thiago_simoes

@heywoodu I'm sad to hear about all of this. It's heartbreaking.

I'm very, very angry now. No Junior Worlds in artistic and rhythmic gymnastics in 2021, no YOG in 2022. I've never really been a huge fan of the Olympics (it's not a secret I only care about artistic and rhythmic gymnastics), but I enjoy the YOG for what is is. Terrible decision.

But the whole thing about governments that strongly support sports is that they want people to be proud of the nation while they do terrible things when no one is paying attention. I've not seen any act of communism here, honestly, and that was my point when I replied to your message. It doesn't mean that I support any of his actions, but I can't say I understand much about what's going on in Mexico now, to be honest. However, my main point of concern is that one can't just throw the word "communist" whenever one doesn't like what the government is doing. I mean, here in Brazil people have feared communist for decades now, to the point of electing Bolsonaro, and we're in deep, deep trouble thanks to him. Not that AMLO seems to be any better, especially when it comes to how he deals with the covid-19 pandemic, but it's not like I see him as a communist in the slightest (okay, criminalizing memes is bad, but that's about it).

Man, your views on politics really make me cringe. I would never think you're one of those people who see any leftist government as pseudo-communism, but here we are. Besides, it doesn't make any sense: if the government is pseudo-communist, why cancel a sports event which would celebrate national identity?

I agree about the origin, but it barely reaches the minimum number of federations to justify its inclusion in the Pan Am sports program. I don't think we need this sport at the Pan Am Games in any form, to be honest. This doesn't make any sense. If it has been played in Mexico and Central America, it does not fit the definition of a Pan American sport at all. In the end, it depends on what people want from the Pan American Games. There are those who want a mini-Olympics with countries from North, Centra and South American, and the Caribbean, and there are a few people who want that specific, indigenous and exotic sports eventually get added to the program. I'd be okay with a Pan American Indigenous Games or something like that, but I don't really understand why sports that are barely played on the continent are even considered for a full fledged edition of the Pan Ams. I mean, we already have some weird sports like Basque Pelota, Water Skiing and Racquetball, so why add even more bizarre sports to the program? What will come next? Capoeira?

I second this. Besides, quad hockey is popular in all of Latin America, while cricket is restricted to a small number of nations in the Caribbean. It's pretty much like Lacrosse: a sport I can't see being part of the Pan Ams because it's very specific to a small group of nations.

It's insane. I remember one commentator saying that Halkina has a body that "does not follow the standards" in rhythmic gymnastics because she has curves. CURVES! And some people even dared to call her fat because of that. NCAA, on the other hand, lets artistic gymnasts perform without a care in the world about their own weight.

2012 Olympian Francesca Fox from Great Britain came forward and accused her coaches of emotional abuse. Source: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jul/07/uk-sport-to-investigate-shocking-and-upsetting-claims-of-gymnastics-abuse This is one more scandal in a growing list of accusations of emotional and physical abuse over the last months. Besides, at least two suicide attempts from rhythmic gymnasts have been reported in the last few years. Off the top of my head, the recent scandals I can remember are: Switzerland: https://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/alle-news-in-kuerze/die-rhythmische-sportgymnastik-kommt-in-der-schweiz-nicht-zur-ruhe/45869394?fbclid=IwAR331DpvpzqsTdu9xy5gnqFuESsbtKYpnqzKTemdr7gfQTKT96msHfHKEOI Brazil: https://www.uol.com.br/esporte/reportagens-especiais/minha-historia-angelica/ Russia: https://www.rockergymnastics.com/rhythmic-gymnastics/2020/2/6/alexandra-soldatovas-alleged-suicide-attempt-rocks-rhythmic-gymnasticsnbsp Bulgaria: https://www.novinite.com/articles/174911/Bulgarian+Authorities+Confirm+Rhythmic+Gymnastics+Athlete+Attempted+Suicide Not to mention sexual assaults from coaches, medical staff or even gymnasts themselves in artistic gymnastics; in recent months, cases have been reported in Brazil, Canada and the United States, as far as I can remember.

These are beat-em-ups. Love these kind of games too! I have Dungeons and Dragons Chronicles of Mystara on Steam (based on Dungeons and Dragons Collection for the Sega Saturn, the greatest console ever) and I'll probably buy Capcom Beat em Up Bundle. But I was talking about one on one fighting games, like Street Fighter and The King of Fighters.

I totally agree. I never actually enjoyed MOBAs and I mostly dislike FPS games (though I'm okay with compelling single-player experiences such as Medal of Honor, Half Life, Metroid Prime, Deus EX), but I love 2D fighting games and it's been a long, long, long time since I've had any fun in multiplayer matches. I miss the arcade scene in the 90s. Any recommendations about good 2D fighting games? I'm a huge fan of The King of Fighters (especially '97 and '98) and Street Fighter Alpha 3. I heard Skullgirls is a nice game, and it's cheap enough for me to try it and not even regret buying it if it's not really good, so I'll give it a shot. Any other titles?

Thank you. They were not exactly my friends, but they were people I knew and it's always bad when someone you know dies, especially because of other people's lack of responsibility. I hope all of you guys are doing well. Keep wearing masks an avoid leaving home, even if the situation in your home country is not alarming. I've seen people here who clearly displayed signs of covid infection leaving home for absolutely no reason, even going to parties or to the beach. Some people show no respect for the lives of others, and it's like they would not even care if their actions kill someone. Trust no one. It's better to be safe than sorry.

Three people I knew died, all three of then under the age of 40. They were very cautions and aware of the dangers of this virus, and they did everything they could not to be infected, but all the other morons who lived near them were not nearly as cautious. I moved back to Rio de Janeiro, and while I'm happy to come back to my home place, I'm very, very, very surprised at how fearless everybody is. It's like they all want to die. I'm really angry at all the shitheads who live in Rio.

Somewhat unrelated, but it's about my name, so why not share it? Tiago/Thiago is a variation of James. Harry Potter's father, James Potter, is known as Tiago Potter in Brazil.

I believe there is enough room to decrease the number of quotas. Currently we have: Men's artistic: 98 quotas Women's artistic: 98 quotas Rhythmic: 26 individual quotas + 70 group quotas Trampoline: 16 quotas for men + 16 quotas for women The number of events is the same, but we have 210 women and 114 men. If there's a push for gender equality in numbers, as well, I believe this could happen: Men's artistic: 5 gymnasts in 8 teams (40) + 80 individuals Women's artistic: 5 gymnasts in 8 teams (40) + 20 individuals Rhythmic gymnastics: 5 gymnasts in 8 groups (40) + 20 individuals Trampoline: 16 quotas for men + 16 quotas for women Instead of 12 teams in artistic gymnastics, only 8 teams would be able to qualify. So, 8 teams + 80 individuals in men's artistic gymnastics means that 88 nations would be able to qualify, what is absolutely INSANE. I'm not even sure that there are 88 national federations with active programs in artistic gymnastics right now. Women's artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics have always been seen as niche disciplines with the same old countries earning medals, and a severe reduction in quotas would make things ten times worse than they already are. There's also a chance that teams in artistic will keep the current number of gymnasts (4 per team) instead of going back to the 5 per team (as originally planned for 2024). This could potentially open up 8 individual quotas in women's artistic gymnastics, but it would also affect men's artistic gymnastics and now 96 countries would be able to qualify. Once again: I'm not even sure that there are that many countries competing at the World Championships. This would lead to 52 less quotas. Now, if we consider a slightly different program consisting of the same number of events, I believe the following scenario could be feasible: Men's artistic: 8 teams with 4 gymnasts (32) + 66 individuals = 98 gymnasts Women's artistic: 8 teams with 4 gymnasts (32) + 33 individuals = 65 gymnasts Rhythmic: 8 teams with 2 gymnasts (16) + 17 individuals = 33 gymnasts Trampoline: 16 quotas for men + 16 quotas for women = 32 gymnasts In rhythmic gymnastics, groups would be gone. Teams would be composed of 2 gymnasts from the same nation. Events would be 1) team all-around and 2) individual all-around, instead of the current format (group all-around and individual all-around). This would lead to 96 less quotas. Wow! Either way, these options seem completely insane to me and would nearly kill both women's artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics.

The two biggest cities in the country are São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, so it's not surprising to know that most cases are from these cities. The state governor of São Paulo and the mayor of Rio de Janeiro presented plans to reopen stores in one week. This is absolutely insane. At least schools will not return to face to face classes in another 60 days.

1,000+ deaths in 24 h in Brazil. 5,500+ deaths in 7 days. Still, the president and state governors want people to return to normal everyday life. I'm getting crazy in this country.

A question for our Mexican friends (@mrv86 and others): does anybody here have access to the hemeroteca of the online newspaper El Porvenir, from Monterrey? Alternatively, those who study at Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL) can also have free access to the archives. The website is located here: http://hemerotecaelporvenir.com.mx/ There are some results from the Pan American Gymnastics Championships that are only available through the archives of this newspaper. I asked UANL for a temporary pass, but they only allow access to students there. I also asked El Porvenir themselves for a free pass for 24 hours so I could just update Wikipedia, on the basis that I don't earn any money by updating Wikipedia and the hemeroteca would gain free publicity through citations there, but they ignored my e-mail. Bummer. A few months ago, I would probably jump in and pay the asking price (around 47 dollars) for the 3-month access plan, but the strong devaluation of the Brazilian real is a major issue for me right now.

Yep. There's a whole district in Rio de Janeiro, pretty much like a Chinatown, but composed of Syrian and Lebanese immigrants and their descendants. Weirdly enough, I never associated them to Muslims because I've never seen a Mosque in Rio. According to Google, there is one, but this is new information for me. It's really odd, because according to Wikipedia, there are around 2 to 10 million Brazilians whose parents/grandparents are from Syria, Lebanon or Palestine, but Google tells me that there are only 9 mosques in the whole country.

I keep my distance from most of my family members. The one I used to be closer was my aunt, but she has become a very strong supporter of Bolsonaro and I don't talk to her anymore. They think (and sometimes do) the most terrible things, but they act like they're humble and self-conscious, and this really pisses me off. There are very few Muslims in Brazil. There was a family that came from Lebanon two blocks away from where I used to live and they had a small restaurant. I've seen them giving away free food for the poor over and over again. They are really nice people, and the food was superb. I miss eating there. Evangelican Christians in Brazil are also divided in subgroups (Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, Jehovah's witnesses, Adventists and so on) but they are very consistent when it comes to hate speech (disguised as part of their beliefs). Almost all of them are like "I don't care if you're from a different branch as long as you hate LGBT+ people and macumbeiros (people who practice African-derived religions like umbanda, candomblé, tambor de mina, quimbanda etc.)".

Good for you. Most of my family are evangelical Christians, and I have nothing but terrible experiences when I'm around them. I get into verbal conflict even my mom, who also practices this religion, more often than not, for some very questionable beliefs and behaviors (I mean borderline hate speech here, or blatant hate speech from some of my family members, while I firmly oppose to any form of hate towards people's freedom). I've been to two or three services in big churches, because my mom tried to convince me that her religion is good, and all I could see was: 1) Ministers want money, lots of money, all the money you can give them, and then some more. 2) If something is wrong with your life, it's because the devil is causing it. One's bad choices, lack of commitment to work or study, laziness, nothing counts. Bad government? Nope. Corrupt politicians? Nope. It's the devil. 3) However, if you go to church every day, pay whatever the hell they want you to pay, pray, pay some more and things are still bad, then it's because God is testing you. Once again, it's not like you can do anything to change it other than pay and pray. Alternatively, if you are truly a pristine person, then the problem is that someone around you is causing the anger of God, and the problem is this person's lifestyle and behavior. Usually someone who smokes, drinks, has sex outside of marriage, dresses "provocatively", is gay or lesbian, or practices a different religion. 4) Anyone who practices African-derived religions is seen as a summoner of demons. Evangelical Christians pray that they are punished, and their temples close. And that they convert to Christianism, of course. 5) The more extreme branches will go as far as advise people to not even consider family bonds anymore if one is not evangelical Christian, or if one does something terribly wrong (like being gay). Former thieves and killers are immediately forgiven once they become evangelical Christians, but gays and lesbians are usually seen as the worst offenders, unless they get "cured". Oh, and most evangelical Christians support Bolsonaro. In fact, there's a strong theory he was mainly elected because of them. Another crazy fact: all around Brazil, especially in Rio, there are several evangelical Christian drug dealers. They can go as far as invading temples of African-derived religions and destroying sacred sculptures and offerings, usually with a machine gun on their hands. Also, priests of African-derived religions are often expelled from the community once their temples are destroyed, and dealers invade their homes and take everything from them. They have to leave only with the clothes they are wearing at the moment and nothing else, and they lose their property and belongings forever. Of course these are extreme cases, but I've read about it at least two or three times.

It's similar to how some (I'd say most) evangelical Christians in Brazil claim that it's part of "God's plan" to punish (often kill) people who are not evangelical Christians.

Thank you! Fantastic work! I'm bored too, so I decided to spend the last few days trying to gather the results for every edition of the Junior Pan American Artistic and Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships. I was able to find most of the results, what's very surprising even to me, considering these events date all way back to 1987! The only event I could find nothing about, except for confirmation that it did indeed happen, is the 1987 Jr Rhythmics Pan Ams. But given how old this is, I think it's perfectly understandable that not even Web Archive or obscure newspaper archives have nothing about it. As usual, I've uploaded all of the results to Wikipedia. The full list is here. EDIT: Guess what? I found some results. They were hidden in an electronic library from Mexico. Now I've found results (not all of them, but most of them) for all 36 tournaments. Nice.

I don't know where to ask, but I hope this is a good place. Does anybody have the documents detailing the qualification system in gymnastics for the 2010 Youth Olympics? I want to know if results of the 2009 Junior Pan American Championships were used, or if there was a specific Junior Pan Am Championship in 2010. I know senior Pan Am Championships were staged in 2010, but I can't find any info on Junior Pan Ams.

Yes, I'm intrigued by it, but I believe that there are only online modes (i.e., no single player versions of the games with AI opponents). While it would be easy to find someone to play the most famous games, my favorite game is Hanafuda Koi Koi (a Japanese card game), and I'm sure it would be extremely hard to find people interested in playing it. I bought a specific game on Steam named Koi Koi Japan, so I can play it against the computer and hopefully find some online matches too. It's quite fun and currently it's very cheap (I paid, like, 1.5 USD for the game and all DLCs).