Current TV, and Susan Polgar

There were two bits of cheery news yesterday-- One: Al Gore's Current TV took wing. Heather Havrilesky of Salon says that there's a dearth of programming at present. The hosannas about democraticizing television and empowerment notwithstanding, I'll admit that the descriptions I've heard of what they're trying to do make it sound like local-access tv on a larger scale, repackaged to seem hip and "edgy". Having said that, I still would like to see them succeed, and may even try to contribute content to them. Current is on 366 on DirecTV and available in various bigger cities via Time Warner and Comcast. Not including Denton, as you might imagine.


via Polgarchess.com

via Josh Wolf


Two: I've mentioned chess grand master Susan Polgar before, here. Seems that on Monday she was in Floridatrying to set a world's record-- playing 350 games simultaneously(!) From the Palm Beach Post:

"Grandmaster Susan Polgar's Chess Challenge starts at 10 a.m. today[8/1] at The Gardens mall, 3101 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens. For details, go to www.bocachess.com"

She did it. From XINHUA online:

Susan Polgar, former women's world chess champion, broke four international records this week after playing more than 1,100 games over 17 hours at Palm Beach Gardens in Florida.
The Hungarian set a world record for the largest number of simultaneous games played when she had 326 games going at once on Monday afternoon. Of those matches, she won 309, tied 14 draws and lost three.
Her chess marathon continued until 3 a.m. (0700 GMT) Tuesday, when she broke another record of 1,131 consecutive games played, said Barbara DeMaro, managing director of U.S. Chess Trust, an event sponsor.
Polgar, who has won the world title four times, also beat records for the highest number of games won and the highest percentage of wins, which was 96.93 percent. The Guinness Book of World Records still has to confirm the records.

Polgar's opponents, who ranged from 4- to 95-years-old sat before identical chess boards at long rows of tables, while Polgarremained standing, walking from board to board to move her moves.
By 3 a.m., she had walked more than 14.5 kilometers.

Polgar, 36, started playing at age four in her native Hungary and was ranked No. 1 in the world by the time she was 15. In 1986,she became the first woman to qualify for the "Men's World Championship", and she earned the men's grandmaster title five years later.

Addendum: It seems Susan Polgar has a blog, and discusses the Palm Beach event, here.