Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[nirvana]

I did a ghost post by accident ! Anyway, regarding the stereotype stuff

Whenever I see a young player like that my default is to assume competence and that I'm going to have a hard time out of position..I'm usually right.

Also, though a fairly big generalisation, I find many more unpleasant people close to my generation in poker than I find unpleasant young people.

Saw this guy knock out Greek Jack, made the running, made the call, it was a flip but showed a lot of humility in viictory.

I happened to knock him out in the tourn and he made a point of coming to the other side of the table to shake hands, say well done.

Seemed a thoroughly decent young man, who could play. Like most of them pesky kids tbf.

[Karabiner]

No one stacks chips higher than Lawrence Gosney in terms of height in single columns. I how they don't fall over I will never know. Will now try to find a picture where he can't see over the top of them.

Click to see full-size image.

I'm sure an international midfielder who used to play for some Scottish third division club got a long ban for making some similar hand-gestures to this at the press, not the poker press mind you.

[leethefish]

No one stacks chips higher than Lawrence Gosney in terms of height in single columns. I how they don't fall over I will never know. Will now try to find a picture where he can't see over the top of them.

Click to see full-size image.

I'm sure an international midfielder who used to play for some Scottish third division club got a long ban for making some similar hand-gestures to this at the press, not the poker press mind you.

Peter Kay / Lawrence Gosney

[tikay]

Visited the Isle of Wight on Saturday, where the annual Cowes Week was getting underway, & had a grand day.

Went by “Red Funnel” car ferry – very efficient - & was fixated by so many sights.

It suddenly occurred to me that the buoys in the Solent & Southampton Water are of varied sizes, shapes & colours, & after some googleage, I discovered why. Those particular buoys are “lateral markers”, to indicate the safe limit, or edge, of a shipping channel.

There is an International System, to ensure no confusion,  – “Port” (left) is red, Starboard (right) is green. EXCEPT that in the Americas, Japan, Korea, they use the very OPPOSITE system, Port being green & starboard being red. There must be a maritime disaster awaiting there eventually.

The shapes are relevant, too, square, conical, triangular all mean differing things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateral_mark

Click to see full-size image.

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[Chompy]

4, 2, 1, 3

[tikay]

The buoys have peculiar names, too. Is there a naming protocol?

This one caught my eye – Calshot Spit”.

Click to see full-size image.

Then, quite unconnected, this apparent Castle, or Fortress, at the entrance to Southampton Water, came into view, & aroused my childish curiosity. I originally assumed this was a sort of land-based Martello Tower, of which there are many in the Solent.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Google & Mr Wiki  came to the rescue in an amazing way – that IS Calshot Castle, at the head of Calshot Spit, after which the buoy is named.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calshot_Spit

Incidentally, the photos of Calshot Castle are mine, taken from the moving up & downy Ferry at least a mile distant. The wonders of a cheap, modern camera.

[tikay]

What a wonderful oddity the Isle of Wight is.

The locals - and Wikipidea - claim it is the only part of Great Britain where Red Squirrels flourish, & there are NO grey squirrels at all.

How that happen?

Mammals, aided by man or otherwise, have an amazing ability to hop from one continent to another across huge sea masses, but a grey squirrel has never managed the 3 or 4 miles from the Mainland to the Isle of Wight, when there are upwards of 200 ferry crossings every single day?

I don't buy that, I refuse to believe it until someone who understands these things tells me otherwise.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[Tal]

There must be some form of Squirrel Patrol: a council-run outfit whose sole responsibility is finding grey squirrels and painting them red.

Come March/April and then again in June/July, they are especially busy, as this is when between 3 and 9 kittens are born per litter. The gestation period is between 40 and 45 days, I understand and the females do all the work after mating. Chappie has had enough after that.

Sciurus carolinensis, Latin fans.

[tikay]

There must be some form of Squirrel Patrol: a council-run outfit whose sole responsibility is finding grey squirrels and painting them red.

Come March/April and then again in June/July, they are especially busy, as this is when between 3 and 9 kittens are born per litter. The gestation period is between 40 and 45 days, I understand and the females do all the work after mating. Chappie has had enough after that.

Sciurus carolinensis, Latin fans.

That'll be you, MereNovice ('Vice to his friends) & Jen Mason then.

Any other Latin geeks out there?

I think MereNovice may be the only blonde with a Latin signature, too. Bibo ergo sum. Think that means "I do numbers, therefore I am a geek".

[tikay]

Saw some absolutely HUGE Cruise Liners docked in Southampton, these beasts are bigger than you can ever begin to imagine.

 

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

On the return ferry, in the evening, struck lucky, as two of them were setting sail, presumably they need high tide so to do

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

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Their exotic location? New York? Nassau? Florida? The Caribbean? St Petersburg? Round the World, perhaps?

Not quite.

Grand Princess was bound for Malaga…..


 http://www.seascanner.com/schiffsposition.php?schiff=Grand+Princess


Whilst Independence of the Sea, once the world’s largest Cruise Liner, & still the 3rd largest, was headed for Gibraltar of all places. What?

Plenners will be there to meet it, & take photos, no doubt.


http://www.seascanner.com/schiffsposition.php?schiff=Independence+of+the+Seas

[TightEnd]

may I point you min the direction of this?

http://floodlightfancy.tumblr.com/about

Check out the archive section.



Off for a lie down.

[tikay]

may I point you min the direction of this?

http://floodlightfancy.tumblr.com/about

Check out the archive section.



Off for a lie down.

Good grief, & glory be!

I never cease to be amazed at the enormous variety of stuff that people are interested in.

One of my regrets is that I became too immersed in poker, for too long, & my life lost a bit of balance. Rectification is in progress. Good to see Alex travelling the world on the back of poker, though. 

I did exactly that for a few years, went to 8 or 9 different countries just to play poker, & got me a Flag in every single one.

Sadly, I was so poker-fixated at the time, that I would often go somewhere, head from the airport to the cardroom, then a week later, back to the airport, without ever doing the sightseeing thing. What a waste. 

Now, I have a flag for every year of my age, which is quite something all things considered, but I am mad with myself that poker excluded so many other, more wholesome & rewarding things.

Anyway, go away Tighty, I'm getting all reminiscent here, & I have incredibly exciting photos to post. I've even got a real donkey photo. And a wall. Big wall, too, one of THE best walls you could ever see in Great Britain.

Might just make you all wait now. 

[tikay]

Just a regular sign on a British Beach, spotted at Ventnor on this occasion….

Click to see full-size image.

But hold on……

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Well that demanded some googling. Firstly, it appears that the correct term is “weeverfish ”, or “weevers”, not “Weaver fish”.

Quite how you are supposed to avoid them it does not say.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weever

Who’d have thunk?

[ripple11]

I grew up with the saying ; " The whole of the world's population could stand on The Isle of Wight"

Not true anymore it seems 


http://www.ampneycrucis.f9.co.uk/PARK/Population.htm

[tikay]

I grew up with the saying ; " The whole of the world's population could stand on The Isle of Wight"

Not true anymore it seems 


http://www.ampneycrucis.f9.co.uk/PARK/Population.htm

Never heard that one, Nick. It's a lovely place though, pretty much unchanged since the 50's.

I can't quite grasp why it is not a County though, (it is a Council), but as to County, it is part of Hsampshire, which is a typically British illogical thing.

Saturday must have been one of the busiest days of the year there - summer hols, lovely weather, Cowes Regatta - & yet the roads were deserted. With one short exception, there are no dual carriageways there, either.