Today’s Wordle: 4
Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance, utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.
Cool…
? NASA has successfully captured the sound of deep space — and it’s absolutely mind-blowing ? pic.twitter.com/mIjD1Jrp7g
— Astronomy Vibes (@AstronomyVibes) January 5, 2026
And…
Read this BEFORE you talk to Mormon missionaries.https://t.co/PcLVbAf0b8#Catholic #GeneralConference pic.twitter.com/hMwGyHXv2N
— Patrick Madrid ?? (@patrickmadrid) January 4, 2026
Black to move and mate in 4.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Loading ...
Black mates in four (or five):
1. . . . Qa1+
2. Kd2 Bb4+
3. c2c3 Qxb2+
4. Nc2 Bxc3 mate.
If White plays
4. Bc2, then after Bxc3+
5. Kd3 Ne5 mate.
Hooray for obelisks! I’m collecting a list of the ones I’ve interacted with in my lifetime. Don’t miss the Google Maps reviews, where a guy tells us in Portuguese, “not very interesting”, but it still rates four stars!
Bernini’s elephant offers more food for thought. From Hannibal’s Alpine campaign, to the Hindu scribe Ganesha, to Tolkien’s mûmak, what else can stomp around like an elephant? And idioms recede into obscurity, like “tickling the ivories”.
I’ve been privileged to see some elephants in person. Get to confession, but then get to a zoo, if your weather is nice! Personally, I don’t aspire to safaris or otherwise tracking them down in their “natural habitats”. I prefer the urban jungle.
My experience with Mormon missionaries is that it is impossible to have a conversation, because they absolutely avoid dialog, they just go there to get people, and if you raise questions they just go around in circles to avoid answering anything.
I suppose in their reunions or classes it is different.
1. . . . . . . B-b4,
In order to avoid Q-a1#:
2. c2-c3 . . Q-a1+
Forcing:
3. K-d2 . . B×c3+
Since b2×c3 is unavailable due to pin:
4. K-c2 . . Q×b2#
Back when I lived closer to so-called civilization and would actually get occasional Mormon missionaries at my door, I spent many an hour talking to them to see if I could get them to reflect on any aspect of what they were saying and see why it didn’t make sense, specifically the entire “Great Apostasy” position. I don’t know if anything good ever came from it (was a seed planted? God knows), but what I learned was that they’re not allowed to read anything without approval. I tried to point out how consistent the writings of the early Church Fathers were, and how they needed to read these words for themselves, but they told me they would have to ask permission.
So, on the one hand, this is somewhat appalling and cowardly that the Mormon leadership has such little faith in its own creed it won’t allow its own missionaries to study anything outside of the approved and narrow tract. On the other hand, it made me wonder why on earth the Catholic Church is so laissez-faire, both in her leaders and in her parents, to not better protect the growing faith within their own young ones. #MakeTheForbiddenIndexGreatAgain
Black to move and mate in 4
1) … Qa1+
2) Kd2 (forced) Bb4+
3) c3 (forced) Bxc3+
4) b2xc3 (or Kc2) Qxc3# mate
If
4.Kc2 Qxb2# mate
The “Readers Added Context” note regarding sound in space is important! Space is a vacuum. Thus, there is no sound to be heard.
A.S. Haley:
Unless I’m missing something, after
3) c2c3 Qxb2
White has
4) Ke1 and the white king escapes to the king side.
waalaw:
After
1) … Bb4 the white king is not checked and so has many options.
For instance:
2) c2c3 or 2) Nf6+
seem to remove any black mate in 4 possibilities.
When I clicked on the “Sound of deep space” I half expected to hear “Hello my baby, Hello my darlin’.”
[I wonder who will get that! That deserves…]
Sportsfan says: “Hello my baby,…
ROFL!
Good one!
Clearly Sportsfan is attentive to the things Fr. Z shares in his posts.