Dept. of randomosity

[kaffy_r]

Things I've Thought Recently

• This I believe: it is impossible to keep knit sweaters safe from disfigurement in a house with three cats.
• After checking out some clips of rugby games (don't ask - it started with YouTube clips of haka from the New Zealand All Blacks and went from there to the Rugby world championship) I am now convinced that rugby is a game that requires more skill and gut toughness than any other version of sport that could be called "football." It particularly eclipses American football (Sorry, supergee.)
• Also? Haka are pretty amazing pieces of theater to watch and listen to and make me want to learn more about Maori history and culture. 
• I have gained back much (not all, but a lot) of the weight I lost to my RA/scleroderma. I find that I don't care quite as much now as I did a few months ago. Perhaps the idea that I'm exercising regularly and attempting to be a teeny bit more active, makes me feel this way. Perhaps it's because I just can't be bothered to worry about it. Hmmmm.
• Getting anywhere at all on Chapter 26 of Hearts and Moons has proven to be very difficult. This story won't be done before the end of 2015. Bother. 
• I really am liking this season of Doctor Who, although the most recent one had me violently swinging between enjoyment (Osgood! Kate Stewart!) and irritation (Doctor with little time in world-threatening crisis decides to travel trans Atlantic in a plane instead of the TARDIS. O rly?)
• Exercise is hard
• Wow. Much randomosity. 

Comments

[elisi]

Mind you, they apparently need lots of first aid after a lot of the games. That's a little scary.
True. And you can usually spot rugby players by their broken nose or cauliflower ears. However, they don't get the brain damages that American Football players suffer from - apparently the brain damage is due to the helmets, which makes the impact much worse!

lateral passes aren't illegal, but no one employs them, simply because "that's not how we do things."
Huh.

[kaffy_r]

The issue with helmets is complex. Anytime a human head gets jerked around violently, the brain inside it is going to hit the inner walls of the skull with dangerous velocity. Long term exposure to repeated inner-skull bashings lead to traumatic brain injury, whether the victim habitually wore a helmet or not, so rugby players are a risk of traumatic brain injury, too.

The problem with helmets, and which, I think, makes them more dangerous to wear on an overall basis, is that when you get hit wearing a helmet, the damage is two-fold; your brain is still hitting the inner wall of your skull - but the entire head is actually hitting the inner sides of the helmet just as hard, as if the head itself were a brain being bashed around inside a skull. Voila - more damage!

And of course, people who wear helmets are apt to be far more reckless because they're consciously or subconsciously thinking that they're safe because they're wearing that helmet.

And yes, the multiple lateral passes I saw rugby teams make again and again was the first thing that impressed me. If you ever have half an hour to waste (because I wouldn't suggest you watch an entire North American style football game), watch a few minutes of NA football and watch how narrow a range of action options the teams employ.