Poor Referee Decisions!

The Koreans have just been robbed of a medal by Asian arch-nemeses the chinese.

However, it's really late and I'm tired so I'll write about it tomorrow; this will remind to write about it.
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So in discussion I couldn't quite articulate what it was that made long track superior to short track, but the above event showed me what it was.  The long track is decided by the competitors in one way or another, whereas the short track is always dominated by the referee.

A certain Mr. Kramer won the 10km long track by around five seconds, but was denied the gold by the referee because he went into the wrong lane.  Now this might at first seem to undermine my position, however, the referee is simply following the rules as laid down by the sports governing body, and Mr. Kramer (the world record holder in one distance, and favourite to win three gold medals across the games (he only managed one)) spends his entire life training and participating in events such as this.  If he cannot follow the rules after countless thousands of hours of training, and they aren't ingrained in his very core being, then I have little sympathy for his cause.  It is also the case that the penalty was entirely self-inflicted, no other human being made him do what he did.

Short track in entirely different however, as skaters are always jostling for position and making contact.  It is therefore up to the judges interpretation of rules.  The skaters can control their own destinies insofar as their route around the track, but should another skater run into them and take them both out, that is beyond their control.

The team skate is a perfect example of this.  The chinese skater deliberately skated into the Korean skater in order to get the Korean disqualified.  The Korean skater didn't move to interrupt the chinese line, and didn't impede the chinese skater in any way; but the chinese skater lost out because of her own exuberance and so the referee penalised the Koreans.  This kind of ridiculous decision is what spoils short track, and it happens more often than you might expect.

Just as footballers dive headfirst at every point of contact in order to gain a penalty, short track skaters make big overblown gestures to intimate their innocence, and worse than doing it in the first place is getting away with it.  The chinese cheated and won, and my respect for short-track drops again.

One Hundred and One

More as a testament to perseverance than interest, this post reaches past the century... Something England cricketers often struggle to do!

Tomorrow is my fifth driving lesson; I've no idea what's going to happen.  Hopefully I won't crash.  That's something to aim for I guess.

No matter how long I search, no jobs seem to appear.  Just got to keep looking I guess.

I've been watching a lot of the Winter Olympics.  Speed skating, short and long track are my favourites, with some great cross-country and biathlon races too.  I don't really understand any of it, but it's interesting to watch. Especially things like the ski cross and downhill where people are always on the edge of ability.

And finally:

Another Hubble image.

Free Speech

One hundred blog posts are to be topped off with a 'free speech,' cherry.  This is to include a meaningless post, and a completely crazy rant.

Apparently this particular entry into the internet void has been around for at least six years; although this is the first I've heard of it. (See the previous 'it' for the link!)  This isn't so much a website as a random collection of words that are burdened with a ten thousand dollar reward for disproving it.  Once you see the website however, you'll come to realise his reward may as well be a billion dollars, because sentences that don't make sense can't be questioned or supported.  In which case I offer a billion pounds for anyone who can disprove my theory of life, (along the lines of the previous link) 'potatoes sporadic compromise land fly quick land.'

Driving lesson number four (or five, or six, I can't remember how many now) I've done a few 'turns-in-the-road,' or whatever it is they're called...  A lot of driving around.  A couple of stalls so far.  Not much else to report really.

This small cheese related mathematical theorem made me laugh.

It's also useful for understanding what programmers mean when they talk about tessellation of triangles in graphic design and three-dimensional modelling!  Useful stuff!













That's about all I can think to write about now.  Bye bye.

The hubble telescope doing what it does best, and what it appears only to do...

Driving Lessons

I've started taking driving lessons.  After a prolonged period of inactivity on this front I've managed to twist the arm of the involved parties, and have commenced learning how to drive.  I have stalled the car once so far, and tried changing into the wrong gear once as well.  It's not as complicated as flying a helicopter, but there are significantly more obstacles.  I guess that kind of evens itself out then...

I'm sure there are other things to report...  Wait no, there aren't.

That is all.

Oh!  Happy chinese New Year!

And here's a random nebula.  Orions belt; just below it in fact.

Recently posted on wired; I'm sure I'm breaking copyright infringement...  Oh well.

Pretty right?  Click for a full-sized view of the image.

Kim Jong-Il's Comedy Club

Obviously a contradictory title; with a view to incite the positive associations of a comedy club and juxtapose those feelings with the negative associations we have of North Korea.

The short film is essentially about three men, travelling to North Korea in order to perform a skit for the Korean people.  They're comedians, and intend to perform something that's famous in Denmark; or more accurately, a number of disjointed skits they pass as a show.

The film is therefore about these individuals putting on a show; more than about the show itself.

As per usual I have many criticisms about the film; ranging from the integrity of portrayals, especially of their personal consort (a ms. Pak), to the manner in which the crew have taken to the task of filming.

The portrayals are skewed because of the directors perogative, he overlays a lot of her speech with biased views, going so far as to voice her views for her.  He even makes excuses as to why she might be so bold as to cry at a communist monument.  What she says, and his interpretation, vary to such an extent that it becomes something of a mockery of the idea of documentary itself.  I'm sure the director is more intelligent than he lets on.  Flaunting documentary protocol in such a manner has an obvious purpose, and one that he comments on himself, using one of their crew as much for propogandist anti-Korean purposes, as the North Koreans want to use him themselves.

In summary it's an entirely orchestrated ruse, both attempting to fool the North Koreans, as one would expect, but also to fool the audience.  This film is as much documentary as 'the office,' might be considered to be.  It does afford an insight into a world I have literally never seen before though, and I'm amazed they pulled it off - so to speak.

You can catch it on BBC Iplayer right now.  Go Go!

The Age Old Dispute; Given an American Twist:

I won't introduce this video, other than to say it contains swearing:




Why doesn't she just find another partner like a normal person?  And, as one of the eloquent and poetic comments suggests: (paraphrased by me for your sanity) Don't touch a mans' playstation!

As a side note; it's often said that a person (regardless of gender) may have a maximum of two attributes, from a maximum pool of three.  On the internet this trinity is: Looks, Availability, Sanity.  Pick two, and you have a cross-section of humans on the internet.  I propose that most people actually have one of the above.

To apply this rule to the video above; she is attractive; soon to be available, but quite insane.

In real life I feel the trinity tends towards: Sane, Attractive and Honest.  All valuable commodities within the realm of human interaction; somewhat difficult to find grouped into a single package; despite the breadth of ones net, and the bounties of the many oceans in which we swim!

On a lighter note.  This made me laugh.  It's not just purile netspeak; think about it.  Goodnight.