Since I am effectively barred from donating to Goodwill, I immediately thought of The Invitational. Have a bunch of dumpster-worthy items that would make ideal prizes. How do I get them to your prize distribution center ?
Glad to hear that you might have some prizeworthy loot! Best is to send me a photo, so I can decide whether it'd work. Also: Is it easy and relatively cheap to mail? If so, unless it can be sent out in a flat envelope, I'd ask you to hold on to it and you can send it right to the winner, instead of having it go through the mails twice. Feel free to email me at myerspat at g mail.
The entry form indicates that headline suggestions for the contest results and honorable mentions are compulsory. I don't have clever ideas for those every week, I'm afraid!
So this Gene Pool/Invitational business is really a front for you and Gene to flog gewgaws and tchotchkes. Thought as much. What next ? Pandemic pet rocks ? And btw --- I am also a bit disconcerted that you guys borrowed the fundraising "Pay to lose" page from the former guy's playbook.
Thanks, David! This was helpful. It was useful to learn the older ones had the numbers painted with radium paint. I was about to order one Friday. I'll check first that it's from after they quit using radioactive paint.
My parents have the same clock, or a very similar one. The glass rotates, which turns one of the hands (probably the minute hand). The hour hand is connected by gears to the minute hand and also to a weight, hanging down from the center of the face. The weight forces the gears to turn when the minute hand moves. If you pick up the clock and tilt it, the hour hand will move.
Are the email confirmations supposed to be auto generated on submission of entries or will they be batch/bulk mailed at various points during the contest period ? FYI --- have not received any for entries today (01-06-2023). Also, btw --- checked the Google Forms site for the submission forms that the entry form say are saved for 30 days. So far no forms (again, submitted 01-06).
UPDATE The Google Forms emails with the Invite entries/related info did show up --- but in my spam folder. If you also thought they were somehow missing check your spam receptacle. Cheers.
Oh, good, glad they went out, because it's set to send people copies of their entries. But I can't find a place to write or edit an auto-reply.
This is only the second time I'm using Google Forms to collect entries; for several years until December, I was using The Post's own Submission Platform . But coincidentally they did away with the whole platform and opted for Google Forms. But just as coincidentally, the first and second contests that used Google Forms were canceled when the Invitational was.
For the first one, "Ask Backwards," I informally posted a shortlist on my online column The Style Conversational and asked readers to choose their favorites. But because I never seriously judged the contest, I didn't work with the forms beyond gathering the entries and compiling them into a list.
The second of the two contests was the "sister cities," whose results ran here. Until Gene gave me the sudden opportunity to pop up here, I thought that contest was totally dead.
So I'm not thoroughly familiar with what Google Forms will and won't do. For this one, I copied out the last one I used at the Post (whose IT folks are no longer available to me).
If your auto-reply seems not to make sense for this contest, let me know.
As for keeping it out of your spam filter, I can only advise you to label it "not spam," move it back to your inbox, reply to it, whatever it takes for your computer to understand that you want to be seeing it.
Pat --- All is well. Seems to be working. Just sent in another 22 separate entries. Although Google Forms must be using some kind of A.I. system. Ten of the forms came back and had "This is just garbage. You should be ashamed of yourself," in bold red lettering. 😉
Strikes me that in addition to a socko new title to replace "Pat and Gene's Really Swell Invitational" (although that's not terrible...), there probably should be some work done on the hoary lexicon. Although, IMHO, somehow "get pixels" doesn't have the same ring as "get ink." "Loser," on the other hand, does seem to ring true for an online platform. And, I don't know --- maybe "Influencer," "Head Muckety-Muck," or "Lord High Executioner" instead of those Romanov-tinged sobriquets. I mean, that whole business didn't end well. No sense in tempting fate.
Rod Serling: Meet Kevin McCarthy, opportunist. A has-been or maybe, a never-was. A hollow husk of man who desperately wants to say "I do," but may find himself left at the altar again --- here in the Twilight Zone.
I expect A LOT of StyleInvite-obits. I expect to run two or three of them, especially if they're not all "The Washington Post is a piece of shit and its editors are going to hell." This Phoenix Invitational isn't out to wreak revenge on The Washington Post. The Post was VERY good to me -- and to the Invite -- for a really long time.
On this auspicious day, I thought it appropriate to reveal that the WaPo may have Myers remorse and is considering making token amends by dropping legal action to recover the estimated $2.15 in petty cash allegedly misappropriated to purchase prizes for The Style Invitational over the past four years. Word is that the legal Dobermans at the paper have also agreed in principle to allow Pat and Gene to retrieve priceless mementoes left behind in the rush to show them the exit. These are said to include such heirlooms as a tattered green eyeshade inscribed, "Best Copy Editor (So Far)," a well-used rubber stamp with "You cannot be serious!" and three working prototypes of "Weingarten's Original Fart in a Can (Accept No Substitutes)."
Well, McCarthy, vile though he is, is not the problem here. The far-right Nazis are trying to extort promises from him. What I'd love to see is for the Democrats to nominate some Republican they can live with, like Liz Cheney, and for a few sane Repubs to go along. It wouldn't take many.... and wouldn't the far right scream.....
Since I am effectively barred from donating to Goodwill, I immediately thought of The Invitational. Have a bunch of dumpster-worthy items that would make ideal prizes. How do I get them to your prize distribution center ?
Glad to hear that you might have some prizeworthy loot! Best is to send me a photo, so I can decide whether it'd work. Also: Is it easy and relatively cheap to mail? If so, unless it can be sent out in a flat envelope, I'd ask you to hold on to it and you can send it right to the winner, instead of having it go through the mails twice. Feel free to email me at myerspat at g mail.
The entry form indicates that headline suggestions for the contest results and honorable mentions are compulsory. I don't have clever ideas for those every week, I'm afraid!
Who is Gene Pooler? Lol
My guess would be someone whose Depend has sprung a leak.
Oof but funny lol
I have been informed that at least one Gene Pooler was compelled to go out and buy one of these clocks on eBay.
So this Gene Pool/Invitational business is really a front for you and Gene to flog gewgaws and tchotchkes. Thought as much. What next ? Pandemic pet rocks ? And btw --- I am also a bit disconcerted that you guys borrowed the fundraising "Pay to lose" page from the former guy's playbook.
Wait for the Empress and Czar Chia Pets!
The Empress Chia Pet would have to be sprouting bamboo.
http://www.roger-russell.com/jeffers/jefhour.htm
Thanks, David! This was helpful. It was useful to learn the older ones had the numbers painted with radium paint. I was about to order one Friday. I'll check first that it's from after they quit using radioactive paint.
My parents had this clock! I remember it! I'm so sorry that it didn't end up with me!
My parents have the same clock, or a very similar one. The glass rotates, which turns one of the hands (probably the minute hand). The hour hand is connected by gears to the minute hand and also to a weight, hanging down from the center of the face. The weight forces the gears to turn when the minute hand moves. If you pick up the clock and tilt it, the hour hand will move.
Are the email confirmations supposed to be auto generated on submission of entries or will they be batch/bulk mailed at various points during the contest period ? FYI --- have not received any for entries today (01-06-2023). Also, btw --- checked the Google Forms site for the submission forms that the entry form say are saved for 30 days. So far no forms (again, submitted 01-06).
UPDATE The Google Forms emails with the Invite entries/related info did show up --- but in my spam folder. If you also thought they were somehow missing check your spam receptacle. Cheers.
Oh, good, glad they went out, because it's set to send people copies of their entries. But I can't find a place to write or edit an auto-reply.
This is only the second time I'm using Google Forms to collect entries; for several years until December, I was using The Post's own Submission Platform . But coincidentally they did away with the whole platform and opted for Google Forms. But just as coincidentally, the first and second contests that used Google Forms were canceled when the Invitational was.
For the first one, "Ask Backwards," I informally posted a shortlist on my online column The Style Conversational and asked readers to choose their favorites. But because I never seriously judged the contest, I didn't work with the forms beyond gathering the entries and compiling them into a list.
The second of the two contests was the "sister cities," whose results ran here. Until Gene gave me the sudden opportunity to pop up here, I thought that contest was totally dead.
So I'm not thoroughly familiar with what Google Forms will and won't do. For this one, I copied out the last one I used at the Post (whose IT folks are no longer available to me).
If your auto-reply seems not to make sense for this contest, let me know.
As for keeping it out of your spam filter, I can only advise you to label it "not spam," move it back to your inbox, reply to it, whatever it takes for your computer to understand that you want to be seeing it.
You should have gotten it right away. Let me check on that. I probably didn't have something set correctly.
Pat --- All is well. Seems to be working. Just sent in another 22 separate entries. Although Google Forms must be using some kind of A.I. system. Ten of the forms came back and had "This is just garbage. You should be ashamed of yourself," in bold red lettering. 😉
Does the Style Invitational count as an ex-being?
Indeed. The entry form specifies that it be about "someone (or something?) who died in 2022.
Strikes me that in addition to a socko new title to replace "Pat and Gene's Really Swell Invitational" (although that's not terrible...), there probably should be some work done on the hoary lexicon. Although, IMHO, somehow "get pixels" doesn't have the same ring as "get ink." "Loser," on the other hand, does seem to ring true for an online platform. And, I don't know --- maybe "Influencer," "Head Muckety-Muck," or "Lord High Executioner" instead of those Romanov-tinged sobriquets. I mean, that whole business didn't end well. No sense in tempting fate.
Clearly the clock runs on mustard.
Rod Serling: Meet Kevin McCarthy, opportunist. A has-been or maybe, a never-was. A hollow husk of man who desperately wants to say "I do," but may find himself left at the altar again --- here in the Twilight Zone.
McCarthy’s Lament
(Sung to the tune, “I’m Just a Bill”)
I gotta’ chill
Yes, I just gotta’ chill
We’re just sitting’ here on Capitol Hill
Well, it’s a long, long journey
To the capital city
It’s a long, long wait
And it ain’t lookin’ pretty
But I hope to get the chair someday
At least I hope and pray that I will
But today I might die on this Hill
Two questions:
1) How many poetic obituaries do you think you'll get about the death of the Style Invitational?
2) Will you print *only* poetic obituaries about the death of the Style Invitational?
I expect A LOT of StyleInvite-obits. I expect to run two or three of them, especially if they're not all "The Washington Post is a piece of shit and its editors are going to hell." This Phoenix Invitational isn't out to wreak revenge on The Washington Post. The Post was VERY good to me -- and to the Invite -- for a really long time.
On this auspicious day, I thought it appropriate to reveal that the WaPo may have Myers remorse and is considering making token amends by dropping legal action to recover the estimated $2.15 in petty cash allegedly misappropriated to purchase prizes for The Style Invitational over the past four years. Word is that the legal Dobermans at the paper have also agreed in principle to allow Pat and Gene to retrieve priceless mementoes left behind in the rush to show them the exit. These are said to include such heirlooms as a tattered green eyeshade inscribed, "Best Copy Editor (So Far)," a well-used rubber stamp with "You cannot be serious!" and three working prototypes of "Weingarten's Original Fart in a Can (Accept No Substitutes)."
Excellent clock. Who cares if it's only correct twice a day. Isn't time relative?
Well, McCarthy, vile though he is, is not the problem here. The far-right Nazis are trying to extort promises from him. What I'd love to see is for the Democrats to nominate some Republican they can live with, like Liz Cheney, and for a few sane Repubs to go along. It wouldn't take many.... and wouldn't the far right scream.....
Maybe this can be a template. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/01/04/moderate-republican-jason-stephens-snatches-ohio-house-speaker-position-in-surprise-upset/