That Japanese Man Yuta went on the streets of Japan to ask people if they thought the Olympics should be canceled, or at least postponed. Most people interviewed said it should be postponed until an effective vaccine is available. Second most common opinion is to wait and see what plays out. Read the rest
The International Olympic Committee -- long a swirling cesspool of corruption, censorship, and reputation-laundering for repressive regimes -- has attained a new low, issuing guidance to athletes competing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that no political protests will be tolerated, specifically banning kneeling or raising fists. Read the rest
The 10,000+ athletes at the Tokyo Olympics will sleep on bed frames made of strong cardboard. According to the Athletes Village manager Takashi Kitajima, the frames can hold up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds).
"They are stronger than wooden beds," Kitajima said... "Of course, wood and cardboard would each break if you jumped on them."
From the Associated Press:
Read the restThe single bed frames will be recycled into paper products after the games. The mattress components—the mattresses are not made of cardboard—will be recycled into plastic products.
The mattress is broken up into three distinct sections, and the firmness of each can be adjusted.
Wired has published another long excerpt from Sandworm, reporter Andy Greenberg's (previously) forthcoming book on the advanced Russian hacking team who took the US-Israeli Stuxnet program to the next level, attacking Ukrainian power infrastructure, literally blowing up key components of the country's power grid by attacking the embedded code in their microcontrollers. Read the rest
This ain't Mark Roberts' first rodeo.
The British nudist who hopped onto an Olympic ice rink at PyeongChang in a pink tutu and a monkey-faced codpiece (strategically covering his junk, of course) has a long history of streaking. For 25 years now, Roberts has run bare (partially or completely) at hundreds of international sport events, including Super Bowls. Yahoo News reports that Roberts has performed his stunts at 562 events in 22 countries.
With the message "Peace + Love" scrawled on his chest, the pony-tailed dad-of-three jumped over the rink's barrier Friday morning after the Men’s 1,000-meter Speed Skating event, slipping and sliding on the ice:
Here's a revealing (heh) interview with Roberts from 2001:
And here's a 2008 interview with him and then his mother (who admits dropping him on his head as a baby):
As my pal jessiejessup quipped, "Not all heroes wear capes."
screengrab via Watch Life Read the rest
"The most feared weapon of any dictatorship is satire," says Howard, the Australian who impersonated Kim Jong-un waving a United Korea flag in front of North Korean cheerleaders at the Olympics yesterday. He was rewarded with a none-too-happy response.
According to the impersonator, his stunt got him a kick in the shin and angry shouting by North Korean "tough guys." He was then detained by South Korean police, for his own safety, and wasn't allowed to leave until after the game had finished.
This Kim Jong Un impersonator walked in front of the North Korean cheering squad at the Olympics, and boy were they unimpressed https://t.co/ytFEvBGES5 h/t @yoonjung_seo pic.twitter.com/uVsusPRY2r
— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) February 14, 2018
At the united Korea vs Japan womens' hockey game, an apparent Kim Jong-un impersonator starts dancing in front of North Korean cheerleaders. Apparent employees of the DPRK push him aside. He's now sitting nearby giving interviews (in English) pic.twitter.com/PeVJYtri5Y
— Vincent Bevins (@Vinncent) February 14, 2018
Police have now surrounded and asked the apparent impersonator to come with him, he says his name's Howard, was just cheering and looks like this, and didn't commit any crime. Refuses to go with them. South Korea police apparently unsure what to do pic.twitter.com/pGzvV0ufcq
— Vincent Bevins (@Vinncent) February 14, 2018
Via Mashable, where you can read more details. Read the rest
Read the restJayme Nicholas, a spokesperson for the ABC affiliate in Chicago, told Inc. that the goof was the result of a mix-up. The graphic was created for a different “satirical piece” put together on Friday by sports anchor Mark Giangreco in which viewers were encouraged to invent their own Olympic sports, but it was mistakenly also used for the serious news story read on Saturday by weekend anchor Mark Rivera, Nicholas said.
The International Olympic Committee took the unprecedented step of announcing the 2024 and 2028 Olympic host cities (Paris and LA), because both cities were bidding unopposed, and LA had to be bribed with a $1.8B "grant" from the IOC to agree to host the games. Read the rest
What did Lochte say after his teammates told the police what really happened?
"...and I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you medaling kids!"
US swimmer Lochte, Brazil police differ on robbery story (CNN) Read the rest
Matt Stutzman was born without arms, but that has not stopped him from becoming an excellent archer. It's amazing to watch him do everyday tasks like drive and answer his smartphone, too. Read the rest
Since 1896, the 100m dash remains the best thing at Olympic track & field apart from the weapons-throwing events. Usain Bolt dominates now, but would he have dominated then? Yes, of course he would have: by several seconds! (Not included: Ben Johnson's steroid-fueled 9.79s win at the '88 Games, for which he was disqualified. Bolt beat it in 2008 and 2012's race, and other athletes have outside the Olympics) Read the rest
Japanese Pole vaulter Hiroki Ogita touched the bar with both his legs and his penis, placing him 21st in the qualifying rounds for pole vaulting with a penis. Read the rest
Longtime Boing Boing video collaborator Eric Mittleman shares with us a new project he's been working with, The Youth Baller Network, which you can subscribe to here. Read the rest
On Tuesday, the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre's diving pool turned green. Yesterday, the water polo pool followed suit. Various reasons have been, er, floated, depending on who is doing the blaming, I mean explaining:
• It's a change in alkalinity, says Mario Andrada of the Rio 2016 local organizing committee. "We expect the color to be back to blue soon," he said. "...There is absolutely no risk to the athletes or anybody."
• No, actually heat and still air caused an algae bloom, according to the Olympic organizing committee.
• More likely, says FINA, the International Swimming Federation, is that the water tanks "ran out some of the chemicals used in the water treatment process."
My first exposure to fencing was on Happy Days. (Video evidence below.) This Vox video above explains the sport much better.
"Wife of a Bears' lineman wins a bronze medal today in Rio Olympics," The Chicago Tribune reported Sunday. Sadly, the headline writers were unable to figure out her name before Tweet time, but they eventually did and later credited the wifehood (and the medal) to "Corey Cogdell-Unrein, the wife of Bears lineman Mitch Unrein." Read the rest
They've "expressly prohibited" turning anything from the Olympics into "animated formats such as animated GIFs (i.e. GIFV), GFY, WebM, or short video formats such as Vines." Read the rest
