The Pit Board
“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.”
Arthur Schopenhauer
"You don’t have to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.”
“You don’t have to assume the worst about everyone, either. The world isn’t always out to get you.”
Sarah Dessen
Wow! I am so distracted right now. I am trying so hard to pay attention to what I am doing but F1/Monaco practice sessions are on right now and it appears that out of the 8 brain cells I have, one of them has a fouled spark plug. So if I wander a bit forgive me!
It is a daily occurrence where I work for all of my peers and I to text information back and forth about what is happening within the system. A few days ago, I received a text that was absolutely rude, pompous and just the biggest log of baloney I had ever read. Needless to say, it really knotted up my panties and I was determined to set this dude straight! It had already been a bad day for me and I had no intention of putting up with that kind of behavior. Well, after talking to this dude face to face, I realized I had completely misunderstood the tone of his message. I ended up acting like a complete jack-wagon based on what I
thought he meant. Later that day, while catching up on the thread, I sat back and really gave some thought to what had happened and how it relates to this thread. It seems like we engage in "lively discussions" on a regular basis around here. It also seems like it is happening more often. At times it can be a little distressing. It also can reflect poorly on the thread and us as a group if taken too far. A couple of years ago I read an article about the interaction between people in a growing text based world. The general idea behind the article was explain how difficult it is to convey an idea to people with just words. When face to face with someone, we have the benefit of facial expression, body language and vocal inflection. Sure, you can read a book and actually feel the emotions, but this is just a forum, we ain't no writers nor do we have the time to bust out a 15 page post to ask what a good lap time is. I think more often than not, when an epic SNAIL debate is in full swing, a lot of what is trying to be said is getting lost in the medium. We read the words, and interject our own feelings into it and miss the point. Maybe if we change our approach when discussing sensitive topics we could avoid misunderstandings and bruised egos. I did some looking around and found a couple of sites that may help us communicate better.
5 Ways To Express Yourself More Clearly Online.
Better Written Communication.
The SNAIL Results document just keeps getting better and better. More Data!! (insert Tim Allen grunt here) If you missed it, kcheeb has set the
spreadsheet up as an HTML document so it loads faster and is much easier to navigate. It is even that much cooler now!! I know I have been hyping the results doc for awhile but I think it is really going to take off in the coming months. Although it is an off league week due to the holiday, several SNAILS have decided to fill in the time by grinding out some of the longest endurance races in A-spec. I am not trying to make more work for kcheeb, but how cool would it be to have a section logging some data from individual endurance races? It could inspire more to take on these monsters and have some benchmarks for those that do... And never underestimate the cool factor of bragging rights!
With GT Academy 2013 quickly approaching, the results doc can really come into play. I feel that there are a few SNAILS that have a legitimate shot the finals. The rest of us are just regular humans. No matter where you fit in, the data, graphs and statistics will not only be useful in finding that extra tenth of a second you are looking for I am sure a tab can be created to sport our own, SNAIL leader boards for some friendly inter-league/inter-divisional competition!
Something else that has been on my mind for awhile is the name: "SNAIL Results". I think it needs a better name. Something befitting of what it really is. Something that has the SNAIL spirit. "SNAIL Results" just doesn't do it justice. It would be cool if someone came up with a more appropriate title for it. Hmmmm... No guarantees, but I will even ask if zer05ive would be willing to hand out a GranStand point or two for whomever comes up with the best one!
Oh and the picture at the top? That cat is the plumber that built the worlds fastest FULLY OPERATIONAL turd aquarium!! Top speed of around 55mph. You know if these were to show up in the OCD, there would be a SNAIL sanctioned event to race them!!
S.N.A.I.L Results
Race Hard, Race Clean, Race S.N.A.I.L.