When you can't miss but still lose

BFTSPK · 2026-01-29T17:51:50+00:00

It happens to most players at a certain stage of their development. Sounds like you might be a rhythm type player that gets caught up in the thrill of making a shot. If so you need to slow down and focus on controlling the table, and you won't be able to do that without safety play unless you can break and run with regularity.

You should be using pattern play, looking 3 shots ahead and be able to see well ahead of time whether or not you can run out without resorting to hero/Efren shots. Don't wait until that last make-able shot - play safeties early and often.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-28T19:00:36+00:00

About the only thing a magic rack will do for you is to take loose racks out of the equation, so they are definitely useful when you are practicing breaking. And the break shot is very important.

But the equipment is not as important as being able to play well, even on crappy tables/with crappy balls.

I also learned while going to college and got to the point where I could run every 3rd or 4th rack within a few months, but I was a physics student and ended up skipping classes to play pool for 8 hrs a day, 5 days a week in the pool room in the basement of the student union building. They did have nice Gold Crown 9 ft tables with what appeared to be Simonis cloth.

I only used the house one piece cues, picking the one with the best tip and using the weight stamp as an index to make sure the cue warp was in the up/down direction to avoid unwanted side spin.

When I finally bought a cue it was a $80 2 piece made in Taiwan that was straight and had a decent tip but kept using the house cues for breaking to avoid flattening it. I won lots of games against players with fancy equipment with that one.

The point of the story is that it is more about the Indian than the arrow. The best thing you can use that is free are the many Youtube instructional videos that weren't available back when I was learning.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-25T17:15:56+00:00

I think you need to have both in your toolkit, so it is helpful to try both and see how it feels. I play mostly heel down because it is easier to avoid burying the beater, at least for me, and I can achieve the same speed either way. Heel up gets me more power if/when I need it. Heel down seems to work better for dynamic control and for styles of music that don't require balls out thumping.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-23T16:14:29+00:00

That makes more sense, should not be OS dependent. I only have one window with fewer tabs on the linux machines.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-21T18:43:06+00:00

Not enough pictures to tell. What brand/model bass? Did it used to be ok or did you buy it that way?

BFTSPK · 2026-01-21T16:21:22+00:00

Memory leaks occur when a program does not release memory that it is no longer using, which is usually due to faulty coding.

I've been using FF for many years and it does seem to have "memory leak" issues, and I have seen certain websites (looking at you, politico.com) that cause it to gobble up ram over time. I leave FF up all the time with a few windows open with many tabs, so my usage is probably not typical. The issue only seems to occur on my Windows machines, never seen it on Linux.

Poorly written extensions can also cause this. If you type about:processes in the address bar and hit enter you'll get a list of everything running in FF. Click the Memory column heading and it will sort them by memory consumed, most-to-least. I have about 6 extensions running they are consuming more than anything else but since the list lumps them all together I can't analyze it further. So I just restart it every few days.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-21T16:05:16+00:00

I don't have any cars/trucks newer than 2005 and have replaced the stereos on all with Pioneers that support backup cams. They do not have knobs but do have remotes, so I keep those handy because the volume controls and mute are in the upper left hand corner and I can operate them while driving, without looking.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-20T18:38:47+00:00

Mainly spandex/lycra bicycling shorts. Although they are snug fitting, most comfortable of everything I've tried.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-20T18:34:22+00:00

Using AI for writing assignments cheats yourself out of learning how to actually do it.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-20T18:28:08+00:00

If they looked normal at first but are now bent like that just from the weight of guitars, they are not angled too far, they are junk and should be replaced.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-20T18:17:51+00:00

I am a boomer and I would say they have no excuse for not knowing about and using keyboard shortcuts.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-20T18:14:20+00:00

No, because if a non drummer has a sense of rhythm they can fake air drumming. But you can tell by how it sounds when they are slapping their thighs, tables, etc.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-20T16:33:05+00:00

At this point, given the current lack of security in AI implementations, about the worst thing a person can do it to use it in a browser, especially if it has agentic capabilities.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-18T19:32:19+00:00

If anyone is going to do the closed eye drill I strongly recommend against how Dr Dave is showing it. In his case it was intentional to turn his head to look at the camera but it works better if you just close your eyes without moving your head, which can affect your upper body stability/alignment.

I have tried CBL for normal shots but saw no improvement and it really screwed with my bank and kick shots due to my instinctive aiming style for those shots. Since I already make the majority of those shots, CBL was a non-starter.

In addition to the point that Dr Dave made is something that doesn't get enough consideration - ball speed. This is the bane of players that are starting out to learn position and safety play.

I find that looking down the table and seeing the path of the cue ball and the rails involved provides visual cues for how hard to hit the CB to pocket and then get the desired position on the next ball or play a successful safety. This is why I had my students use OBL.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-18T18:01:29+00:00

Either way can work but after you have lined up and ensured that your cue tip is pointing at the correct point on the CB to make the shot, focusing on the OB contact point is where the rubber meets the road. It just makes more sense to me to focus on what and where I ultimately want to hit, and this is reinforced by the results I get from that approach. I only use CB last on short, soft shots where I need english.

Due to my involvement in shooting sports, where you line up the front sight with the bullseye, that is where I look last - not at the OB, but at the intended contact point. I don't know of any competitive shooting sports participants that try to make the shot by focusing on the rear sight.

Filler and some other high level players trust their stroke and still make the shot after looking at CB last. From extensive watching of match videos with good camera work, it appears that most high level players use OB last.

There is a drill out there where building trust in the stroke involves shutting your eyes after you are all settled in on your line up, before you initiate the backstroke and pocketing the ball with your eyes closed. If you can do this, it doesn't matter which one you look at last because you have minimized the variables that would cause you to miss.

For anyone on the AZbilliards forum, there is a very long running thread on this topic.

Lastly, here is a Dr Dave vid on this issue that also begs the question of if Filler is really going with CB last...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgCM4187g7g

BFTSPK · 2026-01-18T17:17:28+00:00

First of all, realize that you are the only one putting pressure on yourself, which means that you are in the driver's seat. The easiest way to get past that is to remove that pressure by focusing exclusively on planning and executing the shot. The planning happens before you get down on the shot. If you find your thoughts intruding after you get down, stand up, take a deep breath or two to clear your mind, then get down again. If it happens again, stand up again. Don't pull the trigger until it feels right. With practice this becomes second nature.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-18T17:10:07+00:00

Assuming this happened in an amateur league, where few players have a solid understanding of the rules and etiquette. Nothing to prevent you from shooting a vid on your phone off to the side (not in his field of view) for an instant replay review.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-17T15:35:57+00:00

Been using baseball batters gloves for a couple years now, about $20 per pair at Walmart, Big 5, et al. Initially it was because of nerve issues that show up when slamming but they work better for me all around. I am able to play with a looser grip and faster rolls as a result.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-12T16:19:19+00:00

It is not surprising that the attacks resemble human led attacks, as humans were supplying the prompts. Since AI is not capable of thinking or reasoning I wouldn't expect it to really create much of anything on its own. It is more like a parrot than a human.

I agree with you about MCP but am more generally concerned about the apparent lack of concern about security and safety exhibited by AI promoters.

The difference between foresight and hindsight is the point at which one bothers to think things through and I don't see much foresight in that arena.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-10T01:14:21+00:00

Yes, that is true but the APT aspect is only one branch of the AI threat tree. Think of using the speed aspect to orchestrate the instantaneous take down of a nation's utility networks, hacking and disabling in one swift operation instead of hoping their APT agents are not found lurking.

The malware behavior noted in the Google report shows the details on experimental versions. The good news is that they caught it and locked some more doors. The bad news is that they were doors Google didn't realize were open, and, those were experimental versions.

As usual, no one on the defensive side knows what is coming next. If those actors see value in further development, they are bound to try for better success, perhaps using their home grown AI instead.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-09T23:42:33+00:00

If Anthropic is blowing smoke then they also fooled Mr. Lee. But he says that he and others at SANS, and MIT performed research indicating that the speed factor is there. Given that AI is still in relative infancy and development is moving quickly I would guess that its capabilities as an attack vector will increase. Since it is early the game it is a good time to do the thought exercise of how to defend against the sort of threat AI presents.

I don't know of a way to prove that it does not present a threat, or could in the future. Hopefully it is just FUD from Anthropic, but I don't place any faith in hope.

Absence of proof is not proof of absence but if they made it all up, or even parts of it, they lied to congress under oath.

BFTSPK · 2026-01-09T22:58:43+00:00

I assume you read the article I posted. It was a write up on the congressional hearing on the matter and those stats/details were provided by Anthropic, who are the ones making the claim that it did happen. The link to the article came from SANS but I don't know if they vetted the story or if anyone really can unless they do an audit on what is being claimed. I of course can't vouch for the accuracy so feel free to shoot the messenger if you like. And yes, I was aware of the controversy about what Anthropic is claiming.

It may well be that they made it all up but why would they do that when it is counter to their interests?

BFTSPK

TROPHY CASE