Technogory

Like most folks, I have been glued to my satellite High Def television watching the coverage of all things Olympics!  I have watched everything from badminton, softball, baseball, wrestling, swimming, every type of volleyball, gymnastics, boxing, and soccer - just to name a few!  It’s been great - working on my own physical fitness by sitting on my backside, eyes glued to the coverage.  It’s awesome!  However, I am once again disappointed in a couple of sports where I just can’t believe technology can’t solve the issues and controversies!

My take is, if these sports judging inconsistencies aren’t fixed soon, they might as well remove them as sports from the Olympics.  That would be a tragedy.  I am talking about Amateur Boxing and Gymnastics.  Both of which are seemingly controlled by judges who interpret rules in many ways based on the country the competitor is from or complete confusion of how they should implement a rule!

Amateur Boxing - For those that don’t know, the way you win here is not by the typical knock-out.  Although it can happen.  Amateur boxing is more about the boxers accuracy with the correct part of the boxing glove, and their ability to avoid “hits” from their opponent.  A “hit” is determined by a strike within the white portion of the boxing glove, which happens to be on the business end of the fist!  Sounds simple enough, yet time and time again I have watched matches that have ended 5-1, 8-2, 13-9.  Sounds reasonable on the surface, but you are talking 4 - 2 minute rounds!  So, you would expect a lot of punches to happen - especially if that is ultimately the deciding factor.  I have seen matches where the true winner was not the winner because his “count” was not enough to beat the competitor.  Yet, watching the match and counting on my own, not only did the true winner have more “hits” but the loser had many more than counted as well.

Boxing Solution - So, here’s a couple of possibilities.  What if sensors were imbedded in the gloves just within the “hit” portion of the glove.  To keep false positives from occuring, have pressure sensitivity set so it’s more than just a tap.  Further, sensors could be placed in the boxers shorts to also penalyze on “low blows.”  You could also have a system set up similar to fencing where the head-gear and shirts worn also contain feedback sensors.  It just seems that the controversy can be easily solved with technology, and take away from the human error that seems to be the judge.  By the way, you still need a ring official to determine if either boxer is not acting “normal!”

Gymnastics - It seems to me that the biggest problem with gymnastics continues.  The judges, their interpretation of the rules, and this years change in the way point calculations are performed!  If you have been watching, it is amazing how those judges start pounding those calculators trying to figure the difference of 1/1000th of a point because of some “critical” move that not one spectator saw!  How about the gymnasts who loose balance - two different competitors I saw from different teams had solid performances with the exception of balance checks.  One contestant had 8 balance checks, the other 5.  The one with 8 checks scored better by 2/10ths!  Go figure!

Gymnastics Solution - When I was at LinuxWorld, I went to a presentation by Sebastian Thrun of Stanford University.  He has been driving a project for several years to make cars drive themselves!  It’s pretty remarkable how far they have come.  They most recently competed in an event that allowed the car to drive itself for 200 miles!  This was done through a series of lazers, visual environment detectors, and lots of programming!  So, one approach might be to begin to leverage hardware and software similar to what this project used to “watch” the gymnast perform their routines.  Based on environmental parameters and established rules, a much more consistent scoring system could be created.

Obviously, these are things that would not be solved overnight - it might even take years.  But, the spectators and supporters of these sports could enjoy the sports without the inclusion of opinionated and inaccurate judges.

(MS)NBC Doesn’t Like Linux!

Okay, now my final complaint is this.  Although NBC has been able to leverage other broadcasters in China and cring a plethora of channels in High-Def - they fall way short on their web interface!  They do not support any Linux desktops what-so-ever, thank you very much!  maybe it has comething to do with the “MS” portion of the MS/NBC name!