google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday Feb 24, 2016, Kenneth Berniker

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Feb 24, 2016

Wednesday Feb 24, 2016, Kenneth Berniker

Title: SYNERGY 

Husker Gary back at the helm and after shuffling some vowels around, I got 'er done. Even I got Kenneth's fun theme of five, count 'em five, different ways of prefacing a word or phrase with SIN or one of its homophones. What a hoot!


16. Form by combining elements : SYNTHESIZE - The shuttle's 3 main engines SYNTHESIZE 
H2 + O2  from the orange fuel tank into H2O in the exhaust 


22. "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" singer : CYNDI LAUPER - Obviously in any language



33. Fictional voyager : SINBAD THE SAILOR - As I said, in any language



49. Sparkle : SCINTILLATE - Nothing SCINTILLATES like a girl's best friend



59. Host of the 2015 MLB All-Star Game : CINCINNATI - One of the biggest stars of that night was this ex-CINCINNATI player Pete Rose that MLB allowed to participate despite his lifetime ban from the game for betting 



And the reveal


44. Wicked ... and, homophonically, like five long puzzle answers : SINFUL - SINFUL desserts on a SIN City (Las Vegas) cart



Not one SCINTILLA of criticism or SINISTER comment from this corner. Let's examine the SINEW of Kenneth's fine puzzle! (Stop me before I SIN again!!)


Across  


1. Lobsters' sense organs : PALPI - Sensory organs on the mandible in the middle of the picture. What a 1 Across!


6. Celebs : VIPS

10. Flight from the law : LAM


13. Poker declaration : I'M OUT - Uh, I'M OUT!



14. "__ my guard down" : I LET 


15. Famille patriarch : PERE - Paris pop


18. One-piece garments, slangily : UNIS - UNIsuitS on 2012 Women's Olympic Rowing Team



19. Rome-based carrier : ALITALIA - Wake me when we land at da Vinci Airport


20. Toll road timesaver : E-Z PASS - It's faster but not this much!



24. Performer's supporters : FAN BASE

28. Guacamole, e.g. : DIP


29. Twisty letter : ESS


30. Diva delivery : ARIA - On Fridays, it's clued Nessun Dorma


31. Snoozed : SLEPT - Yes we did. 



40. Retired New York senator Al D'__ : AMATO


41. Rational : SANE


42. DDE rival : AES - Adlai Stevenson was the Democratic sacrificial lamb against Ike



45. Esteemed league member : IVY


46. N, in Morse code : DASH DOT .-- .... .- -  .-  ..-. ..- -.  .--. ..- --.. --.. .-.. . is "What a fun puzzle" in Morse code. Can you find the "N"?


52. Currencies : MONEYS


53. Irrationality : UNREASON -  "To be loyal to rags, to shout for rags, to worship rags, to die for rags -- that is a loyalty of UNREASON...invented by monarchy" Mark Twain - A Connecticut in King Arthur's Court


58. Bravo preceder : ALFA  - NATO alphabet


61. Not masc. or fem. : NEUT


62. Prod : URGE


63. Gold brick : INGOT - An INGOT of gold is 400 oz. and worth about $500,000 - give or take



64. Fashion monogram : YSL


65. Jury member : PEER


66. Fluff, as hair : TEASE


Down


1. Italian capital of its own province : PISA


2. Kind of nitrite : AMYL - An ingredient that can be found in these "poppers"  to give you a quick rush



3. Actress Anderson : LONI - My fav WKRP In CINCINNATI character!


4. Golf stroke that can be practiced in a hallway : PUTT


5. Cornell University city : ITHACA - A 45 Across member


6. Brand that "gets the red out" : VISINE


7. Epic with a very big horse : ILIAD 


8. Refillable candy : PEZ


9. Metal playing marbles : STEELIES - Is that a STEELY Dominic is using?



10. Delaware Valley tribe : LENAPE - Most were eventually were forced into Indian Territory/Oklahoma by the 1860's


11. Comes into view : ARISES


12. Salutation abbreviation : MESSRS - Dear MESSRS Spock, Kirk and McCoy, Please beam us up some residuals. Scotty, Sulu and the Gang


15. Bite-size Chinese appetizer : PU PU - Tastes better than the name



17. Tarzan portrayer Ron et al. : ELYS


21. Mothers of Invention musician : ZAPPA


23. Empty, as threats : IDLE - Must be an election year


24. Fourth notes : FAS - Long, long ways to run...


25. "Entourage" agent Gold : ARI


26. Diarist Anaïs : NIN


27. Rum-soaked cake : BABA - One way to add the rum!



31. "The Affair" airer, briefly : SHO


32. Morticia, to Gomez : TISH - Ah, great TV, The Addams Family


34. Peaceful relations : AMITY


35. Annual tennis team event : DAVIS CUP - This year's pairings if you're interested



36. Texting farewell : TTYL - Talk (probably Text) To You Later

37. Chap : LAD - It's time for Name That Tune with this lyric "When I was just a LAD of ten, my father said to me..."


38. Lennon partner : ONO


39. On Soc. Sec. : RET


42. The same number : AS MANY 


43. Places where élèves study : ECOLES - Even Splynter and I can translate this 



46. One of the reindeer : DANCER - Not DASHER I find out


47. "The Bell of __": Longfellow : ATRI


48. "Don't need to watch that movie again" : SEEN IT - What's the record for Caddyshack?


50. Spiffy : NEAT


51. Fencing attack : LUNGE


54. Celebrity chef Burrell : ANNE


55. Lengthy story : SAGA


56. Nebraska natives : OTOS - Let's play Find That County (alt. spelling)


57. Evening, in ads : NITE

60. Anger : IRE


Why do I keep hearing a McGuire Sisters song rolling around in my head?  Oh well, Let he that is without SIN cast the first snarky nit!


The Grid:



53 comments:

OwenKL said...

There once was a reverend in CINCINNATI
Who preached only sermons promoting AMITY.
Said, "SINS that are small
Are no challenge at all,
So if you're going to SIN, SIN naughty!"

SCINTILLATE, SCINTILLATE, little star
Can I wish on you to at last make par?
I can PUTT okay,
But my swing? Oy vey!
I can't get that sucker to go very far!

SINBAD THE SAILOR is one of those guys
Who thinks that performance depends on the size.
AMYL NITRITE he took
To enhance his junk's look;
Says if nature is stinting, then SYNTHESIZE!

Lemonade714 said...

Always unnerving to not know 1A but the perps were fair. Anne who?

Nice shout out to Cornell grad Davis (Bill G)

We had lots of in family nicknames but none that became public.

Happy hump day thanks KB and Argyle

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

This was... not a fun experience for me, sorry. PALPI, AMATO, PUPU, LENAPE, AMYL, ALITALIA, ATRI, UGH!

I crashed and burned at the end. Everything was filled in, but no *TADA* I knew it had to be the AMYL/ALITALIA crossing since, while AYL seemed familiar, ALITALIA looked totally wrong. After several frustrating minutes trying to think of anything that would work better, I finally turned on the red-letter help to discover the actual problem was the crossing of CYNDY with ELYS (I had CINDY/ELIS). D'OH!

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks, Kenneth, Gary!

Rolled right along after the perped PALPI. Fast. Cute theme.

Did you hear that Michael Wetherley is leaving NCIS? Terrible shame!

Cheers!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Got off to a good start, as AMYL fell trippingly from my Bic followed by a shoutout to BillG. Then I fell trippingly at TTFN until TTYL showed up.

The RET clue is fitting pour moi; I held off taking SS until a few months ago.

At home we always had Murine rather than VISINE. It was fun to scrape the "M" off the bottle.

Around here you can do 70 through the EZ-PASS lanes. Except at rush hour. I turned in my EZ-PASS tag the week I retired.

Husker, you're hearing the McGuire Sisters? I'm hearing the Buffalo Bills -- "How can there be any SIN in SINCERE?" Oh, BTW, that song was Lemon Tree.

unclefred said...

Started off in trouble, not remembering PALPI. Slow slog today with the NW the last to fall. None-the-less, a fun CW, thanx, KB. And a terrific write-up, thanx, HG. Glad to see Owen's limericks back!

Yellowrocks said...

Fast for a Wednesday. I was on Kenneth's wave length. I started off with PALPS, but ITHACA changed the S to I.
My favorite local Chinese restaurant had a great PUPU platter. Unfortunately the landlord raised the rent and the restaurant went out of business after 20 or more years.
We studied the history of the LENAPE in our NJ social studies classes.
Sussing the theme, I knew I couldn't have 2 CINs so I changed CINDI to CYNDI.
Separating the airline into AL ITALIA helps me to remember it.
ANNE was the only unknown,but it perped well.
You might like to read Longfellow's Bell of ATRI, since ATRI appears so often in puzzles. It is too long to print out here.
Link Bell of Atri
Al D'AMATO, a NY senator, was much in the news here in the 1990's.
I signed up for EZ PASS just this year. When I was on vacations I got tired of waiting in long lines while others passed right through without stopping. I use it only on trips.

thehondohurricane said...


Like Uncle Fred, NW was the last to fall for me too. There were no speed sections for me today, but I enjoyed the puzzle. AMYL, TISH, LENAPE, & AMATO were my highlighted fills to ensure I validated them. The SIN theme was cute. If I wasn't familiar with Ron ELY, Cyndi would have been CINDY.

I always want to spell CINCINNATI Cinncinati. Perps saved my butt.

Got to keep it short, busy day ahead & wife is with our DIL, son & grand daughter until tomorrow.

Avg Joe said...

Enjoyable outing with quite a bit of bite for the day. Palpi was a difficult start, but it did perp out. Lenape was the same. And even though we've had Atri in the not too distant past, that also needed ESP. Unreason seemed a little off, but it had to be. Everything else was known and it all worked out.

After the nickname conversation yesterday, I found Real Life Adventures quite amusing today.

Avg Joe said...

Oh. Forgot this. Gary, I thought the song was The Mermaid. But the start, while very similar, is a tad different.

CrossEyedDave said...

OMG!
I actually breezed through this one because
I knew Amato, Pupu, Alitalia, Lenape, & Amyl!
(Palpi & atri were perped...)

WooHoo!

Now to try & understand this homophones of sin thing...

Oh!, I know what's a homophone sin! Spellchecker!

Yellowrocks said...

I like the word UNREASON. I see it frequently in nonfiction. It certainly describes a lot of what passes for serious thought these days.

"If the reasonable side regularly makes concessions to unreason, the extremists win."
Seattle Times Dec 14, 2014

"There's something deliciously comic in the spectacle of people railing against unreason being themselves so obviously in the grip of a childish delusion."
BBC Jul 18, 2014

"Thanks to Arthur Miller’s Crucible, the Salem witch trials have become the iconic image of unreason, mass delusion, and political score settling."
Newsweek Nov 14, 2012

Anonymous said...

IVY is not a member; IVY is the league. ???

kazie said...

I had a natick at the crossing of UNIS, LENAPE and PUPU, but other than that, this all fell in better than most recent Wednesdays for me. I also didn't know TTYL, thinking TTFN at first, but the perps convinced me that change was inevitable. I had to wait for the excellent blog expliqué to see what it meant though.
Happy Hump Day to all!

SwampCat said...

What Barry G said. I got the clever theme, but the rest of the unknowns were no fun at all. ALITALEA?? Really? I finally finished but with lots of WAGs and crosses.

Thanks for trying to educate me, HG. Enjoyed your effort to keep us on track.

Owen, ...too wonderful today! Thanks

Tinbeni said...

Husker Gary: Very informative write-up & links. Just curious, do you live in OTO County?

Kenneth: Thank you for a FUN Wednesday puzzle with a great theme.

OK, I admit I needed ESP to get LENAPE, and a WAG to get UNIS.

Fave today was the CSO to the "spiffy" way I consume Scotch ... NEAT.

Cheers!

Nice Cuppa said...

Synopsis: Synaptic cingula syndicated sinuous synergy.

..perhaps I am still synthesizing my "Seven Deadly Zins" (a fine red plonk, since you ask) from last night –  but it was nice to wake up to five more of them.

• As for many here, PALPI remained unPALPable for far too long, given that these words have the same route.

• I felt very proud of PARITY for 42D, but only briefly, as the unifier came in close synchrony, and I was forced to syncopate.

• Despite having an EZPASS, the underPASS - CYNDI LAUPER - was a complete unknown, and crossing with LENAPE, a tribe who were driven out of Delaware in the 18th Century, was not helpful.

– I was mystified the first time I came to the U.S. as to why women changed the last letter of their name, if it would normally end in a Y, to I. I must say, the name CYNDI looks particularly silly, or is that sylli? No sympathy there.

Sincerely

Big Easy said...

I thought it would be harder that it was when PALPI was the first fill. After SYN and CYN and with AMYL Nitrate (look it up) in 2D, it was fairly obvious that SIN would be the theme. But after a toss-and-turn night I made a sloppy mistake before filling SINBAD THE SAILOR by filling PAL instead of LAD and not double checking my answers. And my DASHLOT just looked idiotic.

SCINTILLATE was basically filled by perps as I was unsure of the correct spelling. Other than that I found it a fast fill with only ANNE Burrell as my only unknown.

HG- I keep waiting for a car to hit the toll booths (that are scheduled to be demolished; no tolls) on a bridge over the Mississippi in downtown New Orleans. I slow down to about 30 but have seen others not even slow down.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

This had some crunch (palpi, Lenape, Atri, etc.) but I finished with perp help. Alas, no tada because of Cindi/Elis crossing, so a FIW. Liked the big CSO to Bill G.

Thanks, Kenneth, for a mid-week challenge and thanks, HG, for the witty write-up.

Keith from yesterday: Nacho is as cute as a button and I hope his good health continues! 🐶

I hope all our Louisiana Cornerites are safe and sound!

Have a great day.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Really enjoyed today's project, with its snappy in-theme grid spanner right in the middle. Just a few speed bumps, such as TTFN before TTYL.

I have only seen one movie in the wide Sinbad range, Captain Sinbad, which came out in 1963. I recall watching it on the family Zenith, so it must have gone to broadcast in the late 60's. It was a fun romp!

Morning, Husker, I see D Otto already recognized Lemon Tree. Right next to the family Zenith (see above) was the family hi-fi, which usually had Peter, Paul, and Mary on the turntable. We heard about that lemon tree rather often.

I don't know whether there is a trend afoot, but we have been laying the groundwork for moving to another country in case we need to escape national embarrassment - nothing IDLE, we are serious.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-The only downside to blogging a puzzle is not getting to do one that day authored by our brilliant constructors and edited by masters like Lila Cherry, Charlie Riley, Nora Pearlstone, et al.
-Otto, how could I have forgotten that fabulous Buffalo Bills (3:24) song from Music Man?
-However, this McGuire Sisters song (1:38) ain’t chopped liver either.
-Avg. Joe, well a good part of my morning just went out the window as I was captivated again by Glen Yarborough’s haunting voice and lovely music! You could warn a guy! ☺
-Tin, I am in Dodge County Nebraska and our friend Avg. Joe is in Lancaster County, also in Eastern Nebraska.
-Nice Cuppa, I bow to your wonderful riff on today’s theme!
-Kazie, thanks for my transitory learning of the word expliqué
-I played golf yesterday in 48˚F weather and may reprise that today. The sun feels so much warmer in Feb. than in Dec.

SMS said...

7D: "Epic with a very big horse". The Iliad ends with the death of Hector and before the famous wooden horse is even thought of. So this clue is just wrong.
SMS

Lucina said...

Hello, friends!

What a fun and rapid romp today! Thank you Kenneth J. I had to wait for PALPI but knew CYNDI LAUPER right away. She is an energetic and animated singer, dancer and composer. I lover her.

Each cell filled as quickly as I could write and even recalled D'AMATO. Finally I also recalled ITHACA and thought of Bill G. Nice CSO.

I wasn't sure about LENAPE but six perps had to be right. Celebrity chef ANNE was unknown but again, perps to the rescue.

Thank you, Gary for an excellent expose.

Have a wondrous Wednesday, everyone!

fermatprime said...

Forgot to mention your bday yesterday, Keith. Hope that it was very nice!

PK said...

Hi Y'all! SCINTILLATE-ing puzzle, Kenneth. Great expo, Gary.

I got the theme (yay) with the second theme fill. Sinful, indeed!

I knew of CYNDI LAUPER so that came easy. I can't tell you any other song she sang. I'm amazed that some of you LADs didn't know a girl who just wants to have fun.

Not anteni but PALPI? Hmmm. Not "onsy" but UNIS.

Had the "C" from DANCER and ATI so filled in CINCINNATI before reading the clue. Had no idea where the 2015 All-Star game was held. Was Cincinnati an Indian tribe or just a great chief? We seem overstocked on Indian tribes today.

I'd heard of PUPU platters. Didn't know it was Chinese food.

CanadianEh! said...

I had to work at this puzzle today. Thanks for the learning experience Kenneth and Husker Gary.

Hand up for TTFN before TTYL, Murine before VISINE. My reindeer was Donder before DANCER appeared. My Morse code was dah-dit before DASH-DOT filled the spot.

This Canadian could not translate On Soc. Sec. probably because we use the terms Social Insurance Number (SIN) and Old Age Security (OAS). I came here looking for an explanation of RET and found none but then the lightbulb moment occurred anyway. Did any of our other international bloggers have the same issue?

Thankful to be back to ECOLES not Lycees. My memory did not dredge up LANAPE although I think we have seen it before.

Thanks YR for the link to Bell of Atri.
Dudley, are you thinking about Canada??
Keith from yesterday - interesting that you knew William Needles. He is a Canadian icon in the theatre world.

Misty said...

I thought I'd never get this puzzle after my first scan because there were just so many unknowns, singer, musician, senator, agent, tribe, etc. I did get a few like ONO, AES, YSL and the like. But amazingly it slowly all came together, thanks in part to "getting" the theme, and I only goofed on the ELI/CINDI cross. So thanks for a fun Wednesday challenge, Kenneth. And Husker Gary, your pics are the best. I couldn't believe that SCINTILLATING diamond!

Have a great Wednesday, everybody!

Bill G. said...

Hi everybody. Davis here. It was fun to see Ithaca/Cornell in the puzzle today. It's a nice medium-size college town. Cornell opened my eyes to the world beyond northern Virginia where I grew up. I also made lots of new friends with different points of view, got to cheer for a perennially-losing football team and I got to enjoy one of the prettiest campuses anywhere with two gorges, lots of snow in the winter, one suspension bridge, a clock tower with a carillon. It was fun to climb the stairs into the clock tower, look at the view of Lake Cayuga and enjoy a chimes master playing songs on the more than two octaves worth of bells. Along with my other new friends in the co-op living unit, I met Barbara there.

There were lots of famous professors and alumni including Richard Feynman, Hans Bethe, Linus Pauling, Carl Sagan, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Bill Maher, Bill Nye, Christopher Reeve and lots more.

Bluehen said...

This was a curious solve for me. As usual, I went for all of the across and then the down clues to get toeholds before weaving to a close. The across clues didn't yield very much. But then the down clues were another matter. I fairly flew through them, and when they were done I only had to go back to fill in a few blanks.

LENAPE was a gimmie, living in this area. The Lenape and the Nanticoke still have a strong presence here, although I have seen their powwows and not many of them look very much like how I picture an Indian.

Only unknown was PALPI. I am sure that is a totally new word to me. I wanted another word for feeler, but couldn't dredge one up and moved on. Perps to the rescue. I went back to see what that stubborn word was and didn't get it at first, and then the lightbulb clicked on. Feeler = palpi: to feel = palpate. I knew that. In high school, I spent weekends and summers working as a veterinarian assistant, and I palpated a lot of cows feeling for embryonic calves.

I have a question for the techies out there. I attended a seminar about energy saving, and one of the speakers addressed "energy vampires". He said that chargers left connected to an outlet continue to consume energy even though the device being charged is not connected. Can that be true? Granted, my knowledge of electricity is rudimentary, but I thought that there had to be a circuit for energy to be consumed. How can that be if the phone or whatever is off the charger? Thanks.

Cya!

Boo LuQuette AKA Boudreaux in Eunice, La. said...

Present and accounted for here in Eunice, La. One tornado 4 miles north of me yesterday but the worst was south of BR and north of NOLA. Quite a few tornados and quite a bit of damage.

Spitzboov said...

Good afternoon everyone.

Got the theme after SINBAD………. Theme fill was easy after I got CINCINNATI spelt right. Fair amount of fresh fill making this fun to work at.
Just for S & G, looked up the German word Unsinn - it means twaddle or nonsense. (Nice touch, Husker, with Seefahrer (sailor)).
ITHACA - made many trips there on my sister's behalf. She, her late husband and daughter are all alumni.

CrossEyedDave said...

HG, Tx 4 the Barbershop Quartet scene!
Last year one of our local towns had a free signup to learn
how to sing in a Barbershop Quartet.
(Ah, regrets...)
(Hmm, I wonder they will do it again this year...)

Also, McGuire Sisters. Not only could they sing, they could dance too!
They don't make entertainment like this anymore:(

Lenape was a gimme for me also, you can't throw a rock around here without it landing on a Lenape Indian Trail. Most of my local hikes are old indian trails...
6 miles from my house, is Loantonka Park, which marks the beginning of horse country.

What a great place to ride a bike!

The bike trail follows Loantonka Brook.

BlueHen, After 3 Daughters,I have finally given up unplugging all their energy vampires. (chargers.) They never unplug the dang thingies, & it is a fire hazard...
But you can't get away from them because they are in anything with a remote.
Even your toaster is sucking electricity right now if it has a lighted display.
(Not to mention your front doorbell is constantly sucking electricity while waiting for someone to push the button...)

The problem is our main line in is 120 Volts AC, & most of these doodads use a lower voltage.
This is easily accomplished using a step down transformer.
If you look at the diagram, the primary winding, (120 volt AC side) on the left
has NO ON/OFF Switch. So disconnecting the item you are charging on the right side does nothing
to stop the flow of electricity on the left side.

They do make chargers that automatically disconnect the input voltage when the secondary
circuit is disrupted, but this requires more circuits, & costs more money.
So, if you are like everyone else in the world, you buy the cheapest gizmo that does the same thing.

Ergo, energy vampires...

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Good puzzle, mostly Wednesday friendly, with some extra crunch in the upper corners. Had to do an alphabet run to get PALPI, then the light came on. UNIS was a flat out guess. PUPU?!? oh, my.

Anon @ 8:48 - the member schools are also called IVIES.

Nicely done, Gary.

Storm was supposed to start overnight and run into tomorrow, so we changed an appointment to today. It hit early this morning and was already in full force when I woke up from a very strange dream. Foiled!

Rehearsals cancelled tonight due to the weather - unusual way to resolve my Wednesday evening conflict.

Cool regards!
JzB

Bill G. said...

In spite of many friends and fond memories from Cornell, it wasn't all roses. My mother, knowing I enjoyed math and science, encouraged me to apply there and to consider a career in engineering. Cornell almost seemed to take pride in making things difficult and having a significant percentage of students bust out. As a result, much of my academic career was stressful. For example, in Physics 101 and 102, there were three prelims and one final each semester, eight exams in all. Not one of them had an average above 60 percent. My father always resented this philosophy. He figured they picked the elite students in the first place and that they should expect most of them to be successful. (I'm guessing their philosophy may have changed in the ensuing years.)

Bluehen, from what I can find out, plugged in cell phone chargers consume about a half watt of energy when not in use, mostly due to losses in heat energy; pretty insignificant. DVR/cable boxes, turned-off TVs, etc. use more energy but there's not much you can do about them. I choose to ignore the small stuff.

CrossEyedDave said...

It occurred to me that you may not know how a transformer works,
here is a simplified example.

Now if I could explain how an alternating current thru a wire sets up an
alternating magnetic field in an iron core, that is transferred exponentially
to a current in another wire wrapped around the same iron core, I could explain the workings
of the universe. (They tell me it's 42...)

Bill G, I don't mean to sound like chicken little,
but ignore the little stuff at your peril...

Ol' Man Keith said...

A sweet Weds pzl from Mr. Berniker, rather elegant, I think, in his use of the homophones. No need for any cheating, and I appreciated the cleverness of the theme and the playful use of SINFUL.
I also learned PALPI through perps, although I had to look up exactly where these feelers show up on crustacean anatomy.
I once visited Cornell while making a national observation tour of resident theater companies. I spent a weekend in Ithaca, in dead winter. I say "dead" advisedly because it was so bloody cold that nothing moved on the streets, and snow was banked so high and visibility so poor that I could barely read street signs while attempting to walk outside. I know it is unfair to draw a lasting impression of a place from one short encounter, but I still recall the great sense of compassion that came over me for the Cornell faculty and student body who reside necessarily in such conditions for part of each year.
I had known snow while living in New Haven and other New England cities, but nothing like that. Frozen into silence.

Ol' Man Keith said...

CanadianEh,
Glad to hear you knew of Billy Noodles! I can tell you that several generations of Irvine students idolized "Professor" Needles. He was a wonderfully kind and generous colleague on our faculty. I wasn't sure how widely known he was in the Canadian theater world, but he was a great hit with us. I had the pleasure of acting in a show with him in the '80s, and we kept a long-distance correspondence for several years in his retirement.
There is a fine Needles Archive on YouTube, an interview of good length with fine advice to aspiring actors. Check it out; it's well worth viewing.

Dudley said...

Canadian Eh 11:15 - Yes. We have long appreciated NS and PEI, so those are candidates. I recently learned that Cape Breton is advertising affordable land, targeted to those who are contemplating a move. Ireland is also a possibility; we have relatives there, and there is Guinness. :-)

Bluehen 12:09 - what CED said. Households nowadays have lots of small electrical loads working 24/7 even if their associated devices are off, or disconnected, or what have you. He mentioned the doorbell transformer, which is always humming away, using perhaps a few Watts. Many heating systems have a similar transformer to drive various controls, eating up current all year long. Nearly every TV, DVD, DVR, and stereo component has a little current flowing, ready to respond to remote control signals. Every appliance with a clock consumes power, along with every timer. All those chargers that are now so necessary for phones, computers, flashlights, toothbrushes and so forth consume a little all day every day, whether actually performing a charge or not. Each idle device uses just a little, so even summing up an entire household, it's not enough to cause a cost burden. However, when you look at an entire nation, the wasted wattage is staggering! We should be doing better by now.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Ouch! FIWayW. I got the theme but the fill was not in my wheelhouse. See what Barry said.

Thank you Kenneth for the diversion during a vendor call (and beyond). Thank you HG for correcting all my xing errors and the fun write-up (you know I love the Shuttle!).

1a - all perps & WAG, 2d - perps & two WAGs and still only 75%. 15a I read as Spanish, so PAPI went in. More FIW there. 19a - perps WAGs and wrong. You get the idea.

35d. - I finally perp'd & WAGd my way through. I almost FIW (again!), but changed DAVe'S CUP at the last minute. Sorry CED, no tennis trophy for you.

Honest WO: IRk b/f IRE.

Fav: SINBAD THE SAILOR. My black-lab in my ute, SINBAD, was a great dog. Never had a pup since.

Near fav - LONI and CINCINNATI! Love me's some WKRP!
Also a CSO to BillG - never woulda got 5d w/o you ;-)

On TTYL: I was PEERing at (many) empty squares while munching on Chick-fil-A nuggets w/ Youngest (she's home sick). She saw TT__ and said, "It's, TTYL, daaaad." I said, "It's that or TTFN - I'm waiting on the perps."

Confused, she said, "I've never heard of TTFN." I said, "Oh, yes, you have...". I then bored her w/ IRC and USENET use and history of TTFN.

This is true: I named my 18" tree-branch-trimmer Cyndi 'cuz they're my loppers. DW questions my SANE'ty.

OKL - Thanks for the extra smiles. Same at you NiceCupppa and you Joe for Nick Names.

Cheers, -T

Bill G. said...

CED, as you probably know, Faraday discovered the rules for the relationship between a changing magnetic field and an electric current. If you pass a magnet through a coil of wire, electricity comes out. If you pass a changing electric current through the coil of wire, a magnetic field is induced as in an electro-magnet. I'm sure 42 is involved somehow. :>)

So Faraday's work is connected to electromagnets, transformers, electric motors, generators, etc. He was one of the giants of science.

Your video of the iPhone wire sparking reminded me of the Hoverboards that have caught on fire when charging. You would think that technology would be foolproof by now. I guess somebody in China figured out a way to save some money by cutting some more corners. I can only imagine how bad I would feel if I had bought one for Jordan and something had gone wrong...

Keith, yes I remember some of that winter weather. I would often have to hike up the big hill known as Libe Slope to class at eight o'clock in the morning. However, winters in nearby Buffalo, NY were even worse.

Jayce said...

Pupus are Hawaiian, albeit invented by Americans of Chinese ancestry.

The main ancient source for the story of the Trojan Horse is the Aeneid of Virgil, a Latin epic poem from the time of Augustus. The event is referred to in Homer's Odyssey.

Anonymous T said...

English lore - SEEN IT.. Homer's a hack! ILIAD & Odyssey w/ horses --- pfft. They were Bunnies & Badgers! (5:55)

C, -T
Sorry, I couldn't resist the temptation w/ today's theme and all...

PK said...

BillG: Your mention of hard early courses for engineering students was one of my peeves when my youngest was in mechanical engineering. In order to stay in the school of E. it was necessary to get a C. He got a D in them the first time through, took them again and got an A or B. I was angry because it was hard for me to dig up money the first time. He ended up having to go for five years because of this. I have talked to a lot of engineers since and most of them had to retake these courses. I didn't fuss with my son at the time, just encouraged him to shop out some better professor. This seemed to make the difference. The ones he "flunked" were taught by TA's, some of whom had English as a second language. I felt these crucial courses should never be taught by TA's. I told him at the time that perseverance, not only brains, seemed to be the necessary ingredient. I knew parents who pulled their kids out of school when they didn't pass the courses. Two engineering students in my son's freshman dorm committed suicide after the first semester grades came out.

CrossEyedDave said...

Bill G, I am in awe of Faradays work.
He answered many questions about how...

But I am asking the question, Why?


Yellowrocks said...

Spent 5 hours today in the ER with Alan.
Good news-all tests negative. None of his previous frightening conditions are present. He was discharged.
Bad news - Alan still feels terrible, no energy, dizzy, shaky, lacking balance. This is so elusive. I thought his previous maladies were the cause of these ongoing complaints. Not so. It is a mystery.

Anonymous T said...

Bill G. Not to bug HG & nit today, but wasn't it Maxwell that joined magnetism and electricity?

CED - you may enjoy the Wiki and find you can make a time machine out of a DeLorean. Your guitar skillz are needed in the Future! Can you do Maxwell's Silver Hammer?

PK - your so right w/ perseverance. Many of my EE-frosh classes were weed-out (FORTRAN 101 had us doing AI in the 80's!) courses and then they tossed us one or two more in our Jr. year. I recall telling DW, "maybe EE ain't me," she consoled and then I aced the course next quarter. Not that I do EE now.

BlueHen - I can't add to E-vampires above. I'll just third that DVRs are the worst.

Oh, and Bill G - in HOU a house burned when one of these 'hover-boards' caught fire under the Christmas tree on the eve. Sad, but all were safe IIRC.

'Course me, I just had to slip on a scratch-off for one of 'em to break my ribs :-)

Cheers, -T

CrossEyedDave said...

Hmm, I just reread PKs post, & was shocked.
& read Yellowrocks post, & was totally bummed...

If my research could help, I certainly would.
But I don't know where to start.

Why would they discharge Alan without a diagnosis?

Your description sounds like Epson Barr syndrome, or the Flu
but obviously requires the diagnoses of an expert.

Dear Yellowrocks, if anything would make me want to go back to school,
it would be your post...

Anonymous T said...

Don't count this post against me (I've got WKRPs lined up!), but DW was diagonosed w/ Epson Barr in HS. Took 30+ doctors before they found her Tyroid was out of whack intermittently. Sythoroid helped cure IBS, depression, et.al. My $0.02. And my good wishes to you & Alan YR. C, -T

Jayce said...

Yellowrocks, is Alan adequately metabolizing vitamin B? A vitamin B deficiency, especially vitamin B12, can cause the symptoms you describe. For some people, vitamin B12 is not well absorbed (metabolized) and perhaps vitamin injections are indicated. A simple blood test can tell if he has enough of these vitamins.

Bill G. said...

Keep Calm and Carry On

YR, good luck wishes for both of you transmitted ENE from here.

CED, that's way too tough for me. Electricity and magnetism are inexorably linked by the laws of nature and the way atoms work. Newton explained the Law of Universal Gravitation but not why things have gravity. I don't know if those fundamental questions have answers. You just have to try to discover the laws of how things work. Maybe the 'why' has to do with atoms or subatomic particles. But if so, then you could still keep asking 'why' do atoms behave like that?

AnonT, as best I can tell, Faraday did the experiments and Faraday produced the mathematical explanation.

Albert Einstein kept a picture of Faraday on his study wall, alongside pictures of Isaac Newton and James Clerk Maxwell. Physicist Ernest Rutherford stated; "When we consider the magnitude and extent of his discoveries and their influence on the progress of science and of industry, there is no honour too great to pay to the memory of Faraday, one of the greatest scientific discoverers of all time".

BTW, Rutherford is another science hero of mine for his wonderfully simple experiment that explained a bit about what the nucleus of an atom was like.

CrossEyedDave said...

Awcrap!

I am not sure I want to go back to school...

Yellowrocks said...

Thank you all for your kind concern and suggestions. We will go to the GP tomorrow with everything that was ruled out today. I will suggest checking for hypothyroidism, diet and B12.

Michael said...

Hey, wait a dang minute here, Husker ... Kazakhstan has a **tennis** team? And one that's good enough for the Davis Cup??? Wonders never cease, do they?