Carl Sagan

4 hours ago, Stive Pesley said:

I was reading earlier that there is quite a lot of solar activity at the moment which might not make the conditions too good for blasting into space any time in the next few weeks. Not sure how true that is?

In the 11-year solar cycle we're building towards maximum solar activity mid-2025, so it's still a way off. Don't think there's anything particularly untoward at the moment. The big events we can't predict are coronal mass ejections and those cause problems if pointed in the direction of Earth (quite rare). It's only easy(ish) to predict when there's a coronal hole (which also causes enhanced activity) and because the Sun rotates every 26 days we know in advance when it's going to happen again. 

Which is a tip if you're ever on a northern lights holiday, to try to go 24 or 25 days after the last big aurora to give you a better chance of spotting the next one.

Full 90 on Rams TV with pen and paper:

Wildsmith 4.5 Does not command his box nearly enough. Saves rebound into dangerous areas. Kicking was off.

Knight 6 Poor second half, when he looked badly out of position (not his fault).

Forsyth 7 Solid performance. Ran Collins close for MotM.

 Cashin 5 Poorest game of the season for the lad.

Stearman 6 Stood up in the second half when others didn't.

Bird ? 5.5 Not enough energy and drive.

Hourihane 5 Not enough energy and drive. Poor set pieces.

Mendez-Laing 6 Took his goal excellently.

McGoldrick 6.5 Mixture of good and bad but on balance slightly more good.

Barkhuizen 5.5 Below par.

Collins 7 MotM. Goal might have been offside but I'll take it. Excellent defensive work too. Odd he was taken off when still was running and leading the line.

Subs

Thompson 5 Just seems a boy against men this season. What was he doing on the pitch when the game was in the balance?

Sibley 7 Despite being out of position he had 4 or 5 good drives into the area and some good defensive work. Great attitude.

Osula 5 Odd to bring on a raw rookie with the game in the balance. Showed how valuable Collins is to the team.

Dobbin 5 Pretty invisible.

At this point they're "rolling it back" into the Vehicle Assembly Building (or VAB) for a thorough inspection and the chance to replace things if required, before claiming they'll try again in October. Increasingly my expectation is that they won't launch until next year. 

The longer they wait the more chance for the Starship from SpaceX to beat SLS into orbit, at which point this flawed Moon rocket (SLS) will look even more of a white elephant. Why spend 4 billion dollars every launch on a rocket you then have to throw away, when you can use a far more capable rocket in Starship that's around a hundred times cheaper (ie 40 million) and will eventually only cost the price of the fuel. Which, incidentally, isn't liquid hydrogen because, as NASA is demonstrating, that's incredibly difficult to work with and keep contained! 

6 hours ago, sage said:

I kind of agree but Barkhuizen was in front of us second half and was blowing out of his Harris 

I've said all along we should alternate our wingers, only one of Mendez-Laing and Barkhuizen starting. Though now we have Dobbin too to play wide, so if Rosenior insists on starting both we do have some cover. In an idea world we'd have four wingers but we know things have been far from ideal, but there's no need with a modicum of thought beforehand to end up playing Sibley out of position on the wing, when the manager must surely have seen how incredibly effective he is in the middle of the park. But not on the wing.

24 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Calling it a “despicable” decision when we don’t have the facts behind said decision, or haven’t yet seen how the match plays out seems odd. I seem to recall engaging you on this before and appreciate how much you rate Sibley, he’s doing well and contributing to the team. For me it is about recognising exactly that, the team, we have a squad of players who will all be used at different times and have contributions to make throughout the season. Rosenior as the manager has to make decisions and knows his rationale, if it backfires today then it makes sense to me to pile in on that decision, once we have more info.

It's about opinions and you're entitled to think this. Just as I'm entitled to mine (and naturally believe I'm right). I'm furious the person I consider our best player and the player, if the manager believed in him, who could be the best midfielder outside the Prem by the end of the season, is again the first and easiest person for the manager to drop. Absolutely furious.

Great we're winning. But that doesn't make it the right decision.

Despicable decision by Rosenior to drop our joint top scorer and the player that makes the whole system work. Hope I'm wrong but with Louie unfairly consigned to the bench, fully expect it'll be another case of Derby nil.

10 minutes ago, Mckram said:

The turnstile scanners are like a little slot. Never really thought about it but I’d imagine a phone can’t fit in it to scan. Season ticket cards and paper seem like the only way but I could be totally wrong. 

The turnstiles themselves are awfully little. I'm amazed everyone can squeeze through them! Especially after our Just Eat season!

20 minutes ago, angieram said:

The reason you can't get tickets this season is because you are armchair fans! ?

Seriously, I am sure anyone who does want a ticket will now be able to get one, whatever their purchase history. Might help the East Anglian Ram contingent,  of whom there are quite a few on here.

It's also decent for London Rams, taking a train out of Liverpool St and then the ground is very near the station. Ipswich my tip for the title so it will be a good challenge.

Nine out of ten for me, as you always want something to strive for. One of the key things is who we've retained. As @IslandExilementioned in the signings thread, keeping Bird, Cashin, Knight and Sibley will be massive. At this point we've also "kept" Bielik. Though of course the EFL keeps us massively hamstrung, next season as well, and I've not kept up with whose contracts are running out when.

47 minutes ago, IslandExile said:

Transfer Window Summary:

Team rebuilt for zero fees. Rooney potential gem.

BIG WIN: we kept Knight, Bird, Sibley & Cashin 

A stupendously good window. Exceeded my expectations by far.

To retain those 4 it looks to me as if we will need to go up this season and to be threatening to do that when the January window opens. Right now it feels as if people are enjoying the novelty of the division, but if we're stuck down here for more than this season it's going to become a very miserable place.

14 hours ago, Jimbo Ram said:

And young Dave Watson came on and played upfront ?

13 hours ago, Ellafella said:

Indeed he did. 

13 hours ago, Reggie Greenwood said:

BBG game Taylor subbed Bobby D and put Watson on up front. Can remember doing my nut at the time 

"And Dave Watson is a giraffe"

I was listening on the wireless at home and Graham Richards was doing his nut in. One of the most miserable nights in Rams history wondering if we were going to fold, but the hope of money from the cup run to keep us going. Then conceding direct from a corner that went straight in past Steve Cherry to lose at home against lower league opposition. And Peter Taylor takes Bobby off for an elderly defender. IIRC Graham wasn't happy either and went into a tirade about everything that was going wrong, ending with the giraffe remark.

Play Prince Louie as an attacking central midfielder and we'll get promoted. It's really not rocket science.

3 hours ago, Ghost of Clough said:

We're now 7 unbeaten, equalling our best run since Dec19-Jan20 (4 wins, 3 draws). A few more games to beat the run of 10 games achieved at the end of 2016.
We face Plymouth in a 6th vs 5th battle - the last time we didn't beat them at home was way back in 1985 (7 wins)

 

My predicted lineup:

Wildsmith

Stearman   Cashin

Knight   Bird   Hourihane   Forsyth

Mendez-Laing   Sibley   Dobbin

Collins

Subs: Loach, Oduroh, Roberts, Rooney, Tommo, Barkhuizen, McGoldrick

I think this should be the team except with Barkhuizen starting and Dobbin on the bench. Barks had a good game against Peterborough and keeps the shirt, whereas Dobbin was largely ineffectual. With Mendez-Laing playing on Tuesday, he should take over Dobbin's role on the right. 

But great options to have McGoldrick and Dobbin to come on for the last half hour. 

2 hours ago, Kokosnuss said:

The key to Knight's goal was taking the corner before opposition were completely set and before they'd had chance to set all of their markers up. Same delivery even 3 seconds later and it's not a goal.

What I can't remember ever being explained are those situations from goal kicks where every single player but one runs to one side of pitch, but he's left in acres of space where one relatively simple pass would put him one on one. with the keeper and no covering defenders. The ball always gets punted high and to the player on the crowded side though.

Absolutely this with not allowing the opposition to be completely set. We don't often do things quickly. Plus Sibley made the run to Hourihane for the pretend short corner, which took out one of the men defending the front post who had to follow him, meaning there was a much clearer route through to Knight for the header.

17 hours ago, Carl Sagan said:

The Artemis launch on Bank Holiday Monday is currently due at 1.33pm UK time, but nothing with this rocket works straight off so I expect it will be a few days/weeks late.

And so it transpired. While the launch window is open again on Friday, I expect they'll roll the rocket back off the launchpad and into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) after which it will be a few weeks before we see it again.

30 minutes ago, Unlucky Alf said:

They had these left over from the Space Shuttle Challenger

Too soon? 

8 minutes ago, richinspain said:

I've still got my Commodore Vic 20, complete with games and cassette deck with knob and signal lights to adjust the tape head. Twenty minutes of beep, burp, beep, beep whir and then an error message was an absolute buggar.

Ditto for my Sinclair Spectrum

4 minutes ago, Rampant said:

That team posted in the OP looks far too strong for this competition so I hope it's nothing like that line up. No idea what LR's thoughts are but I'd go with:

                           Loach

Oduroh    Rooney   Chester/U21    Roberts

               Thompson  Robinson

      U21                 U21               U21

                           Collins

Fowkes, Cybulski + 5 other U21's

Agree the OP team is far too strong, but yours would see us fined for fielding what is seen as too weak a team by the EFL. Even if Chester starts we're one short of meeting the criteria (my bold).

I'm totally with @Davidon this one. I hate being down in the near basement of English football, it being doubly galling that the gumps had the most fortunate promotion in living memory and are bending the rules to give themselves a shot at staying up. It's very important they fail, but even if they do they'll have vast riches for years to come. Right now Division Three is a novelty but this season is going to be a long hard slog with plenty of ups and downs, and it's ultimately something to be endured rather than enjoyed. Plus if we don't make it straight back up players such as Sibley and Knight and Bird will be gone which will make it even more depressing.

@Shuff264explained the rules for how many first teamers (basically 4 outfield) we have to play in the Papa Johns thread. 

Surely Loach has to start this one? We need our current reserve keeper to have had some game time in case he's called upon in the league. Then the other main question is if Collins needs a goal or a rest? Then, is Chester fit enough to get a game or at least a place on the bench? My four to avoid us getting fined in bold

Loach

Oduroh     Rooney     Forsyth(c)    Grewal-Pollard

Smith     Thompson

Dobbin    Collins    Cybulski     Nunn

Subs: Foulks Stearman Roberts Bird U21  U21 U21

The 4-4-2 piece is clearly written by a gump. Our badge is respected and admired across the football world, even if some people don't know where the eye is.

Tomorrow (Monday 29th August) is the first uncrewed launch attempt of the SLS, NASA's Space Launch System which is the rocket that's the main part of the Artemis programme to see Humans return to the Moon, hopefully by 2025. 

It will probably surprise people on here to learn I'm not a fan. This is just trying to rebuild the 1960s Apollo technology (Artemis was Apollo's twin sister). There's talk that this time we're returning to the Moon to stay, but if we have to rely on on SLS this is fatuous. Unlike modern rockets, this one is disposable. You use it just the one time to launch and then you throw it away. The development all through the different incarnations has cost a quite staggering and repulsive $50bn dollars and then, each launch will cost between $2-4bn more. What an extraordinary waste of money, insisted upon by certain Senators in America to spread the work around factories in their states. This is what we call "old space" where old-fashioned contractors such as Boeing were awarded lucrative contracts where it was in their interests to delay the project and see cost overruns because these were "cost-plus" contracts so, when that happened, the American taxpayer picked up the bill via NASA. One of the good space journalists, Eric Berger has written about it here:

I think we're far enough along with Artemis that it won't be stopped now, so the best thing that could happen would be for SLS to fail (as long as no one gets hurt) and for people to realize it's simply daft to build another SLS to test without crew, instead diverting the funds to commercial rockets such as Starship.

The best thing about Artemis is that, while enlightened people at NASA realized they couldn't go up against Congress and cancel the SLS, they were able to give the contract for the lunar lander to SpaceX who will land people back on the Moon in their giant Starship, the forthcoming Mars rocket. Obviously it would be way more sensible to simply launch Starship to the Moon and land there, but instead the Artemis programme wants to launch on SLS, with a tiny crew capsule on the top called Orion. Then SLS gets thrown away and Orion heads to the Moon, where it rendezvous with Starship and the astronauts transfer across. Originally there was an additional complication that the rockets would all need more fuel to make them stop in orbit around the Moon first at a new space station called the Lunaar Gateway, transferring from Orion to that and then from the Gateway into Starship, but the Gateway is so absurdly expensive they've had to shelve that for the time being. But, stupidly, they're still talking about building it.

The Artemis launch on Bank Holiday Monday is currently due at 1.33pm UK time, but nothing with this rocket works straight off so I expect it will be a few days/weeks late. But I shall be watching the live stream just in case. Several of my space friends are very excited about it and over in Florida to watch the launch.

3 hours ago, jono said:

It must be the worst situation for both Liam and James. You’re the chosen new No9 in a squad a long time short of scorers. Your in the Autumn of your career and you hit a barren patch. New fans, new team mates, new manager and you have nothing to point to after half a dozen games. He isn’t the first to have a hoodoo round his neck. Forlan at ManU ? It was dire, he worked his bar locks off but just couldn’t score. Managed a brave in the mincer headed winner against Liverpool. The fans never turned on him because he gave everything. Ended up elsewhere and won a European golden boot. Derek Hales ? … Who knows, but I’ve been watching Collins a lot. Yesterday he was rattled, confidence not great but he is a worker, isn’t afraid and gets himself in good positions. He’s been less than lucky in the chances dept … but it’s worth remembering the same applies to others - but they don’t carry No9 on the shirt.
 I just hope it works out for him. Just before their goal he was the one doing headed clearances from our box. .. It could go either way. I desperately want him in the side and getting a brace against Grimsby. That might shift the ground a bit and it’s doable. Just wishing him luck

I was pleased on Radio Derby to hear Ed Dawes was calling for fans to be patient with Collins and reminding people how long it took between Chris Martin's arrival before he started scoring regularly. Really hope it works out for him as he could be a massive player for us this season.

I was so annoyed in the first half when he did great work to win the corner and the bastid ref inexplicably gave a goal kick, a decision that cost me £100 as I was one short on Rams corners at the end with what I thought was quite a safe wager.

9 hours ago, David said:

It’s hard to argue against this, yet at the same time I truly believe this is simply highlighting what a special player we have on our hands, RB, RW, CM, anywhere the lad will be in contention for man of the match.

I reckon he would be reaching the top corners if we stuck him in goal, his attitude is second to none and if we could somehow clone him 10 times, we would walk the league.

But for the sake of the team, his personal development and my sanity, I desperately still want to see him in the middle of a 3 man midfield. Bird, Hourihane and Knight. 

Bird, Knight and Sibley as our central midfield for me, when all fit and on form. 

Saturday 27th August saw nothing much happening.

Again there's no Krystian Bielik on the bench for Brum.

Jack Stretton was an unused sub for Carlisle.

Young goalkeeper Harry Evans looks to have gone out to Melton Town on a short-term loan, probably for a month according to @ExiledinDerby.

4 hours ago, Anag Ram said:

I was looking forward to watching him yesterday but for the first twenty minutes or so he looked really out of sorts. 
 

However one run and pass to Sibley and a subsequent shot seemed to galvanise him and from then on he looked lively.

He did really well to get to the byline to create the winning goal.

Someone I spoke to after the game said he ‘did nothing’. Interesting ?

Radio Derby (especially Charlie Palmer) were very critical of him and how he kept taking up a poor starting position to be able to run at the full back, so I was intrigued to watch the full 90. I thought he had maybe three or four good moments but that was about it, but one was the assist for the winner. At the moment, if Mendez-Laing were in contention I would play NML with Dobbin coming off the bench. I thought when Barkhuizen moved onto the right after some of the subs he also proved more effective than the young lad. But Dobbin's raw and this is his first season in men's football, and he'll likely get a lot better as we go through. I like him and I'd give him another start in the Papa Johns but when everyone's fit I wouldn't (yet) start him in the league.