OT: Some Downtime Levity...

Fryowa

Fryowa

Administrator
What's your hidden talent?

Everyone has something quirky that they're really good at that blows people's minds. Whether it's memorizing a deck of cards, juggling flaming chainsaws, reciting pi to an obscene amount of digits, or making origami molecular models, everyone has something they're good at that people either wouldn't expect, or that impresses people

And don't waste your time with any sexual prowess brags, we all know that anyone who spends this amount of time on an internet board talking about college kids playing a game isn't exactly Dirk Diggler.

So...let's hear your unknown special talent and have a few laughs...
 
I've been told by multiple people of Mexican descent that I make better pozole than their abuelitas. Red or green, it don't matter. My secret - I add a ton of peppers and I use a packet or two of Sazon Goya, which is chock full of MSG.

I also know every algorithm to win Connect 4 if I get to start.

And I have memorized thousands of obscure answers to Trivial Pursuit card sets from the '80's. "Who replaced Dick York as Darrin on the hit television show Bewitched? DICK SARGENT." You guys should have seen me play that back around '86. It just wasn't fair.
 
Fryowa said:
How many are there?
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I have no idea, I can just see them all when I drop the first circle and the other guy drops his first. I should qualify this - I need to be allowed to play the middle column. I don't know every move permutation outside the middle. The board is 7x6 and you must start the first move in column 4. Some mathematicians have allegedly cracked the code with complicated analytics, but my brother and I played it so much as kids that I still can see the permutations to win provided I have first move and am not precluded by the rules from taking the middle column. My brother and I made a rule that first player couldn't take the middle column at some point and I don't know if it can mathematically be cracked outside of that spot. My brother and I could pretty routinely fill the board without a winner and would only get a winner if someone messed up under those rules.

I am teaching my boy the permutations and he beat this 30 some year old dude (who was actually trying) 3x in a row on Saturday night over at the Cocks-Vols game watch. Granted, the guy was pretty drunk, but by the third game when I told him my son could beat him every time if he went first, he got pretty involved and when he was stalemated with only 3 possible moves left, each of which would guarantee my boy a victory, he realized that he was in over his head and didn't want to play anymore to see the proof in action.
 
okeefe4prez said:
I have no idea, I can just see them all when I drop the first circle and the other guy drops his first. I should qualify this - I need to be allowed to play the middle column. I don't know every move permutation outside the middle. The board is 7x6 and you must start the first move in column 4. Some mathematicians have allegedly cracked the code with complicated analytics, but my brother and I played it so much as kids that I still can see the permutations to win provided I have first move and am not precluded by the rules from taking the middle column. My brother and I made a rule that first player couldn't take the middle column at some point and I don't know if it can mathematically be cracked outside of that spot. My brother and I could pretty routinely fill the board without a winner and would only get a winner if someone messed up under those rules.

I am teaching my boy the permutations and he beat this 30 some year old dude (who was actually trying) 3x in a row on Saturday night over at the Cocks-Vols game watch. Granted, the guy was pretty drunk, but by the third game when I told him my son could beat him every time if he went first, he got pretty involved and when he was stalemated with only 3 possible moves left, each of which would guarantee my boy a victory, he realized that he was in over his head and didn't want to play anymore to see the proof in action.
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I'm just half a notch over ground squirrel-level intelligence, the very limited times I've played Connect 4 I end up playing defense right away which might as well be suicide.
 
Water pipe witching (farm drainage) and grave witching (can determine the sex). Can do a degree determine baby/child/adult. Gas lines too. Not an uncommon skill. 1/3 of my kids can do it. Wife can't.
 
Mine is that I can identify any commercial or military aircraft on sight as well as almost all GA aircraft. Manufacturer, model, dash number (like whether a 777 is a -200 or -300 series, or even a -300ER and so on). US, Russian, European, Brazilian manufacturers—doesn’t matter. I can tell you what engine options are available on any airliner or military aircraft (P&W, GE, Rolls Royce, etc) and which ones it has by sight.

It is the most absolutely worthless talent to have and I got stuck with it. I’ve tried to think of ways I could make a buck from it but alas.....I’m still a pauper. It impresses folks sometimes when I can blurt it out and my kid thinks I’m Rain Man, but that’s about it.
 
Fryowa said:
Mine is that I can identify any commercial or military aircraft on sight as well as almost all GA aircraft. Manufacturer, model, dash number (like whether a 777 is a -200 or -300 series, or even a -300ER and so on). US, Russian, European, Brazilian manufacturers—doesn’t matter. I can tell you what engine options are available on any airliner or military aircraft (P&W, GE, Rolls Royce, etc) and which ones it has by sight.

It is the most absolutely worthless talent to have and I got stuck with it. I’ve tried to think of ways I could make a buck from it but alas.....I’m still a pauper. It impresses folks sometimes when I can blurt it out and my kid thinks I’m Rain Man, but that’s about it.
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Have at it:

pP3u54T.jpg
 

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okeefe4prez said:
Have at it:

pP3u54T.jpg
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That’s a 747-400F (F is for the freighter version). You can tell it’s a freighter because it has no windows, and the 2nd deck hump is shorter in the F models. (aside from the fact that I can see it’s a Magma Aviation bird and I know they’re a cargo hauler). You can see it’s a “-400” model because it has winglets (the newer -800 did away with them in favor of swept wing tips), and it has the Pratt & Whitney engines (PW4000). The other engine option would be the Rolls Royce, but those were not common on the F models. You’d be able to see those easily because the cowling goes the full length of the engine and extends out past the exhaust cone.


The -800 would have General Electric’s GEnx engine as the only option (replacement of the CF6). The GEnx sticks out like a sore thumb because it has a scalloped cowling.
 
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Fryowa said:
That’s a 747-400F (F is for the freighter version). You can tell it’s a freighter because it has no windows, and the 2nd deck hump is shorter in the F models. (aside from the fact that I can see it’s a Magma Aviation bird and I know they’re a cargo hauler). You can see it’s a “-400” model because it has winglets (the newer -800 did away with them in favor of swept wing tips), and it has the Pratt & Whitney engines (PW4000). The other engine option would be the Rolls Royce, but those were not common on the F models. You’d be able to see those easily because the cowling goes the full length of the engine and extends out past the exhaust cone.


The -800 would have General Electric’s GEnx engine as the only option (replacement of the CF6). The GEnx sticks out like a sore thumb because it has a scalloped cowling.
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Judges?

https://www.stattimes.com/news/sena...hahn-hhn-and-greenvillespartanburg-air-cargo/

"The Senator Atlantic Bridge (SAB) will be operated with a cargo aircraft of B747-400F type."
 
Fryowa said:
Mine is that I can identify any commercial or military aircraft on sight as well as almost all GA aircraft. Manufacturer, model, dash number (like whether a 777 is a -200 or -300 series, or even a -300ER and so on). US, Russian, European, Brazilian manufacturers—doesn’t matter. I can tell you what engine options are available on any airliner or military aircraft (P&W, GE, Rolls Royce, etc) and which ones it has by sight.

It is the most absolutely worthless talent to have and I got stuck with it. I’ve tried to think of ways I could make a buck from it but alas.....I’m still a pauper. It impresses folks sometimes when I can blurt it out and my kid thinks I’m Rain Man, but that’s about it.
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Fry, I'm wondering if I might know you. Do the initials GS ring a bell?

As for hidden talents, most of mine are pretty conventional. But I do have mad knife skills...probably a combination of being a pretty good chef and drummer. My Dad was also a butcher and worked in the food biz.

I can chop, slice, julienne, chiffonade, you name it...with amazing speed and accuracy. Missed my calling as the guy on the Ginsu knife commercial.
 
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hawkdrummer1 said:
Fry, I'm wondering if I might know you. Do the initials GS ring a bell?

As for unusual talents, most of mine are pretty conventional. But I do have mad knife skills...probably a combination of being a pretty good chef and a drummer. (my Dad was also a butcher and worked in the food biz).

I can chop, slice, julienne, chiffonade, you name it...with amazing speed and accuracy. Missed my calling as the guy on the Ginsu knife commercial.
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Hmmm...not off the top of my head. I remember you're in the Twin Cities; my extent of time spent there was playing baseball once in the Metrodome during high school and a bunch of visits to the airport. It'd be a lot cooler if I did know you...

Drumming is definitely a mad science that I envy but can't even come close to doing. My elementary years were spent in a really big school with an orchestra in addition to band, and I played the viola for a few years. Which turned into guitar as I got older, and that pretty much took a back seat when my kid was born. I can bluff my way through stringed instruments okay but as soon as my left and right hands (and feet) have to deviate from each other I tilt like a pinball machine. It's super frustrating too because when listening I can count along in my head with guys like Danny Carey and other prog-rocky odd signatures, but the instant I try to make my hands do it I'm cooked. It must be something that you have to start formally learning at age 4.

Knife skills are also "have it or you don't." I can fillet fish really well from years of repetition, but I don't have the speed and accuracy thing when cutting other stuff up. One thing I do know from my years of skinning super delicate fish meat is that a sharp knife makes all the difference.
 
Fryowa said:
Hmmm...not off the top of my head. I remember you're in the Twin Cities; my extent of time spent there was playing baseball once in the Metrodome during high school and a bunch of visits to the airport. It'd be a lot cooler if I did know you...
....
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Your fascination with aircraft reminds me of a guy I know in Iowa City...that's where the GS comes in.
 
Fryowa said:
What's really crazy is that Senator International (Germany) charters all their cargo on Magma (UK) planes leased from Avia (China), which actually owns Magma, and the flights are operated on contract by Air Atlantic Icelandic crews.
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What's amazing is how fucking loud those 747 freighters are. We're a solid mile off the flight path for the landing runway and that sumnabitch sounds like a freight train, but the takeoff runway they use probably sends it two miles diagonally away from our house and the thing shakes the whole fucking area when it takes off. We were at some friends' place two Saturdays ago when that thing flew directly over on a takeoff and the only louder plane I've ever heard and felt was a B-52 on takeoff when I was a kid and we spent the summers up by KI Sawyer in Michigan. I've gotta imagine those sumnabitches are loaded to the gills to justify the cost and I presume that bince they fly to Europe they got a lot of fuel in them on takeoff as well. Bince their route is Frankfurt to here, they must be hauling parts for the BMW factory. The miracles of the global supply chain.
 
okeefe4prez said:
What's amazing is how fucking loud those 747 freighters are. We're a solid mile off the flight path for the landing runway and that sumnabitch sounds like a freight train, but the takeoff runway they use probably sends it two miles diagonally away from our house and the thing shakes the whole fucking area when it takes off. We were at some friends' place two Saturdays ago when that thing flew directly over on a takeoff and the only louder plane I've ever heard and felt was a B-52 on takeoff when I was a kid and we spent the summers up by KI Sawyer in Michigan. I've gotta imagine those sumnabitches are loaded to the gills to justify the cost and I presume that bince they fly to Europe they got a lot of fuel in them on takeoff as well. Bince their route is Frankfurt to here, they must be hauling parts for the BMW factory. The miracles of the global supply chain.
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Yeah when they're landing the engines aren't much above idle, just enough to not stall. On takeoff it's balls to the wall.

It's really interesting, but the new GE engines on the 747 and 787 are much quieter. I've done a fair bit of amateur plane spotting when I've got time to kill in different cities/airports, and the difference is crazy. The new engines have more bypass for the given amount of thrust, and the scalloped cowlings also quiet it down. I've read several places that there are a lot of airports with nighttime noise restrictions those models are now approved to fly into.

It's still loud, but I'd describe it as more thunderous low frequency stuff rather than the scream you normally associate with jet engines.

Here's a great article (archived) from Boeing that goes into the acoustic research that went into the new generation of engines.
 
Fryowa said:
Hmmm...not off the top of my head. I remember you're in the Twin Cities; my extent of time spent there was playing baseball once in the Metrodome during high school and a bunch of visits to the airport. It'd be a lot cooler if I did know you...

Drumming is definitely a mad science that I envy but can't even come close to doing. My elementary years were spent in a really big school with an orchestra in addition to band, and I played the viola for a few years. Which turned into guitar as I got older, and that pretty much took a back seat when my kid was born. I can bluff my way through stringed instruments okay but as soon as my left and right hands (and feet) have to deviate from each other I tilt like a pinball machine. It's super frustrating too because when listening I can count along in my head with guys like Danny Carey and other prog-rocky odd signatures, but the instant I try to make my hands do it I'm cooked. It must be something that you have to start formally learning at age 4.

Knife skills are also "have it or you don't." I can fillet fish really well from years of repetition, but I don't have the speed and accuracy thing when cutting other stuff up. One thing I do know from my years of skinning super delicate fish meat is that a sharp knife makes all the difference.
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Curious....what is a big school 2 you?
 
HawkGold said:
Curious....what is a big school 2 you?
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My elementary school was k-4 and 3,000 students. I just looked at current enrollment, they are k-5 now and 3,450 according to the website. They say the total school district enrollment is just under 70,000 which actually surprises me. After 30 years I figured it'd be more than that. The area has grown exponentially.
 
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