"What other subjects? All I recall from Richard is: the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; the Mensa Metro District Scheme; the Mensa Metro
District Scheme; snip,snip,snip the Mensa Metro District Scheme; related
claims that parts of Florida are "chess
dead"; and Crossville/southern hick type jokes. If there was something else,
I missed it" (KidDon)
==============
KidDon, you missed the one about the fantastic cancer fighting results
obtained by Dr. Francis Markland of the University of Southern California's
Keck School of Medicine in his experiments with the venom from the southern
copperhead. Search using "Markland Copperhead" and the related sites will
appear.
You also missed the one on how one can obtain deep, deep discounts on lab
work by joining LabOne for $10 per year.
Those were OT, of course, but chuck full of interesting and useful stuff
from old Haasie.
By the way... if the Tampa Bay Metro District got a $4000 check from Chess
HQ, would you send it back? Maybe you'd just send it to Memphis and let them
use Tampa's money over there, huh? (RSHaas)

On Tue, 29 Jul 2003 09:36:55 -0400, "Tim Hanke"
wrote:

This is one reason the Metro District idea, applied to chess in this
country, is utterly mad.


I am glad you say that, especially since, just a few days ago, Mr.
Haas stated that you were the first member of the board who understood
his Metro Districts idea.

Sam Sloan

(Sam Sloan) writes:

This is one reason the Metro District idea, applied to chess in this
country, is utterly mad.

I am glad you say that, especially since, just a few days ago, Mr.
Haas stated that you were the first member of the board who understood
his Metro Districts idea.

Personally, I think the above comment by Tim illustrates that he understands
Metro Districts perfectly well.
--
Mike Nolan

"Michael Ferguson" wrote ...

Why do we
need this "upgrade" so desperately, when the current system obviously
works well enough?

You are making a wrong asumption. In fact, the current sstem does *not* work
well enough. It is extremely inefficient and is costing USCF a ton of money
in staff time and lost opportunities to earn money.

This looks like another Game Parlor disaster in the
making; why don't we just save the money while we have it, instead of
dumping it into another sink hole?

(1) Because we *aren't* saving money; we're losing money due to our current
inefficiency.

(2) The Games Parlor deals have cost us money; the computer upgrade, if done
right this time, should make us money because it will help make our Books &
Equipment business profitable and make every other part of the operation
more efficient. From what I've heard, USCF HQ is running Windows 95 on old
hardware--not a good situation.

Tim Hanke

Tim suggests each USCF biz activity should be made profitable. Let's follow
Tim. What should Chess HQ do with all that money once Tim has shown the way to
profitability? What scheme would make the overall USCF membership experience
much more attractive than it is now? Tim wants all that soon-to-be-found
profit to be concentrated in one place so as to be more effective. What is
"more effective" in that case? (RSHaas)

From what I've heard, USCF HQ is running Windows 95 on old
hardware--not a good situation.
Tim Hanke

Windows 95 eh?
I wonder who is supporting that these days?
Compared to dos dbase we should be comparatively happy:-)

Rp

"Tim Hanke" writes:
From what I've heard, USCF HQ is running Windows 95 on old
hardware--not a good situation.

What's wrong with it, as long as those machines aren't on the internet?

Tim Hanke wrote:

(2) The Games Parlor deals have cost us money; the computer upgrade, if
done right this time, should make us money because it will help make our
Books & Equipment business profitable and make every other part of the
operation more efficient. From what I've heard, USCF HQ is running Windows
95 on old hardware--not a good situation.

Tim,

How in the world do you know that this "computer upgrade" will make anything
more efficient? How can you be sure that the software will be
well-engineered? What is your plan? Is ANYONE on the EB even qualified to
make technical decisions? Does anyone have a degree in Software Engineering
or Computer Science? MIS?

Given the track record of bad decisions, corruptness, and stupidity, the EB
is clearly much more likely to squander the money on something foolhardy
than it is to invest it correctly. You have no plan, no knowledge of the
field, no experience, and you are surrounded by idiots. Is it clear now why
I think this is a doomed venture?

--
Michael C. Ferguson

mcf@lucia mcf $ man life
No manual entry for life

"Michael Ferguson" wrote ...

Tim,

How in the world do you know that this "computer upgrade" will make
anything
more efficient? How can you be sure that the software will be
well-engineered? What is your plan? Is ANYONE on the EB even qualified to
make technical decisions? Does anyone have a degree in Software
Engineering
or Computer Science? MIS?

Given the track record of bad decisions, corruptness, and stupidity, the
EB
is clearly much more likely to squander the money on something foolhardy
than it is to invest it correctly. You have no plan, no knowledge of the
field, no experience, and you are surrounded by idiots. Is it clear now
why
I think this is a doomed venture?

Wow, what a comprehensively damning statement! You are truly the master of
subtlety, and a worthy member of this forum. :-)

I'm not offering any guarantees of anything. Let me just say, I believe it
is the job of the Executive Board to set policy, but not necessarily to have
the technical expertise to carry out the policy (e.g., designing new
computer systems).

Rather, the Board is supposed to put staff in place who are suited to their
roles, and help get staff the resources they need to accomplish their
respective missions.

I think we have a competent Executive Director in Frank Niro, whose
background as a CPA includes experience designing workflow systems. He's not
perfect, but who is? It's Frank's job--in cooperation with the Board--to
seek out competent advice, and hire staff or consultants who are qualified
to implement whatever plan is adopted, within the organization's financial
constraints.

Tim Hanke

snip "What is your plan?" snip (mcf)
=============
Hey... that's Kevin Bachler's line. (RSHaas)