Slashdot Mirror
Word Up
theodp writes "Depending on your perspective, the National Scrabble Championship is a major sporting event, an unrivalled intellectual competition, or the world's biggest dork-fest. So says Slate's Dan Wachtell, who turned to an anagram-drilling Unix program to gain an edge on the 850+ competitors. While hardly mainstream, competitive Scrabble is getting newfound attention thanks to the publication of Word Freak and release of Word Wars."
Thanks for your cooperation.
Unix Program to play scrabble? That seems like overkill. Plus it would really make the game pointless for other players.
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You know you've reached the top when Slashdot calls your "sporting" event a "dork-fest". There is no higher complement.
Will there be girls and nookie? Ohhh please please please...PLLLEEEASE.
Ok, I'm a techno geek at heart. But this, THIS is just sad. Hell, if you are looking for a place to sacrifice virgins, you couldn't find a better place.
Life is not for the lazy.
I was taught some kid version of checkers, back in the day, and went on a family vacation to the Keewenau Peninsula (Eagle River, MI) where this whitehaired old hotel owner (The Swank Hotel -- his last name was Swank) was the county checkers champion. He schooled me and gave me no breaks. Never underestimate old men with board games, like checkers, chess, dominos or Scrabble, especially where they have months to pass (between tourist seasons) to hone their l33t sk1llz.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Duke- "Quyzbuk"
Marty-"That's not a word"
Duke - "(dials phone) Get Webster on the phone. Noah, how ya doing? It's Duke. How much would it cost to make Quyzbuk a word? (pause) I don't what means, uh, how about a big problem? Great! How about that other word I invented, Dukelicious? No ones using it? What a Duketastrophe."
Bart: Here we go. Kwyjibo. [places his tiles] K-W-Y-J-I-B-O.
Twenty-two points, plus triple-word-score, plus fifty points
for using all my letters. Game's over. I'm outta here. [gets up]
Homer: [grabs Bart with his left hand, holding a banana in his right]
Wait a minute, you little cheater!
You're not going anywhere until you tell me what a kwyjibo is.
Bart: Kwyjibo. Uh... a big, dumb, balding North American ape. With no chin.
Marge: And a short temper.
Homer: I'll show you a big, dumb, balding ape! [leaps for Bart]
Bart: [making his escape] Uh oh. Kwyjibo on the loose!
$cat
cos ESPN don't like it
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Quoth the article:
I responded with GEY for 33 to go ahead 371-353. I have no idea what GEY means, in case you are wondering.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
ever tried playing scrabble of *only* technical words? Very interesting.
SLASHDOT = 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 12points
Now thats one of the lowest scoring words...
Right after the dodgeball championship on ESPN 8
Hmmm, I have 5 mod pts, its time to metamod, and on top of that I have to meta-metamod? When do I get to read slashdot?
Wouldn't a computerized Scrabble player have the potential to become unbeatable pretty easily?
Should we welcome our new, dictionary-using Unix overlords?
Liked ROC, myself, until an architect friend pulled ADZ on me .. the bastard!
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Can we throw in a few corporate rappers too?
Do you remember college? The arts classes you detested? Those classes enrolled humanities majors -- people who studied history, philosophy, theater, English literature -- you know, the people who used language and social skills to learn. Remember all the hotties in there? How eager they were to discuss Kant, feminism, and the impact of the Impressionist movement on French Romantic literature? Remember how insecure those girls made you feel?
Here's a hint: those girls knew how to play Scrabble. And read Lord Chatterley's Lover. Think of it as CounterStrike for people who can carry on a conversation.
(Oh, and Lord Chatterley's Lover is kind of like this weird encrypted ASCII porn. It, like, uses your imagination to generate images! And girls dig it!)
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
I don't have a problem with the game of scrabble, and I can imagine playing it on a rainy afternoon if you're somewhere in the boonies, but what I DO have a problem with the scrabble culture!
First of all, these people set up dates to play scrabble and then they meet up. In other words, they're commited to playing scrabble on, say, Sunday at 3pm, even though it's finally not a rainy weekend and the boyfriend wants to go to the beach and chill out, but no, she has to go play scrabble because she has a scrabble appointment.
This is unhealthy. Like I said, nothing wrong with a game of scrabble on a rainy afternoon but when the weather is nice the last thing you should be doing is sitting on your ass with fucking letter tiles.
Second, it destroys your brain. These people see a bunch of letter barf and see some random word in it. A normal person sees AHIVDLWVDIJBE and these sickos go wow I can spell "INTERCONTINETAL" with that. Quintuple letter score. You're not supposed to think like that. You're supposed to see AHIVDLWVDIJBE and say "you know what FUCK THIS I am going to the beach"
Okay I guess I am a bit bitter because I am dating the international scrabble champ or whateverthefuck and it's cutting into my beach time.
Ecce Europa - Web Design for Business
... looking for ways to practice to beat my mother-in-law ;)
May I suggest a cane?
Eye all ways loose.
/. rieder wif ah spelang probablem.
Shirely eyem knot teh ownly
Elivs