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

[Strewelpeter]

doing the Liffey Swim was something that I had in my head to do some day (like all the other things that are "some day").

I was in my local gym a few months ago and there as a sign up for training for open water swimming. I'd only used the pool maybe once a month, and I'd never done more than paddle in the sea on holidays.

But we did some practice swims and I did enough races to qualify for the Liffey swim.

500+ entries, 296 men. First in my age group and placed 9th overall.

Very unique experience to swim through the city and new prospective. Certainly beats sea races that can be a bit monotonous.

No sign of Weil's disease yet. Successful day all round.

Thats fantastic, well done.


Winner had a great story

[Raoul Duke III]

That FAI-Vera Pauw thing is some omnishambles. Sad for something that had so much positivity to end in such a toxic fashion. Nobody comes out of it well although most of my sympathies would be with Pauw here.

[Lazare]

doing the Liffey Swim was something that I had in my head to do some day (like all the other things that are "some day").

I was in my local gym a few months ago and there as a sign up for training for open water swimming. I'd only used the pool maybe once a month, and I'd never done more than paddle in the sea on holidays.

But we did some practice swims and I did enough races to qualify for the Liffey swim.

500+ entries, 296 men. First in my age group and placed 9th overall.

Very unique experience to swim through the city and new prospective. Certainly beats sea races that can be a bit monotonous.

No sign of Weil's disease yet. Successful day all round.

Wow!!

That's incredible!!

Have you considered triathlon?

[dinekes]

That FAI-Vera Pauw thing is some omnishambles. Sad for something that had so much positivity to end in such a toxic fashion. Nobody comes out of it well although most of my sympathies would be with Pauw here.

They should get Stephen "we need to win more games" Kenny in. He'll knock them into shape! He did after all overcome the might of the Gibraltar team who were unfortunately missing their star striker as he couldn't get time off work

[dinekes]

Lhttps://run247.com/running-news/trail/utmb-2023-results-women-courtney-dauwalter-triple-crown-treble-history#:~:text=Courtney%20Dauwalter%20has%20secur ed%20a,of%2023%3A29%3A14.


GOAT pulled off the triple and setting 2 new records along the way. Incredible

[dinekes]

[Tar.Aldarion]

Speaking of races my cleaner here nearly has to leave Ireland due to visa, but is telling me how she went to look at a bike race in Galway, had no bike so couldn't take part. So specialized said she could use their bike they were advertising there (€7k) and she said fuck it, did the race.

250 people, 100km and she won. So specialized are gonna give her a call (might sponsor her) and she might get a sports scholarship visa to stay, hero.

She doesn't have great english so her part time workplace are doing all the forms, applying for her and might pay the fees (hopsack health shop).

John Hamm can play me in the movie adaption.
We can change the plot a bit, she crashed the bike and owes specialized 70k, now she needs these race victories on my beat up unused specialized that is 15 years old, she finds it covered in dust in th back while cleaning. My cat Misa will play a prominent role, voiced by Morgan Freeman. The bike can talk & Misa is recovering from a terminal illness.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

AI people like Hitch, what is the simplest tool to just say here are some words make it into a presentation? Can be pretty basic, so easiest access is best!
I'm going to introduce coding reviews for the team and want to throw together a presentation.

ChatGPT - plugins, select the slides plugin and it will generate a full downloadable powerpoint for you. You might need premium to access plugins though.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

doing the Liffey Swim was something that I had in my head to do some day (like all the other things that are "some day").

I was in my local gym a few months ago and there as a sign up for training for open water swimming. I'd only used the pool maybe once a month, and I'd never done more than paddle in the sea on holidays.

But we did some practice swims and I did enough races to qualify for the Liffey swim.

500+ entries, 296 men. First in my age group and placed 9th overall.

Very unique experience to swim through the city and new prospective. Certainly beats sea races that can be a bit monotonous.

No sign of Weil's disease yet. Successful day all round.

jaysus!!! saw them (you) all in the liffey not realising you were in there. looked class!

[Raoul Duke III]

Sounds like you would clean up and wipe the table with the competition Tar.

[Denny Crane]

Wow!!

That's incredible!!

Have you considered triathlon?

Ha thanks

Ah I think triathlons are a full-time job. I can just about juggle the swimming commitments with everything else.

It's the end of the season now. Will have to figure out if I'll stick with it.

[Lazare]

Ha thanks

Ah I think triathlons are a full-time job. I can just about juggle the swimming commitments with everything else.

It's the end of the season now. Will have to figure out if I'll stick with it.

Stick with it?

Shit man, you're mere months at it and are finishing races in the top 2%.

That's mind blowing tbh.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

Anyone here have kids doing Cat4 aptitude exams?

The 12 year old is doing them this week and they said - oh don't practice at home beforehand, just turn up and be tested. Presumably this is just to weed out the dumbass parents?

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

We did some practice tests and she got nearly all the vocabulary questions wrong (decent in maths in fairness, if we're looking for a ray of hope). I go into the vocab section with her thinking she might just have misunderstood an instruction that could be easily fixed. The rather disheartening realisation a few questions in was that she simply doesn't know any words. Without wanting to blame the whole of society for my kids failings, I wonder if this is some sort of indicator of the fact that kids, by and large, don't seem to read anymore. That they'll all be growing up struggling over anything more than single syllable words.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

A last thing. I commissioned a logo and got three versions. One version doesn't really work, but I now have these two options. I have space now to go back and request alterations. Would ye have any immediate visceral reactions to either of these logos?

Logo 1:

SPOILER

aA7jsax.png

Logo 2:

SPOILER

EwvgBy1.png

[zuutroy]

Yea, it does seem like kids are way worse at spelling in particular. My daughter is milling through the Harry Potter books but still makes a good few spelling mistakes while writing. Son is in 4th class and is all over the shop with spelling. In a way it almost doesn't matter anymore as autocorrect will get them through life.
The level of stuff they do in school seems to have dropped massively. Pretty sure I could have a reasonable conversation in Irish by 6th class, and best I can tell, teachers are happy enough to just mill away at translation of words with absolutely nothing on grammar and sentence structure.

[hotspur]

Pretty sure I could have a reasonable conversation in Irish by 6th class, and best I can tell, teachers are happy enough to just mill away at translation of words with absolutely nothing on grammar and sentence structure.

I couldn't have strung a single Irish sentence together in 6th class and I'm pretty sure we went to the same primary school.

[Raoul Duke III]

Yea, it does seem like kids are way worse at spelling in particular. My daughter is milling through the Harry Potter books but still makes a good few spelling mistakes while writing. Son is in 4th class and is all over the shop with spelling. In a way it almost doesn't matter anymore as autocorrect will get them through life.
The level of stuff they do in school seems to have dropped massively. Pretty sure I could have a reasonable conversation in Irish by 6th class, and best I can tell, teachers are happy enough to just mill away at translation of words with absolutely nothing on grammar and sentence structure.

There was an article in the paper at the weekend which was basically a shill piece for boarding schools but the one thing that seemed to come out universally was that parents want to send their kids to boarding schools so that 'they will have less screen time'.

Definitely ties in with everything else that you are noting.

[Raoul Duke III]

Anyone here have kids doing Cat4 aptitude exams?

The 12 year old is doing them this week and they said - oh don't practice at home beforehand, just turn up and be tested. Presumably this is just to weed out the dumbass parents?

They're not exams.

[zuutroy]

I couldn't have strung a single Irish sentence together in 6th class and I'm pretty sure we went to the same primary school.

Maybe you had the wrong fearmonger!

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

They're not exams.

Fail

[Solksjaer!]

I used to struggle with Irish until we got the big hipped curvy Miss O’Riordan (my 1st crush) girl from Ipanema walk into the classroom - this new arrival intensified my interest in Irish 10 fold. Of course I’ve forgotten most of it since, but I was top of the class during her brief reign. It’s all about the motivation at that age. Her Cork lilt also had me transfixed , the teacher, the subject, of schoolboy fantasy. Of course she got wind of my infatuation as I basically couldn’t shut up about it and my pocket bulge was spotted when I was at her desk . (mind of it’s own – still as) Mortification but even though she’s an ol wan now, I’d have to do her for sentimental reason given half the chance. (probably drawing her pension in Cobh) Unresolved childhood crush issues ya know. Something similar happened in English but this was more a desire to please a great personality. Teachers can make or break a kids progress .



My youngest’s current teacher is a supermodel I reckon, on the side. He’s too young to suffer the torment I endured though

[shrapnel]

We did some practice tests and she got nearly all the vocabulary questions wrong (decent in maths in fairness, if we're looking for a ray of hope). I go into the vocab section with her thinking she might just have misunderstood an instruction that could be easily fixed. The rather disheartening realisation a few questions in was that she simply doesn't know any words. Without wanting to blame the whole of society for my kids failings, I wonder if this is some sort of indicator of the fact that kids, by and large, don't seem to read anymore. That they'll all be growing up struggling over anything more than single syllable words.

for my youngest, we'd set a goal to read 4 books this summer (1 was mandatory reading for his school). On the way to Brittany to see my mom, he left his phone on the train. 2 weeks later, he'd read 3 of them already. the last one he read after being reunited with a screen and it took him the rest of the summer (4 weeks) to finish it. those pesky screens!!!

[Raoul Duke III]

I must get better at updating Goodreads but must easily read 100 books p.a.

[Pat Mustard]

I must get better at updating Goodreads but must easily read 100 books p.a.

That's an obscene amount. I barely manage 2 per month. Any recommendations?

[zuutroy]

Would say I get through about one every 2 years. Always had very little interest in reading 200 pages about one thing and no interest in fiction.

[Raoul Duke III]

That's an obscene amount. I barely manage 2 per month. Any recommendations?

What are you into?

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

What are you into?

"What am I not into, Johnny, maybe thats the real question? It all started back when I was a wee nipper and what I can only describe as a Mysterious Stranger knocked on our front door one sultry October evening. Ma and pa weren't to know this, but that precise moment was when things were about to take a turn for the very strange ..."

[Solksjaer!]

I love biographies especially music and sport. I remember reading Ray Davis of the Kinks bio and wasn’t too impressed considering. , Read his brothers Dave’s – Living on a thin line . WOWzer.

[Micknail]

There was an article in the paper at the weekend which was basically a shill piece for boarding schools but the one thing that seemed to come out universally was that parents want to send their kids to boarding schools so that 'they will have less screen time'.

Definitely ties in with everything else that you are noting.

Hmmmm that comes across as they just want someone else to parent their kids.

[Micknail]

I wonder does the shit spelling thing tie in with the newer approach to learning letters through how they are pronounced rather than the regular ABCD say it as you see it.
Eg. It's not 'C' it's 'cuh'

[Raoul Duke III]

Hmmmm that comes across as they just want someone else to parent their kids.

Can't argue with that (as an excellent idea).

[Raoul Duke III]

I love biographies especially music and sport. I remember reading Ray Davis of the Kinks bio and wasn’t too impressed considering. , Read his brothers Dave’s – Living on a thin line . WOWzer.

I read this biography of Tiger Woods recently, very good. Same author also did one of LeBron James, likewise excellent.

[cardshark202]

Do we have any data suggesting children are actually worse at spelling, apart from Hitch's kid not knowing as many words as expected?

[Solksjaer!]

"What am I not into, Johnny, maybe thats the real question? It all started back when I was a wee nipper and what I can only describe as a Mysterious Stranger knocked on our front door one sultry October evening. Ma and pa weren't to know this, but that precise moment was when things were about to take a turn for the very strange ..."

Little Hitch on the Prairie.

[Raoul Duke III]

Little Hitch on the Prairie.

Smack My Hitch Up

[eoghan104]

Can someone tell me if I have gone insane here please....

There was a market on William Hill a few weeks ago "to make the ryder cup team" and the prices were something like the below

Rose 1/25
Lowry 1/20
MacIntyre 1/7
Straka 1/4
Aberg 4/11
Meronk 4/6
Hojgard 11/10

And an assortment of others at bigger prices.

I backed Straka 2.5k at 1/4.

The bet was settled and I received €520. I got on to live chat and they said it was settled as a dead heat between the 6 picks. So my only possible outcomes for the bet were lose 2k or lose 2.5k.

This is obviously wrong right? If you back a horse to be placed and it comes 2nd you dont get that split 3 ways!

I have tried to explain this on the live chat and then to a "supervisor" and they keep just saying dead heat rules apply and a link to how dead heats work!

Am I mental or are they?

[6starpool]

Can someone tell me if I have gone insane here please....

There was a market on William Hill a few weeks ago "to make the ryder cup team" and the prices were something like the below

Rose 1/25
Lowry 1/20
MacIntyre 1/7
Straka 1/4
Aberg 4/11
Meronk 4/6
Hojgard 11/10

And an assortment of others at bigger prices.

I backed Straka 2.5k at 1/4.

The bet was settled and I received €520. I got on to live chat and they said it was settled as a dead heat between the 6 picks. So my only possible outcomes for the bet were lose 2k or lose 2.5k.

This is obviously wrong right? If you back a horse to be placed and it comes 2nd you dont get that split 3 ways!

I have tried to explain this on the live chat and then to a "supervisor" and they keep just saying dead heat rules apply and a link to how dead heats work!

Am I mental or are they?

I know very little about how gambling actually works, but this seems utterly ridiculous. I'd be amazed if you didn't end up talking to someone proper and this gets paid out correctly. Would this be the type of thing the gambling ombudsman would give a crap about?

[dinekes]

A last thing. I commissioned a logo and got three versions. One version doesn't really work, but I now have these two options. I have space now to go back and request alterations. Would ye have any immediate visceral reactions to either of these logos?

Logo 1:

SPOILER

aA7jsax.png

Logo 2:

SPOILER

EwvgBy1.png

Safe and a little boring TBH

Could have used a more dynamic typeface to represent the flow aspect.

If I had to pick I would go for 1 as the second just looks a bit incomplete

[Dice75]

Can someone tell me if I have gone insane here please....

There was a market on William Hill a few weeks ago "to make the ryder cup team" and the prices were something like the below

Rose 1/25
Lowry 1/20
MacIntyre 1/7
Straka 1/4
Aberg 4/11
Meronk 4/6
Hojgard 11/10

And an assortment of others at bigger prices.

I backed Straka 2.5k at 1/4.

The bet was settled and I received €520. I got on to live chat and they said it was settled as a dead heat between the 6 picks. So my only possible outcomes for the bet were lose 2k or lose 2.5k.

This is obviously wrong right? If you back a horse to be placed and it comes 2nd you dont get that split 3 ways!

I have tried to explain this on the live chat and then to a "supervisor" and they keep just saying dead heat rules apply and a link to how dead heats work!

Am I mental or are they?

I'd not be letting that one go lol

[Solksjaer!]

Can someone tell me if I have gone insane here please....

There was a market on William Hill a few weeks ago "to make the ryder cup team" and the prices were something like the below

Rose 1/25
Lowry 1/20
MacIntyre 1/7
Straka 1/4
Aberg 4/11
Meronk 4/6
Hojgard 11/10

And an assortment of others at bigger prices.

I backed Straka 2.5k at 1/4.

The bet was settled and I received €520. I got on to live chat and they said it was settled as a dead heat between the 6 picks. So my only possible outcomes for the bet were lose 2k or lose 2.5k.

This is obviously wrong right? If you back a horse to be placed and it comes 2nd you dont get that split 3 ways!

I have tried to explain this on the live chat and then to a "supervisor" and they keep just saying dead heat rules apply and a link to how dead heats work!

Am I mental or are they?

I think the settler doesn't understand the bet. If the odds on a player are 1/4 to make the team its irrelevant who else makes the team unless its a race between all the players . Was it a race ? Or a stand alone bet ? They owe you . Its a redic settlement. Persevere for the sake of reason and money of course.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

That is clearly erroneous.

[Hectorjelly]

That's an obscene amount. I barely manage 2 per month. Any recommendations?

2 a month is not bad! It's way better than average

Just checked goodreads and I finish about 2 books a month. If I counted the ones I didn't finish it would be a lot higher!

I'm just about to finish Still Life by Sarah Winman, not something I would come across normally but someone recommended it to me and I love it, a lengthy story spanning several decades pre and post ww2, it's very well written with great characters. Both Still Life and Shantaram drove me to tears when one of the character passed away, which is a sign of a very well written character.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

Something notable a short while ago. I was making the dinner. Mince like a champ. I put the big slab of mince in the pan, it falls into the pan fully intact, then I forget about it for a moment. Come back to it maybe two minutes later and it is nearly cooked halfway through and the underside now has a nice sear on it. I start chopping it up to get it to cook all over only to realise - I could have left this intact, carefully turned it over (maybe with a bit of help) and let it sear and cook through the other side and then we'd have had ONE SINGLE GIGANTIC MINCE BURGER. A fully intact mince-slab burger. fucking hell, that would have been epic.

[Solksjaer!]

Something notable a short while ago. I was making the dinner. Mince like a champ. I put the big slab of mince in the pan, it falls into the pan fully intact, then I forget about it for a moment. Come back to it maybe two minutes later and it is nearly cooked halfway through and the underside now has a nice sear on it. I start chopping it up to get it to cook all over only to realise - I could have left this intact, carefully turned it over (maybe with a bit of help) and let it sear and cook through the other side and then we'd have had ONE SINGLE GIGANTIC MINCE BURGER. A fully intact mince-slab burger. fucking hell, that would have been epic.

I'll take things that we've all thought when we were 12 for 100 dolla.

[eoghan104]

Settled now they saw sense

[shrapnel]

2 a month is not bad! It's way better than average

Just checked goodreads and I finish about 2 books a month. If I counted the ones I didn't finish it would be a lot higher!

I'm just about to finish Still Life by Sarah Winman, not something I would come across normally but someone recommended it to me and I love it, a lengthy story spanning several decades pre and post ww2, it's very well written with great characters. Both Still Life and Shantaram drove me to tears when one of the character passed away, which is a sign of a very well written character.

Another couple you might really enjoy, both standalone, are "a thousand splendid suns" and "tigana"

[Hectorjelly]

Another couple you might really enjoy, both standalone, are "a thousand splendid suns" and "tigana"

Sweet, just ordered both

[Lazare]

+1 for A Thousand Splendid Suns. A beautiful and heartbreaking read.

I'm reading Bounce by Matthew Syed right now, enjoying it, very inspiring.

I'm struggling to read more than a book every six months though at the moment, really struggle to find time. Although am guilty of screen overuse.

90 mins of daily commuting on public transport would be the job for it.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

Safe and a little boring TBH

Could have used a more dynamic typeface to represent the flow aspect.

If I had to pick I would go for 1 as the second just looks a bit incomplete

Think you are spot on, a wee bit boring but decent maybe. I had mentioned the target clients and thats why he didn't want to go mad and all technie. Hadn't grasped this intially, but apparently those colours in both logos are meant to be an abstract F, because of the dual use of F in the business name.

[Strewelpeter]

I generally finish a book about every ten days depending on the book and how busy I am at the time. Mostly switching between general fiction, crime and Sci Fi

A few recommendations from the last years general fiction reading

Super Infinite I couldn't have imagined that an biography of John Donne would be the most entertaining book of the year. Extra super recommended.

The house of doors Just finished this last night and was blown away by it. I need time for it to sink in, maybe it was just a cleverly told tale, but right now it feels like I've just finished something a bit special.

Small things like these and everything else Claire Keegan has written. She is an amazing talent, McGahern for our times, for all time.

Lincoln in the Bardo Saunders does surreal like no one else. Try his short stories as well

Cloud Atlas Unusual mix of linked stories that adds up to more than the individual elements. Thumping good read.

Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver ports David Copperfield to Oxycontin plagued Appalachia. She is a fantastic writer.

The Story of the Lost Child Ferrante's Neapolitan novels come to a conclusion, four fantastic novels, looking forward to reading everything else they wrote,

Will be picking up either a Phillip Kerr pot boiler or the new Anne Enright tonight

[dinekes]

Think you are spot on, a wee bit boring but decent maybe. I had mentioned the target clients and thats why he didn't want to go mad and all technie. Hadn't grasped this intially, but apparently those colours in both logos are meant to be an abstract F, because of the dual use of F in the business name.

Sorry should have included some positive feedback just gave initial reaction as a layman and not a prospective client
I got the logo F shape which works for me The colours blend nicely in the first logo too
I like the shape of the t in the first example (it actually does have a subtle flowing aspect to it joing the Fun and ion) and the w bending back slightly.

It does have somewhat of a reassuring feel to it

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

New Stephen King just dropped. woot woot.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65916344-holly

[6starpool]

New Stephen King just dropped. woot woot.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65916344-holly

if it's like some of his other recent books I've read it'll be great for 90% of it then have a crap ending.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

if it's like some of his other recent books I've read it'll be great for 90% of it then have a crap ending.

Could be, but he is such a star in terms of telling a story. Loved his recent Fairy Tale.

[Solksjaer!]

In fairness 'woot woot' is a great name for a book .

[Goodluck2me]

If you ever get the chance to fly into Donegal airport on a sunny day, albeit rare, it’s spectacular

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emerald-airlines_visitdonegal-flydonegal-activity-7104465083379900416-1LeN?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

[Goodluck2me]

What’s the context of this?

https://twitter.com/JohnBoyneBooks/status/1698830513077694477

[zuutroy]

If you ever get the chance to fly into Donegal airport on a sunny day, albeit rare, it’s spectacular

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emera...member_desktop

Been up a few times, most recently 2 years ago when it was about 25 degrees. Absolutely amazing on a nice day as you say. Left descending quite late and it was about 13 degrees at cruise altitude.....weird feeling the air cool down by 12 degrees over the course of 3 minutes!

IMG-20210723-WA0001.jpg

[Raoul Duke III]

I generally finish a book about every ten days depending on the book and how busy I am at the time. Mostly switching between general fiction, crime and Sci Fi

Will be picking up either a Phillip Kerr pot boiler or the new Anne Enright tonight

Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir series, with Bernie Gunther as hero, is great reading.