c4countdown

Rosemary Roberts

It's been a little bit annoying to see Innis's chance of a high octo score being not jeopardised, but perhaps slightly dampened by players choosing six small when they have no chance of winning. Today was a good example. Its nice to see it when a player is within reasonable range and they want to m...

Rosemary Roberts

If this thread is intended to mirror the "has apterous killed Countdown" thread, surely you need to be asking yourselves whether internet porn is helping you improve your technique.

Any volunteers? Any useful hints?

Rosemary Roberts

If we have to choose between Ian Hislop / Paul Merton and Jo Frost / Carol Thatcher, can I please vote for Hislop and Merton.

Rosemary Roberts

Or join the Euro - the currency for people who can't handle arithmetic. Not quite the universal panacea - my last three foreign holidays were Norway, Switzerland and the USA. Besides, it's a bit difficult to do on an indivdual basis, isn't it? :? True. And in the USA you get screwed by sales tax if...

Rosemary Roberts

I'm sceptical that this kind of gig could ever take off. You might get a handful of genuinely grieving middle-aged moms but you won't get them to rock - they will just coalesce into snivelling groups. Younger people would split into the ones who have better stuff to listen to and those who find MJ w...

Rosemary Roberts

I wonder if we are slowly heading towards 2 different types of game: the parlour game, in which I feel I can participate to some extent as a viewer, and the more esoteric type of game, which alienates me. I agree. I think that now I have seen just how good people can be, and seen here on the forum ...

Rosemary Roberts

I think c4c can be a fairly brutal place for newbies, but the cool ones and Matt Morrison seem to brush it off just fine. Apart from the hard core who know each other well everyone is judged only by what they post, and some do tend to snap judgements Soap actors and sportsmen are all the same inasm...

Rosemary Roberts

David Williams wrote:You don't really do irony, do you?

If your irony doesn't come across then it is you that has failed.

David Williams wrote:Or spelling, when it comes to your idols.

When spelling matters I look it up, when it doesn't, I don't. But I can spell important names - like Srinivasa Ramanujan.

Rosemary Roberts

All I am agreeing with, is that one can very easily have too many retired footballers. I admit that I may well be basing my estimate of the interestingness of retired footballers on a prejudiced assessment of the interestingness of David Beckham, should he ever retire. I don't keep a tally of the D...

Rosemary Roberts

I do agree with you about retired footballers, though, ... I'm still puzzled about these retired footballers (plural) who you have now mentioned too. As far as I can see, there has only been one in the past, and he was certainly not invited as an ex football player ; he never really made the grade,...

Rosemary Roberts

I always thought you were a nice lad when you were on Countdown. Just shows you. Bear in mind Sarcasm is the Lowest form of Wit! Maybe for retired footballer..I should have put retired sportsman. Silly me! No i am not ignorant..I have two degrees and taught in an inner city school for thirty plus u...

Rosemary Roberts

Matthew Green wrote:I heard that the Floor Manager got so stressed he bleached his skin white and had an affair with a 13 yr old boy.

How difficult can it be to manage a floor? The thing just lies there...

Rosemary Roberts

I must go on record to say that I never found his jackets or ties in any way exceptionable. Colourful, yes, eccentric even, yes, but there is nothing wrong with that.

But I cannot even think of the "how Dutch is that moggy" joke without breaking up.

Rosemary Roberts

Ian Fitzpatrick wrote:I thought he was better yesterday (Wed) but poor on Monday and Tuesday.

He never comes across very well with a totally dead audience, but somebody seems to have woken them up a bit for the last few 'days'. Or is that only the forumites we hear laughing?

Rosemary Roberts

Rachel was on Tony Snell's show on Radio Merseyside this morning, explaining that some survey revealed that some percentage of people in your area don't know what things abroad cost and it was a good idea to write down the exchange rate before you go. And doubtless other things, but my toast was re...

Rosemary Roberts

On a happily topical note: is this one of the many series that ends up at "MC"?

Rosemary Roberts

David Williams wrote:
Rosemary Roberts wrote: I'm only average height but the seat jacks up by a good six inches. And I still can't see out.
So you have unusually low-slung eyes?

That must be it!

Rosemary Roberts

Best car yet is my current one, an ancient Mercedes Benz A Class 160. It's delightful to drive and offers a very comfortable ride. But even with my seat jacked up so that my head brushes the roof (the 160 is a very small car) I have difficulty reversing. I'm still waiting for a car that I can see o...

Rosemary Roberts

Best car yet is my current one, an ancient Mercedes Benz A Class 160. It's delightful to drive and offers a very comfortable ride. But even with my seat jacked up so that my head brushes the roof (the 160 is a very small car) I have difficulty reversing. I'm still waiting for a car that I can see ou...

Rosemary Roberts

Err there is a 1 month break in the summer. Series 61 is already well underway with recordings and they are into September now for transmission dates already. Thanks for the information, Kirk. It doesn't surprise me that there should be something of a break, but a whole month does seem unnecessaril...

Rosemary Roberts

That will happen, David, from September onwards. It is not immediately obvious why such a change would have to wait until September, Damian, unless you have so many shows already in the can. I hope you aren't implying that after next week we will have to survive a three-month summer break before th...

Rosemary Roberts

What is it with you typewriter generation and hitting space before exclamation marks? It looks weird ! I sometimes do it and I know why I do it: the font my system uses is very cramped and punctuation marks, particularly exclamation marks, just don't show up at the end of a paragraph. In many cases...

Rosemary Roberts

Did anyone else think that Rachel's description of pi was terrible? All she had to say was that it's the length of the circumference of a circle divided by the diameter. If you want to say other stuff in addition to that, fair enough but instead ?! No-one watching that who didn't already know what ...

Rosemary Roberts

It shows you how serious this whole earpiece thing is if it's mentioned on Have I Got News For You , as it was last night! To do HIGNFY justice, they did make it quite plain that there has always been an earpiece, that it has always been known that there was an earpiece, and that the presenters on ...

Rosemary Roberts

Junaid Mubeen wrote:
Mark Kudlowski wrote:1st numbers alt:

(75 - (10 + 2 + 2)) x 7
1st numbers alt:

(75 - (10 + 2 + 2)) x 7,

where I transposed the pair of 2s.

For years I've been looking forward to somebody saying that!

Rosemary Roberts

There once was a young girl from Southend on Sea who wasn't quite sure what she wanted to be 'til recession kicked in and our Carol got binned and now she works on Countdown where she is regularly subjected to flirtatious behaviour by the show's presenter Jeff Stelling. I know it's a bit of a joke,...

Rosemary Roberts

A rather silly solution to the first numbers game, but it illustrates a useful trick:

((75 / 3) * 4 + 9) * 6 = 654

I always think the division operator gets short shrift, so I take every chance to use it.

Rosemary Roberts

I always thought specialty was an American word, and specialIty was the British version. I personally have never heard anyone in England say specialty in conversation YET, but perhaps it is another one of those that are creeping in through the proliferation of American films and TV. If it were mere...

Rosemary Roberts

Germany had a network of autobahns before the war. Hitler was very keen on the Reichsautobahnen. They were much promoted, both as propaganda and as a means of reducing unemployment. During the war, people demolished some sections in order to harvest the tarmac as fuel. No doubt they risked being sh...

Rosemary Roberts

Clive Brooker wrote:We need a partnership version of Countdown?

That could be fun - the "stronger" player being the one who can persuade his* partner to play his* dubious 8 instead of her* well-founded 9. But I'm not sure it would be Countdown as we know it.

* or vice versa, of course.

Rosemary Roberts

So in fact what you mean is the world doesn't need more bad meta-analyses, conducted by people who don't understand statistics (that is to say, like most scientists I've encountered). I find it surprising that someone with a maths degree would not construct their statements (like "If there is ...

Rosemary Roberts

Tell me, do you have a background in statistics? Because it sounds like you don't really know what you're talking about. Umm, medical meta-analyses have saved thousands of lives. I wasn't intending to imply anything about medical research or meta-analyses of same, which is much better designed and ...

Rosemary Roberts

Patronising and wrong, good work. Have you tried the Daily Mail? You might like it. Patronising, certainly, that was intentional because I know how annoying it is. But how am I wrong. Most of the arguments carried out online - even here - are entirely pointless. And yes, I have tried the Daily Mail...

Rosemary Roberts

Also, it would not be very hard to research something like that. The most obvious thing that springs to mind is to just do a meta-analysis of the hundreds, if not thousands, of papers already looking at boys vs girls. I could probably do something like that in my spare time - not everything needs a...

Rosemary Roberts

So to summarise your argument, "I'm old, now shut up." I think there was a little more in my argument than that. And it was you that said In the absence of real data, it's just as wrong to assume that two groups of people are equally good as to assume that one is better than the other. Th...

Rosemary Roberts

Not only does talent not correlate to sex How do you know that? Well - to take a small sample - look at you, look at me. From where I sit it is entirely obvious that you are just as talented as I was at your age. Maybe a bit more, but not a lot, and I could also knit, write comic verse and bake par...

Rosemary Roberts

we just don't know how many young girls are given similar training and turn out to be rubbish. ... or boys ... Not only does talent not correlate to sex, it doesn't correlate to "putting oneself forward" either. Look at all the people who turn up hoping to be a Superstar and turn out to b...

Rosemary Roberts

David Roe wrote:Mine's not a snap judgement, I've had 27 years thinking about it. (Which of course doesn't mean it can't be wrong.)

I'm sure that that, on the other hand, is absolutely right !

Rosemary Roberts

I remember a 15 year old winning a few years back, and the presenter (can't remember who) saying she was the youngest ever female winner. I don't think that's changed. So, in 27 years, there's never been a girl champion under 15, while boys under 15 have had several Octochamps? It almost certainly ...

Rosemary Roberts

And girls are still indoctrinated, from an early age, not to put themselves forward. I would guess that modern girls put up more of a fight than in my day, but there is still a lot of unwillingness to stand out. But you lads are all fathers, sons, brothers and/or paramours: why aren't you encouragin...

Rosemary Roberts

As regards climate change, I consider it to be entirely a scientific issue. What exactly is happening and what is causing it (and what not) is not a matter of opinion, and therefore not a political question. Why is it not a matter of opinion? I don't think scientists have all the answers. You (pres...

Rosemary Roberts

Howard Somerset wrote:... I was suffering a bit yesterday... too much wine with the meal.

Poor you !

Rosemary Roberts

Jon Corby wrote:If cardboard pigs don't make a difference, I don't know what will.

IAWTP

Rosemary Roberts

Why is it that hardly anyone has entered discussion on the cruel life of 'farmed' animals rather than the death. Death is no problem to any of us; it is life that is the problem - if you see what I mean. I agree. I have always thought that anyone who is genuinely upset by the cruel treatment of far...

Rosemary Roberts

Gavin Chipper wrote:It's cool to be against wearing fur.

Particularly in winter.

Rosemary Roberts

If people are making a serious attempt to look beyond their own biases and engage in thoughtful discussion about a problem that could potentially be improved by political action, I don't think that deserves to be labelled as axe grinding. True. But in my experience, they aren't. And I don't believe...

Rosemary Roberts

and it sounded like you were dismissing any attempt to discuss it in a political context as axe-grinding I'm afraid that is pretty much what I do dismiss - I don't ever hear any cogent arguments from any sides, only the grinding of axes. So far as I have observed in quite a long life, politics is o...

Rosemary Roberts

your territory? p.s. Our territory. what exactly makes the off-topic forum your territory? I don't agree with a lot of what Stuart said but he has every right to make his point on here. Of course this is your territory, Charlie, and ours, Stuart, I wasn't intending to claim any exclusive rights. I ...

Rosemary Roberts

The meat industry is bad for other moral reasons... You're citing climate change as a moral issue? I strongly disagree. Nor is it a political one, any more than nuclear power is a moral or political issue. Both are scientific questions that are artificially moralicised* and politicised by people wi...

Rosemary Roberts

My father was a church organist and choirmaster. One of the ladies in his choir was Annie Mann, which apparently occasioned much merriment when they sang Psalm 147, in which the Lord "hath no pleasure in the strength of an horse, neither delighteth he in Annie Mann's legs ". You probably h...

Rosemary Roberts

Complaining about lack of poll options is like saying "why did you write this romance novel, a thriller would've been much better." You can't criticise things for what they aren't. Where appropriate I could certainly say "the romantic parts of this novel are crap, but the thrilling p...

Rosemary Roberts

Jon Corby wrote:Why does nobody understand "which of the following"?

We understand it all right, we just don't agree with the choices offered.

I really wouldn't have picked you as the one to insist on slavish compliance with an arbitrary set of rules.

Rosemary Roberts

Ian Fitzpatrick wrote:
Derek Hazell wrote:
Which of the following is your favourite double act?
Morecambe and Wise
The Two Ronnies
Little and Large
Cannon and Ball
Matt Morrison and Phil Reynolds
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore by a long way

French & Saunders by a mile

Rosemary Roberts

Finished my blog :D I've put it here in its very own thread! But where's "here" Dinos ? http://i44.tinypic.com/sfz82e.jpg I'm sure there's a joke to be made about a weak link. Thanks, Matt. I evidently am the weakest link. I just naturally assumed that "here" was a hot link.

Rosemary Roberts

Dinos Sfyris wrote:Finished my blog I've put it here in its very own thread! Be warned its very long-winded! Unfortunately there was a malady with the data tables I copied and pasted from Word. Is there a better way of putting stuff like that in?

Cheers

Dinos

But where's "here" Dinos ?

Rosemary Roberts

JackHurst wrote:Does anyone else agree that todays conundrum was possibly the most blatantly obvious one of the series?

It must have been - even I got it immediately.

Rosemary Roberts

Day One of another week's Countdown and Gyles is losing no time in invading Susie's personal space. He is really annoying and the team need to help Susie out of this - or did they? What a space-invading wanker and at his age he has not learnt. I found Gyles so frustratingly annoying today. Is respe...

Rosemary Roberts

Rosemary, You modern Ladies never cease to amaze me with your knowledge. When I was a young man, Ladies used to just sit in an armchair knitting socks. Surely not, George. I'm sure your mother did a great deal more with her life than that, even if most of her time was probably spend waiting on your...

Rosemary Roberts

As for not stopping and technology. No, it was not solved. Nowadays you do have computers running the interlocking systems that are supposed to prevent serious crashes. But even the most failsafe software boasts only of "99.99% availability", and over a year that works out at rather more ...

Rosemary Roberts

FROTTED isn't in the dictionary yet sadly, but for those of you who like slang, frotting is rubbing yourself up against the person in front of you in a queue. That's FROTTAGE, which is in the dictionary, although there's no verb form. Ah yes, also understood to mean "I notice you are wearing s...

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