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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
You laugh, but when I made it to the olympic time trials for swimming in '04, I found out that many swimmers do in fact adjust their member to minimize drag.
:)
Posting anonymously to avoid people realizing that my main account is associated with an actual *shudder* athlete.
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.
At what point does "Informative" become "Too Much Information"?
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....
Maybe we need a "-1, Informative" mod :)
I know that I should not be ashamed of my efforts (and I say efforts for a reason) here, but at the same time, I do know that there is a lot of hatred towards any "jock type" figure here on Slashdot. I have seen discussions about athletics turn into a simple flame war about how "jocks" are stupid and that any type of sport is a waste of time.
:)
It's rather ironic, if you think about it. I like to consider Slashdot a rather liberal and progressive thinking body, but sometimes the opposite is true. It seems that, as a whole, Slashdot still believes in the mesomorph/ectomorph "theory" - as if muscles and intelligence/work ethic are mutually exclusive. Some members seem to ignore the fact that being an athlete makes life harder, not easier. It isn't as if being an athlete suddenly makes you stupid, or suddenly makes you popular, or suddenly lets you get through life with a free pass.
I swim six days a week. Four of those days are two-a-days. That means I end up swimming six hours instead of only three. That does not include out-of-practice training, such as jogging and extra gym work. While most people are enjoying winter break, I (and many other student athletes) endure winter training. Instead of four two-a-days, we do six a week. Instead of going off to party during spring break, we go to a Mexican plateau for high altitude training. Instead of slacking off during the summer, I swim even more than during college practices. During the entire year, I have a one week break from swimming at the end of summer. Since you were a cross country runner, I am sure you had a similar training regimen.
And what is all this for? Nothing, really. When I turn 23 and graduate from college, I'll probably never swim at a meet again. I didn't need it for college - I already had an academic scholarship. I certainly didn't do it to be "popular" - you don't have time to be. I have a passion, and that is swimming. When I made the cuts for two events at the the Olympic time trials, I was probably the happiest 19 year old on Earth. I knew I had no chance of actually making the Olympic team, mind you - but just being there, and swimming in the same pool as some of the greatest athletes alive will be a picture in my mind for the rest of my life. Three months ago, I injured my shoulder. The chances of me making the Olympic team in '08, or swimming after college, are all but gone, as I won't be able to train effectively for another 6-9 months as I recover from surgery. But I still go to practice each and every day, even if it's just to kick with fins for three hours. I just wish some people here could respect a passion for something other than what the fastast processor is, I guess, is what I'm trying to say.