jmcvann
11th November 2009, 05:16 PM
OK..."battle" may be stretching it. But at the blog "Rex Parker Does The NYT Crossword Puzzle" he is being discussed.
RANDI was in today's puzzle, and the blog writer commented thusly: "45A: "Amazing" debunker of the paranormal (Randi) — Surprisingly (given the "i"-spelling of RANDI), not a girl."
Now...I've read Rex's blog for quite some time. He knows Randi isn't a girl. He was quipping. I decided to comment at his blog today and wrote this: "The James Randi Educational Foundation - and it's website (randi.org) - provide educational (and sometimes quite funny) reading. People still believe in dowsing? Really?" - I wrote this simply as a plug for the JREF.
Another commenter wrote: "Jeff in Chicago [that's me!]: Don't knock it, if you haven't tried it! I've dowsed and have seen several DPW workers dowse to find pipes. It works!"
A few other comments have followed. Sadly, a few more anti-Randi than pro-Randi.
The guy who runs the blog is pretty strict about discussions going off-topic. And that topic is always the crossword. (I can respect his rules. It's the most civil blog I've ever been a part of.) So I posted one defense of Randi and stepped away.
I've known for a long time that good crossworld solvers aren't necessarily smarter than anyone else. They just know a lot of words! But the lack of support for Randi made me a little sad. Still, it's a fun blog. If you do the NYT puzzle you should check in. Rex is generally quite witty. (And at least today's clue for RANDI was positive!
RANDI was in today's puzzle, and the blog writer commented thusly: "45A: "Amazing" debunker of the paranormal (Randi) — Surprisingly (given the "i"-spelling of RANDI), not a girl."
Now...I've read Rex's blog for quite some time. He knows Randi isn't a girl. He was quipping. I decided to comment at his blog today and wrote this: "The James Randi Educational Foundation - and it's website (randi.org) - provide educational (and sometimes quite funny) reading. People still believe in dowsing? Really?" - I wrote this simply as a plug for the JREF.
Another commenter wrote: "Jeff in Chicago [that's me!]: Don't knock it, if you haven't tried it! I've dowsed and have seen several DPW workers dowse to find pipes. It works!"
A few other comments have followed. Sadly, a few more anti-Randi than pro-Randi.
The guy who runs the blog is pretty strict about discussions going off-topic. And that topic is always the crossword. (I can respect his rules. It's the most civil blog I've ever been a part of.) So I posted one defense of Randi and stepped away.
I've known for a long time that good crossworld solvers aren't necessarily smarter than anyone else. They just know a lot of words! But the lack of support for Randi made me a little sad. Still, it's a fun blog. If you do the NYT puzzle you should check in. Rex is generally quite witty. (And at least today's clue for RANDI was positive!