THE GREAT AMERICAN RAILROAD WAR: How Ambrose Bierce and Frank Norris Took on the Central Pacific Railroad-Dennis Drabelle, St. Martin’s Press

FDR: American Badass!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1811315/

Iron Sky
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034314/

Worldwide Entertainment Event: London Olympics Track and Field Events, (bird's-eye-view take-offs & Landings)

...watching people do the geekinest dance invention craze since the Wiggle or Watusi, Opa's White-man-style!

>> ^ChaosEngine:

>> ^criticalthud:
so the US guys train more and harder (since, they're from AMERICA, fuck ya!) and have better locker rooms? and more money makes the athlete?
hmmm....
just ribbing you. sure, lots of variables, those included.
a strange one is...track and field isn't even really popular in the US. Most athletes opt for other sports.

Well, I'd imagine @Unsung_Hero got it right. More money for athletes = not having to flip burgers at a "day job" = more time to train.
Also not so much locker rooms, but dieticians, personal trainers and so on. Contrast with (for example) Ireland which got it's first olympic sized swimming pool in the 90s.


Ok, then explain how we don't do as well in distance events. do we not train for those? Why do those broke-ass kenyans whup up on us fancy pants all the time? must be the diet?

>> ^criticalthud:

so the US guys train more and harder (since, they're from AMERICA, fuck ya!) and have better locker rooms? and more money makes the athlete?
hmmm....
just ribbing you. sure, lots of variables, those included.
a strange one is...track and field isn't even really popular in the US. Most athletes opt for other sports.


Well, I'd imagine @Unsung_Hero got it right. More money for athletes = not having to flip burgers at a "day job" = more time to train.

Also not so much locker rooms, but dieticians, personal trainers and so on. Contrast with (for example) Ireland which got it's first olympic sized swimming pool in the 90s.

>> ^ChaosEngine:

>> ^criticalthud:
as for the US doing well....
maybe we just like running in a straight line more.
or maybe hybrid vigor plays into it.
but also in the US between the 1700's and the late 1800's, there was some forced selective breeding going on.

I would imagine it's simply a product of better training facilities and more money invested in athletes which allows them to train more.


so the US guys train more and harder (since, they're from AMERICA, fuck ya!) and have better locker rooms? and more money makes the athlete?
hmmm....
just ribbing you. sure, lots of variables, those included.
a strange one is...track and field isn't even really popular in the US. Most athletes opt for other sports.

I believe it's polite for athletes in track and field to stand during a national anthem, unless they are performing their actual sport. There's a lot going on in that stadium at the same time.

Not that it changes the value of any of these comments but this is not the Olympics, it's the 2012 World Indoor Track and Field Championships held in Istanbul in March.

Edit: I would say this makes the title inaccurate except I was just watching some beach volleyball and I think he's at the Olympics as well.

>> ^jubuttib:

>> ^Deano:
Also Finland has the best racing drivers. Dunno why.

No endless straight roads, a lot of distance between places, lots of unpaved roads if you want to get a feel for rallying, pretty harsh requirements for a driving license, and a culture that's enthusiastic about racing.
Frankly what astonishes me is that for a population of under 6 million, Finns have won a medal or some sort of championship in just about everything at some point, and without relying on cultural diversity or immigrants (say what you will, in many sports like running there are huge racial differences). Everything on skis/snowboards, just about everything with an engine, most track and field events (though interestingly not sprint events, nothing below 400m at least), boats (F1 boats, sailing, rowing), shooting, many team sports (though we royally suck at soccer, still many individual Finns have ranked among the top players of the world, Jari Litmanen being a prime example), boxing, wrestling and other fight sports, weight lifting, the list goes on.
Must be something in the water of the so called "million lakes".


Damn vikings.

>> ^Deano:

Also Finland has the best racing drivers. Dunno why.


No endless straight roads, a lot of distance between places, lots of unpaved roads if you want to get a feel for rallying, pretty harsh requirements for a driving license, and a culture that's enthusiastic about racing.

Frankly what astonishes me is that for a population of under 6 million, Finns have won a medal or some sort of championship in just about everything at some point, and without relying on cultural diversity or immigrants (say what you will, in many sports like running there are huge racial differences). Everything on skis/snowboards, just about everything with an engine, most track and field events (though interestingly not sprint events, nothing below 400m at least), boats (F1 boats, sailing, rowing), shooting, many team sports (though we royally suck at soccer, still many individual Finns have ranked among the top players of the world, Jari Litmanen being a prime example), boxing, wrestling and other fight sports, weight lifting, the list goes on.

Must be something in the water of the so called "million lakes".

>> ^rychan:

Yeah it does seem harsh. In Olympic track and field don't you get one "free" false start before being disqualified?


As I remember it...one person jumps and then the entire field is docked. The next person even if it's not the same person is disqualified.

EDIT: To remedy this I think they should hold multiple races...not just heats but like a tournament of races. It would be a lot more exciting and it would put a premium on being consistent rather than getting lucky on a good start.

Yeah it does seem harsh. In Olympic track and field don't you get one "free" false start before being disqualified?

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Allison, Stokke, pole, vaulting' to 'Allison Stokke, pole vault, interview, berkeley, track and field, pretty people' - edited by lucky760

Tags for this video have been changed from 'long jump, track and field, collision, fall' to 'long jump, track and field, collision, fall, boom headshot' - edited by calvados

That's funny, if you google "Carly Mann" you get a page full of track and field stories.