Our public radio station announced that August is “National Make-A-Will Month.” Of course, they were suggesting we leave something to them in our wills. And September is National Drop Dead Month.
Speaking of dropping dead, how about this latest shot of our drop dead gorgeous sports consultant Sarah Fillier that Phil just sent in? Yikes!
Sarah, whose sport, of course, is women’s professional ice hockey, assures us she’s ready to provide trenchant analysis of the upcoming college football season. She seemed surprised to learn that the quarterback does not play defense, but we’re sure she’ll get her act together in time. And don’t let the pretty smile fool you — she’ll knock your teeth out with a stick if it means winning a face-off.
As noted in the NYT, Mark and David Geier once created an illegitimate review board for their research, composed of themselves, family members and business associates. They also promoted the drug Lupron, used for chemical castration and prostate cancer, as a supposed treatment for autism, charging $5,000 to $6,000 monthly for unproven therapies. As a result, Mark Geier’s medical license was revoked or suspended by all 12 states in which he was licensed, and David Geier was fined for practicing medicine without a license.
Need I continue? Of course, RFK Jr. has tapped Mark Geier as a researcher for his new federal study on autism. The Autistic Self Advocacy Network has said that it is “appalled” by the hiring of a “quack” for the government study.
Phil got a shot of the doc for us.
Anagrams are amazing, but I prefer them separate from crosswords. In a crossword they are effectively giving you the answer. So today’s NYTXW was a giant splat, as far as I was concerned. Clever anagramming but a blah puzzle. The constructor Michael Lieberman took names of corporations and anagrammed them into products they might sell. E.g., If POST & SCHICK merged and became a kitchenware company, they would sell: CHOPSTICKS.
Roald DAHL was in the puzzle, wittily clued with “Author Roald.” Did you know he was married to the actress Patricia Neal for 30 years (until they divorced), with whom he had five children? The first was named Olivia Twenty. Her middle name, Twenty, originated from the date of her birth (April 20), and the fact that her father had $20 in his pocket when he saw her in the hospital for the first time. (Begs the question: what if he also had a few singles on him?) Sadly, she died from measles when she was only seven. Dahl later advocated strongly for vaccines.
Dahl held anti-Israel views that bled into anti-Semitism enough to cause his family to apologize for it in 2020 on their website. Rex (who isn’t Jewish) took issue with Dahl’s inclusion in the puzzle on these grounds, referring to Dahl as “noted antisemite.”
Here’s Patricia Neal, competing in a funny hat contest.
On the other hand, strong kudos for including the brilliant New Yorker investigative reporter Jane MAYER! You made it, girl!
Remember when Steve Martin showed up on the scene and blew the roof off American comedy? At 53A the clue was: “King in a 1978 novelty hit.” Three letters.
A Wordle issue came up today. I’ll try to explain. Suppose you know the last four letters are ATCH. It comes down to guesswork — could be BATCH, MATCH, LATCH, PATCH, CATCH, HATCH, or WATCH. When that happens, I “waste” a guess with a word like PLUMB, that at least tests four of the options. But today I learned there is a “hard” mode for Wordle in which you have to use the letters you’ve already established so my trick would not be available. You can turn on the hard mode via settings. Not sure I want to.
Let’s close tonight with a poem by Ted Kooser. It’s been a while since we’ve treated ourselves to one. It’s from Winter Morning Walks.
My wife and I walk the cold road
in silence, asking for thirty more years.
There’s a pink and blue sunrise
with an accent of red:
a hunter’s cap burns like a coal
in the yellow-gray eye of the woods.
See you tomorrow, Chatterheads!
The Wellington Files 