Fredthebear enjoys the Blue Grass State and Joseph Henry Blackburne!
My Old Ken=tucky Home, Good-Night (1853)
Words & music by Stephen Collins Foster (1826-1864)
1.
The sun shines bright in the old Ken=tucky home,
'Tis summer, the darkies are gay,
The corn top's ripe and the meadows in the bloom,
While the birds make music all the day.
The young folks roll on the little cabin floor,
All merry, all happy and bright:
By'n by Hard Times comes a knocking at the door,
Then my old Ken=tucky Home, good night!
CHORUS
Weep no more, my lady,
Oh! weep no more to-day!
We will sing one song for the old Ken=tucky Home,
For the old Ken=tucky Home far away.
2.
They hunt no more for possum and the coon
On the meadow, the hill, and the shore,
They sing no more by the glimmer of the moon,
On the bench by the old cabin door.
The day goes by like a shadow o're the heart,
With sorrow where all was delight:
The time has come when the darkies have to part,
Then my old Ken=tucky Home, good-night!
(CHORUS)
3.
The head must bow and the back will have to bend,
Wherever the darkey may go:
A few more days, and the trouble all will end
In the field where the sugar-canes grow.
A few more days for to tote the weary load,
No matter, 'twill never be light,
A few more days till we totter on the road,
Then my old Ken=tucky Home, good-night!
(CHORUS)
* Uncommon King Pawn games for White to try off-hand:
Game Collection: Unusual Gambits
* Intro to the Italian Game -- Giuoco Piano, Evans Gambit, and the Two Knights Defense: http://www.chessstrategyonline.com/...
* A few famous Italians: Game Collection: Italian
* Mostly Giuoco Piano games: Game Collection: Italian Game
* More Italian love: Game Collection: Italian game
* Two Knights Defense, Max Lange and Evans Gambits: Game Collection: Openings for White: Italian Game
* Italian Game Bc4 Nf6:
Game Collection: Italian Game Bc4 Nf6
* Giuoco Piano: Game Collection: CLUB Line (white): Giuoco
* Italian c3's: Game Collection: GIUOCO PIANO
* Bg5 Italians 0-1: Game Collection: Black - Giuco Piano Bg5
* Old Fried Liver: Game Collection: Fried Liver Attack
* Some History of the Fried Liver: Games Like Polerio vs Domenico, 1610
* The Lolli is worth a try:
Game Collection: Lolli Attack (Two Knights 5...Nxd5 6.d4)
* More Lollipops:
Game Collection: Lolli Attack (Two Knights 5...Nxd5 6.d4)
* Two Knight Defense:
Game Collection: Two Knights Defense (C55)
* Two Knight Defense:
Game Collection: ML
* Two Knights for Black: Game Collection: two knights for black
* Most of the above: Game Collection: My Repertoire
* Open Games 1.e4 e5 Samples: Game Collection: Fun in the Open Games
* King Pawn Gambits:
Game Collection: Opening Gambits
* Here's something for White against Petrov's Defense:
Game Collection: White - Petrov Modern Attack: Gill
* Do you know what to do against the Latvian/Greco Countergambit?
Game Collection: Latvian Gambit
* Games for James: Game Collection: for my son
* GK Teaches Chess (Batsford 1986) includes some Queen pawns: Game Collection: Garry Kasparov Teaches Chess
* Knightly done!! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/W1tt...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aT1H...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2Vod...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LmUp...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/D9E6...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gr1C...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vWtU...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9pBV...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/B1-9...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oxkF...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/c6Ig...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OoEi...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4MsU...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hiyO...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UKGX...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/T5wy...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UCBI...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iRJ4...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qyDs...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tiqr...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5lkO...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ubmr...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BHV1...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EIZe...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/d8lc...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CunN...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cUHM...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/I3ra...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/n0p5...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WKbT...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8dao...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/C0E3...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2xCZ...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gdIa...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HANT...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WLRT...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RQTw...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ATcz...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RMhN...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Rl8U...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JM8y...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2dbh...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OPHd...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rWbR...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hKKx...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IT_N...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1gWZ...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/y2Xu...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/N1ww...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tvPh...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YCyf...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nwbB...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/apPf...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jlWU...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2YEt...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BSr7...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vTIU...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ych5...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aOAe...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0aci...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BHlm...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CK0d...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PNFc...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DC2t...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/svkr...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kOrN...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fx-T...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZGOu...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qWtC...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JrfF...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TJ2N...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TDBb...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nTYM...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Shu8...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kWlV...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iViR...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BVGZ...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2J1H...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7Qz_...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IFSy...
* Everlasting L4U: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jNMN...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ObeV...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZuGb...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pruD...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qQxO...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/T21_...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Zako...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9nvJ...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dSom...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7U_C...
* The are a handful of Scandinavian variations to prepare for:
Game Collection: B01 Scandinavian (White)
* Some Anti- Sicilians: Game Collection: The Anti-Sicilians
* Lots of Anti- Sicilians:
Game Collection: Anti-Sicilians
* Playable against the Sicilian 2...Nc6:
Game Collection: Smirnov Gambit
* Gambits for Blitz: http://jeromegambit.blogspot.com/20...
* Goeller Knows: https://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/...
* 10-year old plays and sings Blue Moon of Ken=tucky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hk...
"I do not know how old I was when I learned to play chess. I could not have been older than eight, because I still have a chessboard on whose side my father inscribed, with a soldering iron, "Saša Hemon 1972." I loved the board more than chess—it was one of the first things I owned. Its materiality was enchanting to me: the smell of burnt wood that lingered long after my father had branded it; the rattle of the thickly varnished pieces inside, the smacking sound they made when I put them down, the board's hollow wooden echo. I can even recall the taste—the queen's tip was pleasantly suckable; the pawns' round heads, not unlike nipples, were sweet. The board is still at our place in Sarajevo, and, even if I haven't played a game on it in decades, it is still my most cherished possession, providing incontrovertible evidence that there once lived a boy who used to be me." ― Aleksandar Hemon, The Book of My Lives
Riddle: What word is always pronounced wrong?
The first American Chess Congress, organized by Daniel Willard Fiske and held in New York, October 6 to November 10, 1857, was won by Paul Morphy. It was a knockout tournament in which draws did not count. The top sixteen American players were invited (William Allison, Samuel Robert Calthrop, Daniel Willard Fiske, William James Fuller, Hiram Kennicott, Hubert Knott, Theodor Lichtenhein, Napoleon Marache, Hardman Philips Montgomery, Alexander Beaufort Meek, Paul Morphy, Louis Paulsen, Frederick Perrin, Benjamin Raphael, Charles Henry Stanley, and James Thompson). First prize was $300. Morphy refused any money, but accepted a silver service consisting of a pitcher, four goblets, and a tray. Morphy's prize was given to him by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. ― Wikipedia
Riddle Answer: Wrong!
<Below is a Morphy acrostic by C.V. Grinfield from page 334 of the Chess Player's Chronicle, 1861:
Mightiest of masters of the chequer'd board,
Of early genius high its boasted lord!
Rising in youth's bright morn to loftiest fame,
Princeliest of players held with one acclaim;
Host in thyself – all-conquering in fight: –
Yankees exult! – in your great champion's might.>
"One of the nice things about surrendering to the fact that life isn't fair is that it keeps us from feeling sorry for ourselves by encouraging us to do the very best we can with what we have." ― Richard Carlson
The American Basketball League, or ABL, was the first successful pro basketball league. It ran from 1925 to 1931. Modern-day basketball hoops were used during this time, including metal rims, nets and backboards. However, breakaway rims were not used, and the backboards were smaller than those used in the National Basketball Association, which began in 1948, when the National Basketball League combined with the Basketball Association of America.
Jonathan Moya wrote:
The King's Rumination
Befuddled with thought
the king sought the oracle.
"Count the sands,
calculate the seas,"
she said.
Of the king's future,
she spoke nothing.
Henceforth he
contented only
in his nightmares.
Can you still daydream at night?
We know you have some great ideas for your nighttime dreaming. But if you're awake and trying to give your brain some suggestions for dream time, is it daydreaming or just backseat driving?
Question: On average, most people have fewer friends than their friends have; this is known as what?
Answer: Friendship paradox – you are more likely to be friends with someone who has more friends than someone who has fewer friends than you.
The first commercial passenger flight lasted only 23 minutes
In 1914, Abram Pheil paid $400 (which would be $8,500 today) for a 23-minute plane ride. The Florida flight flew between Saint Petersburg and Tampa, where only 21 miles of water separate the cities. Pheil, a former mayor of Saint Petersburg, and the pilot, Tony Jannus, were the only passengers.
Question: What is the shortest complete English sentence?
Answer: Go.
The Frog That Wished to Be As Big As the Ox
The tenant of a bog,
An envious little frog,
Not bigger than an egg,
A stately bullock spies,
And, smitten with his size,
Attempts to be as big.
With earnestness and pains,
She stretches, swells, and strains,
And says, "Sister Frog, look here! see me!
Is this enough?" "No, no."
"Well, then, is this?" "Poh! poh!
Enough! you don't begin to be."
And thus the reptile sits,
Enlarging till she splits.
The world is full of folks
Of just such wisdom; –
The lordly dome provokes
The cit to build his dome;
And, really, there is no telling
How much great men set little ones a-swelling.
"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you." ― Satchel Paige
Denim isn't allowed by the PGA Tour.
Golf is one of the oldest sports, and with that comes a load of institutionalized rules. The biggest faux pas? Denim on the golf course, which explains why jeans are against the PGA's dress code.
"If" by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run—
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!
"So if you think that when you are better, it means that you can smash ahead and mate the guy, you are wrong, that is not what better means. What better means is that your position has the potential, if played correctly, to turn out well. So do not think that when you are better and when you are attacking that you can just force mate. That is not what it is about. Often the way to play best, the way to play within the position, is to maintain it."
― Josh Waitzkin
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Zappa's bad at chess
And horrible at checkers too
В ти́хом о́муте че́рти во́дятся
Pronunciation: v TEEham Omutye CHYERtee VOdyatsya
Translation: The devil lives in the still waters
Meaning: Still waters run deep; beware of a silent dog and still water
"You must play boldly to win." ― Arnold Palmer
"Champions keep playing until they get it right." ― Billie Jean King
Fred Wellmuth was a strong amateur from California
<A lone lion wanders afar in the wilderness,
no longer part of the pride
Once gleaming, accepted, a beautiful beast,
now having been cast aside
No chance for part in coordinated hunt,
this one can't run very fast
Nature holds no place, and faltering,
it seems this beast just won't last
— Emory Andrew Tate, Jr.>
"Whatever you are doing in the game of life, give it all you've got."
— Norman Vincent Peale
"What you do today can improve all your tomorrows." — Ralph Marston
* Riddle-xp-free: https://www.briddles.com/riddles/ch...
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." ― Martin Luther King Jr.
"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.
"Most promises featuring the word 'always' are unkeepable."
― John Green, The Anthropocene Reviewed
"You should never say never. Just like you should never say always; because, always and never are always never true." ― J. R. Krol
"Never and Always
Never take advantage of someone whom loves you
Never avoid someone whom needs you
Never betray anyone whom has trust in you
Never forget the people that always remember you
Never speak ill of a person who is not present
Never support something you know is wrong or unethical
Always speak to your parents on their birthday and anniversary
Always defend those who cannot defend themselves
Always forgive those you love whom have made mistakes
Always give something to those less fortunate than you
Always remember to look back at those who helped you succeed
Always call your parents and siblings on New Year's Eve."
― R.J. Intindola
"Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education."
― Martin Luther King Jr.
"We made too many wrong mistakes."
― Yogi Berra, 18-time American League All-Star
"Never reply to an anonymous letter."
― Yogi Berra, MLB Hall of Fame catcher
"Even Napoleon had his Watergate."
― Yogi Berra, 10-time World Series champion
"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours."
― Yogi Berra, one of the greatest Yankees of all time
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
― Yogi Berra, 10-time World Series champion
<<A Parent Talks to a Child Before the First Game>"This is your first game, my child. I hope you win.
I hope you win for your sake, not mine. Because winning's nice.
It's a good feeling.
Like the whole world is yours.
But, it passes, this feeling.
And what lasts is what you've learned.
And what you learn about is life.
That's what sports is all about. Life.
The whole thing is played out in an afternoon.
The happiness of life.
The miseries.
The joys.
The heartbreaks.
There's no telling what'll turn up.
There's no telling whether they'll toss you out in the first five minutes or whether you'll stay for the long haul.
There's no telling how you'll do.
You might be a hero or you might be absolutely nothing.
There's just no telling.
Too much depends on chance.
On how the ball bounces.
I'm not talking about the game, my child.
I'm talking about life.
But, it's life that the game is all about.
Just as I said.
Because every game is life.
And life is a game.
A serious game
Dead serious.
But, that's what you do with serious things. You do your best.
You take what comes.
You take what comes
And you run with it.
Winning is fun.
Sure.
But winning is not the point.
Wanting to win is the point.
Not giving up is the point.
Never being satisfied with what you've done is the point.
Never letting up is the point.
Never letting anyone down is the point.
Play to win.
Sure.
But lose like a champion.
Because it's not winning that counts.
What counts is trying.">
—Unknown
"The open file, being cleared of pawns, offers no permanent targets. The advantage of controlling an open file consists mainly in the chance of penetrating the enemy position and switching to horizontal activity." ― Hans Kmoch
'Don't count your chickens before they are hatched'
It's no time to play chess when the house is on fire. ~ Italian Proverbs
If you must play, decide on three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time. ~ Chinese Proverb
The one who wins plays best. ~ German Proverbs
Acts 20:35 "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
Sarah wrote:
checkmate
It's like we're playing chess.
Moving strategically, testing boundaries,
all while watching each other's expression.
We all know how this games ends…
The queen destroys you and steals your heart.
"Chess is life in miniature. Chess is a struggle, chess battles." — Garry Kasparov
"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.
Old Russian Proverb: "Scythe over a stone." (Нашла коса на камень.) The force came over a stronger force.
In God we trust; all others pay cash. ~ American Proverb
"To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd!"
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Confessed faults are half mended. ~ Scottish Proverb
Riddle Answer Begins With Letter "M"
Riddle: I make two people out of one. What am I?
* Mihail Marin: Wikipedia article: Mihail Marin
Riddle Answer: A mirror.
"There are more adventures on a chessboard than on all the seas of the world."
― Pierre Mac Orlan
"....his countrymen, Kolisch and Steinitz, are greatly indebted for their later success to their having enjoyed early opportunities of practicing with the departed amateur whose death is also greatly deplored amongst all who knew him personally." — Wilhelm Steinitz, regarding Karl Hamppe
The first appearance of the (John) Cochrane gambit against Petrov's defense C42 was in the year 1848 against an Indian master Mohishunder Bannerjee.
"Sorry don't get it done, Dude!" — John Wayne, Rio Bravo
"Gossip is the devil's telephone. Best to just hang up." — Moira Rose
Old Russian Proverb: "Measure seven times, cut once. (Семь раз отмерь — один отрежь.)" Be careful before you do something that cannot be changed.
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.
"As they prepared themselves to go ashore no one doubted in theory that at least a certain percentage of them would remain on the island dead, once they set foot on it. But no one expected to be one of these. Still it was an awesome thought and as the first contingents came struggling up on deck in full gear to form up, all eyes instinctively sought out immediately this island where they were to be put, and left, and which might possibly turn out to be a friend's grave."
― James Jones, The Thin Red Line
"The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience."
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
"Patience is a form of wisdom. It demonstrates that we understand and accept the fact that sometimes things must unfold in their own time."
― Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living
"How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?" ― Dr. Seuss
"Time is what we want most, but what we use worst." ― William Penn
"Never waste a minute thinking about people you don't like."
― Dwight D. Eisenhower
"The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run."
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden
"Life is a funny thing. We only get so many years to live it, so we have to do everything we can to make sure those years are as full as they can be. We shouldn't waste time on things that might happen someday, or maybe even never."
― Colleen Hoover, It Ends with Us
"It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy;—it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others."
― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
"Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone." ― Alan Watts
"There is more to life than simply increasing its speed."
― Mahatma Gandhi
"Lost Time is never found again."
― Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack
"Time spent with a cat is never wasted." ― Colette
"A wise man's goal shouldn't be to say something profound, but to say something useful." ― Criss Jami, Healology
"The King is only fond of words, and cannot translate them into deeds."
― Teck Foo Check, The Autobiography of Sun Tzu
"Behind every move I make on the chess board lies a story of calculation, intuition, and passion. With every game, I discover more about myself and the endless possibilities of the game." ― medicosaurabh
"Ecco, sai giocare a scacchi. Adesso devi diventare un giocatore. Ci vorrà un po' di più."
― Guenassia Jean-Michel, Le Club des incorrigibles optimists
"People are like chess pieces!" ― Deyth Banger
"The only easy day was yesterday." ― US Navy SEALs
"Gameplay is all our life. Either we guard, attack or develop pieces."
― Vineet Raj Kapoor, UNCHESS: Untie Your Shoes and Walk on the Chessboard of Life
"The is a secret for greater self-control, the science points to one thing: the power of paying attention."
― Kelly McGonigal, The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It
"As we encounter new experiences with a mindful and wise attention, we discover that one of three things will happen to our new experience: it will go away, it will stay the same, or it will get more intense. whatever happens does not really matter."
― Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life
"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
"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
"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
The Woodman and Mercury
To M. The Chevalier De Bouillon.
Your taste has served my work to guide;
To gain its suffrage I have tried.
You'd have me shun a care too nice,
Or beauty at too dear a price,
Or too much effort, as a vice.
My taste with yours agrees:
Such effort cannot please;
And too much pains about the polish
Is apt the substance to abolish;
Not that it would be right or wise
The graces all to ostracize.
You love them much when delicate;
Nor is it left for me to hate.
As to the scope of Aesop's plan,
I fail as little as I can.
If this my rhymed and measured speech
Avails not to please or teach,
I own it not a fault of mine;
Some unknown reason I assign.
With little strength endued
For battles rough and rude,
Or with Herculean arm to smite,
I show to vice its foolish plight.
In this my talent wholly lies;
Not that it does at all suffice.
My fable sometimes brings to view
The face of vanity purblind
With that of restless envy joined;
And life now turns on these pivots two.
Such is the silly little frog
That aped the ox on her bog.
A double image sometimes shows
How vice and folly do oppose
The ways of virtue and good sense;
As lambs with wolves so grim and gaunt,
The silly fly and frugal ant.
Thus swells my work – a comedy immense –
Its acts unnumbered and diverse,
Its scene the boundless universe.
Gods, men, and brutes, all play their part
In fields of nature or of art,
And Jupiter among the rest.
Here comes the god who's wont to bear
Jove's frequent errands to the fair,
With winged heels and haste;
But other work's in hand today.
A man that laboured in the wood
Had lost his honest livelihood;
That is to say,
His axe was gone astray.
He had no tools to spare;
This wholly earned his fare.
Without a hope beside,
He sat him down and cried,
"Alas, my axe! where can it be?
O Jove! but send it back to me,
And it shall strike good blows for you."
His prayer in high Olympus heard,
Swift Mercury started at the word.
"Your axe must not be lost," said he:
"Now, will you know it when you see?
An axe I found on the road."
With that an axe of gold he showed.
"Is it this?" The woodman answered, "Nay."
An axe of silver, bright and gay,
Refused the honest woodman too.
At last the finder brought to view
An axe of iron, steel, and wood.
"That's mine," he said, in joyful mood;
"With that I'll quite contented be."
The god replied, "I give the three,
As due reward of honesty."
This luck when neighbouring choppers knew,
They lost their axes, not a few,
And sent their prayers to Jupiter
So fast, he knew not which to hear.
His winged son, however, sent
With gold and silver axes, went.
Each would have thought himself a fool
Not to have owned the richest tool.
But Mercury promptly gave, instead
Of it, a blow on the head.
With simple truth to be contented,
Is surest not to be repented;
But still there are who would
With evil trap the good, –
Whose cunning is but stupid,
For Jove is never duped.
"God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with."
— Billy Graham
"I've read the last page of the Bible. It's all going to turn out all right."
— Billy Graham
"A real Christian is a person who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip."
— Billy Graham
"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
"Nothing can bring a real sense of security into the home except true love."
— Billy Graham
"The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course."
— Billy Graham
"God's mercy and grace give me hope - for myself, and for our world."
— Billy Graham
"Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness." — Billy Graham
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The Blossom
by William Blake
Merry, merry sparrow!
Under leaves so green
A happy blossom
Sees you, swift as arrow,
Seek your cradle narrow,
Near my bosom.
Pretty, pretty robin!
Under leaves so green
A happy blossom
Hears you sobbing, sobbing,
Pretty, pretty robin,
Near my bosom.
"There just isn't enough televised chess." — David Letterman
"Do the things that interest you and do them with all your heart. Don't be concerned about whether people are watching you or criticizing you. The chances are that they aren't paying any attention to you. It's your attention to yourself that is so stultifying. But you have to disregard yourself as completely as possible. If you fail the first time then you'll just have to try harder the second time. After all, there's no real reason why you should fail. Just stop thinking about yourself." — Eleanor Roosevelt
"Many have become chess masters, no one has become the master of chess."
— Siegbert Tarrasch
"True power is expressed in quiet confidence; it was the sea's very calmness that epitomized its mighty force." ― Emile Habiby
"Remember that there are two kinds of beauty: one of the soul and the other of the body. That of the soul displays its radiance in intelligence, in chastity, in good conduct, in generosity, and in good breeding, and all these qualities may exist in an ugly man. And when we focus our attention upon that beauty, not upon the physical, love generally arises with great violence and intensity. I am well aware that I am not handsome, but I also know that I am not deformed, and it is enough for a man of worth not to be a monster for him to be dearly loved, provided he has those spiritual endowments I have spoken of."
― Miguel Cervantes
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Q: What do you call something that goes up when the rain comes down?
A: An umbrella.
Q: What do you call a doctor who fixes websites?
A: A URL-ologist.
Q: What do you call a sleeping dinosaur?
A: A dinosnore.
Q: What do you call a Christmas tree that knows karate
A: Spruce Lee.
Q: What does a triangle call a circle?
A: Pointless.
Q: What do you call a piece of sad cheese?
A: Blue cheese.
Q: What do you call a cow in an earthquake?
A: A milkshake.
Q: What do you call an M&M that went to college?
A: A smarty.
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.