Bad beat/Moaning/Venting thread - Wordle Gummidge

[ArmaniJeans]

Johnny Rotten and PIL in the final 6 of the Irish Eurovision entries. It's not April 1st.
Wild Youth and Johnny Rotten among Eurovision hopefuls (rte.ie)

[Solksjaer!]

Raoul is a bull fight wanker .

[Solksjaer!]

Johnny Rotten and PIL in the final 6 of the Irish Eurovision entries. It's not April 1st.
Wild Youth and Johnny Rotten among Eurovision hopefuls (rte.ie)

May the road rise with you - may the road...

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

Johnny Rotten and PIL in the final 6 of the Irish Eurovision entries. It's not April 1st.
Wild Youth and Johnny Rotten among Eurovision hopefuls (rte.ie)

A love song for his wife of 40 years who is now deep in the throes of alzheimers, and based on one of their fondest joint memories. For shame AJ, for shame. Have a heart.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

AJ probably also wrote an irate letter to Walt Disney complaining that the ending of Bambi needed more of an upbeat-pop feel

[Raoul Duke III]

Madrid vetoed by the selection committee. Might go for Lisbon instead so.

[Hectorjelly]

Watched Triangle of sadness today

Latest film from Ostlund, a director i love since force majeure. This latest film won the palme d'or last year. A satire of the super rich which imo falls a bit short. Whilst there are some truly great moments during the film, at 2h30m, it's overly long and doesn't live up to expectations. Enjoyable but slightly Disappointing.

I enjoyed it; I thought the third section was very enjoyable. The second dragged a bit and wasn't that funny. You are definitely right that it could have done with some editing. I have a real soft spot for the guy who played the shit merchant. he is amazing in the pusher trilogies.

I watched it, the Northman & Ex Machina all in the same week, all four-star films IMO - the triangle of sadness just about a four, Northman a solid four and Ex-Machina a strong four. Maybe I need more stars!

[Denny Crane]

Johnny Rotten and PIL in the final 6 of the Irish Eurovision entries. It's not April 1st.
Wild Youth and Johnny Rotten among Eurovision hopefuls (rte.ie)

I was just listening to this cross over he did with Afrika Bambaataa

[Denny Crane]

I only drink at parties etc, and not that much - 1 or 2 drinks, and often none, though had a good bit yesterday. Maybe drunk twice a year? Have had to ask people to stop giving me gin, it just piles up. Few last night were on alcohol free G&T's. GF never drinks, most my family never drink, hear younger generation don't drink as much now? Good few friends would have cans at home all the time still though.

My friends girlfriend has decided to be vegan, which may work out to be awkward, as his favorite pastime is too eat himself into a meat coma.

what's dating like as a vegan? Do people tend towards fellow vegans?

[Solksjaer!]

My friends girlfriend has decided to be vegan, which may work out to be awkward, as his favorite pastime is too eat himself into a meat coma.

what's dating like as a vegan? Do people tend towards fellow vegans?

. A girl i work with is an insufferable Vegan to the point where she deserves a kick in the Vagine. I really pity her friends eyc. To use a Raoul vernacular- A real Geebag.

[Lao Lao]

Tell us about the on/off girlfriend Lao. Always encouraged by tales of older gents sustaining a romantic life.

SPOILER

My Mam and Dad were quite young when my Mam died, with both being 55. They had been together for over 30 years and did everything together so when she died, it was a massive hole in his life. Probably about a year to a year and a half later, he started going to what I can only describe as social nights for widows and widowers. Makes sense, as in that situation pretty much all your family and friends are hitched as are their friends so you have to look in the right places I guess.

Anyway, not long later, we got introduced to Doris* Some family members thought it was a bit too soon to be moving on and while I could see their point to an extent, I was also very aware that after every family gathering, me and my siblings all went home to our respective partner/husband/girlfriend where as my Dad went home to an empty house so it wasn't fair on him to not get on and live his life.

Unfortunately, nobody likes Doris and I mean nobody (except my Dad). Not me, not my sisters, not my nieces and nephews, not my Dad's siblings and not my Dad's friends - Nobody. And it's not an issue of her replacing my mother or anything like that, we all just don't think she is a nice person. She is super passive aggressive, she acts stupid but is far from it. She has done some shitty stuff that I won't get into here but we've put up with it for this long as they seem happy most of the time. I say most of the time as there was periods where they'd fall out, often for months (see her shitty stuff referenced above) but she'd always find a way to weasel her way back in - None of us can get our head around it but they've known each other for around 20 years at this point so I can't see it changing now.

Even though I don't think she is in anyway good for him, it is company and companionship for him and at 79, that is important, especially as due to his health, he doesn't have the same social life that he used to have.

The slightly bizarre thing is that they would do lots together, holidays, nights out, etc - everything a normal couple would do but they never committed to move in together which to me was always a red flag. I mean, surely that comes up within a 20 year span?

*Doris is not her real name. No idea why I picked that name, just came into my head.

[Raoul Duke III]

Could be the best of both worlds - live separately but get together as you feel like? Also possibly fearing familial awkwardness over 'moving a replacement woman into the house'?
I've come across a few widows\widowers whose relationships follow that pattern.

[Lao Lao]

I thought Clanbrassil was always highly rated (esp here). I went there with a group for a tasting menu recently and it wasn't great. Miles behind Mr Fox. Not holding up after changing staff?

I haven't been since Grainne O'Keefe (former head chef) left. Have been to her new place, Mae, a few times and that is top quality so maybe it's a changing of the guard that has standards dropping.

Strange though as it's owned by the same guys that own Bastible which recently picked up a star. I was in Bastible on Saturday night and food was excellent.

[SatNav]

I'm getting this installed tomorrow
https://www.homeanddry.ie/?gclid=Cjw...hoCNaMQAvD_BwE
The condensation on windows is shocking in Mia's bedroom so bad that mould is all over her blind and wall.


I know of two people who went with this chap And could not believe the difference the next day and wished they found it sooner. One girl was telling me her son had awful sinus trouble which has completely cleared up since she got it installed and funnily enough Mia stuffers terrible with her own sinuses so hopefully it will be worth the money.

Be Great to not have to go in every morning and not have to suck up the water!!

So he came highly recommended with fantastic results inc a money back guarantee And a five year warranty .

I'll keep ye posted anyway!
Needs a service every five years for around 100 e

[DeadParrot]

Not sure what Compass club is, but you definitely want the breakfast!

This convinced the wife anyway
https://www.youneedtovisit.co.uk/com...b-newport-bay/

[Pat Mustard]

Going to Seville / Jerez (Hair-ez) in April.
Any craic there?

MotoGP? Lucky duck.

Seville is a good one for bar hopping, nice tapas and beer, just stay away from the bars/restaurants directly around the cathedral.

Jerez-see the dancing horses

If you have a bit of spare time Granada to see the Alhambra is worth the trip, Cadiz is also good, day in both is enough.

[Solksjaer!]

Johnny Rotten and PIL in the final 6 of the Irish Eurovision entries. It's not April 1st.
Wild Youth and Johnny Rotten among Eurovision hopefuls (rte.ie)

Da mudder said if it wins it will be another rotten song for Ireland. She never fails to out corny me . I missed Dad jokes growing up , she filled the void well. legend .

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

I'm getting this installed tomorrow
https://www.homeanddry.ie/?gclid=Cjw...hoCNaMQAvD_BwE
The condensation on windows is shocking in Mia's bedroom so bad that mould is all over her blind and wall.


I know of two people who went with this chap And could not believe the difference the next day and wished they found it sooner. One girl was telling me her son had awful sinus trouble which has completely cleared up since she got it installed and funnily enough Mia stuffers terrible with her own sinuses so hopefully it will be worth the money.

Be Great to not have to go in every morning and not have to suck up the water!!

So he came highly recommended with fantastic results inc a money back guarantee And a five year warranty .

I'll keep ye posted anyway!
Needs a service every five years for around 100 e

oh. we've got a mould problem too. How much does it cost?

[Keane]

Did someone here recommend Martinhal Sagres in Portugal before?

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

I've levelled up my Chinese by adding a weekly one-to-one class on top of the regular group class, as I'm off to Beijing in July. First one-on-one class tonight and I was genuinely nervous on the drive over thinking I might just have forgotten literally everything. But ... managed to hold an hour of conversation (a dull enough conversation presumably), reading Chinese characters off slides and turning them into words in my head. Amazing how everything just sits in your head in a jumble and then when called upon just organises itself into something that makes sense. The big issue now is vocabulary - I've about 200 words to my name, which I know by character and pinyin, but need to massively ramp that up. Read somewhere that the average person in everyday conversation uses a range of 950 words (that's viewed as the minimum word count needed for unstilted conversation in any language), so going to try to add on 50 words a week now that I have a general mental system of the language. With this one-on-one class, the actual class, the two apps I use, am thinking I should be 'approximately conversational' by July.

[Solksjaer!]

Got a Seamus Heaney book for Christmas. We forget his perceptive insights for the simplists things .
They should read one each day at 6pm instead of the Angelus .

[ComradeCollie]

I've levelled up my Chinese by adding a weekly one-to-one class on top of the regular group class, as I'm off to Beijing in July. First one-on-one class tonight and I was genuinely nervous on the drive over thinking I might just have forgotten literally everything. But ... managed to hold an hour of conversation (a dull enough conversation presumably), reading Chinese characters off slides and turning them into words in my head. Amazing how everything just sits in your head in a jumble and then when called upon just organises itself into something that makes sense. The big issue now is vocabulary - I've about 200 words to my name, which I know by character and pinyin, but need to massively ramp that up. Read somewhere that the average person in everyday conversation uses a range of 950 words (that's viewed as the minimum word count needed for unstilted conversation in any language), so going to try to add on 50 words a week now that I have a general mental system of the language. With this one-on-one class, the actual class, the two apps I use, am thinking I should be 'approximately conversational' by July.

Quoting for wtf. Best wishes .

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

Languages, I suspect, are surprisingly easy.

[Tar.Aldarion]

My friends girlfriend has decided to be vegan, which may work out to be awkward, as his favorite pastime is too eat himself into a meat coma.

what's dating like as a vegan? Do people tend towards fellow vegans?

There is a healthy mix of both kinds really. How it works out for your friends will really depend on the people, there are plenty of couples like that that are fine and plenty that it causes a problem in.

My friend is about to marry a meat and potatoes man who will barely even look at a vegan meal. He loves the food but doesn't want to. They often eat out separately as well as together. Good few friends are in each type of relationship. My last girlfriend wasn't vegan but extremely accommodating.

I'd say people ideally go for another vegan if they can, as their core values will likely be similar, but it's generally not a dealbreaker when they like somebody, it's hard enough to find high compatibility and it's a numbers game so you don't get everything. In general dating for me has been very easy as a man as there are a lot of vegan girls and non vegan girls admire it, I've never had to hit on a girl. Whereas for vegan women there is less of a pool and often a mans identity or masculinity can be more tied to meat.

[Strewelpeter]

I'Read somewhere that the average person in everyday conversation uses a range of 950 words (that's viewed as the minimum word count needed for unstilted conversation in any language), so going to try to add on 50 words a week now that I have a general mental system of the language. With this one-on-one class, the actual class, the two apps I use, am thinking I should be 'approximately conversational' by July.

Incredible to watch No1 Granddaughter who turned 4 today switch seamlessly form English to Italian.
Accent is an amazing part of it , her English is proper posh North London picked up in preschool and not a hint of her bogger father or Italian accented Mother, when she switches to Italian her voice changes completely to what I would have considered an outrageously comic caricature of and Italian accent... but its not its just the way Italian children speak. Apparently when she landed in Italian preschool in September she was speaking Italian with a London accent but that disappeared after just a couple of weeks. The ability of children's brains is stupendous!

No 2 Granddaughter at 18 months already communicates way more with her hands than she does with words and I'm a bit afraid that she won't get as strong a grounding in English because she'll only be getting it at home but we'll see.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

Incredible to watch No1 Granddaughter who turned 4 today switch seamlessly form English to Italian.
Accent is an amazing part of it , her English is proper posh North London picked up in preschool and not a hint of her bogger father or Italian accented Mother, when she switches to Italian her voice changes completely to what I would have considered an outrageously comic caricature of and Italian accent... but its not its just the way Italian children speak. Apparently when she landed in Italian preschool in September she was speaking Italian with a London accent but that disappeared after just a couple of weeks. The ability of children's brains is stupendous!

No 2 Granddaughter at 18 months already communicates way more with her hands than she does with words and I'm a bit afraid that she won't get as strong a grounding in English because she'll only be getting it at home but we'll see.

Kid language acquisition is just phenomenal! Saw it with our own daughter - first in St Petersburg, picked up fluent Russian in a month, quickly forgotten, then French in a month or so. I'd speculate kids could pick up any number of languages before the age of about six.

[dobby]

2023 satellites off to a good start. Played one for ACOP in February and got there. 1st satellite, 1 bullet. If only it was always that easy lol

[Denny Crane]

I'd say people ideally go for another vegan if they can, as their core values will likely be similar, but it's generally not a dealbreaker when they like somebody, it's hard enough to find high compatibility and it's a numbers game so you don't get everything. In general dating for me has been very easy as a man as there are a lot of vegan girls and non vegan girls admire it, I've never had to hit on a girl. Whereas for vegan women there is less of a pool and often a mans identity or masculinity can be more tied to meat.

Yeah I figured it would be something like that.

[DeadParrot]

Yeah, think I am sold. Could always do Paris, or indeed London, either but I feel the more mega-cities are either for doing something really specific (like a show or a match) and not so suited to the aimless wandering.

I'll throw a vote in for Lisbon.
Very family friendly, loads to do and great food

[DeadParrot]

Madrid vetoed by the selection committee. Might go for Lisbon instead so.

[Solksjaer!]

All 70s stoned and still amazing . Never sat this clip before.

[SatNav]

oh. we've got a mould problem too. How much does it cost?

1100

[Lazare]

oh. we've got a mould problem too. How much does it cost?

Have you checked your vents?

People tend to stuff newspaper into them to stop the draught, check the previous owners haven't done that.

[6starpool]

2023 satellites off to a good start. Played one for ACOP in February and got there. 1st satellite, 1 bullet. If only it was always that easy lol

I thought you were sarcastically referring to the failure of the UK satellite launch last night first.

[coillcam]

Did someone here recommend Martinhal Sagres in Portugal before?

Sagres is a nice part of the Algarve and quiet but it's quite far from everything. You'll need to hire a car also as public transport is very poor. It's 90 mins by car from the airport or 3-4 hours over a couple buses or trains. However if it's a family break and you're not planning on too much travel or exploring then I'm sure you'll find Sagres to be fine.

I stayed in Lagos a few years back. On reflection it is probably as far west from the airport as I'd consider basing myself in future.

[Keane]

Sagres is a nice part of the Algarve and quiet but it's quite far from everything. You'll need to hire a car also as public transport is very poor. It's 90 mins by car from the airport or 3-4 hours over a couple buses or trains. However if it's a family break and you're not planning on too much travel or exploring then I'm sure you'll find Sagres to be fine.

I stayed in Lagos a few years back. On reflection it is probably as far west from the airport as I'd consider basing myself in future.

Thanks for the info. We're trying to plan a week away with our small boy who will be just under two at the time, so main priority is that wherever we go is really well set up to do some of the parenting heavy lifting for the week! I'm pretty sure someone here gave this place the old 7 thumbs up before but not sure whether they had younger or older kids. It looks very nice but being 5* it's on the higher side pricewise and as you said the distance from the airport is not ideal.

Myself and my wife did a 5* all inclusive in Mexico for two weeks a few years ago and I was fit to blow my brains out by the end of it, but I think I could probably get over being confined to the resort in this case provided there would be kids clubs and babysitters so I can go for dinner and beer as I wish. M

[zuutroy]

Not sure you'll get much in terms of kids club craic for a sub 2-year old? I'm currently holiday shopping as well. Have been looking at the 5* all-inclusive stuff, but I'm wary of resorts as I'm not a 'sit around' type of person in the slightest. She wants to do 10 days minimum but unless there was other stuff around I think I'd go scatty. The cruise last year was the absolute perfect balance of relaxing and doing stuff, with constant changes of scenery, and my kids are old enough now where we would give them the run of the ship, but probably couldn't do that in a resort or whatever. Shame cruises are now 2x last year's price!

[Raoul Duke III]

Had slipped my mind that I need 8 of my holidays for Rugby WC adventures so might hold off until.closer the time.

16 y/o is having the life of Reilly anyway. Came home last night all happy that someone had dropped out of the school trip to Paris and she had a spot. So €700 forked over for that. She's going to Paris in March, NYC in May with Mrs D3, Gaeltacht in June, Croatia in July.

Might hold fire on further trips in 2023 just as a matter of principle.

[Raoul Duke III]

As part of my research last night I did pick up that TAP airfares are crazy cheap (like 50-60% of Ryanair), but that they have awful ratings from their customers.

Surely couldn't be too bad if you're flying direct off season. Anyone ever used them?

[Keane]

Not sure you'll get much in terms of kids club craic for a sub 2-year old? I'm currently holiday shopping as well. Have been looking at the 5* all-inclusive stuff, but I'm wary of resorts as I'm not a 'sit around' type of person in the slightest. She wants to do 10 days minimum but unless there was other stuff around I think I'd go scatty. The cruise last year was the absolute perfect balance of relaxing and doing stuff, with constant changes of scenery, and my kids are old enough now where we would give them the run of the ship, but probably couldn't do that in a resort or whatever. Shame cruises are now 2x last year's price!

Yeah this place actually have 'clubs' (effectively creches I guess) for ages from 6-23 months, 2-3 years and upwards, which is what makes it quite appealing. Also separately do babysitting as well.

https://www.martinhal.com/sagres/for...tinhal-sagres/

[oleras]

Babysitting services you say ? Shove this in the corner of the pub and throw a blanket over them when the music gets too loud. Be grand.

198527.jpg

[Wombatman]

Madrid vetoed by the selection committee. Might go for Lisbon instead so.

Ronda - Spain looks amazing.

[Raoul Duke III]

Ronda - Spain looks amazing.

I feel ill just looking at that. Vertigo.

[Wombatman]

So Bernard Arnault, the chairman of French luxury goods giant LVMH, passed Elon recently as the richest dude on the planet.

Luxury goods are goods where the gap between the utility value of the product and price of the product is bridged by a status value.

I avoid these products like the plague but obviously they are super popular. They appear at the 'top end' of most product ranges today from kids trainers to cars to phones. I see regular folk, often struggling with everyday bills, believing that the status these products supposedly deliver is ESSENTAIL to their existence.

What the F is going one here?

[Keane]

Ronda is absolutely class, as is nearby Estepona

[shrapnel]

So Bernard Arnault, the chairman of French luxury goods giant LVMH, passed Elon recently as the richest dude on the planet.

Luxury goods are goods where the gap between the utility value of the product and price of the product is bridged by a status value.

I avoid these products like the plague but obviously they are super popular. They appear at the 'top end' of most product ranges today from kids trainers to cars to phones. I see regular folk, often struggling with everyday bills, believing that the status these products supposedly deliver is ESSENTAIL to their existence.

What the F is going one here?

those aren't luxury goods (other than super cars). they are very fashionable every day products which are expensive (the more fashionable the more expensive they tend to be), but there is nothing luxurious about them.

[coillcam]

As part of my research last night I did pick up that TAP airfares are crazy cheap (like 50-60% of Ryanair), but that they have awful ratings from their customers.

Surely couldn't be too bad if you're flying direct off season. Anyone ever used them?

Tap is fine but not a top airline by any means. They've invested buckets in new branding and systems but it seems that it doesn't necessarily integrate well together. My OH had a lot of trouble trying to book a flight with her expense card (us$ one that gets topped up by the company). Tap accepted/cancelled the booking 3x times before eventually manually putting it through. Their booking system links also were broken for refunds, flight changes and adding bags. Also, the customer service seems to be 50/50, you might get a good agent.

The background is that they are a state-funded airline and pumped with funding to plug losses in recent years - some of it is covid tbf. More recently a bonus payment controversy which ended up sinking a minister and junior minister. I think one of them was on the board or previously employed and took a severance/bonus package.

Once you bypass the admin/technical issues I mentioned, their planes and staff are pleasant.

[DeeBrown]

Dublin may have a Northside Southside divide but that's taking the piss.

[Iago]

Languages, I suspect, are surprisingly easy.

Lol

[Hectorjelly]

Lol

The more I learn Spanish, the more I hate it. It's broken - basically, not a language at all. At best, it's a protolanguage. My Spanish teacher often tells me English is worse, but two wrongs don't make a right.

[ComradeCollie]

A bit disappointed I didn't score higher

SPOILER

17

[Opr]

New AI needs a 3-second sample of your voice to replicate it!

Microsoft’s new AI can simulate anyone’s voice with 3 seconds of audio

[Iago]

The more I learn Spanish, the more I hate it. It's broken - basically, not a language at all. At best, it's a protolanguage. My Spanish teacher often tells me English is worse, but two wrongs don't make a right.

Not much to disagree with there, the Spanish all feel English is worse and anyone learning Spanish feels it’s worse.

in practice you can communicate pretty effectively while breaking grammatical rules, but once I started to learn the rules I couldn’t make myself ignore them so now i’m left constantly fighting myself in conversations as I try to remember which person in which past tense with which gender I should be using.

Even at that I barely..read:not at all…have a handle on subjunitivo which is pervasive in day to day conversation.

[SatNav]

That chap was approx three hours fitting that thing in the Attic.

So it circulates cleaner Air or something like that through The things in the ceiling. He advised leaving Mia's door open by just even an inch to which I replied there is no chance of that happening so he fitted a smaller one direct into her room @100e

There is a huge difference in the air already in her room
DCEA8480-573F-41D0-BCC7-B5B4376CE394.jpeg



7CC12261-6BAD-459A-919A-DFBC6584BFA3.jpeg

[Opr]

Just on the back of the conversation around learning a language. I presume that thing above will or already can mimic our voice in real time. So surely it can then translate this and replay it in any language we want in the future. At least this seems like a positive use case as the harmful ones seem endless.

[ComradeCollie]

Lol, at least Stalin used to stick with his photoshopping

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-64223974

[hotspur]

Just on the back of the conversation around learning a language. I presume that thing above will or already can mimic our voice in real time. So surely it can then translate this and replay it in any language we want in the future. At least this seems like a positive use case as the harmful ones seem endless.

Was just playing some of the examples and came across one that was an Irish voice sample, the AI of it with other speech didn't sound at all Irish.

[Opr]

Was just playing some of the examples and came across one that was an Irish voice sample, the AI of it with other speech didn't sound at all Irish.

Which one is the Irish one? It does seem to work better with some voices than others but I presume that is just down to training data. It says in the article.

Microsoft trained VALL-E's speech-synthesis capabilities on an audio library, assembled by Meta, called LibriLight. It contains 60,000 hours of English language speech from more than 7,000 speakers, mostly pulled from LibriVox public domain audiobooks.

If it has problems with certain accents then I am sure you just need to feed it more training data from that region.

[Solksjaer!]

Was just playing some of the examples and came across one that was an Irish voice sample, the AI of it with other speech didn't sound at all Irish.

It sounded Northern Irish so it did.

[Lazare]

Is that Google Lens add on on chrome a new thing?

Just discovered it and it blew my mind.

Hold your phone over some foreign language text and it immediately translates.