Search found 935 matches
- Tue May 02, 2023 6:28 am
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Nobody in the world could beat you at X Y and Z
- Replies: 35
- Views: 6554
Re: Nobody in the world could beat you at X Y and Z
If I'm allowed to "adapt" Countdown to Greek Countdown (not an official show as far as I know, but you did say we were allowed to adapt shows), then - Greek Countdown - English Countdown - Table tennis I reckon the average Greek speaker could probably beat me at Greek Countdown, but my tac...
- Mon Apr 24, 2023 1:36 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Deathwatch 2017
- Replies: 467
- Views: 266255
Re: Deathwatch 2017
Actually died two days ago, it was just reported today!
- Sun Apr 23, 2023 2:30 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Politics in General
- Replies: 1645
- Views: 1801026
Re: Politics in General
Elliott, your experience sounds horrible. If someone collapsing with potentially a heart attack isn't an immediate medical emergency, I'm not sure what is. Well if they invested the money they spent on that pointless alert just then on getting more emergency services staff, this might have been a m...
- Fri Apr 21, 2023 8:33 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Politics in General
- Replies: 1645
- Views: 1801026
Re: Politics in General
Not sure if it's an ireland thing or just my personal GP but before covid you could basically turn up in the morning and join a queue to be seen up to about 12pm but then afternoons were for appointments that you've phoned for. Now you always have to phone but I think it's as you say Gavin. You pho...
- Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:29 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Politics in General
- Replies: 1645
- Views: 1801026
Re: Politics in General
I do hope the King's Coronation is safe as I don't think the police, MI5 and the combined armed services will fuck about if The King feels threatened Yeah I do hope that such an overprivileged and unelected figure can still have an extremely expensive and elaborate ceremony to further emphasise the...
- Wed Apr 19, 2023 7:25 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Politics in General
- Replies: 1645
- Views: 1801026
Re: Politics in General
Ah but Rhys doesn't *watch* GB news, he just Meanwhile my "working from home" schedule has turned into filtering data with GB News on in the background. I count having things on in the background and consuming their output as watching them. I don’t count having a news channel on in the bac...
- Mon Apr 03, 2023 7:38 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Countdown Memorabilia
- Replies: 31
- Views: 3612
Re: Countdown Memorabilia
Really cool topic.
Bertha Bourne lived a decade after that picture, too - dying in February 2004, aged 97.
Bertha Bourne lived a decade after that picture, too - dying in February 2004, aged 97.
- Wed Mar 29, 2023 7:15 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Stewart Wintle 1994-2022
- Replies: 6
- Views: 2201
Re: Stewart Wintle 1994-2022
I didn't want to revisit this thread ever again as it fills me with great sadness, but there is something that I have been made aware of today that I feel should be put on here. The family of Stewart were given the conclusive post-mortem results today. Although it was widely assumed, and taken as fa...
Re: ChatGPT
We asked it to provide a commentary of the sport of "competitive ageing", narrated by the reigning champion "Queen Ethel Caterham" (current oldest Brit, for those wondering). The competitors are the known 1913-born Brits. There were some preliminary prompts (such as nicknames we ...
Re: ChatGPT
Rhys, do you have to turn everything political? There's a whole politics thread for that, you know. It's really tiresome. We actually had a discussion about chatgpt and AI at our most recent jamboree at work - the general consensus being that, at least in our firm, we were firmly committed to "...
- Tue Feb 14, 2023 8:41 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Button Bashing Mayhem (another Sporcle game)
- Replies: 33
- Views: 6161
Re: Button Bashing Mayhem (another Sporcle game)
Discovered a particularly good system that I now employ, and hadn't considered before. PB now 229, which I think is about as good as I'll get.
- Tue Feb 14, 2023 7:12 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Button Bashing Mayhem (another Sporcle game)
- Replies: 33
- Views: 6161
Re: Button Bashing Mayhem (another Sporcle game)
I'm genuinely astonished at people getting 200+. I just can't do it because once I start going too fast I end up pressing the same button twice in a row.
- Mon Feb 13, 2023 6:31 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Button Bashing Mayhem (another Sporcle game)
- Replies: 33
- Views: 6161
Re: Button Bashing Mayhem (another Sporcle game)
This game here . My best is 222, which I thought was good when I set it, so it will be interesting to see how much you guys can deflate my ego this time. Mightily impressive, considering I couldn't get beyond 130 or so. The quicker I go, the more likely I am to accidentally type two in a row, which...
- Mon Feb 13, 2023 10:51 am
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Sporcle multiplication tables
- Replies: 20
- Views: 4683
Re: Sporcle multiplication tables
Depressing, more like.
- Mon Feb 13, 2023 8:50 am
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Sporcle multiplication tables
- Replies: 20
- Views: 4683
Re: Sporcle multiplication tables
Had another go this morning and got 1:11. This reminds me of a game that the kids at my mum's school do which tests how many arithmetic calculations up to 12*12 (and divisions) you can do in a minute. Some kids have gotten 90, and even 100+, and it always flummoxed me that they could do so many, sin...
- Sun Feb 12, 2023 6:14 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Sporcle multiplication tables
- Replies: 20
- Views: 4683
Re: Sporcle multiplication tables
Had a few goes and my best was 1:14. Even with my very best efforts, there was no way I could type quick enough to get sub-1 minute. Guess I've just not spent enough time in front of a computer to be able to type with the devastating efficiency that some people here apparently can!
- Fri Feb 10, 2023 9:31 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Which Is Your Favourite Joke?
- Replies: 48
- Views: 13938
Re: Which Is Your Favourite Joke?
That's genuinely a crap joke.Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Fri Feb 10, 2023 8:45 am This week's favourite joke:
I made a ventriloquist doll out of some old bits of carpet.
Its ruggish
- Wed Feb 08, 2023 9:14 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Extractions
- Replies: 9
- Views: 1095
Re: Extractions
I'm pretty sure they literally take minutes and you'll be recovered the same day.
- Tue Feb 07, 2023 9:54 am
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Countdown adjudication dictionary
- Replies: 103
- Views: 13531
Re: Countdown adjudication dictionary
Is this because you think the issue is too complicated for him to understand, or because you don't feel like writing to an MP is the way to solve this?Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 10:40 pm To clarify matters, I won't be writing to James Cleverly on this subject.
- Fri Jan 27, 2023 4:11 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Events
- Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
- Replies: 68
- Views: 8999
Re: Safeguarding at and around co-events
It's worrying that people would probably readily have signed up for this hypothetical event in 2022, and there might well have been children sign up too. Nobody would have known, even in spite of the fact he'd been on the sex offenders register since 2020. If there was any argument against DBS chec...
- Fri Jan 27, 2023 3:29 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Events
- Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
- Replies: 68
- Views: 8999
Re: Safeguarding at and around co-events
Graeme raises some fantastic points here, particularly this: The problem I'm trying to address is that this week, we discovered that even a respected and trusted participant in our community could be convicted, put on the sex offenders' register, and even have that reported in the press, and we coul...
- Fri Jan 27, 2023 11:19 am
- Forum: Countdown - Events
- Topic: Safeguarding at and around co-events
- Replies: 68
- Views: 8999
Re: Safeguarding at and around co-events
I'd definitely say that it should be a requirement that event organisers undergo a full DBS check for future events - obviously it doesn't weed out the people who simply haven't been caught yet, but I'd say it's far better to do *something* than nothing. The very blunt truth of the matter is that no...
- Thu Jan 12, 2023 6:48 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: REALLY obvious things you've just realised
- Replies: 644
- Views: 330873
Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised
I'm impressed you have managed to live for over half a century without learning this. Just wait until you find out what a titmouse is, or a gravy train, or a cat burglarMarc Meakin wrote: ↑Thu Jan 12, 2023 5:30 am The Elgin marbles are not a set of spheres but sculptures
- Sat Jan 07, 2023 7:07 pm
- Forum: apterous.org
- Topic: Game of the Year (GotY) 2022 - nominations
- Replies: 0
- Views: 2875
Game of the Year (GotY) 2022 - nominations
Evening, all! We've had Christmas, then New Year, and now it's time for the next big event of the season: Game of the Year :D I hope you all had an above average 2022, and if not then I hope you have a significantly better 2023. Please read the following carefully: Nominations The rules for nominati...
- Mon Jan 02, 2023 4:18 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Corrections to numbers methods on the wiki
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1914
Re: Corrections to numbers methods on the wiki
A few days ago, someone pointed out that the wiki page for a Countdown episode listed a contestant's method incorrectly, because it used a number twice. After fixing it, I ran a script on my database (which is derived from the wiki), and found there were hundreds of other cases where a supposedly v...
- Fri Nov 18, 2022 12:34 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: David Barnard, 1991-2022
- Replies: 85
- Views: 13100
Re: Please say a prayer for David Barnard
A very sad loss indeed - condolences to all his friends and family. Rest in peace, David, Countdown legend.
- Fri Nov 04, 2022 4:08 pm
- Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
- Topic: Spoilers for Friday 4 November 2022 (Series 86, Heat 100)
- Replies: 13
- Views: 1131
Re: Spoilers for Friday 4 November 2022 (Series 86, Heat 100)
MONOSES in r1
TOMELET in r2
MAJORAT in r4
TENESMUS in r10
TOMELET in r2
MAJORAT in r4
TENESMUS in r10
- Mon Oct 24, 2022 1:03 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Politics in General
- Replies: 1645
- Views: 1801026
Re: Politics in General
Perhaps if you could answer the questions above this post, we could then debate this.Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Mon Oct 24, 2022 12:38 pm Bob, my boss, and 1922 committee member, so therefore neutral, has told the press that Boris got 100.
So maybe all the “journalists” who said he was lying about it should apologise to him?
- Mon Oct 24, 2022 8:32 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Politics in General
- Replies: 1645
- Views: 1801026
Re: Politics in General
The BBC aren’t even trying to hide their bias any more. I don’t ever want to hear that Boris was given a fair time of it. https://twitter.com/nj_timothy/status/1584440848879882240?s=21&t=WskpPxSv1OM6eC41NlkJsg Inasmuch as I'm generally happy to accept that people are going to have different pol...
- Tue Oct 18, 2022 6:48 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Politics in General
- Replies: 1645
- Views: 1801026
Re: Politics in General
The world's worst journalist at it again. He's even acknowledged he's wrong, but left the original, fake news, tweet up... https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1580907218836553728?s=20&t=iFhugG3xB7L9XX0n1_lMsQ Yeah, a journalist who tells lies should be removed from the public eye and never be all...
- Mon Oct 17, 2022 7:47 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Crisps and confectionery
- Replies: 5
- Views: 410
Re: Crisps and confectionery
I bought some monster munch multipack as I was feeling nostalgic and one pack had FIVE monster munch in it. You should sell this story to The Sun. You've even nailed the capital letters touch :D I have actually found myself saying "when I was young" in sentences now, which is a little bit...
- Tue Oct 11, 2022 11:11 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Is modern life bad for society
- Replies: 10
- Views: 807
Re: Is modern life bad for society
Speak for yourself...Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Tue Oct 11, 2022 8:16 am ...and flirting is dying as the me too movement has made flirtatious behaviour a minefield.
- Sat Oct 01, 2022 1:28 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Things you can't un-notice
- Replies: 16
- Views: 1111
Re: Things you can't un-notice
I never said I didn't like reading them
- Sat Oct 01, 2022 12:23 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Things you can't un-notice
- Replies: 16
- Views: 1111
Re: Things you can't un-notice
The amount of topics that Marc Meakin creates.
- Fri Sep 09, 2022 12:54 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022
- Replies: 63
- Views: 4044
Re: Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022
Is that likely to be anything more than a bit of internet gossip, though? Obviously the palace is never going to actually declare what it was - they'll simply state it was "old age".
- Wed Aug 24, 2022 9:47 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Kurt Zouma and animal abuse
- Replies: 161
- Views: 14942
Re: Kurt Zouma and animal abuse
I'm not sure that's *quite* correct. Without the interference, you'd (in my opinion) actually have more cats being born because you'd have millions of unneutered horny cats roaming around, which would (if true, and I concede that I'm basing this on intuition) inevitably lead to far fewer mice and b...
- Wed Aug 24, 2022 8:00 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Kurt Zouma and animal abuse
- Replies: 161
- Views: 14942
Re: Kurt Zouma and animal abuse
If all pet cats were released completely in to the wild, they'd cause far, far more devastation to mice and birds. Birds and mice and simply further down the food chain than cats - it's completely natural. Stray cats live exclusively off prey that they kill, and they'd probably live in much the sam...
- Tue Aug 23, 2022 7:24 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Kurt Zouma and animal abuse
- Replies: 161
- Views: 14942
Re: Kurt Zouma and animal abuse
What's your opinion on keeping pets? The most obvious way this happens is to the animals 'your' "pet" animal eats. I have seen meatless "pet" food out there so maybe cats and dogs, just like humans, don't need to eat other animals to be healthy but I don't know enough about this...
- Tue Aug 23, 2022 10:56 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Kurt Zouma and animal abuse
- Replies: 161
- Views: 14942
Re: Kurt Zouma and animal abuse
Basically what Gavin said. I have the same inclination as you Fiona, but when I think about it I cannot for the life of me think of any rational justification for it. Is species a relevant distinction for the moral worth of individual experience? Would we save one white rhino rather than 1,000,000 ...
- Wed Aug 10, 2022 3:08 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: People you shouldn't trust
- Replies: 921
- Views: 482482
Re: People you shouldn't trust
Family members who gift framed photos of their kids to others. Like, great, another thing to file in a drawer out of sight. I'm not really sure why people imagine that you're going to want a picture of their grinning kid on the wall/mantlepiece staring at you - it just seems like a bizarre concept i...
- Sat Jul 23, 2022 9:11 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: C4C/apto/Countdown Dreams
- Replies: 759
- Views: 479792
Re: C4C/apto/Countdown Dreams
Time to revive this thread with a contribution from last night. It was my birthday, however I'd had no messages from anyone to wish me a happy birthday. I was especially disappointed that maus hadn't sent me any form of acknowledgement, and I started telling strangers that it was my birthday in orde...
- Mon Jul 11, 2022 6:56 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Wordle
- Replies: 81
- Views: 14462
Re: Wordle
Do many people even still play wordle? I haven't played it in months because it quickly got boring, and I've not really heard anyone speaking about it recently. Definitely feels like the hype has died down.
- Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:38 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Things you were crap at as a kid
- Replies: 12
- Views: 1012
Re: Things you were crap at as a kid
Not sure how you equate juggling and surfing with scoring a century at snooker. Maybe your definition of a kid is different to mine. I was thinking under 16. I have been to Cornwall as a kid and saw some kids surfing. My sister could juggle in her early teens and she wasn't especially talented (No ...
- Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:14 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Things you were crap at as a kid
- Replies: 12
- Views: 1012
Re: Things you were crap at as a kid
I was doing what most 50 somethings do at some point and was reminiscing about childhood days. I came to the conclusion I was shit at virtually everything Couldn't : Swim Juggle Do Rubiks Cube Skip solo Boomerangs didn't come back Handstands Cartwheels Pogo stick I was 14 when I learned to ride a b...
- Sun Jun 19, 2022 8:27 pm
- Forum: Games and Puzzles
- Topic: Unalike Words
- Replies: 6
- Views: 3357
Re: Unalike Words
I think SEAWORTHY DUCKLING deserves a mention for pleasingness, despite only scoring 72.
- Mon May 30, 2022 11:42 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Politics in General
- Replies: 1645
- Views: 1801026
Re: Politics in General
"I'm sorry, I didn't realise the speed limit was 30 for everyone. My mate told me that I could do 60, as he didn't think the rules applied to us. I didn't think it'd cause a crash." Except this is more like a police car speeding without bloos and toos. It’s a case of mistakes being made. ...
- Fri May 27, 2022 7:51 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Politics in General
- Replies: 1645
- Views: 1801026
Re: Politics in General
The Gray report is clear that Number 10’s staff clearly thought that as they were exempt from lockdown they were exempt from restrictions in total. I’m not sure you can pin that on the PM, to be honest. I think that’s on Martin Reynolds and other Number 10 officials. They then created a culture, te...
- Sun May 15, 2022 9:53 am
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Eurovision Song Contest 2022
- Replies: 23
- Views: 1979
Re: Eurovision Song Contest 2022
^^^ That's insane. Anyway, on further reflection, I would say that the UK song was the best and it's not even close so it's good that it came second behind the obvious winners. But it was still very close with the bland offerings from Spain and Sweden and with a relatively low televote for the UK, ...
- Mon May 09, 2022 1:15 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: C4C/apto/Countdown Dreams
- Replies: 759
- Views: 479792
Re: C4C/apto/Countdown Dreams
One from last night seemed to be set in the 1940s (I have 1945 in my head as being important in the dream, but not sure if this is accurate), since it turns out that maus, myself and some other people I can't recall (though Bradley may have been one) are trying to escape bombing by the nazis. Someho...
- Mon May 02, 2022 8:07 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Was Jeanne Calment a fraud?
- Replies: 70
- Views: 31217
Re: Was Jeanne Calment a fraud?
I thought I might come back to this topic after the death of Kane Tanaka . The other thing about the mortality plateau is that there doesn't seem to be any particular reason for believing that it is a consistent thing above 105 anyway. Even if we include Calment, we have nine reaching 117, and only...
- Mon May 02, 2022 9:10 am
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?
- Replies: 33
- Views: 10060
Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?
Jamie Wing messaged me the other day to say that he actually happened upon Julian Fell in a restaurant in Oxford recently. Julian was (unsurprisingly) quite perturbed to have been recognised, saying that it was the first time in 15 years that it had happened to him. Didn't chat much as he quite clea...
- Wed Apr 20, 2022 10:38 am
- Forum: Countdown - Events
- Topic: The future of COLIN
- Replies: 21
- Views: 3487
Re: The future of COLIN
I echo the other sentiments - as a relative newbie I've very much enjoyed Colin. Personally I don't think branded notepads/pens/coasters are necessary unless you have an excess of dosh to get rid of! As far as running at a loss, as long as you're keeping records, I'd feel inclined to add however mu...
- Wed Apr 20, 2022 9:17 am
- Forum: Countdown - Events
- Topic: The future of COLIN
- Replies: 21
- Views: 3487
Re: The future of COLIN
I know I'm not really in a great position to comment on this as I've never been an attendee myself, but at least from the perspective of feedback from friends who have been, it's something they hugely look forward to and supplies them with a great deal of enjoyment and social opportunities. Only you...
- Wed Apr 13, 2022 1:48 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Pig-Headed Man
- Replies: 56
- Views: 4883
Re: Pig-Headed Man
I am surprised it is the surprise birthday cake which has elicited a fine, not least because I’m not sure what Boris was meant to do there. Rishi and Carrie on the other hand should be in hotter water. They obviously thought it was OK at the time because it was reported in The Times at the time, an...
- Wed Apr 13, 2022 1:29 pm
- Forum: Countdown - General
- Topic: David Barnard, 1991-2022
- Replies: 85
- Views: 13100
Re: Please say a prayer for David Barnard
Absolutely crushing news. Didn't know him too much personally but he seemed very amiable and full of energy - my best wishes are with him and his loved ones at this time.
- Tue Apr 12, 2022 5:17 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: Pig-Headed Man
- Replies: 56
- Views: 4883
Re: Pig-Headed Man
There can be absolutely no excuse for this. They both need to go (along with all their other cronies). If they stay in power, then that is an extremely dangerous precedent.
- Sun Apr 10, 2022 4:48 pm
- Forum: apterous.org
- Topic: Game of the Year (GotY) 2021 - voting
- Replies: 8
- Views: 4234
Re: Game of the Year (GotY) 2021 - voting
Always a pleasure to run and commentate - much better than having it automated, don't you think?
- Sun Apr 10, 2022 8:50 am
- Forum: apterous.org
- Topic: Game of the Year (GotY) 2021 - voting
- Replies: 8
- Views: 4234
Re: Game of the Year (GotY) 2021 - voting
THE GotY 2021 POLL HAS NOW CLOSED.[/size][/b] A HUGE thank you to all those who nominated and voted this year. The standard this year was possibly the highest ever, and a very large number of 10s were dished out (deservedly!) Every game that was in the running this year had earnt its place, and it r...
- Sat Apr 09, 2022 8:42 am
- Forum: apterous.org
- Topic: Game of the Year (GotY) 2021 - voting
- Replies: 8
- Views: 4234
Re: Game of the Year (GotY) 2021 - voting
Last day!!!
- Mon Apr 04, 2022 5:25 pm
- Forum: Off-topic
- Topic: People you shouldn't trust
- Replies: 921
- Views: 482482
Re: People you shouldn't trust
People who say "x years young!" when talking about a person's birthday. It does not even make sense, and just sounds really ridiculous. Meh, just the use of an antonym for effect. There's probably a linguistic term for this, but I don't know what it is. I'm well aware of what it is, I jus...