XKCD: It's more than a comic

This is true, and the training athletes engage in itself carries significant levels of risk. On the other hand, while testing athletes for banned substances is difficult, testing athletes for risky training procedures is impossible, unless you spy on them all the time.

We have to make tradeoffs of risk vs. reward all the time, but since competition is functionally zero sum (athletes will pursue pretty much all the same advantages, and they succeed relative to other athletes, not relative to some absolute scale,) we have incentive to ban things we can test for which enhance athletes' performance in exchange for increased risk.

We're not necessarily totally consistent in our application, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a sensible reason behind a generalized risky performance enhancer ban.

One might note that strenuous exercise does not typically have side-effects like increased aggression, emotional instability, elevated cancer risk, reduced sex drive, etc.

There is a certain amount of physical risk that comes with training and playing in any sport, but those are shared across all participants.

I can see the argument for banning certain enhancements that are dangerous to the athletes. I don't necessarily agree with it, but I can understand the position.

However, I don't believe that that's actually the motivation behind current rules against it. The fact that the rules themselves take no account of the safety of the enhancements, and the universal tone of actual moral condemnation whenever the issue is discussed, combine to make me believe that the motivation behind it is actually basically an appeal to nature, and as I've discussed an essentially arbitrary one. This is why I consider them to be silly rules.

If the rules make sense, but people support them with silly reasons, are they still silly rules?

There's certainly a lot of appeal to nature going on in people's objections to using them. Whether they would be banned on those grounds even if they weren't dangerous is another question.

The fact is, there are performance enhancing drugs which are legal in sports competitions, which are usually not referred to as performance enhancing drugs, but "supplements." They're generally not as pronounced in effect as banned substances, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find a professional athlete who doesn't take some sort of legal supplements such as creatine. These sorts of drugs are safe enough to be legal without a prescription, but their effects on an athlete's performance are fairly significant (the author of this book said the over the counter supplement blend he was encouraged to take while training for his fight made him feel fifteen years younger.)

edited 14th Feb '13 10:36:53 PM by Desertopa

I would be more convinced of the potential sensibleness of the rules if they actually tracked the danger of the various drugs in a convincing way.

Also, so very much true: [1].

I goddamn hate those. Especially since the app reviews that I read are usually terrible.

edited 15th Feb '13 6:15:53 AM by Fighteer

Its worse if the app is not available on the device they're using.

I'm pretty sure you'd faceplant as soon as you went to 4x after the five

That setup has enormous potential for serious personal injury that is not in the least bit amusing, unless you are a fan of Happy Wheels. It would make an awesome Happy Wheels level, though.

That's why actual accelerating conveyors use much more progressive acceleration by way of tiny overlapping wheels. Deadly to stilettos, but otherwise a lot less likely to destabilize.

If you're not ready to sustain heavy injuries for an awesome high-five, you don't deserve said high-five.

Fortunately for me, my younger brother took the time to show my dog how to high five, so I always have someone to high-five in case it is needed.

edited 18th Feb '13 7:45:32 AM by QuestionMarc

Reminds me strongly of a certain episode of Adventure Time.

Short What If today.

Randall is more than happy to remind us how insignificant mankind really is. (IE the What If about all of humanity jumping at once, humans teaming up to light up the moon, humans stopping a train with bullets, etc etc)

Absolutely love the idea in the latest comic. Although, I must say, I wouldn't be able to get within a mile's radius of any of the local theater groups...

Sadly, he'd end up with no one...

You know that guy who always disappears in the middle of every conversation? What an asshole. I hate him.

More than the guy who butts in in the middle of your conversation? Because that's my schtick.

I can actually kind of relate. Though I'm only limited to mentally scooting away.

Gossip. A social plague but apparently something that's built into our psyches since forever.

Eh, I've had groups of friends who just didn't do that. Not everyone finds it that interesting; have a few people who don't find it interesting seek friends among people similar to themselves, and you've got a circle. You don't even have to select for it deliberately.

Wait, you know groups of people who never say anything negative about people who are not present? Please cherish that experience, Des, because it is exceptionally rare.

Well, sometimes about people who're not present, but not, you know, acquaintances. Complaining about, say, a Corrupt Corporate Executive or politician is another matter. And not in the vein of "such and such a public figure seems like an asshole," but along the lines of "such and such behavior by so and so is ruining the economy/legal system/whatever." So there are complaints, but not personal complaints.

edited 21st Feb '13 12:53:54 PM by Desertopa

http://xkcd.com/1177/ It feels very much like a modern version of To His Coy Mistress.

Come with me if you wish to live.

...Well, I'll only increase your lifetime by what is essentially nothing on a cosmic scale and none of it will probably matter because we live on an inconsequential piece of dust in the universe that will eventually die.

Eh, better to be dead later rather than sooner anyway.