Big party this weekend, celebrating the now 40 year reign of our Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. I wasn’t invited, but Eivør Pálsdóttir took down the house with this live interpretation of Irish musician Enya’s “May it Be”. Our DNA reveals that our male ancestors are Norwegian and the female Celts, go figure.
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Michael Phelps won the Austin Grand Prix 200 IM too
In a time of 1:58.52, ahead of Ryan Lochte in 2:00.30 and Conor J. Dwyer in 2:01.59. Phelps in the Speedo Fastskin3 racing system (but with big awful beard), Lochte in his old trusty banana hammocks :-)
Here’s an interview with Phelps after the race
And here is Ryan Lochte: “An 8th event? – I’m just trying to go for one! :-)”
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Stay out of the Water (Creature Feature)
Skrillex SmashUp by Soror Ordo Ab Chao. They’re everywhere !!
Stay out of the Water ~ Creature Feature (Skrillex SmashUp) from Soror Ordo Ab Chao on Vimeo.
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Janet Evans Austin Grand Prix 800 freestyle interview
Janet Evans managed a 8:49.05 and 4th in the 800 freestyle today at the Austin Grand Prix, under the Olympic trials cut, behind Sarah M. Henry in 8:40.37, Maureen McLaine in 8:46.50 and Ashley V. Adams in 8:48.73. She says she needs to work on her base, seems a bit, ehm, determined but not so happy about that ! :-)
[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/janetbevans/status/158653770815913984″]
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Eamon Sullivan nearly drowned as a kid
Australia’s star swimmer Eamon Sullivan could easily have become just another drowning statistic when, as a toddler, he accidentally rode into his family’s backyard pool. It was only the vigilance of his parents that saved him, and now the 26-year-old repays his fortune by helping Royal Life Saving, Uncle Tobys and Barnados teach disadvantaged children about water safety.
“There are a lot of unfortunate families – the kids escape their view and fall in the pool,” Sullivan said of his own experience.
“I was lucky, I could have been one of the unlucky ones.”
“It is as important a skill as being able to read and write. It is a life-threatening thing if you don’t get it right,” he said.
Read more here in the Daily Telegraph, plus here about why CPR must be taught in schools as part of the national curriculum. See also SwimKids
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Missy Franklin Austin Grand Prix Post Race interviews
On how she struggles with the 50, and on how her training in altitude makes her feel like a super-hero when coming down to the flatlands. Courtesy of Gold Medal Mel.
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Banning chlorine would improve swim safety by lowering the corrosion risk
Never thought of that, but this guy on ecademy makes a good point: In November 2011 a five month old baby diseased after being hit by a loud-speaker that fell from the ceiling of a swimming pool in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Over the past decennia several incidents occurred in swimming pools worldwide due to false ceilings that fell down. Chlorine stress corrosion cracking of stainless steel supports was identified as the cause of failure. When water that condenses on the supports evaporates again, droplets of highly concentrated chlorine solutions are left behind. These chlorine concentrations, combined with temperatures of 35 to 50°C in the upper regions of the swimming pool and the tensions to which the supports are subjected, are an ideal combination to initiate stress corrosion cracking of stainless steel. In most cases the envisaged solution was to replace the stainless steel supports by supports made of other materials, yet the fatal accident in Tilburg shows that this is not yet a common practice everywhere.
Image courtesy of Orin Zebest, CC BY-SA 2.0
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Epic 6 pass trick shot in a swimming pool
They are a youth group called The Living Room, and they obviously know that they are good! Even plan to build wells in Mozambique with www.hungerstrike.org, if this YouTube video of theirs earns any money.
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Crazy dude swimming in a septic tank
Yeah, that’s the power I hold, to be able to go straight from ‘the good life’ in Southern California, to some Brazilian guy taking a bog bath in a septic tank.