Olympics

[admin]

Are you watching?

This was an inspiring story about the spirit of the Olympics.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2016/08/06/her-uber-driver-couldnt-afford-the-trip-to-rio-to-see-his-son-compete-so-she-raised-the-money-to-send-him/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-low_inspired-uber-1107am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

[NotCranky]

Short of world war the Olympics are the biggest international pissing contest going. Other than that biggest branding operation short of maybe the super bowl. Maybe not short of that. A good number of the athletes are corporate or nation sponsored drug cheats with too big to fail (drug tests) status. If that’s your olympic spirit have at it.

The story you link is clearly astro turf PR job. C’mon the aging silver blondish haired woman with connections to the DNC doing something nice (not heroic) for a very likable black man and uber pitching in a $1000 once it goes public …all of this becoming a “story in the Washington Post? Manufacturing consent much?

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=Blogstar]Short of world war the Olympics are the biggest international pissing contest going. Other than that biggest branding operation short of maybe the super bowl. Maybe not short of that. A good number of the athletes are corporate or nation sponsored drug cheats with too big to fail (drug tests) status. If that’s your olympic spirit have at it.

The story you link is clearly astro turf PR job. C’mon the aging silver blondish haired woman with connections to the DNC doing something nice (not heroic) for a very likable black man and uber pitching in a $1000 once it goes public …all of this becoming a “story in the Washington Post? Manufacturing consent much?[/quote]

Ok good point. I assume you won’t be watching.

You don’t think the aging blondish woman can make friends with a black dude? It could happen. The woman just showed the black guy what more knowledgeable families are doing to go to the Olympics. I don’t think she helped him for PR. She was just being nice. The resulting PR is bonus.

[poorgradstudent]

Why is Equestrian even a sport?

[bobby]

“sports” used to be a way to prepare for war.
boxing, fencing, track&fields, shooting, etc.
horses were used in wars. vestige (homage) to an older time.

what’s I’m confused about is synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastic.

[all]

[quote=bobby]”sports” used to be a way to prepare for war.
boxing, fencing, track&fields, shooting, etc.
horses were used in wars. vestige (homage) to an older time.

what’s I’m confused about is synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastic.[/quote]

Lao Tzu wrote about it – rhythmic movements will hypnotize the enemy during your synchronized amphibious assault.

[FlyerInHi]

The fake robbery at the Olympics is pretty lame.
The guy is 32, not a college kid. Can we believe anyone anymore?

http://nypost.com/2016/08/18/lochte-3-us-swimmers-lied-about-robbery-in-rio-report/

[spdrun]

If the story is true, hope the other two athletes spend some quality time in a Brazilian jail before being fined and deported.

[FlyerInHi]

Aren’t you glad there is surveillance? Trust but verify.

I think surveillance have enlightened us to human character. In the past people got away with murder. That calls into question the past heroes

[spdrun]

Not really: there would still be witness testimony without cameras.

This being said: I’m not opposed to surveillance. Want to put a camera up in your place of business or home? Be my guest.

I’m opposed to CENTRALIZED surveillance i.e. the footage being available to scum in government or large corepirations (Google, etc) by default. Gas station owner with camera and DVR: good. Dropcams sending footage from millions of cameras to Pappa Google: bad.

Same with cameras on streets operated by police without strict restrictions on data retention time. Dashboard cameras, on the other hand, are a good thing.

[FlyerInHi]

I think we need the truth, not allow things to the swept under be rug. Eye witnesses can be intimidated and paid off.

Lying about about a crime is serious. Someone could be in jail and lives destroyed because of a lie. I think in the past, people committed horrible things they were able to hide.

I don’t mind surveillance and big data holding people to account. Cloud storage is not bad. Local people cannot seize the info to destroy it.

[spdrun]

An acceptable compromise would be strong crypto + cloud storage. Cloud storage would prevent theft of the data. But encryption-at-rest (with keys unknown to the provider) would prevent anyone other than the victimized party from using the footage without permission.

i.e. the scum at Google or the government wouldn’t have a pipeline into millions of camera feeds.

As far as people getting away with crimes, even heinous ones, I consider it the price of a free society. We can’t eliminate all crime, solve all crime, etc, nor should be try. A society where crime doesn’t exist (short of pure anarchy with no laws to break) would be unacceptable in other ways.

[no_such_reality]

[quote=spdrun]If the story is true, hope the other two athletes spend some quality time in a Brazilian jail before being fined and deported.[/quote]

Let’s think it through.

Late night hours, group of partying American tourist.

Gas station says they damage the bathroom and wants money on the spot.

Off duty moonlighting cop is the security guard, draws his weapon.

$50 exchanges hands.

Away people go.

Tourist is an athlete, tells embellished story on major TV.

Country embarrassed, claims false crime report, seizes passports and then settles per country law for a “charity donation” of $10,800.

Makes the shakedowns you heard about in Baja in the 70s-90s seem downright amateurish.

[all]

We got pulled over, in the taxi, and these guys came out with a badge, a police badge, no lights, no nothing, just a police badge and they pulled us over. They pulled out their guns, they told the other swimmers to get down on the ground. They got down on the ground. I refused, I was like, ‘We didn’t do anything wrong, so I’m not getting down on the ground.’
“And then the guy pulled out his gun, he cocked it, put it to my forehead and he said: ‘Get down,’ and I put my hands up, I was like ‘Whatever.’ He took our money, he took my wallet. He left my cell phone, he left my credentials.

[FlyerInHi]

NSR, in many countries, when you damage property it’s customary to pay cash. That’s how it was over here too before insurance and lawyers.

[Author]

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