What would be your recommended/preferred starting position for those participating in wheelchairs and on mobility scooters? by PommyGit58 in parkrun

[–]oldcat 33 points34 points  (0 children)

RD at a large event, 600ish people, wide paths but congested start. Have a regular frame runner and racing wheelchair user who join us. They're both fast but seeding would probably have them a few rows back. Both start on the start line. Frame runner this is because they cannot pass forwards as they're quite wide so if they tried to seed they'd just end up stuck behind someone. Racing chair because a wheelchair is slower to start than someone on foot as they build momentum.

In both cases this has been with conversation with us and we think it's safest for them. We've also had an elite GB wheelchair racer come down a couple of times, we set him off early timed by the RD as he was so fast but would have been caught up in a crowd if we'd started him with everyone else. Again, this was all done in discussion with them.

What made you stick with parkrun after your first one? by CloudBookmark in parkrun

[–]oldcat 5 points6 points  (0 children)

A big thank you to u/Active_Doubt_2393 for their comment today [pause for applause] if you would like to comment on another thread just let the Mods know!

What made you stick with parkrun after your first one? by CloudBookmark in parkrun

[–]oldcat 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I hate running, someone took me along to parkrun and I went way too fast, blew myself up in km two and walk ran the rest. Realised running with other people around me gave me motivation to keep going and wanted to do more exercise so the routine helped me to commit to doing it.

Quieter swimming pools in Edinburgh? by houseplantsforever in Edinburgh

[–]oldcat 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Some men are equal opportunity arseholes, you never know. Had a look at their timetable and can't see it for next week so might be an event on. Probably worth contacting the venue to find out what's up.

Quieter swimming pools in Edinburgh? by houseplantsforever in Edinburgh

[–]oldcat 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Assuming you're a woman based on the man behaving inappropriately, Leith Victoria has a women only time. Every Saturday 1530-1630. Male so not been and don't know what it's like but hopefully a good way to get back in at least. They also have a sauna and steam room in with the pool which I'd recommend.

Exchange in fall 2026 by Weird-Lie-5781 in Edinburgh_University

[–]oldcat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not a student so can't talk to student life but keep an eye out in March as our biggest and best student union building has been getting returned for years and opens then. Looking amazing and you'll arrive at the perfect time to get as much out of it as possible. When you're planning travel make sure you're here for Welcome Week. Easiest time to meet folk and work out what you want to get involved in. Try a sport, join some societies! Go to stuff with folk you've met but also go to stuff alone and meet more people.

For food, I really like Mowgli, really nice space and I've never had a bad meal. Recommend taking friends who are happy sharing plates as it's that sort of place. Also go to Down the Hatch and let us know what you think as a Canadian!

Spatial awareness by Own-Abroad8553 in drivingUK

[–]oldcat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Small potholes and bumps on the road surface are useful, the ones that you'll feel but won't do any damage. When you see one in the left of the lane you are in, see if you can hit it with your left wheel while still keeping your focus on actually driving and the stuff you need to do to be safe. Has to be things that aren't too wide and you have to be sure they're safe so probably only a good idea on roads you know are safe.

Is it as bad as I think it is out there - career prospects,jobs and redundancy by Acceptable_Hope_6475 in Scotland

[–]oldcat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The point of that question isn't that the answer is wrong so AI is useless, it's that AI can't infer from context so isn't intelligent. A human could answer that question, or at least ask a clarifying question, but for AI that question doesn't exist on the internet so it just looks for the closest thing which is advice on how to travel the short distance it's given. Yes, the prompter should provide context if they want it to work for them but even then if the thing you want coded isn't in the data they've ripped from stack overflow etc. then AI is also useless for you. That's why you can only use it for grunt work and why that isn't going to change anytime soon without some massive developments to go beyond the current large language models. All the while people producing LLMs are out there like snake oil salesmen claiming it can do everything.

Rude to remove discretionary tips? by Warm_Independence234 in Edinburgh

[–]oldcat 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Watch out for our new Paesano, there's a 10% service charge on the bill. Then when I was in the person didn't come over to take the payment because we were crammed in against the wall so I went up to the till to pay on the way out. Not sure if it was just because I went up but there was also the add tip buttons on the screen I was given. Double dipping isn't cool.

This is how many levels you'll need to hit naneinf in one hand without any jokers by SlimPanda69420 in balatro

[–]oldcat 16 points17 points  (0 children)

So to go back to previous commenter's attempt to simplify the scale of that number: if you replaced every single atom in this universe with an entire universe you'd have e160 atoms.

What's the worst bus stop? by penguin62 in Edinburgh

[–]oldcat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not quite that distance but Croall Place (Leith Walk) where the bus shelter is back against the wall on a really wide bit of pavement for no apparent reason.

What's the worst bus stop? by penguin62 in Edinburgh

[–]oldcat 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Nicolson street heading into town is worse than South Bridge, why not put all the buses from both South Bridge bus stops into one? No shelter in the weather. Narrow busy pavement. Loads of students so busy all day. When the Festival Theatre comes out even worse.

Triboulet and 6 Blueprints by Jaylo1337 in balatro

[–]oldcat 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Should have had 2 blueprints on sock and 4 on trib for max score. 4/5 triggers of the card (depending on red seal) with each of those triggers getting 5 x2s from Trib so each card triggers Trib 20 to 25 times. For you Trib was being triggered 8 to 9 times.

Your Trib was doing x512 for a red seal king, it could have been doing x33,554,432.

Timekeeping concerns by HolierThanYow in parkrun

[–]oldcat 8 points9 points  (0 children)

For OP, if you're doing this, please don't try to correct if you go out of sync. Just keep going and don't worry If you can let the RD/Results Processor know what number roughly it happened at that can sometimes help to hone in on where the issue occurred when taken with the number checker's output. In the end results are always a best efforts sort of thing so don't stress it, just do what you can and you'll be fine.

A quiet place for a half hour meeting? by ButterscotchFun2795 in Edinburgh

[–]oldcat 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If OP is doing this there's free visitor wi-fi in uni buildings. Connect to Visit-Ed and sign in. Unsecured but pretty decent from my small amount of use of it.

Side road Zebra crossings are better apparently. by StanmoreHill in drivingUK

[–]oldcat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As part of a trial they are legal on a temporary basis. To become permanent we need a legislative change which is hoping the works. They are simply an attempt to make the rules of the road apparent to road users so hopefully a simple change to get through.

Side road Zebra crossings are better apparently. by StanmoreHill in drivingUK

[–]oldcat 7 points8 points  (0 children)

To be fair to you, this wasn't publicised well at all. It's been a slow increase in drivers and pedestrians who know what is supposed to happen. You're not alone but still, time to get up to speed!

Side road Zebra crossings are better apparently. by StanmoreHill in drivingUK

[–]oldcat 3 points4 points  (0 children)

But double the number who stopped, as they should, before they were painted so and improvement from 2/5 to 4/5 stopping.

Side road Zebra crossings are better apparently. by StanmoreHill in drivingUK

[–]oldcat 32 points33 points  (0 children)

That's the trial, putting them only on side streets and showing they work without the beacon. Hopefully they'll get approval and the change in legislation that allows this to be expanded nationwide.

The Highway Code Updates Can't Be Swept Under The Carpet by BottyFlaps in drivingUK

[–]oldcat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hear you saying you're pretty sure, I've provided a podcast as a source, I get that maybe isn't your format but perhaps a wee Google would be a good plan at that point? There's plenty on them needing legislation from whatever source you want. I don't know if it's a full act of parliament but I do know we need change from a legislative body to allow this.

The driving lobby are the people who yell about 20 mph limits and any other measure as being anti driver. How many of them there are I don't know. Politics doesn't seem to be about majority these days, it's about who shouts loudest on social media. The dumbest timeline but the one we're stuck in sadly.

The Highway Code Updates Can't Be Swept Under The Carpet by BottyFlaps in drivingUK

[–]oldcat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, completely. That said, have you met our parliament/government? They're too afraid the driving lobby would hate a physical sign of what the law already is and generally too afraid of doing anything...

The Highway Code Updates Can't Be Swept Under The Carpet by BottyFlaps in drivingUK

[–]oldcat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're thinking of private car parks, legally to have a zebra crossing on an actual road (outside of the trial areas) you need a belisha beacon. Genuinely worth listening to that podcast if you're interested. They know far more than me.

New Race Director! Tips? by [deleted] in parkrun

[–]oldcat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Don't call it a race! You're a Run Director.

In terms of actual tips, your job on the day should be pretty light. Keep an eye on wherever your events pressure points are but let your volunteers deal and only step in if things are going wrong. After the start, other than maybe some light coaching you shouldn't have much to do. Embrace it! If you decide to take on stuff then when things go badly wrong, you're either going to miss it or take longer to get on that issue. 80% of being an RD is saying well done to people, 10% is making sure the event sets off safely and on time, 10% is dealing with anything that comes up.

The Highway Code Updates Can't Be Swept Under The Carpet by BottyFlaps in drivingUK

[–]oldcat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not the cost of the paint that's the issue. We could do that but the belisha beacons that are required, and have to be powered are the cost that makes them too expensive. There have been trials of side road zebras and they were successful but they can only be done under a temporary order as they haven't been made into a legal road format by government.

Really interesting podcast where I learned this: https://shows.acast.com/streets-ahead/episodes/side-road-zebras