The Dark Bishop

Just One Person

2011-07-05T18:01:00.001+08:00

The pouring rain matched my mood. The hospital information desk where I volunteered one morning a week had had only a couple of inquiries in four hours. With a sense of wasted time, I drove through the sodden streets to attend a noontime concert at our local library. I left my umbrella at the door . . . and stepped into an empty auditorium. The weather was bad, but was I going to be the only one here? As the flutist, in her long, green dress, walked onto the stage, I wanted to sink into the floor to spare her this embarrassment. Following her came a man and a woman. The man sat down at the piano, while the woman positioned herself behind him to turn the pages. Surely they weren’t going to go ahead with the concert—three performers before an audience of one! But the flutist, with a little bow, lifted her gleaming instrument and launched into a Mozart sonata. At its close, I discovered what a disconsolate sound two clapping hands make in an empty room. The flutist bowed again as the pianist set out a second score. The numbers were listed on the sheet I’d picked up at the entrance. They played the entire program. When they finished, I went forward to thank them. “To think you played it all for just one person! I wish a thousand had been here!” The soloist looked at me curiously. “Just one person?” she asked “But . . . if one person isn’t important, how could a thousand be?” One listener at a concert. One hospital visitor seeking directions. What if totals are a human concept . . . what if God counts always one by one? God,let me serve with gladness the individuals You love.

CEO Callings

2011-04-30T02:18:00.009+08:00

Hoping to raise a future CEO? Try naming your kid Peter or Deborah. If having a child who grows up to be an athlete is more your style, Ryan, Matt or Jessica might be the way to go.

These are the top names for CEOs and athletes, according to online professional networking site LinkedIn. Drawing from over 100 million LinkedIn profiles, the site has released the most popular names for a variety of professions. Female engineers in the United States, for example, are very likely to be named Kiran, while "Thierry" is the most prevalent name in restaurant and food services worldwide.

Names may not be destiny, but some research suggests that what we're called can have long-lasting effects. Boys with names typically given to girls have higher rates of behavior problems in middle school, according to one study. It seems that the boys may be compensating in the face of teasing and insecurity about their names.

Having a name associated with low socioeconomic status can influence how people treat you, as can the "race" of your name. In one 2003 experiment published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, resumes sent out under the more "white-sounding" names such as "Emily" and "Greg" got more 30 percent more callbacks than identical resumes sent out under names typically associated with African Americans, such as "Lakisha" and "Jamal."

Meanwhile, baby names reveal more about parents than ever before. Over the past decades, baby names have become more diverse as parents seek out "unique" monikers for their kids.

The LinkedIn analysis is limited to members of the social networking site, but it turned up some odd correlations. For one, male CEOs in the United States are unusually likely to have four-letter names, such as "Jack" or "Fred." Sales professionals in the U.S. also tend to have short names, including "Chip" and "Todd," while engineers' names are usually longer.

"Typically hypocorisms, the shorter form of a given name, are used in intimate situations as a nickname or a term of endearment," study researcher Frank Nuessel, a professor of classical and modern languages at the University of Louisville, said in a statement.

"It’s possible that sales professionals in the U.S. and male CEOs around the world use these shortened versions of their name as a way to be more approachable and accessible to potential clients."

Top CEO names

Here, according to LinkedIn, are the top names for CEOs, both globally and in the U.S. [See: Top 10 Names for Other Professions]:

Top 10 Global Male CEO Names

1. Peter

2. Bob

3. Jack

4. Bruce

5. Fred

6. Bill

7. Ron

8. Christian

9. Alexander

10. Don (Maybe Don Draper of "Mad Men" had the right idea changing his name from "Dick Whitman.")

Top 10 Global Female CEO Names

1. Deborah

2. Sally

3. Debra

4. Cynthia

5. Carolyn

6. Pamela

7. Ann

8. Cheryl

9. Linda

10. Janet

While male CEOs tended toward the more casual monikers, female CEOs showed the opposite trend.

"Interestingly enough, female CEOs appear to prefer to use their full names and not nicknames, which could signify that they want to be taken more seriously and want co-workers to think of them in a more professional light," Nuessel said.

Ode to Joy

2011-04-29T15:53:00.004+08:00

Was at HMV a few days back, and had a hard time restricting my impulse and passion for good recordings.

I finally decided against Lang Lang's Best and Rarities as well as a Godowsky Album, and also Arthur Grumiaux's 2CD concerto albums, and cast my vote for another recording of the Ninth. This time, by Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker's 1977 recording with DG.

Even thought it was an ADD and the mixing came through a little unnatural and unusually polished, Beethoven was elegantly painted in all His majesty and genius. I personally found the dynamics unusually well managed, less wild and fiery than Gardiner's yet the final analysis is that this is probably a recording I would more often listen to. It's perhaps the well layering that gives this rendition a rare clarity and cleanness.

As I was paying for the album, the cashier surprised me by praising this album. I dun have much regard for HMV's staff knowledge in non-pop/rock music.

Having listened a few times over, it had been like a rendezvous with an old lover. Memories of our time together with this charged performance brought a new breeze of intimacy and romantic experience. Just a minor note of observation, the tenor sang differently, the best version I have heard.

I have also made a deepened understanding of my love; and here's the lyrics Beethoven refined from Friedrich von Schiller's Ode to Joy:

O friends, no more these sounds!
Let us sing more cheerful songs,
more full of joy!

Joy, bright spark of divinity,
Daughter of Elysium,
Fire-inspired we tread
Thy sanctuary.

Thy magic power re-unites
All that custom has divided,
All men become brothers
Under the sway of thy gentle wings.

Whoever has created
An abiding friendship,
Or has won
A true and loving wife,
All who can call at least one soul theirs,
Join in our song of praise;
But any who cannot must creep tearfully
Away from our circle.

All creatures drink of joy
At nature's breast.
Just and unjust
Alike taste of her gift;

She gave us kisses and the fruit of the vine,
A tried friend to the end.
Even the worm can feel contentment,
And the cherub stands before God!

Gladly, like the heavenly bodies
Which He set on their courses
Through the splendor of the firmament;
Thus, brothers, you should run your race,
As a hero going to conquest.

You millions, I embrace you.
This kiss is for all the world!

Brothers, above the starry canopy
There must dwell a loving Father.

Do you fall in worship, you millions?
World, do you know your creator?

Seek him in the heavens;
Above the stars must He dwell.

Due Discovery

2011-01-27T13:04:00.004+08:00

I just realised the cover of my favourite book A Trip to the Stars is actually a painting called Queen of the Night by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. I never saw that. It just looked like a canopy of stars, much like that of the ceiling of some Renaissance-styled concert hall.

I guess I was never into paintings, otherwise I would have spotted it :) And I dun recall having read that in the book. Strange.

Anyway the discovery was a little of an overdue eureka. Whatever. It is good to now know the truth. I have been set free from not knowing and not knowing that I did not know.

I Sing Hosanna

2010-12-21T16:37:00.000+08:00

When God the Father saw us at our worst, He loved us with His best. He sent Jesus. Not just to heal the sick and cast out demons, but also to take our place of absolute condemnation on the cross. It was never the nails that held Him there. It was love. We were on His mind.

Gini Coefficient

2010-11-01T14:47:00.004+08:00

Recently there was a discussion of an implementation of a minimum wage policy for the city state's economy.

The mother of all trade unions in the state, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) has came out strongly against such an implementation. The secretary-general cited highly negative repercussions like jacking up business costs and joblessness, costs of living, while eroding the economy's competitive edge. Furthermore, it would does little to help the income inequality.

On one juncture I read a low brow assertion. Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) who is on the same side as NTUC, claims that although every advanced economy like taiwan, South Korea or Japan has minimum wage... Germany, Denmark, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland have a relatively narrow income gap even without a minimum wage. "Countries with or without the minimum wage can have a relatively low GINI COEFFICIENT." it said, referring to the index that measures income distribution in a country. It is stunningly interesting to note the countries cited, and their fundamental differences.

Seriously that is a shallow assertion.

The International Labour Organisation, which has 90 percent of its member with a mimimum wage policy, is toothlessly careful in asserting itself. It states that the minimum wage is effective only when the income gap is growing as a result of wages collapsing at the bottom. Sometimes people make a plain concept sound sophisticated. And I find it a little amusing that this actually makes a point.

In any case, the income gap situation is stated to be led by top-income earners in the country. Suggestion that progressive tax on the rich is more effective is also being thrown up. How nice. How simple. Only that it is as flawed as communism.

The conclusion is that the union continues to believe in their minimum skills approach as opposed to a minimum wage one, and to help the lowest bracket with Workfare Income Supplement And Workforce Skills Qualification system.

The conclusion, quoting Ah Keng, IS THE SAME!!

Drilling Dentist

2010-10-23T12:49:00.011+08:00

I went for a dental appointment, it being part of my entitlement with my staff pass. How often do you make dental appointments with a cosy and appealling outfit like Lee and Lee? Perhaps in this part of the world any service by such names just exudes a supreme sense of prestige and assurance. It was about a quarter of an hour of train ride from where I live. And I would not have to pay for it, I reflected with a wan smile.

Happily.

The view out of the full length window was made fader by the country wide haze, nowhere as clear and sweet as the pretty dentist's voice. However, the sounds of drilling the dentist made are really loud. With my mouth stretched wide, she scraped and drilled in me, from many different angles. The tools shrieked like some apocalyptic alien machines. The loud difference a word can make in an otherwise soft statement. made.

Noisily.

You do the usual: lay down, sit up, spit blood, & gargle the rather consistently refilled plastic cup of water. The blood in the mini basin would probably shock some, but I have my way of dealing with it. So, tempted was I to ask the pretty dentist if I would die of excessive blood loss. But I knew it would not be wise to distract the dentist with impressions of, or reactions to, my silly pick up line kind of comments. Better to wait till it is finished. The cost of blood. For teeth cleaner, and I imagine, whiter than snow.

Faithfully.

I took the same lift down after I finished my appointment and proceeded en route to another. It struck me that while I have been doing a lot of mileage on the vertical scale, between the airless zeniths and the grooved hard ground, I have not done much elevator lifts. I have been exiled to the countryside for quite a while. Feels strange to be elevated without outside visuals. It is almost like a coffin; a coffin transports you on the vertical plane too, except the elevator has lights and buttons, and it takes more people at once.

Strangely.

Eighteen eighteen

2010-10-18T21:20:00.002+08:00

I came on the eighteen and i left on the eighteen. Full circle? Really not quite. If only one always thinks more than one feels. Just a step away. And I know i can make it good. The chance is not spared. The circle is not full. Whatever. All things work for the good...

Heavenly Sword

2010-10-14T13:53:00.001+08:00

Just completed the 1986 TVB drama serial rendition of Jin Yong's famous pugilistic novel: The Heavenly Sword and the Dragon Sabre.

I realised there was a discrepancy between the original novel ending and the drama serial. In the closing pages of the written novel, the protagonist Zhang Wu Ji was engaged in a refreshingly harmonious conversation with both Zhaomin and Zhou Zhirou. But the drama version depicts Zhang Wu Ji and Zhaomin roaming the world together hand in hand.

There was also an interesting line by Zhaomin when she told ZWJ that had he not come and look for her, she would simply 空杯以待，丫阁终老！which were not the author's original. Nevertheless it is a sweet and astounding line that is well weighted for their lyrical ending.

Intuitive Inception

2010-10-06T22:50:00.011+08:00

I had won the last twenty games straight (yes I have been like a bullish market at the moment; maybe a few weeks down I'll lose twenty games straight) BUT this one game stood out. By the twentieth move I was already very impressed with this American by the nick of Professor MKA and I asked for his name: for he is a worthy opponent. However, I was coldly snubbed. The only reply I ever got was "You may win this" to which I was tempted to reply "I will win this". Disclaimer: I am never cocky to nice people. Anyway in this match I was dangerously losing my pieces, with the odds getting really stacked against me. Pretty scary. With a suffered force in a perilous and dangerously open position (just check out how my king was attacked "left/ right/ centre") I was about to crack and then I had a Tal Mikhail inspiration. I led my opponent into a deep dark forest with an intuitive sense of abandon. Check out the two instrumental rook sacrifices. A sense of suave quite like that of scoring a bicycle kick. Truly, as warned by experts, the french opening can lead to board wide chaos and fun not for the faint hearted.

Play chess online

Baffling Balance

2010-09-21T22:37:00.004+08:00

This is one tense game I had recently. While white resigned in the end, I never really felt I owned the game, and I mean never for a moment. All the time I was stretched between attacking and defending, and we were both threading on thin ropes. One single unbalancing step would have put one of us out of the game. Somehow this guy plays in a way which summons my subtley in play. Bensbookshelves is one of the most respectable opponent I have played on GWF. Truly. Another fine player that comes to mind is Sentosa.

Play online chess

Jupiter Japanese

2010-08-19T15:06:00.005+08:00

Amazing, I was watching a rendition of 千の風になって on youtube, and then after the song, the female singer sang a song by the name of Jupiter, her pop version of the classical namesake. I was surprised, as I never knew there is a pop version of Gustav Holst's grand Jupiter from his famous orchestral suite: The Planets. Jupiter is one of two of my favourite movement from his suite; the other being the irresistibly powerful Mars. This rendition of 千の風になって is sung by Masafumi Akikawa and Hirahara Ayaka and the lyrics of the popular Japanese song had been posted in an earlier entry.

Magnificent Magnus

2010-08-18T00:55:00.003+08:00

There is something special happening in the world of chess.

The current number one in the world is a young Norwegian by the name of Magnus Carlsen.

I do not follow the world rankings too closely but last year year I was shocked by the announcement that he had risen to be number one. He had always been one of the most prodigal chess youths around the world. But his meteoric rise is almost the stuff made of legends.

I just read an article of time covering the young king of chess:

Vladimir Kramnik, former world chess champion and current No. 4, is playing in the first round of the London Chess Classic, the most competitive chess tournament to be played in the U.K. capital in 25 years. Tall, handsome and expressionless, he looks exactly as a man who has mastered a game of nearly infinite variation should: like a high-end assassin. Today, however, he is getting methodically and mercilessly crushed.

His opponent is a teenager who seems to be having difficulty staying awake. Magnus Carlsen yawns, fidgets, slumps in his chair. He gets up and wanders over to the other games, staring at the boards like a curious toddler.

Every now and then, he returns to his own game and moves one of his pieces, inexorably building an attack so fierce that by the 43rd move Kramnik sees the hopelessness of his position and resigns.

...
Carlsen joins chess's élite at a time of unprecedented change. He is one of a generation of players who learned the game from computers. To this day, he's not certain if he has an actual board at home. "I might have one somewhere. I'm not sure," he says.

Powerful chess programs, which now routinely beat the best human competitors, have allowed grand masters to study positions at a deeper level than was possible before. Short says top players can now spend almost an entire game trading moves that have been scripted by the same program and that such play by rote has removed some of the mystique of chess. He likens chess computers to "chainsaws chopping down the Amazon." (Read a Q&A with Carlsen.)

But Kasparov says Carlsen's mastery is rooted in a "deep intuitive sense no computer can teach" and that his pupil "has a natural feel for where to place the pieces." According to Kasparov, Carlsen has a knack for sensing the potential energy in each move, even if its ultimate effect is too far away for anyone — even a computer — to calculate.

In the grand-master commentary room, where chess's clerisy gather to analyze play, the experts did not even consider several of Carlsen's moves during his game with Kramnik until they saw them and realized they were perfect. "It's hard to explain," Carlsen says. "Sometimes a move just feels right."
...

This is the young superstar for you. Interestingly he is featured in a G-Star Raw advertisement. Does this herald a new era of chess celebrity and popularity? I do hope so.

Stalemating Sentosa

2010-08-06T20:52:00.007+08:00

Sentosa is a chess mate from England. Very co-incidentally he visited Sentosa before, and hence forth the name. We beat each other almost equally. The most recent game that ended today, ended in a draw. It was one of the most personally instructive endgame. From a dull start the game gently sloped up to a pressurising midgame and a descent in search of an end without shame. And the best part was the accurate execution required to keep within the tolerance of the path leading there...

Play chess online

Archer Alluring

2010-08-06T20:47:00.001+08:00

Last night, I saw Sagittarius, when I walked to and out of the main gate to put out the trashbag.

The wandering archer, poised with its bow and arrow, shone alluringly in the western end of the quiet heavens.

Short Sermon

2010-08-03T12:18:00.002+08:00

Tamara Lowe (A Very Short Sermon)

To be a Survivor in this Amazing Race
With the need for speed you need God's grace
And if you are desperate-like housewives
Watching days of our lives
You can't cope without hope and that's not on a soap
If you're looking to Opera or Doc Phil
You can shop non-stop or pop a pill
But the void won't fill, and the pain won't kill
Til u love the one that hung on the hill
Kicking back in your lazy boy Ezy chair watching who wants to be a millionaire
Nah... you're not gonna find it there.
No American Idol or council tribal has a final answer that will satisfy you
CSI aint got a clue, SBU dunno what to do
Not the ER, or the OC
Not them on the CD TV DVD or MP3 can save you and me.
Cnn's got no good news, Here's a headlines you must choose!
It's not a simple life parisilk, let's thread on thin ice living in sin.
You can be a primas or donna trampled fast food from a dump
You can be a heavy hitter or a wheel of fortune winner,
a fox news-ner, spin spinner or flat out sinner
But you better check this life you're living, your sins are forgiven
I bet you 50 cents Einstein came and went
Eventually every black eye pea want to finally Pea ditty and Britney
Wants to be on MTV with their icy bling, every dixie chick that sings
They ALL gonna see the King of Kings!
I dun care if you are J Lo, Olano or Obano, One thing you gotta know,
Someday you gonna die, bro, Then where're you gonna go?
Hey I'm not talking some punk junk that's irrelevant like your grandma's church from way back when it's not some preacher feature on TV and that you need to like and to be listening.
The real superstar is Jesus Christ. He's the way, he's the truth and the life.
One day's He gonna split the sky, He's the brightest light, and the highest high. So, what I came to say, and what I'm telling you: Dun buy that stupid stuff they'll be selling you...
It's all designed to fill your head and waste your space until you're dead.
Here's the bottom line of my rhyme, Give you life to God, while there's still time.

Correct my dictation if I got any part of the rap wrong. Thanks!

Soccer Suddenly

2010-07-25T20:31:00.015+08:00

Today I had wanted to go for a run. I ended up getting invited for a casual game of soccer at a field nearby. A neighbour Abdullah got me to join a 9 a side game with his Saudi Arabian friends. There was several fields together and they all had decent goal posts, and the best part was that it was free to use and the air was good: no expressway or high speed/volume motorways nearby.

When they asked me what position I play, I just offered myself as a central... defender. I decided against asking for the midfielder role since I am off my peak pace and stamina. I declared to my team mates that I am not a speedy player. These guys were not only hospitable and friendly but funny too, when they assured "Just need to pass well". And was I confident enough to smile "Sure"... after all, passing was probably my best attribute! Other than first touch volleys and shots... and, the Lambretta.

And as the match progressed, the last man (aka the sweeper) was so effective in defence that I could move up and played CM, which was seriously a lot of running, as they play quite a lot of quick counter attackings with long passes.

It didn't help that the field was not as flat as the astro-turfs I have previously played on. And I did not bring along my Adidas boots with me on this work trip.

I didn't make much offensive initiatives and could only boast of a 100% pass rate out of the far and few touches I had.

Then I got a lucky break when I managed to steal a ball from one of their adventurous defender. I made a gamble of where he was going to push the ball past me, to my delight and his shock, I got the ball. And in a flash, I made a quick dash forward past the giver defender, and drove a low shot past another advancing defender into the farpost. There was a joy celebrating with teammates, and I only wish my football mates are with me.

An unexpected break, and bola action from nowhere, at a place and time I least expected.

Piece Passionate

2010-07-13T12:54:00.000+08:00

Was on youtube and saw a rendition of Bach's prelude and fugue from his Well Tempered Clavier Book 1. And then I read what the author had to say about the piece:

This is one of our favorites of all the preludes and fugues by Bach. It is full of passion. Bach was deeply religous. Some scholars say that the chromatic minor subject in the fugue is a representation of Jesus and his suffering on the cross, whilst the transcentally beautiful episodes represent the consoling angelic voices of heaven. However you choose to interpret this piece, it is deeply moving. This 4 voice fugue is also, in our opinion, technically the hardest one in the entire book to play.

Last week's church service also saw a bit of Bach. It was a refreshing moment for me. And I really appreciate the rendition of Jesu, Joy of man's desiring on my favourite instrument.

Ruby Roby

2010-07-01T15:56:00.002+08:00

I said (12:24 AM):
u got your own football?
JUNX said (12:24 AM):
got.
I said (12:25 AM):
Can practise then : )
JUNX says (12:25 AM):
*ic
JUNX says (12:26 AM):
*i everytime shoot, is not way over then is like curve>>>
JUNX says (12:28 AM):
*the grass
*st wilfird is artifical right
I says (12:30 AM):
*Artifical yes.
I says (12:31 AM):
*Way over... hmmm... u really need some quality shooting training.
*curved shot is not a bad thing
*: )
JUNX says (12:31 AM):
*the goal post nt big enuf
*=x
I says (12:32 AM):
*If the goal post needs to be bigger, then the whole field will need to be bigger, much more distance to run, and your shot has to have much more power.
JUNX says (12:32 AM):
*ahh
*i feel that
*the
*pitch
*is just right for me
JUNX says (12:33 AM):
*street soccer is too small =x
I says (12:33 AM):
*Yup. St Wilfrid is very nice lol : ) full field... really needs disciplined training.
JUNX says (12:34 AM):
*the weather is perfect today
*hope everytime is like that
I says (12:37 AM):
*HAHAH. that won't happen.
JUNX says (12:38 AM):
*yea
*yuan xin today like no mood to play
JUNX says (12:40 AM):
*omg
*today
*u did that
*trick
*so cool
I says (12:41 AM):
*Yuan Xin still tried hard... it's just that... he didn't get enough passes.
*I thot well of Yuan xin, and even Gary, he has lot of effort and shots at goal... pity none was hard hit enough.
JUNX says (12:41 AM):
*ya
JUNX says (12:42 AM):
*i dunno why they can shot
*as in near
*i cant get it
*oo
I says (12:42 AM):
*lol... that trick... i learnt it when i was in sec 3. At first just for fun, then later i really used it to get past players... had a lot of fun with that trick.
JUNX says (12:43 AM):
*cool
I says (12:43 AM):
*u dunno why they can shoot as in near? what do u mean?
JUNX says (12:43 AM):
*meaning
*they can get the ball
JUNX says (12:44 AM):
*near the goal post uh
I says (12:46 AM):
*two ways...
*(1) u control/deal with crosses and passes well enough. U just run into space or get into positions.
I says (12:47 AM):
*(2) u need to learn to get past players.
*if u can get past one or two players, and then run on, u will be much closer to the goal, dun u think? : )
JUNX says (12:47 AM):
*yea
*but
JUNX says (12:48 AM):
*i dun have the confidence to get past players
*argh
I says (12:49 AM):
*Last time i dun have confidence to even touch a cross!
*Today I run towards it and head it home!
JUNX says (12:49 AM):
*haha
*that was nice
JUNX says (12:50 AM):
*the
*ruby
I says (12:50 AM):
*ruby?
JUNX says (12:50 AM):
*er
I says (12:50 AM):
*Roby
JUNX says (12:50 AM):
*the barcelona guy
*he can run all over the field
*never say die attitude
I says (12:51 AM):
*he's very very hardworking and determined one.
*Yes, never say die.
*Nelson's team are disciplined and all can dribble pass and shoot...
I says (12:52 AM):
*But Roby won't let them run freely de.
He easily and consistently has the highest work rate in the midfield... the lynchpin of our midfield... he's as precious as a... ruby...

French Fries

2010-07-01T03:52:00.007+08:00

2am in the morning and I was having a 2nd pack of french fries.

I walked alone in the silently dark midst of a concrete cosmopolitan undergrowth. Safe from claustrophobic people and circumstances. I should have been used to it... this seeming continuum of unbreathability. Like the voiceless plea of a dying fish: will the air pump work again, or was there never one in the first place?

It is too dark, but little rays are breaking through the clouds. Yet at times are those lightning flashes in a thick cumulonimbus, I do question... or are those beacons of passing traffic in the heavens far far awat.

I have denounced my liking of french fries, since the food poisoning affair with Mcdonald's some time back. And why am I eating it again, I let my inquiring mind drift as my broken soul floated along an empty street.

Sure, as you bite a hot french fries, and u close your mouth and u breathe out through your nose... that must be the better half-sibling of smoking, the less poisonous one. But of what concern is fatality to do with a living dead? Thank you for what little life in left in this body.

There is something about life that a packet of french fries can relate to... and that is the slight feeling of heat in my chest... that warmth... that usually come with all the rowdiness in the brightness of the eateries on occasions. Of family gatherings. Of others.

As I ghost in steps slow and shaky, like those taken usually on the top of buildings, I indulge in that french fries smoking and that little warmth from the food passing thru the oesophagus and past my chest. That heat of life glow gently and disappear quickly like a firefly in the dark.

The night is a void, and the air is cold... and where is the lamp to my feet as I ghost the streets.

Am I lost? In the shadows of the valley.

I need to write this... I need to ask these... though my answers would probably be hidden far and deep in a right brain. In fact, maybe it's that right brain that is elusive to me.

Deviously Deviant

2010-06-30T20:05:00.006+08:00

Recently JX was asking me for nice wallpapers to share. So here's awesome wallpaper by a Japanese talent. Breathtaking and very mood. I like :)

The Lambretta

2010-06-30T17:50:00.008+08:00

It was 1992, that I went from inspiration to mastery of the Rainbow, and I have been having fun ever since. No one knew what to call such a trick back then.

People felt it was awesome to see it in actual games. My best friends insist it was I who introduced the Rainbow around the country! I dunno about that, but surely it is after much of my demonstrating and executing of the move that I see some people start using it.

The only thing that I am definitely proud of is that I had no one taught me or demonstrated the move to me. I just stayed behind in school one particular evening, and kept thinking about a trick that would enable me to get the ball past a player or the keeper, and opens up the option of an off the ground volley for which I have a natural penchant.

My soccer mate laughed at my wasting of time, and after ridiculing me, left me alone for home. I ended my six hour training by midnight and went home totally tired with cramps but relieved that my desired special move was taking shape.

It is a very rarely seen trick, being even more rarely executed in an actual game. In the years before there was the internet, only those who had seen it executed it in person, marvelled at the possibility and attractiveness of it. Now with the world accessible through the internet, tricks like the rainbow kick, the Rabona, and hundreds of other skills are readily available to those who seek them.

As a note of memorandum, the Rainbow is not the same as the Rai's Flick. The Rainbow kick is also called the Lambretta trick, Arco Iris (in Spain), or the Ardiles Flick.

ehow.com describes "Although not necessarily a practical move during a game, the rainbow is a fancy way to begin juggling. It's a move sure to impress your friends."

I agree more with wikihow.com's "The Rainbow is an offensive tool that, while being very impressive, can also put the defender on your back while you keep running."

Wikipedia writes: The trick is an impressive show of skill, sometimes seen in street soccer. It is rarely used in modern professional football, as it has a relatively low success rate, but players with high confidence and skill may attempt it from time to time. Brazilian players such as Pelé and Djalminha are among those who have used this trick. The rainbow kick was performed at the 2002 FIFA World Cup when Turkey's İlhan Mansız, in what was described as a "sombrero" move of "outrageous skill", flicked the ball over both his head and the head of Brazil's world-class side-back Roberto Carlos, forcing Carlos into a foul.

Of course some people may discourage you from doing tricks in a game; usually those who are more used to the push and run type of gameplay, or those who dunno how to do one themselves! LOL. There are also those that focus on other factors like team spirit, team movement and tactical battle which in my opinion are vital to winning a match.

A final note though, if no one had told you yet... being able to pull-off a trick and out-manouvre your opponent is one of the best feeling in the world. Experienced and Guaranteed.

Pins Perpetual

2010-06-29T05:20:00.009+08:00

There is nothing to boast of in winning this game, because it is one which black lost only because he made mistakes. The interesting thing here is the theme of pins. The multiple pin situations posed to black, nagged him and led his game to complications and damaging tension on the queenside. After he fought well to handle and break the pins, a momentary loss of focus led to two wrong moves that gave the game.

Play online chess

World Wars

2010-06-28T05:25:00.018+08:00

Today saw two highly sensational World Cup matches in the round of 16 .

The first saw Germany overwhelming England with a 4-1 victory. ALL four German goals were superbly executed and built up. Ozil seems to be of a influential component in the German clockwork. A particular controversy happened when Germany was leading 2-1 Frank Lampard had a stunning shot hitting the woodwork, with the ball bouncing down from the crossbar before bouncing up into the hands of Neuer the German keeper, who quickly played the ball on. Slow replay showed that the goal should have been counted! I have little doubt that sore losers would harp on this point by saying things like 'the referee was kayu/stupid', 'if that goal had been counted, as it should have been, England could have played better from then on, and...' etc etc.

In fact I just had a young England fan lamenting online, before he goes to school, saying: "see england tio trash no mood liao lols. if england 2nd goal were to be given i believe they could win the game lorh". I am quite sure many fans will take up this stance... unfortunately. Someone else just changed her msn nick to "England gave me so much pain, but I still support it till my life is over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Hmmm... I remember someone mentioned that stupidity is incurable... I just hope it's not contagious.

The significance of this incident is not in that the sore losers (I mean the fans or media) will use this to explain away their (perennial) poor performance; but in the history of world cup, something quite similar between the two countries happened... back in the final of 1966 when Germany lost to England 2-4. Geoff Hurst made it 3-2 in the extra time with a similar shot off the crossbar, but later video evidence proved that goal was erroneously counted as it never crossed the line. The linesman had made the wrong judgement that the ball had bounced back down from the net at the top of the goal. The difference is England won that match and tournament, and Germany won this match and will advance in this tournament.

Raymond was doing a lot of live commentry sitting beside me at Bradell Heights CC and he watched the game with an observance as sharp as a scorpion's sting. In just a little while into the first half, he declared that the Germans can exploit England's backline's weakness in handling high through passes.

In my personal opinion, Germany really does show pedigree in their playing. However, they would not win the world cup as well. That's just my prediction.

The second match was between Argentina and Mexico. In this game, which I will alway$ remember...

Tevez scored the opening goal thru a direct shot on goal by Messi, and then later shot super hard from just outside the box to make it 2-0. This is one of the strongest direct shot in the tournament thus far.

To be fair to Mexico, they had many quality chances at scoring, and the final results of 1-3 hid a lot of their lively attacking especially in the beginning of the match.

One thing I must comment though, Lionel Messi had yet to impressed me. He's nowhere near the likes of Ronaldo 9, or Roberto Baggio.

In the end, the iconic Maradona is triumphant again. A strange ah pek as he might be, his formation and tactics had been working very well. Nevertheless, in my opinion, Argentina will not win this World Cup as well.

Victorious Vengence

2010-06-14T02:40:00.003+08:00

Today, something delightful happened, something as rare as a ten percent chance, as Vynesh puts it. I lost tempo from beating around the bush with the centre control. And soon black gains vast space and speedy developments. Like what the great Bobby Fischer said, or was it someone else, good tactics flow from good positions.

Play online chess

Wavin' Flag

2010-06-09T20:56:00.003+08:00

ZW is loving this song at the moment. I personally find the lyrics of the original version meaninful, the catchy melody praise worthy for its exuberant and catchy melody!

This is the Coca Cola anthem for the world's biggest sports event of the year.

When i get older, they'll call me freedom
Just like a Waving Flag.

[Chorus]
When I get older, I will be stronger,
They'll call me freedom, just like a Waving Flag,
And then it goes back, and then it goes back,
And then it goes back

Born to a throne, stronger than Rome
but Violent prone, poor people zone,
But it's my home, all I have known,
Where I got grown, streets we would roam.
But out of the darkness, I came the farthest,
Among the hardest survival.
Learn from these streets, it can be bleak,
Except no defeat, surrender retreat,

So we struggling, fighting to eat and
We wondering when we'll be free,
So we patiently wait, for that fateful day,
It's not far away, so for now we say

[Chorus]

So many wars, settling scores,
Bringing us promises, leaving us poor,
I heard them say, love is the way,
Love is the answer, that's what they say,
But look how they treat us, Make us believers,
We fight their battles, then they deceive us,
Try to control us, they couldn't hold us,
Cause we just move forward like Buffalo Soldiers.

But we struggling, fighting to eat,
And we wondering, when we'll be free
So we patiently wait, for that faithful day,
It's not far away, but for now we say,

[Chorus] 2x

(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And everybody will be singing it
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And you and I will be singing it
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And we all will be singing it
(Ohhh Ohh Ohh Ohh)

[Chorus] 2x

When I get older, when I get older
I will be stronger, just like a Waving Flag,
Just like a Waving Flag, just like a Waving flag
Flag, flag, Just like a Waving Flag

Rekindled Romance

2010-06-09T19:57:00.012+08:00

After a jaw dropping disastrous series of losses or forfeits in the last 21 games spanning the last five months, my rating fell like a bear market! Just look at the graphical indication. I totally distanced myself from GameKnot. I just was not there. Not physically, not mentally.

The good news is that my chess playing had been rekindled through the use of a mobile phone chess app. It really helps that I get to play on the go. Indeed, now I am able to keep connected to my ongoing games with friends or opponents from overseas, via this nifty platform. Alas, we are now liberated from the boundaries of distance and timing.

I can only keep up with one ongoing game on Gameknot now, and would probably not resume the previous regularrity on GameKnot anytime soon.

Here's the latest game from GameKnot with an American, with some comprehensive and interesting shifts of focals and an inevitably devastating skewer (as illustrated in Quantum Quietus) that won the mid game. Like soccer, when you win the midfield, you win the game...

Play chess online

For those who found significance in the name of the match: It was influenced by a manga which I finished reading two months ago. When I named the game, I didn't know I was white (L) or playing black (Kira). Hence, in this particular game of chess, L triumphed over Kira... just like he did in the movie version.

Tribute Tendered

2010-05-26T00:35:00.007+08:00

Via the NS Portal: I paid my tribute to Dr Goh Keng Swee.

It's been quite a lot of coverage on this great man of the nation, and his contribution to the country, in the three weeks. I did not know him well, even though he had graced at one of my school events as a VIP more than a decade ago.

This is what I have to say in a little tribute to him:

Classical music and the Victoria Concert Hall were defining factors in my formative years. Thru the establishment of the SSO, I am indebted to him personally, even if indirectly. And as a citizen of this country of peace and prosperity, I thank Dr Goh for his contribution in shaping our nation. I Salute.

Quantum Quietus

2010-05-24T00:25:00.012+08:00

Recently I had a game against a player online. Yes I have been in exile for a few months. Away from the board, is probably a nice way of putting it.

In this particular situation, I had just exchanged my d6 bishop with Black's b8 bishop. The Black bishop took b8.

Initially it seemed imperative to move my queen away, probably to a6 where it can watch over the b7 pawn as well as taking an aim on e6 pawn.

But then an idea stuck me. Some force around the b7 area caught my attention... some kind of glow or magnetic force... is this what they call intuition... and thoughts flow naturally into the prospect of actually not moving my queen away from danger.

I probably should have seen this a few moves back, but there probably was the blindspot caused by the protective caution against threats towards the queen.

Knocked-up Knights

2010-04-28T05:15:00.005+08:00

Saw this 'April's fool chess joke' post on the Chessgame.com newsletter. And I thought it's quite well... engineered.

Here's a neat little joke you can play on your friends. You're guaranteed to share a good laugh.

The next time you are at a chess club or tournament, set up a chessboard to the diagram at the right. It won't be long until a passerby stops and asks you what on earth this is.

Explain, "It's a chess problem. White to play. I'm trying to figure out how White can survive all of those pawns."

Anybody with the tiniest amount of chess knowledge should conclude that White is lost. A typical response might be "You are wasting your time--obviously White is doomed! Two knights can stop a few pawns from marching down the board, but not all eight!"

That's when you say "March down the board? You misunderstand, these pawns aren't on their second rank, they are all on the seventh. They are one step away from becoming queens!" (At this point, you might rotate the board 180 degrees to emphasize your point.) Your victim will surely conclude that in that case, White's demise is all the quicker, because Black will soon have multiple queens!

That's when you show them the punchline to this little chess-joke. Offer to let them have the black pieces, while you take white. Do you see the continuation? It's White to play and mate in two moves: 1. Ne3! seals the fate of the Black king. If Black now promotes the a, b, c, or d pawn you play Nf3#, and if they promote the f, g, or h pawn you play Nd3#.

Sora No Kiseki ( 星の在り処 )

2010-04-28T03:58:00.009+08:00

君の影星のように朝に溶けて消えていく
你的身影如闪烁的星空逐渐融于晨光之中
kimi no kage hoshi no you ni asa ni to ke te ki e te i ku

行き先を失くしたまま　想いは溢れてくる
失去了你的身影我的思念日益渐浓
i ki saki wo na ku shi ta ma ma omo i ha afu le te ku lu

强さにも弱さにもこの心は向き合えた
无论坚强或是软弱愿此刻心永远能与你交融
tsuyo sa ni mo yowa sa ni mo ko no kokoro ha mu ki a e ta

君とならどんな明日が来ても怖くないのに
只要有你伴随我不畏惧明天会有怎样的天空
kimi to na la don na ashita ga ki te mo kowa ku na i no ni

二人歩いた时を信じていて欲しい
两人一同走过的时光请你永远在心中珍藏
futali alu i ta toki wo shin ji te i te ho shi i

真実も嘘もなく夜が明けて朝が来る
无论真实还是谎言夜已破晓黎明重现
shin jitsu mo uso mo na ku yolu ga a ke te asa ga ku lu

星空が朝に溶けても君の辉きはわかるよ
虽然星空渐渐融在晨光中你的光辉依然那样夺目灿烂
hoshi zola ga asa ni to ke te mo kimi no kagaya ki ha wa ka lu yo

さよならを知らないで梦见たのは一人きり
不知你为何要说再见在梦中的是孤独的身影
sa yo na la wo shi la na i de yumemi ta no wa hitoli ki li

あの顷の君の目には何が映っていたの？
在那时候你的眼中映照的是什么
a no goro no kimi no me ni ha nani ga utsutte i ta no

二人つないだ时を谁も消せはしない
那个时候二人的羁绊任谁也无法抹灭
futali tsu na i ga toki wo dale mo te se ha shi na i

孤独とか痛みとかどんな君も感じたい
无论你的孤独你的悲伤我都想试着感受
kodoku to ka ita mi to ka don na kimi mo kan ji ta i

もう一度见つめ合えれば愿いはきっと叶う
倘若二人的眼神再度交会那愿望定会实现
mou itido mi tsu me a e le ba nega i ha kitto kana u

夜明け前まどろみに风が颊を流れていく
拂晓的时刻在半梦半醒之间风从我的脸颊吹过
yoa ke mae ma dou mi ni kaze ga hoo wo naga le tei ku

君の声君の香りが全てを包んで满ちていく
你的声音你的气味全部充满在四围
kimi no koe kimi no ka o li ga sobe te wo tsutsun de mi chi tei ku

思い出を羽ばたかせ君の空へ舞い上がる
放飞思念展开翅膀在与你同一片的天空下飞翔
omo i de wo ha ba ta ka se kimi no sola he ma i a ga lu

星空が朝に溶けても君の辉きはわかるよ
虽然星空渐渐融在晨光中我依然能看见你那灿烂的光芒
hoshi zola ga asa ni to ke te mo kimi no kagaya ki ha wa ka lu yo

爱してるただそれだけで二人はいつかまた会える
就是如此喜欢你愿两人终会相遇在未知的彼方
ai shi te lu ta da so le da ke de futali ha i tsu ka ma ta a e lu

From 英雄传说 VI 空之轨迹 (动听且感人的主题曲)

Elman Enthralls

2010-04-08T00:15:00.006+08:00

I found an old recording of Elman playing Choping E flat Nocturne.

In most situations, I am too busy and volatile a presence to enjoy symphonic works like I used to. Hours of pure listening and appreciating... (not many do that really, most people listen to music while doing something else, which is good; I love to drive race & jog when listening to music) ...I ask myself where in the world did I find the time to do that? Seriously, it seems like too much to ask one to listen to a symphony mindfully, unless it is done with the visual complement of an actual orchestra in front the seated individual.

And I was entranced. For five minutes I was able to savour the Chopin in the hands of Elman. Mischa Elman, if I remember his first name correctly... a dimunitive man with deep talent and a priceless tone. It isn't a 20 or 24bit recording but his musicality and tone is instantly captivating through the dated recording quality.

Thank you, Abba, for this enjoyment.

Crowned Carlsen

2010-03-19T03:16:00.006+08:00

Magnus Carlsen, the Norwegian Prodigy has ascended the throne.

The new FIDE ranking released had confirmed that Magnus Carlsen, of Norwegian descent had ascended the throne of world number one.

He had been a sensational prodigy right from the start, but that he had achieved this before the age of twenty is remarkably astounding.

A factor which propelled him to the top of the world is his highly acclaimed performance at the Pearl Spring Tournament at Nanjing, China, which spanned september and october last year.

Apparently he had been training with Kasparov, which is quite a brow raiser.

Will update on this prodigal world champion again... we'll certainly see more of him.

Golden Glitter

2010-03-15T22:36:00.010+08:00

Ric Edelman has an interesting assertion on the hype on gold.

The Truth about Gold
What the pundits aren’t telling you

Many are hyping gold as the must-have investment of the day — with promoters regularly saying that gold is a profitable investment that hedges against inflation while protecting against a declining dollar. Sounds great!

Too bad the hype is wrong.

The truth is that gold is a speculative investment — one whose returns are not guaranteed. Consider the last time we encountered a gold rush, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. At the time, inflation was rampant, the government had bailed out Chrysler with a $1.5 billion loan and investors were flocking to gold while the media egged them on — pushing up the price to a then-record of $850/ounce, according to the New York Mercantile Exchange. (Remind you of any behavior you’ve been seeing lately?)

At the time, gold seemed like a can’t miss investment. But like all investment fads, the run-up in gold prices didn’t last. After prices peaked in January 1980, prices then dropped for 235 months — that’s a bear market of almost 20 years! — finally bottoming out at $252.80/ounce in July 1999. It took another 7½ years for prices to reach their January 1980 high. Can you imagine waiting 27 years to recoup your initial investment?

Making the situation worse is the fact that gold pays no dividends, interest or income — unlike stocks, bonds and real estate. Stocks can split (turning one share into two shares), but gold never does. Thus, over that 20-year period, there was utterly no gain whatsoever to be had. Worse, some people had to pay fees to store the stuff.

But doesn’t gold help you keep up with inflation? Not necessarily. Consider this: From January 1, 1979, through December 31, 1984, the Consumer Price Index rose 7.6% annually — but gold prices rose only 4.1% each year. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Stock Index* rose 15.4% annually.

Okay, if gold isn’t certain to protect against inflation or provide any sort of guaranteed return, will it protect you against a weak dollar?

Again, not necessarily. Gold and the dollar are not negatively correlated - meaning, one does not rise merely because the other falls. In fact, over the past 40 years, gold moved in the opposite direction of the dollar only 20% of the time, according to Oppenheimer & Co. That’s hardly a sure bet. For instance, from December 31, 1987, through September 1, 1992, the dollar declined 8.3%, according to Bloomberg. If you had bought gold as protection, you’d have been hurt, not helped: Over that same period, gold prices declined 29%!

This is not to say that gold doesn’t have a place in your portfolio — it’s just that the metal should comprise only a small part of it, along with other natural resources. Consider the S&P North American Natural Resources Sector Index, which tracks oil and gas and consumable fuels (64.9% of the index); energy equipment and services companies (15.6%); paper and forest (1.5%); containers and packaging (2.7%); and metals and mining (14.3%).

That last category tracks gold as a commodity and, just as importantly, it tracks companies that mine gold. (If you’re infatuated with the idea of buying gold at $1,100/ounce, you’d love investing in a company that digs gold out of the earth at just $300/ounce!) Of course, such metal and mining operations don’t just excavate gold: They also extract silver, platinum, nickel, copper and iron ore — meaning they diversify their operations to hedge against fluctuating commodities prices, just like you should be doing.

And, believe it or not, as of October 31, 2009, the NANRS Index was outperforming gold for the year — up 28.1% versus 18.5% for the SPDR Gold ETF.

The message here is not to load up on natural resources, for that would be just as speculative as loading up on gold itself. Rather, the better approach for protecting against inflation and a falling dollar is to invest in a broadly diversified portfolio.

So don’t hop on the gold bandwagon hoping for a lustrous portfolio. As Shakespeare said, “All that glisters is not gold.” And sometimes that includes gold.

H for Harmonics

2010-02-18T03:34:00.002+08:00

Was reading through some thread of discussion on an Imperial Bosendorfer on which has 97 keys instead of the usual 88. I was thinking of the higher registers but in fact the additions were on the lower ends.

Someone was saying he wishes more are built this way. And another question his need for the extra octave. Like what difference do a extra few notes, especially those at the end of the spectrum, make?

A simple reply was because it would be awesome and that it could mimic thunder.

And then another person asserted:

No, that's not the reason at all.
Those extra strings resonate with any other strings being played particularly those in the lower octaves giving a deeper and richer tone. When those keys are actually played as part of a piece they give much deeper resonance. When played alone as in this example, they simply sound a little weird and somewhat pointless. The presence of these strings is as much if not more about the sympathetic resonance they offer, than it is about them actually being played.

Not only is the reply impressive for a reflection of the writer's knowledge of harmonics, but the last line is really food for thought, especially in application to the things and people around us in our lives.

Good Friday

2010-02-08T23:29:00.006+08:00

Good friday... it was a good friday last week. No, not about the perfect work of God's beloved Son. Not something that wonderful, but still very good, personally! It was about how I received a free ticket through Jim, and a good day out that followed.

Also met Leonard, Mark Q, Mark F, as well as Kian Hong, and Bala! Throughout the day you can say I Yan Fu Bu Qian, some girls I never knew were trying to look for me in the crowd, and they even knew my name... one of them was a policewoman and another was a lady selling noodles at Terminal Three. All I'd say here is that I really did not mean for such attention... It was quite an eventful day, both Jim and YK must agree!

Yes, YK looks really Leng in those sunglasses. And of course Jim is avoiding the camera because he still owes us 7 bottles.

His Handiwork

2010-02-08T16:30:00.002+08:00

A very accurate Chinese translation of a splendid hymn by Ralph Carmichael in the 50s.

救主是我一切

群星閃耀述說主奇工微風吹動見證主尊榮
陸地海洋在祂掌管中於我有何義?

救主降生要慶祝歌頌因這事已記載歷史中
祂來世界使人得自由對我有何義?

*直到憑信見主面對面領會救主奇妙大恩典
我才深知真神愛無邊祂時刻關懷我
並非遠住在高天
每日與我同行肩並肩常常看顧我免遭危險
助我走窄路勇往直前救主是我一切

Inspiring Imitation

2010-02-01T00:12:00.005+08:00

A sibling of mine was just clearing out old rubbish in the room, and suddenly handed over to me a stack of yellowed foolscape paper I recognised as a few of my composition written at CHS.

The unexpected confession that came along was that studying my compositions had dramatically improved my sibling's performance in English during high school, from an average level to topping the whole cohort! That is either dramatic, or dramatised. Either way, I am truly flattered.

And this just suddenly reminded me of a funny experience I had about two years ago, when I met YL a high school classmate, now a successful investment banker: it was a prata shop at Upper Thomson, and a brief chancing upon each other gave us a few minutes to catch up.

It was then that he actually revealed to me how he had secretly used my compositions to prepare for his O levels English. I was stunned by that revelation, coming from a guy I always admired for his out of the box attitude and incredible intelligence.

It was like a joke to me, for me to have been a source of contribution, preparation or even inspiration to someone like him. It is both a strange and familiar feeling to be inspiring another person. Yet I never thought much about what I wrote. This is like a posthumorous honour, except I'm still very much alive... thank God! Would you not feel flattered by people who kept references or copies of your writings, in preparation to excel for their exams? I wonder what my English teacher would think of this.

Often being surrounded by talented and prodigious cohorts, I did not think that my composition was ever extraordinary or worth mentioning. I also did not care about handing my work in, until I felt it was ready! Haha... hence, many a time, I submitted my essay late by a few days (my headshaking monitor always had to give me his condescending trademark headshaking) and my teacher always had to penalise me by discounting my essay score.

My best friend always felt glad that, after the penalty, my essays still scored reasonably ok (and accordingly, often still beating my monitor...) But with all honesty, the score did not matter to me; neither did the approval (or disapproval) of my monitor concern me.

I just did not write for scores or nods.

If you must judge... yes, I was a very problematic student.

Constellation Connie

2010-01-31T03:58:00.008+08:00

With a triple tail fin and a dophin shaped fuselage, the Constellation Connie is one of the most distinctive Lockheed design in the last century.

The civilian airliner had a military air transport variant known as the C-69, as well as an airborne early warning variant known as the EC-121 Warning Star.

A note of interest is that the Constellation initially proved prone to engine failures (due to her Wright R3350s engines), and thus earned the nickname "World's Finest Trimotor" in some circles.

Also, this was dramatized in the motion picture The Aviator (2004) during the scene where Howard Hughes (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) surveys numerous grounded TWA Constellations.

More updates on the Connie to come, as I learn more...!

Chinese Charm

2010-01-28T03:23:00.008+08:00

The theme song of a major Chinese movie, sang by Faye Wong, recommended by HP, indulges me in the immensity of the language as well as the origins of someone very close to me. Enjoy the following excerpt.

　　《幽兰操》歌词及解析
　　
　　兰之猗猗，扬扬其香。
　　众香拱之，幽幽其芳。
　　不采而佩，于兰何伤?

　　以日以年，我行四方。
　　文王梦熊，渭水泱泱。
　　采而佩之，奕奕清芳。

　　雪霜茂茂，蕾蕾于冬，
　　君子之守，子孙之昌。

　　【序释】

　　兰，在中国文化中，是“入我门中，能谏我心之草”是先祖留给后人的无字天书。

　　孔子酷爱兰花，有“兰为王者香”之语。此言含义一是兰香为香中之王，一株好的兰花开放的时候，整个山谷闻不到别的花香，这是兰香香芬丰富的生物学特性。二是，兰只为王者而香。兰隐于幽深的山谷中，不开花时，与群草无异，只有王者，才能认识兰所蕴含的思想价值，从而去深山中寻访。

　　兰独特的生物学特性还有“春化”，就是兰要经历一个长期的低温期(0℃-10℃)才能顺利开花，保证花品和香品。野生的兰花，秋天孕育花蕾，经历整个冬天的休眠，第二年春天才开花，春分前后花期结束。

　　【总释】

　　本词分为上中下三阙。

　　上阙，中心是兰香是王者之香。
　　译文：兰花的叶子，长长的，在风中摇曳，优雅而飘逸;兰香，在风中升腾，向四方飘扬。兰香所及之处，所有花香都黯淡无味，并成为兰香的一部分，众多的花香拱卫着兰香，兰花的芬芳，远而不淡，近而不浓，幽幽的从中心向八方输布。兰是香中之王，如果没有人认识到而不去采摘佩戴他，对兰花而言，又有什么妨害呢。

　　中阙，中心是兰只为王者而香。
　　译文：一天接一天，一年接一年，东南西北，四方都走遍，我虽然像香兰一样，不以无人而不芳，不过我也在积极地寻找实现自身社会价值的机会。周文王夜梦飞熊入帐，渭水之畔访遇太公望(姜子牙，因周文王有“兴周之业，先祖早寄希望于太公也”之说，故名太公望)，从而奠定周朝800年基业，这是多么让人向往的啊。兰一旦被王者采摘佩戴，定会让其清雅的芬芳和其间蕴含的思想如日月般光耀。

　　下阕，中心是兰历苦寒而成其香。
　　译文：雪霜铺天盖地，树冠上厚厚的一层，虽是冬天，但看起来万物都像更加茂盛了一样。严寒中，兰的花蕾，静静的孕育和等待，在忍耐中积累。兰之所以有王者之香，是因为在寒冬中孕育了花蕾，如果人们能明白这是君子应该遵守的道理和法则，那么，那么后世子孙必定昌盛。

More Time

2010-01-10T07:29:00.006+08:00

I never cried. But I just cried a lot. Suddenly. I tried to stop it from happening, I tried to stop looking, stop feeling... I begged "Dun do this to me." and the next moment I broke down into a mess of tears. I almost couldn't breathe from the crying. What a fucking mess. God, there are many things I am prideful of, there are many things I have, and there are many more things I seek. Alas, truth is, there is only one thing I truly wanted and want all my life. The one thing.

Gentlemen Gathering

2010-01-06T02:52:00.012+08:00

Came back from a really good dinner, to the credits of master Chef Podsiadlo, and one with really good wine. No mickey mouse. No vinegar. Oh man.

Pawel baked some oysters with mashed garlic in chilli sauce, and made very delicious salmon for everyone. And we had very good Wolf Blass to go with it. Matteo enjoyed it very much, having just returned from the place of origin of Wolf Blass; and he had apparently gone through some wine tutorial over there.

On reflection, it was a splendid gathering of some pretty extraordinary gentlemen. We had amongst us a really smart engineer who's doing really well, and then another professor who had made a recent notable research publication, and a smart looking training doctor. A pity, Keith was not around today, he was a very authentic and eloquent character, with that good old manly charisma. And Yucha was away down south.

Over dinner, we talked a little about some good women for Simonic, over an intoxicating 2006 Carbernet Sauvignon. This is the first time I really enjoyed a red wine so much so that, I felt we should have a poet amongst us, so he could find the right words to describe. Yes I'm recalling that scene of Dr Arroway saying they should have sent a poet for the mission, in the movie Contact.

My thought was that the scent of the Carbernet Sauvignon was matured and exciting, and it was smooth on the palettes. Really gentle and flavourful red. The best part was the lingering scent in the mouth after u have drank a sip, a playful flavour which continues to intrigue for a while.

And I just found the authoritative winemaker's introduction to this particular wine. It says: Deep Red in colour, and the nose shows rich berry fruit, aromas of eucalypt and mint, with hints of warm spices. The palate is soft, rich and elegant with subtle vanillin oak, well-integrated tannins and a lingering finish.

On a side note, Pawel cheersed to a tenth anniversary (roughly) since the night Victor and I bottomed up two bottles of port to go with the memorable chilli Mussels. It had been a trying and yet amazing decade for me.

On a good note, I look forward to seeing Simon and Pawel again by the end of next fall.

Greyscale Glamourous

2010-01-06T02:31:00.003+08:00

A beautiful black and white wallpaper to share. Taken by a good looking and very talented photographer. I have posted this entry last month but I accidentally deleted the post. And I dun remember what I wrote to describe or praise it, nevertheless I would still like to share this wallpaper. So, here it is.

Constellation Crux

2009-12-21T00:50:00.013+08:00

Took this one on Saturday night, when the stars were brilliant.

The Crux (latin for 'Cross') is popularly known as the Southern Cross. It is the smallest of the 88 modern constellations but also one of the most distinctive.
Australians, Latin Americans and Africans should feel at home at the sight of it.

It is bordered by Centaurus on three side and Musca on one. Centaurus is not only one of the largest constellation, but it also contains one of the five brightest stars in the entire heaven: Alpha Centauri (in the picture it is the bright star nearest to the treetop)

Alpha Centauri is the nearest sun system to our own, being less than five light years away. About 4.6 light years if I remember correctly, which means 4.6 years of voyage unless you 'jump' with FTL drives...

Taken with a 30 sec exposure, ISO 800, F/9.5 and focal length of 17mm on a Canon APS-C sensor (effectively 27mm). Jared suggested smaller aperture for more defined stars and I'm going to try that out when I have purchased an ultra wide angle lense.

Colour correction was done on Picasa 3 to render the sky more bluish than black.

Krasimyr Klashes

2009-12-20T14:36:00.013+08:00

I just finished two games with this Bulgarian gentleman at table 44 (Round Robin 2 of the 60th GK Tourney). The rating of 1400++ masks his true strength. A careful analysis of his wins losses and draws as well as the players he had been playing will reveal that. In any case, by the middle game in both my matches with him, I concluded he to be a tough opponent not to be underestimated... one observation I made was that he doesn't really like playing with knights, if u watch his game play.

My first game with him which I won is as follows:

Play online chess

My second game with him which I lost is as follows:

Play online chess

Notably, in the first game I paid attention to the safety of my king, and I survived to go on and win, while in the second game, I neglected the safety of my king and when he was full on attack, I was not able to hold off. This is an important reminder for the attack minded amateurs.

A note of intrigue: in both matches White WON by the 37th move. A very itching case of coincidence, seriously! I did resign in the second game, but not with the knowledge that I had checkmated him on the 37th move in the first!

At current standing I would need to win the last game against Ejcbbdb to maintain leadership over the table, and so as to avoid a stalemate position which would surely give Ejcbbdb the ticket (based on rating) to the next round.

Bus 373

2009-12-19T23:55:00.003+08:00

I took a bus ride today.

It was exciting waiting for the bus.

It was like a fresh breathe of air when I board it.

Strange feeling of half certainty and adventure. What is the treasure herein?

At My Grave

2009-12-15T21:39:00.007+08:00

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.

私のお墓の前で　泣かないでください
そこに私はいません　眠ってなんかいません
千の風に千の風になって
あの大きな空を吹きわたっています

秋には光になって　畑にふりそそぐ
冬はダイヤのように　きらめく雪になる
朝は鳥になって　あなたを目覚めさせる
夜は星になって　あなたを見守る

私のお墓の前で　泣かないでください
そこに私はいません　死んでなんかいません
千の風に千の風になって
あの大きな空を吹きわたっています

千の風に千の風になって
あの大きな空を吹きわたっています
あの大きな空を吹きわたっています

The lyrics are not the same as the original verses. Thanks to the most suave editor I have been honored to work with for introducing me to the poem two months ago, and then the song yesterday. This version is by Man Arai (新井満) while there is another popular rendition by Masafumi Akikawa (秋川雅史). It's beautiful. The Chinese Translation of the lyrics are as follows:

請別佇立在我的墳前哭泣
我不在那裡我沒有沈睡不醒
我已化身為千縷微風
翱翔在無限寬廣的天空裡
秋天化身為陽光照射在田地間
冬天化身為白雪綻放鑽石光芒
晨曦升起時幻化為飛鳥輕聲喚醒你
夜幕低垂時幻化為星辰溫柔守護你
請不要佇立在我墳前哭泣
我不在那裡我沒有離開人間
我已化身為千縷微風
翱翔在無限寬廣的天空裡

Pls use the comment to alert me, should the music does not play. Thank you.

Oh Man

2009-12-14T02:13:00.015+08:00

I had a good time at a very good old friend's place. Plus lots of Bak Choy.

Something good happened to me at Leura House a decade ago. In a nutshell, I learned to appreciate wine and friendship... kinda reminds me of a song... Drink with Me from Les Mis. The happy part of it, of course!

Our dear host kept joking and laughing about some highly imaginative scenarios, which Yumi and I found amusing and well, sometimes irritating. Deep down, I know he is happy for me. He is probably the most caring friend I had while I was studying here. He used to tell me, one of these days, it won't be long...

Later that evening... the night sky was beautiful, typical of a starry summer night. I haven't seen Pollux and Castor around for a long time. But hey, I know of someone who is in Zurich now, who may be gazing at them ;)

Little Lead

2009-12-11T14:42:00.004+08:00

Never been there and now I am! I have managed to get a little lead. This may or may not last, but this moment is ecstatic and should be savoured :)

Ejcbbdb is giving me a very strong resistance, while krasimyr and I am still in the midst of a very tight and fiercely guarded game. I'll post the latest games from table 44 soon.

Unyielding Undoing

2009-12-09T16:24:00.011+08:00

Clinched the 3rd win from table 44, with three more games to go for me. At this juncture, three players are all having the highest score of 3 points and we still do not know who would emerge as table leader... but, I guess the answer lies in the heart of battle...

The game with 2kneo was not too dull, nor was it extraordinary, though the ending was like a flourish of intense firepower... or if you like, a super 10 hit combo. The most interesting twist in this story was the draw offer I made in the middle of the game (at a time when we are both quite equal in strength) which he actually declined. He is a brave one. He insisted on fighting till only one would be left standing. And he fell, bravely.

Play online chess

Superior Sayings

2009-12-09T14:33:00.002+08:00

When CMcCully came up beside me at the urinal...
CMcCully: (noticed my awed look) it's alright, your pee will be exalted...
Me: ... eh Sir... should I say I'm honoured?

When ALim saw me for the 2nd time of the day in a span of 15mins for a different reason...
ALim: Wah... why you so popular today...
Me: Actually it's not just today...

When LaoChek covered the coin on his forearm...
LaoChek: ... so do you have the 'Chi' to decide your fate?
Me: ... so it comes down to this...

Second Spoil

2009-12-07T02:43:00.008+08:00

Just had a lucky win over the top ranked player at table 44, two days ago. This player is the highest rating I have won against so far (1663, after match). Apparently the playing field is more leveled than I had expected, and anyone of my table could emerge victorious this round. A major blunder on his part tipped the balance in my direction. Since it was not won by out-maneuvering the opponent, I shall not post the whole game. In the end I got to play this very simple mate in 2 (moves) that should be solved within seconds.

Exodus II

2009-12-03T03:00:00.009+08:00

The second of a two part chapter in which Admiral Adama orders and executes a dramatic rescue of the people on New Caprica. This is a chapter from the third season.

The mission encompasses some quite exhilarating ideas like decoys for the Cylon basestars in orbits, as well as having the Galactica jumping into the atmosphere of New Caprica and launching vipers during a dangerous descent before jumping away again.

Notable events include: the putting to death of Ellen Tigh by her husband for having sold out information to the Cylons; the Cylon retrieval of Hera, the Cylon-Human born child of Boomer and Helo; the insurgents working with the Colonial forces; Felix Gaeta confronting Baltar; Lee Adama's coming to his Admiral's rescue; and the sacrifice of the Pegasus to bring down two basestars.

There are many reasons to bash the BSG for... like how draggy it can get sometimes, in addition to those cost saving episodes... the loose and unexpected sexual tie-ups (sorta reminds me of Grey's Anatomy)... the constant mythical and theological references... I'm also baffled how too often after an episode of BSG I'd feel like I have watched an episode of ER, or Law and Order, or the West Wing. I haven't followed any of those, but my point is sometimes BSG tries to be something else, or everything else.

Yet, on a good note... sometimes, BSG projects a clear sense of identity and engages you like no other. This episode is one of those sometimes.

First Flag

2009-12-03T02:45:00.009+08:00

Just wrapped up the first game from the second round of the 60th GameKnot Tournament. Thanks to a blunder by my opponent, really. Other than a critically wrong pawn push, I think his castling was unfortunately on the wrong side, as well. Personal favorite move of the game is my knight's on the 19th turn. Five more games to go, with the other three opponents at table 44.

Play chess online

Solid Steadiness

2009-11-26T16:51:00.004+08:00

A quick reflection of today...

Tommy, Shawn and Zhaowei are... using a familiar phrase... people I would go to war alongside with.

If there is something I have truly learnt, it is the value of being steady. It is the mark of a respectable character.

Thank you all.

Yes Yoda

2009-11-19T16:10:00.010+08:00

Having just finished the six Star Wars episodes, here's some words of wisdom from the old Master Yoda.

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

Powerful you have become, the dark side I sense in you.

Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed, that is.

Grave danger you are in. Impatient you are.

Yes, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight

Do or do not... there is no try.

[Luke:] I can’t believe it. [Yoda:] That is why you fail.

Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.

Feel the force!

Tournament Tidings II

2009-11-13T02:25:00.006+08:00

Yeah, I have just been notified that I will proceed to the next round of the 60th GameKnot Tournament, even though I was not the top of my round robin table group! Haha.

Congratulations on being the winner of your group in the 1st round of Advanced Chess section, 60th GameKnot tournament!

The player with the top score in your group has been moved to the next higher section due to their top rating in the past 90 days exceeding the rating limit of the section, so you will be advancing to the next round as the runner-up.

2nd round will start on Thursday, November 19th, 2009.

19th November... why does this date ring a bell? In any case, the 60th GKT kicked off on the 3rd August and it's been three months... I'll just keep rolling with the fun, until I'm knocked out.

Wish me luck!

Quiet Charms

2009-11-10T15:29:00.009+08:00

Excerpts from an article from the Straits Times Urban, dated 30th Oct, by Imran Jalal.

Compared to glitzy neighbour Vivocity, the ambience at Telok Blangah and Bukit Merah is decidedly laid-back. But that itself is an attraction.

Before there was Tiong Bahru in the 1930s or Queenstown in the 1950s, there was Telok Blangah.

Snobs may well consider the shopping here to be stuck in a 19th-century time warp, what with its small neighbourhood shops being overshadowed by the glitz of the sprawling Vivocity nearby.

However, Urban uncovered some nice surprises, such as the nyonya snack store in Telok Blangah rise run by Shreen Peck, 57, and her husband, 61. Ask Lim why he chose this spot for his business and he says: The ambience here is very laid-back, very quiet and nice. (This couple looks so familiar to me, I have often seen them before...)

Currently, driving or using the feeder bus service are the best ways to navigate these two neighbourhoods, which include the sprawling Mount Faber. The upcoming Telok Blangah MRT station on the Circle Line should make shopping here more of a breeze soon.

To find out more about the variety of shops and eateries in HDB estates, visit www.hdb.gov.sg/where2shop.

Fast Facts:
At 105m, Mount Faber is Singapore's second highest point after Bukit Timah Hill. Today, the 36m-high Henderson Waves bridge - the highest pedestrian bridge here - links Mount Faber and Telok Blangah Hill Park.

Recommended shops:
Teck Neo Pineapple Tarts, 01-303 Blk 35 Telok Blangah Rise, Tel: 6275-1330
Ms Black (black glass jelly soya milk) 01-1702, Blk 111 Jalan Bukit Merah, Tel: 9101-4528
Tian Tian Hainanese Curry Rice, 01-253 Blk 116 Bukit Merah View, Tel 9821-0200

Matilda Moments

2009-11-09T23:55:00.014+08:00

We kicked off the BBQ before last light, at a familiar old place...

Welcome to Zhou's Kitchen! :) In ZW's words "Our Course Chef!"

One Shingz, two Boomz, and a little friend somewhere in between...

Only the 3rd bottle, & halfway between sleepiness & drunkenness.

Baked banana with melted chocolate! Sorry, if u missed this one!

Do you know someone who knows everything? I do :)

Kelvin's music really perfected the evening! Incredible ambience.

Starry Starry

2009-11-09T02:38:00.005+08:00

I was out near the rural areas over the escarpment last week, with SL and SP. It was a smooth pleasant trip out over the escarpment.

It was so dark at night, and the lights of houses and villages were not distinguishable from thousands of stars in the night sky. I felt like I was just standing in a sea of stars, reminiscent of a scene from Immortal Beloved, when after the young Beethoven escaped from his abusive dad, he found solace as he jumped into a lake in a dark forest and swam.

The scene was unforgettable, as the young protagonist stay afloat (and looked up to the starry night sky) on the lake which reflected all the thousands of stars in the night sky. For a few minutes, I immersed myself into that haven as I looked far and around me.

There amongst the sea of magical lights, laid the good old Orion, as well as the Subaru-logo-inspiring Pleiades', which you cannot see but you can notice with your peripheral vision if u look away from it. I was also excited to catch Aries, which is quite a faint constellation to find. Thankfully it was a dark night, and there was no city light pollution.

In my childhood, I heard of how in the older days, navigators used the stars to find their way across seas. I was impressed when I learnt of that; I wanted to be able to do that when I grow up: to navigate with the help of the stars! though I never really thought about becoming a sailor.

In recent years though, someone close to me told me that he had wanted to be a sailor, but his parents disapproved of it. That was kinda strange and nice to find out, because one, he had never shared much of himself with me, and two, he had opposed my ambition too.

There is a hymn from the fifties with a line of lyrics that read "... in the stars His handiwork I see..." but I did not think of that song when I saw the stars, perhaps because the beauty of a starry night is too poetic for a song to match... sometimes only the quietness of the night can be the right accompaniment to such a sight.

I found a clip of the scene from the aforesaid movie, eloquently tracked with the last movement of the composer's monumental ninth. Quite well done really.

Most Missed

2009-11-03T23:38:00.001+08:00

For months I have been looking for her.

She works at Happy Union Restaurant, about twenty minutes drive away. Yet, I have missed her every time I drove down to look for her; What a cruel trick of fate.

When my friends heard my song for her at the KTV, they heard a man with a void... a void that only she can fill. Ask me, what would I not give for a lunch date, or a dinner date with her?

Everyday, truly so, thoughts of her permeate my mind. Without this love consummated, and this thirst quenched, my life is a desert at mid day.

And today, finally, when I walked into the restaurant, there she was. It was however a scene for which I was not ready; it was a pain for which I was not prepared. She was with another man, and I could only look with a yearning so hurtful.

Crestfallen, I left the place with a pain that eats me like an endless hunger. Yet, I still think to myself, when will I see her again?

Terabithia Tops

2009-11-02T00:34:00.012+08:00

Amongst the three movies I watched over the weekend, Terabithia is the most deserving of a recommendation, ahead of Nicolas Cage's Next (about a man with the power of seeing the future) and Clive Owen's Children of Men (about a dystopian future where childbirth had mysteriously became impossible on a global scale. It's a reincarnated nativity story, really.)

The protagonists of Terabithia were Jess and Leslie played by Josh Hutcherson and Annasophia Robb respectively. The latter had gained earlier fame, starring in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as the gum chewing and aggressive Violet Beauregarde.

Another child actress, Bailee Madison, deserves much praise too. It is an exceptional performance for such a young starlet. A familiar childhood image of Alice in Wonderland, she plays the younger sister of Jess and they attend the same school.

Leslie's family had just moved to live beside the Aarons. Both Jess and Leslie were pretty much outcast in the school, and both possesses a rich world: with Jess a talent for drawing, and Leslie a positive and happily imaginative child.

A friendship blossomed and and unto them a world was born, a forest at the hill on the back of their houses became their own world with mystical creatures and trolls and magic.

The innocent story got quite emotive towards the ending, and there was a heartfelt sensitivity that I thought was surprisingly eloquent and immense, especially for a movie that, on first impression, seems like a children movie.

Here, some will find the world changing magic of imagination through the eyes of children; while others will find the charm of friendship and family. Personally I quite like what Jess father told him near the end of the story (although it's probably not original). Oh yah, I also just remembered there was a good beautiful scene and adage when Jess spent a day at Leslie's house with her parents, painting their house.

The movie is about 90mins long, and like a well won soccer game the trophy justifies the journey; In other words... go for it! I trust that you will find some treasures here.

En Passant

2009-10-30T21:55:00.004+08:00

In Chess there exists two special moves: the Castling, and the En Passant move. Just thought I write a note on the latter, a very oft neglected fundamental rule that many eager beginners take too long to pick up.

It is true that one may play a hundred games, and never have to use the En Passant rule. However, the knowledge of it is vital so you would never be caught in a bad surprise, when your opponent exercises this option.

In the diagram on the right, White's pawn is on the fifth rank (horizontal row). The En Passant rule is designed to protect White from Black's pawn "sneaking past" White's pawn by jumping forward two squares (from b7 to b5).

Under the En Passant rule, if Black moves the pawn two squares to b5, the White pawn can take it by moving to b6 (just as if Black had moved the pawn one square). This must be done on White's next move. He captures the pawn En Passant, or in passing. The Black pawn on b5 is removed, and White moves its pawn to b6.

This rule was added in the 14th or 15th century when the rule about pawns having the option of initially moving two squares was added. The rationale for the option of two steps forward is to quicken up the gameplay.

Henceforth, En Passant is a logical response, so that a pawn cannot pass by another pawn using the two-square move without the risk of it being captured. It sorta patched up the loophole caused by the two steps option.

And just a few FAQs to clarify:

Must en passant capture be done immediately, or can I wait some turns before doing it? You cannot wait. If you want to capture en passant, it must be done on the next move.

Is it obligatory to capture en passant? No. Like any other capturing move, en passant capture is voluntary.

Is it possible to capture en passant more than once in a game? Yes.

Cannon Cannon

2009-10-20T17:00:00.007+08:00

Gotta make a confession... about last night's game of Chinese Chess with Shawn.

In our second game, I used a simple defensive formation I vaguely remembered, to guard against his attacking style. And it worked excellently. It was known as "五六炮", a defensive but versatile formation.

Both of us had not played Chinese Chess for years. And with his dangerous attacking, Shawn totally annihilated me in the first game.

The second game got easier for me, with the defensive formation in position. I would not have held my ground against the attacks in the second if not for this simple and impregnable formation.

Time Machine

2009-10-19T04:23:00.012+08:00

那陽光　碎裂在熟悉場景　好安靜
一個人　能背多少的往事　真不輕
誰的笑　誰的溫暖的手心　我著迷
傷痕好像都變成　了曾經

全劇終　看見滿場空座椅　燈亮起
這故事　好像真實又像虛幻的情境
只是那　好不容易被說服　的自己
藉口又頂不住懊惱的侵襲

＃好後悔　好傷心　想重來　行不行
再一次　我就不會走向這樣的結局
好後悔　好傷心　誰把我　放回去
我願意　付出所有來換一個時光機

對不起　獨自迴盪在空氣　沒人聽
最後又是孤單　到天明
(最後又是孤單　到天明)

真的痛　總是來的很輕盈　沒聲音
從背後　慢慢緩緩抱著我　就像你
你和我　還有很多的地方　還沒去
為何留我荒唐的坐在這裡

曲名:時光機作詞:阿信作曲:阿信編曲:五月天

Pls use the comment to alert me, should the music does not play. Thank you.

Special Service

2009-10-14T02:02:00.001+08:00

Someone really impressed me yesterday. Her name is Jelena.

Dutiful Dimples

2009-09-30T16:12:00.009+08:00

My best friend from high school is a committed golf player. I have yet to develop an interest in the game, and he hopes that I would, one day. I too, hope so, having heard much about the inner game of golf from Major Tham.

Having come across some interesting reads recently, I would like to talk a little bit about the golf ball and a small design feature of it. If you have ever picked up a golf ball, you will notice that it is dimpled, and that it is not as smoothly spherical as a ping pong ball.

The texture feels good, and one would naturally be led to think the dimples are for tractional/frictional purposes: in other words, to prevent the ball from rolling too much on the green. The purpose of the dimples is, in fact, to disrupt the airflow on the surface of the ball as it flies hundreds of yards to fetch you a birdie.

The turbulent layer caused by disrupted airflow does not sound beneficial aerodynamically, but in reality this very thin turbulent boundary layer actually energises the laminar boundary layer over the curve of the ball, thereby delaying the separation of airflow from the surface of the ball in motion.

The result of this is a smaller wake, and a reduced drag. With reduced drag, the ball can travel a further distance than the one without dimples would. Now, doesn't that make good aerodynamic sense?

Wrote this swiftly based on whatever I recalled from the readings, so should there be any misses or corrupted explanation, do let me know.

The diagram on the side illustrates the above-mentioned point with exceptional clarity.

Delightful Dinner

2009-09-25T22:53:00.006+08:00

The whole group of us just went for a dinner before Chiat leaves tonight. He's a really likable brother, and someone whose presence is light, easy, and sincere. He calls me principal, and I call him teacher, even though we are of very similar seniority.

There is a particular feeling lingering amongst those who are present. It's not frequently expressed, but easily understood... because, sooner or later each and every one of us will give this treat. We all feel happy for the ones who move on to a new chapter. And we all wonder when it is our turn.

Jim looked particularly emotional tonight. And we laughed about it.

By the way, Zhihao is the star of the night as a waitress at the restaurant seems to be very drawn to his good looks. That was good fun trying to get him to respond to the girl. She is going to be so swooned when she finds out he speaks fluent Japanese too.

Simple Skewer

2009-09-18T02:44:00.008+08:00

Saw this short video clip on youtube which demonstrated the concept of skewer.

In Chinese chess such a tactic would be known as “抽”.

Beginner chess players (myself included) tend to look for obvious skewers or pins. However sometimes one has just to see two steps ahead to find that real deal.

In order not to spoil the puzzle, solution is not served for this entry. Most beginners should see the right move(s).

Personally, it serves as a particular reminder.

Jiu Jiu

2009-09-09T23:28:00.006+08:00

This is a special day. And it is not just because of its numerical significance. According to news, hundreds of couple in Singapore ties the knot on this date. And thousands more in China did the same to make this date a milestone in their walk together.

Today is the 9th day of the 9th month of the 9th year in the 21st century. This marks the anniversary of my first meeting with someone very special. She's far away, but ever so close to my heart. She is my reason to be...

It was a peaceful evening. And it was like a song... I'll never forget. A song that changed my life.

Dun Dwell

2009-09-04T17:27:00.007+08:00

Kishan and I had some time while waiting for the rest at the airport, and we chatted. He is one of the most interesting 'beppuh' around. When he is not a 'beppuh' he's like a teacher, picking on everyone's grammatical mistakes, calling people like Yue Chi 'China Man'.

He brought up a very interesting word today: Self Loathing.

I looked it up and found that (according to Wiki) self-loathing, or self hatred, also sometimes autophobia, refers to an extreme dislike of oneself, or being angry at oneself. The term is also used to designate a dislike or hatred of a group to which one belongs. For instance, "ethnic self-hatred" is the extreme dislike of one's ethnic group.

The term "self-hatred" is used infrequently by psychologists and psychiatrists, who would usually describe people who hate themselves as "persons with low self-esteem".

The term self-hatred can refer to either a strong dislike for oneself, one's actions, or a strong dislike or hatred of one's own race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, species or any other corporate group of which one may be a member. When used in the latter context it is generally defined as hatred of one's identity based on the demographic in question, as well as a desire to distance oneself from this identity.

From another source: Self-loathing is an extreme form of poor self-esteem. It is the sense of loathing one's self -- a common complaint from people with poor self-esteem.

Many people who get to the extreme of self-loathing become self-defeating -- even self-sabotaging. This is the prize one wins if one can sustain a really poor self-esteem for long enough while being emotionally abusive to one's self.

Self-loathing is a pattern of thinking where individuals believe they are bad, worthless, evil, unsuccessful, unlovable, and/or incompetent.

This pattern of thinking is a common reaction to childhood abuse, trauma, neglect, or overwhelming loss where no substantial adult support was available to help these children deal with their painful situations. Thus, these children are forced to cope alone, as best as their immature minds can, sometimes with disastrous results, such as relying on drugs, alcohol, gangs, crime, promiscuous sex, and other self-destructive behaviors.

Very often these children grow into adults who do not know how to take care of themselves emotionally, physically, spiritually, or in relationships. Thus, these patterns of thinking emerge as a reaction to the original pain (the childhood trauma or dysfunction) and then persevere into adulthood when these individuals struggle, often unsuccessfully, to find their places in relationships and in the world.

The shortest solution to self-loathing has to be 'dun dwell', though the effectiveness of which is beyond my knowledge in this area.

Affirmative Action

2009-08-30T02:29:00.003+08:00

My Japanese boss mentioned affirmative action to me during our discussion last evening. We were talking about job prospects and how some countries actually give preferences to certain races, even between candidates of the same nationality/citizenship.

At first I did not catch the word, and when I verified on the word, another colleague of mine who were also sharing the discussion, along with me, did not comment on it. Apparently, this 'Affirmative Action' is a civil rights term which according to answers.com refers to steps that are taken not only to eliminate discrimination—whether in employment, education, or contracting—but also to attempt to redress the effects of past discrimination.

The underlying motive for affirmative action is the principle of equal opportunity, which holds that all persons have the right to equal access to self-development. In other words, persons with equal abilities should have equal opportunities.

Affirmative action programs differ widely in the extent to which they attempt to overturn discrimination. Some programs might simply institute reviews of the hiring process for women, minorities, and other affected groups. Other affirmative action programs might explicitly prefer members of affected groups. In such programs, minimum job requirements are used to create a pool of qualified applicants from which members of affected groups are given preference.

Affirmative actions are usually very controversial, and critics of such policies deem the practices as 'reverse discrimination'.

Ivy League

2009-08-29T20:39:00.004+08:00

Today, I met Ivy's children online, and that brought such a smile to my face. Like a light bulb that had been dimmed due to the recent changes and challenges at work... I brightened up like never before for a long time.

I miss them all... children gladden me. There's mutual attraction between most normal children and myself. Maybe because I am like a child myself. I cannot really understand adults half the time. Some adult sensibilities are a little warped, you know.

Of course I do reserve my consistent skepticism with kids because some can be easily bribed and their fancy can sway like a lalang in the wind. Their greatest ability is they are so into having fun, and are such light spirits, while they remain children.

Be they three little angels or three little devils... Danielle, Dominic, and Donovan are the Ivy League in my life. And yes, maybe I do live in a well.

Tournament Tidings

2009-08-21T22:20:00.003+08:00

It's been more than two weeks since the 60th GameKnot Tournament kicked off on the 3rd August. I was placed into Advanced Section's Group 31 out of a total of 194 groups (four players in each group.) That's how big the Advanced section is! My fellow contestants in Group 31 are:Churrasca (a Spaniard), Dimokritos (a Greek from Thessaloniki) and Farzane (an Iranian lady from Tehran)

Everyone plays 2 games with everyone else. The point award system is like the old soccer score system wherein a win secures 1 point and a draw is half a point to each side. Only the top scorer in this table will proceed to the 2nd round. My own expectation, just for the records, was to have two to three points : ) out of the 6 games.

Something bad happened. Dimikritos had lost on time to Churrasca in both their games, and I thought that was too easy for Churrasca as he led the table with 2 wins. Yet, soon enough, I received the easy two points too, as Dimikritos lost on time in both games with me as well. Just today he lost on time to Farzane as well. My guess is he had entered in a category too daunting for him.

My games with Churrasca are not going too well, in fact I am about to lose one game to him. A consolation is that I have managed to win a queen in one of the two games with Farzane. For the benefit of those interested in the games (they are live and also available to public) this is where u can see it all.

In any case, I will be back with more updates! Wish me luck. Salut!

Jacqueline Piatigorsky

2009-08-18T03:57:00.009+08:00

It is a name that stands out, even as I first read about her and the Piatigorsky Cup that she organised in the U.S. of the 60s. It was the strongest chess tournament back then. Originally meant to be a triennial series of grandmaster tournament, only two events were held, in 1963 and 1966. The prizes were among the largest of any chess tournament up to that time; furthermore, every player was guaranteed a prize and all traveling and living expenses were paid for. To pull such a tournament off, that girl has got to have a passion overwhelming.

Why does this name stand out to me? The name Piatigorsky brings to me the unforgettable vintage recording of the Dvořák Cello Concerto by Gregor Piatigorsky, the great Russian cellist. And of course, that instrument is inextricably associated with Jacqueline du Pré, the English great who married the Argentine pianist Daniel Barenboim.

Henceforth, Jacqueline Piatigorsky is a very special name to me. Both the first and the last names are giants in the world of cello music. It turns out that she does have some links with the cello: for she married none other than Gregor Piatigorsky! What a surprise. And what a blessing. I am tempted to further on how Gregor Piatigorsky's recording of Dvorak had arrested me almost straight away when I first listened; however this is more about her than him: Still I must voice that while Mstislav Rostropovich surely has the reputation, Piatigorsky has the unmistakable substance. Listen to his recital of a happy and lyrical Bourree from Bach's Suites for an Unaccompanied Cello.

Back to her story, Jacqueline Piatigorsky happened to be one of the strongest American women chess champion, peaking at national ranking of second in the 60s. She was also a national tennis champion, as well as a sculpture artist in her late years.

As a note of personal interest, she created an endowment for the New England Conservatory of Music to provide the "New England Conservatory/Piatigorsky Artist Award" in 1985. A recipient of this award receives a cash prize and a series of concert engagements.

Held in L.A., the first Piatigorsky Cup was won by Paul Keres and Tigran Petrosian, both of whom tied at the first place. At Santa Monica, the second cup was won by the then rising king of chess, Boris Spassky. By all accounts, the second Piatigorsky Cup was much more exciting with the involvement of Boris Spassky, as well as the legendary Bobby Fischer. As a side note, Fischer had declined the invitation to the first tournament after his demand for a $2000 appearance fee was refused by the tournament organizers in 1963.

Surely extraordinary is a lady as strong, and gifted and passionate as Jacqueline Piatigorsky was about the endeavors and loves of her life. Without even going into her background, hers was, in my opinion, a pretty illustrious and blessed lifetime.

Latvian Luring

2009-08-13T15:02:00.013+08:00

This post is a follow cum wrap up of Midgame Musing which I posted a month ago! Today I woke up to a heavy downpour, but the day was brightened when I saw that my Latvian opponent had conceded a dramatic game. I was vexed before making my 15th move, because I was a piece down against the cool headed tactician from Latvia, an intelligent physics enthusiast at the same time.

Tactical players tend to be aggressive, and Latvia had produced at least one prodigious and inspiring attacking genius: Mikhail Tal. It is silly of course to assume every Latvian is an attacking genius, but sometimes knowledge has a bad psychological effect. I had the choice of either castling king-side and go for a face off in the middle of the park, or make the seductive queen-side castling which would surely attract his attention and aggressiveness. In a non-technical discussion about my options, Layfun couraged me to seduce him, and then crush him... "Oh most pernicious woman!"

Play chess online

I signed off last month's post with "The last (option) is an elaborate plan. Do I have a plan? Yes. I'm down on material and even the game looks bad for me now, so I guess I'll either have to try winning or lose trying."

Here and now, I am happy to say that, I did not lose trying :)

Swiss Stillness

2009-08-06T14:51:00.007+08:00

An ongoing game with a Swiss who is a prolific kitbitzer on Chess Games a top notch and extensive database of chess games. This game opened with the Sicilian Najdorf, and had only seen casualty of one pawn from each side, and it seems all is quiet... on the western front. A picture of stillness, and a time of contemplation.

The quietness of the moment is however more like the calm before a brewing storm. Took a little time to make visible the issues, threats and options on hand. I am sure for those who are interested, the considerations are plain with my illustration.

P.S. A kibitzer is a non-participant who hangs around a game, offering (often unwanted) advice or commentary. This is an Yiddish term, and is used in Chess, Go, and many other games. (Wikipedia)

Augustan August

2009-08-03T12:20:00.006+08:00

A phallic relic, tall and solid.

A beacon for the navigators of the oceans.

And a memorable holiday destination.

Time Goes Around

2009-07-31T18:11:00.003+08:00

There is a Japanese voice I admire. Her name is Miyuki Nakajima (中島みゆき) and dun be surprised: she is now 57 years old. I bought three albums of hers more than a decade ago, the best buy of which is 大吟醸. It was by chance (or maybe destiny) that I came to listen to her song, and I found her songs very melodious and her voice very captivating. Her voice spoke to me. So did the music. She wrote and sang this nice song 時代 whose meaning I did not understand. Only recently did I find out what it all meant. I do not know her, except for her talent and performance. Someday, I will in good old-fashioned tradition, get her autograph in person, and say to her どうもありがとうございます!

This is one of her famous song: < 時代 > In English it's "Time Goes Around"
Here is a youtube clip of it

今はこんなに悲しくて
now you’re so stricken with grief
涙もかれ果てて
that even tears run dry
もう二度と笑顔にはなれそうもないけど
probably will never smile again

そんな時代もあったねと
“i have had such moments too”
いつか話せる日がくるわ
that you will say someday

あんな時代もあったねと
“i have had such moments too”
きっと笑って話せるわ
surely you’ll say it with a smile
だから今日はくよくよしないで
so, now, don’t brood over it
今日の風に吹かれましょう
let’s bask in today’s breeze

まわるまわるよ時代はまわる
round and round goes time
喜び悲しみくり返し
reiterating joy and sorrow
今日は別れた恋人たちも
even today’s parting lovers
生まれ変わってめぐりあうよ
will start life afresh and rencounter again

(旅を続ける人々は
those who’ve been journeying on and on
いつか故郷に出会う日を
would someday be home again
たとえ今夜は倒れても
even though tonight they may tumble
きっと信じてドアを出る
still with stern confidence walk thru the door
たとえ今日は果てしもなく
even though today, unceasingly
冷たい雨が降っていても)
chilly rain is pouring

めぐるめぐるよ時代はめぐる
round and round goes time
別れと出会いをくり返し
reiterating parting and meeting
今日は倒れた旅人たちも
today’s tumbled travellers
生まれ変って歩き出すよ
will change anew and set off again

めぐるめぐるよ時代はめぐる
round and round goes time
別れと出会いをくり返し
reiterating parting and meeting
今日は倒れた旅人たちも
today’s tumbled travellers
生まれ変って歩き出すよ
will change anew and set off again

今日は倒れた旅人たちも
today’s tumbled travellers
生まれ変って歩き出すよ
will change anew and set off again

英訳: 三千絵
Eng Trans: Michie

Advanced Admitted

2009-07-27T16:07:00.015+08:00

Just got an auto-email invitation to participate in the 60th GK Tournament, starting Monday, August 3. I never knew about such events at Gameknot.com. Apparently such tournaments can take more than a month, or even two, to finish; but still Gameknot starts one every month, anyway.

I wouldn't join these tournament too lightly or quickly. However, 60 is a nice whole number; there is a famous book by Bobby Fischer: "My 60 most memorable games." So I have decided to participate, just for the experience and fun of it!

At the time of sign up, there are 2352 participants across five sections. I cannot join the casual or the intermediate section as my highest rating in the last 90 days qualifies me for the advanced category. The expert category is open too, but I am no expert. The grandmaster category is open to anyone, of any ranking, who is either genius or crazy enough!

The advanced category's ceiling rating is 1700. As numbers indicate, I'm in the bottom half of the 567 strong cohort. I'm expecting a great quality and multitude of challengers! Wish me good fun and good luck!

Saga and Kanon

2009-07-26T22:37:00.010+08:00

Saga and Kanon is a reference to the pair of Gemini twin brothers in Masami Kurumada's Saint Seiya. My two bishops and their combined influence in this game prompted the association. Some of the prided bishop actions were move 13, 25 and 27.

In this rematch with my Latvian friend, there were interesting complications like a frustrated rook, a knight move under cover fire, and a king bringing the ending battle to the enemy camp. There was also a part where the black queen took out my rooks quite like what happened in the Immortal Game (You can recap it here).

The ending of this game was simplified thru black's last two moves. It could have gone much more complicated and vexing for me. I would so love to discuss about that alternate time line in another entry, in honour of the beautiful envisioned moves by the bishop brothers. Til then, enjoy the replay of this one!

Play chess online

Dialogue Duihua

2009-07-21T20:49:00.004+08:00

Two old friends were discussing about music.

A: I think you know abt music much more than i do

B: Love.

A: ok, you love and know about music more than i do :)

B: 中学时期，内忧外患，满怀愤慨，庆幸上帝赐予我一个认识音乐的机缘。音乐里有我的故事，我也爱上了Liszt, Beethoven etc 古典乐成了我在乱世里的桃花源。

A: 有寄托是好事，我喜歡音樂，但對音樂沒什么研究。

B: 这爱就一直持续着对音乐的学习咯。没有天分；就只有一点点，赤裸裸的爱。

I thought the last line was a little funny. Of course, B meant an undecorated or very simple kinda love.

Precipitation PL

2009-07-20T04:03:00.010+08:00

Sunday I was having late dinner with JC and SL at a Vietnamese Restaurant when it started to pour heavily outside. It simply meant that we were going to have to find a way to walk back to SL's car without getting drenched.

Then I heard a sound quite different from even the heaviest downpour I have experienced. I looked out through the full length glass wall beside our table, and outside, a surprise greeted me.

It was ice pellets falling from the heaven! Wikipedia says that Ice Pellets is a form of precipitation consisting of small, translucent ice balls. METAR code for ice pellets is PL.

Initially I had thought that it was hail. It was not, as hail stones (GR/GS) are layered and can be irregular and clumped together, and are usually bigger in size than what I saw. Wikipedia also mentioned that severe weather warnings are issued for hail when the stones reach a damaging size, as it can cause serious damage to automobiles, aircraft, skylights, glass-roofed structures, and most commonly, farmers' crops...!

Ah, farmers' crops: that brings flashback of a scene from 《咪咪流浪记》 a cartoon I watched when I was a kid. 《咪咪流浪记》 is based on an "Sans Famille" 1878 French novel by Hector Malot. I'm sure many others remember the cartoon. To refresh your memory, there is an excellent synopsis of it here.

There was a part of the story right after a tragedy from which Remi was rescued and taken in by the harmonious Acquin family. It was a time of recuperation in peace and joy. However, it was also a fateful year for the Acquins when a terrible hailstorm destroyed their greenhouse. The hailstorm annihilated the flowers that were due for harvest, and consequentially their livelihood as well. When the father had to go to jail for debts he could no longer pay, the children had to be sent to different relatives, and Remi had to take to the streets again.

It's actually a very heartwarming cartoon/anime: one of those stories with bittersweet twists and a happy ending.

I must further mention that actually, the Japanese drama [家なき子] & [家なき子2] in the 90s ("Without Family" starring Yumi Adachi) was loosely adapted from the same story. And I had liked that modern version too, without knowing that both the cartoon of mid 80s and the drama serial of mid 90s were of the same root/seed/origin/source.

It was only after many years that I found the missing link and with a strange sense of fulfillment I must say that the discovery was divine, or at the very least very pleasant.

Midgame Musing

2009-07-14T02:08:00.007+08:00

I have already sacrificed a knight before the game reached the stage as depicted.

For the past 5 days, I have been looking at it, and going away, only to come back to the same dilemma.

Black is well developed. He will probably not buy my pawns 'en prise' along the g- or f- files. At this moment, it feels like something got heavier at one end... when he pushes his a-pawn forward. It had begun. The arrow is nocked, and the bow is drawn.

My opponent is a sharp tactician from Latvia, the hometown of the legendary Magician of Riga. Someone who prefers tactical combinations is usually very keen on attacking and has an eye for opportunities.

I see three routes ahead. The first is to defend, and prepare myself to brace the impending attacks. The second is to attack relentlessly, even recklessly and hope to break through to the far northeast. Which is a bleak-looking and far hope to fetch. The last is an elaborate plan. Do I have a plan? Yes. I'm down on material and even the game looks bad for me now, so I guess I'll either have to try winning or lose trying.

Ratings Reminder

2009-07-11T01:00:00.009+08:00

There is this chessplayer who has a blog which I find very rich, insightful and well written. He calls himself the blue devil knight. And I just read how he had a disappointing U1200 tournament. He was rated 1180 and played 9 games in which he won 2, drew 2, and lost 5. The crux of the issue is that his rating was supposedly at the upper end of the cohort, however his performance seem to be a glaring underchievement. You can read it here if you are interested.

This reminds me of 2 things. One is the attachment of rating/ranking to performance. Benchmarking, which is what people who are into mambo jumbo terms would say. Already in the entry Notable Nakamura, this year's US champion, I pondered on the detrimental effect of rank/ratings. Ratings/Rankings have a dubious psychological effect on people. One of my earliest encounter was when during my first week at a respectable high school, another boy came up to me, and asked which class I was from and what score I had. After I told him, he seemed to respect me, but also seemed to be readjusting his own 'position'. It might appeal to a prideful ego but then it is so shallow, because he didn't even know anything about me or how I did it or why I even did it. And whatever my score meant to that kid, it was just numbers. Apparently sometimes living people are influenced by dead numbers.

Numbers, stats, and numerical trends are important in organisational planning/business. However I think if I were to buy into ratings or numbers blindly, there will be a trap and probably a nasty surprise somewhere. Most numbers, stats, ratings are at best indicative. AH, I just remembered those ads on investment funds that are on the subway trains. The words they used were 'past performance and any forecasts are not necessarily indicative of future or likely performance (of the funds). First they use benchmarks to seduce you (or your money, really) and then they make a small print disclaimer. We all know which one is the truth. But alas greed, pride or ambition lead us to disregard the small print. And to wrap up this point, the small print to ratings is they are not to be leaned on.

The 2nd thing I am reminded of... is that I actually entered a chess tournament before! It was an open tournament organised by the local community centre and two friends went to support me. I was nervous being my first time doing it. My tournament results was three wins out of seven. I also remember there was a significantly challenging game against a very obnoxious opponent, after which my friend and I jumped to hug each other in blatant joy when i won it. I was especially happy to win that game, but even more memorable was the present support of my friends, the pressures and joy we shared through the whole ordeal. It felt... just like Harry Potter, strangely enough!

Fried Liver

2009-06-26T00:06:00.008+08:00

What in the world is that? Fried Liver. This is about the strangest name I have come across.

Who would have thought the Two Knights Defense to have such a precarious road leading out from it? The Two Knights Defense is a specific response within the Italian Game, and it is not to be confused with the Four Knights Game.

The Fried Liver attack is a knight sacrifice by white on the f7 square after black plays the Two Knights Defense. This Italian game is not going to be quiet like its famous variants Giuoco Piano and Giuoco Pianissimo.

In retrospect, the Fried Liver attack gets as tense and explosive as the climatic moments in the Prison Break series. This is crazy, because which openings have such quick escalation of tension and strong gravity for the black king to be lured to the centre of the board?

Pardon this less than plain posting, but this is me talking to myself. Like Shawn said, sometimes you must talk to yourself :)

Guadagnini Granted

2009-06-21T15:33:00.007+08:00

During breakfast, I read a newspaper article, titled "Tang gets rare violin"

Tang refers to Tang Tee Khoon (董帝均). And she is the new recipient of the rare Guadagnini under the National Art Council's (NAC) instrument loan scheme. On 17 June 2009, she was selected out of five hopefuls for the Guadagnini violin by a panel of nine specialists. The 25 year old Singaporean is the second recipient of the instrument loan, after the US-based Siow Lee Chin received it in 2001 when this landmark loan scheme was launched.

Tang has been playing the violin since she was four and a half years old. In the past 20 years, her passion for the instrument has taken her across the world to places like Switzerland and Japan. And recently, she completed a tour of Indonesia with famous violinist Midori as part of a string quartet, performing to connect children and the communities in Indonesia with classical music.

This Guadagnini was crafted by J.B. Guadagnini in 1750, Milan. "It has big, powerful sounds," Tang praised of her 18th century delight valued at USD430,000. Reportedly, Tang was happy and relieved to get the fine instrument, as she had been playing another borrowed violin that had to be returned - a 1757 Bergonzi from a private instrument collection in the US. Tang will hold on to the Guadagnini for two years and the loan may be extended again then.

Personally, one of the most exciting beacon of the article was the mention of a $1 Million seed fund for the purpose of acquiring new stringed instruments to loan out to promising musicians from the southeast Asian city state. Accordingly, the fund which is known as "the Singapore Musical Instrument Bank" matches dollar for dollar donations made by corporations and individuals. At first I felt ridiculous to read that "Private instrument collectors are invited to donate their instruments to the bank." In any case, I sure look forward to see the first of such a notable act.

For the record, the 25 year old Miss Tang received the Shell-NAC arts scholarship in 2001 to pursue a degree in music at the Cleveland Institute Of Music in the US. A year later, she transferred to New England Conservatory Of Music in Boston. Then she did her post-grad studies at the Guildhall School of Music in London, and is now a fellow there. She had also won the 1st prize of Singapore National Violin Competition three times.

She will perform a recital titled “Portraits” on the 13 August, at the Victoria Concert Hall! It will be her debut solo recital with the Guadagnini.

Kansetsu Waza

2009-06-12T23:13:00.008+08:00

Kansetsu Waza refers to the joint techniques in Ju-Jitsu. In the latest game of chess, there is a very strong theme of joint lock, around the bishop at the c6 square. Somewhere in the middle game, I noticed that I could suppress the bishop on that square. That wasn't enough to achieve any advantage of course, but I traded off his very agile knight with an extravagant rook (Yes I did!) to give him a material advantage, and myself a more attacking position. After that his only really active piece was his Queen. Holding his bishop down, and seeking to zoom in on his weakened King-side proved to be a narrow and difficult task. Even though I suppressed him for a good time and had better attacking potential, I was burning out of fuel. Then, his frustration got the better of him and he made a premature attack on me, and it was suicidal; the game was suddenly over.

Play chess online!

I have an imagery: it was like those Kungfu movie where an opponent had been held down, but when he finally had some space, he went for an attack on the protagonist, and the latter returned with a swift fatal single strike in a split second. And 'the bad guy' stood motionless, dead. This game has that element of psychological factor which affected the game play of my worthy chess mate. I just know that he could have force a draw with me by repeating moves 27 and 28... before the sudden death blow brought upon by his over-eager counterattack. I'm guessing he did not want to just draw the game, because in terms of material/numbers, he was winning me.

Ninety Nine

2009-06-11T00:17:00.006+08:00

Just one shy of a hundred moves, this is by far the longest game I had played. My opponent, an American girl, played with a rare fighting spirit. The game started with a very good tempo and you can see some exciting sparring in the middle game. I managed to come out of the middle game with a slight advantage; however, because she was so resilient, I had to focus and play accurately for more than fifty moves to maintain my slight advantage from the middle game til the end game. Interestingly, here is an important lesson on zugzwang, which in German refers to the 'compulsion to move'. In the endgame, because each side MUST make a move at their turn, in some circumstance this can work against the player making the move; in other words, the player compromises his/her game regardless of what moves he/she makes. And that was instrumental to my long and hard march to the light at the end of the tunnel.

Play chess online!

Motor Mishap

2009-06-09T21:51:00.003+08:00

Yesterday I witnessed a car accident from the backseat. I was a victim, but I felt more like a witness...

1145hrs. I was stealing a power nap at the backseat of a Toyota Camry. I had been sleepy from waking too early for work. And the sun was glaring from the front; so I was a VIP who sat behind when my colleague HY took the role of my chauffeur. We were traveling along the highway at 100kph.

1155hrs. We have exited the highway and now traveling at 60kpm. I heard a voice, 'Hey... need you to direct me from here onwards...' and I woke instantly from my hibernation, with an accented but still croaked "Ok". Near a round about, we saw a girl wearing super colourful and layered clothing under the bright sun, by the river.

1205hrs. There is a truck to the right of our car. It was a container truck which are twice or thrice as tall as a normal Toyota Camry sedan. And then out of the blue, the super-tall-truck veers towards us, and the whole right windows got filled up with the side of the truck! It was as if the truck was getting magnified thru the right side windows. 'Zoomed in,' if u get the picture.

HY noticed instantly and steered away from the truck, and it seemed like we were about to go onto the roadside pavement when a powerful knock was inflicted upon our car and a loud bang heard! The truck had struck our car at the driver's window, not unlike a moment from a typical hollywood action movie. In an instant, the window glass was smashed into a bright blur, and the huge percussion blew all the smithereens of the glass pieces into the car. Our car was pushed off the road! HY braked the car to a full stop, as did the truck, upon the loud impact. HY had a lot of glass pieces all over him. Everywhere in the front seat, dashboard, footrest, seats, and display consoles were debris of glass fragments of varying sizes.

1210hrs. The truck driver had alighted to check on our safety. He had also apologised to us and explained that he had steered left when he saw that the cars ahead of him braking to a full stop due to some inconsiderate driver's dubious decision to make a turn. And he had turned left without checking left lane clear.

1220hrs. Multiple photo shots of the accident were taken, in the event that a police report may require an indisputable picture of what happened, or who were involved. Then many road witnesses came forward to express concern and even offered to be eye witnesses against the careless driver. Lesson to take home: it is a wise thing to never drive beside or behind a truck... and definitely not between two trucks.

A side-note of serendipity: earlier that day, before the trip I was deciding whether or not I should bring this small pack of handiplast out. I decided perhaps the handiplast may come in handy should I come across a damsel in distress. In the end, it was HY who asked for the handiplast, because he had to brush flakes of glass pieces off his head/hair and had accidentally cut a finger in the process.

Thank God there were no major injuries or lives loss (there was a crowd of perhaps 40-50 people just at the side of the road before the truck started to veer left towards us. And gratefully, we missed them all.). In retrospect, the potential for damage and injury was really great and it could have been headline worthy. Praise the Lord, for His protection is upon us.

Discovered Demolition

2009-06-08T21:18:00.004+08:00

A rather slow and positional game with some lessons to remind myself of. Things began to fall apart rapidly after my English opponent allowed me a killer discovered check. It was a mate in two dropped from the sky.

Play online chess!

Expedition Escarpment

2009-06-03T12:57:00.008+08:00

A few of us went for a short road trip to the escarpment for some fresh air and shutter clicks. The view from Lesmurdie Road was quite breathtaking. As this is our second shot at the city lights, we were better prepared with our settings as well as our clothings; we wore thicker as the night was very chilly. We achieved a much better yield this time round, and more importantly we had good laughs along the way. Also, Zhaowei widened all our horizons with his Ten-sec Tripod Setup Performance! It was a good expedition and our mission was accomplished in great fellowship.

A majesty wave of clouds over the citylights, by JC.

Blue night sky, just like a painting, by JC.

I saw Canis Major, the greater dog, and tried to catch it.

Winawer Wager

2009-05-31T10:07:00.005+08:00

This is just a lucky win, though significant because my British opponent is the highest rated player I have played so far (rated 1533) when we started a week ago. I played the French defense, aiming to at least delay a likely defeat. However, just when I managed a very slight advantage by move 12, White made a major blooper, and a larger gap in material ensued. And at move 18, White's 2nd blunder handed me the game in sudden death fashion! Name of the game is "Angels and Demons", which I have titled before the game started. Strange that the bad guy this time is a traitor bishop. Call me uninspired or cheesy, but it is truly a fascinating name that intrigues and sells! The author is surely quite creative at packaging and selling.

Play chess online

Notable Nakamura

2009-05-28T02:45:00.005+08:00

Just last week, at the 2009 US Chess Championship, Japanese chess prodigy Hikaru Nakamura made a highly anticipated comeback as national champion. I find it interesting for a Japanese to top the US Championship.

The 21 year old chess celebrity had, as a junior, broke every age-group record set by Bobby Fischer, other than that of being the youngest U.S. Champion (which the latter attained at fourteen.) Hikaru Nakamura had actually won the national championship once at the age of 16. In the picture posted, he has this killer look, doesn't he? But someone once said, u have to be ready to kill to win. Was it Nigel Short? Anyway it's a nice candid shot.

His contemporaries describe him as an aggressive player with a relentless will to win; after all, he had once said during an interview that there is no point in drawing games. This is surely an admirable attitude and to many sponsors, Nakamura has to be a dream come true for them.

One thing which Nakamura had conveyed in his interviews that I totally admire, is that he is not fixated with ratings. FIDE (pronouced fee-day and the french acronym for the supreme body responsible for the organization of chess and its championships at global and continental levels, as recognised by the International Olympic Committee,) updates and maintain ELO ratings for semi- and full time professional chess players. Just like handicap rating for golfers, the ELO rating represents an achievement, and a good idea of the sportsman strength, but not something to be over glorified or prided with.

Besides his uncommon enthusiasm for chess, he is known to be surprisingly approachable for a chess player of his level. Quoting from an article "Nakamura is one of the few Grandmasters who will watch a game on the Internet Chess Club and interact intimately with players well below his strength."

Hikaru Nakamura's well chronicled rise, with elements of phenomenal prodigy, an attractive style of play, and also the heartfelt (for many) sibling rivalry that marked his early chess development, makes his an intriguing story, and him a star to watch.

Borodinskaya Bitva

2009-05-24T01:35:00.011+08:00

Borodinskaya Bitva refers to the Battle of Borodino fought on 7 September 1812, between the invading French and the Russians. There is a so-inspired piece of overture known as the 1812 Overture, by Tchaikovsky. My opponent is a music composer and teacher from America, and played with calculated aggressiveness from the first move. The game saw some pretty fierce exchanges during the middle game, and like the battle of Borodino, it ended in disengagement, after both sides sustained considerable losses. The loss of minor pieces is nothing compared to the real casualties; It's just that even with the major pieces still on the board, I saw the lack of complexity in the position. After some thoughts, I offered a draw, and he accepted promptly. He's by far the highest rated opponent on GameKnot I played and a draw is satisfactory gua.

Play chess online

Creepy Crawly

2009-05-20T15:32:00.008+08:00

Last week I played a game with a higher rated player on GameKnot. It was one of the strangest opening I have faced with so far, because my American opponent used the creepy crawly approach. I was expecting a very forth coming kinda play, out of respect for his rating. Only a few steps into the game, I was feeling a little irritated and frustrated. I was getting the feeling that my opponent is still observing me, and feeling me out without asserting himself at all. This situation reminded me of wusses who like to sit back and observe people or things, and then assert/make a superior stand later, assuming an a-rung-higher kinda position. By the middle game, the creepy crawly frontline was pushing tightly forward, and ensued a fierce struggle in the middle of the board by move 19. The twist of how my knight escapes his death to come around to help checkmate in the last stage of the battle was baffling. Perhaps black did not want to get into a pin complication. Besides feeling lucky, I thought it was a nice sequence of slow one-square steps by the powerful queen, before she stabbed the black King back against the wall.

Play chess online!

D.S. al coda

2009-05-20T00:02:00.003+08:00

Today I was told a very special encounter. It brought a melting warmth to the heart and moisture to the eyes. It has to do with a lady who helped us fifteen years ago. She should be a stranger. She should have forgotten us. I have a big face, but I was just another face in the crowd. We were like Fontaine, and she was like Valjean, except that Jo owed us nothing. I cannot think of anything more apt than D.S. al coda. All thanks be to God for this heaven-made episode.

Monochrome Magic

2009-05-18T22:36:00.000+08:00

Came across this picture and thought it was beautiful. I did not have any idea who the model is, but it caught my attention. It reminds me of how captivating Black and White photography can be. To me, it is a niche branch of photography that demands an artistic resolute to do well in.

Some artists feel that the lack of colours draws the eye towards attending to the details and texture of the subject matter, which therefore renders the image a richer experience. And a few months back, I was researching into the filters for black and white photography... apparently you use different filters for different subjects and different kind of settings. For example, the filter you use to capture a sunset, is different from one you would use on a portrait. You get very different black and white results from the use of different filters.

One important thing to know for producing black and white images, it is better to take RAW formats than JPEG, as the proprietary format RAW captures the colours information even while it takes a black and white image, and this aids greatly and critically in the post-shoot processing. Do not want to get too technical until I learn more. Until then, I hope to produce nice black and whites like this one.

O'Kelly Ordeal

2009-05-14T13:06:00.005+08:00

Encountered a Sicilian variation called the O'Kelly in a correspondence game on GameKnot, and I lost terribly, but more so because of positional weaknesses than anything else. The black lost a knight easily in the early part of the game, and I was up on material, but the disparity in our pace proved critical in the middle game as I struggled to defend against an overwhelming black position. Quite a few valuable lessons to pick up along the way. It is a commendable or even spectacular finish for black, as his queen was unmoved through the whole game, and the moment she moved, my game was over.

Play chess online!

Fischer's Falter

2009-05-08T14:09:00.008+08:00

This is the famous 1960 game between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer at Mar de Plata, Argentina (a Latin America destination with recreational beaches, countless hotels, restaurants, casinos, theatres and other tourists' attractions. Yep, exactly the kinda setting for some James Bond movie... Haha) In any case, bearing in mind that the Russian GM would become world champion after winning Tigran Petrossian in 1969, and the American genius was to succeed him in the monumental showdown in 1972, this is an early match between the two national hopes of symbolic supremacy. Included as one of the three losses chronicled in Bobby Fischer's "My 60 Memorable Games", I have posted it here as an introductory opening lesson on the KGA C39... King's Gambit Accepted line of opening.

Play online chess!

The result of the game sparked the invention of the Fischer Defense (3. Nf3 d6) with which Fischer claimed to be the decisive refutation of the King's Gambit! Although 3...d6 was previously known, it did not become a major variation until in 1961, Fischer advocated it in the famous article in the first issue of Larry Evans' American Chess Quarterly.

Fischer brashly claimed, "In my opinion the King's Gambit is busted. It loses by force." and he concluded the article with the notoriously arrogant line, "Of course White can always play differently, in which case he merely loses differently.

The point is that after 4. d4 g5 5. h4 g4 White can't continue with 6. Ne5, as in the Kieseritzky Gambit, and 6. Ng5 is not recommended either. This leaves the move 6. Ng1 as the only option, when after six moves neither side has developed a piece! The main alternative to 4. d4 is 4. Bc4, but it is considered inferior.

After Fischer's article was published, the King's Gambit was seen even less frequently in master-level games, although Fischer took up the White side of it in three games (preferring the Bishop's Gambit), winning them all.