tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-372636952012-02-10T16:13:41.315-05:00Whatever comes to mind, as it comes to mind. Here mainly to prove that I am, indeed, still alive.tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.comBlogger2131100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-70602583368879230472012-02-01T06:43:00.009-05:002012-02-03T00:23:48.209-05:00

I am proud to announce a puzzle contest that I have created, "Virginia Is For Lovers". I am using it to raise money for a local charity, Transitions. Randomly selected winners will receive ThinkGeek gift certificates. (Even if you've never shopped there, I feel confident that you can find something you'll want.)DETAILSThe contest will run through February 14th, 2012. Interested people need to

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-16624110500831511292012-01-01T19:34:00.002-05:002012-01-01T19:51:53.860-05:00

(I was planning to leave this as a comment on the post linked above in the title, but comments appear to be closed -- or else my browser has decided not to show me the comment box.)Even in the midst of a contretemps about anonymous/pseudonymous blogging, you can still see a shining example of the value of the personal touch (even if you don't really know who is doing the touching):Blogger A outs

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-19027423563522476512011-08-07T20:35:00.003-04:002011-08-07T21:15:21.602-04:00

It felt really weird to be in my bathroom brushing my teeth at 7am when I had an 8am flight. The ideas of online checkin + not having to drive one (or four!) hours to an airport have still not really sunk in.Flight up non-eventful. Between waiting in the terminal plus on-flight, I got four more puzzles done in the book of Hook 'n' Hex Boston Globe Sundays. Eventually I will finish that book...

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-66022911701083059882011-07-07T13:22:00.003-04:002011-07-07T23:56:33.774-04:00

Fortunately the thunderstorms stopped yesterday around 5:30, so it was smooth sailing for the evening festivities. Saw The Importance of Being Earnest at the ASC and it was excellent. They do entertainment during the interludes there, and they were definitely working on tying the interludes into the show -- the first break had the cast doing the B-52's Love Shack (I was definitely amused by

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-77614495110274095092011-07-06T16:12:00.003-04:002011-07-06T16:24:35.523-04:00

I am on vacation, which is easy to spot because I have internet access. (It's only been 37 days since I had internet at home, and I've only got 5 more to go!) The theme for today has definitely been rain: I woke up this morning to somebody spraying water at my window with a hose (which turned out to be Mother Nature), left in the rain, drove in the rain to Richmond where there was 10 minutes of

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-16996170453196153782011-03-21T21:18:00.004-04:002011-03-21T22:37:29.322-04:00

This year I downloaded the full-version, extra-deluxe, double-the-cost version of the scores spreadsheet (thanks Doug Heller for making it available!) which has for everybody not just the points they scored but how they got there (wrong letters, wrong words, minutes on the clock). Granted they will still be making corrections (one of my errors was inexplicably un-highlighted, so I know there's

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-61618167368995351052011-03-20T21:31:00.005-04:002011-03-20T23:20:39.743-04:00

First good omen of the trip: when I arrive at LaGuardia and put my MetroCard in the machine, I have more money on it than I thought meaning I don't have to put any money in for the weekend.Second good omen of the trip: when I step outside, there is a bus already there.Early check-in worked again despite me not bothering to tell them, so hooray for the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott.Nap time! before

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-82650275040392493492011-03-12T16:38:00.003-05:002011-03-12T16:40:43.747-05:00

And we end not with a bang, but with an anguished cry of despair. I managed to pay for six of the first five hands, since my I-really-shouldn't-do-this-but-I've-lost-the-last-five-hands-and-this-makes-my-hand-able-to-go-out discard gave two of my opponents mahjong, and in RCR they both win. I had a couple good hands towards the end, but it was far too little. I managed to come in last at the

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-50787107051992856282011-03-12T15:51:00.004-05:002011-03-12T15:53:16.529-05:00

A lot of self-drawn, a lot of dealer winning and keeping the deal -- in 50 minutes and 12 or so hands, we never did get all the way around as dealer once. I won the first three (two as dealer), then there was a draw, then my RHO won six in a row (five self-drawn so that we all had to pay) and was the winner by far. Still, two points, and I've now moved to the right side of the middle to 17th

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-4507368841610358722011-03-12T14:51:00.003-05:002011-03-12T14:56:04.535-05:00

Ooh now I'm upset. I managed to forget to declare riichi on the first hand (and didn't feel like letting my winning tile go by so I would get the chance on my next turn), so +3200 turned into +1600 right away. Building up a 17000 point lead in the first three hands felt great, though. But then I paid a couple big hands, and was down by a lot. Then I won a big hand back, but I was down 900

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-91703600601939633272011-03-12T13:51:00.002-05:002011-03-12T13:54:18.519-05:00

It's still really weird to me to play 50 minute rounds, rather than the traditional 90 minutes. Had a fair few good hands this go round, and actually won three without discarding for any, which for me is an exceptional go of defense. The last one was a really quick win with about :50 on the clock to get back into second place after East had self drawn a mangan hand, so two points so far.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-31107923816244513272010-12-09T23:50:00.002-05:002010-12-10T00:04:38.008-05:00

This is actually mostly a true story, so in order to actually have a parable I have perhaps exaggerated some bits. So all apologies to those named.When I was first doing a job search way back when in '05, one of the places I applied was Benedictine at Atchison, KS, which has a combined math/computer science department. They posted the job opening on MathSciNet (which is where I found it),

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-89708615595613745582010-08-15T10:57:00.002-04:002010-08-15T13:05:08.076-04:00

Thoughts about the tournament itself -- and note that you can get the puzzles and assorted accoutrements from Ryan and Brian themselves.Definitely a good spread over on the snack table, not to mention the obligatory pickles. I tended to stick to the classics though: Oreos and Chex Mix.I wander into the building just as the person working the check-in computer apparently managed to convert the

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-66766468474827980302010-08-14T21:26:00.003-04:002010-08-14T21:34:20.215-04:00

*The day starts rather inauspiciously, as the airport lot I am accustomed to parking in now has signs saying it is "short term" parking, meaning I decided to park rather further away.*I decide (because it is 7am) that I would like the $49 upgrade to "front-of-the-plane" class, thanks.*I am momentarily awestruck by the fact that they have completed the construction in the terminal and there really

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-92187671598978134072010-06-15T15:21:00.002-04:002010-06-15T15:23:39.809-04:00

Because I can, I have posted a puzzle suite on my puzzle page. Worth what you paid for them! Might even be worth twice what you paid for them!

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-47243559128177168842010-05-16T12:19:00.002-04:002010-05-16T12:42:24.879-04:00

I played in my first "large" Riichi-rules tournament yesterday online (actually using the "prize money" I had won from a small sit-and-go tournament to pay the entry). The organizers had finally found either the brains or the courage to remove players who didn't show or left during the tournament (they've only been doing this since 2007), so we finished with only 32 players out of the original 40

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-65979140988863852262010-05-03T01:38:00.002-04:002010-05-03T01:41:06.960-04:00

So I finished a puzzle suite, and now comes the time when I beg for people to testsolve. Given that I just finished at 1:39am, that pretty much guarantees two puzzles will be (a) incoherently expressed, (b) a bad idea or (c) ridiculously easy (with an option on (d) all of the above). Anyway, if you want to get in on the ground floor of this thing, let me know in the comments.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-26182160851253265612010-04-03T23:50:00.003-04:002010-04-04T00:44:08.579-04:00

Trying to make each occurrence of each number be the same letter.Trying to take all the letters that a number "stands for" and making words out of them.Taking the dart scores mod 26 to get a letter of the alphabet.Taking the dart scores mod the number of letters in the answer to index into the answer words.Taking the first numbers of the dart scores as an index into the answer words.Trying to use

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-19340687248504754562010-03-12T19:09:00.002-05:002010-03-12T19:17:15.388-05:00

The self-checkout lanes in Walmart had been set to "British". My inner glow at hearing a British accent was slightly jarred by the script changes (most jarring was hearing "notes" for "change").I vaguely remember there being more than one brand of dishwasher detergent, but according to the store shelves I must have been mistaken.At some point I should look around and see who still plays major

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-64392240923772379532010-02-28T15:16:00.002-05:002010-02-28T15:54:00.361-05:00

The front half looks like a good set of puzzles; my black ink cartridge is mostly gone, so I'm trying not to print very much (until I get back to work on Monday, of course). As much as possible, I'm trying to solve in my electronic whiteboard software (which is a lot easier when I have my drawing tablet, but I've discovered that I can type on top of the screen-captured puzzle and it won't erase

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-82090018264164739772010-02-24T09:34:00.004-05:002010-02-24T10:01:56.524-05:00

Over 25% of the field were rookies this year, despite a 5% decrease in the size of the field. Where did all these people go? (There are always going to be people who can't make the date, can't arrange to come, etc. I mean, even I've skipped a year since I first started coming. 160 of them, though?)The six non-number-five puzzles felt like they were flattened out relative to last year (as I

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-11549621878874691362010-02-22T17:14:00.005-05:002010-02-24T10:03:32.739-05:00

Note well: all these numbers are based on the version of the tab-delimited scores that I downloaded earlier today. I may bother to update this with the "final" version in a week's time, or whatever, but I probably won't. As before, it is theoretically possible for my formulas to overestimate the number of perfect puzzles (you would need to make three errors for a total of five words (i.e., two

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-90200636013383277872010-02-22T15:03:00.004-05:002010-02-22T15:14:09.896-05:00

The numbers will come in a later post. (A spoiler is involved! Danger!)"Sales pitch" was probably the most talked-about clue over the weekend. Everybody said to me, "That was a very clever and original clue!" I said to all of them, "But this is the third time I've seen it this week!" Since no one else seemed to have heard of it recently, it must have been in my book of Hook 'n' Hex Boston Globe

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-1411838046679709492010-02-09T21:59:00.003-05:002010-02-09T23:04:00.366-05:00

There's been flurries this year about the costs for ACPT being re-jiggered this year (I suppose the theme is "you thought you could save $50 by not choosing the banquet -- ha ha fooled you!"). So I thought about preparing a "bid" for bringing the thing down here. Obviously I won't be able to actually do a budget, because I don't know what the current budget really is, nor am I going to bother

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-53033010014390705872010-02-07T16:14:00.002-05:002010-02-07T16:27:29.813-05:00

The advantages of today's grocery run are (a) I got to get my car cleaned off in advance of tomorrow's 8am class and (b) I got to then park in the sun to let more melting happen.Of course, the only problem was on the passenger side (and the front and back, naturally); the driver's side was completely free of any snow, ice, or other winter accoutrement.It would be really nice if I could get, when

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-45206767266326909322010-01-22T20:56:00.002-05:002010-01-22T21:06:39.552-05:00

OMG OMG two P&A metas in a row. Either Foggy is slipping or I, after 10 years of this, have started to not suck at these. They both seem vanishingly unlikely.My ACPT training: I started working on the big book of Boston Globe puzzles when I got to the auto shop today at 9:30. My hand started to hurt around 12:15, so that's not bad I guess. I took a break and started in again at 12:30 and then

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-24900703501651124562010-01-11T22:10:00.010-05:002010-01-18T11:33:53.763-05:00

This is here mainly to remind myself, when I want to throw this entire stack of papers out a window, that I've actually done something with this set. Also, to help me keep track of which ones of these I want to look at sooner rather than later. (And of course all the finished puzzles are implicitly "unless I've done something stupid".)Shadow of the Vampire: sure looks nice, thoughDay Watch: ding!

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-4335097434936989862010-01-06T01:25:00.003-05:002010-01-06T02:21:28.135-05:00

1. What interesting things are going to happen Friday evening? Good question. There will be a huge crush of humanity trying to meet and greet and set up plans for Friday after the games and Saturday lunch and Saturday night and Sunday lunch and Sunday after the awards. One group getting together Saturday noon will discover that none of them actually knew each other previously, and three

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-58171431063656700972009-12-17T13:14:00.002-05:002009-12-17T13:22:35.588-05:00

Some great crosswords in the NYTimes recently; the all-name puzzle from last week, and today's Heaney/Blindauer construction was great. (It was interesting: I figured out what the gimmick was going to be, and then only once did I consciously use that gimmick when solving the puzzle, since I ended up getting most of the "theme" entries the other way in the end.)Although, the most fantastic

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-46251139513044101562009-11-22T20:18:00.002-05:002009-11-22T20:19:04.959-05:00

Seen next to each other at WalMart today: (1) a bag of "Bliss" mint-and-chocolate candy; (2) a can of generic-brand sliced beets.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-51145993825660099412009-11-20T02:10:00.002-05:002009-11-20T02:14:04.966-05:00

The article about social networking refers several times to "[and several other percussion video hosting sites]". I am frankly amazed there's even one "percussion video hosting site".From the "please give us money" article:"My parents helped pay for my first year, then I told them I would pay the rest. I don't want my parents to help," he says, as if it's a point of independence and pride."As if

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-6683526261154421312009-11-16T00:13:00.002-05:002009-11-16T00:33:25.599-05:00

I am running another tournament at apterous.org; calling this one the Winter Closed because (a) it's close enough to winter for me and (b) it's a closed tournament (based on rating). A little smaller than the Summer Open was (45 total, compared to I believe 48 for the Summer Open, counting only distinct entrants). The side speed event is another 30 (but pretty much the same people). I

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-11956648732631052122009-11-11T12:47:00.003-05:002009-11-11T12:48:25.904-05:00

So the standings for the speed demon tournament -- "a colorful way to display information so that you can see at a glance what's going on", or "garish"?

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-24097108733098322842009-11-11T12:09:00.002-05:002009-11-11T12:31:51.860-05:00

I've been using Airtran to get to NYC every year since I got here (even when the ACPT was in Connecticut, nobody actually goes to Connecticut. How else would we get our Connecticut Limo horror stories?). So I'm trying to do some preliminary planning, on the assumption that Willz will only change the date once (which has already happened).I'm pretty sure Airtran used to have a lot more flights

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-46903238754219064032009-11-10T00:28:00.001-05:002009-11-10T00:30:28.038-05:00

So when you go to the GMail login page, your password is filled in for you and you can start typing your username. BUT: As soon as you hit tab or enter, the password is erased (meaning that at least you can't log in without actually typing your password). But what is the point of showing you what your password looks like filled in? "Oooh, that's a lot of dots, I must be using the long password

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-15516919612045110572009-10-29T09:05:00.001-04:002009-10-29T09:06:50.928-04:00

Is here. (h/t Instapundit) I firmly agree with the first commenter: (1) this is a good idea and (2) this shouldn't be (or shouldn't have to be, perhaps) a good idea.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-55800770992206267782009-10-19T17:24:00.003-04:002009-10-19T17:24:31.467-04:00

So my slide rules need some definite attention paid to them, and part of providing that attention is slathering on some white petroleum jelly. The only difficulty here is that I do not actually possess any Vaseline and therefore had to acquire some. Even after 30 minutes in Walmart today, I still could not tell you where Vaseline is stocked there. Fortunately the mouthwash aisle had some in

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-34043708252602557252009-10-18T22:51:00.002-04:002009-10-18T22:52:02.951-04:00

I wandered into the kitchen just now, noticed a box of stuffing, and said "Oooh!" So I will have stuffing as a snack in about seven minutes.Also if someone could find my fingernail clippers I'd appreciate it.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-79299481879322376802009-09-11T13:13:00.002-04:002009-09-11T13:16:25.719-04:00

So clearly [citation needed] is not really a bad thing in Wikipedia. But I'm guessing someone got a little too trigger happy on the "Kernel trick" page:The origin of the term kernel trick is not known.[citation needed]If anyone can find a definitive reference for this, I for one would be happy to see it.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-68514146684150741132009-08-28T14:07:00.002-04:002009-08-28T14:10:11.288-04:00

The Lexus I was behind today coming home from work (well, not coming home so much as going to the Dairy Queen, but it's almost on the way) had three bumper stickers: New England Patriots, Boston Red Sox, and "The most excellent jihad is the conquest of self."

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-48374908554717876732009-08-28T10:03:00.002-04:002009-08-28T12:06:29.519-04:00

Someday soon I'll finish up my Sites page with some tools. Someday.We got some good weekends coming up: the first hints for P&A comes out this weekend (hey, I've already got one puzzle, and most of four others, that's not bad, right?). Eric Berlin's puzzles are coming out soon, and then there's DASH the weekend after that. But those actual, physical, hunts have never been my strong suit, and I

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-37275843308988324222009-08-11T00:05:00.002-04:002009-08-11T00:10:41.895-04:00

So, obviously, Google has webspace for people. For whatever reason (perhaps my ignorance, perhaps an oversight, perhaps a deliberate decision) you can't get there from Blogger so far as I can tell. So while the blog is still here, things that need to be posted will get posted at my new Google Sites page under Puzzles and Tools. Currently I've put up four crostics (which, alas, is currently my

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-75847627307744941012009-07-30T16:34:00.003-04:002009-07-30T16:57:37.843-04:00

The final crosstable for the U1200:SeedNameRatingRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5OverallGamesPPG 2 Matthew Green 1183 162 - 0 132 - 1 142 - 0 122 - 0 112 - 15 +8 85.3 13 Aaron Higgs 1086 272 - 0 21 - 2 42 - 1 32 - 1 52 - 04 +5 91.7 11 Jeff Clayton 1115 252 - 1 192 - 0 172 - 1 152 - 0 21 - 24 +5 83.1 6 Marcus Hares 1162 212 - 0 141 - 2 192 - 0 172 - 1 200 - 03 +4 86.7 7 Mark Harrison

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-31648040593051374162009-07-30T16:30:00.002-04:002009-07-30T16:34:41.439-04:00

The final crosstable for the Summer Open is here:SeedNameRatingRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5OverallGamesPPG 5 Innis Carson 1625 152 - 0 202 - 0 332 - 0 10 - 2 112 - 04 +6 100.5 13 Ben Wilson 1457 31 - 2 262 - 0 302 - 0 332 - 0 282 - 14 +6 94.5 4 Charlie Reams 1643 142 - 1 172 - 0 282 - 0 21 - 2 82 - 14 +5 102.2 3 Jon Corby 1696 132 - 1 100 - 2 222 - 0 122 - 0 72 - 04 +5 102.0 1

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-51062632059995103692009-07-22T10:54:00.003-04:002009-07-22T11:02:24.639-04:00

Oops! Here are some rather tardy crosstables before the last week.For the Open:SeedNameRatingRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4OverallGamesPPG 1 Kirk Bevins 1833 112 - 0 62 - 1 82 - 1 52 - 04 +6 110 8 David O'Donnell 1577 182 - 0 22 - 0 11 - 2 202 - 03 +5 102 7 Kai Laddiman 1579 171 - 2 212 - 0 242 - 0 162 - 03 +5 93.3 4 Charlie Reams 1643 142 - 1 172 - 0 282 - 0 21 - 23 +4 102 5 Innis Carson

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-35356195887838172892009-07-12T20:52:00.002-04:002009-07-12T21:01:20.940-04:00

Heading into the homestretch here, with two weeks to go and four undefeated players, three of whom come from the middle of the pack. Those players marked with * by their names are on the injured reserve list (i.e., they have vanished). With any luck, Lesley H will get to play a game this week. The crosstable:SeedNameRatingRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4OverallGamesPPG 1 Barry Evans 1199 140 -

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-31535905313278984122009-07-12T20:10:00.002-04:002009-07-12T20:23:46.445-04:00

Some terrific matches at the top this week (Kirk overcoming 14 maxes by D O'D to win?!) and there are going to be come terrific matches at the top this week too. The middle is sorting itself out (it always takes a little bit in an accelerated schedule); hopefully this week's matches will be more fun for the "average bloke".This week, because you've earned it, I've sorted the crosstable by

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-90926131176471429362009-07-11T19:07:00.003-04:002009-07-12T20:43:11.372-04:00

Edit: Phil and Shaun finished their game, so round 3 has completed. The crosstable:SeedNameRatingRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4OverallGamesPPG 1 Liam Tiernan 984 102 - 0 72 - 0 52 - 1 40 - 03 +5 82.3 2 Shaun Hegarty 983 92 - 1 82 - 1 62 - 1 30 - 03 +3 86.3 3 Jason Turner 958 82 - 0 60 - 2 40 - 2 20 - 01 -2 80.2 4 James Hall 955 72 - 0 52 - 0 32 - 0 10 - 03 +6 85.5 5 Julie Russell 934 62

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-66310843204904468892009-07-11T18:51:00.002-04:002009-07-11T19:04:01.748-04:00

So pool play is over (more or less) for the U800 group; our final standings in the preliminary phase look like this:SeedNameRatingRound 1Round 2Round 3OverallGamesPPGSeedNameRatingRound 1Round 2Round 3OverallGamesPPG 4 Ian Dent 665 52 - 0 82 - 0 10 - 02 +469.5 2 Maxine Silkstone 722 72 - 0 61 - 2 32 - 12+2 74.4 1 Adam Dexter 724 82 - 0 50 - 0 40 - 01+2 80.5 6 Ben Ziek 619 32 - 1 22 - 1 70

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-79386780539269523622009-07-05T19:07:00.002-04:002009-07-05T19:21:02.866-04:00

And finally, the big one. Again, a little trouble with scheduling, as two matches ended up unplayed this week. (Still, that's a 90% completion rate which isn't too bad.) Seven players remain undefeated going into this week's play. Three or four of them will remain so for next week.The table: (again in seed order, not in order of results):SeedNameRatingRound 1Round 2Round 3OverallGamesPPG 1

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-63621749640546219672009-07-05T18:10:00.002-04:002009-07-05T18:15:57.474-04:00

A few more upsets. You might expect the top 7 to be 2-0 (they aren't), the middle 14 to be 1-1 (they aren't), and the bottom 7 to be 0-2 (alas, they are). Some interesting matchups, although the "closest" in terms of rating are in the 1-1 group. Surprisingly, Matt Morrison is doing worse here than he is in the Open; and Peter Crawley can't catch a break with his third top-10-seed opponent in

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-49764072821978843692009-07-05T13:58:00.002-04:002009-07-05T14:07:36.376-04:00

Only two of the four games were played this week, which makes me very unhappy. Fortunately, it's pool play so they can be made up without damage to the schedule. Perhaps unfortunately, we're coming to the end of the pool play so this is it, all games done this week or 0's for everybody.Where we are right now:SeedNameRatingRound 1Round 2Round 3OverallGamesPPG 1 Adam Dexter 724 82 - 0 50 - 0 40

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-89557763191411874172009-07-05T13:46:00.002-04:002009-07-05T13:52:44.835-04:00

Our modified round robin continues apace. The current state of play, with the matches for Week 3 is as follows:SeedNameRatingRound 1Round 2Round 3OverallGamesPPG 1 Liam Tiernan 984 102 - 0 72 - 0 50 - 02 +4 79.5 2 Shaun Hegarty 983 92 - 1 82 - 1 60 - 02 +2 86 3 Jason Turner 958 82 - 0 60 - 2 40 - 01 +0 84.8 4 James Hall 955 72 - 0 52 - 0 30 - 02 +4 84 5 Julie Russell 934 62 - 0 40 - 2

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-10837235459589725892009-06-28T18:30:00.002-04:002009-06-28T18:33:19.459-04:00

And finally, the premier division. There were some snags, as a couple groups forgot to play their games, which is why there's more losers than winners. On the bright side, I do already have one round 2 game in. If I'm not mistaken, that round 2 game guarantees that there will be a 5-0 player at the end of the tournament (assuming all future matches are played). So that's

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-48906546143881359162009-06-28T18:04:00.002-04:002009-06-28T18:06:42.429-04:00

This is the "normal" division: two pools of four, with the top two from each pool playing their counterparts in the other pool for rounds four and five and the bottom two doing the same. The pools here were "snaked" without regards to rating, so 1/4/5/8 in one pool and 2/3/6/7 in the other. The entire round-robin:SeedNameRatingRound 1Round 2Round 3OverallGamesPPG 1 Adam Dexter 724 82 - 0 50 -

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-80925357037777054412009-06-27T19:17:00.003-04:002009-06-27T19:22:53.730-04:00

Unlike the U1000, there were quite a few upsets, with only five of the top ten seeds winning their first game. That means we have some funny-looking matches this week (normally, when you lose, you play a lower-seeded player in the second round, but because of all the upsets that didn't really happen).The first week's results and the second week's games:SeedNameRatingRound 1Round

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-16187467045082850862009-06-26T18:51:00.004-04:002009-06-26T19:05:50.176-04:00

Since this group is such a pleasure to work with (that is, they've managed to play all their games), I'll put up their crosstable-so-far early:SeedNameRatingRound 1OverallGamesPPG 1 Liam Tiernan 984 102 - 01 +2 76.5 2 Shaun Hegarty 983 92 - 11 +1 81.3 3 Jason Turner 958 82 - 01 +2 92 4 James Hall 955 72 - 01 +2 86.5 5 Julie Russell 934 62 - 01 +2 96.5 6 Phil Collinge 900 50 - 20 -2

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-57920978106286559712009-06-23T14:13:00.002-04:002009-06-23T14:17:52.970-04:00

So the Google Puzzle Championships. First time trying it, knew I would be 25 from the bottom rather than 25 from the top. Certainly don't have a triple digit score to show for it like everybody else. The puzzles: did the battleships and the sudoku, somehow messed up the kenken and the eminent domain, missed one on switch cheese, got writer's block and coordinate pairs, put an incorrect answer

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-72185013224040461192009-06-23T14:10:00.002-04:002009-06-23T14:11:46.125-04:00

From an article about the environmental impact of HFCs:"“CO2 sucks all the oxygen out of the room,” he explained."They have detectors for that now, don't they?

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-18785019889881406592009-05-24T00:34:00.001-04:002009-05-24T00:35:39.168-04:00

So I'm here in Fairfax for PACE NSC, and I'm re-reading my e-mail o' instructions to make sure I'll be on time tomorrow. Of course GMail has Google ads down the side when you're reading mail; my ad for the e-mail? "Are U Creeping Girls Out?" Spookily accurate on so many levels.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-2924944710526078282009-05-15T11:17:00.001-04:002009-05-15T11:20:35.363-04:00

And follow this link and pledge some money and buy some puzzles. He's 80% of the way there, so we need another 20%.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-79154040736389749902009-05-08T17:47:00.001-04:002009-05-08T17:48:19.909-04:00

It tries to mount network drives before (well before) attempting to connect to the network.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-70307022299688319712009-05-03T21:28:00.002-04:002009-05-03T21:30:57.080-04:00

The end of the term has finally arrived. No more double/triple-sized classes to deal with, although still an extra class on the schedule next term. Today I did a puzzle for the first time in about two weeks, so hooray. Still some grading to do, but whatever.The bathroom is sort-of fixed; they put up new wallboard in the ceiling and came along later and smoothed part of it off, but not the rest

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-6927545321570225152009-04-03T00:36:00.002-04:002009-04-03T00:37:02.564-04:00

The vending machine in our break room has as many slots for Yoohoo as it does for coke (four).In addition, one of my students think I look like a "fluffy cat".

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-18324381422002182622009-03-29T00:47:00.002-04:002009-03-29T00:53:26.969-04:00

I was very nearly finished constructing crostic #5 (as in, it's printed here all finished being proofread) when I realized I had screwed up the name of the book I took the quote from! Meaning I'm two words short, can't use some of the words, etc. And I had already had to cut out a line off the end of the quote because the letter distribution was too wonky for me to successfully work it out

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-36209738033543196842009-03-21T17:06:00.004-04:002009-03-21T17:14:43.639-04:00

My pen and pencil from being an all-around good person for February arrived this past week. I don't know what color choices he had available, but this is what I got:Well, it doesn't matter, really, since I'll probably never be using them both at the same time. The goal at the moment is to use the pencils at the next ACPT (and since I said pencils the plan is to win more than one, but that will

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-10649877640087693702009-03-16T23:28:00.003-04:002009-03-16T23:33:29.701-04:00

Ever since the first week of February, I've had an activity of some sort (either QB, mahjongg, or crossword) every weekend. Next weekend will finally be no activity of any kind (okay, possibly breathing, and maybe eating).It is probably not a coincidence that today, a full 30 days after it was released, I finally solved my first puzzle in the back of the recent issue of P&A. I think it will fit

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-12074859626549523552009-03-08T17:41:00.003-04:002009-03-08T18:12:50.069-04:00

Not holding my breath department: one of the most vocal MJT critics, who claims that her games are manipulated by the system and that they're always watching her, etc., equated the MJT admins with various obscene things and said something like "and now watch my afternoon scores". Since she scored over 200 points in the last round, one wonders whether an apology or even a changing of minds will

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-11509087431002617972009-03-08T15:47:00.002-04:002009-03-08T15:53:54.280-04:00

Again we only finished six hands, but that's mostly due to two draws. I finished above water, with a score of 1, good enough for second place. I couldn't seem to build a hand at all that round; managed to get one win off and played some defense.I'm now in 9th place overall; the leader stumbled (still in the lead, but only got a 2nd place last round) so there are no undefeated players left; my -

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-62721689193562981102009-03-08T14:01:00.002-04:002009-03-08T14:05:07.770-04:00

The tournament has imploded at this point; it started about a half-hour late, as Europeans are apparently unable to tell the difference between 4pm and 5pm and most of them were not there at the appointed starting time, and even with the delay many chairs were filled by computer players. At this point in time, there are allegations of cheating being thrown around in the chat (apparently someone

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-77349278789729858772009-03-07T17:01:00.003-05:002009-03-07T17:07:07.878-05:00

Won my two hands at the end instead of at the beginning, which made it look like a bit of a comeback. We had about 10 minutes for the last hand, but we couldn't get it done, so I finished in second place again.There's been some surprising results with some top players not doing very well; also, I think there was a solo player in round 3 (winning 9 hands at a table is pretty darn good, but I know

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-58793889869508484192009-03-07T15:18:00.002-05:002009-03-07T15:21:27.874-05:00

A rather dissatisfying round on all levels. I won the first two hands, and that was it; one of the players is apparently psychologically incapable of making a decision in under 10 seconds; and the other two players discovered the "voice chat" (where you choose one of a few dozen canned statements to express your feelings -- the fun part being (a) the computer actually says it (b) in your own

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-78800265525339887992009-03-07T13:34:00.002-05:002009-03-07T13:36:25.128-05:00

I didn't even try to save the game, since I have not played a hand of mahjongg since the last tournament. On the other hand, I did win three hands (two of them because of luck and poor defense, one because I'm just that good) which left me at first place at the table, barely. I'm not at the bottom of the tiebreakers, but it's pretty close.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-49542257271218869482009-03-02T21:37:00.004-05:002009-03-04T17:15:13.868-05:00

So my scans are up, and I found my other error in puzzle 5 (I had incompletely removed one governmental organization to replace it with another governmental organization).Anyway, the tab-delimited file only goes to puzzle 6 (I don't know why), but I think I figured out a way for Excel to tell me an estimate of the number of people who got a puzzle right (they must have scored at least 10w points,

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-2445186030712920732009-03-01T21:57:00.002-05:002009-03-01T22:28:59.561-05:00

Friday: The plane leaves half an hour late; but due to a tailwind arrives on time. Bit of a scrum at the cab rank, as the family two spots ahead of me got a cabbie unable or unwilling to take her to the Bronx, and got back in line and the cabbie wouldn't leave without a fare. They (the dispatcher and the cabbie) were still arguing when I left. Arrived without incident, wandered a bit, sat down

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-6393657595966124172009-02-15T17:00:00.001-05:002009-02-15T17:16:10.697-05:00

I won the first three hands, and then coasted to a table win (the other three were taking their points from each other, rather than me, so I still had a 40-point cushion at the end of the game). The magic table:RankNameNumberRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6Totals 1 JulJul (SS -0.122) 48 9,22,35 114  4 12,24,36 -7  2 2,26,37 61  2 5,15,38 62  4 8,17,39 119  4 11,19,27 177  420 526 2

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-66120980212056254522009-02-15T15:14:00.003-05:002009-02-15T15:16:58.621-05:00

My goal was to win out, or at worst get 10 points. Missing second place by one point here means that didn't happen. There were lot of people stepping on each other, either by luck or by defense, and I wasn't drawing -- I started one hand with 11 tiles toward a knitted hand, and finished with the same 11 tiles. Oh well. Back down to 14th place, now six points behind the clear leader.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-38409841733782799492009-02-15T13:35:00.004-05:002009-02-15T13:38:42.824-05:00

Won four hands, two of them large and self-drawn so I had a comfortable lead and could afford to pay for the last three hands and still win by over 200 points. The fourth player didn't show up until there were only twenty minutes left; even with winning at the end she couldn't get out of last place at the table. Up to eighth place again; still three points off the lead, as three of the five

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-18875101382987660862009-02-14T17:16:00.005-05:002009-02-14T22:47:41.011-05:00

Well, so much for that. One lousy hand, and back down to 17th. I'll have to double-check (except I think I forgot to save the game), but I felt like that it was half bad decisions and half no-way-not-with-those-tiles.Remember: tomorrow is another day. The plus side is I'm only three points off the pace.I can't get a PDF in here, so maybe I'll rewrite my crosstable generator to generate HTML

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-72203159553248259732009-02-14T15:16:00.001-05:002009-02-14T15:17:21.553-05:00

Only three hands won this round, but we only finished seven instead of ten, so that was enough for a table win. Six points currently has me in 9th place, so my job is to keep it up and not screw it up.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-91629794274386805702009-02-14T13:32:00.002-05:002009-02-14T13:35:27.969-05:00

I won four hands, which feels pretty good given how poorly I've been feeling the last two weeks (and the consequent fact that I don't think I've played a game of MJ for three weeks). Alas, a 150-point comeback by WuTiao on the last two hands (a 22-point self drawn, and a 30-point paid by someone else, so +120 for him and -30 for me) meant I finished second at the table.I did remember to save the

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-26312005763764260262009-01-24T23:30:00.003-05:002009-01-25T00:13:09.520-05:00

So the blog has moved, hasn't it. That means all those hard-coded links to cox.net are dead, doesn't it. Maybe when I completely fail to get to sleep tonight I'll go and fix them.That does mean I'm going to have to re-post the puzzles too. I plan to do that; I'm pretty sure I have all the files and can get them up. My original next crostic wasn't working very well at all; maybe I'll make

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-15147526114609198362009-01-02T15:06:00.002-05:002009-01-02T15:11:52.775-05:00

I'm planning my trip to NY for the ACPT (like I plan trips; let's call it "booking a flight" and be done with it). Anyway: I know I'm going to use Airtran, most likely, but I thought I'd at least see what Delta could do for me. The automatic deal routes me always through Atlanta, which I think is odd, so I look at the full published schedule. And the schedule confirms: Newport News to LGA is

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-78743308888767797562008-12-13T18:27:00.002-05:002008-12-13T18:33:12.458-05:00

It only took four days, but the new "cable" people managed to show up to "install" my new internet connection. The people on the phone at the main office were insistent that their service wouldn't work with our old from-Cox modems; of course the tech showed up with the exact same modem in hand. He suggested that I would be able to get a refund if I return it, so we'll see.I seem to have lost

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-53358702527147758772008-11-29T15:15:00.002-05:002008-11-29T15:17:06.918-05:00

The new P&A came out today. It will not print. I don't know why. I'm going to try it from the laptop to see if it's the Mac driver.After two rounds (three hours!) of mahjong today in the ODMC, I won one hand. Total. Fortunately, that was good enough for second place in the second round, as Martin S. had a habit of going out selfdrawn, so no one else had any points either.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-43068727186356074972008-11-26T22:18:00.002-05:002008-11-26T22:19:54.318-05:00

The last two GMO recaps now available: rounds five and six. The Danish Open is this weekend, so hopefully I have both (1) learned something here and (2) can use what I have learned. We'll find out.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-23438173321541411902008-11-17T19:31:00.000-05:002008-11-17T19:32:34.003-05:00

Hurray recaps! Rounds three and four from the GMO are now available.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-24324595620597655942008-11-16T06:16:00.002-05:002008-11-16T09:02:31.642-05:00

It's amazing how willing you are to do things after you've gotten eighteen hours of sleep and had a liter of Coke. My recapping of round 1 was delayed by the fact that I got (and, of course, accepted) three invitations to play games while reviewing this one. But here is round one from my point of view.Added at 9am: And round two.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-4859304738979098952008-11-09T13:33:00.006-05:002008-11-09T22:36:25.206-05:00

Round 4: A heavy-hitting table; Chris was at 7, the rest of us were at 6. The first hand not only took forever, but was a draw; we managed to finish seven nonetheless. Both of my winning hands were seven pairs; the seven pairs that I tried to turn into all pungs went nowhere. Just enough to get by Chris, who won one but self-drawn for second place. So now, eight points, twentieth place.Round

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-51273652331134747262008-11-08T13:37:00.008-05:002008-11-08T23:32:12.952-05:00

Round 1: Won one hand, which ended up being good enough for third place. (Could have won another, if I had realized that last tile was worth enough to make up for the lack of everything else.) Adrie won the table, with quite a bit of help with me (I don't play very strong defense; I know I'm throwing dangerous tiles, but I often figure it's worth it based on the hand, especially if I'm solidly

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-47893939897695055932008-11-08T11:22:00.003-05:002008-11-08T11:25:55.388-05:00

This weekend it's the German Mahjong Open (online, of course). This is the only thing keeping me as high on the rating list as I am (36) -- if you miss a tournament, it counts as a zero. Another opportunity for me to save games and then neglect to go back and analyze them, and another opportunity for me to tweak my mahjong crosstable generator (which still doesn't handle ties, and is probably

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-63424828087098585082008-10-10T23:14:00.003-04:002008-10-10T23:32:16.801-04:00

It took me nine of the fifteen puzzles, and asking a pretty stupid question to the editor (hey, those menus are in alphabetical order, aren't they?), but I got the P&A meta. Now I don't have to do Post! Or Kidd! Or O'Connolly! (Although I have that answer from backsolving.) Or Sharp! Or Milk! (I have that answer too.) I'll still probably try to finish Reade, since I have 90% of it.Added: I

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-20155934176331686352008-10-08T16:32:00.002-04:002008-10-08T16:36:26.167-04:00

The mutual funds in my 401k, since July 1 of this year, are currently earning from -50% to -77% on an annualized basis (according to me and my HP12c calculator, so YMMV). Fortunately the bonds are earning -25%.On the other hand, I'm certainly buying a lot of shares compared with this time last year.

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-66790764457285804952008-10-07T23:32:00.002-04:002008-10-07T23:35:26.954-04:00

We've got ourselves Baker and Linkletter. Still a bunch of words in Sharp and Reade with nothing happening. No movement on Milk or Kidd, and I don't really have any plans to try Post. Completed the word search part of Turner (which had a twist) and found out that the next bit was not what I expected at all, in that anything I can think of isn't working. Hooray. Still not really enough

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-4380280619941088572008-10-04T00:44:00.002-04:002008-10-04T00:50:05.767-04:00

Update on the puzzles:Sharp: Still no clue.Post: haven't started.Ridge: got the "duh!" clues in the intro, but not all the answers seem to fit the pattern. Don't know why.O'Connolly: the same glimmer, the same not-really-anything.Baker: I had another idea, but I'm not good enough to follow it all the way to the end, I fear.Reade: Fixed one flaw in my reasoning, but have a big pile of letters and

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-40561696875889625882008-09-28T17:57:00.002-04:002008-09-28T18:11:58.936-04:00

I've got a strength-of-schedule modifier in my NFL model now; we'll see how well it goes this week and then maybe I'll use that instead of the original.Apparently the extravaganza in the last issue of P&A was too easy, as they claimed they upped the difficulty considerably; and I believe them. I've got about as much on this one as the last one, except I only worked on the last issue in bits and

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-72823231769696296522008-09-27T13:54:00.005-04:002008-09-28T17:56:35.499-04:00

Yes, that's right; I have finally upgraded my desktop machine from 1999 (or was it 2000?). Anyway, this thing is bloody small, that's for sure. I had to upgrade my printer as well, since it was even older, I think, and they don't make machines with those serial ports any more.This post was eaten by Cox's FTP server the first time I tried to post it; let's see if this smaller, leaner, more

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-65392679920270035422008-09-20T15:48:00.002-04:002008-09-20T15:56:04.773-04:00

Not the best week for the model last week: 7-8, but since that's only based on one week's worth of games that's not completely awful. Currently the model considers net points, net yards, and net turnovers. I really need to add a strength-of-schedule component to this thing, because I'm not really convinced by this current ranking. (Arizona #1? Kansas City ahead of Indianapolis? Really?)

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-37683793546057377862008-09-07T21:46:00.002-04:002008-09-07T21:51:26.637-04:00

The first day was a mess. I'm pretty sure I dozed off a couple of times, since I remember waiting patiently for some tiles and then looking back and seeing that they had been discarded just two rounds back. Not good.The second day was a little better--the first game I could get no traction (lots of good hands, but I couldn't capitalize on anything), the second game I got my entire tournament's

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37263695.post-31424449586066695392008-08-18T14:48:00.002-04:002008-08-18T14:54:22.575-04:00

I was in Richmond this last weekend, reading for a quizbowl tournament. Conveniently, it was also move-in weekend (really only convenient because parking in the parking garages was free). As part of their festivities, they had marked off a running course (perhaps 5K, perhaps just "all the interesting buildings", who knows). So two of the three lanes on Main Street on campus were roped off, as

tabstophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13761166685551109196noreply@blogger.com0