Category Archives: Uncategorized

How does one get better at chess?

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Susan Polgar and husband Paul Truong

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about chess, but chess has been on my mind quite a bit. Old-timers may remember that I got my son involved in chess this year. I hadn’t been sure whether competition might be good for him, but he seemed to enjoy the mental challenge of trying to understand how to win. Anyway, he entered his first tournament just last month, and he tied for first place in a field of over twenty kids in his age division (Disclaimer: I don’t think he had to play any Russian kids in the course of his play).

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Think young

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My LinkedIn profile included this article: The Folly of Age as a Number: How We Can All Be Young. It’s written by a guy named Brian Wong, who is the founder and CEO of a company called Kiip. I read the description, and his company has something to do with mobile advertising. From his LinkedIn page:

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“Brooklyn Castle”

I wanted to bring your attention to a film that looks really good.

Imagine a school where the cool kids
are the chess team… welcome to I.S. 318

You can find the story by watching Brooklyn Castle. From the trailer, it looks like it’s about a poor predominantly African American junior high school that has won more national chess championships than any other school in the country. As funding for schools is continuing to get cut, while entitlements continue to drain school coffers, it’s a great story about how children are persevering. As I’m personally invested in chess, I’d love to see this film with my son. It doesn’t look like it’s coming to Portland anytime soon, but when it is, I look forward to seeing it.

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Dalai Lama says that religion is inadequate for grounding ethics

…and he told his followers on Facebook! God (metaphorically speaking, of course), this man is great! He wrote:

All the world’s major religions, with their emphasis on love, compassion, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness can and do promote inner values. But the reality of the world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer adequate. This is why I am increasingly convinced that the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion altogether.

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Paul Krugman’s Take on Debt


Check out Paul Krugman’s recent Times column on debt: Nobody Understands Debt. In the article, he makes the point that debt is misunderstood, that while excessive debt is a problem, it’s not nearly as bad as everyone is making it out to be.

Deficit-worriers portray a future in which we’re impoverished by the need to pay back money we’ve been borrowing. They see America as being like a family that took out too large a mortgage, and will have a hard time making the monthly payments.

This is, however, a really bad analogy in at least two ways.

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“And here we go again!”

Got this from John at 8A. John writes:

“This season, Cindy Chiang (a 30-year-old Brand Manager from Chicago) will be racing with her fiance, Ernie Halvorsen.”

I saw the picture on the video screen, and I correctly guessed that they weren’t brother and sister. I’m so smart that I sometimes amaze myself. I was wrong about Victor and Tammy Jih in the other direction (after which I stopped watching).

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The Personal and the Political

I’ve made a decision after thinking about it last night. I’ve asked Asian of Reason not to post here. It’s a strange thing to do something for personal reasons, but this is a personal blog, and to a certain extent, people have to have the same values. He has not violated any rules, but he simply has different values. Attacking a guy’s family because you’re losing a debate or a fight or any other contest is a no-no in my culture. I don’t begrudge him that, but hey, as he mentioned, it’s my blog and I make the rules. As I hold myself to the same rules, I will not be going after him in his absence. I don’t mind if he reads, but I requested he not post here anymore. I truly have no anger towards him; I just find him disruptive based on a difference in values.

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Everything That Grandma and Grandpa Taught

Need to update. Asian of Reason has apologized here. We cross posted. I accept his apology. But I stand by the post below. Y’all know I’m an emotional person, and there are certain behaviors that I just have trouble reconciling. Maybe things’ll change in the future, but for now, this is where I stand.

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Mean Girls

I saw this article in the Times today: The Playground Gets Even Tougher.  It’s about how kids are getting nastier and nastier at younger ages.  Girls in particular can be very mean.  In light of the Tyler Clementi incident and other suicides, the entire news media has been focusing intently on bullying and how to prevent it.  With the power that comes from new technology–blogs, social networking, and cellphones–the bullying issue is only getting worse.  Little kids are learning to hate themselves when victimized by bullies.  And what’s worse, as mentioned in the article, is that many parents encourage this kind of behavior.   I think this statement is probably accurate:

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bigWOWO’s Predictions for UFC 112

Alas, I’m most likely going to miss the UFC tomorrow.  Two title fights in one night, and I’m not going to be there.  Oi.  So let me do the next best thing and wager a guess on how things will turn out.

1. Anderson Silva will KO Demian Maia in the first round. I think Maia is a great jujitsu expert, but I have doubts about his stand up game.  As far as I know, he has never fought any serious strikers, with the exception of Nate Marquardt, who knocked him out in the very first round.  I’m glad Maia is getting the opportunity to fight for the championship.  I just don’t see him winning it.

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