• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

What did you learn today?

#1,722
In California, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington you can still be admitted to the bar without going to law school. It is done by a process called reading the law and it is usually required that one must serve an apprenticeship with a judge or an attorney.
 
#1,724
I just cottoned on to this goop - Invalid Link Removed - 'cause, you see, I wish to grease the wheels of progress within my rank arena (bearings may just be a little rank in the arena :wacky:) and this stuff seems to be the analog druid's fluid. I'm on a high learning curve, here.

It's running a little slow - fits right in here :laugh: - bearing in mind I'm hoping it's just the bearings :) We live in hope. Turntable's newish - in other words, not quite as old as me :woot: I haven't got a clue ;) It's just a bugger to re-tune everything when the records come out to play :rolleyes: Everything else is listening bliss.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: the harp unstrung
#1,728
Orcas are talkers, Ilt :cool:

Wikie%204.png
Invalid Link Removed

Killer whales, or orcas, are well known to talk amongst themselves, but this week one individual was recorded mimicing human sounds […]
Invalid Link Removed Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
Reactions: PWRL and the harp unstrung
#1,730
All's (not) quiet on the tennis front. Here's the gist of it.
[…] Grunting in tennis became famous in the 1970s and 80s with Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe. They would grunt occasionally, usually after going for an amazing shot. But it was Monica Seles in the 1990s who made high-pitched noises with virtually every single stroke. She was trained by the successful American tennis coach, Nick Bollettieri - who also trained Andre Agassi, the fabulously successful Williams sisters, and Maria Sharapova. Nick Bollettieri claimed that grunting was "a release of energy in a constructive way". In the case of Maria Sharapova, her grunting often surpassed 100 dB - similar to standing next to a hovering helicopter or a jackhammer.

So what happens to the grunter's body when they grunt?

In plain English, probably their core strength increases temporarily.

But in medical terms, "grunting" is a variation on the so-called Valsalva Manoeuvre, where you close both your nose and mouth, and then try to blow air out of your lungs. This increases the pressure inside your entire trunk and abdominal cavity - and makes it more stiff.

Imagine that you totally relax, and then press your fingers into your tummy around the bellybutton. Your fingers sink a little into your flesh.

Now, let's ramp it up a little. Tense your tummy muscles as firmly as you can, and then push your fingers into your tummy. This time, they meet a lot more resistance.

Finally, let's take it to the max. Tense your tummy muscles as hard as you can, shove your fingers into your tummy - but the same time close your mouth and clamp your fingers on your nose, trying to blow air out of your lungs. Yup, your fingers poking into your tummy meet even more resistance.

Grunting is a softer version of the Valsalva Manoeuvre, but has a similar effect. It is used by weightlifters and martial artists to temporarily increase their core strength and make the centre of the body more firm. In the case of a tennis player, if their central trunk is a more rigid platform, then their arm movements can be more precisely controlled.

And this has been shown by two separate studies of university-level tennis players. The studies measured the speed of both their serves and their ground-strokes. Sure enough, grunting increased the ball speed by about 5%.
Link Removed
Click to expand...
Trouble is, it may not be fair. (I'm sure it's not.) Playing against the shrieking Sharapovas of this world - human Hueys - must be more than just a little bit off-putting. Sadly though, despite the obvious problems that scream out for attention, grunters still have the green light. Well, they're good for a laugh, I guess. Match point. "ARRRRHHHHHGGGGGHHHHAA!"
[…] So what's the future of grunting in tennis? Well, umpires do have the authority to give points against a player who creates a "deliberate hindrance". But this authority is invoked only very rarely. There was a move about a decade ago to set up a "gruntometer" on the court that could check if the volume of the grunt went above a present maximum - but this was never implemented.

So it's unlikely we'll see the grunt go away anytime soon.

But for those of us who'd prefer not to listen to this all summer, there's always the mute button.
Click to expand...

​
 
#1,732
Tom Bomb said:
All's (not) quiet on the tennis front. Here's the gist of it.
​
Trouble is, it may not be fair. (I'm sure it's not.) Playing against the shrieking Sharapovas of this world - human Hueys - must be more than just a little bit off-putting. Sadly though, despite the obvious problems that scream out for attention, grunters still have the green light. Well, they're good for a laugh, I guess. Match point. "ARRRRHHHHHGGGGGHHHHAA!"


​
Click to expand...

My wife loves tennis. Wimbledon every summer used to be a high point of her year's tv. She can't handle the grunting and screaming and rarely bothers watching at all now.
I think it's something that should've been stepped down hard on right from the start...too late now I guess.
 
#1,734
Oddly said:
My wife loves tennis. Wimbledon every summer used to be a high point of her year's tv. She can't handle the grunting and screaming and rarely bothers watching at all now.
I think it's something that should've been stepped down hard on right from the start...too late now I guess.
Click to expand...
For every one woman that don't like the grunting and screaming, there's two men that love it... and the little mini skirts too. Can't prove anything of course except I do.:thumbsup:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Oddly
#1,737
Heard this on the airwaves this morning, about something called highly superior autobiographical memory. This wonderful person, Becky Sharrock, is one of only sixty people worldwide with this extraordinary potential. It's a very moving story. Imagine remembering your whole life, in minute detail, going all the way back to your birth.

She's a trooper—helping us to better understand memory conditions like dementia so that somehow we may find a better way to help.

How’s your memory? If you were given a date from the last five years could you say what day of the week it was? One young woman in Australia can remember every single day of her life since she was born—and she can recite the whole of the Harry Potter series. She has what’s known as a highly superior autobiographical memory. We hear about her life and the research she’s involved with—as a single participant.[…]
A highly superior memory
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back