The haze is definitely worsening.
Yesterday was bad enough, but today is even worse.
It's the Indonesians fault.
They were burning their forests in Sumatera and the smoke is now choking us.
What is their supposedly good president Jokowi doing?
Useless.
I actually went out yesterday.
A former colleague asked me to join her for a movie.
Decided to drive as the haze was already quite bad.
Definitely not a good idea to ride a motorcycle in this haze if you have the option of driving a car.
I was driving rather slowly as visibility was a bit limited due to the haze.
Met my former colleague at One Utama.
She was wearing a surgical mask and complained that she can feel the haze even inside the shopping complex.
She was all grumpy....as usual.
She was right though. I parked my car at the second floor basement level and I noticed that the haze was even down there.
My former colleague and I had early dinner at one of the Chinese restaurants.
She was having some soup and vegetable dish she said would negate the effect of the haze while I just had some fried buns and water chestnuts dessert. I'm trying to lose weight.
She decided for us to watch the movie Pawn Sacrifice
.
It's a movie about the chess genius Bobby Fischer
I don't mind as I'm a chess player.
It was quite a good movie but it's more about the unstable mental condition of Fischer rather than chess.
It however reminds me of all those chess games I played with my youngest uncle who is the brother of my father.
He was an excellent chess player and he beat me most of the time.
My uncle was a very intelligent guy.
However, not unlike Fischer, he was fated to lead a life different from others.
A sad life.
I still visit him from time to time.
But we didn't play chess these days.
He just can't play anymore.
We normally just talked and shared memories of those days when he was the same as others, with hopes and dreams.
Whatever it is, I'm still thankful to Allah for this life and pray for my uncle to be safe and happy...despite everything.
As a tribute to my uncle, this is the crucial Game 6 of the Fischer-Spassky match of the 1972 World Championship final which was highlighted in the movie but not shown in details,
This is a documentary about Fischer,
There was a teacher at my old school who had a good chess playing son, her husband coached him. Not GM level though, IM. Don't know if Malaysia ever had any GMs.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you can follow this style of parent coaching like Sidek and Woods and have your children be world champions. I don't know if Nicol and Chong Wei was started early by their parents.
What is GM and IM, please.
DeleteGM= Game Main, IM+ Indian Main. I tak tahu Main Game Chess. Yang I tahu Main bersama Indian Chestnut Game menamaan....Big Chested Woman Game!
DeleteGM is Grand Master; IM is International Master. The former is the top title given by FIDE.
Delete
ReplyDeleteYes TQ for pointing out this Game 6, adinda Ms Annie
with the Queen's Gambit Declined opening which Mr Fisher very rarely used.
Haji M Zin
Alor Gajah DPH
For those who know little about chess, this entertaining short game between a well known chess master and an English lord may start an addiction:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJii-qTOF64
Those not interested in chess may of course talk about other subjects touched in Annie's post. Like whether genius is inherited or not.
ReplyDeleteClearly it's not, otherwise there'd be so many Isaac Newtons, Albert Einsteins and Stephen Hawkings. Yet we may still not reach mars until another don't know how many years.
Even intelligence and high IQ may not be inherited. Studies continue to be done on this and people are sill arguing. Google the Internet with that question and you'll know that.
But what I wish is not inherited is Ultra Kisau-ism and Yellow shirt-ism. Wanna assemble, do go by the Peaceful Assembly Act rules and regulations. Don't be thuggish and anarchistic. I will do a one-man demo holding a placard behind Maria Chin if I have to. Why behind, pls ask Anwarul. hehe.
All the Bersih assemblies been illegal. They didn't go to school ones. Otherwise would know school assemblies, all legal, in front of HM.
DeleteAlbert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer the inventor of US atom bomb, were Jews. There were also Jews who won the Nobel prize. If genius is inherited, imagine Israel now is full of geniuses. Thank God it's not. They have been bullying the Palestinians and other Arabs.
DeleteImagine also if there were genius in China and China having so many geniuses. But China had some 1,000 inventions in ancient times. Maybe lucky that they have not been a big power until only 1-2 decades ago. Otherwise they would have built more islands in the area claimed by Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines and Vietnam and their stupid Ambassador going all over the country subverting Malaysian Chinese.
Oh, I just found out that Bobby Fischer is a Jew and he denied it. Poor man, he must be a tormented soul.
DeleteGeninus and intelligence are equal to memorization. The game of Chess is the game of memorization. That was why the late Bobby Fisher turned absurd and delirious.
DeleteThere have been geniuses who turned into absent-minded professors. Worse, into psychos.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the stresses on their brains working to produce the genius thoughts from time to time short circuit some wiring in their brain. Yes, several factors account for psychiatric illnesses of many kinds. Continued and over-bearing stress is certainly one of them.
So, take time out. Relax, holidaying or just resting. Not sure if playing chess would help under that situation. I suppose if playing chess provides relaxation, why not, even under situation of stress from other activities. Playing chess should be just a natural relaxation activity to those who like the game.
But would appreciate if a serious chess player can confirm that chess playing does not cause more tiredness than an equivalent game - is there an "equivalent" game to chess, btw?
http://chessimprover.com/chess-is-bad-for-you/
DeleteHow and why is chess good for you?
But sure the role of the parents in bringing the children is damn important. Imagine the % of crime going down if all parents guide their children closely until they reach manhood.
ReplyDeleteBut how now so many parents also get drugged into spending so much time on the ipods and phone internet facilities and whatever else IT has put out. Tell me if none in your family get into that habit. Tell us how you manage to control children - even adults - not to spend so much time on the keybords etc.
One way is you yourself must not spend too much time on the keyboards, hehe.
DeleteWoww..takut le ngn akak ni..pndi main chess..takut sya nak try....sya xde pape akak..melainkn muka yg encem ngn badan yg sado jek
ReplyDeleteOrg Muo
Indonesians fault ? Come on. Let's look at our own backyard on who owns these companies. Please, some balance.
ReplyDeleteAny data? Verifiable figures, with links? And who exactly those blokes are, DAp kind or what.
DeleteWhat are you writing about? Backyard - the owners Malaysian? We are talking about those on the ground - the contractors etc etc. Annie is right. It is the Indonesians' fault.
DeleteDS Najib said in Milan, "Najib: No more hot air, please", asking the Indonesian government to take action against parties causing the haze problem.
DeleteWonder what exactly DPM Ahmad Zahid got the Indonesian Government to agree and do during his official trip to Indonesia recently.
abandon fat get fit, lady
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7skf0de0q4
My friend's son who is studying in acheh tells him that GAM is stirring trouble again. Here we go again
ReplyDeleteWhat is GAM, please.
DeleteGerakan Aceh Merdeka or the Free Aceh Movement, was a separatist group seeking independence for the Aceh region of Sumatra from Indonesia. GAM fought against Indonesian government forces in the Aceh Insurgency from 1976 to 2005, during which over 15,000 lives are believed to have been lost.The organisation surrendered its separatist intentions and dissolved its armed wing following 2005 peace agreement with the Indonesian Government. The Indonesian government called the group the Aceh Security Disturbance Movement.
DeleteThanks. Just spelling out the GAM in full would suffice. But thanks all the same.
DeleteLooks like chess does not attract many comments from the Sunday readers. Let me try and spice it up with comments on disease inheritance that Bobby Fisher may have and that doctors often ask patients about before diagnosing.
ReplyDeleteWhat I read is that disease inheritance is not always clear cases. Sometimes the disease does not show in one or more generations but do come out in later ones.
It's only a guideline and if our parents or grandparents have the ailment, it does not automatically mean that we have it. But when the DNA has it, we have to be careful not to stress ourselves along the line of the causes and the symptoms such that the symptoms appear and we get the disease.
Diabetes, for example. If our parents and/or grandparents had the disease, their life style like sugar in the diet may affect us such that if we exceed the limit by too much canned drinks, the diabetes symptom is triggered and show in our blood test.
So, knowing what illnesses our parents and grandparents had would help us to avoid the causes of those illnesses. But generally, had or no had, do lessen your sugar intake, everybody.
Not a good way to cheer up everybody on a usually black Monday by talking about diabetes, innit. But going to movies is not an in-thing during this IT age, is it.
ReplyDeleteWonder if the cinemas are doing a roaring business these days. 1-2 TV channels sometimes show some first-run films, though of lower quality.
But yes, there are people who watch the movies to enjoy the comfort of cool and pollution-free atmosphere now that smoking is banned in cinemas etc.
"if our parents or grandparents have the ailment, it does not automatically mean that we have it. " -
ReplyDeleteWe may have it but the disease may not manifest itelf. It may under certain very stressful situations.
Stress may take different forms - excess eating, excess work on the brain due to many and compounding problems etc.
Chess is known as "the game of kings" and is played by intelligent people. But not all kings are intelligent people, butut tak?
ReplyDeleteHenry VIII was "intelligent" in ways of getting allowed by the Pope in Rome to take more than one wife, and when the Pope did not give permission, he simply took England away from the Roman Catholic Church, established the Anglican Church, he as leader.
How convenient.
And here are the "10 big brain benefits of playing chess', believe them or not t your own peril -
ReplyDelete1. It can raise your IQ
Chess seen as a game for brainiacs and people with already high IQs. So there has been a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation: do smart people gravitate towards chess, or does playing chess make them smart? At least one study has shown that moving those knights and rooks around can in fact raise a person's intelligence quotient.
2. It helps prevent Alzheimer's
Because the brain works like a muscle, it needs exercise like any bicep or quad to be healthy and ward off injury. But you can exercise your brains by whacking DAP blokes as well, hehe.
3. It exercises both sides of the brain
I don' care left or right side of brain like they found the experts' left brains being much more active. So long as I can keep using it well until I kick the bucket.
Too long to comment each one, so the rest are given without any:
4. It increases your creativity
5. It improves your memory
6. It improves concentration
7. It improves reading skills
8. It improves concentration
9. It grows dendrites
10. It teaches planning and foresight
We should make all politicians play chess!
i wonder does this benefits...benefits the one that plays chess but keeps on losing every game( chess player pun ade yg bodoh bodoh punye)
Delete>james bond
Should benefit, James, as the training or practice of the mind pun jalan juga, menang atau kalah.
Deleteoh okey...hahha (just sharing)
Deletei like playing chess in here...so far i find this is one of the best place to play chess for they have many option in there where you can join and play in their tournament or play verses other or fight with the computer and each time you win...your point increases and that will take you to another platform to fight with the more terror players...so nice lah playing chess with them....
http://www.chess.com/
but i am thinking of quitting...for chess can sometimes be very very addictive....aiyoyo
>james bond