I'm rather shocked I didn't know this until last night: ETATIST doesn't take an S. Not even in SOWPODS. Not only that, it is the ONLY seven or eight ending in -IST in OWL2 that doesn't take an S. (The Frenchier SOWPODS form ETATISTE# does take an S.) I can see absolutely no reason etatist wouldn't take an S - what else would you call someone who advocates etatism? But dictionary.com also lists etatist that way. Google brings up just a few hits for ETATISTS*, but it's not a common word to begin with. Strange...

Check this out:

Blanks: 9 for me, 3 for opponents
Bingos: 17 for me, 6 for opponents
Spread: +455, or about 76 points to the good per game

What do you think my record was?

( drumroll please )

It was touch and go there for a while, but I've decided to go ahead with the Texas SOWPODS Challenge tournament even with less than 20 players. I certainly had good reasons for the minimum, but I really want the event to happen, and I also feel very strongly about not wanting to let down people who've gotten their hopes up for this. Will it be a challenge, financial and otherwise? Yeah, but it'll also be awesome.

I ganked* this from...how about...tolarjev

1. Are you a vegetarian? Vegan?
No, I eat meat. It's what I'm used to and I like the taste. I aspire to eat less of it, though, and I think vegetarianism is, if not morally obligatory, at least nobler than the alternatives.

2. What's your favorite food?
Lasagne, shrimp gumbo, pad kee mao (spicy noodle dish at nearby awesome Thai place)

3. White bread or whole wheat?
Wheat for regular sandwich bread, but white/Italian/French for subs

4. What's for breakfast?
Depending on what day it is and when I wake up, two bananas plus a flavored bottled water, or an everything bagel with cream cheese, or nothing, or potato-egg-and-cheese breakfast tacos.

5. You're making a Dagwood sandwich. What's in it?
Corned beef or pastrami, thin sliced ham and turkey, swiss and colby jack cheeses, lettuce, tomato, bacon, spicy mustard, on Jewish rye bread, with an ample supply of Goldfish crackers on the side

6. What's on your pizza?
I usually prefer going minimal with pizza: plain cheese is just fine, or cheese and pepperoni. If we must do more toppings, anything is okay except mushrooms (not crazy about olives or onions but will tolerate; mushrooms are one of the very few foods I just about can't work with). Fresh tomatoes and basil or spinach are also excellent additions.

7. Coffee, tea, milk, or soda?
Malted battery acid, I mean Diet Dr. Pepper. I know I should cut it out, thanks.

8. Dark, milk, or white chocolate?
All of the above, but I'll go with the milk chocolate first. Though I'm eating chocolate less and less every year. I used to eat it all the time.

9. Teetotal, beer, wine, or hard liquor?
Good non-generic beer, red wine, occasional hard liquor. Not into totaling tees.

10. Does cilantro taste like citrus, or like soap?
A little soapy, but I can deal with it. Edifying fact o' the day: Keith Smith of cross-tables fame HATES cilantro. I think he might hate Billy Joel, too, but I'm not sure of that. (For the record, I don't hate Billy Joel.)

11. Is chorizo the greatest thing ever or is it totally disgusting?
Neither. It's okay, but doesn't inspire me to salivate; I like other kinds of sausage better.

12. Do you use garlic like a vegetable or like a spice?
A little goes a long way.

13. Onions: raw, cooked, or not at all?
Cooked, if at all.

14. Does broccoli taste sweet or bitter?
More bitter than sweet. Hated it as a kid, but like it now.

15. How do you feel about fish?
I like it and wish I ate more of it.

16. How about sushi?
I like it fine, though I don't get spontaneous orgasms from eating it like some of y'all do. Holding me back is my utter ineptness with chopsticks, though that's probably just lack of practice.

17. Fave ethnic cuisine?
Thai, Indian, Italian...many others

18. What's your favorite fruit?
Cantaloupes, peaches, watermelons

19. Cheese - thumbs up or thumbs down?
Way up.

20. Finally, favorite dessert?
Chocolate ice cream, or cheesecake, or blackberry cobbler...probably some others. I don't eat dessert very often but savor it when I do.

The redoubtable Chris Cree is still finalizing a few details - his formal announcement is coming soon. But for now I can tell y'all this much: The World Players Championship is slated for November 14-16 in Dallas. 3 days, 24 games, should be an excellent international field with prizes to match, I'm sure. You might be wondering how to qualify. I asked Chris what the qualification criteria will be, and his response was "you have to be an Earthling". So I gather it's not like the WSC; anyone who wants to take a shot can play.

Oh yeah, I think I can drive three hours to play in an off-year WSC. ;)

Nothing groundbreaking here but maybe of some interest:

Opponent opens with ROILY at 8H. You have ADEEHM?. What do you play?

(I didn't get this one right.)

On the Yahoo front page I saw the headline: "Group of Barbary apes to be killed after annoying residents". Well, yes, if you're gonna kill 'em all it's probably best to kill the annoying residents first, but what did the apes do?

Your Quit Date is: 3/25/2006 10:45:00 AM

Time Smoke-Free: 730 days, 23 hours, 20 minutes and 20 seconds

Cigarettes NOT smoked: 14619

Lifetime Saved: 3 months, 21 days, 16 hours

Money Saved: $2,558.50

So I go to the Yahoo front page just now, and the news headline reads "Fans freak for wax Miley". My instant thought: "That's got to be an anamonic for something..." All you need is to add "PDQ", "VHF" or "guv" somewhere in there and it's perfect.