Sierra Nevada Pulls Off Stunning Win at Swissnex SF

Now that October Madness is progressing into the later rounds, the stakes ratchet up with every head-to-head tasting. Although, it nowhere near approaches the pressure facing players on the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers as they battle it out in the 2010 World Series. On Wednesday night, those two events came to a head at the headquarters of swissnex San Francisco, as two more beers battled it out with baseball on the big screen.

The Location: swissnex San Francisco, 730 Montgomery St.

The Beer: Sierra Nevada’s Kellerweis Hefeweizen and Deschutes’ Black Butte Porter

The Method of Dispense: Standard kegerator (Black Butte) and bottles chilled in an icy tub (Kellerweis)

How They Fared: Black Butte Porter has been a longtime favorite among Wired staff, so we were understandably a little nervous about bringing it out to the masses to see what others might think. Fortunately, Black Butte gained a few fans Wednesday night as well. “How could you not like the Black Butte?” said Colin Dixon, an office manager for the Public Library of Science. “Great choice for a cool S.F. fall day,” said Brian Mossop, also of PLoS. “It tastes like the first time I kissed a girl, won at sports, and drove a car — all at once,” said writer Dan Maxwell.

Still, Sierra Nevada’s Kellerweis proved a popular choice with the baseball-cheering crowd. “Delicious!” raved Dwell assistant editor Jordan Kushins. “Cidery goodness. Tastes like fall,” said another patron, while Bridgit Dixon declared Kellerweis “the nicest German I’ve ever met!”

And in the revelry of the Giants pulling off an upset to take a 1-0 lead in the World Series, Kellerweis took down the mighty Black Butte Porter by a comfortable nine-vote margin to advance to the Elite Eight of our ongoing October Madness extravaganza.

Image: Above:swissnex SF. Below: Erik Malinowski/Wired.com

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There Goes the Greatest World Cup-Predicting Octopus Who Ever Lived

Paul the Octopus, who captivated the civilized world this summer with his astoundingly accurate World Cup predictions, passed away earlier this week from natural causes at the age of 2½. He leaves behind no known kin.

From his comfy confines at the Sea Life Aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany, the British-born Paul dared to put his tentacles on the line time after time this summer in the name of his soccer-centric powers of prediction.

And even when death threats were made against him for picking Spain to defeat Germany in the World Cup semifinals, Paul stood firm on his hunch.

The topper came a few days later when Paul picked Spain to defeat Netherlands in the finals and bring home its first-ever World Cup. (Of course, España prevailed 1-0 in extra time.)

In all, Paul had a perfect record in predicting all seven of Germany’s World Cup contests, and after Spain claimed victory over the Netherlands, Paul retired from the prognostication business, choosing instead to concentrate on “making children laugh,” according to an aquarium spokesperson.

Paul 2.0, who purportedly hails from the south of France, will be formally unveiled to the public next week. Until then, we mourn the psychic cephalopod who managed to even raise the ire of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for being too awesome.

He will be missed.

Image: apn Photo/Roberto Pfeil

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From Bikes to Blades, the Craziest Parkour Tricks

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Parkour, the French-created sport based on jumping through urban and suburban spaces by any means necessary, has traditionally been an activity done solely with one's own two feet. But as parkour has gained global, mainstream popularity over the past 10 years, the practice has evolved, courtesy of the extreme-sports community. Now, anyone with a bicycle, rollerblades or skateboard can practice next-gen parkour.

The result has been some of the most amazing — and cringe-inducing — shaky handheld footage you might ever see. Here's a look at some of the more unique applications of parkour.

Above:

A Sport Still Young, But Growing

The term parkour was coined only 12 years ago by Hubert Koundé. The sport itself was developed by David Belle, a friend who went on to found the Parkour Worldwide Association in 2005. Originally a skill perfected by the French army, parkour groups and meet-ups can now be found everywhere from Miami to Moscow.

Image: Flickr/rosa

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Marathons, Without Proper Training, Can Be Silently Heart-Hazardous

Finishing that first marathon that you’ve trained so hard for can bring on elation and euphoria, but hopefully it doesn’t also bring on temporary heart damage.

Canadian researchers have found, using MRI, that some marathoners can damage parts of their left ventricle for up to three months following a strenuous marathon.

Using VO2 max to measure the aerobic fitness of a group of 20 runners, researchers found that the less fit runners were more likely to stress one or more of the 17 segments that encompass the left ventricle. The good news? The damage can heal itself over time, so there will be no permanent change to your heart.

Unfortunately, the effects can linger for a few months, and you won’t even realize you did anything to yourself (unless you’ve got, you know, an at-home MRI scanner). Of course, such damage makes other parts of your ticker work even harder — as the heart can easily compensate for itself in that way — and that’s when your risk for more serious cardiac injury becomes enhanced.

The findings were presented earlier this week at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, where doctors maintained that sufficient training and preparation should cut down on the risks associated with running any sort of long-distance race. And if you know you’re not in the tip-top shape you should be, take some time off before slipping your running shoes back on.

And if you can get your VO2 max tested, that would help determine precisely what your body can handle, how conditioned you areA and what your optimal exercise regimen should look like.

Image: Flickr/Martineric, CC

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Exclusive: Callaway, Lamborghini Execs Speak Out on Carbon-Fiber Partnership

Basketball shoes are famous for the sleek design characteristics they share with the world’s finest sports cars. Yet it’s a different piece of sports equipment that is changing the perception for how intertwined the sports and car industries really are.

In the first phase of a long-term relationship, golf club manufacturer Callaway and legendary Italian automaker Lamborghini announced earlier this month that they had produced a new carbon-fiber material called Forged Composite. The materials’ nanoscale strands provide the strength and light weight that Callaway can insert into its club heads. Lamborghini, in turn, can integrate it into the chassis of its various car models.

These symbiotic seeds were sown several years ago via other research projects, although it wasn’t until 2008 when the Forged Composite research began in earnest. “We were looking for enhanced performance in terms of power-to-weight ratio,” Alan Hocknell, Callaway’s senior VP of R&D, told Wired.com last week in New York.

Standard golf club materials such as titanium and stainless steel don’t permit Callaway to decrease club head weight to the degree that carbon fiber can. Forged Composite allows them to achieve that weight-loss goal by knocking off 10 grams (0.35 ounces) in the new Diablo Octane driver club heads. The lighter weight decreases the time it takes for a golfer’s swing to strike the ball, and Callaway says the Octane’s average distance has increased 8 yards over last year’s titanium Diablo Edge model.

‘You can define the shape you want. From an engineering perspective, you are free to design the parts like you need.’

Lamborghini has the same intention as Callaway, albeit with a different application. “It’s less about increasing the power and more about decreasing the weight of the car,” said Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann. To do that, Lamborghini R&D chief Maurizio Reggiani emphasized focusing on the car’s chassis. The introduction of Forged Composite into the skeleton of the concept Sesto Elemento left the car’s weight at 940 kilograms (2,072 pounds), roughly 60 kilos under Lamborghini’s original goal. As a result, the sports car reaches 0 to 60 mph in an mind-bending 2.5 seconds. (By comparison, the ultra-fast Lamborghini Superleggera runs from 0 to 60 in 3.4 seconds.) Winkelmann called the 0.9-second decrease for the Sesto Elemento “unbelievable.”

The initial research stage soaked up much of the time and money on this project, a phase that Hocknell and Reggiani described as critical. “We had to start by characterizing the material,” Hocknell said. By that, he means determining the consistency of the Forged Composite needed to mold the desired shape for the product. They essentially had to learn where the fiber could and couldn’t flow when heated into a mold. Discovering the time, temperature and pressure application to find the right consistency was paramount.

On the left, the Octane driver with the old carbon fiber insides. On the right, the Diable Octane with the Forged Composite technology.

Forging the material to within a thousandth of an inch gave club designers the chance to optimize weight alignment within the club head. And while emphasis was placed on the club’s performance, its aesthetics also were integral.

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Vote for Beer: East Coast vs. West Coast

We’ve been having a great time here at Wired tasting and voting on 28 beers from 14 super breweries in California, Oregon and Colorado during our October Madness beer tournament. It’s been very satisfying watching staffers, friends and readers drink beers they may never have tried on their own — and in some cases diligently avoided — and find they actually like them.

But what about you? If you’re not in the San Francisco Bay Area, you’ve been left out of the fun so far, and we want to change that. So, we need your help deciding the final two beers to enter the Sweet 16 of the tournament and compete for the title of Most Wired Beer. We’ve chosen two breweries whose beers are more or less distributed across the country for an East Coast vs. West Coast beer showdown. And you’ll decide the winner in each matchup.

Representing the West: Anchor Brewing, San Francisco. Maker of the very popular Anchor Steam, this 114-year-old brewery has many other delicious offerings. We’ve chosen to pit one of my favorite beers against this popular lager: Anchor Porter. This may seem like an obvious win for the Steam, but so far in the tournament, dark beers have been upsetting paler varieties nearly every time. So, we will see if Wired readers have the same tendencies as the staff when it comes to taste in beer.

Representing the East: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, Delaware. With nearly 100 fewer years of experience, this up and coming brewery has been growing superfast right from the start. Dogfish beer continues to become more popular and is showing up in more and more establishments across the country. We know not everyone will be able to get their hands on some, but hopefully a lot of you can find some of their 60 Minute IPA and Raison D’Etre Belgian-style brown ale.

All we ask is that you make an effort to try these beers (if you haven’t already) before you vote on them. The best (and most fun for you) would be if you can have your own head-to-head tasting. You might be surprised by which one you end up choosing.

And don’t forget to check out the full October Madness bracket, now with links to all the recaps. See if your favorite brew has made it through!

Image: Flickr/tambako, CC

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Wired October Madness Beer Bracket

Up-to-the-minute results of Wired’s October Madness tournament of beers:

Continue Reading “Wired October Madness Beer Bracket” »

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Banned Shoes Bring Big Business to Basketball Startup

Meet the sneakers that are too good for the NBA.

The Concept 1, a $300 basketball shoe that features a proprietary springlike device under the balls of the feet, has been banned by the league since it may, in the words of a league spokesperson, give players an “undue competitive advantage.” Called Load ‘N Launch, the feature was developed by Athletic Propulsion Labs, a Los Angeles startup, and is designed to help players “increase vertical leap instantly,” according to the company’s website.

When news of the rejection trickled on Tuesday, the response from the public was swift. APL’s website crashed under the load of all the server traffic, and the shoes are now prominently placed on the front of athleticpropulsionlabs.com.

APL was started by twin brothers Ryan and Adam Goldston, who were both walk-ons for the University of Southern California men’s basketball team. They’ve said that their Concept 1 shoe garnered interest from roughly a third of the NBA’s incoming rookie class. (And that’s where it could’ve gotten dicey, since most — if not all — professional hoops players have shoe contracts with companies like Nike and Reebok.)

The Concept 1 is currently in stock at the company’s website, retails for $300 and is available in black or white and from (most) sizes, ranging from 8 to 14.

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Report: MLB Considering Shorter Disabled List for Concussions

With all the discussion about concussions centering around high-contact sports like football and hockey, Major League Baseball is also preparing a proactive stance in keeping concussed athletes from getting back on the field — albeit in an odd way.

According to the Associated Press, MLB is laying the groundwork for the creation of a specialized seven-day disabled list for players diagnosed with concussions. Indeed, while the NFL and NHL typically address concussion diagnosis and prevention with more urgency, concussions are more common in baseball than one might think, as any fastball to the head or collision in the outfield can certainly bring one on.

No word yet on what has spurred the action, which could be implemented as soon as next season, although the sport has had to confront some serious incidents this season alone. Jason LaRue was forced to retire earlier this month after an August fight resulted in his being kicked in the head repeatedly by a Cincinnati Reds pitcher. Twins slugger Justin Morneau was also knocked out for half of the year after taking a knee to the head during a slide into second base on July 7.

Right now, baseball operates both a 15- and 60-day disabled list, for injuries of varying severity. While a player is on such a list, his team can call up a minor leaguer to fill their slot on the active roster. It should be interesting to see — if such a list comes to fruition — how quickly teams will take to placing concussed players on the list, and how quickly they might ultimately be moved to the 15- and 60-day lists, especially as symptoms persist.

And that’s the real question here. While a 7-day DL would show that baseball wants to address concussions and brain trauma, why create a separate designation? Is the 15-day disabled list too long to sideline players with diagnosed concussions? If anything, the move implies that forms of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are some sort of second-class injury, something that merely requires a few days to shake off.

As we’re learning, concussions and related TBI can lead to all sorts of long-term mental deficiency, and sending ballplayers back out before they’re completely recovered — a time frame that is unique to every case — certainly sends the wrong message.

Image: Flickr/jowo, CC

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Proving Ground IPA Proves Too Much for Blue Bell Bitter

After countless beers and nearly a thousand ballots cast, we’re past the halfway point of the October Madness beer tournament, at least regarding the number of tastings we’re conducting. But we still have a couple of first-round events to wrap up, and on Tuesday night, it was Magnolia Pub and Brewery’s turn at the wheel. This Haight Street establishment submitted its Proving Ground IPA and Blue Bell Bitter brews for inclusion into our humble competition.

The Location: Wired HQ

The Brewery: Magnolia Pub and Brewery, 1398 Haight St., San Francisco

The Beer: Proving Ground IPA and Blue Bell Bitter

The Method of Dispense: 5-gallon kegs inserted into Beer Robot (Proving Ground IPA) and a standard kegerator (Blue Bell Bitter)

How They Fared: IPAs have not been doing well throughout October Madness, but Proving Ground IPA, with its hoppy nose and 7.2 percent ABV, proved to be a hit from the get-go. One fan loved how it “had bite, but finished balanced.” Another discerning taster found it to be “smooth as glass” and “super-hoppy.” Wired.com photographer Jon Snyder concluded, much to the agreement of the room, that “nothing tastes better than a smooth-drinking IPA.”

Blue Bell Bitter, though, was a worthy counterpart, boasting a light 5.4 percent ABV that was definitely more adventurous than your standard supermarket ESB. “Much more interesting than a pedestrian IPA,” said Wired.com culture editor Lewis Wallace. Missy Schwartz of Wired magazine found it “smooth and caramel-y,” and though Wired.com senior editor Dylan Tweney found it “unusual” that the Blue Bell Bitter combined “bitter foretaste with a sweet aftertaste,” he said the taste definitely “grows on you.”

However, after having tabulated the votes, the Blue Bell Bitter didn’t catch on with enough voters, and Proving Ground IPA pulled out a three-vote victory to buck the prevailing trend against lighter beers and move on to the Sweet 16 of our cavalcade of brewskis.

Image: Dave Mosher/Wired.com

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