Re: Death porn, media, and socmedia

["Tomas L. Byrnes" <tomb () byrneit net>]

Ok, time to get back to FUNsec:

Let's Blame Canada

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOzG7bBylRo

Not making light of it. 

I race in Baja, people die there (I've never done a race without breaking the truck and getting injured), we know the 
risks, as do Lugers.

Honor his memory, and set a GD record on that track, whoever wins.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: funsec-bounces () linuxbox org [mailto:funsec-bounces () linuxbox org]
> On Behalf Of Dan Kaminsky
> Sent: Saturday, February 13, 2010 3:55 PM
> To: rMslade () shaw ca
> Cc: funsec () linuxbox org
> Subject: Re: [funsec] Death porn, media, and socmedia
>
> On Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 6:25 PM, Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon &
> Hannah <rMslade () shaw ca> wrote:
> > The big Olympic news of the moment, of course, is the death of luger
> Nodar
> > Kumaritashvili in practice.
> >
> > http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/luge/story/2010/02/12/spo-luge-georgian-
> alert.html
> >
> http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Olympic+tragedy+Death+porn+sharing+new
> s/
> > 2557992/story.html
> http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/techsense/default.aspx
> > You can already search for this on Youtube.  Most of the videos are
> "tributes," but
> > actual footage of the crash is available.  Of the ones I found this
> morning, two
> > require that you log on to the site (in order to "prove" your age).
>  One has been
> > taken down because it is the property of the IOC.  This is because
> all of the
> > footage is the same CTV footage (CTV being the "official" provider).
> >
> > CTV showed it on the news last night, just after the opening
> ceremonies.  The
> > anchor earnestly assured us that the video was graphic, but necessary
> to illustrate
> > some aspects of the story.  The aspect that was illustrated was that
> someone died.
> > He came off the track like a human being out of control, and fell off
> the
> > stanchion like a rag doll.  I've got enough medical background to
> know when I see
> > someone die, right there.
> >
> > Couple of thoughts.  One is that the media has now collected and
> reported all the
> > comments about the track being dangerous.  Had this death not
> occurred, the luge
> > story for the games would have been the world record times, and the
> comments
> > would have been from those who said that it was a hot, sweet track.
> >
> > Second is that skeleton (the head first version) was first done as an
> Olmpic sport
> > in Turin, and Canada one.  Cam Cole (who did a lovely piece combining
> the
> > ceremony and Kumaritashvili's death:
> http://www.canada.com/sports/2010wintergames/Games+begin+with+emotional
> +tri
> > butes+Georgian+luger/2561175/story.html )  did a piece on it, and
> I've kept a
> > quote from it in my file ever since:
> >
> > [N]o one goes downhill head-first on a cafeteria tray better than
> Canadians ... If
> > you've got something really dangerous and not terribly smart planned
> for an
> > Olympic sport, the sort of thing that two guys out drinking heavily
> one night at
> > the top of the bobsled run probably thought up, we're in.
> >                                 - Cam Cole, Vancouver Sun, 20060218
> >
> > Kumaritashvili was not highly ranked, and not very experienced.  Luge
> involves
> > some skill; Gloria noted that Kumaritashvili was lifting his head a
> lot during the
> > run, so he was not sure of himself; this is not something anyone can
> do, but it is
> > something you can do if you've got more guts than brains.  The
> Olympics is
> > increasingly involving "extreme" sports: exhilarating, not
> necessarily skilled, and
> > dangerous.
>
> This is actually a fairly offensive series of thoughts.  Couple things:
>
> 1) Luge has been part of the Olympics for almost 50 years.  This isn't
> "increasingly" extreme, this is just one of the things they do.  And
> before it was Luge, it was indeed Skeleton.  This is nothing new.
> 2) First you say that Kumaritashvili wasn't very skilled.  Then you
> say the sport of Luge doesn't require much skill.  Well, that would
> make him eminently qualified, wouldn't it?  Anyway, at the last
> championship, the guy came in 44th.  Top 50 in the world at anything
> ain't nothing to sneeze at.  And the sport is intensely physical,
> requiring managing up to 7G's of force, and intensely strategic, as
> speed must constantly be balanced against stability in the short term
> to manage the long term average rate of travel.  Not necessarily
> skilled?  How well would you come in?  Have you ever raced anything?
> Even a gas powered go cart?
> 3) The Canadians didn't invent Skeleton or Luge, the Swiss did.  And
> you know, I'm not a very good snowboarder, but I sure enjoy trying to
> be.  Last time I went out, I got quite the concussion.  It happens.
>
> Look, if you want to complain about something, complain about the fact
> that so few eyes were allowed to be placed on the track -- as part of
> the genuinely offensive Own The Podium scheme -- that consensus
> couldn't be developed to do something about the risk of someone flying
> off the track and hitting the pole.  Hell, of course Kumaritashvili
> was lifting his head, this was a new track for him!  And why was it a
> new track?  Own the Podium.
>
> To be utterly fair, Own The Podium wasn't about killing the
> competition.  But, man, this is an astonishingly ugly side effect of
> access restriction.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts.
> https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec
> Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.

_______________________________________________
Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts.
https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec
Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.