Bad beat/Moaning/Venting thread - Wordle Gummidge

[AndyFatBastard]

Anyone ever used the wifi at the Green Isle Hotel? How is it? Would I be able to run a Twitch stream off it?

[Raoul Duke III]

I don't think any England supporters will be moaning about how flat and boring the pitch is in this test match

[Strewelpeter]

thoughts on mortgage rates rising, would you do:
2.25%@3 years fixed
2.45%@5 years fixed

Normally wouldn't comment on stuff like this as I don't ever expect to be able to out guess such a well understood market but between covid and wars I think its worth reminding people I I have paid an 18.5% rate on my mortgage.

Not sure if these things are better understood and therefore economies are better able to absorb shocks but up to recently there had always been cyclical to some degree.



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[Lao Lao]

Planning a picnic in merrion sq/stephens green for mothers day.
Was thinking Tang/Coffee Hive maybe for picnic materials or is there somewhere that might do a picnic basket for mammy's day?

Don't have a picnic in Stephen's Green - It'll be overrun and a lot will be undesirable - Go with Merrion Sq or Iveagh Gardens - Much nicer spots

You're half as old as me and a third as old as Solks. So what age is sp?

30 / 60 / 90 obvs

[Strewelpeter]

Tories are reportedly 'livid' that he wasn't invited to EU US Summit.

[Hectorjelly]

Normally wouldn't comment on stuff like this as I don't ever expect to be able to out guess such a well understood market but between covid and wars I think its worth reminding people I I have paid an 18.5% rate on my mortgage.

Not sure if these things are better understood and therefore economies are better able to absorb shocks but up to recently there had always been cyclical to some degree.



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[Raoul Duke III]

I don't think any England supporters will be moaning about how flat and boring the pitch is in this test match

Successfully BBV'd West Indies there.

England gone from 67/7 to 200/9.

[MysteryGuest]

Nothing like hitting chat on the website of a company when looking for help and getting put through to a fucking useless chatbot- more “progress” that is anything but- universally fucking useless

[hotspur]

Italy managed to get themselves beaten at home to North Macedonia to not qualify for the World Cup.

[ComradeCollie]

Went to the opening of the froggy film festival thing at the Lighthouse earlier. A sweet little movie that I wouldn't have heard about otherwise, and plenty of free booze afterwards. https://www.alliance-francaise.ie/francophonie/#/

[MysteryGuest]

Make a point of not going to see movies that are marketed as “heartwarming “
slipped up and went to see Phamtom of the open as thought it was about golf and mark rylance is in it, has its moments but veers heavy into the rough that is “heartwarming “ territory in the latter half

[ComradeCollie]

FOoXy1SXoAg-Xla?format=jpg&name=large.jpg

[hotspur]

Well one good thing for Heardle is that it resulted in my listening to Numb / Encore a few times today. I just love Jay Z's flow.

[Lazare]

So I wrapped up 1984 last night, and have recently read Dune and Maus.

What other classics should I seek?

[ComradeCollie]

So I wrapped up 1984 last night, and have recently read Dune and Maus.

What other classics should I seek?

I've been putting off reading Nausea again for far too long https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausea_(novel)

[Lazare]

I've been putting off reading Nausea again for far too long https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausea_(novel)

Ooh I don't know. I think Sartre and existentialism is a touch heavy for me.

[ComradeCollie]

Ooh I don't know. I think Sartre and existentialism is a touch heavy for me.

Ha. I was thinking you hadn't posted anything for a few days because 1984 had freaked you out! Think Nausea is well worth a spin. 'Les Chemins de la liberté' was wonderful too though I'd go for Nausea first.

[Lazare]

Ha. I was thinking you hadn't posted anything for a few days because 1984 had freaked you out! Think Nausea is well worth a spin. 'Les Chemins de la liberté' was wonderful too though I'd go for Nausea first.

Freaked me out indeed. A very enjoyable, head spinning, terrifying read.

I got to that bit you mentioned the other night and paused. O'Brien was some cunt.

Grasping the concept and purpose of Newspeak, and how effective it actually would be at eliminating thought was chilling.

[ComradeCollie]

Freaked me out indeed. A very enjoyable, head spinning, terrifying read.

Think I first read it when I was sixteen, and still associate it with the death of a friend in a cycling accident that summer. What a shit summer that was. Arrived back from the piss in Holland (this was 1986) to find out one of my sisters friends had died in a traffic accident while on holliers with her in Greece, my cousin David had died in a motorcycle crash pissed on his 21st birthday, and 2 weeks later my trombone playing friend dies in a silly bike accident outside Marlay Park. Surprised I managed a half decent leaving cert at all.

[Lazare]

Jesus, that's a rough turn of events Noel.

[ComradeCollie]

Jesus, that's a rough turn of events Noel.

Still pissed with my English Teacher who pulled up at the scene outside Marlay, and gave the delightful quote about my friend that's 'he's brown bread anyway'. What kind of gobshite says that? Meh.

[Hectorjelly]

So I wrapped up 1984 last night, and have recently read Dune and Maus.

What other classics should I seek?

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey or One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez would be my votes. I'd love to be a virgin reader of either of those.

[Western_Sean]

............I'd love to be a virgin reader of either of those.

I like this way of thinking 3 that spring to mind are "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" as an entry point to Haruki Murakami and in a totally different way John Connollys "The Killing Kind" which was the first of his books I read.
Lastly "Imperium" by Robert Harris is a wonderful if substantial read based on the life of Cicero. Just thinking about reading that again for the first time makes me happy.

[Raoul Duke III]

I like this way of thinking 3 that spring to mind are "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" as an entry point to Haruki Murakami and in a totally different way John Connollys "The Killing Kind" which was the first of his books I read.
Lastly "Imperium" by Robert Harris is a wonderful if substantial read based on the life of Cicero. Just thinking about reading that again for the first time makes me happy.

Norweigan Wood for Murakami intro imo.

My 15 y/o daughter started reading him recently, without me being aware. She was looking for me to buy her Kafka on The Shore and was astonished to find I had a shelf full of him. Think I became a cool dad for about 9 seconds.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

IPB fave Dara O'Briain (the Murukami of the comedy world, many say) booked for Saturday week, and IPB enemy Bill Bailey booked for end of April. Surely one of them will be okay.

[DeadParrot]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey or One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez would be my votes. I'd love to be a virgin reader of either of those.

One flew over the cuckoo's nest is a terrific shout.
My mam had a bookshelf high up on the wall over a granite fireplace me dad built back in the day.
She had all these crazy books, this was among them along with hemingway, King, Anne Frank AND Helen Keller etc.
She also had some wonderful trash like flowers in the attic, petals in the wind, if there be thorns....
Anyway. One flew over the cuckoo's nest had a profound effect on 12 year old me. Its a fantastic piece of writing and when I recently revisited it, it still stands up.

To kill a mockingbird is another that I read while young that still stands up today.

[DeadParrot]

From Hell or Transmetropolitan to stay on the graphic novel kick as well.

[Raoul Duke III]

The Ukraine war looks very localized now. Successful Ukrainian counter-attacks around Kyiv and in the south-west pushing the invasion force backwards (and in some disarray too), but the Russians seem to be holding and consolidating in the south-east.

Maybe that is the shape of the endgame. Putin looks to hold this landbridge to Crimea and declare 'victory' on that basis.

[Mellor]

I'd imagine most people who earn more than that work for places that give sick pay anyhow, at least to the extent of a few days per year. Most who wouldn't have that would be retail and service sector and their pay would definitely be on the lower end of the scale.

True, but the point of statutory sick pay isn't for the guys on 100k with a benefits package. It's precisely for those people who are on low income, service and retail jobs.
Some guy on minimum wage, dong 50 hours a week is probably living week to week. If he gets sick for a week the lost pay is more significant than a guy on 120k.
"You were sick for a week, so we'll pay you for 3, but its really on 2 as you get 70%".

I suppose if you've worked any length of time you rack up a bit. I think covdi was the first time I took any in this place

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

True, but the point of statutory sick pay isn't for the guys on 100k with a benefits package. It's precisely for those people who are on low income, service and retail jobs.
Some guy on minimum wage, dong 50 hours a week is probably living week to week. If he gets sick for a week the lost pay is more significant than a guy on 120k.
"You were sick for a week, so we'll pay you for 3, but its really on 2 as you get 70%".

I suppose if you've worked any length of time you rack up a bit. I think covdi was the first time I took any in this place

My friend who worked for Victoria state was mentioning how he was reluctant to leave there as he had built up something astronomical like two years of sick leave after all his years working there, and would need to start from scratch if he moved to a new place. Not sure if i'm misremembering that, as it seems excessive when written down.

[Raoul Duke III]

My friend who worked for Victoria state was mentioning how he was reluctant to leave there as he had built up something astronomical like two years of sick leave after all his years working there, and would need to start from scratch if he moved to a new place. Not sure if i'm misremembering that, as it seems excessive when written down.

I am making a really confused face here. How can you build up 'accumulated sick leave'?

Surely you get a set number of sick days per year. And they expire every year, whether used or not. They don't accumulate.

Do I smell the dead hand of a public sector union at play here?

[6starpool]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey or One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez would be my votes. I'd love to be a virgin reader of either of those.

Some of these I'm sure he has read, but just in case I'll list them here, I enjoyed them all, albeit the first one on my list was a bit tricky to get into for me at first.

Catch 22
A Thousand Splendid Suns & The Kite Runner
Never let me go
The world according to Garp

There are loads of amazing books, but the above should be on any reading list if not read already imo.

[Wombatman]

[dinekes]

True, but the point of statutory sick pay isn't for the guys on 100k with a benefits package. It's precisely for those people who are on low income, service and retail jobs.
Some guy on minimum wage, dong 50 hours a week is probably living week to week. If he gets sick for a week the lost pay is more significant than a guy on 120k.
"You were sick for a week, so we'll pay you for 3, but its really on 2 as you get 70%".

I suppose if you've worked any length of time you rack up a bit. I think covdi was the first time I took any in this place

I do part time retail (permanent part time) 21 hours p/w
No sick pay. Theres a girl there 10 years-and no sick pay-she was I'll recently and went to GP on her second week to cet cert and apply for benefit. Think you might not get paid for the first few days but not sure about that.
Bit counterproductive..like if I have something I can see how you would be tempted to cert up and apply immediately for illness benefit and renew with GP as you saw fit. Turn a few days into a few weeks because of a shoddy HR policy.

[oleras]

IPB fave Dara O'Briain (the Murukami of the comedy world, many say) booked for Saturday week, and IPB enemy Bill Bailey booked for end of April. Surely one of them will be okay.

Going to see Dara Tuesday evening after the January date was cancelled, looking forward to getting out and about again !

[Mellor]

My friend who worked for Victoria state was mentioning how he was reluctant to leave there as he had built up something astronomical like two years of sick leave after all his years working there, and would need to start from scratch if he moved to a new place. Not sure if i'm misremembering that, as it seems excessive when written down.

Sick leave or annual leave. Although he's have been paid out for annual or long service leave.
Would be a crazy amount to accumulate, unless they are getting extra days per year. Which would still take decades.

I am making a really confused face here. How can you build up 'accumulated sick leave'?

Surely you get a set number of sick days per year. And they expire every year, whether used or not. They don't accumulate.

Do I smell the dead hand of a public sector union at play here?

Nope, private sector, and only get statutory entitlements. But they accumulate like annual leave and roll over. No idea if there is a cap.
I've been there 4.5 years, and I'm rarely sick, so have almost a month of sick leave. It's not much of an enticement if companies offer more. But it's pretty common to see bonus superannuation over the statutory min.

[dinekes]

To kill a mocking bird fantastic book and still a compelling film .Saw it again recently and really enjoyed it.

I was fortunate growing up in that there were 100s of books lying about so I was reading Steinbeck et al from an early age.
Absolutely loved Steinbeck, just had this evocative style
with great characters (must revisit)

The intrigues of Kerrin Isalnd, the wonders of Narnia and the terror of Mordor just sitting on a shelf calling you to abandon your struggle with Pythagoras and join them in an adventure (succumbed)

The Catcher in the Rye.

[Raoul Duke III]

But they accumulate like annual leave and roll over. No idea if there is a cap

That sounds nuts.

Like, what happens with your 'bank' of accumulated sick days? Is it worth something tangible to you? Would your employer have to pay you your 'bank' when you retire or move job?

You could actually be perversely incentivized not to take sick leave when you're sick!

[Lazare]

Fantastic stuff lads, so much to mull over there. The only one I've read is Imperium.

Will splurge on a few of those.

[dinekes]

Grim milestone in Covid deaths ..USA now over 1Million (1 in 334)
Globally not too far off 1 1n 1200 or so.

Was reading that these figures (global figure) are most likely underrepresented and true figure prob 2/3 times that.
Obviously a complicated estimate given some deaths will be due to not getting treatment during lockdown.

Then you have long Covid-probably take a while to get some reliable data on that.

(Jaysus hes a grim bastard that Dinekes!)

[Emmet]

Brave new World

Lazare

[dinekes]

Oh and The Snow Child (Eowyn Ivey)

Debut novel beautifully written. I remember reading this and thinking what a great way to describe a breath of wind etc.

Kind of a grown up fairy story set in Alaskan wilderness. Great book, well worth a read. I leant it to someone so will have to order it from library now that I've thought of it.

[DeadParrot]

To kill a mocking bird fantastic book and still a compelling film .Saw it again recently and really enjoyed it.

I was fortunate growing up in that there were 100s of books lying about so I was reading Steinbeck et al from an early age.

Me too. That and the local library. The absolute joy of getting an adult library card as a 12 year old!!
I sometimes worry about my daughter in that regard. Books were a wonderful form of escapism that simply won't be taken now with so many other easier forms of disraction available.,
I dumped/gave away literal suitcases worth of books a few years ago reasoning that my kindle will easily replace them. Which is fine for me, to an extent. Fot her I fear what's missing now is the visual scan of spines and "thereness" of them. It's hardly an attraction when there is tablets and youtube and netflix and all other sorts of minimal effort entertainment.

[DeadParrot]

Oh...Life of Pi.

A fucking fantastic book and will make you crave indian food

[Mellor]

That sounds nuts.

Like, what happens with your 'bank' of accumulated sick days? Is it worth something tangible to you? Would your employer have to pay you your 'bank' when you retire or move job?

You could actually be perversely incentivized not to take sick leave when you're sick!

To be honest, the idea of no statutory sick pay sounds more nuts to me. A bit mad that Ireland only thinking about it now, or will get there by 2025 (as two days hardly counts).
If sick leaves expires, people are incentivized to fake sick days to use them up. Makes more sense to let people accumulate in case they are seriously sick. I imagine there is a cap, not idea what it is though.
There is no cash out though. It's a benefit, not an entitlement like annual leave or long service leave. You only take it if you need it, if you change jobs, you lose it. Whereas the other two get paid out. Long service is the one that people hand around for.

[Goodluck2me]

Thanks to whoever sent in the New Yorker Article on Putin and London,a good read

[rounders123]

What put me off libraries as a 'yute' was the fear of stern browed librarians and late return fees. My local library wasn't a very welcoming library and I always resented that loan timescale stamp they would punch inside cover and then give you a look as if to say we aint kidding around here buster. Having to read it within whatever timeframe they stamped created a negative sort of pressure for me. I feel this was at least partial in holding me back a bit about not reading more as a yute and I have regret about this if im honest. So thinking back I must have voluntarily read under 10 books from the library before I was 18 I would say. And that didn't improve much into adulthood because reading wasn't a force of habit.

I always liked listening to the articulation and phraseology of the english language and how people used the language more than anything. I feel I got a lot of this back by being in jobs that I was able to listen to morning radio with Gay Byrne, Pat Kenny, Marianne Finnucane etc. Like them or not masters at the game.

Autobiographies was always my thing as there is something real and raw about listening to someone recount something they went through for real rather than a fiction fancy dan party wanker

[ArmaniJeans]

What put me off libraries as a 'yute' was the fear of stern browed librarians and late return fees. My local library wasn't a very welcoming library and I always resented that loan timescale stamp they would punch inside cover and then give you a look as if to say we aint kidding around here buster. Having to read it within whatever timeframe they stamped created a negative sort of pressure for me. I feel this was at least partial in holding me back a bit about not reading more as a yute and I have regret about this if im honest. So thinking back I must have voluntarily read under 10 books from the library before I was 18 I would say. And that didn't improve much into adulthood because reading wasn't a force of habit.

I always liked listening to the articulation and phraseology of the english language and how people used the language more than anything. I feel I got a lot of this back by being in jobs that I was able to listen to morning radio with Gay Byrne, Pat Kenny, Marianne Finnucane etc. Like them or not masters at the game.

Autobiographies was always my thing as there is something real and raw about listening to someone recount something they went through for real rather than a fiction fancy dan party wanker

Different mindset obviously, but I always saw the stamp as a bit of a challenge. "So you think I need two weeks to read Five on Finniston Farm and Five on a Treasure Island? I'll be back by the weekend"

[Raoul Duke III]

Different mindset obviously, but I always saw the stamp as a bit of a challenge. "So you think I need two weeks to read Five on Finniston Farm and Five on a Treasure Island? I'll be back by the weekend"

Library fines aren't even a thing anymore. I was pretty amazed at that when it came in a couple of years back but it makes sense.

[Raoul Duke III]

RuSSia now saying that their objective is limited to the Donbas. It's almost like they're getting hammered on every front and had to change tack.

Obviously setting themselves up for a PR spin of 'victory', followed by withdrawal and life as a permanent pariah state.

[Hectorjelly]

What put me off libraries as a 'yute' was the fear of stern browed librarians and late return fees. My local library wasn't a very welcoming library and I always resented that loan timescale stamp they would punch inside cover and then give you a look as if to say we aint kidding around here buster. Having to read it within whatever timeframe they stamped created a negative sort of pressure for me. I feel this was at least partial in holding me back a bit about not reading more as a yute and I have regret about this if im honest. So thinking back I must have voluntarily read under 10 books from the library before I was 18 I would say. And that didn't improve much into adulthood because reading wasn't a force of habit.

I always liked listening to the articulation and phraseology of the english language and how people used the language more than anything. I feel I got a lot of this back by being in jobs that I was able to listen to morning radio with Gay Byrne, Pat Kenny, Marianne Finnucane etc. Like them or not masters at the game.

Autobiographies was always my thing as there is something real and raw about listening to someone recount something they went through for real rather than a fiction fancy dan party wanker

I had a very rounders like experience today. In the barbers getting a cut in a less salubrious end of town and sky news is on. A local Dubliner is in the back giving a running commentary on the day's news. Out pops Putin. "Ah, there's the main man. Sure they're all as bad as each other. " A few seconds later and it cuts to Boris. "Jesus, I hope he didn't get that haircut here!"

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/absolutely-shocking-teagasc-ordered-to-pay-140000-to-female-statistician-who-was-earning-less-than-male-colleague-doing-the-same-work-41487574.html

This is an odd case. One guy is a PhD level researcher leading projects and the the 'wronged' woman is a statistician who seemingly helps out with stats on projects. There seems a world of difference in role even if they both have the same technical title.

[eamonhonda]

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/...-41487574.html

This is an odd case. One guy is a PhD level researcher leading projects and the the 'wronged' woman is a statistician who seemingly helps out with stats on projects. There seems a world of difference in role even if they both have the same technical title.

How do you know that's all she does? Seems they shot themselves in the foot with lazy identical job descriptions in the system, makes what they actually do irrelevant

[pokerhand]

Was at the doctor the other day. He seems fairly impressed that I lost 8 kilos in weight in the 6 weeks since I last saw him.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

How do you know that's all she does? Seems they shot themselves in the foot with lazy identical job descriptions in the system, makes what they actually do irrelevant

I don't think it does make the job descriptions all that irrelevant? Like my wife got paid more than her fellow data scientists because she had a PhD, and there was a presumed ability to lead research projects as a result. Teagasc seemed to describe it well in that article in a way that makes sense. I wonder if the panel didn't understand the nature of research roles.

There was a similar case a few years ago, where a female prof made the case that, unlike her three male colleagues she hadn't been made full prof. Case decided in her favour. But I looked up the research profiles. Fine research profiles for the three guys and she hadn't published in about 20 years. The wrc didn't seem to understand that this is the point of the role. Leading research. But how can you do that, if you don't publish any research?

[dinekes]

Had a nice long hike today and treated myself to a Chinese.
Hard to stay angry at them with their lovely food!

Also bought 1 small smarties eater egg.
Tiny thing about €2
Surprised that the cal.count was 70!! That couldn't be right I thought and investigated further to discover that this was for 1/8 of an egg. One eight. As in 12.5%
1/8 is the "recommended portion size" apparently
for who like....somebody on day 35 of a hunger strike who's just said they're feeling a little peckish!

So far have had 4 "portions"

[Solksjaer!]

Was at the doctor the other day. He seems fairly impressed that I lost 8 kilos in weight in the 6 weeks since I last saw him.

Deets?

[ComradeCollie]

Was at the doctor the other day. He seems fairly impressed that I lost 8 kilos in weight in the 6 weeks since I last saw him.

Twins?

[eamonhonda]

I don't think it does make the job descriptions all that irrelevant? Like my wife got paid more than her fellow data scientists because she had a PhD, and there was a presumed ability to lead research projects as a result. Teagasc seemed to describe it well in that article in a way that makes sense. I wonder if the panel didn't understand the nature of research roles.

There was a similar case a few years ago, where a female prof made the case that, unlike her three male colleagues she hadn't been made full prof. Case decided in her favour. But I looked up the research profiles. Fine research profiles for the three guys and she hadn't published in about 20 years. The wrc didn't seem to understand that this is the point of the role. Leading research. But how can you do that, if you don't publish any research?

No I mean the fact that the formal job descriptions are identical, the difference in their day to day jobs is irrelevant, or that's how wrc sees it? Fair point on the PhD though

[Solksjaer!]

Job closed for 3 days now due to Cyber attack. Not sure what they are doing about it very cloak and dagger .