Grazza

¡Caramba! ¡Número uno en Amazon.com.mx!

Yes, my new Spanish-language book is currently the top-selling chess book on Amazon Mexico. Just don't ask how many sales that requires. :P

It seems the curse hits again.

the moral is that one shouldn't travel somewhere just before or just after me.

Yes, I was on that stretch of I-70 in Denver early on Thursday. And I'd been mocking all the trucker-friendly signs on the way down from the mountains. Hmm, one guy's brakes presumably weren't "adjusted and cool".

I tend to avoid that whole stretch of road at busy times, though I thought I was maybe being a tad overcautious this time getting up at 1 am so as to be on it around 3.30 am.

25

Yes, my 25th book has recently been published. (Actually, it was published on Chess Studio a couple of months ago.) The timing - just before Christmas - is deliberate, but coinciding with a world championship match was accidental.

Click the image for Amazon links for hardcopy and Kindle. The Kindle free sample includes the introductions and the first 10 sections or so. There's also a PDF free sample on the Gambit website.

This is the most elementary book I have written for some years, but is by no means a babyish book. It should be useful for players up to decent club standard too. Choosing good clear examples was a big task, and avoiding excessively complex language was a challenge. I also wanted to write a book that presented a modern view of opening play, rather than the inflexible and unrealistic "rule-based" approach that you tend to find in old books (even though it has never accurately represented how good players handle this phase of the game). This runs the risk of confusing readers, but should lead to better opening play.

25

Yes, my 25th book has recently been published. (Actually, it was published on Chess Studio a couple of months ago.) The timing - just before Christmas - is deliberate, but coinciding with a world championship match was accidental.

Click the image for Amazon links for hardcopy and Kindle. The Kindle free sample includes the introductions and the first 10 sections or so. There's also a PDF free sample on the Gambit website.

This is the most elementary book I have written for some years, but is by no means a babyish book. It should be useful for players up to decent club standard too. Choosing good clear examples was a big task, and avoiding excessively complex language was a challenge. I also wanted to write a book that presented a modern view of opening play, rather than the inflexible and unrealistic "rule-based" approach that you tend to find in old books (even though it has never accurately represented how good players handle this phase of the game). This runs the risk of confusing readers, but should lead to better opening play.

Sphere Camera

Yay, new toy. Basically a 180-degree fisheye that makes panoramas easy, as well as getting distorted images of fingers, etc., around the edge of the image.

Forest canopy

Ice cave

hmm

new possibilities in alcohol photography

Sphere Camera

Yay, new toy. Basically a 180-degree fisheye that makes panoramas easy, as well as getting distorted images of fingers, etc., around the edge of the image.

Forest canopy

Ice cave

hmm

new possibilities in alcohol photography

This just spotted on CNN.com:

Only an actual trainwreck is missing.

In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the worst air crash in history, here are a few pictures taken at the memorial in La Laguna, Tenerife, two weeks ago.

The airport and Teide are visible in the background.

The plaque.

The airport tower and runway can be seen behind the base of the memorial.

The layout of the runway and taxiways hasn't changed much. When my flight left a few days later, I recognized the point where we took off as being pretty much exactly the same as the point of impact in 1977.

....hurtling through time and space at 66,000 miles an hour. Tethered to a burning sphere by an invisible force in an unfathomable universe.

Where does the time go? Well I had a little get together with the family, it was a pleasant time. Got some movies and music for gifts, it was nice. Just felt like sharing this.

I drink too much. Probably, on average, about 8-16 fluid ounces daily. This isn't just something that comes out of a dripper, either. We're talking about shots from my espresso machine, moka pot or high-test coffee piled high in my pour over set up. You have to love the laxative qualities and the stimulation from the caffeine is great, even if you're a bit resistant to it like me.

How much coffee do you drink and when did you last have some?

Walked out of work to find this beauty sitting in the parking lot:



I could only imagine somebody saying "well, Mom always did enjoy hotrods..." (Not that a Cadillac is a hotrod)

*I had typed this up yesterday, but at some point I finished typing, went to the bar, and forgot to hit the post button. I'm too lazy to change every instance of time relation, so figure it out.

On my way to work today yesterday, apparently I pissed some guy off pretty bad and he followed me to my job. Things were still fuzzy from last night, but he was driving like the only person on the road and so when I got the chance, I got around him and cut him off like a dick.

So I got to work, pulled into a parking spot and about 30 seconds later there was a car I vaguely remembered sitting behind me, boxing me in. The driver was a slightly big guy in his prolly 30s (this was a company car, too, decked out in advertisements for the business) and in the passanger seat was a boy perhaps 8-10, barely tall enough for me to see his entire head over the dash. The guy had his window down and was screaming obscenities at me, so I rolled down my window and looked behind and out at him. He was saying stuff like "I'm going to kick your fucking ass you faggot" and some other stuff. Finally I got tired of listening to him and I said "you talk that way in front of your son?" I'm not sure, in retrospect, if that was a very smart or an incredibly stupid thing to say. On one hand, it obviously was going to (and did) piss him off, but on the other hand perhaps it put the thought of his child closer to the forefront of his brain while still in his rage, and might have served to quell the fire to some degree. Needless to say, he wasn't a fan of that comment and replied a classic "My son could prolly kick your ass too you faggot." I immediately looked at his son and sized him up, out of instinct, of course. Joking on that last sentence, but he really did say that. After he said that he got out of the car and proceeded to rant some more, stomping around, huffing and puffing. It would have been comical if I wasn't afraid. Not afraid of pain, but afraid of the consequences of the only course of action I saw if this escalated. But I couldn't go anywhere and I certainly couldn't have allowed myself to show fear, part of an unfortunate side-effect to that was that I also couldn't back down. "Fear and foolish pride," I think there's a saying about that.

I'm in my late 20's, I used to scrap when I was young a lot, but not as a man. I'm 5'5" and 125 lbs; I'm a small guy. A fight is more of a life and death situation for somebody my size, especially when the other person is twice my size. All I had, aside from my keys, a lighter, and a pack of smokes was my box-cutter razor knife. Safety danc-- I mean safety blade, so it has a guard and only sticks out 1 cm past the guard, fully extended. But it's a fresh blade and quite sharp; a quick, forceful slice or two of the forearm by the elbow can easily end the use of an arm in a fight, plus a trip to the hospital later on and quick slashes to arms is a good way to both negate a threat and guard your blade from being taken while defending yourself. Or, God forbid, the neck. But I had my hand on that little joke of a blade like it was my life-line, while watching this guy rant and rave, trying to act intimidating. I didn't back down or cower, but my thoughts were racing a million miles an hour with fear of all of the possibilities of what could be if I had to use the thing.

While outside, he continued to go off on a tirade and stated that "street racing happens in the street;" yeah that's typed verbatim. I'll give him that he was flustered, but still, that was funny. Thankfully I had the tact not to seek a fight by joking on him or visibly smiling at that comment, though the thought did cross my mind. But I was still feeling it from last night and clearly from the way I was driving, I had little patience for bullshit at the time. I said something else to him while he was outside that wasn't exactly the "backing-down" type of words that I perhaps should have said, but I don't remember at this point what it was. It's ironic that despite driving a muscle car (mustang) I've never raced it, nor do I ever want to race it, especially the more little problems the car gets that I just don't have the time, money, patience, tools and knowledge to fix; my car doesnt accelerate like it used to.

Shortly after, he got back in his car, which I halfway expected when he didn't walk immediately up to my car upon getting out of his own; stupid, emotional, impulsive decisions like that happen much more likely in less time rather than more. Also, walking up on somebody in their car in that situation would be a death wish because you don't know what they have in there; I could have had a gun for all he knew and I certainly had a knife, albeit a terrible one. Every adult I know has some type of weapon or object they identify as a weapon in their car, just in case of an emergency, so it's a terrible idea to walk up on somebody in such a case, never mind that the car can still technically move and that much weight doesn't need much speed to do damage. But still, I was greatly relieved that he did walk back into his car; if he had walked over, just due to the nature of the only weapon I had on hand, it would have been bloody. Terrible, like a horror movie. I worked as a phlebotomist for a little while some years ago amd now I work as a butcher, so I've had to directly handle large amounts of both human and animal blood, in some cases as a phlebotomist, as it poured out of the patient. But that's different to this and mostly unrelatable due simply to the difference in situation and mindset for all involved. But more-so than anything, as he got in his car I thought how close that poor kid was to having the absolute worst day of his life, and he was innocent in the whole thing. One or both of us would have gone to the hospital and/or jail, if not worse. I've seen somebody die in front of my eyes before and it's not something I would ever want to see again, something I'd never want to cause, and certainly something I would never want to bring onto another, especially a young child, less than 10 feet away from me and peering over the dashboard, not fully understanding what's going on. Never mind that I could have been killed by my own blade; things happen fast. But if that guy would have come over to my car, something would have happened and I wouldn't be sitting at my house right now; something like that little blade could have easily been turned against me, much as it could have done too much for me. It's a bit ironic that I believe that every law-abiding, and stable minded adult should own a gun, and yet I've never felt the need or real want to go buy one myself, preferring to just stick to whatever piece of shit tool or object is nearby, apparently. But guns and confrontations are bad news; then again when a situation is already life and death, I suppose it's only appropriate.

After the guy got into his car, he continued to shout at me and hung out the window, I guess so he would appear more intimidating, like he was about to jump out. At some point he said, "next time you see this car [don't drive like an asshole]" (or something to that effect) I had to open my mouth once more, and I said, "how about the next time you see this car, you get over and you won't have to deal with me," which admittedly was a really stupid thing for me to say, but I never claimed to be the sharpest apple in the race. Then he got all huffy again and acted like he was about to get out again, but after a few more words he finally settled with telling me to get a life, which I found a bit strange because he was the one who angerly followed a total stranger out of road rage with his young son sitting in the car right there with him. After that I went into work; I was glad to find no damage to my car when I got back. Still, I do feel like a total dick because for all I know they could have been having a great day right before I entered the picture and that's why he wasn't paying attention to his walling off the road, but by the same token he could have been acting like a total dick before I ever showed up.

This whole thing was strange to me and I guess at this point all of those other thoughts are moot; I'm grateful that nothing really happened.

Just over a year ago, I woke up at 6 on a dark winter morning. There was some slow atmospheric music playing on the radio, pretty awesome experience to start the day. I recall radio announcer said it was Pink Floyd, but I didn't catch the song title. It was surprising for me because I'm not really a massive fan of what I know of Pink Floyd's work.

I recently stumbled upon this (awesome) Stratovarius keyboard solo, which I think is quite similar. Same feel, same tempo, same chords at 3:27-3:31..
Any ideas? Also whatever I woke up to was near the end of the song.

Over here in NC we have snow finally. It's about an inch or so but it's snow alright.

Some nick changes I instantly like, with other I need time but eventually I warm up to them, and a bunch of them just doesn't work for me.

Sodaholic -> Blastfrog: at first I thought it was a total joke but now it actually sits well with me. I'm honestly surprised.

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=678586

I was out at the Muskegon Lake channel today looking to get some photos of the storm passing through, but I didn't get anything good from that. What I did get though, was a pretty good photo of a young Cormorant.

I was out at the Muskegon Lake channel today looking to get some photos of the storm passing through, but I didn't get anything good from that. What I did get though, was a pretty good photo of a young Cormorant.

Lets see...

Small blisters appearing on my chest, back and upper arms.
Blisters have this ugly liquid in them.
I sometimes get a sensation to scratch at them too.
I feel sleepy most of the time.
Have a small headache.

Judging from Wikipedia, i do have chickenpox (well in its early stage).

Fuck.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I obtained your company name and email address from the Internet. Glad to hear that you're on the market for RESEARCH CHEMICALS.

Tuskwei Import and Export Trade Co., Ltd is a factory specializing in this field for many years. Our products are following as follows:

1.Caustic Soda
2.5-MMA Crystalline
3.ammonium polyphosphate
4.dibutylone crystal
5.hexen
6.Furanylfentanyl
7.Sebacic acid
8.3-cmc 4-cmc
9.thpvps
10.MDP
11.U-47700
12.Pentylone and so on.

Hope to hear good news from you.

Sincerely Yours,

Lisa

Personality types are something I have always found intiguing. I've always been the kind of person that looks for reasons behind everything.

I took this test, and according to the results, I have the INTJ Personality Type.

What it means to be an INTJ
In short, INTJs have wild imaginations, but can be very bitter critics. We value our isolation, but the few close friends that we do have by choice are incredibly dear to us. At times we can come off as narcissistic, and we are generally very creative.

We're also quite rare. Only about 1.2% of males worldwide are estimated to be this type, and only 0.8% of women are estimated to be this type.

Here are some famous INTJs: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Colin Powell, Vladimir Putin, Christopher Nolan, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Friedrich Nietzsche

Some fictional INTJs: Walter from Breaking Bad and Gandolf The Grey

INTJ is an acronym for Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, and Judging.

It is pretty cool how accurate this test really is. It can offer you much insight into yourself and how others might perceive you. Check it out and share your results here.

Omegalore
Pinchy

I decided to take this free IQ test here
http://www.free-iqtest.net/

My score came as 177. This is my first time BTW.
Don't know what to say.

I decided to take this free IQ test here
http://www.free-iqtest.net/

My score came as 177. This is my first time BTW.
Don't know what to say.