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Tuesday, August 31, 2004

it depends on what the meaning of win is

just a guess, but i think we saw the bushism that makes a crack wide enough to stick a lever in…

“I don’t think you can win it.”

… now we enter the republican national convention news cycles explaining (and when you’re explaining, your losing) that it depends on what the meaning of win is.

posted by roj at 2:46 pm  

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

David Woodward

old maps

posted by roj at 10:17 am  

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Peter Woodthorpe

actor

posted by roj at 10:17 am  

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Fred L. Whipple

comet man

posted by roj at 10:16 am  

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Big Red London Doubledekcer Buses

ding ding

posted by roj at 1:19 am  

Monday, August 30, 2004

the secret service protects npr reporters from michael moore

ational public radio’s live special coverage of the republican national convention in new york now includes several short segments where an npr (and apparently other) reporters are being diverted by the secret service and event officials while trying to interview michael moore.

that’s a mistake that’s going to come back to haunt the republicans.

posted by roj at 9:40 pm  

Monday, August 30, 2004

gdp per athens 2004 summer olympiad medal

first, i want to congratulate all the olympians before i spend a few minutes dissecting their event. so, congratulations olympians, and thank you to greece for hosting.

a while ago, i ran into the australian bureau of statistics’ medal count per population table. they’ve updated it with the final tallies, and it’s an interesting perspective on the olympics. it also gave me a crazy idea to go another direction. i don’t pretend to have the resources of the abs, but i do have a spreadsheet application and a web browser, so what i’ve done is combine the 1999 gross domestic product data (which seems to be the last year for which pretty much every country is represented) with the official medal tally from the 2004 athens summer games. doing that gives me a “gdp per medal” figure that looks something like this:















































































Rank

NOC

NOC Name

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Tot.

Aggregate Medal Value

1999 GDP

GDP per Gold

GDP per Aggregate

4

GEO

Georgia

2

2

0

4

10

2.74

1.37

0.27

5

BLR

Belarus

2

6

7

15

25

11.56

5.78

0.46

6

ETH

Ethiopia

2

3

2

7

14

6.54

3.27

0.47

7

AZE

Azerbaijan

1

0

4

5

7

3.77

3.77

0.54

8

UKR

Ukraine

9

5

9

23

46

30.76

3.42

0.67

9

ERI

Eritrea

0

0

1

1

1

0.72

n/a

0.72

10

BUL

Bulgaria

2

1

9

12

17

12.71

6.36

0.75

11

LAT

Latvia

0

4

0

4

8

6.26

n/a

0.78

12

JAM

Jamaica

2

1

2

5

10

7.93

3.97

0.79

13

KEN

Kenya

1

4

2

7

13

10.38

10.38

0.8

14

ROM

Romania

8

5

6

19

40

34.16

4.27

0.85

15

ZIM

Zimbabwe

1

1

1

3

6

5.62

5.62

0.94

16

MGL

Mongolia

0

0

1

1

1

0.97

n/a

0.97

17

RUS

Russia

27

27

38

92

173

184.63

6.84

1.07

18

KAZ

Kazakhstan

1

4

3

8

14

15.62

15.62

1.12

19

BAH

Bahamas

1

0

1

2

4

4.56

4.56

1.14

20

HUN

Hungary

8

6

3

17

39

48.4

6.05

1.24

21

EST

Estonia

0

1

2

3

4

5.14

n/a

1.29

22

LTU

Lithuania

1

2

0

3

7

10.65

10.65

1.52

23

SVK

Slovakia

2

2

2

6

12

18.84

9.42

1.57

24

UZB

Uzbekistan

2

1

2

5

10

16.4

8.2

1.64

25

CRO

Croatia

1

2

2

5

9

20.18

20.18

2.24

26

CMR

Cameroon

1

0

0

1

3

9.19

9.19

3.06

27

GRE

Greece

6

6

4

16

34

125.09

20.85

3.68

28

AUS

Australia

17

16

16

49

99

395

23.24

3.99

29

CZE

Czech Republic

1

3

4

8

13

53.12

53.12

4.09

30

NZL

New Zealand

3

2

0

5

13

53.97

17.99

4.15

31

SLO

Slovenia

0

1

3

4

5

21.72

n/a

4.34

32

MAR

Morocco

2

1

0

3

8

35.01

17.51

4.38

33

DOM

Dominican Rep

1

0

0

1

3

17.04

17.04

5.68

34

PAR

Paraguay

0

1

0

1

2

11.68

n/a

5.84

35

KOR

Korea

9

12

9

30

60

406.94

45.22

6.78

36

TRI

Trinidad/Tobago

0

0

1

1

1

6.87

n/a

6.87

37

CHN

China

32

17

14

63

144

991.07

30.97

6.88

38

IRI

I. R. Iran

2

2

2

6

12

94.94

47.47

7.91

39

THA

Thailand

3

1

4

8

15

123.9

41.3

8.26

40

POL

Poland

3

2

5

10

18

154.15

51.38

8.56

41

NOR

Norway

5

0

1

6

16

152.94

30.59

9.56

42

CHI

Chile

2

0

1

3

7

67.42

33.71

9.63

43

TUR

Turkey

3

3

4

10

19

185.21

61.74

9.75

44

NED

Netherlands

4

9

9

22

39

394.19

98.55

10.11

45

EGY

Egypt

1

1

3

5

8

87.25

87.25

10.91

46

RSA

South Africa

1

3

2

6

11

131.05

131.05

11.91

47

AUT

Austria

2

4

1

7

15

208.05

104.03

13.87

48

DEN

Denmark

2

0

6

8

12

174.28

87.14

14.52

49

SWE

Sweden

4

1

2

7

16

238.68

59.67

14.92

50

ESP

Spain

3

11

5

19

36

596.71

198.9

16.58

51

SYR

Syrian Arab Rep

0

0

1

1

1

16.68

n/a

16.68

52

UAE

U Arab Emirates

1

0

0

1

3

51.89

51.89

17.3

53

NGR

Nigeria

0

0

2

2

2

34.78

n/a

17.39

54

ITA

Italy

10

11

11

32

63

1172.51

117.25

18.61

55

INA

Indonesia

1

1

2

4

7

154.12

154.12

22.02

56

FRA

France

11

9

13

33

64

1437.6

130.69

22.46

57

POR

Portugal

0

2

1

3

5

114.02

n/a

22.8

58

GER

Germany

14

16

18

48

92

2114.78

151.06

22.99

59

ISR

Israel

1

0

1

2

4

98.86

98.86

24.72

60

GBR

Great Britain

9

9

12

30

57

1442.01

160.22

25.3

61

TPE

Chinese Taipei

2

2

1

5

11

282.6

141.3

25.69

62

BRA

Brazil

4

3

3

10

21

542.01

135.5

25.81

63

CAN

Canada

3

6

3

12

24

644.74

214.91

26.86

64

ARG

Argentina

2

0

4

6

10

283.13

141.57

28.31

65

IRL

Ireland

1

0

0

1

3

94.22

94.22

31.41

66

SUI

Switzerland

1

1

3

5

8

259.13

259.13

32.39

67

FIN

Finland

0

2

0

2

4

129.83

n/a

32.46

68

USA

United States

35

39

29

103

212

9299.15

265.69

43.86

69

BEL

Belgium

1

0

2

3

5

248.73

248.73

49.75

70

VEN

Venezuela

0

0

2

2

2

102.23

n/a

51.12

71

JPN

Japan

16

9

12

37

78

4346.93

271.68

55.73

72

MEX

Mexico

0

3

1

4

7

483.53

n/a

69.08

73

HKG

Hong Kong

0

1

0

1

2

158.61

n/a

79.31

74

COL

Colombia

0

0

1

1

1

86.41

n/a

86.41

75

IND

India

0

1

0

1

2

438.4

n/a

219.2

for this table, aggregate medal value is computed as “gold * 3 + silver * 2 + bronze” based on this data. gdp data is sourced from the international monetary fund here. gdp data for cuba, north korea and serbia/montenegro was not available from the same source and is omitted.








Rank

NOC

NOC Name

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Tot.

Aggregate Medal Value

1999 GDP

GDP per Gold

GDP per Aggregate

1

SCG

Serbia/Monteneg

0

2

0

2

4

0

n/a

0

2

PRK

DPR Korea

0

4

1

5

9

0

n/a

0

3

CUB

Cuba

9

7

11

27

52

0

0

0

there’s some data for people to play with when they want to figure out how efficiently economic productivity is converted into olympic medals. now you have one answer to the question, “what is an olympic medal worth?”

posted by roj at 9:11 am  

Sunday, August 29, 2004

ny post gets confused about chalk

just a little media watch item to follow up the joshua kinberg arrest….

on august 15, the new york post said this:

Protesters: ‘Rats to GOP’ [ny post, august 15, 2004]

Manhattanite Joshua Kinberg, 25, is using a high-tech bike he created as part of his thesis at the Parsons School of Design to scrawl anti-Bush messages on the sidewalk in “environmentally safe, nonpermanent” chalk.

and after the arrest, went this way:

Rally Big Shows [ny post, august 29, 2004]

* A 35-year-old man was arrested for using a convoluted spray-paint mechanism to deface city streets.

Riding a bike and carrying a laptop computer that was programmed to propel spray-paint on the street, Joshua Kinsberg inked the words “America is a free-speech zone” around downtown.

it’s chalk. not spray-paint. and you knew that, guys.

update (2004.08.31): apparently i’m not alone on this one.

posted by roj at 11:25 pm  

Sunday, August 29, 2004

check your chalk: you might be a terrorist

covered well, all over the web and [hopefully] major media, the magical chalk-matrix message printing bicycle has been impounded and its owner/operator was detained on unspecified charges.

Kinberg cooperated fully with the officers as he was being handcuffed, only asking, “can I ask what I’m being arrested for?” to which no one provided an answer. As of 11:00 PM Saturday evening, he was still in custody without being charged with anything

wired had a description of the effort back on august 2nd. both the new york post and the detroit news mentioned kinberg on august 15th, and the village voice also has some [ironically post-arrest] news.

i didn’t jump on this as fast as some others, partially because i wanted to see if charges would develop – and they apparently have. joshua is apparently charged with vandalism and/or criminal mischief. i’m not sure what the difference is in new york.

there’s a first-person account with joshua kinberg as guest blogger at the hardblogger site at msnbc. we like first-person information when it is available.

now for some editorial commentary: it seems to me like the fbi scare tatics and infiltration of dangerous anti-bush organizations resulted in some solid intelligence that mr. kinberg intended to do unusual anti-bush things during the rnc in new york. obviously given a high priority in the counter-dissent effort, the arrest and impounding of the mechanisms of protest seem to be carefully arranged to avoid their actual use during the rnc. the bad news is that the news of stopping this particular form of protest is likely to make it into a feeding frenzy for big media and blogs alike. what would’ve been a “cute geek moment” in an otherwise very busy news cycle could, one might hope, turn into a rallying point for the half of america that bush doesn’t see.

what’s disturbing here is that mr. kinberg was arrested after producing identification at an officer’s request, and, apparently on a pre-emptive basis. surely, he would’ve used his magic chalk-spraying bicycle machine to vandalize and cause mischief all over manhattan, had he not been arrested. that was his plan, and our loyal protectors thwarted it effectively. surely a triumph for safety in new york. america. is. safer.

lesson to future protesters: don’t go on the record until after you get a chance to use your magic protest widget.

my own investigation into this potential terrorist reveals that this plan has been in the works for a year. evidence also suggests that he has co-conspirators at the parsons school of design. not only did they encourage this highly american activity, but they awarded this dissenter a masters degree, in part, for his work.

i expect more interesting things to appear at bikes against bush.

in the meantime, expect things on this list get shut down as well, unless the civil authrorities in new york realize they made a big mistake with this one.

posted by roj at 11:14 pm  

Sunday, August 29, 2004

one if by private jet, two if by suv

hail the greene dragon, a merry band of patriots.

posted by roj at 11:16 am  
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