This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on August 18, 2008). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.
Sometime between August 14th and August 18th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!
- Sunday Morning’s Lightning Storm: Video from King 5 of the lightning over Auburn and Kent that woke Prairie and me up on Saturday night/Sunday morning.
- Now Diving: Sir Isaac Newton: High-tech televisual bells and whistles have carried couch-based Olympic watching way beyond the mere reality of being here. Thousands of cameras are catching the action in China — every one of them high-definition. Yet for a feat of engineering magic that dazzles as it baffles, nothing beats the DiveCam.
- The Phelps-Cavic Photo Finish [UPDATED]: On the one hand, we're getting tired of Phelps and the hype. On the other hand, this really was an incredible moment to watch.
- Bigfoot Hunters Fail to Produce Creature’s Corpse: The trio now say the body is in Biscardi's possession in an "undisclosed location," pending scientific tests. Biscardi named two scientists he's contacted regarding his find: Curt Nelson of the University of Minnesota, and Richard Klein, a paleontologist at Stanford University. "There's also an Igor and a Dmitri coming from Russia," Biscardi said. "They're very prominent in the Bigfoot world."
- Trying to figure out the scoring of gymnastics could make you crazy: Here's all you need to know: A perfect "10" (remember Nadia?) is now a perfect 16.9 — or somewhere thereabouts; The old "10" standard is gone, retired, locked up and hidden away…in its place is a two-pronged scoring system which is, at least theoretically, open-ended, meaning there is no limit to what you can earn — a score that might be truly ginormous; A gymnast's "A" score begins at zero, you get different fractions of a point for various maneuvers, ranging from the common hair-flip/giggle (.1) to the flaming-sword-swallowing-full-frontal-fakie-double-half-caff-three-hitch dismount (.7), and you get more fractions of points awarded for the maneuvers performed in various combinations. It's believed that the most "A" score points a gymnast could possibly cram into a program, given current time limits — and current points at which a gymnast's body would actually explode, or perhaps break in two — is about 7.0.