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Both Dorothy and the Scarecrow had been greatly interested in the story of the Tin Woodman, and now they knew why he was so anxious to get a new heart.

“All the same,” said the Scarecrow, “I shall ask for brains instead of a heart; for a fool would not know what to do with a heart if he had one.”

“I shall take the heart,” returned the Tin Woodman; “for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.”

– L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Tin Ear
1. an insensitivity to melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic variety in music.

– Dictionary.com

She too was steadfast. That touched the soldier so deeply that he would have cried tin tears, only soldiers never cry.

– Hans Christian Anderson, The Steadfast Tin Soldier

A tin cry is the characteristic sound heard when a bar of tin is bent. Variously described as a “screaming” or “crackling” sound, the effect is caused by the shearing of crystals in the metal. The sound is not particularly loud, despite terms like “crying” and “screaming”.

– Wikipedia

I find it interesting that tin cries when you bend it. Tin, which knows no love or pain, screams. Like maybe it knows it doesn’t have a heart, like someone with a “tin ear” knows they’re missing something, even if they’re not quite sure what.

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” — Romans 8:22 (NIV)

Saturday night, I discovered a new computer game, which I’ve really been enjoying. However, I wouldn’t have even been looking for a game at all if I hadn’t been so worn out.

(Actually, I discovered two games, but one was over quickly. If you’ve got 15 minutes or so and like this web site, you might like this little locked room game that is just cute and artsy and pink and full of animals and . . . well, cute.)

I first started thinking about tin because I’m reading Waking the Dead by John Eldredge, and he refers to the Tin Woodman. Lord willing, I’ll wake up a little more this week. With apologies to Fezzik, I must say I’ve been mostly dead for days.

We have a new (to us) television and entertainment center, courtesy of my ever-generous sister-in-law. Thanks, E! It’s really amazing how much difference a few inches in screen size makes, and while I can’t complain about the prior furniture (also hand-me-downs from the in-laws), this set-up has much better storage and really makes the room look more complete and less “college student” in decor. Considering how long it’s been since I’ve been in college, perhaps it’s time to move away from that decorating style, though I can’t imagine ever really making decor a priority. It’s kind of funny how much I like to create beautiful things but how bad I am at putting them together well and making beautiful places.

I guess I’ll confess that the old TV stand became my nightstand. I just moved my “college student ways” out of public view, that’s all.

In part, I’ve been playing games. Please note that I use Firefox to play most games, so if you use another browser, you might pick up unwanted pop-up windows (and potentially other nastiness like spyware) if you follow these links. I wouldn’t know personally if these links contain such hazards.

Okay, I’ve been playing The Rise of Atlantis, Splash Back, ooPixel, Sushi Go Round, Addiction Solitaire, and Turret Wars.

Please note that if you open all of the games in different tabs to . . . I don’t know, write a blog post or something . . . Firefox will hiccup a little. Anyway, The Rise of Atlantis is pretty; Splash Back is strangely compelling and a little silly; ooPixel didn’t hold my interest for long; Sushi Go Round is one of those strangely Asian things that I usally find, well, STRANGE, but I found this game to be a lot of fun to play; and a long time ago I loved to play Addiction Solitaire but can’t remember why now (after playing for a few days with no wins).

The big discovery, however, and the big time waster, was TURRET WARS. I was unexpectedly completely addicted almost immediately upon exposure. I see turrets when I close my eyes to go to sleep at night. I’ll stop almost any activity and run to my computer if I think of a new strategy to try. I’m not alone, though; it’s become one of the major topics of conversation around here for the last few days.

I suspect my Turret Wars fever is burning itself out now, though. I believe I have reached the upper limits of my war gaming skills after beating 8 scenarios (3 easy, 3 normal, 2 hard). After spending a couple of days on #9, I think I’m about ready to give it up.

And maybe it’s time again to play fewer games and try to be more productive. But if I’m not here, you now know where to find me! (At least online games don’t have calories.)

12/29/07 Update: Two days after Jefferson showed me how it was done, I finally beat the dunes scenario on the hard level. That just leaves the “crazy” level. I should probably just leave those alone.

“This endeavor is well on its way:
From the words that begin with an A
Through the alphabet, we
Will continue to Z,
Writing limericks day after day.”

Here.

Here.

The Hello Experiment (3:09)
Hiccup 101 (about 2:00)

Not a traditional crossword but lots of fun!

Thousands more free online cryptograms at Cryptograms.org.

I have been a fan of paper-based sudoku for a long time, but I’ve always been frustrated with the computer versions because you have to switch back and forth between the number keys and a mouse. I was really pleased to discover jigsawdoku, because it’s exclusively mouse-based and just as much fun as the original.

COLORbox is a color theory game. Simple; addictive.

Muffin Films is a collection of short animated films made by Amy Winfrey for her MFA thesis project at the UCLA Animation Workshop. All films are about muffins, talking muffins, muffins that are good to eat. . . .

That about sums it up. Talking muffins that are good to eat. Enjoy!