Monday, February 22, 2010
Blog 23 - 2/22/10
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In honor of the Olympics, this week we will look at Olympic timing.
Admittedly, I'm not a big winter olympics fan. I am, however, married to a HUGE winter olympics fan. Guess what's been on at our house EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. for the past 10 days?
Uh huh.
Anyway, I'm starting to like it more and more. Mostly because I don't really have a choice because NBC has pre-empted every bit of their normal programming (Office, anyone?) for two weeks.
So the geek in me wants to look at the timing devices, etc. Take a look at the following sites. Give me an opinion about something in one of the articles.
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/10/uk-sports-timing-200910
http://www.omegawatches.com/spirit/sports/olympic-timekeeping
http://omega.watchprosite.com/show-nblog.post/ti-436441/
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/olympic-timing3.htm
Talk to me . . .
P.S. Upcoming discussions (per your suggestions):
Video game technology
Movie technology
Car technology (sorry Maggaly!)
Weapons technology
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80 comments:
AHHH! NOOO! NOT CAR TECH! *dies*
I think the evolution of OMEGA watches is interesting. What really interest me is that these watches have been used in the Oylmpics since 1932 and OMEGA still remains the number 1 watch in the Olympics.
i agree with brandon im amased that they are still number one and another thing i like about OMEGA is that they made pads for swimming and splashes or anything like that wont trigger it untill the swimmer hits it
I think the electronic pressure plates on the starting blocks for track and swimming are really neat...Since scientists have measured that it takes a human one tenth of a second to react and respond to stimulus (such as the starting gun), the pressure plates have been installed to gauge reaction time. When the first pressure is received on the plate (the swimmer or runner pushing off), the plate sends electronic signals to the timing console. If the athlete's reaction time is less than one tenth of a second, he/she may be considered to have had a premature start and disqualified. That is so high tech and cool to me.
Okay, I say to really cool things dealing with the olympic time keeping.
1. the touch pad for swimmers: the touch screen pad that records when the swimmer actually touches it. This stops the problem of the water splashing on the pad causing inaccurate scoring.
2. Okay, the time keeping system that triggers a special announcement when a person starts to early (earlier then a tenth of a second, still I think thats not a lot of time). This cuts down on cheaters who got a head start even when its not apparent that they have.
I think it's pretty neat that OMGEA was so popular then, and now.I also think its cool that it's only most popular in the Oylmpics, and not for other competitions that invlove timing, that shows that there are ver efficient if they chose to use them for such a big event.
the thing about the clock stoping when the athlete is earlier than a tenth of a second is pretty cool... because the cheaters might start early and this device can take care of them.
the OMEGA watch was really cool. it was also shiny (me gusta shiny)its been in use since '32 and remains top dawg in the field of olympic timing devices (which is so awesome... yes that was lathered sarcasm) plus it has the greek letter omega in the design... they are so punny
so without the touchpads in swimming the sport would be totally different. You can never get the same times from different people timing a swimmer. Races such as the 50 free are always so close anyway that with hand timers the chance for wrong times is high and likely cost people a medal to a ribbon or such. Without this precision the sport of swimming would be alot more inaccurate.
The omega watch is cool, but i imagine that it would make those realy close races hard to judge, because the avergae human reaction time is about 2 seconds.
Photfinish is more acturate i think, but still there is a delay in the shot. I know back when I was on swim team (not that i every won) I would notice that people tend to slow down just before they hit the wall. And you cant really see the people beside you. So what would happen if the person beside the didnt slow down and they touched the wall at what looked like the same time? Seems sketchy to me.
The "electrie eye" Is one of the colest things I've ever seen. Not just because of it ability to acturately catch the time, but because of other uses for it, like security and police invietigation (yeah, ima CSI, NCIS, Law and Order fanatic. sue me). You could hook the laser to an alarm and when a criminal corssed it police would be notified imediately. And if the criminal got away, foresics would have an actuarate time of when the crime was commited.
This has been another instance of Monika getting off track.
I think the "smart" systems are really cool. If something were to mess up or stop working on a piece of time keeping equipment then each system has up to 4 back up systems which kick in automatically if one system fails. This is useful in keeping scores accurate and making sure no scores are lost. All this Olympic timing equipment goes back to keeping everything as fair as possible; making sure the best athlete gets the gold, and that everyone has a fair shot. Its amazing how far we have come in just timing equipment, and i look forward to seeing future advances in this field as well as others.
The pressure plates that make sure no one get's a jump on everyone was a genius idea.
The average human's response time to a stimulus is about 1/10th of a second, so if someone starts sooner than 1/10th of a second after the gun, or w/e the stimulus is, the race restarts, and most likely, the competitor is disqualified.
The newest one to date tracks up to HALF A MILISECOND omgawd....That's insane..It could track the moments in between a BLINK, and give you about 500-800 screenshots....
the omega watches are really neat, and i like how they have it in different varieties instead of one particular one, they have been around for years and they are still very popular.
Car tech...really? Ugh, not again!! ><'
But anyways, the way that OMEGA has developed the stopwatch to the most difficult instruments for timing, is pretty amazing. It's great to see the way technology develops over the years with much experimenting. It doesn't surprise me that they're the top time keepers at all.
OMEGA has been the official timekeeper of all disciplines at the Los Angeles Games in 1932. They came up with the first independent, portable and water resistant photoelectric cell... then photofinish camera etc.
"SMART" SYSTEMS--- thats cool if a piece of equipment stops working they have up to 4 back up systmes
Think that the omega timing is very neat and its amazing how it has eveoled over the years. its very precise. especially when it was used for that michael phelps rae that he barely won
I find the Omega Scan-O-Vision camera to be interesting, it can take 2000 pictures a second! Cameras like that are great, they can slow down things so fast they allow us to see things we ordinairaly couldn't. Like in this case determining who finnished first during the olypics, but they can reveal other things too.
That electronic pressure sensor seems very high tech I'm not gonna lie. I mean yeah there are numerous amounts of other types of pressure sensors but that I've heard that measure down to 1/10 of a second. Also, how has OMEGA been able to sponser the olympic tech that they have used for so long. Are they the only ones that develop Olympic tech?
I think the OMEGA watch is very cool, i didnt know it was used in Olympic game for that long.
The photofinish camera is amazing and takes 2000 pics a second, Woa that is crazy. Man even a photoelctric cell that is a laser running across the finish line. As soon as a athelete touches it that person's time is clocked. This helps get the acurate winner every time!!
I think the OMEGA is really cool that we use it for so long and that OMEGA is like the number 1 watch for the olympics and I also like the pressure plates that tells if you had headstart...and if you had a headstart your disqualified and that is really cool to me the it is so high tech
It's really interesting that the OMEGA watches have been used since 1932.
The touch pad for the swimmers is pretty cool although that is connected with the 2008 olympics which was summer....and this is winter....but anyways thats pretty cool cause i mean if people are actually timing with those stopwatch things there is no way that they could calculate the time acurately. So the touch pads is pretty nifty.
Swimming is my favorite part of the Olympics, so i am all up on the Swimming tech. I am a former swimmer and i know how it feels to be DQ for making a false start. I will just tell you the it sucks.
The pressure plates that are being used are the best way to ensure the the race goes on fairly. It can track up to half a millisecond, when a regular person can only react up tp 1/10 of a second.
The fact that it can take 500-800 pictures within the time it takes the average person to blink is absolutly unbelievable. i mean i can believe it due to our technological advances, but ya know....
I really enjoyed this weeks blog I didn't know how they did all that time keeping for the olympics it was pretty neat to learn how they did it.
The fact that OMEGA watches still hold their standing as number one in the olympics timing speaks volumes alone. The watches accuracy is unfathomable compared to the first few stopwatches in the early 1930s.
Ok, well, my inner geek is so geeky that it doesn't really care for sports technology much, but geekiness is geekiness and I still find it interesting. The pressure plates sound amazing. I had no idea that splashes could trigger things before, so having the swimmer physically touch it now is pretty good. For track, I had always liked the run through the ribbon idea at the finish line, but I guess I had never thought about if multiple people are ahead, someone could just jump forward awkwardly and win, or if the others behind the winner would want to know their accurate time...Anywhoo, I think they're on the right track with this timing stuff.
i like this site http://omega.watchprosite.com/show-nblog.post/ti-436441/ because it gives you a timeline (1898 - 2008)which is cool. i didnt ever know they had timers for the olympics back then. who knew that there were stopwatches in the 1800's (NOT ME)
i thinks that timing is everything because people want to know the exact time that a guy starts and finishes what ever he is doing because maybe he makes a new record..so that way another guy say.. like me make a better time and beat the 1st guys record..but on the real yaeah timing is important and i like the way the omega can make better watches like it makes them better over time..
I think the fact that these timing/anti-cheating systems can be so accurate (some up to 1/2 a millisecond) is amazing, considering all the human error they must take into account. I really enjoyed reading about the "smart" systems. If one system fails, there are four more to back it up. Additionally, the false-start fail'safes are cool. If you jump the gun by a tenth of a second, it freaks out on you and you're disqualified. Awesome.
OMEGA is pretty cool. They've been around for a long time and they just kept getting better and better. It's always cool to see a company that does that.
And I vote weapons technology.
i liked the blog about micheal phelps he won eight goldem medals in 2008 i thought that was really a good one to blog about and share with others i like to run but i doubt i can make it to eight medals
I think the OMEGA watches are pretty cool. I think its cool because they have been used for some years and they still havent went out of style.
I read the 4th article and I like a couple things about this certain time keeping device.
I think its very smart and nifty that it has 4 back-up devices so that no matter what happens, there's always another system working directly behind that and one working behind that and another working directly behind that.
I also think its cool that there is a sensor that can detect if someone starts the race early.
This year, I have been trying to watch the olympics almost every night, if only for 30 minutes, and I must say, though I sit there in envy of such great athletic talent with my bag of hot cheetos, I am amazed by it all. These people have worked so hard on what they do for a living, and they deserve to be timed accurately. I was amazed by the Vanity Fair article entitled "End Game," when they talk about how close some of the races are, such as the famous Michael Phelps race in the summer of '08. Though, I must say (maybe it's just part of my continuing rant against competition) that is winning a race by a mere 00000000000000000000000567 seconds (exaggeration attack!) really that much of an athletic achievement? If you don't beat the guy by more than maybe 5 seconds at most, how do you know that you're the superior athlete? If it had been any other day, he might have won. But I am just a bitter, jealous person, so keep swimming Michael Phelps. Just don't smoke weed when you do it...
i think we should just go back to the revolver and stopwatch days, and let the athletes show their true sprotsmanship and accept a defeat by .0000003 seconds...however, i know this will never happen. I think this stuff is interesting though, it makes me want to watch the London olympics to see the timing equipment (and since it's in the U.K. i assume there will be Quiditch)
i love watching the winter olympics but i have never though about the time device that is being used. i think that the OMEGA watch is interesting because of how many years they have being using it. another thing that caught my attention is the 4 back up devices that they have. really cool.
Its cool to me the appearance of the OMEGA stopwatches cus they look lyk casual watches instead of stop watches at lease we know that the judges stuntin on boys now.Lol...
Its amazing at how closee that race was for Michael Phelps and that we have the technology to accurately time these races. If we used stop watches then we'd probably have a different winner of that race or event had a tie.
I thought the electronic pressure plates on the starting blocks for track and swimming were pretty cool...the device starts according to reaction time. Humans take about a tenth of a second to for their brain to react to stimuli, and this device accounts for that. I also thought the development of the OMEGA watch was interesting, because it's been used in the Olympics since 1932.
When I watch the olympics, I'm always amazed by how close a race can be (while I'm yelling at the person to hurry up). I'm glad they keep updating the OMEGA timing systems as athletes get better in their sport. Without these high-tech watches and cameras, it would be really hard to tell who won a race if the competitors were neck to neck. Also, touch pads are a good way to eliminate cheating when a person has a split second head start. I think these new and improved timing systems, pads, cameras are a good way to keep different sports fair.
i really think the omega gun/timer thing is really cool. it keep every thing all good and in order.
and also the way these ppl are really in to all of this to where they look like they are about to brake there something just to win
Omega watches have a fasinating ring to the maybe if i ever have enough more to buy one it would be oneof the first few things i will get I really learned a lot sbout these watches and how they work to be honest if it weren't for this blog i probably would have never new they existed but im super glad i know now
I like how the Omega measures so accurately that it can gets down to the 100ths of a second...Thats 3 times faster than I can blink my eyes...Wow!!!
Its cool that OMEGA has been able to stay the offical stopwatch for the olymics since 1932 and that they also introduced the touch pad used in swimming to record the time.
In this commercial for Omega timing systems and watches and whatnot, they said the 7th gold medal Michael Phelps won, he won by something like a thousanth of a second, which is one fourth of the time in which a human is capable of blinking. The idea that we are now capable of measuring that minute amount of time in order to keep a sport fair and ensure that the best athlete is rewarded for his/her abilities is just amazing to me.
OMEGA has been in the game for a really long time and they've continued to improve their products. I was impressed by that.
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." - Albert Einstein
AWESOME QUOTE!!!
WEAPONS TECHNOLOGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MRS. LANHAM!!! MRS. LANHAM!!!
WEAPONS TECH!!! WEAPONS TECH!!!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLESASE PLEEEEEEEASE??!!!!
Scan-O-Vision camera uses high-speed video imaging to record a staggering 2,000 pictures a second. That right there is INSANE.
I like the fail-safe system they created. It is cool that pressure sensing plates are real. I saw one on tv the other day but I thought it was fake and people hadn't come up with a working version yet. The fail-safe really helps prevent cheating- purposely or not- from occuring. :)
Ok so even though I dont give a flip about the Oylmpics the OMEGA watches are really cool and I think they will probably make the Oylmpics move fair so that people cant cheat.
i think its cool that the OMEGA watches have been used for a very long time and is still the same one after all these years...
Timing.............................you mean 'timing' as in the time it takes for me to run to the bathroom(1.4 seconds from my living room). or maybe when i see a candy i want and then i snatch it(.9 seconds). or maybe when i manga i really want and i have money with me(just blink). isn't timing fun? and so is whispering!
*I think that the Omega is really cool. Like the swimmers had contact pads that it only reaacted to the swimmers touch and just not by the splashes. That was really good to do so there wouldnt be any cheaters.*
i didn't know the photofinish camera was first used for trains...and now it's used for the Olympics!! wow! also the touch pads for swimming make it a lot easier and quicker to tell the winner.they only react when the swimmers touch them & aren't affected by splashing... we can tell who won with such accuracy noone watching might even notice the difference between two athletes at the finish line...plus we can now tell when someone's trying to cheat and catch them
I like the OMEGA watch thing, my favorite thing was changing the colors ha but its cool to see that it dated back to like 1898 and then first used in the olympics in 1932
The Omega company must own the Olympics, because everything that you can imagine that deals with the Olympics is made or sponcered by Omega.
I like how every olympic games they use OMEGA and how they come though and how they must of spent so much time on a watch that can go a mili second because during the race every second counts.
I like how every olympic games they use OMEGA and how they come though and how they must of spent so much time on a watch that can go a mili second because during the race every second counts.
So being able to take 2000 pictures at one time is pretty amazing.Its really cool how to determine on who wins an olympics race by just a hair. The omega watches have advanced so much over the years that being precise doesnt even begin to cover what they do.
im not really interested in this stuff but everythinh i see talks about OMEGA OMEGA OMEGA they do everything OMG.... i like the watch though do it big then...lol
I think it's super cool that, at the Beijing Olympics not so long ago, a photofinish showed a competitor winning the race by a single pixle.
It's not so cool, however, that before the higher-tech timing devices came around, out of a 'draw', the crowd's favorite was the one declared the winner, with a made-up time to back up the decision.
i think that the omega wacth is cool and shiny but i dont think that it is all of that
I Think that Omega is doing a pretty good job. All of its technology is making it more accurate to see who won and all but really, how many hundreths of a second do we need to meassure to? If it was up to me Phelps and the other guy would of tied and gone again to see who would win the second time around.
I thought that the fact that Greeks were the first ones to put time and games together was very interesting. Even though it was only to figure out who won and not by how much, it was still an interesting fact to know.
the OMEGA progression is super duper cools! the Oylmpics have been using it since 1932 and it's still considered the most reliable one for the games.
those pressure plates they started using... duuuudee! talk about high tech, ha!
i think that the omega company has done a great job coming up with new timing devices for the olympics.but one thing i noticed is that in 1898 when they came up with their 1st stopwatch it was the same size as a pocketwatch. and then looking at the timeline all of the other newer devices remanin all the size of like a desktop computer.
i think the touch pads they've invented for swimming is very very intresting.its not only useful,but very acurate.why couldnt they have invented something like this sooner?
and the fact that the OMEGA watch has been used since 1932,is incredible.thats a good bit of time,
and the evolution of this watch is insane! its amazing(:
im not the biggest fan of the olympics though.
please not SPORT tech.
anything but sports,please!!!
D:
Reading how Michael Phelps won the seventh of his eight gold medals by a hundreth of a second is a great example of how precise these measurements are at the olympics. Supossedly the amount of time between him and the runner up hitting the pad at the end(being a hundreth of a second) was less than it takes for lightning to strike.
I really like the photo finish thing. There are always disputes about who finished first, and this can end them effortlessly.
The Omega watch catches my interest plus it is a useful and managable piece of technology which helps tremendously.
i think the omega watches are super cool one cause its awesome and two cause its the number one used watch in the olympics the touch pad for swimmers is also very neat
so OMEGA pretty much is boss when it comes to timing events, they should definantly look into timing in baseball, i know it sounds wierd but there r a lot of close plays that could b called more accurate if there were some sort of timing device
I think its wierd that they got the idea for a photo finishes from some camera tech that was being used for railcars. I didnt know that. Plus thats wierd that the finishes in pools that are determined by thousanths of seconds may actually be from differences in lane lengths. Its crazy man
It's good to see that they keep up with their timing system so well, especially with the electronic pressure plates.
i think the omega photofinish is awesome without that somethings that are ties would go on forever or at least till someone actually won
the omega watch is pretty awesome, its fun to see how something can develop over the years. wonder what it will be like 10 years from now
Not being one for sports or the like. I thought that the history was kind of interesting. To find out how long they've been number one for the Olympics. So it was nice to learn something new.
at first i didnt think the omega watch was that intresting but now i kinda do.Its never wrong and i think its pretty cool how it all connects, like when the people cross the finish line it takes a photo and see the results.And its still being used scence 1932.
First off, is the guy in the first link, first picture about to face plant? =\
So basically, this watch has been around longer then Mrs.L.
But...I'm more impressed by the pad that they talk about, that I guess stops the timer as soon as you hit it, which I think woud be more precise then the Omega Stopwatch, where I guess someone else would be timing you.
However, not being a big sports fan, I would rather use a timer for something like, seeing how fast you can clear a apartment building being a man SWAT Team, or something gaming related.
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