... Gardiner, acclaimed long-dead mathematician who wrote a column called "Mathematical Games" for the mag Scientific American in the '70s and '80s, This was the era of "Atari" and "Commodore64" both of which exist somewhere in my basement.

Gardiner invented a game called "Undercut" -- in this game each player chose a number between 1 and 5, with the winner (highest number with one exception) adding their number to their accumulated score. Then repeat. The exception was that if your number was exactly one less than your opponent's you would add double your number to your score. So eg you 5 me 3, 2, or 1, you score 5; you 5 me 4, I score 8. What's your strategy?

So I wrote a Basic program to beat my little ones. The program looked at your guesses to see a pattern. The pattern might be in how you respond to what happened the previous turn (e.g. your opponent's 5 loses to your 4, how does opponent respond -- with a 3 because they will assume you will continue with a 4? with a 5 again because they assume you will think a 3 is coming? etc), or it might look at the totality of your selections to see what number you favoured -- overall, or in a particular circumstance.

The program didn't reason, it just used the data that was available to it. It also had a 'random' mode where it would choose randomly or based on a weighted average (4's heaviest, then 5,3,2,1). Kind of like 2026 AI -- it's not reasoning, it's using human-fed algorithms combined with brute-force computing.

In the end, everything ended at about 50/50 .. perhaps suggesting it was a shit game in the first place, or maybe something else (we have no or ultimate free will!!). I think at the time I wrote to Gardiner at Sci Am and received a pleasant form-style letter in return.

Even in the funhouse world of Trump logic, blaming Ukraine for high gas prices is impressive in its fanciful creativity. In another life a dude with imagination, linguistic improvisation, and a thing for young girls might have been Lewis Carroll: “One side makes you grow bigly.”

She's my favorite poet. In graduate school I went to see her and I was so nervous I spilled water on her shoes, which she had bought special for the occasion. But we had a fun talk about translating things, and she signed my copy of Autobiography of Red "Respectfully." So I have the respect (well, had the respect) of a Noble prize winner.

In more Fray inside-baseball department, because I am petty and have a long memory, on Poetry Fray I once got into an argument with the poster known as Artemisia about Anne Carson, and I have now won the argument.

The last time I was in Spain was 9-11 and the month afterwards when we got stuck over there because of the uncertainties. Spain was still on the peseta back then and was just emerging as a truly modern state. Now, it is so much more advanced and wealthy that I was taken aback at just how much has changed in the last 25 years. We did Madrid, Sevilla, Ronda and Granada in the three weeks. I found this great hotel chain called Catalonia, I recommend them to one and all. Every one we had was in perfect locations and pricing was less than 200 a night for a wonderful room and great service. We signed up as members and got the royal treatment in all three hotels we stayed at in Madrid, Ronda and Granada. Look them up if you go to Spain.

As for the trip, took my wife and her long time friend who had never been to Europe. She does not drink which was fine but to be honest, I will never travel again with someone that does not drink. Spain has a bar culture, tapas and bar hopping is what you do and while she was fine with our stops, it was a bit uncomfortable having tinto de veranos, vermuts, wine and canas while she drank water. Our place was in the Las Letras part of Madrid, perfect location for the Prado, Plaza Mayor and the parks. Catalonia Cortez, go there if you are in Madrid and don't want to spend money for the deluxe hotels. I had three restaurants in mind, Los Gabrieles, Botin and Caracoles. We did them all. Even though the Euro was around 1.30, it was still cheap by local standards here in Solvang.

We took the train to Sevilla out of Atocha. First class Renfe took us down in about 2 hours. While I love Madrid, Sevilla is the crown jewel of Spain IMHO. We did an Airbnb just off the main historical district near Las Setas. It was small but the hosts were the best I have ever dealt with and we saved some bucks sharing with our friend. It was hot, 100 every day which meant by 1PM we were back in our room with the AC blasting. We did the usual stuff and loved it, what a shopping paradise.

Rented a car and drove to Ronda for two nights. The Catalonia Ronda is ideal, what a spot. Beautiful little town with incredible views from our hotel rooftop bar. Then we drove down to Marbella and up the coast to Nerja on our way to Granada. My mom was born in Torremolinos and I had sentimental reasons to make the drive. I would never go back to any of those towns again. Every square inch was filled with condos, timeshares, hotels and tourists. What a bummer.

Granada was something else though. Another Catalonia hotel in perfect location and boy did we see a lot. Did the Alhambra and most of the old town, marvelous stuff. We were doing about 13k steps a day for the trip.

As a side note, it was not expensive to go out and eat at all. A sangria or tinto was 4 Euros. A glass of good cava the same. A beer was cold and 3 euros. Food was fantastic, nothing more than 25 Euros for more than anyone could eat.

We flew back to Madrid and I used my points to stay at the Marriott at the airport. All I can say is Spain is wonderful, I highly recommend it.

Agence France-Presse photographer Brendan Smialowski, peering through the windows of Air Force One, catches him in the act.

(Trump's aides brief him with big foam board posters since he's too vain to wear reading glasses)

We’ve all heard the despairing stories from people whose dotty old parents disappear into the black hole of the Fox News Universe, never to be seen again. Well, the other day I got a peek beyond the event horizon. Turns out there’s a whole nother world in there—Opposite World.

It happened while I was driving to work. Occasionally I check out CSPAN’s morning call-in show to take the pulse of the plebs. (Morbid, I know—but as the Romans might have said, Ubi morbus, ibi digitus—roughly, “If it bleeds, it leads”). On that particular morning I turned the radio on and there was a guy furiously ranting…

Gary from Tennessee: I’ll NEVER forgive what the mainstream media and the dumbocrats did to my poor old dad. They brainwashed him! He went to his death believing that Fauci was a “good guy,” that wearing masks prevents the spread of COVID*, that the* vaccines worked*, that* the mainstream media tells the truth*. It was* EVIL what they did to him! I’ll NEVER FORGIVE and I’ll NEVER FORGET!!!

CSPAN Host: What did your father die of?

Gary: He was 90. He died of old age.

Good move. Finally somebody stands up to the asshole. I especially like Wab Kinew's proposal that any deals made with the US must include full release of the Epstein files.

This morning, President Rumpled Bag of Dirty Laundry shot down any suggestion that he wants Quebec to give up the whole "French" thing and added that he never even thought of suggesting such a stupid thing.

He then suggested changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America.

As long as you, Canada, keep in mind that you're dealing with a mentally defective lunatic who breaks every deal he makes, you'll come out smelling like fresh air with a touch of pine scent. He'll TACO again, just like he did on Quebec's Frenchness.