brianshark

I have only played Juniors BBO events a few times, mostly due to scheduling conflicts. But I'm disappointed to hear multi is not allowed. It is amusing to hear that the main justification is that poor delicate juniors aren't prepared for it while the BIL has had great success teaching and encouraging inexperienced beginners while allowing multi. Not to mention that junior does not necessarily mean inexperienced ill-prepared beginner. Many, I'm sure, are quite serious about their game, play in serious partnerships with proper systems which may include some form of multi as a core component. This policy seems misguided. But if the organisers want to aim their organisation towards the specific American-beginner-junior demographic, then that's their choice. I guess you can't cater for everyone, and choices have to be made.

I always though alcohol is inherent in the human body. Don't we produce it ourselves? I wasn't sure so I looked it up on wikipedia. It seems that it is only there as a byproduct of what bacteria do and is quickly disposed of along with the rest of the waste stuff. So it doesn't, in itself, serve a purpose to the human body in the way say Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorous, etc do. I think. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol#Endogenous

I'm always amused by the various studies that say drinking red wine, or a pint of guinness now and then, etc are good for you. It's a bit like putting arsenic in your milk and saying it's good for your bones. A glass of wine a day probably is good for you overall, but a glass of grape juice (or some combination of other non-alcoholic stuff) will probably do the same job minus the toxin. Not that I have anything against drinking on moderation in general, but to call alcohol anything other than a mild toxin is fooling yourself. I've never tried pot and am mildly curious, but I hate smoking so I think I'll pass. Would not object to trying pot brownies and variations like that if I ever got the chance.

I suspect it is a seperate lethal but not-easily-transmittable virus that has killed those in Mexico who worked closely with pigs, and that the actual swine flu which is much more contageous and has appeared in other countries, is about as dangerous as normal flu strains.

I was reading through this Assault Weapon law thread with interest and all of a sudden it turned into a torture discussion. How did that happen? :) I am curious why this particular bill is so unpopular in the US. I can understand the support behind anyone having a right to bear arms, even if I disagree with it. But what demographic majority are desperate to hold onto their assault weapons?

I got 2949 on my 2nd attempt. Quite a fun little game.

Another reason: Perhaps having two teams set out to win, as opposed to two teams setting out to "not lose" (if a draw is available) makes for a more interesting spectacle for the viewing public.

You can change the colour your name turns to when it's your call, you can set up so a loud sound is played when it is your turn to call, and when you see a long list of 'play pls' on your chat window, you know it's your turn to call. WTP :)

Regarding sport in general, for me there is something very appealing about the American sporting philosophy of about doing your best to find a winner for a sporting match. I think draws can be such a cop-out result sometimes. In football matches, I hate it when teams draw and both teams go home sort of happy and the result is deemed acceptable. Someone should go home happy and someone should go home sad. I don't so much mind draws being possible but very unlikely such as in Rugby or American Football. If the teams find that narrow window of equality, then a draw is probably a reasonable result. But I dislike it when, like in soccer, one team can be quite a bit better, but not quite better enough to get that winning goal. In bridge however, I vehemently object to a 2 imp swing potentially creating a 22 VP swing - if I am understanding the American 30VP scale correctly. I have no problem with limiting 15-15 results to exactly equal imps, but if there is a small difference in teams, a small difference in imps is acceptable. I understand those two stances are quite hypocritical. :) Actually, having re-read my post, I am starting to consider whether doing away with VP scales altogether and announcing resuts of matches as either win, lose or draw is the way to go, even in swiss style competitions.

Terrorist think tanks? Uh.....I don't think so.... What do you mean by that?

I should have taken up Poker instead of bridge because there's a lot more money in it. Having said that, I'm probably well up in terms of prize money versus entry fees over the last year or two. :D

Do they want confrontation for the sake of confrontation? I always thought the campaigns of terror were a means to an end. Those ends being America keep it's nose out of muslim affairs, pulls out of Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.

It seems unlikely given the Obama administration would be seen as less threatening to the Muslim world than the Bush administration was. Terrorist think tanks will surely realise that a large act of violence will only swing American opinion towards Bush/Republican politics which they don't want to see.

Did they really need the buildings to collapse in order to get the public behind their retaliation? Surely a few planes flying into a couple of buildings causing a few thousand casualties would have been enough on it's own, not to mention the chance that the buildings would collapse anyway makes planting explosives a ridiculously unnecessary risk.

Never in a million years will the US or anyone attack Pakistan because Pakistan have nukes and nobody will endorse a war that could become nuclear. Well, maybe India.