Way To Go Sport

Is It Really Sporting?

Have you ever wondered just what a "sport" is? Of course I am not meaning the breeding term where "sport" essentially refers to a spontaneous mutation. This comes I guess from where they have added things like "Texas hold'em Poker" to the Sports Channel. Granted, just because something is shown on a sports channel doesn't mean that it is a "sport". I imagine they can show anything within whatever regulations they operate under. I know that children's networks have specific guidelines they have to fit within

Is something a sport because there is competition? Poker might fit in as a sport as it is a competition. Likewise solitary activities like jogging might be considered a sport as one is in a way competing with oneself to if not improve one's time, to improve one's health. Fishing might be considered a contest between man an fish.

But then... what about people who are trying to get better grades than anyone else in school? I don't know that sport can be equated with competition or contest.

What makes something a "sport" and something not a "sport"?

If it is activity, then how much activity makes it a sport rather than a game? So we have sports, activities, competitions, games, and contests. I think that there are many places where these things include each other or cross over and wonder perhaps if the definition might be more that of exclusion rather than inclusion? I imagine too rather than simply say "activity" I should be saying "physical activity" or "mental activity" might be complicating issues.

I do think that really you can't completely equate game and sport - nor could you equate them with activity or competition. I think that there is a lot of debate and disagreement as to what would be considered a sport and often it would be the participants or avid followers of the "activity". ("activity" rather than "physical activity" here) Some people might feel upset if competitive hotdog eating were not considered a sport while others would be upset if hunting were considered a sport.

Where does a person draw the line... I guess it is a bit personal.

I think there is a lot to do with whether you watch or do too.

I am not so big on watching sports. I enjoyed playing a little bit of soccer and hockey when I was young. I played a touch of football and softball too. I did win a few trophies on a civic level for curling. I also enjoyed golfing, but only with my Dad and it wasn't really a matter of competition rather than challenge. I was rather fond of the idea of tournament fighting in the SCA with armour and rattan tourney swords, but that isn't a sport most have heard of.

I still feel dubious about poker being called a "sport" though no matter how much the players might squirm and sweat..

Later!
~ Darrell

PS a formal definition of "sport" is: an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition.

65.

Beautiful Bridges

Bridges Bridging More Than Just Gaps

I was web surfing a bit today and using StumbleUpon when I came upon this great page with pictures of Amazing Bridges from Around the World. I recognize many of the bridges but many of them are new to me and the pictures are just awesome.

Sometimes we just have to stop and smell the roses. It is worthwhile just to look at beautiful pictures taken of things some of us might take for granted. Some of these bridges, like the Capilano Suspension Bridge (image to right) - which is local to me - are specifically intended to be there to be appreciated or at least there for the appreciation of the beauty of their surroundings.

There are other bridges that are marvelous and special for historical and archeological value as well as aesthetics. The Amazing Bridges from Around the World page has bridges like those and all sort of other amazing bridge images as well. The place where I might fault the page with is that there are no captions to go with the images and along with captions credits for the photos.

There are gems like these to be found around the web and they are - I believe - really in the form of blogs, though being used for special purposes. Another I perused today was of the 10 Tallest Waterfalls On Earth (image to right)and was also a great collection of waterfalls, some familiar and others unfamiliar all illustrated by great photos.

Probably I won't see most of these places, but I can dream and I can look at the pictures others have taken. I can even go to some places both near and far and take my own pictures to share with others and it is much, much easier to share what I see and hear today than ever before... of course there is also so very much more to go through so in a sense even as the World is growing smaller... it is also growing larger by leaps and bounds. We might need more bridges

Later!
~ Darrell.

62.

Toot Toot - Make Way!

Make Way - Make Way!

Wow those electric bikes are neat! A fairly inexpensive one might cost $750 (CDN) and it would have a range of 30-40 km carrying around 91 kg at up to 25 km/h. (200lbs at 16 mph). You can charge it in 6-8 hours (6-8 hours ;-) ) for pennies and you can pedal to assist the range and enhance the performance. I was taking specs off of one sold by Daymak. It is their "Paris" model (on the left). That is a very bicycle looking electric bike. You could possibly put its 40-43 kg weight on one of our transit bus bike racks and take it with you on board public transit to extend its useful range - especially useful if there is a freeway bridge between you and destination even if it is well within your 30 km range. I am pretty sure there'd be little problem taking it onto our automated light rail tranport - SkyTrain - considering it is electric and little different in that aspect from an electric scooter or wheelchair.

They have ones that look more like Vespas and other scooters as well which I am a bit more intrigued by. The Smart E-Bike (on the right) is one I really like the looks of. The Smart E-Bike has the advantage of not only looking smarter, but it also has a braking system that puts energy back into the battery so that when you are coming to a stop at a traffic light or cruising down a hill you are not only saving power you are regaining some. There are trade-offs of course - the battery alone weighs 26 kg. I suspect there might be greater problems with getting permission to put the E-Bike on the bike rack of the public transit bus. It might still be possible to take it onto the SkyTrain, but there might be problems with that since it looks so much like its cousin, the gas powered Motor Scooter. It does travel a bit fster at 32 km/h (20 mph) and has a larger range of 80-100 km (50-60mi) so there is less need to drag it onto public transit... but still it wouldn't be allowed on a freeway and would you really want to be on it on a freeway?

Which brings me to the point of this all.

I was nearly run down this afternoon by someone walking their mountain bike down the apartment hallway. While they weren't riding it, between their elbows and the wide handlebars, there wasn't a lot of room for passing. That is what got me thinking, just where do alternate methods of transportation belong in our cities?

I frequently commute to and from the museum I volunteer at on foot. I walk the kilometre to and from it walking along the sidewalks and over an overpass that crosses the Canadian Pacific Railway mainline. The overpass is a bit older and so the sidewalks perhaps are not as wide as current ones tend to be, so when someone comes down it on bike or skateboard it can be a bit of a squeeze. It is an issue too if someone is running, pushing a stroller, using a mobility scooter, wheelchair, or even a walker. There is a need for people to be able to get from point-A to point-B and that means particularly people with strollers, baby carriages, mobility scooters, and wheelchairs. But there is also a need for ways for people on bicycles to travel safely and more of a need for folks with things like skateboards and roller blades because people are actually using these as modes of transportation.

Some of these things have had to play with cars for years. Many cities have had laws forbidding cyclists from using bikes on sidewalks with exceptions only for paperboys making deliveries and for small children's bikes. Many cities had bans on skateboards from both road and sidewalk to the consternation of boarders over the decades. It seems to me that a lot of those laws are not being enforced now or at least don't seem to be. I am often nearly forced to stand aside when I am crossing that railway overpass for cyclists, skateboarders, roller bladers, and runners. On wider sidewalks it is not so much an issue though some of the quicker traffic on the sidewalk don't seem to realize that they really don't fit in. As a driver I know how difficult it is to make allowances for someone coming down the sidewalk at roadway speeds. You can yield to a pedestrian easily enough, but you don't have time enough to yield to a hurtling bike or boarder. There are reasons why hedges and obsticals like them have to be a certain distance away from the corner. That is so you can see the quicker moving cars approaching. Slower moving pedestrians you don't need quite so much room to see so it is okay for bushes and such to be a bit closer to the sidewalk than the street.

So, where do alternate forms of transportation belong?

Many cities are putting together special bike routes to divide bikes from cars and some walking paths are being split to separate cycles from pedestrians. I think that in the natural order of things boarders and bladers have opted for the cycle side of things and strollers and carriages are on the pedestrian side. Electric wheelchairs and mobility scooters stick on the pedestrian side, though I have noted that some scooter users run their scooters in high gear which gives them a very high speed and they seem to expect special treatment on the sidewalk with everyone jumping to the side as they approach.

How many strata will future roads have? Today we have road and sidewalk with perhaps a sidewalk on both sides a parking lane on both sides with 2+ lanes of traffic. In future... two lanes for cycles might be added? Would boarders be welcome? What about electric bikes? What about low powered electric scooters? Some areas allow low power electric cars, essentially golf cart sorts of vehicles modified for street use with proper headlights and tail lights.

What about the Segway PT (on the left) and those two wheeled Razer scooters (on the right) and Razor Electric Scooters (on the right - green) and relatives of the earlier foot powered ones? (on the left - red) I imagine that some of the pedal powered vehicles like recumbent bikes would travel in bike lanes.

There are many forms of alternate transportation, but I think we shall have to think of just where they will fit in. I wonder if there is room for horse drawn chariots in this world? Make Way!

Later!
~ Darrell

61.

Are You My Mommy?

Are You My Mom?

'Twas simple back when families at least seemed simpler. One Mom, One Dad, perhaps two sets of Grandparents, and between 1 and a dozen kids. Well, maybe the dozen kids might not be so simple... and of course between none and and 2 dozen uncles and aunts and between none and 144 cousins...... double that. up to 4 dozen aunts and uncles and 288 first cousins. That is assuming a maximum family size of 12. But I figure even in a time of large families you could halve that to 24 uncles and aunts and 144 cousins... now that is a lot still... ...and none of the cousins marrying yet...

And, not taking into account the slightly rarer then divorce and remarriage or widowhood or widowerhood and remarriage...

Which gets me onto the subject... Many families make a distinction on what they call their maternal and paternal sets of grandparents. Some of us got away with Gramma and Grampa for both sets because they lived a thousand miles apart and we could say Gramma and Grampa from Calgary and Gramma and Grampa from Manitoba. We also said Grandma and Grandpa as well when we got older. (Meaning my Sister and I.)

I know other families and Ompas and Nannas and all sorts of other things and I am sure that many were based on their family ethnic background and I am all for that as foreign as they might sound to my ears.

But there now are more and more families where parents have split up for many reasons and remarried or just taken up house together with or without adopting children and with bringing children with or not...

A friend had her Mom and her "Pseudo-Dad" as well as her Dad and "Pseudo-Mom". Though I mostly heard her refer to her Dad's wife.

Still there is the term StepMother and StepFather for such situation. Also Adopted Father and Adopted Mother. With that we have added Birth Mother so I guess with that Birth Father... though more often I hear "Deadbeat Dad"... not saying that all non-custodial Fathers don't support their children. It is just what I hear so often...

Along with Birth Mother is Biological Mother. I think the two terms have been used synonymously for a long time as has Genetic Mother. I think for now I might get away from referring to the paternal line.

When children are given up for adoption normally they just refer to the adopting Mother as "Mother" and the Mother who gave up the child as the "Birth Mother".

Things are still very pre 70's so far really...

But then up steps "in-vitro fertilization" - not to mention sperm donors.

So there can be the Mother who carries the baby to term and the Mother who raises the baby to childhood. There can be a different Mother who takes over raising the child with a second marriage sometime in the child's childhood. That would be the Surrogote Mother and Mother with the Step Mother afterwards. But then the egg might be donated by another woman, the Genetic Mother. Would the Surrogote Mother be the Biological Mother or would the Genetic Mother be the Biological Mother?

Anyhow the child would have the Genetic Mother/BiologicalMother (egg donar), Surrogate Mother/Birth Mother (womb mother/gestational mother), and then the more traditional Mother/Adoptive Mother (diaper changing, bottle feeding mother). That would be followed by the StepMother/2nd Adoptive Mother. Wow... the second Sunday in May could get very confusing if everyone stayed in contact.

I figured I would stay away from Fathers... even though Father's day is just a couple days away...

...or maybe they are simpler... Genetic Father/Biological Father (sperm donar) traditional Father (diaper changing, bottle feeding) non-custodial Father, Step Father.

I was thinking of the more complicated situation since there still is the traditional Mother who provides egg, womb, cuddling and breast feeding and bringing up as well as the Father who provides sperm, prenatal support, and cuddling and bringing up too.

No way am I getting into Cousins!

Later!
~ Darrell

PS I have one Loving Mother and one Loving Father - had two Loving Grandfathers and two Loving Grandmothers. Tomorrow might be Fathers' Day, but I'll add right here:

H A P P Y - F A T H E R S ' - D A Y !

To all you Fathers and Fathers-to-be out there!

58.

Blast to the Past

Once Upon a Time, People Didn't Just Fly

When I was young people just didn't get onto a plane and travel across the country. I mean - yes they could just go to an airport and pay for a ticket and fly wherever the airlines out of that city might take them - but at that time it was a major financial undertaking to fly anywhere.

I'm not ancient, but I still remember what it felt like to be at the end of an airport runway and feel the pounding base of the engines of a propeller driven passenger plane - and not a short distance commuter run either. When my Grandparents flew to Norway from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, it was a major family event and all the children and grandchildren were there to see them off! Of course back then we could all stand outside the terminal in an open patio area to watch Grandma and Grandpa climb the mobile staircase onto the plane. This was before the thick bulletproof glass security they separate passengers from the general public came into effect as well.

Back then, if you were going to travel a thousand miles you would very likely consider car, bus, or train before plane. It was only a decade later that a person would consider the loss in wages and how many would be travelling in the car as to whether to drive or not. We flew to my Grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary rather than drive the thousand miles there. It just seemed more worth it at the time.

Now it seems that every time you turn around there are new taxes, tarrifs and surcharges on air travel... or even taxi fares!

I think that many are thinking twice at the moment - with the increase in fuel prices - about any trip they might take. People even are thinking twice about shipments of goods like food. My friend the butcher was telling me that they were going to be charging him extra on his shipments of cheese! He was going to have to rethink his ordering because they were putting a surcharge on small shipments like his orders. It seems that even some major highways have fewer cars on them. People are thinking twice before travelling.

Now this is not 100% a bad thing. It does probably save on the environment. However, it also increases the cost on most all of the products on the shelves including necessities like food - remember what I said about the cheese - and I know my income hasn't increased. I am not sure on how economies work, but I figure that will lead to others increasing the price of their goods and services in order to pay the higher prices - et cetera.

Oh for a COLA about now... meaning Cost Of Living Adjustment clause on my income.

Now of course back in those days of much more expensive air travel I hearkened to earlier long-distance telephone calls were also very expensive and people didn't make many of them either. They relied on mail and on occasional telegrams as well. Right now we have such instant communication including audio-video calling via computer that we can have very strong ties to people around the world. Decades ago you might never have considered meeting a long distance acquaintance - but a few years ago, you might have planned a vacation around it. ...now... perhaps people would re-think that.

Are we going back to the days when people would be reluctant to fly... and for more reasons than that of fear of terrorism?

Later!
~ Darrell

56.

In Stitches

A Stitch In Time... Seldom Gets Done.

Perhaps things have changed... but I notice a lot of people who simply can't fix things. There are things that to me seem like they should be simple household tasks, but to others seem impossibly complicated and "Call in the experts!"

Maybe Mom and Dad just taught me too well? (Nod to Mom and Dad.) Maybe it is a way to simply not have to do some sorts of work? I really did not consider myself that good around tools. I never thought myself great with crafts or cooking or stuff. I would watch Dad in the basement and was always curious about what he did, but I did have a few rather large problems when it came to doing some things.

For instance, I was terrified of machines that had moving parts!

Well I did learn lots. Dad built a fence around our large yard in Calgary and I watched even as a toddler and child. I watched as he put in framing and had a cement patio and sidewalk put in and a 6 foot tall privacy fence to surround our new wading pool. I learnt the difference between stain and paint and that you could treat posts before putting them into the ground. I learnt about different tools like post hole diggers and Dad would even let me try them out.

When Dad put up the Christmas Lights he taught me to hold onto the ladder because it was an important safety thing. He showed me that you could prepare in advance so that the right strings were always to go on the right part of the house and go up straight with the bulbs always pointing down instead of dangling. Dad also taught me that a person, if they knew how and used the right tools and parts could make extension cords the correct length and sort to safely connect the lights so that you didn't have to go outside to turn the lights on and off. Dad taught me that most times it was worth doing things the right way the first time. He also taught me that there were occasions that it wasn't necessary, though they were rare.

Dad finished the unfinished basement in that house and he did everything really. I was amazed that Dad - a truck driver - knew so much. But Dad grew up on a farm where they did everything including wiring and they did a proper job with it. If Dad didn't know how to do something he would ask - and I learnt that from Dad too.

Dad didn't drive truck all the way until he retired. He moved into the office and dispatched trucks as a terminal manager - pretty good for someone without a high school diploma. He also switched gears to repairing the big rigs and did such a good job that when the company, a major dealership closed down - many of the customers pressed Dad to start his own shop.

I inherited and learned many things from Dad. I took a bit of a different direction from him. I went down an academic lane and took electronics and computer programming. At first the electronics was an option for three years in high school and the computer programming was self taught in computer club in high school as they did not yet have computers in high schools. PCs didn't exist yet and the large things called computers were restricted to Universities, Technical Institutes, Larger Corporations, and Institutions still. However I learned and the same abilities at putting stuff together and trouble shooting when things weren't quite working, worked just fine whether figuring out the lighting on a Freightliner Pulling a Great Dane or A FORTRAN IV program on a Xerox Sigma V.

Now I also watched Mom around the house and watched her sewing and mending. I watched her cooking an baking too. I always did think that cream puffs were magic... But I learned to thread a needle and I learned to do a chain stitch and figured out how to make a space suit for my 12" original GI-Joe including a closer that incorporated a Ziploc fastener and clear plastic visor I made. I figured out how to sew a rubber band from a newspaper in for a waistband. So I learned more than skills from Dad...

I guess what I am getting to is that I can fix things and make things. I can swing a hammer and hit a nail. I have problems understanding guys my age who can't? I do have patience with them, but it really makes me curious... I think most of the guys older than me can do that, even the ones who went on to become bankers, and lawyers, and so forth. I can understand some women my age not having that experience... but on the other hand... they often have problems with buttons - meaning sewing on loose ones. I am not asking that they sew in a zipper, just sew on a loose button or shorten a cuff. How come I can do that and nobody really even taught that to me?

I really do not think I am that special. A friend asked if I could help put on some cupboard doors in a house he was renovating and he was totally amazed that I could measure them and place the screws for the hinges and screw the doors into place levelly and properly before he came back. He figured he would be coming back to find me juggling pencil and measuring tape still. He was used to guys who had problems operating screwdrivers.

Oh, I still don't "like" power tools, but I can work a bit with them.

I have patience and I enjoy teaching people how to do things. I do wonder why they might not know how to do them yet. But I still remember learning and just what a person might have to be shown. A lot of people forget what it was like not to know. I firmly believe that everyone should be shown a bit of everything so that when they are on their own they are not totally lost and can at least ask the questions to find the path to the solutions. I always encouraged the women in my age group to take those courses offered especially for women on maintaining their car. Checking oil and transmission levels isn't that hard, nor is maintaining air pressure in tires - of course someone has to actually show you and let you get your hands dirty.

Okay... maybe I am special? ...maybe I am just lucky? But I would like to spread that around if I can.

Later!
~ Darrell

53.

Robot in the House

Whir - Can I Help You?

What sort of robot would you like to meet you at home? I am not speaking of the boring domestic idea of a robot that is the dishwasher or toaster or microwave, nor the multi disc CD or DVD changer in your entertainment unit. (Is my age showing? They still have CD players right?) I am meaning a walk around the house, pick the laundry off the floor, answer the door, walk the cat, water the dog, vacuum the dishes and wash the roses - robot!

Do you see R2D2 or C3P0? Do you see the positronic robot from "I Robot" or Honda's ASIMO? (picture on the right from a press release about ASIMO.) I have seen a bit in the past written about the psychology of android and robot design. I guess it might have come out some time before Star Wars came out - that was "Star Wars" when there was just the one film. There was an article pondering just what form robot helpers might take - perhaps it was in an Isaac Asimov nonfiction book?

I really can't remember where the article or book's musings ended and mine started - it did get me thinking on the subject though. The article was talking about how if an android looked and acted too much like a person it would cause fear in people because they could not tell it from people, yet it might be fundamentally different. The human appearing android might harbour a danger - perhaps in the form of an emotionless killer or a perfect lier without any "tell". We might fall in love with such a construct and perhaps be very hurt or perhaps betray confidences without knowing.

On the other hand an android which was too different, like one of obvious gears and cogs might evoke fear because it was too alien - too hard to relate to or feel confidence in.

Whether very human looking or not human at all, a question might be, would you trust it to look after your children? Would you trust it to drive your car? Would you trust it to buy your groceries or pick up that prescription at the pharmacy? Would you trust it with the plans to the Deathstar?

After thinking on it I considered what I saw in the world around me. People feared the robots of "West World" and others which looked identical to humans. They used mechanical looking robots as monsters all the time. "Mechagodzilla" was intended to be scarier looking than "Godzilla" was because it was obviously mechanical. Even half-way friendly robots like Roby from "Forbidden Planet" or the protective robot of the original 60's series "Lost in Space" still had a fear factor. Robots that were obviously "mechanical men" evoked fear and robots that were not really man-shaped also did even when they acted friendly.

Personally I found marionettes and ventriloquists dummies scary. that might be a hold-over from seasons of the original "Twilight Zone" and "Outer Limits". Those not so "mechanical men" would not give me much confidence. I also hated getting pinched by a mechanical tin toy I had a child. But there was something from my environment that did give me an idea. While marionettes and ventriloquist dummies gave me the willies, hand puppets and stuffed animals didn't. Granted they hadn't come up with knife welding killer teddy bears yet. But they had just come up with "Muppets"!

Muppets look different enough not to be confused with real people or animals and yet they do not have the scary bits of a mechanical man. I think it is something in a way like how a skeleton is scary. Those bony mechanical bits are supposed to be kept on the inside. I think that at least from a psychological and trust perspective it might be easier to trust a muppet-like robot in the home. I think that the robots and androids that became popular had some features of them. Even C3PO who was quite obviously a mechanical man had a muppet-like quality, I think. I think the comedy relief aspects helped out with their acceptance as well as the voice and sound characterizations and kinetic acting skills of the actor inside C3PO.

In some ways I think C3P0 might be an exception that proves the rule...

Other aspects of acceptable robots are that they tend to be a bit out of scale and they tend not to have edges to bite. There was Tweeky from the Buck Rogers televisions series for instance. I know I am giving ancient 30+ year old examples, but I am giving the examples from the time when I was thinking of this stuff. You might include all the larger and smaller than normal furred characters in the acceptable sorts.

Anyway I figured that acceptable robots would be somewhat like muppets. The would be larger or smaller than us and wouldn't have sharp corners or external rods or levers - their skeletons would be covered. They would not make quick moves - at least not unnecessarily. I think that ASIMO fits into that really. ASIMO might not be covered with fur but it is very smooth looking and moving.

I guess there might be a problem with allergies for muppet nursemaids, maids, and buttlers and purple fur covered gardners would be just always needing cleaning and having burs picked out of their fur.

Still, I wonder if you can get ASIMO fitted in a nice blue hypoallergenic padded fur suit?.

Later!
~ Darrell

46

Looking Out From My Balcony

Memories...

I was just looking out from my balcony and along with enjoying the views of forest, moutains, and ocean inlet I was people watching a few moments. I spied a young woman walking from the West Coast Express Station towards me and noted how much she reminded me of a girl I was fond of when I was in First Year Science at the University of Calgary. The girl I watched was younger than my old lab and study partner, but her long hair was the same very dark brown which tended to be lighter at the ends - not high lighted or dyed, I think, but there was just a sort of glow.

Anyway, being a self conscious sort I didn't want to stare and turned my gaze elsewhere before heading back in. I had only intended on a short breather upon opening the sliding glass doors to let in a little of the glorious late spring air.

I did get to thinking - why was I concerned about people watching? - in particular because it was a beautiful young woman? Well partly I am very sensitive to other's feelings and also to what people think of me. I don't want to be know as the strange old man who ogles women from that second floor balcony. But I realize that I was only reminiscing about an old friend and I knew her long ago so that I was remind about her by someone who was close to the age she was when I knew her. I realize that I am now over twice that age and have no untoward intent toward the young woman I saw - but I wonder if others might get a bit of a bum rap only because they are looking at memories of their past?

Don't get me wrong, I do not think it is appropriate for mature men to take advantage of young girls - or for that matter for mature women to do so. (Or young boys or whichever mixture.) But how often when someone is looking at someone half their age are they simply looking back in time at their youth?

Now I also sometimes will see someone and when I see features like someone I knew wonder if they could be the child or -ahem- grandchild of someone I once knew. There is one actress on TV who looks so much like a girl I went to school with that I am almost tempted to write her and ask if they might be related.

Of course how is one to tell who is innocently wandering memory lane and who is a pervert doing a bit of window shopping?

I guess it is important to know how to look without staring, how not to make people uncomfortable and to learn how to spot the predators out there among us. Still it can be a bit awkward for the self conscious and for the writer and artist whose vocation involves the observation of people.

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