World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating • Hacker News Board

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#471

Post by louthy » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 2:41 PM UTC

russellbeattie wrote: post #233

Duanemclemore wrote: post #109

I learned about conkers when I was very young and read the Hitchhikers Guide for the first time... "We bust our way into a megafreighter I still don't know how, marched on to the bridge waving toy pistols and demanded conkers. A wilder thing I have not known. Lost me a year's pocket money. For what? Conkers. The captain was this really amazing guy, Yooden Vranx," said Zaphod. "He gave us food, booze - stuff from real…

I was about to post the same thing! I've thought about this literally for decades. I also had to wait for years to learn what conkers are - and I'm still confused. I'd love to know the context/history/culture that DNA was referring to because it doesn't make any sense to me as written So conkers are chestnuts on a string used for childhood smashing competitions. Ooookay. But why would Yooden Vranx have "lots of" ches…

Getting a massive haul of conkers was almost as important as the game itself. So, that might add some context.

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#472

Post by foldr » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 2:43 PM UTC

gkwelding wrote: post #367

noobermin wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the bit about UK food being attrocious is unfortunately true from my limited experience but the country itself has a lot of beauty, I think, as long as you look in the roght places.

Can confirm, as a Brit, our food is utterly shocking.

Depends greatly on where you are. London is great for food. I can see how someone from say, France or Spain, would find the average standard of food in the UK as a whole to be pretty bad. However, when this kind of critique comes from the other side of the pond I am a bit baffled, as food quality also tends to decline precipitously outside of major cities in the US (with exceptions, obviously).

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#473

Post by pyrale » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 2:43 PM UTC

russellbeattie wrote: post #233

Duanemclemore wrote: post #109

I learned about conkers when I was very young and read the Hitchhikers Guide for the first time... "We bust our way into a megafreighter I still don't know how, marched on to the bridge waving toy pistols and demanded conkers. A wilder thing I have not known. Lost me a year's pocket money. For what? Conkers. The captain was this really amazing guy, Yooden Vranx," said Zaphod. "He gave us food, booze - stuff from real…

I was about to post the same thing! I've thought about this literally for decades. I also had to wait for years to learn what conkers are - and I'm still confused. I'd love to know the context/history/culture that DNA was referring to because it doesn't make any sense to me as written So conkers are chestnuts on a string used for childhood smashing competitions. Ooookay. But why would Yooden Vranx have "lots of" ches…

Your mistake is trying to find logic in something Douglas Adams wrote.

It makes no sense for alien spaceships to carry conkers. That's the joke, a small dig at people believing the local stuff they're used to is universal.

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#474

Post by foldr » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 2:44 PM UTC

lukas099 wrote: post #460

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't agree; find better places to eat. I for one loved the steak & kidney pie with a guiness I had after hiking a mountain. Don't take sad Wetherspoons food as an indicator of British food.

Surely you realize that kidney pie sounds utterly revolting to those of us who haven’t acquired the taste.

This is like concluding that Japanese food is terrible because the idea of eating raw fish grosses you out. (Also, it's "steak and kidney pie" as a unit, not a steak accompanied by a "kidney pie".)

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#475

Post by DoughnutHole » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 2:45 PM UTC

oblio wrote: post #423

DoughnutHole wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly the focus on financial stratification here highlights the differences between what class means in the UK and the US. In the US class distinction is (almost) entirely down to money. If you’re rich you can buy nicer things than someone poorer and so you can be immediately sorted into a higher social class. In the UK just because you’re rich that doesn’t make you upper class. British society is riddled with sub…

True, but even in the UK, I imagine that once you have the money, the next generation will be integrated, if you want to. You'll live in the right neighborhood, your kids will go to the right schools, problem solved. It's just slower and doesn't include you directly, true.

It takes many generations, really.

Having money doesn’t easily buy you a hereditary lordship. You might be able to buy a load of land but probably not a prestigious ancient estate because the families that own them would usually rather let them fall into disrepair than sell them.

Money will buy your kids a place in prestigious public (read: private) school so they can rub shoulders with upper class kids and have connections when they grow up. But those upper class friends will always know that you and your kids are really just jumped up middle class since your great great great great grandfather wasn’t the Duke of Norfolk or some such.

For reference Kate Middleton’s family are wealthy multi-millionaires, and have been wealthy going back to the 19th century. When she married Prince William the press still waxed lyrical about the fact that the Prince of Wales was marrying a “commoner”.

Really the only rock solid way to wash away the middle class stink from your kids is to marry into the real top level of the upper class.

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#476

Post by pyrale » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 2:53 PM UTC

amiga386 wrote: post #293

russellbeattie wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was about to post the same thing! I've thought about this literally for decades. I also had to wait for years to learn what conkers are - and I'm still confused. I'd love to know the context/history/culture that DNA was referring to because it doesn't make any sense to me as written So conkers are chestnuts on a string used for childhood smashing competitions. Ooookay. But why would Yooden Vranx have "lots of" ches…

It's a childhood story dressed up in sci-fi. If an American child had told it, they might have said they demanded baseball cards, and the amused captain would have given them food, booze and "lots of baseball cards, of course". Children all over the world occasionally make demands of adults and are thrilled when the adults oblige them; their bold dare paid off! Children make up games at school, so when all the chestn…

> [to which someone said "Scotland" :(]

Savage reply.

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#477

Post by rootusrootus » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 2:55 PM UTC

dansitu wrote: post #424

noobermin wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the bit about UK food being attrocious is unfortunately true from my limited experience but the country itself has a lot of beauty, I think, as long as you look in the roght places.

Not sure where you've been eating, but even Birmingham—my unfashionable British hometown—has nine Michelin star restaurants within a short drive. I grew up in the UK but I've lived for 15 years all over the US, and it's always confused me that Americans are convinced that British food is bad. On a whole, British supermarkets have far better produce, in both quality and diversity. UK restaurants run the gamut from cut…

When I read comments like yours I wonder how you define "all over the US." Obviously, that is nowhere near enough time to experience the breadth of culture that spans the US, so I'm guessing just a few specific locations. It's the only explanation I can come up with for your generalizations being completely opposed to my experience (and I've spent more like 50 years living all over the US...).

FWIW, I'd say that while Gordon Ramsey is a good cook, obviously, he's a celebrity because he's hilarious. That is definitely something I will give credit to the British for.

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#478

Post by dspillett » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 2:58 PM UTC

_heimdall wrote: post #373

dspillett wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a myth that it was banned nationally for health & safety (“nanny state”) reasons, as was incorrectly reported in the press (mostly in the red-top papers), but some schools certainly did ban the game. This was usually because it became a tool for bullying: deliberate hand hits in games, deliberate hand hits in other contexts with complaints of an attack fobbed off as “we were playing conckers and there was an ac…

The idea of banning a game because it can lead to bullying is ridiculous in my opinion. Kids will be kids and bullies will always find an excuse to pick on someone if they want to. Just deal with it one-off when a game gets out of hand and let kids play games and learn social skills along the way.

> The idea of banning a game because it can lead to bullying is ridiculous in my opinion.

It was more banning the tool without which the game can not be played, but yes as someone who was subjected to bullies at various times in my education history I can say you are right about them just finding something else.

I didn't say it was right, just that it happened.

The problem that causes these ineffectual bans is simply that the school's head (and other authorities) feel the need to be seen to be proactively doing something, anything, about the bullying problem they otherwise officially deny having¹, especially when local press have got onto the issue and are stirring up angst amongst the parents, and when they can't think of anything better a target is picked and a simple ban gets announced.

----

[1] It always amazed me how soon after a claim that we don't have a bullying problem in the school, there would be a call to celebrate an action that was supposed to reduce the bullying problem we didn't have…

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#479

Post by oblio » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 2:58 PM UTC

foldr wrote: post #469

lukas099 wrote: post #458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the trope is that British cuisine , that is, dishes that are uniquely British, are bad. Not that there isn’t good food there. Being a rich country, an empire, and part of Europe means you can have many, many different cuisines there though, and like you said many are very good.

Requiring something to be "uniquely British" to count as British cuisine seems like a pretty high bar. Are burgers and apple pie "uniquely American"? Not sure – and who even cares?

> apple pie "uniquely American"

My Romanian grandma, born in the 1920s, that never traveled more than 100km from her birthplace and never saw even the Black Sea, would beg to differ :-p

Re: World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

#480

Post by RandomThoughts3 » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 2:59 PM UTC

dave333 wrote: post #470

Played conkers as a kid around age 7-9. We had several horse chestnut trees along our road and I would search in amongst the leaves everyday on the way to and from school. Drill a hole in each and thread about 18 inches of string through the hole and tie a knot so the nut cannot fly off when you swing the nut at your opponent's conker. Challenge others in a duel to the death of one or other of the conkers. Draw lots…

> The World Championship seems very fishy to me - firstly someone involved in setting up the conkers (inflating the footballs) should not be a competitor.

Clearly, considering the incredible stake at play here, it’s entirely outrageous. /s

> Second having been caught with a steel imitation conker in his pocket how can he be cleared? He can't prove he didn't use it surreptitiously and so should be disqualified.

The game is recorded so you can tell which conker he did or did not use. But just in case you didn’t notice, the reason it’s a media sensation is because the whole thing is ridiculous and therefore funny. There is no point in cheating at conker.