My sister Sofia just sent me this from Toronto. 
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Chess in a real battlefield
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My sister Sofia just sent me this from Toronto.
Nice picture but I would like to see an end to all wars. Let us live in Peace with our brothers.
Seems to me that sports in general, including games like chess, are merely a tribute and testimony to humankind’s aggressive and warlike nature. There is always a need to prove one’s self superior in some way. This is such an integral part of who we are that we even play “friendly” games, with the same intention, just a bit less aggression.
my apologies for the multiple posts.
The internet is amazing
Games and Game Theory become more important in the event our wars turn into species-saving events. Then our warlike past will come in handy.
How arrogant are we to assume we are the only life in the Universe? It’s one thing to understand and argue for a political or social system as being ‘better than another’ but to even contemplate the idea that we are alone in this vast star-bucket is…ludicrous, against all odds, and happily, against most religious beliefs.
That is what we are practicing for – cross-species war.
A couple of days ago Susan posted a history of Hannakah and somehow that provoked a bunch of posts on the Islamic version of history. This was interesting to me because while I’ve read in the press that Moslems have a vastly different view of history, I had never directly saw it until then.
I can imagine what is going to hit this blog with this post!
Just to keep things civil as well as educational, what the Islamic posters want us to understand about history I sum up in these points:
1) The western version of the holocaust against the Jews in WWII is questionable;
2) Islam does not practice forced conversions;
3) In the Israeli conflict only the stuff the Jews does to the Arabs should count, not the stuff the Arabs do to Jews; and finally
4) The rest of us are ignorant and arrogant for thinking otherwise.
Does that pretty much sum up what you Islamic posters were trying to say? I’m not trying to argue; just trying to understand your position.
“That is what we are practicing for – cross-species war.”
–Geez, someone escaped from the psychiatric facilty.
Everyone in the world, seems to be playing better chess than George W. Bush, the worst President in the history of the United States of America.
I can’t tell from the photo, but I wonder if those are Canadian soldiers in the photo. I would guess so, since it’s in a Canadian paper. The Canadians have acquitted themselves very well in the fighting in Afghanistan; I’m glad to see they get some chances to relax.
One of the coolest photos I’ve ever seen. Some of the most idiotic responses I’ve ever seen. Draw.
Mike D.
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his predecessor was the worst
his predessor was very good.
his predecessor was very good.
yep
I don’t know why the picture provoked all the Bush bashing but whatever . . . I was expecting to see another flurry of anti-West stuff from the Islam writers, so it could have been worse.
On another note, John Cleese (you know who he is) wrote a very funny Letter to America that’s circulating on the net. It starts,
“To the citizens of the United States of America, in the light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today.. . .Except Utah. . .”
I have a summary of it here.
Omri,
Perhaps my message was so poorly articulated that it was impossible for you to read its tone. I am in no way bashing war or aggression. It was an observation: humans have a need to prove themselves (as do most animals, in some form); each wants his or her voice to be known, and will jump at the chance to prove his or her worth, or in some cases, superiority.
“Seems to me that sports in general, including games like chess, are merely a tribute and testimony to humankind’s aggressive and warlike nature. There is always a need to prove one’s self superior in some way. This is such an integral part of who we are that we even play “friendly” games, with the same intention, just a bit less aggression.”
If you don’t like chess, why do you play?