Track and Field in London

Next week, when this Olympics is over, I'll have something mre to say about its track and field events. For now, two quick thoughts: First, I am happy to report that the first double amputee in Olympic history ran a qualifying heat Saturday. The athlete, Oscar Pistorius of South Africa (aka the "blade runner"), did quite well in the 400 meters, finishing in 45.44 seconds, and qualifying for the semifinals.

Yes, his "blades" create issues. How far in the direction of 'bionics' will atheletes be allowed to go. Does the design of his blades give him an unfair advantage over able-bodied runners?

But I don't care. I'm happy for him. So, it seems, are many of his competitors. The relevant authorities will just have to deal with such issues in an ad hoc way as they develop in Olympics to come.

Second, yes, Usain Bolt is amazing. His performance shows we he is worth every penny of the $10 million a year that Puma pays him for his endorsements.

Bolt of course has had some troubles since Beijing, including a back injury two years ago. It is good to see him creating a blur along the track.

But I have an especial interest in the hurdles events, and I'll speak of them another time.

BTW, the characters pictured above are the official mascots of these games, Wenlock and Mandeville.

Comments

A Story About Coleridge

This is a quote from a memoir by Dorothy Wordsworth, reflecting on a trip she took with two famous poets, her brother, William Wordsworth, and their similarly gifted companion, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. We sat upon a bench, placed for the sake of one of these views, whence we looked down upon the waterfall, and over the open country ... A lady and gentleman, more expeditious tourists than ourselves, came to the spot; they left us at the seat, and we found them again at another station above the Falls. Coleridge, who is always good-natured enough to enter into conversation with anybody whom he meets in his way, began to talk with the gentleman, who observed that it was a majestic waterfall. Coleridge was delighted with the accuracy of the epithet, particularly as he had been settling in his own mind the precise meaning of the words grand, majestic, sublime, etc., and had discussed the subject with William at some length the day before. “Yes, sir,” says Coleridge, “it is a maj...

The Lyrics of "Live Like You Were Dying"

Back in 2004 Tim McGraw recorded the song "Live Like You were Dying." As a way of marking the one-decade anniversary of this song, I'd like to admit that a couple of the lines have confused me for years. I could use your help understanding them. In the first couple of verses, the song seems easy to follow. Two men are talking, and one tells the other about his diagnosis. The doctors have (recently? or a long time ago and mistakenly? that isn't clear) given him the news that he would die soon. "I spent most of the next days/Looking at the X-rays." Then we get a couple of lines about a man crossing items off of his bucket list. "I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing, I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu." Then the speaker -- presumably still the old man -- shifts to the more characterological consequences of the news. As he was doing those things, he found he was loving deeper and speaking sweeter, and givin...

Five Lessons from the Allegory of the Cave

Please correct me if there are others. But it seems to be there are five lessons the reader is meant to draw from the story about the cave. First, Plato is working to devalue what we would call empiricism. He is saying that keeping track of the shadows on the cave wall, trying to make sense of what you see there, will NOT get you to wisdom. Second, Plato is contending that reality comes in levels. The shadows on the wall are illusions. The solid objects being passed around behind my back are more real than their shadows are. BUT … the world outside the the cave is more real than that — and the sun by which that world is illuminated is the top of the hierarchy. So there isn’t a binary choice of real/unreal. There are levels. Third, he equates realness with knowability. I only have opinions about the shadows. Could I turn around, I could have at least the glimmerings of knowledge. Could I get outside the cave, I would really Know. Fourth, the parable a...

Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

Search This Blog