captainvanadium

I have been looking at some Wrestlemania DVD's. Suddenly something dawned on me. With my excellent powers of observation, I noticed that a wrestler's shoulders remained on the mat for 3 (even 4!) seconds in a pin and the ref's hand was slowing down so that he didn't get counted out.

Being able to slow the video to slow motion confirms this.

I guess this proves that wrestling is truly scripted.

Anyway, what gives? How about having some matches go more "free form." If you're pinned your pinned! Actors ad lib all the time. Why not wrestlers? Why not Wrestlemania?

I have been here for about a year, and have grown tired of lying, greedy taxi drivers. Now, before peoples hackles get up, I am not talking about all the drivers. There are many honest ones.

Many of the taxis have signs that indicate they are metered, i.e., no haggling. And yet the drivers attempt to haggle, often asking for 2 or even 3 times what would be the actual cost of the trip.

I have an imaginary scenario is my mind. The governing body for these taxi drivers comes down on them. And I mean hard. The newspapers report 30 drivers fired for fraud (which is what charging inflated prices is). A couple of months later, the surviving greedy sleazos, motivated by fear, are marching the straight and narrow.

Can we report these what are really nothing more than thieves with licenses?

One request: let's try and avoid answers of "this is the Malaysian way." There is nothing inherent in any culture that allows one to condone bad behavior!

I am interested in starting to play baseball. Right now I just want to do some catching, throwing and hitting. I live in Bandar Sunway near Kuala Lumpur. Can anyone help me?

Last summer, I saw the Housewives of Orange County for the first time. I saw one episode and then gave up because it struck me as a glorification of people who are really vain, shallow, puerile, empty headed and with a tremendous sense of entitlement. Their lives seem occupied with mindlessness, e.g., what will I buy at the mall? Their behavior is on par with many a belligerent and obnoxious junior high school student. In reality, the show really has no theme.

Now I see this show is still on along with the Housewives of New Jersey, Atlanta, Antarctica, Pluto, and so on. It is on during prime time and therefore extremely popular.

But why?

This was posted a month or so back:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AlQAz...

Now normally I don't bother with such nonsense, but I do have one question: what makes a two-bit punk like this think he is the toughest thing that ever walked the earth?

He looked like a state highway trooper. Simple finishing move: the sleeper. The opponent would wake up with a ticket stuck to his forehead. Always wondered what the violation was.

Anyway, where is he now?

I am a chemistry teacher. I would like to do a simple demonstration as a way of introducing some of things we will learn this year: stoichiometry, atomic theory, atomic structure, etc.

I can think of some on my own, but would enjoy getting some possibly new ideas.

I will probably get some seniors angry, so let me preface my comments by saying I am nearly a senior myself. Also: I am well aware there are bad drivers in every age group. But the focus here is on seniors.

Should annual testing for drivers be mandatory after a certain age?

What I don't understand is that Sammy Senior can barely drive his Toyota Tiny Car. And I mean barely drive. Thirty km per hour in a ninety zone. Swinging wide on corners. Running red lights. Driving 10 km/h in a school zone at midnight (yes, I have seen this!). Going the wrong way on the freeway. And so. And yet he can go into the local car dealer and purchase a monster motor home. This is the equivalent of believing you can perform neurosurgery once you have taken a first aid course.

I think it is time for mandatory testing (and definite restrictions on what vehicles a senior can drive). Once again, don't get me wrong. I am definitely for restrictions across all age groups, but the focus here is on seniors.

OK, normally, I don't ask this type of question, but I have thought about this young person's attitude/reaction, and find it is actually quite common among today's youth.

The story. A friend of mine was in a boxing club. And quite a good boxer, I might add. Anyway, he was approached by one of the younger members (a cocky, mouthy guy, aged 16).

Anyway, he challenged my friend (who was older) because the young guy felt my friend thought he was tough. My friend declined. He hadn't boxed in years, and just liked to workout to keep in shape. The mouth kept pushing the issue until the challenge was accepted. The ground rules were established: no holding back, this was a full out competition.

Anyway, long story short. My friend pummelled the mouth good and hard. The match was over in less than a minute.

Then the challenger went to the coaches and complained that the match was unfair because the older guy had used "adult strength."

So let me get this right. You're in a sport where the risk of getting bashed is high. You set yourself up to get bashed. You get bashed. Then you have the nerve to complain about getting bashed.

Why did this young guy act this way? Many young people challenge the various systems and rules that are in placed, get beaten and then have the nerve to complain about losing.

I teach high school chemistry. One question I have not been able to answer is how is it possible to create a compound such as xenon hexafluoride. I know this was done by a chemist at the University of British Columbia in the 1960's.

I also know that several other noble gases have been combined with elements to create compounds.

I would think that such compounds are inherently unstable.

Can a professional chemist please explain how this can actually be done? I am certain it requires a terrific amount of energy.

Ever since I returned from working overseas, my Hotmail account will suddenly not accept my password. I have had to change it a number of times. And yes, I am using the correct password. Today was the proverbial last straw. I dumped the account, but in the process of transferring some important information it suddenly blanked out. When I went back in (yes, the nth new password worked) I had lost a whole bunch of job-related emails. Stupid MSN!

Funny thing is my other Hotmail account never displays this tendency. Never!

I have a professional and I now feel it is time for a change.

I am thinking of getting my commercial truck license and driving for a living. Apparently, there are quite a few soon-to-be seniors who are doing this. And there is a real shortage of drivers in this country. I am strong, fit and alert so I think the switch would be good.

I don't have any romantic notions about "hitting the road." I am even ready for the long hours (at times).

Any ideas or opinions?

Last night I saw a documentary entitled "The First Canadians." It shed new light on the question of "Who was here first?"

We are familiar with the idea that people may have crossed the land bridge between Asia/Russia and North America some 12,000 years ago. This has really been the central idea behind the land claims of the First Nations in my country. "You white Europeans came here after we did and stole our land and resources.!"

Well, new evidence (archaeological and biological) shows that people of Indo-European origin arrived here 5000 years before those with Asiatic ties. They crossed the huge ice bridge between Europe and North America, a dangerous and terrifying journey.

DNA evidence shows that at least a full quarter of aboriginal Canadians have a much stronger linkage to Europe than to Asia. In short, my ancestors were here first.

I remember seeing this movie as a kid. I really thought it was great. Does anyone know if this movie is available in DVD, even if it has to be special ordered?

Normally, I don't follow entertainment, celebrities, etc. But the Victoria and David Beckham story has been forced upon us ad infinitum, ad nauseam, for the last two weeks. It was even a leading news story on Canadian news last night!

Most of this seems to have been centered on the former Posh Spice. She seems incredibly vain, self-centered, mouthy and just plain obnoxious. Yet, the public seems determined to indulge and, therefore, enable her.

I'm sorry but I just don't get it. Why do people continue to worship this type of person?

When I followed wrestling years ago, I used to get tired of seeing wrestlers rolling out of the ring to recover, especially when they were defending a championship. Even saw some guys roll out and just walk away. To me this is like running away, and one sure way to hold on to a title is to never really defend it.

I have noticed in some recent matches the manager of the entire WWE (or whatever) will "suddenly" appear and say, "Back in the ring, pal, or I will strip you of your title. And I mean now!" I really notice how that stops even the toughest guys cold.

So how about a rule: you roll out, and your title is gone. Anyone who runs away doesn't deserve the title anyway.

I realize wrestling is about stirring up the crowd, etc., but this would certainly make matches interesting.

I am going to date myself a bit, but here goes!

Actually, a couple of the finest moments were not matches, but speeches. My favorite was the Top-of-the-Mountain speech delivered by Hulk Hogan just before his championship match with Andre the Giant. He concluded by saying, "...and when you're on top of that mountain, brother, don't slip and fall because it's a long way down, long way down, long way down."

And then there is the simple yet effective statement uttered by Brett the Hitman Hart after he had been bushwhacked by Bad News Brown. "I'm going to hurt you Brown. I'm going to hurt you real bad!"

Now to matches. The day the British Bulldogs gave Dangerous Danny Davis the shellacking of his life. Power slams, pile drivers, the works! And then when Hulk Hogan powered out of the Perfect Plex to pin Mr. Perfect. Most recently, when Batista power bombed that loudmouth MVP.

Great names: The One Man Gang!