Puzzle Description Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers

#1: Jota (jota) on Aug 1, 2010

Scary!

WW means war

Good one.

nice panzer

Tom, I really love doing your puzzles and I find the vast majority of them to be wonderful, but.....why do we ever need to see this symbol?

Comment Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers

never mind Wendy, i un-published it

I assume that Tom used the swastika here to make it clear that this is a world war II tank, since that symbol is pretty narrowly associated with that period. I don't get the feeling that there is any deliberate attempt to be controversial here, or in any way to endorse Nazism, and, anyway, I don't require that all PBN puzzles depict happy subjects, so I'm OK with this. Still it's not a very pleasant thing to have appear unexpectedly on one's screen.

And, so far as I know, German tanks never had swastikas on them. I think that was primarily the emblem of the Nazi party, not of the Wehrmacht. I think if they had any such insignia, it would have been the straight armed variant of the iron cross known as a Balkenkreuz.

The following heavy thoughts come with a simple solution at the end! So if you choose to read on, don't despair, or pull a muscle rolling your eyes; know that we can work it out. Yay, humanity.

The swastika in this puzzle came as a nasty surprise to me, a slap in the face at the very end of the solve. I had the same reaction as Wendy above, "why do we ever need to see this symbol". (And I also generally enjoy Tom's puzzles!)

However I also greatly appreciate Jan's policy, of not banning subjects just because they're not happy ones.

Still, for some of us an insignia can be a painful thing.

When I work on a PBN, it's like I'm in doodling mode, just coasting along, distracting myself in this fun, calming way. Can you relate, dear reader? I love PBNs!! Thank you to all involved in managing the site, past and present. The fact that PBN has continued for so many years since its inception speaks volumes, and it's not just because of the addictive (to some) nature of this gentle pastime, nor simply because PBN is technically so well looked after, and therefore runs very smoothly; it's also that you make room for a range of subject matter, and that you literally provide a managed Forum for respectful dialogue.

So here I am, thinking about what I'm *supposed* to be doing right now -a thousand productive things-, while not-thinking about the puzzle at my fingertips, my little brain humming as its juices flow pleasantly through the and/or gates and on down the PBN flowcharts now embedded in my neural networks. When suddenly (DUN DUN DAAAAAH) - YUK! EW! Horrible Nazism in my face, on my computer screen, in my home! Yuck yuck gross ptew -EW!

It's not just unpleasantness; when a swastika shows up, I get sharp pains in my stomach. One for the past, one for the present, and a mittful for the future, sadly. So you see, it's very jarring for me, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

So here's the solution: IN THE TITLE, warn me. That's how PBN deals with sexual content, nudity, rique (accent aigue) stuff, etc.; I appreciate *that* heads up, and I'm sure many parents on this site do too.

In this case, I suggest something like "POLITICAL CONTENT". I can tell you, those words would warn me off like a shot! Also it's vague enough that I don't have to think about swastikas, even for a second, when all I want right now is to clear my mind enough, to calm my nerves enough perhaps to turn my attention back to reality -just a small, well-blinkered, looking-through-the-end-of-a-straw-to-count-stars amount of reality, and thereby maybe, just maybe, do a couple of baby-step tasks of the many overdue projects on my plate.

Thanks again for providing and managing this forum. It creates community, and makes me feel that perhaps I'm part of it.

I honored your request Bananas

Wow, thank you, Tom! You make PBN awesome.

Comment Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers

ty Greggo and yw bananas

Show: Spoilers

Goto next topic

You must register and log in to be able to participate in this discussion.