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Penguin Car Earns Indy500 Spot
strredwolf writes "Despite generating over $12K in funds, well short of the $250K goal, the Tux 500 Project was able to secure a spot in the Indy 500 with driver Roberto Moreno piloting the Linux #77 Indy car. He's back in the pack in 31st place (only 5.5 MPH separates 31st place from 1st) but was able to secure it by re-qualifying with an average speed of 220.299 MPH. Will Moreno be able to pilot the penguin-tipped Indy car to victory next week at the 91st Indianapolis 500?"
The Independent: Reverend Spooner Arrested in Friar Tuck Incident - ISIHAC, Historical Headlines
I know many of us Linux users would like to see it replace Windows as the dominate OS, but frankly, why should we care? We Linux users have a wonderful OS that does everything a big geek like me could want, and far more than Windows can do. Saving Joe Sixpack the $70 he pays Microsoft to buy a machine with Windows pre-loaded isn't a cause I get excited about.
I love making predictions, and here's my prediction for the future of Linux: Linux will never beat Windows in the market place. Instead, a new market will emerge for ultra-cheap computers (as in OLPC). Super-cheap computers with lots of RAM and non-volatile storage will one day cost $100 (in 2007 dollars). When this happens, Microsoft will not be able to compete against free Linux as the dominant OS on these machines. There just isn't enough profit per device to support Microsoft-like company. Instead Linux, or a derivative of GNU/Linux software, will power our new ultra-cheap devices. I think Microsoft understands this low-end disruption threat, and that's why they're so desperate to push Windows CE derivatives. However, the bean counters at Microsoft will always try to kill off unprofitable efforts like Windows CE, as the market, margins, and profit just aren't there compared to selling high-end software for high-end machines.
If you think this idea is crazy, have you heard about the iPhone? It may not run Linux proper, but it's clearly in the GNU/open-source camp. Operating systems are mature technology, no longer worth much money. Apple showed great insight in dumping their own, and running with the free stuff. This gives them a huge advantage over Microsoft in the future battle for smart consumer devices. Others will follow Apple's lead, and dump Windows for GNU/Linux as the super low-cost PC/personal-computing-device market emerges. In the end, GNU/Linux will prevail, but never on the traditional high-end desktop that Joe Sixpack buys for web surfing, games, and porn.
Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy.
There are two reasons. There are millions of racing fans, (the Indy 500 will probably have 5 million viewers) including many of the higher ups in most of the US auto industry. Second it's like product placement so people can't just get up and leave during the commercials (they're watching the cars and then see the ads. He might want to think about partnering the effort with Intel/AMD/HP/Oracle/Dell/IBM who could then foot a portion of the bill and could add further legitimacy.
Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
The key word here is "substitute". He's not good enough to keep a steady ride since he lost his ride in Champ Car. He's not bad, but like you said, 5.5mph is huge. He needs great pit stops, attrition at the top, and some luck. It is, however, good to see an underfunded privateer team make the field, even though Indy is nothing compared to the old days (they almost didn't have enough cars to fill the 33 car field regardless of qualifying this year). Tony George must go.
Various incarnations of the story got as far as the Firehose a few times, but didn't really progress from there, so it wasn't just Rob Malda that wasn't interested. I had the chance to vote for it several times, and didn't. The "product X gets advertising in place Y" didn't seem to merit discussion to me.
Despite the whole going-round-in-circles thing, I'll probably watch the 500 at some point - hoping for a victory for Knaresborough's finest of course, but if that doesn't happen there's still a reasonable chance that a British-built car will come first (http://www.penske.com/). You can't even find one of those on the road any more...
Or one of the other sites which are part of the OSDN empire.
/. would gladly have pimped the story for ya!
/. game.
Then
That'll teach you. Next time, learn how to play the
Since then, the league's emphasis has been on safety. (In fact, the first innovation at the track was in the first race, when Ray Herroun put a rearview mirror on the car since he didn't have a riding mechanic to look back.) They changed the specs, which resulted in reduced speeds, and started requiring more safety features in the chassis. Speeds have gone back up, since the engineers are clever and can figure out how to get more out of less as time goes on. (A couple years ago, someone figured out how to reshape the rear-view mirrors to allow for more downforce, to use but one example.) Tony George also spent his own money on the SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers that are now common on tracks; they certainly saved Rolf Schumacher's life at the 2005 USGP. One of the benefits touted about the new ethanol engines is that they get better mileage, so they can reduced fuel load which makes for safer cars. And so on. It's still a dangerous sport, but having seen the wrecks that Davey Hamilton and Kenny Brack, I'm amazed that both of them not only survived but came back to race later.
I took the family to Pole Day qualifications, and there really isn't much difference you can see, sitting in the front row or high up, between 220MPH and 230MPH. I don't know if there will ever be a new track record at the 500, but I can live with that; the drivers are more likely to, as well.
The Independent: Reverend Spooner Arrested in Friar Tuck Incident - ISIHAC, Historical Headlines
Actually, Ralf missed the SAFER barrier. The F1 race runs in the opposite direction of the 500 (and the Brickyard) during the portion that it's on the oval. Coming the 'wrong way' through Turn 1, he hit the wall on the front stretch past the point where the barrier began/ended (depending on your point of view).
To make matters worse, F1 brings their own safety crew to each track, and their regulations prohibited their one safety vehicle from going against traffic. This meant that the safety vehicle had to traverse practically the entire F1 course to get to Schumacher. So Michael got to drive by his brother's smashed car at least once (twice, if I recall) before anyone even showed up to see if he was dead.
When you watch Indy this Sunday (and I strongly recommend it), and there's a wreck, you'll often see the red IRL safety vehicles on camera before the car even slides to a stop.
I point this out because I think there are a lot of parallels between Windows v. Linux and F1 v. IndyCar. Both Windows and F1 are immensely popular compared to their counterparts, despite the fact that Linux and IndyCar are (IMO) better products. All Windows needs is something like that tire incident from a couple years back.
J
Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. - John 14:6 NLT
Ethanol 85? Nope, BEEP, wrong. There will be no gasoline in the Indianopolis 500 and hasn't been since the early 60s when Indy switched to methanol which it ran at basically a 100% mix of till this past year when under polictical pressure they switched to a 10% ethanol - 90% methanol mix and is scheduled in the future to go to 100% ethanol. This switch is basically for the promotion of ethanol. Many of the race teams would prefer to stick with the more proven methanol. If Indy had chosen diesel many years ago, used by several early winners of the 500, we would probably see them promoting biodiesel now instead. For the enviromentalists though it should be noted that the Indianapolis 500 has been using renewable alcohol fuel for years and they are not the only ones who do, but will leave it to the interested to do their own research.
Nascar is WWF on wheels(staged) Indy is a bunch of guys making boring left turns F1 doesn't have enough passing and too much depends upon the speed of the pit crew as opposed to driver skills. MotoGP has no pit stops and lots of passing. Every turn is a game of chicken and the bikes are close to what's available on the street.
NASCAR started using unleaded fuel this season (2007). Grandparent post was wrong to suggest they are only "thinking about phasing out leaded gas".
As a sidenote, I'm really surprised to see Ethanol praised by everyone and their uncle as a great alternative to fossil fuel. Sure, it burns cleaner and results in less pollution, but somehow everyone forgets the impact of large-scale farming (fertilizer pollution, soil erosion). What's even worse is that it takes more energy to produce corn-based fuel than fossil fuel. This energy has to come from somewhere - in the US, it's most likely a coal power plant. Ethanol simply moves the pollution from one producer to another.