pilowsky

This is another good point - I was once advised that no matter a politician's own beliefs (this was a while ago) they will always espouse an anti-abortion position because around 10% of their electorate consider this to be a deal-breaker issue. I suspect guns and other things have a similar standing in the USA. I also don't think it is fair to describe the rump of the Republican movement that supports Trump as 'the Right'. They are extremists who recently advocated the violent overthrow of the government - there are better words to describe them.

You seem to misunderstand my comment. People often describe Bridge as a social game - which it is in the sense that I described above. Newcomers to the game are sometimes misled into thinking that by 'social', people mean 'friendly'. Bridge players can be friendly or unfriendly, but that has nothing to do with the 'social nature of the game. The use of the term 'social' wrt Bridge is not the word's usual meaning.

nil Vul. All Vul. NS Vul EW Vul I'm feeling a bit Vul.

Has anything changed? Ken's post prompted me to look up the newsreel archives of the Johnson era anti-war protests. Here is one example https://bit.ly/AntiVietWar Watching this video, it is interesting to note that the Demographics of the protesters seems to mirror the recent BLM protests. If you google rock music concerts of the same period, they look more like Trump rallies, explaining some of the music he plays to warm up the crowd. Now watch a video about Woodstock - http://bit.ly/WoodStock69 Nearly all the faces are young white kids. Who were these people - us (although I was too young). But we had our own little Woodstocks - like the real one, they had almost nothing to do with protesting about human rights. The people were there for sex, drugs and rock n roll - teenage heaven. Here's a track from the Album http://bit.ly/FlashInMyHead

Seems fairly 'normal' to me - why do you think it isn't 'random'. What were you expecting that would make it a random deal?

Having a lot of trouble playing the free daylongs. BBO has added an additional level of excitement by frequently and intermittently closing the table at random. Or the software is sick of my execrable Bridge: one or the other.

Your secret is safe here.

Usually from their parents - but who knows for sure. If someone could figure it out they'd bottle it.

[hv=lin=st%7C%7Cpn%7Cpilowsky,~~v3fakebot,~~v3fakebot,~~v3fakebot%7Cmd%7C3ST987HT987DAKQJC2,S2HAKQJD6543C6543,SAKQJH2DT987CT987,S6543H6543D2CAKQJ%7Csv%7Co%7Crh%7C%7Cah%7CBoard%201%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7Cp%7C]300|300| This example makes 2X for whoever has the AKQJ. I think it's because your example gives 2 8-card fits to each pair, whereas the original hand only has 7-card fits. [/hv] [hv=lin=st%7C%7Cpn%7Cpilowsky,~~v3fakebot,~~v3fakebot,~~v3fakebot%7Cmd%7C3S2HAKQJDT987C6543,ST987H6543DAKQJC2,SAKQJH2D6543CT987,S6543HT987D2CAKQJ%7Csv%7Co%7Crh%7C%7Cah%7CBoard%201%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7Cp%7C]300|300| I think you meant this hand. [/hv]

I wondered yesterday if it was possible to be dealt a hand so bland that nobody could make any contract. So I created that most boring hand I could think of, and it still makes 1 of something (except NT). Here it is: [hv=lin=st%7C%7Cpn%7Cpilowsky,~~v3fakebot,~~v3fakebot,~~v3fakebot%7Cmd%7C3SAT62HJ73DQ84CK95,SK95HAT62DJ73CQ84,SQ84HK95DAT62CJ73,SJ73HQ84DK95CAT62%7Csv%7Co%7Crh%7C%7Cah%7CBoard%201%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7Cp%7C]300|300| Here's the double-dummy result: http://bit.ly/BlandHand[/hv] So my question is: Is it possible to be dealt a hand that makes no contracts at all?

It's a misunderstanding of the word 'social'. Bridge is only 'social' in the sense that to play it two people need to understand each other better than two other people. The use of the word 'social' to mean 'friendly' doesn't apply in a competitive sport. After the game - at the pub - there might be some friendliness. Ants, dogs (but not cats) and sheep are also social. Dogs can be friendly, but it's pretty transactional.

If everyone doesn't have a say the risk that loonies will take over is very high. Anyone with any experience of student politics knows what I mean. The importance of having all voices heard is that it brings moderation into the body politic. Apart from disinterest, there are many reasons that people don't vote. In Australia, there is normally a bit of queue but we don't have to wait more than 20-30 minutes tops. The images of people waiting for hours at polling stations in the USA is anti-democratic. The stuff that 3rd world dictatorships are made of.

The problem in the USA is that one-third of eligible voters don't. This means that the electorate is mainly comprised of two groups of rusted-on die-hards. Voters at the extremes tend to be as loyal to their party as they are to their football team. How else can one explain the current loyalty of millions of voters to a man with the intellectual capacity of a prairie ball? I once stood for parliament in South Australia as the Labor (Democrat) candidate in the safest conservative seat (District) in the State (Bragg - named after the Physicists). At the time of the election (1993), the State-owned Bank had just collapsed under the Governance of the Labor party. The party vote had never been so low. There was an 11+ swing against Labor, but I still secured 21.3% of the 92.7% turnout. State-wide, the result was 30.37% of the primary vote to Labor So this is where I get the data. There is more - it's all available on Wikipedia. The absolute rock bottom vote for each major party is about 30-40% - no matter the election. A Kinsey report may be a good idea since, in the end, we all get... There is the additional problem of systemic impediments to voting in the USA - such as polling day being on a Tuesday and the lack of an independent Federal voting commission to ensure lunatics can't prevent the citizens from being enfranchised.

If I click "All tournaments" then filter with '0.29'. Nothing appears. Does the search function only work on the 'Title' column? Can this be changed so that it works on any column? I prefer to use the price because this narrows the search more effectively.

Aren't the young people that your 'elderly people' were complaining about now the retired people that OP is talking about? Perhaps the post-war boomer generation does - for some unknown reason - have a 'rudeness' problem? The internet has 'anonymised' rudeness so that it is easier to act out. If sites such as BBO mandated real names, it might inhibit aggressive rudeness.

Voting is compulsory in Australia. People don't think about it much, but a consequence is that there is a joint sense of responsibility for whoever is in office. The second important aspect of our system is that there is preferential voting - you put a number next to each candidate, and if your first choice is not one of the top two, your vote is given to your number 2 choice. This process continues until one candidate has 50% +1 of all the votes. If there is a tie, a coin is tossed. This approach eliminates nearly all of the BS that happens in most jurisdictions around the world. It would certainly prevent an idiot like Trump from being elected. We do have a Senate just like the USA. Paul Keating described it as undisciplined swill - but we are stuck with it ATM. We also have our share of MTG's and Gaetz's and Jordan's - these people are everywhere. It is a truth, universally acknowledged, amongst politicians that about 33% of people will always vote for the same party - no matter who is in it. In the USA, only 33% of the eligible voting population voted for Trump in 2020. These people are rusted on - they will never change. The same is true on the other side. It seems to me from a distance anyway that entrenched interests (many the children of slave-owners) truly believe that the "right to vote" must be "earned". When one looks deeper, this "earning" concept usually means being white. If you don't have universal voting, you don't have democracy. Trump didn't destroy it; he's the raw untreated sewage that emerged from a system designed to entrench vested interest. In that way, the US system is the same as the rotten borough.

I'm sorry Dave...

Thanks, John, now I understand. This is why I like playing with the robots - I get to learn all kinds of great card play techniques.

Or as we would say in Sydney: 17000 kilometres. Distance from Douglas, Isle of Man to Sydney, Australia The total straight line flight distance from Douglas, the Isle of Man to Sydney, Australia is 10,602 miles. This is equivalent to 17 062 kilometres or 9,213 nautical miles.

[hv=lin=st||pn|pilowsky,~~M29941,~~M29939,~~M29940|md|2SK9854HAQDQ986C97,SAQHKJ8742D75C654,SJ762HT963DAKJTC8,ST3H5D432CAKQJT32|sv|b|rh||ah|Board%204|mb|P|mb|P|mb|1C|an|Minor%20suit%20opening%20--%203+%20!C;%2011-21%20HCP;%2012-22%20total%20points%20|mb|1S|an|One-level%20overcall%20--%205+%20!S;%208-17%20HCP;%209-19%20total%20points|mb|2H|an|Free%20bid%20--%205+%20!H;%2011-%20HCP;%2011-12%20total%20points;%20forcing%20|mb|3H|an|3+%20!S;%2011-%20HCP;%2011-12%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|3S|an|5+%20!S;%208+%20HCP;%209-13%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|D7|pc|DA|pc|D2|pc|D6|pc|SJ|pc|S3|pc|S4|pc|SQ|pc|H4|pc|HT|pc|H5|pc|HQ|pc|SK|pc|SA|pc|S2|pc|ST|pc|H7|pc|H3|pc|C2|pc|HA|pc|DQ|pc|D5|pc|DK|pc|D3|pc|DJ|pc|D4|pc|D9|pc|H8|pc|DT|pc|CA|pc|D8|pc|C4|pc|C8|pc|C3|pc|C7|pc|C5|mc|11|]300|300| In a devilishly devious display, GIB decides to randomise card play. At about trick 9. East deposits the ♣A to fool me into thinking that it won't play under the ♣8 when I lead it from Dummy.[/hv]

[hv=lin=st||pn|steve2005,~~v3fakebot,~~v3fakebot,~~v3fakebot|md|3SAT93HA9DAQJ5CQJ6,SK74HJ8532DK832CK,SHKQT764D97CAT853,SQJ8652HDT64C9742|sv|o|rh||ah|Board%201|mb|P|mb|P|mb|1D|an|Minor%20suit%20opening%20--%203+%20!D;%2011-21%20HCP;%2012-22%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|1H|an|One%20over%20one%20--%204+%20!H;%2011-%20HCP;%206-12%20total%20points|mb|2S|an|Aggressive%20weak%20jump%20overcall%20--%205+%20!S;%209-%20HCP;%203+%20total%20points|mb|D|an|3+%20!D;%201-%20!H;%2017-21%20HCP;%20biddable%20!S;%2022-%20total%20points|mb|3H|an|3+%20!S;%2011-16%20total%20points;%20forcing|mb|D|an|4+%20!H;%2011-%20HCP;%206-12%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|D9|pc|DT|pc|DA|pc|D3|pc|DQ|pc|DK|pc|D7|pc|D4|pc|CK|pc|CA|pc|C2|pc|C6|pc|H7|pc|S2|pc|HA|pc|H5|pc|DJ|pc|D2|pc|C8|pc|D6|pc|D5|pc|D8|pc|H6|pc|S5|pc|C5|pc|C9|pc|CJ|pc|H3|pc|S4|pc|C3|pc|SQ|pc|SA|pc|S3|pc|S7|pc|H4|pc|S8|pc|HK|pc|C7|pc|H9|pc|H8|pc|HQ|pc|S6|pc|S9|pc|H2|pc|CT|pc|C4|pc|CQ|pc|HJ|pc|SK|pc|HT|pc|SJ|pc|ST|]300|300| Just to make it a little easier to see.[/hv]

Well, that explains a lot.

[hv=pc=n&s=sth52dt8653cakjt6&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=p1sd]133|200| This little gem came up playing 2/1 at a 21 table club game this afternoon. We obtained the median result -50 for 35% What would you do as South (me)? I think there were 21 different opinions on this one.[/hv] The full hand

The data is available. In the tourneys that smerriman runs here featuring many excellent players, he can tell you how well the robot does.In the EBU, the robot has a rank - which is much higher than that of the 'average player'. I suspect that if Bridge were Chess, GIB would be at about the level of an international master - which I suspect is ~10 times better than the average club player. Of course, one can only compare 'results', not cunning.

I think that this is an important message that I learned from playing against robots. Tempo means nothing: this also applies to human Bridge. I used to worry if a pause had any significance. Now I give much more weight to figuring out the lay of the cards and the best possible line. The finuess will always work 50% of the time and be necessary/unnecessary no matter how fast or slow opps are. The biggest problem that robots have is that they ignore the meaning of you and your opponents bidding and carding. This works both ways and is compensated for by their perfect card memory.