The 2,000,000th post game

Hard to believe Christmas is less than 3 weeks away.
Haven't even seen "It's a Wonderful Life" on TV yet this season, but that's a film that needn't wait for the holidays anyway.

Read the following after seeing a YouTube comment.
Little darker than I realized. Those were some SERIOUS actors on set ...

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-12-15-ca-9172-story.html

So true rivert so true.

I loves christmas times cuz I can dress up like santa and be like, ho ho ho!

While It Lasts ...

Game of Thrones "Dog" and "Fox" duo compilation

(Violence and Strong Language Advisory)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nP92rD1_0WM

Random Thoughts:

-- Repeat viewings of violent material really does desensitize.
Gone from aghast at girl's actions to essentially cheering for her.

-- Arya, unlikeliest of assassins, was quite good at camouflaging herself even before formal training in the skill.

-- The show's cinematography and Macy's acting do a superb job in showing how conflicted she actually is, how much she's actually grown to care for Clegane throughout their weeks and months of travel. At the thought of killing him, even if his death is inevitable, she looks like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders. Appropriate, given how fatherly the man has actually been to her by this point in the narration ...

https://www.apollo-magazine.com/the-genius-of-camille-claudel/

In 1866, William Henry Russ (1833-1866), or W.R. Henry as he was known, shot his adopted daughter four times in the head after he proposed marriage when she turned 21, and she rejected him. He then jumped into a river to drown himself, but the tide was out. He was arrested, but died 10 days later, lacking the will to live. The woman survived. His book, American Chess Nuts, was published in 1868.

In 1870, Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841-1924) was arrested in Baden-Baden as a French spy for sending chess moves in the mail. The British government thought they were coded secrets. It also turned out that Blackburne’s carriage driver was a French spy.

In 1875, Albert Ensor (1843-1883) was arrested for counterfeiting in New York. In 1873, he was the first Canadian Chess Championship. He was later arrested in Germany for gambling and in France for forgery.

In 1879, American chess player and journalist James Mortimer (1833-1911) was arrested for refusing to reveal the author of an allegedly libelous article. Once inside prison, he taught his fellow inmates how to play chess.

In 1891, William Steinitz (1836-1900) was arrested In New York as a Russian spy after someone in the telegraph company thought that his chess moves being sent over telegraph was code. He was held for 24 hours and released. At the time, Steinitz was playing Chigorin in Havana by cable.

In November 1892, William Steinitz fired his private secretary, Arthur Williams, and hired a new secretary, Edward Treiter. Williams was to stay in Steinitz’s house in Montclair, New Jersey for a few days to help Treiter get his accounts into shape. Williams later broke into Treiter’s bedroom with a double-barrel shotgun and fired both barrels at Treiter while he was in bed. Williams then placed himself at the front door and threatened to kill anyone who attempted to leave Steinitz’s house. He was finally overpowered and arrested. Treiter survived, but his left arm had to be amputated.

In 1897, William Wilson, age 55, a prominent member of the Franklin Chess Club in Philadelphia and bookseller, was robbed and killed in his store.

In December 1906, Nicolai Jasnogrodsky (1859-1914), a chess master, was arrested for swindling 10 citizens of Bay City, Michigan out of $10,000 to marry a rich rabbi’s daughter.

In 1914, all the Russian chess masters were arrested at the Mannheim, Germany Congress when World War I broke out. The arrested players included Alexander Alekhine and Bogoljubow. Alekhine was released after 6 weeks.

In 1918, Lorenz Hansen, a Danish naturalized citizen, was arrested by the Federal authorities, charged with using a secret code and spying. The secret code turned out to be the moves in a correspondence game sent by post card.

In 1918, chess master Ossip Bernstein (1882-1962), an adviser to rich bankers in Russia, was arrested by the secret Bolshevik police and ordered executed by a firing squad. An officer reviewing the list of those to be shot recognized Bernstein as the famous chess master and spared his life.

In 1921, British chess master William Winter (1898-1955) was arrested and imprisoned for 6 months for sedition. He was an active member of the Communist Party.

In November 1921, chess master Norman Whitaker (1890-1975), his brother and sister, were arrested for stealing automobiles and collecting on the insurance. (source: New York Times, Nov 27, 1921, p. 18) Whitaker was convicted, but escaped. He was arrested in 1925 and sent to the federal prison at Fort Leavenworth.

In December 1927, Dr. Joseph Eljas, President of the Reval, Estonia Chess Club, was invited to a chess tournament in Leningrad. As soon as he entered Russia, he was arrested by the Cheka. The Cheka, claiming his notebooks, filled with chess problems, were a secret cipher. He was charged for spying for a foreign power.

In 1932, chess master Norman Tweed Whitaker (1890-1975) was arrested for attempted extortion in a scheme to swindle $104,000 from, Evalyn McLean, a wealthy heiress by claiming to be in contact with the Lindbergh kidnappers. Earlier in his life, he was convicted of several other crimes, including auto theft, sending morphine through the mail, and sexual molestation of a minor. He served time in Alcatraz and was a friend of Al Capone there.