Campaigning for Donald Trump? Pure genius. Double down on your strength. I’m feeling a Trump Palin ticket.
Spoiler alert
If you’re working on solving a Rubik’s cube, I don’t want to give anything away, so you should change the channel right now. If you know how to do it, I don’t want any help either. I’m just stumbling my way through it; trying to figure out the patterns. I could look it up on the internet; find the answer and move one, but I want to know if I can get there on my own. (I don’t think I’m very close.) I don’t mind if it takes a while. Progress?
I don’t know. I got one side entirely done; I figured out the pattern for that. 
The keys for me were to realize that the center of each side is fixed; that will determine what colors go on which sides. There are corner pieces and side pieces. They will never intermingle; they will each solve separately. Is any of this relevant to solving the puzzle in 3D? Maybe, but it gets a lot harder from here. Working on one layer without worrying about the two layers below it, that’s manageable. Solving the middle and bottom layers while not screwing up the top one, that’s a problem I haven’t overcome yet. I’m thinking maybe rather than solve the puzzle layer by layer, I might need to solve all the corner pieces first, then follow with all the side pieces after that. My first forays that direction haven’t worked out so well yet though. Each time I fix a bottom corner, I screw up a top corner. Maybe I need to solve the middle row first, then work out the top or bottom. Or maybe my attempts to find a pattern are totally misdirected. Maybe all that is required is to be able to look several moves ahead; to be able to see what you’re screwing up as you’re solving each piece. I’ll keep putting the cube down, then picking it up from time to time, waiting for inspiration to strike. (..and no, I’m not going to ask Grandson Tony how to do it, then try to understand the answer.) Maybe I can refer back to the directions for the pyramid. “Make the red edge block in the plane, this is very easy, try to understand.”
I don’t know. I got one side entirely done; I figured out the pattern for that. The keys for me were to realize that the center of each side is fixed; that will determine what colors go on which sides. There are corner pieces and side pieces. They will never intermingle; they will each solve separately. Is any of this relevant to solving the puzzle in 3D? Maybe, but it gets a lot harder from here. Working on one layer without worrying about the two layers below it, that’s manageable. Solving the middle and bottom layers while not screwing up the top one, that’s a problem I haven’t overcome yet. I’m thinking maybe rather than solve the puzzle layer by layer, I might need to solve all the corner pieces first, then follow with all the side pieces after that. My first forays that direction haven’t worked out so well yet though. Each time I fix a bottom corner, I screw up a top corner. Maybe I need to solve the middle row first, then work out the top or bottom. Or maybe my attempts to find a pattern are totally misdirected. Maybe all that is required is to be able to look several moves ahead; to be able to see what you’re screwing up as you’re solving each piece. I’ll keep putting the cube down, then picking it up from time to time, waiting for inspiration to strike. (..and no, I’m not going to ask Grandson Tony how to do it, then try to understand the answer.) Maybe I can refer back to the directions for the pyramid. “Make the red edge block in the plane, this is very easy, try to understand.” Sunday’s walk
Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. One of our favorite places.
A small remaining stand of tropical woodlands. Native ebony trees dripping with Spanish moss. Sabal palms. A hint of what it used to look like here. Woodlands, marshlands, and scrub forest. Crisscrossed with trails. The northern limit of the range of many birds. It’s always interesting.
A small remaining stand of tropical woodlands. Native ebony trees dripping with Spanish moss. Sabal palms. A hint of what it used to look like here. Woodlands, marshlands, and scrub forest. Crisscrossed with trails. The northern limit of the range of many birds. It’s always interesting. I want to know how the presidential campaign is going
It’s important for our country. It’s important for our planet, picking a new world leader, so I turn on the news. Someone is either interviewing trump to hear what he wants to say, or they are interviewing someone else to hear what they think about what trump said. Within twenty seconds I have my fill of politics and turn off the news. I tape the debates but can’t stand to watch them. Wouldn’t it be nice if the conversations around presidential politics were carried on at an adult level, and the candidates would only say things that are true? This is not a reference to trump, this is about all the candidates, regardless of party. They could talk about their vision for the future and what they would like to do, rather than trying to outdo each other’s hyperbole about how bad their predecessor is, or knowingly distort how bad all the other candidates are. They wouldn’t claim they are going to do things we all know they can’t do. It’s not like we’re all being misled. We know it’s bullshit, but it’s just part of the process. In a way it’s like every guilty person walking into court and declaring “not guilty” and getting their best possible defense, to see what they can get away with. We know right from the start that guilty people are trying to take advantage of the protection that innocent people need; but knowing that, we still have to sort through it every time. Maybe though, if candidates only told the truth, focused on what they wanted to do, and didn’t promise what they can’t do, then there wouldn’t be so much to talk about anymore. The airways would be empty. It would be a very quiet election season.
A little quality time
…with our devices.
Some milling about on the deck.
And our part of a good trip is over already.
Some milling about on the deck. And our part of a good trip is over already.