Le Parisien

Je reçois le newsletter pendant quelques semaines. Je comprends bien pourquoi il y a toujours plusieurs articles concernant la pandémie de Covid-19. Je comprends aussi pourquoi il y a toujours des articles concernant la présidentielle, même qu'elle ne se déroule qu'en avril. Mais pourquoi il y a chaque jour quelque chose concernant le PSG ... ça me dépasse.

Back to chess

My grandfather taught me the rules before I was eight; soon after that I began attending the local youth chess club and remained its member till the end of my high school days (by then I was also a member of the adult club). I enjoyed it, although in restrospect I can see I wasn't all that interested in the game itself as in the feeling of belonging to some community, encouraged by the weekly meetings and various tournaments.

After high school I moved town and never had the guts to become a member of any club again; but I'd play, now and then, in pubs as long as I was frequenting them. Meanwhile during my college days a friend introduced me to the game of go, and I began to prefer that one, although I never had nearly as much chance to play it as I did with chess.

Thus when I got online I didn't look for a chess server but for a go one; and I played, if extremely rarely, until quite recently, when I finally accepted what deep down I'd known for ages: fascinating as I find the game, it's not for me. You can't draw there, you must strive to win, otherwise you lose, and that goes against the grain: I was always more concerned about not losing than about winning. So a few weeks ago I found a chess server and began playing the old game once again on a more or less regular basis.

So far it satisfies me, even though it obviously lacks the excitement of those tournaments of long ago, and the tactile pleasure of moving wooden pieces around the chessboard rather than clicking a mouse button.

Rangers v Slavia

I wasn't there, so I can't know what really happened. Still, there are questions ...

Slavia's Kúdela claims he swore at Rangers' Kamara at the heat of the moment, but nothing racist. Sure, and he covered his mouth like a wee kid behind a teacher's back just out of force of habit. A very mature and trustworthy guy, apparently?

While Kamara was so shocked by the insult that those reports about the pervasiveness of racism in Britain must be exaggerated. Or maybe it's convenient to be shocked when your team is losing a home match while playing so gentlemanly they get two red cards?

And then there's the attack in the tunnel, according to Slavia 'brutal', despite having no obvious effect upon Kúdela's ability to go on training and playing; nevertheless showing that Kamara must have grotesquely misheard the old adage about sticks and stones.

Grotesquely? Well, after all it's just showbiz, innit?

Yoshirō Mori

Alors, le président du comité d'organisation des Jeux olympiques a dû démissioner. Peut-être adéquatement. Il a dit que des femmes en gestion sont plus compétitives et plus loquace que des hommes. Bien sûr, c'est absolument vrai, mais est-ce poli de le dire tout haut ?

23/7/19

Boris Johnson may have won the leadership-cum-premiership contest, but it was Duncan Scott who Britain could be most proud of yesterday.


(originally posted on Tumblr)