Random Thought of the Day

August 25th, 2017 at 3:35:18 PM permalink
rxwine
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 188
Posts: 18631
Found this quote in regards to whether the depiction of how many hoofs horses have on the ground, determines how the rider died. (i.e., soldiers)

Quote:
Like many urban myths, it is actually true, aside from all the exceptions.
You believe in an invisible god, and dismiss people who say they are trans? Really?
August 26th, 2017 at 2:12:40 PM permalink
rxwine
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 188
Posts: 18631
Quote:
A powerful hurricane struck Miami in September 1926. The storm's vicious winds killed hundreds, nearly demolished Miami Beach, and shoved seawater into downtown Miami. When the winds finally stopped howling, thousands of terrified survivors scrambled aboard northbound trains and left, vowing never to return.


Wonder what version they had of "Enough of this s**t, I'm outta here!"



http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0128_050128_tv_hurricane_2.html
You believe in an invisible god, and dismiss people who say they are trans? Really?
August 28th, 2017 at 8:44:45 AM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Ok, so a mechanical rover to explore Venus sounds good: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2017/08/nasa-explores-an-extreme-rover-for-extreme-venus-no-spacecraft-has-survived-its-surface-heat-and-sul.html

But, come on, what kind of mechanical instruments can you make?

I can buy the proposed means of sending back data without using electronics. It's even elegant. But before you transmit data, you have to acquire it. How do you do that without electronics, past basics like wind speed and temperature? The point of a rover is to transmit pictures, though that's not entirely essential, and other relevant data like the geological composition of rocks, meteorological data, etc.

It may be we won't be able to study Venus in detail until we alter it first. And that's more like a XXII Century problem.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
September 2nd, 2017 at 7:27:18 AM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 61
Posts: 3941
I think it's starting. My descent into mental incompetence has begun. And it's a shaden goldmine.

I have a dog line out back. No wire and roller, I just used a nylon rope. That fake para-chord stuff. The first the dog kept breaking, so I got a big one, bout as wide as my thumb. Been quite the pain in the ass as it's so long it's difficult to make tight, and its properties already give it a fair to goodly amount of stretch. Mowing the lawn, loading trailer, it's all been a PITA. I recently moved it from the length of the yard to the halfway, at the big maple.

Went riding last weekend. Loaded mine up and headed out back to hook the trailer. I got to the line and what a difference! Before I had two options - 1) run it over as it was that low, or 2) run it up the hood and over the windscreen. No, it was hitting the windscreen way up in the tinted portion, damn near cleared the whole truck. What an improvement!

I think it was the braking force that caught my attention, an almost imperceptible sensation of slowing. And about the time my brain began to engage the though of "what's wrong with my truck" is when I heard the crack. And just about the time I thought that crack might be my porch support posts that the dog line is attached to I began to wonder if it... OH S#$%, DID IT HOOK MY WHEELER AND IF SO WHAT HAPPENED? And I look in the rear view to see the wheeler apparently fine, but...twitching? Is it twitchi.....

PEEEEEOOOOOOOW!!

I hooked the bars with the damn rope. Stretched it to the point it stopped my truck dead in its tracks, and at just the moment it reached the max stretch and everything appeared to have stopped, it crossed that point and slingshot LAUNCHED my GD wheeler out of the back of my truck. Fully out OVER the tailgate and lawn darted some 8' away.

I mostly lucked out. Bars were fine, clutch lever borked but tolerated being bent back into shape. The electronics fortunately twisted out of crush zone and were fine. In back, I severely bent a body mount and the rebend snapped it. But all told, that bitty body mount that don't make no damn difference, who cares? Drive this thing around... don't seem too bent... s#$%, don't even seem bent at all. No leaks, no fire,.... but...compression braking sounds weird. Probably knocked something...oh, the hot rod tape is all bunched. Looks like the slip on just got mashed all the way on. And... awwww F#$%! Titanium pipe. Must've landed right on it and the mount punched a 1" x 4" hole right in it. Kind bent it like a banana, too. And the cheapest tite replacement I found is $300. For just the can.

/sigh. They still sell coffee in metal cans?
Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
September 5th, 2017 at 6:58:37 AM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Concerning antibiotic resistance, we should keep in mind we're involved in a never-ending battle against microbes, where the winner is the one who manages to stay one step ahead of the other.

The good news is we know this and the microbes don't.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
September 6th, 2017 at 8:50:04 AM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/10/19/offensive-play

I think I'm done with Football. I don't see how this can be fixed.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
September 6th, 2017 at 11:10:23 AM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 61
Posts: 3941
Quote: Nareed

I think I'm done with Football.


I'd no idea you still played ;)

The fix is easy-ish. Rugby equipment. You know they used to make cars like brick s#$%houses under the guise of "safety". Turns out that strong equipment just shoves all the damage to the meaty bits controlling it. Foosball is no different. Give 'em a Jim Brown leather cap and the pain of a smashed nose will temper the ferocity, making concussive hits less likely. It's kinda like fitting a spike on your steering wheel. It's not "safe" in and of itself, but it's that lack of safety that will make you yourself more so.

Kinda sucks to see all that on paper and realize it could've been written about you. I've not yet reached loss of control, but many of the things Turley states are as real to me as the sun out my window. The weird "explosions" that happen in vision. The dots, spots, bright lights that just sort of appear whenever I'm stressed or get my blood up. The curious and alarming mood swings I have for no reason. False or shadowed memories. And mostly just that feeling that something "isn't right". Like you're only partially attached to reality and won't know for a few days whether "this" was your actual day or just a memory of a dream you had.

Ah well. I think I'm resigned to the fact I'll never see the worst of it.
Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
September 6th, 2017 at 12:47:22 PM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Quote: Face
The fix is easy-ish. Rugby equipment.


It's not that easy. I once proposed doing away with the down by contact rule, so that hitting players to knock them off would stop. Add a rule that any player pushed out of bounds can return to play if he runs directly into the field. Presto, no reason to hit a ball carrier.

Sure, but how about everyone else?

You'd need to change how players block, to begin with. Then discourage hitting. then penalize hitting. then reduce the size and mass of the players. the last is easy: set a maximum weight for every position. it would even help with the steroid problem, but it would take years to have much effect.

But that's just the NFL. What about college and high school players?

And I'm sure there's much more. Also, once the NFL begins to be transparent about this problem, you'll find a myriad other health problems as well. Athletics and injuries go together, but Football is especially hard on players.




Quote:
Ah well. I think I'm resigned to the fact I'll never see the worst of it.


Would you have done things differently if you'd known the likely consequences?
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
September 6th, 2017 at 1:47:16 PM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 61
Posts: 3941
Quote: Nareed

You'd need to change how players block, to begin with. Then discourage hitting. then penalize hitting. then reduce the size and mass of the players. the last is easy: set a maximum weight for every position. it would even help with the steroid problem, but it would take years to have much effect.


I would be curious to see the results of studies done on any rugby players. Granted, I'm about as ignorant of rugby as one could be, but I have played a sandlot version. It seems much more pushing and shoving in a pile as opposed to a run up and collision, which is where all the foosball damage is occurring.

Your last may be easy, but it's a case of replacing a problem, not fixing it. It seems, now that you've got me thinking about it, that there's a lot more abuse than just mental going on. In little kid football, they have this exact rule you're proposing. 0 - 125lbs, that's "back weight". You can play QB, RB, LB, DB, etc. 125 - 150, that's line weight. You can only play line. Anything over, you can't play at all.

What this means is not healthy eating habits coupled with attentive detail. It means taking a developing child and running him right the f#$% to death wearing a garbage bag under 3 or 4 layers of sweatshirts until he done dehydrated 2-5lbs out of him within one to two hours. I've done the cookie run my final year, it's goddamn awful. It means cutting pads open to remove the solid plastic pad, leaving only the foam. It means gutting shoes of all padding, removing pads from...well, removing pads period. It means diuretics. It means a lot of unhealthy things encouraged / nearly forced on a bunch of kids 10-13yrs old. You ever did a 5 mile cookie run as a warm up? I didn't get to weigh-in and then spend the next three days rehydrating and recovering. I took that 2lbs of sweat filled bag off and put my pads directly on for kickoff and went straight onto the field. Some kids don't do this as a matter of fixing an issue, they did it as a matter of course. Not just game day but every day. Not just 5 miles but all damn practice long.

Today we have guys taking s#$% to get big. Go with your rules and we'll have guys taking a bunch of s#$% to stay small. I suppose it would might help the brain, at least. Kidneys are replaceable anyway =p

Quote: Nareed
Would you have done things differently if you'd known the likely consequences?


Very hard to say. I was a kid, ya know? Even if I'd have "known", I could never really have known. I was young, and to be young is to be stupid. I will say that while I'm not an abolitionist, I would prefer if my child did not play, and though my kin have all had some pretty wild successes where sports are concerned, and sport is at the very core of who I am as a person, I've been having no qualms as I watch that particular legacy die before my eyes.

And,....well, now I do know. And I have experienced these traumas. And I have and am continuing to reap the "rewards" of that damage, and it seems to get worse every year. And yet, I just last week paid my dues, and in 4 days will likely be hitting the ice for the first game this year, and have recently bought a race quad, and bought a much bigger and faster race car, so.... yeah. What do you think? lol

I know it sounds dumb. Asinine would probably be a better word, if not outright retarded to the extreme. But before anyone can judge me, let me just ask... what if new technology showed that the brain could "burn out". Like a muscle, it gets better with use but fails with overuse. And what if a Dr came and said 'Nareed, I've some bad news. The literary portion of your brain is too good. Its use is taxing the whole shootin' match. You can continue to read the morning news, you can compose a letter to family, that's all fine. But if you start delving into complicated works, or worse, engage in the creation of fiction writing, you are likely to find severe loss of function in the twilight years of your life." Would you stop that instant? Could you? Or is that thing, your love of literature, is that too precious and too much of who you are to give up entirely?

I'm the latter. I know it's no good, I know it serves no tangible purpose, I know it doesn't pay my bills, and I know it's all just a stupid game. But what do you do when that's what you are? What do you do when your entire life, your recreation, your relaxation, your therapy, your release valve so you don't shoot up the workplace, your self worth, your entire being is based on that thing you shouldn't do? Completely relearn how to be a person? I try, but mostly all I can manage is to do the really dumb thing a little more intelligently. But give it up completely? I quite literally do not know how to do that.
Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
September 6th, 2017 at 2:51:58 PM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Quote: Face
I would be curious to see the results of studies done on any rugby players.


In soccer it's been established that hitting the ball with the head can cause CTE. Boxing has long been known to increase the risk of dementia.

There you have easy fixes: ban hitting the ball with the head, and ban punches to the head.

Quote:
What this means is not healthy eating habits coupled with attentive detail.


Yes, that can get ugly fast, too. But at college and pro level, the size and mass of players has increased a great deal in the last few decades. So has speed. So larger mass plus faster speed equals more force in hits and collisions.

Quote:
Go with your rules and we'll have guys taking a bunch of s#$% to stay small. I suppose it would might help the brain, at least. Kidneys are replaceable anyway =p


No, that's why I said it would take years. Rules should not be retroactive. So you can't kick out overweight players. Prospects coming up from college are no smaller, either. So you'd have to lower the limits gradually, and exempt all currently active players.

Years.

Quote:
Very hard to say. I was a kid, ya know? Even if I'd have "known",


I know. no one cares that much about what may be. but your parents would know and care more. That's part of the problem today.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER