fauxstor.net

Badminton Madness

Here is something to do if you are an avid badminton player, have a court in your back yard, and have some free time: Re-stripe the court!

The existing court has been there for more than a dozen years. Before that, it was a dirt (and occasionally sand) court. It is now made of concrete, and though it is the correct width, the depth is not properly marked. Further, there are no singles sidelines, nor service lines.

Since I am mad enough to get up in the wee hours of the morning to watch Olympic badminton, why not go extra crazy and restripe the court? The problem is, I only wanted to do this once (as far as measuring everything was concerned), so I drilled out the points where all the lines intersect.

Step 0: Get space for a badminton court. This is probably the hardest part. It just has to be big enough. 17'x44' for singles, and 20'x44' for doubles play.

Step 1: Get a thoroughly detailed map of a regulation badminton court. Here is a really good one.

Step 2: Get your gear. You need at least 4 tape measures that are 25' or longer. A really nice yard-stick is also a plus. If you are doing this on a concrete surface, get a high-speed drill, and a 3" long masonry bit that is 1/8" in diameter. You also need a couple cotter pins that are 2-3" long and 1/8" in diameter, a chalking snap-line, a can of compressed air (with a straw), and something metal and pointy, like a dart.

Step 3: Lay out the tape measures. Do one down the middle, and two on the doubles lines. Then lay the fourth across at the outside boundary line. You will keep moving the fourth tape measure down to the long and short service lines as you mark and drill.

Step 4: Start measuring, scratching, and drilling. Use the yardstick to finesse the measurements for the singles line (1'6" inside each of the doubles lines). A metal yard/meter stick is great for a guide while scratching the lines in with the dart tip. You want to put marks at any point where two lines meet, namely:

• the corners of the doubles sidelines and the back boundary line
• the intersection of the singles sidelines and the back boundary line
• the intersection of the doubles sidelines and the doubles long service line
• the intersection of the singles sidelines and the doubles long service line
• the intersection of the singles sidelines and the short service line
• the intersection of the doubles sidelines and the short service line
• the intersection of the center line and the back boundary line
• the intersection of the center line and the doubles long service line
• the intersection of the center line and the short service line

That comes out to 15 points per side, for a total of 30 holes drilled. You should also put some along the intersection of the net line and the singles sidelines, as well as intersection of the doubles sidelines and the netline if your net posts are outside the doubles sidelines.

Basically, drill a lot of holes. I recommend that you scratch them all out then drill, since the tape measures get in the way somewhat, and drilling can take a bit of time. Also, get a couple drill bits. I wore one out about three quarters of the way through (it was brand new, too).

Step 5: Clean the court. Take the canned air and stick the straw in wach of the holes you drilled to clear them out. Then make sure the cotter pin will fit in the hole. Make sure all the holes are of adequate depth and diameter. For the rest of the court, use a leaf blower. For good measure, give it a hosing as well. Be sure to let it dry before the next step.

Step 6: Chalk out the lines with a snap-string. You know, those clever things that leave a line of blue dust once you bring them taut and give them a yanking. This is why we drilled so many holes. You may think to yourself "Why not just put holes at the endpoints of everything and do it all in one go?" Trust me, it is more accurate, and the line is more readable, if you do it in stages. The string can get hung up, especially on concrete, at distances over 7 feet or so. Plus, to re-chalk the string, you would have to wind 20 to 22 feet of it back in every time. Use the chalker with one of the cotter pins. This allows you to anchor one end of the line perfectly so you can go about the court snapping.

Step 7: Get out the tape and start taping. I used the blue masking tape variety that is supposed to be easy to remove. Two rolls of the tape at 1' 1/2" wide by 60.1 yards proved enough. In fact, it takes almost exactly one roll per side. You should end up with about 6 to 8 feet of extra tape per side - enough for any spot repairs that might need to be made. One important thing to keep on mind is where the tape should go on the chalk lines. Since the stripes are considered part of the area they are delineating, be sure to put them INSIDE of all sidelines and service lines. Thus, the tape should be away from the net on the short service chalk line, and toward the net on the long service chalk line. The center line should straddle the chalk line.

Step 8: Make sure your net is the correct height. 5' in the middle, 5' 1" at the doubles sidelines.

Step 9: Get your badminton racquet, shuttlecocks, and find some victims.

In fact, if you are in the North Bay Area, and either like teaching badminton, or getting beat at badminton, drop me a line.

And if you're like me, then you, too will be up at 4:00 am Pacific to watch the Men's Badminton Gold Medal Finals!

Posted by justin at 4:00 PM

Amazon.com: Fair Game versus Real Names?

About a month ago, Andy Baio and Justine Larbalestier had a contemporaneous idea for internet fun: The Amazon.com Knee-Jerk Contrarian Game.

Shortly thereafter, Alan Taylor wrote a utility to achieve the same effect in a more expeditious manner. Taylor's utility had a sufficiently low threshold of effort such that I would actually see how much fun this could be.

My first target: Dianetics. I found this personally amusing, for reasons which you may have already guessed.

Recently, Amazon.com has implemented its Real Names policy in an effort to procure more credible reviews of books. The measure has garnered a good amount of media attention. While higher quality content is a respectable aim, there could be unanticipated side effects. Namely, people who write bad reviews of Dianetics or other L. Ron Hubbard/Scientology books could find themselves subjected to a nasty practice know as the "Fair Game Policy".

"Fair Game Policy" is a doctrine within Scientology that allows its members to do the following to its "enemies":

[An enemy] [m]ay be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.

Why would anybody want to take up the "Fair Game" policy against an adverse reviewer on Amazon.com? Book sales, while no doubt revenue generating, also provide a future revenue stream from adherents to the belief system. Reviews that bash Dianetics interfere with that revenue stream.

If you don't think that Scientology would do such a thing, just ask the Internal Revenue Service.

Scientology has gone after archive.org and google.com over caching Xenu.net. Google's cache has returned, while archive.org's remains absent.

In 1999, Scientology used the DMCA to compel AT&T Worldnet to reveal the identity of an individual who had been posting anonymously to alt.religion.scientology. Four years earlier, Scientology breached anon.penet.fi. It is clear that Scientology counts Anonymity among its "enemies".

Scientology's invocation of the "Fair Game" policy has been well documented. It was visited upon Gerald Armstrong (Church of Scientology v. Armstrong, 232 Cal. App. 3d 1060, 283 Cal. Rptr. 917 (1991)) and Gene Allard (Allard v. Church of Scientology, 58 Cal. App. 3d 453 (1976)).

Amazon's Real Name policy makes it easier for reviewers to be targeted. It displays your name, and your city. How hard would it be for Scientology to find somebody with these two pieces of information? A lot easier than it would be for them to crack PGP encryption, and they already tried that.

According the Amazon FAQ, a user may elect to use a Pen Name. However, the FAQ goes on to state that "[t]he use of a Real Name is just one input into a function that much more strongly weights 'helpful' votes when votes are available. People who write great reviews and choose not to use their Real Names will still be the top-ranked reviewers."

While the adverse impact of using a Pen Name rather than a Real Name seems slight, there is still at least some adverse effect. I would consider any review that helped me avoid getting sucked into a cult to be more than helpful. My vote should count the same even if the reviewer wished to avoid the wrath of "Fair Game".

Even if there were no differentiation, one could be subjected to "Fair Game" practices for reviews he or she didn't even write. From the Amazon FAQ:

Are my Real Name, Pen Name, and personalized signature unique?

Your Real Name, Pen Name, and personalized signature are not guaranteed to be unique.

Amazon needs to make reviewer names unique, whether "Real" or aliases. Pen Names and Real Names must be made to carry the exact same weight. Hardly any of a review's value is lost in a pseudonym; a reviewer's oeuvre is more telling of his or her biases than the accuracy of the name.

Posted by justin at 10:35 PM