Off Topic

Post by **MichelleH** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 5:23 pm

Minimalist wrote:Not worth watching football for. Too much standing around.

Sorry Bob, baseball ranks as nap time to me.....but to each their own.

Post by **Minimalist** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 5:45 pm

Yep, but football is the only game I know where they stand around while the clock runs down.

I timed it one time with a stop watch. A buddy had been whining that the Jets had lost because their 'defense' was on the field too much. I pointed out that this meant that the other team's offense must have been on the field for an equivalent period of time. In an effort to find out just how long that was I timed a quarter and found out that the ball was actually in motion for about 2 minutes and 14 seconds of the entire quarter. Working that out it made for 9 minutes of action per game and it certainly seemed to me that the Jets' defense should have been able to play for 4 minutes without getting overly tired.

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:15 pm

Sorry about your Chargers Michelle. Looks like the defense contained LT real well.

Min, "killing the clock" is a strategy that is normally only seen at the end of the game when the leading team has control of the ball. Anyway, Tennessee plays Monday night football tomorrow. There goes my evening.

Post by **Minimalist** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:59 pm

Yeah but running out the clock also happens depending on who has the ball.

Real exciting in those last two minutes to watch the quarterback fall down 3 times while the other stands there like doofuses.

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 9:31 pm

It only seems strange because baseball isn't governed by a clock like the other games. It's also the only game where the defense controls the ball.

Baseballs a great game, but it's very strange in many respects. Plus the fact that there is a lot more standing around.

New York may be the only spot in America now where baseball is more popular than football but that's a guess.

But...it's football time in America.

Post by **Minimalist** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 10:01 pm

Yeah - in baseball you have to get 27 outs...no matter how long it takes.

In hockey the players skate for all 60 minutes. In basketball, which as a rule I can't stand, you can even score when the clock isn't running via the free throw.

Only in football do you sit around watching the clock run down while they talk. Meanwhile the TV distracts you from that fact by giving 85 replays of the most mundane of plays!

And to think they are going to have the GD super bowl out here this year.

Good grief.....it's bad enough when the tourists arrive for Spring Training.

Post by **MichelleH** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 10:10 pm

Minimalist wrote:Yeah - in baseball you have to get 27 outs...no matter how long it takes.

In hockey the players skate for all 60 minutes. In basketball, which as a rule I can't stand, you can even score when the clock isn't running via the free throw.

Only in football do you sit around watching the clock run down while they talk. Meanwhile the TV distracts you from that fact by giving 85 replays of the most mundane of plays!

And to think they are going to have the GD super bowl out here this year.

Good grief.....it's bad enough when the tourists arrive for Spring Training.

Cantankerous old fart, aren’t ya…

(Lived through the same crap when I lived in Phoenix before, so I understand Bob)

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:11 am

With soccer you lose all those problems don't you?

Now, with me I'm another boring old fart, I'm a cricket fan.

Rokcet Scientist · Post by **Rokcet Scientist** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:45 am

Minimalist wrote:
Jose Ishitsuka
Jose Ishitsuka? Now there is a cross culture name if ever I saw one!

You must have missed "Alberto Fujimori" . . . !

See! There's a whole herd of them Japs overthere in Peru! There's your proof the Americas were colonized from the Far East!

Post by **Minimalist** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:28 am

(Lived through the same crap when I lived in Phoenix before, so I understand Bob)

Damn snow birds....

Hard to get a parking place at a restaurant during the winter.

Rokcet Scientist · Post by **Rokcet Scientist** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:11 am

National Geographic News
September 21, 2007

Meteor Crash in Peru Caused Mysterious Illness

Peru meteorite crater picture

An object that struck the high plains of Peru on Saturday, causing a mysterious illness among local residents, was a rare kind of meteorite, scientists announced today.

A team of Peruvian researchers confirmed the origins of the object, which crashed near Lake Titicaca, after taking samples to a lab in the capital city of Lima (see Peru map).

Nearby residents who visited the impact crater complained of headaches and nausea, spurring speculation that the explosion was a subterranean geyser eruption or a release of noxious gas from decayed matter underground.

But the illness was the result of inhaling arsenic fumes, according to Luisa Macedo, a researcher for Peru's Mining, Metallurgy, and Geology Institute (INGEMMET), who visited the crash site.

The meteorite created the gases when the object's hot surface met an underground water supply tainted with arsenic, the scientists said.

Numerous arsenic deposits have been found in the subsoils of southern Peru, explained Modesto Montoya, a nuclear physicist who collaborated with the team. The naturally formed deposits contaminate local drinking water.

"If the meteorite arrives incandescent and at a high temperature because of friction in the atmosphere, hitting water can create a column of steam," added José Ishitsuka, an astronomer at the Peruvian Geophysics Institute, who analyzed the object.

By Wednesday, according to Macedo, all 30 residents who felt ill reported feeling better. [...]

Article: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... peru.html

Post by **Minimalist** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:15 am

That's a pretty good sized hole.

Rokcet Scientist · Post by **Rokcet Scientist** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:43 am

Yeah, but what does a pic like that really tell us?
I think I recall one news article stating it was a blast comparable to 4980 kilograms (4,9 tons) of TNT!
Sounds impressive.
How many kilos of C-4 would that be? And is C-4 the same as Semtex?
How many shoes would Richard Wannabe Planebomber Whatsisname have needed to create a similar blast?
How does this impact compare to one of those jets crashing into the twin towers?
That hole evokes more questions than it answers.

Post by **Minimalist** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:10 pm

How many kilos of C-4 would that be?

Or how many of C-14?

kbs2244 · Post by **kbs2244** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:26 pm

So they should be able to find something at the bottom of the hole shouldn’t they?
The hole isn’t so big that with some pumps and a days worth of shoveling they should either find a real heavy rock or a the remnants of a cardboard box labeled “Made in the Ukraine”