Friday, December 24, 2010

Dozens of Talented Divers All at Once

Remember in the 2008 Olympics how the Chinese awed everyone with their huge show featuring hundreds - maybe thousands - of people working in synchronization to create an amazing showcase of talent? Well here it is in a platform diving presentation. Starts getting fun to watch at about the 2 minute mark. Enjoy!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

What the Health Department and Scrooge Have in Common

The pool where I do the bulk of my lap swimming in the cold months installed some new bright (LED?) lighting over the Fall months. It became clear over time that there was a new unexpected feature - the lights could change color. They could be set to blue, red, green, yellow or white. Or they could be set to rotate between selected colors. Go one lap and return and the blue is now green. Personally I thought this was a bit over the top. I liked some of the colors, but yellow made the water look like urine through my goggles. What good did it do? Well my attitude changed for the better as time went on - I got accustomed to yellow and the change in colors kept me from being so bored. And even better, as the Christmas season approached, the lights were set to red and green. Cool huh? So what happens? The health department shows up and says that the colored lights have to go. What's that about? Perhaps the Ghost of Christmas Pools needs to pay them a visit! Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 10, 2010

The Most Efficient Swimming Propulsion Device Ever

Who do you go to if you want to develop the most efficient swimming propulsion device ever conceived?  Darpa, of course.  That's the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.  They bring you simple new innovations, like say, the internet.  Anyway, they've put their minds to work and developed a cool way to send the Defense Dept's swimmers through the water faster.  Thinking a better kind of fins?  Think again.  Check out the video below.