SIXTH corrections - 10 in 8 months.

[chipschap]

It's a landmark one-of-a-kind book. It is rich and dense in content. A few typos here and there? Even a very small number of genuine errors?

SO??????

All (such as "all" is, rather small in magnitude) will be corrected in time by attentive readers.

I have trouble keeping typos out of my weekly column. Think how hard it was for Alex to keep typos out of a book that has more solid content than many other books put together. He and his proofreading team did a remarkable job. From one editor to another .... congratulations, you set a standard that few can match!

[Mr. Checkers]

Another first for Alex. The "6th" is undoubtedly the first book in checker history to be put under the microscope and scrutinized to this extent. I am sure that Alex loves all of this rhetoric as long as you spell his last name correctly. "Inky"

[tommyc]

I do wish everyone would give over abt these sixth corrections. It is so annoying!!.

[Alex_Moiseyev]

It is so annoying!!.

No, this is important and extremely valuable. My goal on long run is - create a perfect book This is realistic goal because Sixth itself don't have a miriad corrections, only few and few typos. We can clean 99.999999% of them.

I also very delighted and proud of that young man, "PHANTOM", going through the entire book, game-by-game, line-by-line, move-by-move. This amazing and we have to appreciate his work and efforts. He does a right thing, because many beauties are hidden inside numbers.

Phantom, manu thanks (I know who you are!) ... and everyone who continue finding corrections.

Alex

[tommyc]

The 99.99999999999999999999999999999% is great,its the 0.1111111111111111111111that is annoying.

[tommyc]

On reflection you shoulda got Phantom to proof read it BEFORE ....he would have made a much better fist of it.!!

[Mr. Checkers]

Alex perhaps a few greenbacks given as compensation would help speed up this disection process of your fine book and help the Phantom get through medical school at the same time--$$ given per error found. "Inky"

[tommyc]

Please please spent that 8$ wisely and get Alex a bottle of something to get over those incurable mistakes!!/Before the next book.

[Alex_Moiseyev]

I was thinking seriouslky about this option before Sixth get printed William Ryan offered $5 for any valuable correction to his Encyclopedia. However I decided to keep a low profule on such action due to my first experience. The time proved that one could get rich if claim all corrections to W. Ryan book.

It is also appeared that being paid for all corrections to Sixth may help you only to cover your gas expenses today going to the checkers tournament (it is $2.70 per gallon in Columbus, OH )

Alex

[tommyc]

Mr Ryan wasnt stupid......."$5 for any {valuable} correction" he said, with "valuable"being the operative word and he the sole adjudicator.

As for the price of "gas",for your $2.70 which buys you a whole gallon we get a mere 2litres @1euro p.l.= abt 1/2 a gallon.

[Mr. Checkers]

One of the realities in life that we all have to face is that no matter how hard we may try that--"Nothing is ever going to be "According to Hoyle"--or "Perfect". Alex's book will never be error proof, waterproof, fade proof etc., and it like us will show its age with time. So lets enjoy his book while we can and at the same time accept the fact that Alex is not just any common ordinary man--few men have ever reached that height--and few ever will. "Inky"

[jimloy]

Most word processing programs have built-in grammar checkers. These sometimes miss the point (often by identifying a noun as a verb or other such obvious error), but they can be very helpful.

Technically, not all punctuation goes inside quotation marks. Colons and semicolons generally go outside the closing quote marks. Also, a question mark goes outside if the sentence is a question but the quotation is not a question. And, if you're telling the reader exactly what to type on his/her computer, and you don't want him/her to type the punctuation, then the punctuation goes outside the quote marks. I just wanted to lighten up this discussion.

I've noticed that when Alex ends a sentence with an exclamation mark, he inserts a space between the last word and the exclamation mark. There should be no space there. There should be no space before a colon or question mark, either.

I personally disagree with this rule, but a note that begins "A)" is considered a minor error in some grammar books, as parentheses come in pairs. But that is so popular, not just in checkers, that it is likely to be considered standard by most people. But, Alex's use of "into note I)," stretches the rule some more, as "into note I," is perfectly natural.

A note that ends in checker moves, followed by "Draw" or "RW" or "WW" or some similar evaluation, should probably be followed by a period, as it may technically be a sentence, however incomplete.

"Pretty, but not the best," is an incomplete sentence. Incomplete sentences are just fine, and can be better than a complete sentence. For example, "Pretty, but not the best," may be better than, "This move is pretty, but is not the best." Just be aware that you are intentionally using an incomplete sentence. Another example of an acceptable incomplete sentence is, "Weak."

Apparently, there are no articles (definite article "the" or indefinite article "a" before a noun) in Russian, while those are the two most common words in English. In Sixth, most of these seem to be correct, but I'm sure a hundred or so were missed. Leaving out these articles gives the text an attractive Russian flavor. So I don't think this is a big deal. But a grammar checker may help correct these, and remove the last vestiges of Alex' Russian roots.

Until recently, contractions (like "didn't") were mostly unacceptable in printed text. But, if you want a casual mood, Grandmaster to student, then contractions (and other casual grammar, like incomplete sentences) would seem to be perfectly acceptable.

[john reade]

Tommy, Petrol in Britain is

[tommyc]

Indeed John but...........as we are geographically situated right on the border-line we buy our petrol in the Republic of Ireland which is just over 1 euro per litre whereas i think British prices are abt

[tommyc]

Staying on the subject John here is a little beauty sent to me from
the US of A............George Carlin's Solution to Save Gasoline:

Bush wants us to cut the amount of gas we use. The best way to stop using so much gas is to deport 11 million illegal immigrants! That would be 11million less people using our gas. The price of gas would come down. Bring our troops home from Iraq to guard the border. When they catch an illegal immigrant crossing the border, hand him a canteen, rifle and some ammo and ship him to Iraq . Tell him if he wants to come to America then he must serve a tour in the military. Give him a soldier's pay while he's there and tax him on it. After his tour, he will be allowed to become a citizen since he defended this country. He will also be registered to be taxed and be a legal patriot. This option will probably deter illegal immigration and provide a solution for the troops in Iraq and the aliens trying to make a better life for themselves. If they refuse to serve, ship them to Iraq anyway, without the canteen, rifle or ammo. Problem solved. If you think this is a good solution to both the problems, forward it to your friends.
I just did.
George Carlin