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All the right words, in all the right places?

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Montreal bagels

Went to Montreal's two well known bagel shops a couple of times. St Viateur and Fairmount. Although I've had Montreal style bagels at Black Seed Bagels in NY, wanted the real thing. Not religious about which is better, they are different. Montreal bagels are crunchier on the outside, more dense on the inside, a bit smaller, a big plus for me, cheaper, and there are some interesting types - rosemary for one. I'm not sure what seedless was. Nonetheless, I really liked them, but they're different from NY bagels, which are chewier for one. One thing though, Montreal bagels don't keep as well. You have to eat them straight away, otherwise they dry up quickly, maybe I don't know the locals' clever methods to keep them fresh. Will stop by Black Seed one day just to gauge how they are compared to the real thing while the taste is fresh in my mind.  
nevets88

nevets88

1
 

American slang/idioms

Rewatching Band of Brothers, there's this scene where a CO says "Channel is socked in. No jump tonight!". Having seen BoB so many times, never bothered to look up "socked in". In context, knowing the situation, Operation Overlord, you just easily guessed D-Day was postponed because weather. But this time, I actually looked up "socked in". http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?t=24601 OED https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/sock MW https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sock in Now maybe if I were an amateur pilot or airplane enthusiast, would have known this, but I'm usually pretty diligent in looking up things I don't know, especially now with smartphones, have a good dictionary on the home screen, but language is a big thing, slang/idioms constantly changing and expanding. Makes me wonder all the slang I don't know, even though born and raised in the US and watch a lot of tv and movies. Thank the gods for Urban Dictionary, I say.
nevets88

nevets88

15
 

Novice t-shirt designer

Am by no means artistic, but I have fun making up t-shirts when an idea percolates. This one is in tribute to Jonny Greenwood, who recently scored Phantom Thread. The repeating note is from one of the themes used in the movie. I thought this one would sell, but alas, no takers.  
nevets88

nevets88

5
 

Going from HD to 4K/HDR

4K/HDR is better than I thought it would be. Usually an earlier adopter regarding things tech so late to the 4K train, didn't think it would be that much of an improvement, but beginning to see more of a difference than when in the store, looking at different TVs. When you're at home, rewatching the shows you're used to seeing in HD, that's the better distinguisher. It helped that the new screen is bigger too, going to 65 from 50. Could have bought earlier, but saved a ton waiting a bit, got a decent deal, barely did any research and comparison shopping and got a decent set under $700, free shipping, no tax, was looking at sets costing $2K a year ago. Even the free economy shipping took only 2 days. Amazon Prime's show, Mozart in the Jungle, was the first UHD content I tried and the color and sharpness stood out although I could barely tell the difference between that and and The Expanse, which is HD on Amazon, dunno if upscaling is helping or my eyes suck. Upgraded Netflix to UHD, watched Dark, and it was more obvious than Mozart, the picture quality. The kicker was Planet Earth II, which is UHD. This is obviously the show to tax a tv's ability to the limit. Still assessing sports and output from the Bluray player. Guess there will be a movie that will eventually convince me to go Bluray 4K, The Last Jedi, but will have to see how the current Bluray library is, how well it upscales. So with dramas, it's a little better, but with science fiction, like The Expanse, with detailed ships and planetary details, you can really see the difference. Looking forward to what The Masters will be like. Even though trumotion is turned off, still seeing a little Soap Opera Effect. Going to take a bit to play with all the picture adjustments.
nevets88

nevets88

13
 

Practicing with video - tips that may hopefully help you

Some of this is obvious for experienced players, I'll list them anyway for the benefit of those starting out. Will add as I learn/discover more.   Duh, camera angles are very important. You probably know this already, but will mention it anyway. Always bring an alignment stick, which will make pointing your camera much easier. You may hit a cr@p shot, but video may redeem you by showing you you actually did what your instructor advised. That's a good thing, you're changing the picture. This should gave you encouragement, you'll eventually hit the ball more solid with the new piece. Everyone around you may be hitting more balls than you, it may seem video is slowing you down, but you're seeing what's actually happening versus guessing. By associating feel and real, you're actually making faster progress than those not using video. You don't have to be at a range to use video, practice your moves at home and video them. Even without a ball or club. Frequent shorter spurts of practice is much better than cramming. As per @billchao, work on one thing at a time. Usually there's a better angle for a specific piece. For shallowing, down the line, impact, face on. Review your swing in realtime, 30fps and high frame rate, 120/240+fps. You'll see different aspects of your swing.  Switch up the camera position often, don't stay with down the line or face on too long. You'll get caught up in one aspect of the swing perhaps to the detriment of another. There's also the posterior view. I'm pretty sure your range will frown upon you using a drone for overhead views. Review your swing on a big screen the night of or day after. You'll notice things you didn't see on the small screen. Use Analzyr (Mac) or Kinovea (PC). My preference is Analyzr as it's much simpler but feature rich. If your range has dividers that block the face on view, pull the mat back past the divider. If your stall is walled on both sides, you could try turning 45, 60 degrees to get a face on view, that's what I've been told, have yet to try this though, comment below if you got this to work (or not). If it's sunny and blistering hot, put a large towel over your head to review video, you'll look stupid, but you'll see the video better, save battery life and get respite from the sun. Get a tripod bag. Be prepared to say, no, I'm not going to hot yoga. It'll make life easier, trust me on this. When using an iPhone to record video, to save battery life, I turn off the GPS and turn on low power mode. When recording, I turn the screen brightness down - you're not watching the screen, so it doesn't matter. Yes, it's annoying you have to turn the screen brightness back up when viewing. Not sure how much this helps, but in theory it should save some battery consumption. Or you can painter's tape a portable power bank to your tripod and your phone will outlast you, no battery worries there. It shouldn't make manipulating the tripod any harder. I'd recommend a model that's at least 20,000mAh so you don't have to charge the bank as often.   You may forget one or two important things your instructor told you, no matter how many times you watched your lesson video, reviewed notes. When you're in the thick of practicing, not hard to do. Copy your lesson text and/or video to your phone so you can read/watch again when things get pear shaped. I use Evernote for text, Dropbox/OneDrive/Google Drive for video. Try and put all your lessons in the cloud so that they're easily accessible. It's the closest thing to having your pro with you without him/her physically/remotely being there You're going to have lots of video in storage and you'll probably delete them, don't delete them all, leave a couple of videos, preferably the last swings from the practice session, on your phone for quick reference. Learn how to clip videos to save space. A full swing, 240fps, on an iPhone, takes up about 15-30 megabytes, depending on how much ball flight you capture. Portrait mode is looked down on, but is better for down the line views, you don't have to set the camera as far back as landscape and you can see more of the ball flight if you hit it high. Heck, use portrait all the time, that's what all my instructors do, they know a thing or two.   To see if your shaft is pointing inside or outside the ball at A5 you can use a straight edge to superimpose over the display as opposed to a swing analysis app to draw lines, don't use a credit card or transit pass or anything important (duh), it's going to increase the chances of you losing it. Use a clubshaft as a straight edge, just superimpose it over your smartphone display. Or if you have a removable case, use that as a straight edge, or even the bottom of your hand made into a karate chop.   If you're hitting into the sun and you lose track of the ball and you're recording in high speed video from down the line, you'll be able to the start line and maybe some of the initial curvature depending on conditions. To see if you're hitting the ball fat, when videoing face on, if your mat is wet, you'll see the splash the water makes, it'll be especially obvious when you hit it fat. If it didn't rain, pour some water onto the mat. Same goes for when you make contact with the mat after hitting the ball.   To protect your smartphone while videoing yourself in the rain, trying using a rain cover provided with a bicycle smartphone mount. I use this from Morpheus Labs, it's a very snug fit, actually a bit of an effort to get on, but you can still use the touch screen, you'll have to press harder. The fingerprint scan won't work though and it'll widen your phone so your tripod mount will need to accommodate the extra width. If it protects the phone while cycling, which I found it does, pretty sure it's good enough for videoing your swing in the rain. You can use your bicycle smartphone mount as a portable kind of gorilla pod if there's something nearby to mount it to.   Zooming in is very handy. From down the line, I'll max out the zoom in and focus in on the ball, to see where on the club head the ball hits the face. You can see heel, toe, thin, fat better this way. Instead of using a heavy power bank, you could use a lipstick charger and a short cable, the lipstick is not heavy enough to pull the cable off your phone. Don't need tape, simpler.
nevets88

nevets88

19
 

The New Tappan Zee Bridge

Not crazy about how it was named the Mario Cuomo Bridge (passed in wee hours in secret by his son), but official opening is tomorrow, in my mind, it'll be the new Tappan Zee Bridge. Maybe the Nyack - Tarrytown bridge?   http://www.newnybridge.com/ready-and-waiting-new-bridge-prepared-for-friday-nights-traffic-shift/    
nevets88

nevets88

13
 

Observations from Northern Trust Tuesday

Disparaging remarks from some players on Sean Foley Talk about hotels and points and yawn, boring. No charging stations. Momofuku here too, same as US Open (tennis). Generally, students of the game hover around the short game area. One spectator struck up a conversation w/a player about pitching. Haven't been to a tournament in awhile, radar everywhere. You can park behind Starbucks, walk across the coliseum to the buses (10 minutes, just like the US Open - tennis), avoid parking fee. 1/2 hour shuttle w/o traffic too long. Now more of a student of the swing, notice more of what's going on in short game swings. Seems most of players are "using the bounce" now. Not as much ball way back chop down. Was hoping to see McIlroy, Day, nope, but got to see almost everyone else. Was on the fence, didn't think it was worth going, glad I went.
nevets88

nevets88

0
 

Whenever I see these modified grapes, I buy them

There are the ones that look like chili peppers and the ones that taste like cotton candy are my favorite. These were at Trader Joe's yesterday: They're ok, cotton candy grapes still my favorite. Sugar Crunch has like a "dry" taste to it, it's a little different from your standard variety green grape, sweeter and harder obviously. I'd still buy it again, because you don't see these everyday, but always on the lookout for cotton candy grapes.
nevets88

nevets88

4
 

The Bicycle Thread

All things bicycle here. This guy installed a Loud Bicycle. It's basically a car horn on a bike. Folks, don't be surprised if you hear a car horn and a bike is behind you. He also vlogged his ride via his helmet cam. LOOK AT ALL THOSE BICYCLISTS! You can hear him use the Loud Bicycle at around 05:54. I wondered if the drivers even noticed in time.  
nevets88

nevets88

100
 

Range design for the future

It annoys me when you go to a range and you can't take face on video. It's one thing if the range is full and you can't place your camera because the stall in front of you is occupied. That's fine. It's when ranges build dividers that block an important part of the swing, impact, some build stalls that block nearly everything. It's twenty freaking seventeen, and video is available to the masses, hell, you could even say most people have high speed video available now. In H forking D. No, in 4 f**king K. Maybe even 8K. The wherewithal to use video is another thing, but imho, if you're building a range, you should consider alternative setups that allow customers to take face on video. Privacy at a public range is for nought, anyone who is curious enough can just stand behind you and gawk (get out of my view you nosey body). The grill dividers are ok, you can kind of see through them, I dunno, why have divders at all? You don't see them at a grass range. Dividerless, maybe people will be less inclined to do something stupid, like anything they come up with drunk or happy Gilmores. 
nevets88

nevets88

3
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    • iacas
      The Wall Drill for a Proper Pivot

      By iacas · Posted

      Put a stick beside your head (front side) and try to move your head away from it on the downswing?
    • Antneye
      The Wall Drill for a Proper Pivot

      By Antneye · Posted

      I did a search for wall drill and landed here but I could have sworn there was a wall drill thread to combat your head moving forward and down towards the ball.  This is something that I have been working on for over a year and cannot eliminate from my swing even with repeatedly doing this exact drill (only with my head starting about a quarter inch away from the wall).  I can do it just fine with my arms across my shoulders (my head never hits the wall as i come through my turn to the finish). but a golf club in my hand and I am still darting down and towards the ball (although not nearly as bad as seen in my first swing thread post) Is there any other drill out there to help eliminate my head going forward?
    • tristanhilton85
      Finger Down the Shaft Putting

      By tristanhilton85 · Posted

      I used to be a finger down the shaft putter, and I was horrible. Now I use a standard reverse overlap grip, and I'm just really bad.
    • mcanadiens
      Finger Down the Shaft Putting

      By mcanadiens · Posted

      It never occurred to me that right finger down was much of a problem. It's always just felt more comfortable to me that way.  Club Championship is in the rear-view, so it's experiment time and another thing to work on.  
    • nevets88
      The Bicycle Thread

      By nevets88 · Posted

      Now that I've seen it up close a couple of times, this looks like a lot of fun. They use very clever ways to manipulate their bikes to control the ball, like braking hard, letting the back wheel pop in the air so ball will go over to favored side to take a shot. It looks like they're better cyclists than say hockey players, it's like hockey in slow motion, probably the learning curve is controlling the bike first, than the controlling ball skills. I thought some of the bikes were fixies, but they're not, using front brake to control/maneuver. It seems you're allowed to scoop and pick up the ball in the mallet head, like a carry in basketball. The mallets are actually made from old driver shafts, the head sort of a whiffle ball in the shape of a cylinder. One guy bought a battery operated leaf blower to clear the field. There is a ref calling out when the periods end. Would love to try this.  
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