How do you cope with the confinement situation?

Online shopping always tempting when bored....ordered 2 very cheap (<£15) no-name racquets from aliexpress:

a) just curious to see what turns up
b) to use in the garden
c) to practise stringing....if I save up enough for a machine/obtain permission

Will report back if/when they arrive in "40 to 60 days"!
 
Fidget said:
I love the ambition that you all have: building computers, learning languages, etc. Impressive! :)

The best our family has done is to watch all the Harry Potter movies in French.
It’s funny because the spoken French and the French captions are slightly different translations. So I get to misunderstand each line twice.:rolleyes:
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I should dig these out again. I have the Chinese mandarin versions somewhere. The audio for one of them switches to English in the middle and then back to mandarin.

I didn’t think of listening to the french version. Perhaps I should try that.

Today I managed to watch a cooking program in Mandarin. I deliberately watched one made by Beijing TV as they speak with a northern China accent. That one is pretty hard for me as they have dropped sounds and merge words together. It’s all for training as most of the mandarin I hear in real life is south China accent.

@LenaicM

Very interesting how you said you have an unstructured approach to learning languages. I am surprised because you work as a translator.
 
Cheung said:
@LenaicM

Very interesting how you said you have an unstructured approach to learning languages. I am surprised because you work as a translator.
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It's what works for me :). But I would say it's different when it comes to work. When I translate, for work, a certain methodology is applied. Depending of the source text and the target text needed. It could be a free translation, an idiomatic one, a semantic one, a literal one, a communicative one, etc. Then I do use a specific structured approach to translate in a certain style. A poem or a book is not translated the same way that a product description or a press release is.
 
Cheung said:
Now that is called being desperate. LOL
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I think it was the promo video that got me - I mean, they lifted a water cooler bottle using the racquet and then....they drove a truck, A TRUCK! over it!

I'll be LOLing if they turn out to be any good!
 
LenaicM said:
It's what works for me :). But I would say it's different when it comes to work. When I translate, for work, a certain methodology is applied. Depending of the source text and the target text needed. It could be a free translation, an idiomatic one, a semantic one, a literal one, a communicative one, etc. Then I do use a specific structured approach to translate in a certain style. A poem or a book is not translated the same way that a product description or a press release is.
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Wow. Translation really is an art form! :-)
At least most of the time.

My wife had a friend whose main job was to translate technical handbooks on airline engines, etc.
Making a mistake or "taking artistic license" with those translations could lead to disaster.

It's probably similar for those poor translators who work in negotiations between warring parties. That's a lot of pressure!
 
RichF said:
I think it was the promo video that got me - I mean, they lifted a water cooler bottle using the racquet and then....they drove a truck, A TRUCK! over it!

I'll be LOLing if they turn out to be any good!
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They might be good as training racquets to develop strength. Heavy and durable.
 
@RichF
Since you're ordering stuff, can you also order this to try? Looks very interesting!

https://m.aliexpress.com/item/40001...er_id=636ddb45608740c1b40d707ab164edda&is_c=N

Badminton-Trainer-Portable-Telescopic-Elastic-Adjustable-Self-Study-Rebound-Power-Base-Practice-Training-Device.jpg_640x640q70.jpg_.webp


Sent from my SM-G988W using Tapatalk
 
Cheung said:
They might be good as training racquets to develop strength. Heavy and durable.
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Ah ha!

First one arrived, can't try it properly obviously but I am amazed for the price!

Weighed on some cheap kitchen scales it's around 108g with strings and, for some reason, a replacement grip on top of the factory grip.

I'm almost more excited about trying it out than when I got my 88s!
 
Things that we did during shelter in place.

I seem to have more work than before. Coz there is no fix go-to-work, come-home-from-work boundary. It is just working all the time, non-stop. Busy as hell.

As for the home, I reseeded the lawn after years of neglect. It went from a pile of dirt mostly to some resemblance of a lawn now. Also did some small fixes here and there.

We also watched movies, went through the Back To the Future trilogy with the family over a weekend. That was a blast. The kids loved it. Started Lord of the Rings since the older boy just finished the first book. will have to wait for him to get through the other ones. Any other good movies to go through? older ones. Thinking Terminator, Matrix, Inception.
 
[QUOTE="kwun, post: 2785004, member:]
We also watched movies, went through the Back To the Future trilogy with the family over a weekend. That was a blast. The kids loved it. Started Lord of the Rings since the older boy just finished the first book. will have to wait for him to get through the other ones. Any other good movies to go through? older ones. Thinking Terminator, Matrix, Inception.[/QUOTE]

Both Jumanji movies with The Rock! Hunger games trilogy, Matrix trilogy, Avengers series...

Sent from my SM-G988W using Tapatalk
 
As someone had said, worked a lot. I find myself having to ask "which day it's today". Sleep schedule has changed rather drastically - sleep very late, and wake up close to noon! Other than that, spend a lot of time cooking at home. Either that, or spend a lot of time find where I could order more food online, or disinfect delivered food.

Try to integrate some exercises, but none could keep my interest as my badminton. When it comes to our beloved sports, I think life won't be the same for a long time to come. Perhaps until we get a viable vaccine, which could take 1-2 year at the best. Or it may never come.

Being a technical guy, I'm beginning to dream when someone would come up with an online version of badminton for us all to play real-time badminton:
  • Response time has to be short; no lag.
  • Realistic rendering of court surrounding, and opponents (3D). You could map your friends' faces to your partner and opponents, or map famous players' faces.
  • Shuttle speed could be controlled.
  • Goggles need to be light weight.
  • And rackets need to be light as well, with properties approaching that of real ones - for more power/control etc.
  • Simulated strings may break over time (could be in the game).
  • Various shots could be played.
  • Sensitivity could be controlled to allow people to use little space (if that's all they could afford) to cover their side of the court. Or make big movements necessary to increase amount of exercises.
This forum is getting big. Any such talents around? We could turn gym owners and operations online. They could invest money in powerful server (farm), and charge for membership like they do today. Tounraments could be played just like we used to have.

What do you think?
 
raymond said:
As someone had said, worked a lot. I find myself having to ask "which day it's today". Sleep schedule has changed rather drastically - sleep very late, and wake up close to noon! Other than that, spend a lot of time cooking at home. Either that, or spend a lot of time find where I could order more food online, or disinfect delivered food.

Try to integrate some exercises, but none could keep my interest as my badminton. When it comes to our beloved sports, I think life won't be the same for a long time to come. Perhaps until we get a viable vaccine, which could take 1-2 year at the best. Or it may never come.

Being a technical guy, I'm beginning to dream when someone would come up with an online version of badminton for us all to play real-time badminton:
  • Response time has to be short; no lag.
  • Realistic rendering of court surrounding, and opponents (3D). You could map your friends' faces to your partner and opponents, or map famous players' faces.
  • Shuttle speed could be controlled.
  • Goggles need to be light weight.
  • And rackets need to be light as well, with properties approaching that of real ones - for more power/control etc.
  • Simulated strings may break over time (could be in the game).
  • Various shots could be played.
  • Sensitivity could be controlled to allow people to use little space (if that's all they could afford) to cover their side of the court. Or make big movements necessary to increase amount of exercises.
This forum is getting big. Any such talents around? We could turn gym owners and operations online. They could invest money in powerful server (farm), and charge for membership like they do today. Tounraments could be played just like we used to have.

What do you think?
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No thanks... :) (no offense) it's just that I don't think more technology or more isolation is needed at this point for basic things. I mean people get their food delivered chopped and prepared, gym deliver online sessions, next is a badminton simulator to replace real life badminton? I'm totally against this, makes me think of the love simulator in Demolition Man. :D

If I play badminton, I'd like to play on court. I think technology has its limits when it comes to living life to the fullest. It helps for some things but it shouldn't replace everything including the sport itself. (ie technology for umpires is something I encourage for example) I know the current global situation encourage it but hmm, would a life living isolated and not interacting with anyone else be worth it?
 
LenaicM said:
No thanks... :) (no offense) it's just that I don't think more technology or more isolation is needed at this point for basic things. I mean people get their food delivered chopped and prepared, gym deliver online sessions, next is a badminton simulator to replace real life badminton? I'm totally against this, makes me think of the love simulator in Demolition Man. :D

If I play badminton, I'd like to play on court. I think technology has its limits when it comes to living life to the fullest. It helps for some things but it shouldn't replace everything including the sport itself. (ie technology for umpires is something I encourage for example) I know the current global situation encourage it but hmm, would a life living isolated and not interacting with anyone else be worth it?
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Perhaps you're being too "negative"? ;). More and more people are interacting with each other via online social media virtually. Of course, I prefer real experience if it's available. I don't see at this time how this could be achieved safely, even if you only play singles. I've practically 1.5 years of membership left not knowing how it would be burned up.

This pandemic will change many things forever. Some companies already announced their workers will work from home indefinitely. Classes are moved to online. Restaurants have to close down. Supermarkets offer home delivery that once isn't needed. On and on... While we wait, I wish such an alternative is available.
 
raymond said:
Perhaps you're being too "negative"? ;). More and more people are interacting with each other via online social media virtually. Of course, I prefer real experience if it's available. I don't see at this time how this could be achieved safely, even if you only play singles. I've practically 1.5 years of membership left not knowing how it would be burned up.

This pandemic will change many things forever. Some companies already announced their workers will work from home indefinitely. Classes are moved to online. Restaurants have to close down. Supermarkets offer home delivery that once isn't needed. On and on... While we wait, I wish such an alternative is available.
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Perhaps I am slightly negative because I see little to be positive in reinforcing individualist behaviour, especially when it comes to sports and badminton specifically. Such a machine would also only allow access to the sport to a fraction of the population, which is against the value of an Olympic sport.

Well yes but classes won't be moved forever online, that would be disastrous for the society of the future, not all the workforce can work from home either, even during the core of the lockdown, a massive amount of workers kept working in various sectors, specifically the primary and secondary one and all of this extreme social distancing on the long term would only reinforce individualism, social ills and a larger gap at the two poles of the society, especially in some countries. If a change has to be made after the pandemic it is regarding the whole health system, general hygiene habits, how we affect the ecological system that surround us, sometimes through hyper consumerism and the foreign relationships between countries.

Pandemics happened before and will happen again, yet you are right we need to change a few things but may be playing badminton virtually isn't the change we need is what I meant. Or may be I'm really being negative. :confused:
 
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@LenaicM, Don't despair. Life may not be the same, but it is still a beautiful thing. And badminton will come back. (the live one). :)

I count myself lucky because I still go to work everyday. Also the saving grace of living in a small city is that there is always somewhere to walk or ride a bike while being safe. But the biggest spirit-cleanse was driving to my mother's rural cottage last week. Cleaning up the property; listening to the insects; seeing rabbits and eagles; walking the deserted ocean shore, playing cards.... it was heaven. No TV. No internet. We never spoke or thought the word "COVID" for 36hours.

I wish I could prescribe that to anyone who is suffering these days.
That sort of thing is a great re-balancing of the soul.
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Fidget said:
@LenaicM, Don't despair. Life may not be the same, but it is still a beautiful thing. And badminton will come back. (the live one). :)

I count myself lucky because I still go to work everyday. Also the saving grace of living in a small city is that there is always somewhere to walk or ride a bike while being safe. But the biggest spirit-cleanse was driving to my mother's rural cottage last week. Cleaning up the property; listening to the insects; seeing rabbits and eagles; walking the deserted ocean shore, playing cards.... it was heaven. No TV. No internet. We never spoke or thought the word "COVID" for 36hours.

I wish I could prescribe that to anyone who is suffering these days.
That sort of thing is a great re-balancing of the soul.
View attachment 196286
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Did I sound despaired? :)

Good words though, I too enjoy the country side and the little things at the moment, that helps regroup and focus on what is essential to each of us.
 
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