Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with bronze

Olympic number crunching.

markkraft — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:02:59 -0800

How do you rate which country is "leading" in the Olympics? I ask this, because the latest figures are as follows:

Gold Silver Bronze Total
1. China 46 15 22 83
2. United States 29 35 34 98
3. Great Britain 17 12 11 40

results.beijing2008.cn

I assumed that the overall rating was based on 3 pts for a Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze, which would mean that China is at 190 points and that the U.S. is at 191 points.

So, what gives?! Is there something offficial out there from the Olympic Comittee -- or a historical example -- of how the rankings are reached? If so, who's in the lead currently by how much?!

Test their medal.

furtive — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:07:14 -0800

Who's the first person to bite their medal (photos or it never happened) during the Olympics? The earliest one I know of is 1988 but the practice must go back way earlier than that?

Mold material for lost-wax casting?

Vidiot — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 19:41:29 -0800

How do you make a mold for lost-wax casting? My dad wants to cast the pawn from the Lewis Chessmen set in bronze. I picked up a reproduction pawn made out of marble dust and resin. He's intending to do this using the "lost wax" method of casting...but he's wondering what material he should use to make the initial mold of the pawn.

Anything else he should know about this process, or other insights?