Oh thats awful! what a tragedy!
Oh thats awful! what a tragedy!
"Come away O human child!To the waters of the wild, With a faery hand in hand, For the worlds more full of weeping than you can understand."
W.B.Yeats
"If it looks like a Dwarf and smells like a Dwarf, then it's probably a Dwarf (or a latrine wearing dungarees)"
Artemins Fowl and the Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer
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I guess I was reading the wrong newspapers, but technically it wasn't Gretzky it was Gretzky and 3 others...Originally Posted by papayahed
Do, or do not. There is no try. - Yoda
Ha and a broken torch that didn't rise.
The opening ceremony was a bit boring, but whatever.
"If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia."
- Margaret Atwood
Yeah the camera kept showing the 4 torch bearers and the look on their faces was like "what the hell do we do now?"
I thought it was nice, who's the poetry guy? and the fiddling was pretty cool.The opening ceremony was a bit boring, but whatever.
Do, or do not. There is no try. - Yoda
Some guy they found on youtube.
The fiddlers apparently each came from different traditions in Eastern Canada. I wasn't so crazy about that part though.
I liked the whales on the floor, and K.D. Lang haha.
"If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia."
- Margaret Atwood
Listen to this:
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/van...v=ap&type=lgnsThe International Luge Federation and Vancouver Olympic officials said their investigation showed that the crash was the result of human error and that “there was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track.”
In a joint statement they said Kumaritashvili was late coming out of the next-to-last turn and failed to compensate. “This resulted in a late entrance into curve 16 and although the athlete worked to correct the problem, he eventually lost control of the sled, resulting in the tragic accident.”
Human error? Bull sh*t! Human error flying at 90 mph is very likely. The course should not have allowed him to flip over the edge into a pole. All it would have taken is a plexi glass shield above that barrier. To hurt yourself within the course is one thing and part of the game; to flip over the course is another thing entirely Someone is to blame for this man's death.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
"Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena
My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/
It's the olympic culture as a whole that pushes for continual higher speeds and more dangerous tricks. It's a problem in figure skating where no one is taken seriously anymore unless they can do quads, and just look at that American snowboarder who ended up near dead trying to pull of a dangerous trick in training. The IOC pushes the designers of the track to build faster tracks, they shouldn't be surprised when this kind of stuff happens.
"If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia."
- Margaret Atwood
I understand O.P. But higher speeds requires certain safety adjustments. Someone did not do their homework in designing and testing this facility. And for the IOC to scoff this off now and just say it's human error is akin to malpractice. If someone else gets hurt in this manner, then I would say their judgement is criminal.
By the way, I'm not blaming Canada for this, if that's what you're thinking.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
"Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena
My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/
I didn't think you were, the track was designed by a German engineering team I believe, I was just saying that it is a problem with the Olympic culture as a whole. The IOC has reinforced dangerous behavior and practices and made the sports hazardous, and they realize it too.
"If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia."
- Margaret Atwood
those metal pillars should not have been exposed like that. there should be some form of padding around them and netting along the sides.
"Come away O human child!To the waters of the wild, With a faery hand in hand, For the worlds more full of weeping than you can understand."
W.B.Yeats
"If it looks like a Dwarf and smells like a Dwarf, then it's probably a Dwarf (or a latrine wearing dungarees)"
Artemins Fowl and the Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer
my poems-please comment Forum Rules
I agree Nimah... when I saw the footage and heard that his head had banged into a STEEL pole, I was like, well, at the very least they could have had padding on the polls! They have stuff like that on kids playground equipment all over the world, you'd think they could afford to put some up at the Olympics!
Watching the luge is going to be terrifying now.
On a lighter note I will say that I thought that the fiddlers in the open ceremony were awesome, and the light show was beautiful. I thought it was lovely that the ceremony had an almost literary feel to it with the quotes throughout, the reference to folk stories, and the beat poet at the end.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that no matter what you hit, when your body is almost instantly decelerating from 90 mph to 0 mph, you're probably not getting up. Padded or not, hitting anything going that fast is a bad day.
Even with, at best, a higher wall like the one they are currently putting in, a crash at that speed changes your survival chances only from "certain death" to "very probable death."
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it's not.
Yes but netting of some sort could have helped.
"Come away O human child!To the waters of the wild, With a faery hand in hand, For the worlds more full of weeping than you can understand."
W.B.Yeats
"If it looks like a Dwarf and smells like a Dwarf, then it's probably a Dwarf (or a latrine wearing dungarees)"
Artemins Fowl and the Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer
my poems-please comment Forum Rules
Yes, but then that would interfere with the press's ability to film the events.
Besides, it is highly unusual for anyone ever to fly out of the track.
Now the athletes are complaining because they have to start further down the track and won't be able to reach top speeds and break records.
"If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia."
- Margaret Atwood
They're flying down a rollercoaster-like ice tube at 140 km/hour... who could possibly be surprised that someone died doing this? Anyone engaging in a sport that dangerous accepts the risks involved, there's no point blaming the track. Dangerous sports are exhilarating, and people are going to keep participating because they love the feeling. It's not the first time that something like this has happened, and it won't be the last. C'est la vie.
Side note: I thought that the opening ceremony was wicked, except for the Saskatchewan part (but it's pretty hard to make Sask seem interesting).
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"Personal note: When I was a little kid my mother told me not to stare into the sun. So once when I was six, I did. At first the brightness was overwhelming, but I had seen that before. I kept looking, forcing myself not to blink, and then the brightness began to dissolve. My pupils shrunk to pinholes and everything came into focus and for a moment I understood. The doctors didn't know if my eyes would ever heal."
-Pi
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