The Queen's Gambit is one of the best things I watched this past year:
'For the love of god, it finds a way to inject sex appeal into chess.'
Chess can be an exciting game to watch.
And a game I love to play.
Do you play chess?
Thursday, December 31, 2020
Turning to chess when the world 's a mess
Saturday, December 26, 2020
Lockdown in the days of Anne Frank
We are spoiled. Sure, we can't go clubbing, theatres are shut, we only see our colleagues via Zoom and some of us have lost friends or relatives to an invisible enemy. But we have food and shelter and we can talk to our friends and relatives without being worried that they may not answer to our calls because they are 'different'.
We have access to almost all accumulated knowledge in the world with a device we carry around in our pockets. We have Email, Netflix and Youtube.
Which brings me to the question that has been answered for us: what if Anne Frank had a vlog?
(Subtitles available in English, German, Hebrew, French, et cetera)
Close the curtains. Kill the music. Just watch and listen. By yourself, with your children or your neighbour. How would you have handled the situation? And how are you handling your current situation?
By the way: Merry Christmas! Or 'Happy Holidays', because all holidays matter.
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Want to read (more of) my short stories?
My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon
Thursday, December 24, 2020
Creating statistics
You have all seen these nice statistics that prove a point, right? They look great, there's a long url mentioned at the bottom and they seem to prove what you already thought. Great!
However, more often than not you are mislead. Have you ever actually followed the provided link or did you never 'have time' to actually do just that tiny little bit of research but shared the graph anyway, 'proving' your point to others on social media?
Here's a fine example. Produced by https://twitter.com/HaraldofW. Harald is the only person in the world who produced this graph. When you follow the links he provided you find some interesting information. Not on the number of deaths in the Nordic countries, as Harald claims, but on different numbers in...Canada.
Politicians and their followers like statistics: they are usually easy to read and you don't have to spend a few minutes reading a whole article or - gods forbid! - spend five minutes of your precious time to do even the least bit of research. Like type a search string into Google and see what comes out.
Here's how people like Harald produce their fake statistics:
If you look for Harald's 'data source' (which has a nice scientific ring to it) you still don't find the numbers he invented to put in this graph. But it takes you a couple of minutes to find that out. Harald (and people like him) are relying on people's natural ability to be lazy and don't think for themsves but simply copy the information they bet their lives on from people that seem thrustworthy. Well, you don't have to trust me but do you really trust Harald?
Speaking of Harald: I took the liberty of creating a graph with him as topic.
Should you trust a former famous tennis player, rather than scientists?
Monday, December 21, 2020
Why do we eat plastic?
We have known for a while that plastic is found everywhere. Ever since its invention - just a few decades ago - it has taken over the world. There is literally no place in the world where you don't find plastic. Recently it was even found in the Mariana Trench!
Scientists have found microplastics not only there but even near the top of the Mount Everest. That climbers where sloppy with leaving their trash at this beautiful place was already known. They even leave their dead friends!
It looks like there are people who don't care about nature or animals or even about other people. But perhaps they would start caring about the crazy amount of plastics when they realize they themselves eat the stuff unwillingly:
Ingesting plastics had been linked to obesity and reproductive issues. So maybe it's time something is done about the problem. It shouldn't be too hard because until a few decades ago we did fine without the stuff.
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Want to read (more of) my short stories?
My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon
Thursday, December 17, 2020
Why do people hate immigrants?
Immigrants are dying in custody but there's no outrage 'because they're just immigrants'.
Immigrants are amazing people because somehow they are capable of being too lazy to work but at the same time they are stealing jobs from the locals.
I've been searching but haven't found a single valid argument why immigrants should be held of at the border of any nation. Even one of the most tolerant countries in the world, the Netherlands, wants refugees to be taken in by the countries they arrive at. Which isn't really fair to the European countries in the south of the continent. But the Dutch government can say: 'Well, if those boats full of refugees from countries we helped bomb would enter Europe at the Dutch border, of course we would let them in because we are very tolerant.' Yeah, right. All that Syrian refugees need to do is stop the boat at a metre away from the Greek coast and jump a few thousand miles in a single leap to find themselves directly at the Dutch border to be welcomed by the Dutch.
Suppose all immigrants are always really terrible people and every country in the world in right in denying them access, what would the world look like: if Leonardo di Caprio's mother hadn't moved to the USA? If Donald Trump's grandfather had never left Germany or his mother had always stayed in Scotland? If Melania Trump had to find her clients in Slowakia or Sergy Brin hadn't been able to help found Google? Would you enjoy your meal if every single day you had to eat 'real American' food and could never taste apple pie, Thai food, pizza or fries?
And what if other countries would refuse Americans to enter for the sole reason they were stupid enough to elect a TV-host as their president, allowing their beautiful country go to waste as a result?
Can you name one valid argument why countries should ban immigrants from entering?
After '9/11' the USA decided to ban Muslims from entering the country. With the exception of Muslims from Saudi-Aribia. Strangely enough because that was the country most hijackers from that dreadful day came from. The hate shifted from hating Jews to hating Muslims and hating Jews became 'not done'. Except for Trump fans like the Proud Boys and a few other nice people. Anti-Muslim rethoric is not considered hateful but 'freedom of speech' but you would get a social media ban if you replaced 'Muslims' with 'Jews' in your Tweets and Facebook posts. Weird, isn't it?
What if the USA had refused to let in a little jewish girl called Anne Frank and later she had died in a concentration camp? Oh, wait. Yes, Anne Frank's family was denied refuge in the USA and could not hide from the Nazi's. Simply because Americans in those days hated Jews more than Nazi's.
What if Anne Frank had a 'vlog', a video diary?
Sunday, December 13, 2020
Nice things still happen
Nice things still happen. Really. To some it may seem having to stay at home a lot, not being able to go out and when you do having to wear a face mask is nothing less than living under a fascist regime and just a small step away from a new holocaust but it's nothing, really. And if you are really, really afraid perhaps you could try focusing on the nice stuff that's out there.
Here are two examples:
Barack Obama surprised a twin who were listening to his playlist.
Jason Mamoa surprised a young fan.
How would you like to be surprised and by who?
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Thursday, December 10, 2020
On his way (a short story)
She was standing at the traffic lights with her bicycle.
Leaning one hand against the black-and-white striped traffic light pole
she was balancing, feet on pedals, trying her best not to touch the ground.
He watched her and couldn't help thinking about the man
who tried to fly by letting himself fall and then forget to touch the ground.
The twinkle in her eyes told him that she had a secret
that she wasn't willing to share with the world just yet.
The light changed to green.
In an effort to get going from her standstill
she lost the black ballerina shoe on her right foot.
Smiling broadly she waited by the roadside, leaning on her bicycle
and with her naked right foot on her left knee.
When the oncoming traffic had stopped rushing by
she picked up her shoe from the street.
Her hand found support on the saddle as she covered her foot again.
As she slid her pretty behind onto the saddle she saw him standing there
and gave him a wink and a smile to match.
Feeling better than before he continued on his way.
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Sunday, December 06, 2020
Rising up against frustration
All over the world people are rising up against their governments. And against scientists. They state they are living in a dictatorship because of facemask mandates, their local bars being closed and other measures governments are taking to control the Coronavirus pandemic, backed by scientists. People are crazy with frustration so are very gullible when it comes to 'news' that seems to back up their 'gut feeling'. They mean 'a Facebook post from a conspiracy theorist' but say they did their own research because they don't want to appear stupid. But it's okay: they're simply very gullible.
People protesting against government measures to clamp down a pandemic is not new. First time in recorded history that happened was in London. In 1625. The pandemic at the time became known as The Plague. In stead of listening to science (okay, science at the time did not know what a virus was so - just like today - even scientists had to guess at what could possibly work against getting sick) people resorted to blaming other people. Jews mostly. 'How come so many of us are dying and so few of them?'
Mid 14th Century the same thing was happening with The Black Death: Jews were blamed. How come less Jews than other groups of people died?
Simple: An important part of Jewish laws is good hygiene. A quick burial of the dead, handwashing, staying indoors during an epidemic, not dipping your bread in the bowl your guest dips his piece of bread in, et cetera.
Perhaps we can learn from previous pandemics. And from Jews. Note: not from the extremist Jews that refuse to stay indoors and wear a facemask when going outside 'because Jahweh will protect us!'
Religous fanatics have two things in common: 1. They put all of their trust into a deity and not into science. 2. They die (click) before their time.).
But first we have to stop trusting Facebook posts.
Thursday, December 03, 2020
Why are you bored?
You basically do the same things everybody else does: you wake up, do things and go to bed. Every single day of your life. Well, most days anyway.
But others seems to live meaningful and happy lives while you only seem to work from paycheck to paycheck, get groceries, do the dishes and watch Netflix. First of all: maybe social media is the culprit. When you look at the lives of others everyday to them seems like an adventure and they always have something meaningful to do. Especially celebrities. Right?
And although you know there's tons of stuff you could do to make yourself (feel) useful (help your neighbour or a friend, create a work of art, fix the sink, make a new friend, read Moby Dick or whatever) you rather complain on social media that you are utterly and totally bored, have seen every show on Netflix and just don't know what to do.
Well, you're not the only one:
So, get up and actually do something. Okay? And just for your information: doing something does not include bothering people you know who are not bored. So, for instance, if they say: 'Please don't bother me with your boredom. I'm really sorry for you that you are bored but I am not. Instead I am busy and do not wish to be disturbed.', do not - I repeat NOT - ask them what they are busy with and why they don't want to be disturbed under the false pretence you are 'merely interested in what they are doing' because you and I know you are not actually interested in what they have to say but you are just simply, totally and utterly bored. And you are the only one who can fix that problem.
You still don't know what to do? Here's a bit of inspiration:
Good luck!
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