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The interest of the travellers are gradually shifting into the countries at the Southeast Asia, the inclusion of Hong Kong into the list of the most visited country is a strong testament that international tourists are now paying attention to the country's tourism. Theoretically, Hong Kong is a part of the Mainland, but the culture, tradition, and personality of Hong Kong is distinct. It is a densely populated place which is filled with shops, restaurants, and places to visit in Hong Kong.
What to Do in Hong Kong
We asked some of the travellers regarding their favourite destination in Hong Kong and put it into this short list.
Check the View at the Victoria Peak
If you want to capture the enthralling view of Hong Kong, the Victoria Peak encapsulates that breathtaking image. It is a renowned vantage point where you will have a great perspective of the world's most renowned harbour and majestic scenery that will make the city of Manhattan looks provincial. Everything you read about the city of Hong Kong can be viewed from the Victoria Peak. You can reach this place through the Peak Tram. It is recommended to visit this place before sundown where you will have the glorious view of the city lights.
Lin Heung Teahouse
For those who want to experience the early period of Hong Kong, one of the ideal places to visit in Hong Kong would be the Lin Heung teahouse. The Lin Heung which is translated as Fragrant Lotus is also popular for their luscious dim sum. This teahouse is more than 10 years that exudes the 1960s ambiance of Hong Kong which is perhaps one of the reasons why most of their customers are old people. The place does not entirely embrace modernity so expect some language barrier when you visit this place.
Go on a Shopping Spree at Temple Street
In case you are looking for the most affordable items and souvenir in Hong Kong, you may want to experience the night market at the Temple Street. The place which is illuminated by traditional light bulb offers almost everything; from the counterfeit products to the bizarre medicines. It is also one of the best places to visit in Hong Kong for people watching. You can see the locals playing Chinese checkers on the bench, fortune tellers and the street foods that can rival the street foods in Thailand.
Ride the Star Ferry
If you are thinking about what to do in Hong Kong , you might want to experience the iconic ferry of Hong Kong. Unfortunately, due to the reclamation, the full ride has been reduced to a total of 8 minutes, but nonetheless, it can still be considered an engaging experience. It allows you to take a photo of the top places to visit in Hong Kong and you may also experience the Symphony of Lights where you will be enthralled by the show of fireworks that will illuminate the sky.
It is impossible to experience the entire city in just a single visit, but there are definitely things to do in Hong Kong that you shouldn't miss such as the things we mentioned above.
Video marketing is the most important and best tool ever, which will surely give you a great success and fulfil all your targets. Yes, every company should definitely think about the same as it is the latest and recommended version of marketing which must be used by all. If you are not using it up or ignoring, it means you are outdated and everything will go slowly or your won't get any kind of profit at all.
Do you know that written contents are very boring and nobody reads it up at all fully? Do you know you are just wasting your time and money by writing and publishing these contents on the web as it is all about to generate backlinks not an organic traffic? Well, it is a high time when you should think about to go with the best and great technique and that is video production services.
Yes, videos are something which is known for visual moving pictures, which is loved and understood by all. You should plan out to make up the best videos in regards with your services, products or can make out very interesting advertisements in order to attract the attention of the people. Yes, in this case Video Production Los Angeles can easily help you up, however, you better meet up with the best team and get ready to attain great benefits. All you just need to think about to connect with the best team which makes sure to give you complete peace of mind and finally offer you the best and great video to encourage the people to visit to your website and know more about your company and services.
It doesn't matter what is your concept and what kind of videos you are looking to produce, if you will have the best Los Angeles video production team, there is nothing you need to worry about anything at all. Yes, they are the best in producing any kind of videos, whether it is all about a very complex and innovative advertisements, company profile, introduction of newly launched products and services, training videos to the staff members, Kickstarter video production to generate more funds and trust of the people and various others.
Even, Video Production in Los Angeles will also help you up in terms with the promotion of your website in the search engines, however, you better go with the best production company and make sure to produce very creative and inspiring videos to call out large number of traffic to your website. Pro are the best and they can easily produce any kind of videos without any fail, thus, you better rely on the best.
Video production company Los Angeles has got amazing and the most talented professionals, however, you better talk to them and they will let you know so amazing and inspiring ideas to take your business to the next level.
Tantric massage is really very famous massage form, which is loved by all men and women of all around the world. It is all about a full body organism massage, always helps people to have a great management of the sexuality, love, consciousness and emotions.
Tantra is a kind of a very sensitive massage and it offers all your body parts including sensitive parts to offer you a very rich and varied path of personal development. Those who don't believe in sex and experiencing bad sex with the partner, this sort of massage is really very beneficial to encourage their organisms to make a best of the same. Having tantric massage doesn't mean that you will include in any sexual union with the professionals, it is just a clean massage to your organism and nothing else.
Couples are welcomed, respected and treated very well so that they can have a complete fun and enjoyment and they get back to a very healthy normal life. Surely, this sort of massage is the best of all and if you are looking for Tantra in India , you better need to consider few things in advance. As it is all about body to body and full body massage with all the sensitive parts, however, you can't trust any massage center at all. You should need to verify the center otherwise you can easily get in trouble.
It is very much necessary if you are going up with the tantra massage in india , you should undergo with that center which makes sure to give you a complete assurance that everything will go smoothly and authentically as well as they must have work permit to perform the job. Most of the people don't verify and join any center which can really be very risky. As most of the sources may be involved in sex services, however, better avoid it up for the sake of your dignity, health and wellness.
Before you go to Nuru Massage in Delhi , you should check out the experience, license and professionals over there. Make sure to confirm everything in advance as well as you better verify to have a separate room with no camera and recording devices. Everything should be safe, secured and hygienic and you can enjoy the massage without any hassle. A great peace of mind, fun, relax can be possible from Tantric massage India, thus, after checking out A-Z things, you better book up the time as per your convenience.
Visit Tantric massage Delhi alone or with your partner and get ready to have a lot of fun, which you can't expect to get from anything else at all. Aside this, you can easily flush all your stress and tension, have the best body and muscles, get relaxed and painless muscles and have a unlimited pleasure.
If you want to book Tantric massage Mumbai or Delhi, you better visit to the suggested source today.
Would you like to flush all your stress, bad memories, pain and day to day life tensions? Would you like to promote your health, wellness and happiness without any condition? Well, you should think about the best and great massage therapy will recharge you completely.
Just be a part of the best sensual massage and you will get everything you deserve in your life. Most of the people are very much tired and they don't have any interest in doing sexual intercourse. The reason of the same- stress, problems in the life, money issues and various others, however, if you are suffering from the same, you should need to undergo with the best massage therapy and just believe in having the best possible results.
Why don't you undergo with the full Tantra VIP massage service? Well, you will be treated so gently and the overall ambiance will make you so relaxed and full of pleasure. Using the best source will allow you to enjoy the full range of services until and unless you are not satisfied and will make sure to be a part of the most erotic massage will help you to have a blissful session. In this session you can be expected to be treated like a king or queen and very sexy and friendly masseuse work in a magical way.
Having the best and great agency will offer you a full service massage in Bali will help you to exploring the full erotic effect of body to body massage. Those who don't experience the same, they should do it as there are various health and sex benefits involved in the same. The best center never involved in any kind of sex practices at all and you will get only authentic and pleasurable touch and pressures only. Your all the private parts will be covered and you will get an amazing healing massage will increase your power, attention, focus and satisfaction. For a pleasurable and great time, it is very much needed that you must find out the best and reliable center which must give you the best results. If you will go up with poor or unreliable source, you may put in any legal trouble and it will surely affect your dignity.
It is good to have the best massage parlour, where every room looks so hygienic, private, clean and full of privacy. Yes, you will get a great and sensual ambiance, which will help you to enjoy to the fullest without any tension. You can't expect to think anything at all as you will be full of pleasure, around with the best girls who will make your clam down and relaxed. You should think about to know overall benefits of the same massage which will make you feel very active, happy and healthy.
Tantric massage is the best and you should need to know more information about the same and book up the best center in Bali to have a great holiday over there, which you can't forget in your whole life.
We all aware with the fact that wedding in one time affair and these moments can't be relived again at all, but we can preserve it to cherish it forever. Yes, in order to have great fun, pleasure and cherish all those moments after various years, we have nothing, but the best wedding album. These amazing wedding albums pass on to one generation and others and this way everybody just enjoy the moments and have a great time.
Don't you want to preserve your D-day memories? Then why you are playing around with your wedding by hiring a poor or inexperienced wedding photographer? Well, you should need to be very much serious and pay attention in hiring the best to get the best results. You might don't know, but professional Orlando wedding photographer is much more than the photographer and they will surely amaze you with their ideas. There are various things they offer you, which will be enough to impress you and you can thoroughly enjoy your wedding and shooting to have the best snaps.
So, when you go with the pro orlando wedding photography , you can have great and amazing ideas of photography, including- royal photography, contemporary, historical, destination, and various others. Any kind of wedding photography you can have, which will give you unique photographs and you will love showing the same to others. Yes, their picture quality, poses, animations, effects and everything else will be very unique and you won't look less than any celebrity at all.
Apart from this, wedding photographers in Orlando will guide you which kind of dress you should wear on your D-day. Yes, it is very important guidance which every couple should know in order to look special as well as for a perfect photography. They will suggest you the best dress, which you can easily make up the best use for the poses as well as it will be very comfortable for a grand wedding shoot. Aside this, they will cover up each and everybody in the photographs, venue, decoration, guests, food, and everything else, without disturbing anyone at all. Also, they are the best in capturing candid photography, however, you will get all the pictures, which you won't believe at all.
Best Orlando wedding photographer will be there to give you full satisfaction, however, there work will be the best of all and you will surely be impressed. For all the work from guiding to shooting, making a perfect album for you, pre and post wedding shoots and all, they will charge a very nominal amount, which you will love to pay. This is the best idea to call pro photographer, however, you better use it up and get great benefits which you will realize later on. Your photographs will be there for forever and you can expect amazing shots of your life which you can't forget. So, hire the best and you will be really impressed with the same idea.
Are you looking for escort services to have a great fun in different country? Well, this is possible and you can safely undergo with the same service without any fail. If you are visiting to LA, whether for work or to have a great vacation, you better expect to have the best, high quality and professional escort services will definitely make your day very special.
Yes, the girls over here are very professional and they have the best attitude and moves can easily melt the heart of any men. People should check out the best escort agency, make up a great deal and proceed to have a full range of services until and unless you are not satisfied.
Hire out the best and safe erotic girls anytime, who will give you the best time by massaging and performing other various activities to have a great fun. Independent Las Vegas escorts overall procedure and working for you is far different and you will find them a great worth of money. According to package, one can expect to have beautiful girls to their room, who strip down fully and will perform exactly you are looking to have. Have a great time alone and you can have a great party together with one or more partners for a complete satisfaction, experiment and fun.
Are you looking to search out and compare independent escorts in Las Vegas ? Well, you better need to use internet so that you can get various ideas, which you can compare for the sake of your cost, time and efforts. Yes, you can't believe in any escort services like that only, however, you better visit to the best directory suggested here to get up a complete idea on what to pick and how. Once you will visit to the same, you will find out a list of various escort agencies, which will definitely give you a great support in knowing more about the agencies, what they will offer, how the procedure will start, the formalities you need to perform, cost, venue and other various things. This will help you to check everything completely at your end and accordingly you can pick up anyone as per your thought and requirements.
Las Vegas girls to the room now become easier and safer and you don't need to worry about anything. Just check out complete description of the agencies, check out the girls you are looking to have and every procedure will go very safely without any fail. Apart from this, if you are the one sending beautiful and talented girls to the clients, you should think about to get listed using the same directory and assure to have great queries in the shortest possible of time.
Your LA journey will definitely be superb and you should definitely think about to go with the best escort agency in order to have a memorable time, which must push you again and again to experience the same.
When it comes to promote your company as well as make it known to all, there is nothing better than video production and marketing. Yes, you should need to think about the same and make sure to go with it for great success, name and revenues. Most of the companies don't know that their competitors are using the same strategies and progressing day by day, however, you better need to wake up and go with the best and creative company without any fail.
You should need to have the best quality video production services and for the same you need to dig more to hire the best company. If you are very much serious and looking for the best results, you should consider the following points and get ready for the best possible results. Yes, it is highly necessary and your time investment and smartness is very much required.
When it comes to Promotional video production , it is better that you plan up to hire only experienced and professional company. For this, you need to visit to the internet and you will find out the best Orlando companies, which will love to work with you and your project. You should need to visit them one by one, check their combined years of experience, you can also check their work and decide with which you can go. Also, if you meet up with them personally in their office, it will be good to make up the best possible decision.
Yes for orlando video production , it is very much necessary that you should think about to make up a list of the companies and meet up with them to know more about their services. You should need to discuss about your project and check their ideas. Creative team will definitely give you the best possible ideas by checking out your expectations and you can easily decide accordingly. Your motive to meet up with the company is know their quotation, duration to accomplish the work, what exactly they are offering you, correction and reshooting facilities, and various others. You should know everything in advance and make sure to go with the same company, which is very much confident and work exactly you want to have.
In video production Orlando , most of the companies will give you mock videos based on your requirements for which you don't need to pay anything at all and if you are satisfied with the mock videos you can easily appoint them for your work. All in all, today it is very easier to hire the best service provider due to competition, thus, you better use up everything, check, analyze and compare for the best possible results.
Right Corporate video production is very much necessary as you need to produce great videos now and then for a great business promotion, goodwill and sales, thus, hire the best and hire them for a long term purpose.
We can easily see a lot of lifting tools can easily lift various light and heavy materials and machines at the workplace. Well, it is very important to use it up as it really helps workers to get things on time and that is without putting many efforts. There are various sorts of lifts available, which an industry should definitely think about to opt and make their operations very fast and authentic.
You should need to find out the best and great company, which makes sure to offer amazing lifts and other various solutions in order to increase worksite productivity. As different industries have different requirements, however, you better need someone who can assure to give you customize and best match solution which must be ideal for podnosniki nozycowe in congested spaces as well as can easily render amazing indoor and outdoor construction, maintenance and installations.
Once you will have podnośnik nożycowy from the best and reliable source, you can assure to have the best tools which will have low noise levels as well as that must be capable of offering great lifts provide excellent capacity and large platform workspace. Why don't you undergo with the suggested source which is here in the market for years and offering trouble free solutions to various companies all over the world. Yes, it is the best and great company which is known for offering everything from scissor lift, hoists, design lift, and various other solutions to make your work done in the best possible manner.
When it comes to podnośnik kolumnowy , companies should seek for the same source as it is known for offering excellent, high technology and finest designs only. Yes, from their design to production, assembly and other various services will go very smoothly and will offer you everything you are expecting to have. Apart from all, they will offer great features which will surely help every industry to perform work without any pause as well as their warranty will act as a great boost of selling all these machines in the shortest possible of time.
Talking about the cost of the winda towarowa and other various solutions, one can find them very competitive. Yes, the company believe in competition and make sure to offer the best quality product at the best possible costs. That is why a lot of companies from all over the world approach the same source and purchase one and more solutions just to accomplish their A-Z work on time. What about their delivery and other services, well, there is nothing you need to worry about anything at all as you can assure to have everything in your favour. Yes, you just believe on the best and guaranteed product and services as well as staff members will support you to give friendly after sales services.
Their quick and on time delivery of the products will surely amaze you up, thus, you better visit to the source, check all the products and place an order without any fail. For the best deal the same source is available 24/7.
Whether it is all about shooting your wedding moments or business products and services, it is very much necessary that you should undergo with the best and responsible photographer. Surely, you can find various photographers in every nook and corners, but you need to make sure to hire someone the best for having memorable photographs.
Yes, as if you are investing a large amount to capture the best functions, events or anything else, you should need to have full satisfaction and undergo with the best and great photographs can easily be shared with others. Gone are the days when you are needed to compromise with the quality, but today, you don't need to do the same as there are lots of amazing photographers are available who will make sure to give you great satisfaction and happiness.
When it comes to professional photographers in Orlando , make sure don't believe on any service provider like that only, even, you should think about to go ahead with full planning and interview session should be there. You should need to make up a list of the best photographers and meet up with them one by one to satisfy your queries. Yes, there are lots of questions you can ask from them, are-
How many years of experience you have?
Well to have Professional photographer in Orlando , you should need to ask this question and check what they are replying you. Experience is the most important thing and you should definitely know about the same to go with the best. If you have got very experienced photographer, it means he is very talented as then only he is serving the market from a very long time and appreciated for the work. Thus, this question is very common, but you should need to ask.
Can you show us your portfolio?
Those Small Business photographer in Orlando or others, don't have portfolio of their work, it means they are not confident enough, they don't have work and they are not experienced at all. You should need to check their previous and present work so that you can get great ideas about their work, how they shoot, their creativity and everything they do.
Your ideas on shooting?
You should need to discuss your overall requirements from Commercial photographer in Orlando and check what they think about the same. You can ask about their ideas, how they can present your products and services in front of the world and everything else. You should listen up everybody's plan, later compare and check who is the best to give you great benefits and success.
Apart from this, from advertising photographers in Orlando , you should need to ask about their cost, duration, formalities that are needed to be done and other various things in advance to make up the best possible decision. So, you better walk on the same road map and start moving ahead without any fail.
As we all are using an android phone, it is really very necessary that we must have the best apps on our phone which can help us to have a great entertainment and complete peace of mind. Yes, it is highly necessary to have the same as otherwise there is no use of android phone if you can't use it up well for your entertainment, work, education and other various things.
It is very much necessary to have the best and great apps, which always help you to give you what you are looking for. Here, we are going to talk about the best and the most amazing app which is getting popularity day by day and the best alternative of Google play and other various play store. Would you like to know more about the same? Here is something you better need to think about the same and have a great enjoyment and fun in your life.
Here, we are talking about 9apps , which is the best and great android app will make sure to give you everything you are looking for. Yes, you just need to visit to the recommended and trusted source to download the same and start using the 9Apps which will be a perfect alternative to Google Play Store and other major app stores. You might be thinking why to download the same and how to use it up for our benefits, right? Well, it is a complete package and contains so amazing and great features, which you can't get anywhere else. Yes, it will help you to give you the most advance feature and that is you can easily download premium apps or can say paid apps absolutely free of cost over here, which is something you never found anywhere at all.
Isn't it so great? Yes, it is and you just need to undergo with the 9apps download and just download anything and everything you are looking for, whether free version or paid. This is why it really has got a lot of popularity and people of all over India are very crazy to be a part of the same. The same app is owned by Alibaba Group and was founded in 1999, is really progressing well by offering so amazing features to the people.
The best part is one can think about 9apps free download and there is nothing you need to pay at all. Yes, just visit to the official site or other trusted source, where anyone can easily download the same just in minutes and without paying anything. The same app will help you to download any sort of 9apps games , videos, apps, films, ringtones, wallpapers, and other various things which you really want to have to have a great fun and time.
9apps.download is possible and one will definitely find it very easy to use will surely push you to use the same without any hassle. It is really a complete fun package, however, you better use it up and have a great fun and use of it.
Life is all about fun and freedom, but we are so busy in our lives via which we are not at all making the best use of the same. You might be using android or smart phone right? Well, it is very much necessary these days as we can use it up in any way and anytime. Whether you want to have a great peaceful time, just have great applications and make the best use and in the same manner if you want some educational stuffs or looking for news and other related stuffs, you can easily have everything in front of you.
Having the best apps are very much needed and you can assure to have a great fun then only. No matter what kind of phone you are, if you really want to make up the best use of the same, you can easily consider the best app on your phone, which can give you array of facilities by getting anything you are looking to have.
What about ucmini ? It is the best app and very different from other apps in terms with the features, usage, size and more. Yes, it is a tiny version, which is very light and the best substitute of UC browser. Everybody knows UC browser Mini, which is really very much appreciated and used by millions of people all around the world and it is considered the best for all sorts of smartphones especially those who have low or less memory or storage space in their devices.
Are you the one having low space and want something right and light? Well, without thinking much you should think about to go with the UC mini , which is available in the size of mega bytes but it is full of amazing features. Yes, it will offer you the best and great features or you can say it is a small packet with big and amazing fun and entertainment, you can't get anywhere else at all.
Using the best and trusted source, one can download UC Mini by splwap , which will be very easy and quick to download and you can easily use it up without any application failure or any other issues.
There are other various things which you should know and that is- UC mini download is possible and very easy to perform because it is very small in size, thus load faster than any other. One can easily use it out and download anything, whether it is all about games, videos, music, and other various popular apps you want to have.
UC mini app install is very much possible and it has got optimized layout just like webpages, however, you will completely enjoy using the same without any fail. So, if you haven't tried UC Mini APK , you better do it and get ready to have impressive and enjoyable life. You can use it up easily – anywhere and anytime to get great entertainment, education and help.


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Music Spotlight: A Look At Trevor Deley's New Album
Sarena Dharshi | Posted 02.01.2013 | Canada Alberta
Read More: I Am Hemlock, 2012, Canadian, Mount & Man, Hospital Wings, Trevor Deley, A Girl & Her Dog, Mental Illness, Trevor Deley New Album Robert, Canadian Folk Music, Trevor Deley New Album, Video, Canada Alberta News
There are several one-of-a-kind aspects integrated seamlessly into Trevor Deley's first EP. Robert is concept album, featuring the main theme of mental illness. The inspiration came from a young man named Robert who suffered from drug addiction/mental illness and was spending a great deal of time in the hospital when Trevor met him. The true beauty of this influence comes from the fact that although Robert was a statistic to most, he was a stranger who unknowingly had a real impact on a musician.

subset: commoncrawl


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Man wanted for 7 years arrested, jailed under $3.4M bond
MAYSVILLE, JONES COUNTY - A Jones County man is being jailed under a $3.4 million bond for allegedly committing a slew of drug, assault and other crimes over a period of seven years. Investigators said the suspect then led authorities on a multi-county chase, and even pointed a gun at the officer who tried to arrest him.
Cruz Costilla Abney, of Hadley Collins Road in Maysville, is facing multiple charges involving drugs, drug sales, possession of firearm by a felon, breaking and entering, receiving stolen goods, assault inflicting serious injury, and resisting public officer. According to deputies, Abney committed those crimes in Onslow County over the past seven years and repeatedly taunted officers who tried to arrest him.
On Wednesday, Abney was driving in Maysville when a police officer spotted him at about 4 p.m., investigators said. The officer tried to pull Abney over, but the suspect allegedly led a high-speed chase until he reached his old neighborhood in Onslow County. Abney then got out of his vehicle and took off on foot, investigators said.
Before the Abney entered a wooded area, he allegedly pointed a hand gun at the pursing Maysville Officer. But by that time, Onslow County deputies, Jones County deputies, Jacksonville Police, Highway Patrol troopers, and a Highway Patrol helicopter were in the area to back the officer up.
A friend of Abney arrived at the scene and drove the suspect away, deputies said. But law enforcement officers from several agencies continued their hunt and arrested him the next day, on May 9, in Smithfield in Johnston County, according to investigators.
Abney was placed in the Onslow County Detention center on a $3,411,000 bond.


text: I bought an OEM pair of LMT M4 type handguards that supposedly came off a defender. The heatshield appears to be glued on, and glued not centered over the holes on the plastic. They also don't fit as well as the bushmaster carbine handguards i am replacing. Anyone have a defender whose HG are like this?


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The shipbuilding firm of John Laird, Sons & Co. launched several of the most famous ships of the 19th century, including several (Denbigh, Alabama, Lark) that played dramatic roles in Texas during the Civil War. The company was arguably the world's leader in iron-hulled construction in the mid-1800s.
So how good were they, really?
Good enough to win a contract from Captain Nemo:
"But how were you able to build this wonderful Nautilus in secret?"
"Each part of it, Professor Aronnax, came from a different spot on the globe and reached me at a cover address. Its keel was forged by Creusot in France, its propeller shaft by Pen & Co. in London, the sheet-iron plates for its hull by Laird's in Liverpool, its propeller by Scott's in Glasgow. Its tanks were manufactured by Cail & Co. in Paris, its engine by Krupp in Prussia, its spur by the Motala workshops in Sweden, its precision instruments by Hart Bros. in New York, etc.; and each of these suppliers received my specifications under a different name."
– Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Ch. 13, "Some Figures."


text: Chen Lu - now there is a skater who would have struggled a bit with COP, at least on the spins, and also with URs. Of course, she would have been medaling at lot earlier, imo, if COP had been in place in the early 90s. There's what skaters did under 6.0, and what they were capable of. I think Kwan could have made the necessary adjustments to the more recent versions of COP. But I don't think Chen could have adjusted. Who knows, maybe I'm selling her short. Neither would have done well under the 2006 rules, as far as spins are concerned. That version of COP was insane.


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Toasting the Spirits Near Clear Lake
Napa-Lake Stone Cottage and Pine Cone Cabin: • Cobb, CA
Escape Kit
- A Two-Night Stay for Two, Sundays through Thursdays ($229) or Fridays and Saturdays ($275) in the Pine Cone Cabin
- Or, a Two-Night Stay for Two, Sundays through Thursdays ($295) or Fridays and Saturdays ($345) in the Napa-Lake Stone Cottage with Bundle of Firewood from March 1 through June 30, 2013
- Welcome Basket with Bottle of Local Wine, Complimentary Wine Tasting for Two at Six Wineries, Sachet of Homegrown Lavender, Wine-Touring Maps, and Discounts at Local Restaurants, Wineries, and Coffee Shops
- Combine Unlimited Vouchers for an Extended Stay
The Destination
Cobb, California, is about as peaceful as it gets. It was, after all, the site the Maharishi chose to introduce his teachings of Transcendental Meditation in the early '70s. And Highway 175, which runs right through Cobb, made a cameo the same decade in another Zen-full book. Today, this town of about 2,000 in Lake County is home to several spiritual retreat centers, outdoor activities aplenty, and the same mellow vibe that put it on the map 40 years ago.
The Digs
Located just 25 miles from Calistoga and 15 miles from Clear Lake—putting it within bird's-eye view of wineries, water sports, golf, mountain biking, and hiking—the hilltop retreats of Napa-Lake Stone Cottage and Pine Cone Cabin are the perfect home base for experiencing Northern California. At the Napa-Lake Stone Cottage, the knotty pine paneling, rustic stone fireplace, and large deck with a view of Cobb Mountain and the stars above will leave you feeling relaxed and rejuvenated, while the Pine Cone Cabin, with windows on three sides, feels almost like a tree house.
When you're ready to branch out, you're less than an hour's drive from Napa and Sonoma, putting you in the heart of wine country. Plus, there's plenty to do right where you are, with restaurants, hot springs, coffee shops, and Cobb Mountain all within a few minutes' drive.
"[Cobb, California,] is well known for its quaint cottages and luxurious floral covered walkways. The town stands as one of the top 10 in Northern California in relation to its beauty and its cleanliness."-- Lake County Travel Guide
escapes 30-day promise
LivingSocial gives you up to 30 days to return your unused voucher for a full refund. Once you've made a reservation, you are subject to the merchant's cancellation and refund policy. If you want to secure your preferred dates of travel, we strongly recommend that you complete reservation with the merchant within 30 days of your purchase—after that, LivingSocial will not issue any refunds.
the fine print
- Stays must be completed by the expiration date on December 31, 2013
- Entire value must be used in a single visit
- Vouchers may be combined to extend stay
- Reservations required and subject to availability; not valid on existing reservations
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The British Go Association
The various chapters contain gleanings from many years' experience of go organisation, but everyone has his own favourite ways of doing things, and anyone who feels that his preferred methods or ideas are missing, or are not covered adequately, should write to the BGA with suggestions, so that future editions can include the benefit of his experience as well.
Throughout, for brevity and convenience, a player is referred to as "he," since the majority of players at present are male, despite the growing number of female players.
This edition was prepared by Tony Atkins and was word-processed by Brian Timmins [and scanned and converted to html by Nick Wedd]. It updates the 1983 edition with changes to rules determining qualifiers, and also covers computers in go.
Material contained herein may be copied as long as it is done to further the interests
of go playing and is credited to the BGA.
1.1 Aims and ObjectivesThe British Go Association (affiliated to the European Go Federation and to the International Go Federation) is a voluntary organisation with elected officials which exists to promote the game of go within the British Isles.
Membership is open to all go players on payment of a small annual subscription. Services offered by the Association (BGA) include the following:
1.2 Officials of the British Go AssociationThe BGA has a council consisting of President, Treasurer, Secretary and five ordinary members. There are various committees which report to the council, covering topics such as schools, grading and publicity.
1.3 Annual General MeetingThe Association's AGM is held during the British Go Congress, and is where the annual reports are presented, the council is elected, and motions are presented, suen as changes to the Association's constitution.
2: Starting a ClubOnce you have a nucleus of players (and this can be as little as two) you ran start to arrange regular meetings. These can be weekly, which is probably best, or less frequently such as fortnightly or monthly. An initial venue can be a member's front room; once established there, you can contemplate expansion. Many go clubs have originated in this manner.
Of the other possibilities for a venue, the commonest is one associated with a member's occupation. This includes a universfty (if he is a student or a lecturer), firm, or social club attached to a firm. The great advantages are that these are generally cheap - financial assistance may even be available - and usually fairly salubrious. Publicfty aimed at fellow employees is often successful, but it may be more difficult to attract non employees. Rules for social clubs are often quite strict, but only so as to cater for licensing laws, and a method to include non employees is usuayly not difficult to find. You should discuss the situation with officials of the social club.
Other possible venues are church halls, coffee bars, pubs, etc. They all have their pros and cons, and local intelligence will often generate some ideas. If you do not know where to start looking, find out where the local chess players meet. The public library should be able to provide that information.
One of the major problems when a club is started is that of equipment. The BGA can help here by loaning sets for a short period while the club gets going. Ultimately, of course, the club should be self-supporting.
To this end, it is recommended that small charges are made. Most clubs have two types of fee: an annual fee and a board fee for each evening. The BGA subscriptions should be added to the annual fee. It is recommended that the board fees should do more than cover the cost of the room (if any); the surplus can be used to purchase equipment or books for a club library. Typical fees might be £10 per annum, including BGA membership, and £1 per evening, with appropriate re ductions for those in full-time education etc. [These figures are for 1983 or earlier, and should be adjusted for inflation.] The details will, however, depend on local circumstances and many clubs operate free apart from the BGA subscription. Many established clubs are funded by the profits of running a tournament.
Usually there is one person, the prime mover, who starts the club going, but he should not see it as a one man show. He should delegate obs wherever possible, as this will help to ensure the continuity of the club if he should leave the district. Typical jobs are Secretary, Treasurer and Equipment Officer/Librarian. None of these duties is particularly onerous, but people tend to be shy of volunteering, yet will do the job enthusiastically if asked. The appointment of a publicity officer could be worthwhile, especially if there is someone with a flair for it.
Some go clubs are officially set up with a bank account and a constitution. Others have neither. If you want to have a bank account, and one is recommended if you intend to run tournaments, you will probably need to have a constitution. This does not need to be particularly elaborate; the only important thing is to clarify the means by which the members can check that their money is being looked after properly. A model constitution sufficient for most purposes is as follows:
Constitution of the ___________ Go Club
It is, of course, possible to be far more precise about these matters and also to define details
of the many other aspects of club management, but in practice such items tend to be forgotten or
ignored or, worse, they absorb time and effort which would be better spent playing go. [Many
Go Clubs have never had a constitution nor an AGM.]
3.1 Publicity for new go clubsA good time for concentrated publicity is when a club is about to start meeting in a reasonable sized venue, possibly as an expansion from a small group meeting in a member's house. After finding a suitable venue (see chapter 2), it is necessary to fix upon a day for the first meeting; this should allow sufficient time for advance preparation (say 4-6 weeks).
A good way to generate free publicity is to write articles for local newspapers. These are frequently short of news and will normally cooperate [however no-one reads them], especially if a photograph of people playing go can be supplied. The article must give a short description of the game, including something about its history, and should mention the handicapping system. Recent achievements of local players should also be noted, even if these have to be stretched somewhat. It must be emphasised that beginners are welcome and will be taught how to play. In addition to giving the venue, date and time of the first meeting, the article should also give a contact address and telephone number, in order to cater for people who are interested in go but cannot attend the first meeting of the club.
There are various other ways of publicising the opening of a go club. Posters, which can be obtained free from the BGA, should be displayed at work or school. Even better is to place notices at the local university or technical college, since students often take to go quickly and spread the game amongst themselves. Advertisements should be placed in the personal columns of local newspapers and in newsagents' windows. Notices should be placed in local libraries, and also in members' windows. Contact the BGA Membership Secretary to establish whether there are any unattached members already in your area who can be approached to join. Finally, a good way to spread go is to talk about the game - many people who would ignore other publicity try out the game because a friend of a friend plays go.
3.2 Regular publicityA major publicity effort is essential to get a new club started. However, it is also very important to maintain a smaller amount of continuous publicity, since a club needs a steady flow of new members in order to keep going. Furthermore, if there have been no recent recruits to the club, a beginner who does turn up is often put off by the high standard. Most clubs will not be able to spend any money on regular publicity, but there is still a lot that can be done.
The first thing is to maintain some of the initial publicity by keeping up posters and notices for as long as possible. Your local public library will normally be willing to display a small card giving details of your go club, which should include where and when it meets, who to contact for information (with address and telephone number) and a few words about the game itself. Go should also be covered in any lists of local societies; these are often organised by libraries, newspapers and information services.
Although a local newspaper will not want to publish regular articles about the game itself, it will be interested in results of club matches and of local players in tournaments, particularly if they win prizes. Another way to generate publicity is to organise a tournament (see Chapter 8 for details).
3.3 Open eveningsIt is easier to keep beginners keen on go if they have other beginners of the same standard to play against. Partly for this reason, and partly to make teaching easier, it is a good idea to try to recruit a large number of beginners at the same time, and the best way to do this is to run widely publicised open evenings every year or so.
In university clubs such events should obviously be run at the beginning of the academic year, in other clubs the best time is less easy to determine, but the Autumn is usually best.
The vital thing about an open evening is that it should be widely advertised. Local libraries and the local press are a good start, but deliberate raids on the chess and bridge clubs in the area have the great advantage of concentrating on people known to have a propensity for playing games in clubs. There may also be groups in your area which meet to play such ephemeral games as dungeons and dragons or othello which can be raided in the same manner. Games shops are a good source of information on the whereabouts of such groups.
When it comes to actually running the open evening the important thing is to spend as little
time as is absolutely necessary teaching the rules, and to get people to play as many games
as possible reasonably quickly - chess players in particular have a tendency to spend far too
long thinking in their first few games - and probably only using small boards. Photocopied
small boards will usually suffice but look a bit tacky.
Some go clubs, particularly at universities, have certain meetings where more than one beginner turns up. Others rarely see more than one new player at a time. In either case, the rules of go need to be explained. Since it is important for this to be done clearly, players at the club who expect to teach beginners should think beforehand about what approach they intend to adopt. The various leaflets available may be useful for this purpose (e.g. the BGA How to Play Go). Teaching with a board, and with the subject able to ask questions is, however, a rather different task from teaching simply through a written text. The following scheme is one possibility. You may choose to do things quite differently, but the important thing is to have some sort of plan before you start.
4.1 Teaching the rules
4.2 Starting to playAt this point the beginner should know enough to start playing. (Many people prefer not to mention ko, seki or suicide until after the beginner has played several games; certainly joke positions like bent four in the corner should be left for later. If there are two or more beginners, they should play amongst themselves. Do not say more than a few words about strategy or tactics at this stage. The beginners should play their first game on a 9 x 9 or 10 x 10 board in order to clarify their understanding of the rules. After this, the person who taught the rules should say a few words about the third and fourth lines (using a full board) and describe the importance of the corners. Put a stone at the 4-4 point, play out the standard invasion joseki and explain that the resulting influence is normally worth more than the corner territory. The beginners should then play out one or two games on a 13 x 13 board before trying a full-sized board.
Things are not so easy if there is only one beginner at the club. Clearly he is to play against established players, but it is important for these people to realise that it will be some time before they can have a "real" game against the new player. It is equally important for the beginner not to be aware of this fact. The beginner should start by playing a 4-stone game on a 9 x 9 board; remember that the purpose of the first few games is to establish the rules. The strongest player should aim to win by a small margin (less than 10 points) or even lose. After this, the beginner should be taught something about general strategy, including the elements of using a 9 stone handicap on a full board, the idea being to enable him to take 9 stones from the weakest players in the club as soon as possible.
A method which has proved useful in teaching children is to give Black a solid square of stones, instead of isolated stones on the star points. For a complete beginner playing against a shodan this should occupy the whole of the fifth line from the edge. As soon as Black learns to separate the white groups the wall can be moved up to the sixth line, and then to the seventh. From here it is a small step to 9 stones. An advantage of this approach is that it becomes easy to teach the effective strategic use of solid positions.
Currently there are several go-playing programs on the market which mostly run on IBM PCs and
compatibles. They are a good way of encouraging beginners to play and improve. In a few years
dan-level programs will be available. If a club can acquire a program it would be a worthwhile
investment. The other game recording and studying programs available are also worth investigating.
5.1 Club ladderA club ladder provides a format for playing relatively serious handicap games with automatically adjusting grades. It also enables a go club to establish the relative grades of its members and to monitor their progress.
The rungs of the ladder form a vertical scale which represents the grading system. Every member of the group has a marker on one of these rungs. Each grade is divided into several subdivisions, each of which is represented by one rung. Every time a player wins a game he goes up one rung and every time he loses a game he goes down one. The handicap for a game is simply the difference between the current grades of the players, giving, say, 5 points komi for each grade over.
Levels should be closer together at the top of the ladder than at the bottom; this automatically allows weaker players to change grade faster than stronger ones. There are various ways of dividing up the grades. One suggestion is as follows:
1 dan+ 0.1 grade per rung 1-6 kyu 0.2 grade per rung 7-16 kyu 0.5 grade per rung 17-24 kyu 1.0 grade per rungThe element of competition may be enhanced by giving a prize to the most rapidly improved player over some set period. This type of prize also has the advantage that it is easier for weaker players to win than for stronger ones.
The main problem with any sort of ladder is that, while it is very good at describing the relative strengths of the players involved, there is a tendency for the whole club to get stronger simultaneously and the ladder cannot reflect this. Some ways of introducing inflation automatically are: - Fix the bottom of the ladder, so that no player goes below (say) 25 kyu. - Fix the top of the ladder. If the strongest player has a well established grade (e.g. a dan player whose grade is controlled by the BGA) his ladder position can be anchored. - A player winning his third successive game can go up two rungs, instead of the usual one. - Promotion after winning several games in a tournament.
However the only reliable way to incorporate inflation into a ladder is to play games against members of other clubs and to keep a cheek on the result, shifting the whole club up a few notches if the members seem to be doing too well outside.
The physical ladder can be constructed in several ways. Usually some sort of wall chart is used. The players' names are put on small markers which can be moved up and down the ladder. The rungs should be made wide enough to take several players' names at once.
A different way of representing the ladder is to use a sheet of paper divided into columns. The left hand column contains the names of the players and the second column gives their nominal grades. The remaining columns contain new ladder grades updated after each game. This sort of ladder has the advantage of portability, although it will need replacing at regular intervals.
5.2 Club championshipThe great advantage of running tournaments in clubs is that they don't have to finish in one day. A simple idea is to have an all-play-all tournament spread over two months or more. Handicaps should probably be reduced if they are used at all, and all games should be played with clocks and have time limits of at least an hour per player.
If the club is a large one, such a tournament will last too long, and it may be better to divide the players into several divisions.
A club championship can be split into several stages. One format is for all but the strongest players in the club to participate in a short knockout tournament, the winners of which qualify for places in a league 'where they are joined by the strongest players. This idea can be stretched further by having a 3 or 5 game playoff between the top two finishers in the league, and by allowing players who do well in one year to start in a privileged position in the next tournament, but it should be remembered that a protracted tournament will make it difficult for beginners to be catered for adequately.
5.3 Other club tournamentsIf the players at the club are keen on quick games with clocks, it is relatively simple to organise a "lightning ladder". it is recommended that all rungs be 0.5 stone apart, but beware: normal handicaps are not enough for quick games, and players can easily end up more than 9 stones from their starting grades.
In order to finish a tournament in one night, it is necessary to use small boards, or quick games, or both. 10 minutes of clock time for a double elimination knockout tournament (section 11.2) on 13 x 13 boards is about right. Exact details will depend on the number of players and the range of strengths. Small boards allow a much wider range of handicaps; 9 stones on a 13 x 13 board is about right for 25 grades difference. Some of the other systems discussed in section 1 1 may be found to be useful.
Finally, all clubs are encouraged to participate in leagues where these exist. In remote areas where this
is not possible, occasional matches with your nearest club can be organised. It may even be possible to play
a match by telephone with a really remote club. It is surprisingly easy to get sponsorship for such matches.
6.1 Demonstration gamesTwo of the strongest players in the club play a game, while a third gives a running commentary to explain what is going on. It is important that the players are not allowed to speak [it is likely that they will anyway], since the commentary then degenerates into a high-level argument which nobody else can follow. These events have the advantage of being very easy to organise, and they can be extremely enjoyable if the commentator is skilful enough.
6.2 Game analysesA game is selected, e.g. one played at the club the previous week, and (preferably) two of the strongest players take it home and think about it. them gives a 30-minute lecture on the game. In planning such a lecture the following points should be borne in mind:
These events can be highly enjoyable and informative, but they require a considerable amount of preparation by the person who is to give the talk.
6.3 Visits by stronger playersThe BGA has a scheme for organising visits by the country's dan-grade players to clubs. These can be used as foci for press coverage, and may take many forms; perhaps the simplest is for the whole club to play the visitor simultaneously. All clubs are encouraged to avail themselves of this facility. The BGA and the club usually cover half the costs each.
6.4 Study sessionsThese are really a matter for small groups of players to organise outside normal club meetings. The recommended approach is to have one member who has studied the matter to be discussed in advance. This can be a game he has played, a professional game he has studied, or a joseki that he has read about in text tbooks. This person then presents the subject and the others join in the discussion as seems appropriate.
The success, or otherwise, of such events depends almost entirely on the personalities involved; some study groups generate highly successful social evenings which also contribute greatly to the playing strength of those involved, while others degenerate consistently into acrimonious debate. In any event, it is important not to allow such groups, whether meeting as part of a club night or not, to form a clique from which beginners will feel excluded.
6.5 Other possibilitiesExperiments in teaching go are often more interesting for the participants than any sort of event following a tried and tested formula, and go clubs are encouraged to try out anything which seems like a good idea at the time. If the ideas work particularly well, details should be sent to the BGA Secretary for inclusion in later editions of this booklet.
One important objective in teaching is to help people to look at familiar situations from a new
angle. In this respect, for example, an exercise held at Reading some years ago in which the whole
club spent an evening playing out the last 50 moves of a game (with different opponents, but always
starting from the same position) was extremely interesting.
7.1 First stages of planningYou should start planning a date and venue at least four months in advance. University or college accommodation is usually very suitable, particularly if you know a student or lecturer who can hire rooms for you. Make sure that the playing area is large enough, with sufficient tables and chairs; a one-day tournament should attract between 40 and 100 people. Consideration should also be given to whether there is enough room for smoking and also room to relax in after the game without disturbing anyone. An open space for frisby throwing could be a useful asset. Accessibility by public transport may be a factor in your choice of site. When a date has been decided upon, it is essential to contact the BGA tournament coordinator, who will check that it does not clash with any other go event. He can also inform you of any gaps in the go calendar and will give any other advice that is required. Most one-day tournaments are held on Sundays rather than Saturdays, but there is no very strong reason for doing so.
It is important to find a non-playing organiser for your go tournament, since the work involved in running a tournament is not confined to the time between rounds. If the organiser has not run a tournament before, he should receive assistance when he makes the draw. This can be given by one of the participants in the tournament; several BGA officers are willing to help if asked.
7.2 Advance publicityPublicity for 90 tournaments takes two forms, one of which consists of informing as many go players as possible. This is very important if the tournament is to be successful. The BGA Newsletter, which is published every two months, gives details of forthcoming tournaments. [So does the BGA web site.] The tournament coordinator is responsible for keeping the newsletter editor informed. Tournament details also appear in the British Go Journal.
The other form of publicity is directed to the non go-playing public, in order to inform them of the existence of the game and of the BGA. Tournaments provide excellent foci for such publicity, and local newspapers, radio and TV should be informed of the event about two weeks beforehand. An important follow-up to such publicity is for the organiser or his assistants to be prepared to teach beginners who come along just to see what the game is about.
7.3 Entry formsAll BGA clubs should receive entry forms at least six weeks in advance of the tournament, and even further in advance for a tournament lasting several days. The simplest way of doing this is to send a large number of entry forms (about 300) to the editor of the BGA Newsletter. In addition to this, it is worth bringing a supply of entry forms to any other tournament that takes place in the months before your own event. Entry forms should contain the following information:
and should request the following information:
7.4 Entry feeWhen deciding upon an entry fee, remember that the following expenses will have to be covered:
You should aim to make a small surplus on the tournament, which can go towards purchasing new books or equipment for your club. Note that there are likely to be a number of people trying to enter after the closing date. It is therefore wise to include a late entry fee, payable by those entering after the closing date, if you need to know numbers in advance. Another useful deterrent is to allocate byes (if they are necessary) to the last people to enter, but avoid byes by having a floating organiser if numbers are not a problem.
It is good practice to acknowledge receipt of entries and entry fees. This can be made easier by asking for a stamped addressed envelope from each entrant. Maps can be sent out in reply if not on the entry form.
The BGA levy is currently (1990) 30p per round per person with a maximum of three rounds per day chargeable. Students are 15p per round and non-members double. Longer tournaments may be given concessions. The purpose of the levy is to cover cost of all advertising, support and equipment services.
7.5 Meal arrangementsSome one-day tournaments (e.g. Wessex) include the provision of meals. However, it is easier to let participants make their own arrangements if there are any nearby restaurants or pubs. In this case, a map of the local area, showing such places, should be on display at the tournament.
7.6 Miscellaneous pointsEquipment may need to be hired. If tables and chairs are required, they can often be borrowed from local church halls, otherwise there are numerous hire firms that can supply them. The BGA has a stock of some 50 sets and clocks which are lent to tournaments as part of the service charged for by the levy. Organisers should ensure that arrangements are made for transport from the last tournament and on to the next. Further sets and clocks can be borrowed from clubs or individuals n more are needed.
A shop selling go books and equipment can enhance your tournament. The BGA Book Distributor will often want to run such a shop. This will normally be arranged between the organiser and the Book Distributor.
Consideration should be given as to whether a side-line tournament such as a small-board tournament can be run on a self-pairing basis. This sort of entertainment is particularly recommended if children are in attendance. Other entertainment in the way of teaching or problem sheets may be worth considering to keep the young minds occupied.
7.7 Longer tournamentsThe next step up is a weekend tournament, lasting from Friday evening until Sunday evening. The British Congress and the Northern Go Congress are of this form. In each case there are six rounds, with one hour each on the clock. Such events can be residential, with accommodation in halls of residence, or you may decide to let people find their own accommodation (possibly arranging for local players to put players up in their homes). Full board should normally be offered. As a rough guide, the 1987 British Congress at Reading attracted 120 entries, of which 60 were residential; 1989 at Oakham, go, of which 70 were residential.
A congress bank account should be opened, with two signatures required for withdrawals, as the amount of money handled can exceed £5000. The work can conveniently be split between one person responsible for accommodation and money, and one responsible for the tournament itself. A lightning tournament may be run on the Friday or Saturday evening.
If a tournament is providing accommodation then the BGA can be approached to underwrite a potential loss in return for a share of the profits. Contact the Treasurer for more details.
7.8 Regular BGA tournamentsApart from the three-stage British Championship, which is run by the BGA, tournaments are run by clubs. The exception is the British Go Congress which is run by a club on behalf of the BGA. The profits are usually split between the club and a go trust. Losses are covered by the BGA provided the cause for the loss is reasonable and accounts are supplied. The organiser is usually agreed a year in advance and offers from clubs are always welcome.
The British Lightning Championship is now held during the British Congress. The Small Board (13 x 13) Championship has not been held recently due to lack of interest.
Regular events for youngsters are the Schoois'Teams Championships and the British Youth Go Championships.
These are run by the Schools Committee.
8.1 Time limitsDuring a day you will probably be able to fit in three rounds with time limits of 1 hour each player and 15 seconds byo-yomi [no-one uses byo-yomi now, overtime is much easier to implement]. Longer lime limits of 70 minutes can be used with sudden death or by reducing byo-yomi to 5 seconds. Reusable time or 'Canadian' overtime could be considered where time limits are fairly long. With 'Canadian' overtime a monitor counts out [no, the player does it himself] a set number of stones and resets the player's clock by a few minutes. The number of stones or minutes can be changed for subsequent periods of overtime.
Overtime has the advantage of removing the need for tedious byo-yomi counting, whereas 5 second byo-yomi or sudden death reduce the over-all length of rounds. Ensure that enough time is left between rounds to produce the draw, allowing for late-running games. This can sometimes require more than thirty minutes and it is advisable to have more than one organiser assigned to the draw when late running is detected.
In addition, ensure that enough time is allowed for the first round starting late because of late arrivals, though this can usually be made up over lunch time.
8.2 General constraintsIn a three round tournament, care should be taken that a unique winner will be found if that is considered important. No player should have more than one bye (and preferably none). No two players should meet more than once, and, if possible, players from the same club should not meet (except where either could win the tournament).
A team tournament can easily be run, using the games from the individual tournament. Teams should be of a minimum size (say 4) and should be formed before the first round. The team with the highest percentage (excluding games between members) gets the prize. Games between two team members should be discounted.
If the number of participants is odd, it will be necessary to have a bye in each round. One method is to allocate these byes to the last players to enter. A better method is for one of the organisers to be prepared to play in the tournament only of players is odd.
8.3 PrizesThe two most popular ways of allocating prizes are by divisions and by number of games won. The second method is fairer, but one does not know in advance how many winners there will be. If prizes are awarded to division winners (i.e. to the best placed player within each of a number of ranges of strength), this need not prevent games from being played between players in different divisions. [The divisions system is a hangover from before the invention of the McMahon system. It survives in the Wessex tournament, for traditional reasons.] Special prizes can also be awarded to people who have done well without winning any of the other prizes, or to juniors.
[If you intend to award a prize for all results equal to or better than some number of wins, you should decide whether to allow jigos (by having integer komi) and if so, whether the qualifying number should be an integer. You may prefer to wait and see how things turn out before you decide what result is good enough for a prize. If you allow jigos you will have more flexibility in this.]
8.4 Organising the drawEach player is given an identifying number and has a card (e.g. a postcard) made out as depicted below. The draw is performed by shuffling these cards around a suitable table top. It will be found useful to have a large table out of range of the "helpful" comments of the players for this purpose. Do not use paper as it blows away; small pieces, however, can be used stuck to a glass sheet with Blutak.
The card illustrated [above]
It is important for purposes of presentation of results that the players' identifying numbers should be in order of entry strength. This means that the numbers should not be allocated until the last possible moment (even during the first round).
Computer programs can be used to perform the draw. Long is the list of tournaments where a computer draw has failed [rarely happens now], so it is advised that before use programs are approved by the BGA Council [who know nothing about them]. Currently the only approved program is the Dutch McMahon program which is available for IBM PCs / compatibles. [In fact almost everyone uses Geoff Kaniuk's program.]
Without doing a full draw by computer, programs can often be used to collate and present results in a neat and speedy manner.
8.5 Presentation of resultsResults should be recorded on a wall chart as the tournament progresses, and a final set of results in similar format should be compiled for circulation afterwards. An example of the recommended format is shown below, but in any case it should be easy to see at a glance how many games each player has won, and who his opponents have been.
Players should be ordered according to their starting grades, and numbers should correspond with those on the cards used in making the draw.
In addition to this display (and even more important than it) a list of players' opponents and table numbers for each round should be displayed, indicating clearly which player takes Black. This list can conveniently be used for the players to record their results on (by underlining or circling the winner's name). For larger tournaments, or for those wno prefer a more streamlined system, a separate result slip can be provided for each game for each round, to be filled in and returned by the winner. If these slips are put on the boards at the start of the round, the scrummage caused by large numbers of players trying to read the draw can be reduced, although this process could slow down the draw considerably unless a computer print-out is used.
8.6 Qualification for the Candidates' TournarnentYour tournament may be eligible for qualifying places for the Candidates' Tournament, which is the first stage of the British Championship. [The rest of this section has been deleted as the rules have changed. The current criteria for qualifying for the Candidates' tournament are given at http://www.britgo.org/index.html.]
8.7 Grands PrixEach game won above the McMahon bar in a BGA-supported tournament counts one point towards the Grand Prix. The winner becomes the holder of Terry Stacey Memorial Trophy for a year, so it is important that the McMahon bar is set sensibly and included on the final results sheets. In addition the London Open is the British tournament in the Fujitsu European Grand Prix, and special rules apply as imposed by the EGF [not any more, the European Grand Prix has been abolished].
8.8 Miscellaneous points
8.9 After the tournamentEnsure that results of the tournament are received by the British Go Newsletter, BGA Tournament Coordinator, Grading Committee and the press. [It is sufficient to give them to the BGA secretary. He will arrange for them to be sent to the BGA grading committee, the EGF grading program, the Newsletter, and the BGA webmaster. His preferred format is an output file from Geoff Kaniuk's program. The press will not be interested.] The BGA levy should be sent to the treasurer using the form provided. Arrangements shopuld be made for the BGA sets to reach the next tournament. Letters of thanks should be sent to any sponsors, including the owners of premises used.
9: A Model Set of RulesThese rules are designed for a one-day tournament run on the McMahon system. For most purposes it should be adequate to photocopy this page, and to make minor changes in red ink before posting ft on the tournament noticeboard. Pedants who prefer a more detailed formulation should use their own based on the set of championship rules.
Any different systems such as "Canadian" overtime or "flexible komi" (bidding for Black and the size of White's komi) should be described clearly in the rules. As regards bidding for komi, organisers may wish to stipulate the inclusion of a half point in order to avoid draws.
10: The McMahon SystemThe purpose of the McMahon system is to arrange that each participant plays as many games against as many opponents near to his own strength as possible, and has a chance to play against stronger opposition if he does well. The eventual winner will have played most of his nearest rivals by the end of the tournament.
The basic idea is that the established grading system is used only as a starting point, and that each player is "promoted", for the purposes of the tournament only, each time he wins a game.
10.1 McMahon scoresPlayers are ascribed an initial "McMahon score" equal to their entry grade kyu. (For this purpose a rank of n dan is equivalent to 1-n kyu, so that a shodan starts at zero.) However, players above a certain grade near the top of the tournament are demoted to this grade, in order to produce a pool of players with the highest McMahon score represented. This grade is known as the McMahon bar. (See section 10.4 for details of how to set it.)
10.2 The drawThe draw is made so that players have opponents with the same score as themselves, or as close as possible.
Before each round the cards are arranged in order of current McMahon score (now you see why that number is written so large on the card). Players with highest score represented are then paired off, subject to the constraints described. If too many of them have already played each other, or if there is an odd number of them, some will have to be "drawn down" to join the group of players one point below. This pool is then paired off, and the process continues until the bottom of the draw is reached. In pratice, it may be found easier to work from the top, and then up from the bottom, and to do the middle (where the number of players on each score is greatest) last, since there will be more ways finding acceptable pairings in this area.
If players must be "misdrawn" then the same player should not be in the same direction too many times. No player should meet the same twice.
Towards the end of the tournament, or at the lower end of the draw, it may become necessary for players with McMahon scores differing by more than one to meet. In such cases, a handicap of one less than the difference in scores should be given. This practice is only recommended for the lower end of the draw, since stronger players usually prefer even games, and it should certainly not be applied if either player has a chance to win the tournament.
Colours are allocated so that each player receives the black and white stones the same number of times as far as possible. Apart from that, they are random, even if the scores are one different.
For the first round, don't arrange the players in alphabetical order. This would cause the same players to meet every year.
In later rounds, match players at random within each McMahon score. In particular, avoid biassing the draw by matching up the entry grades.
Also avoid pairing people from the same club except where a prize is at stake. There is nothing worse than travelling 100 miles to play the people you travelled up with and play every week.
10.3 Final orderingPlayers should be ordered according to their final Mcahon scores. Within each McMahon score, those with the largest number of wins (i.e. lowest entry grade) should be placed highest.
Traditionally, ties have been resolved using the Sum of Opponents' McMahon Scores
(SOS), but there is much to be said for using the cumulative sum of scores, i.e.
simply adding up the score at the end of each round. This latter method is much
quicker to calculate and not obviously less fair.
Note: In effect the top players play a knock-out to determine the winner, so
there should not be more than 8 players above the bar for a 3 round or 16 players for
a 4 round tournament.
11.1 Simple knockout.This is one of the easiest types of tournament to organise. The advantages are that it produces a unique winner in the smallest possible number of games, and that games in each round can be started as soon as the players have finished their previous game. There are various disadvantages:
11.2 Double elimination knockout (Judan system)The principle here is that a simple knockout tournament is accompanied by a losers' tournament, in which all players who have lost exactly one game participate. The winners of the two tournaments then play off to determine the overall winner.
This system only works perfectly for numbers of players of the form 2 to the power of 2 to the n, (e.g. 16), otherwise there will be an odd number of players in the losers' section for at least one round, and byes will be necessary.
It shares the advantage of the simple knockout that the draw for each round is automatically complete when the previous round's results are known. Furthermore it guarantees that all players will get at least two games, and that three quarters of them will get at least three.
For 16 players, it takes two extra rounds to produce a result, but if there is time, the final game between the winners of the two sections can be replaced by a best-of-three match, so that everyone has to lose twice to be eliminated.
This system is recommended for use in one-night lightning tournaments, either as club events or as incidental entertainment during congresses lasting more than one day.
11.3 Generalised knockoutThe idea here is that nobody is eliminated; after each round players with exactly the same sequence of results are matched together.
This system ensures that everybody gets plenty of games against roughly equal opposition, and can be used to arrange all the players in order, though ordering is pretty arbitrary, especially around the middle of the list.
The usual ordering system is to give the losing finalist 2nd place, the losing semi-finalists 3rd and 4th, the losing quarter-finalists 5th to 8th etc., but this method puts a high premium on winning early - in a 32 player tournament the player placed 8th has won 2 out of 5 games, while those placed 9th and 17th have 4 out of 5.
11.4 Zone systemsPlayers are divided arbitrarily into zones, within each of which all play all, and then the zone winners play off to produce a final winner.
This type of system is easy to organise, and players will know in advance who their opponents will be. This may be considered important for the World Football cup, but seems pretty irrelevant in go.
Mathematically, this is an incredibly inefficient way of finding the best player. The larger the zones are, the more inefficient it becomes. The problem is that after two or three games, players with widely differing results are being matched against each other, and such games are unlikely to provide any new information.
This system is only recommended for lightning tournaments with more than 16 players - it is only in lightning tournaments that the small saving in time gained by knowing who your next opponent will be is worthwhile.
11.5 Swiss systemAll players start equal, and in each round players with the same number of wins play each other.
This is the ideal system for an even game tournament in which there are too many players for an all-play-all. Details of organisation are exactly as for the McMahon system described in sections 8 and 10. (The McMahon system can be thought of as a generalised Swiss system.)
Ties at the end of the tournament can be resolved either by Sum of Opponents' Scores (SOS) or by cumulative sum of wins. Neither of these methods is completely satisfactory, and playoff games should be used for important places if time permits.
11.6 Zoned Swiss systemIn this system, the tournament is divided into a set of completely separate Swiss type tournaments, one for each range of strengths. Since most players prefer to have a chance to play against stronger opposition if they do well, this to be a poor alternative to the McMahon system, and since it offers no compensating advantages it is not recommended.
11.7 Round RobinAll players play all other players (for 6 or 8 players). One player stays still and all others revolve around him, to play the games in the minimum number of rounds.
11.8 Swiss knockoutAll players play Swiss except the top 8 or 16 who play a knockout to determine the winner; the losers return to the Swiss section. This is best suited for a handicap event.
11.9 Mixed SystemsThere are many of these. They usually start as a Swiss or McMahon, and end up with a top group splitting off into a knockout. There are also schemes that mix three systems such as Swiss, followed by groups and a knockout. Generally these are only appropriate to longer events.


text:
Birchington - 2 bedroom apartment in London
Size60 m²
Floor No.
- Family/child friendly
- Kitchen
- Washer/dryer
- Internet/WiFi
Accommodation summary
|Birchington Rd, NW6 4LJ London, United Kingdom
|Property type
|Property ID
neighbourhood and location. There are many upscale eateries in the area, as well as great charity shopping due to the well-heeled residents, but if you venture into Kilburn youâll find a typical London High Street with shops, pubs and an array of great value Asian cuisine. In the lounge there is 1 sleeper sofa, 1 sofa, side tables, lamps, display cabinet, dining area. Its dining suite has a table with seating for 6. The master bedroom has 1 double bed, side tables, lamps, closet storage. The twin room has 2 single beds, side tables, lamps, closet storage. In the lounge, the sleeper sofa is converted into 1 double bed. The bathroom has a full bath with shower, washbasin, WC. Apart from providing a complete set of kitchenware, the kitchen is also fully equipped with: Gas cooker and oven, refrigerator, freezer, microwave, kettle, coffee maker, dishwasher, toaster. This apartment also includes: Central heating, washing machine and dryer, ironing equipment, hairdryer, bed linens and towels, TV/CD/DVD/cable channels, WiFi internet connection, phone landline available.
additional information
10% discount: for stays of 5 nights or more
15% discount: for stays of 10 nights or more
15% discount from 15 September to 1 June (except Christmas, Easter, and May Bank Holiday)
no pets, no smoking, no parties allowed payment upon arrival plus damage deposit: in cash or major credit cardstaxes are included in all prices
House rulesNo smoking
No pets
Deposit required on arrival
|Price for > 4 guests
|$ 18 AU per guest/night extra
|Check-in after
|Check-in before
|On arrangement
|Check-out before
|Cancellation Policy
Reviews of this property
The apartment is sunny and spacious. There are plenty of pans, crockery and cutlery. Super to have a dishwasher and washing machine. Good shower. Close to some good supermarkets and public transport.
There is new carpet in the bedrooms, but it had not been properly cleaned. There was a lot of dust, used tissues, sweet wrappers and so on under and behind the beds. The cupboards in the bedroom and living room were filthy. We told the owner but no extra cleaning was carried out. There are electronic mouse repellents throughout the house but still we were visited by pests. We had no use for leaflets of 4 years old or last year's newspapers.
Despite our having contacted the owner 45 min in advance, there was no-one to give us the keys on arrival. We had to wait for 30 min for someone to open the door. We quickly got a set of spare keys when asked, but changing 3 light bulbs took 5 days.
This could be a fantastic place to stay with some TLC.
Positive things:
1) All the basic things were provided.
2) The bedding is good
3) 50m it has the bus stop there with the No. 98 every 10 minutes direct to Oxford Street until the wee hours of the morning.
4) Cheap London
5) Supermarket, bank etc to 50m.
6) Quiet.
Negative things:
1) The overflowing bins outside the front door of the house.
2) Carpet dirty and in the master bedroom stairs.
3) Furniture minimal.
Les choses positives:
1) Toutes les choses de base étaient fournis.
2) La literie est bonne
3) A 50m il y a l'arrêt du bus avec le N°98 tous les 10 minutes direct à Oxford Street jusqu'aux petites heures du matin.
4) Pas cher pour Londres
5) Supermarché, banque etc à 50m.
6) Quartier calme.
Les choses négatives:
1) Les poubelles débordantes devant la porte d'entrée de la maison.
2) Moquette de l'escalier sale ainsi que dans la chambre principale.
3) Ameublement minimal.
- Quality assured accommodation
- Every host is verified by telephone
- Secure payment via SSL encryption


text:
Left to right: Irene Gailey Stone, Raymond Stone,We lived on the base at Ft. Knox in an apartment and since Raymond was a supply Sergeant we furnished our apartment with G.I. cots and chairs. The Army furnished the stove and refrigerator. Linda Kay had a baby buggy which she slept in. Another couple moved in with us since we had two bedrooms. They were Elinore and Sully Sullivan. They were from Ohio. He was also a Sergeant. We stayed there about three months and then Raymond's and Sully's outfits were moved to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. So instead of going back to Texas, Elinore asked me to go to Ohio and spend two weeks with her family and Sully's family while the boys found us a place in North Carolina. Elinor and I went to Columbus and spent a week with Sully's family. They were wonderful people and thought Linda Kay was about it. They took care of her the whole time we were there and called her Linda Lou. We then went on to Cleveland and spent a week with Elinor's parents. They were wonderful to us, too; however, Sully had called Elinor and told her not to come down to North Carolina for some reason, so I took Linda and we went on a bus to North Carolina.
Maedelle Gailey, Leon Richards, and Vernelle Gailey Richards
Taken about 1944
Maedelle Gailey, Leon Richards, and Vernelle Gailey Richards
Taken about 1944
We had an apartment in Dunn, North Carolina, where we lived about another three months. Then Raymond's outfit was sent to Camp Cook, California, and three other soldiers' wives were going on to California so I rode as far as Texas with them. I stayed with Mother and Daddy and then Raymond wrote and wanted me to come out to California and stay for a couple of weeks because he was fixing to go overseas. So I packed my bags and Mother made me a belt to wear under my clothes to keep my money in. I went to Millsap and caught the train and I left Linda with Mother.
I sat in the seat with a girl whose home was in the state of Washington. She had been in Mineral Wells to be with her husband. He had been sent overseas so she was going back home. Two sailors were sitting across from us, and of course, we all got acquainted. The train was full with all the military going different places and when we got to Los Angeles we had to change trains to go north. No one could get on but military and their spouses. We didn't know what we were going to do; but the sailors who had ridden with us asked if we would like to be their wives until we got on the train, so that was how we got on the train. The train was so crowded I had to stand all the way to Camp Cook and I never saw this girl and the sailors again.
This was Thanksgiving of 1944, so the next day we went to the mess hall and had Thanksgiving dinner. After I had been there a little over a week Raymond got a three-day pass and we went to Las Angeles and spent three days. We rented a car and took in the sights. We went to Santa Monica Beach and rode the rides - even the roller coaster, which I was getting on. I was scared to death and every time we went to the top we could see the ocean. We then went to see Harry James and his orchestra and danced.
Raymond put me on the train to come back to Texas and I was heartbroken, knowing he was on his way overseas. I went back to Linda Kay and Mother and Daddy and stayed with them while Raymond was away. That Christmas Mother and Daddy were going to Oklahoma to spend Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma Puckett, so they took me by the Stone's in Walters, Oklahoma, where they had moved from Temple. When we returned to Mineral Wells after Christmas I looked in the mail and I had Raymond's last will and testament that he had made when he went overseas. My heart broke; it was just like he was already dead.
Raymond was in a train wreck in La Harve, France, and they had so many dead and injured they had to wait for replacements from the states before they could go into combat. I guess the good Lord knew how much I needed Raymond to look after me; he has always taken care of me and I don't know what I would do without hi, even after 45 years. Raymond was only in combat about 12 or 14 days before the Germans surrendered. Then he was sent home for a thirty-day furlough before going to the Far East. He called from Ft. Sam Houston and asked me to meet him in Fort Worth so we could be together before he came on home. I waited until about one o'clock the next morning and he didn't come. The man at the bus station told me there wouldn't be another bus until the next morning, so I went to my Aunt's and spent the night and then went back to the bus station the next morning. I still didn't find Raymond so I took the first bus back to Mineral Wells. The bus broke down at Cool and several of us caught a ride home. Had I waited for the next bus Raymond would have been on it. Needless to say, I was happy to see him. He was home for 30 days on leave then he had to report to San Antonio. He was to go to the Pacific, but the Japanese surrendered that day so he didn't have to go back into the war. He was sent back to North Carolina and they started letting soldiers out by the number of points they had. He had enough points to get out and he returned home in October of 1945. Our life started over and Linda Kay was about 19 months old. She was sure glad her Dad was home!
We decided we would move to Wichita Falls, Texas, where we could be between our parents. Mr. and Mrs. Stone lived in Walters, Oklahoma, and of course, my parents lived in Mineral Wells, Texas.
Raymond got a job at General Mills. We bought an old '39 Chevy, two-door car. We lived there for about 6 months. We decided we would move to Walters or Mineral Wells. Raymond said we should move to Mineral Wells, that way we wouldn't be on the road all the time! Raymond bought a dump truck like my dad and hauled gravel and dirt. Later bought another one. We moved into a house out at Elmhurst, which was a housing project the Government had built, and a lot of veterans moved there after the war.
In 1947, September 14, we had a little boy born, but he was dead when he came. We were heartbroken.
Raymond & Irene Gailey Stone - Circa 1990
I was raised in the Baptist Church but Raymond had been raised in the Church of Christ. In 1948 he found the little church in the Community of Sturdivant and started going there to church and was baptized. I continued to go to the Parker Street Baptist Church but would go with him some of the time. In 1949 I became pregnant again and on March 25, 1950, we had another little boy. He was like Linda Kay when he was born - long, red, wrinkled and ugly (we named him Reginald Ray and he was called Reggie). But neither of them were ugly long. They turned out to be beautiful children. There was 6 years difference in their ages. We had moved into Mother and Daddy's house on Southwest 2nd Street since they had moved to Lubbock. We lived here when Reggie was born. Reggie was an adorable baby and laughed a lot; but he sure cried a lot at night. We would take turns rocking him. Don't know if he had the colic or was just spoiled. We sure gave him a lot of paregoric.
Raymond went to work for Norwood Manufacturing and worked there for quite a long time. In 1950, shortly after Reggie was born, I obeyed the Gospel and was baptized and we continued to go to Sturdivant. In 1951 the Church at Sturdivant built a church in town and we started going to church there since we lived in town. We went to church here and both of the children became members when they were older. Raymond became an Elder and we still go to the same church to this day and suppose we will always go to the same one for as long as we live.
In 1952 Raymond went to work for Civil Service and worked for 28 years at Ft. Walters. When Ft. Walters closed in 1974, counting his Army time of 5 years, he was able to retire with about 33 years.
My sister, Vernelle, and her husband, Leon Richards, had three little girls, Judith Gail, Peggy Joy, and Angela Vernelle who we called Ann. When Ann was one month old, Vernelle and Leon were divorced and they left the two older girls with Mother and Daddy and we took Ann because Mother and Daddy were getting older and Mother couldn't take care of a baby. So Vernelle asked us if we would take her while she hunted for work. So we had a beautiful little redheaded girl who was born April 4, 1954. Reggie was 4 years older. We loved this baby just as much as we did our other children. We loved all three of these children, but having Ann with us all the time, we felt she was our own. Their father visited them often but their Mother finally moved to California and she finally married again to Eddy Rowbury, who was in the Air Force. So the children didn't see their Mother for long periods of time.
When Ann was three her Daddy came to us and wanted her to be raised with the other girls and since we couldn't do anything about it, she went to live with Mother and Daddy. But we always tried to help with the girls as much as we could. Ann will always be ours, even now she is like our own child and she thinks of me as her Mother. I often wish I could have done more for these girls, they were such good kids and we love them so much.
In 1955 we bought the place where we now live which has been 34 years.
Written in her hand 1989
Edna Irene Gailey Stone