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

[bwt1213]

Alt-Backarrow will dump the game. Running Vivaldi as your browser will kill the ads.

[crazykate]

Alt-Backarrow will dump the game. Running Vivaldi as your browser will kill the ads.

While these are valid points, Stephen has said that they tried to ensure that ads wouldn't impede gameplay, so you shouldn't be forced to abandon a game or change your browser.

[bwt1213]

You have two true points. The problem is that Stephen can't vet every ad that comes in to make sure they don't break the rules. I've had ads come up while running other applications, too, where the ad basically shut everything down and made all commands unreachable -- except things like alt-backarrow and ctrl-alt-del. Many such "ads" are actually malware masquerading as an ad. The rest are created by someone who shouldn't be inflicting their attempts at coding on the public. The example given here was apparently poor coding by a local business rather than actual malice. I use an ad-blocker, which doesn't actually stop all ads but does keep most off. I actually have three computers -- one runs Windows with an ad blocker, one runs Linux/Firefox with no ad blocker, and one runs Linux/Vivaldi with a built-in ad blocker. The Linux/Firefox combination gets really busy, with tons of ads all the time. The Windows machine sees a tolerable number of ads. I have yet to see any ads on the Linux/Vivaldi machine.

[2cute]

You have two true points. The problem is that Stephen can't vet every ad that comes in to make sure they don't break the rules. I've had ads come up while running other applications, too, where the ad basically shut everything down and made all commands unreachable -- except things like alt-backarrow and ctrl-alt-del. Many such "ads" are actually malware masquerading as an ad. The rest are created by someone who shouldn't be inflicting their attempts at coding on the public. The example given here was apparently poor coding by a local business rather than actual malice. I use an ad-blocker, which doesn't actually stop all ads but does keep most off. I actually have three computers -- one runs Windows with an ad blocker, one runs Linux/Firefox with no ad blocker, and one runs Linux/Vivaldi with a built-in ad blocker. The Linux/Firefox combination gets really busy, with tons of ads all the time. The Windows machine sees a tolerable number of ads. I have yet to see any ads on the Linux/Vivaldi machine.

Without ad-blocker, games on any site would be too annoying. I'd probably stop playing games altogether as on some sites they force you to watch a 30 sec ad between levels of a game. I think the commercialism of our world has gotten out of hand. Why is it necessary for me buy things constantly? Whoever has the most money wins? Wins what? Its just too much. Too much unnecessary negative stimulation.

[bwt1213]

When I was a lad, many, many years ago, the FCC ruled what could be on US TV. Ads were tightly regulated: there could be no more than X seconds of ads per break and no more than Y seconds per half-hour or hour show. It seems to me that X was 90 and Y was 270 per half-hour or maybe 480 per hour. The thing was, with a restricted time the ad prices rose; the air time was worth more. If your ad cost a lot to run, it had better be a really good ad. I've watched TV shows with all the ads and it's ridiculous. 90 seconds? Ad breaks can be five minutes or more. If you want to watch an hour show, the ads will cost you about half of that. I watch streaming TV on free channels like FreeVee, Tubi, Pluto, Crackle, Plex, Xumo, and so on. Their shows do include ads, and usually the breaks are about 90 seconds, tops. On FreeVee, some of them might be as short as 15 seconds. But even with ads, an hour show (meaning a show that did take an hour to broadcast originally) takes about 44 minutes. If I'm going to be subject to ads, I want ad time restricted and (on the internet) the number of ads restricted. Instead of a gazillion ads with each advertiser paying a pittance to bombard you, make the ad cost substantial and the number of ads strictly limited. We'd all be happier and the ads we'd see would be better ads.

[BoggleOtaku]

I just read through this wide-ranging thread. It's good to take a break from ad watching, and, say, get some practice in for wife-carrying and cowchip-tossing contests (not good to get those confused!). For entertainment (aside for wordtwist) usually I cook, do woodworking and home projects or play piano or chess, but just recently I put together a spreadsheet to interpolate polynomials through given points and was really surprised to see this topic discussed. For further amusement, after reading this thread, I took a stab at transforming the polynomials in their standard (diagonalized) form to a different orthonormal coordinate system (cartesian to polar) and rediagonalizing but just ended up with a mess. I guess I'll leave it to the experts...
polyinterp.png

[2cute]

When I was a lad, many, many years ago, the FCC ruled what could be on US TV. Ads were tightly regulated: there could be no more than X seconds of ads per break and no more than Y seconds per half-hour or hour show. It seems to me that X was 90 and Y was 270 per half-hour or maybe 480 per hour. The thing was, with a restricted time the ad prices rose; the air time was worth more. If your ad cost a lot to run, it had better be a really good ad. I've watched TV shows with all the ads and it's ridiculous. 90 seconds? Ad breaks can be five minutes or more. If you want to watch an hour show, the ads will cost you about half of that. I watch streaming TV on free channels like FreeVee, Tubi, Pluto, Crackle, Plex, Xumo, and so on. Their shows do include ads, and usually the breaks are about 90 seconds, tops. On FreeVee, some of them might be as short as 15 seconds. But even with ads, an hour show (meaning a show that did take an hour to broadcast originally) takes about 44 minutes. If I'm going to be subject to ads, I want ad time restricted and (on the internet) the number of ads restricted. Instead of a gazillion ads with each advertiser paying a pittance to bombard you, make the ad cost substantial and the number of ads strictly limited. We'd all be happier and the ads we'd see would be better ads.

Agreed. I wouldn't mind 2 30 sec ads for an entire game or as breaks for a tv show. But that's not how it is. Each ad break is 5+ min & mostly its some overly priced medication you wouldn't ask you doctor about because you'd be paying for that ad time if you were to purchase it.

[2cute]

I just read through this wide-ranging thread. It's good to take a break from ad watching, and, say, get some practice in for wife-carrying and cowchip-tossing contests (not good to get those confused!). For entertainment (aside for wordtwist) usually I cook, do woodworking and home projects or play piano or chess, but just recently I put together a spreadsheet to interpolate polynomials through given points and was really surprised to see this topic discussed. For further amusement, after reading this thread, I took a stab at transforming the polynomials in their standard (diagonalized) form to a different orthonormal coordinate system (cartesian to polar) and rediagonalizing but just ended up with a mess. I guess I'll leave it to the experts...
polyinterp.png

Yes, since the ads have become too much for me, I too spend less time doing the activities that require me to see them. Recently I've been learning about various painters. The National Gallery of Art website is amazing. There's so many paintings to view that aren't hung in the museum for various reasons. Plus I've learned more about painters I already knew like Vincent Van Gogh, he has lots of paintings that are not well known that I really like. I didn't know he had like 30+ self portraits. Before now, I knew of only a couple.

[BoggleOtaku]

I had a chance to see an exhibit featuring his paintings on tour once a long time ago, can't remember where... It had a lot of his self portraits. I think I first learned about complementary colors from The Starry Night.

[Naboka]

So I'm sitting here on break. A break from cleaning the garage. A break I bartered with the wife:

for every half hour of cleaning, I can play one game.

Harsh but fair.

My packrat ways have caught up with me, and the wife, having watched Swedish Death Cleaning has put her foot down, taken a stand, manned the bastions, yada yada.

But, that's distraction. The real point of this comment is that I'm eating cantaloupe.

"So what?" you might ask.

Well, I didn't buy it, didn't plant it. It decided to grow on it's own. One in the front, one in the back. The front one has 7 (was 8) large melon almost ready to pick. The back one has 4 (less sun?). Plus lots of little ones promising a future crop. Both are growing like crazy, sending vines over everythig in their path. They're growing over bushes, up the front porch, up the back deck, over everything.

But, it's sure good melon, so...

We have a habit of sitting on the front porch eating such things as cataloupe and watermelon, then seeing who can spit seeds the farthest. Cantaloupe seeds aren't large so they tend not to go far. (But, it's more the spitting and less about distance.)

Which is probably the origin of the volunteers.

Anyone else have any good garden stories?

(Guess I'd better head back. Played my allotted games. But there was no clause about posting. Anything to extend those breaks,--while remaining somewhat responsible and marginally ethical about a contract I was forced to sign. After all, she's at the beach in Florida for a week, so maybe I should just...

get back to work.

[2cute]

So I'm sitting here on break. A break from cleaning the garage. A break I bartered with the wife:

for every half hour of cleaning, I can play one game.

Harsh but fair.

My packrat ways have caught up with me, and the wife, having watched Swedish Death Cleaning has put her foot down, taken a stand, manned the bastions, yada yada.

But, that's distraction. The real point of this comment is that I'm eating cantaloupe.

"So what?" you might ask.

Well, I didn't buy it, didn't plant it. It decided to grow on it's own. One in the front, one in the back. The front one has 7 (was 8) large melon almost ready to pick. The back one has 4 (less sun?). Plus lots of little ones promising a future crop. Both are growing like crazy, sending vines over everythig in their path. They're growing over bushes, up the front porch, up the back deck, over everything.

But, it's sure good melon, so...

We have a habit of sitting on the front porch eating such things as cataloupe and watermelon, then seeing who can spit seeds the farthest. Cantaloupe seeds aren't large so they tend not to go far. (But, it's more the spitting and less about distance.)

Which is probably the origin of the volunteers.

Anyone else have any good garden stories?

(Guess I'd better head back. Played my allotted games. But there was no clause about posting. Anything to extend those breaks,--while remaining somewhat responsible and marginally ethical about a contract I was forced to sign. After all, she's at the beach in Florida for a week, so maybe I should just...

get back to work.

LOL Yes, those are seeds, so your 'front' garden must be like an abstract painting, melons growing all over w/o any arrangement.

That's a good idea, then you don't play too long & you get something accomplished too. I do that, except most of my clutter are folders in my file cabinet. Old tax files, financial data, closed accounts, previous employer info ... and recently I found articles I had once read & thought they were useful to be kept. I haven't looked @ them since. Not so useful I guess. I always say I'll organize them in the winter when its too cold to go out but then its too cold to do just that. Shivering & organizing don't mesh. So these tasks have become its too hot outside to venture out task. This has worked out much better.

[bwt1213]

It's been a week since the last comment. And now I'm looking for the thread in which Penzey's spices were discussed, and I wanted to know how they'd turned out. I can't find the thread, so this looks like where it should have been. I own no stock in the company but I like what they do and I was just wondering. I hope they turned out well for everyone, but that's probably impossible. My wife and I have been brought out of retirement and asked (begged is more like it) to help the rescue with a golden retriever with behavior issues -- panic attacks at loud noises, separation anxiety, doggie nightmares, and weird reactions to common medications, and more -- and we have a reputation for being able to handle such dogs (even 90 pound ones) and so here we are, and have been since August 25. Hence the lower number of games played. ANYWAY, we're going to the local farm stand for their end-of-season stuff and will likely buy a kohlrabi (about 6 - 8 pounds) or two, some winter squash, maybe some end-of-season tomatoes if they have any good ones left, some eggplant, and whatever else looks nice (potatoes are high on the list). And, of course, all will be cooked and seasoned. So, any suggestions? Vegetables and seasonings are what I'm asking for, but pairings with meat/eggs/fish/cheese etc. are certainly welcome!

[Naboka]

Screen Shot 2023-10-28 at 9.11.15 PM.png

Basic concept is twisted/reversed symbols.

(Thought it prudent to post the word first for those who don't care for TLDNR.)

As is often the case with this game, ran across an unusual word that came up recently.

The wife teaches kindergarten, which means teaching the basics of reading. And I mean basic from the ground up. From nada to ability.

The school has adopted the Heggerty curriculum this year. Next year or one following, that will change. The district will suddenly discover that not not everyone is reading at expected levels and desperately seek another cure-all to fix the problem.

Whatever. She always manages to teach most of them to read above level regardless.

Problem is, not everyone is alike.

Problem also is, why can't some children learn?

They've learned their names. They know what a tree is. They've learned all sorts of stuff. So it's not really that they can't learn. But...

Thus far, she's introduced the kids to the letters/sounds m, s, a, i, n, t, p, f. So we help them practise to gain fluency. One on one if possible.

Which brings this: she was working with a sweet little boy. Laid down cards with each letter. So, she'd remind him that this is the letter s and it makes the ss sound. He'd get it, repeat it back, but... couldn't get it a few seconds later. I sat there, fascinated, trying to understand how his brain was processing by watching his eyes. Why couldn't he get these single sounds when some of his fellow students were already starting to put the sounds together to spell, to write and read simple sentences?

The mind is so mysterious.

And every word here (even the seemingly fake and stupid ones) represent concepts that minds have conceived.

For years I've watched kids twist and warp things that they're trying to learn. They see it, then their brain somehow twists it around and...

Still trying to figure that one out. Still studying it.

When strephosymbolia came up, part of me imagined other players encountering the board, seeing the word and thinking it's just a ridiculous/fake word that no one could possibly know. Nor find.

Fortunately or not, that isn't the case.

Life's so full of opportunities to learn and experience. Words are like souvenirs for our experiences. Traveling the world of thought. Lots of memories.

ps: wish I could post stuff anonymously. I'm sure there are players tired of seeing my symbolia and would love to strepho my neck.

Such is human nature.

[2cute]

It's been a week since the last comment. And now I'm looking for the thread in which Penzey's spices were discussed, and I wanted to know how they'd turned out. I can't find the thread, so this looks like where it should have been. I own no stock in the company but I like what they do and I was just wondering. I hope they turned out well for everyone, but that's probably impossible. My wife and I have been brought out of retirement and asked (begged is more like it) to help the rescue with a golden retriever with behavior issues -- panic attacks at loud noises, separation anxiety, doggie nightmares, and weird reactions to common medications, and more -- and we have a reputation for being able to handle such dogs (even 90 pound ones) and so here we are, and have been since August 25. Hence the lower number of games played. ANYWAY, we're going to the local farm stand for their end-of-season stuff and will likely buy a kohlrabi (about 6 - 8 pounds) or two, some winter squash, maybe some end-of-season tomatoes if they have any good ones left, some eggplant, and whatever else looks nice (potatoes are high on the list). And, of course, all will be cooked and seasoned. So, any suggestions? Vegetables and seasonings are what I'm asking for, but pairings with meat/eggs/fish/cheese etc. are certainly welcome!

Wow, what a loaded question.

Off the top of my head ...

Eggplant is good as Baba Ganoush & healthy. Here's one recipe: themediterraneandish.com/baba-ganoush-recipe/ I removed the https and www so I wouldn't get flagged as spam when I post this.

Tomatoes are good in all kinds of dishes. Alone with basil or parsley in a sandwich, in a BLT, or you can also add cold cuts if you like, if you can only find the over ripe ones, you can wash & cook them into a sauce & enjoy them over pasta, on bread or as the base for a homemade pizza. Seasoning tomatoes varies depending on the dish, though adding a little salt (teaspoon is enough) brings out its sweet & tangy flavor, its also good w/basil, tarragon, parsley & oregano. Not all together. Choose one or two for a single dish. I've even eaten tomatoes as a salad. You just slice it on a plate, pour a little (less than 2 tablespoons) olive oil over the entire tomato, little salt (teaspoon or 2 depending on size), basil or oregano-dried or fresh, put a little less if dried. If you have some crusty Italian or French Bread to soak up the extra juice that even adds more depth.

Aww, the doggie sounds cute & cuddly. Its great you gave him/her companionship.

[crazykate]

This doesn't qualify as "fun" in any other sense but being sarcastic, but I'm currently sitting in the "relaxing room" of a spa, waiting for my daughter's toe to stop bleeding. She managed to cut it open on the edge of a floor tile and the medic who helped disinfect it said it's too small to do anything about it, but it's too deep and bleeding too much for the spray-on bandaid to do anything. So she needs to elevate her feet for the next couple of hours and wait for it to stop. This happened about 10 minutes after we arrived and paid for half the day. What fun.