August 2008 Archives

Well, if you haven't heard already (and I can't imagine that that is the case), the IOC has said that it has come into possession of "more information" that merits investigation into the ages of the Chinese gymnasts.  Rather than get into that, which you can read all about, I'd like to offer my perspective on the matter.

If gymnasts are indeed found to be underage, I think that they are the real victims of this matter.  It's true, that in such a case both they, their coaches, and their government conspired to break the rules and medals could be appropriately revoked, but lets remember that these girls are very young and were probably pressured to go along with the alleged lie.  Having been trained in gymnastics since they could probably walk, this is kind of it for them.  They barely get to see their family, and the weight of the world's largest country was resting on their small shoulders.  They competed to the best of their ability and in many cases kicked our butts.  To perform so well, only to be disgraced would be really tragic for them.  I'm not saying they should be able to keep the medals if it's found there was fraud (that wouldn't be fair to the Americans or other competitors), but I think it could end up being really hard on them and I only hope they get the chance to compete again when they are of age.

On a side note, I was thinking about my earlier post about the Olympics as one of the most expensive PR campaigns where I may have said that I'm rooting against the Chinese athletes.  Frankly, I think I've changed my mind.  Oh, I'll definitely root for America, but no longer feel the desire to see the Chinese lose.  Whatever the problems of their government, I think I can respect the performances of their athletes.  They've come a long way in such a short period of time.  If, at the end of the day, they win more medals than us, so be it, because at the end of the day, I can still blog about it and you can still read it...

I sometimes frequent failblog.org, though you should be warned that it can sometimes be a little vulgar.  This, though, I thought was priceless.

I love the first day of classes. There's just something about finding your classes and going through syllabi that just gets me excited. I really dig academia, I think. Everyone around you is looking to better themselves through education. I'll grant you that some are only there to get a degree for a better job and don't really like classes, but at least they're working to improve their situation and that's cool. I love walking into libraries and thinking about all the knowledge that is stored there. I love thinking about how I have access to thousands and thousands of libraries through the technology we already have. I love hoping that in my lifetime (and I think there's a good chance of this), all information will be digital. You want to see some rare manuscript from a monastery France. Gimme 5 minutes. Boom - PDF, or whatever we'll be using then. I love learning. Stretching myself. Pushing myself. I love doing research and writing papers.^[1]
Why else would I elect to write a dissertation when there are other options available to me?

I guess what I'm saying is that it feels good to be back, even if I freak out a little bit before beginning each new semester.

^[1]I also really dig footnotes.

Tomorrow marks the last year of classes that I'll be taking for my doctorate, and if I can pull it off (two recitals and two sets of comprehensive exams), I'll be "All But Dissertation" by the end of this year and applying for jobs.

This is scary.  This is my 9th year of collegiate work toward something that I'm not even sure I'll get paid for.  Well, paid for in a meaningful way, anyway.  And if that doesn't work?  Middle-management at Target?  I have no backup plan.  This is it, baby.  The whole enchilada.

Moreover, I have absolutely no idea where I'll be next year.  I've already seen two job postings and they are in Montana and Ohio.  I'll be avoiding the coasts for the most part, simply because we couldn't live most places on a single entry-level professor salary, but other than that, I'm going where the wind takes me (I'm assuming Carrie will join me...)

So, needless to say, I'm a little bit more scared about starting this year than I have been about most.  Sure, these fears have been lingering in the back of my mind for a while (that's pronounced with an intentional "WH" at the beginning), but now I've got to buckle down and get 'er done.

On the plus side, I have some great pieces lined up for this year.  A lecture recital with some more of William Duckworth's Time Curve Preludes, book two and David Borden's Double Portrait to be played with Dr. Andrew Granade.  For the recital in the spring (yes, I'll be doing two this year), I'll be playing Mozart's Sonata in DM, K284, a yet to be determined Faure set, and Schubert's Wanderer Fantasie.  Good stuff.

So, I'm gonna go practice now.

Did I mention that I'm trying to also run a marathon this year?

A video titled, "The Day After the Marathon." Enjoy.

For facebookers, here's the link.

I don't think we should forget what's going on in China outside of what the government wants us to see.  Unfortunately, I think these Olympics are proving to be just about the single greatest PR move made by China.  That opening ceremony was stunning, the venues are amazing, and NBC seems to just love doing all these fluff pieces on the Today show (not surprising) and on nightly news (this is sad).

But there are some important things to remember, most notably that this is still a symbol of oppression.


I caught this little article about the Daily Show going to China on CNN.  I wish I had cable and could catch these reports.

When they stopped on the street to do some filming, crowds would immediately form around them, attracting more police.

But anytime Clements' crew tried turning the camera around and speaking to Chinese citizens, the crowds would scatter. They would literally turn and run away, Riggle said. As a result, only a foreign journalist and Chinese newscaster were interviewed for the series.

Even for an ex-Marine, the police state atmosphere was intimidating.

I'm not saying that China hasn't made some progress in that last few decades, but if people are still running away from cameras, something ain't right.

Of course, there are also promises that have been broken by the Chinese concerning these Olympics.  Reporters do not have full internet access as they had originally been told they would.  To quote the AFP.

Asked why sites such as Free Tibet and those covering the Tiananmen Square Massacre were not accessible, Wang Wei, the vice-president of organising committee BOCOG, said: "We (BOCOG) promised free access except for a few websites that jeopardise our security and the healthy growth of our youth."

These things just scratch the surface, though.  Many of the basic freedoms we enjoy (basically our entire bill of rights) are not available to Chinese people.  If you want to read all about it, Amnesty International (a website that even the foreign press can't access) has a nice summary of these problems.  In the interest of fairness, you should probably also check out their report on the United States as well.

And lets not forget that while Beijing and other cities are growing at an amazing pace, the rural population is being left behind.  While only 56% of the population is considered rural by official government statistics, that's still 728 million or so living in 19th-century conditions.  And the 100-150 million that have made their way to cities in recent years are treated as second class citizens and often have to fight to even receive the wages they've earned.  An article by the BBC likens the treatment to apartheid in South Africa.  Nice.

So while you enjoy watching these Olympic games (I certainly am), don't be taken in by these highly orchestrated PR campaign by the Chinese government.  In fact, I'd even go so far as to root for any team competing against the Chinese.  (I even went so far as to cheer for Canada, if you can believe that).  Let's hope that the US can kick their butts in the medal standings.

Ok, I just realized that I've a running blog but I keep mentioning running over here.  So sorry.  I'll try to keep that to a minimum in the future.

Anywho, this is an email I wrote to a friend of mine just the other day.  Being a nerd, I thought it'd be funny to come up with some sort of formula for the odds of someone becoming a runner.  What I didn't anticipate is how far I'd take it.  Since I spent way too much time on this email, I thought I'd just go ahead and post it here so that all can marvel (be frightened by) my effort.

How to avoid the running bug.  This is a good question.  Unfortunately for you, a member of your household has already become infected and while resistance to the infection is usually high even with otherwise athletic individuals, exposure over time has been shown to have devastating effects.  Attempts at sterilization have largely proven to be not effective.  The only way to successfully avoid an infection is to either 1) remove those infected or 2) hope the infection will wane over time.

The formula for chance of infection is:

(Sum from 0 to n of (t x p x EC)) / (DoE x SC x (a x p))

Where n=number of infected, t=time, p=proximity, EC=Evangelism Constant, DoE=Decay of Enthusiasm, SC=Sedentary Constant, and a=number of antibodies

In your case, you only have one infected person in very close proximity, so that's working in your favor.  Likewise, it's hard to tell what K's Decay of Enthusiasm rate may be as this does not usually demonstrate itself until after several months and/or time spent away from running.  Newly infected individuals tend to demonstrate qualities of a DoE rate of 0, though this is rarely the case over time.  Note, though, that as the DoE rate approaches zero, your chance of infection approaches infinity.  Carrie has so far managed to avoid infection for over a year, partially due to my relatively low EC, though my DoE is proving to be a problem for her.  I'd say to increase your chances of non-infection, I'd increase the number of antibodies (people who think the infected are mentally incapacitated in some respect) and their proximity.  Note, though, that time does not increase the effectiveness of antibodies.  In fact, the opposite seems to be true, requiring a continual addition of new antibodies to avoid infection.  Scientists are still working on discovering why this property exists.

The course of infection is actually rather slow, though early symptoms are easily identifiable.  Symptoms include, but are not limited to, making even empty promises to join the infected, volunteering at races (spectating is, so far, thought to be benign, though there is some debate), and reading running material (books, magazines, online).  At this point (Stage 1), infection can still be avoided through increasing level of antibodies or working to improve one's SC.

Stage 2 infection includes shopping for (but not purchasing) running gear, especially shoes, reading about training programs specifically, thinking about signing up for a race.  At this point, infection is still reversible, but even the slightest action toward increasing susceptibility will immediately cause a Stage 3 infection.

Stage 3 infection is the beginning of the end.  Symptoms include purchasing running gear, signing up for races, or even deciding on a training program.  Note that no running has taken place and yet the infection has already become widespread.

Stage 4 is actual running, which may include races at the 5K and 10K distance and is often accompanied by a significant increase in consumption of running-related reading.

Stage 5 is either working to significantly increase either speed or distance to the point where antibodies tend to give up entirely.  This includes varying runs to include tempo runs, intervals, and even fartleks.  Distances may increase to half-marathon or even marathon levels.

Stage 6 is where finding a cure is beyond hope.  The DoE may be above zero, but the infected may do everything they can to keep it low.  Symptoms include running so much or training so hard that even other infected people may consider them crazy.  At this stage, the infection will usually cause a breakdown of joints and connective tissue to where the body can no longer function as infected.  Note, though, that the brain does remain infected, and seeks other outlets (most notably biking) for the infection.  Still, this mind-body separation can often lead to other mental illnesses and a breakdown of social functioning.

Hope this helps,
Andy

For details, see my run blog.  As always, thanks to Carrie for coming out to cheer me on and take pictures!