I learned how to play chess from my father who beat me until I refused to play ever again. I didn't play again for many years. Now I will play, but only quick games in which people make more mistakes. Myself included, of course, but I am OK with that. Far as I can tell this really only works against beginning players.

The nutshell of my approach to speed chess:
Think just two moves out (think while the other person is evaluating their moves)
Examine the other person's last move in terms of attack, defense, opening and closing of lanes
Examine what my possible moves are in same terms
Build and maintain open lanes of power
Keep the pressure on (attack with every move if possible)

You gotta try your luck
at least once a day,
because you could be lucky all day
and not even know it.
--Jimmy Dean

Today's google doodle is a digital slalom "canoe" race. The boat in the race is actually a kayak, but it is called a canoe because we speak the English language, and the English call kayaks canoes. This English convention dominates Olympic language. Uninitiated Oregonians call kayaks "rafts" when they are used for whitewater. They see the kayak on in my truck and ask me if I am going rafting. But all this vocababble is beside the point: the doodle race is kinda fun. I did it a bunch of times. http://www.google.com/doodles/slalom-canoe-2012

Teller Reveals His Secrets
The smaller, quieter half of the magician duo Penn & Teller writes about how magicians manipulate the human mind
By Teller | Smithsonian magazine, March 2012
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Teller-Reveals-His-Secrets.html
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A person who has not made peace
with his losses
is likely to accept gambles
that would be unacceptable to him otherwise.
--Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, economic psychologists

I came in early today to attend a meeting about research opportunities at Helfgott. Looks like there is a lot going on, and the project that has Zwickey's juices flowing is the attempt to create a new Practice Based Research Network that includes Naturopaths, Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Chiropractors. The idea is to begin to collect data on what kinds of care people are seeking, on the patient's individual stats and then from there to begin to understand success rates of different modalities. There is no such network for CAM practitioners (complementary and alternative medicine) in existence, so the very beginning stages involve surveying practitioners about what docs to enroll, what carrots to use, what data to collect and how. I have always been interested in the design of surveys and tests, so that's the aspect that I may get involved in.
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