Yes, I’m still in GoPro mode. I like the fact that you can do all this with a camera that has no manual controls, but is rugged and watertight and extremely good at capturing motion … plus so small that you can have it in your pocket, or stick it to a 5 foot pole like this guy did :-)
On 12-15 January 2012, Stadshallen/Högevallsbadet in Lund, Sweden will host the 1st World Aquatic Development Conference, featuring Bill Boomer, Milt Nelms, Alex Nikitin, Brad Burnham, Chris Martin, US Olympic Head Coach Teri McKeever and multiple Olympic gold medal winner Shane Gould. There will be five tracks, ranging from “Learn to Swim” over “Women in Sports” to “Competitive swimming”. The organizers know their stuff, they organized a successful conference with Boomer, Nelms and Gould in Haderslev, Denmark back in 2005 that I attended, and are now with this “Swedish Center for Aquatic Research” establishing a state-of-the-art training and testing facility with 3D underwater filming and stuff in Lund. Who knows, maybe we will meet there in January.
Breakfast table at the Haderslev 2005 conference. Kirkegaard, me, Boomer, Gould & Nelms
The “Air Swimmers” video shown here on August 12 is a full-fledged viral YouTube sensation now, receiving a whopping 2.125.609 views in just five days, after being tipped by also Toys ‘R’ Us and Hamleys as a must have toy (/tool) this holiday season. The clip has also been voted as YouTube’s favorite Science and Technology video for the month. Read Gadgets and Gizmos.
Another clip called “Flying fish attacks cat!” is also going viral, receiving 424.189 views in just a few days. I for one welcome our new flying robotfish overlords!
Here is William Trubridge from New Zealand attempting to break the world record of freediving the deepest in history. Diving straight down with no fins, no oxygen, no assistance, in an effort to make awareness that we need to protect our wildlife, and specifically our dolphins. Or as he writes on his website “1 hectometer for the Hector’s dolphin.” Notice how he stops swimming at around 40 meters, because at that point his body is so squeezed together by the pressure, that it is heavier than water and just falls. Which means he won’t just float up again, but has to swim :-S
This is just wrong, cities across the United States are experiencing record drownings this summer, despite efforts to raise awareness about water safety and the importance of life-saving swimming lessons. We should know better, the safety tips are simple, and our possibilities to spread them are better than ever. Read what Cullen Jones has to say about the issue, visit www.makeasplash.org, and follow these five rules:
Teach children to swim. Research shows that parents are the most influential factors in whether or not a child learns to swim. Only 13 percent of children from non-swimming households will ever learn to swim, according to the University of Memphis.
Make sure a responsible adult is watching the water at all times. Drowning can be completely silent, and typically, when a child drowns, the parent or caregiver has been away from the child for less than five minutes, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Remind kids to always obey the rules of the pool, not to jump on or dunk other swimmers and not to jump or dive unless they know how deep the water is.
Require kids to always swim with a buddy.
Remember, you don’t have to be at a pool to drown. Lakes, rivers, large puddles and any other bodies of water also require caution. Make sure your child knows how to swim, whether or not they’ll be around a pool this summer.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.