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People online

Wheel of Fortune and JEOPARDY

I read so much political conversation that I need to examine other topics, only to discover that people online can be annoying there, too.

Let’s find some math stuff. There are charts about the number of squares, triangles, or rectangles; the scolds remind us that squares are rectangles. (How many squares do you see above? And if you get it wrong, I promise not to chastise you.)

Also, how do you solve these equations? You prove you do or do not understand the Order of Operations in Math (PEMDAS).

Example: How do you work out 3 + 6 × 2? Multiplication before Addition: First 6 × 2 = 12, then 3 + 12 = 15. Example: How do you work out (3 + 6) × 2 ?Parentheses first: First (3 + 6) = 9, then 9 × 2 = 18.

Of course it is valuable, but the arrogant and demeaning way those who get it wrong are treated – sometimes with personal attacks! – diminishes the joy.

The games

Let’s go to pages tied to the Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. In those cases, people get agitated because the final puzzle or Final Jeopardy was either too hard—no one could get it—or so easy that anyone could get it.

On the last show of Season 41, July 25, 2025, the Final Jeopardy answer was, “According to one obituary, in 1935, he owned 13 magazines, eight radio stations, two movie companies, and $56 million in real estate.” The two challengers, Charlotte Cooper ($7,800 going into FJ) and Jonathan Hugendubler ($14,000 before FJ), wrote, “Who was [William Randolph] Hearst? His correct answer put Hugendubler in the lead by $1. The 16-day defending champion, Scott Ricardi, wrote, “Who was Howard Hughes?”

Some folks noted that they felt bad that Ricardi missed it, although he’ll be back for the Tournament of Champions. After all, going into the Final, Scott had 29 correct, zero incorrect responses. Jonathan had 13 correct, three incorrect, and Charlotte had 12 correct, one incorrect.

Others said, How could he not know that? It was” easy.” An article suggested that Scott “threw” the game because he didn’t want to be champion over the summer. What? Scott has denied tanking the game.

One person online said Hughes died in 1976, and the FJ answer said the subject died in 1935. Except that, and I admitted that the clue was strangely written, it did NOT say that. Hearst died in 1951, and some pedantic librarian, annoyed with this other person’s pedanticism, decided to correct him.

Show biz

This meant, “Oh, I have to get out of this.”

I came across a Facebook page about events in upstate New York. It mentioned that Cynthia Erivo, who had been scheduled to perform at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center on August 22, had cancelled her show for scheduling reasons and would be replaced by John Baptiste. A reasonable conversation would be about how to get refunds or whether the show will be rescheduled. But I found – and I’ve seen this elsewhere -the sheer number of people who wrote, “I don’t care.”

Also, a large contingent needed to comment on the length of her fingernails. But more than a few seemed to think she just lucked into a blockbuster movie, Wicked. She’d been in several movies, notably Harriet. She was a Tony winner almost a decade ago for The Color Purple. Well, whatever.

So it’s not just supporters of a particular political agenda who I find exhausting.

Health report for the middle of 2025

the tooth of the matter

Here is the health report for the middle of 2025.

I received a hearing test in April. My hearing is rather good at most frequencies, and the word recognition was solid. I’ll get it rechecked next year, and maybe I’ll get an aid. When I hear white noise simultaneously, I can listen to words but not comprehend them. That’s normal, right?

I’m having some oral surgery at the end of August. A couple of molars you can’t see are coming out. One – lower left – had been giving me some exquisite pain a few months ago. It has subsided, but it is not salvageable. I’ve had a root canal in the past on those teeth.

A third tooth, which people might notice, is also coming out, but some ersatz item will replace it. I’m not looking forward to this process. It will be pricey, but less than if they replaced all three teeth.

So I postponed dealing with my left Achilles, which bothers me on and off. Eventually, I’ll need some physical therapy.

Taking a knee

Then I MUST deal with getting a left knee replacement because sometimes it’s so achy that I can’t even ride my bicycle without a brace; the rotation is too painful.

At least it’s not as bad as it was after the Olin family reunion at Nataniel Cole Park near Binghamton, NY, in July. I had long told myself that I didn’t need a cane when walking on a flat surface. But walking on grass, hills, gravel, etc., I SHOULD use the cane. I walked to the bathroom through a grassy area with a slight incline. “Ah, it’s not that far.”

At about 2 a.m., the pain was so tremendous that it woke me from a sound sleep. The agony emanated from one point. If my knee were a map of France and my leg were up on the bed, it would be approximately at Bordeaux.

I was really irritated with myself. The cane was in the car, and the car was nearby, so this was a totally avoidable incident.

Other than that, it’s the usual aches and pains.

Movie review: Superman (2025)

David Corenswet

I had initially decided not to watch the new movie Superman, in large part because seeing sequels and reboots is exhausting. Also, I’m not a big DC movie fan, having seen the first two Superman movies with Christopher Reeve, and a couple of Batman films, not counting the LEGO pieces.

I did happen across the Justice League movie from 2017, which utterly confounded me. Superman (Henry Cavill) was dead, but he wasn’t. What the heck?

Two things pushed me into seeing the new flick: my wife wanted to see it, remembering fondly the first Christopher Reeve film from 1978. Also, many people on social media suggested that the new movie was too “woke.” I wondered what that possibly meant. So we attended a Wednesday matinee at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany.

I saw many comments from fans thinking that this Superman (David Corenswet) was too physically weak; he even bleeds! As somebody who’s known comic books for a long time, part of the problem with Superman historically is that he was too darn powerful. If he could change time and fly to different planets at will, what would keep him humble and “human”? It is a statement when you see Superman lose in the movie’s first battle, to be rescued by his robots and the unruly dog Krypto.

Villainy

This Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) reminded me A LOT of the tech bros who are “too confident about their ability”. This mixed review: “We are living under the whims of real, insane, egomaniacal, profoundly insecure billionaire supervillains… How can any comic book narrative compete with that kind of real-life villainy?” As the writer notes, “Yeah, it might not be fair to blame Gunn for not having a crystal ball predicting all the nightmare sh*t that’s happened since January while he was writing and filming this movie.” So, I don’t, and the crap coming down in 2025 America makes the film feel “real,” if not prescient.

I like Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) and many of the supporting characters quite a bit.

Much to my surprise, there was a point in the latter quarter of the film when I got emotionally attached. Interestingly, Wendy Pini of Elfquest fame, whom I knew from my FantaCo days, made a cogent observation:

“What if this new Supes movie is VERY good for boys and men?… I’ve seen dozens and dozens of comments from [my male friends who are comics industry pros] in my feed, which are universally positive. This movie is creating joy for them. They’re using words like hope, kindness, helpfulness, compassion, and light.”

The film is a bit unbalanced here and a little sloppy there, but I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed the movie. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received 83% positive reviews from critics and 93% positive reviews from audiences.

Sunday Stealing — Living in the World, Not on It

refrigigator

“Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

“This week, while looking for a blog we hadn’t hit yet, we discovered Living in the World, Not on It. This meme comes to you from ‘life in the slow lane of the unemployable, unworkable, disabled HR Manager/EMT’. Too bad she quit posting because she sounds interesting.”

Living in the World, Not on It

1) You’re on a trip taking a tour through the jungle. You have a backpack with some food, first aid supplies, a pocket knife, a flashlight and a couple bottles of water. Somehow, you get separated from your group. By night fall you haven’t found your group and haven’t heard them looking for you. How long do you think you would be able to survive on your own?

First, let’s be clear that I will never voluntarily take a tour through a jungle. It’s not my thing; maybe I’d do so at gunpoint or something. That said, how long I could last depends on how much water I could find, how hot it is, and what unsavory plants or animals I encounter. I could probably survive about a half a week on the avoirdupois of my body. Water is the basic thing; also, extreme heat – I don’t do well with hot and humid.

Liar

2) Do you think it’s okay to lie to spare someone’s feelings? Why?

Of course, especially about things of no great consequence. I’ve known so-called “truth-tellers” who use “honesty” merely to create pain and prove superiority over another human being.

That said, I’ve long been affected by Sissela Bok’s book Lying, which I read four decades ago and wrote about here almost twenty years ago. Even the “little white lie” has consequences for the teller and, if they find out, for the person being lied to.

Talk talk

3) If a talking doll were made to resemble you, what 3 phrases would it say?

I don’t know about phrases, but it would use the word accoutrement in a full French accent; French and Italian words are inherently sexy. It would say “refrigigator” as one of the words I enjoy mispronouncing. One phrase would be “That’s suboptimal,” which I swear I heard from some press secretary or Cabinet official in a Presidential administration. However, I can’t find out who; it is usually used as classic British understatement, I have read.

If You Could Read My Mind

4) If the superpower to read minds at will were possible, would you think it would be cool and helpful, intrusive and wrong, manipulative, or maddening?

It certainly would feel intrusive if I could read other people’s minds, and I’m sure it would feel the same if others could read mine. The idea of the Thought Police is frankly terrifying. I believe the idea of NOT saying things was a good thing. It would also be manipulative and maddening.

It might be helpful if you’re dealing with someone who cannot speak or otherwise communicate. Otherwise, I have not seen the upside, although I suppose if I could read my cat’s mind… Well, maybe I don’t want to know that either.

5) Are drunk confessions things people can’t bring themselves to say sober, or just the crazy ramblings of an influenced and intoxicated mind?

Based on observation, I think both are possible. Still, in my experience, most involve people confessing affection, expressing anger, or saying something they just can’t otherwise get out.

Lydster: Echolalia

the most hunted person

My daughter suggested that perhaps I have echolalia. What is that? “Echolalia is the repetition of words or phrases spoken by someone else. Children use echolalia as they learn how to communicate. It usually resolves by age 3, but may be a sign of developmental delay or an underlying condition if it continues or appears during adulthood. It’s common with autism spectrum disorder and Tourette syndrome.”

My daughter has a friend who is self-described as experiencing echolalia. But the situation where she attributed it to me doesn’t track. She or my wife said something about an Impossible Hot Dog my daughter was having for dinner. Naturally, I responded, “And four white mice could never be four white horses. ” It’s a non-repetitive response.

I’ve been doing this for decades. When my mother would request, “Help me,” I might reply, “And I do appreciate you being ’round.” It was usually a musical lyric response to a Beatles or Motown lyric.

Over the last quarter century, it tended to be more likely a musical, such as West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Hamilton, or a song from Rodgers and Hammerstein. The above reference is to the song Impossible from R & H’s television production of 1965’s Cinderella.

So I’m not buying the echolalia diagnosis.

Game on!

Still, she is very bright. My wife and I were doing the NYT Connections on June 26, and our daughter connected Lovelace, Bojack, McQueen, and Hawking as words with playing cards as the second syllable. We all knew instantly it had to be the purple (most difficult) answer, and it was.

Right before that, the Final JEOPARDY response popped up. In the category 20th CENTURY FIGURES: Ironic in light of her name, she was remembered in a eulogy as “the most hunted person of the modern age.”

One contestant replied (Who was) Sanger, presumably Margaret Sanger, founder of the birth control movement. One wrote Found, but Ken Jennings declared, “I’m afraid there’s no such person” (as Hunted and Found). The third player had no answer, but with a locked game, didn’t need to.

I was thinking of someone like Mata Hari, but my daughter immediately thought of Princess Diana; I had my doubts. But sure enough, Jennings noted, “If being hunted made you think of the goddess of the hunt, you might have thought of Diana, Princess of Wales.”

My daughter gleefully said, “You’d better put this in your blog!” I probably would have anyway…