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Vlog the Inhaler, or The Occasional Video Blog Musings of Jim Thornton

Girly Man vs. Manly Girl: the Poll

Rating: 5 votes, 4.20 average.
13 Comments
by
jim thornton
, November 16th, 2009 at 10:52 PM (1552 Views)
Quote Originally Posted by jim thornton View Post
There was a famous psychology experiment done a number of years ago, the particulars of which are somewhat fuzzy in my mind.

But the gist of it was something like this:

The researchers provided twelve subjects with two squares. Objectively speaking, one of these was slightly but nevertheless demonstrably and provably larger than the other one. They then asked the twelve volunteers to discuss amongst themselves and vote on which one was bigger.

What one of the twelve volunteers did not know is that the other eleven were in on the scheme. They had previously been told by the researchers to maintain, calmly and rationally, that the smaller square was, in fact, larger than the big one.

When the discussion began, the "dupe" invariably thought that the others were all joking when they maintained the small square was larger than the bigger one. But over time, the dupe just as invariably came to agree with the others that they were right.

Follow-up interviews later revealed that the dupe, who had been persuaded to ignore the evidence of his or her own eyes, was not just pretending to go along with the herd to be sociable or to avoid conflict. He or she actually became convinced the small one was larger than the big one.

Group think, in other words, trumped rationality. The human tendency to fit in with our peers is so strong that it easily overwhelms our "intelligent" faculties.

I am sure most of you will have no trouble identifying this aspect of our species in a host of different realms, from religious and political nutcasedom, to the ability of aging swimmers to downplay the role of B70s in their racing performance.

As my poll figures continue to slip towards flat lining vis a vis my thoroughly rational suggestion that science has failed to validate weightlifting as a panacea for swimming performance, it occurs to me that this whole thread is nothing but one elaborate experiment!

Admit it! One of our swimming Ph.D. candidates, in search of a perfect thesis topic, has somehow managed to put the USMS membership up to this! Reveal yourself, rascal! I am now on to your fiendish tricks!

I may be the intended dupe, but I am no dupe!

And on this note, I shall continue with my own recently launched weight lifting regimen. But I have no illusions this will help my swimming, though I am cautiously optimistic it might behoove my pathetic pickle jar opening capabilities.
Just trying out a new icon I saw on the threads today. The above is a post, and possibly my final word, though not definitely my final word, on the subject of weight lifting and swimming performance.

Leslie and I wrote she said/he said arguments about this topic for the Nov. issue of Swimmer.

If you want to read the rest of the thread, you can find it at [ame="http://forums.usms.org/showthread.php?p=198872#post198872"]Girly Man vs. Manly Girl: the Poll - Page 6 - U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums[/ame]

Most of it is sort of unpersuasive blather. If you skip all the posts by muscleheads and stick pretty much entirely with what I wrote on the subject, you will get a very intelligent and balanced overview.

Good day!

PS At the risk of seeming just a wee bit paranoid, I wonder if the Ph.D. candidate who arranged to skew the poll results for his thesis might also be the one who has been giving my vlog 1 * ratings, most likely for yet another nefarious experiment on corrosion of the human psyche.

Time to begin perusing the aberrant psychiatric literature with a bit more of an eye towards clue identification.

PS

Tonight was probably my best practice performance in recent memory:

800 on 11:00 warm up
200 kick on 4:00 "

10 x 100 on 1:20
5 x 100 on 1:15
8 x 100 on 1:20
4 x 100 on 1:10

1 x 100 cool down

I drafted off my superiors but made everything with the possible exception of the 3rd 100 on 1:10.

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Comments

  1. poolraat's Avatar
    I just want to read the article. I'm still waiting for my copy of the above mentioned magazine to arrive in my mailbox.
  2. jim thornton's Avatar
    But you live in Elko, Floyd. It takes time for mail to get delivered to foreign countries! Be patient. I am sure it is on a dog sled even as we speak, mushing its way to your door!
  3. The Fortress's Avatar
    So does this mean you don't want me to show you my core regime over Thxgiving?

    Nice workout. Ouch! A sprinty ignoramus, I could never make those intervals sans fins.
  4. jim thornton's Avatar
    No, Leslie. I definitely want your core workout. You never know when you might need to open pickle jars with your obliques.

    These intervals are easy. I could never make the ones you do kicking, even with the biggest fins that are legal! I do need to improve my kicking. Even kicking a 50 exhausts my legs...
  5. jim thornton's Avatar
    PS does anyone know what happened to Amanda on Facebook? She seems to have disappeared.

    Chicken of the Sea: Wherefore art thou?
  6. RustyScupperton's Avatar
    Good one. But a scary concept. Perhaps all religions depend on the aforementioned experiment.
  7. Bobinator's Avatar
    Impressive workout Jimby!!
    I think some body types benefit significantly from weights, others do not. It is all in the persons genetic code. At least that is what I have observed in my 29 odd years of coaching various types of pre-teens and teens in several different sports. So....there is no right answer to the face-off. Do what feels best to YOUR body. (or what your coach wants you to do)

    ps..how's the lesion coming around?
  8. jim thornton's Avatar
    HI, Bob! I am taking a short break from writing about my lost in the wilderness trek, which is actually proving MUCH more difficult that actually being lost, I should add. Anyhow, your inquiry triggered me to temporarily de-pants myself and scrutinize the bubo.

    Robustly better!

    Nothing liquidy, or even semi-moist, leaking out!

    The skin is no longer breached, meaning that the poison is contained one way or the other. Either way, it is gone altogether, whatever its nature. Or it is finally walled up behind the slightly discolored skin patch where once it burbled out like a pathological Pierian spring.

    Either way, the pestilence appears to have ended with me.

    At least for now.

    At least for now...
    Updated November 17th, 2009 at 09:28 PM by jim thornton
  9. Bobinator's Avatar
    I am happy for you and your former bubo!
    Good luck with the writing!
  10. pwb's Avatar
    Someday I'll get around to writing my response to your battle with the wonderful Mrs. Fortress on weights v no weights. In my mind, I've developed an essay that supports you both fully, as you both should.

    Hope the lesion does not re-rear its ugly head,.
  11. billwhite's Avatar
    I conclude Jim that you are not as of yet in the "peer" group and need to be corralled into accepting the non-proven weight lifting paradigm.
    (Fort - on a non-swimming related note, I'd like to experience your core workout sometime!)
  12. jim thornton's Avatar
    Bill, I am the victim of well-orchestrated campaign by bullies! For the benefit of vlog readers who do not read leslie's Facebook postings, here is what I just posted on her "wall" (ironically, the same name Pink Floyd gave to their classic album featuring their anthem to dullardom, We don't need no edukytion! We don't need no thot cuntroll!

    Let's put Galileo in prison for saying the earth revolves around the sun! Let's jail that Tennessee science teacher for claiming creationism is false! Let's stone Jim because he lifts weights via Nautilus machines instead of the latest P9OX system conducted under challenging conditions of hot yoga while imbibing Soylent Green Smoothies and visualizing swimming immune warriors revitalizing his joints! Let's stick a pig's head on a stick and worship the fly swarm that gathers! Let's cut out the tongues of everyone who bears false witness against us and wag them viciously in the air! Let's elevate smugness to its rightful place in the pantheon of virtues! Let's cherry pick the scientific literature to support our anecdotal evidence, and if the scientific literature fails us, let's say that this is because swimming does not attract good researchers the way high caliber sports like badminton and curling do! Let's kick sand in the face of weaklings everywhere! That will teach them! Oh, yes! Yes! Yes! That will teach them very well indeed!
  13. jim thornton's Avatar
    Something fishy this way comes; is anyone else having trouble posting comments hereupon or thereupon?

    You can never quite tell if it's stuck or not.

    I inadevertently double posted the same inane thing, and am now forced to erase the second iteration and replace it with this new inanity!

    And even as I try to post this one, the little wheel spins around endlessly, impotently, the story of my life!