Red is good

Results are out - ended up coming 55th. So, barring any major incident {like...Outbreak of the Asian flu virus in Poland and Russia} causing 7 contestants to not be able to attend, looks like I *just* missed out. Turns out if I had submitted Q1 a bit faster {like...a minute or so} I would've made it, and I knew a solution for Q2 it was just a slow one. However, I was glad I managed to get a working {albeit slow} solution, so that was nice :) And now my rating has jumped above 2200, which means i am "red", or everywhere my name appears it's in red. Red is the highest you can get to, and I think i'm the 4th australian to do so, which is pretty cool - just gotta try and stay there :D
However, with the commonwealth games on, and AFL/NRL starting, I had to wonder: why is it that the average man-in-the-street could name the top 50 or so football players from their state, yet the #1 programming in the whole country, who happens to be also in the top 10 in the world, is virtually unknown? Good luck to him - John Dethridge - in the TCO finals :) - true, programming isn't a massive sport, not like lawn bowls or synchronised swimming - though, I'm sure for many spectators it could be more entertaining :: if poker can, i'm sure coding could too. Anyway, even many people could name some top Australian authors or artists, but programmers? No way!
I may be paranoid, but I feel it is somehow linked to a general hatred of maths, because programming is apparently just like maths. Unfortunately, it seems that because some people don't 'get' maths, they don't want to watch other's program :S - i don't 'get' big brother, but still it seems to be a popular show...sad, isn't it :p - I dunno, i guess it seems like clear, logical thinking in life is seen as a luxury to people, rather than a prerequisit, tis a shame, but meh, thinking is just too hard for some :p

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