Swimmer's Daily | Fast Fix Blog About Swimming

The +Pool, a floating pool in the heart of New York

Jun 18, 2011

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by

rokur

in Fun, Organization

Designers have come up with an astonishing, floating, plus sign-shaped pool they hope to build in the East River, off Brooklyn Bridge Park. One of the technical challenges is water filtration, with the pool being planned as basically a “giant strainer”, filtering contaminated river water into clean, swimmable pool water. In order to accomplish this, the team has launched a Kickstarter project called +Pool, asking the public to pledge the $25,000 by Friday, July 15, that they need to build and test a model of the filtration method. Currently, they’ve got $13,005 pledged by 280 backers, with 27 days to go. Via Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

+Pool is designed as four pools in one: a childrenâ€™s pool, sports pool, lap pool and lounge pool. Each pool can be used independently, combined to form an Olympic-length lap pool, or opened completely for play. â€œWe want to appeal to athletic swimmers as well as bathers,â€ says Wong Dong-Ping Wong from the firm Family New York.
The swimming pool that turned into a museum

Jun 17, 2011

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by

rokur

in Fun

In the last few years of the twentieth century, the Mayor of Lille in northern France had a quandary. The old swimming pool in Roubaix had been closed in 1985 due to safety problems, so why not simply knock the building down? Except, the pool was a stunning example of Art Deco architecture. Read kuriositas.com via neatorama.com. Picture courtesy of Graham Chandler.
Have you ever gone fishing in your swimming pool ?

Jun 17, 2011

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by

rokur

in Fun

Last weekend, the Scadding Court Community Center swimming pool was drained, filled with tap water, and then filled with over 2,000 rainbow trout. This to offer city dwellers a summer fishing experience without leaving the city. It is an annual event called “Gone Fishin‘”. Fantastic! Via blogto.com.
Shanghai 2011 – Trailer 2

Jun 17, 2011

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by

rokur

in Competition

Presenting the official title song for the 14th FINA World Championships. 30 days and counting till I’ll travel there myself :-)
Who brings a machete to an ocean swim ?

Jun 17, 2011

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by

rokur

in Nature, Open Water

Interesting detail here, as mentioned by Gold Medal Mel and The Swim Brief …

One of the members of her support team traveling in a small inflatable, a local fisherman named Charles Ebanks, distracted the sharks with dead fish, then killed three of six- to eight-footers with a machete.

Earlier this week we read that Mr. and Mrs. Palfrey didn’t plan for this, and didn’t know about it before afterwards.

â€œIt was not in any of our plans for that to happen. I was not aware it was going to happen until after the event. Our goal was to do a swim. It was not to do anything to the environment”

But still, who brings a machete to an ocean swim ? Did they know that the Oceanic white tip sharks are listed as ‘vulnerable’ globally on the IUCN Red List of Threathened Species ? And is it true that the three sharks were ‘chopped to death’, as stated here ?

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Cousteau says use glass, not plastic

Jun 17, 2011

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by

rokur

in Nature

Jacques Cousteau’s granddaughter CÃ©line Cousteau urges people to use glass packaging rather than plastic, since it is more natural and healthier, and recycles better. If you care for the ocean, use glass where you can. See GlassIsLife.com, via scaq.blogspot.com.
Santa Clara 2011 will be streamed live

Jun 16, 2011

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by

rokur

in Competition

Americans are good at this, providing live broadcast from important meets like the 2011 Santa Clara International Grand Prix starting tomorrow. Read “Five Storylines To Watch” about for instance the return of Brendan Hansen, and more about who attends here on usaswimming.org. I’ll put that webcast window on our LIVE-page too, and start looking for something similar from the big meet in Rome, also this weekend.
Poolside interviews at Santa Clara 2011

Jun 16, 2011

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by

rokur

in Competition

Some media talk before the start of the Santa Clara International Grand Prix this weekend, featuring top names like Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Brendan Hansen, Amanda Beard, Missy Franklin, Dana Vollmer and Cullen Jones.

Here Michael Phelps and Bob Bowman:

Here Ryan Lochte:

And here Brendan Hansen:
Orangutan saves baby chick from drowning

Jun 16, 2011

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by

rokur

in Nature, Safety

Gentle and all, nudging it to safety with a leaf.