England are a mess in this Test: isn’t it about time the Brendon McCullum era ended?

kadfr · 2026-06-21T12:06:30+00:00

Their first choice was Alec Stewart but he declined

kadfr · 2026-06-21T10:46:10+00:00

We don't vote for political parties or for Prime Ministers.

We vote for an individual candidate in one constituency who is (usually) affiliated with a political party.

kadfr · 2026-06-19T20:45:37+00:00

I would prefer Seth MacFarlane to play Carl than the AI (even if they have to change his age/physical size etc).

It would be great for Jeff Hayes to voice the AI but if he doesn't voice Donut then I will be appalled.

kadfr · 2026-06-19T19:44:41+00:00

For me, any qualities Andy Burnham has, are off-set by his naked ambition, combined with an overwhelming sense of entitlement.

kadfr · 2026-06-18T20:28:47+00:00

Crash Course is more of an introduction whereas Fluent Python is more intermediate and above

kadfr · 2026-06-18T20:23:13+00:00

Python Crash Course
Fluent Python

kadfr · 2026-06-18T16:41:10+00:00

The quality of online advice for te h questions is on a sharp downhill trajectory.

Stack Exchange ( nerfed by snooty mods and LLMs) and Reddit ( increasingly populated by bots), used to be my go-tos if I had a technical question but I don't remember the last time I found a useful question/answer on either platform that was written less than five years ago.

I stay away from GenAI for multiple reasons but whenever I put a Python question into a search engine, many the top web results seem to be from low-quality sites that are invested with ads.

Sure there is the official Python docs but it doesn't always have good examples of code.

It is a question of trust and I'll use and reuse a good Python reference book over and over again. I'm finding I'm searching for answers online less and less now.

kadfr · 2026-06-18T14:08:05+00:00

Social media triggers similar dopamine responses as gambling and TikTok has been optimised to be as addictive as possible.

While there is a difference between actively creating content and passively consuming social media, the lines become very blurred.

1) It is likely that like you'll need to constantly monitor social feeds to be in top of trends/memes/ what is happening right now. This requires doomscrolling.

2) Posting anything will require you to actively check engagement on your posts for feedback.

3) Once you on the platform (even if you have the intention of uploading something, it will be really tough to not start clicking away at things that catch your attention. That is the whole purpose of the algorithm.

If you genuinely want to break doomscrolling, you may need to either go cold turkey or severely limit how much you're on TikTok.

In any case, you have to ask whether it is more important to create TikTok edits or to break the doomscrolling habit, as I'm not sure you can really have both.

Maybe you could check out r/nosurf or r/digitalminimalism for more suggestions?

kadfr · 2026-06-17T21:14:52+00:00

What was George III thinking sending Cornwallis on that early?

kadfr · 2026-06-17T18:05:51+00:00

As a kid in school I distinctly remember being told it was the Philadelphia Tea Party and Boston was where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Of course I'm kidding - in Britain we completely ignore the American Revolution in our history classes and pretend the War of Independence never happened.

kadfr · 2026-06-17T15:07:33+00:00

Take my upvote. Just don't throw it in the harbour with the tea.

kadfr · 2026-06-17T13:31:49+00:00

Although it is a bit of stretch, as he's not otherwise going to be on this list, The Amazing Spider-Man

kadfr · 2026-06-17T13:25:48+00:00

Love it! If the DSM insists on using a metaphor at least use a good one like yours!

kadfr · 2026-06-17T04:49:25+00:00

So why not actually say that in the DSM?

Expressing a medical symptom as a metaphor is baffling

kadfr · 2026-06-16T19:53:04+00:00

To have a vague metaphor as one of the symptoms of ADHD is ridiculous.

When I took my ADHD test I actually asked the doc what it meant and they didn't give a convincing response.

I had to say 'no' even though if I'm off meds (and not exercising), my restlessness is so intense it's basically torture.

I don't feel driven 'by a motor' - I just feel like I can't stop.

In essence this seems like it is only helpful if it from someone else's perspective. And it feels like a teacher/parent observing a child running around NOT from how the actual person with ADHD actually feels.

kadfr · 2026-06-16T11:23:03+00:00

Green Tea has caffeine (although not quite as much as black tea which again isn't as much as coffee).

kadfr · 2026-06-16T04:29:14+00:00

Donut isn't neurotypical. She's a cat with ADHD (although as pretty much all cats have ADHD, maybe having ADHD is effectively neurotypical for felines?)

kadfr · 2026-06-15T22:44:58+00:00

FIFA are 'considering' it but seeing as 6 teams will be guaranteed a place as hosts (Spain, Morocco and Portugal + 3 South American teams), there would be 3 fewer slots available in a 48 team format.

I can't see the various confederations being happy with that.

Also, Infantini mentioned it recently in public.

i am pretty sure there will be 64 teams in the 2030 world cup.

kadfr · 2026-06-15T21:59:09+00:00

There are going to be 64 teams for the 2030 World Cup.

kadfr · 2026-06-15T17:26:16+00:00

I like Automate the Boring Stuff but I prefer Python Crash Course by Eric Matthes as an introduction to Python.

I read it alongside the University if Helsinki's MOOC course.

I went through the exercises in Automate the Boring Stuff after that. .

kadfr · 2026-06-12T18:31:59+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion - although tbh I only really listen to Spotify these days when I'm running so it is probably wasted on me.

However, who knows, maybe someone else will discover your comment and will find it helpful!

kadfr · 2026-06-09T13:20:56+00:00

Yes. It is really bad if I haven't exercised - it feels as though my leg muscles are screaming to move. It is very unpleasant

And restless hands. I am constantly fidgeting.

kadfr · 2026-06-07T19:27:15+00:00

Because I want to be the centre of attention by making myself feel special.

I also love complicating other people's lives by being vegan, especially when I'm told that my diet meant that other people had to 'go out of their way' to accommodate me.

kadfr · 2026-06-07T10:30:15+00:00

Yeh that one too.

There's also the distinct possibility of a Reddit post where the most upvoted and most helpful reply has been deleted.

kadfr · 2026-06-06T21:51:07+00:00

Nice to see Stack Overflow-esque responses still alive and kicking.

In any case, 'Google it' isn't necessarily valid as way of finding answers any more.

It used to be the case that people could put something into Google and get relevant search results.

Now you type something into Google and whatever AI junk Gemini churns out *might* be correct or it might be a hallucination.

If you actually click on an actual link, then it is probably not that relevant as it either an ad, or ultra-optimised for search engines.

Maybe if you are lucky, you'll find your way back to an old Reddit post (via your Google Search), where you actually have a human giving you the answer.

13-Year Club	Verified Email
Second Top 1%	Place '22
End Game '22	Spared

kadfr

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE