Bad beat/Moaning/Venting thread - It's the end of the world as we know it

[AndyFatBastard]

White Lotus brilliant, thanks for the reco

[zuutroy]

I'm not feeling well I think. I'm contemplating playing some live poker one evening, perhaps even an event or two at the Irish Open. I must be coming down with something pretty bad. It's been over a decade since I darkened the door of a poker event/club.

I cleared a weekend to play that ACOP thing and then when it came to it just couldn't be bothered!

[hotspur]

I really enjoyed Athens, but then I was very into Greek mythology as a kid, and later studied their arts, history, and architecture. So I'm very biased.

There's no money there, you can just tell walking around. I did find the people friendly. And it's cheap enough.

Speaking of cheap and historical I'm going to Istanbul for a couple of weeks later in the year. Two bed apartment for under €400.

Hitch, I recommend one of the days going to the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion looking over the Aegean for sunset.

[shrapnel]

Tickets secured for 1st Aid Kit in August .

Shurrup they are good .

Absolutely love those girls.

[Solksjaer!]

Absolutely love those girls.

2 girls from Stockholm penning a tribute to Emmy Lou and singing it to her at a tribute show and flooring her . EPIC stuff .

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

Chinese language exams are divided into Levels 1 (an bhfuil cead agam dul go dti on leithreas) to 9 (sir, can I interest you in the good word of MaoMarx?).

I've been sitting level 1 classes this year but decided to register for both the Level 1 and 2 exams in two weeks to give a bit of a push for extra work.

So now have to cover a ridonk amount of extra learning over the next fortnight. Am thinking the real effort was in Level 1 where you are trying to comprehend the essence of an extremely foreign language, while Level 2 is just extra actual words on top of that framework. So it's nowhere like the same effort, you're just adding bits and pieces.

Am personally very comfortable with failure. You push yourself and some things work out and some don't. But the overall benefits of pushing are worth the occasional failures.

But ... I was doing another one-on-one lessons in the place tonight and I genuinely think the teacher would be broken if I fail. Her rather sheltered home university mindset being that as I'm a prof I'm innately and universally infallible. So any failing must be down to her alone. Hierarchy is a hell of a drug.

I was saying in the class that I hadn't yet read the material for Level 2, and she seemed to think I was doing standup comedy.

It's mad in the main class itself how obsessed everyone is with the exam. Like, we all started in September casually in our spare evenings laughing at how mad the language was, and now everyone is feverishly swapping exam technique. I wonder is it because the language is just so complex that it appeals to that innate intellectual self-belief. Been on a fair few evening classes, but never quite seen the dedication this one has.

[Dice75]

"ugh, yes, I'd like to book in for an emergency on July 22nd at 11am" wtf

Actually tried The Columcilles route in Loughlinstown and got exactly this, we can fit you in a slot on Sunday. Deffo the route to go if you can hold off for 48 hours but alas i couldnt.

Managed to go a whole 42 hours without sleep and got 2 hours here on a trolley in the holding area before all manner of old people noises woke me. Its a bit like a live David Attenborough show where i am now

[Lazare]

That's a pretty shitty experience Dice, hope you're on the mend though.

[shrapnel]

2 girls from Stockholm penning a tribute to Emmy Lou and singing it to her at a tribute show and flooring her . EPIC stuff .

love that one. they've got some cracking albums, but i find the newest one slightly underwhelming compared to the others.

[Raoul Duke III]

IPB Cheltenham Tipping Comp pot continues to swell with a mere 12 days to the start of horsetilities.

These puns will intensify until the pot reaches 4 figures.

[Denny Crane]

I saw a guy in the gym a few weeks who looked like he was trying to deliberately do in his shoulders. I couldn't understand it.

Saw people making fun of this recently on Twitter, turns out it's a cross fit exercise.

https://mobile.twitter.com/mtgreenee...02158438055936

Trying to injury your clients doesn't seem like a sustainable business model.



If that guy won the IPB Cheltenham Tipping Comp he could instead hire himself a proper personal trainer etc etc.

[Denny Crane]

I really enjoyed Athens, but then I was very into Greek mythology as a kid, and later studied their arts, history, and architecture. So I'm very biased.

That's why I want to go someday. It's unfortunate to read the disappointing reviews. But, I think I'll still enjoy it overall.

[Solksjaer!]

Re : Athens

I dont get the criticism. As Basil Fawlty said - what view do you expect out of a Torquay hotel window. The hanging gardens of Babylon?

[BennyHiFi]

That's why I want to go someday. It's unfortunate to read the disappointing reviews. But, I think I'll still enjoy it overall.

I definitely still enjoyed it and it think most people would for a few days - great food, lovely people, bags of history to absorb. Amazing underground music and arts scene if you're into it (they're huge on extreme metal!)

But it is definitely an eye opener that somewhere that was once the centre of the universe has been allowed to fall behind to such an extent.

[AndyFatBastard]

Mid January last year I had this stabbing pain in my stomach that was getting worse. Booked apt with DubDoc who immediately said that could be appendicitis, go straight to James's A&E. 14 hours later I finally get seen, your man tells me it can't be appendicitis because I'd be screaming the place down by then... not a great diagnostic method from a patient experience viewpoint but very resource efficient. He does an ultrasound and that shows a couple of golf ball sized stones in my gall bladder, so that'll probably have to come out. Couple of hours later I'm off for a scan, turns out it's not the gall bladder, it's a huge infected bubble in my gut (diverticulitis). So I'm immediately on an antibiotic IV, plus tablets and a drip.

Was like a zoo in there. Lucy came to the door to bring me some books, snacks etc and there was a lad on a bike eyeing up her purse while we were standing right outside. Thankfully there was a security guard nearby or I'd have had to try and fight him off with the stand for the drip lol. There was an old woman who kept borrowing my phone to call her son and ask him the same few questions she asked him last time. Another guy beside me was there because a couple of his fingers had turned purple. When he showed me, he was missing a few others too. Told me had 20 years on the gear and was clean for 3 but was paying for it every day.

I was very near breaking point when they led me down to the X-ray room to get a chest X-ray. I'm sitting there in the waiting room when I suddenly wonder why the fuck they're giving me a chest X-ray when the problem is in my gut? Am basically delirious from pain and lack of sleep but manage to tell the nurse I'm not going in there, they'll have to drag me in and tie me to the X-ray machine. Your man realises they've fucked up but also I've been there 50-something hours and am about to crack, and suddenly there's a bed for me. I very nearly kissed him.

[Raoul Duke III]

So, even with private health insurance, you're still going to be in A&E hell? What has the world come to if we can't buy our way out of these tribulations!

[hotspur]

That's why I want to go someday. It's unfortunate to read the disappointing reviews. But, I think I'll still enjoy it overall.

(Looks around to make sure no-one's listening) Of course you'll enjoy it. The birthplace of European civilisation, incredible ancient ruins, museums, and just looking at the lit up Parthenon on the Acropolis from anywhere in the city. It's magical. You can't expect the dogs of the street on here to appreciate it.

[Raoul Duke III]

(Looks around to make sure no-one's listening) Of course you'll enjoy it. The birthplace of European civilisation, incredible ancient ruins, museums, and just looking at the lit up Parthenon on the Acropolis from anywhere in the city. It's magical. You can't expect the dogs of the street on here to appreciate it.

Sure if I want to go to a ruined imperial capital, I'll just hop over to London.

[Iago]

Unfortunately, for some, I didn’t run into any loose bulls this morning on the plus side this meant the boss and I could once again venture into the wild in order to bring back first hand reports of gastronomy goodness for all to salivate over!

went a bit more upmarket this time in terms of the restaurant. A Spanish food place we have passed on numerous occasions and thought ‘we should really try that’ so today, we did.

they had a full a la carte menu but we went for the menu del dia, 3 starters between us + bread + 1 paella main + 2 desserts

The bread was incredible. Freshly baked and still hot foccacia along with a tomato paste and garlic alioli on the side.

for starters we shared
burrata with a strawberry, tomato and pesto garnish
vegetable cannelloni in a mushroom sauce
2 giant ham croquettes

then we shared a paella de costillas a la brasa y secreto iberico (short rib and iberican secret (a piece of pork loin behind the shoulder which is to die for when done right)

cheescake with a caramel drizzle and chocolate cake to finish out.

washed it down with a bottle of Ramon Bilbao edicion limitada 2019

€72 including tip. So a bit more expensive than the other day, but I think we’ll be ok.

[Dice75]

My IV team is made up of Tom & Kim. I know who im backing at Bay Hill this weekend.

[Raoul Duke III]

No wonder the Spanish need to take siestas.

[Raoul Duke III]

How much was the wine in the restaurant Iago? just looked it up and it's about 25 quid here retail, which means probably 60 for the privilege of having someone remove the cork and pouring it for you.

I'm sure the differential is much less in Spain but be interesting to have an idea.

[Denny Crane]

Is it just my imagination or is Bertie gearing up for a presidential run?

[Hectorjelly]

I really enjoyed Athens, but then I was very into Greek mythology as a kid, and later studied their arts, history, and architecture. So I'm very biased.

There's no money there, you can just tell walking around. I did find the people friendly. And it's cheap enough.

Speaking of cheap and historical I'm going to Istanbul for a couple of weeks later in the year. Two bed apartment for under €400.

Hitch, I recommend one of the days going to the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion looking over the Aegean for sunset.

Where are you staying in Istanbul? I was there for a month last year and loved it, i'd consider living there but the weather is too extreme. The east side in general is a lot nicer than the west side, Kadikoy, in particular, is super. Make sure you get the ferry across and try some fish burritos.

[Hectorjelly]

Is it just my imagination or is Bertie gearing up for a presidential run?

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/...sident-bertie/

Irish Times poll: Majority say they would not vote for Bertie Ahern to be president

[eamonhonda]

Is it just my imagination or is Bertie gearing up for a presidential run?

He's surely smarter than that, would he really put himself through all that to drag up all the history, it would be a daft move.

[Iago]

How much was the wine in the restaurant Iago? just looked it up and it's about 25 quid here retail, which means probably 60 for the privilege of having someone remove the cork and pouring it for you.

I'm sure the differential is much less in Spain but be interesting to have an idea.

€24 for the wine which is expensive tbh, we’ve had the same bottle for €20 in other restaurants here.

can be bought for between €15 and €17 in supermarkets here for reference though it’s available online for between €12 and €15

[Iago]

Truth is, there is so much choice when it comes to local wines that everything is reasonably priced.

our ‘Tuesday’ wine is Campo Viejo and we can buy boxes of 6 at about €3.25 unit, same wine in tesco was €12 a bottle last time we were back. It’s a very basic wine but fine for Tuesdays

[Wombatman]

Emmylou > Mirren

[hotspur]

Where are you staying in Istanbul? I was there for a month last year and loved it, i'd consider living there but the weather is too extreme. The east side in general is a lot nicer than the west side, Kadikoy, in particular, is super. Make sure you get the ferry across and try some fish burritos.

I recall you posting from there, it may well have been that that put me in mind to go there.

I'm staying about a kilometre NW of Taksim Square, can't tell where the boundary of Beyoglu and Sisli is exactly, so one of those.

[Denny Crane]

He's surely smarter than that, would he really put himself through all that to drag up all the history, it would be a daft move.

He's come out of hibernation. Probably feels he's rehabilitated and ready for public life again.

[Raoul Duke III]

He's come out of hibernation. Probably feels he's rehabilitated and ready for public life again.

Please let him run. Please.

The humiliation would be wondrous.

[dobby]

He's come out of hibernation. Probably feels he's rehabilitated and ready for public life again.

A few students protested his honorary doctorate from DCU today in the Helix.

[Iago]

No wonder the Spanish need to take siestas.

You’re not wrong. It’s way too much food, but the value is incredible.

personally I prefer almuerzo (brunch) which is normally eaten between 10.30-12. You get olives, peanuts and your choice of filled baguette, everything from squid to horse meat to spanish tortilla and everything in between and a beer/wine/soft drink and a coffee afterwards.

Some places include carrijillos in the price (essentially a shot of rum/brandy/whiskey in an espresso)

you’ll pay anything from €5.50 to €7 and it sorts you for the day.

[Solksjaer!]

If there are a few shillings to be made Bertie would deffo crawl put from under the cupboard. .

Next President should be Christy Moore .

[Dice75]

Ywo yokels in just made the whole last 3 days worthwhile.

Clearly went at it on some concoction their mate brewed up.

One hanging off the nurse asking will he go blind and shes asking him did they bring in anything of what they drank. Second guy projectiles. First guy sharp as a tack " ders some der"

Im gunna kill that Philly

[Denny Crane]

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/...sident-bertie/

Irish Times poll: Majority say they would not vote for Bertie Ahern to be president

He has 20% of the vote before the campaign has even started

[balfejohn]

If there are a few shillings to be made Bertie would deffo crawl put from under the cupboard. .

Next President should be Christy Moore .

If he makes it that far

[Raoul Duke III]

If there are a few shillings to be made

Then there's only one place to do it. A mere two ponies gets you entry to our luxury player's lounge where you can rub shoulders with fabled greats of yesterday. Like elbows, nicnic and, er, gazman.

[Goodluck2me]

MysteryGuest that horse racing article you linked with Kimmage in the indo makes for some uncomfortable reading.

[MysteryGuest]

He's come out of hibernation. Probably feels he's rehabilitated and ready for public life again.

No way he’s running- is he not just on a Good Friday agreement 25th anniversary spin?

[Strewelpeter]

Emmylou > Mirren

Hard to disagree but Emmylou isn't aging quite as spectacularly.

If you can catch it BBC iPlayer BBC4 had an Emmylou, Linda and Dolly night at the weekend, great stuff altogether.

[Strewelpeter]

Absolutely love those girls.

2 girls from Stockholm penning a tribute to Emmy Lou and singing it to her at a tribute show and flooring her . EPIC stuff .

Pleasantly surprised to see them headlining as big a gig as RHK, didn't think the kind of quality they deliver was finding a market these days.

[Solksjaer!]

Pleasantly surprised to see them headlining as big a gig as RHK, didn't think the kind of quality they deliver was finding a market these days.

Apparently Helsinki during the week was excellent .

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

Apprentice tonight is a new high in the show's history

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

You'd have to assume they must be editing out the show contestants pissing themselves with laughter

[ArmaniJeans]

Truly memorable episode - I liked how the edit didn't even try to create any tension as to which team would win and just decided to wallow in every gruesome detail of the losing teams meltdown.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

Had a thing I did about six weeks ago. Took photos of myself without the top, so I could do the classic before and after on the gym work. Then took photos yesterday. You never really know if you are doing anything to yourself, was my rationale for what seems like pure vanity. Anyway.

The before and after, from quite moderate exercise - few days a week 5k jog, few days a week in the gym strength training, bonus of getting drunk in turin for added vitamin_red_wine - was really quite noticeable. Don't get me wrong, I'm not in any way 'good' now, at best ordinary, but jaysus, compared to just a month ago, its astonishing. Read on a few forums that there's never anything like the first month, but still to see it....

• The slightly bulging stomach, not from being overweight but just from lack of exercise - clearly gone
• Much straighter posture, despite deliberately not trying to pose for either photo - guess that's the new back muscles
• Clear beginning outline of the oblex abdominals - been doing a daily routine on the abs (almost embarrassed to link to it, but this whole post is embarassing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDUk...nnel=MiDASMVMT)
• Chest is still clearly weak, a bit 'sunken' in look, but its less noticeable with the stomach having brought itself in

I'm still awfully slow on the jogging, which is deliberate. Trying to keep the heart rate to around 110-130, as don't want to stress the heart. So need to slow down a fair few times during the jogs. Currently a massive 38 minutes for 5k. Aim over the next two weeks is to get that down to a still rather pathetic 30 mins. Think it'll be grand as the heart rate seems a lot more under control than, say, in January.

For strength training. I mentioned about the heart to the trainer and as a result she put me on quite light weights with quite a few reps. All around the 25kg mark aimed at back, arms, chest, 12-15 reps, 3 times. Aim is to get that up to 30kg, but no more, and maybe increase the number of times its done, rather than go any further on weight itself.

Going to keep up the diet change, not so much to reduce weight, just to switch to a lot more protein, decent sources of calories. Those protein lunches seem like the biggest freebie in healthy lifestyle changes. Way more energy.

All very positive anyway, is the main thing. What do ye think, is there something I'm missing from the above?

[dinekes]

Had a thing I did about six weeks ago. Took photos of myself without the top, so I could do the classic before and after on the gym work. Then took photos yesterday. You never really know if you are doing anything to yourself, was my rationale for what seems like pure vanity. Anyway.

The before and after, from quite moderate exercise - few days a week 5k jog, few days a week in the gym strength training, bonus of getting drunk in turin for added vitamin_red_wine - was really quite noticeable. Don't get me wrong, I'm not in any way 'good' now, at best ordinary, but jaysus, compared to just a month ago, its astonishing. Read on a few forums that there's never anything like the first month, but still to see it....

• The slightly bulging stomach, not from being overweight but just from lack of exercise - clearly gone
• Much straighter posture, despite deliberately not trying to pose for either photo - guess that's the new back muscles
• Clear beginning outline of the oblex abdominals - been doing a daily routine on the abs (almost embarrassed to link to it, but this whole post is embarassing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDUk...nnel=MiDASMVMT)
• Chest is still clearly weak, a bit 'sunken' in look, but its less noticeable with the stomach having brought itself in

I'm still awfully slow on the jogging, which is deliberate. Trying to keep the heart rate to around 110-130, as don't want to stress the heart. So need to slow down a fair few times during the jogs. Currently a massive 38 minutes for 5k. Aim over the next two weeks is to get that down to a still rather pathetic 30 mins. Think it'll be grand as the heart rate seems a lot more under control than, say, in January.

For strength training. I mentioned about the heart to the trainer and as a result she put me on quite light weights with quite a few reps. All around the 25kg mark aimed at back, arms, chest, 12-15 reps, 3 times. Aim is to get that up to 30kg, but no more, and maybe increase the number of times its done, rather than go any further on weight itself.

Going to keep up the diet change, not so much to reduce weight, just to switch to a lot more protein, decent sources of calories. Those protein lunches seem like the biggest freebie in healthy lifestyle changes. Way more energy.

All very positive anyway, is the main thing. What do ye think, is there something I'm missing from the above?

That's great work there Hitch! Good idea on the before and after for extra motivation.

Only input other than well done and keep her lit would be not to neglect stretching. Thought I remember you posting about stretching before so maybe you just didn't happen to touch on it in this post.
Dynamic stretching before your workout to help with the warm up and a dedicated stretching routine seperate to workouts. Helps with injury prevention, flexibility and strength.

Heading out now in a few mins for my own session.

[dinekes]

.
dupe

[Lazare]

Fair play Hitch, it's such a wonderful thing to see improvement.

Very well done on the jogging, you're being really intelligent about it and doing it the absolute correct way. Keep that HR <130, the pace and times will take care of themselves.

[Murdrum]

Then there's only one place to do it. A mere two ponies gets you entry to our luxury player's lounge where you can rub shoulders with fabled greats of yesterday. Like elbows, nicnic and, er, gazman.

Can I add an outsider to the mix? Just like me, I suspect it’s effectively free money.

[shrapnel]

got drawn for tickets for the olympics. was so excited. i could buy 30 tickets, so i got the whole family together , marked all the sports people wanted to see, which we'd all go together, which we'd split into pairs, etc. logged on as soon as the slot opened this morning, and availability is ridiculous. most sports we wanted to see only had the most expensive seats available (anywhere between 650 to 200 euros depending on the sport) or no seats at all. what an absolute joke. what's the point of the draw? gutted

[Strewelpeter]

Today won't get better than the interview I woke up to on the radio this morning. No it wasn't Mick O'Leary's low hanging fruit evisceration of Eamonn Ryan on his inaction over drones on RTE fun and all as that was.

Sue Gray of Partygate investigation fame has been given a job by Keir Starmer and that has Johnson and his band of merry imbeciles running around crying foul and writing comedy headlines for the Daily Mail frothing at the mouth about Partygate being a Labour plot

Worth noting that the interviewer here is a Tory himself.

[Raoul Duke III]

Can I add an outsider to the mix? Just like me, I suspect it’s effectively free money.

Sure, go for it

[Goodluck2me]

Thanks to whoever posted this, I really hadn’t realised the scale of whats invovled.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/06/how-the-biggest-fraud-in-german-history-unravelled

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

Needed a code to scan a few thousand web pages and extract a particular bit of information from each. Would normally take me at least a day of faffing about trying a million different codes as I've so little specific knowledge in that area. Typed the problem into ChatGPT and out it comes with a few lines of code that are now happily chugging away at the task. It really is a phenomenon.

[dinekes]

Needed a code to scan a few thousand web pages and extract a particular bit of information from each. Would normally take me at least a day of faffing about trying a million different codes as I've so little specific knowledge in that area. Typed the problem into ChatGPT and out it comes with a few lines of code that are now happily chugging away at the task. It really is a phenomenon.

I've been playing 20 questions with it....seems to have a fascination with Arnie films for some reason

[DeadParrot]

Thanks to whoever posted this, I really hadn’t realised the scale of whats invovled.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/06/how-the-biggest-fraud-in-german-history-unravelled

There's a lovely throw away line related to full tilt in that article
There's a blast from the past

[DeadParrot]

Needed a code to scan a few thousand web pages and extract a particular bit of information from each. Would normally take me at least a day of faffing about trying a million different codes as I've so little specific knowledge in that area. Typed the problem into ChatGPT and out it comes with a few lines of code that are now happily chugging away at the task. It really is a phenomenon.

Python requests?
ChatGPT is a mental piece of kit. Like you, I've thrown some small projects at it and it spit out a feasible solution in a few languages.