Search found 4063 matches

by Michael Wallace
Mon May 20, 2013 10:41 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: C4C Fantasy Football
Replies: 174
Views: 68768

Re: C4C Fantasy Football

Yeah, I thought we'd already talked about this on here, but if we have it wasn't in this thread. I've been in a league with some friends for years, and I don't like to battle on more than one front because of strategy and stuff.
by Michael Wallace
Sun May 19, 2013 10:20 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: C4C Fantasy Football
Replies: 174
Views: 68768

Re: C4C Fantasy Football

Well done to Jen, the better player definitely won! Well done Ed too! But we must give massive congratulations to Michael "Raccoon" Wallace, who came 55th IN THE WORLD this season. Quite incredible! :oops: (Just goes to show what a statistics PhD and wasting far too much time on Fantasy F...
by Michael Wallace
Mon Apr 15, 2013 9:37 pm
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: University Challenge 2012/2013
Replies: 28
Views: 9662

Re: University Challenge 2012/2013

Yep, shame these two teams 'had' to meet in the semis - clearly the best in the series, I think (although upsets can always happen, of course). Tom made more than his share of contributions tonight, but his team didn't quite pick up the slack (and the captain was a touch trigger-happy, but that's un...
by Michael Wallace
Fri Apr 12, 2013 11:58 pm
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: University Challenge 2012/2013
Replies: 28
Views: 9662

Re: University Challenge 2012/2013

A nice little mention: Tom's semi-final against UCL is on this Monday at 8pm on BBC Two. 8-) Sucks that the two unbeaten teams have to play each other in the semis (although I guess they want to delay a rematch until the final). Serious conflict of interests for me, being both a UCL and Cambridge a...
by Michael Wallace
Thu Apr 11, 2013 2:53 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683612

Re: Ask Graeme?

Graeme Cole wrote:An answer to my earlier question
Only just seen this, thanks - pretty interesting. (I don't really have anything to add right now, but didn't want to seem like I'd just ignored it.)
by Michael Wallace
Wed Apr 03, 2013 11:33 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683612

Re: Ask Graeme?

It would be interesting to know how many apterites there were in each series: looking at averages across all games is presumably going to considerably dilute any apto-effect. Could you look at median winning margin in heat games of series finalists?
by Michael Wallace
Wed Mar 27, 2013 5:15 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday March 27th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 15)
Replies: 29
Views: 6371

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday March 27th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim

Jon O'Neill wrote:Can anybody else think of any good contenders for greatest nine of all time?
FLORUITED
by Michael Wallace
Tue Mar 26, 2013 11:05 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday March 26th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 13)
Replies: 34
Views: 6790

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday March 26th 2013 (Series 68 Prelim 1

If they had kept all the apterites separate in series 64 and 66 (the two series in which an octochamp had beaten 4 other apterites) then all the finalists would have been apterites which seems a bit unfair on the non-apterite good players. It's curious that you describe that as 'unfair': it's not l...
by Michael Wallace
Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:07 am
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: University Challenge 2012/2013
Replies: 28
Views: 9662

Re: University Challenge 2012/2013

Cracking stuff again. I can imagine Tom was gritting his teeth both times St. George's got a set of (very easy) maths bonuses and proceeded to guffaw their way through getting them wrong.

I just hope you don't come up against UCL in the semis, my loyalties will be split!
by Michael Wallace
Mon Mar 18, 2013 9:25 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday March 18th 2013
Replies: 18
Views: 4459

Re: Spoilers For Monday March 18th 2013

I was quite surprised that, when declared in R1, BASTARD wasn't bleeped out. Yes, a bit of double standards there, especially since BASTARDS was bleeped out in Series 61 . Weird. I guess BASTARD is considered a techincal term while BASTARDS is an insult... or someone just dropped the ball. Either w...
by Michael Wallace
Mon Mar 18, 2013 1:07 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683612

Re: Ask Graeme?

If the letters are shuffled face up, that could explain it. Humans can't consciously generate truly random sequences , mainly because repeated occurrences of the same thing don't look "random" enough to us. I can't be the only one who has been in the audience and seen the shuffling take p...
by Michael Wallace
Mon Mar 11, 2013 6:35 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Jacintha Saldanha
Replies: 54
Views: 9906

Re: Jacintha Saldanha

The vast majority of studies of people who survive suicide attempts show that their mental state clouds their judgement and that most who fail at killing themselves are glad that they weren't successful. That second point is an interesting claim - source(s)? Not trying to be a smart-arse, I'd just ...
by Michael Wallace
Mon Mar 04, 2013 5:26 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday March 4th 2013
Replies: 20
Views: 3945

Re: Spoilers For Monday March 4th 2013

(Weirdly, I saw that MINISCULE could have come up with a final vowel pick, and indeed LUMINESCE too, but I wouldn't have gone for MINUSCULE (weirdly this gets more hits in google than what I'd have deemed the common spelling - would be interested to hear everyone's thoughts on that). Wasn't MINISCU...
by Michael Wallace
Mon Mar 04, 2013 3:49 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown for Comic Relief
Replies: 205
Views: 46104

Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Mark Deeks wrote:There was one part that was fixed - the fact that a nine came out on radio.
Ha, I did wonder about that when I heard it (makes perfect sense to me to rig that, for all the reasons you've already given). Does Rachel know that you've swindled an extra fiver out of her though? :o
by Michael Wallace
Sat Mar 02, 2013 7:20 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown for Comic Relief
Replies: 205
Views: 46104

Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Looks like, rather impressively, there's no time effect on either player's max performance. I'll spare you the formal statistical details, but the hypothesis I tested was "Does $player's probability of scoring a max change over time?" with the answer being a pretty confident "no"...
by Michael Wallace
Sat Mar 02, 2013 6:54 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown for Comic Relief
Replies: 205
Views: 46104

Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

For which rounds did Rachel host? I'm doing some stats and figure it would be fun to see if there was a Rachel effect.
by Michael Wallace
Sun Feb 24, 2013 8:12 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683612

Re: Ask Graeme?

Oh yeah, just realized my query doesn't make sense given that I thought we were talking about declarations, rather than maxes. If we could have stats on declarations over the past few series that would be fun (and arguably more indicative of what sort of change the new format would have on scores)....
by Michael Wallace
Sat Feb 23, 2013 1:33 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: B'day Championship Spoilers For Friday February 22nd 2013
Replies: 81
Views: 18024

Re: B'day Championship Spoilers For Friday February 22nd 201

James Robinson wrote:If that says nothing of the tip quality of this series...
Oo-er.
by Michael Wallace
Fri Feb 22, 2013 10:13 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683612

Re: Ask Graeme?

Oh yeah, just realized my query doesn't make sense given that I thought we were talking about declarations, rather than maxes. If we could have stats on declarations over the past few series that would be fun (and arguably more indicative of what sort of change the new format would have on scores).
by Michael Wallace
Fri Feb 22, 2013 8:46 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Best ever contestants
Replies: 509
Views: 351677

Re: Best ever contestants

Unfortunately, 'chuckle' is another c4c euphemism.
by Michael Wallace
Fri Feb 22, 2013 3:26 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: B'day Championship Spoilers For Friday February 22nd 2013
Replies: 81
Views: 18024

Re: B'day Championship Spoilers For Friday February 22nd 201

Yep, max game (and so 28/29 maxes to boot). Was not expecting that. Some really cracking spots as well. Great times.
by Michael Wallace
Thu Feb 21, 2013 5:09 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Good news, Gevin!
Replies: 22
Views: 6736

Re: Good news, Gevin!

C4 seem to be struggling to get their afternoons right at the moment, and I hope they soon find a pattern that they can set in stone for a couple of years. I don't really understand why all the shite experimental quiz shows that won't last have to be on in Countdown's slot rather than the other way...
by Michael Wallace
Thu Feb 21, 2013 1:43 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Last night I was at a quiz and...
Replies: 41
Views: 10331

Re: Last night I was at a quiz and...

Ha, I remember at the time of his last reading of it that that would make an excellent quiz question. Glad to see someone else had the same idea.
by Michael Wallace
Wed Feb 20, 2013 7:33 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683612

Re: Ask Graeme?

Graeme, what is the average maximum available for a letters round and for a numbers round? Just wondering how much difference on average the proposed format change will make (I'm guessing about 2-3 points). Some sort of distribution around the average would also be quite useful. On this subject, it...
by Michael Wallace
Wed Feb 20, 2013 6:50 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Lotto Probability
Replies: 5
Views: 2147

Re: Lotto Probability

There are 20,475 ways of drawing four numbers from 28, and so if you then have to match the bonus as well (at odds of 1 in 28) that gives you a 1 in 573,300 of winning. Assuming I've understood the question correctly, of course.
by Michael Wallace
Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:15 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: B'day Championship Spoilers For Tuesday February 19th 2013
Replies: 13
Views: 4193

Re: B'day Championship Spoilers For Tuesday February 19th 20

Tony Atkins wrote:I was pleased to beat Jack on the PUTTIES round
Wasn't it PUTTIED?

And yeah, well played Jack, very solid performance. (I also fell for HARPSICORD)
by Michael Wallace
Sat Feb 16, 2013 8:13 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Pancake Day
Replies: 18
Views: 3385

Re: Pancake Day

Pancake Saturday here.
by Michael Wallace
Fri Feb 15, 2013 10:16 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: B'day Championship Spoilers For Thursday February 14th 2013
Replies: 66
Views: 13891

Re: B'day Championship Spoilers For Thursday February 14th 2

Jon Corby wrote:
David Williams wrote: But if you assume another definition, a portion of ravioli
Surely if this specific [mass noun] definition of ravioli isn't listed, this is a complete non-starter? lol ravioli isn't usually a starter, no
You got me, very good :)
by Michael Wallace
Thu Feb 14, 2013 4:09 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: B'day Championship Spoilers For Thursday February 14th 2013
Replies: 66
Views: 13891

Re: B'day Championship Spoilers For Thursday February 14th 2

Round 3: Lexplorer allows SALMONS. If Chris loses.... MP I'm sure I remember Susie saying that she WOULD allow SALMONS in a previous episode, due to the food ordering rule. Very odd. I could imagine she might have said that without double-checking as if it was just a "oh, and you could have ha...
by Michael Wallace
Thu Feb 14, 2013 1:59 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown mentions on other shows
Replies: 315
Views: 136979

Re: Countdown mentions on other shows

On Scott Mills' 'inneundo bingo' they just used a clip of (I think) of Jono's first episode from this series. It was just on now, so presumably on listen again it'll be about 58 minutes in.
by Michael Wallace
Wed Feb 13, 2013 11:02 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: B'day Championship Spoilers For Wednesday February 13th 2013
Replies: 44
Views: 11676

Re: B'day Championship Spoilers For Wednesday February 13th

Gavin Chipper wrote:Or she could have just said "I can't believe neither of you noticed that there was an S for BROMINES - what a pair of dickheads!"
I would love this. (New idea: Countdown 'late' where DC and Rachel are really insulting and contestants get double points for rude words.)
by Michael Wallace
Wed Feb 13, 2013 5:44 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: B'day Championship Spoilers For Wednesday February 13th 2013
Replies: 44
Views: 11676

Re: B'day Championship Spoilers For Wednesday February 13th

Yep, not much to add, although impressed with the Countdown Team for including Rachel's comment about the max game - I'd imagine it would pass most viewers by, but a nice touch for those of us 'in the know' :)
by Michael Wallace
Wed Feb 13, 2013 2:36 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Same Sex Marriage
Replies: 25
Views: 6458

Re: Same Sex Marriage

I'm all in favour of civil partnerships and think they should confer exactly the same rights as marriage, but I'm really confused about why same-sex couples would want the ceremony in church. I don't understand why, after centuries of persecution, couples would want their relationship validated by ...
by Michael Wallace
Mon Feb 11, 2013 3:59 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Birthday Championship Spoilers For Monday February 11th 2013
Replies: 28
Views: 8261

Re: Birthday Championship Spoilers For Monday February 11th

szodiac wrote:Perhaps it was a tactical ploy not to let Jonanthan in for an early 9 !?!?
I think this is clearly the only plausible explanation.
by Michael Wallace
Fri Feb 08, 2013 3:37 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Last night I was at a quiz and...
Replies: 41
Views: 10331

Re: Last night I was at a quiz and...

Ha, you started this thread on the same day I finally got around to starting a blog of all the quiz questions we miss.
by Michael Wallace
Tue Feb 05, 2013 5:19 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown for Comic Relief
Replies: 205
Views: 46104

Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Where is this happening? Presumably it would be pretty easy to get a few volunteers to host in rotation?
by Michael Wallace
Tue Feb 05, 2013 11:48 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: C4C Fantasy Football
Replies: 174
Views: 68768

Re: C4C Fantasy Football

Matt Morrison wrote:That's deep. Never thought about adjusting strategy per league. Maybe too deep.
Yeah, it's not really that important for the most part, but obviously can have implications if it's getting close towards the end of the season.
by Michael Wallace
Mon Feb 04, 2013 11:35 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: C4C Fantasy Football
Replies: 174
Views: 68768

Re: C4C Fantasy Football

Matt Morrison wrote:Lol @ manually comparing leagues with links and screenshots and dual windows and shit as being "easier" :)
Haha, fair. (I just mean if I actually 'play' in too many leagues I can't then give them all enough attention (from a strategy perspective).)
by Michael Wallace
Mon Feb 04, 2013 10:23 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: C4C Fantasy Football
Replies: 174
Views: 68768

Re: C4C Fantasy Football

Can someone link to the league for nosy parkers plz? Here it is . Dunno if you have to be registered to access it, probably not. Oh, and also here for the other one (that I'm not doing so well in). Cheers. (I have a team of my own, but like to keep my number of Fantasy football leagues relatively l...
by Michael Wallace
Mon Feb 04, 2013 2:17 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: C4C Fantasy Football
Replies: 174
Views: 68768

Re: C4C Fantasy Football

Can someone link to the league for nosy parkers plz?
by Michael Wallace
Sun Feb 03, 2013 12:54 pm
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Only Connect
Replies: 169
Views: 93636

Re: Only Connect

Update plz (unless you've been sworn to secrecy).
by Michael Wallace
Fri Feb 01, 2013 3:23 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Birthday Championship Spoilers For Friday February 1st 2013
Replies: 62
Views: 14836

Re: Birthday Championship Spoilers For Friday February 1st 2

Er. Was that a max game? I made that a max game.
by Michael Wallace
Thu Jan 31, 2013 12:26 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Birthday Championship Spoilers For Tuesday January 29th 2013
Replies: 26
Views: 7112

Re: Birthday Championship Spoilers For Tuesday January 29th

Kirk Bevins wrote:I quite enjoy the DC guests who play along and ask Susie "is xyz in"?
Why would anyone think that was a word?
by Michael Wallace
Sun Jan 27, 2013 7:54 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: A massive thanks !
Replies: 44
Views: 14423

Re: A massive thanks !

Clearly, people who are more put off by not being able to compete with the contestants than they are impressed by their ability are in the minority. I think this has been discussed to death on here already, but I'd be interested to know how true this is. Certainly when I was (much) younger I didn't...
by Michael Wallace
Wed Jan 23, 2013 5:29 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: 10 ways to improve Countdown Viewing Figures
Replies: 61
Views: 10659

Re: 10 ways to improve Countdown Viewing Figures

I'm curious - what was so good about the late 90s and early 00s? (I think this is a question that can be opened up to everyone.) My opening gambit: S Club 7.
by Michael Wallace
Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:15 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Birthday Championship Spoilers For Monday January 21st 2013
Replies: 34
Views: 5874

Re: Birthday Championship Spoilers For Monday January 21st 2

The obvious solution is to have apterous assign each player a measure of how much Susie likes them, and then allow/disallow slightly dodgy rules according to some probability distribution. I assume she'd be delighted if we wrote to her with a list of all the active apterous players (perhaps with a s...
by Michael Wallace
Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:57 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday January 17th 2013 (Birthday Prelim 9)
Replies: 57
Views: 11297

Re: Spoilers for Thursday January 17th 2012 (Birthday Prelim

James Robinson wrote:
Countdown Team wrote:Not enough attention to spot that this thread is dated 2012 though. Call that an equaliser !
Or today's for that matter :!: :!:
Spoilers!
by Michael Wallace
Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:37 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday January 11th (Birthday Prelim 5)
Replies: 46
Views: 14739

Re: Spoilers for Friday January 11th (Birthday Prelim 5)

On an interesting side note, this is the first "upset" according to Michael Wallace's predictor. (Nick was put at 15th at last check, Mark at 28th.) Yep, just noticed this myself. (Although for the sake of my reputation I should point out both of these guys are sufficiently regular player...
by Michael Wallace
Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:52 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Royal Statistical Society Christmas Quiz
Replies: 64
Views: 13931

Re: Royal Statistical Society Christmas Quiz

Ah, heh. Hopefully this now doesn't look like I was just trying a really blatant humblebrag (I think I have a weirdly strong familiarity with that particular song, although I've no idea why, and with all the really good spots in this thread I found the idea of being able to contribute a bit surprisi...
by Michael Wallace
Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:41 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Royal Statistical Society Christmas Quiz
Replies: 64
Views: 13931

Re: Royal Statistical Society Christmas Quiz

Maybe neither of you have said it explicitly because it's obvious, but surely the point is it's 76 trombones?
by Michael Wallace
Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:22 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday January 10th (Birthday Prelim 4)
Replies: 48
Views: 12125

Re: Spoilers for Thursday January 10th (Birthday Prelim 4)

Yep, cracking game, the early STOTTY set it up very nicely, although the 6 small pick really surprised me given apto-stats on it. I guess the plan was volaitility?
by Michael Wallace
Tue Jan 08, 2013 11:30 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown mentions on other shows
Replies: 315
Views: 136979

Re: Countdown mentions on other shows

I think the only way this thread could be made more exciting would be if we shared out stories of Countdown mentions on other quizzes. So here's tonight's exciting story: at our local pub quiz we were just asked for the first name of Lord Sugar's advisor who now presents the programme. Fun times.
by Michael Wallace
Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:30 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday January 8th 2013 (30th Prelim 2)
Replies: 37
Views: 6286

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday January 8th 2013 (30th Prelim 2)

Mark Deeks wrote:The undertone (which is pretty overt to me) is, if you're not an Apterite, you're not a favourite.
Is this a good time to mention the predict-o-matic had Kelly down as favourite in this one? 8-) 8-) 8-)
by Michael Wallace
Tue Jan 08, 2013 1:57 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Royal Statistical Society Christmas Quiz
Replies: 64
Views: 13931

Re: Royal Statistical Society Christmas Quiz

Bob De Caux wrote:Just those damn Olympians then... Why the revision? What's next on the Wallace Quiz Show tour?
It's an exciting surprise (by which I mean I'd rather wait until at least after the audition to mention it in public, given how jittery production people sometimes seem to get about secrecy).
by Michael Wallace
Tue Jan 08, 2013 1:45 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Royal Statistical Society Christmas Quiz
Replies: 64
Views: 13931

Re: Royal Statistical Society Christmas Quiz

Will keep you posted. It's an annoying gap, especially given that I've nailed the other 11 answers, and having the theme should make it relatively easy. Nevil Shute was only his pen name - I think Shute is his middle name, but his surname is Norway. Which is helpful Aha, awesome stuff (and reminds ...
by Michael Wallace
Tue Jan 08, 2013 1:09 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Royal Statistical Society Christmas Quiz
Replies: 64
Views: 13931

Re: Royal Statistical Society Christmas Quiz

Ian Volante wrote:Aye, found and discounted him.

Are you doing the quiz this year?
I had a quick look when it first appeared, but never got around to sitting down and giving it a proper go. (I'm interested to see what the correct author is, because that's a pretty good fake-out.)