heh...

<As of July 28, 2011, I had to leave <CG> to take care of some long-time health issues.

About five years ago, I got pneumonia, which lasted about 3 months, and a viral infection that affected my left hip, knee and ankle. This affected me for most of that year. Although at first, my joints began to feel normal, there has been a consistent weakening in the last two years.

About 17 years ago, I suffered a fall at work that left me with several broken bones and a 2 year recovery. The joints that were broken then are the ones that are affected now.

Arthritis and gout have left me even weaker, causing me trouble in walking, running, going down stairs, etc. I use a cane a lot. And I am simply a spectator at the martial arts school in which I train, able to give advice to students and classmates, but not to spar with them.

I am seeking a new treatment that will last a few months. I hope that we can arrest the problems that I am having. Gout is usually a localized ailment, usually centering in, say, the big toe. Mine affects the joints that I had broken - ankle, heel, knee. A few months ago, I had it enter my wrist. Although it went away, the effects (weak hand in grabbing and lifting) lingered for about six months in my hand and wrist. This last week, it entered my other wrist. Quick action on my part with a triple dosage of medication repeatedly was able to arrest it. Gout is treatable and curable.

I do not wish to continue crippling around the way I do and I certainly refuse to wind up in a wheelchair. So, that is why I am leaving for now.

I have made a lot of friends (and a couple of enemies, regrettably) here at <CG>. I thank everyone that has offered me well wishes and a quick return.

I will return.>

Best wishes on your recuperative sabbatical, and you'll be welcomed back, with great fanfare.

<British Championship>:

I'm catching up on a lot of stuff and I'm watching your Steinitz series...just fabulous.

Couple of things. One small one is that "cemetery" is misspelled at the start of Part 1.

Really, not joking. I bought a Rilakuma bear costume to help me teach Cho-dong hakyo English camp.

It cost me a fortune- but well worth it!

Finally, Rilakuma is a bear, whilst Hello Kitty is merely a cat.

yes of course you can use material from the <Steinitz documentary>. You should know that virtually all the historical information in it comes from <Kurt Landsberger's> biography "Bohemian Caesar."

On a related topic, did you know Bruce Lee fought Superman in comic book format?

I think. We'd have to ask <Travis> for confirmation.

Dog will let Bear hug ~ http://youtu.be/JE-Nyt4Bmi8

I must admit to arriving at a new appreciation for that old curmudgeon, Steinitz. If the raw stats didn't tell the full story, Sonas's work really does, about how Steinitz towered head and shoulders above the pack like forever - which if the question of Steinitz's actual tenure as the champ were revisited should be brought to bear as exhibit "B", with his results being exhibit "A". I'll now always think of him as the genuine world champion for the whole 28 years between 1866 and 1894.

It took a young Lasker, a friend and contemporary of Einstein, to dethrone the aging, sick man, and the old man's indomitable fighting spirit to the very end was just extraordinary.

Here is the documentary in question: