Well, that’s one way of doing it! That’s kind of how the Russians did it to win the Eastern front in WW II.
Practice DM! Just get out there and practice. You don’t have any eye problems do you, or a job that robs your free time cause you have to keep up with the Jonses? They have a BMW, I have to have a Caddie. Etc.etc. Then suddenly you’re the richest corpse in the cemetery. Crap, his casket looks better than mine.
No, no eye problems or anything. I just have a terrible paucity of practice because I have nowhere to practice at. I think my landlord would be a little upset if I started shooting ancient weaponry around my building. I suppose I could try my mom’s backyard. Or maybe drive down to Saginaw and use one of the abandoned factories. Ah the perils of urban living. One crossbow bolt through the wall of an old folks’ home and it’s, “You’re under arrest. Come with me sir. Put down the weapon sir. Sir, don’t make me taze you.” *Bzzzzzztt!
3) Studies focusing on short-term effects tell us nothing about long-term effects.
3. That’s probably because we haven’t been using the technology long enough to have long term studies. We can only speculate what might happen in the near future. (see The Futurist mag.) .
And with technology constantly changing, will we ever even be able to conduct useful long term studies?
3) Studies focusing on short-term effects tell us nothing about long-term effects.
3. That’s probably because we haven’t been using the technology long enough to have long term studies. We can only speculate what might happen in the near future. (see The Futurist mag.) .
And with technology constantly changing, will we ever even be able to conduct useful long term studies?
Take care,
Derek
It was believed back in the fifties that comics had a negative influence on kids. Time to test the baby boomers to see what the long-term damage has been.
This kind of nonsense is really nothing new. Today it’s the Internet, the video games and that evil texting, fifty years ago it was rock-and-roll and comics, and two hundred years back it was the waltz.
It was believed back in the fifties that comics had a negative influence on kids. Time to test the baby boomers to see what the long-term damage has been.
This kind of nonsense is really nothing new. Today it’s the Internet, the video games and that evil texting, fifty years ago it was rock-and-roll and comics, and two hundred years back it was the waltz.
At least one of them (Joss Wheadon) is directing some pretty cool movies and TV shows IMO.
It was believed back in the fifties that comics had a negative influence on kids. Time to test the baby boomers to see what the long-term damage has been.
Ah, voracious comic book reading baby boomer checking in! And reporting that if anything it improved my reading and concentration. I’ll have to admit though that I was a snob in that I read “Classics Illustrated” a lot as well as the “hero” series (ex. Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, etc) and except for an annoying eye tic and occasional lapses of running through the neighborhood with a bath towel cape (this of course appears to frighten them witnessing a 64 year old 6’ 7” curmudgeon screaming at invisible super enemies) I’m feeling much better now. Nic, Nic.
Thevillageatheist - 07 December 2012 12:23 PM
Ah, voracious comic book reading baby boomer checking in!
Ah, that explains why you only became a teacher and not a professor.
Regards,
Dr. Phil
Thank you Dr. filtch but I am a professor, adjunct that is. And to answer your next question yes I leave my cape at home before lecturing. It scares the kiddies!
No, no eye problems or anything. I just have a terrible paucity of practice because I have nowhere to practice at. I think my landlord would be a little upset if I started shooting ancient weaponry around my building. I suppose I could try my mom’s backyard. Or maybe drive down to Saginaw and use one of the abandoned factories. Ah the perils of urban living. One crossbow bolt through the wall of an old folks’ home and it’s, “You’re under arrest. Come with me sir. Put down the weapon sir. Sir, don’t make me taze you.” *Bzzzzzztt!
Hey DM you live on the UP don’t you? Why not drive north a few miles towards the Tamarack trees away from civilization and into porcupine country. Plenty of open spaces to practice. No cops or old folks, well maybe some old folks but none who could run fast enough to chase you off their land. Besides, you’d have an Atlatl and they’d be curious to see you use it, just not in the cows.
It was believed back in the fifties that comics had a negative influence on kids. Time to test the baby boomers to see what the long-term damage has been.
Even before then. In 1937, as I’ve related before, my aunt told my father he was hurting my (6 year old) education by allowing me to read comic books. He was the one who bought them for me, and he said, “I don’t care what he reads, as long as he does read.” So, I guess, George, that’s why I turned into a lowly chemist instead of a big, fancy politician.
Brian Dunning at Skeptoid had a brief discussion about brain training games, http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4319, where he claimed that the scientific evidence of the games improving function is pretty poor. That said, during the years I was dealing with the isolation of caring for my partner as she slowly succumbed to Alzheimer’s Disease, I got hooked on one of the popular brain training sites. They were a wonderful, important diversion. I still play them with fair regularity and enjoy them, but I couldn’t prove that they’ve done me any good. (I also got hooked on this site at that time, and I think you all have provided real long term benefits.)
I’ve never found much satisfaction in gaming, whether board or video, but I can really identify with the atlatl practice. I’ve had the good fortune to be able to take that sort of interest pretty far, having a client who loves to build unusual devices. We built a trebuchet, not full size, but one that could throw a bowling ball about 200 yards. It took a lot of math and used modern materials. I know that improved my mind. He’s also had me build giant compound crossbows and a number of other things, but coolest one was a large vortex generator, (smoke ring machine). A simple machine which creates an enormously complex phenomena. On a calm day you can blow a 2’ diameter smoke ring well over 100’. We mounted it on a simple gimbal with sights and you could knock people’s hair around with air blasts at amazing distances. A great party toy.
For me, I think I’ll save the video gaming for when I can’t get out to the shop anymore. (I hope I die a beginner).
Brian Dunning at Skeptoid had a brief discussion about brain training games, http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4319, where he claimed that the scientific evidence of the games improving function is pretty poor. That said, during the years I was dealing with the isolation of caring for my partner as she slowly succumbed to Alzheimer’s Disease, I got hooked on one of the popular brain training sites. They were a wonderful, important diversion. I still play them with fair regularity and enjoy them, but I couldn’t prove that they’ve done me any good. (I also got hooked on this site at that time, and I think you all have provided real long term benefits.)
I’ve never found much satisfaction in gaming, whether board or video, but I can really identify with the atlatl practice. I’ve had the good fortune to be able to take that sort of interest pretty far, having a client who loves to build unusual devices. We built a trebuchet, not full size, but one that could throw a bowling ball about 200 yards. It took a lot of math and used modern materials. I know that improved my mind. He’s also had me build giant compound crossbows and a number of other things, but coolest one was a large vortex generator, (smoke ring machine). A simple machine which creates an enormously complex phenomena. On a calm day you can blow a 2’ diameter smoke ring well over 100’. We mounted it on a simple gimbal with sights and you could knock people’s hair around with air blasts at amazing distances. A great party toy.
For me, I think I’ll save the video gaming for when I can’t get out to the shop anymore. (I hope I die a beginner).
Signature
If we’re not laughing, they’re winning.
I’m very sorry to hear about your partner. Being no stranger to the disease I can imagine the strain you were under for her care. In some ways it’s harder for the caregiver than the patient. As to the benefits of video gaming, as George mentioned we need a long term study with many peer reviewed articles before the scientific community can say for certain that the merits outway the demerits. IMO it has a positive effect as it stimulates reaction time, vision and concentration but as to staving off disease I’ll leave that to the experts. It is a fun activity though and I’ m a fond fan of fun! Yeah building the trebuchet must have been a blast. Did you use wood for the frame? The sucker must have been powerful enough to throw a bowling ball! Now that’s a weapon! Hands on stuff is far more stimulating especially the use of math. Sines, cosines and tangents, geometry, the only math I like! One of the math teachers where I thaught worked up a trajectory chart for my kids to link to the World WarI game I built. They first had to figure the mass of the shell, the force of friction acting upon it and project where it would land in an invisible grid. Also loved the vortex generator! How the devil did you create the vortex and propel it that far? Cool!
Hey DM you live on the UP don’t you? Why not drive north a few miles towards the Tamarack trees away from civilization and into porcupine country. Plenty of open spaces to practice. No cops or old folks, well maybe some old folks but none who could run fast enough to chase you off their land. Besides, you’d have an Atlatl and they’d be curious to see you use it, just not in the cows.
Actually I live in the lower penninsula, in the Tri Cities. I suppose I could do the same by driving out to the Thumb, but, well, it’s the Thumb.
Wait, my grandparents’ place would work. They live up in the middle of butthump nowhere Wexford County.
Wait, my grandparents’ place would work. They live up in the middle of butthump nowhere Wexford County.
We have a friend who lives near Mt. Pleasant and has a small farm there. He doesn’t farm anything but it gives him the opportunity to get away from city life. We used to head out to the woods and dodge deer flies in the Summer. Mean little devils, they drive cattle and deer mad and I can see why! Anyway it was a good place to practice weaponry of any kind. BTW he was NOT a hunter but a naturalist and part Ojibway to boot. Personally I like the UP but it’s flat. We used to visit an Ojibway res. Near Lake Houghton. I guess that’s close to the thumb. pretty country and sparsely populated.
Around Houghton Lake it’s pretty, yeah. The Thumb though is mostly just flat, boring farmland speckled with decaying rural towns and white supremacist compounds.
Around Houghton Lake it’s pretty, yeah. The Thumb though is mostly just flat, boring farmland speckled with decaying rural towns and white supremacist compounds.
Ugh! My how the times have changed. But don’t fret because the next ice age will sweep them all away to our area at least. Yes, Mich. landed about an hour north of us at Chillocothe. There’s tons of terminal moraines there, gigantic mounds of Mich. dirt and gravel. Speaking of compounds, have you seen the latest reality show featuring “survivalists”? They’re preparing for the economic collapse and race war that will ensue when minority zombies attempt to invade your compound and steal all your canned tomatoes. These guys are for real and are stockpiling weapons and gas for “the day”. The program is all about their preparations and how they build their compounds and bunkers. What’s really disturbing though is the scenes where dad teaches the kiddies how to use automatic weapons.
I suppose I could try my mom’s backyard. Or maybe drive down to Saginaw and use one of the abandoned factories. 
