Fun stuff -- word related or not, ramblings, junk, whatever.

[bwt1213]

I just heard that Kathleen Booth died at age 100 on August 14th. In case you don't know what she meant, she invented Assembly language. Without that, Grace Hopper's COBOL wouldn't have existed, and none of today's computing environment would have existed. No Windows, no Unix, no Linux, no compilers, no computer languages. Please honor her, however you can. I can't even imagine what she endured, and I don't even want to. As someone who actually programmed in machine language (yeah, really, hexadecimal numbers that stood for operations) and in assembly I want everyone to appreciate her genius and mourn her. Please shed a tear for her. She deserves it and no one else will.

[Naboka]

To live a hundred years.

To have a full life, that included major discoveries and creations that made the rest of our lives better.

We all have to go sometime. Not a bad way to go.

Seen far too many tragic endings to grieve this one. Think I'll save the tears and simply celebrate the life of a wonderful woman.

Had never even heard of Kathleen Booth.

Think a perfect life would be one where you filled the lives of those around you so completely that the joy of you having been there far outweighs the sorrow of you leaving.

[bwt1213]

My tear was shed because, like you, I had never heard of her, either. She deserved fame and glory. I hope she felt she had it.

[bwt1213]

Now, if I can only get the server to keep sending this board to me, maybe I will get it nailed down.

Game Results

YOUR STATS:Total points: 644 New record!
Total words: 112 (60 common,19 wide,9 rare,24 ultra rare) New record!
Best word: PRESTERS (14 pts.) New record!
Longest word: PRESSERS (8 letters)



PUZZLE STATS:
Played: 2 times
Average Score: 417.3 points
Average Words: 72 words
High Score: 608 points by bwt1213
Most Words: 104 words by bwt1213
Best Word: PASTERS (12 pts) by bwt1213
Longest Word: PRESSERS (8 letters) by bwt1213

[bwt1213]

I just dumped Windows and put Linux Mint on my old laptop. I have no trouble running Wordtwist on it (FireFox Browser); when it ran Windows, it was my daily driver. I was just wondering: How many of you are running Linux? Have you noticed any performance differences? The only one I see is the ADS -- thousands of them, cascading all over the place in amazing quantity. But the game itself seems unaffected and even seems to run a little faster.

[bwt1213]

My late life mantra is "avoid anger". If something just rouses your blood when it happens, it's bad ju-ju. Ditch it. So my laptop was running Windows 10 and when Windows did their usual upgrades the computer pegged disk usage at 100% for hours. Sometimes more than six hours. While that happened, my computer was not usable. I couldn't get on the net, couldn't play games, couldn't write poems to my wife (I have lots of poems, all of them quatrains). It made me ANGRY, which is not good. I don't need or want angry. So I said that Windows should leave the computer. I installed Linux Mint (Vanessa), the latest version. I love it. Really, I love it. It doesn't ever make me angry. I can update when I want. The updates don't take nearly as long. And I have at least three programming languages I can use, free. As a side benefit, I'm pretty much immune to viruses -- my password is 16 characters long, and good luck guessing it. So: has anyone else made this journey? Yes, I can run WordTwist on it, with Firefox as the browser. And I can run Facebook and Reddit and pretty much everything, and it comes with a free office suite. It supported my speakers, camera, printer, mouse, and internet connections right out of the box. So, question: How many of you guys are running Linux instead of Windows? And if I told you that your old dormant computer could probably run Linux well and be usable again, would that tempt you?

[RussDNails]

I've been lucky in that my work allows me to purchase a new Dell Precision every 5-6 years or so and take home the old one once it's retired.

I pulled a Precision M4400 that I had tucked away in a closet to see if it would still power up and what OS it was running. Windows Vista!

Just for grins one day I stripped Vista and installed Ubuntu but it was too much for the old clunker. Tried a few other versions of Linux--found that Linux Lite actually runs pretty well. This laptop has to be at least 15 years old so for it to be in any way usable is a small miracle. It can be used for browsing, email, I can play Wordtwist on it but the keyboard is pretty tough to type fast on. I'll probably never touch it again since I have much newer and speedier laptops now--my latest is a Precision 5570 and this thing is a beast and a dream to type on. Don't really know much about Linux, just a few bits and pieces I picked up from a guy at work but agreed, you can definitely extend the life of older machines since Linux uses much less resources to run smoothly......

Cheers,

Russ

[bwt1213]

If you put Linux on that machine and it runs tolerably well, you may want to consider gifting it somewhere. You never know what might happen. I remember a story about Ramanujan, who was compelled to drop out of school before 5th grade because his family was almost destitute and needed his income as a street sweeper. But he saved his pennies and bought a tattered old math textbook and learned everything in it without a teacher, all the way through calculus. Then he wrote papers and sent them to the mathematicians he had learned the names of, professors at Cambridge. They discarded his papers because they had never heard of him and so he must be some crazy person. But then, one day, a mathematician named Hardy actually read the paper and realized that it was new and good and the work of a genius. And so Ramanujan came to England and was given a doctoral degree and wrote papers that even today mathematicians can't understand, but they're correct. And he died of tuberculosis because he came to England. He was young, too. So, please, that old laptop you can't use but will run Linux -- give it to someone who will learn programming and count it as his twopence math textbook and not get TB. There are so many fearsomely smart kids today. One new Linux distro was updated and compiled and accepted as a standard -- and the programmer who did it was twelve years old. Guys, the world will be an awesome place if we can give the kids some elbow room and refrain from destroying the planet.

[floppers]

so....I am very much enjoying your software and coding porn..and I wanted to add that one of the biggest benefits of my work (teaching kindergarteners) is knowing that I am making a contribution to forming an entire generation of world citizens, that don't blink an eye regarding gender, race, preferences of any type. We have a tenet about "high expectations", which a lot of people misunderstand, (thinking that we expect the students to meet some lofty adult appointed standard), but what it is really about supporting each individual to reach their capacity, and then maybe surpassing that. It's about challenging limitations, encouraging (considered) risk taking, exploring possibilities and listening, analysing and extending the ideas of others and themselves. I am greatly encouraged by our very young people, there is not one three, four, or five year old that ever asks why I turn off the lights if we are all outside, they know how to reduce, reuse and recycle, they ask questions (like ALL THE TIME) and we do everything we can to support them in learning, experimenting, and problem solving. We might not live to see it, but I think we can can leave this life knowing that the future is so rich in possibilities and hope.

Plus, down here TB is very low, and almost always curable.

Refraining from destroying the planet is very important in allowing those possibilities evolve. xxx

[bwt1213]

I see my grandsons and I see the things they could do and I also see the idiots who would destroy everything for some failed ideology. I hope good wins out and my grandsons do all the wonderful things they are capable of, and the whole world will work the same way. We all live on hope, I think. We always have. I guess hope is a good bet, judging on where we are. But that doesn't mean the good side wins every time.

[bwt1213]

Floppers, I never went to kindergarten. I went to first grade in three different schools in three different states (Arizona, Oregon, Michigan) starting when I was five, because I could read and read well. But I wish I had a teacher like you when I was little. I did have good teachers, at least until I reached third grade, and good ones after that. I think you would have been my favorite. But it would have been hard to beat out Miss Vivian in fifth grade. I thought she was ancient. Her fiancee went to France in the Great War and never came back, and so she never married. If she'd been born in 1900, she'd have been about 56 when I was in her class. I thought she was ancient. She was probably in her late fifties or early sixties at most. Ah, but what do kids know? Edna Steinbrecher was my 4th grade teacher. Her husband didn't come back from WW II. She was patient and understanding to a fault.

The point is, we remember our teachers. We still love them. And I want you to remember all those children who will love you forever.

[2cute]

Floppers, I never went to kindergarten. I went to first grade in three different schools in three different states (Arizona, Oregon, Michigan) starting when I was five, because I could read and read well. But I wish I had a teacher like you when I was little. I did have good teachers, at least until I reached third grade, and good ones after that. I think you would have been my favorite. But it would have been hard to beat out Miss Vivian in fifth grade. I thought she was ancient. Her fiancee went to France in the Great War and never came back, and so she never married. If she'd been born in 1900, she'd have been about 56 when I was in her class. I thought she was ancient. She was probably in her late fifties or early sixties at most. Ah, but what do kids know? Edna Steinbrecher was my 4th grade teacher. Her husband didn't come back from WW II. She was patient and understanding to a fault.

The point is, we remember our teachers. We still love them. And I want you to remember all those children who will love you forever.

This is very true. I remember Mrs Green when I was in 3rd grade. She was patient & didn't make fun of me like everyone else did because I was a slow reader (now its called learning disabled). I was upset because she enrolled me in the 'special reading class' & all my classmates punished me because of it. Yet I did begin reading faster & I began to enjoy it. I liked that 'I' got to choose the books I wanted to read, rather than adults choosing for me. I read 'Summer of Fear' my fav book & I reread it every year until they made that horrible film version of it. I also discovered Judy Blume and it was ok I read her books too. When I went on vacation, I'd meet new friends & we'd become 'pen pals' for a little while & my writing as well as my reading improved. I'm still pretty terrible speller (I always get the vowels mixed up), yet I love reading. I read daily & enjoy it. Sometimes its just an article in a magazine or newspaper, sometimes its entire novels or non-fiction biographies. This year alone I read 'Vanderbilt: The Rise & Fall of An American Dynasty' plus Harry Potter Prisoner of Azcaban, Goblet of Fire, Half Blood Prince & now I'm finishing the series with 'The Dealthly Hallows'. When I'm done, I have another book ready to go next. Mrs Green also did something very unusual, she got married in a synagogue & my family is Christian so I had never been in one. She invited all her classmates to her wedding & we went. After the wedding we still called her Mrs Green, I'll never forget her.

[2cute]

Ooo, I missed one & as you know I can't edit ... Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix.

[bwt1213]

Saw something on Reddit that reminded me of the monthly contests that used to be held on The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The challenge on Reddit was to ruin a superhero's (or superheroine's) name by changing one letter, then describe his/her superpower.
Examples: Superman/Superban -- guy instantly deodorizes places.

[floppers]

it's not quite right (adding a letter, rather than changing it), but I like the concept of "Irony Man", teaching everyone, including my offspring, what irony is. It wouldn't hurt them to know what ironing is either....