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Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
There is a great one for android that I just got as part of the Android Developer's Challenge. It was called DroidSpray (can't seem to find it in the normal store). Basically you would have a layer that you would then spray paint on and create pictures on the wall without actually spary painting the wall.
It was community based so you'd get everyone elses too.
Neat stuff but like most of android's ADC community apps there just isn't enough there yet to really get anything out of it. #augmentedrealityiphoneapps
11/12/09
The compromise seems pretty simple: if you willing to amputate limbs to increase athletic performance, there should be no restrictions to your competing. The frustrations one would encounter using a wheelchair everywhere else in the world should be seen a sacrifice far exceeding the proverbial getting up early in the morning to work out. Those 'fortunate' enough to be born without limbs (and in wheelchair racing having lower extremities is a disadvantage having to with weight and chair design) would be the same as a basketball player fortunate enough to be born tall. Or with exceptionally acute vision. Wade Boggs' hitting skills were mostly attributed to that fact.
The cultural exclusion is fascinating -- these athletes are seen less than normal and more than human simultaneously. #oscarpistorius
11/12/09
Thank you. #oscarpistorius
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
Imagine how bad that would hurt?
And how it would affect the scores of divers... #oscarpistorius
11/12/09
11/12/09
That said, I'd like to consider Lance Armstrong for a moment. Comparing him to, well pretty much any other human, when it comes to cycling is apples to oranges. His heart, lungs, and pretty much all the rest of him are physiologically amazing and optimal for his sport. So if saying a prosthesis makes you so distinctive that you can't legitimately be compared to your peers, why isn't that true of Lance. #oscarpistorius
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
But good for apple to have their hall of consumerism and Steve Jobs worshipping up, it's very good looking.
But I'm pretty sure the price tags inside aren't. #applestore
11/12/09
In swimming, dive caps are simply part of the game, and you can't exactly penalize someone for shaving their head bald to reduce drag, It's only natural that someone would try to make swimsuits that create less drag than bare skin, but the public never really anticipated the benefits of muscle compression (they also never anticipated how making a swimming pool significantly deeper and wider would make it a "fast pool", but you never heard that mentioned by people who were calling for a ban on full-body suits).
As for the blades, I believe it is legitimately possible to develop an artificial leg that _will_ provide an unfair advantage over a natural leg, but I've yet to see any conclusive proof that the blades succeeded. Regardless of what the facts are, blades _look_ like they'll make you faster, and they're lighter than natural legs as well. You know, nevermind the fact that blades require the application of external force to work, as compared to how natural legs can generate their own force.
The real issue in whether or not blades will ever be accepted in track competitions is that there's no way to prove whether Runner A can run faster with blades than with natural legs. You can't simply swap them with each other and do comparative time trials. Maybe if there's ever a case where genetic twins run track and consistently finish with similar times, and one of them ends up getting blades after a double-amputation and _still_ finishes with times that nearly match the other twin... #oscarpistorius
11/12/09
Thank you, Aimee, for this fantastic and obviously deeply thought out, article. #oscarpistorius
11/12/09
There's a difference between carbon fiber legs and LASIK vision and techy swim suits: techy swimsuits are removable off the field, so it doesn't mess with the athlete's individual lives. LASIK is not removable, but it improves the quality of life for people who need it in every area, not just golf.
What "enhancements" like carbon fiber legs and steroids do is ask athletes to make an immoral choice, whether to permanently screw their body off the field so they can get an advantage on the field. Although steroid users enjoy better strength in sports, they sacrifice on their general health off the field. Similarly, carbon fiber legs present the moral choice of selective amputation to athletes in general, if they haven't been forced to do so otherwise, in order to run faster - but they are then forced to go through all of the smaller coordination problems and little things like annoyances at the airport. What people are scared of, I think, is the moral implications of what society has become if we allow ourselves to do this, rather than understanding that there are more important things than athletics.
I personally think you should be allowed to compete with them, because you weren't given this choice, it was forced on you. But at the same time, I think naysayers would stop whining if carbon fiber attachments could be made to the bottom of athletic shoes to give a similar "advantage". #oscarpistorius
11/12/09
I'm not competitive, but there's always the voice in the back of my head saying I have no business doing this. I've run around 20 of 'em now. But then I think about my incredibly shitty eyesight, and to carry that "no business" thought further, before the invention of corrective glasses, I surely would have walked myself off a cliff or been eaten by a bear before I turned 20. So, naturally speaking, I have no business being alive at this point. Which, for me, renders the whole train of thought moot. Hooray for inventions of enablement!
Back to mile 17. My knees were griping a bit. My left ankle was a little tweaked. I had impressive blisters on my toes. A guy with Cheetahs passed me on the left by hopping onto and back down from a 10" curbed median....and freakin' disappeared into the distance.
Inwardly, "no blisters on HIS toes...".
Gave me something to think about for the next 9 miles.
I have no answers. #oscarpistorius
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
One question though: Why is the page's title crediting Oscar Pistorious? Shouldn't Aimee get the credit for her own incredible article? #oscarpistorius