Random Thoughts

Last week I spent my time playing in a strong chess tournament in Padova. The tournament had 50 participants, among which 11 grandmasters and 10 international masters, and was definitely the strongest event I took part in during my amateur chess career. As I preannounced here, I would have been quite happy to score 4 points in the nine games. This came after realizing that the median rating of the players was in the 2300s. As for mine, because of a series of events (among which my absence from competitive chess for almost a decade) it was the fourth lowest among the participants, at 1899;…

A recent article entitled "Fluctuating Environment May Have Driven Human Evolution", proceeded to take something that is obvious and attempt to create even more significance from it.  It is obvious, that environmental changes [yes, including fluctuations] have driven ALL of evolution, so to even qualify it as "human" indicates some attempt to make the results more significant than they are. However, the intent of this article in trying to assign relevance was exemplified by this quote: According to Magill, many anthropologists believe that variability of experience can trigger cognitive…

In May of last year, I accepted an invitation from Prof. Dave Deamer to visit U.C. Santa Cruz and it game me the chance to meet Dr. Dick Gordon and also to visit the home of Dr. Bruce Damer. I was thinking about Bruce last month because I wanted to sell two of my guitars that I rarely use.  One of them is (well, was, I sold it) a 1968 D-12-35, a Martin 12-string made of rosewood from the Amazon, back before we figured out it was smart to not cut down the Amazon. I was thinking about Bruce because I was thinking about wood and environmentalism and also its activist segments, who don't…

I just left the following comment in the thread of my most recent posting, but thought it was more visible here, so I am cut-pasting it: sorry for leaving comments unattended here for long. The fact is I am playing a chess tournament and have no internet connection at home because of a move, so I am a bit disconnected for a while. Will be back at full speed next week. So maybe I can complement the information here about the chess tournament. This is the XVth "Città di Padova" tournament, and it runs from December 16th to December 23rd. It is very strong (for my standards) with 11 grandmasters…

Trousers have to be tried on – the variation between size labeling and actual clothing size is huge. This is shown by the report "Large? Clothing sizes and size labeling", which looks at the relationship between clothing sizes and the actual clothing measurements as well as consumers' views on and experiences of this. The report is based on a consumer survey, measurements of trousers in Norway, Sweden and Finland, and in-depth interviews in Norway. The report is written by researchers at the National Institute for Consumer Research in Norway (SIFO). Viveka Berggren Torell from the Center for…

Last week I flew to Dallas, Texas to do a spot for a pilot program on The Blaze Network, started by conservative political commentator Glenn Beck. I had successfully managed to avoid television and instead took more than my share of radio interviews I could do in my pajamas, while my co-author Alez Berezow did the appearances on MSNBC, FOX, C-SPAN, etc. and invariably got insulted for it by people who never actually read the book. As a result, we had only done one radio appearance together (and that only 10 days ago) and no television.  But the folks at The Blaze really liked the book,…

When George W. Bush was elected, progressives claimed he was not only not their president, but not the president at all.   A homicidal maniac in Iraq was 'elected' but George Bush was not, they claimed. When Barack Obama was elected, progressives said he was not just a Democrat but instead a president for all people. Typical stuff and both sides do the same thing, he just happens to be the latest. As he has tried to navigate the perils of a difficult economy and geopolitics on the world stage, he has faced the usual criticism from opponents but also slams from his own party - he didn't…

About one year ago I started playing competitive chess again, after a hiatus of almost a decade. Because of the hiatus and some change in the organization of chess in Italy, my status from that of candidate master (with an Elo rating of about 2120, which however would correspond to something like 2020-2050 in fide rating) was taken back to the status of a first national category, with an Elo in the lower 1800's. Of course I want to gain back at least part of the lost rating in the near future, but I am taking it easy - playing in first-category tournaments is nice as I can usually fight for…

Venice is a wonderful place to visit, if you have a week or even a weekend to spend immersed in art and history, or just to get lost in it and enjoy the romanticism of the place. However, if you live there you tend to hate the town as much as you love it. Take a house move for instance: nowhere is a house move a kid's game -it is in fact a well-known cause of stress in any circumstance. But in Venice it may become a real trauma. The problem is multi-fold: houses do not usually have an elevator; stairs are usually too narrow for any piece of furniture; space in front of one's windows may be…

During just two months, the buzzword “diaosi” has invaded China. Its essence, and hence its popularity, has to do with one particular problem in China: The word diaosi was coined first by single, young men who feel they have dead-end lives. Generally, men in this category earn little, are not good looking, and have difficulty winning promotion. Unlike their upper-class contemporaries, they lack influential families, useful social networks for their careers, and most importantly, suitable women to marry. “I’m just a diaosi; poor and plain-looking, who will marry me?” is a common sentiment…