2w ago

Cheating scandal rocks world stone skimming championships

www.bbc.co.uk

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/35985472

Ooft, the prize is literally just a trophy, why would you cheat this? Skimming takes skill, but to win you surely need a healthy dose of luck too. Anyway, Easdale looks a fun place to visit

Scotland @lemmy.world

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2w ago

Cheating scandal rocks world stone skimming championships

www.bbc.co.uk /news/articles/cp982r99rrmo

31 comments

Writing that headline absolutely made a word-nerd's day.
- Rocks are natural. Stones are rocks that have been worked/shaped by humans.
  
  No.
  
  This guy’s a stoner.
Okay. So.
Stupid question.
Why don't they do some like, synthetic, maybe stoneware, "stones" that are perfectly shaped for optimal performance. One, if they were all uniform in size and mass and mass distribution, it'd be a lot easier to spot a cheat. And two, if it's optimized (or intentionally un-optomized) that removes some luck and puts the skill more center stage.
- Picking a good rock seems like a skill. Though, that assumes you can get the rock you want.
- The rule is that they have to be natural stones from the island
  
  So... Planting them beforehand would have to happen by when, exactly?
  
  Yes, I understand that, the rule doesn’t make sense from a competitive point. I imagine there’d be somebody local that would happily supply something (fired clay, maybe,) at cost for an opportunity to sell stuff.
  Maybe it’s just a non-serious local event, and finding the rocks is half the fun.
  But really! lol.
- Why don’t they dope openly in the Olympics, maybe similar here
  Synthetic = cleanup needed after
  
  stoneware is relatively environmentally benign as litter. It's just clay that's been fired (and maybe glazed, mind. but no need for that.) What makes it different from earthenware is that the type of clay used can be fired to a higher temperature, letting it fuse and turn glassy (without said glaze). terracotta pots, for example, are earthenware. something like that.
  If you wanted to get even more particular, I'm sure we could sinter some artificial shale or other sedimentary rock into a synthetic stone. "synthetic" here means artificially constructed, the materials could be little different than "natural" ones already in the environment. There's probably clay deposits near by to justify that, too. (maybe not on the island, which was historically a slate quarry.) "
  the reason they don't dope in the Olympics or any professional sport is because it's dangerous to the body. if everyone used a rock designed to be identical, it wouldn't be cheating, in the same way that good nutrition isn't cheating in the Olympics.
- Rock doctoring!
  Dr Matthews, also known as the "Toss Master", told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland that judges heard "rumours and murmurings of some nefarious deeds".
  "There was a little bit of stone doctoring," he said.
  "They had shaped it so that it was perfectly circular and fitted our three inch measurer.
  It appears it didn’t matter, though, because the article doesn’t mention the winner as one of the rock doctors.
  
  That's a good band name if I ever heard one: The Rock Doctors. Almost weird it isn't already taken.
I can't wait for a 10 part Netflix documentary about it.
The winner totalled 177m, and you get three skims, so almost 60m of skim each.
How many people could even throw that far?
- I think I can skim a stone farther than I can throw one, given a good stone and flat water... and a few attempts. I'm definitely not getting remotely near 60m though, that's wild
Taking performance enhancing drugs? Idk if that should even matter. Steroids are not going to change your skims, gross as they are.

31 comments