A Tribute to abra a collection of her comments

[LLapp]

Abra's comments in this long thread are just so very abra, and I love the exchange between me and her. I'm keeping in most of the discussion on political theory, because this was how she worked -- she would weave the kindest spirit through the most serious discussions. I'm also proud of how civil the whole conversation is in this thread. I believe abra's spirit still helps to keep us civil.
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"I am greatly pleased with the public, authentic isolation in which we two, you and I, now find ourselves. It is wholly in accord with our attitude and our principles." — Karl Marx

dovid1946
January 8, 2015, 7:04 am
more quotes from Groucho Marx, less from his evil brother, Karl-o

maradnu
February 2, 2015, 6:46 am
Evil? Much of what Marx wrote is an overreaction to the evils of unbridled capitalism in the 19th century.

kb83
September 17, 2015, 4:30 am
This was in a letter to Engels, about maintaining a public distance. In the letter he uses alot of French phrases and inside jokes. Engels was clearly very important to him.

Vienna
January 1, 2016, 12:21 pm
Marx had a beautiful vision and great ideas. His plan would be utopia if it could be implemented. It is just very naive to think a large group of people would all have the same ideas of what is important and be willing to work hard for the common good with no personal motivation. The result is socialism where a small group violently tries to force a nation to do what can only be done voluntarily.

LLapp
May 19, 2016, 11:47 am
Vienna, I agree except for how you describe socialism -- I doubt that's the word you meant.

ruxpin66
August 14, 2016, 3:17 pm
Agree, LLapp. I was completely with Vienna until the socialism part. That's not socialism at all.

debzhaus
August 24, 2016, 1:57 am
Depends what you mean by violently. All laws are enforced by the threat of violence, even if it is just the violence of forced incarceration. A lot less people would pay their taxes if it were voluntary.

darkyr
October 20, 2016, 5:05 am
Public isolation. Alone in a sea of people.

MamaB
October 27, 2016, 8:38 am
I read - alone in a sea of purple. I like that idea.

wigoddess
December 9, 2016, 10:33 pm
I like purple

abra
December 31, 2016, 10:17 am
I like purple too. Not as much as I did as a teenager, but I like the idea of a sea of purple.

abra
February 18, 2017, 1:08 pm
Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff. -- Frank Zappa

marnita
July 16, 2017, 6:36 am
Communism doesn't work for the same reason capitalism doesn't work: people are greedy.

Taxnerd
October 17, 2017, 2:21 pm
I'm with Dovid1946 - More Groucho!

abra
June 11, 2019, 6:33 pm
When the deep purple falls, over sleeping garden walls, and the stars begin to twinkle in the night...

LLapp
June 19, 2019, 4:09 am
Abra, my sister, who is a few years older than I am, lived in a sea of purple during her psychedelic teen years. Purple beaded curtains, purple floppy hat, purple lava lamp, purple fluorescent light for the Day-Glo posters, and especially the wild geometric purple wallpaper. Oh the memories.

abra
November 6, 2019, 1:16 am
Sis???

imsoeasy
May 14, 2020, 12:08 am
Socialism has numerous permutations The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was always called communist. One might argue that the USSR was not communist as theorized by Marx and be right. Same goes for China and Cuba although they call themselves communist. But they are all socialist as are other countries not thought of as communist. The common thread is the social ownership / control of the means of production whether democratically or by a core group. Anyone who says this or that type of socialism is not socialism just means it is not what they think socialism is, or should be. The National Socialist German Workers Party (NAZI) was socialist (by 1939 they were in complete control of what could be produced) but other "socialists" are at pains to deny it. I prefer free markets and democratically elected representatives to state control. Those who believe socialism is some magic pill to solve all of the world's problems are either naive or they are selling you a bill of goods that you will find hard to return later.

LLapp
July 8, 2020, 11:07 pm
Abra, did you have all those things too?!

rasbury
August 29, 2020, 11:37 pm
Those who think capitalism is some magic pill to solve all of the world's problems should look at the state of the world.

marnita
November 20, 2020, 1:36 pm
I think what most of would like to see is a hybrid somewhere between socialism and capitalism, more like what they have in the Scandanavian countries.

NoiseLTD
January 18, 2021, 3:41 pm
kb83 Engels was important to him because he supported him financially and translated his gibberish into intelligible prose. Unfortunately.

Wordigo
August 27, 2021, 8:19 pm
Concept confabulation contributes to confusion. Think of capitalism and socialism on one axis, and democracy and tyranny on a perpendicular axis. Socialism + tyranny is communism. In the Scandinavian countries they have socialism + democracy. In America, we have mostly capitalism + democracy. In Syria, they have capitalism + tyranny.

imsoeasy
December 27, 2021, 9:44 am
The Scandinavian countries mostly have capitalism with welfare states, not socialism. Socialism is controlling the means of production and/or distribution. It is not that feel good idea in your head. In my previous comment I talked about free markets which are not the same as capitalism. Capitalism is an outgrowth of free markets. Capitalism tends at times to be anti-free market. All "communist" countries economies are socialist. Marx said socialism is the necessary path to communism. Communism as theorized by Marx exists only when each produces to his/her ability and each receives as to need. When that happens there is a withering away of the state. Sounds like paradise on earth rather than in heaven except without any gods involved. People gotta believe in somethin don't they.

abra
July 28, 2022, 1:35 am
LLapp, mostly, but not the beads.

TimmyTee
October 12, 2022, 10:45 pm
imsoeasy, I like to distinguish between "free enterprise" - the smart person in their garage that comes up with an idea that turns into something wonderful. And capitalism - some one(s) with a pile of money gathers power through regulatory capture, merger & acquisition, rent-seeking and ends up either in a monopoly or one in an oligopoly. Then they crush or take away the ideas of the guy in the garage. There is a place for "socialistic" forms. Natural monopolies - infrastructure stuff like utilities, highways, bridges, ports, airports, public communication systems. Otherwise these turn into capitalistic nightmares.

montyb
March 16, 2023, 11:01 pm
Also I would like to clear up another misconception: the Nazi party was NOT socialist. The term appears in the official party name as a ploy to get the support of the “blue collar” workers. The Nazi party was fascist and that is on the opposite end of the political spectrum from socialism.

[Eureka]

"I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare and I dare a little more, as I grow older." — Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

puzzleme
April 25, 2013, 7:02 am
Sounds about right. As I get older, I am more outspoken, more willing to risk appearing foolish, and much less willing to lie down for anyone who might wish to walk all over me.

elsiegirl
July 3, 2014, 12:46 am
My 22 yr. old daughter is like that now. I can't imagine what will happen when she is older. LOL

dovid1946
March 2, 2015, 2:24 pm
I will be 69 at the end of the month, and frankly I don't give a s... what people think about me anymore. I have no one alive that I need to impress.

mikeoc51
January 29, 2019, 5:46 am
boy we got some wild ones out there

abra
November 18, 2019, 3:40 pm
Not me. I was born without that ''don't give a darn'' gene. Age hasn't cured that.

[Eureka]

"I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck." — Emma Goldman

abra
July 7, 2015, 11:39 am
She doesn't look like a "roses" person. I'm glad that she is. Personally, I always tell my husband not to buy me flowers. I love them, but it just seems like money down the drain.

abra
July 14, 2021, 2:37 am
My husband brought me flowers one day last winter for ''because I love you''. We have had flowers almost every day since then. I guess it's a compromise usually carnations not roses. They're way cheaper and last a lot longer. I don't feel like they're a waste of money and he's happy that I'm happy.

[LLapp]

I hope abra belonged to a book club out there in real life, because she clearly loved her books and always valued the occasional virtual book-club moments in our comment threads.


"The sudden disappointment of a hope leaves a scar which the ultimate fulfillment of that hope never entirely removes." — Thomas Hardy

dovid1946
January 15, 2015, 12:07 am
if one reads his novels, he will find this theme expressed in many of them.

Persephone59
April 30, 2017, 3:06 pm
'Tess of the D'urbvilles', 'Far From the Madding Crowd'' and 'The Mayor of Casterbridge', the Hardy novels I've read, are all pretty tragic. None worse than 'Tess'. Hardy makes Dickens seem cheerful.

abra
December 7, 2017, 6:07 pm
OMgosh, poor Tess. I only finished the book to find out what happened to her. I ended up with a passionate hate for Angel Claire, equal to, but not surpassing my hatred for Wang Lung. I'll never be tempted by Thomas Hardy again.

[Eureka]

"It's not that age brings childhood back again, age merely shows what children we remain." — German proverb

abra
June 14, 2016, 9:31 am
I'm tracking my son's flight back from Orlando. I came back to this page and the puzzle was still sitting there. I'm the new owner of the SLOW record.

LLapp
March 3, 2020, 10:20 pm
So did he land okay?

abra
June 4, 2021, 10:24 pm
LLapp, Yes, it was the whole family. Probably several times since then until 2020.

abra
June 3, 2022, 9:09 pm
This month they will go again for the first time since the pandemic. I'll have to fly them there and back on my laptop.

LLapp
November 21, 2024, 4:40 am
I love that abra tracked her son and his family's flights on her laptop. I do the same thing with my kids when they fly. Once my son was flying home to DC from a conference in Boston on the same night that my daughter and her partner were flying from NYC to Milan for vacation. They were both in the air on the same night, and it was Friday the 13th and there was a full moon.

[LLapp]

"The grand essentials of happiness are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for." — Allan K. Chalmers

universalmom
April 25, 2016, 1:24 pm
Kids provide all of those things!

maradnu
August 15, 2016, 4:12 pm
someONE to love

Persephone59
August 31, 2017, 1:02 am
If you love gardening, that can provide all three of those things.

LLapp
May 5, 2019, 9:49 pm
I want to say cryptograms can provide all those things, but that would be pathetic.

abra
July 8, 2019, 2:53 am
Gonna go with Umom on this one. I have a great kid, wonderful grandkids and my hubby. Love my sisters and their families. And I have cryptos to do, and I hope I'll do better on the next one.

[Synonymous]

Rule Number 1:
There are two rules in life: 1. Never give out all the information.

***abra on 2016-03-30 09:24:02
I only eat carrots, if they're cut the right way. Three or four inch cross cut pieces for stew, cut length wise with pot roast, julienned for soup, grated for salad, never, ever diced in anything. There are no exceptions to the rules. Well there's one exception, if I'm a guest, eating someone else's cooking. In that case, I will try to discreetly mash them with my fork.

[LLapp]

"Changes are not only possible and predictable, but to deny them is to be an accomplice to one's own unnecessary vegetation." — Gail Sheehy

SippyGurl
June 9, 2014, 2:06 am
like beets?

Allen
December 18, 2014, 7:20 am
Let's hear it for necessary vegetation!

Persephone59
January 28, 2018, 2:00 pm
I like vegetation, but not beets.

darkyr
October 17, 2018, 9:00 am
Necessary vegetation, it sounds wonderful but who would be my accomplice? Me? Sounds like too much effort.

abra
February 7, 2020, 1:31 am
No beets, lima beans or carrots please.

badbob
December 4, 2021, 4:46 am
I agree with George HW Bush. I don't like broccoli

abra
July 9, 2022, 2:59 am
I never tasted broccoli, brussel sprouts or avocados until I was married. I like all three. I will never develop a taste for beets, lima beans, or peas. I'm not sure why I said that about carrots. They're okay as long as they're properly cut. You may have seen my rules for cutting carrots.* If you haven't just try to do the best that you can.

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* Abra's rules for cutting carrots are in Post 37 in this same Forum thread.

[Eureka]

(Our dear abra will certainly be remembered with great affection by many of us for as long as we live.)

"Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort." — Sydney Smith

skoogie2
October 21, 2013, 3:01 am
Now that's a sad thought...I don't think anyone is obscure or unimportant because they didn't make a "first effort". Sydney! judgy judgerson!

abra
November 17, 2015, 3:07 pm
Oh, skoogie, I agree. It's a heartbreaking quote. Hopefully, everyone has someone, who will keep them from being obscure.

Mobo
December 10, 2015, 10:39 am
Let's face it most of us will die obscure in the eyes of the world.

abra
August 26, 2016, 6:36 pm
I will not be obscure while my grandsons live, after that, yes.

abra
December 17, 2016, 7:43 am
^I meant that in the eyes of the world, I'm an obscure nothingness, but there will be a few with whom I will be remembered with clarity.

[Toeprint]

"Human beings have always employed an enormous variety of clever devices for running away from themselves, and the modern world is particularly rich in such stratagems."
— John W. Gardner

abra
August 5, 2015, 12:09 pm
I'm dead on average.

abra
January 4, 2016, 10:30 am
Ha, this time, I'm one second above average.

abra
January 19, 2016, 3:40 pm
This time I'm 2 seconds above average. If I get this quote enough times, I'll be setting the new slow record.

LLapp
June 29, 2016, 1:55 pm
abra, you are running away from yourself in slow motion.

DonnaIrene
February 16, 2019, 5:06 am
But as more people solve the quote, the average must change, right? So your new time could beat the prior average but not the current one.

abra
August 21, 2019, 2:02 am
DonnaIrene, judging by the comments I don't think it used to change much at all. Actually, I don't think that it did. Since all the recent changes I think it's probably keeping up with the average times. I don't know what it was before but I'm back to one second less than average. )

abra
September 19, 2020, 2:15 am
LOL, I'm back. I don't remember the quote and I am one second above the current average.

[Eureka]

(I wonder if that present ever showed up.)

"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries." — Alan Alexander Milne

abra
January 9, 2018, 6:37 pm
I lost one of my husband's Christmas presents. I don't think that I even wrapped it. I've looked all over for it. It will be an exciting surprise when it shows up.

abra
July 12, 2019, 8:56 pm
Christmas 2017. Now I no longer even know what the present was or if it ever showed up.

[BLU3]

"the most important part of education is proper training in the nursery. " — plato

llapp
december 6, 2019, 3:54 am
i saw this lovely explanation in social media, of why you should read to babies: "the crazy thing about babies is that like, some people would think that reading a baby a book about farm animals is teaching them about farm animals, but really it’s teaching them about the concept of a book and how there’s new information on each page of a single object, but really, beyond that, it’s teaching them how language works, and beyond that it’s really actually teaching them about human interaction, and really really it’s them learning about existing in a three-dimensional space and how they can navigate that space, but actually, above all it is teaching them that mama loves them."

abra
august 19, 2020, 9:04 pm
the days when your baby is just big enough to sit in your lap and look at picture while you read, are so sweet. I loved your comment, llapp.

oh i got that one once!

[BLU3]

Oh, I'm so sorry,

Hello, fellow crypto's. Thank you for being here to honor Abra, the cryptograms player. It is hard to find the right words to capture who she was, but warmth, laughter, and kindness are the first things that come to mind.
I remember Abra most for always being able to lift my mood with her comments. They had this incredible ability to make everyone feel special. It showed exactly who they were—kind, generous, and compassionate.
Abra’s legacy isn't just in the big things they achieved, but in the small, consistent ways they made our lives better. Her dedication to cryptograms was unmatched, and that impact will be felt for generations.
While this loss deeply saddens us, I hope we can find comfort in the memories we shared. Abra, thank you for the love and laughter you brought to cryptograms. You will be missed, but never forgotten. Rest in peace.

[Synonymous]

Hi Blu3, I posted a personal message to you a few days ago about abra, but here is the message: "Hi Blu3, Your question about abra. She passed away in January 2023. She was a wonderful player for many years and we loved her dearly, for she was honest and not snarky. A genuine nice person that would tell it like it is and not intentionally try to insult or demean a player. We keep her alive on this site and in our hearts. Her avatar is attached." Cheers, Synonymous
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[318WOZ]

BLU3, yes, Abra died several years ago: RIP abra - Puzzle Baron.