Saturday Shorts
Apparently some form of sanity is infecting the International Olympic Committee. Its President, two-time swimming gold medalist Kirsty Coventry said:
“At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat,” Coventry, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming, said in a statement. “So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category.”
“Eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event, including individual and team sports, is now limited to biological females,” the International Olympic Committee said, to be determined by a mandatory gene test once in an athlete’s career.
The eligibility policy that will apply from the L.A. Olympics in July 2028 “protects fairness, safety and integrity in the female category,” the IOC said.
“It is not retroactive and does not apply to any grassroots or recreational sports programs,” said the IOC, whose Olympic Charter states that access to play sport is a human right.
“Play sport”, not “cheat at sport”.
Before the 2024 Paris Olympics, three top-tier sports — track and field, swimming and cycling — excluded transgender women who had been through male puberty.
Not sure where thy get that statement, given that at that time Leah Thomas and several trans ‘girl cyclists were dominating events in their sports?
But at least there is a somewhat measurable standard: been through puberty as a boy? You’re not a girl, except maybe in your twisted little head.
The IOC document published on Thursday said the male performance advantage over biological women was “10-12% in most running and swimming events,” at least 20% in “most throwing and jumping events” but “can be greater than 100%” for explosive power events including “punching sports.” AP
Lasers to take out drones: The Navy has ’em. Japan has ’em. Apparently even Ukraine has ’em:
The operator set up the laser cannon on the roof of his pickup truck in the middle of an empty field. It resembles a hobbyist’s telescope with some cameras affixed to the sides. For target practice, one of the engineers launched a small drone, and it flew a few hundred yards away from us, hovering in the gauzy winter sky. The laser swiveled as its cameras followed the target. The operator shouted, “Fire!” Within seconds, the drone began to burn as if struck by invisible lightning, then fell to the ground in a fiery arc. The Atlantic
The U.S. Navy spent $150 million developing HELIOS, its shipboard laser defense system. Ukrainian engineers built one that fits in the trunk of a car for a few million dollars. That cost gap tells you everything about how this war is reshaping the defense industry.
Rather looks like “X” marked the spot
A fictionalized version of d’Artagnan was the hero of Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 novel “The Three Musketeers,” a hot-headed teenager who becomes the fourth musketeer. But d’Artagnan was a real historical figure.Like his fictional counterpart, d’Artagnan served French “Sun King” Louis XIV and eventually became captain-lieutenant of the musketeers. He was killed during the French siege of Maastricht in the Franco-Dutch War on June 25, 1673, after being struck in the throat by a musket ball.The skeleton of famed French musketeer Charles de Batz de Castelmore d’Artagnan may have been found in front of a church altar in the Dutch city of Maastricht, church officials and an archaeologist said on Wednesday.The DNA retrieved from a jawbone is now being tested against that of descendants.
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Historical, It's science!, Science and Technology
While Shakespeare is indeed the undisputed leader in most films derived from his works, Bram Stoker and Arthur Conan Doyle have over 200 films a piece based on their works. If you present all the films based on a Sherlock Holmes arch type the you are talking about thousands.
On the American side, Edgar Allen Poe has at least 150 Films based upon his works.