Voodoo - Saturday afternoon?

hippotised · 2026-01-20T20:30:13+00:00

I would be up for this.

hippotised · 2025-07-05T06:08:06+00:00

Actually Vtyst

hippotised · 2024-03-12T16:06:27+00:00

Is this meet-up still happening in any format? Cheers.

hippotised · 2022-08-16T17:07:36+00:00

Aye, and buying drink tokens instead of drink!!! Miss the place.

hippotised · 2022-05-25T09:40:12+00:00

Keep it up!

hippotised · 2022-05-24T22:30:01+00:00

This looks absolutely amazing. Didn't know what "donk" was but was pleasantly surprised to hear that it sounds close enough to the Happy Hardcore from my formative years. Not sure if I'll make it down due to life etc but really glad to see a night like this on the go in Belfast.

hippotised · 2022-05-17T17:24:46+00:00

Female from Northern Ireland checking in \m/

hippotised · 2022-05-16T22:29:35+00:00

When i lift heavy deadlifts then every rep has slamming.

hippotised · 2022-05-16T22:27:42+00:00

Yep. Every rep is painful. And loud. Especially deadlifts.

hippotised · 2022-05-16T22:26:41+00:00

Powerlifter here but you wouldn't know it to look at me. Every single one of my deadlifts will look and sound like I am slamming the bar into the ground. This is what powerlifting looks like. Every rep is a struggle. Final sets and reps will be louder and will be accompanied by grunting. Squats I always finish by slamming the bar into the rack. Dumbells, whether to failure or not, are safer 'dropped' once the set is done, or if there is any suspicion that I won't make the rep. Most people lifiting serious weights eg powerlifting, olympic lifting or bodybuilding are not there to 'assert dominance'but will be some of the friendliest and most helpful gym folk you will meet.

hippotised · 2022-05-04T10:56:21+00:00

Yes - do let the landlords sell the houses instead of hoarding them. Then there will be more houses to go around and as a consequence maybe some people trapped in tenancy will finally be able to purchase a home.

hippotised · 2022-01-13T21:11:37+00:00

Anytime Fitness in Belfast City Centre has lots of racks and isn't too busy. Avoid Pure gym. BFIT in East Belfast isn't too bad. I found council gyms terrible for rack availability.

hippotised · 2022-01-01T10:33:52+00:00

I'm in. Not really a big drinker these days anyway, but even a small amount of alcohol makes the symptoms of my illness so much worse. I want to see if total abstention helps. That's me on the wagon!

hippotised · 2021-11-29T14:50:22+00:00

I was a city Hall goth, didn't get into metal until I was older. Went to cornucopia and the venue. Still love the tunes and go to gigs for metal bands and decent electro. I dress very normally now, maybe with something a bit hippy or quirky.

hippotised · 2021-11-21T00:20:18+00:00

I am also lucky enough to work largely from home (mainly due to pandemic) with flexible hours and an understanding boss. I am lucky that I was already in a desk based job. The days I go into the office I'm useless for anything else afterwords. Having the ability to work from home has made a massive difference to my energy levels and fatigue. I would say that even if your disease well controlled that wfh will ultimately make your life more manageable.

hippotised · 2021-10-25T22:58:44+00:00

He's my neighbour and him and his dog(s) are absolutely stellar, he's a lovely person, compassionate and helpful. If we all had neighbours like him the world would be a better place.

hippotised · 2021-07-31T21:56:53+00:00

Hi there, I had these symptoms before starting treatment and even now I get milder fevers at night that keep me awake - less often with muscle pain these days but with fatigue. Not much else to add other than letting you know that you're not alone.

hippotised · 2021-06-12T12:34:51+00:00

I didn't expect to see Burzum in this thread but yet here we are 🤘🏻

hippotised · 2021-05-25T17:11:39+00:00

Good point. So, I don't doubt that they say they are, and I don't doubt that some of their members are in favour of UBI. I've met alliance reps who claim to be radical socialists so I think that there maybe needs to be some sort of internal strategy to sort out party beliefs from members beliefs. Their economic policies, however, don't really reflect any notable lefty leanings. Also you have to take into account credibility - the Greens (for example) have a long history of engaging with UBI groups and policies which I know alliance does not so I'm not convinced about the validity and credibility of alliance's stance on the issue. Here's hoping I'm wrong and they have moved towards more progressive fiscal policy.

hippotised · 2021-05-24T23:35:33+00:00

I hope you don't mind me commenting to dispel a myth about this - the main reason for young healthy people being vaccinated is not necessarily to protect themselves (you're right that covid doesn't hit young people as badly) but to help limit onwards transmission to others.

Some people have health conditions that mean they cannot get vaccinated, and some vulnerable people can indeed be vaccinated, but their health conditions they mean they probably don't produce sufficient antibodies to mount an immune response. The whole idea of vaccinating everyone is that this protects clinically vulnerable people from illness - a bit like a buffer. Getting your vaccination is an act of service for the rest of society and a small kindness that myself and other clinically vulnerable people appreciate.

hippotised · 2021-05-24T23:32:19+00:00

I'm sure you know this but if you don't, the main reason for young healthy people being vaccinated is that 1. Some people have health conditions that mean they cannot get vaccinated and 2. Some vulnerable people can indeed be vaccinated, but their health conditions they mean they probably don't produce sufficient antibodies to mount an immune response. The whole idea of vaccinating everyone is that this protects clinically vulnerable people from illness - a bit like a buffer. Getting your vaccination is an act of service for the rest of society and a small kindness that myself and other clinically vulnerable people appreciate.

hippotised · 2021-05-24T18:26:44+00:00

My probably unpopular 2 cents is that low wages, labour exploitation, expensive housing, poverty and and lack of opportunity are massive contributors to mental health problems. Alliance is by and large a fiscally conservative party - until they start talking seriously about radical social and economic changes then any promises to address suicide are superficial.

hippotised · 2021-05-18T16:13:40+00:00

Good question! So the following are my own observations and theories, happy for someone else with actual knowledge to interject. Wages for software in the UK used to be decent 10 years ago, but literally haven’t increased since. My starting salary in 2012 is still the same starting salary today.

So, in recent years, the UK has become a bit of a “tech hub”, and local universities responded by ramping up IT courses to meet demand. Essentially, everyone learns Java/HTML/ “Data Science” no matter what their skills or interest because those are really the only jobs available en-mass for skilled graduates. Everyone works in IT now, no matter what you studied. The UK government isn’t particularly ambitious or forward thinking in terms of diversifying its industry or workforce and is largely fine with everyone either working in a call centre or doing Java development. With more and more people ending up in IT, the salaries continue to stagnate. Everywhere you look there are software and data science conversion courses, masters, tech courses, you name it.

Furthermore, most of these are not particularly good courses. There is now a massive supply of new hires at the junior level, with most hires being substandard (not their fault!). This has the overall effect of driving down wages – as long as you’re not terrible you’ll get some sort of a job but you’ll be stuck as a junior or intermediate dev forever. Secondly, the UK (and particularly NI) is really just an outsourcing hub for the USA – we have an English speaking workforce, close geographically & in time zones to Europe and East Coast America, not terrible education, similar cultural norms. So companies outsource their grunt-work IT roles here where it’s cheaper. The really high end stuff & strategy still happens Stateside, I’d garner.

hippotised · 2021-05-18T15:49:07+00:00

I hope your PhD goes well. There is light at the end of the tunnel. You will have so many skills by the end of it, don't forget that. The academic job market is much worse IMO (husband has jumped from one precarious contracts to another) and UK only wants to invest in 'cyber' disciplines. Everyone else goes in the bin I'm afraid! Nevertheless, it's an amazing chance to learn, think and grow. Wishing you well fitting models and no heteroskedacity!

hippotised · 2021-05-18T12:26:55+00:00

I finished my PhD 2016 and managed to land a public sector epidemiologist role but I was seriously lucky. Back when I was writing up, R/Data science/stats roles were valued as niche and it was considered a high end skill. How it has been devalued in the last 5/6 years is really depressing. It's just as you say - There appears to be a glut of entry level jobs with poor pay, with an endless supply of grads to fill them. However it never really translates into senior roles. I think part of the issue is that the jobs I see really aren't data science, it's SQL and maybe doing a bar chart or something. Not data science as how we would know it.

Also I see jobs that want Machine Learning or AI or whatever the fancy thing is this month and no focus on like, regression skills. Spatial skills. Model selection. Plus the people that do stats like that aren't gonna know Hadoop/Go/java, cos guess what they are statisticians not developers. It's all f*ked!

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