The Magic of Phi

Hola darlings! It's another beautiful day here. I am sore from raking - I spent hours yesterday raking out the backyard, picking up the branches from several strong-wind days that had blown through during the past month (when, I confess, I was lazy and on good weather days I sat on the deck and read rather than doing yardwork) and also raking out the mysterious patches all over the backyard like a damn checkerboard pattern where the grass has turned brown and brittle and comes out one blade at a time as I rake. Damn! Anyway, I have about 1/3rd of the yard still to rake up before I pull out the mower for what will probably be its second-last cut. I came across this intersting article about the number 1.618... - the "divine proportion" or "golden ratio." Trying to understand the formula makes my eyes cross and puts me to sleep, but I understand the "practical" applications as far how the proportion is expressed in architecture, art and in nature. Many years ago I tried plotting out the Fibonnaci sequence on a chessboard, and came up with an interesting graphic that Don colorized and turned into a rather "fractal" looking piece of art that we used at Goddesschess for awhile. I'll see if I can find that graphic and post it here if I do. In the meantime, here is the article. It gives credit where credit is due - to the ancient Egyptians. Al-Ahram September 27 - October 3, 2007 Issue 864 The amazing Golden Ratio Artists reckon that the "Golden Ratio", also called the "Golden Section Phi" and nature's most astonishing number, is the ratio that controls the proportions of all beautiful objects, writes Assem Deif* [* The writer is a professor of mathematics at Cairo University and Misr University for Science and Technology] It is said that a well-proportioned face must lie in what is called a "golden rectangle" of dimensions in the ratio of approximately 1 to 1.6. Not only living forms, but also works of art and buildings, including the splendid domes of Persia and the Athens Parthenon, are found to adhere to this rule. The ratio became even more pronounced during the European Renaissance, when Leonardo Da Vinci studied the physical proportions of man and portrayed them in his unfinished canvas of St Jerome along with other works such as the "Mona Lisa" and the "Vitruvian Man". So, quite apart from the other mathematical constants, Pi = 3.14, e = 2.718 (Euler Number), Gamma = 0.577 (Euler Constant), and i = sqrt(- 1) which possess mathematical properties only, the Golden Ratio Phi = 1.618... has an additional aesthetic feature. Since mathematicians in ancient times were often poets and philosophers who believed in the uniformity of nature, mathematics served to satisfy their need to understand the world around them and to resolve its secrets. Hence, they started tracking this constant in everyday objects such as plants and animals, and discovered that the proportions of many conformed with this ratio. This was why, by the time of the Renaissance, it had become known as the "Divine Proportion". Mathematically, the Golden Ratio appears as the limit of several sequences, the most important of which are those that satisfy the recurrence relation s(n+1) = s(n) + s(n-1) where s (n) is the nth term of the sequence, whereas s(n- 1) and s(n+1) are respectively the preceding and succeeding terms, as in the famous Fibonacci sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, .... in which any term is the additive sum of its two preceding terms, or in any other sequence satisfying the above recurrence, even if we start with any two numbers such as 5 and 2; that is 5, 2, 7, 9, 16, 25... We always have that the quotient of two successive terms s(n+1)/s(n) approaches a certain number called Phi. To calculate the value of Phi from the above recurrence relation written as s(n+1)/s(n) = 1 + s(n-1)/s(n), it turns out, in the limiting situation, that Phi = 1 + 1/phi, or that Phi equals half of the quantity 1+sqrt(5) = 1.618... Historians trace the Golden Ratio back to Euclid, yet it appears that even before him it was governing the dimensions of monuments in ancient Egypt. The most pronounced of these is the Great Pyramid. The dimensions of the inner triangle (the so-called "Egyptian triangle") of Khufu's Pyramid, for instance, in Royal cubits (one cubit equalling roughly 0.524 metres), are (220c, 280c, 356c) i.e. in the ratios 1 : sqrt(Phi) : Phi. That the foregoing relation is not a matter of coincidence is discussed elsewhere. However, the Great Pyramid is not the only structure from ancient Egypt that complies with constants like Pi or Phi; Schwaller De Lubicz, who studied the temples of Upper Egypt from 1937 to 1952, collected massive amounts of evidence to show that the Egyptians used the Golden Ratio in many ways both in the architecture of their temples and in their drawings. So whereas, prior to De Lubicz's research, the discovery of the "golden rule" was generally credited to the Greeks (although some historians denied this), the findings of such Egyptologists as De Lubicz and Fliders Petrie produced irrefutable proof that the Egyptians had a mathematical understanding of these constants, the ratios, not the symbol, 1000 earlier. Petrie, for example, noticed that the dimensions of many Egyptian tombs, especially those of a parallelepiped structure, adhered to the ratios 1 : Phi : Phi square. The same ratio also appears in a grid surrounding a human body depicted in the royal tomb of Amenhotep III in the Valley of the Kings. There was much cross-culture between the Egyptian and Greek civilisations in the cities of the north coast during the Hellenistic era, particularly in Alexandria where Egyptian and Greek scientists studied together at the Mouseion. Among them, in the third century BC, was one who was considered, par excellence, the most reputed scientist in antiquity, the great Euclid. Historians call him Euclid of Alexandria without precluding the possibility he might have been Egyptian. It was in Alexandria that Euclid wrote his opus The Elements, still the most famous mathematical work ever written. Since the invention of the Gutenberg machine this work, compiled in 13 volumes, has been printed more than any book apart from the Bible. (Euclid introduced the ratio, obtained from extreme and mean ratio of three collinear points, in volume VI). The Arab mathematician Al-Haggag produced the first translation of The Elements into Arabic, and as the original Greek work was subsequently lost it was only through the Arabic translation that the book became known to the rest of the world. Euclid was only one of the scientists who performed research at the Mouseion. The great intellects of the day flocked to Alexandria, and among them we encounter such names as Eratosthenes, Archimedes, Apollonius, Menelaus, Heron, Nicomachus, Ptolemy, Diophantus, Pappus, Galen, Theon and his daughter Hypatia. Greek scholars were visiting Egypt even before the Mouseion was founded, including Thales, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and above all Pythagoras who spent 22 years in Egypt about 600 BC and announced his theory only after leaving. Records tell us that the Egyptians were aware of the triangle 3:4:5 which Pythagoras himself called the "Holy Triangle". Eight pyramids from the fourth and fifth dynasties have their inner triangle conforming to these ratios. There are many applications for the Golden Ratio varying from mathematical optimisation to architecture. We find it in other sciences too. In biology it controls the distribution of the leaves around the stem of a plant such that they receive the maximum amount of light. It was found that the distribution of their angle of rotation or distances from one another followed terms as in the sequence 1/2, 1/3, 2/5, 3/8, 5/13, 8/21, 13/34, in which the numerator a(n) of the quotients represents the number of turns we climb, say, around the stem in such that any one leaf returns to a position exactly above the point where it started, whereas the denominator b(n) represents the number of leaves in between. This ratio differs from plant to plant, yet it varies on average between 1/2 and 1/3. The reader will notice that in the sequence both the numerators and denominators are terms in the Fibonacci sequence, in which a(n) and b(n) satisfy b(n+1) = b(n) + a(n+1). Since both a(n+1)/a(n) and b(n+1)/b(n) tend to Phi, it follows that a(n+1)/b(n) tends to Phi-1 = 1/Phi. As to the distribution of the leaves around the stem b (n)/a(n), it tends to Phi square for at each turn the leaves organise themselves on the stem. We can elaborate further to calculate the divergence angle of any one leaf such that no two leaves would be above one another; allowing for maximum light exposure. Having that each complete turn of any one leaf in order to return to its original position travels an angle of a(n)x360 while passing by b(n) leaves in between, it follows that each leaf occupies an angle of a(n)x360/ b(n) = 360/(Phi square) almost 137 degrees. Thus, if there are Phi square leaves per turn (or equivalently 1/Phi square turns per leaf), then each leaf gets the maximum exposure to light while casting the least shadow on the others. This also gives the best possible area exposed to falling rain, or, in the case of flowers, the best possible exposure to attract insects for pollination. Still in biology, the Fibonacci sequence, of which the ratio of two successive terms tend in the limit to Phi, often appears in the reproduction of animals and plants. The figure depicts the increase in the number of leaves in some plants from row to row. Likewise, in rabbit reproduction, say, starting with one pair of rabbits, at the end of the first month they will have mated but there is still one only pair. At the end of the second month they produce a new pair, so now there are two pairs of rabbits. At the end of the third month the original pair produces a second pair, making three pairs. At the end of the fourth month the original pair has produced yet another new pair, while the pair born two months before produces their first pair, making five pairs. And so on (assuming that each pair born consists of a male and a female rabbit). A fascinating phenomenon associated with the Golden Ratio is its regular appearance in such objects of nature as nautili and other shells. Such shells imitate a curve called in mathematics the "logarithmic spiral", first investigated by Jacob Bernoulli in the 18th century. This was the second curve in history, next to the circle, to have its length calculated, since although it has an infinite number of loops, its length approaches a finite value. One extremely amazing appearance of the logarithmic spiral in nature is associated with raptors. Since these predatory birds must keep the prey in sight all the time, and since their eyes are on the side of the head, a hawk or eagle swivels its head to one side at an angle of about 40 degrees and fixes its prey in this eye. Keeping its head fixed at that 40-degree angle, the bird then dives in a way which keeps the prey in sight in that one eye. The fixed angle of the head results in the bird's following a logarithmic spiral path that converges on its prey. A special case of the logarithmic spiral is the "golden spiral". This is drawn either from the outside or the inside. In the first option, we start from a square of unit side-length, then extend it into a "golden rectangle" of base unity and height 1.618. Then we draw a quarter of a circle inside the square, and another one in the extension of radius 0.618 = 1/Phi, etc... making sure that each time we isolate a square from a golden rectangle. An interesting feature that I found with this spiral is that its inner area can almost be filled up (I said almost) by a set of adjacent Egyptian triangles. As to the mathematical properties of Phi, we summarise them as follows: Phi = 1.618..., 1/ Phi = 0.618, Phi square = 2.618... and so on. For instance, Phi raised to the 11th power equals 199.00502... and 1/Phi raised also to the 11th power equals 0.00502. Also Phi has the peculiar continued fraction representation [seems to be something missing here, but this is how it is in the article] Again, in terms of nested radicals: Also, by writing Phi square = 1 + Phi, Phi cube = 1 + 2Phi, Phi power 4 = 2 + 3Phi, Phi power 5 = 3 + 5Phi, Phi power 6 = 5 + 8Phi, etc... we notice that the coefficients represent two Fibonacci sequences. The interesting properties of the golden ratio led the academic circle to issue a regular periodical called the Fibonacci Quarterly. We can still deduce further properties: Phi power 10 = Phi power 9 + Phi power 8 = Phi power 8 + 2Phi power 7 + Phi power 6 = Phi power 7 + 3Phi power 6 + 3Phi power 5 + Phi power 4 = Phi power 6 + 4Phi power 5 + 6Phi power 4 + 4Phi power 3 + Phi power 2 = .... in which the coefficients in the polynomial represent successively rows of a "Pascal Triangle" , known to the Arabs and which represent the coefficients of a binomial expansion of any two numbers raised to a positive integer n. The applications of the Golden Ratio in the physical sciences are endless, so we have restricted ourselves in this short article to a few of the most famous which yet have no complicated mathematical features. © Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved

Nitty Gritty Chess in Washington, D.C.

An excellent article from the Washington Post on a famous site where chess hustlers reign and "straight" players come to battle on the 65th square: The Days and Knights of Tom Murphy Chess players and hustlers come from all over to be part of Dupont Circle's famed scene. For some, leaving is much harder. By Wells TowerSunday, September 30, 2007; Page W08 In five sections.

Request for Bids for 2008 U.S. Chess Championships

Hola darlings! It's a gorgeous Saturday morning here and I've got a ton of yardwork to do; this afternoon I plan on doing some serious relaxing on the deck, catching up on some reading. I visited the recently revamped U.S. Chess Federation website this morning and discovered that Executive Director Bill Hall put out a request for bids for the 2008 U.S. Chess Championships on September 21, 2007. I will keep my fingers and toes crossed that generous sponsorship will come forward for the 2008 event(s). The bidding is wide open as far as format is concerned, evidently; when AF4C was sponsoring the championships, the women's and men's championships were combined into one huge event with the top finishing woman declared the women's champion. A separate prize structure was also in place in many of those years for the women who competed, leading to much grousing in the peanut gallery when a female player earned more in prize money for a lower overall score than men competing in the men's championship. This system had pluses, and several minuses. If I had unlimited funds and could sponsor such an event, I would prefer it to be structured along the lines of the 2007 U.S. Women's Chess Championship, where the top 10 rated female players in the country were invited and, where invitations were declined, the offer(s) went to the next women on the ratings list. The prize structure was also fixed and, if I understand it correctly, there was no prize "pooling" - that is - there were definitive tie-breaks so that, say, five players who finished with the same score did not pool and divide the five money prizes for their relative placements and so that each player would take home an equal amount of prize money from the "pool." I disapprove of this kind of arrangement; it seems to me it discourages fighting chess. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how much information (if any) we in the peanut gallery receive about the bids received - assuming bids are made, that is! This is supposed to be a new day and age for the USCF Executive Board - an age of transparency and free sharing of information of interest to the rank and file membership. My dues - and the dues of thousands of others - support the USCF and our votes put these people into office. So, it is to be hoped that those in office will let us know what's going on in due course - and earn their keep!

Marie Antoinette's Pearls

Hola darlings! I'm baaaaacccckkkk! It's been a horrendous week at the office, I don't even want to think about it. My poor shoulders and neck were so tense tonight when it was finally 5 p.m. and I was able to unchain myself from my desk that I looked about 10 feet tall as I left the office, I was THAT strung out (my normal height is 5 feet 3 and 3/4th inches, thank you very much). I was stressed; I was depressed; I was upset. Dealing with the B.S. dished out at the office is one thing; dealing with being treated as a dead-beat criminal by AT&T is on an entirely different level. I wanted nothing so much as something that would make me happy. At 6:30 p.m., after tossing out several handsfull of peanuts for the squirrels who were knocking at the patio door just before sundown, I put in the DVD of "Searching for Bobby Fischer." "Searching for Bobby Fischer" possibly is one of the best movies of all time. It is so damn subtle and yet so overwhelmingly beautiful in the story it tells. It never fails to capture me and carry me away. So what if the most of it is "fiction" - ie., not exactly what happened in the real life of Josh Waitzkin; yes, characters were compressed and changed; yes, the timeline was compressed; and yes, of course the "real length" chess games were compressed into exciting shots of what looks like speed chess with suitably dramatic echoes of hands slapping the clock. So fricking what! The story the movie tells is wonderful and awe-inspiring, and it never fails to lift me up. The acting is superb; hell, the casting was superb. Joan Allen as the mom is the height of perfection - well - I don't want to go on and on right now, I may do so, though, at a later time. Suffice to say that after viewing "Searching for Bobby Fischer" (the Man himself should be PROUD this movie has his name in its title instead of bitching and moaning about how the producers ripped him off by using his name without his "permission" - oh please!) the knots in the back of my neck and across my shoulders and down my spine were "untied" and I'd shrunk back to my regular height. I poured myself a glass of cheap wine and wandered upstairs where my computer is. I turned on the upstairs t.v. and turned on the computer not really expecting to be able to get online since I'd discovered earlier at the office that I couldn't even frigging send myself an email (talk about being naive! here I thought the damn things were being cached and would be delivered one I rendered my account into "approved status". Ha! What kind of fool am I....) and lo and behold, the fourth little green light on my DSL box lit up. Well! I didn't believe it. So I tested it out to see if it was really telling me the truth. Lo and behold further, I actually was able to connect to the internet. I'm only missing nearly a week's worth of email because I discovered today, entirely by accident, that any mail sent to my personal home email address evidently was rejected as if the addy no longer existed! I cannot tell you about the amount of steam that poured out of my ears when I discovered THAT about 3:30 this afternoon at the office, when I emailed myself a document that I had been working on for later on work at home, only to get one of the "daemon" return messages about 10 minutes later. ARRRGGGGHHH! AT&T has seen the last of my hard-earned money, it can't be soon enough! Now that I've got my at-home online ability back, I will be able to do more research about suitable alternatives for my situation. Okay - so I'm back, at least for now. Who knows what trials and tribulations I may have to undergo before I finally get a new system of communication installed into the homestead, or how long it will take. I have already started drafting my letter of complaint to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission about the treatment I received at the hands of AT&T. I investigated bringing a small claims action against AT&T to collect a credit for the number of days I was without DSL service (unfairly denied service), and had decided that the cost of the Summons alone, plus the cost of taking a day off work to appear in Small Claims Court wasn't worth it. But that was BEFORE I discovered that an unknown number of emails sent to me by admiring fans and department stores with which I am registered from all around the world were cruelly, most cruelly, REJECTED through the cold caprice of AT&T. I believe that action alone by AT&T constitutes tortious interference with contract, since I am a major partner in Goddesschess.com and my email is my lifeline to the larger world of chess. There is not a question in my mind that AT&T's actions constitute intentional infliction of emotional distress. Anyway, talking about making AT&T pays for its unjustified sins against me wasn't the point of this post - believe it or not. Nope - I actually wanted to post here about Marie Antoinette and her pearls. Here's the story: By Mike Collett-White Thu Sep 27, 12:21 PM ET LONDON (Reuters) - A set of pearls once belonging to Marie Antoinette and taken to Britain by a friend for safekeeping will go on sale in December, and are expected to fetch up to $800,000. Now part of a diamond, ruby and pearl necklace, France's last queen gave a bag of pearls and diamonds to Lady Sutherland, the British ambassador's wife, before she fled revolutionary France in 1792, a year before Marie Antoinette's death. "Lady Sutherland was wife of the ambassador and friends with the queen, and they had children of the same age," said Raymond Sancroft-Baker, senior director of Christie's jewelry in London. "When you are in a dire situation, there are not many people you can trust and the key was to give the jewels to someone with diplomatic immunity," he told Reuters. Marie Antoinette, legendary for her extravagance, did not know her fate at the time, he said, and would have hoped to be reunited with her treasures one day. "Hope springs eternal," added Sancroft-Baker. According to Christie's, Sutherland arranged for clothes and linen to be sent to the queen while she was in prison. "This was reportedly the last gesture of kindness shown to the doomed queen," the auctioneer said in a statement. Marie Antoinette was executed by guillotine in October 1793. The diamonds were made into a necklace, while the pearls were mounted later for the occasion of the marriage of Sutherland's grandson in 1849. Christie's did not specify which of Sutherland's descendants was selling the necklace. "The owner said it just sits in the bank the whole time, and there comes a time for everything," Sancroft-Baker said. He hoped the pearls, which have never been offered at auction before and remained in the same family for over 200 years, would be made available for the public to see. "The Louvre might be interested, for example," he said, adding that the story behind the necklace made it one of the most important sales he had overseen at Christie's. "It's right up there in the top 10 we've ever sold, because its provenance is rock solid, as far as we can be aware. There are documents to go with it and contemporary supporting evidence." The necklace will go under the hammer at the Magnificent Jewelry sale in London on December 12, and is expected to make between 350,000 and 400,000 pounds ($700-800,000). *********************************************************************************** If I had the money, I would bid and bid and bid until I won. And then I would make sure that these magnificent jewels would be open to public viewing and their tragic history well spelled-out. Actually, though, I think it is perfectly disgusting that this Sutherland descendant is attempting to profit from jewels that were, essentially, expropriated by his or her family upon Marie Antoinette's death. Did they never attempt to seek out her heirs? Surely she must have had some! Rightfully, morally, the pearls and diamonds that were handed over to Lady Sutherland all those years ago belong to Marie Antoinette's family, not to the descendants of the Sutherlands!

Friday Late Afternoon Miscellany

As of last night I'm without DSL at home although I'm sure by now the telephone company has received and cashed my check - the bloody bandits - and I am shopping for new service and plotting my revenge against AT&T. I have to sit down and do some benefit/cost analysis among the competing options, which I cannot do here at the office. Actually, I should be working right now, ahem… This will be short and sweet. I found this story about the babau festival, a fascinating legend about a monster (who sounds an awful lot like descriptions of the Loch Ness monster) that invaded the town one deep dark February night in 1290 CE from the river the town fronts and evidently made away with six children (presumably eaten, eek!) As the legend developed over the years the monster changed shape and size and in at least one account I read online is actually not a monster at all but bandits led by a very bad man who were causing problems for the town. Eventually the leader of this bad bunch was caught and done away in the town square in front of numerous witnesses. Anyway, check it out. I much prefer the “nessy” version of the story myself. Infoplease.com gives this definition of a babau: “The bogie with which nurses in Languedoc terrify unruly children." Perhaps the legend of the babau spread outside of the town and was used elsewhere to scare the you-know-what out of kids. For that matter, when we were kids our teenaged baby-sitters used to scare the stuffing out of us with tales of the boogey man. Must be a pretty universal thing – scaring kids half to death with horror stories! I’m fascinated by all forms of ancient writing and the development of alphabets. Nova has an excellent article on runes. Runes are interesting not only because they were used for communication but were also used for divination (and divination is connected to some ancient board games – perhaps connected to all original ancient board games – sounds like that song “the thigh bone is connected to the knee bone, the knee bone is connected to the – what bone was that??? – well, you get the idea). Nova online has a very good article/overview on the history of runes for your reading pleasure. Have you heard the one about the singing stones? No – this is not a joke about Mick Jagger and the Rolling Pot-Heads, darlings! I have heard about the colossi at Memnon in Egypt – I think I need to learn more about this fascinating phenomenon. Friday night wouldn’t be complete without at least some mention of chess. I’m glad to see my man Moro at 5.5 – it would be nice to see him make 50% but in any event he (and indeed all of the players) will be taking home a very nice paycheck for his Mexico City efforts. I have to say I thought most of the players dressed themselves very well and made an effort to look presentable – well, Anand, Leko and Kramnik always are well groomed but some of the other guys it’s been touch and go at times. I’m looking forward to an Anand-Kramnik match and an Anand victory! And will Garry Kasparov really accept a nomination to run for office in Russia? The man REALLY must have a death wish. Everyone who has half a brain knows that Putin is a cold-blooded murderer and wouldn't hesitate to order Kasparov's removal through a convenient 'accident' - I don't think even Putin would be so stupid as to use radioactive poison again, though. Although, come to think of it, heads of state aren't so bright these days, are they...

Sexual Sounds Banned on Chinese Television (Huh?)

China bans 'sexually provocative sounds' on TVReuters Thursday, 27 September 2007 China has banned "sexually provocative sounds" on television and pulled the plug on a show reconstructing infamous crimes by women ahead of a major Communist Party meeting next month. The order, issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, is the latest in a raft of measures which have included axing reality shows featuring sex changes and plastic surgery and banning talent contests during prime-time. "Sexually suggestive advertisements and scenes showing how women are influenced into a life of crime are detrimental to society," it said in a statement posted on its Web site, referring to its decision to axe "Red Question Mark," a crime documentary. "Commercials containing sexually provocative sounds or tantalizing language as well as vulgar advertisements for breast enhancement and female underwear are banned, effective immediately," said the SARFT notice. The watchdog also ordered an end to programs with titles including the names of "sex-related drugs, products or medical institutions." A total of 1,466 advertisements worth 2 billion yuan ($NZ360 million) in revenues had been stripped from China's airways since August, SARFT said, citing department statistics. Since launching a campaign to purify China's state-controlled airways earlier in the year, the media watchdog's edicts have gained fever pitch in recent weeks, ahead of a meeting of the 17th Party congress, a sensitive five-yearly meeting at which key government leaders are appointed and national policy set for the next few years. It earlier urged the country's increasingly freewheeling broadcasters to forgo vulgarity and bad taste in the pursuit of ratings in favor of providing "inspiring" content for the masses imbued with "socialist" values. ************************************************************************************ Hmmmm, just what are those sexually provocative sounds that have been banned??? Actually, I'm surprised the right-wingers here in the USA haven't tried this (yet). Anyone up for "inspiring" programs on "evangelical" values?

Squirrels Being Evicted!

Formally on my lunch hour now, my posts here wouldn't be complete without a squirrel story. Slovakia's main airport starts moving out squirrels Sep 11, 2007 BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AFP) — Slovakia's biggest airport Tuesday began relocating ground squirrels near the complex as they were endangering flights by attracting large birds. "We started moving the first animals today," Bratislava airport spokeswoman Zora Kalouskova told AFP, adding that around half of the estimated 1,000-strong ground squirrels could be relocated from fields bordering the airport. The squirrels attracted large birds of prey. This often led to bird hits or caused them to be sucked into the engines of planes either landing and taking off. The ground squirrels will are being relocated to an area about 40 kilometres (25 miles) away where holes have already been dug to house them.

It's a Cultural Thing

Thursday, September 27, 2007 Greenland teen becomes NH girls chess champ GREENLAND — Fourteen-year-old Avary Bell never suspected that a simple visit to the library last year would result in her becoming the girls state chess champion. Avary placed first in the New Hampshire State Girls Chess Championship this past May. Her chess career began a little more than a year ago as she happened to walk into the Greenland Town Library and spotted some boys playing chess with former Greenland librarian Michael Sullivan as part of his Tales Told Tall private chess club. She quickly learned the basics — the bishops move this way, rooks that way — and strategy became more commonplace. "It's not just the same every time," she said while playing a game with Sullivan at the Coffee Beanery on Monday. Sullivan said Avary has progressed "amazingly fast." Full story.

Dead Horse Theory

This just in from a friend via email - too good to not post here.

”Dead Horse Theory”

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that 'When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.'

However, in government, education, and in corporate America, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

1. Buying a stronger whip.

2. Changing riders.

3. Appointing a committee to study the horse. Better yet, bring in an army of consultants to over-study the horse.

4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.

5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.

6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.

7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.

8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.

9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance.

10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.

11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.

12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.

And of course:

13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.

(Ed. Note: This gives new meaning to your boss being a horse's patooty.)

Scotland Wants Lewis Chess Pieces Back

See what happens when museums start "repatriating" pieces back to their 'homelands'? There's now a suggestion to repatriate the Lewis Chess Pieces from the British Museum. Geez! What next - will the French ask for the Statue of Liberty back??? Historic chessmen 'should return' The success of a major art exhibition at Stornoway Museum has proved that the town is capable of hosting the Lewis chessmen, a councillor has claimed. BBC News Wednesday, 26 September 2007, 11:27 GMT 12:27 UK Annie MacDonald said there had been "unprecedented co-operation" in creating the Fonn's Duthchas exhibition at Stornoway's museum. The exhibition includes Sir Walter Scott's manuscript for Rob Roy and several 17th Century paintings. The world-famous chess pieces are housed in London and Edinburgh. Fonn's Duthchas (Land and Heritage), which has received £402,000 of funding from the Scottish Government, is being held as part of the Highland 2007 programme. Mrs MacDonald said: "There has been a huge deal of co-operation that hasn't really happened before with the National Galleries and the National Library in tow with the museum. "The lesson I am learning from it is that we can put on a fantastic exhibition in Stornoway. "There is no reason why, if we can do that with masterpieces from the 17th Century, that we can't do it for our own chess pieces." Year-long tour A total of 82 chess pieces were found on Lewis in 1831 before eventually being bought by the British Museum. There are now 78 in existence, enough to make at least four incomplete chess sets. They are believed to have been made in Norway, with most of the pieces carved from ivory and others from whale bone. Some of the pieces were put on view at the Uig Community Centre on Lewis for one day only in 2000. Fonn's Duthchas opened in Inverness in January before embarking on a year-long tour of venues across Scotland. It can currently be seen in Stornoway.

Still Here

Hola! I'm at war with my DSL provider since Monday and there's no end in sight. At issue is one month's bill which I did not pay at the end of August, and so AT&T cut off my service, even though I've been a customer for 30 years through its various incarnations and I've never stiffed the phone company ONCE despite numerous moves. I sometimes pay two months at a time, and I did that at the end of August for 2 months' bills, and I sent a check yesterday for a bill due September 29 for 2 months' bills. My DSL service didn't get cut off last month, so why this month? I tell you, I am so angry I am going to take this to Small Claims Court and demand a rebate/credit for the days for which I have not received DSL service. And I'm shopping for a new telephone service and DSL provider. This may be the spur that gets me off my land line into cell phone service and cable and AT&T can add me to the growing ranks of dissatisfied customers whom they treated like crap and that's the reason we're leaving in droves. I'll let you know what happens... Meanwhile, I'm posting from the office. Here's an interesting story about the similarities in certain cultural aspects of the ancient Egyptians and the Aztecs. Well, duh! Now, I'm not sure that I buy some of the more far-out-there theories about the Egyptians being survivors from the Atlantis disaster and ditto the peoples of South America, after all, there IS the slight problem of the time differential in their respective civilizations. But is IS interesting that such cultural similarities do exist and I'm not 100% convinced that it's due entirely to independent invention rather than cross-cultural contacts and difusion. Snake-bird gods fascinated both Aztecs and pharaohs Mon 24 Sep 2007, 17:05 GMT By Robin Emmott MONTERREY, Mexico, Sept 24 (Reuters Life!) - Ancient Mexicans and Egyptians who never met and lived centuries and thousands of miles apart both worshiped feathered-serpent deities, built pyramids and developed a 365-day calendar, a new exhibition shows. Billed as the world's largest temporary archeological showcase, Mexican archeologists have brought treasures from ancient Egypt to display alongside the great indigenous civilizations of Mexico for the first time. The exhibition, which boasts a five-tonne, 3,000-year-old sculpture of Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II and stone carvings from Mexican pyramid Chichen Itza, aims to show many of the similarities of two complex worlds both conquered by Europeans in invasions 1,500 years apart. "There are huge cultural parallels between ancient Egypt and Mexico in religion, astronomy, architecture and the arts. They deserve to be appreciated together," said exhibition organizer Gina Ulloa, who spent almost three years preparing the 35,520 square-feet (3,300 meter-square) display. The exhibition, which opened at the weekend in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, shows how Mexican civilizations worshiped the feathered snake god Quetzalcoatl from about 1,200 BC to 1521, when the Spanish conquered the Aztecs. From 3,000 BC onward Egyptians often portrayed their gods, including the goddess of the pharaohs Isis, in art and sculpture as serpents with wings or feathers. "The feathered serpent and the serpent alongside a deity signifies the duality of human existence, at once in touch with water and earth, the serpent, and the heavens, the feathers of a bird," said Ulloa. Egyptian sculptures at the exhibition -- flown to Mexico from ancient temples along the Nile and from museums in Cairo, Luxor and Alexandria -- show how Isis' son Horus was often represented with winged arms and accompanied by serpents. Cleopatra, the last Egyptian queen before the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC, saw herself as Isis and wore a gold serpent in her headpiece, Ulloa added. UNCANNY SIMILARITIES In the arts, Mexico's earliest civilization, the Olmecs, echo Egypt's finest sculptures. Olmec artists carved large man-jaguar warriors that are similar to the Egyptian sphinxes on display showing lions with the heads of gods or kings. The seated statue of an Egyptian scribe carved between 2465 and 2323 BC shows stonework and attention to detail that parallels a seated stone sculpture of an Olmec lord. There is no evidence the Olmecs and Egyptians ever met. Shared traits run to architecture, with Egyptians building pyramids as royal tombs and the Mayans and Aztecs following suit with pyramids as places of sacrifice to the gods. While there is no room for pyramids at the exhibition -- part of the Universal Forum of Cultures, an international cultural festival held in Barcelona in 2004 -- organizers say it is the first time many of pieces have left Egypt. They include entire archways from Nile temples, a bracelet worn by Ramses II and sarcophagi used by the pharaohs. Mexico has also brought together Aztec, Mayan and Olmec pieces from across the country. "Any visitor to Egypt and Mexico might be disappointed by the gaps in the museums. The only thing Egypt declined to loan were the mummies," Ulloa said. © Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

And of course...

This Sunday's postings wouldn't be complete without including a story using chess (and checkers!) as political metaphor: The EU is playing checkers; Gazprom is playing chess From a blog by the Editors of Foreign Policy Fri., 09/21/2007, 5:15 p.m. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a 2006 press conference with Tony Blair, said the European Union needed to work towards a common energy policy to limit the influence of Gazprom, the Russian-controlled energy giant. Merkel's statement came after Russia, unhappy with the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine, turned off that country's gas in the middle of the winter. Not long after, Merkel pirouetted and signed a unilateral deal with Russia to supply about 90 percent of German energy. Other large countries have signed similar deals (all under different terms). So much for EU solidarity. However, smaller EU countries have become increasingly concerned about Gazprom as it has expanded its business interests in Europe. On Thursday, EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes presented what she said was a concrete step to counter the company's influence. According to Forbes, the European Commission is expected to publish a new law that mandates separate ownership for non-EU gas distribution and gas production companies. This is known as "unbundling," and it means that the same company cannot produce and distribute the gas. Because the measure is clearly directed at Russia, it has become known in the EU as the Gazprom Clause. On the surface, this law suggests a shift towards a common energy policy. But a deeper examination shows it has no teeth. First, Germany, Italy and France will oppose the deal, as they all have national utility companies with substantial foreign ownership. They do not want to break up those firms, which would be required by the proposed law. Without both of those countries on board, it's unlikely the law will make it through the EU parliamentary process. Perhaps anticipating this opposition, the Commission also presented a second plan that allows joint ownership as long as an independent operator controls one of the companies. In other words, Russia would have to create a separate company to distribute gas, while Gazprom produces it. This separation is insignificant, as both companies answer to the same master. So, the Commission's victory for collectivism appears to be a hollow one. Until more forceful steps are taken towards EU consensus, Russia will keep striking unilateral deals with European countries, making a common energy policy less and less likely.

The Chinese - Future Force in the Chess World

It's about time I did a post about chess, darlings! Here is Andy Soltis column from the New York Post: CHINA'S UNKNOWNS RULE THE BOARDS By ANDY SOLTIS September 23, 2007 -- CHESS CHINA, where chess was illegal during the Cultural Revolution, has emerged as one of the world's leading chess nations - without producing individual stars. In the last few weeks, a visiting Chinese national team defeated Russia 521/2-47½ in Nizhny Novgorod, then trounced the British national team, led by Michael Admas and Nigel Short, by 28-22 in Liverpool. The Chinese managed to do this without having a single player among the world's 20 highest-rated grandmasters. Who are those guys? Well, they do have a future star in 20-year-old Wang Yue, ranked 22nd in the world. But the strength of Chinese chess seems to lie in solid base of young, less-known masters. Chinese players have the highest average rating of any nation on the most recent world chess federation list. Their 330 players average 2245. (The United States is fifth with an average of 2204). They are also extraordinarily young. The average age of the British team in Liverpool was 29. For the Chinese it was 20. Two of the world's top players under age 20 are Chinese. Three of the world's seven highest-rated girls are Chinese.

Study on Left-Handedness

My mother is right-handed; my father was left-handed. Of their six children, four of us are left-handed, one is right-handed, and my brother Dennis writes left-handed but does most everything else right-handed. Statistically, our family beat the odds; today, about 10% of the overall population is left-handed. Except for my youngest brother, who was born in 1964, we were all born in the 50's, and back then, it was not politically correct to be a lefty (in more ways than one, ahem). Of course as children, what did we know about "handedness" - nothing, and my parents never made a fuss about what hand we used to do what. By the time we got to school age we were set in our ways, although the nuns at St. Rose's Catholic Grade School were determined to make it otherwise. But, try as they might, they could not get me (or two other of my equally stubborn left-handed sisters, heh heh) to write with right hand. Not even the purely evil Sister Elvira (who lived to be at least 1,000) with her swatting ruler that came down on my left hand hundreds of times. Of course the nuns would not admit defeat despite not being able to convert my sisters or I to the right-handed way, and so they taught us to slant our writing in the correct "right-handed" way so that it would not have that evil "left-handed" (back-handed) slant. My brothers did not go to catholic schools and so they were spared this torture. Today, Darlene, Yvonne and I all write in the same palsied-looking manner - with our wrists twisted around and our paper far askew, but our handwriting slants beautifully to the right. When people watch us write, they marvel that we can do it at all! When I watch my sisters write I wonder how they do it! I've been asked more than once over the years "does it hurt to write like that?" No, it doesn't. Not anymore. I became interested in the subject of "handedness" many years ago. The 50's are long gone, and as far as I know, at least in the United States children are no longer forced to favor one hand over the other - at least, good goddess - I sincerely hope not! I do wonder why there are so few of us - only 10% of the population - and why it seems that a disproportionately large number of left-handed people are among the lawyers, judges, politicians and physicists in the U.S. today. Is left-handed suppression still going on here and elsewhere? With the overwhelming majority of humans being right-handed, why hasn't left-handedness died out as an evolutionary dead-end? Why are there still left-handed people at all? One of the fascinating things I learned about our Goddesschess group back in 1999 was that most of us are left-handed, although we work the computer mouse with our right hands... Anyway, this is all a lead-in to another fascinating story I found at the New York Times - it's all Queen Victoria's fault! Victorian-Era Films Mined for Clues to Handedness By HENRY FOUNTAIN Published: September 18, 2007 Scientists look for data anywhere they can find it. Researchers from University College London studying handedness, for example, found data in a group of early 20th-century films of everyday English life. More than 800 short films made from 1900 to 1906 by Mitchell & Kenyon, a company in Blackburn, were found in 1994 and preserved by the British Film Institute. The researchers, Chris McManus and Alex Hartigan, wanted to see what the films showed about rates of left-handedness. More than 10 percent of people are left-handed, but studies have shown that the percentage was lower a century ago. The researchers found 391 arm-waving examples in the films, 61 involving the left arm. Other studies have shown a correlation between arm waving and handedness. In a control sample of 391 modern images of arm waving, 95 involved the left arm. The findings were published in Current Biology. The researchers estimated the ages of arm wavers and found that the frequency of left-arm use increased with age. It was higher, for example, among people estimated to have been born in the 1860s than those born in the 1870s. The researchers concluded left-handedness declined in Victorian England because of social and school pressures and the rise of industrial tools, among other factors, reaching bottom around the turn of the 20th century.

Joan of Arc Revised!

There's a lot of fascinating stories out today, my goddess! Awhile back, Joan of Arc was in the news when it was discovered through DNA testing that what was thought to be some of her bones were actually those of an ancient Egyptian mummy! Ha ha ha! Joan is back in the news again - in a new book - sounds fascinating. I wasn't aware of any alternative theories about Joan of Arc but I suppose there are alternative theories about everything these days! How Joan escaped the stake and lived happily ever after New book angers historians with claims maid was not an illiterate peasant but a royal Angelique Chrisafis in Paris Saturday September 22, 2007 The Guardian She was a peasant teenager inspired by voices from God to lead the French against the English, and burned as a witch before being recognised as a hero and saint. For centuries, France's cult of Joan of Arc has been seized on by politicians looking for patriotic martyr figures, including by Nicolas Sarkozy during his presidential campaign. Now a new book has sparked anger among historians by claiming the Maid of Orléans was not an illiterate peasant but a royal. She did not hear voices and was not burned at the stake, but escaped with the help of English soldiers and went on to live a happily married life. In L'Affaire Jeanne d'Arc, or the Joan of Arc Affair, French investigative journalist Marcel Gay and former secret service agent Roger Senzig claim that France's most famous virgin peasant was the illegitimate daughter of the French queen consort, Isabeau of Bavaria, who groomed her for use as a political puppet. They claim Joan was manipulated in a cover-up they call Operation Virgin. Joan was not inspired by voices from heaven to lead troops to miraculously lift the siege of Orléans and save France from English domination. Gay says she was trained for warfare, taught languages and well-educated for her mission. After her trial for heresy in 1431, she escaped, and an unknown woman was burned in her place. She later married a French knight, Robert des Armoises. "She spoke English and it was the English who saved her from the stake," Gay told the Guardian. "Everything we were taught at school was wrong." French medievalists this week rubbished the book, saying it rehashed discredited ideas to satisfy the booming audience of conspiracy theorists intent on dismantling the Jeanne d'Arc story. The publisher said the work fitted the trend for Da Vinci Code-style investigations debunking official history. Joan of Arc has inspired an industry with more than 20,000 books published in France, around 50 films and, recently, video games. This year forensic scientists carried out tests on Joan's "relics" - bones and linen fragments discovered in the attic of a Paris pharmacy in 1867. Analysis showed the bones belonged to someone who died between the 6th and 3rd centuries BC and had been mummified in a way typical of ancient Egypt. Politicians cling to Joan of Arc as an emblem, with Jean-Marie Le Pen's extreme-right National Front appropriating a day in May to march and celebrate her. But the socialist Ségolène Royal, who comes from near Joan's village, continues to try to win the maid back for the left. This week she compared her party's attacks on her to Joan's martyrdom. "If I'd been Joan of Arc, I would already have been burned alive," she said. French intellectuals are locked in debate over politicians' need to find a new Joan of Arc-style symbol of national unity and resistance to the invader. President Sarkozy, who also namechecked Joan on the campaign trail, is promoting a new martyr hero, 17-year-old communist Guy Môquet, who was shot by the Nazis. Marie-Véronique Clin, director of the Maison Jeanne d'Arc in Orléans, said: "Joan of Arc is still a hugely important figure. These theories that she survived are simply not true. We're not saying burn these theorists at the stake, but it's dishonest to make these claims." Olivier Bouzy, a medieval historian and co-director of the Joan of Arc centre in Orléans, said: "These theories have been knocked down 100 times. This is about people who are not historians, who don't understand the mentality of the Middle Ages, looking for a contemporary explanation. It shows there is a clear market of readers who aren't satisfied with what history tells us, otherwise these books would never be published."

A Tale of Sex, Obsession, Greed, Murder - 150 Years Ago

A Lurid Tale From 1857 Is Revived in Granite By ANDY NEWMAN Published: September 19, 2007 The New York Times Back in 1857, they were the hottest names in old New-York. Harvey Burdell and Emma Cunningham — the violent, rapacious and brutally murdered society dentist and his scheming and probably murderous mistress, mutual antagonists in the most lurid true-crime drama of the age. For well over a century, the pair, essentially disowned by their families, lay interred in unmarked graves a few hundred yards from each other in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, their whereabouts known only to a few history buffs. No longer. Yesterday, before a rapt if small audience of retrospective voyeurs, two sparkling granite headstones were unveiled: Harvey Burdell, 1811-1857. And Emma Augusta Hempstead Cunningham, 1818-1887. “May God rest her troubled soul,” reads the inscription. The stones — and Mrs. Cunningham’s epitaph — are the doing of an amateur historian sufficiently obsessed with the case to spend the last seven years writing a book about it. The man, Benjamin Feldman, a retired lawyer, real estate developer and Yiddishist, insisted that no endorsement of the couple’s evil ways was implied. “It’s not a question of honoring them,” Mr. Feldman, a thin, ponytailed man with the bearing of a merry undertaker, said after the graveside service, news of which was published yesterday by AM New York. “It’s a question of what in Hebrew is called ‘t’chiyat ha-metim’ — raising the dead. You enlarge all of us when you bring these stories back to life.” And what a story. In their ever-spiraling battle of bad faith and faithlessness, the two lovers managed to embody many of the ills of the age: the rampant vice and political corruption, the straitened economic and sexual circumstances of women and the destabilizing influence of new wealth on traditional social structures. The tale, as lovingly told by Mr. Feldman in his book, “Butchery on Bond Street,” boils down to this: Harvey Burdell was a dentist of humble background who built a thriving practice in his four-story town house at 31 Bond Street, midway between the vice dens of the Bowery and the glitzier honky-tonk of lower Broadway. In his spare time, Dr. Burdell, who was divorced, enjoyed gambling, sexual predation and real estate swindling. Emma Cunningham was a young widow with five children and was desperately seeking a man who could support her and her brood in the manner to which she had grown accustomed. She had been married to a distiller who had squandered most of his family’s fortune. No one alive knows precisely how Emma met Harvey, but once they got together, in or around 1854, things got pretty intense. They returned from a whirlwind trip to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., with Mrs. Cunningham pregnant. She wanted to keep the baby. He did not. She had an abortion, possibly performed by him. Nothing if not persistent, Mrs. Cunningham insinuated herself into the dentist’s household as the landlady of the rooming house he ran out of his building. They continued their dalliance. She claimed he raped her twice, according to court papers. “It was not a comfortable relationship,” Mr. Feldman observed. Mrs. Cunningham tried everything to get Dr. Burdell to agree to tie the knot. She had him arrested for breach of promise to marry. In secret, she did marry a man who told the minister he was Harvey Burdell, but who was almost undoubtedly an impostor. Three months after the ceremony, on Jan. 31, 1857, Dr. Burdell was found dead in his dental clinic. More precisely, according to The New-York Daily Times, “the body was lying upon the floor, shockingly mutilated, and surrounded with clots of blood, and the door and walls of the room besmeared with blood.” Not to be outdone, The New York Herald described 6 of the 15 stab wounds. “Twice the steel had pierced the heart, twice the lungs had been reached with the deadly point of the stiletto, while the jugular vein and the carotid artery were both severed,” it said, according to Mr. Feldman’s book. Then the case really took off. The coroner’s inquest was held in Dr. Burdell’s office, with witnesses testifying in the chair where his patients had recently sat. A recommendation that one of the dead man’s eyeballs be excised and his retina examined for traces of what, or whom, he saw in his dying moments was proposed and discarded. Mrs. Cunningham threw herself on the open coffin and cried, “Oh, I wish to God you could speak and tell who done it.” More than 8,000 people tried to cram into Grace Church on Broadway at 10th Street for his funeral. Soon after, she was charged with the murder. There being no witnesses, and her lawyer arguing successfully that a member of the weaker sex afflicted with rheumatism was incapable of such a brutal attack, she was acquitted. (Mr. Feldman said he believed that Mrs. Cunningham had a prominent role in the murder even if she did not commit it herself.) Set free, Mrs. Cunningham tackled her next mission: obtaining Dr. Burdell’s estate, estimated at $80,000. But her claim to be carrying his child was proven false when she was caught taking delivery of another woman’s baby to call her own. And her insistence that she had married Dr. Burdell similarly unraveled in the face of testimony that another paramour had been seen buying a toupee and false whiskers the day of the wedding in order to resemble Dr. Burdell. Emma Cunningham died a pauper at the age of 69. Harvey Burdell’s murder was never solved. Both were eventually forgotten, until Jeffrey I. Richman, the historian of Green-Wood Cemetery, read an account of the case and included it in a book about the cemetery. Mr. Feldman bought the book in 2000, and a fixation was born. Mr. Feldman and the cemetery split the $6,500 cost of the grave markers.

Europe's Last Witch-Hunt

I don't know why people scare themselves half to death reading fictional horror stories when incidents from real life are plenty scary enough! Here's a real life event that frightened me right down to my toes. Thursday September 20, 2007 Europe's last witch-hunt By Imogen Foulkes BBC News, Switzerland Fear and superstition fuelled witch-hunts all over Europe in the Middle Ages and caused the deaths of many innocent women. The last execution for witchcraft took place little more than 200 years ago but campaigners in Switzerland claim it may be time to clear Anna Goeldi's name. To understand Anna Goeldi's story you need to go to where it unfolded, in the tiny Swiss canton of Glarus. It is a long narrow valley, the mountains loom above, the villages are squeezed below into the spaces where the grey rock unwillingly makes way for earth and grass. You get the sense, even today, that many of the world's events have passed Glarus by. This was where Anna Goeldi arrived in 1765, looking for work as a maid. One of the houses she worked in still exists. It is imposing, smug almost, four storeys high, with a grand doorway, and the crests of the noble Glarus families who lived there painted on its walls. It is the first clue to Anna Goeldi's fate. Witchcraft She found work with Jakob Tschudi, the magistrate and a rising political figure. We know from records of the time that Anna Goeldi was tall, generously proportioned, with dark hair, brown eyes, and a rosy complexion. These attributes were not lost on her employer. All went well to begin with, until one morning one of the Tschudi children found a needle in her milk. Two days later needles appeared in the bread as well and suspicion fell upon Anna. Despite her protestations of innocence, she was sacked by the Tschudis, accused of witchcraft, tortured, and finally executed. Not in the Middle Ages, but in 1782, at the height of Europe's so-called Age of Enlightenment. But today Walter Hauser, a local journalist, does not believe Anna died because isolated Glarus remained mired in medieval superstition. Researching the original records of the case, he found something far more banal. "Jakob Tschudi had an affair with Anna Goeldi," he explains. "When she was sacked, she threatened to reveal that. Adultery was a crime then. He stood to lose everything if he was found out." But at that time in Glarus, witchcraft was a crime. Mr Hauser calls Anna's trial and execution "judicial murder". "Educated people here did not believe in witchcraft in 1782," he insists. "Anna Goeldi was a threat to powerful people. They wanted her out of the way, accusing her of being a witch. It was a legal way to kill her." Anna Goeldi's ordeal remains, in meticulous detail, in the Glarus archives. Confession under torture This woman, who could neither read nor write, was questioned day and night by the religious and political leaders of Glarus. She insisted on her innocence, so they tortured her, hanging her up by her thumbs and tying stones to her feet. When she finally confessed, it was to all sorts of bizarre cliches. The devil had appeared to her in the form of a black dog. The needles had been given to her by Satan. But once free of the torture, she withdrew her confession. They tortured her again so brutally that she confessed again, and stuck with her confession. Two weeks later, she was led out to the public square, where her head was cut off with a sword. Fritz Schiesser, who today represents Glarus in the Swiss parliament, believes it is time to officially acknowledge this as a miscarriage of justice. "Everyone agrees that what happened was completely wrong," he tells me. "We need to take this last step, and admit it." But in Glarus opinions are mixed. At the local high school, many students are uncomfortable about reviving this old story. "I agree it was shocking, but that was Glarus then," says one girl. "It happened a long time ago," says another. "I don't think people today should be held responsible for the past." It is a familiar argument. Switzerland used it for years as justification for not apologising for the way it turned away Jewish refugees during World War II. An official apology was finally made after great international pressure at the end of the 1990s, but the authorities in Glarus do not want to learn from that. They could exonerate Anna Goeldi today, but refuse to do so, calling it a cheap solution which would not help anyone. Journalist Walter Hauser is disappointed. "We were the last in Europe to execute a woman for witchcraft," he says "It is a stain on our history. Now we could do something to erase that stain." Fritz Schiesser has tabled a motion in parliament calling for Anna Goeldi's exoneration. This weekend a museum will open in Glarus dedicated to her. It is ironic really. When Anna Goeldi was executed, the people of Glarus tried to hush it up, afraid of what the rest of the world would think. Two hundred and twenty five years later, her story has come back to haunt them.

Being a Freak

I've always been the different one in the family but for the most part I wasn't too bothered by this as a child or even much aware of it. The fact that I had my nose buried in a book during most hours of the day and night (except when I was outside rough-housing with the boys, leading the army or the navy or the calvary, or getting into stone fights with the "foreigners" who lived across the alley) was something they pretty much ignored. It was just who I was, and they loved me anyway. As I got older I gravitated to others who shared my same interests and I had an easy time through school - I was not teased, I was not bullied. Today I guess I'd be called a "geek" but back then we were called "collegiates," "hoods" and "brains." Because I was pretty I was popular enough despite being "a brain." "Prettiness" is the grand panacea for nerdiness. I was one of the few girls in my graduating class who didn't either marry within a year out of high school or go on to college to get a nursing or teaching degree (those were the options most women considered back then). I wanted a "career" and I went out and made one for myself. Eventually I worked my way through college and then law school. Through the years I have been blessed in having acquired a close group of friends of like mind and interests. I usually don't think much about being "different." It crops up though, sometimes. It happened a few days ago when I went out to lunch with a group of women from the office. There were nine of us, gathered around two circular tables shoved together, and it was a congenial group. Several of the women were talking about work, a natural-enough topic, and several were talking about details of their personal lives, also a natural-enough topic given that women tend to be more open about these things with each other, although I wouldn't think about discussing some of these topics with anyone except the most intimate friend, and certainly not in a public setting. (Does this mean I'm not much of a woman?) And what was I talking about? I raised the issue of our distressed public transportation system which has been all over the local news lately. No interest - all these women drive to and from the office or get driven there by their accomodating mates. Since I don't drive, don't have a license, don't know how to drive, and will never own a car in this lifetime, this is an interesting topic to me, but only one other woman in the group had ever been on a public bus and she rides it primarily because she doesn't want to pay for expensive downtown parking. Strike One. I tried to discuss the leadership vacuum at the local level and the deteriorating infrastructure in our city despite sky-high taxes and our obvious "social" problems - all prominently featured in the local news for the past couple months. No interest whatsoever. Judging from some of the looks I got I knew at least some of the ladies were wondering "why does she want to talk about THAT? Strike Two. I then mentioned the story I'd read about Jolee Mohr, who died after being injected with a virus designed to carry a genetically altered gene to a certain part of her body in a medical trial to test this new technology. One of the ladies had read the same short article in our local newspaper, so we were able to discuss it a little, but even this story generated only mild interest in what I thought was an absolutely absorbing (and horrifying) subject. Not quite Strike Three, but close. I then pretty much stayed silent for the remainder of the meal and concentrated on my food (which was very good Mexican). I didn't want to push my luck, and so I shut up. After I got home that evening I conducted research on a number of different rather esoteric subjects and did some posts here at the blog - all on subjects that the ladies would probably not have any interest in and, on some, would probably think I was quite weird for even thinking about! It occurred to me this morning that I really am something of a freak - not so well-disguised these days, I guess, since the looks are fading, fading, fading into the depths of middleagedom. I spend hours on end researching the most obscure topics online, devouring books on history and I watch Top Model. Not one of the ladies understand why I like Top Model! More troubling to me, it seems they either don't read the local newspaper or if they do, they restrict themselves to Dear Abby, the t.v. listings, and on Wednesdays the recipes in the Food Section, and they don't watch t.v. news either. No one wanted to talk about the major news stories in our local newspaper. I found this strange and very disturbing. If these women, who work for a living, are moms, girlfriends, sisters and aunts, who are not silly or stupid, don't bother to inform themselves on the events of the day, what hope is there for this city and, more importantly, what hope is there for this country? If people aren't informed about the issues of the day, how do they form opinions - do they even have opinions? I don't expect people to understand my interest in subjects like the Amber Room, female infanticide in China and India and particle physics, but I am amazed at how naive I continue to be about how uninformed people are in this day and age, when there is no excuse to be ignorant of what is going on in the world around us! I don't get it. I don't understand this. How can people not be interested in what's going on? How can people not be interested in all the fascinating things going on all around them? I guess I'm even more freaky than I ever knew.

Friday Night Miscellany

Summer is still here, even though this is the traditional first day of fall. It was in the high 80's today with strong winds out of the south, and a chance for thunderstorms tonight. The lawn is dry dry dry - no appreciable rain in three weeks. I don't know whether to water or try to cut - the lawn has that silvery cast caused by water deprivation and is laying down flat although it is quite long in spots. Oh well, I'll figure it out tomorrow. Sundown is before 7 now and the mosquitoes are out in force, I'm not going out there for blood or money! There's been a lot of hoo-ha this week over at The Daily Grail about an alleged meteorite that crashed into a remote part of Peru, not too far from a small village. Early reports alleged that villagers who rushed to the site saw boiling water in the crater and there were fumes. Later it was claimed that some 150 to 200 people got sick and went to hospital - although where this hospital wasn't clear since I doubt the village would have a place large enough to accomodate that many people! Anyway, the government sent investigators and medical personnel who did tests - radiation was suspected but actually to date (about a week now), no one has any radiation sickness. Actually, it can't even be confirmed that this was a meteorite. Pravada, picking up on a blog report somewhere, suggested that it was a piece of space junk shot down by the Americans for nefarious purposes (of course), while others suggest it was a piece of space junk whose orbit decayed, while others think it's the precursor of an alien invasion, etc. etc. Today it was reported that some bits of a iron indicative of a metallic meteorite were discovered - a few days it was reported that some bits of a rock meteorite were discovered, but the "crater" doesn't look like what I think of when I think meteorite blast site. Some have suggested that because the crater is in a volcanic (is that a word?) area it could be a mud-hole or sink-hole. Many have suggested that the initial eyewitness reports of boiling water and noxious fumes are more indicative of this type of phenomenon than a meteorite. All of this has been reported and/or commented upon by bloggers at the New York Times blog entry on the subject here. Well, it's all been entertaining, and quite amazing, actually, what people can dream up about conspiracies and aliens and what-not - and they're not even high on anything. If you'd like more reports, try doing a Google search under Peru meteorite - you'll get tons of stuff. Have you ever heard of "foreign accent syndrome?" Well, neither had I - until I saw this article. An 8-year old Yorkshire lad struck with viral meningitis had brain surgery, and when he woke up his Yorkshire accent was gone, replaced by a "posh" accent - does this mean BBC standard or the accents we hear in A&E productions of English classics? Anyway, "foreign accent syndrome" is a rare but well-documented phenomenon. Science is slowly closing in on its causes. Find more information here. Darlings, I haven't had the heart to see how Moro did today at the WCC Tournament. If Moro can't win it, I hope Anand does, for a host of reasons that I won't bore you with posting about. Chess related, for amusement this morning at the office when I should have been working, I visited Google's rec.chess.politics (it's something like that) and read what Mr. Sam Sloan has been up to of late. Mr. Sloan has what appears to be a never-ending bone-to-pick type battle going on with Paul Truong and Susan Polgar (mostly one-sided since they generally ignore him or out-flank him) - which seems to have been conducted mostly at the USCF "official forum." I don't intend visiting there anytime soon. My lefty-leaning Democratic roots seem to have biased me against visiting most "official" sites for anything! After sampling Mr. Sloan's rec.chess.politics posts for several months off and on, I think he sees himself in the role of a certain well-known Cervantes character - and no, I'm not talking about the donkey although sometimes Mr. Sloan does conduct himself like an ass. However, Mr. Sloan is a chess institution among some chess circles, and so one takes Mr. Sloan with a grain of salt, disregarding the garbage and enjoying the occasional tasty morsel he dishes up. One post today caught my eye, because I've been wondering about this myself. What's up with the 2008 U.S. Chess Championship? Susan Polgar, who promised on her blog to report there about what was going on at the USCF after she took her seat on the Executive Board, has been silent on anything having to do with USCF, beyond a few posts made shortly after she was first invested. I, for one, would be interested in reading more at her blog about what's going with the USCF and less (much less) about Ms. Polgar's new message board. What IS going on with the 2008 U.S. Chess Championship? Have any bids been received? Is the EB evaluating bids? Have any dates been set? What about the Women's Chess Championship? Will that be held separately, as a part of an overall U.S. Chess Championship, or will it be killed? I'm not asking for state secrets here - just some basic information. Is this information being revealed at Ms. Polgar's message board - to which you must sign up to view? That goes against my libertarian views! You don't have to be a member of Chessville in order to view the posts there - you can enter as a guest. Actually, speaking of Chessville and the good folks there, why didn't Ms. Polgar start posting there if she wanted to engender and encourage civil discussion about what she sees as chess issues? They would have loved to have her posting there and the influx of new members and views. Goddesschess has money for a 2008 Brilliancy Prize for the U.S. Women's Chess Championship. Will we be able to donate it???

Durga Pooja Time

Durga Pooja Is A Time To Invoke The Blessings Of The Goddess Written by EditorsChoice Sunday, 16 September 2007 The weather turning pleasant, the autumn being heralded through the colorful leaves, the fragrance of celebration hanging in the surroundings is a sure shot sign that Durga Pooja is in the air. Durga Pooja is the biggest festival of all Bengali Hindus in the Indian states of West Bengal, Orissa, Tripura, Assam, Jharkand and other parts of East India and Bangladesh. Even countries like Nepal and Bhutan celebrate the festival with certain variations in the rules and customs. The festival celebrates the homecoming of the goddess Durga and is celebrated from the sixth day to the tenth day of the period of the waxing moon during the sixth month of the Bengali calendar. According to the Gregorian calendar the dates usually fall in the month of September or October.

Islamic Republic Demolished Parthian Bridge of Negin

Released today from CAIS, although it is dated August 20, 2007: LONDON, (CAIS) -- Islamic Republic under the guise of construction of a new bridge in Shamim Yaar, one of the districts of Masjed Soleyman, have demolished 2200-year old Parthian bridge of Negin. The ancient bridge was amongst the best preserved and intact bridges of its type remained from Arsacid dynastic era (248 BCE-224 CE). This news has been announced by Mojtaba Gahstooni, the spokesman for the Khusestan’s Friends of the Cultural Heritage Association (Tariana). The 60 meters in length was the best survived Parthian water engineering example in the country, which was demolished despite the 100-meter legal protection boundary, imposed by Khuzestan Province Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (KCHTO). According to “Gahstooni”, the KCHTO in 2005 announced initially a 700-meter protection boundary for this monument was set and the Islamic regime’s Ministry of Roads and Transportation was ordered to observe this and keep its operations away from the announced area. However, the boundary was reduced to 100 meters in 2006 by KCHTO possibly from pressure from the regime in order to pave the way for its destruction and later to claim that was an accident. Shortage of fuel has been announced to be the reason of delay in sending experts of KCHTO to prevent it from total destruction; this is while the Islamic regime spends billions of dollars of Iranian monies in Iraq and Lebanon. Until this moment, none of the KCHTO experts or the regime’s authorities have answered to the request for an interview. After 1979 British-orchestrated Islamic Revolution in Iran, the ruling clerics who are of non-Iranian origin have been devoted themselves to destroy and erase all the pre-Islamic Iranian culture and civilisation, under the guise of construction projects. The destruction of this Parthian bridge is one of the latest examples of their animosity towards Iran and Iranian nation and their rich heritage. ************************************************************************************** This kind of deliberate destruction of ancient culture just makes me sick to my stomach. The Islamic regime in Iran is run by barbarians who are getting rich off the loot of Iran. That's exactly why the Iranian government stood by and did nothing as Jiroft was looted for months after its location was revealed by flooding of the Halirood River in 2001. The Guard was in on the looting wholesale - and probably gets a cut at every looting site around the country. What a disgusting, vile regime.

2007 World Chess Championship Update

Moro isn't doing so well - Goddesschess can't seem to get its mojo working for him. In last place with 2.0 after Round 6. He meets Leko in Round 7 - I didn't check to see if he has the black or white - I assume white since he had black in the last 2 rounds. Round 6 Gelfand, Boris-Morozevich, Alexander 1-0 50 E17 Queens Indian Round 5 Grischuk, Alexander-Morozevich, Alexander 1-0 41 D38 QGD Ragozin

The Angels of Mons

I wasn't aware of this "heavenly vision" that occurred during the early days of World War I. Very interesting - I see it as a masculine version of a vision of the "Virgin Mary." The Angels of Mons Revisited From the Paranormalreport.com Monday, 17 September 2007 By J.M.Sinclair ... WWI was a horrific conflict that took the lives of nearly nine million people and served to shape the subsequent history of the 20th century. WWI was also a war riddled with supernatural occurences more fitting accounts of a medieval war, than a modern one. Chief among these stories are the Angels of Mons. The Battle of Mons was the first major action by the British Army in World War I. After the forced withdrawl of French and Belgian forces, the British were left exposed and while they fought valiantly, they too were forced to take a costly retreat in the face of overwhelming German forces. In the midst of this retreat a strange apparition of angels holding back the Germans was claimed to occur. Accounts filtered to the media in Britain of three angels appearing between the British and Germans, protecting the British in their retreat. The angels appeared as larger than men, with a center angel in bright light, with wings extended, seemingly protecting the two smaller angels in the face of the Germans. The British interpreted it as St. George, and the story was used in the recruitment of British soldiers. But did it really happen? The seed for the story may have been planted by occult novelist Arthur Machen, who wrote a short story in the London Evening News about a month after the battle called "the Bowmen". Machen himself said the story was fictional, and it wasn't specifically about Mons. In fact, it wasn't even about angels, the story relates that a soldier prayed to St. George, who brought back a spectral host of bowmen from the Battle of Agincourt who fought on the side of the British. But a number of soldiers present at the battle swore that St. George himself had appeared at the battle and staved off the Germans. Its a fact that something did cause the Germans to waver, for a time they recoiled and withdrew which allowed the British to retreat, but was it St. George? The story of the Angels of Mons bears so little resemblance to Machen's story that its hard to swallow that it was the seed that led to the legend. Most cite a lack of direct accounts as being supporting evidence that the vision never happened. However, some direct accounts do in fact exist of the Angels of Mons. Harold Begbie's book "On the side of the angels". contains his collection of accounts describes the three luminous angels, though unfortunately most of his accounts are anonymous in nature. Other accounts exist claim that the number of angels was as many as five. All accounts claim that the German cavalry stopped in their tracks as their horses would go no further, allowing the British retreat. Significantly, accounts from the German side are almost entirely lacking. This general lack of witnesses isn't surprising in light that most of the people present at Mons did not survive the beginning of the war, which would grow into war of attrition mostly spent in trenches. In any case, the story became legendary in Britain throughout the war, and served to both boost morale and recruitment. Did Angels save the British Army in August of 1914, or did a public desperate for good news latch onto a fictional story and mould it into a legend? We can't be certain. But the fact remains that the Germans did waver in the face of something, whether it was fierce British firepower, or angels siding with the British Army, we will never know for sure.

Butterfly Redux 2

During our July vacation, Dondelion and I had an up close and personal encounter with a butterfly that wouldn't take no for an answer - until it got drunk on my wine! I told the story here, with a photo - not a very large photo of the butterfly in question. (Enlarged photo to the right - unfortunately, not the best resolution).

I followed-up with posts here and here.

Lo and behold, yesterday as I was scouting about doing research on Niobe, I happened across a blog entry about another particularly insistent butterfly and the photograph of that butterfly reminded me of our drunken butterfly :)

Here is the blog entry. I wonder if it's a relative of our Milwaukee butterfly???

Koneru Wants Women's World Championship

Koneru Humpy eyes next year`s world championship
From zeenews.com
September 19, 2007

Vijayawada, Sept 18: Grandmaster Koneru Humpy said she has set her eyes on winning next year's Women's World Chess Championship. "

My main opponents are going to be Alexandra Kostenvik of Russia, Xu Yuhua and Zhu Chen of China and Stefanova of Bulgaria in the tournament. "I am expecting 2606 rank," she told reporters on the sidelines of a function.

Humpy said she will take part in the second Asian Chess Tournament at Turkey and Eueropean Chess Touranment at Macau. Both meets are being organised next month. Koneru Ashok, Dronacharya award winner and father-cum- coach of humpy, said "the 2008 world championship will be crucial for Humpy and I am confident she will realise her dream (of winning it)."

"I plan to set up a chess academy to coach talented children once humpy achieves her ultimate goal," he added.

Bureau Report

A Scary Story

Gene therapy likely not cause of woman's death From MSNBC Updated: 3:28 p.m. CT Sept 17, 2007 Govt. experts say fungal infection, not experiment, may be to blame WASHINGTON - A virus used in a gene therapy experiment likely didn’t cause the death of an Illinois woman suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, although it can’t be completely ruled out, government health advisers said Monday. Advisers to the National Institutes of Health said that a massive fungal infection is near the top of the list of likely culprits in the death of Jolee Mohr. Mohr, 36, died at University of Chicago Medical Center on July 24, several weeks after receiving the second injection of trillions of genetically altered viruses at the Arthritis Center in Springfield, Ill., as part of a gene therapy study for rheumatoid arthritis. Doctors have since struggled to determine how she died, though a massive Histoplasma capsulatum infection appears to be a leading cause. Advisers to the National Institutes of Health met Monday to hear autopsy results and other evidence to determine what role — if any — the injected virus also may have played. The genetically engineered virus was used as a vector or vehicle to carry a new gene into Mohr’s body, helping it to make a protein that would ease her arthritis pain. Mohr had suffered from arthritis since her 20s. “We can’t to 100 percent certainty exclude the vector but as was presented, the data would suggest that it’s unlikely to be playing a role,” said Dr. Howard Federoff of Georgetown University Medical Center, chairman of the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee. Federoff said the fungal infection, called histoplasmosis, was “near the top” of the lists of likely causes for Mohr’s death. The fungus is commonly found in the Midwest. At the time of her death, Mohr was taking drugs to treat her arthritis that also can suppress her immune system, which would have weakened her body’s ability to fend off an infection. Too sick for shot? Mohr also had taken both antiviral and antibiotic drugs in the days before she received the second shot. Panelists questioned whether Mohr should have received that shot, since she appeared already to have been complaining of sickness, including fatigue. It will take several weeks to complete tests that would show if any of the injected viruses migrated beyond Mohr’s right knee. If none is found, that would make it even less likely the virus played a role. The experiment’s sponsor, Targeted Genetics Corp. of Seattle, has halted the study and the 126 other patients are being evaluated. A tearful Robb Mohr pleaded with the panel’s members to keep the study on hold until they could figure out what killed his wife. “There is just no answer to the biggest question I have to the members of the committee: Would my wife still be alive if she didn’t participate in the study? If anyone up there can answer that with any certainty, please don’t put anyone in the American public in my shoes,” he said. Federoff said the panel could not yet answer that question but that it would seek to bring closure at another meeting set for December, though he cautioned that uncertainties could linger. The panel expects to have the results of blood tests in hand by that time. “I don’t think the data are in,” said Mohr’s attorney, Alan Milstein, who also represented the family of Jesse Gelsinger. The Arizona teenager’s 1999 death is the only reported fatality definitively linked with a U.S. gene therapy study. Jolee Mohr fell ill the day after being injected in her right knee. She was initially treated in Springfield, Ill., but transferred to Chicago on July 18. She arrived with a puzzling array of symptoms. “We were at an initial clinical loss for the cause of all the current problems,” said Dr. Kyle Hogarth, who treated her in the intensive care unit. She died 10 days later after being removed from life support. A nearly 8-pound pool of blood in her abdomen had crowded out her kidneys and was pressing on her lungs, according to autopsy results — presented after Robb Mohr had left his front-row seat in the auditorium. The source of that bleeding remains unknown but likely hastened her death, doctors said. The autopsy also found signs of fungal infection in her liver, lungs, bone marrow and elsewhere. Targeted Genetics officials previously have said Mohr might have died of the fungal infection. The study was designed primarily to assess the safety of the gene therapy treatment. Panel members also discussed ways of preventing study participants from confusing that short-term goal with the longer-term goal of finding a cure for their condition. © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. *************************************************************************************** See here for information about the Jesse Gelsinger case. I find this whole "genetic engineering" scene really scary stuff. While the "experts" can tell me until they're blue in the face that Jolee Mohr died of a "fungus" run amok in her body, I don't think I'll ever believe them. When I read about the Jesse Gelsinger case earlier today, I really freaked out! I don't remember hearing about this when it happened - seven years ago, in 2000! For Goddess sake! How many people will have to die while money-making ventures try to "perfect" this technology? Do we really know what the long-term impact of this kind of "tinkering" with genetics will do to humans (for that matter, do we know what it will do to plants and animals?) Doesn't anyone remember the "Eugenics Wars" from Star Trek and the horror (albeit fictional) that was unleashed on the world? Haven't we learned anything from Frankenstein?

Every Picture Tells A Story, Story...

This says it all.

Kramnik after drawing with Grishuk in Round 4, Mexico. What a hoot! Darling, you really need to shave, tsk tsk. You'll feel better, trust me. Have you been to a dentist about that jaw problem, it looks like it's dislocated - it's rather evident in this photograph, oh my...

Chess as Metaphor

Chess is used constantly as a metaphor, in politics, war and sports. Here are a couple references used in recent news: A chess match in Smithfield Pocono Record September 17, 2007 Do Smithfield Township residents play chess? Those who oppose the planned concrete batch plant on Airport Road may want to brush up on their skills, for they face a formidable adversary. ... If these residents want to be taken seriously, they will have to be innovative in their strategy, making patience and determination their watchwords. ... It will be an interesting chess match. Remember, even a lowly pawn can take down the king. General calls for surge in diplomacy Seattlepi.com September 16, 2007 Eaton is an intense admirer of the Americans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan -- "This is the next 'Greatest Generation' " -- but contemptuous of leaders who've put them in harm's way. ... The guy he (Bush) is hiding behind is a very good general," he said of Gen. David Petraeus. "General Petraeus is playing a sophisticated game of chess over there while the administration has problems understanding checkers." Is Belichick the Next Auerbach? Boston Daily September 17, 2007 Even before the tape scandal broke there was a feeling that, as the saying goes, Belichick was playing chess while everyone else was playing Chutes ‘n Ladders.

2007 World Cup News

According to the People's Daily Online, Women's World Chess Championship Xu Yuhua will compete in November at the World Cup: World Chess Federation's (FIDE) women's world champion Xu Yuhua of China will face world's 128 strongest chess players in the World Cup in November, FIDE deputy arbiter Dr. Gendengin Altanoch told Xinhua on Sunday. "Women's world chess champion Xu Yuhua obtained her champion title at the Women's World Chess Championship at Ekaterimburgo, Russia, by defeating Russian native Alisa Galiamova (2467 FIDE ranking)," Altanoch said. Xu, besides being a women's Grand Master of chess, is a law graduate, living southern China. She learned chess at the age of six. Xu, 29, with more than 2502 FIDE rating, obtained her current title by defeating Galiamova 3-0 in a four-game match and Galiamova decided to forfeit the fourth game since Xu's advantage was decisive. "Vishwanathan "Vishy" Anand, current World Chess Championship Mexico-2007 contender and highest FIDE-rated player, has won the World Cup twice, once in Shenyang, China (2000) and another in Hyderabad, India (2002)," chess reporter from India, Vijay Kumar, covering the World Chess Championship Mexico-2007 said on Sunday. Xu is the third Chinese citizen to become women's world chess champion. Xie Jun was the first, two times world champion in 1991-1996 and 1999-2001, while Zhu Chen was the second in 2001-2004. The first women's world champion had been Vera Menchik from England in 1927-1944, but she died in 2nd-World-War German bomb attack in London in 1944. "There have been a total of nine women chess world champions," Mexico's men chess Olympic team captain FIDE Master Alfonso Ferriz Carrasquedo told Xinhua on Sunday. "The other women champions include Ludmilla Rudenko (1950-1953) of the former Soviet Union (USSR), soviet player Elisabeth Bikova (1953-1956, 1958-1962), soviet player Olga Rubzowa (1956-1958), soviet Nona Gaprindashvili (1962-1968), soviet Maya Chiburdanidze (1978-1991), the last of the soviet women's domain toppled by Chinese chess Grand Master Xie Jun, Ferriz said. Hungarian Susan Polgar (1996-1999), Zhu Chen (China), Bulgarian native Antoaneta Stefanova (2004-2006) and current champion Xu Yuhua have also held that title, Ferriz added. Men's FIDE World Chess Championship Mexico-2007 is being played in Mexico City.

Moro World Chess Championship Tournament Update

Game 4 with Moro as white against Anand is still going on as far as I can tell. Sources I read report that Anand played a novelty move and Moro chose to complicate things even more. Here are Mig's comments about Moro's game 3 victory yesterday: The only decisive game of the day was Morozevich's typically bamboozling effort against Svidler. I swear that man plays some moves just to see the look on the other guy's face. It was one of the most unnatural sequences I've seen in a long time as Svidler chased Moro's queen around and Morozevich kept finding ways to keep material on the board. Eventually Svidler worked his way into a miserable position with two knights versus two bishops and a pair of mobile center pawns. How did that happen? The Moro works in mysterious ways. I'll update this entry when I know what the result is. 8:10 p.m. Moro drew with Anand after white's 61st move. The only victory today was Aronian's with white against Leko. The standings haven't been updated at the official website yet. Monday (September 17) is a free day.

Shopping and Cleaning My Closet

This is one of those "Everything" entries, darlings. Whew - it's been a busy weekend. Too busy, actually; right now I'm scrambling to get laundry done and I'm cleaning out old clothes in my closet that I'll never fit into again in this life because the Purple Heart Veterans folks are coming by to collect it all bright and early tomorrow morning. Tomorrow it's back to the office for the daily grind for another 40 hours. Goddess, I can't wait until I can retire! Saturday saw me in a shopping mood - a rarity these days. I used to love shopping; back in my 20's (ahhh, those were the days), on Saturday mornings my roommates and I would trek "downtown," which actually had clothing shops of all sorts in those days, and we'd shop and shop - searching for just the perfect outfit to wear to the disco that night or the following weekend. Then we'd have lunch at the counter at Woolworths. I had a collection of spectacular dresses that went out of fashion as quickly as they came into fashion :) When I hit my 30's, I lost interest in (1) disco and (2) shopping, but never in (3) men :) I also used to wear hot pants. LOL! I used to wear my hair in a "shag." Does anyone out there still remember the "Sasoon" cut? Double LOL! So, my knees are aching like the dickens since 2:00 p.m. because the weather is changing - it's supposed to get back to summer here for the next week, a welcome relief from "end-of-October" temperatures! The "oh-my-knees-are-aching" is a good excuse to NOT shove around the lawn mower for several hours cutting the front and back yards - but the grass is growing so, alas, I must do it sooner or later, unless I can hire someone tomorrow to do it for me - I've had it with grass cutting for the season. It was pleasant enough this afternoon to sit on the deck for an hour and read the sales papers from the gigantic Sunday newspaper. It's not Sunday if I can't read those sales papers, you know, although I rarely make a note to go out and buy anything I see in them these days. Okay - back to shopping - I hit the mall at 9:26 a.m. yesterday and several stores weren't yet open, but I had a goal in mind (four pairs of dress slacks for the office in assorted colors) and Kohl's was open. By 10 the rest of the mall was open for business and I crossed back and forth in search of the perfect-fitting pair of dress slacks four times on the top level, and four times on the bottom level. I stopped for lunch at 1:00 p.m. or thereabouts, and exhausted and disappointed with my miniscule shopping haul, I decided to get my hair cut after stuffing myself with a Big Mac Meal. Okay-no comments about the obvious here, please! Alas, the Regis salon that used to be at the Mall isn't there anymore, and so I left bereft, sans four pairs of dress slacks and sans haircut, but happy with a Big Mac in my stomach making me sleepy... Forever sunny of nature (ahem), I am one of those people who sees the glass half full rather than half empty. Although I tried on dozens of slacks and was getting more and more depressed as the sizes kept getting larger and larger, I did find two pair that fit to perfection. I had better luck with tops - two sweaters and two blouses were added to my haul. When I got home I went online and was able to hunt down and purchased three different colored pairs of slacks of the same brand, cut and size (I sure hope they are the same size as those that fit me at the Mall) that I could NOT find at the Mall. I ask you, what the hell are Malls coming to, when a woman who wants to shop cannot find something to buy??? I swear there's a conspiracy going on among clothing designers - they all hate women! - and is it my imagination or are most of the clothing designers gay men these days? I have nothing against gay men (or gay women, either), except it seems to me that the gay men design clothing for stick figures, not for real women with curves and bulges! Well, not just the gay men - all those damned designers! A pox on them all! And the sizing, oi yay! We've sent men to the Moon and still have land-rovers running around on Mars continuing to obtain and transmit scientific information back to us years after their useful lives were supposed to have gone kaput! And yet we don't have a uniform system of sizing clothing for women! Ridiculous! In some things I'm a size 10; in other things I can't get a leg into a size 10, or an arm either, for that matter - and the sizes climb into the 1X, 2X, 3X, etc. Come now, I'm not a 3X - whatever that means (it's just really big, like a tent). Generally I'm a size 16; 0kay, no cracks about the size, not until you've tried on as many clothes over the years as I have. Marilyn Monroe was a size 14, you know. I've got a generous figure - my beanpole days ended when I hit 48. I don't mind it, generally, I like how I look. But it's a real pain in the butt shopping for clothes that fit me and are suitable for my age and profession when the fashion industry insists on producing clothing for Twiggy-sized teenagers who all want to look like Brittany Spears. Like - Gag Me! Even worse, this same fashion industry now produces those Twiggy-size Brittany slutty fashions in sizes that might fit me, if only I would try them on. Except the clothing is designed for an 8 year old who wants to look like a hooker, not a ___ year old who uses wrinkle eraser cream at night :) I would look absolutely ridiculous in such outfits - believe me - I've seen women of my age and relative size trying to wear them in public - shame shame shame... I'm too frugal - and realistic - to waste my money on such nonsense! Okay, so I hauled my newly-purchased clothing home and tackled the closet - continued today (in between bouts of laundry). Every outfit tells a story, story (wasn't that a Rod Stewart song years ago???) So, it's taking much longer to do this cleaning-out stuff than I thought would. For instance, there's the size 6 "dusty pink" number I wore to the wedding reception of an attorney (who married his thrice-divorced secretary) in - I think it must have been 1987 - who was later disbarred for embezzling client funds...There's the size 12 100% polyester black crinkled pants-set with white and yellow daisies (what was I thinking?)...there's the size minus 2 maroon chiffon number I wore in Las Vegas back in - well, never mind, let's just say I had a lot of success with that maroon chiffon number :). And then there are the "career" additions to the closet from years past - pink, green and lavender suits that haven't been in fashion in - well, never mind (again) - all sizes 6 and 8. There are also the more "serious" size 10, 12 and 14 suits, in navy, grey and black - and one red tartan plaid (what was I thinking?) Oh - and jumpers - jumpers? - that look like they'd fit my 8 year old niece... It's painful to part with those jumpers - they're so damned cute! Well, you get the idea. And don't even get me started on the shoes... I was much smarter with my purse purchases, thank goddess for small favors!