Slashdot Mirror
Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race
YetAnotherName writes "Both Wired Magazine and Tom Jones have coverage of the East Coast Championship Kinetic Sculpture Race 2003. Contestants plant tongue firmly into cheek, construct, and race bizarre human-powered vehicles across a variety of terrains. Notable vehicles included a 13-foot high pink poodle and a giant eyeball. Special rules this year required contestants to carry a sock-puppet on board. The winner this year? RTFA."
It's not unusual to be human propelled by anyone.....
im sorry....i couldnt help it.
xao
xao
http://TheHillforum.hopto.org
Word to your mothership!
My sweet Eugenia. She's the most beautiful girl in the world, and you can't have her!
And I thought pumpkin launching was a waste of time. At least their kinetic launchers can kill people; Fifi doesn't exactly strike awe or terror into the onlookers.
For those of you who actually pay for Slashdot, I thought that I'd tell you about the banner ad that I'm currently viewing:
EXPLORE * INVENT * CONNECT
O'Reilly EMERGING TECHNOLOGY Conference
April 22-25, Santa Clara, CA
He's preparing for the big show after the aliens come and destroy the planet...
Tying a wagon to the back of a bike does not a kinetic sculpture make.
I have been pwned because my
Someone decides to race a poodle.
This should be under the more-money-than-brains category.
You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
I liken the recent rebirth, revelations, and renaissance of trolling on Slashdot to the soon-to-be-classic epic battle between Neo (played by actor Keanu Reeves) and the rogue virus Agent Smith (portrayed by the esteemed actor Hugo Weaving).
In this climactic and feverishly pitched battle, a rejuvenated Agent Smith confronts Neo. Neo (cmdr taco) has increased his power (anti troll filters) exponentially. Agent Smith (troll) has since developed the ability to infect the "shells" of others, a process which he uses to effectively multiply. At the outset of the battle, Agent Smith attempts to first infect Neo and spread into his "system". The troll filters prove amiable, and Neo easily repels this clever initial attack. Undaunted, the troll (Agent Smith) seeks to gain assistance from those in his surrounding environment. With the most excellent and well placed of trollings, Agent Smith captures the hearts and minds of many others, effectively creating an army in his own image (Trollkore, CLIT, You Fail It, IN SOVIET RUSSIA, etc).
This new army of Agent Smiths pour down upon Neo in a glorious wave of absurdity, brutal character attacks, vulgar ASCII imagery, and unprecedented and unusual tales of sexual escapades. The ensuing melee is a remarkable epic of good vs. evil, as the many trolls continue to pour down upon cmdr taco, seeking to defeat him with an avalanche of numbers. The outcome to this bitter rivalry has yet to be seen.
Which is where we find ourselves tonight gentlemen.
This is a war, and we are soldiers.
...without mention of the Boulder Kinetics race, which has been run every year since 1979. While not the original according to this page, it still predates Baltimore's by 19 years.
bz should never have responded to the silly question about quetion marks.
I was just curious as to what everyone would choose as their "Homemade Sock Creature". (Required at all times). I personally would probably choose one that could beat up on the other puppets, thus claiming a puppet victory.
I was expecting a rendition of "It's Not Unusual" or Delilah. pfh!
The judges don't have to perform any complicated calculations to figure out who the winner is -- the rules suggest that they can simply give the title to whomever hands out the best bribes.
had been wondering what figure skating judges do in the off season...I'm making a giant bike sculpture powered by a dog.
Mine will be pulled by jews and spritely negroes.
Can't get enough of that Zyklon-B...
I would have entered a Nissan Micra...ofcourse with my tounge firmly in my cheek because I would only ever drive one for a kinetic sculpture competition!
I think the poodle people are doing better than this guy
I love the smell of Karma in the morning
Could you put bumper stickers on your vehicle? Like "My sock puppet slept with your honor student?" or "Pets.com on board"
- gtaluvit (prnc. GOT-tuh-LUV-it)
You know things are bad when you have to be reminded to RTFA in the /. article.
Come now, lets give the skating judges a little more credit. They have to come up with a number between 1 and 10 at least! ;)
Additionally, spectators "may not throw their bodies in the path of oncoming sculptures,"
Well, there go all my Death Race 2000-inspired contraptions.
The coolest voice ever.
This is what brilliant engineering students who have taken too much acid end up doing for fun.
It is our destiny.
I believe this night holds, for each and everyone of use, the very meaning of our lives.
This is a war, and we are soldiers.
What if tommorow the war could be over?
Isn't that worth fighting for?
Isn't that worth trolling for?
I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to make this post and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you, a world without troll filters and non-alphabet character limits, or repetitious character filters, a world where any form of trolling is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you.
Blah blah blah blah blah
cause there ain't no doubt I love this laaaaaand
God bless the (bang!)
splat
Music Industry Sends Warning to Song Swappers
...When you break the law, you risk legal penalties. There is a simple way to avoid that risk: DON'T STEAL MUSIC either by offering it to others to copy or downloading it on a 'file-sharing' system like this. When you offer music on these systems, you are not anonymous and you can easily be identified."
By Sue Zeidler
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/030429/3/3akqc.html
ADVERTISEMENT Ringtone Operator Logo Picture Message
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The record industry opened a new front in its war against online piracy on Tuesday by surprising hundreds of thousands of Internet song swappers with an instant message warning that they could be "easily" identified and face "legal penalties" for their actions.
About 200,000 users of the Grokster and Kazaa file-sharing services received the warning notice on Tuesday and millions more will get notices in coming weeks, said Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the music companies.
The message said in part: "It appears that you are offering copyrighted music to others from your computer.
The mass messaging came after a federal judge on Friday delivered a setback to the music industry's efforts to shut down song-swapping services, and a day after Apple Computer Inc. unveiled an online music store aimed at wooing users from the free networks.
U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson on Friday ruled the Grokster and Morpheus services should not be shut down because they cannot control what is traded over their systems.
Trade groups for the movie studios and record labels said they would appeal the ruling, the first significant legal setback for the entertainment industry in its battle against the popular "peer-to-peer" services that allow users to download files for free.
The RIAA's Sherman said that while the messaging effort was planned long ago, the timing was fortunate since some song swappers might misinterpret Friday's ruling to mean that copyright infringement was legal.
The move immediately angered some Internet users.
"Way to go, RIAA. Sue and threaten the public, your customers. I think I'll go and download," one posting on Yahoo said.
Sharman Networks Ltd, the Australian firm that owns Kazaa, said in a statement, said that rather than cooperating with the file-sharing network "the RIAA continues to choose to attack some of its most loyal customers."
Sharman said it objected to any effort to enforce copyrights that violated the law, its own user agreements or that would "indiscriminately spam, mislead or confuse."
Meanwhile, Verizon Communications, embroiled in a separate copyright infringement suit with the recording industry, said the move undermined the RIAA's argument in that case.
Last week, Verizon suffered a setback when a U.S. court said the phone company must reveal the names of customers suspected of downloading copyrighted songs from the Internet without permission.
The RIAA argued that Verizon is obligated under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act to help the music industry protect its copyrights. Verizon says it is willing to help, but argued that the law only applies to Web pages stored on its computers, not traffic on the "peer-to-peer" networks that merely travel across its wires.
Sarah Deutsch, an attorney for Verizon on Tuesday, said that the RIAA has said they could not contact users on their own.
"I think this undermines their case because now they are acknowledging they can contact the users on a massive scale," she said.
Its not the first time the recording industry has targeted individual users. In April, the RIAA sued four students who were operating networks on three college campuses where it claims the networks were being used to illegally trade copies of music files.
The warning on Tuesday was sent by the RIAA on behalf of the world's big record labels owned by AOL T
Did anyone else think there should have been a tux present at their silly little race?
Fnord.sig
You know it's bad when you find out about this on Slashdot and it went right past your house...
Me wonders what I did Friday night...
BTW, the sock puppet is NOT a new rule. Infact we have won for best sock puppet I believe 3 of the years.. (don't quote me on that.)
For more information on the Dumpster Divers, and related project(s) you can check http://www.pleasetake.org/
Infact I'm going down there in May for a party with some of the other kinetic racers and friends.
[ed. note: in the following text, former FreeBSD developer Mike Smith gives his reasons for abandoning FreeBSD]
When I stood for election to the FreeBSD core team nearly two years ago, many of you will recall that it was after a long series of debates during which I maintained that too much organisation, too many rules and too much formality would be a bad thing for the project.
Today, as I read the latest discussions on the future of the FreeBSD project, I see the same problem; a few new faces and many of the old going over the same tired arguments and suggesting variations on the same worthless schemes. Frankly I'm sick of it.
FreeBSD used to be fun. It used to be about doing things the right way. It used to be something that you could sink your teeth into when the mundane chores of programming for a living got you down. It was something cool and exciting; a way to spend your spare time on an endeavour you loved that was at the same time wholesome and worthwhile.
It's not anymore. It's about bylaws and committees and reports and milestones, telling others what to do and doing what you're told. It's about who can rant the longest or shout the loudest or mislead the most people into a bloc in order to legitimise doing what they think is best. Individuals notwithstanding, the project as a whole has lost track of where it's going, and has instead become obsessed with process and mechanics.
So I'm leaving core. I don't want to feel like I should be "doing something" about a project that has lost interest in having something done for it. I don't have the energy to fight what has clearly become a losing battle; I have a life to live and a job to keep, and I won't achieve any of the goals I personally consider worthwhile if I remain obligated to care for the project.
Discussion
I'm sure that I've offended some people already; I'm sure that by the time I'm done here, I'll have offended more. If you feel a need to play to the crowd in your replies rather than make a sincere effort to address the problems I'm discussing here, please do us the courtesy of playing your politics openly.
From a technical perspective, the project faces a set of challenges that significantly outstrips our ability to deliver. Some of the resources that we need to address these challenges are tied up in the fruitless metadiscussions that have raged since we made the mistake of electing officers. Others have left in disgust, or been driven out by the culture of abuse and distraction that has grown up since then. More may well remain available to recruitment, but while the project is busy infighting our chances for successful outreach are sorely diminished.
There's no simple solution to this. For the project to move forward, one or the other of the warring philosophies must win out; either the project returns to its laid-back roots and gets on with the work, or it transforms into a super-organised engineering project and executes a brilliant plan to deliver what, ultimately, we all know we want.
Whatever path is chosen, whatever balance is struck, the choosing and the striking are the important parts. The current indecision and endless conflict are incompatible with any sort of progress.
Trying to dissect the above is far beyond the scope of any parting shot, no matter how distended. All I can really ask of you all is to let go of the minutiae for a moment and take a look at the big picture. What is the ultimate goal here? How can we get there with as little overhead as possible? How would you like to be treated by your fellow travellers?
Shouts
To the Slashdot "BSD is dying" crowd - big deal. Death is part of the cycle; take a look at your soft, pallid bodies and consider that right this very moment, parts of you are dying. See? It's not so bad.
To the bulk of the FreeBSD committerbase and the developer community at large - keep your eyes on the real goals. It'
whats with the ask slashdot? aren't we supposed to be able to post replies?
YOU SUCK BALLS!
I drove by this last weekend and had no idea what these folks were up to. Alas my curiosity is satisfied.
I thought it was a kid thing... turns out it was a big kid thing.
Oh, and those are weird sculptures.
take a look here
Rule 2.01a requires you to carry a "comforting item of psychological luxury". Get your own ideas Baltimore!
Why are new comments disabled?
I had the pleasure of being on the pit crew for team Bumpo - the big Indian elephant. Let me tell you, the Gandhi on top was a huge hit with the folks on the street! The participants all have great attitudes - I recommend everyone to check it out next year (or your own local Kinetic Sculpture Race). Some teams spend months building these things. Of course, others only spend days... relying only on the fact that wheels turn and styrafoam floats. But hey, whatever works!
I began to question why I was doing the postings. I have had a growing sense of futility: people on the net can't possibly find the postings useful, because most of the advice in them is completely ignored.
People don't seem to think before posting, they are purposely rude, they blatantly violate copyrights, they crosspost everywhere, use 20 line signature files, and do basically every other thing the postings (and common sense and common courtesy) advise not to. Regularly, there are postings of questions that can be answered by the newusers articles, clearly indicating that they aren't being read. "Sendsys" bombs and forgeries abound.
People rail about their "rights" without understanding that every right carries responsibilities that need to be observed too, not least of which is to respect others' rights as you would have them respect your own. Reason, etiquette, accountability, and compromise are strangers in far too many newsgroups these days.
"The winner this year? RTFA."
You're new here aren't you :)
I would expect such blatant racism on Fark, but on Slashdot? Mods please ban this asshole.
Maybe that's the new policy on all "Ask Slashdot" postings now.
If you wanna a real trip, check out the Kinetic Sculpture Race in Humboldt California. Some of the wierdest stuff I've ever seen. It dates back to '69 I think.
Baltimore's race is a copy based on the Great Arcata to Ferndale (California) World Championship Kinetic Sculpture Race, celebrating its 35th year in 2003.
What's the difference? The original race is a grueling 3-day trek over road, sand, mud and water. It's as much about endurance as it is art, for the glory of course.
RTFA .... the original race started in Arcata in 1969
Actually, the first time was an accident. I was driving up 101 for fun, heard the coverage on the radio, and made sure to drive through town. I saw a giant warthog driving across a bridge. Quite neat! But the hotels were all booked and I didn't know where to go to spectate.
I went for "real" a couple of years back. Booked a hotel, got the schedule and map. The race started in Arcata (famed for its on-line police blotter), up the highway a bit. The racers assembled around the town square for inspection and brake trials. I took a lot of pictures. The floats^H^H^H^H^H^H Kinetic Sculptures ranged from barely modified bicycles to WILD, elaborate machines with teams in matching uniforms. Best were a giant dinosaur skeleton (with cavemen drivers armed with clubs) and a pink rabid poodle with a beer stine.
The Burned Out Hippy ethic of the race first became evident here. Very entertaining and charming, if you're into vague non-competitive niceness.
After leaving town, the racers headed for the beach, for a five-mile or so drag over the dunes overlooking the Pacific. I was going to follow on foot, but my ill-footing gumshoes tore up my toes. I ended up taking a lift to the next exciting spot, a hill that the races had to crawl up. There was a CLIFF on the other side. Most of the machines made it, but rarely gracefully. After another few miles through sand and brush the racers crossed a bridge into town for the night.
I decided another full day of this wasn't in the cards, but I stayed long enough in the morning to watch the racers go into water mode at the foot of a bridge. Very neat. Some racers were water-ready as is. Others had to deploy pontoons. Some were paddled, others had pedal-operated paddle wheels or even propellors.
The least well designed craft had to be rescued by the harbor patrol. (According to the Burned Out Hippy Ethic, the foundering craft were "pushing the coast guard cutters with stiff ropes.") The best really tore along. The best, as I recall, was "Rolling Blackout," which was made from black PVC barrels and had rotary paddles.
Anyway, I'd recommend this event, especially for families, but make sure you have other activities lined up.
Stefan
If you'd RTFA (read the fuckin' article) you'd have realized that this is the SAME EXACT PEOPLE sponsoring and holding this race.
This ain't just a local thing. It's gone national, baby. This was the east coast semi-finals. The winners go on to the World Championship race held on Memorial Day Weekend.
The annual da Vinci Days Festival here in Corvallis, OR holds a Kinetic Sculpture Race.
Racers have to cross a vast gulf of 1 foot deep mud, go miles on the hard pavement, climb sand hills, and go down the Willamette River for the length of town. And keep their sense of humor at all times!
Long Live Hobart Brown!
Rhino, a big 10 foot long, 8 foot high, 4 wheel drive, 4 pilot, articulated frame scultpure was coming in very late because it was version 1 vehicle with some deployment issues. In fact in the evening light Rhino seemed to be strolling over the fields. But it was the herd of diary cows following along that added that special Kinetic moment.
Cows: "He Has Come In Accordance With Prophecy!"
Corvallis, OR has a KSR as part of their DaVinci Days celebration every year, though it's relatively recent, only about 15 years or so. I'd post links to pics, but right now they're on my home system on the back end of a 128K upload DSL line ;-) The mud bog is particularly fun. One year, the Maltese Fulcrum, basically a human V-8 4WD that can go anywhere, albeit not very fast, ended up pulling out another racer who got stuck. If you get a chance, you should go --- they're a lot of fun. (oh, and the prize for which bribery is allowed is only one of the less valuable prizes ;-) )
There is even a museum, article about it here:
The Kinetic Sculpture race was started by artist Hobart Brown. He has an art gallery showcasing his metal sculptures on Main street Ferndale. The gallery features paintings by friends of his and a museum of the Race.
Once you've seen one kinetic scultpure race, you've seen them all. It's just a bunch of pretentious people trying to impress their friends.
Once you've seen one kinetic sculpture race, you've seen them all. It's just a bunch of freakish self-described creative types (news flash to them: everyone is creative) trying to impress their friends, or preferably, the entire world. It's an exercise in vanity. My question is, why can't people just be humble and accept their limitations?
bored people are boring people
You fat fucking smelly Greek whore! Do you even wash on the rare occasions when your husband wants to fuck you? I bet your arse smells like a pig farm after eating all of the fucking pork and potatoes you cook-- you do nothing but sit all day, sweating and farting. It must smell like a swamp where criminals dump bodies in the sweltering heat.
Do you even shave? You sound like a lazy fucking wart of a housewife who wouldn't even bother. I bet the place is a mess too: dishes needing done, a layer of dust over everything, and stains and spills here and there. What a fucking pig-- a hairy fucking Greek bitch-pig.
Oh yeah, and your "skills" are laughable. You can't code for shit-- there's more holes in your PHP site than in a Greek brothel. Your English is terrible, which is pathetic for an editor-in-chief of a news site that reports in the language. Your obvious biases and slants make you look even more silly and unprofessional, as well as your multi-paragraph rants and fits of rage you write in your own forums. It's no wonder no one takes you seriously.
In short, ELQ, FUCK YOU. You are a loser, a no-lifer, a wanna-be, and a fecal smear in the world of technology. You are a detriment to the community you claim you serve. I challenge you to refute one thing I have said. You can't; it's all true.
And you know it.
From the Tom Jones-Article
"The photos on this page have been reduced to bear the brunt of being posted on Slashdot and Wired simultaneously without costing me a fortune. The original higher resolution images will return, probably in the first week of June."
Seems they know what they do...
These things blow the pants off any case mod artists. Arcata's started in '69 and is ass loads of fun. The race lasts 3 days and you have to travel over road, ocean (well a shallow bay), sand dunes, and even past the worlds most ill conceived nuclear power plant*. All sculptures must be human powered, self contained, and the operator cannot touch the ground. Throw in a couple more rules like mandatory teddy bear and cookies (must bribe the judges or your automatically disqualified [RTF rule book]) all in an attempt to win the grand prize (a lemon of a used car rewarded to the contraption coming in dead middle) and you can have a right good time.
*The 63-megawatt power plant was the first commercial operation of its kind in California and the seventh in the nation when it began operating in August 1963. The plant was shutdown in July 1976 for maintenance at the same time three earthquake faults were found nearby, including one directly below. The "Triple Junction" is one of the few places in the world where three tectonic plate boundaries meet on or close to land. The power plant was never reopened.
-888 Geek Help (888-433-5435)
Some people don't have a sense of humour. Clever way to tie in the topic (the linked picture is from the race) with Tom Jones (the singer).
Others have mentioned Arcata, Eureka, and Ferndale as all being home to the original KSR. It should be noted for those not familiar with California geography that these are all the same race. As mentioned above, it started in Ferndale in 1969 but eventually the starting line moved north, so that now the three-day race starts in Arcata, crosses Eureka Bay, and eventually ends (after climbing the Slippery Slimy Slope) in the Victorian/hillbilly town of Ferndale.
It really is an amazing sight to see (especially the Sculptures trying to get up the Slope in the rain!) and I highly recommend that anyone who can manage to be six hours from the nearest major airport over Memorial Day weekend make an effort to attend.
For a good laugh, the rules are available online.
*******
"What good is science if no one gets hurt?!" - Professor Chromedome
and why would nerds care?
I'm smarter than the average bear.
The race rocked, because:
On the last point, they had a "blessing of the feet" for the drivers of the sculptures...which involved a person dressed a like Obi-Wan pretending to talk through his mind while a pre-recorded CD played what he was saying, and sometimes throw in music and efx. There was much other silliness. The pictures people took do a pretty good of depicting it.
Just seeing it once is inspiration to want to build one of these things and participate next year.
who won?
What about Boulder's kinetics: http://www.kbco.com/kinetics/
I live across the street from the park, and stopped by for a bit. Kind of boring, really. Then, I went over to the City Paper Beer Festival at the DeGroen's brewery. It was canceled. Got drunk anyway. Boring, rainy, alcohol-laden day.
I'm glad is a kinetic race. I heard that last Static Sculpture Race was really boring.
His son, OTOH, is still in therapy.
-Miko
Miko O'Sullivan
On memorial day weekend.
http://www.kineticsculpturerace.org/
"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." -- Albert Einstein