Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[TightEnd]

last night on the south coast

what a picture!

[Kev B]

A rare photo of all my girls together in one place.

If I measure my wealth by counting the things that money can't buy, I'm a millionaire.

Click to see full-size image.

What a great picture Tom.

[RED-DOG]

last night on the south coast

what a picture!

Just incredible Rich.

[RED-DOG]

I just heard that the PGA are going to ban the use of anchored strokes. I had absolutely no idea what that meant so I went googling.


I'm not sure banning is fair or reasonable, but I would be open to persuasion if someone could put forward a good argument.


http://www.golfdigest.com/blogs/the-loop/2013/07/pga-tour-agrees-to-usga-anchor.html

They ban if they think that the integrity of the game is under threat from innovations in clubs or methods of striking the ball.

They banned the croquet mallet style of putting, by standing astride the line of the putt, as it made putting to easy.

The main annoyance about the anchored putter isn't that it is being banned, but that it has taken so long to ban it (it is an established method with many young golfers having always used it).

 

That makes sense. I always wondered why they didn't lie on their bellies and pot it with a snooker cue.


So you know this open malarkey, does that mean that I could just rock up at some qualifier somewhere, put my name down and play?

[doubleup]

You could in the olden days - there was some bod who used to claim to be a pro and would turn up at the qualifying every year and promptly take an 11 at the opening par 4   Ralph might remember the details*

I think these days you have to have an official plus handicap to get into the pre-pre-pre qualifying.










*no it wasn't him - how could you think such a thing!

[Junior Senior]

You have to have a handicap of 0 or better to enter as an amateur. It costs about £150 to enter pre qualifying, you then go to final qualifying if you get through. There are usually about 6 - 10 places out of 100 in each pre qualification. Final qualifying usually happens near to the open venue itself and is the week prior. The standard at final qualifying is incredible with many top pros currently not exempt joining at that stage. All this traveling and playing to qualify gets expensive and as an amateur you can't win any cash prizes. You do it for the experience and pleasure.

[RED-DOG]

Excellent explanations, thanks chaps.

One more golf question, why do all the players take their hat off for 30 seconds on the 18th?

[Karabiner]

Excellent explanations, thanks chaps.

One more golf question, why do all the players take their hat off for 30 seconds on the 18th?

It's simply considered polite to remove your hat when shaking hands after the game.

[david3103]

You could in the olden days - there was some bod who used to claim to be a pro and would turn up at the qualifying every year and promptly take an 11 at the opening par 4   Ralph might remember the details*

I think these days you have to have an official plus handicap to get into the pre-pre-pre qualifying.










*no it wasn't him - how could you think such a thing!

Maurice Flitcroft.

He has a wiki page, but the Telegraph obit probably tells his story best,with an opening paragraph to rival the opening of this very diary.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1547158/Maurice-Flitcroft.html

[RED-DOG]

You could in the olden days - there was some bod who used to claim to be a pro and would turn up at the qualifying every year and promptly take an 11 at the opening par 4   Ralph might remember the details*

I think these days you have to have an official plus handicap to get into the pre-pre-pre qualifying.










*no it wasn't him - how could you think such a thing!

Maurice Flitcroft.

He has a wiki page, but the Telegraph obit probably tells his story best,with an opening paragraph to rival the opening of this very diary.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1547158/Maurice-Flitcroft.html

Absolutely first class linkage Dave.

I was going to quote a line or two from that piece but there are so many gems I didn't know where to start.

[tikay]

You could in the olden days - there was some bod who used to claim to be a pro and would turn up at the qualifying every year and promptly take an 11 at the opening par 4   Ralph might remember the details*

I think these days you have to have an official plus handicap to get into the pre-pre-pre qualifying.










*no it wasn't him - how could you think such a thing!

Maurice Flitcroft.

He has a wiki page, but the Telegraph obit probably tells his story best,with an opening paragraph to rival the opening of this very diary.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1547158/Maurice-Flitcroft.html

Absolutely first class linkage Dave.

I was going to quote a line or two from that piece but there are so many gems I didn't know where to start.

Me too.

Loved the gas oven.

[RED-DOG]

A US court has ordered the country's second largest cigarette company to pay $23.6 billion (£13.8bn) to the wife of a smoker who died of lung cancer.

RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company was hit with the punitive fine in addition to $16.8m (£9.8m) in compensatory damages.


I can't get my head around this.

How do they arrive at a figure of 23 billion, is that the value of a life? what can one woman spend that amount on?

Why not make them give 22 billion of it to cancer research?

Why are the government not also liable considering they allowed the cigarettes to be sold while knowing they cause cancer?

[mondatoo]

Story completely confuses me also. What is the reason for this woman being entitled to billions but the millions of others in the same situation aren't ?

Odds she actually gets the money ?

[Karabiner]

Rich Hall is on BBC4 tonight 9pm.

If you're not familiar with him, dry USA social commentator.

I love the pic with all of your girls, I'm really rather jealous.

[doubleup]

A US court has ordered the country's second largest cigarette company to pay $23.6 billion (£13.8bn) to the wife of a smoker who died of lung cancer.

RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company was hit with the punitive fine in addition to $16.8m (£9.8m) in compensatory damages.


I can't get my head around this.

How do they arrive at a figure of 23 billion, is that the value of a life? what can one woman spend that amount on?

Why not make them give 22 billion of it to cancer research?

Why are the government not also liable considering they allowed the cigarettes to be sold while knowing they cause cancer?

US juries are allowed to award "punitive" damages as well as actual damages.  Someone totals your car that's worth $20k and you say that the driver was "lucky not to have killed you" so they award punitive damages of $30mill because they don't think a nice elderly gentleman like yourself should have to put up with that type of thing.

You won't ever see the money as it will be reduced on appeal as it is an absurd amount just like the sum in the tobacco case.