[FRIAM] Forum abuse! (was Revising the American Revolution)

[Marcus Daniels]

I must have missed the memo!  There is a race to win in bumper cars?!   In F1 there is a lot of skill that goes into blocking, and I think the F1 racers learn it as kids in organized go-cart racing.  Conversely there is some strategy that goes into drafting in bicycle racing.  Aerobic fitness plays a role in boxing — remember all that running around that Rocky did?  Wear the opponent out and wait for an opportunity..

On Oct 30, 2021, at 9:00 AM, Frank Wimberly <wimberly3 at gmail.com> wrote:


You observed correctly, Steve.  When I drove bumper cars my goal was to "win the race".  Others' goals were to crash into as many people as possible.

---
Frank C. Wimberly
140 Calle Ojo Feliz,
Santa Fe, NM 87505

505 670-9918
Santa Fe, NM

On Sat, Oct 30, 2021, 9:34 AM Steve Smith <sasmyth at swcp.com<mailto:sasmyth at swcp.com>> wrote:

The "bumper car" image does sound apropos in many ways.

I never actually climbed into one of those but was fascinated the couple of times I saw them at the State Fair...  as I remember it, there was a grid on the floor and one on the ceiling providing the two "rails" for power and there were copious sparks where the "brushes" on the end of the flexible wand contacted the ceiling grid.   As a country hick, the whole arrangement looked really sketchy to me.   But as a (somewhat) rational observer, I was pretty sure nobody died in those rides, or at least not from flying sparks.   I suppose, in the spirit of play-as-practice or play-as-learning there is a significant element of "just jumping in and smashing into one another".  Being the hick that I am I sometimes have a hard time ignoring the sparks that fly off of the floor and ceiling.

I've also watched groups of guys (brothers, friends, frats) racing around mini courses in go-carts and noticed that many of them seem happier bumping into one another and impeding *others'* progress than actually making their own progress.  Occasionally women/girls join in, but not so much usually.  Maybe the calculated obstructionism in a game of Hearts or Spades is more gender-inclusive?  Some are better at "shooting the moon" than others...

I munno, as usual I am probably stretching this too far.

Carry On,

 - Steve

Steve writes:

< I think some of what Nick and Jon might have identified here as "bullying" might actually be more in the spirit of "Counting Coup", but I'm not really clear on where the two fit together in the GrandUnifiedOntologyDuFriAM >

In think it is more in the spirit of bumper cars.   Here, gentle reader, we have a car, and we can study its wheels and the electricity delivery mechanism, its motor, and controls.   We can take copious notes and make predictive models of the maximum displacement it could impart to another bumper car.  Or we can just jump in and smash into each other.

Marcus



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