I’m not sure which day this is, but I’ll just keep typing here. Then if there’s a problem, I’ll cut and paste it to the top of the blog so everyone has equal opportunity to read the most important comments to strike the blog, which of course are mine. Well, there was a problem, so I did cut and paste, and here it is
Reporter on PBS has noted that Michael Phelps is transcending the nation. Quite a feat. I shall now eat reincarnation. The same reporter is now complaining about magic speedos, noting that they are buoyant. But then she says they compress the body, for streamlining, but hasn’t figured out that this would make the body more dense (same mass, less volume), thus defeating buoyancy. whatever, she’s a woman. They also complained it took half an hour to put the suit on. I guess the solution to this is au natural, per the ancients.
Good comparison of commentary on hot gymnast falling repeatedly, user comments are predictable:
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/olympics/womens_gymnastics_video_breaks_concentration.html
well, the other one was supposed to be a yahoo link, but now I can’t find it
And she’s 20, and goes to Brown, so I suppose those are feathers in her cap.
Also good footage of journalist for ITN getting arrested because the chinqs [sic] think he’s a protester, even though he’s waving his creditials. But Chinese are idiots, they put him in a paddywagon van, but the journalist just opens the window and continues to talk to his cameraman for another solid minute, clearly waiting for the money shot of a cop slamming the window shut, but it never happens and he just runs out of things to say.
Still hate Al Trautwig. He was quite enthusiastic when the men came to the final rotation (pommel horse) with an Asian-, Indian- and Russian- American having a chance to lock up the silver and rescue America. Granted, while they had a mathematical chance they probably weren’t going to score high enough. He failed to note the merits of multiethnicity when the first two crapped their pants and scored so low that the bronze was in jeopardy.
Doesn’t this multiple medal thing reinforce Professor A’s trophy for everybody theory? I realize that wasnt quite the critique, but come on, bronze, that’s not even an element. That Togo kayak guy was pretty psyched about the bronze, maybe they haven’t figured out smelting yet. Shouldn’t there be an Iron medal for fourth? The Chinese men took a picture chewing on their medals. Maybe it also translates to metals in Chinese, and they plan on digesting them, then I bet they wish they had the iron medal/metal, I’ve never heard of copper deficiency. Doesnt ovid have a Heroic Age thrown in there somewhere, where’s that medal? Professor, I shall leave some blank lines for you.
.
.
.
Off topic, but I stumbled across an article, which I have since lost, which complains about Richard Dawkins and that the world needs some religiosity. Silly article, but one enjoyable point: Much is made about the miracle of human consciousness, but assuming a generally accepted we-are-stardust theory, the universe both created itself and subsequently created its own consciousness-of-self. Good trick. Kicking myself for never putting that one together.
Glad Paul Sherwen made the trip, since who else could point out the great chateaus of the Beijing countryside.
Good stuff from the Spanish basketball team. I guess this is less offensive than when they sent a normal-brained team to win the Special Olympics gold. Playing this off as not racist is funny too, since the most racist behavior I’ve observed anywhere in the world is native Andalusians relentlessly mocking the 15 Asian women who walked around Seville selling flowers. I had a roommate who was a Korean student and she never left the apartment except to go to school. There were some funny encounters since I was on the nocturnal schedule and once went 3 weeks without seeing her, then asked her if she’d been traveling, but she’d been there the whole time.
Australian softball has a pitcher named Tanya Harding, also a stocky blond
More synchronized diving, this time to the springboard. Previous assessment holds, right down to the fact that the Russian has had about 12 surgeries and was stabbed 4 times in an “incident.”
Poseidon, why isn’t there a swimming/diving biathlon? Or better yet, a race where you start by jumping off the 10m platform?
I think I could have been really good at women’s judo. Any sport you get to wear a robe calls to me.
Team handball big disappointment. This could be the greatest sport ever, it’s just about the most generic game possible. Alas, utterly unwatchable. All the teams appear to run the same play over and over, there must be something better they could be doing. (Granted, the Cleveland Cavaliers are a $100M organization who’s only play is Lebron-1)
What’s up with the pieces of support tape that athletes are strapping on as treatment for serious injuries. “I just had Tommy John, I shall put this piece of tape on it.” Fond memories of [Tonya Harding] wearing that ski boot for a year and being surprised her foot didn’t heal. I imagine these will go the way of the breath-right strips, does Jerry Rice still have that sponsorship? He must have had some narrow cavities.
I’d like to have something witty to say about women’s doubles badminton, but really, it’s fantastic, especially watching the Korean language feed. Me and my brother once committed an entire afternoon following a Labor Day picnic, when the net was already set up, getting good at it. Once you commit to swinging hard, it’s a lot of fun, and not too difficult (assuming you have a racquet sport prequalification) Its not really possible to hit the birdie deep, so as long as you mind the net, you can get some great rallies. And no matter how hard you hit an overhead, the ‘cock slows to a manageable speed by the time it reaches the other side
The beach volleyball teams all have jersey numbers. Further entertaining since they apparently have to use 1 & 2. How can Walter Payton be paid his due respect? How does the Syracuse captain get his 44? Numbers should be abolished in all sports unless the are useful for 1) viewer identification or 2) referee identification. For the latter, I mean that in sports like basketball, it’s necessary to track player involvement during the game, for foul accumulation. Not so for most sports, baseball (and most sports) has only one status marker: in or removed from game. Numbering players dehumanizes.
Korean feed has archery now. SRO. Korea is smoking Qatar. Shipja=bullseye in Korean. How will the Beijing archery facility look after the next people’s revolution? Not very entertaining, but some points for archery, since it’s way up there in the Number of Years in which Contest has been Held competition. Don’t actually know when archery was invented, but in Civ 4, it’s real old. I’ve got to think 100m dash beats it. The mile? I’d say no. What Celt was saying “I wonder who’s fastest in a run of about 5 minutes?”
HR Melvin
The Arbiters 