Instead of doing Wordle online once a day, I downloaded a free app called Word Guess and have now done the challenge 5000 times. I use it as relaxation time — not a mental challenge.
I use the same strategy every time:
All the vowels — but not “Y”. (I consider going WINGY if it seems a Y might be needed.)
I usually get a good idea of the word at that point. And next guess a word
If not, I go FLOCK or FILCH or FLUKE or FLUNK or some variation.
I finally got around to trying one of the John Connolly novels.
Best known for his series of novels starring private detective Charlie Parker.
The Wolf in Winter (2014) is 13th in the series.
Quite good.
It reminded me a bit of a Stephen King plot.
The community of Prosperous, Maine has always thrived when others have suffered. Its inhabitants are wealthy, its children’s future secure. It shuns outsiders. It guards its own. And at the heart of Prosperous lies the ruins of an ancient church, transported stone by stone from England centuries earlier by the founders of the town . . .
But the death of a homeless man and the disappearance of his daughter draw the haunted, lethal private investigator Charlie Parker to Prosperous. …
johnconnollybooks.com
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Great tune. Video of the Year at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
Beyoncé as her alter ego Sasha Fierce holds her own with backup dancers, Ebony Williams and Ashley Everett.
Also … shut-up Kanye. 😀
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The Fugitive (2015)
The Scandal (2016)
The Accomplice (2019)
I enjoyed the first 4 books much more than the final three. Greatly amused by a 13-year-old boy who considers himself a Kid Lawyer.
5th in the series is The Fugitive. And it’s pretty good, actually.
On a Washington D.C school trip Theo spots Pete Duffy who had skipped town after his trial for murder ended in mistrial.
The Scandal was a dull plot concerning teachers manipulating exam scores to raise average grades for their school. Some kind of argument against standardized testing.
Last is The Accomplice. Didn’t really work for me.
This over-the-top video by Bashir Abu Shakra won the 2022 Skypixel Drone Grand Prize. It features some stunning footage from the Alps, Brazil, and Mongolia.
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The Skin Collector (2014) is 11th in the series. And very good, as always.
A new type of serial killer is stalking the streets of New York …
… The Skin Collector: a tattooist with a chamber of torture hidden deep underground. But instead of using ink to create each masterpiece, the artist uses a lethal poison which will render targets dead before they can even entertain the prospect of escape . . .
Drafted in to investigate, NYPD detective Lincoln Rhyme and his associate Amelia Sachs have little to go on but a series of cryptic messages left etched into the skin of the deceased. …
jefferydeaver.com
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I clicked through this 50 minute video and found it very nostalgic.
A snippet of the most popular songs from each month January 1980 to July 2022.
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Point Blanc is the second book in the Alex Rider series, written by British author Anthony Horowitz. The book was released in the United Kingdom on September 3, 2001 …
Weirdly, a teen is recruited by MI6 to infiltrate the Point Blanc Academy in the French Alps.
It’s something like a teen 007 saving the world through an incredible series of unlikely events.
It didn’t work for me.
I liked more the TV adaptation called Alex Rider. BUT didn’t get through all of season 1.
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Love this tune.
“What Have They Done to My Song Ma” (1970) is a song written and performed by Melanie Safka.
Miley Cyrus created a new Backyard Sessions series and invited special musical guests to perform with her to make these music video collaborations.
The Happy Hippie Foundation is a nonprofit organization that rallies young people to fight injustice facing homeless youth, LGBT youth, and other vulnerable populations.
Miley invited Melanie in 2015 for a duet on her classic.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I tried a second book in the very popular Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths.
Well written. But not really my cup of tea.
Ruth is a forensic archaeologist who assists the police from time to time with investigations.
In this book she is the harried mother of a toddler, asked to investigate an archeological study that had been unearthed by a College friend. Close to Blackpool, England.
It appears he had been murdered, perhaps due to the nature of the dig.
The plot is interesting. But Ruth’s complaints and worries eventually began to wear on me.
I wanted the book to end.
Rick McCharles 