user: Why is baseball called America's Pastime?

assistant: Although its popularity is arguably greater in Latin America and Asia now, baseball is still commonly referred to as "America's Pastime." This is partly because game was invented in the United States 180 years ago and was the dominate sport for much of the time since. But baseball is also a game obsessed with its own history, much like America is with hers and we can trace a lot of the story of baseball alongside the story of America. 

While the country was fighting itself to determine the shape of its future during the Civil War, the game of baseball was taking shape and spreading to the south by northern war prisoners. After the war, when mass market commercialism became available, baseball and its products were the primary sport marketed to people across the country. Many of the first American celebrities were in fact baseball players, their faces and names seen by millions of people through the rising circulation of newspapers and distribution of baseball cards.

Even later, baseball was at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement. Jackie Robinson became the first Black player to play Major League Baseball in the modern era. The integration of baseball was an early and important step in the broader Civil Rights Movement. Since then, baseball has been one of the most diverse sports in the world, its demographics closely representing that of the whole country.

In many ways, baseball culture has become synonymous with American culture in general. The season takes place through summer. There are hot dogs, nachos, a lot of sitting around, fireworks, and games on 4th of July.

So even as more countries and cultures find a way to make baseball their own, the sport can always claim its place as America's Pastime.

user: In chess, why is the queen valued at nine points instead of eight?

assistant: In chess, typically chess pieces are valued based on their importance. 
For example, 
Pawn - 1 point 
Knight - 3 points
Bishop - 3 points
Rook - 5 points
Queen - 9 points

Since the queen can move like the bishop and the rook, simple math would suggest that it is valued at 8 points (3 + 5). 
However, the game of chess, involves complex scenarios and strategies and having a single piece that can move in all directions gives it a distinct advantage during various phases of the chess game. 
This is why the queen is given a higher point valuation.

user: How can one find time to do everything effectively in life?

assistant: We feel 100% occupied with varied number of things that we are engaged with in life. And when we look closely, this doesn't really take a lot of tasks usually.
If you notice, you will realize that one can get (or feel like) totally busy with any amount of tasks and when multi-tasking and juggling between different things, the effectiveness of the work depends on how one is able to complete individual pieces with their utmost focus. When one is focussed on their work, distractions are the one of hinderances that comes in the path of effectiveness of a task. Distractions could come in the form of phone calls, emails, requests over online chats, scheduled meetings, someone walking into the workspace for a talk, etc and majority of them result in adding up some kind of work to be performed. While it interrupts one's attention, in the modern ways of operating through life, most of these modes of communication are necessary to function and we need to be prepared for all the distractions that comes our way. Let us look at some of the ways to better handle and succeed in such circumstances:
1. Give our 100% attention to the current task at hand, for however small amount of time it may be, before being distracted.
2. Complete the things that can be done quickly.
3. Retain Context for switching off and back.
4. Maintain, Prioritize and track all pending To-Do's.
5. Set the expectations and commit based on the current To-Do tasks and their priorities.
6. As applicable, not taking up the work that is expected out of someone else.