c4countdown

Jennifer Steadman

I'm talking about playing literally thousands of games in a few months in the run-up to series finals. The only person who I can think of who's succeeded by doing this is Callum (who played about 3,000 games in the run-up to our series finals). I think every single one of those 6 series winners and...

Jennifer Steadman

Don't overplay. Overplayers rarely win series. Really? Here are how long the last 6 champions have played on Apterous: Giles Hutchings 63 days Callum Todd 82 days Mark Murray 35 days Dan McColm 55 days Tom Cappleman 48 days Jonathan Wynn 49 days That doesn't really square with your point... I'm tal...

Jennifer Steadman

With common 7s and 8s that you regularly spot (particularly ones that an average player might spot), use the 'Stemmer' tool on Apterous and note down any useful-looking stems. I mean, it's all well and good spotting RATIONS, but if there's a W in the selection then you can have WAITRONS, which would...

Jennifer Steadman

Freddie Starr ate my hamster.

Jennifer Steadman

The FULL current FOCAL standings are now up on the website - click HERE to see not just the rankings, but a bevvy of familiar faces in the brand-spanking-new top 8 gallery! Want to see your face up there? Then get to more events and get your points total up! :) There are 10 more events left this ye...

Jennifer Steadman

The FULL current FOCAL standings are now up on the website - click HERE to see not just the rankings, but a bevvy of familiar faces in the brand-spanking-new top 8 gallery! Want to see your face up there? Then get to more events and get your points total up! :) There are 10 more events left this yea...

Jennifer Steadman

If I was Jen Steadman and could only pick women, I might go for people like Ada Lovelace, Marie Curie or Emmy Noether. ;) Good shout re: Ada Lovelace though. On the men's side of things, my heroes are Didier Drogba (phenomenal example of using fame for good causes - he's done an incredible amount o...

Jennifer Steadman

It's difficult to have heroes these days as somehow - from somewhere or someone - you'll learn of something vaguely unsavoury about even the most seemingly sound-seeming characters. This is definitely true. One of the more tiring aspects of the internet/social media is that every single person of r...

Jennifer Steadman

M. George Quinn wrote:They were until the whole Townsend debacle.

Jennifer Steadman

Who, why and since when? 0 points for anyone who says that Jon Corby is their Moral Hero.

(I've just been reading about Judit Polgar and she seems like an absolute badass, so she's my new life hero.)

Jennifer Steadman

Marc Meakin wrote:Oh and Jennifer, I can have a word with Danny if you want to breaks your F.O. duck

Danny Dyer is my all-time hero and I would be in raptures if he told me to fuck off. Please arrange this.

Jennifer Steadman

Fred Mumford wrote:I think Jennifer was simply quoting from the website. I doubt any celebrity insulted her after they had died. She may not even have a brother.

I do, but yes, I was quoting from the website. No celebrity has told me to fuck off (yet).

Jennifer Steadman

Regarding the dictionary, the sheer number of new entries isn't a problem in itself, and there have always been obscure words on Countdown. As long as all those new entries and variants are genuine words in current usage, it's fine. But when the dictionary no longer marks mass nouns as such for new...

Jennifer Steadman

now the 64,000 dollar question.... would Dylan have got ROSMARINE if Dan hadn't flagged it up for the nation in his semi-final, even Nick got it! Almost certainly not. Dylan was the only semi-finalist who hadn't learned over a thousand of the new words, and neither Giles nor I spotted ROSMARINE des...

Jennifer Steadman

This was the first game I wrongly predicted the outcome of during the tournament

(Zarte and I were having a prediction game. I won easily.)

Jennifer Steadman

Excellent. Very pleased to see that Jarvis Cocker gets lots of plaudits throughout. I'm particularly enjoying the posts where celebrities are dicks to children: Harry H Corbett who was the the original Sooty and Sweep man told my little brother and I to fuck off. We did not know what he meant as we ...

Jennifer Steadman

Hang on, are you sure that you can deliver Dominos to O'Neill's though? I seem to recall last year (or year before?) that we needed food, and their kitchen was closed, and yet I don't remember chowing down on delicious pizza then. And I also seeem to remember asking if we could have pizza delivered...

Jennifer Steadman

Countdown recap for Tuesday 19 January 2016. http://i.imgur.com/xXj76hD.gif The day has finally come... M Y L A S T R E C A P ! ! ! http://i.imgur.com/oIvOAk6.gif Today is the last quarter final of the tournament, between series winners 'Cool' Dan McColm and Mark 'Sugartits' Murray . Whoever wins g...

Jennifer Steadman

Gavin Chipper wrote:
Jennifer Steadman wrote:You're making me hungry Maybe we should get some Domino's pizzas and take them on the train to COLIN.
We could do that. Is there a Domino's nearby? Do we normally eat in the pub?

There's one that delivers to O'Neills. I think this is the best plan ever.

Jennifer Steadman

I get enthusiastic about loads of things m8. [...] and the day when Domino's pizzas were half price between 4 and 6pm.) That's a pretty obvious thing to get enthusiastic about. This isn't worth a thread, so I'll say it here - I went to Pizza Hut for an early birthday thing at the weekend, and since...

Jennifer Steadman

Yeah, obviously we should use ODO to adjudicate. One thing to take into account though is that PLURALS of alt spellings from the new additions never show up if you look them up, so if possible people should look up singular headwords to ensure no words are disallowed because of ODO's incompetence.

Jennifer Steadman

Just a sense from the general level of enthusiasm about certain things. I get enthusiastic about loads of things m8. (My Facebook message history reveals a range of occasions which I have dubbed "the best day ever", including the day Jason Larsen first got a max conundrum attack, the day ...

Jennifer Steadman

Find it rather intriguing as to why Callum chose to offer a 5 letter word, SRSLY, when a player of his quality surely must have spotted SAILORS . My parents assumed he'd thrown the game because of this, but he clarified with my dad afterwards. Basically he had a 6, but assumed that when I declared ...

Jennifer Steadman

unsportsmenlike *unsportswomanlike ;) Callum thought he was going to lose before the game began, because I'd improved my numbers hugely (especially 6 small, my weak point last time) while he hadn't been practising at all - a complete reversal of our last match. He seemed to struggle with the fact t...

Jennifer Steadman

Isle of Wight is part of England. It doesn't have any "special powers". As for other places, I suppose it's a case by case thing. Well it's your thread, so where do you stand on the Balearics, Canaries, Greek islands? If Jen's having Gozo I'm having Gozo AND Malta(the island which forms p...

Jennifer Steadman

Jon Corby wrote:Hykeham doesn't count as Lincoln, right?

Right.

Jennifer Steadman

Maybe I'm just old fashioned in that when I did a C of C many years ago Apterous wasn't around, stats were really nothing more than what your aggregate Octochamp total & wins/losses were and the concept of max games and how many maxes you can get wasn't something that was ever brought up. It wa...

Jennifer Steadman

Haiti (this was as a stop on a Caribbean cruise at a closed off resort so not really the "real" Haiti) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labadee Even though it was at a resort, this is the coolest place listed in the thread thus far. Not somewhere that people ever seem to go to on holiday. al...

Jennifer Steadman

22 : Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, UK(4), USA, Vatican City. Now I'm regretting foolishly revisiting some of those on a number of occasions when I ...

Jennifer Steadman

*My visit of Carlisle consisted of a trip to the Tony Carvery while on the way to Glasgow, along with a very brief walk. I'll let Jen decide if this counts. Absolutely fine. My visit to St Albans consisted of walking a few hundred metres out of the station, into the CoStAl venue, getting quite ineb...

Jennifer Steadman

Graeme Cole wrote:Someone will have changed planes at London Oxford Airport and use that to tick two cities off the list.

LONDON OXFORD AIRPORT IS A THING??? FUCK'S SAKE. I forgot to add that this abomination is DEFINITELY not a London airport either.

Jennifer Steadman

I'm also inclined to not include train station changes here either (I didn't include Peterborough in my list) because whereas foreign airports/service stations etc do give you a little bit of insight into their respective countries, I don't believe that the vast majority of train stations give any ...

Jennifer Steadman

That's really hard. I'll go through it properly later but I might have been to several and not remembered. Probably even harder would be counties. Yeah, I'm a militant logger of travels but I'd struggle with counties - erm... Kent, Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, Dover, Dorset, Somerse...

Jennifer Steadman

There are a few more that I may have been to (Coventry, Derby, Hull, Sheffield and Wolverhampton) but can't say with any certainty. I'm not sure if passing through them on a train counts. No, definitely not. I'm also inclined to not include train station changes here either (I didn't include Peterb...

Jennifer Steadman

List them and tally them out of 68. Here is a list: England: Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Chester, Chichester, Coventry, Derby, Durham, Ely, Exeter, Gloucester, Hereford, Hull, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, Lichfield, Lincoln, Liverpool, ...

Jennifer Steadman

None on the wiki page but a couple of really tenuous ones - Republic of Užupis (Lithuania) and Christiania (Denmark). Both located in their real countries' respective capitals. Stopped off for 15 minutes in Republika Srpska in Bos-Herz too. Oops, forgot to include islands. So: Lanzarote, Tenerife, ...

Jennifer Steadman

None on the wiki page but a couple of really tenuous ones - Republic of Užupis (Lithuania) and Christiania (Denmark). Both located in their real countries' respective capitals. Stopped off for 15 minutes in Republika Srpska in Bos-Herz too.

Jennifer Steadman

Graeme Cole wrote:Spain - the Canary Islands, but I don't think it has to be the country's mainland to count (2001)
Canada - I'm not sure if this really counts, I only changed aeroplanes there en route to the USA (2013)

Yup, these both count.

Jennifer Steadman

Can I suggest that you also show how many contributors have claimed each country? OK, tallied 'em up. France - 30 Spain - 29 Belgium - 26 Italy, USA - 25 Germany - 22 Ireland, Netherlands - 20 Portugal, Austria - 16 Switzerland - 15 Greece - 14 Czech Republic - 10 Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Hungary -...

Jennifer Steadman

Updated. You and David both went around Yugoslavia back in the day - was this a rite of passage back then? I know Yugoslavia wasn't off limits to tourists, but I had no idea it was so popular for road trips. More stories! (Fucking love the Balkans.)

Jennifer Steadman

Excellent, dramatic game, although I'm unclear on the rationale behind going for 2 large in the final numbers game. If you're "relying on the conundrum" anyway, why not try for a trickier numbers game - then, even if you don't get it and your opponent does, you can "rely on the conun...

Jennifer Steadman

Usually I recap on a Tuesday, but was specially requested to recap today’s game by one of the contestants. Prepare yourself. https://45.media.tumblr.com/2fc10397b32c43a4fff03bf272e588d5/tumblr_nn0aqbgjDk1qkt7dyo1_250.gif Countdown recap for Thursday 14 January 2016. 16 contestants became 8. 8 preli...

Jennifer Steadman

Excellent stories, David.

Jon Corby wrote:
Jennifer Steadman wrote:
Jon Corby wrote:UK (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland)
Rep of Ireland or Northern Ireland?
Oh yeah, Rep, that doesn't count as UK (does it?)

NO! Only Northern Ireland counts as UK.

Jennifer Steadman

Jon Corby wrote:UK (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland)

Rep of Ireland or Northern Ireland?

Jennifer Steadman

I don't think Brian Wilson or Elton John have as much resonance with younger generations as Bowie or McCartney (with regard to his involvement in the Beatles anyway), so I can't see him getting the same amount of adulation. My list of predicted 2016 deaths: - Salvador Sanchez Ceren (president of El ...

Jennifer Steadman

UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Denmark, Monaco, Sweden, Netherlands, Andorra, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Greece, Barbados, Switzerland, Canada, USA, Turkey, Finland, Norway, Russia, Latvia, Dominican Republic, Estonia, St Marteen, Gran Turk(?) The Bahamas, Cyprus. This is ...

Jennifer Steadman

David Williams wrote:What about countries that don't exist any more? I travelled all round Yugoslavia in my student days. Do I get to count all the present-day countries?

All of the ones you've been to, yes. And you should definitely share anecdotes.

Jennifer Steadman

You didn't give your list, Jen. Chronologically: UK [England], France, Spain (loads of islands), Cyprus, USA, [Wales], Italy, UAE (airport transfers), China, Croatia, Vatican City, [Northern Ireland], [Scotland], Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Ireland, Serb...

Jennifer Steadman

James Laverty wrote:Vatican City (dubious if this is counted)

OF COURSE THIS COUNTS.

Jennifer Steadman

1. ME 34/197 (4/4) Always dubious when people start "what have you done?" threads in the knowledge they have an very good score! So for the sake of me being mean I hope someone beats you :) By the way, what's the "(4/4)" for? I scanned the thread, and didn't see - obviously I'm ...

Jennifer Steadman

UK (4), Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Italy, Spain (not mainland though), Switzerland for all of about 15 seconds if that counts. Think that's it. You're probably going to think I'm a rich kid - my family's income is about 5-10K a year. There's a surprising am...

Jennifer Steadman

UK (4), Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Italy, Spain (not mainland though), Switzerland for all of about 15 seconds if that counts. Think that's it. You're probably going to think I'm a rich kid - my family's income is about 5-10K a year. There's a surprising am...

Jennifer Steadman

Mark Deeks wrote:Do changeovers count? For instance, I've walked on Egyptian soil (well, tarmac), but never left the airport.

If you've left the vehicle in which you are travelling through a country and been outside it for more than 10 minutes, it counts. So yes, that counts.

Jennifer Steadman

JimBentley wrote:I'm going to come last in this, or near last:

England, Scotland, Wales (unless this just counts as the UK), France, Spain, Portugal. That's it.

Sadly the UK only counts as 1, but I'll put number of UK nations visited in brackets next to your total.

Jennifer Steadman

And list them, obviously. Only currently-existing countries on the Sporcle list of 197 countries (which includes Taiwan, Palestine and Kosovo due to their independence having wide int'l recognition) count. Or you can just list them and I'll tell you if they don't count. You can also include 5-word d...

Jennifer Steadman

James Robinson wrote:Join Jen for the recap later.

Oh yeah, Tracey's doing this one and I'm doing Thursday's (at T-Cap's behest). And also because bae <3

Jennifer Steadman

Depends if we're talking a natural causes death or an assassination. Her Maj would be the most newsworthy natural causes death, Obama the most newsworthy assassination.

Jennifer Steadman

None of this really matters that much, because apparently the hell-raising, binge-drinking yoof of today are drinking way less than our predecessors.

Jennifer Steadman

James Robinson wrote:the winner of today's match has a return trip here next Monday to face-off with Jen Steadman in the semis.

It's for the quarter finals! I'm not sure whether to read anything into the fact that you keep associating me with semis...

Jennifer Steadman

Zarte Siempre wrote:Remember being confused as to why PERFECT didn't prompt anyone in DC to put the O on the end at the time.

As soon as George said it I saw that, and asked Susie if it was in as they were turning the numbers board around.

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