October 27, 2008
This, from Sharon Begley’s Lab Notes blog, caught my eye: A new study that shows tennis refs are more likely to call a ball ‘out’ when it’s actually in than they are to rule ‘in’ when it’s out. The reason, says Begley:
The human visual system consistently misperceives moving objects as shifted in the direction of their motion, making them appear to be farther along their path than they are.
Which, for some reason reminds me of David Foster Wallace’s many fine writings on tennis, including my favorite one, “Tennis, Trigonometry, Tornadoes: A Midwestern Boyhood.”
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Science, Sports | Tagged: David Foster Wallace, Tennis | 
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Posted by Mark Coatney
August 22, 2008
Today in Things We Love: DFL, the blog of last-place Olympic finishes.
(H/t Brian Baiker)
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Posted by Mark Coatney
August 19, 2008
In another installment of Things I Would Like Even If I Didn’t Have To, I recommend the Visions of China, the Nwk photo blog from the Olympics. Three great photographers, lots of cool photos and sophisticated techniques involving large lenses, camera remotes and something called a “tilt-shift” thing that I don’t fully understand but produces undeniably cool shots of track & field.
Still, my favorite shot so far is one that Vincent Laforet took of Kichun Wang returning to his coach moments after after the Korean judo sensation lost the gold medal match. So often the Olympic photos you see are action shots, celebrations of bodies in motion, but I love this one for the emotions it shows:
Kichun Wang, in defeat
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Posted by Mark Coatney
