Another backhanded “positive action” comment is “I’m going to give that the attention it deserves” and nine times out of ten it will be absolute fucking rot so no, that’s going to the bottom of the list. Cheers though.

…your genitals, whuuuut

Absolutely. Chris Brown is a prime example. I quite like some of his collab tunes, but I absolutely refuse to give any money - a percentage or not - to that wifebeating spunktrumpet.

In fact, the fact that I’m actively screwing him out of money makes me enjoy the song more.

Ridge Racer is all about mastering the handling model. Anything beyond that is mostly having an idea of the circuit.

I just to quite enjoy sticking a quid in the Ridge Racer cabinet in motorway service stations in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, hooning through to win regardless of whether it was a wheel or a stick, and walking away after crossing the line, not even bothering to stay for the name entry.

It was nice being that guy that I was wowed by as a kid in the arcades. Little victories.

The US brought weight in technology and numbers that ended the war in a much faster fashion.

To use the term “brilliance” is a stretch though, the US wasted thousands (if not more) of soldiers doing the same shit that other allied nations tried and failed, all in the “we know best” mentality.

The US should rightly celebrate being a part of a wider successful military effort. To say they were better or integral though is… creative, to say the least.

Full disclosure: I only have a surface level understanding of both world wars, I know there’s nuance and depth that will turn most historians a shade of angry purple and I apologise in advance 😊

I think it’s just a three or four hour entertainment show with a bit of American football thrown in every now and then.

Great if you want to see a concert on a field in the middle of a sports game I suppose.

I struggle with cricket.

Great sport, cracking late drama, and I really enjoy an afternoon out fielding and seeing what the batsman comes up with next…

…but TV coverage is just mindbogglingly boring now, even with the integration of interpolated camera angles and live stats and all the bells and whistles that come with modern coverage. At least it is for the British game - I would suggest that if you look east to the IPL or even to the T20 game, there’s a lot more fun and games at play.

Test cricket seems to be born for radio though, there’s something quite relaxing about having a cricket game on Radio 5 in the garage or the workplace.

pentagon

plane

oh no

e: well I expected this low-effort comment to get buried within seconds so just to be clear, it’s purely a mathematical theory where if you had two pentagons and an extra vertex, then only 9/11 of the edges would tesselate correctly. I’m not sure what that is in Radians, but it’s definitely an American 77 units for sure.

You’re absolutely right. The NBC article is gash.

I’m not sure what your comment is trying to prove though?

If you were engaged enough to comment your theory on the article, then surely you were engaged enough to read the article; see in the first couple of paragraphs that the news was the result of a family statement; search for that statement; find a People article with further details on the death (which admittedly problematic as it’s an exclusive article, meaning options for corroboration are few); but noting that the claim initially came from a family member along with a brother that was staying with her - two people who I’m making an assumption are the most likely to challenge any kind of coverup?

I just don’t understand the logic of throwing a theory out there and proudly claiming that you haven’t read the article? I do understand that I came across as a cunt in that initial reply and I apologise to you directly, but I’m interested in dissenting opinion as always.

To be clear, I’m not saying you’re 100% wrong - I’m saying there’s very little in the way of currently available facts to support your assertion.

I fucking love AI.

I’ll qualify that with a small personal story on it: I have a colleague in a nearby office the other side of the city, who steps into supervise his team when the actual manager isn’t there. Nice bloke, not much banter, but pleasant enough.

You can fucking guarantee though that when a division-wide email has gone out, or a change of plan comes in… he’s right on the phone to me asking what to do.

The first few times it was cute. A guy must really love his job or hate himself to go into junior management, so walking him through routine tasks he may not have been exposed to may be beneficial to him in the long run.

The problem is, it’s near constant. Every single time something changes, he calls - not for advice, not for opinion, but “can you do this for my team too?”. What really pulls a hair out of my arse is that there’s a 50/50 chance of it being something I’ve already showed him. I’ve spoken to his actual manager at exasperated length but it’s just a can kicked down the road with a “well he’s still learning, isn’t he?”

I suppose he is, and I’m no teacher. When he phones now, I just tell him “mate our org has access to that fancy new Microsoft Copilot, it’s fuckin’ mint bro, solves all your problems”, knowing fine well the disaster that’s about to happen - partly to expose him to new technologies, but mainly to be a smug cunt.

Invariably, he gets solutions that don’t quite work, or ideas that don’t quite fit the brief… and it’s satisfying as fuck getting the follow-up call and saying “sorry bruv, Copilot is smarter than me, which isn’t hard” or “nah sorry dude, it gives you a personalised response so that’ll be outside of my domain, making my suggestions worthless”.

Fucking love it. It has reduced my workload immensely.

It’s almost as if the details were right there a single finger tap or click away.

Or at least as a starting point for your own research.

Not nearly on the same scale, but one of my favourite photos of me in a proud moment is me kneeling beside a local beach holding an oversized PR cheque for two hundred quid (my back-of-a-fag-packet maths suggests that’s around US$266) for a charity I ran for.

Now, two ton is next to fuck all in the grand scheme of things, and I was only expecting my colleagues and pals to empty their pockets of smash; euros; washers; and the odd Drachma into the tub - but for folk to think so highly of me and break my own target many times over in an era not too far after the credit crunch… well even now I look back and think “fuck yes past me, you did a bit of good there bro”.

Granted, I’ve given more in monthly GAYE donations (lol) off my top line in UK taxation dodges than that figure, but I absolutely get how the opposite is true - a relative minnow getting a cash boost that guarantees their R&D (and livelihoods too) for another fixed period of time.

Fuck yes. (sorry for the anecdote.)

I suspect there may be additional vulnerabilities there that contributed to his distress.

In that instance though, as soon as a firearm gets whipped out, no police officer, mental health worker, or other support structure would change the outcome.

What a shame for everyone involved.

I’m in the same boat. My other half has been stuck with me for nearly twenty years now and bigger and better things have come up that have needed the money spent on it.

The bit of paper will come in handy if one of us kicks the bucket though, or even when it comes to claiming certain tax allowances in the UK. I just want to make sure they’re sorted financially when I end up brown bread, and proving their connection to me is going to me one of the last things on the list in the immediate aftermath of a bereavement.

I’m not arsed one way or another about it though.

I’ve been threatening to do this for years. Irregular hours have meant that I’ve skipped this idea, and rugby. I guess I’d love to go just for the workout and for the extra circle of friends, but I don’t want to be wasting folks time when I’m not going to be able to make games consistently.

I enjoyed playing roller hockey when I was younger and I know getting the skates back on after thirty years will be a challenge, maybe I’ll give this a go again.

I agree with you, however as always, context is key.

I’m speaking from the other end of the usual timeline - I wrapped education up after getting fucked about at my further education college. I’d lost interest and continuing my studies in my youth would likely have resulted in extra debt, burnout, or failure (or even the triple crown if I’d stuck it out). I went into employment instead.

Twenty years later, I’m back in part time study and I’m in year five of a six year degree programme - literally taking twice as long to do a normal BSc pathway because of the part time element.

I’m doing it for funsies. I felt like I had unfinished business with it, I really wanted to continue the study at least through undergraduate level, but I’ve done it for my own reasons rather than for a job or extra coin. The skills I’ve learned along the way - critical thinking; how to credit people for their work; and the general study material have been more than enough to consider this decision to be a success.

That said, I know I’m in an incredibly privileged position to do what I’m doing, and I’m quite sure that a lot of folk couldn’t spunk £160-180 per month for six years, particularly when wages are stagnating and cost of living keeps rising. I’ve gone in to this wanting to learn about the field I’m studying, and not to hang my hopes of a job on that bit of paper the hopefully comes at the end of it. If nothing else, this course has shown me how little I know about the wider field and the world in general; and also how easy it is to game most systems including educational establishments for the most part - so in terms of employment, I can see how postnominals or a fancy certificate mean fuck all to employers.

I look at it as another formative stage in life - I’ve learned, I’ve developed, I’m a few grand lighter, but it opens new exciting doors to be able to get closer to the cutting edge in my current study field, or even pull the handbrake up and turn the wheel at the same time on my study career and pick another topic to read with more confidence.

I think the key is to at least enjoy what you’re doing in general. If you hate your field or you’re doing it because your job’s pinned to it, then you’re going to have A Real Bad Time™️ and I can see why people would be bitter about it when things go sideways after all that work.

Out of curiosity, were you on the hook for the entire cost? As it, was any of it covered by insurance?

It doesn’t sound like much fun at all.

Tinnyday. Comes before or after Wednesday depending on daylight savings, encourages a beer or a wine (or whatever beverage of your choosing) to relax. Business hours the following day do not start until 10am.

Delivery fees from online retailers are ineligible to charge delivery fees, local food orders must include a free canned beverage, people working in entertainment venues get double time.

The HAMBOTVER of the 2000s!

My first thought was: “I must try this”. I need to read my house insurance policy first.

Curiosity got the better of me when I waved an alcohol wipe over an open flame. There’s still a dark mark on the office carpet tile from where I had to stamp it out.