pilowsky

You did well.

You are right, of course (Wearside Jack), but the point remains. The United Kingdom is a country where everyone speaks the same language and nobody understands each other.

Thanks everyone. The auction continued [hv=d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1sp2hp3dp3sp4np5cp5sppp]133|100| My partner was of the view that my bid of 3♠ suggested a hand with 16+ and 3 trumps and that a bid of 4♠ was more appropriate. A stylistic thing I suppose.[/hv]

It's incredibly sad. In the real world, where more than half the population don't understand how to weigh up risk, they rely on concepts such as 'faith', 'hope' and the 'wisdom' of people they have been brought up to trust. The excruciating banality of what passes for 'success' in the world where the ability to attract followers or sound like you know what you are talking about is more important than actual knowledge is terrifying.

[hv=pc=n&s=sqj7hkj865dq52ca3&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1sp2hp3dp]133|200| This comes from a club game. I was South. We were playing 2/1. What should I bid now?[/hv] The full hand.

There's a lot of talk in the US and in Australia about whether or not workplaces can mandate vaccination for their staff. In Australia, it looks like the workplace laws will mean that employers may be liable for 6-7 figure fines if they do not require staff to be vaccinated. I'm not sure why this is such a big deal - or surprise - since pre-SARS we were required to have completed vaccinations for all kinds of employment. What I would like to see is businesses - such as restaurants - certifying themselves as fully vaccinated workplaces. I would be keen to redirect my business (such as it is) on the basis of this type of Knowledge. Who wants to buy food from Typhoid Mary? Who was arrested - more than once - in the USA for violating a public health order.

So, an even rarer bird then. I'm reminded of the method used to narrow down the whereabouts of Peter Sutcliffe from the audiotapes that he sent to taunt "the Force".

The first issue raised is that players overestimate their level of competence. Endless social psychology studies have revealed that people from all walks of life think they are better than average at anything they tackle. Which is, of course, not possible. This is a very well-studied phenomenon - the so-called Dunning-Kruger effect. Simons DJ (Psychon Bull Rev (2013) 20:601–607 - http://bit.ly/OptimisticBridgePlayers DOI 10.3758/s13423-013-0379-2) reported that: The author is careful to differentiate between the delusion of being an expert (the original and possibly artifactual) DKE and optimism. I suspect that it is possible to be simultaneously optimistic and obnoxious. Two traits common in competitive sports; Bridge is no exception. The data for this study was collected from players at the Champaign Illinois Bridge club. I suppose this cohort may be more optimistic than players elsewhere, but I doubt it. Regarding the idea that there is a single 'true' way to bid - because a 'brilliant person' said so - this seems hard to believe and would surely suck the fun from the game. Even in the UK, almost nobody (outside the BBC) speaks with the "received pronunciation". The implication is that there is a "received bidding system". I'm quite new to the game but it seems unlikely on the face of it.

Trump lost in 2016 AND 2020: by a lot.

I like where you're coming from, but it's a reference to the Tom Wolfe book - "The Right Stuff" where the test pilots died, not because the plane was in any way inadequate, but because they just didn't have what it takes to survive at the "edge of the envelope". This appears to reflect the attitude of many on the Stupid wing of both political parties. "What about me? It's not fair, I've had enough I want my share" Could be the anthem for the loony fringe.

Socialism - looking after other people. No wonder they hate it. Death, disease and disaster - all Gods will If you don't survive you don't have the "Right Stuff".

So, in sum, the bot blotted its book by not unblocking?

It was a dark and stormy night, I was tucked up in bed wearing red and blue pyjamas with a slightly tepid cocoa reading my dog-eared copy of "How to use adverbs and adjectives to make my prose sound interesting" when I meet someone for lunch. Did I mention that I have a cat?

I cancelled my Scribd subscription when I found this on their site: https://www.scribd.c...5/Covid-19-News When I pointed out that this was a debunked conspiracy theory, I was sent this reply: It seems that Scribd prides itself on being a "free speech" platform, so I guess we can expect people that are refugees from the radical left-wing Murdoch Press to pop up there.

The number of people vaccinated in Australia is pathetically small: Overall, about 33%. The failure is mainly due to the political failure of our government. In a fit of typical uselessness, Prime Minister ScottyFromMarketingMorrison (as he is called politely) declared that we don't have to worry because "it isn't a race". Meanwhile, the press is pumping out paroxysms of disinformation about the danger of AZ so that nobody wants to take it because there's a chance they will get a blood clot and die.

So to be clear, you are upset because you and your partner rope in 6 random people to play an unclocked team match and when it crashes because all 6 people don't complete, this interferes with your learning experience? I suspect that the problem you are facing is that Team matches are not that interesting for subs looking to enhance their TCR. I also tried to use team matches for this purpose a while back, but I restricted the duration to four boards to make it more interesting and more likely to finish. This creates (a very mild) incentive to complete so you can see the result, particularly at IMPs, where a swing on the last board can make a big difference. You are asking people to give up their time for no tangible reward. If you only ask for a small amount of time, perhaps they will be more willing to donate it. The alternative is to buy a Prime membership for a month (free for the first week). Then you and your partner can practice with robots in the other two seats for hours, and nobody will hear you scream. Your results will be compared with 15 other people.

This is an interesting question that could be phrased a little differently! As people develop, they tend to become more cautious. An adolescent might drive an aging Hillman Minx at over 100mph just for the pleasure of overtaking a sporty looking Valiant Charger. Risks are evaluated differently when you are younger. The question is, what role does the acquisition of knowledge and judgement play in modulating risk-taking behaviour? Some people never acquire, synthesise and use information in a way that reasonably modulates their behaviour. Problems arise when the inappropriate behaviour of a person affects others. Suppose someone believes that voices in their head are telling them to kill people that don't believe in aliens. This belief - true or not - is dangerous to both the individual and any alien-deniers near them. How about a person that doesn't believe in motorcycle helmets? The danger to others is that if they require extensive medical treatment for any brain injury that could have been prevented then there is an opportunity cost to the rest of us. Their failure to protect themselves may result in a scarce resource (neurosurgical care) being taken away from you or me if we have a brain tumour. It isn't enough to say, "oh well, if they want to risk harm, that's fine so long as they pay the cost" because they don't; we all do. That's why some measures need to be mandated. Seat-beltsMasks during a pandemicVaccination if the spread of the disease is likely to kill othersFull disclosure in a game of Bridgeetc.This brings us to the problem of how to characterise people that are responsible for governing and mandating but lack the ability or knowledge to do so. Despite what some believe people don't "just get it". They have to learn it.

Another side-effect of the Trump era is the sudden interest in the therapeutic value of psychedelic drugs:

There are other possibilities. Many iMac-BigSur users (including me) also use CleanMyMac or sometimes wipe their cache to improve speed. This can mean that a saved password is lost from the device.

Regarding the issue of thromboembolism. A preprint of a paper undergoing peer-review states that the risk of bad side-effects from AZ is about the same as Pfizer and much less than getting COVID19. http://bit.ly/AZasSafeAsPfizer I note that this paper is not yet peer-reviewed so I'm a little surprised that it was made available. Still, the information is likely more valuable than the stuff floating around on some Twitter feed.

Edit (removed NR)

So it is apposite then that the company with the largest market capitalisation in the world was the Royal Bank of Scotland. When the RBS crashed and burned, it almost took the whole of the UK with it at the start of the GFC (remember the GFC, anyone?). To complete the circle of pain from 1066, the dismal attempt to take over the Dutch bank ABN Amro was the proximate cause of the Scottish bank's problems.

picky

Have you checked that your mac is not trying to use a different internet signal?

80 sounds like a callow youth in Bridge circles. Did you ask any of the older Bridge players in your club?