What I Learned Today

how are swimmers smashing so many world records?

Have you noticed that every Olympic swim event is also a record smasher? It seems like every swimmer (and not just Phelps) is seconds ahead of the daunting green world record line, smashing it to smithereens. So how is all this record breaking possible?

• Tech Doping – The new Speedo LZR RACER suit, which was developed by scientists from NASA, “feels like a rocket coming off the wall,” said Phelps in a team interview. “The water just runs off the suit.” The suit has “ultrasonically welded” seams that mimics a shark skin, holds in the swimmer’s abdomen in the best position, allowing him to take in 5% more oxygen, and takes an athlete 30 minutes to get into. The suits are so powerful that US Swim Coach, Mark Schubert believed every swim record could be smashed at Beijing.
  
• Pool Depth – The pool in Beijing, known as the “Water Cube,” is 3 meters deep, instead of the previous depth of 2 meters. This allows swimmers to dive deeper and continue their push off “dolphin kicks” for a longer period of time. Olympic medalist and commentator Rowdy Gaines says, “It’s just deep enough to where the waves dissipate (and) the turbulence dissipates down to the bottom.”
• Pool Lanes – There are ten lanes in the Water Cube, instead of the usual eight, leaving the outside lanes open. This reduces turbulence and enables swimmers to go faster. “It’s by far the fastest pool in the world,” Gaines says.
• Practice – Sponsorship for swimming has increased, which allows athletes to avoid retirement for longer, and thus practice more. Mark Spitz, the Olympic swimmer with the most gold medals before Phelps, retired at 22 after the Munich games due to his inability to make a living as an amateur athlete. Back then, the Olympics only allowed amateur athletes to compete. Phelps, on the other hand, is now 23 has an estimated annual earnings of $5 million, and will be awarded an extra $1 million dollar bonus from Speedo if he reaches or beats Spitz’s record.
• Non-Tech Doping - Gary Hall Jr., previous Olympian 50-m freestyle champion, seems to think so. “Can suit technology distract from another issue?… I’m telling you this, I train with an international group of swimmers and all of them have stories and a few of them have had offers.” Hall likens today’s “blame it on the suit” situation to that of the ‘76 East German women’s Olympic swimming team. Though, he seems to be the only one  speaking out about this so perhaps he’s just bitter he didn’t qualify for Beijing.
• “Top Secret” Technology Math Tool - Professor Timothy Wei, of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., helped develop top-secret, state-of-the-art equipment and mathematical techniques that USA Swimming coaches have been using to help to make swimmers go faster. He uses water flow diagnostic technologies to see how each swimmers’ motion affects the flow of water. Learn more from (or become more confused by) this video.

The 17 Most Recognizable Trademarked Sounds

potato-potato-potato! Do you know what that sound is? Maybe you don’t recognize the onomatopoeia, but you must certainly know the actual sound. It’s the Hog Call! The rev of a Harley Davidson - one of the most recognized sounds from one of the most recognized brands in the US.

So what’s “potato-potato-potato?” It’s the sound that Harley tried to trademark back in the 90s. In 1994, Harley filed a registration for a trademark of its V-twin engine sound. It read “the mark consists of the exhaust sound of applicant’s motorcycles, produced by V-twin, common crankpin motorcycle engines when the goods are in use.”

Though it was denied, there are, indeed, some sound trademark applications that made it through. About 300, in fact. Some of the most recognized are:

1. NBC’s musical notes G, E, C played on chimes. NBC was the first to trademark a sound for its radio broadcasting services in 1950.
2. MGM’s lion’s roar
3. The song “Sweet Georgia Brown” for The Harlem Globetrotters
4. Tetris’ “electronic Russian folkstyle tune,” owned by Elorg Company
5. Intel’s 5 note ding
6. “D’Oh” spoken by Homer is owned by Fox
7. The 9 bars of musical chord in the key of B Flat that typically opens a Twentieth Century Fox movie
8. Looney Toons Theme Song, owned by Time Warner
9. The spoken letters “AT&T” with a music in the background
10. “Cha-Ching,” owned by Checker’s Restaurants
11. “Yahoo!” sung in a yodeling style
12. Nokia’s default ringtone
13. Mister Softee’s Jingle
14. “Hello and Welcome to Moviefone,” owned by America Online
15. The sound of the crowd & bell from the New York Stock Exchange’s trading floor
16. TiVo’s popping sounds (in 2 and 6 tones)
17. Pillsbury Doughboy’s giggle

Can’t you just hear them already? If not, head over to the US and Patent Trademark Office where they have sound files to refresh your memory.

He Wants You to Know First

Oprah Gives Obama an Extra Million

Votes, that is. A new study suggests that Oprah’s endorsement was responsible for approximately 1,000,000 additional votes for Obama.

A plug from Oprah can turn a book into a best seller (Anna Karenina & Love in the Time of Cholera increased 100% immediately after their selection into Oprah’s Book Club) and any movie into a blockbuster, but can it decide the presidency?

The study suggests yes - her plug already decided the Primaries. In the 45 state + DC sample size (the remaining states were those where Obama didn’t appear on the ballot, or that don’t report county-level voting information), Obama had 278,966 more votes than Clinton. Considering the study’s 95% confidence interval (that’s a stats measure, meaning they are 95% sure the number of votes Oprah contributed to Obama’s campaign is in this interval), which is 423,123 to 1,596,995, Oprah’s vote was responsible for the determining the winner of the popular vote. Keep in mind, however, this sample spread is much larger than the actual popular vote spread, and popular vote does not necessarily win the primary.

When she began her “political activist” career, Oprah told Larry King in an interview in May 2007, “My support of [Obama] is probably worth more than any check that I could write.”

Indeed, it’s worth 1,015,559 votes for Obama. A crude estimate shows that’s 5.8% of the total 17,535,458 popular votes he received in the Democratic primaries. Considering he spent about $270 million* on the Primary campaign, Oprah’s endorsement may be worth approximately $16 million. Yep, probably worth more than any check she would write. Obama/Winfrey 2008?

*Number may not be accurate, but is based on sources projecting $265 & $285M.