Looking for...

[Fernando]

...a defective machine in order to have a chance to get a draw...


Optimistic regards
Fern

[Larry]

...a defective machine in order to have a chance to get a draw...


Optimistic regards
Fern

I feel your pain. I did recently buy a CXG300 nice wooden chess computer.
with auto sensory squares. I paid the elderly widow $120 at her house.
Just one problem: when we plugged it in nothing happened...it was
as dead as a door knob. We came to an agreement...she gave me half my
money back and we parted on good terms.
Until I fix it I draw every game, just like you (:
I actually do have a fair success rate with repair jobs.
L
PS In answer to Steve's question, it came complete all except
for a missing owner's manual.

[Steve B]

I feel your pain. I did recently buy a CXG300 nice wooden chess computer.
with auto sensory squares. I paid the elderly widow $120 at her house.
Just one problem: when we plugged it in nothing happened...it was
as dead as a door knob. We came to an agreement...she gave me half my
money back and we parted on good terms.
Until I fix it I draw every game, just like you (:
I actually do have a fair success rate with repair jobs.

Thats a shame
i hope you can fix it
i did the same thing with the Scisys President
i paid mega bucks for it .. knowing full well that it probably didnt work..i gambled that i could get it fixed
it arrived dead
thankfully i did get it fixed

Sometimes you gotta just take a chance Regards
Steve

[Fernando]

I feel your pain. I did recently buy a CXG300 nice wooden chess computer.
with auto sensory squares. I paid the elderly widow $120 at her house.
Just one problem: when we plugged it in nothing happened...it was
as dead as a door knob. We came to an agreement...she gave me half my
money back and we parted on good terms.
Until I fix it I draw every game, just like you (:
I actually do have a fair success rate with repair jobs.

Thats a shame
i hope you can fix it
i did the same thing with the Scisys President
i paid mega bucks for it .. knowing full well that it probably didnt work..i gambled that i could get it fixed
it arrived dead
thankfully i did get it fixed

Sometimes you gotta just take a chance Regards
Steve

All this you tell about purchasing machines from old widows make me think you and many has became vultures, getting machines of already dead comrades that were, like us, funs of this field and now rest in shadows and silence.

I can see our future regards
Fern

[Steve B]

I feel your pain. I did recently buy a CXG300 nice wooden chess computer.
with auto sensory squares. I paid the elderly widow $120 at her house.
Just one problem: when we plugged it in nothing happened...it was
as dead as a door knob. We came to an agreement...she gave me half my
money back and we parted on good terms.
Until I fix it I draw every game, just like you (:
I actually do have a fair success rate with repair jobs.

Thats a shame
i hope you can fix it
i did the same thing with the Scisys President
i paid mega bucks for it .. knowing full well that it probably didnt work..i gambled that i could get it fixed
it arrived dead
thankfully i did get it fixed

Sometimes you gotta just take a chance Regards
Steve

All this you tell about purchasing machines from old widows make me think you and many has became vultures, getting machines of already dead comrades that were, like us, funs of this field and now rest in shadows and silence.

I can see our future regards
Fern

here is a good example of the cold.. harsh world ..of dedicated chess computer collecting ..from a current Ebay auction
the Fidelity EAS is defective..
scanning the Q&A section we see the names of several folks that are well known for selling chess computers
obviously they think they can buy the computer cheaply.. then fix it.. and then flip it for a hefty profit
we are also treated to someone trying to get the seller to close the auction early

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Schachcomputer-d ... 27f6642088


Wolves At The Door Regards
Steve

[mclane]

Humans are animals.
The big fish eats the smaller fish.

[Mentat]

Humans are animals.
The big fish eats the smaller fish.

Hi Thorsten,

just read your post. It is too pessimistic and probably not true in its entirety. I believe that the neocortex has offered Homo sapiens sapiens a way out of this savage predicament -- in the guise of poetry, music, philosophy, and empathy (Einfueling). Yet, when these are blotted out, in times of crisis and survival, the basest of instincts show up in a cruel and savage fashion. In such times of suffering, fear and grief, your post could certainly be correct.

Don't read only bleak SF, Thorsten. Try some of Philp K. Dick's funny fiction or the old and good stuff by Asimov. Ray Bradbury may be too heavy too, or China Mieville. Or Margaret Atwood Oh, boy, is she gloomy, even though in her MaddAdam trilogy some of the main characters have a tussle at chess...

[mclane]

Hi, i did read Books by them. Also by many others. SF is my favorite topic, although it is disappointing to see how some books were misused in movies.
Until today there is no real good movie about Philip Jose farmers river world. There have been 2 efforts, but both are horrible. Instead of showing what the book says, they tell us a different story. What a pity.
There are exceptions, Fahrenheit 451 e.g. Has been well done. Also bladerunner. Or Mars chronicles.

The whole science fiction area is today replaced by thriller and fantasy bullshit.
It's a pity.

In the 80ies this was different. I remember that our book shops had large amounts of science fiction books.

My favorite books are still mind parasits (Colin Wilson), river world (PJF),
Jack Mc Devitts books, we had a german Jules Verne called Hans Dominik,
The time machine, I still wait for bladerunner part II, I hope the second movie will be as good as bladerunner from 1983.
In the moment I am reading victor Hugo's les miserables. Not science fiction but classical topics.

[Mentat]

I agree with you that the recently made SF movies are mostly huge flops. Even the hugely popular "Interstellar" was childish, and the script so naive that it made me laugh. However, a couple of days ago I saw again "Planet of the Apes" from back then, 1968, I think and I loved it, once more. Of course, technically it is rough, not sophisticated enough, but the issues it raises and the purity of the narrative, together with the masculinity and decisiveness brought by the young Charlton Heston, later on a gun-wielding rightist, were simply joy to watch. Never mind the funny ape disguise and the cheap simian tenements... The Statue of Liberty half-buried in the sand won the day...

I too loved Fahrenheit 451, and am planning on rereading Les Miserables and Count Monte Christo before I go. Meantime, I will give Heidegger's Sein und Zeit one more try, there are some things I have to make sure about, as I am writing a monograph on the nature of time. One suggestion in case you haven't done so already: please read Atwood's "Oryx and Crake", part one of her trilogy. You'll love it and be both sorry and happy to be alive.

[Fernando]

Man, you should read the most ambitious, broad, incredible SF book ever writen, The star Maker by Olaf Stapledon. Metaphysics included.

Also, the best by Clarke, The End of Infancy....

Spielberg, that ......merchant of movies, lost an occasion to do the war of worlds hundred times more interesting IF located in 1890 or so, as Well did.
Images of old artillery, ironclads, trains loaded with soldiers using Martini-henry rifles, etc

instead, a flop...

Fern

[Mentat]

Man, you should read the most ambitious, broad, incredible SF book ever writen, The star Maker by Olaf Stapledon. Metaphysics included.

Also, the best by Clarke, The End of Infancy....

Spielberg, that ......merchant of movies, lost an occasion to do the war of worlds hundred times more interesting IF located in 1890 or so, as Well did.
Images of old artillery, ironclads, trains loaded with soldiers using Martini-henry rifles, etc

instead, a flop...

Fern

Stapleton, suggestion accepted. Already read The End of Infancy, all of Clarke. The War of the Worlds was magic, I am talking about the book. It was so special. The film was the palest of images, a pity. Yes, Spielberg blew that magnificent opportunity to set the landmark, the way Kubrick made use of in the Odyssey 2001...with HAL playing that incredible game of chess...

[spacious_mind]

It must be a prerogative for people who like chess to also like SF books. I grew up loving the SF books mainly written in the 1940's and 1950's which I think was the classic era of Science Fiction. Isaac Asimov with his Foundation series and Robot mysteries. EE Doc Smith and his Lensman series. Robert Heinlein and AE van Vogt all spring to mind, as well as Ray Bradbury. I must have read every one of their books when I was growing up.

Hmmmm wondering if 70's Rock music is another prerogative I went to see Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band last Sunday. What a great concert!!

Best regards,

[Mentat]

Man, you should read the most ambitious, broad, incredible SF book ever writen, The star Maker by Olaf Stapledon. Metaphysics included.

Also, the best by Clarke, The End of Infancy....

Spielberg, that ......merchant of movies, lost an occasion to do the war of worlds hundred times more interesting IF located in 1890 or so, as Well did.
Images of old artillery, ironclads, trains loaded with soldiers using Martini-henry rifles, etc

instead, a flop...

Fern

Just picked up Olaf Stapledon, Starmaker, from 1937 It was on offer by Goodreads, for free in mobi format. So my Kindle will be very busy in the weeks that follow By the way Jorge Luis Borges called it a "prodigious novel"!

[Mentat]

It must be a prerogative for people who like chess to also like SF books. I grew up loving the SF books mainly written in the 1940's and 1950's which I think was the classic era of Science Fiction. Isaac Asimov with his Foundation series and Robot mysteries. EE Doc Smith and his Lensman series. Robert Heinlein and AE van Vogt all spring to mind, as well as Ray Bradbury. I must have read every one of their books when I was growing up.

Hmmmm wondering if 70's Rock music is another prerogative I went to see Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band last Sunday. What a great concert!!

Best regards,

Yes, I go along with you as far as the SF of the 40's and 50's. Regarding the 70's rock I am not quite sure. The rock of the 70's may have stemmed from the hallucinogenic poetic weave world of beat and rock poetry but it need not have the necessary ties with computer chess. Or, it may all have been the Spirit of the Times, expanding your mind any which way you can, even pushing wood .

[spacious_mind]

It must be a prerogative for people who like chess to also like SF books. I grew up loving the SF books mainly written in the 1940's and 1950's which I think was the classic era of Science Fiction. Isaac Asimov with his Foundation series and Robot mysteries. EE Doc Smith and his Lensman series. Robert Heinlein and AE van Vogt all spring to mind, as well as Ray Bradbury. I must have read every one of their books when I was growing up.

Hmmmm wondering if 70's Rock music is another prerogative I went to see Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band last Sunday. What a great concert!!

Best regards,

Yes, I go along with you as far as the SF of the 40's and 50's. Regarding the 70's rock I am not quite sure. The rock of the 70's may have stemmed from the hallucinogenic poetic weave world of beat and rock poetry but it need not have the necessary ties with computer chess. Or, it may all have been the Spirit of the Times, expanding your mind any which way you can, even pushing wood .

Ha! maybe it is just me and the kids I grew up with in England. The more experimental the music the better it was. I was a huge Progressive Rock listener, loving some of the most experimental and weirdest sounds including stuff that came from Germany which the Brits named Krautrock. It is funny but even nowadays as an old man I prefer to listen to this, than the lame stuff that is played on the radio.