Olympic Tech: Swimming.

In case you've been in the NorthWoods of WI for the last week or so, below is info on the suit that many of the fastest swimmers in the world are rockin' in the Summer Games. It's won some gold medals already and promises to rack up more before the week's out.



Here's some 411 on the Speedo Fastskin LZR Racer:

• Speedo used NASA to help design the suit. Yup - rocket scientists.
• Lots of tests in water flumes to test passive drag (10% better than the Fastskin FSII - 2004's fast Speedo swimsuit - and 5% better than then the FS-PRO, the fastest Speedo suit from 2007.
• Tests to show where the most drag occurs on a swimmer's body led to a suit designed to minimize drag in those areas.
• Body scanning of 400 elite athletes to help develop an efficient suit pattern for construction.
• Bonded seams, so no stitches to cause drag.
• A hidden zipper - again, less drag.
• LZR polyurethane panels reduce drag in some areas of the swimsuit by as much as 24% compared to other Speedo suits.
• And a bigee - 5% less effort to go the same speed - a swimmer can use less energy to go a given speed, so they ought ot have more energy to go faster or hold that speed longer.

Of course, swimmers not using Speedo products don't want to be left on the blocks, at least 6 other companies will be making their own version of a fast suit for their sponsored athletes. Thank God.

And since t.c is all about bringing great stuff to the masses, like all the other Olympic Tech posts, you can go out and buy this too, just pony up the $500 for the suit, then get two friends to help you get into it while you stand there naked. Fun.

It's all in the name?

Not being a parent, I've been pretty amazed, er, intrigued, by what some of the first names are of our US athletes. A quick trip to the USOC webpage pulls up some rather unusual names. Some are just rare, but some are unique due to the "novel" spelling. I guess everyone wants their little Britneigh to be different.

Here's a sample of the names I found:
Seimone
Benn
Tayshaun
Cappie
Levi
Deontay
Taylor (male)
Kelci
Hayley
Nancilea
McClain (yes, first name)
Beezie
Sada
Erinn (yes, two 'n's)
Chellsie (a Wisco native no less)
Keeth
Benny
Marvell
Tairia (I don't know how to say her name)
Caitlin
Klete
Rebekah
Liezel
Shalane
Dathan
Queen
Torri
(and one of my favorite athletes to watch) Misty

Perhaps a unique name might have something to do with all these people being Olympic athletes?

Olympic Tech: Volleyballs.

Mikasa has introduced a new volleyball for the Olympics. This reminds me of the Adidas soccer ball that was the "official ball" of the World Cup Soccer Tournament not too long ago. It seems that the International Volleyball Federation(FIVB) loved this new ball so much they named it as the Exclusive FIVB Game Ball and official indoor game ball of the 2008 Olympics.

Here's what Mikasa highlights about the ball's design:

• New 8 Panel swirl design - The elimination of some panel seams allows for more contact area on the surface of the ball improving passing and control. Allows for greater accuracy and better feel.
• Unique dimpled microfiber material - The dimples create turbulence & cut down on resistance as the ball cuts through the air.This lack of resistance allows the ball to fly truer through the air and allows you to be more creative with your serves and spikes.
• Cemented panel seams - Cementing only the seams of the ball allows air in between the cover and carcass. This gives the ball a softer feel without losing any of its explosiveness.
• Blue and Yellow color - The human eye picks up these two colors faster than any others,allowing for quicker reactions and better touches.

Yellow and blue, huh? I'll have to remember that - for what, I'm not sure. Yeah, pretty sure Joe Blow can go out and buy this one too... you know, for "peppering" the ball around the yard with your little sib.

[note: I've seen yellow and blue on the outdoor/beach volleyball and the waterpolo ball. Seems like Mikasa aren't the only folks in the know about the yellow & blue color scheme]

Olympic Tech: Shoes, update.

I spoke too soon in regards to the USA men's basketball team's kicks. Here's the updated info from a great "sneakerhead" blog, NiceKicks.com. Cool pics too, as these folks have the in for all the 411 in the sneaker world. It's interesting to note that the colorway of these shoes very much matches the designs on the USA Basketball Team's jerseys and shorts - it's all made by Nike, doncha know.

Discuss, Poll #30, Earthquakes.

If someone has a good earthquake story, I think t.c readers would love to hear about it.

Of course, just about anything else is open for comments too.

Results, Poll #29, Libros.

So, in case anyone was wondering, I did manage to carve out some free time this past week and was able to finish the book I had started earlier this month. Though The Big Sort is interested mostly in how the politics of the US have sorted themselves into specific geographic locations (e.g. Austin vs. Dallas/Houston), there is a lot of historical and related information that made it quite an interesting read. I would recommend it to anyone before the elections this fall.



Here's how others responded about books:
> 8 people (40%) chose "in the last week" - As one respondent mentioned, I think this is impressive. Kudos to you all, Nerd Herd.
> 6 people (30%) chose "in the last month" - Well, not too far off the weekly book readers, good enough.
> 4 people (20%) chose "in the last 6 months" - And now it's getting smaller, meaning, I guess, that t.c readers are just that, 'readers'.
> 1 person(5%) chose "in the last year" - You must be very successful in your work life, I hope.
> 0 people (0%) chose "in the last I don't remember" - uuhhh, I have no comments.
> 1 person (5%) chose " 'book', what's that?" - And to you I give my deepest sympathies, everyone knows you're missing out by not reading Harry Potter.

14 out of 20 people have finished a book in the last month - that's impressive!! Who says books are dead? Internet, suck on that!!

Nicest news as the t.c author - we've jumped this week to 20 respondents! I do know that we've had our first Netherlands respndent finally get on board. Thanks, All. New poll up NOW.

Beijing 08-08-08

[The "Bird's Nest" all lit up]

The 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony - what a great way to spend a night at home with a summer cold (one of those hot-outside-A/C-inside colds that always creep up). I was very impressed by the overt and symbolic displays of the Chinese culture throughout the night. I don't know what part was the best... maybe just one long "best". Here's some facts I grabbed onto while watching and listening to Lauer & Costas:

China:
> With a population of 1.3 billion, China makes up 1/5th of the World's population. Yowza.
> China only has one timezone for the entire nation. No dilly-dallying with CST, MST, PST stuff... right now, on the western side of China, the sun rises at 8AM and sets at 11PM. Done and done.
> The opening ceremony used 15,000 people (no performers repeated). When the man in charge of all the proceedings was asked something like "How?" or "Why?", he replied, "Well, we have the people."
> The Olympic Stadium, or "Bird's Nest", currently holds 91,000 people. This is on par with some of the biggest college football stadiums in the US. After the games, it will be the home of Beijing's soccer team, and will then hold only about 80,000.

[I thought this was one of the nicer small things they did - Yao Ming and a boy who survived their recent earthquake went into the stadium for China's delegation together. The boy survived by digging himself out of the rubble, then saving two of his classmates b/c it was his duty as he was a chosen hall monitor.]

Others:
> Out of the 204 nations represented in the games, here's some nations I'll admit I don't think I'd heard of until they walked into the stadium - Vanuatu, Malta (I know this one, but it always sounds fake), Benin, Comoros, Cote d Ivoire, Kiribati, and Nauru (at 8sq miles, it's the smallest nation in the games).
> Palestine has an Olympic swimmer in the games, but they have no Olympic sized pool in the country.
> Chinese Taipei (uhhh, Taiwan) has a special flag for the games as they are not allowed to use their national flag in international competitions (esp in China). They will be involved in some heated games with China, esp in table tennis (I knew those shoes would need to keep their cool).
> Japan has the oldest competitor in the games, a man that is 67 years old. He will be competing in some of the equestrian events.
> Only the opening procession of nations can justify these kinds of combinations following each other into the stadium - Mauritania>Denamrk>Uganda or Australia>Zambia>China. To be fair, I didn't hear how they line up the countries, but it's not strictly on the English spelling of their country's name, it's something more official, I suspect.