The wee voices in Buttons’s head have described (and even more scary, have answered) a Weekly Quiz to bedevil the mind. See the Quiz Page at 7 pm tomorrow, Friday, to see if you are up to the Canonical challenge. We prepare for the upcoming Second Annual John H Watson World Invitational Treasure Hunt to be contested in August.
New Page: Chips’s Tid Bits
We are pleased to announce the addition of a new page to the Society’s website: Chips’s Tid Bits. Here, we will continue to feature the limericks, poems, aphorisms, and important miscellanea brought for our enjoyment and edification by our most active contributor, Ron Lies, JHWS “Chips,” of Denver, Colorado.
He is the Transcriber of Dr Watson’s Neglected Patients and has served as past Staff Surgeon, past Chief Surgeon and member since 1972. He belongs to The Sherlock Holmes Society of India; is a member of The Sydney Passengers, The Sherlock Homes Society of Australia; and is a co-founder of The Sons of Shaw, a society honouring the memory of John Bennett Shaw. His overwhelming interest in Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson began in seventh grade when he read “The Speckled Band.” He has always identified with Dr John Watson and now feels he is where he belongs with The John H Watson Society. And we agree.
Please visit the new page often, as “Chips” has weekly additions and often sends tid bits more frequently. Thank you, “Chips,” for making us all a great deal richer.
Update on Journal Mailing
Buttons owes the membership an update on the delayed April issue of The Wastsonian.
For reasons that need not detain us here, the April journal, which we had targeted to mail on May 6th was further delayed and will now mail May 16th. It will be mailed First Class postage and receipt in your mail boxes should begin by May 20th; international receipts should begin by May 27th.
The journal is 172 pages (and a big, wonderful issue) and we have shifted to a new mailing system. The first journal was mailed from our former printer in a bubble bag and the postage and handling charged was almost as much as the cost of the journal itself. We have changed to a new printer and mailing system which is: Buttons will drive 100 miles to Tampa, Florida to our new printer and pick up the journals. He will then drive back home to Ocala, put them in less costly poly-wrap bags, address them with labels, and take them to the post office and mail them using stamps. Yes, it is a bit “old school” but it saves the Society a lot of money.
The upshot: With a new printer now, a new mailing routine, and adjustments to the editing, software system and mailing routine, the next journal (October) will likely be on time. As always, the lion’s share of the creative work belongs to our great authors and contributors and our talented Editor, Dr Joanne Yates, whose design and layout make our journal one of the best in all of the Sherlockian–and definitely in the Watsonian–worlds.
Sorry for the delays on this issue. . . always learning and adjusting here . . . “We can but try . . . “
April Journal Coming Soon
We had hoped to mail the April issue of The Watsonian by the 20th of April, but it will take a while longer than expected. This is a LARGE issue, bigger than the inaugural edition and has taken longer to produce. Plus, to be more efficient and save on postage and handling charges by the printer, Buttons will do the mailings from Florida which requires shipping all copies in bulk from the printer.To be safe, we are targeting a mail date of May 6th, which should see domestic arrivals beginning on May 15 and international arrivals by the end of May. So, overall we will be about two weeks longer than anticipated.
Thank you for your kind understanding and patience. The upside is that we can say YOU WILL ENJOY THIS ISSUE! Dr Joanne Yates, our Editor and Publisher, has done a wonderful job of design, coaching, and creating a fine journal with many fascinating articles, papers, and observations by a large cast of our creative and talented members.
Society’s Website is Secure from “Heartbleed”
You have read of the massive security problem on most Internet sites called “Heartbleed.”
The Society tested its website this morning for this security problem and we are OKAY. Our host had taken steps to block this bug or the server was never vulnerable. The long and short: We are sensitive to Internet security and take steps to assure our website is secure.
Second Annual John H Watson Society and World Invitational Treasure Hunt To Be Held in August 2014
The Second Annual John H Watson Society and World Invitational Treasure Hunt will be held during the month of August 2014, beginning on 1 August and closing on 1 September, 2014.
The Treasure Hunt will consist of 100 exceptionally difficult quiz questions (perhaps more) involving Canonical text and the scholarship and miscellanea from the past 80 years.
This year, the Society is also extending invitations to scion clubs from around the world to field teams of 3 to 5 members to participate in the International Invitational Team Category. We are hoping to have participation from England, France, Italy, Japan, India, Germany, U.S. scions, and other nations. All organisations are welcome.
A beautiful, engraved crystal vase will be awarded to the International Team who takes the honours.
More information is available on the Treasure Hunt page on this website. Please note the change in dates and please review the general guidelines for participating. As we believe many discovered last year, this is a difficult, grueling and time-consuming SuperQuiz, perhaps the most difficult ever devised in Sherlockian/Watsonian history. Join in and have fun! Check back here for upcoming information over the next several months.
New Quiz Next Friday, March 28
Buttons’s edition of The Complete Sherlock Holmes will be unpacked in the next few days and a quiz is expected for Friday, March 28. Please check then.
“Daisy” and “Gwen” from Seattle Volunteer a Quiz!
During the Hiatus, our Intrepid Quiz Team from Seattle is volunteering a wonderful quiz. See the Quiz Page, please and participate in this fun test of Canonical knowledge! Thanks Margie Deck and Sheila Holtgrieve!
Brief Hiatus on Society Business
“Buttons” and “Asta” will be moving from California to Florida beginning March 3, 2014. We would ask your patience on Society business until we arrive and get moved into our new home in Ocala, Florida. We anticipate being able to fulfill Society business about March 15th, 2014. Until then, memberships, monograph orders, pin orders and other requests will be forwarded to us via email and we will respond as soon as possible after March 15th. Thank you for your understanding.
Of course, anyone having a burning question, idea, or comment can always leave a comment on this page and others can reply as if we weren’t here (which we won’t be)!
Email Disaster!
So many of our members inadvertently unsubscribed from the email sent today that the email service–MailChimp–has shut us down! We cannot reinstate you if you unsubscribed. Now, we will have to switch to a new email service, re-enter all members, and that will take some time. This only pertains to the member-wide emails we RARELY sent via Mail Chimp; normal individual emails from and to you via Buttons are not involved. So, in lieu of Society-wide emails for important topics, please visit this page REGULARLY! Thanks!
BE SURE TO SEE BREAKING NEWS BELOW
Society Activities Through April 2014
During February and March, our Editor, Dr Joanne Yates “Sandy” and Buttons will be busy working on the next issue of The Watsonian scheduled for mailing on or around 15 April 2014. We are anticipating an issue even larger than the inaugural October 2013 issue, so there is a great deal of work to be accomplished.
During this period, we may have to slow our Weekly Quiz to a Bi-Weekly Quiz. Buttons will try to keep them coming every week, but there are other complications, as you will learn next.
Buttons and Andrea Stewart “Asta,” our Membership Director, will be relocating from Sonoma County, California’s wine country to the beautiful Horse Capital of the World, Ocala, Florida, where they look forward to embarking on another of their many life adventures at age 70. As you may imagine, the details of home buying and moving will be a bit time-consuming, so we may not be quite as responsive as normal. We are foregoing the seven-day, 3,000 mile drive in favor of a direct flight in seven hours (which is a major concession by Buttons as he had sworn NEVER to fly again for ANY reason after 40 years of flying 200 days a year). We hope to be in our new home and fairly settled by 15 March 2014.
There will be some periods when we will be out of communication; unfortunately, some of it will be during the final days of getting the journal off to the printer, but we will persevere and doubtless all will go smoothly. If, for some reason, Buttons is unable to reply to your emails quickly, your patience will be greatly appreciated.
The John H Watson Society has been designed as primarily an online Society, so it will continue to operate as it has so far, only partially from a different location. Our activities for 2014 include the two issues of The Watsonian, two published monographs, the Weekly Quizzes, the Second Annual Treasure Hunt, and–coming in October–the First International Invitational Team Treasure Hunt, an exciting worldwide Super-Quiz to challenge Watsonians and Sherlockians from around the globe.
As always, sincere thanks and appreciation is extended to our now nearly 140 members for your interest, your participation, and your continued support of the Society.
Weekly Quiz Resumes 3 January 2014
The Weekly Quiz will resume at 4 pm Pacific on Friday, 3 January 2014. Please join in the fun!
Weekly Quizzes Resume 3 January 2014
Just a reminder to our intrepid Quiz Masters that the Weekly Quiz will resume on Friday, 3 January 2014 at 4 pm Pacific time.
With a new year beginning, we invite all of our members to participate in the quiz activities. It is a pleasant and fun diversion each week and we have many reports from long-time Sherlockians and Watsonians saying that they always learn many new things from the quizzes.
Please, do give it a go!
Interesting Research Question on Quiz Page
You may find this one interesting. Give it a go!
Weekly Quiz on Holiday until January 4, 2014
At the urging of our Quiz Masters and Members, Buttons is declaring a Quiz Holiday for the Holidays. We will suspend the Weekly Quiz until Friday, 4 January 2014 when we will resume with an all new year of Canonical quizzing!
Buttons needs a holiday, too, from the scribbling of notes in the margins of his Doubleday. He is planning on spending time with his mates at the local across the square, The Frog and Pig, where a turkey Cornish pasty and a few pints of best bitter are calling. The good Doctor and Mr Holmes will likely be looking for a two-barred goose again his year, and Buttons will repair to the Alpha Inn for a bit of supper and a nice eggnog. An abundancy of Thanksgiving and Festive Greetings to all!
BUTTONS CREATES CHAOS! BLOG PAGE CHANGED!
Confusion reigns! Buttons went and changed the Blog Page to be called Watsonian News and Events . . . and then he moved it!
The old Blog Page is now the Home Page and is renamed Watsonian News and Events. Same old Blog just a new name and location. When you arrive at the Society website, you automatically are on the News and Events Page (old Blog) and you can click and comment on anything you wish just like before.
Clearly, Buttons had one too many pints and made this change without thinking. He is sorry for the confusion, but believes this will be easier for all to see the constantly changing news and events of the Society. He is, however, grateful that members noticed!
Sherlock Hallows
New Quiz Schedule and 1st Monthly Quiz Masters Announced
Please see the Quiz Page for the 13 October announcements of the Weekly and Monthly Quiz Masters and a new quiz schedule that will make it easier to find the time to work on the weekly puzzle.
New Weekly Quiz Today!
The first of the new Weekly Quiz features will appear today by 12 Noon (Pacific time) on the Quiz Page! Please take a look and give it a try. Your answers can be sent via email to Buttons by 12 Noon on Saturday 21 September 21. First email received with the highest number of correct answers is the week’s Quiz Master.
The Open International Competition of the Treasure Hunt Won by the Team from France!
The Society is pleased to announce the winners of the Open International Competition of the First Annual John H. Watson Canonical Treasure Hunt:
Team France of La Société Sherlock Holmes de France.
Their team consisted of M. Thierry Saint-Joanis and M. Alexis Barquin, who are both leaders of La Société Sherlock Holmes de France and maintain the very valuable website Sherlockian Who’s Who found at the following web address:
http://www.sh-whoswho.com/index.php
This skilled and knowledgeable team answered an amazing number of the 100 difficult questions, and did so without the use of the edition of The Complete Sherlock Holmes specified in the Treasure Hunt and to which all page number references were keyed. Essentially, they were working from memory. Formidable!
Congratulations to the first International Team winners!
The Answer Key to the First Canonical Treasure Hunt has now been posted on the Treasure Hunt Page.
Exciting New Quiz Approach
Here at the Doctor’s Consulting Room, we have an idea to keep our valued patients entertained while they await the good doctor’s ministrations.
Up until now, we have set out single question quiz conundrums for almost daily consumption. Not everyone stops by the practice daily, so we are going to tack up on the notice board a Weekly Quiz consisting of 10 to 20 individual questions. These will be set based on a theme. One week it may be poisons in the Canon; another it may be professions; other weekly themes may concern counties, or trains, or hotels, or manor houses, or dates … or even figs for that matter … the possibilities are almost endless.
You will be invited to work out the answers and send an email with your solutions to buttons@johnhwatsonsociety.com by the final day when the Weekly Quiz closes. Buttons will review your answers with the good doctor (who, after all, is the only one who knows precisely what he meant when he wrote the Canon) and the two of them will announce a Weekly Quiz Master. The successful Quiz Master will be the person who emails first with the highest number of correct answers.
The Weekly Quiz Masters will have an opportunity to participate in a Quarterly Quiz every three months (the 12 Weekly Quiz Masters competing for the Quarterly Quiz Master).
And, as you have already deduced, the four Quarterly Quiz Masters will participate for the Annual Quiz Master designation. Somewhere along the way, there will be appropriate, nice mementos for those members who excel. Sounds a lot like that American quiz program “Jeopardy,” doesn’t it?
Now for the details…
The Weekly Quiz will be posted on the Quiz Page of the Society website by 12:00 Noon (Pacific) each Monday.
Answers (preferably Word documents sent as an attachment) will be emailed to buttons@johnhwatsonsociety.com by 12:00 Noon (Pacific) on the Saturday following (you will have five days to complete the Quiz). To be the Weekly Quiz Master, you will have to email first and have the highest number of correct answers.
The Weekly Quiz Master will be posted on the Quiz Page on the next Monday when the new Weekly Quiz is posted.
We believe this will be great fun… plus there is another reason for developing our skills. The Annual John H. Watson Canonical Treasure Hunt has recently identified a team of Quiz Mavens (the Seattle-based SOB’s) who have proven to be among the best in the world. Soon, we are going to expand upon that unique competition…. a very exciting development to be announced in a few months . . . and we are hoping to identify even more Quiz Masters and Quiz Mavens within the Society for what promises to be a whole new level of Canonical scholarship and quiz expertise. Stay tuned! But, until, please participate in the Weekly Quiz events!
The first Weekly Quiz begins 16 September 2013 by 12 Noon (Pacific). Watch for it! Try it! Have some fun!