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Sochi Olympic Torch Taken On Historic Spacewalk
rtoz writes "Two Russian cosmonauts have taken the torch for the Sochi Winter Olympics on its first historic spacewalk. Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky took the unlit version of the torch through the hatch of the International Space Station. The Olympic torch has been carried into space twice before – in 1996 and 2000 – but it has never left a spaceship. It was not lit aboard the space station as this would consume oxygen and pose a risk to the crew."
Keep that Olympic crap for...
Wait, did you say a spacewalk?
It is the flame which represents the continuity with the ancient games. An unlit torch doesn't qualify as anything but a gold plated unlit torch.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
how does fire burn when there is no gravity? where do the flames go? does it become a big fireball?
You took an inanimate metal rod on a space walk. Yeah. That's great.
I think it's one of those "gotta have been there" things.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Actually, it couldn't be lit because you need gravity to have fire; Well, sort of. There's no heat column and thus fire is rather anemic in space. That nice big flaming torch would look really peculiar in space... it would puff out bubbles of plasma that would then float around and extinguish... spewing fine particulate matter and byproduct gas everywhere -- which is, as NASA indicated, dangerous to the crew and equipment.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
For a split-second after I read the headline, I thought it meant the torch had been taken, as in stolen, whilst out on it's space-walk.
So lets pretend that that's what it really meant because it makes for a more interesting topic!
So the thing that holds the part that is lit on fire for some sporting event very 4 years was carried around in space?
How is this anything other than some PR for the next Olympics and why is it on slashdot? There is nothing interesting about this. Now if they had designed some contraption to allow the flame to burn in space that would be something.
can't sleep slashdot will eat me
Just when I think adults can't act even more childish and silly, they go do something like this. Whatever symbolism it may have had is gone when they just stop the reaction and start it again-- why as well put the Olympic logo on cigarette lighters and let everybody start and stop the branded "special" flame.
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The Olympics have been hopelessly corrupt for decades now.
We hosted the Olympics Jr. in my city (Vancouver) in 2010. It was a fabulous event.
Please provide several cites explaining how our Olympics were 'hopelessly corrupt."
Thanks.
(And please don't cite the Olympic village. That wasn't 'hopeless corruption' - It was just poor business decisions.)
So, we have a rather expensive 'stick'. If it isn't lit, then it isn't a torch - it's a STICK
I wouldn't say "corrupt" but hosting the Olympics is like an average couple throwing a huge wedding. The wedding itself will be fun and talked about for years, but the couple has to sacrifice their lifestyle in the year before, saving every penny for the one party, and they end up with a wedding dress, 2 sets of silverware, and 3 bread makers that they'll never use.
The Vancouver Olympics was a lot of fun too, but in the 4 years prior a lot of the smaller cultural events and festivals took a big hit as their regular sponsors focused their attention on the Olympics. And afterwards we ended up with unnecessary infrastructure that still has to be maintained. The winter Olympics isn't that bad, but the city hosting the summer one has to build all kinds of crazy venues that will be underused afterwards and eventually abandoned.
Most cities are much better off hosting annual events on the world championship circuit, track and field, golf, tennis, F1, etc. There's much less infrastructure needed, it gets used and brings income annually, and it puts the city on the map every year instead of once in a lifetime.
Everything is poor business decision in Russia.
An unlit torch is a good symbol for a country where flaming is punishable by prison (at best) or being beaten to death by thugs (at worst).
Boycott Sochi until Putin figures out "human rights".
Design an add-on, a special mount or container, for the Olympic Torch that WOULD let it be lit and burn in orbit, even outside the space ship or satellite!
It can't be THAT hard, right? A sufficient flow of "air" (oxygen and whatever) to ensure burning and continued mixing of fuel and oxidizer.
The problem being that instead of the "couple" (the wealthy politicians/businessmen making the decisions) sacrificing their lifestyle, they live lavishly on the preparations while slashing the quality of everyone else's lifestyle. The poor and middle class see their schools and public infrastructure getting cut to fund the lavish party (that they'd never be able to afford tickets for) for the global oligarchy at taxpayer expense. The Olympics are yet another excuse for the upward redistribution of wealth, away from the general citizenry of a city and into the pockets of a wealthy elite.
via some kind of H2+O2 torch - wait for an orbit around the world, and you can say that the torch has been carried around the world. As it is it was just a piece of crap that they boosted up to LEO.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
The original poster said "The Olympics".
Cites for Sochi:
Billions stolen in Sochi Olympics preparations. The opposition alleges that Putin's buddies have stolen US$30b from the Sochi preparations (over half the $54b budget.)
"Corruption and censorship cast shadow over Russia's Games". Corruption, censorship and human rights violations.
Russia Cracks Down On Journalists, Activists Exposing Corruption Ahead Of Sochi Olympics. Putin's response to corruption claims, shoot the messengers.
And more generally:
Wrestling with corruption at the Olympics. Gives a more general overview of the long history of Olympic corruption. Put simply, it's baked into the DNA of the entire organisation.
Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
The Olympics have been hopelessly corrupt for decades now. There'd be more history in taking my fucking toilet plunger into space
I asked for specific examples of corruption with the 2010 Olympics held in my city.
Did they have someone running on a treadmill, carrying the torch (lit or unlit) on the flight up? Will there be a runner carrying the torch on the way down?
If not, it's just a piece of cargo and a publicity stunt with absolutely no real meaning. It is the carrying of the (usually lit) torch that has meaning, not the torch itself.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
It's the same thing Soviet people were told about the United States.
Because nothing screams success like tweeting.