"As they passed the rows of houses they saw through the open doors that men were sweeping and dusting and washing dishes, while the women sat around in groups, gossiping and laughing.
"What has happened?" the Scarecrow asked a sad-looking man with a bushy beard, who wore an apron and was wheeling a baby-carriage along the sidewalk.
"Why, we've had a revolution, your Majesty -- as you ought to know very well," replied the man; "and since you went away the women have been running things to suit themselves. I'm glad you have decided to come back and restore order, for doing housework and minding the children is wearing out the strength of every man in the Emerald City."
"Hm!" said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully. "If it is such hard work as you say, how did the women manage it so easily?"
"I really do not know," replied the man, with a deep sigh. "Perhaps the women are made of cast-iron.""
- L. Frank Baum, "The Land of Oz"
Saturday, February 28, 2009
America will have to continue to wait for another dominant World Chess Championship contender. Alas, our Gata Kamsky lost his match to the Bulgarian chess genius Veselin Topalov.
Truth be told, Kamsky never dominated the game of chess like Fischer did in his day, but it would have been fun to see him playing for Old Glory, going for the world crown. Oh well.
Since me and Thinklings commenter, Les, are probably the only ones who care about this topic, I suppose I should have just sent Les an email ... but what would be the fun in that?
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Comments on "The Wait Continues":
5. The Ancient Mariner
- 02/28/2009 12:35 pm CST
Eight--second grade. That's one of the good things about the move, that her school here has a chess club; she's been progressing well this year.
I don't know of any tournaments for adults around here, but if there are any I'm sure Matt (our neighbor across the back, whose daughter is one of Lydia's best friends and a chess teammate of hers) will tell me. I would like to get back to playing on the Thinklings, too, if life ever slows down long enough . . .
6. Les
- 03/01/2009 1:27 pm CST
Ancient Mariner!
Very cool about your daughter! It's always exciting to me to see kids' enthusiasm about the game. You have to have a bit of a thick skin, though. I taught my sixth graders, and there were always one or two who would start beating me by the end of the school year.
Bird:
You're right. This is more fun.
8. Bill
- 03/03/2009 10:53 am CST
"at least it's not soccer"
You must mean football. The greatest sport in the world (and I'm not talking about the version with the helmets and pads and the funny looking ball either)
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FWIW, my oldest had her first chess tournament last Saturday (having missed an earlier one due to a failure of communication), and has her second next Saturday. She played well, but she's still too nice. :)