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

[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.

[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]

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.

[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]

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?

[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]

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]

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.

[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]

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]

It looks like you were close. I'm assuming it's HYPERTHERMIAS.

Yep.

Too bad it ain't horseshoes.

[Spike1007]

It looks like you were close. I'm assuming it's HYPERTHERMIAS.

[Naboka]

One of the disadvantages of playing out of your head more than off the board is mislinking letter sequences that don't actually exist on the board.

As an example, I was trying to get hypothermia (s). All the letters were there, but...

After trying it a few times and returning to the board, I saw my mistake--and the word I should have been typing

but it was too late.

Anyone see the long word? Probably a 13 letter 24 point word.

Screen Shot 2022-08-19 at 11.13.19 AM.png

Head slap!

[2cute]

First thing: everyone is all right.

Okay. So our golden retriever (Copper) was visiting the groomer who lives six houses down the block. Copper is having surgery to remove a cancerous tumor on a toe on his right rear leg tomorrow morning. We wanted him nice and clean for that, so he was getting a nice bath (I can't do those any more). I walked him down to the groomers with no problem. When I walked him back, I got to the edge of my driveway and I saw a black blur. It was the dog from the renters next door, launching a full-out attack on Copper. Copper is nearly fifteen years old and his hind legs don't work too well. I was able to blunt the attack and then grab the black dog (about Copper's size but far younger -- about sixty pounds) by the collar and mostly hold the two apart. I was screaming as loud as I could for help because I have emphysema and I can't maintain physical exertion for long. Two Hispanic gentlemen stopped their car in the middle of the street and rendered assistance, holding the black dog away. The other asked me if I was okay, and I tried to tell him "no", because I was having a lot of trouble breathing. The neighbors from across the street ran out of their house barefoot and brought me a chair to sit in and aid for Copper. Multiple people (including my wife, who watched the whole thing with horror) called the police and someone called an ambulance. The renter appeared and collected the dog. Then the scheduled tow truck arrived for my wife's car, which would not start because of a DEAD battery.

The renters would not answer the door when the police called on them. Someone nearby had a home security system that captured the whole thing and downloaded the event to the police department. Charges are pending; this is not the first time or even the second that their dogs have gotten out and terrorized the neighborhood. My vitals stabilized after fifteen minutes or so (bp was 220/110 to start, and I'll bet by how I felt that O2 sats were in the low 70s before I got aid).

Tonight, just now, I let Copper out into our fenced backyard for his regular evening visit. When he came back, his tumor (mast cell but highly vascularized) was bleeding copiously. He is now bandaged and settled down, and I hope we can survive until tomorrow morning's surgery.

The key words are: "Everyone is all right". May all your days end with the same four words.

Its a shame you don't have the kind of groomer that travels around in a mobile van & COMES TO YOU to give you dog his spa treatment (in the van in front of your home).

[bwt1213]

220/11o was just one part that didn't feel good. But as far as Copper was concerned, all he got was a shallow 1/4" graze on the inside of his left ear. The other dog didn't bite me at all, which I thought was borderline amazing. When I stepped in, I said "you're not getting my dog if I have to fight you with my bare hands". Yeah, that could have gone very far south. But I couldn't just stand there and let my helpless old dog be killed in front of me. Copper had his surgery, the vet checked him over and that was the only wound she found, too, and we'll see how much better he gets how soon. There has been no one at the renter's property since the incident. No cars, no visitors, nothing. And, needless to say, no dogs. Wisconsin has a strict leash law. Dogs can be unleashed in a properly fenced area, and presumably when being used for hunting, but in a residential area must otherwise be leashed at all times. The fines can be steep.

I had always thought that scores had to exceed 600 to recycle, just as the number of games had to exceed 50 for your scores to count, etc.