Random Thoughts Thread Part 4

[montestewart]

Does drooling over electric mustangs make me some sort of elitist redneck?

https://www.motor1.com/news/572886/ford-mustang-electric-charge-cars/

Yes. Own it.

[closg00]

DuckDuckGo browser, why didn’t I start using you sooner, poof, all annoying pop-up ads are gone and tracking blocked

[doclinkin]

I saw a coyote in a suburban neighborhood of Silver Spring yesterday. Uncanny to watch, so sleek and smooth, and predatory, making it clear how domestic dogs are clearly bred in part for their tame goofiness. There was no mistaking it for a housepet, it moved like a fox but was the size of a medium dog, much bigger than I expected it would be from seeing video of Western coyotes. This was probably 35-40lbs, stilt legged sleek and lean with a long bushy tail. If I had pets I would keep them indoors, no question that badboy was hunting. Interesting to see. Nature tries every door.

[payitforward]

We see coyotes in this area too, doc. Though we see foxes a lot more often.

In the air lots of hawks & -- a real thrill -- the occasional bald eagle.

Ospreys are common around here; there's a nest every year at the top of a telephone pole @ 1/2 mile from our house. I always thought ospreys were a kind of sea eagle, but I learned recently that they are actually a kind of hawk.

We also see wild turkeys -- a weird looking bird!

[pancakes3]

There's a massive racoon that my dogs beef with. When I first got my dogs, they would wake me up to go outside every night at 2-3am. I assume it's to pee. I installed a doggie door so they can go outside whenever they wanted, and then one night, i decided to go outside with them to see if they were actually peeing and they just chase this big fat racoon along the fenceline. i started closing the door again after that bc rabies. the dogs would still whine, and one night, i look out the window, and the racoon is just sitting on the back patio staring into the house - i don't know if he's taunting the dogs or wanting them to go out and play, but there's definitely something going on there. racoon still stops by from time to time.

oh, and the warren of bunnies that used to live in my yard has since relocated after getting the dogs.

[dobrojim]

Both Coyotes and fox around my neighborhood too. More fox probably.
Depending on how good a look at them you get, it could be hard to tell
them apart at times.

[W. Unseld]

Is it me or did this nature seem to return in the last 5-6 years? I don't remember the Hawks, foxes or anywhere near as many deer or rabbits pre-covid.

[doclinkin]

Is it me or did this nature seem to return in the last 5-6 years? I don't remember the Hawks, foxes or anywhere near as many deer or rabbits pre-covid.

Hell, COVID itself. When humans eliminate ecosystems we become the ecosystems. Nature doesn't care. Every dividing line of a geological epoch denotes a mass die-off. After which nature fills all the gaps little by little. The success of genus homo is akin to cyanobacteria flooding the atmosphere with oxygen. Boom, land dwelling plants evolve to take advantage. Nature is restless. Fidgets with new possibilities all the time. Pigeons were Rock Doves, needing cliff faces to hide their nests. Humans grew cities with artificial cliff faces, pigeons say yes please. Cockroaches, rats, bedbugs, the common cold, etc.

Sure there will be mass die-offs caused by the alteration of atmospheric temps and particles and new molecules. Diseases will pop up in areas of dense population, especially in cultures like China that may have less genetic diversity and potential for resistance. Humans quality of life will suffer. Maybe with mass death. But hell, mangoes will grow in Brooklyn and when Manhattan is flooded and abandoned after a series of superstorms the rats will become amphibious to hunt the giant crabs that siphon nutrients in the tunnels of the uptown 4/5/6. Kudzu will grow to redwood size and swallow Hoboken. Bamboo will do what bamboo does and devour swathes of the landscape. Hermit crabs will grow helmet size, using washed up bleach bottles as armor. The great garbage patch will become an armature for a floating barnacle colony, or mobile coral reef. And sharks will still be sharks no matter how many kotex tubes they ingest.

Coyotes? I'm surprised they haven't already taken full advantage of the overpopulation of deer that have cropped up. I guess if they get big enough they get noticed and shot, and for now there is all that road kill, and various housepets without survival instincts as a calorie rich low-effort buffet.

[payitforward]

There are @350 million dogs in the world right now. But, there are only @220,000 wolves.

When you eliminate the apex predator, you get an enormous increase in herbivores -- deer in this case.

The deer, being so many, eat most of the acorns. So, over time, fewer & fewer oak trees.

Give the whole process enough time, & the world becomes a vast scrubland.

[pancakes3]

I played Greendale on Saturday - were/are you the starter? I think I remember seeing that you chose this handle because you had semiretired to work the course?

Great course. I just started golfing a few months ago and it's one of the best courses that i've played so far. Lost about 3 balls though, most memorably, chunked one into the water on 10. My buddy lost 2 on 8.

[payitforward]

What's the course like? The few images I find make it look pretty wide open....

[pancakes3]

What's the course like? The few images I find make it look pretty wide open....

18 holes par 70. Played from the white tees, about 6000 yards.

I'd say it's a wide open but also not. The fairways weren't narrow but also not too wide open - what made it feel more wide open is that the tree lines were fairly accessible so if you sliced or hooked, there's a good chance you can still either find it playable, and/or that it's so accessible and you sliced it so far that the ball passes through and you can find it playable in the fringe of the neighboring hole . Looking at the course map and thinking back, I'd say I remember hole 9 being very wide open, and 12/13 were wide open because they were side by side and no treeline. I sliced mine onto 13's fairway right when the guys at 13 sliced it onto our fairway and we had a funny moment crossing paths.

it's certainly a forgiving course but about half the holes (between par 3's, doglegs, and water hazards) did not feel wide open and kept it pretty challenging, for me at least. I'm a beginner and shot a 118. The other beginner shot a 113, an intermediate guy (been playing 2-3 years) shot a 104, and the best of our foursome shot a 93 (he doesn't have a handicap but he shot a 101 at Stonewall last month for reference; I shot a 135).

My problem is that if I try to power through a full swing, it's a 50/50 slice. My tempo'd swing is consistently straight, but my distances are cut back 20-30%.

max distances: 250 on my driver, 200 on 5 wood, 150 on long irons, 100 on wedges
consistent distances: 160 on driver, 140 on wood, 130 on long irons, 80 on wedges.

I'm hitting the range like 3x a week (the past 2 months was practically daily) trying to drive 200+ straight and consistently. Goal is to break 100. Just need to stop losing balls, gain 100 yards on driver, stop topping my irons, and learn how to hit my woods. Hopefully it'll only take me 5-10 years and tens of thousands of dollars.

[payitforward]

I've been playing a lot longer than you, but I haven't played at all for @18 months & have played only a very little since Covid hit.

Last I kept a handicap it was @18 -- i.e. I'm more or less a bogey golfer. I don't slice, but I do tend to push my driver right somewhat. No similar problem with other clubs however.

If you slice on a full-strength swing, you need lessons! Then again, if you hit your "consistent distances" where you aim them you should break 100 pretty soon! Good for you!

Here's a story you'll like: I was once playing on a well-known course in North Carolina when I noticed that the foursome behind ours consisted of Michael Jordan, John Elway, Wayne Gretzky, & some guy I didn't recognize (found out later that he was a movie actor of some kind).

Once we'd holed out on 18 we watched the 4 of them hit to the 18th green. Let's just say that all 3 of the athletes looked awfully good! In fact Jordan & Elway are virtually scratch golfers. Gretzky's not at their level, google tells me; then again, his daughter is married to Dustin Johnson, so at least he gets free lessons!

Keep at it, man -- a great game!

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

We see coyotes in this area too, doc. Though we see foxes a lot more often.

In the air lots of hawks & -- a real thrill -- the occasional bald eagle.

Ospreys are common around here; there's a nest every year at the top of a telephone pole @ 1/2 mile from our house. I always thought ospreys were a kind of sea eagle, but I learned recently that they are actually a kind of hawk.

We also see wild turkeys -- a weird looking bird!

Where do you live PIF? Eastern Shore?

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

I've been playing a lot longer than you, but I haven't played at all for @18 months & have played only a very little since Covid hit.

Last I kept a handicap it was @18 -- i.e. I'm more or less a bogey golfer. I don't slice, but I do tend to push my driver right somewhat. No similar problem with other clubs however.

If you slice on a full-strength swing, you need lessons! Then again, if you hit your "consistent distances" where you aim them you should break 100 pretty soon! Good for you!

Here's a story you'll like: I was once playing on a well-known course in North Carolina when I noticed that the foursome behind ours consisted of Michael Jordan, John Elway, Wayne Gretzky, & some guy I didn't recognize (found out later that he was a movie actor of some kind).

Once we'd holed out on 18 we watched the 4 of them hit to the 18th green. Let's just say that all 3 of the athletes looked awfully good! In fact Jordan & Elway are virtually scratch golfers. Gretzky's not at their level, google tells me; then again, his daughter is married to Dustin Johnson, so at least he gets free lessons!

Keep at it, man -- a great game!

Most def we should get a golf thread going here. I’m 57, have dabbled in golf just a little since my teens - like a couple of rounds a year. Then during COVID, when there was nothing else to do, I decided to play a lot and try to get passable at it. Good thing too, because my back and knees have made playing basketball and soccer - my true sport loves - a non starter.

So, now I’m pretty obsessed with golf. I try to play about 2x a week, always walking the course so, even if I couldn’t hit a ball straight that day, at least I got some excercise.

Finally took lessons this year and at first it made it so that I could barely hit the ball… but little by little, I’ve gotten better. Shot a 76 last weekend. Am flirting with par many rounds these days.

Who else on this board plays?

[dobrojim]

A rebroadcast of Bullets-Pistons from Jan 1984 was made which I watched a couple nights ago.
Spoiler alert if you haven't watched.

I was bored so I watched. Bullets had Ruland, Mahorn, Ballard, Sobers and Frank Johnson, Darren Daye
and Jeff Malone (rookie).

I was struck by how the game had changed/evolved so much. There were almost no 3 point shots.
The level of athleticism seemed so much less. Players were turning down what seemed like very makeable
shots.

The play x play wasn't the TV audio but the radio and the broadcaster was arguably worse
than Chris Miller as far as describing the action. I know, hard to believe.

Bullets trailed for pretty much the whole game but won on a last second 3 pointer by Malone
in what became one of the most often repeated sequences shown on Bullets TV, Jeff Malone
throws up a desperation shot falling over the end line from the corner. The announcer first
calls it a brick but it goes in and the Bullets win.

Notable Pistons in the game, IT, Laimbeer, Vinnie Johnson, John Long, Earl Cureton, Kelly Tripucka,
Terry Tyler.

Again my impression is how much better today's players are than what was on display in this game.
Shouldn't be surprised really. It was 40 years ago. Of course the players are better now.

[pancakes3]

Signing up for NBA give and go again - last they had it was pre-pandemic. Great value, especially for January. Getting to see OKC, DEN, MIN, and LAC for $60 total?

Feb is a dud with just 3 games, Miami and CLEx2

March/April has 8 games, but the teams are meh. ORL, CHA, HOU, SAC, TOR, BKN, DET, and POR.

https://www.nba.com/wizards/give-go-promotions

[dobrojim]

Does drooling over electric mustangs make me some sort of elitist redneck?

https://www.motor1.com/news/572886/ford-mustang-electric-charge-cars/

Yes. Own it.

I know 2 people who own one. One them got one of the first in the area and he
was asked to let the MPT folks do a track test of his car which they did.

But here is an EV with a much better battery. Unfortunately, it's not available in the US.
I would buy one. Only $30,000. Li Iron Phospate battery with great range and super fast charging.

Watch on YouTube

[LyricalRico]

Wasn't sure where to put this, but Dan Campbell getting multiple key Lions players hurt on Sunday was a total clown show. Saying here now...that dude will never win anything.

[dobrojim]

America owes Green Bay a massive thank you for that beat down administered to the Plowboyz,
Man that put me in a good mood.