![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.conversiondiary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/7_quick_takes_sm1.jpg\" "\\"7_quick_takes_sm\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u2014 1 \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n Just a housekeeping reminder: This coming week, I\u2019ll be talking about\u00a0Company<\/em> for our Sondheim watch-along party<\/a> and having some guest posts\/featured comments\/etc. \u00a0So check it out on Netflix<\/a> and let me know if you\u2019d like to link up.<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 2 \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n Last week\u2019s links were\u00a0all Olympic-themed<\/a>, and I\u2019ve got one more to add in that vein:\u00a0Flowing Data has links<\/a>\u00a0to all of the\u00a0NYT<\/em>\u2018s best visualizations of track and field history at the Olympics. \u00a0One of my favorites: looking at the fasted recorded times by kids in the 100m and seeing how far back in history you would have to go for that kid\u2019s time to put him or her in medal contention.<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 3 \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n This next video is not from an Olympic sport, but it seems at least as lovely as dyad synchronized swimming<\/a>.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/vimeo.com\/46610799<\/a>\n <\/a>\u2014 4 \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n Not physically punishing enough for an Olympic sport, you say? \u00a0Well, I\u2019d read Scientific American\u2019s excerpt<\/a> from Francis Slakey\u2019s To the Last Breath: A Memoir of Going to Extremes<\/em><\/a> before you\u2019re so quick to make a virtue out of enduring awfulness. \u00a0He\u2019s a physicist who climbed Everest, so he can describe the misery\u00a0very precisely<\/em>.<\/p>\n As a climber goes up even higher in altitude, into the so-called death zone, the dangerously thin air above 26,000 feet, there is so little oxygen available that the body makes a desperate decision: it cuts off the digestive system. The body can no longer afford to direct oxygen to the stomach to help digest food because that would divert what precious little oxygen is available away from the brain. The body will retch back up anything the climber tries to eat, even if it\u2019s as small as an M&M.<\/p>\n The consequence of shutting down the digestive system is, of course, that the body can no longer take in any calories. Lacking an external fuel source, the body has no choice but to turn on itself. It now fuels itself by burning its own muscle\u2014the very muscle needed to climb the mountain\u2014at a rate of about two pounds per hour.<\/p>\n The climber\u2019s body is now in total collapse. The respiratory system is working way beyond its tolerance at roughly four times above normal; the circulatory system is pumping at only 30 percent capacity; the digestive system has completely shut down; and the muscular system is eating away at itself. In short, the body is dying. Rapidly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I still think you\u2019d have to be crazy to do this. \u00a0You should read the whole article, btw, and probably the book. \u00a0(I\u2019ve got it on hold at the library). \u00a0In the excerpt, he has a terrifying bit about trying to convince his guide not to lie down and die on the mountain.<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 5 \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n Ok, the connection to the next piece is just that it involves physical exertion and is terrifying (though I would argue also beautiful). \u00a0From io9, a nature video about a spider that weaves nets and drops them on bugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 6 \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n I wouldn\u2019t let the Curiosity landing<\/a> go by without an interesting space link, don\u2019t worry. \u00a0Gizmodo has a story on how the Apollo program computers stored some data in rope loops<\/a>, which had to be carefully woven. \u00a0Check out the video below:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n