Warmest winter on record
Today, we received the news that the past (metereological)
winter, the past three months, are the warmest on record
with an average themperature of 6.5 degrees Celsius.
AutoStitch
I downloaded the Demo version of AutoStitch. It is quite nice program. So far, I only
have encountered two problems. First of all is that it
uses spherical projection. Which is fine if you want to
use it inside a panorama viewer, but if you us it for creating
a "flat" picture, there is a (sometimes strong) fish-eye effect.
In the evening, I also downloaded Hugin, an interface over Panotools. It is less advance, but in a sense gives you more
control over the processing. It also has some auto-stitching
abilities. I used both programs (in combination with Paint
and XNview) to
construct pictures matching those in Maastricht from the pictures I took during
our trip last week.
School test results
Today, Annabel brought the results
from her school tests home. It is these test that give an
indication of which type/level of high school she can attend.
The scores were as expected. She scored high on non-verbal/performal/symbolic
intelligence and low on verbal intelligence. For language her
percentile score was 14 (meaning that only 14 percent of the
Dutch children that did this test scored lower). For mathematics
her percentile was 82. (Last year she even scored 94.) Overall
her scores are lower than those of last year. I am afraid that
she thought a little too easy about these tests or was a little
too self confident and did not really think about the questions.
I also wonder to which extend our family situation has influenced
the test results. I got the impression that Li-Xia was not
really aware that these tests were going on.
Playing Go
This evening, Annabel and I went to
the university to play Go. When we arrived,
Juri was already waiting for us. He was reading a book for his English
subject at school. It was the book "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".
He invited me for a game, and I decided to give myself a six
stone advance. I was giving him a hard time, until I lost my
group in the center, after which I could have resigned. We
continued, but did not count. He must have won with at least
80 points.
I also talked with Ton and Rudi, who will also go to the
"European Youth Goe Championships 2007". From Rudi, who is one
of the organizers, we heard that Ton and his children will be
staying in the same cottage as Annabel and I. We also heard that
only the breakfast is included in the price. After we came home,
I made a list of things to bring and already packed some things.
My plan is to leave around six tomorrow evening.
Going to EYGC2007
This evening, Annabel and I leave
to join the European Youth
Goe Championships 2007, which are being held in
Zandvoort.
Around 18:24, we left from the gas station in Enschede where
I had got some gas. Close to Haarlem, I took the first exit
in the direction of Zandvoort, and after I took it, I realized
that it would not bring us through Overveen, the city of my paternal ancestors. Butthe road
to Zandvoort had a detour, and we ended up in Overveen anyway.
From there we followed the road to Zandvoort, which runs along the
beach for some distance. We parked and looked to the dark sea,
where we could only see some faint white lines at the place where
the waves break. When we arrived at the park, we heard that the
registration was in the hotel. There we met Rudi at the registration.
We got the key of the cottage, number 459, and walked there with
all our luggage after we had gone back to the park. Ton and
Titus were already at the cottage. They had played some games
of
Hex. After Titus and Annabel had played some games of Hex,
Ton and I played some games.
EYGC2007: First day
I woke up early in the morning, and I had the feeling that
I did not sleep anymore, but I do remember dreaming, so I
guess that I did sleep. We got up around eight, and we walked
to the hotel where the tournament was held. Everything was
quite chaotic, and it took some time before everything was
organized and the tournament could really start.
I taked a little with David Woo of Hong Kong Go Club.
Annabel played in the "Under 18"
category of the "European Youth Goe
Championships 2007". In the first round she played against
Ernst Dennis. Ton and I went downstairs for the side event,
but the start of it was delayed as well. Ton and I started
a game with me getting six stones ahead. He soon had to
resign. When the side event started, I played against
Francien Finke and I won with 71 points. Annabel had already
come to tell that she lost her game against Ernst, who she
felt was much stronger that the 25 Kyu he had been registered
with.
Annabel and Titus went to swim in the swimming pool. During
the lunch break, Ton and I went back to the cottage, where we
played some games of Hex. I won twice to the surprise of Ton.
I was not really trying hard, I think, just being lucky making
the right moves. We could not find Annabel and Titus and spend
a long time searching for them. Finally, Ton got them out of
the swimming pool, but when they walked from the cottage back
to the hotel, after they had eaten something, they were lost
again, because they took a longer route. Both of them arrived
late four the second round of the tournament. In this
round, Annabel played against Janet Janssen (the daughter of
Francien Finke), and won. In the second round of the side event,
I lost from Antti Holappa with 11 points. I had gotten nine
stones ahead and 80 point komi.
After the tournament, we wenr to the beach to fly with kites.
Annabel and Ton both flew with a kite.
(Picture of Annabel and
with kite.)
Titus was very busy with building sand castles against the rising tide.
(Picture.)
In the evening, we went for a dinner at Restaurant Sharky's.
After the dinner the others went back to the cottage, and I
went upstairs to have a look what was going on. I end up
walking behind Rudi while he was playing against 15 people
simulatiously with one other person. I think I have never
followed so many games at the same time. I hope I did learn
something from it. When I came back at the cottage, Titus and
Annabel were ready to go to bed. Ton and I probably played
a game of Hex.
EYGC2007: Second day
In the morning, in the third round of the Go
tournament for under 18,
Annabel lost from Christo Adelsberger.
While we were waiting for the side event to begin, I
played a game against Francien, with no handicap, which I
won, without much trouble. In the third round, I had to
play against Peder Wiklund. We started the game without
handicaps. Only after about 20 moves, I noticed from his
name tag that he was a 2 Dan player, and that I should have
gotten at least nine stones ahead and some komi. I lost with
39 points, but I was quite happy about it. But it should
be noted, that because he knew that he was going to win,
he played very relaxed. He game me some analyses on the
game. After this, I have been watching the game going
on board 2 of the "Under 18" tournament. I have to admit
that I did not understand much of the moves being made.
During the lunch, I walked to the beach and eat some
bread that I had brought with me. At the waterfront, I met
three girls who were taking some video for a project of
the title "Salt" that they had to do for school. Ton takes
Titus and Annabel to the indoor midget golf course.
In the afternoon, in the fourth round of the tournament,
Annabel won from Serhiy Andrusenko. I played against Ton
with seven stones ahead. I already predicted that I was
going to win this game, and indead, Ton did resign during
this game. I played a game against Peder, watched a game
from the "Under 12" tournament, and also played two games
against Liselot, both of which I lost. Then I also watched
Guo Juan give
some advice to a 3 Dan youth player. She is nice to listen
to, even if you do not understand all the details. She also
gave me a card of
Audio Go Lessions website.
When I walked back to our cottage, I met Annabel on the
way going there. She told me that she had lost the key
of the cottage on the beach. I had given it to her when
she wanted to go swimming after her game was finished.
But she did not go swimming, but instead went to the beach
to do some kite flying and building a sand castle. Titus
was following her on some distance. I waited for him, and
together we walked to the beach. We searched for some time
for the key but could not find it. Finally, I phoned Ton,
and he told me that he and Marlies (his girlfriend) were
sitting at Standpaviljoen Thalassa (at number 18). He asked if
Annabel and Titus were with me, and I told him about the
missing key. He suggested that it might still be at the
cottage, because Annabel and Titus met them there earlier
on the afternoon. So we walked to the beach pavilion and
met them there. The sun was setting above the sea, and when
the sun almost went down, I went outside to take some pictures
(one of them)
and some video. We decided to have dinner at the place. And
it turned out to be quite nice for a reasonable price.
Annabel and Titus held a little contest about who could
keep a piece of lemon in their mouth for the longest time.
On our way home, we walked on the beach near the water front.
It was high tide, and the sand where we walked felt a little
like mud.
Back at the cottage, Annabel and Titus went to bed, and
Ton, Marlies and I discussed about whether democracy is
the best system or not, and how governments are operating.
But soon we also went to bed.
EYGC2007: Last day
In the morning, Titus noticed the Chinese Wooden Puzzle
and he came up with new solution. There was still one key missing from the
cottage. I decided to ask at the reception at the hotel.
They lady there immediately asked our cottage number and
phoned to the reception of the park. She told me that
yesterday the key was found on the beach, and that I could
get it back from the receptio of the park. I immediately
informed the others about this. In the fifth round of the
Go tournament for under 18,
Annabel won from Jakub Vojtisek.
At one point it looked like she was going to lose, but
she invaded his territorium succesfully and won.
When we waited for the last round of the side event, nobody
appeared. Ton withdraw himself because he wanted to do
some geocaching together with Marlies. When it appeared that
it had been cancelled, and I went swimming together with
Annabel, Titus and some other children. We stayed in the
pool till about one o'clock. We had some french fries.
Titus and Annabel went back to the hotel to play their
last round. I went back to the cottage to bring our
swimming gear back.
When I arrived in the room where Annabel was playing
against Johannes Runkel in the sixth round of the tournament,
and glanced at her board, her position looked good. I watched
from a distance, but after I noticed that her opponent several
times took away some white stones, I sat a little closer to
discover that she had lost a lot of points. She finally lost
the game. Which means that she won three out of six games,
and did not win any price. Titus had won four out of six,
so, he did win a price. Because Ton wanted to leave early,
he went to collect the price before the official pricegiving.
I hung around a little and played one blind game against
Titus with a special set of playing stones made for blind
people. When I looked for Annabel, it turned out that she
had just finished bowling with some friends she had made.
I went ahead to the cottage while they ordered an ice cream.
I got the car and parked it at our cottage. Ton, Marlies, and
Titus already had left. I cleaned the cottage a little. We
left around five o'clock and it took us a long time to reach
the highway because of the busy traffic of people leaving the
beach. In Amersfoort we took a McDrive. We were home around
kwarter past eight.
Sitting outside
Today, it was the first time this year that it was warm
enough during lunch time to sit outside in the sun.
The maximum temperature measured around here was 16.7
degrees Celsius.
(follow-up)
Depth of Go
Last weekend I looked a little bit through some of the old "Go world"
that Annabel got as a participant, which are mostly interesting
for their nice covers, as Ton remarked. In the Summer 1996, No. 77
edition, I read the interview between Kawakuma Hiroyuki and
Cho Chikum in the article "The 20th Kisei Title Match". On
page 10, Kawakuma Hiroyuki asks: "I heard that you did not expect
Black to play 85. Is that correct?", and Cho Chikun answers:
"Yes, it is. I thought Black A would be the move. I was going
to respond at B. Even though the position was clearly unfavorable
for me, I thought I could still continue the game, but when I
saw Black 85, I decided to resign. As I already said, all of
his moves fascinated me and, when I saw this last unexpected
brilliancy, I lost my fighting spirit." I showed this to Ton
and later also to Annabel, because to most players at our
level there does not seem to be that much difference between
Black 85 and Black A, because they are side by side in a still
almost empty area of board. Now this morning, when I looked at
it again, I realized that Black 85 probably forces white to play
a defense move, where Black A would not have required this, thus
keeping Black from responding at B, as he had intended.
But still for us it probably would never have been a reason to
resign a game, because we are not able to judge the state of our
position, like these professional players are.
This evening, I went to the school of Annabel to get her advice with respect to which type/level
of high school fits best. Her teacher was quite happy about
her. She has good motivation and works hard. The schools advice
is for the type of high school that prepares for a vocational
university. He also showed the results of the IQ test that she
took last year. For one of the three test on the
symbolic/performal/non-verbal scale, she scored 129. If I am
not wrong, it was the test on folding. This clearly shows that
she is a visual/spacial thinker.
Soccer championships
Lately, Annabel is very much into
playing soccer. She is also participating in the soccer championships
that are organize between the schools in Enschede. Today they
had to play two games. The first game they lost, but during
the second game she scored the only goal of the game, which they
won. She was quite proud of her achievement.
Willow and Magnolia
I was home early this afternoon, and I decided to prune our
Willow tree in the back-garden. I
guess it took me about 20 minutes to break-off all the new
grown branches. Our Magnola started blossoming. I think it
has never started to blossom so early in the year.
(follow-up)
Some snow
This morning, there was some snow on
the roofs, the cars and the grass in the garden. At the moment,
we are dealing with a cold front from the North. The temperatures
have dropped. Yesterday during the day, there were some
hail, wet snow, rain storms. I even did see a fragment of a
rainbow. The flowers of the Magnolia
have not really openend yet. I wonder whether they will turn
brown again. Many of the buds are still closed.
The conventional idea has always been that the brain works
on electricity. But now some researchers are suggesting
that the brain actually runs on
sound waves. To be precise on the soliton propagation
of waves in the membranes of nerves (See
On soliton propagation in biomembranes and nerves).
But how does explain that an electrical potential is measured
on a nerve cell? It must be that is a potential caused by
a local change in the membrane, instead of electrical charge
traveling through the cell.
Pokémon game for Andy
Li-Xia bought a Pokémon
game for Andy, which costed € 28.00. He himself wanted
this game, and we had agreed with him that he would have to
pay with 28 of the little Pokémon dolls, which he gets
every morning if he keeps his diaper clean. I hope to teach
him the concept of money in this way.
This evening, Annabel and I went
to the university to play Go. Short
after we arrived, Taco came, and we decided to play a game
where I was given an eight stones advance. Not much later,
Marcel arrived and he played against Annabel. They played
two games on a 13x13 board and one game on a 19x19 board.
She won two out of the three games. On the last game, she
was given a nine stones advance and 140 points Komi. She
won with 59 points, which means that without the Komi, she
would have lost with 91 points. After the opening, I had
secured three large corners, but one of my groups was not
safe yet, and because of some not so smart moves, I lost
it. And then I made some more smaller mistakes (such as
not realizing that one his his groups was not secure yet),
and I lost with 41 points.
Magnolia
Since March 15, the flowers on
our Magnolia did not change much, and they also
did not turn brown as I had feared.
But this weekend the temperatures went up again,
and today many of the buds opened and the Magnolia
really started to bloom.
(follow-up)
Pokémon Memory game
This evening, Andy finished a
Pokémon Memory game all by himself using
an EasyBall "mouse" in 43 minutes and 58 seconds. Quite an
achievement, I think. The EasyBall is getting old and does
not work as smooth anymore as it should. When I opened it,
I noticed that the three wheels on which the ball
rests, have a flat spot and are no longer turning
as they should.
Playing Go
In the evening, Annabel and I
went to the university to play Go.
On the way going there, she asked if we could more often
attend a Go tournament. The problem is that there are not
that many Go tournaments for children here in the Netherlands.
When we arrived, we were the first, and Annabel asked me to
play a game. The first game, where she got six stones ahead,
I lost dramatically. I played too fast. For the second game
we decided to play without handicap. And she lost that game
dramatically. She wanted a revange, and we decided to play
without handicap but with 30 points Komi. She won with 2 point.
Annabel played some games of Hex against Edze, who had arrived
late.
This months interesting links
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Thursday, March 1, 2007
