[Windswept]

I think this shot of the sky and the mountains near Sochi is pretty stunning. I'm looking forward to the opening ceremony Friday night.



Just wondering what events AN members like to watch. I like speed skating, downhill skiing, and the event where the participants go up into the air and do all those elaborate 'acrobatic' feats. Not sure what it's called exactly. Just love it though!

I read that 57% of those polled think there might be some sort of terror event. I so hope that's not true and that all goes well for the whole two weeks.

What events are you guys looking forward to seeing, if any?

[drewprops]

More tweets about f*cked up hotel rooms.
It's sadly my favorite new event.


...

[709]

My favorite of the Winter Olympic sports is slalom skiing. No reason other than it looks fucking difficult, and that to me is what the Olympics should be all about. I don't want any fancy shit, just give me sports that are really, really hard to do and a handful of competitors that excel at them.

That said, I'll be taking a pass on this one. It doesn't interest me this year, at all. I could feign outrage and go all "Putin is an asshole / gays something something / IOC is a corrupt bunch of bought and sold pricks / hashtag dogkillers" etc., but truly, I'm just not into it this year. So it goes.



I may bitch about any of the above and more, later though. Who knows?

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by drewprops More tweets about f*cked up hotel rooms. It's sadly my favorite new event. ...

I present: the toilet theater.

[709]

Oddly, I'd be much better at shitting in front of a panel of judges than I would be at competitive shitting ala the side-by-side toilets.

"Randy, what did you think of my pinch? Simon, of course you'll hate me saying this, but when I felt that last corn kernel pass, I thought of you." "Paula… Paula? Are you OK? Do you need me to hold your hair?"

[Matsu]

[Dorian Gray]

Like everyone on the planet, I saw the photos of the twin toilet in Sochi, and I was duly surprised.

But just a few days later I visited the Louvre-Lens art museum in Lens, a city in the north of France near the Belgian border. This museum was designed by hotshot Japanese architecture firm SANAA, cost €150 million to build, was opened just last year, and won the Prix d’architecture de l’Équerre d’argent in 2013. It’s fair to say every detail of its design was agonised over.

Here’s an iPhone photo I took in the men’s toilet:



(There’s a fourth toilet outside the frame.)

What do you make of that then?

I think no-one is going to use these toilets for anything other than peeing, and few of us are squeamish about peeing side by side into a row of urinals. So why be prissy about peeing into a row of toilets?

It sure is eye-catching though!

[psmith2.0]

In high school, my first two years, the boys' restrooms had no stalls/walls. Just 3-4 toilets all out in the open like that. In the break between my sophomore and junior year, stalls were put up. But no doors.

The girl bathrooms had stalls and doors the entire time.

[Dorian Gray]

Interesting. Perhaps there are (or were) thousands of these open-layout toilets scattered across the prissy, oh-so-civilised west! Or perhaps they were common in schools because boys couldn’t be trusted to not do who-knows-what in the toilet if they had a door to hide behind.

The women’s toilets at the Louvre-Lens had traditional, individual stalls (with doors).

All that said, three or more side-by-side toilets – as in the Louvre-Lens or pscates2.0’s old school – seem slightly more appropriate than just two as in Sochi. With a bunch of them it becomes communal and the individual pee-er is ignored. But just two highlights the shared nature in a particularly privacy-invading way.

Sorry Windswept! I don’t follow winter sports at all. I wish the Olympics all the best, of course.

[turbulentfurball]

The opening ceremony starts soon. I quite want to watch it, but part of me wants nothing to do with it. Damn you Putin and your gay bashing government.

[RowdyScot]

Normally I'd be glued to the hockey tournament. I will not be watching this year. Putin disgusts me. Between the worsening anti-gay sentiment, the neo-Nazis he has basically been letting run the country, and his power play to attempt annexing Ukraine as a legacy for himself, I really just want nothing to do with it.

[Matsu]

So you'll be watching the figure skating instead...

[Eugene]

And to think Salzburg was another bid for 2014. I wonder how big the bribe was.

[Moogs]

Good thread idea / great picture post, Carol.

As for toilet theatre...

I need to go look for some Sochi hashtags. This is going to be fun.

"In Soviet Russia, toilet flush you!"

[AWR]

I'm looking forward to the Ice Hockey. There's something different about the Olympic game which keeps my interest longer than a 'modern' NHL one.

Next Saturday, 1:30 pm Geneva time, I will be glued to TV for the Men's USA-Russia preliminary round game. That should be a real cracker with the Russians playing in front of the home crowd.

The first hockey match is tomorrow morning, USA-Finland, Women. USA-Canada Women will face each other in the prelims, too.

Hockey schedule here: http://www.sochi2014.com/en/ice-hock...le-and-results

[AWR]

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray What do you make of that then? I think no-one is going to use these toilets for anything other than peeing, and few of us are squeamish about peeing side by side into a row of urinals. So why be prissy about peeing into a row of toilets? It sure is eye-catching though!

I think they're shite (sorry for the pun!). If that's the bathroom in a building that cost 150 million than I'm in the wrong business! I don't see the point. A standard urinal adds a level of discretion and sanitation that's not a bad thing an a public space. Ditto for a l'il room with a door and walls for more serious business. What if your poor 10 year old needs to drop the kids off at the pool, emergency style? Can you imagine the embarrassment for him and the discomfort for the poor sods just trying to take a pee. It can't be that these were made for no. 2. One can't really be expected to 'clean up' in front of a crowd, or be confronted by no. 1'ers trouser snakes peeing while trying to determine whether your no. 2 is going to stink or really stink.

Edit: OMG, I see toilet brushes!
Edit 2: How to get toilet paper if you're seated in the middle?

[billybobsky]

Gah. Nm...

[Eugene]

That's not actually a little girl on wires, but three stray dogs stacked on top of each other.

Also t.A.T.u's "Not Gonna Get Us" played for the entire Russian team procession is delicious irony...or is it since they were apparently only fake gay?

[Dorian Gray]

Originally Posted by AWR The first hockey match is tomorrow morning, USA-Finland, Women.

Go Finland! (My mother’s Finnish. Heck, I was born there!)

Originally Posted by AWR I think they're shite (sorry for the pun!). If that's the bathroom in a building that cost 150 million than I'm in the wrong business! I don't see the point.

Pun pardoned. Maybe the point is to somehow look more elegant? I have nothing against urinals, mind you. My experience of them suggests you’re marginally less likely to have to stand in a puddle of someone else’s pee when using a urinal than a toilet.

Originally Posted by AWR Edit: OMG, I see toilet brushes!

You see, it must be some kind of ‘make yourself at home’ idea. It may only make sense to an architect.

Originally Posted by AWR How to get toilet paper if you're seated in the middle?

Why, just ask your neighbour of course. How antisocial are you? “Eight pieces please, stranger. Nope, gonna need four more. What did you think of the Rubens?”

Originally Posted by billybobsky Gah. Nm...

One billionth of a metre?

[Brad]

This is what I'm expecting from the Sochi Opening Ceremony:



Actually, I'm also ignoring the olympics this year. Even before taking into account my distaste for the political climate and hypocrisy of it all, nothing about the olympics is compelling enough to draw my attention nowadays.

[billybobsky]

Nah, that would be nm. Nm is the Newton-meter, one of the metric units of energy, and my personal favorite.

I was actually abbreviating nevermind since I should have back read through the thread before replying...

[Dorian Gray]

Originally Posted by billybobsky Nah, that would be nm.

Even at the beginning of a sentence?

Originally Posted by billybobsky I was actually abbreviating nevermind

Ah, I should have figured that out.

[billybobsky]

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray Even at the beginning of a sentence?

Actually, yes. Strict adherence to capitalization rules of abbreviations is part of the system. Though I doubt very much most people would begin a sentence with nm, and I am hard pressed to identify an example that isn't grammatically incorrect or a sentence fragment, as in 'what unit was that? nm.'

Ah, I should have figured that out.

We're all high on watching the spectacle that is Russia swaggering(?).

[Eugene]

Originally Posted by Brad This is what I'm expecting from the Sochi Opening Ceremony: http://i.imgur.com/hi9HbCr.jpg Actually, I'm also ignoring the olympics this year. Even before taking into account my distaste for the political climate and hypocrisy of it all, nothing about the olympics is compelling enough to draw my attention nowadays.

The ceremony is actually really well done. Beats the pants off of London 2012, but I guess that's setting the bar really low.

[Moogs]

Originally Posted by AWR I'm looking forward to the Ice Hockey. There's something different about the Olympic game which keeps my interest longer than a 'modern' NHL one.

It probably has to do with the fact that Olympic hockey is how the game was meant to be played. Less cramped ice surface, zero NJ Devils style hockey clogging up the middle of the ice, and no goons / fighting for reasons that are usually hard to justify. Every player out there is highly skilled and forced to play a fast, two-way game without being a clutchy douchebag.

[Eugene]

But enforcers need jobs too.

[Matsu]

I don't want to derail the thread but they could do two things today that would transform NHL hockey for the better.

Widen the ice. They don't have to do full Olympic 100 ft, maybe just an extra five feet, so 90x200 instead of 85x200, and some rinks were even smaller than that! (Boston, Chicago, Buffalo come to mind) 5 feet isn't a lot, I don't think it changes the more intimate nature of the NHL ice, it just gives one quick step extra to step away from a clutching defender or someone trying to run you into the boards.

And standardize the equipment. Take away hard plastic armour in the elbows, shoulder and chest. Spec a soft pad that will absorb a 100mph puck and require equipment made to that spec. Except for goalies outlaw any hard plastic armour except for the cup, gloves, knee and shin guards for players. The current stuff is the equivalent of brass knuckles. Players are getting their bell rung because you can just wallop a guy with all the plastic protecting your upper body and not really feel it. If the guy delivering the check felt it even half as much as the target, they'd probably re-prioritize trying to lay the guy out and stick to an effective hit that takes someone out of the play, not out of the season. Fewer late hits, blind hits, and less damage too. Safer players will play a faster and more fluid game.

Ever wonder why Rugby players have so few concussions and football players have so many? It's the padding.

[billybobsky]

It's the speed.

While I certainly agree that american footballers are more likely to bash into each other because they feel safer in their padding, the overall trend in the sport is less and lighter padding. Ultimately, the difference between rugby and football isn't the padding, so much, as the fact that in football the players are running full sprint when they hit each other, whereas in rugby, the hits have very much less velocity...

[Moogs]

Originally Posted by Eugene But enforcers need jobs too.

Originally Posted by Matsu I don't want to derail the thread but they could do two things today that would transform NHL hockey for the better. Widen the ice. ... And standardize the equipment. Take away hard plastic armour in the elbows, shoulder and chest. ... Ever wonder why Rugby players have so few concussions and football players have so many? It's the padding.

Agree 100% on both counts. The first count will never change though because the NHL owners don't give a crap what the fans think as long as they're filling seats. That extra 5-10' = a bunch of lost seats and revenue. It's all many of them care about. Short-term thinkers. However, I doubt Chicago or Boston has a more narrow ice surface, being newer, purpose-built arenas for the modern NHL. Did you read that somewhere? In fact I thought all 30 teams were in compliance but maybe I missed a memo somewhere.

Originally Posted by billybobsky It's the speed. While I certainly agree that american footballers are more likely to bash into each other because they feel safer in their padding, the overall trend in the sport is less and lighter padding. Ultimately, the difference between rugby and football isn't the padding, so much, as the fact that in football the players are running full sprint when they hit each other, whereas in rugby, the hits have very much less velocity...

I think with Rugby there's a very high probability many of those guys ARE concussed and they don't dare tell anyone. The culture of Rugby as I understand it, is you don't complain about injuries, ever. If you can hide it, hide it. Right?

[Matsu]

Funny what you remember, I remember Hockey Night in Canada always making a big deal about the smaller home ice in a couple of arenas. I do think the league enforced the 85x200 dimension at some point, more than a few years ago now. FWIW, I believe the books always read 85x200 with the radius of a 28' circle describing the corners, but each of those was slightly massaged, particularly in old buildings.

I played hockey as an adult for a couple of seasons, real beginner mens league stuff, no checking, most of us had never played as kids. I took one really bad crash, just once, on my back to make me think about this. I hit the ice hard enough to take the wind right out of my lungs, which is a freaky sensation. I knew everyone could hear the crunch based on the silence. The back of my head hit the ice and I just gasped for a second. I had basically got some air and came down with my torso parallel to the ice and my feet up. Bell. Rung. The equipment did its job fantastically well. I didn't have a sore back, or ribs, or head, or any concussion that I know of. But, we were just a couple of idiots who can't generate much speed somehow making the highlight reel for America's Funniest Home Videos. In a league where everyone can really accelerate and hit (like the NHL), that armour makes the body immune to impacts, so you can accelerate and hit even harder; but it protects the body at the cost of increasing the rapid acceleration and deceleration that causes brain injury, not just impact of helmet on ice, but soft spongy grey matter against the inside of the skull itself.

You can test it right now if you have hockey equipment. Strap on a modern elbow pad with the rigid plastic cone. You can bash it with a shovel and you won't feel but a small pulse through your arm. Now, some of the most devastating hits have come from high elbows, and players are appropriately penalized, but I think there's now a fundamental lack of awareness, not players who don't care about the well being of others, but players who actually don't feel the consequence of a violent impact. You could argue that elbows are illegal, OK, but the shoulder pad ain't far behind in hardness or construction. Combined they've turned the upper body into a fairly dangerous weapon, which leads to more padding around the chest and sternum, and less sensation surround the delivery of a hit. Even just taking the hard armour out of the arms (elbow to shoulder) will mitigate violent hitting enough that most well conditioned athletes will opt for thinner padding in the chest, if only for better mobility.

Check this out: http://thehockeyguys.net/concussion-chatter/

Far from the last word on the subject, but a worthwhile perspective.