Now that's a shame.

I actually saw the game last saturnnight walking with some friends past a game-shop. One of them remembered it to be a lot of fun; although his explanation didn't consist of much more than 'throwing sticks at wooden bits'.

Basically you thow a stick at your opponents blocks of wood (25 feet away) and try to knock them over. Once you knock them all over you win by knocking over the King which is placed in the middle of the field.

<Which indeed sounded like a lot of fun.>

Todd Palin: Honey, I'm bored. Let's go clubbing.

Der Worte sind genug gewechselt,
lasst mich auch endlich Taten sehn!
Enough words have been exchanged;
now at last let me see some deeds! (Goethe, Faust I)

Goethes Gartenhaus in Weimar
> Larger view

The Faust lines above are definitely by Goethe. But are these?

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

Sometimes the phrase “Begin it!” is also added at the end, and there is a longer version that we'll discuss below. But do these lines actually originate with Goethe, as often claimed?

The Goethe Society of North America investigated this very subject over a two-year period ending in March 1998. The Society got help from various sources to solve the mystery of the Goethe quotation. Here's what they and others have discovered:

The “Until one is committed...” quotation often attributed to Goethe is in fact by William Hutchinson Murray (1913-1996), from his 1951 book entitled The Scottish Himalayan Expedition. The actual final lines from W.H. Murray's book end this way (emphasis added): “...which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!” http://german.about.com/library/blg...

I know--we are under house arrest because of the heat.>

Seattle is having unseasonal 75-80 with a slight breeze and no humidity.

Snow still melting in Alaska

"I don't know how high it is now, looks like about 80 feet," said Glenn Ball, owner of American Landscaping, as he looked up at what he estimated to be about 280,000 cubic yards of leftovers.

"We'll be lucky if it's gone by October or November," he said.

I've just posted a diagram In my forum, Its me with the black pieces against a 2150 with the white pieces..

It's white to play and he played Bd4?? Which left me to finish the game within 4 moves.. Not mate, just left him with a Rook, and me a Queen and a knight! I just wandered that when you have time, could you see what Houdini recomends please??

To look at the position It doesn't look good for white, but It sure doesn't look to be over within 4 moves, and surely Bd4??? Is a bad move?

Any help would be great, I've just been going over some old games of mine from last year, and this move stood out as poor and losing, especially as there was no time trouble for white!

There are some good and kind people on this site <hms123>, and you're definately one of them mate :)

Thank you very much Sir, you went above and beyond the call of duty at my forum, and I really do appreciate your help..

I won't keep asking you though, but trust me, I'm thankful for your help, that was, once again, very kind of you :)

Top man....>

As it says in the header: <Welcome, all! This is the place for frivolous commentary, serious commentary, and cogent discussion.>