Comments

[Boulevardiere]

In the long word game, the last year I have seen many hitherto unseen names in the best word competition list with 20-24 letter words played. There were also a few usernames there I have never seen on ANY best/longest word record. Seems like there's some cheating going on but no way to prove it. Just have to accept playing along with fraudsters...

I can't remember when I actually joined (I suppose it'll say when I post this), but I played for years before that without an account. Never will I ever approach the point totals of the best or even average players, but I enjoy looking for long and unusual words. One day, I thought it might be vaguely interesting to put my weird/long/scientific words on the record. As a casual player, I did not expect there to be so much discussion and controversy around the "ethics" of the game, and I'd just as soon go back to playing signed out if the way I play bothered people – although I don't play with enough dedication (or talent) to be likely to cause a stir.

Whether people are cheating or not (and some of them surely are; they're people, after all), I just thought I'd offer this possible alternative explanation for someone seemingly showing up out of nowhere with long words. Ignorance of unspoken rules isn't necessarily a good defense, but it's a common one.

[lalatan]

Fair enough, Boulevardiere. If anyone plays w/o cheating it's all good with me. I didn't consider your alternative explanation of a sudden appearance with abilities. I started out as a speed player 10 years ago but I didn't sign in for the first few months until I could come up with decent scores. Just practised then. So I get it. Enjoy the games.

[Naboka]

While making roasted brussel sprouts I thought about coming up and playing a game or so while they cooked. It struck me that my wife and I had never discussed this tempest in a teapot. I had asked her if she had any darks for the laundry. She discussed whether we wanted a live edge for the mantle. There were hundreds of things we had talked about during this time. But not this.

Why?

It's not really important. A little entertaining. But just a little. If I were reading a novel and the answers we're looking for here were the incentive to turn the page, I'd undoubtedly return the book to the library.

My wife and I sometimes engage in a battle of good vs evil. She's the good. And, like in Star Wars and every other epic, good tends to win. It's not like that in real life, but what the heck. She's kicking my butt in ours, making me see the advantage of her viewpoint over mine.

If I bothered to bring up this subject and explain it, she would look at me with that you-don't-have-anything-better-to-do-with-your-time look. A scathing look. Withering. Humbling. The one thing she would ask would be, "have you ever considered what might be going on in their life?" Did they lose a loved one? Did they get fired? Are they just socially inept and desperate for attention? We just don't know what goes on in anyone else's life.

Maybe what he's doing protects him from life's absurdities.

Living with a decent person has gradually eroded the cliffs of my cruelty. But its was day after day, wave after wave, one grain at a time. Nothing said on these forums or any other will change who we are , will change our morals, will change our justifications for what we do. We can't change anyone. They have to change themselves. It's like the lesson we give every kindergartener: "can we make you want to do your best work? Can we get inside your brain and make you learn?" The answer is inevitably "no." They have to do it themselves. They're the ones who have to want to be honest. They're the ones who have to want to use their brains to do the work vs stealing what their neighbor's done.

"Don't rob their brain," is a constant for the kids. They have to decide. They have to do the work. Not all of them will ever learn those lessons. A percentage will grow up dependent on what exists outside their brains to get through life. They'll become workers who claim to have done the work someone else has done. So many things they'll end up doing because they never learned.

But, each of has to make our own choices and whatever choices any other player makes here really has no impact on my life at all. I don't know what burdens anyone else here has --or doesn't.

It's just not my place to think for anyone and make them better. That's their job.

[BoggleOtaku]

Naboka, I found your sleuthing analysis facinating, and it also helped me understand why the "tempest in the teapot", to quote your characterization of it. It made reading this thread worthwhile for me. Thanks for sharing!

[dannyb]

"While making roasted Brussels sprouts . . ." Roast them with cumin seeds and make a drizzle of agave nectar and Dijon mustard (add some mustard whisk and taste then adjust until you get the flavor profile you prefer). Another nice way is to toss the Brussels sprouts in rendered guanciale fat roast them and then toss them with the diced browned guanciale and drizzle with a little maple syrup,

[Naboka]

"While making roasted Brussels sprouts . . ." Roast them with cumin seeds and make a drizzle of agave nectar and Dijon mustard (add some mustard whisk and taste then adjust until you get the flavor profile you prefer). Another nice way is to toss the Brussels sprouts in rendered guanciale fat roast them and then toss them with the diced browned guanciale and drizzle with a little maple syrup,

Yum.

The wife's a lacto vegetarian so no guanciale. And she's not prone to experimentation with food. When she finds something she likes, that's it. She knows exactly what she's getting at any restaurant we frequent.

This batch I just used salt and pepper. Not especially flavorful. Organic ones from Costco. Think I'm gonna try the cumin/agave/dijon. She does like mustard

And thanks BoggleOtaku. Life just goes better when we're able to give something worthwhile to others. I've always been a bit of a self-absorbed twit. But long ago, I realised that the most selfish thing you can do is make others happy. Seems contradictory, but the rewards far exceed anything one gets from being merely about one's self--selfish. Not that it's completely cured my self-absorbed twittishness, but...

[dannyb]

As Anthony Bourdain said, "Ah, the vegetarians and their Hezbollah, like splinter group the vegans." Hey, I make a vegan meringue if your interested.

[Naboka]

As Anthony Bourdain said, "Ah, the vegetarians and their Hezbollah, like splinter group the vegans." Hey, I make a vegan meringue if your interested.

Thankfully, I get to eat my burgers without protest. After years of not eating McDonald's (kids grew up) I went in a few months ago and got a couple with fries. It was buy one get one for a dollar. One was the fish sandwich. Loved it. Then again, my tastes are as sophisticated as a junkyard dog.

As for meringue, she eats eggs also. Keeping up with wide range of what's a "vegetarian" can be taxing. That said, I'd love the recipe. Might be a while before I have time to try it, but it can nestle comfortably with other recipes I'm getting around to.

[dannyb]

Years ago I was making humus and I noticed that the liquid in the can of chick peas resembled egg whites in texture. So I thought what the heck let me get out the mixer with a whisk attachment. Just substituted the liquid from the chick peas for egg whites. Cream of tarter for stabilization (because that's how I made meringue using egg whites. I don't know if it is necessary though). Whipped it til it was foamy. Slowly added sugar and then whipped the dickens out of it. It wasn't until about 10 years ago that I found out that what I was doing was an actual "thing". They now call chick pea liquid aquafaba!! Much better name than what I called it. Much to my wife's chagrin, I called it "bean snot". My wife would always tell me, "When people come to dinner please don't tell them that they are eating whipped 'bean snot'".

[2cute]

Years ago I was making humus and I noticed that the liquid in the can of chick peas resembled egg whites in texture. So I thought what the heck let me get out the mixer with a whisk attachment. Just substituted the liquid from the chick peas for egg whites. Cream of tarter for stabilization (because that's how I made meringue using egg whites. I don't know if it is necessary though). Whipped it til it was foamy. Slowly added sugar and then whipped the dickens out of it. It wasn't until about 10 years ago that I found out that what I was doing was an actual "thing". They now call chick pea liquid aquafaba!! Much better name than what I called it. Much to my wife's chagrin, I called it "bean snot". My wife would always tell me, "When people come to dinner please don't tell them that they are eating whipped 'bean snot'".

What did it taste like?

[dannyb]

Just like meringue. It can also be baked, or torched.

[BoredInTheCar]

I'm super impressed that you independently invented "bean snot." I was aware of aquafaba, because I've read about it (but haven't tried yet - some day I'll get around to it). But I wouldn't have figured it out on my own.

[dannyb]

I'm sure someone else had already done it. There is really "nothing new under the sun" when it comes to food. Now we can instantly find that "new combo" we just came up with somewhere on the net. Radish-green "pesto". Pasta with sliced snowball radishes, brown butter, capers and sage. etc, etc, etc Back in the day it may have taken a year or two to come across a recipe in a cook book that we thought was ours.

[2cute]

Just like meringue. It can also be baked, or torched.

Interesting, it doesn't sound tasty. I usually throw that part away & rinse my peas quite a bit to prevent flatulence. I like chick pea taste, I'm not a fan of the after effects.

I'm sure someone else had already done it. There is really "nothing new under the sun" when it comes to food. Now we can instantly find that "new combo" we just came up with somewhere on the net. Radish-green "pesto". Pasta with sliced snowball radishes, brown butter, capers and sage. etc, etc, etc Back in the day it may have taken a year or two to come across a recipe in a cook book that we thought was ours.

I disagree, not every recipe has been created. My family has many similar type meals yet with added ingredients I've never seen others use.

[Naboka]

Here's an example of what makes no sense to me. When this player is on line, the number of my total records takes a serious beating. Theoretically, he's kicking my butt. And that's perfectly fine. Happens to almost all of us..

Yet, when I run across his games (this a not an atypical outcome) :

Screen Shot 2024-11-09 at 6.01.50 PM.png


Granted I tend to speed up playing him but the consequence of speeding up is often mistyped words due to jibbity-wibbity fingers. For example in this game I had typed in: POSSIE/8, ZOA/7, SEZ/9, SESS/6/, SISS/6, FOSS/6 that ended up not being recorded because my typing skills suck. So, if I were a better typist I would have won by at least 140 points rather than 68. (And I've beaten them by much more in other games even not trying to count mistyped/lost words.)

Do you see the discrepency?

How am I consistently beating them, yet they're destroying my games?

And not just mine. Megaword, boysmom, and others are getting crushed.

I was on line when one of my records disappeared and they set a new personal high in points. Because the game would have recycled, the most I could have scored would have been 700, yet he apparently beat that by 700 plus points?!! Sure, maybe it was someone else's score they beat, but the timing and past patterns suggest... 700 points. Wow!.

Okay, we have an elite player at the top of the heap destroying top players. Happens in all sorts of endeavors. Skill levels improve. Training improves.

Out of curiosity, I've been tracking their wins/losses. Starting with when they had 39 games played this month, their total high-score records was 3060. Last I checked (yesterday or the day before) they had played 192 games with 3167 record high-scores.

Simple math: 192-39=153 games played

3167-3060=107 total games with record high score.

That's a win/loss ratio of 107/46. Around 70%. Pretty darned good. Most of us would froth at the mouth to be so lucky.

YET! You'd expect that someone capable of 200+ wpgame and crushing megaword, boysmom and every other top player would not be having 46 losses in 153 games. Just doesn't track with expected skill level.

Granted, all of us have good and bad days. But our days all fall within a given range. A 500 point player might be doing 400 on a bad day and 600 on a good day. And sometimes the difference in games we play can approach 200 point variances.

But the more skilled a person becomes, the less bobble they experience in performance.

Usain Bolt would not be losing to the best sprinters even on a bad day. His skill level was just superior. Simone Biles is just going to win. The typing skill of someone capable of well over 230 wpg is not going to be troubled by the clumsiness that normal players experience. You're not going to see top guitarists flubbing chords, or trained singers missing notes. The skill level is just too high. Sure, some of their performances can become transcendant, and some can be merely good, but the consistency will persist within a very high range of skill.

Consistency is a hallmark of individuals who achieve high levels of skill. In anything. Even the bad days are superior.

Which leaves me wondering...