I've been sitting at my desk for the last couple of minutes studying my own conducting style. I've always tried to maintain a very clear beat (a lot of my conducting over the years has involved beginner bands, so communicating where the beat is is far more important than it might be in more professional outfits.)

Anyway, I've noticed that my style is very three dimensional. My upbeat, for example, starts near my sternum, goes out from my body and follows a roughly circular path back to near my forehead. The other beats seem to do similar things. Now that I'm looking at it, that back-and-forward axis is quite pronounced, and may explain why my tuba players (who sit on my immediate right) never complain that they can't read my conducting.

Which goes to your original point---depending on the conductor, a side mounted camera might actually work, so long as it can still read two directions.

The problem I have now is that I'm going to be very, VERY conscious of my style come Thursday night!

The reason (I'm spitballing here) that I think the beat come at the point of highest acceleration is that that is the point when the conductor applies the most force to his or her arm. It's been years since I studied physics (or physiology) but I imagine that would be very close to the point of highest acceleration.

All that said, I've had conductors that seem to anticipate their own beat. For them, the beat actually comes just after they hit the bottom. In fact, it probably come at the moment of highest acceleration of the little 'bounce' that follows the beat (which is probably the curve upwards you mention).

You're certainly right about the other cues. They're probably not so important though, so long as the song goes more or less as it does in rehearsal. A blind person will have some idea of what is about to happen (although I'll grant that it's not ideal.) Guessing the exact moment when the first note is meant to be sung to within a very small fraction of a second isn't something I'd enjoy.

Dunno about kittenman, but we still call them that in Australia. I do speak (and prefer) the 1/(power of two) system though. If my daughter's education is anything to go by, it seems the systems are used interchangeably in schools.

No more delayed than your own singing will be. If you can't squeeze in time to the conductor, I doubt you can sing in time.

I suspect that the 'beat' is probably at the point of quickest acceleration, rather than the end point of the motion.

There are also other cues that come in handy---for example, if the conductor's also singing the same rhythm as you, you automatically follow that instead.

Motion tracking may or may not be a good idea, but if you're to try it, don't do it from the side. The side-to-side movement is just as important to a musician as the up and down, especially at the start of a piece. (For example, if a conductor wants to bring the group in on a fourth beat anacrusis by beating beats two and three, the important movement will only be sideways, or away-from/towards the sensor.)

This is a big problem for me---I play to the conductor's side in a band I'm in and it's very easy to confuse florid sideways movement with up- and downbeats.

Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever sung in a choir in which the conductor uses a baton. It's standard in bands, but it doesn't seem to be so much in choral work, at least in my circles.

Now that I think about it more, the few times I've conducted choirs I don't think I've used a stick, even when one was available. It seems wrong putting an instrument in my hand when the musicians don't have one.

The University of Melbourne has crunched the numbers, and you're right, the world probably isn't about to end:

http://www.scc.ms.unimelb.edu.au/whatisstatistics/coins.html

No. With cash transactions the common practice in Australia is to round to the nearest 5 cent increment, whether up or down. It's not that difficult to do though because the rounding's done by the cash register anyway.

This.

In summary, "Don't be dick, and if you do, don't blame God for your dickishness."

So applicable for so many people I know.

No, it was a knee jerk downmod of some thoughtful idiot who was making sense in a rational, logical yet fair manner. My knee jerked so badly I accidentally clicked an upmod. It was purely unintentional, I promise.

Just commenting to undo a bad mod. Pity about the good mods, but dems da breaks.

Following a companion called Amelia with one called... Amelia. That probably wouldn't work long term but having two Amelias running around for an episode or two could be amusing.

Of course, with all the doppelgangers and whatnot it could just get confusing.

Heh. My workplace uses Lotus Domino, and it's the main reason I use gmail at work.

Long answer: These verses set up a long sequence of argumentation that is fairly difficult to parse, with a few side excursions and back references to points made before. It's fairly difficult to say what these verses actually mean without simultaneously referring to every other bit that follows and their respective relations to each other, which I find somewhat reminiscent to quantum cryptography.

Short answer: Yes.