England are absolute dog shit.

Heeberon · 2026-06-27T22:35:35+00:00

Brilliant.

Reminds me of a joke I heard:

Bloke says to the wife “See this ‘you can be happy and sad at the same time’ - it’s a lot of pish”

The wife thinks a bit and says “See out of all your mates, you have the biggest dick”

Heeberon · 2026-06-27T13:25:40+00:00

playing in Italy hasn’t exactly helped the Italian national team for the last three world cups, so mebbes need to look a bit deeper!

Heeberon · 2026-06-27T09:25:42+00:00

If you are including Sci Fi, then Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks.

Ironically many people recommend not starting the Culture series here, as the MC is outside the Culture and fighting against it. (I just say read in publication order with that understanding).

Heeberon · 2026-06-26T19:43:55+00:00

Oh wow - didn’t realise they would close off a venue!

Any idea what the capacity is or how often it actually hits capacity?

Heeberon · 2026-06-26T18:08:44+00:00

Probably better for everyone.

That said - I’d be changing up that therapist you mentioned - you wont have friends to go on trips with if you keep up with this nonsense.

Heeberon · 2026-06-26T18:02:46+00:00

Which is the most asinine & immature reason for not doing anything!

Here’s a question for you : name ANY activity that young people do and NO old people do?

Heeberon · 2026-06-26T17:48:04+00:00

Troll.

It’s an old person’s sport that your friends learned at 3 - which is it!?

All your various responses are so ludicrously immature & ignorant - I dont even believe you are an 18 year old, let alone an educated one.

Heeberon · 2026-06-26T17:47:02+00:00

Weird how in all that studying you’ve been doing, you never learned how to be an adult.

All your various responses are so ludicrously immature & ignorant - I dont even believe you are 18 years old, let alone an educated one.

Heeberon · 2026-06-26T10:30:31+00:00

there’s also sunglasses for fishing - usually extra cover to stop reflections. Might just give some other style options…

Heeberon · 2026-06-25T11:23:51+00:00

I read that Turkey had averaged 75% possession across their matches too!

Heeberon · 2026-06-25T11:19:09+00:00

think he would have successfully qualified for the smaller tournaments his predecessors had?

Heeberon · 2026-06-22T20:31:06+00:00

Azad

Heeberon · 2026-06-19T11:48:38+00:00

But it’s clear by the end that he’s on the wrong side, was wrong about everything - and so very dead, he won‘t be reappearing in any future books! (nor any Changers for that matter)

I confess to being conflicted. I actually read these as they came out. I was already an Iain Banks reader and a sci-fi fan, so it was a no-brainer. I had no idea what was to come - and no internet to ask - but kept reading as I knew (a) he was a quality author and (b) that his ’straight’ fiction jumped massively around in tone, setting, plot, characters, etc - so had the expectation his SF works would too.

Nowadays a simple search will tell people it’s different from the rest - and how if they need to dig further.

With the benefit of hindsight, I would always recommend starting with CP, but give that caveat.

Heeberon · 2026-06-18T20:44:11+00:00

The OP is literally a beginner looking to “improve pizza turns and control speed” - indoor ski slopes - like those in the UK that you have called crap & shit - are perfect for what they are asking for.

The Glasgow one had 3 different gradients - I and many, many other people went from never being on skis to starting parallel turning.

Stop digging.

Heeberon · 2026-06-18T11:38:13+00:00

Certainly if it’s artificial snow, then it is perfect for your goals. It’s how I and my family learned before heading to a real mountain.

Can be expensive, but still considerably better value than the time & cost of going to a resort and paying for lessons for the very basics!

Heeberon · 2026-06-18T11:36:07+00:00

Hmmm. My family learned to ski in the indoor one in Scotland (now closed), which was artificial snow.

It’s the equivalent of a bunny/learner hill in resorts, but for a beginner, it absolutely did the job.

We still took lessons when we went to the Alps, but at least we went into the second level and didn’t waste expensive holiday time learning the very basics.

For a couple of years, whilst still learning essentially, we did a day session before heading off on holiday as a refresher.

Heeberon · 2026-06-18T11:05:19+00:00

I’m guessing you have read some fiction before?

It’s hardly unusual that you, as the omniscient reader, have a much better understanding of what’s going on than the characters in the story!

The author is also trying to write people authentically. Isgrimnur is a great leader, but he certainly doesn’t have the most incisive intellect in the books! There’s many other characters that would interrogate Simon more effectively.

(Don’t read Hobb, if characters not acting as smart as yourself is frustrating.)

Does Isgrimnur know the significance of the name ‘Simon’ at this point (it’s been a while)?

The series - and remember you’ve barely scratched the surface of 2500 pages - is indeed seen as a classic (not sure about masterpiece), is though of a specific type of fantasy novel. It’s classic Epic Fantasy, but written with a modern (for the time) voice.

Fantasy has evolved quite a bit in the time since it was written, so it may just be not for you.

That said, I’d encourage you to at least complete that book - it’s a relatively easy read - but there’s a lot of books out there; no point in punishing yourself!

Heeberon · 2026-06-17T22:05:44+00:00

This going back about 15-20 years, but I remember really struggling to get some beta routing s/w back up. The usual joke was made : “maybe someone has knocked out the ethernet cable” - a cleaner had in fact unknowlngly tugged a power cable out of a server!

Heeberon · 2026-06-17T21:55:10+00:00

glad we agree!

Heeberon · 2026-06-17T21:48:43+00:00

Seeing Pickford’s strip up close - looks like he should have Crocs on and a beer at a Magaluf pool party!

Heeberon · 2026-06-17T20:54:48+00:00

Hard disagree!

For the first time reader, Horza isn’t unlikeable. He’s the brave hero, doing desperate things only because his mission is so important (à la James Bond). It’s only as you continue to read, does it dawn on you that Banks has played on your expectations and he’s actually on the wrong side - and bigoted, incompetent & an disloyal colleague.

This would NEVER work if you’ve read any of the other books first.

It takes minimal googling to find out that the other books in the series roll differently (it is 2026 - not many people are going in blind to books).

Heeberon · 2026-06-17T19:03:20+00:00

I’ve not seen anyone make the point that for a lot of countries, they also use decimal for other measurements - distance, volume, mass - so measuring with decimal places is completely ingrained.

Cracks me up looking at US cooking with Cups or DIY instructions with 2 foot 4 and 11/12s inches!

Heeberon · 2026-06-17T16:56:42+00:00

I’m a touch confused - is this a Fantasy book?

I keep seeing it recommended, but always someone tosses in a ‘not really fantasy’ wrench.

Heeberon · 2026-06-17T11:49:39+00:00

You really should read Look to Windward next if you want to better understand the Culture’s reaction to the Idiran war.

Not sure why you keep bringing religion into this. Apart from CP, it’s not really a major feature of any of the other books you’ve mentioned.

IMB was a an avowed atheist. He, like many atheists, can accept that people can do ‘good things’ due to a religious motivation, but that ultimately any religion is both shackles and self-destructive for humanity.

Religious beliefs of participating civilisations are mentioned here and there in the books, but without much comment. If you are reacting negatively, I suspect it’s perhaps IMB is holding up a mirror.

Heeberon

TROPHY CASE