I know the Olympics are generally GorT’s beat, but holy cow, what a crazy race the men’s 100m butterfly was. All credit to Serbia’s Milorad Čavić for taking it to Phelps without the slightest sign of fear or hesitation. One one-hundredth of a second is a ludicrous margin of victory: it’s literally imperceptible. I can see why Čavić’s coaches protested; by the same token, if you’re judging by computer out to hundredths of a second (and is 0.01 second a reliable margin of error on these instruments?!), you have to go with what the computer says, unless you’re going to have video review with a MythBusters-style high-speed camera.

Congrats to Michael Phelps; well done, Gospodin Čavić; and holy crap, is it amazing that Crocker’s 2005 world record is still in place.

UPDATE: Oops. Milorad Čavić isn’t really “Serbia’s.” He’s was born in Anaheim, went to Cal-Berkeley, and is swimming for his parents’ country.

UPDATE 2: And all praise to Mark Spitz. His comments to Phelps were utterly gracious and perfectly pitched for the occasion.

Confucius, Œc. Vol.

Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu.