Olympics

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-08-16 08:11pm

Am I the only one who likes watching World Series Poker more than the Olympics?

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2004-08-16 08:16pm

That'd be me too, Damien.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-08-16 08:16pm

Olympics? There's an Olympics happening?

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-08-16 08:22pm

By the way, who thinks this linear addition of scoring is too simple? All they do is add up the scores from all the judges. Am I the only one who thinks that they should apply some other sort of math here? Wouldn't a statistical mean with an error consisting of one standard deviation be more informative of how the judges scored the athlete?

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2004-08-16 08:34pm

Durandal wrote:By the way, who thinks this linear addition of scoring is too simple? All they do is add up the scores from all the judges. Am I the only one who thinks that they should apply some other sort of math here? Wouldn't a statistical mean with an error consisting of one standard deviation be more informative of how the judges scored the athlete?

Too complex for induhviduals.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-08-16 09:16pm

SirNitram wrote:
Durandal wrote:By the way, who thinks this linear addition of scoring is too simple? All they do is add up the scores from all the judges. Am I the only one who thinks that they should apply some other sort of math here? Wouldn't a statistical mean with an error consisting of one standard deviation be more informative of how the judges scored the athlete?
Too complex for induhviduals.

Oh come now. We could have ranges for each athlete's score, and when two ranges overlap, the winner is decided based on a probability model constructed from the overlap of the two ranges, which is then randomly fed into a computer program which will conduct a single trial to see who comes out on top. This way, there's a chance that the second-place athlete could actually win the gold!

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2004-08-16 09:33pm

Durandal wrote:By the way, who thinks this linear addition of scoring is too simple? All they do is add up the scores from all the judges. Am I the only one who thinks that they should apply some other sort of math here? Wouldn't a statistical mean with an error consisting of one standard deviation be more informative of how the judges scored the athlete?

Depends on the sport. Some average the scores. The ones where the add the scores are the ones where different judges rate different things--execution vs. originality, for example.

I much prefer sports where some quantative measure is used to determine the winner, myself. Gymnastics and the like I watch for the spectactular wipeouts.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2004-08-16 09:48pm

We get good coverage from the CBC so the olympics are actually pretty fun to watch. It's a hell of a lot better than baseball & basketball IMO but not as good as hockey, then again, nothing is. The girls made me watch swimming since that's their sport and they know some people on the Canadian team, and I have to say there's more cute chicks in swimming than I thought. It's a pity that so many of them are going to full body suits.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2004-08-16 10:05pm

LadyTevar wrote:
Master of Ossus wrote:
Joe wrote:[snip]Somebody likes his gold medal...
Maybe he thought it was chocolate wrapped in foil.
I do like the Olive branches. It's a great touch.

Did you see the Australian athlete who won gold in the shooting, but couldn't keep the olive branches on her head due to thhe wind?

BlkbrryTheGreat · Post by **BlkbrryTheGreat** » 2004-08-16 10:17pm

Gandalf wrote:
LadyTevar wrote:
Master of Ossus wrote: Maybe he thought it was chocolate wrapped in foil.
I do like the Olive branches. It's a great touch.
Did you see the Australian athlete who won gold in the shooting, but couldn't keep the olive branches on her head due to thhe wind?

How ironic.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2004-08-16 10:58pm

GrandAdmiralTroll wrote:
fgalkin wrote: You ignore the fact that half the population of the globe watched the last 2 Olympics. Now crawl back under your bridge.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin
The more I think about this, the more insane it seems. Four billion? Maybe if they're broadcasting on fucking Coruscant.

Really, did anyone notice all of human civilization grinding to a halt as two-thirds of the planetary population stopped to watch television? No? Me either.

I definitely call bullshit on these numbers.

How many people are actually working during Saturday night? Oh wait, not too many. But I'm sure that conceeding is much harder than to scream "bullshit" at numbers by a legitimate source. Here's a hint, you call something bullshit, YOU PROVE IT.

Hell, even if only 1 billion people watched it, it would still demolish your claim that no one gives a shit about the Olympics.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Cosmic Average · Post by **Cosmic Average** » 2004-08-16 11:00pm

GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:You can link to all the little fluff pieces on the opening ceremony that you want. All they do is briefly repeat the figure they were given, which someone no doubt pulled out of their ass. If you want to make any headway then show me the articles describing empty streets, abandoned marketplaces, and temporary worldwide economic shutdown as TWO-THIRDS OF EVERYONE ON EARTH STOPPED WHAT THEY WERE DOING TO GO WATCH THE OLYMPICS. Four billion people would be pretty much every waking human being in the fucking world.

Did the Olympics air live? Or were they pre-taped and then shown around the world?

Post by **Gandalf** » 2004-08-16 11:05pm

Cosmic Average wrote:
GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:You can link to all the little fluff pieces on the opening ceremony that you want. All they do is briefly repeat the figure they were given, which someone no doubt pulled out of their ass. If you want to make any headway then show me the articles describing empty streets, abandoned marketplaces, and temporary worldwide economic shutdown as TWO-THIRDS OF EVERYONE ON EARTH STOPPED WHAT THEY WERE DOING TO GO WATCH THE OLYMPICS. Four billion people would be pretty much every waking human being in the fucking world.
Did the Olympics air live? Or were they pre-taped and then shown around the world?

They were live in Australia.

I thnk they may have been live the world over. Though some cable networks may have done delayed telecasts/replays.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2004-08-16 11:08pm

Gandalf wrote:
Cosmic Average wrote:
GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:You can link to all the little fluff pieces on the opening ceremony that you want. All they do is briefly repeat the figure they were given, which someone no doubt pulled out of their ass. If you want to make any headway then show me the articles describing empty streets, abandoned marketplaces, and temporary worldwide economic shutdown as TWO-THIRDS OF EVERYONE ON EARTH STOPPED WHAT THEY WERE DOING TO GO WATCH THE OLYMPICS. Four billion people would be pretty much every waking human being in the fucking world.
Did the Olympics air live? Or were they pre-taped and then shown around the world?
They were live in Australia.

I thnk they may have been live the world over. Though some cable networks may have done delayed telecasts/replays.

It was mostly taped. IIRC.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2004-08-17 02:20am

fgalkin wrote:How many people are actually working during Saturday night? Oh wait, not too many. But I'm sure that conceeding is much harder than to scream "bullshit" at numbers by a legitimate source. Here's a hint, you call something bullshit, YOU PROVE IT.

Blow me, you incompetent little dipshit. So far all you've done is stick your fingers in your ears and chant "THEY SAID FOUR BILLION AND THE NEWS PRINTED IT SO ITS TRUE LALALA I CANT HEAR YOU!"

Don't bother posting again unless you can demonstrate a means by which it's even POSSIBLE to get an accurate viewer count in this circumstance. And don't think you can just extrapolate some Nielsen numbers across the globe. We need to know what several billion Chinese and Indian peasants are watching, as well as people in Madagascar slums, Sri Lankan factory workers, and farmers in rural Argentina. C'mon, tally 'em up.

Reality: Some Olympic PR wanker decided "Fuck, I bet it was a lot. Four billion sounds good." and the news went with it, because nobody cares to bother questioning it.

SpacedTeddyBear · Post by **SpacedTeddyBear** » 2004-08-17 10:17pm

The girls made me watch swimming since that's their sport and they know some people on the Canadian team, and I have to say there's more cute chicks in swimming than I thought. It's a pity that so many of them are going to full body suits.

Diving too.

I did hear on the radio that the UK's womens swimsuits a slightly see through.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-08-17 11:29pm

Woman's Olympic Gymnastics on NBC now

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-08-17 11:34pm

jesus christ, can those gymnastic outfits get anymore revealing?

These full body suits are so goddamn skintight they leave NOTHING
and I mean NOTHING to the imagination....I bet every pedophile who
is watching this is furiously masturbating right now...

Yeah I know call me old fashioned, but goddamn could they at
least thicken the suits up, especially with these kids?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-08-17 11:36pm

Real sports are judged by a tape measure, a stopwatch, a weigh scale, or the movement of a ball across a goal line. None of this "points awarded for style" bullshit.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-08-17 11:39pm

Darth Wong wrote:Real sports are judged by a tape measure, a stopwatch, a weigh scale, or the movement of a ball across a goal line. None of this "points awarded for style" bullshit.

Yeah yeah, looks like Romania just won, the Rumanian girls were gathering
behind their flag cheering.

Seriously, we're getting well into the point of legal preteen pornography
with these ever increasingly thinner suits.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2004-08-17 11:43pm

Darth Wong wrote:Real sports are judged by a tape measure, a stopwatch, a weigh scale, or the movement of a ball across a goal line. None of this "points awarded for style" bullshit.

But it's great fun watching them miss the bar and faceplant.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-08-17 11:45pm

MKSheppard wrote:jesus christ, can those gymnastic outfits get anymore revealing?

These full body suits are so goddamn skintight they leave NOTHING and I mean NOTHING to the imagination....I bet every pedophile who is watching this is furiously masturbating right now...

Yeah I know call me old fashioned, but goddamn could they at least thicken the suits up, especially with these kids?

Of all the times we've disagreed or not seen eye-to-eye on a certain issue, whether it be gun control, the presidential election, the War on Terror, the Iraqi occupation, military funding, the economy, health-care reform, the burial place of a Nazi pilot ace or the best way to combat Islamic fanaticism ... I have never so vehemently, strenuously, positively despised and stood firmly against the contents of one of your posts as I do now.

You've taken our feud to a new level.

SpacedTeddyBear · Post by **SpacedTeddyBear** » 2004-08-17 11:54pm

But it's great fun watching them miss the bar and faceplant.

I've seen a couple of those ( in the polevault). Trust me, the fun lasts till the person hits the ground.

These full body suits are so goddamn skintight they leave NOTHING
and I mean NOTHING to the imagination....I bet every pedophile who
is watching this is furiously masturbating right now...

Well they have to be tight in order to keep the boobs from moving too much.
The fact that they're mostly white is what makes them a bit disturbing to me.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-08-18 12:09am

Durandal wrote:
MKSheppard wrote:jesus christ, can those gymnastic outfits get anymore revealing?

These full body suits are so goddamn skintight they leave NOTHING and I mean NOTHING to the imagination....I bet every pedophile who is watching this is furiously masturbating right now...

Yeah I know call me old fashioned, but goddamn could they at least thicken the suits up, especially with these kids?
Of all the times we've disagreed or not seen eye-to-eye on a certain issue, whether it be gun control, the presidential election, the War on Terror, the Iraqi occupation, military funding, the economy, health-care reform, the burial place of a Nazi pilot ace or the best way to combat Islamic fanaticism ... I have never so vehemently, strenuously, positively despised and stood firmly against the contents of one of your posts as I do now.

You've taken our feud to a new level.

What the hell? That came totally out of left field?

Post by **Cairber** » 2004-08-18 12:14am

RedImperator wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:Real sports are judged by a tape measure, a stopwatch, a weigh scale, or the movement of a ball across a goal line. None of this "points awarded for style" bullshit.
But it's great fun watching them miss the bar and faceplant.

i was wondering if you had caught that! i thought of you right away!

I didnt like the new scoring for gymnastics this year, but all in all, it was a good competition. I had to give it to the russians, everyone said they wouldnt even come close to a medal. As for the americans...i dunno, they just werent very showy at all.