Month: August 2016

  • I still play Scrabble

    I call myself "semi-retired" from Scrabble these days, because I no longer compete in 10-15 tournaments a year, as I used to.  I don't even compete in ONE tournament a year.  Or at least, not until lately.  A hardy band of Florida players unafraid to try the international word list (we call it "Collins," after the dictionary that publishes it) have started to meet semi-regularly in Orlando and I'm happy to join them.

    And we have a certified director friend who shows up, which makes them "rated tournaments" so I guess I'm back in action.

    It occurred to me this morning (while I was driving to work) that it might be useful to rename letter combinations such as "ORIENT+D."  There's no seven-letter word there, which is why I've been calling it that.  But why not think of it as "DETRION" or even "TERNOID?"  Here's why:  if TI is on the board already, I can play DETRITION through that two-letter word and get the 50-point bonus for emptying my rack.  I didn't know the word DETRITION until a few moments ago.  I found it by using a program on my computer that tells you all the nine-letter words that consist of ORIENT+D+two blanks.  I looked for two-letter words inside of that seven-letter stem, and found DETRITION, DETRUSION, and TERPENOID.  (PE is also a valid word.)  Not only that.  I learned the word UPTIES, which is the third-person singular for the verb UPTIE, which I also just learned.  The end letters of UPTIES are U and S, just what I need for DETRUSION.  Next to the end letters are P and E, just what I need for TERPENOID.  And the center letters are T and I, just what I need for DETRITION.

    Such is the joy that studying Scrabble words brings me.

  • I was just reading a column written by Joan Vennochi in the Boston Globe, and I'm not even finished with it yet, but I wanted to share with you one of the early paragraphs.  By the way, she's describing Kellyanne Conway's job as Donald Trump's new campaign manager as "Mission Impossible."

    Here's that paragraph, and it's what I'VE been wanting to observe ever since the Trumpster started accusing Hillary Clinton of lacking stamina.  Vennochi writes:

    "Of various credible avenues of attack against Clinton, generating doubts about resilience is not one of them. She has endured years of interrogation about numerous alleged scandals, not to mention 11 hours of aggressive congressional questioning just a year ago about the Benghazi attack. Not even Clinton’s enemies think of her as weak. After all, you can order a Hillary Clinton “nutcracker.” It’s not meant as a compliment, but it does speak to a certain toughness."

    YES!!!!  That's exactly what I was thinking when the idiot Trump opened his mouth about that.

  • An American Hero

    Eric Bradner of CNN has written:  " 'It is a moral obligation -- history will not forgive them,' [Khizr] Khan said of Ryan and McConnell on CNN's "State of the Union. 'This election will pass, but history will be written. The lack of moral courage will remain a burden on their souls.'
    "He told CNN's Jim Acosta those GOP leaders have a 'moral, ethical obligation to not worry about the votes but repudiate him; withdraw the support. If they do not, I will continue to speak.' "
    ******************
    Thus spake Khizr Khan to CNN in commenting about Donald Trump's comments and the reluctance of GOP leaders to repudiate their candidate for the U.S. presidency.  And Khizr's wife Ghazala is finding her voice as well.  Their son, Capt. Humayun Khan, died in Iraq saving the rest of the men in his squad from a suicide bomber.
    This could be interesting.