pilowsky

Interesting difference - $2-$1500 is in Australia.

The political history of Ode to Joy may result in it causing offence to some.

To be fair, political parties are also tax-exempt. It seems the main criteria for tax exemption is that you get it if you are being paid to make ***** up. If you are doing something valuable that produces something that people need then you have to pay money to the people that need it because they aren't.

What I'm hoping for is a combination where computers replace cards at face to face Clubs. That way, everyone gets to sit comfortably wherever they want, and the Director can be anywhere. Pre-pandemic, I had an offer from a local restaurant to host such a game using Stepbridge as the platform. This is not a new concept - younger people have been doing it for decades - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAN_party When you say "the majority", I am surprised. In Australia, computer Bridge is easily the biggest game in town in terms of both the numbers of tables playing and the people involved. BBO, Stepbridge, BriJ, Funbridge and many others. I suspect when you say the "majority", you are talking about the small number of people that prefer face to face. The majority of people that play online prefer online - and there are more of us.

Or the 5th backwards - which is Smoke on the Water.

[hv=lin=st||pn|pilowsky,~~M272427u,~~M1298qg8,~~M5132qtb|md|1SK9752HQ973D832C2,SAJ8643HAJ6DQ4CA7,SHKT5DK65CKQJ9854,SQTH842DAJT97CT63|sv|e|rh||ah|Board%203|mb|P|mb|1S|an|Major%20suit%20opening%20--%205+%20!S;%2011-21%20HCP;%2012-22%20total%20points%20|mb|2C|an|Two-level%20overcall%20--%205+%20!C;%2010+%20HCP;%2011-18%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|P|mb|2S|an|6+%20!S;%2014-21%20HCP;%2015-22%20total%20points%20|mb|3C|an|6+%20!C;%2014-18%20total%20points%20|mb|3D|an|4+%20!D;%201-%20!S;%2010+%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|3H|an|4+%20!H;%206+%20!S;%2014-21%20HCP;%2015-22%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|3S|an|4+%20!D;%201%20!S;%2010+%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|3N|an|4-5%20!H;%206-7%20!S;%2017-21%20HCP;%2022-%20total%20points;%20stop%20in%20!C%20|mb|P|mb|4S|an|4+%20!D;%201%20!S;%2010-13%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|5D|an|4+%20!D;%204-5%20!H;%206-7%20!S;%2017+%20HCP;%2020-%20total%20points;%20stop%20in%20!C%20|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|C2|pc|CA|pc|C9|pc|C3|pc|DQ|pc|DK|pc|DA|pc|D2|pc|SQ|pc|SK|pc|SA|pc|D5|pc|CK|pc|C6|pc|D3|pc|C7|pc|S2|pc|S4|pc|D6|pc|ST|pc|CQ|pc|CT|pc|D8|pc|H6|pc|S5|pc|S6|pc|H5|pc|H2|pc|SJ|pc|CJ|pc|H4|pc|S7|pc|S8|pc|C8|pc|D9|pc|S9|pc|H8|pc|H7|pc|HA|pc|HT|pc|S3|pc|C5|pc|DT|pc|H3|pc|DJ|pc|H9|pc|D4|pc|C4|pc|D7|pc|HQ|pc|HJ|pc|HK|]300|300| Sometimes the robots have trouble making up their minds.[/hv]

[hv=pc=n&s=sk8ha965d97642ck9&w=sq63hk72dqt85ct43&n=sjt942hqtdakcj865&e=sa75hj843dj3caq72&d=s&v=e&b=3&a=ppp1c]399|300| This hand just came up at the Club. Nobody (from 24 tables) found the 'best' contract. What would you do?[/hv]

America is very concerned about rights. Here is Ron DeSantis explaining a novel 'right' to reporters. Nothing DeSantis says makes any sense, but this line of argument is particularly egregious. What he is saying, reductio ad absurdum, is that if you (an American private citizen) offer a service - say for example a sex worker - the customer has the "Right" to enter your premises and partake of your offerings not matter their health status. Perhaps Typhoid Mary should open a Burger Joint in Miami. I suspect that this is an extension of the American "I can say what I like because I have the Right to free speech".

From a news feed on the Fort Worth matter: Which begs several questions. Mind you, the item came from Fox4, where a pandemic of idiocy and incompetence is raging. https://www.fox4news.com/news/gunman-in-deadly-fort-worth-shooting-stoned-to-death According to the item, a person became 'upset', left, returned with a gun and started shooting. Which begs the question: what do people do in Texas if they became angry?

Naomi who?

Vaccination in the USA has been compulsory in many situations for more than 100 years (see the extract from Wiki below). The right to be stupid vis a vis protecting the public has been tested through the courts on many occasions. Mind you; there are many other things in the USA that cause no real harm to anyone that is also completely illegal (e.g. being naked on the beach, failing to give a press conference after playing in a tennis championship). The argument about the legality of compelling people to do anything is a herring of many different colours. OTOH, there are unintended consequences of compelling people to register and get vaccinated. One such problem may be that all the people in the USA that are there illegally may have trouble. According to Pew research, there are more than 10 million 'unauthorised immigrants' in the USA. It is possible that a portion of these people either cannot get the vaccine or do not wish to identify themselves. Add to that those ornery people that manage to fake it or otherwise evade it and those that claim that harming others is an important part of their right to religious expression. To cap it all off, it was reported on my news feed this morning that having had COVID19 makes you stupid. This may be true since Senator Rand Paul, who swam in the Congressional pool while infected with the virus (they really do have a swamp there), has sent a 'criminal referral' to the DOJ saying that Dr ("You don't know what you are talking about Senator") Fauci lied about funding to Wuhan. On top of all that a march of more than 3000 stupid people was organised in Sydney yesterday to complain about lockdowns and dozens of truck (lorry) drivers did their block-the-roads-in-the-city BS to protest as well.

[hv=lin=st||pn|pilowsky,~~M915irtr,~~M5294eiw,~~M7776a16|md|4ST98HA765D83C5432,SAK32H92DAKQJT2C9,S65HK43D9765CKJT6,SQJ74HQJT8D4CAQ87|sv|n|rh||ah|Board%202|mb|1C|an|Minor%20suit%20opening%20--%203+%20!C;%2011-21%20HCP;%2012-22%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|1D|an|One%20over%20one%20--%204+%20!D;%206+%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|1H|an|3+%20!C;%204+%20!H;%2011+%20HCP;%2012-18%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|2S|an|Natural%20and%20forcing%20--%205+%20!D;%204%20!S;%2012+%20HCP;%2013+%20total%20points;%20forcing%20to%203N%20|mb|P|mb|3S|an|3+%20!C;%204%20!H;%204%20!S;%2011+%20HCP;%2012-18%20total%20points;%20forcing%20|mb|P|mb|4D|an|Cue%20bid%20--%201+%20!C;%205+%20!D;%204%20!S;%20no%20!CA;%20!DA;%2018+%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|4N|an|Blackwood%20(S)%20--%203+%20!C;%204%20!H;%204%20!S;%2014-18%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|5C|an|Zero%20or%20three%20key%20cards%20--%201+%20!C;%205+%20!D;%204%20!S;%20no%20!CA;%20!DA;%2018+%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|6S|an|3+%20!C;%204%20!H;%204%20!S;%2014-18%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|]300|300| For what it's worth, I designed a hand yesterday that roughly fitted the parameters of your problem and gave it to GIB on a Bidding table. They started out as you describe and alert the 2♠ bid as natural and forcing. [/hv]

I try to avoid HCP because it always ends badly for me. Playing with the robots, a Soloway jump shift is the easy choice - 17+ points and a solid suit. Unfortunately, this option is frowned upon in most Australian clubs where everyone seems to prefer Weak Jump Shifts.

The Bridgesolver extension for chrome/edge also works on the Forum: https://dds.bridgewe...68.36687917.pbn Optimal is 6D South.

WD Gilithin - it's a CDC heat map of 15-19-year-old pregnancies. http://bit.ly/TeenPregUSA This is what happens when there is too much freedom of expression.

Fruit and cake - well that explains everything.

What does this map show?

Are you sure it wasn't a construction that was made up by the fake news fabricators?

The (so-called) DOJ that refused to prosecute both Chao and Smith and the rest of Trump Swamp is now gone - PTL - (and I'm a nonbeliever). Is there any chance that the charges can be rejuvenated? PS TYFFMP

Agree - any information from the bidding and play (quality of the information notwithstanding) will affect the odds.

Don't get over-excited. Moscow Mitch made a motza through his wife's 'work' in the previous (what is loosely termed) administration. Elaine Chao was found to have used her office for personal gain although the DOJ refused to pursue charges. For someone to be influential, people at least need to know who they are. Here's an interesting piece from 538. https://53eig.ht/3eEv0Tq

This is a very old probability question. If you toss a coin, the odds are 50:50 that it will come up heads. The next time you toss it, the odds are unchanged. In Tom Stoppard's famous play "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead", the protagonists work out that they are dead because the coin always comes up heads. The Rosencrantz and Guildenstern test is unavailable in a single Bridge deal because a sufficiently large number of finesses is unavailable. In other words, the individual probability of a finesse working is 50:50 no matter the success or failure of a previous attempt. On the other hand, if you are at the start of the hand and you are trying to devise a line of play that requires the success of three finesses working in a row the probability is 0.5*0.5*0.5 or P=0.125 (12.5%; or 13% if you're an optimist). It may be better to find another line that depends on something else.

Do you mean the little yellow box that reminds you how much money you have left in your account so that you can top it up if you need to?

So, if these same patriots were members of the armed forces and they approached the enemy in battle, is it the American way - in the pursuit of life liberty and happiness to not join their comrades in battle because: I just want to see how it works out for othersIt looks like the gun they gave me is experimental.The guy running the show is monitoring me.Nobody tells me what to do.

Under 'People' - 'Hosts' - are the 'yellowjackets' There is almost always someone there to help with urgent problems.