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Off Topic Thread 4.0

Zzippy

Thread continued from here

The usual rules apply. Non-rugby talk here. Consider this a social place, but like a pub, things like religion and politics can be divisive, so don't say things here you wouldn't say to someone's face in the pub. Sober

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mfceiling

https://www.gofundme.com/f/jo-amp-kids-fundraising?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet

Guys would you please help with this one. A small donation and/or sharing on social media platforms if you could.

This man felt sick this last couple of weeks. Went to hospital on Tuesday, was diagnosed with terminal cancer on Wednesday and died on Thursday.
His daughter is in my youngest daughter's class at school. To say the family is heartbroken is an understatement. The class, teachers and school are in shock. He was the main breadwinner in the house and I'm sure you can all appreciate the difficulties that lie ahead in the future.
Thanks in advance everyone.

Squidgy Black

Squidgy Black wrote: »

His timeline this season has been:

1. Arrives at OTAs in a helicopter
2. Throws a fit and storms out of OTAs because of his helmet being banned under the new regulations, tries to paint it to look the same as the legal ones but gets caught and once again goes ballistic.
3. After the summer break, misses the start of training camp due to having frostbite from cryotherapy.
4. Season opener rolls around, but he gets suspended for fighting with the GM and threatening to punch him in the face.
5. Suspension gets rolled back, but Brown then posts a video of Gruden his coach calling him asking to stop the drama and just play football on social media.
6. Brown then posts on Instagram saying "Release me", which the raiders do and he forfeits $30M in guaranteed money.
7. Patriots swoop in and sign him as a free agent.

It's genuinely one of the craziest stories in NFL history, and to think he was on the same team as Richie Incognito and made him look like a sane person in comparison.

Antonio Browns been dropped by Nike as an athlete and cut by the Patriots on the back of sexual assault allegations.

Just when you thought it was over.

[Deleted User]

Anyone interested in a quiz

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=111298685

stephen_n

Stheno wrote: »

Gareth Thomas has now revealed he is HIV positive before it being outed in the press.

That man has no luck

It’s good that he opened up about this but it’s absolutely disgusting that he was forced to do so.

Stheno

Gareth Thomas has now revealed he is HIV positive before it being outed in the press.

That man has no luck

ClanofLams

Zzippy wrote: »

Dublin have more clubs and players than a heap of counties combined. GAA funding is aimed at getting more kids playing the game, it makes sense to target the areas where return on investment will be greatest.
That aside, Dublin put in place their own structures to develop the best talent many years before other counties and are reaping the rewards now. That system predates the increase in funding. The main advantage, though, is having all their players based locally and able to train together 5 times a week or more.
These things are cyclical, there just happens to be a great bunch of players at the moment teamed with superb management and a support system (funded locally) that facilitates excellence. Kerry are a coming team that I believe will knock the Dubs off their perch within the next two years and have the potential to win multiple titles.
As for today, up the Dubs!

Funding has clearly played a massive part, that’s why the increase in standards has been seen in juvenile success, women’s football, hurling, etc. It’s not coincidental these are all happening fifteen to twenty years after a massive disparity in funding was created.

Cyclical? Half their team has changed since the first of the five in a row. This isn’t one outstanding group like Kerry 78-82 or Kilkenny a decade ago. This is a production line constantly churning out talent. It’s not going to stop.

Kerry are a serious team for so young and they will likely win one or two but the decades to come will be the same as this decade - Dublin domination.

ClanofLams

Deleted User wrote: »

Dublin has more clubs and players at every age group from academy 4+ upto seniors.

Do you deny those clubs funds and turn those players away because of where they live?

The RFU has far more players and money than the IRFU - Ireland is a much more successful team the last decade.

I'm not saying the situation is sustainable or right, but there isn't easy or obvious solutions either.

The GAA over reacted, they were worried about GAA in Dublin fading away but their response was ludicrous. Dublin receiving thirteen times the funding of Cork for development when the population is three times is insanity. Friend of mine worked as a development officer in Dublin for a few years who had previously worked elsewhere and just couldn’t get over the resources they had.

Dublin were under achieving anyway and would have come back winning All Irelands but no doubt their current dominance is significantly related to such resources. This excludes all the commercial income Dublin can wisely re-invest.

https://twitter.com/seanmcgoldrick1/status/1093268753725431808?s=21

Barring total mismanagement Dublin will be winning seven all Irelands a decade under the current structure.

Zzippy

ClanofLams wrote: »

Massive financial disparity in favour of a county with forty percent of the population who play every game at home. That Dublin team has some of the best footballers of all time but this outcome was largely inevitable when such resources were poured in. See also Dublin women going for three in a row and their hurlers improving massively from getting hidings by Westmeath just fifteen years ago to beating Galway, Cuala winning back to back all Ireland club title when no Dublin team had won a Leinster title before etc

Dublin have more clubs and players than a heap of counties combined. GAA funding is aimed at getting more kids playing the game, it makes sense to target the areas where return on investment will be greatest.
That aside, Dublin put in place their own structures to develop the best talent many years before other counties and are reaping the rewards now. That system predates the increase in funding. The main advantage, though, is having all their players based locally and able to train together 5 times a week or more.
These things are cyclical, there just happens to be a great bunch of players at the moment teamed with superb management and a support system (funded locally) that facilitates excellence. Kerry are a coming team that I believe will knock the Dubs off their perch within the next two years and have the potential to win multiple titles.
As for today, up the Dubs!

[Deleted User]

ClanofLams wrote: »

Massive financial disparity in favour of a county with forty percent of the population who play every game at home. That Dublin team has some of the best footballers of all time but this outcome was largely inevitable when such resources were poured in. See also Dublin women going for three in a row and their hurlers improving massively from getting hidings by Westmeath just fifteen years ago to beating Galway, Cuala winning back to back all Ireland club title when no Dublin team had won a Leinster title before etc

Dublin has more clubs and players at every age group from academy 4+ upto seniors.

Do you deny those clubs funds and turn those players away because of where they live?

The RFU has far more players and money than the IRFU - Ireland is a much more successful team the last decade.

I'm not saying the situation is sustainable or right, but there isn't easy or obvious solutions either.

The Lost Sheep

Squidgy Black wrote: »

The one with the woman in Terenure with a 30 foot gravel front garden and 10 foot long steps in front of the house saying she'd have cars flying past her windows and lose her greenery is just the typical example of the sort of objections they're going to get.

Don't get me wrong, it's their house that they bought and have had the garden like that for decades, but that mentality and the whole NIMBY thing is so detrimental to improving anything. It's the same with planning objections for building.

Thats typical ireland and we lose so much from that...

Neil3030 wrote: »

I agree with you on there being terrible use of current structures. But I disagree strongly with residential in the city being the wrong idea.

You have to have residential in the city to add and aid to the environment/livability of the city

Synode wrote: »

If Dublin had a world class transport system it would be one of the best cities to live in in the World. It's a bloody good city as is but the lack of vision and investment in public transport is choking it. Hopefully Metrolink is a start.

It would as people then might lose interest in using their car for everything.

Podge_irl wrote: »

It needs adjusting (which it seems to be getting, some of the changes are pretty good and shows they're listening) but it is ultimately absolutely required and it is telling that the biggest complaints seem to be from people who will lose 2m of their 47m gardens close to town who don't need public transport. The network redesign was always going to go down poorly no matter how much sense it makes.

Dunno how likely it is to all go ahead, but I'm hopeful. It is ridiculous how much just one pinch point can destroy public transport times so the fully segregated lanes are needed. I do like that there seems to be a bit of a push back against people complaining about chopping trees and driveways by removing car lanes instead of bus lanes from the plan.

Either it or something like it is 100% necessary though, and soon.

Of course needs some adjustment but problem will be people who will object will cause so much hassle and just will have no real need for the plans as you say. Its not that ridiculous about pinch points. They will always be there its just putting in best plan to limit how much the pinch points can destroy times can be so difficult.

ClanofLams

Massive financial disparity in favour of a county with forty percent of the population who play every game at home. That Dublin team has some of the best footballers of all time but this outcome was largely inevitable when such resources were poured in. See also Dublin women going for three in a row and their hurlers improving massively from getting hidings by Westmeath just fifteen years ago to beating Galway, Cuala winning back to back all Ireland club title when no Dublin team had won a Leinster title before etc

DGRulz

Up the Dubs! Unless something dramatic happens here quickly this is over as a contest.

Squidgy Black

Podge_irl wrote: »

Both the Indo and the Times seem to be incredibly heavily slanted against it. It's quite frustrating reading it. Happily printing "we'll have a motorway right outside our front window" garbage.

The one with the woman in Terenure with a 30 foot gravel front garden and 10 foot long steps in front of the house saying she'd have cars flying past her windows and lose her greenery is just the typical example of the sort of objections they're going to get.

Don't get me wrong, it's their house that they bought and have had the garden like that for decades, but that mentality and the whole NIMBY thing is so detrimental to improving anything. It's the same with planning objections for building.

Podge_irl

sydthebeat wrote: »

'mon kerry!

Yeah, 'mon Kerry. At least make it competitive for a while so it seems more rewarding when Dublin win :pac:

Podge_irl

I must have spent a good hour last Christmas sitting down with my mother with a print-out of the new plan explaining how there were still direct buses to Beaumont and the service to our area in general was going to remain as good, if not improve. Literally pointing out the new routes on the map in front of me. And it was no use - she kept just parroting what she heard on the radio and in the news about how damaging the plan was.

sydthebeat

'mon kerry!

troyzer

errlloyd wrote: »

Yeah, it's the same in Shankill. Of course you'd object to losing trees and parking spaces. It has almost no impact on your travel time to the city center. The loser is in Shankill, the beneficiary is in Bray.

I do think there is a cultural change required for Hub and Spoke bus routing though. It is a new thing for Irish people.

Agree. The local objections here were mental.

They were complaining that their direct route to the city centre was being turned into an orbital route and now they'd have to take two buses to the city centre.

But they're only around ten minutes on the first bus to the spine route where they can then change (in theory) to the high frequency bus every few minutes. They would have been making this journey anyway.

The actual journey itself is no difference, it just requires a quick change. Not only that, but the frequency will increase and now they've gained a new orbital route.

Not that they'd listen, they got a lot of councillors on board and looks like nothing will change. If enough areas do this, it'll be dead.

Podge_irl

Both the Indo and the Times seem to be incredibly heavily slanted against it. It's quite frustrating reading it. Happily printing "we'll have a motorway right outside our front window" garbage.

errlloyd

Yeah, it's the same in Shankill. Of course you'd object to losing trees and parking spaces. It has almost no impact on your travel time to the city center. The loser is in Shankill, the beneficiary is in Bray.

I do think there is a cultural change required for Hub and Spoke bus routing though. It is a new thing for Irish people.

troyzer

Stheno wrote: »

Wh a th do people think of the busconnects plan?

I think it was the Irish Times who best described it as basically a war between long distance (poorer) commuters who will be using the service and short distance (richer) commuters in areas like Donnybrook and Georgian Dublin in general who will be affected.

So it depends what side of the divide you're on I suppose. People from Lucan who can take nearly two hours to get in on a bad day simply don't give a **** about an incredibly wealthy person on Northumberland road losing 2m of their garden. Equally, said incredibly wealthy person doesn't give a **** about the commuter.

Podge_irl

Stheno wrote: »

Wh a th do people think of the busconnects plan?

It needs adjusting (which it seems to be getting, some of the changes are pretty good and shows they're listening) but it is ultimately absolutely required and it is telling that the biggest complaints seem to be from people who will lose 2m of their 47m gardens close to town who don't need public transport. The network redesign was always going to go down poorly no matter how much sense it makes.

Dunno how likely it is to all go ahead, but I'm hopeful. It is ridiculous how much just one pinch point can destroy public transport times so the fully segregated lanes are needed. I do like that there seems to be a bit of a push back against people complaining about chopping trees and driveways by removing car lanes instead of bus lanes from the plan.

Either it or something like it is 100% necessary though, and soon.

Stheno

Wh a th do people think of the busconnects plan?

stephen_n

thomond2006 wrote: »

The top of O'Connell St is an absolute joke.

Whoever owns those buildings that are derelict need to be fined annually. It's ****ing ridiculous.

In fairness that’s been locked up in planning battles since the mid 90’s. There’s a lot more elements than just the developers involved there.

Squidgy Black

Synode wrote: »

If Dublin had a world class transport system it would be one of the best cities to live in in the World. It's a bloody good city as is but the lack of vision and investment in public transport is choking it. Hopefully Metrolink is a start.

It genuinely has one of the worst transport systems for what's considered a major city in a developed country. Nothing's linked, services for busy areas are overcrowded and services for less busy areas are so sparse they're not reliable.

For example, I live about 5km outside of town on the Northside. To get to say somewhere like Citywest over the southside, about 20km away, it's an hour and a half on public transport, either by the one bus that can be full by the time it gets to my stop and will drive past, or else another bus into town (30 minutes) and then a Luas for another hour at least.

Synode

If Dublin had a world class transport system it would be one of the best cities to live in in the World. It's a bloody good city as is but the lack of vision and investment in public transport is choking it. Hopefully Metrolink is a start.

Stheno

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Yeah but the Swords Express is a direct result of heavy development, where a service was provided because of a growing population in a suburb outside of Dublin city centre.

Before the likes of Holywell, Boroimhe etc were built, you had the 41 and the 33 only really, and the R125 being expanded etc to allow for routes like the Swords Express.

True but it's a good example of a service which probably justified the devel opponent.

Its light years better than Dublin Bus

Squidgy Black

Stheno wrote: »

I think it's a combination tbh I use the swords express to commute a bit more than that and it's about 45 mins all in each way most times

Good services are equally important imo

Yeah but the Swords Express is a direct result of heavy development, where a service was provided because of a growing population in a suburb outside of Dublin city centre.

Before the likes of Holywell, Boroimhe etc were built, you had the 41 and the 33 only really, and the R125 being expanded etc to allow for routes like the Swords Express.

Stheno

Squidgy Black wrote: »

In most other countries a 10km commute into the city centre is an absolute breeze and people wouldn't even think about it logistically as it'd only be 15-20 minutes. But the problem is with Dublin, at the moment that 10km can end up being closer to an hour with traffic.

I think it's a combination tbh I use the swords express to commute a bit more than that and it's about 45 mins all in each way most times

Good services are equally important imo

Neil3030

You know you're going to enjoy life (however short it may be) with #5, that's all I'll say.

Stheno

Neil3030 wrote: »

Women posters - 1 or 5, who is more physically attractive?

1.5