Uncanny Valleys
An uncanny valley is a robot eerily too close to human likeness. Masahiro Mori (of Tokyo Institute of Tech) coined the phrase in the early '70's but I think The Twilight Zone (the one w/ a Robot Mom [that's your cue CED - find us the episode if you're over Covid]) beat him to the punch by 20(ish) years.Todays' offering by August contains three (3) four-letter synonyms for valleys. But, with circles in the grid, they are not terribly hidden. The only thing uncanny is WADI - I don't recall hearing that word [see: 47a - not a good Bible reader, me].
Let's check out the Themers...
19. High price to pay, metaphorically: AN ARM AND A LEG.
29. Star cluster that resembles a bird of prey: EAGLE NEBULA. Messier-16 (who'd love to see crosswords expand to include numbers?) didn't fit.
 |
| Looks like a Klingon Bird of Prey decloaking. Source |
47. Health regimen modeled on the cuisine of Japan's Ryukyu Islands: OKINAWA DIET. New to me: "The Okinawa diet gets its name from the traditional eating style of those living on Japan’s Okinawa island. The diet is low-calorie and carb-based typically, but today consists of more protein and fat." Also new to me, WADI: "a valley that is dry except in the rainy season" It's Arabic and (according to the internet) in the Bible 11 times.
 |
| A wadi |
And the reveal:
53. Salad dressing brand, and a feature of 19-, 29-, and 47-Across?: HIDDEN VALLEY.
Across:
1. Athletic brand that shares its name with a big cat: PUMA. My ankle-socks are Pumas. Get 6 pair for ~25 bucks at Amazon.
 |
| Over the ankle socks. |
5. Cold desert in Asia: GOBI.
9. "Shucks!": DARN.
13. Asked for proof of age, say: IDED. "Papers Please," said the bouncer.
14. Admissions hurdle: EXAM.
15. "Let's Dance" singer David: BOWIE. Musical interlude.
R.I.P David Bowie
16. Like 9-Downs: TO GO. We'll get to DOGGY BAG in a bit.
17. Semester: TERM.
18. Super cool digs?: IGLOO.
19. [See: Theme]
22. Bell bottoms option: LEES. Lee brand jeans. I think Mom dressed me in bell bottoms when I was 6yrs old #Bicentenial #'76.
23. Pudge on an infant: BABY FAT. I was a little FAT spaghetti eatin' BABY.
//Mom has a picture of me fast asleep in my spaghetti.
27. Eclectic musician Brian: ENO.
29. [See: Theme]
32. Oscar nod, briefly: NOM. NOMination.
33. Key mistake?: TYPO. Cute.
34. "Shucks!": DRAT IT. Um, yeah, not what I exclaim.
35. Letting in a draft, maybe: AJAR.
37. Part of the "Law & Order" franchise, familiarly: SVU. Special Victim's Unit. IIRC, we had this last Wednesday.
39. Blow hard: GUST. Cute.
40. Mediterranean microstate: MONACO.
43. One-named Irish singer: ENYA.
46. Tuna roll topping: ROE. Wait for 55d...
47. [See: Theme]
49. Cease: END.
50. Screamed, perhaps: REACTED. Eek!
51. "One __ at a time": STEP. "Day" was too short.
53. [See: Theme]
58. Guiding belief: CREDO.
61. "Out! Out!": SHOO.
62. Made it: CAME. Do I link Barry Manilow's "Looks Like We Made It"? Um, no :-)
//Did you know he wrote the "Like a Good Neighbor" jingle for State Farm? I heard that on NPR's Fresh Air last week.
63. "Hadestown" playwright Mitchell: ANAIS.
//Youngest knows the musical.
64. Lawsuit basis: TORT.
65. Cash for cards: ANTE. Deal me in.
66. Bend out of shape: WARP. Or what you have to do to space-time to go WARP Factor 8. #StarTrek
67. Boo-boo: OWIE. A "B" short of 15a.
68. Covert convo start: PSST.
Down:
1. Bread with tzatziki: PITA. Food!
2. Japanese soup noodle: UDON. More food!
3. Grandiose delusions: MEGALOMANIA.
4. Really dig: ADORE.
5. Have one's voice heard: GET A SAY.
6. Beasts that pulled covered wagons: OXEN.
 |
| (people of a certain age get it) |
7. Avon product?: BARD. Cute Shakespeare reference.
8. Third No. 1 hit for the Black Eyed Peas: IMMA BE. Do I offend your (and my) auditory sense? No, HG did that Saturday with his link when it appeared in Ryan's grid.
9. Stuffed diner's request: DOGGY BAG. 16a - TO GO.
10. Piercing tool: AWL.
 |
| Pokie tools |
11. Kia model: RIO.
12. Recent prefix: NEO.
15. "Sorry" singer Justin: BIEBER. Oy! I know he's Canadian so probably a nice kid but... #noLink
20. __ and greet: MEET. #CorpHappyHour (I'm awful at these things until a 2nd beer)
21. Get, as a job: LAND. And then you have to go to [see: above]
24. "Where do you see yourself in five years" subject: FUTURE PLANS. Oy! That's an interview question before LANDing a gig. I must be a drifter 'cuz I can mostly plan for ~6 months ahead but life seems to take me where it goes. //Tell God your plans and s/he'll giggle (or something like that).
25. Brie of "Community": ALISON. This fill made me think of The Lemonheads who I saw at Bricktown Brewery in OKC in the '90s .
Alice is Starting to Happen
26. Heavily inked: TATTED. My (Army) Bro is tat'd up chest, shoulders, & back. Peed himself on his first tat, he did :-)
27. Utterly charm: ENAMOR.
28. "I swear!": NO JOKE. Anyone else hear Joe Biden's voice in the fill?... "No joke, folks. This is for real." :-)
30. Apple Maps tech: GPS. Global Positioning System. A group of satellites orbiting in Medium Earth Orbit. Read more.
31. Really dug: LOVED. If you missed last Wednesday (or many of my posts), I really dig RUSH.
36. Party bowlful from 53-Across: RANCH DIP. Hidden Valley makes a decent RANCH DIP but I like my crudités bare or with hummus.
38. College, to Brits: UNI. I learned this from BBC programmes.
41. Open-air enclosures for some pets: CATIOS. Portmanteau of Cat & Patio (I assume(?))
42. Had to pay: OWED. Oy! I just got my Christmas Amex bill. I guess I'll be back in the office come January.
44. Political endorsement: YES VOTE.
45. Poori flour: ATTA. We've had it enough in the fill, I should remember it by now.
48. Lengthens: ADDS TO.
52. Yosemite peak, familiarly: EL CAP. El Capitan - a big rock in Yosemite. I've seen it IRL and have no clue why folks would try to free-solo it.
Totally Mental!
54. DIY site: E-HOW.
55. Tuna roll wrap: NORI. Basically, seaweed. Nori is red alga (green when dried); Wakame (why am I giving constructors ideas?!?)/kelp is brown. Nori provides a wonderful chew in a sushi roll or around unagi (eel).
56. 911 responders: Abbr.: EMTS. Did we need Abbr. after 911? Emergency Medical Technicians.
//Story: In the Army Reserves, I was with a field medical unit. Many of the nurses worked their day-job as EMTs. Being a 92B (medical lab tech), during training exercises, I oft played the victim that needed care. I learned more about first aid than I ever did in Boy Scouts.
Oooh, wait... More story: One of our Scout Masters tried to show us how to fell a tree. We'd already notch'd it pretty good. His first axe swing bounced out of the notch and straight into his ankle; I took a woodchip out of his wound (I knew I really wasn't supposed to do that but it seemed the right thing at the time).
We used our cravats to stop the beading, built a stretcher out of branches and our shirts, and hiked his butt out of the woods. Later that night we had to treat him (again) for shock and send him back to the (remote-a**) hospital.
////Too graphic? -- imagine if you were 11yrs old!
57. Chuck, slangily: YEET. Someone under 30yrs-old, please explain. I only know YEET as excitement or Whoot!
//Youngest (first-read editor) knew this as "to throw." She said it is a thing and then giggled at me.
Then, my Angel Editor let me know that Merriam-Webster added it to the dictionary in 2022 as toss forcefully with the usage: "We just don't yeet it into the dictionary the first time we encounter it." [Cite]
58. Cry from a crow: CAW.
59. Molecule in some vaccines: RNA. mRNA technology is pretty magic, what, with telling your cells how to identify bad proteins. I just hope the tech doesn't go all I Am Legend on us.
Spoiler: a vaccine turns people into night stalking Zombies and Will Smith
hunts for the antidote while trying to stay alive.
60. Unit of corn: EAR.
The Grid:
 |
| The Grid |
WO: open->AJAR
ESPs: IMMA BE (I did this puzzle b/f Sat's), ANAIS, ALISON, ATTA, and YEET as clued.
Fav: I'll go with David BOWIE and leave you with him & Mick.
Dancing in the Streets
Well, that was fun. You now have 4 days to bake cookies & pour milk for Santa and get some carrots* (with hummus) for the reindeer.
Cheers, -T
*nibble 'em like a squirrel might to mess with your (grand?)children's little brains come Christmas morning :-)
Now that I’ve completed the puzzle, many of the answers seem obvious, even easy. However, they didn’t at the time I was going through it. There were a lot of blank spaces at first, but eventually such things as “catios” (which I suppose is a takeoff on “patios,” as Anon T said) and the “Okinawa Diet” got filled in. So, while I can’t say this puzzle was “easy,” it was eventually sussable through P&P. FIR, so I’m happy.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteYEET? Yeesh! Not familiar with that term. Nor CATIOS. Thought MEGALOMANIA was a former First Lady. Did you notice the SO to Lucina? D-o spells DOGGIE BAG like that. Nice mid-week grid amble, August. Enjoyed your take on things, Dash-T. (You'd better hope your brother doesn't read the blog.)
Pretty good for a Thursday. Not too many proper names. IMMA BE... errr.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the "Arm and a Leg" fill reminded me of a bit I read in a magazine. Not positive if it is a true story. Supposedly, someone moved from the mid-west to New York city, and kept hearing people say that they had to pay "A nominal egg" for things. Took a while before they found out it was the NYC accent (Brooklyn?) saying "It costs an arm and a leg!"
FIR, but erased tone for TYPO, csi for SVU, and tenet for CREDO.
ReplyDeleteToday is:
MUDD DAY (Dr. Sam Mudd got life in prison for operating on John Wilkes Booth’s broken leg. There is no evidence that he was part of the conspiracy.)
GO CAROLING DAY (before I sing in front of strangers, I need a little liquid courage. Oh Look!!!)
NATIONAL SANGRIA DAY (there’s a Mexican restaurant in Hurst, TX (or Euless, or Bedford, can’t keep them straight) which serves the best I’ve ever tasted.)
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN SOLIDARITY DAY (seeks to celebrate the word’s unity in diversity. In this country, diversity seeks to divide)
CSO to our own melissa at imma be. (The only Black Eyed Peas song I know is Boom Boom Pow, but I'm really ENAMORed with Fergie.
Stepdaughter complained about not being able to lose her BABY FAT. Now in her 50s, she's long since gotten back to her model-like figure.
Don't think I've ever started a convo with PSST.
CATIO? Really? I guess what the cat wants, the cat gets.
Thanks to Bayou Tony for the fun review.
FIR, but not without a struggle. Lots of "never hear of"s in this puzzle, like eagle nebula and Okinawa diet.
ReplyDeleteThe SE was the last to fall with especially tricky cluing.
The theme was clever, although as I previously stated, some of the answers escaped me
ReplyDelete
Took 6:31 today for me to mind the gap.
ReplyDelete"catio"? "yeet"?
David Bowie has some great songs.
I didn't know today's actress (Alison).
Oh joy, circles!
Went with creed too long before credo forced its way to the service. I often get hung up by these two.
ReplyDeleteGood morning. Today's puzzle has three 4-letter names for valleys. I know them but never heard actually use either DALE or GLEN while speaking. But, S. LA is flat and there are no VALLEYS. A WADI is a dry riverbed. DALE, Dell, Vale- it's all the uphill from there.
ReplyDeleteDRAT IT- easy fill but nobody says that; either DARN IT or DARN (if you are polite)
Mitchell ANAIS or "Hadestown" (both unknown) crossing the unknown CATIOS were my last fill.
Add IMMA BE, BIEBER, Brie ALISON, YEET, EAGLE NEBULA, OKINAWA DIET- thank you perps
Anon-T funny that you picture the HIDDEN VALLEY Ranch dressing since we bought a bottle of it yesterday. DW likes to mix it with Italian when she eats salads.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI wish the editorial staff had more faith in the solver's ability to find the theme answers sans circles, especially when the revealer is as explicit as today's is and the "hidden" valleys consist of only four letters. Early week offerings need them for fairness to newbies and for maintaining difficulty level standards, but mid- to late week only require them to illustrate a visual concept of a theme, IMVHO. That said, there were a few unknowns to add some crunch: Eagle Nebula, Okinawa Diet, Anais, and Catios. Wadi is familiar to me, I use it a lot in WWF but, for some reason, I thought it was something like a rice paddy. The things we learn here at the Corner! The puzzle had some fresh and lively fill and I really like the clecho cluing for Darn/Drat It and Adore/Loved. The minimal three letter words was a plus, also, but Yeet I could do without.
Thanks, August, for an enjoyable solve and thanks, Anon T, for another stellar DH appearance. Enjoy your repartee and asides, not to mention your deconstructing the grid. The Arm and A Leg comic brought a laugh-out-loud reaction, but hearing about your traumatic Boy Scout experience was sobering, to say the least! BTW, I, too, thought of Joe Biden at No Joke. 🤣
DO @ 5:35 ~ Your comment about the CSO to Lucina had me scratching my head, so I went back over the grid and, of course, found it! Kudos to you for your keen eyes and boos to me for my continued, non-existent observation skills.
Have a great day.
Thanks August. Liked the puzzle. I got the theme, but it was just a tad too crunchy for me and I LANDED an FIW. Embarrassing really.
ReplyDeleteA fun, informative review -T. Do you wear PUMA footie socks too? 😁
19A AN ARM AND A LEG. A CSO to our dear Lucina.
32A NOM. NOM. Tastes good!
35A AJAR. Not a DOOR.
63A ANAIS. Finally, another alternate fill for NIN.
3D MEGALOMANIA. Endemic among today's billionaire set.
7D BARD. This past October was the 400th anniversary of publication of the BARD's First Folio.
38D UNI. Also Sushi for SEA URCHIN. An acquired taste.
41D CATIO. DNK this portmanteau.
Cheers
Bill
Musings
ReplyDelete-ALISON and ANAIS minus Nin were today’s obscure but sussable names
-YEET: Every teenager I asked knew it.
-The coldest deserts on Earth surround the north and south pole
-Joann got a KITTY BAG for her prime rib and Lily finished it off in record time
-Nothings says 70’s like double knit bell bottoms
-The superintendent’s son had a lot of BABY FAT when I sponsored him for his confirmation five years ago. Now, he is a lean and mean 175-lb. wrestler
-Amen, Tony, on that uber annoying song. Thanks for the fun write-up.
-My 77-yr-old rear-view mirror shows a lot of FUTURE PLANS that blew up I have no regrets. “Ya gotta play it where it lies!”
-What Irish said.
Wednesday Workout. Thanks for the fun, August and AnonT.
ReplyDeleteI finished eventually, but required a Google LIU for SVU to open up the centre.
Then I saw the HIDDEN VALLEYs.
VALLEY changed Deet (I thought for Delete) to YEET (no idea!).
Etsy changed to EHOW, Open to AJAR.
Unknown names perped.
IMMABE was solid but not remembered or parsed.
We had a culinary trip around the world with PITA, ATTA, NORI, UDON, ROE.
I noted RIO and NEO beside each other, plus other O endings with ENO, CREDO, TO GO, MONACO, CATIO S (are they a thing?), IGLOO.
Gotta run and get some Christmas prep done. Read you all later.
Wishing you all a great day.
Good Morning! Whew! Quite an exercise this a.m. Thanks, August. I wasn’t sure I would finish, but in the end, it wasn’t as obtuse as I first thought.
ReplyDeleteOne WO: Box 40. I started to put into 27D ENAM _ _, then questioned if it should end in an “E”, one box short. Took out the “M” but put it back in when MONACO appeared.
WADI – I trusted the perps for this one.
FAV fill: DOGGIE BAG 🐕 🤍
Thanks, Anon-T for the fun review. I don’t get the OXEN pic, so I don’t know if I’m too young or too old…. Maybe the answer will be revealed… 😉😄
Yes, D-O, I hadn't noticed until I read your post: DOGGIE vs DOGGY.
ReplyDeleteAlso agree with YEET. Can't tell if it should be a word or a sound...
A touch crunchy today, but P&P prevailed for the FIR. A fair amount of never-heard-befores, but perps were kind and WAGs were lucky. I actually knew that a wadi was a dry river bed. Spot on review, Tony!
ReplyDeleteThis was a steady solve I ended up doing it in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep for a bit.
ReplyDeleteALISON Brie came quickly because some of my kids started binging "Community" (tv show 2007-2015) so the last time we were with them we also binged a few episodes. I get her confused with Brie Larson (of Captain MArvel and "Room" Oscar winner) because Brie was also in "Community" as one of it's many supporting characters.
We visited some WADIs during our trip to Israel and Palestine- you can see why they were good places for David to hide (except in the rainy season.
Thanks -T for sub-blogging and August for the puzzle!
Ray-O - hope your ablation is done and successful!
ReplyDeleteCute theme. Not hard to detect, and yes probably didn’t need the circles.
ReplyDeleteI liked super cool digs, key mistake, stuffed diner’s request clues.
To me boo boo means error so it took a while to come up with OWIE.
YEET and PSST were the last to fill.
IMMA BE filled in inadvertently. LOL.
Thanks A-t for a fun review. That poor husband with the limbs missing was funny.
Postscript on WADI. I believe the equivalent in the US are the ARROYOS of the SW.
ReplyDeleteCrunchy for me today. Needed help from Jack to finish. I had creed/CREDO, endear/ENAMOR, misspelled Bieber, so delayed getting IGLOO, had patios/CATIOS.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I did enjoy the puzzle as well as the tour, so thanks, August and DO.
Can someone ‘splain IMMABE?
Also, in our LA Times print version, the only day we see the theme is Sunday. Are the themes on other days visible to other cornerites?
Did anyone else watch Willie Nelson’s 90th Birthday Celebration on Sunday night? We loved it.
Wendybird - Just remember, you asked for it... IMMA BE. It was in Saturday's puzzle which is the only way I knew it.
ReplyDeleteRosE - The image is from the video game The Oregon Trail. It was an educational game.
Mostly, I learned everyone died of dysentery :-)
Cheers, -T
Oh, and Wendybird - during the week, we make up the puzzle titles. You are correct that only Sundays have 'em. -T
ReplyDeleteWendybird, you mistakenly credited me with today's blog. Dash-T did today's write-up. Tony does a great job and deserves the credit.
ReplyDeleteHello, Corner friends! Thank you, August Miller, for the enjoyable exercise! Thank you, Anon-T, for the fun write-up!
ReplyDeleteI had most of the unknowns already mentioned. YEET? I know we've had it before but it went in one ear and out the other. Music--if it's not on the Oldies channel, I don't know it. Names, nope. Don't know.
Favs:
CATIO. At the shelter we have about 16 cat rooms, (Java Mama, correct me, please), and each room has it's own Catio. It's a concrete floor with chain link fencing around it and each room has a kitty door, like a doggie door but for the cats and a patio door for the humans to use. Most of them have a cat tree and some other playful equipment on the catio for the cats' fun.
MEET and greet: when a potential dog adopter brings in their current dog(s) to meet a potential canine addition to their family. Staff members will take the dogs outside to meet on neutral territory. If that goes well, they all come inside to an adoption room for more time together. If all goes well, we have an adoption!
Lucina, I'm sorry for your loss. I understand your pain and lack of desire to get into the Christmas spirit. You're doing what is right for you at this time and that is perfect. In Oct., 2003, my Dad was the pedestrian victim of a hit and run. That destroyed just about any desire I had to celebrate anything. For several years now I have a few ceramic items my parents made and I put out those. It's all I need or want. I hope succeeding years are a bit easier for you to deal with.
Have a wonderful rest of your day! Sunny and warmer here.
I love any puzzle with my name circled in it. LOL Liked "cash for cards" and "Avon product". It was going slow until I got the theme line. GC
ReplyDeleteLate to the party, just got off a ladder replacing a burnt out string of Christmas lights. So, I guess I am feeling better, but fixing Xmas lights always makes me crabby...
ReplyDeleteCatio? Learn8ng moment, (or relearning moment.) I forget,,,
It's one of those "meh" words I don't use.
Anon-T, twilight zone robot mom? You refer to I sing the body electric (grandmother actually). I thought it was Angela Cartwright, of lost in space/sound of music fame. But it turns out it was her older sister, Veronica.
Hidden valley, hmm,,,,
Never cared for ranch dressing, I'm more of a Marie's creamy Italian kind of guy. ( the more garlic the better.)
But hidden valley will always remind me of may we meet in Glocca Morra.
I forgot to add that I have never heard of "yeet" GC
ReplyDeleteAh! I found a better versi9n of Glocca Morra!
ReplyDeleteAnywho,
Back to fixing the Xmas lights...
Hmm, trying not to get zapped by these dang thingies, is making me think of Ray-O
Hmm,
ReplyDelete"I sing the body electric..."
that was pure serendipity.
Me, speaking to a news announcer: Can you say "affect"?
ReplyDeleteNews announcer: A - a -aaahhh ---aaa --- impact!
Me, speaking to a news writer: Can you write the word "affect"?
Writer writes: aaa [backspace backspace backspace] impact!
About the puzzle: WEES.
ReplyDeleteJace
ReplyDeleteMe, speaking to a news announcer: WAS
News announcer: IS
Me, speaking to a news announcer: WERE
News announcer: ARE
I seem to remember that it is news 101 to use present tense for everything except ancient history (like last week.) It drove, er, drives me crazy.
Thanks, August for your puzzle! I liked your clever clueing -- Avon product? Key mistake?
ReplyDeleteI just happened to know a few of the toughies today:
- I've been to OKINAWA so that gave me a lot of letters. The Blue Zones have been getting a lot of chatter lately. OKINAWA is one of them. Now that you've seen it in a puzzle, you'll probably notice it more. Things go that way sometimes.
- My neighbor down the street has a CATIO.
- I remember ALISON from Mad Men. Her character was the socialite who married that sniveling guy.
Thanks to -T for a fun review! Hand up for recognizing Organ Trail. I guess I'm "of a certain age".
I got dizzy just watching the free solo climber video. I have heard him interviewed before. His hands are super muscular.
After reading your def. of WADI, I remembered that I did know that word. Oof!
Arm&Leg comic was a good one.
Barry Manilow also wrote the "I'm stuck on Band-Aid 'cuz Band-Aid's stuck on me" jingle. Turns out he did well as a jingle writer before he started cranking out the hits.
Big Easy @ 8:41 -- If you're an Angeleno, the obvious GLEN DALE will come to mind, just west of Pasadena.
ReplyDeleteWaseely @ 11:13 -- "Postscript on WADI. I believe the equivalent in the US are the ARROYOS of the SW."
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Pasadena, the big gulch where the Rose Bowl sits, is the ARROYO SECO, the 'Dry Channel.;
Michael, in BE's neck of the woods, "LA" means "loozianna." The USPS seems to agree. I had a work friend from Mobile who took exception to that. To him, "LA" meant "Lower Alabama."
ReplyDeleteMichael, I mostly know that area because of Santa Anita, my second-favorite horse racing venue. (My favorite is Keeneland in Lexington.) And one of my engineers was responsible for the Glendale telco exchange, and I've attended the Tournament of Roses parade once, sleeping in a c-o-l-d van on New Year's Eve. There were some other people attending the parade too.
ReplyDelete-T. Thanks for recommending "The Good Place" (See 12/5/23). I've watched Seasons 1 & 2 since you recommended it. It came out when I was living overseas so there's this gap in my entertainment knowledge. I think I might have been confusing it with "The Good Doctor", "The Good Wife", or maybe "The Good Fight". It's official. I'll now watch anything Michael Schur puts out. The writing is brilliant. Love that someone was able to make big money with their philosophy degree. LOL!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThank YOu Mr. August Miller, for a very nice CW puzzle, I solved last night. In a ew moments, I will be ready to solve tomorrows puzzzle ....
Thank You Anon=T, for your wonderful expo, ... whom I read ('red'-) all day, and finally finished an hour ago. I don't relate to some of your music ... but I recognized the Oregon Trail pixels picture right away....
short story :: My eldest daughter was a nerd in elem school, and the kids were always ribbing her. Bullying, or milder forms of jest, were not so formally recognized then. And everybody was playing Oregon Trail on their Apple IIGs and other Apple computers, and saving their hi scores on their 5 inch floppies ... for boasting rights ...
.... So, I decided to get into the act, and I learnt how to play the game, and spent over 40 feverish hours, getting perfect, and saving my high scores ... all under my daughter's name ... so she had her share of the boasting rights ... and they never ribbed her again...
BTW, in the end of the semester, they voted her,'most likely to succeed' ... for good reason..
WADI, I knew, also in Afghanistan and Pakistan, can mean an empty, or swirling river bed. In many indian languages, a Wadi is also a neighborhood, or any particular ethnic group ... not necessarily bad...
It took me an hour to wonder what was a CSO to Lucina ... who doesnt seem to have posted today. Thanks to waseely for pointing out her last name Dale ... sometimes some of us have to led to the answer ....
So, Anais NIN has a younger (?) brother ... Mitchell Anais ? If one is a first name, and the other a last name ... I am confused. Never heard of him of his play ...
EMTS::: True Story ... Yesterday, afternoon, I was ending my 3 times a week dialysis session .. and the tech had me hold my blood taps, inlet and outlet, when she withdrew the needles, ... on the cotton wads, ... for 15 minutes.
Unfortunately, one of the taps ...the blood would not clot, to enable her to put a temporary sticker. So, she called the Ambulance (!) , and had me transported to the Emergency Ward at the nearest hospital !!!! ... What a waste of manpower, money, funds, energy and efficiency !!! And, all because she wanted to go off her shift at the regular time !! This is one of the reasons that America's medical costs are so needlessly high !!!
I spent 3 hours needlessly in the hospital, had 2 blood draws, and all to no added benefit to anybody concerned !!! They even wanted to ultrasound my f--- hand, but I finally put my foot down. MY hand was back to normal, by midnight last night ....
For Xmas, I bought 5 lbs of carrots, ... for a)a Carrot Cake, b) some Carrot Halwa ( See Gajjar/Carrot Halwa on YOutube - ) and some lemon juice flavored carrot pickle ....
Have a nice weekend guys, I may be on the road, this Xmas .. for a short trip.
Jinx and Big Easy -- My apologies for conflating Los Angeles with LouisianA ... I don't think I've ever mailed anything to LA, so it wasn't in the 'wheelhouse.' (BTW, Spellcheck didn't like me capitalizing the second 'A' and promptly demoted the Pelican State's name to Louisiana. Pesky electrons, at it again!)
ReplyDelete