TAN #203: TANese New Year - Horsing Around (Page 17)

i think this is a huge factor - both here and in real life.

no yanti = little TAN.  it was almost immediate when she stopped posting that TAN disappeared!  (correlary, she is no longer single, ha!)  same with, for example, my group of girlfriends from B-school, after jane (single girl!  whoa!) moved away, our regular dinners and slightly less regular girls nights just came to a screeching halt.  interesting observation.

Along with Yanti, Cord, Tony, Monica, Kate were all big time contributors that are basically MIA.  Nicole and Cheri as well.  Obviously not everyone likes what everyone else has to contribute, but they sure added a lot and kept convos going regardless if it was a topic you liked or not.

Another thing?  I think people sort of have to be available for longer stretches of time to TAN "effectively".  I mean, a drop in post is welcome, but you can't have a continued conversation if it's drop-ins with one quick post then move on.  It becomes a list of posts, rather than a convo - if that makes sense.

I like it when anyone contributes at any time, but if you respond with a question or comment and they are already logged off and gone for the next 3 days? nothing gets going.  It's sort of like FB. There's not as many conversations anymore. No one sticks around. More like a random set of status updates from everyone then.

• I'm wearing this outfit today.
• I had this for lunch
• My office mate sucks
• BEWBS!
• I'm tired and need coffee
• It's cold outside
• I ran yesterday
• PIZZA

Maybe this will stick... It's Friday! An weekend plans? Not much for me. Working out and watching Spanish league soccer. Had our date night last night since she works weekend. Saw Wolf of Wall Street and dinner. Good movie, but long.

Where are the true rabble rousers anymore?

I think one of the fatigue factors is the burden of responding to something you started.  When you first post something, you are pleased and flattered (or angered sometimes) when someone responds to your post and so you respond to the responder.  And so it goes.  After a while you tire of tending to your thread and have to get some work done, so either you post and run or don't post. 

Like you suggest, the originality factor is at work in fatigue too.   There are just so many times you can respond to same topic.  This is an online forum which limits what you can or will say about yourself so it draws from a limited set of safe topics.  Ergo, we have heard it.  

Maybe a Confessions thread would get things going again.  I shall speak to Comet.

Or a Hall of Fame thread, where we invite a former member of BT Royalty to come back and start an edgy topic again.  I could call Trixie or Paulette Jo.

Last year, I tried to set up a mock tri and party at my lake house for the Tennessee BTers, a Norris Lake Invitational Triathlon, in the Tennsessee forum.  Not a soul responded.  I would like to try again with some variation but this summer will be busy.

TW

Actually, I tend my threads pretty closely.  I have BT on all day.  Just in the background.  I hit refresh occasionally to see if there were controbutions.  I'm not crying about it.  But as an example.  I asked about weekend plans about an hour ago.  Hit refresh and see no takers on the conversation, or better yet, 4-5 random posts after that about this or that makes me think that people don't read and just stop, drop off a post, and leave.  That happens enough and you quit trying.  I know many topics don't take off, but when none do?

I'm completely fine with that.  I'm not going to wine about "no one pays attention to me" like some other guy that used to be in TAN all the time before getting banned.  But one does feel silly trying to talk to a room and no one listens or force your way into a conversation.  I would never even have mentioned it if we hadn't started talking about why people don't contribute.

Honestly, even if it get's a little heated, I can find actual conversations outside of TAN now.  People stick around to debate/talk.  Not give status updates.

It is what it is.  Evolution!  It still works for people.  Just not me.  I like dialogue and exchanging ideas, not reading random updates.

I kind of think that people are comfortable meeting online, but in person, get a little UNcomfortable.  I think it takes special personalities to go out of your way to meet online friends in person.

I try to welcome people visiting Vegas to look me up.  But even then, I may not be in the mood to go out or for a run/ride.  I look back at the Chicago TAN get-together and it really was the "perfect storm".  It really didn't need any planning or organizing.  It took a life of it's own and just happened.  Weird, really.

Weekends? What is a weekend?  I am working until next Saturday.  Lucky me.  Told you I was boring.  BIG FUN this weekend I am working WHOOP WHOOP.  And next week is my birthday and I will receive no cards no gifts no cake.  I did get a cake 5 years ago so I guess I should be happy about that.  Typically no one remembers.  Except my mom who sent me shoes for my plantar fasciitis.  Big fun.  Yeah I am whining.

Well, there you have it.  

Another week gone.

Happy early B-Day socks.

Ciao, adios, au revoir, TAN.

I think you are right about people being wary of meeting online acquaintances in person..  I am too.  I was hoping it would be fun and would lead to some local BT group activities, sort of like a local tri club.  People would have to break out of their comfort zones to come to someone's house that they do not know.

My weekend plans?  Not much.  Nothing social.  I am working on a formulation for radial buckling of a bicycle wheel.  I put in axial buckling earlier this week which really made the calculated truing results match measured results better for a highly tensioned wheel.  A similar buckling term can be added to the radial bending equation.  It should help the radial equation to match measurements a bit.  It is a lesser effect than axial buckling.The threshold for radial buckling is higher. This is something I told my potential customer I would do.

I can use the same formulas to derive a high tension limit for the spokes based on the buckling instability.  I already have a low tension limit based on a calculation of the tension needed to keep a spoke from going slack under a nominal maximum side load.  I can make all of the calculations dependent on rider weight and power so the builder can customize the wheel. These are just some good analytical tools for wheel builders to use to set a wheel design that derive from the basic wheel truing algorithm.

I have been at my desk slugging away at the math problem without much progress which accounts for my higher than normal BT posting today.  When I was doing my dissertation, I was on BT more for the same reason.  I took a little break whenever I reached a tough spot thinking the distraction would let might brain sort out the problem subconsciously. The study tactic didn't work too well.

I am supposed to work on sorting and dumping some old papers and stuff from my Oak Ridge house this weekend too.  We are about to reduce the geezer housing space by about half.  I have deferred looking at a lot of this stuff for years.  Now I have to get rid of a lot of stuff pretty unsentimentally.  I have done some very cool math over the years.  That is mostly what I have saved. Some of it predates the computer era and is only on paper.  If you want to know how to do heat transfer in composites, I worked out all the formulas back in the early 70's.  If you want to do model predictive control of a nuclear power plant, I got your algorithm in a box over there.

I am great fun at parties too.  You probably guessed.

send me your address and i will send you a card!  birthdays are the best thing...i'm sorry that yours are like this

Thanks I am used to it. 

Don't be.  Group hug.

TW

where you live, do people stick up their wiper blades when it is supposed to snow?  why do people do this?

i grew up in PA and never remember seeing this, but here in VA everyone does it.  i can not figure out why.  someone 'splain to me.

It is so the blades do not freeze to the windshield.  If you turn on blades that are iced to the windshield, then the wiper motor gears can be stripped. 

Or maybe they want their cars to look like insects with antennae.  This is the explanation for VW Beetles primarily.

but if you warm up the car there is no risk of this....this is what i don't understand.  just don't turn them on, duh.

People are prone to forgetting to clear the blades before driving away.  The blades sticking up are a reminder.  Still there is the Beetle explanation too.  

I just lift the blades while scraping or brushing off the windshield whenever there is snow or ice.  It seems a better choice.  I also think it is better for the car not to warm it up.  Just drive a bit slower as the engine warms up.  It is actually less wear on the engine than to sit going nowhere for 15 or 20 minutes.

We have freezing rain this morning at Norris Lake.  We were planning to leave today but will just put on another pot of coffee and leave tomorrow.  

TW

i think warming up the car on a cold day is better for it - your car is made of 100s of different materials that all expand/contract at different rates.  if you get your car to the same temp before driving it you have less risk of damage to moving parts!

Most experts disagree with you on this.  Here's one.  Check the 7th myth listed.

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1101499

You can google for lots more of the same advice. 

I just warm up enough that the defroster keeps my breath from condensing on the windshield, two or three minutes is usually enough. 

 MEH, you work for a car company, don't you? 

for an automotive supplier, not for a car manufacturer.

I sometimes put my wipers up in the air if I know it's going to be sleeting or icing over. That way I can get them moving and clearing the ice off the windshield sooner. If they are frozen to the windshield I lose that time they are thawing. 

HIYA TAN! It's definitely Monday.