Aug 11 2024 - The Last Sporting Event

 

When is the last sporting event?  There seem to be so many left to go.   And the women's marathon is one of them.  That seems like it starts very early or maybe the closing event is very late. The closing event starts at 9:00pm, Paris time.  I guess that's to accommodate all of us on this side of the planet, vs the other half on the other side.  It makes me think of experiencing the New Year by flying around the world with the sun coming up.  It is very close between China and the US on gold medals - so let's see who has the most today.  But on the overall medal tally, it seems to be the U.S. without any challengers.  China has 90 compared to the U.S. 123. The Oscar Nominees all get loot bags worth thousands off dollars.  Do athletes get loot bags at the Olympics?  This year the gold medalists get $50,000 - first time ever.  There seems to be some controversy here as the argument is that it is unfair to sports that can't afford to offer prize money.  How interesting there is so much money to be made in sports yet it doesn't get to the performers.  Seeing Olympic events costs somewhere in the range of $5,000 to $6,000 to attend, according to a Time article.  Now that it is almost over, check out the schedules and prices HERE.  It is a vastly long list of things and expensive to me. On to the closing ceremonies to find out if they can outdo past closing events.     These mascots are on every schedule of every sport category.  Got me.   They are Phryges named after the Phrygian cap.

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Aug 8 2024 - Olympic Costumes

 

I gather I am not alone.  The state of women's Olympic wear is being called  "costumes" rather than "uniforms".   And what is the nature of these outfits being called costumes?   For the U.S. women's track team, Nike was slammed for in April 2024 creating bottom wear that is so skimpy and impractical that the headline criticism was "It should cover the vulva".  Can you imagine?  How strange to turn athletics into soft porn.  The controversy went on for months since the introduction of the outfits in April 2024.  Athletes say the female athletic-wear isn't designed to get the maximum and best performance. It is designed to get attention. Canadian outfits are similar,  Everyone  from beach volleyballers, gymnasts, high jumpers and so on wear something that is skimpier than a bathing suit?  And men wear an ordinary sports outfit. I wondered about history. Good Housekeeping did a "parade through the decades" on what they thought were notable outfits for winter/summer games. Some  are hilarious - flamboyant colours, weird designs, and outrageous women's skating outfits.  It is HERE.  A different time is my explanation. Here's a good conclusion from Jaleen Roberts, a past silver medalist:  "If this outfit was truly beneficial to physical performance, men would wear it. This is not an elite athletic kit for track and field. This is a costume born of patriarchal forces that are no longer welcome or needed to get eyes on women’s sports.”"     Remember the MLB see-through uniform controversy earlier this year?  Wait for 2028 when baseball returns to the summer games.  Will there be women's teams? What will they wear?

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Dec 27 2022 - FIFA vs Summer Olympics

 

Did FIFA overrun the Olympics in 2022?  It seems to be the headline for what major events happened this year.  It looks like Queen Elizabeth's death and funeral  is far behind the FIFA World Cup.  And even though the Tour de France has 3.5 billion viewers, so would be the biggest sporting event in the world, it only shows up in one article.  It is the World Cup and the Olympics that are compared.     So which is it?  FIFA or the Summer Olympics? Here are  Quora  answers:   1.  "Due to the fact that last Olympics Games and last FIFA World Cup were in the same country, it will be easier to compare both. During the Olympic Games, Rio de Janeiro received 1.2 millions visitors.  According to Rio’s city hall, 410 thousands of those were not from Brazil During FIFA world cup Rio received 886 thousands tourists, 471 thousands of those were foreign tourists." Of course FIFA world cup have more than one host city, so there were much more tourists than this. Also, Rio received less tourists from Brazil because there were lots of other cities hosting FIFA World Cup." 2. "If you talk about audience, both events are watched for about half of the Earth. Fifa World Cup reached 3.2 billions viewers, while Olympic Games 3.5 billions." Quora has many more answers, but most are opinion-based.  Here are more analytical articles' answers. 1. The number of countries participating: in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, 208+1 countries participated in qualifying events which narrowed down to 32 in the main event. Meanwhile, a total of 206 nations participated in the 2016 Rio Olympics. 2. Younger audiences show a preference for FIFA 3. Differences are observed based on gender.  The World Cup is the favourite event of men globally (55%) with the Summer Olympics at 52%.  For women it is Summery Olympics 47% and World Cup 35%. 4. Gamers are markedly more drawn to the World Cup than the overall population Finding out how many watched the 2022 series will likely take some time.  My bet is that FIFA wins. The expectation was over 5 billion people.  What do you think?

A swan at Charles Daley Park pond.

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Jan 17 2022 - How High is the Ocean - How Deep is the Snow

 

Millie growled when she looked out at the back yard this morning.  She didn't like what she saw.  Really deep snow.  And it is getting deeper as we type. She had to go outside immediately when we got up and she isn't usually interested in going outside till after 8:00am or so.  She jumped down one stair - fine.  The second stair - OK. The third stair - Oh Oh. The fourth stair - just her head was above the snow line and that was too much.  She rushed back up the stairs and in the house, spreading snow bits everywhere.   This is the first big snow fall this year.  Last year she was smaller  and the big snow not so deep so she played happily in it. So we'll see this morning what she decides to do.   I was so intrigued with the tennis news this past week.  Novak Djokovic, the 34-year-old Serbian tennis champ currently ranked number one by the Association of Tennis Professionals by a substantial margin is unvaccinated for COVID-19. He was deported from Australia Sunday following a highly visible appeal.   He's done a lot of testing positive for COVID-19 supposedly within the last month. And he's been out in public a lot as well.  Flying here and there, etc.  That's a big contrast with the Olympics coming up.  The Beijing Olympics are already in the 'closed loop'.  It is sealed and guarded.  The loop, which began on Jan. 4 and will open fully by Jan. 23, according to state media, covers sealed-off sections of Olympic venues and designated accommodation, amounting to a series of bubbles.  Participants are required to move between them using designated transport. Everyone in the loop must have a daily PCR test administered by staff. In Tokyo, tests were largely self-administered. To leave their accommodation, participants must first scan their pass and wait for a green code to confirm they’ve had a negative test result within the last 24 hours. Comparing the situation of Australia and China, we are likely in for a lot of COVID news at the Olympics. It will make this Olympics the most exciting ever for reasons entirely other than sports.  Beijing's event is a large-scale experiment to be watched as much by scientists and politicians as by sports fans. Can there be a special COVID wave at the Olympics?   Isn't this such a great representation of the mysteries beyond.  We visited Brock University's new performing arts centre in 2017 and these were two of the images manipulated with Flaming Pear's India Ink plugin.

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Jan 8 2022 - Getting to Beijing in 2022

 

What is the status of sports in 2022?  The Olympics is slated to start Friday Feb 4 and finish on Sunday Feb 20th.   We'll all be at home again, but what will there be to watch? The big news this week was Tennis star Novak Djokovic. His lawyers filed court papers Saturday in his challenge against deportation from Australia.  They show the tennis star tested positive for COVID-19 last month and recovered, grounds he used in applying for a medical exemption to the country's strict vaccination rules. But it has since emerged that the Victoria state medical exemption, allowed for people who tested positive for the coronavirus within the last six months, was deemed invalid by the federal border authorities. And the Olympics? We've known for a short time that the NHL opted out of the 2022 Olympics. Various diplomats will not be there - while it was billed as a boycott, maybe that's now looking like self-preservation. And athletes are testing positive so won't be able to compete in their finals to get to the Olympics.  Such a strange turn of events, given there was so much hype that the athletes want their 'chance to compete'.   Here's what the Canadian Press said yesterday: "The Beijing Games open in exactly one month, but the competition has already started. The challenge: getting the country's top athletes to China without testing positive for COVID-19, an ominous and invisible threat that few could have seen coming just a few weeks ago. If an athlete tests positive for COVID-19 in the next month, they must provide three negative PCR tests and then submit that documentation to the Beijing Olympic committee (BOCOG). It's up to BOCOG to clear the athlete to travel to China. All participants are also required to provide two negative PCR tests before boarding their flight to Beijing, within 96 and 72 hours of travel." Various aspects are covered in the article HERE.  Not just athletes themselves, but the cancellation of qualifications is a problem.  And then one reads about teams in 'bubbles' to stay safer.  Staff for the event are scheduled to report to the Beijing bubble on Tuesday and then have no contact with the outside community.  It would seem that the Olympics Committee and China are determined to win against the Pandemic.  With or without athletes there for competition.   Here are some experiments with Filter Forge software - another distortion program.  The original is the first picture - in camera multi-exposure of our translucent plastic garbage can in the sun

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Aug 9 2021 - Olympics Fade but the Jokes Live On

 

The Olympics concluded with its medal counts and highlight pictures.  It seemed like an echo of past Olympics with allegations of bribery, plagiarism of the initial design, and illegal construction overwork.  And then there were the worries about weather. But in the end, the Olympics is declared a success with the excitement of big sports events between nations.   Do we have a sense of humour about the Olympics? It was difficult to find non-racist jokes for the Olympics. Here is the most repeated Olympic joke? At the Olympics a man walked up to a competitor who was carrying a very long pole. Excuse me, are you a pole vaulter? Nein, I am German, but how did you know my name ist Walter? In contrast to all the racism, I found this site of Canada Olympic Jokes.  These were from around 2010 when Vancouver won the chance to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.  These aren't really jokes, but questions that were asked, and silly answers in response - the full set is HERE:   Now that Vancouver has won the chance to host the 2010 Winter Olympics, these are some questions people from all over the world are asking.  Believe it or not these questions about Canada were posted on an International Tourism Website.  Obviously the answers are a joke; but the questions were really asked. Q: I have never seen it warm on Canadian TV, so how do the plants grow? (England) A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around and watch them die. Q: Will I be able to see Polar Bears in the street? (USA) A: Depends on how much you’ve been drinking. Q: I want to walk from Vancouver to Toronto – can I follow the Railroad tracks? (Sweden) A: Sure, it’s only Four thousand miles, take lots of water. Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Canada ? (Sweden) A: So it’s true what they say about Swedes. Q: Are there any ATM’s (cash machines) in Canada ? Can you send me a list of them in Toronto, Vancouver , Edmonton and Halifax ? (England) A: No, but you’d better bring a few extra furs for trading purposes. Q: Do you celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada ? (USA) A: Only at Thanksgiving. Q: Are there supermarkets in Toronto and is milk available all year round? (Germany) A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of Vegan hunter/gathers. Milk is illegal. Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Canada , but I forget its name. It’s a kind of big horse with horns. (USA) A: It’s called a Moose. They are tall and very violent, eating the brains of anyone walking close to them. You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking. Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? (USA) A: Yes, but you will have to learn it first. A nice locomotive for our picture today.

July 26 2021 - Stay up late or get up early for Olympics Live!

 

What is the latest Olympics news?  There's 9 minutes ago, 31 minutes ago, 8 hours ago, and the NBC coverage is 23 hours ago.   It is 9:44pm in Japan now so there must be a lot of news overnight.  What a complicated thing this is - take COVID together with the time difference, and the Olympics is not able to be the live experience that was so spectacular in the past. Do you stay up late, or get up early? Here's the timing for Great Britain coverage of favoured events: Monday 26 July – Adam Peaty, 100m breaststroke final, 3am Tuesday 3 August – Laura Kenny, team pursuit final, 8am Wednesday 4 August – Sky Brown, skateboard park final, 1am For Canada, the CBC website has a headline that says the time difference story: "While you were sleeping:  Canada's 1st Olympic champion in Tokyo".  There's a feature box  on the site - While you were sleeping - All the news from Tokyo 2020 that happened while you slept. I guess this will be repeated when the winter Olympics are hosted by China.  Will it be COVID in the past?  That's the question on our minds. Isn't this such a pretty hand-painted "postcard" on one of the Painted Ladies' fences in Grimsby Beach.  Millie and I were there this morning.

July 24 2021 - The 2020 Olympics that occurred in 2021

 

Do you find it strange to see 2020 as the year of the Olympics? How will it be referenced in the future?  Something like: The 2020 Olympics which occurred in 2021? Here's something that is interesting and unusual about the Olympics: "The wood used to make the logo is special. Turns out, during 1964 Olympics, athletes from across the world brought seeds from their countries and the wood is taken from the trees that grew from them. The wood came from 160 pines and spruces grown from seeds that came from Northern Europe, Canada and Ireland. They were constructed in the traditional Japanese woodworking style of Yosegi-Zaiku — a marquetry technique that dates back to Japan’s Edo period and uses different grains, colors and textures of wood to make mosaic designs." Here's a Foxglove today.

July 4th 2021 - Love Food with Bertha Skye

 

What is Canada's cuisine?  We have lots of well-known chefs and restaurants.  What about our Indigenous cuisine?  One of our most celebrated chefs is Bertha Skye. This is an excerpt of her biography at the Hamilton Public Library site: "Skye was born in northern Saskatchewan where she began to hone her passion for traditional cooking. At the age of 17 she began her culinary career as a cook for the Prince Albert Residential School. At the 1992 World Culinary Olympics, Skye competed on a team of Indigenous chefs that won 11 medals, the most of any team, including the Grand Gold Medal.  For over a decade, Skye has served as an Elder for McMaster University, Sheridan College and Mohawk College, which recently recognized her as a Distinguished Fellow. She has guided students through the sometimes turbulent and delicate experience of post-secondary education, with support, guidance, laughter, friendship and, of course, healthy meals.  She moved to Six Nations of the Grand River more than 50 years ago, after meeting her husband Hubert Skye, and today she is the mother of three daughters and two sons and the grandmother of six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She is also a volunteer board member with the Six Nations Health Foundation. Throughout her lifetime, Skye has educated, supported and fostered understanding among Indigenous and non-Indigenous colleagues, earning wide respect in all her communities." At the Culinary Olympics one dish she made was the Three Sisters Soup.  Who are the three sisters? Corn, squash and beans. The term “Three Sisters” refers to the three main crops of some North American tribes: maize (corn), squash, and beans. The three plants were planted close together and like close sisters, aided one another in their respective growing processes. There's a recipe that references her in the description HERE.

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Mar 13 2021 - Olympic Betting

 

No one won the Lottery yesterday, and that got me thinking about the Olympics.  I wonder what the odds are that they can proceed.  I have all kinds of questions and thoughts. Maybe it will be Chile, Israel, and the U.S.  They are the top three on vaccinations.   Wait!  IOC has revealed that China has offered vaccines Tokyo and Beijing Olympic athletes.  There we have it.  The Vaccination lottery.  Bach added: "For each of these doses, the IOC will pay for two doses more which can be made available to the population in the respective countries." Is that a variety of bribe? Maybe it is hush money.  Meanwhile, Sarah Hirshland, United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee chief executive, said Team USA athletes could be vaccinated before their respective trials because of the pace of the rollout in the country. "The broad base of athletes may have access to the vaccine sooner than we thought initially possible," she said. "This is great news and we're feeling really positive about the progress we're seeing here in the United States, both in its advantage to US athletes as well as international athletes living and training in our country right now." What about the headline that COVID vaccines won't be compulsory for the Tokyo Olympics.   And then who will be able to watch the games? The decision on whether to let foreign fans to travel will be made before the start of the Olympic torch relay on March 25th.   So back to the odds:  This year bookies are rather offering wagering options on yes/no – whether the 2021 Tokyo Olympics will take place with spectators. At the moment, the odds heavily favor spectators being allowed to attend. What’s interesting is that there’s no option to bet on Tokyo Olympics getting postponed once again, suggesting that sportsbooks believe the Games will happen this summer. Last year, at the time when the pandemic was spreading around the world at a super-fast pace, the oddsmakers guessed correctly that the Games were going to get postponed. This is the Royal Horticultural Society symbol, with a colourful montage background. Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

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Sep 3 2020 - Olympics Next Year?

 

Our summer had a big gap when the Olympics were cancelled.  What an event of people: There are almost 15,000 paid staff working on an Olympic event.  And then there are almost 14,000 volunteers, and 23,000 contractors.  Vancouver's Olympics in 2014 had 57,700 personnel. And then there are 11,000 or so athletes.   With a COVID-19 perspective, it now seems unlikely to bring this number of people together next year.   Just 6 months ago,  the Olympic worries were finding host cities, dealing with doping and drugs, and transgender athletes, to name a few.   Here's one summary or where the future seemed headed:  "Athletes are stronger and more fit than ever before, and at every Olympics we seem to be witnessing more and more exhibitions of athletic greatness. Meanwhile, transgender athletes are challenging gender regulations, host cities are going bankrupt, and genetic researchers predict an entirely synthetic human embryos in 10 years. How are these trends going to affect our future Olympics?" The 2021 Games are scheduled to open July 23 2021. The hope/expectation expressed so far is that a vaccine will be developed by then.  Australia's John Coates says that October is the crucial time to decide if 2021 will happen.  A vaccine would be needed well in advance of the July start to allow the Olympic staff to prepare and for athletes to train and compete for Olympic inclusion.  It seems like the Olympics will be in the news starting soon. We're looking at a pretty butterfly today - I noticed that the Monarchs have started migrating.

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