The Masked Tulip Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 Astonishing. This happened just today. What's the guessing it was an Easter break gone bad: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-17650868 Terrible. Sea temperature is a big problem here also - the sea is currently so cold that you quickly go into shock when you are in the water. Even though we have had a week of warm weather the sea is still very much a winter wetsuit, gloves, boots and hat required. Even then, there is still that moment of the cold water touching your skin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pl1 Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 Terrible. Sea temperature is a big problem here also - the sea is currently so cold that you quickly go into shock when you are in the water. Even though we have had a week of warm weather the sea is still very much a winter wetsuit, gloves, boots and hat required. Even then, there is still that moment of the cold water touching your skin. Watching (inevitable) documentary about The Titanic this evening, the water in the Atlantic that night was -2 degrees and people would be dead within an hour max. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Masked Tulip Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 Watching (inevitable) documentary about The Titanic this evening, the water in the Atlantic that night was -2 degrees and people would be dead within an hour max. Also terrible. The wind-chill in those lifeboats must have been bone-chilling also. They were lucky that the sea was calm until the survivors were rescued. I can't watch any of those Titanic docs as the inevitability of it - so much life lost - is too awful to think about... it is all relative though, you can get your head - just about - around 1500 people dying but when it is millions it is harder to comprehend. People say that so many rich and important peopel died on the Titanic that it changed the course of History - no idea if the rich really did die though. I think I did indeed read something about some of the world's wealthiest men dying on the Titanic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussieboy Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Never mind the swimming, what's with those names? Is there something wrong with "Leroy" these days? Ho a-ho ho ho. The link I posted explains its not because of build or anything like that. Black people CAN swim. Apparently they were excellent swimmers before the slave trade. Then because of fear of escape the kids were banned from learning. After that I guess it's lack of interest and focus. Things like Basket Ball in the USA earn money. Swimming doesn't. Unless you are the worlds no1. For example "African-American world and Olympic champion and 100m freestyle record-holder - Cullen Jones." Genetics and bone density / build are just urban myths. This sounds more credible to me. It is odd, but there are no world class Afro-Caribbean swimmers. But as an ethnic group they dominate the sprinting events. Is it purely a lack of opportunity, or is there a genuine physical difference between Caucasians and Afro-Caribbeans that leads to a difference in predisposition between the two? I suspect if you stripped out ethnicity and looked at socio-economic status you'd find a correlation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Live Peasant Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Its an interesting thing...supposedly whites have more/bigger 'slow twitch' muscles than blacks, but blacks have more/bigger 'fast twitch' muscles than whites. Fast twitch being better for explosive things like punching, jumping etc, slow twitch being better for endurance...if that held true you might expect blacks to dominate short distance swimming but whites to dominate long distance swimming...and yet most long distance runners are indeed black, which suggests its all ********. Pro-Cycling is going through a similar questioning process. Paris-Roubaix yesterday, didn't see a single black rider in the peleton. In the Tour de France I believe there was a single black in 156 riders. Cycling is coming to the conclusion that it's just considered to be a northern european fascination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipbuilder Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Was it ever less than blindingly obvious that participation in sports and other activities is mainly due to opportunity, culture and socio-economic status? Maybe the working classes don't have the requisite balance to ride horses and play polo, or perhaps the upper and middle classes have naturally wider shoulders and are more suited to rugby than football.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tbatst2000 Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Pro-Cycling is going through a similar questioning process. Paris-Roubaix yesterday, didn't see a single black rider in the peleton. In the Tour de France I believe there was a single black in 156 riders. Cycling is coming to the conclusion that it's just considered to be a northern european fascination. I'm not a buyer of these genetic explanations for ability at sport (at least not the ones strongly corrolated to skin colour*) and, in the case of cycling, you've got to think the differences are totally cultural. If Kenyan runners can win every marathon going then, from a genetic perspective, there's absolutely nothing stopping Kenyans from being world class cyclists. * single gene theories, on the other hand, are very interesting and backed up by solid evidence. A great example being the altitude sickness thing: http://www.livescience.com/18433-kilimanjaro-gene-test-altitude-sickness.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tbatst2000 Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Was it ever less than blindingly obvious that participation in sports and other activities is mainly due to opportunity, culture and socio-economic status? Maybe the working classes don't have the requisite balance to ride horses and play polo, or perhaps the upper and middle classes have naturally wider shoulders and are more suited to rugby than football.... Quite, although I don't think it's always the case that one class it trying to keep another out; more often than not it's just a matter of habit. I like cycling because I grew up in a small rural town where all the kids cycled everywhere and because my dad used to take me to watch time trials. Similarly, I'd guess that many Rugby Union players like the sport because they went to to a private school and that's what they played. There may be some sports where there's a genuine antipathy to newcomers but I think it's pretty rare. edit:spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bergkamp N4 Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11172054 I really don't get this story, is it that difficult to swim. I always thought swimming was like whistling insofar as you put your lips together and blow i.e. just push your arms forward and kick your legs. Clearly not, swimming really is something you need to be taught? OP why are you posting this on a site that is about the insane house prices and then some one else posting some dumb Leroy comment which is neither helpful or remotely funny....... six teenagers died and going from the ages and family names it looks like 2 sets of three brothers. I really feel for the families. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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