Killing Time

I play "Words With Friends" since EA Games destroyed Scrabble on Facebook. The main killer for these is the adverts but it does sometime come in handy when you are not reading or working or waiting for a process to finish, but a game came up and was described as a "time killer". I can't remember what the game was , but there were a load of numbers on the screen.

It seems that one game is promoting other games to take up your time. I know people who are addicted to certain games and can understand how that happens. They draw you in and then start asking for money to get you a bit further on. I suppose it's an exercise in market creation but I'll play when I can for free.

I really don't want to kill time but I do enjo games that exercise your mind.

I never wish it was Friday.

Every day I find something to be positive about, something to aim for , something to make you feel good.

Today I have done my lowest daily step total this month, but due an active couple of days I am still ahead of the pace.

I've not written a blog post since Friday and I suppose part of that is essentially being tied to the house, although we still can talk to others via many communication channels , although today I feel I have been extremely quiet.

Working at home today I listened to "Concerts" by Henry Cow and "Casablanca Moon / Desperate Straights" by Slapp Happy both are excellent and saw me through the day , with the Henry Cow being a little more challenging. The Slapp Happy album is more song based (how pretentious does that sound) although very Brechtian in it's delivery and execution.

So obviously it's got to be something from the Slapp Happy album that I will share with you,  I found a live take of  "The Drum" which is fragilely beautifully wonderful. The album is well worth investigating.

Quietjin

For some reason I either dreamed or thought that "Quietjin" was a solution to a scrabble word, but it's not , just a deactivated twitter account and there are various results from Google and DuckDuckGo and there is Quietjin1 on twitter. Quietgin was another option although Quieting is a valid word. There are some weird words or letter combination that online Scrabble allows and some oddities it does not allow. Words like XI , XU , QI , ZA , ZO which I am sure you would get questioned on in real life Scrabble.

I find Scrabble more like Tetris in that you are trying to fit words into spaces which get harder as the game progresses. It's more about observation than literacy. Anagrams are easy enough to solve, but once you have the solution you have to find somewhere on the board to fit it in. Usually when I play a word I work out what my next play will be and hope my opponent doesn't take my place.

It's similar when people say that you need to be good at maths to do Sudoku , it's just again about observation except Sudoku gets easier as you progress through the puzzle. Although generally Sudoku uses numbers you could use any symbols at all, although when you see one that doesn't use numbers you get slightly disorientated because you are used to using numbers.

I used to play with about ten people on Facebook Scrabble and that is generally the main reason I stayed on Facebook , but it's down to two of the first people I started playing with. Others have dropped off and when I have tried to start a new game  the game has not been reciprocated although according to Scrabble these folk are actually playing.

The visits to the blog have dropped significantly and it's down to a more realistic one hundred a day, though I may just hit half a million by the end of February, so that is not an impossibility, and if not February I will hit it in March.

This Sunday morning is grey and rainy, not the most inspiring, but I have lots to do today while also trying to relax before what will be a very intense week at work, but that does make the days fly by, there is nothing worse than having nothing to do, and I do love having problems to solve, hence the enjoyment of problem solving puzzles such as Scrabble and Sudoku.

So a fairly obvious song is "Games People Play" by Joe South (although it's been very widely covered) , but enjoy your Sunday everyone. The melody was appropriated by eurotrash poppers Dan The Banjo Man in the seventies (listen on th elink.

Vinyl Scrabble - #Oktoberfest #15 - Long Tall Glasses - Leo Sayer

Just a note that one of the things that has kept me on Facebook is playing Scrabble however I am not down to two people who will still play me. I know life gets in the way but feel that one day it may not be a reason to come onto Facebook. It's implied that people play lots of other games and I should challenge them but I gave up on Words With Friends when the number of pop ups before playing each game made it impossible (in my opinion for me) to play.

Today I am still not feeling 100% but I have listened to a whole lot of vinyl this morning including the whole of "Go" by Yamash'ta / Winwood / Shrieve  a stunning album veering from pure songs to spaced out sounds and I'm not sure who is responsible for what but an amazing journey . That was followed by sides for Lou Reizner's "Tommy" , Joy Division and a few reggae singles. Listening to something you can't program or skip actually becomes more relaxing and satisfying, because you are not thinking of cutting something out or wondering what's next.

#Oktoberfest is continued with another implied drink (wine) in the Long Tall Glasses. This is one of my favourite Leo Sayer songs and much prefer his earlier stuff almost reminding me of something in the style of almost Woody Guthrie. I found a live take in Sydney and I have a feeling this is not how you would expect to see Leo Sayer live, it is rather good.

Well think I will go and rest a little more on this rainy Sunday.

Scrabble and Facebook

I wasn't going to post tonight , but what the hell, I thought I'd then just dispose of a couple of things that were on my mind.

There are now only two people who play Scrabble with me on Facebook. If you read this and want to play me feel free to leave your details in a comment. Scrabble is one of the main reasons that I go on Facebook but everyone I've played with (bar two) have dropped off. Maybe they're bored or don't like playing with me any more.

Facebook Jail

I'm still on the ban, and while I may reinstall Facebook Messenger on my phone , Facebook won't be going on. Also give that I am on some kind of black list I have a feeling that next time it will be a three month ban. A facebook friend said it could be the image to the right which causes people who access your posts to report it as contavening Facebook's rules. That is a possibility, but I am making the assumption that anything I share could get me banned.

So basically with Scrabble coming to a halt and my inability to share anything on Facebook it isn't looking that attractive to actually use it as I did.

Since the ban the views to my blog have increased 25 fold so I don't think sharing on Facebook will improve it all that much.


I am probably using Twitter and Instagram more and installed Scrabble on my phone which the reactivated my Facebook account much to my annoyance. The problem is Scrabble has been a total pain recently by continually failing to load so that may be why my friends have dropped off.

So I suppose a suitable song for thinking they are out to get me is obviously "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath so I will share that with you on this Sunday night.

The Insidiousness of Social Media In The Middle of Nowhere

Well essentially I am badmouthing Facebook on this one as I thought there's no harm in installing EA Games' Scrabble via the Google Play Store on to my phone so I can still play Scrabble. I then asked for my Facebook id which is my email address, so I put that in. Next thing I get an email saying "Welcome Back To Facebook, Your account has been reactivated as you signed into Scrabble".

Oh Really?

Well Facebook or Messenger  is not on my phone, and I have a feeling it will never return now. I may access it again via computer at the start of July, but I am not really missing it much and certainly no one is missing me. That might sound a bit pouty, but I have over 400 Facebook friends, it would take a while for me to notice anyone disappearing and if someone disappears and you don't know any of their contacts then that's it , they are gone and despite the insidious ubiquity of Facebook, most people don't actually use it.

I've just checked but not logged in and there are 39 updates against my Facebook login, I would deactivate it again but have a feeling that as soon as I use Scrabble it would reactivate.

So the holiday cottage "Honeysuckle Cottage" in Oswaldkirk really is in the middle of nowhere. There are no places to socialise or meet or shop within walking distance. Add to that most roads round here don't have footpaths, and also there is nothing really worth seeing apart from the views of the hills and the moors, and there in lies the reason for staying here, it's a perfect place to relax. It has wifi and a TV with a million Freeview channels so it's hardly cut off . The cottage is booked through cottages.com via Top Cashback to get 5% back

While I've always liked Joan Jett I have never taken to her version of "I Love Rock'n'Roll" but on 6Music today I heard "Bad Reputation" which is rather good, so I will share it with you and Facebook , has a bad reputation as far as I am concerned.

Early To Bed

Well it will be once I've written this. I've had a quiet weekend, though I expect my steps for February to be complete by the end of tomorrow. The weather has been a little warmer and soon it'll be time to release the lawn mower, a chore I really don't like doing , but it has to me done. It does amaze me the way that grass, bushes , flowers and trees grow with little more than sun and rain to feed them.

I've been playing Scrabble recently and while you always want to win, you really do need to get beat once in a while to bring you down to earth. I started playing with a lady who normally wipes the floor with me, and I know she has been through hard times recently but aware she is still active on the Scrabble circuit but I have beaten her twice (never happened before) although the third game looks like reverting back to type.

So I've been adding more CDs to my Discogs list and sort of realised that I buy stuff to support the artists usually. Sometimes I may not like the music, but almost always I listen music digitally or on vinyl, it's very seldom I actually play a CD although I do have quite few DVD masters and often listen to "Thick As A Brick", "In The Court of The Crimson King" or "Space Ritual" and the sound on these discs is amazing. I also managed to get hold of a copy of the Newspaper vinyl issue of "Thick as a Brick" from the Skipton Sound Bar so I can listen on DVD or vinyl or just the MP3 ( which I listen to quite often on my walk to work).

So I'll share with you a live take of "In The Court Of The Crimson King" before I hit the sack for tonight

Kwyjibo

From the title you may have guessed I'm reading something to do with The Simpsons , it's with "The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets" byd Simon Singh. as mentioned in my last post.

"Kwyjibo" is a word played by Bart in a game of Scrabble. When challenged by Homer , Bart retaliates by defining it as "A fat , bald North American Ape with no chin".

The book is excellent so far, but for me suffers from two faults, the print is too small and too faint making it difficult to read unless under a very bright lights, but that's just a sign of age. If I had it on a Kindle then I could enlarge the font and make the screen brighter but I do like real books.

I managed over 12K steps yesterday so managed to hit my daily steps, but not made much inroads into my step deficit and it is raining today, but I should  be able to walk in today as it is not too windy so I will need an umbrella.

I thought I would continue listening to live Bob Dylan and decided to go with "Budokan" and I am not impressed. The songs are smoothed down almost sounding like some Saturday night family entertainment version by some second rate TV host. The production is damned near perfect, but maybe the rearrangement of "Shelter From The Storm" actually works. The Byrds introduced me to Bob Dylan with "Mr Tambourine Man" and they and Manfred Mann polished up Dylan songs turning them often into things of beauty, but there's a difference in polishing something up and smoothing it out of existence which is what happens on "Budokan".

I found a TV performance by the Byrds of "Mr Tambourine Man" with an introduction by David McCallum (secret agent Illya Kuryakin in the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ) referring to "Turn,Turn,Turn".

Anyway it's time to get my umbrella and get off to work.

Threks

When I sign in to do this blog I have to press "Sign In" on three different screens. Now OK I habitually delete cookies and such ensure web stuff I do is showing the current expected version but I don't know why Google has this incredibly inefficient log in process. In fact while I accept that cookies can be useful, they should not be used to store sensitive or secure information, although maybe that's just my opinion.

I've finished the latest John Niven novel I was reading "Cold Hands" and was surprised that there were zero laughs, these was a very dark pumped up Irvine Welsh with some disturbing insights into the natures of revenge and madness. While it is excellently written it was not an easy ride, so I'm hoping "No Good Deed" may provide a little light. I am fine with black humour but when you find yourself in a world of total darkness that gets scary.

Today has been a great day, my Dad's 83rd birthday and he's finally using his computer, then we finally caught up with Mark, Helen , Eve and Jess over a Sunday Lunch and high def Harry Potter movies.

Step wise this is the first day I have done less that 5K since a rainy day on holiday in Yorkshire, but I am  still ahead of the game for my January walks. February may be a different matter.

The word Threks is non existent as far as I know and was shome letters I was trying to make a word with in Scrabble .

One of the many things I have to thank my Dad for is introducing me to Johnny Cash , his "Greatest Hits Volume 1" was in our house and often on the stereo Radiogramme that we had, and from that I'll choose "Five Feet High and Rising" before I hit my bed. Tomorrow is Monday ....... the start of another wonderful week of life ....

We Need More Love And Positivity

I'm seeing a lot of picture posts on Facebook, which aggressively imply that the poster with take retribution on someone who has crossed them in some way, even unfriended them on Facebook. Every so often I have a clear out of contacts , sometimes accidentally deleting people. Recent me and someone I'd accidentally unfriended took two months of attempting to reconnect, including manny missives to Facebook admin. We only play Scrabble together but the unfriending put that at risk, but we managed to sort it eventually.

Love and Be Positive

The TED talk above is a wonderful inspiring story of someone who overcame adversity and now lives a wonderful fulfilling life.

So people think that treating others badly shows that they are strong. It doesn't it just shows your transgressors have rattled you , and therefore succeeded. I admit that sometimes you have to fight but that should be a last, not first resort.







The best and biggest things are built by people working together it a spirit of co-operation, and sprinkled with a healthy dose of love and respect. So find a friend , give them a hug or a kiss, do something together , even if it's a chat , or a coffee or a drink. Do something together, you never know what may come of it. Work together and you will achieve far more that working in a fractious , frictional environment. Wars and negativity and aggression destroy , Love and cooperation can build lasting monuments.

You Too Can Microsocialize

While Facebook has loads of flaws it , and other "social networking" sites seem to be promoting the rise of Microsocializing , that is to say having absolutely minimal contact with people while still having the ability to know where they are and what they are up to.

I was introduced to Facebook by a good friend , although I didnt have a clue what it was, and since then found it useful to post online photo galleries , make, regain and keep contact with friends from Tynemouth , to Tanzania and New Zealand , as well as playing online Scrabble and being involved with the Time Vampire that is Mafia Wars!!

In the end I think that Facebook is a good thing , but wonder have I really got 111 friends, though today someone who I met playing Scrabble who at the time was going through a bad time , today became happily married , and that sort of thing you can't buy . The good feeling affects everyone in touches.

There are many people who wont touch Facebook , maybe it isnt for them , but I've found it extremely beneficial since signing up and it's also probably responsible indirectly for getting me into Ice Hockey!!