Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

GDB2222

Wheezy wrote: »

Yes, I remember her.



:drool:

I just watched the complete video on YouTube, and you've definitely got the best bit.

I found the song a distraction from watching what was obviously intended as the main entertainment.

[/MCP]

GDB2222

Wheezy wrote: »

May the 4th be with lambs?

At least nobody quoted the 1st May poem.

Hooray, hooray!
The First of May.
Outdoor 5ex begins today.

Pyxis

Looks like it's just been quoted, though! :rotfl:



At least no-one did the pinch punch thing on Sunday!

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

I remember her, she was in some TV show my parents used to watch. I can just remember some stern old lady "in charge" of something in her TV role.... brain says "a prison?"

And a quick google, yes, it was Within These Walls, prison drama, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Within_These_Walls 1974-1978.

It was either her, or Bill Withers, or a picture of a horse's withers. Given the dearth of posh people, I didn't think the latter would be recognised so it was a toss between Googie and Bill.

silvercar

vivatifosi wrote: »

Nothing is a clue Gen. The whole voting system is changing this year and nobody knows how it will be affected, therefore the results could be substantially different.

In the past, the public voted, and there was a degree of voting for ones neighbours. Since then (early 2000s??) there have been two components to a vote: the jury vote of industry professionals and the public vote for a country. Each had a 50% weighting. It is the combined score which has set the vote for a country. This came up with some interesting results... for example, the well known public vote in the UK for the Polish washerwomen in Denmark two years ago. The public put it top, but it was marked last by the jury. As a result it got no points from the UK.

This year, the marks will be different again. The results of the juries of each country will be read out first. The UK could do well here, it is quite a catchy song. Then will come the votes of the public. But rather than being added together and the points split by country (eg the UK public giving 12, 10, 8, 7, 6... points etc), the points given by each country will be added up and then presented by song. These point scores will then be added on in reverse order... so the lowest song may get - say - 5 points, up to the highest scoring a couple of hundred. However the idea is that no country can be seen as voting for another.

So nobody yet knows the impact of what the new voting system will be. It may be that the jury votes being split out means that only the really good songs prevail, or that block votes could be hidden but take over. Until the night, nobody will know. The one thing that is almost certain though, is that because there are double the number of possible votes (ie one set of jury votes and one set of public votes), the chance of a song getting no points is significantly reduced.

Also, the fact we have scored poorly in the past may reflect the fact that the songs were total c**p. We have scored quite highly when entering good songs.

Another big change this year is that the British song will also be played in the semi-finals. The big five, which do not compete in the semi finals, were previously seen as at a disadvantage as they didn't get the same airplay/publicity in the run up as those that people had seen and liked in the semis.

We haven't had a top 10 song since 2009 (when we placed 5th), though we came close in 2011 with Blue (11th). We have however placed 1, 2 and 3 in 1997, 1998 and 2003 respectively. So it isn't impossible. But fact... the X Factor generation who vote actoss Europe aren't interested in Englebert or Bonnie or some weird electro-slide duo. This year, thankfully, we've gone more mainstream. However they haven't set the UK charts alight... we normally (though not always) score better with songs that chart in the UK.

Oh, um, does that mean a bet of 12-1 is good or not? Eitd: odds moved to 9-1 now., too many people reading the NP thread!

You can still bet on a country getting nil points. Odds of 8-1.

chris_m

silvercar wrote: »

You can still bet on a country getting nil points. Odds of 8-1.

Is that for "a" country or for a specific country?

CKhalvashi

Generali wrote: »

How often has the UK come in the top 10 recently?

Given the political nature of the voting that's likely to be a big clue as to whether there's value in that bet.

5th in 2009. That's it since 2002. ETA: Viva got there before me.

May the 4th be with you

GDB2222

silvercar wrote: »

Based on your wisdom and an odd moment of patriotism, I've put a small bet on the UK ending in the top 10. Got odds of 12-1.


search tag eurovison

So, based on your advice:

I went to Quidco, opened an account with Ladbrokes, and deposited £10. (£30 cashback for opening an account and betting £10.)

I bet the £10 at 9:1 on UK in top 10. Plus they double up your first bet. So, I effectively have odds of 18:1.

So, the worst case scenario is that I gain the cashback of £30 and lose the £10 bet.

This seems a tad on the "too good to be true" side. Have I missed the news? Is money going out of fashion?

Michaels, should we all be doing this?

PasturesNew

GDB2222 wrote: »

This seems a tad on the "too good to be true" side.

There's probably some small print that says something about only taking winnings out once you've pumped £X of your own money through the account ... meaning, for many, that they then bet and lose £00s of their own money before they can withdraw any meagre winnings.

There's no such thing as a freebie with betting ... unless you've sat and worked it out and learnt a method and do it methodically and wait .... etc etc.

You can't pop in and trouser profits on a few clicks.

chris_m

Hooray, managed to give my lawns a haircut this morning - at last.
Downside, it shows the moss up more.
Upside, the rest doesn't look as shaggy as it was