Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

**Aedilred** · 2022-11-29, 01:10 AM (ISO 8601)

All hail and welcome to the random banter thread and before anyone asks, yes, it's totally a real word, honest. I wouldn't lie to you. Unless I felt like it.

Rules for Random Banter remain as always save that I have arbitrarily increased the number of threads required before you can start another one.

1. Spam. For RB, one-word posts are generally considered spam. Likewise, posts that are nothing but *actions like this* are also be considered spam. Remember that the quality of the post's content is much better than the speed of your response.

2. This isn't the Play by Post or Town forum, nor is it the Silly Message Board Games or Structured Games forum. Please avoid continuous roleplay or mock battles and fights such as the "competition for control of the universe".

3. If it's already a thread, don't bring it to RB. RB has such a huge range of subject matter even restricted to the little snippets that probably don't warrant their thread, it doesn't need legitimate thread topics cluttering it up as well. The exception to this is to bring something off-topic from one thread, but on-topic for RB and the subject doesn't warrant a thread of its own.

4. Don't advertise other threads in RB. Just because these new threads move at speeds more appropriate to a message board than an IM session doesn't mean you need to come over to RB and browbeat people into posting in your latest brainchild.

5. Please don't post single-line posts alerting us to your current status -- as in "I'm back." This is Random Banter, not "How to stalk Random GitP forum members."

6. Don't poke, kick or bump the thread. It will move at whatever pace it wants to. Also, please refrain from Captain Obvious comments akin to "My, the thread is fast today."

7. Random Banter can only be as good, or as entertaining, as you make it. Demands to be entertained will fall on deaf ears unless you can add something more meaningful to the conversation.

8. As this is a public forum, where the current topic is nicely recorded for you, and not a conversation where you could have missed the beginning, please refrain from asking something to the effect of "What's the topic?". Please take the time to read up a bit first.

9. Thread Creator must include the words "Random" and "Banter" as well as the thread #. Try to be concise as well.

10. Every post should contain two visible, legible complete sentences, Subject and Predicate. C'mon, make your old English teachers proud.

11. Remember, Random Banter is not your IM client. If you want to have a back and forth discussion with just one person, look in their contact information for IM details.

12. Whenever a new thread is created, all "first post", "first-page", and all posts of that nature will be deleted by the administrators. Please avoid doing this, as it is frustrating for them to deal with one-lined posts like this.

13. Double-posting is not your friend. We have edit buttons for a reason.

14. Once you have made a Random Banter thread, you must wait for 20 threads before making another one.

15. If you can avoid dibs calling on making the next thread, that will avoid people needing to wait if the thread hits 50 pages while the dibs-caller is asleep.

Spoiler: Previously on Random Banter

Show

Go.

**Bartmanhomer** · 2022-11-29, 01:14 AM (ISO 8601)

I can't wait for Christmas. When I was a little boy I wanted every single toy that exist in the entire world.

**Mystic Muse** · 2022-11-29, 01:18 AM (ISO 8601)

Thanks for making the new thread.

Trying to get back in the saddle of working out. Did some tonight, may do a bit more in a moment, and ordered a jump rope and Yoga Mat online which will help in various ways.

**LaZodiac** · 2022-11-29, 01:35 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Mystic Muse

Thanks for making the new thread.

Trying to get back in the saddle of working out. Did some tonight, may do a bit more in a moment, and ordered a jump rope and Yoga Mat online which will help in various ways.

Good luck love!

I, meanwhile, bought a little yellow Shyguy figurine for like five dollars, in my quest to just Have More Stuff so my apartment doesn't look like Jack "Raiden" Metalgearsolid2's XP

**Rater202** · 2022-11-29, 01:49 AM (ISO 8601)

...Ypu think things like type-II diabetes and high cholesterol are common among hobbits? Their eating habits are quite gluttonous and in the novel are described as being somewhat heavyset in the middle with attention drawn to how much weight Bilbo has lost over the journey.

**DataNinja** · 2022-11-29, 02:43 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by LaZodiac

I, meanwhile, bought a little yellow Shyguy figurine for like five dollars, in my quest to just Have More Stuff so my apartment doesn't look like Jack "Raiden" Metalgearsolid2's XP

Okay, but now that you've told someone, you'll exclusively get Shy Guy themed gifts for the rest of your life, you know that, right?

**BisectedBrioche** · 2022-11-29, 04:42 AM (ISO 8601)

Mmm, new thread smell. Excuse me while I peel all the plastic off the post buttons.

**Anonymouswizard** · 2022-11-29, 04:47 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Rater202

...Ypu think things like type-II diabetes and high cholesterol are common among hobbits? Their eating habits are quite gluttonous and in the novel are described as being somewhat heavyset in the middle with attention drawn to how much weight Bilbo has lost over the journey.

It probably depends on where exactly in the Shire they live. Those who live closer to the edges are going to be a LOT more active than those living in places like Hobbiton, so while still almost certainly obese they'll have a significantly lower risk of related consequences.

A big issue I have with the Peter Jackson films is that the four main hobbits don't look right.

Frodo should begin as the plumpest, seeing as his exercise is predominantly walking.

Sam tends a good sized garden for a living, and so should have well developed muscles. But he also probably has the worst diet, and so should definitely have a beer gut.

Pippin is quite young, and should likely look like someone who's just started putting on weight after their teenage years. Especially because he's from Buckland, where hobbits are notably more adventurous.

As for Merry, from what I remember he's not just from Buckland, he's left the Shire for short stints. He should look noticeably stocky, and while he is carrying fat it's likely close to the edge of healthy. On the flip side he's carrying more weight as muscle, most likely being a bit slimmer than Sam but compensating with broader shoulders.

**Murk** · 2022-11-29, 08:20 AM (ISO 8601)

Hobbits are basically early 20th-century British countryside townsfolk, though idealised to fit the nostalgia of a comfortably wealthy author.
Some of them (Frodo, Merry) are landed aristocracy and might be a bit round, but I don't think fat. More like Hugh Bonneville in Downton Abbey-shaped.
I agree that Sam as a countryside labourer might have a beer gut.

I'm not sure how common high cholesterol and type-II diabetes would be in early 20th century Britain, but I imagine it would be relatively rare.

Originally Posted by Bartmanhomer

When I was a little boy I wanted every single toy that exist in the entire world.

I still want every single toy that exists in the entire world.

**LaZodiac** · 2022-11-29, 08:27 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Rater202

...Ypu think things like type-II diabetes and high cholesterol are common among hobbits? Their eating habits are quite gluttonous and in the novel are described as being somewhat heavyset in the middle with attention drawn to how much weight Bilbo has lost over the journey.

Oh absolutely not. They do so much actual warm work that it seems unlikely to hit even with the concept of Second Breakfast, and physiology wise they're built for this sorta stuff; they are supposed to be stockier folk. If anything, Frodo losing all that weight is going to be the problem there.

Originally Posted by DataNinja

Okay, but now that you've told someone, you'll exclusively get Shy Guy themed gifts for the rest of your life, you know that, right?

This doesn't seem like an all together negative experience, honestly! Dedicate an area to Shyguy's Toybox...

**Keltest** · 2022-11-29, 08:42 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Anonymouswizard

It probably depends on where exactly in the Shire they live. Those who live closer to the edges are going to be a LOT more active than those living in places like Hobbiton, so while still almost certainly obese they'll have a significantly lower risk of related consequences.

A big issue I have with the Peter Jackson films is that the four main hobbits don't look right.

Frodo should begin as the plumpest, seeing as his exercise is predominantly walking.

Sam tends a good sized garden for a living, and so should have well developed muscles. But he also probably has the worst diet, and so should definitely have a beer gut.

Pippin is quite young, and should likely look like someone who's just started putting on weight after their teenage years. Especially because he's from Buckland, where hobbits are notably more adventurous.

As for Merry, from what I remember he's not just from Buckland, he's left the Shire for short stints. He should look noticeably stocky, and while he is carrying fat it's likely close to the edge of healthy. On the flip side he's carrying more weight as muscle, most likely being a bit slimmer than Sam but compensating with broader shoulders.

As I recall, and admittedly its been a minute, Frodo would go exploring and camping with Merry sometimes, being considered extremely unusual by the standards of the hobbiton gentry. He had more activity than just walking, though he did that too.

**Fyraltari** · 2022-11-29, 09:27 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Rater202

...Ypu think things like type-II diabetes and high cholesterol are common among hobbits? Their eating habits are quite gluttonous and in the novel are described as being somewhat heavyset in the middle with attention drawn to how much weight Bilbo has lost over the journey.

They probably have a genetic resistance to this kind of illnesses. Since they are a different subspecies, it's likely that they have a different metabolism* and that their cultural eating habits are roughly suited to the average need of a healthy Hobbit.

*I don't actually know how cholesterol and diabetes work

**Anonymouswizard** · 2022-11-29, 10:24 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Keltest

As I recall, and admittedly its been a minute, Frodo would go exploring and camping with Merry sometimes, being considered extremely unusual by the standards of the hobbiton gentry. He had more activity than just walking, though he did that too.

It's been a while since I've read FotR, but the point was more than he tends towards gentle exercise than the other three.

**Keltest** · 2022-11-29, 10:31 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Anonymouswizard

It's been a while since I've read FotR, but the point was more than he tends towards gentle exercise than the other three.

Yeah, and I dont know that its accurate. Theyre all childhood friends, except maybe Sam, and Frodo got himself a reputation as something of a wild character.

**Rater202** · 2022-11-29, 11:07 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Fyraltari

that their cultural eating habits are roughly suited to the average need of a healthy Hobbit.

Are they though?

As I noted, The Hobbit drew attention to all the weight Bilbo lost on the way to the Mountain and notes that he's gotten nowhere near his accustomed quantity of meals nor of food per meal at least once, and yet he doesn't seem t be any worse of from the starvation than the dwarves. If anything, he's handling it better given that he pulls off some traditional fantasy hero moments in the Mirkwood against the giant spiders, where much fuss is made narratively about the party having no food at all after losing their supplies.

As for how type-II diabetes and high cholesterol work? A mixture of genetics and bad eating habits.

With diabetes the thing that gets you, if you're genetically susceptible, is frequent overconsumption of sugars and carbs—refined sugar wouldn't have been as common in the time period that Tolkien is alluding to with the people of the Shire as it is today, but it did exist and, strictly speaking, any carbohydrate is eventually stored int he body as sugar if it's not immediately consumed for calories or used to build a bodily structure. We know that bread and cakes and beer and wine are part of the typical hobbit diet, that's plenty of carbs and sugars right there.

Cholesterol problems come from eating to much fatty food on a regular basis. Stereotypically it's things like eggs, red meat, pork, and anything that's been fried in oil.

**Anonymouswizard** · 2022-11-29, 12:23 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Rater202

Cholesterol problems come from eating to much fatty food on a regular basis. Stereotypically it's things like eggs, red meat, pork, and anything that's been fried in oil.

That one's fine, hobbits love their mushrooms and probably have a diet low in meat and fried food by modern standards. I'm imagining a lot of roasted vegetables with a helping of carbs for most meals, with meat and cheese being reserved for breakfasts and dinner.

There's also the distinct possibility that, even accounting for different calorie requirements, individual hobbit meals may be smaller than the ones we're used to. I'm trying to remember how Frodo and company have the mushrooms they got from Farmer Maggot, I believe neither the meal at Maggot's or the one at Crick Hollow were particularly heavy. They eat a lot, but it might not be anywhere near as much asseven meals a day would seem.

Get up, have some fruits, do some work on the farm, break for bread and meat with the family, get back to the morning's work, have a bite with your drink at the end of the morning, as the day heats up pause work for a helping of vegetable stew, break for some light cakes or a sandwich* mid afternoon, come home to your meat and two vedge, then finish up the leftovers before bed. That sounds like a more than reasonable hobbit routine (although every other day substitute one of the meals for pie, and the more urban hobbits are probably partial to egg and chips).

* English sandwich, so like a slice of ham or a little bit of cheese and some pickle between two slices of buttered bread. Hobbits have definitely invented Branston pickle.

**Rater202** · 2022-11-29, 02:15 PM (ISO 8601)

That feel when you realized that South Park did a better job explaining about addiction than the DARE program did.

**Peelee** · 2022-11-29, 02:21 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Rater202

That feel when you realized that South Park did a better job explaining about addiction than the DARE program did.

DARE quite famously was a colossal failure.

**halfeye** · 2022-11-29, 02:22 PM (ISO 8601)

Tolkein was writing a fantasy, the whole point of all the eating was that it wasn't possible outside of fantasy without bad side effects, but in the fantasy those side effects didn't happen because it was a fantasy.

**Rater202** · 2022-11-29, 02:35 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Peelee

DARE quite famously was a colossal failure.

Yeah, turns out that telling kids that literally everyone is doing drugs and will try and make them do drugs and lying about the effects of drugs makes kids want to do drugs.

I remember there was n article on Cracked written by a former drug dealer who included an anecdote of having to explain the effects and risks of various drugs to his clients because their education about drugs was terrible.

But my point was... My school did DARE. They never explained what addiction actually was or why people would keep doing drugs when the side effects got worse. Also, the cop who did the lessons said he was gonna bring in donuts and he never did.

In comes South Park to sit down and explain the science of addiction in general, easy-to-understand terms. Granted, it was explained by Satan, but still.

**LaZodiac** · 2022-11-29, 02:53 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Rater202

But my point was... My school did DARE. They never explained what addiction actually was or why people would keep doing drugs when the side effects got worse. Also, the cop who did the lessons said he was gonna bring in donuts and he never did.

He brought them they were just all in his gut.

**Metastachydium** · 2022-11-29, 05:10 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Rater202

In comes South Park to sit down and explain the science of addiction in general, easy-to-understand terms. Granted, it was explained by Satan, but still.

I find that strangely appropriate. I mean, if anyone, that guy should have a good grasp of the mechanisms underlying Vice.

**Bartmanhomer** · 2022-11-29, 06:29 PM (ISO 8601)

I have a very interesting question to ask everyone: What does everyone think of bitcoins or cryptocurrency? I'm not a fan of bitcoins or cryptocurrency because I have a very difficult time understanding virtual money plus I prefer old-fashioned money.

**Fyraltari** · 2022-11-29, 06:39 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Bartmanhomer

I have a very interesting question to ask everyone: What does everyone think of bitcoins or cryptocurrency? I'm not a fan of bitcoins or cryptocurrency because I have a very difficult time understanding virtual money plus I prefer old-fashioned money.

A huge scam.

**Bartmanhomer** · 2022-11-29, 06:48 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Fyraltari

A huge scam.

Why is it a huge scam? I'm curious.

**Peelee** · 2022-11-29, 07:14 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Bartmanhomer

I have a very interesting question to ask everyone: What does everyone think of bitcoins or cryptocurrency? I'm not a fan of bitcoins or cryptocurrency because I have a very difficult time understanding virtual money plus I prefer old-fashioned money.

You only used gold coins, I take it?

**Aedilred** · 2022-11-29, 07:49 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Bartmanhomer

I have a very interesting question to ask everyone: What does everyone think of bitcoins or cryptocurrency? I'm not a fan of bitcoins or cryptocurrency because I have a very difficult time understanding virtual money plus I prefer old-fashioned money.

In practice, they have ended up being essentially an environmentally damaging scam. I do however think there is something worthwhile underneath it all: the challenge is how to actually execute the idea of a secure stateless currency without its being exploited by the world's worst people.

As to understanding crypto, I think it is easy to get bogged down in the detail of how the coins are created and the operation of the blockchain, which aren't irrelevant but are essentially secondary. All cryptocurrency really is is a currency like any other: it's worth what the market says it is and you can use it to pay for goods and services at the discretion of the vendor. No coins or notes are minted, but especially post-covid, many economies are largely cashless anyway, so this doesn't necessarily make a lot of practical difference.

The main difference is that it is not backed by a state or run by a central bank, which in principle makes it more liberating, but in practice also makes it much more volatile, and therefore a much higher-risk investment than reserve currencies.

**Bartmanhomer** · 2022-11-29, 08:14 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Peelee

You only used gold coins, I take it?

Coins and dollar bills.

**Peelee** · 2022-11-29, 08:34 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Bartmanhomer

Coins and dollar bills.

Paper money that's not even backed by gold? I thought you liked "old fashioned" money. Not this modern fiat currency.

**Bartmanhomer** · 2022-11-29, 08:49 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Peelee

Paper money that's not even backed by gold? I thought you liked "old fashioned" money. Not this modern fiat currency.

Green paper money isn't modern though. It has been for so many years before when I was born.

Thread: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Re: Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions