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YAR! (Especially to Fr. Altier!)
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In Churchy news today…
today is one of the days (also 16 December) upon which the solidified blood of St. Januarius liquifies in the sight of thousands. Today the blood liquified again, to the relief of many. When it does not, bad things like earthquakes happen.
They bring the ampule with the saint’s hardened blood close to the relic of his head. It then liquifies and bubbles. Card. Schuster says of this:
The ampulla containing his blood is exposed before the people, together with the reliquary in which the head of the martyr is preserved, and after an interval during which prayers are said, the blood begins to liquefy, increasing in volume, as though it were bubbling up. The writer has been able to verify this miracle, which he has observed closely, and, like others who have studied it, he is obliged to confess that there seems to be no possible natural explanation of this phenomenon. It may be that, in this manner, God is pleased to show to the people of Naples that the blood of their great Patron — aeterno flori as the ancient sepulchral inscription calls it — is still active and powerful in the sight of the Lord, for with God there is no past, but all is present and living in his sight.
He always has a good observation.
On Twitter, the hilarious Eccles is holding a “Tournament of Bad Hymns” HERE
In chessy news… QUACK!
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In Budapest, the Olympiad continues. Yesterday, India faced off with China. Ding sat out. India squeaked it. The USA beat Greece. Wesley drew.
Today the Duck Chess Tournament is on. This is the gentlemanly Eric Rosen duck-duking it out. Note… The Duck.
What the quack is duck chess?
You can play duck chess and other variants at Chess.com. HERE I am an affiliate. If you join chess.com with a subscription, I get credit.
Sorry about that interruption.
Duck chess is a variant invented in 2016 by a fellow named Tim Paulden. Most of the rules of chess are the same, with some notable exceptions.
Firstly, the duck is a “brick”. Pieces cannot move to or through the square occupied by the duck. Knights can jump over the duck. Kings can move to attacked squares and can castle through attacked squares. Each players turn has 2 steps: After moving a piece, the duck must be moved to a different and empty square. There is no check or checkmate. To win you actually capture the opponent’s king. You can also win by getting stalemated, when you have no legal move such as when all your pieces are blocked by your opponent with pieces or with the duck.
There are lots of “quacktics” involved such as blocking opponents moves or unpinning your own pieces, trapping pieces, smothered mates, reserving a square for yourself, etc.
If it is white’s move on the board, black has done himself a favor by moving 33…. b5ʘe7 because…. why? Let this be another puzzle. (Don’t peek… from a real game Nakamura-Caruana FIDE Candidates 14 Ap 2024)
CLICK HERE FOR A QUACK!
Meanwhile, the puzzle… black to move and mate in 4.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE
Interested in learning? Try THIS.
Join in!
1. Q×f2+ . . R×f2 (if K-h1, mate in 2)
2. R-c1+ . . R-d1 (to avoid mate in 3)
3. R×d1+ . . R-f1
4. R(either)+f1#