You know things are serious when the tragic events happening in the real world intrude on the chess world. When I saw the article on Chessbase,
Japan: is the big one coming? (), I realized that just as reality invaded
Castalia in my favorite novel,
The Glass Bead Game: (Magister Ludi) A Novel by Hermann Hesse, the world of Caïssa is, unfortunately, just a very small part of a larger Reality. The fact that there is a link to what my roomate calls one of my 'wingnut' websites, is astounding! I never thought I would see a link to a website like www.earthfiles.com on any chess website!
The other night Major Ed Dames, a Remote Viewer Extraordinaire (www.remoteviewing.com) was on Coast to Coast AM and predicted the next 'Big One' would hit St Louis, with many thousands of deaths http://www.coasttocoastam.com/photo/view/the_next_big_one/50881. That could possibly be a death blow to USCF, since the St Louis Chess Club and Scholastic Center would be in the cross-hairs. It is not just a showpiece for USCF, but has become the center of what is left of adult chess in the US.