Women Can’t Jump

When I think of the Olympics, I rarely consider that each event has both a mens and a womens division. I tend to focus more on the sport itself regardless of who is competing. After all, the Olympics is supposed to encourage the spirit of friendly competition, and not highlight major flaws, such as gender bias. Unfortunately this year's winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, is doing just that. Women ski jumpers have petitioned to join every Winter Olympics since Nagano in 1998, and each time they have been denied by the International Olympics Committee (IOC). So what's the deal? Well, the IOC is sidestepping the issue. They've issued a written statement that reads "Women's Ski Jumping does not reach the necessary technical criteria and as such does not yet warrant a place alongside other Olympic events." Yet female ski jumpers argue the point (read about it here). Lindsey Van, current world record holder for the longest jump, is quick to point out that they meet the necessary criteria. But it may be a long time before we see women flying off the end of a ski jump in front of Olympic judges. IOC member Dick Pound is quoted as saying "If in the meantime you're making all kinds of allegations about the IOC and how it's discriminating on the basis of gender," he warned, "the IOC may say, 'Oh yeah, I remember them. They're the ones that embarrassed us and caused us a lot of trouble in Vancouver, maybe they should wait another four years or eight years.'" Yes, you read that right. He is publicly threatening female ski jumpers to keep them out of the Olympics for years if they persist. So much for the spirit of friendly competition.

Carts of Darkness

"In the picture-postcard community of North Vancouver, local bottle pickers have created a thriving subculture of shopping-cart racing. Murray Siple, a former snowboarder and sport film director injured in a serious car accident ten years ago, captures the thrill of a high-speed race of one of the men and compares it to extreme sports."

Authentic Bus Jump

Reader Frank has good evidence that our earlier clip of a bus jump was staged by a business. But here's an authentic one.

Bus Jumper

Street Luge at 60 MPH

First you'll see boarders, then street luge. At the very end, you get the first person point of view of a crash.



I think I'd rather luge -- you're already close to the ground.

World’s longest water slide or hoax?

This is a great rush to watch, and it made me sad to think it may be fake. What do you think?



I've also included the original German? (I've got to learn my country codes) website:

http://www.mach-es-machbar.de/

I've also included the "Megawoosh Philosophy" video by the jumper, whose purpose it seems is to "stimulate the whole organism".

Driving at seven years old

When your Dad says its time to go to church and you don't want to -- what's the solution? Take the car for a spin, get chased by the police and show up on the national news.



It all seems so "OJ" until the little tyke hops out at the end and runs for the garage.

Nunchucks: The New Multitool

Baseball, golf, badmitton, even a bottle opener. The nunchuck can do it all.

Theme Park Lawsuits

In this age of "You can't sue me because I'm suing you first!", the idea of a lawsuit against a theme park such as Sea World or Disney World is not so weird. However, the Orlando Sentinel was kind enough to prepare a website listing all of the lawsuits against all of the area's theme parks. Most of them are your basic slip-and-fall types, but some are completely off the wall. For instance, at Busch Gardens, "A woman said she concocted blood infections after a vulture at a bird show landed on her leg and clawed it." And at Epcot Center, "A woman said she suffered bleeding in her brain due to the G-forces and jerking movements on the Mission: Space ride." But I think my favorite is the woman from Wet and Wild who "said she was struck in the head and neck and injured by an umbrella that blew out of a mount in a storm."

First Ever WU-vention!

Okay, it's not yet as big and popular as Burning Man, but the first gathering of WU-vies has occured. KW, Jules and Madd Maxx chose to meet recently. And here's photographic proof.

Syrup shortages were reported in the region throughout the following week.


Madd Maxx and object of desire.


Left to right: Jules, KW.


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All original content in posts is Copyright © 2008 by the author of the post, either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.