The most exciting championship chess news in years!

An international French chess grandmaster along with two of his teammates were suspended by the French Chess Federation over allegations of using a scheme involving computer software and text messages during tournament play.

"The allegations of the cheating came within the French chess set-up, after the federation’s vice president Joanna Pomain found a seemingly incriminating text message on one of the players’ phones.

She found a message sent to Mr Marzolo by Mr Hauchard that read ‘Hurry up and send me some moves ’.  She later discovered Mr Hauchard had sent some 150 messages to his teammate during the tournament at Khanty-Mansiysk last September."

From French Nerds Don’t F*ck Around by Carmel Lobello posted on March 25, 2011:

According to the French federation, while international grand master Sebastien Feller, 19, was involved in a game, Cyril Marzolo followed developments over the internet and used computer software to establish the best next move. The answer was then sent by means of a coded text message to the third member of the team, Arnaud Hauc
hard.

The third member would then sit himself at a particular table in the competition hall. Each table represented an agreed square on the chess board. This, according to French media reports, was the most delicate part of the operation.

Mr Feller, a grandmaster, won three games at the tournament, collecting a gold medal and £4,400 in prize money.

In the past, there have been allegations of cheating in chess, but never with concrete proof.  These allegations have shocked the chess world.  Oh my!

 Sebastian Feller, 20 year old chess grandmaster was
one of the top French chess players suspended

Americans live in Russia, but they think they live in Sweden. – Chrystia Freeland

This is my review of the book:
Winner-Take-All Politics:  How Washington Made the Rich Richer—and Turned its Back on the Middle Class, by Paul Pierson and Jacob Hacker


No one should doubt the rising income inequality in America, which the authors trace back to the late 1970s since the latter part of Carter's presidency in what they call the "30 Year War".  Zachary Roth, in a March 4th Time magazine article stated "A slew of conservative economists of unimpeachable academic credentials--including Martin Feldstein of Harvard, Glenn Hubbard, who was President Bush's top economic adviser, and Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke--have all acknowledged that inequality is on the rise."

And why should we care that most of the after tax income growth since 30 years ago has gone the way of the richest Americans in a "winner-take-all" economy?  Because as Supreme Court justice biographer Melvin Urofsky stated, "in a democratic society the existence of large centers of private power is dangerous to the continuing vitality of a free people." (p. 81)  Because if unchecked, a new economic aristocracy may replace the old hereditary aristocracy America's Founders fought to defeat (p. 298).  Because unequal societies are unhappy societies, and inequality can foster individual resentment that may lead to a pervasive decline in civility and erosion of culture.

And why should we be concerned that this trend in rising inequality may not experience the period of renewal the authors are optimistic about?  Because unlike the shock of the 1930s' Great Depression that served as the impetus for the politics of middle class democracy, the potential shockwaves of the 2008 Great Recession were tempered by massive government stimulus, resulting in no meaningful financial reform, and an extension of the tax cuts for the wealthy.  And because of the lottery mentality of a large swath of the population which opposes tax increases on the rich.  One day, they or their children too can share in the American dream.  According to an October 2000 Time-CNN poll, 19 percent of Americans were convinced they belonged to the richest 1 percent.  Another 20 percent thought they'd make the rank of the top 1 percent at some point in their lives.  That's quite a turnover in the top 1 percent category to accommodate 20 percent of the population passing through.

Mr. Hacker and Mr. Pierson have put together powerful arguments on the root causes of income inequality in the U.S., its political and economic ramifications, and to a lesser extent, a roadmap to returning democracy to the masses.  This is an eye opening and disturbing, yet informative book, even for readers who may disagree with their opinions.

What Would Jesus Do????

After a rough week at work, I was elated to pick up dinner at the Curry House (Japanese Curry) on my way home.  I pulled up my car in the garage, ran upstairs and changed into my pajamas as fast as I could to eat my dinner while it was still warm.  After a couple of bites in relative calm, my younger one began belting out this undesirable tune (her new specialty) with a bucket of drool secreted by the end of this 5 star performance (she continued this stunt for the remainder of dinner, almost non-stop) -  Crank up your volume for max effect:

So while this music was playing in the background, the first thought that came to my mind was "What would Jesus do" if he were in this objectionable circumstance?

I got no ass left today!

Captain's log - Stardate 40622 (that date translates to today's date in MS Excel):

After the first few words out of my wife's mouth this morning, I knew my fate was sealed for the day, and I would have my ass handed to me in short order.  We had eaten beef carpaccio (raw, very thinly sliced beef) the night before.  I picked up the food from our favorite restaurant, Anjin, in Costa Mesa.  We were warned that we shouldn't let the carpaccio sit for too long as it would rapidly spoil.  So my wife threw up a few times in the middle of the night and was in no shape to contribute to taking care of our two rascals.  My only regret is that I didn't throw up alongside her; a rare opportunity to take advantage of food poisoning.

The first undesirable moment of the day came when my wife handed me our 10 month old for what I initially believed to be a routine diaper change.  As I opened her diaper, the abhorrent scene almost made me faint.  There was so much mashed poop there that my first thought was to call CDC's Bioterrorism Unit for assistance.  The severity level of this poop case was high enough to fill out a whole Target plastic bag.  What came out of our lil' Johanna was without a doubt weapons-grade material.

Then, as I was eating my breakfast near the poopinator in her Fisher-Price Jumperoo (pictured below), she drooled like a gallon of saliva while she was whining with her arms open to be picked up the whole time.  Don't be fooled by that smile.  That's after I flipped open my cell phone to take a picture of her.  She was just posing.

Now, what I'm dying to know is who was the genius who designed this process of baby conception, development and birth?  'Cause if babies were products manufactured in the private sector, we'd have 100% recalls and exchanges after exchanges after exchanges.  Even Hyundai didn't roll off this many substandard products from their assembly line during their early days.  Can you imagine dealing with a semi-intelligent robot who burps in front of people, pees, poops and throws up all over your house, car and clothes (and other people's too), screams for no apparent reason, wakes you up in the middle of the night just because, and falls back to sleep just as quickly?

Who decided that's how babies should be?  Why couldn't they just sit still for a few years, observe and learn the proper way to behave?  A simple fail safe line of code in my older daughter's brain could hit her brakes as soon as she's about to poke her little sister in the eye.  She would freeze on the spot and reboot with hopefully better execution.  But no, babies come loaded with malwares of the worst kind, so powerful it takes a good 30 years for all of their ill effects to subside, but even then some persist.

And to top it all off, as I was typing the last sentence of this log, my daughter who was sitting on our fabric couch next to me looked up and said "Pappa, I peed" (see video below).  And we still have a half day to go!

Is Happiness Overrated? - Who cares if we exaggerate the joys of parenthood?

According to a March 15^th, 2011 WSJ article titled “Is Happiness Overrated”, there are two kinds of happiness:

1.       Hedonic:   Short term and fleeting, triggered by temporary pleasurable experiences such as one’s favorite sports team performing well, watching a good movie, or eating a delicious meal.

2.       Eudaimonic:  Long lasting and associated with positive physical and psychological health.  Volunteering, going to medical school, and raising children are the types of activities that promote this kind of well being.  Living with a purpose, while not as pleasurable day to day, is better for the physical and mental state.  Wait… raising children gives a sense of fulfillment? 

The article I posted in the blog below, titled “Why we exaggerate the Joys of Parenthood” states unequivocally that people are worse off with children.  Ms. Carol Ryff who is a professor and director of the Institute on Aging at the University of Wisconsin says, “Sometimes things that really matter most are not conducive to short-term happiness."  Perhaps this statement best reconciles the contradicting statements on parenting.  As a parent, one’s short term happiness (Hedonic) declines while long term well being (Eudaimonic) improves.  Nevermind that earlier today while I was trying to unbuckle my 2 year old out of her car seat to have her ride ponies and trains she screamed like a banshee because her favorite shoes were not in sight.  In the long run, I will avoid early death and disease and have my risk of Alzheimer’s cut in half, except my hearing may be slightly impaired; a small sacrifice.

“Symptoms of depression, paranoia and psychopathology have increased among generations of American college students from 1938 to 2007, according to a statistical review published in 2010 in Clinical Psychology Review. Researchers at San Diego State University who conducted the analysis pointed to increasing cultural emphasis in the U.S. on materialism and status, which emphasize hedonic happiness, and decreasing attention to community and meaning in life, as possible explanations.”

However, let’s not forget that while money can't buy you happiness, it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.

Kids make parents delusional?

An article published in Time Magazine on Friday, March 4th, 2011 titled "Why we exaggerate the Joys of Parenthood" focused on the the results of a research paper published in the journal "Psychological Science".  The two authors of the study tested their theory of cognitive dissonance, which when applied to parenting states despite the emotional and financial drain from having kids, parents glorify their lives.... It turns out parents are in the grip of a giant illusion...."people are highly motivated to justify, deny or rationalize to reduce the cognitivie discomfort of holding conflicting ideas.  Cognitive dissonance explains why our feelings can sometimes be paradoxically worse when something good happens or paradoxically better when something bad happens."

As for my personal experience, I have wanted kids for as long as I can remember, and the experience of having two has not changed my mind about the matter.  If I were to do it over, I wouldn't have changed a thing, except, maybe have my kids a few years earlier.  Sure, my frustrations have grown from handling two little creatures with a development deficiency in the frontal lobe, but the older one, now almost three, is growing and learning quickly how to get what she wants in less painful, more subtle and thoughtful ways.  I wouldn't go as far as saying spending a day with my kids is more rewarding than other activities, especially when my older one keeps kicking the ball sideways towards the street rather than to me, which prompts me to sprint to stop her from running into the street after the ball.  I will consider the experience more rewarding as soon as she starts kicking the ball back to me, within one or two steps from where I'm standing, TOPS!

Ghetto Child Psychology - The Journal

The following ad-hoc recommendations are by no means scientific.  They have not emanated from published and peer reviewed studies in prestigious journals such as the “Annual Review of Psychology” or “Behavioral and Brain Science”.  They have evolved purely from my deficient cognitive process; one that is reactive and impulsive to day to day frustrations of parenting.  Some actions have resulted in adverse reactions, and I’ve included them in my “Ghetto Child Psychology” journal as well.  So it’s not all about do “A” and you will marvel at “B” the result.  Some are do “A” and you will forever regret “B” the result.  The purpose of this journal is to curb your child’s undesirable behavior (or yours), or instigate desirable behavior.

Here’s an example of a “gosh darn it, I wish I never would’ve done this to make my life miserable”:

Article 1:  As my two year old was regressing during her potty training, I decided to show her some of the poop she wasn’t supposed to do in her diaper.  We were using a diaper during her mid day nap and night time sleep.  She became so grossed out at the sight of her poop that she began refusing to poop in the toilet.  She was traumatized by the smell.  So it became an ordeal to have her poop in the toilet, constantly begging and cajoling her.  Now we have to use my Axe deodorant (Phoenix flavor) every time she poops, and I have become so traumatized by the association (Axe deodorant = poop) that I’ve stopped using it.

Article 2:  All parents have gone through and continue to experience this undesirable request from a child:  Very often, while we’re driving somewhere as a family, my 2 year old asks my wife in Swedish to play her Swedish CD filled with Swedish children’s songs that are sung by seemingly some of the most unprofessional singers.  We’re talking pitch problems all over the place.  So in the middle of enjoying Enrique Iglesias’ “Tonight”, I have to clench my teeth and let my daughter listen to her music.  Here’s a psychological resolutions to this undesirable situation.  (I figured this out on the fly today):  As I was listening to my song on the radio, my daughter made one of these party pooper requests.  So I kept my music cranking, and proceeded to let her know the stereo was broken, and none of the buttons were working.  I even pressed on some of the benign buttons; the ones that are pressed at inopportune times and result in no change in anything whatsoever (such as the CD eject button when there is no CD).  So I managed to continue to listen to my song, and by the time I changed the station, my daughter had forgotten the stereo is not supposed to work, and I was ready to sell her my bullship story again should the need arise.