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Most similar back-to-back votes in TISC history? For our random fact of the day, we will try to find the most similar back-to-back votes in TISC history. Specifically, we are looking for the back-to-back votes which contained the highest number of shared nations between them. For this purpose, only the number of shared nations is considered, while their specific order on the voting template is irrelevant. And the winners are? Well, it happened during the 2016 Annual held in Slovakia. France was scheduled to vote right after the lunch break (#19) and Ireland was ready to go just after (#20). While nobody noticed it at the time, it turns out that these juries had the most similar back-to-back votes in TISC history. They had a whopping 8 songs in common! Their votes were as follows: France - Ireland - Nations that appeared on both sets are: Netherlands, Italy, Chile, Algeria, Great Britain, Malta, Indonesia and Lithuania.

Most online communities I've been part of have seen a huge drop in activity once people started thinking it'd be a good idea to have a WhatsApp group or whatever Nothing that can't be posted here I guess, either in public or in private messages/chat, so I can't really see the added value at all (and like Sindo said, there's also a Facebook group that's used when the forum is down)

The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee will likely support the idea of delaying the Games to July of next year. The committee has been working to set new schedules and secure venues for the events since they were postponed last week due to the coronavirus pandemic. NHK sources say the option of opening the Olympics in July of next year is gaining support at the committee, considering the time needed to contain the virus, make preparations, and select athletes. The opening day would be July 23. It was originally scheduled for July 24 this year. The remainder of the schedule would accordingly move up one day. The Olympics would end on August 8. The Paralympics would be held from August 24 through September 5. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200329_05/

I'm really curious to see this year's April Fool's Day stories from the media. I assume there will be two approaches. Stay away from anything related to the coronavirus pandemic, or something related to the coronavirus pandemic which can either go okay/well or real bad.

Awesome that she is apparently not only a talented biathlete, but also a doctor and medical scientist?

Right. Yeah Duffy was impressive, I'm excited to see him in action next year. My favourites are mostly the speed climbers doing bouldering though, especially Iuliia Kaplina at the world OQT in the final (so already qualified for Tokyo) where she was just laughing at the boulders like 'the fuck am I supposed to do here?!' Reminds me of sprinters in speed skating doing longer distances, most notably Erben Wennemars doing a 10k (and a very respectable one!) at the Dutch and later world allround championships.

For the love of God don't let Neymar be in it again to dramaqueen the entire Olympics his way

also in Italy weddings are allowed with basically only the man in charge (priest or city council official, depending on the people's choice), the witnesses and of course the 2 (un)lucky newlyweds...

Makes the most sense. I know some people were saying this is an excuse to hold the Olympics when the weather is better. But for the overall sports calendar - and not just for American television - this is the easiest solution.

Well, Bayro was one of the nicest dressage horses around. His show jumping record was quite spotless too. Cross-country was their undoing at times, but also show jumping in high-stress situations (including an unexpected rail that cost them individual bronze at the Europeans last year)... Overall, they were capable of staying on sub-25 dressage score on a good day, and that is very much medal territory.

Would have been one of the medal favorite in the normal world...

Don't know what they mean weaker, but at least what I am hoping for is reduced transmission, as I hope virus itself cannot survive this long on the surfaces exposed to direct sunlight. We'll see what time brings.

Yes. Basically, he said long time ago that this years Olympics will be his last careers race, no matter how it would end...then this current pandemic situation happened and the games are thankfully postponed, during the first intervew after the annoucement he confirmed that he was not considering to continue to torture his body with all incredibly hard training and whole preparation regime for one more season anymore. After more than 20 years of high level sport career it came the time to finally dedicate more time to his family. Couple of days later, when he was asked again, he said, it is a decision that needs to be well considered, He needs a little time more to reconsider all pros and cons before announcing the final decision to either retire or to go one more year into the "torture preparation" because obviously if he will go to Tokyo it will not be to just compete but with only goal to maintain the Olympic title

Lebanon Mashrou' Leila - Cavalry

Korea is so good they qualified two teams in men's football.

Though despite the fact we had very similar votes, the Danish entry still proved to be marmite.... captured my 12 and nothing from France

I really do and I have always said this . If I enjoy listening to a song then it doesn't matter what genre it is from.

Considering my and Ben's very different music tastes, that means you must definitely have an eclectic taste in music

So this means I am some weird hybrid mix of @Bohemia and @Benolympique, cool

I love the part where Ian says:"You know I love all your music Jeff.... from Bucharest onwards"

today I feel I need some trash...so, it's time for Korean Baseball from 2019...

One lesson we all learned from this. Buy a pack of masks when this blows over.

Oops. I just saw the olden edition of tournaments

Panama can't qualify. It was already eliminated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_CONCACAF_Men's_Olympic_Qualifying_Championship

I expect Honduras and Panama/USA to be there ,but it wouldn't be Mexico

No, mainly because Duffy apparently topped the wall in qualifying and Bailey was so slow. It looked like he was barely even trying.

Nice try, but it's AranycsApat.

Our economical First governments aid will cost a billion euros per month . It should prevent layoffs though An additional € 500 million will be used by the state to provide bank guarantees. The PM after last nights crisis meeting introduced today seven measures to address the economic impact of the crisis. They should apply only for employers who do not lay off any of their employees and only under guarantee they will retain jobs of their employees during the crisis. 1. The State shall reimburse 80 percent of every employee's salary of all companies that are actually closed due mandatory ban. 2. Allowances for self-employed persons and employees according to the decrease in sales. At a decline of 20 percent - 180 euros. At a decline of 40 percent - 300 euros. At a decrease of 60 percent 420 euros. At a decline of 80 percent - 540 euros... 3. Provision of bank guarantees of EUR 500 million per month. 4. For all employees in quarantine and parents that have to stay with their childs (Elementary School kids) at home, 55 percent of their gross wage will be paid for during the all time they will be in quarantine or stay with their young childs during closed schools. 5. Postponement of payment of employer contributions when sales will fall by more than 40 percent 6. Postponement of income tax advances when sales fell by more than 40 percent 7. Possibility of offsetting losses not yet claimed since 2014 inclusive

Right, he should have been in there as well. Tight battle between those three, especially Nurmi and Zatopek (although Bekele, though winning less diverse titles, of course competed in the modern era with significantly more competition).

definitely Emil Zátopek with finger in the nose

Our frontline health workers are wearing plastic raincoats due to hazmat suits shortages, turns out these "rich people" decided to wear hazmat to buy groceries

Paavo Nurmi vs Kenenisa Bekele?

Spitz had a moustache and didn't wear space suits, so definitely him.

There is already a Facebook group when the forum is down: https://www.facebook.com/groups/284207021658208/ The forum allows multiple people Private Messages and the PMs can be used almost as live chat, so I will never support the idea of moving it on an external social/website Of course that does not mean you can't do it

Obligated exam for people trying to become Dutch citizens https://speld.nl/2020/03/25/maak-hier-het-verplichte-corona-inburgeringsexamen/ 1) In the Netherlands we ... shake hands A) do B) don't 2) You're in a bus and an old lady gets in. What do you do? A) You politely ask her if she wants to sit in your place. B) You ask her if she's completely lost her mind: "What are you doing in the bus, you senile moron?" 3) Who are you allowed to marry in the Netherlands? A) With everyone who doesn't have a lot of friends to invite for the wedding. B) With old people, people with breathing problems and people with diabetes. C) With everyone who hasn't recently been to Italy. 4) In the Netherlands, we find it normal for two men to walk hand in hand. A) False B) True 5) A homeless person is lying on the street. What do you do? A) Ask how he's doing. B) Buy a newspaper he is selling. C) Walk around him in a wide arch. 6) How old are most children when they start going to school? A) Four years. B) Children don't go to school. 7) In 2020, Dutch people can be divided into two groups. Which groups? A) People with children and people without children. B) People of whom it'd be sad if they die and people with underlying health conditions. C) People who are working at home and people who do important work. D) All of the above. 8) You feel like you're having a little bit of a cold, but feel fine to work. What do you do? A) Go to work as normal. B) Call your doctor. C) Call in sick for the entire month. 9) If I see a group of people doing outdoor bootcamps... A) ...I go and tell them that's not good. B) ...call the police and applaude when they arrest the bootcampers. C) ...I am part of this group, but afterwards go on Twitter to tell everyone how shocked I am.

Olympics: New Tokyo Games unlikely to be in spring, Mori says

NBC has a ton of influence. I wouldn't pretend to think otherwise. But it's not as if they're sitting in on these meetings telling the IOC what to do. Again, when Australia is deciding to bid for an Olympics, they're not doing it because NBC is telling them when they want it. And it's not as if they're the only organization that prefers that traditional Summer window. So Australia does what they believe is in their best interests to get votes. And none of those votes actually belong to anyone from NBC. The swimming finals.. again, FINA is making that decision for FINA. They are doing what they feel is in their best interests, not just because NBC wants it. If NBC is so influential, what about gymnastics like they were moved in Beijing (speaking of places were gymnastics has a huge following)? Why not moving the athletics finals? I know NBC asked for it in 2008. And notice how it was 2016 where they started holding finals in the morning sessions, a move specifically for the benefit of European television interests. I'm not downplaying that American television money is a big deal. But at the end of the day, everyone is in it for themselves - the NOC's, the sport federations, and pretty much everyone else associated with the Olympics. They make self-interested decisions. A lot of times, the decision that's best for them is what's best for NBC.

They're free to do what they want. But at the end of the day, it's a popularity contest who wins the right to host these events. And those who vote and make the decisions will usually do so in their own self-interests. So if a country like Australia were to propose to hold the 2032 Olympics in a different month because that's better for them, they may not win the rights to host the event in the first place. So that's how they need to be thinking.

Australia could have chosen to push Melbourne as their bid city since they have more venues and infrastructure in place. But the weather isn't as good there during the Northern Summer, so they are going with Brisbane because they can offer their Olympic bid in the preferred window. Therefore, they stand a better chance of being elected as hosts. At least, that seems to be the line of thinking from the AOC. And they're still bitter about the 2022 FIFA World Cup bid as they say - they're 100% right - that Qatar cheated by proposing to have their World Cup in the Summer with the promise of air-conditioned stadiums. Had they proposed a November-December World Cup from the start, maybe they don't win.

Definitely the Hungarian "Aranycsápat" of the 50s. That some legendary football team

little to no control? NBC owns the Olympics by virtue of all the money they give to the IOC... they can't decide where the Olympics are held, but they heavily influence the dates and they decide in full the schedule and have heavy words to say on the sports to be included...like it or not! or do you really think european TV networks wanted the swimming finals in the middle of the night or sports like breakdance, surfing, skateboarding, even golf in the Olympic schedule? don't be naive...it's how the world goes...the more money you pay for something, the more influence you have...and NBC pays more than all the other TV networks put together, therefore they have some kind of privilege when it comes to the setup of the show (and trust me, I don't have much against it...there's nothing wrong with it...I find it even "logical"...I'd pretend the same if I were in their situation)...

Since we have LOTS of free time these days, I decided to read more about the history of Iranian politics. I'm not talking about the million years ago, I mean years around 1979, the Islamic revolution, the problem is it's impossible to find neutral and fair sources, everything is biased. if you listen to IR sources the Shah was a brutal dictator and his SAVAK killed lots of people, the whole "corrupt western world" (and even eastern) was supporting him. Khomeini was an angel falling from the heaven, it was only an "Islamic revolution" and other groups had nothing to do with it (which is in fact a big lie) and if you listen to anti-IR sources Shah was such a nationalistic gentleman but since the "western world" was afraid of him of being the next superpower, they plotted against him, they "made" Khomeini ! and BBC played a big role they still call it Ayatollah BBC, (if you don't believe me, just google that, you will be surprised ) ---------------- recently I got my hands on some old newspapers, reading them is a very interesting experience for me, most of those comments and interviews at 1980s sounds extremely stupid and unbelievable right now in 2020 but the reason why I brought this up is a sport-related reason, it was always my question why exactly Iran boycotted two Olympics in a row. both Moscow and Los Angeles. today I found a newspaper from 1984, statement from the Iranian prime minister at the time about boycotting the games, I'm going to translate the most important part: Because USA continues to meddle in middle east countries affairs, specially USA government's support for the "Zionist regime" and because of the crimes they are committing in Latin American countries specially El Salvador !!! The Cabinet decides that our athletes don't participate ... really, El Salvador ?

by the way, today's numbers confirm the trend of the last few days...new daily cases are increasing quite slowly than the last weeks... only negative note (especially for me), today Milan was the black sheep of the Nation, with the most new cases and deaths among our cities/provinces...

Tim Lips' horse Bayro has died during surgery, aged 14. https://www.horses.nl/eventing/eventing-internationaal/tim-lips-bayro-overleden/