“Like a raging inferno of Norwegian cheese, Carlsen has held the world in rapt attention since his arrival on the scene.”
That’s the opening line of a profile of the young Norwegian Grand Master Magnus Carlsen, who just qualified to face World Champion Vishwanathan Anand for the Chess championship of the world.
I have no idea what a raging inferno of Norwegian cheese is.
Ambiance 
karen said,
April 5, 2013 at 8:31 am
Me neither, but just to hear your ~voice~ makes me want to admit it.
i miss this place w/out new thoughts &(old)voices. Tells u what my life is like.
Now that i text, my keyboard nuances are changing and i find i am at a loss for the right keys to please.
Icepick said,
April 5, 2013 at 9:42 am
The world seems tired and on edge at the moment. People are retreating into themselves, or speaking and acting frenetically.
Personally I keep hoping for more music posts from Tim.
Icepick said,
April 5, 2013 at 9:43 am
And glad to hear you enjoyed your Easter, Karen.
mockturtle said,
April 5, 2013 at 10:57 am
Maybe it’s what happens in one’s digestive tract after eating it?
karen said,
April 5, 2013 at 11:07 am
Thanks, ice.
Here’s hoping TT will comply w/~hinthints~ :0} !
karen said,
April 5, 2013 at 12:20 pm
I was going to say: schednfreude…
Related searches for correct spelling of schadenfreude…
“Schadenfreude – Definition and More from the Free Merriam …
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/”
Duh. Still can’t spell that word, and when i saw the definition i realized it doesn’t even mean what i thought it meant. I thought it meant shell-shocked, numbed by the over-exposure of. Not enjoyment of others’ troubles.
Icepick said,
April 5, 2013 at 1:53 pm
Maybe it’s what happens in one’s digestive tract after eating it?
I forgot to add that I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know. Especially now! ;)
Icepick said,
April 5, 2013 at 6:58 pm
My wife adds, “Whatever else it is, it implies that he smells bad.”
karen said,
April 5, 2013 at 8:24 pm
EeewwWwww.
wj said,
April 6, 2013 at 12:43 pm
Whoever wrote that line, Carlsen should replace him. Fast!
Bad enough to suggest that anything to do with chess (which I quite enjoy, actually) is a “raging inferno”. But an inferno of Norwegian cheese???
Timothy Burnett said,
April 6, 2013 at 2:33 pm
Thanks, Icepick and karen! Nice of you to think of me. This is a fun post. I’ll try to think of something good for a follow-on.
Donna B. said,
April 6, 2013 at 8:57 pm
I have obviously been messing around on Facebook too long because all I want to do is like the original post and every comment. Or maybe I just really like y’all.
karen said,
April 7, 2013 at 9:04 pm
:0) <3 back @'cha!!
i don"t do facebook- as much as i reveal here, can you imagine??
My 2older kids do, though. Sometimes i creep on them and their friends- my daughter gave me her password.
amba12 said,
April 8, 2013 at 9:23 am
Maybe he just misspelled “a raging inferno of Norwegian chess”??
amba12 said,
April 8, 2013 at 9:24 am
Donna: I know what you mean. My “like” trigger finger itches in inappropriate and futile situations. It makes me feel so . . . trained.
amba12 said,
April 8, 2013 at 9:25 am
Karen: did I tell you lately that I love you?
mockturtle said,
April 8, 2013 at 9:56 am
Maybe he just misspelled “a raging inferno of Norwegian chess”?? That had occurred to me, as well.
mockturtle said,
April 8, 2013 at 9:59 am
But I’d also have to agree with WJ that ‘raging inferno’ and ‘chess’ do not belong in the same sentence.
amba12 said,
April 8, 2013 at 11:06 am
I’ve met Ice and Karen. Donna, you’re next. And Tim and wj. And Ron and Mockturtle, I only add them last because for various reasons I feel as if I’ve met them already.
Icepick said,
April 8, 2013 at 11:44 am
Somehow it never occurred to me that it was supposed to be “chess”.
And I would disagree, as a chess player, that raging inferno and chess shouldn’t be mentioned in the same sentence. There have been raging infernos of HATE in chess, for one thing. The Korchnoi-Petrosian candidates match back in 1977 ultimately required that a board be placed under the table to keep the players from kicking each other. Petrosian’s wife had publicly slapped players in the face when she thought they underperformed or otherwise failed her husband in some way. Pretty much everything involving Korchnoi involved massive amounts of hate – they didn’t call him Korch the Torch because of his pleasant personality. And then there was Botvinnik. And then there was Fischer. And then there was Alekhine.
Stylistically, a few players could be thought of raging infernos at the board: Tal, Vitolins, Nezhmetdinov, Shirov. (Shirov’s two best games/autobiographies are both very popular, and the name says it all: Fire on Board.) Kasparov managed the trick of being volcanic at the board and away from it. (Alekhine was the same way, though more poisonously somehow.)
But Carlsen? He’s got the typically low-key, slightly morose personality of Scandanavian away from the board, and his chess is more like a python than a volcano. He does have a certain arrogance during press conferences, but then he is the best (tournament) player in the world right now.
So I’m still stuck one the raging inferno of cheese.
wj said,
April 8, 2013 at 11:55 am
Amba, let me know if you’re ever in Northern California and we’ll set something up. Looking forward to it!
mockturtle said,
April 8, 2013 at 12:05 pm
And, if northern CA, Amba, you may as well come on up to WA! You still owe me a coke. ;-)
Ice, thank you for illuminating the dynamics of chess. While I know how to play, I’m a pretty poor chess player. Probably due to a distinct lack of inferno, raging or otherwise.
karen said,
April 9, 2013 at 8:03 am
To add another quirk of mine- appearing tears when touched by something wonderful.
Thank you, amba.
amba12 said,
April 9, 2013 at 8:37 am
The other thing I think of in regard to a raging inferno of cheese is that there had better be a big piece of toast under it.
amba12 said,
April 9, 2013 at 8:37 am
Karen, when are you going to start posting here?
amba12 said,
April 9, 2013 at 8:37 am
We need to hear about the cows.
karen said,
April 9, 2013 at 8:50 am
Ok- i think i have some cow stuff to share.
i just don’t know HOW- can i send it to you 1st and you add it?
Donna B. said,
April 10, 2013 at 3:27 am
I’m next!!! YAY!!. How about late summer in northern California… say near Danville. If all goes as planned, my husband and I are driving out there to visit grandchildren. I don’t think that’s far from wj and surely something with mockturtle can be arranged.
That’s a big “If” up there for me, but we really need to make that trip.
Donna B. said,
April 10, 2013 at 3:28 am
Yes, Karen. We need to hear more about cows.
wj said,
April 10, 2013 at 7:53 pm
Actually, Donna, I’m in Danville. (I’m that rarest of Californians; I’m living in the town I grew up in! Although back then it was just a little farm town, just starting to think about becoming a suburb. Population about 2000 vs 35000+ today.)
Donna B. said,
April 11, 2013 at 6:30 pm
Well then! If I can convince my husband that he really will survive 6 days in the car with me and 2 or 3 weeks away from home, we’ll certainly have to work on a “meetup”. Right now he’s whining (literally) about a 9 hour drive to Alabama this weekend.