Some Pictures

Well, I’ve warmed up a little to the SD850 IS. Here are some of my favorite pictures from this last year. The selection clearly shows my penchant for spiders and macro shots of flowers will cool backgrounds. I’ll have to broaden my range, I guess.

The Olympics are destroying my sleep schedule. Some thoughts:

• It’s funny that American media outlets are portraying the medal race as close (“Too close to call” proclaimed ESPN.com today.) We’re getting walloped.
• Does NBC really have to show the preliminaries for every artistic event (diving, gymnastics, etc.)? Couldn’t we just skip to the medal rounds, and show other entertaining events in the meanwhile? The poor woman who won gold in the discus for the US — a gold that’s worth just as much as any of Michael Phelps’s heralded golds — only had her medal ceremony televised. Not even a single throw. And what about awesome sports like team handball and ping pong? Sure, Americans don’t follow handball. But maybe that’s because they’ve never seen it. NBC could do so much good by introducing the US (even in small doses) to sports the rest of the world plays, or even other athletes, rather than fawning over the chosen few from start to finish.
• Don’t deny it: Bron-bron and KG would make a sick beach volleyball team.
• Usain “Unsane” Bolt is filthy. Disgusting. Sure, Phelps did a great job, etc., but his achievement really pales in comparison to Bolt’s. (I wrote a little bit about track’s competitiveness here). It’s going to be exciting to follow him over the next few years…
• It seems quite likely that at least one of the Chinese medal-winning gymnasts was under age. This is definitely a violation of the rules, and the IOC should grow a spine and do something about it. However, it raises the larger question of why there should be an age limit at all in gymnastics. It seems a bit of a farce to award a gold medal to a 16 year old when a 13 year old is actually the best in the world. (Or a 15-year, 11-month-old who just missed the cutoff.) I’ve heard some nonsense about how doing gymnastics could be damaging to younger bodies. Right. Like the current crop of 16 year olds started at age 15? In reality, they’ve been practicing since 5 or 6.
• Update: Jeez. I forgot just how insane decathletes are. Bryan Clay, the current leader: 10.4 in the 100, 25’6″ long jump, 48s 400, 6’6″ high jump. Damn!