culturedleftfoot's recent activity

  1. Comment on In an extract from their new book, international referee Jonas Eriksson describes how top officials were made to strip down to be weighed and have their body fat checked in ~sports.football

    culturedleftfoot
    Link Parent
    Not really... there are maybe a few, not dozens. Evaluating referee performance in terms of their decisions is much more of an art than a science, and it would have been even more so in the era...

    If a ref with a higher body fat percentage is doing the job as well as the one with a lower body fat percentage and they're already tracking their other more relevant metrics.

    And there are dozens of more accurate ways to measure those metrics.

    Not really... there are maybe a few, not dozens. Evaluating referee performance in terms of their decisions is much more of an art than a science, and it would have been even more so in the era before VAR. So much in football is always undeniably subjective.

    The measurement of body fat (and weight) was likely being used as something of a shorthand for assessing physical fitness and the discipline of regulating it/maintaining professionalism, not a determinant metric in and of itself. I did forget the part you quoted about looking like a top-level referee though.

    I understand these are "elite" refs, but it doesn't seem they're provided with the same elite care, privilege and resources as the elite athletes. Maybe that care just isn't conveyed here.

    They undoubtedly were not lol, though things have improved since then. The time referred to in the book excerpt was when the program was first being implemented.

    I'm focusing on this not just as someone who opposes body shaming but also someone who works with people with disordered eating and diagnosed eating disorders.

    Here's where I have an issue. I'm not doubting your insight with the people you encounter, but the referees in question were in a specific context, doing an elite job where physical stamina is a clear prerequisite, not to mention the mental toughness to deal with potentially being berated by tens of thousands of people. Is that really where concern for eating disorders is likely to be best placed? For someone being encouraged to lose weight at 18% body fat? Come on. Yes, top-level sport on the whole nowadays does sacrifice long-term health for short-term performance, but these people are not making decisions blindly.

    1 vote

  2. Comment on What are some interesting landmarks in your neck of the woods? in ~talk

    culturedleftfoot
    Link Parent
    The Nikka Yuko garden is absolutely gorgeous.

    The Nikka Yuko garden is absolutely gorgeous.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on What ridiculous thing would you spend billions on? in ~talk

    culturedleftfoot
    Link
    I'd probably invest in and invent an app that teleports people from one end of a cellphone call to the other. This is solely so I can have the best chefs in the world cook me whatever meal I want...

    I'd probably invest in and invent an app that teleports people from one end of a cellphone call to the other.

    This is solely so I can have the best chefs in the world cook me whatever meal I want when I'm hungry.

    1 vote

  4. Comment on What ridiculous thing would you spend billions on? in ~talk

    culturedleftfoot
    Link Parent
    I'm not really convinced Wikipedia is that strapped for cash. I don't trust Jimbo Wales much... as I understand it he was pretty much a sleazeball that kinda stumbled into this hugely beneficial...

    I'm not really convinced Wikipedia is that strapped for cash. I don't trust Jimbo Wales much... as I understand it he was pretty much a sleazeball that kinda stumbled into this hugely beneficial thing to humanity and it probably still pisses him off he's not been able to become a billionaire out of it.

    Hopefully he's grown up some.

    5 votes

  5. Comment on In an extract from their new book, international referee Jonas Eriksson describes how top officials were made to strip down to be weighed and have their body fat checked in ~sports.football

    culturedleftfoot
    Link Parent
    You do realize this was for the elite referee program, right? Which was started to train and track literally the best 30-40 referees in the Europe (and by extension, essentially, the world) to use...

    You do realize this was for the elite referee program, right? Which was started to train and track literally the best 30-40 referees in the Europe (and by extension, essentially, the world) to use as a talent pool for major tournaments? The point was to establish higher standards of professionalism, to bring it more in line with the players and optimize performances. Also, this was before VAR, goal-line tech, etc. so there was even more potential pressure on refs when making big calls. Of course it would be beneficial to have each official near their physical peak of fitness. Like he said, it wasn't the tests themselves that were the problem - I don't think any of the refs would have objected to them in principle.

    4 votes

  6. Comment on In an extract from their new book, international referee Jonas Eriksson describes how top officials were made to strip down to be weighed and have their body fat checked in ~sports.football

    culturedleftfoot
    Link Parent
    Well, I would have said it better by saying it's part of job performance. I think you are more focused on the body shaming angle, which I understand and don't excuse - but it wasn't about pushing...

    Well, I would have said it better by saying it's part of job performance. I think you are more focused on the body shaming angle, which I understand and don't excuse - but it wasn't about pushing for the right look.

    3 votes

  7. Comment on In an extract from their new book, international referee Jonas Eriksson describes how top officials were made to strip down to be weighed and have their body fat checked in ~sports.football

    culturedleftfoot
    Link Parent
    Well, it is (indirectly) related to job performance - physical fitness plays a big part in a referee being able to be in the right place at the right time to make the right split-second decision....

    Well, it is (indirectly) related to job performance - physical fitness plays a big part in a referee being able to be in the right place at the right time to make the right split-second decision. You could say it's as foundational to a referee as technique is to a player. Monitoring weight and body-fat percentage is a standard thing in pro soccer for the players, and I'd imagine it's the case for every major pro sport at this point.

    It clearly sounds like they could have done a much better job of introducing these standards to the refs though.

    5 votes

  8. Comment on Shuhei Yoshida talks life after Sony, VR, and the future of the console business | FPS Podcast #80 in ~games

    culturedleftfoot
    Link
    Actual interview with Yoshida runs a little under half an hour, from 37:10 to 1:12:22. Interesting to hear him say he logs into the Epic Games Store every week for the free game, lol.

    Actual interview with Yoshida runs a little under half an hour, from 37:10 to 1:12:22. Interesting to hear him say he logs into the Epic Games Store every week for the free game, lol.

    6 votes

  10. Comment on Anyone tried Hollow Knight: Silksong for the first time? in ~games

    culturedleftfoot
    Link
    I'm a little past halfway through watching a playthrough on YouTube, if that counts. But the weekly what have you been playing threads have had posts about it since release.

    I'm a little past halfway through watching a playthrough on YouTube, if that counts. But the weekly what have you been playing threads have had posts about it since release.

    2 votes

  11. Comment on D'Angelo, Grammy-winning R&B and soul star, dies at 51 after pancreatic cancer diagnosis in ~music

    culturedleftfoot
    Link Parent
    For real. I'm not the hugest R&B listener but I know of his influence on and collaboration with other artists I listen to more regularly. His genius (and seclusion) are legendary. I've been...

    For real. I'm not the hugest R&B listener but I know of his influence on and collaboration with other artists I listen to more regularly. His genius (and seclusion) are legendary. I've been struggling to come up with the right artist to compare him to for those who don't know of him... the Prince of neo-soul, maybe? Though he doesn't have the same quantity of output.

    I suppose I should finally give his albums a proper listen... I know they're all classics and have always heard cuts but never gave any a go all the way through.

    7 votes

  12. Comment on Do other people who grew up with an anonymous internet feel a bit hopeless at the moment? in ~society

    culturedleftfoot
    Link Parent
    I'm not trying to convince you here... but I wouldn't recommend this approach. There are quite a few people using the same rationale for climate change. The evidence is and indeed has been...

    I'm not trying to convince you here... but I wouldn't recommend this approach.

    I am not concerned about slippery slopes because there are people who have been warning me that that sky is falling for over two decades now with zero evidence it is.

    There are quite a few people using the same rationale for climate change. The evidence is and indeed has been mounting; the trouble is that figuring out what practices are prudent and what is paranoid is pretty difficult if you aren't at least looking up at the sky every now and again... otherwise, you won't know until it crashes on your head.

    I can't speak to how effectively you're obfuscating yourself without knowing exactly what precautions you're taking, but these companies are very invested in gathering our metadata and their tentacles are harder to avoid than the average person thinks. What's more, if the people you interface with don't follow any sort of reliable privacy practices, that compromises your noise further.

    The next-level problem is probably not just what these companies want to do with your data but what malicious actors can do when they get their hands on them, and that threat only grows as stockpiling metadata becomes standard practice.

    The ultimate issue IMO is that we are on a path where technology is being used in many ways to erode the basic interpersonal trust, i.e. the humanity, that's fundamental to how society operates. Things fall apart without it.

    4 votes

  13. Comment on Do other people who grew up with an anonymous internet feel a bit hopeless at the moment? in ~society

  14. Comment on Do other people who grew up with an anonymous internet feel a bit hopeless at the moment? in ~society

    culturedleftfoot
    Link Parent
    How recent is this? A friend has started sending me Twitter and YouTube links in the past couple months and it's the first I've seen it... I figured that's what they were for.

    If you click on a YouTube link with a si= — boom, profile linked to whoever shared that video. Some for t= on Twitter.

    How recent is this? A friend has started sending me Twitter and YouTube links in the past couple months and it's the first I've seen it... I figured that's what they were for.

    2 votes

  15. Comment on Who/what are your go-to sources for authentic recipes of regional cuisines? in ~food

    culturedleftfoot
    Link Parent
    Yeah, Kenji's gotta pretty much be standard issue for any home cook by this point.

    Yeah, Kenji's gotta pretty much be standard issue for any home cook by this point.

    1 vote

  16. Comment on Who/what are your go-to sources for authentic recipes of regional cuisines? in ~food

    culturedleftfoot
    Link Parent
    Hmm, I guess I should check them out further. I've watched a couple videos from them before and I got kind of a food lab impression, like they were trying to reverse-engineer dishes that they'd...

    Hmm, I guess I should check them out further. I've watched a couple videos from them before and I got kind of a food lab impression, like they were trying to reverse-engineer dishes that they'd heard about rather than share their expertise with the world. Which is still cool, and it may have just been those specific dishes that I saw. I'll give it a whirl though, thanks for the rec.

  17. Comment on Who/what are your go-to sources for authentic recipes of regional cuisines? in ~food

  18. Comment on Who/what are your go-to sources for authentic recipes of regional cuisines? in ~food

    culturedleftfoot
    Link Parent
    Nice, this'll help me brush up on my Spanish too. Thanks!

    Nice, this'll help me brush up on my Spanish too. Thanks!

    1 vote

  19. Comment on Who/what are your go-to sources for authentic recipes of regional cuisines? in ~food

    culturedleftfoot
    Link Parent
    Awesome, I've never attempted anything Ethiopian or Moroccan so will def have to dig into these. Thanks!

    Awesome, I've never attempted anything Ethiopian or Moroccan so will def have to dig into these. Thanks!

    1 vote

  20. Comment on Who/what are your go-to sources for authentic recipes of regional cuisines? in ~food

    culturedleftfoot
    Link Parent
    Oh yeah, I've watched stuff from this channel before! It's great. I don't remember too many exact recipes being revealed but it's awesome seeing dishes executed at the highest technical level...

    Oh yeah, I've watched stuff from this channel before! It's great. I don't remember too many exact recipes being revealed but it's awesome seeing dishes executed at the highest technical level along with explanations.

    1 vote