The following post appeared on our neighborhood message site. It troubles me a bit because we use Summit Health and it seems to be going downhill in some ways.
It was posted by Nancy H.
“I was attempting to schedule an appointment today with a doctor at Summit Health. The ‘person’ handling my call didn’t sound like a real person, but more like a robot. Apparently, Summit Health is using AI to respond to routine calls like scheduling appointments. So I really was talking to a robot. I now think I could have asked to speak with a real person, but at the time I thought maybe I was being silly. But I wasn’t. It was an unnerving experience, because she asked how I was, and made a sympathetic comment when I said I wasn’t feeling well.”
I replied: How do we know you’re a real person?
At 3D in the puzzle today the clue was “Setting of the 1888 painting ‘Café Terrace at Night.’” The answer was ARLES. It led Commenter James to share this haunting, beautiful song with us: “Spinning Away,” by John Cale and Brian Eno.
Up on a hill
As the day dissolves
With my pencil turning moments into line . . .
And here is the painting by VG. Don’t bother looking for his John Hancock. He didn’t sign it.
It was an artsy puzzle today, with ART TATUM in the grid too, clued with “Jazz pianist with a memorable recording of ‘Tea for Two.’” How ignorant am I? Well, I heard of him enough to solve the puzzle but had no idea what he looked like or sounded like. Happily, Commenter Lewis helped on both accounts. Got two minutes?
At 5D, ST. DENIS was the “Bishop for whom a neighborhood in Paris is named.” When things start getting rough, it’s best to keep your head about you and Denny held on to his fairly tightly.
According to Wikipedia, “Denis is the most famous cephalophore in Christian history.” If I just saw the word and had to guess what it meant, I think I’d guess whale hunter. But that’s way the hell off. In fact, a cephalophore has a pretty specific meaning: it’s a saint who is carrying his severed head. To be more precise: who is “depicted as” carrying it. It made me wonder – were there so many of them that it was worth making up a special word for them? Well, there were over 60 of them, smarty pants, including Justinian of Ramsey Island (not to be confused with Shlomo of Staten Island).
And just when you thought it was all classy and stuff with Art Tatum, Van Gogh, and St. Denis, it got down and dirty at 21A: “James in the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.” Who doesn’t love this tune? Turn it up!
If all that isn’t enough, two actresses popped by: FAYE Marsay, and NAOMI Watts. Hey girls — sorry, it’s a madhouse here today — the puzzle just had too much going on all at once. You could lose your head! Clear some crap off the couch, and grab a Diet Coke. George should be around here somewhere. Georgie!! Company!! You’ll plotz!
You may know Faye from “Game of Thrones.” Here’s a pretty intense shot of her.
And we’ve been a fan of Naomi Watts from all over the place for years. Beautiful shot, Philly.
Naomi is British. Her dad was a road manager and audio engineer for Pink Floyd, but died when she was only 8 of an apparent drug overdose. She was partnered with the late Heath Ledger and then, for 11 years, with Liev Schreiber, with whom she had two children. She’s been married to actor Billy Crudup since 2023. Here’s one of her kids, Kai Schreiber, who is transgender. Kai is a model and actress.
The clue at 49A was “Restaurant sommelier’s offering,” and the answer was HOUSE WINE. I often jokingly refer to a carafe of wine as a giraffe of wine. Hysterical, I know. So, many years ago, Linda and I were uncharacteristically at a very fancy restaurant by our standards. Lots of extra silverware I had no idea what to do with, for example. And our intent was to order a carafe of the house wine. But when it was up to me to tell that to the waitress, I must have had a brain glitch or something because I very seriously said to her: “and we’d like a giraffe of your house wine.” She looked at me for a few seconds and said “I know what you mean.” (I told that story in class often to make a point on the importance of using correct terminology.)
We’ll end with this very troubling item from The Onion:
42 Million Dead In Bloodiest Black Friday Weekend On Record
New York—According to emergency personnel, early estimates indicate that more than 42 million Americans were killed this past weekend in what is now believed to be the bloodiest Black Friday shopping event in history.
First responders reporting from retail stores all across the nation said the record-breaking post-Thanksgiving shopping spree carnage began as early as midnight on Friday, when 13 million shoppers were reportedly trampled, pummeled, burned, stabbed, shot, lanced, and brutally beaten to death while attempting to participate in early holiday sales events.
Law enforcement officials said the bloodbath only escalated throughout the weekend as hordes of savage holiday shoppers began murdering customers at Wal-Mart, Sears, and JCPenney locations nationwide, leaving piles of dismembered and mutilated corpses in their wake.
Survivors of the deadly holiday sales event said that while the weekend began as a chance to “get in on some unbeatable post-Thanksgiving deals,” it quickly escalated into a merciless, no-hold-barred fight to the death.
“At some point in time we all stopped caring about the deals and the holiday shopping and were pretty much just out for blood,” said Dana Marshall, 37, a Target shopper who suffered seven broken ribs and a cracked sternum while fighting two other customers for a discounted Nikon digital camera. “I remember just sitting on top of a woman and smacking her head with a DVD player until her face was completely unrecognizable. I felt nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
See you next time!
The Wellington Files 