Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[gatso]

You levelling me again Gatters?

nah, c&p job from that link

another word question prompted by my reading the guardian today

I saw earlier in the week that countdown had to reshoot a round recently when a contestant came up with 'shitface'. the word was perfectly acceptable under the rules but they couldn't air it so played again

now in today's paper I see that the one letter not used was a d so he could've got 'shitfaced'. any ideas why this wouldn't have been allowed? there's no way he didn't see it, he was an octochamp

[tikay]

You levelling me again Gatters?

nah, c&p job from that link

another word question prompted by my reading the guardian today

I saw earlier in the week that countdown had to reshoot a round recently when a contestant came up with 'shitface'. the word was perfectly acceptable under the rules but they couldn't air it so played again

now in today's paper I see that the one letter not used was a d so he could've got 'shitfaced'. any ideas why this wouldn't have been allowed? there's no way he didn't see it, he was an octochamp

A player "got through" the filters onto last night's Live Show, & I managd to stop just short of blurting out his name, as I worked round the Table, giving te player intros.

Mr IssacHunt so nearly cost me my job. Luckily, I nicked him Issac. He cashed, & the graphic called him Issac, too!

It's a weird mindset that takes out these iffy UserNames in the belief that they are funny.

PS - "octochamp"? You sure?!

[MereNovice]

You levelling me again Gatters?

nah, c&p job from that link

another word question prompted by my reading the guardian today

I saw earlier in the week that countdown had to reshoot a round recently when a contestant came up with 'shitface'. the word was perfectly acceptable under the rules but they couldn't air it so played again

now in today's paper I see that the one letter not used was a d so he could've got 'shitfaced'. any ideas why this wouldn't have been allowed? there's no way he didn't see it, he was an octochamp

Extremely interesting.
"Shitface" is valid but "shit-faced" appears to be hypenated in the Oxford English Dictionary.

He must have done a lot of studying of his dictionary to be aware of that if, indeed, he was.

I'm sure that it's only a matter of time before the hypen disappears - I use the word almost daily.

[MereNovice]

Please, no more spoilers for Countdown; I've only just caught up to the beginning of July.

octochamp :- a person who has won eight successive rounds of Countdown. Any self-respecting octogenarian should know that.

[gatso]

He must have done a lot of studying of his dictionary to be aware of that if, indeed, he was.

definitely aware, octochamps don't miss rogue Ds. the hyphen would explain it

PS - "octochamp"? You sure?!

yep, good word. wonder if it'll ever make the dictionary. I doubt countdown have ever got a word of their own in. I suspect they designed it as being 9 letters long intentionally

Please, no more spoilers for Countdown; I've only just caught up to the beginning of July.

I'm not sure that something that's never going to be aired counts as a spoiler

[EvilPie]

An Octochamp in action.

[TightEnd]

You must watch this tikay. Compellingly brilliant

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00vyrzh/The_First_World_War_from_Above/

The story of the Great War told from a unique new aerial perspective, featuring archive footage filmed from an airship and newly developed photographs taken by pilots.

[byronkincaid]

I'm a little concerned about the security.

My Full Tilt Account is protected by a long password full of letter and number and random ASCII characters, as well as an RSA security token generating a number I have to enter each time I log in. No token, no entry.

From what I can tell Sky Poker accounts are secured using a 4-digit pin number.

google lurts doesn't flag up awkward questions?

[I KNOW IT]

So, reading the A380 thing, & I went on a google journey everywhere.

Imagine this - Emirates Airlines have ninety (90!) of these things on order!

So that took me to the Emirates AirlinesWiki Page, & what a stonker that is. Emirates Air was only created in the mid 80's, is one of the few Airlines in the world to operate exclusively wide-bodied aircraft.

It is - or was - nominally run by Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum. Is he the Godolphin Stables Horse Racing bloke?

Their Wiki-page - one of the best I've ever seen, but seriously for geeks only - is here.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirates_(airline)

Tonight, I'll take that page, & the PPRuNe thread to bed with me, & get all excited.

I've not read the PPRuNe thread yet, so don't spoil the ending for me, please. Strictly X-Factor & Anne Widdecombe will just have to manage without me.

I fly Emirates (Mumbai -Dubai - Heathrow) when I return home  and the Dubai - Heathrow leg uses an A380. Great airline and fantastic aircraft. Unfortunately the Dubai - Birmingham flight uses a Boeing 777 but saves me a couple of hours of traveling.

[marcro]

You levelling me again Gatters?

nah, c&p job from that link

another word question prompted by my reading the guardian today

I saw earlier in the week that countdown had to reshoot a round recently when a contestant came up with 'shitface'. the word was perfectly acceptable under the rules but they couldn't air it so played again

now in today's paper I see that the one letter not used was a d so he could've got 'shitfaced'. any ideas why this wouldn't have been allowed? there's no way he didn't see it, he was an octochamp

A player "got through" the filters onto last night's Live Show, & I managd to stop just short of blurting out his name, as I worked round the Table, giving te player intros.

Mr IssacHunt so nearly cost me my job. Luckily, I nicked him Issac. He cashed, & the graphic called him Issac, too!

It's a weird mindset that takes out these iffy UserNames in the belief that they are funny.

PS - "octochamp"? You sure?!

Google will show you that there are a lot of people called Isaac Hunt which begs the question what were Mr and Mrs Hunt thinking of when naming their boy?

[Jon MW]

Poetry sucks. It's right up there with Opera, Ballet, & Shakespeare in my mind. OK, it does not suck at all, but hard as I try, I just don't get any of those things. I feel inferior & inadequate that I don't get it, but I don't, & that's that.

I'm not sure that there is any reason to feel "inferior & inadequate" because you don't get Opera, Ballet & Shakespeare.

A person's life may be enhanced by their appreciation of these "arts". They may even find deep meaning in paintings, sculpture, food, fashion, music or athletic expression. Apparently, some people even gain great enjoyment from the study of architecture and engineering.

However, to feel superior (or inferior) based on which of these fields of human expression you appreciate seems rather silly. The people who I pity are those who feel a need to profess an interest in some particular field purely because they believe that it reflects well on them and is the "done thing".

The ability to appreciate any of these "gifts" is wonderfully rewarding at times but there are so many aspects of life for people to enjoy; we don't have to get them all.

But it IS a shame I don't "get" any of them, because I'm quite sure I'm missing all sorts of good stuff.

Lol @ some folks getting a kick from Engineering & Architecture......

Anyway, I have some new words for you, which I discovered last week. Be right back......

But you "get" trains, and hardly anyone else does

That's something to be proud of

[tikay]

I'm a little concerned about the security.

My Full Tilt Account is protected by a long password full of letter and number and random ASCII characters, as well as an RSA security token generating a number I have to enter each time I log in. No token, no entry.

From what I can tell Sky Poker accounts are secured using a 4-digit pin number.

google lurts doesn't flag up awkward questions?

Not looked at them since Friday, my dated is inun.

[Claw75]

Well done's to Claw, who start her new job today. She's had a tough time of late, but a job might just change everything. Go Girlie, go.

aww thanks.  A few other spanners in the works since we last spoke (must catch up soon), but the job is definitely one big silver lining at the moment.  First day over and done with - it's pretty much all Greek to me at the moment, but I'm sure I'll pick it up soon enough. 8am start tomorrow - actually looking forward to an early night and a 6.30 alarm call

[tikay]

Well done's to Claw, who start her new job today. She's had a tough time of late, but a job might just change everything. Go Girlie, go.

aww thanks.  A few other spanners in the works since we last spoke (must catch up soon), but the job is definitely one big silver lining at the moment.  First day over and done with - it's pretty much all Greek to me at the moment, but I'm sure I'll pick it up soon enough. 8am start tomorrow - actually looking forward to an early night and a 6.30 alarm call

Way to go, Claire. I think you'll love being back at work.

Hope the spanners are little ones.

[technolog]

You levelling me again Gatters?

nah, c&p job from that link

another word question prompted by my reading the guardian today

I saw earlier in the week that countdown had to reshoot a round recently when a contestant came up with 'shitface'. the word was perfectly acceptable under the rules but they couldn't air it so played again

now in today's paper I see that the one letter not used was a d so he could've got 'shitfaced'. any ideas why this wouldn't have been allowed? there's no way he didn't see it, he was an octochamp

This young fella-me-lad is Jack Hurst who happens to live (or did before he left to take a place at Cambridge) 100 yards from me.

His performances on Countdown were amazing. On several occasions he correctly solved the conundrum without the clock making a perceptible movement. He achieved the highest 8-game average score in the history of Countdown. It seemed like he had an almost photographic recall of the dictionary.

This is made all the more remarkable by the fact his parents, though nice enough folk, don't appear to be from the same mould at all. I went to school with his mother, who was often removed from the class due to having wild (or so it seemed at the time to a quiet 7-year-old) tantrums. I also drank with his dad who, though very bright, is more than a little addled through prolonged cannabis use, punctuates every sentence with multiple 'like's and involuntarily spits at you in conversation.