Posts by JackElder

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  • Hard News: Food and drink,

    The problem is your recipe, not the difficulty in making falafel. If you follow some jumped wannabe recipe then you wear the cost. I've made dry humus and fried it. It doesn't taste like falafel from a fancy restaurant or some a priori conception I have of falafel. It tastes like falafel I've made myself. It tastes good.

    Your argument is a bit like saying, I want to learn how to play pick-up-sticks but the instructions say I have to use my butt cheeks. Memo: you don't have to use your butt cheeks just because the instructions say so.

    Yeah, I know what you mean. The other day I made sushi. Many people say sushi is hard, but I the problem is their recipe, not the difficulty in making sushi. If you follow some jumped wannabe sushi recipe then you wear the cost. I made it by mixing mung beans and tomato sauce and serving them on stale pita bread. It doesn't taste like sushi from a fancy restaurant or some a priori conception I have of sushi. It tastes like sushi I've made myself. It tastes good.

    Their argument is indeed a bit like saying, I want to learn how to play chess but the instructions say I have to always move bishops diagonally. Memo: you don't have to move your bishops diagonally just because the instructions say so.

    You can move any of the pieces however you like, and it's still chess.

    Fight the power!

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report

  • Hard News: Food and drink,

    Bro, dahl takes 10 minutes to cook from scratch. Twenty at the most.

    What kind of recipe are you using? My standard dahl recipe includes an injunction to simmer over a low heat for about an hour. I wouldn't have thought the lentils would cook through enough in 20 minutes.

    I think the split in age of eligibility between licensed premises and OTC sales is a good idea. Anecdotally, most of the serious problem drinking happens outside licensed premises, as cash-strapped young people get their drink on at home prior to going on the town (to save money on overpriced bar drinks). Certainly, I'm going to put my hand up and say that I did the same as a student - drinking at pubs was too expensive, so on the rare occasions that I did so, I normally had a few drinks prior to going out.

    Plus I'd assume that it's easier for an underage drinker to buy alcohol over the counter than in a bar. So imposing a limit of 20 for OTC sales should make it harder for drastically underage kids to get hold of booze.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report

  • Field Theory: Frickin' LZRs,

    Nothing for it....I mean they should wear nothing. Make the sport damn more interesting.

    One interesting consequence of mandating nudity for competitive swimming is that you'd have to contend with the drag factor from the parts that are normally enclosed by the trunks. Possibly not so much of a problem for women, but it could well see those men often considered to be "blessed by nature" eliminated from competition due to excessive hydrodynamic drag.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report

  • Field Theory: Frickin' LZRs,

    I think that maintains my point that cycling isn't a sport about going fast, it is a sport about going fast according to rules.

    The constraints make the race interesting, and that's why I said (slightly imprecisely) that they're the point of cycling.

    Indeed, and I agree with you on this. Cycling is about getting from a to b (possibly via c d and e), cyclesport is about competing with certain agreed constraints. I guess that people moan about it a lot because the constraints are quite, well, constraining, but I think your basic point stands.

    In the same vein, you could argue that swimming is about mucking about in water, competitive swimming is about competing with certain agreed constraints. In that light, you could argue that the LZR (and the like) provide too much of an advantage (in the same sense as the justification for the UCI's ban on monocoque bicycle frames).

    But I sure as hell wouldn't want to be the person who had to write the rulebook on what constituted a competition-legal swimsuit. I'd imagine that you'd have to get very specific about the exact details of fabric, weave, reinforcement etc that were allowed; and even then, people will still try to game the system.

    As an aside - I am informed that these high-performance swimsuits are staggeringly uncomfortable and take half an hour to put on.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report

  • Field Theory: Frickin' LZRs,

    I'd be interested to know the particular restrictions in cycling. Eg: do they count out recumbent cycles or other unusual configurations.

    Yes, explicitly. UCI-legal cycles must conform to a number of criteria, among which is that they must be upright bicycles with a diamond frame configuration. The rules are also subject to change: Chris Boardman's time trial bike from the 90s was held to provide him with enough of an aerodynamic advantage that it lead to monocoque frames being banned in UCI competition. Of course, the UCI are also slightly notorious for banning some non-technological advances (Graham Obree's "Superman" riding position, which enabled a track rider to get an extremely aero position, was banned).

    The UCI regulations are notoriously specific. Everything, from the allowable angles of each element of the frame to the degree of aerodynamic shaping of the tubing on the frame, is clearly delineated. The UCI has had its boot on the throat of progress for some time.

    Or else, let some other area of cycling (the recreational or transport side) drive the new technology. The sport can adopt it when it matures.

    Well, that's an interesting point. One of the things the UCI enforces is a minimum weight for competition bikes (I recall this as being 6.8kg, but could be wrong). With recent advances in bike technology, it's now perfectly possible to buy an (extremely expensive) off the shelf bike too light for legal UCI competitive use. You could argue that the recreational side of things is indeed driving the technology onward, if you count "un or semi official competition" (say, weekend warriors rolling up to the line of the club 10k TT) as "recreational".

    [Keir Leslie]

    Cycling has been arbitrarily anti-technology since the invention of the internal combustion engine.

    This is so wrong I don't know where to start. Modern competitive cycling is insanely technological, whether offroad or on. Yes, of course it's about the people, but technology plays at least as much of a role as it does in most sport.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report

  • Island Life: The Guilt of Clayton Weatherston,

    So, it's like we are sending them for dismantling. Can we sell the spare parts?

    Well, there are numerous allegations that this happens in some parts of the Chinese penal system.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report

  • Field Theory: Professionalism is killing…,

    Yeah, there was no drug cheating or anything like that in sport until the nasty, nasty modern era.

    From his bag he takes a phial. "That, that's cocaine for our eyes and chloroform for our gums..."
    "Here," said Ville, tipping out the contents of his bag, "horse liniment to keep my knees warm. And pills? You want to see the pills?" They got out three boxes apiece.

    That's from an interview with the Pelissier brothers in 1924. And that was a time when professional cyclists made a living in many countries (including NZ) travelling around and racing at local events. It wasn't much of a living, but some people did quite well at it. We've had professional sportspeople for quite a long time, really. For instance, Major Taylor was basically a professional cyclist from childhood, and he was competing at Madison Square Gardens in the 1890s.

    So yes, nostalgic nonsense.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report

  • Field Theory: Numbers Game,

    Needed some police officer to stick his arm out as they ran past chasing the cyclist. "Oops sorry son! Didn't see you there. What were you doing running on the road anyway?"

    While understandable, that's a bit of an unfortunate comment, as a 61-year old lady was killed by police motorbike during Saturday's stage.

    But yeah, they're very exposed. Let's not forget that Eddy Merckx had to pull out of what could have been his sixth tour victory after being punched in the kidneys by a fan. Or the incident the other day, where our own Julian Dean was shot with an airgun.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report

  • Field Theory: Numbers Game,

    As regarding Contador and Lance: of course Contador's going to win. Yes, it would have been drastically romantic if Lance had come back and done it - I can hear the Rocky theme playing now - but realistically, Contador is younger, fitter, and arguably a better racer (Contador's won all three major Tours, Lance won the TdF by concentrating on it with surgical precision and ignoring the others). The main question was, when would the split come? I'm slightly surprised that it came so early - I was somewhat expecting them to battle it out until the penultimate stage on Ventoux. Then again, Contador might just be hedging his bets against the chance of losing time in Thursday's time trial stage.

    And it's a real pity about Mark Cavendish. Four stage wins so far, and a serious chance at getting the green jersey, and then one dodgy sprint and he's basically out of contention. I'm just hoping that he takes the final stage on the Champs-Elysee on Sunday.

    Anyone want to venture an opinion on whether Bradley Wiggins will get a podium place? I don't think he can win it, but the way he's riding at the moment, a top 3 finish is a definite possibility.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report

  • Busytown: Cry me a river,

    Loved your diatribe about driving- I think it's even worse in smaller towns in NZ. Mind you, the very fact they gave me a licence is a damning indictment on our country's road safety....

    My grandparents lived in a small town in Southland. Towards the end of their lives, whenever we visited, the locals would discreetly take dad aside and ask if he could try to convince them not to drive into Invercargill any more. Around the town, everyone knew what their car looked like and drove accordingly, but in the big smoke people wouldn't recognise them and make allowances for their idiosyncratic driving styles.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report

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