The Future of Dedicated Chess Computer Players

[Fernando]

Hope your baby will be OK
War is a nuisance, to say it soft.
But, of course, a nation that is not prepared to wage war is doomed sooner or later.
Even peaceful Switzerland is armed to the teeth.
We are here.
You know: si vis pacem, para bellum

Fern

[Hasimir]

Hope your baby will be OK
War is a nuisance, to say it soft.
But, of course, a nation that is not prepared to wage war is doomed sooner or later.
Even peaceful Switzerland is armed to the teeth.
We are here.
You know: si vis pacem, para bellum

Fern

Oh, he's fine, his last tour before the decision to withdraw was in 2010-11. He's back in Darwin now with his better half and a rug-rat.

si vis pacem, para bellum

Usually translated as "if you want peace, prepare for war" or something like that, but "vis" means strength or power so it's probably more accurate to say it means "[to] strengthen" or "enforce peace, prepare for war."

Benefits of a classical education.

Been a long time since I studied Latin (and I wasn't great at it back then), but it's usually not too difficult to piece things together. These days I even have an insult generating script that will insult people (or situations) in Latin (and some of them are gems).

Here's a couple of examples, both of which play on certain phrases (one is very well known, the other less so):

"Omnia quia sunt, futūtum sunt."

"Sed quis custodiet ipsos futūtor?"

I'm not going to translate them, though, they're *really* not safe for work (there are translations in the source code). For those wondering, though, let's just say that the F-word is older than you thought. I also won't link to that script, but anyone really determined to get it ought to be able to find it within about four links from my posts.

[Fernando]

You should learn spanish, a very near latin language. Same fastdious precision

[Hasimir]

You should learn spanish, a very near latin language. Same fastdious precision

Well, I am aided with the Latin with William Whitaker's Words program (ported to OS X Lion and above as Interpres), but the University of Notre Dame has a web interface for it. Essentially Latin-English and English-Latin translations with all or most of the grammatical variations for 39,000 Latin words. There's also an archive of Whitaker's old site here.

Unfortunately Whitaker died in 2010, so no more official updates, but his brilliant work lives on. Interesting that he's more known for this than any of his decades in the USAF, his work at DARPA or reaching the rank of colonel. No, it took his retirement project to make his name spread. Kind of funny the way things turn out sometimes.

[Fernando]

Not uncommon. You work in one thing and you remembered by another, you do this and you are vilified for that and so and so...

Fern

[Cyberchess]

well, show it to us.
I am curious.

I've been a little busy, but I finally got around to doing this. The images are a bit large so I'm linking to them instead: the pieces, pieces close up, second close up, black pieces on the board, white pieces on the board, the case and the board.

That is an awesome antique set from someone that collects antique and vintage schach tools!

Happy Collecting Regards,
John

Cheers. The thing is, I don't know if it's actually antique or if it was custom made for Pa's retirement. All I know for sure is that it's hand-carved, but beyond that things get a little fuzzy. I don't even know where the customs agents got it (though given their job we could make some amusing speculation) and it's far too late to ask them (they will all be dead or most likely so, if Pa were still alive he'd turn 100 this year).

I can say, however, that the pieces and the table look no different now than I remember them as a child, so they could very well be antique (my early memories of them would be only a few years after Pa's retirement). All I can guarantee is that it's at least four decades old.

Sorry that I can’t offer a clue as to when your hand-carved figural set was made. While I own several contemporary and vintage wooden chessboards, custom chessboards and sets, my antique collection consists of metalware sets: brass; pewter; bronze; iron; alloy, etc.

Antique wooden sets need to be very well preserved as they have a tendency to dry unevenly and develop splits over time. This is particularly true of ebony wood, which is very dry by nature. Antique Bakelite sets, on the other hand, tend to warp and become deformed after many years. The colors – particularly the reds – are quite vibrant on these sets, even after several decades. Bakelite sets are highly coveted by many collectors, and usually garner lots of bidding activity on ebay. Some folks also collect antique hand-carved stone sets, but you can’t even carbon-date these.

Chess as art regards,
John