Welcome to Omnibits for Friday, 29 August (Day 5) 0650Clear blue skies this morning and the turbines are spinning up for 4-Way!Off to swap the computers doing JukeBox and DZTV in the tent. More when I get back ... 07454-Way is launching Round 4, but the USA still hasn't jumped Round 5 of 8-Way, the only team not to do so.The Artistics judges worked late, but still left a lot of work on the table -- an entire round of Freefly is still in their inbox. Freefly results are up through Round 3 and Freestyle all but two jumps in Round 4. Inside omniball .. as I've mentioned previously I'm using a new tool in the omnibox for "DZ TV", and I've been reminded this week that computers that don't operate in dual channel memory mode cannot handle playing more than one AVCHD video at a time. (There's a test on this later.) The JukeBox only plays one video at a time, but the "DZ TV" server (which is actually the JukeBox application running in a special mode), being connected to two large flat screens, runs two instances, one each for FS and AE. Anyway I learned yesterday that the "DZ TV" server was not running in dual channel memory mode, so the video playback was stuttering when both FS and AE were active. So this morning I swapped those two computers, and hopefully the live judging "DZ TV" performance will be a bit better.  A snapshot of my health & status "message broker". DALE is the AE judging system, OMAR scores FS, SHERRY is standing in as an actual JukeBox in the packing tent, while JUKEBOX1 and JUKEBOX2 are the two "DZ TV" servers, one for the terrace screens and one for the packing tent. VTADS3 and 4 are of course the copy stations, also in the packing tent. BRENDA is the laptop I'm working on and posts real-time results to the world wide interweb. VTADS2 is pulling duty as the database host, so also runs the app you see above, which tells me which computer is doing what. 0800I've never been happy to hear about a protest, but I was pleased to hear this one this morning: the USA is protesting their 8-Way Round 4 results.What happened yesterday is their point man lost his foothold during the count. Apparently the carpet between his foot and the aircraft came loose, and this aircraft inconsistency is the basis of the protest. It cost the US Team a legitimate shot at a world record. It would be nice to see them have another shot at it. Kurt Gaebel is gathering what information he can, so look at his web site (which you're doing already because you want real competition coverage) for details. I wish I could remember his name, but last night I met a freefall photographer -- not American -- who did a jump with Airspeed here and got some spectacular photos. I'm going to try to share them here (he said he'd find me). He used a 50mm lens that provided unbelievable depth of focus, and a shot of them landing as a team from above that is magazine cover material. I've had several emails asking about videos on the web page. Look at me (yes both of you) (and this is a standard answer for all FAI competitions): I cannot upload videos to omniskore.com until the FAI have uploaded all of them to theirs. Normally this isn't until a week or so after the competition. So it may not be until I'm settled down in Chicago before they get uploaded. Does anyone know how to get asyncronous notifications of JET database table modifications in Win32? The FS judges are cruising through Round 4 of 4-Way. Will ne1 be able to catch up to Belgium? Looks like a 23 for France. Going to step outside and watch the last three under the sun. Canada. 4-Way. Impressive jumping but wtf is your videographer doing, swimming all over the sky like that. I need Dramamine after watching that. The judges are taking a record amount of time trying to confirm the results and I'm not surprised. In the end they bust a 24 down to a 22 (and lucky it's not worse than that). For the US and Belgium, US 4-Way missed the 25th point by about an inch, but Belgium easily got that one in. 0920Just like that, judging of Ladies 4-Way Round 4 is now into the top teams. France was beautiful out the door and flew fast but busted a 21 down to a 20 with an incomplete unipod. Some video issues knocked Canada's 17 down to a 15 (though that's not official yet). The US ladies also suffered a bust on the last point, but taking 21 for a 1-point lead after 4 rounds.Haven't seen anything official but word out in the VIP lounge is the US 8-Way team's protest got declined. 1000We've lost power again. I have no life.Of course you won't see this until about 10 minutes after the power is restored. First the building power went out, but caused no problems for me or the judges, 'cause all our stuff is on the generator. But a few minutes later, the generator went out as well. The local crew is working frantically to get it restored. 1130Scotty!!!! Need ... more ... power!!!!1230Well after a very frustrating couple of hours we finally have both power and Internet. Knocking on wood!At one point when the building power was up and the generator down, and all the judging switched over to the building power, I had to retrieve the copy stations from the packing tent and network them in my office so the scoring systems could pull the videos. Now everything is back on the generator and Martin assures me it will be completely reliable from now on. Or at least more reliable than the building power! During all that the judges were able to get at least some work done, and judging of Ladies 4-Way is finishing Round 5. In 4-Way (open) Belgium padded their lead by two in Round 5 and now lead by a total of six. Wow the France ladies spanked Round 5, beating the USA by 4 points, and now have a 3 point lead. 1230Freestyle is judged all the way through Round 5 with France 1 and France 2 easily ahead of the rest of the pack; Finland and Russia 1 scratching for third. Half of Round 5 is completed (judging wise) in Freeflying.1400Whatever the French 4-Way Ladies had for breakfast, give me some of that! In just two rounds they've picked up 7 points on the US.Yes, you Freefly fans in the packing tent, you were absolutely correct to accuse me of prioritizing the FS when I shut down the DZTV in the middle of a Freefly jump. Had I instead done that during the Belgium FS jump in progress a minute earlier I would have been lynched! But now that I got the software upgrade task done, the automatic replay feature will just give you the Artistic jumps during judging breaks instead of mixing in the FS. You're welcome :) I want to address some of the chatter I'm seeing in the ether wrt OSHD posting of competition videos. Really what I want everyone to understand is (1) I have the ability to have the videos generated and posted the same day, and (2) I am prohibited from doing so at FAI competitions. Now, I don't like (2) at all, not one bit, but facts is what they is, and one of them is that the videos are property of the FAI and they let me use them to create and upload my own versions on the condition that I do not do so until they have uploaded everything at their web site. I am going to be grateful for that much and of course respectful of their wishes. Keep in mind that when you see a competition video on the web somewhere that is not an FAI web, it is because someone on the competition site violated the competition rules. If violations of this rule become commonplace, the FAI may begin enforcement actions. I have no idea what they would be, but I'd hate to see it come to that. Karma. 1400Look for Speed Skydiving to be integrated into OSHD's online results -- if not in the next few days (with the results of the 500 km/hour, are you kidding me?! I hope they carry fire extinguishers!
1620Heard something about the competition being extended an hour ... trying to learn if that was a reference to today's schedule or tomorrow's. Since tomorrow's forecast is looking a bit iffy, my bet's on today's.1815They finally got in USA 8-Way's Round 5, a 23 properly demoted to 22.I'm a bit surprised to see VFS still only done at Round 4. Sure enjoy watching that stuff. Superhuman flying. The Artistic events offer some amazing aerial skills, but the combination of aerobility and teamwork required to be successful in VFS is quite a challenge. Unfortunately the event hasn't been receiving much participation. Perhaps the FAI should consider a 2-Way VFS event, like they did with CF, which seems to be quite popular -- quite a bit easier to get a 2-Way team than 4. Spread the word: the France Ladies 4-Way Round 8 score should be ignored. They jumped through rain and will be receiving a rejump. I don't know why the judges recorded a score (I guess they're required to with current rules, given a video), look for a completely different one within the hour. Freestyle Skydiving is down to the final 4 jumps, looks like the top two spots are settled with France 1 2.2 points ahead of France 2 (that's a lot, in AE), but Russia 1 and Finland are separated by just 0.2 points for 3rd place. 1900VFS Round 5 and 8-Way Round 7 judging in progress.Published schedule for tomorrow:
And that's it for me tonight ... thanks for tuning in ... don't forget to visit our sponsors ... ciao!!! ~ted / t1 / omniguy |
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