Trizonality

The truth is, I got to playing Scrabble with my computer and managed one of my best scores ever, 501 to its 301, with only one questionable word. (OK, I lucked out with both blanks, which makes it almost impossible to lose, but still – for me, 501 is really good.) I assume you have no problem with WRECKER, MARRIAGE, or WRESTLER, each of which brought me the 50-point bonus. TRIZONAL I admit was a stretch; but the computer allows BIZONAL so, I ask you, why not TRIZONAL? Gallia in tres partes divisa est, after all. Not to mention the three zones we may wind up with in Iraq.

So the dog came nowhere near my home work – they probably don’t even allow dogs here at the Hyatt (sadly, I am paying the ‘discounted convention rate,’ which is about double what I could have gotten an equally good room for via Priceline.com, but I have to be where everybody else is) – but I just blew off my responsibilities for Scrabble.

Yes, well, even so, at this late hour, as I towel off from the Scrabble, I suppose I can find time to pass on a link or two.

RACY CALCULATIONS

Responding to the set of calculators linked to yesterday, one of you suggested this on-line calculator. DO NOT GO THERE IF YOU ARE UNDER 18 OR EASILY OFFENDED. But leave the sound on your computer if you are not.

Or, if YOU are cool with this but your better half is more upright, listen through your earphones.

EARPHONES

Richard: ‘The best headphones for airplane use appear to be the Etymotic ER-4P‘s. They are in the ear canal phones, like the Sony’s you mention, but much better sound. Reportedly isolate well enough that you don’t hear anything other than the music. About $270. I don’t own a pair, but spend more time than I should browsing.’

Michael J. Burns: ‘A friend and I did a side-by-side comparison between his Bose (about $300) and my Jensen Noisebusters that I paid $39.95 for last Fall. The Bose were cushier, but from a noise reduction standpoint they sounded indistinguishable. The Noisebusters had a greater noise reduction spec in its noise reduction band, while the Bose had a larger noise reduction bandwidth. But the impression of everyone who tried them was that the overall noise reduction was pretty much the same. This review compares the $300 Bose to the $40 Noisebusters. This one compares the $100 Brookstone to the $300 Bose and $40 Noisebusters. The Jensen ones are $39.95. Also, Sennheiser makes anti-noise reduction (ANR) headphones for $97.95. Brookstone‘s offering goes for $99. ‘

MASSIVE URLs

‘Also,’ writes Michael on a completely unrelated note, ‘if you ever have massive URL’s that you need to put in an email . . . but worry the email program will break the URL thus rendering it useless . . . this free service is worth knowing about.”

NINE

Richard Stubbe: ‘You write: ‘Spookier still, all 2-digit numbers divisible by 9 add up to 9 – the 2 + 7 in 27 = 9.’ Actually, the digits of all numbers divisible by 9 add up to 9, not just the two-digit numbers. One of the many cool things about numbers.’

I’VE CHANGED MY E-MAIL ADDRESS

As noted yesterday . . . I have change the Me-Mail address this site links to. So if some of you have captured the old e-mail address (andytobias@aol.com), please delete it – I will not be checking it. Instead, please just click Me-Mail, at top right, as before. Thanks.