respublica

No two days are alike

Yesterday->Today.

Beautiful->gray

Here's a question. What is the matter with people?

 

A few Olympic moments you may have missed

And, in case you missed Bronze Medalist Laura Bechtolsheimer of Great Britain riding her horse Mistral Hojris in the Olympic Dressage competition to music from The Lion King here is a youtube video of the same pair, same music, before the Olympics. Lots of talk about her, her horse and the music yesterday.

 

Doing what the Olympic committee should have done

American gymnast Ali Raisman took the gold medal in the floor exercise yesterday and chose as her music Hava Nagila. This music is traditionally played at Jewish weddings and other celebratory occasions and Ali, being Jewish, wanted it to be a response to the Olympic Committee's refusal to mark the 40th anniversary of the massacre of the Israeli Olympic team by Islamic terrorists. More than that, she wanted the music to be a tribute to those who died in Munich.

This floor exercise is fantastic and if you didn't get a chance to see it on tv, take a look. Ali was flawless throughout and the height she got on the routine is amazing.

 

A complicated photo

Last week I shared a rather cool Olympic photo of a smoking gun after a skeet shoot. Here's another great photo but one which I find emotionally conflicting.

Sychronized swimming.

Photographing the Olympics with an iPhone?

We've come to expect the best photos of sporting events to be taken with SLR cameras and expensive lenses, but one photojournalist is in London capturing the Olympics with his iPhone. Many believe the camera in the iPhone 4S is not only the best phone camera on the market, but a darn good camera in its own right.

London Guardian photojournalist Dan Chung has been taking Olympic pictures with the iPhone, examples at the link, and although he adds a clip on Schneider lens and then uses a snapseed processing app, the pictures are of great quality. There are those among us who insist on using the phone for all photos, so maybe we can learn something from Chung and try the app and clip on lens if we want good pictures of moments we treasure.

Skeet

A very cool photo from the Olympics, a skeet shooter's gun after his shots.

Something we may not pay much attention to.

The best two week respite from politics

It occurred to us this week while settling in each night to watch the Olympics, that it was so nice not having to listen to the same old political rhetoric coming from every cable channel, newspaper, website and Twitter. Everyone has been talking about the Olympics. 

I can't recall the same level of interest in other Olympics, yes, they've always held a fascination to many of us but not to this extent. It just has to be the uplifting stories and successes/disappointments which contrast so vividly from the drone of politics.

One issue though. What is with the men's swimming shorts/trunks/briefs? At least the divers' shorts/trunks/briefs. Way to brief and embarrassing. Does the Olympic committee design them and order competitors to wear them? 

The first Olympics on American soil

Was in St. Louis in 1904. If you live in St. Louis you know very well that the Olympics were held on what is now the campus of Washington University. Francis Field and Francis gymnasium were constructed for the games and turned over to the university at the conclusions.

A bit of trivia.

The 1904 Olympics were held in conjuction with the famous St. Louis World's Fair lasted for 4 and 1/2 months  because the organizers of the games attempted to hold an athletic competition each day of the fair. The fair was the big deal in those days.

The Marathon was run in what was described as "brutally hot weather" (sound familiar?) The roads in those days were not really paved so the dust flew in the face of runners who followed automobiles clearing the way. The runner who actually won the event, Thomas Hicks of Great Britain, was given several doses of Strychnine Sulfate (rat poison) mixed with brandy. It was thought that chemical stimulated the nervous system. Hicks had to be supported by trainers as he crossed the finish line and treated immediately by doctors at the scene or he would have died.

While watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies...

We laughed til we cried during the surprising tribute to British Health Care.

Seriously, there were sick kids dancing and nurses and doctors dancing. Probably happy after having waited 6 years to be treated.

Unbelieveable, required DNA tests for dogs

An apartment complex in Montgomery Alabama is requiring its residents who own dogs to have a DNA test on their animals on file so that the property managers will be able to tell which dog owner did not pick up his/her dog's poop pile. 

Now this must be a serious enough problem that it is worth the time and money for the property people to get poop tested. I mean, when you hear about DNA testing for human crime it takes forever to get results and catch the culprit. 

But it seems just the fact that this is being publicized has gotten the owners to pick up after their pets which is a good thing. Too many people seem to think they don't have to do this, that time and weather will take care of it. 

Seems like just a bit over the top to me, though.