Daily "Check In" Thread For Us

[dualstow]

Never heard of pickleball - what is it?

It is mentioned so often here, if you search you would think it’s the fifth asset.

[yankees60]

My dad got a hole in one today. I had one of my best 18 holes ever, which is still very bad but... you know. Golf.

I ordered golf balls, tees, and a net from Amazon.

All arrived two days ago.

Set it up.

Am I a terrible golfer!

Miss the ball entirely! Hit only the tee and it goes flying but the ball is still on the ground. This is way more difficult than I thought it was going to be!

Did more yesterday? About the same. No real improvement. I did pull out my two sets of (old) golf clubs which I'd never used and never prior had even taken any of clubs outside of their bags. I organized all the clubs by brand and number to see what I had.

Today I went at it again. Still not much improvement. After all the continued ineptitude I decided I'd needed to see some form of success so I went to get the bat, batting tee, and softballs. First swing I'm right on it with a line drive right up the middle. As were 80% of my other swings.

So going forward that is what I am going to have to do. Follow up each round of ineptitude of attempting to hit golf balls (with a driver) by successfully attacking and hitting softballs.

When I was in my late 40s I was able to successfully hit baseballs in a batting cage going 80 MPH. How can I not hit that little ball just sitting there!!

Vinny

[stuper1]

The best way to learn golf is to probably start with your pitching wedge and get good with that first. Then move to 9 iron, 8 iron, up to say 5 iron or 4 iron, then fairway woods and finally driver. Starting with the driver is sort of like learning to sail by trying to cross the Pacific on your first outing.

I assume you've watched some instructional videos? There are a lot of moving parts to the golf swing. One important thought is to start with your weight evenly balanced on both feet or maybe heavier on the forward foot, shift weight smoothly to back foot on backswing, then move weight to front foot as you start the downswing.

[yankees60]

The best way to learn golf is to probably start with your pitching wedge and get good with that first. Then move to 9 iron, 8 iron, up to say 5 iron or 4 iron, then fairway woods and finally driver. Starting with the driver is sort of like learning to sail by trying to cross the Pacific on your first outing.

I assume you've watched some instructional videos? There are a lot of moving parts to the golf swing. One important thought is to start with your weight evenly balanced on both feet or maybe heavier on the forward foot, shift weight smoothly to back foot on backswing, then move weight to front foot as you start the downswing.

I've watching nothing! I quickly read one article I found online. And, ordered 3 books on Amazon that are on their way.

The above you told me just exponentially increased my golf knowledge!

I know I have 9's all the way down to 2's plus a 2 1/2 and a 3 1/2? And, the pitching wedge must be the one that said "PW" and which I had no idea what it meant?

My golf swing stance felt natural. Would it really be that much different from what I'm trying to do with hitting a softball off a tee? I think I had that part down. The part I obviously did NOT have down was having the head of the club actually make contact with the ball. Tonight I was trying to concentrate on that by drastically reducing the length of my swing so as gain success with at least hitting the ball, leaving how far it goes to a later time.

Vinny

[l82start]

I’m going to give you a little advice. There’s a force in the universe that makes things happen. And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen, and be the ball.

[dualstow]

I’m going to give you a little advice. There’s a force in the universe that makes things happen. And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen, and be the ball.

Caddyshack! I thought it was going to be a paraphrase of a Star Wars quote, like when Luke had to try to slice that floating sphere. I was all set to point out that some Star Wars themes were lifted from Akira Kurosawa’s ‘The Hidden Fortress.’ As far as I know, no Caddyshack elements were born there. Too bad.

I like the mental image of Kriegs golfing with his Dad.

[l82start]

big fan of Akira Kurosawa’s movies..
the volume of things copied from his movies for other movies is huge..

[dualstow]

big fan of Akira Kurosawa’s movies..
...

Never would have guessed.

[l82start]

Believe me, I hear you. I have a friend who can do over 20. I can do about 5. So I know the frustration. Different body types work better for different exercises.

Here are a couple more alternatives for pulling exercises:

https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/invert ... -exercise/

https://www.coachmag.co.uk/dumbbell-exe ... ed%20again.

The first one definitely looks it could possibly definitely build me up to do the real thing more successfully.

Over thirty years ago - the only other time I did weights - and for not that long, I think I shocked myself by doing 8 chinups. Still, though, did not seem to hit that softball any farther!

Vinny

pull ups
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AKLXc5 ... e=youtu.be

[WiseOne]

I took a quick trip to my community garden at 6:30 this morning, to water it and harvest a handful of peas (yum). Since it was that early, I kept my mask in my pocket for most of the trip, just put it on in the bus. Felt great!!

The whole mask thing really drives me nuts. I get that they are probably a good idea because they theoretically cut down the viral load if you get exposed, but they've actually become something of a marker that says "I am cool, I am with the liberal-media and the city government" meaning it's the equivalent of the BLM tattoo that some of you were considering by way of protection.

So now I'm wondering, when will the mask wearing thing stop? My guess is: never. The first rule of Democratic governing is that once a restriction on freedom is put in place, it will never, ever be rescinded. I can't imagine them ever 100% relaxing all the rules on social distancing, mask wearing etc. COVID is a permanent addition to our laundry list of respiratory viruses, and even after a vaccine is available this will not change. I mean, there's a flu vaccine every year and we still get up to 80K deaths a year from flu, right? I have no reason to think that a COVID vaccine will be any different, because it's been demonstrated to mutate just like flu does (and like all coronaviruses do). And, it's only a matter of time before someone decides that the flu should be treated the same way as COVID - certainly with the mask and social distancing measures, and perhaps even with temporary lockdowns.

Wondering what you all think. I'm thinking that my workplace is going to make the mask wearing a permanent requirement while on campus, which means that by default I'm going to be working from home, and only going in when it's absolutely necessary (e.g. inpatient service or a lab experiment) and only as long as I absolutely need to be physically present. I'm actually quite happy with this plan.

[Tortoise]

Wondering what you all think. I'm thinking that my workplace is going to make the mask wearing a permanent requirement while on campus, which means that by default I'm going to be working from home, and only going in when it's absolutely necessary (e.g. inpatient service or a lab experiment) and only as long as I absolutely need to be physically present. I'm actually quite happy with this plan.

Most of the employees at my Big Tech company will be working from home for the rest of this year, and the small number who have to work at the office are required to wear masks anytime they're not sitting alone at their own desk. That mask rule will apply to all of us when we eventually return to the office next year.

Like you, I don't enjoy wearing a mask, so I'll probably try to minimize the number of days I'm in the office. Ideally it would be something like one or two days a week in the office, the rest of the days working from home. We'll see if that flies.

As it becomes increasingly obvious over time that Covid-19 isn't the Black Death and severely affects only a tiny well-defined fraction of the population, people will increasingly stop complying with distancing and mask restrictions even if they remain in place forever. Efforts to enforce them will gradually dwindle to negligible levels. But we'll probably still see the most at-risk people wearing masks in public, and restaurant staff may never stop wearing masks since customers will discover (as Scott Adams recently did) it probably makes a lot of sanitary sense for a waiter's or manager's mouth to be covered when he's standing directly over your food while talking to you.

In other words, I suspect that over time we'll gradually converge, either officially or unofficially through noncompliance, on mask-wearing conventions that make a little bit more sense than the one-size-fits-all overkill approach we're currently burdened with.

[Kriegsspiel]

I could see the mask situation adhering to Taleb's Dictatorship Of The Small Minority concept. For instance, at my work, there are 3 people who constantly complain if they see people without masks on, whereas the rest of the office, maybe 20 people, talk about how much they hate them and can't wait until they don't have to wear them. Through the organization writ large, I suspect the ratio holds, and so policy-makers bow to the demands of the Small Minority.

If decisions could be made at the lowest level, we'd probably discontinue requiring masks in the office. The people who would quit are some of our worst employees.

[Mark Leavy]

Taleb's dictatorship of the minority is a fascinating treatise. I see it everywhere after having read it.

On, the masks at work thing, I wonder if it will finally end when enough people have proven anti-bodies (or a vaccine). I got a test for anti-bodies last week, just for the hell of it, but no luck. I evidently have not yet been exposed despite my best efforts at mingling everywhere.

I wonder, if I had come back positive, could I get away not wearing a mask at, say, Santa Cruz Whole Foods? Suck it, I'm immune!

At this point, I wear a mask much like I wear shoes or a tie. I think it is all ridiculous cargo cult - but, it is easier to fit in socially and accomplish whatever it is I intend to accomplish if I have shoes/mask/tie on in places that expect it.

I was in Oregon and California over the weekend and, even there, you can see some people rebelling. I'm back in the midwest now and only service people are wearing masks - and usually very casually and disdainfully.

[Kriegsspiel]

I'm a bit surprised at Oregon and California. I went to my parent's over the weekend, and where they live I don't recall seeing anyone in a mask. Life was back to normal and it was very pleasant. I haven't experienced that in months because I live in a silly state.

[Kriegsspiel]

I'm a bit surprised at Oregon and California. I went to my parent's over the weekend, and where they live I don't recall seeing anyone in a mask. Life was back to normal and it was very pleasant. I haven't experienced that in months because I live in a silly state.

Translation: Democratic Governor?

You know it.

[yankees60]

I'm a bit surprised at Oregon and California. I went to my parent's over the weekend, and where they live I don't recall seeing anyone in a mask. Life was back to normal and it was very pleasant. I haven't experienced that in months because I live in a silly state.

Still mandatory in Massachusetts. And, whenever I've been in the public I'm seeing 100% compliance, which presumably also includes all Trump voters / constitutionalists / liberty & freedom people / anyone else who believes they should not be forced to wear a mask.

Vinny

CA hasn't had full compliance from day one, the homeless population was exempt, and a lot of people were slow to start wearing, They do have plenty of loony tunes driving around in closed cars or out side alone with masks. and there is full compliance in grocery stores now starting within the last month or so - rioters of course are exempt, so are protesters, unless you are protesting business closures or petty authoritarianism.. most of the people i interact with are half ass wearing (carrying a mask around but ignoring the rule unless pressured)..

[WiseOne]

NYC is mostly big on masks, except when I go to my community garden which is in a minority neighborhood. I see very few people there wearing masks, and about half of those are wearing them ineffectively (e.g. under chin). So I feel free to enjoy life without the mask - but not in my neighborhood, where going maskless outdoors and simply keeping my distance gets me angry stares and comments.

As far as the danger of COVID....I think NYC already has sufficient herd immunity, plus the virus is done ripping through vulnerable pockets like nursing homes. Per the city website, there were just 7 hospitalizations for COVID on the last day of reporting. And in the previous few weeks the numbers have lingered at around 50 or fewer per day. In a city of 8 million...well, maybe 6 million currently given how many people have left. (NY is super lucky that the census count happened when it did.)

I think what's happening in Arizona, Texas, Florida and California is the same as NY, just delayed because it took longer for the virus to get there and take root. Andrew Cuomo actually predicted weeks ago that this would happen. If our experience is at all instructive, it took us 2 months to ramp up, peak and come back down. And about 3 weeks to hit the peak.

[WiseOne]

You can't have a second wave until you've had a first wave. The states now experiencing surges in cases never had a first wave, or maybe I was in the bathroom and missed it? Anyway, I would like to know where these cases are coming from. Are they majority nursing homes & chronically ill, as was the case here? The news articles somehow manage to avoid that question. And I'll say it again: of the people hospitalized in NYC during the later part of our "first wave", very few had jobs or took public transportation.

The answer to your question for NYC is "no" - I don't believe there will be a second wave here regardless of activity, mask wearing etc. If the mass protests didn't budge the numbers, I can't imagine what will.

[yankees60]

I'm a bit surprised at Oregon and California. I went to my parent's over the weekend, and where they live I don't recall seeing anyone in a mask. Life was back to normal and it was very pleasant. I haven't experienced that in months because I live in a silly state.

Still mandatory in Massachusetts. And, whenever I've been in the public I'm seeing 100% compliance, which presumably also includes all Trump voters / constitutionalists / liberty & freedom people / anyone else who believes they should not be forced to wear a mask.

Vinny

I think they have all fled to less insane states.

Definitely not. There are not a few of those I describe above who live in my county.

Vinny

[Smith1776]

I bought some silver krugerrands and a 1/10th ounce Maple this past week from my local dealer. I ended up getting the very last 1/10th ounce piece they had in stock. They are otherwise backordered for several weeks for all of the small denominations.

Those krugerrands are absolutely gorgeous! The 1/10th ounce Maple is dated back to 2008. I wonder what kind of holding history this piece has. It's kind of cool to have gold from the same year as the GFC.

silvergold.png (1.91 MiB) Viewed 7787 times

[Smith1776]

In other news, I recently got a nice message on the Facebook dating platform from a woman 23 years my senior. We have a date on Tuesday. I'm equal parts curious, bemused, and actually kind of scared to be going on a date with a woman old enough to legitimately be my mother. We'll see. I am definitely looking to be seeing someone who is mature, so maybe my wish is being granted. Ashton Kutcher did have Demi Moore...

My father has been back from China for a couple weeks now and all is well. I don't know how to explain it, but the man always seems to look younger upon coming from a recent vacation. Fountain of youth.

Speaking of staying young, do any of you guys have experience with minoxidil (Rogaine)? I started noticing a year or two ago that my hair was thinning out. I started taking dutasteride (marketed as Avodart) to stop the hair loss, and it seems to have worked just fine. However, that has only stopped hair loss, it hasn't given me any regrowth. My doctor tells me I have a small window of opportunity to stimulate the regrowth of the follicles that have miniaturized via minoxidil. I'm wondering if it's worth it.

[yankees60]

In other news, I recently got a nice message on the Facebook dating platform from a woman 23 years my senior. We have a date on Tuesday. I'm equal parts curious, bemused, and actually kind of scared to be going on a date with a woman old enough to legitimately be my mother. We'll see. I am definitely looking to be seeing someone who is mature, so maybe my wish is being granted. Ashton Kutcher did have Demi Moore...

My father has been back from China for a couple weeks now and all is well. I don't know how to explain it, but the man always seems to look younger upon coming from a recent vacation. Fountain of youth.

Speaking of staying young, do any of you guys have experience with minoxidil (Rogaine)? I started noticing a year or two ago that my hair was thinning out. I started taking dutasteride (marketed as Avodart) to stop the hair loss, and it seems to have worked just fine. However, that has only stopped hair loss, it hasn't given me any regrowth. My doctor tells me I have a small window of opportunity to stimulate the regrowth of the follicles that have miniaturized via minoxidil. I'm wondering if it's worth it.

When I asked my doctor about Rogaine sometime in the mid-80s, he told me I'd be better off taking the money I'd be using to buy and, instead, investing it!

Vinny

[Smith1776]

When I asked my doctor about Rogaine sometime in the mid-80s, he told me I'd be better off taking the money I'd be using to buy and, instead, investing it!

Vinny

Do you remember how much Rogaine cost back then compared to today? I believe back in the 80s it still would have been on patent? Perhaps lower prices changes the calculus.

[yankees60]

When I asked my doctor about Rogaine sometime in the mid-80s, he told me I'd be better off taking the money I'd be using to buy and, instead, investing it!

Vinny

Do you remember how much Rogaine cost back then compared to today? I believe back in the 80s it still would have been on patent? Perhaps lower prices changes the calculus.

Have no idea. He knew but I did not. Just took his advice and never thought about it again.

Vinny

[Xan]

I'm sure it was hugely expensive then. I looked into it once: you can get a whole pile of Costco-branded (Kirkland) Rogaine-equivalent for hardly anything.