Search found 14567 matches

by Gevin Chapwell
Sun Jun 14, 2026 9:46 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: The Dead of 2026
Replies: 39
Views: 13793

Re: The Dead of 2026

by Gevin Chapwell
Thu Jun 11, 2026 9:50 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: New blog
Replies: 1
Views: 88

Re: New blog

Exciting times.
by Gevin Chapwell
Tue Jun 09, 2026 12:05 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Weird stuff that's happened to you
Replies: 25
Views: 16113

Re: Weird stuff that's happened to you


This thread has been dormant for too long.

When I was at primary school, I had to walk up the road to where my mum had parked the car. I think she would come to the school to meet us, but I would often go on ahead anyway. In any case I wasn't with any family members at this point. I was walking ...
by Gevin Chapwell
Sun Jun 07, 2026 10:11 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Greatest Ever Sportsman?
Replies: 148
Views: 106570

Re: Greatest Ever Sportsman?

I think a lot of people would have a problem with voting for an F1 driver, since so much of it is about having the best car. And so few people get to do it in the first place so it's a smaller pool of talent than a lot of other sports.
by Gevin Chapwell
Sat Jun 06, 2026 8:58 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: The Dead of 2026
Replies: 39
Views: 13793

Re: The Dead of 2026

Alex Zanardi, Kyle Busch (both racing drivers) and Judith Chalmers all died in May.
by Gevin Chapwell
Fri Jun 05, 2026 4:20 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: The Dead of 2026
Replies: 39
Views: 13793

Re: The Dead of 2026

Anthony Head. There will quite a few gaps to fill in as well.
by Gevin Chapwell
Fri Jun 05, 2026 11:57 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 3rd June 2026
Replies: 3
Views: 236

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 3rd June 2026

Yep! Charlie took it down because it had problems and was also causing problems with the wiki. It's now been updated and hopefully things will be better!
by Gevin Chapwell
Thu Jun 04, 2026 10:09 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 3rd June 2026
Replies: 3
Views: 236

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 3rd June 2026

Just looking further at the Discord, apparently there was some adjudication chat but he hadn't declared that it wasn't written down, which seemed to have swayed it, though I'm not sure it should have gone to that since he did the whole thing before saying he'd gone wrong.
by Gevin Chapwell
Thu Jun 04, 2026 10:02 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 3rd June 2026
Replies: 3
Views: 236

Spoilers for Wednesday 3rd June 2026

Charlie got the solution to his 3-away 575 correct (target was 578), but incorrectly said he'd gone wrong after he'd completed it, so he should have got the points. Just been on the Discord and people seem to agree.
by Gevin Chapwell
Mon Jun 01, 2026 11:38 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Is c4c up?
Replies: 10
Views: 291

Re: Is c4c up?



New logo
Secure HTTPS site
Gevin dissatisfied


Nature is healing!


Thank you for doing the update of course, and hopefully the problems will settle down. One weird thing that seems to be happening is that when I try to log in on my phone it tells me I've got the password wrong, but it ...
by Gevin Chapwell
Mon Jun 01, 2026 7:31 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Is c4c up?
Replies: 10
Views: 291

Re: Is c4c up?

Yes!

Though I am still getting:
Resource Limit Is Reached
The website is temporarily unable to service your request as it exceeded resource limit. Please try again later.
by Gevin Chapwell
Fri Apr 10, 2026 3:37 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: The Dead of 2026
Replies: 39
Views: 13793

Re: The Dead of 2026

Well we had Ians Huntley and Watkins so we probably waived that a while ago.
by Gevin Chapwell
Thu Apr 09, 2026 1:26 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Are North American Spellings Invalid like US Spellings?
Replies: 1
Views: 313

Re: Are North American Spellings Invalid like US Spellings?

Do the rules just say US spellings? I've wondered this before.

Edit - Having done a search, it generally seems that North American should be OK. Not sure if this has been tested on the show though.
by Gevin Chapwell
Wed Apr 08, 2026 10:10 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold
Replies: 558
Views: 887214

Re: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold

The moon is pre-fucked. The Earth a few degrees warmer than it is now is still infinitely more habitable than the moon. There's not much you can do to Earth to make the moon a more attractive place to live on.
by Gevin Chapwell
Wed Apr 08, 2026 2:47 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold
Replies: 558
Views: 887214

Re: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold

This trip round the moon is at best only marginally less frivolous than that Katy Perry trip.

I know I said elsewhere about them having to get a move on if they want there to continuously be someone living who has been to the moon, but this is purely for something along the lines of bragging rights ...
by Gevin Chapwell
Wed Apr 08, 2026 9:40 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: What films have you watched lately?
Replies: 516
Views: 930026

Re: What films have you watched lately?

Watched Project Hail Mary at the weekend, partly based on your recommendation. I thought it was OK but it was really just a poor man's The Martian. Seemed messier and less coherent. Bits that didn't really make sense. So a bit disappointed.
by Gevin Chapwell
Wed Apr 08, 2026 9:38 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Stand-up comedy
Replies: 117
Views: 105184

Re: Stand-up comedy

YouTube is much more accessible btw.
by Gevin Chapwell
Sun Mar 29, 2026 8:25 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1849
Views: 2580097

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

Well yeah. It's pretty insane when you think about it.
by Gevin Chapwell
Sat Mar 28, 2026 7:01 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1849
Views: 2580097

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

According to the Wikipedia article about daylight saving time in Australia:
Of the states that observe DST, most began on the last Sunday in October, and ended on the last Sunday in March, until 2007.
So it was a thing that they did it at the same time as us. It just isn't any more.
by Gevin Chapwell
Fri Mar 27, 2026 10:41 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1849
Views: 2580097

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

I'm not sure that what you said about Australia addresses anything I've said.

(Which was that I thought I'd heard that in the southern hemisphere they generally also changed their clocks at around the same time as us - so late March / October - which would make it asymmetrical compared to us as ...
by Gevin Chapwell
Fri Mar 27, 2026 9:10 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1849
Views: 2580097

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

Well 6/6 would be logical if it was the same dates in the southern hemisphere (which I thought it generally was). But it should be symmetrical around the solstaces, so I agree there.

That's if they do it at all. I've never quite seen the point myself. You get the same number of hours of light and ...
by Gevin Chapwell
Thu Mar 26, 2026 10:54 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Questions you've always wanted answered
Replies: 1849
Views: 2580097

Re: Questions you've always wanted answered

Probably. We lose an hour.

What I want to know is why is the split 7 months in BST and 5 months in GMT? As far as I understand most countries, including in the southern hemisphere, change their clocks at a similar time, so some countries will have the 7/5 split the other way round in terms of ...
by Gevin Chapwell
Thu Mar 26, 2026 10:11 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: 4-year-old numberist
Replies: 20
Views: 12888

Re: 4-year-old numberist

I've seen the Rachel one before actually. Nothing there really changes the probabilities. I would have expected a top tier number player to look at the 625 and immediately see 50*25/2 though rather than 13×50-25. But maybe I'm wrong.
by Gevin Chapwell
Wed Mar 25, 2026 9:50 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: 4-year-old numberist
Replies: 20
Views: 12888

Re: 4-year-old numberist

I'll have a look at some point but I think we've already basically proved that it's not 100% genuine even if it's 87% genuine.
by Gevin Chapwell
Wed Mar 25, 2026 3:56 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 25th March 2026 (Series 93, Heat 58)
Replies: 4
Views: 782

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 25th March 2026 (Series 93, Heat 58)

The 555 could have been done knowing that 525 is one of the numbers you can make with just the 4 larges. 25×(75-50)-100 + 3×10 = 555.
by Gevin Chapwell
Tue Mar 24, 2026 4:41 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 24th March 2026 (Series 93, Heat 57)
Replies: 6
Views: 752

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 24th March 2026 (Series 93, Heat 57)

John Garcia wrote: Tue Mar 24, 2026 4:23 pm
Gevin Chapwell wrote: Tue Mar 24, 2026 3:18 pm SONNIES as a beater in one of the rounds.
I had that as a candidate word too, but it's not valid in the current dictionary. Did it used to be in?
I presume so. It's on Apterous and this thing.
by Gevin Chapwell
Tue Mar 24, 2026 3:18 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 24th March 2026 (Series 93, Heat 57)
Replies: 6
Views: 752

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 24th March 2026 (Series 93, Heat 57)

SONNIES as a beater in one of the rounds.

I thought 41×8 was the obvious way to go for 328. 5×9-4 or 4×9+5 and then 4+5-1.

We started off this series so promisingly with octochamps but now we've completely dried up. Not getting 10 now.
by Gevin Chapwell
Sat Mar 21, 2026 10:35 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Interesting things that aren't necessarily completely obvious
Replies: 70
Views: 91668

Re: Interesting things that aren't necessarily completely obvious

Pronounced by the lecturers? They're not the objective arbiters though.
by Gevin Chapwell
Sat Mar 21, 2026 8:50 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: The Dead of 2026
Replies: 39
Views: 13793

Re: The Dead of 2026

We had a whole conversation about Chuck Norris.
by Gevin Chapwell
Fri Mar 20, 2026 3:17 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: The Dead of 2026
Replies: 39
Views: 13793

Re: The Dead of 2026

Until recently I assumed Chuck Norris was some old singer like Chuck Berry or Chubby Checker. Chevy Chase fell into the same bracket.
by Gevin Chapwell
Wed Mar 18, 2026 10:33 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Monday 2nd March 2026 (Series 93, Heat 41)
Replies: 13
Views: 1907

Re: Spoilers for Monday 2nd March 2026 (Series 93, Heat 41)

OK, it's Jigsaw. I discussed it with a few people and that's what came out of it. It was something I considered but wasn't really aware of most of the connections.
by Gevin Chapwell
Wed Mar 18, 2026 6:33 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Monday 2nd March 2026 (Series 93, Heat 41)
Replies: 13
Views: 1907

Re: Spoilers for Monday 2nd March 2026 (Series 93, Heat 41)

Sophie Ellis-Bexter's mum (Janet Ellis?) has been on Blue Peter? If it's that, I wouldn't have got it from most of the clues. But it's not really early 80s specifically anyway so probably not that. Am I in the right ballpark? Blue Peter does sound like a good baddie though.
by Gevin Chapwell
Sun Mar 15, 2026 7:36 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Greatest Ever Sportsman?
Replies: 148
Views: 106570

Re: Greatest Ever Sportsman?

Fred Mumford wrote: Sat Oct 20, 2018 10:31 pm The one potentially valid argument against Bradman is that he only dominated one aspect of his sport - he was not outstanding as a bowler or fielder.
True but most sports don't have people having to take part in such explicitly different activities at different times.
by Gevin Chapwell
Sun Mar 15, 2026 7:33 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Greatest Ever Sportsman?
Replies: 148
Views: 106570

Re: Greatest Ever Sportsman?



Fair point in its way, but then if you only include sports that all the world plays, are you left with anything but athletics and football? And possibly not even football, given the almost total lack of interest in China and India?
You've reminded me of something I saw ages ago. Someone (in ...
by Gevin Chapwell
Tue Mar 10, 2026 10:08 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold
Replies: 558
Views: 887214

Re: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold



Whatever one thinks of people like Ian Huntley and Ian Watkins (or anyone called Ian), prisons should be able to protect them from other prisoners.


Having seen who's allegedly done him in, I'm wondering if that person thinks he's higher on the moral crime scale compared to Huntley. If so, we ...
by Gevin Chapwell
Tue Mar 10, 2026 12:00 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdowners in the news
Replies: 331
Views: 445326

Re: Countdowners in the news

Do you all remember this?


I wasn't sure where to put this, but I might as well use the de facto Richard Brittain thread. Does Richard Brittain have a brother? Go to this week's Question Time at about 12:56.
This is a brilliant shout. I urge people to check it out. I would send a screencap but ...
by Gevin Chapwell
Mon Mar 09, 2026 3:45 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Joke Items
Replies: 263
Views: 232266

Re: Joke Items

Crufts.
by Gevin Chapwell
Mon Mar 09, 2026 3:10 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Monday 9th March 2026 (Series 93, Heat 46)
Replies: 4
Views: 1080

Spoilers for Monday 9th March 2026 (Series 93, Heat 46)

On at 3:40 today. Why did no-one tell me?
by Gevin Chapwell
Mon Mar 09, 2026 3:07 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold
Replies: 558
Views: 887214

Re: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold



Whatever one thinks of people like Ian Huntley and Ian Watkins (or anyone called Ian), prisons should be able to protect them from other prisoners.


I always think smoking gun evil murders or paedos should get the option of lethal injection or run the risk of being murdered
Either way the ...
by Gevin Chapwell
Mon Mar 09, 2026 11:01 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold
Replies: 558
Views: 887214

Re: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold

Whatever one thinks of people like Ian Huntley and Ian Watkins (or anyone called Ian), prisons should be able to protect them from other prisoners.
by Gevin Chapwell
Sun Mar 08, 2026 9:03 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Politics in General
Replies: 1789
Views: 4065814

Re: Politics in General

Marc Meakin wrote: Sun Mar 08, 2026 6:55 am I see Kier Starmer is really running with this stop the boats idea....by not involving tge royal navy in Trumps war.
(Yes I know The Royal Navy has ships mainly)
Ships are just big boats.
by Gevin Chapwell
Sun Mar 08, 2026 9:03 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Politics in General
Replies: 1789
Views: 4065814

Re: Politics in General


Ok so if you've been caught doing something bad at home to try and deflect attention away from that you pick a fight with one of your enemies.

Isn't this exactly what Trump is doing ?


Well yeah. Start an illegal war with no particular objective. Just make it up as you go along. And all the ...
by Gevin Chapwell
Sat Mar 07, 2026 2:07 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: The Dead of 2026
Replies: 39
Views: 13793

Re: The Dead of 2026

by Gevin Chapwell
Fri Mar 06, 2026 10:30 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdowners in the news
Replies: 331
Views: 445326

Re: Countdowners in the news

That's a good point. When I saw the solution I didn't see it that way!
by Gevin Chapwell
Fri Mar 06, 2026 1:13 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdowners in the news
Replies: 331
Views: 445326

Re: Countdowners in the news

It still involves doing 618 × 75 / 50 to get 927 (and then adding 25). And because you're not allowed intermediate fractions (like 1.5), you still end up going to 46,350. In any case I'd say it's unlikely that a contestant not versed in 4 large would have seen that.
by Gevin Chapwell
Thu Mar 05, 2026 2:38 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Coincidence
Replies: 247
Views: 248536

Re: Coincidence

Fucking hell.
by Gevin Chapwell
Tue Mar 03, 2026 10:28 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold
Replies: 558
Views: 887214

Re: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold

To follow up on that, we have:

Buzz Aldrin (96)
David Scott (93)
Charles Duke (90)
Harrison Schmitt (90)

So we probably don't have that long to get someone to the moon if we want there to continuously be a living person who has been to the moon.
by Gevin Chapwell
Mon Mar 02, 2026 3:49 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold
Replies: 558
Views: 887214

Re: Unpopular opinions you genuinely hold


I don't think we will ever a man walk on the moon, this century


I was just going through this thread and came across this. While I'm still not sure about your claim, it seems likely now that there will be a time quite soon when there are no living people who have walked on the moon. Given the ...
by Gevin Chapwell
Mon Mar 02, 2026 1:40 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: the Countdowners Outside Co:Event Meet-ups game (COCMEAT)
Replies: 99
Views: 182400

Re: the Countdowners Outside Co:Event Meet-ups game (COCMEAT)


I'm going to rewrite my list:

Jon O'Neill (various, probably the first time was at Chelmsford parkrun)
Mark Deeks (various, probably the first time was on election night in 2015, and he also came to mine with Jen)
Matt Morrison (various, been to his flat several times)
Heather Badcock (various ...
by Gevin Chapwell
Mon Mar 02, 2026 1:27 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: The Dead of 2026
Replies: 39
Views: 13793

Re: The Dead of 2026

Fartlek is when you're alternating running hard / easy, rather than actually walking.
by Gevin Chapwell
Mon Mar 02, 2026 1:26 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 13th January 2026 (Series 93, Heat 7)
Replies: 13
Views: 8371

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 13th January 2026 (Series 93, Heat 7)

It's also a bit like MERER, MEREST. No-one ever says MERER but it's just valid because MERE is one syllable.
by Gevin Chapwell
Mon Mar 02, 2026 10:42 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 13th January 2026 (Series 93, Heat 7)
Replies: 13
Views: 8371

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 13th January 2026 (Series 93, Heat 7)

We've discussed all this before. MINUTEST is in as its own thing for emphasis when something is really small. It's not there as superlative, even if it happens to take that form. (It's arguably a bizarre stance but that's why they've skipped the comparative.)

As for the not enough time thing, it ...
by Gevin Chapwell
Sat Feb 28, 2026 8:20 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: The Dead of 2026
Replies: 39
Views: 13793

Re: The Dead of 2026

Runner Jeff Galloway who "Jeffing" (meaning run/walking) was named after.
by Gevin Chapwell
Sat Feb 28, 2026 6:29 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Introducing... the H2H-o-Matic!
Replies: 40
Views: 43861

Re: Introducing... the H2H-o-Matic!

Ian Volante wrote: Sat Feb 28, 2026 6:07 pm Elo, rather than ELO
Yes, because it's from Arpad Elo rather than Electric Light Orchestra.
by Gevin Chapwell
Sat Feb 28, 2026 2:20 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Words and expressions that grind your gears
Replies: 135
Views: 100049

Re: Words and expressions that grind your gears

On e.g. a Facebook post "Love this!" as a response seems to have become a thing and there's something quite grating about it that's hard to fully explain.
by Gevin Chapwell
Fri Feb 27, 2026 10:44 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 27th February 2026 (Series 93, Heat 40)
Replies: 5
Views: 1246

Re: Spoilers for Friday 27th February 2026 (Series 93, Heat 40)

Oh yeah. Just watched it back. I think I was having a conversation over that bit.