Rupaul and Me

And so ends my brief but happy sojourn as a Blog of Note on Blogger - probably the first and last time I'll share a distinction with Rupaul. Yesterday, Rupaul reprinted a letter from Courtney Love to Prince (sorry, my keyboard doesn't know how to render his actual name), seeking artist support for "the idea that recording artists need an organization that represents our interests in Washington and with the record companies." Courtney's letter makes some excellent points about the under-representation of artists, and the conflicts of interest that may dog their attorneys and managers. She writes, "Artists have all the power. They create the music that makes the money that funds the business. No one has ever harnessed that power for artists' collective good," and compares their situation today with that of actors in the early 20th century in the heyday of the studio system. Rupaul doesn't seem to have permalinks, so get over there quick before this one slides into the land of the misfit archives.

I also note Ru and I started blogging about the same time. But he's got much better legs.

Technology Review's "TR 100"

The June issue of MIT's Technolgy Review features 100 young innovators, "visitors from the future, living among us here and now," including several Googlers and a CmdrTaco. The article (.pdf), an industry specific index and an annotated link list (nice) are available here.

Disappointing? No Way!

Sarah Fisher's second-place finish in Homestead, Fla., last year was the top showing by a woman in Indy-car history. She earned two top-10 finishes and pushed her career earnings to more than $1 million. [Via CNNSI]

Sarah's (unofficial) 24th place finish in the Indianapolis 500 today may have disappointed her, but it marks her first running finish at Indy (she wrecked the last two years), and that in itself deserves great respect. This is perhaps the world's most demanding sport, which I started following some years back when we had a friend driving in the IRL. The planetary, financial, legal and technological convergences it takes to qualify and finish at Indy are mind-blowing for anyone, and overcoming the gender gap to boot? Well, my hat's off to Sarah. She is likely to take home some $250,000 or more for today's efforts (see last year's results and winnings) - the approximate cost of two of the engines these cars consume almost as voraciously as tires. Sarah also has the soul of a blogger, as shown in her online diaries for ABC Sports. For more on women drivers at Indy, sashay over here (2002), here (2002) and here (2000).

And let's not forget Arie Luyendyk, who at 49 this year is the oldest driver ever to qualify for the race (more here). Arie (unofficially) finished 14th today.

The other driver I was pulling for was Eddie Cheever, who had a run at it but then fell back when it looked like something went south with his car. A wreck in the final laps brought things to an anticlimactic and controversial end under a yellow flag, enabling defending champion Helio Castroneves to win and do his signature celebratory fence scramble. [Full coverage via USA Today and The Nando Times] But for the caution, Castroneves would not have crossed the finish with a running engine; the car was so low on fuel his pit crew told ABC it only would have survived half of another green lap.

Ladies And Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!

Today is Indy 500 Day - vrrrooom! I never expected to like Indy racing so much, but that was several years ago, before the husband started calling me "Stopwatch." Watching those cars fly around a one mile oval in less than twenty seconds is transformative (this is a longer track, but no less breathtaking). Sarah Fisher's starting in the ninth position and I'm counting on her not to find the wall in turn two. Looks like they have gorgeous weather today in Indy. "Drivers to your cars," was just announced, so I'm off to watch the coverage. Don't miss the live timing and scoring here.

O'Reilly Chapters

If you haven't done it yet, download the review copies of chapters from the forthcoming O'Reilly book, Essential Blogging, and give the authors your feedback about their discussion of your blogging tool of choice (the book covers Blogger, Radio, Blosxom and Movable Type). Code Goddess Shelley Powers has chapters two and six on Blogger (and again I am hugely in her debt for taking time out of her Memorial Day weekend to lend first aid to the back-end of Bag and Baggage). Help them make the book rock (it already does), and read Rael Dornfest's open invitation to submit your stories and tips for possible inclusion in the"Blogging Voices" chapter, still in progress.