Spud

54 minutes ago, Your Fight Site said:

I remember watching a show ages ago about that, but can’t for the life of me remember what it was. I just remember the two lasers being set in an ‘L’ shape and then it measuring how long it takes for a beam to “return” from hitting the mirror, and any minuscule fluctuation then indicates a gravitational wave warping time ever so slightly.

I’d love to watch a documentary about this sort of thing. These observatories are 4km long with mirrors at each end - 4km and they can measure changes that minuscule is mind-blowing. Might have to fall down a YouTube rabbit hole over the weekend.

TIL there are observatories around the world that detect gravitational waves from space. They’re caused during events like black holes colliding (or aliens!) that send ‘shockwaves’ through space.

But what I loved about finding this out is the fact that these observatories use lasers and mirrors to detect changes the size of less than 1/10,000th of a proton.

You can also download an app that tells you when a wave is detected and what the possible source is. I’m downloading it but it takes a while to get past events so I’ve not had a chance to look at it properly.

On 5/21/2023 at 4:09 PM, Merzbow said:

Yellowjackets continues to be the darkest thing on TV, the actresses playing young Shauna and Callie have been especially great recently.

I’ve binge watched all episodes over the last week. It’s one of the most addictive series I’ve watched in ages and I’m now itching for the last couple of episodes.

Some of the scenes are just brutal but there’s a comedic vibe as well. And the similarities between the young actors and their older counterparts is great. The actress who plays Natalie has got Juliette Lewis’ drawl down to a tea.

On 5/22/2023 at 7:12 PM, Merzbow said:

Melanie Lynskey is getting all the best actress awards though.

She’s brilliant in this, such a great actress. I find her strangely alluring too. There’s definitely something about her.

I can’t wait to see where this goes. Still don’t know where the opening scenes from ep1 are going to fit in.

Thing is, and perhaps slightly off-topic, despite the faults of the NHS (whether its own doing or the government) I’d still 100% rather have that than not. If the alternative is a US-based system then we’re all fucked. I saw a TikTok last night of a veteran, maybe mid-30, absolutely distraught because his mental health care is screwed up. He hasn’t had any support for two years and now his doctor has changed his therapist. Someone he has built up a relationship with and was making headway. Now he has to start all over again, go back over all the traumatic shit that screwed him up in the first place and he’s devastated. But there’s nothing he can do.

Health care isn’t a luxury afforded by those with money. You shouldn’t have to choose between eating or having medication. But, at the same time, you shouldn’t have to wait years for treatment either. I don’t know what the solution is but I think I’d rather be on a waiting list than on the scrap heap.

I read the article but not watched the documentary and I’m not really interested. But I’m seeing the fear in the FB group I’m in. People who have already been diagnosed worrying about the result, those who haven’t worrying about the potential outcome. One person had an assessment with ADHD360 tomorrow cancelled and, after waiting 5 months, is now worried about another lengthy wait.

I won’t go into full detail but my NHS-referred diagnosis took an hour. My friend had to fill in a questionnaire but is (was) sceptical of the condition so it wasn’t particularly favourable. But I was diagnosed and my journey (hate that, sounds like Britain’s Got Talent or something) took just over a year. And I know I’m incredibly lucky.

I just worry for those who are still wondering and waiting and what affect this documentary will have on the current unacceptable waiting times.

In polite company I always prefer to say “I’m going to empty my bottom.” I’m nothing but classy.

My dad’s always egging me on to try out for a quiz show but there’s no way I’d go in TV. A friend of mine was on The Chase and she for absolutely murdered on social media over her appearance, the way she talked, whether she got the answer right or not - it was relentless.

When Bradley was doing the intro bit at the beginning and ask her what she enjoyed doing she said she liked cooking. He asked what she liked to make and she said she was vegan so she liked trying out new recipes and stuff like that. Twitter went mental at the mere mention of being vegan and the next thing she was in some shitty online newspapers about her going on and on about being vegan which was totally untrue.

She’s very thick skinned luckily and made a joke out of a lot of it and even replied to some comments. I don’t think I could ignore stuff like that though and wouldn’t be able to stay away from social media but then I’d probably spiral in the negativity. I think you have to be a certain type of person to want to go on TV shows.

Here’s one of the articles with a clip if you want a look.

I want to read and don’t want to read in equal measures. This is the Schrödinger’s cat of threads.

It’s also ironic that I just wrote “Schrödinger’s scat” before editing.

On 2/1/2023 at 11:01 AM, Carbomb said:

Equity take the fucking piss; because they're the only game in town when it comes to performance arts, they sit on their laurels while collecting money, and their rates and Ts & Cs are a joke now.

Equity became a joke when Paul Fleming took over - he won when only 16% of the membership turned out to vote for a new general secretary. Surely alarm bells should have been ringing somewhere. They were haemorrhaging staff from that point either because they were push out or they jumped before they were pushed. He’s a narcissistic dick who’s only in it for the name on the door and who he can rub shoulders (and nobs) with. Fuck the rest.

This is a great article from 2021 that summarises what a slimy prick he really is.

I went to the Piano Works in Leicester Square a couple of weeks ago for a friend’s birthday. I didn’t want to go - the pictures on the website made it look like a hellish nightclub full of nobs but it was the complete opposite and I didn’t want to leave.

Basically, the have an incredibly talented live band who play requests that you write on a bit of paper and add a tip if you want it pushed to the top of the queue.

The range of requests they played was brilliant. The reason I mention this is because they did Stacey’s Mom and I was blown away. They were fantastic. Someone there must’ve been an emo back in the day because there were sprinklings of Evanescence, Blink-182, Paramore and Jimmy Eat World as well. One of the singers praised the person who requested Still Into You because it was one of her favourite songs too.

It was a great night, I stayed a lot later than I intended and spent way too much money. And I may also have danced like a nob to Backstreet’s Back whilst trying not to spill an expensive thimble of espresso martini.

I’m not sure I’ll need to be in the arena area before about 5pm each day 😬 The only bands I know in the small text are Gwar, Deaf Havana and Enola Gay. Any others I need to swot up on to make the early starts worth it?

And Elvana of course.

On 2/14/2023 at 9:12 AM, Shy Dad said:

If you're camping in Disabled I'll be milling about with my PA dressed as Santa Claus for the weekend. If you see me say hello.

I thought about camping but didn’t fancy it on my own and I’ve not camped in years so wasn’t looking forward to it. I’ve booked a cheap-ish hotel about 20mins away. Will definitely keep an eye out for a Santa though.

A bit surprised the cup isn’t branded so they can cash in on a Dunkin’ Donuts promo deal.

4 hours ago, Tommy! said:

I'm sure you're not alone, I'm 100% sure I look a right gooseberry being a big fat uncoordinated lump missing the odd audience participation bit and dressing like I've been frozen in time since 1982, but I look a right gooseberry most of the time anyway so I've little to loose.

This’ll be me at Download this year. Booked a weekend ticket for myself, not camped in years, don’t know anyone else [close] going and only really know the main headliners each day. I’ve been approved for a companion ticket today though so might be able to rope someone into going with me for free/half price.

8 hours ago, wordsfromlee said:

The bloody lefty wokerati snowflake brigade will be saying we can't sing 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' at the ruggers next!

I may have missed the sarcasm here but, if  not, this has sort of already happened. In 2020, the RFU (apparently) conducted a review of the song’s context and Martin Offiah, while he didn’t want it banned, said he wanted people to learn about its origins. Brian Moore, on the other hand, hates the song and the other viewpoints in that second article are interesting but none of them necessarily want it banned. Whether that’s actually their views or they’re being wary of fan backlash is another thing.

You’re absolutely not being over-sensitive so get that out right now. You can see from the responses here that this is completely inappropriate and you need to address it. Even if you don’t want to formally complain, you should speak to the doctor because this wording (even if it’s not their direct view) is unacceptable and should not be used under any circumstances.

Jesus, that’s outrageous, @Hannibal Scorch! Can you make a formal complain about this?

On the subject of charities - and this might be a separate thread - but I’ve recently been working with a charity in an IT consultancy basis that had to be THE worst charity I’ve ever known. Small but national, run by an incompetent CEO who had controls everything, has to have the final decision of everything (even if they don’t know about the subject matter), and is generally a loose canon. They continually have security breaches because personal devices are used, passwords are shared and no-one understands MFA, and they are in serious breach of GDPR in a huge way but there’s no sense of responsibility over any of it.

I’ve considered reporting them to the IOC but as my contract with them ended before Christmas then I’m loathed to get involved any more and want to just leave them to implode.

Great job @Glenryck Pilchards. What Excel was made for!

First gig was The Bootleg Beatles with my dad and brother when I was 10. I remember it was December and I had to run out of a school Christmas concert as soon as it finished so we could drive for an hour in the snow to get to Maesteg Town Hall. Absolutely loved it.

Best gig was Stereophonics playing Word Gets Around in full at Hammersmith Apollo. It was an amazing gig and I loved hearing the album tracks and B-sides you wouldn’t ordinarily hear played live. That’s a concert I wish I could relive because it was just perfection. A close second would probably be Dropkick Murphys/Less Than Jake at Brixton Academy. I’m not a huge fan but went with a group of friends and it had to be the most fun gig I’ve ever been to. Lots of dancing in the crowd and proper merriment from everyone.

Worst gigs are generally ones I’ve been to accompanying other people. Red Sparowes at Scala were utter bilge and so incredibly loud that I thought my ears were going to start bleeding. I know technically that’s not their fault but I don’t even think being played at a reasonable volume could’ve made them sound that much better. Other notable mentions go to Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Coheed and Cambria and Ellie Goulding.

On 1/28/2023 at 6:45 AM, Uncle Zeb said:

Christ. That’s a list of names I’d rather see in the Bucket Kicking Thread. Was the team name actually The Party Animals? Fucking hell.

I also thought it said Terrible All Stars which would have been much more fitting.

On 1/8/2023 at 1:29 PM, Merzbow said:

My local Farmfoods had these pretzel pieces, three bags for a quid.

Are these anything like Snyder’s? Can’t get them for love nor money any more (well money but lots of it) so these look very tempting.

9 hours ago, jazzygeofferz said:

The Apprentice was its usual car crash. Rosie Jones was great on You're Fired afterwards. The one that got fired was lovely. 

“I’m always being compared to the Kim Kardashian of the business world because I’m doing business with a hint of glam.”

You own a hair salon in Milton Keynes, steady on.

“I’m the James Bond of the business world.”

You’re a safari guide from Worcester, what does that even mean?

9 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

I used to have a trail cam set up in the garden, mainly to see the hedgehogs. But a family of foxes were regular visitors, it was always magical to see them!  We’d leave out cat food and raw eggs for them. I miss seeing them, wish that cam didn’t go kaput. 

I have a trail cam in the garden and found out the fox that’s always around has had a cub so I see the both out and about together. They tend to eat the bird food off the floor but I didn’t know they eat raw eggs though. Is that a common thing? Do you put them in a dish?

Just been reading Carpenter’s Wiki page. Apparently, he was approached to direct Santa Claus: The Movie but his demands were so much (including 100% creative control, the right to assume scriptwriting duties and total editorial control) that the offer was withdrawn. I wonder how different Carpenter’s version would have been if they had accepted his ‘list of requirements’.

He also wanted Brian Dennehy to play Santa and, although I love him in F/X: Murder By Illusion, he will always be John Wayne Gacy to me. Can’t imagine him as Santa.

On 1/12/2023 at 1:04 PM, FelatioLips said:

Super Mario Bros 3

What ranks as the best Mario game for a lot of people, and I can see why, SMB3 is the proper sequel to SMB and the amount it adds and the improvements it makes are quite honestly astounding.

Having a Mario game with so much variety in worlds, items and secrets and so much choice in how to play it too makes it clear to see why this one is held to such a high standard. To think it was a NES game is even more impressive.

This really brought back memories. I had a NES, then a Game Boy and then migrated to PC for a few years before getting a PS2.

SMB3 was my favourite game for quite a while and probably the first game I ever completed more than once. It never got old for me so I agree with you about the choices in how to play.

I also had a few other games - Gremlins 2 and Rainbow Islands being another two favourites - SMB3 was the most popular go-to choice for me.

I really need to dig out the NES and Game Boy to see if they still work.