Funny and sometimes shocking stories behind the scenes of major sports events are revealed for the first time in this unusual book. Alex Cheng, president of a company in California that was the North American distributor for Omega Sports Timing, shares his observations in a candid and casual style. His company, Seagull, Inc., was involved in timing systems and scoreboards for the Olympics in Montreal and Lake Placid, Pan Am Games in Mexico City, Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, the Canada Games and many events in skiing, swimming, track and field, car racing, horse racing, rodeos, boat racing, skateboard races, firemen's musters and other sports. This book is sheer entertainment for anyone interested in a variety of sports from a new perspective or how a small company coped with a somewhat frenetic business. At the same time, you will learn fascinating sports facts that will impress your friends. For example: - Did you know runners are timed to 1/100 of a second based on the first part of the torso crossing the line? How is this decided with absolute accuracy? - Did you know the Montreal Olympics main stadium faced a grid lock of construction cranes and was only half finished when the Games began? And this is common with many Olympics! - Did you know the beeping count-down clock next to skiers about to start their race has nothing to do with their actual start time? - Have you wondered what it was like in the hockey stadium on the night of the "Miracle on Ice" victory in Lake Placid? - Do you know why Olympic style sailboat racing is amazingly similar to barrel racing in rodeos? (You won't find this anywhere else!)
New Export China provides a materials-focused framework for contemporary Chinese art, taking works in porcelain by international artists Ai Weiwei, Liu Jianhua, Ah Xian, and Sin-ying Ho as case studies for the role of travel and translation in global artistic practice. Porcelain has long been a vehicle for transmitting cultural knowledge, yet little has been written about its relevance for an era when our interconnection is clearer than ever. Taking a thematic approach, this book positions porcelain art within current debates around archival intervention, artistic authenticity, racial and gender identity, global capital and migrant labor, cultural stereotypes, and ownership of heritage"--
For centuries, the internal martial traditions of Asia have produced individuals renowned for their skills in fighting, healing and meditation. Inspired by the author's personal training experiences, this book reveals the stories and training methods of the old Masters as well as the current generation. Focussing on the internal disciplines of different combat systems, the book includes in-depth conversations with esteemed Masters such as Dr Serge Augier and Master He Jing Han. It encompasses the arts of China, Japan, India and South East Asia, revealing the inner keys of systems such as Bagua, Xingyi, Ziranmen, Taijiquan, Iaido, Muay Thai Sangha, Pentjak Silat, Kun Tao and the old Shaolin system, and providing invaluable insights into the life of the Master and his or her role as spiritual practitioner of the art. With commentary from the author and personal photographs of the Masters at work, the book constitutes an intimate exploration of the philosophy and wisdom of the real esoteric warriors. Exploring some of the rarest martial art forms, from the mysterious practices of the Yamabushi priests to the potent healing and weapon skills of the Phoenix Eye Fist Grandmaster, this book will fascinate practitioners and students of martial arts, as well as anyone interested in Eastern philosophy.
Small Gods deconstructs the mythology of the drone: as soothing sound, aerial spy, and killing machine. When we say 'drone technology,' we can mean the tanpura, a plucked-string instrument originating in 16th century India, or the Gorgon Stare, an aerial surveillance technology designed by the US military - and evoke competing notions of terror and transcendence. Small Gods leans into this ambiguity. As each chapter focuses on the work of an artist with a unique understanding of 'the drone', the book illuminates myriad facets of these entangled technological entities. Opening with William Basinki's first glimpse of the ash-clouds of 9/11 - which spawned both The Disintegration Loops and the drone-driven War on Terror - the narrative then zooms into the representational sleights of hand of British and American artists preoccupied with the West's stake in endless drone wars. Its midsection lands us in the doldrums: where Anne Imhof's Angst, Anna Mikkola's drone-watched runner, and Atef Abu Saif's drone war memoir find maddening safety in boredom, raising questions about the trade-offs between security and surveillance. In the final section, the narrative uncouples from earthly oppression - we're freed to explore future and spirit worlds with artists including Korakrit Arunanondchai, Lawrence Lek, and WangShui, all of whom use drone technology to envision a future beyond the burden of colonialism, racism, exclusion or, simply, representation. Empty metal becomes a vessel for escape, connection, or intention; a future-facing spirit, a ride into the afterlife, a god or a ghost.
In 1965, 18 convicted criminals were sentenced to death for murder – a haunting testimony to the failure of a bold experiment on Pulau Senang to reform seasoned criminals in a gaol without bars. Right to the end, Daniel Dutton, director of the model penal settlement, could not believe that the men he had befriended and worked so hard to rehabilitate would want to destroy him. Too late he realised the extraordinary hold secret society leaders had over their men. Pulau Senang reconstructs the events that led to the tragedy and the trial, and throws light on a question that has never been answered satisfactorily – Why did the experiment fail?
The Trial of Sunny Ang (1973). Bankrupt and desperately needing money, this is the true story of how a brilliant Singaporean psychopath tried to commit the perfect crime. This landmark trial was the first of its kind in Singapore—without a body, the prosecution had no medical evidence nor witnesses to claim unnatural death, so they caught Ang in a chain of circumstantial evidence he could not break, which ultimately led to his sentence. Pulau Senang—The Experiment That Failed (1980). In 1965, 18 men, all convicted criminals were sent to death for murder. They were to be a haunting testimony to the failure of a bold experiment to transform Pulau Senang into a gaol without bars and a sad realization that ‘creative work in healthy surroundings’ may not reform seasoned criminals. Reconstructing the events leading to the tragedy and trial, Pulau Senang attempts to throw some light to a question that has never been answered satisfactorily: Why did the experiment fail?
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