Crocodylus moreletii

Number of Pages: 3Integrative BiologyGeological Science

Queen\u27s-Move Graphing Revisited

The February 1996 Word Ways introduced the concept of a queen\u27s-move-graphable word: place the different letters of a word on a chessboard (extended beyond 8x8, if needed) so as to allow a chess queen to move horizontally, vertically or diagonally to spell out the word in the question

When There\u27s A Will...

The May 1996 Word Ways described the results of a National Public Radio competition of December 1995 in which listeners were challenged to write grammatical and understandable sentences containing the same word four or more times in succession. The largest number of entries involved the use of the word will: puzzlemeister Will Shortz was featured in many, either writing a will or exhibiting will and determination

Mary\u27s Little Anagram

May and her little lamb were lipogrammed in August 1969, univocalized in August 1986, and subjected to a variety of other logological indignities in November 1988. Here are six more way in which their story can be tortured, taken from my Word Row article in the January 1977 issue of the British magazine Games & Puzzles. See if you can figure out each modus operandi before reading the explanation at the end of the article

One More, Elvis

In the February 1993 Word Ways, Darryl Francis embedded 45 rearrangements of the letters EILSV in various dictionary words and proper names. If one doesn\u27t insist that the letters be adjacent in a word, all 120 rearrangements can be spelled out in words. In the list below, I have restricted myself to boldface words (including inferred forms such as plurals) found in Webster\u27s Second or Third, giving preference whenever possible to solid entries such as pELVIS or convuLSIVE

Queen\u27s-Move Graphing

In chess, the queen is the most versatile piece, moving in any of eight directions; unlike the king, which is constrained to move only one square at a time, she can move in a straight line until another piece is encountered. Translated to logology, this means that any word whose separate letters can be placed on chessboard squares so that it can be spelled out by a king, will also be spelled out by a queen. Furthermore, there will exist some words that can only be spelled out by queen\u27s moves

Can Women Become Priests? : A Catholic Feminist Perspective

Can women become priests? The answer to this question depends on whom you ask. For many Protestants, the answer is both yes and no. The only priest is Jesus Christ and all Christian share in the priesthood. As Luther wrote, we are all priests to one another, but there is no special ministry of priesthood that makes one person distinct from others. There are pastors, people who are called to preach and lead worship, but they are not priests. Luther, of course, did not consider women able to be pastors, but his followers (at least the non-Wisconsin or non-Missouri Synod ones) have thought otherwise. But they are not priests. For an Episcopalian who considers him or herself in union with the American and Anglican communions, the answer is yes, although this issue has been a very divisive one within the denomination. At least three dioceses within the American Episcopal Church do not think this question can be answered affirmatively. Indeed, a number of former Episcopal priests have become Roman Catholic priests, largely because of their opposition to women\u27s ordination. But then the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize the priesthood of the Anglican Communion. I will not address here the issue of the Orthodox priesthood, which deserves a separate discussion. These are just a few of the complicating issues surrounding this question

A Word String Network

Logologists have been aware of word strings -- overlapping lists of words such as sat, ate, tea, ear, are -- since at least the time of the great English puzzle-constructor Henry Ernest Dudeney. However, no one seems to have realized that word strings can be diagrammed in a network, much as has been done for word ladders (see, for example, the May and August 1973 issue of Word Ways, or Chapter 4 of my book Word Recreations, published by Dover in 1979)

A Pangrammatic Limerick

A pangrammatic limerick

An Attempt to Reshape Capitalism’s Image

John Stuart Mill claimed to be a disciple of both Jeremy Bentham and David Ricardo. This was a strange proclamation because each man advocated a competing theory of value; Bentham’s utilitarianism laid the foundation for the utility theory of value and Ricardo developed the labor theory of value. Mill’s goal in attempting to unify these theories of value was to provide a solution for the growing class conflict that plagued capitalism. Class conflict arose as feudalism was phased out and industrial capitalism replaced merchant capitalism as the dominant economic system. The Corn Laws symbolized this competition between classes. Capitalists were against the Corn Laws because the subsequent tariffs would lower their rate of profit. Landowners supported the Corn Laws because they increased the rent on land. Even Karl Marx held spoke out against the Corn Laws on behalf of the working class. Capitalism fostered persistent antagonism between classes as each struggled to gain or maintain power; no class was immune from this contest. Class conflict was therefore ubiquitous in capitalist society and generated widespread scrutiny and debate over capitalism. Jeremy Bentham and David Ricardo took opposing sides in this debate. Bentham was initially supported it but died a reformist. Class conflict was resolvable but not under the current form of capitalism. Ricardo’s labor theory of value promoted the view that class division occurred naturally in a capitalist society. And since capitalism was the best possible economic system, class division was a necessary evil and could not be remedied. Both Ricardo and Bentham acknowledged that class conflict was inherent in capitalism but each treated it differently. In claiming to be a disciple of both men, Mill hoped to show that capitalism could exist alongside social harmony. His goal was to change the nature of capitalism. [excerpt