Invisibility Cloaks and Olympics Miscellany

An update on cloaking technology. Good times. Bring on the Klingon Birds of Prey!

Re: World Records, I feel completely sorry for this guy. I don't know what alternate universe of Olympics he's been in; maybe it's different when you see events in person. But I've been watching quite a bit of the swimming and have watched the little green WR line moving with the swimmers on NBC, and every time a swimmer is looking to beat the WR mark, it gets pretty exciting. It's true that a lot of World Records have fallen at these Olympics, in lots of different events, but swimming's rules and such have only been in place since 1908, according to olympics.org. The sport has changed dramatically in 100 years. Running has grown in technology also, but its rules have been well established for much longer than swimming. The different type of growth in the sports would certainly lead to different world records changes. But back to feeling sorry for the man, he seems very jaded and inaccurate, and I hope they don't have him do any more coverage of swimming.

Re: Swimming commentators, there is a woman doing poolside interviews that I can't stand. She kept badgering Natalie Coughlin yesterday and asking her about getting close to the lane marker, and did that spoil the race, and why is it happening, and are you focusing on that in the rest of your races. She was obsessive, even though Natalie had already told her no, it was just a bad habit and she needed to focus on other things. Geez! Talk about sowing seeds of doubt. She was like that with Brendan Hansen, too, and a few others. I think the woman is a spy working for another country and trying to shake up our Olympians or get them down. In any case, at times I'm a little embarassed for her because she really doesn't have the Olympics spirit. Shut up, already.

Re: Swimming, OMG how exciting was the men's relay win last night? I thought there was no way, and then could not believe my eyes. And the color commentator was so excited it made me even more excited. I love moments like that, and that's why I watch the Olympics.

Re: Gymnastics, does anyone besides me think the names used to differentiate the gymnastics types are completely backward? "Artistic" gymnastics are based completely on rhythm and, while I enjoy them very much, are really not that artistic--aesthetic "choreography" is often overlooked. "Rhythmic" gymnastics certainly include a rhythmic component, but they are based almost entirely on artistic merit and choreography. What genius thought the nomenclature up?

Also Re: Gymnastics, I actually cried for that little Chinese girl when she fell off the bars. Her release skill was so amazing and then to have that freak accident. Our girls had more than their share of hard knocks, and I felt bad for them, but they are such fighters with clearly positive attitudes, and something about this tiny girl trying not to cry really got me.

Re: Opening Ceremonies, my favorite part was the dancing scroll writers. How awesome was that? It was simple but dramatic, and looked amazing visually. It was like all my major interests combined into one package. It seems like in every OC I always love the parts where they do historical nods. In Athens, I loved the parade and the Cupid and, while I loved the later helix, too, it was that sense of the ancient I loved best. When things start to get neon, I lose interest.