connoisseur series500

I'm gonna start playing the ...Bb4 line of the Panov-Botvinnik followed by ...a6 and b5 idea. Will continue to look at it.

How could I have missed ...Nh5 in that line? I briefly saw the game years ago.

Nice gesture. :rsmile:

Happy Birthday!

I'm not a huge movie fan, but I liked Roy Scheider. RIP.

Different types? why not? In Fischer's case, and with many of the great scientists, I suspect that such people have applied such exceptional focus in one area that other parts of their intelligence remained undeveloped or have atrophied. One only has to listen to Fischer's ravings on those radio programs to see that in this area he had the intelligence of a "clever" 14 year old. There must exist literal dark spots in his brain. The human body is about balance and homeostasis. That's why we require so much sleep! Overachievers such as Bobby Fischer created imbalances in their thought processes, and remain childlike in other areas. That's my quack theory anyway.

Great article, 7/4. I remember seeing Bobby on one of the Dick Cavett shows, but never realized that he was on three of them. As an active tournament player, who is pretty good myself, I am always flummoxed by the persisting image that chessplayers are unusually intelligent. I don't trust any of the reports of Fischer's IQ because I seem to remember that they weren't based on very solid evidence. I am a chessplayer and I know many of them. I wouldn't necessarily call us intelligent. I see and meet more intelligent people daily outside the chessworld. Chessplayers are focused people who have the ability to concentrate. Many of them have a facility for math (I do not;) and many display superior visual/spatial skills... but above average intelligence? Give me a break! Many of them are bums; quite a few are misfits; tons of them are bores; few of them represent any kind of intelligence that would impress me. It's a myth folks; I've always stated it. And it has personally bothered me that I am not free to declare to people that I play chess well without this attaching sentiment that I am boasting of my intelligence. Ballocks! There is no such connection between any kind of useful intelligence and chess. I've returned to school over the past year, and I am convinced that I am one of the most stupid in my classes. You never hear of chess players who go on about their intelligence outside the 64 squares. It's the writers and media people who declare it. They don't know. They don't play the game! I'm utterly serious.

With Buy it nows at that price? Who cares what the starting bid happens to be; it's the end bid which counts.

Christ! Who let Chuck in?

8-cd set for $23 with shipping? This is nuts! I just bought an extra set. I can use it as a gift or I can even resell it a couple years from now. This price is ridiculously low.

What you guys drinking during this slow live chat?

I'd like to say "welcome to the board," but it's hard when I feel as if I'm being targetted as a sales prospect. How can you visit a board for the first time then start announcing auctions, which are open to the public? It's not as if you are offering anyone here on the board anything that non boardmembers can't get in equal measures. We've all got our ebay search engines. Stick around and get to know some of us. We're not sales tools.

Happy Birthday Free!

It's making me dizzy.

My heart fell into my balls watching that video. Scary!

Happy Birthday Wheel!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzoltan!

Our bones are being recycled daily. When our system is short of calcium, osteoclasts degrade bone in order to place the Ca+ into the bloodstream. Conversely, when there is a lot of Ca+ in the bloodstream, it is taken out and osteoblasts build bone. HGH, as a growth hormone, helps rebuild bone. Rodney suffered some terrible broken bone injuries. GH doesn't affect muscle mass to my knowledge.

As a Patriot fan, I can certainly empathize with anyone who dislikes Bill Belichick given his apparent arrogance and unfriendly demeanor. But I still prefer to have him as our coach right now over anyone else in the league.

Rodney didn't take any steroids. He took HGH to help an injury heal. It is a banned substance, but it is not a steroid. It is not used to build muscle mass. Get your facts right before you pile more ignorant hate on a team. Sheesh! So its ok to take HGH in the NFL but not in MLB? Its funny how people hold different standards for different sports. Heck a player who got suspended for 4 games last year for steroids was still voted to the pro bowl. Great job of reading comprehension, dude. Who says I wrote it's okay to take HGH? It's banned in the NFL, so no football player should take it. I was correcting an inaccuracy, since it was being labelled as a steroid. To my knowledge (I'm a nursing student): HGH is a growth hormone which helps to rebuild bone. Anabolic steroids build muscle mass; thus the difference. But I'll defer to a higher authority (Not Dan!!) Building bone doesn't build up a mature human being, but it helps the loss of bone due to age or whatever. It can't turn Rodney Harrison into a linebacker. It may have been helpful to Rodney given his injuries, but I cannot support the decision if it is a banned substance.

Hope everything works out. Sorry to hear the news.

Everyone is welcome to their own opinions, and no one is sure of anything until the next season actually starts. I have to say this, however: it's hard to beat the track record of Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli when it comes to placing a quality team on the field. They frequently turn over the roster as mandated in today's NFL with its salary caps and free agency, and yet always present a quality product. It's never the players with this team, folks, it's the management. When they go somewhere else, or retire, we'll fall back to mediocrity. Players come and go in today's NFL. They always will. BB and Pioli understand that and are masters of that game. Check their track record over the last seven years. Even with the team being called a "dynasty," they managed to field their strongest team in 2007.

Rodney didn't take any steroids. He took HGH to help an injury heal. It is a banned substance, but it is not a steroid. It is not used to build muscle mass. Get your facts right before you pile more ignorant hate on a team. Sheesh!

This statement is too dumb to deserve a response.

Well yeah, law of averages says you gotta lose at least once during the season. Better to lose one in the front 16 than later on, eh? I will say this, though - if there's any franchise in American professional sports that can eventually pull it off, it's the Patriots. I dunno...despite all the talent, and the brain trust, I have the feeling that the NEP "dynasty" has now jumped the shark. Needless to say, I could be completely wrong. I'm thinking the same thing. They will make the playoffs next year but only because they play in the weakest division in the NFL. However, the defense, especially the linebackers, needs some upgrading. Vrabel will be 33 next season, Bruschi will be 35, Thomas & Colvin will be 31, and Junior Seau will be 40! While they can still defend the run pretty well they can't keep up on the little slant routes across the middle. The Eagles exposed this during their game earlier this season. The Gmen exploited it well in both of their match ups this season. Rodney Harrison(turns 36 next season) has lost a step or 3. He wasn't quite the same player this year minus the steroids. On the O side Faulk is turning 32. Stallworth and Moss are FA's. They will re-sign Moss but it's gonna cost them big time against the cap which will limit the other personnel moves they need to make. The once impenetrable O Line looked very porous last night. Pretty gloomy and inaccurate analysis. Our linebackers are old, but this can be addressed with four picks in the first three rounds of the draft. In the meantime, there are linebackers available in free agency as well as some younger ones on the team being groomed for future roles while playing special teams. Seau will likely retire. Bruschi will be fine in a platooning role. Vrable made the Pro Bowl, so he's likely got another year or two left in him. Colvin and Adalius still have a few years left. Where's the gloom and doom? Rodney is getting old, but he played a great Super Bowl with 13 tackles. I felt he was our best defender out there last night. We are stacked at safety, so Rodney can play a platooning role with James Sanders and Brandon Meriweather. Asante Samuel is likely gone. We'll have to draft a replacement. What about the young part of our defence? Sanders and Meriweather are young, as is our entire defensive line. Moss will likely stay in NE for around $6 mil/year--which is very affordable to our cap. Stallworth is not a free agent. He is signed for next year, as is Wes Welker. Stallworth is due for a pay hike, and NE has the option of letting him go if they feel 3rd year man Chad Jackson can replace him. Kevin Faulk is still very effective as a third down back as shown in last night's game. Maroney is a youngster, of course; and Sammy Morris is in his prime. Our blocking tight end, Kyle Brady doesn't have much mileage yet, but we do have youngsters, Ben Watson and Dave Thomas. Brady is still in the prime of his career. The O-line are in the prime of their careers. Belichick and Scott Pioli are masters at turning over players each year to keep the team in the elite category. Dream on about a Patriot demise, Deeley. Who is your team, the Jets?