Royal Oak

These?

I just saw on Cricinfo that MI had lost 7 of their 10 group games, mad. Taking the art of not peaking too soon to a new level. Derbyshire vs Lancashire a couple of weeks ago. Played at Chesterfield, a club (amateur) ground, in the middle of a municipal park I tried to get a pic of Chesterfield's famous crooked spire, this is the best I could do from inside the ground

👍 I may send the inner sleeve coupon from my "Donald Byrd's Best" LP (and a cheque for $5) for a BN T-shirt.

I threw my Blue Note Connoisseur CD OBI strips out, when I should have saved them and sent them off for a Blue Note watch, or whatever the prize was.

Yes, he bowled 10 overs in the entire second innings, and I think six of those were after tea. I guess he didn't fancy it, the privilege of being captain I suppose. He is due to play in the Derbyshire game starting Sunday. I have a day off work on Tuesday, so will have a drive over to Chesterfield if the weather is good.

Lancashire vs Kent at Blackpool Cricket Club, day 1 last Sunday. It wasn't a good day for cricket. It was cool and then poured down for a while between lunch and tea, so I left early. The shot below I took during the 5 minutes the sun came out (to the cheers of the crowd). You can see the top of the world-famous Blackpool Tower in the background.

Any interactions I've had with AI (at least the ones I know about!) seem to have been fairly negative. I've noticed that with any Google search I perform on my phone (but not on my PC, for some reason), the top result is now always a summary driven by AI. I've noticed a couple of times it's factually incorrect. I have often felt Google Maps trolls me by sending me on unnecessarily convoluted routes, particularly in more rural areas of the UK. And any Chatbot I have ever used (banking, mobile phone etc) has merely been another hurdle one must clear to get to a real person, who may understand what I am asking for. The whole Google Gemini thing, or the AI girlfriends one hears about? That just seems insane to me. Some will call me a Luddite, and perhaps they are right. In any case, I wouldn't trust it to help me make a decision of any import.

Ebay offers AI generated descriptions when selling. For vinyl, they are faintly preposterous "The record is black in colour and housed in a cardboard sleeve", "12 inches in diameter", "Would make a superb addition to any music-lover's collection" and the like. For work I have to write reports. Though the reports are about human beings, they are somewhat formulaic, and have a narrow scope. This means I can use a few judicious shortcuts and templates, and churn them out quickly. I have wondered if at some point, the customer will start thinking I'm using Chat GPT to write them.

Go Super Kings! I see Daryl Mitchell scored 8 and went for 53 off his 4 overs, but still won the game with a tight last over. Good player is Mitchell, was excellent for Lancashire a couple of years ago.

Ah fair enough. After seeing some of South Africa's defeats snatched from the jaws of victory over the past 30 years, I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if they end up losing this by about 15 runs.

I saw some badly edited highlights of the SF innings this morning - 269 is a ridiculous score. Are the Texas games better attended? Looked quite a sparse crowd - no cheap tickets to entice the locals in?

Gosh, didn't realise MLC started in June! Also, didn't realise the games were played in blocks in three different locations - that does make sense, rather than teams jetting between cities for games.

Is this a horse?

It's been cracking the flags in Manchester for weeks! A fairly sedate day at the cricket today. Didn't get to see Sir JA as Lancashire were put in, and managed to bat (slowly) all day.

Off to OT tomorrow. A day off work, Sir JA is in the squad, unbroken sunshine and 23 deg C forecast. I suppose the only drawback is that it's Derbyshire, possibly the least exciting team in the country.

Lancashire vs Gloucestershire at OT yesterday, weather glorious once more.

I see JA's Lancashire comeback has been further delayed, with a new target of 16th May. I am now thinking this is never going to happen, if England come calling for his coaching / mentoring services

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/ipl-2025-1449924/rajasthan-royals-vs-gujarat-titans-47th-match-1473484/match-report This kid just turned 14 a month ago - scored the second fastest century in IPL history today, wtf

Last week at OT, taken from what I suppose you might call the picnic area next to the pavilion. The first class game in England is badly attended, though the sheer size of the big grounds makes it look even worse. Come the India test match, there won't be a spare seat to be had.

I saw them once, at the Hacienda in 1989. I had to look it up, but it was around the time when "Love Love Love" came out - pretty much the only record of theirs I bought / heard. I don't recall much, other than his moustache, his high-pitched voice and an energetic performance.

Another beautiful sunny day out at Old Trafford today. Lancashire had a rotten day, but will likely be saved from defeat by forecast heavy rain tomorrow. I had another walk around the field at tea, in bare feet! A rare sight on an English cricket field - Leicestershire have a USA international in their team - Ian Holland from Wisconsin, who played for Washington in MLC last summer. Man Utd were at home today. I was surprised not to hear the crowd, given the Theatre of Dreams is perhaps half a mile away. I did hear some self-deprecating singing ("We're not famous anymore") from fans at the tram stop after the game.

Such a nice tune

Who'd have thought there'd be a Gen Z Mouldy Fig movement?

You piqued my interest into looking at the Montreux line up. Hahaha Block Party and Pulp at a jazz festival. Neil Young, Alanis Morissette, Lionel Richie wtaf. I agree with others that the Newport line up looks jazzy enough. I guess the problem is that all about 93% of the OG jazzmen are dead.

No, he's going to miss the first three games, so the rumour goes.