Compiled by gaborn

Jun-13-09 technical draw: My first "advise" is to learn to spell "advice".

* Anti-Sicilians: Game Collection: Anti-Sicilian Repertoire with 2.Nc3

* Beautiful Combos: Game Collection: beautifull attacking combinations

* Morphy - Move by Move: Game Collection: Move by Move - Morphy (Franco)

* Mastering Tactics: Game Collection: mastering Tactical ideas by minev

* Masterful: Game Collection: FRENCH DEFENSE MASTERPIECES

* Miniatures 1940s & 1950s: Game Collection: Modern Chess Miniatures

* M60MG: Game Collection: My Sixty Memorable Games (Fischer)

* 100 CM Trade Secrets: Game Collection: 100 Chess Masters Trade Secrets -Soltis

* Tarrasch's 300 Games: Game Collection: Tarrasch's 300 Chess Games

* World's Greatest: Game Collection: World's Great Chess Games (Fine)

* 21st Century Games: Game Collection: 0

* Tata Steel Masters Tournament 2023: Tata Steel Masters (2023)

* Z4all is a tool: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...

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!

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

* Glossary: https://www.peoriachess.com/Glossar...

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

* Pawn sacrifices: Game Collection: The Gambiteer

* Internet tracking: https://www.studysmarter.us/magazin...

* Happy Days! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slv...

* Forney's Collection: Game Collection: Brutal Attacking Chess

* Fred Reinfeld could've written this if only they had cell phones back when: https://socialself.com/blog/how-to-...

"After we have paid our dutiful respects to such frigid virtues as calculation, foresight, self-control and the like, we always come back to the thought that speculative attack is the lifeblood of chess." — Fred Reinfeld

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

"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

"Modern chess is too much concerned with things like pawn structure. Forget it, checkmate ends the game." — Nigel Short

"Pawn endings are to chess what putting is to golf." — Cecil Purdy

"The loser is always at fault." — Vasily Nikolayevich Panov

The Frogs Asking A King

A certain commonwealth aquatic,
Grown tired of order democratic,
By clamouring in the ears of Jove, effected
Its being to a monarch's power subjected.
Jove flung it down, at first, a king pacific.
Who nathless fell with such a splash terrific,
The marshy folks, a foolish race and timid,
Made breathless haste to get from him hid.
They dived into the mud beneath the water,
Or found among the reeds and rushes quarter.
And long it was they dared not see
The dreadful face of majesty,
Supposing that some monstrous frog
Had been sent down to rule the bog.
The king was really a log,
Whose gravity inspired with awe
The first that, from his hiding-place
Forth venturing, astonished, saw
The royal blockhead's face.
With trembling and with fear,
At last he drew quite near.
Another followed, and another yet,
Till quite a crowd at last were met;
Who, growing fast and strangely bolder,
Perched soon on the royal shoulder.
His gracious majesty kept still,
And let his people work their will.
Clack, clack! what din beset the ears of Jove?
"We want a king," the people said, "to move!"
The god straight sent them down a crane,
Who caught and slew them without measure,
And gulped their carcasses at pleasure;
Whereat the frogs more wofully complain.
"What! what!" great Jupiter replied;
"By your desires must I be tied?
Think you such government is bad?
You should have kept what first you had;
Which having blindly failed to do,
It had been prudent still for you
To let that former king suffice,
More meek and mild, if not so wise.
With this now make yourselves content,
Lest for your sins a worse be sent."

* There are around 5,000 commercial airplanes flying over the United States at any given time.

* It would take you more than 400 years to spend a night in all of Las Vegas's hotel rooms.

Drive sober or get pulled over.

110 pounds of ketamine found in traveler's baggage at Detroit Airport CBS News
GABRIELLE DAWSON, ALIZA CHASAN
December 21, 2023 at 5:42 PM

U.S. Customs and Border Protection
ROMULUS, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Officers found 110 pounds of ketamine in a traveler's baggage at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Wednesday.

The traveler, a citizen of the United Kingdom, arrived on a flight from France on Dec. 13, authorities said. He was selected for a second inspection.

Officers performed an X-ray scan and physical search of the man's two large suitcases, which he claimed were given to him by a family member, customs officials said. The search revealed plastic bags filled with large white crystals, which according to field tests, were ketamine.

At $90 per gram, the ketamine has a street value of over $4 million, authorities said.

Customs and Border Protection officers seized the ketamine. Under federal law, the agency is required to destroy most seized drugs and retain samples as evidence for criminal prosecutions. Officers didn't let the traveler enter and he was returned to France, according to a news release.

The amount of ketamine seized by law enforcement has steadily increased over the past seven years according to research published in May 2023 in JAMA Psychiatry. From 2017 to 2022, the research found the number of law enforcement seizures increased from 55 to 247 – more than 300% – with most activity reported in Tennessee, Florida, and California.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, most of the ketamine illegally distributed in the U.S. has been diverted or stolen from legitimate sources, including veterinary clinics, or smuggled into the country from Mexico.

Ketamine, a Schedule III controlled substance, has been approved by the FDA as an anesthetic since the 1970s. It is accepted for medical use, but the drug — which has been abused for its hallucinogenic effects — is known for its use in nightclub and party culture. A ketamine overdose can cause unconsciousness and dangerously slowed breathing, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency has warned.

"Friends" actor Matthew Perry died in October from the acute effects of ketamine, according to the results of an autopsy released earlier this month by the Los Angeles County medical examiner. Before his death, Perry received ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety, the autopsy report said.

Perry's last treatment was a week and a half before his death. Based on the levels of ketamine in his blood, the coroner determined that his cause of death was not from his prior infusion therapy, but rather from ketamine taken in some other manner. Ketamine is usually metabolized in a matter of hours.

Candidate for a Pullet Surprise
by Mark Eckman and Jerrold H. Zar

I have a spelling checker,
It came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.
Eye ran this poem threw it,
Your sure reel glad two no.
Its vary polished in it's weigh.
My checker tolled me sew.
A checker is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when eye rime.
Each frays come posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule.
The checker pours o'er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.
Bee fore a veiling checker's
Hour spelling mite decline,
And if we're lacks oar have a laps,
We wood bee maid too wine.
Butt now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flare,
Their are know fault's with in my cite,
Of nun eye am a wear.
Now spelling does knot phase me,
It does knot bring a tier.
My pay purrs awl due glad den
With wrapped word's fare as hear.
To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should bee proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaw's are knot aloud.
Sow ewe can sea why aye dew prays
Such soft wear four pea seas,
And why eye brake in two averse
Buy righting want too pleas.
Too many zsockies on CGs.

Joshua 1:9
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." ― Martin Luther King Jr.

"Friend, you don't have to earn God's love or try harder. You're precious in His sight, covered by the priceless blood of Jesus, and indwelt by His Holy Spirit. Don't hide your heart or fear you're not good enough for Him to care for you. Accept His love, obey Him, and allow Him to keep you in His wonderful freedom." — Charles F. Stanley

The Old Woman And Her Two Servants

A beldam kept two spinning maids,
Who plied so handily their trades,
Those spinning sisters down below
Were bunglers when compared with these.
No care did this old woman know
But giving tasks as she might please.
No sooner did the god of day
His glorious locks enkindle,
Than both the wheels began to play,
And from each whirling spindle
Forth danced the thread right merrily,
And back was coiled unceasingly.
Soon as the dawn, I say, its tresses showed,
A graceless cock most punctual crowed.
The beldam roused, more graceless yet,
In greasy petticoat bedight,
Struck up her farthing light,
And then forthwith the bed beset,
Where deeply, blessedly did snore
Those two maid-servants tired and poor.
One oped an eye, an arm one stretched,
And both their breath most sadly fetched,
This threat concealing in the sigh –
"That cursed cock shall surely die!"
And so he did: they cut his throat,
And put to sleep his rousing note.
And yet this murder mended not
The cruel hardship of their lot;
For now the twain were scarce in bed
Before they heard the summons dread.
The beldam, full of apprehension
Lest oversleep should cause detention,
Ran like a goblin through her mansion.
Thus often, when one thinks
To clear himself from ill,
His effort only sinks
Him in the deeper still.
The beldam, acting for the cock,
Was Scylla for Charybdis" rock.

Riddle: If there are four sheep, two dogs and one herds-men, how many feet are there?

Riddle Answer: Two. Sheep have hooves; dogs have paws; only people have feet.

Checkers
Sam Ciel Aug 2015

You might have heard the saying,
"At the end of the game, the King and the Pawn go in the same box." but depending on the moves you make, one of them is ultimately the winner. One of them stays on the board longer, does more for his team. Let's extend that phrase.
"At the end of the game, the King and the Pawn go in the same box. But the game is decided by the moves they make." I assume everyone understands Chess, but for those who don't, That's okay, too. I'll explain one more thing about it. The Pawn can only move in one direction.
The King can move wherever he wants.
This remains true unless the Pawn decides to go on the offensive To take life by his own hands
A variety of options open up to him
Whereas then, the King is limited by his options. He sees nothing new, and can merely advance or
Retreat
In the same directions he always has.
And he very well may retreat, because when he falls, it's all over. The Pawn, though? The Pawn can never retreat. He can only move forward And if he makes it to the other side,
He becomes a Queen. The most prominent, powerful piece, It goes in the same box but it can determine the outcome of the entire game. A single piece can determine if, and how any other piece will fall. This is true of the Queen, of the King, of the Pawn. This is true of the Knights and the Bishops and the Rooks and every single piece, and so with every thing equally significant, let's strip away the titles and just look at our actions, because it isn't our title that defines us. It's how we play the game.
Sometimes that means we have all the power.
Sometimes that means we have none.
Sometimes we are alone.
Sometimes we are together.
But at the end of the day, we all go in the same box.

Blindfold chess record holder Georges Koltanowski was a warm, friendly man with anecdotes and a folksy maxim. "Pawns are like buttons," he liked to say. "Lose too many and your pants fall down."

Georges Koltanowski, chess player, Belgium champion, blindfold world record holder, U.S. Open tournament director, USCF president, author, prolific newspaper columnist, coach, guest lecturer and showman, born September 17, 1903 in Antwerp, Belgium; died February 5, 2000 in San Francisco, California, USA. Koltanowski, the "Dean of American chess" died at age 96 due to heart failure. "Kolti" as he was often called, was one of three founder members inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame, with Paul Morphy, the first great US champion, and the preeminent Bobby Fischer.

The Ass And His Masters

A gardener's ass complained to Destiny
Of being made to rise before the dawn.
"The cocks their matins have not sung," said he, vere I am up and gone.
And all for what? To market herbs, it seems.
Fine cause, indeed, to interrupt my dreams!"
Fate, moved by such a prayer,
Sent him a currier's load to bear,
Whose hides so heavy and ill-scented were,
They almost choked the foolish beast.
"I wish me with my former lord," he said;
"For then, whenever he turned his head,
If on the watch, I caught
A cabbage-leaf, which cost me nothing.
But, in this horrid place, I find
No chance or windfall of the kind:
Or if, indeed, I do,
The cruel blows I rue."
Anon it came to pass
He was a collier's ass.
Still more complaint. "What now?" said Fate,
Quite out of patience.
"If on this jackass I must wait,
What will become of kings and nations?
Has none but he anything here to tease him?
Have I no business but to please him?"
And Fate had cause; – for all are so.
Unsatisfied while here below
Our present lot is aye the worst.
Our foolish prayers the skies infest.
Were Jove to grant all we request,
The din renewed, his head would burst.

"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.

"Don't trust everything you see. Even salt looks like sugar." – Unknown

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.

- The longest a chess game could possibly be is 5,949 moves.

"One more dance along the razor's edge finished. Almost dead yesterday, maybe dead tomorrow, but alive, gloriously alive, today." ― Robert Jordan, Lord of Chaos

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ― Howard Thurman

Jupiter and the Farmer

Of yore, a farm had Jupiter to rent;
To advertise it, Mercury was sent.
The farmers, far and near,
Flocked round, the terms to hear;
And, calling to their aid
The various tricks of trade,
One said It was rash a farm to hire
Which would so much expense require;
Another, that, do what you would,
The farm would still be far from good.
While thus, in market style, its faults were told, One of the crowd, less wise than bold, Would give so much, on this condition,
That Jove would yield him altogether
The choice and making of his weather, –
That, instantly on his decision,
His various crops should feel the power
Of heat or cold, of sun or shower.

Jove yields. The bargain closed, our man
Rains, blows, and takes the care
Of all the changes of the air,
On his peculiar, private plan.
His nearest neighbours felt it not,
And all the better was their lot.
Their year was good, by grace divine;
The grain was rich, and full the vine.
The renter, failing altogether,
The next year made quite different weather;
And yet the fruit of all his labours
Was far inferior to his neighbours'.
What better could he do? To Heaven
He owns at last his want of sense,
And so is graciously forgiven.
Hence we conclude that Providence
Knows better what we need
Than we ourselves, indeed.

"Many have become chess masters, no one has become the master of chess." ― Siegbert Tarrasch

"In the end, it is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are." — Max De Pree

The Pawn Who Had to Go

The little pawn screamed: "I cannot hold it any more, get me a pot or I will do exactly what I did before." Everybody laughed with the exception of the opposing king who guessed what was on the mind of this filthy thing. But nobody had time to fetch a pot or even a plastic bag They were too busy to ensure that the game became a drag. The guys in white kept running back and forth but no change. The guys in black stayed also within the very same range. Suddenly the unhappy pawn who had screamed for a pot, did a weird little dance while moving up one slot. Now standing near the king he simply pulled his pants down and peed straight up against the king's beautiful crown.

/7xp zoober zoomed into bill wall. That jalen hurtz.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

STAR LIGHT, STAR BRIGHT
Star light, star bright
First star I see tonight
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have this wish I wish tonight

Why did the turtle cross the road?
To get to the Shell station.