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 Post subject: Lousy advice
Post #1 Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2019 3:31 am 
Oza

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This is the week of Burns Suppers all over the world. One of the most popular poems recited will be To A Louse, a companion piece to To a Mickey Mouse.

The louse poem is very funny - Burns is in church sitting behind a posh lady watching a louse crawl unbeknownst to her over her bonnet.

And by strange chance today was the day I started reading an article by Kono Rin on how to solve tsumego, and got a louse laugh squared.

Kono said the three important things to do are:

1. Apply your intuition (i.e. your immediate reaction to what you see)
2. Validate and check (hard to put in English but it means something like check your intuitive candidate moves externally and internally, not just seeing that a variation line can flow smoothly but that you haven't overlooked things like a spare liberty).
3. Search thoroughly.

It is the last bit of advice that made me laugh. The Japanese phrase he used for "thoroughly" was shiramitsubushi - as if crushing lice.

I honestly think that if you can keep the image of crushing lice in your head as you check your solutions, you can keep going longer and with more focus! Whether you sleep soundly after that I another matter... Don't let the bedbugs bite!

To a Louse is the poem that gave us the immortal lines:

Quote:
O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!


Less well known is the following line, especially relevant here:

Quote:
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,


This post by John Fairbairn was liked by 3 people: Bonobo, Elom, sorin
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 Post subject: Re: Lousy advice
Post #2 Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2019 8:41 am 
Honinbo

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John Fairbairn wrote:
I honestly think that if you can keep the image of crushing lice in your head as you check your solutions, you can keep going longer and with more focus! Whether you sleep soundly after that I another matter... Don't let the bedbugs bite!


My favorite implement for crushing lice is a sledge hammer. If they are head lice, so much the better, I suppose. :mrgreen:

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 Post subject: Re: Lousy advice
Post #3 Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2019 11:37 am 
Oza

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Quote:
My favorite implement for crushing lice is a sledge hammer.


This seems to suggest a certain amount of experience and experimentation :) Do tell!

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 Post subject: Re: Lousy advice
Post #4 Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2019 12:07 pm 
Honinbo

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John Fairbairn wrote:
Quote:
My favorite implement for crushing lice is a sledge hammer.


This seems to suggest a certain amount of experience and experimentation :) Do tell!


When I was living in Japan I went abroad for a couple of weeks and when I came back my place was infested with cockroaches. My remedy was to throw heavy books on top of them from some distance. :lol:

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— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

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 Post subject: Re: Lousy advice
Post #5 Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2019 12:38 pm 
Gosei
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Cockroaches thought that tsumego books gave them a headache.

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 Post subject: Re: Lousy advice
Post #6 Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2019 1:33 pm 
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So, to crushing lice is nitpicking, right? Makes sense!

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 Post subject: Re: Lousy advice
Post #7 Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 6:29 am 
Lives in sente

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2. Validate and check (hard to put in English but it means something like check your intuitive candidate moves externally and internally, not just seeing that a variation line can flow smoothly but that you haven't overlooked things like a spare liberty).

That's a great word!

jlt wrote:
Cockroaches thought that tsumego books gave them a headache.


fireproof wrote:
So, to crushing lice is nitpicking, right? Makes sense!


What I'm getting from all this is that it's a good idea to take up walking around with a tsumego book to tap on nitpickers heads as you meet them :).

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