Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2012 July 29

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July 29

People as Olympic pixels

In which Olympiad was the first time when people were used as pixels (holding up some colored piece) to make up some image in the stadium? The first time I saw it was during 1980 Olympics in Moscow, but surely that wasn't the first time?Knyazhna (talk) 05:54, 29 July 2012 (UTC)

These are called card stunts. The article mentions the performance at the 1980 Olympics and a few others since then. However, this trick has been done at U.S. college football games since 1910. (In fact, there was a prank pulled at the 1961 Rose Bowl where students from Caltech altered the coding for the University of Washington's cards, resulting in some humorous images.)    → Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ Ⓜ 06:45, 29 July 2012 (UTC)

It is worth noting that the London opening ceremony didn't use card stunts, as the crowds weren't holding up the lights - they were attached to the seats and controlled remotely by the organisers. The crowd were encouraged to hold up and wave a variety of objects throughout the ceremony, but that was barely visible in the wide shots and wasn't used to form messages or images. 81.159.248.53 (talk) 09:35, 29 July 2012 (UTC)

How do you stop a sailing boat?

Resolved

I've just been watching the highlights of Ben Ainslie competing in the Finn sailing at the Olympics, and was particularly intrigued by the start of the races. The boats lined up behind a line between two boats before the signal to start was given. What I'd like to know is: how do you 'stop' a sailing boat? The boats seemed to be almost stationary, but I don't see how that can happen when you've got the sail rigged, especially given that the boats started moving immediately after getting the signal. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 21:20, 29 July 2012 (UTC)

Anchors? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:23, 30 July 2012 (UTC)

A sailing boat can stop if it points Head To Wind. This manual covers the procedure for starting a race in a lot of detail: you sail up to the starting area shortly before the race begins, then you sit still by pointing almost head to wind, keeping the boat in tension until it's almost time to go, when you turn and start to move forwards and hopefully cross the starting line just after the race is started. --Colapeninsula (talk) 09:14, 30 July 2012 (UTC)

Perfect, thank you! - Cucumber Mike (talk) 09:33, 30 July 2012 (UTC)