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Swimsuit Design Uses Supercomputing
Roland Piquepaille writes "These days, most competitive swimmers wear some type of body suit to reduce high skin-friction drag from water. And makers of swimwear are already busy working on new models for the Olympics 2008. According to Textile & Apparel, Speedo is even using a supercomputer to refine its designs. Its engineers run Fluent Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) program on an SGI Altix system."
Two words I never wanted to see in the same paragraph.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
It's nice to see SGI working on winning gold medals in Swimming. They just need to find out how to get rid of the meat bag causing all that drag on their wonderfully designed swimsuits.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Does this mean Computer magazines are going to start having yearly swimsuit editions? This could be a good and a bad thing.
"Meanwhile, the CFD analysis has already indicated that there is a more separated flow, where the water actually leaves the surface of the swimmer, for females than males, so the designs for male and female suits should be different."
Translation: Boobs and hips create additional drag. Make the suits tighter in the chest and hips for women.
I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
Did you win?
I want a new world. I think this one is broken.
I bet that the supercomputer would never win against my simple program running on a PC(just figuring out where to move, not drawing an x or an o on a piece of paper by itself). Tic-Tac-Toe is a very easy game to be perfect at, there is no need for a supercomputer.
The only winning move is not to play...
And, yet, wasting computer resources on hosting and posting on Slashdot is acceptable?
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
What they need to do is use this computing power to find a way to make competitive swimsuits actually look good on women, instead of hiding all of the good stuff.
Actually, it's kind of a neat application. Maybe they don't need a supercomputer but it surely makes things easier. They're paying for the resources so they're not really being wasted, people are getting paid for the work and the computer time. All kinds of odd stuff gets applied to other uses that have more practical purposes.
I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
That reminds me of an old limerick. Sing along if you know it...
Taco,
Burrito,
What's that in your Speedo?
But in this case, it should be...
Jobs,
or Gates,
Who designed your Speedo?
Maybe it doesn't rhyme, but now all of you are thinking of Bill Gates in a thong. Ha.
The ancient olympics were done in the nude.
Nude swimming is probably kind of boring. Much better in the nude:
* winter events
* combat sports
* tennis, ping pong, and badmitten
* anything involving a horse
Obviously in womens olypic competition they should ban swimsuits all together. Not only would that level the playing field... viewership would SKY ROCKET!!! 10x at least!
snowulf.com
All this will do is turn part of swimming races into a "who can get the best high tech swimsuit" contests. Obviously, the solution is to ban swimsuits entirely. With all the swimmers equally nude, the contest will go to the best swimmer rather than the 2nd or 3rd best who got corporate sponsorship for a high-tech suit.
:-)
Plus viewship will go way way up.
There's a joke in here somewhere....mumble mumble Cindy Crawford mumble mumble Beowolf cluster mumble mumble Sports Illustrated mumble mumble.
I'm going to karma hell. I don't mind.
This is not a sig. this is a duck. quack.
Okay, I can see needing a supercomputer for designing Pam Anderson's bra, but not for swimsuits...
--- Asking inconvenient questions for over 30 years...
Am I the only one that read that as `Swimsuit Competition uses Supercomputer`?
A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. -Benjamin Franklin
I think we have enough computers working on the terrorism problem.
I think the main reason they don't use their computers to end poverty is because there is no money in poverty. There is money in womens swimsuits, and lots of other nice things (at least that is what I have heard).
A calculator could figure out the problems in most countries.
1 country minus 1 dick-tator equals many people making money for themselves THEN dick-tators bank account divided by population equals end of dick bonus.
"According to an apocryphal story, Werner Heisenberg was asked what he would ask God, given the opportunity. His reply was: "When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: Why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first." A similar witticism has been attributed to Horace Lamb (who had published a noted text book on Hydrodynamics)--his choice being quantum mechanics (instead of relativity) and turbulence. Lamb was quoted as saying in a speech to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, "I am an old man now, and when I die and go to heaven there are two matters on which I hope for enlightenment. One is quantum electrodynamics, and the other is the turbulent motion of fluids. And about the former I am rather optimistic."
The Olympics should be about being the best athlete - not who can squeeze out a few fractions of a second because they have better/more expensive swimware. I don't mind using technology for training and conditioning, but in the field (or in this case, the pool) the equipment one has shouldn't be the deciding factor.
Love sees no species.
Slave reparations? I never had any slaves...
Is there actually a "Silicone Technology" company?
Or did someone screw up their reporting?
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Hey! You almost used the term "niggardly" correctly. If you had not used a form of the word "slave" in the same sentence I'd almost be satisfied. I'll also be happy to have a portion of my tax money paid to any former US slave that is still alive. I'd even go as far as paying reparations to their children. Unfortunately for you, there is no one alive in the US who deserves reparations so I can't say the US is being niggardly. To be niggardly they would have to be denying something due.
I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
I thought sports were about athletics, not equipment. How about everyone wears the same model swimsuit to even the playing field? Or is that too naive of me?
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it dissolve.
since athletes can't go further into record breaking all by themselves, let's start artificial methods of obtaining a few more milliseconds...
when are we going to see genetically engineered super athletes?
I don't feel like it...
Well, I see we're back up to a Roland or two story a week...
Mouse: So what did you think of her?
Neo: Of who?
Mouse: The woman in the red dress? I designed her. She, um, doesn't talk very much, but if you'd like to meet her, I can arrange for a much more personal, intimate evening.
Switch: A digital pimp at work!>br? Mouse: Pay no attention to these hypocrites, Neo! To deny our own impulses, is to deny the very thing that makes us human.
Haven't you been to a nude beach? Volleyball is pretty much the standard sport, along with the usual "trying not to be obvious where you're staring" and similar activities.
Can you believe a guy actually got fired from the City of New York for using that term correctly because the majority of the people don't know the difference between "nigger" and "niggard". By the way, the first "offensive" version has origins in French/Latin, while the second word is from Scandanavia.
Libertas in infinitum
Is it only me, that "SuperComputer Calculated Swimsuits " turns me on ?
For a little more detail on the CFD, check this link:3 i1/a1.htm
http://www.fluent.com/about/news/newsletters/04v1
To the uninitiated (hopefully not many here), amen, brother.
You all have Oo.o and Firefox, so get World Wind.
I remember David White, one of Washington DC mayor's staff using the term. He resigned, he wasn't fired. Tony Williams (mayor of DC, who is black) accepted his resignation which really pissed me off. The term was used correctly and with no racism intended. The guy just has a better knowledge of English than most of DC's constituents.
"Webster's Tenth Edition defines the word 'niggardly' to "grudgingly mean about spending or granting". The Barnhard Dictionary of Etymology traces the origins of 'niggardly' to the 1300's, and to the words 'nig' and 'ignon', meaning "miser" in Middle English. No where in any of these references is any mention of racial connotations associated with the word 'niggardly'."
I thought it was bullshit then and I think it's still bullshit.
I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
when are we going to see genetically engineered super athletes?
It's been reported that both the Soviet Union and East Germany had programs to breed genetically-superior athletes for international sporting competitions, including the Olympics. That was as far back as the 1960s. Such programs may be considered a form of genetic engineering.
I thought it rather appropriate that SGI computers were used for designing something that is so often underwater...
Max.
SGI is still able to make the news for something other than being on the verge of final death.
For example, it was reputed that the shark skin suits of the past couple olympics were the reasons for new world records, though I have not seem any anylsis that showed the more records were set. Putting the suits on olympics swimmers, often with compensation, seems more a marketing thing than a performance thing. All attire options are about the same, so why not choose the option that will bring in a little cash. It is good investment for the company as consumers will see the product, percieve value, and be more willing to pay the offered price.
None of which proves the suit is a useful product. In fact when reading about the suits, the issue seems more about insuring the suit is not counterproductive rather than significantly improving on bare skin. In the past they have said things "like four percent impovement over the past model", and then cited all the deficiencies of the past model.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
The recent SciAm special issue, Becoming Human has an article on the Bonobos -- "Bonobo Sex and Society" that covers it in more detail.
I'm going to regret posting this and admitting I know this, aren't I?
This sig seemed like a good idea at the time....
You are correct. I was a teenager then and couldn't remember the details. Regardless, I agree with you, it was an asinine situation. The ignorance of others should not affect one's vocabulary.
Libertas in infinitum
I agree with you mostly. You always have to consider your audience and the minutes of the meeting were available to anyone who requested them. If the media hadn't trumpeted a quote to the masses of DC he would have been fine. Unfortunately, the masses heard the quote and assumed it was a racist comment.
I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
Perhaps the supercomputer should also be used for, uh, "member positioning"? Then SGI could also sell "go slower" drugs for those blokes who don't want it all to be over too quickly, no?
The ignorance of others should not affect one's vocabulary.
If its the people listening who are ignorant, then yes, it should affect one's vocabulary.
A compliment you will never hear a politician say:
I don't like half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
-JRR Tolkien (The Hobbit)
Why not? It's essentially a complex fluid dynamics/drag problem. While it may not seem so impressive to you, I'm sure the models they develop while solving this problem will find more useful applications.
There will always be a new "fast". I wonder, does anybody think althletes are faster, stronger and more powerful than, say athletes of 2000 to 4000 years ago? darla- My favorite movie: H.G. WELLS' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS www.buywowdvd.com
Surely you jest, or you need to pay attention to your classics education:
The only way to win is not to play.
Yeah, but Joshua learned quickly.
"Why doesn't speedo put it's supercomputer time to some good use, like finding ways to end poverty or help more efficiently after natural disasters like tsunamis, earthquakes, terrorism or volcanic eruptions?"
Unlike what TV and movies have told you, you cannot just type in "How do we end poverty?" into a super computer and just wait for it to respond.
"In a world where the US is still being niggardly over paying slavery reparations, how can anyone find it acceptable to flagrantly waste resources in this way?"
Some company had the money to spend and they spent it. 'Super-computers' aren't some rare Earth resource that can only be used by the elite. (In other words, we're not talking about Univac.) They're built when they're needed by the entities that have the money to pay for them. This is actually a Good Thing TM. Computers get better, prices come down, 'super' computing resources are used for a broader range of applications.
On another note, I vote we end the "couldn't we spend our time curing cancer?" rationale that tends to earn karma around here. No, we cannot use an aeronautics engineer from Boeing to cure cancer. Open Source programmers cannot write drinkable water for third world countries. Ending consumerism in the United States won't feed the world. This planet thrives on diversity. Embrace it.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
I can't wait for super computer calculated boob physics.
Actually, Lord of the Rings. (Just saying.)
...have clicked the link to the article for the only reason of seeing chicks in swimsuits?
Yep. My bad.
I'm a swimmer myself, and when I was younger I trained with the ordinary, plain-vanilla speedos. Lately, our coach has been encouraging the use of the more high-tech suit designs for competitions, so I got ahold of one of those "fastskin" suits that Speedo sells. Surprisingly enough, you can actually feel the difference. (And it shaved a second or two off my times as well.)
So if Speedo is going through such great lengths to improve their suits, I wouldn't be surprised. I'm just impressed that a suit design can make such a big difference.
Still, I'm a traditionalist. I don't need no newfangled swimsuits to win a competition! Skinnydipping forever!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot_trolling_phe nomena#Other_trolls
This falls under the "Get Some PRIORITIES!" troll.
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
My Specialized bike was engineered on a Sun computer. All the Specialized bikes I've owned have had a little sticker declaring it. I don't know if that qualifies as "super-computing" but the use of tech in sporting isn't new.
Wake-up, people.
I thought Rolan "Garbagepaile-kid" Piquepaile was a fat tard with a mono-browe like this. Or, someone performed a filthy sanchez tounge-teabag on his forehead. It makes sense to bundle Roland Piquepaile with all the trolls renouned of LemonParty, Goatse, GLIT, FLUG, GNAA, GLUG, GLIT, CLIT, and AllYourBase. Look at it, people! Slashdot isn't the only place wear he spam-bombs his advertisements to his endorsed webpages, to collection on banner advertising. The stupidest ploy I had ever seen was a huge fan mounted to a IDE Hard Disk-Drive, and Roland Piquepaile moved the article to sell a single machine-screw and a 90-degree brackette, even though the solution was without technical merrit as to fault caused by vibration.
Come on already! I'll abandon my de jure Slashdot account, and create a rash of three or four Slashdot expo'se' accounts just to remind everyone of the dirt on that fake-hobbyist!
Why don't they just put a type R sticker on their suits? That's -GOT- to make you faster, I mean, it works for all the ricers!
They use commercial CFD to model the flow around the swimmer. Been years now. This story? Ooooh. Now they're running exactly the same thing on a faster box.
As always, all IMO. Insert "I think" everywhere grammatically possible.
"Unlike what TV and movies have told you, you cannot just type in "How do we end poverty?" into a super computer and just wait for it to respond."
:-)
Yes you can, and it only takes 0.41s to respond
Imagine how gay you can look in a COMPUTER ENGINEERED Speedo!!
(Yes, I'm American, and yes, I was on swim team).
rhY
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
GazetteNET has managed to get their hands on a leaked picture of the new recommended swimming helmet designed by the supercomputing software. Here's the photo. Looks pretty slick to me. :)
g
http://www.gazettenet.com/business/02242003/14.jp
Just what the olympics needs: more cheating.
And how much did the "fastskin" suit cost?
:)
When I was swimming competitively as a kid, one of the nice things about it was that the equipment didn't cost thousands of dollars. Sure, you get a new lycra suit once a year, but that's about it.
I bet these "fast" suits cost a f**king fortune!!
I say, just shave everything and strap on a (yoursize - 6) suit and you're good to go.
ben
OK - slavery reparations...
Let's see - do the folks who had relatives who fought to free them pay? Maybe they paid their dues? Who is, and who is not descendent from slaves? Prove it! (Hint - when they did research on it, there are a lot of "white" people who are - do THEY get money too?) It was a pretty good idea 140 years ago, but now?
I would be most interested if the material in swimsuit edition was actually designed by a supercomputer. I mean a Baywatch babe with brains. Packaging is nice, but it's the flesh you want to take her home plus more.
No, we cannot use an aeronautics engineer from Boeing to cure cancer. Open Source programmers cannot write drinkable water for third world countries. Ending consumerism in the United States won't feed the world.
That's two good points and a howler. You're right that people who are highly skilled in one area can't apply those skills to something completely unrelated and it's silly to waste them. But overconsumption in the USA isn't completely unrelated to shortages of consumables elsewhere. Americans who eat too much are eating the same stuff - food - that other people don't have enough of. So unlike the first two scenarios you describe, there is a strong connection between American overconsumption and starvation elsewhere. Americans could stop pigging out - it's not a special skill like aircraft design - and that could help others stop starving.
Of course it's not a simple situation and it won't have a simple solution. A lot of the food that goes to waste in the USA can't possibly be shipped where it's needed, either because it would spoil first or because shipping would be prohibitively costly on other strapped resources (like transportation fuel, for instance). (We'll leave for later the issue of the large number of people starving in the USA, within easy walking distance of overconsumers.) But you're committing a logical fallacy when you go from "People with specialized skills can't apply those to completely unrelated problems." (which is true) to "Americans cannot, by reducing their overconsumption, solve the extremely closely related problem of shortages in other countries." (which is false) and then you commit another logical fallacy by appealing to people's emotions about "diversity", which aren't related to the topic at hand.
Swimming is about how fast a human can move through the water using a variety of different strokes. It's not about how fast a high tech body suit can make you slip through the water.
The purpose of the suit should only be to protect the swimmer modesty.
These high tech suits only serve to raise the cost of the sport.
The only way to solve this is to compete like the Ancient Greeks.
To entice Tomonobu Itagaki to develop for their console.
Umm... that's not muscle-bound, this is muscle-bound. There's a few mostly uncovered non-muscle-bound women in there too. Those guys are, well... "cute" I suppose, and I'm sure some of them are excellent swimming atheletes. I'm just taking issue with your definition of "muscle bound."
how 'bout "Content Restriction/Access Prevention"
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
Salt Peter?
Why don't they just add in an outboard motor? If this were about baseball there would much moaning and gnashing of teeth...
No, we cannot use an aeronautics engineer from Boeing to cure cancer. Open Source programmers cannot write drinkable water for third world countries.
It would actually be very ironic if that actually happens. The only way I could see using an aeronautics engineer for cancer research is studying fluid dynmanics. The only way Open Source programmers could write drinkable water that I can think of is that we come up with that advanced nano-tech assembler that we are always dreaming about and then the OS crowd could design anything for use for 3rd world countries. Given enough time or effort anything is possible. If you want an Oracle to give you answers though, you'll usually get a long winded mystical speech that boils down to "figure it out yourself."
Coming soon: Communications of the ACM Swimsuit Issue.
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
Then top swimmers may become enuchs to minimize drag.
Plus there is already a high tech hommonym for that term!
A long time ago, white people went over to africa and bought black people from other black people who had captured those unlucky souls from different tribes or whatever. This isn't a crime against individuals, this is a crime against a society. We deprived Africa of critical labor, and that theft should be redressed.
Many people suggest that appropriate reparations would be giving decendents of slaves free passage back to Africa. I don't think this is sufficient - us white folk got to live in the US *AND* have slaves, so it's only fair that former slaves get the same.
So I believe the only fair solution is to send any decendents of slaves back to Africa, *AND* give each slave decendent who elects to go back 3 rednecks. One redneck to make up for the slave we originally took, and two for 150 years of interest.
paintball
The original press release from SGI is here: http://www.sgi.com/company_info/newsroom/press_rel eases/2006/may/speedo.html
Why does Roland Piquepaille always point to a copy of these pressreleases surrounded by a lot of ads.
It would take 5 seconds to find the original info.
Please mod up so this gets some visibility, and hopefully better submissions.
"Fix it"
Well, it was said by *a* hobbit :-)
It's actually not really 'the old chap' that's the problem with taking up all the space...Your bollocks tend to be more of a problem.
Transvestites have known this for years, and it's moderately common practice for them to push them back up to 'save space' (yes, it's sposed to hurt like hell, and you'll have a very high chance of Testicular Cancer if you do it).
Using a supercomputer to try to model fluid dynamics of you trunks is fantastic for swimming. As a swimmer for the last 25 years and someone who studied fluid dynamics, I can say it will make next to fuck-all difference to drag, but the statement ill make the swimmer feel faster, and therefore it will 'work'.
A long time ago black people in Africa sold other black people to whites. I suggest you send them a bill for reparations. As a "white folk" who lives in the US, I never had slaves and my family came to the US after slavery was abolished. Now, tell me why I should pay reparations. As to your suggestion of sending "rednecks" back...define "redneck" and then tell me what you have against them that they deserve to be enslaved. If you think only southerners had slaves you better go study some history.
I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
What makes you only the south has rednecks? I live in Wisconsin. We've got 'em too.
In all seriousness, I have nothing against rednecks. They were just the group that best worked for the humor of the post.
paintball
This was not as good as "A Stress Analysis of the Strapless Evening Gown".
Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.