Cybersecurity Act of 2009, if passed in the U.S Senate, will be the beginning of the end of free speech. This bill gives the President virtually complete authority to do anything with the internet.
The similarities are unmistakeable.
Amidst 9/11, they passed an Act which gave them power to arrest and jail a person indefinitely without trial.
The TARP program was announced with a veiled threat of an impending market collapse. Billions went into executive paychecks and bonuses. Trillions of dollars went to Wall Street extortionists.
Now the U.S government is creating a situation of terror to pass this bill. They are screaming of cyber attacks on all government agency websites which could affect national security. You will see some dramas if this bill doesn't pass. Some of the "crucial" websites would be under "attack" in 9/11 mode!
The real stories are always ignored in CNN, Foxtel,CNBC etc. Only a few of us ignore mainstream media and seek the truth from internet. Now they are taking it over.
Both work for the same masters. Bush and Obama. Latter is the made up face of imperialism.
What are you doing - you Americans? Watching TV 6 hours a day and eating burgers while your freedom is being snatched away from you?
Shame on you.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
All about Dollar
U.S Dollar is going through its most critical phase now. It is facing an unprecedented test of confidence. All these years, U.S was exporting paper ($) and importing real goods. This may come to an end soon.
Lets study the history of the mighty dollar first. Dollar was fully pegged against gold from 1800's onwards. An ounce of gold was worth around $20. This price never fluctuated much till 1970's - mostly it was in $20-$22 price band. Thus, for nearly two centuries, the value of the dollar remained stable against the gold.
Then, the most infamous president in U.S history, the most crooked of them all, Richard Nixon, removed the gold standard and made it a fiat currency - well not quite - he pegged it against the oil. In a masterstroke, he laid the foundation of dollar imperialism by forcing the biggest oil exporter in the world (Saudi Arabia) to trade its oil in dollar.
That single act changed everything. Dollar became the world's most preferred currency. If China wants to import oil, they have to pay in USD. Not in any other currency. They have to earn USD first by exporting goods to U.S.
This is the reason why no central bank in the world wants their currency to rise against the dollar. China is artificially controlling the value of yuan so that it will not rise against the dollar. If it does, well - it actually is - it will be expensive for the U.S to buy goods from China and China won't get dollar through export. And if it doesn't, China won't be able to buy oil.
Through that single act, U.S managed to get an unlimited credit card. A card for which there is no repayment - not even a minimum amount due.
U.S had gone a step further with oil exporting countries. Not only they have to accept USD as the trading currency, but they will have to invest the proceeds - USD - into U.S treasury bonds. U.S will use the interest on those bonds as a return for lending them their military and other technologies - for example construction.
This is called petro-dollar recycling. U.S will print this worthless papers called treasury bonds, sell them to these suckers and the suckers will feed U.S with their resources. By suckers I mean every other country on earth.
Then U.S went one step further. If anyone steps out of the line (like Saddam did - he tried to trade oil for Euro), they will use military force. And how does U.S feed this most destructive force on Earth? With your money!!
It is estimated that the recent bailout of U.S economy cost anything between 12-15 trillion dollars. How did they get the money? They just printed it. Conjured it out of thin air! None of those trillions went into real economy like commodities or other goods and services. All of it had gone to financial services - mostly false economies. It went to those who had made a casino out of U.S economy - who literally blackmailed U.S Government with the threat of bankruptcy.
This is not the end of the story. Worse is not over yet. U.S will need another infusion of trillions of dollars. We have only seen the beginning.
Citibank recently reported a profit after the bailout. I am not sure about the numbers. But it was pathetically clear that it was done to boost the share price. Months before that profit announcement, the regulators amended an accounting treatment to suit Citibank.
Suppose you have an investment for $250 Million dollars in some bonds or fancy financial instruments. The current market value of it is $1 Million. The old accounting practice was mark to market - meaning you are supposed to record the market value and write $249 million loss to your P&L. This is conservative, sensible accounting. If I am not mistaken, in India, the norms are tighter. If the market value has gone up to say $500 million, still you will record it at $250 Million. You are not allowed to show the notional profit in your P&l, unless you actually gain the profit by physically selling the investment.
Do you know what U.S Government did? They invented a new accounting method. Even if the value of your investments fell down by 99%, you can still value it at its original cost or even higher, depending upon what a computer model predicted as its potential value. Translated into layman's words - never trust the balance sheet of any U.S Bank from now on.
Why did the U.S government allowed this? Because they are the biggest shareholders of Citibank. They wanted Citibank's share price to go up at any cost. They wanted the Federal Reserve balance sheet to look healthy now that people like Ron Paul are demanding a Federal Reserve audit.
Do you know how the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve will look like?
On the liability side, $15 Trillion. On the assets side, companies like Citibank, Fannie mae, Freddie Mac etc.
How do you think a Country which borrows $4 billion a day will be able to pay back these trillions? If I were the creditor to U.S, what would I do? I would try to find out an ingenious way to come out of this s*it.
That is what countries like China, Saudi and Japan are doing. They are all thinking hard to come out of this unscathed. If dollar loses its reserve currency status, all these creditors would lose trillions because the treasury bonds would become worthless. Not that it already isn't.
There could be 3 situations. situation one - the bullet become larger. Somehow, all these will subside and we all wait for the next bubble to burst and then the bailout becomes much, much larger and eventually uncontrollable. Instead of biting the bullet now, you bite an cannon ball later and die.
Situation two - all these U.S debts would be consolidated in a bank like IMF as SDR's - special drawing rights. That would mean that instead of dollar, international transactions would be in some other form like the SDRs. I have an inkling this is the way things would eventually go.
Situation three - Instead of spending, U.S begins to save. Instead of importing stuff, they consume less and begin to export stuff. This would mean a 180 degree turnaround - a complete U turn. Unless the rest of the world sees a clear, tangible shift towards this, most likely it would be situation 1 first and then situation 2.
In situation 2, USD would be worthless and U.S would be indebted in some other sensible global currency forever. Hyperinflation would hit U.S economy. In comparison Zimbabwe (inflation - 1000000%) would look like a rich country.
The problem with one country controlling the reserve currency is that unless that country shows fiscal responsibility, the rest of the world suffers - of no reason their own. Like Iceland did. Like the rest of the world suffers now.
To my friends in U.S and elsewhere : switch your investments to Gold or real estate in an asian country like India. India's economy is really unique. Exports form only 20% or less of our GDP. Our domestic economy is one of the strongest in the world. Holding onto your USD or related instruments, you are taking the risk of your life.
You can make money out of this. Short USD and go long on gold.
Peter Schiff tells us a story about asians and an american in an island:
"Some people that got stranded on an island, and I think it was 6 or 7 were Asians and there was one American and as soon as they were on the island they had to divide up the jobs. And one Asian was given the job of fishing, the other one was hunting, one of them got the job of gathering fire wood. So they all had jobs, and the American was assigned the job of eating. And so at the end of the day, they would all gather around and prepare this feast and the American would sit there and eat it. But he would´nt eat it all, he´d just leave enough crumbs so he could give to the 6 Asians so they could go on and repeat it again tomorrow, spend all day preparing a meal for the American to eat. Now, the way modern economists would look at it, they would say “Well, this American is vital to the whole island economy. Without him nobody would have to fish, nobody would have to hunt, nobody would have to gather fire wood. He is creating all this employment on the island”. But the reality is, every Asian on that island, his lot in life would be dramatically improved if they kicked the American off the island because now they would have a lot more to eat or maybe they wouldn´t have to spend all day hunting and fishing and they can lay on the beach a little bit”
Thats the silver lining of the whole thing. If the dollar collapses, the rest of the world may face a temporary crisis. But the living standards for the rest of us would be much, much higher. Asian countries would be the biggest beneficiaries.
Lets kick this cancer out before it is too late.
Note: Please also see my earlier post on the subject: http://sydneymurugan.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-we-carry-you.html
Lets study the history of the mighty dollar first. Dollar was fully pegged against gold from 1800's onwards. An ounce of gold was worth around $20. This price never fluctuated much till 1970's - mostly it was in $20-$22 price band. Thus, for nearly two centuries, the value of the dollar remained stable against the gold.
Then, the most infamous president in U.S history, the most crooked of them all, Richard Nixon, removed the gold standard and made it a fiat currency - well not quite - he pegged it against the oil. In a masterstroke, he laid the foundation of dollar imperialism by forcing the biggest oil exporter in the world (Saudi Arabia) to trade its oil in dollar.
That single act changed everything. Dollar became the world's most preferred currency. If China wants to import oil, they have to pay in USD. Not in any other currency. They have to earn USD first by exporting goods to U.S.
This is the reason why no central bank in the world wants their currency to rise against the dollar. China is artificially controlling the value of yuan so that it will not rise against the dollar. If it does, well - it actually is - it will be expensive for the U.S to buy goods from China and China won't get dollar through export. And if it doesn't, China won't be able to buy oil.
Through that single act, U.S managed to get an unlimited credit card. A card for which there is no repayment - not even a minimum amount due.
U.S had gone a step further with oil exporting countries. Not only they have to accept USD as the trading currency, but they will have to invest the proceeds - USD - into U.S treasury bonds. U.S will use the interest on those bonds as a return for lending them their military and other technologies - for example construction.
This is called petro-dollar recycling. U.S will print this worthless papers called treasury bonds, sell them to these suckers and the suckers will feed U.S with their resources. By suckers I mean every other country on earth.
Then U.S went one step further. If anyone steps out of the line (like Saddam did - he tried to trade oil for Euro), they will use military force. And how does U.S feed this most destructive force on Earth? With your money!!
It is estimated that the recent bailout of U.S economy cost anything between 12-15 trillion dollars. How did they get the money? They just printed it. Conjured it out of thin air! None of those trillions went into real economy like commodities or other goods and services. All of it had gone to financial services - mostly false economies. It went to those who had made a casino out of U.S economy - who literally blackmailed U.S Government with the threat of bankruptcy.
This is not the end of the story. Worse is not over yet. U.S will need another infusion of trillions of dollars. We have only seen the beginning.
Citibank recently reported a profit after the bailout. I am not sure about the numbers. But it was pathetically clear that it was done to boost the share price. Months before that profit announcement, the regulators amended an accounting treatment to suit Citibank.
Suppose you have an investment for $250 Million dollars in some bonds or fancy financial instruments. The current market value of it is $1 Million. The old accounting practice was mark to market - meaning you are supposed to record the market value and write $249 million loss to your P&L. This is conservative, sensible accounting. If I am not mistaken, in India, the norms are tighter. If the market value has gone up to say $500 million, still you will record it at $250 Million. You are not allowed to show the notional profit in your P&l, unless you actually gain the profit by physically selling the investment.
Do you know what U.S Government did? They invented a new accounting method. Even if the value of your investments fell down by 99%, you can still value it at its original cost or even higher, depending upon what a computer model predicted as its potential value. Translated into layman's words - never trust the balance sheet of any U.S Bank from now on.
Why did the U.S government allowed this? Because they are the biggest shareholders of Citibank. They wanted Citibank's share price to go up at any cost. They wanted the Federal Reserve balance sheet to look healthy now that people like Ron Paul are demanding a Federal Reserve audit.
Do you know how the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve will look like?
On the liability side, $15 Trillion. On the assets side, companies like Citibank, Fannie mae, Freddie Mac etc.
How do you think a Country which borrows $4 billion a day will be able to pay back these trillions? If I were the creditor to U.S, what would I do? I would try to find out an ingenious way to come out of this s*it.
That is what countries like China, Saudi and Japan are doing. They are all thinking hard to come out of this unscathed. If dollar loses its reserve currency status, all these creditors would lose trillions because the treasury bonds would become worthless. Not that it already isn't.
There could be 3 situations. situation one - the bullet become larger. Somehow, all these will subside and we all wait for the next bubble to burst and then the bailout becomes much, much larger and eventually uncontrollable. Instead of biting the bullet now, you bite an cannon ball later and die.
Situation two - all these U.S debts would be consolidated in a bank like IMF as SDR's - special drawing rights. That would mean that instead of dollar, international transactions would be in some other form like the SDRs. I have an inkling this is the way things would eventually go.
Situation three - Instead of spending, U.S begins to save. Instead of importing stuff, they consume less and begin to export stuff. This would mean a 180 degree turnaround - a complete U turn. Unless the rest of the world sees a clear, tangible shift towards this, most likely it would be situation 1 first and then situation 2.
In situation 2, USD would be worthless and U.S would be indebted in some other sensible global currency forever. Hyperinflation would hit U.S economy. In comparison Zimbabwe (inflation - 1000000%) would look like a rich country.
The problem with one country controlling the reserve currency is that unless that country shows fiscal responsibility, the rest of the world suffers - of no reason their own. Like Iceland did. Like the rest of the world suffers now.
To my friends in U.S and elsewhere : switch your investments to Gold or real estate in an asian country like India. India's economy is really unique. Exports form only 20% or less of our GDP. Our domestic economy is one of the strongest in the world. Holding onto your USD or related instruments, you are taking the risk of your life.
You can make money out of this. Short USD and go long on gold.
Peter Schiff tells us a story about asians and an american in an island:
"Some people that got stranded on an island, and I think it was 6 or 7 were Asians and there was one American and as soon as they were on the island they had to divide up the jobs. And one Asian was given the job of fishing, the other one was hunting, one of them got the job of gathering fire wood. So they all had jobs, and the American was assigned the job of eating. And so at the end of the day, they would all gather around and prepare this feast and the American would sit there and eat it. But he would´nt eat it all, he´d just leave enough crumbs so he could give to the 6 Asians so they could go on and repeat it again tomorrow, spend all day preparing a meal for the American to eat. Now, the way modern economists would look at it, they would say “Well, this American is vital to the whole island economy. Without him nobody would have to fish, nobody would have to hunt, nobody would have to gather fire wood. He is creating all this employment on the island”. But the reality is, every Asian on that island, his lot in life would be dramatically improved if they kicked the American off the island because now they would have a lot more to eat or maybe they wouldn´t have to spend all day hunting and fishing and they can lay on the beach a little bit”
Thats the silver lining of the whole thing. If the dollar collapses, the rest of the world may face a temporary crisis. But the living standards for the rest of us would be much, much higher. Asian countries would be the biggest beneficiaries.
Lets kick this cancer out before it is too late.
Note: Please also see my earlier post on the subject: http://sydneymurugan.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-we-carry-you.html
Thursday, June 18, 2009
"Thakarachenda" - a movie by Avira Rebecca.
Ever tasted hunger? Ever faced homelessness? Ever felt what it is like to be at the receiving end every day of your life?
If you want to know how life is at the bottom of the pyramid, watch this movie.
Click on the title - it will take you to the story.
Good movies in Malayalam are so hard to come by these days. It was released (?) in 2007.
Watch it, my friends. Experience how it is like to be poor.
If possible, watch it with your kids. Tell them about poverty. Let them know that the comforts we take for granted carry a price tag.
This is an honest movie. And it shows.
If you want to know how life is at the bottom of the pyramid, watch this movie.
Click on the title - it will take you to the story.
Good movies in Malayalam are so hard to come by these days. It was released (?) in 2007.
Watch it, my friends. Experience how it is like to be poor.
If possible, watch it with your kids. Tell them about poverty. Let them know that the comforts we take for granted carry a price tag.
This is an honest movie. And it shows.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
This is a fascinating account of how corperatocracy achieves its pervasiveness. How imperialism, masqueraded as neoliberalism, is thrust upon resource-rich countries via unserviceable loans. Gone are the days when you grab the resources with military might. That was old method - expensive, messy and negative publicity. Changed times calls for changed techniques. New method is more subtle, less expensive, faster and long lasting. With the new method,you need lots of brains and a few people - well trained corporate commandos called EHMs - Economic Hit Men.
The way this is achieved is really simple. They (U.S Government - in the form of World Bank, IMF) identify one country with a particular resource - lets say oil. They send out their EHMs to do the legwork. They come in, do their research and collect data. In this process, they also identify and condition willing traitors, opinion drivers, power brokers and other key players within the bureaucracy or dictatorship - as the case may be. Those who do not fall for money is coerced through other means - say sex or even veiled or blatant threats.
The next stage is identifying a project which directly or indirectly or even unrelated to the resource they want to grab. The objective here is to force you to accept a huge loan which they know you can't service. But you can not force somebody to accept a loan, can you? Here comes their research reports, projections and other enticing numbers. This is to convince you that your economic growth and the resulting rise in GDP and per capita income would give you more than enough money in taxes and other revenues to service the debt easily. Often these projections are made for a period of 25 to 50 years. Long term benefits. Was it not John Maynard Keynes, the founder of keynesian theory who said "In the long term, we're all dead."?
How ironical, isn't it?
For some of you who are not familiar with economics, let me explain this irony.
Keynesian economics argues that private sector decisions sometimes lead to inefficient macroeconomic outcomes and therefore advocates active policy responses by the public sector, including monetary policy actions by the central bank and fiscal policy actions by the government to stabilize output over the business cycle. This is from wikipedia.
Got the irony part now?
Okay. Let's go to the next stage now.
You are convinced now. Like you were not in the first place. When I say convinced, I mean that you are now convinced that you have something with which you can convince the people. The locals. The less fortunate. The real owners of those resources.
Come on, do you think that this is a big job?
If you can't, help doesn't end there. You can use our vast network of trumpets. Boardroom Bulletins - as Arundhati Roy puts it.
Okay. You have now agreed in principle. Lets go to the next stage - the specifics. The part they like. This is where the meat is.
The project - be it a construction of a dam, railway, roads or anything - needs to be done by competent people - not your homegrown, third rate companies. Competent here would mean a handful of companies. Bechtel, Halliburton and the like.
Do a research on them please. On IMF, World Bank and the competent companies, I mean.
You will find these outfits are as international as your granddad's grocery shop.
U.S Hold veto power. They are also the biggest single shareholder. The poorest of the poor 150+ countries together hold less than 30%. Got the picture?
Calculations by U.S treasury shows that for every U.S.$1 the United States contributes to international development banks, U.S. exporters win more than U.S.$2 in bank-financed procurement contracts. International, my foot!
Dominated by neoclassical economists, these outfits are systematically looting poor countries out of their valuable resources in two ways - One - repayment of loans (I mean interests, not the principal) - Two - by bringing valuable resources like oil, minerals, metals or even water (remember Bolivia) into the whole equation.
I am being carried away. Lets finish what we started.
These projects are often highly capital intensive and require technical know-how which is in the possession of only a few. A common feature of all these projects is that it often involves technical updations and require long term maintenance contracts, stretching to the project's economic life. That would mean highly lucrative maintenance contracts.
Do you know that IMF or World Bank have never disapproved a loan? All these projects have never been aimed at alleviating poverty, eradicating hunger. It had always been a recycling mechanism - a way to indebt poor countries and re-cycle the money back to big corporations. The pound of flesh had always been the same - right to exploit natural resources, formulation of pro-imperialistic policies and the like .
In an Indian context, whenever a voice is heard against this form of imperialism, you are labelled anti-development.
This was not meant to be a book review. But you must read this book. And its sequel too - "The Secret history of American Empire" - by the same author.
The way this is achieved is really simple. They (U.S Government - in the form of World Bank, IMF) identify one country with a particular resource - lets say oil. They send out their EHMs to do the legwork. They come in, do their research and collect data. In this process, they also identify and condition willing traitors, opinion drivers, power brokers and other key players within the bureaucracy or dictatorship - as the case may be. Those who do not fall for money is coerced through other means - say sex or even veiled or blatant threats.
The next stage is identifying a project which directly or indirectly or even unrelated to the resource they want to grab. The objective here is to force you to accept a huge loan which they know you can't service. But you can not force somebody to accept a loan, can you? Here comes their research reports, projections and other enticing numbers. This is to convince you that your economic growth and the resulting rise in GDP and per capita income would give you more than enough money in taxes and other revenues to service the debt easily. Often these projections are made for a period of 25 to 50 years. Long term benefits. Was it not John Maynard Keynes, the founder of keynesian theory who said "In the long term, we're all dead."?
How ironical, isn't it?
For some of you who are not familiar with economics, let me explain this irony.
Keynesian economics argues that private sector decisions sometimes lead to inefficient macroeconomic outcomes and therefore advocates active policy responses by the public sector, including monetary policy actions by the central bank and fiscal policy actions by the government to stabilize output over the business cycle. This is from wikipedia.
Got the irony part now?
Okay. Let's go to the next stage now.
You are convinced now. Like you were not in the first place. When I say convinced, I mean that you are now convinced that you have something with which you can convince the people. The locals. The less fortunate. The real owners of those resources.
Come on, do you think that this is a big job?
If you can't, help doesn't end there. You can use our vast network of trumpets. Boardroom Bulletins - as Arundhati Roy puts it.
Okay. You have now agreed in principle. Lets go to the next stage - the specifics. The part they like. This is where the meat is.
The project - be it a construction of a dam, railway, roads or anything - needs to be done by competent people - not your homegrown, third rate companies. Competent here would mean a handful of companies. Bechtel, Halliburton and the like.
Do a research on them please. On IMF, World Bank and the competent companies, I mean.
You will find these outfits are as international as your granddad's grocery shop.
U.S Hold veto power. They are also the biggest single shareholder. The poorest of the poor 150+ countries together hold less than 30%. Got the picture?
Calculations by U.S treasury shows that for every U.S.$1 the United States contributes to international development banks, U.S. exporters win more than U.S.$2 in bank-financed procurement contracts. International, my foot!
Dominated by neoclassical economists, these outfits are systematically looting poor countries out of their valuable resources in two ways - One - repayment of loans (I mean interests, not the principal) - Two - by bringing valuable resources like oil, minerals, metals or even water (remember Bolivia) into the whole equation.
I am being carried away. Lets finish what we started.
These projects are often highly capital intensive and require technical know-how which is in the possession of only a few. A common feature of all these projects is that it often involves technical updations and require long term maintenance contracts, stretching to the project's economic life. That would mean highly lucrative maintenance contracts.
Do you know that IMF or World Bank have never disapproved a loan? All these projects have never been aimed at alleviating poverty, eradicating hunger. It had always been a recycling mechanism - a way to indebt poor countries and re-cycle the money back to big corporations. The pound of flesh had always been the same - right to exploit natural resources, formulation of pro-imperialistic policies and the like .
In an Indian context, whenever a voice is heard against this form of imperialism, you are labelled anti-development.
This was not meant to be a book review. But you must read this book. And its sequel too - "The Secret history of American Empire" - by the same author.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Mate in two
Have a look at the board below:
This is a beautiful Chess problem. White has to move and checkmate Black king in 2 moves.
Let us analyze the problem now. What do you see on the board?
You see the Black king almost smothered. He has only one legal move, which is to capture the white rook in d5. Lets think about it's consequences later. Let's continue with analysis of the position.
Besides the king, Black has 4 pieces: 2 pawns and 2 rooks. The pawns are blocked. The rooks can move. In fact, the rooks are attacking white's pieces.
What about white?
White has an overwhelming superiority over Black. If this were a real game, only an enthusiastic newbie will continue playing as Black. Black's fate is sealed unless white is brain-dead in the next minute or two.
But thats not our problem. Our problem is to checkmate Black in 2 moves.
Lets try the most obvious-looking possibilities first. Lets capture the Black rook sitting in d7 with rook in f7. Will this achieve our purpose? No. The remaining Black rook could capture the knight. And, forget about checkmate in next move.
You can try various moves, till you get fed up or accidentally arrive at the correct move.
Try moving the Bishop, pinning the rook. Or a check with Knight at g5. Move the Queen, or the King, even. Try the pawn push, making it a queen , or any piece you like. The more you try, the more you appreciate the depth of the problem.
Now, those who have seen or solved problems like these know that first move is never an obvious move. It is never a Check or a capture. It is silent, with minimum of ripples and yet, when unveiled, it is a certain death sentence for the opponent.
The answer is Nc6!
Now, if Black replies R(f)xf7, Re5 mate.
If Black plays R(d)xf7, Re6 mate.
If R(f)xd5, Rf6 mate.
If R(d)xd5, Re7 mate.
If Kxd5, Qa2 mate.
If Kxf7, pawn at g8 becomes queen and mate!
Hmmm... really good!
The above problem was coined by Comins Mansfield, one of the best chess problem composers of all time.
Did I solve it? Heck no. Wasted 15 minutes and 50 grams of keratin -hairs and nails put together. And when finally I couldnt hold it any longer, like everyone else, peeped at the answer and wondered how I could have missed it.
This is a beautiful Chess problem. White has to move and checkmate Black king in 2 moves.
Let us analyze the problem now. What do you see on the board?
You see the Black king almost smothered. He has only one legal move, which is to capture the white rook in d5. Lets think about it's consequences later. Let's continue with analysis of the position.
Besides the king, Black has 4 pieces: 2 pawns and 2 rooks. The pawns are blocked. The rooks can move. In fact, the rooks are attacking white's pieces.
What about white?
White has an overwhelming superiority over Black. If this were a real game, only an enthusiastic newbie will continue playing as Black. Black's fate is sealed unless white is brain-dead in the next minute or two.
But thats not our problem. Our problem is to checkmate Black in 2 moves.
Lets try the most obvious-looking possibilities first. Lets capture the Black rook sitting in d7 with rook in f7. Will this achieve our purpose? No. The remaining Black rook could capture the knight. And, forget about checkmate in next move.
You can try various moves, till you get fed up or accidentally arrive at the correct move.
Try moving the Bishop, pinning the rook. Or a check with Knight at g5. Move the Queen, or the King, even. Try the pawn push, making it a queen , or any piece you like. The more you try, the more you appreciate the depth of the problem.
Now, those who have seen or solved problems like these know that first move is never an obvious move. It is never a Check or a capture. It is silent, with minimum of ripples and yet, when unveiled, it is a certain death sentence for the opponent.
The answer is Nc6!
Now, if Black replies R(f)xf7, Re5 mate.
If Black plays R(d)xf7, Re6 mate.
If R(f)xd5, Rf6 mate.
If R(d)xd5, Re7 mate.
If Kxd5, Qa2 mate.
If Kxf7, pawn at g8 becomes queen and mate!
Hmmm... really good!
The above problem was coined by Comins Mansfield, one of the best chess problem composers of all time.
Did I solve it? Heck no. Wasted 15 minutes and 50 grams of keratin -hairs and nails put together. And when finally I couldnt hold it any longer, like everyone else, peeped at the answer and wondered how I could have missed it.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
"Awakenings" and a freaky coincidence
On a weekday last week, I borrowed some movies from the local library. Usually, I go by imdb ratings. The norm is, unless it is in the top 250 (all time), or rated above 8, I assign a low priority on watching it. It is most likely that I finish it in two sessions if it is a weekday. If it is crap, I never go past the first 15 minutes.
The chances of you picking up a gem outside of those 250 is rare.
Among the ones I picked up, I chose "Awakenings" - a Robyn Williams and De Niro starrer. Even though I had planned to watch it over two sessions, myself and my wife sat through the whole movie, spellbound. It was the story of a doctor (Robyn Williams) trying to help patients who are paralyzed and unresponsive due to a disease called Encephalitis. He finds out that a drug used for treatment of Parkinson's disease can bring these patients back to normal life. De Niro is a patient on whom the first trials are made. He awakens, 30 years after going into a coma as a 10 year old boy. Convinced that he got his life back, he falls in love with a girl whom he meets at the hospital. To his (and the Doctor's) horror, he finds out that the drug loses its effect over a period of time. When it dawns on him that he will have to go back to his old paralytic existence, he has to say the final goodbye to her. This scene is one of the most emotional scenes I have seen in a long, long time. I would say, this is De Niro's best performance ever.
You just cant go to bed and start snoring away after watching a movie like this. Therefore I decided to play online chess even though it was late into night. I logged in for a quick match. I found that the playing room was almost full, with 80 people online. I hooked up with a player, exchanged pleasantries and started the game. From his first name, I was sure he was either from India or Indonesia. Slowly, I began to realize that he is a very good player and was not a brush-off as I initially thought. By middle game, I started to admire his strength and was getting curious about him. I began to check his game statistics (ratings, etc) and found that this person is connected to this gaming room from one of the social networking sites in which I am active. For the sake of privacy, people usually change their names when they play online games. But I had a hunch that this person may not have done so. Therefore I checked his profile online.
I was stunned!
Now tell me this.
What are the odds that I was playing with a person who was the victim of the same disease that I saw in a movie minutes earlier?
The chances of you picking up a gem outside of those 250 is rare.
Among the ones I picked up, I chose "Awakenings" - a Robyn Williams and De Niro starrer. Even though I had planned to watch it over two sessions, myself and my wife sat through the whole movie, spellbound. It was the story of a doctor (Robyn Williams) trying to help patients who are paralyzed and unresponsive due to a disease called Encephalitis. He finds out that a drug used for treatment of Parkinson's disease can bring these patients back to normal life. De Niro is a patient on whom the first trials are made. He awakens, 30 years after going into a coma as a 10 year old boy. Convinced that he got his life back, he falls in love with a girl whom he meets at the hospital. To his (and the Doctor's) horror, he finds out that the drug loses its effect over a period of time. When it dawns on him that he will have to go back to his old paralytic existence, he has to say the final goodbye to her. This scene is one of the most emotional scenes I have seen in a long, long time. I would say, this is De Niro's best performance ever.
You just cant go to bed and start snoring away after watching a movie like this. Therefore I decided to play online chess even though it was late into night. I logged in for a quick match. I found that the playing room was almost full, with 80 people online. I hooked up with a player, exchanged pleasantries and started the game. From his first name, I was sure he was either from India or Indonesia. Slowly, I began to realize that he is a very good player and was not a brush-off as I initially thought. By middle game, I started to admire his strength and was getting curious about him. I began to check his game statistics (ratings, etc) and found that this person is connected to this gaming room from one of the social networking sites in which I am active. For the sake of privacy, people usually change their names when they play online games. But I had a hunch that this person may not have done so. Therefore I checked his profile online.
I was stunned!
Now tell me this.
What are the odds that I was playing with a person who was the victim of the same disease that I saw in a movie minutes earlier?
Monday, February 16, 2009
J M Coetzee: Disgrace
I began reading this book taken in by persuasive and passionate comments from a friend. Now I am grateful to him - even though I would rate the experience as highly disturbing.
Those who have not read the book, please beware that there are spoilers ahead.
The story is set in post-apartheid South Africa. David Lurie is white, fading and aging professor - twice divorced and drying up fast emotionally. He , in an act of "Disgrace", becomes sexually involved (there is only one-sided involvement - his) with a black student. As a consequence, he is expelled from the university. He decides to leave Cape Town and sets off to rural East Cape to his only daughter (still single) who leads a quiet country life. Even though he finds country life not particularly attractive, slowly he gets adapted to it. But he quickly finds that the country landscape is also changing - fast. The balance of power has shifted to the blacks and he finds he has no hope left and the story ends at that point.
His escape (he is in self-denial mode about "escape" ) to the country justifies the phrase "Out of frying pan, into fire". He gets to have a preview of what lies ahead in his life for him to live through. He says to himself this is "no country for old men" and he has really solid reasons for that.
It is almost like he spells a cast of ill-fortune for his daughter Lucy who was in her elements when he first meets her at the farm. She gets raped by 3 black thieves (Two men and a boy) afterwards. He is attacked, gets locked up, soaked in Methanol and set to fire. Helpless, he is at wrath with himself. The thieves flee with their loot and his car. To make matters worse for him, his daughter doesn't want to complain to the police - about the rape. They file a complaint for theft, though.
His daughter's life is changed - inside out. Now, he is the one who maintains the farm - with the help of Petrus - Lucy's black neighbor.
Petrus is introduced to the story before the rape - Lucy mentions him as her "assistant". Petrus is a married man, middle aged and is a scheming man who would like to buy out Lucy's farm. He is no "assistant" by any standards. In fact, David thinks (rightly too) Petrus has arranged the rape. Petrus is mysteriously absent when the rape takes place.
David describes (to himself) the rape as"anthropological"!
Later, he finds the boy who raped Lucy in a party arranged by Petrus. Even though Lucy tries to stop him, he makes a scene and storms out of the party. To make matters worse, he finds that the boy is staying with Petrus now. Lucy is being outplayed by Petrus in every way. Lucy is willing to pay any price - she is even willing to be labelled as Petrus's concubine - she just wants to hold on to her land.
The story ends at a point where Lucy is pregnant (from the rape) and decides to keep the baby. In this twilight of his life, David has nothing to look forward to. Only Despair.
We, as readers will not be able to fully comprehend the motives/emotional drivers of two characters - one is Lucy and the other is Melanie - the black student with whom David is involved sexually. The reason is very simple. The story is told through the eyes of David - and he is unable to understand them too. This is where Coetzee is perfect in his narration technique.
This book got the booker prize in 1999 and was later made into a movie.
Thanks, my friend - for recommending this book.
Those who have not read the book, please beware that there are spoilers ahead.
The story is set in post-apartheid South Africa. David Lurie is white, fading and aging professor - twice divorced and drying up fast emotionally. He , in an act of "Disgrace", becomes sexually involved (there is only one-sided involvement - his) with a black student. As a consequence, he is expelled from the university. He decides to leave Cape Town and sets off to rural East Cape to his only daughter (still single) who leads a quiet country life. Even though he finds country life not particularly attractive, slowly he gets adapted to it. But he quickly finds that the country landscape is also changing - fast. The balance of power has shifted to the blacks and he finds he has no hope left and the story ends at that point.
His escape (he is in self-denial mode about "escape" ) to the country justifies the phrase "Out of frying pan, into fire". He gets to have a preview of what lies ahead in his life for him to live through. He says to himself this is "no country for old men" and he has really solid reasons for that.
It is almost like he spells a cast of ill-fortune for his daughter Lucy who was in her elements when he first meets her at the farm. She gets raped by 3 black thieves (Two men and a boy) afterwards. He is attacked, gets locked up, soaked in Methanol and set to fire. Helpless, he is at wrath with himself. The thieves flee with their loot and his car. To make matters worse for him, his daughter doesn't want to complain to the police - about the rape. They file a complaint for theft, though.
His daughter's life is changed - inside out. Now, he is the one who maintains the farm - with the help of Petrus - Lucy's black neighbor.
Petrus is introduced to the story before the rape - Lucy mentions him as her "assistant". Petrus is a married man, middle aged and is a scheming man who would like to buy out Lucy's farm. He is no "assistant" by any standards. In fact, David thinks (rightly too) Petrus has arranged the rape. Petrus is mysteriously absent when the rape takes place.
David describes (to himself) the rape as"anthropological"!
Later, he finds the boy who raped Lucy in a party arranged by Petrus. Even though Lucy tries to stop him, he makes a scene and storms out of the party. To make matters worse, he finds that the boy is staying with Petrus now. Lucy is being outplayed by Petrus in every way. Lucy is willing to pay any price - she is even willing to be labelled as Petrus's concubine - she just wants to hold on to her land.
The story ends at a point where Lucy is pregnant (from the rape) and decides to keep the baby. In this twilight of his life, David has nothing to look forward to. Only Despair.
We, as readers will not be able to fully comprehend the motives/emotional drivers of two characters - one is Lucy and the other is Melanie - the black student with whom David is involved sexually. The reason is very simple. The story is told through the eyes of David - and he is unable to understand them too. This is where Coetzee is perfect in his narration technique.
This book got the booker prize in 1999 and was later made into a movie.
Thanks, my friend - for recommending this book.
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