I have been playing SmartGo a bit… well I only played a couple games, but I have been playing with some of the other features and I have to say that if you have any interest in playing Go at all, you really should get this program. Speaking of playing games against it, here is my second attempt at a 13×13 board with it. I took a 5 stone handicap since I am still a high kyu player… probably lower then I think, but it has been a while since I played anyhow, so until I get used to thinking that way again I’ll stick to saying I am a high kyu player. I added comments to that game… To use that file you’ll need SmartGo or another good SGF reader, of which there are lots out there.
For those looking for a nice screensaver, there is SunXi’s Go Screensaver. This reads SGF files and displays them on your screen with a very nice 3D effect. Beautiful to watch.
All posts by Brian A. Thomas
Go Update
I haven’t talked about Go for eons.
First up. I noticed my favorite Go program SmartGo has been updated to 2.3. It has been very much improved since I last used the game back when it was still 1.something… It has a 15 day free trial so give it a go (no pun intended). A few of the nicer additions is the ability to play on the IGS and a bunch of problems from GoProblems.com. It looks like they have added a ton more professional matches to study as well as a bunch more joseki. Is also has pattern matching so you can select a pattern in your game and find a similar match in a professional match to see how they responded.
I may update later with the books that I still need…
Battlestar Galactica Survivor Counts on the Wiki
I still haven’t watched the Season 3 premier yet, so no comments on the episode.
However, rather then track the survivor counts myself, it looks like the Battlestar Wiki is doing a good job of it already (they don’t have the Season 3 premier count in yet, but otherwise a good count). Their Survivor Count page also includes dates and mortality rate information.
RIP Steve “The Crocodile Hunter” Irwin
All the best to Steve Irwin’s family and all of Australia for loosing a national treasure. Steve died Monday (Sunday US time) diving on the Great Barrier Reef filming his show when he was stabbed in the heart by a stingray. (More.) He died happy doing what he loved doing.
What Boxing Needs
What boxing needs, in the humble opinion of an under educated fan, who probably doesn’t know enough to actually have a valid opinion:
- An end to the alphabet soup mess.
There are way too many sanctioning organizations. We have the WBA, the WBC, the IBF, and the WBO, and those are the ones I know of. Each can recognize a separate boxer as the champion in their weight class. This leads to confusion for the more casual fans. - Less Pay-per-view.
Unlikely to happen since the boxers, at least the two on the title-card, get a percentage of the buy-in. However, it makes it expensive to watch the big fights. It is bad enough if you want to watch most of the bigger fights, you have to have Showtime and HBO, especially HBO which seems to be home to the bigger matches. So you have basic cable to get ESPN 2, then two premium channels and then you have to buy a bunch of PPV fights. In 2005 you would have to buy 20 pay-per-view matches to catch them all. I don’t know if too many fans bother watching the Spanish networks to catch the fights there since the commentary wouldn’t be understandable, but perhaps the really big fans do. Anyhow, cost is an issue and they need to bring the price back down so the fans can watch again. More network coverage would probably help as well. I don’t know if the networks just don’t want to show it, or if they can’t get any of the more worthwhile matches since ESPN/Showtime/HBO/PPV get them. - More constancy across the sports/boxing commissions in various states.
To that end McCain is pushing for a Federal Boxing Commission. Something I personally don’t support, the last thing we need is the Federal Government to get involved and mess everything up. A better solution, which I seem to remember reading about somewhere once, is to have each state send a representative from their commission, to a national (not controlled by the Federal Government) commission. This commission would insure that every state is using the same rules, and more importantly, licances fighters and officials (both referees and judges) by the same criteria. Hopefully this will result in more neutral officials (one only needs to see some of Emanuel Agustus‘ fights to see how slanted officials can be for the hometown boy). This would also probably result in an and to the three knockdown rule which some states use, but others do not, as the rules would need to be even across all states under this proposal. - A weighted ranking system.
Boxer A has a record of 20-0 (18) and B has a record of 18-1(12). Which is the better boxer? Impossible to tell just from that. One would think A is the better boxer, but it all depends on who his opponents were. If boxer A had lots of easy opponents, and B took on some really challenging opponents, than B is the better boxer. The record isn’t a reliable way of knowing which is the better boxer, or how well they match up. A person in the know may think that the A vs B fight will be a slaughter for fighter A with B walking all over them, but that isn’t what the record alone show. We need a consistent weighted ranking system that everyone can agree on. Yes, give us the fighter’s record, but also give us a weighted rank so we know how well they actually match up. Let us add boxer C to the mix here with a record of 18-0 (15), who has a lower rank than B but higher than A. So from first place to last place it is B, C, A. A will raise in rank more by beating B than beating C. C gains little from beating A, but some from beating B. B gains little from beating C and even less beating A. They always gain something, even if it is a lower rated opponent. If you gave nothing to B for beating A, B may never take the fight. We need a way to still encourage them to give a chance to the boxing journeymen.
I am sure there are far more things boxing needs to get back to its prime, but these would be a good start.
Edit: I knew about The Ring Magazine Ratings for boxers. But I don’t think their ratings quite fit the weighted system above. However, BoxRec seems to have just the system I was talking about, if not more complex.
Jesus sat at the Messiah Seat
I figured I would share a little cool thing that helps explain one of the moments of Jesus’ ministry a little better.
I’ll give a little scripture, then comment as we go along.
So he came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Luke 4:16-19
The first thing we notice is it was a custom of Jesus to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath and to read. Nothing of real revelation there, nor in him being handed the book of Isaiah, it is when He quotes from it that things get interesting.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
Before I get to the point here, let us cross reference something. Philippians 2:5-8:
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
So we see from these that Christ came to us as a man, not as God. He removed all privileges He had as God. He needed to become as a man in order to take our place. To take stripes to take our sickness, to become sin on the cross so we would no longer be sinners, but saints and redeemed unto God. What we can see in John is that the Spirit of God filled Him and anointed Him, something He wouldn’t need to have happen if He was here as God. He was here as a man to go through stuff as we would go through them, to show us the way we can be ourselves, with the help of God.
Thanks to His sacrifice and suffering at the cross…. an aside is necessary here. His suffering wasn’t the beating, nor being hanged on the cross. None of that was the cup He asked to be taken away if possible. When He asked God to take the cup if possible, what He wanted to avoid was becoming sin, to become separated from God. He became sin, got separated from God to purchase for us redemption. So thanks to his sacrifice and suffering (becoming sin for us, being separated from God on our behalf) we are now reconciled and in right standing with God. We are no longer sinners. All we have to do is accept Christ as the Son of God and accept what He did for us.
I am glad I am no longer a sinner. Does this mean I no longer sin? Well, my spirit can not sin. Having accepted and believing in Christ, my spirit, the true me, is redeemed and in right standing. God sees me though the eyes of Christ, which sees me as perfect. Same for you if you have accepted Christ. However, we still have a flesh and a mind. The flesh and mind constantly want to rebel against God. It is the flesh and mind that can sin. This is why the Bible says we are to renew our mind and to crucify our flesh. We are not to literally crucify ourselves, but to bring our mind and body subject to our spirit, subject to the Word of God. So we still need to repent for any sins we may do in the flesh or mind, but our spirit man is sinless before God. Thank you Jesus for reconciling us to our Father, making us a true child of God, for making us an heir of God, and join heirs with You. (Romans 8:16-17)
Back to our bit from Luke 4:18
To preach the gospel to the poor;
To preach the good news to the poor. To preach to the poor they no longer need to be poor. I am not going to go off on a full prosperity message here and now. Needless to say God doesn’t want you to be poor. “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. (2 Corinthians 1:20)” Through Him, Christ, we receive all the promises of God. If you can find any promise God made to man, in Christ you can claim it. God is a good God, a good Father.
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
Brokenhearted is anyone hurt in emotions or feelings. Simple enough. If you have been hurt, Christ if for you.
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
We were caught in sin, separated from God. Christ has set us free, returned us to God. He has been anointed to heal the sick, lame, blind and the like. Jesus was healing people throughout His ministry.
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
This is in reference to the year of Jubilee. Christ has given us a permanent state of Jubilee. Jubilee was the year when all debts were forgiven, where anything taken from you was returned to you.
All of the above most of us in Word Churchs should be failure enough with. What may be new is what follows in Luke 4:20-21
Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
When He sat down He did not return to His old seat. History tells us there were two seats at the front of the synagogue, one of which was kept empty at all times as it was the seat the messiah would sit in. This is the seat that Jesus sat in. He was demonstrating to them that He was the messiah. Isn’t that cool? The Word becomes so alive when you start learning some of the history behind some events and why some things happened the way they did.
EDIT: February 2022. As noted in the comments below. I haven’t been able to personally vet the above.
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