RoR: Forum

Runners high and rage? Do you mosh? My late boyfriend and I used to love Pantera concerts - broken bones, dislocated sockets, the rush of testosterone in a consensual setting. More fun than a broken window, I can tell you. Ah, the memories!!

Post 1

Friday, August 15, 2008 - 1:41am

Great job on the race, Dean.

As to the break-in, I can only say that I hope justice is somehow served on the scum who did that to you.

Ed
[former vigilante]

Post 2

Friday, August 15, 2008 - 3:17am

That sucks about your car and property, Dean. I wish it was legal to keep a vicious dog in the car at all hours....

I hope your insurance will cover the damage and stolen property. TomToms ain't cheap.

Post 3

Friday, August 15, 2008 - 10:04am

Dean,

My condolences on the car as well!

But 22 minutes and 20 seconds for a 5-K? That's pretty good. Comes out to about 7 minutes and 12 seconds per mile, as a 5-K is 3.1 miles. Not many people can do that! I gather that you're fairly young -- still in your 20's? If you continue to train, you should get faster.

When I was in my 40's, after I had been running a few years, I ran a 5-K in 18 minutes and 41 seconds, which is about 6 minutes per mile, but I didn't win anything. Didn't even come close, as I was up against some pretty good masters runners. Now, at the age of 68, I'd be lucky to run it in 30 minutes, if that. :-/

A couple of years ago, I ran the San Francisco Bay to Breakers -- a 7 1/2 mile race from the bay to the ocean. I think I averaged 11 minutes per mile. But it was a stupid thing to do. I didn't train for it, and even at that slow a pace suffered from sore knees for months afterwards.

I've now decided that fast walking is the best form of exercise for someone my age. Saves on the joints, which are a precious commodity as you get older.

- Bill

Post 4

Friday, August 15, 2008 - 12:20pm

I had a car stolen once. It was an awful feeling. For a while after that I'd occasionally indulge in a daydream for a moment of two on how sweet it would be to create bait-cars that were in fact traps.

An extra bright interior light and loud door-open buzzer to encourage the would-be thief to close the door. All the windows replaced with lexan, electrical window switches deactivated, electrical door locks auutomatically activated by any attempt to remove the radio or hot-wire the car. Door handles on the inside disconnected. You get the idea.

The little bastard gets in, starts trying to rip you off, and he is trapped. He spends hours trying to pry or kick his way out. Each day you could just run your 'trap-line' - go by each bait-car and have a little chat with the little slime, "Hi. Got any money on you? I can let you out, but you'll have to pay first. Oh sorry, that's not enough. That's too bad, the tow truck that's coming will be dropping you off in a deserted part of the desert outside of town. You'll just sort of cook out there until you're a shriveled-up mummy. Bye."

(and some of you thought I was a nice person ;-)

Post 5

Friday, August 15, 2008 - 4:16pm

You've been huddling with James Caan lately, huh.;-)

Post 6

Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 1:03pm

Steve,

Isn't there some new technology on the horizon that does something like that -- locks the car if a thief tries to steal it? Also, I've heard of a new device that starts the car only if the owner's fingerprints match a recognition panel, which would prevent thefts as well -- except, of course, carjackings.

- Bill

Post 7

Sunday, August 17, 2008 - 2:50am

Bill,

A cop friend of mine, many years ago, pointed out that car hijackings were the result of the car theft prevention devices getting ahead of the technical sophistication of some would-be thieves - the stupider ones and those who hadn't done an educational stint in prison.

I had a car broken into years ago and the radio stolen. While I was waiting at the repair shop, the foreman told me it could have been worse - he pointed at another car and said that the thieves got not just the radio, but a top of the line $900 alarm system with all its bells and whistles. That would be depressing!

There are a couple of different kill switches available - I like the timed one - set for about 1 minute - enough time for the crook to get into the street and go a short distance, then the car dies. He is unlikely to try to trouble shoot the problem if he is blocking traffic.

I've seen laptops with finger-print sensors. The condo I"m staying at right now is in a building with a thumb-print sensor at the front door and a hand-print sensor at the elevators.

I was in a seminar given by Oracle where they were touting some of the latest and greatest security and they talked about the the ability to interface the database with a finger-print sensor. They were very insistent that we understand that it would only work on a live, attached finger and that cutting off some user's finger wouldn't help because the sensor detected the movement of corpuscles in capillaries in the skin.

Post 8

Sunday, August 17, 2008 - 3:01am

Dean, I'm so sorry about what happened to your car.
But congrats on the race.

When I was in my 40's, after I had been running a few years, I ran a 5-K in 18 minutes and 41 seconds, which is about 6 minutes per mile, but I didn't win anything. Didn't even come close, as I was up against some pretty good masters runners. Now, at the age of 68, I'd be lucky to run it in 30 minutes, if that. :-/ (Bill)

Bill, you braggart! :-)

(I'd probably be lucky to run 5K in...a day.)

The little bastard gets in, starts trying to rip you off, and he is trapped. He spends hours trying to pry or kick his way out. Each day you could just run your 'trap-line' - go by each bait-car and have a little chat with the little slime, "Hi. Got any money on you? I can let you out, but you'll have to pay first. Oh sorry, that's not enough. That's too bad, the tow truck that's coming will be dropping you off in a deserted part of the desert outside of town. You'll just sort of cook out there until you're a shriveled-up mummy. Bye."

(and some of you thought I was a nice person ;-) (Steve)

Hey, you can still be a nice person and fully enjoy that scenario, Steve.

Post 9

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 1:46pm

Another idea for a trap car might be to install a valved pipe which rerouted the exhaust flow into the passenger compartment and gas the little bastard. A trap Tom-Tom might also be constructed by removing the electronics from the casing and replacing it with a battery, blasting cap and a quantity of commercial grade dynamite wired to the on-off switch. If you believe in second chances (I for one do not) then don't use enough to scatter him, but just enough to blow his hands off.
(Edited by Robert E. Milenberg on 8/19, 1:47pm)

(Edited by Robert E. Milenberg on 8/19, 1:48pm)

Post 10

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 5:26pm

Ha, yea I thought about such a device Robert Milenberg! I think for a solution to actually be viable it would have to have a very low likely hood of pertinently damaging the "suspect".

Thanks for the cheers and sympathy everyone.

Bill that's quite an impressive running pace! I'm not sure how much I'd like to get into running because of the knee wear and tear issue. I very much like to inline skate.

Post 11

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 4:16pm

I wrote, "When I was in my 40's, after I had been running a few years, I ran a 5-K in 18 minutes and 41 seconds, which is about 6 minutes per mile, but I didn't win anything. Didn't even come close, as I was up against some pretty good masters runners. Now, at the age of 68, I'd be lucky to run it in 30 minutes, if that. :-/"

Erica replied, "Bill, you braggart! :-)"

Yes, well . . . if I do say so myself! Does it beat "bragging" that I got a degree in philosophy from a prestigious university?? ;-)

"(I'd probably be lucky to run 5K in...a day.)"

Now, Erica, I've seen your picture, and you look like you're probably in pretty good shape. I mean, if you look that good from the neck up, how bad a shape could you possibly be in?! I'll wager that if you stopped smoking, and started some regular exercise, you could run a respectable 5K in at least a year. Granted, the running boom isn't what it used to be back in the 70's and 80's, but you could probably find some kindred spirits to train with. Your body will love you for it.

Reminds me of a funny story . . . maybe I've told this before about a guy I knew who was a road runner. Let's call him Harry. Well, it seems that Harry was walking along O'Farrell Street in San Francisco one fine day, and came upon a bar called "The Road Runner." Thinking "This is the bar for me," Harry walked in, sat down and had a beer. Then he noticed that the women in the bar were taller than usual and had somewhat deeper voices. Well, that's interesting, thought Larry. When it finally dawned on him that, despite its namesake, this wasn't a bar for road runners (at least not the kind he was used to), he leaped off his stool and ran frantically out the door, breaking the hinge in the process, at which point, all the other patrons yelled in unison, "Bingo"! Such were the travails of the serious road runner some 25 years ago in the city by the Bay. Things weren't always what they seemed, either in the bars or in the people inhabiting them.

(I wonder how Wiley Coyote is doing these days.)

- Bill ;-)

Post 12

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 5:24pm