I'm way overdue posting this. Apologies to Geoff.

The world's an imperfect place. You do the best you can. And I think if you take too romanticized a view of the world, you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

But I also believe that, if they're persistent and flexible and willing to work, most people can find their niche: a place where they can do more and be more; and in doing more and being more, be more satisfied with life.

Not everyone has the energy or desire to persist. Not everyone has the flexibility: family or other obligations may be more important than finding that niche. I understand. It's important that you do what you think is right. (For those who aren't willing to work to find their niche, though, I have no sympathy.)

But sometimes, you really find that niche. And this summer, my fellow Duelist Geoff Nostrant reminded me of that.

Geoff has had a rough life, with a lot of ups and downs — and for much of the time I've known him, there were more downs than ups. I know only little bits of his story, and it's not my story to tell. But it always seemed like Geoff was getting knocked down; and though I admired him for getting back up, he never signed up to be a life lesson for the rest of us. And from what little I could see, his troubles weren't self-inflicted, for the most part. Oh, he made his naive, youthful mistakes now and then, and had to deal with them, just like the rest of us. But it seemed like a lot of people who had say in his life were big disappointments.

But there was one way in which I thought Geoff contributed to his own problems: he's a nomad. He doesn't like to tie himself to any place. And to me, Mr. Stability, that seemed like a mistake. Well, we'll see...

Oh, and I should add: what I've admired most about Geoff is his impressive musical talent and skill. And I mean that: talent and skill. He's good, but he works hard to be better. (Personally, I love his classical guitar work, because that's one of my favorite styles; but he leans more toward the electronica.) But even the music seemed to let him down: though he and some friends self-released a couple of fine albums, those were just two in a sea of indie albums. They had their fans, but the music never went as far as they dreamed.

Well, a few years back, Geoff left us on his biggest wanderjahr yet: he got an opportunity to travel to South Korea to teach English. I never knew how he got this opportunity. I understood the appeal: young and free, with an affinity for Asian ladies, and without much keeping him in Michigan. But we worried that he might be going too far away, and get lost.

How wrong we were. Geoff has been back a couple of times, usually for bad family news; but he has also made time for his Duelist friends. And what we've learned is: Geoff has found his niche.

First, he went looking for a job for some spare income. I don't know how it happened, but he got hooked up with Korean TV production. There's a Korean show called "Surprise!" It's a dramatic crime recreation show; and they had a need for someone to play American "heavies". Well, Geoff can do that: although he's a pleasant enough looking fellow, he can furrow his brows, glare, and look kinda menacing. He's also tall, and fit. So he fit the part. And apparently, Korean TV shows don't mind reusing actors (kinda like the same guest stars kept reappearing in different roles way back when on All in the Family).

So next thing you know, Geoff's a Korean TV star. Oh, not a top name, because (like most cultures) their biggest stars are natives; but he has a following. It's hard for his American friends to see; but in Korea, he's foreign and exotic. He's kinda cool, even, especially with all that hair.

And then on top of that, his star status makes him a popular teacher. And also popular with those Asian ladies he likes so much.

And as music technology gets better and cheaper, he can do more and more of his own production. And so he's very popular on the download scene. You can find some of his music here. I know there's a lot more out there, because I downloaded it; but my apologies, I can't figure out how to find it right now. It's well worth looking for. His work is more polished now, and a lot more mature. Check it out. Just don't offer to pay him for it. His music is his art and his release, and he never wants it to become his job.

And one more thing: he's still adrift. Only now I'm recognizing that for him, that's a good thing. I can't share his view, but I see now how important that is to him. He tried to explain how he's never satisfied tying himself to a place, to roots. That's just about the antithesis of my ideal life. But I think I caught a glimpse of what makes Geoff tick, in a quote I found in Volume 5 of The Books of Magic from DC:

"Everywhere...

"You can WANT everywhere, but you can't have it. You have to choose.

"It wasn't EASY, choosing. I should never have asked Kenny which places HE liked best.

"No, I take that back. I wouldn't have missed the stuff he said for anything. I've never HEARD anyone talk about places the way he did. Like they were PEOPLE. People he LOVED.

"Now I know why he never stops moving. It doesn't matter how much he likes where he is. Wherever he is, he's still always missing somewhere else."

And so by traveling half way around the world, Geoff has found a new somewhere else. That's his niche: somewhere else. If he found his niche, that gives me hope that more people can do it.

Duelist IX results here. Pictures here.

I think I'm close to recovered...

I won't have time to post again between now and the Duelist, so here's how things stand: 27 fencers pre-registered.

Fencers will be arriving from:

• The Ann Arbor Dueling Society 4


• The Ann Arbor Sword Club 1


• Underground Fencing Organization 4


• Renaissance Fencing Club 5


• University of Michigan Fencing 2


• West Michigan Fencing Academy 3


• Ohio Northern University Fencing 1


• Fencing Alliance of Saginaw 2


• Great Lakes Sword Club 1


• Michigan foil club (can't find a link) 2


• Unattached 2

And fencers have signed up as follows:

• Mixed Foil. 11 (A:2, C:4, D:3, U:2).


• Mixed Sabre. 10 (D:2, E:5, U:3).


• Mixed Epee. 14 (A:2, B:2, C:2, D:2, E:1, U:4).

Thank you for pre-registering, one and all! We'll see you at the Y!

As in 20 fencers pre-registered for the Ann Arbor Duelist IX.



Fencers will be arriving from:

• The Ann Arbor Dueling Society 3


• The Ann Arbor Sword Club 1


• Underground Fencing Organization 4


• Renaissance Fencing Club 3


• University of Michigan Fencing 1


• West Michigan Fencing Academy 3


• Ohio Northern University Fencing 1


• Fencing Alliance of Saginaw 2


• Great Lakes Sword Club 1


• Unattached 1

And fencers have signed up as follows:

• Mixed Foil. 9 (C:4, D:3, U:2).


• Mixed Sabre. 9 (D:2, E:5, U:2).


• Mixed Epee. 10 (A:2, B:2, C:1, D:2, E:1, U:2).

Wow! What a line-up! Yet we know that's fewer than half the clubs in the Division, and far fewer than half the fencers who will attend. So to the rest of you we politely ask: what are you waiting for?

...11 registered for the Duelist IX, that is:

Mixed Foil. 6 (C:4, D:2).

Mixed Sabre. 6 (D:1, E:4, U:1).

Mixed Epee. 4 (B:1, C:1, D:2).

And for the rest of you: what are you waiting for?

UPDATE: Oops! We had a bug in the latest version of the Web site (since fixed, thanks to the kind assistance of Mr. Sikora of RFC and Mr. Evangelisti of Fencing Alliance of Saginaw), so three fencers had to be registered manually. That puts us up to fourteen:

Mixed Foil. 8 (C:4, D:2, U:2).

Mixed Sabre. 8 (D:2, E:4, U:2).

Mixed Epee. 5 (B:1, C:1, D:2, E:1).

My target for on-line registrations was 15. So just one more person (and you know who you are) could make this project a success. What are you waiting for?

For the Ann Arbor Duelist IX:

Mixed Foil. 6 (C:4, D:2)

Mixed Sabre. 5 (D:1, E:3, U:1)

Mixed Epee. 3 (B:1, D:2)

And a certain club is finally represented. Thanks, guys!

And for the rest of you: what are you waiting for?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Pre-register now for The Ann Arbor Duelist IX and save $3 per weapon

Tournament to be held August 26, 2006
Foil registration closes 8:00 a.m.
Sabre registration closes 11:30 a.m.
Epee registration closes 1:00 p.m.
Tournament fee is $15 per weapon on the tournament date, $12 per weapon if pre-registering.

Information at: http://www.AADuelist.org

---

The Ann Arbor Dueling Society (AADS) announces the 9th Annual Ann Arbor Duelist fencing tournament (Duelist IX), to be held again this year at the new Ann Arbor YMCA, 400 W. Washington Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48103. All Ages Mixed Foil registration closes at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, and fencing begins at 8:15 a.m. All Ages Mixed Sabre registration closes at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, and fencing begins at 11:45 a.m. All Ages Mixed Epee registration closes at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, and fencing begins at 1:15 p.m. The tournament is open to all fencers who are members in good standing of the United States Fencing Association (USFA). (Membership forms will be accepted at the registration table.) Visitors are welcome. Complete information on the tournament may be found at the tournament site.

In our continuing efforts to run a pleasant and efficient tournament, this year we have added a measure to reduce lines at the registration table: an on-line pre-registration system. We encourage fencers to use this service to pre-register and help us get you fencing sooner. Fencers may sign up for events on-line, and then may either pay on-line (secure payment system offered through PayPal, the world leader in on-line payment systems) or elect to pay at the door, but with all their information already in the tournament table. Fencers may also fill out an on-line USFA application, which we will then print out and have ready for them to add payment information and to sign. Fencers can cancel their pre-registration at any time up to the tournament itself; and we will automatically refund payments to any fencers who pay in advance but who then can’t attend the tournament for whatever reason. We’ve taken every effort to ensure that there’s no risk in pre-registering nor in pre-paying.

We hope that this on-line pre-registration system will lead to our fastest, most efficient registration process ever; and it will also help us to judge in advance how large the tournament will be and what sort of rated event it might be. But those benefits will only happen if a large number of fencers take advatage of it. Toward that end, tournament chair Terry Krueger has announced a discount of $3 per weapon for anyone who pre-registers on-line before midnight, August 25. We appreciate all help in this regard.

The Ann Arbor Dueling Society is a member of the Michigan Division of the USFA. Details on the AADS may be found at their new Web site at http://www.AADuelist.org/Club.

---

If you would like to help us promote this tournament, you can download a color PDF of the flyer here. A black-and-white PDF is here.

Well, actually, not very hard at all. Seven people have found it amazingly easy to pre-register for Duelist IX. So what are you waiting for?

Mixed Foil: 4 (3 C, 1 D)

Mixed Sabre: 4 (1 D, 3 E)

Mixed Epee: 1 (1 B)

This opens August 25th.

This opens August 26th.

Coincidence? I think not!

(And yes, this is just an excuse to remind you: why haven't you registered yet?)

This opens August 25th.

This opens August 26th.

Coincidence? I think not!

(And yes, this is just an excuse to remind you: why haven't you registered yet?)

...preregistered for Duelist IX.

To those five gracious and honorable fencers, I say again: thank you!

And to the rest of you, I politely ask: what are you waiting for?

UPDATE: Make that six. Let's see...

Two from the Underground Fencing Organization...

Two from the Renaissance Fencing Club...

One from the University of Michigan Fencing Club...

One from the West Michigan Fencing Academy...

And yet some club is strangely unrepresented yet...

ANOTHER UPDATE:

To further entice you to pre-register, here are the current slates for each weapon:

Mixed Foil. 3 fencing: 2 C, 1 D.

Mixed Sabre. 4 fencing: 1 D, 3 E.

Mixed Epee. 1 fencing: 1 B.

Never would've guessed that. Epee is usually our largest event (narrowly beating out foil), yet there's only one pre-registered so far.

And sabre? We usually have to scramble to get one good sabre pool; and yet we're practically there already.

Four preregistered for Duelist IX, that is!

To those four gracious and honorable fencers, I say: thank you!

And to the rest of you, I politely ask: what are you waiting for?

"We got one!"

OK, OK, many of you won't recognize the Annie Potts reference. I'll admit: I didn't recognize her in the film myself until somebody pointed her out to me. (To be fair to myself, that was nine years before Designing Women, so she wasn't exactly a household name at the time.)

But whether you got the reference or not... "We got one!" We have our first on-line pre-registration for the Duelist IX. I don't have permission to share her name here, but I'm extremely grateful to her for breaking the trail. I hope many more fencers follow her lead.

Thanks!

Epee Bill suggests that I have been too modest in describing my role in the success of the Ann Arbor Duelist over the years:

Many of the "new techniques for getting lots better at things we thought were pretty darn good already" he mentions are pure Martin inventions that not only could not have been implemented better by anyone else in the club, but were actually imagined better than anyone else in the club by Martin.
Most clubs have a computer program that will seed pools and set match-ups. But only the AADS has one that also acts as a general ledger system for logging entry fee payments. It print receipts, too! Oh, and since we often have to collect money for people renewing their USFA membership, it handles that accounting as well.

I started to respond to his comment with a comment; but it got long enough and veered off into enough new topics that I felt it deserved a post of its own.

Bill, Bill, Bill... I thought I had you read Fred Brooks. Apparently I have failed in your education.

In Mr. Brooks's famous essay, "No Silver Bullets", he argued that we'll see no more order-of-magnitude improvements in software development performance. He later concluded he may have been too pessimistic; but the core of his argument is sound.

That core rests on the difference between essence and accident. The essence of a problem is that part of the problem that must be solved no matter what, because without the essence there is no problem. The accident of a problem is that part that only needs to be solved because of current circumstances, and would not be a problem under other circumstances.

Here's a quick example of essence vs. accident in my own past work. At one time, we needed a 3D histogram of colors in an image. In other words, how many pixels of black, how many pixels of white, how many pixels of a slightly off-white, and so on, and so on. Our color space had over 16 million possible colors; and the number of possible pixels was 200,000, which means you need four bytes to store a count. And that meant we needed 64 megabytes to store the histogram.

OK, try that again. This was 1990. We needed 64 megabytes to store the histogram! In 1990, nobody had 64 MB. That would've cost around $30,000. It simply couldn't be done.

So I had to devise ways to reduce the problem. In any given image, there were only 200,000 pixels; so even if every single pixel was a unique color from every other one, we only needed to count 200,000 possible colors, not 16 million. If we only knew which colors... Or we could lump really close colors together. Actually, I came up with a number of really clever but difficult to maintain techniques for reducing this problem.

But today, I carry 64 MB in my pocket, and often forget I have it. It's a USB drive that Microsoft gave away as a promotion for Tablet PC development. Today, I could solve the whole problem with these lines of code:

int[,,] counts = new int[256, 256, 256];
for(int y=0; y<img.Height; y++)
{

for(int x=0; x<img.Width; x++)
{

Color c = img.GetPixel(x, y);
counts[c.R, c.G, c.B]++;

}

}

That's it. Nine lines of code (counting curly brace lines) that I wrote in one minute. As opposed to thousands of lines that I spent months writing and fixing. Because "64 MB costs $30,000" was an accident of the circumstances of the time.

But the nine lines above are pure essence for this problem. No matter what else I do, if the problem is "create a histogram of colors in the image", then I have to loop over the pixels in the image, I have to get the color of each pixel, and I have to increment counts. Those are the definition of making a histogram, its essence. Clever ways to trim down the count space are an accident, and I just wouldn't bother on a modern 2 GB machine.

So what does this have to do with Bill's comment? What's the point? Is there a point? Do I ever have a point? (Let's not talk about point control...)

Well, the point is this: while I am proud of our registration spreadsheet (which I should mention is based on an original design from Terry Krueger — I just added the automation), and I will concede that it has drastically sped up our registration and our pool assignment and seeding (when we say fencing begins 15 minutes after close of registration, we mean it!), I contend that registration is largely accident when it comes to a fencing tournament. The essence is getting fencers onto strips and getting bouts fenced.

And the analogy to Mr. Brooks's essay is pretty close here, really. His argument was that early in the software development field, there was a lot of time spent on accident, such as sorting your punch cards when you dropped the deck (everybody dropped a deck at least once), leaving relatively little time for essence; but as time went by and people devised better tools, the time spent on accident was drastically reduced. By reducing accident time, they drastically reduced the overall problem time. And his argument further said that we had reached a point where accident was a minority part of the effort spent on a problem; and that even if you could reduce the remaining accident time to zero, the reduction in the overall problem time would be small.

In a similar fashion, we've made most of the improvements we're able to make in registration. The on-line pre-reg system is a Hail Mary attempt to make one more big cut in the registration time (and at that, it has been live for one whole day, and no one has signed up yet — tsk, tsk); but even if we were to reduce the registration time to zero (hmmm, embedded RFID tags in the fencers' bodies, reading a USFA database that automatically registers them, and then a voice-driven system that asks them what weapons they're fencing and then records the answer — nah, maybe next year), the time on the strip would still take up all of our spare time, and then some. We're right now running roughly five pools of seven. If merely five more people showed up, we could register those five more people in about an extra two minutes; but those five people would push us to pools of eight, increasing the number of pool bouts by fully one-third. Nothing I could do on the registration side could change the fact that that would add around a half-hour to the schedule. Probably an hour, because we would probably see an increase in both foil and epee.

And as proud of I am of the registration system, it's only one area where we've made great strides in reducing the accident aspects. Somebody (I can't say who) has worked hard to get us lots of cooperation and support from the venue. Somebody (I can't say who) has gone out of her way to greet people at the door, guide them to their destination, stamp their hands, etc. (And she will be sorely missed this year. Geez, Bill, did you really need another kid?) Somebody at the Division makes sure we have the strips and equipment well in advance. Somebody wheedles the directors into giving up a summer weekend. Somebody feeds the directors and keeps them happy and focused on the strip. The directors themselves know all sorts of tricks to keep things moving, and are happy to educate us on them. Somebody is on near-constant clean-up duty. Somebody organizes the troops to start tearing down strips as soon as logistically possible. And that last one is particularly telling, I believe: we're a highly disorganized, highly individualistic bunch with a fair amount of contempt for hierarchy and authority; and yet on the day of the Duelist, we act like a disciplined military unit, with everyone knowing their parts and everyone doing their parts and everyone pitching in where needed and everyone working toward the shared goals of happy fencers and a timely tear-down. Nobody panics. Nobody plays prima donna or Napoleon. People who really don't get along all that well pretend for the moment that they're brothers in arms. And it's all so practiced and natural that you won't even notice it happening except in whatever small corner you inhabit. (Good grief, I only learned about the all-essential door greeter and guide last month.)

But as good as we've gotten at all of that, it's mostly accident and little essence. If we could reduce it all to zero time, we would still fill all available time with fencing. That's nothing to complain about, and I'm not complaining. I'm proud of what our tournament has become. But if we grew, say, 20%, we would have to really think about how to meet our schedule.

Whereas if we could come up with one more qualified director and one more strip, it would cut out a half hour each from foil and epee. Two more strips would probably cut an hour each. Since I doubt we'd want to go smaller than pools of five, two more strips would be ideal. And that would do more for the schedule than anything I could do with software.

Of course, we know where that would lead...

...that means I'm the new AADS Webmaster, hosting the new AADS site on the domain that I created for pre-registrations for the tournament. And as it has many times over the years, George's wisdom comes back to me.

This is the last in a series of vaguely related posts.

How did this happen? Well, there are three rumors going around (and I can't imagine who came up with any of them).

---

Oh, she fought well, the Lady Carolyn did. The AADS owes a debt of thanks to their WebMistress for how well she served them over the years, and how bravely she fought at the end.

But the end was never in doubt; for she faced no mere man-of-arms. Nay, she faced a man of great skill, a veritable wizard of the virtual (and yet still, some have said, a man of great humility). And so, despite her protests ("Short answer, it's yours, with my blessing."), he hath wrested away the AADS WebMaster throne, and ensconced it in a new desmesnes: the new realm of http://www.AADuelist.org, now the virtual home of the AADS. The old site now resides there at http://www.AADuelist.org/Club.

And yet the WebMaster throne was but a mere incidental in his larger campaign; for in truth, he crafted this new realm as part of the effort to bring the chaos that is the tournament of tournaments, The Ann Arbor Duelist, into the digital age. And so in consultation with Lord Krueger, Master Emerson, and Lady Carolyn (who did not suspect his perfidy at the time), he has crafted a new virtual registration table, where knights from all the world can join the lists to do battle at The Ann Arbor Duelist. And you too can see this new table and even join the lists at http://www.aaduelist.org/DuelistRegistration.aspx. And Lord Krueger has granted his blessing upon this new table: he has decreed that those who register there shall pay $3 less per weapon that they fence!

So the word must now spread across the land, wheree'er men and women take up arms upon the fencing strip: the Ann Arbor Dueling Society may now be found at http://www.AADuelist.org; and you can pre-register for the Duelist and save $3 per weapon at http://www.aaduelist.org/DuelistRegistration.aspx.

Tell your friends!

(And if you run into any problems, PLEASE tell me!)

---

Carolyn has requested that I take over the Web thingie, since she has a lot on her plate right now. If she would like — or if you would like, for that matter — I can grant FTP rights to the Club folder to whomever you think should be able to edit there. I was in the middle of that when Carolyn clubbed me over the head and said, "It's your problem now, buddy," and then ran cackling into the woods, shouting, "I'm free! I'm free! I'm free!"

(No, I don't expect many people to recognize that reference...)

---

And now, it's mine! All mine! Heheheheheheheheeeeeee...

Hey, wait a minute. This potato's hot. Hot! Bill, Carolyn, somebody take this thing!

Bill?

Carolyn?

Anybody...?

---

But I think the simplest explanation is: I have fallen into the hole that I have dug for myself.

The third in a series of vaguely related posts.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Pre-register now for The Ann Arbor Duelist IX and save $3 per weapon

Tournament to be held August 26, 2006
Foil registration closes 8:00 a.m.
Sabre registration closes 11:30 a.m.
Epee registration closes 1:00 p.m.
Tournament fee is $15 per weapon on the tournament date, $12 per weapon if pre-registering.

Information at: http://www.AADuelist.org

---

The Ann Arbor Dueling Society (AADS) announces the 9th Annual Ann Arbor Duelist fencing tournament (Duelist IX), to be held again this year at the new Ann Arbor YMCA, 400 W. Washington Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48103. All Ages Mixed Foil registration closes at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, and fencing begins at 8:15 a.m. All Ages Mixed Sabre registration closes at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, and fencing begins at 11:45 a.m. All Ages Mixed Epee registration closes at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, and fencing begins at 1:15 p.m. The tournament is open to all fencers who are members in good standing of the United States Fencing Association (USFA). (Membership forms will be accepted at the registration table.) Visitors are welcome. Complete information on the tournament may be found at the tournament site.

In our continuing efforts to run a pleasant and efficient tournament, this year we have added a measure to reduce lines at the registration table: an on-line pre-registration system. We encourage fencers to use this service to pre-register and help us get you fencing sooner. Fencers may sign up for events on-line, and then may either pay on-line (secure payment system offered through PayPal, the world leader in on-line payment systems) or elect to pay at the door, but with all their information already in the tournament table. Fencers may also fill out an on-line USFA application, which we will then print out and have ready for them to add payment information and to sign. Fencers can cancel their pre-registration at any time up to the tournament itself; and we will automatically refund payments to any fencers who pay in advance but who then can’t attend the tournament for whatever reason. We’ve taken every effort to ensure that there’s no risk in pre-registering nor in pre-paying.

We hope that this on-line pre-registration system will lead to our fastest, most efficient registration process ever; and it will also help us to judge in advance how large the tournament will be and what sort of rated event it might be. But those benefits will only happen if a large number of fencers take advatage of it. Toward that end, tournament chair Terry Krueger has announced a discount of $3 per weapon for anyone who pre-registers on-line before midnight, August 25. We appreciate all help in this regard.

The Ann Arbor Dueling Society is a member of the Michigan Division of the USFA. Details on the AADS may be found at their new Web site at http://www.AADuelist.org/Club.

The second in a series of vaguely related posts.

Did you ever read The Princess Bride?

No, no, no... Not this Princess Bride. That's the movie. And like most fencers I know, I've watched it way too many times, and can quote from it extensively. It is, in my opinion, one of Rob Reiner's finest moments. And that's saying an awful lot.

But as much of a cliche as I know this is: the book is better. Mr. Goldman (who also wrote the screenplay) had time to tell how his characters got to the story in the film. They each had stories only hinted at on screen. And the important story for today's purposes was thet of Inigo Montoya. ("Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." See, I told you I could quote from it excessively — I mean, extensively.) In the film, Inigo hunted the six-fingered man who had commissioned his sword-maker father to make a custom sword, but who then refused to pay for it and killed his father.

But in the book, we learn the story that came before the six-fingered sword. It tells of how the elder Montoya was one of if not the finest swordsmen in the land, and his swords came to be prized beyond any others. He had so much work that he couldn't keep up. So he raised his prices to try to drive business away. But buyers decided that such expensive swords must be even more valuable, so the demand increased. Soon he couldn't keep up with his own standards, and he openly said that the quality would suffer; but people didn't care, because only a genuine Montoya would do. And besides, despite his protests, he was too professional to ever let the quality really suffer.

If he hadn't been such a hard worker, he wouldn't have had to work so hard.

Same lesson, different story: Star Trek. The Enterprise crew is exhausted. They haven't had a rest in months. And on their way to some much-needed shore leave, Starfleet throws them another certain death challenge. And McCoy demands, "Why do they keep giving us all the hard jobs?" And Spock answers, "Because we keep succeeding."

No good deed ever goes unpunished. I really believe this is a law of human nature: the more you succeed, the more people expect from you.

Eight years ago, we of the Ann Arbor Dueling Society decided the time had come to finally do what we had been wanting to do for years: host our own tournament. We were complete newbies; but with a lot of help from the Division and a lot of patience and support from the Y, we pulled it off. We were tired and dirty, but we pulled it off. And we learned. And we vowed to do even better the next year.

And we did. In fact, much better. And better still the year after that.

But at the same time, the Y became a little more strict about the clock. There were various, justifiable reasons — cost of maintenance staff, building security needs, etc. — but probably the biggest was that they were saving and budgeting for a new facility. So while we were getting better at running the tournament, we needed to get better just to keep up.

But here's the thing about fencing tournaments (and I would assume other sports as well, but I can't say): people appreciate a well run event. They like it when things go well, and they get more time to fence and spend less time waiting for things to happen. And when they like a tournament, they're more likely to come back the next year — and to tell their friends about it, so they show up, too. So when you get better at running a tournament, more people show up.

And here's the thing about the Duelist: for various reasons, we chose to hold it in late August. That makes it the first tournament of the season; so people who haven't fenced in a tournament all summer are just a little more eager to show up. And also, it's one of the few tournaments during the pre-Labor Day summer season, when people tend to travel a bit more. So that's another pair of reasons why the Duelist has tended to grow.

And then here's another thing about fencing tournaments: when more people show up, more people want to show up. See, fencers (present company excepted) are all obsessed about improving their ratings. It's like horse racers wanting to run at pole position: a better rating helps you in small ways, and also just indicates that you're a better fencer. And the rules for awarding ratings state the you have to place at-and-such a place with so-and-so-many fencers including a minimum number of fencers of a given rating in order for you to advance in rating. So as more people start showing up at a tournament, the chances for a rating go up, enticing more people to show up at the tournament. It's a vicious positive feedback loop. Yes, we're proud of the size of our tournament; but at the same time, it's vicious.

And yet another thing about fencing tournaments: while the sport is still way less popular in the USA than seems right to us (good grief, one evening I caught two hours of competitive hot dog eating on ESPN, but they still won't air fencing tournaments), the popularity is growing. There are just more fencers out there looking for tournaments. (In our own miniscule way, we like to think we're helping that growth.)

Now here's one more thing yet about fencing tournaments: unless you can add fencing strips and directors, adding more people tends to make the tournament take longer according to the square of the number of people. See, initial fencing is divided up into roughly equal pools, where the number of pools is pretty much limited to the number of directors you have. (Michigan has some fine directors, but doesn't have many directors over all.) So if you add more people without adding more directors, you have to make the pools larger. And since the rules for pools are that each person in a pool fences each other person in that pool, well, that's an n-squared growth problem. Actually, its (n-squared + n) / 2 (George could explain why; but because I studied under him, the answer's intuitive to me.) Six people in a pool means 15 pool bouts. Seven people in a pool means 21 pool bouts, so a 16% increase in fencers means a 40% increase in bouts. And eight people in a pool means 28 pool bouts, or nearly double the 15 we started with. Adding people slows you down. A lot.

So while we have been doing everything in our power to get better and better at running a tournament, the very success we achieve makes it harder to run the next one. Every year we have had to learn from our experience last year and do just a little bit better; but since that sort of improvement can only go so far, we have had to invent new techniques for getting lots better at things we thought were pretty darn good already.

And that's the sort of game that can give certain sorts of control freaks (hey, I resemble that remark — and thankfully for the tournament, I'm not alone) a certain thrill as you try to find ways to beat your past performance. But in all modesty, last year's tournament (The Duelist VIII) was run as close to picture perfect as any of us could imagine. In our post mortem review (that's fancy talk for "hanging out in the bar afterwards"), we shared stories from the day; and we learned from each other of a half dozen to a dozen different catastrophes that didn't happen because someone on our very capable and conscientious staff happened to be in the right place at the right time and noticed the problem and had the presence of mind and the experience and the ingenuity to deal with it in the most efficient possible fashion. If we had simply had normal human failings just once, the whole schedule would've collapsed. And we are only human, after all, so we had to count luck as a significant factor in our success last year.

But with all that on our side — ingenuity, experience, willingness, determination, and lots of luck — we barely snuck out the door 30 seconds before the Y's closing time. Literally: they locked the doors behind us. Luck alone is not going to cut it this year.

On the plus side, the Y has lengthened their schedule by one hour this year. That will buy us some breathing room; but if the tournament grows at all, or if one catastrophe goes unaverted, we're at risk of the whole house of cards falling apart.

And yes, to the control freaks among us, that's a sick kind of game: how do we do measurably better than the best we could do last year? It's sad, I know, but we find it fun. We have to do better.

All of which is preamble to my next post...

OK, let me first acknowledge right up front: this project is eminently impractical. For one thing, there’s the price: replacing a paper process with at least four Origamis (plus other support hardware) is just a bit pricey. And for another thing, many of the target end users are just a bit suspicious of and even opposed to technological solutions. They think the paper processes are working just fine, thank you very much. (Though as someone who occasionally has to process their paperwork, let me tell you: it ain’t easy, and often their handwriting and habits complicate my job.)

Still, inspired by Epee Bill, I had this vision. And I really do think it would be a vast improvement over the paper processes, if people would accept it. Just imagine...

Mr. Vesper stands beside the fencing strip. In his hands is an Origami: somewhat heavier than the clipboard he once would have carried, but not much larger. On the Origami screen are the names of two fencers. He calls them: "Up next. Mr. Smith. Mr. Bolakowski." The fencers enter the strip, Smith on the right and Bolakowski on the left, and hook up to their wires. Then they present their weapons to Mr. Vesper. He tests each one, and then with his finger makes two "check" gestures on the Origami to indicate that the weapons passed inspection.

Mr. Vesper returns to the sideline and calls out: "Fencers ready..." The combatants assume their en garde positions. "Fence!" The wireless microphone he wears picks up this command and starts the fencing clock, as the fencers approach each other. (If Mr. Vesper preferred not to wear the mike, he could also start the clock by pressing a button on the Origami.) The fencers engage. Beat, beat, beat, feint, attempted parry, disengage, lunge! The scoring box lights up with one light, and Mr. Vesper calls "Halt!" Ideally, the scoring box automatically stopped the fencing clock; but since most scoring boxes aren’t capable of that, Mr. Vesper can also stop the clock via voice or button. Mr. Vesper calls the action, and then records a touch left by making a downstroke gesture in a box near Mr. Bolakowski’s name. The Origami acknowledges by announcing, "Touch, Bolakowski. Score is 1, 0." Meanwhile, the Origami uses WiFi to update the tournament server; and then the server posts the results live to the tournament’s Web site. One of the tournament workers is also wandering around between the strips, using another Origami to record live video and stream it to the server and from there to the site. Fencers and fans from all over the world can follow the tournament in real time. A tournament monitor near the bout table shows the live results. It has a touch screen (in fact, it’s really a larger Tablet PC device being used as a kiosk) so that spectators and fencers can navigate to different pages and check current standings. (This will, I hope, keep them from coming to the bout table and distracting us from our work by asking, "So if I win my next bout, who will I face after that?" Or "So is this an A tournament?" [Like I know how to answer that.] On the other hand, this system will do so much of my work, so I may have time for questions.)

Mr. Vesper repeats, "Fencers ready... Fence," and the clock and the action start again. Thrust, retreat, thrust, retreat, ballestra-lunge! And the scoring box lights up with one white light. Off target. Mr. Vesper calls the action and records the off target by making a downstroke in a different box (colored white to match the white off-target light). The Origami announces, "Off target, Bolakowski. Score is 1, 0."

"Fencers ready... Fence!" Taking a more aggressive tact, Mr. Bolakowski almost immediately leaps into a fleche. But his timing is off, and he ends up colliding with Mr. Smith. Mr. Vesper calls, "Halt! Red card." And he makes a downstroke in a third box (colored red for penalties). The Origami needs more information, so it pops up a list of possible reasons for the penalty, and Mr. Vesper checks the one that says, "Corps a corps." The Origami announces, "Red card. Bolakowski. Score is 1, 1."

Chastened, Mr. Bolakowski falls back into a more defensive mode. He and Mr. Smith trade thrusts and parries and occasional points back and forth, but the action slows. Eventually, the fencing clock runs out, and the Origami announces, "Time." Mr. Vesper calls halt, and then says, "Victory to Mr. Bolakowski, 4-3." The Origami has already figured this out for itself; but since no result is official until a director confirms it, the Origami presents the results to him. He makes a check gesture, and the official results are sent to the server and the Web. Immediately his Origami screen displays the next bout, and he calls it out: "Fencing, Emerson, Jones." Mr. Jones is not immediately available for some reason, so the Origami begins a countdown clock. If he doesn’t arrive in time, he’ll forfeit.

When the last pool bout of the event is complete, the server immediately produces a seed page and also an elimination table. It also pushes the list of elimination bouts out to the directors’ Origamis. The software on the Origamis knows that these are elimination bouts, so it changes the way it keeps time: elimination bouts run to 15 points, and are stopped every three minutes for a one minute break.

Now again, I know this is impractical, probably for more reasons than I have identified. (Flashing blades and computer equipment may be a bad combination.) And while I do think Microsoft could be interested in unusual showcases for their devices as a way to get publicity, I’m not sure that getting involved with fencing is the way to do it, at least not in America: in a country where competitive hot dog eating is actually broadcast on ESPN, fencing can’t get any air time. But boy, would I love to see it in operation! And I could write practically this whole system by myself, without a whole lot of work; and I could teach a team how to write it in under a week. I just have no confidence I’ll ever persuade anyone to let me. But I can dream...

Of course, there are other sports that could make good showcases. I’m thinking that the American biggies – football, basketball, and baseball – would make poor showcases. The fields of play are too large, and officials are too distant from the action, so no one would ever see the Origamis. So that hints at what would make a good showcase sport: one with a smaller playing field, with probably only a small number of participants (two, or maybe four), and where the officials are fairly close to the action so that the Origami will be in the camera shot quite often.

Tennis, anyone?

UPDATE: Fixed the score, thanks to Epee Bill.

Welcome to semi-live updates of the eighth annual Ann Arbor Duelist tournament!

UPDATED: Final epee results added at the end. Also, we would like to thank the Ann Arbor YMCA and Dance/Fencing coordinator Grace Lehman for providing the venue for this event!

(Tech details: Toshiba Portege M200 Tablet PC. T-Mobile/Sony Ericson GPRS card. Nikon CoolPix 3200.)

Mixed Foil Entrants
Entries
Ann Arbor Dueling Society
Mixed Foil
Ann Arbor Duelist Open VII
8/27/2005

Pools: 4
Fencer's Name
1 Cho, Michael A05 RFC 1
2 Wallrabenstein, Inga A05 RFC 2
3 Hayenga, Gary B04 AADS 3
4 Kosla, Anthony C05 AADS 4
5 Murphy, Dennis C05 Liberty Lakes 4
6 Brady, William C05 Liberty Lakes Fencing Club 3
7 Megargle, Thomas J. C05 RFC 2
8 Purdy, Mike C05 RFC 1
9 Schleis, Benjamin C05 UFO 1
10 Coon, Brad C05 WMFA 2
11 Bock, Dan C03 AADS 3
12 Vance, Beth D05 RFC 4
13 Lewia, Sam D05 TRFC 4
14 Webster, Amy D05 UFO 3
15 Krueger, Terry D01 AADS 2
16 Bergstrom, Allison E05 TRFC 1
17 Leach, Michelle K. E05 UofM 1
18 Wasylyshyn, George R. U AADS 2
19 Beland, Jon U AADS 3
20 Beighley, David U GRAFA 4
21 Wilk, Steven R U RFC 4
22 Suttle, Clark U Schoolcraft 3
23 Evangelisti, Thomas U SYFC 2
24 Evangelisti, Aaron U SYFC 1
25 King, Erica U UFO 2
26 Stern, Glen U WMFA 1









Seeding for the Mixed Foil Direct Elimination

Rk Pool Fencer Bouts Won Hits Received
1 1 Cho, Michael 6 6 30 5
2 2 Wallrabenstein, Inga 6 6 30
3 3 Hayenga, Gary 5 5 25 11
4 2 Megargle, Thomas J. 6 5 25
5 1 Schleis, Benjamin 6 5 26
6 4 Kosla, Anthony 5 4 22 7
7 4 Murphy, Dennis 5 4 23 11
8 3 Beland, Jon 5 4 22 16
9 4 Vance, Beth 5 4 19 15
10 2 Coon, Brad 6 4 23 15
11 1 Purdy, Mike 6 4 23 19
12 2 Krueger, Terry 6 3 20 22
13 3 Brady, William 5 2 22 20
14 4 Lewia, Sam 5 2 17 15
15 3 Bock, Dan 5 2 20 20
16 3 Webster, Amy 5 2 15 23
17 1 Stern, Glen 6 2 23 21
18 2 King, Erica 6 2 21 21
19 1 Bergstrom, Allison 6 2 21
20 1 Leach, Michelle K. 6 2 13
21 4 Wilk, Steven R 5 1 9 20
22 2 Wasylyshyn, George R. 6 1 8
23 3 Suttle, Clark 5 0 11 25
24 4 Beighley, David 5 0 3 25
25 2 Evangelisti, Thomas 6 0 6
26 1 Evangelisti, Aaron 6 0 3





Mixed Sabre Entrants

Entries
Ann Arbor Dueling Society
Mixed Sabre
Ann Arbor Duelist Open VII
8/27/2005

Pools: 1
Fencer's Name Rating Club Affiliation Pool
1 Sikora, Zdzislaw R. D04 RFC 1
2 Schultz, Timothy M. D03 UFO 1
3 Schleis, Benjamin E05 UFO 1
4 Zhao, Jing E05 UofM 1
5 Brady, William E04 Liberty Lakes Fencing Club 1
6 Beland, Jon U AADS 1







Mixed Epee Entrants

Entries
Ann Arbor Dueling Society
Mixed Epee
Ann Arbor Duelist Open VII
8/27/2005

Pools: 5
Fencer's Name Rating Club Affiliation Pool
1 Znoy, Joe A03 unattached 1
2 Leighton, Louise B05 EDL 2
3 Maczik, Adam W. B05 UofM 3
4 Hayenga, Gary B04 AADS 5
5 Bolakowski, John B04 AADS 4
6 Kocab, Gregory B04 RFC 5
7 Way, Joseph B03 Philadelphia Fencing Academy 4
8 Pienta, Chris C05 GLSC 3
9 Rahl, Daniel S. C05 GLSC 2
10 Schleis, Benjamin C05 UFO 1
11 Leighton, David C04 EDL 1
12 Mazzoli, Julio C04 RFC 2
13 Weckstein, Daniel H. C04 unattached 3
14 Herbert, Steve C03 RFC 4
15 Monroe, Hermina D05 RFC 5
16 Bock, Dan D04 AADS 5
17 Polasek, Ryan D04 AADS 4
18 Krueger, Terry D03 AADS 3
19 Jacobs, Justin E05 Raleigh Fencing Club 2
20 Favre, David E04 AADS 1
21 Trithart, Jacob E04 AADS 1
22 Marcusee, Maureen T. E04 GLSC 2
23 Bergman, Robert P. E04 unattached 3
24 O'Brien, Tina E03 UFO 4
25 Beland, Jon E00 AADS 5
26 Parkinson, James U AADS 2
27 O'Neil, Tim U AADS 3
28 Rozanski, Edward A. U GRAFA 4
29 Heslip, Ashley U RFC 1
30 Van Buren, Wendell U Saginaw 2
31 King, Erica U UFO 3
32 Znoy, Steve U WSU 5
33 Evangelisti, Thomas 0 SYFC 1

Mixed Foil Results

Official Results Sheet
Ann Arbor Dueling Society
Mixed Foil
Ann Arbor Duelist Open VIII
8/27/2005


Ranking Club Fencer Original Earned
Rating Rating

1 RFC Wallrabenstein, Inga A05
2 RFC Cho, Michael A05
3 RFC Megargle, Thomas J. C05
4 AADS Hayenga, Gary B04
5 UFO Schleis, Benjamin C05
6 AADS Kosla, Anthony C05
7 Liberty Lakes Murphy, Dennis C05
8 RFC Vance, Beth D05
9 AADS Beland, Jon U
10 WMFA Coon, Brad C05
11 RFC Purdy, Mike C05
12 AADS Krueger, Terry D01
13 Liberty Lakes Fencing Club Brady, William C05
14 TRFC Lewia, Sam D05
15 WMFA Stern, Glen U
16 UFO King, Erica U
17 AADS Bock, Dan C03
18 UFO Webster, Amy D05
19 TRFC Bergstrom, Allison E05
20 UofM Leach, Michelle K. E05
21 RFC Wilk, Steven R U
22 AADS Wasylyshyn, George R. U
23 Schoolcraft Suttle, Clark U
24 GRAFA Beighley, David U
25 SYFC Evangelisti, Thomas U
26 SYFC Evangelisti, Aaron U

Mixed Sabre Results

Official Results Sheet
Ann Arbor Dueling Society
Mixed Sabre
Ann Arbor Duelist Open VIII
8/27/2005


Ranking Club Fencer Original Earned
Rating Rating

1 UFO Schleis, Benjamin C05
2 Liberty Lakes Fencing Club Brady, William U
3 UFO Schultz, Timothy M. U
4 AADS Beland, Jon E00
5 UofM Zhao, Jing U
6 RFC Sikora, Zdzislaw R. U

Mixed Epee Seeding

Rk Pool Fencer Bouts Won Hits Received
1 2 Mazzoli, Julio 6 6 29 7
2 1 Znoy, Joe 6 6 30 13
3 4 Herbert, Steve 5 5 25 9
4 5 Kocab, Gregory 5 5 23 7
5 3 Maczik, Adam W. 6 6 30 17
6 2 Rahl, Daniel S. 6 5 27 11
7 3 Weckstein, Daniel H. 6 5 29
8 1 Leighton, David 6 5 28 22
9 4 Bolakowski, John 5 4 21
10 1 Heslip, Ashley 6 4 25 19
11 2 Jacobs, Justin 6 4 23 18
12 4 Way, Joseph 5 3 18 13
13 5 Bock, Dan 5 3 21 19
14 1 Favre, David 6 3 24 22
15 3 O'Neil, Tim 6 3 21 23
16 2 Leighton, Louise 6 3 17
17 5 Znoy, Steve 5 2 18 20
18 5 Hayenga, Gary 5 2 17 19
19 4 O'Brien, Tina 5 2 16 19
20 5 Beland, Jon 5 2 16 22
21 3 Krueger, Terry 6 2 26 22
22 3 Bergman, Robert P. 6 2 24
23 1 Trithart, Jacob 6 2 20 24
24 3 Pienta, Chris 6 2 21 26
25 2 Marcusee, Maureen T. 6 2 16 26
26 4 Polasek, Ryan 5 1 14 20
27 5 Monroe, Hermina 5 1 14 22
28 2 Parkinson, James 6 1 21
29 1 Schleis, Benjamin 6 1 17 27
30 3 King, Erica 6 1 11 29
31 1 Evangelisti, Thomas 6 0 13 30
32 2 Van Buren, Wendell 6 0 9 30
33 4 Rozanski, Edward A. 5 0 2 26

Mixed Epee Final Results

Official Results Sheet
Ann Arbor Dueling Society
Mixed Epee
Ann Arbor Duelist Open VIII
8/27/2005


Ranking Club Fencer Original Earned
Rating Rating

1 RFC Kocab, Gregory
2 RFC Herbert, Steve
3 RFC Mazzoli, Julio
4 unattached Weckstein, Daniel H.
5 UofM Maczik, Adam W.
6 Raleigh Fencing Club Jacobs, Justin
7 AADS Hayenga, Gary X
8 GLSC Pienta, Chris
9 unattached Znoy, Joe
10 EDL Leighton, David
11 Philadelphia Fencing Academy Way, Joseph
12 AADS Favre, David
13 WSU Znoy, Steve
14 AADS Beland, Jon X
15 AADS Trithart, Jacob
16 RFC Monroe, Hermina
17 GLSC Rahl, Daniel S.
18 AADS Bolakowski, John
19 RFC Heslip, Ashley
20 AADS Bock, Dan X
21 AADS O'Neil, Tim
22 EDL Leighton, Louise
23 UFO O'Brien, Tina
24 AADS Krueger, Terry X
25 unattached Bergman, Robert P.
26 GLSC Marcusee, Maureen T.
27 AADS Polasek, Ryan
28 AADS Parkinson, James
29 UFO Schleis, Benjamin X
30 UFO King, Erica X
31 SYFC Evangelisti, Thomas X
32 Saginaw Van Buren, Wendell
33 GRAFA Rozanski, Edward A.

And a big thank you one and all to those who participated, and to our most excellent directors:

Jim Vesper
Patrick Webster
John Zelkowski
Sean O’Brian
B.J. Chavez
Rebecca Chavez

Well, after getting most (but not all) of the needed files onto the backup machine, I had to run to one client, work all day, run home, install more files, fly to Atlanta, and then work-work-work for another client. This project's a bit of a departure for me, but fun: the client wants me to model an existing, pre-UML system for them, so that they can use the model as guidance in transitioning to their next generation system. So I've been immersing myself in a wholely new, unfamiliar problem domain and trying to learn to think like an old hand; and then I've been converting my understanding into UML and communicating that back to the client, so that they can confirm or correct what I've learned. It's all NDA stuff, so I can't share any samples; but it's a great example of why I emphasize UML as a form of communication. I start with only a lay understanding of their problem domain; they start with only a classroom exposure to UML; and in striving to communicate between us, we're growing our understanding in both directions. It's loads of fun!

But that can't take up all of my time, can it? No, but it took up a lot. Then my weekend got derailed by an unfortunate ATM incident (since resolved) that left me planning how to stretch $20 for I wasn't sure how long. So none of the fun stuff I planned to do and blog about took place: no visit to the Bonsai gardens (next trip) and no visit to Borders to get fresh reading material. I just sat in the hotel room and worked on various projects and watched lots of Bond films.

And now it's my last day in Atlanta, and what a day it was! Today, we had our first review meeting, which went better than I dared hope.

Then I drove to Borders, and was delighted to find my book on the shelves. (For all that I'm unimpressed by their discount program, I'm usually pleased to find that Borders carries my book in most outlets.)

And then a little advance scouting had told me that nearby was Fire of Brazil, a Brazilian churrascaria restaurant. That means that the cooks skewer various meats on swords and cook the meat over open flames; and then gauchos bring the meat-laden swords around to the tables. You get a little card, red on one side and green on the other. If you turn it to green, they stop at your table and offer to cut you off a slice of whatever they happen to be carrying. Today I had slices of tenderloin, top sirloin, pork loin, turkey, pork sausages, and so many other meats I can't remember them all. It's not for every day (well, unless you're an Atkins devotee), and it's pricey; but as a treat, it's not to be missed.

And tomorrow, I get to fly home, and get my computer back from the shop, and see my wife and dogs, and then head to Ann Arbor for the 8th annual Duelist. I'll try to post photos.

It's official: the 8th Annual Ann Arbor Duelist tournament will be held on August 27th at the new Ann Arbor YMCA. Stay tuned for details.