Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Friday, August 27, 2004
Monday, August 23, 2004
Gymnastics.com - gymnastic equipment, apparel and more
Well, it's a rollercoaster ride of an event. My favorite event, Men's High Bar was packed with drama. Aleksei Neimov of russia, probably one of the greatest living male gymnasts, with 12 gold medals, innumerable championships let fly an incredible routine, 6 releases, four of them in a row!
He flew, he rolled, he was really amazing. And then they scored him the worst of all the gymnasts that had gone thus far.
It was unbelievable. The crowd there leaped to it's feet and screamed bloody murder. For almost five minutes I listened to them shout, and boo, make rude gestures at the camera, chant Neimov's name. Even the cool, polite announcers were flabbergasted. One memorably said that it was a routine that pushed forward male gymnastics, and should be celebrated and studied by young gymnasts, not pushed to the back of the line.
The crowd refused to let Paul Hamm, the next gymnast, go. They screamed and screamed, and stomped their feet, and finally the president of FIGO went to talk to the judges. They talked and talked while the crowd screamed. Neimov was incredibly gracious. He thanked the crowd, and tried to motion for them to quiet down, he was nice to the camera-man. He really seemed sad about his score, but wanted the event to move on.
Finally, in what I found infuriating, they changed Neimov's score, moving it up by five tenths. But he was still in last place. The crowd refused to accept it. They shouted and stamped, and poor Paul Hamm stood on the edge of the podium, wondering if he'd get a chance to do his routine. Eventually Neimov stood up, climbed on top of a nearby mat, and gave the crowd a brave smile. He waved, and blew a kiss. And motioned with his hands, for the crowd to quiet. And they applauded him, and let Paul start his routine.
I'll never forget it. This has been a very dodgy olympics, with medals going to strange and unobvious places. Neimov was a true champion tonight, he didn't ask for anything, but the injustice of it all moved everyone. I'll remember him as the winner, no doubt about it.
Well, it's a rollercoaster ride of an event. My favorite event, Men's High Bar was packed with drama. Aleksei Neimov of russia, probably one of the greatest living male gymnasts, with 12 gold medals, innumerable championships let fly an incredible routine, 6 releases, four of them in a row!
He flew, he rolled, he was really amazing. And then they scored him the worst of all the gymnasts that had gone thus far.
It was unbelievable. The crowd there leaped to it's feet and screamed bloody murder. For almost five minutes I listened to them shout, and boo, make rude gestures at the camera, chant Neimov's name. Even the cool, polite announcers were flabbergasted. One memorably said that it was a routine that pushed forward male gymnastics, and should be celebrated and studied by young gymnasts, not pushed to the back of the line.
The crowd refused to let Paul Hamm, the next gymnast, go. They screamed and screamed, and stomped their feet, and finally the president of FIGO went to talk to the judges. They talked and talked while the crowd screamed. Neimov was incredibly gracious. He thanked the crowd, and tried to motion for them to quiet down, he was nice to the camera-man. He really seemed sad about his score, but wanted the event to move on.
Finally, in what I found infuriating, they changed Neimov's score, moving it up by five tenths. But he was still in last place. The crowd refused to accept it. They shouted and stamped, and poor Paul Hamm stood on the edge of the podium, wondering if he'd get a chance to do his routine. Eventually Neimov stood up, climbed on top of a nearby mat, and gave the crowd a brave smile. He waved, and blew a kiss. And motioned with his hands, for the crowd to quiet. And they applauded him, and let Paul start his routine.
I'll never forget it. This has been a very dodgy olympics, with medals going to strange and unobvious places. Neimov was a true champion tonight, he didn't ask for anything, but the injustice of it all moved everyone. I'll remember him as the winner, no doubt about it.
Saturday, August 21, 2004
TinyApps.Org : Home
for trapped windows users, who appreciate functionality without bloat, I give you a truly useful website. applications listed because they require little footprint, don't install to registry, and are as self contained as possible.
for trapped windows users, who appreciate functionality without bloat, I give you a truly useful website. applications listed because they require little footprint, don't install to registry, and are as self contained as possible.
The Anti-CEO
This is fascinating. I've long held that other organizational structures in corporations might hold more or different advantages in comparison to the standard military hierarchy model.
I don't think his solutions are portable, and certainly his interviews tend to focus on how 'free' and 'different' his approaches are. Based on the few excerpts from his book I've been able to find, these are counterbalanced with very powerful incentives, extremely high expectations, and brutal hiring processes. As well as constant transparent review. You won't see much on that.
He seems like a very smart guy. I plan on getting the book when I have a bit of time. Direct Democracy corporations probably wouldn't work without a lot of attendant complexity, but even approximations could get you interesting returns. More when I get his books.
This is fascinating. I've long held that other organizational structures in corporations might hold more or different advantages in comparison to the standard military hierarchy model.
I don't think his solutions are portable, and certainly his interviews tend to focus on how 'free' and 'different' his approaches are. Based on the few excerpts from his book I've been able to find, these are counterbalanced with very powerful incentives, extremely high expectations, and brutal hiring processes. As well as constant transparent review. You won't see much on that.
He seems like a very smart guy. I plan on getting the book when I have a bit of time. Direct Democracy corporations probably wouldn't work without a lot of attendant complexity, but even approximations could get you interesting returns. More when I get his books.
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science | JAXA
more good solar sail news.
Japan has successfully deployed, although there is no information as to the information gathered. If anyone knows anything about such data, please let me know.
more good solar sail news.
Japan has successfully deployed, although there is no information as to the information gathered. If anyone knows anything about such data, please let me know.
Monday, August 16, 2004
Guardian Unlimited | Life | Space travel goes sailing
I've been hearing about this project by the Planetary Society for some time, and it looks like they're getting closer to launching again.
If so, it will be another first for aerospace. It is, of course, a private project. Government Space Agencies need get their rears in gear if they want to keep justifying their budgets. The only remaining province is the super-expensive long range missions. and lets hope a private group announces to do that as well. bring the costs down, I need off this rock.
I've been hearing about this project by the Planetary Society for some time, and it looks like they're getting closer to launching again.
If so, it will be another first for aerospace. It is, of course, a private project. Government Space Agencies need get their rears in gear if they want to keep justifying their budgets. The only remaining province is the super-expensive long range missions. and lets hope a private group announces to do that as well. bring the costs down, I need off this rock.
Sunday, August 15, 2004
AnandTech: Opteron vs. Xeon
I have something of a vested interest in high performance computing, especially high end server/workstation hardware. Here Anand takes two very capable systems and cuts through to performance gains.
I have something of a vested interest in high performance computing, especially high end server/workstation hardware. Here Anand takes two very capable systems and cuts through to performance gains.
Friday, August 13, 2004
Speculations Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine*
um, insane.
How did I not know about this paper? big kudos and thanks to Robert Bradbury for hosting this where I could find it.
a spooky and interesting old old paper, from I J Good.
um, insane.
How did I not know about this paper? big kudos and thanks to Robert Bradbury for hosting this where I could find it.
a spooky and interesting old old paper, from I J Good.
Sunday, August 08, 2004
Friday, August 06, 2004
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
car stuff, arg
have to get the company car up to snuff, brakes, some spark control part, etc. I dislike dealing with mechanics. I do enjoy working on mechanical things myself, but in different contexts. and certainly not on something so arcane as a ford tempo. I swear, it's barely recognizable as an ICE at all. So many proprietary parts and bizarre design choices. I'll take the opportunity to catch up on my theory work, I've been immersed in environmental details, C# stuff, and so on the past few days.
have to get the company car up to snuff, brakes, some spark control part, etc. I dislike dealing with mechanics. I do enjoy working on mechanical things myself, but in different contexts. and certainly not on something so arcane as a ford tempo. I swear, it's barely recognizable as an ICE at all. So many proprietary parts and bizarre design choices. I'll take the opportunity to catch up on my theory work, I've been immersed in environmental details, C# stuff, and so on the past few days.
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