Labor Day. Dwee!

I’ll be taking a short break from Out of The Ether for the holiday weekend. I hope to squeeze in a blitz game or two. Will return on Tuesday. Everyone have a great holiday!

Bonus Question: In the Chess Adventure video posted this past week, what is the name of the referee?

God Grew Tired of Us.

God Grew Tired of Us has been released on DVD. It is a movie that follows a small group of Sudanese men – the lost boys of Sudan – that move from an “interim” refugee camp in Kenya – where they had been for 10 years – to the United States. It’s a touching true story that makes one think of all the things we have available to us here in the U.S. that we take for granted. There are a lot of overweight, arrogant, inconsiderate, “woe is me” people that need to take a look at this movie.

There is a scene where a small group of men play chess to pass the time away in the camp, which they have measured in years. I highly recommend watching this movie. It’s narrated by Nicole Kidman, and is rated PG. There are a few scenes early on that may be disturbing. But the movie as a whole is very positive and enlightening.

I also recommend having a look at the following -

• John Dau Sudan Foundation
• I was Hungry – Sudanese School Project

Nigel Short.

IGM Nigel short gives a talk about his experiences in chess. From FabriceWantiez.

Please excuse the recent stream of nothing but Youtube links, but I’m hunkering down on a few book reviews, as well as my “normal” day job. writing the reviews are taking longer than I expected. Stay tuned, and above all, thanks.

The Chess Adventure.

It helps to start with a good hand. From Zebonka.

Garry Kasparov Talks Politics.

A discussion about Vladimir Putin and Russian politics with chess champion Garry Kasparov, Chairman of the United Civil Front of Russia, and Stephen Cohen of New York University. From Charlierose. Audio is somewhat out of sync.

Tagged.

I have been tagged by liquideggproduct. So here we go – 8 random facts about me.

Rules:

1. Post these rules before you give your facts.
2. List 8 random facts about yourself.
3. At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them.
4. Leave a comment on their blog to let them know they’ve been tagged.

Eight Random Facts About Me

1. I’m a Christian.
2. I’m a non-recovering biblioholic.
3. I’ve held an Amateur Radio operators license since 1980. Callsign N8UX. I’m not very active in the hobby anymore, but maybe I’ll rediscover it sometime.
4. I feel much younger than I am, yet look much older than I am. Imagine, if you will, the complications this can present.
5. I write, and play acoustic guitar, every day. Sustained decibels from playing in a band almost destroyed my hearing.
6. I broke my big toe on my right foot 8 years ago, but didn’t realize it until much later.
7. My first 3 computers were a TRS-80 model 1, Sinclair ZX-80, and a Commodore VIC-20, in that order. ah, the good ol’ days when you could program anything inside 64k of RAM.
8. I’m the only one in my neighborhood that push mows his own yard. Everyone else has “people” to do that sort of thing, or they have riding mowers more expensive than my Jeep.

I’m still working on my list of 8 people to tag. Everybody, Everybody have a great weekend!

Using FICS and BabasChess Client – by jrobichess.

Youtube user Jrobichess has come up with a short video on the very basics of using the Babaschess client on the Free Internet Chess Server. He has also started up his own weblog.

I linked to another one of his videos previously. I think they are well done. Welcome to the Chess world, Jrobi!

How to Make a Chess Board.

New Page.

I finally figured out how to create a separate page that can be navigated to from the title bar. It’s a separate page that points to the 3 part series I wrote on rediscovering chess.

In other news, I’m looking more seriously at self hosting Out of the Ether, and working on the Garry Kasparov Book review.

Another Chess Club Weblog.

I enjoy discovering new (to me) chess club blogs and web sites.  And I just came upon another that I will add to my list – The Streatham & Brixton Chess Club’s blog.

And I notice they have quite a list of other clubs on their sidebar.  So looks like I’ll be fighting to be productive at the computer for several hours!  Seriously, though – check it out.

And while I’m at it, here’s another.  Have a look at Rocky Rook.

No, I didn’t intend to end in rhyme.