” Langella is “flattered and somewhat perversely titillated” when Elia Kazan makes a pass at his girlfriend in an effort to break him down, but of Kazan’s other bad behavior, before the House Un-American Activities Committee, he says, “I have always felt that talent such as his doesn’t give you rights.” Langella recalls sitting with his hands folded when Kazan received a standing ovation at the Oscars.       

    Luckily for others, Langella is as enthusiastic as he is vicious. He celebrates Robert Mitchum’s “carefree, rangy masculinity,” Roger Vadim’s “devotion to physical pleasure,” and Paul Newman’s “original and mesmerizing” beauty (although he does call him “dull” and note that he didn’t have “much of a behind”). Langella saves his highest praise for women of a certain age — that age entitling one to a discount at the movies. Loretta Young in her late 70s was “breathtaking . . . very attractive.” Brooke Astor in her late 90s was “ultra­feminine and alluring” — and in Langella’s company not shy about relating how she lost her virginity. He waxes philosophical about his on-set affair with Rita Hayworth when he was 34. It was her last film. She was 20 years older and suffering from alcoholism and early Alzheimer’s, yet, “in the candle’s light and fire’s glow,” Hayworth “once again becomes the Goddess.” If this memoir doesn’t make the book club of every seniors’ home in America, then there’s something wrong with the Greatest Generation.       

    While never boring, “Dropped Names” is in places more sketch than oil painting. The ode to Princess Diana, whom Langella never met, is a weak link, as is his opening chapter on Marilyn Monroe, which leads with the generic: “Remember when everything meant so much?” There are a few distracting repetitions, including at least 10 variations on the phrase “minimal makeup.” (Perhaps he’s spent so much time surrounded by stars in greasepaint that whenever he sees a woman’s pores, he exults.) But the book’s stylistic imperfections add to the sense that you’re reading the uncensored diary of an indefatigably social and curious man, a modern-entertainment-industry Samuel Pepys. Narcissistic? Sure. He grants that he was especially “selfish and obstreperous” in his youth. But he’s inspiringly game.       

    The word “slut” has been invoked in the public discourse as an ugly slur. But Langella’s book celebrates sluttiness as a worthy — even noble — way of life. When Bette Davis wants to have “racy phone conversations . . . rife with foreplay,” he agrees, because how could you not? When Elizabeth Taylor says, “Come on up, baby, and put me to sleep,” who is he to resist? (He does make her chase him first.) By his cheerful debauchery, Langella reveals something certain commentators have obscured: sluts are the best — hungry for experience and generous with themselves in its pursuit. He talks about how joyful it was in his 20s to “throw some scripts, jeans and a few packs of condoms into a bag,” and head out to do plays and bed theater ­apprentices.       

    There is so much happy sexuality in this book that reading it is like being flirted with for a whole party by the hottest person in the room. It’s no wonder Langella was invited everywhere.       

    Ada Calhoun is a co-author (with Tim Gunn) of “Gunn’s Golden Rules,” the author of “Instinctive Parenting” and a frequent contributor to the Book Review

     

    Copyright. 2012. The New York Times Company. All Rights Reserved

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