SLOW

Tapewormz

2007-05-29T04:18:00.000+02:00

With thanks to LolCat Builder and apologies to I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER.

Poker in a pub

2007-04-20T09:16:00.000+02:00

On Wednesday, I played poker in a pub game with 23 other people. We were divided onto 4 tables, with a dealer on each table. I won it, making it my largest live win.

But I feel like noting down some of the hands I remember vividly.

The second hand of the tournament I got dealt KK on the big blind, raised a few limpers, got one caller, spiked a king on the flop, bet hard and took it down. Getting the high pocket pair and flopping the nuts made me feel positive and like I was in the game. I could've slowplayed the hand, trying to get more chips from my hapless opponent, but rather prefered to be aggressive and take the lead.

A few hands later I got dealt 88 under the gun and just called, hoping to flop another set, which miraculously happened. I saw the big blind copping out of a bet and just checking, so I bet, got a caller and got checkraised by the big blind. Unless he had JJ I was way ahead of him, so I raised him all in. The other person in the pot folded and the big blind called, showing 86. He didn't catch 2 running cards and was knocked out.

Now I was chip leader at the table and sitting very comfortably. Our table merged with another table, so we were playing 6-handed again.

Soon after getting to this table I got dealt 99, which I was mistaking for 88 by the time an 8 fell on the river. My phantom full house lost to trip sevens. Oops!

A bit later, on the big blind, I got another big pocket pair. AA. Once again I raised the limpers, a shortstack decided it was time to play and called with 99. He didn't improve and I was cruising along again.

For some reason the other remaining table decided to start their blinds from scratch, so they were still 6-handed by the time our table was down to only 3 players. We waited a bit for them to catch up and joined the 2 tables together with 8 of us still remaining. The first hand after the merge I got A8 and doubled the blinds (a bit loose, perhaps). The shortstacked small blind went all in, as did the even shorter stacked big blind. I had them both covered and called. The small blind had KJ and lost, the big blind had A9 and won the main pot, but I won the side pot and didn't lose too much in the deal.

A bit later I was getting shortstacked, and pushed all in, but got no callers. The very next hand I got AA, pushed all in again, and this time I got a caller. He had A3 and didn't last too much longer.

The shortstacks fell out and we were down to 3. Only the top 2 positions paid out, so there was a lot to play for. My 2 opponents looked quite haggard. I thought I could outlast them both, being a bit older and more used to less sleep. By this time it was heading up to 2 in the morning.

One of the guys that was playing quite tight, and better than most of the people at the tournament, pushed all with 99 and was called by T5s. The ten came on the river and we were heads up.

I lost a hand which left me way behind in chips, but the dealer seemed to not want to let me go and dealt me QQ. I just called the big blind, hoping he would push me all in, which he did. I gleefully called and the queens held up.

This must've demoralised him and a few hands later it was all over. This time I had A9 against A8 and avoided a split pot to take it all down.

I felt really good about my play and made only one or two mistakes. First time's the charm. So lucky!

Facing up

2006-12-13T08:39:00.000+02:00

I did a face recognition test available on MyHeritage that matches uploaded photos with celebrities. It came up with 60% matches for Alan Alda, Fredrik Ljungberg and Ernest Hemingway.

Then I retried it with a different photo, which matched me 68% with Bono and 60% with Jayne Mansfield.

So if you ever come across someone looking like a military doctor that plays football, sings political rock, writes exceptional literature, and has occasional wardrobe malfunctions - it could be me.

Sloth of the underworld

2006-08-27T20:03:00.000+02:00

It must be a movement then, an actuality of the possible as possible. Aristotle's phrase formed itself within the gabbled verses and floated out into the studious silence of the library of Saint Genevieve where he had read, sheltered from the sin of Paris, night by night. By his elbow a delicate Siamese conned a handbook of strategy. Fed and feeding brains about me: under glowlamps, impaled, with faintly beating feelers: and in my mind's darkness a sloth of the underworld, reluctant, shy of brightness, shifting her dragon scaly folds. Thought is the thought of thought. Tranquil brightness. The soul is in a manner all that is: the soul is the form of forms. Tranquility sudden, vast, candescent: form of forms.

Ulysses - James Joyce

6-card poker hands

2006-07-17T15:12:00.000+02:00

I've often wondered about playing poker where 6-card hands are also valid. This might be a natural step forward in the evolution of poker.

I don't really have the time at the moment to work this out precisely, but here is what I expect the rankings for 6-card poker hands to look like:

1 pair
2 pairs
1 trip
3 pairs
5-card straight
5-card flush
full house
6-card straight
6-card flush
2 trips
4 of a kind
5-card straight flush
quads + 1 pair
6-card straight flush

With a royal flush simply being the highest possible straight flush.

Of course this could be extended to 7-card poker hands, or more, but I reckon one jump at a time should be enough to make the game even more interesting.

Strengths

2006-07-11T10:38:00.000+02:00

I've been made to do the Strengthsfinder test, which proved to be relatively interesting. I always enjoy psychological profiling, and although I have some issues with some of the concepts (the mathematical world is not the real world?), I would recommend it as a useful management tool in any business.

Here are my top 5 themes in order of strength:

Strategic
People strong in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.
Input
People strong in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.
Ideation
People strong in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.
Command
People strong in the Command theme have presence. They can take control of a situation and make decisions.
Competition
People strong in the Competition theme measure their progress against the performance of others. They strive to win first place and revel in contests.

I'm a bit surprised by the appearance of Command, but I guess it's true. Let's test it: Slow embodies command. Hmmm ... Okay, sold ...

The truth of the matter

2006-02-22T17:41:00.000+02:00

Yes, I have a cat (the cat has me by claws and teeth). No, it's not forever (says Slow, for once full of commitment). Yes, the cat is insane (unless it wants to rest). No, I haven't forgotten to feed it yet (it nags). Yes, of course the cat has a name (Veritas, and it hasn't lied to me yet).

Planet of clay

2006-01-23T09:00:00.000+02:00

I've been enjoying playing around with Google Earth, flying all over the world, trying to figure out some unsolved planetary mysteries, looking for places of interest, like the Augustine volcano, or tracking the recently deceased mercurial whale through the Thames river. But what's really been freaking me out is that this planet looks like it's made of clay.

This ain't the planet of sound!

Jan 06

2006-01-01T12:13:00.000+02:00

To blog or not to blog. That is a question. To blog monthly ... Is a different question. And a silly one. To blog, just to have a link for the the month, is a another. Altogether. But. December, 2005. Rocked.

Foom Day

2005-11-18T09:36:00.000+02:00

To all intergalactic visitors, and especially LordFoom himself, I wish the greatest Foom Day ever.

Planetary domination can't be far away.

XXX

Bond to go all in

2005-10-17T13:12:00.000+02:00

Well, nevermind who's next in line to be the next James Bond: according to an article on commanderbond.net, the remake of Ian Fleming's first 007 novel, Casino Royale, will not feature Bond playing baccarat, but no-limit Texas hold 'em poker. Wow! Talk about changing times. I remember Bond playing a lot of roulette, craps and other games where the odds are stacked against him whenever he needed money and winning against the odds every time, so I think having him play poker, where skill plays a far greater role, is a great idea.

Poker is sure to be entertaining in the movie, a lot more people understand poker than baccarat, and it's sure to further fuel frenzied masses into getting into the game.

In the meane season ...

2005-09-22T15:13:00.000+02:00

Recently I came across an old Latin text, Metamorphosis, by Lucius Apuleius Africanus, who is famous for being the author of one of the funnier Latin texts, Apologia, his self-defence in his trial where he was accused of witchcraft.

The text, in one of its first English versions, is known as The Golden Asse, translated by William Adlington, published in 1566. What makes Adlington's text quite quaint is that the "original spelling, capitalisation and punctuation have been retained". It's very well translated, especially for its time, and it's obvious that he enjoyed the original.

The main story is about Apuleius (some of the story is sure to be autobiographical), who encounters a witch, accidently gets turned into an Asse while keeping his human intelligence, which helps him get into some very strange situations with humans, other animals and "gods celestiall and gods infernall".

Every now and then the text changes focus (as Latin texts often do) to tell a totally different story, like Chapter 22, which tells the story of the "most pleasant and delectable tale of the marriage of Cupid and Psyches".

Of course the original Latin text is also available (studiose lector), but I would recommend Adlington's version, if only for a lucid 16th century perspective on a highly original 2nd century text.

Four-colour card decks

2005-09-15T11:13:00.000+02:00

I've been experimenting with using a four-coloured deck when playing online poker, and I've got to say that I approve. A four-coloured deck is of course a variation on the more established, commonly available black-and-red decks. Clubs become green, diamonds become blue, hearts stay red and spades stay black.

Basically, there is no real reason why only two colours should be used. Four colours gives you the advantage of never being caught with your suit down. Four colours means the quickest glance at the cards will tell you if you have a flush or not. Four colours means never having to strain your eyes when watching card-playing on tv.

Sure, there's a bit of a problem when playing solitaire, but do we really want to hold back the evolution of playing cards just for the sake of solitaire (and possibly some other black-and-red based games)?

Check it out: isn't it cool?

Hurricanes and Typhoons

2005-09-09T09:54:00.000+02:00

With the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans being ravaged by some nasty storms, I got to wondering about the differences between hurricanes and typhoons. Why are they given different names, when it looks like they are pretty much similar?

A quick glance into my dictionary last night told me that when this type of storm happens in the Pacific it's called a typhoon and if it happens in the Atlantic it's called a hurricane. Fine. But why the different words? Which word came first? Are the words timeless, could they have survived the ages?

It looks like hurricane is preferred for Atlantic storms, because it stems from the Taino word, hura, meaning wind. There is a strange corrolation with the Afrikaans word, herfs, and the Dutch word, herfst, which means autumn, the usual season for hurricanes and typhoons.

Typhoon also has an interesting etymology, since it comes primarily from the Greek word tuphon, meaning whirlwind, which somehow found its way into Cantonese: taaîfung, which means great wind.

Of course this is not the kind of thing you worry about when the storm is raging, but I just wanted to weigh up the different words. Both seem vicious and apt for the different regions. So will we ever see a Hurricane Slow? I somehow don't think so.

Crazy Old Guy

2005-09-06T13:11:00.000+02:00

Every now and then there is this crazy old guy outside my office. Why do I say he's crazy? Because he hops over to the robot on crutches, sits down on a dustbin, takes out a loud shrill whistle, and starts whistling orders for those wishing to cross the street. And he gets upset if anyone ignores his orders, jaywalks, or looks at him as if he's crazy. Then he whistles louder than ever, sometimes letting the whistle drop, so he can express his severe dissatisfaction with the offender's disobedience by yelling in some unintelligible tongue.

He seems to appear irregularly, doesn't always get the robot quite right, and freaks me out every time I need to cross the road.

Maybe he's a ghost, an hallucination, an undercover cop, a failed musician or a jaywalker who got hit. Then again, maybe he's got a vision of the future, where crazy old guys get jobs regulating traffic.

Victory!

2005-08-29T09:21:00.000+02:00

So, last night, I finally won an online poker tournament. 45 people, one stack of chips, all mine! It was fun and I was lucky.

In an ironic twist of fate, in this game of No Limit Texas Hold 'Em, my final opponent was from Houston. He eventually decided to bet all his chips with AJ offsuit. I called with a suited 98. I paired off my both my cards - game over.

Life in the wild

2005-08-20T15:21:00.000+02:00

Last night, as I was driving home after another enjoyable evening of poker, something strange happened to me, for the second time in my life. I'm driving, at normal speed, quite sober, when something started crawling across my windscreen. On the outside! It was a spider. A big, pretty, white spider. Slowly walking diagonally across my windscreen from my side to the passenger's side.

I'm not particularly scared of spiders. I've learned to respect them. I consider them lucky, auspicious, when they cross my path. But when they enter my line of sight, and I'm trying to concentrate, they can be very distracting.

Obviously the spider was looking to keep warm and has been lounging in my bonnet since earlier the evening. When the engine started heating up, it got too hot, and it had to move. Since it has amazing holding-on, G-force resisting, capabilities, it could simply walk across my windcreen while I was driving, unperturbed by me slowing down, speeding up and swerving within the limits of the law and safety.

All I could do was drive home, quickly get out of my car, and go to bed. The spider caught a free ride, ended up far from its previous home, and is now lurking around my yard somewhere. I don't mind. It can live. It was smart, and got away with it.

Has this happened to anyone else? Am I the only one with freaky hitchhiking spiders? The really strange thing is that this was the second time this has happened to me. The first time the spider was crawling up my window, the driver's window, just as I was pulling away. That time, I had passengers and witnesses. Other people that could express their shock and amusement, while I could simply drive on.

All I can say is, nobody was harmed. We, the spider and I, have a story to tell. I'm going to be on the lookout for any mediumsized white spiders in my home. The spider's possibly going to spread the word: get on the metal and hike your way to a new home.

From gold to trash

2005-08-12T14:49:00.000+02:00

I'm all for the right to strike, especially against employers or companies that pay feeble wages, but when the strikers start trashing the streets, it stops being cool.

Yesterday, leaving Johannesburg city centre, I was approaching a robot when a mob decided to neatly block of my progress with a barricade of rubbish. The sum of the parts was certainly much more than the whole. A couple of rubbish bags so efficiently blocked the road that I had to turn back and take a different route. I thought if the police can go roaring after strikers down a one-way, then I can go quietly down a one-way away from the strikers.

So now all this has to be cleaned up by the poor municipal workers who are just returning to work after their own strike, which happened to be equally trashy. Absurd.

Chancery

2005-08-04T21:29:00.000+02:00

... keep out of Chancery ... it's being ground to bits in a slow mill; it's being roasted at a slow fire; it's being stung to death by single bees; it's being drowned by drops; it's going mad by grains.
Bleak House, Charles Dickens

Movie games

2005-08-02T08:57:00.000+02:00

Sometimes, I feel like I'm from the future, living in the present as a ghost, unable to affect anything, with all my knowledge of the future, without being able to act upon it. Expecting things to be the status quo when in reality they are a couple of years from being actualised.

In this case, why are there no dvds with both movies and games on? Surely there should be many? Make the movie, make a game of the movie, bring it out on dvd, there you go! A couple of weeks ago, I got my first dvd player (yeah, yeah, I know), which happens to be a PS2. I got it so I could both play games and rent dvds.

Two night ago I rented and watched Elektra. Instead of, or alongside, the deleted scenes and other special futures, they could have had a preview of the game or a small (or complete) version of it.

Surely this would benefit the creators of the dvd. They would get playtime, could possibly have higher rental price and would do a lot to promote the movie (and the game). It could've done wonders for the movie too if they had an Elektra game.

So, I'll just wait for Sony to wake up and start targetting people like me with their movie / game crossovers.

The Skull of Doom

2005-07-26T12:30:00.000+02:00

In reading Mysterious World, which I acquired yesterday, I came across the story of the Skull of Doom, an eerie-looking, life-sized, crystal replica of a human skull. It was found in Central America by Anna Mitchell-Hedges on her 17th birthday.

The skull is of unknown origin (crystal can't be carbon-dated), but was probably used by Mayan or Incan priests in some ceremonies. It weighs five kilograms and was crafted from a single piece of crystal.

Reading about it reminded me of when I was much younger and had a little glow-in-the-dark plastic skull, which I frequently used to try to give my sister a fright, in the typical spirit of an older brother. I would hold the skull to a light, making it glow, and sneak into her room making the skull appear to be floating towards her, frequently accompanied by hooo-hooooo! sounds.

I think the glow-in-the-dark skull bears a startling resemblance to the mysterious crystal skull and might even have been inspired by it. Then again, perhaps I was one of those priests, in a life a long time ago, using it to inspire awe and fear into unbelievers.

Image reproduced without permission from The Society of Crystal Skulls, International.

Extra-terrestrial relays

2005-07-25T23:30:00.000+02:00

After stumbling across a secondhand copy of Mysterious World, I was reminded of a little known fact, that I would like to share with the world, regarding a scientific paper published in 1945. It was written by Arthur C. Clarke, Sri Lankan citizen, co-writer of 2001: A space odyssey along with Stanley Kubrick, Knight Bachelor and one of the greatest visionaries of the 20th century.

Clarke's paper, carrying the same scary title as this blog, was the first to discuss the concept of geostationary rocket satellites and their possible uses, like "worldwide radio coverage", a "space-station ... with living quarters" and "point to point beam transmissions".

In terms of scientific conceptual thinking, I suggest that this paper can only be rivalled by James Watson's 1955 paper outlining the workings of DNA. However, anyone thanked by Neil Armstrong on his return from the moon might just have a slight edge.

The oldest ghost

2005-07-22T12:31:00.000+02:00

If ghosts are restless souls with unfinished business and a tendency to haunt the living, perchance to get some assistance to cross over to the next plane, then their time as a ghost should be measurable: the time difference between physical death and moving on, from the perspective of any of us regular earthbound humans.

Ghosts are supposed to finish their business, somehow, and then disappear (completely). Seeing as there are billions of dead people, many more than are currently alive, and this amount of dead people would cause a hell of a ruckus if they were all spooking around, we should be able to assume that not all people that die become ghosts, or that everyone eventually moves on.

I've never heard of anybody complaining about seeing the ghosts of San or Romans or any other person from antiquity.

Which leads to the question: where, and who, is the oldest ghost? How long has this ghost been hanging around? Is there hope for it to move on? Does it have malicious intent or merely an incredibly obstinate nature?

I don't believe in ghosts in this conventional sense. Death is the end and my friend. I think when a ghost is perceived it's far more likely to be a shared thought between two (or more) people. A ghostly outline might be seen and some physical sensations experienced, like a particular smell or a sound, but this does not have to mean that it comes from someone that died some time ago and is unable to leave this planet. A spiritual (astral) visit from a fellow living person seems far more likely, whether it's a personal visit or simply a visit to a particular place.

What I want from you

2005-07-19T10:29:00.000+02:00

To act
To pause
To think
To be mindless
To be willful
To have second thoughts
To believe
To doubt
To see
To ignore
To imagine
To reconsider

Vredefort's heritage

2005-07-15T11:49:00.000+02:00

UNESCO has named the Vredefort crater, impact site of the biggest known meteorite to hit Earth, as a world heritage site. I mentioned the crater in my first blog, relating its proximity to the Sterkfontein caves in terms of the possibility of it having sparked life (relative intelligence) once the destruction caused by the impact had settled down.

South Africa now has 7 world heritage sites, with the crater joining other classic sites, like the St Lucia wetlands and Robben Island.

A complete list of the 788 world heritage sites shows a clear current bias towards European sites, but I'm sure Africa will one day reclaim its position as the cultural centre of the world. I can think of many South African sites that ought to meet the criteria, like some of the older diamond, gold and other mines, Mandela's birthplace, the Tsitsikamma and the Kruger Park.

Two dreams

2005-06-29T09:53:00.000+02:00

I rarely have intense dreams that I can remember, but since I moved house, two weeks ago, I've had two.

The second dream, last night, was about me as a fugitive, hunted by the cops all through Johannesburg. I'm not sure what I did, but it wasn't too serious, seeing as there weren't a lot of people after me and I managed to escape several times using different strategies each time. I was hiding in friends' houses, in their gardens, I ran around, ducked and weaved, changed clothes, wore disguises, kept to the shadows, deceived the authorities, tricked them into allowing me access to resources that would help me escape again and again.

The first dream was more intense. There was a greater feeling of futility. It was about the move itself. Similar to what actually happened, just exaggerated. I had to move all my boxes and stuff from one house to another, just down the road. But the more stuff I moved the more there was to move. Rooms appeared out of nowhere, filled with other items to move. It was getting more and more impossible. So I enlisted the help of almost every person I could think of. Just so I could make some progress. Offering them bribes, but all for naught. The more people came to help, the less they helped, and stuff just piled up in the evergrowing house.

I even tried waking up, having a smoke, but I just fell back into the dream.

Times will change. The move is almost finished. I must just figure out why the authorities are after me!

Fallen comrades

2005-06-24T11:06:00.000+02:00

No, I'm not talking about Jacob Zuma. I'm refering to our fellow mammals that didn't make it past the last ice age. Seeing as we've had about 10 millenia of relative warmth, and the next ice age can't be far away, especially at the current levels of human planet interaction, perhaps it would be auspicious to remember those that only left behind faint traces of their existence.

The most famous of animals that became extinct at least 10000 years ago must surely be the mammoth. They came in various forms, including woolly and pygmy, and so many have been found that some have even been eaten (frozen food) by contemporary hungry mammals.

Another extinct favourite is the smilodon, better known as a sabre-toothed cat. With teeth reaching 17 cm, a body weight twice that of a lion, they must have been impressively nasty characters. And, like those that now live in Los Angeles, they seemed to have a fondness for tar pits.

I suspect smilodons might've needed their ferocious teeth to crack the shell of the glyptodon. This carsized herbivore had an armourplated turtlelike shell, a protective skullcap and a useful proboscis. Related to sloths, they had a top speed of a few kilometers per hour.

The megatherium was a giant sloth, that, due to its gigantic claws, had to step on the side of its feet when it walked upright. They weighed about as much as elephants and are rumoured to still be in hiding in the Amazon jungle.

There are numerous others other extinct mammals that I won't list here, but I would like to suggest that we hurry up and start cloning and breeding them - before the next ice age hits and we sunloving mammals find ourselves, like we found them, encased and preserved in death for the amusement of the next age.

What Plato didn't say

2005-06-21T15:15:00.000+02:00

It seems as though there is increasing tolerance of the concept of longlost civilisations, the most famous of which must surely be Atlantis. What I find most interesting (at this point in time) is the origin of the legend.

The first respectable author to note the mythical island's existence is Plato in his text Critias, which consists of a dialogue between Critias, Socrates and two others. Although this work is unfinished it has formed the basis for the explosion of interest in the possibility that there might have been reasonably advanced civilisations long before our time.

Project Gutenberg provides an English translation of Plato's text. The text is written in Plato's regular conservational style and, being an unfinished and short text, should be read by anyone with an interest in classic civilisations, deluges or unsolved mysteries.

Understanding spectroscopy

2005-06-08T09:08:00.000+02:00

Have you ever wondered how astronomers can just look at a star, or any other distant object, and know exactly what combination of elements it's made of? The trick of how this is done was partly explained to me in John Gribbin's Deep Simplicity, and completely elucidated by Simon Singh in the equally excellent Big Bang.

The answer lies with spectroscopy: All you do is take the light wave you captured, spread it so you can see the whole spectrum from infrared to ultraviolet, and look for the missing bits. Every element has a unique bunch of lines that are missing that identify it precisely. For example, one element might miss a bit of red and a bit of green, whereas another might miss a bit of red and a bit of violet.

These missing lines are known as Fraunhofer lines or absorbtion lines. They provide clues about a multitude of the properties of the object being observed. The reason these lines are missing is because the elements absorb or decrease the intensity of a particular part of the spectrum.

Follow this link for a good visual illustration of spectroscopy.

Anyone looking for interesting meta-scientific reading will be well advised to seek out the books of Gribbin and Singh. And next time you look at the sun, know that some hydrogen and helium have already been filtered out and if you look really (really!) carefully, you might be able to notice it.

10000 moves as a Pawn Star!

2005-06-06T22:30:00.000+02:00

It gives me great pleasure to announce that I have just completed my 10000th move on RedHotPawn as Sl64w, with 218 victories, 19 draws and 95 losses, since joining 4 years ago.

This is by far my favourite chess site and I would like to thank and applaud the creators for their vision and commitment.

Voyager I, Sol's ambassador

2005-05-26T14:01:00.000+02:00

NASA reports that Voyager 1, launched on 5 September 1977, is leaving our solar system and has finally entered the heliosheath, the area where solar winds mix with interstellar winds. This makes the intrepid spacecraft the first known artificial object to leave the sun's influence.

It is currently 8.7 billion miles (13 light-hours) from the sun. Voyager 2 is also on the way out and it about 6.5 billion miles from the sun.

Remember 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture, featuring the incredibly knowledgeable and slightly dangerous V'ger? It's good to know that life continues to imitate art imitating life.

The quest for a go set

2005-05-23T09:48:00.000+02:00

After being challenged to a game of go on www.itsyourturn.com by LordFoom I decided to procure my own go set. This is not as easy as one might imagine due to the game's lack of popularity in South Africa.

First I looked online, but there was not a lot of information. The best advice came from the excellent Sensei's Library, which advised that there were two places that sell go sets in Africa, both in Rivonia.

Then I thought I'd try my luck in the Chinese section of Joburg city. I found a shop and enquired from a shopkeeper that was sitting outside, taking a smoke break. He barely knew of the existence of the game and assured me there was no go sets in town and that I should look in Eastgate or Sandton.

I had to leave it for the next day. After coffee with some selfstyled go critics in Cresta I went to Rivonia. I bought a fold-up go set from a gift shop called Wat Knot. The shopkeeper pointed me in the direction of the Korean market. I wanted to compare prices. The set I found there was three times cheaper and a lot more user-friendly.

So I ended up with two sets, one of which will be transported down to LordFoom as a gift for introducing me to this ancient and brilliant game.

Closed book on chess openings

2005-05-11T10:44:00.000+02:00

Fischer Random Chess is a chess variant that aims to remove all current chess opening theory, thereby giving regular people a chance against strong, experienced players.

The idea is that all non-pawn pieces are placed randomly behind the lines of pawns. The pieces' randomness can be determined by any means, such as dice or a computer program.

There are a few other rules, such as the king has to be somewhere between the two rooks, and the bishops still have to be on opposite colours. Castling has the same rules as normal chess and the king and rook should always end up on the same postitions as they would after castling in normal chess. After one colour's pieces' positions have been determined the other colour mirrors those positions and the game commences.

ChessBase reports that Fischer Random Chess, or Chess960 (named for the 960 possible starting positions), will be featured in a global programming competition in August 2005 in Mainz to see who can create the strongest computer player.

Anyone for a game?

End speciesism now!

2005-05-09T09:13:00.000+02:00

If humans are to partake in affirmative action, to correct the wrongs of the past, to give every person an equal opportunity, then surely we should also allow animals into this world? Apart from horseraces, cockfighting and a few select activities, animals have been excluded from most of our endeavours for too long.

The time has come for humans to appreciate and acknowledge the actions, adventures and often sheer brilliance of our fellow living creatures. Who can forget Laika, the first earthling in space, or the brave Jock of the Bushveld? Paul Gallico fictionalised a boxing kangaroo in Matilda, but when will a kangaroo get a real chance at a boxing title?

How can a human boxer claim to be the champion of the world when there are thousands of gorillas with big fists, aggressive attitudes and possibly nimble sidesteps? Gene Tunney, a former heavyweight champion of the world, wrote an article about how any animal can be knocked out by a hard punch by a professional boxer. But that remains to be seen. Go gorilla!

I hear someone protesting about animal rights, but what about the right to fight? Surely if humans can get themselves pummelled for glory an animal should have the same right?

Humans are lucky. We're the first (really) intelligent species on this planet. But that doesn't mean we're the last. We have an obligation to assist and teach other animals so they can reach their full potential. The biggest advantage we have over other primates is our ability to talk. I would not like to suggest any genetic alterations of any animals at this point, but I would like to point out that there are some activities that do not require any linguistic functions. There seems to be some chimpanzees that can play chess. Let's give them a chance! Let them play competitively. Give them prizes and titles. Give them fame and glory. Encourage kids to be like them.

There must be several orang-utans that would be able to bowl a cricket ball faster than any human. Even elephants, using their multipurpose trunks, might have a say in the fastest delivery of all time. Let's see if it's true! Let's see if Sachin Tendulkar can stand a truer test.

Give animals a chance!

Tales from the Maya

2005-04-29T14:01:00.000+02:00

This is the account of how all was in suspense, all calm, in silence; all motionless, still, and the expanse of the sky was empty.

Popol Vuh (Book of the Community) - a Mayan creationist text, was found and translated in 1702 by a Spanish priest, Francisco Ximénez, in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

It is a story of sacrifice, deceit and powerful magic (not forgetting many ants, a louse, Xan the mosquito, and many other creatures), telling the tale of Hunahpú and Xbalanqué as they confront many of the evils of the world, including Vucub-Caquix and his sons, and the Lords of Xibalba.

Popol Vuh is a fascinating read and comes highly recommended.

Black tongued commentators

2005-04-25T13:16:00.000+02:00

Commentators whose comments seem to impact on players' performance, have what is known in India as the black tongue. This can often be seen in cricket when a player is said to be doing well, only to watch them go out the next ball, or when it is commented that a bowler hasn't bowled any no-balls in the whole innings - only to bowl a no-ball the very next ball.
Also known as the commentators' curse, the black tongue seems to be a common incidence in the sporting world and professional commentators do well to count their words carefully so they don't put the voodoo on any players.
The players cannot possibly hear the commentators' words, so they should not be directly affected, but somehow this seems to be the case. What would be a rational explation for this?
Do the commentators pick up on some of the players' body language and verbalise it, making it seem like it's their own thoughts?
Do they create a quantum split in the universe whereby the player is taken out of a Schrodinger's cat-like box?
Are they made to say the words by a coincidental chaotic configuration in the definition of the sport where predictions mean nothing and things can go either way?
Do they draw so much attention to the live event that there is an increase in energy or tension, which tends to confuse or distract the players?
Do they really have black tongues or the ability to put curses, wittingly or otherwise, on those on whom they comment?
Also, should commentators who exhibit this tendency be prevented from public commentary in order to protect possibly affected players?
Suffice to say, I find this to be a very interesting phenomenon that is well described by the words black tongue.

Help Balkie catch some chickens!

2005-04-20T12:38:00.000+02:00

Someone must've let them out ...

The summer's flow'r

2005-04-19T07:45:00.000+02:00

Sonnet 94

They that have power to hurt and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow,
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces
And husband nature's riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others but stewards of their excellence.
The summer's flow'r is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die,
But if that flow'r with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

Shakespeare

More tragic - more comic

2005-04-18T12:59:00.000+02:00

The papyrology department at Oxford University has announced the development of a new technique that allows them to use infrared technology to scan old faded papyri for formerly supposed lost text.

This means more Sophocles, more Euripides, more Hesiod and much much more. There are about 400,000 fragments of text from Oxyrhynchus waiting to be scanned.

Chalk one up for the technolinguists!

Javascript Fractal

2005-04-15T14:45:00.000+02:00

One of the coolest things computers can do is make fractals. The fractal below was generated by a bit of JavaScript code. Highlightable fractals? Why not!

I'll post the code soon ...

Update: Unfortunately the code gets messed up a bit if I post it here. So if anyone would like to see it then drop me a comment and we make a plan.

Bishops v Pawns or Il papa ed il veleno

2005-04-08T12:09:00.000+02:00

A lot of people seem to be appreciating the good that Pope John Paul II has done for humanity. His funeral today will bring people like Robert Mugabe and Tony Blair together in the same room. But how many people know that the pope before him, John Paul I, was murdered 33 days after being elected? Will we see something similar this time? There are a lot of consparacy theories around, but with the eyes of the world on them this time, they might not get away with it so easily.
Then again, all roads lead to Rome - even those from the Vatican.

Sannie South Africa

2005-04-01T14:00:00.000+02:00

Hier volg 'n impromptu kortstorie, geskryf deur LordFoom op 30 Maart 2005.

Sannie se saga

Sannie Klein is 'n Afrikaanse boeremeisie wat, toe sy drie jaar oud was, in 'n skeepsongeluk was met haar ouers in die See van Japan. Haar ouers is ... tragies ... dood. Maar sy is gered deur 'n groep samurai en ninja wat besig was om oorlog teen mekaar te voer op die water. Hulle het, vir eer, die oorlog opsy gesit en haar gered, en sy het grootgeword - 6 maande by ninja, 6 maande by samurai.

Samurai en ninja is amper soos mense, net cooler.

Maar, sy het NOOIT van haar volk vergeet nie: nog haar vaderland, nog haar moedertaal. Met net 'n NG-bybel het sy haarself Afrikaans geleer, haar afstammelinge van die gekose volk vasgestel, en op 'n warrelwind-toer van die wêreld gegaan om haar ware tuiste te kry.

Spooky logic

2005-04-01T13:01:00.000+02:00

If communicative spirits can make a group of people move a Ouija pointer to certain letters or numbers, surely they can make the people type out the appropriate characters on a keyboard?

Antigravity aircraft

2005-03-29T22:12:00.000+02:00

Professor John Searle claims to have built and flown several UFO-type discs, powered by a previously unthought of organisation of magnets, at great speed over long distances.

If only someone else could build them too.

Blog the blog!

2005-03-22T12:43:00.000+02:00

And as I was jogging along in a dream as dozing I was dawdling, arrah, methought broadtone was heard and the creepers and the gliders and flivvers of the earth breath and the dancetongues of the woodfires and the hummers in their ground all vociferated echoating: Shaun! Shaun! Post the post! with a high voice and O, the higher on high the deeper and low, I heard him so!
Finnegans Wake (page 404), James Joyce

Joburg shakes

2005-03-10T08:41:00.000+02:00

I used to think the safest place from natural disasters was Johannesburg, with no volcanos, fault lines, threats from water or anything else dangerous. Recently, I found out that it's built on the continental divide, which is presumably not so good in the long term. Even more surprising, the Jukskei river (and some unwise human decisions) has killed at least 27 people in the last few months. Yesterday, an earthquake, centered about 200 km away, shook some buildings in town and rattled some desks and computers. I was oblivious to it all - having gone outside for a smoke.

Bobby pinned by Japanese

2005-03-09T13:12:00.000+02:00

Bobby Fischer, former world chess champion, is currently in solitary confinement in a Japanese jail over a brawl with a guard. This seems like one of his typical contentious manoeuvres - leaving his king temporarily trapped, but if he can get his pawns in the right positions, he might be able to find an escape, presumably to Iceland.
Happy birthday, Bobby!

Spatial love

2005-03-03T14:17:00.000+02:00

A friend of mine decided to grant one of my longterm wishes yesterday. I got a spaceship! Not quite the Millenium Falcon. In fact, not quite in working order. Okay, okay, it's a bloody space shuttle set! Complete with satellite, astronauts on EVA, and launchpad.
This friend was probably getting annoyed at my persistent wishes for a spaceship. I appreciate the gesture (we want you off the planet too, Slow, but can't afford it right away) and feel resigned to the fact that there are people that listen to me and want to help me.
Thanks, Naomi! I'll pass it onto my nephew when he's old enough to swallow astronauts without requiring medical assistance.

Slow quote

2005-03-03T12:21:00.000+02:00

Not being one to mince words (or meat), I found an apt quote to help justify my prudence. Here's some hell, written by one of my favourite Italian writers and fellow Gemini, Dante Alighieri.

There dwelt a race, who slow their eyes around
Majestically mov'd, and in their port
Bore eminent authority; they spake
Seldom, but all their words were tuneful sweet.
Hell, Canto IV

Vehicular concessions

2005-02-24T14:29:00.000+02:00

More in line with international legislation, South Africa's new tax laws now only allow tax rebates for vehicles up to R360,000 - to the supposed detriment of the filthy rich driving such overpriced vehicles. People that thought they would be able to claim for their sports cars and suchlike will now find themselves severely set back and might lose out on amounts between R1,000 and R100,000, depending on the price of their vehicle and how far they drive for business purposes.

Will we suddenly see people attempting to sell their expensive vehicles?
Will we see car retailers attempting to price their vehicles at this new upper limit?

It doesn't matter much to me - my car is within the limits. One day, when I have my vehicle of choice, it won't matter too much either. No goverment has jurisdiction in space.

The duel

2005-02-23T09:50:00.000+02:00

LordFoom and I have agreed on a duel. In his words: "Tell you what, I'll do you a deal. Or rather a challenge. You blog every day that I blog, and vice versa...first one to chicken out is a rapscallion".
So let's see! This counts as mine for today. He's got till midnight.

1 comments

2005-02-18T12:16:00.000+02:00

This blog site seems to not mind leaving nouns preceded by 1 in the plural.

Space aliens

2005-02-18T10:57:00.000+02:00

Can it be mere coincidence that the largest meteorite in the planet's history is only a few 100 km from the cradle of humanity?