nickf

what you need is the back catalogue of the IBPA monthly bulletins. Each about 24 pages with wall-to-wall hands. Do yourself a favour - when you're in Beijing, go to the Press Office and join the IBPA. Say you write for the local district newsletter yada yada. It will also give you on-site access to the IPBA office, not that finding an internet connection or i-cafe in Beijing will be hard. Once you're a member, I think you get a password that gives you access to the IPBA website secret stuff like all their old bulletins. nickf sydney

Stacy Jacobs makes the excellent observation in her blog that given the current meltdown of many international share markets and the simultaneous running of the Buffett Cup why has there been no (apparent) attempt to promote this uber-outstanding bridge event during the last few days? When will there be a more relevant opportunity? Admittedly I'm positioned in a backwater here, but has anyone with access to perhaps more august publications than I'm used to reading actually seen any mention of Buffett and bridge in mainstream media in the past few days? nickf sydney

What was surprising? - that Nevena was annoyed? - how Brian was portrayed. How was he portrayed btw? nickf sydney

Getting their act together? Please. I am not holding my breath. nickf sydney

In order to break the ice, I'd like to suggest nickf sydney

If you've seen one that's better, you're qualified to answer. that's a good point. In that case, no I dont believe it was the best match ever. nickf sydney

No, it's the best of the losers. nickf sydney

Happened to be interstate today at my brothers place watching the first day of competition and for fun we tried to come up with some "must have" sports that the IOC should introduce. The list was lengthy, but among those we came up with: - horse racing (and harness racing too but not greyhounds as there are no humans involved) - rock, paper scissors. - quoits - formula 1 racing - shuffleboard - air hockey - pinball - caber tossing - tug of war (this is actually a re-introduction) - australian rules football - chess boxing - tic tac toe there may have been more. Is this list definitive or have we neglected to include any? nick sydney

hanged. No, no I think he means they hung pictures of them in the Rustlers Hall of Fame. nickf sydney

A few years ago a friend from the country was staying with us and had her car stolen overnight. It was all the more remarkable because it was a crap car and we lived in a low-crime rate area. A few days later, the cops ring us to say they found the car in a McDonalds car park on the other side of town. Great, we thought so my wife and friend hop in our car and drive over there. In the meantime, however, the perps had picked up their takeaway and driven off. Stupid cops. Anyway...back to your problem. There's not much you can do except compile a long list of CDs you would like to acquire, as the insurance company will have to cough up for these as well. nickf sydney

I'm no lawyer, but I'd say this position, in itself, is a breach of the Laws. I'd say once an infraction has not just occurred, but noticed, it's incumbent upon the table to call the Director. That you know the relevant Law and can accept/ refuse is commendable but refusing to call the Director, perhaps just not to lose time, is wrong. nickf sydney

Well he did, although I still think he choked on the final day. Nonetheless, Harrington played a superb round on Sunday and would have won with even a half dozen fewer bad shots from Norman. nickf sydney

Well I didnt get a card. nickf sydney

that's certainly the case in my state. We used to have congresses that had Saturday MP and Sunday Teams. Now its predominently Saturday Swiss Pairs. And the reason? Masterpoints of course. nickf sydney

sorry, yes - let's assume FSF at the 3-level will always be GF. nickf sydney

I'm trying to get a grip on what contemporary expert opinion is on 4th suit forcing - should it be game forcing, or merely invitational+ ? I've always played it as GF, but really this seems just a crutch for the lazy or the not completely competent bidders - I suspect FSF invitational+ is theoretically better. What's the consensus? nickf sydney

longer clubs than the Major. nickf sydney

See Click here Next time you can't get into the Rama theatre, bug the organisers to set up one of these. nickf sydney

I thought the Borg McEnroe final in 1980 was better, but I'm not really qualified to answer as I havent seen even a small percentage of all matches played. nickf sydney

but I tell you what is really scary - is the people who can tell you what day of the week Jun 15, 1702 was, for example. I've read of savants doing this. nickf sydney

[hv=d=s&v=n&s=s7hkqt62dq432ca52]133|100|Scoring: MP[/hv] 1st ever game with what you presumed was a good partner. Opps are lousy club players. You open 1H, LHO overcalls 2C, pd bids 4C splinter and now RHO bids 4S without much thought. OK, so you have an easy pass here, forcing, and LHO fidgets forever, then passes and partner doubles. RHO mumbles something about having bid when she didnt double etc etc and then pulls to 5C. Ignoring all the coffee housing from people who know no better (it's a meaningless club game), what's your call? nickf sydney

Am I missing something ? Beyond about 10 years of age, don't most people just know how many days are in each month without the aid of a ditty or two hands? nickf sydney

Hi, a few years ago I tarted up the Vugraph User's Manual that Fred wrote. This document is distributed to prospective Vugraph oranisers. Roland distributes a lot of copies but I am sure he'll confirm my assumption that not everyone reads it. I think one reason may be that it's in English and we shouldnt expect everyone to understand it. That prompts this post. I'm hoping some of you out there could volunteer to translate a few pages into languages other than English. Send me a pm and I'll forward you a native copy. Advance apologies for the non- MS people out there - it's a Word file. nickf sydney

Here's a little problem that is playing with my head. How do you broadcast a 3 team game (a triangle match) on BBO so that you get meaningful comparative scores in the Movie window. Remember, in a triangle match you cant link any of the two tables because this always contains both pairs from say TEAM A and a pair from TEAM B and TEAM C. thanks in advance. nickf sydney

because it makes X more ambiguous, imo - if that's the call chosen of course. nickf sydney