a crank’s progress

for i in `ioreg -l | grep “current-value” | cut -d”=” -f2`; do echo “$i / 65536 * 9/5+32″ | bc -l ; done This doesn’t work everywhere, alas. My iBook returns this: 105.80000000000000000000 110.75000000000000000000 114.80000000000000000000 33.98803100585937500000 32.00000000000000000000 <- bogus 32.00002746582031250000 87.80000000000000000000 The iMac G5 returns: 32.04663696289062500000 <- these are all suspect 32.04117126464843750000 <- 32.06311645507812500000 <- 32.01227722167968750000 <- 32.02210998535156250000 <- 32.01738586425781250000 <- 129.20000000000000000000 32.00000000000000000000 <- bogus (The 32° readings are actually zeroes.)

But while an aircraft’s wings provide lift, an F1 vehicle’s spoilers, along with its sloping upper body shape and intricate underbody surfaces, do just the opposite: They create downforce, giving the vehicle wicked-fast cornering speeds and massive amounts of braking power. The downforce is so strong that the cars could theoretically drive upside down on the roof of the tunnel at Monte Carlo, Hughes says.