There's a new editorial that points out that if you look at medals that are awarded by an objective standard, i.e. you cross the finish line first, score more points, etc., rather than a subjective standard, i.e. the judges award points based on how well they like what you did, then the U.S. is doing much better in the gold chase compared to China than it would seem. It also asks some questions about the judges and some of the questionable calls they have made lately.
Pretty meaningless editorial. There are simply some sports that require judgement to determine who wins, including ones that can be otherwise objectively won since bad officiating can still hose one team/athlete or the other.
Questioning the calls of judges (like in the women's vault example) is one thing. Crowing about a partial medal race is just silly. In fact, I get ticked off whenever I hear anything about a medal race at all since, as the commercials keep saying, that's not what the Olympics is about (though, quite frankly, that is precisely what it has always been about).
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In fact, I get ticked off whenever I hear anything about a medal race at all since, as the commercials keep saying, that's not what the Olympics is about (though, quite frankly, that is precisely what it has always been about).
I couldn't agree more. Just once, I wish they'd practice truth in advertising. Then maybe we could see some of the athelete's talking smack to each other. I can just see it now:
Shawn Johnson to random foreign gymnast: "I'm gonna wrap those parallel bars around your f!#@ing head."
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Keeping in mind that China did not participate in the Olympics until 1984, they seem to be doing pretty well in the medal count totals.
Considering the sheer size of China's population, it would be pretty amazing if they didn't win a lot of medals.
What would be interesting to me is to see a list of medals won, percentage wise, compared to the percentage of the world's population in that country (or at least percentage of the population represented in the olympics). I have a feeling America would do very, very well in any such list, but some smaller countries (like Jamaica) might actually do better.
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Pretty meaningless editorial.
That's me, the purveyor of meaningless information. That's why I became a teacher. Serious;y thogh, most of the olympic coverage has been meaningless. Like the 24 hour news channels they have to create stories in order to fill time so they spin things into a big deal when it's really not.
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The only reason I'm posting this here is to not start another thread...
I guess when Shawn Johnson returned home she almost caused a riot (I read it on Yahoo). Guys were asking her to marry them...I wonder if any of them were on dateline???
She's a spunky kid, and she's got that All-American look about her. Combine that with her near constant ear-to-ear smile (which comes off kind of creepy every now and then), and I can see why the American public likes her.
I also saw the article about marriage proposals. Come on guys - she's 16. At least have the decency to wait until she's legal.
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The only reason I'm posting this here is to not start another thread...
I guess when Shawn Johnson returned home she almost caused a riot (I read it on Yahoo). Guys were asking her to marry them...I wonder if any of them were on dateline???
She's a spunky kid, and she's got that All-American look about her. Combine that with her near constant ear-to-ear smile (which comes off kind of creepy every now and then), and I can see why the American public likes her.
I also saw the article about marriage proposals. Come on guys - she's 16. At least have the decency to wait until she's legal.
16 is legal in some states.
Keeping in mind that China did not participate in the Olympics until 1984, they seem to be doing pretty well in the medal count totals.Considering the sheer size of China's population, it would be pretty amazing if they didn't win a lot of medals.
What would be interesting to me is to see a list of medals won, percentage wise, compared to the percentage of the world's population in that country (or at least percentage of the population represented in the olympics). I have a feeling America would do very, very well in any such list, but some smaller countries (like Jamaica) might actually do better.
Medals per-capita
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2008/08/just-as-england.html
1. Bahamas (2) - 153,725
2. Jamaica (11) - 254,939
3. Iceland (1) - 304,367
4. Slovenia (5) - 401,542
5. Australia (46) - 447,844
27. Great Britain (47) - 1,296,678
36. Canada (18) - 1,845,149
37. Russia (72) - 1,954,195
46. United States (110) - 2,762,042
68. China (100) - 13,300,446
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She's a spunky kid, and she's got that All-American look about her. Combine that with her near constant ear-to-ear smile (which comes off kind of creepy every now and then), and I can see why the American public likes her.
I also saw the article about marriage proposals. Come on guys - she's 16. At least have the decency to wait until she's legal.
Spunky?
Who are you, Ed Asner?|
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16 is legal in some states.The only reason I'm posting this here is to not start another thread...
I guess when Shawn Johnson returned home she almost caused a riot (I read it on Yahoo). Guys were asking her to marry them...I wonder if any of them were on dateline???
She's a spunky kid, and she's got that All-American look about her. Combine that with her near constant ear-to-ear smile (which comes off kind of creepy every now and then), and I can see why the American public likes her.
I also saw the article about marriage proposals. Come on guys - she's 16. At least have the decency to wait until she's legal.
And she is very bendy. The big question is, how many people out there have their countdown clocks running until she turns legal like so many people did with the Olsen twins.
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They should wait a couple years and go after He Kexin instead. Call the Chinese government's bluff.She's legal, the IOC said so.
I guess if 16 is legal in some places, then yeah. Although if they want to exploit her youthful appearance to make some bucks via porn, they'll still have to wait a couple of years...assuming they want to keep things legal.
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I guess if 16 is legal in some places, then yeah. Although if they want to exploit her youthful appearance to make some bucks via porn, they'll still have to wait a couple of years...assuming they want to keep things legal.They should wait a couple years and go after He Kexin instead. Call the Chinese government's bluff.She's legal, the IOC said so.
Just did a quick search and 14 is the age of consent in China. They could do what ever the want as long as they do not distribute it in the United States outside of Arkansas and South Carolina.
If any of you wack jobs want to know what the age of consent is where you live here is the chart.|
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Okay, I thought there might have been an international minimum age for porn. I guess a nation could declare 0 year olds are porn eligible.
I don't know about that. I've never been involved in the industry so I can't say for certain. I only know that you can't be tried for possession if the people are legal in the country you reside in. That's why prosecuting underage pornography is so hard.
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She's a spunky kid, and she's got that All-American look about her. Combine that with her near constant ear-to-ear smile (which comes off kind of creepy every now and then), and I can see why the American public likes her.
I also saw the article about marriage proposals. Come on guys - she's 16. At least have the decency to wait until she's legal.
Spunky?
Who are you, Ed Asner?
Hey, don't knock The Asnerman! He's cool! He's a Jedi Master!