[ExI] organic olympics, was: RE: the myth of the US "liberal media"

[spike]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of spike

>...  We could invent sports where any reasonably good athlete could become
world class in a summer.  We have all these channels on TV now and all these
websites.  Seems to me we could proliferate sports wildly to match...spike

Challenge: invent a game or athletic activity in which you design the rules
against your own particular strengths.  If you do it right, you may be able
to be four sigma or even world class.

My example: the game is to carry on one's person all the food and water and
everything needed for a hike along a paved road.  The winner of the
competition is the one who can walk the longest distance.  

But wait.  In order to play to my own personal strengths, we start in the
middle of July at Ridgecrest California at the crack of dawn.  Reasoning:
Every day is alike in July in the desert:

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/93555

Not all that many people can walk very far under those conditions.  It will
likely break 100F (38C) before noon and stay up there until after 1600.  The
air will be so dry it will feel like swimming in cotton.  In those
conditions, one can be sweating like a whore in church and not even realize
it, because the humidity is so low it evaporates immediately.  So most of
the weight one carries will likely be water.  I can imagine going through 30
pounds of water in one day.  So it is unlikely one would bother carrying a
sleeping bag or tent.  This is a game that is likely to be over the first
day.  World class athletes would likely go about 50 miles, but few would get
past Trona.

Since I am designing the competition, I decree no children, these being
defined as anyone under 50.  

With the techniques I already know, my oddball build and surprisingly large
capacity for carrying stuff on my back, I think I could be a four sigma in
that game, which nearly guarantees a first place in a typical oddball
competition where one would be unlikely to attract more than a couple
hundred participants.

spike