Posts by Kyle Matthews
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If you do not think a porn producer organising porn stars to ride topless down the main street in Auckland is pornography then you're ... well .. you're just lost.
If what happened yesterday qualifies as porn, then they're really charging way too much for it. The little I saw on the TV looked like a topless Santa parade.
And when did coffee become the currency of induction, that's what I want to know. :)
I believe the currency is still the toaster oven. Though my understanding is that it goes to the converter, not the convertee.
Ah I see that Craig has got that sorted however.
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Maybe it's just me, but the fact the Vili has achieved in a field that NZ has no traditional achievement in at this level, as compared to Willis who has followed in others footsteps, in a field that NZ has had great success in over the years, says more about her achievement. She has broken barriers, both as a NZer and a woman.
And y'know, she won, and smashed the competition out of the stadium, whereas he came third, in what wasn't an incredibly fast 1500m race.
I think the media have got the whole 'following in the footsteps of other New Zealanders' the wrong way around.
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The strength of the synch-swimmers is amazing, and I am totally against anyone who thinks it's should be removed from the games.
I don't so much care as to whether it fits into the games. I just think it's a stupid sport.
My girlfriend and I were watching the top pairs or duets last night for a while. They practice in the water for 10 hours a day for years to look weird. Gymnastics at least looks good. Sync swimming, from the silly goosestep marching to the pool onwards, looks like robots in water. I keep expecting them to short circuit.
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But the Turnbull Library's collection of those journals is awesome
Hocken Collections (courtesy of the foresight and generosity of the good doctor Hocken) has a good collection as well.
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I'm guessing you haven't been to one recently. I went last year, for the first time since childhood and it was full of enormous motorised billboards with a few elves riding on top.
I haven't seen the Auckland parade since I was wee, but other parades aren't so bad. The Dunedin one still has a strong community element to it - half the floats are companies viewing it as cheap advertising, giveaways etc, but the other half are community groups, sports clubs, etc etc. It's run by a trust associated with the city council I believe.
Not unsurprising that the Auckland one would have gone that way though - lots of head offices in Auckland, big city, massive audience.
Would someone care to explain to Grant the difference between a democracy operating under the rule of law, with an independent judiciary, and a society ruled according to the whims of a cadre of oligarchs?
Craig, I think you're assuming he'd choose the former. An easy mistake to make...
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but how do people get points in the Madison?
Every twenty laps there's a sprint, the first four riders over the line in that get the points.
If you have stolen a lap, and joined onto the back of the bunch, you sprint with everyone else, and fight everyone for points. If you happen to be out in front stealing a lap, and not joined onto the bunch at the sprint time, you get easy points. The number of laps don't affect where you are in the order, they just determine who wins the race overall. I presume it's to maintain interest in the race, because if you are a lap behind a team, you could then steal the lap late in the race and still win, and it would be their job to stop you doing so.
So the number of laps you have stolen (or lost) doesn't matter when it comes to the points. However the points only matter in the event of deciding a tie-break between two teams which have the most laps.
And the "launching" of your teammate. The little physicist in my head was saying "would that actually make you go faster?"
I was dubious about this as well, but watching they sure whizzed away from their partner when they were flung forward. I presume the finishing rider pulls forward and flings themselves backwards, and the incoming rider does the opposite. A transfer of momentum I guess.
I presume it comes from the riders having to 'tag'. If you're going to have to tag, you might as well get something out of it.
Also, think short course speed ice skating, where the outgoing skater pushes the incoming skater as part of their tag. They get a fair bit of speed out of that.
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That really does take the bronze glint off his medal win doesn't it. If he really has raced on behalf of the Western World against 'coloured people', I'd much rather he didn't do it in a black singlet.
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It doesn't work for me in Firefox. Try IE.
Hmm. How... stupid really... to present the pre-advert in one format/method, and then the actual content in another.
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Then i don't recommend clicking that link in the post.
Is it just me? Every time I try and watch footage through the TVNZ website, it shows me the adverts, but not the actual footage. Just stops after the adverts, no error message, nothing. I feel like I've been screwed and no one has left any money on the nightstand as compensation.
I thought the little girl lip-syncing thing was just rude. I don't care much about things being fake - I care not about the fireworks CGI thing - but the last thing I care about is whether or not some girl who's good enough to sing in front of billions of people, has wonky teeth. If anyone tried to do that to my kids...
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I think it's all strokes. And there's a rule about how many kicks and strokes you can do underwater at the turns. I think that's a big factor in Phelps' success is the "ground" he makes up underwater.
Also the most efficient kick you can do underwater is the butterfly kick. You're allowed to do one of those at each turn, regardless of the stroke.
I need a physicist to explain why it's more efficient to swim under the water without your arms, than above the water with your arms. Logic would have told me to get to the surface of the water fairly quickly.