quo regenda

before we got the internet installed we bought a set of checkers to pass the evenings. i slept until 11:30 this morning. while i was sleeping, when it must have still been dark, i received a message:
"we've been doing it wrong all along. it says you can lose if you can't move. we were doing it wrong. it also says you have to jump."
because it became chilly and windy today, (if it wasn't so rainy i would metaphor the weather as gouleyant), i thought how certain vegetables are most available in certain seasons, (also because i ate mint, to tia, dep ca, ngo and lettuce--things which i didn't imagine i'd find so cheaply and plentifully--for breakfast) i bought parsnips and turnips to try my hand at eating winter produce. but i didn't know what a parsnip was. it is a relative of poison hemlock. i learned that and other facts about parsnips, and decided that i could learn even more facts about even more subjects, viz.

ENGLISH DRAUGHTS

the rules are written so as to leave no doubts as to how to play, preventing any possible arguments between two players both familiar with the rules. here is one argument that never happened because of the rules.


i accidentally moved an uncrowned man backwards. according to rule 19.4, this is a FALSE, IMPROPER, or ILLEGAL move, which i had to reacall, and for which I was cautioned. on my second such FALSE, IMPROPER, or ILLEGAL move, i would forfeit the match.

my opponent later touched a piece that she ultimately did not want to move. but rule 17 instills the precept pièce touchée, pièce jouée. could she simply move another piece and receive her first caution for having violated rule 17? no, caution, according to rule 19, is only doled out to players having made a FALSE, IMPROPER, or ILLEGAL move. a player can make a FALSE, IMPROPER, or ILLEGAL move, but cannot violate any rule and continue playing, since rule 21 states clearly that a player refusing to adhere to the rules forfeits the game.

that is what rules are for. so there can be no arguments.