Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

[Is Everyone Gone]

So the other day I found myself with nothing but rice and veggies in my fridge. I found the most wonderful hack for those times:

Thai peanut sauce. It's a great way to make any barebones meal feel full, because it's so tasty and rich. And the peanut sauce has a bunch of protein in it, so you feel full.

Stuff is amazing.

[shapeshifter]

39 minutes ago, Milburn Stone said:

I read an article the other day (who knows where) that said that of all the NYT games, Connections is the most predictive of higher-order intelligence. I choose to believe that. 😊

I don't play Connections regularly, but the purple categories are not generally within my areas of expertise, meaning even when I've correctly identified the other categories, I still see no relationship between the 4 remaining words.
There may have been one exception. 

If you find the article, please post it here.

My oldest daughter can do Connections instantly.
She taught herself to read at age 4, does a lot of globe trotting, and is a 9-1-1 operator and trainer.
But she never got her college degree because she was one course short in her major. She got a D in it after getting into an argument with the professor the day after she broke off her engagement with her finacé.
So I'd be interested in how "higher-order intelligence" was defined.

Often I think we're all equal but different with regards to intelligence.
But when someone irks me, my go-to word is "Stupid!"

Lately I've been encountering a lot of stupidity.

[Milburn Stone]

34 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I don't play Connections regularly, but the purple categories are not generally within my areas of expertise, meaning even when I've correctly identified the other categories, I still see no relationship between the 4 remaining words.

I probably only figure that out 20-25% of the time. But even when I get the purple line by default, I count that as winning. :)

Will try to find the article.

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

She taught herself to read at age 4, does a lot of globe trotting, and is a 9-1-1 operator and trainer.
But she never got her college degree because she was one course short in her major. She got a D in it after getting into an argument with the professor the day after she broke off her engagement with her finacé.
 

What was her major? 

I don't play that puzzle regularly.  It's an example of "out of the box" thinking puzzles, and I'm not great at it.  After I see the answers I don't even slap my head, because they're so out there. 

Edited September 10 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

These are also called lateral thinking puzzles. 

[ABay]

Connections sounds like Only Connect, one of the best British quiz shows. Two teams of 4 try to determine the connection between 4 apparently random clues. First round is 4 things, people, pictures, music, etc. Round 2 is sequences--they get the first 3 clues and have to provide the 4th. The 3rd round is the Wall. Teams have 2.5 minutes to figure out the connections among 16 clues. Each wall has 4 categories, and there are red herrings that could be in more than one category, but there's only one correct solution. Final round is missing vowels. The consonants are spaced differently, like df frnt ly. If I get more than 24% correct, I feel like a genius, especially as many of the questions involve British culture, like themes to children's programs and everything about Only Fools & Horses.

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

What was her major?

"Communications." She was in college 1997-2001 when "Journalism" got a new name. 

Edited September 10 by shapeshifter
Correction: 2001-2005 was the middle daughter

[EtheltoTillie]

27 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

"Communications." She was in college 1997-2001 when "Journalism" got a new name. 

I have never understood what a communications major was. 

27 minutes ago, ABay said:

Connections sounds like Only Connect, one of the best British quiz shows. Two teams of 4 try to determine the connection between 4 apparently random clues. First round is 4 things, people, pictures, music, etc. Round 2 is sequences--they get the first 3 clues and have to provide the 4th. The 3rd round is the Wall. Teams have 2.5 minutes to figure out the connections among 16 clues. Each wall has 4 categories, and there are red herrings that could be in more than one category, but there's only one correct solution. Final round is missing vowels. The consonants are spaced differently, like df frnt ly. If I get more than 24% correct, I feel like a genius, especially as many of the questions involve British culture, like themes to children's programs and everything about Only Fools & Horses.

That's a really hard game.  I looked at it on YouTube once.  You need a good regional/UK knowledge base plus great lateral thinking ability.

Edited September 10 by EtheltoTillie

[Milburn Stone]

Well, I tried to find the article about Connections that I was referencing, and I can't. Sorry.

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

Well, I tried to find the article about Connections that I was referencing, and I can't. Sorry.

Thanks. Maybe one of us will come across mention of it later. Often these stories get recycled during the less-busy news cycles.

[Ohiopirate02]

On 9/10/2024 at 10:35 AM, Milburn Stone said:

I read an article the other day (who knows where) that said that of all the NYT games, Connections is the most predictive of higher-order intelligence. I choose to believe that. 😊

Ha, but the amount of pop culture and sports references Connections has does not read to me as being all that smart. I got Purple first again today. I'm feeling good that I was able to accomplish this twice in one week though I do know that Monday's Purple was 80s and 90s sitcoms and today's is the purpliest purple to ever purple 

Spoiler

"things that are purple" and one of them being a classic McDonald's character

 

[BlueSkies]

Sorry if this insults anyone but sometimes these where were you on 9/11 conversations can get annoying.  
 

Most people I just find wax poetic about where they were in life at that point vs expressing sorrow and disgust 

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

today's is the purpliest purple to ever purple 

Yeah. I actually got purple today before blue was left over.
But that's probably because

Spoiler

hues are one of my life-long areas of study.

 

[Ohiopirate02]

2 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Yeah. I actually got purple today before blue was left over.
But that's probably because

  Hide contents

hues are one of my life-long areas of study.

 

I also saw the trap that they set with the 4 different colors and knew it was a trap. I love those days when I recognize the trap instead of falling for it.

[Dimity]

3 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I also saw the trap that they set with the 4 different colors and knew it was a trap.

I fell into the trap.  

Spoiler

Damn Barney!

 

[kristen111]

On 8/29/2024 at 1:36 PM, PRgal said:

School starts for us next week.  I'm a little anxious since the little guy is starting Grade 1 - a whole different world from kindergarten. He, on the other hand, is really excited to see his friends again.  We didn't get a chance to do a lot of since he was at various day camps throughout the summer (didn't travel to my surgery and then recovery).  My real worry is that he has bathroom anxiety/isn't that great at expressing his needs/wants could lead to accidents.  He's otherwise academically ready for "real" elementary school.  

Don’t worry.  All teachers in my family.  I was an aide for the little grades for years.  They can go to the bathroom as much as they want.  We also had tons of underwear and jeans on hand.

[EtheltoTillie]

14 hours ago, BlueSkies said:

Sorry if this insults anyone but sometimes these where were you on 9/11 conversations can get annoying.  
 

Most people I just find wax poetic about where they were in life at that point vs expressing sorrow and disgust 

I swore I wouldn’t cry yesterday, but my office is two blocks from ground zero. So many uniformed officers and firefighters were walking around for the memorial I just couldn’t help it as I was coming in. 

[annzeepark914]

4 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I swore I wouldn’t cry yesterday, but my office is two blocks from ground zero. So many uniformed officers and firefighters were walking around for the memorial I just couldn’t help it as I was coming in. 

That would've affected me too. I watched the 60 Minutes 9/11 special on Sunday night. Many of the scenes I'd already seen years ago. But it still made me teary-eyed.

[GHScorpiosRule]

5 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I swore I wouldn’t cry yesterday, but my office is two blocks from ground zero. So many uniformed officers and firefighters were walking around for the memorial I just couldn’t help it as I was coming in. 

Same. While not in New York, I worked in an office that was right across the street from the White House. I remember that day so vividly. And had decided to drive that day instead of taking the metro. So in all the panic to leave, was stuck in the parking garage as Peter Jennings announced the fall of the second tower.

Normally, it's a 30 minute commute by car-that day? It took me seven hours. We didn't even hear the crash at the Pentagon.

[PRgal]

I was in class when a girl (who wasn't in the class) rushed in and said that a plane crashed into the WTC.  The prof wasn't there yet (he's known to be late...for EVERYTHING, including securing the licence to put together a course kit from several resources).  I returned to my dorm only to find a voice message from my mom telling me that my dad was fine (his office was close to the WTC) and that she hadn't heard from my cousin(she's fine and now a mom to three girls).  That led to me developing a fear of flying long distances for more than a year (I was set to go off to Switzerland to a finishing school the following summer (yes, a FINISHING SCHOOL.  I had requested that) but ended up dropping the idea).  I was okay going to New York (of all places) or Montreal, but not anything more than two or three hours in the air.  

[Dimity]

8 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I swore I wouldn’t cry yesterday, but my office is two blocks from ground zero. So many uniformed officers and firefighters were walking around for the memorial I just couldn’t help it as I was coming in. 

I will never forget that day.  One memory that stays with me is one my sister shared - her children went to school near an air force base and on the day this happened military parents who were getting rapidly deployed in response came to the school to say good bye to their children.  

Point was we were dealing with a total unknown and bad though what happened was (and it was horrifically bad) we all, at that point, had no idea about what might come next.

[EtheltoTillie]

20 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Yeah. I actually got purple today before blue was left over.
But that's probably because

  Hide contents

hues are one of my life-long areas of study.

 

Now you've got me hooked on this puzzle and I wasn't interested at all before!  Oddly enough, I got that one with colors first also.  I'm not doing so badly.  I don't know what they call perfect games.  I guess that means you have no error rounds? 

[Browncoat]

I have no idea what any of you are talking about.

[Dimity]

28 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

I have no idea what any of you are talking about.

Do you mean the puzzles discussion? NYTimes crosswords

[shapeshifter]

29 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

I have no idea what any of you are talking about.

https://www.nytimes.com/games/connections

[chitowngirl]

4 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I don't know what they call perfect games.  I guess that means you have no error rounds? 

A perfect game means you got it in 4 guesses with no mistakes. You can make 4 wrong picks before you fail the puzzle. So say there are 6 words which you see are states. You pick 4, but not the correct four. One or more of those choices belongs to another “connection”.

[chitowngirl]

Every 9/11 I watch this video narrated by Tom Hanks

   Boatlift-An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience

[kristen111]

7 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I have no idea what any of you are talking about.

Me too.   But, One of my favorite games from Amazon came today.  It’s “Clue”.  Call me crazy and a child, but I’ve always loved that board game along with Manopoly and Canasta.  My husband worked nights for ten years, so us girls played three times a week.  I miss those days.  Those were the best days.  Simple, but good.  Some of the stuff on tv now are garbage.   Back to “Clue”. lol.

[shapeshifter]

37 minutes ago, kristen111 said:

Me too.   But, One of my favorite games from Amazon came today.  It’s “Clue”.  Call me crazy and a child, but I’ve always loved that board game along with Manopoly and Canasta.  My husband worked nights for ten years, so us girls played three times a week.  I miss those days.  Those were the best days.  Simple, but good.  Some of the stuff on tv now are garbage.   Back to “Clue”. lol.

Season 4 of Only Murders in the Building is airing on Hulu now.
It is a well-written dramedy with well-known actors in both big and small roles, with a premise that is a lot like clue.

[emma675]

I love Clue! The movie, the board game, the puzzles. It's such a classic. 

And I love Only Murders in the Building, too.

[Dimity]

Every Christmas along with whatever else we were given each of us kids got a new board game.  My parents were wonderful about sitting down with us and playing those games.  Clue, Monopoly, Operation, Candy Land - didn't matter they'd play with us.  Then when Trivial Pursuit came out it was payback time.  Mom loved that game and for a few months there I think we played pretty much every night.

[Bastet]

37 minutes ago, emma675 said:

I love Clue! The movie, the board game, the puzzles. It's such a classic. 

I grew up playing the game, and have seen the movie so many times I can recite along with the entire thing.  I saw the play recently, and it was really good.

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Every 9/11 I watch this video narrated by Tom Hanks

   Boatlift-An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience

It annoys me how many people don't know about that, or at least the scope of it.  So many mariners, with so many different kinds of boats, answered the Coast Guard's call for help that half a million people were evacuated over just nine hours. 

Here are a couple of other short features about it:

 

 

[Calvada]

Re Connections, I do several online puzzles every day and always end with Connections.  Some days the answers seem so obvious that I just fly through it,  but other days I'll have to walk away from the screen for a few minutes because taking a break seems to help.  I actually prefer the days when I have to think about it longer; I like the challenge.  

My family also loved board games.  We played a lot of Monopoly, Life, Clue, Trivial Pursuit.  We were also big on jigsaw puzzles.  I still love to do them; I have one going almost always.  

[luv2lurk]

Thank you @Bastet

I admit I am one who had never heard of the marine rescues. But I do remember that day clearly (and I live in Canada) 

I had left for work before the first plane struck and upon arriving at the office the manager was sitting at the reception desk and informed me the Pentagon had just been hit as well as informing me of other things that had happened while I was on public transit. Not much work was done in the office that day - we were clued to the TVs. Internet was spotty. And lunch was ordered in (sandwiches) But I did talk with someone who became a future client. There was a real fear that we would be attacked next. Going home that evening, on the subway platform I heard someone remark, think of all the pets that are not going to have their owners return.

That evening I had to go to a church meeting. I remember thinking while driving how could people in those office buildings survive? Details were still very limited. When I got home, I remember tuning in to Peter Jennings and his campfire chat (as I recall he called it) in an effort to calm us all.

Like @chitowngirl I have a 9/11 tradition - it is to watch the documentary done by two French film makers which focuses on a fire department located close to the twin towers. 

 

[Gramto6]

7 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Every 9/11 I watch this video narrated by Tom Hanks

   Boatlift-An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience

Thanks for this! I also had never heard of the boat rescues. 

Also, thanks to you too @Bastet for the additional clips

[EtheltoTillie]

6 hours ago, Calvada said:

Re Connections, I do several online puzzles every day and always end with Connections.  Some days the answers seem so obvious that I just fly through it,  but other days I'll have to walk away from the screen for a few minutes because taking a break seems to help.  I actually prefer the days when I have to think about it longer; I like the challenge.  

My family also loved board games.  We played a lot of Monopoly, Life, Clue, Trivial Pursuit.  We were also big on jigsaw puzzles.  I still love to do them; I have one going almost always.  

I’ve always got a jigsaw going. Even if I do them very slowly over weeks, putting in a few pieces each day. My family played Scrabble, and my dad did the NYT crossword, which I still do. 
When Trivial pursuit came out we really got into it, but then we had gone through all the answers. 

Being an only child I had to play adult games. My parents would groan at kiddie games. If I went to a friend’s house or my cousins’ I could play kids’ games like chutes and ladders and the Barbie game and parcheesi. 

We did not play cards. I have no card sense. 

Edited September 13 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

One of my cousins had the Mousetrap game. How we loved it. You created a Rube Goldberg device and then watched it go into action. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I also just remembered we had a home game version of Password we played a lot. 

[annzeepark914]

The only card games we played as kids were Go Fish, Old Maid, One Eyed Jack, and War. My best friend & I played Monopoly (my parents said we were playing "cheat-opoly" as we changed a couple of rules 😁) for hours. I've never been savvy at Scrabble as my parents bought a version of that game & used it as a spelling, vocabulary-building challenge. So I remain, to this day, more interested in creating cool words than gaining points...and always lose.

[tearknee]

The elevators disaster is almost as overlooked as the jumpers when it comes to 9/11 :'(

 

[annzeepark914]

My brush with 9/11 was on the far edge. I was almost stranded in a Florida airport (as planes kept landing with passengers). Thank God a Hertz employee saw me in the parking lot (starting to unload my luggage) & told me to hang into my rental car. It was a long, scary drive up an almost empty I-95 to the DC area. This week the sky has mostly been cloud free. I always refer to these blue sky days as "a 9/11 day").

[Browncoat]

3 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

This week the sky has mostly been cloud free. I always refer to these blue sky days as "a 9/11 day").

I do, too. 

[shapeshifter]

35 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

…My best friend & I played Monopoly (my parents said we were playing "cheat-opoly" as we changed a couple of rules 😁) for hours. I've never been savvy at Scrabble as my parents bought a version of that game & used it as a spelling, vocabulary-building challenge. So I remain, to this day, more interested in creating cool words than gaining points...and always lose.

"cheat-opoly"
At last I have a relatively non-triggering term for how my sister played games, which has soured me on them to this day.

Mom loved games of all kinds, so they were the background of my youth.
Dad went along with it because it made her happy. 
 

[kristen111]

12 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Season 4 of Only Murders in the Building is airing on Hulu now.
It is a well-written dramedy with well-known actors in both big and small roles, with a premise that is a lot like clue.

I watched Murders in the Building, but the next season there were too many others things to watch, so I stopped.  Then there’s Turner Classics that I love.  I’d also love to start reading again.

 

 

[kristen111]

32 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

"cheat-opoly"
At last I have a relatively non-triggering term for how my sister played games, which has soured me on them to this day.

Mom loved games of all kinds, so they were the background of my youth.
Dad went along with it because it made her happy. 
 

My Mother loved Bingo.  I had to drive her there and pick her up two or three times a week.  It was her only enjoyment.  She used to tell me if she won, she would buy me a Hopalong Cassidy outfit.  She never won.  We lived in a two family house ..me upstairs.  My husband worked nights, so she came up every night and tell me what to do.  I had the two kids then.  Then we bought a house on Long Island.  I was in heaven.  She was mad we moved away from her and Queens.  I was thrilled.

 

[bluegirl147]

I was at work and my future husband was home and called me and said a plane flew into the WTC. I remember asking him on purpose? because how else would that happen.  He said he didn't know.  He called me back and said another plane flew into the other tower and then like everyone else I knew we were under attack.  Then he called and told me about the Pentagon and then finally Flight 93.  This was before smart phones and I didn't have a computer in my office so I went to lunch at the closest place with a TV which was a hoagie shop down the street.  The images looked like a war zone.  I went back to work and everyone was asking me what it looked like and I told them it looks like we are at war.  On the drive home there was like no traffic.  Found out later Flight 93 flew over my area once the hijackers took control and headed back towards DC. Shanksville is a little over a 100 miles from where I live.

Earlier this year I read book, who's name escapes me, about the flights that were diverted to this little town in Canada and how the passengers and crew had to stay there for a little while.  It was such a good book and showed the compassion of people in an incredibly difficult and unsure time.

Edited September 13 by bluegirl147

[AgathaC]

Just now, bluegirl147 said:

I was at work and my future husband was home and called me and said a plane flew into the WTC. I remember asking him on purpose? because how else would that happen.  He said he didn't know.  He called me back and said another plane flew into the other tower and then like everyone else I knew we were under attack.  Then he called and told me about the Pentagon and then finally Flight 93.  This was before smart phones and I didn't have a computer in my office so I went to lunch at the closest place with a TV which was a hoagie shop down the street.  The images looked like a war zone.  I went back to work and everyone was asking me what it looked like and I told them it looks like we are at war.  On the drive home there was like no traffic.  Found out later Flight 93 flew over my area once the hijackers took control and headed back towards DC. Shanksville is a little over a 100 miles from where I live.

Earlier this year I read book, who's name escapes, about the flights that were diverted to this little town in Canada and how the passengers and crew had to stay there for a little while.  It was such a good book and showed the compassion of people in an incredibly difficult and unsure time.

The Canadian story was turned into a truly wonderful musical called Come From Away. The cast recording is out there and they recorded a performance that’s on Apple TV+. I highly recommend it.

A cousin of mine was on one of the higher floors of the South Tower that morning. (She lived in NC but worked for Bank of America and was there for a meeting.) She wrote a detailed description of her experience that made its way around the family. And she still has her visitor’s badge from that day.

[Dimity]

11 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

Earlier this year I read book, who's name escapes me, about the flights that were diverted to this little town in Canada and how the passengers and crew had to stay there for a little while.  It was such a good book and showed the compassion of people in an incredibly difficult and unsure time.

  My paternal side of the family is from Newfoundland and what happened there is totally what I would expect.  No one came into my grandmother's house and left hungry.   Scholarships were set up for local high school students by some of the stranded passengers in appreciation for the way the locals welcomed them and took care of them.

Edited September 13 by Dimity

[annzeepark914]

19 minutes ago, Dimity said:

  My paternal side of the family is from Newfoundland and what happened there is totally what I would expect.  No one came into my grandmother's house and left hungry.   Scholarships were set up for local high school students by some of the stranded passengers in appreciation for the way the locals welcomed them and took care of them.

Gander? Was that the name of the airport or town? What wonderful people to help so many upset folks. Thanks again to our good neighbors in Canada ❤️  I hope Come From Away returns to DC.