"I thought victories rely on biochemical enhancements today, i.e. doping?"
At least 5 athletes have been kicked out for doping, and presumably anyone who does get to a final would automatically have to pass a doping test. Usain Bolt certainly didn't need to dope to break the 100m record, look at the size of him. What he did was partly down to his frame, but then the rest of it was down to pure training and determination as it's harder for lanky guys to develop good sprinting technique.
Personally, these Olympics have been full of pretty amazing feats by several athletes from my own country (Scotland/UK) and other countries and I've found them enjoyable to watch.
It's a good thing they didn't try to host them in the US or anything, otherwise I hope you'd consider them a non-event because of all the corruption going on in the US government. But somehow I doubt it.
The only version of these games I'd played until recently is Guitar Hero III. I got it earlier this year and have completed all but The Devil Went Down to Georgia and Through the Fire and the Flames on Expert. I tried the Rock Band guitar in PC World for a few songs and I think I actually prefer it to the Guitar Hero one. I was able to pick it up and play on expert immediately since the button spacing is about the same, though the lack of click was a little disconcerting (though I'd broken the click on my first guitar hero guitar anyway, so I'd had a few weeks experience of no click before buying a third party guitar). Pressing whole frets is more guitar-like than pressing a button IMO.
Before anyone whines about it not being realistic at all - yes, I do play the guitar. And not just boring barre and power chords, I can play a few classical songs that have a bass line and melody going at the same time, Classical Gas, The Entertainer etc.
I think you're being overzealous in your defence of Apple as well, because I'm pretty sure the guy was talking about paying $5 to be able to play all the rock band music on his iPod. He should have said "the MP3s".
Note that I like Apple, I just don't see how iPods or iTunes (of which I use neither, I use Songbird and VLC on my MBP) playing MP3s has anything to do with this, it's getting totally offtopic:p
Except it isn't "unreasonable" at all? How is having your car or bags searched as you pass into an area with different laws any different from your bags being checked at an airport? If one state allows you to carry guns in the trunk of a car but another doesn't for example (I don't know if there are any laws along those lines, I don't live in the US), then why not search the trunks for guns? Or drugs, etc. It's hilarious to see people talk about rights all the time but never actually stand up for them. I personally think checkpoints are reasonable, though I'd be scared to go through some in Europe because the border guards are corrupt and expect bribes. I don't have a problem with my bags being searched for illegal items, because I don't carry any.
It's not surprising you're such a drooler though, Bush didn't attract many smart followers and they ditched him by 2003. It's just surprising there are still so many of you down there.
Strange, I don't even live in the US, and I don't support what Bush is doing, I'm just one of the "if you've got nothing to hide, who cares?" crowd. I don't have that much issue with wiretaps as I avoid phones as much as possible anyway, and I don't care if the government know I like cars and porn from my search history. I don't particularly "believe anything" about how stoppable the 9/11 attacks were, I don't know what evidence there was apart from the guys getting flying lessons - but how exactly were they meant to know the guys were planning on crashing into the towers? If they had good evidence then why didn't they stop the attacks? Perhaps you should apply for head of the CIA or something, you obviously would do a better job.
"Papers" generally just means a way of proving who you are, ie passport. Why shouldn't you have to produce one when going through a border? Of course you'll get a gun pulled on you if you try to run a checkpoint - it wouldn't be any different in any other country. I don't see how those things have anything to do with "rights"? The PATRIOT act is pretty despicable however, and America is pretty Big Brother-ish, but most of the things being mentioned aren't too devious.
I don't know what status quo you're referring to, but yes your government sucks. Then again, so do pretty much all governments, so meh. I didn't even mention 9/11 btw, I don't see the point in bringing that up, I didn't bring up the "terrorists" at Glasgow Airport, nor any real terror attacks that the UK has suffered from Ireland in the last few decades. The fact of the matter is that yes you can't stop all attacks without being very invasive of privacy, and if you want to protect your privacy then don't complain when "the terrorists" manage to get their little plans to succeed.
16 is already 'underage' in a few places anyway so what difference does that make? Plus other sports allow people as young as 14 to take part. I actually thought that gymnastics was one of the sports that had been doing that for years already?
Yeah because isolation is going to help them become a better country? Look at America for an example of what happens to a country when all people are interested in is their own culture - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3ghdwINqirU . Giving the Chinese a bit of exposure to the rest of the world is a good thing. It's nothing to do with China as a 'nation' anyway, it's only their government.
Oh noes, Bush listens to you phoning someone to tell them you'll be there in 5 minutes? And wants you to prove your identity while travelling? The inhumanity!! Totally comparable to the concentration camps. You win at Godwin.
Well yeah, I just found it strange because I was having more alcohol and snacks than usual (I live in the UK btw, not the US) but I seem to have lost more weight. A friend just pointed out that red wine can help with digestion so that could have made a difference, or perhaps having a more constant stream of food meant my metabolism was going at a higher rate. I have a pretty good metabolism anyway. I certainly was eating different food though, a lot more bread based. When I'm at home I tend to have chinese meals quite a lot, so I will regularly have a lot of sodium in me!
Is there a way to judge your own bodyfat percentage or do you really need to see a professional for that?
I just went on holiday to France for a week, and even though I thought I was eating more than usual, but I'm actually 4 or 5 pounds lighter than I was a couple of weeks ago! It could just be something like water weight though, as it's a lot warmer in France.
A Zune logo is pretty dumb, but something like Tux or Mario do have a lot of significance already. Mario is just an icon in his own right, and a big part of gaming history. Tux perhaps isn't very well recognised outside of geek circles, but MS are going to be remembered for centuries to come as the company to drive home computing forward (in a pretty crappy way, but they have done some slight good in amongst all the bad). Linux looks like it's going to be the thing to get us out of the mire and drive computing forward once more.. and that has a lot of meaning to some of us.
Personally I wouldn't get a Tux tattoo though, it's pretty tacky;) I have never been able to think of a tat design that I'd probably still find cool in 20 years, so I haven't bothered so far.
Perhaps Microsoft would see the light and become friendlier to open source and open standards. Unlikely, but so was getting Excel working under Linux through Wine if you asked someone 10 years ago.
Are you saying the WINE project has had help from Microsoft? I wasn't aware of anything like that going on.
What possible use is their in having MS on your side anyway? All they've demonstrated themselves to be good at is writing consistently shitty software. They're a joke. All major business held back from using Vista "until SP1 comes out", and then by the time that it did come out, most still didn't see any benefit in it. I'm quite happy that some of the world has shown that it understands that the latest version isn't always the best:)
This is one of the reasons the US is not welcomed with open arms when they're coming to liberate a country.
Seriously? Who wouldn't want to hug an invader with a gun!!? Bunch of frickin' weirdos.
I don't think these wars are anything about a right to live otherwise there wouldn't be any people dying. Perhaps they are being fought about some nebulous idea of freedom though. *coughoroilcough*
Even a match can reach almost half the temperature of the "dark spots" on the sun, so saying "temperature of the sun" doesn't particularly help.
If you said "temperature of the center of the sun", then that would be more impressive. As it is, "temperature of the sun" could be the heat of the sun as measured with a thermometer on the surface of the earth. On a cloudy day. In Winter.
Breast stroke is pretty easy, but a brisk front crawl shatters me pretty quickly and gets my lungs going (if I went swimming more often I'd get used to it but the last few years I've probably only been swimming 3 or 4 times a year on average!). I don't have a problem using my muscles when exercising, I'm fine with stuff like weights, walking, kayaking, anything that doesn't get my lungs going, but things like swimming and running both get me feeling like I deserve a big meal:p
As for the swimming thing it was just something I read recently while looking up how many calories different exercises burn. Apparently a lot of professional female swimmers have had "well publicised battles with their weight" or something. That phrase stuck in my head as a bit strange.
Yep it wasn't a great choice of words on his part, I was just trying to point out what he probably meant.
FYI, doing hundreds of situps won't get you a six pack. You can't reduce fat in one specific area of your body. The only way to get a 6 pack is to reduce overall fat on your entire body.
Ya, I read that recently and have been cutting down on how much I'm eating (now that I know the rough level of calories I should aim for it's easier to have some will power and make better choices on what to eat). I have a friend who was quite into his bodybuilding for a while, he couldn't get a six-pack either despite bulking up a lot.
I'm varying from a one pack to a noticeable 4 pack depending on things like how much I've eaten/drunk (even drinking a cup or two of water seems to make a bit of difference), and whether I've been exercising recently - still have a bit of fat to burn methinks!
I mean, shooting warning shots or aiming for say the lower legs would seem to me to be justifiable (good if they are incapacitated so that the police can pick them up), but body or headshots are a bit harsh.
Perhaps I have just played too many computer games though. IRL I don't know if I'd be able to shoot anyone, much less have the accuracy to be able to hit their legs over any other part of their body..
I am not a gun nut, neither do I know who Bernie Goetz is. It's a bit different shooting people on a subway than people intruding into your own property.
Wow, just read that link you posted. That guy sounds more than a little unstable. Better to try and avoid a confrontation than start a fight, especially if it's just "five dollars" to start with, though you want to be careful if there are 4 guys I suppose. Shooting people intruding onto your property and trying to steal stuff is different than shooting 4 guys on a subway because one of them talks to you..
I don't think you need to cut the walking - besides, you probably enjoy it - I know that I missed walking home from work the other night when I got a lift). But to burn away fat quicker I'd expect you need to do a bit more strenuous exercise too, like a bit of cycling or jogging - or if you do weights it's meant to speed up the rate at which you burn calories for the next few hours as well. If you do the same thing over and over your body gets pretty used to it like jockner says, so varying the types of exercise you do (ie which muscle groups you use) is more likely to build muscle, and probably also better for burning fat. Some posters above were talking about marathon runners not being any more muscly than your average schmoe, yet they have much more stamina - so as you use muscles regularly they will presumably be becoming more efficient and therefor will be burning less energy to do the same amount of work.. so varying the muscle groups will help keep everything slightly less inefficient.. heh.
Personally I don't particularly care what weight I am - as long as I'm looking and feeling healthier with regular exercise then I know that I'm getting some benefit. I feel much less lethargic with regular walking than when I drive everywhere, and while my weight hasn't changed dramatically with walking to work over the last 2 months, I have gone down a belt notch or two (I expect I'm losing fat but at the same time putting on a bit of muscle in my legs). I occasionally do a bit of weights, and have been trying to work my core as well with ab crunches every couple of days (and recently looked up a few other exercises to strengthen other parts of my core, I think my lower back muscles could do with being a bit stronger - I should really get one of those inflatable ball thingies). I'm pretty happy with my results so far and am just going to continue with the same kind of idea until the weather gets worse, then I'll have to find something to replace the walking..
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"I thought victories rely on biochemical enhancements today, i.e. doping?"
At least 5 athletes have been kicked out for doping, and presumably anyone who does get to a final would automatically have to pass a doping test. Usain Bolt certainly didn't need to dope to break the 100m record, look at the size of him. What he did was partly down to his frame, but then the rest of it was down to pure training and determination as it's harder for lanky guys to develop good sprinting technique.
Personally, these Olympics have been full of pretty amazing feats by several athletes from my own country (Scotland/UK) and other countries and I've found them enjoyable to watch.
It's a good thing they didn't try to host them in the US or anything, otherwise I hope you'd consider them a non-event because of all the corruption going on in the US government. But somehow I doubt it.
The only version of these games I'd played until recently is Guitar Hero III. I got it earlier this year and have completed all but The Devil Went Down to Georgia and Through the Fire and the Flames on Expert. I tried the Rock Band guitar in PC World for a few songs and I think I actually prefer it to the Guitar Hero one. I was able to pick it up and play on expert immediately since the button spacing is about the same, though the lack of click was a little disconcerting (though I'd broken the click on my first guitar hero guitar anyway, so I'd had a few weeks experience of no click before buying a third party guitar). Pressing whole frets is more guitar-like than pressing a button IMO.
Before anyone whines about it not being realistic at all - yes, I do play the guitar. And not just boring barre and power chords, I can play a few classical songs that have a bass line and melody going at the same time, Classical Gas, The Entertainer etc.
I think you're being overzealous in your defence of Apple as well, because I'm pretty sure the guy was talking about paying $5 to be able to play all the rock band music on his iPod. He should have said "the MP3s".
Note that I like Apple, I just don't see how iPods or iTunes (of which I use neither, I use Songbird and VLC on my MBP) playing MP3s has anything to do with this, it's getting totally offtopic :p
Except it isn't "unreasonable" at all? How is having your car or bags searched as you pass into an area with different laws any different from your bags being checked at an airport? If one state allows you to carry guns in the trunk of a car but another doesn't for example (I don't know if there are any laws along those lines, I don't live in the US), then why not search the trunks for guns? Or drugs, etc. It's hilarious to see people talk about rights all the time but never actually stand up for them. I personally think checkpoints are reasonable, though I'd be scared to go through some in Europe because the border guards are corrupt and expect bribes. I don't have a problem with my bags being searched for illegal items, because I don't carry any.
It's not surprising you're such a drooler though, Bush didn't attract many smart followers and they ditched him by 2003. It's just surprising there are still so many of you down there.
Strange, I don't even live in the US, and I don't support what Bush is doing, I'm just one of the "if you've got nothing to hide, who cares?" crowd. I don't have that much issue with wiretaps as I avoid phones as much as possible anyway, and I don't care if the government know I like cars and porn from my search history. I don't particularly "believe anything" about how stoppable the 9/11 attacks were, I don't know what evidence there was apart from the guys getting flying lessons - but how exactly were they meant to know the guys were planning on crashing into the towers? If they had good evidence then why didn't they stop the attacks? Perhaps you should apply for head of the CIA or something, you obviously would do a better job.
"Papers" generally just means a way of proving who you are, ie passport. Why shouldn't you have to produce one when going through a border? Of course you'll get a gun pulled on you if you try to run a checkpoint - it wouldn't be any different in any other country. I don't see how those things have anything to do with "rights"? The PATRIOT act is pretty despicable however, and America is pretty Big Brother-ish, but most of the things being mentioned aren't too devious.
I don't know what status quo you're referring to, but yes your government sucks. Then again, so do pretty much all governments, so meh. I didn't even mention 9/11 btw, I don't see the point in bringing that up, I didn't bring up the "terrorists" at Glasgow Airport, nor any real terror attacks that the UK has suffered from Ireland in the last few decades. The fact of the matter is that yes you can't stop all attacks without being very invasive of privacy, and if you want to protect your privacy then don't complain when "the terrorists" manage to get their little plans to succeed.
16 is already 'underage' in a few places anyway so what difference does that make? Plus other sports allow people as young as 14 to take part. I actually thought that gymnastics was one of the sports that had been doing that for years already?
Yeah because isolation is going to help them become a better country? Look at America for an example of what happens to a country when all people are interested in is their own culture - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3ghdwINqirU . Giving the Chinese a bit of exposure to the rest of the world is a good thing. It's nothing to do with China as a 'nation' anyway, it's only their government.
No one is getting tortured for reporting truth to power on US soil.
Sure they're not, we all know all the USes illegal torture takes place in Gitmo!
Oh noes, Bush listens to you phoning someone to tell them you'll be there in 5 minutes? And wants you to prove your identity while travelling? The inhumanity!! Totally comparable to the concentration camps. You win at Godwin.
Well yeah, I just found it strange because I was having more alcohol and snacks than usual (I live in the UK btw, not the US) but I seem to have lost more weight. A friend just pointed out that red wine can help with digestion so that could have made a difference, or perhaps having a more constant stream of food meant my metabolism was going at a higher rate. I have a pretty good metabolism anyway. I certainly was eating different food though, a lot more bread based. When I'm at home I tend to have chinese meals quite a lot, so I will regularly have a lot of sodium in me!
Is there a way to judge your own bodyfat percentage or do you really need to see a professional for that?
I just went on holiday to France for a week, and even though I thought I was eating more than usual, but I'm actually 4 or 5 pounds lighter than I was a couple of weeks ago! It could just be something like water weight though, as it's a lot warmer in France.
A Zune logo is pretty dumb, but something like Tux or Mario do have a lot of significance already. Mario is just an icon in his own right, and a big part of gaming history. Tux perhaps isn't very well recognised outside of geek circles, but MS are going to be remembered for centuries to come as the company to drive home computing forward (in a pretty crappy way, but they have done some slight good in amongst all the bad). Linux looks like it's going to be the thing to get us out of the mire and drive computing forward once more.. and that has a lot of meaning to some of us.
Personally I wouldn't get a Tux tattoo though, it's pretty tacky ;) I have never been able to think of a tat design that I'd probably still find cool in 20 years, so I haven't bothered so far.
Ah, I thought the "pistol shrimp" was the nickname of a weapon. Heh. Thanks.
Perhaps Microsoft would see the light and become friendlier to open source and open standards. Unlikely, but so was getting Excel working under Linux through Wine if you asked someone 10 years ago.
Are you saying the WINE project has had help from Microsoft? I wasn't aware of anything like that going on.
What possible use is their in having MS on your side anyway? All they've demonstrated themselves to be good at is writing consistently shitty software. They're a joke. All major business held back from using Vista "until SP1 comes out", and then by the time that it did come out, most still didn't see any benefit in it. I'm quite happy that some of the world has shown that it understands that the latest version isn't always the best :)
This is one of the reasons the US is not welcomed with open arms when they're coming to liberate a country.
Seriously? Who wouldn't want to hug an invader with a gun!!? Bunch of frickin' weirdos.
I don't think these wars are anything about a right to live otherwise there wouldn't be any people dying. Perhaps they are being fought about some nebulous idea of freedom though. *coughoroilcough*
The world would be a better place if anyone with political leanings could only throw rocks. Better yet, forget the rocks.
They are expensive
$169 isn't expensive for me, let alone the American army :p
Finally - a practical use for the large hadron accelerator!
Even a match can reach almost half the temperature of the "dark spots" on the sun, so saying "temperature of the sun" doesn't particularly help.
If you said "temperature of the center of the sun", then that would be more impressive. As it is, "temperature of the sun" could be the heat of the sun as measured with a thermometer on the surface of the earth. On a cloudy day. In Winter.
Breast stroke is pretty easy, but a brisk front crawl shatters me pretty quickly and gets my lungs going (if I went swimming more often I'd get used to it but the last few years I've probably only been swimming 3 or 4 times a year on average!). I don't have a problem using my muscles when exercising, I'm fine with stuff like weights, walking, kayaking, anything that doesn't get my lungs going, but things like swimming and running both get me feeling like I deserve a big meal :p
As for the swimming thing it was just something I read recently while looking up how many calories different exercises burn. Apparently a lot of professional female swimmers have had "well publicised battles with their weight" or something. That phrase stuck in my head as a bit strange.
Yep it wasn't a great choice of words on his part, I was just trying to point out what he probably meant.
FYI, doing hundreds of situps won't get you a six pack. You can't reduce fat in one specific area of your body. The only way to get a 6 pack is to reduce overall fat on your entire body.
Ya, I read that recently and have been cutting down on how much I'm eating (now that I know the rough level of calories I should aim for it's easier to have some will power and make better choices on what to eat). I have a friend who was quite into his bodybuilding for a while, he couldn't get a six-pack either despite bulking up a lot.
I'm varying from a one pack to a noticeable 4 pack depending on things like how much I've eaten/drunk (even drinking a cup or two of water seems to make a bit of difference), and whether I've been exercising recently - still have a bit of fat to burn methinks!
I mean, shooting warning shots or aiming for say the lower legs would seem to me to be justifiable (good if they are incapacitated so that the police can pick them up), but body or headshots are a bit harsh.
Perhaps I have just played too many computer games though. IRL I don't know if I'd be able to shoot anyone, much less have the accuracy to be able to hit their legs over any other part of their body..
I am not a gun nut, neither do I know who Bernie Goetz is. It's a bit different shooting people on a subway than people intruding into your own property.
Wow, just read that link you posted. That guy sounds more than a little unstable. Better to try and avoid a confrontation than start a fight, especially if it's just "five dollars" to start with, though you want to be careful if there are 4 guys I suppose. Shooting people intruding onto your property and trying to steal stuff is different than shooting 4 guys on a subway because one of them talks to you..
I don't think you need to cut the walking - besides, you probably enjoy it - I know that I missed walking home from work the other night when I got a lift). But to burn away fat quicker I'd expect you need to do a bit more strenuous exercise too, like a bit of cycling or jogging - or if you do weights it's meant to speed up the rate at which you burn calories for the next few hours as well. If you do the same thing over and over your body gets pretty used to it like jockner says, so varying the types of exercise you do (ie which muscle groups you use) is more likely to build muscle, and probably also better for burning fat. Some posters above were talking about marathon runners not being any more muscly than your average schmoe, yet they have much more stamina - so as you use muscles regularly they will presumably be becoming more efficient and therefor will be burning less energy to do the same amount of work.. so varying the muscle groups will help keep everything slightly less inefficient.. heh.
Personally I don't particularly care what weight I am - as long as I'm looking and feeling healthier with regular exercise then I know that I'm getting some benefit. I feel much less lethargic with regular walking than when I drive everywhere, and while my weight hasn't changed dramatically with walking to work over the last 2 months, I have gone down a belt notch or two (I expect I'm losing fat but at the same time putting on a bit of muscle in my legs). I occasionally do a bit of weights, and have been trying to work my core as well with ab crunches every couple of days (and recently looked up a few other exercises to strengthen other parts of my core, I think my lower back muscles could do with being a bit stronger - I should really get one of those inflatable ball thingies). I'm pretty happy with my results so far and am just going to continue with the same kind of idea until the weather gets worse, then I'll have to find something to replace the walking..