Ok, time to get back to FUNsec: Let's Blame Canada
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOzG7bBylRo Not making light of it. I race in Baja, people die there (I've never done a race without breaking the truck and getting injured), we know the risks, as do Lugers. Honor his memory, and set a GD record on that track, whoever wins. > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > On Behalf Of Dan Kaminsky > Sent: Saturday, February 13, 2010 3:55 PM > To: [email protected] > Cc: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [funsec] Death porn, media, and socmedia > > On Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 6:25 PM, Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & > Hannah <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > The big Olympic news of the moment, of course, is the death of luger > Nodar > > Kumaritashvili in practice. > > > > http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/luge/story/2010/02/12/spo-luge-georgian- > alert.html > > > > > http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Olympic+tragedy+Death+porn+sharing+new > s/ > > 2557992/story.html > > > > > http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/techsense/default.aspx > > > > You can already search for this on Youtube. Most of the videos are > "tributes," but > > actual footage of the crash is available. Of the ones I found this > morning, two > > require that you log on to the site (in order to "prove" your age). > One has been > > taken down because it is the property of the IOC. This is because > all of the > > footage is the same CTV footage (CTV being the "official" provider). > > > > CTV showed it on the news last night, just after the opening > ceremonies. The > > anchor earnestly assured us that the video was graphic, but necessary > to illustrate > > some aspects of the story. The aspect that was illustrated was that > someone died. > > He came off the track like a human being out of control, and fell off > the > > stanchion like a rag doll. I've got enough medical background to > know when I see > > someone die, right there. > > > > Couple of thoughts. One is that the media has now collected and > reported all the > > comments about the track being dangerous. Had this death not > occurred, the luge > > story for the games would have been the world record times, and the > comments > > would have been from those who said that it was a hot, sweet track. > > > > Second is that skeleton (the head first version) was first done as an > Olmpic sport > > in Turin, and Canada one. Cam Cole (who did a lovely piece combining > the > > ceremony and Kumaritashvili's death: > > > http://www.canada.com/sports/2010wintergames/Games+begin+with+emotional > +tri > > butes+Georgian+luger/2561175/story.html ) did a piece on it, and > I've kept a > > quote from it in my file ever since: > > > > [N]o one goes downhill head-first on a cafeteria tray better than > Canadians ... If > > you've got something really dangerous and not terribly smart planned > for an > > Olympic sport, the sort of thing that two guys out drinking heavily > one night at > > the top of the bobsled run probably thought up, we're in. > > - Cam Cole, Vancouver Sun, 20060218 > > > > Kumaritashvili was not highly ranked, and not very experienced. Luge > involves > > some skill; Gloria noted that Kumaritashvili was lifting his head a > lot during the > > run, so he was not sure of himself; this is not something anyone can > do, but it is > > something you can do if you've got more guts than brains. The > Olympics is > > increasingly involving "extreme" sports: exhilarating, not > necessarily skilled, and > > dangerous. > > This is actually a fairly offensive series of thoughts. Couple things: > > 1) Luge has been part of the Olympics for almost 50 years. This isn't > "increasingly" extreme, this is just one of the things they do. And > before it was Luge, it was indeed Skeleton. This is nothing new. > 2) First you say that Kumaritashvili wasn't very skilled. Then you > say the sport of Luge doesn't require much skill. Well, that would > make him eminently qualified, wouldn't it? Anyway, at the last > championship, the guy came in 44th. Top 50 in the world at anything > ain't nothing to sneeze at. And the sport is intensely physical, > requiring managing up to 7G's of force, and intensely strategic, as > speed must constantly be balanced against stability in the short term > to manage the long term average rate of travel. Not necessarily > skilled? How well would you come in? Have you ever raced anything? > Even a gas powered go cart? > 3) The Canadians didn't invent Skeleton or Luge, the Swiss did. And > you know, I'm not a very good snowboarder, but I sure enjoy trying to > be. Last time I went out, I got quite the concussion. It happens. > > Look, if you want to complain about something, complain about the fact > that so few eyes were allowed to be placed on the track -- as part of > the genuinely offensive Own The Podium scheme -- that consensus > couldn't be developed to do something about the risk of someone flying > off the track and hitting the pole. Hell, of course Kumaritashvili > was lifting his head, this was a new track for him! And why was it a > new track? Own the Podium. > > To be utterly fair, Own The Podium wasn't about killing the > competition. But, man, this is an astonishingly ugly side effect of > access restriction. > > _______________________________________________ > Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts. > https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec > Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list. _______________________________________________ Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts. https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.
