Sunday, April 10, 2011
The Most Instructive Chess Video of All Time
http://chessforallages.blogspot.com/2011/04/most-instructive-chess-video-of-all.html
Saturday, April 9, 2011
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
On this day in 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the Civil War.
I found the above on one of the websites I surf every day, The Writer's Almanac, by Garrison Keillor (http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/).
Because I am a Southern-american, I prefer to think of the conflict as, more properly, The War of Northern Agression. As Shelby Foote stated so eloquently, "There was nothing civil about that war." I will also accept The War Between the States. Victors write history and by called the bloodletting "civil" the victors make it sound like something is was not.
While living in Hendersonville, located in the beautiful mountains of the great state of North Carolina, a few years ago, I happened to be at the barber shop on main street when an elderly gentleman entered. Judging from his yankee accent I took him to be from New York, and from every thing about him, a former cop, and was right on both counts. He was astounded, asking how I possibly could have known he was from New York. "We Southerners can smell a yankee a mile away," said I. There was much laughter all around, even from the barber, who was from Cleveland, Ohio. "How could you possibly have known I was a former policeman?" he asked. "Because you are as ugly as Abe Vigoda and dumb as 'Wojo'!" (referring to the old Barney Miller tv show).
The yankee cop was now livid. He mentioned something about running me in, "if I was still on the force." So I told the man that he had moved down here; I had not moved to yankee land. "Yeah, well, I seem to recall that WE won the war!" The others there who had been getting a kick out of the proceedings, now turned sullen. The oppressive feeling became palpable.
You do not move down South and bring something like that up in front of Southerners who have lived in the mountains for generations. Memories linger forever in the mountains. Word travels like wildfire in the mountains. I remember thinking that this particular yankee would never have a friend here unless it was a fellow yankee. Once word got around, he would be shunned. Trying to lighten the mood, I asked the yankee cop "Who is the best american general of all time?" He scratched his bald noggin', then said, "I don't know...Patton?"
"Patton?" I said.
"Well, maybe Eisenhower?"
"Eisenhower?"
"OK, George Washington?" The yankee cop was grasping now.
"Look, mister, let me give you some invaluable advice. You're down here. It's like one of those World War II movies...the one where you have got to know the password to cross our line. If asked the all-time home run leader and you don't answer "Babe Ruth", you will be SHOT ON THE SPOT!"
By now, judging from his buldging eyes, I had his attention, so I finished him off with, "If anyone asks you who was the best General of all time, you had best answer ROBERT E LEE!!!"
There was an outburst of noise and patriotism from the fellas, with knee-slappin'and hands over hearts like you ain't never seen!
The yankee cop decided he would leave and come back another day because there were too many waiting...
I cannot call this song my favorite because it is simply too sad. It does, though, evoke strong emotions and passions, not only when I hear it, but even upon thinking about it...I cannot listen to it without tears welling up in my eyes.
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
The Band
Virgil Caine is the name and I served on the Danville train
'Til Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again
In the winter of '65, we were hungry, just barely alive
By May the tenth, Richmond had fell
It's a time I remember, oh so well
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the people were singing
They went, "La, la, la"
Back with my wife in Tennessee, when one day she called to me
"Virgil, quick, come see, there go the Robert E.Lee"
Now I don't mind choppin' wood, and I don't care if the money's no good
Ya take what ya need and ya leave the rest
But they should never have taken the very best
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the people were singing
They went, "La, la, la"
Like my father before me, I will work the land
And like my brother above me, who took a rebel stand
He was just eighteen, proud and brave, but a Yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the mud below my feet
You can't raise a Caine back up when he's in defeat
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the people were singing
They went, "Na, na, na"
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the people were singing
They went, "Na, na, na"
© CANAAN MUSIC INC; WB MUSIC CORP
I found the above on one of the websites I surf every day, The Writer's Almanac, by Garrison Keillor (http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/).
Because I am a Southern-american, I prefer to think of the conflict as, more properly, The War of Northern Agression. As Shelby Foote stated so eloquently, "There was nothing civil about that war." I will also accept The War Between the States. Victors write history and by called the bloodletting "civil" the victors make it sound like something is was not.
While living in Hendersonville, located in the beautiful mountains of the great state of North Carolina, a few years ago, I happened to be at the barber shop on main street when an elderly gentleman entered. Judging from his yankee accent I took him to be from New York, and from every thing about him, a former cop, and was right on both counts. He was astounded, asking how I possibly could have known he was from New York. "We Southerners can smell a yankee a mile away," said I. There was much laughter all around, even from the barber, who was from Cleveland, Ohio. "How could you possibly have known I was a former policeman?" he asked. "Because you are as ugly as Abe Vigoda and dumb as 'Wojo'!" (referring to the old Barney Miller tv show).
The yankee cop was now livid. He mentioned something about running me in, "if I was still on the force." So I told the man that he had moved down here; I had not moved to yankee land. "Yeah, well, I seem to recall that WE won the war!" The others there who had been getting a kick out of the proceedings, now turned sullen. The oppressive feeling became palpable.
You do not move down South and bring something like that up in front of Southerners who have lived in the mountains for generations. Memories linger forever in the mountains. Word travels like wildfire in the mountains. I remember thinking that this particular yankee would never have a friend here unless it was a fellow yankee. Once word got around, he would be shunned. Trying to lighten the mood, I asked the yankee cop "Who is the best american general of all time?" He scratched his bald noggin', then said, "I don't know...Patton?"
"Patton?" I said.
"Well, maybe Eisenhower?"
"Eisenhower?"
"OK, George Washington?" The yankee cop was grasping now.
"Look, mister, let me give you some invaluable advice. You're down here. It's like one of those World War II movies...the one where you have got to know the password to cross our line. If asked the all-time home run leader and you don't answer "Babe Ruth", you will be SHOT ON THE SPOT!"
By now, judging from his buldging eyes, I had his attention, so I finished him off with, "If anyone asks you who was the best General of all time, you had best answer ROBERT E LEE!!!"
There was an outburst of noise and patriotism from the fellas, with knee-slappin'and hands over hearts like you ain't never seen!
The yankee cop decided he would leave and come back another day because there were too many waiting...
I cannot call this song my favorite because it is simply too sad. It does, though, evoke strong emotions and passions, not only when I hear it, but even upon thinking about it...I cannot listen to it without tears welling up in my eyes.
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
The Band
Virgil Caine is the name and I served on the Danville train
'Til Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again
In the winter of '65, we were hungry, just barely alive
By May the tenth, Richmond had fell
It's a time I remember, oh so well
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the people were singing
They went, "La, la, la"
Back with my wife in Tennessee, when one day she called to me
"Virgil, quick, come see, there go the Robert E.Lee"
Now I don't mind choppin' wood, and I don't care if the money's no good
Ya take what ya need and ya leave the rest
But they should never have taken the very best
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the people were singing
They went, "La, la, la"
Like my father before me, I will work the land
And like my brother above me, who took a rebel stand
He was just eighteen, proud and brave, but a Yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the mud below my feet
You can't raise a Caine back up when he's in defeat
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the people were singing
They went, "Na, na, na"
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the people were singing
They went, "Na, na, na"
© CANAAN MUSIC INC; WB MUSIC CORP
An American Intellectual
Bernard Henri-Levy of France has been all over the media recently. He is usually called a "French intellectual" by our 'lamestream' media. For example, consider this paragraph from an article in the venerable NY Times: Mr. Lévy, a celebrated philosopher, journalist and public intellectual, gives Mr. Sarkozy sole credit for persuading London, Washington and others to support intervention in Libya. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/world/africa/02levy.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=bernard%20henri-levy&st=cse
How has it come to be that France has all the intellectuals, while US has none? I have never heard any american called an "intellectual." Have you? Why is that? Could it be one of the major problems with US? We desperately need at least one citizen known as an "intellectual."
How has it come to be that France has all the intellectuals, while US has none? I have never heard any american called an "intellectual." Have you? Why is that? Could it be one of the major problems with US? We desperately need at least one citizen known as an "intellectual."
Friday, April 8, 2011
Comments
Until earlier this year I had not clicked on 'stats' and upon doing so I was amazed at the number of people reading the BaconLOG and even more amazed by the number of countries from where they emanate. I greatly appreciate those who have left comments, especially the positive ones!
I started this blog while working at the Atlanta Chess & Game Center, aka, the House of Pain. NM Damir Studen, 2009 Georgia Chess Champion, for whom the House was a second home, once said, "Everybody reads the BaconLOG!" 'Everybody' being those in our small circle of chess afficionado's who came to the HoP, I suppose. I have moved on and the circle of readers has grown exponentially and now includes readers from several dozen countries. I am truly amazed.
I would like to answer the comment left to 'Flip a Coin' on 3/27/11. There is no need to "feel sorry for that poor younger fellow respectfully looking for some advice about a good book." The fact is that I spent almost an hour talking with the young man, who had a laptop with him. I talked him through my favorite chess related websites, such as the Chess Cafe and Chessbase, and even showed him the USCF website, along with the Kentucky Chess Association website. We spent much time talking about books and the best places to purchase them. You should know that I was grinning when I asked the question that ended the post, and so was he! Our time actually began when the post ended, so to speak. I did not feel it necessary to bore readers with what came next, choosing instead to end the post with what I thought to be a somewhat humorous comment on the dearth of chess books available at a bookstore these days. All my life I have tried to be cordial to anyone who has come to the table when I have had a chess set out. I have always tried my best to be a good ambassador for the Royal game.
As far as doing a 'Just Checking' on myself...There is a certain 'Drifter' back home who would most probably be indignant at the prospect of my doing something reserved for, until now, Grandmasters! I may, though, write of some of my favorite things. For example, after dropping a friend at the airport this morning, I headed to the Cracker Barrel for the new Wholesome Mornin' Sampler, which included, fresh blackberries and blueberries blended in low-fat vanilla yogurt, topped with our honey oat granola mix with almonds served with a fresh-baked blueberry-raspberry muffin, along with eggs, etc. It was extremely difficult to not order the Wild Maine Blueberry Pancakes. Discerning readers should now know my favorite fruit...
I will get to books eventually, but, no, my favorite movie is not Conspiracy Theory, but I do watch Jesse Ventura's show on tv!
I'm sure there are ways to make this a "better blog", but including pictures ain't one of 'em! I am a WORDSMITH! When I paint my masterpiece, it will be with WORDS. I enjoy reading, and hope my readers do, too. There are many wonderful blogs that include pictures. This is not one of them! After discovering GM Kevin Spraggett's fantastic blog, I check it each and every day. I have also gone back to the beginning and am enjoying catching up on what I've been missing. If you want pictures, I suggest you do the same. You can find him at: http://kevinspraggett.blogspot.com/
As those left behind at the HoP can attest, I can talk baseball until blue in the face, and, on numerous occasions, have! I thank you for your interest, but there are many other blogs devoted to baseball. The only one I check everyday is The Hardball Times (http://hardballtimes.com/). So many blogs, so little time. Especially when one reads as voraciously as do I. If you have not read the Hardball Times Baseball Annual you might want to check it out. Adjectives like 'superlative' and 'stupendous' come to mind.
That's all for now. Keep those comments coming! I do appreciate them. I just hope the BaconLOG is as good for you as it is for me! (The thing about being a 'wordsmith' is that I do not have to insert one of those smiley faces here to know you have, most probably, got a shit eating grin on your face right about now!)
I started this blog while working at the Atlanta Chess & Game Center, aka, the House of Pain. NM Damir Studen, 2009 Georgia Chess Champion, for whom the House was a second home, once said, "Everybody reads the BaconLOG!" 'Everybody' being those in our small circle of chess afficionado's who came to the HoP, I suppose. I have moved on and the circle of readers has grown exponentially and now includes readers from several dozen countries. I am truly amazed.
I would like to answer the comment left to 'Flip a Coin' on 3/27/11. There is no need to "feel sorry for that poor younger fellow respectfully looking for some advice about a good book." The fact is that I spent almost an hour talking with the young man, who had a laptop with him. I talked him through my favorite chess related websites, such as the Chess Cafe and Chessbase, and even showed him the USCF website, along with the Kentucky Chess Association website. We spent much time talking about books and the best places to purchase them. You should know that I was grinning when I asked the question that ended the post, and so was he! Our time actually began when the post ended, so to speak. I did not feel it necessary to bore readers with what came next, choosing instead to end the post with what I thought to be a somewhat humorous comment on the dearth of chess books available at a bookstore these days. All my life I have tried to be cordial to anyone who has come to the table when I have had a chess set out. I have always tried my best to be a good ambassador for the Royal game.
As far as doing a 'Just Checking' on myself...There is a certain 'Drifter' back home who would most probably be indignant at the prospect of my doing something reserved for, until now, Grandmasters! I may, though, write of some of my favorite things. For example, after dropping a friend at the airport this morning, I headed to the Cracker Barrel for the new Wholesome Mornin' Sampler, which included, fresh blackberries and blueberries blended in low-fat vanilla yogurt, topped with our honey oat granola mix with almonds served with a fresh-baked blueberry-raspberry muffin, along with eggs, etc. It was extremely difficult to not order the Wild Maine Blueberry Pancakes. Discerning readers should now know my favorite fruit...
I will get to books eventually, but, no, my favorite movie is not Conspiracy Theory, but I do watch Jesse Ventura's show on tv!
I'm sure there are ways to make this a "better blog", but including pictures ain't one of 'em! I am a WORDSMITH! When I paint my masterpiece, it will be with WORDS. I enjoy reading, and hope my readers do, too. There are many wonderful blogs that include pictures. This is not one of them! After discovering GM Kevin Spraggett's fantastic blog, I check it each and every day. I have also gone back to the beginning and am enjoying catching up on what I've been missing. If you want pictures, I suggest you do the same. You can find him at: http://kevinspraggett.blogspot.com/
As those left behind at the HoP can attest, I can talk baseball until blue in the face, and, on numerous occasions, have! I thank you for your interest, but there are many other blogs devoted to baseball. The only one I check everyday is The Hardball Times (http://hardballtimes.com/). So many blogs, so little time. Especially when one reads as voraciously as do I. If you have not read the Hardball Times Baseball Annual you might want to check it out. Adjectives like 'superlative' and 'stupendous' come to mind.
That's all for now. Keep those comments coming! I do appreciate them. I just hope the BaconLOG is as good for you as it is for me! (The thing about being a 'wordsmith' is that I do not have to insert one of those smiley faces here to know you have, most probably, got a shit eating grin on your face right about now!)
Thursday, April 7, 2011
The Best Blog Entry of All Time
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Just how NERDY is chess?
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
http://kevinspraggett.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html
Just how NERDY is chess?
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
http://kevinspraggett.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html
Friday, April 1, 2011
Was Abby Marshall a Prodigy?
There is an article on seedmagazine.com titled, The Second Place Sex: Why chess may be an ideal laboratory for investigating gender gaps in science and beyond, (http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/the_second-place_sex/)
Abby Marshall is quoted in the article, after being called a 'female chess prodigy'. From the article: But as put by female chess prodigy Abby Marshall, accustomed to being a minority in the chess world and recognized for being the first girl to win the national high-school-level chess championship, “Any tournament that isn’t an all-women’s tournament is basically a guys’ tournament.”
Was she ever considered a 'prodigy'? If so, when and where? What constitutes a 'female chess prodigy'? Is a 'female chess prodigy' different from a 'male chess prodigy'? If so, how?
Ms Marshall is quoted in the article, "I don’t think that there’s something that shows that men’s and women’s brains are different in a significant sense."
The young 'prodigy' is simply wrong on this point. The corpus callosum is larger in women than men, leading to speculation that women use much more of their whole brain than men, who seem to be more 'right' or 'left' brain oriented. This is from Wikipedia: "Both neurologist Roger Gorski of the University of California at Los Angeles and author/brain surgeon Leonard Schlain, M.D. have stated that women have 30% more connections to the left and right hemispheres than men." With a quick search of the internet I found this: 10 Big Differences Between Men’s and Women’s Brains (http://www.mastersofhealthcare.com/blog/2009/10-big-differences-between-mens-and-womens-brains/)
But this article is the one the young 'prodigy' should read first: Neuroscience For Kids - The Brain: Right Down the Middle, where we find written, "In adults, the average brain weight in men is about 11-12% MORE than the average brain weight in women. Men's heads are also about 2% bigger than women's." We also find this, "The major pathway that connects the right and left cerebral hemispheres is called the corpus callosum. (The corpus callosum is the fiber tract made up of 200-250 million axons that is cut in split brain patients.) Some claims have been made that the corpus callosum is bigger and more developed in women than in men. These claims have even been reported in the popular media (Time Magazine, Jan. 20, 1992, pp. 36-42; Newsweek Magazine, March 27, 1995, pp. 51)."
"Also, The hypothalamus is one area of the brain with well-documented differences between men and women. Two areas of the hypothalamus, the preoptic area and the suprachiasmatic nucleus, have clear differences in female and male brains." You can find this at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/heshe.html
Jennifer Shahade, Author of the fine book, Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport, weighs in with, “There may be some distinctions between men and women, but they’re really marginal compared to what really matters, and that’s spending a lot of time studying and practicing chess”.
The 'distinctions' between men and women are "marginal?" Really, Jennifer.
Ms Marshall writes a column for the Chess Cafe (www.chesscafe.com). I assume she receives a stipend for writing the column. Her only claim to fame is that she was "the first girl to win the national high-school-level chess championship." I seriously doubt she would be writing the column if she had not won the event. Money is hard to come by in the chess world. The fact that she is writing a column on openings in lieu of a titled player points out one of the things wrong with the world of american chess. There are many Grandmasters who have given their lives to the Royal game who could, no doubt, use some extra money as they advance in years. They have the one thing that cannot be taught, experience. They may not have the energy and stamina to compete with the youngsters writing books and columns these days, but they have something it has taken a lifetime to accrue, that being wisdom.
Abby Marshall is quoted in the article, after being called a 'female chess prodigy'. From the article: But as put by female chess prodigy Abby Marshall, accustomed to being a minority in the chess world and recognized for being the first girl to win the national high-school-level chess championship, “Any tournament that isn’t an all-women’s tournament is basically a guys’ tournament.”
Was she ever considered a 'prodigy'? If so, when and where? What constitutes a 'female chess prodigy'? Is a 'female chess prodigy' different from a 'male chess prodigy'? If so, how?
Ms Marshall is quoted in the article, "I don’t think that there’s something that shows that men’s and women’s brains are different in a significant sense."
The young 'prodigy' is simply wrong on this point. The corpus callosum is larger in women than men, leading to speculation that women use much more of their whole brain than men, who seem to be more 'right' or 'left' brain oriented. This is from Wikipedia: "Both neurologist Roger Gorski of the University of California at Los Angeles and author/brain surgeon Leonard Schlain, M.D. have stated that women have 30% more connections to the left and right hemispheres than men." With a quick search of the internet I found this: 10 Big Differences Between Men’s and Women’s Brains (http://www.mastersofhealthcare.com/blog/2009/10-big-differences-between-mens-and-womens-brains/)
But this article is the one the young 'prodigy' should read first: Neuroscience For Kids - The Brain: Right Down the Middle, where we find written, "In adults, the average brain weight in men is about 11-12% MORE than the average brain weight in women. Men's heads are also about 2% bigger than women's." We also find this, "The major pathway that connects the right and left cerebral hemispheres is called the corpus callosum. (The corpus callosum is the fiber tract made up of 200-250 million axons that is cut in split brain patients.) Some claims have been made that the corpus callosum is bigger and more developed in women than in men. These claims have even been reported in the popular media (Time Magazine, Jan. 20, 1992, pp. 36-42; Newsweek Magazine, March 27, 1995, pp. 51)."
"Also, The hypothalamus is one area of the brain with well-documented differences between men and women. Two areas of the hypothalamus, the preoptic area and the suprachiasmatic nucleus, have clear differences in female and male brains." You can find this at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/heshe.html
Jennifer Shahade, Author of the fine book, Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport, weighs in with, “There may be some distinctions between men and women, but they’re really marginal compared to what really matters, and that’s spending a lot of time studying and practicing chess”.
The 'distinctions' between men and women are "marginal?" Really, Jennifer.
Ms Marshall writes a column for the Chess Cafe (www.chesscafe.com). I assume she receives a stipend for writing the column. Her only claim to fame is that she was "the first girl to win the national high-school-level chess championship." I seriously doubt she would be writing the column if she had not won the event. Money is hard to come by in the chess world. The fact that she is writing a column on openings in lieu of a titled player points out one of the things wrong with the world of american chess. There are many Grandmasters who have given their lives to the Royal game who could, no doubt, use some extra money as they advance in years. They have the one thing that cannot be taught, experience. They may not have the energy and stamina to compete with the youngsters writing books and columns these days, but they have something it has taken a lifetime to accrue, that being wisdom.
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