Collaborative Referee Test

May 4th, 2009

Now open for business is a simple Collaborative Referee Test.

It works like this: it displays a random question. You pick and submit your answer, and it adds your answer in to the answer pool. Then, on the next page, the previous question is re-displayed with a count next to each answer showing how many people have picked that answer as the correct answer.

The test works like this because there is no official (public?) answer key to the referee test. So, there’s no “right” answer publicly available. The collaborative nature of the test is to try and point people in the right direction, as well as show which answers are most confusing.

The test itself is currently not designed to track which questions have been taken already. I’m definitely willing to take questions/comments/etc. and will improve the test based on input I receive. I think the top two requests so far are “right answers”, which may or may not be possible/reliable, and tracking for questions to ensure all are taken with minimal repeats.


Fencing Shoes Product Blog

March 30th, 2009

So, after taking a look at pageviews and traffic and such, by far, the most popular venture we’ve done here has been the one post about the fencing shoes (link). Go figure. Even moreso than the main application.

So, in the spirit of that, I’m throwing up a simple, hopefully useful, Fencing Shoes product blog (click here to visit).

The purpose is short and sweet - I’m going to try and throw up a post about every popular shoe used for fencing, what people think about them, and where to buy them. The mini-blog in the upper right-hand corner is for special deals. For example, Adidas occasionally has 20% off sales, Amazon does shoe sales, and the individual vendors all have special deals that they throw around. I’m going to try and keep on top of those things and post them in that section. I don’t anticipate any deals to overlap, but if you subscribe to the RSS feed of the blog, you’ll see everything, overlap or not.

Enjoy :)


A Change in Direction

March 17th, 2009

Due to a massive lack of participating going on with the main 14m application and the upkeep/headaches/overhead it requires to keep it running, I’ve made the decision to take it down.  Too bad, really.  I liked the concept, but the community was unsustainable.  Only approximately 1% of the live traffic actually did anything to participate in the system.

So, I’m kind of up in the air about what to mold the site into.  I have a plan, but I feel like I could make it happen no matter what, regardless of what else I do.  Anyone have any thoughts?


Wiki Opened

September 11th, 2008

http://wiki.14meters.com

Nothing in there just yet, but its open for use with the public.  I’ve yet to figure out exactly what it should be used for.  I’ve been contemplating things from documenting common Fencing questions to putting up a draft version of the rulebook with an effort to revamp the system.

Thoughts?


What can I find some Fencing shoes?

September 2nd, 2008

EDIT: Some of the links below are out of date. In addition, due to the strong response we recieved about this page, we have opened a new website devoted entirely to fencing shoes — Fencing Shoes. Creative name, no? Well, simple name, simple presentation, but hopefully useful information.


Just like with the big list of fencing books, I’m trying to put together a big list of fencing shoes, since its a very common question. Let me know if I’m missing anything. I’ll add the Nike stuff and vendor house brand shoes as I come along ones that are missing.

Also, I keep the links up to date with the least expensive prices I can find, where I can. If you can find something better, drop me a comment and I’ll update.

Fencing-Specific Shoes
adidas adistar
onitsuka tiger
adidas adistar
adidas adistar high top
adidas dartagnan 2
adidas en garde
viktoria competition
li-ning low top
li-ning high top
leon paul scimitar
leon paul blade
absolute elite
blade star fighter
blade star fighter 2
victory low top
adidas asymmetrics
adidas asymmetrics high top
adidas dartagnon
nike ballestra

Court Shoes
adidas lightster
adidas stabil 3
adidas stabil carbon
adidas stabil 7
asics gel beyond
adidas feather (high top)
adidas feather 3 (low top)

Other Stuff
adidas elite sock (my favorite sock)