Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

True or false?

Is your internet slower this week, or is this all stuff & nonsense?


http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/03/27/net-us-internet-attack-idINBRE92Q12F20130327

[bobAlike]

It's definitely true Tikay. Driving me mad all week.

[Marky147]

Ha, my brother was round at ours moaning about Internet speed just before I left. I hadn't noticed any problems, but I had to leave so couldn't check.

[Machka]

True or false?

Is your internet slower this week, or is this all stuff & nonsense?


http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/03/27/net-us-internet-attack-idINBRE92Q12F20130327

The Internet is so distributed it would affect some people a lot and other people not at all.

Compare it to a protest when truckers drove along motorways to protest against high diesel prices.

That is essentially a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack on the road network.

If affects lots of people who use the motorways but doesn't affect anyone (directly) who only drives in towns.

[rfgqqabc]

http://gizmodo.com/5992652/that-internet-war-apocalypse-is-a-lie?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_twitter&utm_source=gizmodo_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow






Can you imagine a pest control company proclaiming infestations everywhere? It would at least be investigated but unfortunately the internet isn't understood at all by big corporations.

[EvilPie]

This seems a decent place to get something off my chest regarding spelling.

I'm reasonably well educated so I pride myself in having a decent level of punctuation and spelling. I'm not perfect but I like to think I'm well above average.

Because of this, when I get something wrong it irks me somewhat.

Last night I had a bet with Stu about the spelling of the word marvellous. I was happy that it was marvelous whereas Stu insisted that it was marvellous.

A small wager was made and following a quick check on google I stump up a fiver.

I've had a similar incident at work today with the word 'program' when used to describe a programme of works. I had that one wrong as well!!

As I've already said I'm a reasonably well educated person so getting these things wrong makes me a little upset so I wanted to figure out why I was making these basic errors.

It appears that all the spell checkers on my PC are Americanised which means I get warnings whenever I type something wrong. Obvious ones aren't a problem such as using 'z' instead of 's' in words like 'Americanised'.

The difficulty has been with less obvious ones such as:

Marvellous
Programme
Favourite

There's others that I'd always go with my instinct such as:

Labour
Colour
Flavour

All of the above have flashed up as being incorrectly spelt. For f**k's sake!! Spelt has come up as incorrect too!!!

I know that my spelling has always been really good but it appears that my PC spell checker has made a few glaring errors slip in.

I wonder how badly other people get affected by their PCs telling them one thing when they originally thought something else? There's no way I'd have always been spelling these words incorrectly so the errors must have slipped in at some point since school.

Bloody PC owes me a fiver!!

[rfgqqabc]

I hate things like that too. I'm sure February was spelt wrong by one of my primary school teachers because I still get it wrong.

[david3103]

I hate things like that too. I'm sure Febuary was spelt wrong by one of my primary school teachers because I still get it wrong.

fyp

[david3103]

I hate things like that too. I'm sure Febuary was spelt wrong by one of my primary school teachers because I still get it wrong.

fyp

This was a joke btw, I do know how to spell Febrery.

[tikay]

This seems a decent place to get something off my chest regarding spelling.

I'm reasonably well educated so I pride myself in having a decent level of punctuation and spelling. I'm not perfect but I like to think I'm well above average.

Because of this, when I get something wrong it irks me somewhat.

Last night I had a bet with Stu about the spelling of the word marvellous. I was happy that it was marvelous whereas Stu insisted that it was marvellous.

A small wager was made and following a quick check on google I stump up a fiver.

I've had a similar incident at work today with the word 'program' when used to describe a programme of works. I had that one wrong as well!!

As I've already said I'm a reasonably well educated person so getting these things wrong makes me a little upset so I wanted to figure out why I was making these basic errors.

It appears that all the spell checkers on my PC are Americanised which means I get warnings whenever I type something wrong. Obvious ones aren't a problem such as using 'z' instead of 's' in words like 'Americanised'.

The difficulty has been with less obvious ones such as:

Marvellous
Programme
Favourite

There's others that I'd always go with my instinct such as:

Labour
Colour
Flavour

All of the above have flashed up as being incorrectly spelt. For f**k's sake!! Spelt has come up as incorrect too!!!

I know that my spelling has always been really good but it appears that my PC spell checker has made a few glaring errors slip in.

I wonder how badly other people get affected by their PCs telling them one thing when they originally thought something else? There's no way I'd have always been spelling these words incorrectly so the errors must have slipped in at some point since school.

Bloody PC owes me a fiver!!

Fascinating Post Matt.

It irks me, too, to see "wrong" spelling caused by "Americanised" Spell Checker software, but is it really wrong, & does it really matter?

The internet is shrinking the world, & languages are merging. I much prefer marvellous, programme, colour, labour to marvelous, color, program & labor, but really it is only a minor irritant, & there are far worse irritants.

What matters is that you care that your writing, your Posts, are well-presented, which really IS important. A Post which is easy on the eye, & well set out, will get more readers, it just will, & we get a feel-good vibe from presenting our written stuff well.

My personal problem is not spellos but typos, my fat fingers & ever decreasing dexterity means I insert a stray "i" in so many words, & it does rather annoy me. I bet 10% of my posts have a stray "i" somewhere.

But that annoyance is nothing compared to those who publically correct spelling errors by others, except of course when it is banter, between friends.

What sort of social skills do you think these people have? xxxx made a fantastic Post a few months back, he worked hard to make it interesting, photos & everything, & it must have run to 1,500 words. Someone then corrected a single stray apostrophe. Nothing else, no comment, no "great Post", just that.

Why would a person do that, in public? Have they not heard of PM's, or looking the other way?

I'm pretty sure the internet is inhabited by two types of individuals - the Positive Percy's, who try to make things happen, start threads, make constructive Posts, & Negative Ninnies who derive some sort of playground pleasure from being ill-mannered arses & just go round criticising others & generally being smart-arsed cocks.

And breathe......

[tikay]

Incidentally, you take pride in spelling well, which is good. I think we either do, or we don't, there is not much middle ground. Pride (in what we do) & respect (for others) are SO important, but much under-rated at present. Both are wonderful virtues.

Schools & parents must take much of the blame or credit for this.

It rankles with me even now that the education system encourages the use of calculators. We should FIRST learn to do maths, or numbers, mentally, or longhand on paper, & not be allowed near calculators until we thoroughly understand how numbers work.

There are few things in life more interesting than numbers, there is a whole world of interesting there, but kids are encouraged to play Computer Games from an early age, which it seems to me, inhibits their social skills & erudicity. (Think I just made that word up).

OK, move on, before I get in trouble......

[tikay]

http://gizmodo.com/5992652/that-internet-war-apocalypse-is-a-lie?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_twitter&utm_source=gizmodo_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow






Can you imagine a pest control company proclaiming infestations everywhere? It would at least be investigated but unfortunately the internet isn't understood at all by big corporations.

Now there is a thing!

Did you note I started my Post on the subject by saying "True or False"?

You see, here's the thing.

I was made aware of this "internet melt-down" thing nearly a week ago, but the story did not ring true. There was just no credible evidence out there, that I could see. The original story said that google & Amazon had loaned server capacity to the Dutch Company to ease the load, which sounded like tosh & nonsense to me. A long search revealed no such thing.

But.....

I asked everyone I met, or spoke to, the same question.

"Does your internet seem slower this week?"

And an amazing number said "yes, deffo, knew there was something wrong, been slow for days".  

It is, sort of, the placebo thing. People WANT to believe the story, so it satisfied them.

I did not DARE ask the question on the Forum next door though, they'd all have said it was the fault of Sky Poker. Trust me, they would. The ease with which we finger-point these days is really very scary & illogical.  

Did you know that Sir Alex Ferguson is a useless Manager, & often picks the wrong team, or players out of position? He does. A bloke said so, on the internet, without a trace of irony.  

Anyway, we can breathe easy for a few days, the internet is safe for now.

Can you - Adam - imagine a world without internet, or computers?

What would you do if that arose, how would your life change? No Online Poker or Online betting, no computer games, no e-Mails, and you'd have to learn to write people letters, stick them in envelopes, pop a stamp on, & stick them in a pillar box. You'd get a reply a week later, too.

Can you imagine life like that?

50% of the educated world (say, all the over 50's), used to live like that, & I would imagine 70% of the world population still do.

I wonder what trolls would do with themselves if there was no internet? Vandalise phone-boxes I suppose.

[Karabiner]

Just to add something on Matts point about word endings in "ised" or "ized".

There is a school of thought that believes it is correct English to end those words "ize" and "ized". I certainly remember Morse being firmly of that opinion in the TV series.

Hopefully Tal will come along and shed a little more light on the subject.

[tikay]

I had better stop ranting.

What a whopper!

Did you see that thing about the lady who gave birth in Gloucester Royal Infirmary - natural birth - to a baby boy who weighed 15lbs 7 ozs?

True or false? (It was first reported, I think, in "The Mail Online").

My spidey senses say "true".   

Look at him, compared to a "normal weight" baby, & look at that head of hair!

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Just to add something on Matts point about word endings in "ised" or "ized".

There is a school of thought that believes it is correct English to end those words "ize" and "ized". I certainly remember Morse being firmly of that opinion in the TV series.

Hopefully Tal will come along and shed a little more light on the subject.

If Morse believed it, we must give credibility to the notion.

Talking of Tal, I'm going to embarrass him now, but what a breath of fresh air he has been for blonde. I first met him in Vegas last year, & instantly developed man-love for him. Smiles easily, good eye-contact, firm handshake & achingly bright. Never made a negative Post on blonde yet, never once troubled the Mods, he is truly a force for good.

He came along to rail the London SPT last week, & it made my weekend. I spent half my time introducing him to the likes of Jesse May, Kara Scott, Stapes & Co. When we introduce friends like Tal to others, it gives us a sort of reflected glory that we are privileged to have such wonderful friends.

I must now, - & I hope it will be taken by Ralph in the right spirit - reveal part of the contents of a PM Ralph sent me yesterday. It had me chuckling all night.

Not only is it EXACTLY how grown-ups should treat bad beats in poker, but what a beautifully natural style Ralph has when he writes. Not bad for a bloke born in the thirties, his cognative skills still seem largely intact. I wish I could say the same, I'm bloody sure I am losing the plot some days.  

Anyway, here we go - how good is this? (He was playing some Online Omaha).



I managed to get my 3k in with:

KJJThh  v's AJ45 on a AJ2hh flop after I bet out and he RR prompting me to backraise naturellemant.

Obviously an A comes strolling along on the turn smoking a pipe and I'm history.