The Preliminaries

That was one of the first - if not the first - Teasers for the Totally Official aue Summer Doldrums Competition (TOASDC) for the year 2000. As it turned out, the Teaser was very similar to some of the actual questions which made up the Competition - it was challenging enough to last a couple of days before a winning answer appeared, and in the meantime, the thread wandered off in some very unusual directions.

The Teasers were not part of the actual contest, but were posted to get you in the mood for the days to come. To add a little twist to the lead-up, some other threads were launched while the Teasers were appearing. These other threads were strange - questions about titles and such... questions in an Alice in Wonderland mode that left people scratching their heads.

But soon enough (and with some occasional broad hints from TOASDC Panel members), aue posters began to get the drift: these threads contained clues to certain URLs, and the URLs, when reached, provided further puzzles - the five "Toughies."

The build-up to the Competition, by the way, was not all clues and questions and answers. We also had a side issue pop up - a search for a Totally Official Motto for the Competition. We got one (!) and have posted it on this site. (The search itself branched off into a voting opportunity for an official aue motto. This was handled - admirably - by Bob Cunningham. Alas, not enough people wanted an aue motto, and so the proposal lies waiting for another day.)

By the time the Totally Official aue Summer Doldrums Competition fired its opening shot, aue'ers were ready for anything, and proved, once again, their superiority as a newsgroup. What a great bunch!

We hope the 2001 version of the TOASDC will prove to be just as much fun and just as challenging as this year's. And if anyone is interested in becoming part of the Panel, be sure to email Garry Vass. You might get lucky enough to handle the Teasers!

And now, for those who didn't see this May 27th posting, here is the KEY to the above Teaser.

A lovely white flower = Myrtle
Moon modest flower = Daisy
Proverbial dozen = Baker

Myrtle Wilson, Daisy Buchannan, Jordan Baker

Myrtle Wilson was run over and killed by Daisy Buchannan driving Gatsby's yellow car on Long (great length) Island (no man is one). Jordan Baker was the third main female character. The novel is The Great Gatsby. Therefore the 'distant cousin' is the narrator, Nick Carroway, Daisy's second cousin.

Gwen was the winner for this Teaser, but Donna, Truly, and Orne were very close.