The Weather



* All art and photography courtesy of "Google Images". Titling by Felicity Blaze Noodleman





As the foundation of the NWS Digital Services Program, the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD) consists of gridded forecasts of sensible weather elements (e.g., cloud cover, maximum temperature). NDFD contains a seamless mosaic of digital forecasts from NWS field offices working in collaboration with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). The database is available for members of the public to use in creating text, graphic, gridded and image products of their own. Over time, NWS will offer a wider array of gridded forecast elements and a larger set of graphical presentations.

By Felicity Blaze Noodleman

Since here in California we have entered into our "shake and bake" season ( very hot triple digit heat with a high possibility for earth quakes) and because hurricane season seems to be getting an early start in the south eastern US; I thought it might be useful to know how meteorologist prepare their weather forecasts.  Most people can usually agree about the weather!  There isn’t a wide variety of opinion.  It for the most part is an absolute.  The weather can’t be changed but will change of its own accord in the near future.  Ether you like it or you don’t.  But everyone agrees on what it is for the day.  Too hot or too cold.  Too wet or too dry.  This article will look at the forces behind out weather and how it is predicted, both in the past and up through today.

Bob Dylan wrote “you don’t need to be a weather man to know which way the wind blows” but if you want to know from which direction and at what speed the wind is going to blow from you will need more than a song.  Ancient weather prediction looked to the heavens for clues and can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and the Chinese.  Babylonian records date back to 650 BC as they applied astrology and examined cloud formations to predict the weather.  Tables and charts were kept tracking many different areas of celestial patterns and annual earthly conditions.  These records were assembled into an “Almanac” which was the standard for centuries in weather predicting until 1835 with the invention of the "Telegraph".



Three examples of 20th. century almanacs.  These almanacs were the farmers
handbook as they pertained to forecasting the agricultural conditions for the
farming seasons.  Almanacs have been used for centuries since their conception
by the ancient Babylonians in 650 BC.

Thermometers or “Thermo Scopes” were developed in the early part of the 1600’s and the barometer was developed in the mid 1600’s.  As measurements were incorporated into the record keeping for almanacs other instrumentation was developed to calculate wind speeds and atmospheric data which all aided in tracking current and past conditions to predict future occurrences.

Early examples of thermometers from the 1600's (Galileo Galilei)
and barometers (Giovanni Baliani).

Oddly enough, it was the British Royal Navy which led the way in modern weather recognition and prediction.  Naval Officers need information on weather patterns to assist them in plotting their courses to navigate their wind powered sailing ships.  They need favorable wind conditions to fill their sails and they needed to know where bad or unfavorable weather conditions were so they could avoid them.  It was the Navy, both British and United States who would lead the way in "Meteorology" up until today.

The Telegraph was a revolution in information communications.  It allowed people to transmit information of all kinds from one area to another.  From east coast to the west, telegraphers could now dispatch weather conditions from one location to the next expected area or direction of a weather front. 

One other significant benefit of the telegraph which would come about was the unification of the country into what we now refer to as “time zones”.  Before the telegraph almost every town established its own time zone.  There was no central authority anywhere to organize what the time of day was!  This presented the Rail Road’s many problems in creating time tables and schedules for arrivals and departures to travel destinations.  You can imagine the resulting chaos. 



Fine example of a 19th. century train station from Chicago IL

Soon “Regulator” clocks were initiated by the Rail Road Company’s bringing uniformity to the nation.  The time in New York, for example, could be telegraphed to all the train stations along the east coast by which the Station Master would set the stations Regulator clock.  If people wanted to know what the time was they could set their watches by their stations Regulator clock.  The train station was the information center for a community dispatching the time, weather, mail and news of the day.



Satellites as they orbit earth.  We have littered our planet with them.

Satellites of many different varieties.

So now to quickly bring us up to date, as technology advanced, scientist and the military developed new instrumentation for gathering data about meteorological conditions and were able to track storms beginning with the old “Observation Balloons” predating the Civil War up through manned flight by airplane in WWII up to the “Weather Satellites” and "Doppler HD Radar" of today.  Meteorology has come a very long way.  I remember when the news weather forecast was a guy standing in front of a chalk board writing in temps. and that was it!  Today the "National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration"  of the US Department of Commerce is responsible for collecting all weather data across the US, compiling a weather data base and issuing our national forecasts.

Today's digital array of weather forecasting equipment:  Top left to bottom right

Doppler Radar station, Barometer & Atmospheric Pressure Gauge, Rain Gauge,

Thermometer, Anemometer (Wind Gauge) and Weather Satellite.  Many instruments
can be combined together as seen here.  Data all feeds to the meteorologists
computer for analysis to produce a visual weather report.


I think we all understand how satellites can improve weather prediction but what about Doppler HD radar?  This is a ground based radar system which has been finely tuned to recognize weather phenomenon such as cloud formations and atmospheric storms.  Trained Meteorologist then interpret this data and make their predictions.  Combining this information with data produced from satellites the Meteorologist can highly focus their forecasts for what will be happening in their area. 

Calipso 4 which stands for (Cloud - Aerosol - Lindar and Infrared - Pathfinder - Satellite Observation) weather satellite launched in 2006 operates with four other satellites and

operates as a "train" configuration.

Now on to the driving force behind the weather.  It is the Sun.  The Sun is the star of our solar system.  The “sky bull”!  The Sun dictates not only what will happen on earth but all of the other planets and celestial bodies in our solar system, the “Milky Way”.  It is a very big player determining planet rotations, seasons and atmospheric conditions for all the planets.  Actually “Meteorology” is a misnomer.  It would more correctly stated as “Sunology"; it's not even a correct word!  The ancient Egyptians worshiped the Sun believing it was responsible for everything which occurred in their world and spurring their succession of Goddesses, the most notable being “Isis” who gave birth to “Ra”.

Once we understand the basics of heating and cooling the weather becomes very simple.  It can be easily illustrated with a tea kettle.  By heating and cooling the atmosphere, wind is generated.  Water is changed from a liquid state to a gas or frozen into its solid ice form.  When warm moist formations of air collide with cool dry areas storms of all kinds can occur.  Throw in the earth’s rotation and presto!  Track the winds forces pushing cloud formations and we can see what’s going to happen.

Satellite views of earth. Always fascinating to see!  Satellite composite

of hurricane systems.



Can the Sun cause other effects on the earth's surface?  Yes it certainly can.  Solar “flares” can cause a great deal of trouble to earth and the surrounding atmosphere.  An excerpt from Wikipedia explains why:

"Solar flares strongly influence the local space weather in the vicinity of the Earth. They can produce streams of highly energetic particles in the solar wind, known as a solar proton event, or "coronal mass ejection" (CME). These particles can impact the Earth's magnetosphere (see main article at geomagnetic storm), and present radiation hazards to spacecraft, astronauts, and cosmonauts.

Massive solar flares are sometimes associated with CMEs which can trigger geomagnetic storms that have been known to knock out electric power for extended periods of time. According to Matthew Stein, many hundred thousands of miles of high voltage lines would act like an antenna drawing the electro-magnetic pulse from a solar flare toward thousands of transformers on the world's power grids. Many transformers could burn out and be difficult to replace.

The soft X-ray flux of X class flares increases the ionization of the upper atmosphere, which can interfere with short-wave radio communication and can heat the outer atmosphere and thus increase the drag on low orbiting satellites, leading to orbital decay. Energetic particles in the magnetosphere contribute to the aurora borealis and aurora australis. Energy in the form of hard x-rays can be damaging to spacecraft electronics and are generally the result of large plasma ejection in the upper chromosphere."

Solar flares have also been known to pass into the earth's atmosphere and trigger forest fires in the western US.  Lightning generated high in the atmosphere has also been known to ignite forest fires as well.

The United States is situated between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans which gives us some of the most unusual weather patterns in the world.  With a variety of regional weather patterns we see meteorological systems which are not seen in other parts of the world.  Here in California we have something which is known as “the pineapple express” bringing rain from the Pacific ocean and dispersing moisture from coast to coast.  In California its rain but as it moves across the continent to the east it turns to snow.



The United States as seen from space with the Moon in the background, between
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

In the mid west from Michigan to Texas we have a swath of country which is known as “Tornado Ally”.  Every spring cold air collides with warmer air producing Tornadoes.  In the south eastern US Hurricanes develop as warm air moving from Africa over the cooler Atlantic Ocean creating Hurricanes which head north ward to North America and can ride up the east coast to New York battering everything in their way and they can devastating the Gulf coast from Florida to Texas.  We have all kinds of twisters in the US: Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Cyclones and Waterspouts!




So the next time you see the weather forecast on TV,  see it on the home page of your favorite computer web browser on look it up on your hand held you will know the evolution of the meteorological science and the billions of dollars that are spent to bring you a quality weather forecast!  I'm Felicity Blaze Noodleman hoping you will have a wonderful day as we begin to head off into the Autumn.

If you don't like the weather, well, stick around because it always changes!

*  “The Noodleman Group” is pleased to announce that we are now carrying a link to the “USA Today” news site.  We installed the “widget/gadget” August 20, and it will be carried as a regular feature on our site.  Now you can read “Noodleman” and then check in to “USA Today” for all the up to date News, Weather, Sports and more!  Just scroll all the way down to the bottom of our site and hit the “USA Today” hyperlinks.  Enjoy!





US Economic Recovery

IS  THE  RECOVERY  LOOSING  IT'S MOMENTUM?

*  All art courtesy "Google Images".  (About the Charts:  Up to date official
statistical charts are difficult to obtain.  The charts in this article are the
most representative of all the researched information available. FBN)

The puzzling US economy.  Many things affect the US economy:

GDP, US Debt, Banking, Wall St., and Government Spending to name a few.



By Felicity Blaze Noodleman

There were many news worthy events to write about this week; the conclusion of the summer games in London and the Mars probe landing on the “Red Planet” but since these like most other events take money to produce and that’s the subject of this week’s article.  The state of the United States economy.

Ben Bernanke

On Wednesday August 1, 2012 a story released through the Associated Press reported the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke released a statement on the weakness of the US economy which sounded very alarming to me.  A weak economy in an already fragile economic recovery compounded by a poor employment report.  A triple play for the Obama administration.

 

Fed says US economy has slowed, takes no new steps

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that the U.S. economy is losing strength and repeated a pledge to take further steps to stimulate growth if the job market doesn't show sustained improvement.

The Fed took no new action after a two-day policy meeting. But it acknowledged in a statement released after the meeting that economic activity had slowed over the first half of the year. It also said unemployment remains elevated and consumer spending is rising at a somewhat slower pace.

Stocks indexes turned slightly lower after the Fed didn't announce any new measures to stimulate the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 30 points shortly after the Fed's announcement at 2:15 p.m. It was up 20 points immediately before.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note increased to 1.52 percent after the Fed's statement was released.

The statement was nearly identical to the one issued after the Fed's June meeting, expect for language noting slower growth. The Fed repeated that strains in the global market pose a significant risk to the U.S. economy, the housing market is improving but remains depressed and inflation remains tame.

Policymakers also repeated their plan to hold short-term interest rates at record-low levels until at least late 2014.

The Associated Press    8- 1-12

Wall Street Slips After Fed Comments

By REUTERS

Published: August 1, 2012

Wall Street closed lower and the dollar rallied on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve stopped short of offering new monetary stimulus even as it acknowledged that the United States economic recovery has lost momentum so far this year.

Equities and the euro had gained lately on increased expectations central banks in the United States and Europe would take aggressive steps to stimulate their respective economies and contain a spreading debt crisis in Europe.

The Fed said after a two-day meeting it was prepared to do more to support an ailing economy but it disappointed some market expectations by taking no new action. Many economists had expected the Fed to push back its guidance for when it might start to raise interest rates but it stuck with its “late-2014” language.

Reuters "news agency" UK    8- 1-12

Four days later I’m seeing a story in the “Washington Post” about the latest jobs report and how the bureau of statistics calculates the figures they release.  But what about real jobs?  Good jobs with benefits and retirement plans.  For the most part they have moved away from the United States because of government regulations and unfair foreign competition.  When is the United States going to become a industrial nation again?  Those are the kinds of jobs I want to hear about, not some summer minimum wage service jobs.

Wait, the U.S. economy actually lost 1.2 million jobs in July?

Posted by Brad Plumer on August 5, 2012 at 10:18 am

The U.S. economy lost 1.2 million jobs between June and July. But that’s not how it got reported. When the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its jobs figures for July, it said the economy gained 163,000 jobs. So what gives?

(Paul J. Richards AFP/Getty)

BLS isn’t hiding anything. The discrepancy just has to do with what’s known as “seasonal adjustments.” The U.S. economy follows certain predictable patterns in hiring and layoffs every year. School districts always let workers go for the summer and hire in the fall. Retailers always staff up for the Christmas holidays and lay people off afterwards. Students always flood the labor market in June.

So if we want to know how well the economy is doing, we want to know how many jobs were added after taking these predictable fluctuations into account. Some seasonal adjustments are necessary before the data can tell us anything useful.

And this is exactly what BLS does in its monthly jobs reports. As Jacob Goldstein of Planet Money points out, the U.S. economy had 1.2 million fewer jobs in July than it did in June. But, according to the bureau, the economy still had 163,000 more jobs than one would’ve expected, given seasonal trends. That’s a sign of a steadily recovering labor market. So BLS reported it as a 163,000 gain in jobs.

In theory, that makes sense. But some economists and analysts now wonder if the BLS seasonal adjustments are somehow off a bit. If the financial crisis and recession mucked with the seasonal ebb and flow of the economy, then the adjustments that BLS makes for its monthly reports might be a bit skewed. Some jobs reports might look much better than they actually are. And others might look worse.

There’s some reason to suspect this is happening. For the past few years, as the chart below from Kevin Drum shows, the BLS jobs reports have followed an odd pattern each and every year (the chart shows new jobs gained in excess of 90,000, in order to take into account population growth):

The summer jobs reports are typically lousy while the fall and winter jobs reports are often much, much stronger. Maybe that’s because the U.S. economy is following a roller-coaster pattern–healthy in winter, sick in the summer. Or maybe, as Floyd Norris suggests here, the economy is actually making slow, steady progress and the seasonal adjustments are just making things appear topsy-turvy.

Over the longer term, these fluctuations shouldn’t matter much. Inaccurate seasonal adjustments might make some jobs reports look unduly pessimistic and others unduly optimistic. But they can’t mask the overall health of the economy for too long. Eventually, the jobs reports balance out.

So look at the long-term trends. For the past one-and-a-half years, the U.S. economy has added about 152,000 jobs per month on average. It’s a modest, but certainly not terrific jobs recovery: According to the Hamilton Project’s jobs calculator, the U.S. economy won’t get back to full employment until 2025 at this pace. Still, it’s probably more accurate to watch that long-run average than to fixate on any one monthly jobs report.

The Washington Post    8- 5-12

Is it possible that the “Stimulus” needs a stimulus?  How about somebody new to administer the stimulus.  Since the housing bubble burst back in 2008; a bad economy has only become worse and is for the most part stagnant. 



Trillions of dollars in stimulus to the US economy.

Real federal deficit dwarfs official tally

By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY

Updated 5/24/2012 12:46 AM

The typical American household would have paid nearly all of its income in taxes last year to balance the budget if the government used standard accounting rules to compute the deficit, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Under those accounting practices, the government ran red ink last year equal to $42,054 per household — nearly four times the official number reported under unique rules set by Congress.

A U.S. household's median income is $49,445, the Census reports.

The big difference between the official deficit and standard accounting: Congress exempts itself from including the cost of promised retirement benefits. Yet companies, states and local governments must include retirement commitments in financial statements, as required by federal law and private boards that set accounting rules.

The deficit was $5 trillion last year under those rules. The official number was $1.3 trillion. Liabilities for Social Security, Medicare and other retirement programs rose by $3.7 trillion in 2011, according to government actuaries, but the amount was not registered on the government's books.

Deficits are a major issue in this year's presidential campaign, but USA TODAY has calculated federal finances under accounting rules since 2004 and found no correlation between fluctuations in the deficit and which party ran Congress or the White House.

Key findings:

•Social Security had the biggest financial slide. The government would need $22.2 trillion today, set aside and earning interest, to cover benefits promised to current workers and retirees beyond what taxes will cover. That's $9.5 trillion more than was needed in 2004.

•Deficits from 2004 to 2011 would be six times the official total of $5.6 trillion reported.

•Federal debt and retiree commitments equal $561,254 per household. By contrast, an average household owes a combined $116,057 for mortgages, car loans and other debts.

"By law, the federal government can't tell the truth," says accountant Sheila Weinberg of the Chicago-based Institute for Truth in Accounting.

Jim Horney, a former Senate budget staff expert now at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, says retirement programs should not count as part of the deficit because, unlike a business, Congress can change what it owes by cutting benefits or lifting taxes.

"It's not easy, but it can be done. Retirement programs are not legal obligations," he says.

USATODAY  5/24/12

The two above charts illustrate the growing Federal Deficit.



The President



What is the president’s plan for dealing with the Federal Deficit?  All I’ve heard him talk about is taxation and raising  taxes for the wealthy.  One thing is for sure, “we cannot tax our way to prosperity”!  The country, according to graphs which track economic growth and employment rates, seems to be in a trend which economists have coined as “Stagflation”.  This economic situation occurs "when inflation is high and the economic growth rate slows down while the employment statistics remain high and essentially unchanged".  

Something which is hardly mentioned is what happens when the Government is borrowing huge amounts of money to meet US obligations.  Known as the "Debt Sealing", Congress must approve this borrowing.  In today's economic climate this creates a situation known as "Tight Money".  Tight money affects borrowing rates for everybody and pushes up the banks prime lending percentages making it much harder to buy homes, automobiles, financing college educations and loans for small and big business.  The cost of every goes up dramatically, that is if these kinds of loans can be obtained!

There are many very good reasons for paying down the Federal Deficit.   It really has become a matter of national security.   I hate to think of what could happen if the country had to face the kind of situation we were confronted with at the beginning of WWII. The Unites States needs to be debt free!  The numbers are very big, but the US has a very big economy and with careful management and a dedication to reducing the federal deficit the country will secure a much brighter future with endless possibilities.

(Above) Historical unemployment statistics.  Notice the spike during

the Obama administration.  These numbers do not account for the people who
have exausted their benifits and have applied for General Assistance and Food Stamps.
(Below) Food Stamp projections from "The Bussiness Insider". 

As the Obama administration continue to live in its own dream world making up its own statistics and moving along with no real direction except down ward in every direction the President is now asking for another four years in the White House with the campaign slogan “Forward”!  As for me I’ll take the previous Bush administrations plan or even the “Trickle Down” of “Reaganomics” to Obama Stagflation.  Why are they calling him "The food stamp President"?



Don't get confussed - this is not a line chart.  The purple section

extends down to "0".  It runs behind the other sections.

I’m Felicity Blaze Noodleman and I approved this Article!  Next week we will be writing about the weather.  See you then!



Nothing in the hat, nothing in the head.



London 2012 Olympics

THE  LONDON  2012
XXX  OLYMPIC  GAMES



*All artwork and images provided by "Google Images". 
Games tables and schedules provided by "Wikipedia".

Images for the London 2012 Games

 

By Felicity Blaze Noodleman

The summer Olympics have arrived again and this time they have been cast in England of all places for the third time in modern Olympic history.  I’m not a big fan of the summer games which is to say I like the winter games so much better.  I really like the winter Olympics.  When the winter games conclude I go into with drawl for about a week afterwards.  That’s how much I like everything about the winter games.

I see Mitt Romney and British PM, David Cameron decided to add a new event to the games.  The presidential candidate Romney voiced a genuine concern in a interview with NBC concerning one of the English security firms hired for the games which was found to have some problems.  I think the rest of the world is concerned about the games being secure as well.  PM David Cameron was offended and seemed somewhat out of touch remarking that the  security for the Salt Lake city games was not such a concern because they were being held in the "middle of nowhere".  That sounded very UN-statesman like to me.   

Romney and Cameron.

One thing which is becoming very clear to me is how much the world has changed since the English hosted their first Olympics in 1908.  How much the balance of power has shifted.  Since 1908 England has suffered through two World Wars and has gone from one of the strongest industrial nations in the world to a more services based economy, which it has become today.

The English are very proud of their heritage but it is a heritage which is long gone.  As is the case with most of Europe the ancient architecture is beginning to crumble and showing its age.  In a world which has grown smaller because of advances in air travel and instant communications, not only England but many European nations which were once considered large and powerful have become less powerful in the world of today.  They are no longer colonial powers and newly emerging economies are becoming the centers of commerce of today's world.

Images of the 1908 and 1948 Summer Olympics held in London

Many of the events have their origins in medieval history which makes England an appropriate setting for the summer games.  They have never hosted the winter games.  Also: as you may know most events hark ens back to the ancient Olympiads of the Greek city states beginning in 776 BC and held in Olympia to honor the Greek god Zeus and continued thru Roman occupation until they were discontinued in 394 AD.  Many modern day sports have been added to the games of today which give the games a well rounded spectrum of interest in keeping with the spirit of the ancient traditions.  

The Games

*  The Following article is reprinted from Wikipedia

Participants

Team sizes

Around 10,500 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are expected to participate, surpassing the 1948 Summer Olympics in London and the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester as the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the United Kingdom.

Three athletes from the Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee, which had its membership withdrawn by the IOC Executive Committee at the IOC session of June 2011, and one athlete from South Sudan, which has no recognized NOC, participated independently under the Olympic flag.

Afghanistan (6) Albania (12) Algeria (42) American Samoa (5) Andorra (6) Angola (34) Antigua and Barbuda (5) Argentina (137) Armenia (25) Aruba (4) Australia (410) Austria (70) Azerbaijan (53) Bahamas (24) Bahrain (12) Bangladesh (5) Barbados (6) Belarus (165) Belgium (115) Belize (3) Benin (5) Bermuda (8) Bhutan (2) Bolivia (6) Bosnia and Herzegovina (6) Botswana (4) Brazil (258) British Virgin Islands (2) Brunei (3) Bulgaria (63) Burkina Faso (5) Burundi (6) Cambodia (6) Cameroon (33) Canada (277) Cape Verde (3) Cayman Islands (5) Central African Republic (6) Chad (3) Chile (35) China (380) Colombia (104) Comoros (3) Congo (7) DR Congo (4) Cook Islands (8) Costa Rica (11) Côte d'Ivoire (10) Croatia (108) Cuba (110) Cyprus (13) Czech Republic (133) Denmark (113) Djibouti (6) Dominica (2) Dominican Republic (35) Ecuador (36) Egypt (113) El Salvador (10) Equatorial Guinea (2) Eritrea (12) Estonia (33) Ethiopia (35) Fiji (9) Finland (55) France (330) Gabon (24) Gambia (2)

Georgia (35) Germany (392) Ghana (9) Great Britain (541) (host) Greece (104) Grenada (10) Guam (8) Guatemala (19) Guinea (4) Guinea-Bissau (4) Guyana (6) Haiti (5) Honduras (27) Hong Kong (42) Hungary (157) Iceland (27) Independent Olympic  Athletes (4) India (83) Indonesia (22) Iran (53) Iraq (8) Ireland (66) Israel (37) Italy (284) Jamaica (50) Japan (293) Jordan (9) Kazakhstan (114) Kenya (47) Kiribati (3) North Korea (51) South Korea (245) Kuwait (11) Kyrgyzstan (14) Laos (3) Latvia (46) Lebanon (10) Lesotho (4) Liberia (4) Libya (5) Liechtenstein (3) Lithuania (62) Luxembourg (9) Macedonia (4) Madagascar (7) Malawi (3) Malaysia (30) Maldives (5) Mali (6) Malta (5) Marshall Islands (4) Mauritania (2) Mauritius (11) Mexico (102) Micronesia (6) Moldova (22) Monaco (6) Mongolia (29) Montenegro (33) Morocco (67) Mozambique (6) Myanmar (6) Namibia (9) Nauru (2) Nepal (5) Netherlands (178) New Zealand (184) Nicaragua (6) Niger (6)

Nigeria (55) Norway (64) Oman (4) Pakistan (21) Palau (5) Palestine (5) Panama (7) Papua New Guinea (8) Paraguay (8) Peru (16) Philippines (11) Poland (218) Portugal (77) Puerto Rico (25) Qatar (12) Romania (103) Russia (436) Rwanda (7) Saint Kitts and Nevis (7) Saint Lucia (4) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (3) Samoa (8) San Marino (4) São Tomé and Príncipe (2) Saudi Arabia (19) Senegal (31) Serbia (115) Seychelles (6) Sierra Leone (2) Singapore (23) Slovakia (46) Slovenia (65) Solomon Islands (4) Somalia (2) South Africa (125) Spain (282) Sri Lanka (7) Sudan (6) Suriname (5) Swaziland (3) Sweden (134) Switzerland (102) Syria (10) Chinese Taipei (44)] Tajikistan (16) Tanzania (7) Thailand (37) Timor-Leste (2) Togo (6) Tonga (3) Trinidad and Tobago (30) Tunisia (83) Turkey (114) Turkmenistan (10) Tuvalu (3) Uganda (16) Ukraine (237) United Arab Emirates (26) United States (530) Uruguay (29) Uzbekistan (54) Vanuatu (5) Venezuela (70) Vietnam (18) Virgin Islands (7) Yemen (4) Zambia (7) Zimbabwe (7)

Sports

 

The 2012 Summer Olympic programme features 26 sports and a total of 39 disciplines:

Aquatics Diving (8) Swimming (34) Synchronized swimming (2) Water polo (2) Archery (4) Athletics (47) Badminton (5) Basketball (2) Boxing (13) Canoeing Sprint (12) Slalom (4) Cycling BMX (2) Mountain biking (2) Road (4) Track (10) Equestrian Dressage (2) Eventing (2) Jumping (2)

Fencing (10) Field hockey (2) Football (2) Gymnastics Artistic (14) Rhythmic (2) Trampoline (2) Handball (2) Judo (14) Modern pentathlon (2) Rowing (14) Sailing (10) Shooting (15) Table tennis (4) Taekwondo (8) Tennis (5) Triathlon (2) Volleyball Volleyball (2) Beach volleyball (2) Weightlifting (15) Wrestling Freestyle (11) Greco-Roman (7)

For the first time, women's boxing is included in the programme, with 36 athletes competing in three different weight classes. There is a special dispensation to allow the various shooting events to go ahead, which would otherwise be illegal under UK gun law. In Tennis, mixed doubles returns to the Olympic programme for the first time since 1924.

London's bid featured 28 sports, in line with other recent Summer Olympics, but the IOC voted to drop baseball and softball from the 2012 Games two days after it selected London as the host city. The IOC reinforced its decision to drop both sports during the 2006 Winter Olympics, after they lost votes for reconsideration, and were last scheduled for Games at the 2008 Olympics. Following the decision to drop the two sports, the IOC held a vote on whether or not to replace them. The sports considered were karate, squash, golf, roller sports and rugby sevens. Karate and squash were the two final nominees, but neither received enough votes to reach the required two-thirds majority.

Even though formal demonstration sports were eliminated following the 1992 Summer Olympics, special tournaments for non-Olympic sports can be run during the games, such as the Wushu tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics. There were attempts to run Twenty20 cricket, and Netball tournaments parallel with the 2012 games, but neither campaign was successful.

Calendar

The final official schedule was released on 15 February 2011.

OC

Opening ceremony

●

Event competitions

1

Event finals

CC

Closing ceremony

July / August	25 Wed	26 Thu	27 Fri	28 Sat	29 Sun	30 Mon	31 Tue	1 Wed	2 Thu	3 Fri	4 Sat	5 Sun	6 Mon	7 Tue	8 Wed	9 Thu	10 Fri	11 Sat	12 Sun	Events
Ceremonies			OC																CC
Archery			●	1	1	●	●	●	1	1										4
Athletics										2	5	7	5	4	4	5	6	8	1	47
Badminton				●	●	●	●	●	●	1	2	2								5
Basketball				●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	1	1	2
Boxing				●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	3	●	5	5	13
Canoeing					●	●	1	1	2				●	●	4	4	●	4		16
Cycling				1	1			2	2	2	1	1	1	3	●	●	2	1	1	18
Diving					1	1	1	1		●	●	1	●	1	●	1	●	1		8
Equestrian				●	●	●	2		●	●	●	●	1	1	2					6
Fencing				1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1								10
Field hockey					●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	1	1		2
Football	●	●		●	●		●	●		●	●		●	●		1	●	1		2
Gymnastics				●	●	1	1	1	1	1	1	3	3	4		●	●	1	1	18
Handball				●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	1	1	2
Judo				2	2	2	2	2	2	2										14
Modern pentathlon																		1	1	2
Rowing				●	●	●	●	3	3	4	4									14
Sailing					●	●	●	●	●	●	●	2	2	2	1	1	1	1		10
Shooting				2	2	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	2							15
Swimming				4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4					1	1			34
Synchronized swimming												●	●	1		●	1			2
Table tennis				●	●	●	●	1	1	●	●	●	●	1	1					4
Taekwondo															2	2	2	2		8
Tennis				●	●	●	●	●	●	●	2	3								5
Triathlon											1			1						2
Volleyball				●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	1	1	●	1	1	4
Water polo					●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	1	●		1	2
Weightlifting				1	2	2	2	2		2	1	1	1	1						15
Wrestling												2	3	2	2	2	2	3	2	18
Total events				12	14	12	15	20	18	22	25	23	18	21	17	22	16	32	15	302
Cumulative total				12	26	38	53	73	91	113	138	161	179	200	217	239	255	287	302
July / August	25 Wed	26 Thu	27 Fri	28 Sat	29 Sun	30 Mon	31 Tue	1 Wed	2 Thu	3 Fri	4 Sat	5 Sun	6 Mon	7 Tue	8 Wed	9 Thu	10 Fri	11 Sat	12 Sun

US athletes spend most of their time ether training or competing at other amateur sporting events earning their living from cash prizes and honors.  They also earn income form product endorsements and may have sponsors.  Many train eight hours a day seven days a week - more than most spend working a regular 9 to 5 job.  Another interesting fact for US Olympic athletes is they are required to pay income tax on their actual medals!  Some how that just seems wrong to me, especially when the country has received the prestige for the athletes efforts.



Michael Phelps

The USA team is doing very well at these summer games having won a total of 37 medals putting the US in second place at the time of the posting of this article.  Michael Phelps has set a new Olympic record having won a total of 21 medals since 2000 making him the most decorated man in the Olympics of all time.  He has won 2 Bronze - 3 Silver and 17 Gold medals in his overall Olympic career appearances as of 8.3.12  beginning with Athens (2000) Beijing (2008) and London (2012).  Michael is also the first male athlete to win gold in the "200 meter individual medley" for three consecutive Olympic appearances.   His contributions to team USA have been irreplaceable.  He is the kind of athlete coaches pray for and rarely see!



Mr. "Power Swimmer"!

One of the special qualities of the Olympic Games, I think, is that when you’re really into the event of whatever sport, you lose yourself and your nationality. It is at that moment you appreciate the athlete who has trained so hard to be the best no matter what their nationality. I think that is the true spirit of the Olympics games.

Top 5 Nations Medal Count:  Courtesy "NBC USA Sports" as of  8.3.12

The 2014 Winter Olympics will be coming to Sochi, Russia and I can hardly wait! I think the Olympic Headquarters should put together a “Best of Highlights” reel to help us through the long wait between the games. See you in Sochi - 2014!

Next week we will be taking a look at the US economy today.

Until Next time!