The Vent and Rant Thread

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

Everyone speaks and understands English and doesn't get affronted that that's my only language.

I don't know if this is still the case, but when I was in high school, English (and Dutch, obviously) were obligatory languages, and you had to pass the final high school exam with at least a 6.0 out of 10, or you'll fail the entire exam. The languages consisted of speaking, writing, and listening exams, with none of the parts being lower than 5.0. And, if you had a 5.0 for one part, another part had to be at least 7.0.

Other subjects (math, other languages, biology, etc...) could be compensated: If you obtained a 5.0 for one subject, math, for example, you could compensate by obtaining a 7.0 somewhere else, in history or so. You could compensate up to two points, where a 4.0 would require an extra point of compensation:

Two 5.0 -> Two 7.0 or one 8.0
One 4.0 -> three 7.0 or one 8.0 and one 7.0. (A single 9.0 was not sufficient.)

Score a 3.x, or a 5.x (parts average) for Dutch or English, and it would be over instantly.

So yeah, everybody in my generation *HAD* to speak Dutch and English sufficiently to obtain even a high school diploma.

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

Sudden death overtime has been experimented with (so called Golden Goal). I think that there were two major issues with it;

1. Play tended to get very negative, i.e. teams started to play very defensively, the fear of losing overcoming the desire to win

2. If the knockout match was during a competition that took place during the regular season (e.g. the FA Cup in the UK), the extended play could have a material effect on that regular season

I personally like the penalty shoot outs. For what it's worth, I played to junior professional level (a good number of years ago!).

In the US there is a limit on the number of overtimes in the regular season. If the game is a tie at the end of overtime play, it goes down as a tie. This is the case in soccer, football and hockey.

In baseball and tennis they play until they win. I have attended games that went 18 innings. There was at least one match at Wimbledon that went close to two days because of the tie breaker taking so long. Such is life in a sport.

Penalty shops are not fun to watch, it is a cheap way to win and far too boring. If it effects later matches, so be it. The team should be penalized for not winning in regulation and needing three overtimes to win. You don't see people whining over having to play tie breakers that go forever in tennis. The players know that they didn't win in the proscribed manner and that they have to win the tie breaker. Long matches are draining and effect the player in their next match, tough. Win fast because you are better or pay the penalty for either playing poorly or not being the far superior player.

The games are played as a whole team on the field and should be determined that way. The team as a whole is penalized if they fail to win until later innings or overtime sessions. Win earlier by taking more risks but win as a team on the field the way you are suppose to.

I have no strong feeling son this. ;-)

[Tarana]

My rant today is that in order to get the Nook app to download my B&N books to move to Calibre, it added a security thing requiring me to login to my home desktop. Grumble, grumble. Now I had to tape the dang password to the top of the screen. Shared computer that I don't want password protected.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Tarana

My rant today is that in order to get the Nook app to download my B&N books to move to Calibre, it added a security thing requiring me to login to my home desktop. Grumble, grumble. Now I had to tape the dang password to the top of the screen. Shared computer that I don't want password protected.

B&N haven't updated the Nook for PC app for years. I don't know of any requirement it has to "login to your home desktop" (whatever that means). Are you sure of the origin of the copy of the app you have?

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

You don't see people whining over having to play tie breakers that go forever in tennis.

It's the same in darts: if you're in the last set, you have to win with two points difference. That set can become very, very long.

In chess, it is often the case that a match has to be decided by a tiebreak. If a match ends in a draw (let's say, 5-5, after 10 regular games, that'll last around 7 hours, one per day), there are several possibilities.

One is that there are two or four rapid games where each player gets 30 minutes or so per game. If that mini-match ends in a tie as well, they mostly toss for color, and then play blitz games (5 minutes per player per game) until a player wins a game. The entire tiebreak is normally played in one day.

Go, in that regard, is the better game. You win that game on points. Black moves first, and that move is worth 6 points. There are 361 points on the board, so if a game would be played to its utter maximum length, black would play both the first, and the 361st move. If both players play perfectl, black would thus start with 6 points ahead, and because he has the last move as well, white could never catch up.

Thus, white gets 6 points to start with.

Then, the only advantage for black that remains is that he can dictate the direction of play, because he starts first (he has the first choice of move). That's called the initiative. If both players played perfectly, white would forever be responding to black's moves without being able to play by his own plan.

To compensate for this, white gets 0.5 points.

If black scores 61 points, and white scores 55 points (so black retained its 6 point lead, gained with the first move), the end result will thus be 61 for black, and 55 + 6.5 = 61.5 for white.

In Go, nowadays it's impossible to score a draw (except, obviously, if it is agreed before the game that the 0.5 point for white doesn't apply).

[covingtoncat73]

I hate "Spaghetti Plots" and I hate waiting to see if a storm is going to come for my area.

http://www.wwltv.com/weather/spaghetti-plots

There will only be one Howard Johnson restaurant remaining in the US when this establishment in Bangor, Maine closes on September 6.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...0e9_story.html






End of an era and a chain I recall well from my childhood. Not to mention that future generations will not get this joke from the film Blazing Saddles:




Many will also not understand the reference to Walter Johnson or even Samuel Johnson either, but that's a separate issue. Hruumph!

[cromag]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

There will only be one Howard Johnson restaurant remaining in the US when this establishment in Bangor, Maine closes on September 6.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...0e9_story.html



End of an era and a chain I recall well from my childhood.
...

They must be talking about corporately-owned "HoJos" -- we still have a few operating here in NJ.


Another colorful phrase lost from the vernacular -- "The last time I saw a house that big it had an orange roof!"


EDIT: Aah! Looks like they're talking about the combined "Inn and Restaurant" locations. The ones we have are basic hotel/motel establishments. I should have read more carefully!

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

B&N haven't updated the Nook for PC app for years. I don't know of any requirement it has to "login to your home desktop" (whatever that means). Are you sure of the origin of the copy of the app you have?

Yes, it's right from the Microsoft store. The app works great and I was able to access all my books and get them into Calibre. That part worked great. However, now I have a screen that comes up when I start up the computer that requires that I put in a password in order to access it. I have no problem with this on my Netbooks, but for a shared computer it's trying at best.

I guess there is a way to eliminate that, but I have to research it and make sure it doesn't cause another problem.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

There will only be one Howard Johnson restaurant remaining in the US when this establishment in Bangor, Maine closes on September 6.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...0e9_story.html






End of an era and a chain I recall well from my childhood. Not to mention that future generations will not get this joke from the film Blazing Saddles:

I spent a couple of years just up the road from Bangor back in the '70s, and recall fondly many an evening happily spent in Ho-Jo's lounge.

[badgoodDeb]

Howard Johnsons used to have a lock on the concession / restaurant stops on highways. At least, on the PA turnpike, which was the only one I travelled at the time. They were *all* HoJos.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Howard Johnsons used to have a lock on the concession / restaurant stops on highways. At least, on the PA turnpike, which was the only one I travelled at the time. They were *all* HoJos.

When I was a wee one, down here it was Stuckey's.
I would read the signs and identify all the pictures. For some reason, I thought lettuce was green coconut.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by wodin

I spent a couple of years just up the road from Bangor back in the '70s, and recall fondly many an evening happily spent in Ho-Jo's lounge.

At the time Maine's liquor laws only allowed on site consumption of alcohol in restaurants or in the lounges of hotels or inns. Thus the only pubs available were in hotels or inns. So it was Ho-Jo's or Holiday Inn, and Ho-Jo had a better lounge.

Originally Posted by wodin

I spent a couple of years just up the road from Bangor back in the '70s, and recall fondly many an evening happily spent in Ho-Jo's lounge.

Yes, I stayed at that specific HoJo's a couple of times. I was in Bangor to do some work at the Naval Submarine Base there. This was in the mid-1980s. I'd fly to Bangor Sunday afternoon. Fresh lobster dinner at a semi-posh place in Bangor, I can't recall the name. Then a few days work before flying out.

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

When I was a wee one, down here it was Stuckey's.
I would read the signs and identify all the pictures. For some reason, I thought lettuce was green coconut.

Oh, yes Stuckey's. That's more of a Texas and SW US thing as I recall. When I was young my family made a number of intermediate length to long moves: San Francisco Bay Area to Albuquerque, NM. From Alb. back to SF area. SF area to Houston, TX. Houston to Dallas. Dallas back to SF area. Over my age range 5 years old to 16. We (myself, a brother, and two sisters) always wanted to eat lunch at a Stuckey's. Kids like predictability. There were so many of them right off the Interstates that it was fine with my parents. For nightly lodging it was Travelodge. With the sleep waling bear logo.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

Yes, I stayed at that specific HoJo's a couple of times. I was in Bangor to do some work at the Naval Submarine Base there. This was in the mid-1980s. I'd fly to Bangor Sunday afternoon. Fresh lobster dinner at a semi-posh place in Bangor, I can't recall the name. Then a few days work before flying out.



Oh, yes Stuckey's. That's more of a Texas and SW US thing as I recall. When I was young my family made a number of intermediate length to long moves: San Francisco Bay Area to Albuquerque, NM. From Alb. back to SF area. SF area to Houston, TX. Houston to Dallas. Dallas back to SF area. Over my age range 5 years old to 16. We (myself, a brother, and two sisters) always wanted to eat lunch at a Stuckey's. Kids like predictability. There were so many of them right off the Interstates that it was fine with my parents. For nightly lodging it was Travelodge. With the sleep waling bear logo.

We didn't stop very often because we were usually just going from Odessa to Brownwood or Odessa to Garland to Lufkin.
When I was 2 or 3 we lived in both Odessa and Brownwood, at the same time.
The Odessa to Garland to Lufkin was to drop off my grandmother and then on to visit my great grandmother. Once I turned 5 or 6, I would get dropped off at my great-grandmother's for a few weeks.

I don't remember ever wanting predictable. But then I had an adventurous mom.