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Abolishing women's titles: a different perspective
I've been known to defend the position that women's tournaments are all nonsense: after all, we don't have math competitions especially for women, nor do we have girls-only musical concourses. But a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, pleading for abolishment of women's FIDE titles, made me think again.
Barbara Jepson's piece is actually a collection of various opinions rather than a bold op-ed of her own. Her main point is that FIDE "persists in the anachronistic and demeaning practice of awarding separate titles for women at lower levels of accomplishment." Interestingly, the (female) chess players Jepson interviews are all top-level. For instance, when Jepson argues that "the time has come to drop gender-segregated titles for women", she quotes IM Irina Krush saying "women's titles are really a marker of lower expectations." Other strong female chess players she quotes are Alexandra Kosteniuk and Jennifer Shahade – all seem in favour of abolishing the female titles, though it's Krush's voice that speaks loudest in the article.
But what about women who are not as strong as Kosteniuk, Shahade and Krush, or the ones who have not been fortunate enough to pursue their chess goals due to lack of means, time or focus? Although I initially tended to agree with its basic premise, I suddenly felt that the Wall Street Journal article was strangely biased, so I asked Dutch women's international master (WIM) Arlette van Weersel about her opinion on the discussion. Here's what she said:
I think abolishing women's titles is a bad idea. Earning a title and working towards the goals to obtain it can be a great incentive, especially for young girls. In my opinion, women (and young girls) need this kind of incentives more than men, given the fact that we're still living in a male-oriented society.
The idea that women's titles are unnecessary seems rather black-and-white to me. Of course, a WIM or WGM title doesn't mean much at a global top level: all female top players have men's titles. On the other hand, it's not always possible for girls to invest much time in a chess career. But these players may still want to distinguish themselves from inactive or lower level women.
Van Weersel's ideas about male-oriented societies will no doubt raise a few eyebrows - until you think about non-Western countries. Chess is not only a game played by people from the US and Europe, and FIDE – gens una sumus – has to think about all countries rather than the ones where female emancipation happens to be rather advanced. Also, sadly, there are still plenty of examples in Western countries where male orientedness seems to be in place as firmly as ever. And it's not as if Van Weersel is blind to the disadvantages of women's titles:
It may be argued, of course, that female titles prevent young girls from trying to become stronger. They can be a WIM with a 2200 rating, whereas a boy would need about 200 rating points more for the same title. But for me personally, trying to obtain the WIM title was a big motivation. Given the time I want to invest in chess, becoming a grandmaster is simply not an option, but the goal of WGM does seem possible.
It seems to me it all depends on what you want to achieve with chess. Is chess just for fun or is there money involved as well? This is another point raised in Barbara Jepson's article: the commercial aspect of women's chess. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk notes "the most serious challenge for top-rated female chess players in general is to find commercial sponsors or institutional support, like from sports foundations or government sports committees."
Reigning Women World Champion Aleksandra Kosteniuk
Yet Van Weersel points out that here, women's titles could actually come to the rescue:
Tournament organizers actually benefit from the existence of women's titles. The thing is that these titles are regarded as regular titles for calculating [male] norms. If women's titles are abolished, fewer female players will be invited to closed tournaments. In my opinion, this certainly doesn't help women's chess.
Unavoidably, the gender-debate also rears its ugly head in Jepson's article, and as always, principles often appear to be more important than facts.
A number of aficionados claim that men have an edge because chess is a game of spatial relations, and some studies show men scoring higher than women in "mental rotation." Chess teachers say that girls are usually not as competitive as boys, and that hinders their performance.(…) Yet in the long term, women will benefit from having the titles they hold conferred on the same basis as men. "While some men may remain sexist no matter what," observes Mr. Pandolfini, "for the bulk of humanity, ability wins out and speaks the loudest."
Jepson seems to argue that despite these possible differences, competing on the same level is called for anyway. Jepson and the people she interviews seem to hold the opinion that these differences someone must be really overcome, and should be ignored as much as possible at all costs. But perhaps a more sophisticated point of view is called for. As the primatologist Frans de Waal once said, "You can take an ape out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the ape". In other words, perhaps we should simply accept these differences rather than pretend they don't exist. Van Weersel, in any case, seems to have a more realistic attitude than the people interviewed for the Wall Street Journal:
The true reason for wanting to abolish women's titles seems to be that women aren't dumber than men and therefore can become just as strong as them. I agree with this, but there really are differences, too, such as social issues, dealing with emotions and the way women focus on things. Reaching the top is still very difficult for girls in practice, and only a very small percentage of chess playing women obtain men's titles. As long as chess development between men and women is so far apart, I think women's titles are okay.
In a perfect world, we may want a competition that absolutely fair and equal, but reality often forces us to look differently at things. On one level, I am definitely annoyed every time I see women with lower ratings than myself having their entry fee and hotel paid for, while I must pay for everything myself, just because they happen to be WIM. And it's a nice comfort to know that Krush and others acknowledge this feeling.
But when I think about it from another angle, I must admit it's not such a bad idea. Women really are different than men in some aspects, both by nature and by nurture, and this is especially true for women in underdeveloped countries. Perhaps we should think twice before turning our backs on them just because our ideals tell us so.
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5 years 2 months ago
That comment made no sense, Jan. how would men be "keeping chess" by there being women titles? Weird...
Anyway, noting that there could still be women only events to give (top) women more chance to finance their chess, I really think this discussion comes down to if
a) women titles still increase the number of women playing, or
b) they don't.
It is an empirical question, so it is important to not jump to conclusions because it's hard to know the real answer. But one thing is obvious, in the perfect world there would be no women titles, so the goal should be to eventually remove them.
I like the point that it might help more in not-so-rich countries, it's easy to just assume the position of the western world when talking about something like this, without thinking of the rest of the world. Still, it should be asked if an IM titel does about the same job as a wgm title. if so, the IM title just seems better to be using.
I´d like to ask one other thing, about finance: How do male GM:s at the rating of 2500-2600 finance their games? 2600-2700? Is it the case that it is really only the elite of chess that actually lives only off playing chess? What I am actually wondering here is if a women GM (GM, not WGM) is having a harder time than most men at the same rating to financetheir chess. If that is so, it is bad. If not, then it should be kept in mind that financing those women are a matter of allocation of quotas, that is promoting women playing chess in order offset an inbalance founded in unequal opportunities for women and men.
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In my view, chess is a typical male activity. Meaning only men can focus on one single narrow thing and spend their life on it. Chess, but also mathematics, physics, bird watching and other specialist areas.
Women have broader views, are more social, and therefore in general more interesting human beings to deal with! Let us men keep chess - all the rest they are better in.
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It's not only about increasing the number of women playing, as Arlette van Weersel says for women who already play it, it's also about making money and especially staying motivated and having fun playing. You can't empirically measure those things so easily but that doesn't mean they're not important.
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``If women's titles are abolished, less female players will be invited to closed tournaments.''
I assume that Van Weersel meant ``fewer female players'', otherwise the issue becomes quite intricate ;-)
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1) All that talk about "male-oriented societies" is bull as far as so-called western world is concearned. In western world if a woman has the ability and real desire to achieve something, she can achieve it just like men do. But of course she has to have the ability and the will to achieve it. If one of these is missing she will fail, just like other men do too. There is absolutely no disadvantage for them, in fact many times being a woman is an advantage!
2) Like already mentioned women think and act differently than men. If it was all up to women, human foot would never set on the top of Mount Everest or South/North pole or the Moon. Women just don't have this advanterous crazy spirit in them. Men do. Did humankind really profit anything by climbing the Everest, setting foot on both poles and stepping on the moon? Not really, but we men wanted to do it. Why? Just to see if we can!!! Women only climb Everest to prove that they can do it too - that they are no weaker than men, but they would never think to climb it first. This is the main difference between men and women - men are crazy and set themselves new and new crazy challenges and then they give EVERYTHING to achieve it. It's an obsession. Just like chess is an obsession too. Women just don't have this in them. They just can't be obsessive about one thing only and dedicate everything for that thing, like men are.
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Rick Lahaye
5 years 2 months ago
Isn't it an idea to use inflation correction to restructure the current system? I wonder how much easier it is to earn a title this in comparison with 30 years ago.
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5 years 2 months ago
Indeed, corrected.
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It is by no means decided that women are, by nature, worse chess players than men; indeed, some evidence suggests that, after correcting for the fact that chess is played by many more men than women, the women actually do slightly *better* than the men (see http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/2967, "Why are (the Best) women so good at chess? Participation rates and gender differences in intellectual domains").
Of course, it is entirely possible that women as a group have problems with their motivation or set priorities in life differently than men (i.e., women decide not to sacrifice their entire lifes to the game). But it is hard to see why this should be rewarded with a special title. The only solid argument I can see in favor of the WIM/WGM titles is that women have been oppressed by men, and that it is difficult for them to escape the self-fulfilling profecy that "women cannot play chess". Unfortunately, the existence of women's titles may only reinforce this stigma.
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On a related note, maybe we should determine, on the basis of a series of IQ test, those players who have a low IQ. We could then have special titles "DIM" (dumb IM) and DGM.
After all, it can be very tough for dumb people to play smart guys all the time, and dumb people cannot help it that they are born dumb. Such titles would be really motivating for dumb people. Or would such titles be insulting? (yes, of course) -- then what is the difference with the WIM/WGM titles?
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"Of course, it is entirely possible that humans as a group have problems with their motivation or set priorities in track running differently than cheetahs (i.e., humans decide not to sacrifice their entire lifes to running). But it is hard to see why this should be rewarded with a special title."
EJ Wagenmakers, do you also oppose to Usain Bolt's title as the fastest human on the planet because cheetahs run faster than humans? Or is there in your opinion somehow a fundamental distinction between species or physical, mental and social differences between sexes?
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5 years 2 months ago
I would suggest replacing both WGM and WIM titles by a single WM (Women's master) title, let's say 50-75 rating points higher requirements than current WIM title. Then it would be quite clear, you first go for the WM title, to show that you are one of the really strong women in the world, and then you go for regular titles, to show that you are very strong regardless of sex.
The current problem is one of semantics, Grandmaster is instinctively a better ranking than Master, but then we are faced with the contradiction that Women's International Grandmaster is weaker than regular International Master. This unfortunately leads us to devalue all women's titles as basically meaningless, as they don't fit into a natural scheme. With a natural progression, WM then IM then GM, we would instinctively know where players fit in and thus would naturally rate them accordingly in our minds.
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Women titles are just (good) policy.
Chess is something people do for fun (I hope), and "chess men" seem to have fun when surrounded by girls or when they play chess. Women, on the other hand, seem to avoid being surrounded by guys and playing chess.
So, when women titles motivate women to stay in the game, keep the titles. When women titles stigmatize and hereby chase them off, dump them.
In my opinion women titles (and separate tournaments, etc.) are motivating women to stay in the game, so keep them.
By the way, any woman that supports the abolishment of women titles should also refuse to play in special women tournaments, cause the are just as (or even more) discriminating.
So when women like Krush or Kosteniuk are against these titles, they should not cash prize money in women tournaments (where any unknown 2600+ male professional player would love to compete) or accept invitations to tournaments in which not only their rating but also their commercial value due to their gender is why they are invited (like Corus).
good idea
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Call it a "black and white" opinion:
Of course there should NEVER have been distintive competitions for woman.
Other things ought to realy change. Not having those kinds of paliative-auto-fooling things that serve nothing but the statu quo.
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Ludo Tolhuizen
5 years 2 months ago
Amazingly, a few years ago, the winner of the European Women Championship was automatically rewarded the (general, male) grandmaster title (I'm not sure if this is till so).
This way, the strongest Dutch female player became IGM without ever having had a rating exceeding 2500. Is that fair?
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5 years 2 months ago
Issues of benign (corrective) discrimination are not fresh. The real question usually will be is the time right to literally level the field. The problem is always that the underlying impetuses for the benign discrimination are hundreds if not thousands of years old, and the ill effects will carry on in both subtle and non-subtle ways for an enormous period of time even after the conduct/attitudes are changed. The analogy often given is one of a car hurtling along in a certain wrong direction. When you no longer care to continue in that direction, and you wish to turn, do you only take your foot off the accelerator, or do you also apply the brake. Benign discrimination is likened to a brake.
Are those who howl the loudest about the benign discrimination members of the classes who have traditionally not been discriminated against, or those in the discriminated-against class who have broken through the barriers by opportunity or talent? When a top female player who has received an unqualified IM or GM title says "we no longer need separate titles for women," is she doing the larger class any favor? To some, the argument that people should (ignore the centuries of discrimination and) pull themsevles up by their bootstraps is insipid. To others, the benign discrimination is misguided and only helps perpetuate the problem.
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5 years 2 months ago
Women should play along with males, at the beginning many of those women chess players who already have titles will probably suffer the trauma of competing with stronger players, they will naturally want to maintain the status quo, to be shielded from men, to perpetuate the actual segregation system. But if things change and women are allowed to compete with men in the long run there will be more and more strong women playing chess. Women aren't weak as many men and women think. Let them play, free the woman!
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A title should mean something.
I'm sure the female players appreciate the little $ they are earning - that there are sponsors willing to pay etc.... But I doubt that they are happy with the fact that fans will always regard them as being pretty good chess players (for a woman).
By reading general comments of male players - women can see MORE male Chauvinism here in our sport then almost in any other sport or field for that matter. the EGOs.....
It would be a MAJOR victory for women - if just 1 woman would beat the world champion in a match and become the undisputed world champion.
(That day will come (I believe it !! )
I have 2 daughters and I have them play in regular tournaments against any oppnents male or female.
What's the difference?
Having balls has no advantage when it comes to chess - this is an intellectual sport (not a physical one).
Woman have a major psychological advantage playing against men - but they don't use it. Instead they are reluctant to play in women's events - and earn WIM WGM titles which are meaningless. (but in private everyone says... "oh she is a very talented and strong chess player.....for a woman....", she is a great Champion - amonst other women...).
There should be only 1 standard. (regardless of gender).
Judith Polgar is the ONLY example that ALL female chess players should look up to - try to follow her path and improve on.
- -(on the men's side)
A GM title for men used to mean that this player is a legitimate contender to beat the world champion (or at least to give the reigning world champion a very strong challenge) I don't think you can say this about 75% of the top GM list.
There should be only a handful of GMs to begin with.
(but instead of scaling down everyone else - the federations keep building level up - like Super GM....etc..).
Here's an idea - Take the top 10 rated GMs in the world - and have them play a 10 game match against Anand. who ever can't get at least 3 points - should be dropped off the top GM list - they are simply not good enough to be the company of the world champion.
Life Titles are even a more rediculous idea.
Imagine if I were to gain a GM title, and then get into an accident and due to brain damge not even know how the pieces move...or what my name is (a complete vegetable)....That GM title is mine forever regardelss...... and can never be taken away. Does that seem right to anyone?
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@EJ Wagenmakers - I agree with you 100%
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@Neanderthalis - I totaly agree with you.
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Very interesting comments so far! Redpawn's remark that a 'title should mean something' seems to be at the heart of many of the discussions going on here. The question is: who decides this 'meaning'? In my opinion, there is no inherent value to any title - they just mean whatever value we are willing to attach to them. And as is clear from Arlette van Weersel's comments, I think we can safely say that WIM and WGM titles definitely mean something to many chess playing women. So why oppose them? People who suggest this may as well, as HJVFan suggests, ditch the title 'Olympic champion 100m running' because a cheetah outruns any human. The Olympic title would therefore be 'meaningless' at some (admittedly pretty abstract) level. Still, I'm sure they would agree that this title, too, somehow has real meaning to many people, And that's why we keep it.
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5 years 2 months ago
absolutely life titles make since.
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The psychological advantage woman have over men is this:
Basically, since men are brought up with the notion of being "gentelman" towards women;
If a man beats a woman - he is NOT gentelman ! (His mother would not be proud of him......)
And if he loses - (it's worse) He is not a man (not a real one anyway...right?) - He can rest assured that other men will taunt him i.e "How could you lose to this "girl"? what kind of "man" are you?
SO there it is.
(Psychologically) it's a loosing proposition for a men to play against a women.
The only satisfactory outcome I guess is .... a draw. :-(
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T. Goto
5 years 2 months ago
Thanks Arne, for yet another thought provoking article. We usually hear from people who represents the game, like Polgers and Kosteniuk, so this article gave us another element to take into account. While I admire the aspirations of strong female players who can challenge most players on a per, we also know that male and female are, in general, different (even Kosteniuk wouldn't dispute that, I think, given her web project "Chess is Cool".) Then I have to agree that keeping an option for female players is valid and good for chess. While I would like to see more opportunities for already established female players in mixed environment, advancing the cause of promoting chess among women cannot be reduced to the issue of title. Personally, I am looking forward to read the follow-up of your article on gender in education.
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@Arne Moll - I agree with you.
But you take your example to extreme... cheeta vs Human runner... ?
I'd say that's a valid argument when you compare Human Chess say with Computer chess.
(well we know computers have already surpassed menkind in chess. Kasparov vs Deep Blue and Kramnik vs Deep Fritz (lost 2 yrs ago...). [p.s When will we see Anand play the strongest computer?]
So, there's that lost battle for humanity..... :-(
But humans still play humans in chess!
The question now becomes - why the segregation / separation between the sexes?
What does having different genitelias have anything to do with a completely intellectual sport like chess?
Does a male GM player have an advantage because he has balls ?
What about gays ? are they going to host U.S Gay's Chess championship?
Or another U.S Championship for Transvestiles?
(you can take that argument to extremes... - and it's valid to the discussion at hand).
"To test the validity of an argument - you must stretch the extremes and you'll expose the false premises that underly it".
Chess is chess !
it's time to break and abolish the gender division.
Women have a psychological advantage anyway - so the rest they have to prove on their own at the board. With quality moves/plans, and a "will to win", results at top level tournaments etc....
I believe that one day a woman will be an undisputed world champion! and she will be a great beacon of hope for all other girls who love the game just as much, if not more then boys.
A SLAP IN THE FACE of all male chauvinists :-)
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redpawn, the comparison with a cheetah (not mine, by the way) is interesting because there the difference is immediately obvious (as with humans and computers). To have separate 'titles' for humans and cheetahs seems beyond discussion because anyone immediately sees the differences. But for men and women the discussion is very much alive - despite the sometimes considerable differences between the sexes. (Note that I am not talking about genetic or physical differences only! The focus some people put on genes and heritable traits is very annoying sometimes.)
I agree the difference between women and men is smaller than humans and cheetahs, but it doesn't matter for the argument, I hope you see that.
And yes, in fact there are separate chess championships for gay people too. I'd say the differences here are even smaller, and thus also the need for separate titles and championships, but there you are.
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5 years 2 months ago
but the elo of women and men is the same and we can see the real strength. Judit Polger and others show us that women can be strong at chess like men.
i would be better when women will play more often against men.
maybe some men dont like to lose against a woman:)
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Arne, if W titles are keep so that women have something to fight for, they will never be as strong as men. They're simply fighting for different things, however related and with one far harder than the other. Let's try another amusing example: almost every federation has or had national master titles. They were official, but they meant almost nothing. Those really strong almost invariably bypassed them. Nowadays nobody willing to be really strong would come up saying, "hey, you know, i'm national master". They would show a nice elo or even better, a couple of IM norms. If women are to be as strong as men (and I believe they can be) they shouldn't fight separately, working for weaker titles in separate competitions. To add more to this, it has to be said that the strongest female ever plays only in regular competitions, and most importantly, built her strength in regular events.
@redpawn: What's that psychological advantage? I'm curious, since every women that played for any club i ever did, showed nothing about psychological advantage. Rather the opposite.
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Really ? there is a separate chess championships for gay people ?
that's very sad. :-( Humanity is progressing backwards, not forwards.
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But Alez, the whole point of my article was to show that women don't necessarily have to become as strong as men. There are other reasons to play chess! Some women (like Arlette) prefer to just play chess and have some goals simply because they like competing in chess! And if the titles help them having fun and achieving successes in their lives, why abolish them? But apparently, that's quite hard to grasp for some people.
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5 years 2 months ago
I don't think that women with WFM,WIM or WGM titles should feel inferior to men at all.It takes less points to achieve it?Yes,but why women will think they are less smart than men?I see no reason to think that way.Men only can make women inferior if women let them do that.Do you folks really believe that in these 3 cases of a game:WFMxFM,WIMxIM and WGMxGM the women think themselves as dumber than their opponents?As men do or should do,women go to game for the win,no matter what.If these titles help the women to find sponsors and create tournaments why not have them?I would like to cangrats the Chess Vibes for such fair article,putting the two points of views about the matter.As more we think about the women chess more our game will spread around the world.There a huge potential that lays above women in chess that will help promote our game.The larger view of women can help the game the organizers of it.I think a tourneys would need a female touch of organization don't you think?A female arbiter?Why not?There's still a lot to do.There are differences but nothing that can't be overcome.
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5 years 2 months ago
"if things change and women are allowed to compete with men ..."
Can you please point out any rule which says that women aren't allowed to compete with men?
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@nn Yes - that's exactly my point.
I'm saying that woman have a tremendous psychological advantage playing against men.....
"There is nothing that disgusts a man like getting beaten at chess by a woman".
"It is a loosing proposition for men to play chess with a woman. They always have the advantage!
If you win, you're not a gentelman.
And if you lose, you're not a man! "
But unfortunately they are not motivated enough to complete at these high category level with top GMs (there is only Polgar - and she is not very active lately....) Do we see a whole group of women like Polgar out there? or are they just raising the white flag of surrender ??
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I'm not sexist , but if you scrape the women events and allow women to compete with men , less and less woman will play chess professionnally , simply because it will not only be almost impossible for 99.9% of them except J.Polgar (or some exceptions)to get invitations to high profile international events against the best players in the world (which is already the case ) , but also for most of the WGM to be invited even in smaller profile events .
This can have a negative effect on woman playing chess professionally IMHO
I think , that like said Jean Michel , if the WGM title is reviewed to be more prestigious than the IM title , it will be a good start because the title of WGM would be more prestigious , and women GM who are not supercrack like Judith , for example , the US champion Zatonskih rated 2400ish , would still get opportunities to play tournaments , get some money and thus continue on the path of professional chess whilst improving . and keeping the confidence and "hunger" for titles
If you scrape WGM title and women chess , all these 2300-2400ish women GM would get less chances to play (less invitations ) and thus earn money , and it's likely they would never win anything thus losing confidence and heart for pursueing their professional career IMHO . Except if there is a rule that obliges tournament organizers to invite as many women as men , but i'm no fan of this idea
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jeez sry for my bad English , and i made a repetition with prestigious:
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HAVE ALL PLAYERS WEAR a Burkha (burka or burqua)
either that or full uni-sex gowns and Venician Masks.
Then the players would not know the gender of the person they are playing. And
have to rely only on making the best moves on the board.
So YOU CAN'T PLAY the MAN (or Woman) - YOU MUST PLAY THE BOARD !
This way Women would not be intimidated by playing men, and vice versa.....
The recent super tournament in china had all male GMs wear traditional chinese shirts - so this goes along the same lines - except to hide the gender and identity of the opposition.
What ya'll think ?
(and yes, I know, I've seen Stanley Kubric's "Eyes wide shut" one too many times....)
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@Alez I agree with you on all the points you mentioned.
The Psychological advantage I was talking about - I explined in my comments befor you posed your question.
I knew someone is bound to ask me that (and I was right)
Just like a good chess player should - I anticipated your question (move) in advance... :-)
Read the part about:
"If you win, you're not a gentelman - And if you lose, you're not a man!"
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5 years 2 months ago
i cannot explain why, but the fact we all know is this:
women don't like chess. even titled female players will never put chess high on their priorities. the really really few that will do this are just exceptions.
this is not criticism, it is just a fact that everyone playing chess for some time can confirm.
so, why bother with female chess players at all? maybe because it is boring to be in a tournament full of men? yes, i guess so!
so, i know it will sound like blatant sexism, but we can safely conclude that chess females are only of aesthetic interest for the chess world :)
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"Read the part about:
"If you win, you're not a gentelman – And if you lose, you're not a man!"
Well , i played against many women , i play the position , not the person in front of me , but i understand it can happen that some men have problems to play against women , i dont think it is the majority of men though .
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Sorry, i was out and couldn' answer you, Arne (and everyone). It's not that i have a problem with W titles. I just think they aren't helping women chess at all, rather the opposite. If women want objectives, they should use the same as men. I take it can be a motivation to get a W title, but so could be if tomorrow Spanish Federation implemented a "Regional Master" one, to boost our little dear players. Still, no problem at all for me to have W titles, but if i'm asked the reason there aren't women at top chess i will have to say "because there are W titles and W championship" (of course not the only reason, but to my view one of the most important ones)
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Some people here have compared the competition between male vs female chess players to a running match between humans and cheetas. I hope you realize this comparison is extremely sexist and discriminating against women (I assume the men are taken to be the cheetas). There is simply no evidence that women are intellectually inferior. There is also no evidence that -- once you correct for the fact that so few women play chess -- women are worse in chess than men.
Awarding women separate titles because of the assumption that they have some kind of inborn disability is patronizing (and a couple of other things as well, but I'll stick to patronizing for the moment).
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5 years 2 months ago
If a woman earns the WGM or WIM title, it's not like she has to accept it (pay the fee, etc.) if she feels it is inhibiting her progress. If she thinks it will help her finanicially or chess-wise, she can take it; if not, pass. Given that, it's tempting to conclude that men are the ones being discriminated against here :) I'm not going that far, of course, and I'm glad women have the option to decide individually for themselves if it's a good idea or not. I kind of like the idea of the condensed women's title at a rating slightly above the WIM, but I think a super-majority of the WGM/WIM titleholders (or those eligibile for those titles, but not those women with the separate GM/IM title) need to decide to abolish the titles before they are abolished.
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Woman title(s) could have just one advantage, as someone said before, namely atracting (more) woman to the game of chess.
Indeed, Arne, "creating equal chances" is something that discrimination (as "positive" as we could call it) doesn't do, beyond the surface.
Whatever reasons (fisical, fisiological, intellectual, social, historical,...), woman realy is less interested and less sucessful than man, in chess.
But the only accions that could work in the long run is NOT acting artificialy over chess nor woman themselves, manipulating the significance of their achievements! (Or else do it with every group of non-top chess players!)
The ones which are to "atract" to this kind of "problem" are educators, polititians, society in general.
Like charity, "positive discriminations" can aliviate and fake things on the moment, but asures that the solution gets way harder to come.
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@EJ and others: it's interesting how people in this discussion always seem to focus on genetical differences and intellectual inferiority. However, both Arlette and me (in the comments) have stressed that these are not the issues at stake here: we're talking about differences, yes, but these differences have absolutely nothing to do with genetics, inborn disability or patronizing women. Those are all strawmen arguments. Instead, the article is about creating equal chances for men and women, and stimulating chess in certain groups. And in this respect, I think titles are not so useless or unfair as some on this forum may think.
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Wagenmakers - you sound like a relic from the 70-ies. Everyone knows that men play infinitely better chess than women. But who cares.
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The point is fully hit by (other than myself's :-) ) EJ Wagenmakers' post.
Imediatetly create DIM and DGM dumb titles (and any other categories of nowadays non-top chess people), or else ban the stupid woman titles right away!
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EJ Wagenmakers,
Women DO have the "inborn disability" of being a woman and because of that can't do some things as well as men do! Chess seems to be one of those things.
We (men) also have "inborn disability" of being a man and because of that can't do some things as well as women do!
Men and women think and act differently (I don't know why we even have to discuss this when it is so obvious) and I'm sick and tired of this "we are the same" stuff. We are not the same and will never be the same! It doesn't mean one is better than the other, but we are not the same! We are completely different.
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Saying that there is no scientific evidence that men play better chess than women is not the same as saying that "we are the same".
Fact is, there is no scientific evidence that men play better chess, so suggesting that women have an "inborn disability" to play chess makes absolutely no sense.
Comparing chess with humans vs cheetas running is an analogy that is indeed sexist and patronizing and does not make any sense. There is enough proof that men can run faster than women, but again, there is no proof they can play better chess.
However, there is evidence that women are less ATTRACTED to the game. If titles attract more women to the game it can be a good thing, but don't say that women have an inborn disability to play chess, that is just some prejudiced people's gut feeling.
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Come on guys, political correctness is from the 90-ies. Women can't play at the very highest level. Judith was the exception but she wasnt Worldchampion level.
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5 years 2 months ago
When they combined women with men in the U.S. Championship, it was a disaster for the women. Almost all of the women ended up at the bottom of the charts. They had to play top American GMs and did poorly, but there were breakout performances by players like Jennifer Shahade, Irina Krush, Anna Zatonskih and a few upsets by lower-rated women. However, the women clearly took a beating. So they went back to the separate championship. I believe they should play with the men, but should consist of the strongest women players. Otherwise, we'll end up having 0-9 disasters that have happened a couple times. Someone even compared Hana Itkis to Fischer by saying she was the youngest to ever compete in a U.S. Championship. What pressure! It was unfair comparison. I think she scored 1/2-point from nine. Not her fault, but they need to find a better system to prevent what could have crushed her confidence. Fortunately, Itkis is still playing... at 2100-level.
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I should make my doctor happy by spending all my food money on this hobby and and dropping some weight
I should make my doctor happy by spending all my food money on this hobby and and dropping some weight
Did I do that?
SON OF A BITCH!! Would you rich guys please stop this shit!!! I refuse to pay interest on ANYTHING!! But if I see ONE MOREpicture of a Vickers ,I'm using the damed credit card!!!
" Save a tree...........Eat A Beaver!"
The tripod weighs around 60 lbs. It makes the whole assembly fairly heavy. The tripods are nice but on the expensive side.
Mailed in order to Omega for spare new barrels. You do the same?
Now when are those semi RSPs ready
Pirate did this to me. I had to sell an extra 4 cut MG42 receiver - still have one I/O 4 cut and two 3 cut Angola Armory demilled receivers so really didn't need the fourth one. Man, those really rose in price. Also sold a Romy PSL - had two and didn't really like them enough to keep 2. Do my long range shooting with a precision .308 bolt gun now anyway but wanted to keep one just to round out the AK collection
Get the Vickers kits while you can. Once semi RSPs hit the market, don't know what will happen to kit price and availability. Pirate did it to me, but I really like this one - IMHO, now that I have my grubby hands on one and get to fondle it I think they are very cool......very cool indeed.
Thanks Pirate !!
Did I do that?
There's one on 1919a4 for $650.00
" Save a tree...........Eat A Beaver!"
My wife told me if I " charge it" I'm going on HER ignore list!!!
" Save a tree...........Eat A Beaver!"
Yikes, that can get REAL expensiveOriginally Posted by Bradrock
Did I do that?

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|28th Jan 2012, 20:52
Mmmm Donuts
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: UK
Posts: 5,017
Lean and Green - 15-12-14 - as complete as it's going to get
Skip to post #1189 on page 60 for the easy to read log.
Wanted a low power good capacity HTPC & looked at the range of available ones at retail that could hold what I want it to but thought I want something worthy enough to replace Stealthlow with so wanted to make it a dual system to use a lot less electric when I don't need the extra power of a normal system which is most of the time, I didn't think I'd manage making an ok looking dual system where they can still be used as completely separate rigs but I think I got there in the end & went much further, it does look top heavy but I have it figured out nicely & it will be very Heavy Bottom not the other way around & I still haven't designed the case feet, want to have a good idea of it's weight before I do those.
I added a porthole window where the psu cables come out from for giggles in an otherwise super neat system internally with interesting exterior from any angle & this dual system is also highly functional, everything is easily removable & the gaming rig can be removed & placed on alternative feet & the top of the HTPC can be replaced with a plain top or test bench rig very quickly, I know this design rocks for my PC wants with it being very modular but as always with my designs if anything lets it down it will be the style not appealing to many but it will brighten up my eyes each day if I manage to make it as good as I hope to .
I took another good final examination of the design before marking the materials & tweaked it a little more to perfect it & so it will support slightly higher mobo standoffs & give it a little more strength & a little extra on the looks.
Lean & Green - Yes I would have chosen a better name for it but my mind goes nicely blank caught up in the detail when I look at the concept & only random words find their way out so I'm quite happy it has that effect on me where it leaves me kind of speechless, I considered the name of Heavy Bottom because of people saying it looks top heavy but gave it a miss lol .
Needed another reason to do a good personal build & the how much does your rig cost to run blog on bit-tech caught my curiosity to go find out & it came to about £210 for the rig alone each year, I figured I could trim that down to about £60 per year with a better use of electric separating low performance needs to high performance wants & still be able to have a performance rig to enjoy when I want so totally managed to convince myself this was a good idea so got on with it .
System components
ATX PSU, mini-ITX on board CPU/GPU 18w motherboard with hdmi & DVI, good low profile sound card, 4 HDD, 1 SSD, 1 full size optical, full size 140mm custom fan.
Gaming rig
ATX PSU, Full ATX motherboard, moderately overclocked quad core, 8GB RAM, high performance & quiet air cooler, 3 custom fans, good GPU, good sound card, full size optical, 1 ssd, 1 hdd.
Control of the systems, good quality cable splitters.
Aluminium 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10mm sheet/plate & some bars round ones, square ones & angled ones. Screws & precision DIY fittings .
Acrylic 3 & 5mm sheets, Black, Opal frosted, Brown tint. tensol 12 adhesive.
Wood 3 types, Cocobolo, Ebony & Maple. gorilla glue bought the wood as turning blanks & they come coated in wax.
Manual modding is my approach of choice still & no plans on changing after grinding through the difficult barely skilled wondering if I can make anything phase up to feeling pretty confident about my increasing skills phase but I'm always learning & know I always will be which is probably a big part of why I enjoy it so much & feeding the difficulty a few notches higher each time in some way is making me get pretty good at this .
Reason I am a week late on starting the thread is I've been waiting for deliveries & the last of them came today nearly 2 weeks after ordering them scroll saw blades, drill bits & a quality dormer tapping set so as long as I don't screw up anything I should be able to go at it until it's done but what are the chances of me getting through all this without screwing up, place your bets now .
First slice of progress, minimal but it's enough progress to warrant for the new thread .
Tackled the 3mm sheets first with them being the hardest to manage being so massive, really should have ordered smaller easier to manage sheets, d'oh, the small work bench is waaaaaay too small for the 1650x1000 sheet & the kitchen work top I used to use I found my dad made it into a fixed side table for the garage so had to improvise, quick look around & seen a bunch of beer packs used 5 or 6 12 packs of beer they made for an awesome make shift cutting table in fact they worked better than the work bench because of the even load of the packs spread out in the right places but it put a good bit of strain on the back from leaning over a lot & about an hour later of a jigsaw frenzy session they are to rough size within a 3mm safety measure ready for detailing, but when I marked the cut lines I forgot to make notes of which pieces are which so need to work that one out lol, should be easy enough & I'll cut up all the other sheets next, it's interesting how much I can do in a short time when going at it with a solid determined plan, I think the days of standing around for hours thinking what next? might be behind me .
Needed a map to get good use of the material cutting layout.
Nearly as tall as me.
After the 1 hour jigsaw frenzy, all the 3mm alu cut to rough size within a 3mm safety gap.
Shot of the wood ready & waiting to be worked.
I didn't take my ok camera to the garage though, it's too cold & would be bad for it & it was a quick get in there & get it done type task not faff about with a camera in the cold & was only me using a beer table lol which yeah I suppose would have made a good fun opening work shot really now I think of it sat in the warmth .
More tomorrow I hope .
23rd May 2012
The design has been a work in progress all along but I thought the first update would have been the final look of this, it's a big relatively complex design so it needed quite a bit more effort going into it so it would turn out as I want it to look & to function, I also chickened out of the wood work for fear of it being a big hassle with my tools & lack of experience of working wood & as you can see they are square 2 inch thick blocks of wood which I'd have to make slithers of to form panels so not exactly something for a wood work newb.
Here is how the design looks now with a side by side comparison.
Air Cube v2 and gaming tower (Fin Aug 2010)
Stealthlow (Fin Sep 2011)
Lean & Green - Modular Dual PC (the one that made me tap out )
Midlag Crisis (Fin Sep 2013)
Intranuc (Fin Sep 2013)
Last edited by Waynio; 15th Dec 2014 at 01:07. Reason: Too much LAG, needed a reboot
|28th Jan 2012, 20:52
Mmmm Donuts
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: UK
Posts: 5,017
Reserved for final pictures
|28th Jan 2012, 20:53
Pump Killer
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Copenhagen
Posts: 1,610
Come on, not you again...
Looking insanely promising, and you have sure proved your modding skills, so this will be one to follow for sure!
It's NOT a mac... http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=139635 - Motm nominee
WII - UNLimited Edition http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=179763 - Moty nominee
Liquid Cooled CarPC - Sponsored by Mushkin Enhanced & Centrafuse
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=207889 - Motm nominee
The Theory of Everything http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=219504 - Motm WINNER!
|28th Jan 2012, 21:02
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 494
I love the design mate and i cant wait to see the progress for this one.Following for sure.
|28th Jan 2012, 21:13
Super Spamming Saiyan
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Wigan
Posts: 12,592
Hell yes- here we go again! Can't wait to get my HTPC mod going!
Can't wait for more Wayne!
Project Logs: Refraction - Steampunk Flash Drive - Steel; Sleek; Slate
BitFenix Prodigy - Gigabyte Z87N - Intel 4670K - Asus 7790 Cu 1GB - 8GB Corsair Vengeance - M4 128GB - WD Red 1TB X2 - H60 - Antec 650W - Dell U2312HM - Poker MX Red - Sennheiser HD 598
"The fear in my eyes when my lass almost opened contacts, and with the name Alessandro, yours comes up very near the top." - Blazza181
|28th Jan 2012, 22:16
Mmmm Donuts
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: UK
Posts: 5,017
|29th Jan 2012, 00:27
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Kootenays,BC.Canada
Posts: 500
A great opening Wayne. Very original design and with all the open latice uptop it does not come across as heavy.
Good building and you have me watching.
Electrocutous Orchid
|29th Jan 2012, 01:00
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Ljubljana
Posts: 39
Looking forward to following this. I really looks promising.
|29th Jan 2012, 03:23
Doesn't raise the bar; he IS the bar.
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: UK/SK
Posts: 470
Hey Waynio, another crazy project in making. May I ask where did you get ebony from? I couldn't find any decent supplier.
|29th Jan 2012, 10:42
Mmmm Donuts
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: UK
Posts: 5,017
Exotic solid woods are difficult to find online I spent days & days searching & imagine if I asked for some of them at local lumber yards they'd think I was crazy or something unless that's just a touch of ignorance from me .
The site I bought them from is http://www.turners-retreat.co.uk/aca...oodBlanks.html they have changed it so you need to register with them to be able to buy from them but they were good & quick on the delivery , hope that's good for you mate, I did have another good place to order from but lost the link .
|29th Jan 2012, 12:36
Super Spamming Saiyan
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Wigan
Posts: 12,592
Why said I was doing a raspberry pi HTPC?
I'm doing a Gigabyte H55N HTPC mod and a raspberry pi coffee table mod!
I'm sorry to talk about myself, but I'm getting really excited at doing them and seeing another Wayne project gets me even more psyched up!
Project Logs: Refraction - Steampunk Flash Drive - Steel; Sleek; Slate
BitFenix Prodigy - Gigabyte Z87N - Intel 4670K - Asus 7790 Cu 1GB - 8GB Corsair Vengeance - M4 128GB - WD Red 1TB X2 - H60 - Antec 650W - Dell U2312HM - Poker MX Red - Sennheiser HD 598
"The fear in my eyes when my lass almost opened contacts, and with the name Alessandro, yours comes up very near the top." - Blazza181
|29th Jan 2012, 12:43
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Sweden
Posts: 778
YAY!! I´m so excited... This is one crazy project!! Btw Waynio, you don´t like using periods, do you?
Tempel / Revelation / The Shrine / REDELUX / 4M
Follow me on: https://www.facebook.com/lovehultenau
|29th Jan 2012, 15:06
Mmmm Donuts
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: UK
Posts: 5,017
Periods as in breaks or eras of time periods , anyway I like both & Stealthlow completed in September so had a 4 month break from physical modding so feeling supercharged .
|29th Jan 2012, 16:30
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Sweden
Posts: 778
Tempel / Revelation / The Shrine / REDELUX / 4M
Follow me on: https://www.facebook.com/lovehultenau
|29th Jan 2012, 18:03
Mmmm Donuts
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: UK
Posts: 5,017
Finally got all the 1mm & 2mm sheet marked up, took forever & not too late to get busy cutting .
|29th Jan 2012, 19:11
Super Spamming Saiyan
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Wigan
Posts: 12,592
I've been flawless the whole time, that's why people like me.
Project Logs: Refraction - Steampunk Flash Drive - Steel; Sleek; Slate
BitFenix Prodigy - Gigabyte Z87N - Intel 4670K - Asus 7790 Cu 1GB - 8GB Corsair Vengeance - M4 128GB - WD Red 1TB X2 - H60 - Antec 650W - Dell U2312HM - Poker MX Red - Sennheiser HD 598
"The fear in my eyes when my lass almost opened contacts, and with the name Alessandro, yours comes up very near the top." - Blazza181
|29th Jan 2012, 21:50
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Leicester, UK
Posts: 90
Looks nice Waynio, very unusual design again! The renders do look a bit odd and top heavy but looking forward to how this turns out.
|30th Jan 2012, 00:29
long live the pc
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: chelmsford,uk
Posts: 384
Looking forward to following this mate i missed the start of your last projrect .but glad i wont be missing this one
i5 2500k, asrock z68 extreme 4, corsair 4x2gb 1600mhz,fractal define xl,
|30th Jan 2012, 01:54
Ultimate Modder
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Cyprus
Posts: 2,633
This is going to be a long and delightful journey as always my friend, the awesomeness I am going to experience I dont think will be good for my weak heart!!!! Now just do your thing buddy and I will go and get my jaw support mechanism!!!
|30th Jan 2012, 19:57
Mmmm Donuts
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: UK
Posts: 5,017
Since first update of cutting all the 3mm sheet to size I have been busy, marked & cut the 1mm & 2mm sheet to size & made layouts ready for printing & sticking, worked out a good way to span big designs over multiple pages accurately when using an a-4 printer.
I print & stuck the 10mm plate designs for the HTPC which just about fit on an a-4 sheet & drilled the holes for scroll saw access & I believe I'm tackling the toughest part of the project as the first bit lol, not because of complexity but because of tough material, good grade 10mm alu is very flipping tough , my small 18TPI blades cut it well but takes ages & will be great for curve cuts so since I was cutting the outer edges of the HTPC sides & front first which are straight I put the cut up band saw blades to the job but still took countless hours, was up good & early & about 5pm called it a day after getting those pieces ready for the next phase of cutting the holes out.
The bigger stand sides I will do 1 at a time trying to get 1 done each day rather than be an idiot trying to do them both in 1 day lol & that is being optimistic, I will amaze myself if I get the holes cut out of the HTPC 10mm panels in 1 day tomorrow lol I said the scroll saw is like a manual laser cutter but boy oh boy it's a slow one for chunkier materials lol.
Pictures of the day.
All the sheet alu ready & waiting for detail & the sign of 10mm plate, need glue spray to get things done quicker & better so will get some on Wednesday.
10mm HTPC side panels & front panel printed & stuck.
The blades & drill bits which held the start off for a week.
Starting off with normal scroll saw blades at 18 TPI for thicker materials.
Switched over to the band saw blades for doing quicker straight cuts.
Each & every line I had to cut took a while & took a lot of concentration.
Sneaky peeky at the chop saw in the background & the thinnest slither I took off the 10mm plate .
My view all day today lol.
More soon .
|dual pc, heavy bottom, modular, top heavy
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Cabrini vs Waverley Private
Started by tilley1019 , Feb 10 2013 11:50 AM
1 reply to this topic
Posted 10 February 2013 - 11:50 AM
We are TTC number 2 and I am tossing up between the 2 hospitals.
I had DD at Cabrini in early 2012 and wasn't really thrilled with my experience (midwife on phone kept telling me it was too early to come in, when we finally got there I was having contractions at the desk while I had to pay my private health excess, they then treated me like I was over-reacting when they took me into delivery...and baby was born 30 minutes after arrival!)
I did think midwife care was a bit off as well, most nights the night nurse didn't come and introduce herself, 4 hours after birth I'm breastfeeding baby sitting in bed and nurse makes me get out of bed and sit in a chair to do it!
Writing this down, I really don't think fondly of my time in Cabrini...
I did love my OB from first time around, and she delivers at both. Do I stick with what I know, or give Waverley a go?
Does anyone know if Waverley is strict with visitors? I was inundated at Cabrini and would have loved some help kicking people out.
Has anyone delivered recently at Cabrini and had a different experience?
Posted 11 February 2013 - 02:19 PM
I had both my boys at Cabrini. 1st one in 2010 and 2nd in Aug 2012. I tossed up whether to give Waverley a try 2nd time around as my OB delivers at both also. I wasnt unhappy with Cabrini the first time around I was just going to try Waverley as it was that little bit closer to home.
We did a tour of Waverley and it seem really lovely and the midwives and staff were great and I had only heard really good thing about the hospital.
The only thing I wasnt sure about and didn't really feel comfortable with is that they don't have 24hr theatre staff they are on call same goes for anesthetist. That was only a concern for me as my first was emergency CS.
Cabrini is a bigger hospital and the staff are there 24hrs should you need them in a hurry.
I have been generally happy with my care at Cabrini and should I have another baby I would return.
Don't forget next time around you wont be a first time mum so its just different.
Every hospital has its good and bad and every hospital has the one dreaded midwife floating around
Hope 2nd time around will be a better experince for you where ever you decide to go.
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We teach kids it's okay to say no if they don't feel safe, so why do some parents force their children to climb in to Santa's lap?
Stop telling us that parenting gets harder
I'm sure that parenting will get harder. But life isn't exactly smooth sailing for many of us right now, either.
Baby born weighing almost 14 pounds
Yes, the bouncing baby girl was born by caesarean section. And mum says no more kids.
The dummy debate
I'm the first to admit that when I used to see tiny babies with dummies in their mouths, I thought "Hmm, lazy parenting." And now I apologise.
'I thought I was an only child'
Imagine meeting your double at a school sports event, or regularly being mistaken for someone you haven't met. Separated twins Margaret and Joy tell their story.
Carers admit to force-feeding children
As Sydney grieves the loss of Sydney siege victims Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson, reports have suggested that both died as heroes.
How many weeks til Christmas?
On your To-Do list
Get the "Santa" shopping done without the kids in tow.


text:
Grant Applications Are Now Available
The MTNA Foundation Fund is committed to keeping America's musical future alive for future generations through the Grants program. A variety of grants are available to MTNA members and non-members alike, as well as affiliate organizations.
Local Association Start-Up Grants
Awards Applications
Benjamin Whitten Collegiate Chapter of the Year
Distinguished Composer of the Year Rules and Regulations
Local Association of the Year Award
State Affiliate of the Year Award
Leave a Legacy
Would you like to make an investment in the future? If you would like to make a planned gift or fully fund an endowment of $10,000, the Legacy Society allows you to contribute to a more musical tomorrow.


text:
Oh my, the call? No, truly. I always hoped I'd have that moment, I even believed I would, eventually, but after having so many almost moments I'd convinced myself to be happy with the journey and to just keep plugging away. So when Leah Hultenschmidt called and told me Sourcebooks wanted to buy Deliver Me from Darkness, I think it took me a good minute or two to form a coherent sentence!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Meet Author Tes Hilaire and Get a Copy of DELIVER ME FROM DARKNESS
Oh my, the call? No, truly. I always hoped I'd have that moment, I even believed I would, eventually, but after having so many almost moments I'd convinced myself to be happy with the journey and to just keep plugging away. So when Leah Hultenschmidt called and told me Sourcebooks wanted to buy Deliver Me from Darkness, I think it took me a good minute or two to form a coherent sentence!
36 comments:
I love JR Wards men in both series!!ReplyDelete
+1 comment
+1 gfc alicia0605
+1 Twitter alicia0605
+1 Tweet
- StacieDFebruary 2, 2012 at 9:09 AM
I love Pamela Palmer's Feral Warriors. Congrats on the new release Tes! Deliver Me From Darkness sounds lovely. Good luck with the release!ReplyDelete
geishasmom73 AT yahoo DOT com
+1 comment
+1 Twitter follower @GeishasMom73
+1 Tweeted the link here:
I don't really have a favorite warrior.ReplyDelete
+1 comment
+1 follower
sgiden at verizon.net
First, thanks for having me Suzanne! I'm so glad to share a little about me and Deliver Me from Darkness today.ReplyDelete
Alicia- I just started reading her Fallen Angels series. Now talk about some hero's with faults! Have to love those redeemable men though.
Stacie- I've heard some awesome things about Ms. Palmer's Feral Warriors. Definitely in my TBR pile!
Sandy - Well I hope I can make the Paladins your new ones! Thanks for stopping in.
I'm really enjoyimg J R Ward's series right now! email@example.com
Oh, those BDB boys...I ALMOST had my own JRWard fangirl moment last year at the signing for the last BDB book...I was there, number 40003 in line (or close to it, anyway) and I had to leave the line to take my son to prom (whose idea was it to have kids, anyway?). Ack! THIS year I'm going, and noone's going to prom, so I should be okay!ReplyDelete
tetewa - Those men are so delicious, aren't they? I think I was too "good" as a teen and now that I can read whatever I want (no romances for me while I lived at home), I'm drawn to these bad boys. ;-)ReplyDelete
Teri Anne - Best of luck! I've seen some of her long lines. What you do is grab a book from a new to you author first than read it while waiting! ;-)
I love the fallen angels in Kristina Douglas Fallen series!ReplyDelete
+1 Comment
+1 Blog follower
+1 Twitter follower
+1 Tweet: https://twitter.com/marieimy/status/165109236819443712
marieimy (at) gmail (dot) com
- Marie-ClaudeFebruary 2, 2012 at 11:34 AM
My favorite warrior.....does Clayton from Kelley Armstrong serie Women of the Ohterworld count!!! There also Raphael from Nalini Singh Guild hunter serie.ReplyDelete
Vampire paladin look interesting!!!!!
+1 comment
Mariee - Oh, I just picked up one of these. Raziel I believe. Pretty cover.ReplyDelete
Marie-Claude - I think he counts! He is a warrior, though a very independent one. ;-)
Thanks for stopping in!
Hi Tes! I can't wait to read the new book. It's been on my TBB list for a while now. Two Warrior series that I have been enjoying lately are Dianne Duvall's Immortal Guardian series and also Rebecca Zanetti's Dark Protector series. Both are fantastic. Thanks for the wonderful giveaway email@example.com +1 Comment, +1 FollowerReplyDelete
A favorite warrior i would say jim from the kate daniels serie it seems so feral ^^ReplyDelete
all the best and congrats to your new release
+1gfc follow
Barb-On your TBB list...things like that make a new author very happy :-) Thanks for making my day!ReplyDelete
Miki- Oh yeah. Jim is pretty awesome. Though between him and Curran I'd have a hard time choosing... ;-)
Thanks for stopping in!
Thank you for this opportunity! :)ReplyDelete
My favorite warriors are the characters from the Fever series by K. M. Moning, and also the guys from The Infernal Devices :)
+1 comment
+1 follower
+1 tweet link:
My favourite warrior is Zsadist from the BDB.ReplyDelete
Deliver Me From Darkness sounds realy good,it's going on the wishlist!
+1 comment
+1 gfc follow - irgl7
+1 twitter - poodle666
Deliver me from Darkness sounds great!ReplyDelete
I too love the Black Dagger Brotherhood!
ccfioriole at gmail dot ocm
GFC Christina Kit.ReplyDelete
ccfioriole at gmail dot com
And a twitter follower @christinafiorioReplyDelete
I tweeted https://twitter.com/#!/christinafiorio/status/165164030749716480ReplyDelete
Yes, I´m a BDB fan girl and my favorites warriors are John Matthew and Zsadist(Black Dagger Brotherhood series)!!ReplyDelete
Diana -Hmmmm. Jericho Barrons. Yum.ReplyDelete
Irene - Now he's a true tortured hero/warrior. I just love his complexities, don't you?
Christina - Thanks! And I agree, what PNR lover wouldn't love the BDB?
I'm always up to try a new paranormal romance. Right now I'm reading the night huntress series so I'm going to say that Bones is my man right now =) other than that Jericho Barron's never leaves my head from Karen Marie Moning's fever series. Thanks for the chance to win.ReplyDelete
+1 comment
+1 gfc follow as Tanyaw1224
+1 twitter as Tanya1224
+1 twittered at https://twitter.com/#!/Tanya1224/status/165169966121877504
I'm going to have to go with Barron, too! Now, there's a warrior!! Yumm!!ReplyDelete
+1 comment
+1 follower
+1 Twitter: @jwitt33
+1 Tweet: https://twitter.com/#!/jwitt33/status/165198140151046144
jwitt33 at live dot com
love warriors, o so hotReplyDelete
+1 comment
+1 gfc follow
+1 twitter
+1 https://twitter.com/#!/tamibates/status/165204535025991681
Adriana - another BDB fan! Whoot!ReplyDelete
And then we have Tanya and Julia for team Barron's :-) Though, really, when it comes to warriors could a girl pick wrong?
Blackroze - thanks so much for stopping in to say hi!
I've not read enough PNR (yet!!) to have any favourite warriors. I have a favourite shapeshifter *grins* but no warriors so far.ReplyDelete
Man but it sure would be nice to be Karissa's shoes. Imagine having all those Paladins lusting after you!
+1 comment
+1 GFC follow
+1 twitter follow
+1 tweet
Linda - Well then, we need to get you reading more PNR! It's such a fun genre :-) Thanks for stopping in!ReplyDelete
And now I'm off ladies. Thank you all for keeping me company but alas, with a 5 am morning ahead of me I have to wrap some things up around the house and think of hitting the pillow. Keep on posting though for your chance to win! And do stop in to my website or to facebook.com/TesHilaireAuthor to say hi or ask any other questions you may have!
All the best,
Tes Hilaire
Thank you so much for being here today, Tes, and for stopping by and commenting! Contest will run through Saturday, folks, so still time to enter!ReplyDelete
You can give me any of the Lords of the underworld and I'll be happy, lol! And lovely interview!ReplyDelete
+1 comment
+1 blog follower
+1 twitter follower
aliasgirl at libero dot it
Hello Ms Hilaire! Looking forward to read your book, it seems good :)ReplyDelete
My favorite paranormal warrior? Its hard to pick, because I have so many! Right now, I love Raphael from Guild Hunter by Nalini Singh.
Thanks for the giveaway!
+1 comment
+1 blog follower
+1 Twitter follower
Wow, this book sounds great! Hmm, fav warrior. That's a hard one to choose, I have so many but all J.R. wards definitely stand out :)ReplyDelete
+1 GFC follower
+1 comment
+1 twitter follower
+1 tweeted- https://twitter.com/#!/joleneallcock/status/165501474560942080
From the description, Roland will be my new favorite warrior!ReplyDelete
+1 GFC follower
+1 comment
My favorite warriors are from Dianne Duvall's Immortal Guardian series.ReplyDelete
+1 comment
+1 blog follower
+1 twitter follower (@sara_UFblog)
Sara M
sara_UFblog [at] yahoo [dot] com
I don't really have a favorite warrior.ReplyDelete
+1 comment
+1 follower
+i twittr folower
I love Lara Adrian's Breed warriors.ReplyDelete
+1 comment
+1 follower
+1 twitter follower @donnas1
+1 tweet - https://twitter.com/#!/DonnaS1/status/165895007432216577
bacchus76 at myself dot com
I love the Black Dagger Brotherhood and the Lord of the Underworld!ReplyDelete
beckerjo at verizon dot net
+1 comment
+1 twitter (beckerjo)
+1 tweet


text:
A wardrobe basic in a shade you can layer with anything
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text:
Bears score three straight TDs, hold on for 38-31 win
BY PATRICK FINLEY Staff Reporter December 15, 2013 1:30PM
- Bears 38, Browns 31: Final boxscore, stats
- Interactive graphic: Bears vs. Browns halftime stats
- Interactive graphic: Breaking down defenses Cutler, McCown faced
- INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: Week 15 inside the Bears numbers by STATS
Article Extras
Related Stories
- VIDEO: Trestman on sticking with Cutler
- VIDEO: Cutler on bouncing back after INTs
- McCown had faith that Cutler would finish strong
- Cutler admits to feeling pressure in tough situation
- Bears' beleaguered 'D' holds Browns under 100 rushing yards
- TELANDER: Maturing Cutler had support of teammates all along
- Charles Tillman out for Bears' season
Updated: December 15, 2013 8:56PM
CLEVELAND — The storm swirled outside Halas Hall and a bit inside, too, the Jay-or-Josh controversy seeping in like a draft through the baseboards this week.
"We had all this stuff happening around the building," quarterback Jay Cutler said. "Inside we're like, 'We're in a playoff race right now."
They still are, too, after Cutler, tabbed with the "Mr. Fourth Quarter" moniker months ago, led the Bears to 21 points in the final frame Sunday to beat the Browns, 38-31, at snowy FirstEnergy Stadium.
At 8-6, the Bears are one-half game ahead of the Lions, who host the Ravens on Monday night and own the NFC North tie-breaker against Chicago.
"As I told the team, we played well enough (Sunday), because we won, to put ourselves in position to compete for the division in the last two games," Bears coach Marc Trestman said. "But we gotta play better to win it."
That starts with the quarterback, whose fourth-quarter magic — Cutler completed 22-of-31 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns on the game — made up for first-half struggles in his first full game since Oct. 10.
He ended his first drive with an end-zone interception to Tashaun Gipson, who caught a tip from teammate T.J. Ward.
Gipson got Cutler in the second quarter, too, catching an overthrown pass and returning it 44 yards for a touchdown.
"He just threw a terrible ball," said wideout Brandon Marshall, who had a team-high six catches for 95 yards,
The Bears' self-immolation continued on the next drive, when two penalties took them from attempting a fourth-and-1 to making a field goal to being forced to punt.
Marshall's 5-yard catch tied the game at 10 just before halftime, and cornerback Zack Bowman's 43-yard interception return gave the Bears a seven-point, third-quarter lead.
After the Browns' Edwin Baker, playing his first career game after being signed Tuesday, ran for a two-yard score to tie it at 17, Ward recovered Martellus Bennnett's fumble and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown.
That's where the Bears stood when, four minutes into the fourth quarter, Alshon Jeffery caught a 45-yard jump-ball touchdown at the front right pylon despite being sandwiched by two Browns defenders.
"I was just thinking, 'Make a play,'" Jeffery said. "I make my quarterback look good, and he makes me look good."
Trestman called it "a huge play for us."
With star Joe Haden out with a hip injury, Browns cornerbacks committed 35 yards of penalties during the Bears' six-play, 95-yard scoring drive.
Matt Forte — who had 24 rushes for 127 yards — ran for 22 yards on the Bears' next scoring drive, capped by Earl Bennett's 4-yard catch.
Michael Bush's 40-yard run put them up 14 with 2:17 to play, enabling them to withstand Josh Gordon's 43-yard scoring catch with under a minute left.
The NFL's leading receiver had only three catches for 67 yards.
"We had a whole quarter to put seven-plus on the board, and we did," left tackle Jermon Bushrod said. "Our defense made several stops.
"That's how you draw it up."
EMAIL: email@example.com
TWITTER: @patrickfinley


text:
Day 475: Creating Clothes with Photoshop (with new PNG file)
I did an earlier step-by-step tutorial for making clothes with Photoshop using the traditional Alpha Channel and TGA file.
Second Life began to support the newer PNG file last year. PNG files take less space to store. PNG files also do not require a separate Alpha Channel, so they are much easier to work with!
From what I understand, theres no different in quality between PNG and TGA files. So you might as well use PNG if you are new to making clothes in SL :)
The steps are a bit different between creating TGA and PNG files in Photoshop. So this is a similar step-by-step tutorial, written for creating PNG files in Photoshop. The screenshots were taking using Photoshop CS2. Since I only use basic Photoshop features, they should be similar to most versions of Photoshop.
Working with PNG in Photoshop
A PNG file gets the transparency information from various "Opacity" settings in the Photoshop "Layers" palette. So when you create a new texture (File/New...), be sure that you select "Transparent" option for "Background Contents:".
You can adjust the transparency of any part of a texture by setting the "Opacity" below 100%. You can change the Opacity of a Brush, or even an entire layer. You can even create Gradients that go from 100% Opacity to 0% Opacity. (Most Photoshop books will discuss how to adjust Opacity)
When your texture looks good, just select "Save As..." and "PNG". Thats it! You dont need to build a separate Alpha Channel :)
This is a tutorial on how to create a simple shirt in Photoshop (in PNG) using the SL Avatar UV template from Robin Wood. You can download the templates from here. For this tutorial, you should download the "layered Photoshop (.psd) Files". You only need the "Top (2.4 MB)" file. These are the same template files I use for making clothes in Second Life.
This tutorial will cover how to use the Template to make a shirt, and how to save the shirt as a PNG file for uploading to Second Life.
This tutorial is not intended as an in-depth Photoshop tutorial. There are many many books on Photoshop at the local bookstore, and classes and online tutorials. I do intend to show you step-by-step on how to use Photoshop to make a shirt in Second Life.
So lets get started!
Preparing the Template
From Photoshop top menu bar, select "File", then "Open...". Look for the "SL Avatar Top Layers.psd" file on your computer (make sure you are using the ".psd" file!). Click the "Open" button to open the Template file in Photoshop.
This will open the Template file in a window.
First, let's save a copy of the Template file so we dont accidently overwrite it (I accidently overwrite the template all the time! :P) Select "File" from the top of the window, and "Save as...".
Enter a Name for the new file (something like "Little Black Top") and click on the "Save" button.
OK, now we can play with the file without worrying about messing up the original. :)
By default, the Template file is 1024x1024 pixels. This is great for detail work where you want the highest resolution to align the edges (such as when you are making skins or textures that need to be closely aligned). However, we are just making a simple top for demonstration purposes.
Also, we will be producing a Targa format file (with transparency information). This file will be huge at 1024x1024 pixels. So let's reduce the size to a more manageable 512x512 pixel file.
Click on "Image" from the top menu bar. Select "Image Size...".
This will open the Image Size window. Enter "512" in both the Width and Height textboxes (Height might change automatically when you enter Width). Then click the "OK" button.
This reduces the resolution of the Template from 1024x1024 to 512x512 pixels.
Now we can start drawing.
First things first...I cant see anything :P Lets put a white background so we can at least see the Template.
Go to the Layers, Channels, Paths... palette. Click on the "Create a new layer" button.
(If you dont have the "Layers, Channels, Paths..." palette, click on "Window" on the top menu bar and make sure there is a checkmark next to "Layers".)
Right-click on "Layer 1" and select "Layer Properties...". This will open the Layer Properties window.
Enter "Backdrop" as the Layer Name (I dont want to call it "background" because that layer has a special meaning in Photoshop). Click on the "OK" button.
On the Layers, Channels, Paths... palette, click and hold on the "Backdrop" layer. Drag the layer to the bottom of the stack of layers (below "SubDivided UVs").
Click on the White square in the Color Swatches to select White as the foreground color.
Click on the "Paint Bucket" button on the Tools bar.
Make sure that the "Backdrop" layer is selected (highlighted in blue in the Layers, Channels, Paths palette). Using the Paint Bucket tool, click anywhere in the Template window to fill the Backdrop layer with white.
OK, thats better. Now we are ready to work :) You might want to save a copy of this file as a starting point for your future projects...
The wonderful thing about these graphics programs is the ability to create different layers for different things. Dont be shy about creating new layers! They are there to make things easier. As you can see, the Template came with a number of layers already. We just added a layer as the backdrop to make it easier to see the Template.
Creating the Shirt
We are going to create another layer to draw in our shirt.
On the Layers, Channels, Paths... palette, click on the "Backdrop" layer to select it. Click on the "Create a new layer" button on the bottom.
Right-click on "Layer 1" and select "Layer Properties...". This will open the Layer Properties window.
Enter "Shirt" as the Layer Name. Click on the "OK" button.
Your Layers, Channels, Paths palette should look like this when you are done.
Click on the Shirt layer to select it.
Make sure that the Shirt layer is below the SubDivided UVs layer, but above the Backdrop layer. If not, then click and hold on the Shirt layer, and drag it into place.
From the main Tools palette, select the Lasso tool. (If you dont see the Lasso tool in the palette, Right-click on the second square down from the top and select the Lasso tool.)
Draw a line all the way around the front side of the shirt (the figure on the left). Be sure you dont include any parts of the arm at the bottom.
Click on the Black square in the Color Swatches to select Black as the foreground color.
From main Tools palette, select the Paint Bucket tool.
With the Paint Bucket tool selected, click in the area you selected around the front side of the shirt. This will fill the selected area with black.
Now repeat the same process with the back side of the shirt (the figure on the right): select the Lasso tool, draw a line around the back side, selec the Paint Bucket tool, and fill the area with black.
Next, we are going to cut out an opening in the front and back sides for the neck. We are going to do this using the Pen/Path tool.
From main Tools palette, select the Pen tool (if you dont see the Pen tool, Right-click on the square [9th square down] and select the Pen).
There will be a new menu bar that appears at the top. On the left side, there are 3 options (Shape layers, Paths, and Fill pixels). Make sure that the middle button (Paths) is selected.
Using the Pen/Path tool, draw a path around the front side of the shirt (the figure on the left). It may help to zoom in on the neck area.
Simply click at each of these 5 points. Try to get the 3 points on the Green line. Remember to click on the first point again to close the Path.
Remember, you can always Undo your last action by pressing Ctrl-Z in Photoshop.
From main Tools palette, Right-click on the square with the Pen tool, and select "Convert Point Tool" at the bottom.
Click and hold on the Anchor Point in the middle of the neck. Drag a line towards the right. Move your mouse around until you have a nice-looking neck shape.
Right-click in the Template window (in the drawing window). Select "Make Selection..." from the popup menu. This will open the Make Selection window.
Select the "New Selection" radio button, and click "OK".
This turns the Path we just made into a selection.
Click on the "Edit" menu at the top of the window. Select "Clear".
This will cut a hole in the shirt for the neck :)
Now, do the same thing for the back side of the shirt:
Go to the main Tools palette, select the Pen tool (you need to change the Convert Point tool back to the Pen tool). Click on the 5 points around the neck. Click on the first point to close the Path.
Go to the main Tools palette, select the Convert Point Tool (change from Pen tool to Convert Point tool). Pull the middle Anchor Point to the right.
Right-click in the Template window (in the drawing window). Select "Make Selection..." from the popup menu. This will open the Make Selection window.
Select the "New Selection" radio button, and click "OK".
Click on the "Edit" menu at the top of the window. Select "Clear".
So here is our completed shirt.
You can create additional layers and draw in additional designs. You can do that now or come back later after you finish this tutorial. I would recommend you run through this tutorial first though...
Creating the PNG File
One last thing before we create the PNG file: we need to make the transparent areas...transparent :) In this case, we want everything in black to be opaque, and everything else to be transparent. By the way, white does NOT mean transparent! White is a color, just like black or any other color. We just happened to pick white to use as a working backdrop color.
Go to the "Layers, Channels, Paths..." palette. Click on the "eye" next to all the layers to hide them, leaving only the Shirt layer visible (use the scrollbars and make sure you check all the layers). When you are done, the Shirt layer should be the only one with an "eye" next to it.
Thats it :) We are ready to create the PNG file! (Isnt that much easier than messing with Alpha Channels ;P)
Click on the "File" menu at the top of the window. Select "Save" to save all of our changes.
Finally, lets export the file in PNG format...
Click on the "File" menu at the top of the window. Select "Save as..." to save all of our changes.
In the Save As window, select "PNG (*.PNG)" and click on the "Save" button.
You may want to change the file name and remove with word "copy" from the end of the name.
The PNG Options window will appear. Select and click on the "OK" button.
Thats it! The PNG file is now ready to be uploaded to Second Life.
The steps for uploading a texture file to Second Life and turning it into a shirt was covered in Creating Clothes Part 1 Tutorial. You can jump to the end of the tutorial, where it says "Next, go into Second Life..."
I just showed you the very basic steps in creating a clothing item in Photoshop and uploading it to Second Life. Now, feel free to go back and change the shape of the Shirt. Add some layers and create some designs. Or play with some of the other clothing templates (SL Avatar Bottom, Skirt, etc).
Have fun with your SL designer career :)
© 2008 All Rights Reserved.


text:
Justice Design Group GLA-8511 Rondo Single Light Wall Sconce from the Veneto Luce Collection
The Veneto Luce™ Collection is Justice Design Group, LLC's new collection incorporating handcrafted glass shades. Each glass shade is truly a work of art, created by artisans in the historic city of Venice, Italy, where glass-making has been an art form for more than 700 years.
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