badmigraine
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Posts posted by badmigraine
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When used to identify gang affiliation etc. it's called "throwing signs" and sometimes "flashing signs".
But I think a lot of rappers now make up signs that really have no meaning, or have about as much significance and currency as a dance step or trademark clothing item.
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Reminds me of when they say that low-tar cigarettes are more dangerous than regular ones, because people think they're safe and smoke lots more of them...Quote:If you take more risks/feel more confident because you're wearing a helmet then you are likely to further add to the higher fatality rates of helmeted riders Vs unhelmeted. It's well documented.
Do you think the analogy can be extended to those water-saver showerheads that only create a fine, unsatisfying mist no good for hairwashing or getting rid of trail mud...so that the overall effect is not people saving water, but people spending thirty-five minutes in the shower using all the hot water, instead of five quick, high-pressure minutes then doing something more valuable with the remaining thirty minutes?
Or am I ranging too far afield here...
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Hey Orange, let me have a go at it! I seem to have the gift of making them crash several times a day.Quote:I have a PC running Windows and it has crashed just once in about a year.
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Yes...use Ocean or Mogs.
Fine tools indeed!
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My latest nightmare: round about 3 this afternoon, all menu bars and toolbars vanished. The remaining featureless panel was like looking at a television screen.
Though thankful in a way for the extra onscreen real-estate freed up by the newly-departed menu and tool and scroll bars, I found it very difficult to do anything at all without them.
After having resort to keyboard commands, I discovered why the toolbars and menus had fled the scene: the damn machine had locked up again! So all unrelated onscreen items immediately retired to a cyberbar somewhere and had a break while I rebooted the damn thing.
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Ocean, I personally don't think much of the yellow club soda known as Budweiser, Coors Lite or Blatz. I'll venture to guess that you don't either...
As for the homily: "if you like it, then it's good", how about revising as follows:
"If you like it, then buy me 2-4 of them so I can drink them and make up my own mind heh".
To me, this gives a more serviceable homily good for use in all manner of beer-drinking situations one might encounter.
In other news, I hit the jackpot today: I went over to "Whole Foods Market" (kind of a posh organic food/imported food supermarket) and got a 12-pack of nice fresh Warsteiner beer that came with 2 free Koelsch-type glasses as part of a store promotion. All this for $10.99!
What are Koelsch-type glasses? Koelsch is a very light summer beer popular in Koln (Cologne) that supposedly tastes like a light pale ale or lager. As with most German beer types, it has its own proper specialty glass. The Koelsch glasses look like tall, straight-sided flutes or shot glasses, but the glass is eggshell thin. Here\'s a piccy for ya\'s. (It's the one on the left.)
Really amazing.
I found I finished a regular bottle in about 60 seconds, then was halfway through another before I realized what I was doing!
They need to install a lower gear on these glasses, if not brakes!
Highly recommended!
Now wait a minute while I go and get another one.
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Oh yes, the famous "sub spooling error".
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YES! YES!!
Thank you, _freak!! Of all the posters here, you are the only one who figured out that all I needed was permission to smash this rotten hunk of circuits!
Nice idea about the truck. I live right next to a lake, and that is giving me some ideas too.
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Yeah, right on! Amazing how the uptight, idiotic history of the FIS survives year after year to project itself on an undeserving future...and that bass-ackwards approach of fat old farts and bureaucratic weirdos who organize/run amateur athletic events continues to befuddle common sense.
After I posted I remembered the unfortunate demise of the ISF. Funny, but as a kid I always wanted to be in the Olympics and never really questioned that even during all the IOC corruption scandals over the decades since then.
But when Terje blew off the Olympics it occurred to me that snowboarding in the Olympics seemed really wacked, like seeing hot dogs at an Italian restaurant or whiskers on a toad. In the abstract the exposure seemed nice and who can complain about getting to see all that talent in the pipe or on the GS course. But in reality, that Olympic thing doesn't really suit snowboarding and vice-versa.
I think you're doing a great thing by seeking out and patronizing smaller, quality, lesser-known and in many ways "core" board makers. You're an experienced boarder and your purchasing decision sends a message to the market that what you like is good and its production rewarded. It's like supporting your local surfboard shaper instead of ordering a BIC board online. I'll get a real glow when I finally buy a Donek or Swoard, that's for damn sure.
As for the ski company points you make, I totally get where you are coming from, but wouldn't the sweatshop-factory point apply to giant snowboard companies too? I still don't see what difference it makes if some or all of the company staff or stock ownership is with people who also happen to ski. I just don't get it! Are you sure you really have some reservation about skiing? For example, what if there were a small, innovative company run by 3 people: 2 boarders and 1 skier. And they made fantastic snowboards and monoskis too. Would you avoid them on purpose like you might a Salomon or K2?
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Most annoying thing ever:
When I get near a crash, but before any of the obvious signs appear, here's what happens.
I write a post or reply on this board, then when I click a smiley or other gremlin, or click "Image" or "Italics", the entire page goes blank and I lose all my post forever...
Same thing happens on other BBS/forums too.
This darn computer!! I even have to save my SJG posts every 15 seconds now.
Sheesh!
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Ocean, are you hoping for a particular brand of hardboots, or are you wanting to try on several kinds if possible to see how they feel, then maybe buy your favorite ones as cheaply as possible, perhaps online?
I'm thinking of sussing out some alpine gear around here in Michigan, and if I end up making a drive somewhere, maybe I could check something out for you. Aren't you currently rocking Burton soft boots? What US size?
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Ocean, I wasn't trying to focus on the diffs between small vs. big companies, but rather to describe why I can't understand those who are smugly "core".
Still, you give a great example of one factor that people focus on when making a purchase decision. I could probably call Donek out of the blue and speak to the guy who would be making my board.
That absolutely fascinates me.
I WILL HAVE ONE OF THOSE BOARDS!! After bleeding you of all the information about YOURS of course!
By contrast, no way can I e-mail Salomon to ask about how the Fastback ride differs from the Forecast ride...though god knows I've wanted to.
Ever notice that it's getting harder every year to understand what each board in the Major Makers' lineup is actually for? They don't seem to tell you much real info in their catalogues, and nobody in the shops knows either... It's stupid to e-mail Salomon to ask about it because there is nobody home.
But the other side of this particular coin is that I can drive 5 minutes to my local Salomon dealer and put my fingerprints all over their entire product lineup of boots, bindings and boards, as well as get service and warranty stuff done. I can't do that with Donek. In fact, although you might get a quick e-mail response from custom and small makers, many of them have limited manufacturing capacity, they get really busy making all their orders and it might take awhile before you actually receive the board. I believe this particular factor only affects customers who are poor planners or victims of seasonally irregular cash flow
.My personal take on this is, I'm going to try to attend one of these carving summits that happen during the winter, and buy people drinks and pick their brains and fondle their equipment until I know exactly what I want. Then, after heaping my money into a great pile, I will ORDER IT!
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Great post! Thanks for helping me kill half a cup of coffee and having a good old jaw about winter fun.
Before I write the rest of this post, I want to state for the record that I like colored hair, tats, body piercings, halfpipes, skate culture, abandoned 15 winters of skiing experience to take up snowboarding in '93/'94, had a subscription to Blunt until Larry Flynt acquired then killed it, and can rant bitterly for hours on the stupidity, evils and as-yet-unknown environmental horrors foisted upon all of us all by large corporations and global concerns...and now on with it.
In your post, you say you can't understand why freeriders bad-mouth freestylers. I can't understand that either. To balance it out, some freestylers bad-mouth freeriders...just as bad.
I really don't perceive either style of riding as a discrete camp or as defining the rider...they're just snowboarders to me. Even if there are discrete camps, it doesn't seem useful to argue that one would be better than the other. An objective value judgment is unnecessary when expressing a preference between styles.
But by extension--and this is where you lost me--I can't understand why some boarders belittle ski company participation in the snowboard market. Qualitatively, this seems to me as unjustifiable as freeriders bad-mouthing freestylers.
There are two questionable assumptions here.
First, whether the snowboard maker in question began as a ski company (e.g. Salomon) or a board company (e.g. Burton) makes zero difference. Would it make people feel better if these companies had been fruit importers or cabinet-makers before entering the snowboard market? What is the real complaint here? No matter what objection one may have about how these companies conducted their legitimate business activities (if they hadn't done it, another would've), why does it bother some people that they began as ski companies?
In fact the opposite should be true: we who buy boards should thank our lucky stars that ski companies, who'd been working on bases, edges and flex for decades, entered the snowboard market and brought to bear their own considerable resources, expertise and know-how. They helped raise the snowboard bar in terms of materials, technology, world-wide distribution, widespread parts-service-warranty availability, etc. In fact they may have even legitimized snowboarding in the eyes of those on skis who wanted to try boarding but didn't thrill to colored hair, tats and body pierces, jumps, rails, pipes, etc. That we now have all types of people doing all types of riding on both skis and snowboards says a lot about where the snowboard market needed to head in order to mature.
Skiing vs. boarding? Sheesh. Hasn't that sorry old horse been dead for years now? Maybe in 1993 one could understand some hostility between skiers and boarders. I was a skier then and I remember it pretty well: The newness and anti-snobby style of snowboarders upset a lot of pratlike skiers...accusations of punklike onslope troublemaking gave snowboarders a bad name...the skill and equipment level was in its infancy so the percentage of beginning riders flopping and careening on slopes was higher than it is today, and was less well tolerated..."snowboaders scrape all the good snow off the runs" was a seemingly irrefutable accusation...but in 2003? All of these bones of contention were gnawed clean long ago, or so I thought.
Aside from the gentle irony in gibing over beers or on Internet forums, in 2003 what kind of message does it send to continue investing negative emotion into an imaginary opposition between boarders and skiers?
Is there any valid reason to do this anymore? Or is it really just like arguing freestyle vs. freeride?
Many skiers and boarders either do/have done both sports, or at least have no justifiable objection to make about either sport...except for a "my-kind vs. your-kind" negative-vibe exclusivity. This is really no different from football team rivalries and can lead to things like shouting at television screens and overeating bar snacks...these behaviors are not innately bad, but they should be acknowledged for what they are: human tribal illogic.
Where I live, the young generation of sliders knows the difference between skis and boards, but doesn't perceive the skier vs. boarder distinction at all. These kids have about as much invested in "skier vs. boarder" as they do in "rock vs. disco", "import car vs. domestic" or better yet "peas vs. carrots"...that is, until their hungry minds become indoctrinated by our wildcatting media culture, which obsessively repackages history, manipulates image and secretes brand identity to sell more product.
Secondly, and putting aside the tired old ski vs. board issue, I have misgivings about the increasingly unquestioned "core vs. corporate" diatribe. The mere fact that people even notice this kind stuff long ago (as in many decades ago) gave rise to a marketing strategy in and of itself.
From an objective point of view: with few exceptions that I can imagine, for legal, accounting and business reasons, all of the companies--whether core or giant--are nothing more than that: companies, for-profit corporations.
Each one has its own different philosophy, owners and staff, and strives in its own way to achieve its goals. Hats off to Adam Smith for noticing what good things that does for us all. And thank god there is a place in the market for soul-surfers and their cottage industries, as well as for each year's crop of 50,000 bandanna-wearing, 13-year-old white suburban rapper wannabe-J.P. Walker carbon copies.
One may prefer the product, image, style, or performance of this or that company, for one's own personal reasons. Great. As long as we have cash, let's support our preferred producers by buying their products, then let's Go Forth and Play.
If one has social, environmental or other issues about giant companies, that's great too. Maybe you can help raise awareness, change the law or boycott the offending mega-global-corp products.
But the consolidation/merger of smaller, successful-market innovators into bigger companies happens in all industries at all times and is nothing to worry about in and of itself. Probably their business model, quality and technology have all ratcheted up thanks to having to compete with giant faceless global corporate giants...that's good for all of us, including core companies. Last time I checked, there were plenty of "core" companies remaining in both the ski and board world, and new ones coming into being every year. Look at the Swoard, for example.
I just don't understand the wink-and-a-nod exchanged when people lay claim to supporting core companies instead of giant corporations. As for me, I select the product I like and I try not to pay much attention to brand image, though I'd be lying if I said I was immune to brand identity and image. If a big company makes the product I like, then I'll probably buy that one...like a Salomon board. Same is true if it's a core company...like a Donek carving board.
Other customers place emphasis on other things, and that's fine too. But are big companies bad? Other than this or that vanished company or product, which is normal in any market, isn't the level continuously rising all the time? I don't understand or believe that core is better than corporate, or that corporate is better than core.
I don't want to get too complicated or philosophical here, and it seems I may have gone too far already.
What I'm trying to say is, I agree with what you said about freestyle vs. freeride (there should be no "vs.")
...and I extend the reasoning to ski vs. board (there should be no "vs.")
...and I extend the reasoning to core vs. corporate (there should be no "vs.").
Whaddya think barok? Does this make any sense to you, or am I too far out on a limb here?!
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My computer gives me signs that it is nearing failure.
EXAMPLES:
The top of IE menu bars turns from green to lurid pink.
Words in toolbars and buttons (like "file", "edit", "back", etc.) turn into large numbers or martian characters
New browser pages load blank and un-clickable
I suppose some would deem this to constitute crashing in and of itself, but since other functions still work, it is not a total lockup.
However, if I don't reboot, within a few more minutes or double-clicks, it WILL be a total lockup.
So I reboot whenever this happens.
Very annoying!
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I like how the guy said, "if work is healthy, then why don't they just give it to sick people?"
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I didn't crash yesterday or today!
BUT, does it count if I reboot to avoid a crash? I do this 4-5 times per day.
Um...about this bad transistor in my monitor that appeared yesterday making a black line: can you start another thread for hardware issues?
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Hey, at least he skis.
Now all he has to do is be as funny as this guy was:
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Powder and Cypress Hill...who could ask for anything more?
You need Real Player to view it, and you need French language skills to know where to click:
Just under the Real Player on the page, you'll see the following:
"Il est possible de lancer la vidéo ICI"
Click on the "ICI".
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Was it personal, or work-related?
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Idea for another thread: what politicians end their careers as entertainers?
Imagine Slick Wille Clinton smooching Britney at the next MTV awards extravaganza!
Totally unrelated, but did anyone else see those bikini pics of Chelsea Clinton in the National Enquirer? They should include a rip-out barf bag with the magazine when they run stuff like that.
Rapper hand moving
in General off-topic discussions
Posted
Mogs, only if it is your OWN groin.
Your incessant scratching of groins of other people and animals will not make you rich.