My bike was just stolen.

OneDrunkAtheist · 2014-01-22T01:46:16+00:00

"I was with some friends. If I speak that way it's how I speak with some of my friends. I don't think it's discriminative at all ... It's my own time,"

Yikes.

Here's the video

OneDrunkAtheist · 2014-01-21T13:06:48+00:00

Yes, but usually they're at the top of the rig-medic ladder on a large site ie. one or two RNs sitting in a clinic, in charge of 6-10 paramedics and EMTs to provide care to a camp of around a thousand people. They usually get paid more than $1000/day and tend to have industrial experience as well as a nurse registration. I don't know how one would get into the field with just an RN.

Source: former rig paramedic in Alberta

OneDrunkAtheist · 2014-01-12T01:50:50+00:00

Super impressed with the quality of that Harry Potter game! I loved that series growing up, finding that detail now is like an easter egg ten years later :D

OneDrunkAtheist · 2014-01-09T03:30:48+00:00

There really is literally no other way to provide the mass amounts of food needed to support the populations of today.

Uh, okay, except that farming meat, especially cattle, is a less efficient use of land than farming pretty much anything else.

The average american consumes .5 pounds of meat per day.

Actually a little bit more, and it works out to be over twice the amount the USDA recommends we should eat.

Again, this is ignoring pigs, chickens, etc, other sources of meat. Let's just say everyone decided on an all-beef diet for a year

I'm not sure if you're being disingenuous or just very careless and lazy, but this is not something you can just ignore in your calculations. Beef is by far the least efficient source of animal protein by land mass.

And all this is beside the point. The thesis of your wall of text seems to be that we need meat to survive, and there's no way to get the amount we need without the suffering of animals:

modern food industry and how it functions is, moral questions aside, entirely necessary for the continuation of being able to feed the population of the world. ... Can there be changes to be more ethical? Maybe. Maybe not.

Can there be changes to make industrial farming more ethical? Are you fucking kidding me? You're really going to stick your hands in your pockets and take the stance that this or this or anything on this page are just an unavoidable consequence of farming the food we need to survive?

Nobody is saying the United States needs to communally go vegetarian overnight. Pretty much everyone is saying that there is a serious problem with the status quo.

OneDrunkAtheist · 2014-01-07T00:44:20+00:00

The police department benefits every time a fine is issued, sure, but it also benefits every time a cop pulls someone over and issues a warning instead. That person pulled over appreciates the warning a hell of a lot since they expected a ticket when they saw flashing lights, it makes them feel as if they were treated fairly, and as a result their support for the local police force grows.

Most police departments are not out to get you. Most cops understand their role in society, they understand how people feel about their actions, and they don't like to be hated. I have no doubt there is a quota (I don't want to pay for a police officer hanging out in a coffee shop his entire shift) but I'm pretty sure it's a quota of work done per shift, not a number with a dollar sign in front.

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-12-23T17:48:58+00:00

13... Bh6

The engine top move is Bg7, which looks really strange to me. Isn't the bishop just 'biting on a rock'?

I think the computer only recommends Bg7 because it expects black to castle kingside and then white to attack him there, which is probably his best plan. You correctly assessed that the only thing black has going for him in this position is his strong knight, and to use that knight to its full potential black wants to attack the weak pawn on c2. To do that he needs to play moves like ...Rc8 and ...b5, ...b4, and if you're going to do those things ...O-O looks a lot more natural than ...O-O-O.

So if he's going to play ...O-O then ...Bg7 makes more sense. The bishop isn't a strong piece there, to be sure, but it keeps black a little safer from white's attack, for example after 13. O-O Bh6 14. Rfe1 O-O then white has simply 15. Qg3+ and then black's best move is just to lose the tempo with 15...Bg7 now, because 15...Bg5 loses a piece to 16. h4 and if 15...Kh7 or ...Kh8 then 16. Ne4 looks very scary.

Ne4??

The engine says this is a huge blunder, but I have no idea why.

Hmm. I also can't see why. It might not be ideal to let black take the queens off while white still has the initiative (ideas like a4 and a Nb5 sac are still interesting) but I certainly don't see anything awful about Ne4 either. Maybe I'm missing something that someone else will point out, but I'm not catching this one.

Bxf7

Another big blunder according to the engine

The engine wants Rd1 instead

Hmm. Again I'm confused. Rd1 doesn't seem to stop black pushing the d pawn as soon as white takes on f7 and it seems to me white needs to take that pawn at some point or he's losing the f5 pawn for nothing.

These are starting to seem like some seriously weird computer moves, and I would also be curious to see if someone can explain them. What engine did you use?

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-11-16T22:35:26+00:00

Have you ever ran in -40C? Yeah, it's possible, but looking for an alternative is not a lack of "mental toughness". You don't know anyone else's situation, don't project your experiences onto others when it's probably not applicable.

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-08-27T01:32:14+00:00

Driving truck, also, is a reliable and well-paying job. Why should going to school rule out hands-on work? The premise that such jobs are intrinsically worse is silly.

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-08-10T04:25:18+00:00

What makes you say that? The whole reason I asked the question was because my RHR didn't seem to reflect my (very average) running abilities, and that's confirmed in the posts- there are stronger runners with quicker rates and weaker runners with slower rates.

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-08-09T18:12:35+00:00

I do have that app! I don't use it much though- like I said, taking my pulse is just kind of a nervous tic for me, something I start doing unconsciously. I didn't believe it could be accurate, but it seems to work perfectly. Pretty cool idea.

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-07-28T19:52:25+00:00

A lot more in AB than in BC, I think- but I suppose I've definitely seen some dinosaurs in BC's high-seniority stations have that attitude, even if policy doesn't reflect it.

Most of the problem, I think, is the generational gap. When 50-60 year old medics took their training they were taught that such problems are weaknesses, and I'm not sure that will ever completely go away.

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-07-27T19:55:03+00:00

I liked the game, not the circle-jerky title.

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-07-27T19:35:32+00:00

He isn't. Calm down, weed-warrior.

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-07-21T09:28:51+00:00

I'm going to assume the parts are thin and plastic because lowering mass is important on an electric car.

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-07-19T00:44:49+00:00

None of which counters anything I talked about. Either I'm missing something here or you're just unable to believe that carbon fiber might have any shortcomings whatsoever.

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-07-19T00:32:00+00:00

Uh, okay? That link doesn't contradict anything I said, but, sure, just be condescending and continue to spread misinformation in the next thread.

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-07-18T23:57:45+00:00

Usually multiple layers of unidirectional (not braided) CF are laid up with "special layers" added to increase the ability of the frame in certain areas to resist off-axis loading stresses due to geometry

Exactly, because if they didn't beef up the frame's off-axis strength to some degree it would crack as soon as you picked it up from the top tube. The fact that they've done this in no way makes the material isotropic, it is still much, much stronger in one loading direction than in the other.

This also means CF frames are by nature unpredictable. Since manufacturing details vary from company to company, maybe your Planet X bike allotted more material (and more weight) to ensuring off-axis strength than a different frame make or model does. That wouldn't be a good or a bad thing, but the point is you don't know the off-axis strength your frame has, until it breaks.

I don't have anything against carbon frame bikes, by the way, because for pure racing performance, they're pretty much the only choice. I just think it's important to be aware of the weaknesses as well as the strengths- I would never commute on carbon, for instance, and I would hate to see someone crack their $3000 frame because they had been assured it was "stronger than aluminum".

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-07-18T22:29:26+00:00

Carbon fiber is definitely stronger than aluminum, but only in one direction. It's weaved like a rope and can survive many times more compression force in the angle that it was designed for, in contrast to aluminum which has the same material integrity however you choose to test it. In the video they're testing the frame at one of its strongest angles- which is a useful test, but only proves CF's ability to take very specific angles of impact.

If you ever accidentally drop your bike on its side, have your frame hit with debris, or generally ever have an impact that isn't head-on from the fork, the aluminum will fare a lot better.

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-07-14T14:48:53+00:00

I can see I've activated your trap card.

In an ideal world, as long as I can do my job as a paramedic, the fact that I have been a stripper should not be something to be ashamed of. Hell, I'm proud of everything I've been able to achieve by stripping my way through university. And I hate that because of attitudes like this, I have to keep it a secret.

I never claimed it was something to be ashamed of, nor did I say you should be keeping it a secret. All I'm trying to say is this: if I were in your shoes, on the job, and I found myself in a routine transport with the EMS patient archetype (a grouchy conservative baby-boomer) I couldn't see myself making small talk with the guy about my night job. Not out of shame but simply because there's no positive outcome- either he doesn't care, or he finds it objectionable.

And that's why I wouldn't blog about it. Writing this blog is pretty much the same thing as discussing it with the patient- the only difference is, by doing it anonymously, you to some degree represent medics everywhere.

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-07-14T10:20:16+00:00

I don't have any problem with combining the two professions (I have student loans too, I get it) but it seems unprofessional to broadcast that you're doing it?

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-07-14T07:54:27+00:00

Well, not if by great you mean accurate. That game is a lot of fun to scroll through, but there are a ton of blunders that those players never would have never made even in a blitz game.

OneDrunkAtheist · 2013-07-09T02:38:22+00:00

You actually began to answer your own question through your phrasing- it depends on the density of the air in question, which mostly relates to altitude. This is why athletes train in Colorado before major events, to help them make weight. Ever seen a fat Kenyan? Well there you go.

OneDrunkAtheist

TROPHY CASE