14.7.2019's ranking on the 1966-O-Metre

[Janik]

My experience of Prague is that it isn't really immersive any longer for English or German speakers unless you go out of your way to make it so.

I would expect that even some of the very rural hamlets I visited in Poland are more multi-lingual now if only because of people having had experience outside the immediate vicinity.

True. And the international student problem pertains - about the one group sure to be absent are Czechs! And it takes an effort to stop English being the lingua franca, if that is what most of the group is most comfortable with.

[ursus arctos]

If I can't come up with a word in Italian, I am more likely to find a French or German equivalent before accessing English. I have been told it has to do with the age at which I first learned the relevant languages and how such data is stored in the brain,

I had similar issues with tomatoes from the age of seven or eight until my early 20s (at which point it left as suddenly as it had arrived). Our minds work in very mysterious ways. Ursus minor has the same issues now.

[seand]

I'm curious- where does the Cricket World Cup win sit for cricket fans? Is it as big/significant as an Ashes series win? Is the one-day format still considered a bit of a novelty?

[Duncan Gardner]

I'm curious- where does the Cricket World Cup win sit for cricket fans? Is it as big/significant as an Ashes series win? Is the one-day format still considered a bit of a novelty?

The recent World Cup was very important to various teams for various reasons. England, India and Australia expected to win it, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to get to a higher level with more recognition. South Africa were the big disappointment, West Indies don't take the format entirely seriously and Sri Lanka just don't have much quality at the moment. Pakistan lost 10 or 12 games straight before the tournament then conceded a 300 run margin effectively in their first outing

If England lose the Ashes their media will talk up the CWC ad nauseam

[Satchmo Distel]

25.8.19...Stokes gets 74 out a 10th wicket partnership of 76 to win an Ashes Test, contributing to England's biggest ever successful run-chase. In the previous 48 hours he'd bowled a massive unchanged stint and then reached his slowest 50. This after England had been bowled out for 67 on the second morning.