onoway

For hand completion rates; does this apply when playing with 3 GIBS? Sometimes I will bail from a hand that the GIBS and I have apparently been in different universes. But if the Robot tourneys aren't counted, are the robot table hands? Is this ONLY in Main bridge club or anywhere that the hands are recorded? Also, when leaving a table..the new deals come in very quickly after the last card played so should we all make sure to get out instantly or how does that work? I think the idea is great, esp for tourneys! But if I am going to get zinged if I leave a robot table I may reconsider using them as much as I do.

Seems to me that most speculative fiction writers generally see things playing out quite differently. Most people drawn to the perks of politics are unlikely to give them up very readilly I would think. Hasn't there already been some suspicion of shenanigans being involved with computer voting and that not even in people's homes? Faith is a wonderful thing..it used to be "I read it so it must be true", and now it's "I saw it on the internet so".. Someone normally fairly with it who has lived near Lake Michigan for about 50 years just forwarded to me (in horror and all seriousness) some photos of monstrous icebergs supposedly floating about Lake Michigan this year as evidence of climate change. Unfortunately the photos were of icebergs off Antartica.... It's somewhat alarming as any idea through dissemination to enough people over enough time can move that idea from being rejected as bizarre and fantastic to accepted as a commonplace. This might work for tossing out "bad" governments but it cuts both ways. I saw today yet another item touting Sarah Palin as possibly the next US President.

an interesting article here http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/01/29/mindfulness-and-meditation-in-schools-for-stress-and-anxiety-management/ which talks about programs which are apparently now reaching quite a few schools in one form or another. I watched an interview with Goldie Hawn who is intensely involved with one program. She said that aside from less aggression in the kid's interactions, and better performance on tests, the teachers noticed that kids who had been skipping school were no longer doing so. All measurable results, unlike such things as the kids seemed happier and more relaxed...

It's all because people don't want to think of themselves as related to apes. If humans had been left out of the equation there'd likely have been no argument but people are determined to maintain our supposedly "special" place in the scheme of things and lots of people won't ever give that up. If some humans won't or can't get over their beliefs that they are better than other humans simply because of skin colour e.g., how much more resistant are they going to be about being told they are related to monkeys if you go back in time far enough? Maybe if they took it in baby steps..perhaps they could relate to..."well you come from a superior line of chimpanzees"? I doubt even Madison Avenue gurus could make that fly.

This talk by Dr Vandaya Shiva was when she was given the 2010 Sydney Peace Prize. I couldn't find a link which included ONLY her talk, so there is an intro at the beginning.It's a bit long but very much worth listening to. The links below, which were the original posts, seem to be a bit flip for these forums, so the link above has some more weight as she is an internationally recognized authority with some expertise in this area. Interesting rebuttal to the shouting by the GMO people that GMO is the only way to feed the world http://www.realseeds.co.uk/GMOseed_is_a_scam.html The link at the bottom is to a study result by the Union of Concerned Scientists but I'll give that one here as well http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/food_and_agriculture/failure-to-yield.pdf

Not specifically dealing with math education but she is discussing education and presents some ideas that I haven't seen mentioned so far in this discussion which might be of interest

On the download version there is the option to add a director for the team match but this seems to be missing for the web version. Is this the case? We have several matches running at the same time so captains set the matches but the Director is supposed to be an IAC admin person. Is the only way to do this to ask a Yellow to add us? The captains are not supposed to have to deal with getting subs in event of disconnects or mediate disputes and so forth. HELP?

To let him speak for himself as to his intentions, although this was taped several months ago

Someone sent me the link and I didnt follow it back before I posted it here...wish I had, as I came back to delete it, but now hrothgar already replied so I can't. Seems as though it only looks like they have a clue; it is not exactly a science based website, to say the least. I shouldn't read articles like this at 6 am. sorry

anyone here have a better ability to distinguish if this is fearmongering or a real scenario? http://projectworldawareness.com/2010/09/life-on-this-earth-just-changed-the-north-atlantic-current-is-gone/

Some chemical companies (did someone say Monsanto?) claim all sorts of things about their chemicals being harmless when used as directed. They used to say (not sure if they still do) that RoundUp for example, was totally safe, and became inert (implying harmless) when it hit the soil. This appears to be patently untrue, judging from two studies..I couldn't find the one done by a British team in Ontario area, but this one from France came to the same conclusions. http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/roundup-weed-killer-is-toxic-to-human-cells.-study-intensifies-debate-over-inert-ingredients For anyone not wanting to read the study or that rather long discussion about it, here is one quote from it. This work clearly confirms that the adjuvants in Roundup formulations are not inert. Moreover, the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death around residual levels to be expected, especially in food and feed derived from R formulation-treated crops. Note they are talking about "residual levels to be expected"!! Since (in my understanding) virtually all GM crops are designed to be used WITH RoundUp or its equivilent, this is scary to think about. It's this sort of thing that makes many people regard chemical solutions to problems with a somewhat jaundiced eye.

Well I think the discussion veers off a bit into what is happening with the soils..if you watched the other video I posted some time ago with Smits' work in Borneo he has some data on how the rainfall in his area was affected by the return of fertility and biodiversity to what was basically almost a sterile area, extremely limited in its ability to support plant life. I will try to find a link to a study I read yesterday about healthy soils being able to capture carbon much more completely than heavilly fertilized or chemically treated soils..don't remember exactly where it was as I was following various links around the internet. It isn't just chemicals, even too much manure can temporarilly at least, choke plant life. Chemicals tend to be worse as they don't break down in the soil as humus as manure will eventually do, but get carried away by water if not used by plants, and so we get problems with chemicals leaching into lakes rivers and oceans...

This video (filmed in Ireland last year) is almost an hour but what he has to say is backed up by some rather compelling long term evidence. The organisation he founded has won the 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge award.

One of the advantages of playing with GIBS is that they have total patience and will wait for you to play until you actually log off. You can take 10 minutes or even more every time it's your turn to play, if you feel the need, to consider what has happened and what you want to try to do about it. You can also put your mouse on the last trick played and the cards will show. Indeed occassionally tricks vanish at the speed of light from the table (not only with GIBS, it can happen anywhere on BBO) and it's the only way to know what actually was played. The webversion, to my understanding, doesn't have a setting for GIB speed. The "normal" GIBS are the default for them but the "advanced" GIBS are available.

ahhh ok Thanks UDay That's an explanation which had not occured to either me or the person who noticed the ads for the advanced GIBS on the website. Sorry for jumping to conclusions.

I was bemused to learn that the web version now offers "advanced" GIBS but the download version does not, apparently. It seems to be a step up in the war to make everyone switch over to the web version. The person who pointed this out to me raised some interesting thoughts; "regarding the dual-level skill levels: does this mean if you play withthe old system in a robot contest, that you are handicapped when you play someone who has embraced the new-but-unimproved web version?Sounding more like dungeons and dragons than bridge: success is based on what you spend on your secret powers..." The robot contests would seem to automatically put one or the other at a disadvantage..if all the robots in it are advanced, they will react (presumably) somewhat differently and so the people used to the "average" robots will be disadvantaged; if all the robots are "average" the people who have bought the "advanced" robots will be disadvantaged. It annoys me that because I prefer the download version (by a WIDE margin) I am relegated to 2nd class citizenship as to what I am allowed to buy with my money. Perhaps after the current rental runs out, I won't bother renting any anymore.

It has to be difficult to monitor a group as large as that which kibs the Jec matches and my sympathy lies with LL for having to deal with a bunch occasionally resembling clever preschoolers. OTOH frequently the conversation is highly entertaining and often usefully enlightening. Honest questions are generally immediately addressed by a number of kibs. Although I am only there from time to time, what I have seen there is if anything a degree of tolerance and patience that many people would be glad to possess. It's sad to think that this might become a thing of the past, and have to wonder if the new "powers" happened because of a feeling of having the responsibility without the means to live up to the obligations. Hopefully, if this is now rectified, things can go back to the way they were with the understanding that if really needed then the tools are there ..not everyone is ready to shoot anything that moves just because he is suddenly given a rifle, but perhaps he might fire one or two salvos at some unfortunate bird just to make sure it works. If the moderator is having an occasional bad day, and isn't in the mood to put up with nonsense, perhaps it would be useful to warn people that it is a "short fuse day" but still make an effort to stick to the principles of dealing with people who offend in the 4 restricted areas. It's helpful to have mutual respect and communication. I dont understand why people who don't wish to hear any conversation simply don't mute it, rather than expecting the moderator to mute everyone for their benefit. If they wish to hear only bridge related discussion there are innumerable vugraphs offered. Most of us are here because bridge is a favorite form of entertainment and a place to socialize to some degree.Of course there has to be some gatekeeping (and a thankless job it is, too) because there will always be a few people whose main joy in life is distressing other people and they should not be allowed to do so. However, that said, the efforts of a few to shadow bridge on BBO with the heavy cloud of unrelenting seriousness is unfortunate.

[hv=pc=n&s=skq96h4dajt8ckqj3&w=st8hat986d6532c52&n=s5432hkj532d9ca94&e=saj7hq7dkq74ct876]399|300[/hv] West is dealer GIBS at west, north and east all vulnerable.Bidding goes Pass Pass 1 ♦X 2♦ X Pass 2♠ Pass 4♥Pass 4♠ Pass 5♥ Pass 5nt Pass 6♥ Pass Pass Pass Admittedly I suggested in the original X that I had something in all the other suits but I don't understand GIB insistence on ♥ in spite of my repeated bidding of ♠ especially when it had 4 of them. Can anyone explain this bidding to me?

I don't mind the new look although it does seem a little as though the headers take up a lot of space.. The rust and other colours are ok but I find the grey print somewhat faint and thus harder to read..is there any way to darken it? Also, I hit the back button and got booted out of the forums entirely and told the webpage had expired.First time that's ever happened to me here.

To add a co-director you put the tilde sign between the names of the directors. thus redcato8~whoever etc The time issue I cannot help with, never had a match run out of time

I know BBO isn't interested/enthusiastic about anything to do with the Windows version but maybe someone can tell me..my computer windows elsewhere suddenly and inexplicably changed today and the windows/letters all got about 20 % bigger (except for BBO, which has always been the same size.) I was asking someone on BBO for suggestions and while I was trying things BBO shrank to a much smaller screen. When it came back it was shallow..perhaps a bit wider but not nearly as deep as it had been. Perhaps a third of the chat area seems to be missing now, and I cannot get it to come back; I even deleted and reinstalled it. The big/small table option also doesn't bring it back. The forums are the same size/shape as the BBO screen used to be. It is certainly usable as it is but it is a bit disconcerting. Anyone have any ideas?

TO be devil's advocate here there are times when the opps simply ARE taking too much time..esp in speedball but sometimes just in normal clocked tourneys. If the first hand has taken over half the time allotted (usually because of the opps slow bidding and play) and you can see that you are going to be declarer in a possibly difficult contract, it is very hard to resist pleading with the opps to please bid/play a little faster as they sit for 30 seconds before each and every pass and before playing each and every card as the clock ticks merrilly away. One habit these players tend to have is to take 10-20 seconds to play even the LAST card of the hand which is both annoying and bewildering.

This is a link I posted earlier but it is pertinent to this last comment and imo worth linking again in case it was missed...get past the first bit about the orangutans and get to what he has done and how. In 4 years he has done some amazing things.

This company is apparently doing something different in the way it is using membranes..it's using biomimicry in the design http://www.aquaporin.dk/ What do people do with the residue of filtered water? Not only the salts but everything else as well?

it's in IAC. If I can't understand how to get along with them in a club I definitely don't want to pay to play in a tourney with them. It may be that I have them set too fast, though the setting isn't at top speed..I tried slowing them down more for a while but when it was taking 20 seconds for them to decide to play a singleton or a low card from dummy when they had just played the Ace from their hand, I speeded them up again. Maybe that's the problem then.