Not to be confused with a hung jury in Gary, Indiana.

The Hungarian Opening is a reversed Robatsch/Rat/Modern defense. White omits an early Nf3. Canadian Duncan Suttles is one of it's most steadfast users. David Norwood is another user.

As far as I'm concerned, if White plays g3 and Bg2 w/out Nf3 anytime early on, it could be considered a TRANSPOSITION to the Hungarian Opening regardless of other pawn moves in the center. Any kingside fianchetto with a prompt Nf3 would fall under the English/Reti/Zukertort/King's Indian Attack/Catalan. This collection contains plenty of games that could transpose into the Hungarian Opening. Most games w/an immediate/early Pe4 have been removed.

"Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." — Lao Tzu

"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere." — Albert Einstein

"Chess is a fairy tale of 1,001 blunders." — Savielly Tartakower

"Pawns are the soul of chess." — François-André Danican Philidor

"To free your game, take off some of your adversary's men, if possible for nothing." — Captain Bertain, The Noble Game of Chess (1735)

"I play my king all over the board. I make him fight!" — Wilhelm Steinitz

"A righteous wife can make a poor man feel like a king." — Boonaa Mohammed

"Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for – in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it." — Ellen Goodman

"You have enemies? Good; that means you have stood up for something, sometime in your life." — Winston Churchill

May-23-23 Rdb: Hey fredthebear , do you know that your buddy... everyday ?

Great ! Awesome.

You are so righteous.

Let no one say that great crusader fredthebear is dishonest.

"All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you." ― Walt Disney

"Win with grace, lose with dignity!" ― Susan Polgar

"What does it take to be a champion? Desire, dedication, determination, personal and professional discipline, focus, concentration, strong nerves, the will to win, and yes, talent!" ― Susan Polgar

"No matter how successful you are (or will be), never ever forget the people who helped you along the way, and pay it forward! Don't become arrogant and conceited just because you gained a few rating points or made a few bucks. Stay humble and be nice, especially to your fans!" ― Susan Polgar

"When you see a good move – WAIT! – look for a better one." ― Emanuel Lasker The Portuguese chess player and author Pedro Damiano (1480–1544) first wrote this in his book "Questo libro e da imparare giocare a scachi et de li partiti" published in Rome, Italy, in 1512.

"In my opinion, the King's Gambit is busted. It loses by force." ― Bobby Fischer, A bust to the King's Gambit (1960)

"Touch the pawns before your king with only infinite delicacy." ― Anthony Santasiere

"You can retreat pieces… but not pawns. So always think twice about pawn moves." ― Michael Stean

"The passed pawn is a criminal, who should be kept under lock and key. Mild measures, such as police surveillance, are not sufficient." ― Aron Nimzowitsch

"There are two kinds of idiots - those who don't take action because they have received a threat, and those who think they are taking action because they have issued a threat." ― Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym

"Life is very much about making the best decisions you can. So I think chess is very valuable." ― Hikaru Nakamura

"If you're too open-minded; your brains will fall out." ― Lawrence Ferlinghetti

"Chess is all about stored pattern recognition. You are asking your brain to spot a face in the crowd that it has not seen." ― Sally Simpson

Fred Wilson explains in "303 Tricky Chess Tactics": "A combination is a tactical maneuver in which you sacrifice material to obtain an advantage, or at least to improve your position. So, strategy then, is your general plan, while tactics are your specific means of carrying it out."

"For me the starting point for everything - before strategy, tactics, theories, managing, organizing, philosophy, methodology, talent, or experience - is work ethic. Without one of significant magnitude, you're dead in the water." ― Bill Walsh

"Persistence isn't using the same tactics over and over. Persistence is having the same goal over and over." ― Seth Godin

"If you don't play to win don't play at all." ― Tom Brady

"Every time you win, you're reborn; when you lose, you die a little." — George Allen

"Winning is the science of being totally prepared." — George Allen

"What you do in the off season determines what you do in the regular season." — George Allen

"People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don't know when to quit." — George Allen

"Try not to do too many things at once. Know what you want, the number one thing today and tomorrow. Persevere and get it done." — George Allen

"Forget the past – the future will give you plenty to worry about." — George Allen

"We learn by chess the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearances in the state of our affairs, the habit of hoping for a favorable change, and that of persevering in the search for resources." ― Benjamin Franklin

'April showers bring forth May flowers

"When a player keeps a calm demeanor on the court, it's easier for his ability to shine. The best response to an opposing player's physical or psychological tactics is to keep cool and come right back at him with the force of your game, not your fists. Revenge is always sweeter if your team wins the game." ― Walt Frazier

"I've never met a checkers player I didn't like; they're all even-tempered. Chess players are egotistical. They think they're intellectuals and that everyone else is beneath them." ― Don Lafferty, draughts grandmaster

<Pastime with good company I love and shall, until I die.
Grudge who list, but none deny!
So God be pleased, thus live will I.>
― Henry VIII of England

"If the string breaks, then we try another piece of string." — Owl

"Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories." ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

"I'll play baseball for the Army or fight for it, whatever they want me to do." ― Mickey Mantle

"Chess is a miniature version of life. To be successful, you need to be disciplined, assess resources, consider responsible choices and adjust when circumstances change." ― Susan Polgar

"We are like chess players who are trying to predict the opponent's future moves, but in this case, we are dealing with life itself. True masters do not play the game on a single chessboard, but on multiple chessboards at the same time. And what's the difference between grandmasters and masters? Surprises. The moves that cannot be predicted by the opponent. Life can play a simultaneous game with seven billion people at the same time and it can take each and every one of us by surprise. And we still believe we are capable of winning, because we can predict three of four moves ahead. We are insignificant." ― Jaka Tomc, 720 Heartbeats

"The cherished dream of every chessplayer is to play a match with the World Champion. But here is the paradox: the closer you come to the realization of this goal, the less you think about it." ― Mikhail Tal

"I mean a man whose hopes and aims may sometimes lie (as most men's sometimes do, I dare say) above the ordinary level, but to whom the ordinary level will be high enough after all if it should prove to be a way of usefulness and good service leading to no other. All generous spirits are ambitious, I suppose, but the ambition that calmly trusts itself to such a road, instead of spasmodically trying to fly over it, is of the kind I care for." ― Charles Dickens, Bleak House

"Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley." ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

"Do whatever comes your way to do as well as you can. Think as little as possible about yourself. Think as much as possible about other people. Dwell on things that are interesting. Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give." ― Eleanor Roosevelt

"In every generation, there are those who refuse to lower themselves, who refuse to compromise their character when tempted, who do the right thing no matter what. There are also those who do not care enough to stand against temptation. It is not because they can't, but they don't. And then there are the one who actively choose to be malicious, to hurt people for their own gain or just out of spite; these are the evil ones." ― Bohdi Sanders

"But I find something compelling in the game's choreography, the way one move implies the next. The kings are an apt metaphor for human beings: utterly constrained by the rules of the game, defenseless against bombardment from all sides, able only to temporarily dodge disaster by moving one step in any direction." ― Jennifer duBois, A Partial History of Lost Causes

"The move is there, but you must see it." ― Savielly Tartakower

"You may delay, but time will not." ― Benjamin Franklin

"Chess is all about maintaining coherent strategies. It's about not giving up when the enemy destroys one plan but to immediately come up with the next. A game isn't won and lost at the point when the king is finally cornered. The game's sealed when a player gives up having any strategy at all. When his soldiers are all scattered, they have no common cause, and they move one piece at a time, that's when you've lost." ― Kazuo Ishiguro, A Pale View of Hills

"The King is only fond of words, and cannot translate them into deeds." ― Teck Foo Check, The Autobiography of Sun Tzu

"War is not just the shower of bullets and bombs from both sides, it is also the shower of blood and bones on both sides." ― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

"The skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field." ― Sun Tzu, The Art Of War

Easier said than done. ~ Canadian proverb

"Technique has taken over the whole of civilization. Death, procreation, birth all submit to technical efficiency and systemization." ― Jacques Ellul

"Time is an illusion." ― Albert Einstein

"Time isn't precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is." ― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

"It's being here now that's important. There's no past and there's no future. Time is a very misleading thing. All there is ever, is the now. We can gain experience from the past, but we can't relive it; and we can hope for the future, but we don't know if there is one." ― George Harrison

"You are the biggest enemy of your own sleep." ― Pawan Mishra

* Basic Rules: https://thechessworld.com/basic-che...

* Attack and Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc-...

* Ataman's Minis: Game Collection: Instructive Chess Miniatures (Ataman)

* Alapins: Game Collection: Alapin

* Albin Planinc A00: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

* Bowman's Beginner's Guide:
http://chess.jliptrap.us/BowmanBegi... Not perfect but dedicated, passionate.

* Brilliant (and mostly famous)! Game Collection: Brilliant Miniatures

* Blackburne strikes! games annotated by Blackburne

* Brutal Attacking Chess: Game Collection: Brutal Attacking Chess

* Bishop's Opening Miniatures: https://www.chessonly.com/bishop-op...

* Capablanca's Double Attack — having the initiative is important: https://lichess.org/study/tzrisL1R

* Checkmate Art: Game Collection: Art of Checkmate

* 21st Century: Game Collection: 0

* 2 bad habits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ifm...

* Passer on the 2nd rank: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gk1w...

* 3.Ba3 Nbd7: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dtqe...

* 3 billion dummies? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nz96...

* 3 reasons: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5pv3...

* 4,000 ELO: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6g2E...

* A45: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvH...

* Alireza Firouzja's 5 Most Brilliant Chess Moves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwa...

* Fabiano Caruana's 5 Most Brilliant Chess Moves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoq...

* Top 5 laws: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CimP...

* Top 6 traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYO...

* Top 7 aggressive openings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib8...

* 7 Mexican songs that you've heard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9S...

* 7 ways to punish Bg4 pin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbQ...

* 738 days: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/niPh...

* 8 Chess concepts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRy...

* 0831 history: https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peo...

* Firouzja Breaks Record: Youngest 2800 Chess Player in History! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHR...

* 9-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwK...

* 9 Russian songs that you've heard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-v...

* Double rook sacrifice in 9 moves: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KD-F...

* 10 to Practice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psv...

* 10 Italian songs that you've heard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gt...

* 10 Tips: https://www.uschess.org/index.php/L...

* 10 Crazy Gambits: https://www.chess.com/blog/yola6655...

* 12th street comes after the 11th: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlr...

* 18-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju, the World Championship challenger w/the knight pair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vq...

* Johnny Guarnieri plays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHX...

* 25 Opening Traps: https://www.chess.com/blog/ChessLor...

* B23-B25: Game Collection: Sicilian Closed / Grand Prix Attack

* 50 Soviet Attacks: Game Collection: Chernev: The Russians Play Chess

* 150 Attack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH4...

* QGD D06: Queen's Gambit Declined (D06)

* 2008 POTD: Game Collection: Puzzle of the Day 2008

* 2012-2015 Attacks: Game Collection: 2012-2015 Attacking Games (Naiditsch/Balogh)

* 2016 Stunners: Game Collection: 2016 Stunning Victories (Naiditsch/Balogh/Maze)

* Best Games of 2018: Game Collection: Best Games of 2018

* Be aggressive! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFl...

* Checkmate patterns: Game Collection: Checkmate: Checkmate Patterns

* Basics of the Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8a...

* Brief Caro-Kann Defense Variations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ-...

* Black stops losing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgX...

* Use the Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtP...

* Three Caro-Kann Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNp...

* The Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3H...

* Beat the Caro-Kann Quickly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhj...

* Crush the Caro-Kann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXv...

* The Caro-Kann, Advance Variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npq...

* Gokerkan vs Niemann 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gw...

* Classical Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA1...

* Main Ideas of the Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pN...

* Magnus plays the Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDa...

* Karpov's Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa4...

* ...c6 against all by Hansen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCZ...

* ...c6 speedrun by Hansen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDU...

* Dangerous Caro-Kann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI_...

* C-K Advance, Botvinnik-Carls Variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWb...

* Caro-Kann, Fantasy Variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4e...

* Caro-Kann, Korchnoi Variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF3...

* Complete Caro-Kann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmZ...

* Instructive Caro-Kann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLp...

* Intro to FRC: https://www.chessable.com/blog/an-i...

* Glossary W: Wikipedia article: Glossary of chess

* Giannis says: https://www.suffernchessclub.com/se...

* Loser: User: ljfyffe

* Same Loser: User: Larryfyffe

* Funny moments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mx...

* Tactical Motifs: https://chesstempo.com/tactical-mot...

* Bill Wall miniatures: Bill Wall

* Puzzles: Tactics Archive

* Play for free: https://www.freechess.org/

* PGN Language Conversion: http://www.code.gr/chess-converter/...

* Predator On-line: https://www.bustedmugshots.com/ohio...

* Short and Quick:
Game Collection: SHORT AND QUICK

* Pawn Instruction: http://www.logicalchess.com/learn/l...

* Petrosian's Best: Game Collection: P.H.Clarke: Petrosian's Best games

* Defensive Replies to the Queen's Pawn: Game Collection: e6 after 1.d4

* QP Bg2: Queen's Pawn Game (E00)

* Game with ...e6: Game Collection: Partidas modelo con temas variados

* Red States: https://www.redhotpawn.com/

* Scotch Game fianchetto:
Game Collection: scotch g3

Sidewalk playin': https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...

* Sicilians: Game Collection: Sicilian/French/Westerimen and other ...c5,...e6

* Sicilian O'Kelly leaves White all kinds of choices: Opening Explorer

* Starting Out: French Defense: Game Collection: Starting out : The French

* Solitaire: Game Collection: Solitaire Chess by I. A. Horowitz

* Stunners: Game Collection: Stunners

* Stable equilibrium: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4rKm...

* Steinitz rule in pawn endgames: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vUv5...

* Swing the mood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iD...

* Simple tactics course using miniatures:
http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/x/FTP...

* Short Match: Game Collection: Match Short-Karjakin

* Tactics and Combinations are not strategy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkE...

Is there a Q+ and fork, a Nc6 hitting c2 or Nf6 hitting f2? Count the coverage, attackers vs defenders and their relative value of exchange. Develop your minor pieces rapidly. Blunder check: How will this piece be hit on its new square? Can it be pinned? Don't expose your royalty. Reinforce the center and the bishop's aim. Seize open lines and form batteries with your long-range pieces. Protect your pieces and prevent penetration. Unpin & untie immediately. Blockade weak pawns and penetrate weak squares. Put pigs on the 2nd/7th.

* Take it down a notch: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZlkX...

* Tal sacrifices: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ngM5...

* That's how it is done: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4Tn2...

* Top Chessgames by ECO Code: http://schachsinn.de/gamelist.htm

* Top Games by Year: Wikipedia article: List of chess games

* Terminology: https://www.angelfire.com/games5/ch...

* Timely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ov...

* Tim's list of records: https://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/record...

* Chess Titles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULy...

* Today is the day: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZESv...

* Today's Titans: search "Sergey Karjakin vs Magnus Carlsen"

* Terrible: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Vz8U...

* Triangular hole: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Qm64...

* Triangulation changes the move: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AGjc...

* Trimmin': https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tddb...

* Trumpeters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO1...

* Tromp the Indians: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmY...

* Tarrasch vs Romberg 1893: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BfnD...

* To-do: https://www.explore.com/1097372/thi...

* two-time U.S. No.1 single: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnc...

* Teks bawaan: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lZsS...

* Traxler Counter-Attack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1j...

* Unchained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0E...

* Underpromotions: Game Collection: Games With Two Knight Promotions

* Untenable: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MW90...

* Union Square Hustle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDA...

* Saavedra Underpromotion 1895: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pWeo...

* Variety show in December 1969: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o8...

* Vegan bacon, or Fried Liver? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xeRI...

* Viva La Vida... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSk...

* Vienna Gambit, Heisenberg trap: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/O1Oi...

* Vietnam traps: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Xrji...

* Waiting for the Paris train: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipP...

* What does the pawn structure say? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/q4Bf...

* Wishbone playaction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yci...

* When castling is bad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSE...

* Word police: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rjhA...

* Wikipedia on Computer Chess: Wikipedia article: Computer chess

* Women: https://www.thefamouspeople.com/wom...

* Wooly is the way of unorthodox play: Game Collection: woollybear's favorite games

* Z Vol 105: Game Collection: 0ZeR0's collected games volume 105

* Mr. Harvey's Puzzle Challenge: https://wtharvey.com/

WTHarvey:
There once was a website named WTHarvey,
Where chess puzzles did daily delay,
The brain-teasers so tough,
They made us all huff and puff,
But solving them brought us great satisfaction today.

There once was a website named WTHarvey
Where chess puzzles were quite aplenty
With knight and rook and pawn
You'll sharpen your brain with a yawn
And become a master of chess entry

There once was a site for chess fun,
Wtharvey.com was the chosen one,
With puzzles galore,
It'll keep you in store,
For hours of brain-teasing, none done.

There once was a website named WTHarvey,
Where chess puzzles were posted daily,
You'd solve them with glee,
And in victory,
You'd feel like a true chess prodigy!

"Chess is played with the mind and not with the hands." ― Renaud & Kahn

"Chess is a terrific way for kids to build self-image and self-esteem." ― Saudin Robovic

"Chess is a sport. The main object in the game of chess remains the achievement of victory." ― Max Euwe

"Life is like a chess. If you lose your queen, you will probably lose the game." ― Being Caballero

"If you wish to succeed, you must brave the risk of failure." — Garry Kasparov

"You win some, you lose some, you wreck some." — Dale Earnhardt

"In life, unlike chess the game continues after checkmate." ― Isaac Asimov

Connecticut: Windsor
Established in: 1633

Settlers from Plymouth Colony built the first trading house in Windsor in 1633 on an expanse of land they bought from Native Americans who were living there. Windsor was Connecticut's first English settlement, with a perfect location on the water. Today, the city uses its "first town" status to create a historical atmosphere ideal for tourism.

* Chess History: https://www.uschesstrust.org/chess-...

* Chess History: https://www.britannica.com/topic/ch...

* Three Simple Chess Tips: https://www.premierchesscoaching.co...

* Chess Principles: https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comm...

The Kings of Chess: A History of Chess, Traced Through the Lives of Its Greatest Players by William Hartston William Hartson traces the development of the game from its Oriental origins to the present day through the lives of its greatest exponents - men like Howard Staunton, who transformed what had been a genteel pastime into a competitive science; the brilliant American Paul Morphy, who once played a dozen simultaneous games blindfold; the arrogant and certified insane Wilhelm Steinitz; the philosopher and mathematician Emanual Lasker; Bobby Fischer, perhaps the most brilliant and eccentric of them all; and many other highly gifted individuals. Hartson depicts all their colorful variety with a wealth of rare illustrations.

Format: Hardcover
Language: English
ISBN: 006015358X
ISBN13: 9780060153588
Release Date: January 1985
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Length: 192 Pages
Weight: 1.80 lbs.

Take care of your pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves. ~ Scottish Proverb

* Dec-12-20 MissScarlett: My advice to <acapo> is to close the pop-up ads by clicking on the little <x> in the top right corner.

The Miller, His Son, and the Ass

To M. De Maucroix.

Because the arts are plainly birthright matters, For fables we to ancient Greece are debtors;
But still this field could not be reaped so clean As not to let us, later comers, glean.
The fiction-world has deserts yet to dare,
And, daily, authors make discoveries there.
I had fain repeat one which our man of song,
Old Malherbe, told one day to young Racan.
Of Horace they the rivals and the heirs,
Apollo's pets, – my masters, I should say, – Sole by themselves were met, I'm told, one day,
Confiding each to each their thoughts and cares. Racan begins: 'Pray end my inward strife,
For well you know, my friend, what's what in life, Who through its varied course, from stage to stage, Have stored the full experience of age;
What shall I do? It's time I chose profession.
You know my fortune, birth, and disposition.
Ought I to make the country my resort,
Or seek the army, or to rise at court?
There's nothing but mixes bitterness with charms; War has its pleasures; hymen, its alarms.
it were nothing hard to take my natural bent, – But I have a world of people to content."
"Content a world!" old Malherbe cries; "who can, sir? Why, let me tell a story before I answer."

"A miller and his son, I have somewhere read,
The first in years, the other but a lad, –
A fine, smart boy, however, I should say, –
To sell their ass went to a fair one day.
In order there to get the highest price,
They needs must keep their donkey fresh and nice; So, tying fast his feet, they swung him clear,
And bore him hanging like a chandelier.
Alas! poor, simple-minded country fellows!
The first that sees their load, loud laughing, bellows, "What farce is this to split good people's sides? The most an ass is not the one that rides!"
The miller, much enlightened by this talk,
Untied his precious beast, and made him walk.
The ass, who liked the other mode of travel,
Brayed some complaint at trudging on the gravel; Whereat, not understanding well the beast,
The miller caused his hopeful son to ride,
And walked behind, without a spark of pride.
Three merchants passed, and, mightily displeased, The eldest of these gentlemen cried out,
"Ho there! dismount, for shame, you lubber lout! Nor make a foot-boy of your grey-beard sire;
Change places, as the rights of age require."
"To please you, sirs," the miller said, "I ought." So down the young and up the old man got.
Three girls next passing, "What a shame!" says one, "That boy should be obliged on foot to run,
While that old chap, on his ass astride,
Should play the calf, and like a bishop ride!"
"Please save your wit," the miller made reply,
"Tough veal, my girls, the calf as old as I."
But joke on joke repeated changed his mind;
So up he took, at last, his son behind.
Not thirty yards ahead, another set
Found fault. "The biggest fools I ever met,"
Says one of them, "such burdens to impose.
The ass is faint, and dying with their blows.
Is this, indeed, the mercy which these rustics
Show to their honest, faithful, old domestics?
If to the fair these lazy fellows ride,
"Twill be to sell thereat the donkey's hide!"
"Zounds!" cried the miller, "precious little brains Has he who takes, to please the world, such pains; But since we're in, we'll try what can be done." So off the ass they jumped, himself and son,
And, like a prelate, donkey marched alone.
Another man they met. "These folks," said he,
"Enslave themselves to let their ass go free – The darling brute! If I might be so bold,
I had counsel them to have him set in gold.
Not so went Nicholas his Jane to woo,
Who rode, we sing, his ass to save his shoe."
"Ass! ass!" our man replied; "we're asses three! I do avow myself an ass to be;
But since my sage advisers can't agree,
Their words henceforth shall not be heeded;
I'll suit myself." And he succeeded.

"For you, choose army, love, or court;
In town, or country, make resort;
Take wife, or cowl; ride you, or walk;
Doubt not but tongues will have their talk."

John Hanson was elected as the first full-term "President of the United States in Congress Assembled" under the Articles of Confederation in 1781.

<<Chris Chaffin wrote:

master/piece
She moves him ‘round the chess board,
dodging bishops, pawns and rooks.
She coaxes him from square to square
without a second look.

The white knight cannot catch him.
Piece by piece, the foe now yields.
Her king is safe; the game is done.
The queen controls the field.>

The longest decisive FIDE-rated game is Billy Fellowes vs Peter Lalić, London 2024, which lasted for 272 moves, at the Third Kingston Invitational.

The longest game played in a world championship is the 6th game of the 2021 World Chess Championship between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi, which Carlsen won in 136 moves by resignation. The game lasted for 8 hours, 15 minutes and 40 seconds.

The Satyr and the Traveller

Within a savage forest grot
A satyr and his chips
Were taking down their porridge hot;
Their cups were at their lips.

You might have seen in mossy den,
Himself, his wife, and brood;
They had not tailor-clothes, like men,
But appetites as good.

In came a traveller, benighted,
All hungry, cold, and wet,
Who heard himself to eat invited
With nothing like regret.

He did not give his host the pain
His asking to repeat;
But first he blew with might and main
To give his fingers heat.

Then in his steaming porridge dish
He delicately blew.
The wondering satyr said, "I wish
The use of both I knew."

"Why, first, my blowing warms my hand,
And then it cools my porridge."
"Ah!" said his host, "then understand
I cannot give you storage.
"To sleep beneath one roof with you,
I may not be so bold.
Far be from me that mouth untrue
Which blows both hot and cold."

Herein lay the rub. The Americans, like all Western armies, defined "winning" as killing the enemy and securing control over the battlefield. Their opponents in previous conflicts had generally accepted the same definition. Not so the Moros. What was important to them was the struggle and how one conducted oneself, personally and as a people, not necessarily a measurable outcome. They knew from the beginning they were no match for American firepower. It was a one-sided contest, what today is termed "asymmetric warfare," but so what? Their measure was how well one did against the odds, the more overwhelmingly they were against one, the greater the glory. And being that life is transitory anyway, what mattered most was how much courage was shown and how well did one die. The Americans and the Moros were using different score cards for the same game. To the Moros, it was they who had "won." — Robert A. Fulton

St. Peter

Ravenna
by Oscar Wilde

To my friend George Fleming author of 'The Nile Novel' and 'Mirage')

I.

A year ago I breathed the Italian air, -
And yet, methinks this northern Spring is fair,- These fields made golden with the flower of March, The throstle singing on the feathered larch,
The cawing rooks, the wood-doves fluttering by,
The little clouds that race across the sky;
And fair the violet's gentle drooping head,
The primrose, pale for love uncomforted,
The rose that burgeons on the climbing briar,
The crocus-bed, (that seems a moon of fire
Round-girdled with a purple marriage-ring);
And all the flowers of our English Spring,
Fond snowdrops, and the bright-starred daffodil.

Up starts the lark beside the murmuring mill,
And breaks the gossamer-threads of early dew;
And down the river, like a flame of blue,
Keen as an arrow flies the water-king,
While the brown linnets in the greenwood sing.

A year ago! - it seems a little time
Since last I saw that lordly southern clime,
Where flower and fruit to purple radiance blow,
And like bright lamps the fabled apples glow.

Full Spring it was - and by rich flowering vines, Dark olive-groves and noble forest-pines,
I rode at will; the moist glad air was sweet,
The white road rang beneath my horse's feet,
And musing on Ravenna's ancient name,
I watched the day till, marked with wounds of flame, The turquoise sky to burnished gold was turned.

O how my heart with boyish passion burned,
When far away across the sedge and mere
I saw that Holy City rising clear,
Crowned with her crown of towers! - On and on
I galloped, racing with the setting sun,
And ere the crimson after-glow was passed,
I stood within Ravenna's walls at last!

II.

How strangely still! no sound of life or joy
Startles the air; no laughing shepherd-boy
Pipes on his reed, nor ever through the day
Comes the glad sound of children at their play:
O sad, and sweet, and silent! surely here
A man might dwell apart from troublous fear,
Watching the tide of seasons as they flow
From amorous Spring to Winter's rain and snow,
And have no thought of sorrow; - here, indeed,
Are Lethe's waters, and that fatal weed
Which makes a man forget his fatherland.

Ay! amid lotus-meadows dost thou stand,
Like Proserpine, with poppy-laden head,
Guarding the holy ashes of the dead.

For though thy brood of warrior sons hath ceased, Thy noble dead are with thee! - they at least
Are faithful to thine honour:- guard them well,
O childless city! for a mighty spell,
To wake men's hearts to dreams of things sublime, Are the lone tombs where rest the Great of Time.

III.

Yon lonely pillar, rising on the plain,
Marks where the bravest knight of France was slain, - The Prince of chivalry, the Lord of war,
Gaston de Foix: for some untimely star
Led him against thy city, and he fell,
As falls some forest-lion fighting well.

Taken from life while life and love were new,
He lies beneath God's seamless veil of blue;
Tall lance-like reeds wave sadly o'er his head,
And oleanders bloom to deeper red,
Where his bright youth flowed crimson on the ground.

Look farther north unto that broken mound, -
There, prisoned now within a lordly tomb
Raised by a daughter's hand, in lonely gloom,
Huge-limbed Theodoric, the Gothic king,
Sleeps after all his weary conquering.

Time hath not spared his ruin, - wind and rain
Have broken down his stronghold; and again
We see that Death is mighty lord of all,
And king and clown to ashen dust must fall

Mighty indeed THEIR glory! yet to me
Barbaric king, or knight of chivalry,
Or the great queen herself, were poor and vain,
Beside the grave where Dante rests from pain.

His gilded shrine lies open to the air;
And cunning sculptor's hands have carven there
The calm white brow, as calm as earliest morn,
The eyes that flashed with passionate love and scorn, The lips that sang of Heaven and of Hell,
The almond-face which Giotto drew so well,
The weary face of Dante; - to this day,
Here in his place of resting, far away
From Arno's yellow waters, rushing down
Through the wide bridges of that fairy town,
Where the tall tower of Giotto seems to rise
A marble lily under sapphire skies!

Alas! my Dante! thou hast known the pain
Of meaner lives, - the exile's galling chain,
How steep the stairs within kings' houses are,
And all the petty miseries which mar
Man's nobler nature with the sense of wrong.

Yet this dull world is grateful for thy song;
Our nations do thee homage, - even she,
That cruel queen of vine-clad Tuscany,
Who bound with crown of thorns thy living brow,
Hath decked thine empty tomb with laurels now,
And begs in vain the ashes of her son.

O mightiest exile! all thy grief is done:
Thy soul walks now beside thy Beatrice;
Ravenna guards thine ashes: sleep in peace.

IV.

How lone this palace is; how grey the walls!
No minstrel now wakes echoes in these halls.

The broken chain lies rusting on the door,
And noisome weeds have split the marble floor:
Here lurks the snake, and here the lizards run
By the stone lions blinking in the sun.

Byron dwelt here in love and revelry
For two long years - a second Anthony,
Who of the world another Actium made!
Yet suffered not his royal soul to fade,
Or lyre to break, or lance to grow less keen,
'Neath any wiles of an Egyptian queen.

For from the East there came a mighty cry,
And Greece stood up to fight for Liberty,
And called him from Ravenna: never knight
Rode forth more nobly to wild scenes of fight!
None fell more bravely on ensanguined field,
Borne like a Spartan back upon his shield!
O Hellas! Hellas! in thine hour of pride,
Thy day of might, remember him who died
To wrest from off thy limbs the trammelling chain: O Salamis! O lone Plataean plain!
O tossing waves of wild Euboean sea!
O wind-swept heights of lone Thermopylae!
He loved you well - ay, not alone in word,
Who freely gave to thee his lyre and sword,
Like AEschylos at well-fought Marathon:

And England, too, shall glory in her son,
Her warrior-poet, first in song and fight.

No longer now shall Slander's venomed spite
Crawl like a snake across his perfect name,
Or mar the lordly scutcheon of his fame.

For as the olive-garland of the race,
Which lights with joy each eager runner's face,
As the red cross which saveth men in war,
As a flame-bearded beacon seen from far
By mariners upon a storm-tossed sea, -
Such was his love for Greece and Liberty!

Byron, thy crowns are ever fresh and green:
Red leaves of rose from Sapphic Mitylene
Shall bind thy brows; the myrtle blooms for thee, In hidden glades by lonely Castaly;
The laurels wait thy coming: all are thine,
And round thy head one perfect wreath will twine.

V.

The pine-tops rocked before the evening breeze
With the hoarse murmur of the wintry seas,
And the tall stems were streaked with amber bright; - I wandered through the wood in wild delight,
Some startled bird, with fluttering wings and fleet, Made snow of all the blossoms; at my feet,
Like silver crowns, the pale narcissi lay,
And small birds sang on every twining spray.

O waving trees, O forest liberty!
Within your haunts at least a man is free,
And half forgets the weary world of strife:
The blood flows hotter, and a sense of life
Wakes i' the quickening veins, while once again
The woods are filled with gods we fancied slain.

Long time I watched, and surely hoped to see
Some goat-foot Pan make merry minstrelsy
Amid the reeds! some startled Dryad-maid
In girlish flight! or lurking in the glade,
The soft brown limbs, the wanton treacherous face Of woodland god! Queen Dian in the chase,
White-limbed and terrible, with look of pride,
And leash of boar-hounds leaping at her side!
Or Hylas mirrored in the perfect stream.

O idle heart! O fond Hellenic dream!
Ere long, with melancholy rise and swell,
The evening chimes, the convent's vesper bell,
Struck on mine ears amid the amorous flowers.

Alas! alas! these sweet and honied hours
Had whelmed my heart like some encroaching sea,
And drowned all thoughts of black Gethsemane.

VI.

O lone Ravenna! many a tale is told
Of thy great glories in the days of old:
Two thousand years have passed since thou didst see Caesar ride forth to royal victory.

Mighty thy name when Rome's lean eagles flew
From Britain's isles to far Euphrates blue;
And of the peoples thou wast noble queen,
Till in thy streets the Goth and Hun were seen.

Discrowned by man, deserted by the sea,
Thou sleepest, rocked in lonely misery!
No longer now upon thy swelling tide,
Pine-forest-like, thy myriad galleys ride!
For where the brass-beaked ships were wont to float, The weary shepherd pipes his mournful note;
And the white sheep are free to come and go
Where Adria's purple waters used to flow.

O fair! O sad! O Queen uncomforted!
In ruined loveliness thou liest dead,
Alone of all thy sisters; for at last
Italia's royal warrior hath passed
Rome's lordliest entrance, and hath worn his crown In the high temples of the Eternal Town!
The Palatine hath welcomed back her king,
And with his name the seven mountains ring!

And Naples hath outlived her dream of pain,
And mocks her tyrant! Venice lives again,
New risen from the waters! and the cry
Of Light and Truth, of Love and Liberty,
Is heard in lordly Genoa, and where
The marble spires of Milan wound the air,
Rings from the Alps to the Sicilian shore,
And Dante's dream is now a dream no more.

But thou, Ravenna, better loved than all,
Thy ruined palaces are but a pall
That hides thy fallen greatness! and thy name
Burns like a grey and flickering candle-flame
Beneath the noonday splendour of the sun
Of new Italia! for the night is done,
The night of dark oppression, and the day
Hath dawned in passionate splendour: far away
The Austrian hounds are hunted from the land,
Beyond those ice-crowned citadels which stand
Girdling the plain of royal Lombardy,
From the far West unto the Eastern sea.

I know, indeed, that sons of thine have died
In Lissa's waters, by the mountain-side
Of Aspromonte, on Novara's plain, -
Nor have thy children died for thee in vain:
And yet, methinks, thou hast not drunk this wine From grapes new-crushed of Liberty divine,
Thou hast not followed that immortal Star
Which leads the people forth to deeds of war.

Weary of life, thou liest in silent sleep,
As one who marks the lengthening shadows creep,
Careless of all the hurrying hours that run,
Mourning some day of glory, for the sun
Of Freedom hath not shewn to thee his face,
And thou hast caught no flambeau in the race.

Yet wake not from thy slumbers, - rest thee well, Amidst thy fields of amber asphodel,
Thy lily-sprinkled meadows, - rest thee there,
To mock all human greatness: who would dare
To vent the paltry sorrows of his life
Before thy ruins, or to praise the strife
Of kings' ambition, and the barren pride
Of warring nations! wert not thou the Bride
Of the wild Lord of Adria's stormy sea!
The Queen of double Empires! and to thee
Were not the nations given as thy prey!
And now - thy gates lie open night and day,
The grass grows green on every tower and hall,
The ghastly fig hath cleft thy bastioned wall;
And where thy mailed warriors stood at rest
The midnight owl hath made her secret nest.

O fallen! fallen! from thy high estate,
O city trammelled in the toils of Fate,
Doth nought remain of all thy glorious days,
But a dull shield, a crown of withered bays!

Yet who beneath this night of wars and fears,
From tranquil tower can watch the coming years;
Who can foretell what joys the day shall bring,
Or why before the dawn the linnets sing?
Thou, even thou, mayst wake, as wakes the rose
To crimson splendour from its grave of snows;
As the rich corn-fields rise to red and gold
From these brown lands, now stiff with Winter's cold; As from the storm-rack comes a perfect star!

O much-loved city! I have wandered far
From the wave-circled islands of my home;
Have seen the gloomy mystery of the Dome
Rise slowly from the drear Campagna's way,
Clothed in the royal purple of the day:
I from the city of the violet crown
Have watched the sun by Corinth's hill go down,
And marked the 'myriad laughter' of the sea
From starlit hills of flower-starred Arcady;
Yet back to thee returns my perfect love,
As to its forest-nest the evening dove.

O poet's city! one who scarce has seen
Some twenty summers cast their doublets green
For Autumn's livery, would seek in vain
To wake his lyre to sing a louder strain,
Or tell thy days of glory; - poor indeed
Is the low murmur of the shepherd's reed,
Where the loud clarion's blast should shake the sky, And flame across the heavens! and to try
Such lofty themes were folly: yet I know
That never felt my heart a nobler glow
Than when I woke the silence of thy street
With clamorous trampling of my horse's feet,
And saw the city which now I try to sing,
After long days of weary travelling.

VII.

Adieu, Ravenna! but a year ago,
I stood and watched the crimson sunset glow
From the lone chapel on thy marshy plain:
The sky was as a shield that caught the stain
Of blood and battle from the dying sun,
And in the west the circling clouds had spun
A royal robe, which some great God might wear,
While into ocean-seas of purple air
Sank the gold galley of the Lord of Light.

Yet here the gentle stillness of the night
Brings back the swelling tide of memory,
And wakes again my passionate love for thee:
Now is the Spring of Love, yet soon will come
On meadow and tree the Summer's lordly bloom;
And soon the grass with brighter flowers will blow, And send up lilies for some boy to mow.

Then before long the Summer's conqueror,
Rich Autumn-time, the season's usurer,
Will lend his hoarded gold to all the trees,
And see it scattered by the spendthrift breeze;
And after that the Winter cold and drear.

So runs the perfect cycle of the year.

And so from youth to manhood do we go,
And fall to weary days and locks of snow.

Love only knows no winter; never dies:
Nor cares for frowning storms or leaden skies
And mine for thee shall never pass away,
Though my weak lips may falter in my lay.

Adieu! Adieu! yon silent evening star,
The night's ambassador, doth gleam afar,
And bid the shepherd bring his flocks to fold.

Perchance before our inland seas of gold
Are garnered by the reapers into sheaves,
Perchance before I see the Autumn leaves,
I may behold thy city; and lay down
Low at thy feet the poet's laurel crown.

Adieu! Adieu! yon silver lamp, the moon,
Which turns our midnight into perfect noon,
Doth surely light thy towers, guarding well
Where Dante sleeps, where Byron loved to dwell.

Lichess has all the same basic offerings as Chess.com: a large community, many game types, tutorials, puzzles, and livestreams. The site has a simple appearance, and it seems built to get you where you want to go in as few clicks as possible. You can create an account, but if you're not concerned with tracking your games and finding other players at your level, there's no need to log in. Just fire up a new game, try some puzzles, or watch a chess streamer play three-minute games while listening to techno and chatting with the comments section.

Q: What do you call someone who draws funny pictures of cars? A: A car-toonist.

Q: What do you call a magician on a plane?
A: A flying sorcerer.

Q: What do you call fruit playing the guitar?
A: A jam session.

Q: What do you call the shoes that all spies wear? A: Sneakers.

Q: What do you call something you can serve, but never eat? A: A volleyball.

Q: What did the alien say to the garden?
A: Take me to your weeder.

Q: What do you call a skeleton who went out in freezing temperatures? A: A numb skull.

Q: What do you call a farm that grows bad jokes? A: Corny.

<Here's a poem a father wrote:

ODE TO CHESS

Ten times I charged the grim, foreboding walls

and was pitched into the pit of defeat.

But, heedless of humiliating falls,

I clambered bravely back onto my feet

and charged again, again to be down thrust

onto the scrap heap of people who lose

onto the mound of mortifying dust

whilst my opponent sat without a bruise

upon his pedestal. We changed sides

and fought again, but I was defeated

whilst he with arrogant and haughty strides

took the throne upon which I had been seated.

Ha! Win or lose, it's how you play the game.

But I would like to beat him just the same.>

"Sometimes in life, and in chess, you must take one step back to take two steps forward." — IM Levy Rozman, GothamChess

So much, much, much better to be an incurable optimist than deceitful and untrustworthy.

In 2016, a Michigan-based priest named Gerald Johnson suffered a heart attack. He says he had a near-death experience that sent him somewhere he never thought he'd visit: Hell.

Johnson says that immediately after his heart attack in February 2016, his spirit left his physical body and went down to hell, entering through "the very center of the Earth." Though he says "the things I saw there are indescribable," he did his best.

Johnson claims he saw a man walking on all fours like a dog and getting burned from head to toe:

"His eyes were bulging and worse than that: He was wearing chains on his neck. He was like a hellhound. There was a demon holding the chains."

Distracted driving is deadly too: https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving... Driving iza mental activity, so put that damn cell phone away when UR behind the wheel!!

<Steinitz's Theory
1. At the beginning of the game, Black and White are equal.

2. The game will stay equal with correct play on both sides.

3. You can only win by your opponent's mistake.

4. Any attack launched in an equal position will not succeed, and the attacker will suffer.

5. You should not attack until an advantage is obtained.

6. When equal, do not seek to attack, but instead, try to secure an advantage.

7. Once you have an advantage, attack or you will lose it.>

'Ask no questions and hear no lies

* The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 Masterpieces of Chess Strategy by Irving Chernev - https://lichess.org/study/KMMrJvE1

* Legendary: Game Collection: The 12 Legendary Games of the Century

* Knight Power: https://fmochess.com/the-power-of-t...

'Ask a silly question and you'll get a silly answer

The Words Of Socrates

A house was built by Socrates
That failed the public taste to please.
Some blamed the inside; some, the out; and all
Agreed that the apartments were too small.
Such rooms for him, the greatest sage of Greece!

"I ask," said he, "no greater bliss
Than real friends to fill even this."
And reason had good Socrates
To think his house too large for these.
A crowd to be your friends will claim,
Till some unhandsome test you bring.
There's nothing plentier than the name;
There's nothing rarer than the thing.

"No one has ever won a game of chess by taking only forward moves (What about Scholar's Mate?). Sometimes you have to move backwards in order to be able to take better steps forward. That is life." — Anonymous

Drive sober or get pulled over.

"For surely of all the drugs in the world, chess must be the most permanently pleasurable." — Assiac

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." ― Thomas Jefferson, chess player

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." ― Mahatma Gandhi

You can't make bricks without straw

You can't run with the hare and hunt with the hounds

You can't take it with you when you die

You can't teach an old dog new tricks

You can't judge a book by its cover

You can't win them all

You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar

You pays your money and you takes your choice

You reap what you sow

You win some, you lose some

Youth is wasted on the young

The Camel and the Floating Sticks

The first who saw the humpbacked camel
Fled off for life; the next approached with care; The third with tyrant rope did boldly dare
The desert wanderer to trammel.
Such is the power of use to change
The face of objects new and strange;
Which grow, by looking at, so tame,
They do not even seem the same.
And since this theme is up for our attention,
A certain watchman I will mention,
Who, seeing something far
Away on the ocean,
Could not but speak his notion
That It was a ship of war.
Some minutes more had past, –
A bomb-ketch It was without a sail,
And then a boat, and then a bale,
And floating sticks of wood at last!

Full many things on earth, I wot,
Will claim this tale, – and well they may;
They're something dreadful far away,
But near at hand – they're not.

'A stitch in time saves nine'

Psalm 107:1
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; his love endures forever.

"A God you understood would be less than yourself." ― Flannery O'Connor

Psalms 31:24 - Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

* Red States: https://www.redhotpawn.com/

* The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 Masterpieces of Chess Strategy by Irving Chernev - https://lichess.org/study/KMMrJvE1

* Legendary: Game Collection: The 12 Legendary Games of the Century

FACTRETRIEVER: Even though dragonflies have six legs, they cannot walk.

"You can't hold with the hare and run with the hounds."

<<<The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls> Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - 1807-1882>

The tide rises, the tide falls,
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;
Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveller hastens toward the town,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sands,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveller to the shore,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.>

"There are good ships, and there are wood ships, ships that sail the sea, but the best ships are friendships, and may they always be." — Anonymous

"Only those who want everything done for them are bored." — Billy Graham

"My home is in Heaven. I'm just traveling through this world." — Billy Graham

* Riddle-zapapa-fiddi: https://www.briddles.com/riddles/ch...

"Believe in yourself. Have faith in your abilities. Without humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy." ― Norman Vincent Peale

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." ― Martin Luther King Jr.

"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours." ― Yogi Berra, one of the greatest Yankees of all time

The Dancing Bear
by James Russell Lowell

Far over Elf-land poets stretch their sway,
And win their dearest crowns beyond the goal
Of their own conscious purpose; they control
With gossamer threads wide-flown our fancy's play, And so our action. On my walk to-day,
A wallowing bear begged clumsily his toll,
When straight a vision rose of Atta Troll,
And scenes ideal witched mine eyes away.
'Merci, Mossieu!' the astonished bear-ward cried, Grateful for thrice his hope to me, the slave
Of partial memory, seeing at his side
A bear immortal. The glad dole I gave
Was none of mine; poor Heine o'er the wide
Atlantic welter stretched it from his grave.

A quote from the link: https://www.libertarianism.org/what...

"Modern day politicians on the left and right sometimes pay lip service to these ideas, but in practice they reject them. Legislation is all about imposing an order from above, rather than letting one emerge from below. And in creating their schemes, politicians all too often fail to give citizens their due as people, treating them as pawns and running roughshod over their rights to decide and plan for themselves."

French Proverb: "Il ne faut rien laisser au hasard." ― (Nothing should be left to chance.)

Deuteronomy 6:6-9: "These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

Isaiah 66:24
24 "And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind."

Matthew 19:26
But Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'

from the simpleton poet:

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.

Chess is creative.
And a journey too.

Good in the morning.
Or just before bed.

Play cheater_1, with engine.
Or OTB, all in your head.

"It's not how you start that matters, it's how you finish."

"Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read." — Francis Bacon

The cat's play is the mouse's death. ~ German Proverb

"Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground." ― Theodore Roosevelt

Ah, St. Marher, 1225:
"And te tide and te time þat tu iboren were, schal beon iblescet."

"Debt is dumb. Cash is king." — Dave Ramsey

^Dudz 16zshhz! fishez spawn freeb mordie az bearz eat eat eat salmon ona fin al run some promote sum don't add up some get cot some get bought some rrr shot out 8 o' cluck of da Beantown Irish Gambit wh his key knot Leodious DiCaprioxp zit wuz za otha guy. Them admin wrong ore left milk hand koociez withan a polo gy shirty deedz done.

Not by much.

Bless Us, O Lord
Traditional Catholic Prayer

Bless us, O Lord,

And these Thy gifts

Which we are about to receive,

Through Thy bounty

Through Christ our Lord we pray.
Amen.

We Give Our Thanks
Traditional

For food that stays our hunger,

For rest that brings us ease,

For homes where memories linger,

We give our thanks for these.

Truly Thankful
Traditional

Lord, make us truly thankful for

these and all other blessings.

I ask this in Jesus Christ's name,
Amen.

God Is Great
Traditional

God is great!

God is good!

Let us thank Him

For our food.
Amen.

God Is Great (Extended Version)
Traditional

God is great and God is good,

Let us thank Him for our food;

By His blessings, we are fed,

Give us Lord, our daily bread.
Amen.

Give Us Grateful Hearts
Book of Common Prayer

Give us grateful hearts,

O Father, for all thy mercies,

And make us mindful

Of the needs of others;

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Make Us Grateful
Traditional

For this and all we are about to receive,

Make us truly grateful, Lord.

Through Christ, we pray.
Amen.

Bless, O Lord
Traditional

Bless, O Lord,

This food to our use

And us to thy service,

And keep us ever mindful

Of the needs of others.

In Jesus' Name,
Amen.

God Our Father, Lord, and Savior
Traditional

God our Father, Lord, and Savior

Thank you for your love and favor

Bless this food and drink we pray

And all who share with us today.
Amen.

Our Heavenly Father, Kind and Good
Traditional

Our Heavenly Father, kind and good,

We thank Thee for our daily food.

We thank Thee for Thy love and care.

Be with us Lord, and hear our prayer.
Amen.

Moravian Dinner Prayer
Traditional Moravian Prayer

Come, Lord Jesus, our guest to be

And bless these gifts

Bestowed by Thee.

And bless our loved ones everywhere,

And keep them in Your loving care.
Amen.

Dinner Prayer Hymn
Traditional Hymn

Lord, bless this food and grant that we

May thankful for thy mercies be;

Teach us to know by whom we're fed;

Bless us with Christ, the living bread.

Lord, make us thankful for our food,

Bless us with faith in Jesus' blood;

With bread of life our souls supply,

That we may live with Christ on high.
Amen.

Humble Hearts
Traditional

In a world where so many are hungry,

May we eat this food with humble hearts;

In a world where so many are lonely,

May we share this friendship with joyful hearts. Amen.