Dan Gould

Happy Birthday to Organissimo's Official Market Maker in Used CDs :party:

The guy is an ass, properly smacked down in the comments to that entry.

Well I'm on pins and needles - what was the outcome? What did Gabler allow to be recorded????

Paul, aren't the highest levels of chess played in "best of" situations? That's my recollection of the Karpov matches and others. So how do any of them survive losing one game and come back. Another observation: At these high levels, aren't these player so knowledgeable that they can mount different strategies and attacks/defenses? If so, why would a single loss be so destructive? He beat you in one game - big f-ing deal! The analogy to baseball is, "we were too aggressive guys, swinging at his pitch. Next time let's make him throw strikes." Here's another question, Paul - you say that losing is so painful, so destructive to one's sense of self. In tennis, the act of "tanking" is well known, from kids up to the professional ranks. You know you're going to lose, but you don't want to lose playing your best. So you make more and more unforced errors, lose the last set 6-0 or 6-1, and you've protected your fragile psyche by allowing yourself to say "I wasn't really trying". But I'm guessing this never ever happens in chess. Maybe some of the more fragile players should consider it. Reading those links it seems quite apparent that mentally unhealthy people are the ones who rise to the highest level. Chess doesn't cause insanity, people tending toward insanity skew the population in that direction.

Sorry, not feeling it. And aside from the glance, when are they even looking at each other? They both stare at the pieces almost exclusively. And funny how you wrote about resigning games instead of going to checkmate - that certainly makes a helluva big difference with boxing, where it is extremely rare for anyone to quit on the stool. They are more likely to get knocked out or have the ref stop the fight. An alternative description might be that people who make chess their lives invest so much in it that it is crushing to lose. Couldn't that be said of other competitive sports? Doesn't make the competition "blood thirsty".

Yes, because a sealed DVD is demonstrably new. If I considered any alternative that you are suggesting, I'd provide it afterwards, not part of the wrapped present. What you suggest brings the word "gauche" to mind.

Not having a DVD burner would be a real good reason why. Beyond that, is that considered an acceptable Christmas gift? Personally I prefer one that is still sealed, or I'll assume the giver found it used for $5.

BTW, according to Merriam-Webster: When Paul explains how competitive chess is eager for or marked by the shedding of blood, violence or killing, then I'll withdraw my claim of "bullshit".

Thanks, Claude. It looks like your region code example is over the bar code, but this definitely has no region code marking at all. I'm going to try to remember to check their DVD player when we get there for Thanksgiving, then I'll do some more research to figure out if theirs is an easy one to "hack" if this one doesn't play.

Sorry but unless you have blood-splattered pieces, I call "bullshit". That's because you don't play competitive chess and don't have the foggiest idea about it. Sorry but unless you have blood-splattered pieces, I call "bullshit". That's because you don't play competitive chess and don't have the foggiest idea about it. Competitive chess of course requires a high degree of skill. The general rule of thumb though is, if you can smoke a cigarette while doing it, it's not a sport. (That rules out golf, too, although the only professional golfer I've seen who smokes while he plays is John Daly, and his performances would suggest that indeed you CAN'T smoke while playing golf.) Bowling's out as well under the controversial "smoking" rule (the French hate it). Darts, pool, etc., also. They are all skilled competitions, but not sports, IMHO. And that's not to degrade them. It's just, as Dan suggested, "sport" generally requires some sort of "physical" competition. ... I think. I'm not getting into whether or not chess is a sport. It obviously is not. Paul asserted its "bloodthirsty" I called bullshit and see no reason to change my mind after watching that video. You may call me a literalist, I don't care. Don't compare chess to boxing for blood thirstiness when no blood is spilled. Is it tense? Sure looks that way. But until a chess babe loses an eye, it ain't bloodthirsty, and no one could possibly claim that it is.

Got this from my brother.

FWIW, the only numbers on the back of the case are "3" (in a rectangle resembling a TV set), the aforementioned 1 with the circle around it and "4:3".

Sorry but unless you have blood-splattered pieces, I call "bullshit".

Little League from age 8 to 15. I had a great knack for alternating great years with horrible ones - I was an All-Star my first year, then (on the same team with the same coach) dropped from starting third baseman to part-time right fielder. When we moved to CT, I dominated the Comet league, but never made the "Star" league and ended up being a 12 year old in a league made up (almost entirely) of 10 and 11 year olds, and I usually played only the league-mandated minimum number of innings. The 13-15 league was more of the same, with scattered good days here and there. Did I mention that my deteriorating vision wasn't diagnosed immediately? Played 1 season of JV tennis. Had a 3-1 match record. Intramural softball at FSU and Washington University in St. Louis. At FSU, I came up with our team name: The (Undersexed) Sex Gods. Seemed appropriate for most of the players. At WashU, intramural softball was divided into the "B" and "A" league, so in hopes of winning a championship, the Poli-Sci department fielded an "A" team that was registered in the "B" league. We made it to the Championship game, where in the first inning I attempted to bare hand a hot smash hit to me at third base. It hit my bare hand so hard, I thought it took my ring finger with it into left field. But it only dislocated and fractured the finger. I left for the hospital, we won the game, and I got my long sought after Intramural Champion t-shirt. Or, as one of my fellow students put it, "Dan got hurt, and then we won," as if there was a cause and effect relationship.

I had a boss who told me he and his wife loved jazz and cited Mannheim Steamroller as the kind of "jazz" they enjoy. :bad:

Thanks everybody. Not sure what brand my Aunt has, but it got me wondering about hacking our player. Unfortunately, a search revealed that it looks like Sony models are one of those which require a "service" remote, not the user remote, to accomplish that feat. Not sure about "Region 0" as one of the links indicates that there is no Region 0 to begin with. I did finally notice "NTSC" in tiny print on the back, so that gives me some reassurance that we're probably OK. But the region is supposed to be displayed as a number superimposed over a globe, and there's no such insignia. Closest is a "1" on top of a circle with )) coming out of the side - is that a "globe"? My wife wasn't very clear in her note to the dealer, he only responded that the Chinese subtitles should be removable when she was also concerned about playing in a US machine. But at least he responded and said that if the subtitles don't go away, he'll give a refund. The problem is it was $1.99 for the disc, $4 for shipping. We're not going to ship it back to get $2 back!

My wife is still waiting for an answer from the dealer, so I thought I'd throw it out here: Are DVDs created for the Taiwan market playable in US DVD players? I can't find anything on the back that indicates region or whether its PAL or the other kind. Its all in English and says there are Chinese subtitles - is it safe to assume that the subtitles can be turned off? (My wife's Aunt asked for a copy of the original Gone With The Wind, no Director's Cut or commentary or anything like that, just the original film, which unfortunately looks like a 2000 release that is OOP. My wife found it sealed and dirt cheap on some American website and presumed she was dealing with an American seller, but much to our surprise it came Air Mail from Taiwan.) Thanks in advance!

The Times and the Daily News are reporting that McNamee and his lawyers provided DNA samples to Federal agents in September. As the Times puts it: If they got DNA samples, there's no question that they secured DNA from the items McNamee turned over. If you eliminate McNamee's DNA and find Clemens' DNA, then it is Game, Set, Match and Roger will be wearing somewhat wider pinstripes soon.

Lake effect snow is a snow storm brought about by the moisture that a lake provides the atmosphere, as opposed to a snowstorm that forms along a frontal boundary. Cities like Buffalo can end up with a hundred inches + of snow per year due to lake effect storms. A white out is a snow storm of such great intensity that visibility is zero or nearly zero.

Better than being identified as DSC_0578.JPG

Just like Aric.

I know it was discussed at some point though I can't find it right now. But if you think about it, Jim does not appreciate mention of or links to music blogs or B-T sites, which only link to copyrighted material. Here we have a direct link from the board to a file sharing site holding zipped files of copyrighted music recordings. To me its a no-brainer.

Forgive me if I am wrong but I thought a decision had been made not to post links to copyrighted material used in a BFT, but rather to send links to participants.

The thread was started a long time ago.

I think that Mosaic made the decision to commission new essays about the music in lieu of reprinting liner notes. So which is more important to you, the essay or the original liner notes? Or do you want both, something new and more in depth plus the original essay? Personally I think its like going somewhere for Thanksgiving dinner only to complain about the scrumptious turkey because you always have delicious ham.