The 2016 Sultan Mehmed Games: Opening Ceremony Pt.5

This should be read as a direct continuation of Part 4; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/the-2016-sultan-mehmed-games-opening_12.html

Para-Olympic Flag & Anthem: As with the Olympics it is a matter of protocol that each Opening Ceremony features the raising of the Para-Olympic flag and a performance of the Para-Olympic anthem.

This sequence began with a short video introducing us to the work of Alexandria Falerios and his Projecto Buto No Mundo (Project Buto Worldwide).

This is a project dreamt up by the Brazilian fathers of children with severe disabilities affecting their mobility and balance. It sees the fathers strap their child into a special harness around their chests and tie the child's feet to their own feet. This allows the children to play football with their fathers acting as their legs and bodies.

It is an incredibly powerful thing to watch being a dramatic demonstration of that deep, unconditional love that a parent has for their children regardless of everything and anything. It is like the stereotypical image of a young daughter dancing on her father's feet at a wedding only on a much, much more intense emotional level.

It was these fathers and their children that carried the Para-Olympic flag into the arena.

As they made their way around the arena the stadium announcer introduced us to each child and told us a little bit about their disability.

With this being a project being set up parents with no previous medical experience rather than a therapy being devised by doctors there isn't any common theme to these disabilities. You can't even strictly speaking refer to them all as congenital or birth defects. Although certainly some of the children do suffer from disorders like Cerebral Palsy others were born prematurely or starved of oxygen at birth.

Collectively though they represented that shadow that has been hanging over these Brazilian games, particularly the Para-Olympics. The Zika virus and the birth defects it causes.

I should start by pointing out that for the vast majority of people Zika is in no way a serious medical condition. It might give you a bit of a rash and leave you feeling grotty for about a week but that is it. In some extremely rare cases it can trigger off other autoimmune diseases such as Encephalitis or Guilain-Barre syndrome.  However that is true of all viral infections. Even the common cold.

The only group that Zika presents a significant risk to is pregnant women or more specifically their unborn children. However even within that very small sub-group of the population Zika only has serious consequences in less than 1% of cases.

Therefore I think there is a lot to be said for simply treating Zika as you would any host of childhood disease like Chicken Pox, Mumps or Rubella.

Catching any one of these diseases as an adult can have very serious consequences including death. As with Zika the risks are increased for pregnant women. As a result a lot of parents try and make sure their children catch these diseases before they reach puberty. That way they build up a natural immunity to the disease long before they're at risk of developing the more serious complications such as during pregnancy.

However in response to this Zika outbreak everyone seems to have completely lost any sense of perspective. US President Barack Obama in particular seems to view Zika as the next Ebola.

What Obama wants to do in response to the Zika outbreak is effectively carpet bomb the entire planet with an Organophosphate insecticide known as "Naled."

This is from the same family of chemicals as very serious Chemical Weapons such as Sarin and VX gas. Not only does it cause cancer in humans Naled also destroys the nervous system causing autoimmune diseases like Encephalitis and Guilain-Barre along with, well, death.

Naled also wipes out all insects including important pollinators such as honey bees and butterflies. In turn this causes a mass die-off of plants that require those pollinators to grow and animals that require those plants to live.

Obama also wants to rush through a Zika vaccine. There is a growing group of frankly conspiracy theorists who believe that vaccines cause other illnesses such as Autism who are known as "Anti-Vaxxers." I have absolutely no time for these people because before a vaccine hits the market it goes through years of extensive research and clinical trial  to establish that it doesn't cause health problems.

However with the Zika vaccine Obama is talking about skipping many of these research and clinical trials in order to rush the vaccine onto the market. As far as I'm concerned the risk that presents is out of all proportion to the scale of the threat Zika itself poses.

Personally I consider the whole thing to be yet another example of Obama's extreme egomania. Like many of his arrogance he is absolutely terrified of anything that is bigger or more powerful than him. Such as nature.

Despite all these problems with Obama's Zika strategy back in June the US Congress authorised USD1.1bn to fund it. However Obama himself then vetoed that bill because he wanted an extra USD70m to abort babies whose mothers were infected with Zika. 99% of whom will have absolutely no health problems whatsoever.

Obama is now trying to claim that it was Congress that blocked Zika funding. Once again behaving like a petulant child.

Despite the extremely low risks - even to pregnant women - Zika has resulted in some 4000 babies being born in Brazil with a severe birth defect called "Microcephaly." It is worth pointing out though that is in a country of more than 200 million people.

Quite what the prognosis for those babies will be is hard to tell. Rather than being a disease or a disorder itself Microcephaly is merely a specific symptom. In Latin in literally means; "Small Headedness."

Microcephaly is defined by the skull failing to grow to its normal size. When this happens what tends to happen is that the brain - lacking space - also fails to develop. In some cases although shrunken the skull continues to grow as the rest of the body does. In other cases it does not grow at all.

Microcephaly is actually reasonably common in disorders such as Cerebral Palsy and Dwarfism. As a result at the Para-Olympics there are actually a number of competitors with mild forms of Microcephaly. For them it is not a serious problem and doesn't stop them from competing is sport at the international level.

However with Zika related Microcephaly the prognosis seems to be much worse. In the majority of those cases the stunted growth of the brain seems to primarily effect the Brain Stem and Cerebellum. These are the parts of the brain that deal with automatic biological processes such as breathing and regulating blood pressure and body temperature.

Unless these children's skulls do start growing again those parts of the brain will be crushed. This means that means that these children will probably die of natural causes such as respiratory failure either during or as they begin puberty at the age of around 10 years old.

With it being extremely unlikely that they will ever progress beyond the newborn stage of neurological development - essentially remaining giant babies all their lives - probably the most humane thing is just to let nature run its course and enjoy the time they have been given.

At around 17:35 on 12/9/16 (UK date) I'll pick this up after dinner.

Edited at around 20:05 on 12/9/16 (UK date) to add;

The children then handed the Para-Olympic flag to the same flag detail who raised the Brazilian flag. The flag detail then climbed all those stairs to the top of the protocol island and raised the flag.

As the flag was being raised a recording of the Para-Olympic anthem was played  while we were shown a montage of the sporting highlights from the 2012 Para-Olympic games. If there was a significance to the people included in this montage it was lost on me.

The Para-Olympic oaths were then taken on behalf of all competitors, judges and coaches by the swimmer Philippe Andrews on behalf of the athletes. Boccia judge Racquel Daffre on behalf of the judges. And Amaurey Delissimon on behalf of the coaches.

Behold. Ironman: This sequence centred around American Para-Olympic snowboarder and double below the knee amputee Amy Purdy performing a dance routine. She was wearing a 3D printed dress by perhaps aptly named Israeli designer Danit Peleg. It was her dance partner that was the star of the show though - a giant robotic arm made by Kuka.

Kuka are actually a German robotics company. However they have a manufacturing subsidiary based in Brazil. If the fact that Brazil is home to the World's third largest aircraft manufacturer Embraer didn't dispel the notion that Brazil isn't a serious country this gave you an opportunity to check out their robotics industry.

This entire section was intended to promote discussion about the role of technology in overcoming the limitations of disability.

Although they're so simple and have been around for so long that we no longer think of them in that way even the humble wheelchair is an example of a technological solution to the limitations of disability. However the wheelchairs they use at the Para-Olympics - particularly in the Handcycling - are far from simple in their design.

Amy Purdy began her routine with wooden feet on the base of her prosthetics. In one dramatic moment in the dance she kicked off those wooden feet to reveal the type of carbon fibre blades used in the Para-Olympics - particularly by track & field athletes. The level of design and engineering that goes into these blades means that they are much, much more than simply carbon fibre peg-legs.

If you cast your mind back to the 2012 games you may remember that he who shall not be mentioned got into a massive argument with Brazil's Alan Oliveria. The complaint being that the design of Oliveria's running blades gave him an unfair advantage.

At this year's games we have single below the knee amputee Markus Rehm representing Germany in the long jump. He would very much have liked to compete in the Olympics themselves but the IOC refused on the grounds that for the specific task of long jump his blade is better than a human leg.

Outside disabled sport there seem to be every increasing technological solutions to the limitations of disability.

One that seems almost old fashioned these days is the Cochlear implant. This is an electronic device that is implanted into the skulls of deaf people. It simply bypasses the damaged ear feeding sound directly into the nervous system doing the job the ear should do.

For the visually impaired a system called "OrCam" has just reached the market. Being similar to the Cochlear implant this features cameras mounted on spectacles that feed electrical signals directly into the brain doing the job the eye should do.

Just yesterday (11/9/16) in the UK the first person to cross the finishing line of the Great North Run half-marathon in a staged photo-opportunity was a woman called Claire Lomas. Paraplegic since a horse riding accident in 2007 she can now walk on crutches with the aid of a bionic suit known as "ReWalk" which performs a similar function as the Project Buto fathers. However I suspect it will be a long time before the IPC start letting people race in motorised exoskeletons.

With this section of the Opening Ceremony starting off a bit of a bidding war the Israeli robotics start-up "UPnRIDE" would also really like you to know that they've developed a new type of wheelchair. Using similar robotic technology as ReWalk this allows people to stand up in a motorised wheelchair. The intention being to let them feel less alienated in everyday life. Getting things from the topshelf in a grocery store being a prime example.

Back in late 2015 the US military's mad science division - the Defence Advanced Research Projects (DAPRA) - who are also working on powered exoskeletons announced that they had developed a prosthetic limb that can be connected to the nervous system. That not only allows the prosthetic to have a sense of touch it also allows the wearer to control the movement of the prosthetic in the same way they would a limb.

At around 21:00 on 12/9/16 (UK date) I'll pick this up tomorrow.

Edited at around 13:50 on 13/9/16 (UK date) to add;

This section also gives me an opportunity to discuss some of the tension I've been having with UK Para-Olympic broadcaster Channel 4 during the games so far.

Back in 2012 Channel 4 went into the Para-Olympics in a big way. A large part of their coverage then focused on the type of impairments affecting the competitors, what methods they use to overcome them and how that affects the way they are classified for competition. The Last Leg show even used the hashtag #IsItOk to allow people to ask the questions about disability that they otherwise felt stupid or embarrassed to ask.

In the four years since then Channel 4 has nurtured a fanbase for disabled sport. These people are obviously well versed in disability issues. As a result at these games Channel 4's coverage is focused much more on the competitors achievements and the aspects of their lives that have absolutely nothing to do with their impairment. The intention being to get viewers to see the person rather than the disability.

So every time I focus on a competitors impairment or the technology they use to overcome it Channel 4 tend to go into full Social Justice Warrior mode and start getting all snippy with me.

I'm not saying that the editorial line Channel 4 have taken is wrong. In fact for them it is probably exactly the right thing to be doing.

It's just that I - like the games themselves - am taking a more global perspective. That means constantly behaving as if this was someones first introduction to disabled sport or disability issues. In no small part due to the effort that Channel 4 put in back in 2012 a lot more broadcasters globally are covering these games. That means that for many it is actually their first introduction to disabled sport and disability issues.

Also one of the main advantages of the Para-Olympics is that it provides nations with an opportunity to gather together to discuss disabled sport and disability issues. This allows them to brainstorm and share ideas of how best to help people living with disability. Therefore I think it would be an opportunity missed not to discuss disability at all at the Para-Olympics.

There is of course a whole other subtext to this sequence though.

For a very long time in fiction and art Robots have been used as an allegory for authoritarian governments or more commonly authoritarian capitalists who are trying to destroy humanity and take over the World. Skynet from the "Terminator" franchise being a particularly high profile example.

In fact Robots have been used in fiction in this way for longer than Robots have actually existed.

The first use of the term "Robot" was in a 1920 play by Czech writer Karel Capek called; "Rossum's Universal Robots." This is about a greedy corporation that accidentally wipes out humanity by creating a race of out of control Robots. So when engineers invented Robots they actually took the name from science fiction.

If you've ever had the misfortune of discussing politics on the Internet with Hillary Clinton supporters eventually the term; "Hillbot" will come up. This reflects the way these seeming automatons will robotically recite the party line no matter how many facts are presented to contradict them.

The Kuka robot used in this sequence is simply a type of hydraulic arm. This is a common design used in a vast array of roles. For example on Friday (9/9/16) a group of British surgeons - perhaps taking things a little too literally - announced that they'd cured a blind man by using a much smaller version of this type of robot to operate on his eye.

However I think the use that most people at these games will be most familiar with is the hydraulic arm on the type of bomb disposal robot that is used to fight terrorism.

For example on the track Britain is being represented by David Henson. He served with a bomb disposal unit in Afghanistan until - to quote his Twitter bio - he; "had and bad day at work."

Friday's (9/9/16) men's 100m final was slightly spoilt when part of the stadium had to be evacuated due to a bomb scare. A bomb scare that had accidentally been caused by The Last Leg presenter Johnny Vegas. The first couple of days of the previous games were marred by the Brazilian military having to use bomb disposal robots to carry out several controlled explosions.

Then of course there was the July 7th (7/7/16) terror attack in Dallas, Texas, US that was carried out by US President Obama's Black Lives Matter group. Although this was a shooting attack it was somewhat controversially brought to an end using a bomb disposal robot.

If you weren't paying full attention - perhaps because it was 2AM  and you were a bit drunk - it would be very easy to mistake Amy Purdy for Aimee Mullins. Another famous American double below the knee amputee Aimee Mullins competed in the 1996 Atlanta games and was leader of the US team at all of the 2012 London games.

Aimee Mullins was probably the first Para-Olympian to cross over into the mainstream. First as a fashion model from 1999 and then as an actress from 2002. She currently features in the much talked about Netflix series "Stranger Things." Amy Purdy has - for want of a better term - tried following in Aimee Mullins' footsteps by appearing on "Dancing With the Stars" where she learnt to dance.

After being in a longterm relationship Aimee Mullins married (technically British) actor Rupert Friend earlier this year. Friend is probably most famous for his role in "Homeland." However prior to that he played a journalist in the movie "5 Days of War." The fourth season of Homeland had great fun making coded reference to his role in that movie.

Sometimes called "5 Days in August" 5 Days of War is set during the war Georgia started with its neighbour Russia during the 2008 Beijing games. It frequently complains that no-one was covering that war because they were distracted by the Olympics.

As a low budget war movie 5 Days of War is rather good. It's use of computer animated tanks, helicopters and soldiers rather than props and armies of extras is certainly worthy of a mention in any discussion of that topic.

However as an account of what happened during that war it is utterly appalling. For example it starts in the middle of the war. How the war started is never mentioned. We just have to hate the Russians without question.

It is so bad that in the final edit they decided to open it with famous; "The first casualty of war is truth" quote as if to say; "There is the truth of what happened in that war. But here's our film."

The moment when Amy Purdy kicks off her wooden feet to reveal her blades is accompanied by the dramatic opening bars of "Barrando" by Sergio Mendes. This seems to be a reference to another movie; "Kingsman: The Secret Service." Best described as a parody of James Bond-style spy movies this truly terrible film features an amputee assassin who uses actual blades on her prosthetics to kill people.

As such this sequence also seems to be a reference to the US & UK's seeming desire to destroy humanity in all its forms by supporting groups like ISIL and the Sultan Mehmed division. Russia's exclusion from these games is a key part of that support.

Last night (12/9/16) the new season of Dancing With the Stars opened with disgraced US Olympic swimmer and renowned liar Ryan Lochte being ambushed by protesters.

I'm guessing they're not happy about one of their alumni being tricked into participating into this sequence condemning the US war machine.

16:00 on 13/9/16 (UK date).