pilowsky

Television is like smoking. You don't have to. You won't die or get sick if you stop. That's why it's so hard to lose weight.

To say nothing of the effect of parents glued to their 'devices' instead of interacting with their children. Turns out the word for this behaviour of using a mobile phone during a social interaction is "phubbing". Father phubbers and mother phubbers (I'm not making this up) have children that are more likely to be depressed. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34952115/

Yes, my results have been consistently bad. Very annoying.

If you really want to blend in and avoid pickpockets make sure you wear shorts, sneakers, white ankle socks, an Hawaiian shirt and a baseball cap. People will immediately ask for a directions to the local Macdonald's.

I recall hearing Garrison Keillor remarking that he visited Norway to get back to his roots. He visited a restaurant with a friend and during the meal some food became stuck in his throat causing him to choke and cough violently. The couple at the next table complimented him on his accent. Thinking back to the way he told the story, Ken's writing now makes much more sense.

The American Nobel prize winner Dylan R.

Interesting, I think it's starting to make sense. So here, Becky represents the Democratic party and you represent the Republican party of old. The kid represents "ordinary Americans" and the cliff is Highway 61.

When? I think they made a documentary about the American political system called 'Game of Thrones'.

Under 'featured areas' have a look at the 'Challenges' area. There you can challenge a friend or challenge a group. Choose your preferred scoring format and type of game (eg best hand etc) and the number of boards.

The problem is not necessarily the way that "the American people" think. 72% of Americans think that gun violence is a very big (48%) or moderately big (24%) problem (Pew Research). Americans also think something should be done about it and they even agree on some of the things that ought to be done. So what stops "the American people" from taking action to implement change about policy issues they are concerned about? Not being American I can't say for sure but from the outside it seems that there are ingrained, bred in the bone sentiments that prevent change: even when a small sacrifice will improve the lot of everyone. There seems to be a: lack of trust in government. belief in the paramount rights of the individual. sense that if 'I' can get it and you can't then 'I' deserve to have it and you don't. When only the 'I's' have it, caring for others by not always having what you want is a difficult concept to grasp. It isn't just America obviously. Conservatives in Australia (and other countries) have also embraced the cult of what is euphemistically termed "personal responsibility".

One person in the field (IMPs daylong) bid it and made it. Not me.

Hard to argue so far.

[hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?lin=st||pn|pilowsky,~~v3fakebot,~~v3fakebot,~~v3fakebot|md|1SAQT843HAK52DAKC8,,SJHJ843DQ4CAKQT72,|sv|e|rh||ah|Board%203|mb|2C|an|Strong%20two%20club%20--%2019+%20HCP;%2023+%20total%20points;%20forcing%20to%202N|mb|P|mb|3C|an|Positive%20--%205+%20!C;%20!CKQ;%208+%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|3S|an|5+%20!S;%2019+%20HCP;%2023+%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|7C|an|strong%20rebiddable%20!C;%20!CKQ;%2013+%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|DJ|pc|D4|pc|D5|pc|DA|pc|SA|pc|S7|pc|SJ|pc|S2|pc|SQ|pc|SK|pc|C2|pc|S5|pc|CA|pc|C4|pc|C8|pc|C9|pc|CK|pc|C6|pc|H2|pc|C5|pc|CQ|pc|D7|pc|H5|pc|C3|pc|DQ|pc|D9|pc|DK|pc|DT|pc|ST|pc|S6|pc|H3|pc|D8|pc|S3|pc|S9|pc|C7|pc|D6|pc|H4|pc|HT|pc|HA|pc|H6|pc|S8|pc|CJ|pc|H8|pc|D2|pc|H7|pc|HJ|pc|H9|pc|HK|pc|S4|pc|HQ|pc|CT|pc|D3|]400|300| With the assistance of some class bidding by GIB I find myself in 7♣ which, of course, I fail to make. In retrospect reasonably straightforward - just needed to plan ahead. Still, a nice hand.[/hv]

Here's a link to the board.

I think you have misunderstood the instruction (which could have been clearer). When BBO says 2/1 they mean that if you find yourself playing with a robot, that's the system they'll use. The rest of the time its just wild west - which in US terms means SAYC +/- a lot of random variation.

You will never have a democracy with a minoritarian Senate, an unaccountable supreme court that changes the rules on a whim, and a gerrymandered house of representatives. The situation is made worse in the absence of a functioning independent electoral commision to avoid gerrymandering. Now that the US Supreme court has decided that it has no business interfering with the whims of good ole boys, democracy is even further away. When the white slave-traders got together to make a republic in order to avoid paying taxes, democracy was not high on their list of priorities. At the time considerably fewer than half of the adult population was permitted to cast a vote. The current Republican party appears to take the original documents very seriously. It is hard to take democracy in the USA seriously. A theocratic gerontocracy perhaps? With the progressive wing manchin to the beat of different drummer.

.

Probably governed by a plutocrat.

He sounds like an Englishman - discussing the weather until your ears bleed.

He's an impressive intellect for sure: I learned a new word from him - had to look it up in the Urban dictionary.

[hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?bbo=y&lin=st||md|1SK9HKQ4DA4CKJ9842%2CSAQT62HJ972DK965C%2CSJ3HA865DQJT8CAT7%2CS8754HT3D732CQ653|sv|B|ah|Board%207|mb|1C|an|Minor%20suit%20opening%20--%203%2B%20!C%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points|mb|D|an|Takeout%20double%20--%202-%20!C%3B%203-5%20!D%3B%203-4%20!H%3B%203-4%20!S%3B%2012%2B%20total%20points|mb|R|an|4-%20!C%3B%2010%2B%20HCP%3B%20opponents%20cannot%20play%20undoubled%20below%202N|mb|1S|an|Length%20--%204%2B%20!S|mb|3N|an|3%2B%20!C%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|S6|pc|S3|pc|S4|pc|S9|pc|C2|pc|D9|pc|CA|pc|C6|pc|CT|pc|C5|pc|C4|pc|D5|pc|C7|pc|C3|pc|C8|pc|ST|pc|CK|pc|SQ|pc|D8|pc|CQ|pc|CJ|pc|H9|pc|DT|pc|D2|pc|C9|pc|H2|pc|DJ|pc|S7|pc|HK|pc|H7|pc|H5|pc|H3|pc|HQ|pc|HJ|pc|H6|pc|HT|pc|H4|pc|S2|pc|HA|pc|S8|pc|H8|pc|D3|pc|SK|pc|D6|pc|DQ|pc|D7|pc|DA|pc|DK|pc|D4|pc|SA|pc|SJ|pc|S5|]400|300| Seems to work ok.[/hv]

Where did you get the strange notion that "Americans" prime motivation when approaching their posture in world affairs was opposition to Fascism? The motto on the Presidential seal doesn't say "for the good of the people" or "care for all", it says "from many comes one". This may mean to some that that one person will emerge from the primordial slime and care for the poor, feed the hungry and vaccinate people that tend to vote conservative: but to others it means something quite different. To many it means the freedom to get away with whatever they can in order to acquire as much wealth possible. The United States was not constituted with the objective of providing a pluralistic democracy. A reasonable semblance of democracy in the United States was not achieved until 1965. Since that time Democracy in the USA has been drying its wings in the sun and struggling to find a tailwind. So long as government in the USA permits one small group to make laws that prevent ordinary people from having a modicum of self-governance (abortion rights, marriage rights, right to be educated and purchase basic needs without fear of being shot by disaffected teenagers with automatic rifles) then its citizens cannot be described as "free".

It would be helpful if team matches could also (like regular tournaments) allow replacement with robots when a player becomes momentarily absent. Team matches closing automatically when 2 players are lost is an extremely frustrating and common event.

Our World In Data have just released a Data Explorer showing the development of electoral democracy on a scale of 0-1 around the world. From none 200 years ago (apparently) to much more now. In 1900 AUstralia and New Zealand were the only two. Canada and others in 1928. The USA in 1966/7 - but oscillates a bit from there. The definition of democracy is unsurprisingly open to interpretation.

1NT