I have argued in multiple posts that I think that the Spelling Bee contest is not a good use of young people’s intellect. The skills it teaches are not commensurable with the time, energy, and resources that the children’s families put into it. The format of the contest is not designed to even produce the best spellers, because luck plays a significant role in determining the final outcome. The contest is designed to produce TV drama (and ratings) by putting these young children under enormous pressure.

So I can’t say that I was sorry to hear that this year’s contest, like so many other events, has been cancelled. I do feel sorry for all those young people who had been devoting so much time to preparing for it because those who think that they can be winners pretty much give up everything else for years on end in pursuit of that goal. Perhaps being released from the pressure to memorize the spelling of obscure words will allow them to explore other areas of creativity and discover new pleasures in life. I hope so.

Will the Spelling Bee recover after social distancing ends and make a come back? Sadly, it seems likely because there is money in it.

I use the word ‘irony’ on occasion. It is a problematic word in that it is often used in a wide variety of ways, some of which do not match its definition in the Oxford English Dictionary that describes it as “cruelly, humorously, or strangely at odds with assumptions or expectations.” Roger Kreuz reports on the work of psychologist Joan Lucariello who classified 28 different usages of the word and grouped them under seven general headings.
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On reading the title of this post, readers would have immediately been able to provide the answer and may have wondered why I was even asking it.

But as I was writing my impressions of Lucia di Lammermoor and the sextet that is sung there, it struck me that while I knew the names for groups of singers of almost all sizes from two to ten (duet (two), quartet (four), quintet (five), sextet (six), septet (seven), octet (eight), nonet (nine), and dectet (ten)), I did not know the term for three singers. So I looked it up and (duh!) it is ‘trio’, a common word that I was very familiar with. After all, the Kingston Trio was a very popular group in my youth.
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Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium has been closed to the public so they decided to give Wellington the penguin and a couple of his buddies the run of the place. I think they enjoyed being on the other side of the viewing experience.

Kratu is a dog that has competed multiple times in the agility category at the annual Crufts Dog show held in the UK, where dogs have to maneuver over various hurdles, somewhat like show jumping with horses. Each year he has pleased the crowd with his antics. This year was to be his last year as he is retiring from competitive action and he clearly seems to have decided to really give them a show to remember.

“To hell with competing, I am just going to have fun” seems like a good attitude not just for dogs but for humans as well.

Nice going Kratu!

I am spending some time with my grandsons and the older three-year old has a wooden toy train set just like the one in the video below. I had no idea that it could be set up to do stunts like the ones shown.

I like puzzles that are simple to state and understand. This one is not too difficult.

“There are three boxes. One contains apples. One contains oranges. One contains both apples and oranges.

However, the boxes are mislabeled. One is labeled apples, but contains either oranges or the mix. One is labeled oranges, and contains apples or the mix. And the box labeled Both contains apples or oranges, but not both.

Removing only one piece of fruit from one box, how can you correctly identify all three boxes?”

In a lucky series of events, the drivers of two different cars managed to quickly connect the dots between two different events to reunite a lost dog with its caregiver. Three nice people, one dog, a happy ending. What could be better?

(Xeni Jardin)