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They've got another five hundred and fifty to go, this could be quite boring.
Spam starting like this is like finding a couple of ants in the kitchen - you know there's going to be more along shortly.

[Raak] Please could you remind me of your email address (obfusc. as necessary). I've largely rewritten my, er, mathematical thing for the Summer of Math Exposition, and I think the new version is significantly more convincing. Even though you never said you'd seen anything wrong with the old one... My offline email database is currently extra-offline thanks to a hardware failure.

[SM]
My first is in Richard, and so're the next six
An at sign; the next begins kerning, and kicks
The next starts elopement, and is most of epee
Then the middle of and, and the start of "no way!"
That letter once more, and then half of an aa
And a "way" to complete it; if you're with me thus far
A dot and an org and a dot and an uk
And that is the whole of the handle — good luck!

Bonus clue: I'm probably distantly related to these people

I tried asking ChatGPT 4o to decode that, and it couldn't quite manage it.

I’d have got it wrong; I assumed way = rd!

Lovely. That should be the standard way to obscure email addresses.

A friend of mine is a Greenaway which is also quite a rare name. Slightly etymologically connected, if not genealogically.

So how's everyone doing?
I've got bloomin' loads to do at work. Haven't managed to look in here for a while.

Well I'm okay, apart from a week's pretty horrible toothache. My work is kinda chill - I feel a bit underemployed at times. But it's partly because I'm doing stuff that generates work for others, and then I have to wait for them to do it before I can do my next bit. I definitely get more done when I'm at the end of a chain like that than in the middle. Out of work, I want to enter Grant Sanderson's Summer of Math Exposition competition this year, and I've co-opted Raak as maths consultant. Deadline for that is mid-late August so I've still got weeks to go. I think/hope the work is in the last 10% (the part that takes 90% of the time) but... we'll see.

[SM] Did you get my answer suggesting that the Collatz jelly has fallen off the wall again? :) I just noticed I sent it to the zen[randomnumbers] address instead of your readable email.

[Raak] I did receive it - the darn webmail form constantly auto-refills the zenxxxxx address every time I tweak the email (such as by adding an attachment), and it's easy to fail to catch it. My short answer to the jelly question is that I don't think it matters because even when the numbers rise, their 'rail number' still ticks down inexorably. Showing that numbers can rise as high as they like and yet it still doesn't help them escape is a key thing I'm trying to make clear. But you exposed an area where I'm not saying what I really wanted to - so I'll be fixing that and sending you a reply, probably at the weekend. I was also sidetracked into wondering whether numbers in the sequence have a provable 'high water mark'. If you could show that no number n can ever rise above, say, 2^n, that could be another clincher. 2^n ought to give sufficient headroom, right?

[nominative etymology] There's a place called Kenovay on the island of Tiree, which looks like a phonetic rendering of its Gaelic name Ceann a’ Bhàigh, which means "head of the bay", or Bayhead ("the parst of a bay most distant from the larger body of water with which it is confluent"). There are a couple more Ceann a’ Bhàighs and Bayheads in the Hebrides. So that could be the origin of the name.

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[1] Welcome back!

I don't seem to be able to post in the AVMA game. Is this working?

How odd...

[CdM] I was just able to post there (then "whoopsed" it away, which sounds a bit toilety) - using Safari on latest MacOS in case that helps.

[blame] Turned out the issue was that ā, entered directly from the keyboard, apparently upsets mc5 to the point where it can’t even. It works over at Dan’s place.

Does anyone know if ISIHAC ever played Just A Minim with Aretha's "Respect"? - I found myself giggling a little too much imagining the "sock it to me" and "just a little bit" parts in that game. For that matter, and plummeting to the opposite end of the musical quality spectrum, Gina G's "Ooh ah, just a little bit" might have been rich territory too.

I dunno, but in the movie Rat Race Rowan Atkinson sings it to a different tune playing on the radio.

Been awhile since I've been here. Things are still not great for me. I'm having to save up to afford a consultation with a lawyer. My cousins in California have it arranged so I get paid a monthly amount so I can pay my bills. I'm looking for a work from home job, but it's also difficult because ALL my nerves are healing (long story) and they make me feel AWFUL and make it difficult to do things.

The lawyer consultation is needed because the contractor fraud hotline that is supposed to take things seriously didn't take things seriously at all. They let the contractor give a list of five things that were done and didn't pursue the case. So, here I am, sitting in a house with an air conditioner that doesn't work properly and burning up so much during this very hot August. And constantly hearing some critter in my walls. Knowing that what was done was probably only worth up to $100,000 and that there are tons of used items (should have never happened) in my house.

Sorry to hear of the continued troubles, but welcome back - hope some silly word games here can be a useful distraction.

I echo blamelewis' sentiments. Don't forget you have friends here even if we are a bit mad (in the British sense).

Not long ago I put a few hundred dollars aside to help someone whose roof needed repairs. They didn't need it in the end, so I've got no probs redirecting that cash

Ah right, just checking a few things...

(rab) Yma o hyd, ti'n gwbod

[Simons Mith] I'd appreciate the help, but being I'm in the US, I don't know if you'd be able to help me out.

The previous was just a GoFundme. I paid, then it was cancelled, then I got a refund. An electronic transfer probably is easiest. Or I could just post a cheque, but it would be in pounds.

I don't actually know how big the bite GoFundMe takes compared to just a bank, but I presume they're similar.

[Simons Mith] I've never done pounds to USD. I have all the payment methods we use in the states - CashApp, Venmo, and Paypal. I don't know if they do conversions. Of course, then there's my bank account . . .

I don't know about a check in pounds and the conversion.

(KS) Pounds are big. One pound is currently about 1.31 US dollars.

[Simons Mith] I tried joining Revolut, but they don't have it set up yet, or again, or something, for people in the US to be able to receive funds.

[Simons Mith] I found this: https://wise.com/us/send-money/send-money-to-the-usa-from-the-uk I'd be glad to give you my information in private somehow. I have Facebook Messenger and Instagram and TikTok where I can send private messages. I'm not sure if I have anything else.

zen*co*uk

simon_smith followed by a hippopotamus symbol

I tried using an actual hippopotamus emoji but it seems rab.org frowns on their use.

Wise is, afaik, a reputable and reliable source for transferring funds (though I haven't used it). I have used OFX, which I have found to be straightforward and reliable.

I signed up for OFX, so now I have an account there. I hadn't know of OFX or found it when I was searching.

I got a text saying that they needed me to call to finish setting up my account. So, been waiting for over 10 minutes for them to answer the phone to get me connected with one of the OFX . . . and as I'm typing, they answer. But, I was told that I don't need the account to RECEIVE money, just need to give my bank details to the sender.

KS - did the latest hurricane Francine cause you any problems?

[Bis] Thankfully, Francine didn't hit where I live. They thought there would be storms, but all that happened was a bit of rain where I am.

I contacted a contractor . . . on September 19th and they came out and I sent them the insurance estimate, but I've not gotten an estimate back for what repairs would cost. It sucks knowing that the contractor I had was constantly lying to me and purposefully taking advantage of me, KNOWING my disabilities and my troubles. She barely finished ANYTHING. Nothing is 100% right in my house.

Hopefully a contractor is coming in about an hour.

In the mean time, I'm watching this guy on TikTok and I like this video. English breaks French with words that seem like they should rhyme.

“I think you’ll find it’s fewer miserables.”

[CdM] .. and fandom of the opera. A game idea perhaps?

I like this idea

So, that means it's should be Buttbuttins, right?

Hahah, you said butt!

[Simons Mith] Haha! Butt, butt, BUTT of course.

I have Cash Giraffe on my phone, which gets me a few points for playing games and then converts them into rewards. I found out that it pays in Euros, but that Paypal converts foreign currency to USD!

Happy holidays to those who have 'em, and safety and warmth to those having tricky times. I delight at the Morningverse, still a corner of the internet unspoiled and fun.

Merry Christmas everyone!

It's the 6th already so it looks like we have our feet firmly into 2025 and there's no going back. Good to see you all still here.

We may be all here but are we all there?

[pen] Don't we get 28 days to reconsider? Don't think I want the old year back anyway, but Statues have rights... or something...