PenguinSix

• Just listed on ebay my Team USA Opening Ceremony hat that I picked up at Polo. Wonder how hot the demand is? http://bit.ly/98Uzbh #
• @dsearls Do you know one of their songs, or a bit of the lyrics from one of their songs? in reply to dsearls #
• Read the Tweets and see the twitpics of the Olympic Athletes at the Opening Ceremony http://bit.ly/cvo077 #
• RT @thekenyeung: RT @kk: Gnarly video of the Olympic luge crash today up in Whistler. http://bit.ly/buZGSQ [tragedy at the Olympics.] #
• Schools closed + fed government working = many grandparents taking the kids to McDonalds. Quite a line in here. Just want fries!! #
• @Scobleizer Ask who was a tougher leader, Clinton or Steve Jobs? in reply to Scobleizer #
• Three American siblings skating for two different countries in the Olympics, but none of them on Team USA. http://bit.ly/bAMn8g #
• @thekenyeung Scoble had an interesting foto meme on Buzz today–the notes each speaker used for their speech. From ipods to index cards. in reply to thekenyeung #
• @Scobleizer Maybe they need a Slashdot system where comments are rated and you decide if you want / do not want to see those below XX votes. in reply to Scobleizer #
• @thekenyeung Big debate in Buzz after Scoble rt: your post on privacy. in reply to thekenyeung #
• Starting a Twitter->Friendfeed->Google Buzz test. 6:38 EST #
• My son just clicked on a Thomas the Train Youtube video and got Rick Astley. His first Rickroll, and he is only 3. #
• Former Cong. Charlie Wilson has died. http://bit.ly/9GG9lS #
• @juliehallboston It's clobbering all of us down in DC Baltimore just banned cars from driving and all MD snowplows are halted. in reply to juliehallboston #
• @thekenyeung First–set up a filter to 'Skip Inbox' when you get a Buzz message, else you'll have 1000s in a matter of hours in reply to thekenyeung #
• @joanek Montgo just announced they are stopping all plows at the moment. Too dangerous. Go ahead, turn on the scanner. in reply to joanek #
• Wow. Baltimore bans driving on all city roads. Blizzard clobbers city. http://bit.ly/bEbnMH #
• @robpegoraro Set up a filter to 'skip inbox' when you have BUZZ in the from/subject. in reply to robpegoraro #
• RT @ABC2_ALERTS: ALERT | Roof Collapses at Smithsonian Warehouse – http://ow.ly/15Wgt The facility w/ some of Air and Space planes? #
• @davidporter You can get rid of buzz at the bottom of the page there is a deactivate link 'turn off buzz' in reply to davidporter #
• @Scobleizer If you are in the room ask them if they are going to kill off Wave? in reply to Scobleizer #
• @Scobleizer I wonder if the Friendfeed crew got a wiff of Google Buzz and sought out Facebook. The whole tie up makes more sense now. in reply to Scobleizer #
• @thekenyeung Yea, and they keep saying goto the website and it isn't up yet just yet. in reply to thekenyeung #
• Google buzz…sheesh, I can't spell. Anyway, quite like friendfeed #
• Gooble Buzz looks a lot like Friendfeed. #
• @Scobleizer Thanks for the live Google link. I didn't know where it was but knew if I looked at Scoble's tweets I'd probably find a link. in reply to Scobleizer #
• @thekenyeung Wow, thanks. That will be a b. school case study for years. Cost of a brand vs. price /stigma of bad service. in reply to thekenyeung #
• Federal Government closed Tuesday in DC pending additional 10-16 inch blizzard. http://www.data.gov/opm_status.html #
• @thekenyeung Wow. Are they're dumping Comcast as a name all over? Is that company wide? in reply to thekenyeung #
• Oh My God, Mark Ronson and Lily Allen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnDo6mR6fp8 #
• @thekenyeung But Bud did use the theme music from Stripes so +1 there. in reply to thekenyeung #
• @scottevest http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=63512&part=sports in reply to scottevest #
• @thekenyeung I think #superbowl given that Twitter erases most stuff after a few weeks from search so no need to differentiate. in reply to thekenyeung #
• My #snowpocalypse pictures http://bit.ly/aory86 #
• My #snowpocalypse pictures http://bit.ly/aory86 #
• @dcsportsbog Bob the Builder on the iPhone, Super Bowl on the tv. I have the best of both worlds. in reply to dcsportsbog #
• @joanek I parked my car 200 yds away from my house, about 30 feet from road. Just had to clear that last bit out, and hike to car in snow in reply to joanek #
• Spent two hours to dig out the car from about 20 inches of snow only to go for a drive and see nothing open. It was a guy thing. #

Powered by Twitter Tools

Slow Down

Following the death of Olympic competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili, Olympic luge competitors will now be starting at a lower ramp in an effort to reduce speeds on the Whistler Luge track, this despite an ‘investigation’ earlier which ruled out track design as an issue in the death.

Men are now starting from what was the women’s start ramp, and women are now racing further down the track from the ‘juniors’ starting gate.  This move should slow down speeds along the course.  The course will now be 575 feet shorter and speeds should be reduced about 6 mph.

However, many are acknowledging that the technical changes are not really the issue right now, but that mental changes are in order.

“You have an emotional component and you have a technical component,” Romstad said, his voice cracking as he tried to explain why what seems a fairly superficial fix is being instituted. “None of our athletes . . . They lost a friend yesterday. It’s an emotional experience, something they haven’t been through before.”

Things are a bit more advanced than the first televised Olympics in 1936

“NBC sucks” is a constant drone you hear each and every Olympics.  ”They didn’t show enough of the Tajikistan entrance, ergo they are biased against Tajikstan” and other silliness often is heard on the messageboards and other sites (and no, I’m not kidding about the Tajik reference–it happens).

So now that we’re done with that, let’s talk about some real live numbers behind this year’s Olympics.

NBC is going to have 835 hours of coverage across multiple platforms (and I believe that includes online coverage as well).  This is way up from the 419 hours of Torino coverage in 2006, and 375.5 hours in 2002 Salt Lake City.  It will also be the first Olympics produced entirely in HD (though my local WRC coverage got messed up last night due to a glitch with Comcast that I had, so I watched most of the Opening Ceremony in Standard Definition.  How 2003 was that?)

NBC is doing all this coverage with a significantly lower staff this year.  2168 employees which is down from the 2,768 they sent to Torino and 3,260 in Salt Lake.  You would figure more advanced technology might require more personnel, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

But if you really want to get into the technical bits of the coverage, you need to read this amazing piece in BroadcastingCable magazine that goes into some massive details, such as What type of Cameras are they using for Vancouver?

NBCU will use more than 100 cameras, all equipped with Canon lenses, to supplement OBS’ coverage. They include Sony HDC-1400, -1500 and -3300 units, and for ENG applications, Sony’s new PDW-F800 XDCAM HD optical-disc camcorders.

Um, ok.  It also goes into some details about how the streams are being processed directly in Vancouver instead of backhauled to their HQ and redone there (as they had to do with the China Olympics).

Anyway, it’s a pretty interesting article if you like technical details of television sports broadcasting.

The Vancouver Olympic committee has issued a statement on the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili.

The track was closed for an investigation by the coroners office in Canada.  Once they had the evidence they needed for their investigation, they turned it over to the FIL (International Luge Federation).  The luge federation and the Vancouver Olympics determined ‘human error‘ was to blame for the crash, not the track design itself.

It appears after a routine run, the athlete came late out of curve 15 and did not compensate properly to make correct entrance into curve 16. This resulted in a late entrance into curve 16 and although the athlete worked to correct the problem he eventually lost control of the sled resulting in the tragic accident.  The technical officials of the FIL were able to retrace the path of the athlete and concluded there was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track.

There have been several other accidents on this track, in both luge and bobsled.  One corner is now known as “50-50 corner” as you have a 50% chance you’ll crash coming through it.  There are others who still blame the track, even in light of the official report from the Olympic committee.

From a layman’s perspective, it looks kind of silly to have large metal poles located on the ‘downwind-inertia’ side of the track, i.e. the place where the body would naturally go in a crash.  But watching the horrific luge crash video you see his body did sort of go back and forth and I’m not certain the ‘flow’ of the track led to him going in that direction any more than it would have resulted in him jumping the wall in the other direction had he crashed a bit earlier.

Vancouver residents have set up a makeshift memorial to luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in the city center.

That’s a lot of little flashlights.

The Opening Ceremony to the 2010 Winter Olympics set a record as the most expensive Winter Olympics Ceremony ever, chalking in at about $38 million.  While this was dwarfed by the Beijing Olympics, it certainly is upsetting some who feel the money should have been spent on <insert cause of the day here>.

Even at $1,100 a ticket (for the opening ceremonies) it is unlikely that ticket revenue alone is going to pay for this event. (UPDATE.  60,000 * 1,100 = $66,000,000, so that’s not bad). Other top event tickets are going up in price on the fan ticket exchanges for the Olympics, but the biathalon is still a bargain at $70.

This is really hard to watch.

For those who have not heard, the luge athlete from Georgia was killed today in a freak accident on the very dangerous luge track in Vancouver.  Nodar Kumaritashvilvi accident propelled him off the track and into a steel girder at nearly 90 mph, which caused injuries that eventually cost him his life.

A special moment of reflection will be held tonight during the opening ceremony.  IOC officials are meeting with the luge federation in an emergency meeting as to whether the luge will take place at the Olympics or if any other changes might be made to the schedule.

Nodar was 21 years old.

The full video of his run can be seen on NBC Olympics (requires the free Silverlight plugin).  It is graphic, partially in the sense you look at him and know what is coming.

As NBC is limited to the USA, you might find other links here:

Buzzfeed

Seattle Post

The IOC is shutting down Youtube videos for copyright reasons nearly as fast at they are being put up.

The only thing bigger than the USA logo on the US Olympic Team’s Opening Ceremony outfits is the Polo Ralph Lauren horse that appears on the front of each jacket. I remember when some folks were upset to see the Nike swoosh. They’re going to have a field day with this. At least the hat is relatively logo free.

UPDATE:  The “Moose” hat which was worn in the opening ceremony is already a very hot seller.  Ebay is sold out, but I’ve got one (L/XL) that I’ll be auctioning off shortly.  Check back for the link or goto Ebay to find it.

Here is the link to my EBAY sale.  24 hours only.  Ends Monday Night

The Polo collection mirrors the 1920s look that the US Olympic team wore in Beijing. Sort of a throwback to the roaring 20s look, but at a definite 2010 price tag.

The wool hat is a top seller.  You can’t find them in stores and the only place I’ve heard that has them in stock is the USA store in Vancouver.  You can find them on ebay, but you will spend nearly $400-$500 to get one (yes, seriously).

If you have $400 you might like this sweater a bit more.  It’s quite nice and was worn by most of the team during the opening ceremony.

Unlike Beijing, in which the nations entered in Chinese alphabetical order, the Winter Olympics in Vancouver will have the nations arriving in French alphabetical order, English order according to some published reports.  Of course there are two exception–Greece will be first, and Canada will be last (as the host nation).  The USA will be the 82nd nation to enter.

The opening ceremony is being dedicated to the memory of Nodar Kumaritashvilvi, the Georgian luge athlete that died earlier today.

This is the best list I can find so far.  We’ll see if I can find a better one before the parade starts.

Yea, I only reviewed the free ones.  I have a Cowbell already (from my visit to the SLC ‘02 Olympics) so couldn’t rationalize buying an electronic version.

The Vancouver Olympics start on Friday and there are quite a few iPhone apps in the app store to help keep you up to date on the latest.

NBC has a formal application that is complete with news, schedules and some (delayed) video from the games.  We’ll have to see if there are any competition videos or whether it just remains the ‘touchy feely’ Olympic stories NBC is famous for producing.   It also parses in the Twitter updates from Olympic athletes, such as Apollo Ohno.

NBC Cheer is a great app for annoying anyone within listening distance of you.  You can select the standard “USA-USA” cheer but then overlay things like ‘cowbell’ or ‘whistle’.  I just tried it out on the wife who glared at me with a ’shut-that-f#$%-thing up’ look after only a few seconds.  A must have to be sure.

2010 Vancouver is a guide for those who find themselves in Canada during the Olympics.  It has information on venues including maps and directions on how to get to different spots.  It also has a list of official twitter events (including the Torch, which has a twitter feed I guess and some of the IOC tweets).  Good to have if you are going.

CTVOlympics is all the coverage you could want, from a Canadian point of view.  It has a news and photos section along with some venue information, and might be a good alternative if you just can’t stand NBC’s take on things.

As I prepare for our move to Hong Kong, I’m rolling down a list of things to buy for the house to help improve the environment in our luxurious 1350 square feet (980 sq livable space) apartment.  Air filters are an absolute priority, and not the crap ones you buy at Sharper Image but HEPA air filters that get the tiniest of tiny pollutants.  A space heater (because no one has heat in HK and it does get cold).  Water filters for the taps, not necessarily because things are really bad but just to make it better.

Then I got to thinking about some of these water systems capable of ‘making’ water from humid air.  There are many systems now available for the home (for about $1,000) but I’m not sure if it is for me.  Needless to say Hong Kong is humid enough for several gallons, but I wasn’t really sure if water from the polluted air in Hong Kong would be safe enough to drink, or whether I should just clean what comes out of the tap (and yes, we will be using bottles more than likely).

Turns out the same technology is at work today in Haiti, but on a much larger scale.  Aqua Sciences corporation have sent down a shipping container sized water purification system to generate clean water for a Haitian hospital.  This 40 foot unit (and yes, the pic is of the 20 footer) can create over 1200 gallons a day of water from humid air, and this drinkable water is then cleaned so it can be used in the hospital environment.

Read more here : Greenbang

No, I haven’t heard of it either.  I was flipping around Youtube watching some Top Gear clips when I happened to see a Jeremy Clarkson video of a documentary called “The Greatest Raid”.  I started watching, and boy was I glad I did.

The Greatest Raid was essentially a suicide mission of British Commandos on the docks at St. Nazaire along the Atlantic coast of France in 1942.  Designed to knock out a drydock facility for the German battleship Tirpitz the raid played an important role in ensuring the Atlantic convoys continued to feed England in the dark days following the Battle of Britain.  Loaded aboard an old US destroyer and tiny patrol boats, the Commandos made their way up an estuary to the heavily defended docks.

It’s all up on Youtube, and it’s a pretty amazing story worth 45 minutes of your life.

• Watching Hong Kong gangster flicks trying to get my head around the fact I'll be back there in about 3 weeks. #
• Snow in the backyard at Chesapeake Beach an hour ago. Much deeper now. #dcsnow http://tweetphoto.com/9994442 #
• @thekenyeung aol paying if you write about sxsw. http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2010/01/28/aol039s-seedcom-pay-freelancers-cover-sxsw-bands in reply to thekenyeung #
• @drkiki #DKSH no vid because net is down, but you could ask about theory dinos did not die by asteroid. http://bit.ly/bJtLkJ in reply to drkiki #
• RT @BreakingNews: Study linking vaccines to autism 'dishonest,' 'irresponsible,' British Medical Council rules http://bit.ly/94a32V #
• Not content with just hitting the water main the contractors have now hit the cable tv/net cable. Wonder if iPhone tethering works yet. #
• @thekenyeung go to the airport and get on a random flight. More adventure. in reply to thekenyeung #
• Septic tank diggers found the water main. We now have a fountain in the yard. #
• Flash is sooooo 2008. #
• iPad craziness and I'm stuck outside putting in a $5500 septic drainfield. My shoes smell funny. #
• @juliehallboston cash cash cash cash cash. In the end that's what makes us save energy. Make the financial argument and you win every time in reply to juliehallboston #
• @momfluential I've never heard good about dreamhost. I use mosso which is ok for smaller sites. Singlehop is my dedicated server–solid. in reply to momfluential #
• Army Corps of Engineers taking bids for NSA's new $1.7 billion data center in the middle of Utah. http://bit.ly/b4fYqU #
• Army Corps of Engineers taking bids for NSA's new $1.7 billion data center in the middle of Utah. #
• Watching a friend of mine on Let's Make a Deal. She was one of the first contestants today who won a new home theater http://bit.ly/ccfwh3 #
• @drkiki Hope you have seen the movie 24 Hour Party People. A good one for Joy Division fans. in reply to drkiki #
• @jack anytime you talk to the IRS get the operator number of the person. The conversation & notes you have can come into play later. in reply to jack #
• Most people watch WALL-E and see an environmental message. I see an awkward guy trying to get the hot girl. Almost autobiographical #
• @ScotteVest Video yes, but it opens in a media player, not on the page. Why not put it on Youtube and embed YT into your page? in reply to ScotteVest #
• Would cable movie channels exist if Kelly's Heroes had never been made? It's on daily I think… #
• I went to college with the Saint's head coach and special teams coach and my jr. high football coach is the replay official. Small world. #
• When God created football it was because he wanted to watch games like this one. #
• Can anyone on the Vikings hold on to the ball? #
• @thekenyeung I think the Colts were reading your tweets and realized they should wake up and destroy something… in reply to thekenyeung #
• It the annals of chick movies, Legally Blonde actually isn't that bad. If you are forced to watch one, you can do much worse than this one. #
• @steve You don't want to know the result. Just go back to bed, or watch bobsledding on Speed Channel instead. in reply to steve #
• It's so hard to plan a productive and exciting day when it's cold, grey and miserable outside. Maybe some productive sleeping. #
• Rumors that AT&T exclusivity for the iPhone to end on January 27…. http://ff.im/eKUZh #

Powered by Twitter Tools

Dry dock cancelled? Haiti mission imminent?

After reading this blog post calling for the USNS Mercy to be activated and deployed to Haiti, I found some interesting tidbits here on a San Francisco bloggers page:  Work on the USNS Mercy, scheduled for drydock work in San Francisco, may have been cancelled and the workers at the drydock laid off.  A possible deployment to Haiti was cited as the reason.  The USNS MERCY was in drydock in Mission Bay area of San Francisco but the workers were told they were laid off until further notice.

Trying to find more than just a blog post to confirm that.

Here was the original dry docking proposal.

I’m starting to compile a list of bloggers and twitterer’s on board the USNS Comfort.

USNS Comfort Twitter Account

Blogs:

HaitiComfort (official blog)

Comfort XO

US Naval Institute (the publishing arm for many Naval Press books)

Baltimore Sun on-board reporter

more coming…

p.s. Calls are now being made for the West Coast Hospital Ship, the USNS MERCY, to be activated and sent to Haiti, so great is the need and so much stress being put on the COMFORT.

• @juliehallboston It's Dances with Smurfs. Plot weak, but visually cool Must see in 3D. Skip the 2D. Wasn't a life changing event for me. in reply to juliehallboston #
• @juliehallboston More here http://community.babycenter.com/post/a21332223/avatar_-_appropriate_for_a_5_year_old in reply to juliehallboston #
• I'm stuck in a German techno-rave club in Second Life. Weird has been redefined… #
• @juliehallboston It's not Spongebob. Many lizard horses and hammerhead elephants and a bunch of other acid-based creatures. Scary for 5. in reply to juliehallboston #
• @aliciamk Ok. Maybe on later if the F@#$%@#$% doesn't crash again. in reply to aliciamk #
• @aliciamk What's your second life name? I'm PenguinSix Venkman–just got the stupid thing to work for the first time in months. in reply to aliciamk #
• @juliehallboston Avatar != 5 yr old. There are a lot of monsters and scary looking things. Even the good 'creatures' are nightmare worthy. in reply to juliehallboston #
• @thekenyeung Whatever you decide, when you are actually eating you'll probably wish you decided the other option. in reply to thekenyeung #
• @jlcoassin Any parent who tells you they don't give the iPhone to their kids is a liar. It's the best toy ever. in reply to jlcoassin #
• Moving to Hong Kong where everything is 220v is going to see a major ebay-age of many many gadgets. Sigh. #
• @Scobleizer You're right. Like the iPhone, who cares about the hardware. t's what you are going to DO with the thing that is the big sell. in reply to Scobleizer #
• Four Lions, a comedy about jihadist suicide bombers (yeah, seriously) actually looks funny. Clip: http://bit.ly/4LgWvK #
• Moving to Hong Kong in 4 weeks. Guess I should start packing. Back in a year or two. #
• Jane, you ignorant slut. If you've never seen it, you simply haven't lived. http://bit.ly/qdche #
• Email leads SAR team and CNN to Haitian Univ. where students may still be alive after 9 days. #haiti #
• @leolaporte The DMV. Is that a good thing? in reply to leolaporte #
• @loic Inbox. Wonder if email is going to be read in Seesmic Look in reply to loic #
• My son calls Microsoft Excel the 'froggy'. I guess the logo looks like a frog. #
• @Scobleizer But would you run it on an Apple tablet vs. a twitter app? in reply to Scobleizer #
• @goodetobefirst Good pizza at Matchbox in Chinatown (7th/H NW). DC lunches at Eastern Market Lunch (7th/D SE) or Ben's Chilli (12th/U NW) in reply to goodetobefirst #
• Fmr. Pres. Candidate John Edwards admits what everyone already knows. He is the father of the love child. http://bit.ly/7GJn8d #
• Obama's Justice Department supports extremely radical pro-RIAA positions against music sharing http://bit.ly/7B3V1b #
• @goodetobefirst Welcome to DC. Did you bring the California crap weather with you? ice/snow tonight in reply to goodetobefirst #
• Idiot's domestic disharmony just erupted on the road near me in a tirade of threats and obscenities. Rang 911. Wake me up–go to jail. #
• Just took a 4 hour lunch break to see Avatar 3D. Yes, #9to5sucks. #
• @robpegoraro Last time NYT charged for content I went about 16 months without even looking at their website. in reply to robpegoraro #
• @steve Do you wear glasses (re: 3D Avatar). Wondering if that impacts it at all. in reply to steve #
• Should I see Avatar in 3D (30 minute drive) or regular strength (10 minute drive). Last chance before craziness starts. #
• @jamescridland Glad you had a fun. My wife is in HK signing an apartment lease but I won't be there until March. Will meet up next time. in reply to jamescridland #
• The circular firing squad returns to the Democratic party. http://bit.ly/86RqCB #
• @dsearls interesting prediction. He certainly will eat into the Palin base. in reply to dsearls #
• Have no idea about pizza I bought as phone call stole me away from dinner. Bummer #
• Great, the baby found the keyboard nnu  RUNNING tw eegth o dkiecniun #
• ' #
• Fear, uncertainty, doubt rule at this moment as I'm about to order a pizza from a new place I've never tried before…. #
• Tornado warning for LA? That's pretty weird. #
• @loic I've even done video conferences via Skype on Virgin. The connection is that good. #
• Massive homeopathic 'overdose' planned to protest UK pharmacy selling silly do-nothing 'cures'. #ten23 #homeopathic http://bit.ly/6vqDr8 #
• All these tweets about Cadbury are making me hungry. #
• @thekenyeung That means you have to buy whatever they announce. It's in the fine print of the invite, probably… in reply to thekenyeung #
• Military bloggers fly to #haiti to provide security for rescue convoys. http://bit.ly/5UMtSR Donate now. #

Powered by Twitter Tools