On Wordle #254

Thought I would write some more in my journal, but it turns out to be another exhausting, just enough energy for another game of Wordle, and I'm off...

Wordle 254 5/6

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On Wordle #253...

The game is on, to #253 now...

Wordle 253 5/6

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I have thought of jotting down some more thoughts, but I need rest. Maybe tomorrow.

On Wordle #252 and Woke backlash...

So, here's my Wordle game #252...

Wordle 252 4/6

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Last week, San Francisco voters successfully recalled three of the school board members in a landslide. Their sins could be summed up like this:

• Try to do away with the merits-based admission policy.
• While parents clamor to get the schools reopened for kids to go back to more normal life, school board is more interested in being woke, pushing for renaming schools that don't add any value to the actual educating of kids. Even schools that are named after Lincoln and George Washington were in their crosshairs. Apparently this school board must have such self-loathing that they would roll back the whole US history.
• Past racist comments from one of the school board member.

There was a massive voters get-out-to-vote drive for this recall campaign that saw a lot of Asian-American parents jumping on board. Good for them.

I've gotten quite tired of all these woke progressives whose rhetoric and execution has become so similar to the far-right conservatives. 

And while the Dec 2021 recall in Seattle has failed, the margin was so narrow (50.4%) that it's really a statistically dead heat. Arguably that Seattle City Councilwoman is even more offensive and woke than the SF school board. I'd bet Seattle voters will keep the recalls coming until she's kicked to the curb.

Not that I disagree with these woke crowds all the time. Nay, I do agree with some of their agenda, but their execution often rubs me the wrong way.

I'd bet, the more that these woke crowd yells and screams, the more likely they would turn off voters. Net-net, GOP and far-right conservatives will be the eventual winners, and they have the woke progressives to thank for. If you want to see what self-implosion is like, just look at how the woke progressives.

On an escapist Wordle amidst Ukraine invasion by Russia...

Amidst the horrible Russian invasion of Ukraine, Word does provide a measure of escapist tranquility:

Wordle 251 4/6

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Back to the real world while so much horrible events are going on, when Putin led Russia to invade Ukraine, thinking that by calling it a "peacekeeping" mission, he could pull wool over the eyes of the world, he's sorely mistaken. 

The only idiot that Putin can fool looks to be Trump, whose total lack of moral fiber and proprietary has scaled new height, when Trump would openly called Putin "genius" for invading another sovereign state of Ukraine. Predictably Trump would peacock around, claiming that had he been in the White House, this would not have happened. Yes, I know, no one really should take this idiot seriously. But his words can still make my blood boil. Predictably too, China is scratching Putin's back by blaming US for "hyping up" the war started by Russia. What a bunch of fucking idiotic bully, and Trump doesn't even look he's the biggest fool in the room. Worse yet, there are more fucking idiots in GOP who would sing same tune of Trump and CCP, apparently coming from the same script.

I sure hope that there are people in Mainland China who read the Weibo tweets from Chinese official propaganda machinery on the propaganda strategy.  Question is, how many people are left in Mainland China who are not ignorant enough to be fooled by reading from only the official news media in the mainland? Prognosis is not good.

On more Wordle...

With a bit of luck...

Wordle 250 3/6

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On a fun Wordle day...

Today is quite fun:

Wordle 249 5/6

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On my evading the topics of Covid, Trump at al...

I haven't been writing in my journal for quite some time, though with my daily Wordle dose, I feel rather guilty about avoiding far more important world and local issues, something as important as Covid-19 which has turned the whole world upside down, literally and metaphorically. I must put a few words in my journal for these events.

Trump

Of course I've followed the events. How couldn't I? While I jogged down brief thoughts of major topics in my usual year-end review and looking ahead, my mind has been much more preoccupied by these news and world events. At the same time, I feel exhausted by the repetitive headlines in both main news and social media. Although I don't do social media (for the obvious fact that it's primarily echo chamber that I don't feel like I learn that much or grow with those tidbits of info that might - but oftentimes might not - be truth or facts), even within limited social circles (that I try to restrict myself to these days), one can't help being bombarded with fake news, half truth, or simply the presenting of "news" from one side of the story. Nay, I don't want to be part of those social setup.

On a larger scale, I've stopped following on any Trump-related news (which is simply just same-old-same-old). It's just clickbait that even main news media like Washington Post or New York Times or Boston Globe have become adept in playing the game. Maybe the younger reporters and columnists are indeed enraged by every single outrageous thing that Trump and his sycophants say or do, but the editorial staff seem more than willing to play along because, by jove, the more angry a news headline sounds like, the more likely people might click on it, hence it chalks up the online advertising dollars. It's a horrible business model to support journalism, but that's the wrong path that the whole world is heading. 

Why do I only focus on the liberal-leaning main media, you'd ask? That's because those right-wing media like Fox News have been on the path for a very long time, and I don't give a damn about those bullshit.

As a reader, as a citizen, I need hard news. I don't need quick write-up that holds up Trump for ridicule, yet he's become the reason people are making money off of. In a way, I can understand why Trump gets upset about those people using his name to make money, even if it's about hating him! It's disingenuous.

The best thing that has ever happened, has been the total ban of Trump on social media outlet like Twitter and Facebook. I've come to realize that the best way to deal with dickheads like Trump, is to simply ignore him.  Don't engage.  Don't even try to shout him down because he'll only shout louder, blasting more obscene fake news to obfuscate everyone.  There is no point to get upset (though of course if you do listen to Trump, it's really hard not to get upset!).  

As I get older, I realize the golden rule: Life is too short to pay attention to non-entity like Trump. Just ignore him. At some time, he'll flame out. Better yet, he'll die! My god, I'd reeeeally love to hear that news.

Covid-19

The world has much changed by Covid-19. (Ok, let's short it for Covid since everyone has lost track of time - as if it's been with us forever - to realize that it started in December 2019...or thereabout.) 

Lockdown has become commonplace. Social restrictions have become legally enforceable coda, or at least common social norms (eg. social distancing, face mask). The world has come to a standstill, all travel modes are shut down.  Remote work has become norm. (Gosh, no one is calling it telecommuting anymore.)

Governments (and central banks) were quick to step in, providing stimulus and financial relief to support the economy from systemic collapse. Just in US alone, the multi-trillion dollars stimulus bills have worked well. In fact it's worked so well that people don't feel like they need to work, and that they insist that stimulus should be made permanent so that they can continue the I-can-stay-home-and-do-nothing-while-government-pays-me lifestyle. 

Covid has become the trojan horse that progressives use as the codeword for fighting everything, from climate change, to inequality (racial? wealth? income? gender? etc etc), to poverty, to housing, to rebuilding infrastructure. Joe Biden is happy to play along until Joe Manchin crashes the BBB party (aka. Build Back Better). Thank goodness we have Manchin as the adult in the room.

Let's face it, miracles have happened, and there have been multiple highly effective Covid vaccines available. Prior to that, if everyone should say, "I'm Scared To Go To Work Due To Covid," I can understand. When the mRNA vaccines first came out, it became such hot property that it's common to see people preening their feathers on social media for having gotten themselves vaccinated. 

And then the fucking idiot Trump pushed all the fake news about the vaccines, undermining federal agencies to the point where they ran in circles, just to counter fake news coming from the White House. This was all while Trump the coward got himself infected, and he hurried to get himself vaccinated too, even though he pushed for fake (and oft dangerous) alternative treatment, like injecting yourself with bleach?!? Worse yet, there were (and still are) idiot who believe him. Go figure. 

The anti-vaxx movement feeds into all things anti-authority, crescendo into the Jan-6 Insurrection in 2021. Thank goodness the civil systems and legal systems are still holding fort, but a good half of the country is still taken in by Trump who is still holding sway of GOP.  THIS is the saddest part of the story, not necessarily because of one big idiot like Trump, but because there are so many idiotic minions in this country. How far the US of A has devolved into these days.  

Much has been said about the action-and-reaction in the Covid drama (played out in a lot of countries, drum-rolled by US), with the blame on mental issues.  My one question is: Why are the human minds so weak these days?  Early on in Covid (maybe in early 2020), various government leaders compared Covid to putting their countries on war footing.  I never stop thinking of that phrase.  I keep thinking, if this were a Third World War, these good half of the population who have been acting so foolishly, they probably should die, yes they are better off dead.  In that sense, I don't really mind them rejecting the Covid vaccines. In fact the numbers bear it out, that those who are getting very sick in hospitalization in subsequent Covid waves (like the Delta variant, omicron, even BA.2 variant) are mostly unvaccinated population. Yes, that's Mother Nature at work.  These people want their freedom, so let them.  The world is better off with them dead.  (No sympathy from me. Harsh but true.)

For me, I've become a statistics in the Great Resignation when I cut down my workload in 2021. Various headhunters and recruiters reach out to me, but I'm no longer interested in working till I drop dead on my desk. Life is too short for that, it's not worth it.

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By and large, life has gone back to normal. I have telecommuted for years prior to Covid, so there's nothing new there.  The main difference is, I've had face masks in each of my bags ("Don't Leave Home Without It!"), but that's hardly any hardship.

Increasingly I've stopped all the whiny "news stories" about the various "hardship" that people experienced, blaming it on Covid. But heck, it's really just life as it has been.  

Life is but series of decisions (financial and personal, large and small). We live and learn, and live by commonsense. I don't suffer fools when hearing people say, "No One Tells Me About It" (eg. taking on debt with interest rate so high that can never possibly be paid back, and then people expect the debt be forgiven...because "No One Explains That To Me!").  For chrissake, this kind of non-argument comes from - by jove - college grads.  5yo? I get that. 25yo? Come now, that's a wee bit too much coddling for my taste.

On an ok day with Wordle...

On an ok day with Wordle, here's what it would look like:

Wordle 248 5/6

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This is the kind of fun that Wordle is supposed to be. 🙂

On more tuning of Wordle strategy...

Change, is the name of the game.

After the success yesterday with an adjustment to my strategy, I'm having more tweaks. So, instead of using the same starting word with less popular vowels, I've shifted to another word that gives me an "E". That seems to work out better.

So, here it is, for today...

Wordle 247 3/6

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On the evolving strategy for Wordle...

After two successive failure, I realize I could no longer afford to keep using my previous strategy which practically wastes the second attempt (together with the first attempt) to screen out all the vowels. I can't afford any slippage.

And so, I have to build upon whatever letters I hit in the first attempt. The strategy looks to work better:

Wordle 246 4/6

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Keeping the flame alive...

On another failed Wordle game...

New York Times seems to have added a lot more words with very similar letters combinations, it feels like it's more luck than skill to play Wordle now.  Look at this;

Wordle 245 X/6

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Do I want to keep playing a game that relies on luck rather than skill? I'm not so sure anymore.  

On my first failed Wordle game...

Here is to my first failed Wordle game:

Wordle 244 X/6

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I could think of a few more words with those four letters too, other than the correct word-of-the-day.  

Oh well. No one can/will win forever.

On a hanging thread in Wordle...

This is how hanging by a thread looks like in Wordle...

Wordle 243 6/6

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I should play the game during the day next time, rather than doing it by midnight everyday to wait for the new game right when it starts anew. My brain isn't working very well right now.

Zzzzzzz...

On the Wordle game achanging...

New York Times is not wasting any time to cash in on the Wordle fad. After announcing the high profile purchase of the game, NYTimes is assuming the hosting of the game in its own site now, as expected.

As reported, NYTimes is also finessing the word choice which is hardly surprising. Afterall it's prudent to screen offensive or inappropriate words (like pussy, or whore) to make the game more family- or kids-friendly.

It's almost certain that the words library will be expanded more substantially. The words in the original games are really a bit too easy (and not that challenging). It's satisfying, no doubt, but it's a good thing that NYTimes wants to keep the game on a more intellectually challenging level, rather than lowing the bar, just to make players feel good. 

I thus can't believe it when I read how so many people are complaining about NYTimes making it too hard, with words like, cynic, or caulk.  I mean, c'mon, who are these whiny babies?  Do these whiners even make it pass middle school? Such sore losers.

In any case, here it is, my first game on the redirected NYTimes site:

Wordle 242 5/6

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As usual, my first two attempts are just the controls (with the same two words I always use, in screening out all the vowels). Real guess starts from third attempt. 

I'm wondering out loud if the puzzle master of NYTimes is going to make it more tiered, ie. different levels to cater for different users. So, Beginners could stay with the five-letter words in six attempts. Intermediate could have maybe six-letter words in five attempts, and Experts could play seven-letter words in four attempts, and so on. The sharing aspect will stay, but it'll notate not just the same game # for all users, but different levels. But, it wouldn't be wise to make the tier'ing too complicated. The beauty of Wordle is to keep it simple.

Afterall, even Sudoku does that. And it's another game that I like.

On a little bit of Wordle dumb luck...

Here's how a little bit of dumb luck looks like:

Wordle 240 4/6

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On my messed up cumulative stats in Wordle...

So, my broadband hasn't been working and I have to decamp elsewhere for the past few days to work.

As it turns out, Wordle must have tagged the stats either using browser session ID or IP, but due to the reboot of my machine, browsers have all restarted. Even after browsers restore my previous tabs, all my Wordle stats got reset, and I'm starting from Day 1 again.  argh :/

Now that New York Times has paid a six-figure price to buy the Wordle game, hopefully NYT will fix this issue once and for all.  The open question now is, would Wordle continue to be a free game for everyone to play?

There was also news that some know-it-all genius thought that they are so clever, advising people that since Wordle is all just javascript that has little protections of the js files, one can click Save to download the javascript of Wordle, and play the game, like, forever.  

When I say "clever," I don't necessarily mean it in a positive way. Consider this:

• The browser-based Wordle isn't the only place one can play the game. There are more than enough clones (with the exact same UI/UX and game rules as Wordle) on Apple Store alone that anyone can download to play for free. So...why bother to infringe on the copyright of the original owner of Wordle by downloading his javascript?
• Presumably too, the javascript contains some 2500 or so five-letter words that Wordle will recycle through. So, yes, you can play it locally forever, but the words will become familiar after, what, six years or so.
• More importantly, the Wordle game is actually quite simple. The reason it's gone viral, is more about its clean UX to Share the game result with friends without giving out the word-of-the-day. When you play locally, this social element is totally lost. Yes, you can beat the local (or pseudo) Wordle with flying colors, but no one will ever know, nor will anyone care.
• Truth be told, I've downloaded and played some of Wordle clones on iphone, and they are actually much harder (with more obscure word choice). My bet is, they source from a much larger word library than just 2500+ words.

Long story short, here's my daily dose:

Wordle 237 3/6

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Pity the cumulative stats are pretty meaningless now.  :/

On my daily Wordle, day 12...

Best result so far -

Wordle 234 3/6

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Accumulated stats -

On my daily Wordle dose...

Daily Wordle brain tease -

Wordle 233 4/6

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Keeping it up -

On more Wordle rules...

I have not realized that the Wordle 5-letter words allow the same letter to be reused in the word. I had thought each five letters must be unique in the 5-letter words, apparently that was not the case.

Without realizing this, I almost got tripped up, though finally got it right -

Wordle 232 5/6

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Keep the winning streak -

On my Wordle stats...

Wordle has gone viral quite recently. I can readily see why. 

Let's see how long my winning streak can last -

For today -

Wordle 231 4/6

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I've figured out a strategy to use -

• I always use the same words in the first two attempts so as to tease out all five vowels.
• My real attempt of guess really starts at the third attempt.
• So, my aim is to have the correct guess at the fourth attempt.

Here's my board for the past eight days -

A friend of mine once sent me her board in which she guessed the word on first attempt. That's what I call, dumb luck. She's happy of course, and I'm happy for her, though it's not something I would congratulate myself for. No one survives on dumb luck forever (except maybe Forrest Gump), and one doesn't grow on dumb luck. For a word game, I'd much rather than play it on skills that I can grow on. Luck (in life) only takes you so far.