The Lounge's "Random Questions That Don't Need Their Own Thread" Thread

[DDE]

On 5/30/2024 at 9:19 PM, BA-Forums said:

Pics?

https://imgur.com/a/AlkB3BS

[PakledHostage]

Looking for some validation here: I was given some free tickets to a sports game today so I took my son. It's not something that I would normally be interested in and I haven't done it very often in my handful of decades, but I found the tribalism odd and the spectacle rather... boring. I'd much rather watch a rocket launch (I once flew to Florida just to see a shuttle launch). Is something wrong with me? What don't I get that these thousands of others seem to?

[SunlitZelkova]

3 hours ago, PakledHostage said:

Looking for some validation here: I was given some free tickets to a sports game today so I took my son. It's not something that I would normally be interested in and I haven't done it very often in my handful of decades, but I found the tribalism odd and the spectacle rather... boring. I'd much rather watch a rocket launch (I once flew to Florida just to see a shuttle launch). Is something wrong with me? What don't I get that these thousands of others seem to?

No, but I think you are oversimplifying what it is. Each team spends years training to perfect what they do and it is, IMO, an art.

That said, I don't know to what extent the average sports spectator appreciates this. Intense team rivalries likely originate in how many modern team sports were invented at Victorian schools, and later the advent of the railway allowed schools to reach and compete with each other more easily. So in that sense it originates in institutional competition. Capitalism also influences it to a great degree as team names become brands, and there is a competition to increase notoriety and prestige by winning more competitions. Of course, this was perhaps prevalent in the ancient times as well, as Greek Olympians' achievements were used as political capital by the different city-states.

Exhilaration from watching sports can either come from enjoyment of the art of the game or enjoyment of one team bidding to dominate over another. A person doesn't like every single form of art on the Earth and not everyone enjoys cheering on the metaphorical mounting of one entity by another. So I'd say there is nothing wrong with you. Being in the minority is not a negative attribute.

Of course, humans are social animals, and therefore if they feel they aren't properly engaging with other humans, they will instinctively doubt themselves to try and get on the "correct" course, because fitting in is (was) necessary for survival. So your feelings can't be helped.

[PakledHostage]

@SunlitZelkova Thanks for the succinct and and knowledgeable response.

[AstroWolfie]

@PakledHostage I find watching sports fun, but if I have to play them (other than some nerf games, me and my bros have high power blasters), I hate it.

[AlamoVampire]

So im out getting food right? Im not next to or near the coast (over 100 miles away) nor next to or near a SEAFOOD place. I pull up behind the suv in-front of me, roll my window up as its hot out and air quality is 115 or unhealthy (you can see thick haze) and as my window closed i suddenly smelled fish for a moment. Could bad unhealthy air quality cause that?

120106042024

[kerbiloid]

Hydrazine and its methyl compounds (MMH, UDMH) have fishy smell.

Check your fuel tank and pipelines.

[AlamoVampire]

Cars fine and it only lasted 3-4 seconds. When i opened my window at the window the smell was gone. Smelled like deep fried fish, from like fish and chips or fish sticks…. Was at a taco bell fwiw lol

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[kerbiloid]

1 hour ago, AlamoVampire said:

Was at a taco bell

Yes, probably some hydrazine leakage or insufficent oxidizer in your RCS fuel system, leaving droplet of the fuel on the engine bell.

P.S.
What a funny name for the RCS thrusters, "taco".