Deep in time, in the unimaginably diverse Tropical Rainforests that covered the world, a world bursting with life in the wake of the extinction of the Dinosaurs, strange creatures were evolving almost beyond belief.  One of these was Coryphodon.
     Built like a hippo or hornless rhino with short, strong legs and a wide body, eating leaves and weighing perhaps half a ton at seven and a half feet long, she was one of the first giant mammals, though not the first, in an era where large mammals were emerging from an immense diversity of Rainforest creatures.
     Giant snakes and especially crocodiles thrived.
     According to Wikipedia, Coryphodon was slow, with little in the way of defenses since most known predators seem to have been significantly smaller.

     Was it really?
          I wonder.

     Certainly there were crocodiles, and I would imagine some got fairly big, since elsewhere in the world lived the largest snake ever, Titanaboa, to the south in South America.

     Looking at the skeleton pictured in Wikipedia, Coryphodon had short, fairly strong, fairly widely spaced legs, a solid, strong head and a strong neck- I imagine it would have been very hard for a crocodile to drag into the water.

     Might she be adapted to resisting attack from crocodiles?

     A fantastic animal from a fantastic era- the Paleocene/Eocene, all thirty million years of it, and just starting to blossom when Coryphodon came along.  What a world we live in!

          David S. Annderson

For more, visit my main page at sites.google.com/sites/davidannfreestories, or just search "Davidannfreestories", all one word.

a chess mystery: anyone have an answer?

     Although I am very bad at it, I am interested in the game of chess- but great stories even more.  Chess history is filled with great stories, interesting characters, drama, great creativity, and mystery.  It is in search of an answer to a mystery that I am writing this entry.  My favorite chess book is called The Best In Chess, edited by the great chess writer I. A. Horowitz, since it is filled with great chess-themed stories, including some of the best fiction, humor and suspense I have ever read..  One of them, a nonfiction story called Visiting Fireman, features a mysterious chessplayer at a 1953 Paris chess club.
     His feat against a strong opponent seems comparable to a Bobby Fisher or Garry Kasparov.
     I wonder if it could have been Botvinnik??  Mikhail Botvinnik was world chess champion, but his performance in two tournaments in '51 and '52 were dissappointing.  He had spent '48 through '51 working on his Ph.D. in electronics.  The Soviet chess championship, featuring most of the best in the world (they love chess in Russia!!!), the chess olympiad and the defense of his championship were coming up, and he would have been looking to improve his game.  Knowing there was a great grandmaster in town, he must have sought out that chess club in Paris- apparently THE place to go as the legendary Cafe de la Regence was being renovated.  He would have been in disguise so the Soviet authorities didn't know he was there.  The tournament to determine the challenger was held in nearby Zurich, Switzerland, and Botvinnik may have been allowed to go to observe his future opponent.  Or there may have been another occasion.
          Is it possible Botvinnik could have been in Paris in 1953?
          This seems the best explination for this true story.
          Please comment if you have a clue.
          Sincerely,
               David S. Annderson

        Awww, cute... a bear that's gonna eat me!

     Just an observation, but isn't it odd that bears can be so cute and yet they can eat you?  Though from what I hear, they prefer to just chase us up a tree!

     Not that it would be so bad to be eaten, if I were eaten by someone nice... not a bad way to go- so I would still take a chance to see a cute, man-eating bear!
     It would be the experience of a lifetime!

     And if I was yummy, oh well- they're just puppy-dogs as big as a car, right?

     As long as YOU don't get eaten!

     just a few thoughts.

          David S. Annderson

For more from me, go to my main website at sites.google.com/sites/davidannfreestories, or just google "davidannfreestories", all one word.

     Have fun!