That's, yanno, rhetorical. Just in case you were planning to go into detail.

Heh. Heh.

It seems you've got yourself into a public debate- possibly you've lost a bit of patience reading too many unfortunate posts on the live games pages?

At any rate, FROGSPAWN fans are always happy to see you hopping about the site with your various activities.

On a rare serious level, I see <rogge's> point. I wouldn't even argue against it.

But for me it's a fun CG.com team activity and for the life of me I don't see a "downside" to it.

However, if I ever have a baby I'm going to raise it in a Skinner box.

Possibly you should alert the relevant child welfare authorities ahead of time on this.>

Then again ... there's always a 'then again' or a 'mind you' or an 'on the other hand' round here ... p'raps chess folks should be encouraged to breed, and to raise a world full of hothoused little Polgars.

I found a web page somewhere with a list of the 'power couples' in chess, with average ratings in the 24-2500 zone. I think Pia Cramling and her dashing Spanish beau, Bellon, was the only case where the female partner had the higher rating.

The rest were baby-faced (oops) Slavs. Even Karjakin and his child bride were there, looking about twelve.

Why do they do it? If it was just hormones, why don't they have a post-match rogering, like everyone else? But marriage? A feudal institution designed to protect patrimony, patriarchy, patrilinearity, and saint patrick's day.

I don't get it.

Last week, coalition governments in the UK and Ireland were hastily taking measures to combat potential epidemics.

At the chess tournament I attended, the director asked participants to desist from the normal practice of shaking hands with your opponent. He suggested a sort of virtual handshake instead, a kind of mime, wiggling hands across the board and avoiding physical contact.

It gave me such a strong feeling of deja vu (and deja lu, deja ecrit, deja world stood still, etc) that I lost my first game, against the lowest-rated opponent I have ever played.

But my prophecies are being vindicated, so I mustn't grumble.

Hang on, doesn't that story end with the heat-death of language, the disappearence into space of the female half of the human race, the imminent demise of the planet, and the suggestion that the only thing to do now is to try to kill the pain?

I'll mebbe wait just a little longer to see how these pan out.

The Prophet Jeremiah.

If this catches on - memetically, that is - traditional manly pastimes such as arm-wrestling and rugby could be in grave danger.

While one *might* be able to mime arm-wrestling, the high point of a rugby game is a sort of homoerotic pyramid of huge males, noses and armpits fervidly jammed into crotches while teeth and nails are bared for a spot of gentlemanly gouging. If there's a virus in the vicinity ... well, just say it's one happy virus.

That's well put with the Entropanto reference- it seems that something as spectacularly officious, gutless, and stupid as telling chess players not to shake hands could only appear in fiction.

What an unbelievable testament to cowards all over the world.

I'll never take the good doctor's name in vain again.

This isn't just about Aneta or Honza. This is about showing that we can do this "social newt work" stuff as well as anyone.

Hlasovat! Democratic systems will always be manipulated by those in a position to do so. Are we in that position? Or are we going to lose to Facebook or something even more facile?

Plus they got their name from Faulkner. When asked what he considered his greatest achievement, Faulkner reported "coming up with the name Snopes."

Can't put it any plainer than that. Although it seems there's also a write-in faction who cut out coupons and mail 'em in.

Ah, yes, quite.

America's finest contribution to normality.

Also, I don't want her born as a North Korean citizen.

Possibly a coincidence.