Fairly new here ... I have a question about the coveted mug. If perchance I ever win one, is it common practice to let my fellow muggles know that I won ....or is humility and keeping that secret the better route ??Scraps wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 4:01 pm In my view, anyone who wants to submit may submit, regardless of whether the solution was reached via nudge, Google, or phoning a friend.
The expected monetary value of a correct contest submission is less than one cent (1/1000 chance times $10 value of mug).
One cent isn't worth worrying about.
"Bit Parts" - May 7, 2021
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- Joe Ross
- Moderator
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SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS & MAKE IT YOUR ICON!Ergcat wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 5:38 pmFairly new here ... I have a question about the coveted mug. If perchance I ever win one, is it common practice to let my fellow muggles know that I won ....or is humility and keeping that secret the better route ??Scraps wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 4:01 pm In my view, anyone who wants to submit may submit, regardless of whether the solution was reached via nudge, Google, or phoning a friend.
The expected monetary value of a correct contest submission is less than one cent (1/1000 chance times $10 value of mug).
One cent isn't worth worrying about.
Trust me: Nobody here will criticize you in the least.
Whole blood, platelets, or plasma: Donate 4 in 2024
PLATELET 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 ENORMOUS 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲:
𝟰𝟬% 𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰,
𝟯𝟬% 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰,
𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 & 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮. 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘!
PLATELET 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 ENORMOUS 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲:
𝟰𝟬% 𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰,
𝟯𝟬% 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰,
𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 & 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮. 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘!
- John77
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I do make a nonquantitative marginal utility calculation after completing the grid, when approaching the meta. And I'm starting to wait until Sunday to start the grid, which helps me avoid obsessing until the end of the weekend.SReh26 wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 3:57 pmAn economist should study this situation. Hundreds of people devoting considerable brainpower, time and attention to this frustrating torture, hoping to win something costing at best around 59 cents.DrTom wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 3:49 pmWell my feeling is that if you get a “check” (I.e. your mechanism and answer is correct) then You did solve and SHOULD submit. If you were REALLY close and the check or nudges made it clear enough to submit the you should. If the nudge/check moved you 180 degrees or more then no because submitting at that point doesn’t really represent your thoughts but rather your budgers thoughts, if you Do submit you must include THAT you got help though not WHO helped.Horsesense wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 11:22 am Ashore.
I didn’t see anyone mention another “nudge rule”...
“If you receive a ‘nudge’ or ‘check’ then please do not submit an answer”
Clearly, monetary reward isn’t motivating us. Glory seems to be at least part of it. Community. Challenge. Meaning. Self regard. Fame??? I’m the first to say, the feeling when you get it right on your own - which Ive only done once, mind you, since I’m obviously new here - is priceless!
I’m hooked by the way, this is not a criticism.
Besides, if you wait until the last minute to do something, it only takes a minute.
Cheers to all.
Wir sind zu früh alt und zu spät schlau.
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I'm ashore just in time for a pre-dinner cocktail. I was lost at sea since Friday, had to resort to reference materials to complete the grid, which hasn't happened in a very long time. On to the meta...and nothing. In between tax return reviews today, I took another look, and found my toehold to the what-I-hope-is-the correct answer. Now I have to go fill in all of the rabbit holes lest I hurt myself.
Last edited by Michelle B on Sun May 09, 2021 6:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Wendy Walker
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Joe speaks my mind!
- Attachments
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Good luck, fellow Muggles!
- SReh26
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EPIC!
(a word you all know from the crosswords)
- Scott Lindholm
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An opossum--my daughter will be extremely jealous (I just texted your response and pic to her), since that's what she likes seeing the most.
Janet P wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 10:58 amMy daughter moved from the urban wilds of The Windy City (first Skokie, then the Ravenswood neighborhood) to the southern urban wilds of St. Petersburg, Florida. She kept hearing noises in the crawl space under her house and set up a webcam. This is the first she's seen of her guests during daylight!Alma's possums.pngScott Lindholm wrote: ↑Sat May 08, 2021 8:27 pm First time on shore in about a month, so it'll be crowded. I'm vaccinated, so you can have a beer or ten with me.
And, fresh from the wilds of urban Chicago...
- anaerobe
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Your logic takes me back to my college years. With the start of each new semester, I reasoned: The sooner I fall behind, the more time I have to catch up!
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It's been a few weeks since I've checked in with the contest, but on shore for this one!
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And now for something completely different!
I was doing the weekend crossword thinking I had finished all sections of the paper. However, after taking a break on the weekend puzzle, I turned the page over and saw an article on a book titled “A Mathematician’s Apology” by GH Hardy. What I found interesting and, perhaps, apropos of muggledom was the following from the review:”How then to describe mathematical aesthetics? Hardy suggested similarities with chess (‘even if it is a beauty of a comparatively lowly kind’), bridge or, ‘descending further’ wIth ‘the puzzle columns of the popular newspapers’. A dazzling endgame, an elegant slam or an intricate crossword—these are as near as we may approach Hardy’s transporting ideal of mathematical beauty”.
I like this guy Hardy!
I was doing the weekend crossword thinking I had finished all sections of the paper. However, after taking a break on the weekend puzzle, I turned the page over and saw an article on a book titled “A Mathematician’s Apology” by GH Hardy. What I found interesting and, perhaps, apropos of muggledom was the following from the review:”How then to describe mathematical aesthetics? Hardy suggested similarities with chess (‘even if it is a beauty of a comparatively lowly kind’), bridge or, ‘descending further’ wIth ‘the puzzle columns of the popular newspapers’. A dazzling endgame, an elegant slam or an intricate crossword—these are as near as we may approach Hardy’s transporting ideal of mathematical beauty”.
I like this guy Hardy!
“I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions”. Lillian Hellman
- BarbaraK
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The next best thing to winning is seeing a fellow muggle win. Yes, tell us! Let us all celebrate with you.
- mheberlingx100
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I am reminded of the Pennsylvania Dutch phrase (more by sentence construction than meaning) - The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.
- mheberlingx100
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My way of thinking - each week a thousand or more people will successfully solve the meta. So if you win the coveted mug from a random draw of over a thousand people, you will not be bragging about your puzzle solving ability, but celebrating your good fortune. I say, celebrate as loudly as you want!Joe Ross wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 5:47 pmSHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS & MAKE IT YOUR ICON!Ergcat wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 5:38 pmFairly new here ... I have a question about the coveted mug. If perchance I ever win one, is it common practice to let my fellow muggles know that I won ....or is humility and keeping that secret the better route ??Scraps wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 4:01 pm In my view, anyone who wants to submit may submit, regardless of whether the solution was reached via nudge, Google, or phoning a friend.
The expected monetary value of a correct contest submission is less than one cent (1/1000 chance times $10 value of mug).
One cent isn't worth worrying about.
Trust me: Nobody here will criticize you in the least.
- KscX
- Posts: 236
- Joined: Sat May 02, 2020 12:09 pm
- Location: Charlotte, NC
Ashore but OOOOF. This one hurts. I got there after a conference with my puzzle pod but only give myself 1/2 credit, AND THUS, by self-imposed reality... I am considering my streak broken. I attribute it to travel on the weekend, the stress of tax season, and it was just time for the bubble to burst. So this one is a 3/5 star for me! But next time- NEXT TIME- I’ve got this particular mechanism.
- HunterX
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So, more than 180 degrees, don't submit? What if... um... that 'more' made it 360 and you're right back where you started?
As McCoy said in the original Star Trek, "I'm a DOCTOR, not a mathematician!"
I don't know that he said that.
- anaerobe
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- Location: OK
I read that article too. It reminded me of grad school-we wanted our work to be described as Elegant. An elegant experiment would provide an explanation that was exacting and precise, meaning fewer/simple words were better than many/complex words. However, that explanation would also be powerfully descriptive and even a bit clever. Some of these puzzles seem impossible until the answer presents itself, then I wonder how I didn't see it all along. They also seem to have both art and science: art in that they require imagination and the more you do them the better you get, science in that there are rules to follow and tools to use.JeanneC wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 6:53 pm And now for something completely different!
I was doing the weekend crossword thinking I had finished all sections of the paper. However, after taking a break on the weekend puzzle, I turned the page over and saw an article on a book titled “A Mathematician’s Apology” by GH Hardy. What I found interesting and, perhaps, apropos of muggledom was the following from the review:”How then to describe mathematical aesthetics? Hardy suggested similarities with chess (‘even if it is a beauty of a comparatively lowly kind’), bridge or, ‘descending further’ wIth ‘the puzzle columns of the popular newspapers’. A dazzling endgame, an elegant slam or an intricate crossword—these are as near as we may approach Hardy’s transporting ideal of mathematical beauty”.
I like this guy Hardy!
I think I like Hardy too...and crosswords....and Monty Python!
- Tom Shea
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- Location: Freedonia, NH/VT/HI/Earth
American marsupialScott Lindholm wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 6:35 pm An opossum--my daughter will be extremely jealous (I just texted your response and pic to her), since that's what she likes seeing the most.
Janet P wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 10:58 amMy daughter moved from the urban wilds of The Windy City (first Skokie, then the Ravenswood neighborhood) to the southern urban wilds of St. Petersburg, Florida. She kept hearing noises in the crawl space under her house and set up a webcam. This is the first she's seen of her guests during daylight!Alma's possums.pngScott Lindholm wrote: ↑Sat May 08, 2021 8:27 pm First time on shore in about a month, so it'll be crowded. I'm vaccinated, so you can have a beer or ten with me.
And, fresh from the wilds of urban Chicago...
Rufus T. Firefly
- anaerobe
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- Location: OK
You would return 'right back where you started' only if we exist in a hypertoros universe (see image). I believe the consensus is that the universe does not exhibit such a closed hypersurface topology, rather it is likely flat and extends to infinity. I could go on, but I seem to have developed a sudden, inexplicable craving for some Dunkin'.....
- Bob cruise director
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If you are like me, even this meta took longer than sorting and throwing out two weeks worth of mail.
Bob Stevens
Cruise Director
Cruise Director