@BaronSamedi Cool man. What's your stance on Akira Ioane?

@victor-meldrew said in Springboks v England - Test #2:

You have to seriously feel for the decent Pom rugby supporter

Yep - I know the guy, and I do feel sorry for him.

@tim The TSF Mod-Team ?

Sweet.
Level 2 is my favourite of the levels.
People need to stay the fuck away from me, respect my 2m personal space.
Pubs are open - with the bonus of table-service.
The only drawback - is no live music gigs.

@KiwiMurph said in Sunwolves v Blues:

@rotated I don't think there's anything sinister at all. He was sick last week (which if you look at his rugby and travel schedule the past two months it's not hard to see why).

I don't see any benefit at all in flying him to Japan this week. Just let him R&R. Player welfare of your young stars is important.

You don't see anything sinister in a Lions fan being in his kitchen, and then shortly after - a mysterious illness?

@mackerzzzz said in Rugby Commentators:

I'll tell you a real good way of fixing nz commentators. Sack every one we have at the moment and bring in acc and leigh hart

Fuck. Off.
Ever tried running backwards through a field of dicks?
Or chowing down on a bowl of cold flaccid dicks?
Fuck.
Leigh Hart couldn't commentate an order at the pub. Christ, he can hardly speak.
And the ACC - are typically of mild amusement for approximately 5 minutes. After that... well, it's just the first 5 minutes on a repeat loop anyway, with rapidly diminishing returns with each re-hashed lame joke.
Fuck. Leigh Hart and the ACC. Off.

So - 2019 London - Beijing
In general...

• A group "expedition" - organised by a company called GlobeBusters. For the last decade or so, every 2nd year they do a London-Beijing trip, and every other year - Trans-Americas (Alaska-Patagonia).
  I would recommend them - they did a great job of organising, support, etc. One thing to note - it was rather pricey, and that would mostly be down to using very high-quality hotels (where possible)... my ideal would have been a cheaper trip, with cheaper hotels, and maybe a nice 4-star once every week or two, whenever stopping for 2 nights - to get a good break/laundry-done.

• Started off from London's Ace Cafe with 20 bikes (mostly BMW GS, 3 Triumphs, 1 Ducati, 1 Honda CB500) and 2 support vehicles - a pimped-out Hilux, and a Mercedes van big enough to take a bike (or two at a pinch). The group was larger than I'd expected/hoped... and it did slow things down at borders or when choices of petrol stations was... limited.
  But - it gradually shrank over time...
  2 bikes had opted to only go as far as Almaty, another 2 only as far as Lhasa, and 1 guy came off with about 10 days to go - breaking half-a-dozen ribs, mangling his front-forks into a shape they definitely shouldn't be, and choosing to fly back to the UK rather than "be a tourist" by riding in either support vehicle or catching a train to Beijing.

• Ace Cafe at each end gave us a decent send-off/welcome.... London shouted us fish'n'chips the night before departure, and then breakfast the next day - with speeches and such bollocks
  Beijing welcomed us with bottles of cheap bubbly to spray all over the place, sweet cold beers, a decent spread, all sorts of "merch"... and speeches and such bollocks

Western-ish Europe...
From London to Turkey is a vague memory, but...

• UK, France, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-and-Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro, Greece
• Most of it was just getting the miles under the belt, trying to get out of Western Europe ASAP... quite well planned though, to keep the interest up... typically being a couple-hundred miles of motorway, and then an hour or so of some sweet twisties or country-roads, or something else a little more interesting - before reaching the hotel. So each evening, the recent/residual memory was the "fun bit"

Turkey...

• 3 nights in Istanbul - the first time we'd stopped for more than a single night. I'd never been before, so ticked off the major touristy things
• Safranbolu - nice enough old town, with an absolutely shite museum
• Cappadocia, Mount Nemrut & Ani

Georgia-Azerbaijan...

• Tbilisi - rather cool city, very unexpected. Very "bohemian", or "hip", or something... without (much) wankiness that typically comes with those words. Reminded me of a less self-aware Melbourne. Plenty of the old-world stuff (ancient statues, cobblestone streets, bathhouses), and then craft-beer pubs, weird-modern architecture, wine-bars.
  Oh - and look up the 1907 Tiflis Bank Robbery
• Azerbaijan - the sign from Georgia announcing that you're approaching the Azerbaijan border also proclaims at the bottom "Good Luck!". An excellent little dig at one's neighbour
• Caspian Sea - we caught the "ferry" from Baku to Turkmenbashi - a 13 hour crossing

The 'Stans

• Turkmenistan - interesting. Probably most people's choice as "least favourite country of the trip" - but it would be a contender for my Top-3... solely as it was interesting. This is a country where it's essentially still a totalitarian rule... by a nutter.
  Roads - mostly pretty shit, extended periods where they seemed to have laid black glass instead of tarmac. Not cool in the rain - we had one GS go down at reasonably high speed, no major damage to rider or bike
• Uzbekistan - stopped at several classic Silk Road towns - Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand
• Tajikistan - Probably my favourite country...
  The Tunnel of DEATH! - which was an interesting experience, but not one I'd want on my daily commute
  The adherence to Islam was very much waning this far east, and some of the ladies certainly had that "adultery-isn't-really-that-bad-of-a-sin" sparkle in their eyes
  The (bike) riding once we hit the Wakhan Valley/Pamir Highway... awesome. Riding along the Afghanistan border, unmaintained dirt roads along hill-sides, following rivers... so much fun... videos to come
• Kyrgyzstan - the first peek at high-altitude passes, and fermented horse-milk. Some reasonably fun rural dirt roads, absolutely crazy drivers, and corrupt traffic-police armed with speed-radar-guns.
• Kazakhstan - pretty much just a few days in Almaty, resting

China...

• Border Crossing, at high altitude - a full day to just get physically across the border. Then 2 days stuck in Kashgar, getting the bikes' paperwork sorted.
• Xinjiang province - oppressive. Police checkpoints everywhere, a very very police-state feel about the whole place. I probably shouldn't write too much about it, sitting here in a Beijing hotel not using VPN, but... look it up. Xinjiang, and the "Uighur problem".
• Tibet - the story goes that Tibet is now essentially "pacified" - and the guy that managed that, has been moved on to Xinjiang.
  There were certainly far less police checkpoints, etc - but still some
  But anyway - Tibet... awesome. Altitude, obviously. Snow-riding - not fun, when I'd swapped the visor out for goggles during the previous dirt road sections.
  Mount Everest - I've already posted about that... just awesome. The mountain itself - just being there - literally brought tears to several bikers' eyes. And the road to get up to Base Camp... motorcycle heaven. So many switchbacks... and chinese road rules - so safe overtaking is very much optional.
  And then - the Tibet-Sichuan highway - the G318 - some sections, contenders as being even better than the Everest Base Camp road. On a bike, dodging chinese fuckknuckles in Land-Cruiser-Prados - just great fun.
• Sichuan - some decent scenery, but the roads were already becoming rather "tame" compared to the previous month or two... so just ticking off tourist boxes on the way up to Beijing... Chengdu - pandas, check.
• Shaanxi - Xi'an - great city, with a couple of days off to rest/relax/drink, and more of the touristy stuff... Terracotta Warriors - I'd seen about 15 years ago - not a single bit of more excavation has been done since then, but there are shiny new restaurants/souvenir-shop complexes.
• Shanxi - at this point, we're just trying to get to Beijing, on roads absolutely rammed full of the infamous "red trucks" - what are presumably state-owned trucks, shipping coal from mines to power stations. Hundreds of them... thousands. I've got a video where I passed about 200 of them all queued up. So - lots of trucks, lots of coal-dust... doesn't make for traditionally enjoyable riding. Does, however, make for some very inventive interpretation of road rules at times... I was swerving up onto pavement to get around trucks, nipping back from the wrong side of the road into the middle of a police checkpoint, taking shortcuts through building sites, rice-fields, whatever.
• And finally Beijing - made it, 16,500 miles, I think I remember my GPS unit claimed.
  Beers were had.

Papalii a better winger than Bridge.

@Siam said in Coronavirus - Overall:

@Kruse said in Coronavirus - Overall:

@pakman said in Coronavirus - Overall:

Good article. Also some Ferners caught playing away! https://velvetgloveironfist.blogspot.com/2021/02/do-lockdowns-work.html?m=1

The problem with balanced, researched, and sources-cited articles like this... the "lock down just doesn't work" part of the public simply doesn't read them.
They want catchy memes, with no thought required to re-inforce the theories that they WANT to be true.
The hitler meme, with continuous ranting about "you've all been duped by CCP science, and ignored Western Science which always knew lockdowns didn't work, you sheeple" - with zero facts or basis - will always trump a full article describing how "Western Science does in fact support lockdowns, and always has - because... not just common sense, but also these facts, and this recorded data, and this lot, and this. Oh - and look, here's a handful of pretty graphs for those you are 'visual learners'. And, yes, there are some obvious downsides to them, so it's always going to be a balancing act."

You haven't used science to back up the efficacy or lack of collateral damage of a year of lockdowns. All you've done is deride the people that don't agree with you. You even claim to know what people are thinking and what they want.

Perhaps people believe there are different more nuanced strategies. Perhaps people believe that, if given a coherent and consistent message that the people don't need government fines to observe social distancing and behaviours that lead to less transmission.
Perhaps people are wanting their doubts discussed on accessible media that comprehensively addresses and dispels the 30,000 health experts that made up the Barrington Agreement. Perhaps the people wonder why pandemic strategies and WHO pandemic guidelines of 2019 were immediately disregarded.

Perhaps people want to see a cost benefit analysis of 2020 strategies.

Perhaps people are concerned that the government interference in their lives is an over reach for a "natural" event that has a demonstrable effect on a very particular segment of society. The same governments that many believe aren't equipped with a history of caring about you more than your family friends and community. The same members of governments that break lockdown restrictions.

I can understand frustration at experts ( not you) having to placate questioning sceptics, but to dismiss scientific enquiry as simply the ranting of inferior people is the least productive aspect of the common goal - to rid society of covid.

The only thing worse than lockdowns is surely silencing questions about lockdown. The efficacy of lockdowns requires data and discussion and evidence. If it's the best strategy, and I hope it is, then it will be demonstrably provable and explained. And for that we'll need facts, recorded data and yes, pretty graphs.

What's wrong with questioning a phenomenon that no one yet has all the answers for?

No - I'm not using science to back up anything. I'm only deriding people who use zero science in their arguments, and applauding the people that do cite references/sources/science in theirs... and perhaps highlighting a theory that one group of people tends to the first approach.

And - I also agree that there are certainly "more nuanced strategies" - in fact, I pointed out, as did the article cited by @pakman - that for the whole "to lockdown, or not to lockdown, that is the question" debate - the more scientific articles typically DO reference the obvious downsides of lockdowns... the side-effects, etc... just like scientific analysis typically does.
The whole "lockdowns don't work, our governments are fooling us" side of the argument... typically does not. Rather, as my post was mostly pointing out, they used to be pseudo-scientists producing dodgy youtube videos, and more recently - just cut-to-the-chase hysterical memes.

Generally - the "efficacy of lockdown" HAS had discussion, HAS had plenty of data and evidence, and it HAS been demonstrably proven and explained.
AND - has down-sides which have plenty of data, plenty of evidence, but is still accumulating, as the economic effects, in particular, are probably going to have a several-year lead-time.

Feel free to question a "phenomenon", but I haven't seen any questioning.

And one thing I fear - the more hysterical and nonsensical the anti-lockdown brigade comes across now... when it's been proven, and is obvious, that they are nutters... the less likely it is that anybody will be taken seriously when real and necessary questions are raised concerning governmental or societal movements in the future.

Anyway -that's my last word... I'd promised myself I wouldn't even respond to this thread any more, thinking of Mark Twain's quote regarding onlookers... but your response was on the surface fairly well-thought out, and I've been drinking, so figured it deserved one more response.

Also - another point I've already raised - logic, science, and all the things which typically back those lovely things up - aren't going to change the mind of people who obviously WANT a thing to be true.
When you watch one side of a debate constantly twisting and changing it's front-of-attack/defense... you know you're pretty much debating religion with a catholic.

Sorry to break this to all you guys, but it doesn't matter anyway, nobody's interested in the World Cup. It's just a money-spinner with fake enthusiasm pushed by the broadcasters, newspapers, and merchandising salesmen.

@canefan said in Movie review thread...:

@Nepia said in Movie review thread...:

@canefan said in Movie review thread...:

Just watched Nobody

Starring the guy who plays Saul in Breaking Bad, it was a great Saturday night highly violent easy watch. Sorry of a grittier John Wick, ex-spook assassin trying to live a "normal" life accidentally pisses off Russian mafia sociopath and action ensues. A strong 8 booby traps out of 10 stolen Van Gogh paintings

I see this all the time about Nobody (assume Sorry is actually Sort) and it makes me chuckle.

The final scene is adult Home Alone and his Dad looks like he's in a panto.

Yeah when I say gritty I just mean he doesn't look as movie star as Keanu. But yes the final part is just ridiculous good fun

Yeah - I enjoyed it, except the final part. @Nepia 's "adult Home Alone" is an excellent description... it was just jarring.
UNLESS - I forcibly put myself in a generous mood, and view it as an homage/piss-take of 80s/90s TV/movies (Home Alone meets the A-Team)... it suddenly 'works'.

@Bovidae said in Rankings:

As I've said, the structure for the RWC playoffs are consistent. That isn't the problem.

The real problem is allocating the teams to bands, and therefore pools, so far in advance of the tournament.

Wiki says the draw was made on 14 Dec 2020, but they used the rankings from Jan 2020. So even worse!

Yep - THIS.
There's absolutely zero "weird" about the QFs/SFs setup.
It's just that the use of old rankings, led to a scenario where the top 4 teams happen to be in 2 pools.
And for those who don't think things through - the fact that those pools just happen to be named "A" & "B" - it might look even worse... but it's not. There could have been 2 in Pool B & 2 in Pool D - to the same net effect.
There is no "2 sides to the draw - with the top 4 teams all on one".
There are 4 sides to the draw, and we just happen to have the top 4 congested into 2 of them.

And the end result - to get to the final, you're still going to have to beat one of the "top 4", and 1 of the top 8, and then the only other team who has managed to accomplish the same thing. Just in a different order to normal.
The more I think about it - the more I'm coming to think it's kinda cool...

• Pool matches
• QF against somebody else of your general level (top 4 playing each other, ~5~8 playing each other)
• SFs - in theory a little less competetive than normal - but still, the ~5~8 teams aren't exactly slouches, and now have a shot - one upset away from a RWC final - that's gotta bring some game out of a team
• Final

I was pretty pissed up and tired when I watched that last night.. forgot there was probably a post-credit scene.
Just watched it now... (pretty pissed up and tired) - and yeah, nice.
I had always expected there to be some sort of reveal as to what they were building in prison - had assumed it was going to be related to his pet droid in the Rogue-1 movie, and explain how he acquired it/her/whatever.... but considering the size... I was obviously pretty pissed up and tired when I came up with that theory.
Instead... yeah, that was nice.

@Nepia said in Awesome stuff you see on the internet:

@taniwharugby said in Awesome stuff you see on the internet:

As someone who did that as a child I don't find that awesome at all.

As someone who did that about 3 or 4 years ago - I find it far from awesome.

@Frank said in TV Serieseseses:

@antipodean said in TV Serieseseses:

1899

From the people that brought you Dark on Netflix. Three episodes in and it's slow so far, but I like these type of mysteries.

Edit - it might help if I give some concept of a plot. Shipping company loses passenger liner for four months. Another of their ships finds it, devoid of passengers. Strange shit happens.

Don't think I'd last too long with 1899 (didn't like Dark). Looks like a bunch of tropes sticky-taped together.
Ghost ship, secret codes, evil silent oriental chick, Jimi Hendrix song for the hardcore moments.

You've sold me... downloading now.

@taniwharugby said in Awesome stuff you see on the internet:

Didn't know about this 🤣

Yeah - read about that a little while ago. What did they expect?
Jim Morrison/Doors set the example.
And the lyric they're telling these guys to change is... "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me."
Just... who EVER suspected they might literally and figuratively say "fuck you, I won't do what you tell me."

@Catogrande said in Wales v Georgia:

@Kiwiwomble said in Wales v Georgia:

@Catogrande but you're asking me to argue the opposite of my point, i cant give you an answer to your question because i dont agree, teams should play in the traditional colours unless there is a clash...which there wasn't with Georgia if theyre playing in there white kit

You can have a conversation where people agree with each other you know. Perhaps if I’d prefaced the question with “Yeah!” You may have got the nuance that I was agreeing with you.

Anyway, all good. We’re right and those money grubbing fluffybunnies at the various Unions are wrong.

Otherwise known as ... "rhetorical question".

But, nah, fuck that shit.
Come on @Kiwiwomble - answer the man! Justify this disgusting practice! You can't, can you? Because it's shameful.
Fleecing the supporters for every £ you can get... fuck you. Fuck. You.

I accidentally just saw some of the opening ceremony... the Qatari President, or Prince, or Head Executioner, or some shit - giving the welcome speech.
FFS... the interpreter was interpreting on the fly, and making a goddamn allah-damned hash of it. How difficult is it to prepare a pre-interpreted version for somebody to read confidently? Or at least provide a copy of the speech ahead of time, so at least SOME prep could be done.

@Billy-Tell said in Thoughts on Cane now?:

Haven’t read the thread. But freshly squeezed with white rum, line juice, soda water and mint makes a splendid mojito.

I prefer just fermenting it, add some sugar & lime... lovely caipirinha.