Wien, September 2006. Schneider-Kreuznach 23mm f/2.8 lens. (c) Markus Ehrenfried

 

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Recommended links:

 

Favourite toy at the moment:
 

I bought a second XJ12 as rolling spare part depot for the restoration of my favourite cat. Now everybody keeps telling me the military camouflage Jag would be so cool that I shouldn't rip it apart. Perhaps I should buy a third one for the spare parts I need? ;-)

This is the other one:


 

Both are XJ12 Series III models with 12-cylinder 300 horsepower 5.3 litre engines. The one in the lower picture is the latest model of the Series III labeled HE which stands for high efficiency. It needs only between 8 and 11 liters fuel per 50 km. It develops a maximum torque of 407 Nm @ 4500 rpm, accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 7.6 seconds and has a maximum speed of 243 km/h (which is remarkable considering the weight of 2 tonnes!). Of course the technology is more than one decade behind my BMW 740iA (no ABS, no traction slip control, no airbags and a C-Net phone for which the network service was shut down in the meantime ;-)), but it still is the most comfortable and beautifully designed car I've ever driven.

     "The Jag is still the big saloon which delivers the finest compromise between ride refinement and flat cornering, with bags of grip. Its shape has been developed in detail to a point where it looks quite beautiful alongside the teardrop-shaped, flush-glazed cars that are starting to predominate in executive car parks. Its interior has the finest combination of 'British' attributes - leather and wood - of any car this side of the out-of-court Rolls-Royces. And even after a production life exceeding 15years, it is still a triumph for British engineering. [...]
 
     The enormous performance of the Jaguar V12 takes some getting used to, whatever car you've been driving. It's as if the car, capable of a 0-60mph sprint in around 7.0sec, is on the end of a huge elastic strap, and the breakes are released. The car leaps forward, but there's no accompanying noise, just a hum. The road speeds by, but there are no thumps from underneath, no road shocks. But the machine's progress, so unfailingly effortless that it's difficult at first to believe your milometer or your maps, is at the cost of unreasonable fuel consumption; even with the latest 'HE' cylinder heads, the V12 rarely returns better than 16mpg when used seriously.

     Still, we believe the Jaguar Souvereign HE will eventually be seen as one of the greatest cars of 1985, perhaps more desirable even than the Jaguars of 1986."

   -- CAR Magazine, February 1985



I started a photo blog.

 

Canon 100mm Macro Lens with MR-14EX Macro Flash. (c) Markus Ehrenfried
Click on the picture above to go to my galleries hosted on photo.net
 

 


The shortcut
Apple + i
in Safari will open a new e-mail containing the currently viewed webpage.

  • iPodlounge is a great website concerning everything around the Apple iPod.
  • How to treat Lithium-ion Batteries (@apple.com)
  • iPod Hacks and the iPod Battery FAQ are also useful.
  • iPod review at Stereophile
  • If your Mac 'freezes' while synchronising the iPod Mac OS X didn't crash -- just disconnect your iSight for a second and everything will be fine again. Please, dear Mac OS X programmers at Apple, can't you finally fix this interference between those two firewire devices?? This really get's annoying! (And yes, I installed the latest updates of the iPod/iSight/OS X software!)
  • Patent Application for the iPod user interface.
  • CDDB: Feel the Pain

     

Favourite drug at the moment... :-)



Markus Ehrenfried was born in the 20th century and he will die in the 21st. He lives somewhere in the northern hemisphere. More than 99.9% of his mass consists of protons and neutrons which is why he thinks it is important to understand their spin structure. He is thankful that quarks end electrons have a spin of 1/2 -- especially considering that the world would be a pretty boring place if quarks and electrons had integral spin. Markus admires the second law of thermodynamics and tries to comply with it whenever possible. He consumes a considerable amount of caffeine every day and likes cake, cookies and waffles.