International Hijinks

So it was me, a Korean, a Japanese, an Indian and a Hong Kong native; we were in a Korean fusion restaurant.

Things got really awkward when the waitress came and the only person who can speak Cantonese was in the washroom.

Just for fun we were like, "sorry we don't speak Cantonese..Korean? Can you use Korean?"

"Sorry no Korean"

So I had to use my Mandarin..

We were still conferring in English though: "Ask them if they have soju" "What the fuck is soju in Chinese? ..uh..有韓國白酒嗎？" lit. is there any Korean liquor?

When our Hong Kong guy came back, the properly confused waitress complimented him on his Cantonese.

"Uh..thanks, I'm from here"

I'm waiting for F1 to reintroduce gas turbines

I think a gas turbine electric drive would be great for F1. I know it was tried before, but I think those cars were just ahead of their time, we have the technology now to exploit their potential.

As one might know, gas turbines are not very efficient. That's one disadvantage. And it's exacerbated when the engine is running off peak load as the massive compressor takes a lot of energy to run even on idle.

Another is the response lag when throttling a turbine engine.

There is a big advantage to gas turbines though: they have incredible power to weight ratio.

So optimally, you want to be running the turbine at its peak load all the time. An electric drive allows you to store energy when you don't need it, and delivers massive torque. It's a great combination.

Of course, F1 wouldn't be so eager to change their rules. But it's cool to think about.