sysfrank 🤣🤣🤣

#hashtaggames #Wordle #Wordle1731 2/6 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I had decided to give up Wordle, but old habits die hard. I found myself trying out the first guess this morning. So, then I tried a wild shot at the solution. I am reminded of a gambler who decides not to bet on the races. Then, his horse comes in on a 100-to-1 longshot and he's hooked again. I need some time away from this... 🤣🤣🤣

#hashtaggames #Wordle #LeftWordle #Wordle1725 3/6 🟩🟨🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟨⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 O Maker of the Mighty Deep Whereon our vessels fare, Above our life’s adventure keep Thy faithful watch and care. In Thee we trust, whate’er befall; Thy sea is great, our boats are small. ... --Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933) #LeftWordle1725 3/6 (Left Wordle) ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Of all the sciences, the most disturbing to me is Biology. The mere thought that the cell membranes that separate our being from the environment (the "I" from the "non-I," the order from the chaos) consists of nothing more than two layers of fatty acid molecules that hang together because the hydrophobic tails tend to dissolve in each other and the hydrophilic heads prefer to dissolve in water--it both defines and boggles my mind. 🤣🤣🤣

#hashtaggames #Wordle #LeftWordle #Wordle1721 6/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #Wordle1721 3/6 (Left Wordle) ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I remember, when I was in high school, going to a political event. Everyone gathered at the Rural Electric Cooperative's fairgrounds for what was called Burgoo. When I asked what was in the main dish, they answered with a list of animal meats that included donkey and rooster. I was gullible back then. . . 🤣🤣🤣

#hashtaggames #Wordle #LeftWordle #Wordle1720 4/6 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟨🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #LeftWordle1720 3/6 (Left Wordle) 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩⬜🟨🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 One of my all-time favorite dog breeds is the border collie. Unfortunately, I'm a city-dweller and must appreciate them from afar. 🤣🤣🤣

Hmm...

#hashtaggames #Wordle #LeftWordle #Wordle1719 3/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #LeftWordle1719 3/6 (Left Wordle) 🟨⬜🟨🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🤣🤣🤣

#hashtaggames #Wordle #LeftWordle #Wordle1717 3/6 🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩 🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #LeftWordle1717 4/6 (Left Wordle) 🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜ 🟨⬜🟩⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🤣🤣🤣

#hashtaggames #Wordle #LeftWordle #Wordle1716 3/6 ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #LeftWordle1716 4/6 (Left Wordle) ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🕊️

#hashtaggames #LeftWordle #LeftWordle1714 4/6 (Left Wordle) 🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Chiaroscuro At the risk of sounding too obscure, I could mention the famous argument "Débat sur le coloris" did I spell that right? Forgive me, it's been over 53 years since I studied French and even longer since art appreciation. I still remember my French teacher though. 🤣🤣🤣

#hashtaggames #Wordle #Wordle1714 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟨🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 You only needed his first name to know who he was--when I listen it's how I feel. I would provide a link, but they all give it away. 🤣🤣🤣

#hashtaggames #LeftWordle #Wordle1713 4/6 (Left Wordle) ⬜🟨🟩🟨🟨 🟨⬜🟩🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Great Scott! Your puzzles are tougher than Tracy Bennett's. 🤣🤣🤣

#hashtaggames #Wordle #Wordle1713 2/6 ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Hmmm. All of my comments about this one I've had to self-censor. Not to put too fine a point on it, even my safe choice about the Tour de France I find full of controversy. 🤣🤣🤣

#hashtaggames #LeftWordle Wordle 1,712 5/6 (Left Wordle) ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ 🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟩🟨⬜🟩 🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🤣🤣🤣

#hashtaggames #Wordle #Wordle1712 5/6 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟩⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩⬜🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Joe Bonamassa comes to mind. . . https://youtu.be/YgrbQCaOXaQ?si=iKkCICUWa1K4Buik 🤣🤣🤣

#WritersCoffeeClub 20260224: What's your greatest challenge in fleshing out your setting? I am reminded of the Physicist Paul Dirac, who after reading “Crime and Punishment,” commented, “It is nice, but in one of the chapters the author made a mistake. He describes the sun as rising twice on the same day.” I have never been to Belize, but one of my characters found himself there after fleeing the United States to avoid prosecution. Upon his late arrival, I described the sun setting over the ocean, then I realized that the sun could only rise over the Atlantic when viewed from his location. I rewrote the scene to describe the sun setting over the trees. Which raised the question, “what kind of trees?” My research led me to the story of the legendary Mahogany tree, often referred to as “The Tree.” It inspired me to rewrite my manuscript and include it as a device in the plot. I reviewed a book once (I am withholding the title and author intentionally) in which the author describes a jar holding a severed hand in formaldehyde as a “bell jar.” I pointed out to the author that it would be very difficult to get formaldehyde to stay in a bell jar given the large opening at the bottom. Oh, and my experience tells me not to rely on an AI to proofread. It might help with grammar and spelling, but the sludge it invents to rewrite crafted sentences is rife with errors that “sound good,” but which defy logic: No need to insult the intelligence of your readers. 🤣🤣🤣

#hashtaggames #Wordle #Wordle1711 3/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Although I haven't played it in many years, I grew up in a community that had regular Euchre parties. I learned the card game from watching others play, then sat in on a few hands, and before long got pretty good at it. There's a term for the "Jack" of the trump suit and the "Jack" of the same color as the trump suit. The term is an anglicized version of the German word for "farmer." But, since I never saw the word written and only heard the Kentucky mispronunciation of it, I thought that . . . Interestingly enough, the adjectives "left" and "right" can also apply to the word I mistook for the word in the card game. But, it means something quite different. 🤣🤣🤣

#Wordle1710 3/6 (Left Wordle) ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Had to try out #LeftWordle 🤣🤣🤣

#WritersCoffeeClub 20260223: What techniques help you write a difficult second act?
Once upon a time we invited an author of paperback westerns over for dinner. After dinner, the discussion turned to art. He clearly thought that I was not qualified to speak on the subject because I made my living programming computers, and teaching people to do things with computers. From his perspective, any form of structure felt like an enemy to true artistic expression. He believed that creativity could only flourish in the absence of constraints, and that assigning any practical or utilitarian purpose to art diminished its value. I gently shared my own experiences working alongside professional artists, many of whom I taught to incorporate computers into their creative processes. At first, some hesitated, worried that technology might limit their imagination. But I remember one particular illustrator who, after learning to use digital tools, was suddenly able to visualize and iterate on complex forms that would have been nearly impossible by hand. Years later, that artist developed Parkinson’s. She called to thank me because she could no longer hold a pencil to draw, but she could still use a mouse and remained productive.

If anything defines humanity, storytelling deserves a place in the top ten. Since we gathered around campfires, we have told and listened to stories, perfected techniques to capture our interest, ward off our fears, brag, teach and enlighten. I would submit that one of the most basic storytelling ideas is that a good story has a beginning, middle and an end. There may be exceptions, the terminology may vary, but to speak of the “second act” in my view is merely to speak of the “middle” portion of the story. Formula or no, that “act” has the burden of getting the listener (or reader) from the beginning to the end while maintaining their interest. There are techniques for doing this that I would argue do not diminish the story but make it more delectable.

#hashtaggames #Wordle #Wordle1710 2/6 ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Ha! What luck! Sometimes, it pays to be tired enough that your imagination remains asleep even after two cups of coffee. I made a lazy guess that rhymed. 🤣🤣🤣

#hashtaggames #Wordle #Wordle1709 4/6 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I don't know why, but this game seems much harder than it used to be. 🤣🤣🤣

#hashtaggames #Wordle #Wordle1708 6/6 ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩 ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 The hard way. 🤣🤣🤣

#WritersCoffeeClub 20260220: How has a setting surprised you? Surprise is an interesting word in this context. It assumes that I had expectations of the setting which either were not met in the way that I desired or were met in an unusual way. It seems more of a “reader’s question” than a writer’s question, but it could inform one’s writing. I remember a lecture in which my professor presented a somewhat calculus-based theory about how tension and interest in a story varied with the integral of the difference between the action in the story and our changing expectations and desires. At the end, only a few students remained in the classroom and drop-add was busy the next day. There is a short story by Theodore Sturgeon (originally published in 1959 but it has been republished several times), “The Man Who Lost the Sea,” which I think fits the bill of a “surprise setting.” If you have not read it, I will try not to spoil it for you. It is unique in several respects. It is written mostly in second-person with a third-person limited-omniscient narrator to reveal inner thoughts. After I read it, I tried (repeatedly) to write in 2nd person and found my attempts at mimicry pitiful in comparison. The character in the story is a man dying on a beach who continues to observe the world around him and remember previous experiences in the sea. The surprise comes when the writing shifts to first-person, we hear the character speak, and we see the setting for what it is. The story is a masterpiece. It starts like this: “Say you're a kid, and one dark night you're running along the cold sand with this helicopter in your hand, saying very fast witchy-witchy-witchy.” https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fiction/the-man-who-lost-the-sea/

#hashtaggames #Wordle

#Wordle1707 4/6

🟩⬜🟩🟨⬜
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🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

By broad Potomac's shore, again old tongue,
(Still uttering, still ejaculating, canst never cease this babble?)
Again old heart so gay, again to you, your sense, the full flush
spring returning,
Again the freshness and the odors, again Virginia's summer sky,
pellucid blue and silver,
Again the forenoon purple of the hills,
Again the deathless grass, so noiseless soft and green,
Again the blood-red roses blooming.

Perfume this book of mine O blood-red roses!
Lave subtly with your waters every line Potomac!
Give me of you O spring, before I close, to put between its pages!
O forenoon purple of the hills, before I close, of you!
O deathless grass, of you!

--Walt Whitman

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/02/17/video-photos-potomac-river-sewage-spill/88716671007/

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#hashtaggames #Wordle #Wordle1704 4/6 🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟩⬜⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🤣🤣🤣

#hashtaggames #Wordle #Wordle1703 3/6 🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨🟩🟨⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Winner, whiner, chicken diner (sic): After the meal come the just desserts. 🤣 🤣 🤣

#hashtaggames #Wordle #Wordle1700 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 This "word" means something different in the US vs UK. 🤣🤣🤣