Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: John B. Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech Subject: Re: Job Offer Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2025 13:48:08 +0700 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 79 Message-ID: <6kcntj9u8cmhbr9llsljcipqq79vmh6i1h@4ax.com> References: <5a3mtj59th060d169mrelvqrvreiftsdib@4ax.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2025 07:48:15 +0100 (CET) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="3b9cf1ad4d60dabee9deb71b04182237"; logging-data="2829712"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18eLVk3LYZG883M7IUaCXz7QwT8635W6c4=" User-Agent: ForteAgent/7.10.32.1212 Cancel-Lock: sha1:f1I17goizDHrh8l/smAPke/oh/Y= On Wed, 19 Mar 2025 22:08:56 -0700, Jeff Liebermann wrote: >On Thu, 20 Mar 2025 09:37:40 +0700, John B. >wrote: > >>On Wed, 19 Mar 2025 11:36:03 -0700, Jeff Liebermann >>wrote: >> >>>On Wed, 19 Mar 2025 09:15:20 -0400, Catrike Ryder >>> wrote: >>> >>>>I never understood why some people like to watch people they don't >>>>know play with their balls.... or ride their bicycles. >>> >>>Sports are battle simulations much like the gladiatorial contests of >>>ancient Rome. The only difference is that the participants of today's >>>sports contests are more likely to survive. Bicycle races are similar >>>except the participants sometimes engage in limited combat. >>> > >>I think you over simplify. > >I agree. I was in a hurry to leave for lunch with some friends and >did not have sufficient time to embellish my comments with details and >references. So, I just provided my main talking point and ran away. > >>I well remember tree climbing contests when >>I was in grade school and the girls had rope skipping contests. >>And the Olympic "games" that dated back to something like 770 BCE were >>initially a religious affair. >> >>I believe it is more accurate to say that mankind has an inborn desire >>to be first. In whatever activity, not solely war. > >I agree. However, the form that this competition takes seem to >parallel similar forms found in warfare. For example, the early >Olympic competition featured athletic games that would all have been >useful in warfare. (Javelin, discus, long jump and hammer). I'm not >sure what you mean by "religious affair". The ancient Olympic Games (Ancient Greek: t? ???µp?a, ta Olympia[1]), or the ancient Olympics, were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and one of the Panhellenic Games of ancient Greece. They were held at the Panhellenic religious sanctuary of Olympia, in honor of Zeus, and the Greeks gave them a mythological origin. Note the term Panhellenic Games. "Panhellenic Games is the collective term for four separate religious festivals held in ancient Greece that became especially well known for the athletic competitions they included." >Games and battles have >always included ceremonial requests that the gods provide the >participants with victory or survival. > I don't recall any reference to the Olympics being held to ensure victory although I did see "During the celebration of the games, the Olympic truce (ekecheirķa) was announced so that athletes and religious pilgrims could travel from their cities to the games in safety. The prizes for the victors were olive leaf wreaths or crowns. The games became a political tool used by city-states to assert dominance over their rival city states. Politicians would announce political alliances at the games, and in times of war, priests would offer sacrifices to the gods for victory. >Thje Olimopocs were [receded by >"Day Three: Sacrifices (Hecatomb) and feast" > >We no longer sacrifice 100 bulls at the Olympic Games. Emptying the >treasury of the host city or country is a tolerable substitute. -- Cheers, John B.