Random Thought Thread

Blues said:
I remember taking the NYPD exam in the late 70's. It was very basic, a bit of practical knowledge, some reading comprehension, and if there was math, I don't even recall. The hardest part was remembering the salient points from a crime scene photograph that had to be looked at for a couple of minutes and memorized.

I got 100% and the department did its damndest to weed out candidates whose father or brother weren't on the force already, so that they could hire further down on the list.

Then, the test was challenged as being unfair to certain groups despite the fact that candidates who learned English as a second language did significantly higher. I mean, it couldn't have been more basic.

It was then that my uncle, who was in the anti-crime unit in Brooklyn suggested that I pursue an LE career in the feds. (Which I did.)

I don't know about anyone else, but I'd like to think that the surgeon, machinist, pharmacist, engineer, detective or whomever, that works on any matter that concerns me...has more than a basic idea of what's needed and going on. Making things easier to pass doesn't seem the way to go.
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Copy that, making things easier is not the way to go.

The physical wasn't bad after that, and I felt good about it going in, I knew my BP was good, resting heart rate was about 45 BPM. I knew my pee pee was clean. I was doing a walk/jog/sprint interval for seven miles a day and lifting five days a week. I was a very mobile offensive guard when I played football a few years prior in college. I felt and looked pretty formidable if I do say so myself. I quickly found out however, it was a bit archaic in that it was still using the BMI index and I hadn't been in spec for that since I was probably four years old. Long story short, I was overweight according to that scale at about 16% BF and was going to be denied unless I lost 8 pounds. I asked to be dipped in the tank and even told them I'd go away quietly if they could show me anyone on the roster that looked like me that could physically do what I could do. No dice, make the weight or go away, we don't care what you look like, you must be at least this tall to ride this ride. So, I took a few weeks, knocked off 12 pounds and went back in feeling weak as hell with my hands shaking from damn near starving myself, but I made weight and had even better abs, put the weight right back on plus a few and felt great after that, screw them.

Even better was how the psychological testing went that came after the academic testing and the physical. I was told by the interviewer that after taking the 500 question mind-f#*k test and meeting with the psychologist, that I was so far out of the acceptable score range that I was only there so that he could meet me out of curiosity. Apparently, the acceptable score on the test for hiring was 85 to 105. They said just about everyone in the general population falls between about 75 and 115. I had scored a 125. He said he had never had someone test that far out of the normal range and wanted to know if I didn't understand the test of if I was the sociopath/possible psychopath he was seeing in the test results. I guess I had the right answers because I ultimately got the job, but I think he was still scratching his head a bit when it was all over.
 
Grenock Grenock

When NYPD gave me the physical, they told me that my BP was slightly high and that my x-ray showed I had scoliosis. (I didn't know what that was.)
I couldn't wrap my head around it since I was rock climbing, x-c skiing, and competing in karate matches at the time...aside from being a gym rat.
The detective doing my background said all I needed to do was get a doctor to sign off and I'd be fine, but I told him if they're going to try to make it this hard from jump, I'd look elsewhere.

Oddly enough, 20 some years later when I had an on the job injury to a biceps capsule, I saw an x-ray at the orthopedist's office and asked if it was mine. He said it was and confirmed that I had curvature of the spine. I had no idea.

I asked if I needed to do anything about it and he asked if it bothered me. I said no, since I was squatting and deadlifting. He said there's your answer, you didn't even know you had it. Leave it alone.

He did recommend that I quit running, however...saying that I had some spurs / cupping which running might aggravate. I only had a few years until I could pull the plug at that time, and hated running anyway, so I switched up my cardio.

Live and learn.
 
Blues said:
I remember taking the NYPD exam in the late 70's. It was very basic, a bit of practical knowledge, some reading comprehension, and if there was math, I don't even recall. The hardest part was remembering the salient points from a crime scene photograph that had to be looked at for a couple of minutes and memorized.

I got 100% and the department did its damndest to weed out candidates whose father or brother weren't on the force already, so that they could hire further down on the list.

Then, the test was challenged as being unfair to certain groups despite the fact that candidates who learned English as a second language scored significantly higher. I mean, it couldn't have been more basic.

It was then that my uncle, who was in the anti-crime unit in Brooklyn suggested that I pursue an LE career in the feds. (Which I did.)

I don't know about anyone else, but I'd like to think that the surgeon, machinist, pharmacist, engineer, detective or whomever, that works on any matter that concerns me...has more than a basic idea of what's needed and going on. Making things easier to pass doesn't seem the way to go.
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What? You don't want to be operated on by a surgeon who was allowed to graduate for 'quotas'. 😅

I had a math professor (an import) in college, who emphasized that knowing the material and getting the correct result was critical, not merely the attempt.

After one particular exam, he was talking about a student's incorrect answer, and said, "This is why building fall down".🤣
 
It's going to be a samurai themed, even though South Korea and Japan have a lot of history, my mother was born in Japan(she was korean) and my uncle died at his factory in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped , plus as a small kid samurai have always been something I was fascinated about
 
yoko said:
It's going to be a samurai themed, even though South Korea and Japan have a lot of history, my mother was born in Japan(she was korean) and my uncle died at his factory in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped , plus as a small kid samurai have always been something I was fascinated about
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Thanks for sharing that, yoko yoko

I've always been fascinated by the samurai and the code of bushido.

BTW, unrelated, have you ever seen the show on Apple+ TV called "Pachinko"? It's about the plight of Koreans in Japan over a few generations of a family.

My wife and I both enjoyed it. It was very well done.
 
Blues said:
Thanks for sharing that, yoko yoko

I've always been fascinated by the samurai and the code of bushido.

BTW, unrelated, have you ever seen the show on Apple+ TV called "Pachinko"? It's about the plight of Koreans in Japan over a few generations of a family.

My wife and I both enjoyed it. It was very well done.
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I might have to get some apple tv now!
 
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yoko said:
It's going to be a samurai themed, even though South Korea and Japan have a lot of history, my mother was born in Japan(she was korean) and my uncle died at his factory in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped , plus as a small kid samurai have always been something I was fascinated about
Click to expand...

Blues said:
Thanks for sharing that, yoko yoko

I've always been fascinated by the samurai and the code of bushido.

BTW, unrelated, have you ever seen the show on Apple+ TV called "Pachinko"? It's about the plight of Koreans in Japan over a few generations of a family.

My wife and I both enjoyed it. It was very well done.
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I used to carpool in high school with one of the other guys on the football team, he had a Suzuki Samurai. Does that count for anything?
 
yoko said:
I might have to get some tv now!
Click to expand...
www.imdb.com

Pachinko (TV Series 2022– ) - IMDb

Pachinko: With Lee Min-Ho, Soji Arai, Jin Ha, Minha Kim. Based on the New York Times bestseller, this sweeping saga chronicles the hopes and dreams of a Korean immigrant family across four generations as they leave their homeland in an indomitable quest to survive and thrive.
www.imdb.com www.imdb.com
 
Funny thing, I've never owned an import vehicle Koreans thought I looked Mexican , Mexicans
thought I was from Hawaii , most Caucasian kids I grew up around thought I was Chinese and knew kung fu (hahaha)


I suck at math and computers, and loved working on cars , used to have all the torque sequences memorized for a small block chevy lol
 
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yoko said:
Funny thing, I've never owned an import vehicle Koreans thought I looked Mexican , Mexicans
thought I was from Hawaii , most Caucasian kids I grew up around right I was Chinese and knew kung fu (hahaha)


I suck at math and computers, and loved working on cars , used to have all the torque sequences memorized for a small block chevy lol
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My buddy who is Japanese looks Mexican.

You'd have been good at math if your mother hadn't slipped beer into your formula so you'd sleep at night. 😂
 
Although I got a big sad that the Skinner didn't make the cut, I'm happy to see the EDC will be available in a good quanity. And I like the idea of a chopper that falls between the LC and MC ... that might just be the "goldilocks" of choppers.

I wonder if I can get a skinner if I bring a bee suit and flame thrower in the spring?
 
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