I don't know what it is, darlings, but for the past few days I've got that old song in my head and it just won't fricking go away! ACH!
Probably worst of all is that I don't remember it exactly as Otis Redding originally sang it; I keep coming up with these ooozey, sexy versions belting out of my lips as I slink up (and back down) the stairs at home, pretending to sing into a mike. Oh my....
And today I was doing that at the office too. Oh oh.... Fortunately, it's Saturday, and hardly anyone is there. Those of us who do work on Saturday are usually mutual nut-cases like moi.
I made up words, I made up movie scenes over the past couple of days, LOL! Damn, I should have pursued that world of professional writing years ago. Alas. Ain't gonna do it now, darlings. But I came up with some good stuff. Really good stuff. Strangest yet, I'm in fine voice at the moment. That doesn't always happen. I've been singing true to pitch and hitting notes I haven't been able to hit in years. What the hell does it all mean? Damned if I know.
But tonight I thought I'd bring you this really wonderful version of a part of Otis' classic song, featuring Annie Potts (why was she NOT EVER a SUPERSTAR? She is fabulous in this part, just as she was in Ghost Busters) and Molly Ringwald -- with Jon Cryer in the role as the seranader... well -- I hope you love it as much as I did:
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Friday, November 2, 2012
2012 Women's World Chess Championship
Starts soon -- November 11, 2012 in Kamsky Mansky (where?) -- you know, that place in Siberia I just can't resist poking a little fun at :)
Pairings for the first round of the knock-out are up at FIDE. There are two games, plus an extra day before the start of the next round for tie-break matches:
I've got my favorite players, of course! I'll be following Koneru Humpy, Kateryna Lahno, Harika Dronavalli, Alexandra Kosteniuk and the American players Abrahamyan, Zatonskih and Krush.
The Canadian women's champion (2012 Goddesschess Canadian Women's CC/Zonal), WIM Natalia Khoudgarian, is a sentimental favorite, but she drew an unfortunate pairing against one of the strongest Chinese players, GM Zhou Xue, and she has the black pieces too. Can a miracle happen? Nah, probably not. But I'm glad for her sake she had this opportunity and
It's an impressive female gathering: 19 GMs. A few years back there were less than a dozen, so I guess this is progress. Too bad the women's ELOs are not keeping pace with their male counterparts. Still out-classed and out-gunned in the women's chess ghetto. Sigh.
But I will be following. Frankly, most male chessplayers bore me. The women, on the other hand, present themselves as actual real people. Amazing!
This is a premiere event for the ladies. The total prize purse is $450,000. I was very surprised to read that FIDE will NOT be taking its normal 20% cut of the ladies' prizes this event. Wonder why not... Scruples never stopped FIDE from doing whatever it wanted before.
However, checks for prize money will NOT be handed out at the championship. Nope -- FIDE requires each player to submit bank account information, presumably so that the prize money can be wired at a later time. This is just damn downright ridiculous. Either FIDE has the prize money, in which case there is NO REASON TO PRESENT EACH PLAYER WITH A CERTIFIED CHECK FOR THEIR WINNINGS BEFORE they leave Kamsky Mansky. And if FIDE does NOT have the prize money in hand, why would a player ever think she would be paid, and turn over her personal banking information to - well, I won't go there...
Here is the prize structure:
3. 9. Prizes for the Women’s World Championship
3. 9. 1. Prize list
1st round 32 losers x 3.750 = 120.000
2nd round 16 losers x 5.500 = 88.000
3rd round 8 losers x 8.000 = 64.000
4th round 4 losers x 12.000 = 48.000
5th round 2 losers x 20.000 = 40.000
6th round 1 loser x 30.000 = 30.000
Women’s World Champion = 60.000
TOTAL: 450.000 USD
Full Regulations. Let the games begin!!!!!
Pairings for the first round of the knock-out are up at FIDE. There are two games, plus an extra day before the start of the next round for tie-break matches:
I've got my favorite players, of course! I'll be following Koneru Humpy, Kateryna Lahno, Harika Dronavalli, Alexandra Kosteniuk and the American players Abrahamyan, Zatonskih and Krush.
The Canadian women's champion (2012 Goddesschess Canadian Women's CC/Zonal), WIM Natalia Khoudgarian, is a sentimental favorite, but she drew an unfortunate pairing against one of the strongest Chinese players, GM Zhou Xue, and she has the black pieces too. Can a miracle happen? Nah, probably not. But I'm glad for her sake she had this opportunity and
It's an impressive female gathering: 19 GMs. A few years back there were less than a dozen, so I guess this is progress. Too bad the women's ELOs are not keeping pace with their male counterparts. Still out-classed and out-gunned in the women's chess ghetto. Sigh.
But I will be following. Frankly, most male chessplayers bore me. The women, on the other hand, present themselves as actual real people. Amazing!
This is a premiere event for the ladies. The total prize purse is $450,000. I was very surprised to read that FIDE will NOT be taking its normal 20% cut of the ladies' prizes this event. Wonder why not... Scruples never stopped FIDE from doing whatever it wanted before.
However, checks for prize money will NOT be handed out at the championship. Nope -- FIDE requires each player to submit bank account information, presumably so that the prize money can be wired at a later time. This is just damn downright ridiculous. Either FIDE has the prize money, in which case there is NO REASON TO PRESENT EACH PLAYER WITH A CERTIFIED CHECK FOR THEIR WINNINGS BEFORE they leave Kamsky Mansky. And if FIDE does NOT have the prize money in hand, why would a player ever think she would be paid, and turn over her personal banking information to - well, I won't go there...
Here is the prize structure:
3. 9. Prizes for the Women’s World Championship
3. 9. 1. Prize list
1st round 32 losers x 3.750 = 120.000
2nd round 16 losers x 5.500 = 88.000
3rd round 8 losers x 8.000 = 64.000
4th round 4 losers x 12.000 = 48.000
5th round 2 losers x 20.000 = 40.000
6th round 1 loser x 30.000 = 30.000
Women’s World Champion = 60.000
TOTAL: 450.000 USD
Full Regulations. Let the games begin!!!!!
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
A Scholarly Study of Ancient Greek Prostitutes
Well, okay. LOL! This is also a book review at Minerva online:
Many of the examples cited throughout this book create small vignettes of life in Ancient Greece and show how prostitution was fundamentally and vitally linked to many aspects of the social and economic position of the city-states.
What can be learnt from the prostitutes of Ancient Greece is evidently far more than might be expected and in many instances quite surprising – one good example of this is the madam who wrote out the rules of her brothel in 237 stanzas of high oratorical language.
Overall this highly engaging book demonstrates the need to use all the available ancient resources to build up an accurate cultural picture of the times.
As Glazebrook and Henry acknowledge, the academic study of the oldest profession is far more acceptable today than it once was.
Geoff Lowsley
Greek Prostitutes in the Ancient Mediterranean 800 BCE–200 CE
Allison Glazebrook and Madeleine M. Henry [eds.]
University of Wisconsin Press, 2011
360pp, 14 black and white photos and
12 drawings
Paperback, £23.50
University of Wisconsin Press, 2011
360pp, 14 black and white photos and
12 drawings
Paperback, £23.50
If, on finishing Jenifer Neils' Women in the Ancient World (reviewed left), you wanted to study in greater depth one of the more taboo aspects of feminine life, what is commonly referred to as 'the oldest profession in the world', then Greek Prostitutes in the Ancient Mediterranean 800 BCE – 200 CE provides the ideal scholarly assessment of the sex workers of Ancient Greece.
Glazebrook and Henry have edited contributions from 11 academics (including themselves) on this subject, and the 10 essays within this book, along with appropriate referencing glossary and indices, are very much aimed at those studying the Classical world at degree or higher level.
This is not to say, though, that the book is unapproachable or unengaging, quite the contrary in fact, as it covers such fascinating subject matter. On the other hand, this is not to say it is a vicarious peepshow into ancient sexual practices.
Much of the book focuses on the importance of Ancient Greek prostitutes to society. Among the ideas discussed are the socio-political power that prostitutes came to wield and how this sat with the lay (for want of a better term) community, the social status of women, civic endorsement of the profession and a philological study of the language associated with sex.
Architectural and archaeological evidence is also examined, with particular reference to the brothels on Delos. Coupled with liberal citations of ancient writings and fragments this makes for a pleasingly multidisciplinary approach to the subject.
Greek vase painting is a great resource for this type of study and Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz's chapter, 'Sex for Sale?', analyses the representations of women seen (predominantly) on drinking vessels. By drawing attention to body language, rendering, attributes, and how these relate to written accounts, Rabinowitz explains that previous interpretations of rites of passage, courtship scenes, companionship and love scenes, may have been erroneous.
Glazebrook and Henry have edited contributions from 11 academics (including themselves) on this subject, and the 10 essays within this book, along with appropriate referencing glossary and indices, are very much aimed at those studying the Classical world at degree or higher level.
This is not to say, though, that the book is unapproachable or unengaging, quite the contrary in fact, as it covers such fascinating subject matter. On the other hand, this is not to say it is a vicarious peepshow into ancient sexual practices.
Much of the book focuses on the importance of Ancient Greek prostitutes to society. Among the ideas discussed are the socio-political power that prostitutes came to wield and how this sat with the lay (for want of a better term) community, the social status of women, civic endorsement of the profession and a philological study of the language associated with sex.
Architectural and archaeological evidence is also examined, with particular reference to the brothels on Delos. Coupled with liberal citations of ancient writings and fragments this makes for a pleasingly multidisciplinary approach to the subject.
Greek vase painting is a great resource for this type of study and Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz's chapter, 'Sex for Sale?', analyses the representations of women seen (predominantly) on drinking vessels. By drawing attention to body language, rendering, attributes, and how these relate to written accounts, Rabinowitz explains that previous interpretations of rites of passage, courtship scenes, companionship and love scenes, may have been erroneous.
Many of the examples cited throughout this book create small vignettes of life in Ancient Greece and show how prostitution was fundamentally and vitally linked to many aspects of the social and economic position of the city-states.
What can be learnt from the prostitutes of Ancient Greece is evidently far more than might be expected and in many instances quite surprising – one good example of this is the madam who wrote out the rules of her brothel in 237 stanzas of high oratorical language.
Overall this highly engaging book demonstrates the need to use all the available ancient resources to build up an accurate cultural picture of the times.
As Glazebrook and Henry acknowledge, the academic study of the oldest profession is far more acceptable today than it once was.
Geoff Lowsley
Book Review: Women in the Ancient World
From Minerva online:
Small details like a map of the ancient world, a list of goddesses across different cultures and a potted history of each in the opening chapter, make this a self-contained primer on the topic for those who incline towards the aesthetic.
Neils does broach the awkward truth that the vast majority of what we know of women in the ancient world is filtered through representations left to us by men, and makes some effort to navigate round this by touching on the clues that can be drawn from biological remains, for example, preserved bodies. This is, however, clearly not the raison d'être of this book, as more space is filled by beautiful images of well photographed objects than by CAT scans.
Having accepted that male-authored accounts concerning the female members of the population are heavily biased, the book unashamedly focuses on a visual celebration of women while at the same time placing them in a socio-historic context.
The cultures under scrutiny are Ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, and the Near East. But, by examining the subject thematically, rather than geographically, Neils allows for interesting comparisons to be drawn between the different cultures, for instance views and laws concerning the legal rights of women and approaches to marriage.
This book ambitiously covers a vast period, stretching from 4000 BC to AD 600 and involving a range of religions and cultures – particularly from the Ancient Near East. But the chapter headings: 'Female Stereotypes', 'Mothers and Mourners', 'Working Women', 'The Body Beautiful', 'Women and Religion' and 'Royal Women' allow these introductory studies to be presented in accessible portions.
The chapters are peppered throughout with comparative and supporting accounts, from myths and old textual sources, which add to our understanding of the imagery on the objects (eg. black figure pots). A few surprising examples of biased ancient thought include the fact that Aristotle thought women were no more than mutilated men.
At its close Neils concedes once more that most of what we know about women in the ancient world is seen through male eyes, but as the remit of her book is to show how art celebrates the female form, it succeeds in being an engaging, informative and beautifully presented book.
Women in the Ancient World
Jenifer Neils
British Museum Press, 2011
216pp, 200 colour photographs and one map
Paperback, £18.99
British Museum Press, 2011
216pp, 200 colour photographs and one map
Paperback, £18.99
Jenifer Neils has taught Classical Art and Archaeology at Case Western Reserve University since 1980. She has also guest-curated two major international loan exhibitions, Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens and Coming of Age in Greece: Images of Childhood from the Classical Past.
Her latest book, a handsome volume, lavishly illustrated throughout with colour photographs of objects largely drawn from the collections of the British Museum, focuses on both the role and perception of women in the past.
Her latest book, a handsome volume, lavishly illustrated throughout with colour photographs of objects largely drawn from the collections of the British Museum, focuses on both the role and perception of women in the past.
Small details like a map of the ancient world, a list of goddesses across different cultures and a potted history of each in the opening chapter, make this a self-contained primer on the topic for those who incline towards the aesthetic.
Neils does broach the awkward truth that the vast majority of what we know of women in the ancient world is filtered through representations left to us by men, and makes some effort to navigate round this by touching on the clues that can be drawn from biological remains, for example, preserved bodies. This is, however, clearly not the raison d'être of this book, as more space is filled by beautiful images of well photographed objects than by CAT scans.
Having accepted that male-authored accounts concerning the female members of the population are heavily biased, the book unashamedly focuses on a visual celebration of women while at the same time placing them in a socio-historic context.
The cultures under scrutiny are Ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, and the Near East. But, by examining the subject thematically, rather than geographically, Neils allows for interesting comparisons to be drawn between the different cultures, for instance views and laws concerning the legal rights of women and approaches to marriage.
This book ambitiously covers a vast period, stretching from 4000 BC to AD 600 and involving a range of religions and cultures – particularly from the Ancient Near East. But the chapter headings: 'Female Stereotypes', 'Mothers and Mourners', 'Working Women', 'The Body Beautiful', 'Women and Religion' and 'Royal Women' allow these introductory studies to be presented in accessible portions.
The chapters are peppered throughout with comparative and supporting accounts, from myths and old textual sources, which add to our understanding of the imagery on the objects (eg. black figure pots). A few surprising examples of biased ancient thought include the fact that Aristotle thought women were no more than mutilated men.
At its close Neils concedes once more that most of what we know about women in the ancient world is seen through male eyes, but as the remit of her book is to show how art celebrates the female form, it succeeds in being an engaging, informative and beautifully presented book.
********************************************************
Sounds like a good read. I would love to see China and other far-eastern societies added, though, like India. They are just as old as civilizations around the Mediterranean. Why do we continue using such a narrow focus when dealing with such important themes -- like no people existed beyond these certain geographic confines? The ancients certainly knew better! There was some kind of contact and quite possibly trade going on between east-west from the early pharonic age, and certainly "westerners" were emigrating and settling in the east (in and around the Tarim Basin, for instance) by around 2500 BCE.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Rising Up the Ranks: Chess Femme Anjana Murali
From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel online (my hometown newspaper):
Anjana Murali's family doesn't own a TV, and she said it shows.
"It frees up my time," Murali said. "I like to feel engaged."
A junior at Shorewood High School and honor roll student, Murali already has a robust résumé. Her array of commitments includes student council, several science clubs, the chess and tennis teams, the school newspaper and the Girl Scouts.
This year, Murali is vying for her Gold Award, the Girl Scouts' highest achievement. Only 5.4% of eligible Girl Scouts successfully earn the award, which honors the completion of a seven-step project that resolves a community problem in the short and long term, according to the Girl Scouts of America website.
Murali hopes to earn her award with "Queen's Game," an all-girls chess camp she has been organizing for months after receiving a $1,200 grant from Lead2Change, an organization that supports community service projects developed by young people. Inspired by an experience she had as a child at her first chess tournament, Murali hopes her efforts will help equalize the gender disparity in chess.
"A guy looked at me and said to his friend, 'I'll be out of here in 10 seconds,' " Murali said. "He did beat me quickly, but it was really discouraging that it was all boys. I wanted to get better and beat these guys who thought they were better than me."
She did get better. Two years later, Murali became the girls all-state chess champion. Since then, she has also competed and been ranked nationally. But her game slowed down as high school courses became more demanding and her father, who taught her how to play, moved to Texas for his job as a software engineer.
Although she still plays with her former chess coach every Sunday, she is now primarily concerned with leveling the playing field for girls in the sport.
"I'd love to see more female participation and show chess is not only a game," Murali said. "In chess tournaments, it's a touch-move policy - you take a long time before touching a piece because you have to think of a whole series of calculations. In life, you implement the same cause-effect procedure."
Even as many of her peers began leaving the Girl Scouts in middle school, Murali said she stayed a member because she was aware of the leadership opportunities the organization provided for older girls.
Murali took advantage of these opportunities - she has already earned her Bronze and Silver Awards, served on a team of girls charged with organizing the 2012 Girls' World Forum and was nominated to the Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast's board of directors this year. Receiving her Gold Award would be the ultimate capstone to her career as a Scout.
"(Anjana is) a really great organizing force and great at bringing clarity," said Aidwa Aidoo, global action manager for the Girl Scouts of America. "She's a wonderful listener and very supportive of her group members."
"I got a call from school, and the teacher said, 'Anjana is so great and bright, but at recess, she's sitting all alone,' " said Lalitha Murali, Anjana's mother. "(Anjana) even came home one day and asked, 'Why is my skin brown? Can you take me to Wal-Mart to get me a cream to make me white like my friends?' "
The discrimination escalated to attacks, and resulted in a smashed car windshield and property damage, according to Anjana Murali.
"People didn't know how to react (to 9-11)," Anjana Murali said. "They turned to us because we were the scapegoat - the ones who were different."
The Murali family responded proactively, providing classroom presentations on Indian culture and a booth at the Helena fair featuring cuisine, dance, henna and other Indian customs, according to Lalitha Murali. She also began enrolling her daughter in social activities, which included the Girl Scouts.
"(My mom) put (me and my sister) in Girl Scouts to make friends and learn the culture - camping, movies and sleepovers - and assimilate us to the new country," Anjana Murali said.
When Anjana Murali graduates from Shorewood in 2014, she will also graduate from the Girl Scouts - Scout activities are designed for girls 18 and under - but she won't be done with the organization she has belonged to for almost a decade. She said she will be a lifelong member, and she plans on continuing to volunteer for the organization and for the chess camp she hopes to sustain as an annual event.
Girl Scouts, chess molded Murali into a leader
 |
| Anjana Murali, Susan Polgar Girls Invitational, St. Louis 2012 |
"It frees up my time," Murali said. "I like to feel engaged."
A junior at Shorewood High School and honor roll student, Murali already has a robust résumé. Her array of commitments includes student council, several science clubs, the chess and tennis teams, the school newspaper and the Girl Scouts.
This year, Murali is vying for her Gold Award, the Girl Scouts' highest achievement. Only 5.4% of eligible Girl Scouts successfully earn the award, which honors the completion of a seven-step project that resolves a community problem in the short and long term, according to the Girl Scouts of America website.
Murali hopes to earn her award with "Queen's Game," an all-girls chess camp she has been organizing for months after receiving a $1,200 grant from Lead2Change, an organization that supports community service projects developed by young people. Inspired by an experience she had as a child at her first chess tournament, Murali hopes her efforts will help equalize the gender disparity in chess.
"A guy looked at me and said to his friend, 'I'll be out of here in 10 seconds,' " Murali said. "He did beat me quickly, but it was really discouraging that it was all boys. I wanted to get better and beat these guys who thought they were better than me."
She did get better. Two years later, Murali became the girls all-state chess champion. Since then, she has also competed and been ranked nationally. But her game slowed down as high school courses became more demanding and her father, who taught her how to play, moved to Texas for his job as a software engineer.
Although she still plays with her former chess coach every Sunday, she is now primarily concerned with leveling the playing field for girls in the sport.
"I'd love to see more female participation and show chess is not only a game," Murali said. "In chess tournaments, it's a touch-move policy - you take a long time before touching a piece because you have to think of a whole series of calculations. In life, you implement the same cause-effect procedure."
Even as many of her peers began leaving the Girl Scouts in middle school, Murali said she stayed a member because she was aware of the leadership opportunities the organization provided for older girls.
Murali took advantage of these opportunities - she has already earned her Bronze and Silver Awards, served on a team of girls charged with organizing the 2012 Girls' World Forum and was nominated to the Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast's board of directors this year. Receiving her Gold Award would be the ultimate capstone to her career as a Scout.
"(Anjana is) a really great organizing force and great at bringing clarity," said Aidwa Aidoo, global action manager for the Girl Scouts of America. "She's a wonderful listener and very supportive of her group members."
A rough introduction
Murali's leadership traits emerged from her family's turbulent transition to Helena, Mont., in 2001 after emigrating from India. Shortly after Murali began school there, the 9-11 attacks happened."I got a call from school, and the teacher said, 'Anjana is so great and bright, but at recess, she's sitting all alone,' " said Lalitha Murali, Anjana's mother. "(Anjana) even came home one day and asked, 'Why is my skin brown? Can you take me to Wal-Mart to get me a cream to make me white like my friends?' "
The discrimination escalated to attacks, and resulted in a smashed car windshield and property damage, according to Anjana Murali.
"People didn't know how to react (to 9-11)," Anjana Murali said. "They turned to us because we were the scapegoat - the ones who were different."
The Murali family responded proactively, providing classroom presentations on Indian culture and a booth at the Helena fair featuring cuisine, dance, henna and other Indian customs, according to Lalitha Murali. She also began enrolling her daughter in social activities, which included the Girl Scouts.
"(My mom) put (me and my sister) in Girl Scouts to make friends and learn the culture - camping, movies and sleepovers - and assimilate us to the new country," Anjana Murali said.
When Anjana Murali graduates from Shorewood in 2014, she will also graduate from the Girl Scouts - Scout activities are designed for girls 18 and under - but she won't be done with the organization she has belonged to for almost a decade. She said she will be a lifelong member, and she plans on continuing to volunteer for the organization and for the chess camp she hopes to sustain as an annual event.
***
Game on
"Queen's Game" is a free chess camp and will take place Dec. 14 and 15 at Glen Hills Middle School in Glendale. Girls ages 5 to 18 will receive instruction from Wisconsin Scholastic Chess Federation players and compete in a five-game tournament to win prizes: trophies, medals, chess sets, chess videos and more. Snacks, lunch and T-shirts will be provided.Author Paul Tough Gives Shout Out to IS 318
From mysanantonio.com
But a new best-selling book, "How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $27), concludes that there are skills more valuable than IQ in determining a child's long-term success. The book calls into question the way we teach, coach and parent.
Through scientific-research analysis and interviews with pediatricians, economists and educators of children from the wealthiest to the poorest, author Paul Tough determines that skills such as self-control, optimism and the ability to delay gratification can make all the difference.
The San Antonio Express-News sat down with Tough last week when he came to town to speak to a crowd of about 150 at Trinity University, brought here by Trinity, the San Antonio Children's Museum and the education advocacy group Generation TX San Antonio. He also spoke to a roundtable of school superintendents.
Though not familiar with the details of the local Nov. 6 ballot initiative called Pre-K 4 SA - which would provide full-day pre-kindergarten to 22,000 children - Tough noted that for low-income children, studies show a big payoff from early childhood education.
Q: Is what you're arguing counter to the whole self-esteem building trend where every kid gets a trophy?
A: It's an alternative to that. There's this one teacher I profile in the book, a chess teacher, and she is one of the best chess teachers in the country. She teaches at this school called Intermediate School 318, a regular public school in Brooklyn, a Title I school, mostly low-income population, but they are the best middle school chess team in the country. … [Elizabeth Vicary?]
What she's doing that works is she is helping kids manage failure. That's actually a theme that runs through the book, this idea that failure is actually an important part - and learning how to deal with failure is an important part - of developing these character skills, especially for school-aged kids.
Q: What should be the role of schools and policymakers?
A: The way that accountability has happened in Texas and the country as a whole over the past 20 years - there were good reasons for it, there are some good things that have come out of it - but I think the way it has become so narrowly focused on these standardized tests, which only measure these cognitive skills, is a real problem. … Those skills are not as predictive as we thought they were of long-term success.
What we should care about in any education system is kids graduating from college. There are other outcomes we could choose, but in terms of educational outcome, that's a pretty good one. So the fact that eighth-grade test scores don't necessarily correlate with college graduation rates, especially for low-income kids, I think is a real problem.
Q: You say a child needs to have "grit," or the perseverance necessary to pursue a goal. How do I build grit in my child?
A: There's not like a "great grit workbook" that you can take home. We do know two things. … They seem somewhat contradictory. One is that in the first couple of years of life, what kids need more than anything is attachment - close, nurturing support from a parent or another caregiver. It really is good for infants to have someone come every time they cry. That actually doesn't make kids more needy and whiny, the way we used to think. It makes them more secure and independent once they get out of that infancy stage. The problem is that 5- and 10- and 15-year-olds need something very different. They actually don't need someone to come every time they cry. They need parents to pull back a little bit and let them deal with their own problems, fight their own battles, fall down and not get helped back up.
Q: Your book is not a parenting book that's saying "do this" or "do that."
A: I worry there's going to be parents who want to find "failure camps" for their kids. … When I think about character-building experiences I had as an adolescent, it was working as a dishwasher. I don't feel like we need to go out of our way, to send kids on rope courses and these kinds of managed elements of adversity. There are lots of challenges out there in life. I think mostly what we need to do is let kids experience them.
Optimism, self-control are keys to child's success, author says
self-control key to child's success
By Michelle Koidin Jaffee
Updated 4:34 p.m., Monday, October 29, 2012
From the focus on standardized testing to the spread of tutoring programs in math and reading for children younger than 5, today's American society places a great deal of emphasis on a child's cognitive ability and purported ways to increase it.But a new best-selling book, "How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $27), concludes that there are skills more valuable than IQ in determining a child's long-term success. The book calls into question the way we teach, coach and parent.
Through scientific-research analysis and interviews with pediatricians, economists and educators of children from the wealthiest to the poorest, author Paul Tough determines that skills such as self-control, optimism and the ability to delay gratification can make all the difference.
The San Antonio Express-News sat down with Tough last week when he came to town to speak to a crowd of about 150 at Trinity University, brought here by Trinity, the San Antonio Children's Museum and the education advocacy group Generation TX San Antonio. He also spoke to a roundtable of school superintendents.
Though not familiar with the details of the local Nov. 6 ballot initiative called Pre-K 4 SA - which would provide full-day pre-kindergarten to 22,000 children - Tough noted that for low-income children, studies show a big payoff from early childhood education.
Q: Is what you're arguing counter to the whole self-esteem building trend where every kid gets a trophy?
A: It's an alternative to that. There's this one teacher I profile in the book, a chess teacher, and she is one of the best chess teachers in the country. She teaches at this school called Intermediate School 318, a regular public school in Brooklyn, a Title I school, mostly low-income population, but they are the best middle school chess team in the country. … [Elizabeth Vicary?]
What she's doing that works is she is helping kids manage failure. That's actually a theme that runs through the book, this idea that failure is actually an important part - and learning how to deal with failure is an important part - of developing these character skills, especially for school-aged kids.
Q: What should be the role of schools and policymakers?
A: The way that accountability has happened in Texas and the country as a whole over the past 20 years - there were good reasons for it, there are some good things that have come out of it - but I think the way it has become so narrowly focused on these standardized tests, which only measure these cognitive skills, is a real problem. … Those skills are not as predictive as we thought they were of long-term success.
What we should care about in any education system is kids graduating from college. There are other outcomes we could choose, but in terms of educational outcome, that's a pretty good one. So the fact that eighth-grade test scores don't necessarily correlate with college graduation rates, especially for low-income kids, I think is a real problem.
Q: You say a child needs to have "grit," or the perseverance necessary to pursue a goal. How do I build grit in my child?
A: There's not like a "great grit workbook" that you can take home. We do know two things. … They seem somewhat contradictory. One is that in the first couple of years of life, what kids need more than anything is attachment - close, nurturing support from a parent or another caregiver. It really is good for infants to have someone come every time they cry. That actually doesn't make kids more needy and whiny, the way we used to think. It makes them more secure and independent once they get out of that infancy stage. The problem is that 5- and 10- and 15-year-olds need something very different. They actually don't need someone to come every time they cry. They need parents to pull back a little bit and let them deal with their own problems, fight their own battles, fall down and not get helped back up.
Q: Your book is not a parenting book that's saying "do this" or "do that."
A: I worry there's going to be parents who want to find "failure camps" for their kids. … When I think about character-building experiences I had as an adolescent, it was working as a dishwasher. I don't feel like we need to go out of our way, to send kids on rope courses and these kinds of managed elements of adversity. There are lots of challenges out there in life. I think mostly what we need to do is let kids experience them.
Rising Up the Ranks: Chess Femme Rochelle Ballantyne
Brooklyn teen Rochelle Ballantyne on path to become 1st black female chess master
From Clutch Magazine: Rochelle Ballantyne, 17, of Brooklyn is taking the chess world by storm. She is on the verge of becoming the first African-American female chess master and her journey has been documented in the film, Brooklyn Castle. Brooklyn Castle tells the stories of five members of the chess team at I.S. 318 middle school in Brooklyn. The film follows the challenges these kids face in their personal lives as well as on the chessboard, and is as much about the sting of their losses as it is about the anticipation of their victories. Ironically, the biggest obstacle thrust upon them arises not from other competitors but from recessionary budget cuts to all the extracurricular activities at their school.
Ballantyne was recently profiled in Teen Vogue and talked about her rise in the chess world and her motivation. “My grandmother taught me to play when I was in the third grade. I was really active as a child, and she wanted to find a way to keep me relaxed and get my brain going,” Ballantyne told Teen Vogue. “When I first started playing, she introduced to me the idea of being the first African-American female chess master. I didn’t think about it much because for me it seemed like an impossible feat, and I didn’t think it could happen. I wasn’t as focused and dedicated as I am now. I didn’t think I was a good chess player—people told me I was, but it wasn’t my mentality at that moment. But then after she died, that really affected me, because she was the one person that always had confidence in me. She never pushed me, and she always respected me for who I was. I have to reach that goal for her.”
Read the rest of this story on Clutch Magazine.
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| Rochelle Ballantyne |
Read the rest of this story on Clutch Magazine.
16th Unive (2012 Hoogeveen)
Final results are in, held October 19 - 27, 2012. Official site.
Final standings in the Invitational:
In the Open, here are the final standings (top player and chess femmes):
I apologize if I've missed any chess femmes in this listing.
Final standings in the Invitational:
| Rk | Name | Ti | Rtg | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pts | TPR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nakamura, Hikaru | GM | 2786 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.5 | 2858 |
| 2 | Tiviakov, Sergei | GM | 2659 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 3.0 | 2707 |
| 3 | Giri, Anish | GM | 2730 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 2.5 | 2626 |
| 4 | Hou, Yifan | GM | 2605 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 2.0 | 2600 |
In the Open, here are the final standings (top player and chess femmes):
| Rk | Name | Ti | FED | Rtg | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Pts | TB1 | TB2 | TPR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L'Ami, Erwin | GM | NED | 2631 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 7.0 | 53.0 | 41.0 | 2634 |
| 2 | Nijboer, Friso | GM | NED | 2525 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7.0 | 43.5 | 32.0 | 2550 |
| 10 | Guramishvili, Sopiko | IM | GEO | 2418 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 6.0 | 46.0 | 28.25 | 2403 |
| 24 | L'Ami, Alina | WGM | ROU | 2376 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 5.0 | 45.0 | 23.0 | 2355 |
| 51 | Kazarian, Anna-Maja | WFM | NED | 1864 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.0 | 34.5 | 13.75 | 2095 |
| 54 | Padurariu, Ioana-Smaranda | WIM | ROU | 2236 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.5 | 41.5 | 14.0 | 2093 |
| 60 | Kasparova, Tatiana | WIM | BLR | 2126 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 3.5 | 37.0 | 11.5 | 2113 |
| 66 | Slingerland, Caroline | WFM | NED | 2103 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 3.5 | 31.0 | 8.75 | 2020 |
| 77 | Van der Lende, Nathalie | NED | 1968 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | + | 2.0 | 25.5 | 3.5 | 1776 | |
| 78 | Djuric, Olgica | SRB | 1880 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 28.5 | 1.5 | 1767 |
I apologize if I've missed any chess femmes in this listing.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
There Be Dragons....
I don't remember how long ago it was that Don McLean of Goddesschess adopted as one of his "names" Pi a/k/a Pimander; he equated it with a dragon (not the Pi from the book "The Book of Pi," who definitely was not a dragon). Until the Harry Potter movies came out, the only dragon I ever was really familiar with was Puff, the Magic Dragon, from the old song by Peter, Paul and Mary. Those lyrics are so sad, actually...
From time to time Pimander would make an appearance in our correspondence. Some years back, perhap 7 years? ago -- I met a friend for lunch at the Tea Room at Watt's in Milwaukee. Watt's has the most exquisite china, crystal, silverware and all things tableware-related. I've spent hours at Watt's exploring its displays and oohing and aahing over the beautiful items there. On the second floor, opposite the small Tea Room, is a gift shop. That particular day, after lunch, my friend and I wandered into the gift shop and I found the most equisitely crafted silver-colored dragon, cast in pewter. I instantly thought of Don, and how much he would love it. His birthday was coming up, I recall, but the cost was more than I could afford, and so I reluctantly put the dragon back down, and slowly walked away. I always regretted not buying that dragon for Mr. Don. I remember I visited Watt's a few weeks later and went straight to the table where the pewter dragon had been, but it was gone -- sold, probably. Watt's gift store often stocks one-of-a-kind items. From that day on, I had my eye out for another dragon. Alas, I did not find another one within my price range that held a candle to that Watt's dragon. I should have bought it for him then. But I didn't.
This year on the Chinese calendar is the Year of the Dragon. Turns out no good has come of it for Mr. Don, and little good for moi. I will be glad to see the Year of the Dragon go away and never show it's face again, bah! But perhaps it was fitting that Don died during the Year of the Dragon; in many ways, he shared much in common with the character of a dragon.
But when I was cutting up the limbs that came down in my backyard some weeks ago during a fierce wind storm, I ended up with this piece, which I kept, because it reminds me so much of a dragon's head and neck. I call it, fittingly, Dead Dragon:
Dead Dragon is stationed on the peninsula between my kitchen and dining area, hanging out underneath my Norfolk Pine. Unfortunately, he lost part of his ear/horn on the left when I tried to "operate" on him one day outside -- I tried to put an angle cut into his neck area instead of the straight-on cut I did when I first cut him off the large limb that crashed down from one of my trees during that storm. Alas, the ear/horn broke off, and so he doesn't look as much like a dragon as he did before. I also was not successful in making that angle cut I wanted to create; instead, you can now see a cut mark where I partially sawed through with my hand-held muscle-powered saw, but ran out of steam trying to cut through the raw wood.
Alas, poor dead dragon lost part of his face during the storm, probably why he died. But one of his eyes is still cleary visible...
Yesterday, when I was cleaning out some old frames for re-use, I came across this ad that I'd clipped years before from a decorating magazine. It was an ad from a window company and showed this spectacular photographs of storm clouds. I also saved and clipped the words that accompanied the ad:
Some see dragons.
Some see islands.
What do you see?
Well, of course, I saw two dragons. A smaller one that reminds me very much of my Dead Dragon of wood, and a much larger one. I wonder, can you see them?
I have to add that Dead Dragon was found some weeks before Mr. Don's death on October 12, 2012. So this isn't a morbid fascination. Or, maybe it is. Just one of those things? I've no idea. But tonight I came acoss this, and got a chuckle out of it. I'd never heard of Dragon Hill although of course I have featured the Uffington Horse in this blog in the past. Check it out:
Hmmmm, so maybe I really am crazy after all... Sure looks like a damn dead dragon to me!
From time to time Pimander would make an appearance in our correspondence. Some years back, perhap 7 years? ago -- I met a friend for lunch at the Tea Room at Watt's in Milwaukee. Watt's has the most exquisite china, crystal, silverware and all things tableware-related. I've spent hours at Watt's exploring its displays and oohing and aahing over the beautiful items there. On the second floor, opposite the small Tea Room, is a gift shop. That particular day, after lunch, my friend and I wandered into the gift shop and I found the most equisitely crafted silver-colored dragon, cast in pewter. I instantly thought of Don, and how much he would love it. His birthday was coming up, I recall, but the cost was more than I could afford, and so I reluctantly put the dragon back down, and slowly walked away. I always regretted not buying that dragon for Mr. Don. I remember I visited Watt's a few weeks later and went straight to the table where the pewter dragon had been, but it was gone -- sold, probably. Watt's gift store often stocks one-of-a-kind items. From that day on, I had my eye out for another dragon. Alas, I did not find another one within my price range that held a candle to that Watt's dragon. I should have bought it for him then. But I didn't.
This year on the Chinese calendar is the Year of the Dragon. Turns out no good has come of it for Mr. Don, and little good for moi. I will be glad to see the Year of the Dragon go away and never show it's face again, bah! But perhaps it was fitting that Don died during the Year of the Dragon; in many ways, he shared much in common with the character of a dragon.
But when I was cutting up the limbs that came down in my backyard some weeks ago during a fierce wind storm, I ended up with this piece, which I kept, because it reminds me so much of a dragon's head and neck. I call it, fittingly, Dead Dragon:
Dead Dragon is stationed on the peninsula between my kitchen and dining area, hanging out underneath my Norfolk Pine. Unfortunately, he lost part of his ear/horn on the left when I tried to "operate" on him one day outside -- I tried to put an angle cut into his neck area instead of the straight-on cut I did when I first cut him off the large limb that crashed down from one of my trees during that storm. Alas, the ear/horn broke off, and so he doesn't look as much like a dragon as he did before. I also was not successful in making that angle cut I wanted to create; instead, you can now see a cut mark where I partially sawed through with my hand-held muscle-powered saw, but ran out of steam trying to cut through the raw wood.
Alas, poor dead dragon lost part of his face during the storm, probably why he died. But one of his eyes is still cleary visible...
Yesterday, when I was cleaning out some old frames for re-use, I came across this ad that I'd clipped years before from a decorating magazine. It was an ad from a window company and showed this spectacular photographs of storm clouds. I also saved and clipped the words that accompanied the ad:
Some see dragons.
Some see islands.
What do you see?
Well, of course, I saw two dragons. A smaller one that reminds me very much of my Dead Dragon of wood, and a much larger one. I wonder, can you see them?
I have to add that Dead Dragon was found some weeks before Mr. Don's death on October 12, 2012. So this isn't a morbid fascination. Or, maybe it is. Just one of those things? I've no idea. But tonight I came acoss this, and got a chuckle out of it. I'd never heard of Dragon Hill although of course I have featured the Uffington Horse in this blog in the past. Check it out:
 |
| Source. Supposedly the hill got its name from where St. George slew the dragon and the white chalk showing through at the top of this cut-off tor is the "blood" left behind by the dragon.  |
Friday, October 26, 2012
Evidence of Viking Outpost Found in Canada
Evidence of Viking Outpost Found in Canada
Sharpeners may be smoking guns in quest for New World's second Viking site.
for National Geographic News
Published October 19, 2012
For the past 50 years—since the discovery of a thousand-year-old Viking way station in Newfoundland—archaeologists and amateur historians have combed North America's east coast searching for traces of Viking visitors.
It has been a long, fruitless quest, littered with bizarre claims and embarrassing failures. But at a conference in Canada earlier this month, archaeologist Patricia Sutherland announced new evidence that points strongly to the discovery of the second Viking outpost ever discovered in the Americas.
While digging in the ruins of a centuries-old building on Baffin Island (map), far above the Arctic Circle, a team led by Sutherland, adjunct professor of archaeology at Memorial University in Newfoundland and a research fellow at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, found some very intriguing whetstones. Wear grooves in the blade-sharpening tools bear traces of copper alloys such as bronze—materials known to have been made by Viking metalsmiths but unknown among the Arctic's native inhabitants.
Taken together with her earlier discoveries, Sutherland's new findings further strengthen the case for a Viking camp on Baffin Island. "While her evidence was compelling before, I find it convincing now," said James Tuck, professor emeritus of archaeology, also at Memorial University.
Archaeologists have long known that Viking seafarers set sail for the New World around A.D. 1000. A popular Icelandic saga tells of the exploits of Leif Eriksson, a Viking chieftain from Greenland who sailed westward to seek his fortune. According to the saga, Eriksson stopped long enough on Baffin Island to walk the coast—named Helluland, an Old Norse word meaning "stone-slab land"—before heading south to a place he called Vinland.
In the 1960s two Norwegian researchers, Helge Ingstad and Anne Stine Ingstad, discovered and excavated the Viking base camp at L'Anse aux Meadows (map) on the northern tip of Newfoundland—the first confirmed Viking outpost in the Americas. Dated to between 989 and 1020, the camp boasted three Viking halls, as well as an assortment of huts for weaving, ironworking, and ship repair.
Viking Yarn
As reported in the November issue of National Geographic magazine, Sutherland first caught wind of another possible Viking way station in 1999, when she spotted two unusual pieces of cord that had been excavated from a Baffin Island site by an earlier archaeologist and stored at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec.
Sutherland noticed that the strands bore little resemblance to the animal sinew Arctic hunters twisted into cordage. The cords turned out to be expertly woven Viking yarn, identical in technique to yarn produced by Viking women living in Greenland in the 14th century.
The discovery prompted Sutherland to scour other museum collections for more Viking artifacts from Baffin Island and other sites. She found more pieces of Viking yarn and a small trove of previously overlooked Viking gear, from wooden tally sticks for recording trade transactions to dozens of Viking whetstones. (Also see "Viking Weapon Recycling Site Found in England.")
The artifacts came from four sites, ranging from northern Baffin Island to northern Labrador, a distance of a thousand miles (1,600 kilometers). Indigenous Arctic hunters known as the Dorset people had camped at each of the sites, raising the possibility that they had made friendly contact with the Vikings. [See my prior post tonight regarding Dorset culture and possible bear cult.']
Intrigued, Sutherland decided to reopen excavations at the most promising site, a place known as Tanfield Valley on the southeast coast of Baffin Island. In the 1960s U.S. archaeologist Moreau Maxwell had excavated parts of a stone-and-sod building there, describing it as "very difficult to interpret." Sutherland suspected that Viking seafarers had built the structure.
Clues Etched in Bronze, Brass, and Iron
Since 2001 Sutherland's team has been exploring Tanfield Valley and carefully excavating surviving parts of the mysterious ruins. They have discovered a wide range of evidence pointing to the presence of Viking seafarers: pelt fragments from Old World rats; a whalebone shovel similar to those used by Viking settlers in Greenland to cut sod; large stones that appear to have been cut and shaped by someone familiar with European stone masonry; and more Viking yarn and whetstones. And the stone ruins bear a striking resemblance to some Viking buildings in Greenland.
Still, some Arctic researchers remained skeptical. Most of the radiocarbon dates obtained by earlier archaeologists had suggested that Tanfield Valley was inhabited long before Vikings arrived in the New World. But as Sutherland points out, the complex site shows evidence of several occupations, and one of the radiocarbon dates indicates that the valley was occupied in the 14th century, when Viking settlers were farming along the coast of nearby Greenland.
In search of other clues to help solve the mystery, Sutherland turned to the Geological Survey of Canada. Using a technique known as energy dispersive spectroscopy, the team examined the wear grooves on more than 20 whetstones from Tanfield Valley and other sites. Sutherland and her colleagues detected microscopic streaks of bronze, brass, and smelted iron—clear evidence of European metallurgy, which she presented October 7 at a meeting of the Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology in St. John's, Canada.
Norse-Native American Trade Network?
Sutherland speculates that parties of Viking seafarers travelled to the Canadian Arctic to search for valuable resources. In northern Europe at the time, medieval nobles prized walrus ivory, soft Arctic furs, and other northern luxuries—and Dorset hunters and trappers could readily stockpile such products. Helluland's waters teemed with walruses, and its coasts abounded in Arctic foxes and other small fur-bearing animals. To barter for such goods, Viking traders likely offered bits of iron and pieces of wood that could be carved into figurines and other goods, Sutherland says.
If Sutherland is correct, the lines of evidence she has uncovered may point to a previously unknown chapter in New World history in which Viking seafarers and Native American hunters were partners together in a transatlantic trade network. "I think things were a lot more complex in this part of the world than most people assumed," Sutherland said. James Tuck agreed. "It's pretty convincing that there was a much larger Norse presence in the Canadian Arctic than any of us thought."
[....and in news about 20 years from now, those runes carved on a large stone in Minnesota will be proven to be REAL after all...]
Evidence of Possible Dorset Culture Bear Cult
Way cool! Shades of Shardik... This is a long article, settle in with a coffee. It's a sort of overview of the discoveries of Jorgen Meldgaard in NE Canada during the 1950's-'60's.
The Dorset people in Greenland and Canada (c. 700 to 1,200 AD) is an archaeological term for a non-Inuit people group from Greenland.
The Dorset culture preceded the Inuit culture in Arctic North America. Archaeologists believe the people migrated from Siberia and Alaska between 4,000 years ago and until the birth of Christ.
Iniuit legends mention Tunitt (singular Tuniq) or Sivullirmiut (‘The first inhabitants’) as a people who were displaced by the Inuit.
Archaeologists, however, doubt whether or not the Inuit met with the Dorset culture, although there is a general consensus that the two groups have lived in the same area for a period.
Dorset culture became extinct around 1902 – probably as a result of a change in climate and living conditions, but also because they were ousted by the Inuit.
Mysterious bear figurines baffle archaeologists
October 18, 2012 - 06:17
Small bear figurines have led researchers on the trail of hitherto unknown pre-Inuit rituals, indicating that these people practiced a bear cult.
By Ditte Svane-Knudsen
the 1950s, the now deceased Danish archaeologist Jørgen Meldgaard made a mysterious discovery in northeastern Canada:
A small, headless bear figurine, carved from a walrus tusk, was lying leaning up against the back wall of a stone fireplace in an old settlement. The bear had been positioned in a way that made it look as though it was ‘diving’ into the fireplace.
At the time, this little figurine didn’t cause much of a stir. It was just one out of a long series of discoveries that Meldgaard made during his field trips to the Igloolik region of Arctic Canada and Greenland in the 1950s and 1960s.
But when researchers at the Danish National Museum recently gained access to Meldgaard’s surviving diaries, records and photos, they realised that the discovery of the bear figurine was indeed quite sensational.
Humans and animals were close
Their examination of the material revealed that the small bear figurine could be an important key to understanding how people from more than 1,000 years ago viewed the relationship between animals and humans.
”The figurine provides us with information about some previously unknown 1,000-year-old rituals, which suggest that the Pre-Inuit, also known as the Dorset people, imagined that humans were related to certain animals in a way that’s very far from what we would imagine in today’s Western world,” says Ulla Odgaard, a senior researcher at the National Museum.
“Apparently, the Dorset people in Greenland and Canada didn’t see any antagonism between humans and animals,” she adds.
“Humans were not superior to animals; rather, it was a symbiotic co-existence. Bears and other animals functioned as mediators between mankind and the world of spirits.”
The Dorset way of thinking is also known from other early cultures
In other words, the finds reveal a belief in which animals – bears in particular – are our brothers, whose lives blend in with our own.
The way the Dorset culture viewed the relationship between humans and animals is known as animism – a phenomenon also known from other cultures.
“We know that the relationship between bears and humans has been crucial in all pre-modern cultures. This applies almost as far back in time as we can trace – all the way back to the very earliest renderings of the world that humans have created,” says Odgaard's colleague at the National Museum, Martin Appelt.
For instance, we see this relationship expressed in small carvings and cave paintings of humans and bears from the hunter-gatherer culture.
“Many cultures have combined human and animal features in their illustrations – e.g. a figurine of a bear with a falcon’s body, where the underside depicts a carved human head,” he says. On many figurines from early cultures, the skeleton is cut so that it’s visible outside the body – and that’s also the case with Meldgaard’s bear figurine.
According to Appelt, this bears witness to a belief that the difference between humans and animals only lies in the skin they’re wearing, so to speak.
“So an animal is also a person – only with a different skin. And some of them have probably been regarded as spirits – i.e. people in a parallel universe to ours.”
The bear was something special
The apparent fact that bears were regarded as something special could be because the bear, along with man, is one of the few animals that were believed to transcend and travel between the worlds of land and sea.
Another explanation may be that humans and bears could change roles depending on the situation: sometimes it was the man who hunted the bear and sometimes it was vice versa.
The discovery of another bear was an eye opener
Meldgaard also found another bear figurine in a nearby settlement. This bear stood upright with its head sticking up and the body half buried in the gravel.
Underneath it they found a fireplace, which suggests that this bear apparently was about to rise up from the fireplace. The combination of both of the bear figurines’ interaction with the fireplaces led the Odgaard to believe that this could be a sign of rituals.
Carved bear figurines and the symbolism of rising and diving bears is also known in other parts of the world, for instance in Siberia, where resurrection rituals have been performed for millennia, says Odgaard.
Here, the bear was the mythical ancestor that every year travels to the upper world to secure the liberation of the animals’ souls, so that humans again can hunt them.
The fireplace was the gateway to other worlds
Legends from Siberia indicate that humans could communicate with the world of spirits through the fireplace. In other words, the fireplace may have been regarded as a gateway to other worlds. [Hmmm...sounds rather like the 'flue network' from the Harry Potter books...]
Bears are also known from Neolithic petroglyphs in Siberia and numerous finds of bear heads or headless bear figurines in the Arctic region. But none of these have been found in a ritual context like the two from Igloolik.
Bear figurines could explain lack of finds of burial sites
Since the ritual with fireplaces appears to stretch across time and space, the researchers believe the finds are of far greater importance than previously thought.
The bear figurines on the fireplaces are not only some of the few physical vestiges testifying to the Dorset culture’s view of life and death that archaeologist have ever come across. The figurines may also help explain an old mystery – why archaeologists only rarely find burial sites from the earliest settlers in Greenland and Arctic Canada.
Dorset people may have dismembered their dead
 |
| Among the thousands of unique and spectacular objects that Jørgen Meldgaard and his colleagues excavated in the Canadian settlements in the 1950s and 60s, the many fine carvings made from walrus tusks, reindeer antler and driftwood are particularly interesting to archaeologists. These include small carvings of humans, human-like creatures and various animals, but also figures which seem to contain traits from both humans and animals. The figures reveal a belief in which animals – bears in particular – are our brothers, whose lives blend in with ours. (Photo: The National Museum of Denmark). |
Although there’s no shortage of ancient Inuit tales about the special relationship between humans and animals, the oral sources tend to dry out once we start moving toward the millennia before the Inuit settled in Arctic Canada and Greenland.
“We have so far had glaringly few archaeological finds from pre-Inuit graves on other ritual elements that could increase our understanding of how the pre-Inuit people viewed their world,” says Appelt.
“This is where the bear figurines suddenly make many pieces fall into place. Suddenly we understand the many other figures with bear heads or headless bears in a completely different way.”
That the two bear figurines from the fireplaces have their skeletons carved on the outside of their bodies also confirms a suspicion the archaeologists have had that Dorset people probably dismembered their dead and scattered them out on the fields or sunk them in the sea, so they would end up as animal food – like we’re seeing in e.g. today’s Nepal and Tibet.
“This suspicion is compounded by the fact that the few bones we’ve actually found from the Dorset culture are not whole skeletons, but simple elements – a jaw, a thighbone, etc. This suggests that the Dorset people had a completely different view of skeletons and bodies from what we have today – which the carvings of external skeletons on the bear figurines testify to.”
Rituals transcend space and time
Appelt says that the bear figurines from Igloolik are forcing archaeologists to think outside the box.
“We archaeologists prefer to work from the hypothesis that we can define various periods in history and that there is a clear division between space and time. But the figurines reveal that this is not the case here,” says Appelt.
“Some phenomena, such as animism and the rituals with the fireplaces and the dismemberment of the dead, transcend time and space – which is why you simply need to view them in bits of several 100,000 years if they are to be understood and make sense.”
Time and space not enough to understand the past
The archaeologist explains that when you look at archaeological finds across the world, there are so many overlaps where rituals transcend across cultures, time and space that there seems to be a connection.
"It’s very strange! And many archaeologists will surely find it unreasonable to think this way as an archaeologist – because how can things be connected in this way?” says Appelt.
”I don’t have the answer. There’s no answer book here. But I think the two headless bear figurines prove that it’s not always right to view history from within the narrow confines of time, space and traditions.
The next step for Odgaard, Appelt and their colleagues is to create an overview of Meldgaard’s records and publish the most important scientific findings.
Facts
The Dorset culture preceded the Inuit culture in Arctic North America. Archaeologists believe the people migrated from Siberia and Alaska between 4,000 years ago and until the birth of Christ.
Iniuit legends mention Tunitt (singular Tuniq) or Sivullirmiut (‘The first inhabitants’) as a people who were displaced by the Inuit.
Archaeologists, however, doubt whether or not the Inuit met with the Dorset culture, although there is a general consensus that the two groups have lived in the same area for a period.
Dorset culture became extinct around 1902 – probably as a result of a change in climate and living conditions, but also because they were ousted by the Inuit.
16th Unive (Hoogeveen)
For years, I always spelled Hoogeveen wrong. I usually came up with something similar to "Hogheven" - er...
This illustrious tournament has traditionally featured at least one strong female chessplayer. For many years, it was, more often than not, GM Judit Polgar. This year is no different - one of the higest-rated female players in the world is playing in the 16th Unive. Current women's world chess champion GM Hou Yifan of China is in the invitational along with GM Hikaru Nakamura of the USA, and GMs Sergei Tiviakov and Anish Giri of the Netherlands (I think they are the highest-rated players in the Netherlands, but do not quote me on that!) Giri is a young phenom. Tiviakov transplated himself years ago and has been a steady performer for his new homeland. Nakamura is the #1 player in the USA and one of the top-10 highest rated players in the world.
Here are the current standings, courtesy of coverage at The Week in Chess:
Today, Hou Yifan drew her game with Nakamura, an impressive feat.
Several chess femmes are playing in the Open (78 players). There is one more round to go. WGM Alina L'Ami, whom Goddesschess sponsored to play in the 2011 City of Montreal Chess Championships, is the top female thus far with 4.0/8 and is currently in 35th place overall. Her husband, GM Erwin L'Ami, is tied for 2nd place with four other players, at 6.0/8.
This illustrious tournament has traditionally featured at least one strong female chessplayer. For many years, it was, more often than not, GM Judit Polgar. This year is no different - one of the higest-rated female players in the world is playing in the 16th Unive. Current women's world chess champion GM Hou Yifan of China is in the invitational along with GM Hikaru Nakamura of the USA, and GMs Sergei Tiviakov and Anish Giri of the Netherlands (I think they are the highest-rated players in the Netherlands, but do not quote me on that!) Giri is a young phenom. Tiviakov transplated himself years ago and has been a steady performer for his new homeland. Nakamura is the #1 player in the USA and one of the top-10 highest rated players in the world.
Here are the current standings, courtesy of coverage at The Week in Chess:
| 16th Unive Crown Hoogeveen (NED), 21-27 x 2012 | cat. XVIII (2687) | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||||
| 1. | Nakamura, Hikaru | g | USA | 2775 | * | * | ½ | . | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 3½ | 2806 | |||
| 2. | Tiviakov, Sergei | g | NED | 2656 | ½ | . | * | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 3 | 2753 | |||
| 3. | Giri, Anish | g | NED | 2693 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | * | ½ | . | 2 | 2625 | |||
| 4. | Hou, Yifan | g | CHN | 2623 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | . | * | * | 1½ | 2562 | |||
Today, Hou Yifan drew her game with Nakamura, an impressive feat.
Several chess femmes are playing in the Open (78 players). There is one more round to go. WGM Alina L'Ami, whom Goddesschess sponsored to play in the 2011 City of Montreal Chess Championships, is the top female thus far with 4.0/8 and is currently in 35th place overall. Her husband, GM Erwin L'Ami, is tied for 2nd place with four other players, at 6.0/8.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Hales Corners Challenge XVI: Photographs and Postscript
Hi all.
Hales Corners Challenge XVI was a great success from my perspective. Darlings! This is the very first time we ever had to SEND YOU MORE MONEY to cover all the prizes won by the chess femmes! Like, totally HOO-RAY!
This has been a very sad time for me, and earlier it was a very trying summer. But right now is also a very happy time. Last night Tom Fogec stopped by and personally delivered to me an autograph of GM Josh Friedel, written on the back of a flyer for Hales Corners Challenge XVI. As you all know, Josh Friedel is one of our few American-minted GMs! I had posted at the Hales Corners Chess Club blog some weeks before wondering if I might be able to get his autograph -- half joking at the time because of course I wouldn't have thought twice about barging right up to him with pen and paper in hand :) Tom also told me that all of the chess femmes got together to have their photographs taken, those who played in the Open, and those who played in the Reserve, and that Allen Becker would be sending those to me. It brought good tears to my eyes.
Those photographs were in my email tonight when I got home from a night-out with those wild and crazy chicks with whom I share bus rides to and from work downtown, five days a week. We are the Rocking Crazy Cougars (or is that Crazy Cougars in Rocking Chairs...), amongst other names, except for "Thelma" because she's only 32 and far too young to be in Cougar territory. But we're teaching her how to hunt...
Oops, straying from the point here! It was wonderful to be with supportive, caring friends. I've had overwhelming support, in fact, and your sympathy and caring have been a life-line during a very dark time. Of course, one does not just wave one's magic wand and get over the death of a dearly beloved friend, companion, husband-in-everything-but-on-paper, not to mention a business partner and key component of what makes up Goddesschess. But with such overwhelming support of friends and fans and sympathetic hearts, one carries on. I'm no doofus. I know when I have it good. As Elie-Mae timely reminded me, these are blessings and I didn't even recognize them, like DOH, Jan! I've been so used to having such wonderfulness in my life, you see.
Okay, enough hokey stuff. Hey, I'm here, I'm one tough broad even if I can't play myself out of a paper bag on a chessboard! Of course that makes no sense to anyone who doesn't play chess...
I love these photos! Thanks so much, chess dudes and chess femmes!
I'm too tired to put all the math here that Robin G. presented me with earlier today in an email. Suffice to say, I KNEW we'd owe money this time because of course - wouldn't you know it - after all the tournaments Goddesschess had been depositing funds ahead of time with the Southwest Chess Club to cover potential chess femme prizes during the Hales Corners Chess Challenges, and we always got refunds back -- THIS TIME -- YES, LET ME SHOUT IT OUT AGAIN --THIS TIME (Can I Hear A Gospel Choir, PLEASE! giving me a big HMMMMMMMM and an AMEN) -- WE DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH ON DEPOSIT!
Woo woo!
Thank you so much, chess femmes. Smooches to all of you.
Hales Corners Challenge XVI was a great success from my perspective. Darlings! This is the very first time we ever had to SEND YOU MORE MONEY to cover all the prizes won by the chess femmes! Like, totally HOO-RAY!
This has been a very sad time for me, and earlier it was a very trying summer. But right now is also a very happy time. Last night Tom Fogec stopped by and personally delivered to me an autograph of GM Josh Friedel, written on the back of a flyer for Hales Corners Challenge XVI. As you all know, Josh Friedel is one of our few American-minted GMs! I had posted at the Hales Corners Chess Club blog some weeks before wondering if I might be able to get his autograph -- half joking at the time because of course I wouldn't have thought twice about barging right up to him with pen and paper in hand :) Tom also told me that all of the chess femmes got together to have their photographs taken, those who played in the Open, and those who played in the Reserve, and that Allen Becker would be sending those to me. It brought good tears to my eyes.
Those photographs were in my email tonight when I got home from a night-out with those wild and crazy chicks with whom I share bus rides to and from work downtown, five days a week. We are the Rocking Crazy Cougars (or is that Crazy Cougars in Rocking Chairs...), amongst other names, except for "Thelma" because she's only 32 and far too young to be in Cougar territory. But we're teaching her how to hunt...
Oops, straying from the point here! It was wonderful to be with supportive, caring friends. I've had overwhelming support, in fact, and your sympathy and caring have been a life-line during a very dark time. Of course, one does not just wave one's magic wand and get over the death of a dearly beloved friend, companion, husband-in-everything-but-on-paper, not to mention a business partner and key component of what makes up Goddesschess. But with such overwhelming support of friends and fans and sympathetic hearts, one carries on. I'm no doofus. I know when I have it good. As Elie-Mae timely reminded me, these are blessings and I didn't even recognize them, like DOH, Jan! I've been so used to having such wonderfulness in my life, you see.
Okay, enough hokey stuff. Hey, I'm here, I'm one tough broad even if I can't play myself out of a paper bag on a chessboard! Of course that makes no sense to anyone who doesn't play chess...
I love these photos! Thanks so much, chess dudes and chess femmes!
 |
These are the 9 chess femmes who played in the Reserve Section. Oh, me bad. I SHOULD recognize all of you, but I don't -- maybe a wee bit too much wine with those Cougars I went out with earlier tonight... or - and I plead guilty - just a crappy memory.
I DO recognize, on the far right, the beautiful Anne Ulrich (standing, with her hand on the chessboard), and to her immediate left is Pat Foat, who has two chessplaying sons -- hey Pat, good to see you again, sorry to have missed you in person! I do hope we'll have a chance to mix it up OTB at Challenge XVII, but if we don't, let's go out to lunch during the break and schmooze. And next to Pat is my buddy Ellen Wanek a/k/a Elie-Mae, who runs chess programs in Sheboygan, WI. Okay, all the rest of you chess femmes, you're young enough to be my granddaughters. Hmmmm.... Please wear name-tags the next time I see you. In LARGE PRINT, please. Hugs to all of you and thank you SO MUCH for coming out and supporting this wonderful local tournament. CHESS FEMME POWER!!!!
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These are, of course, the beautiful ladies who played in the Open. Oh - please excuse Robin Grochowski on the left and Tom Fogec on the right. Obviously they are no ladies, ahem. You guys! You crack me up! The chess femmes from left to right: Alena Huang; Rachel Ulrich; Anupama Rajendra; Sandra Pahl. Rah Rah, chess femme power!
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Woo woo!
Thank you so much, chess femmes. Smooches to all of you.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
2011 Deadly Earthquake in Spain Caused by Groundwater Removal
Evidence provided in the study. And yet the energy industry in the USA refuses to acknowledge that increasing earthquakes in and around sites of oil removal where so-called "fracking" is being used (water being pumped into fissures deep underground) is likewise causing those increasing quakes although, according to the article "Scientists have known for decades that pumping water into the Earth can set off small earthquakes." DUH!
When will we finally learn that when it's ALL about the money, it's NEVER good for mankind in general...
When will we finally learn that when it's ALL about the money, it's NEVER good for mankind in general...
Deadly Spain Earthquake Triggered By Groundwater Removal
By Becky Oskin, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer | LiveScience.com – 6 hrs ago
Groundwater removal triggered the unusually shallow and deadly earthquake that hit Lorca, Spain, in 2011, according to a new study.
Scientists have known for decades that pumping water into the Earth can set off small earthquakes. But this is the first time that removing water has been identified as an earthquake trigger, researchers said. Both the size and the location of the quake were influenced by groundwater pumping, the study found.
"The fact that the very tiny stress changes due to normal processes, such as the extraction of groundwater, could have an effect on very large systems such as faults, that's very surprising," said Pablo González, lead study author and a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Western Ontario in Canada.
The researchers were also able to precisely calculate the physical changes that generated the quake. The results will help seismologists better understand the physics that control when an earthquake starts and stops — an important step in predicting when and where a quake will occur, and its size.
"We need observations of this sort to calibrate physical models" of faults, said Jean-Philippe Avouac, a geologist at Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., who was not involved in the study. "The initiation and arrest of [fault] ruptures are something we are trying to constrain," he told OurAmazingPlanet.
Small quake, devastating effect
The May 5, 2011, earthquake was a relatively moderate magnitude 5.1. Quakes of this size usually don't cause significant damage in developed countries. A 2006 earthquake of magnitude 4.8 near Lorca did not cause any deaths.
But the 2011 quake ruptured only 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) below the Earth's surface, which meant the earthquake's energy was concentrated at the surface. Nine people were killed and dozens were injured, and both unreinforced masonry, like medieval churches, and modern buildings were damaged.
Thanks to previous research work in Spain, González suspected the quake's shallow epicenter could be related to groundwater extraction near Lorca. The groundwater table south of Lorca has dropped as much as 820 feet (250 meters) since 1960.
"When the tragic event occurred, we asked ourselves if the earthquake might be related to the subsidence. The earthquake was very shallow, and moreover, this pattern of subsidence was bounded by the fault," González told OurAmazingPlanet.
Linking subsidence to fault rupture
Using data from satellite imagery and GPS stations, González and his colleagues first confirmed the quake occurred on the Alhama de Murcia fault. Then, they calculated how the crust responded to removing the weight of the water. Releasing the load increased the stress on the Alhama de Murcia fault by a few tens of kilopascals — less than atmospheric pressure — the study found.
During the quake, the fault broke only in areas where removing groundwater increased stress on the fault. From this correlation, González inferred that the groundwater removal not only helped trigger the quake, but also controlled the size of the fault rupture and the earthquake's magnitude.
However, the amount of energy released by the quake far exceeded that built up by groundwater extraction. Thus, the earthquake released both stress caused by groundwater extraction and several centuries of regional deformation, the study concludes. Southeastern Spain is near the plate boundary region that separates the Eurasia and Africa tectonic plates.
The findings were detailed in the Oct. 21 issue of the journal Nature Geosciences.
"When the tragic event occurred, we asked ourselves if the earthquake might be related to the subsidence. The earthquake was very shallow, and moreover, this pattern of subsidence was bounded by the fault," González told OurAmazingPlanet.
Linking subsidence to fault rupture
Using data from satellite imagery and GPS stations, González and his colleagues first confirmed the quake occurred on the Alhama de Murcia fault. Then, they calculated how the crust responded to removing the weight of the water. Releasing the load increased the stress on the Alhama de Murcia fault by a few tens of kilopascals — less than atmospheric pressure — the study found.
During the quake, the fault broke only in areas where removing groundwater increased stress on the fault. From this correlation, González inferred that the groundwater removal not only helped trigger the quake, but also controlled the size of the fault rupture and the earthquake's magnitude.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Hales Corners Challenge XVI - Final Standings
A record number of chess femmes participated in the Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVI today, hosted by my adopted chess Club, Southwest Chess Club, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
I am working off of information provided at the Southwest Chess Club's blog. I'm not sure of the names of all of the chess femmes, only that four played in the Open and nine played in the Reserve. The prior record was eleven chess femmes. I am very happy with this great turnout.
Here are the rankings of the Open and Reserve sections as reported by the USCF -- note: as Tom Fogec explained to me tonight (October 21st) the highest rated players who finish with the same score are listed from highest ELO to lower, without regard to tie breaks that determine actual finish position! So, in the case of tie scores, the person you see listed as number 1 isn't necessarily the winner. I didn't know this, oops!
OPEN:
No. Name St Rate Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Score
1. Friedel, Joshua Ed (1)........ NH 2566 W22 W30 W5 D2 3.5
2. Boor, Carl Brandon (2)........ IL 2361 W47 W11 W10 D1 3.5
3. Williams, William (4)......... WI 2223 W7 D12 W15 W14 3.5
4. Becker, Allen J (8)........... WI 2064 W32 D14 W33 W8 3.5
7. Ulrich, Rachel J (17)......... WI 1892 L3 W40 W35 W29 3.0 (clear top chess femme finisher)
16. Rajendra, Anupama (24)........ WI 1820 L12 W31 W42 D9 2.5
39. Huang, Alena (39)............. WI 1517 W26 L6 L23 L24 1.0
41. Pahl, Sandra R (43)........... WI 1450 L19 L26 L24 W46 1.0
Rachel Ulrich is the real deal! She won three of four and wins a Goddesschess cash prize of $120.00, in addition to a modest gift bag and free entry to Hales Corners Challenge XVII, should she choose to enter.
Anupama Rajendra won two games and drew one, for a total Goddesschess cash prize of $100.00.
Alena Huang and Sandra Pahl each won a game, good for $40.00 cash each from Goddesschess.
RESERVE:
No. Name St Rate 1 2 3 4 Score
1. Sydlewski, Dean (2)........... WI 1517 W9 W10 W17 D3 3.5
5. Saycocie, Vanisa (10)......... WI 1283 L2 W20 W19 W15 3.0 (Goddesschess prize $60)
6. Ulrich, Anne E (12)........... WI 1242 D3 W25 W24 D2 3.0 (Goddesschess prize $60)
9. Huang, Sabrina (11)........... WI 1249 L1 W21 W29 D11 2.5 (Goddesschess prize $50)
20. Pandey, Ritika (26)........... WI 877 W33 L5 W16 L7 2.0 (Goddesschess prize $40)
22. Wanek, Ellen Ann (28)......... WI 838 L13 L33 W35 W28 2.0 (Gpoddesschess prize $40)
25. Bepar, Naisha (16)............ WI 1082 -H- L6 L8 W34 1.5 (Goddesschess prize $20)
26. Vootkur, Manisha (19)......... WI 1028 L16 L7 W32 -U- 1.0 (Goddesschess prize $20)
30. Pandey, Divya (30)............ WI 746 L28 W35 L7 L18 1.0 (Goddesschess prize $20)
34. Foat, Patricia J (35)......... WI 306 L19 L31 -B- L25 1.0 (Goddesschess prize $20)
Updated October 21, 2012:
I added the names of Divya Pandey and Ritika Pandey to the Reserve chess femmes, I did not have them on the list last night.
Congratulations to all of the ladies. On tie-breaks, Anne Ulrich, whom I met a few Challenges ago, is the recipient of a Goddesschess gift bag and receives free entry to the next Hales Corners Challenge should she choose to enter, in addition to her cash prize.
As you can see, the ladies did very well! ALL of them won prizes, I couldn't be more pleased. For the first time ever, we'll have to put MORE into our prize pot!!! Woo woo!
I hope this is the an indication that the future of chess femmes participating in the Hales Corners Challenges will just keep growing and growing and growing.
I understand photographs from Challenge XVI are on the way. That means I've got to figure out how to publish them here. Evidently, all of a sudden I ran up against a LIMIT on images I had no idea existed before a few days ago. So now Google wants money from me for a supposedly FREE blog, and if I do not pay up, I cannot post any further images at this blog.
My choices are limited. I can either start a new blog or pay the extortion to add more images to this blog and continue it forward. Of course, the extortion could increase at any time, as extortionists tend to do.
So, I'm not sure what I'm going to do at the present time.
I am working off of information provided at the Southwest Chess Club's blog. I'm not sure of the names of all of the chess femmes, only that four played in the Open and nine played in the Reserve. The prior record was eleven chess femmes. I am very happy with this great turnout.
Here are the rankings of the Open and Reserve sections as reported by the USCF -- note: as Tom Fogec explained to me tonight (October 21st) the highest rated players who finish with the same score are listed from highest ELO to lower, without regard to tie breaks that determine actual finish position! So, in the case of tie scores, the person you see listed as number 1 isn't necessarily the winner. I didn't know this, oops!
OPEN:
No. Name St Rate Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Score
1. Friedel, Joshua Ed (1)........ NH 2566 W22 W30 W5 D2 3.5
2. Boor, Carl Brandon (2)........ IL 2361 W47 W11 W10 D1 3.5
3. Williams, William (4)......... WI 2223 W7 D12 W15 W14 3.5
4. Becker, Allen J (8)........... WI 2064 W32 D14 W33 W8 3.5
7. Ulrich, Rachel J (17)......... WI 1892 L3 W40 W35 W29 3.0 (clear top chess femme finisher)
16. Rajendra, Anupama (24)........ WI 1820 L12 W31 W42 D9 2.5
39. Huang, Alena (39)............. WI 1517 W26 L6 L23 L24 1.0
41. Pahl, Sandra R (43)........... WI 1450 L19 L26 L24 W46 1.0
Rachel Ulrich is the real deal! She won three of four and wins a Goddesschess cash prize of $120.00, in addition to a modest gift bag and free entry to Hales Corners Challenge XVII, should she choose to enter.
Anupama Rajendra won two games and drew one, for a total Goddesschess cash prize of $100.00.
Alena Huang and Sandra Pahl each won a game, good for $40.00 cash each from Goddesschess.
RESERVE:
No. Name St Rate 1 2 3 4 Score
1. Sydlewski, Dean (2)........... WI 1517 W9 W10 W17 D3 3.5
5. Saycocie, Vanisa (10)......... WI 1283 L2 W20 W19 W15 3.0 (Goddesschess prize $60)
6. Ulrich, Anne E (12)........... WI 1242 D3 W25 W24 D2 3.0 (Goddesschess prize $60)
9. Huang, Sabrina (11)........... WI 1249 L1 W21 W29 D11 2.5 (Goddesschess prize $50)
20. Pandey, Ritika (26)........... WI 877 W33 L5 W16 L7 2.0 (Goddesschess prize $40)
22. Wanek, Ellen Ann (28)......... WI 838 L13 L33 W35 W28 2.0 (Gpoddesschess prize $40)
25. Bepar, Naisha (16)............ WI 1082 -H- L6 L8 W34 1.5 (Goddesschess prize $20)
26. Vootkur, Manisha (19)......... WI 1028 L16 L7 W32 -U- 1.0 (Goddesschess prize $20)
30. Pandey, Divya (30)............ WI 746 L28 W35 L7 L18 1.0 (Goddesschess prize $20)
34. Foat, Patricia J (35)......... WI 306 L19 L31 -B- L25 1.0 (Goddesschess prize $20)
Updated October 21, 2012:
I added the names of Divya Pandey and Ritika Pandey to the Reserve chess femmes, I did not have them on the list last night.
Congratulations to all of the ladies. On tie-breaks, Anne Ulrich, whom I met a few Challenges ago, is the recipient of a Goddesschess gift bag and receives free entry to the next Hales Corners Challenge should she choose to enter, in addition to her cash prize.
As you can see, the ladies did very well! ALL of them won prizes, I couldn't be more pleased. For the first time ever, we'll have to put MORE into our prize pot!!! Woo woo!
I hope this is the an indication that the future of chess femmes participating in the Hales Corners Challenges will just keep growing and growing and growing.
I understand photographs from Challenge XVI are on the way. That means I've got to figure out how to publish them here. Evidently, all of a sudden I ran up against a LIMIT on images I had no idea existed before a few days ago. So now Google wants money from me for a supposedly FREE blog, and if I do not pay up, I cannot post any further images at this blog.
My choices are limited. I can either start a new blog or pay the extortion to add more images to this blog and continue it forward. Of course, the extortion could increase at any time, as extortionists tend to do.
So, I'm not sure what I'm going to do at the present time.
Friday, October 19, 2012
2012 European Club Cup - Women
Game featured at The Week in Chess:
Lest anyone forget, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk was the 12th Women's World Chess Champion...
From chess-results.com:
GM Hou, Yifan (2605) - GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra (2490)
17th European Club Cup w Eilat ISR (1.1), 2012.10.11
17th European Club Cup w Eilat ISR (1.1), 2012.10.11
1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 e5 4.Ngf3 Bd6 5.d4 exd4 6.exd5 Nf6 7.dxc6 Nxc6 8.Be2 O-O 9.Nb3 Re8 10.O-O Bg4 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 Be5 13.Nc5 Rc8 14.Nd3 Bb8 15.Bg5 h6 16.Bh4 g5 17.Bg3 Bxg3 18.fxg3 Qd6 19.Rf2 Kg7 20.Qd2 Qxg3 21.Raf1 Re7 22.c3 Ne5 23.cxd4 Nc4 24.Qb4 Rcc7 25.Rc1 Ne3 26.Rxc7 Rxc7 27.Qd2 Nf5 28.Ne5 Nd6 29.Rf1 Qh4 30.Qd3 Qg3 31.Qd2 Nf5 32.Qd3 Nd6 33.Qd2 Nf5 34.Qd3 Qf4 35.Bxb7 Qxd4+ 36.Qxd4 Nxd4 37.Ba6 Rc2 38.Rf2 Rc1+ 39.Rf1 Rc2 40.Rf2 Rc1+ 41.Kh2 h5 42.Rd2 Nf5 43.Rf2 Nd6 44.Bd3 h4 45.Rf1 Rc7 46.g3 Re7 47.Nf3 Re3 48.Ba6 hxg3+ 49.Kxg3 Nf5+ 50.Kh2 g4 51.hxg4 Nxg4+ 52.Kh3 Ne5 53.Bb7 Nd6 54.Ba8 f5 55.Kg3 Nd3 56.Kh4 Kf6 57.b3 Re8 58.Rd1 Rxa8 59.Rxd3 Ne4 0-1
Lest anyone forget, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk was the 12th Women's World Chess Champion...
From chess-results.com:
Ranking crosstable
| Rk. | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo | * | 2½ | 3 | 2½ | 2½ | 4 | 3½ | 4 | 14 | 261.0 | 22.0 |
| 2 | Mika | 1½ | * | 1½ | 3 | 2½ | 3½ | 3½ | 3 | 10 | 225.0 | 18.5 |
| 3 | Ugra | 1 | 2½ | * | 1 | 2½ | 2 | 2½ | 3½ | 9 | 184.3 | 15.0 |
| 4 | SHSM-Nashe Nasledie | 1½ | 1 | 3 | * | 2 | 3½ | 2 | 3½ | 8 | 196.0 | 16.5 |
| 5 | AVS | 1½ | 1½ | 1½ | 2 | * | 3½ | 4 | 4 | 7 | 199.8 | 18.0 |
| 6 | Ashdod | 0 | ½ | 2 | ½ | ½ | * | 2½ | 3 | 5 | 91.0 | 9.0 |
| 7 | Chigorin Club | ½ | ½ | 1½ | 2 | 0 | 1½ | * | 3 | 3 | 101.3 | 9.0 |
| 8 | Rishon Le-Zion | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | * | 0 | 52.3 | 4.0 |
Annotation:
Tie Break1: Matchpoints (2 for wins, 1 for Draws, 0 for Losses)
Tie Break2: FIDE-Sonneborn-Berger-Tie-Break
Tie Break3: points (game-points)
Tie Break1: Matchpoints (2 for wins, 1 for Draws, 0 for Losses)
Tie Break2: FIDE-Sonneborn-Berger-Tie-Break
Tie Break3: points (game-points)
de Monte-Carlo was once again a veritable powerhouse -- as one can see from the list of players:
Team-Composition with round-results
| 1. Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo (RtgAvg:2578, Captain: Almira Skripchenko / TB1: 14 / TB2: 261) | ||||||||||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Pts. | Games | RtgAvg | |
| 1 | GM | Hou Yifan | 2605 | CHN | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | 6 | 2409 | |
| 2 | GM | Koneru Humpy | 2607 | IND | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 5.5 | 7 | 2383 |
| 3 | GM | Muzychuk Anna | 2587 | SLO | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | 6 | 2334 | |
| 4 | GM | Cramling Pia | 2514 | SWE | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 4.5 | 6 | 2334 | |
| 5 | IM | Skripchenko Almira | 2437 | FRA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.0 | 3 | 2022 | ||||
| 2. Mika (RtgAvg:2472, Captain: Anahit Vardapetyan / TB1: 10 / TB2: 225) | ||||||||||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Pts. | Games | RtgAvg | |
| 1 | GM | Danielian Elina | 2476 | ARM | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.0 | 7 | 2415 |
| 2 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2512 | IND | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | 7 | 2393 |
| 3 | IM | Mkrtchian Lilit | 2456 | ARM | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 4.5 | 7 | 2336 |
| 4 | IM | Javakhishvili Lela | 2444 | GEO | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5.5 | 7 | 2244 |
| 3. Ugra (RtgAvg:2397, Captain: Pavel Lobach / TB1: 9 / TB2: 184.25) | ||||||||||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Pts. | Games | RtgAvg | |
| 1 | WGM | Kovanova Baira | 2408 | RUS | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.5 | 6 | 2452 | |
| 2 | WGM | Girya Olga | 2454 | RUS | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.5 | 7 | 2410 |
| 3 | IM | Romanko Marina | 2365 | RUS | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 2.5 | 6 | 2408 | |
| 4 | WGM | Shadrina Tatiana | 2361 | RUS | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 5.0 | 7 | 2308 |
| 5 | WIM | Bezgodova Maria | 2177 | RUS | ½ | 1 | 1.5 | 2 | 1958 | |||||
| 4. SHSM-Nashe Nasledie (RtgAvg:2444, Captain: Elder Mukhametov / TB1: 8 / TB2: 196) | ||||||||||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Pts. | Games | RtgAvg | |
| 1 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 2490 | RUS | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 4.5 | 6 | 2428 | |
| 2 | IM | Gunina Valentina | 2514 | RUS | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 3.5 | 6 | 2432 | |
| 3 | IM | Kovalevskaya Ekaterina | 2405 | RUS | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 3.5 | 6 | 2407 | |
| 4 | WGM | Kashlinskaya Alina | 2368 | RUS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2.0 | 5 | 2295 | ||
| 5 | IM | Savina Anastasia | 2303 | RUS | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 3.0 | 5 | 2185 | ||
| 5. AVS (RtgAvg:2512, Captain: Vladmir Georgiev / TB1: 7 / TB2: 199.75) | ||||||||||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Pts. | Games | RtgAvg | |
| 1 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | 2493 | BUL | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 2.5 | 5 | 2464 | ||
| 2 | GM | Lahno Kateryna | 2551 | UKR | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | 6 | 2366 | |
| 3 | GM | Cmilyte Viktorija | 2528 | LTU | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3.5 | 6 | 2395 | |
| 4 | WGM | Pogonina Natalija | 2476 | RUS | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3.5 | 5 | 2317 | ||
| 5 | IM | Muzychuk Mariya | 2474 | UKR | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.0 | 6 | 2196 | |
| 6. Ashdod (RtgAvg:2228, TB1: 5 / TB2: 91) | ||||||||||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Pts. | Games | RtgAvg | |
| 1 | IM | Klinova Masha | 2324 | ISR | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 2.5 | 6 | 2421 | |
| 2 | IM | Borsuk Angela | 2260 | ISR | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 6 | 2447 | |
| 3 | WIM | Vasiliev Olga | 2240 | ISR | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.5 | 7 | 2380 |
| 4 | WIM | Tsifanskaya Ludmila A | 2087 | ISR | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 2.5 | 6 | 2240 | |
| 5 | WFM | Dotan Valeria | 2064 | ISR | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 3 | 2214 | ||||
| 7. Chigorin Club (RtgAvg:2277, Captain: Andrei Lukin / TB1: 3 / TB2: 101.25) | ||||||||||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Pts. | Games | RtgAvg | |
| 1 | IM | Bodnaruk Anastasia | 2425 | RUS | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 2.5 | 7 | 2423 |
| 2 | WIM | Bronnikova Elizaveta | 2244 | RUS | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.5 | 7 | 2419 |
| 3 | WIM | Ivkina Olga | 2266 | RUS | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 3.0 | 7 | 2329 |
| 4 | Ivanova-Skripova Tatiana | 2173 | RUS | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 7 | 2263 | |
| 8. Rishon Le-Zion (RtgAvg:2036, TB1: 0 / TB2: 52.25) | ||||||||||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Pts. | Games | RtgAvg | |
| 1 | WIM | Efroimski Marsel | 2162 | ISR | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.5 | 7 | 2468 |
| 2 | Reprun Nadejda | 2143 | ISR | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 7 | 2443 | |
| 3 | Vardi Shlomit | 2010 | ISR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 5 | 2450 | |||
| 4 | Federovski Adi | 1829 | ISR | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 6 | 2291 | ||
| 5 | Lahav Michal | 1732 | ISR | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1.0 | 3 | 2227 | |||||
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