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Truss now favourite to be PM after next election – politicalbetting.com

SystemSystem Posts: 11,002
edited August 2022 in General
imageTruss now favourite to be PM after next election – politicalbetting.com

On this I think that punters have got this wrong because the challenge facing the Tories at the next election is so great that it is hard to see how they can stay in power unless they secure an overall majority.

Read the full story here

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Comments

  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,842
    edited August 2022
    The Conservatives get half of Sinn Fein's tally to help toward an effective majority.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,763
    @bigjohnowls comment incoming in....
  • "First Government Formed" lay could be a loser if Conservatives have a significant plurality, claim the right to form a government, and manage to do so - until Parliament meets and passes a vote of no confidence three days later, right?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,742
    DavidL said:

    @bigjohnowls comment incoming in....

    Elizabeth Truss fans, please grovel in advance for all the shit she's going to be causing with your help.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835
    edited August 2022

    "First Government Formed" lay could be a loser if Conservatives have a significant plurality, claim the right to form a government, and manage to do so - until Parliament meets and passes a vote of no confidence three days later, right?

    Isn't the basis for forming a government being able to answer the question "Can you pass a Queen's Speech?" in the affirmative.
    The Palace would take extensive soundings before inviting anyone to form a government.
    You don't just get an automatic go by merely having most seats.
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,226
    ydoethur said:

    DavidL said:

    @bigjohnowls comment incoming in....

    Elizabeth Truss fans, please grovel in advance for all the shit she's going to be causing with your help.
    It's odd how many people think it controversial to reduce national insurance to the level it was only 5 months ago. Especially given the increase was such a crap policy it made firm Tory voters like Barty walk away from the party.

    Impartial advice to those hoping for a Starmer win: stop contributing to such appallingly low public expectations for Truss. Because if as is pretty likely, she exceeds them, then she'll be a shoe-in for a majority win even if she's not very good.

    It's not like she's proposing to replace the entire army with Lyon's Maid ice cream sellers or give state funerals to every Terry O'Terrorist that blows himself up, like Jezza wanted to. Do you see what I did there?
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,617
    dixiedean said:

    "First Government Formed" lay could be a loser if Conservatives have a significant plurality, claim the right to form a government, and manage to do so - until Parliament meets and passes a vote of no confidence three days later, right?

    Isn't the basis for forming a government being able to answer the question "Can you pass a Queen's Speech?" in the affirmative.
    The Palace would take extensive soundings before inviting anyone to form a government.
    You don't just get an automatic go by merely having most seats.
    Wasn’t that what the Palace told the politicians before the Coalition governments - “We are not picking anyone. First person to command a majority in the House gets the job?”
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 20,454
    Don't mind the 20/1 any other than Truss or Starmer here.
  • FPT
    Alistair said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Alistair said:

    Leon said:

    Alistair said:

    If you can use what 3 words then you can open google maps and hit share location which gives rescuers an actual location that real people can use.

    My god you’re a sad fuck
    Can you tell me what problem what 3 words is solving?
    Conveying a location in a format with strong ease of communication and very strong error correction compared to alternative formats with neither
    Every langiage has its own word list so there is no cross language communication i.e. fuck.this.shit in english could be merci.bon.homme in French

    The world list is stuffed full of homophones (and even plurals!) that makes it a minefield to do over spoken medium.
    How long until the woke brigade cancel all the homophones?
  • Just got my teeth fixed. I couldn't get NHS dentistry so smiled at my Dad until he insisted on me going private and paying for it.

    For the first time, my front teeth don't have a gap and I rather like it. I've got to practise smiling now
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614

    Don't mind the 20/1 any other than Truss or Starmer here.

    Good shout.
  • Betfair next prime minister (next month)
    1.11 Liz Truss 90%
    9.6 Rishi Sunak 10%

    Next Conservative leader
    1.11 Liz Truss 90%
    9.6 Rishi Sunak 10%
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614

    dixiedean said:

    "First Government Formed" lay could be a loser if Conservatives have a significant plurality, claim the right to form a government, and manage to do so - until Parliament meets and passes a vote of no confidence three days later, right?

    Isn't the basis for forming a government being able to answer the question "Can you pass a Queen's Speech?" in the affirmative.
    The Palace would take extensive soundings before inviting anyone to form a government.
    You don't just get an automatic go by merely having most seats.
    Wasn’t that what the Palace told the politicians before the Coalition governments - “We are not picking anyone. First person to command a majority in the House gets the job?”
    Yep, Brown was accused of squatting, but those opposed to him needed to prove they had the numbers before he went to the Palace.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835
    edited August 2022

    dixiedean said:

    "First Government Formed" lay could be a loser if Conservatives have a significant plurality, claim the right to form a government, and manage to do so - until Parliament meets and passes a vote of no confidence three days later, right?

    Isn't the basis for forming a government being able to answer the question "Can you pass a Queen's Speech?" in the affirmative.
    The Palace would take extensive soundings before inviting anyone to form a government.
    You don't just get an automatic go by merely having most seats.
    Wasn’t that what the Palace told the politicians before the Coalition governments - “We are not picking anyone. First person to command a majority in the House gets the job?”
    Yes.
    Having the Queen (or King) traipse into Parliament and spout off what their government will and won't do at length, followed by Parliament voting that they bloody well won't do owt of the sort, would be a huge embarrassment.
    So. They will invite whoever has enough MP's pledged to support (or at least abstain) for it to pass.
    Failing that they won't ask anyone at all till they do.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,763

    Just got my teeth fixed. I couldn't get NHS dentistry so smiled at my Dad until he insisted on me going private and paying for it.

    For the first time, my front teeth don't have a gap and I rather like it. I've got to practise smiling now

    Is it worth it? Bah.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,014
    Don't knock paper maps. They are invaluable for finding and validating alternative routes when your SatNav does something silly (invariably, it simply calculates the shortest route between two points using public roads, or using public road speeds for quickest, and you should always check them).

    Google maps and SatNavs are good for getting to a postcode. W3W for finding a specific door when you get there.

    Possibly for lost hikers too where you need to describe an exact grid reference, but any serious hiker should know how to do it with an OS map too for the same reasons.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,014
    On topic, it depends whether Truss is a lucky general or not.
  • dixiedean said:

    "First Government Formed" lay could be a loser if Conservatives have a significant plurality, claim the right to form a government, and manage to do so - until Parliament meets and passes a vote of no confidence three days later, right?

    Isn't the basis for forming a government being able to answer the question "Can you pass a Queen's Speech?" in the affirmative.
    The Palace would take extensive soundings before inviting anyone to form a government.
    You don't just get an automatic go by merely having most seats.
    The relevant faction does have form for being... economical with representations to the palace. It's not just most seats, it's most seats and incumbency. Actually, perhaps not just the relevant faction - what happened in 2017? Wasn't May reconfirmed as PM before the deal with the DUP was signed?

    The rules are important here - see:

    "The incumbent PM will be settled as the winner if they successfully form a new government (which may not require the specific invitation [from the monarch] above)."
  • DynamoDynamo Posts: 651
    "The pumping of Russian oil through Ukraine via the southern line of the Druzhba oil pipeline may resume in the next 24 hours, Slovakian Deputy Prime Minister, Economy Minister Richard Sulik said in an address broadcast by the country’s TV channels on Wednesday." (Emphasis added.) (Source: TASS.)

    (For the avoidance of doubt: the pipeline goes through western Ukraine, entering from Belarus.)

    Mustn't let war interfere too much with business!


  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,763
    ydoethur said:

    DavidL said:

    @bigjohnowls comment incoming in....

    Elizabeth Truss fans, please grovel in advance for all the shit she's going to be causing with your help.
    I wouldn't call myself a fan. Things really could not go on as they were though and Rishi has disappointed a bit. Best of a bad job, perhaps.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,617
    DavidL said:

    On other happier news I got asked permission today to consent to my daughter getting married.

    Sadly he wasn't interested in a 3 for 1 deal on the others.

    What is the lawyers version of this?

    https://youtu.be/8Lz36kLYid0 ?
  • EndillionEndillion Posts: 4,960

    Just got my teeth fixed. I couldn't get NHS dentistry so smiled at my Dad until he insisted on me going private and paying for it.

    For the first time, my front teeth don't have a gap and I rather like it. I've got to practise smiling now

    For clarity, were you smiling because he is susceptible to you smiling at him generally, or was it specifically to highlight how awful your teeth looked with the gap?
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835

    dixiedean said:

    "First Government Formed" lay could be a loser if Conservatives have a significant plurality, claim the right to form a government, and manage to do so - until Parliament meets and passes a vote of no confidence three days later, right?

    Isn't the basis for forming a government being able to answer the question "Can you pass a Queen's Speech?" in the affirmative.
    The Palace would take extensive soundings before inviting anyone to form a government.
    You don't just get an automatic go by merely having most seats.
    The relevant faction does have form for being... economical with representations to the palace. It's not just most seats, it's most seats and incumbency. Actually, perhaps not just the relevant faction - what happened in 2017? Wasn't May reconfirmed as PM before the deal with the DUP was signed?

    The rules are important here - see:

    "The incumbent PM will be settled as the winner if they successfully form a new government (which may not require the specific invitation [from the monarch] above)."
    Yes. But I can only assume that the DUP had privately given assurances they wouldn't vote down the QS.
    That's somewhat less than a C+S deal to keep the show on the road.
    And if an incumbent fails to pass a QS then I don't think they've technically formed a new government at all. Merely the old one would have fallen. That's how I would read it anyway.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    edited August 2022
    DavidL said:

    On other happier news I got asked permission today to consent to my daughter getting married.

    Sadly he wasn't interested in a 3 for 1 deal on the others.

    Congratulations, Sir.

    Also, one of the scariest moments in a young man’s life. I had to do it by formally translated letter.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 116,709
    At present RedfieldWilton has Starmer leading Truss 40% to 35% in redwall seats. She will have to do better than that there to keep her majority and stay PM after the next general election as well as hold the bluewall seats

    https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1557036631089205248?s=20&t=E4nSPQvSkHsFuqfEGIxsVw
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,245

    Don't knock paper maps. They are invaluable for finding and validating alternative routes when your SatNav does something silly (invariably, it simply calculates the shortest route between two points using public roads, or using public road speeds for quickest, and you should always check them).

    Google maps and SatNavs are good for getting to a postcode. W3W for finding a specific door when you get there.

    Possibly for lost hikers too where you need to describe an exact grid reference, but any serious hiker should know how to do it with an OS map too for the same reasons.

    I've just realised that W3W could be brilliant at specifying address on forms. You know that annoying 30 second faff when you type in your postcode and it tries to find your address and then you scroll down and pinpoint it. A tiny annoyance, yet this potentially gets rid of it - for anywhere in the world (and God, think about the countries that don't have proper address or they have mad street names: try getting something delivered in the Old Town of Tbilisi, this solves THAT too)

    The applications of this are near-infinite

    I would absolutely invest in this company this afternoon. The worst that can happen to them now, to my mind, is that they get bought out for £££ by Big Tech. The best is that they turn into a mega-unicorn all by themselves

    Trouble is you can't invest, I don't think. They recently did some crowdfunding looking for £1m and they got £8m. Totally oversubscribed
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 14,912
    DavidL said:

    On other happier news I got asked permission today to consent to my daughter getting married.

    Sadly he wasn't interested in a 3 for 1 deal on the others.

    That is nice news, congratulations! Keep us updated on wedding prep. But I think I would probably mark down a future son or daughter in law who asked my permission to marry any of my kids - it's not mine to give!
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,393

    Just got my teeth fixed. I couldn't get NHS dentistry so smiled at my Dad until he insisted on me going private and paying for it.

    For the first time, my front teeth don't have a gap and I rather like it. I've got to practise smiling now

    That's not fixed - that's ruined!

    Tooth gappers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your ability to spit with your teeth clenched!
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 116,709

    dixiedean said:

    "First Government Formed" lay could be a loser if Conservatives have a significant plurality, claim the right to form a government, and manage to do so - until Parliament meets and passes a vote of no confidence three days later, right?

    Isn't the basis for forming a government being able to answer the question "Can you pass a Queen's Speech?" in the affirmative.
    The Palace would take extensive soundings before inviting anyone to form a government.
    You don't just get an automatic go by merely having most seats.
    The relevant faction does have form for being... economical with representations to the palace. It's not just most seats, it's most seats and incumbency. Actually, perhaps not just the relevant faction - what happened in 2017? Wasn't May reconfirmed as PM before the deal with the DUP was signed?

    The rules are important here - see:

    "The incumbent PM will be settled as the winner if they successfully form a new government (which may not require the specific invitation [from the monarch] above)."
    Essentially Truss either has to win a majority or have more seats with the DUP in the Commons than all other parties excluding SF combined to be invited to form another government after the next general election. Assuming she is elected PM in September
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835

    dixiedean said:

    "First Government Formed" lay could be a loser if Conservatives have a significant plurality, claim the right to form a government, and manage to do so - until Parliament meets and passes a vote of no confidence three days later, right?

    Isn't the basis for forming a government being able to answer the question "Can you pass a Queen's Speech?" in the affirmative.
    The Palace would take extensive soundings before inviting anyone to form a government.
    You don't just get an automatic go by merely having most seats.
    The relevant faction does have form for being... economical with representations to the palace. It's not just most seats, it's most seats and incumbency. Actually, perhaps not just the relevant faction - what happened in 2017? Wasn't May reconfirmed as PM before the deal with the DUP was signed?

    The rules are important here - see:

    "The incumbent PM will be settled as the winner if they successfully form a new government (which may not require the specific invitation [from the monarch] above)."
    Having thought a bit more, you may well be correct. I may be getting caught up in the semantics.
    1886, 1892 and 1923 are when a QS has been voted down.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,739
    Another day, another "I don't understand why she is doing this" moment. https://twitter.com/katyballs/status/1557341904626409477
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,763

    DavidL said:

    On other happier news I got asked permission today to consent to my daughter getting married.

    Sadly he wasn't interested in a 3 for 1 deal on the others.

    What is the lawyers version of this?

    https://youtu.be/8Lz36kLYid0 ?
    Not at all sure but I suspect that I will make the Father of the Bride look both competent and together.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    On topic - whether the PM after the next election is Truss or Starmer, depends entirely on whether or not Team Sunak engage with the program and stop the blue-on-blue. If they don’t, then it’s opposition for the Tories.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,245
    DavidL said:

    On other happier news I got asked permission today to consent to my daughter getting married.

    Sadly he wasn't interested in a 3 for 1 deal on the others.

    Many Gratz
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,763

    DavidL said:

    On other happier news I got asked permission today to consent to my daughter getting married.

    Sadly he wasn't interested in a 3 for 1 deal on the others.

    That is nice news, congratulations! Keep us updated on wedding prep. But I think I would probably mark down a future son or daughter in law who asked my permission to marry any of my kids - it's not mine to give!
    Agreed (that it is not mine to give) but he has been really good for her and I am delighted.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,933
    F1: got a little of my 1.63 lay on Leclerc to be winner without Verstappen matched on Betfair.

    It's not impossible, of course, but it's a five horse race.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614

    F1: got a little of my 1.63 lay on Leclerc to be winner without Verstappen matched on Betfair.

    It's not impossible, of course, but it's a five horse race.

    Good bet. I think Lewis should probably be favourite to finish 2nd at the moment.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,245
    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    On other happier news I got asked permission today to consent to my daughter getting married.

    Sadly he wasn't interested in a 3 for 1 deal on the others.

    That is nice news, congratulations! Keep us updated on wedding prep. But I think I would probably mark down a future son or daughter in law who asked my permission to marry any of my kids - it's not mine to give!
    Agreed (that it is not mine to give) but he has been really good for her and I am delighted.
    It’s not yours to give, but yours being given is a pre-requisite.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 7,459
    Sandpit said:

    On topic - whether the PM after the next election is Truss or Starmer, depends entirely on whether or not Team Sunak engage with the program and stop the blue-on-blue. If they don’t, then it’s opposition for the Tories.

    Isn't Team Boris also a potential source of blue-on-blue?
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 39,748
    DavidL said:

    On other happier news I got asked permission today to consent to my daughter getting married.

    Sadly he wasn't interested in a 3 for 1 deal on the others.

    Congrats, here’s to (some) unions.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614

    Sandpit said:

    On topic - whether the PM after the next election is Truss or Starmer, depends entirely on whether or not Team Sunak engage with the program and stop the blue-on-blue. If they don’t, then it’s opposition for the Tories.

    Isn't Team Boris also a potential source of blue-on-blue?
    Potentially yes, which is equally a big problem. Hopefully he takes the Chiltern Hundreds.
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797
    Leon said:

    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE

    Where does the company's income derive from?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,245
    edited August 2022
    The coronavirus SARS-Cov-2 first emerged at


    ///enormous.party.windows


    I predict that W3W isn't just going to make loads of money, it will soon become a entire meme-set, a subculture, a trove of tropes
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 7,459

    DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    On other happier news I got asked permission today to consent to my daughter getting married.

    Sadly he wasn't interested in a 3 for 1 deal on the others.

    That is nice news, congratulations! Keep us updated on wedding prep. But I think I would probably mark down a future son or daughter in law who asked my permission to marry any of my kids - it's not mine to give!
    Agreed (that it is not mine to give) but he has been really good for her and I am delighted.
    So you didn’t prank him with an 800 page contract?
    At £100 a page; poor lad had to cough up £8k just for the privilege.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 14,912

    Don't knock paper maps. They are invaluable for finding and validating alternative routes when your SatNav does something silly (invariably, it simply calculates the shortest route between two points using public roads, or using public road speeds for quickest, and you should always check them).

    Google maps and SatNavs are good for getting to a postcode. W3W for finding a specific door when you get there.

    Possibly for lost hikers too where you need to describe an exact grid reference, but any serious hiker should know how to do it with an OS map too for the same reasons.

    I have learned from experience to ignore any SatNav instructions in Cornwall.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,933
    Mr. Sandpit, debatable. Hamilton's been the most consistent points scorer recently, after Verstappen (who is irrelevant in this market, of course), but his car remains a little behind the top two. But it is very reliable which neither Ferrari nor Red Bull can match.

    It's genuinely hard to pick a winner from the five. Sainz has also been performing well, though he's had his share of bad luck too. Russell's doing very well in his first Mercedes season, and while Perez's form has dipped lately he's also put in some very impressive performances.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 47,787
    eek said:

    Leon said:

    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE

    Where does the company's income derive from?
    They could let people pay to rename places.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 24,585
    My late father's analysis of political prediction was "follow the money, follow the punters!"

    After 17 years on PB I have come to realise this was faulty advice.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,141

    Don't knock paper maps. They are invaluable for finding and validating alternative routes when your SatNav does something silly (invariably, it simply calculates the shortest route between two points using public roads, or using public road speeds for quickest, and you should always check them).

    Google maps and SatNavs are good for getting to a postcode. W3W for finding a specific door when you get there.

    Possibly for lost hikers too where you need to describe an exact grid reference, but any serious hiker should know how to do it with an OS map too for the same reasons.

    I have learned from experience to ignore any SatNav instructions in Cornwall.
    And Devon, having seen the bridges, etc., near my friend's village which some 32 ton lorry drivers and satnav jockeys like to try and get through.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,245
    eek said:

    Leon said:

    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE

    Where does the company's income derive from?
    At the moment it looks like car companies wanting to use it as navigation technology. They are investing millions

    But the mind boggles at how many different ways it could be used

    eg when I was in Tbilisi I loved ordering yummy Georgian food on the various food apps. Like Glovo

    But I was living down the ramshackle if picturesque streets of the Old City, on Alexander Dumas Street 83C, and the delivery guys could NEVER find it, because of poor mapping and duplicate street names and much else. I always had to go out into the streets and hunt them down by calling the delivery guy - a pain

    If they'd had this app then bingo, Problem completely solved. I could simply have told them to come to my front door at ///exposing.cherry.maps (that's the real W3W address)

    Brilliant
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    https://maps.app.goo.gl/eJCGQooddc8NsjjKA

    Mind blowing technology
    Leon said:

    eek said:

    Leon said:

    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE

    Where does the company's income derive from?
    At the moment it looks like car companies wanting to use it as navigation technology. They are investing millions

    But the mind boggles at how many different ways it could be used

    eg when I was in Tbilisi I loved ordering yummy Georgian food on the various food apps. Like Glovo

    But I was living down the ramshackle if picturesque streets of the Old City, on Alexander Dumas Street 83C, and the delivery guys could NEVER find it, because of poor mapping and duplicate street names and much else. I always had to go out into the streets and hunt them down by calling the delivery guy - a pain

    If they'd had this app then bingo, Problem completely solved. I could simply have told them to come to my front door at ///exposing.cherry.maps (that's the real W3W address)

    Brilliant
    Or you could have used literally any other mapping app that shares links.
  • 148grss148grss Posts: 3,630
    Leon said:

    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE

    I remember hearing about this app, and seeing this interesting video regarding it

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PPRh9ZunmI

    This app is... less good than the hype
  • StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    - “Truss now favourite to be PM after next election”

    Liquidity?
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950
    Leon said:

    eek said:

    Leon said:

    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE

    Where does the company's income derive from?
    At the moment it looks like car companies wanting to use it as navigation technology. They are investing millions

    But the mind boggles at how many different ways it could be used

    eg when I was in Tbilisi I loved ordering yummy Georgian food on the various food apps. Like Glovo

    But I was living down the ramshackle if picturesque streets of the Old City, on Alexander Dumas Street 83C, and the delivery guys could NEVER find it, because of poor mapping and duplicate street names and much else. I always had to go out into the streets and hunt them down by calling the delivery guy - a pain

    If they'd had this app then bingo, Problem completely solved. I could simply have told them to come to my front door at ///exposing.cherry.maps (that's the real W3W address)

    Brilliant
    The thing I like is that this, together with the music thing the other day, is what keeps the rest of us on PB feeling young and relevant.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950

    My late father's analysis of political prediction was "follow the money, follow the punters!"

    After 17 years on PB I have come to realise this was faulty advice.

    With no disrespect to your late father but I agree with you.

    I have often remarked that we on here are arguably the geekiest of political geeks and we fight like rats in a sack over how any particular political event might turn out.

    The idea that a random on bf "knows" more is ludicrous.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,571
    edited August 2022
    Sandpit said:

    DavidL said:

    On other happier news I got asked permission today to consent to my daughter getting married.

    Sadly he wasn't interested in a 3 for 1 deal on the others.

    Congratulations, Sir.

    Also, one of the scariest moments in a young man’s life. I had to do it by formally translated letter.
    I made sure to charm my future father in law well in advance.
    Which was easy, as we got on fine.

    And, as above, it was tell rather than ask.
  • Just got my teeth fixed. I couldn't get NHS dentistry so smiled at my Dad until he insisted on me going private and paying for it.

    For the first time, my front teeth don't have a gap and I rather like it. I've got to practise smiling now

    That's not fixed - that's ruined!

    Tooth gappers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your ability to spit with your teeth clenched!
    I had lost one of the front teeth, and have had a half inch, off-centre gap for the last month or so. The other front tooth was quite badly damaged too, so getting a single bit to replace them both was much easier

    I do suddenly feel somewhat disconnected from Vanessa Paradis and Kemi, though..
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,245
    Alistair said:

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/eJCGQooddc8NsjjKA

    Mind blowing technology

    Leon said:

    eek said:

    Leon said:

    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE

    Where does the company's income derive from?
    At the moment it looks like car companies wanting to use it as navigation technology. They are investing millions

    But the mind boggles at how many different ways it could be used

    eg when I was in Tbilisi I loved ordering yummy Georgian food on the various food apps. Like Glovo

    But I was living down the ramshackle if picturesque streets of the Old City, on Alexander Dumas Street 83C, and the delivery guys could NEVER find it, because of poor mapping and duplicate street names and much else. I always had to go out into the streets and hunt them down by calling the delivery guy - a pain

    If they'd had this app then bingo, Problem completely solved. I could simply have told them to come to my front door at ///exposing.cherry.maps (that's the real W3W address)

    Brilliant
    Or you could have used literally any other mapping app that shares links.
    Apart from a million other things. Google Maps isn't that intuitive and memorable

    51°30'28.7"N 0°09'39.8"W
    51.507980, -0.161044

    Great. And the pin is..... where? Did you drop it right? Are you sure?

    Whereas I can say "meet me at /// you.are.moronic" and that's all they need to know. Three words which define one precise three metre square anywhere in the world

    I can easily remember you.are.moronic and not just because you actually are moronic
  • DavidL said:

    @bigjohnowls comment incoming in....

    SKS is rubbish hahaha bring bang Corbyn mate am crying x
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 3,853
    edited August 2022
    Leon said:

    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE

    He did what? By hand? That's ridiculous. And why include plurals if you are hand sorting?

    If I was doing this:

    A few days to come up with an algorithm to separate words into easy and difficult (or steal someone else's), then a few minutes to run it on a free spellchecker dictionary. Next problem please.

    4 words, not 3, because you can then use 2 words for the latitude and 2 words for the longitude, and thus maintain a geographic link.

    Assign each word a number which can technically be decoded to lat/long without an app. Make sure adjacent numbers aren't similar words. You can thus extend it easily to a 6 word code for more accuracy if you really want. 1000 words for 3 digits would seem about right.

    Of course, you wouldn't then need a copyrightable algorithm to generate the phrase, but hey.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950
    Leon said:

    Alistair said:

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/eJCGQooddc8NsjjKA

    Mind blowing technology

    Leon said:

    eek said:

    Leon said:

    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE

    Where does the company's income derive from?
    At the moment it looks like car companies wanting to use it as navigation technology. They are investing millions

    But the mind boggles at how many different ways it could be used

    eg when I was in Tbilisi I loved ordering yummy Georgian food on the various food apps. Like Glovo

    But I was living down the ramshackle if picturesque streets of the Old City, on Alexander Dumas Street 83C, and the delivery guys could NEVER find it, because of poor mapping and duplicate street names and much else. I always had to go out into the streets and hunt them down by calling the delivery guy - a pain

    If they'd had this app then bingo, Problem completely solved. I could simply have told them to come to my front door at ///exposing.cherry.maps (that's the real W3W address)

    Brilliant
    Or you could have used literally any other mapping app that shares links.
    Apart from a million other things. Google Maps isn't that intuitive and memorable

    51°30'28.7"N 0°09'39.8"W
    51.507980, -0.161044

    Great. And the pin is..... where? Did you drop it right? Are you sure?

    Whereas I can say "meet me at /// you.are.moronic" and that's all they need to know. Three words which define one precise three metre square anywhere in the world

    I can easily remember you.are.moronic and not just because you actually are moronic
    What if they mishear that as you.are.byronic?

    That surely would violate any number of laws of physics.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,279
    The Tories will have a majority of more than 100 after boundary changes. Has a party ever lost an election when defending such a large majority?
  • Google Maps already has a what3words like feature.

    I know because I wrote it
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772
    Leon said:

    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE

    He did it by hand? Mad.

    You can access dictionaries online. With a python script I daresay. And then you can use a Soundex function to work out which ones sound similar, and how many characters they differ by, etc.

    Why would you do that by hand? By hand?
  • Andy_JS said:

    The Tories will have a majority of more than 100 after boundary changes. Has a party ever lost an election when defending such a large majority?

    There's no reason they can't. The Tories are very, very unpopular in the Blue Wall
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    edited August 2022
    Nigelb said:

    Sandpit said:

    DavidL said:

    On other happier news I got asked permission today to consent to my daughter getting married.

    Sadly he wasn't interested in a 3 for 1 deal on the others.

    Congratulations, Sir.

    Also, one of the scariest moments in a young man’s life. I had to do it by formally translated letter.
    I made sure to charm my future father in law well in advance.
    Which was easy, as we got on fine.

    And, as above, it was tell rather than ask.
    My FiL was a soviet military pilot. The first night we met, we stayed up until 3am and an empty bottle of vodka, talking to each other about flying planes - while understanding no more than a handful of words of each others’ languages. It turns out that Soviet planes spin and stall, in exactly the same way as Western planes.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950
    edited August 2022

    Google Maps already has a what3words like feature.

    I know because I wrote it

    Fantastic - what depth of talent on PB.

    But if I open google maps on my phone and stare at my screen I can't immediately see where it says "share" as per @Alistair's link upthread for the PC version.
  • TOPPING said:

    Google Maps already has a what3words like feature.

    I know because I wrote it

    Fantastic - what depth of talent on PB.

    But if I open google maps on my phone and stare at my screen I can't immediately see where it says "share" as per @Alistair's link upthread.
    If you send feedback somebody will have a look at it.

    (I don't work there anymore)
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950

    Leon said:

    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE

    He did it by hand? Mad.

    You can access dictionaries online. With a python script I daresay. And then you can use a Soundex function to work out which ones sound similar, and how many characters they differ by, etc.

    Why would you do that by hand? By hand?
    For the origin story - he seems himself played by Riz Ahmed.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,933
    Mr. JS, Constantinople was all set to be conquered around the turn of 1400. Then Tamerlane rolled up from the east and obliterated the Turks, while the Sultan embarked on an exciting new career as Tamerlane's foot stool.

    Sometimes, huge changes can and do happen.

    Even with a 100 seat majority, there's every chance the Conservatives can lose the next election.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670

    Google Maps already has a what3words like feature.

    I know because I wrote it

    Plus codes?
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950

    TOPPING said:

    Google Maps already has a what3words like feature.

    I know because I wrote it

    Fantastic - what depth of talent on PB.

    But if I open google maps on my phone and stare at my screen I can't immediately see where it says "share" as per @Alistair's link upthread.
    If you send feedback somebody will have a look at it.

    (I don't work there anymore)
    Thx will do.

    What do you think of w3w?
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,958
    edited August 2022
    "the challenge facing the Tories at the next election is so great that it is hard to see how they can stay in power unless they secure an overall majority"


    1. The DUP can be bought. Its just, the price went up.

    2. The challenge facing Labour is the Tories got an 80 seat majority at the last election. And in much of that majority, the trend is not Labour's friend.

    3. Labour are a dismal void, bereft of any alternative postures that remotely enthuse the voters. Embodied by their leader.

    On her showing so far, the Tories could be on hands and knees begging Wallace to take over from Truss in a coronation this winter. Hope I'm wrong (as I vote for Rishi), but there is a material risk the voters will hate her by then.
  • @TOPPING if you click something the location information opens in an overlay at the bottom, if you scroll to the right there's a share button there (move your finger over Directions and you'll see it scrolls to the right).

    I agree it's not fantastic UI design, I assume they've A/B tested it though
  • state_go_awaystate_go_away Posts: 5,415
    edited August 2022
    In a closely related betting market (from the header) you can get evens on Labour getting most seats with Ladbrokes. If you think this is a good bet (I do ) dont bet on this but bet on the general election special menu with Ladbrokes on the conservatives not to get most seats also at Evens (so same price but you also cover the possibility of another party other than labour getting most seats and indeed also cover the eventuality of a tie)
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950
    edited August 2022
    And all any competitor needs or indeed Google need to do is replace:

    51°30'28.7"N 0°09'39.8"W
    51.507980, -0.161044

    with

    Apple.Banana.Marrow

    for the GUI.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    TOPPING said:

    Google Maps already has a what3words like feature.

    I know because I wrote it

    Fantastic - what depth of talent on PB.

    But if I open google maps on my phone and stare at my screen I can't immediately see where it says "share" as per @Alistair's link upthread for the PC version.
    In the app once you drop a pin ot will be in the same bar as the Directions button
  • Alistair said:

    Google Maps already has a what3words like feature.

    I know because I wrote it

    Plus codes?
    I don't want to say too much more as I shouldn't say too much about it - but yes
  • TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    Google Maps already has a what3words like feature.

    I know because I wrote it

    Fantastic - what depth of talent on PB.

    But if I open google maps on my phone and stare at my screen I can't immediately see where it says "share" as per @Alistair's link upthread.
    If you send feedback somebody will have a look at it.

    (I don't work there anymore)
    Thx will do.

    What do you think of w3w?
    It's fantastic - it's why Google did its best to copy it
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,245
    OK let's go through this. Let's see how W3W is doing versus PB's received opinion that it is simultaneously rubbish, boring, useless, and only doing what other maps already do

    So, how are they doing?

    DHL have adopted it:

    https://www.enterprisetimes.co.uk/2022/04/07/dhl-partners-with-what3words-for-uk-parcel-app/

    As we know, all the carmakers want to use it:

    https://www.axios.com/2022/05/05/carmakers-adopt-what3words-app-for-voice-navigation

    Taxi companies are using it:

    https://www.taxi-point.co.uk/post/taxi-despatch-firm-sherlock-partners-with-what3words

    The Queen uses it to report fires:

    "The team took to Instagram to plead with visitors over a safety matter, writing: "The Royal Parkland still remains very dry after the hot weather. Please remain vigilant when visiting, report a fire immediately, we would also encourage visitors to download 'what3words' app to help with locations. Please do not BBQ and take home any rubbish to help reduce the risk."

    https://www.hellomagazine.com/homes/20220808147614/the-queen-home-sandringham-safety-warning-fires/

    Ecommerce deliveries:


    https://edelivery.net/2022/08/gfs-partners-what3words/


    McKinsey calls it "the future of navigation"

    https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/the-future-of-navigation-in-a-digitized-world-an-interview-with-what3wordss-clare-jones


    Missing hikers in Ontario are using it:

    https://globalnews.ca/news/9006869/missing-hikers-located-ontario-what3words/

    Local listings are using it:

    https://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/2022/jun/21/yext-aims-to-give-customers-control-over-location-data-with-what3words/

    The Germans have invested €60m


    https://tech.eu/2022/05/24/german-media-pool-backs-what3words-with-eur80-million-media-volume-for-geolocation-solution/


    Not bad for a company that is basically just a shittier version of an old Ordnance Survey map and a pencil
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 47,787
    TOPPING said:

    Google Maps already has a what3words like feature.

    I know because I wrote it

    Fantastic - what depth of talent on PB.

    But if I open google maps on my phone and stare at my screen I can't immediately see where it says "share" as per @Alistair's link upthread for the PC version.
    I have to concur. I can't find it either.

    In general I've found the experience of using Google Maps has got worse recently. The interface is getting too cluttered and has too many context-specific functions with no quick way to get back to the default view.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Alistair said:

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/eJCGQooddc8NsjjKA

    Mind blowing technology

    Leon said:

    eek said:

    Leon said:

    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE

    Where does the company's income derive from?
    At the moment it looks like car companies wanting to use it as navigation technology. They are investing millions

    But the mind boggles at how many different ways it could be used

    eg when I was in Tbilisi I loved ordering yummy Georgian food on the various food apps. Like Glovo

    But I was living down the ramshackle if picturesque streets of the Old City, on Alexander Dumas Street 83C, and the delivery guys could NEVER find it, because of poor mapping and duplicate street names and much else. I always had to go out into the streets and hunt them down by calling the delivery guy - a pain

    If they'd had this app then bingo, Problem completely solved. I could simply have told them to come to my front door at ///exposing.cherry.maps (that's the real W3W address)

    Brilliant
    Or you could have used literally any other mapping app that shares links.
    Have you ever gone anywhere? ever got lost? thought about the relative difficulty of relaying the text of your link at the top vs the corresponding what 3 words? Bearing in mind that for almost all purposes anywhere in a 81 sq m square is adequate so if you have time you have a choice of 9 sets of 3 words from which to weed out the mishearables and ambiguities?

    For 20 years the elephant in the satnav room has been that postcodes are hopelessly non granular for driving in the country, I was an hour late for a lunch the other day trying to track down a farmhouse in the South Hams. At one fell swoop this invention abolishes that problem and takes 95% out of the separate problem of relaying number coordinates by voice. It's not perfect, but after 20 years we'll reject perfect amd settle for eyepoppingly adequate.

    Here's another imperfection to keep you happy: if you take exposing.cherry.maps you can swap the terminal s s around without fooling it, but it doesn't recognise cherries as cognate with cherry, so exposings.cherrys.maps auto suggests right, exposing.cherries.maps is hopeless. But that is fixable without renaming squares.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    edited August 2022
    Leon said:

    Alistair said:

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/eJCGQooddc8NsjjKA

    Mind blowing technology

    Leon said:

    eek said:

    Leon said:

    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE

    Where does the company's income derive from?
    At the moment it looks like car companies wanting to use it as navigation technology. They are investing millions

    But the mind boggles at how many different ways it could be used

    eg when I was in Tbilisi I loved ordering yummy Georgian food on the various food apps. Like Glovo

    But I was living down the ramshackle if picturesque streets of the Old City, on Alexander Dumas Street 83C, and the delivery guys could NEVER find it, because of poor mapping and duplicate street names and much else. I always had to go out into the streets and hunt them down by calling the delivery guy - a pain

    If they'd had this app then bingo, Problem completely solved. I could simply have told them to come to my front door at ///exposing.cherry.maps (that's the real W3W address)

    Brilliant
    Or you could have used literally any other mapping app that shares links.
    Apart from a million other things. Google Maps isn't that intuitive and memorable

    51°30'28.7"N 0°09'39.8"W
    51.507980, -0.161044

    Great. And the pin is..... where? Did you drop it right? Are you sure?

    Whereas I can say "meet me at /// you.are.moronic" and that's all they need to know. Three words which define one precise three metre square anywhere in the world

    I can easily remember you.are.moronic and not just because you actually are moronic
    Yes, I dropped the pin precisely there. It was a long queue for the loo.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950

    @TOPPING if you click something the location information opens in an overlay at the bottom, if you scroll to the right there's a share button there (move your finger over Directions and you'll see it scrolls to the right).

    I agree it's not fantastic UI design, I assume they've A/B tested it though

    ah yes! gotit thanks. Yes a bit clumsy. I would have expected a prominent "share" option on wherever the pin is (ie your location if you have centred the map).
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797

    "the challenge facing the Tories at the next election is so great that it is hard to see how they can stay in power unless they secure an overall majority"


    1. The DUP can be bought. Its just, the price went up.

    2. The challenge facing Labour is the Tories got an 80 seat majority at the last election. And in much of that majority, the trend is not Labour's friend.

    3. Labour are a dismal void, bereft of any alternative postures that remotely enthuse the voters. Embodied by their leader.

    On her showing so far, the Tories could be on hands and knees begging Wallace to take over from Truss in a coronation this winter. Hope I'm wrong (as I vote for Rishi), but there is a material risk the voters will hate her by then.

    While the DUP can be bought - if they only have 6 seats instead of 10 they may not be worth buying.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,245

    Leon said:

    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE

    He did what? By hand? That's ridiculous. And why include plurals if you are hand sorting?

    If I was doing this:

    A few days to come up with an algorithm to separate words into easy and difficult (or steal someone else's), then a few minutes to run it on a free spellchecker dictionary. Next problem please.

    4 words, not 3, because you can then use 2 words for the latitude and 2 words for the longitude, and thus maintain a geographic link.

    Assign each word a number which can technically be decoded to lat/long without an app. Make sure adjacent numbers aren't similar words. You can thus extend it easily to a 6 word code for more accuracy if you really want. 1000 words for 3 digits would seem about right.

    Of course, you wouldn't then need a copyrightable algorithm to generate the phrase, but hey.
    Shame you didn't do it then, eh. Because by now you'd be worth sixty trillion quid
  • TOPPING said:

    @TOPPING if you click something the location information opens in an overlay at the bottom, if you scroll to the right there's a share button there (move your finger over Directions and you'll see it scrolls to the right).

    I agree it's not fantastic UI design, I assume they've A/B tested it though

    ah yes! gotit thanks. Yes a bit clumsy. I would have expected a prominent "share" option on wherever the pin is (ie your location if you have centred the map).
    There used to be a prominent share button - I don't agree with all the decisions Google makes
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,878
    Sandpit said:

    dixiedean said:

    "First Government Formed" lay could be a loser if Conservatives have a significant plurality, claim the right to form a government, and manage to do so - until Parliament meets and passes a vote of no confidence three days later, right?

    Isn't the basis for forming a government being able to answer the question "Can you pass a Queen's Speech?" in the affirmative.
    The Palace would take extensive soundings before inviting anyone to form a government.
    You don't just get an automatic go by merely having most seats.
    Wasn’t that what the Palace told the politicians before the Coalition governments - “We are not picking anyone. First person to command a majority in the House gets the job?”
    Yep, Brown was accused of squatting, but those opposed to him needed to prove they had the numbers before he went to the Palace.
    I don't recall that he was squatting, but clearly having lost the election, it was reported that he was trying to scrape together a huge coalition of everybody but the Tories. Now that was totally reasonable, and if he could have passed a queens speech fair enough. I think it impinged on some peoples sense of fair play, but that is irrelevant.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950

    TOPPING said:

    Google Maps already has a what3words like feature.

    I know because I wrote it

    Fantastic - what depth of talent on PB.

    But if I open google maps on my phone and stare at my screen I can't immediately see where it says "share" as per @Alistair's link upthread for the PC version.
    I have to concur. I can't find it either.

    In general I've found the experience of using Google Maps has got worse recently. The interface is getting too cluttered and has too many context-specific functions with no quick way to get back to the default view.
    I only use it for multi-modal travel eg bicycle as Waze hasn't got that option (yet).

    I use w3w a lot when I am out and about in the country(side) because you can be in a small layby in an unknown part of the country and w3w it and be able to find that layby again several hours later.
  • @TOPPING do submit feedback though, it all gets looked at
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950
    Leon said:

    OK let's go through this. Let's see how W3W is doing versus PB's received opinion that it is simultaneously rubbish, boring, useless, and only doing what other maps already do

    So, how are they doing?

    DHL have adopted it:

    https://www.enterprisetimes.co.uk/2022/04/07/dhl-partners-with-what3words-for-uk-parcel-app/

    As we know, all the carmakers want to use it:

    https://www.axios.com/2022/05/05/carmakers-adopt-what3words-app-for-voice-navigation

    Taxi companies are using it:

    https://www.taxi-point.co.uk/post/taxi-despatch-firm-sherlock-partners-with-what3words

    The Queen uses it to report fires:

    "The team took to Instagram to plead with visitors over a safety matter, writing: "The Royal Parkland still remains very dry after the hot weather. Please remain vigilant when visiting, report a fire immediately, we would also encourage visitors to download 'what3words' app to help with locations. Please do not BBQ and take home any rubbish to help reduce the risk."

    https://www.hellomagazine.com/homes/20220808147614/the-queen-home-sandringham-safety-warning-fires/

    Ecommerce deliveries:


    https://edelivery.net/2022/08/gfs-partners-what3words/


    McKinsey calls it "the future of navigation"

    https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/the-future-of-navigation-in-a-digitized-world-an-interview-with-what3wordss-clare-jones


    Missing hikers in Ontario are using it:

    https://globalnews.ca/news/9006869/missing-hikers-located-ontario-what3words/

    Local listings are using it:

    https://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/2022/jun/21/yext-aims-to-give-customers-control-over-location-data-with-what3words/

    The Germans have invested €60m


    https://tech.eu/2022/05/24/german-media-pool-backs-what3words-with-eur80-million-media-volume-for-geolocation-solution/


    Not bad for a company that is basically just a shittier version of an old Ordnance Survey map and a pencil

    We like it, Leon, we like it. In particular situations for some and others for others. Some see different options for the same thing.

    Just that it is endearing that you should just have only now discovered it.

    Never previously considered myself bleeding edge before but then you pop up.

    So thanks.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,571
    On venture capital...

    https://twitter.com/ChrisJBakke/status/1556791928238342152
    The funniest transfer of wealth in modern times is the SoftBank Vision fund which took $100 billion in Saudi oil money and gave it to founders who were “reimagining salad delivery” and building coupon apps for dogs that required $2B in funding...

    ..I spent 3 years as the head of product at a company that was building DTC toothpaste for rabbits and I just paid off my $4m beach house.

    Thanks, Masa!
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950

    @TOPPING do submit feedback though, it all gets looked at

    thx will do.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,878

    Don't knock paper maps. They are invaluable for finding and validating alternative routes when your SatNav does something silly (invariably, it simply calculates the shortest route between two points using public roads, or using public road speeds for quickest, and you should always check them).

    Google maps and SatNavs are good for getting to a postcode. W3W for finding a specific door when you get there.

    Possibly for lost hikers too where you need to describe an exact grid reference, but any serious hiker should know how to do it with an OS map too for the same reasons.

    Except its not usually them that need the help.

    I recall a major news story around some tricky weather during the Official Mountain Marathon a few years back. The usual frothing in the media about people being unprepared, shouldn't be allowed etc. In reality ALL entrants experienced, had the kit, made the right choices (abandon and get to shelter, or tough it out etc) and there was not real drama.

    What three words is most help for twunks who go walking with a road atlas in flip flops.
  • I could talk about Google+ but I think I won't
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 3,853
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE

    He did what? By hand? That's ridiculous. And why include plurals if you are hand sorting?

    If I was doing this:

    A few days to come up with an algorithm to separate words into easy and difficult (or steal someone else's), then a few minutes to run it on a free spellchecker dictionary. Next problem please.

    4 words, not 3, because you can then use 2 words for the latitude and 2 words for the longitude, and thus maintain a geographic link.

    Assign each word a number which can technically be decoded to lat/long without an app. Make sure adjacent numbers aren't similar words. You can thus extend it easily to a 6 word code for more accuracy if you really want. 1000 words for 3 digits would seem about right.

    Of course, you wouldn't then need a copyrightable algorithm to generate the phrase, but hey.
    Shame you didn't do it then, eh. Because by now you'd be worth sixty trillion quid
    Lots of people make money from being good at sales rather than actually having the best ideas or making the best stuff.

    So what? That doesn't mean I have to buy into the hype.

    In my example, I wouldn't be worth sixty trillion because it is surely too trivial to copyright.
  • Leon said:

    Fascinating interview with the guy who founded what3words, and had the basic idea

    He really put in the hours


    "He grabbed a dictionary and began the painstaking process of copying every word into an Excel spreadsheet and assigning each one a score out of ten for its suitability for use within the app, with common, easy to spell words given the highest marks and trickier, rarer words given lower ratings. “I did it every day for six months. It makes you notice how long the dictionary actually is,” he says. “I was living on my friend’s sofa at the time. And he was certainly confused. But I think he also admired my persistence.”"

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-what3words-revolutionise-the-way-we-navigate-the-world-tt0706nnv


    This company is going to EXPLODE

    Why did he put in the hours when online word lists (dictionaries) are freely available and can be put into spreadsheets (again, why?) at the click of a mouse? Entrepreneurs today are just not lazy enough. Which may explain why he has formed a company to revolutionise getting lost in the Cairngorms while I'm unemployed and unemployable.
This discussion has been closed.