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Jan-23-12
 | | OhioChessFan: Someone left my face out in the rain........ |
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Jan-24-12
 | | Richard Taylor: < galdur: <Shams> After, if I remember correctly.
<"My face looks like a wedding-cake left out in the rain." -- W. H. Auden> > Auden is a favourite poet of mine. After he wrote "Spain" his "defection" to the US (before WW2) was even debated in the British Parliament. All this nonsense about the US was started by <HeMateMe> who stirs away and has been doing so for years now. And when one say questions US actions in Iraq etc he comes out with something like we would all be speaking Japanese and so on...
Forgetting that in fact it was the Chinese Communists who basically stopped the Japanese. And he's probably a big fat soft useless cowardly bastard who would never even dream of fighting in war or going near a gun or fighting in a war anywhere...All those right wingers are cowards. But he also asks silly questions and about Australia when he knows I have never even been there...as if Australia and NZ were one country. The only place outside NZ I've been except Fiji is the US!! I went to NY to look at the Pollocks!! And get drunk and read poetry in Manhatten (e.g. at the Nuyorican)... He knows, he just stirs. So I answered his silly question about Colonel Mortimer (the one who (supposedly) "hates Americans" so or something... with an equally silly statement that everyone in NZ hates Americans! And of course I've spoken to everyone in NZ to ascertain this! |
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Jan-24-12
| | Richard Taylor: < twinlark: Stirring the pot again, Richard? > It needs stirring, but ask <HeMateMe> - he started it all. <It's been an interesting tournament, and a disaster for George Xie who keeps sliding further down the slippery ratings pole from the 2500 he needs to secure his GM title. I thought David Smerdon had had a problem, but then he eventually got there. > Where is Smerdon? I like the fact that interest is taken in all the players - not just the GMs. Which is why I said I had an interest in who came last - as I (came last) in the last NZ Champs - so I know how it feels. <Interesting to see untitled Trevor Tao playing on board 1 in the last round ahead of a small mountain of GMs and IMs. If he can secure a draw against Li Chao, he'll have had a thumping good tourney.> He was pretty much winning in the last game, I was sure he had the first prize in his grip, but he lost his way after initially outplaying his opponent [the 2700 "Super GM"], which happens in last round games. Such is life. Certainly he put the pressure onto his opponent. Steadman took first NZ Prize. I think the Classic is attracting more and stronger GMs. For some it is treated as holiday also. It is a pretty expensive place I believe. Very touristy - full of Americans looking for the Lord of the Rings!! The tourists believe the propaganda about the place so much they actually think the are enjoying themselves in NZ! Not if you are losing games in a Chess tourney though... Marcus Lush in his railway journey TV programme:
"American tourists saying over and over how beautiful it all is, as if they've been hypnotised, and still looking miserable."! (There are more interesting places in NZ And it rains a lot down there I believe or further over near the Milford Sounds. Then there are mosquitoes and it is (most times) pretty cold own there). |
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| Jan-24-12 | | twinlark: <Roger>
The Smurf's in Amsterdam beavering away at his Masters in Economics, and he's dipped his toes in to the Dutch teams competition. He keeps a blog that's linked in his bio, if you're interested. He's quite an engaging sort of chap. I'm impressed with the way the Queenstown Classic is growing. Pity it and the Doeberl and the Sydney International aren't all held close together as that'd be a fabulous chess "holiday" to attract a lot more top northern players, looking to see both countries and play top chess in the picturesque seasons. Regardless of mozzies, cane toads, drop bears, stampeding koala bears and killer kiwis. |
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Jan-25-12
 | | HeMateMe: <All this nonsense about the US was started by <HeMateMe>> <Dickie>, I am merely a counter puncher. It seems the smaller and more irrelevant the country, the more virulent anti USA they are (I'm waiting for the Luxembourg and UAE bashers to jump in). Your age and possible early senility don't give you a free pass to say the USA is a sleazy, war monger nation (paraphrasing). I'm guessing it is your somewhat geographic isolation and lack of mainstream entertainment that makes you a USA basher. Don't let it happen, <Dickie> !! I thought New Zealand's recent Haka hog calling contest was incredibly entertaining, and I think MTV should have covered it. |
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| Jan-25-12 | | King Death: I don't understand the need for all of the politicization. Maybe I'm just out of step with reality or something, but at the chess board or the poker table, the only thing I want is to toast that mug on the other side of the table before he does the same thing to me. Take no prisoners is where it's at, and I don't care where they're from or what their politics are. |
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| Jan-25-12 | | Colonel Mortimer: <All this nonsense about the US was started by <HeMateMe> Yes it was - (s)he is highly sensitive to ANY criticism of the USA, hysterically so. |
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| Jan-25-12 | | Colonel Mortimer: It is said that Mahatma Ghandi was once asked, "What is your opinion of American civilization?" His reply was: "I think it would be an excellent idea." |
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Jan-25-12
| | HeMateMe: I would take Ghandi a bit more seriously if more Indian villages had wooden or cement floors instead of mud. |
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| Jan-25-12 | | Colonel Mortimer: When NASA was preparing for the Apollo project, some of the training of the astronauts took place on a Navajo Indian reservation. One day, a Navajo elder and his son were herding sheep and came across the space crew. The old man, who spoke only Navajo, asked a question that his son translated. "What are these guys in the big suits doing?" A member of the crew said they were practicing for their trip to the moon. The old man got all excited and asked if he could send a message to the moon with the astronauts. Recognizing a promotional opportunity, the NASA folks found a tape recorder. After the old man recorded his message, they asked his son to translate it. He refused. The NASA PR people brought the tape to the reservation, where the rest of the tribe listened and laughed, but they refused to translate the elder's message to the moon. Finally, the NASA crew called in an official government translator. His translation of the old man's message was "Watch out for these guys; they have come to steal your land." |
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| Jan-25-12 | | waustad: I was under the impression that he said that about Western civilization, not American. |
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Jan-26-12
| | HeMateMe: ...but now they are getting even by busting the bank account of every tourist who visits an indian casino. It's called "getting scalped", in the 21st century. |
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| Jan-26-12 | | Shams: <HeMateMe> When I drive through the Rez "getting even" is not the phrase that springs to mind. |
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Jan-26-12
| | HeMateMe: ...of course, I'm just kidding. I hope the native Americans put that money to good use. |
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| Jan-26-12 | | Shams: <HeMateMe> Well, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe sure has money to put to good use, but sadly most Indian Casinos are not on the scale of Foxwoods. I know a little bit about this, having put myself through college in part by working nights dealing craps here:
http://www.nooksackcasino.com/index... From what I've read, most tribes don't make that much money; the benefit is in the jobs. But many of those jobs are not filled by Native Americans anyway. When you throw in all the negative externalities casinos bring to communities (spiking child abuse is one story though I haven't seen data) they begin to look like a dubious proposition, to my eyes at least. |
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| Jan-26-12 | | waustad: <RT>When I lived in Austria it was "The Sound of Music". Different movies, same idea. |
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| Jan-26-12 | | waustad: Years later though I saw the film with my sister who talked about how great the sets were. I got to point out that they didn't use sets for most of it. They just went outside. |
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Jan-26-12
 | | Benzol: Link to the final rankings and crosstable
http://www.chess-results.com/tnr638... |
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Jan-26-12
| | Benzol: Link to the PGN downloads
http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/qu... |
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| Jan-27-12 | | twinlark: <HeHateMe>
<It's called "getting scalped", in the 21st century.> Who was scalping whom? Let's see: http://www.abbemuseum.org/phips_bou... Body parts as trophies were known to one and all Indians and Europeans alike, but the Indians were the main victims during the wars of genocide and dispossession. Scalping was invented by the Indians, and the Europeans adopted the practice as scalps were so much more portable and convenient than heads, which was their custom until then. I'm not sure what a typical income for 1755 was, but 50 pounds per scalp for every Indian over the age of 12 and 25 pounds for every Indian under 12 would have created some instant wealth with many bounty hunters and settlers. |
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| Jan-27-12 | | galdur: "It was from the Puritan Pilgrim Fathers that the Massachusetts Indians learned to scalp their enemies." ---H.H. Jackson
A Century of Dishonor 1881 |
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| Jan-27-12 | | twinlark: That was a bit ungrateful seeing as an Indian saved the settlement in the first year. Kind of set the tone of things to come. |
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Jan-28-12
| | Richard Taylor: <HeMateMe> Doesn't make consistent political arguments he merely digs away looking for someone who "hates" the US. But if you analyse what he says he has no answers and he really seems to misunderstand politics or history.
He doesn't even really know where NZ is! I recommend he gets some books and an atlas for start! He has some vague idea that the US exits to save Australia and NZ from the Japanese. he also thinks it is the small countries that attack the US. Any Imperialist nation such as Britain, France, Russia the US etc is subject to criticism. However my comment was clearly a joke as (again <HeMateMe> has deliberately overlooked). I really enjoyed my time in the US and found people very good in general. I also admire many aspects of US culture (as I do of Japanese or China or wherever). I went up the Trade Tower and to various art galleries and I met a lot of "characters" in bars in NY. Some were black, some Hispanic, others just good old Pakeha Americans. I wasn't playing chess in those days but Washington Square was great. I wanted to do bigger tour of the US sometime. My niece married an American and they live in Las Vegas, Nevada, my brother visited there recently. I'm not senile. Nor is John Pilger when he lectures on US international politics to Americans. His critcism of say Guantanamo (and the other "Gulags" set up by the US military) doesn't mean he thinks all Americans are bad bastards. He is not that stupid. The people any nation are good. What we need to take into account are class, the class struggle, economics, racism, poverty and unemployment (in all nations) and so on. Pilger's critique of Obama is on the nail. But the fundamental structure of capitalism is now virtually world wide. Nor are these question of Imperialism etc limited to the US. There are huge question marks for example over what is happening in India or China, and say France (treatment of Arab peoples and the attack on welfare etc) and of course there isn't a nation on the earth above criticism... Except NZ - just joking! |
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Jan-28-12
| | Richard Taylor: Sometimes I wonder though - I forgot eth name of the (very famous) gambling city! Looked it up on Google, then forgot it a few seconds later...hmm.. Alzeheimer's? Well, I maybe "getting senile" but my ability to reason is still quite good... But I think those memory fadeouts are caused by a kind of panic. Hmmm... I am approaching 65 so suppose....
[Who needs a memory when you've got Google!!] |
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Jan-28-12
| | HeMateMe: Its 6:00pm in NZ--did the bars just open, or close? |
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