21 ?

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Wow, if you know the <MATING PATTERN> known as <BLACKBURNE'S OTHER MATE>, this is a *ridiculosuly* easy problem to solve. It took me all of five second to see that <COORDINATING YOUR PIECES ON THE LOOSE SQUARES NEAR THE ENEMY KING> wins instantly with the simple 21 ♕g5-h6! 1-0.

21 ♕g5-h6! 1-0 <loose sq near king: g7>

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A great example of <RELOADING ON A SQUARE LINED UP WITH THE ENEMY KING>.

(CONTINUATION)
21 ... g7x♕h6 22 ♘f5xh6# <reload: h6>

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31 ?

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31 ♖f1-g1! 1-0 <overloaded: e7 & g1, h6 & g1>

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A beautifully example of exploiting not one but *two* <OVERLOADED> defenders to put a piece on a square which appears to be *doubly* protected (<DUBIOUS DOUBLE PROTECTION>).

Black's tactical problem is the <BLACKBURNE'S OTHER MATE> mating pattern. The Black c5-bishop must <PROTECT> the e7-mating square ( 31 ... ♗c5x♖g1?? 32 ♘f5-e7#) while the Black g6-queen must <PROTECT> the h6-mating square (31 ... ♕g6x♖g1? 32 ♘f5-h6#).

(VARIATIONS)
31 ... ♗c5x♖g1?? 32 ♘f5-e7#

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31 ... ♕g6x♖g1? 32 ♘f5-h6#

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I have to put on hold the purchase of the microphone gear for a few weeks, coz I wanted to get the good quality stuff, but simply a bit short of cash right now for a second 300 euro purchase. Perhaps the waiting makes it all the more sweet, while I can take time acquainting myself with Sonar, and use other sources to record from/with.

<1 Presenting SONAR X1

You might also be pleased to learn that this particular home studio was crucial in finding and sinking many U-Boats during World War II, although I'm not sure how much of that you'll be doing once you get going.

I had a similar experience with <Sony Vegas> video editor. It took me almost a year to figure out how to use it properly, and even now there are many features I haven't investigated.

I watched many, many hours of tutorials on how to use it.

One of the most frustrating things about such a powerful bit of software is that there are many different ways to do the same operation- which is kind of insane if you ask me.

They didn't ask me.

I did find that "learning by doing" worked best, and that the "undo" button was my most valuable ally.

Microphone: You can't be too choosy on this!

Its a fact!

Guess what, I'm using my old sony mic at this very moment, plugged into my old minidisc player, which in turn functions as a "pre-amp" for the mic, and in turn the MD player with two connecting pieces I plugged (line-out/headphone socket) directly into the fancy Left and Right inputs in my Quad-Capture, I started recording, singing yesterday, all my troubles seem so far away, and the quad recorded it perfectly, almost studio quality....

What box have I opened?

You see - I am quite good at connecting all kinds of stuff, and I just was in my bed this morning when I thought of this set up, it isn't exactly genius, but nonetheless you have to escape conventional thought and to be rewarded with this quality recording makes me wonder how much I really "need" the expensive condenser mic set. Though quite curious to hear the difference, if there's any, coz that sony digital mic is no slouch either.

Good heavens.

My excuse is that once a day I click on the "new torrents" feature, so I'm usually up on what's happening on the tube.

<Naked and Afraid>

As we both know, it's all about the <finished sound file>.

If that file is of high quality, who cares how you got it eh?

My hat's off to you. I'm very excited to hear your music and performance, to say the least.

But all in your time- I suspect you might be a perfectionist on these things. I'm a procrastinator by nature, but I think also a perfectionist.

This is a terrible combination for getting anything finished.

I literally cannot watch a minute of any of the chess "documentaries" I've already made- all I see and hear are mistakes.

So it's always about the "next one," which is coming on two years...

You know even the 2 minute segment of the next one that you have- I already don't like the visual choices and will likely change them several times more.

Of course, it would be smarter to actually finish the script and get Richard to lay down the narration first.

I can make things simpler, perhaps- All I need is a WAV or FLAC or some other high quality file.

Typically, you can just attach these to an email.

If they are too big, just use the TOP SECRET "Big Crawdaddy" thingy I used to pass you the film file.

It's easiest if I attach your music files to my film here on my Sony Vegas, since that will have to be done regardless-

It's from the Sony Vegas that I'll render the raw file into a HIGH QUALITY 720 PEE video file.

heh...

Hmm but I see what you mean-- for you to do the work you'll need to use my video file and your music file together at your place, to synch it the way you want.

I may have typed too soon...

Well we have options. I'm sure you will figure out something that suits you best for working at your end-

And as far as I'm concerned, if you do get the music files into my hands with TOP SECRET instructions on where you think they go best, I could do that.

I also like to have the "last edit" so I always feel torn when collaborating with an artist.

<Two Options> here, though possibly we'll end up doing a third even:

1. Me having a gigantic basket of your sound files to edit and put where I want them to go.

2. Letting the fellow artist show me his vision first, and then I'd make the final decision on what should go where. Usually I go with the artist's vision. In the case of working with Andrew Sweeny, I was kind of in your shoes there- it was his music so he had final decision on videos I made using his music. On a few occasions he requested a change, and I obliged. Later, I generally thought his editing ideas were good ones. Sometimes we had spirited discussions on this issue, but we are both happy with the recent collaborations. The last three videos I made for his music are the only published videos from my <Sony Vegas Editor>, which I've had for almost two years. I'M A SLOW WORKER AHHhhhh

I favor option 2 (two) myself.

If I'm working with someone, I want to benefit from their unfettered ideas. I have a feeling I'm going to like your ideas and creative decisions, so I'm anticipating a fruitful collaboration.

On the other hand, possibly we can look forward to a high profile court case in which one or both of us demands our name be taken off the final product!

If this happens, you'll be going head to head with my laywer, <hms123>.

hahahahaha

Okay - back to Sonar, because one day, and one day soon, I will master the bleedin software; it's the one thing left between us and fame, fortune and eternal glory.

Revisiting your inquiry posted in my forum: <On an only somewhat related subject, what about this site's official and unofficial tolerance of the criminal (yes, criminal) behavior of certain very high profile GMs?>

I am now happy to provide you with a clear and satisfying answer as <Annie K.> was directly asking <chessgames.com> in their forum. And thir answer - chessgames.com chessforum - leaves no doubt:

<When it comes to lower tier players we really don't care very much what they delete or don't delete, but thankfully we've not seen that be a problem with the pages of the notable GMs.

There are of course isolated exceptions. Once we were approached by a GM who basically said "delete everything posted on my page." Due to the nature of what was being posted there I felt sympathy for him, but still I had to flatly refuse his request. As a compromise, I offered to either let me delete what I deemed inappropriate, or alternately I would give him administrative ability with the condition that he only deletes the posts that could truly be construed as libelous. He opted to do the job himself, and after reviewing what he deleted I have to say he used his power very judiciously. Had I done it myself I probably would have gone even further.>

[...]

<We look at it from time to time, at least for the GM level players. You'd be surprised at how open most GMs are, even with people who are obviously trolling them. As you know a few GMs are magnets for controversy, but even in those cases I'm not seeing people get ignored for just bringing up a sore subject.>

heh... sounds good. And I'm sure it will when it arrives.

- man outside suddenly operating a chainsaw; might have been a woman, or an unfortunate child

- squeeling kids in the summertime on a tropical hot day at a playground with a waterpump

- induction: as a respectable recording engineer you have <got> to have your wire and cable work in order

- the one dog barks in neighbourhood full of dogs phenomenon

- trying to suppress a sneeze in vain

Perhaps you can finish the list... We have tropical heat in Nederland, 35 degrees Celsius.

I too have a "one dog among many" who barks, and the merry sound of construction cranes and so on.

Sometimes there's been no alternative but to shift our recording time to after midnight, which Richard would prefer not to do but often no choice.

I don't like it either because then I have to have even more naps at work than usual the next day.

But these good mikes they pick up everything.

I actually move my computer to another room whilst recording because my mike picks up the sound of the cooling fans.

You know how the "one dog among many" phenomenon can become a real source of chronic stress.

I even found myself imagining going over and trying to scare the dog.

I didn't know you could do this even, but apparently sometimes if works on some dogs. I scared my neighbour's "all night barker" back home when I was a teenager. It got so bad that I fantasized about driving my little Toyota pick up over, loading him in the back, and driving him to another city and leaving him there. Really I thought about doing this for months.

What I did end up doing was going over to their yard and yelling at him "face to face" to shut up, and he ran under their house. He never barked at night after that.

However I felt guilty for the next 20 years that I had "broken their dog."

He still barked during the day but not at night. Actually come to think maybe the neighbours started keeping him in at night...

Anyways here in Korea I actually went in the night to yell "in person" at this local Korean dog night barker.

So I peeked my head over the fence to yell at him, but he was so happy to see me.

They had him in this little alley, tied up with short leash and surrounded by high fence.

He had no view except straight up to the sky, and as you know dogs don't look at the sky, they look straight ahead or down.

I felt so bad for him and he was so happy to see a face that I spent 20 minutes talking to him.

In the time I talked to him he didn't bark once.

These people were using the dog as an "alarm system" in the most cruel way possible. They still are. He barks "extra" because he's being abused. So he's an "extra good" alarm. That's how his owners think I bet.

Actually, my ex, and piano teacher, had a standalone house with a grand piano that she could play in the middle of the night, pure heaven, but I am very limited to use my acoustic piano... But it must be said that with my digital piano I can make recordings without any problem, and even some vocals are well possible in the wee small hours, for sure. Will get to that soon. I love to be up and do some work, research, reading, between 4 and 6 AM, to then go back in for a two-hour nap and then I'm fine for a number of hours in the morning-early afternoon.

I am a Korean woman. You can tell by my "Hello Kitty" pencil case.

(It's actually late morning here but I thought we should mix things up a bit)

5:24 here atm

Oh- and I remember your quote of Fischer saying that there is nothing as comforting as the human touch, paraphrased, with similar connotations.

<Doctor>

Don't forget about the "Mysterious Blue Elephant" era!?

To my knowledge, nobody has actually tracked down the provenance of the anecdote, which is often a sign it never happened.

We do know, however, that Bobby loved hugging horses, because of several photos of him hugging a horse and smiling. He liked animals in general.