Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[RED-DOG]

Have you ever heard of Jane Elliot? She's a middle aged white American who does a special class on racism.  This is part two of "The Angry Eye" and I'd be interested to hear your take on her teaching...

Finally got around to watching this. It's powerful stuff, although I suspect that your experience of it and your take on it differs depending on which group you belong to.

As a member of the group represented by the blue eyes, I say this: It's Better to be the hated than the hater.

[RED-DOG]

Some great footage from the falcon's point of view on a bustard hunt int he dessert - brilliant stuff. A very different technique to the one used here, they're going for a straight chase there presumably because the bustard is a big lumbering bird in comparison, they'd probably have used the same here in the old days when they'd hunt heron, but the falconing here tends to be to grouse which are fast and nimble, so the falconer tries to send the falcon up high, to allow the fast stoop and surprise hit on the grouse.

http://www.videofaceindir.com/bir-gyr-x-saker-039in-gozunden-yakali-toy-avi.html

That's thrilling footage Rod, and it encompasses so many things that I'm interested in. Nature, hunting, technology, etc.

On the face of it, wing-flapping flight is such a jerky process, but the birds head is rock steady.

Amazing!

[RED-DOG]

I see that Hull is our new city of culture.

Home of Philip Larkin and the Truck Stop theatre... A shoo in really.

[RED-DOG]

According to research, kids can't run as fast as their parents could. Apparently, they are getting 5% slower every decade.

Strewth! When we were young we could run like gazelles. We got in to all kinds of mischief but no one could catch us. A bloke chased me on a moped once to no avail. He was a bit faster than me on the straight but I had him beat all ends up on the corners.

"To stay healthy, children and young people need to do at least an hour of physical activity per day"

An hour's activity? You would need to tie us to a chair to make us sit still for 5 minutes.

 

 

[RED-DOG]

It's a really stormy day here. The wind is buffeting the caravan, hurling sheets of rain against the windows. It feels almost as if we are at sea. I love days like these. they make me feel all warm and cosy.

Not so many years ago we had to go and work outdoors, whatever the weather. It was horrible setting out, but great when you came home to a roaring fire and a big pot of stew.

Very occasionally, in exceptional circumstances, the decision would be made to miss a day's work because of bad weather, but then the feelings of guilt were so strong that we couldn't really enjoy it.

[tikay]

According to research, kids can't run as fast as their parents could. Apparently, they are getting 5% slower every decade.

Strewth! When we were young we could run like gazelles. We got in to all kinds of mischief but no one could catch us. A bloke chased me on a moped once to no avail. He was a bit faster than me on the straight but I had him beat all ends up on the corners.

"To stay healthy, children and young people need to do at least an hour of physical activity per day"

An hour's activity? You would need to tie us to a chair to make us sit still for 5 minutes.

 

 

This is almost evolution doing it's thing, Tom, or I think it is.

We ran, skipped or walked everywhere, all the time. A visit to Grandma was a 3 mile walk each way, we'd never dream of catching a bus.

Today's generation lead a very different lifestyle. Not saying good or bad, but different. A TV set in every room, mobile phone, i-Pad, internet, X-Box with Maria the Plumber, an average of nearly 2 cars per family. The modern child is likely to be, on average, slower, &, arguably, less physically fit. Presumably, much more agile mentally, though.  Imagine the number of mental processes & calculations we make per minute, or even second, when we are 4 tabling Online Poker. Not just 4 decisions, one for each hand, if you break down the mental process for a single hand of poker, even at the basic level, it involves a dozen or more "decisions" or mental calculations per street. Now make it PLO8,  so that each hand counts as two hands.....!

We must be evolving, & faster rhan ever previously.

[Doobs]

According to research, kids can't run as fast as their parents could. Apparently, they are getting 5% slower every decade.

Strewth! When we were young we could run like gazelles. We got in to all kinds of mischief but no one could catch us. A bloke chased me on a moped once to no avail. He was a bit faster than me on the straight but I had him beat all ends up on the corners.

"To stay healthy, children and young people need to do at least an hour of physical activity per day"

An hour's activity? You would need to tie us to a chair to make us sit still for 5 minutes.

 

 

So Usain Bolt is 1.5 seconds slower than Alan Wells?  Or maybe he had really fast parents who never made it to the track?

I don't think the title is very accurate, it seems to be more an endurance thing.  FWIW I was useless at running long distances, and my wife runs at a speed barely above walking pace.  My daughter did a sponsored run the other day at school, and she ran further than everybody else in her class.  Absolutely no idea where she got that from.

Agree on Hull, used to love Hull Truck Theatre, though Larkin needs a bit of air brushing.

[Rod Paradise]

Some great footage from the falcon's point of view on a bustard hunt int he dessert - brilliant stuff. A very different technique to the one used here, they're going for a straight chase there presumably because the bustard is a big lumbering bird in comparison, they'd probably have used the same here in the old days when they'd hunt heron, but the falconing here tends to be to grouse which are fast and nimble, so the falconer tries to send the falcon up high, to allow the fast stoop and surprise hit on the grouse.

http://www.videofaceindir.com/bir-gyr-x-saker-039in-gozunden-yakali-toy-avi.html

That's thrilling footage Rod, and it encompasses so many things that I'm interested in. Nature, hunting, technology, etc.

On the face of it, wing-flapping flight is such a jerky process, but the birds head is rock steady.

Amazing!

THe steady head thing has a fancy name, and has been copied by Mercedes for their latest car suspension....

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-57604476-48/how-is-a-chicken-like-a-mercedes-benz/

[Karabiner]

We used to climb every tree there was when I was at school, the trees used to be literally crawling with small boys all over them, some quite big trees too. Notable trees even had names which could be bragged about having scaled them.

I would imagine that tree-climbing is not even allowed any more.

[Laxie]

We used to climb every tree there was when I was at school, the trees used to be literally crawling with small boys all over them, some quite big trees too. Notable trees even had names which could be bragged about having scaled them.

I would imagine that tree-climbing is not even allowed any more.

Health and safety, insurance rules and all sorts of issues with it now.  Can't tell you how many times an adult knocked on my door to complain about one kid or another caught climbing a tree when they were younger.  The school cut them all down within their property to save having to deal with it.  The old garda station didn't...

[technolog]

My daughter did a sponsored run the other day at school, and she ran further than everybody else in her class.  Absolutely no idea where she got that from.

Did Milko have a big round?

[Mohican]

, wing-flapping flight is such a jerky process,

Amazing!

Helicoter blade in flight isn't so smooth.

[kinboshi]

According to research, kids can't run as fast as their parents could. Apparently, they are getting 5% slower every decade.

Strewth! When we were young we could run like gazelles. We got in to all kinds of mischief but no one could catch us. A bloke chased me on a moped once to no avail. He was a bit faster than me on the straight but I had him beat all ends up on the corners.

"To stay healthy, children and young people need to do at least an hour of physical activity per day"

An hour's activity? You would need to tie us to a chair to make us sit still for 5 minutes.

 

 

This is almost evolution doing it's thing, Tom, or I think it is.

We ran, skipped or walked everywhere, all the time. A visit to Grandma was a 3 mile walk each way, we'd never dream of catching a bus.

Today's generation lead a very different lifestyle. Not saying good or bad, but different. A TV set in every room, mobile phone, i-Pad, internet, X-Box with Maria the Plumber, an average of nearly 2 cars per family. The modern child is likely to be, on average, slower, &, arguably, less physically fit. Presumably, much more agile mentally, though.  Imagine the number of mental processes & calculations we make per minute, or even second, when we are 4 tabling Online Poker. Not just 4 decisions, one for each hand, if you break down the mental process for a single hand of poker, even at the basic level, it involves a dozen or more "decisions" or mental calculations per street. Now make it PLO8,  so that each hand counts as two hands.....!

We must be evolving, & faster rhan ever previously.

Nope, not evolution. This is nuture rather than nature (if it is indeed accurate).  Lifestyle coming into play, rather than any genetic changes having such a marked effect in a couple of generations.  Evolution is driven by random mutations offering a benefit to an individual that means their genes are 'selected' and passed on to future generations (at the expense of other, less 'suitable' individuals and their genes).

[Claw75]

According to research, kids can't run as fast as their parents could. Apparently, they are getting 5% slower every decade.

Strewth! When we were young we could run like gazelles. We got in to all kinds of mischief but no one could catch us. A bloke chased me on a moped once to no avail. He was a bit faster than me on the straight but I had him beat all ends up on the corners.

"To stay healthy, children and young people need to do at least an hour of physical activity per day"

An hour's activity? You would need to tie us to a chair to make us sit still for 5 minutes.

 

 

This is almost evolution doing it's thing, Tom, or I think it is.

We ran, skipped or walked everywhere, all the time. A visit to Grandma was a 3 mile walk each way, we'd never dream of catching a bus.

Today's generation lead a very different lifestyle. Not saying good or bad, but different. A TV set in every room, mobile phone, i-Pad, internet, X-Box with Maria the Plumber, an average of nearly 2 cars per family. The modern child is likely to be, on average, slower, &, arguably, less physically fit. Presumably, much more agile mentally, though.  Imagine the number of mental processes & calculations we make per minute, or even second, when we are 4 tabling Online Poker. Not just 4 decisions, one for each hand, if you break down the mental process for a single hand of poker, even at the basic level, it involves a dozen or more "decisions" or mental calculations per street. Now make it PLO8,  so that each hand counts as two hands.....!

We must be evolving, & faster rhan ever previously.

I'm no expert on the statistics, but I'd be very surprised if the 'average' child in this country has access to all that stuff and as sedentary a lifestyle as you imagine.  Hannah walks a total of about 3 miles a day, has no phone, no tablet, no TV in her room.  She comes out running with us at weekends, rides her bike and climbs trees. She has an ipod that she got from my mum last xmas, but it gets used once in a blue moon (eg playing games to pass time on train journeys), and her internet usage is mainly looking stuff up that interests her and, therefore, learning.  I'd say most of her friends are the same.  

[Jon MW]

I have always wondered whether commentary about how much 'stuff' children now have available is based on the comfortable middle class environment of the journalists who write it rather than the 'real' world.

I had a look and arguably the relevant statistics are hard to find - about 50% of families own 2 cars or more, so that automatically means that Tikay's list is only relevant to the minority though.

A couple of other statistics I found were 90% of 11-16 year olds have a mobile phone, and 70% of 10-18 year olds have TVs in their bedroom, that narrows it down a bit further but I'd question the relevance because the 'important' part I think is when they're under 10.