"Endnotes" - January 22, 2021

[DrTom]

Good Saturday morning fellow muggles.

I am constantly amazed at the continuous ways that Matt, Mike and the gang can construct metas in different ways. For those who are new to metas, the only rule is that there are no rules which is what makes it fun and challenging.

We have 23 on the ship and 110 on the shore with our newest muggle being tobinillanovi.
........

And on the shore with more than a few needing resuscitation before making their way to the tiki bar are
......
Good luck to all and stay safe.

let me know how many on the shore I have missed.

Think you missed me at #203.

(Or you were just too dazzled by my many, wonderful music references.)

Blinded by the light! You just got him All shook up! Sometimes you just Catch a wave and, assuming you don't Wipeout, find yourself Sitting at the dock of the bay. Other times you end up kicking like mad Just to keep from drowning. But even if you are stuck on the Love Boat or the Poseidon, There has to be a morning after and that is usually (you know what is coming) Monday Monday.

[DrTom]

After now finding the 100% confirmed, no inelegant final step needed solution, I wish he had only used that one and skipped the clunkier version.

Yes, but truthfully you needed all moving parts to get to 100%, it was unavoidable unless I am missing yet something else (and if so please PM me so we don't give too much away). I don't know that it was recognized beforehand (and as clever as Mike is I am sure it was realized but....) However believe me when I say that the inelegance was almost enough to make me consider not submitting. We are far too used to a YEP, that HAS to be it, as is witnessed by so many statements this week of the "don't know how I got here but that has to be it...."

[jhseeman]

Mmmm - La Crema Willamette - almost any year - chugging not allowed!

The Willamette edition is pricier and harder to find than the Sonoma.

But softer and more nuanced - worth the search and the few extra bucks (unless of course you are going to guzzle and then...). I do like the Sonoma (and if you are a BJs member it is $17.50!) but Oregon is my favorite US pinot destination. I like Burgundy but I don't like their snotty pricing structure. You can find some decent entry level Bourgogne Rouge that won't entail you hocking your TV set, but anything with Cru in its name is shocking. Unfortunately supply and demand, as well as patina, combine to raise the price bar.

if you think science is always that simple you have obviously never sat there in front of a biochemistry exam trying to decipher how the particular configuration of the molecule is going to rotate light. I mean before that test I had hair!!!!!

What happened to Ockham's razor? Is someone using it to shave their head?

Occam was however a friar (as opposed to a broiler I suppose) and not a scientist and no doubt never took biochemistry. In the scientific method Occam's razor is respected of course but not always valid in questions of logic since there is always a large set of possible answers. Scientists tend to choose how easy the answer is to prove, and the easier to prove the better. For example "All sheep are white" is an easy explanation but refutable with the single demonstration of a black sheep (or DrTom as the case may be). Additionally, given enough time the truth may change - "all roads lead to Rome" may have been correct at some point in history, but having traveled in Italy more recently I know that some lead to a dead end on a scary mountain road in the dead of night. Besides on the exam in question, had there been any razor I would not have used it to shave my head, but probably to slit my throat (or the Professor's which would have been the simple answer).

In the few freshman physics classes I attended (it met at 9 a.m., which was very early at the time), the professor was teaching vector analysis. The problems on the final exam could be done with long and complicated calculation, but if you used vector analysis, you got to the result with just a few strokes of the pencil. I didn't find this out until the exam post-mortem (nearly literally true in the case of my own exam paper) when he explained it, and I had a much too belated "aha" moment.

Vector analysis you say - well I prefer Vector Velasco, he is the little scientific principle that lives in the attic of my head and only come down to get me drunk on ouzo!

Fortunately I presently live in Wine Country Washington....125+ wineries, 25+ breweries, 6 or so distilleries....so I can find local wines and in a pinch have a friend that just started a winery down in Willamette Valley. So finding good local wines just requires a trip to the winery or grocery store (has sales on washington wines).

As for freshman physics....damn near killed me, never had to study in high school, got to college and ran into Freshman Physics, aka, the engineering weeder class....survived barely but learned two very important skills, how to study and it's important to stop by and talk with your professors. Then really enjoyed quantum mechanics, not sure if it means I'm a sado-masochist or just like my brain hurting.

[Richard]

On the ship.

I was able to get my first vaccine shot on Thursday. No major after effects.

Have gone done a few rabbit holes but will probably put this one aside.

[CPJohnson]

Still Lost At Sea.

[Streroto]

For MGWCC members there is a great shoutout to this forum and Joe Ross in particular from Matt in his weekly writeup. Kudos, Joe and thanks, Matt!

Stay well all

[JennyByrd]

Got the grid yesterday, and the meta today. Happy to be on shore with all of you! Sad that it’s still ‘dry January’ for me, but not for much longer

[KscX]

Good Saturday morning fellow muggles.

We have 23 on the ship and 110 on the shore with our newest muggle being tobinillanovi.

Good luck to all and stay safe.

let me know how many on the shore I have missed.

I believe you missed me at #206. Thanks for all your good work!
KSCX

[Bob cruise director]

Good Saturday morning fellow muggles.

We have 23 on the ship and 110 on the shore with our newest muggle being tobinillanovi.

Good luck to all and stay safe.

let me know how many on the shore I have missed.

I believe you missed me at #206. Thanks for all your good work!
KSCX

Thanks. I remember reading the posts before and after but no idea what happened.

I remember the blog name because it is hard to type. What does it stand for?

[Hidden in 3D]

ON SHORE at last! I was all ready to submit my answer early yesterday morning until I started perusing our wonderful forum. After reading a few pages, I decided to try to find the "elegant" solution. Happy to say that I finally figured it out, and my first thought would have yielded the same submission, but at least now I understand the process. (At least I hope I do...) I can't wait to see how they fit the Monday morning explanation in that tiny little space!!

[KscX]

Thanks. I remember reading the posts before and after but no idea what happened.

I remember the blog name because it is hard to type. What does it stand for?

Uhhhh - my initials, with an x, because my plain initials weren't an available user name. Very creative, I know. What's done is done.
-Koren

[Tom Shea]

Mmmm - La Crema Willamette - almost any year - chugging not allowed!

The Willamette edition is pricier and harder to find than the Sonoma.

But softer and more nuanced - worth the search and the few extra bucks (unless of course you are going to guzzle and then...). I do like the Sonoma (and if you are a BJs member it is $17.50!) but Oregon is my favorite US pinot destination. I like Burgundy but I don't like their snotty pricing structure. You can find some decent entry level Bourgogne Rouge that won't entail you hocking your TV set, but anything with Cru in its name is shocking. Unfortunately supply and demand, as well as patina, combine to raise the price bar.

A perfectionist walked into a bar. It wasn't set high enough.

Vector analysis you say - well I prefer Vector Velasco, he is the little scientific principle that lives in the attic of my head and only come down to get me drunk on ouzo!

It's OK to listen to the little voice in your head. Just don't get into an argument with it.

[Kris Zacharias]

Good Saturday morning fellow muggles.

I am constantly amazed at the continuous ways that Matt, Mike and the gang can construct metas in different ways. For those who are new to metas, the only rule is that there are no rules which is what makes it fun and challenging.

We have 23 on the ship and 110 on the shore with our newest muggle being tobinillanovi.
........

And on the shore with more than a few needing resuscitation before making their way to the tiki bar are
......
Good luck to all and stay safe.

let me know how many on the shore I have missed.

Think you missed me at #203.

(Or you were just too dazzled by my many, wonderful music references.)

Blinded by the light! You just got him All shook up! Sometimes you just Catch a wave and, assuming you don't Wipeout, find yourself Sitting at the dock of the bay. Other times you end up kicking like mad Just to keep from drowning. But even if you are stuck on the Love Boat or the Poseidon, There has to be a morning after and that is usually (you know what is coming) Monday Monday.

I think you missed me too at #103

[Jeanrosz]

I’m on shore....quickly got step one and didn’t see the final step til now! Yeah!

[Bob cruise director]

Think you missed me at #203.

(Or you were just too dazzled by my many, wonderful music references.)

Blinded by the light! You just got him All shook up! Sometimes you just Catch a wave and, assuming you don't Wipeout, find yourself Sitting at the dock of the bay. Other times you end up kicking like mad Just to keep from drowning. But even if you are stuck on the Love Boat or the Poseidon, There has to be a morning after and that is usually (you know what is coming) Monday Monday.

I think you missed me too at #103

guilty as charged - sorry

[Commodore]

Paraphrasing another Inaugural Poet's famed work:

• Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
  And sorry I could not travel EITHER, dadgummit!

'Tis a seafarin' week for me, Isaac.

[DrTom]

The Willamette edition is pricier and harder to find than the Sonoma.

But softer and more nuanced - worth the search and the few extra bucks (unless of course you are going to guzzle and then...). I do like the Sonoma (and if you are a BJs member it is $17.50!) but Oregon is my favorite US pinot destination. I like Burgundy but I don't like their snotty pricing structure. You can find some decent entry level Bourgogne Rouge that won't entail you hocking your TV set, but anything with Cru in its name is shocking. Unfortunately supply and demand, as well as patina, combine to raise the price bar.

A perfectionist walked into a bar. It wasn't set high enough.

Guilty as charged and with several lumps on my head to attest to that, but then they kind of like perfectionism in my line of work. Nobody likes a "Wow, I don't think THAT was supposed to happen, you might want to stop those, oh and if that continues to swell/bleed/change colors/yell at you call me back!"

Vector analysis you say - well I prefer Vector Velasco, he is the little scientific principle that lives in the attic of my head and only come down to get me drunk on ouzo!

It's OK to listen to the little voice in your head. Just don't get into an argument with it.

I stopped arguing with it years ago because the damn thing never lost and kept suggesting more and more bizarre things. I think it belonged to Stephen King at one time....

[Tom Shea]

Guilty as charged and with several lumps on my head to attest to that, but then they kind of like perfectionism in my line of work. Nobody likes a "Wow, I don't think THAT was supposed to happen, you might want to stop those, oh and if that continues to swell/bleed/change colors/yell at you call me back!"

Old joke (aren't they all?):

There's a reason they call it medical 'practice'!

[DrTom]

Whether folks solve short, long or some combination of both, as long as they enjoyed doing it that is fine. Heck if they did NOT solve short, long or some combination that is equally fine under the same constraints.

Stealing a line from a different cruise line:


in truth it may well be 98% of the fun. After I get the answer the fun part becomes talking about how I got there, kind of cuddling up and reliving it rather than rolling over, having a virtual cigarette and going to sleep. It of course kills me not to be able to solve something, but that is not because of the win it is because I enjoy our community so much I don't want to be left out of the fun, and the fun is definitely more intense if you have solved because of the chance to describe your twists and turns. Granted for me it is often as much fun to describe how I did NOT get there but got somewhere else instead that certainly looked like there at the time.

I liked this puzzle when I solved it, I LOVED it when I was nudged into how to REALLY solve it, but (and after seeing the MGWCC I realize this may be my only week-end solve) what I am relishing is the online banter. I mean where can you get this type of repartee, exchange of ideas and cultural nuance ANYWHERE except a meeting of a society that I probably would net be asked to be a member of. I participate in FAR too many different groups where idea exchange is the goal and believe me there is NOTHIGN like the Muggle board that I have run across. I feel safe here, I can make stupid comments here and they are smiled at not jeered at. You have even suffered through my Pundemic in the Pandemic without collecting a lynch mob (wait is that villagers with pitchforks and torches outside - no, phew, just the garbage man). So solve or not solve, long or short, easy or hard, direct or scenic, I'm just happy to be here and agree with BirdLives on his evaluation; I don't gulp wine, read the last few pages of the book or check IMBd for the plot and synopsis of the movie I am going to see.

[DrTom]

Guilty as charged and with several lumps on my head to attest to that, but then they kind of like perfectionism in my line of work. Nobody likes a "Wow, I don't think THAT was supposed to happen, you might want to stop those, oh and if that continues to swell/bleed/change colors/yell at you call me back!"

Old joke (aren't they all?):

There's a reason they call it medical 'practice'!

and research - heck if you did it right you would not have to RE-search!

But, for all of those who say "Practice makes perfect" they have never seen the smiles on golf balls I have hit or watched them dry out in the sun after being submerged in water. I finally gave up trying, I found I could afford the greens fees but not the balls (I stole that from a bourbon drinking friend of mine who sent it to me). Turns out I enjoyed the walk more than the drive...