Search found 8356 matches

by Charlie Reams
Sat Feb 15, 2014 4:35 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Stems (includes spoiler for Friday 14 Feb)
Replies: 7
Views: 2495

Re: Stems (includes spoiler for Friday 14 Feb)

I don't think there are canonical lists that everyone works from. But I've never heard of someone learning words like that. It seems inefficient, the chance of getting those exact 9 letters is very small.
by Charlie Reams
Sat Feb 08, 2014 2:29 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Generous odds on a female?
Replies: 39
Views: 11428

Re: Generous odds on a female?

Add "c) confused about the nature of causality".
by Charlie Reams
Sat Feb 01, 2014 12:26 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683816

Re: Ask Graeme?

Somewhat vague question, feel free to formalize this however is convenient: if only letters rounds counted, how different would the seedings be in a typical series? I'm imagining counting wins and points for the letters rounds up to and including the first game each contestant would've lost (if any)...
by Charlie Reams
Mon Jan 13, 2014 1:52 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Is Apterous down? [DO NOT POST IN THIS TOPIC FOR ANY OTHER REASON]
Replies: 604
Views: 307885

Re: Is Apterous down?

Please don't chat in this thread, I have to drop everything to read new posts in here (including my trousers).
by Charlie Reams
Sun Jan 12, 2014 6:43 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Is Apterous down? [DO NOT POST IN THIS TOPIC FOR ANY OTHER REASON]
Replies: 604
Views: 307885

Re: Is Apterous down?

Website back, game should be back in the a few minutes.
by Charlie Reams
Sun Jan 12, 2014 6:34 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Is Apterous down? [DO NOT POST IN THIS TOPIC FOR ANY OTHER REASON]
Replies: 604
Views: 307885

Re: Is Apterous down?

Working on it.
by Charlie Reams
Sat Jan 11, 2014 12:52 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Final Preparations
Replies: 15
Views: 4800

Re: Final Preparations

Smile!
by Charlie Reams
Tue Jan 07, 2014 1:30 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: The next Championship of Champions - now back on topic
Replies: 306
Views: 94713

Re: The next Championship of Champions - now back on topic

Pretty sure a C of C will happen again at some point, but it's a headache that can wait for now. Haven't looked into the logistics of who takes part and from when etc, that's a nightmare yet to come, but gut-feeling and immediate instinct at the moment is that it should comprise of non-30th Birthda...
by Charlie Reams
Fri Dec 27, 2013 9:37 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Ryan's Christmas Quiz 2013
Replies: 4
Views: 2996

Re: Ryan's Christmas Quiz 2013

Super looking forward to doing this.
by Charlie Reams
Mon Dec 09, 2013 3:21 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: The Apterous handicap. Is it just me?
Replies: 23
Views: 7640

Re: The Apterous handicap. Is it just me?

sean d wrote:And there's a theory that selections on the show are set a bit nicer and less randomly than online.
I'd be interested to investigate that. I would be reasonably surprised if they were different enough that it's perceptible.
by Charlie Reams
Sun Dec 08, 2013 10:59 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: The Apterous handicap. Is it just me?
Replies: 23
Views: 7640

Re: The Apterous handicap. Is it just me?

Read down from here . sean d reckoned playing against the TV is worth about 3 points a game over Apterous, based on the stats compiled there. Yeah, 3 points per game isn't enough to explain what Harry is experiencing here. In addition to several good explanations above, I'd suggest that being in a ...
by Charlie Reams
Sat Dec 07, 2013 1:34 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Definitions
Replies: 6
Views: 1829

Re: Definitions

Gev on the nail with the "pick from four" method - if every word has its definition listed too then it would be a simple "supply the correct definition, pick three random from the whole of the rest of the database, randomise order" for the computer. I think you'd have to be a bi...
by Charlie Reams
Tue Dec 03, 2013 7:41 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Definitions
Replies: 6
Views: 1829

Definitions

If one were to try to design a word game in which definitions did matter, what would you come up with? The obvious approach of just demanding a definition for every word played introduces a lot of problems with subjectivity, with specificity (yes, a towai is a tree, but that doesn't seem like much o...
by Charlie Reams
Sun Dec 01, 2013 10:05 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: The best films of all-time?
Replies: 102
Views: 19902

Re: The best films of all-time?

This thread is surprisingly enjoyable.
by Charlie Reams
Sun Dec 01, 2013 10:03 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Kjarposko
Replies: 7
Views: 3670

Re: Kjarposko

Rhys Benjamin wrote: (OK, I'll admit it, I got it out of a book.)
The puzzle idea? Or the puzzles themselves?
by Charlie Reams
Mon Nov 18, 2013 9:56 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Mass noun inconsistency
Replies: 7
Views: 1821

Re: Mass noun inconsistency

The mass noun rules are famously inconsistent. A quick search through the forum history will uncover millions of words of discussion about various cases. Enjoy!
by Charlie Reams
Thu Nov 14, 2013 11:45 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Record round scores?
Replies: 10
Views: 2812

Re: Record round scores?

Image
by Charlie Reams
Thu Nov 14, 2013 8:37 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Random?
Replies: 27
Views: 9114

Re: Random?

So let's take the rule here of most peoples perception of randomness and out of the 900 possible targets that 899 of them occurred once out of 899 and the number that was left was say 637, under your law it would mean to keep the law going 637 would HAVE to occur next, that isn't random as the numb...
by Charlie Reams
Wed Nov 13, 2013 7:39 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Puzzle for programmers #2
Replies: 26
Views: 6781

Re: Puzzle for programmers #2

You seem to have reinvented dynamic programming. If you invent the minimax algorithm I think you'll be pretty much there.
by Charlie Reams
Tue Nov 12, 2013 2:04 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683816

Re: Ask Graeme?

I had a feeling 17 might be a good shout for mode (slightly better player wins conundrum and one letters/tricky numbers). Interesting stuff I think you're overweighting expert-level games. In evenly matched games of average-level players, they miss a lot of stuff and score a lot of winners. So it's...
by Charlie Reams
Tue Nov 12, 2013 2:23 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683816

Re: Ask Graeme?

Dave Preece wrote:I've never understood why mode is used, it can be very inaccurate compared to the mean?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_(statistics)#Use
by Charlie Reams
Tue Nov 12, 2013 2:18 am
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Puzzle for programmers #2
Replies: 26
Views: 6781

Re: Puzzle for programmers #2

This looks interesting but I don't really understand the explanation. What does it mean that "the machine spins in a number"? Anyway, apart from the details it sounds like you could Monte Carlo this fairly easily.
by Charlie Reams
Mon Nov 11, 2013 9:43 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683816

Re: Ask Graeme?

What are the mode and mean margins of victory? And would it be possible to compare that to apterous? Thanks For apterous, considering only bog-standard 15 Rounders (new format) in human-vs-human games and ignoring extra conundrums (i.e. if it's tied after 15 rounds, take the winning margin to be ze...
by Charlie Reams
Wed Nov 06, 2013 7:17 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Don't ask Graeme
Replies: 16
Views: 3502

Don't ask Graeme

This is a thread to thank Graeme for all his nice Ask Graemes, and not ask or pester him for anything. I'll go first:

Thanks Graeme!
by Charlie Reams
Tue Nov 05, 2013 8:53 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683816

Re: Ask Graeme?

Zarte Siempre wrote:It took 17 years for 745 to be a target?!?! Fuck a duck.
The chance of there being some target which took that long is about 1 in 6 (according to my back-of-envelope maths), so you shouldn't be too surprised. Although the duck might be.
by Charlie Reams
Fri Oct 11, 2013 7:19 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683816

Re: Ask Graeme?

Awesome, thanks! Quite a few memorable names in that list.
by Charlie Reams
Wed Oct 09, 2013 9:11 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683816

Re: Ask Graeme?

Gavin Chipper wrote:Edit - Oh did you mean people who lost after 1, 2, 3 games? I'll leave it there anyway.
I did, but thanks for the dose of nostalgia nonetheless.
by Charlie Reams
Tue Oct 08, 2013 9:47 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683816

Re: Ask Graeme?

Graeme Cole wrote:Zarte won five games, smashing the record aggregate score for a five-time winner
I feel like this must have been covered before, but I hereby Ask Graeme: what are the highest aggregates for a one-time, two-time, ..., eight-time winner? (Ideally split for 9/old 15/new 15 formats.)
by Charlie Reams
Sun Sep 29, 2013 8:12 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown Experiences
Replies: 19
Views: 8594

Re: Countdown Experiences

I too would really like some more of these. I remember finding them quite inspiring when I was a newbie, and it's quite nice to know what to expect when you get to the studio and stuff. Get on it, recent contestants!
by Charlie Reams
Fri Sep 27, 2013 11:39 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: The future of c4countdown -- your help wanted!
Replies: 9
Views: 3875

Re: The future of c4countdown -- your help wanted!

And we're done! We're now hosted with 5quidhost. Hopefully no one will notice the difference, although the site should be fractionally faster and more reliable.

Thanks again for an awesome fundraiser, I can't believe the whole thing took less than 2 days. See you in 5 years for the next one!
by Charlie Reams
Thu Sep 26, 2013 6:26 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: The future of c4countdown -- your help wanted!
Replies: 9
Views: 3875

Re: The future of c4countdown -- your help wanted!

Aaand we're done. Amazing work guys! Thanks to everyone who donated. I'll handle the migration ASAP.
by Charlie Reams
Thu Sep 26, 2013 12:16 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: The future of c4countdown -- your help wanted!
Replies: 9
Views: 3875

Re: The future of c4countdown -- your help wanted!

Awesome start guys, I think we raised £112.57 in the first 24 hours. (I won't name the person that donated a weird amount, but own up if you wish!) Just a few more should get us to the big 150.
by Charlie Reams
Tue Sep 24, 2013 6:29 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: The future of c4countdown -- your help wanted!
Replies: 9
Views: 3875

The future of c4countdown -- your help wanted!

As some of you may know, this forum and the wiki has been hosted since 2008 on Cambridge University's student-run computing facility, which basically means it didn't cost anything to run. Alas, I've finally stopped being a student and quite soon we'll have to stop using the SRCF. I've moved the wiki...
by Charlie Reams
Tue Sep 24, 2013 6:06 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Getting good at apterous/Countdown
Replies: 17
Views: 7342

Re: Getting good at apterous/Countdown

Callum Todd wrote: Is it all just 100% raw natural talent
I'd say 1% is closer to the mark. There are lots of ways to get better but the one thing all good players have in common is that they practised a lot.
by Charlie Reams
Mon Sep 23, 2013 5:27 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Is Apterous down? [DO NOT POST IN THIS TOPIC FOR ANY OTHER REASON]
Replies: 604
Views: 307885

Re: Is Apterous down?

David Barnard wrote:But any idea when it will be back?
i'm looking into it
by Charlie Reams
Mon Sep 23, 2013 4:40 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Is Apterous down? [DO NOT POST IN THIS TOPIC FOR ANY OTHER REASON]
Replies: 604
Views: 307885

Re: Is Apterous down?

John Garcia wrote:
David Barnard wrote:For another few days I imagine
How comes??? :(
David must know something I don't!
by Charlie Reams
Sat Sep 21, 2013 11:36 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Friday 13th September 2013 (8/10 Cats Series 1, Episode 5)
Replies: 3
Views: 1755

Re: Friday 13th September 2013 (8/10 Cats Series 1, Episode

James Robinson wrote: Now, I'm sure there'll be plenty of arguments and debates about whether we can truly accept this as a top score
lol
by Charlie Reams
Wed Sep 18, 2013 6:27 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Jon Corby
Replies: 32
Views: 13397

Re: Jon Corby

Really hoping this is the moment Charlie accidentally forgot to log out of his other account and the truth is revealed - that Charlie is Jason and always has been. Really hoping this. Demanding, even. Especially as they'd then have to be an explanation for who it is in 'Jason's' Facebook videos. Th...
by Charlie Reams
Mon Sep 16, 2013 3:16 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Jon Corby
Replies: 32
Views: 13397

Jon Corby

Did he ever get a dog? And did his mother find out?
by Charlie Reams
Mon Sep 16, 2013 1:55 am
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Only Connect Series 8
Replies: 22
Views: 12726

Re: Only Connect Series 8

Never been much of an OC fan but in preparation for some hardcore raccoonery I watched quite a bit of the last series.
by Charlie Reams
Mon Sep 09, 2013 7:58 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Is Apterous down? [DO NOT POST IN THIS TOPIC FOR ANY OTHER REASON]
Replies: 604
Views: 307885

Re: Is Apterous down?

I'm investigating, unfortunately the server is not responding and I'm in California at the moment so if it's a physical problem I can't do much.
by Charlie Reams
Sun Sep 01, 2013 10:29 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683816

Re: Ask Graeme?

Also there's probably some sort of incumbent advantage, which would tend to make back-to-back octochamps more likely. Seems like it'd be quite hard to distinguish the two effects.
by Charlie Reams
Sun Aug 25, 2013 12:09 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: What's your Bevins Number?
Replies: 65
Views: 24231

Re: What's your Bevins Number?

To anticipate the next question, four players are 20 steps from their furthest player, and, unless you count the nine inhabitants of the remote Isle of Mulvey, nobody is closer to their furthest connected player than that. The four are Jon Corby, Jonathan Coles, Matthew Shore and you. This makes yo...
by Charlie Reams
Sat Aug 24, 2013 9:12 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: What's your Bevins Number?
Replies: 65
Views: 24231

Re: What's your Bevins Number?

Neat! Obvious question: which two players are separated by the most steps? (ie longest shortest path)

But obviously you shouldn't even be reading this until you've answered Dave Preece's question in the other thread.
by Charlie Reams
Fri Aug 23, 2013 7:12 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Countdown puzzles
Replies: 38
Views: 11066

Re: Countdown puzzles

What's the best 4-large selection in terms of the most solvable targets? (I don't know the answer) Charlie carried out some useful analysis of 4 large a while back here , which shows that 8 and 9 are the best pair, and answers many other questions you may have. Excellent, I can't believe I forgot a...
by Charlie Reams
Mon Aug 19, 2013 8:34 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Is Apterous down? [DO NOT POST IN THIS TOPIC FOR ANY OTHER REASON]
Replies: 604
Views: 307885

Re: Is Apterous down?

Hywel Morgan wrote:Am I the only person that gets redirected to the home page when I go to log in, only to be told I'm not logged in?
If you add me on Facebook or Google Chat we can work through some things and try to get to the bottom of it. Pretty sure you won't be the only person experiencing this.
by Charlie Reams
Thu Aug 15, 2013 2:30 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Is Apterous down? [DO NOT POST IN THIS TOPIC FOR ANY OTHER REASON]
Replies: 604
Views: 307885

Re: Is Apterous down?

To answer the titular question... no!

Hopefully.
by Charlie Reams
Tue Aug 13, 2013 7:32 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Classic posts
Replies: 152
Views: 24152

Re: Classic posts

I've reread this entire thread several times and every single post makes me giggle a lot. And now it's locked, so its perfection can never be diluted.
by Charlie Reams
Wed Aug 07, 2013 4:12 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Update your CDB links please
Replies: 0
Views: 481

Update your CDB links please

CDB has moved from http://www.apterous.org/cdb to http://cdb.apterous.org. The old pages will redirect to the new ones so nothing should break, but if you're linking to the old addresses, it's worth changing now.
by Charlie Reams
Wed Aug 07, 2013 4:08 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Is Apterous down? [DO NOT POST IN THIS TOPIC FOR ANY OTHER REASON]
Replies: 604
Views: 307885

Re: Is Apterous down?

At the moment it just gives a list of films. Looks like it's working to me. Link? It's working now, but it was http://apterous.org/ Oh right, I forget that some people still go there even though it just redirects you to www.apterous.org. I imagine it was related to me moving cdb to cdb.apterous.org.
by Charlie Reams
Wed Aug 07, 2013 3:30 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Is Apterous down? [DO NOT POST IN THIS TOPIC FOR ANY OTHER REASON]
Replies: 604
Views: 307885

Re: Is Apterous down?

Gavin Chipper wrote:At the moment it just gives a list of films.
Looks like it's working to me. Link?
by Charlie Reams
Wed Jul 31, 2013 11:49 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Is Apterous down? [DO NOT POST IN THIS TOPIC FOR ANY OTHER REASON]
Replies: 604
Views: 307885

Re: Is Apterous down?

Yep, this is the scheduled downtime announced earlier in the week (the note was meant to say from Tuesday so I actually managed to delay it for a day, but maybe I wrote Thursday?) I'll be posting updates to the Google+ group if anyone wants to follow along: https://plus.google.com/115731491674925974...
by Charlie Reams
Thu Jul 25, 2013 9:47 am
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Take On The Twisters
Replies: 9
Views: 5000

Re: Take On The Twisters

It's awful. James's description is about as brief as you can get.
by Charlie Reams
Thu Jul 25, 2013 9:46 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Is Apterous down? [DO NOT POST IN THIS TOPIC FOR ANY OTHER REASON]
Replies: 604
Views: 307885

Re: Is Apterous down?

Aaaaand we're back.
by Charlie Reams
Thu Apr 25, 2013 7:02 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683816

Re: Ask Graeme?

No match for much of Graeme's analysis, but I finally got around to adding the new format to CDB's "best/worst available octoruns" page, with an interesting outcome!
by Charlie Reams
Mon Apr 01, 2013 5:08 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683816

Re: Ask Graeme?

Apologies if this has been asked before, but when it comes to tie-break/sudden death conundrums, does anyone know if they just use the next one on the list or if there is a reserve conundrum for each game? I guess in heat games it wouldn't matter an awful lot but in series finals conundrums typical...
by Charlie Reams
Wed Mar 27, 2013 8:13 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: What would you put in a letter to Oxford Dictionaries?
Replies: 25
Views: 6069

Re: What would you put in a letter to Oxford Dictionaries?

Pretty much anything from DW would be a good place to start.
by Charlie Reams
Sun Mar 24, 2013 10:33 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 683816

Re: Ask Graeme?

They told me that it would only activate in sync when Nick presses the conundrum scramble reveal button and wouldn't have any effect before that I was told the same thing, but I was pretty doubtful that it was true because the buzzers are so low tech, so I quizzed whoever it was (can't remember now...