Another problem with the Olympics

Aside from the arguably more important problems with the Olympics that concern matters political and commercial, something I've noticed recently is that one of the reasons I don't join Jeannette for more Olympics viewing is that too many of the sports are just excruciatingly boring to watch (and the worst part is that they tend to show the boring bits and not the potentially exciting bits).

Now that I've taken time to think the matter over I've realized that watching top athlete after top athlete complete the same course makes for uninspiring viewing.  Unfortunately for the Winter Olympics, this seems to characterize most of the sports (hockey, curling, cross-country skiing [and derivatives], and snowboard cross being the main outliers). There's no drama.  And, most importantly, there's no real competition.

What's worse, is that not only do they insist on showing boring downhill run after boring downhill run, but they tend to focus on the final runs rather than the qualifiers.

This approach is problematic for at least two reasons.  Firstly, the efforts  of hundreds or thousands of Olympians go uncovered.  Secondly, and more importantly, by focusing only on the best athletes inexperienced viewers aren't shown the full range of athletic talent at the Olympics.  The fact that the best skiers routinely land their jumps would be even more impressive if we were shown the world's 30th-60th best competitors in the sport failing.  Furthermore, for those sports where style points are in play (and lets not even get into the issue of the overall classification of these events as sports) the distinction between the first and second best skiers in the world is often almost impossible to spot, while almost anyone should be able to spot the differences between the first and sixtieth skiers.

So it seems that not only have the Olympics given us many reasons not to watch for moral and political reasons, it's also the case that they just don't put on all that great a show.

Oh, and I also really don't like watching teenagers and young adults risking serious life-long injuries or death just to entertain me on a grey winter's afternoon.

Cameron - 15
Neil - 0

Apparently I'm the only one here who doesn't like figure skating

Just like yesterday, Jeannette has been watching the Sochi Olympics today.  And just like yesterday the cats have been spending more time watching with her than I have.  Apparently, they're much more willing to sit through ice dancing than I am (especially in circumstances when gold and silver have already been determined and we're just waiting for the three worst teams to determine whose going to get bronze).

Cameron - 10
Neil - 0

A Few Quick Notes 586

-After a few days of lower humidity levels we seem to be back in the sweat zone.  Maybe even more than my trip to Arizona the past few days have made it clear to me how much humidity makes a difference.  30 with lowish humidity is entirely tolerable if you have a fan.  22 and high humidity is a recipe for sweat and aggravation.  Hopefully we can slide back down the humidity scale in the coming days.

-It seems that our balcony garden is a favourite site for at least one of the neighbourhood squirrels.  Frustratingly the squirrel seems to be picking tomatoes and peppers and burying these finds in the other pots.  This is frustrating because we keep losing almost ripe food, and because I know that the squirrel isn't even eating or coming back for its treasures.

Though the tactic was borne of laziness, by leaving the porch light on last night I think I have found a way to discourage this visitor.  Hopefully the squirrel won't clue into the fact that the light being on doesn't mean that there are humans watching.

-Despite my best efforts, Jeannette's interest in following the Olympics has spilled over a little.  While I seem to be able to keep myself away from the live television coverage, I must say that I find some of the newspaper and social media coverage particularly consumable.  The very positive aspect of consuming sports content in this way is that I don't have to listen to the inane commentary that typically accompanies live sporting.  I have no idea why broadcasters are so afraid of letting viewers watch the sports uncommented upon.  Is this a weird hold over from the visual-free radio era?

-I guess today was Regatta Day in St. John's.  Apparently we are due for a Civic Holiday in Ottawa this Monday.  Exciting!

Update: Apparently the upcoming holiday is called Colonel By Day, which I can't help wanting to read as the first part of the following sentence: "Colonel by day, X by night."

What did the world have against rabbit ears?

The switch from analog to digital TV transmission isn't something that I have spent much time thinking about over the past few years.  If memory serves me correctly, the most time I spent thinking about issues relating to the switch were associated with a digital antenna installation I assisted with a few years ago.

Of course when I purchased a device for a computer monitor that also has the capacity to be a TV and Jeannette decided to use it to watch this summer's Olympics the recent switch to digital suddenly became important.  Not only did we need to make sure that we had an appropriate antenna, but we also have started to have to contend with a few of the problems inherent to digital broadcasting.

Firstly, it seems that our neighbourhood's namesake, Sandy Hill, is itself something of a problem for digital transmission.  I gather that this hill blocks a good number of residents from receiving any of the channels that should be available in the area (when I was buying an antenna the salespeople were even kind enough to point this out).  I'm sure that the ever increasing number of tall buildings in the area aren't going to help either.

Secondly, my limited experience with this new transmission format seems to suggest that one either has a version of the channel or they don't, no longer is one able to accept fuzzy transmission if a clear version of the channel isn't available.  This is definitely a bit of a bummer.

Thirdly, though our experience is limited, it seems that channels intermittently appear and disappear.  For instance, just a few minutes ago Jeannette was watching Olympic coverage when all of a sudden the channel disappeared with no warning.  Despite the fact that we've moved the antenna around and reset the equipment we haven't been able to regain the transmission.  Back in the good old analog days I don't remember ever having such problems, unless, of course, someone bumped the antenna.

Given the cost incurred by broadcasters and consumers and the number of problems viewers are having with this new service I can't help but wonder why such a change was initiated?  Who are the beneficiaries of this change?

Anyway, I just hope we don't have too many more problems with this stuff.  We're less than a day into the two-week long Olympics and I'm already tired of fiddling with our antenna.