August 16, 2008
Finn medal race live blog #2
1:05 am Comment from the RC... "I'm taking up fucking golf".
Looks like they are not having much fun with this...
And people wonder why golf is more popular than sailing.
Live blogging the Finn Medal race
Watching the video feed fom NBCoplympics.com jobson is providing text xommentary. Too bad no voice over is available. Hearing the background sound.
Railey and Ainsley sailing around
postpoment, RC shifted mark. checking wind vel. 7kts.
12:11 RC sounds like they are almost ready.
PRO is checking with upwind boats.
Lots of Brits there with Union flags... No Americans. Sad.
NBC has broadcast nearly every sport so far, but not sailing.
As if Equestrian is more interesting than sailing....
12:14 - still waiting for ap down
RC changing the starting line
140 at 6
Ainsley makes jybing the boat look easy.
There's some American's watching...
RC is changing windward mark again...
12:18 Jobson must dislike the Finn. No commentary since 12:00
moving mark to 145
12:23 RC reminds me of Blair from work... CAlls everybody "buddy"
estimating the start time at 12:35 local...
raised the line flag with a horn... odd.
Ainsley sporting a three day beard....
SWE boat has thae same nasty robins egg blue color deck as a lot of DSs...
Railey's Finn has this cool looking transparent GRP deck...
FRA has some fans....
12:30- AP down.
Jobson's probably in the bar... no commentary from him.
12:31 class flag up...
NBC is making me watch a damned ad...
4 min - USA and GBR are next to each other opn port
SLO looking for wind....
ditto CAN and SWE
1:30. no commentary so far
AP--- dammit...
No wonder sailing isn't a spectatpr sport... Gotta have patience, something most Americans don't have, sadly...
Lack of wind....
3.8km/hr
I have not been impressed with Qingdao as a venue. I can see why the Aussies were bitching....
RC has a tough job...
12:44 getting ready to drop AP
12:45 AP down
brits cheering...
Jobson must be drunk
wind 10.5 km/hr
12 46 class flag
-2:30 wind checks going on...
boats at boat end
-1:00 boats starting to line up
boat end seems favored
AP again... sheesh. This is getting stupid
Guess they need to get it right
moving the mark...
No commentary from Jobson..... That really sucks....
closed video and reopened it. Commentary is back... NBC is what sucks...
Jobson said GBR and USA were sitting on each other. recommends Railey get away since Ainsley has match racing experience.
12:59 Is that Charlie O watching from tre stands?
Lots of Chinese walking about... Looks like a nice marina. Needs wind, though...
Well, I can't watch anymore... hope to see the replay, if NBC allows it...
August 15, 2008
Olympic sports I would kill
OK, with the Olympic games going I have realized that some of these sports need to be forever banned from future games. Here's my takre on each of the current events. My criteria is that the game should not be decided by judges. The fresults should be objective.
Archery - keep. The basic idea is to put the arrow at the center ofthe target. No judges required.
Badminton - keep. There are judges involved, but the game is played to a number of points.
Baseball - keep. This is a game
Basketbal - Keep. Like Baseball, this is a game.
Beach Volleyball - keep, with reservations, becasue it's annoying to have to look at the women's teams. ugh...
Boxing - DISCARD - the points are assigned by judges, and unless it's obvious one guy is beating the tar out of the other, is' suibjective.
Canoe/Kayak - keep, with reservations. It's a race, but time is added for penalties decided by judges.
Cycling - Keep, but no event that is decided by judges, such as stunts should ever be allowed.
Diving - DISCARD - Scoring is done by judges appointed by a panel appointed by the International Diving federation.
Equestrian - Get rid of every thing except jumping, because only jumping is based on objective perfomance. The other competitions require judges.
Fencing - Keep with reservations. Althouhg scoring is done using electric appartus, there are still judges who can decide right of way, etc.
Field Hockey - keep. This is a game.
Gymnastics - This is by far the "sport" that should be discarded first, bar none. They themselves call it the "Olympic artistic gymnastics competition" It's scored by not one panel of judges, but two. It's been a joke ever since I can remember how the Communist judges would score western competitors lower because they were, well, not communist... The politica may have changed, buit the corruption is the same.
Handball - I was surprised to see the description for this game. I remember it being a game between two guys hiting a rubber ball at reach other. Looks like its an inverse of soccer. ok, keep it.
Judo - Discard. Scoring is done by judges and the referee.
Modern Pent - keep this, All the sports that make this up are real races or competitions not decided by judges.
Rhythmic Gym - I was wrong earlier. Gymnastics is the second "sport" on the list to be killed. THIS is the first.
Rowing - A race. Nice and objective.
Sailing - Races. Objective except for protests, but for the most part it's who sails the fastest.
Shooting - Like archery. An Objective assessment of performance can be measured.
Soccer -A game, like base ball and basketball.
Softball - ditto.
Swimming - a race. keep it.
Sync. Swimming - This might actually count for the second best choiuce fo killing. Panel of judges. Like figure skating.... This is a stupid "sport"
Table Tennis - keep it.
Taekwondo - Keep with reservations. Judges and refs score it.
Tennis - a game. has some refereeing, so keep with reservations
Track & Field - all the events in this sport are measured in some fashion. Keep it.
Trampoline- judged. lose this.
Triathlon - races. Keep it.
Volleyball - a game scored objectively for the most part. keep.
Water Polo - a game. keeps
Weightlifting - Scored by the weight lifted and the competitor's body weight. keep
Wrestling - keep with reservations. Refs and judges score it.
August 05, 2008
Eagle point winds from Edouard
Here's the snapshot of the wind and tide data from Edouard:
You can see how the wind direction rotated around as the storm passed.
Live Blogging Edouard #13
Well, this has been silly. Things haven't been any worse than a regular set of thunderstorms. The media have done thier usual job of finding molehills and making them into mountains.
"This thing isn't quite over yet" - Yes. It is. This is no more inconvenient than a day of snow in the mountain areas. Life goes on, and things must be done.
I'm enjoying my day off, allowed play sanctioned hooky, as it were.
Live Blogging Edouard #11
Wind continue to move more southerly.
Pressure 29.72 rain: 1.12inches
Winds SW 25.4 gusting to 30.8kt
channel 11: "....when the winds and the storm and the rain came ashore...."
- Reporterette
PORTS show the winds trending up here.
11 news reporter holding a dead palm frond at Moody Gardens.. Just an example of the kind of debris you get.... gad.
11 news reports a Vietnam vet standing on the sea wall holding up an american flag... He does it every storm. Trying to encourage people. OK. Everyone's Hobby looks stupid to someone else....
11 news reports 4 cars have spun out so far....
11 news mentions Kemah boardwalk will be open.... so much for the news advertising for Tilman Fertitta.
Live Blogging Edouard #9
0850: 30 kt gust
0857 - channel 11 interviewing idiots who made runs on water, batteries, etc....
Galveston had to issue a no swimmin advisory.... duh. I think I'll go swimming...
Ponding.... oooh.
0907: 0.97 inches of rain....
Kathy : wants to go to Tuesday Morning.... I want to go to Harbor freight....
11 news has the best weather coverage. Their news people are bad...
Fox has given up the weather coverage. Now playing their morning reality show crap...
Live Blogging Edouard #8
ch 13 - A guy in Galveston is standing out in the rain holding an American flag.... The news is interviewing him....
Fox 26 showing lots of T.S. Allison flooding photos.... Oh , but wait, that's not today.... Jackasses...
0835 wind band coming though . WNW 16.9 kts gusts to 25kt . We've received only 0.67 " of rain the last 24 hrs.
channel 11 - cars spinning out... riiight.
They can't wait for the flooding to start.... sheesh.
0839: 11 news reporterette standing in the waves at bolivar peninsula....
Bolivar peninsula power out....
0841: ch 13 minor street flooding in galveston county, reporters ask if any streets are closed. no. They sound disappointed.
0842: pressure 29.73 inhg
0843: Rain: 0.85 inches.
winds WNW, 14.3kts, gusting to 18.4kts.
channel 11- still the best coverage. (Fox 26 the worst).
Live Blogging Edouard #7
Ed Emmett again.... blah blah, significant weather event, blah, blah.
"coordinating to make sure the storm gets out of our area" - As if it won't without any effort from anyone....
max winds so far: 19.6 kts.
"Wind blowing off shore!" - David Paul
8:28am PORTS shows 12kts gusting 22kts WSW
Kathy: "Boring!" I agree. This storm is a wimp....
khou: 6500 houses in Galveston county without power... not us.
Live Blogging Edouard #6
Kroger in Galveston is open... news chick's makeup still looks ok in the rain...
blah blah, monitoring the situation... blah, blah....
Ed Emmett on the phone.... blah blah blah....significant rain, winds, etc..... blah, blah blah... our tax dollars at work....
Winds now at WSW here. 17 knots. 7:49pm.
Took pictures -
hammock at the neighbor blowing in the winds
Dickinson Bay
ch 11 Neil Frank came on... folksy as usual....
Live Blogging Edouard #5
7:30:
Apparently its remarkable that there's power still in Winnie....
Winds here currently 17.2 knots. WNW.
Channel 2 hoping there will be power outages....
San Jacinto river close to flood stage.... but it's been that way for two days....
Lisa Baldwin of ch 2 stood in some water in NW houston... Blah, blah, blah, ponding, on again, off again, blah blah, blah....
ch 11 - David Paul pointing out a possible tornado. They played out the doppler wind speeds... Oops. no! They're back to it...
Wx channel....
local on the 8's ... Well. this storm must not be too bad becasue they aren't playing the doom and gloom music... light jazz... nice....
Oh wait, they are saving it for the title music....
"The storm is now moving towards the DFW area".... I suppose it's also moving towards wichita....
Now they are onto the heat advisories in the midwest... isn't it supposed ot be hot in August?
Channel 2 - Billingsley - Crystal beach lost power... (Yay)
"Not terribly impressive, but no one's complaining" - riiiiight...
They are saying we're supposed to be seeing 40+ mph.... We've seen less than 20....
no tornado watch... Billingsley is surprised.... those incompetents at the weather service.....
Live Blogging Edouard #4
Alright! ch 13 has a reporter standing in the wind on Crystal beach! "Winds significiantly intensifying" "Rain stinging"
ch 11 talking aobut hydroplaning cars... don't do it. go slow... again. duh...
keep both hands on the wheel. no I think I'll drive iwth my foot on the wheel in 40+ winds.... duh.
Harris county judge and the mayor telling people to stay in doors. Well, I'm glad they gavbe us permission to do so....
SUVs might try to push people off the road in these high winds.... hah...
winds 9 in kemah.... ooooh...
Live Blogging Edouard #3
At 7:13 got the first hits to our satellite TV signal. Didn't lose it entirely, though.
Let's comment on the way the weather reporters, shall we?
Heather Tesch - Yellow and white horizontal striped top that comes down belwo her waist. like a coat or something. - not at all becoming.
Stephanie Abrams - Standing in the rain, in Galveston, still playing the twit as
usual.
Marshall Seese - same as usual...
7:16 - lost satellite signal entirely for the first time.... blessed silence....
7:17 - signal restored.... Not even as bad as some rain storms we've had....
Channel 11, with David Paul and Mario Gomez - they are harpingon the doppler radar, using it in doppler mode to show the wind speeds... Interesting for about 10 minutes....
Being told to be careful of downed power lines... again. duh....
Live Blogging Edouard #3
At 7:13 got the first hits to our satellite TV signal. Didn't lose it entirely, though.
Let's comment on the way the weather reporters, shall we?
Heather Tesch - Yellow and white horizontal striped top that comes down belwo her waist. like a coat or something. - not at all becoming.
Stephanie Abrams - Standing in the rain, in Galveston, still playing the twit as
usual.
Marshall Seese - same as usual...
7:16 - lost satellite signal entirely for the first time.... blessed silence....
7:17 - signal restored.... Not even as bad as some rain storms we've had....
Channel 11, with David Paul and Mario Gomez - they are harpingon the doppler radar, using it in doppler mode to show the wind speeds... Interesting for about 10 minutes....
Being told to be careful of downed power lines... again. duh....
Live blogging Edouard #2
7:08am Still windy, still rainy... News media having trouble keeping the excitement level up. They are obviously disappointed so far. They are probably hoping for another Allison where the storm dumped a hell of a lot of water on Houston....
There was a reporter in Kemah who was showing a calm morning. Low tides, nothing much...
Live blogging Edouard
So far, the wind has picked up to the high teens. Radar shows the storm just across the bay. JSC was shut down at noon yesterday to the benefit of the local bars.
The news is playing their silly death and destruction music - monor key with a tense beat. They've interviewed stupid people asking them questions like "what did you do to prepare?"
Reporters are standing in the water, showing ripples on the water, warning people of rip tides, etc.
more as this thing develops.