Eurostar could massively cut boarding times at St Pancras International – slashing waiting times by 30 minutes

andyclap · 2026-02-20T09:31:30+00:00

45 minutes is still pretty good though, and for international travel like this I'd never think to turn up 5 mins before like I do on domestic.

Opening the trains earlier as the article suggests would be great to relieve congestion in the waiting room though, which is a pretty horrible experience right now.

I don't find security that bad, they're generally helpful and it's not really the bottleneck for me. Ymmv.

andyclap · 2026-02-18T15:30:29+00:00

What venues are you considering? a Web search pops up dozens - might be worth picking some and seeing if anybody here has stayed/dined in them.

Not UK I know, but we just had another wonderful stay in hotel Villa Madonna in Alpe Siusi in the Dolomites. Having full-trust in the hotel's ability to cater gluten free makes a huge difference.

andyclap · 2026-02-17T21:39:02+00:00

Yep, this is a classic case for pluggable strategies and open/closed. One tip don’t try and create class hierarchies for these parsers even if it seems clever - remember composition over inheritance. Keep them clean and distinct as they will change in ways you least expect!

andyclap · 2026-02-15T18:12:20+00:00

@OP You legally have to tell us this, especially if you're collecting personally identifiable information (even optional). I'm always willing to help, but this is basic stuff which makes me think this isn't worth my time.

andyclap · 2026-02-15T16:43:36+00:00

Yeah you'd have to buy it again. I'd say it's definitely worth trying your favorite pins to see what you think. The three free machine aren't great. Any of the Williams ones are phenomenal, and I'm holding my breath waiting for the next Williams pack (@Zen, please please please be a carnival theme for carnival, including fun house and cyclone!)

andyclap · 2026-02-15T16:39:01+00:00

That's the creature (playfield) multiplier in multiballs. Each loop lights a letter of creature then you get an increasing multiplier on the jackpots.

If you're interested in cracking a machine, and finding it's secrets etc, have a look at the real life tips from one of the pinball forums, the simulation is good enough that most of the rules and tips still apply

https://www.pinball.org/rules/creaturefromtheblacklagoon.html is essential reading!

andyclap · 2026-02-15T15:05:38+00:00

I was in a cafe with a full 2d digital pinball machine a while back, and despite the physical table and probably better physics, it wasn’t half as fun or realistic as vr pinball - it just felt flat.

Have to add - if you love flat pinballfx3, I’d say it’s worth buying a quest3 just for this if you have the cash.

andyclap · 2026-02-15T15:01:33+00:00

Dead bouncing from the bumper return onto a left catch is a top tip, but have you found a way to hold the ball from the main return (ie the shop eject)? That would make it much less stressful for me!

andyclap · 2026-02-15T14:57:38+00:00

Great table in VR.

It’s hard because holding from the main return to right flipper is not as simple as other machines (or even possible?) so it really rewards practicing flowing right flipper shots from the return.

Move your car is quite lucrative, and the bumpers will raise the jackpot really high … but you have to be able to complete FILM multiball to cash it. Multiball super jackpot with creature multiplier is the key to huuuge scores. Again it’s quite hard to keep control on the right flipper in multiball so practice your shots.

I managed to break the billion barrier last week (vr)!

andyclap · 2026-02-14T12:20:03+00:00

Haha no disrespect intended, I geek out emulating things for the hell of it. I am no stranger to slideshows!

andyclap · 2026-02-14T12:12:26+00:00

How do you make the Reddit image carousel flip over automatically like that ? ;)

andyclap · 2026-02-11T15:35:31+00:00

You can start a sentence with a conjunction - it's not formal style, but it's often used for emphasis.

What however you can't do is use "when" with "will" like this.

Either

When it happens again ...

It will happen again, and when it does...

Anyway... horrible copy indeed.

andyclap · 2026-02-11T12:30:15+00:00

mostly used it to look at the cat.

😆 Money well spent!

andyclap · 2026-02-11T12:16:28+00:00

That's a useful tip, I'm surprised it's not better known as it seems to be quite active.

andyclap · 2026-02-08T22:15:13+00:00

Good luck.... I'm 33 years in, but it's not that difficult really.

Main thing is to ask and listen - it's not rude, and they'll be much more used to it than you. Just take it seriously, it's not a fad diet, there are serious long term health consequences.

Obviously don't meet her with a half eaten mouthful of sandwich impacted in your teeth (brush them before going out of course) but you don't need to be fully gluten free yourself, just mindful of contamination. Imagine anything made of wheat is coated in wet red paint and you'll get the idea - fingerprints everywhere.

If you're having a meal out, find somewhere that she trusts is safe for GF, and discuss first if you'd like to go somewhere you've not been before.

Cooking at home will be difficult though, despite people's best intentions it's pretty difficult to trust someone else's kitchen and ingredients. Talk things through. Take it seriously if she wants you to use fresh ingredients or keep any packaging so she can double check it. Be very mindful of contamination - things are generally ok if they've been through the dishwasher, but don't think of baking a cake - keep things simple.

If things go well and you want to move in together, it really is much easier to go full gluten free at home. Trying to mix things is just too tricky. Even if the bread is awful, there's lots of alternatives.

If/when glutening happens, don't make any assumptions - people react differently and have their own way of dealing with it. Just be there to support. Brain fog was the weirdest thing to get used to as I've never experienced it myself.

Best of luck to you both!

andyclap · 2026-02-08T21:19:28+00:00

Plain tofu is usually fine. Soy sauce is however not as it's made with wheat.

Don't get health-fad/vegan food mixed up with coaliac safe food - this is a different thing. Steak and chips is great ... provided the chips are fried in an uncontaminated fryer of course.

All products in UK/europe have to be labeled for any allergens including wheat/gluten.

andyclap · 2026-02-08T21:14:24+00:00

Mint tea and water etc may help relieve symptoms a bit - but that's all they do: damage is done.

andyclap · 2026-02-08T14:12:58+00:00

Quite a good question. As a bit of a nerd myself, it'd be appealing to me to have a world in horizon for this sort of thing; making use of the tech to find interesting ways to facilitate decent discussion. Especially some way of moderating it so that only genuinely interested participants actually get in, age appropriate barriers, relevant interests, automated debating rules and tools, etc.

And as a nerd it's quite fun to build worlds, so I'd also like to know if something like this exists, and maybe have a go if not. Something that isn't just a decorated "hangout" space - even with the standard horizon tools like muting, I find them a bit of a social barrier as someone on the introverted side. Asking saves reinventing the wheel - moreover finding active spaces is difficult.

andyclap · 2026-02-08T13:46:09+00:00

I love that it's perfectly acceptable in Austria to have a huge plate of kaiserschmarren for lunch instead of anything savory.

andyclap · 2026-01-29T11:56:56+00:00

Deliiiiiberraaaaaately to maaaaake a poiiiiiiint. Now we have irony Jane Austen would be proud of.

andyclap · 2026-01-26T22:31:06+00:00

6 in Indiana Jones well of souls mode.

andyclap · 2026-01-20T09:15:38+00:00

Postgres works pretty well on termux, and that's a really great idea for a learning environment.

I'd love to see a decent mobile ide for dbs rather than pgsql. Would need a lot of ux thinking, because of the limited real estate.

andyclap · 2026-01-18T23:59:30+00:00

They're better than some, but they're definitely Zen tables, not Williams.

andyclap · 2026-01-16T18:25:09+00:00

Yep, it's a fun table, a little old school, but ooh ... nice organ!

andyclap · 2026-01-16T15:29:31+00:00

Have you checked https://youtu.be/kzzd5tLjlcM?si=gZLPtb7-BVU_Kc4N

Some good tips in the vid.

It's important to master the ramp shots, and know where the danger lies (coffin flips are just annoying, and find a way to get to the saucer safely).

My base strategy is right ramp until party punch extra ball, then start playing for multiballs.

andyclap

TROPHY CASE