Off Topic Thread 4.0

errlloyd

Podge_irl wrote: »

I don't really get WhatsApp being classified as social media. Is it not just a messaging service? Why get rid of it?

Groups can be kinda toxic. And sometimes it's easier to say you don't have WhatsApp than say you don't want to be in a group.

(lads groups automatically adding pictures to my camera roll are the worst)

Podge_irl

errlloyd wrote: »

Groups can be kinda toxic. And sometimes it's easier to say you don't have WhatsApp than say you don't want to be in a group.

(lads groups automatically adding pictures to my camera roll are the worst)

You know you can just not have whatsapp photos added to your photo roll?

If you don't wanna be in a group you should probably just leave it or say you don't wanna be in it. Deleting the app to avoid it seems a bit bloody weird to me.

swiwi_

mfceiling wrote: »

Do you not like Twitter?

I don't mind twitter as such. What I don't like is celebrities using twitter to increase their following by publicly sending messages of pseudo-sympathy etc. If you genuinely care, send a card in the post.

swiwi_

Podge_irl wrote: »

I don't really get WhatsApp being classified as social media. Is it not just a messaging service? Why get rid of it?

She got tired of being added to groups and then carpet-messaged. AFAIK you can't stop someone adding you to a group and you can't discreetly quit a group.

My rugby team had to create 2 groups: one for team messages etc (which I have on permanent mute, otherwise I just get constant beeps throughout the day), and the other for those who essentially like sending smut to each other. Even if I had wanted to (which I didn't in in case you were wondering...), there was no way I was letting my work phone (which is also my personal phone) get inundated with risqué images from my teammates.

errlloyd

errlloyd wrote: »

(lads groups automatically adding pictures to my camera roll are the worst)

You can stop that you know.

Buer

I find WhatsApp by far the easiest and quickest way of keeping in touch with friends. I have a FB account that I haven't logged into in about 5 years. I've a Twitter account that I rarely check and normally only do so as it's by far the easiest way to check on team/breaking news for rugby without visiting multiple sites.

What I find interesting is just how quickly things move on. My nephews and nieces who range from 9-23 years of age would rarely use FB now. They see it as something older people use. Twitter is not on their radar as a day to day social media site. Also, WhatsApp is used by them but not hugely. Instagram and Snapchat are far preferable for them. Lines of communication become more and more streamlined. Photos are involved in nearly every communication rather than actual text.

It's amazing how quickly things move on. MySpace became Bebo which became Facebook which is now moved towards Instagram. I'm sure the next medium is already in use but I'm just so far behind the curve, I don't have a clue about it.

Squidgy Black

Snapchat is by far the most used for communicating for kids/teenagers these days, even if it's not photos it's just the chat feature.

Most people I know only have a Facebook account still because they use Messenger and haven't realised they can use it without a FB account.

Long wave radio is gonna make a comeback. I can feel it.

Squidgy Black

Deleted User wrote: »

Long wave radio is gonna make a comeback. I can feel it.

.ak has probably already got one and is telling people listening to vinyl how that's "so 2014"

Buer

Dubinusa wrote: »

Was reading the pundits claiming Gaelic football is dying due to the Dubs. I can't recall such hysteria when Kerry were racking up titles or Kilkenny in hurling for that matter.

It's a different world now. Kerry never had the same level of scrutiny or exposure as football now experiences. There are more club games televised live now than there were intercounty games televised in 1978. The GAA have nobody to blame but themselves for tinkering with the tournament and people have hit saturation point from seeing the same teams over and over again. There's no hope for a football follower from a smaller county which wasn't the case historically.

The change in the make up of the tournament has shifted things dramatically. With the introduction of the back door system, the championship has all but eliminated the chances of smaller counties having a big day out. It's near impossible for them now.

If you look at the 90s (the final decade before the back door system) we had the following counties in All Ireland semi-finals or even a final in a couple of cases: Roscommon, Clare, Leitrim, Derry, Offaly, Cavan, Kildare.

These counties were capable of some big performances on any given day and progressing. The current system gives Kerry, Mayo, Tyrone, Dublin etc. a second bite at the cherry and they'll rarely be beaten twice. The format has removed the magic and uncertainty of the title.

Since (and including) 2011, Dublin, Donegal, Mayo, Kerry and Tyrone have made up the semi finalists nearly entirely with a single semi final appearance from Cork, Tipp, Galway and Monaghan breaking the domination in those 8 seasons and 32 semi final slots. And Cork and Galway are hardly smaller counties.

Is the football championship dull? Yup, it sure is. But it's not due to any team. It has made the tournament harder to win if anything (Kerry achieved 4 titles in a row by winning only 15 matches including only 3 in 1980). The knock on impact of that is ensuring that the strongest teams are by far the best placed to win the All Ireland which is how it should be but it does eliminate the magic of a cup competition.

Dubinusa

But, it is the same system for hurling? It's usually Kilkenny, Tipp and Cork with a smidgen of Clare and Galway. Limerick were a surprise this year and are rarely in the final. The smaller counties have no real chance, including Dublin. But, there's no real criticism of the hurling.

Squidgy Black

Question for the nordies, if you had to chose an area of Belfast to live in for say 6 months, that's easily commutable to near Central Station, where would you recommend?

Buer

Dubinusa wrote: »

But, it is the same system for hurling? It's usually Kilkenny, Tipp and Cork with a smidgen of Clare and Galway. Limerick were a surprise this year and are rarely in the final. The smaller counties have no real chance, including Dublin. But, there's no real criticism of the hurling.

But they never had a chance, in fairness. Two thirds of the country don't play hurling to any significant level. Two entire provinces don't even compete in the All Ireland Championship (if we consider Galway as being from Leinster) and multiple counties in Leinster don't compete either. 3 counties share nearly 100 titles between them. So people are somewhat resigned to the lack of competition as it has always been like this.

With that said, I certainly recall misgivings against Kilkenny a decade ago when they were utterly dominating. It was a procession.

The difference with hurling is those top 7 or 8 teams are genuine contenders who are all capable of beating one another as we've seen this year and that massively suited the new league format for the Leinster and Munster titles. As I posted previously, hurling is at an all time high in terms of entertainmnet but I believe it is also the lowest quality hurling generally speaking in the last 15 years. The Kilkenny team of 2003-2013 or the Tipp team of 2009-2015 would have comfortably beaten Limerick or Galway, I believe. The semi finals and final were high on drama but the standard of shooting on display would have given Brian Cody or Michael Ryan a stroke.

Dublin are now where Kilkenny were a decade ago but there is an even smaller chasing pack it appears. Their dominance will end, I've no doubt but I think something does need to be done to level the playing field in terms of the financial advantages they have.

Squidgy Black

With the hurling, it's more that Kilkenny fell down to the level of the competition. They're nowhere near as strong as previous squads, and as such it's made the competition more interesting.

If Dublin were to lose a number of players, and come down to the level of the rest it'd be a similar situation for football. You'd have Tyrone, Mayo, Kerry, Donegal (if they get their act together again), the likes of Monaghan and Galway making strides and causing upsets.

The Super 8s format in particular has meant that other teams get a fair shot at it and it's not based off one off games until the Semis. If you take Dublin out of the equation, there was plenty of competition.

irishbucsfan

Squidgy Black wrote: »

If you take Dublin out of the equation

Yes please

bilston

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Question for the nordies, if you had to chose an area of Belfast to live in for say 6 months, that's easily commutable to near Central Station, where would you recommend?

Depends what you're after.

Ballyhackamore is the place to live these days. A couple of nice pubs, lots of varied restaurants, 10-15 mins from Central Station by bus and 20 mins from the city centre. It's a fairly liberal, middle class apolitical area as well, albeit it's in East Belfast and not that far from a couple of Loyalist heartlands, but that's unavoidable in Belfast for both sides!

Bridge93

Dear me the Republics football team is in a bad place. The lack of quality players is frightening

awec

Bridge93 wrote: »

Dear me the Republics football team is in a bad place. The lack of quality players is frightening

Martin O'Neill is yesterday's man.

Mookie Blaylock

Burt Reynolds has passed away...I do like the fact he has 1.5 million children.... according to wiki

Didn't even know there was a game on.

prawnsambo

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Yes please

It wouldn't make any difference to Kildare.

The Lost Sheep

Deleted User wrote: »

Didn't even know there was a game on.

I only know about the home games as i work in the aviva on matchdays and even then its usually only when i get an email telling me dates of upcoming soccer games do i know the national side are playing soon

errlloyd

Serena Williams just had a meltdown. Mad stuff

Buer

Harsh on Osaka. Greatest moment of her life utterly ruined. Williams was completely out of order.

Bazzo

Israel Folau is nothing short of a zealot.

Squidgy Black

Bazzo wrote: »

Israel Folau is nothing short of a zealot.

I mean yeah the man was a Mormon and then converted to the "Assemblies of God Fellowship".

They're not exactly run of the mill religious groups they tend to be fairly pushy and active with recruitment/"saving others from a life of sin".

bilston

Buer wrote: »

Harsh on Osaka. Greatest moment of her life utterly ruined. Williams was completely out of order.

She was completely out order and now there are people lauding her for taking a stand against sexism. She actually got a round of applause at her press conference. That actually makes me mad. She lost the plot because she was losing the match and then behaved disgracefully towards the umpire.

thomond2006

Her playing the victim card is hilarious. She's one of the most known/influential athletes on the planet.

errlloyd

I mean she's right though. Male tennis players say much worse things to umpires and don't seem to get penalised. Andy Murray called him (Ramos) stupid and Djokovic actively accused him of double standards. Nadal also had a go at him in a press conference during the French open.

“I didn’t say ‘stupid umpire’, I said ‘stupid umpiring’. But if you want to be the star of the show, that’s fine,” said Murray as the two spoke during a break between games.

So Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and Venus Williams had all criticised him before. All of them think he's pedantic. Nadal accused him of bias etc. But none of them had to deal with his **** in a game they were losing and none of them had to deal with his **** in a grandslam final.

irishbucsfan

She was out of order, very clearly. Atrocious way to treat an official. Tennis has a huge problem there.

Squidgy Black

errlloyd wrote: »

I mean she's right though. Male tennis players say much worse things to umpires and don't seem to get penalised. Andy Murray called him (Ramos) stupid and Djokovic actively accused him of double standards. Nadal also had a go at him in a press conference during the French open.

“I didn’t say ‘stupid umpire’, I said ‘stupid umpiring’. But if you want to be the star of the show, that’s fine,” said Murray as the two spoke during a break between games.

So Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and Venus Williams had all criticised him before. All of them think he's pedantic. Nadal accused him of bias etc. But none of them had to deal with his **** in a game they were losing and none of them had to deal with his **** in a grandslam final.

Yes but they would've been a one of slip of mouth.

She stood their berating him for several minutes and calling him a thief repeatedly.

Neil3030

A bit torn on this. But no doubt a montage will soon be released with incidents men weren't penalised for, to offer context. That would be helpful.

irishbucsfan

Neil3030 wrote: »

A bit torn on this. But no doubt a montage will soon be released with incidents men weren't penalised for, to offer context. That would be helpful.

Different sport but when Dylan Hartley called the Wayne Barnes a cheat he got sent off and banned for it.

Accusing an official of incompetence is a totally different thing to accusing an official of cheating.

Neil3030

Did she call him a cheat, or a thief?

Synode

The umpire has a history of giving out code violations (including to men) so I've no idea what Williams is on about. She acted like a spoiled child and deserved all the violations

http://larrybrownsports.com/tennis/umpire-carlos-ramos-history-code-violations-serena-williams/463180

Neil3030

Neil3030 wrote: »

Did she call him a cheat, or a thief?

The word she used was thief.

But that pretty clearly implies she thinks he's dishonest rather than just a bad umpire.

And did you all know Serena had a baby? I missed it the first several million times it's been mentioned.

Squidgy Black

Neil3030 wrote: »

Did she call him a cheat, or a thief?

She called him a thief.

Basically the umpire spotted an exchange between her and her coach, and gave a point against her for in game coaching.

So she absolutely exploded and said he was stealing points from her, and kept demanding an apology from him, saying how she would never cheat etc etc.

The coach came out after the match and said yeah he was coaching her from the stands.

Mookie Blaylock

Squidgy Black wrote: »

She called him a thief.

Basically the umpire spotted an exchange between her and her coach, and gave a point against her for in game coaching.

So she absolutely exploded and said he was stealing points from her, and kept demanding an apology from him, saying how she would never cheat etc etc.

The coach came out after the match and said yeah he was coaching her from the stands.

That's not quite correct...he said he was..but he said she never saw him, and she also said she never saw him doing so....so basically, the coach should have been penalised..not the player...
I think its quite telling that the umpire was not brought out for the trophy presentation, reported first time in flushing meadow history?

swiwi_

So...is there any chance yiz won't give Michael D a 2nd term?

Squidgy Black

Squidgy Black wrote: »

She called him a thief.

Basically the umpire spotted an exchange between her and her coach, and gave a point against her for in game coaching.

So she absolutely exploded and said he was stealing points from her, and kept demanding an apology from him, saying how she would never cheat etc etc.

The coach came out after the match and said yeah he was coaching her from the stands.

I thought she just got a warning for coaching.

Shortly after she smashed her racquet and got a point deduction (this is a code violation for the record) and that's when she lost her mind.

irishbucsfan

Mookie Blaylock wrote: »

That's not quite correct...he said he was..but he said she never saw him, and she also said she never saw him doing so....so basically, the coach should have been penalised..not the player...
I think its quite telling that the umpire was not brought out for the trophy presentation, reported first time in flushing meadow history?

How do you penalize a coach?

A game deduction, so he finishes on 0-0 0-(-1)?

swiwi_

swiwi_ wrote: »

So...is there any chance yiz won't give Michael D a 2nd term?

He has a massive margin over the next candidate so unless something significant and damaging comes out or he has health issues disclosed it's almost a guarantee he'll be elected.

I think most of the chasing pack are just getting their names out there for the next presidential run.

Some awful, awful candidates - almost a side show.

Mookie Blaylock

irishbucsfan wrote: »

How do you penalize a coach?

A game deduction, so he finishes on 0-0 0-(-1)?

He gets ejected,

Stheno

Serena fined 17k dollars

kuang1

Stheno wrote: »

Serena fined 17k dollars

More thievery.

Stheno

Stheno wrote: »

Serena fined 17k dollars

This could really long term damage her brand if she doesn't reign it in, I don't see much sympathy online and this fine suggests the authorities aren't hearing much either.

If she doubles down now she'll become a parody of herself in the same vein as the Streisand Effect. Making a not too bad situation far worse by your reaction.

Neil3030

I saw her press conference and her argument was actually quite clear. It gave me the impression that double standard is something that has been playing on her mind for a while now, and not the alternative idea, i.e., that she had a meltdown because she was losing and cried sexism in the aftermath to save face. Also, I'm sure she's lost in plenty of big games and I can't recall her ever trying this as an excuse.

irishbucsfan

Neil3030 wrote: »

I saw her press conference and her argument was actually quite clear. It gave me the impression that double standard is something that has been playing on her mind for a while now, and not the alternative idea, i.e., that she had a meltdown because she was losing and cried sexism in the aftermath to save face. Also, I'm sure she's lost in plenty of big games and I can't recall her ever trying this as an excuse.

How long it’s been playing on her mind is entirely irrelevant. You don’t deal with it by accusing the umpire of being a thief during play. Or shouting “You will never, ever, ever be on another court of mine as long as you live” - as if she should have any control over that whatsoever.

He has a single standard though it seems, which is being extremely picky about nonsense technicalities pretty consistently. And this isn’t close to being the first time coaching has been called as a violation.

He’s done multiple people for damaging their rackets anyway, her claims don’t hold up under any scrutiny.

The sport has a huge problem with attitude and egos in general. It really puts me off it. Not even only the obvious examples like Kyrgios. Maybe they love the drama it causes but it hugely damages the credibility of the thing. Any time I attend a smaller event I’m reminded that it’s not even the stars who act like this and it depresses me, saw It this year at Wimbledon qualifying from guys outside the top 100.

Neil3030

irishbucsfan wrote: »

How long it’s been playing on her mind is entirely irrelevant. You don’t deal with it by accusing the umpire of being a thief during play. Or shouting “You will never, ever, ever be on another court of mine as long as you live” - as if she should have any control over that whatsoever.

He has a single standard though it seems, which is being extremely picky about nonsense technicalities pretty consistently. And this isn’t close to being the first time coaching has been called as a violation.

He’s done multiple people for damaging their rackets anyway, her claims don’t hold up under any scrutiny.

The sport has a huge problem with attitude and egos in general. It really puts me off it. Not even only the obvious examples like Kyrgios. Maybe they love the drama it causes but it hugely damages the credibility of the thing. Any time I attend a smaller event I’m reminded that it’s not even the stars who act like this and it depresses me, saw It this year at Wimbledon qualifying from guys outside the top 100.

It's absolutely relevant because right now she stands accused of being a sore loser who had a meltdown and then tried to cry sexism.

Do you instead deal with it by questioning the umpire's mental health, accusing the umpire of double standards, swearing at him, or calling him stupid?

Because in each of the above (where Ramos was umpire) there was no point or game penalty imposed.

irishbucsfan

Neil3030 wrote: »

It's absolutely relevant because right now she stands accused of being a sore loser who had a meltdown and then tried to cry sexism.

Do you instead deal with it by questioning the umpire's mental health, accusing the umpire of double standards, swearing at him, or calling him stupid?

Because in each of the above (where Ramos was umpire) there was no point or game penalty imposed.

She did cry sexism. And she claimed that because she just had a daughter she wouldn’t cheat. All while on the court. And at the time she never claimed it was something she’d been thinking about. In fact she went on after the game to say she’d never had a problem with that umpire before and thought he was a good umpire.

Did the other players have a game penalty? Well... did they make three infractions? Because it’s not something the umpire just randomly decides out of thin air. You can’t expect anyone to accuse an official of foul play and not be penalized, that’s ridiculous.

She received coaching, “abused” her racket and then abused the umpire. If you allow for coaching being a correct call (which is absolutely debatable) then the Umpire was entirely correct with the infringements. McEnroe has been ejected from games for the same reason. Even if the coaching call was bizarre and unnecessary (I think it was), that’s sports and there’s not a single athlete who hasn’t been on the end of a bad call regardless of their race or gender. This is not like 2004, she’s absolutely in the wrong this time. The umpire is not entirely without blame either but only for enforcing a stupid rule that exists and that’s Djokovic was also recently penalized for.

Supposedly she thought at the time that he had originally rescinded the decision and that’s why she flipped when she got penalized for racket abuse, she thought it would have been her “first” infraction. That’s unfortunate but it doesn’t excuse acting like an entitled asshole. I’d hope she’ll apologise to the umpire, you can’t threaten someone’s job like that.