Alexander Fontana's Blog
January 5, 2013
The Martial Arts of Chess
The tale of the Martial Arts of Chess, demonstrates a key secret of how businesses can be successful, and why the mere suggestion of government shutdown makes our politicians look like idiots.
One early morning, about 5,000 years ago, a village woke to a commotion. Two men were running frantically through town. The first man was carrying a live pig in his arms. The second was chasing him with a meat cleaver, trying to kill him. They both banged into things as they raced. The first man knocking people, pots and other camp tools over as he dodged the swipes of the knife from the other. This scene continued until the wise man of the village stepped out, blocking their path.
Both men upon seeing the wise man dropped to the ground and bowed to him in respect. They did this because the wise man was part of the nobility and they were only mere peasants. Such was the tradition of the time.
“What are you doing?” asked the wise man calmly.
“This man has stolen my pig!” exclaimed the man with the knife. “I was going to stop him, as is my right.”
“Is this true?” asked the wise man looking at the man with the pig.
“Yes,” said the man with the pig, “but I had no choice.”
“And why is that?” asked the wise man.
“Because each year our king has us burn our fields in order to fight back the other king’s army. I have seven brothers and sisters who all work hard, but we have no food. There is no food that grows in our land. It is wrong what I did, but at least my family will live.”
The wise man thought quietly for a moment. “It is true what you say. Your intentions are good. Only your approach to the problem is incorrect.”
“I should kill him!” Shouted the man with the knife. “It is my right.”
“Yes, it is your right.” said the wise man, “but perhaps there is a better way. You yourself have a large farmland that you can not possibly harvest before the bandit army attacks again. If this man were to work for you. Help you harvest. You could pay him for his work with food and gain more from his efforts yourself.”
“Yes, but how can I trust him?”
“He is one of us,” said the wise man. “He cannot go anywhere were we do not know him, and he cannot go over to the bandit tribe for they would kill him on sight. If he does not work, then you can kill him.”
With that said the two villagers went in peace.
That summer the wise man was the talk of the town. The two peasants worked together and became friends. Everyone admired the wise man who found the noble solution to the problem with the pig and the peasants. That is except for the two sons of the king. The sons were jealous of the wise man.
“This is not right,” said the first son. “The wise man as adviser to the king is closer to him than we are.” The second son agreed and together they hatched a plot. They went to see their father, the king.
“Father,” said the first son. “The wise man is making a fool of you.”
Outraged at the statement made in front of everyone the father replied, “Why is that?”
“We are your sons and warriors. As such, we risk our lives each year fighting the bandits to honor you. The wise man is paid to be your adviser, but instead he plays adviser to the peasants. His position in court is closer to you than ours. How does it look to people if the adviser to the king, mocks the king by not carrying out his wishes?”
This infuriated the king. “My sons are right.” He called the wise man to court.
“Wise man it has been brought to my attention that you have been dallying in town playing with the peasants while you should have been working on my problems instead. Because of this you have one month to stop one of my three main problems: War, pestilence or famine. If after that time you have not solved one of those problems or you will be executed. That is all.”
The wise man attempted to talk to the king, but the king would hear none of it. The wise man thought quietly for a moment then packed his bags and started walking towards the great mountain. No one had ever found a solution to stopping war, pestilence or famine, so he resolved that he would enjoy the last days of his life living on the mountain he loved.
While the wise man was camping on the mountain he started carving a wooden totem. A figure of one of the peasants of the village. He planned to give the sculpture to the villager as a present. He enjoyed carving so much that he continued until he had eight different peasants that represented the eight different types of workers found in the village. When those were completed, he started making figures of the king’s court and their various positions, including the king himself. Then he continued by making figures of the bandit tribe. When he was done, he looked at all the figurines he had made – and he noticed something.
“The bandit tribe has the same amount and type of peasants and noble positions as we do,” he said to himself.
A few days before he was scheduled to be executed the wise man came down from the mountain and gave all the pieces he had carved to the king as a present.
“Your majesty,” started the wise man. “You are a great man. Before I die, I wish to give this gift to you as a small token and to note one thing. The bandit king also thinks he is a great man. When we fight for you against his men we are not as gifted in the martial arts as you are. In combat we are not as smart, skilled or strong. Therefore, we do not represent you as well as you yourself would. Nor does the bandit king feel his people represent him as well as he could himself. Each of you has the same type of workers and amount of different people that you rule over. Yet if you could show him that your thinking is superior to his then he would have to bow down to you.”
Intrigued the king asked, “And what do you purpose?”
“Call a truce and play the bandit king this game. He will then see and have to acknowledge your intellect and stop wasting your time.”
And so, a few days later a truce was called. Not trusting the good king’s intentions the bandit king brought his entire entourage. And not trusting the bandit king the good king did the same.
It was a few weeks later when both groups met in a clearing. The two kings sat down and played what by now you’ve guessed was a chess game. Everyone else watched. To the winner would go the entire kingdom of the lands. Both kings played carefully. The game took hours. The good king won.
At this victory the bandit king shouted, “You’ve won, but I am better.”
“What do you mean?” asked the good king. “I beat you fairly!”
“Not true,” exclaimed the bandit king. “It took me two weeks to get here. During that time you have had plenty of time to practice and master the game, while I have only just learned it. If I played another game I would destroy you.”
“Is that so,” said the good king. Confident in his mastery he replied, “All right then I will play you another game.”
“Agreed,” said the bandit king. They played another game and this time the bandit king won.
“You loose,” said the bandit king.
“Not quite,” replied the good king. “We are only tied, we each have won only one game.”
“Fine then,” said the bandit king, “we will play one more, but this time the looser of this game will die.”
“Agreed.”
They played another. All the pieces except for the two figurines of the kings remained. The game was a draw. They agreed to play another tie breaking game but by now it was late. They would play tomorrow. The next day was the same thing and the day after that and the day after that. By the the end of the week both entourages had to go home. The elephants and horses needed to be fed. The hunters needed to seek game in order to have food and the farmers needed to go back to their farms.
Days, weeks, even months went by as the two kings played on. Then one day, about a year later the wise man returned to see how the two kings were doing.
“Your majesties, how goes the battle?” he asked.
“43,245 to 43,244,” said the good king. “Oh yes, the wise man,” he said looking up from his game. I was supposed to execute you. How is the war going?”
“Actually sire there is no war. No one has been killed. We are waiting to see who wins here.”
“Oh yes, I forgot. Well what about famine then.”
The wise man replied, “Come to think of it there is no famine your majesty.”
“What,” said the bandit king looking up from the chess board. “No famine! How is that possible?”
“Well your majesties,” said the wise man, “since neither of your armies have been fighting, everyone went home and worked on their farms. We have all had a wonderful year with plenty of food for everyone.”
This pleased both kings, but the good king still doubtful asked, “But what about pestilence? What of that?”
“Funny you should ask. Since everyone was well fed there was no major sickness.”
Not wanting to be outdone the two kings talked for a moment. The good king shook his head in agreement and turned to his wise man.
“Well then, it appears you have not only solved one of my problems but all three. And by not having to focus all of our attention on war, pestilence or famine the bandit king and I have learned something too. That if each of us shares the responsibility of ruling the kingdom in half then we each will have half the work to do. This of course will give us more time to play this delightful game. So on behalf of the bandit king and I, we will grant you one wish as a reward. Anything you ask.”
The wise man thought quietly for a moment and looked very sad. “You majesties, I thank you. My only wish is that I continue doing what I do and not be executed for doing it.”
“You belittle us,” said the bandit king in outrage. “Such a task as stopping war requires a great reward. Ask again.” The good king agreed with the bandit king.
“All right then,” said the wise man and he thought some more. After quite a while the kings started to become impatient. Finally the wise man responded.
“For my reward I wish you to imagine giving me a grain of rice on the first square of the game board. On the second square two grains of rice with the quantity of rice being doubled each square there after.”
“That is all you want?” said the good king incredulously. “But there are only 64 squares. This is nothing, this is no fitting reward.”
“I believe it is your majesty a bigger reward than you suspect or that either of you can provide.”
Rebuked the two kings tallied the requested results for each square.
One grain of rice
Two grains of rice
Four grains of rice
Eight grains of rice
16 grains of rice
32 grains of rice
64 grains of rice
128 grains of rice = 1 tablespoon of rice
On the 16th square there were 128 tablespoons of rice = one big bowl of rice, which would be a hefty meal back then.
The 24th square yielded 128 bowls = one sack of rice.
The 32nd square was 128 sacks = one wagon load, so now the two kings had to fork up a wagon and some horses to haul the rice away. This one square would provide the wise man with enough inventory to become a merchant.
On the 40th square the kings had to make a ship so that the 128 wagon loads could be transported. The wise man would now be considered a Captain.
On the 48th square the kings figured they would have to give the wise man a fleet of ships making him effectively an admiral.
On the 56th square they would have to give him all the rice in China. Thus making the wise man equal to the emperor and on the 64th square?
On the 64th square it is all the rice in the world harvested in modern times for the next 20 years. Or for you accountant types this equals 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 grains of rice.
The bandit king looked at the good king. The good king put his hand to his mouth and quietly asked the bandit king, “What should we do?”
“I think we will have to kill him,” said the bandit king, “if we give what he asks, it would starve everyone on the planet.”
Overhearing, the wise man responded, “I do not wish for the rice, your majesties. Only that you imagine and consider the number of it, for when I help a peasant with their problem, it is like a single grain of rice. If I do not take care of those individual problems then very quickly they add up until they become a problem that not even kings can deal with. I only wished to show you that when I was taking care of the problem of the pig and the two peasants it was because I was doing the king’s work.”Pittock: the Voice of PortlandAlexander Fontana
One early morning, about 5,000 years ago, a village woke to a commotion. Two men were running frantically through town. The first man was carrying a live pig in his arms. The second was chasing him with a meat cleaver, trying to kill him. They both banged into things as they raced. The first man knocking people, pots and other camp tools over as he dodged the swipes of the knife from the other. This scene continued until the wise man of the village stepped out, blocking their path.
Both men upon seeing the wise man dropped to the ground and bowed to him in respect. They did this because the wise man was part of the nobility and they were only mere peasants. Such was the tradition of the time.
“What are you doing?” asked the wise man calmly.
“This man has stolen my pig!” exclaimed the man with the knife. “I was going to stop him, as is my right.”
“Is this true?” asked the wise man looking at the man with the pig.
“Yes,” said the man with the pig, “but I had no choice.”
“And why is that?” asked the wise man.
“Because each year our king has us burn our fields in order to fight back the other king’s army. I have seven brothers and sisters who all work hard, but we have no food. There is no food that grows in our land. It is wrong what I did, but at least my family will live.”
The wise man thought quietly for a moment. “It is true what you say. Your intentions are good. Only your approach to the problem is incorrect.”
“I should kill him!” Shouted the man with the knife. “It is my right.”
“Yes, it is your right.” said the wise man, “but perhaps there is a better way. You yourself have a large farmland that you can not possibly harvest before the bandit army attacks again. If this man were to work for you. Help you harvest. You could pay him for his work with food and gain more from his efforts yourself.”
“Yes, but how can I trust him?”
“He is one of us,” said the wise man. “He cannot go anywhere were we do not know him, and he cannot go over to the bandit tribe for they would kill him on sight. If he does not work, then you can kill him.”
With that said the two villagers went in peace.
That summer the wise man was the talk of the town. The two peasants worked together and became friends. Everyone admired the wise man who found the noble solution to the problem with the pig and the peasants. That is except for the two sons of the king. The sons were jealous of the wise man.
“This is not right,” said the first son. “The wise man as adviser to the king is closer to him than we are.” The second son agreed and together they hatched a plot. They went to see their father, the king.
“Father,” said the first son. “The wise man is making a fool of you.”
Outraged at the statement made in front of everyone the father replied, “Why is that?”
“We are your sons and warriors. As such, we risk our lives each year fighting the bandits to honor you. The wise man is paid to be your adviser, but instead he plays adviser to the peasants. His position in court is closer to you than ours. How does it look to people if the adviser to the king, mocks the king by not carrying out his wishes?”
This infuriated the king. “My sons are right.” He called the wise man to court.
“Wise man it has been brought to my attention that you have been dallying in town playing with the peasants while you should have been working on my problems instead. Because of this you have one month to stop one of my three main problems: War, pestilence or famine. If after that time you have not solved one of those problems or you will be executed. That is all.”
The wise man attempted to talk to the king, but the king would hear none of it. The wise man thought quietly for a moment then packed his bags and started walking towards the great mountain. No one had ever found a solution to stopping war, pestilence or famine, so he resolved that he would enjoy the last days of his life living on the mountain he loved.
While the wise man was camping on the mountain he started carving a wooden totem. A figure of one of the peasants of the village. He planned to give the sculpture to the villager as a present. He enjoyed carving so much that he continued until he had eight different peasants that represented the eight different types of workers found in the village. When those were completed, he started making figures of the king’s court and their various positions, including the king himself. Then he continued by making figures of the bandit tribe. When he was done, he looked at all the figurines he had made – and he noticed something.
“The bandit tribe has the same amount and type of peasants and noble positions as we do,” he said to himself.
A few days before he was scheduled to be executed the wise man came down from the mountain and gave all the pieces he had carved to the king as a present.
“Your majesty,” started the wise man. “You are a great man. Before I die, I wish to give this gift to you as a small token and to note one thing. The bandit king also thinks he is a great man. When we fight for you against his men we are not as gifted in the martial arts as you are. In combat we are not as smart, skilled or strong. Therefore, we do not represent you as well as you yourself would. Nor does the bandit king feel his people represent him as well as he could himself. Each of you has the same type of workers and amount of different people that you rule over. Yet if you could show him that your thinking is superior to his then he would have to bow down to you.”
Intrigued the king asked, “And what do you purpose?”
“Call a truce and play the bandit king this game. He will then see and have to acknowledge your intellect and stop wasting your time.”
And so, a few days later a truce was called. Not trusting the good king’s intentions the bandit king brought his entire entourage. And not trusting the bandit king the good king did the same.
It was a few weeks later when both groups met in a clearing. The two kings sat down and played what by now you’ve guessed was a chess game. Everyone else watched. To the winner would go the entire kingdom of the lands. Both kings played carefully. The game took hours. The good king won.
At this victory the bandit king shouted, “You’ve won, but I am better.”
“What do you mean?” asked the good king. “I beat you fairly!”
“Not true,” exclaimed the bandit king. “It took me two weeks to get here. During that time you have had plenty of time to practice and master the game, while I have only just learned it. If I played another game I would destroy you.”
“Is that so,” said the good king. Confident in his mastery he replied, “All right then I will play you another game.”
“Agreed,” said the bandit king. They played another game and this time the bandit king won.
“You loose,” said the bandit king.
“Not quite,” replied the good king. “We are only tied, we each have won only one game.”
“Fine then,” said the bandit king, “we will play one more, but this time the looser of this game will die.”
“Agreed.”
They played another. All the pieces except for the two figurines of the kings remained. The game was a draw. They agreed to play another tie breaking game but by now it was late. They would play tomorrow. The next day was the same thing and the day after that and the day after that. By the the end of the week both entourages had to go home. The elephants and horses needed to be fed. The hunters needed to seek game in order to have food and the farmers needed to go back to their farms.
Days, weeks, even months went by as the two kings played on. Then one day, about a year later the wise man returned to see how the two kings were doing.
“Your majesties, how goes the battle?” he asked.
“43,245 to 43,244,” said the good king. “Oh yes, the wise man,” he said looking up from his game. I was supposed to execute you. How is the war going?”
“Actually sire there is no war. No one has been killed. We are waiting to see who wins here.”
“Oh yes, I forgot. Well what about famine then.”
The wise man replied, “Come to think of it there is no famine your majesty.”
“What,” said the bandit king looking up from the chess board. “No famine! How is that possible?”
“Well your majesties,” said the wise man, “since neither of your armies have been fighting, everyone went home and worked on their farms. We have all had a wonderful year with plenty of food for everyone.”
This pleased both kings, but the good king still doubtful asked, “But what about pestilence? What of that?”
“Funny you should ask. Since everyone was well fed there was no major sickness.”
Not wanting to be outdone the two kings talked for a moment. The good king shook his head in agreement and turned to his wise man.
“Well then, it appears you have not only solved one of my problems but all three. And by not having to focus all of our attention on war, pestilence or famine the bandit king and I have learned something too. That if each of us shares the responsibility of ruling the kingdom in half then we each will have half the work to do. This of course will give us more time to play this delightful game. So on behalf of the bandit king and I, we will grant you one wish as a reward. Anything you ask.”
The wise man thought quietly for a moment and looked very sad. “You majesties, I thank you. My only wish is that I continue doing what I do and not be executed for doing it.”
“You belittle us,” said the bandit king in outrage. “Such a task as stopping war requires a great reward. Ask again.” The good king agreed with the bandit king.
“All right then,” said the wise man and he thought some more. After quite a while the kings started to become impatient. Finally the wise man responded.
“For my reward I wish you to imagine giving me a grain of rice on the first square of the game board. On the second square two grains of rice with the quantity of rice being doubled each square there after.”
“That is all you want?” said the good king incredulously. “But there are only 64 squares. This is nothing, this is no fitting reward.”
“I believe it is your majesty a bigger reward than you suspect or that either of you can provide.”
Rebuked the two kings tallied the requested results for each square.
One grain of rice
Two grains of rice
Four grains of rice
Eight grains of rice
16 grains of rice
32 grains of rice
64 grains of rice
128 grains of rice = 1 tablespoon of rice
On the 16th square there were 128 tablespoons of rice = one big bowl of rice, which would be a hefty meal back then.
The 24th square yielded 128 bowls = one sack of rice.
The 32nd square was 128 sacks = one wagon load, so now the two kings had to fork up a wagon and some horses to haul the rice away. This one square would provide the wise man with enough inventory to become a merchant.
On the 40th square the kings had to make a ship so that the 128 wagon loads could be transported. The wise man would now be considered a Captain.
On the 48th square the kings figured they would have to give the wise man a fleet of ships making him effectively an admiral.
On the 56th square they would have to give him all the rice in China. Thus making the wise man equal to the emperor and on the 64th square?
On the 64th square it is all the rice in the world harvested in modern times for the next 20 years. Or for you accountant types this equals 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 grains of rice.
The bandit king looked at the good king. The good king put his hand to his mouth and quietly asked the bandit king, “What should we do?”
“I think we will have to kill him,” said the bandit king, “if we give what he asks, it would starve everyone on the planet.”
Overhearing, the wise man responded, “I do not wish for the rice, your majesties. Only that you imagine and consider the number of it, for when I help a peasant with their problem, it is like a single grain of rice. If I do not take care of those individual problems then very quickly they add up until they become a problem that not even kings can deal with. I only wished to show you that when I was taking care of the problem of the pig and the two peasants it was because I was doing the king’s work.”Pittock: the Voice of PortlandAlexander Fontana
November 23, 2012
Family Recipe – Secrets of the Great Pumpkin
Just a few change ups on this one. The recipe calls for 2 cups (16 oz.) pumpkin, but cans dish it out at 15 ounces. Not that we were trying to be microscopically precise when following the recipe. Undaunted, we elected … Continue reading →
November 11, 2012
Veteran’s Day – Dog Tags
Today we honor our veterans and a very special group of roughly 700 military personal that are on active duty, that may never be allowed to come home. Not because they have been or will be lost in action, but … Continue reading →
November 8, 2012
Something Different, Authentic Spanish Cooking for November
The Food of Spain by Claudia Roden I gave the book a : 3 of 5 stars because of the extensive history at its forefront, rather than getting to the nitty gritty of the recipes. But this is a very good … Continue reading →
