thepossum

EDIT Apologies for crossposting. Both of us found a Wikipedia page :) Graphic from Wikipedia https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/Combined--Control_of_the_U.S._House_of_Representatives_-_Control_of_the_U.S._Senate.png/600px-Combined--Control_of_the_U.S._House_of_Representatives_-_Control_of_the_U.S._Senate.png showing the rarity of the likely configuration

I hate to say it. I hope I am not alone in the following 1. Having concerns about authoritarian and manipulative/deceptive tendencies on both ends of any alleged (perhaps non existent) poliitcal spectrum 2. Finding it hard to see authoritarian/totalitarian states as a force for good in any way shape or form 3. Being concerned about the level of political/media/social media dialectic or some other kind of more manipulative approach to debate You never know any more if anyone believes anything they write or if its all a variant on trolling I have concerns about democracy everywhere and sicnereley hope the US system is able to protect against dangerous tendencies. I hope our democracy and institutions are able to hold off the destructive forces for evil/ forces of darkness and other rhetorical descriptors EDIT As far as I can tell, last time there was a Democrat president and House with a Republican Senate was around 1885 or the like EDIT 2 And if anyone wonders where my anxiety comes from it is related to technofascistic and other questionnable tendencies worldwide EDIT 3. I eprsonally find it a bit concerning when the world reaches a stage where some of us have cocnerns for our personal well being (as well as that of the broader world), simply for engaging in debates on social media, interacting on social media, or even playing a hand of Bridge. Does anyone realise that given some of the forces in the world, the history of the world, and aspects of our personal or local/global politcal tendencies, that even expressing concerns like this could be used against us. Catch 22 really for some of us EDIT 4. Another dangerous comment coming up (personally and professionally). While I was not going to buy into Winston's comment about psychologu and authoritarian personalities (for professional reasons) I will say one thing. It relates to my concerns of the powerful interests in this world and a coincidence of interests. I have some very serious cocnerns about the politicisation of certain important institutions and how their scientific objectivity may have become politically tarnished. Hope that is clear anough and vague enough to protect me. And while it seem crazy, coming from me, as someone from the progressive/left side of politics who has become increasingly concerned over some elements of those tendencies I was feeling (strangely) safer with a Trump Whitehouse EDIT 5 And while strictly I may not be qualified (in the capital P Professional sense) to comment on all the intersecting themes above I personally believe I am at least small-p professionally qualified and entitled (as a global citizen) to express extreme concerns about all the coincidences of interests/tendencies with the power of all aspects of big tech, analytics, being profiled and analysed to death, political bias and maniuplation, big media, big academe etc and the fact that all those powrerful interests can be aligned to silence legitimate concerns

Hi Sorry, I deleted the thread Apologies.

I am well aware of some of the theories (and debates) around the authoritarian personality. Here is not really/perhaps not (edited, sounded too authoritarian) the place to discuss it though, and strictly I'm not sure if I am qualified enough to do so. However discussing certian political authoritarian tendencies and their views on how to control our lives in different ways would seem more relevant EDIT Also, I'm very curious what happens with different configurations of Whitehouse and Congress - in terms of past occasions with similar (likely) configurations

I can still get $7 on President Trump but they are paying out on Biden already

Which begs the question why Trump was around $3 just a few hours ago :)

But what I find curious is that it tends to be supporters of competing tendencies that like to make most rules and impose most authority over all our lives. Thats what confuses me

Thankyou for creating a poll. Interesting results I'm starting to think that Lebensohl scenarios like the above are a good test for hands which are too strong open 1NT

How's it going over there. Much Bridge going to be played for the next few hours. I can still bet on the outcome. Is $2.88 worth it at this late stage Have a good night everyone

Thankyou. I realise there are ways of doing it through saved hands and hand records. I was hoping for an option on a table that would allow a kind of review, replay etc option before moving on to the next hand. Even a way of pausing the hands

I find it remarkable that anyone anywhere would argue that is a psych But I do understand there are some sad cases in the world who would regard opening a hand with only 10 points and 5 losers at the 1 level a psych or shaving a point or two either way on a No Trump is a psych etc There are different words for people like that.

Thanks for all the extra information Richard I will try and think up more about what my concerns are. I'm sure I've already expressed enough about them. I don't exactly have much authority or reason to question anything in the Bridge world, especially for an accredited site. But it does relate to the potential overreach into many people's lives, most of whom are just playing it as a game etc - and it could be terrible for any misunderstood action at some random online table, use of limited models, strange time delays, unusual bids (that would cause an incident in a club), being labelled as abusive player when simply responding to abuse, technical and other professional and ethical knoweldge, use of behavioural or other models, competence and values of anyne and everyone involved in use of the data, how many different ways such data could be used, potential profiling of people, IP numbers, ISPs, etc. I will try and writie something up as my replies on the forum are often untidy and need edits, and may contain errors etc. I am sure all my concerns are understood by those I trust to be involved somewhere. It would be sad if they were not involved and/or were ignored etc EDIT I am editing the rest. As usual its starting to sprawl and getting untidy

I quite appreciate all sites collect information, and any Bridge site with accredited tournaments etc etc. are within their rights to whatever etc etc Thats not my concern at all. My concern in everything these days with data collection and rather impersonal assessment and adjudication by a combination of impersonal algorithms and often even worse people, is how that data will be used, issues of justice, issues of overreach, potential errors, limitations on any form of data analytic approach to anything and possibly most important of all how any such assessments are used in relation to sharing and linking of data to anything else etc I was starting to write some of my concerns in my original replay. But they are extensive on a global scale, and I am sure (in fact I know) there are many people including experts who share many of those concerns etc I hate to say it but with someone with extensive experience of knowledge of many of the issues and different levels of expertise in various areas, there are a relativey small number of people who I trust internationally to have a clue about much Who knows about this place. I cant really comment. I hope that isnt taken the wrong way. Just I'm used to dealing with professionals. And much as it may not seem like the right thing to say I personally pay a lot less attention to extensive buraurcratic legal documentation and kind of assume that I and they just tend to the right thing almost all (if not all) the time EDIT I think by definition we should say essentially all the time :)

Who cares. Certainly not me :) As I said I play Bridge with people of similar philosophy and temperament and with a sense of humour I know the world is now dominated by those who fight tooth and nail over scraps and some make big dollars from that strategy and regard it as successful. But there are other parameters of philsophies of success. In my book, I'm not a billionarire but can happily (EDIT - not sure if thats the right word) sit round doing what I like (Correction, not quite, unfortunately I'm not a billionaire) for (some of) the rest of my life and (hopefully) stop my stress levels getting too extreme. That kind of successful strategy. Thats if I can avoid being upset by people who constantly want to fight :) And to be honest I know the forms of Bridge that fit my temperament and strengths Apologies for always tending to look at the bigger issue than just Bridge, which is often a wonderful metaphor for much that happens. Some of us have particular mindsets in relation to all kinds of endeavour and prefer freedom, expansiveness, preferring to make 6-1 (especially if it were makeable by a top player) than 3+3 (maybe 3+2 :) - but wheres the fun? ) sometimes etc. And also I dont really care about pushing bidding up unnecessarily. I am happy to try and defeat lower level contracts :) Also so much seems to have become so full-on and excessively technical seeking for 24/7 technical perfection and losing something - whether its in Bridge, business, music, life, anything. But its early in the morning, I wasnt even going to check this thread again, and I can feel stress flowing through my body and head immediately. So have a nice day/night everyone :)

Thx Nige

I know there are different styles of game. It's just a shame we have MP bidding in IMPs or TPs. That's all. Each to their own. I'm no judge. Surely it would be good if we could choose a bidding style or even a system geared towards our preferred style or game type. Having said that I would prefer to bid my system and style at MPs anyway But apologies if an obvious light hearted comment about Bridge, business and life caused any offence. None was intended despite suggestions(sorry implications) to the contrary But I refuse to be drawn into another ridiculous conflict over a throw away comment. I'm sure that wasn't the intention. But I feel I am entitled to express personal preferences over anything without it being made out as any disrespect. I'm sick of it. I honestly don't see why I have to feel under attack every time I post anything here. But time for bed, I'm not going to risk any more involvement in a thread and see yet another thread ruined I imagine I said something to offend or an error in this post. I guess someone may be tempted to pick it part. Life is too short

But sadly not always true in practice. A poor double is not offering choice at all :) As in the above auction I am discussing I felt I had no choice. If that is the case the error is clearly the double. Surely in any situation a pass should be one of the options without huge risk, especially with some doubles I appreciate it may seem I am making a bit of a fuss over nothing when I could have made the enforced and unnecessary 3-level bid on a clearly contrived hand that would have been overbid. I guess its a different philosophy. Some people like to waste time pushing things up to too high level and compete over part scores and minor penalties. But for some of us time is more valuable than that :) Its also kind of pleasant sometimes (at least for me) to delegate something to your partner to do (oops, let them take the lead)(double oops - just share responsibility. No letting or delegating involved at all :)), or even not waste time trying to defeat an easy contract for your opps, just let them get on with it as quickly as possible, take a refreshing break (even in defence) and move on to the next one :)

Hi Richard Can you please clarify for the layman like me whether this means I should find a different Bridge Site to play on It doesnt sound good for those of us involved in the serious data ad privacy game ourselves if people are prying and sharing our information Also, by clarification is the free legal advice for us the users or Bridgebase :) Its much appreciated regards P SORRY. Following stuff is being edited

Its kind of amusing. I put this hand into various bridge software and different bidding systems. Some ended in 7Diamonds, some in 6NT, some in 7NT, and one (unnamed) tragically stopped in 3 diamonds :) I was thinking about how I would approach it and I doubt I would start the bidding below game or even 6NT At least if you played a regular game force you would at least need the wherewithall to overule partner's double negative :)

Whose last 11 words and which last 11 :) EDIT Just crunching some numbers to see I have right to be aggrieved. So far from my perspective it was a tradeoff between 66% chance of doubled into game versus 72% part score. If I had those numbers in my head I guess I would have bid the unnecessarily competitive part score rather than letting opps hake 2 spades :) Checking from partner's perspective to see if it was justified :) EDIT After having proved to myself I should have bid the enforced takeout, after checking from North's perspective its not looking so good for GiB. 95% chance of EW making 2 spades (they would keep bidding), 14% chance of South making 3H and around 9% chance of 4C so whats the point etc

Hi I know things have changed over the years with relation to doubles and all their different uses and that they are usually takeout to a reasonably high level. However I find the overuse of them, in a rather aggressicve and controlling way by the GiB system, somewhat annoying. Especially if I have passed twice opposite an ordinary opener, I do not like being forced to make a bid at the three level or pass a risky double of a major etc. Bridge used to be a partnership game where a partner was respected and not forced (except with specific GF bids - but even then I have a right to bid what I judge fits the situation) If your hand is good enough to keep pushing, just bid what you have and take some responsibillity And before nyone asks me to, I am not going to post some contrived hand. I am discussing the more general case ok. I hope nobody is upset at missing another opportunity to bully someone, who actually knows what they are talking about. I appreciate you could go though my hands, post it etc. But I am not asking about a specific hand. Oh look at that loser passing that doubled major into game. Well believe it or not I was checking out how the system works or doesnt :) I mean seriously. I may not be a world champion, an expert or even advanced but in my simple mind double should work with reasonable outcomes either way. Who knows what the odds of diffeennt outcomes were, but it doesnt seem smart to me doubling 2 of a major when it makes 3 even with a relatively strong pass It may seem strange (and I know I'm simple and old fashioned) but I'm not always intersted in competing for the sake of it to make a part scofre. Sometimes I prefer to take a more relaxed approach and run the risk opps could make a meagre part score rather than a game. Sorry. Its the way I learned regards P

Hi all I hope its ok to ask a point of clarification. Nobody has mentioned singletons which I always thought was an option against suits. Is there a reason? Is it that you may be losing your only entry across to partner before having seen dummy etc regards P

Hi there Apologies if this has been asked before, and I know I can save hands for later. But most of the time in general casual play (especially with bots) it would be helpful either for the hand to stay on the screen until you choose to redeal (dont know if thats an option), or to replay (without affecting scoring obviously), or to send to bidding table etc Is any of that possible. regards P

Sorry Diana, missed the reply. I have tried a screenshot but it appears and disappears too quickly. I will try Correction. The app has control of the UI so it's not possible I will try and draw a picture Correction again. I tried it a few times and was eventually able to get a screenshot EDIT Just emailed you an image :) Would be very grateful if you can advise if its part of the app or I am being hacked or monitored by the CCP, CIA etc Actually come to think of it I should check the image details in case I just emailed all my security credentials via an insecure mail route Also, I don't know if its part of my OS, phone OS, whatever but when I went to share the image via email the share function was able to read the text in the screenshot as an option to send. Not sure if thats a new Android thing or a phone thing, a CCP thing etc. Sorry if I seem a bit anxious about this thing

Dear all, thanks for keeping the discussion on an ancient hand about bridge