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Arm Wrestling Machine Recalled for Breaking Arms
Lucas123 writes "After three players broke their arms while wrestling with a Japanese arcade machine, the manufacturer promised to remove all 150 of the mechanized appendages. Said game maker Atlus' spokeswoman: "The machine isn't that strong, much less so than a muscular man. Even women should be able to beat it.""
In that case, should cars be recalled?
"We think people have been driving in unnatural ways."
Companies shouldn't be punished for people's stupidity.
I would really love to be in a board room where they come up with these ideas. If these are the ones that got approved, what ones where shot down on common sense grounds?
Control is an illusion, order our comforting lie. From chaos, through chaos, into chaos we fly
You can break your own bones. People think of conditioning in terms of muscle only but bones also respond to exercise, or the lack of it. The best example is astronauts. They lose a lot of bone mass. They can become quite fragile. It's not all that hard to get yourself to the condition where your muscles are too strong for your bones.
My favorite arm wrestling story: I used to vacation with a bunch of farmers. One night in the lounge they had a bit of an arm wrestling tournament. The security guy came in. He was buff. He obviously exercised at least an hour a day. He was also no fool. He chose the easiest looking guy for his first match; the farm kid. He looked like he never exercised and was slightly pudgy. He was a bit bigger than the security guy but not a lot. I would have bet on the security guy to win.
Not only could the security guy not budge the farm kid, he broke a small blood vessel in his temple. Blood actually spurted from the side of his head. I was very impressed but the farmers weren't. In any event, the kid couldn't beat any of the older guys even if they were getting pretty lubed.
I have never understood the fascination that so many Americans have with Japan, but when I see something like this I have to admit, they have some unbelievable shit over there. On the left is an arcade game called Boong Ga Boong Ga in which you, the player, try to cram a plastic finger up a virtual woman's ass. The harder you shove, the more reaction you get from the computerized face on the screen. I really have nothing to add to this.
And on the right, we have mascots for the game - one with a giant hand for a head and one who appears to be dressed with a fecal motif. Amazing stuff. I want this game.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
To continue your unrelated note: yes, Japan still has hella awesome arcades. Google "Senjou no Kizuna" for an example why. (in brief: the basic game mechanic is something like mechwarrior 2 + multiplayer - nothing new, nothing fancy. but you're in a Gundam cockpit, and your view is a dome screen bigger than you, unless you are very big. generally 4 machines per arcade, 4 vs 4 and 8 vs 8 game inter-arcade game play is the norm, with skill matching. the pilot roster interface is a separate system in the arcade. essentially - you can't replicate this experience at home without a lot of yen.)
aside from game experiences that are separate from console experiences, there is a... sociological aspect to this. i won't dilute the discussion further - but if you are interested let me know, and look into the movie Avalon.
Heh, in Swedish it's actually called "arm breaking". Maybe that machine was manufactured here? o_O
Blog -
The difference in strenght between men and women generally seems to be overestimated. I'm a pretty big guy (80 kg, 1.87 m), but even I know a few normal, non-bodybuilding women who could easily kick my ass. Which reminds me of the boxing match between Regina Halmich and Stefan Raab (on german TV or youtube). Now granted, Halmich used to box professionally, but Raab must be easily twice her weight, and she beat him to a pulp.
Sure, on average, men are stronger than women, but Joss Whedon isn't too far off.
Get your arm as close to your body as possible. This way the opponent has to reach out and he/she has to use much more power to keep the same force on your arm. Opposite, you can use less power to apply the same force. Of course you will be able to use as much power as you applied first meaning more force.
About three years ago a friend and I were arm wrestling at the office and I broke my arm. Made a sound like cracking a yardstick over your knee. Had to get surgery and a metal plate installed. Still have a pretty crazy scar from that. It's cool though because he's bought me enough beers to more than make up for it.
:)
We were guys in good shape, but neither he nor I were strangely strong people. Turns out it's not that hard to break the humerus if you twist it the wrong way. Generally if you're arm wrestling you should be positioned so that you're doing a curl, and putting the stress along the length of the bone. If you are using a twisting motion you're doing it wrong: if you're reasonably strong and you push as hard as you can, you very well might snap your arm.
I think I may have had a hairline fracture beforehand from some aggressive rock climbing a few weeks earlier, during which I experienced some pain in that arm. But even in that case, the cause was still my own muscle strength against my own bone strength, and the bone lost. That worried me so I had a bone density scan after the break. And I came up completely normal.
The scar always gets questions. I've tried telling tall tales and such (a knife fight! no, alligator wrestling! no, a cybernetic bicep implant!), but nothing gets as much of a reaction as the truth. Only problem is people seem to then assume that it means I'm defective for fragile or something. But here's my take: if you've ever arm wrestled and lost without breaking your arm, you're a pussy. Because you just gave up.
Makes me feel a little better, anyways
Good point, because it's well known that almost all women are stronger than every man, except for that one woman who lives in Peoria, IL, who is so weak she brings down the overall average. Damn her, ruining it for everyone else!!!
...following the principles of Heisenburger's Uncertain Cat...
Y'know, I just did a quick google image search for professional arm wrestlers, and it seems to me that the elbow pad on that arcade game is on the wrong side of the mechanical arm. Maybe that is why people are breaking their arms...
According to Wikipedia, the current honest bench press is "only" 715 lbs.
Why in god's name they consider these shirts (extremely tight shirts that tighten up like a boner as you lower the weight) as valid, I'll never know. It's basically using hydraulics to create resistence to lowering the weight.
Might as well be using a crane for assistance.
And, yes, bench pressing 700 lbs. or more, honestly, is still one hell of an achievement.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.