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3
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Trumpled (Alternative Leading)
Last post by PaulP -
What's happening with Trump's border wall ? I don't hear about it these days.

A significant part of the wall's path is in Texas and most Texas land is privately owned.  Court cases attempting to secure the land for the wall started during Taco's first presidency weren't resolved.  Apart from that, there are practical, financial and logistical barriers to construction. The White House seems a little coy about providing facts but the Texas Facilities Commission reported that it had completed 66.4 miles of wall and it's believed that the US Government has finished around 140 miles.  That's for a 1,254 mile border in Texas and the Texas Government has quietly defunded their works.

Of course, there are "smart walls" and water barriers in addition to physical walls; the Rio Grande makes up around two thirds of the border.  Taco is claiming that the wall, whatever that is, will be completed in late 2029. 

Bottom line; no-one really knows what's going on   :-\ 

Yes, that's the impression I got as well, or if they do know, they're not giving much away.
4
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Trumpled (Alternative Leading)
Last post by DJC -
What's happening with Trump's border wall ? I don't hear about it these days.

A significant part of the wall's path is in Texas and most Texas land is privately owned.  Court cases attempting to secure the land for the wall that started during Taco's first presidency weren't resolved.  Apart from that, there are practical, financial and logistical barriers to construction. The White House seems a little coy about providing facts but the Texas Facilities Commission reported that it had completed 66.4 miles of wall and it's believed that the US Government has finished around 140 miles.  That's for a 1,254 mile border in Texas and the Texas Government has quietly defunded their works.

Of course, there are "smart walls" and water barriers in addition to physical walls; the Rio Grande makes up around two thirds of the border.  Taco is claiming that the wall, whatever that is, will be completed in late 2029. 

Bottom line; no-one really knows what's going on   :-\ 
5
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Trumpled (Alternative Leading)
Last post by PaulP -
I guess he doesn't really need it with the 'Ice Capades' taking care of business.

I had a quick look around the interwebs after I posted, and it's still a thing. Construction is continuing apparently.

Although frightening the peeps is easier if you convince them the enemy has already stormed the gates, as opposed to simply being on your doorstep.
6
The Sports Desk / Re: God help me - the Test Cricket thread
Last post by ElwoodBlues1 -

In Test cricket you defend the good balls and score off the bad balls, in the shorter formats you are trying to score off every delivery.
The above is really the guts of it right ?
Yep....problem is players get paid more to try and score off every ball under the guise of entertainment and a lot of punters want fast food cricket in the time poor world of modern living. Test cricket is becoming more of a novelty and some countries are prioritising short format cricket ie Sth Africa because they cant get local sponsors for the long game but can get Indian IPL owners to invest in the SA short format game so they can keep feeding players to the IPL.
England prioritised white ball cricket in New Zealand rather than having a proper warmup schedule in Australia and paid the price for a lack of preparation here for the Ashes.
9
The Sports Desk / Re: God help me - the Test Cricket thread
Last post by PaulP -
I think the main reason you don't go hell for leather in Test cricket is because there's no need to. I would have thought that Test cricket allows for more judicious and conservative shot making, and thus batsmen don't need to take unnecessary risks. I think beyond that, Test cricket is more about the mental and strategic side of the game - over a maximum of five days, trying to understand the weather, pitch condition, opposition strengths and weaknesses, making decisions wrt declaration, sending in nightwatchmen etc. There's more to consider, more decisions to make.

I think the 5 day format also allows for the full range of skills to be on display. More variety in bowling, showing both defensive and offensive batting technique etc. From my limited observations the skills on show in the shorter formats are more limited.

I don't watch cricket much, but I would expect that there is some kind of cross pollination occurring, where techniques, skills mindsets in each of the formats spill over into the others, although at present it seems that the shorter formats seem to be spilling over into Test cricket, not the other way round.