google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, June 8, 2023,Tim D'Alfonso

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Jun 8, 2023

Thursday, June 8, 2023,Tim D'Alfonso

  MISMATCHED MALAPROPS

Constructor Tim D'Alfonso is back for his 4th appearance in the LA Times, his first being about 2 years ago and like today's puzzle it was just in time for Summer.

Like our frequent contributor from Norfolk, I don't think speling is one of Tim's strong suits, as he leads off with 3 punny themers with mismatched homophones for the IPA pronunciation of raɪt (the International Phonetic Alphabet that is, not the ALE): 

17A. Formal induction ceremony for a league of pickpockets?: SWIPING RITE.  As a leftie who can't tell my right from my left, I stay away from social media because I never know who I might accidentally pick up.

27. Bicycles and aviation, notably?: THE WRIGHT STUFF.  The Wright Brothers were the first to fly a heavier than air craft on 12/17/1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 


Historian David McCullough has pointed out that every time they flew they were risking their lives.  The Wrights had not only great courage, but the superb mental and physical characteristics that author Tom Wolfe termed The Right Stuff  (a pun on the Dayton brothers?) in his book about the Mercury Seven Astronauts, later made into this film:


43A. Tax advice for slugger Aaron Judge?: WRITE OFF THE BAT.  The deduction for just one of his bats could probably put him in a lower tax bracket.

58A. "That tracks," and an apt description of 17-, 27-, and 43-Across?: SOUNDS RIGHT.  Finally, Tim spelled it correctly! 😀

Here's the grid ...


... and here's the rest ...

Across:

1. "Maybe less": IF THAT.

7. "I could use a hand!": HELP.  One of the hardest things to ask for ...
11. Bioengineering letters: GMOGenetically Modified OrganismsThe Science and History of GMOs and Other Food Modification Processes.

14. Capital of Pakistan's Punjab province: LAHORELAHORE (/ləˈhɔːr/ lə-HOR; Punjabi: لہور [ˈlɔ̀ːɾə̆]; Urdu: لاہور [laːˈɦɔːɾ] (listen)) is the second largest city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th largest in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is situated in the north-east of the country with River Ravi flowing north-west of the city.
Royal Mosque
Lahore, Pakistan
15. U.S. citizen: AMER.

16. Say no to: NIX.

17. [Theme clue]

19. Unreturned serve: ACE.

20. Hathaway of "The Intern": ANNEANNE Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Her films have grossed over $6.8 billion worldwide, and she appeared on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list in 2009. She was among the world's highest-paid actresses in 2015.  In this pic, Anne is NOT the Intern ...

21. Forest female: DOE.

22. "Amsterdam" novelist Ian: MCEWANIan Russell McEwan, CBE, FRSA, FRSL (born 21 June 1948) is an English novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, The Times featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and The Daily Telegraph ranked him number 19 in its list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture".   Here's his website.
Ian McEwan
24. "Stay" singer Lisa: LOEBLisa LOEB (/loʊb/; born March 11, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and actress. She started her career with the number one hit song "Stay (I Missed You)" from the film Reality Bites, the first number one single for an artist without a recording contract.  Here's her career starter (with corrected lyrics) ...

26. Dos y dos y dos: SEIS.  Today's Spanish lesson.

27. [Theme clue]

33. Shot in the dark: GUESS.

34. Hardly well: RARE.  As long as it doesn't MOO, it's okay with me.

35. Compete (for): VIE.

36. MLB Triple Crown category: RBIS.  Leading a league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in.

37. Hard to clean: GRIMY.

39. __ of thumb: RULE.  In English, the phrase RULE of thumb refers to an approximate method for doing something, based on practical experience rather than theory. This usage of the phrase can be traced back to the 17th century and has been associated with various trades where quantities were measured by comparison to the width or length of a thumb.  See the link for other, more controversial, etymologies.

40. British ref. work: OED.  The Oxford English Dictionary is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a comprehensive resource to scholars and academic researchers, as well as describing usage in its many variations throughout the world.

41. Soft French cheese: BRIE.

42. Boot bottoms: SOLES.

43. [Theme clue]

47. From Denver to Topeka: EAST.

48. Puerto __: RICO.

49. Houston WNBA team until 2008: COMETSThe Houston COMETS were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Houston. Formed in 1997, the team was one of the original eight WNBA teams and won the first four championships of the league's existence. They are one of two teams in the WNBA that are undefeated in the WNBA Finals; the Seattle Storm are the other. The Comets were the first dynasty of the WNBA and are tied with the Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm for the most championships of any WNBA franchise. The team was folded and disbanded by the league in 2008 during the height of the Great Recession because new ownership could not be found.  
52. iPhone platform: IOS.

53. Westminster spot for art lovers: TATE.  The TATE has a large collection of paintings and engravings by the poet William Blake (1757–1827).  Here is a coloured print of Isaac Newton:
Newton
57. Mimic: APE.

58. [Theme reveal]

61. Abolish: BAN.

62. Cologne ingredient: MUSK.  An acquired odor apparently.

63. Acid artist: ETCHER. Dutch Master Rembrandt van Rijn, known simply as Rembrandt, was a master not only of painting and drawing, but  ETCHING as well.  He was arguably the greatest etcher to have ever lived, creating a body of work that spanned subjects and genres. Both successful and prolific, his oeuvre boasts close to 300 authenticated prints:
Christ Seated Disputing with the Doctors
1654
64. Over the hill: OLD.  I resemble that remark! 😉

65. Flight sked figs.: ETAS.

66. Kind of oil used in hummus: SESAME.

Down:

1. Woman who says "Play it, Sam" in "Casablanca": ILSA.

2. Babe in the woods?: FAWN.  My all time favorite video, with a soundtrack by Gioachino Rossini (uncredited) ...

3. Slender: THIN.

4. Sure to fail: HOPELESS.

5. D'backs, in box scores: ARI. The state of  ARIzona not the MSNBC broadcaster, another frequent visitor to the Corner.

6. Warmhearted: TENDER.

7. Fabled napper: HARE.

8. Former Abbey Road Studios owner: EMI.  Where the eponymous Beatles album was recorded.  Looks like we hit the jackpot!  Here's the Medley from Side 2 (16:10 min:) ...

9. "Maybe I'll have better luck": LET ME TRY.

10. Exact: PRECISE.

11. Chew like a beaver: GNAW.

12. Flaky mineral: MICA.  A family of minerals actually, the most common being Muscovite.  The first time I found a piece of this (circa age 11) it seemed so exotic that it started my love affair with geology ...
Muscovite

13. Rice paddy plow team: OXEN.

18. Mongolian desert: GOBI.  The setting for Alexander Borodin's In the Steppes of Central Asia ...
23. Inexact fig.: EST.

25. Yelps of pain: OWS.

26. Fancy pillowcase: SHAM.

27. One floating down a river or speeding down a snowy slope: TUBER.

28. Gardner of "Saturday Night Live": HEIDIHEIDI Lynn Gardner (born July 27, 1983) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. Gardner has been a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live since 2017.
Heidi Gardner
29. Heartache: GRIEF.

30. Soft palate projection: UVULA. The UVULA, also known as the palatine uvula, is a conic projection from the back edge of the middle of the soft palate, composed of connective tissue containing a number of racemose glands, and some muscular fibers. It also contains many serous glands, which produce thin saliva. It is only found in human beings.
31. Boneless cut: FILET.

32. Charges: FEES.

33. Get taller: GROW.

37. Completely disgust: GROSS OUT.   I hope that the pic above of the UVULA didn't GROSS YOU OUT!

38. Divide: RIFT.

39. Branch of engineering whose name was coined by Asimov: ROBOTICS.   One of the earliest instances of mechanical devices carrying out physical tasks dated to 3000 BC: Egyptian water clocks using human figurines to strike the hour bells.  These early "automata" as they were called even appeared in works of art, e.g. the mechanical doll Olympia in  the 1880 opera The Tales of Hoffmann is so convincing that she even passes the Turing Test (at least to the besotted poet Hoffmann!).  Here coloratura soprano Kathleen Kim performs the (exceedingly difficult) aria Les oiseaux dans la charmille (translation):
The first use of the word ROBOT occurred in 1921 in another drama, this one about mechanical men that are built to work on factory assembly lines and that rebel against their human masters. These machines in R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal ROBOTS), written by Czech playwright Karl Capek, got their name from the Czech word for slave.  Isaac Asimov coined the term ROBOTICS in his science fiction collection I, Robot to describe Three Laws of Robotics governing the behavior of robots toward humans. However it was not until 1957 that Joseph Engelberger and George Devol founded Unimation, the first ROBOTICS engineering company.

41. "No clue": BEATS ME.

42. Min. fraction: SEC.

44. Concert purchase: TEE.

45. Stepped: TROD.

46. Shows disapproval, in a way: HISSES.  Could have been clued "Partner to Boos".

49. Mexican resort, familiarly: CABO.  DNK CABO,  thinking it was Mexican slang for "resort".  CABO San Lucas is a resort city at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur.  Here's one of the most iconic sights ...
El Arco de Cabo San Lucas
(today's Spanish lesson)

50. Milky birthstone: OPAL. AKA White OPALS.  Experts report that Australian mines produce between 90% and 95% of the world's gem-quality OPAL. Opal mining takes place all over Australia, with primary sites like Coober Pedy and Lightning Ridge producing the majority. White OPAL is the astrological gemstone for the Zodiac sign Libra. Until 1912, it also served as the official birthstone for those born in October. It has long been associated with purity, love, goodness, and nurturing.
White Opal


51. Stitch up: MENDRAT ON was too long.

52. Color printer refills: INKS

54. Turkish title of honor: AGHA.

55. The other side: THEM.  The fact that we don't usually know THEM very well can lead to a lot of misunderstanding.

56. French 101 verb: ETRETO BE.  Today's French lesson #2 (see 39D for lesson #1)

59. Olympics chant: USA

60. Short way to go?: RTE.

Cheers,
Bill

As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading, for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

45 comments:

Subgenius said...

I don’t know about the rest of you Cornerites, but to me this puzzle seemed remarkably easy for a Thursday. There were very few proper names, and those few were easily perped. The theme was evident from the get-go, and all the themed answers were simple takeoffs of common expressions. Unlike Ms. Irish Miss, I usually don’t protest about the easiness of a puzzle but c’mon, this is a Thursday puzzle ? Anyway , FIR, so I’m happy.

Wilbur Charles said...

RBI(s???). Stats the BANE of modern sports announcing*. BTW, it's had the S attached since Gehrig and Foxx had 150+ of them.

ish/EST;Perfect/PRECISE;lean/THIN;oVuLe/UVALA(my first thought was phlegm(talk about GROSS));baja/CABO

Easy in that hanging fruit index was high but misfits aplenty(pour moi)

Thx waseeley(my musical tastes are somewhere between Rossini and Rush eg Buddy Holly

WC

* Instead of replaying a difficult Gauff shot we got a Stat diagram.


desper-otto said...

Good morning!

What subgenius said.

waseeley said...

For those of you hungering for more of a challenge, here's DAB's latest bi-weekly puzzle, which he assures us is out of this world.

waseeley said...

WC @4:48 AM I've deferred to Lou and Jimmie and not sit corrected.

waseeley said...

MOI @6:15 AM Make that "now sit corrected".

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIW, missing the tense in HISSEd and not knowing a thing about hummus except that I don't care for it. Erased rna for GMO, edam for BRIE (I'm a cheddar, asiago and mozzarella guy), tisked for HISSEd, and tres for SEIS (SaIS in Bill's grid, but but his wrightup gets it rite.)

WC, I never once heard Vin Scully add the "s" to RBI. Consummate professional.

ETCHER, not to be confused with escher.

I still have a color ink jet printer. But I only use its scanner, because the ink cartridges dry up before I can use them. My other printers are lasers, and produce beautiful, living monochrome images. I may get another color laser printer someday, but I doubt it.

Thanks to Bill 'n' Teri for the fun.

KS said...

FIR. A few proper names today, but fortunately for me the perps helped. Only McEwan gave me fits. Who?
Clever theme, but this seemed more like Tuesday fare than a Thursday endeavor. But that's maybe just me.

inanehiker said...

Enjoyed this amusing theme and WEES said about it being quicker than some THursdays.

LAHORE sits right on the Pakistan/India border after the partition. It is known for having a top level private university including a well-known medical and dental college- sort of the Harvard of Pakistan. When I spent 3 months in India I was pretty close to it, getting as far north as Manali/Kullu near the Tibetan border but you couldn't just hop over to Pakistan even then!

Paul Goldschmidt of the STL Cardinals came close to the MLB Triple Crown last year but very hard to do! There have been less than 30 in the history of MLB - last one was 2012 and the one before that was 1967

Thanks Bill & Teri for the fun blog and Tim for the puzzle

Anonymous said...

Took 7 minutes exactly today to finish this Right.

As usual, I agree with our resident genius, SubG.

In this puzzle, "Lahore" is an eye sore. A capital of a province ... in Pakistan?
I didn't know Lahore, nor today's British novelist. "Ian McEwan" seems to be the most British sounding name there is.

ATLGranny said...

This was an easy Thursday puzzle, just as Subgenius, D-Otto and others said. Once I changed LET ME see to LET ME TRY and THat to THEM the puzzle filled effortlessly. FIR.

The game was afoot with the first themer and the rest followed the clever pattern, all using common phrases. My favorite fill was RARE which surprised me as I had been thinking of health, not cooking.

Thanks Tim and the waseeley/Teri team for the puzzle and its thorough explanation. I always learn something new from the blog.

Hope everyone has a grand day!

waseeley said...

Jinx @7:22 AM Thanks for that Jinx. I'm fallin' apart this morning. I sit corrected.

unclefred said...

I managed to write the answer for 28D into the cells for 29D which led to considerable confusion in the center. Took far too long to see I’d written HEIDI into the wrong cells. I blame it on my old eyes: 28 and 29 look too similar. Once that was finally seen, the CW filled quick enough, although I didn’t know most of the proper names. A Houston WNBA team that disappeared 15 years ago? Geez. Anyway, eventually FIR. Thanx TD’A, the excessive time was my fault, not yours. Thanx too to Bill for the terrific write-up.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-An early morning rain made me do this online as newspapers were soaked. We got .2”, IF THAT.
-WRITE OFF THE BAT: I’m sure Aaron hasn’t paid for a bat since he was a kid
-In The Devil Wears Prada, Meryl Streep’s character makes a horrible comment about Anne Hathaway’s character
-When someone says, “GUESS my age”, be careful about that “shot in the dark”!
-If you remember Larry TATE was Darren’s boss on Bewitched, you also watched way too much TV
-HOPELESS: This year’s KC Royals
-PRECISE vs ACCURATE
-Our neighbor Linda had her UVULA removed to stop her “window rattling” snoring. Didn’t work.
-Nice job, Bill and Teri! Favorite video?

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I agree on this not being too difficult for a Thursday, but there were several areas where I needed my thinking cap. Comets and Heidi needed perps and I faltered on Eno/EMI and Ole/USA. I liked the Fawn/Doe duo and I liked the tightness of the theme, as all alternate spellings replaced the one correct spelling of Right. Usually, this type of theme just uses only the homophonic likeness.

Thanks, Tim, for a Thursday treat and thanks, Bill, for all of the fun, facts, and frivolity in your review. Thanks to Teri, as well.

FLN

Wilbur, after all is said and done re the golfing world’s merger, I guess the bottom line is money.

CED, you have a very thoughtful daughter. Glad you got to see the show before the smoke cancellations were put into effect.

Have a great day.

OwenKL said...

NIX, the goddess of the night,
Orbits Pluto, from COMETS' flight
In the darkness of the Kuiper Belt,
Where Solar light is hardly felt.
She rules the sky by Pluto's RITE
When Charon's ferry is out of sight.

With acid as their ink, a sketcher
GNAWS glass pattern as an ETCHER.
If it repeats,
Yet GROWS unique,
Is it emulating M. C. Escher?

{A-, A-.}

RosE said...

Good Morning! Pleasantly surprised & enjoyed today’s puzzle Thanks, Tim. Clever theme.
The middle middle (M2) (that started off to be the squared symbol, but apparently not in this font..) was the last to fill. GRIMY, GRIEF and RARE took a while to come together.
2 WOs: a -> O in LAHORE & s -> R in TUBER.
7D: I don’t recall the HARE napped during the race, but my first impression, Little Boy Blue, fit the clue but not the space.
27A: The bicycle in the clue referenced the bicycle shop in Dayton OH where the WRIGHT brothers began their journey to aviation history. I’ve been to the museum in the Outer Banks, NC.
ESP for the (obscure, of course) names: LOEB, MCEWAN, HEIDI and COMETS.
Thanks, Bill & Teri. I enjoyed your reveal.

Husker Gary said...

Musings 2
-Irish: The LIV/PGA merger: My favorite podcaster, Tony Kornheiser, made fun of all the hypocrisy shown at first by the PGA and then quoted Don Ohlmeyer by saying “The answer to all your questions is money.”

Monkey said...

I agrée with I-Miss, a little bit of crunch to this CW. Great theme. Thankfully few proper names, and I knew most of them.

Waseely, thank you for the dissertation on ROBOT origins. But i was taken aback by Bambi and Godzilla. 😢

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Fred, even when I was 27, 28 and 29 looked the same to me:)

H-Gary, thanks for that chart. Wish I had that when I was teaching quality fundamentals to project managers.

RosE, I've been to the museum as well; time to go back. IIRC, they weren't actually the first powered flight, but theirs was the first controlled powered flight. I remember they got the "wing warping" control system by observing birds.

CrossEyedDave said...

Wow!
Waseely, you outdid yourself!
This review had so much interesting things and links, that somehow, breakfast turned into lunch!

The puzzle? I dunno, it must be the Irish in me that balks at the definition of "rule of thumb."
I was always thought, that the rule of thumb was meant to signify that you cannot beat your wife with a stick that is wider than your thumb... of course, this is passé , and we need to update the rules, because these days men need a rule to defend themselves from their wives tongues...

Anywho, how I saw todays puzzle...

Lucina said...

Hola!

No newspaper today so I had to print the puzzle from the Washington Post for which I am grateful that it's always available. The landscapers may have swept it away.

I'll take a CSO at ARIzona, my home state.

There are so many famous HEIDIs but I'm not familiar with today's HEIDI Gardner.

Easy Thursday puzzle. Thank you, Tim D'Alfonso.

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Knew "The Right Stuff" to get this "conservative" puzzle done kyna fast for a Thor's Day. The clues were fairly obvious and provided lotsa good perpage.

"Fabled napper", didn't think Ripp Van Winkle had two P's so perpwaited. "Hardly well" RARE? oh like not well-done? (Meh).

Pretty ANNE "Hath a way" to set many a fellow's ❤ a flutter

Held on too long to Eno for EMI which stymied much of the upper half till corrected

Tax advice for Dracula's dependant...WRITEOFFTHEBAT
Response of one beaver to another, "Should we down any more tree trunks?"....."GNAW"
Nearly bald..RARE HARE
Potato, "floating down a river or speeding down a snowy slope" .....TUBER

The first time I saw a N. Carolina license plate that said "First in Flight" for a second I thought it meant they were the first to run away? ☺

ANON T. From yesterday never understood what "olive complexion" s'pose to mean.... I know 2 colors of olives, black and green. (So either Idris Elba or Kermit the frog).

Nuthin to do with the puzzle.
But here is a fun vignette...Jerry Seinfeld discussing a joke about Pop-tarts.
. He's making and starring in a movie "Unfrosted, The Pop-tart Story" (NETFLIX)

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Thank you Tim for the fun puzzle that was just RIGHT. The word-play was fun and the pile of Gs, Rs, Is, & Fs in the center was cute.

Great expo, waseeley. Thank you for the effort and why the COMETS are no more.

WOs: N/A
ESP: LAHORE, McEwan
Fav: ROBOTICS has always fascinated me and that's why I have degrees in EE and CS.

{A-, A}

FLN - CED: You're preaching to the choir over here. I love the Goes Wrong Show and have seen most of their shows. That your #1 got to meet the cast is awesome.
//for those not familiar - the show is very reminiscent of Christmas-time pantomime with audience interactions ("He's behind you!" and the like). Also, because anything that can go wrong, does, it's LOL funny.

Gotta run. Play later.

Cheers, -T

Charlie Echo said...

I'll Echo SubG and KS on this one, as they neatly summed up my experience. Enjoyed the themes, the names were few, and the perps were fair. What more could one ask?

waseeley said...

Ray - O @11:23 AM Thanks for the Seinfeld clip. Actually I think it does have a lot to do with the puzzle. It's what you do everyday - make something hilarious out of absolutely nothin'. 😁

Lee said...

FIR. I'll agree with everyone else, the perps were very kind, the theme obvious, and this was not much of a challenge.
Thanks to wasseley for the fine review.

It is interesting to note that the current subject of artificial intelligence is the reason for Asimov's three laws were created. The free exercise of intelligence while protecting humanity from irrational behavior. Now, how do we do that in current AI programming??

Kelly Clark said...


Really sweet puzzle -- enjoyed it a lot. Thanks Tim and Patti, and thanks waseeley 'n Terri for the fun blog!

waseeley said...

CED @10:29 AM I just want you to know that I just WASTED a complete hour of my life watching Peter Pan Goes Wrong, and ... you've got another convert!!! Despite rolling on the floor laughing the entire time, just like the Seinfeld bit that Ray - O treated us to @11:23 AM, the producers saved the best laughs for last. Hilarious. What's next?

Lee @1:16 PM Good question. Tune in next Thursday for a partial answer to that.

Ol' Man Keith said...

A D'Alfonso PZL brought to us by waseeley...

A clever theme, well clued. I did not know TUBER, merely LUGE or TUBE (no "R"); so that was strange.

The proper names were easily handled via perps.
~ OMK
____________
DR:
Just one diagonal, far side.
But this is a diagonal CRASH, as it is all vowels, except for a single "T."
The worst alignment I have seen. No point in trying for an anagram...

CanadianEh! said...

Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Tim, and Bill and Teri.
I finished in good time and got it RIGHT.

Back briefly today after a long hiatus due to some major life events - multiple losses (6) of family and friends over the last three months . . . and one more still pending. Somehow just no time to do the CW and get here; just the occasional lurk. Thoughts and prayers appreciated, as the next will be the most intense.

Wishing you all a great day. Sorry to send our Canadian smoke to you on the east coast. We have somewhat less it here, but it is supposed to worsen on the weekend. I did my gardening early in the day when it was “low risk” level.

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle, waseeley's informative write-up, and all your comments.

Anonymous T said...

Oh, C,Eh! - I'm so sorry to read that. Loving thoughts your way. -T

CrossEyedDave said...

Yay Waseely! We have another goes wrong fan!
(You can't watch the show and not be a fan...)
What an excellent ensemble cast to fall in love with...
(Watch Scrooge next,,, but they are all great!)

My fav part at the live play was that it was exactley the same, except for the audience participation parts, like when hook gave the bottle of poison to an audience member, and then accused him of poisoning children...
(And the when tinkerbell is asked, who poisoned Peter Pan, she soundlessly points at the same audience member.)

(With great thanks to old man Keith, you taught them well...)

Anywho,
Ray-O!
Lol at Seinfeld how to write a joke!
( I have my own lesson plan, if it gets me in trouble, it must be funny...)
Anne Hathaway? She's a heartbreaker alright...

Scrooge, a rabbithole for you...

Anonymous T said...

CED - You'd love Drunk Shakespeare... DW & I went. First up, shots at the door. The Houston performance had folks bid on being King & Queen for the night. Then half-way through the show DW got a "love letter" with a giant male-member on it ;-)

Good fun. Cheers, -T

waseeley said...

-T @6:10 PM Member of what? 😁

Anonymous T said...

Waseeley - I assumed not a member of the Math | Physics club. The rest... I won't go there :-)

So... I lunched with some buddies from 15 years ago when we were all gigin' at $corp. One is ex-Navy (and packs heat 'cuz that's legal here) and does NOT like AI nor drones. All of us have been sysops/security since forever (fun geek crowd).

Anyway, Navy buddy told a story about an AirForce exercise drone that "killed" [virtually] the operator (funny, it was that $co we all worked at) b/c operator called off the mission.

I mentioned Asimov's Three Laws [see: I ROBOT] that needs to be imbedded in all our AI systems. Other buddy knew exactly what I was talking about ('cuz he's a big nerd too) and asked "How do we make it so."

"It shouldn't be too hard to hack. We could probably do this in ~6weeks if we don't sleep and forget what we were doing," I say. //We're all 50yrs+ so...

Navy buddy said he's glad he's going to exit the world before SkyNet takes over :-)

On that note... Cheers, -T

Monkey said...

C-Eh! I’ll keep you in my thoughts.

Wilbur Charles said...

From earlier...

I remember the '67 Triple Crown champ well. "The Man we call Yaz(tryzemski). Killebrew hit a homer to tie for homer lead on his last AB of the Season

WC

CrossEyedDave said...

Anon-T

Nerd?

Your not a nerd unless you are into this,...

However,
in the meantime....

CrossEyedDave said...

Oh, I. Forgot this...

CrossEyedDave said...

and this...

Anonymous T said...

Mate (#CED) 90-degrees Goes Wrong I've seen at least 4x.

So, let me introduce this chap to you.
//and notice my HTML is clean ;-) If you review my source-code for yesterday's blog... #Nerds!
I think I've seen 80+% of Laurence's videos but have yet to buy swag.

Right now I'm writing regular-expressions (#>Splunk) to look into the logs for who did what when inre: moving files for outside the $corp folks. DW & I fell asleep for 90-ish min and she's still out so I have to amuse myself with coding.

Apologies to all the other Cornerites for all this silliness.

WC - got a link or do I need to Google so I can rest after Kojack is over?
Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

WC - I saved you the trouble. Killebrew :-) -T

sumdaze said...

IMHO, this was the best puzzle we've seen in weeks. Thanks, Tim! I hope you WRITE another one soon! All the same, I had a FIW because I had HaPLESS instead of HOPELESS. PDC! (Pretty Darn
Close)
As always, I appreciate your expo, waseeley. I'm always so busy on Thursdays. I really miss out on all the links.
CanadianEh!@ 3:48. My condolences. We're here for you when you need us.