Archive for the ‘Random’ Category
Right now they’re running in Boston. I’ve qualified for next year’s race and will be in the 114th running of the grandaddy marathon.
Right now US runners are in the lead pack for both men and women.
UPDATE: Kara Goucher led the women until real late and finished third. Ryan Hall faded earlier but battled back and also finished third in the men’s race.
Two third-place finishes is quite an accomplishment for American running.
I know that a number of MO regulars are or were tabletop role-playing gamers. Is anyone up on or into the recent “retro-clone” movement of old-school gaming like Labyrinth Lord (1981 Moldvay edition clone) or Swords & Wizardry (Original edition clone)?
Somehow came across this:
Are Tiny, Gas-Saving Cars Unsafe? Today Mine Saved My Life
I rolled my Toyota Yaris three times this morning after hitting a six-foot-high dirt embankment at highway speed. I crawled out with no more than a bump on my head, seat belt burn, and a massively stiff neck. So, for all you small car safety-doubters out there, I’ve now got personal experience to say otherwise.
The writer says that after this experience he believes small cars are as safe (or even safer) than larger vehicles and that he would have no trouble trusting the lives of his family to a small fuel-efficient car.
The problem here, of course, is that the writer’s one personal experience, which even he describes as “miraculous,” is not enough data to draw a meaningful conclusion from. If someone knows a person who had one accident in a small car and was killed, would that mean that small cars are a 100% guarantee of death? No, of course it wouldn’t. In the same way, this one incident does not really prove anything about the safety of the Toyota Yaris.
While I’m certainly glad that the writer was fine after his accident, I don’t think that any sort of point has been proven. And to take his opinion as a guide for legislation or safety requirements to be applicable to other people would be irresponsible.
I once heard an argument very similar to this from a guy who refused to wear a helmet when he drove motorcycle. He had experienced what was basically a “miraculous” survival after spilling his bike without a helmet and refused to wear one. Without getting into details, a later accident didn’t end so well and I had the unfortunate luck to be kneeling in a pool of his blood at 2AM one morning waiting for the ambulance to arrive. It got there quickly, but not nearly quickly enough.
People have survived falls from airplanes without parachutes. That doesn’t mean parachutes are a vastly overrated safety device and we’d be fine jumping without them.
What do we think of this:
One resident, however, grew angry when he was not allowed to pass a checkpoint Monday, according to a news release from the Cedar Rapids Police Department.
After being denied re-entry to a flooded neighborhood, Rick Blazek, 53, returned to his vehicle as a state trooper used his police vehicle to block the checkpoint, according to the news release.
“Blazek drove his vehicle toward the state trooper and struck the state trooper three times with his vehicle,” the release said.
Police told Blazek to get out of his vehicle, and when he refused, “the driver’s window was broken out because the doors were locked and Blazek was removed from his vehicle,” according to the release.
The trooper was not injured. Blazek, who was arrested and charged with assault on a peace officer with a deadly weapon, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Account from CNN.
I don’t have any problem with someone being arrested for trying to drive their vehicle into a police officer. But the police weren’t allowing him to return to his property, and I’m not so sure about that.
I don’t think you can rightfully be forced to evacuate, and I would side with the citizen every time if police were trying to forcibly remove him from his property without charges. But are they obligated to let someone back in once they’ve left?
Crossposted from GunPundit.
UPDATE: Discussion at Sebastian’s.
Well, we’ve done it. We’ve suspended our DirecTV account for six months.
We haven’t totally cut the cord, as we will continue to watch DVDs, video on demand from Netflix (a pretty good deal) and a stockpile of TiVoed programs.
Still, canceling our service until October is a significant move, I think.
We’ll see how it goes. If nothing else, we’ll miss virtually all of the campaign commercials.
Temperatures will be down slightly this year:
This would mean global temperatures have not risen since 1998, prompting some to question climate change theory.
But experts say we are still clearly in a long-term warming trend – and they forecast a new record high temperature within five years.
The WMO points out that the decade from 1998 to 2007 was the warmest on record. Since the beginning of the 20th Century, the global average surface temperature has risen by 0.74C.
David Sneath worked in a Ford Motor Company parts warehouse fro 34 years, but didn’t take much time leaving after winning $136 million in the lottery.
“I yelled to the boss, ‘I’m out of here,”‘ the Livonia man said Thursday after coming to state Lottery Bureau headquarters in downtown Lansing to pick up his first $1 million check.
And then there’s this:
Despite his longtime association with Ford, he said he won’t be using any of the money to buy one of his former employer’s vehicles.
“I worked for Ford Motor Company,” he said. “I won’t be buying a Ford product.”
Quality is job one.
Murdoc’s been looking for a couple of new twists to throw into his daily workout now that spring is approaching, and maybe I’ll try one or two from Training for Warriors: The Ultimate Mixed Martial Arts Workout by Martin Rooney.
To be a warrior, you must train like a warrior
Discover the training secrets that have produced World Champions in MMA, Submission Grappling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and Judo. More than 750 color photos will show you how to perform hundreds of exercises designed to specifically target each area of your body. You’ll also learn:
- Nutrition and safe weight-cutting tips
- Information on dealing with injuries
- Advice on the warrior mind and mental game
- The ultimate 8-week warrior workout plan
Whether you are a fighter or just want to look like one, Training for Warriors is a proven, comprehensive system to get you fit for whatever battle life throws at you.
About the Author
Martin Rooney is the performance coach for the 2007 IFL Champion New York Pitbulls, COO and director of training of the Parisi Speed School, and an international fitness and martial arts consultant. For more information or to join the online warrior community, go to www.trainingforwarriors.com.
Though obviously geared for those in the mixed martial arts, this photo-packed book has a lot of exercises, workouts, and training guidance that can be applied to general strength and fitness building.
If I had a tire, I could try the ‘kneeling overhead hammer strike’ on page 173. If I had a sledge hammer.
A construction crane, reported to be perhaps 15 stories tall, has collapsed in New York City. Parts of several buildings were severely damaged, including one apartment building which was really hit hard.
This isn’t normal Murdoc fare, but the MSNBC.com story says two were killed. CNN says four. I’ll be shocked if that’s all the higher the number really is, particularly if apartment buildings were hit on a Saturday.
Let’s hope that’s all there is, though.
