MUSINGS ON A WARM PRE-SPRING DAY

1.  WORDLE Tip

In addition to words I mentioned before, these opening words might also give good letter placement:

tunes

notes

those

steno

onset

stone

These are words that use some of the most frequently used English letters.

And remember:

"Do not wear an itchy girdle

When you try to solve a WORDLE."

2. Saint Patrick Day

This is my favorite rhyme (kind of) from a Clancy Brothers ballad (A Jug of Punch):

"What more diversion can a man desire

Than to sit down by a snug turf fire?

Upon his knee a pretty wench

Aye, and on the table a jug of punch."

3. A Terrible Puzzle (IMHO)

I hated the LA TIMES crossword puzzle for yesterday (Thursday March 17th, 2022.)

I had never heard of 17 solution words, a few of which I couldn't even guess and had to look up. Normally, I rarely need to look up answers for LA or NY Thursday puzzles.

The puzzle had several irritating NATICKS and I thought the puzzle's theme was idiotic, although it had been used before by the NY TIMES.

Looking at puzzle comments online it appears that half of the solvers  liked it; the other half disliked it.

There! I've said my piece and life goes on.

4.  Prisoner Upkeep

A Harper's Index item posted in the Funny Times April 2022 issue has the following statistic:

"Amount spent per year to incarcerate someone in a New York City jail:  $556,539"

Amazing?  But wait.  Another item says:  

"Amount spent last November on a private island in the metaverse:  $398,685"

(As a former subscriber to the mind-bending Harper's Magazine, I trust their statistics.)

Many people have always pushed for a deal with some poor country to get paid to hold our prisoners.  It would be a lot cheaper than in our prisons.

Drawbacks:

Foreign prison guards might beat prisoners.

Probably no chance for reform.

It might be easy for them to escape.

Probably unconstitutional.

But who knows if our Government hasn't already farmed out prisoners. It would have to have been terrorists or lifers whose appeal chances are over and with no possibility of parole.

We are in control of the prisoners in Cuba.  There is a whole American enclave at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, where the prison is.

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