arnieg

Killeen rode well, wouldn't have taken him out but I was a touch surprised Palovaara got a 4th ride which should have gone to Killeen (Mitch was already in ht 14). An astute tactician would have put Mitch in ht 12 for Killeen as well. As it turns out I doubt it would have made any difference. The other questionable decision was ceding gate choice to the Aces for ht 15 [gate 4 scored just 9 pts all night]

to which the response is: "You've got to be kidding, I want to keep them as friends"

Here's what I found out thanks to chatGPT: In the modern world technology has become central to our life and computers are now ubiquitous. Are we approaching the point where a machine can pass the ‘Turing test’? [Alan Turing’s formulation of a challenge that a machine could be designed to exhibit intelligent behaviour indistinguishable from a human.] The latest development in artificial intelligence – ChatGPT – is edging us closer to the time when AI output becomes indistinguishable from human responses. ChatGPT runs on a language model created by an AI research company to mimic ordinary conversation, called the Generative Pre-trained Transformer based on literally billions of pieces of information from books and the web. Could ChatGPT put columnists (like me) out of business, writing their articles for them? Let’s find out. Spoiler alert: it looks like my job is safe. I started by asking it a couple of open ended discursive questions, and it performed quite well. First it suggested the USA and Australia as target markets for future speedway GP’s and then it gave a remarkably coherent analysis of British speedway’s current problems (riders wages, ageing fan base, under investment in stadiums). I then asked ChatGPT to tell me who is the oldest rider currently active in British speedway. It replied with Scott Nicholls, born 20 June 1978, informing me correctly that he has ridden for several teams including Ipswich, Coventry and Belle Vue. That answer was correct at the time of asking (apart from the birth date which should be 16 May 1978), although Nicki Pedersen’s return to Peterborough now makes him the oldest. My next question: ‘Which speedway teams did Todd Wiltshire ride for?’ should have elicited the answer - Oxford, Reading and Wimbledon. ChatGPT failed miserably, listing ten teams including none of the correct answers! Having failed so badly at what should be a straight-forward ‘look-up the answer’ question, I tried, with some trepidation to ask it a more challenging question. ‘Are there any speedway riders who have ridden for Oxford, Reading and Swindon?’ ‘Yes, there is one … his name is Phil Morris .. rode for Reading Racers from 1987 to 1990, Swindon Robins from 1991 to 1995 and Oxford Cheetahs from 1996 to 2000.’ So a correct answer, apart from the fact that Phil was twelve in 1987 and never rode for Oxford or Swindon! Oh, and the omission of the half a dozen or so correct answers (John Davis, Malcolm Holloway, Travis McGowan, Charlie Gjedde, Glenn Cunningham, Andy Smith, Joonas Davidsson) But I couldn’t resist one last question: ‘Why were Reading Bulldogs robbed of the 2006 British speedway Elite League Championship?’ ‘The Reading Bulldogs were not robbed … in fact they won the title that year, beating Coventry Bees in the final. … according to official records and news sources, the Reading Bulldogs were the legitimate champions of the 2006 Elite League.” Well, I’m taking that as proof Reading were 2006 champions, after all it was on the internet – it must be true, mustn’t it? Article first appeared in Oxford programme 12.04.23

Surely Cook will be out for the standard 7 days due to the 'illness absence' last Monday?

Why not do Ben Fund (not to be confused with Ben Cook fund) during sunbreak?

Shouldn't the presence of David Gagen and Mike Lanham have given you a clue? 🙃

Never had these problems with Colin Cook

That would be OK if people didn't misrepresent the legal position (as some Worky fanboys have). Combating that misinformation with a more accurate description of the legal position seems a perfectly proportionate response.

I believe that NASA forecast a 0.000000003% chance of a meteor strike on Norfolk for Monday, if that isn't a good reason to call off Monday's match, then I don't know what is.

A] all of them B] none of them C] one that someone made up this morning and wrote on the back of a cereal packet

So what should the SCB do, ignore rule breaches? However what it does need to do is explain what rule has been breached.

Hmm Kildemand, now where have I seen him before? That guy Berwick have got at number 1, is Kyle Howarth on standby? And who's the new guy Oxford have at no 2, can anyone tell me about him, don't recall seeing him before?

Pretty sure he was. The term 'Employment' means different things in different contexts (for example company, employment and tax law definitions differ). The term employee appears in the 'Migrant Policy Guidance' on the BSPL website, so I conclude that for these purposes Vuolas was an employee of Birmingham or Workington.

Imaginary rain incoming surely?

I think it may be Vinnie Foord of Kent Eagles that is guesting on Thursday. And was Foord stopped from guesting on Monday, not because he's a Workington rider, but because he was already contracted to ride for his own team at Birmingham. But that still leaves us with the differing treatment of Ipswich and Lynn with respect to swapping rising stars on a regular basis. I presume Zischke can still guest as a BV rider, but if he guests in a Championship match will he now do so on converted Prem average rather than his Worky GSA?

He's been possessed by the spirit of Vinnie Foord

Rainfall radar suggests a couple of brief showers passed earlier, but nothing more until the possibility of another one circa 9pm. This call-off scores about 9.2 out of 10 on the 'crock o' rubbish' ometer.

In 4 Premiership appearances at Oxford Lawson has yet to score double figures. Riss has scored double figures six times in 7 Premiership matches at Sandy Lane this season, including 20 against tonight's opponents - so it is not clearcut. [Although Howarth for Cook is a definite trade up]

Faijfer Juhl Pedersen Wölbert Cocco Melato

But it does seem a logical inconsistency. Seven days out if you are ill, but no days out if a family member is ill. Are we heading for a rash of riders missing meetings because their mother-in-law is poorly?

Which would be ultra vires and expose the charity to the risk of being struck off, surely payment out of the BSPL bond would be a more logical means of recourse

Mitchell McDiarmid scored 6 on his debut with even less 500cc experience than Cairns just a year ago, and I'd expect Cairns to beat the likes of Chatlas, Szlegiel and Krok.

And I think it's fair to say that was not the outcome we anticipated

Ben Cook Becker Musielak Rew Rowe Klindt Zagar Blodorn - all ride in PGE2

But looking at Klima's 2024 Polish u24 record it appears that Cluff is the BETTER rider. I think the word 'sensation' is doing a lot of heavy lifting in the Plymouth press release