Random Rants 76: Argh! Augh! Ahhh!

[Arakhor]

In fairness, I might have had an enlightened PE teacher or maybe just one with two eyes and a brain, because if you think I'm skinny and uncoordinated now, imagine what I was like 25 years ago when I was a foot shorter and three stone lighter.

 

[Traitorfish]

In those most American of sports, football and baseball, a lot of people around the world don't care for them, because most of the time the athletes are standing around doing nothing. But when the action happens, the action happens fast! What other sports are like that, where there's not a lot of activity for most of the time, and then explosively fast action for brief periods of time?

Sumo wrestling. There's about five minutes of ritualised stomping and sizing each other up, and then eight seconds of two gigantic men crashing into each other.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Sumo wrestling. There's about five minutes of ritualised stomping and sizing each other up, and then eight seconds of two gigantic men crashing into each other.

Samurai duels were almost certainly the same.
Or formal duels in every human culture.
Boxing and other combat sports only take longer because the combatants aren't allowed to use deadly weapons.

The rest of the (developed) world has (mostly) moved on from high stakes competitions that result in the loser's death, but the most popular US sports still simulate it.
Does that tell us something about the Americans ?

 

[EgonSpengler]

The rest of the (developed) world has (mostly) moved on from high stakes competitions that result in the loser's death, but the most popular US sports still simulate it.
Does that tell us something about the Americans ?

American football does, but I don't see it in basketball or baseball. I think you could make a case for ice hockey and soccer, if you're willing to stretch a little. Anyway, are you telling us that you think boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, judo, jiu-jitsu, and rugby are only popular in the United States?

 

[Traitorfish]

Samurai duels were almost certainly the same.
Or formal duels in every human culture.
Boxing and other combat sports only take longer because the combatants aren't allowed to use deadly weapons.

Kendo and fencing bouts tend to be pretty short, so you're not wrong. Sumo just seems to really ritualise the build up.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Rant: Vague changelogs in programs I'm updating, such as "various bugfixes."

 

[Dachs]

watashi no kondorensu desu

I don't get it.

That should be a rant of its own. That book was kind of meh.

Tastes are subjective. I very much enjoy it, even though I've had to teach it.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Tastes are subjective. I very much enjoy it, even though I've had to teach it.

I think you are the first person I've ever encountered that didn't hate it, and basically everyone even in the neighborhood of my age read it in school.

 

[MaryKB]

I love Lord of the Flies, I thought it's a really interesting story, full of incredible symbolism.

I'd really like to see a remake done with a bunch of girls instead of boys.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I didn't much like it because the "humans are $&$#$@&$s" message had all the subtlety of a freight train.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Okay, that makes two.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I messed up when using Search & Replace and ended up with "Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday, June 30, 1981"

 

[Synobun]

I have got to stop procrastinating on large projects. They would be so much easier to finish on time if I do small portions of them on a daily basis instead of forcing myself into a stress-fueled anxiety-driven workathon during the final stretch.

I know this ruins me but I just keep doing it. C'mon, dude. Pull it together.

 

[Takhisis]

I don't get it.

mock japanese spelling of ‘first person singular pronoun+possessive suffix + phonetic rendering of word “condolences” + untranslateable word better explained by wiktionary desu

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I didn't much like it because the "humans are $&$#$@&$s" message had all the subtlety of a freight train.

I prefer to think of its message not as "humans are $&$#$@&$s" but rather "elite British boarding schools train children to be $&$#$@&$s." The children were nothing like humans raised in a state of nature with parents familiar with the environment and characters worth emulating, but were the product of a highly authoritarian system design to train up a ruling class.

 

[Zkribbler]

I love Lord of the Flies, I thought it's a really interesting story, full of incredible symbolism.

I'd really like to see a remake done with a bunch of girls instead of boys.

I think this is a fabulous idea! Because girls are traditionally viewed as more civilized than boys, this would make their descent into barbarism even steeper.

BTW: Lord of the Flies is one of the ultimate low-budget motion pictures. Funds were so low, a screenwriter was out of the question. The producers passed out copies of the paperback instead.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I have got to stop procrastinating on large projects. They would be so much easier to finish on time if I do small portions of them on a daily basis instead of forcing myself into a stress-fueled anxiety-driven workathon during the final stretch.

I know this ruins me but I just keep doing it. C'mon, dude. Pull it together.

I use a to-do list program (link). It allows me to put things as sub-items under others. Maybe something like that will help you in breaking it up into small pieces and then seeing your progress.

 

[MaryKB]

Yes, part of Lord of the Flies is how they're choir boys, they're supposed to be like the cream of civilization.

 

[Cutlass]

I think this is a fabulous idea! Because girls are traditionally viewed as more civilized than boys, this would make their descent into barbarism even steeper.

BTW: Lord of the Flies is one of the ultimate low-budget motion pictures. Funds were so low, a screenwriter was out of the question. The producers passed out copies of the paperback instead.

That reminds me of a story from my youth. Once, and I wasn't there, got the story second hand, there was a substitute bus driver in high school. The kids got out of control, and pretty well wrecked the interior of a new bus. The driver said it was the girls who did it, and not the boys.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Comrades... hockey is the only acceptable sport. That is all.

A few nights ago someone on the unit in the hospital had the hockey game on... Edmonton vs. Calgary. One of the nurses was in such a good mood, she gave both my roommate and me a JuJube (not something the doctor would have approved of me having, but I appear to have survived).

My only problem with hockey is how difficult it can be to follow the puck.

I remember footage from one of the American networks when they added the colored streak to show where the puck was.

That was one of the funniest things ever.

Field hockey?
Ice hockey?
Roller hockey?

You forgot floor hockey. I played a lot of that in school, and wasn't too bad at it.

There's hockey in southern California? Wouldn't all the ice melt?

I was surprised by hockey being there, too. First I heard was when Gretzky was traded to Los Angeles. After that, my dad switched to supporting the Calgary Flames.