Mother’s Day Mixtape

Speak Gently To Your Mother- Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi
Hey Mama -  Kanye West
Sweet Child O’ Mine -  Guns N’ Roses
Queen Bitch-  David Bowie
Hey Mama -  Black Eyed Peas
Planet Queen -  T. Rex
Mama Told Me (Not To Come) -  Three Dog Night
What Have They Done To My Song, Ma –   Melanie
That Was Your Mother – Paul Simon
Queen Majesty – Techniques
Beautiful – Carole King
I Feel Like The Mother Of The World – Smog
Veins Of The Queen – Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians
Mama You Sweet – Lucinda Williams
I Had A Real Good Mother And Father -Gillian Welch
Momma Cried – Alison Krauss & Union Station
Hooves – Bowerbirds
Ay Mama – Devendra Banhart
Sugar Mama – Fleetwood Mac
Blues For Mama – Nina Simone
Nobody Loves Me But My Mother – B.B. King

The Evil Eye

Archetype

In this youtube video you can hear the father say, “Son, make the evil eye.” The baby responds by furrowing his brow and inclining his head to produce a menacing expression. This expression is recognized universally, perhaps due to an instinctual cue to avoid an angry and potentially dangerous individual. Check out this related article on facial prejudice and instinct from the BBC website. The video is so funny because this archetypal expression appears on the face of a cute baby that’s laughing and eating ice cream.

Stereotype

The jealous old hag is a stereotype often seen in film and literature,
particularly in fairy tales. In the hag’s jealousy of youth and beauty,
she curses the young and beautiful. The myth of the evil eye says that the
covetousness of others can lead to a curse on the person possessing the object
or attribute of jealousy. Old, solitary women were often suspected because it was
believed they were witches and women with a rheumy eye were particularly
vulnerable to the accusation. The image from an old self help book of a hooded
old woman cursing young, nude men creates a powerful juxtaposition.

Cliché

The Turkish nazar is a talisman believed to protect the wearer from
the evil eye. The stylized glass beads are meant to represent the human eye.
Once the amulet was said to protect it’s wearer from being cursed by jealous
eyes. Today, the amulet is considered a one-size-fits-all good luck charm
similar to the horse shoe. People wear the amulets on their clothes, post it
to their doors, and hang them in their cars. And today the phrase “to give
the evil eye” is synonymous with glaring or scowling at someone.

Tweet, Tweet, Tweet

Come and enjoy my twitter coverage of Lula’s Sunday night pub quiz.

Chapel Hill, NC Wi-Fi Hotspots

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Liveblogging: Bailey vs. the Harper’s Puzzle

The Harper’s Puzzle, both friend and nemesis, comfort and torment. I’m sharing with you a play by play of both my victories and defeats as I progress through my problem solving. If you’d like to play along there is good news and bad news. Bad news is you’ll need to be a Harper’s subscriber if you aren’t already, but the good news is that you can subscribe right now and get access to the PDF of the puzzle, or you could always just run out to the newsstand and pick one up.

If you’ve ever tried your hand at the Harper’s Puzzle then you know that it is a cryptic crossword and that it is super difficult. Or at least it is for me… Perhaps you can polish one off in a matter of minutes, in which case, I hope that I’m more attractive than you.

I first started doing the Harper’s puzzle during a Maine winter. It was tough to crack, but once I learned to love it, I knew I’d love it forever. I hope this liveblog will be both instructive for the newbie and entertaining for the salty dog.

So, on the off chance that anyone is out there playing along, audience participation is appreciated. I will be using the October 2008 puzzle entitled “Playfair Square (‘Just Kidding’).”

Without further ado, I present to you:

Bailey vs. the Harper's Puzzle

P.S. The headband is both to stimulate blood flow to the brain AND to intimidate the puzzle.

Day One

10:21 Read the rules.

Almost every puzzle has some sub-puzzle to solve, so it’s important to read the rules of the puzzle every time.

In a Playfair code square, a keyword of any length, in which no letter recurs, is arbitrarily chosen and written down, followed by the rest of the alphabet in order (I and J counting as the same letter) so as to make a 5×5 square.

B A N K R
U P T C Y
D E F G H
I L M O Q
S V W X Z

In this example, the word BANKRUPTCY is the keyword. To encode a word, one would first split it into pairs of letters, e.g., RE VE RS ED. The pair RE becomes AH, using opposite corners of the rectangle of letters. (Note that ER would be not AH but HA.) RS becomes BZ. For two letters in the same row (or column) use the letters immediately to the right of (or below) each. For last letters of a row or column, use the first. Thus, ED would become FE, and VE would become AL. Consequently, REVERSED would be encoded as AHALBZFE. Answers to the four clues in italics are to be inserted in the diagram in their encoded forms, using a Playfair square of which the keyword has to be discovered. By solving these clues and comparing the answers with the coded forms that will take shape in the diagram as regular answers are inserted, the solver will discover equations that will enable him or her to find, by logical deduction, the keyword and to complete the puzzle. Ignore punctuation. Clued answers include eight proper nouns and two foreign words. As always, mental repunctuation of a clue is the key to its solution. The solution to last month’s puzzle appears on page 87. _______________________

10:34 I’ve given the puzzle a once over, and I think I’ve spotted the weakest clue in the flock, 32 Across:

32A. Duly send off without notice (8)

The eight in parenthesis behind the clue means that the answer is eight letters long.

10:37 I’ve got it. “DULY” + “SEND” is an anagram for “suddenly,” which means “without notice.” “Off” indicates that the letters should be rearranged. So, 32A is SUDDENLY.

Look for words like turn, play, crazy, broken, and strange to indicate an anagram. Check out the Guardian’s cryptic crossword primer for more tips.

10:48 Now it’s time to get more coffee in celebration of the first clue down. Sometimes I’ll work on the puzzle for hours and only get six or seven, so even small accomplishments are cause for celebration.

10:51 20, 25, 19, 21, and 13 Down all intersect SUDDENLY, the 32 Across answer. However, 20 Down is a Playfair Square clue (see the rules above if you have no idea what I’m talking about) and 13 Down is 10 letters long, which means it’s probably difficult, so I’m going to focus on the other three. The clues are:

25D. By coating finish, you get working supply? (5) _ _ _ D _

19D. In this country, bad loan requires getting down in dumps (7) _ _ _ _ _ D _

21D. Denude abandoned place in Scotland (6) _ _ _ _ E _

11:04 I think that 25D might be BENDY because “By coating finish” could mean that B and Y should be placed on either side of END. “End” is a synonym for “finish.” BY could be seen as “coating finish” if it surrounded END. However, I don’t really see how “bendy” means “working supply.”

I’m going to hold off on entering that one into the puzzle.

11:10 21D solved. “Denude” is an anagram of DUNDEE, a “place in Scotland.” To work on my anagrams I like to put all the letters in a circle like this:

Anagram Circle

11:25 19D solved. (Clue: In this country, bad loan requires getting down in dumps (7) _ _ _ _ _ D _)

“In this country” means the U and S will be the first and last letters of the word. “Bad loan” means that the four letters after U will be an anagram of “loan,” i.e. “loan” written badly.

“Getting down” indicates that a D should be added*. So, the final answer is UNLOADS, which means “dumps.”

*Directions are often written as the first letter of the direction, e.g. D for “down” or L for “left.”

11:32 Now that I have both 19D and 21D, it’s time to start looking at the across clues again. We have two letters for 20, 28, 30, and 33 Across. Here are the clues:

20. One way to get to store: Water Street and Main (9) _ _ _ N D _ _ _ _

28. Returning soldier removed from foreign surroundings, tossed in cooler (5) _ _ _ O N

30. Organs playing right away, holding a note from other organs! (6) _ _ _ A D _

33. Head of government ordered “Eyes right” in spring uprising! (6) _ _ _ S E _

11:46 28D solved. (Clue: Returning soldier removed from foreign surroundings, tossed in cooler (5) _ _ _ O N.)

This one was a doozy. So, “Returning soldier” is IG, G.I. backward.

“Removed from foreign surroundings” indicates that IG should be removed from “foreign” leaving us with the letters FOREN.

“Tossed” tells us that the resulting letters are an anagram, which gives us the final answer FREON, for “cooler.” (“Coolant” would actually be more accurate, but who am I to argue with Richard E. Maltby Jr.)

11:58 I really believe that 30A might be “gonads.” Here’s the clue:

30. Organs playing right away, holding a note from other organs! (6) _ _ _ A D _

It seems a little saucy for Harper’s. Of course, last week’s Sunday New York Times crossword had “Pass the Courvoisier rapper” as a clue. So, who knows?

12:06 Lunch break! See you in a bit.

12:46 Alas, the cupboard was bare! So, I’ve recruited my sister to bring me a sandwich. In the meantime, let’s hope that hunger leads to heightened problem-solving creativity.

12:52 33A solved. (Clue: Head of government ordered “Eyes right” in spring uprising! (6) _ _ _ S E _.)

The “head of government” is G because G is the first letter, the head, of the word.

Next, we add “Eyes right.” “Ordered” signals us to create an anagram with “eyes” and R, for “right.” The result is GEYSER, a “spring uprising.”

12:58 I’m having a hard time with 20A. (Clue: One way to get to store: Water Street and Main (9) _ _ _ N D _ _ _ _.) I’m going to try some of the down clues that intersect it to try and get some more letters.

In addition to 19 and 21, which I’ve already solved, numbers 2, 5, 13, and 22 intersect 20A. The clues are:

2. Using modern communication, member of royal family, we hear, published books (8)

5. In the capacity of a dentist, takes in pure sick animals (10)

13. Bumped into not quite well-heeled friend, in poetic fashion (10) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ L _

22. It’s money due you—speak up (3)

1:30 2D solved. (Clue: Using modern communication, member of royal family, we hear, published books (8))

So far, we’ve mostly been seeing anagram clues in this puzzle. This clue uses another popular trick, homophones.

Using modern communication is to “IM” (you know, like instant message). A “member of the Royal family” is a prince. It could also be queen or king or dauphin or whatever, but I ruled all those out because “we hear” indicates that the answer will be a homophone. “Prince” sounds like “prints”. So, if I add IM to PRINTS, I get the answer, IMPRINTS, for “published books.”

1:46 20A solved. (Clue: One way to get to store: Water Street and Main (9) _ T _ N D _ _ _ _.) I had to consult the dictionary on this one. Given the letters I have so far, I figure the first part is STAND. Then I scratched my head for a minute because I couldn’t come up with any words that begin with stand. So, I looked “stand” up in the dictionary and I found “standpipe.”

According to Webster’s a standpipe is “a high vertical pipe of cylindrical tank for storing water and keeping it at a desired pressure, esp. such a large tank used in a water-supply system for a town, etc.” I don’t really know what Webster’s means by that “etc.,” but I don know that definition seems to work with my clue. Particularly, if you follow the rules and remember that “mental repunctuation of a clue is the key to its solution.”

Think of the clue like this: “One way to get to store: Water.” Then, “Street and Main.”

The first half is our definition. The second half gives us the components of the word. ST is the abbreviation for “street.” AND is added verbatim. And, “main” is a synonym for PIPE. The results is our answer, STANDPIPE.

1:56 With STANDPIPE at 20A that means I have S _ F _ S _ G for the Playfair Square clue at 20D.

I’m not sure what to do with this info just yet, but it’s something to keep in mind.

2:00 Lunch break redux.

2:50 UPDATE:

The board so far.

3:37 It’s been nearly an hour, and there’s little to report. I abandoned strategy after coming to a standstill and have just been randomly trying to solve clues to jumpstart the game. So far my only coup has been 13A:

13A. Smash! Wham! KO! It’s hair-raising! (6)

The answer is an anagram of WHAM and KO, the two words “smashed,” if you will. The result is a “hair raising” MOHAWK.

This answer gives me the first letter of 13D:

13D. Bumped into not quite well-heeled friend, in poetic fashion (10) M _ _ _ I _ _ _ L _

4:30 4D and 12A solved.

(4D Clue: Meals On Wheels city? (5) ). “On Wheels” is an anagram indicator. So, an anagram of “Meals” that is also a city is SALEM.

(12A Clue: Apply time for piano, as is fitting (5)). This one seems like a bit of a stretch, I know, but I’m about 95% sure that it’s correct. I think that you’re supposed to substitute a T for the second P (“time” for “piano”) in “Apply” to get APTLY, “as is fitting.”

4:36 Well, it appears to have stopped raining, so that’s enough puzzling for me for one day.

Until tomorrow,

Bailey

Day Two

The game so far: I’ve seen better, but I’ve certainly seen worse. I think I’ve knocked out the easiest quadrant of the board already. So, I’m looking at a tougher go of it today. I’d like to get at least one of the two long answers that bisect the puzzle. I think that would help me move into new terriotry. These two clues are 5 and 13 down:

5. In the capacity of a dentist, takes in pure sick animals (10)

13. Bumped into not quite well-heeled friend, in poetic fashion (10)

I haven’t yet tried working on the Playfair Square part of the puzzle. Hopefully, I’ll get some more letters and maybe even solve one of the four Playfair Square clues.

1. Detective involved in hustle (6)

34. British zone out after silver (6)

10. Celebrity eating, in one extreme weight-loss program! (6)

20. What’s in the garden? Content of boxes, certainly (6)

2:29 It’s been a slow half hour, but I’ve made a break.

26. A degree in basic currency takes place in Algiers (6)

I was particularly pleased to get this one. I thought the answer would be in French because of “Algiers.” However, the answer is CASBAH, a “place in Algiers.” It’s an anagram of BA, “a degree” and CASH, “basic currency.”

2:45 I’ve relocated to Bella’s, my favorite local coffee shop, for some coffee, fresh air, and a new perspective.

2:55 25D solved.

25. By coating finish, you get working supply? (5)

I finally figured out the clue that I guessed was BENDY. I had been interpreting “supply” as in a supply of goods, but it should actually be read as “supply,” as in supple.

This means that 30A must be GONADS (tee hee).

30. Organs playing right away, holding a note from other organs! (6)

It’s an anagram of “organs” with “right away.” So, organs minus R gives us OGANS. And D is “a note,” so add D, mix it all up, and you get GONADS (tee hee, one more time).

2:35 13D kind of, maybe solved.

13. Bumped into not quite well-heeled friend, in poetic fashion (10)

This is one of the longer clues, and I’m not 100% on it, but I think it’s MET for “bumped into” and ALLY for “friend.” “Not quite well-heeled” has me completely stumped. However, I’m pretty sure the answer is METRICALLY for “in poetic fashion.”

2:37 27D solved.

Acronym potentially seen as fun? (5)

This is a fun one. “As fun” is an anagram for SNAFU, which is an acronym that I believe stands for “situation normal all fucked up.” Or so I’ve heard…

2:39 Bella’s is blasting the adult alternative station into the patio, and it’s ruining the puzzle-solving mood. I’m taking a break to ask them to change the station.

2:42 It was a close call between big band and classic jazz. I think classic jazz was the right choice…. I hate satellite radio.

2:50 29A solved.

Unclear in ad, yet open around the clock, as the sign might say (3-4)

This clue is a little weak. “Unclear” is the signal word for an anagram of “in ad yet.” I believe the answer is DAY NITE for “open around the clock, as the sign might say.”

2:51 22D solved incidentally.

22. It’s money due you—speak up (3)

With the letters from 20A, 26A and 29A we get PAY, “money due you” from “speak” a synonym for YAP backward, signaled by “up.”

3:01 24D solved.

24. I believe Designer’s Square is north of where robbery went down (6)

The bottom right quadrant is really starting to shape up. In 24D, “Designer’s Square” gives us T for “T-square.”

A robbery is a HEIST. T is “north” of “robbery.” So, T is above HEIST, making THEIST for “I believe.”

3:15 I was moving along at a nice clip, but it seems the coffee is starting to fail me. Perhaps it’s time for a refill?

3:20 4D and 16A solved.

4. Meals On Wheels city? (5)

16. Great Ballet Russe star from Long Island, a long way away (5)

So, 4D is wrong! Oops. My bad y’all. I was having trouble making any headway in the upper left, so it occurred to me there might be a mistake in that area. I had a feeling that 16A might be LIFAR for the first letters of “Long Island” plaus FAR for “a long way away.” However, I dismissed it because it didn’t work with SALEM and because I don’t know a lick about ballet. My mom wouldn’t let me take dance as a kid; she said I was too delicate. But desperate times… I Googled LIFAR and found that he is indeed a “Ballet Russe star.”

Now, you might be saying to yourself, “Isn’t using the Internet cheating, Bailey?” And my answer is a categorical no. The puzzle isn’t only about brain teasers, it’s also about learning. If I didn’t look up Lifar, then I wouldn’t have anything smart to talk about at cocktail parties if Russian ballet came up. So there.

Now, since LIFAR is right, SALEM must be wrong.

3:23 4D resolved! SELMA not SALEM! Tricky puzzle…

3:25 1D solved.

1. Likely story: making a bee-line inside (6)

A “story” is a LIE. “A bee-line inside” indicates that you should add ABL, creating LIABLE for “likely.”

3:35 5D solved.

5. In the capacity of a dentist, takes in pure sick animals (10)

This is another long one. “Dentist” made me think that DDS would be part of the answer and “sick” indicates that an anagram of “pure” should be included as well.

I guessed that the answer might be QUADRUPEDS for “animals,” but the QUA part of the answer was puzzling, so I looked it up and found that “qua” means in the capacity of. Score! I love it when I learn new words from the puzzle.

3:45 18A solvished?

Advanced University Track returns under boxing-related umbrella (10)

This is a bit of a guess, but frustration is the mother of creative guessing, so I’m going to go with it. I think all we get from “University” is the initial U. Another word fro “track” is “rut,” and if we “return” that we get TUR. The “boxing-related” bit is FIST. So far, if you put those all together, you get FUTURIST, but that’s not enough letters. So, I think the answer is FUTURISTIC for “advanced.”

3:50 Well, I think that’s enough for one day. My palms are in a cold sweat from caffeine overload, and I’m kind of starting to want to throw the puzzle into the river.

Day Three

6:24 6A solved

6. Vicar can absolve keeping secrets (6)

This one uses a word hidden in other words. The answer is in “Vicar can absolve.” The answer is ARCANA for “secrets”

6:30 17D solved.

17. Indication of slashing: Pop Art from $199 to $9 (8) _ I _ A T R _ _

This one’s all about the Roman numerals. CIC for 199 and IX for 9 with an anagram of ART in the middle, for the second foreign word in the puzzle CICATRIX, scar or “indication of slashing.”

6:47 7D solved.

7. You might see him rob criminal figures (6) R _ O _ _ I

“Him rob” criminally makes RHOMBI, plural of rhombus, for “figures.”

6:50 8D solved.

8. Kelly Ripa, e.g., falls short? Something fishy here! (5) C _ H _ _

I finally rememebered who Kelly Ripa is! She’s on that morning show with Regis; ergot she is a cohost. I looked up “cohos” because that would be cohost “falling short” and found that a “coho” is a small salmon native to the N. Pacific. So, the answer is COHOS.

Week 5 Assignment

1. Revamped Headlines

1. Rescue plan for funds will come at a cost
   Problem: Vague and obvious
   Solution: U.S. Treasury Guarantees Ailing Money Markets, Stricter Regulation to Follow
2. Minimizing Your Own Exposure to Risks
   Problem: Vague and redundant
   Solution: Minimizing Your Financial Risks
3. Rules Near for Animals’ Engineering
   Problem: Vague and confusing
   Solution: FDA to Announce Regulations for Genetically Modified Animals

2. Web Article with Lists

(Original)
Keeping Your Computer and Its Contents Safe
By DAVID A. KELLY

IT’S hard not to experience anxiety when you’re traveling with a laptop. A computer can certainly make life easier for travelers keeping an online travel journal, serial e-mailers and those who want to keep up with their jobs. But there are, as every laptop-toting traveler knows, numerous risks: accidental drops during security screenings, theft from a hotel room, loss in a taxi or restaurant or hardware failure from too many jolts.

Quick Tips for Laptop Safety

• Backup your files to a flash drive or a memory card that’s compatible with your cell phone or digital camera.

• Purchase a laptop lock or alarm.

• Ask for a hotel safe when renting a room (Be sure the safe is large enough for your laptop.)

• Add your laptop to your renter’s or homeowner’s insurance.

• Use a service that allows remote access to your home computer, and leave your laptop at home.

• Tape your contact information and photo to the back of your laptop.

“Laptops are great because you can take your entire office with you wherever you go, but you need to recognize that your entire office might be lost, stolen or damaged beyond use,” said Ann Westerheim, president of Ekaru, a technology services company.

Perhaps the most important safety measure, Ms. Westerheim said, is protecting the information on your computer, so that if it is damaged, lost or stolen, the data remain safe. Travelers now have many backup devices to choose from.

Beside storing your files and data on a removable CD or DVD disk, there is a variety of other portable storage devices. Particularly convenient are flash drives: small key-chain-size plastic devices that weigh only an ounce or so and plug into a computer’s U.S.B. port (the port typically used for connecting printers and other peripherals). You can copy your e-mail files, documents, pictures or data files to the U.S.B. flash drive and can then keep the files with you or keep them in the hotel safe.

…

3. Blog Headline Rewrite

Speaking Soccer in Brazil: Cheering for the Home Team, Right or Wrong

4. Writing Practice

8: China Retaliates, Suspending Import of Contaminated American Meats

6: China Suspends Contaminated American Meat Imports

6&8: China Suspends Contaminated American Meat Imports, Decision Responds to U.S. Crackdown on Chinese Products