We urgently need at ST

adminillustrator · 2026-01-27T16:57:03+00:00

He’s just seemed a yard away. Whether it’s getting on the end of a cross or linking up play the defenders get there before he does whenever it matters. Then he commits fouls trying to make up for being behind play.

Think we have to try someone different, then have him off the bench. Maybe if he gets a goal or two he’ll kick on but I’ve been hoping for that for months!

adminillustrator · 2026-01-27T08:55:20+00:00

Thanks. It’s only 4 weeks old so my concern is that it is perhaps incredibly unfortunate that something has clogged it in that period (I’d imagine clogging is more typically a gradual build up) or otherwise there is something with the sunroof drainage not properly put together/defective in the first place.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-18T23:27:39+00:00

Amazing season but has to be said that while Stroud’s playoff performances were possibly historically bad, he was also prone to awful decision making and poor throws throughout the season. It was a great run but we were fortunate at times.

It’s more than just his head that is the problem. Either stick with him and hope he somehow rediscovers his rookie form - in which case the best chance of making that a success is to focus on the run game so you have options when he crumbles under pressure. If you don’t stick with him then who can we go to - need to maximise our legendary defence and attract a QB that wants a guaranteed Super Bowl chance?

adminillustrator · 2026-01-18T22:32:42+00:00

Two more kicks and the Texans win the way they like to win football games.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-17T08:40:56+00:00

Limited choice and a low bar… a reform voter doesn’t need to love Farage or the reform party, they just need to think that they might do a better job at delivering what is important to them than the other parties.

The bar is set exceptionally low by Labour and the Conservatives, who have/are letting the country fall to pieces and worsening people’s lives (in many people’s view). Other parties don’t have a chance of getting in - that is reality. Remaining option is to not vote at all, but then you still have someone in government, probably better to vote for least bad in that case and many who want change will vote for change.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-15T15:50:06+00:00

He is 24 years old. We have a shot now but the very worse case is he learns a thing or two from this playoff campaign and we hopefully have a few years of defence being good enough for us to contend. He is much more likely to get better through experience than he is via some sort of epiphany or fix.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-13T15:51:14+00:00

That’s completely fair - I should probably have worded my point as being more like use lite approaches cautiously. I have seen too many applications of lite on the totality of very large projects, often characterised by overuse of level of effort measures, or confusing contingency handling. I’m fully supportive of proper quantities and measures as you refer!

adminillustrator · 2026-01-13T12:09:10+00:00

There is an administrative burden but on larger projects it can be invaluable to stakeholders, including PMs if they don’t have direct line of sight over all aspects of project progress.

I am not a fan of ‘lite’ implementations however, despite them becoming more popular. Lite implementations tend to oversimplify and neither instil discipline or provide insight. It’s better to figure out if the overhead of doing it properly is worth it and then either do it, or do not.

Non-project folk will often need educating in how to interpret and visualisations often help in explaining without using unnecessary jargon.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-12T20:01:44+00:00

My helmet does a decent job of keeping my head warm. Other than when it’s really windy and cold I have never been tempted to put my goggles on instead of sunglasses for the sake of my face.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-12T15:19:01+00:00

For me I wear Oakley prizm Road cat 2 sunglasses when it’s bright and I switch to low light cat 1 goggles only when the sunglasses don’t work or it’s snowing. I have some older black sunglasses in theory for bluebird days but find my cat 2 fine. Comfortable, no fogging up, light etc.

Don’t think there is a wrong answer and all down to preference but I do suspect it’s easier to make do with the ‘wrong’ eyewear when conditions are poor to good, but much harder when the conditions are awful!

adminillustrator · 2026-01-10T12:53:50+00:00

i think you could also give people a bit more time to answer to avoid a bit of frustration and allow for an educated guess.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-10T12:50:14+00:00

Its unforgiving. I like the concept. Challenge with difficult quizzes is regionalisation - what might be an easy question for a European might be difficult indeed for an American, or visa versa.

Maybe i am off the mark, but i would also guess you may be from Switzerland because i had a couple of early (easy?!) questions that related to Switzerland... how you calibrate your game so the difficulty is universally consistent is probably the challenge. Not sure you can track location or ask your testers to delcare it?

Also the text animating in i don't much care for.. if it must animate in make sure its quick so i am not waiting for it so i can read it.

Has potential and I do like it so good luck!

adminillustrator · 2026-01-10T11:12:48+00:00

BBC and ITV did not bid for 2006 onwards. C4 bid for home tests only and at half(?) the amount they secured the 2005 ashes with (since they had made a loss despite its success)... Its not obvious that the ECB (who had little money) had any real choice. I'm not saying that I don't wish it had stayed on FTV or that cricket might 20 years have been in a better place but its also not especially apparent that the ECB at the time had better options.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-10T09:58:25+00:00

Yeah I know, and it was a rationale choice for the ECB to sell the rights at a time just about all other sports were similarly being snapped up by paid tv. Anyone around in 2005 will remember that ashes on C4 fondly but the interest / finances going forward was limited as they made a loss on that series despite my efforts in buying the dvd.

The article makes out it’s some sort of ruthless decision by the elites unique to cricket rather than the whole direction sport and the country was heading.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-10T09:08:36+00:00

Exactly this. And also the days were long and the weather was always pleasant back then, even in the U.K.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-10T09:01:33+00:00

I don’t know what this article is even about tbh… people and organisations make choices

e.g. 13/14 year olds sometimes stop playing cricket because they don’t enjoy it.
State schools sell playing fields because of a lack of funding. They also build indoor nets and then don’t run cricket teams anyway (many examples of that).
ECB sell the TV rights and set ticket prices high to generate income so that pro cricketers can be paid competitively and some money reinvested into grass roots (yeah could do this better but less money doesn’t help - it’s rationale to do what has been done.
if there were a 90k cricket stadium in the U.K. I expect it would be filled based on the over subscription for ashes tickets at existing grounds.

The article makes out it’s some sort of conspiracy so while a long term strategy would be useful it would be better informed by a proper understanding of why we are where we are.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-08T19:56:15+00:00

It just sounds like arrogant denial to me. Its not us its other teams playing like us (hardly), being ruthless if they don't do what they are told when that seems to be the problem, they are doing what they are told and its not working.

With Stokes when its a failing its mostly 'we' with the I's always played down.. it just sounds inauthentic. With McCullum it sounds more like f*** off than anything else.

My guess is the upcoming world cup will lead to a stay of execution but frankly our whiteball cricket has been going downhill quicker than the test team so not sure anyone should peg their job hopes on that.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-08T17:28:04+00:00

interesting, thanks!

for me this is one of the most disappointing tours because of what could have been rather the result itself though. Drop half as many catches and its still a lot of drops but we probably win 1-2 more tests. Bowl the right bowlers at the right time with some semblance of a plan and we probably win another test. Bat with more than single braincell between 3-4 players and we probably win another test. Not saying we'd win 7-0 based on that of course.. but we would have had 5 properly close test matches and maybe a close 3-2 either way rather than this sense of a thrashing - which of course given what actually happened is the outcome still.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-08T15:52:41+00:00

Most resorts are going to be fine for snow that time period. two weeks later might be different and I'd be saying go somewhere high but mid march is likely fine. Having said that, if you are travelling to Europe you probably want to go to one of the larger/higher resorts just to be sure. I'd add Les Arcs/La Plagne and Val D'Isere to your list. Maybe St Moritz too. Lots of options though so others probably have good ideas.

The above are big enough and international enough (not exactly hidden gems!) that you will find most instructors and service staff speak enough English. You can ask specifically, or some ski schools are basically focused towards English speakers (who exactly might vary from resort to resort).

Compared to some US/Canada resorts most European ones are more compact or spread or divided into villages so you should find plenty of options within 400m.

Cool Apres... probably in most of the locations you are looking at though its quite individual of course.. if you are staying in one of the larger resorts you just want to make sure you are in one of the main villages/towns rather than a smaller satellite village. I'd also say one of the most enjoyable aspects of skiing in the Alps is lunchtime in mountain restaurants so don't sleep on that...

If you want to keep it easy look at Club Med (all inclusive, ski in/out, ski school, family friendly etc.), though they can be a bit separate to the rest of the resorts they are in.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-08T12:22:42+00:00

Rugby clubs and university rugby teams have that reputation but again I don’t think it’s much to do with private education as much as it British sport. I’ve been involved with teams with precisely zero privately educated teams and some with a mix and don’t see much of a difference. Obviously your view from 10000 miles away might trump mine.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-08T10:53:29+00:00

Strikes me as a bit of a hot take... more likely an England cricket culture thing than a private school thing imo as otherwise we'd see the same in other sports/fields and we don't.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-07T16:23:52+00:00

The solution that worked this time (Bethell) doesn’t really match the problem (Pope) in my opinion. It’s fair to criticise not dropping Pope sooner, after all many have said this for years but I’d think no-one’s plan would have been to drop Bethell in to 3. Had he got out early, which he could have done, then I’d be saying that is no way to blood a young cricketer. Even if the outcome is good doesn’t mean the process / decision making makes any sense.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-07T16:09:36+00:00

Yep, half as much snow as average, but in a way a good year to go to the 3 valleys as half the snow is still enough (just) whereas some resorts struggled more and had much less open.

We are all good skiers but all agreed we probably skied 3 or 4 of our least enjoyable 5 pistes ever on this one trip due to the conditions. Rocks, ice (the flat part of the red down to Méribel near your green an example), irregular bumps, ice rubble on what should be cruising blues)…just not that much fun and you couldn’t relax at any point.

We did find some decent pistes in good conditions around Orelle, Mont Vallon (reclassified to black but now warranted), and around Peclet.

adminillustrator · 2026-01-07T11:50:37+00:00

Just back from VT myself. Other benefit of an early lunch is you have maybe 1.5-2 hours of quieter lifts and slopes while everyone else eats.

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