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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThis jigsaw puzzle has been calling me since I received it\nas a gift last year. It depicts Thomas Moran\u2019s famous painting, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone<\/em>,\nwhich our family had just seen. Moran\u2019s Yellowstone paintings were so admired,\nthey helped lead to the declaration and preservation of Yellowstone as the\nfirst national park in the United States and, probably, the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, here is the completed puzzle. Perhaps you\u2019re struck with how different it is from the painting, how much redder and, in person, how much darker. All those murky reddish blacks on the right, those murky greenish blacks on the left (hidden by the light reflection), those murky blacks, and acres of taupe. Granted it\u2019s weird, but I don\u2019t consult the box when assembling a puzzle, just to make it that little bit harder; in this case, the picture on the box wouldn\u2019t have been much help. But maybe it holds a clue to why the difference between the picture and the pieces. Oh, yes. Here it is: \u201cPrinted in China.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps it wasn\u2019t merely printed in China. Perhaps it was\nalso cut with a jigsaw in China, its 1000 pieces disassembled, and 1001 of them\nsealed in their plastic bag. That would go a ways to solving another puzzle. See\nthat extra blue piece? It\u2019s a dupe. If you\u2019re working on this puzzle and\nmissing a bit of sky, I have it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, you may have noticed the finished puzzle is missing three pieces. I have three pieces left over. But they don\u2019t fit those spots. Maybe they\u2019re dupes too. In the hundred or so puzzles I\u2019ve assembled in my lifetime, I have never seen this before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Where was quality control? Did the manufacturer think bagging\nup any old 1000 (or 1001, in this case) pieces would be good enough? After all,\nwasn\u2019t that a 99.6% accuracy rate?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I realize that a jigsaw puzzle is not a fate-of-the-world\nconsumer item, but you have to wonder about a mindset that allows the sloppy\nhandling of something so simple, yet precise, and what happens when something\ncritical, yet precise, isn\u2019t quite right. Like a component for your driverless\ncar or nuclear power plant or corporate computer system. I think we\nknow the answer to that<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the movie Puzzle<\/a><\/em>, the character Agnes says the rewarding thing about doing a jigsaw puzzle is, when you get to the end, you know you\u2019ve made \u201call the right choices.\u201d The folks involved in the supply chain for this product did just the opposite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Don’t ask me why these pictures are upside down. They are correct on my WordPress editing screen! ? This jigsaw puzzle has been calling me since I received it as a gift last year. It depicts Thomas Moran\u2019s famous painting, … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Yellowstone-puzzle-1.jpg?resize=571%2C428&ssl=1\")
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