Posts by Rich Lock
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I'll see whatever it is chiropractors and osteopaths can for a sore back, and raise you polio, smallpox, scarlet fever, and tetanus. Oh, and modern public health.
A palpable hit. It is very easy to overlook how widespread and devastating a lot of these things were beofre modern medicine.
But you forgot ricketts, diptheria, and typhus.
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Ben, I'm not disagreeing with you. But the reason I linked to that article in the first place was because you seemed to be suggesting that MMA was, compared to boxing, 'safe'. For example when you said:
despite the apparent savagery of it, MMA leads to much lesser injuries
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MMA looks worse, but seldom actually is
All I'm doing is noting that MMA is a contact/combat sport, and thus inherently carries a fairly high degree of risk - I'd say at least as much as boxing.
It doesn't bother me one way or the other. If that's what people want to participate in, or watch? Hey, it's a free world.
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And without wishing to start it all up again....
Well, that worked out well, eh? :)
So it makes you feel good, that's nice. I hope lining the pockets of these people eases the pain when the neck manipulation goes horribly wrong or one too many spinal manipulations ends up trapping a nerve instead of freeing up the energy flows.
If they actually harmed people, that is another matter. Then the question of to what extent the people were made aware of the risks and consented anyway comes up.
I wonder how much of the difference between the way a physio will approach a problem, and how an osteo/chiroprator will approach the same problem can be put down to the medical philosphy of 'first, do no harm'?
A physio may be unwilling to really get stuck in because they know how badly things like neck manipulation can go wrong.
But from a personal point of view, when I have a crikked neck, it is a (more or less) informed risk that I'm willing to take. I'm usually in a lot of pain, and want something to loosen that bastard up RIGHT AWAY IF ITS NOT TOO MUCH TROUBLE PRETTY PLEASE. I'm not really in a frame of mind to hang around and let it fade away natually, or with some gentle, gentle guidance.
So, the nub of the problem appears to be: how much of this consent to try something 'alternative', is informed? How does yer average punter sort the risky but effective wheat from the risky but worse than useless chaff?
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Do I have to be the only one to stand up with some anecdata for chiropractors?
No. But I usually only use them when I've actually crikked my neck out, and usually for one session, two at the most.
My attitude is: put it back in position and spare me the ongoing follow-up bullshit, please.
And the only reason I was using one in the first place sounds very similar to your experience - the light tickling I was getting from a physio really wasn't cutting it. Dammit man, get in there and crack my bones!
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True Blood....Jason Stackhouse wanders into shot ballocks naked
We just chewed our way through the first series in a couple of weekends (Must....have! More......box sets! Graaaagh!! The Hunger!!!)
Am I alone in being more than a little disturbed by the scene with him and the Laura Bush mask? :)
I'll be in the basement
That's one of those euphemism thingamajigs, right...?
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The characters talk about sex constantly, but Charlie, the ultimate he-whore, is always shown in bed in a t-shirt, boxers, and sometimes socks.
This is the standard apparel of male porno stars. I don't think the joke is lost on 50% of the audience. I see coded references to hetero porn for men in that show every time I have the misfortune to be subjected to it.
I'm deriving a certain amount of wry amusment from your willingness to (ahem) 'let it all hang out' vis-a-vis your knowledge of porn, and the contrast with your reaction to something as anodyne as 'two-and-a-half men' (ugh! disgusting! of course I never watch that crap!)
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re HBO and American network TV. By some coincidence, I did a lecture today on HBO as 'transgressive' television, quoting both David Chase ("I had had it up to here with all the niceties of network television...I don't mean language and I don't mean violence. I just mean storytelling, inventiveness, something that really could entertain and surprise people" ) and Janet McCabe & Kim Akass in Quality TV 2007 ("HBO is conscious of defying television convention, adopting a tone with their original programming that makes it obvious that they know they are being openly transgressive"
My wife and I have this conversation regularly. The room that, for example, HBO shows get to 'breathe' and develop compared to network shows is quite noticable.
'Homicide: Life on the streets', and 'The Wire' were both created and written (mostly) by David Simon. The first screened on NBC, and 'The Wire' on HBO.
Although 'Homicide' did have character development over the series arc, it still more or less wrapped up each episode at the end of each episode. On the other hand, 'The Wire' is notorious for having payoffs not only several episodes later, but several series later.
I suppose the subscription-only model of networks like HBO has acted as something of a pressure valve to divert that block of viewers who want something more, away from the lobotomised fare available on the mainstream networks.
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The sex in the latter is pretty damn spot-on (or so I have been told!)
What, you mean with the neck-biting and the blood drinking and the sharp! pointed! teeth! and the 'crawling out of the ground covered in soil' and all that?
And I've lost count of the number of times a third party has emptied the contents of a rubbish bag over my head mid-coitus.
Yep, pretty spot on, I reckon.
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MMA looks worse, but seldom actually is. That might be down to the training metaphor - a sport where you have to tap-out for safety reasons encourages a far more highly tuned awareness of when you are beaten and should give up. It also signals directly to the other fighter that it's time to stop, rather than throw in a few extra blows to make sure. These are usually the most devastating of all, when the opponent is completely undefended and possibly unable to protect themselves even from the fall to the mat.
Although, as this article makes clear, if you are unable to tap out (because you're unconsious), or if the ref is bad at their job, you can get pretty severely hurt.
When Paulo Thiago felled Josh Koscheck heavily with a right uppercut and a sweeping left hook, clearly Koscheck was beaten. But such is the nature of MMA that at this point he was on his back, defenceless, and set up for more on-the-ground punishment. There is no count. The attacker must pounce to finish the job, however badly hurt his opponent is. So the referee, rightly, stopped the fight - and was booed.
The opportunities for compassion in MMA are split-second ones. It puts a lot of responsibility on the referee. Boxing, properly monitored, makes a more acceptable compromise between the jungle and civilisation.
....Hamill, who delivered the kick, is a former college wrestling champion from Ohio. But he cannot hear the roar of the crowd. Hamill is deaf. And ruthless. Munoz, who was having his first fight for UFC, lies on the canvas of the caged ring, unconscious. His eyes are shut. Hamill rips two more chilling blows into his limp and defenceless head...
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Well Hadyn, it didn't go how you thought ...
No and colour me shocked! I bet the PPV customers were a little pissed off though.
I doubt it...this is what boxing fans live for.
Trying to work out how this fits in with the 'orgasm denial' theory....