Crossword Puzzles; Cryptics; Tasmanian Devil Milk; MRSA; Pareidolia; Zebras

Sunny, cool Fall day.

Crossword Puzzles

I tore about 50 crossword puzzles out of The Week magazines hoarded by Elaine.  I try to do at least 3 of them a day.  Only about 10 left.  It's amazing how much the "setters" use the same letters in different puzzles, but with different clues.  I can't imagine how hard it must be to create a new puzzle each day.  I have had a computer program that I could manipulate to produce crossword puzzles.  I made a few that were published in the Social Security Alumni Association Newsletter.  Even with a program it was tedious. So, I'll just stick with solving other people's.

Cryptics

I think I mentioned that I like to do British style crossword puzzles.. so-called Cryptics.

They are a little hard for Americans to figure out at first, so most people just give up on them.  However, if you keep at it, they get a bit easier.  Try it, you'll eventually like it.

Crosswords in other Languages

German: lots of different kinds, but much repetition of clues.

French: seems as though each puzzle is almost the same as each other.  Easy, if you have even a rudimentary mastery of French.  At least that is my opinion.

Italian:  fun, but you need a good background in the language.

Breakthrough?

The Week reports that Australian researchers have discovered that the milk produced by Tasmanian devils can be used to fight antibiotic resistant superbugs like MRSA.

By the way, a few years ago I was really upset to learn that I had the MRSA bug in my system. I was told that's there was nothing they could do to get rid of it for me.  Later, my daughter, Diane, spent a long time in the hospital and rehab and also was told that she had the MRSA bug.  So, apparently, if you have spent any time in the hospital, you may have been exposed to the bug.

The last time Elaine was in the hospital, her room was quarantined because of MRSA. 

So.. lets get out some very short three-legged stools and start to milk these devils!

Does that Potato look like Nixon?

I want to quote from an article in the Saturday Evening Post for November 2016:

"There are lots of studies that show that people's brains are primed to see faces and patterns in inanimate objects.  The phenomenon even has a name: pareidolia.  We've come to understand that this predisposition became hard-wired into human brains for survival.  A baby who recognizes a human face or a hunter who see patterns made by an animal in the grass is going to have an advantage over one who does not.  The same natural tendency to look for and see faces and patterns all around us also sometimes inspires people to see the Virgin Mary in a piece of toast or an old man's face on the side of a mountain."

..............................................................................................................

By the way, believe it or not, every Zebra has a different stripe pattern, but baby zebras never have any trouble finding their mamas within a zebra crowd.

..............................................................................................................