http://www.swimwatch.net Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:55:42 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en By David Many Swimwatch stories discuss matters that concern elite swimming. We have written about swim suits, international championships, Mare Nostrum swim meets and national coaches. My favorite coaching is working with swimmers like Rhi Jeffrey, Oswaldo Quevedo, Jane Copland, Toni Jeffs, John Foster and Nichola Chellingworth. The revelation that, even ... http://www.swimwatch.net/2010/02/scorn-not.html By David I was invited to dinner last night at the prestigious Palm Beach Sailfish Club. My host is a member of our master’s team. The Club was formed in 1914 and today provides the best buffet dinner I’ve ever seen. Lobster tails, scallops, oysters, green bean casserole, roast beef, baked ... http://www.swimwatch.net/2010/02/schadenfreude.html By David It’s surprising how easy it is to get used to killing. When I was ten or eleven my father informed me that my Sunday chore was to find two wild goats and kill them to feed our dogs for the coming week. For eight years I did this. That’s ... http://www.swimwatch.net/2010/02/sunday-hunting.html By David Nothing excites administrators and coaches more than the thought of a swimmer scratching from an event. I’ve heard swimmers accused of all sorts of character flaws at the very mention of scratching from a race. The most popular slurs involve patriotism and cowardice. The patriotism argument goes something like this. ... http://www.swimwatch.net/2010/02/scratching-yourself-in-public.html By David Occasionally Swimwatch receive suggestions on the content of its articles. Recently a good friend suggested Swimwatch should highlight the perilous state of New Zealand’s country schools. The suggestion had merit. Rural schools all over New Zealand are being closed. Not so very long ago the children of farming families ... http://www.swimwatch.net/2010/02/american-challeng.html By David Snap is not a particularly impressive word. It’s too short and clipped to mean anything important. Words like parliament, serendipity and monarchy are impressive words. That’s why the Queen is a monarch and not a snap. For me however snap is personally significant. Its meaning was reconfirmed this week ... http://www.swimwatch.net/2010/01/snap.html By David I don’t know how many of you are familiar with “Google Analytics”, its near cousin “StatCounter”, or any other web stats / analytics package. I’d never heard of them until Jane visited Florida in September. However the void in my computer knowledge was not particularly surprising. A few years ... http://www.swimwatch.net/2010/01/google-goggle.html By David During the Christmas break, Jane came to Florida. We played a number of the games families do at this time of the year. I enjoy the Internet’s trivia quizzes. Some of the questions are great. For example, who thought up these two: Who hasn’t been Prime Minister of New ... http://www.swimwatch.net/2010/01/in-four-years-well-know.html By Jane I pose a question to you, dear Internet. How stupid would you have to be to write a hand-written anonymous letter to a party to whom you'd already sent hand-written mail? I'm going with "fairly dense". Here are two images of a letter received today by one of our swim ... http://www.swimwatch.net/2009/12/how-to-fail-at-internet-trolling.html By David It’s Christmas morning and for some reason NBC is showing a program about the formation of the Home Depot chain of stores. It’s actually quite interesting. Three guys had the idea, moved to Atlanta and opened one store with money they’d borrowed from friends. Money was so short they ... http://www.swimwatch.net/2009/12/a-christmas-story.html