I get a big mental hiccup when trying to reference a group and am fearful to use the wrong terminology in case it causes offence / hurt / outrage.
I never mean malice, and it’s especially bad when a term changes and isn’t even fully agreed on by the group it refers to.
Like a Pavlovian dog, this kick of anxiety actually feels like it estranges me from groups rather than brings me closer (my intention) because of the fear I have of making a miss-step.
Years ago Johannesburg put in an Olympic bid. Because of the high altitude (1753m) they had issues affecting a number of disciplines when it came to records due to the thinner air...
If I recall correctly:
- Javeline would go further (less air resistance)
- High cardio events would go slower (less oxygen for athletes)
That would have been a "slow pool" factor all things being equal!
You might find it interesting to know that for track cycling the penalty due to lower oxygen uptake is less than the advantage due to less air resistance. In other words track cyclists, at least in some of the longer disciplines, will go faster at higher altitudes despite there being less air to breathe.
Yeah. I’m an aged mountain biker. Very mediocre. But when I travel to low altitude, I feel like Superman when I ride.
I live at 5000 ft now, but in my 30s I lived and slept at 9000 but did all my rides near 5000. That was an amazing time for my fitness. I could go hard at “low” altitude but recover at high which is what my body adapted for.
I wonder if SpaceX could put cameras on the far side of the Starlink satellites to make a network gazing outwards. To help compensate for the frustration they are causing astronomers…
„As of early March 2024, it consists of over 6,000 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO)[5] that communicate with designated ground transceivers. Nearly 12,000 satellites are planned to be deployed, with a possible later extension to 34,400.“
The whole thing could be considered a 360 degree camera. I have no idea how good the theoretically achievable resolution would be overall.
I’m not a scientist, but is it not at terminal velocity for most of the way down by definition?
So it’s not slowing down to reach terminal velocity, it’s just that the resistance becomes higher thus reducing terminal velocity?
Terminal velocity is the fastest speed it would accelerate to via the pull of gravity versus air resistance. In space, there is no air, hence no terminal velocity.
If the object is heating up due to air resistance (and compressed air), then it's moving far faster than terminal velocity. The heat is from the air getting compressed and slowing it down.
Mmmm. I think I intuitively study like this, but I often have issues recalling the original word. For example - remembering “shy” for the dwarf “Bashful”, my brain will cycle through heaps of synonyms trying to pick which one is right (while not not making a fool of myself).
Those are the most revealing moments! When my brain goes to a synonym it tells me that I understand the scene, but not the character. There's something different about their perspective and mine: why did I think this, but they thought that? "Mistakes" like that are gifts.
(This applies far beyond acting. Why did a co-worker explain a concept this way, instead of that? It'll tell you something about their thought process - and yours - if you give it some attention and some thought.)
It goes as far as you want to take it, because every detail counts. I've done some long, long runs, and the ~300th performance is more interesting than the first. You get down to where you're working at the syllable level - noticing, for instance, that moving on this word, rather than that one changes the whole dynamic of the scene. You have to be blessed with a good script, and cast mates who'll follow you down the rabbit-hole, of course, but there's no bottom to it. It's endlessly interesting work, and deeply, deeply satisfying.
> You get down to where you're working at the syllable level - noticing, for instance, that moving on this word, rather than that one changes the whole dynamic of the scene.
That's an interesting perspective on performance for me as it parallels one of the aspects I enjoyed about performing stand-up comedy regularly for a time (primarily at open mics): getting to observe/analyse/theorize what contributed to whether a particular "bit" "worked" or not--both for myself and others.
For my own performances, I could choose a different word, phrasing, tempo etc and see how/if that affected audience response.
Equally, learning from observing the impact of when other performers did the same, refining their set over multiple weeks.
And, then, also seeing how other factors we had less control over (you know, such as the audience :) ) had an impact: sometimes same line, same delivery, might kill one week but got crickets the next.
Granted, my approach to comedy might lean a little more... analytical than some. :D
Right? An audience will teach you so much, and from inside a piece it's so hard to predict what their response will be.
One of the best directors I worked with had the dictum that "you can coerce a laugh, but you can't coerce a gasp." Like, if you know some basic stagecraft you can make something funny, which... ho-hum. (On a related note: God I hate corpsing. 95% of the time it's fake, and represents to me a failure of craft.) But a wholly involuntary reaction? That's gold.
The best performers, in my experience, are craftspeople at heart. There's an analytical level you have to reach in order for the magic to happen in a reliably repeatable way.
> I've done some long, long runs, and the ~300th performance is more interesting than the first.
Your description really meshes with my experience playing classical guitar. It takes a few months of work to memorize the piece, but then the fun begins. I've played the same piece hundreds of times. Instead of it getting boring, I keep noticing some new thing in the piece every week, it constantly feels "new." Bring out the bass for these two beats on this measure; hold this melody note just a tad longer; the harmony in these two measures makes for a great descending line, make sure the notes connect. Stuff you don't notice on your first couple dozen plays, that endless repetition starts to bring out. It doesn't work for every piece, but for my favorites, it's really a bottomless hole, like you said.
I don't speak music (like, at all), but I've hung out with a lot of musicians at various points in my life, and it's so cool how we're able to relate to performance in the same way. I had a legit emotional reaction to what you said, so thanks for writing it.
Like I say, I'm a numbskull when it comes to music, but I love live shows. I'm able to pick up those performance moments - the nuanced attention; the communication within the ensemble, and with the crowd - and just let the sound wash over me. I've had incredible experiences attending concerts by bands whose music I hate on recordings. The Dandy Warhols come to mind: I literally can't stand the one or two tracks I've heard by them (godawful noise), and I've no idea what "music people" think of them, but they were so in sync that seeing them live was transcendant.
> When my brain goes to a synonym it tells me that I understand the scene, but not the character.
That of course assumes that the script writer is infallible. Maybe you do understand the scene and the character deeply, and the writer screwed up by choosing the wrong synonym.
I'd push back on that. If you're performing a script, then your job is to interpret those words. You've got to be humble enough to presume that the words on the page are as the author intended, and then do them the best justice you can. Judging something at the same time you're performing it is the best possible way to make it bad.
That's not to say there isn't bad writing, and bad shows. (God knows I've done a lot of both!) It's just that actors, at least for scripted material, are secondary creators. Our judgement, too, is not infallible - and we're in the worst position of all to judge.
I was brought to Pakistan in 2008 to help lead the launch of EasyPaisa, a mobile money platform.
It was extreme, not only due to the scale of the launch (1000’s of branches on day 1), the complexity of setting up cash logistics etc across the country, but also because of the on-going terror attacks etc.
It was hard, but super rewarding - so many people so thankful for how it made their lives that little bit easier!
Best team ever!
A few years ago I was thinking of how to use powerlines to recharge drones using the electromagnetic field. Imagine a drone hanging from a line like a bat, recharging in remote areas.
I think MIT had a patent for that. This could be the perfect use case for that too..?
I get a big mental hiccup when trying to reference a group and am fearful to use the wrong terminology in case it causes offence / hurt / outrage.
I never mean malice, and it’s especially bad when a term changes and isn’t even fully agreed on by the group it refers to.
Like a Pavlovian dog, this kick of anxiety actually feels like it estranges me from groups rather than brings me closer (my intention) because of the fear I have of making a miss-step.