Posts by tussock

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  • Speaker: KICK IT! The Highest Mountain,…,

    I thought perhaps football didn't do too well out of it, but the All Whites sure did.

    But really, they couldn't afford a loss, so they couldn't risk putting enough men up to break the wall of eight. And great tactic to throw everyone forward when we got a penalty anywhere near their half.

    Huzzah! Ugly game, but damn it, we got another 1-1. 8]

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report

  • Speaker: KICK IT! End of Act One,

    That youtube clip's a classic, Giovanni. You can see Suarez kick the ball too far around the goalie as his opportunity to chip is blocked, his eyes immediately drop to the goalie's foot, he drags his own foot into it, lands squarely, twists 180 degrees, and falls down in "agony".

    It is a perfect example of why countries that play contact sports cannot get behind soccer games. And to think, I was going to start calling it football. Pathetic.

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report

  • Speaker: KICK IT! End of Act One,

    Re: Simulation.

    Those of us who watch rugby know how hard it is to bring a man down who doesn't want to be. With soccer it's inversely related to how well the striker has control of the ball, with much foot-dragging and arm waving.

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report

  • Southerly: Bob's Top Five,

    So it's a much more complicated issue than it seems -- and very anti-intuitive!

    I think the helmet thing's pretty simple. They only protect you from concussions, scrapes, and bruising, and the latter only on the top of your head, which have no great health costs anyway, not over and above all the other scrapes, bruises, or broken collar bone or wrist you'll suffer in a bike crash.


    Helmets? Meh. Hydrate well, don't lock your elbows, try not to go over the bike, and slower is better. I rather like my helmet on amongst the trees though.

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report

  • Hard News: Clover It,

    He also wasn't an organic farmer. He used Roundup, for one thing.

    You're kidding, right? Because, you know, WRONG.


    Bla bla. Insecticidal pollen doesn't hurt bees, as CCD is still possibly a coincidence. Monsanto owns the benefit of it's stray pollen, but not the costs, of course (pollen flies a good distance from every road along which the headed crop is carried). And hey, the unrelated species of weeds and grasses developing resistance to Roundup are a pure coincidence, and I too trust Monsanto on that issue.

    Last year's seed? Duh, people, when you head a crop some of that seed stays in the soil and comes up again next year. Meaning the whole crop is the property of Monsanto. Same again next year. Just ask DOC how long unwanted seeds can keep coming back up.

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report

  • Hard News: Clover It,

    There is no reason to believe that transferring genes using GM is any more or less safe than classical breeding as has been carried out for about 10000 years. None.

    GM is still done in plants with the naturally occurring virus and bacteria, in a way that allows the wild versions to neatly pick that same gene back out in the field and distribute it to other species, right?

    That's how the roundup-ready gene spread to various weeds in the US and Australia. So we used to have a cheap, safe spray that killed fast growing weeds, and now some places don't, coincidently just as Roundup was coming out from under patent protections.

    So there is a difference, and quite a major one, eh.

    GM crops have been in the ground commercially worldwide since 1995. There have been no disasters. None. Yes rapeseed ain’t the best thing ever made resistant to one herbicide but it still isn’t even close to being a disaster.

    There's a bit of land in the states won't grow shit after one of the early crops shed so much anti-bacterial crap into the soil to kill it all. Small scale but quite real. One might suggest the insecticides incorporated into various crops haven't been too friendly on the bees either, as problematic as studying that is proving.

    There's farmers throughout Canada and the United States have had their land confiscated by the courts for Monsanto because they were found to be growing patented crops, after saving their own seed contaminated by wind-blown pollen.
    Farmers buying Monsanto seed are locked in forever, as you can't ever get 100% of last year's seed out of the next crop, so they own it all no matter your contract, and any fool can guess how the pricing works on that.
    It's put a lot of small scale seed producers out of business too, impossible to cover themselves against that risk.
    All an issue of legislation than science, but still a real problem.



    As to putting tannins in white clover, it's called red clover, and they don't use it much any more because cattle don't like the taste of the tannins, and won't eat as much in a day with any diet that includes them. Those test tubes might work just like a cow's stomach, but they're not attached to a real cow, eh.

    You can also cure clover bloat with a little oil in their drinking water, or various pasture mixes, but it's more profitable to run pure rye grass irrigated and fertilised (at least according to the literature, as carefully investigated by the fertiliser companies).

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report

  • Speaker: KICK IT! Vuvuzelas and Jambulanis,

    Woot!

    Anyhoo, the ball was clearly perfected in 1970, and has gone downhill ever since. Make for TV as it may be, it's perfect. Just to get the comment for the next article out of the way. 8]

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report

  • Radiation: Geek, annoyed,

    Probably not the best example

    Probably is the best example from my experience, despite the flaws. Most attempts are all over the place. For any series: tv, movie, book, comic, whatever, where time advances in a continuous fashion, the authors start with "leaping tall buildings in a single bound" and jump the shark with spinning the planet the wrong way to turn back time.

    Oh, right, jumping the shark.

    "Emperor of the Republic"

    Sure, because after centuries of democratic republics growing in power and ruling over the world, how could we ever fall back to Imperial rule. Caesar crossing the Rubicon or something? Never happen.

    Communist China a major world military and economic powerhouse compared to a peacefully united Europe? Ha! The people of 1970 would think you a madman.

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report

  • Radiation: Geek, annoyed,

    Y'all should go watch B5. That's how you write a multi-season story arc that you won't see the big reveal a minute into the first episode.

    Guy sucked into the engine? Yes, welcome to afterlife for souls not ready to depart #1 (that guy was ready to leave after all). Everything else was just people finding what they wanted to find, secret hippy era nuclear bases and all.

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report

  • OnPoint: Budget 2010: What’d you expect?,

    OK, so why is the meme of this budget that people who basically pay no tax just got a tax cut, and so will be no worse off after 6% inflation?

    Even when Jonkey managed to say it himself. Working for Families? Two parents, two kids, not even counting the trouble they'll have with free daycare now (ECE my ass), pay nothing after WFF credits, all they way up to where most people live. So, like, how do you cut nothing?

    They really just took a 5% loss in income this year, assuming they've still got a job in the first place, which tens of thousands extra don't. Me too, as a poor fuck with no income again. Great fun, yay GST.


    No one worse off? WTF? I mean, sure, parrot the Nat's spin doctors enough and they hire you for a huge wage increase, but ....

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report

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