Quickies
Quickies: Diversity in science fiction, the physics of gymnastics, and a 400 year old shark
- 400-year-old Greenland shark is oldest living vertebrate – “Grey, plump and growing to lengths of around five metres, the Greenland shark is one of the world’s largest carnivores. With a reported growth rate of less than one centimetre a year, they were already thought to be long-lived creatures, but just how long they lived for was something of a mystery.”
- NK Jemisin has a plan for diversity in science fiction – She, “placed the onus on the markets, not aspiring authors, to make writers of color welcome. “The front gates are still shut, see,” she wrote. “You’re just letting a few more exceptions in the side door.””
- Why female gymnasts are so short – Physics!
- Simone Manuel, first African American woman to win a gold medal in swimming – “Tying for gold; setting both an Olympic and an American record: There was a lot of information on the scoreboard, and all of it surpassed Manuel’s expectations, as the native of Sugar Land, Texas, said afterward.”
- Cute Animal Friday! Capybaras overrun the Olympic golf course.
I remember when I was in gymnastics, my height was seen as a personal failing of mine. “You’re too tall,” my coach would say, as if I had intentionally grown against her will.
I don’t miss my coach.
I don’t know if the statistics are easy to find, but a male gymnast of even 5’8″ would be considered very tall.
Strength to weight is quite a factor. In any workout atmosphere, the ones who blast away at pullups, pushups, dips etc. are always going to be the shorter and/or lighter ones.
Taiho and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are not going to impress anyone with the number of pullups or pushups they can do.
My (very) average-heighted stepdaughter ‘topped out ‘ of the higher scoring activities at around 12 years old, for some reason balance beam was the last one.
Yup, gymnasts are typically quite short. It’s true of all gymnasts since, not surprisingly, the same physics apply to everyone regardless of sex. Height gives you an advantage in basketball which is why, typically, basketball players tend to be quite tall. In gymnastics, your height works against you and thus elite gymnasts, typically, tend to be fairly short. :-)