Posted on 02/17/2010 11:38:22 AM PST by bestintxas
You may have heard that the men’s 500-meter speedskating event was delayed for over an hour at Monday night’s Olympics. What you probably didn’t hear was exactly why irate skaters, coaches and fans were forced to sit around waiting for the ice to be prepared. It seems that in their zeal to be “environmentally friendly,” the Vancouver Olympic Committee decided to replace the familiar and decades-proven propane-fueled ice-resurfacers, known to ice-sport fans worldwide as Zambonis, with a prototype electric model.
And, as with most business decisions clouded by liberal pressure to “go green,” this turned out to be a bad one.
On Sunday, the women’s 3,000-meter was delayed when one if the green machines dumped water and snow 20-meters from the inside lane’s finishing line. But that was a minor inconvenience compared to Monday, when complaints that the eco-friendly machines had left a huge puddle and visible grooves in the ice brought the proceedings to a crashing halt.
Dutch national team coach Wopke de Vegt was among those complaining even prior to these mishaps that the electric resurfacers were simply unable to keep the ice consistent from one day to the next. Who can blame him? How can champions be crowned or records be booked when the playing field is anything short of even?
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Well that’s a nickel holding up a dollar bill...
So it’s electically powered instead of gas. Great. Now, where did the electicity come from?
Besides that, of all the unlikely candidates for conversion to electricity, a Zamboni takes the cake.
It takes a lot of power to produce significant heat. That thing must have some serious batteries...
Last report is that they are flying in a "real" Zamboni from the manufacturer in California to get the job done.
Canada needs to fly in a Zamboni from California?
That’s like Japan needing to fly in sushi from Arizona!
The second Zamboni sold is now in the Smithsonian...
The first Zamboni sold is still in use!
What could be more “Green” than a machine that lasts forever?
CLARIFICATION REGARDING OLYMPIC ICE RESURFACING ISSUES
PARAMOUNT, CALIFORNIA (February 16, 2010) – This past weekend, the ice resurfacing equipment at one of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games apparently malfunctioned and was unable to perform its resurfacing task. These machines were not manufactured by the Zamboni Company.
A few media outlets have published inaccurate information regarding those machines, associating the Zamboni brand name with the malfunctioning ice resurfacers.
While it is unfortunate that there was an interruption to the Winter Olympic events, please note: the resurfacers which were on the ice during those events were not Zamboni® brand ice resurfacers and should not be referred to as “Zamboni machines”.
As further information becomes available, it will be posted on the Company’s web site: www.zamboni.com
With a history that spans over six decades, the Zamboni Company preserves its founder’s legacy as the leader in ice resurfacing technology and remains the overwhelming choice for ice rink operators throughout the world. Zamboni was proud to be the exclusive supplier to the Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Salt Lake, Nagano, Lillehammer, Lake Placid, Sapporo, Innsbruck and Squaw Valley. Zamboni also participated in the Winter Olympic Games in Calgary and Sarajevo.
I know indoor rinks give me headaches. I do blame it on the propane Zambonis, for lack of any other reason, but I’d like to see some detailed air quality studies.
That and repeatedly falling and hitting your head.
Maybe Audi should start making them and run them on "clean diesel!"
As Ron White loves to put it “You can’t fix stupid””
We have the Darwin Awards.
We need a new set of awards for these kinds of problems.
This mess needs to be put right up alongside the smart guys in Wisconsin who declared/demanded that all stop light bulbs that had been used sucessfully for years needed to be replaced with LED type bulbs. Then, when the winter snows came, the very low heat LED bulbs didn’t melt the snow that blew inside the light cans, and a driver could not tell if the light was green/yellow/red, nor could they see the turn arrows. The fix? Buying plastic curved caps to install over every light can—at $40 apiece+++++ LABOR to install each and every one. I am willing to bet there are well over a million of these light cans in the state.
We need a name for these awards for stupid, since the Darwin Awards are aimed at those who probably didn’t survive their behavior.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.