Sharia tribunals for Ontario

The announcement (here and here) that the Province of Ontario is considering a recommendation to introduce Sharia tribunals to resolve disputes such as divorce within Muslim families is alarming women's rights groups and dissident groups from hard-line Muslim countries. The Sharia tribunals, if instituted, would operate in a regulated environment along side the provinces existing Roman Catholic and Jewish tribunals. A Toronto Star editorial carries the following quote,

"The Muslim women who are leading today's protests have nothing to fear themselves because they would never agree to submit disputes to a religious tribunal. Still, they are demonstrating on behalf of other Muslim women who may not understand their rights under our laws. They argue such women may be coerced by their families and communities into agreeing to a process that may treat them unfairly."

Go player disses Sudoku

Outrage and furor abound at Rob van Zeijst's recent Daily Yumiuri Online "Magic of Go" column which denigrates the popular Sudoku game that now litters many English language daily newspapers.

"Su Doku, a game with a Japanese-sounding name but invented in New York, has become very popular. The idea of the game is to fill in nine 3x3 grids with numbers 1 through 9 so that each horizontal and vertical row, each individual 3x3 grid, contains the digits 1 to 9. Some numbers have already been provided, and the player must use logic and the process of elimination to solve the puzzle. It is interesting, but its major drawback is that there is always a solution. You may think this strange, but it is limiting in that it does not draw on the imagination."

Come on Rob, many go players love Sudoku!

The state of Go at UC Berkeley

The Daily Californian Online has a nice column on the growing popularity of go in Berkeley.

"The club, which today has members ranging from age nine to age 80, originated at UC Berkeley in 1960 through students who played Go in their free time. As the club attracted experienced players —and as an increasing amount of Go literature was published in English —the club moved off campus in the 70s, changing locations several times before settling at the BART station in 1999."