Wednesday Coffee
Good morning, Wednesday! If you are worried about not having yet fullfilled all of those New Year’s resolutions this year, then take note that there are still 217 days left before January 1st,2015. That is plenty of time to get your act together…in the meantime, have a coffee and relax!
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COFFEE AND DEATH!
Sad news in Chicago! My condolences to Jim’s family. You can read more about it HERE. Jim was installing a Java-machine the other day when he slipped and fell. The machine toppled over on him and he later died of the injuries. As we can say in such tragedies, atleast Jim died doing what he loved most in life. Life goes on…
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COFFEE AND LUCK!
LINK
”David Hasselhoff told a group of British university students that the road to success is paved with espresso. Speaking at the Cambridge Union on Saturday night, the 61-year-old actor said that he could thank coffee for his career as it made sure he did not miss opportunities.
The Baywatch star spoke to hundreds of Cambridge University students, about his career as a singer, actor, and entertainer on Saturday night, and how he has been lucky to have such success – but that it may as well have been the coffee.
‘Luck is being prepared for opportunities when it presents itself,’ he told the students”
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The multi-talented Hasselhoff had apparently not slept for the previous 36-hours when he gave the talk to the Cambridge students(!) and is living proof of what he says. This is not the first time that David has taken up the coffee-cause:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwcXwAyt40U&feature=kp—————————————
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COFFEE GETTING BIG IN INDIA?
Yes, that is right. Move over tea! CAFE COFFEE DAY is a large chain of coffee shops in India that easily leaves Starbucks and its other competitors in the dust. Cafe Coffee Day has 1,650 outlets in the country, more than three times all its competitors combined, according to a September report from consultant Technopak Advisors Pvt. The company especially targets the younger crowd…
Bloomberg today has an article about a planned IPO early next year for CafeCoffeDay. While discussion with investor bankers has not yet concluded, the company’s current valuation is thought to be more than $1,000,000,000 dollars.
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Of dogs and fleas…
”What is surprising is how cheaply Leong sold out the chess-playing free world…Sorry, Ignatius, but he who lies with dogs gets up with fleas.’‘ LINK
So wrote American journalist/publisher Sam Sloan way back in 2002 when covering some of the shennanigans of the colourful Singapore chess personality Ignatius Leong in the run-up to the 2002 FIDE presidential election in Bled.
Leong has had an unusually long, but very well documented, history of scandal and intrigue inside and outside of FIDE. A shameless opportunist who would not hesitate to switch sides at the height of the battle if he could personally profit from it, Leong has made enemies everywhere and of virtually everyone.
But not all is without humor. Apparently Makarov once threatened to kill him with one hand back in Moscow 1994 during the FIDE election. ‘‘Makarov came late. He said that Leong had insulted him and the Russian Chess Federation and that he could kill him with one hand.” LINK Makarov did not specify which hand he would have used, however…or whether it would be tied behind his back!
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Wiki’s own entry on Leong writes unflatteringly:
”Politically, he has swung wildly from one extreme to the other. He once formed a “World Chess Organization”, which promised to overthrow FIDE. However, he abandoned that effort when not enough people joined. He has also swung wildly between being a supporter and an opponent of FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.
In 2002, Leong announced that he was running for FIDE President against Ilyumzhinov. Later, he changed his mind, saying that he was not running. Then, changing it again, saying that he had never withdrawn his candidacy. It was eventually ruled that once he had withdrawn, it was too late to become a candidate again, so no election was held because Ilyumzhinov was the only candidate. However, Leong became FIDE Secretary-General.”
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Ignatius Leong has had a tumultuous LOVE–HATE relationship with the FIDE president thru out the years, who for his part has been remarkably patient and generous with the Singapore arbiter.
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Leong’s entry on ChessGames.com has this little story to add:
”2004 Calvia Chess Olympiad: One day, Chief Arbiter Ignatius Leong unplugged the electronic boards of the Spanish B and C teams who were playing on stage to protest against the fact that some of his arbiters had not yet been paid. As a reaction, he was told that if he tried to do this again he would be denied access to the playing hall.”
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Flash forward to October of last year, Ignatius Leong defected to the Kasparov FIDE 2014 presidential campaign, trying to make as much noise as possible as he shut the door once more on Kirsan’s face. While few were surprised with Leong’s theatre, it later transpired that the principle motif for this defection was less than altruistic when the New York Times published revelations of money being involved.
:
Both Kasparov and Leong denied anything inappropriate with their arrangement, and continue to see nothing inappropriate in their relationship as the 2014 FIDE election enters the final months. Just yesterday Kasparov’s campaign site published a long, passionate letter from Leong where the Singapore arbiter swore his undying loyalty for Kasparov while doing a hatchet job on Kirsan, Nigel Freeman and , by association, anyone else who did not support Kasparov.
It is an interesting read and I suggest my readers take a look at. Atleast you will get a better understanding of what kind of shameless politico Ignatius Leong really is. Filled with unverifiable and sensationalist allegations, dirt and other vomit, it is worth remembering what this same person wrote of Kirsan in ChessBase back in 2006:
”The decade-long incumbent: charismatic, controversial…Kirsan has his detractors. As one who has watched and worked with him close-up over the past decade, I say to his critics: “Government always looks easy when right, and so devilish when wrong, the further you are away from the seat of power.”… But enough of that. Let us together light a candle rather than curse the dark.”
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Nigel Freeman, Leong and Kirsan in better times. For me, Nigel Freeman is the acid test: anyone who could call into question Freeman’s integrity is less than honest, to say the least, and does not deserve much sympathy.
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