TALK WECOMEONE

I wanted to write something about Chess - why? I do not know! For who - well no one really, and everyone simultaneously. Its something that I love and thought I’d share my little poem with you:

Complicated, intricate, demanding and all consuming,

An escape, a distraction but mostly a passion,

A beauty to a game,

A co-ordinated dance,

with a deadly focus,

sometimes surgical precision to a checkmate,

and then to the long drawn out battle of mind,

to the last piece,

the winner takes nothing,

and the loser forfiets little,

only a transcendental peace remains,

a silent admiration of the other,

a warm shake of the hands,

and a release of the mind from its cage of intense logic,

it grabs one by the throat,

forces us to live each move,

to be responsible for our actions,

it teaches us the value of sacrifice for a greater good,

and the timelessness of patience,

the infinite abyss lays before every chess player,

no game is ever the same,

to swim the currents of forever,

in the midst of the butterfly effect,

always a measure of skill and knowledge,

but never enough,

the true lesson lies in how to use such knowledge with such precision,

And yet there is a wickedness to it all,

to disrupt your opponents position,

to steal his pieces,

to thwart his attacks,

to snatch victory from his side,

and to make Athena’s blessings your own,

A delicious thrill,

to con the conman,

to out steal the thief,

to trump the gambler,

to beat the crook at his own trade,

for Chess has its own world,

where rules of play provide a vastness of possibilities,

where both the winner and looser can appreciate the beauty of a swindle or trick,

A surprise move,

or a hidden threat,

And in Chess there is no room for complacency,

Arrogance will be humbled,

Ignorance is punished,

Weakness is defeat,

and Beauty is the Game itself.

 

Sachin 

 

I met Mr. Blair several times and twice we spoke at great length. I’ll be straight - I liked the man. In fact, I think he’s the best Prime Minister our country has ever had! New Labour with him at the helm have changed the British political landscape forever - its the work of Mr Blair, that has made the Conservatives take public services and the environmental issues seriously. I’m no Blairite or a Labour man - in fact I actively work against both at times, but credit has to be given where it is due.

The infrastructure of our country has vastly improved - and yes, I do think that NHS has got better, and schools and more of us are working. Mr. Blair has been the first ever PM to build a framework where big business could prosper as well as the working classes. It was he that bought the minimum wage - and so the millions of people who have benefited from that should never miss this little point! It was he who increased the pay of doctors and nurses by over 40% in his time - they shouldn’t forget that either.

And then of course there was the Iraq Invasion - a total and utter disgrace!

I think in hindsight, we will all learn to respect what he has managed to do, even if we don’t particularly like him. Yes, he bought spin, and a heap of other “Blair” side effects - but I think he cured our illness and now that our country is fitter, we don’t need him - and so I say Good Bye, Good Luck - & THANKS for all the FISH!!   

I thought you guys might find this interesting!

US stargazers beheld the most spectacular supernova ever seen when a massive star exploded in a cosmic flash 50 billion times brighter than the sun, the space agency NASA said on Monday.

“Of all exploding stars ever observed, this was the king,” said Alex Filippenko, one of the leaders of the NASA-backed operations which observed the phenomenon that began last fall, in a statement presenting the find.

“We were astonished to see how bright it got, and how long it lasted,” said Filippenko, who headed teams at the Lick Observatory at Mount Hamilton, California, and the Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

The supernova, named SN 2006gy, was likely caused by “the death of an extremely massive star,” said Dave Pooley of the University of California at Berkeley, who headed the overall observation project by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

The resulting stellar light show lasted 70 days.

A supernova usually occurs when a vast star collapses under its own gravity because it has ceased to produce nuclear energy in its core. But the astronomers think that this explosion may have been due to a drop in energy caused by particle changes brought about by radioactive gamma rays.

It takes a star at least eight times the size of the sun to burst into a supernova, but SN 2006 appears to have been much bigger, the report said — around the size of 150 suns.

“Astronomers think many of the first generation of stars were this massive, and this new supernova may thus provide a rare glimpse of how the first stars died,” the team’s statement said.

“It is unprecedented, however, to find such a massive star and witness its death.”

Ah - Red Dwarf, we miss it.  I remember rushing back from football training on a thursday night to catch Red Dwarf at 9pm. Seriously funny, and a work of genius!

 

 

I am a little worried however, I am finding more and more people especially those who are a tad younger than I, who have no idea what Red Dwarf is!  How can this be? It’s like saying what’s Simpsons? Or even worse whats an Aston Martin DB9?  But its happening and its scary! So I’ve managed to conjure up a few links on the programme. In the meanwhile why don’t you share your memories of Red Dwarf or who your favourite characters were? If you don’t agree Red Dwarf should be the comedy King, please tell us who you would like to worship?

There can be no other! At least thats what we think. Let’s face it Simpson’s has changed all our lives! What I love most about this show are the characters, everyone of them and the scary part is, we all know someone who resembles at least one character on the show.

I know someone who behaves just the ‘comic book guy’! Pretty scary, but its true. Anyway, did you know that there is a Simpson’s movie coming out this year? Thats right, a Simpson’s movie - out in July 07.

Checkout these links: www.thesimpsons.com, www.thesimpsons.com,  www.snpp.com

Who’s your favourite character in the Simpsons?

I thought the Lord of the Rings was an incredible book. There has never quite been anything like it since. It’s a book that has created an entire world out of words, which come alive inside our minds when we are reading them.

The films were good, but the book is better. It’s an incredible read. The first time I read it, I must have been about 16 attending high school. I remember pretending to feel ill for three days in a row because I had wanted to stay home and read. I couldn’t put the book down. Eventually, my mum caught me and sent me to school.

It’s a book about adventure and great characters all nicely fit into a tale of morality. If we read a little deeper into the book, we find that JR Tolkien may have been telling a great story but he was also telling us about right and wrong.

What’s your favourite book(s)? Let’s get people reading.

 Bhav thinks it’s a white tiger…Here are some facts about Bengal Tigers…

Bengal tigers are rare. In fact now, we can only find them in Zoos as most their natural habitat has been destroyed or they have been killed for their fur. They can grow up 10 feet long and can weight upto 256kg. Very few white tigers are born in the wild, those that are, can only be found in India.  It’s their last reserve and that too is being quickly destroyed.

The Indian government only recently has set up a national park in Bengal just for white tigers. To find out more, here are some websites: http://www.white-tigers.org/, http://www.tigerhomes.org/cam/white_tiger.cfm, http://indianwildlifeportal.com/bengal-tiger/royal-bengal-tiger.html

Whats your favourite animal?