Not quite [OT]: News about Revolution

[Wilhelm Sanke]

First the bad news:

The European Commission has signed the Swift-Treaty with the U.S.A. that 
entitles American authorities to monitor any kind of money transfer 
inside the European Union and between Europe and the rest of the world. 
The European Parliament in its majority was against this treaty, but 
under the old law (until Dec 1, 2009) could not participate in that 
decision and now, however, might repeal it in the near future. The 
European representatives are presently under great pressure from the 
side of U.S-lobbyists, as the press reports.
The possibility to collect and screen financial and personal data has 
far-reaching consequences not only for industrial espionage, but also 
for individuals.
I could, for example, get into trouble on my next visit to the U.S.if I 
would renew my license for "Revolution" (happily I have done that 
already) or buy some add-ons out of the Revolution mega bundle. "Runtime 
Revolution" might be even worse as it suggests an immediate threat and 
an especially aggressive kind of revolution.-

Now a bit of good news:

"Andro", the manufacturer and provider of table-tennis equipment has 
produced a new rubber called "Revolution" and "Revolution Quad" with its 
varieties 420, 450, and 480 (watch for line breaks in the link).

<http://www.tabletennisdb.com/table-tennis-rubber.php?id=andro-revolution-quad-420>

The idea of the new material is to increase speed and spin, while at the 
same time maintain a high degree of control, a problem that is difficult 
to resolve because usually when increasing speed you loose control. 
Unfortunately, this new product - at first tried out widely in the 
table-tennis community - did not live up to the promises of Andro and 
the expectations of the users, which especially can happen when you 
choose such ambitious names like "Revolution" that have rather to be 
understood as an intended goal (to be reached somewhere in the future) 
than an already overall perfect and innovative tool.

Happily "Butterfly", the Japanese manufacturer with a long tradition of 
high-quality products, stepped in here. I myself had started my career 
with the legendary English "Barna" rubber (comparable to the "Basic" of 
programming languages), and then for a long time of my development used 
Butterfly "Sriver" and "SuperSriver".
Now "Butterfly" has presented the new "tenergy" rubber in several 
varieties that indeed seems to fulfil what Andro had promised with its 
"Revolution".

<http://www.butterflyonline.com/online_store_productcloseup.asp?page=rubber_all.asp&type=3&ID=97&pg=1&SortBy=b.image3&displayNum=5&frompg=allrubbers>
(again watch for line breaks in the link).

"Tenergy" is now the material of choice among most of the high-level 
players in our region. As for myself, I did not totally abandon 
"Revolution", but use it on the backhand side of my second racket which 
I use when I encounter an opponent in our team-sport series who is even 
quicker and more offensive in his play than myself - by then slowing 
down the tempo of the match with a thinner layer of "Revolution",  thus 
preserving at least a chance to survive.-

Conclusion:

Following the example of "Butterfly", I would recommend to rename 
"Runtime Revolution" to "Runtime T-Energy".

On the hand this would protect us against unwarranted harassment from 
the side of the CIA, on the other hand it would preserve the notion of a 
product that is strong, potentially reliable, and even innovative.

Best regards,

Wilhelm Sanke