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POPSScrabble Lore When the Great Depression left architect Alfred Butts out of work, he scrabbled around for something to do - and came up with a game whose ingenious mix of anagrams, crosswords, chance and skill is still a winner, 60 years on. And yet it nearly didn't see the light of day...
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POPS Mental workout 'boosts the brain' Even the slower-witted among us can improve mental agility with a few daily brain teasers, a study suggests. Now we need to figure out how get them to participate.
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POPSThe Origin of the Crossword Puzzle Crossword Casualties Some folks were driven over the edge by the craze. In 1924, a Chicago woman sued her husband for divorce, claiming "he was so engrossed in solving crosswords that he didn’t have time to work." The judge ordered the man to "limit himself to 3 puzzles a day and devote the rest of his time to domestic duties." In 1925, a New York Telephone Co. employee shot his wife when she wouldn’t help with a crossword puzzle. And in 1926, a Budapest man committed suicide, leaving an explanation in the form of a crossword puzzle. (No one could solve it.) Eventually, the craze died down. It took The New York Times to revive it. Today, The New York Times crossword puzzle is considered the puzzle of choice for hardcore addicts, but that hasn’t always been true. Believe it or not, the Times resisted crosswords for more than two decades.Here’s the story of how the newspaper changed its mind...<<
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POPSLondon transport sacks announcer for spoof messages Voiceover artist Emma Clarke, 36, recorded the announcements in the same smooth tones that have warned millions of passengers to "Mind The Gap" on the London underground system also known as the "Tube" and posted them on her Web site
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POPSStudy: Vision linked to mental decline in seniors Good news for the nearsighted, but not so good for those who are farsighted.* Guess we all should try hard to stay mentally active. Fortunately I find that clipping and writing remarks & comments is mentally stimulating! (for me, anyway ;)) *corrected...thank you, Satchemo
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POPSWhy I Love Private Eye I love Private Eye. This satirical magazine has a long and illustrious history, starting out as a school magazine in the fifties, then being edited by both Richard Ingrams and Peter Cook. Ian Hislop is at the helm now. I particularly like the crossword. Call me a geek, but I like crosswords. And any crossword where the answer could be "the dog's bollocks" is OK by me!
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POPSNew Pages Added to Debraford123's Google Pages The debraford123 google pages have been updated with several online games, the shred feed, a game catalogue for trials and demos,weather, news, spaceand science pages. Music pages will be added in January. There are also links to the various debraford123 pages on the web at neighboring social networks.
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