I do it through the WaPo. But I'm so old I still get the paper delivered and do it in the real newspaper. I had no idea what the mini metas are until I just looked on their website. Have to look into trying them out.
I could NOT get the meta for the life of me the first two weeks, but this past week, I realized there was a "hint" option, and then I was able to figure out the meta. Hoping to work up to not needing the hint :)
I subscribe to WaPo online. I've not seen a meta (and have no idea what it is). I'll have to check that out. I've been doing the NYT pangram (just looking for the 7-letter word). Got 3 of them last week!
thanks! I get a daily email summary, so don't go to home page. Found it...are Mondays especially easy? (34 seconds...and that included fixing typos). Curious to see how the week goes! I failed at today's Pangram :-(
For crossword folks, any Merl fans out there? RIP!
When he was still around – and I was busy enough at work to have to go in most weekends – I'd grab lunch, print out that week's puzzle, and eat/solve before diving into work!
just checked and his website is still posting puzzles...from the past, obviously, but you can just do them as they come (and can do online, if that's your thing).
Merl was the best! Inventive and humorous themes. One answer that I’ve remembered for decades was in an opera-themes puzzle (I know next to nothing about opera). Clue was “my Disneyland balloon is losing air”. And takers on the answer?
I have a few of his puzzle books. Made copies and do a few every now and then when enough time has passed for me to have forgotten some answers!
Used to post his puzzles on the door of my Spens-Black dorm for communal puzzling…
I fought a losing battle several years ago in trying to keep the Oxford commas in the paper where I was the primary author but had to represent the whole experiment.
I was allowed to keep them for my slides at talks and stuff though.
I learned that the which/that distinction is American. The British tend to use which in both cases. (Though other countries also use English, I don't know how they treat which and that.)
I really didn't spend much time filling out my bracket this year, so I was quite pleasantly surprised that I picked Oregon over Iowa in this game. I did not pick Oregon State to make the Sweet 16 though.
This reminded me to look up the results of the inaugural season of Fan-Controlled-Football. Marshawn Lynch's Beasts earned the top seed but lost in the semifinal (there are only four teams in the league). Cal alum cornerback Steve Williams, who also played in the AAF and XFL in addition to a stint with the Chargers, played in this league but with the "feature" of weekly roster shuffle, I have no idea which team he ended up on.
Troy Taylor's Sac State Hornets won the 2019 Big Sky Championship, then elected to cancel their 2020 season rather than defer it to spring '21. They will play two games and then host Cal on 9/18/2021. Over-under on mentioning Troy's connection to Cal is a bajillion.
My grandparents told me about a boat ride in Singapore that they used to take while on layovers in Singapore (which you were somehow allowed to take without a visa to enter the country). Don't know if it's still possible (because they travelled at least a decade ago and it's COVID lockdown now) but it was something I wanted to do
Quite a few nationalities get landing visas in Singapore (including Americans). They offer bus tours for those who have long layovers too (I think the minimum is 5 hours. There's also a brand new shopping mall attached to the airport which is pretty amazing.
It's in the same shopping mall attached to the airport. I spent 3 hours there this year (lying in agony after I had scratched my cornea and ended up wearing an eye patch for the next week and glasses for the rest of my time in Bangkok)
To combine bits of a few comments below, I too am a lightweight. But when I spent a few days in Queenstown, New Zealand, I went a day trip on Lake Wakatipu and saw some very fjord-like scenes.
I did go ride the free Staten Island Ferry just for a closer view of the Statue of Liberty. This is the one that the Tom Holland Spider-man saved from Michael Keaton's Vulture.
There once was a bear, a moose and a beaver who were the best of friends, though they often disagreed." So when the three friends go canoeing together one sunny day, it doesn't take long for them to start quarreling with one another.
this is the only boat that goes up and down the west coast of Norway in and out of all the fjords. while i dont think it is worth doing the whole 14 day journey to the end and back, the journey into the fjords is unparalleled scenery that is best appreciated from the boat.
i have only done a short 4 hour stretch in the Geiranger Fjord, which is supposedly one of the best stretches of the journey.
and in case you think your kids will be bored, they have one of those ball pits that you used to see McDonalds PlayPlace that will entertain them for hours while you take 4-5 rolls of photos. at least that was my experience in 2007 when i travel there alone w/ my 3 yr old.
Don't let it stop you! Take Dramamine the night before you get on the boat and then another half dose at least two hours before departing and you should be good to go. If still affected, get a scopolamine patch for behind your ear. These last three days, so good for multi-day trips.
One of my best friends proposed to his girlfriend on the Star Ferry. I advised him not to, and suggested something more romantic than getting on one knee next to a mob crowding the ferry exit. He did it anyway. She was dying to get engaged anyway, so (at the moment) she didn't care. She cares now.
My friends and I used to frequent a bar called the Ugly Tuna Saloona every Sunday for karaoke. On other nights, it was your typical sticky, bro-y campus bar. I mean, it was that on Sundays as well, just not as crowded. At any rate, even we were horrified when someone proposed onstage to his girlfriend at THE UGLY TUNA some Wednesday night.
Yeah - I went to their wedding (in Boston). The worst part? They had been dating long distance - she was living in Hong Kong and he flew all the way over from Boston to hang out for a week. . . and propose.
US Rep Tom Reed (R-NY 23) refutes sexual harassment accusations, but then apologizes, announces he won't run for re-election, and won't challenge Cuomo.
I was hoping for a higher number than that, since we are probably going to count on that to curb variants in our friends and neighbors communities. I'm happy with my 94-95% double shots.
To all of those who said they weren't interested in March Madness...I feel for you guys yall are missing out this is a top 5 tournament of all time I f'ing LOVE IT!!! The Midwest bracket is actually a mess, a guaranteed underdog in the final 4(2 seed Houston, 8 seed Loyola Chicago, 11 seed Syracuse, and 12 seed Oregon State are the final 4 left in that bracket)
Loyola Chicago to the Sweet 16 vs Oregon State, Oral f'ing Roberts to the Sweet 16 vs Arkansas and the PAC 12 (*insert Bill Walton THE CONFERENCE OF CHAMPIONS) is currently 7-0 in game action at the time of writing (before the 2nd set of the round of 32 is set to tipoff), this is literally such a great tournament. Teams like Oral Roberts, Loyola, Ohio, and Abilene Christian putting themselves on the map or back on the map, and seeing big bluebloods bow out is just great.
As has been noted in a separate article on this site, the most fun piece of this is the Pac-12 dominating all competition after being so undervalued during the regular season. Just goes to show that a lot of those rankings were way off due to the lack of non-conference games in the COVID year.
After not paying much attention the first day, I started getting sucked in over the weekend. I don't have a bracket this year so I'm really enjoying some of these wild upsets.
I could tell it's been wild because my twitter feed has been all basketball all the time the last few evenings (I don't watch basketball so it's a bit like when I see people going nuts over MCU films - glad folks are enjoying themselves but it's all Greek to me)
my bracket is beyond garbage. Almost all my picked upsets tanked and I think 3 or 4 my of final 8 are already gone. Definitely the worst bracket I have ever done
I'm still like bottom quartile. Can it come up if it goes chalk from here on? Sure but its still dogshit. First time ive ever picked fewer than 20 first round winners
My bracket is blown. I had Oklahoma State in the FF. I guess given this year I should've selected more upsets. In the South I only have Baylor and in the Midwest I only have Houston.
I didn't think Pac-12 would do so well and Big-1X has laid an egg.
Mark Rober's Glitterbomb 3.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrKW58MS12g
This one's good. Got the scammers. I've seen some of the videos the scam buster put out there. He's really good.
Toilet lizards
https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/How-do-so-many-iguanas-get-in-Florida-toilet-bowls-_163266036/
Just did the LA Times crossword for today while having lunch. 1-Across: Bear's home (4 letters) I wonder what it could be.
Do you do it through WaPo? Have you been doing their mini metas?
I do it through the WaPo. But I'm so old I still get the paper delivered and do it in the real newspaper. I had no idea what the mini metas are until I just looked on their website. Have to look into trying them out.
I could NOT get the meta for the life of me the first two weeks, but this past week, I realized there was a "hint" option, and then I was able to figure out the meta. Hoping to work up to not needing the hint :)
I subscribe to WaPo online. I've not seen a meta (and have no idea what it is). I'll have to check that out. I've been doing the NYT pangram (just looking for the 7-letter word). Got 3 of them last week!
I found it by clicking on "crosswords" at the bottom of the home page.
thanks! I get a daily email summary, so don't go to home page. Found it...are Mondays especially easy? (34 seconds...and that included fixing typos). Curious to see how the week goes! I failed at today's Pangram :-(
For crossword folks, any Merl fans out there? RIP!
WaPo has Merl's crosswords listed under the "Classic" section of the crossword page. I didn't know of his work before he passed :(
When he was still around – and I was busy enough at work to have to go in most weekends – I'd grab lunch, print out that week's puzzle, and eat/solve before diving into work!
just checked and his website is still posting puzzles...from the past, obviously, but you can just do them as they come (and can do online, if that's your thing).
http://www.sundaycrosswords.com/ccpuz/MPuz.php
Merl was the best! Inventive and humorous themes. One answer that I’ve remembered for decades was in an opera-themes puzzle (I know next to nothing about opera). Clue was “my Disneyland balloon is losing air”. And takers on the answer?
I have a few of his puzzle books. Made copies and do a few every now and then when enough time has passed for me to have forgotten some answers!
Used to post his puzzles on the door of my Spens-Black dorm for communal puzzling…
I know lots about Opera, but that doesn't ring any bells
Cugel, knowing about opera is your failing here ;-)
The answer was DieFledermaus!
Harmony
Bone Thugs N...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMYAEHE2GrM#t=52s
Ok. I'm a bit obsessed with this.
https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Song-Maker
Lack of Oxford comma wins $5m employment case settlement
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/08/584391391/maine-dairy-drivers-settle-overtime-case-that-hinged-on-an-absent-comma
As a strong proponent of the Oxford comma, I'm very happy to see this.
o/
I fought a losing battle several years ago in trying to keep the Oxford commas in the paper where I was the primary author but had to represent the whole experiment.
I was allowed to keep them for my slides at talks and stuff though.
I don’t understand the reticence to use of Oxford commas.
Nor the use of “which” — in lieu of “that” — when not beginning a clause, but that is another thread…then there’s “may” vs “might”.
I learned that the which/that distinction is American. The British tend to use which in both cases. (Though other countries also use English, I don't know how they treat which and that.)
I know...and it kills me when I read British stuff! ;-)
Elsewhere in college
Oregon is giving Iowa the business. Up 20 with under 6 minutes to go.
I really didn't spend much time filling out my bracket this year, so I was quite pleasantly surprised that I picked Oregon over Iowa in this game. I did not pick Oregon State to make the Sweet 16 though.
Smoked 'Em.
This Pac-12 dominance is getting ridiculous.
Maybe we can make Gonzaga an honorary Pac-12 team. They're in Washington, right?
Tim Kawakami tweeted that Cal was snubbed and would have been in the Sweet 16 had they been in the dance. Such is the dominance
https://twitter.com/timkawakami/status/1374057636044316674
I'm just saying, I think we may have gone undefeated if we'd played in the B1G.
Cough cough, well we did beat the Buffs once, and almost swept them.
Other than the 30 point blowout in Boulder, of course.
Or AWESOME!
My nephew who went to Iowa is not a happy camper I'm sure
I wouldn't be happy to spend 4 years in Iowa City, either.
Hah. It was actually longer than that since he went on to get an advanced degree.
Four outside-the-box college football rule change proposals that could lead to more exciting games
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/four-outside-the-box-college-football-rule-change-proposals-that-could-lead-to-more-exciting-games/
This reminded me to look up the results of the inaugural season of Fan-Controlled-Football. Marshawn Lynch's Beasts earned the top seed but lost in the semifinal (there are only four teams in the league). Cal alum cornerback Steve Williams, who also played in the AAF and XFL in addition to a stint with the Chargers, played in this league but with the "feature" of weekly roster shuffle, I have no idea which team he ended up on.
They should add in the one Madden mini game for OT. Punt or FG. you have the choice to either punt or kick a FG.
[Fanside] TCU article predicts Horned Frog victory over the Golden Bears. No score prediction.
https://saturdayblitz.com/2021/03/17/tcu-football-2021-early-game-predictions/2/
NO way.
that dude is smoking way too much from the purple pipe. His analysis on those games is absurd
Almost as good as the Nevada writer basing his prediction on the last time Cal played Nevada in 2012
Troy Taylor's Sac State Hornets won the 2019 Big Sky Championship, then elected to cancel their 2020 season rather than defer it to spring '21. They will play two games and then host Cal on 9/18/2021. Over-under on mentioning Troy's connection to Cal is a bajillion.
Do you mean just gb49's mentions of Troy's connection on the front page?
UC Davis' 1st through 4th string racks up 768 offensive yards against Beau Baldwin's defense. Aggies win 73-24 and never punt to Cal Poly.
https://gopoly.com/sports/football/stats/2020-21/uc-davis/boxscore/5506
Boat Ride
My grandparents told me about a boat ride in Singapore that they used to take while on layovers in Singapore (which you were somehow allowed to take without a visa to enter the country). Don't know if it's still possible (because they travelled at least a decade ago and it's COVID lockdown now) but it was something I wanted to do
Quite a few nationalities get landing visas in Singapore (including Americans). They offer bus tours for those who have long layovers too (I think the minimum is 5 hours. There's also a brand new shopping mall attached to the airport which is pretty amazing.
And that waterfall (I think it is) in the airport.
It's in the same shopping mall attached to the airport. I spent 3 hours there this year (lying in agony after I had scratched my cornea and ended up wearing an eye patch for the next week and glasses for the rest of my time in Bangkok)
The Jewel Changi (it's attached to the airport, but you need to take a short bus ride over to the airport)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4s_iKuRpq0#:~:text=Visitors%20flock%20to%20the%20world's,that%20spans%20135%2C700%20square%20meters.
To combine bits of a few comments below, I too am a lightweight. But when I spent a few days in Queenstown, New Zealand, I went a day trip on Lake Wakatipu and saw some very fjord-like scenes.
I did go ride the free Staten Island Ferry just for a closer view of the Statue of Liberty. This is the one that the Tom Holland Spider-man saved from Michael Keaton's Vulture.
Up the Creek - best kids book about a boat ride
https://www.kidscanpress.com/products/creek
There once was a bear, a moose and a beaver who were the best of friends, though they often disagreed." So when the three friends go canoeing together one sunny day, it doesn't take long for them to start quarreling with one another.
Hurtigruten
this is the only boat that goes up and down the west coast of Norway in and out of all the fjords. while i dont think it is worth doing the whole 14 day journey to the end and back, the journey into the fjords is unparalleled scenery that is best appreciated from the boat.
i have only done a short 4 hour stretch in the Geiranger Fjord, which is supposedly one of the best stretches of the journey.
and in case you think your kids will be bored, they have one of those ball pits that you used to see McDonalds PlayPlace that will entertain them for hours while you take 4-5 rolls of photos. at least that was my experience in 2007 when i travel there alone w/ my 3 yr old.
The various ferry rides in Vancouver/Victoria WA/Orcas Island. Whale watching tour was also quite impressive.
what New Zealand thinks of boating on the bay:
https://www.tripadvisor.co.nz/ShowTopic-g60713-i30-k212565-Red_White_vs_Blue_and_Gold_major_differences-San_Francisco_California.html
Thousands of em! Longest was Blaine WA to Wilmington CA, but the vast majority are Marina del Rey to Santa Monica and back.
In most cases I'll pass. When it comes to seasickness I'm a lightweight. I don't really have any issues with freshwater boats, though.
Don't let it stop you! Take Dramamine the night before you get on the boat and then another half dose at least two hours before departing and you should be good to go. If still affected, get a scopolamine patch for behind your ear. These last three days, so good for multi-day trips.
FYI in many places you need a prescription from a doctor for the patch.
The ferry across the Nile at Luxor - cost 1 Egyptian pound, or about 6 cents.
The boat ride up the Thames from Windsor to the race course for the Windsor night horse races was pretty damn cool....Win or lose, we booze cruise...
The best use of $0.50 in the world is still taking the Hong Kong - Kowloon Star Ferry ride. Especially on a clear night.
One of my best friends proposed to his girlfriend on the Star Ferry. I advised him not to, and suggested something more romantic than getting on one knee next to a mob crowding the ferry exit. He did it anyway. She was dying to get engaged anyway, so (at the moment) she didn't care. She cares now.
One of my friends got proposed to at the Peak (the now long departed Cafe Deco), her answer was "Wait, is this real? Are you joking?".
He was not, in fact, joking.
My friends and I used to frequent a bar called the Ugly Tuna Saloona every Sunday for karaoke. On other nights, it was your typical sticky, bro-y campus bar. I mean, it was that on Sundays as well, just not as crowded. At any rate, even we were horrified when someone proposed onstage to his girlfriend at THE UGLY TUNA some Wednesday night.
Hey mom, where did dad propose? The Ugly Tuna!
OUCH! That's gotta leave a mark.
Well, did she say Yes!?
Yeah - I went to their wedding (in Boston). The worst part? They had been dating long distance - she was living in Hong Kong and he flew all the way over from Boston to hang out for a week. . . and propose.
Unfortunately I only took it during the day. I did go up Victoria Peak that night and it was an amazing view.
Our Crumbling Democracy
US Rep Tom Reed (R-NY 23) refutes sexual harassment accusations, but then apologizes, announces he won't run for re-election, and won't challenge Cuomo.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/rep-tom-reed-apologizes-for-sexual-misconduct-detailed-in-post-report-wont-challenge-cuomo-in-2022/2021/03/21/859e95b4-8a9c-11eb-aff6-4f720ca2d479_story.html
Today in Covid 19
Contra Costa County lowers the age to 50 and older today! Yay!
Survey: About half of Millennials gains weight during the last year. Of those who did, the average weight gain was 41 pounds. Wait. What? Whoa.
https://www.wbtw.com/health/apa-60-of-americans-report-undesired-weight-change-during-pandemic/
Just like a millennial....selfish... ;-)
I've lost some weight.
Yeah, but you're a Millennial from the last round
I haven't done very much cardio during Covid times, weight lifting instead. I'm up about 15 pounds over last year, not so good.
But if you were lifting, maybe it's muscle!
all of a sudden I am less worried about my atrocious carcass.
Astra Zeneca: 79% efficacy in US trial. No sign of association to clotting.
https://apnews.com/article/us-data-shows-astrazeneca-vaccine-safe-all-ages-a73e711c7309be4444c65d5f9ae90c43
I was hoping for a higher number than that, since we are probably going to count on that to curb variants in our friends and neighbors communities. I'm happy with my 94-95% double shots.
well that's something.
Pro
MLB: The one player each team can't do without
https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-most-indispensable-players-2021
I don't understand the point of that story.
DeSean Jackson to Rams
https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1373800490576711680
Happy I can still root for the Rams next season.
It's nice to see another Golden Bear on the team after Goff's departure.
Well, they pick up some speed. Too bad Goff is not there.
Cal
go Bears!
To all of those who said they weren't interested in March Madness...I feel for you guys yall are missing out this is a top 5 tournament of all time I f'ing LOVE IT!!! The Midwest bracket is actually a mess, a guaranteed underdog in the final 4(2 seed Houston, 8 seed Loyola Chicago, 11 seed Syracuse, and 12 seed Oregon State are the final 4 left in that bracket)
Loyola Chicago to the Sweet 16 vs Oregon State, Oral f'ing Roberts to the Sweet 16 vs Arkansas and the PAC 12 (*insert Bill Walton THE CONFERENCE OF CHAMPIONS) is currently 7-0 in game action at the time of writing (before the 2nd set of the round of 32 is set to tipoff), this is literally such a great tournament. Teams like Oral Roberts, Loyola, Ohio, and Abilene Christian putting themselves on the map or back on the map, and seeing big bluebloods bow out is just great.
As has been noted in a separate article on this site, the most fun piece of this is the Pac-12 dominating all competition after being so undervalued during the regular season. Just goes to show that a lot of those rankings were way off due to the lack of non-conference games in the COVID year.
I enjoyed watching the Beavs win that game, proved they were the better OSU.
After not paying much attention the first day, I started getting sucked in over the weekend. I don't have a bracket this year so I'm really enjoying some of these wild upsets.
I could tell it's been wild because my twitter feed has been all basketball all the time the last few evenings (I don't watch basketball so it's a bit like when I see people going nuts over MCU films - glad folks are enjoying themselves but it's all Greek to me)
I didn't foresee the Pac-12 doing so well. Pretty impressive and I'd like to see the Beavs in the field of 8 at least.
my bracket is beyond garbage. Almost all my picked upsets tanked and I think 3 or 4 my of final 8 are already gone. Definitely the worst bracket I have ever done
Just remember, almost everyone else's is too.
I'm still like bottom quartile. Can it come up if it goes chalk from here on? Sure but its still dogshit. First time ive ever picked fewer than 20 first round winners
My bracket is blown. I had Oklahoma State in the FF. I guess given this year I should've selected more upsets. In the South I only have Baylor and in the Midwest I only have Houston.
I didn't think Pac-12 would do so well and Big-1X has laid an egg.