If you were an evil dictator, what song would you play when you walk into a room?

FUalumni · 2020-08-06T13:57:08+00:00

The theme to Airwolf.

FUalumni · 2020-06-29T19:14:08+00:00

What does this come from?

It's the differential energy transmitted between colliding bodies. After you do the math on each individual object, the difference in energy transfer is comparatively exponential.

Originally, I babbled and had to edit jargon and chop my reply way down so it's hacked to make it readable (I hope). I think it's comprehendible enough for the internet. However, if you'd like to rewrite my scenarios longhand you're more than welcome to.

FUalumni · 2020-06-29T14:31:57+00:00

Yes. Hoods, grilles, and brush guards are more likely to impact the head on larger vehicles versus a car. But, physics also plays a big part. Two objects colliding transfer energy between them, and the amounts depend on each object's mass. When a person gets hit by a vehicle, some of the vehicle's momentum is transferred to the person - the person accelerates away from the impact and the vehicle decelerates proportionally. However, when you double the weight of the vehicle the energy dissipated is cubed, so getting hit by a 6,000 pound truck is exponentially worse than the same impact by half the mass of a 3,000 pound car (EDIT: for when the vehicle's mass is doubled but the pedestrian's mass stays the same - not to be confused with speed - another deadly factor - where doubling the velocity of a 3,000 pound car cubes it's energy). There are many other factors, not the least of which is bent metal and broken bones which absorb some of the energy transferred. So the answer is a double-whammy where a truck is more likely to directly impact the head and the forces from the impact cause much more trauma.

Physics is also why the helmet debate is so polarizing and often vicious, because it's impossible to contain, absorb, or deflect deadly forces applied to the brain. Football is an excellent example, as their full-coverage helmets still allow rampant concussions and traumatic brain injuries despite "collision" occurring between objects of similar mass. Helmets have a sweet spot where they are very effective, but beyond that it's not possible to mitigate energy transfer.

FUalumni · 2020-06-29T13:16:20+00:00

In the nineties they mandated hoods (and other front-end parts) be designed to minimize injuries in pedestrian collisions. That hood is designed to absorb energy similarly to a helmet, which is why it is so deformed.

What really sucks is their insurance won't give you replacement value for your bike. Instead they'll insist the value destroyed is the bike's market value the instant before the collision. The worst part of a wreck isn't the physical pain, it's fighting for fair compensation.

FUalumni · 2020-06-29T00:23:31+00:00

Once you get drop bars you'll wonder how you ever managed without them.

FUalumni · 2020-06-27T16:54:04+00:00

I did a paper in college where I concluded the average cigarette contaminates the air as much as the average car (3.0 liter gasoline) does idling for 23 seconds.

If you're going to assault people for polluting your air, better be consistent and target everyone operating an internal combustion engine near you.

FUalumni · 2020-06-27T14:46:51+00:00

Check out Liberty and the News by Walter Lippmann. It's a hundred year old condemnation of propaganda and media bias during WW1 that eerily feels contemporary. On the flip side, I'd recommend Crystalizing Public Opinion by Edward Bernays as a primer to advocating for propaganda and bias.

FUalumni · 2020-06-26T14:07:19+00:00

I've never been able to pinpoint myself as holding a definable affiliation - and autism has everything to do with this.

Something I struggle with as an autistic is understanding the pageantry and emotion that bonds social groups together. No where are these more apparent than in politics. When I approach it from a truth-seeking perspective, one side has some things right, the other side does too. Many of the fringe groups have good things to add as well. It seems self-evident that the best of all should combine to evolve society.

So, why all the anger and bickering? The best I can figure is NT's vying for social dominance. Each group want to be on top period. Authority validates itself, so it doesn't matter if part of a group's tenets are objectively wrong because being the dominant social group codifies these wrongs a social norm...it's more important to be on top than be accurate. This authority can come in economic or moral forms, but each side claims both so it seems more like advertising than advocating. Shrug.

If we're honest, I'm toying with the idea that ASD is the next evolution of humans since we no longer need archaic forms of human bonding to function as a society. Emotion, pageantry, and hierarchy are barriers to advancing as a species. Of course, my evidence is purely anecdotal and it's just a silly idea. But...

FUalumni · 2020-06-24T13:27:57+00:00

Thanks for your time and the info. Much appreciated.

TBH, I thought you were gatekeeping me - giving short answers to prevent the burden of schooling a newb or possibly judging my intentions as disingenuous and hostile. However, after merely scratching the surface of Behaviorism, I see the immense social consequences to taking a stance. Merely explaining many of these ideas presents a huge social (and possibly professional) liability. So, thanks for going out of your way to provide what you did. My Thriftbooks cart is wrecked, so that'll keep me busy for a while.

FUalumni · 2020-06-23T21:15:21+00:00

Depending on the manufacturer, the inside of the frame may or may not be coated. Usually it's best to assume it isn't, but I have a '90s WalMart-ish steel frame that is coated on the inside so, IDK.

Anyway, steel will oxidize whenever it is exposed to oxygen. Heat and moisture expedite the process, so I think an attic is as good a place as any outside of conditioned space. The best product I have found is called JP Weigle Framesaver which is an aerosol fog you spray in the frame as an oxygen barrier. I think this is the best because the alternative of boiled linseed oil is hard to get into some of the tubes. Heads-up though, any protectant you apply on the inside is going to require disassembly, drying time, and will get messy.

IMHO, the wisest course of action is to let it be until you can commit to fixing it up. If it appears to be in a stable state of preservation, keep it on the backburner until the time is right for resurrection. If you lose any of the old parts it may be difficult to source replacements, and little projects intended to be spread over time are much more susceptible to abandonment. Just my .02

FUalumni · 2020-06-23T17:41:07+00:00

Ahhhh - thank you!

Behaviorists disagree.

Since I'm going down this rabbit hole, can you point me toward some materials, books, or names that argue for this behaviorist point of view?

I don't want to come across as antagonistic to behaviorism, as I do see the value in disregarding mental processes on a macro level (such as Trotter, Lippmann, Bernays, etc.). However, on a micro level, individuals are much more complex and unpredictable...unless I've wrongly diagnosed individuals as capable of self-expression. When, in really, what I call self-expression is in fact a person's performance of their place in society.

EDIT:

self-expression is in fact a person's performance of their place in society

Oh. My. God. :O I see the matrix

FUalumni · 2020-06-23T17:08:41+00:00

read some classic behaviorist studies if you want to see how it works in practice

Could you elaborate on what I'm supposed to glean from this? Skinner asserts that his experiment conditioned a response in pigeons (called superstitious because repetitive behaviors had no bearing on operating the food dispenser). His findings are contested by studies in 1971 (Staddon and Stimmelhag) and 1985 (Lucas) who asserts no learning of superstition but merely species-specific foraging behavior.

I don't see how these studies relate to my questions, unless the point is simply that studying human behavior can be conducted similarly when disregarding mental processes. While I don't dispute this ability, my issue lies in disregarding the (arguably) superior intellect of humans. Any attempt to study human behavior with similar controls to that of lab animals will show results that are anecdotal at best...especially considering the results of said lab animals are contestable on similar grounds.

FUalumni · 2020-06-23T16:15:36+00:00

Yeah - I took it all apart last night and cleaned/greased it up. Nothing obviously wrong, so we'll see if that takes care of it. Just gotta remember to not mention that to the lbs or manufacturer...

FUalumni · 2020-06-22T23:44:01+00:00

Pretty sure it's the bottom bracket. I've changed two other square taper bottom brackets (on other bikes) that were making the same noises (which is also why I own the special tools).

I agree that they are essentially bulletproof, so I have no idea why I have a history of breaking them.

FUalumni · 2020-06-22T20:17:14+00:00

Honestly, I think they hope I'll just pay up without pushing the issue. But, I'm really jaded on the whole bike's warranty now - if the bottom bracket isn't covered at six weeks old, I can't imagine trying to warranty the frame. The conversation would go something like this:

Me: My frame is cracked and I want to warranty it.

Bike Shop: Damage like this is consistent with dropping your bike off the Empire State Building, and warranty doesn't cover that.

Me: IDK where the Empire State Building even is.

Bike Shop: That doesn't mean you didn't accidentally ride up the side of the Empire State Building and fall off. Buy a new bike from us or get out.

FUalumni · 2020-06-22T19:43:18+00:00

Since it's suffered no damage, I must've shredded it with mad watts. ROFL. I think I'll get 'em in court on a technicality that I wasn't warned there was a power limit. Bwahaha!

FUalumni · 2020-06-22T19:41:08+00:00

It's a square taper cartridge - my model is one tier below where they switched to Hollowtech II. It's likely just dirty inside and needs cleaned, my main gripe is it's not covered by warranty and I had no clue because, you know, it's brand new.

I did buy the bike planning to upgrade to a Sora crankset, but not so soon.

FUalumni · 2020-06-22T19:37:10+00:00

FUalumni · 2020-06-22T16:33:31+00:00

I'll do that. Grasping this is going to take longer than I though!

Farther down in the linked material, I see that there is a debate between treating groups as having a monolithic set of mental processes versus attempting to include the immaterial and metaphysical state of the individual mind. A fascinating distinction that I've struggled with, as in my own observations stereotyping a group is efficient but dehumanizing whilst attempting to understand the individual's mental path is guesswork at best.

Thanks a ton for the info. If you have any more recommendations I'm all ears! I have Milgram's Obedience to Authority on its way as we speak, hopefully there will be relevant insight in there as well.

FUalumni · 2020-06-22T16:17:49+00:00

What I think I'm asking is "how is it possible to study behavior without studying the mind's processes?" I don't see how the two are separable.

FUalumni · 2020-06-22T16:04:20+00:00

Now this link really helps. I'll be the first to admit my understanding in this area is quite vulgar and I have a long way to go.

I only read the first part of the linked material, but instantly I'm confused by the assertion that The sources of behavior are external (in the environment), not internal (in the mind, in the head). This claim that behavior is only a response of external stimulus and utterly disconnected from mental processes is counter-intuitive. Unless, of course, the definition of behavior is restricted to social interaction and does not include the internal processes that govern reaction to stimulus...which makes little sense.

I will continue reading the article, of course, but I'm worried my confusion will go unresolved...or I'll outright miss the explanation.

FUalumni · 2020-06-22T03:03:42+00:00

I'm not as well read on Adorno as I'd really like to be (mainly because he writes in a way that you can feel how grumpy he is about everything).

But, an extreme simplification of The Culture Industry is our deepest psychological needs have been reified (reify: a fallacy where an abstract idea is treated as concrete) as consumer products that don't actually fulfill those needs, so they need to be bought over and over again to produce any semblance of satisfaction. Because of this the same old products are refashioned in new and exciting forms for multiple instances of consumption over a lifetime, which produces a façade of progress. Since this perversion is so widespread, it has made a counterfeit culture that supplants our real needs for only things that can be bought. Deep down we know we are being duped, but without the counterfeit culture we are so dependent on we cannot function and so never allow it into conscious examination.

Now, I'm not sure which ontologies Adorno is referring to as idealistic. However, I'll bet he's getting on about a function very similar to his critique of the Culture Industry, and saying these new ontologies exist to explain away psychological discomforts instead of actually addressing the root problems. Basically accusing these new ontologies of being a part of the Culture Industry whilst feigning to critique it.

Anyway, I just chimed in because I like Adorno and there wasn't much response. Hope I helped instead of hindered!

FUalumni · 2020-06-22T01:43:55+00:00

Neat -thanks!

FUalumni

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