"Three Little Words" - August 6, 2021

[sphorning]

On shore. Struggled with the grid, but quickly found the Meta. Hazy IPA for me!

[mntlblok]

Reminds me that I want to now go back and re-read some of those Dick Francis novels now that I can Google all the unfamiliar British slang.

Dick Francis novels are great. I've read over 30 of them and oddly found one that was bad. I say that only because all the others rated "Outstanding" in my critique list.
[/quote]

Got that with _The Osterman Weekend_ with Robert Ludlum.

[ajk]

Finally on shore after looking at it off and on many times and becoming more and more mystified as the number of pages exploded.

In the end I did something that I really should write on a post-it and tape to my monitor, because it's pretty high on my list of blind spots.

I shall accept the likely decimation of the maitai supply as my pennance and sip on some juice in the corner for a bit.

[KFB]

Found some odd [stuff] and googled all the hits that my kids likely would know about. (the day the music died was sometime back in the past century for this boomer) So combining these two circles creates an empty Venn for me. Any generous nudgers would have a grateful nudgee on this end.
Thanks in advance...

[hoover]

Just like last week, I had to rely on google to confirm the answer on this one.

Heck, I never heard of George R.R. Martin until Game of Thrones was made popular by HBO ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That's because no one actually read George R. R. Martin before the GOT series took off. I've heard that he's somewhat unreadable, but I haven't tried so that's just a third-hand opinion.

[hoover]

This all makes me wonder…what number muggle am I?? Do we all have a number?

We do, and yours must be quite low because your user_id is 169. Muggle #1000's user_id is 1410.

[SReh26]

Our muggle number! too funny! Love this place!

1. Is there a cap on the number of possible muggles, like certain crypto?
2. Is there a secret key and ID booklet like a Swiss bank account, bearing your muggle #, known only to Bob?
3. Can we get car stickers??? I suggest XWM in a white circle with a black border.
4. a secret handshake? oh wait....
5. a theme song?

I admit I feel a twinge of jealousy of our 1000th muggle. Wasnt that an Agatha Christie novel? The Thousandth Muggle?

[hoover]

Aha! I'm on!

[woozy]

Just like last week, I had to rely on google to confirm the answer on this one.

Heck, I never heard of George R.R. Martin until Game of Thrones was made popular by HBO ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That's because no one actually read George R. R. Martin before the GOT series took off. I've heard that he's somewhat unreadable, but I haven't tried so that's just a third-hand opinion.

He's very readable. He writes at what is about the 10th grade level. But as a writer it is not art. It's very "this happened then this happened then that happened. So and so thought about 'I remember when that happened and this happened. And it reminds that I have this personality'". And excessively long at it.

I only heard of him about the time the first Season of GOT was out but I read all the books before watching any of the show. They were enjoyable. But hardly high literature.

[Grover]

Reminds me that I want to now go back and re-read some of those Dick Francis novels now that I can Google all the unfamiliar British slang.

Dick Francis novels are great. I've read over 30 of them and oddly found one that was bad. I say that only because all the others rated "Outstanding" in my critique list.

Got that with _The Osterman Weekend_ with Robert Ludlum.
[/quote]
What an amazing coincidence! That might have been the first Ludlum book I read and I was left wondering how poor an author he was. I've never warmed up completely with him, but the Bourne series have made for some well done movies.

[hoover]

Dick Francis novels are great. I've read over 30 of them and oddly found one that was bad. I say that only because all the others rated "Outstanding" in my critique list.

Got that with The Osterman Weekend with Robert Ludlum.

What an amazing coincidence! That might have been the first Ludlum book I read and I was left wondering how poor an author he was. I've never warmed up completely with him, but the Bourne series have made for some well done movies.

I binge-read a bunch of the Ludlum novels in the early 80s. After about four, I realized that I no longer had any idea which ones I had read and which ones I hadn't, and reading the first few pages of each didn't help. Then I stopped reading them.

However, while we're on the subject of 40-50-year-old fiction, on NPR today there was a short discussion of the Travis McGee novels, so that makes me want to go back and reread all of those in order.

[hcbirker]

Just like last week, I had to rely on google to confirm the answer on this one.

Heck, I never heard of George R.R. Martin until Game of Thrones was made popular by HBO ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That's because no one actually read George R. R. Martin before the GOT series took off. I've heard that he's somewhat unreadable, but I haven't tried so that's just a third-hand opinion.

I actually read the first three before the show was even thought about. I stopped then because it got way too dark for me.

[mntlblok]

Got that with The Osterman Weekend with Robert Ludlum.

What an amazing coincidence! That might have been the first Ludlum book I read and I was left wondering how poor an author he was. I've never warmed up completely with him, but the Bourne series have made for some well done movies.

I binge-read a bunch of the Ludlum novels in the early 80s. After about four, I realized that I no longer had any idea which ones I had read and which ones I hadn't, and reading the first few pages of each didn't help. Then I stopped reading them.

However, while we're on the subject of 40-50-year-old fiction, on NPR today there was a short discussion of the Travis McGee novels, so that makes me want to go back and reread all of those in order.

Yeah, Ludlum's were mostly one big chase scene all over Europe. Ever notice that all the John D. McDonalds always involved something related to head/brain injuries? Think I recall that his wife died of a brain tumor. Long been partial to Florida novels - even Hiaasen's goofy stuff. Oh, and the Hemingway Cuba/Bahamas/Keys stuff. . .

[DannyWalter]

Got that with The Osterman Weekend with Robert Ludlum.

What an amazing coincidence! That might have been the first Ludlum book I read and I was left wondering how poor an author he was. I've never warmed up completely with him, but the Bourne series have made for some well done movies.

I binge-read a bunch of the Ludlum novels in the early 80s. After about four, I realized that I no longer had any idea which ones I had read and which ones I hadn't, and reading the first few pages of each didn't help. Then I stopped reading them.

However, while we're on the subject of 40-50-year-old fiction, on NPR today there was a short discussion of the Travis McGee novels, so that makes me want to go back and reread all of those in order.

Similar experience with Ludlum. I read The Matarese Circle first and remember enjoying it enough to buy a couple of more, and then I was done.

I moved on from Ludlum to Stephen King. I binge-read everything he wrote one summer years ago, which even at the time was quite a bit. I kept hoping for a good ending. I found the first 3/4 of a King novel exceptional. But only in a few cases was he able to tie up all the threads in a satisfying fashion, at least for me.

I'm currently on a binge with James Elroy. He's not for everyone - his stream-of-consciousness narration was a bit distracting at first. And, he is noir. His protagonists are anti-heroes; he explores deeply the dark side of human nature and the dark places people go; nobody wins in the end. But the depth and complexity of the stories, and let's say the "alternative narratives" he delivers to certain historical events, are compelling.

[Bob cruise director]

Our muggle number! too funny! Love this place!

1. Is there a cap on the number of possible muggles, like certain crypto?
2. Is there a secret key and ID booklet like a Swiss bank account, bearing your muggle #, known only to Bob?
3. Can we get car stickers??? I suggest XWM in a white circle with a black border.
4. a secret handshake? oh wait....
5. a theme song?

I admit I feel a twinge of jealousy of our 1000th muggle. Wasnt that an Agatha Christie novel? The Thousandth Muggle?

1) the cap is one googleplex
2) no secret key or ID. In my file, I note the number of muggles but don't give them an ID. Also note that because of how we started on the WSJ comments, I only count those who have stated that they are on the ship or shore only once, either on the WSJ comments or here. There are a large number of people who have ID's on the forum but have never commented that they are on the ship or shore.
3-5 - I leave that to all of you

As far as the Agatha Christie novel - don't give Matt or Mike ideas.

[rosiegirl]

Finally shooed away all the rabbits that were leading me down holes and took a new look. A great 'aha' moment. Made it to shore all on my own this week!

[Bob cruise director]

Cruise Director - SURELY you have our Muggle Numbers? It would be interesting to know.

Sorry Dr. Tom - muggle numbers don't exist. I only note who is the round number muggle but don't keep track of it.

And don't confuse any "muggle number" with the number you are on the forum

[EdStrong]

Ashore!

[SReh26]

Our muggle number! too funny! Love this place!

1. Is there a cap on the number of possible muggles, like certain crypto?
2. Is there a secret key and ID booklet like a Swiss bank account, bearing your muggle #, known only to Bob?
3. Can we get car stickers??? I suggest XWM in a white circle with a black border.
4. a secret handshake? oh wait....
5. a theme song?

I admit I feel a twinge of jealousy of our 1000th muggle. Wasnt that an Agatha Christie novel? The Thousandth Muggle?

1) the cap is one googleplex
2) no secret key or ID. In my file, I note the number of muggles but don't give them an ID. Also note that because of how we started on the WSJ comments, I only count those who have stated that they are on the ship or shore only once, either on the WSJ comments or here. There are a large number of people who have ID's on the forum but have never commented that they are on the ship or shore.
3-5 - I leave that to all of you

As far as the Agatha Christie novel - don't give Matt or Mike ideas.

I’m partial to the Get Smart theme song

[Susan Goldberg]

This all makes me wonder…what number muggle am I?? Do we all have a number?

We do, and yours must be quite low because your user_id is 169. Muggle #1000's user_id is 1410.

Very interesting! Thanks Hoover!