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“A person in a uniform is merely an extension of another person’s will” – Philip Slater – according to RPG Motivational Slides

Oops. This attorney has some unusual payment terms..

over 10,000 satisfied clients indeed!

From Nate Smith to David Ellsworth to you:

Nate sent me a list of some good pictures and videos of Crude Awakening / BLEVE. If you have more, please send them to me and I will forward them to Nate.

– David

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyc6LTVxhJA
Mel Halbach’s color wide angle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYQab6BfmeQ
black and white

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtUD3dV1giE
Sunday morning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9vYE7B1_PU&mode=related&search=
last years

http://thinkcooper.com/Galleries/BM2007_gallery/pages/BM_2007_1476.htm
Sunday morning1

http://thinkcooper.com/Galleries/BM2007_gallery/pages/BM_2007_1477.htm
Sunday morning 2

http://thinkcooper.com/Galleries/BM2007_gallery/pages/BM_2007_1478.htm
Sunday morning 3

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1062/1364755744_46fc525342_o.gif
animated stills

http://www.flickr.com/photos/83096974@N00/1327434039/in/photostream/
Great still

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11472017@N08/1357573503/
pre blast

https://youtube.com/watch?v=sVwUYvAMSjE
good video

https://youtube.com/watch?v=7LNnhKGO5Gw
great dialog

local version:

local version:

local version:

local version:

This is really exciting!

The Lunar X-Prize.

This is a part of the Ocean Beach Fire Pit Project

Hi there all my nearest and dearesteses… For the past two and a half months many of you have not heard from me or seen me much. During this time Rebecca, the Fire Bloom crew and I have been bustin’ our butts to get Bloom #2 ready and onto the beach. We accomplished this with many, many hours of cutting, welding, patterning and grinding!
Now it’s time to play!
This Sunday, July 22nd 2007 (my little sister Amna’s birthday) around sunset, we will be celebrating not only Fire Bloom 2, but also Charlie’s beautiful Starfish! The location is Ocean Beach, between Lincoln and Fulton, across the street from the Beach Chalet. Please join us in the festivities. Bring something to drink or eat, wood to burn and your friends. It will be a lovely time burning, watching the sun set and making merry after a grueling two months of hard work! It has definitely paid off.
Thank you to everyone who supported us and helped make this happen. We look forward to seeing you out there!!
Yasi xoxoxooxo

Ok, this is stupid.

(local copy for posterity) Continue reading ‘Keeping America Safe From the World’s Most Dangerous Poi Spinner’ »

Here’s a follow up to Where to buy art supplies and Burning Man supplies
Originally from The Jack Rabbit Speaks RESOURCE ISSUE #2 Volume 11, Issue #13 JULY 5, 2007.

Here are more resources for buying art and other supplies for Burning Man.

Continue reading ‘Where to buy art supplies and Burning Man supplies: Part 2’ »

In the July 2007 (volume 8, Number 6) issue of Business 2.0 there is an interesting article about Burning Man. It’s cool that there is a photo of the Serpent Mother at the top of one of the pages.

This is a wonderful wonderful article. Don’t read it here, read it on it’s author’s home page.

Continue reading ‘The Alameda-Weehawken Burrito Tunnel’ »

(via, and)

But let me again emphasize, to be good at chess, you need to study and read a bit.

But you also have to have the talent.

I used to be, what I thought, was a pretty decent chess player. I easily beat most people I played and could defeat most of those hand-held computers that were coming out in the 1980s.

Then, one day, a friend invited me over for a smoke and a drink. Seeing that he had a chess table set-up, I asked him if he fancied a game. He beat me quickly. Twice.

So I figured I would see how good he was. During the third game, we’re about 30 moves into the game, and he steps out of the room, so I moved one of his pieces to my advantage. My friend Mark comes back in, sits down, and immediately moves the piece back. Somewhat surprised, I ask if he saw me move it.

Mark looked at me curiously, wiped all the pieces off the board, set them up from the beginning, and says to me “In Chess, you either see it or you do not.” He then makes my opening move, explaining “The standard opening for white,” pausing for effect and then adding “and also the opening move Spasky used in his third match against Fisher in the game I was studying last night.” “Boris is a ham and egger,” he tells me.

“I countered with Fischer’s move,” he says moving his piece. “Also very standard.”

“And then you did something very interesting. A very unconventional move, but I’ve seen it used a few times. When I was 13 someone did this to me and it really threw me off my tempo since it was not like any standard opening. I lost that game in 25 moves.”

Mark was 35 and he was telling me about a game he played when he was 13. At this point I began to understand that I was out of my league.

So he looks at me, and says, “I countered your move with the same move I used against the Israeli national champion at the Philadelphia Open when I was 15. He tried your same trick on me too, but by then I had figured out several defenses.”

He moves his piece, turning a gimlet eye to me, he says “And then you made a really stupid move so I knew you didn’t know what you were doing.”

And he goes on the explain each move up to where he left the room. “This was the position of the board when I left, you moved this pawn here while I was out.”

I was gobsmacked.

It is not enough to study the game, you have to have a photographic memory and a massive intellect to really be any good at it. Turns out my friend Mark Coles – who was one of the smartest people I have ever met – was a ranked Chess Master with a long list of merits and trophies. We were both playing chess, but he was playing another game. I never played much chess after that. I’ll play a game or two with a couple of ex-cons I know who learned to play in the joint, but I don’t really consider it as playing chess. I don’t know anything about the game.
posted by three blind mice at 1:33 AM on June 20 [115 favorites]