c4countdown

Brian Moore

Phil Reynolds wrote:Surely if anything you'd want the holes in your ignorance made larger rather than filled in?

Hmm, I think my metaphor might need some refining... holes in nothingness is maybe not the most easily grasped image...

Brian Moore

Very good. I still hate Math though. It's Maths, it's short for mathematics not mathematic. And even spell checker knows it's wrong as there's a squiggly red line underneath. ... as it would show with aluminum, labor, fetus, parceled, or anything else where the Americans have had the cheek to chang...

Brian Moore

Very good. I still hate Math though. It's Maths, it's short for mathematics not mathematic. And even spell checker knows it's wrong as there's a squiggly red line underneath. ... as it would show with aluminum, labor, fetus, parceled, or anything else where the Americans have had the cheek to chang...

Brian Moore

The Economist published a pretty comprehensive rebuttal of that idiotic BBC article. Well worth a read. That'll learn 'em (as they say in Devon). I find the disappearance of prepositions in American phrases more perplexing, as in "pissed" for "pissed off" and "appeal" ...

Brian Moore

He should have used a sharper knife.

Brian Moore

Haha, it seems that the quoted 'research' was a hoax (the BBC has amended the page on the link). Puts me at an even lower IQ than IE users, I guess. I retrospect, the quote I liked should have been a bit of a clue, but I still like it, so shall continue to use it about IE users, I think. In return t...

Brian Moore

Quite surprised I'm the only one who hasn't put Firefox or Chrome, but it's Internet Explorer for me. Surprised ? Haha, I was just on my way to post the same thing. I like the quote that IE users are "borderline deficient, marginally able to cope with the adult world". I'm glad they put t...

Brian Moore

Thomas Carey wrote:Quite surprised I'm the only one who hasn't put Firefox or Chrome, but it's Internet Explorer for me.

Surprised?

Brian Moore

I was thinking about this idea exactly a couple of days ago as a way of finding 'the centre of Devon', as I was cycling thorough one place that claims to be that (but probably isn't, but is just trying to flog a few more cream teas.) So it'll be a cardboard cut-out of Devon, and a pencil then. Of c...

Brian Moore

I need a pretty picture in this thread while I read it.... http://www.stonebalancing.com/limitededitions/p7hg_img_1/fullsize/IMG_1450_fs.jpg I'd imagine most people would take it as the centre of mass of a uniform plane lamina of that shape (which is something I remember having to do as part of an O...

Brian Moore

Really enjoyed the run - congratulations to Mark. Lesley went from looking cross once she started to lose rounds, to a look of resignation, once she realised she didn't have a hope against the Deekstroyer.

Oh, and GAMENESS in the MESSAGED round, I think.

Brian Moore

From the comments in response to the DM article:

"Trouble is it is dominated by the 'Nerdy boy' graduates these days."

Brian Moore

Brian Moore

Jon O'Neill wrote:Bet he wishes he'd sorted those tan lines out before being photographed like that. So embarrassing.

Not as embarrassing as this:

Brian Moore

Not quite in the same humorous vein, but did any of you see this from yesterday's Tour de France?: http://static.vg.no/uploaded/image/bilderigg/2011/07/10/1310312941948_900.jpg http://www.nieuwsblad.be/Assets/Images_Upload/2011/07/10/TDF316_CYCLING-TOUR_0710_11.jpg.h513.jpg.767.jpg Video: http://ewo...

Brian Moore

I found it hard to concentrate today. For instance, all I could see in this round was JUGS:

Brian Moore

SPILLAGES? Sorry, these things always bug me. Thanks, Brian, my suspicions are confirmed! ILLNESSES? WEAKNESSES? My first guess would be that -AGES and -NESSES are valid when it's possible to have different varieties of the -AGE or -NESS in question, or the -AGE or -NESS is a physical thing, rather...

Brian Moore

It's almost tempting to suggest there should be a Countdown rule stating derivative words ending in -AGE, -NESS (et al?) should be treated as mass nouns, but I suspect there are some exceptions that would spoil that idea as well, although I can't think of any off the top of my head. SPILLAGES? Sorr...

Brian Moore

Jon O'Neill wrote:Yeah I remember reading this at the time. A total joke.

Ten kids turning up on your doorstep, all calling you Daddy. Yeah, that'd be why so many people are donating sperm these days.

Brian Moore

I think that the loss of anonymity after a change in the law in 2005 makes sperm donation a rather more complicated question that what payment might or not be on offer:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jun/26/women.health

Brian Moore

I have to say that Michael "I'm rubbish at spelling" Vaughan hasn't exactly lit the place up. But at least he's not Jon Gaunt. You might think that they'd pick someone who was entertaining and/or good at words. BTW, did DC declare "only sixes" and give PREMISE? Also, didn't Magnu...

Brian Moore

This thread is starting to remind me of the old days of dial-up internet access - you can go off and make a cup of coffee while it loads.

Brian Moore

As far as I'm aware Adblock Plus can't filter out the trailers on 4oD. Works for me. Ah, well maybe it does work then - that would explain why mine have disappeared. I hadn't put 2 & 2 together. But I'm confused ... you're saying you don't get adverts on 4oD, but you saw the 118 118 advert? He ...

Brian Moore

I was referring to 118 118 of course. I've never had adverts on 4oD or anywhere else (pretty much) thanks to Adblock Plus . Well, I've always had 'em. As far as I'm aware Adblock Plus can't filter out the trailers on 4oD. But I'm confused ... you're saying you don't get adverts on 4oD, but you saw ...

Brian Moore

Great game both. Did no-one else notice the advert for a directory enquiries service at 11:33 on 4oD? Matt and Andrew just need false moustaches and they've got the job. For some reason I've been getting CD on 4oD without any adverts for a week or more - not even trailers for 4oD. Maybe they've bee...

Brian Moore

Yes, fantastic game. Just for a change I saw the conundrum very quickly, so it made the suspense even better. (I did just wonder whether Jeff should have asked for the answer straight away rather than try to build the suspense even more ... it gave Andrew a bit more thinking time... I guess he had a...

Brian Moore

I thought Justin's disallowed ^RESAMPLE is another case of the Oxford corpus being well out of step with usage. Over 3,000,000 Google hits, and in common usage in computer graphics and sound processing, and apparently in statistics too.

Brian Moore

Can anyone explain why TEAMLESS is not in ODE3, but MEATLESS and MATELESS are? Presumably because it's less commonly used in written English, at least according to the Oxford corpus. I sometimes have my doubts about how the Oxford corpus decides these things. Even if it is all computerised, the wei...

Brian Moore

Friday because you're leathered by dinner time, at least you are at my job. Have I got the right meaning of leathered? Looks like they are happy, anyway... http://www.philbristol.co.uk/images/leathered.jpg Anyway, I've got such a bizarre working week (evenings, weekends, chunks of teaching during w...

Brian Moore

Good performance from Graeme after yesterday's scorcher, but oh dear, what a car crash for the challenger. I can only assume nerves got to him - lots of silly mistakes, missing obvious words and numbers. Not one of the most comfortable games to watch - even the last numbers I thought "phew"...

Brian Moore

Cool and that but fuck me it pisses me off. Some guy does a 'Computer Corner" on this forum, so perhaps he could find an elegant solution. Or failing that, see if you can find someone that has worked for Google and knows about these things. But I don't suppose you know anyone like that. In the...

Brian Moore

Thanks, but I'm a McUser; it's not supported on my McComputer If there's one thing that would stop me from getting a Macanything, it would be the tied-into-the-Macness that Mac experience involves. Oh, and the cost, and the Macsmugness. The range of wonderful freeware for PCs for me overcomes the s...

Brian Moore

Adam Gillard wrote:I don't know how to make this image smaller, sorry.

Fotosizer is a pretty awesome bit of freeware for doing just this. It does batches of photos as well.

Brian Moore

HUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH??????????????????????????????? it wont let me paste!!!! ive copied it...i have tried ctrl+v and it wont work and ive tried right click then the word paste is in grey - in other words it wont do anything when i click it. Try clicking on the preview image in the Goo...

Brian Moore

Gavin Chipper wrote:I was expecting you to shit yourself at the very least.

... running to the toilet, like this...?

Brian Moore

Maybe this explains why asking for "an orange juice and lemonade" had a less than 100% success rate in the Lake District for me this week. One ended up as lemonade with some orange squash, the other came out as orange juice, with no lemonade, despite what I thought was a helpful mime. I sh...

Brian Moore

Sophie makes more sense than Ryan shocker.

Brian Moore

Déja vu. There is something odd about the arbitrary cementing of words and not others. Still, a few loose prepositions is probably better than the German habit of using word-glue liberally. Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz is particularly fine.

Brian Moore

Matt Morrison wrote:How about how I actually really enjoy Alastair McGowan's poetry? I didn't expect to when he started, but I like it. What of it, bitch?!

See, I was recognising his greatness days ago. It would just make my week complete if he'd do one of his poems in a Pam Ayres voice.

Brian Moore

OSTINATO was there as a DC beater in round 2. Dang. Why do I always miss the musical ones? Today's selections of letters weren't the easiest, "that's for sure". Alistair McGowan was a class act in dictionary corner, particularly in comparison with Delia "What-Am-I-Doing-Here?" S...

Brian Moore

Impressive stuff. Tom generally looks like he's having a ball, quite apart from the smirk round.

BTW, a shame you didn't spot PANINIS in the PAINING round, just to wind up those people for whom these things matter.

Brian Moore

2.75m Google hits, and with OED saying "No Search Results" It's not saying No Results. It's saying Not Enough Results To Make It Into A Dictionary With Only 2000 Pages. Well, I'll do a deal with OED then if they're so short of space. They can take out 'cyberslacking' (new entry December 2...

Brian Moore

Adam Gillard wrote:Bush, Bin and Laden are all words! Alastiar is not, though.

So Alastiar shouldn't be allowed on Countdown.

Brian Moore

Bush v. Bin Laden, 2005. It was good to see they had put the past behind them, and could indulge their love of the English language. I think they both realised how much they had in common, and you could see the warmth between them, both with the handshake at the start, and the hug at the end, which ...

Brian Moore

The Oxford English Corpus is the Google of OUP's world. Hmm, I'm very happy for the OUP, but 2.75m Google hits, and with OED saying "No Search Results", suggests that the corpus isn't quite up to speed on this one. Occasionally I feel the OED and ODE pick up more ephemeral jargonny words,...

Brian Moore

Thought there was the alternative 7 ^LAGGIER in R1, but a bit surprised it's not yet in ODE, (nor ^LAGGY), as it's quite a common word in computerage. (42,000 and 2.75 million Google hits respectively.)

Brian Moore

Susie's so tolerant and nice though; I'd be losing my mind: "I had womans*, then I saw MAROOOOON, then I saw the S, then I saw MAROOOOOOONS for 7" I don't find him any more annoying than most Countdown guests, in fact I quite like him. At least he can pronounce the words which already put...

Brian Moore

Adam Gillard wrote:Took me a while to notice he'd written 'Obama'.

So you didn't catch the reference in my link either? It had to be Fox News:

Brian Moore

Convincing win for Joe - no major stumbles - but Roger lost a bit of form, like Scott last week. I must be in grumpy old man mode, but Alastair Stewart gets on my nerves on Countdown. But then I can't say I like him as a newscaster - all a bit too dramatic for my taste. I guess that my least favouri...

Brian Moore

Charlie Reams wrote:In memory of Obama bin Laden.

http://politicalscrapbook.net/2011/05/f ... bin-laden/

Brian Moore

I was a bit surprised by Scott's change in form. Pretty classy in his first game, and not very impressive in this one, missing obvious numbers and words. A shame, as I liked him as a contestant.

Rachel really is unstoppable at the moment.

Brian Moore

Tony Atkins wrote:Some 7s and 8s on the INDISPOSE round (INSIDES, DOPINESS etc) so Scott could easily have
avoided his 6.

I was feeling happy with my DOPINESS till Susie mentioned DC's 9.

R13 NOUNAL as a boring DC-equaller.

Brian Moore

My Dad likes to say practice makes permanent not perfect. Sadly, the depressing thing is, as far as music is concerned, all that technique you've got then needs to be maintained: use it or lose it. The better you are, the more you need to practise. I remember hearing an interview with the principal...

Brian Moore

This is bound to sound ignorant, but I've never really understood, how can so many people play music as well as they do without perfect pitch? For example Brian, how can you tell that you're actually pitching the note you're intending to? Or are you just beyond the point of making such mistakes in ...

Brian Moore

I wouldn't want perfect pitch - a bloody nightmare if you've got any other tuning system than equal temperament at A=440. To my mind the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages. Must be a great way to pick up the laydeez, though. Maybe. I have to compensate by telling them about historical tuning...

Brian Moore

others have perfect pitch Bastards, the lot of them :x (based solely on having to share musicianship classes over the years with one or two people who had perfect pitch - they were lovely people but it's really annoying when you're doing interval tests or whatever) I wouldn't want perfect pitch - a...

Brian Moore

And although it's totally citation-needed, my intuition is that maths and music are probably two of the subjects where it would be hardest to compensate. I wouldn't disagree with that, and I'm pretty sure that there are links between mathematical and musical ability (I suspect in the intuitive gras...

Brian Moore

Thing is, it flies in the face of the anti-fat doctrine of dieticians for years, which is that fat is bad. So people go around eating loads of high-cal high-carb low-fat stuff thinking they can lose weight but they can't. I seem to remember Ranulph Fiennes & Mike Stroud survived on a diet of su...

Brian Moore

Mark James wrote:By the way, I had no idea what FIFY stood for. Guess what I did? I'll give you a clue. It's starts with a G and ends in oogle.

What is a Gandisoogle?

Brian Moore

I can only assume SK is now posting ironically, and we've all fallen for it. Time to ignore, methinks, and get on with considering finer philosophical points. Oh, BTW, from Handel's Messiah "Oh we like sheep". From the Okehampton version, I think. The real words are "All we like sheep...

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