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Sydney man dubbed the 'Annihilator' wins spreadsheet world championship

theguardian.com

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Re: Sydney man dubbed the 'Annihilator' wins spreadsheet world championship

#71

Post by InCityDreams »

inopinatus wrote: post #64
brendamn wrote: post #42

> He says he is “not bad” at maths – by which he means he came top in the state of New South Wales in his year 12 maths exams As an Australian that has worked with American companies for a while, this is a behaviour I’ve had to overcome. If you tell an Australian you’re “not bad” at something then they’ll take that to mean that you’re actually quite good, whereas many Americans will understand it to mean that you’re…

“Sorry to bother you” - I have a life-critical emergency “That is remarkable” - It is horrifyingly bad “Have you had your tea?” - Get out of my house

>“Have you had your tea?” - Get out of my house

"Tea", meaning 'dinner', I presume.

Re: Sydney man dubbed the 'Annihilator' wins spreadsheet world championship

#73

Post by defrost »

InCityDreams wrote: post #71
inopinatus wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Sorry to bother you” - I have a life-critical emergency “That is remarkable” - It is horrifyingly bad “Have you had your tea?” - Get out of my house

>“Have you had your tea?” - Get out of my house "Tea", meaning 'dinner', I presume.

In traditional Australia Tea meaning Tea the drink .. vast quantities have been consumed here, at least until the rise of the coffee shop - but the main thing is water is mostly boiled before drinking - flavour added.

It was once universal custom in Australia to offer either tea or a beer when someone arrived - rehydration in a hot country is a thing to do.

"Have you finished that drink yet" - depending on inflection it's either an offer of another or a strong cue to hit the road.

Re: Sydney man dubbed the 'Annihilator' wins spreadsheet world championship

#74

Post by resolutebat »

ta8645 wrote: post #51
tkzed49 wrote: post #9

Personally I'm a fan of MAKRO, I think his commentary on the meta is very insightful. https://youtu.be/xubbVvKbUfY

Judging from the other replies, this is a real thing. But I was convinced it was a parody comedy video after watching it myself.

Congratulations, you are one of today's lucky 10,000 [1] to discover Krazam. Start with Microservices: https://youtu.be/y8OnoxKotPQ?feature=shared

[1] https://xkcd.com/1053/

Re: Sydney man dubbed the 'Annihilator' wins spreadsheet world championship

#75

Post by ozim »

sundvor wrote: post #53

Eve Online (aka spreadsheets in space) players past and present might enjoy the reference that was made in the article. Was it an in-joke? "For example, Ngai had to calculate the market value of a fleet of spaceships using real data from the video game Eve Online – with the action televised live on ESPN."

No, Eve Online was one of the sponsors. Surprisingly pro level gamers use spreadsheets more than one would expect from „gaming”.

Final round was really about calculating stuff based on game economy. Challenge was created by top game guy. Which in some ways was surprising for finance guys.

Re: Sydney man dubbed the 'Annihilator' wins spreadsheet world championship

#76

Post by ozim »

deebosong wrote: post #46
hexane360 wrote: post #40

Here's a great video about these Excel competitions: https://youtu.be/N2QC6VQXo8U

Make it into an e-sports competition. But rather than try to hype it up like fighting game tournaments, have it be somewhat milder in aesthetics and tone, for the type of crowd it might draw. Like "Best in Show" or "Great British Bake Off" or what have you.

Exactly I feel that belt - albeit funny - is more cringey than whatever else they could come up with.

Then I say dynamic commentary is still something you want - but talkative host asking a guy that is going to drop underground in seconds is not bes use of watch time

Re: Sydney man dubbed the 'Annihilator' wins spreadsheet world championship

#77

Post by about3fitty »

yawnxyz wrote: post #61
doesnt_know wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure you're aware, but thought I'd drop this for our American friends. Australia and New Zealand (where I'm from) share Tall poppy syndrome[1] and going by that Wikipedia page, there are various over countries that have a similar concept. Being overly self-congratulatory comes across as this sort of grotesque and unattractive quality. It is even true in the corporate environments I've worked at where you would no…

As an American who's spent two years in Sydney and having met VC types here, it's like they toe the line of not wanting to boast but really speak down on a lot of people. There's some sort of hidden aristocracy here, and you can feel like they think they're way better than you. You get some of that in the US too but there are also way more down-to-earth people there who actually want to help, and advice is actually h…

This was my experience as a dual citizen. Sydneysiders are sometimes wannabe Londoners with an odd superiority complex and frequent use of passive aggression.

Re: Sydney man dubbed the 'Annihilator' wins spreadsheet world championship

#78

Post by manmal »

about3fitty wrote: post #77
yawnxyz wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an American who's spent two years in Sydney and having met VC types here, it's like they toe the line of not wanting to boast but really speak down on a lot of people. There's some sort of hidden aristocracy here, and you can feel like they think they're way better than you. You get some of that in the US too but there are also way more down-to-earth people there who actually want to help, and advice is actually h…

This was my experience as a dual citizen. Sydneysiders are sometimes wannabe Londoners with an odd superiority complex and frequent use of passive aggression.

Having returned from London an hour ago, I think Londoners are mostly decent and friendly people.

Re: Sydney man dubbed the 'Annihilator' wins spreadsheet world championship

#79

Post by sundvor »

ozim wrote: post #75
sundvor wrote: post #53

Eve Online (aka spreadsheets in space) players past and present might enjoy the reference that was made in the article. Was it an in-joke? "For example, Ngai had to calculate the market value of a fleet of spaceships using real data from the video game Eve Online – with the action televised live on ESPN."

No, Eve Online was one of the sponsors. Surprisingly pro level gamers use spreadsheets more than one would expect from „gaming”. Final round was really about calculating stuff based on game economy. Challenge was created by top game guy. Which in some ways was surprising for finance guys.

Ahh, that's pretty cool - thanks for that info!

I played Eve for a good while (more than a decade) and the complexities was one of the appealing aspects, but unfortunately at one point the time between my sessions increased more and more, and I fell behind the learning and time curve, and dropped out.

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